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sparkindarknessGah, Darren’s style rolls off easily, he talks much the same way that I do. But Rick, despite the fact he steals the most air time, is so much harder. His slangy (well attempted, slangy) style is very different from my own; Ahrimadan is actually easier! Add in that Rick’s American, so should TECHNICALLY use Americanisms trips me up no end. Catch me if I miss a few - not necessarily spelling (no ‘color’ and ‘honor‘. Quite aside from anything else my spell check freaks over it) but things like using “crisp” instead of ‘chips’ etc. Pleading to Americans out there to catch anything that’s too English in Rick’s PoV, since, chances are, I won't notice.
Anyway, some insight on Darren’s family. And war plans... sorry, it’s full of dialogue and a little dry...
“Darren! Darren!!!” I punch the buttons on the elevator, calling the spirits I awoke there years ago. It sky rockets, moving so quickly I nearly pass out. I burst through the door and into the apartment.
Darren’s sat in front of a coffee table, all black lacquer and dark red glass. Ahrimadan is sat on the table, using one paw delicately to sift through sheaves of paper scattered across it’s shiny surface. Books pile to one side of the ebony and burgundy chair Darren’s sat in. They both look up in surprise as I come crashing into the apartment. The furniture’s new, shit, when did he go shopping?
“I knew you were attached to your irritating ice white decor, but, personally I think you’re over-reacting.” Darren’s smiling slightly, raising one eyebrow as he always does when he thinks I've done something that's so terribly amusing.
The cat yawns expansively, and rolls lazily onto his side. “Art thou so deeply in heat that thou needst tire thyself so in reaching thy lover? How unfortunate, master Darren, thy lover runs to thy side yet is too worn to make use of that wondrous body. Perhaps, mortal, thou shouldst give that body to one who canst use that form more wisely?” His voice is, as ever, dark, insidious and tempting. So deep it rumbles down my spine, chased by echoes that whisper behind me, out of sight. Seriously fucking weird. And fucking cool as well...
But I don’t have time for it now...
“Darren, this is serious... you’re sister’s in town! And fuck knows how many other of your family. She said she was talking to others.”
He freezes, his face shutting down into a mask. Eyes deep and unreadable. Face a finely carved porcelain visage. He’s too pale for me to notice him get any paler, everything’s hidden. Only clue is Ahrimadan. He rolls over onto his feet and emits a deep rumbling growl that dries my mouth. Did those kitty eyes just turn black, or was it a trick of the light? Shit, time to worry about the daemon cat later, right?
“She’s alone.”
I blink a couple of times. His voice was so... empty. Seriously frightening. “Alone? But you said your family was fucking huge!”
“Yes. But we always work alone. Sometimes two or three members with similar or complimentary powers will co-operate. But it is rare, and arranged between themselves. We are all exceedingly confident in our own fields, and resent interference. On another level, we are incredibly powerful in our own fields, anyone who interferes is of lesser skill, and possesses lesser understanding; therefore is a liability.”
“Wow, that’s arrogant.” He raises that eyebrow again and shrugs.
“It’s practical. It is very rare for two family members to possess identical powers. Usually we have a dominant field and one, or two lesser fields. Extremely powerful members may have two or even three dominant fields, but that is extremely rare. For someone else to interfere and not hinder, they must have an equal dominant field in the same area, and likely similar lesser fields. It doesn’t happen. In this ‘operation’.” He grimaces and glares out the window for a while... Ahrimadan fluffs his fur and growls again, modulating it with a hiss.
“To... hunt me. My sister will work alone, because she cannot guarantee that other family members won't get caught up in her illusions, or will be able to see what she’s doing. It won’t help anyone if her team mate is busy throwing fireballs at her illusory attackers.” He smiles slightly at that, trying to force a joke. “She will be in contact with the family, especially any seers, and for support should things go wrong, but they won’t interfere. To do so could have dire consequences. It would also be considered a mortal insult.”
Fuck, this is weird. I’m beginning to get most of it - makes sense, you don’t screw with magick you don't understand and you don’t screw with someone else’s spells or the shit can come seriously raining down.
“Mortal insult? In that a bit, well, medieval?”
That half smile again... “My family is old and proud. Our code of honour is ancient. To interfere in an area where another has staked a claim or started a project says you doubt their competence. Or that your judgement, skill or project is greater and more important than theirs. So much more so that you can push it, and them, aside as insignificant. Many family members would consider it a grave insult to just ask to become involved, or even enter the same area. My sister is perfectly within her rights to call for a duel. Or declare Enmity.”
Shit, how come I’m only learning about all this fucking weird stuff now? I have no fucking time for a crash course in Camaalis politics!
“Enmity? You make that sound real nasty.”
“Vendetta. Or blood feud. Not to the death, or unlikely any more, but serious nevertheless. Actually this may be an escape route. Kat already has Enmity with Alexei... he may interfere just to spite her.” Wait, I’m sure he fucking said interference is banned... I open my mouth but he predicts me.
“Interference is allowed, along with most civil insults, no matter how severe, in cases of Enmity.”
“So Alexei to the rescue? You gonna ring him?” He turns and glares at me. Ahrimadan hisses. His eyes are definitely black from edge to edge.
“If Alexei were near, I would kill him.” His voice is like fucking lead. Cold, hard and heavy... “And he would try to kill me. Assume that I have a Black Blood Debt - Enmity to the death, with all my kin.”
Shit, after we survive this, Darren is so going to do some fucking explaining. I don’t want any more of this crap raining down on us!
“Right, serious shit. Not important now, right? Now, what I wanna know, is what we’re gonna do about psycho bitch?”
He gives me a cold glare for a minute. “That is my sister, Rick. Remember, I was considering doing exactly what she’s trying to do a few months ago.” A pained look crosses his face, and he reaches out and gently touches my hand. “In many ways, she’s right. You know that... she is trying to do a brave and wonderful thing - sacrifice something she loves for the good of the world.”
Shit... “Darren... what are you saying? We gonna run from her? We gonna fight her?” Oh fuck, I just thought. “Darren, you gonna let me fight her, or you gonna stop me?”
He flinches, and cups my face, gently. “Katherine, and all my kin, even Alexei, are precious to me. I do love them Rick. I would not harm them unless I could help it. Aside from Alexei, I would never have killed any of them for any reason, nothing was worth more to me than them.”
He leans in and kisses me, gently. “That was then. I still love them. It would still kill a piece of me to hurt them. But you are worth more to me than them. I cannot let you be hurt, no matter what. Not even my sister is proof against me, if she raises her hand against you. If I must surrender completely to the darkness in my soul to save you... I will do it.”
Ahrimadan freezes on the table. The room feels colder. Part of me is overjoyed, he loves me that much! But I want to scream, Darren protected his soul against all comers, and with it the whole fucking world. Now he’s given me the fucking key, the red button. Shit, that’s frightening.
“I don’t want her dead, or even hurt. But you will fight to protect me. Forcing me to fight to protect you... and I think it will hurt you if I am harmed. I see it in your eyes. So I am forced to defend myself, no matter how much I long to lay down my arms.”
He looks so sad. Fuck! It was all going so well!
“Ok, Darren... What should we do? What defences can we prepare?” I just hope I can put him back together afterwards.
“Nothing. If I’d had more notice, maybe. But now she’s in New York, there’s very little we can do, everything will take at least twice as long as it should.”
Nothing? Fuck that, there was loads of shit we could get ready!
“What about wards? Protections? Prepared spells! Shit, between us we can pull out everything but the holy hand grenade!”
He shakes his head and sighs again. “No, you need to know who you face. My sister’s primary power is the crafting of illusions. Secondary she holds the skills of telepathy and empathy, albeit weakly. She can see what you expect or want to see and then create it as an illusion. Her illusions appeal to all five senses, and can be totally immersive to the point where you can experience days of adventures and travels without once leaving your seat.”
Like I didn't know that. Fuck, days worth?
“So why can't we prepare defences?”
“Will you create defences? Are we sitting here talking? Will the defences we create be real, or just illusions that we were so sure we made? Will a spell we come to rely on turn out to be little more than the figments of our imagination? Gods, she is so powerful this flat could’ve been reduced to rubble and she even now be pointing a gun at our mangled forms and if we were less powerful magickally, we would notice no difference.”
Shit.... what can you say to that?!
“Fuck, we’re dead! What can we do against that?”
“She has a weakness. She can only confuse senses she understands. The standard five and the more common variants of the sixth. She can’t confuse, for example, a seer’s premonition, or my dark sight. Or your spirit sense, I assume. She needs to have a sense to confuse it.”
Well that explains how I broke out before. “In her illusion... spirit’s felt wrong, and I could sense spirits that weren’t there. And everything was weird and shit. Empty.”
Darren grinned, fierce and triumphant. “Perfect! You’re so powerful, you sense the spirits in everything! Concentrate on that, and you’ll be able to tell whether something’s real or not by whether it has a spirit, or the right spirit!”
Well, not that simple. Sorry, guys, but that kind of mojo’s soooo beyond me. Yeah, I can do it with in-animates, but living spirits are fucking complex. “Shit Darren, I’m good, but can't do that crap on living things without preparation. Fuck, it takes some thinking to do it with dead stuff too. Otherwise, it’s just, y’know, background noise.”
He nods, still smiling... he looks like an evil genius in mid plot. “Same with my dark sight. I don’t see unless I concentrate usually. And if I do see, my mind doesn’t really think about it. But still, if in doubt use it as a guide. Our greatest assets, though, are Ghost and Ahrimadan.”
Oh shit, we are screwed if we have to rely on them! “Yay! Go the side-kicks! But you lost me, why?”
“Ghost senses things differently from people, right?” I nod, yeah spirits have really freaky senses. It's fun to brain hop with them, but seriously headachy.
“Well, Ahrimadan has all a cat’s senses. Cats can hear, see, smell and feel far more acutely than us. A cat can sense the shape of a room by the air currents on their whiskers alone. Katherine is good, but it will be nearly impossible to create illusions that are perfect in such microscopic detail. He is also a daemon, with their otherworldly senses, which Katherine cannot even begin to understand. No more than she can understand Ghost‘s senses.”
He looks seriously at Ahrimadan on the table. “Our companions must be our eyes and ears Rick, we can't trust our own any more.”
I swallow, and it fucking hurts. This is going to be so bad... I pull Darren close and cling desperately to him...
This may be the last day I can hold him.
Anyway, some insight on Darren’s family. And war plans... sorry, it’s full of dialogue and a little dry...
“Darren! Darren!!!” I punch the buttons on the elevator, calling the spirits I awoke there years ago. It sky rockets, moving so quickly I nearly pass out. I burst through the door and into the apartment.
Darren’s sat in front of a coffee table, all black lacquer and dark red glass. Ahrimadan is sat on the table, using one paw delicately to sift through sheaves of paper scattered across it’s shiny surface. Books pile to one side of the ebony and burgundy chair Darren’s sat in. They both look up in surprise as I come crashing into the apartment. The furniture’s new, shit, when did he go shopping?
“I knew you were attached to your irritating ice white decor, but, personally I think you’re over-reacting.” Darren’s smiling slightly, raising one eyebrow as he always does when he thinks I've done something that's so terribly amusing.
The cat yawns expansively, and rolls lazily onto his side. “Art thou so deeply in heat that thou needst tire thyself so in reaching thy lover? How unfortunate, master Darren, thy lover runs to thy side yet is too worn to make use of that wondrous body. Perhaps, mortal, thou shouldst give that body to one who canst use that form more wisely?” His voice is, as ever, dark, insidious and tempting. So deep it rumbles down my spine, chased by echoes that whisper behind me, out of sight. Seriously fucking weird. And fucking cool as well...
But I don’t have time for it now...
“Darren, this is serious... you’re sister’s in town! And fuck knows how many other of your family. She said she was talking to others.”
He freezes, his face shutting down into a mask. Eyes deep and unreadable. Face a finely carved porcelain visage. He’s too pale for me to notice him get any paler, everything’s hidden. Only clue is Ahrimadan. He rolls over onto his feet and emits a deep rumbling growl that dries my mouth. Did those kitty eyes just turn black, or was it a trick of the light? Shit, time to worry about the daemon cat later, right?
“She’s alone.”
I blink a couple of times. His voice was so... empty. Seriously frightening. “Alone? But you said your family was fucking huge!”
“Yes. But we always work alone. Sometimes two or three members with similar or complimentary powers will co-operate. But it is rare, and arranged between themselves. We are all exceedingly confident in our own fields, and resent interference. On another level, we are incredibly powerful in our own fields, anyone who interferes is of lesser skill, and possesses lesser understanding; therefore is a liability.”
“Wow, that’s arrogant.” He raises that eyebrow again and shrugs.
“It’s practical. It is very rare for two family members to possess identical powers. Usually we have a dominant field and one, or two lesser fields. Extremely powerful members may have two or even three dominant fields, but that is extremely rare. For someone else to interfere and not hinder, they must have an equal dominant field in the same area, and likely similar lesser fields. It doesn’t happen. In this ‘operation’.” He grimaces and glares out the window for a while... Ahrimadan fluffs his fur and growls again, modulating it with a hiss.
“To... hunt me. My sister will work alone, because she cannot guarantee that other family members won't get caught up in her illusions, or will be able to see what she’s doing. It won’t help anyone if her team mate is busy throwing fireballs at her illusory attackers.” He smiles slightly at that, trying to force a joke. “She will be in contact with the family, especially any seers, and for support should things go wrong, but they won’t interfere. To do so could have dire consequences. It would also be considered a mortal insult.”
Fuck, this is weird. I’m beginning to get most of it - makes sense, you don’t screw with magick you don't understand and you don’t screw with someone else’s spells or the shit can come seriously raining down.
“Mortal insult? In that a bit, well, medieval?”
That half smile again... “My family is old and proud. Our code of honour is ancient. To interfere in an area where another has staked a claim or started a project says you doubt their competence. Or that your judgement, skill or project is greater and more important than theirs. So much more so that you can push it, and them, aside as insignificant. Many family members would consider it a grave insult to just ask to become involved, or even enter the same area. My sister is perfectly within her rights to call for a duel. Or declare Enmity.”
Shit, how come I’m only learning about all this fucking weird stuff now? I have no fucking time for a crash course in Camaalis politics!
“Enmity? You make that sound real nasty.”
“Vendetta. Or blood feud. Not to the death, or unlikely any more, but serious nevertheless. Actually this may be an escape route. Kat already has Enmity with Alexei... he may interfere just to spite her.” Wait, I’m sure he fucking said interference is banned... I open my mouth but he predicts me.
“Interference is allowed, along with most civil insults, no matter how severe, in cases of Enmity.”
“So Alexei to the rescue? You gonna ring him?” He turns and glares at me. Ahrimadan hisses. His eyes are definitely black from edge to edge.
“If Alexei were near, I would kill him.” His voice is like fucking lead. Cold, hard and heavy... “And he would try to kill me. Assume that I have a Black Blood Debt - Enmity to the death, with all my kin.”
Shit, after we survive this, Darren is so going to do some fucking explaining. I don’t want any more of this crap raining down on us!
“Right, serious shit. Not important now, right? Now, what I wanna know, is what we’re gonna do about psycho bitch?”
He gives me a cold glare for a minute. “That is my sister, Rick. Remember, I was considering doing exactly what she’s trying to do a few months ago.” A pained look crosses his face, and he reaches out and gently touches my hand. “In many ways, she’s right. You know that... she is trying to do a brave and wonderful thing - sacrifice something she loves for the good of the world.”
Shit... “Darren... what are you saying? We gonna run from her? We gonna fight her?” Oh fuck, I just thought. “Darren, you gonna let me fight her, or you gonna stop me?”
He flinches, and cups my face, gently. “Katherine, and all my kin, even Alexei, are precious to me. I do love them Rick. I would not harm them unless I could help it. Aside from Alexei, I would never have killed any of them for any reason, nothing was worth more to me than them.”
He leans in and kisses me, gently. “That was then. I still love them. It would still kill a piece of me to hurt them. But you are worth more to me than them. I cannot let you be hurt, no matter what. Not even my sister is proof against me, if she raises her hand against you. If I must surrender completely to the darkness in my soul to save you... I will do it.”
Ahrimadan freezes on the table. The room feels colder. Part of me is overjoyed, he loves me that much! But I want to scream, Darren protected his soul against all comers, and with it the whole fucking world. Now he’s given me the fucking key, the red button. Shit, that’s frightening.
“I don’t want her dead, or even hurt. But you will fight to protect me. Forcing me to fight to protect you... and I think it will hurt you if I am harmed. I see it in your eyes. So I am forced to defend myself, no matter how much I long to lay down my arms.”
He looks so sad. Fuck! It was all going so well!
“Ok, Darren... What should we do? What defences can we prepare?” I just hope I can put him back together afterwards.
“Nothing. If I’d had more notice, maybe. But now she’s in New York, there’s very little we can do, everything will take at least twice as long as it should.”
Nothing? Fuck that, there was loads of shit we could get ready!
“What about wards? Protections? Prepared spells! Shit, between us we can pull out everything but the holy hand grenade!”
He shakes his head and sighs again. “No, you need to know who you face. My sister’s primary power is the crafting of illusions. Secondary she holds the skills of telepathy and empathy, albeit weakly. She can see what you expect or want to see and then create it as an illusion. Her illusions appeal to all five senses, and can be totally immersive to the point where you can experience days of adventures and travels without once leaving your seat.”
Like I didn't know that. Fuck, days worth?
“So why can't we prepare defences?”
“Will you create defences? Are we sitting here talking? Will the defences we create be real, or just illusions that we were so sure we made? Will a spell we come to rely on turn out to be little more than the figments of our imagination? Gods, she is so powerful this flat could’ve been reduced to rubble and she even now be pointing a gun at our mangled forms and if we were less powerful magickally, we would notice no difference.”
Shit.... what can you say to that?!
“Fuck, we’re dead! What can we do against that?”
“She has a weakness. She can only confuse senses she understands. The standard five and the more common variants of the sixth. She can’t confuse, for example, a seer’s premonition, or my dark sight. Or your spirit sense, I assume. She needs to have a sense to confuse it.”
Well that explains how I broke out before. “In her illusion... spirit’s felt wrong, and I could sense spirits that weren’t there. And everything was weird and shit. Empty.”
Darren grinned, fierce and triumphant. “Perfect! You’re so powerful, you sense the spirits in everything! Concentrate on that, and you’ll be able to tell whether something’s real or not by whether it has a spirit, or the right spirit!”
Well, not that simple. Sorry, guys, but that kind of mojo’s soooo beyond me. Yeah, I can do it with in-animates, but living spirits are fucking complex. “Shit Darren, I’m good, but can't do that crap on living things without preparation. Fuck, it takes some thinking to do it with dead stuff too. Otherwise, it’s just, y’know, background noise.”
He nods, still smiling... he looks like an evil genius in mid plot. “Same with my dark sight. I don’t see unless I concentrate usually. And if I do see, my mind doesn’t really think about it. But still, if in doubt use it as a guide. Our greatest assets, though, are Ghost and Ahrimadan.”
Oh shit, we are screwed if we have to rely on them! “Yay! Go the side-kicks! But you lost me, why?”
“Ghost senses things differently from people, right?” I nod, yeah spirits have really freaky senses. It's fun to brain hop with them, but seriously headachy.
“Well, Ahrimadan has all a cat’s senses. Cats can hear, see, smell and feel far more acutely than us. A cat can sense the shape of a room by the air currents on their whiskers alone. Katherine is good, but it will be nearly impossible to create illusions that are perfect in such microscopic detail. He is also a daemon, with their otherworldly senses, which Katherine cannot even begin to understand. No more than she can understand Ghost‘s senses.”
He looks seriously at Ahrimadan on the table. “Our companions must be our eyes and ears Rick, we can't trust our own any more.”
I swallow, and it fucking hurts. This is going to be so bad... I pull Darren close and cling desperately to him...
This may be the last day I can hold him.
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Date: 2003-05-27 12:57 pm (UTC)Darren's family confuse me! Talk about seriously in need of modernisation.
Darren: It has worked for nearly 4,000 years...