A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

The site of the recently restored Braddock Lighthouse. Aircraft hangars and other X-Men facilities, including a Cerebra unit and the Danger Room have been constructed around the foundations of the lighthouse.

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Fri Aug 18, 2017 5:24 pm

"It means we don't have to rewrite everything, just change the direction a bit."
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Samantha McManus
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High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Fri Aug 18, 2017 5:55 pm

"Man, I don't wanna know what you consider a lot then." she laughs. She wants to believe Sam, but she's a bit dubious. Perhaps understandably so.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Fri Aug 18, 2017 6:14 pm

"Rewriting reality is all in a days work," Sean smiled. "If you have a plan I can support you and the process with magic, Sam. I gathered enough from the notes that I can do that at least."
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Sean Hall
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Fri Aug 18, 2017 6:23 pm

"I think I'd have to see where she came from to really form a plan."
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Fri Aug 18, 2017 6:31 pm

"I can take you there," Sean said.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Fri Aug 18, 2017 7:21 pm

"Please don't... That's just where I ended up." she says and it's clear that she at least wants to believe that's true. "But I remember places. Real ones. Towns. Where I died. At... at least I think they're real..."
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Fri Aug 18, 2017 7:29 pm

Sean went over to his desk and pulled a folder out of a drawer.

"This is what I found after I found myself in your part of the astral the first time," Sean said holding up the folder. "New stories, articles, everything I could find."
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Sean Hall
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Fri Aug 18, 2017 7:29 pm

"I mean... I might be able to get some feel for it by probing you, but given that you don't have a body, it's probably going to feel... really weird."
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Fri Aug 18, 2017 7:38 pm

Hannah looks at Sam and raises both eyebrows with a bemused expression. "Phrasing?"

When Sean pulls out the folder, a scrap of paper falls out and slowly sails to the floor. He recognizes it as the one a disembodied finger had left a message on, but it's different now than it was then, somehow. Or maybe he's misremembering... what's written on it is definitely something he's seen before, at least.

The only me is me. Are you sure the only you is you?
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Fri Aug 18, 2017 7:48 pm

"Odd," Sean said grabbing the piece of paper. "Could've sworn the finger had written something else here. The one thing about all of this is that riddles are properly taking the piss."
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Fri Aug 18, 2017 8:37 pm

"Well I mean, most people have sensations and stuff in addition to a mental presence. I just made an apple that's basically real to you."
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Fri Aug 18, 2017 8:52 pm

She looks down at the apple as if she only now realizes that it's something strange or out of the ordinary. "Well, I can say with some confidence that I've probably been through worse no matter what..."
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Fri Aug 18, 2017 11:50 pm

"Well hopefully we can make things a bit better," Sean said with somewhat forced confidence. They were walking on some very... interesting ground here after all.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Sat Aug 19, 2017 4:37 am

Hannah looks over at Sean for a moment, then back at Sam and nods slowly.

"I... don't really know you, but Sean seems to think you know what you're doing." Not that she really knows Sean that much longer, but somehow he feels... familiar? No, that's not really it. But she can't help but feel like she can trust him. Like he reminds her of somebody who's just a blurry memory now.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Mon Aug 21, 2017 8:10 pm

"Alright, just... let me know if something starts to feel wrong."

The flock starts to rise up again, circling around Hannah.
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Narrator » Mon Aug 21, 2017 8:36 pm

"Sure thing..." she says as she eyes the murder of crows circling around her. When Sam makes contact with Hannah one of the birds goes into a dive and slams right into her chest, disappearing into it and knocking her back. Sam only barely notices what happened before her attention is whisked away. Suddenly she's the singular bird, diving straight down through a tunnel. No, it's too vertical for that. More of a well. There's a hint of light behind her still but it's dim and only barely illuminates the old, moss-covered bricks. It's unlike any mindscape she's ever been in, simply because of how real it feels. This isn't a metaphor for a well, it's more like... the quintessence of one. It almost feels familiar somehow and some deep part of Sam realizes that while not equal in stature, Hannah feels very similar in nature...

Before the thought can truly crystallize she reaches the bottom of the dried up well and the raven turns back into her normal avatar. Down here, however, she doesn't find herself entirely surrounded by bricks. On one side is an opening that leads down an old tunnel and she can see doors flanking the path.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Mon Aug 21, 2017 8:39 pm

In the real world Hannah stumbles back and clutches her chest as she falls to the floor, letting out a pained gasp. On her chest blood is spreading as it soaks through her t-shirt as if she'd just been run through by a sword or a bullet.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Mon Aug 21, 2017 8:50 pm

"Bloody goddamn hell," Sean exclaimed as he rushed towards Hannah. He looked her over trying to at least find out why she'd suddenly started bleeding from the chest. He was trained in emergency medicine for leading kids on camping trips but that was all about stabilizing people for a few hours before doctors or EMS could get there. Even worse he was fairly certain the first aid kit wasn't going to work on Hannah, which made things rather... limited other than healing magic.

Healing magic that worked erratically at best or had been counterproductive at worst when he'd tried it on injured animals in forests and Hannah wasn't exactly a woodland creature.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Mon Aug 21, 2017 8:57 pm

"Not just a well. Not a place that leads nowhere. A place that leads somewhere," Sam mentally murmurs as she starts down the tunnel.
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Mon Aug 21, 2017 9:09 pm

The light never grows any weaker, but there's not a lot of it to begin with. The ground is vaguely moist with the occasional bit of grass or moss growing in the hard clay. There are no cobwebs but vines, roots and the likes dangle from the low ceiling. The doors on either side never stop and they all look similar. Wooden, heavy-seeming with iron fittings. Almost like cell doors, but missing any bars. They simply have iron rings with which to open them.

Hannah is pressing her hands against the bloody spot on her shirt in a manner that seems like she's familiar with it, yet doesn't really know what the right thing to do about it is either. She seems shaken and is staring at Sam between glancing down at herself. "It... it was one of the birds! It just... flew right at me..."
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Mon Aug 21, 2017 9:17 pm

"Shit," Sean said before breathing in deeply to steady his mind. He was going to try something that required clarity. While he counted down from 10 to slowed his heart rate Sean made a very complicated series of hand gestures. He breathed again and placed his hands above the wound in Hannah's chest and began to chant softly. Two small concentric rings formed around the wound. Small runes etched themselves around the wound. He felt a guiding hand as he often did when performing magic right before his hands made another complicated series of movements.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Mon Aug 21, 2017 11:24 pm

She listens closely, looking to each of the doors in turn as she continues down the tunnel. Occasionally she places a hand on a door to try to get a feel.
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:04 am

As she makes her way further down the tunnel it almost seems like the doors are getting newer. Which is kind of relative, because they're still made of wood and iron, but they're a bit better done, the wood smoother, the metal less crude and more decorative. Touching them Sam can feel that there's something important behind them, they seem to radiate a heavy kind of melancholy.

Hannah gasps slightly at the touch but takes her hands away to let Sean cast his spell. The wound isn't huge, maybe the size of a fist and thankfully just seems to be a nasty bruise that is oozing blood rather than a gaping one, but it still hurts and the spell seems to soothe some of that. "Thanks..."
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:10 am

Sean was happy that the spell was having any positive effect. For a moment he wondered why fixing his own broken limbs was so much simpler than somebody elses.

"I did say I'd get you dinner," Sean said focusing back on what he was doing. He made another series of hand gestures and reinforced the spell he was casting. He changed the program slightly and a square of runes formed around the existing magic circle. The spell should accelerate healing modestly, but Sean would have to hold the spell for a while.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Tue Aug 22, 2017 7:24 pm

"You're better than this," Sam whispers at the nearest door.

"You don't have to be a victim."
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Wed Aug 23, 2017 2:29 am

"I was just kidding..." she says, suddenly feeling awkward with Sean so close to her.


In response there's a blood-curdling scream from somewhere behind the door that echoes and lingers in the tunnel uncomfortably long and almost seems to distort into words. "Mustn't forget... Won't forget... Can't forget..."
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Wed Aug 23, 2017 2:42 am

"A shame," Sean said with a slight smile. The spell was holding for the moment.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Wed Aug 23, 2017 2:43 am

Sam shudders before steeling herself and decides to count the number of doors she can find, in case it's significant.
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:23 am

"I didn't say no..."


As Sam continues down the tunnel counting the doors she gets past a hundred and still the tunnel stretches out in front of her. At this point the doors definitely have changed, they look a little more modern, the planks of wood are joined much more neatly, the surface is smoother and the metal ring has been replaced by cast-iron knobs. They look like something you might find in a particularly old building instead of looking like they belong in a castle or medieval dungeon. Their number doesn't seem to be significant other than the fact that there are a lot of them, but who knows. If she keeps pressing on then eventually the doors complete their transition into modern incarnations, polished wood and actual door handles and finally, after counting several hundred doors Sam reaches the end of the tunnel where it ends in one last door that, unlike the others, is straight ahead instead of flanking the hallway.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:20 pm

"Oh, good," Sean said, "Just have to get through this then, aye? Healing is not really my specialty, so might want to have the infirmary double check my... er, work before hitting the town."

Sean tended to default to rambling.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Wed Aug 23, 2017 6:51 pm

Sam steels herself, taking a breath and going to open the final door.
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Wed Aug 23, 2017 8:22 pm

"I'm sure it'll be fine. I've bounced back from worse." she says with a labored smile. As she's talking the Walkman on her belt turns on. Too quiet to probably be noticed it starts to play.


The door swings open and the first thing Sam sees is a dim foyer in a house that's vaguely reminiscent of the school's mansion. Smaller, but almost immediately identifiable as an old house, probably belonging to the same family for generations. It's night outside the windows but even through the thick curtains she can see the jagged fork of lightning splitting the sky, soon followed by a rumbling crack which almost manages to drown out the cries coming from elsewhere in the house. It's a different voice than the one she heard through the other door and while it's a cry of pain it feels different. There's a strange draw that seems be urging her further down the hallway as if she knew that she's expected to witness something.

Up the stairs and towards the room the cries were coming from she reaches the master bedroom. In the big four-post bed she can see a woman, hair plastered to her face by sweat and very visibly pregnant. Next to her on the bed is a worried looking man who bears a passing resemblance to Sean, wearing a white labcoat. Another crack of lightning drowns out the weak lightbulb in the room and drenches the room in stark shadows for a moment. It's there that she can suddenly see another figure, hidden between the folds of darkness is a man, maybe four feet tall and grinning. The woman screams again and for a moment it's as if her cry is shaking the whole world. Something is forcing it's way out, not just from her but from elsewhere as well and the blood that's beginning to soak the bedsheets is not just the woman's somehow. The man jumps to his feet to do something, anything, but suddenly the small man is on his back and in his hand is the glint of a knife.

"Und wie doch jedes Kindlein weiss, krieg ich am Ende meinen Preis.
Der Zwerg, der Alp, der Wolf im Bett, der Schwarze Mann, der Kinderschreck.
Jahrhunderte das Blut vergoss, damit nun dieses Kind im Schoß,
Geboren einzig um dann bloß, zu drehn den Schlüssel in dem Schloß."

Blood splashes across the bed and the opposing wall and the woman screams one last time before the sound slowly dies in her throat, only to be replaced with the wail of a baby. The dwarf hops down from the man who has collapsed across the bed and picks up the baby that is smeared with his parents blood and suddenly Sam is yanked back, rushing through the halls of the house and back into the tunnel, the door slamming shut in front of her.



((Just as all the children know, I always reap what I sow.
The dwarf, the Night, the wolf in bed, the Children's Spook, the Man in Black.
Centuries the blood has flown, just so now this child has grown,
Born alone to comprehend, turn the key and bring the end.))
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Hannah
 

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Wed Aug 23, 2017 9:20 pm

Sam shudders at what she's seen, making her way back to the bottom of the well and trying to retreat from Hannah's mind.
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Wed Aug 23, 2017 9:24 pm

"Anybody else and I'm not sure I would have believed them," Sean said before noticing the walkman had turned on by itself. "A couple weeks ago that would have been frightening. Think I might be getting a bit too used to all of this."
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Wed Aug 23, 2017 10:21 pm

The way back out is just as long as the way in, the voices from beyond the doors still occasionally whispering.

Safe. Keep them safe. Locked into the shadows of your heart. Hidden from them. None can find who you truly are. Remember. When the time comes... Mustn't forget. In the great unknown. Remember!

It's Hannah's voice, but at the same time it's not, whispers echoing through the tunnel as Sam makes her way out. Nothing stops her and soon she ascends back through the tunnel. As before during the descend she can feel the girl's being around her as she rushes towards the light. She's not quite flesh and blood, that much is clear, but in many other ways she's much more real to the Ravens than other things. A mythological being that until today didn't exist.



In the real world Hannah groans and the healing rune on her chest briefly flickers as the Raven bursts from her chest again in a spray of blood, the healing magic and Hannah's nature, keeping the wound from being too severe. Gritting her teeth she swallows down the cry of pain that was on her lips.
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Thu Aug 24, 2017 12:30 am

"That was... a lot to take in," Sam says, catching her breath.
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Sean Hall » Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:09 am

"Well, should have seen that coming," Sean said before reinforcing the healing spell again. After a moment he looked over at Sam.

"Hopefully you learned something... useful? "
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Sean Hall
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Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:17 am

"Well ah... she might be... both older and newer than she seems?"
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Hannah » Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:27 am

"Really hope you got more than that, cause this hurt like a bitch..."
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Hannah
 

Re: A Sorcerer, his invisible friend, and a goddess

Postby Samantha McManus » Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:29 am

"Well okay, there's hundreds of rooms in you. Some of them are pretty old. I think every one's a death, too."

"But it also kind of feels like Sean... just made you. Or glued all of that together to make you."
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

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