[PRP] told to get talkin' (lily & jeremiah)

[azuredreams]

(this RP is taking place before the week of the full moon in march)

AMItotic

text to: lily

hey. it's mercer. do you want to meet up over on the other side?

Another text pinged a moment later.

Quote:

text to: lily

if you don't have a reliable way to get there, we can meet somewhere here and i can take us.

 

[AMItotic]

azuredreams

text to: ???
oh hey

She took a moment to update her contacts appropriately.

azuredreams

text to: copdad
I mean if I roam around enough I'll find one eventually
unless it knows I need to be there
then I'm screwed

She considered her options for a moment, then settled on a place.

azuredreams

text to: copdad
you know what just meet me at darlenes

 

[azuredreams]

Quote:

text to: fisher lily

that's usually how it goes.

Her phone buzzed again later, Jeremiah responding once more.

AMItotic

text to: fisher lily

i'll see you there.

Jeremiah was standing outside Darlene's, giving a look to the people who were on the shame bench (the ones that Borr and Killian were not necessarily happy with for one reason or another). Also it might have been because he could still smell whatever it was that Wil smoked in the air and it was making his eyes itchy.

... but he was waiting for Lily, at least, and that counted.  

[AMItotic]

Lily's beat-up sedan was a semi-regular guest of the Darlene's parking lot, complete with its gallery of faded bumper stickers left behind by a previous owner. She'd been playing some off-brand version of Candy Crush for the past forty-five minutes, fueled by boredom and a low seeping dread of talking to Ashdown's police chief and residential spook expert, the big man himself, Jeremiah Mercer. Eventually she ran out of lives and when she glanced up she saw a man with silver hair standing by the front door. She slid her phone into a pocket and unbuckled her seat belt, climbing out of her car with a reluctant sigh.

On the walk up to Darlene's, Lily tried to think of a number of witty greetings to start up their conversation: 'Howdy, Sheriff' or 'Nice day for an afternoon, officer' or even just a simple 'Yo'. However, when Lily found herself a greetable distance away, looking up into his stark-colored eyes, she went to say something and found her mouth had run dry.

"What's up...sir," she managed to croak, shrinking a little into the expansive tent of the hoodie she was bundled up in. "How's...life?" She glanced away, starting to rub at the crease of one eye but pausing just short of smearing a perfectly good display of eyeliner.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah, observant as ever, did notice Lily's apparent unease. She was given a small smile, the kind he gave that was truly meant to be reassuring. He was dressed warmly, despite the weather, and gestured with a tilt of his head to walk with him.

"I'm doing well," he replied, turning towards a path that lead to the side of Darlene's. "Things are busy and there's always something going on but that's to be expected all things considered." Was he taking things slowly and conversationally? Absolutely. Especially if that would make her relax.

"Yourself?" ... as if this wasn't about to turn into a trip to other ashdown and talk about the weird stuff involved.

AM1totic

word count to here: 254

 

[AMItotic]

"That's cool," Lily nodded in meek compliance, falling into step beside him. She looked down, focused on her breath--she was the one who had called him here, why did she have any reason to be nervous? She thought back to the listserv, about how the arrested joke was poorly received, and her face went blank. There was no time to zero in on past mistakes, she had a job to do for once and she was going to do it.

"Oh, I mean, you know, life is...stuff," she responded, gesturing vaguely with a hand. "Sometimes it's doing class at the gym and sometimes you're a big ferret because your monthly cycle is on a whole different level than most girls, but it's whatever." Lily was adaptable, and she'd long since accepted the strangeness of the otherworld as part of her existence. What felt stranger was this clumsy attempt at human interaction, most notably the part where she had made a casual reference to her period in front of the chief of police. It was a little surreal, but she kept her cool, settling into her stride with her hands in her pockets.

"I saw Noeh the other day," Lily broke the silence, tilting her head back towards Jeremiah. "Or, The Sorrowful One, I guess. She doesn't look as...sorrowful? It's weird."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

It was not so much that it was not well received as that Jeremiah's own joke about that being a go to fell flat as well. His lips twitched just a little bit, at least some understanding about what she meant in regards to things sometimes being more than a bit out of the ordinary.

"I suppose," he said with a wry look, bright reflective eyes cutting towards Lily, "I can relate in that it's more ... I don't know if I'm going to be going home with scales of ice on my skin because I got into a giant eye stealing monster or if I am going to end up running into something that makes a glitch in the Matrix look tame." If it was strange, the entire attempt, Jeremiah paid it no attention.

Instead he held up a finger to stop her. "While I am perfectly willing to discuss Noeh, I'd prefer to not do so on this side." An arm was held out for her. "If you don't mind, could you put your hand on my arm? I can take us over and bring us back without a problem and we can talk over there."

AMItotic

 

[AMItotic]

Lily blanched at the sight of Jeremiah's finger and her lips zipped shut, her expression bewildered. Had she outed something on accident? Was this part of some super-secret thing? She nodded vaguely at his request, outstretching one tentative hand, and when she touched the crook of his arm she let out a sympathetic hiss.

"Man, you weren't kidding about the ice scales thing," she offered with a tone of apology, her fingers scrubbing against the fabric as if to heat him up. "I figured all bundled up like that you'd feel like a space heater."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"It might a bit odd for you but just hold on," Jeremiah told her, giving her a bit more of a smile because she was actually trying to warm him. For him it was like breathing, a breath in of Ashdown and his breath out saw them in other ashdown.

Lily would simply blink and they would be there, outside of Darlene's in other ashdown.

"Also, you're not breaking some kind of secret by talking about Noeh. With the shift in the world, I just prefer to try and keep the magic talk to a minimum especially when it comes to the Court." He rests a hand against hers briefly and though it is lightly chilled, it is meant to be reassuring.

Jeremiah, like a proper gentleman escorting a young lady (and perhaps that makes him seem all that more regal and noble), also keeps her arm hooked on his to walk. With his other hand he reaches up to his collar down and lets his chin fall towards his chest. It gives Lily a chance to see what is at the top notch of his spine: scarred skin that has what looks like small, faint icy scales filling it in and disappears into his shirt and further down his spine. "Got off on a wrong foot with Pax last March, ended up getting burned with coldfire along my spine. Didn't expect it to stay icy like that or for it to turn into scales a month back."

He straightened up.

"Not the point of you wanting to talk to me, however. You said you spoke to Noeh? She directed you to me then?"

AM!totic

 

[AMItotic]

When Lily saw the literal scales on Jeremiah's back she let out a small wordless gasp. She'd seen larger, more grandiose displays of magic and not batted an eyelash, been subject to incredibly complex and draining throes of the strange world around her, but this was just suitably small enough to fit within the scope of reality she could process, and it really made her stop for a second to inspect the texture of the scarring, where it became tiny scales on his skin. She listened to his story and looked at him with silent awe, nodding along as they slowly walked.

When he brought her back to reality with her question, she shook her head and glanced down at her pocket where her phone was. "Oh, um...yeah. I saw her in the park, we talked for a little bit. She said the court was falling apart, and that that was bad for everyone, including moonwalkers, so count me in on 'Team Making-Sure-That-Doesn't-Happen'." Moonwalkers were supposed to be magical enforcers, weren't they? There had to be a way she could help.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah paused himself, turning to look at Lily. "You saw her in Ashdown? That's- Well, I certainly believe it's possible but out of the ordinary." He could not imagine, at the moment, a reason for her to be in Ashdown especially given that she was lacking in proper magic to cross back and forth.

A breath was let out, Jeremiah closing his eyes before they flicked to focus on Lily. "It's a bit more complicated than that. There is a document that the Court was founded on but it but it also pertains to moonwalkers and wargs. All of us that have more unique powers than a normal visitor to this place can be impacted by it as well as other ashdown itself."

Which, if Lily had not guessed from what Noeh had spoken of, that Jeremiah was of the Court himself.

AMItotic

 

[AMItotic]

"Yeah, she was just sort of hanging out," Lily shrugged. "Is that not...supposed to happen?"

She watched him as he spoke of the court document, slowly processing what he meant. She didn't see a familiar, and he didn't trigger her packtouch, which meant that somehow he'd been caught up with all of the noble stuff at the ball. It was new information, but she couldn't necessarily say she was surprised. Jeremiah had already been knee-deep in the whole magic thing when she was introduced to it, it only made since that if she was neck-deep now, he was in over his head.

"So it's, like...another sigil, basically," Lily offered, still walking step by step beside him. "We broke one, and now that's ********, so weird things are happening in the otherworld and Noeh's friends are all apparently dying now and the court might collapse, so we have to fix this one too."

After a moment, her eyes widened and she added, "Please tell me the bandaid isn't another blood sacrifice, because that's nuts."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"With everything that's happened, the death of the previous Principals, those tied to them - the three deer triplets - are experiencing backlash. She is without her magic, Pax is fading away, and Pride is having issues with his magic not being controllable." Jeremiah glanced to her a moment before he looked ahead. A small nod was given at her comparison.

"A secondary Sigil that was created after the cage came to be. One that gave structure to the magic, to other ashdown, and created the Court." There was a pause. "It is also responsible for the spirit-bond being split into two parts: the moonwalkers, of which you are a part of, and the wargs. Apparently there were those, before this happened, that were abusing it."

He went silent at her last question, just a moment, but it was enough. "We're working on figuring that out right now. Trying to fix what was done in a manner that does not result in more harm and abuse. However, we've not much time to work with."

AM1totic

word count to here: 1035

 

[AMItotic]

"Oh." Lily nodded absently as Jeremiah explained, quietly looking down at her boots. She hadn't known Heliodora, but she'd seen what had happened to Adoelle, to Michael, and it was hard not to feel at least partially responsible for how things had gone down.

She wanted to ask what he meant about the spirit-bond, about being half of something else, but there were more pressing matters. "Well, uhh...I'm not great at fixing things, but I can scout ahead and I'm too out of ******** to give to be afraid of things. Maybe that can help...enforce things or whatever I'm supposed to do. Noeh said it was important."

It didn't matter what sort of bravado she put up--if she had to say she was brave, then was she? Lily coughed, as if that might shake how exposed she felt. "When you say 'not much time', what are we actually looking at? Weeks, days? ...Hours?" It was hard to gauge a timeline to D-Day when everything could be fine one month and then before you knew it there were voids forming in the state park. Lily had been burned before.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"It may very well be that the second sigil is responsible for your role within this place. It's all part of a Charter, upon which the Sigil is. As I said, I was told by Noeh that there were those who abused their power and the creation of the Charter limited the powers of those with the spirit-bond. Yes, you're there to enforce but ... only because of what was done.

"That," he continued, "may even change if we remake the Charter." His hand rested briefly against Lily's forearm. It was meant to be reassuring. "Days, maybe a couple weeks. We're on borrowed time and we're trying to learn as much as we can. Lives depend on this and we don't want to move too quickly and cost them."

AMItotic