>Put more burden on yourself, YJ! It'll be fun~
Fine PM me I'll see what I can do.
"Natural side-effects, eh? I've never had anything like those side effects before! Interesting. Nice to meet you Lucas, my name is Hinako.""Control? Nah, man. You got it backwards." Lucas sighs, as if what he's saying is a simple fact. "You, like, can't control nature. Nature controls you. And if nature decides I only know how to talk in squirrel-language for the next thirty minutes - well, that's the price I pay for a high. But one thing always stays the same." He flexes one arm, with all the force of a frayed string. "I can lift, like, crazy shit. There was one time one of the jocks asked me to go grab his football out of a tree for him, and I cut the middle man and hurled him at the branch. They're adding the medical bill to my student loan, but at least no-one bugs me anymore."
She puts a hand out before quickly withdrawing, as if she was too impatient to wait for you to shake her hand. She jots something down on her iWindow.
"So do you ever feel like you can control these "side-effects"? Or are they more random?"
"Hmm. And could you maybe tell me a bit more about this 'dealer lady friend' of yours? What does she say about these side effects?"
"Control? Nah, man. You got it backwards." Lucas sighs, as if what he's saying is a simple fact. "You, like, can't control nature. Nature controls you. And if nature decides I only know how to talk in squirrel-language for the next thirty minutes - well, that's the price I pay for a high. But one thing always stays the same." He flexes one arm, with all the force of a frayed string. "I can lift, like, crazy shit. There was one time one of the jocks asked me to go grab his football out of a tree for him, and I cut the middle man and hurled him at the branch. They're adding the medical bill to my student loan, but at least no-one bugs me anymore."
When you mention the dealer lady, he tenses slightly. "Her name's Esmerelda. Least, that's what she calls herself. Lives in a little caravan across from the college car park. I'd say she's weird, but there's, like, something about her that makes me think it's a bad idea. Like she'd make a voodoo doll of me and burn it if I badmouthed her."
"She's not a big dealer - hell, when I suggested her to a friend he couldn't even find the caravan. I think she only ever bothers selling her stuff to me. Dunno why, but it's cheap and it's pretty fucking potent. And she never gets caught up in the usual turf wars other dealers get into - one time I saw a buncha thugs hanging about the caravan on the way out. Dunno what happened to 'em, but the next day there were a coupla angry-looking frogs sitting next to the front door."
"I'm going to have to ask you to cease and desist right there, ma'am," comes a voice out of nowhere in particular. Why has nobody noticed this man in the room before? Even now, it is as if one's concentration starts to wander when they look at the government agent - that's obviously what he is, right? - standing just beside the door. Black suit, white shirt, black tie, generic face - the epitome of unremarkable.
"City ordnance section three paragraph five states that conducting an unlicensed consultation service is due a fine to be later determined by court or city office under federal laws section twelve."
His voice leaves no doubt that everything he states is the absolute truth.
"Furthermore, the nineteen-forty-four pact as instituted by Franklin D. Roosevely prohibits the proliferation and instruction of magic, magick, sorcery, witchcraft, shamanism, voodoo, alchemy and theurgy to individuals under the age of twenty-one."
The agent glances in the direction of the clearly underage student.
"As such, I would request that this gentleman leave the premises immediately, and a fine might be waived under Cooperation Treaty laws appendix one paragraph two. Otherwise, the offender and the owner of the infringing consultation service might have to be placed under arrest pending investigation as per the Control of Dangerous Individuals act of nineteen-ninety-one, signed by George H. W. Bush, which, might I add," says the agent, looking over his darkened glasses, "is a far less lenient legislation."
"Do not try to contest this, as, under the eighteen-sixty-three Witchcraft Doctrine, all agents appointed by the federal government have the authority to respond to perceived threats with maximum force."
The younger, nervous student gets up to his feet, several inches over five feet, the hooded sweater hangs more on him than him actually wearing it "I-I'm not under twenty-one sir..." He fusses, pulling out a fresh and unworn black leather wallet and swiftly pulls out a Driver's license, all his information in order.."Alexander Joseph Niten, eight-zero-nine East Kingsley Street, Ann Arbor Michigan, born November Twelfth, Nine-teen-ninety-one, Male, Five foot Five inches, Eyes brown, no restrictions." He lists off the information word for word on the license as it has it turned to the agent, at least looking a little more assured in himself.
"And see? This young man over here, even if everything you said was the absolute truth, is not engaging in any violations of the nature that you are proposing. So what's the problem? Loosen your tie and relax a bit, you're in good company. I'd offer you a hit from this bowl, but I have a feeling you would refuse it on principle."
She turns back to the nervous student.
"So Alexander (or do you prefer Alex?), yes I'm talking about the 'real stuff'. Does that mean anything to you? Real magick with a k?"
Alexander nods, letting out a sigh as he turns to Hinako, letting the Agent look over the license, "Ah...Alec really." He looks off to the side once more "Well I...I think something like this magick happened to me a few night ago." He looks down at the ground again, "T...there was this weird fuzzy thing, like a weird cat thing that showed up randomly in my apartment a few days ago, it just stared at me..." he swallows hard "I tried to get it out but it just ran off somewhere, so I went to sleep...next thing I know it's sitting on my chest when I woke up. It disappeared again when I batted at it to go away."
The nervous student looks around a bit, "It's been popping out from time to time, and sometimes when I try to get it to go away...well things just feel all off, things being heavier or lighter than usual, and one time a book was floating in air...but it stopped when I grabbed it..." He rubs his temples, "I thought I was going crazy or something was getting in the air to be honest."
"Mmm, I see. That does indeed sound problematic. It sounds like you're going through some.. changes. Some of which you have already noticed, and others that have yet to come." Hinako glances at the Agent, with a hint of wariness crossing her face. "I wouldn't try to do anything hasty, Mr... Smith? We'll go with Smith. You are a fish out of water, I'm afraid."
She turns back to face Alec. "My guess is that there is more to this 'cat' than meets the eye, and it sounds like it has been following you for a reason. It is probably trying to guide you to realizing something. Do you have any guesses to what that realization might be?"
[a gravity rush reference character? why the heck not!]
The agent scrutinizes the student's ID and, satisfied, hands it back.
"Everything is in order, here, sir, thank you for your co-operation."
The agent turns to the cocky owner, and coolly flips open his official identification. It does, almost expectedly, read his last name as Smith. His first is... Charlemagne? The unremarkableness seems to fade briefly, then reasserts itself as he starts speaking again.
"Under Government Action Transparency Accord of two-thousand-four, you will find that all information on the federal government's actions and laws regarding magic, magick, witchcraft, sorcery, voodoo et cetera, et cetera are entirely within the public domain. Should any member of the public learn to be able to read said documents, they are free to peruse them at their discretion."
After a few seconds' pause, the agent takes off his darkened glasses and loosens his posture, putting his ID back into a suit pocket.
"But you are entirely correct, ma'am, I was incorrect in my assessment. I will ensure my mistake is recorded and reported, that it would not occur again."
The agent scratches his nose, and for a moment, his unremarkable face seems to show a few features that were not there before - a mole here, a dimple there, a crooked tooth.
"Have you considered asking for the government's assistance in your supernatural issues? There are grants and rebates that can be offered as per the Cooperation Treaty, section eight."
He shakes his head a little "I...I'm not sure...It never really made much noise, even when it moves." He closes his eyes hard and opens them again, "It...did show up in a dream once, I think, saying 'you have the potential'...at that point I really just, couldn't sleep well without knowing what it was really...as you can kinda tell..." He looks to the side once more.
She reaches out and casually ruffles his hair. Although gloved, you can feel the soothing warmth of her hand on your scalp.
"You'll be fine, as long as you accept yourself and the path that you're being drawn towards. You can't be afraid to embrace your destiny when it comes time to make your decision. The truth is, the world is quite different than how it appears on the surface, and you're just beginning to be able to see the difference. "
"But don't worry, because everyone has to start somewhere! I think the first thing you should do is get some sleep. You seem pretty drained. I think this 'cat' of yours is more important than you realize, and you should work to understand its motives and potential as you understand these changes that are going on within you. It's a natural process and something you can't avoid, so the first thing that you need to do is accept change. Then everything can begin."
Her words resonate with you deeply. Your tiredness from having stayed up so late seems to catch up with you all at once, and the combination of hair ruffling and soothing words make it difficult to keep your eyes open.
"So would you say there's a general pattern to the weird shit that happens around you when you smoke? Do you vary what you intake depending on the sort of effects you'd like to occur, or something like that?""Well...sorta." Lucas waves his hand about. "There's always something a little different about how it looks. Different colours, textures, whatever. It's subtle, but I know enough to notice it. I think Esmerelda's picking stuff out for me, but she doesn't let me pick. It sorta comes with her stuff being so cheap.
Alec presses his head a little into that gloved hand, nodding a little "I...I understand" He tries to not doze off on the spot, yet his eyes still droop before he slumps back into his chair.
A woman sitting in the back row calls out to the agent in a flirtatious tone.
"Hey there handsome, we're all just here to have a fun time. Why don't you sit down and relax? Or shall I assist you in relaxing?"
The woman holds a devilish smile on her face while she uses her hand to brush her dyed blond and black hair. Her figure suggests she's in her late teens, but her blue eyes show a lot more experience of the world. She turns back to the woman in the front.
"You said your name was Hinoko, hun? The name's Mirai, but all my friends thought it'd be cute to call me Marie, so that's what I've stuck with my life."
The agent's entire illusion seems to weaken when the woman in the back calls to him. He scrambles to straighten his tie and put back on his sunglasses, this little ritual seeming to strengthen the effect surrounding him.
"The Technocracy, ma'am? You should contact the appropriate representative of the federal government if you come in contact with an individual you suspect to be part of their organization. Their radical marginalization philosophy operates strictly against the Freedom Act Amendment of two-thousand. It is the federal government's official stance that such individuals' beliefs are inflammatory, and are not permitted to hold positions of power. I have no reason to believe things are otherwise."
Lucas tenses at the side of the government agent(?), but on seeing Hinako defuse the man he lets himself relax again. He murmurs something about 'the man' and 'freedom'.
"Well...sorta." Lucas waves his hand about. "There's always something a little different about how it looks. Different colours, textures, whatever. It's subtle, but I know enough to notice it. I think Esmerelda's picking stuff out for me, but she doesn't let me pick. It sorta comes with her stuff being so cheap.
She always gives me some sorta clue about what I'm in for, though. Like, one time she told me to walk a mile in someone else's shoes, and then I spent half an hour in my roommate's body. Then there was the time she said I was a massive dick, and..." He blushes. "Y'know what? Let's not talk about that one."
"I see. How do you determine whether or not you're talking to 'the appropriate representative'? You I take it?" She smiles.
"The Technocracy has stepped up their game in recent months. I have a hunch that they were behind this recent election result, and it has become a bit more dangerous to live in this city since the 'Federal Government' has started to crack down on 'drugs'." The scarequotes in the air around key terms seems almost palpable by the way that she intonates the words, independent of the fact that she gestures the quotes with her fingers.
"Yes, ma'am, in the absence of an appointed official I am authorized to speak as a representative of the Supernatural Branch. As such, I want to assure you that the government wants nothing but the best for its citizens. If a breach of protocol has occurred during police activity, that is a very serious offense. I will report your comments to my superiors and ensure that an independent investigation is carried out if such is warranted."
"I was sent to investigate possible supernatural misbehavior, but I was not informed that there would be a civilian contact. I will have to submit paperwork regarding official co-operation. If you do not mind, that is, ma'am - it would make legislation much clearer on many matters."
The agent's expression grows stern.
"If, however, secretarial and enforcement issues are as bad as you say, then it is clear that the local authorities will need consultation on proper procedure, and I will have to investigate breaches of protocol in the action of other federal agents in the area."
Charlemagne's expression softens, and he takes off his sunglasses again.
"I'm just doing my job, ma'am, so I cannot accept any recompensation from you. I would be grateful, however, if you agreed to become an officially-registered source - for this operation solely, of course and to make sure," he stresses, "to refer civilians who are having legal trouble with state or federal authority to me first of all. A lot of problems occur when citizens are unaware of the breadth of rights they are given, you see. I am very familiar with legislation, both modern and historical, and should be able to assist them, provided their qualms are legitimate."
[Oh son of a bitch Anthy should have told me about this sooner, I'm always game for oWoD. SONS OF ETHER HO! Also, heyo Nobu, Rou, and Fightest]
Someone, the gender impossible to determine behind an array of charred and grease stained rags probably intended to protect the face from... well, what's currently covering them, to be quite frank, not to mention a leather jacket and gloves. "Bwah, sorry." s/he looks up from something she was tinkering with. "Was distracted. Elenore Meade, at your service." A strand of red hair can barely be seen. Well, the name and voice if anything would appear to confirm it as female. Probably.
She(?) sets down the device. "I dislike the description of Ether Science as magic... but... ah well." A pair of astonishingly clean (and oddly normal) glasses are slipped out from somewhere on her person and settled atop what can be seen of her nose. "I apologize for my poor sense of dress but I was in the middle of some important work when I became aware of this. Science doesn't perform itself you know." She sighs.
"Anyhow... you have my attention now. I've finished my last few calibrations..."
Reality starts to shimmer as you doze off, and Hinako's final words linger in your subconscience. "If you were a magical person, what kind of magical person would that look like? Try to come up with as vivid as an image as possible. The cut and color of your clothes, the way your clothes hang on your body, the sort of magic that a magical g## like yourself would be able to do. The instrument with which you affect reality."
As you rapidly plummet into the mists of sleep, your body feels weightless yet endlessly falling. Eventually, the falling sensation is gone as you realize you have finally hit 'the bottom'. The world is empty, save for a mirror that you can't help but look into. Within the reflection is that image that Hinako had guided you to generate.
And one other. The reflection of the thing that you have been afraid to face all along is behind yours in the mirror.
[attach=1]
Do you turn around to look behind you where the magical creature might be if this reflection obeyed all the laws of physics? Or do you study your own appearance first?
"Hinako. Close enough. Nice to meet you Marie." She extends a hand in greeting, and offers her the next pass of herbs.
"So what brings you here, I might ask? Are you interested in a part-time job? I have all kinds of tasks that need doing, suited to your particular.. skillset. Of course, that all depends on what you'd be willing and able to do."
"Well... It monitors fluxes in the lesser Ether, providing an early warning about events of interest... except I seem to have built this button into it at some point. I'm not sure what the button does. I'm highly tempted to press it but..." Her finger wavers over it. "I don't remember what I hooked it up to. It could cause a large explosion or just be the alarm test button or it could do something wonderful. I'll have to check my notes sometime."
"Regardless, it's related to my latest research on..." She drones on for a bit in highly technical language before suddenly realizing that she's probably lost everyone in the room. "Ehehehe, sorry. It's just so *fascinating*, all of it. All the possibilities!"
Her smile, barely visible behind her face protection, fades. "And of course the technocracy desires to stifle those possibilities. Set hard limits on what can and cannot be researched or made... Small minded fools..."
Alec stares into the mirror, seeing himself in a unique wardrobe; a sapphire blue duster lined with white fur along the inside, cuffs and collar of the coat. Denim of a similar color poke out from under the pair of black leather chaps that protect his legs as they lead down to similar shin high boots with the needlework etching out white outlines of serpentine Dragons against the black leather of the pointed toe boots. The white bandanna covered in blue roses now wrapped around his neck as his hair is now free, what was pure black has now turned gradient, shifting from a strong violet at the roots to pure black at the tips. Across his chest and his waist sits a bandolier and gunslinger's belt, the first's pockets are each filled with silver cased bullets while the second's pockets are stuffed with thicker shells, and holstered on his left is a revolver straight out of a western film, an ivory white handle and steel that shines silver like the casings of the bullets across his chest, two barrels extend from the shooting iron, the first like any other revolver, rifled and lengthier than the other barrel, located at the center of the pistol, smooth-bore and bigger in diameter to fit the shells across his hips. The young man stretches and swings his arms, a glance at his back shows a similar needle work of a dragon across the back of the duster, while rifling through the pockets he finds a pair of knuckle dusters mirroring the revolver in how they shine. The outfit sands the loose duster fits snug to his body, if not skin tight, and despite his light frame, short size, and feminine features, he gives off an aura of grit and strength, a small smile across his face as he looks straight at himself in the eyes, having taken on a violet to match the gradient color in his hair.
The young man continues to look himself over for a few moments longer, before his eyes shift to look at the creature in the mirror again, his hands balling into fists as he grasps at nothing, trying to remain calm, closing his eyes as he turns to where the creature would be, and slowly opening his eyes to it.
Marie lets off a slight chuckle.
"Sorry hun, I'll treat you to dinner later. Anyways, as you can see, my body hasn't aged past 16 for quite some time now. While it has brought in the customers from my previous job, I've been a bit tired from it and I'm looking for somethin' else to do to pass the time. Some weird things have happened since I stopped aging.
"Hmm..." Himiko casually reaches over and presses the aforementioned button.
"H-hey, wait, don'-" The device sparks and falls apart. "'t touch that." She sighs... "Ah well... back to the drawing board... This is going to take forever." She grumbles. "I'm... I'm going to go work on fixing this now."
Charlemagne takes off his jacket and sunglasses, loosens his tie and moves to help Himiko with the student. With the comforting costume gone, the illusion finally shatters to present a man in his mid-thirties with light onset of pattern baldness. His eager smile shows a crooked incisor despite many repeat dentist visits, and his ears are clearly just a bit too large for his head.
When he speaks, even his measured monotone is gone, replaced with a light Southern drawl.
"Thanks, ma'am, I'll start on the paperwork rightaway. As for, as you put 'em, "tricks," well, don't you know, the ol' Witch-hunter doctrines set up by Abe Lincoln's regime still work just fine today. I try not to bring out the hat and armor too often, and the sword stays put with them, but they're a nice deterrent if someone decides to get downright feisty. Ol' Abe wrote it himself," Charlemagne's voice changes to his official one for the quote, "It is not proper for a man of the government to be threatened by the very forces he deigns to manage."
He grins again and winks at Himiko. "It means that the President himself decreed that folks like me can't be harmed by magic when pursuing our duty. And there's no greater power than that."
[I want to fit in somehow that the law and protocol that Charlemagne knows so well also have some supernatural element to them and only work when applied properly - but work very well when they do, but that fits far more to a later reveal based on the narrative structure we have going.]
~*Alec's transformation*~
As you reach out and attempt to touch the mirror, the mirror shatters and crumbles into dust, falling slowly to the ground and evaporating as if a fine mist. Your world is once again cloaked in darkness. Yet you are not scared. You've never felt so courageus or empowered as you do in this present moment. You feel like you could take on the world, and make reality itself your bitch.
It is then that you awake, and realize that you are standing in a dark tiny room. No sooner do you think that it might be nice to have some light that a shimmer of pale begins to emit from your clothing as they begin molding to match the shape, color, and texture of the clothes in your dream.
Feeling confident, you put one hand on the wall adjacent to you, and can somehow intuit the fact that this wall is actually a slideable panel and that you must be in some kind of booth. Before you can think of how you can get out of this room, you feel yourself mentally 'push' against the door as it slides open to reveal Hinako's workshop. You hadn't gone anywhere after all, it seems.
You realize that you had been inside of some kind of booth-like contraption with dials and switches lining the sides. It seems the 'wardrobifier', or whatever this contraption is, has managed to recreate every detail from your memory of the dream, except for few minor details: your bandolier and gunslinger's belt are empty, the black leather duster seems to be a bit more form fitting and slender, and the black leather chaps have been replaced with a short pleated black leather skirt that falls to mid thigh, showing off your hair-free legs to the world.
Hinako feigns innocence. "Oh, so you were a girl after all? My mistake. You can come back and sit by us now, i'm sure you have a lot of questions that need answering after that 'nap' of yours. "
(OOC: Minor detail, the Duster itself was Sapphire blue, though everything else is correct, except for the obvious things :derp: )
"...G....Girl?-...." He looks down at himself, suddenly going flushed red all over his face as he tries to hide inside of he wardrobifier "I-I'm a guy! S-Something messed up and changed what I was thinking of!" He whimpers and fidgets, peeking out a small bit from behind the slightly opened device, both his hair and eyes having taken on a violet tint, the first in a gradient manner that leads to it being black at the tips.
Fixed. :3
"Aw, don't worry about it! You're cute anyway, so why does it matter if it screwed up a little bit huh?" Hinako giggles.
"B-Because I-I'm in a skiiirt" He whines, his face still flushed red "Pleeease c-can I get a redo o-or something?" his stammering continues, extremely flustered and embarrassed~
Charlemagne looks unimpressed.
"Ma'am," he says to Hinako, "while we will have to talk at length about the extremely serious allegations you have presented, the issue with Mr. Niten needs to be addressed more immediately. This is clearly a violation of the contract law that has been maintained since eighteen-ninety-one that was drawn up to prevent specifically such situations. In other words, your client was uninformed of the full repercussions of his work here, and suffered through no fault of his own. It is a penalizable offense, ma'am."
Charlemagne looks unimpressed.
"Ma'am," he says to Hinako, "while we will have to talk at length about the extremely serious allegations you have presented, the issue with Mr. Niten needs to be addressed more immediately. This is clearly a violation of the contract law that has been maintained since eighteen-ninety-one that was drawn up to prevent specifically such situations. In other words, your client was uninformed of the full repercussions of his work here, and suffered through no fault of his own. It is a penalizable offense, ma'am."
"Oh fiiine, suit yourself." She snickers, before walking over to the Wardrobifier and pulling a large lever setting the mode from ♀ to ♂.
"Interesting. Now, would you say that you met Esmerelda around the time this weird stuff started to occur? Or did you meet her afterwards?" She pauses to think of what to say next. "And.. have you considered the possibility that she's been giving you placebos, and your mind is the one producing these effects on your own?"He ponders the idea for a moment. "Not really. It's...random, almost, when I smoke normal weed. I tried to think of something else when I smoked Esmerelda's stuff but in the end it always does what she wants it to. Maybe she gets her weed from somewhere special, or something. Either way, I always get the whole hulk-smash thing, no matter what I smoke."
"Uhhh..." Lucas stares at what was formerly Alec and is now...he's really not sure how to describe it, honestly. "OK, either Esmerelda spiked my breakfast this morning or you just turned into a chick."
He cringes. That happened to him once after a joint. He will never try speed dating again.
"Uhhh..." Lucas stares at what was formerly Alec and is now...he's really not sure how to describe it, honestly. "OK, either Esmerelda spiked my breakfast this morning or you just turned into a chick."
He cringes. That happened to him once after a joint. He will never try speed dating again.
He ponders the idea for a moment. "Not really. It's...random, almost, when I smoke normal weed. I tried to think of something else when I smoked Esmerelda's stuff but in the end it always does what she wants it to. Maybe she gets her weed from somewhere special, or something. Either way, I always get the whole hulk-smash thing, no matter what I smoke."
[OOC Translation: I don't want to be able to get specific weed-powers at will because that's sort of broken. I figure there might be an order to it but only Esmerelda knows it. Hence I'd rather go for 'whatever the GM feels like putting Lucas through'. :3]
Alec huffs a little and looks to the side, "...My family kinda leans in that direction in the genetic pool..."
"Leans in that direction? What do you mean, there are a lot of girls in your gene pool?"