2014.01.10 - Central Park: Spirits Within

The cold has been driving most of New York indoors. It's not just cold, it's a biting fierce cold that threatens frostbite if out too long with unexposed skin. That being said, somehow Central Park has become a pleasant oasis from the cold, even if it has warmed up through most of New York. The temperature within the gates seems to be a good 20 or thirty degrees warmer than outside of the park. A few scientists have arrived and can find no good scientific explanation, so there are mystics now examining the park as well. Standing in the park, Zack's got his glasses on as he sits there wearing a black leather jacket similar to the one worn by the 10th Doctor, a multicoloured scarf like the Fourth and blue jeans. Atop his head is a black and white stocking hat. Currently he's looking at a small flat piece of mirror, a swirling red mist broiling over the surface of the mirror.

Darix has been a sick fella. The cold has been playing massive headaches for him and he rather stay /warm/. However taking a few days off work, he needed to at least do a few days /of/ work and thankfully his boss was nice enough to keep his shifts short.

So the multilayer wearing person was on his way back home when he noticed that Central Park was /far/ warmer then the outside air temperature. This alone drew his attention to where he could actually throw his jacket over his shoulder.

The other was perhaps curious nature. There was... a light ambiance of magic here and Darix could sense that. Secondly any mages though who were looking into this phenomena were causing much larger notices of magic. So it was hard to tell exactly what was going on, beyond there was magic here-- he should just /walk/ away, but it was /WARM/.

Warmth wins over concern of danger.

As Darix walks around the park he looks around and that is when he spots Zack. A young kid who has so much magical energy it causes his mouth to slightly twitch along with the edge of his nose. Heavy magic users can be bad-- they can also be good.. as Rain has shown.

Though there is always that niggling concern that they can also see right through him and see just what he really is behind the transformed mask. Though so far, none have been able to dig that far or have desired too.

So for now, Darix enjoys the warmth and just watches the people.

The drastic differences in temperature between Central Park and the rest of New York has not gone unnoticed. Snake Eyes has gotten requests to check out the situation from two seperate organizations: one from SHIELD, focusing on large-scale precursor activity, and the other from the Genesis team out of small-scale curiousity.

So, here he is. Wearing a black full-length trenchcoat with the hood fully covering his head and face, hands tucked into pockets and black boots on his feet, he appears to be just another passerby. Having no magical senses and just the faintest hunch that something is 'odd', he is content to wander about to see if there is a more mundane explanation. Let's face it, even he is glad for an area that is simply chilly and not downright artic.

There's a small quake and Zack's head jerks away from the mirror as he flares brightly and the boy's on his feet in a flash. Glasses are removed and placed neatly in a case before he looks around, blue eyes trying to find a specific source of what he's sensing. "Where are you?" He mutters under his breath as he looks around for the source of the disturbance,"Come on where are you little beastie." He mutters under his breath.

Appearing near Snake-eyes a small little blue light flares into existence seeming to circle him with interest. A moment later on appears near Darix as well. Just tiny little pin pricks of light that move rapidly like some sort of firefly. They keep moving rapidly and just refuse to stand still.

At the small quake, Darix suddenly steadies himself. Dropping the jacket onto the ground. His gold amber eyes glance around swiftly trying to figure out what just caused that. Was it the boy with the mirror?

Though his attention is turned away from Zack as suddenly a wisp of light flutters around him, almost like a fairy actually. "..what the..?" He says to himself as he tries to snatch the very light, though even with his rapid reflexes as a human, his fingers are always just shy from it.

He growls lowly before he peers over at Zack and actually yells in his general direction. "Is this your doing? If so, knock it off!" It seemed like the logical answer right now. Heavy magic presence being the source of all things wrong.

Snake Eyes stops mid-step as the ground shakes under his feet. He's used to earthquakes and aftershocks, having lived close to a major faultline for many years, but this is... different. This sense of unease, general 'not right', and overall unknowing is really starting to annoy him.

The tiny blue light flares to life in the corner of Snake Eyes' peripheral vision, drawing the man's attention towards it. He does not move at first, just observing this strange phenomenon around himself. The flickers of light do shine under his hood on occassion, revealing a silvery knight-like visor over his eyes and a black ski-mask over his face.

While Darix yells at someone (behind him?), Snake Eyes instead reaches out with one black-gloved hand, palm up and elbow bent. His stance is relaxed, unthreatened and unthreatening, seeing if passive stillness will convince these 'fireflies' to stay still long enough for true observation. Clearly, actively trying to catch them won't work.

"Trust me. This is not my doing." Zack says as he makes a gesture and a vortex of blue light appears next to him and he pulls a rapier from it and makes it vanish again,"There's a lot of stuff going on here. The mirror was telling me a spirit of Earth and Fire was awake out of time. Normally they're a summer spirit, or spirits." His accent marks him as being from an upper class area of London. "Show yourself proper." He calls out.

There's a bit of a high pitched giggle from all over as a figure appears in the cold, blue flames coalescing into a humanoid figure. "Oh Come on! We should all have just a little bit of fun." It says as a figure rises out of the ground, covered in lush green grass,"He was almost right. Only not earth and fire spirit, earth spirit and fire spirit." THe second figure says the voice a rich rumble. "They woke up. We will punish all now." The Earth spirit says as he advances on Darix,"Will you make us sleep again?" It asks looking the man eye to eye, radiating a smell like fresh cut grass, but also a palpable air of menace, the thing's eyes were a deep dark shade of red, tinged in green.

Darix suddenly hears Zack's explanation and raises a brow slightly. It takes him a moment to understand what the youth was talking about as he had to mentally dig through his mythological studies to match references to such information.

However by the time realization kicks in, that is when the two spirits show up. One of earth and one of fire. Darix stares at the two and what they say, including the earth one moving slowly toward him. His hand clenches up tightly as he narrows his eyes.

Meeting the Earth's spirits eyes dead on. Those gold amber eyes, meeting those menacing eyes of the spirit and the spirit most likely can sense that Darix is /far/ more then a human. He was hiding something deep within. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"If you harm the people of New York. We will have to make you sleep again, yes." Darix admits trying to hold himself back from taking any action. "Though something tells me, you do not desire to sleep.. now do you?" About then the six foot three tall man takes a step back, trying to get a touch bit of distance between him and the spirit.

"You threaten me?!" The earth spirit asks laughing, a cruel sound, the very ground of central park shaking from the force of his laugh,"You think you have the power to put me to sleep? Try and face me then!" The figure says as it lifts a big fist and aims a punch towards Darix's chest. The spirits movements are not terribly fast. In fact it is slow but there's a growing force within that fist. Meaning there's plenty of power behind.

"Awwww... I just want to play. Don't you want to play?" The fire spirit asks giggling and dancing around Zack,"When it's really cold you cannot play." It says, feet touching the ground causing a hiss as it steps on to a bit of ice that goes from ice to vapor at the touch, burned footprints following its movements.

"It's not time to play right now though. If you stay up now, then you won't be able to play when it's time." Zack says seriously to the figure, the dark haired youth almost the same size as the spirit,"But if you go to sleep now then I can promise that we'll play this summer." He says smiling a little bit. He's not sure if this will work but it doesn't seem to carry the same malicious intent the other has. "So would you please sleep?"

Earth spirit doesn't desire to sleep. It apparently wants to fight. Then again, Darix probably didn't do a very good job at appeasing the spirit. Go figure for him.

The fist comes and Darix eyes go wide, "Ah cripes." he states as he quickly jumps out of the way and suddenly creates a simple magical barrier to absorb the impact just encase he misses the timing of the jump back. He doesn't like to show he has the potential of magic, but when your dealing with an angered earth spirit, what else can you do?

"I may infact have the power to place you to sleep, but it doesn't mean I desire to demonstrate it!" Darix takes a few steps back and then creates two fire balls in his hand. "However I have no desire to fight you, so please, I ask of you. Cease this aggression!"

Snake Eyes also hears Zack's explanation of the situation and makes a mental note of this uneasy feeling for later recognition. Magic. So it really isn't just fairy tales and superstition. And yet something so fantastic almost seems to be mundane nowadays. How interesting.

When the two spirits appear, the man clad in black is simply gone. Not like teleportation, not even moving to duck behind something. There one moment, then not. It would seem that he's left the area entirely, unless you have keen senses--which would tell you that he's around, watching the two entities as well as the people to whom their attention appears to be directed. He does not intervene just yet, most likely evaluating the situation and deciding which person he should assist first.

Darix's display of magic/ability/whatever is intriguing, however. But one thing at a time.

The force of the fist would be enough to punch a hole through solid steel. "No." The spirit says as more smaller versions of itself begin popping up around the park,"I shall make all things that crawl upon this surface sleep forever." It says in a hollow voice, the things eyes going vacant for a moment. It is as if it were being told what to do by some other force. One of those forms is near Snake Eyes, which bends over digging fingers into the ground making vines begin growing to attack people.

The Fire Spirit looks at Zack,"Can't. He won't sleep so I cannot sleep either. I cannot do anything to make him sleep. He's all dark and shadowy. My flames flicker out if I go near him. He's usually the gentle spirit of the summer... Well usually but not usually..." The figure says and this gets a nod from Zack.

"I see what you mean. You're bound together. Heat to make people enjoy cool water and earth for binding..." Zack says before he says,"We need to forget about the elementals. They're being kept up. We need to find the source of what's waking them up. Whatever it is has to be in the park. Can you sense different types of magic or is it just magic?" Zack calls out to Darix, not realizing that Snake EYes is even there right now. Darix watches the barrier get slammed by the fist and watching the magical field shattered into a fine mist of magical light. "Huh." He then jumps back a few times, only see more elemental earth spirits coming up, or at least this one was making more of itself.

That was-- problematic.

Zack call over and Darix raises a brow, "How did you.." He blinks his eyes and narrows his eyes slightly. They almost seeming to be glowing for a moment. "..nevermind. I can sense magic. As in the air and around me.. and if there is a presence here that is controlling the spirits, I can make no guarantee I can find it within the aura of it all!"

Darix then pushes off to the side, before throwing the fire balls he holds in his hand toward the vines in attempt to protect the people. The fire balls will probably explode slightly on impact, but amazingly, not ignite the area on fire.

If there is any people left, Darix barks out loudly, "Get clear! Get out of here! NOW!" In his voice one may pick up a mild hint of a much deeper rumble.

Snake Eyes has not so much hidden himself in the trees so much as he has made a temporary perch on the branches, giving himself a better view of a wider area. He definitely notices the smaller Earth spirits constructing themselves out of the ground, and one in particular below him is clearly using vines to attack the unwary people passing by.

Ah. Now this is no good.

Silently, he unsheathes his katana from his back, tucking his other hand into the chest of his trenchcoat to pull out his trench knife. He shifts on the branch, crouching down and tensing for a moment before he jumps--just as Darix's fireball of unfire hits the vines. He hits the ground at a crouch directly in front of the small Earth spirit, his katana whistling through the air to attempt cutting off the golem's arms just below the elbow. He spins with the strike, lunging in closer to drive the trench knife towards the golem's throat.

"Well let's see what we can do." Zack says seriously, before getting the mirror and blowing it off. "I call upon the spirit world, we seek that which awakens the spirits outside their time and forces them to remain awake. Show me the location of that which affronts nature herself." Zack says loudly, the mist forming once more in the mirror, broiling beneath the surface. The fire spirit is actually keeping the vines from him. The protecting him.

The earth spirit continues its assault, the Spirit letting out a loud rumbling roar as it begins lashing out even more violently. The version that Snake Eyes is dealing with goes down pretty easy, and begins a tangled mess of vines around the man in black. Apparently close up cutting resulting in it being able to reach out to deal with him.

The people are fleeing the tangled vines. Most people started fleeing when the Spirits first decided to make their presence known.

The spirit is pretty angry and Darix tsks softly. "Hurry up over there!" he says over to Zack as he tries to keep avoiding the very angry earth spirit and trying to use his own fireball magic to maybe keep it at bay.

However luck will eventually always run out and the Earth Spirit gets a impact on Darix right in the chest, which sends the man nearly flying across the field, before impacting the ground rather hard and rolling along it. He lays there for a moment on the ground, before he picks himself up. He places his hand on his chest and grits his teeth slightly.

It is amazing Darix is still standing given how hard the Earth Spirit hits and more amazing that he has no broken bones, but it will bruise. That is for sure. "Don't make me do this.." He says to toward the Earth Spirit. "I really don't want to go all out here.."

Darix then charges right at the Earth Spirit once more, "But your leaving me no choice!" Instead of using fireballs like he has been, Darix conjures up the power of wind and attempts to slide down on his knees and actually create a tornado like force under the Earth Spirit to fling it into the air.

If successful, Darix then stands up, and takes a hold of the wind like a lasso and goes to slam the Earth Spirit right back down into the ground as his own fist goes to impact the very earth itself. Somone like Zack may realize something about Darix. He doesn't whisper words, he doesn't need to conjure items or even draw runes. He is doing this all naturally. Pulling from his own source as if he was part of magic itself. Yet-- he didn't seem very powerful, which was probably a good thing.

The golem goes down easily enough, but its body becomes a mass of vines as it falls. Snake Eyes attempts to recoil or redirect his forward movement to one side, drawing his blades close for safekeeping, but he is far too close to be completely successful. The vines snag his trenchcoat, threatening to draw him in and ensnare him completely, but a quick hand-movement to his chest unlatches the coat and a shrug of his shoulders frees him from it as he rolls clear. Any further vines are met with a blade as he falls back.

He'll have to get that back once this is over. It's a good trenchcoat.

Now clearly unburdened yet still wearing all-black, a tac-harness over his torso bristling with weapons now in full view, Snake Eyes shifts tactics. He sheathes the katana and trench-knife, instead unholstering a pistol from his hip and calmly firing at any other of the 'golems' within his range, keeping himself moving so he would remain unsnared. He aims for vital points--face, neck, center of mass, torso, etcetera--trying to find the right combination to put them down without causing any collateral damage.

There are times Zack doesn't use words either but for something like what he's doing now or just when he needs a bit of umph. That being said right now he drops the mirror like it was hot,"It's about 100 feet behind you." Zack says as he blows on his hands. "Hurry before these things decide to try and leave. If he does then we're going to have our handfuls as it will start taking over all the spirits." He calls out. That being said he makes a mirage appear of Darix and himself appear at various points.

The thing takes damage from the tornado but it is back to its original condition as soon as it touches the ground a moment later. "I am a spirit of the Earth. I am eternal." It says angrily,"Stop hiding behind mortal magic!" It seems to be unable to distinguish the real one from the illusions that Zack conjured up and seems infuriated when it goes to strike one and ends up going right through it.

"100 feet behind me?" Darix asks with a raised eye brow, he watches as the Earth Spirit goes through a mirage of himself and he looks over at Snake Eyes who seems to have his own hands full. At least that guy can keep the little spirits busy it seems.

Good.

Darix quickly bolts for the point Zack stated. He isn't sure what he is about to run into, but he'll meet it with flaming fist-- which yes. Fire is rising around his hands and up his arms. Amazingly not scorching his clothing.

Snake Eyes' head cants for a brief moment as if noticing Darix and Zack for the first time while he reloads a full magazine into his pistol. Immediately, he shifts on a foot and silently bounds away from the duo, opening fire and pulling the smaller Earth Spirits' collective attentions away from the other two--and Darix in particular. At least the smaller Earth Spirits are going after what is actively hurting them. Now he just needs to stay out of their range as long as possible... though this may catch the true Earth Spirit's attention as well, away from the conjured illusions.

There's a ripple of magic at the mentioned point as if something were concealed there. It's pretty dark magic that gives an ominous feeling. "If you wouldn't mind trying to shoot some of them. Keep them occupied." Yeah. Zack's aware of Snake Eyes. His eyes are seeing things on a bunch of different levels right now. It's giving him a bit of a headache from the amount of information his brain is currently processing but safer this way.

The Fire Spirit shatters into hundreds of little pin pricks and begins harassing the various earth spirits to keep them as distracted as possible. The very ground itself seems to be screaming in frustration, the ground rippling but not truly quaking, like it was the surface of water being disturbed by a pebble dropped through it.

Darix continues to charge forward even, that is until the ground starts to ripple and it almost causes him to lose his footing for a moment. In his frustration he roars out a war-like cry, before blasting the flames from his hands in the direction of the field.

Mostly in hopes that whatever was there, may get hit by the flames-- if not consumed by them.

Snake Eyes is running through bullets faster than he had anticipated, in all honesty. In fact, the Fire Spirit's intervention couldn't have come at a better time, as he was on the verge of getting overwhelmed. The flurry of blue 'fireflies' gives the ninja enough time to switch back to his swords and resume harrying the smaller Earth Spirits, this time slicing and moving without getting any closer than he has to. The roiling ground beneath his feet is providing an interesting challenge by itself, but he's managing well enough for the moment by virtue of instinct and training. Staying off the ground as much as possible via jumps and spins, while not the most efficient of movement methods, does help as well.

The flames reveal a black stone but otherwise it appears unharmed. They probably just burned off enchantments. The fireflies are assaulting the smaller spirits and helping keep them off balance so Snake Eyes can slice and dice them. They keep healing but at least for now they seem to have halted. There's a slow down coming from all the creatures. Zack's focusing on keeping up the illusions that he's running. Darix isn't someone who he is familiar with and the number of them is causing him to get a bit of a headache trying to keep them normal seeming in action. The main Earth Spirit is trying to impale the various ones with shafts of earth.

Darix stares at the stone for a moment and peers at it. Though the flames may have pulled off the enchantments. It doesn't answer what it is. "Hey!" He calls over to Zack. "There is a stone here!"

Darix then turns his attention back to it, before walking up closer to the stone and then flexing his fingers, he kneels down and goes to actually pick up the stone. This may or may not be a smart idea.

The regeneration is a problem, but there isn't much Snake Eyes can do about that. It isn't as if he has a SHIELD dropship on call. So at best, this is a 'hold out as long as you can' situation. Not that he minds--Darix and Zack can't get to the bottom of this mess if they have the wrath of the Earth on their heads--but there must be a better way...

He suddenly aims his submachine gun at the back of the main Earth Spirit and opens fire with a burst of bullets, simultaneously motioning Zack towards Darix. The intent is clear even without words: I'm the distraction. Go deal with the source.

"Uhh... Break it? It's forge to hold him awake." Zack says wincing a little bit. "Can we please get the thing destroyed. I stop this spell and he'll be after you before you can blink." Actually they're both the distraction right now. Snake Eyes might be dealing with the little ones, but Zack's keeping the big one busy. Trying to find the right one. He's beginning to think he might have to have one of his golems deal with this head on. Fight Earth with Earth.

Darix stares at the stone as he is told to destroy it. He isn't sure how to do that. As a human his fists are just as strong as any other man, but in his other form..

Though maybe magic can solve the answer? "I'll see what I can do." He replies to Zack as he stares at the stone.

His hands start to super heat around the stone. He first tries to see if maybe with enough heat he can shatter it, because once its hot enough. He throws it up into the air and then with a twirl of his body, he throws a massive exploding fire ball up at it in the air.

Hoping that the explosive force may shatter the dang thing.

When he realizes that Zack isn't moving and the main Earth Spirit seems to be more focused on chasing illusions, Snake Eyes immediately returns to dealing with the smaller 'golems'. He doesn't bounce around quite so much, this time seeming to roll with the earth instead of trying to fight against it. It messes up his usual rhythm, but he's still holding his own well enough thanks to the Fire Spirit's assistance.

The stone explodes into a shower of black dust that fades. Once that's done the main one begins wobbling a little bit before falling face first into the ground and dissolving it it. There is a soft yawn before the fireflies begin winking out of existence,"It'll cool down slowly. My gift to the city." The disembodied voice says before they all vanish. Leaving Zack to flop down on the ground and closing his eyes, the illusions vanishing in an instant.

Darix watches as the stone explodes and winces a little. He watches as the spirits return to the earth and back to sleep. His gold amber eyes look around, wondering if the cold was going to come back in once more at which case he really needed to find his jacket!

The hoodie wouldn't be enough warmth.

Slowly the man walks back over to Zack and then lowers down his hand for the young sorcerer to take. "Thanks for doing that.. with the illusions and all." He then looks over to Snake Eyes and stares at the oddly clothed man. He does give the ninja a thumbs up followed by a soft smile.

Snake Eyes pulls back a step or two as the smaller 'golems' also fall over and begin returning to the ground from whence they came. He tilts his head over to the blue 'fireflies' upon hearing the Fire Spirit's voice, then simply nods once as that too vanishes.

He takes a moment to survey the area, his head turning as he pivots on one foot, shoulders rising and falling noticeably as puffs of hot breath can be seen from his ski-mask. Once he is certain all is returning to as it should be, he resheathes his katana and bows his head to Darix in acknowledgement and, perhaps, belated greetings. Since Darix is checking on Zack, he moves to reclaim his trenchcoat from the snarl of dying brambles that had stolen it mid-fight, trench-knife still in hand.

Reaching out and shaking the proferred hand, Zack smiles,"Not a problem. It seemed like something that I could do. I wasn't sure if I could break the stone. So I figured I would leave it up to you." He says in his crisp British accent. His blue eyes look up,"I'll be fine in a moment. Just too a lot of focus. Thing was really quite violent when forced awake. Course I get grumpy too when I'm forced awake when I'm asleep." He says casually. The brambles dissolve too before the jacket is extricated from them, leaving it undamaged. "Who isn't grumpy when we get rudely awaken. Just some of us are far more dangerous in those circumstances then others." Darix admits with a light smirk before he walks over to pick up his own jacket on the ground and throws it back on.

"Though-- I wonder who woke them up and placed the Earth Spirit under control? That is a mystery in itself and slightly concerning really." Darix admits as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Yet that isn't in my department to chase down. Civilian and all that."

Snake Eyes actually rests one hand on his hip as he clearly stares down at the dissolving brambles, clearly both amazed and bemused. What a wondrous thing, magic. But his trenchcoat is undamaged, and that is what is important for the moment.

He re-sheathes his trench-knife and gives the coat a good solid shake, just in case there's anything lingering outside or inside. He wanders back over to the duo, refastening his trenchcoat closed as he walks but leaving the hood down. He clasps his hands behind his back as he adapts a more relaxed stance, though his body language indicates a cautious readiness. <"Is This A Common Occurrence?"> He 'asks', though the flat robotic 'voice' originates from somewhere behind him instead of his covered face.

"Yes. It's rather worrying." Zack says casually,"I'm not that good at the whole investigation. Whoever did this didn't actually work the magic here except the last stage so the majority of the spell isn't here. I don't recognize the form of the magic, which actually worries me more than what they did." He says seriously.When Snake Eyes 'speaks' the teen turns to him,"Not really... Well not here. I deal with Spirits and such on a regular basis but usually it's much more civil."

Darix cants his head slightly. "Hm." He looks around. "Yeah-- I'm sadly no investigator myself either. Oh yeah. The name is Darix. Darix Tyner." After his little introduction, he goes silent and just listens for now.

Snake Eyes inclines his head to both Zack and Darix. <"Snake Eyes."> Name? Callsign? Probably both, in truth, and that's the extent of the introduction from him.

His full attention focuses on Zack, returning to the topic at hand. <"Forgive Me. I Am Unfamiliar With Such Things As Magic And Spirits."> He offers a noncommittal shrug. Sometimes being a ninja isn't enough when surrounded by the more fantastic abilities. <"Is There Any Way We Can Find Out Anything More? Or Are We Now At A Dead End?">

"I'll have to contact a friend of mine. She's got some contacts and I think she'll want to know about this." Zack says looking from Darix to Snake Eyes and back,"I'm Zack, well Zachary, but I prefer Zack." He says casually as he looks around,"A pleasure to meet you both. I do a lot with magic, sort of one of those things." He says casually.

Snake Eyes nods a bit. <"I Understand."> He motions around briefly, apparently towards where the black stone had been discovered earlier. <"If There Is Nothing More To Be Done, I Should Take My Leave."> He has his own contacts to report to, and best stay out of the way of those who actually know what they're doing.

"Nope. We've got all things accomplished that we can for now." Zack says casually, shaking his head a bit. Removing a phone from his pocket, he checks the time consideringly. "I wonder if she's free..." He says under his breath.

Darix hrms softly. "Well, if that is that. I'm heading back home before this cold gets to me." He does take out a pad and writes down his email and phone number before handing it over to Zack. "If you do get anything further on this and, I don't know, need some help. Call me up."

Darix then walks away from the two waving his hand up in the air. "Take care both of you and stay warm!"

Snake Eyes simply bows his head to Zack before walking away, disappearing into the steadily-dropping cold without a sound. The teen will find the ninja's own contact information written on a notecard, but tucked within Darix's paper. How'd he do that? A ninja never tells.