knew_anyway | Eighth Summoning [Voice] || Sometimes I'm nervous when I talk

Entry tags:

Eighth Summoning [Voice] || Sometimes I'm nervous when I talk

-right.

[There's a small pause, and Nathaniel takes a deep breath, before starting to speak.]

As you all know, there is a festivity of sorts, held on Friday. For preparation, I am willing to teach a class on the basics of dance Thursday evening. Though I am not a certified instructor in the matter, I have attended several galas which required such... things, and I have had instruction on- dance. [God, it sounds so girly when he says it like that. But with friends like Makepeace, he knows the basics, which is far more than you barbaric lot.]

I will also be attending the prom of sorts if anyone wishes to speak to me face to face- on any matter. Thank you.

[Private to Hino Rei || Unhackable]

[There's a long pause, as if he's not sure if he really wants to say this- but he goes with it anyway, taking a deep breath.]

...I have located another spirit that I believe to be residing in Adstringendum. Something a bit more powerful than Faisal. If... if you like, [a deep breath] you can watch the summoning.

[He lets out a soft sound, like he's nervous, maybe.] Um- not that I think it would be particularly entertaining, but you seemed... curious about that sort of thing. It would be easier than trying to explain everything.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I can meet you then?

[Pause.]

-- what kind of spirit is it?

Yes. Please come over.

[He purses his lips.]

It's about the level of a djinni- like Bartimaeus, but I don't believe it is as powerful as he. Nevertheless, a degree above a foliot-sort, like Faisal is.

[And Rei is shrugging on her coat and out the door!]

Is it dangerous?

Not if bound properly.

[Which they always are.

Nat's home will be the same as ever- maybe a little more books, a few more loose papers with his spidery scrawl across them- but still remaining with some sense of neatness. Bartimaeus has been gone for over a week. Faisal had the home protected with a sensor web, but nothing harmful.]

[There's a soft hum of understanding, at the response, before Rei shuts off her feed so she can walk quickly, without interruption. When she gets to his home, she knocks once before opening the door without waiting for a response, peering inside curiously before stepping into the room, closing the door soundly behind her.]

Hello?

[He pokes his head around the corner and nods.]

Miss Rei. I've been setting up in the room over here-

[And Nathaniel leads her up the staircase and into one of the rooms upstairs. It's been cleared out of any shelving or desks, the blinds heavily drawn across the windows, allowing only a scant amount of light to shine through. The carpeting has been torn up and removed, the wood paneling underneath sanded down and smoothed to a shine.

There are three circles drawn in chalk on the floor- a large one, bound with many runes and diagrams, interlocking with one another, spaced out, squished together, but perfectly ordered and neat. There is no break, no thing that looks out of place. Perfect and painstaking.

The second is slightly smaller, directly in front of the first- similarly, it is bound by multiple circles and runes, and next to the third and smallest, with only two rings of chalk around it and three lines of writing about them. While the first and second circles are connected by a complex set of lines, the third is separate, isolated.]

I have to get the rosemary ready. Can you light those candles over there for me? The matches are in the corner. [He points helpfully as he takes packets of spices and herbs out of his coat pockets, beginning to spatter them into wooden bowls.]

[She opens her mouth to automatically correct his formality, but stops herself at the sight of the drawings on the floor. They're -- intricute, and painstakingly perfect, and her brow furrows slightly as she looks them over, careful not to step too close to them, for fear of disturbing them.

There's an odd sense of deja vu -- but Rei dismisses it as she looks up at his request before glancing over toward where Nat was pointing, immediately moving to the candles to light them quickly, striking the match with ease against the box.]

Why rosemary?

[She's curious, but focused on lighting the candles.]

Spirits are vulnerable to it.

[As he works, he sets the bowls out in small circles around the largest circle.]

They can't stand the scent. Rosemary, rowan powder, garlic- anything of the sort makes them recoil and burns their essences.

[He glances over toward her lighting the candles.]

Good. The leftover circles- [Pointing toward the small circles, maybe six inches in length in between the bowls of rosemary] -put them in there.

[Huh. She keeps that in mind, before carefully settling the candles within the indicated circles. She stays kneeling for a moment, though, to press her fingers against the circles, to look over the designs, out of curiosity, quiet.

She may or may not be memorizing as much as possible, but there was no way to do so without copying them over, so she gives up to look back up at Nathaniel, waiting for further instruction on what else she could do to help.]

Alright.

[He steps in closer to her, eyes locked on her own, his expression utterly, gravely serious.]

Listen to me. You will be standing in the smaller, disconnected circle. No matter what you see or hear, stay in that circle. Do not let a finger out of the range, do not smudge the lines. Spirits are called demons because they are wicked creatures and they will hurt you if they can. Do not give it the opportunity.

[Rei frowns, at that, before straightening to listen, glancing toward the small circle before refocusing on Nathaniel, crossing her arms stubbornly.]

If something goes wrong, I'm helping you.

[How, or why, she doesn't say, but dark beings, evil spirits -- it's what she's built for. Sending a few of them back to where they belong doesn't sound all that difficult to her.]

Nothing is going to go wrong. I have plenty of disciplinary spells that I can use to subdue it- I will be fine.

[He reassures her, but his expression is still stony- he sets a hand on her shoulder, trying to convey his urgency, the importance of this.]

They can appear as elderly women. Squalling infants. Kittens. The monsters of your nightmares. Djinni especially are as unpredictable as they are cunning. Don't let it trick you into trying to help it. Don't let it scare you into stepping back. And don't speak your name until I say it's okay.

[ -- out of all of that, Rei only responds with a huffed:]

I'm not afraid of a demon.

[She's faced down her worst nightmares and come out stronger for it. The Animus don't let you get away so easily with stumbling into their lair. But the hand on her shoulder seems to erase some of her stubbornness, and her shoulders slump slightly as she looks up at him, with a frown.]

-- fine.

[Her attacks are long distance anyway. 8|]

[There's a pause, and he wants to say something else, but Nathaniel sighs and lets his hand drop. The promise to not speak his name goes unspoken.]

Right. With any luck, it should go just fine. Don't be discouraged if you can't see anything at first.

[Nat moves into his own circle- the second largest- and slips his hands in his pockets.]

They usually appear on the higher planes until they take a solid form. You might sense it before you see it, but I'll see it before you do. So even if nothing is there, if you can't sense anything... don't step out of the circle.

[He repeats that because that is the second most important rule of being a magician. Don't let your name be discovered. Don't step outside of the circle. Either case meant an almost certain and swift death.]

[Rei pauses before stepping backwards into her own circle, putting her hands into her own pockets before nodding quickly. It isn't a relaxed gesture, though -- her fingers are curled around her transformation wand, and her other hand is just brushing against her talismans, that she carries with her everywhere.

Just because Nathaniel says it's going to be alright doesn't mean it will be. But as Rei glances around her, and then down at her own circle, she relaxes minutely. It works this way in other worlds -- an unbroken circle to protect against angry spirits. That's how it went in Castiel's world. And if Nathaniel said she would be safe within this circle -- and, Rei assumes, Nathaniel will be within his as well -- then she would be. He wouldn't have invited her along otherwise.

Finally:]

Ready when you are.

Good.

[He takes a deep breath and starts speaking in a loud, clear voice. But he's not speaking English, or Japanese, or anything that seems remotely familiar. It's not even the Arabic he spoke to her all those weeks ago- Nathaniel is now speaking Czech, the Slavic accents rolling off of his tongue like he's a native speaker. His eyes narrow slightly as his words go on, the seconds tick past, accompanied by nothing but his own voice, steady and unwavering.

A full minute passes before he stops. Takes a deep breath, and calls its name. Tibor.

Nothing happens at first, and Nathaniel slowly brings his hands out of his pockets in preparation. He counts the seconds that it takes for the djinni to hear his call, counts the seconds that it should take for it to-

-a presence can be felt, and Nathaniel almost curses at the slight miscalculation. Of course it wouldn't need time to hear the call in the Other Place, it lived in Adstringendum. Still, the amount of time had no impact on the outcome of the summoning. The being still heard the call. It still responded. It was still bound inside of its own circle.

All of the candles went out at once, leaving climbing towers of smoke that moved unnaturally, braiding themselves into something that resembled knotwork. The rosemary fluffed out of its bowl, scattering along the floorboards. The scent of blood and ash suddenly overpowered the room. But still, no spirit. not yet.]

[The sudden presence in the room is what gets Rei -- and she draws in a breath sharply, the moment it appears, but does as she was told, and does not move outside of her circle. She's staring, though, directly at where she feels the presence the strongest, and her fingers curl into fists inside her pockets as she fights down the urge to step away from it.

The urge only worsened at the smell -- but Rei's discipline is iron-clad, though her heart is pounding in her chest. Encountering spirits and demons was everyday life to her, but something about this felt dangerous. Borderline wrong, even. Which prompted her to speak, quietly, eyes trained on that spot in the air.]

What is it doing?

Probably deciding what to show up as.

[His voice is calm, quiet, but his eyes are on the circle as well.]

We are two teenagers, one boy, one girl. It will guess- correctly- that you have less experience with summoning and try to make you step outside of your circle. It will either attempt to shock you, frighten you, or make you feel pity for it. Do nothing. Feel nothing.

[As if listening to the words, the braided smoke from the snuffed out candles all shifted, curling to join one another above the circle. A single spark of flame appeared in the center of all the smoke, before it rocketed down toward the floor, flashing a bright light, and revealing the form of a bird. A parakeet, by the looks of it, twittering faintly and falling to the floor with a dull thud. It was easy to see what was wrong with it- it looked as if it had just narrowly escaped the clutches of a hawk. One of its legs was bent at an awkward angle, the opposite wing clearly broken, blood spattering across the floorboard.

It fluttered once, twittering weakly, as if begging for help. Despite all of the injuries, it looked to be one of the most darling little birds that anyone had ever been seen.]

[She's quiet, at that, and her eyes immediately become fixated on the bird, the moment it appears. Her heart twists uncomfortably at the image -- Rei keeps birds, so to see one in pain and anguish is unsettling -- but she does not move an inch.

Instead, she only narrows her eyes, before pressing her lips together into a thin line.]

I'm not stupid. You're going to have to try harder than that.

[It's quiet, and mostly to herself, but it feels better to sound irritated and detached than allow herself admit that she's bothered by such a stupid thing.]

[Nathaniel almost smiles to himself.]

You heard her. Get rid of that loathsome form. Are you, or are you not, Tibor of the watchtower, guardian of the Zlaty Chlum, servant to Nadia of Prague?

[A pause. And the bird lets out something that can only be a very vile curse in Russian, altering its form a little. The brilliant green and yellow wings- healed- now sprout out of its back, and it takes a somewhat human form, its hair spilling into feathers, nails long and sharpened to a point. It looked almost harpy-like, save for the... obvious maleness of it, given the nudity. It sat back in the circle like it didn't have a care in the world, a look of dark amusement on the narrow face.]

I am Tibor the djinni, the seer of death and all that lies before it. [It spoke again, in English this time, his voice low and ominous. As it speaks, the feathers grow darker, the room itself loses light, and the spirit grows, standing, until it's looming above the both of them, a good nine feet tall, centimeters away from the inside of its circle- and suddenly chalk looked so flimsy, drawn on the floorboards like that.] I have watched the walls rise and fall and be built again. I have built kingdoms, I have slain men and women and djinn alike- I have been worshiped in temples, I have walked the deserts of Egypt and the forests of India. I ask you now, pathetic humans: who dares to call upon me?

[She is silent, at the change, but she shifts her eyes toward Nathaniel when the spirit looms over them before refocusing her attention on the spirit's face. It takes a great tilting of her head, but Rei is careful not to step backwards, and remains perfectly still. It looks almost woefully silly -- Rei isn't exactly a large and looming figure, sitting at a humble five-foot-three and weighing under one hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet.

Her tone, though, makes her out to be a good three feet taller, as it remains just as flat, unimpressed, and even as ever.]

I've beaten up mutated bugs scarier than you.

Cut the attitude and do what he says.

[It deflates.

Nathaniel reminds himself that it is unprofessional to laugh in front of a djinni, and covers his smile by pretending to wipe at his nose.]

...put some clothes on, firstly. [THERE ARE WOMEN PRESENT.] And she's right- you look like someone tried to make a bird Utukku and got the parts all wrong.

[It deflates even more, before puffing up its chest.]

VILE HUMANS-

[Nathaniel holds up his hand.]

There'll be none of that. I hereby charge you to go forth and memorize the layout of the streets of this city. When that is accomplished, I command you to go the walls at the center and observe any comings or goings, as well as the power fluctuations and aura changes. I will summon you again in one week's time- I expect a full and detailed report of any and all changes to the area.

[A pause.]

You are to stay hidden and out of the way; let your presence be unknown. Under no circumstances may you injure any living thing, unless it is in self defense. [With every command and stipulation, the bird man shrank further and further, until he was smaller than the both of them and very, very put out.]

Now go. [He waves his hand once. A dismissal in Czech.] If you disappoint me, the Essence Rack awaits.

[The djinn did not wait to be dismissed again. It vanished with a flutter of feathers and smoke.]

[Her lips purse together a bit more, in an effort not to smile, because she definitely caught that attempt to hide his own. There's a silent moment of thanks at the order to cloth the spirit -- because, well, Rei didn't want to say anything, but for the love of all that is holy, let's not see that again.

It's interesting, though, how the spirit grew smaller with each command, and she watches with some vague amount of satisfaction as the djinni dwindles down to something shorter than herself -- and she glances towards Nathaniel in slight surprise at the orders. The center wall of the Inner City? That's what this was about?

-- she lets it go, for now, and lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding when the spirit vanishes -- before she snorts in abrupt laughter.]

What an arrogant jerk.

They're all like that.

[He shakes his head.]

And people pity them. Imagine! [Nathaniel steps out of his circle and begins to gather up the candles and bowls again, nodding at her.]

It's been Dismissed- you may step out of the circle now.

You never know. One of them might surprise you.

[Sigh. Though she has to give him some credit, that spirit was something of an asshole.

Rei steps out of the circle, with a moment of hesitation, and she stoops to pick up a bowl, but pauses as she straightens, looking down at her own little circle.]

-- so that's it? He'll listen to you now?

[Same Filter]

[Same Filter]

[Same Filter]

[Same Filter]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]