Strange Magic [Dragonsong]

Zero · September 07, 2020, 02:59:38 PM

"Yup." Joss sighed, they didn't have much choice. He fell into step behind Calen, following the mage with slumped shoulders. They didn't get far before the demon hunter had pulled his cigar case out of his coat, putting one between his lips and a quick gesture of one hand caused the end to spark to life. He pulled in a deep drag before blowing out a small cloud of smoke and glancing around.

"You look nervous Frosty." Unlike Calen, Joss looked fairly relaxed, as if they were on a casual stroll and not traversing one of the most dangerous cities on the face of the planet.

DragonSong · September 07, 2020, 03:05:12 PM

"Mm, do I?" Clearly distracted, Calen adjusted his step slightly to partially block Joss from view as he spotted a pair--a man and a woman--glance their way from the entrance of an alley across the street.

When he realized what he was doing he paused. What in--?

"Ah, shit." He fixed his smile back in place and started walking again. "Right, so these sigils. Makes you sick when we're too far apart, makes me...twitchy. Don't suppose you think it would make us...I don't know, compelled to be--" he cast around for a better word, couldn't find one, sighed, and settled on, "Protective?"

Zero · September 07, 2020, 03:25:32 PM

"Mm." Joss didn't answer right away, mulling over the words as he puffed on his cigar, glancing towards the people at the entrance of the alley. He hadn't actually noticed the way Calen had tried to block him from them.

"Well, they are protection sigils." He finally said, sighing with a shake of his head. "I don't really know how they work. They can do all kinds of things that we don't know about yet - and won't know until it happens."

DragonSong · September 07, 2020, 03:54:09 PM

"Fan-fucking-tastic." Calen dragged a hand down his face--that was becoming a habit lately, he'd have to watch out for that. "Right. Great. Okay."

He exhaled a sharp breath and took a quick turn down a side street, after a swift glance around to make sure they weren't about to be mugged. "So, just so I'm aware of what I might be walking into: you're not in trouble with anyone in town, are you? Y'know, jobs you may have ditched on, jilted lover, debt, anything like that?"

None of Zantaric's gangs were exactly safe to deal with, but if Joss had any particular enemies then he could plan out how to get a message to Dain that was at least less risky.

Zero · September 07, 2020, 04:03:48 PM

"Big ol' nope to all of that. Anybody that becomes enough of a problem to me doesn't usually last too long, ya'know? Only problems we might have are with demons. They're not my biggest fans, if you can imagine that." Joss hunted demons, most people were pretty okay with that - except of course demons. He was good at pissing people off, but also dangerous enough that they were usually smart enough to let it go. When they didn't, well, he wasn't the most compassionate or merciful adversary.

"Does it surprise you that aside from some petty bar fights that I actually don't get into a lot of trouble?" Joss shrugged and smirked.

DragonSong · September 07, 2020, 04:38:55 PM

Calen glanced at him sidelong. "Uh...yeah, it does actually." He shrugged in turn. "Alright, well...that does simplify things, I suppose."

Weird to be working with someone who arguably had less to worry about in terms of "old enemies" than he did.

"Okay, so, see that building?" He gestured toward what appeared to be a rest house--not quite an inn, and definitely abandoned. "We should be able to leave a message there, and it'll get to Dain within a few days. He knows how to contact me, and if I haven't run into him since I've been here, he's not in Zantaric. So we may as well hit the road sooner rather than later."

Zero · September 07, 2020, 04:53:43 PM

"Heh." Joss was still smirking around his cigar as he shrugged again. He knew he didn't give off a good impression on almost anybody. It didn't surprise him that Calen figured he would have a lot more enemies than just demons, but he honestly didn't concern himself with much else, aside from the occasional inhuman monster causing problems for normal folks.

"Alright, seems really easy. So we just go in and leave a message, this should only take a minute." He really didn't see why the mage was so on guard.

DragonSong · September 08, 2020, 07:28:57 AM

"Yup." Calen looked around again. "Super simple. In and out."

They'd reached the building, and he hesitated. "Look, you just...stay here. I'm not going far, just inside." It was only a couple of yards, surely that amount of distance wouldn't trigger whatever illness overtook Joss when they were separated.

He smiled, getting close to the usual carefree grin. "Play lookout, yeah? Just shout if you see something...off."

Zero · February 05, 2022, 03:11:40 PM

"Sure, sure..." Joss released a small cloud of smoke from his cigar as he leaned against the building next to the door and folded his arms across his chest. He wasn't fully confident that it would be fine, but the only way to really test the range of the sigils was to, well, test how far he could stand to be away from Calen without getting sick.

It was insanely annoying that the mage only felt anxious when moving away from him while Joss got downright ill to the stomach, but there wasn't much to be done about it.

"Just don't take too long, in case I do start heaving, yeah?"

DragonSong · July 10, 2022, 04:48:30 PM

Caleb chuckled and gave him a quick nod. "I'll do my best. Try not to miss me too much."

With a grin and a wink he slipped into the abandoned rest house. He was only gone a few minutes, true to his word, but when he came stumbling back out he had gone surprisingly pale, and there was a fog over his eyes .

"Alright. Job done," he panted as he slumped against the wall beside Joss and let his eyes close for a long moment. He focused on breathing, struggling to feel his toes from the effort of breaking through the dozens of barriers he, Dain, and others had placed on the safe house.

Zero · January 02, 2023, 12:42:46 PM

The only response Joss gave to that was to flip Calen off as the mage disappeared into the abandoned building. As if he would ever miss some annoying ass frosty the snowman. Being stuck with him was such a headache.

A headache that he needed to find a cure to pronto.

Joss kept a rather lazy eye out for those few minutes, doing his best not to seem as tense as he felt. Luckily he didn't feel sick yet, but it was still uncomfortable, like an itch just beneath the skin. He resisted the urge to rub the sigil on his palm, scowling and puffing on his cigar irritably.

No, he was not sulking!

"You good?" When Calen had come back he looked a bit like he'd actually exerted himself quite heavily for those few minutes. Joss was definitely not worried about him. No fucking way. "Let's keep moving. Where next?"

DragonSong · January 06, 2023, 08:53:22 AM

"I'm...good," Calen panted, thoroughly unconvincingly. He gave himself a little shake, then groaned softly as he pushed away from the wall. "Now...well. We get moving, I suppose."

He glanced at Joss and shrugged. "You got anywhere in particular to be? I can usually find odd jobs just about anywhere, no skin off my nose which direction we head." Dain would be able to get a message to him just about anywhere, once the one he'd left reached him.

Zero · September 12, 2023, 10:12:26 AM

"Sure." Joss wasn't going to argue with the mage about it. If Calen said he was good, then he was going to just roll with that. He wasn't going to pretend to actually care!

"I go wherever there are demons to kill, which is to say I really don't give a fuck where I am, because there's always a demon lurking near enough." It was the truth. Everywhere Joss went there seemed to be no end of evil to hunt down - demons or other monstrosities. It hardly made a difference. "I live in Serendipity though. I just come to Zantaric for work a lot."

DragonSong · September 12, 2023, 04:44:31 PM

"Oh hey, my neck of the woods." Calen grinned tiredly, then shrugged. "Well, sort of. Used to be, I guess. Right!" He gave his head a brisk shake and rolled his shoulders back. "Serendipity it is then. Don't suppose you've got the coin to join us up with a caravan?"

Zero · September 15, 2023, 10:29:00 AM

Oh great, frosty was from Serendipity too? Well, that probably made some sense, a lot of mages came from Serendipity, but plenty came from all over the world too. It had been a while since Joss had been "home" last, so it was probably overdue, even if home was just an empty house in the highlands.

"Sounds a lot to me like you don't have the coin to join us up with a caravan." Joss rolled his eyes with a sigh and clinched his cigar between his teeth as he dug around in the bag at his side to dig out a coin purse.

The pouch was light, but there was the sound of a handful of coins clinking inside.

"Not sure how much it costs. I usually travel light - and alone." Joss was really starting to regret saving Calen last night. Now they were stuck with each other with no idea how to get unstuck and Joss knew that he wasn't great company on a good day, let alone a series of bad ones.