Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Ainsley     The Crystal Valley is a mecca to mystics and psychics, which includes Ainsley. She finds it to be the most comfortable area to live in all of the Multiverse. She's picked a nice little grove full of exotic and colorful trees, and she's brought a suitcase full of supplies that she may use to demonstrate what her abilities do. Sending the invitation to Chica privately was all that was left, and now she gets to wait to see if this wary creature will show up to an unknown area to meet a stranger.

    The lizard girl is seated on a rock. Her feet fidget, showing some latent energy in the otherwise peaceful being.

    She also seems to be singing. It's a quiet sound of some Spanish folk song that no one would really know. It's from her world and the accent is a little odd.
Chica Mendez     Almost as soon as Chica left the warpgate, she'd put herself on high alert. She wasn't wearing her heavy gear this time, at least, instead opting for an extremely short skirt, dirty combat boots, and a shirt whose colors are constantly shifting and changing. Across her chest was the only constant the shirt had, a red logo loudly proclaiming 'Seattle Screamers, 2065'. Over this was a light, partially-zipped jacket.

    She stops and opens herself up to the Astral--blinking slowly as she sees just how many magical auras there were here. Trying to Percieve here here would be basically pointless. With a grimace, she starts making her way towards where Ainsley said she'd be. One hand is tucked firmly under her jacket, holding the grip for her Ares Predator heavy pistol while she makes her way. Ainsley's description of herself is pretty spot on. Before Chica comes close, she mutters a quiet prayer in Spanish, grace from the gods to aid her. That done, she clears her throat. "You wanted to meet me. Mind telling me what this is all about?"
Ainsley     Ainsley watched Chica's approach. Those sky-blue eyes focused more curiously at the pause than anything else. Then she stood from her seat and held up her index finger as if indicating for Chica to wait. This is because she's digging through that suitcase she brought, and pulling out a piece of two pieces of paper. She holds one out to Chica.

    The lizard lady doesn't seem to have any weapons on her. The most threatening thing about her, at least to a mage, may be the fact that being close enough to her would indicate some kind of strong arcane force exists around her.

    "I specialize in communicative magic," she begins, using gentle Spanish to be less threatening to Chica, "Books, language, transmissions, computer code... I can use two properly treated pieces of paper as a private communication method, and I can enchant them to work with anyone that I want, though they don't last very long. Want to see?"
Chica Mendez     Chica stops immediately when Ainsley opens her eyes and starts digging through her suitcase. For a few moments she seriously contemplates drawing her gun and just backing out. That said, she doesn't. She waits on the edge, ready to jump and fight or... take a piece of paper. The Latina elf gives Ainsley an utterly bemused look.

    Eventually she brings her hand out from her jacket and takes the paper, sitting cross-legged on the ground beneath her. "Communication magic is a new one, but... You still haven't quite told me why you called, Ainsley. I don't mind watching, but I'd like to be sure I'm not going to be followed or tracked using some of your mojo."
Ainsley     "I can't track you. That would require a spell I don't know, and knowledge of you that I don't have. It would be rude to Look at you like that, after all," Ainsley tells Chica, while finding a place to sit for herself. "You said you'd buy me a meal if I showed you something new. Did you have anything better to do?" She smiles patiently after she asks that, expecting a multitude of answers for that. She holds up her own piece of paper, and speaks at it in a whisper. 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.' It appears on the paper in big block letters, as if burned into the paper, and then it fades.

    Then the paper in Chica's hand displays the same word, warming up a little in her hand while it works.

    "Sorry if this is strange. I'm just excited to meet mages from other worlds," she explains, "Though the word for me might be 'sorceror' or... I don't know."
Chica Mendez     Knowing that is a great relief, but Chica doesn't let it show on her face. She did, however, remember saying that she'd pay for food. Good news is, she just got an infusion of cash this morning. Chica allows for a small smile to come to her face. "Alright. I keep my word. Show me your magic, and I'll pay with food. Lucky enough, I actually don't have anything else today." Simple enough.

    The elf looks down at the paper and blinks as she sees the bolt-print letters forming in her hand. She /really/ wants to try looking at this from the Astral, but the sheer amount of magic energy in this area made that useless. Chica glances up to Ainsley with an extremely curious expression. "Nice trick. Does that mean you can use magic to send a digital message, too?"

    Ainsley's apologies bring forth a warm smile and an easy chuckle. "Strange is the new normal. Don't worry so much." She goes silent, then coughs and clears her throat. "It's not 'mage', in my case, either. The term is 'nahualli'. Someone who practices the Aztec tradition." She leans forward slowly, her expression now dead serious. "You mentioned Quetzalcoatl the Mother once. Do you know her? Do you know anything of the Aztec people? The religion?"
Ainsley     Ainsley smiles in this mild way that makes it seem like she was never worried about it in the first place, but she doesn't voice that. She seems happy as words are exchanged more readily, complete with her mouth curling and her feathers puffing up a little.

    The correction makes her tilt her head slightly, curious about the distinction. Aztec tradition.

    "I was a historian," she begins, "I am only familiar with the Aztec people that are long dead in my world. But I doubt it has much to do with what you, clearly, see as an active culture and religion. As well, Quetzalcoatl and other beings of that nature do not seem to exist in my world except in the form of shades that take on their shape and prey on mortal creatures, and the current mesoamerican cultures are only vaguely similar to what once was. So... Start from square one?"

    She shrugs at Chica with a playful smile.
Chica Mendez     Square one. This makes Chica hesitate again. She survived by being secretive, and in no way was she willing to offer Ainsley an oath or protection or friendship. It takes some quick thinking, but eventually she thinks up a story that will be suitable. "It's not quite as different as you think it is. The Aztec culture did die, and the gods left us. The Spaniards--" She turns her head to spit. "Ruled us for centuries."

    Chica sighs. "Until it changed. What you might know as 'Mexico' has become 'Aztlan'. So has a lot of South America. The megacorporation Aztechnology runs the country. They've been pushing 'proud Aztec culture', but the upper echelons of society are still held by goddamn Spaniards, and fuck the mestizos. They brought back worship of the Gods, and it seems that they're answering again." Suddenly, she gives a bitter laugh. "You'd think that'd make them great, but Aztlan is just as fucked as it used to be as Mexico. The only difference is there's someone tangible there to reap the rewards."
Ainsley     The smile seems to fade from Ainsley's face as Chica speaks. Mostly on the notes about the more troubling aspects of this. 'Proud Aztec culture' just puts heavy skepticism in her features. And she has to look away when Chica concludes, looking out into the crystals that emit that faint energy that fills the Crystal Valley. Just looking at one of them causes it to change color, momentarily distracting the lizard woman.

    "There was a great cataclysm," she begins, her head turning to look back to Chica. She's serious. "Some believe it was a meteor, others believe that the mana was trapped beneath the surface of the world. Whatever the cause, several centuries ago, Russia split open and out poured an obscene flood of energy. Humanity ceases being humanity. The world changed... and in many cases, it changed into Hell."

    "Central and South America are now populated by the Quetzal, who had been altered in large numbers and became their own race. They have a capital city called Aztlan that is currently uninhabitable due to foreign pollutions. All we have is magic that continues to fail us and monsters that thrive on torturing us and eating us whenever we become slightly vulnerable. Aztlan is... not Aztec, strictly speaking, it is more of a homage to ancient culture. It was built by those who remembered only from books and eventually became a great fortress protected by the blood of willing sacrifice."

    "The gods don't answer us," she concludes, rubbing the feathers on top of her head. "So none of the Quetzal are religious any longer. Perhaps any race of my world."
Chica Mendez     Now it's Chica's time to go silent and listen. As Ainsley goes on and explains what had happened to her world, though, Chica's brow slowly starts to raise. Really, it wasn't so different in her world. Only in her case it had been steadily rising mana levels, not a huge crazy explosion in Russia. From the sounds of things, the changes that had been wrought in the Sixth World because of magic had been far more mild, if still catastrophic. Aside from that, however, the stories were shockingly similar. They even had a fucking Aztlan.

     "Way too similar," she eventually grunts out loud. "It's strange how close events parallel each other. Even Blood Magic..." She shivers. She'd seen Aztechnology Blood Magic before. "The only difference seems to be the amount of damage done when magic returned." She pauses. "When I say the 'gods came back', it wasn't exactly literally. It's the state religion, and many nahualli follow the gods as mentor spirits, but there's no miracles for Aztlan."
Ainsley     The lizard lady breathes a big sigh at the comparisons made. After Chica explains, Ainsley stands up from where she's seated and steps over to her suitcase to pull a bottle of water out of it and return. She even brings over a muffin wrapped in plastic. She carefully unwraps the muffin while she speaks. "We don't even have spirits in my world. Shades don't really count, they're just manifestations of some kind of pervasive hunger that fills the world. We have ghosts, but those don't really help anyone very much. Souls exist, and the astral plane exists in some form or another, but we've found no proof of the holy or impure."

    "Do you know what the Sight is?" she wonders. "I don't recall mention of it, but I've seen examples across multiple worlds with high presences of magic present."
Chica Mendez     Huh. Never seen a spirit. That's an interesting thing to hear from someone that can use magic. Chica leans back, resting on her palms while she thinks. She's halfway tempted to try summoning something; she can feel the presence of powerful spirits here. "We have shit like that. Call them shedim, in my world. Craft, ugly fuckers. A shedim possessing a corpse nearly brought the entire Middle East into a jihad until it was found out and killed. Souls and ghosts exist, too, but you generally don't want to see them. There are arguements whether or not some Traditions can actually summon angels or demons, or if it's just a form created from the expectations of the caster."

    The mention of the Sight is both something that interests and terrifies her. If this woman could read her aura... "Yeah. Astral Perception. Mages can do it, adepts and mystic adepts generally can't. If I want, I can project my soul into the Astral. Not exactly safe, though."

    Suddenly, she stands. This area was at least somewhat rugged, a valley filled with magical enhancement. Opening herself up to the Astral, she looks around, and seems to spot something, because she grins before suddenly looking up and howling like a wolf. Strange.

    Only... it's not. If Ainsley were to use her sight right now, she'd be able to see Chica for what she truly is; covering her face is the Astral imprint of her nahualli, the Wolf. Once she's done howling, there's a sudden breeze and the smell of dog as a huge wolf spirit forms and approaches, panting lazily. Chica grins and holds out her hand, and the spirit seems content to lay down under the hand and stare at Ainsley with unblinking eyes.
Ainsley     Ainsley grimaces, though remains good-natured, when the shedim are explained. She accepts that such things can be quite similar from world to world... it's the nature of the dark to be similar to the fears of mortal creatures, she understands that nowadays. She smiles when her question receives a positive answer, happy to know that there's more overlap here that doesn't necessarily have to be negative. Her tail flickers behind her when Chica stands, preparing to use her own Astral sight.

    Ainsley opens her own Sight to watch this, trying not to focus on Chica too hard. Being polite. She can see, mostly, the flicker of communication needed to call forth that lupine spirit... she turns her head with her Sight active and locks gazes with the astral wolf.

    She stares for a few seconds. It seems very intense. She's trying to read whether this spirit is capable of speech or not.

    Then she deactivates her Sight, and stands to approach the wolf spirit, fascinated by the manifestation, though she's careful to avoid any body language a wolf may find threatening or inappropriate. Respectful. It /is/ a noble pack hunter, after all.

    "That is something I just cannot do. Nothing about my abilities allows me to summon spirits forth. But I can talk to them... I think."

    Ainsley tries. Thankfully, she's able to convey communication in a way similar to how spirits like this do thanks to an experience or three with an entity that uses a similar method to communicate. She speaks deep, her meaning crawling into the conceptual. But it's a simple phrase, something clearly meant to test the waters.

    She just says: GREETINGS
Chica Mendez     As Ainsley comes to approach Chica and the wolf, the elf sits down, grinning wide. She remembered the first time she'd found her spirit twin, how much it had entranced her. The wolf turns to look at Chica quizzically, but they lock eyes. For a moment, they stare at each other silently. Then, with a ethereal 'huff', it lays down and turns it's attention to Ainsley while Chica rubs it's head.

    Ainsley's approach is apparently allowed, and after a moment it's tongue hangs languidly out of the side of his mouth. When she begins to communicate, it's mouth shuts quickly and it tilts its head. Images and sensations float into Ainsley's mind, a wolf's nose nudging against her and sniffing, then excited barking.

    I AM.

    A river in winter, it's banks covered in snow, a thin sheen of ice covering the water while allowing the rest to flow. It involved tastes and sensations of cold, but all of it boiled down to something.

    COLD RIVER.

    Meanwhile, Chica watches the two with an amused expression. She doesn't want to speak and accidentally interrupt Ainsley's conversation, so she's content to lean against the spirit and watch. Thankfully for the both of them, she'd netted a fellow wolf, and he wasn't attempting to struggle against her tether that was holding him here.
Ainsley     The friendly response Ainsley receives bolsters her confidence in speaking with the spirit. It helps that it happens to also press its nose against her. She ruffles at its strange ethereal fur with one of her hands and sits down there in front of it. It takes a moment for Ainsley to process the name... and then she speaks back to it.

    I AM UNBOUND SERPENT TONGUE.

    It's a little more abstract from her. Complex. Flashes of words, of concepts, of emotion and imagery, but the legendary kind, yet somehow more vague and blurred together. The kind one might expect in early biblical humanity, where all languages were one, where all understood each other. Like peering into an infinite library or the noisy river of the 'Net. Though it is, ultimately, the most neutral sensation of language.

    She also seems to delight in having successfully spoken to the spirit, which shines through her introduction quite vividly.

    "This is MUCH more pleasant than the Warrior was," Ainsley comments, flashing her glee toward Chica. "I'm glad we had this meeting. I'm learning so much."
Chica Mendez     In the real world, the wolf made excited, yowling noises that made Chica laugh out loud. "It's good that you have communication magic. You got a thing for talking." She grins as she pats the wolf's side.

    The wolf accepts the information and her Name with thanks, but soon pulls away from the contact and stands, stretching and shaking itself out. It throws a meaningful look to Chica, which she accepts with a nod. She can feel him tugging against the tether. "I'm sending it back," she tells Ainsley, and with quick work undoes the bindings of mana between them. The wolf normally would have simply popped out immediately, but the ambient mana in the area allows it to run off a little ways before finally fading.

    With the spirit gone, Chica takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, a sad smile on her face. "No problem. Wasn't exactly figuring how this would go down, but I'm glad you had fun. I'm curious though--what's this Warrior? A Guardian spirit, maybe?"
Ainsley     Ainsley doesn't look sad when Cold River has to leave. The spirit takes off in a run, likely to meld back into the Astral Plane and exist outside of her normal spirit. She just waves goodbye to the wolf spirit and looks back to Chica after that, glowing a little. There's a curious look that flicks subtly down to Chica's smile, noting the shadow overcasting a normally pleasant emotion. She doesn't remark on it, though she does file it away to better understand this strange person.

    The Warrior, though, makes her rub the back of her head, ruffling her feathers. "No. It was an invading parasite, seeking to destroy the world that it had arrived at. It was a vicious and extremely powerful being that required an army and unusual methods to defeat, and by the end of it there was a massive casualty count. It was called Scion, as well. The world called it an 'Entity,' a being existing between dimensions. A little like a Spirit but... 'malevolent' is the best word for it. Maybe 'apocalyptic.' I tried to talk to it. Understand what it was. Maybe convince it to help the world, before I knew it was the cause of all that world's problems. It was a bad idea, but it spoke similarly to that spirit. Much... heavier. Bigger."
Chica Mendez     Her curiosity is going to be sated? Wonderful. Chica remains silent to listen very closely to Ainsley's description of this powerful being. But... she's dealt with spirits for her entire life, and she'd never seen anything like what was being described. Her expression is sickened. "Such a thing exists?! By the gods. The worst thing I've ever seen are Toxic Spirits." She looks Ainsley over with a raised brow. "And you survived that contact? Mother... You're fucking badass, I guess."

    Looking away, Chica shakes her head, frowning. "First thing that comes to mind is my world. Heh. We wouldn't fuckin' survive, probably. Something like that doesn't care about dragons or immortal elves. Is that thing dead, then?" She can sure hope so.
Ainsley     "As dead as it can get."

    Ainsley's face is flat when she says that, nodding once as she says it. No remorse for this thing. "I survived contact because it wasn't trying to kill me. Note that it was the 'Warrior,' and it had no concept of what danger there actually was in letting a creature like me know anything about it. It wasn't very smart. It didn't really need to be, not before it Unified. It may have destroyed that world if people like me, outsiders, didn't interfere."

    And then she rubs at her belly, where a scar is present. "I'm the kind of person that likes to get into situations way over my head," she admits, "Some people might call it being a 'hero.' One of my friends does, at least. If your world has those... Well, I'm sure your world would survive."
Chica Mendez     Relief floods into Chica's face at the good news. Fuck that thing, and fuck anything that had to do with it. "Lucky. A strong spirit, but one that didn't feel the need to fear something so small." Wasn't that how it always was. The smallest thing screwing up the biggest plans. From what she'd been hearing about Multiversal fighters, she doesn't doubt that it's true that they killed it. "Lucky them you got there, then," Chica snickers quietly.

    The movement makes Chica look down, but once she spots it her gaze zips right back up to her face. That was probably a story she didn't want to tell. Ainsley's confession--heroics and helpful heroes. A bitter, tired smile comes to her face. "Heroes don't exist in the Sixth World, hermana. And, no offense, I don't trust any of the Multiverse to know how to save it. More likely they'd burn everything down. They think with fists and swords, not brains."
Ainsley     "Mmh."

    Ainsley's eyes lid. She keeps rubbing the scar, thinking on what Chica just said. "No? No heroes at all? I find that harder to believe than you may doubt the usefulness of outside interference." She smiles in deep amusement. She's not convinced the Sixth World is so dark that no one has done anything good. Then she stands and prepares to leave. "Thank you for meeting with me, ma'am. You don't have to buy me anything right now, I'll pick a nice place later when I have a good topic for us to talk about later."
Chica Mendez     Chica's response is a slow shrug and another tired smile. "If they exist, I haven't seen 'em. Oh, sure. We've had some helpful people. Saved lives, maybe made the world a little less shit. But one guy, even a group of people, don't have the power to take on the megas. At least, not there." She chuckles. "The Union and Confederacy probably do. But I halfway expect them to scorch the earth and give you the finger instead of letting their percentages drop."

    But, goodbyes weren't times to be sad. The elf forces herself to perk up a bit. "Call me Chica. That ma'am shit doesn't sit well with me." She nods and starts walking, but she waves over her head as she heads back towards the warpgate. "As long as it ain't soy or krill. I'll be seeing you then, Ainsley."