Post by Ammie on Aug 13, 2013 8:32:29 GMT -8
Ammie's recent communion with the "Man in the Dark Corner" and his companion the "Woman Behind Me" had answered few questions, but had given her enough to go on so that she knew where to begin. Unfortunately, she knew of no greater expert on the specifics of her condition than her brother. Again, she prepared the complicated ritual of summoning that had brought him to her when she'd sought answers about Jule's disappearance, but this time he refused to answer her call. Amaryllis checked each step of the ritual, and came to the conclusion that he was teaching her a lesson in respect. She wondered just how much of a demon prince her brother had been forced to become. In any case, she was now left with the only other path forward - she had to go to him.
The hell dimensions were easy to access these days, but in doing so from one of the three known portals, one only re-lives the events of Wicker's rebellion in it's most crucial turning points. It had long been theorized that these fragments were merely memories - the result of Sheol itself sealing off a wound as a body would. Unable to entirely grip the consequences of it's master's defeat, or perhaps in an attempt to save him, Sheol now pushed these events into a pocket of reality "awaiting validation" - an interesting trick of the fourth-dimensional beings, if correct.
Ammie's solution to the problem involved a theory based on a theory, and included a hopeful hunch. If the dimension was reacting to the fall of Eblis, then the weakest point in the shard-realm would be at the initial wound - Eblis' defeat. She would have to go back to that loop of time, defeat him again, and then find a way to call out to her brother from that spot. On the revelation of her plan, Tess, Sera, Victoria, and Wendy had quickly volunteered as escorts.
Since she assumed that (as had always been the case before) one of the two hitch-hikers would be in control while they explored Sheol, she prepared a way around the problem, and put her faith once more in the hands of her best friend. Ammie prepared a charm, to be used on herself - a chicken's wishbone, set with specific wards and bindings that would incapacitate her and put her in a state of psychic pain great enough to attract her brother's attention. If broken in front of the portal at the end of the time-loop, it should be a strong enough signal to bring Wicker to them, while also taking care of whatever disruptive mischief the hitch-hikers would have brought to bare. She would give it to Tess, and explain that it was a summoning charm.
A little time passed, and the group stood victorious over the fallen ghost of one of hell's ancient architects, Eblis the Fallen Star. As predicted, Ammie had not been in control of herself for some time. Her powers flowed fast and loose, destructive magicks flooding out of her without any of the (now revealed to be even greater than imagined) restraint she normally employed. The ghostly raiment of her brother's hellish camouflage clung to her skin, where her original clothing had burned away, and her eyes were pools of fellfire. She walked across Eblis' crushed vessel casually ans she approached the portal, sighing with relief, as if she'd just completed a work-out at the gym.
Tess looked around, distinctly noticing the lack of change in the scene from any other time she'd been through the time loop. "Well. We did it. We beat Eblis. What now? I don't see Wicker. Did it work?"
Ammie turned to face them, the soothing, lovely voice of the Woman ringing out like a crystal bell. "Hmm? Oh. Yes. Everything's fine! Thank you all."
"Then why are your eyes still glowing?" asked Wendy.
"And your voice is doing that thing." added Tess.
Ammie closed her eyes, and opened them again, sans fellfire. She greeted them with a smile that was not her own, but close enough for Victoria to breath a sigh of relief. Tess ignored this little change.
"Did we push past the echo?" she said, surveying the scene with her investigator's eye, with out fully disregarding Ammie. Her left hand slipped into her jacket pocket, and her fingers ran the length of the wishbone she'd been given. "Where's Wicker?"
Ammie shook her head and shrugged, as if completely satisfied with the outcome here. "I must have been mistaken, after all. It was only a theory."
Tess wasn't buying it. "You don't make mistakes like that Ammie."
Ammie's face fell to a scowl, and she bared her teeth at Tess as if she'd been insulted. The Man's caustic, fear-inducing scratch of a voice thundered out of her. "What the hell do you know about my mistakes?"
Tess stood firm. "I know a lot more than you think I do. I want Ammie back. Our Ammie. You're not welcome here anymore."
"I'm Amaryllis Wicker!" said the voice of every night-time fear, "The one and only, dollface. An' yer not qualified to make demands here. See.....this is something like my house. So GET OFF MY LAWN." A surge of power erupted from Ammie, enough to send a normal group sprinting away trailing urine. It had no such effect on her friends, merely setting their clothes aflutter as if by a strong gust of wind.
Tess frowned, pushed her glasses up, pulled out the wishbone and snapped it in two right before her eyes.
Ammie's whole body burst into a storm of green-black fire, flaring again each time she made the slightest movement. Her normal voice called out in horrible pained screams at each blast, and tears streamed down her face as she collapsed to all fours, tying to stay as still as possible. Victoria took a step forward then stopped, unsure as to what to do.
Tess could hardly believe her eyes. She's expected the bone to call Theodore Wicker. Expected him to appear and fix things. Nothing like this... "This is... a summoning spell?"
Wendy was standing firm, ready for anything, keeping her attention on both Tess and Ammie, but she staggered a little as the portal behind Ammie began to shimmer, and Theodore stepped through it wearing his usual placid, stoic non-smile.
Victoria looked at Theodore...so much more vibrant and latently powerful in reality than his echoes had been able to portray. She managed only a whisper. "Wicker..."
Wicker stood before them with his hands in his pockets, a man possessing all of the time in the world, patient and static, and yet full of motion, like a waterfall carving into a boulder. He took a few casual steps towards the group, looking them over with mild interest. "Miss Auerbach. Miss Gabel. And some new friends, I see. It's reassuring to notate the changes in her world. On occasion, it's the little things which give the infinite spans of time here their scope. Their frame of reference. Tell me - why do you persist in this blasted place. I've long sealed away the Howling's influence on your plane, save these now-toothless memories."
Tess had seen all this before. She was used to Wicker's blase disconnect, and didn't have the time for it right now. "We went through a lot of trouble to find you. Again.
Sera chimed in with her own stoic calm, born from having faced down entities like Wicker constantly. "Can't you use a phone or something? It'd make our lives much easier. Then again, the interns might not like demon prince lord of hell as a contact."
Wicker either didn't understand sarcasm, or worse, regarded every question as worthy of an answer. "Alas, such things would only age a thousand years before I could dial a number."
Tess picked up where she left off. "Your sister needs your help."
He crossed his arms, looking at Ammie. "Hardly. She stands here stronger than I'd dare imagine. I think in fact she'd do little with my help."
Victoria piped up from behind the group, her voice thin and weak. "She put herself through a lot just get get back here and get your attention. She has to have done that for a reason."
Tess tried not to yell. "Wicker...she's not herself. She's in pain can't you see?"
Wicker nodded. "I do. A most potent charm, of her own making, and your implementation." He pointed to the wishbone, broken in Tess's hand.
Tess shook her head. "No...not that. Her soul. It's divided!"
Wicker paused. His placidity faded for just a moment, his neutral expression giving off just the barest hint of concern as he looked Ammie over like a coroner appraises a skull. "Fascinating."
Tess bit down, taking a step forward as her patience wore thin. "Fascinating?! You.... you arrogant... You remember having a soul right? It can't have been so long ago for you that you forgot that much! Ammie didn't ask for this. She's tied to our world, not yours!"
Wicker looked up from Ammie, putting his hands back in his pockets with the thumbs sticking out. "And it does me good to know it. There was a time when it could have gone either way. I prefer her this way."
Tess had her composure back, but her voice was still resolute. "Me too. Can you help? Repair her soul, or help us figure out how to?"
Wicker furrowed his brow as if he didn't understand the request. "But her soul is repaired." Tess's face now mirrored his confusion. "What has she told you of her past? Of her first visit here, to me?"
Tess considered. "When she came with AEgir? I read the case reports..." when Wicker responds with a slight shake of the head, Tess thought back farther. "Back in the 80s you mean? When she came to our time? She was looking for you... she pushed through some kind of membrane...fell...woke up in Asia..something like that?"
Wicker furrowed his brow, brushing the hair out of Ammie's eyes for a moment - the gesture is the same one that Ammie performs constantly, and although small, it is so bracingly familiar and uncharacteristically tender that it's chilling.
"She has told you nothing then. Or else the trauma was too great for her mind to bear..." His normal gaze falls on Tess, with a hint of a smile. "I applaud your loyalty. And I am glad that she has finally made a friend. I'll tell you this. The fragments which plague her did not take their origins of these realms."
Victoria stepped up from behind. Her hair was disturbed, and there was dust and debris on one side of her clothing as if she'd been on the ground. "If not here then from where?"
Wicker shrugged at Vi. "It's a good question, but one I'm not certain enough to answer."
Sera scoffed. "Helpful as always.."
Wicker regarded her impartially. "To the perceptive."
Wendy fought an urge to shoot Wicker in the face, and silently wondered if Sera's violence was contagious.
Tess spoke up, pushing for answers. "So this is going to keep happening? What's the risk of one of those fragments taking over? It seems to be exacerbated by coming to Hell...you can see why we could assume they were from here."
Wicker steepled his fingers, and took a few step around Ammie, examining her. "These shifts are brought about by extreme emotion, and the suppression of her will. Emotions are such flawed things, and you humans must constantly struggle against them....I lament that they exist at all."
This was getting nowhere, and Tess was almost at her Wicker-limit. "Well Teddy, not all of us have the chutzpah to cut our own hearts out. Is there anything we can do to slow down or stop the transitions?"
From behind, Sera turned to Wendy, her voice low and unphased by the events. "Are we allowed to call him Teddy now? I like that; Teddy."
Wicker, overhearing, looked at Sera. "I do not care what you call me. I have had worse names. Though, I know that word is special to her, and she may hold it as hers. A connection to the brother, long dead."
Sera stared at him, blinked, and made a neutral noise. "Is Teddy Bear taking it too far...?"
Tess looked back at her. "Sera."
Sera shrugged. "Sorry."
Wicker looked at Sera with that I'm way too enlightened to give a shit stare that did nothing but piss her off. He turned to Tess to answer her. "They were with her long ago. I remember them as dreams. They weren't always powerful. Something happened to feed them. To give them residence. I would take your search to Agartha, where I sent her from here. The first time."
Tess nodded, glad to receive some actual answers. "You're saying that Gaia might have given them power? They're feeding off her bee-ness?"
Wicker seemed to ponder how to answer. "Not directly. Not on purpose. Life does as life does." Theodore waves his hand over Ammie. The ghostly clothing disperses, the ward and binding fails, and she collapses to the ground, deep asleep.
Victoria rushes to her side, checking her vitals. "I think she'll be okay...physically..." she worried over Ammie with a frown, and smoothed Ammie's hair.
Tess looked around at her companions. "So...does anyone have Gaia's number?"
Vi looked up at her. "I don't think she takes calls."
Theodore, standing back, added his two cents. "It's funny you should say that. Lately, she's been making them all the time."
Tess didn't even look up at him. "NOW he jokes..."
He didn't laugh. "Am I?"
They ignored him. Tess turned to the others, and sighed. "Well we know they're not demonic, and we know that it's not Hell that's fueling them. Baby steps I guess."
Wendy looked down at Ammie, then turned to Tess and the others. "Shouldn't we get her someplace less...Hell-ish?
Sera nodded. "Ammie might be more at home in Hell but we can't survive here for an extended period so we should get her back with us." Tess gingerly put Ammie's arm over her shoulder as to lift her up, and Sera bent down and took the other arm, struggling a little, surprisingly. "Back to the house?"
From behind them, Wicker spoke up, his voice a little more pensive than before. "Thank you. For doing what I can no longer do."
Tess turned her head a little to face him. "Wicker. Next time just answer your phone?" She looked at Sera over Ammie's back, with a grin. "I'll have to tell Bach about this, he's gonna flip."
Wicker smiles, and stepped to the side so that they could leave. "One more thing. Tell her to look at the bag more carefully."
Tess sighed, not even turning this time. "Sure...because that isn't cryptic at all. It's one of those big brother things?"
The team carried Ammie through the portal, delivering her safely home.
((Sorry it took so long to get this one up here - there was a lot of editing and such, but I think I managed to keep most of the dialogue unchanged, just moved around to make more sense and account for my slow typing. Tell me what you think!
There'll be more as the story catches fire, and people start figuring out little clues and things.))
The hell dimensions were easy to access these days, but in doing so from one of the three known portals, one only re-lives the events of Wicker's rebellion in it's most crucial turning points. It had long been theorized that these fragments were merely memories - the result of Sheol itself sealing off a wound as a body would. Unable to entirely grip the consequences of it's master's defeat, or perhaps in an attempt to save him, Sheol now pushed these events into a pocket of reality "awaiting validation" - an interesting trick of the fourth-dimensional beings, if correct.
Ammie's solution to the problem involved a theory based on a theory, and included a hopeful hunch. If the dimension was reacting to the fall of Eblis, then the weakest point in the shard-realm would be at the initial wound - Eblis' defeat. She would have to go back to that loop of time, defeat him again, and then find a way to call out to her brother from that spot. On the revelation of her plan, Tess, Sera, Victoria, and Wendy had quickly volunteered as escorts.
Since she assumed that (as had always been the case before) one of the two hitch-hikers would be in control while they explored Sheol, she prepared a way around the problem, and put her faith once more in the hands of her best friend. Ammie prepared a charm, to be used on herself - a chicken's wishbone, set with specific wards and bindings that would incapacitate her and put her in a state of psychic pain great enough to attract her brother's attention. If broken in front of the portal at the end of the time-loop, it should be a strong enough signal to bring Wicker to them, while also taking care of whatever disruptive mischief the hitch-hikers would have brought to bare. She would give it to Tess, and explain that it was a summoning charm.
A little time passed, and the group stood victorious over the fallen ghost of one of hell's ancient architects, Eblis the Fallen Star. As predicted, Ammie had not been in control of herself for some time. Her powers flowed fast and loose, destructive magicks flooding out of her without any of the (now revealed to be even greater than imagined) restraint she normally employed. The ghostly raiment of her brother's hellish camouflage clung to her skin, where her original clothing had burned away, and her eyes were pools of fellfire. She walked across Eblis' crushed vessel casually ans she approached the portal, sighing with relief, as if she'd just completed a work-out at the gym.
Tess looked around, distinctly noticing the lack of change in the scene from any other time she'd been through the time loop. "Well. We did it. We beat Eblis. What now? I don't see Wicker. Did it work?"
Ammie turned to face them, the soothing, lovely voice of the Woman ringing out like a crystal bell. "Hmm? Oh. Yes. Everything's fine! Thank you all."
"Then why are your eyes still glowing?" asked Wendy.
"And your voice is doing that thing." added Tess.
Ammie closed her eyes, and opened them again, sans fellfire. She greeted them with a smile that was not her own, but close enough for Victoria to breath a sigh of relief. Tess ignored this little change.
"Did we push past the echo?" she said, surveying the scene with her investigator's eye, with out fully disregarding Ammie. Her left hand slipped into her jacket pocket, and her fingers ran the length of the wishbone she'd been given. "Where's Wicker?"
Ammie shook her head and shrugged, as if completely satisfied with the outcome here. "I must have been mistaken, after all. It was only a theory."
Tess wasn't buying it. "You don't make mistakes like that Ammie."
Ammie's face fell to a scowl, and she bared her teeth at Tess as if she'd been insulted. The Man's caustic, fear-inducing scratch of a voice thundered out of her. "What the hell do you know about my mistakes?"
Tess stood firm. "I know a lot more than you think I do. I want Ammie back. Our Ammie. You're not welcome here anymore."
"I'm Amaryllis Wicker!" said the voice of every night-time fear, "The one and only, dollface. An' yer not qualified to make demands here. See.....this is something like my house. So GET OFF MY LAWN." A surge of power erupted from Ammie, enough to send a normal group sprinting away trailing urine. It had no such effect on her friends, merely setting their clothes aflutter as if by a strong gust of wind.
Tess frowned, pushed her glasses up, pulled out the wishbone and snapped it in two right before her eyes.
Ammie's whole body burst into a storm of green-black fire, flaring again each time she made the slightest movement. Her normal voice called out in horrible pained screams at each blast, and tears streamed down her face as she collapsed to all fours, tying to stay as still as possible. Victoria took a step forward then stopped, unsure as to what to do.
Tess could hardly believe her eyes. She's expected the bone to call Theodore Wicker. Expected him to appear and fix things. Nothing like this... "This is... a summoning spell?"
Wendy was standing firm, ready for anything, keeping her attention on both Tess and Ammie, but she staggered a little as the portal behind Ammie began to shimmer, and Theodore stepped through it wearing his usual placid, stoic non-smile.
Victoria looked at Theodore...so much more vibrant and latently powerful in reality than his echoes had been able to portray. She managed only a whisper. "Wicker..."
Wicker stood before them with his hands in his pockets, a man possessing all of the time in the world, patient and static, and yet full of motion, like a waterfall carving into a boulder. He took a few casual steps towards the group, looking them over with mild interest. "Miss Auerbach. Miss Gabel. And some new friends, I see. It's reassuring to notate the changes in her world. On occasion, it's the little things which give the infinite spans of time here their scope. Their frame of reference. Tell me - why do you persist in this blasted place. I've long sealed away the Howling's influence on your plane, save these now-toothless memories."
Tess had seen all this before. She was used to Wicker's blase disconnect, and didn't have the time for it right now. "We went through a lot of trouble to find you. Again.
Sera chimed in with her own stoic calm, born from having faced down entities like Wicker constantly. "Can't you use a phone or something? It'd make our lives much easier. Then again, the interns might not like demon prince lord of hell as a contact."
Wicker either didn't understand sarcasm, or worse, regarded every question as worthy of an answer. "Alas, such things would only age a thousand years before I could dial a number."
Tess picked up where she left off. "Your sister needs your help."
He crossed his arms, looking at Ammie. "Hardly. She stands here stronger than I'd dare imagine. I think in fact she'd do little with my help."
Victoria piped up from behind the group, her voice thin and weak. "She put herself through a lot just get get back here and get your attention. She has to have done that for a reason."
Tess tried not to yell. "Wicker...she's not herself. She's in pain can't you see?"
Wicker nodded. "I do. A most potent charm, of her own making, and your implementation." He pointed to the wishbone, broken in Tess's hand.
Tess shook her head. "No...not that. Her soul. It's divided!"
Wicker paused. His placidity faded for just a moment, his neutral expression giving off just the barest hint of concern as he looked Ammie over like a coroner appraises a skull. "Fascinating."
Tess bit down, taking a step forward as her patience wore thin. "Fascinating?! You.... you arrogant... You remember having a soul right? It can't have been so long ago for you that you forgot that much! Ammie didn't ask for this. She's tied to our world, not yours!"
Wicker looked up from Ammie, putting his hands back in his pockets with the thumbs sticking out. "And it does me good to know it. There was a time when it could have gone either way. I prefer her this way."
Tess had her composure back, but her voice was still resolute. "Me too. Can you help? Repair her soul, or help us figure out how to?"
Wicker furrowed his brow as if he didn't understand the request. "But her soul is repaired." Tess's face now mirrored his confusion. "What has she told you of her past? Of her first visit here, to me?"
Tess considered. "When she came with AEgir? I read the case reports..." when Wicker responds with a slight shake of the head, Tess thought back farther. "Back in the 80s you mean? When she came to our time? She was looking for you... she pushed through some kind of membrane...fell...woke up in Asia..something like that?"
Wicker furrowed his brow, brushing the hair out of Ammie's eyes for a moment - the gesture is the same one that Ammie performs constantly, and although small, it is so bracingly familiar and uncharacteristically tender that it's chilling.
"She has told you nothing then. Or else the trauma was too great for her mind to bear..." His normal gaze falls on Tess, with a hint of a smile. "I applaud your loyalty. And I am glad that she has finally made a friend. I'll tell you this. The fragments which plague her did not take their origins of these realms."
Victoria stepped up from behind. Her hair was disturbed, and there was dust and debris on one side of her clothing as if she'd been on the ground. "If not here then from where?"
Wicker shrugged at Vi. "It's a good question, but one I'm not certain enough to answer."
Sera scoffed. "Helpful as always.."
Wicker regarded her impartially. "To the perceptive."
Wendy fought an urge to shoot Wicker in the face, and silently wondered if Sera's violence was contagious.
Tess spoke up, pushing for answers. "So this is going to keep happening? What's the risk of one of those fragments taking over? It seems to be exacerbated by coming to Hell...you can see why we could assume they were from here."
Wicker steepled his fingers, and took a few step around Ammie, examining her. "These shifts are brought about by extreme emotion, and the suppression of her will. Emotions are such flawed things, and you humans must constantly struggle against them....I lament that they exist at all."
This was getting nowhere, and Tess was almost at her Wicker-limit. "Well Teddy, not all of us have the chutzpah to cut our own hearts out. Is there anything we can do to slow down or stop the transitions?"
From behind, Sera turned to Wendy, her voice low and unphased by the events. "Are we allowed to call him Teddy now? I like that; Teddy."
Wicker, overhearing, looked at Sera. "I do not care what you call me. I have had worse names. Though, I know that word is special to her, and she may hold it as hers. A connection to the brother, long dead."
Sera stared at him, blinked, and made a neutral noise. "Is Teddy Bear taking it too far...?"
Tess looked back at her. "Sera."
Sera shrugged. "Sorry."
Wicker looked at Sera with that I'm way too enlightened to give a shit stare that did nothing but piss her off. He turned to Tess to answer her. "They were with her long ago. I remember them as dreams. They weren't always powerful. Something happened to feed them. To give them residence. I would take your search to Agartha, where I sent her from here. The first time."
Tess nodded, glad to receive some actual answers. "You're saying that Gaia might have given them power? They're feeding off her bee-ness?"
Wicker seemed to ponder how to answer. "Not directly. Not on purpose. Life does as life does." Theodore waves his hand over Ammie. The ghostly clothing disperses, the ward and binding fails, and she collapses to the ground, deep asleep.
Victoria rushes to her side, checking her vitals. "I think she'll be okay...physically..." she worried over Ammie with a frown, and smoothed Ammie's hair.
Tess looked around at her companions. "So...does anyone have Gaia's number?"
Vi looked up at her. "I don't think she takes calls."
Theodore, standing back, added his two cents. "It's funny you should say that. Lately, she's been making them all the time."
Tess didn't even look up at him. "NOW he jokes..."
He didn't laugh. "Am I?"
They ignored him. Tess turned to the others, and sighed. "Well we know they're not demonic, and we know that it's not Hell that's fueling them. Baby steps I guess."
Wendy looked down at Ammie, then turned to Tess and the others. "Shouldn't we get her someplace less...Hell-ish?
Sera nodded. "Ammie might be more at home in Hell but we can't survive here for an extended period so we should get her back with us." Tess gingerly put Ammie's arm over her shoulder as to lift her up, and Sera bent down and took the other arm, struggling a little, surprisingly. "Back to the house?"
From behind them, Wicker spoke up, his voice a little more pensive than before. "Thank you. For doing what I can no longer do."
Tess turned her head a little to face him. "Wicker. Next time just answer your phone?" She looked at Sera over Ammie's back, with a grin. "I'll have to tell Bach about this, he's gonna flip."
Wicker smiles, and stepped to the side so that they could leave. "One more thing. Tell her to look at the bag more carefully."
Tess sighed, not even turning this time. "Sure...because that isn't cryptic at all. It's one of those big brother things?"
The team carried Ammie through the portal, delivering her safely home.
((Sorry it took so long to get this one up here - there was a lot of editing and such, but I think I managed to keep most of the dialogue unchanged, just moved around to make more sense and account for my slow typing. Tell me what you think!
There'll be more as the story catches fire, and people start figuring out little clues and things.))