Skip Navigation
You are (not) Complete (Alicia, Spirit Hunt)
|
Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Aug 22, 2017 0:19:36 GMT
"Here we are, kid," Cassandra said, putting a hand on Elliot's shoulder to stop him from accidentally wandering off on her. There was a slightly proud smile on her face as she looked down at her son. Sure, he might've been all gloom and doom lately, but she saw a little smile start to twitch its way onto his face. With how much of a dork Elliot was, she knew having a lot of cool stuff with historical value to look at would do the trick for finally boosting his mood. "Didn't think I'd find one of these, huh? I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve."
"You're so busy, though," Elliot said, quiet. He tried to force the smile onto his face, already a bit of guilt from being a burden starting to settle on his shoulders. "I don't want to have to interrupt you or anything. I'm fine. Really, I promise!"
His mom huffed in response, rolling her eyes. "Come on, now. I've been busy for the last, what? Year and a half?" she said. "Already let enough of this crazy vacation slip past me. And that's while it was still a vacation. I might not have been quick enough on the draw to spend this time with your brother, but at least we can still have a nice day, right?"
Elliot couldn't really argue with that. He missed family time almost as much as he missed Isaac. Why would he look that gift horse in the mouth? He relented, letting out a sigh as he looked towards the door of the antique store. "Yeah," he said, rapidly warming back up. He couldn't keep hiding from everybody not named Kuu forever. "Yeah. That sounds really nice. Thanks, mom."
"That's the spirit," Cassandra said, following after Elliot as he opened the door. "And hey, watch your head, will ya? With that growth spurt of yours I'm surprised you haven't knocked it clean off your shoulders."
"Mooooom . . ." Elliot groaned, floored by how terrible that mom joke was. Besides, he hadn't grown that much, had he? He was just wearing shorts for the summer now, that's all. Nevertheless, at least it was a groan of mock-agony and not a groan of real-agony. Feeling a little bit better about today, he made his way into the antique store.
He was so focused on his mom's horrible joke that he didn't even recognize the tell-tale beep of his Digivice.
|
|
|
Post by Alicia Westfield on Aug 25, 2017 3:21:43 GMT
“So why are you insisting we go here again...?” Alicia muttered to herself as she walked up the street the antique store was on. Apparently on of her advisors had been poking around somewhere or other while she was asleep the previous night and found out about this place. So she was surprised to find him so amped up when morning came. And more then a little worried, which was a big red flag.
”Well, I had some old gear back when I was alive... things that could be mistaken for cool little trinkets that don’t actually do anything. Dangerous things at that, and in my experience shops like this wind up stumbling across at least one such thing, if not multiples. So I would appreciate it very much if you humored me in case we find one such object and need to acquire it before it falls into malicious or naive hands.”
“So I’m basically playing bomb squad for you.” Alicia summarized with a soft groan, opening the door afterward and stepping inside.
”I wish I had a better way to summarize it but... yes...”
”If all goes well, the ‘bomb’ we defuse could wind up being a nice big power up for you once it’s reintegrated.” Kisara quipped with a grin only Alicia could see, the Steel Spirit Wielder rolling her eyes.
“What, you think a Spirit Totem could be here?” she asked, incredulous.
”Naw, nothing like that. Some extra little fragment that will let you better tap into what you already have. You actually have a pretty long way to go to fully maximizing your latest forms.”
Alicia stopped and blinked at that. “Really? They’re... pretty strong as-” She stopped, seeing something, or rather someone, out of the corner of her eye. Someone who should not be that tall, last she saw him. “... Is that...?”
”Haha! Our little ‘Princess’ grew like a blasted weed while he was cooped up!” the ice maiden quipped with a giggle. Only to be bonked on the head by Sol for bringing up the Halloween shenanigans. ”Ow.”
“Thank you.” Alicia muttered, slowly approaching before noticing the older woman beside him and quirking an eyebrow. “Hmm...”
”Discretion is prudent here, Alicia. If that is who I think it is in relation it Elliot himself.” Sol commented. Nodding to herself, Alicia took the dragon’s advice and shifted, putting herself in view of the younger Spirit User and making a point of scanning the shelves so as to pretend to have not noticed him.
|
|
|
Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Aug 25, 2017 20:33:16 GMT
Some people found antique shops really boring, and honestly they weren't the best for long-term stays. However, for a one time window shopper, they could be really fun experiences. This was almost five times the case for antique stores in another country, where the cultural differences of the artifacts made them all the more fascinating. Whether vases with gorgeous artwork on them or ornate suits of samurai armor, Elliot found himself glued to the displays as he walked past. It was like a museum where he could buy things! What could be cooler than that?
It helped that the store's owner occasionally walked by, answering many of Elliot's questions about the various exhibits within.
"That's an old replica Tanko helmet," he said as Elliot admired a rather plain-looking bronze helmet. "Armor like that's all the way from the fifth century."
"These are statuettes of the animals of the Zodiac. You said you're year of the horse, yeah?" he asked as Elliot peered down at some miniature statues. "Good. That's a hard working sign. You'll make your mother proud."
"This thing?" The store's owner looked up at a series of downright odd statues. Were they even real, or valuable? "Not quite sure. But they look cool, huh?" It seemed even antique store owners liked to have fun sometimes.
Elliot was so focused on the items on sale that he almost didn't notice the woman lingering in sight. As soon as he did, though, he could feel his heart drop. The events of the past two weeks, which Elliot had been trying his hardest to escape from, were now fresh on his mind again. Elliot had tried to stop her from worrying, mentioning that Isaac hadn't been feeling well recently, but he had been hoping that Isaac would be fixed up before he'd have to directly confront Alicia on the issue. And hell, he'd be totally fine with doing it on his own. Maybe not totally totally fine, but he'd at least grin and bear it. But in front of his mom? How would he be able to explain any of this, from the part where her son went into another dimension to turn into a monster to the part where a very attractive older woman was inordinately chummy with him. It was a parent's nightmare in several parts.
A bit of nervous sweat formed on his brow as Elliot put his hand in his pocket, peeking down to make sure he was sending the proper text to Alicia.
Please understand.
With that said, he went right back to admiring the exhibits. Alicia had to wait up for a bit, right? Elliot felt really bad about what amounted to a gentle brush-off, but at the same time he didn't want to risk a far greater shitstorm on the horizon of Alicia (or worse, Sol and Kisara) decided to make themselves known right now. Elliot could just hope she'd have the patience for it.
Considering what Alicia had been through the past few days? That was debatable at best.
|
|
|
Post by Alicia Westfield on Aug 25, 2017 23:54:54 GMT
She had hoped that by running into each other in close proximity that she could try to carefully arrange for some kind of interaction. Surely in such close quarters he couldn’t brush it off anymore, right? He had to know that all the dismissals were causing her no end of stress, right? Apparently not, considering when she checked her phone at the unique ring tone there was yet another brush off.
”Alicia...” Sol warned cautiously.
“No, enough is enough.” she shot back quietly, turning and practically marching towards the younger Spirit User and his presumed mother..
”It’s one thing to dismiss from a distance. But this? This is too much.” Kisara agreed, audibly fuming in the back of the redhead’s mind.
”You two, this is bound to end in disaster! Stop and think about it!”
“Elliot!” The bearer of Steel called him out in as happy a voice as she could. “I almost didn’t recognize you there for a second!” Alas, her voice was... fairly strained at that, making it more apparent that there was something bubbling under the surface. Then, in the hopes of at least bleeding off some of the awkwardness, she turned to Cassandra and gave a respectful bow.
“Mrs. Sunderland, I presume? Terribly sorry for intruding like this. I keep winding up bumping into Elliot and Isaac at times, usually when I’ve wound up getting turned around by accident. Bless their hearts though, they helped me find my way the first time around and because coincidence kept contriving to make meet ups happen, we’d exchange contact info and kept in touch.
I would’ve visited to introduce myself earlier but I’ve been so busy trying to get into a culinary class, and working as a mechanic is quite tiring so when I’ve recovered my day is basically over already.” Hopefully the older woman would buy her on the spot story and explanations. It was all true, really... just many of the details were omitted. “I’d been worried lately, since it had been a while since we last chatted even a little bit.”
Alicia had never noticed Sol groan, nor seen Kisara manifest behind her and poke out, arms folded and finger tapping on an upper arm. The ice maiden was putting far less work into disguising her frustration, but was quiet for now, curiously glancing between Elliot and Cassandra. And, as a spirit, she was somewhat transparent... and in her frustration she’d forgotten to manifest in a form that wouldn’t allow those unaware of the Digital World to not see her.
”Every one to the apocalypse shelters...” Sol grumbled under his breath, face palming.
|
|
|
Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Aug 26, 2017 4:44:27 GMT
Elliot's eyes widened as he saw Alicia outright storming over. That wasn't understanding. That wasn't understanding at all! The world seemed to go in slow motion as Elliot's heart caught in his chest, the poor boy looking around in every direction to try and find a way out of here. There had to be a bathroom, right? Hopefully a modern one and not just a bunch of antique chamber pots? Unfortunately, despite Elliot's best attempts, there was no exit. Alicia was storming over faster than he could've ever anticipated, and soon she was right in front of Elliot's face.
Her voice was obviously strained, even as she tried to put on a happy front. That hurt, even though Elliot tried to play off the comment about not being recognized with a somewhat uncomfortable laugh. "Y-yeah," he said, not even sure what else to say.
Equally uncomfortable, albeit for vastly different reasons, was Cassandra. Alicia may have been trying to endear herself to Cassandra, but the somewhat suspicious nature of her comments wasn't exactly helping. She was constantly "getting lost" and needing help from . . . a thirteen year old and a fifteen year old? And she bumped into these kids so often that she started exchanging phone numbers with them? And was so bent out of shape about not hearing from these literal children that she started looking to corner them in public? Yeah, it was no wonder that Cassandra wrapped a protective arm around Elliot, moving herself between him and Alicia.
"So, you chat with my son often," she said, heavily stressing the 'her son' part. Her voice was as cold as ice, and her eyes didn't leave Alicia's for a second. Except . . . wait, was that someone standing behind her? She looked somewhat translucent, but that couldn't be right, could it? Cassandra took her second to rub her eyes, hoping this was just some trick of the light, but quickly returned her focus to Alicia. "Forgive me if I'd like to know when and how."
The look in Elliot's eyes was pleading. Why couldn't everyone involved just . . . stop doing this?
|
|
|
Post by Alicia Westfield on Aug 26, 2017 7:05:55 GMT
Had she been a normal person still, she might’ve shied away under the chilly underbite the woman’s words carried. She really should’ve respected what it meant as well, given how protective Cassandra was being. As it was though? She knew things Mrs. Sunderland didn’t and thus she knew cornering the boy, however coincidental it was, was pretty much her only option to get back in contact with him. So the icy voice just washed over her without so much as eliciting an acknowledging twitch.
“I do. Unfortunately... Well, truth is stranger then fiction, I’ve learned lately. You’d have to see the kind of things I’d talk of to believe them. On top of that... it’s not my place to reveal those details either.” Folding her arms behind her back, she sighed softly. Only to jump when Kisara made a quip.
”I give that a four out of ten on the freeze scale, madam. Fairly impressive, but we’ve stared down much scarier things.”
Alicia shot a shocked glance over her shoulder as Kisara made herself known. “What. Are. You. Doing. Out!?” she hissed quietly, eyes wide. Kisara shrugged to herself.
”Same reason you took a mallet to the metaphorical ice. In for a penny, in for a pound.” the ice maiden fired back. ”Sol’s a dear, though, as long as we don’t go crazy, this won’t become a scene.”
”You idiots owe me so much right now...” Sol grumbled, only Alicia and Kisara being able to hear him.
Alicia grumbled under her breath. “Fine, Fine. I suppose I have no right to reprimand you for that logic. Just...” She trailed off and shook her head, looking back to Cassandra. “Ignoring her for a moment...” Kisara huffed at that comment, but Alicia indeed ignored her and carried on. “I get how bad this looks. Put us in each other’s shoes and I’d act the same, I understand. We’re coming from the same kind of place... the only difference is those places are worlds apart in more ways then one.”
”In a nutshell, with what we’ve dealt with, a friend going off the metaphorical grid for an extended period and brushing off contact is a huge red flag and worth the same respect as if they’d actually gone missing. Alicia here’s been stressed to all the high heavens for several days now.” Kisara sighed herself at that point, resting a hand on her forehead.
|
|
|
Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Aug 29, 2017 5:33:48 GMT
Cassandra, on the other hand, was a normal person. When an already suspicious group started talking about truth being stranger than fiction and seeing far scarier things than a concerned mother, it was enough to get her concerned. Just what kind of group had Elliot been falling in with? Had she been so inattentive that Elliot got wrapped into gang activity or something? And "what were you doing out?" What the heck kind of thing was that to say to a friend. The glare in her eyes didn't waver, even if her clear discomfort was being flouted by this strange pair of delinquents. "I'm sorry, but I didn't ask you about what scary things you've seen," she said, voice even-tempered but taking on a tone that could only be described as "mom." "I asked you what you, and your friend who is threatening that this can become 'a scene', want with my sons." One of them was even called Sol. Nobody had names like that!
At least Alicia was trying to reach across the aisle, but with such a strange first impression? Cassandra wasn't exactly convinced. It didn't help that Alicia's case involved literal alternate worlds, which made this a far harder sell. "Isaac's been very busy lately," she said. She sure as hell wasn't going to let a stranger know that this business included, say, a stay in California. Then again, not even Cassandra really believed that one. "I would prefer if you didn't intimidate Elliot to try and reach him before he's free."
Elliot would've "loved" to participate. By that I mean he wanted no part of this. However, he found his eye suddenly drawn to a statue on a high-up shelf. It looked to be an angel, face concealed by a holy helmet and six wings crossed along its body. Holy scrolls and tapestries decorated its surface, and a vengeful sword clutched tightly in its hand.
Most important, though, was the soft "beep!" that Elliot heard as he looked at it.
"Like what you see?" the shop owner asked, eyebrow raised curiously. "We have treasures from the west here, too. This one seems to be an avenging angel of sorts, although I'm not quite sure which. Metatron?"
Elliot knew exactly what that angel's name was. He was just aghast at how even now, he couldn't escape the Digital World. He stared, almost in shock and almost in horror, as the squabbling between his mother and Alicia faded into the background of his mind.
|
|
|
Post by Alicia Westfield on Aug 29, 2017 8:36:09 GMT
“I realize that...” Alicia muttered back in response, sighing. “She-” that word was followed by a jab in Kisara’s direction with her thumb. “-should know better then to manifest like that on this side... I’ll explain more later cause I have a bad feeling you’re about to get a crash course in what’s going on...” Notably, she still was just shrugging off the tones Cassandra was using.
At the mention of Isaac being ‘busy’, she couldn’t help herself, scoffing. “Busy... Right.” The two words were laced with so much sarcasm that it very strongly implied Alicia had every idea just how much bull that was. And the Spirit Wielder winced a bit at realizing she might’ve tipped the veil a bit too much just with that.
”Please, this isn’t even close to intimidating. Like I said, she’s stressed so it’s coming off worse then it actually is. And technically we don’t ‘want’ anything more then some time to catch up. Regardless of any impressions you got, cornering him was as unexpected for us as it was for you.”
“Not helping, Kisara...” Alicia noted as she looked over at the ice maiden, folding her arms. And then there was a soft beep, which drew the attention of Spirit and Wielder alike, looking towards Elliot. Then Alicia followed his gaze and spotted what was undeniably a Spirit Totem.
“... Elliot? Is... that what I think it is?” Alicia asked a bit louder, to cover the distance between her and the wielder of Order. “Because if it is, I’d want to have words with whoever thought to arrange for it to arrive here.” She realized Elliot wanted out as much as he could get, but this was a pretty clear indicator that destiny was saying ‘in for a penny, in for a pound.’
”Hell of a place for a Totem to wind up in. Funny how we had just dismissed that possibility not a few minutes ago.” Sol grumbled to himself in irony.
|
|
|
Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Aug 29, 2017 23:56:48 GMT
Manifest. Of all of the words that Alicia could have used, she had to pick the word manifest. Great. Cassandra practically rolled her eyes the second she heard it. As far as she knew now, these were some weird new-age hippies trying to push their philosophy on her boys. Elliot always had a vivid imagination. This was exactly the kind of crowd that Cassanda feared he could've fallen into. There was a reason why she thanked her lucky stars that someone as practical as Isaac generally had his eye on the boy. "Not interested in any crash courses, sorry," she said. "You can have your beliefs. I can have mine. But if those beliefs involve stalking my children, I don't want a part in them." At least Cassandra believed some spirits were at work here, even if the double vision kind rather than the vision quest kind.
That sarcastic tone did not go over well with Cassandra. "What my children do is their business, not yours," she said. "And if you continue making demands, of them or of me, I will call the cops." It was a really good thing nobody want to antique stores anymore, because this debate was getting kind of heated. Would Cassandra even try and get the duo arrested for harassment? Can the cops even arrest a ghost? I have not studied nearly enough Japanese law for this.
Thankfully, it seemed like the only who arranged for anything to appear anywhere was the shopkeep. Sensing Elliot's discomfort, the kindly old man had decided to help him block out what he could only tell was an awful argument. ". . . that's right, four heads! Cooler than any of those fat winged babies in the paintings, eh? But the real weird ones are the Thrones, who look like wheels within wheels . . ." And so he continued, regaling Elliot in some lessons of theology.
Elliot nodded along politely, but he'd be lying if he said he could properly process any of it. The arguments. Alicia calling out to him. These otherwise fascinating topics. They all faded into nothingness, leaving Elliot with nothing but the white noise of his headspace. The rest of the world was a blur behind him, and there was only him and the statue. He craned his neck to try and get a better view of it, but even such a simple movement made him feel like he was underwater. He could tell that his heart was beating at a mile a minute, but he couldn't hear or feel it. It was just an innate sense, the only thing telling him that his heart hadn't already stopped. The room was starting to look bright, all too bright. Was it always so hot in here? It suddenly felt like a sauna, and Elliot could feel a few beads of sweat hiding beneath his hair. Worst of all, through all of the nothingness surrounding him, he heard a voice. His voice, for him alone to hear.
We have to go back.
|
|
|
Post by Alicia Westfield on Aug 30, 2017 1:27:56 GMT
”Both of you need to sit this out. Keep others away from this area as best as you can. And can you please stop starting messes that require metaphorically nuking perceived reality?” That was a new voice for Cassandra to hear. Most notably in the fact that it was heavy, deep, and masculine. It couldn’t possibly have come from either Kisara or Alicia, so it had to be this mysterious ‘Sol’ they had mentioned earlier.
Also of note was that the voice was also preceded by the steel dragon in question appearing into the area between the mother and the Spirit User, shoving Alicia back and smacking Kisara on the head with the back of his hand, earning a pained squeak of protest as the ice maiden retreated from the confrontation.
“Sol, we could’ve han-” Alicia began, only to shut up and go wide eyed as the dragon spirit leveled a glance at her over his shoulder. “... going now...” she meep’d out as she backed up. She hadn’t seen Sol this upset before, and even less often was it directed at her. Sure, she’d tested his patience with some of her terrible ideas, but he’d just been exasperated and maybe poked her with a ‘don’t do that again’ note.
With the two girls out of the way and now running interference to try and keep people from noticing the giant ghostly dragon now in the room, Sol took a seat so he didn’t have to keep crouching down, as well as bringing him eye to eye with Cassandra. “Ma’am, if I may clear some misconceptions? I’ll try to rattle through as many as I’d caught up on in as concise a manner as possible.” He certainly began respectful enough, but the strength in his voice still demanded full and complete attention. As if his significant frame and mythical figure didn’t already do that.
”Religion is not at all factored into this. I had requested that Alicia visit this antique store on the off chance objects of power that could’ve been made dangerous from my or others’ pasts had somehow made their way here. I had no idea that young Elliot and yourself would also be present. Further more I had advocated against this confrontation, but those two are... fairly headstrong. Still, they aren’t foolish enough to make actual demands. My apologies that it came down to this and caused undue stress.” At that, the dragon sighed, rubbing his forehead.
”For all involved, frankly. The things I do for those two sometimes...” Casting a glance Elliot’s way, the dragon took on a remorseful look as he noticed the reactions the young Spirit Wielder seemed to be having. He could envision what was going on in Elliot’s mind at the moment, and it wasn’t exactly easy for the boy to deal with. ”Nothing to do about it now though. Again, my deepest apologies for all you’ve been made to endure now.”
They were so lucky that Sol could run some damage control at the very least after the fact, having enough power left to fool people into thinking he and Kisara weren’t involved in the situation at all once it had reached it’s conclusion. The small number of people in the store is the only reason he had gone through with smashing the veil wide open at this point.
|
|
|
Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Aug 30, 2017 1:55:57 GMT
Wait, what was that voice? Immediately Cassandra and the antique store owner started looking around, Elliot still completely lost in his own head. Who could it have possibly been? He seemed to be involved with the two weird hippies, but his voice was coming out of nowhere. Was he this Sol character? Was he just hiding somewhere? For a second, Cassandra was afraid that somebody was about to assault her while the other two cleared the area. She grabbed her phone and started to dial up the cops, brow furrowed in concentration.
Of all the things she could have expected, she sure as heck didn't see a literal dragon coming. Cassandra's jaw dropped as she saw Sol manifest. Well now that word made a lot more sense! Her phone fell from her hand, clattering to the ground. She didn't even seem to notice. "Okay. Now this is happening," she said, watching as the dragon took his first action upon appearing. It was . . . hitting one of the girls, then shoving the other out of the way? Even staring down a ghostly dragon, Cassandra did the one thing that came to mindl. "It's not right to hit a lady," she murmured, still clearly confused but not about to let that stand.
Still, at least she was paying attention now. So was the antique store owner, if the picture he snapped on his phone was any indication. Sol promised to clear up some misconceptions, but it seemed more than anything he was covering his own butt. She was still incredibly baffled as to who this weird, weird trio was, and what business they had with her son. All she knew now was that it wasn't a matter of religion or stalking. Or at least, that's what the magical dragon seemed to indicate. Cassandra still had no idea if she could take his word at face value yet or not. Okay, sure. Dragons were real. But they could still be child grooming creeps! This one even hit women, so that was a point against him.
"I appreciate the apology, at least," Cassandra said, voice equal parts suspect and confused. "But I have so, so many questions now. Let me sum them up;
What the fu-" Cassandra stopped herself, looking towards Elliot. Right. There was still a child here, even if right now he seemed downright catatonic. "-dge?" she added, sighing in relief. Nice save!
|
|
|
Post by Alicia Westfield on Aug 30, 2017 22:59:22 GMT
Sol sighed softly. Hearing the phone clatter to the ground was, at least, a minor reaction, but he was expecting more volatile screaming and such. And yet... she just rolled with the massive metaphorical punch. And in fact she nitpicked about him swatting the mischievous ice maiden before much else. ”No, it’s not...” he admitted. ”But Kisara’s mischief very much disqualifies her being called a ‘lady’ in the traditional sense. Every now and then she ices me over into a dragon-sicle.”
The dragon then glanced over at the store owner and pointed at him. ”Sir, I will be very surprised if that picture comes out as anything less then a blurry mess. If it does, I kindly request you keep it to yourself. I didn’t even want to appear in the first place but my hand was forced.” Sighing, he refocused on Cassandra, smiling softly.
”You not reacting by screaming your head off is a refreshing change, my thanks for that.” he quipped, chuckling to himself as he listened to her sum things up in three simple words. Well, after cutting off that last one in regards to present company, even if the boy is zoned out badly. ”And I’m not surprised that the questions are overflowing. However, I’ve already escalated this mess enough. I would prefer to relocate somewhere more secluded, the premises of one’s home for example, before attempting to answer questions.”
Then a thought crossed his mind, and he glanced back over to the store’s owner. ”Sir? Would you be so kind as to bring that statuette down for the young man? I have a strong feeling that one way or another it will be leaving today in his possession. Best to smooth the process over as much as possible.” He was volleying back and forth between the two a lot at the moment, back to Cassandra his focus went.
”Why I requested that will likely come up when or if questions are asked and answered.”
|
|
|
Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Aug 31, 2017 5:34:41 GMT
Cassandra clicked her tongue in disapproval at Sol's non-admittance. She finally sees proof of the supernatural existing, and the first thing it does is debate her in semantics? "That's no excuse," she said, keeping her mom tone surprisingly well despite how much her thoughts were currently racing. For starters, this was a literal dragon. And a literal spirit. It was possibly also a literal god, judging by how reverent the other two were of it? And here she was, giving it a lecture on how to properly respect women. Somehow, Cassandra had never expected her life to get to this point. "Come on. Tell them you're sorry."
The antique store owner nodded as Sol pointed. "Fair's fair," he said, shrugging. "I just wanted some proof of the legends being true for myself. Although I admit, I'm the one who studies all this and I'm still lost. The mark of the truly curious was that they would face what they didn't understand with an open mind and an eager smile. Whereas Cassandra seemed to be tolerating what was going on, he seemed genuinely interested. "If anyone else comes in I'll just tell them they're shooting a movie here, eh? I think they could pass you off as one of those Miku holograms . . ."
"I mean, what else could I do?" Cassandra said. "There's a dragon right in front of me. I can't just ignore it, or pretend its some trick of the light. Might as well just accept that's just the way things are. And it's not like you started roaring and burning peasants. You just kinda sat down and started having a polite conversation." It was clear she still wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea, but screaming would get her nowhere. Her eyes narrowed a little as she added one last point to that.
"Magic dragon or no magic dragon, though, that doesn't change the fact that I am not just letting suspicious characters take my son away," she said. "I get the feeling there's more going on here than I understand. So I'll talk about this, and if I jumped to the wrong conclusion you have my deepest apologies. But if I find out you're endangering my kids, I don't want to ever see you near them again." See? Compromise! Sort of.
Then the statuette was brought up. Elliot had been staring at that thing this whole time, hadn't he? Cassandra cringed a little. Poor kid probably just wanted an escape. "God. Yeah. He might as well get something nice out of this mess," she said, guiltily. She took out her credit card and handed it to the shopkeeper, who nodded as he moved to finish the transaction. He looked around, making sure nobody noticed, before slashing a few zeroes off of the price that he had put down. Once the card was put through, he moved to take it down and give it to Elliot.
As soon as Elliot saw the statue brought closer, his heart leaped into his throat. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, he thought, the beeping of the Digivice mixing in with the uncomfortable ringing sound of pure silence. I don't want this. I can't have this. Please, for the love of god, don't let that thing near me. But he couldn't muster up the strength to say any of it. Sweat dripped down the back of his neck as he tried his hardest to just breathe. It was too hot in here. Too small. He needed to get out. Immediately, he bolted out of the door.
Cassandra sighed sadly as she put the statue in her bag. "Poor kid probably just needed some air. I think we were all crowding him a bit there, in more ways than one," she finally said. "We should probably go to where I live. I think Elliot's going to want to lie down in his own bed for a bit. Maybe he'll feel better after a nap."
|
|
|
Post by Alicia Westfield on Aug 31, 2017 23:07:14 GMT
Sol rolled his eyes and sighed softly. He knew exactly what Kisara would do when he tried, which is the actual reason he was trying to dodge the apology. Plus, Kisara and him did this all the time. She gave at least as good as she got, in life she had been one of the sturdiest people he’d ever known. Despite not being some supernatural creature she’d kept up with him and the rest of the team just fine. Still, it wasn’t worth the effort to offer more then token resistance on the debate.
”I’m-” That’s as far as the dragon got before the room felt a fair bit more chilly then before... and his jaws were iced shut. The dragon just leveled a stare that silently proclaimed ‘Really?’ at the ice maiden, who was snickering and grinning with mischievous abandon. She hadn’t even bothered to hide her involvement in Sol’s sudden impairment.
“He had to run me through on his claws once when I got body jacked by that one fiend. That was worth apologizing for. This? This is just who we are.” Kisara noted once she got control of her mirth “My life was much more perilous and life threatening then the average person, so little knocks like this at the end of the day don’t register much beyond ‘oh, that happened’. I appreciate the upholding of common courtesy though.” Another snap of her fingers, and the ice broke apart and dissipated. Which also brought the temperature back up to normal levels.
“Let’s just drop the whole thing at this point.” Sol grumbled with a scoff once he was free to speak again. Throwing a glance at the shopkeeper upon hearing the excuse he’d give to new arrivals, the dragon seemed to visibly blanch. ”Goodness, those are a thing that exist? So much technological genius wasted on an on demand singing idol...”
“You know about those holographic concerts?” Alicia quipped in clear surprise, looking over. “But I thought you-”
“Don’t ask, we’ll be here for the next month if I were to explain it.” Sol waved that question off, shaking his head. Alicia just sighed and rolled her eyes at it, but she knew he was very serious when he said it would take a long time. Even if he exaggerated a fair bit. ”It’s convenient, so I won’t look the gift horse in the mouth.”
Kisara hummed softly. ”Yeah, Sol was never big on the whole ‘terrorize the populace’ thing. And yeah, there is a lot more going on then you realize. This whole mess is what Alicia was talking about when it came to getting a crash course.” With a shift, though, her whole demeanor seemed to change. Mischief was gone, replaced by somber focus. “What I do know is that I fully understand where you’re coming from. Every mother has a right to step in against a perceived danger...”
That had been an odd and sudden change, and Sol also seemed to grimace at the apparent recollection the two had. Kisara shook her head and took a breath, quirking an eyebrow as Elliot bolted after the transaction. ”Oh boy... poor guy...”
“As you wish, we shall depart then. Kisara and I shall reappear once the two of you have settled in.” And with that, the two spirits vanished from view, retreating back to the confines of Alicia’s mind.
“Well, that’s all that can be done now... no way to drag them back out once they do that. Although they can hear anything I hear so that’s a thing I guess?” Alicia commented softly, letting Cassandra lead the way, staying quiet aside from some humming. It probably wouldn’t be all that long to get there anyways. And then the hard part would begin, as she was hearing Sol grumble under his breath while hiding away.
|
|
|
Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Aug 31, 2017 23:52:10 GMT
Cassandra blinked as Sol's mouth was frozen by Kisara, who stepped in to clear the air on how their marriage worked. It still didn't seem like any reason to shove Alicia around, but hey. They were the millennia-old spirits, so they probably had a better handle on what kept the spark aflame than Cassandra did. "Well, it's your . . . " She paused, squinting at the two, as if looking for an indicator of what their relationship was. Mentor-student? Comrades in arms? No, no. The way they interacted, it was obvious. "Marriage. Whatever makes it work best, I always say." For example, in Cassandra's case, what made it work was dropping the deadweight and moving to Japan! Even with all the stress on her shoulders, she had been the happiest she'd been in years.
Of course, she had to giggle seeing that the eternal dragon was familiar with Vocaloids of all things. "Can't say I know how it works, but the kids love it at least," the shop owner said. "I think I heard it's all mirrors or something? It's confusing." He was just an old man trying to tend to his antique shop. He didn't know about all the hip new trends.
Cassandra sighed in relief as someone finally, finally got it. "Thank you," she said. "Although something tells me this is gonna be a whole lot less "perceived" than "actual," isn't it?" Now she's getting it! While Cassandra was still quite suspect, at least now she had a better idea as to what to expect. With Elliot having bolted, Alicia quiet, and her spirit companions gone, she got to enjoy a nice trip inside of her own head as she walked.
By the time she returned, she saw that the door was already unlocked. Sure enough, as she quickly sprinted upstairs, Elliot was already passed out in bed. Seeing that her son was home Cassandra sighed, half relieved that he was here and half worried because he clearly wasn't okay. Then she went back downstairs, sitting on the couch and facing Alicia. "Alright," she said, a businesslike tone to her voice. "Could you start from the beginning, please? What this all is. How you really met my boys. What kind of danger they might be in. If there's truly as much going on as you've been saying, I think that it's important that I'm in the loop too."
|
|
|