2014.01.18 - Demons Among Us

For as resilient as the Wagners are, sometimes even they come across certain events where they cannot immediately bounce back to being normal. What resulted from Sinister's experimentation was one such thing. The Greenwich Blackout is, for Talia, the second event within this timeline.

She's attempted to make good with Rain, which turned out better than expected. The Witch didn't seem fazed in the slightest, which almost makes it more difficult for TJ to accept. One does not simply roll their shoulders and walk on after something like this, right?

And what in the heck -was- 'all of this,' anyway? To her it seemed like just another nightmare, except when she came to it had become a lot more real than any of the others had. The Majestic is still standing, for one. No fire, no dead bodies, no blood and carbon marked symbols. She just started today with another silent jumping to alertness, waiting for her heart to stop racing before crawling out of bed, same as always. Nothing's amiss here, honest!

That was hours ago. It's getting to be late evening now, accompanied with light snowfall. She's been notably less social and upbeat over the last week or two, choosing to be out in the city on her own rather than staying isolated within her room. It's always more difficult to judge a change of character in another when they're never around, after all.

Even then, everyone needs to eat sometime. Wagners, especially! TJ passes through the kitchen long enough to work on throwing some tea together, along with a 'blueberry' muffin.

Modern chemistry, now a complete part of your afternoon snack.

Amanda has spent the day in the business office of the theatre. The renovations are pretty much done. It's time, now, to start thinking about a gala -- bringing in or creating a show to anchor the place, not to mention bring in a little extra revenue. She can't keep shifting artefacts around the worlds for cash, after all. That'll get out of hand, quickly. And flight attending doesn't pay all that much, these days.

A file folder in hand, folded back so she can read the pages with in, she wanders into the kitchen somewhat on automatic pilot, an empty travel mug in hand. She glances up as she sees the blue body in the room, focussing on it long enough to raise her brows in mild surprise. "TJ. You're home."

Yes. She's actually noticed the girl's absence over the last couple of weeks. So, she smiles, folding the cover of her file folder back over the pages as she puts it down and goes to reach for the kettle to fix her own cup of tea. "Been keeping yourself busy, hm?"

Yerk..! Not alone, anymore... Here in the kitchen. Talia turns about, tail staying low as it flows around her more like a lagging limb rather than an appendage with a mind of its own. "Something like that," she offers back in a voice with sounds a bit hoarse. "Forgot what yelling into a mic can do to the throat," she offers with a thin smile, holding a palm against her sternum. It's an excuse and something of an apology all in one. (Can't talk right now, just listen to how awful I sound!)

Now faced with a matter of timing she hesitates long enough to decide on whether she wants to risk pulling the teabag out of the mug too early in order to dump honey into the brew or if she should just take the honey bottle with her. The latter wins out, her tail finally returning to something resembling proper animation as it plucks the bottle from the counter, her mind already made up on slipping out before anything else can be said.

Times like this she really doesn't like having an evidence trail following along with her teleportation. She could have been long gone before Amanda ever set foot into the kitchen, but the sound and sulfur would have given it away.

"I can give you something for that throat," Amanda notes. She watches Talia's body language and the girl would have to be blind, herself, not to see the concern that rises slowly in her eyes. She pins TJ with a direct look for a moment, and then turns away to begin prepping her own tea.

But, though her back is turned, there's a sense of 'Mom' about her -- entirely unintentional, given she's not at all TJ's mother. Nevertheless, it's that sense all good moms give off when they're trying to give their kids space to make their own decisions... even though they fully intend to find out what the hell is going on. Thus, Amanda speaks with careful casualness. "Have your father and I done something to drive you off, Teej? Or is there another reason you're avoiding us?"

Checkmate. Once more Talia stops short and spins about, the bottle of honey staying -exactly where it is- in the air as her body and tail work around it like it's physically welded into place. Golden yellow eyes widen, that blank stare easily crossing the space between the two mutants. It's true, Amanda is no no way her mother. Not in this timeline nor any of the others. (Not the ones she's been to, at least.) All the same, here in this reality, such a connection need not be by blood and genetics. -This- Amanda and -This- Kurt are her family now. It's honestly more difficult to think of them as being on the same level, as it were.

"What..? No, what would you two have done to--?"

Amanda's done this before, darnit.

"I thought..it might be best..if I lay low for a while..." Yeah, that'll work.

Amanda turns back around, now, leaning against the counter. Her head cants to one side, and her expression as she regards TJ is a mix of that concern, clear skepticism, and compassion. "Why?" she asks gently. "Who do you think is coming after you, that you need to lay low?"

Of course, even as she asks that, Amanda's pretty sure about the answer. "Or does this have more to do with our little trip into your remarkable nightmares?"

Well now, TJ doesn't need to go into detail after all. There it is, right out in the open. Remarkable nightmares. "That last thing," she admits with a slightly less than clear audial response.

"None of that was supposed to happen. You guys weren't supposed to see any of that and everyone else was not supposed to die. Face it, in this timeline my track record sucks. I still don't know why I'm -here,- no one's told me what needs fixing. So I guess I get to be what breaks things this go around."

Now it's too late to consider further isolation, too. The stage has been set, the actors are all in their places. The show must go on.

"I should start looking for an apartment again."

"You could," Amanda says, pulling out a chair and setting down in it while she waits for her tea to steep. "But, do you really think that would stop either Kurt or I from following you -- from becoming those annoying family types who simply won't stay away and leave you to your own space?" There's a bit of amusement in her tone as she says it, a gentle teasing meant to remind TJ about just how close the Wagner clan tends to be. "You might be able to convince me to keep my nose out of it. But, do you really think you'd be able to convince your father?"

Really?

Her eyes grow more serious. "Those nightmares are pretty fierce, Teej. But, they're no worse than the nightmares your father and I have regularly, ourselves. And as for what you're supposed to be doing here... well..."

Again, she meets the girl's yellow eyes. "Maybe you're here to help me defend the Nexus. As for the rest of the stuff that's happened... Honey, you were raised an X-Man, weren't you? Are you telling me that you never saw this sort of thing happen regularly to them? To us? Because, I gotta tell you... that's pretty normal in this timeline. Being a mutant means attracting and causing trouble, whether you intend to or not."

"Good point," Talia half mutters in resignation. (YOU try stopping a teleporter and a portal-wielding mage from visiting! Not happening!)

The next admission downright surprises her. "-You- two have nightmares? Remotely like any of that?"

Add two parts more logic, stir.

TJ sets her mug aside so she can rub at her forehead, momentarily at a loss as how to respond. It's easy to forget that things aren't all happy and friendly for everyone else out there, after running with the Exiles and coming face to face with so many horrible things, only a few of which they were able to correct in order to save the others native to those realities... 'Mutant' and 'normal' do not mesh, though for some it can be even more crazy than the base level bizarre factor.

"I could have killed you both," she says in a softer-pitched voice. "Rain, too. Hell, I could have killed -Spider-Man.- And then, with the news--eh, that would have happened, anyway," she dismisses her own failed point. Spidey's always going to have problems with the Bugle. That's on him, not her.

Abandoning her forehead, that blue tri-pointed hand comes to rest atop of the counter. "Ever have a dream that felt like it was real? These have been going way beyond that level. I mean it when I say -you guys weren't supposed to see that.-"

Amanda doesn't disbelieve her. At all. But she does frown. "Exactly how long have these dreams been going on? Since before you arrived here, or afterward?" Because you never know what might have triggered it.

She sighs gently and gives a rueful smile. "TJ, my mother has been a sorcerer all my life. I grew up surrounded by occult forces, some of them quite horrific. While Mother tried to protect me, protect all of us, most of the time, there were times when she couldn't. And others when, frankly, she wouldn't. I've seen things... horrible things. And..." She stops now, and frowns. "And I found something, at the end of that fight, that concerns me. I don't know if it might be related or not."

How long? "Since I got here," Talia admits in a low-turned tone, now avoiding eye contact to fuss over her tea. "Started about the same time I learned that I could teleport. They seem to be connected, the more I foomp, the worse they get."

Regaining some of her vocal energy, she says "It's linked to Hell. I know it is. When I came here I didn't -start- here, I started -there.- Something happened to me down there, and I don't know what."

Found something... "You found something?" Teej suddenly perks up, only now able to look directly at Amanda again. "Besides all of the blood and runes (and corpseupines) and whatnot?" Blink. "Was it my library card? Because I haven't seen that since thirty-six timelines ago."

Amanda listens to what TJ tells her about the dreams, not entirely surprised, given what she experienced via the possessed telepath's projection. "We need to find out what," she says after a moment. "Though, that may not be pleasant." Her eyes narrow -- more of a squint, really. "I could try hypnotizing you, regression therapy." That is part of her actual mutant abilities, as opposed to her magic. "But, I think you father needs to be here for anything like that." Anytime hell's involved, she prefers to have Kurt by her side. He's her security blanket.

Then, however, as TJ perks up, she chuckles briefly and holds up a hand to forestall her. "Not a library card, now." Her expression grows serious. "It was a stone. A blood red stone that is, as far as I can tell, unbreakable and wholly demonic. I've got it sealed away safely, for now, but... I really want to find out what it is and how it can be safely disposed of. Or destroyed."

While the thought of guided hypnosis as a means of getting to the bottom of this matter doesn't sit all that well with Talia, she had already asked a well-known (in the community!) psychic to nose around in there and try to figure out where she came from once before. Well before anything -bad- happened as a result of her being here, admittedly. She doesn't turn down the idea up front, though there's clearly some unease with the thought now in mind.

A stone. A blood red--

TJ sets the honey and forgotten muffin onto the counter by her mug. "Stay put."

Unlike Kurt, she doesn't vanish in smoke. She still hasn't learned how to port through things she cannot see, and after their discussion and all... Even so, the five-limbed ceiling-crawler makes good time. When she returns, she does so with a gemstone that perfectly fits the description of the one Amanda had found.

Completely outside of any container. Bare in her palm.

"Anything like this?"

And, even as TJ re-enters the room, Amanda can feel the demonic energy humming around it. She is swiftly on her feet, tea ignored, focussed on the blue girl and the stone in her palm. "Exactly like that," she tells her, meeting yellow eyes with blue. "TJ, that thing is dangerous. Do you not feel the energy that surrounds it at all?"

Because it gives Amanda something of a headache just looking at it from a distance, nevermind touching it.

Here the Wagnerette looks fairly blank. "..Not really. Why, should I?" Psychic, she can detect some of. Magic? Not a chance! Hell-oriented stuff? Nope, as odd as it might seem. Familiar resonance. Looking back to the stone, she says "I found this at a mystic garage sale that Rain was having. Was kinda drawn to it. I'm guessing that it has a twin? Just..feels comfortable, I guess. Like it wants to be held. If you really don't trust it then I suppose you can put it on lockdown, too. Didn't cost me too much."

"Hoping the pendant doesn't weird you out like this thing does," she adds in a partial muttering, finally reaching for the muffin to take a large bite out of it.

Drawn to it?

Well, to be fair, TJ is part demon. Just like Kurt. So, perhaps it's not a surprise. "I'd feel a whole lot more comfortable if I could lock it down, yes," she admits. "I also think your father needs to look at these." Because he can sense magic. And demonic energies. So, she wants to see his reaction to them.

A beat. She peers. "What pendant?"

Can't be too careful.