[PRP] update 2.0 (fox & jeremiah)

[shibrogane]

Whatever was reaching out to her withdrew then. It lapsed into silence--still there, but quiet.

demon_pachabel

 

[azuredreams]

"This is not the way I would want you to follow a normal case that involves magic. In this, it is something even more extraordinary than what we already experience. I don't actually like the idea of recommending you do it this way, given that some of this may never see a proper report, but it's the best way I've discovered to compensate for the fact we need documentation." Another breath was released, Jeremiah shaking his head and writing down a few quick notes about the piece of the cage Liam was stuck in.

His focus was entirely on her as she held the stone, instinctively leaning forward when her expression shifted. When the piece was nearly dropped, his brows knitted together in concern before she finally spoke.

"I would assume it does feel like something to you?" Which was not necessarily a good thing. It was worrisome. "Describe it?" The man sitting in front of her was very much the detective at the moment. The Jeremiah Mercer they talked about in town with strange eyes and magic but he was the man one wanted to handle a case if it came down to it.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Fox nodded slowly at Jeremiah's inquiry.

"It feels like something is inside of it. Like, I could feel it. Not physically but..." she closed her fingers around it, quietly lowering her hand as she sought out an explanation for it. "I definitely felt something reach out for me. Only once, though. It's...there...it's just quiet."

The non-magical-cop part of her was throwing it's hands up in the air going 'You sound really dumb explaining a soul in a rock!', the other part of her that was simply Fox-raised-in-Ashdown went 'This is not the weirdest thing we've heard of'. "It was like it was checking for my presence the same way I was checking for whatever it was."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah paused, pen set down and held out his hand for the stone again. "It's very possible that it's reacting to you ..."

Except that what that implied was that Fox was, very much, in deep. Deeper than she realized because while that stone bit felt like the absence of anything, it felt like something to her that was waiting.

It wasn't good.

"Was it a voice? Or a feeling?"

demon_pachabella

 

[demon_pachabel]

Fox relinquished the stone to Jeremiah when he reached out for it, frowning as it left her grip. "Why would it be reacting to me?" It was unfair to think Jeremiah would actually know about that, given neither of them actually had a solid idea of what the thing was.

"It was a little bit of both. Like something was...checking for me. Sort of a 'Are you there?'"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I've no answer for that other than to me this feels like an absence- a void. If it feels like something to you, if you also feel something, then ... obviously it's reacting to your presence." It was held in his hand, Jeremiah closing his eyes again and checking. It was so noticeably nothing that it was obviously something.

"You reached back out, didn't you? Did it not respond?"

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

She nodded.

"It didn't respond again after I simply confirmed that yes, I was definitely here.." though it made her wonder - was there anywhere else she should have been when it asked that? Or was it more like whatever was inside that piece of cage simply wanted to make itself known for some reason.

"But I could feel it was still there. Whatever it was. I don't feel like I knew whatever it was, though. It didn't feel familiar....but it didn't feel like a stranger either."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"That is ..." Jeremiah trailed off, looking thoughtful and writing down a few notes before he was pulling his phone out and snapping a quick picture of the fragment. "This may not matter but ... past lives are a thing. Sometimes you can recognize things that were known to you in another life but I don't think that is what is going on.

"It may be that it's potentially Liam Noor." The fragment was offered back to her. "I wonder if it's calling out to you because you were the one given the fragment or, perhaps, due to the fact that you have not- Actually, we do not know if you have developed magic or not yet."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Her brows lifted a bit. Fox wasn't exactly a believer in reincarnation so to hear Jeremiah speak of it so openly, well.... wait, was this a magic thing less than a religious thing? "Like reincarnation past life or something else?" she'd just clarify. She hoped in another life she had maybe more guts.

When the fragment was offered back to her, Fox took it, weighing it in her hand. "Maybe. I don't know what he sounds like, but I guess encased in the stuff long enough, someone so..magical could have an effect on it." Was that the case? She considered this for a moment then looked up when Jeremiah mentioned the possibility of her developing magic. "I don't think so. I feel pretty normal," her insides clenched, as though her stomach was ready to unsettle and remind her how sick she'd been feeling the evening before. "A little green....but normal."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Would you prefer the entire story? To explain? It's a bit more complicated than reincarnation." It truly was, though at some point he had thought it was reincarnation but it was far, far more than that at this point.

"You could likely get recordings of his lectures at the college if you wanted. There's other methods as well to hear him." He studied her for a moment. "In most cases, you would likely not realize you've developed magic at all. It takes time and some don't even realize it until they start dreaming of other ashdown. Most of the more peculiar abilities I have I discovered after the fact." A snort. "My eyes are simply the most obvious thing about me."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Bento purred loudly in answer to Jeremiah’s question, kneading Fox’s chest twice before jumping off the woman, onto the coffee table, and back onto him. Her little back arched and she leaned her side into him. Clearly she’d take turns between them as much as possible.

“If there’s a cliffnotes version, I think I’d prefer to start there. It sounds like I’m potentially in for a doozy.” In that moment, Fox realized one solid thing about herself: She really didn’t want to be a magical being. Too bad it was too late. Sorry Fox. “I’ll check into the recordings, however, to see if perhaps I can make that connection.” Was it possible that maybe it worked that way because..well…. Renard and Fox technically had the same name at a level of meaning. Would that be a reason why it would react to her if it was Liam Noor inside that piece she had?

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah chuckled a little as Bento made herself comfortable again on him. His fingers rubbed along her side, scritching gently (and still not at all phased).

"I believe I can direct you to at least a couple recordings. My husband works at Rider-Waite, if you don't want to go through proper channels to get a recording from there but I don't think you have to go to that length yet." As in keep it off the books but it was not necessarily at that stage yet.

It was getting there.

"It begins in 1989, in a 1989 that is not this reality." Let that settle in there. "The AIDs epidemic had taken the lives of many people. Someone decided to do what no one else had dared: use magic to put it to a stop. You're aware of the fact that magic and medicine - healing - are kept very much apart, are you not?"

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

She'd make a note that Algernon Mercer worked at the college as well - mostly because she'd met the man and he seemed like a nice guy. It had been a few days after their meeting she'd realize he was the author of the book sitting on her bedside table. Which of course meant a reread of the series to overanalyze that was totally Jeremiah as a woman. Perhaps now she knew things about her Chief she was never supposed to.

As Jeremiah began his explanation, Fox frowned. So it had started a little bit before her time....did it effect people who were born before this differently? Would Jeremiah have known if that was the case?

"I am aware of next to nothing when it comes to magic and what people do with it." So healing magic wasn't exactly a thing. Got it.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

The Red Herring heroine was not necessarily as similar to Jeremiah as she had been. Things had changed and that was very much one of the changes. It was still absolutely him as a woman though, that would never change.

"When you use magic if you do not have a full understanding of what you are doing, knowledge of the consequences, then it will not go well." Apply that to the ever changing medical field and it was a recipe for disaster. "Renard Leroux, along with his husband Liam Noor, lost many friends and most of it boiled down to the existence of AIDs. So he began to work on something, a spell schema, that would allow him to put an end to it. Potentially to stop it from even existing."

Here he paused, focusing on Fox seriously. "I am sure you can think of the problems with this and just how dangerous it could be." To completely remove something like AIDs could change the world in untold ways.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

She nodded along as he gave her a brief rundown. As he likely was hoping, her expression shifted accordingly as he spoke.

"So basically without an understanding of a cause, they just..blanket tried to clear it out?" How many things like AIDs could have fallen under the same umbrella. Not that getting rid of diseases was bad, but they also provided certain functions.

"I'm barely scratching the surface and can see where unintended consequences could happen."

In the meantime, Bento started to purr and lick the inside of Jeremiah's ear. PRRPRRRRRPRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

azuredreams