2013.09.12 - Floodbringer

The Hallett Nature Sanctuary, or: Amethyst's Evil Witch Lair.

Meeting Rain and learning about witches gave Amethyst a greater appreciation for hanging out in the middle of nature for her spell casting. She knew intellectually that witches probably existed and some people on Gemworld called themselves witches, but Rain had a broom! Seriously awesome. She has resisted the temptation to buy a cauldron.

Not that her usual thicket in the sanctuary has afforded Amethyst any great privacy. She has, to date, been accosted by a cat man who was actually a nice guy and a fifteen year old with a gun who either wanted to steal her petty magical tokens or make friends. Hard to say.

That is why Amethyst has taken the minor precaution of not being Amethyst but, instead, being Amy Winston, a gothy juvenile delinquent who broke in here to do totally not real magic. Never mind the numerous non-detection and alarm spells ringing her witch's circle.

Amy rises from the fallen tree she has taken as her throne-away-from-throne, turning an otherworldly coin over in her hand. After a moment of further consideration, she tosses it into a tiny cauldron full of water.

Okay. Total lie. She bought a cauldron. They're already selling Halloween stuff, alright?

The water hisses and bubbles when the coin hits it; rather than simply tumble to the bottom, however, the metal disc seems to dissolve on its way down, as if it were pitched into a cauldron of hydrochloric acid rather than water. Wisps of smoke rise from the pot, and the unsavory scent of lavender mingled with brimstone permeates the thicket.

As the last traces of the coin wear away, the surrounding branches and bushes rustle for several vigorous seconds before gradually bending and twisting away from one another to form a path just large enough for a man to pass through them unhindered.

Fortunately, that man is Doctor Strange, and not, like, a mugger with an uncannily green thumb.

When he reaches the edge of Amy's clearing, he pauses for a moment to study the ground before taking a long, careful step past its invisible borders. His cape - despite fluttering dramatically around his body this whole time - has yet to pick up even a speck of dust from the ground or stray twig from the foliage. "An interesting choice of sanctum," he thoughtfully remarks, glancing around the clearing as he approaches Amy. Once he's near enough, he offers his hand in greeting and adds, "It's been some time since we last spoke; how have you been?"

Amy fidgets as she resists the urge step forward and watch the coin do its thing. She is pretty sure that a full grown man is going to come shooting out of that cauldron at any moment, so giving it some space seems wise.

Still, she can't help but smile and feel a little giddy. It's moments of weirdness like this that make the whole Gemworld thing worth it, as opposed to the stabbing people part.

When Doctor Strange strolls in from a completely opposite direction, Amy spins around and raises her hands, fingers spread. Oh. The teen lowers her gaze, puts a hand on her forehead and exhales. Her hair, currently black and unruly, covers her face. "It's not, like, really a sanctum. I guess it is, kind of? It's more like my usual table, complete with dudes occasionally stopping in to give me a hard time."

Amy lifts her chin, brushing her hair back to reveal a sheepish smile. She shakes Strange's offered hand. "Um, not you, of course. Other dudes. I'm good, though! Sorry about not dressing up all sparkly and blonde. It gets old. I guess you sort of see through magic outfit changes though, right?"

Babbling. Stop. Amy continues, cheeks reddening. "Did you hear that they caught those guys from the museum? Looks like Asgard trip is canceled."

"Of course," the Doctor chuckles when Amy rushes to explain herself. His hands slide under the folds of his cloak when the handshake breaks, and - babbling or not - he patiently listens to the rest of what she has to say. An eyebrow arches at the news about the museum, and it's pretty readily apparent that he doesn't quite trust that the situation is over, so much as merely progressed.

Still, he gives the girl a small nod as he says, "Good; perhaps they'll face some sort of justice for their abuses after all." After leaning slightly to one side to peer past Amy and into the cauldron, he continues, "Your guise is yours, to mold and change as you see fit; you needn't apologize for it. Given a little time, though, yes: the Eye of Agamotto--" He taps the chunky gold amulet pinned to his cloak. "--could peel back most any disguise; you've yet to give me a reason to, though."

With that, he moves away from Amy, and with a few small gestures, conjures an ornate, wooden chair with red upholstery opposite Amy's tree-throne and takes a seat. As he crosses his legs, he asks, "If we aren't Asgard bound today, your highness: why have you summoned me?"

Agamotto. She knows that name. Looks like paying attention pays off, occasionally.

Amy watches curiously as the doctor steps away. When he gestures, that's where her eyes are at. His movements are familiar in some slight ways, but more than a little alien. Gemworld magic really must have a shared origin with Earthly spell casting.

She raises her hand, fingers pointed in the direction of the fallen tree--no, wait, she'd be messing up the landscape. Amy purses her lips and then moves to sit down on her boring, plain log.

"It's actually--well, um." Amy leans forward, resting her chin in the palms of her hands and her elbows on her knees. "Kind of a personal project, I guess. So, you know how Asgard and Olympus were old mythologies and how they actually exist? Christian stuff--that actually exists, too, right? Like, fallen angels and Satan and the Lance of Longinus and stuff like that. Do you have any experience with that sort of thing?"

Amy narrows her eyes and scrunches up her nose. "You're the Sorcerer Supreme. Can you, like, get Archangel Michael on the phone and tell him to send a clean up crew?"

The Doctor lowers his head to hide a small smile as Amy settles for(and on) her log; it's gone by the time she begins questioning him, though.

"'Heaven' and 'Hell' are--complicated," he carefully begins, once she's finished. "Hierarchies within hierarchies. But the short of it is that no: I don't have the Archangel Michael on speed-dial; he and his ilk do as their Lord wills, and tend not to look favorably upon mortal mystics who would seek to divert them from those duties. Mystics who have sworn oaths with all manner of gods other than theirs, less so."

"So the whole monotheism thing translates to xenophobia," Amy finishes in a dull tone. She looks upward toward the floating light gems she's strewn about the place and silently considers them for a moment.

"I guess you've got the Vishanti in your corner." The teen sits up, extending her arms to show empty hands. "I'm not sworn to any other gods, though! I've never been religious, but would they talk to me? See, there's this guy--um, this being--called Eclipso, and I'm almost totally sure that he's a fallen angel, and I'm pretty sure that he used to be really important up there!"

Amy clenches her hands into fists, lets out an overblown sigh, and leans further back. She grabs a hold of a branch sticking out from the fallen tree before gravity can take her down. "I'm not even sure about that. This is really annoying."

The gears in her head are turning, though.

That name drains the blood from the wide-eyed Doctor's face, and it takes a few moments before he remembers that he still needs to breathe, no matter how many mystical arts he's mastered.

"The former spirit of vengeance," he then supplies in a hushed, incredulous whisper. "deemed too casually destructive for even that purpose. The Flood-Bringer; what business could you possibly have with such a being, Princess? I--"

Exhaling, the Doctor takes a second to massage his right temple and collect himself. Today is not the first or last time that he's known fear in his line of work, but he hasn't the luxury of letting it show too much, so long as he has Amy to consider.

"Seeking an audience with the powers of Heaven may be a--complicated--issue for you, as well," he cautiously murmurs once his hand lowers. "You may not have sworn oaths to other powers, but you--still represent something alien to them. We can try - I have means of making contact - I just can't guarantee that our pleas - your pleas - wouldn't fall on unconcerned ears."

Amy is staring up at the canopy. She cannot see Doctor Strange's reaction. She goes on kicking her feet and thinking of ways to slam dunk Eclipso into a gem forever.

When the Sorcerer Supreme speaks, however, Amy's attention snaps back to him. She sits upright and freezes, eyes wide and lips pressed thin. Spirit of vengeance. Flood bringer.

Amy's voice is small and almost apologetic: "I, um, I trapped him in a diamond? I mean, he was trying to kill me. I just sort of--"

The teen trails off. A wave of melancholy washes over her. Unlike Strange, she has no problem with letting it show in her face.

"This is probably a lot more serious than I thought, huh?" Amy lowers her head, letting her hair obscure her face again. "I'm alien to them," she repeats. So he probably knows about that. "Do they have a problem with Lords of Order, or something?"

So she knows about that; good. Having never had to tell a seventeen year old that she's actually kind of, sort of a demi-goddess, maybe, Strange wasn't exactly looking forward to doing so today.

"'Thou shalt have no other gods...'," he recites, looking a bit more alive thanks to the news that Eclipso is trapped. "I don't - can't - claim to understand the workings of Heaven, though; it's quite possible that given the circumstances, they might be willing to receive an audience, though. If only to claim and deal with their fallen brethren.

After taking a beat to examine the shining gems overhead, he returns his eyes to Amy to ask, "Where is this diamond?" There's a bit of caution in his voice; none of these gems feel like they're housing a malevolent fallen angel of vengeance, but he has known sorcerors to take all kinds of strange trophies.

"It disappeared!" Amy shouts, leaping up from her tree. She paces back and forth, gesturing wildly as she speaks. None of the animals seem disturbed. Magic.

"It was sooo stupid! Or maybe I was stupid! Ugh! One second I trapped him, the next it just vanished! It's not on Gemworld--or, maybe it is and I just missed it!" She stops abruptly, turning on her heel and crossing her arms. Though she's facing Strange, Amy looks off to the side. She knows she's not acting with royal grace. Whatever. Her mom's not here.

She frowns. Really mature thoughts, Amy. Totally shaping up to be a respectable sorceress princess demigoddess.

"I'm sure it's on Earth. I don't know where. You probably know more than I do, but I think after what I did to him, he has to wait for a full eclipse to try to break out. There's a total solar eclipse on November third. I think that's when he'll make his move, if something doesn't happen before then."

"Whether it's on Earth or beyond it," Strange promises, "it can be found--I'm sure of that. Eclipso is an immensely powerful spirit; it would be difficult to hide any prison containing him from my Eye." He doesn't seem put off by Amy's display, at least; frustration is only natural, given the stakes and the circumstances.

After standing, he heads for the patch of foliage for which he came, adding, "I'll begin looking into this immediately; we'll need to seek our audience as soon as we're able, but regardless of whether or not the hosts of Heaven are on our side: we may just have enough time to head this situation off before it deteriorates." The plants begin to draw themselves aside for him when he's close, but he stops just short of crossing the invisible threshold to look Amy and bow his head slightly.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention; if you need to contact me again, you know the way."

And then, after another careful step through Amy's defenses, the plants bend back into place and he's gone.

The chair, however, is not--and another coin, just like the first, is resting in its seat.

Amy remains where she stands, though she has the politeness to look Strange in the eye as he leaves.

"Bye, doc," she says, faintly, even as he goes. "Thanks for helping me out."

She stays standing there for a minute, staring at the wall of once-animated plants. When she turns around and sees the chair with the coin, however, she smiles despite herself. The teen crosses the clearing, picks up the coin, and sits down. She tries and fails to make the coin dance over her knuckles. Her attention is partially on the novelty cauldron in front of her.

This chair actually goes with it, kind of. Hmm.