3141/Undoing a spell

Undoing a spell
Date of Scene:	03 October 2015
Location:	Los Angeles-667 <LA>
Synopsis:	After Ferham's big break on stage, Jimmy Wen escorts her back to his place to help undo the spell she'd been put under.
Cast of Characters:	516, 606

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Ferham (516) has posed:
     It appeared that this time Ferham would be owing Jimmy a favor, as the burglary in the basement of that nightclub went bad, the femmebot wound up getting caught, and Jimmy had to strongarm a bouncer to get her out. The sight of her out of her armor might have been a reward enough already, though the do-gooder mage also had another issue to deal with--getting rid of the enchantment that had been placed on her. It would have been easy to take Fer by the arm and lead her out, more or less, away from that stage in the lounge area--and get her into his car to speed away with, there would be just mild resistance. A bit of screeching initially, followed by a sort of huffiness that she wasn't alloewd to finish her number before he came and made off with her, more or less. The femmebot was still wearing that strapless red sequin cocktail dress, split at the thigh, with what looked like sheer tan hosiery beneath and matching red sequin stiletto heels. Of course, Wen had never seen her out of her armor and in civvie sorts of clothes, either--so the sight of the dark shoulder-length hair framing that face and green eyes might make it hard for him to keep his eyes on the road.

Jimmy Wen (606) has posed:
     Jimmy keeps his eyes on the road, and in a rare moment, his eyes are actually revealed, though not without good reason. Even with an old car like this, the hexing effect will sometimes kick into action. Driving at night with sunglasses on is dangerous even when you don't have an inherently dangerous tendency to make technology backfire. The sunglasses rest securely in his front coat pocket, and his hands grip the steering wheel tightly.

     There's no desire from the wizard to make conversation, his eyes locked forward with painfully obvious determination. The only sound in the cabin is the hum of the Bel-Air's archaic engine, ocassionally rumbling a little louder in response to more pressure on the pedal. This is the atmosphere of the drive home after an argument--although Jimmy's insistence on looking away from Ferham isn't because of anger.

Ferham (516) has posed:
     Still a little huffy or standoffish as they moved down the road quickly, Ferham could be heard occasionally commenting or asking him a question from the passenger seat. "Where are we going? Where are you taking me--your car sounds like it's going to die," she crossed her arms over her front, still wearing those elbow-length red velvet dress gloves. She didn't seem to be furious with him, more like she was annoyed he had detained her from what she had been doing back at the club. Of course, at the same time her long black hair was pushed back both by the wind, (if the window was open, or top was down, whichever.)

Jimmy Wen (606) has posed:
     "We're going to my place. I need to undo whatever that trap did to you." Jimmy's normally so cool and relaxed, it's unusual to hear such gravity in his voice. "The car'll be fine. I take good care of it." It is rather well-maintained, all things considered. The upholstery of the seats is meticulously clean, the dashboard and the instruments looking fresh from the production floor. The car must be a labor of love for Jimmy, even more so considering the adverse effects of his ambient magic. Nothing but the most polished, most perfect appearance will do for Jimmy, which is why his behavior now is such a stark contrast--the veneer has worn off. He's actually worried.

Ferham (516) has posed:
     The car interior, to Jimmy's credit, is noted as quite immaculately clean--for an automobile like this, anyway, so that's at least something Fer doesn't comment on. "Sounds like the combustion engine is being disrupted somehow--check the oil or maybe the fuel's been contaminated?" Fer peered over at Jimmy for a moment, before seeming to shrug. Huh, that sounded a good bit more like the regular Fer, so likely whatever the 'trap' did it wasn't entirely perfect, or at least seemed to not be all powerful. Leaning back, Fer sighed a little bit and crossed her legs, relaxing, the material of her stockings sliding together audibly.

Jimmy Wen (606) has posed:
     "Something is," says Jimmy. For a moment, it seems like he's going to leave it at that. He shifts gears with a skilled hand. "Me." The lights on the horizon are unmistakable to any veteran of the Multiversal Americas. Los Angeles has quite the distinct skyline, especially at night. Like many of its other iterations, the city has a healthy respect for car culture, and the Bel-Air seems slightly less distinct here than in Urbania. "We're not far from my place. Ten minutes, tops."

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "No idea how I'm even going to get back to the club before it closes, sigh..." she doesn't seem to be massively perturbed by much else, peering over at Jimmy after a moment. "You look like you've got something on your mind," she says, as if for lack of something else to say right now, there didn't seem to be much except the seemingly brooding and a bit upset young man in the seat beside her right now to keep her company, so what else was she to focus on? She didn't say anything else for the time being, though.

Jimmy Wen (606) has posed:
     Jimmy chuckles as the car enters the city proper, looking out of the driver side window rather than at Ferham. "Yeah, you're... not wrong." He shoots her a glance, then his eyes are back on the road as the car rounds a corner. "I didn't even..." The wizard huffs. "Shit, Fer. You could've been hurt." The Bel-Air comes to a slow stop at a red light, and Jimmy takes a moment to compose himself. "I'm not mad at you, if that's what you're thinking. Just... trying to keep my mind on a solution."

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "I wasn't hurt," Ferham shook her head a little, pausing as she peered at the man a little, seeming confused. "That's... nice, but you sort of... took me from the club, I had a job to do there, you know," she frowned a little. "What are you so worried about anyway? you're in a car, we're going down the highway and there's a woman in it," she smiled a little, shrugging a bit. "You should relax a little, you'll blow a gasket..." her deep but feminine voice was a bit more apparent now since she hadn't been raising it to sing. "Where is your place, anyway?" she looked up a bit, peering around to see where they were.

Jimmy Wen (606) has posed:
     "A beautiful woman," adds Jimmy with a little more relaxation. "But, you only think you want to do that job because of the trap you set off. With mental magic, even a little nudge can send someone into a very dark, dangerous place. It happens with good intentions and it'll damn sure happen with less noble ones. I've /seen/ it happen, and it's the reason there's a Law against it here. If you still wanna sing /after/ I undo it, I'll drive you there myself. But this happened to you on my watch and it's my responsibility to fix it. My place is just a few blocks from here." The light turns green and the car moves.

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "It's just kind of what I do, is that so wrong?" Ferham shook her head a little, apparently not agreeing with his version of reality, or the like. "Dark dangerous place, huh? what if I like dark, dangerous places?" she seemed to have composed herself rather comfortably now, and was more or less just letting Wen drive her wherever he pleased. Like he was her chauffer, or something. "I'm probably fired already," she waved his offer off, not seeming to really mind about that now. "Jeez, you act like everything is your fault or something, why is that?"

Jimmy Wen (606) has posed:
     "Nobody likes those places. They just say they do to justify being there all the time." The car pulls up to the curb and Jimmy puts it into park. "Everything is /not/ my fault," he says looking at Ferham without making eye contact. "Don't misunderstand me. Just because I'm one of the good guys doesn't mean I go for all that angst crap. I just try to do right by people I like, and sometimes, I can actually do that. Now, come on." He opens the door, getting out of the car, and opens Ferham's door for her, offering a hand to her.

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "One of the good guys? you seem a little too distracted for someone like that," Fer said softly with a little grin and sits patiently while the man comes around to open the door for her. If she had been worried or upset before, she doesn't seem too much so now, in fact she seems rather the opposite, moreso comfortable and safe, as if she knows this person. Which... she does. When Jimmy opens the door on her side, Ferham is quick to take his hand in that red velvety glove and carefully slide herself out of the car, rising up to her full height slowly. She's still around 6'5" thanks to the heels she's got on, so once she's finally 'unfolded' from the car there might be just a bit of an intimidation factor there. But she seems pleasant enough in that lounge singer's outfit. She doesn't drop his hand right away either, actually holding onto it. "Well then, take me up to your place?" she asked, squeezing his hand a little with a grin. Seems as if whatever process of her brain is still working, a date is still a date, even if she had been pulled away from her job.

Jimmy Wen (606) has posed:
     Jimmy doesn't have a retort for Ferham's comment about distractions, and does his best to ignore it. It's not easy, when someone so cleanly points out a major flaw of yours, but it's even more difficult to ignore the pressing matter of Ferham's flirtatious advances. It's not that they'd be unwelcome in other circumstances, but... it's hard to tell what's her and what's the spell. It may be a small change, but the integration thereof seems expertly done. "Right."

     Jimmy's place, or at least the exterior, looks like it's seen much better days. It's obvious the place is meant for those living on the cheap, but when Jimmy unlocks the door to his apartment and steps inside, that formerly obvious facet seems to be muddied a great deal. Taken piece-by-piece, the items and furniture inside are all found, bargained, or perhaps stolen, knowing Jimmy's proclivities. All at once, however, they combine to create an image that is at once palatial and charming. Nothing here is newer than the car outside, and yet all of it is painstakingly cared for. At cost, all of this would have fetched a fortune in its day, and while time has forsaken it all--from the posters of lounge singers to the outdated furniture--Jimmy has rescued it from the trash heap, through force of personality, cunning, or just plain thievery.

     Ferham is led to what used to be a bedroom--it's very clearly a workshop now, and Jimmy very clearly won't be getting the security deposit back. The center of the floor bears what most would call a 'yin-yang.' "Step into the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate, please."

Ferham (516) has posed:
     Still smiling, Ferham allows herself to be led up to the man's apartment, though her hand in his probably wouldn't be let go, moreso she tucks his forearm under hers at least until they are through the door. When the sight and odor of the old furniture and state of the place hit Fer, however, she raises a brow. "Sort of imagined you could afford better than these things, don't you have some kind of... magical powers?" she asked, peering over at him, her stiletto heels clicking as she continued further into the flat, checking things out. "Huh, no wonder you kidnapped me," she gestures at the poster of the lounge singer on his wall, turning to face him with a bit of a cat-like, smug expression of amusement, somewhere around a smile. "Well, now that I'm here, what do you want me to do? play twister?" she peered at the floor, eyeing the symbol on it a bit dubiously as she toes the line around it, peering at him. "What're you going to do, then?"

Jimmy Wen (606) has posed:
     "I'm going to get that shit out of your head. This is long and meticulous work, so I need you on your best behavior, in the circle, standing still. When I'm finished, you can get as grabby as you want." He moves over to a refrigerator installed in the workshop and begins rummaging through it, thinking better of his last remark as he brushes aside a tub of some nebulous material. "Okay, maybe not. But just hang tight. And get in the circle. Please." The first thing that needs to be done is to... see what exactly's been done to her. And since there are only two ways to do that, one of which is opening her mind up and having a peek, Jimmy opts for the other way--the Sight. Wen concentrates, opening the metaphorical Third Eye and peering intensely at Ferham. To the femmebot, it just looks like he's staring, but the wizard, for those few moments, receives a sensory overload, sensing everything--what was, what is, what might be--in all forms. Vision, sound, smells, memories, emotions. It's difficult to focus entirely on Ferham, because this place has so much history itself. For a few seconds, he manages, then shuts his third eye, shaking his head.

Ferham (516) has posed:
     Do robots have souls? Do Reploids, for that matter--whether this question was answered in a way Wen might have liked when he focused himself and tried to look into her mind... or her soul, well, he found /something/. Background radiation, or some other way to explain it. But there was pain.

     "I couldn't save you..." a gloved hand resembling hers reaches up for something she cannot possibly grasp in the distance, the forms indistinct--there is heavy damage to her, somehow he can sense that--a great pain physically and emotionally--thanks to her kind possessing the emotions of a human.

     There is a great resentment, and anger, bitterness and soon she was fighting a new fight, somewhere else--patchwork? The Multiverse. Vague images of a lab-coated man, presumably some kind of doctor, assisting her, her head in some kind of vise--and where did she go after that? Wings, wide and long and somehow darker than before, though they still gave the impression of her, of red.

     What does she want to do?

     Stop them. Protect. Make sure it never happens again.

     The kaleidoscope of pain, ozone hatred and resentment seem to lead to something else, the inward journey bringing itself to some kind of steely resolve.

     "What, you want me to just... stand on this?" Ferham moves finally to take her place on the symbol that he instructed her to move onto, heels clicking.

Jimmy Wen (606) has posed:
     "Yep," answers Jimmy, rubbing his temple slightly. Okay, so, lots of information to sift through, but... "Think I found where the problem is." He opens the fridge again and pulls out the tub of material he brushed aside earlier. Reaching on top of the fridge, he grabs a paint brush and dips it into the tub. As it so happens, the stuff in the tub is some kind of perpetually damp mud, which he uses to paint trigrams around the outside of the circle once Ferham is inside. Once eight of them have been placed, he suffuses his will into the circle. There's a slight charge in the air around Ferham, just for a moment, just faint enough to make hair on the back of one's neck stand up.

     Jimmy reaches into a tupperware bin full of little action figures and pulls out a doll. By no means is it a perfect match for Ferham, but the hair is the same color and the same approximate length. It's a fitting symbol for her as she's supposed to be. Gripping the doll tightly, he begins pouring will into the spell, imagining Ferham as he knows her, and as she was. He keeps coming back to that resolve, weaving in one idea: freedom. In his mind, he imagines doors unlocking, chains being broken, walls being torn down--all to free Ferham from her imprisonment at the hands of this enchantment. He is silent for several minutes, then opens his eyes and paints a symbol using the mud on a blank sheet of notebook paper. It's Chinese, of course--the symbol for 'gu' which means poison, or, in this case, sorcery meant to harm others. Throughout the drawing his breathing is controlled and steady, then with an arcane gesture, after finishing the symbol, he tears the paper.

     He scuffs out the trigrams and releases the threshold. The moment he does, that same feeling of freedom rushes over the femmebot, an immense sense of relief from some kind of burden. The memory of her actions before doesn't fade, but now she is free--free to take actions of her own accord, without the yoke of the enchantment.

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "What, do you have some kind of hidden camera in here?" Ferham continues, oblivious to the memories and feelings he's just gotten a very unpleasant experience of, up close and personal style. "Just lemme know where it is," she grins and begins making a few poses inside the circle on the floor, since that's where he asked her to stand after all--mainly cheesecake: one knee bent, arms folded behind her head, the next is more saucy with her blowing a kiss, hand on one knee as she stands bent over a fair bit, coquettish in a way. It isn't until he reveals the strange sort of doll does she come out of this sort of horseplay, blinking a little. "Did you have that made to look like me, or something--"

     She's stunned for a few moments as the spell she was under was lifted, figuratively, and literally. No outward change in her appearance or anything is noted, a bit... unfortunately for her, though the outfit is the least of her worries, at the moment.

     "Oh my... god, Jimmy, I'm so sorry," she stands up straight, looking at him now, quite a bit soberly. "You got hurt, are you okay? is there anything I can do?" while it's not the lounge singer anymore at the wheels, the sudden surprise and concern might seem a little... strange for her, perhaps. Maybe he had a bit of a hint now that he'd been inside her head?

Jimmy Wen (606) has posed:
     "It's alright, Fer. Looks worse than it is. Besides, I had to get you out of there. I didn't know what they were gonna do to you after you finished singing." He makes the rounds, putting everything away and packing up what he took out for the spell. When he turns from the fridge, he does so just as Ferham looks at him. For a moment, their eyes meet, and that's all it takes for the Soulgaze to begin. Jimmy sees much the same as he saw, only magnified, personalized, and focused solely on Ferham and who she is.

     Ferham... sees a scene of her own play out. The misty mountains of some faraway land. Atop a distant peak stands a woman, arms crossed in disapproval, perfectly poised, a picture of mastery. Her charge, none other than Jimmy, wears the clothes of a scholar of Qing dynasty China--but as he attempts to scale the mountain, he is weighed down. Strapped to his back is a chest of gold, and his waist carries a heavy-looking saber dripping with blood. Numerous shiny baubles dot his person, but in his ascent of the mountain he seems unable--no, unwilling to let go of them. He struggles, gaining some ground, but never as much as he could if he'd let go of his weapons or his valuables. Even so, his fingertips are stained with blood from the effort. In the distance, the sole master watches coldly, and turns her back on him.

     The vision ends.

Ferham (516) has posed:
     Bringing her left hand up, she begins to slip the gloves off, tossing them aside. They're velvet, and not exactly so great for doing work or holding onto stuff--which she's trying to do now as she attends to Jimmy. "Don't talk, let me get something anti-septic for your face, and I should check your eyes to see if there's been any sort of concussion," of course, when she does meet his eyes, she gets a little trip of her own into his head. She recoils from it, staggering back, the heels not helping regain her balance, among other things.

     "Ugh, what was that?" she steadies herself finally, looking around, distractedly--she tries to find something like alcohol, either from stiff booze or from whatever he has for a bathroom and some paper towels before coming back. "Did you see it too?" she asks after a few moments, looking at him. "You were... overloaded by trinkets and a bloody sword, you were trying to climb a mountain," Ferham then perhaps realizes she saw something from his past, or from his heritage--it was easy to forget Jimmy was asian after all, what with the car he drove and the clothes he wore and his apartment looking like what it did. The yin-yang symbol she'd been standing on was one of the few reminders.

Jimmy Wen (606) has posed:
     "That was a Soulgaze," he says, feeling like he's closed the door after the horses left the stable. "It happens when a wizard makes eye contact with another living thing with a soul. Both people see who the other person is--so what you saw was who I am, at my core. I... generally wear the sunglasses to keep that from happening to people. Sorry, Ferham."