Re: The Heart of the Labyrinth, Screams and Hope IC Thread 19

[Warpmind]

"It is possible though brain surgery is hardly desirable, it is quite risky though I guess with the Union letting little droplets of information flow to the sleepers technology there is bettering as well, hopefully there are some other way to remove the residue."

Colin nodded, "The utter embuggerance of it is of course that Primium is difficult to detect, being as inert as it is..."

"That sounds most uncomfortable...but yes perhaps it was deserved as for the mother of your children I have heard of that happening before, Mercere have a few of those who have stopped using magick due to trauma, they still have the Gift of course but not the will to use it...it is a sad ending for a magus."
Arto said softly and glanced up at you.

He nodded, "There's more than one reason why I advocate not abolishing the ritual entirely... There are crimes where it is an appropriate punishment, though it is used to excess..."

The Diedne nodded and sigh.
"I see, there are few words I can say to offer any consolation, perhaps no consolation is deserved, but I will say you have my sympathies, you and the Lady Eloine as you called her."

He nodded, "If she is reborn, I should like to find her... Not to try to get close to her, just to know that she is... doing better."

"Ah yes protective teachers, like bears with their cubs yes? Well it is understandable enough for a mage few bonds are closer than those between teacher and student, the one who teach you magick knows your soul."
The Diedne said with a wry grin.
"Still a little push should not hurt...in either case I do thank you Craftsman."

He nodded, "And this Mentor is Flambeau - and very... Aesop-like in his punishment. I should truly not like to arouse his wrath."

"Ah yes...now is not that the truth."
Arto said and gave a hearty laugh then he winced.
"Well their magick is fine, they learned to soften up a bit and work with a little less ceremony from us, and we learned other tools than trees and blood from them...a good trade if it had not been for this damnable war."

He nodded, "Their magic is fine, true - but their methods will not go unmatched in terms of capacity and potential."

"You have my best wishes in this endeavor Craftsman if the well wishes of a memory mean anything."
Arto said and smiled.

He smiled back, "More than you might think..."

"From the future? Well I have heard stranger things, whatever works I will take it."
Andy said and she stood so she would be ready to grab you if you got unsteady, there was something familiar in the efficiency of the Verbena's actions, she cared about what was and what problems she could solve everything else she blocked out of her mind for now, there was some indication the woman was or had been military, she was also well armed you saw, a 9mm hung in her belt right beside her ritual dagger as well as clips of ammo."

He arched an eyebrow, "Pardon my directness, but... which service branch? And yes, future me is a bit of a sneaky git; I drop myself hints at the most necessary of times..."

Andy raised and eyebrow at your question but did not commented, the little ripple was still dancing around you just like Mara had described, probably Crexia's Time rote was allowing it to find you as it danced there was glimpses of Anna as a teenager, seventeen or so you think, with long blond hair in two braids, she had grown tall, and pretty, you saw your little green house on Horizon and Freddy playing with your little baby son, perhaps it would be five years into the future or so though it was just glimpses for now as the shimmer danced around.

He frowned and reached out to touch the ripple, bracing himself for another memory. Only five years... So much could happen in that time...

"I am fully aware of that, but since we do not know exactly where the so called little bastard is located at the moment I have been forced to target the spell to Miss Carlyle herself and not her over active soul."
Crexia muttered as her brow knitted in concentration.
"Good to have you back by the way but yes we could be attacked by that abomination at any moment really depending on how far from it's host it is willing to wander or if distance ever matter to it...a most troublesome creature!"

He nodded, "My Cabalmate is able to use the... secret weapon again; he's back in the present once more. And I... can enact Plan V if necessary. Let us hope we can avoid that, though..."

((OOC: Aw, man, I just had cereal not five minutes ago. ))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Colin nodded, "The utter embuggerance of it is of course that Primium is difficult to detect, being as inert as it is..."

"That is so and very few substances affect Primium much either, it is a difficult problem, let us just hope the residue do not do much damage."
Udella said and frowned.

He nodded, "There's more than one reason why I advocate not abolishing the ritual entirely... There are crimes where it is an appropriate punishment, though it is used to excess..."

"Guernicus' dreaded rite, yes I guess you are right there are crimes so heinous that mere death is not enough but it should be something whispered about that their grandfathers once remember someone being put through from their childhood, not something routine."
Arto said and nodded he shivered a little at the thought.

He nodded, "If she is reborn, I should like to find her... Not to try to get close to her, just to know that she is... doing better."

"I can not much help you there I am afraid...but I do hope that the lady is doing better in her next life...though trauma like that do tend to follow a soul."
The Druid said softly not to hurt you more just a mumbeling to himself as he looked down at his mangeled hands.
"Torture is an abomination."
He whispered.
"It destroy so much and lasts so much longer than one's time on the rack."

He nodded, "And this Mentor is Flambeau - and very... Aesop-like in his punishment. I should truly not like to arouse his wrath."

"Ah yes I know the type...I once I have to admit to my shame bullied a grog boy at the Covenant I was trained in, a young stable boy, when my master found out he set me to muck out of the stables alongside this boy for a whole season until all notion of me being better than him due to my Gift was gone, he never laid a finger on me other than in teaching me blood magic, but his lessons where never easy...so yes I know the type."
Arto said and smiled fondly.

He nodded, "Their magic is fine, true - but their methods will not go unmatched in terms of capacity and potential."

The druid grinned at that.
"True again."
He exclaimed happily and glanced over at Einje.

He smiled back, "More than you might think..."

Arto nodded at that.
"Well in that case the best of luck to you Craftsman."

He arched an eyebrow, "Pardon my directness, but... which service branch? And yes, future me is a bit of a sneaky git; I drop myself hints at the most necessary of times..."

"US Air Force..."
Andy muttered she looked a little uneasy for a moment but proud at the same time.
"It is still noticeable I see as for you future self, well if he can offer aid then I approve even if it is somewhat unusual, whatever works right?"

He frowned and reached out to touch the ripple, bracing himself for another memory. Only five years... So much could happen in that time...

You touch the ripple and for a moment you felt confused, overwhelmed but you where getting used to this by now. You where sitting in a doctor's office in the Sons of Ether clinic on Horizon, that in and of itself was not unusual you had a little son and a wife who had once been the captive of the Technocracy they needed their checkups, what was unusual was that you where in this doctor's office with Anna...that she was even here showed how scared she was, though she was probably not as scared as you where though you hid it. Late last night there had been a knock on the door, your son was sleeping and Freddy and Anna had been playing a video game while you cleaned up after dinner, outside was a very upset Udella, you had invited the old Quesitor in, she was a cherished friend after all and after a cup of tea she could tell you at Allison, the young Nephandi apprentice that you had captured but that she had chosen to apprentice to give a chance much like you had with Anna was in a coma after she had a stroke earlier in the evening. Jonathan Whitebloom her former client that had been on the serum for a year had died two years ago, but that had been in a traffic accident, his health had deteriorated over time before his death though and he suffered from massive headaches. Allison had been on the serum for about as long as Anna had, before a Tribunal had given Udella the right to train her, and now the young woman was dying, it was still unclear if the serum was to blame but it was a likely subject and Udella had hurried over to tell you that you had to take Anna to see a doctor, if it was the serum then inside her head was a ticking time bomb and she could die at any moment. You had expected quite a fight to get the young mage to agree to see any physician but she had just told you she would go and then she had gone to bed, not saying a word, white as a sheet, she had been suffering from headaches and just last night she had fainted in the street while out shopping, there was reason to be very concerned.

Anna had grown quite a bit since the child you had first gotten to know, she was seventeen now, she was tall and pretty and had gone back to being slightly plump which she seamed completely fine with, her hair was long and usually worn in two pigtail braids and if it had not been for her being Fallen which made many young magi shy away from her, you would have had to chase away suitors with a pitchfork, not that there was not some boys, and girls that caught her eye and she caught theirs at time. Anna had gotten less morbid as time went on, she was kind, a dedicated student and very creative, she was growing up and growing into a fine young woman and a fine apprentice, her soul was still Fallen but there had been progress, a side effect of that seamed to be that sand had a tendency to find it's way into her bed, even if she had not been near anything where it could come from the day before, more odd Nephandi seamed to react badly to this sand, which had been discovered when one of Larsson's apprentices had tried to pick up where her damned Mentor left off two years ago and she had to be stopped. Now you collected that said from Anna's bed every morning, who knew when the stuff would be needed.

Not all had gone well for Anna though, the months before the collar she now wore had been manufactured had been hard, very hard, being kept from her magick, the injections, the fear of what might come and then medical issues caused by the serum that more than once forced you to hold the girl down while Dr Lee worked to save her life had left their marks...then came the trial that was stressful enough in itself, but since her defense rested on her ill health that meant numerous doctor's visits, which meant more needles and more holding the panicked girl down...Anna changed during the weeks of that trial, she become quiet and withdrawn and when the D'Angelos who where the persecutors sent her to this very clinic to be examined one more time, but this time without telling you or Udella that was he defense the girl nearly died. When you finally found out what was happening and rushed to the clinic you found that the chief doctor had not been kind in his examinations, you managed to stop one of the nursing students from trying to draw blood from the girl for the tenth time without hitting the vein and carried her out of there and left an very angry Udella to deal with the good doctor and his students, however on the way out the terrified Anna's heart gave out and stopped, the stress of the trial, these examinations, the fear that she might be sentenced to Gilgul, it was to much and her frail health could not take anymore. Dr Helen Mossly, a kindhearted young mage managed to save Anna, and in a way this treatment saved her soul as well for when the Council heard that the young prisoner had nearly died from a bad experience at the doctor's office they knew there was no chance Anna would survive if anything was done to her Avatar, so they let you keep her, sentenced her to always wear that collar so her guardian could control her and that she while a full member of the Traditions, she would always need a legal guardian to have final say in her actions, she was also sentenced to Branding but the sentence was halted until she was in better health. And so you where left to pick up the pieces but at least you got to take your your apprentice home.

Anna recovered from her brutal experiences with Tradition justice, you started teaching her magick, which she enjoyed greatly, it had been years now since you had used that collar to suppress her magick, as while you could do so at will, you could also leave it fully open to be used as she pleased. Since her experiences during her trial Anna had refused to see any doctor, very well Helen became a friend to the family, but even her she refused to see in her office, she would even cry when driving by the clinics. The problem was the Verbena healers you usually had treat her, they could not detect or do anything about the Primium residue in her head, yes her messed up Life Patterns they could treat with herbs and the girl was slowly getting better but that residue was hard for them to deal with, so someone with knowledge of mundane medicine was the only choice, at least the girl had agreed to come.

Helen looked up from where she had been listening to Anna's plus and checking her blood pressure. Helen was a tall woman with a sharp, angular face, sharp blue eyes and a nice smile. She was initiated into both Sons of Ether and Verbena and since you moved to Horizon had therefore been a good ally in your project to found a House of diplomats. You had won the woman's favor by being the first person she had met that had not asked her while if she identified as women did she not just use her magick to change her body to match, instead accepting her as she was. Helen took care of your family's health and at least Anna knew her.
"Her plus is elevated but that is probably the stress of being here."
Helen said as she patted Anna on the shoulder and pulled you aside to talk with you.
"She is not well Colin but you knew that, and she knew it as well or she would not be here willingly."
The healer sigh and shook her head.
"I am going to need blood, and I can not use a knife, if I am checking blood sugar or cholesterol that is fine but I can not anything that degraded by air, I need to take it with a needle, those who have been exposed to the serum there are trace amounts of Primium in their blood that will show me how bad it is...but really what I want to do is get her into a CT...with contrast mixed in with a little of...well let us not beat around the bush her a little bit of lich blood we should be able to she how much of a concentration of the metal are in her brain...I know she don't like needles but given her headaches we need to know how bad it is Colin or she could die...my suggestion is to give her an IV, that means any blood I need to take or anything we need to give her can be done through that, one needle, not several."
Helen sigh and patted you on the shoulder as well.
"And you my friend get the joy of talking her into it...let us see if what Freddy claim that you can talk anyone into anything is actually true..."
She said her voice was good natured but the look in her eyes said that she was concerned, very concerned. Anna looked over at the two of you.
"You do know I assume Mentor that whispering about me long enough away that I can't hear only make me suspect more that something is seriously wrong?"
Your apprentice said from the chair she was sitting in, she picked at one of her bracelets nervously.
"So ehm...am I going to die like Allison? For that would really, really suck."

He nodded, "My Cabalmate is able to use the... secret weapon again; he's back in the present once more. And I... can enact Plan V if necessary. Let us hope we can avoid that, though..."

"Very well, if things gets out of hand...shoot for her head and we will use...that plan..."
Crexia said and her frown deepened.
"But for now let us see what your Cabalmate might be able to do...if everything fail though get the others out but I am staying to try to take her down, Miss Carlyle is to dangerous to leave intact."

(OOC: Well then you got a bit a Nephandi essence with your meal, yum yum. )

[Warpmind]

Chicago, Now:

"That is so and very few substances affect Primium much either, it is a difficult problem, let us just hope the residue do not do much damage."
Udella said and frowned.

He pondered, "Indeed... what we need, though, is not necessarily a substance that affects Primium - radiation could be as viable."

"Guernicus' dreaded rite, yes I guess you are right there are crimes so heinous that mere death is not enough but it should be something whispered about that their grandfathers once remember someone being put through from their childhood, not something routine."
Arto said and nodded he shivered a little at the thought.

He nodded, "Perhaps we shall have that change, at least, once the 'good people' see that it can happen to one of our own apprentices of high standing... just queued in as a part of a crowd like cattle to the slaughter... One may hope some good comes of that, at least."

"I can not much help you there I am afraid...but I do hope that the lady is doing better in her next life...though trauma like that do tend to follow a soul."
The Druid said softly not to hurt you more just a mumbeling to himself as he looked down at his mangeled hands.
"Torture is an abomination."
He whispered.
"It destroy so much and lasts so much longer than one's time on the rack."

He nodded, "I myself am not overly fond of fire I do not control in some way. Perhaps that is something that will linger in my next life, whatever that will be... or perhaps some other lingering memory will keep resurfacing, whatever it will be. Trauma can be... treated; both physical and mental, but there'll always be some reminder, even if the worst is healed."

"Ah yes I know the type...I once I have to admit to my shame bullied a grog boy at the Covenant I was trained in, a young stable boy, when my master found out he set me to muck out of the stables alongside this boy for a whole season until all notion of me being better than him due to my Gift was gone, he never laid a finger on me other than in teaching me blood magic, but his lessons where never easy...so yes I know the type."
Arto said and smiled fondly.

He smiled wryly, "Had I had a Mentor of my own in this life, I would have hoped for such. And I hope to prove the sort for my own apprentice."

"US Air Force..."
Andy muttered she looked a little uneasy for a moment but proud at the same time.
"It is still noticeable I see as for you future self, well if he can offer aid then I approve even if it is somewhat unusual, whatever works right?"

He grinned and snapped to a quick, crisp salute, "RAF, myself, but it's been a few years. I don't think anyone who hasn't served would notice as readily, though. And future me has given me the most preposterous expositions over the past few days - allies, weapons and what have you - so it certainly has a good track record."

Horizon, Future:

Helen looked up from where she had been listening to Anna's plus and checking her blood pressure. Helen was a tall woman with a sharp, angular face, sharp blue eyes and a nice smile. She was initiated into both Sons of Ether and Verbena and since you moved to Horizon had therefore been a good ally in your project to found a House of diplomats. You had won the woman's favor by being the first person she had met that had not asked her while if she identified as women did she not just use her magick to change her body to match, instead accepting her as she was. Helen took care of your family's health and at least Anna knew her.
"Her plus is elevated but that is probably the stress of being here."
Helen said as she patted Anna on the shoulder and pulled you aside to talk with you.
"She is not well Colin but you knew that, and she knew it as well or she would not be here willingly."
The healer sigh and shook her head.
"I am going to need blood, and I can not use a knife, if I am checking blood sugar or cholesterol that is fine but I can not anything that degraded by air, I need to take it with a needle, those who have been exposed to the serum there are trace amounts of Primium in their blood that will show me how bad it is...but really what I want to do is get her into a CT...with contrast mixed in with a little of...well let us not beat around the bush her a little bit of lich blood we should be able to she how much of a concentration of the metal are in her brain...I know she don't like needles but given her headaches we need to know how bad it is Colin or she could die...my suggestion is to give her an IV, that means any blood I need to take or anything we need to give her can be done through that, one needle, not several."
Helen sigh and patted you on the shoulder as well.
"And you my friend get the joy of talking her into it...let us see if what Freddy claim that you can talk anyone into anything is actually true..."
She said her voice was good natured but the look in her eyes said that she was concerned, very concerned. Anna looked over at the two of you.
"You do know I assume Mentor that whispering about me long enough away that I can't hear only make me suspect more that something is seriously wrong?"
Your apprentice said from the chair she was sitting in, she picked at one of her bracelets nervously.
"So ehm...am I going to die like Allison? For that would really, really suck."

Colin frowned, then nodded to Helen as his memories flooded to the fore, "I shall try, doctor. Freddy might be exaggerating a little, though - there was that... hm, no matter, let old ghosts rest in peace..."
He sighed and sat down next to Anna, "Sweetie, there's an all too high risk something is seriously wrong... Allison is not dead yet, though, and who knows, you might provide a clue to save her. Doctor Mossly wants to do a scan of your head - a CT scan, and... some blood samples unaffected by air exposure. And there's a need to inject some, er, contrast fluid as well, so we need... we need you to accept a catheter. We fear there's a clump of Primium particles in your brain, and we need to find it, but... for that to happen, we need to... well..."
He looked down, "I had hoped we could avoid this, after we got you off the serum, but we will need to insert a needle into a blood vessel. It won't touch your head, I won't let them do that, but we need to do it to try to ensure you'll live."

Chicago, Present again:

"Very well, if things gets out of hand...shoot for her head and we will use...that plan..."
Crexia said and her frown deepened.
"But for now let us see what your Cabalmate might be able to do...if everything fail though get the others out but I am staying to try to take her down, Miss Carlyle is to dangerous to leave intact."

He nodded, "Yes... let us see what we can do... Hum, my future apprentice just suggested something - you know how that happens - I'll see if that works as a distraction, as well... if I can pull it off."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Chicago Present:

He pondered, "Indeed... what we need, though, is not necessarily a substance that affects Primium - radiation could be as viable."

"Hum...I fear we will have to contact an expert for that as I do not know of any such radiation, House Verdituas or the Etherites might know more."
Udella said and nodded.

He nodded, "Perhaps we shall have that change, at least, once the 'good people' see that it can happen to one of our own apprentices of high standing... just queued in as a part of a crowd like cattle to the slaughter... One may hope some good comes of that, at least."

"Such a demonstration is brutal, it is sad, but it might be effective, often a cruelty taken to far is only stopped when those in power see that it could happen to them as well."
Arto said and shook his head.
"It is not a pretty demonstration though."

He nodded, "I myself am not overly fond of fire I do not control in some way. Perhaps that is something that will linger in my next life, whatever that will be... or perhaps some other lingering memory will keep resurfacing, whatever it will be. Trauma can be... treated; both physical and mental, but there'll always be some reminder, even if the worst is healed."

Arto nodded he looked down at his hands.
"I did not survive to get a chance to treat the traumas I encountered, my torture and execution...my broken hands...but there are those who have survived having their hands broken like this, healing in this time is possible, costly but possible I have met those those have experienced it though off course it is not that common, there are always a shadow there though in those who have lived through torture or other horrible things, though how well that shadow is managed vary from person to person."
He said and shrugged.
"It is what it is..."

He smiled wryly, "Had I had a Mentor of my own in this life, I would have hoped for such. And I hope to prove the sort for my own apprentice."

The Diedne nodded.
"I would not have wanted it any other way, the lessons I learned from my teacher where hard, but valuable, he was a good man and I thank the gods he did not live to see this war."
He said sadly but with fondness in his voice.

He grinned and snapped to a quick, crisp salute, "RAF, myself, but it's been a few years. I don't think anyone who hasn't served would notice as readily, though.

Andy returned the salute and smiled.
"It have been a few years for me as well, ten years to be precise since I left active duty, and allot have happened since the, the whole mage thing you know and other stuff...but I guess some of the mannerisms are still there."
She said then she nodded.
"It is nice to meet you, let us exchange names and pleasantries when we are not about to be attacked by a insane woman and her attack dog Avatar and the Hermetics will not get to weird about names, though I guess they do have a point."

And future me has given me the most preposterous expositions over the past few days - allies, weapons and what have you - so it certainly has a good track record."

"Well I am not complaining if it helps us...I am not complaining in either case Sir I regularly talk to a tree...and it talks back."
Andy said and shrugged again.

Horizon Future:

Colin frowned, then nodded to Helen as his memories flooded to the fore, "I shall try, doctor. Freddy might be exaggerating a little, though - there was that... hm, no matter, let old ghosts rest in peace..."

Helen nodded she glanced over at Anna and frowned.
"At least give it a try, you stand a better chance at convincing her than I do, and yes at times old ghosts...are better left alone."

He sighed and sat down next to Anna, "Sweetie, there's an all too high risk something is seriously wrong... Allison is not dead yet, though, and who knows, you might provide a clue to save her.

"Allison can be saved...she is one of the few that are left from...the Labyrinth...I do what to save her but what can I do to help?"
Anna said and looked at you, she did not look healthy she was pale and her eyes where glossy.
"You think these headaches are serious then?"
She asked nervously.

Doctor Mossly wants to do a scan of your head - a CT scan, and... some blood samples unaffected by air exposure. And there's a need to inject some, er, contrast fluid as well, so we need... we need you to accept a catheter. We fear there's a clump of Primium particles in your brain, and we need to find it, but... for that to happen, we need to... well..."

Anna's eyes grew wide in shock and she did not seam to know what part of what you where saying to freak out over first, she lifted her hands and grabbed her head as she shook it.
"I...in my brain...in...but...how...I have never been in contact with Primium other than briefly...I...is that why I fainted why I have headaches? Am...I going to end up like one of Gabriel's...."
The girl started shaking with fear and she stood up out of the chair, a bit of sand was left in her seat, it was a good sign that her Avatar was improving and she was hardly the only mage with such little strangeness about them but she was a teenager and she found it embarrassing to leave sand everywhere though now she just did not notice it was there she just stared at you as she shook his head.
"I...don't want there to be...anything in my brain...save you know...brain..."
She whispered fearfully.

He looked down, "I had hoped we could avoid this, after we got you off the serum, but we will need to insert a needle into a blood vessel. It won't touch your head, I won't let them do that, but we need to do it to try to ensure you'll live."

"No, no, no..."
Anna said and she backed away with surprising speed until her back met a well with a poster with a diagram of how an ear functioned on it.
"I want to go home now..."
She said as she started crying and sank down to the floor.
"I do not want to be here anymore."

Chicago Present again:

He nodded, "Yes... let us see what we can do... Hum, my future apprentice just suggested something - you know how that happens - I'll see if that works as a distraction, as well... if I can pull it off."

"Well let us hope your visions will serve us well again then young man."
Crexia said and raised an eyebrow.
"Time really is not to linear for you now is it, well no matter the linear flow of time is just an illusion of comfort in either case."

[Warpmind]

Chicago, Present:

"Hum...I fear we will have to contact an expert for that as I do not know of any such radiation, House Verdituas or the Etherites might know more."
Udella said and nodded.

Colin nodded, "Perhaps if we knew more of how the Union makes their Primium - I'm given to understand it has certain... deviating properties from Traditional Primium. That might offer a badly needed clue."

Adley's mind:

"Such a demonstration is brutal, it is sad, but it might be effective, often a cruelty taken to far is only stopped when those in power see that it could happen to them as well."
Arto said and shook his head.
"It is not a pretty demonstration though."

He shook his head, "No... not pretty, but perhaps a long-needed shock."

Chicago, Present again:

Andy returned the salute and smiled.
"It have been a few years for me as well, ten years to be precise since I left active duty, and allot have happened since the, the whole mage thing you know and other stuff...but I guess some of the mannerisms are still there."
She said then she nodded.
"It is nice to meet you, let us exchange names and pleasantries when we are not about to be attacked by a insane woman and her attack dog Avatar and the Hermetics will not get to weird about names, though I guess they do have a point."

He grinned, "For me, it was Desert Storm, but mostly the same path. But yes, let us sit down with a beverage of choice and share some war stories, as it were."

"Well I am not complaining if it helps us...I am not complaining in either case Sir I regularly talk to a tree...and it talks back."
Andy said and shrugged again.

He nodded, "Talking to myself across the years is a bit more unnerving, though, when I'm not quite able to talk back..."

Horizon, Future:

Helen nodded she glanced over at Anna and frowned.
"At least give it a try, you stand a better chance at convincing her than I do, and yes at times old ghosts...are better left alone."

He grimaced, "Unfortunately, that case was a literal ghost... with a legitimate grievance against me... I might tell you that story later. Perhaps for Halloween..."

"Allison can be saved...she is one of the few that are left from...the Labyrinth...I do what to save her but what can I do to help?"
Anna said and looked at you, she did not look healthy she was pale and her eyes where glossy.
"You think these headaches are serious then?"
She asked nervously.

He nodded, then frowned, "They are, and they're largely my fault..."

Anna's eyes grew wide in shock and she did not seam to know what part of what you where saying to freak out over first, she lifted her hands and grabbed her head as she shook it.
"I...in my brain...in...but...how...I have never been in contact with Primium other than briefly...I...is that why I fainted why I have headaches? Am...I going to end up like one of Gabriel's...."
The girl started shaking with fear and she stood up out of the chair, a bit of sand was left in her seat, it was a good sign that her Avatar was improving and she was hardly the only mage with such little strangeness about them but she was a teenager and she found it embarrassing to leave sand everywhere though now she just did not notice it was there she just stared at you as she shook his head.
"I...don't want there to be...anything in my brain...save you know...brain..."
She whispered fearfully.

He grasped her hand, gently, "There are trace particles of Primium in that accursed serum... One day on it, perhaps two... not so dangerous. But you and Allison were on it for far longer than anyone should - a body can pretty much flush out the stuff without problem, but only so much... too long at a time, and it accumulates. It shouldn't linger in your brain - it shouldn't be used for any longer period of time at all... but it has been, and... I can change that now, in the past..."

"No, no, no..."
Anna said and she backed away with surprising speed until her back met a well with a poster with a diagram of how an ear functioned on it.
"I want to go home now..."
She said as she started crying and sank down to the floor.
"I do not want to be here anymore."

He frowned, "Sweetie, you know how I keep flickering back and forth in time? How you told me about the magic marble a while after I went to the Labyrinth and saved your marbles and books for you, and prevented the trap at the main Node from detonating? I'm getting the hang of this now - right now, I'm about to fight Matty, and you suggested trying the rote I made for you, the bribe... but the important thing is that if you can be brave, and take that one catheter, I can try to stay here long enough to see the scan... and then ask Master Steelhaven in the past to confirm this memory, and perhaps have restrictions placed on the serum. I know it sounds insane, but... if you can handle this now, you might not have to endure it anywhere near as long in the past. We might be able to change this part of the timeline, prevent you from suffering the headaches, prevent Allison's stroke... One last needle in the arm, to prevent hundreds of needles in the past... can you do that, sweetie? Not for me, but for Allison and yourself?"

Chicago, Now once more:

"Well let us hope your visions will serve us well again then young man."
Crexia said and raised an eyebrow.
"Time really is not to linear for you now is it, well no matter the linear flow of time is just an illusion of comfort in either case."

He nodded, "Suffice to say, I'm a quick learner - I'm beginning to get the hang of these loops, to remember when I am, as well as when I am remembering. Er, that sentence made sense in my head, at least..."

((OOC: Time to break out the wibbly and the wobbly, to save Anna from suffering all her past injections. Wheee. Now, the important question is: Does Old Man Wrinkle accept bribes? ))

[Adley]

He shook his head, "The problem there is... well, suffice to say there are other complications that will present themselves. But the world-unmakers work too well in secret - that's their strength and their greatest danger."

"An enemy you cannot see is one you cannot target," he agreed.

"That is exactly the problem Einje, when someone are arrogant and desperate and then loose hope, that is when they do horrible things." Arto said sadly.

"Hmmm..."

He frowned, "I sacrificed the ones closest to me... without their knowledge or consent. And then I ran, taunting everyone into a blood frenzy until I let myself be caught... and then I was shown the mother of my children; what she had suffered, how broken she had become during the tortures the enemy had piled on her before she was rescued... I forged the Traditions together in the fires of wrath and fear - and the seams have been cracking for centuries..."

He frowned at him. "I find I do not know what to say of that. Yet I know I trust you and you are a good man."

"Ah yes, that should indeed be something to take up with them, then again I have a feeling they will reply that the price of free will is the potential for suffering."

"That could be so."

"Perhaps...but even so I did end your life and for that I am sorry, you had committed a crime, but it was one of compassion and not malice...and for me...I fear all that death I saw in my time as an executioner, not death on the battlefield in a conflict between foes where it is kill or be killed, but rather taking the lives of helpless captives...drove me towards something even darker..."

"That is unfortunate. As I know you here, you are what I would call...a good foe, if one must have foes. A worthy adversary on the battlefield. You are not dark, but fierce as the color of your hair."

"Yes somehow that is the energy the games with the moving pictures run on, there will be many wonders in the future, but also coldness and apathy."

"You say that as if those should be new developments..."

the boy will gripe about it and think you are fussing, but it is good for him...and sometimes it is a good thing to have someone that would fuss over you...sometimes that can be a very good thing indeed."

He raised an eyebrow at him. "I am not a fussy person."

"Oh it is but it is made to taste good so people will eat it, however it is unnatural shit I am telling you, it is not food from the earth it is shit cooked up in a badly trained alchemist lab, I can not believe I will like it out day."

"It tastes good...a deceptive imitation to sustenance. Dangerous as eating food from the fey."

He smiled wryly, "I will help lead him to the leap of faith, but I will not push him. You have no idea what his then-Mentor would do in the justified rage that would follow - and neither do I. And I have no desire to find out."

"Ah yes protective teachers, like bears with their cubs yes? Well it is understandable enough for a mage few bonds are closer than those between teacher and student, the one who teach you magick knows your soul."
The Diedne said with a wry grin.
"Still a little push should not hurt...in either case I do thank you Craftsman."

He nodded, "And this Mentor is Flambeau - and very... Aesop-like in his punishment. I should truly not like to arouse his wrath."

He looked discomfited at the talk about mentors. "You also know something of theirs," he said, folding his arms across his chest. "You speak of this boy as if he were a bird that was stuck in its mother's nest.

He nodded, "Their magic is fine, true - but their methods will not go unmatched in terms of capacity and potential."

The druid grinned at that.
"True again."
He exclaimed happily and glanced over at Einje.

He looked between them and then away, as a cat might that was annoyed or insulted by something in its presence. The conversation drifted back and forth between them as they discussed things that he did not quite understand. Something told him it was important but he could not see why.

He nodded, "I had to come in after you - it seemed the safer way, rather than to try to talk you out of it outside, in the middle of the battlefield. This way, only I would be at risk, in case you were to become aggressive. I'm sure you would do the same for me - and you do, in fact, have my permission in advance to try - should it prove necessary in the future."

"Let's hope I don't have to do that, for both our sakes. This is less than good timing, not that there is a good time for...these things to happen."

He smiled wryly and paced alongside Adley through the portal, "It seems we keep encountering people from our past lives without knowing... Oh, and English is quite sufficient for that - the singular they is an old and reliable pronoun. And they were a hermaphrodite, not merely androgynous. There's an important difference."

"True enough and I would use they for him. But for you, as you are now to me, in this now...I was thinking something more like father of my fravoshi."

You open your eyes and there was a flurry of activity around you. On the ground was Colin, also waking up now he looked almost sleeping, of course he had not been he had been in your Quiet getting you out. Around you where the non combatants and those with wounds that there hard to heal. Cara stood next to you...While all of this was going on you felt Cara's gentle touch on your arm. "Sodalis you are awake..." She muttered as if she felt it, then against Twilight where one of the specialties of her House she probably did. "Do you need me to explain what is going on?" She asked somehow sensing that would be appreciated more right now than worried questions as to if you where well.
"You must be confused..."

Colin stirred, then gingerly got to his feet, taking in the scenario with a frown, "Bloody Hell, did something go dreadfully wrong with the mop-up down the corridor, or did miss Carlyle decide to join the party?"
He frowned and looked to Leon, "Is your little tracking spell still up and running on your phone? Where's miss Carlyle at right now?"

He reached out a hand towards Colin's arm. "Amicus?" All around him people were talking, Crexia was giving orders out with the dogged determination of a pamphleteer on a busy Boston street at five. And here he was laid out prone with the wounded who needed care...he started to try to sit up. "Yes...please," he said, shaking all that had happened into some semblance of order.

"Miss Carlyle is on the move towards us, the mop up was brutal and terrible but successful. The plan is for us that can fight to try to do...well anything to keep that monstrosity heading towards us busy while the Lay Crexia and her team do their work, if everything fail we are to call for pick up and get the hell out of here."

Hearing that Matty was on her way, he reached into his coat to see if he still had the flyswatter. It looked something fit for flapjacks and not for fighting angry spirits but he knew it would work. And there was the pinecone...

// Oh dear, poor Colin somewhen D:

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Chicago Now:

Colin nodded, "Perhaps if we knew more of how the Union makes their Primium - I'm given to understand it has certain... deviating properties from Traditional Primium. That might offer a badly needed clue."

"Technocracy Primium are different from ours this is true, and I am not completely sure how it is made, with ours it is an alchemical process where silver is refined one hundred times, until it is perfect, it is a dificult process reserved for master alchemists, how they do it though I do not know."

Adley's Quiet:

He shook his head, "No... not pretty, but perhaps a long-needed shock."

Arto nodded at that.
"Sometimes such needed lessons are far from plesant indeed."

"That could be so."

The druid just nodded at that.

"That is unfortunate. As I know you here, you are what I would call...a good foe, if one must have foes. A worthy adversary on the battlefield. You are not dark, but fierce as the color of your hair."

Arto grinned happily at that.
"Yes much in our future lives will be unfortunate, but right here and now you are a good foe son of fire. I wish we could have met, just a two of us, no war, to pit our skills and abilities against one another on an empty field field where no one else would have gotten hurt and we would see who would have come out of such an encounter the victor."

You say that as if those should be new developments..."

"I fear that while they are far from new, they will increase in times to come."

He raised an eyebrow at him. "I am not a fussy person."

"Not even when you have a sweet little sister who have been badly hurt, and a brother who live in fear of the same harm, something tells me you will fuss, that you will fuss indeed."
The Diedne said in a sagely tone of voice.

"It tastes good...a deceptive imitation to sustenance. Dangerous as eating food from the fey."

"Oh yes very much so and this foul stuff will create much sickness across the land and yet pepole keep eating it."
Arto said and he nodded gravely.
"It is best to keep my future self from eating to much of the filth."

He looked discomfited at the talk about mentors. "You also know something of theirs," he said, folding his arms across his chest. "You speak of this boy as if he were a bird that was stuck in its mother's nest.

"In many ways he are son of fire...if that nest was a ten of snakes and demons only living inside of him and such a leap could potentially banish such foulness."
The Diedne said and nodded.

He looked between them and then away, as a cat might that was annoyed or insulted by something in its presence. The conversation drifted back and forth between them as they discussed things that he did not quite understand. Something told him it was important but he could not see why.

Arto seamed a little amused at your reaction.

Chicago Now again:

He reached out a hand towards Colin's arm. "Amicus?" All around him people were talking, Crexia was giving orders out with the dogged determination of a pamphleteer on a busy Boston street at five. And here he was laid out prone with the wounded who needed care...he started to try to sit up. "Yes...please," he said, shaking all that had happened into some semblance of order.

Cara gently helped you sit up as Andy quickly explained.
"Not long after you started talking Latin at me and then went to deal with the prisoners and your friend and yourself fell asleep Le...ehm our Jerbiton...he is Jerbiton right I get all your Houses mixed up...anyway he said that Carlyle was on the move. Our commander got us into positions and have been using Time Magick to give us a little more time but it is not working as well as it should and we do not have allot of it. The plan is to try to set off some traps I do not know the details of on Carlyle and if that do not work our Commander and her team will try to...ehm well you know."
The Verbena said and sounded uneasy for a moment but she quickly continued.
"If that do not work we are to call home and flee until the call to flee come our job is to protect the wounded and the non combatants as well as the commander's group so they can work and just be as distracting as possible and try not to die."
Andy said and smiled to you.
"Welcome back to reality Hermetic, can you fight?"

Hearing that Matty was on her way, he reached into his coat to see if he still had the flyswatter. It looked something fit for flapjacks and not for fighting angry spirits but he knew it would work. And there was the pinecone...

You did still have the fly swatter, a few other the others had also pulled out theirs, perhaps it looked a bit...odd for a gang of war ready mages to have those among them ready to fight with fly swatters but it was what it was, the pine cone was also safe.

He nodded, "Suffice to say, I'm a quick learner - I'm beginning to get the hang of these loops, to remember when I am, as well as when I am remembering. Er, that sentence made sense in my head, at least..."

Crexia grinned a little.
"I understand you, I have some skill with that part of reality. I spent so many years being told that affecting time was impossible so when that limitation was broken, I decided to master the art in defiance."
She said and gave a slight smile still having to use allot of her focus to keep slowing Carlyle down.
"As long as your visions give us something we can use, a bit of confusion I can live with."

Horizon Future:

He grimaced, "Unfortunately, that case was a literal ghost... with a legitimate grievance against me... I might tell you that story later. Perhaps for Halloween..."

"Sounds like a bad situation to be in."
Helen said and smiled a little.
"Very well I will look forward to the story when you see fit to tell it."

He nodded, then frowned, "They are, and they're largely my fault..."

Anna looked at you, she was really scared now.
"Your fault Mentor? But you would never hurt me..."

He grasped her hand, gently, "There are trace particles of Primium in that accursed serum... One day on it, perhaps two... not so dangerous. But you and Allison were on it for far longer than anyone should - a body can pretty much flush out the stuff without problem, but only so much... too long at a time, and it accumulates. It shouldn't linger in your brain - it shouldn't be used for any longer period of time at all... but it has been, and... I can change that now, in the past..."

Your apprentice looked at you in utter shock, she grabbed at her arms, she had scars there you knew, scars from boils that had to be drained, boils created by to many needles and to much fluid in two small muscles.
"The needles got to my brain...I said I felt it in my head they got to my brain they did..."
She whispered as her worst nightmare, well second worst, had just become a reality.
"They got...got to my head they got to my head...they got to my head."
She continued to mutter as she looked at you in panic and desperation.

He frowned, "Sweetie, you know how I keep flickering back and forth in time? How you told me about the magic marble a while after I went to the Labyrinth and saved your marbles and books for you, and prevented the trap at the main Node from detonating? I'm getting the hang of this now - right now, I'm about to fight Matty, and you suggested trying the rote I made for you, the bribe...

"Y...you have told me...about it yes...I do not completely understand no...."
Anna said she was sobbing now she she was so terrified.
"A rote...for me? I know you make rotes at times and trade them...you are good at it, I...well that is a good bribe..."
She muttered.
"But Matty Carlyle is so powerful, well her soul is, and I am not nearly powerful enough to have anything made for me that would even bother her soul more than a fly. I mean I might ask for fireworks I can set off in the Umbra to amuse any spirits I come across...or perhaps how to make a ball of Quintessence but with a spiritual element so I could play with my Glass Dragon he is very playful and active you know, likes to affect things outside of us, it kind of freaked out the guys who examined my soul before my trial he would you know, sniff at them...he might like a Prime ball or something like that I mean it would be fun and but it is not a powerful spell or anything."
The young mage was babbling terrified.
"I but if you are fighting Matty...what if you get hurt?"
She asked nervously.

but the important thing is that if you can be brave, and take that one catheter, I can try to stay here long enough to see the scan... and then ask Master Steelhaven in the past to confirm this memory, and perhaps have restrictions placed on the serum. I know it sounds insane, but... if you can handle this now, you might not have to endure it anywhere near as long in the past.

"I...but...I don't understand."
She said and looked up from where she was sitting against the wall curled into a ball crying.
"You...can change it...so I do not have to endure months of...those injections? They hurt...they hurt so much and I was so scared I...and they got into my head...they got into my head!"
She muttered and started sobbing again hysterically.

We might be able to change this part of the timeline, prevent you from suffering the headaches, prevent Allison's stroke... One last needle in the arm, to prevent hundreds of needles in the past... can you do that, sweetie? Not for me, but for Allison and yourself?"

Anna sobbed for some time, not moving she was absolutely terrified.
"I am not going...to be able to sit still for that..."
She whispered after some time and she looked up at you coughing she was getting hoarse from sobbing, Helen quickly got a glass of water from a dispenser and handed you but she did not herself step over to Anna not to frighten the girl more. Your apprentice looked down again.
"What...if it gets into my head this time to...what if the needle breaks...I...I am scared..."
She muttered then she looked down and picked at her shoes.
"Do you really think this...can save Allison? And me...? Get her out of the coma?"
She asked you then she added softly in a sore tone of voice.
"If I can't do it are you going to hold me down again?"

(OOC: Well Wrinkle is a bit of a special case I have not seen any examples of him accepting bribes but in one of the cannon stories when a mage he is about to punish turn on the waterworks he leave her be so perhaps he is a big softy.)

(OOC 2: My cat is glaring at me, she do not like any of us being up late at night. My cat is the boss of the house. )

[Warpmind]

Chicago, Now:

"Technocracy Primium are different from ours this is true, and I am not completely sure how it is made, with ours it is an alchemical process where silver is refined one hundred times, until it is perfect, it is a dificult process reserved for master alchemists, how they do it though I do not know."

Colin shrugged, "I can ask our master alchemist at home - he can do it, though it is of course costly - he might be able to shed some light on the different properties."

Adley's Quiet:

He frowned at him. "I find I do not know what to say of that. Yet I know I trust you and you are a good man."

He smiled thinly, "There is little to say to that... It was a desperate act to save us all, and it sort of worked... but old sins cast long shadows, and it is soon time to shine a light on things again."

He looked discomfited at the talk about mentors. "You also know something of theirs," he said, folding his arms across his chest. "You speak of this boy as if he were a bird that was stuck in its mother's nest.

"In many ways he are son of fire...if that nest was a ten of snakes and demons only living inside of him and such a leap could potentially banish such foulness."
The Diedne said and nodded.

He nodded, "I do know... and Arto is right - but one cannot be pushed into a leap of faith. That way... well, suffice to say the landing will not be pleasant nor graceful."

"Let's hope I don't have to do that, for both our sakes. This is less than good timing, not that there is a good time for...these things to happen."

He shrugged, "When you have the people that are able and willing to drag you right out again immediately available, it hardly seems the worst timing..."

"True enough and I would use they for him. But for you, as you are now to me, in this now...I was thinking something more like father of my fravoshi."

He arched an eyebrow, "Fravoshi?"

Chicago, Now again:

He reached out a hand towards Colin's arm. "Amicus?" All around him people were talking, Crexia was giving orders out with the dogged determination of a pamphleteer on a busy Boston street at five. And here he was laid out prone with the wounded who needed care...he started to try to sit up. "Yes...please," he said, shaking all that had happened into some semblance of order.

He clasped Adley's hand briefly, "I'm here, Amicus. We're back, it seems... and the game is still afoot."

Crexia grinned a little.
"I understand you, I have some skill with that part of reality. I spent so many years being told that affecting time was impossible so when that limitation was broken, I decided to master the art in defiance."
She said and gave a slight smile still having to use allot of her focus to keep slowing Carlyle down.
"As long as your visions give us something we can use, a bit of confusion I can live with."

He nodded, "Some of it can save lives now... some of it can save lives for years to come..."

Horizon, Future:

Anna looked at you, she was really scared now.
"Your fault Mentor? But you would never hurt me..."

He shook his head, "No, I wouldn't... At least, not knowingly and willingly. But hurt you, I have."

Your apprentice looked at you in utter shock, she grabbed at her arms, she had scars there you knew, scars from boils that had to be drained, boils created by to many needles and to much fluid in two small muscles.
"The needles got to my brain...I said I felt it in my head they got to my brain they did..."
She whispered as her worst nightmare, well second worst, had just become a reality.
"They got...got to my head they got to my head...they got to my head."
She continued to mutter as she looked at you in panic and desperation.

He frowned and reached for her hands, "Deep breaths, sweetie... There are no needles here now, no-one is going to touch your head... I'm so sorry..."

"Y...you have told me...about it yes...I do not completely understand no...."
Anna said she was sobbing now she she was so terrified.
"A rote...for me? I know you make rotes at times and trade them...you are good at it, I...well that is a good bribe..."
She muttered.
"But Matty Carlyle is so powerful, well her soul is, and I am not nearly powerful enough to have anything made for me that would even bother her soul more than a fly. I mean I might ask for fireworks I can set off in the Umbra to amuse any spirits I come across...or perhaps how to make a ball of Quintessence but with a spiritual element so I could play with my Glass Dragon he is very playful and active you know, likes to affect things outside of us, it kind of freaked out the guys who examined my soul before my trial he would you know, sniff at them...he might like a Prime ball or something like that I mean it would be fun and but it is not a powerful spell or anything."
The young mage was babbling terrified.
"I but if you are fighting Matty...what if you get hurt?"
She asked nervously.

He frowned, "Prime ball fireworks, that light up the umbra... that just might do the trick to distract her... Perfect, I can try that; it just might give us the few moments we need. It won't need to hurt her Avatar, just distract it. And... it's not me getting hurt I'm worried about... I'll bounce back, as I always do. Unless I have to use that... No, not going to consider that now."

"I...but...I don't understand."
She said and looked up from where she was sitting against the wall curled into a ball crying.
"You...can change it...so I do not have to endure months of...those injections? They hurt...they hurt so much and I was so scared I...and they got into my head...they got into my head!"
She muttered and started sobbing again hysterically.

He knelt beside her and gently shushed her, carefully trying to coax her into his embrace, "If I can show the past how much damage the serum can do, we can find an alternative - prevent it from getting into your head... avoid all those injections. But I need to see the results of the scans - an image I can draw up to show the doctors back then where to look in another mage who has been on the serum for too long already..."

Anna sobbed for some time, not moving she was absolutely terrified.
"I am not going...to be able to sit still for that..."
She whispered after some time and she looked up at you coughing she was getting hoarse from sobbing, Helen quickly got a glass of water from a dispenser and handed you but she did not herself step over to Anna not to frighten the girl more. Your apprentice looked down again.
"What...if it gets into my head this time to...what if the needle breaks...I...I am scared..."
She muttered then she looked down and picked at her shoes.
"Do you really think this...can save Allison? And me...? Get her out of the coma?"
She asked you then she added softly in a sore tone of voice.
"If I can't do it are you going to hold me down again?"

He shook his head, "The needle won't break, and I won't use force to hold you down. And I have good reason to think it will spare you both... It won't bring her out of the coma, it might prevent her from falling into one in the first place."
He smiled thinly, handing her the water, "Remember that verse I taught you, sweetie? The Litany against Fear, to help you concentrate on something else when I gave you the shots? Come, try reciting it with me: I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration."

((OOC: So, pleading Colin's case about the people he's saving might work, then? ))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Chicago Now:

Colin shrugged, "I can ask our master alchemist at home - he can do it, though it is of course costly - he might be able to shed some light on the different properties."

Udella nodded.
"That might be a good first step and I might be able to help cover the cost, this serum have been used quite a bit in my profession I would want to know as much about it as possible and if Primium is the way to go to study it then that is of value to me."

Adley's Quiet:

He nodded, "I do know... and Arto is right - but one cannot be pushed into a leap of faith. That way... well, suffice to say the landing will not be pleasant nor graceful."

Arto nodded at that.

Chicago Now again:

He nodded, "Some of it can save lives now... some of it can save lives for years to come..."

Crexia nodded at that.
"Well not everything of value have to show that value right away, even so your visions are proving very practical, however I dread to think of the cost they will have to your future self sometime down the line."
She said and frowned.

Horizon Future:

He shook his head, "No, I wouldn't... At least, not knowingly and willingly. But hurt you, I have."

Anna looked at you and shook her head she did not fully understand.
"You saved me...saved my Glass Dragon."
She protested.

He frowned and reached for her hands, "Deep breaths, sweetie... There are no needles here now, no-one is going to touch your head... I'm so sorry..."

The young mage sobbed hysterically but she did gulp down a few deeper breaths and it did calm her a little bit.
"But there are something touching my head you said there are something from...from those injections in my brain...it is in my brain like when Gabriel...they screamed on the that table, and screamed and then they where not themselves anymore and now it is happening to me..."
She sobbed.

He frowned, "Prime ball fireworks, that light up the umbra... that just might do the trick to distract her... Perfect, I can try that; it just might give us the few moments we need. It won't need to hurt her Avatar, just distract it. And... it's not me getting hurt I'm worried about... I'll bounce back, as I always do. Unless I have to use that... No, not going to consider that now."

Anna looked at you as you spoke to yourself, she was very scared and very confused.
"A...are you talking about the past Mentor? Using what? Are you in danger?"
She asked sounding confused.

He knelt beside her and gently shushed her, carefully trying to coax her into his embrace, "If I can show the past how much damage the serum can do, we can find an alternative - prevent it from getting into your head... avoid all those injections. But I need to see the results of the scans - an image I can draw up to show the doctors back then where to look in another mage who has been on the serum for too long already..."

Anna let you wrap your arms around her she was shaking with fear and you could hear her hear beating so fast.
"I...would...would that work...do you think they would listen?"
She finally managed then she leaned her head against your shoulder and continued crying.
"Why do they use the serum if it is harmful...and who is it who have been on it long...is it anyone I know are more hurt by this? Did they die?"
She muttered terrified and gasped for breath being so upset was not good for her weak heart and damaged lung.

He shook his head, "The needle won't break,

"Are you sure...are you absolutely sure?"
Anna muttered and looked at you, when she was on the serum the needle used had broken a few times as she had been struggling so much and she had not taken it well.
"If...if I do this and I am only saying if...then you have to choose the needle used, find the strongest one and you have to enchant it to hit a vein at the first attempt not like with...not like during the trial..."
She said and she stopped talking as sobs made her whole frame shudder.
"I...I do not want that...you have to enchant it...to hit.."
She instructed desperately.
"And you have to check the needle with magick before...it is used and afterwards to make sure that the exact same amount of metal that go in come out...you have to check TWICE!"
She begged as she cried against your chest.
"You have to check that Mentor..."

and I won't use force to hold you down.

"Do you promise?"
Anna asked sounding terrified.

And I have good reason to think it will spare you both... It won't bring her out of the coma, it might prevent her from falling into one in the first place."

"I...do not understand...not completely but if it can save Allison and...but I am scared I do not think I can do this...I am scared..."
The young mage sobbed she curled up a little more though she was still leaned against you.

He smiled thinly, handing her the water, "Remember that verse I taught you, sweetie? The Litany against Fear, to help you concentrate on something else when I gave you the shots? Come, try reciting it with me: I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration."

Your apprentice took the water glass and managed to drink a few sips.
"Thank you..."
She muttered, she was a polite child though she still shook with fear.
"I...I remember...I...must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration...I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it is gone I will turn the inner eye to see it's path. Where the fear have gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
The girl took another sip of the water she was a little calmer now, though she was still shaking.
"You read those books to me Mentor...when I was sick that one time...you said they saved your life once in Lisa Larson's Labyrinth, that the Labyrinth is a battle cruiser but you managed to charm the very lonely handler who had taken solace in the Dune books and it's Navigators by bringing her a gift of a hardcover book and of all things a pack of butter from Norway that carry the same name as the Spice, she apparently found that to be hilarious and she agreed to cooperate...I remember you telling me the story."
Anna muttered and she turned the glass around in her hands several times, she was shaking and looked rather miserable.
"O...ok..."
She whispered.
"I will do it...but you have to check the needle, and enchant it and you can not leave me alone for as long as it is in...my arm you can't promise me please..."
She begged and brig tears started running down her face again.
"And...and she can only try once if she do not hit a vein we go home, she can not stick me with it again and again like...during the trial she can't..."
She sobbed and shook her head.
"And...you have to cover my eyes...so the needle can not hit them if Dr Mossly slips or something you have to...and...and I still want that spell...the fireworks."
She said and curled up even more.
"B...but if you do all that then ok...I will do it...but I am not sure I will be able to sit still on my own...I probably will not be able to sit still on my own..."

(OOC: Possibly, but not that likely Colin is not as cute as the Hollow One who managed to cry her way out of Paradox. )

[Adley]

He smiled thinly, "There is little to say to that... It was a desperate act to save us all, and it sort of worked... but old sins cast long shadows, and it is soon time to shine a light on things again."

"Hmm...."

"Yes much in our future lives will be unfortunate, but right here and now you are a good foe son of fire. I wish we could have met, just a two of us, no war, to pit our skills and abilities against one another on an empty field field where no one else would have gotten hurt and we would see who would have come out of such an encounter the victor."

"Yes. Or as friends. I feel I have been made a fool," he said.

"Not even when you have a sweet little sister who have been badly hurt, and a brother who live in fear of the same harm, something tells me you will fuss, that you will fuss indeed."

He frowned at him.

"In many ways he are son of fire...if that nest was a ten of snakes and demons only living inside of him and such a leap could potentially banish such foulness." The Diedne said and nodded.

He nodded, "I do know... and Arto is right - but one cannot be pushed into a leap of faith. That way... well, suffice to say the landing will not be pleasant nor graceful.

"If he is Flambeau, as you say, he will learn leap."

He arched an eyebrow, "Fravoshi?"

"Persian. Perhaps urvan is the better term, for that which goes on with memories," he mused. "A word for the highest soul that goes on with the knowledge of what came before. Avatara, from the Sanskrit. The highest part of our threefold spirit. There are many words for that which is the highest of spirit within us," his voice trailed off as they left the confines of his mind in better shape than Colin had arrived to find it.

He clasped Adley's hand briefly, "I'm here, Amicus. We're back, it seems... and the game is still afoot."

"This is real," he said, holding on to what was going on around them, giving his hand a squeeze as if to make sure he was real. Of course, everything had felt real before, that was the problem. But...this was real. "This is now..."

Cara gently helped you sit up as Andy quickly explained. "Not long after you started talking Latin at me and then went to deal with the prisoners and your friend and yourself fell asleep Le...ehm our Jerbiton...he is Jerbiton right I get all your Houses mixed up...anyway he said that Carlyle was on the move. Our commander got us into positions and have been using Time Magick to give us a little more time but it is not working as well as it should and we do not have allot of it. The plan is to try to set off some traps I do not know the details of on Carlyle and if that do not work our Commander and her team will try to...ehm well you know." The Verbena said and sounded uneasy for a moment but she quickly continued. "If that do not work we are to call home and flee until the call to flee come our job is to protect the wounded and the non combatants as well as the commander's group so they can work and just be as distracting as possible and try not to die." Andy said and smiled to you. "Welcome back to reality Hermetic, can you fight?"

He sat up and listened to Andy, then nodded. "Yes I can fight. And I will. Protect the wounded, noncombatants and the group working...got it." There was not even time for embarrassed for his previous actions. "How long do I have?"

You did still have the fly swatter, a few other the others had also pulled out theirs, perhaps it looked a bit...odd for a gang of war ready mages to have those among them ready to fight with fly swatters but it was what it was, the pine cone was also safe

// well, we might have to get the list of people that are indebted to Colin to help. I'm sure some of them would be cute enough? Adley might not be able to help him cry his way out of it, like a person crying out of a speeding ticket, but he'd try! xD

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"Yes. Or as friends. I feel I have been made a fool," he said.

"Friends would be better...and you have not been made a fool of you are loyal to your House and while horrible there where a meaning in this."
Arto said softly.

"If he is Flambeau, as you say, he will learn leap."

"Yes I suspect he will...and perhaps that is a good thing."
The Diedne said and grinned.

He sat up and listened to Andy, then nodded. "Yes I can fight. And I will. Protect the wounded, noncombatants and the group working...got it." There was not even time for embarrassed for his previous actions. "How long do I have?"

"Good, as for how long you have it is hard to say, our commander is trying to buy us some more time but it is not going as planned, so assume the Carlyle woman will be on us sooner rather than later, but you might have a minute or two to catch your breath and prepare."
Andy said and glanced in the direction the poor, broken woman and her Avatar was likely to come from.
"Do you need anything while it is silent before the storm?"
The Verbena asked.

(OOC: I am sure Adley can be adorable but it seams that Wrinkle have a thing for cute young girl mages and he do not quite fit that category. Beatrice might be able to get the job done though, she is cute...creepy, but cute.)

[Warpmind]

Adley's Quiet:

"Persian. Perhaps urvan is the better term, for that which goes on with memories," he mused. "A word for the highest soul that goes on with the knowledge of what came before. Avatara, from the Sanskrit. The highest part of our threefold spirit. There are many words for that which is the highest of spirit within us," his voice trailed off as they left the confines of his mind in better shape than Colin had arrived to find it.

Colin shrugged, "Hm, the nine billion names of God, I suppose..."

Chicago, Now:

"This is real," he said, holding on to what was going on around them, giving his hand a squeeze as if to make sure he was real. Of course, everything had felt real before, that was the problem. But...this was real. "This is now..."

He squeezed back, "This is real, this is now, and it seems we're no longer allowed to enjoy a quiet, restful moment... if you'll pardon the expression."

Crexia nodded at that.
"Well not everything of value have to show that value right away, even so your visions are proving very practical, however I dread to think of the cost they will have to your future self sometime down the line."
She said and frowned.

He grimaced, "Yes, well, that's future me's problem, I suppose... best be somewhere safe when I pull these stunts, and hopefully I can manage to space them out a bit so it doesn't all hit me at once... Do you think I can convince the Reckoner to accept incremental payments?"

Horizon, Future:

Anna looked at you and shook her head she did not fully understand.
"You saved me...saved my Glass Dragon."
She protested.

He nodded, "I saved you, your glass dragon... they couldn't touch him in any case, as they discovered during the trial. But you... you were a brilliant child, and you did ask me for help, though things were a little bit... out of sequence."

The young mage sobbed hysterically but she did gulp down a few deeper breaths and it did calm her a little bit.
"But there are something touching my head you said there are something from...from those injections in my brain...it is in my brain like when Gabriel...they screamed on the that table, and screamed and then they where not themselves anymore and now it is happening to me..."
She sobbed.

He stroked her arm gently - not touching her head now, not wanting her to freak out further, "There's likely a small clump in your brain, pressing on it. Not the same as a needle, not by a long shot. No stabbing, no violence... But it is still a danger."

Anna looked at you as you spoke to yourself, she was very scared and very confused.
"A...are you talking about the past Mentor? Using what? Are you in danger?"
She asked sounding confused.

He frowned, "Yes, I'm still in your old Labyrinth, we've just captured Allison and Dalett, and we're about to fight Matty. And I have a horrible weapon against Matty that I want to avoid using... The danger... I'm not the one most endangered, I think."

Anna let you wrap your arms around her she was shaking with fear and you could hear her hear beating so fast.
"I...would...would that work...do you think they would listen?"
She finally managed then she leaned her head against your shoulder and continued crying.
"Why do they use the serum if it is harmful...and who is it who have been on it long...is it anyone I know are more hurt by this? Did they die?"
She muttered terrified and gasped for breath being so upset was not good for her weak heart and damaged lung.

He nodded thoughtfully, "He suffered headaches and more, and he was still alive when you had your trial. He did die, but in a traffic accident, so it's a fair chance it was not related as such... but getting him checked in the past will lend strength to your case, as well as Allison's, back then."

"Are you sure...are you absolutely sure?"
Anna muttered and looked at you, when she was on the serum the needle used had broken a few times as she had been struggling so much and she had not taken it well.
"If...if I do this and I am only saying if...then you have to choose the needle used, find the strongest one and you have to enchant it to hit a vein at the first attempt not like with...not like during the trial..."
She said and she stopped talking as sobs made her whole frame shudder.
"I...I do not want that...you have to enchant it...to hit.."
She instructed desperately.
"And you have to check the needle with magick before...it is used and afterwards to make sure that the exact same amount of metal that go in come out...you have to check TWICE!"
She begged as she cried against your chest.
"You have to check that Mentor..."

He smiled, "A little physics and metallurgy, a little luck... I can do that."
He fished out his glasses and the silver wand he used for manipulating matter and energy; so meticulously modeled on a Sonic Screwdriver, though without any moving parts, "I'll have the good doctor point out the right gauge, and get on it."
He glanced up at Helen, "If you'd be so kind as to point out the right needles for me?"

"Do you promise?"
Anna asked sounding terrified.

He nodded, "I promise."

"I...do not understand...not completely but if it can save Allison and...but I am scared I do not think I can do this...I am scared..."
The young mage sobbed she curled up a little more though she was still leaned against you.

He sighed softly, stroking her gently, "You can... but I can't claim it will be easy or pleasant. Fear is a difficult thing to overcome, especially when it has been reinforced... especially when it is not irrational."

Your apprentice took the water glass and managed to drink a few sips.
"Thank you..."
She muttered, she was a polite child though she still shook with fear.
"I...I remember...I...must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration...I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it is gone I will turn the inner eye to see it's path. Where the fear have gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
The girl took another sip of the water she was a little calmer now, though she was still shaking.
"You read those books to me Mentor...when I was sick that one time...you said they saved your life once in Lisa Larson's Labyrinth, that the Labyrinth is a battle cruiser but you managed to charm the very lonely handler who had taken solace in the Dune books and it's Navigators by bringing her a gift of a hardcover book and of all things a pack of butter from Norway that carry the same name as the Spice, she apparently found that to be hilarious and she agreed to cooperate...I remember you telling me the story."

He arched an eyebrow, "There's a Norwegian butter called Melange? That's... ridiculously useful. Thank you... they're going to believe me crazy when I request that teleportation, but if needs must be..."

Anna muttered and she turned the glass around in her hands several times, she was shaking and looked rather miserable.
"O...ok..."
She whispered.
"I will do it...but you have to check the needle, and enchant it and you can not leave me alone for as long as it is in...my arm you can't promise me please..."
She begged and brig tears started running down her face again.
"And...and she can only try once if she do not hit a vein we go home, she can not stick me with it again and again like...during the trial she can't..."
She sobbed and shook her head.
"And...you have to cover my eyes...so the needle can not hit them if Dr Mossly slips or something you have to...and...and I still want that spell...the fireworks."
She said and curled up even more.
"B...but if you do all that then ok...I will do it...but I am not sure I will be able to sit still on my own...I probably will not be able to sit still on my own..."

He nodded, "I'll be as close by your side as possible."
He glanced at Helen, "Two things, Doctor Mossly: is it safe to sit next to the CT scanner while it operates, and do you have a trick to raise the necessary blood vessel for the catheter, to help ensure getting the vain on the one attempt you get?"
He slowly rose and put on the glasses with a practiced flick of the wrist, and started examining the needles, finding the most fracture-proof among them and carefully enhanced it with tensile strength and luck...

((OOC: Colin's not cute enough for that. That's why he'll be carrying photos of Beatrice, Freddy and Anna; he's not too proud to hide behind a woman. ))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Chicago Now:

He grimaced, "Yes, well, that's future me's problem, I suppose... best be somewhere safe when I pull these stunts, and hopefully I can manage to space them out a bit so it doesn't all hit me at once... Do you think I can convince the Reckoner to accept incremental payments?"

"Well if you space out the actual bits of time travel that might make things easier but the great Reckoner tend to be a harsh master but I guess you could get lucky, well we have to survive this crisis for Paradox to find you in the future though, so it is a concern for later."
Crexia said though she was still frowning.

Horizon Future:

He nodded, "I saved you, your glass dragon... they couldn't touch him in any case, as they discovered during the trial. But you... you were a brilliant child, and you did ask me for help, though things were a little bit... out of sequence."

"Well they could touch him, but he touch back so they are afraid of him...I am just glad I get to keep him, get to keep him safe."
Anna said and nodded then she smiled a little.
"I remember you in the hallways of the Labyrinth when I was very little though I do not remember much about it...I was so young...so afraid..."
She muttered and glanced up at you.

He stroked her arm gently - not touching her head now, not wanting her to freak out further, "There's likely a small clump in your brain, pressing on it. Not the same as a needle, not by a long shot. No stabbing, no violence... But it is still a danger."

"But how...and if it came from those injections are you sure part of it are not little bits of needle in there, like little broken off parts..."
The young mage said and she was working herself up into even greater panic grabbing her head.
"What if there are little bits of the needles in there!"
She sobbed with growing hysteria.

He frowned, "Yes, I'm still in your old Labyrinth, we've just captured Allison and Dalett, and we're about to fight Matty. And I have a horrible weapon against Matty that I want to avoid using... The danger... I'm not the one most endangered, I think."

"I liked Dalett...I miss her..."
Anna muttered sadly.
"And I like Alison and now she might die, one more person I loose."
She whispered sadly.
"I do not want you to have to use a horrible weapon if that makes you sad Mentor."
Anna said and picked at her bracelets again nervously.

He nodded thoughtfully, "He suffered headaches and more, and he was still alive when you had your trial. He did die, but in a traffic accident, so it's a fair chance it was not related as such... but getting him checked in the past will lend strength to your case, as well as Allison's, back then."

Anna looked at you for a moment and lifted one hand to wipe tears from her eyes.
"O...ok I think I understand...I do want to help him and Allison but I am sacred...I do not know if I can do this what if something happens, what if the needle end up in my head, what if it hurts as badly as it have done before...I...I..."
She shook her head and looked absolutely terrified.

He smiled, "A little physics and metallurgy, a little luck... I can do that."
He fished out his glasses and the silver wand he used for manipulating matter and energy; so meticulously modeled on a Sonic Screwdriver, though without any moving parts, "I'll have the good doctor point out the right gauge, and get on it."

Anna looked up at you she seamed a little reassured by you agreeing to magically examine the needles to find the best one.
"Thank you Mentor...you are sure you will find one that will not break?"

He glanced up at Helen, "If you'd be so kind as to point out the right needles for me?"

Helen nodded she went to one of her cabinets and opened it, rummaged around and took out tree cardboard boxes, two of them where already opened, the healer had white painted wood drawers and cabinets hiding her medical supplies she had understood that nervous patients might not like to see them just standing there behind glass door.
"These IV needles, with someone with difficult veins like your apprentice I would go with 20 gauge, perhaps even 21 that should still be enough for contrast fluid, these are the 20's."
She said and tapped one of the boxes.
"The other two are 21 and 18, the 18 gauges are as thick as the ones you used to give her the serum though and unless I use something to dampen pain she will feel that one rather sharply, it is however more sturdy so if she is more afraid of it breaking than pain...she might prefer one of those...there are a box of 16 gauges in the cabinet if your magick lead you to those but they are fairly big and I am not sure her veins could handle those..."
Helen instructed in a low voice as she put the boxes on a table.
"I have never heard of an IV needle breaking though, anything that go into musculature can break but just into a shallow vein I do not think that is possible, but if it make her feel safer then by all means examine them, if you need to take them out of the packaging do so I can always get more from the storeroom and it is a small cost compared to Anna's comfort."

He nodded, "I promise."

"So...I can walk out...if I can not do this I can walk out of here and you will not stop me?"
She asked and that she was ensured she would not be forced into anything did seam to make her a little less scared.

He sighed softly, stroking her gently, "You can... but I can't claim it will be easy or pleasant. Fear is a difficult thing to overcome, especially when it has been reinforced... especially when it is not irrational."

"But...I...can't...I...."
Anna started sobbing again and she grabbed your hand and held it tightly.
"I am afraid...I am afraid of what Gabriel did to all those people I hear them screaming in my mind when I go to sleep. I am afraid of the Serum I am afraid of what those doctors did to me during my trial I am afraid of all of it and this will be the same I...I can't..."

He arched an eyebrow, "There's a Norwegian butter called Melange? That's... ridiculously useful. Thank you... they're going to believe me crazy when I request that teleportation, but if needs must be..."

"In your story you said you found an unopened pack in someone named Ulv's fridge, he have it imported from home, most apparently think it taste horrible but he like that butter, and yes it is named Melange."
Anna said and nodded, speaking as if she was remembering a good night story you had told her long ago and she probably was.

He nodded, "I'll be as close by your side as possible."

Anna nodded she gave you a terrified nod.

He glanced at Helen, "Two things, Doctor Mossly: is it safe to sit next to the CT scanner while it operates, and do you have a trick to raise the necessary blood vessel for the catheter, to help ensure getting the vain on the one attempt you get?"

"It is safe to do one time, it is not something I would do again and again, but once should be fine."
Helen said and nodded.
"I do, my Mentor...one of my Mentors, the Verbena one taught me a trick to avoid veins when carving runes into my own flesh, I can use the same but in reverse, combine that with a little luck and I am pretty sure I will get it, and I can raise the vein gently using magick to make sure it is as easy as possible."
She assured you.

He slowly rose and put on the glasses with a practiced flick of the wrist, and started examining the needles, finding the most fracture-proof among them and carefully enhanced it with tensile strength and luck...

You went though the boxes, the 18 gauges where off course the most durable being allot bigger, when looking through you found two candidates, a 18 gauge that had been manufactured perfectly, making it stronger and sharper than it's fellows, it was as close to the platonic ideal of a 18 gauge needle you could get without adding magick into the mix, the mechanism to release the caterer and drawing the needle back, the grip all of it was perfect, luck favored a smaller 20 gauge one though that lay at the bottom of it's box, it was not as perfect but was still good, and on it sat a small steel spirit, a small part of the spirit of whatever bar of steel the needle had once been, the spirit looked up and you and gave a friendly smile as you looked at it. Taking the one you had chosen you got it enchanted for further luck.
"R...remember to check it please, to make sure all the metal that are there come back out..."
Anna reminded you seriously she was stark white and still sitting curled up on the floor.
"Remember to check it twice...you are checking it right?"

(OOC: Well those three are cute telling Wrinkle they would be sad if he did not come home in one piece might just sway him. Well that and what Freddy would do to him if he hurt Colin. )

[Warpmind]

"Well they could touch him, but he touch back so they are afraid of him...I am just glad I get to keep him, get to keep him safe."
Anna said and nodded then she smiled a little.
"I remember you in the hallways of the Labyrinth when I was very little though I do not remember much about it...I was so young...so afraid..."
She muttered and glanced up at you.

Colin smiled thinly, "You tried to offer me your doll - the one I brought back from the Labyrinth. And you mistook me for a god, which I still have some mixed feelings about, I'll admit..."

"But how...and if it came from those injections are you sure part of it are not little bits of needle in there, like little broken off parts..."
The young mage said and she was working herself up into even greater panic grabbing her head.
"What if there are little bits of the needles in there!"
She sobbed with growing hysteria.

He shook his head, "No, that much I do know... I checked every needle when I gave you the shots, to ensure there were no fragments left inside... That... was the easy part of it..."

"I liked Dalett...I miss her..."
Anna muttered sadly.
"And I like Alison and now she might die, one more person I loose."
She whispered sadly.
"I do not want you to have to use a horrible weapon if that makes you sad Mentor."
Anna said and picked at her bracelets again nervously.

He nodded, "Dalett was a nice person, and I do regret... capturing her like that. As for the weapon against Matty, well... it was the absolutely last resort, only to be employed if all else failed."

Anna looked at you for a moment and lifted one hand to wipe tears from her eyes.
"O...ok I think I understand...I do want to help him and Allison but I am sacred...I do not know if I can do this what if something happens, what if the needle end up in my head, what if it hurts as badly as it have done before...I...I..."
She shook her head and looked absolutely terrified.

He smiled softly, "The needle will not go astray, I'm certain... it will hardly even hurt, and I promise, I will do everything to prevent it from breaking."

Anna looked up at you she seamed a little reassured by you agreeing to magically examine the needles to find the best one.
"Thank you Mentor...you are sure you will find one that will not break?"

He nodded, "If I cannot find one I can trust, I will scour Concordia for one good enough."

Helen nodded she went to one of her cabinets and opened it, rummaged around and took out tree cardboard boxes, two of them where already opened, the healer had white painted wood drawers and cabinets hiding her medical supplies she had understood that nervous patients might not like to see them just standing there behind glass door.
"These IV needles, with someone with difficult veins like your apprentice I would go with 20 gauge, perhaps even 21 that should still be enough for contrast fluid, these are the 20's."
She said and tapped one of the boxes.
"The other two are 21 and 18, the 18 gauges are as thick as the ones you used to give her the serum though and unless I use something to dampen pain she will feel that one rather sharply, it is however more sturdy so if she is more afraid of it breaking than pain...she might prefer one of those...there are a box of 16 gauges in the cabinet if your magick lead you to those but they are fairly big and I am not sure her veins could handle those..."
Helen instructed in a low voice as she put the boxes on a table.
"I have never heard of an IV needle breaking though, anything that go into musculature can break but just into a shallow vein I do not think that is possible, but if it make her feel safer then by all means examine them, if you need to take them out of the packaging do so I can always get more from the storeroom and it is a small cost compared to Anna's comfort."

He nodded, "It's not her veins that are the problem, doctor, it's that damned fear of needles... Not her fault; she was forced to watch things no-one should have to see... I won't need to unpack them to examine them, though - not while I can see them through the plastic. But some novocaine salve or similar would probably help, as well."

"So...I can walk out...if I can not do this I can walk out of here and you will not stop me?"
She asked and that she was ensured she would not be forced into anything did seam to make her a little less scared.

He nodded, "If it becomes too much, I won't stop you. I'll try to talk you back inside, of course, but I won't have anyone lay a finger on you."

"But...I...can't...I...."
Anna started sobbing again and she grabbed your hand and held it tightly.
"I am afraid...I am afraid of what Gabriel did to all those people I hear them screaming in my mind when I go to sleep. I am afraid of the Serum I am afraid of what those doctors did to me during my trial I am afraid of all of it and this will be the same I...I can't..."

Colin shook his head, "Those doctors are not here. Doctor Mossly is here - she was the one who saved your life when the others nearly killed you, remember? She knows, she will try to help you, not hurt you. We're here to make sure you are alright, and to try and save Allison."

"In your story you said you found an unopened pack in someone named Ulv's fridge, he have it imported from home, most apparently think it taste horrible but he like that butter, and yes it is named Melange."
Anna said and nodded, speaking as if she was remembering a good night story you had told her long ago and she probably was.

He grinned, "Well, I'll be... Fellow came in handy after all..."

"It is safe to do one time, it is not something I would do again and again, but once should be fine."
Helen said and nodded.
"I do, my Mentor...one of my Mentors, the Verbena one taught me a trick to avoid veins when carving runes into my own flesh, I can use the same but in reverse, combine that with a little luck and I am pretty sure I will get it, and I can raise the vein gently using magick to make sure it is as easy as possible."
She assured you.

He nodded, "A little radiation, that I can shield myself from easily enough. And good - anything that helps the needle find its mark will be good..."

You went though the boxes, the 18 gauges where off course the most durable being allot bigger, when looking through you found two candidates, a 18 gauge that had been manufactured perfectly, making it stronger and sharper than it's fellows, it was as close to the platonic ideal of a 18 gauge needle you could get without adding magick into the mix, the mechanism to release the caterer and drawing the needle back, the grip all of it was perfect, luck favored a smaller 20 gauge one though that lay at the bottom of it's box, it was not as perfect but was still good, and on it sat a small steel spirit, a small part of the spirit of whatever bar of steel the needle had once been, the spirit looked up and you and gave a friendly smile as you looked at it. Taking the one you had chosen you got it enchanted for further luck.
"R...remember to check it please, to make sure all the metal that are there come back out..."
Anna reminded you seriously she was stark white and still sitting curled up on the floor.
"Remember to check it twice...you are checking it right?"

He looked at the 18 gauge and the 20 gauge, and smiled, "I have two candidates, sweetie... One materially almost perfect, but a little bit on the thick side, and one slightly thinner with a cheerful steel spirit looking up. I think I favour the spirited one, but I'll let you decide..."
He smiled to the spirit, "Hello, my friend, can I trust you to help keep the needle unbroken and strong, if my apprentice chooses you? She's dreadfully afraid of needles, you see, and every bit of comfort will be an asset to her..."

((OOC: So long as Old Man Wrinkle doesn't decide to send Colin home in a one-piece... ))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Colin smiled thinly, "You tried to offer me your doll - the one I brought back from the Labyrinth. And you mistook me for a god, which I still have some mixed feelings about, I'll admit..."

"I am sorry about that Mentor I...vaguely remember my mother telling me stories of the Gods and when I saw you there in the corridor I...made that mistake, I was so little."
Anna said apologetically.
"I am thankful you bought my doll back though, I still tressure her, she is all I have of my mother, that and a half forgotten language."

He shook his head, "No, that much I do know... I checked every needle when I gave you the shots, to ensure there were no fragments left inside... That... was the easy part of it..."

"You checked them...all of them?"
Anna said and looked at you she let go of her head for a moment.
"I remember asking you to do that...but are you sure..."
She whimpered the idea of something being in her braid was terrifying for her.

He nodded, "Dalett was a nice person, and I do regret... capturing her like that. As for the weapon against Matty, well... it was the absolutely last resort, only to be employed if all else failed."

"She was...she did not deserve...what happened to her."
Anna said and looked down sadly then she glanced up at you.
"That last resort must have been really bad Mentor..."

He smiled softly, "The needle will not go astray, I'm certain... it will hardly even hurt, and I promise, I will do everything to prevent it from breaking."

"Are you sure?"
Anna asked again she looked down shivering holding onto your hand for dear life.
"But all those memories they...they will come back..."
She protested.

He nodded, "If I cannot find one I can trust, I will scour Concordia for one good enough."

Anna looked at you and nodded, she seamed to trust that you would do just that, in many ways she was still very naive and put you and Freddy on a pedestal, having unquestioning belief in what you told her and still needing your protecting from the world even if she was growing up.

He nodded, "It's not her veins that are the problem, doctor, it's that damned fear of needles... Not her fault; she was forced to watch things no-one should have to see... I won't need to unpack them to examine them, though - not while I can see them through the plastic. But some novocaine salve or similar would probably help, as well."

Helen sigh and nodded.
"You told me she had been raised...by a Nephandus I can not imagine what she ha seen, and with that serum as well...and her experiences during the examinations for the trial it is a wonder she is in here at all..."
She said.
"I do have numbing creams but they take some time to work, I have however also have my own concoction, a herbal cream, mixed with a little magick it do the same job but faster, I use it on kids that come in here for their vaccines no need for them to feel pain when they don't have to, I will apply some before I start working on her, she should not feel much, though some who are afraid of needles like here react worse if the area is numbed...as that is an extra bit of loss of control, loss of sensation, so unless it is pain she fear in particular asking her first is a good idea, and yeah you can see them through the packaging it is clear on one side."

He nodded, "If it becomes too much, I won't stop you. I'll try to talk you back inside, of course, but I won't have anyone lay a finger on you."

Anna nodded slightly and shivered.
"G...good I do not like being held down."
She muttered nervously.
"I mean it is not as bad as with Kyle he really do not like being held down, but I do not like it either."

Colin shook his head, "Those doctors are not here. Doctor Mossly is here - she was the one who saved your life when the others nearly killed you, remember? She knows, she will try to help you, not hurt you. We're here to make sure you are alright, and to try and save Allison."

"No, the doctor that let his students practice on you is not here anymore Anna your lawyer tossed the book at him quite hard, last I heard of him he was scraping by as an assistant to another of our Tradition, he will not hurt you, and his students, I will not let them near you."
Helen said and Anna looked at her and then at you.
"I remember...I was hurting and I was so scared...they where hurting me, sticking needles into me again and again, talking between themselves as if I was not there...I was strapped down and then you where there I remember you chased them away and carried me out of there but then my chest hurt and I...the next thing I remember I was in a bed and Dr Mossly was there, and you and Freddy...she saved me...I remember...I want to save Allison I do but...I am so afraid..."
Your apprentice muttered softly.

He grinned, "Well, I'll be... Fellow came in handy after all..."

Anna gave you a confused look.
"I do not understand Mentor."

He nodded, "A little radiation, that I can shield myself from easily enough. And good - anything that helps the needle find its mark will be good..."

Helen nodded.
"Very well, it is best if you are with her come to think of it so she stays still while the scan is done, and if you can shield yourself from the radiation that is good."
The healer said and looked at Anna.
"If you could try to get her into the examination chair or up on that bench over there if she prefer to lie down...hell we can do it on the floor as well if she feels more comfortable where she is but try to get her up where I can see better, also gently...gently as her if I may hold her arm still while I work...if she flinch it is going to be allot harder to hit the vein correctly and allot more uncomfortable for her."

He looked at the 18 gauge and the 20 gauge, and smiled, "I have two candidates, sweetie... One materially almost perfect, but a little bit on the thick side, and one slightly thinner with a cheerful steel spirit looking up. I think I favour the spirited one, but I'll let you decide..."

Anna curled up a bit more on the floor.
"I...I am not sure if I can...can look at them.."
She muttered fearfully then something you said caught her attention and she glanced up.
"A spirit Mentor...I...like spirits...o...ok I think the one with the spirit is best."
She said and shuddered.
"And you are sure it will not break?"

He smiled to the spirit, "Hello, my friend, can I trust you to help keep the needle unbroken and strong, if my apprentice chooses you? She's dreadfully afraid of needles, you see, and every bit of comfort will be an asset to her..."

The spirit nodded, he looked like a vaguely human figure with needle thin arms and legs made of liquid metal.
"My purpose is to provide medical care as comfortably as possible, that is why I was made, and I will serve my purpose just once then I go back to source to be reborn, I will do it right that one time...the needle will be strong and unbroken and your apprentice will be safe and comfortable."
The spirit said happily as the bounced up and down on the needle's edge.
"I wish to perform my function it is what I am."
The spirit really was quite cute and he seamed very friendly.

(OOC: Wrinkle's new punishment strategy for errant mages, humiliation, now all he need is a little shame bell.)

[Warpmind]

"I am sorry about that Mentor I...vaguely remember my mother telling me stories of the Gods and when I saw you there in the corridor I...made that mistake, I was so little."
Anna said apologetically.
"I am thankful you bought my doll back though, I still tressure her, she is all I have of my mother, that and a half forgotten language."

Colin grinned, "Well, being mistaken for the god of craftsmen and artisans isn't all that bad - and considering my slightly gimp leg at the time, it was the obvious assumption. Besides..."
He smiled slyly, "I've not yet given up on your mother, though I don't yet have the skills to accurately pull her out of Gabriel's clutches at the last moment..."

"You checked them...all of them?"
Anna said and looked at you she let go of her head for a moment.
"I remember asking you to do that...but are you sure..."
She whimpered the idea of something being in her braid was terrifying for her.

He nodded, "Not a microgram left unaccounted for."

"She was...she did not deserve...what happened to her."
Anna said and looked down sadly then she glanced up at you.
"That last resort must have been really bad Mentor..."

He nodded, "The last legacy of Tremere, in a convenient bottle. The worst fate for a Mage of any sort..."

"Are you sure?"
Anna asked again she looked down shivering holding onto your hand for dear life.
"But all those memories they...they will come back..."
She protested.

He nodded, "True, the memories will come back... but they are only that - memories, without solid form or force. They can no longer hurt you, so long as you remember that. You endured them when they happened the first time, you survived - and though they latch on like a parasite, they'll only wither and die once you remember to stop feeding them."

Helen sigh and nodded.
"You told me she had been raised...by a Nephandus I can not imagine what she ha seen, and with that serum as well...and her experiences during the examinations for the trial it is a wonder she is in here at all..."
She said.
"I do have numbing creams but they take some time to work, I have however also have my own concoction, a herbal cream, mixed with a little magick it do the same job but faster, I use it on kids that come in here for their vaccines no need for them to feel pain when they don't have to, I will apply some before I start working on her, she should not feel much, though some who are afraid of needles like here react worse if the area is numbed...as that is an extra bit of loss of control, loss of sensation, so unless it is pain she fear in particular asking her first is a good idea, and yeah you can see them through the packaging it is clear on one side."

He nodded darkly and answered in a low tone of voice, "Her Fallen Mentor had torture and lobotomy as something of a hobby, and forced her to watch... Anyone bringing needles anywhere near her head will answer to me."
He looked at Anna with a half-smile, "Would you like that, sweetie? An ointment to numb the skin a little, so it doesn't hurt?"

Anna nodded slightly and shivered.
"G...good I do not like being held down."
She muttered nervously.
"I mean it is not as bad as with Kyle he really do not like being held down, but I do not like it either."

He nodded, "You've been held down enough for a lifetime - even several. You and your dragon were meant to soar, not be restrained."

"No, the doctor that let his students practice on you is not here anymore Anna your lawyer tossed the book at him quite hard, last I heard of him he was scraping by as an assistant to another of our Tradition, he will not hurt you, and his students, I will not let them near you."
Helen said and Anna looked at her and then at you.
"I remember...I was hurting and I was so scared...they where hurting me, sticking needles into me again and again, talking between themselves as if I was not there...I was strapped down and then you where there I remember you chased them away and carried me out of there but then my chest hurt and I...the next thing I remember I was in a bed and Dr Mossly was there, and you and Freddy...she saved me...I remember...I want to save Allison I do but...I am so afraid..."
Your apprentice muttered softly.

He nodded, "Of course you are afraid... I'd be more worried if you weren't. But acknowledging that fear opens the door to owning it, to controlling it... and that's what you need to do, more urgently than I had hoped. I would have preferred for you to work your way through it at a more comfortable pace until you reached a breakthrough, but... luck isn't always on my side."

Anna gave you a confused look.
"I do not understand Mentor."

He shook his head, "Liv's father... he was a bit obstructive during those complications, but it mostly worked out in the end... Mostly. Raiding his fridge, under the circumstances, is a reasonable approach."

Helen nodded.
"Very well, it is best if you are with her come to think of it so she stays still while the scan is done, and if you can shield yourself from the radiation that is good."
The healer said and looked at Anna.
"If you could try to get her into the examination chair or up on that bench over there if she prefer to lie down...hell we can do it on the floor as well if she feels more comfortable where she is but try to get her up where I can see better, also gently...gently as her if I may hold her arm still while I work...if she flinch it is going to be allot harder to hit the vein correctly and allot more uncomfortable for her."

He nodded, "I shall need to cover her eyes, so... let's try the chair first."
He looked down at Anna, "Shall we try there?"

Anna curled up a bit more on the floor.
"I...I am not sure if I can...can look at them.."
She muttered fearfully then something you said caught her attention and she glanced up.
"A spirit Mentor...I...like spirits...o...ok I think the one with the spirit is best."
She said and shuddered.
"And you are sure it will not break?"

He smiled, "I'm not going to show them to you, and I am about to be certain. The awakened one it is."

The spirit nodded, he looked like a vaguely human figure with needle thin arms and legs made of liquid metal.
"My purpose is to provide medical care as comfortably as possible, that is why I was made, and I will serve my purpose just once then I go back to source to be reborn, I will do it right that one time...the needle will be strong and unbroken and your apprentice will be safe and comfortable."
The spirit said happily as the bounced up and down on the needle's edge.
"I wish to perform my function it is what I am."
The spirit really was quite cute and he seamed very friendly.

He grinned, "This pleases me. Will you permit me to work a little magic on your needle, to strengthen and grant it further fortuitous precision? On my magic, I have neither desire nor will to harm or offend you."

((OOC: Of course Anna trusts Colin's word. Colin doesn't make such promises lightly. Well, he might make such a promise a bit more lightly than he should, but he's confident he won't have to run all across the city like that on account of how there should be at least one good needle in the doctor's office. ))

((OOC2: Well, that might prove an exceedingly effective strategy. Can you imagine the indignity if, say, half the Council of Nine suddenly had to take a few weeks off due to a dunce cap stuck on their heads? ))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Colin grinned, "Well, being mistaken for the god of craftsmen and artisans isn't all that bad - and considering my slightly gimp leg at the time, it was the obvious assumption. Besides..."
He smiled slyly, "I've not yet given up on your mother, though I don't yet have the skills to accurately pull her out of Gabriel's clutches at the last moment..."

Anna nodded slightly she looked down again.
"I...am still sorry I made the assumption, I was just a kid."
She told you then she smiled a little.
"Do you think that is even possible Mentor? To save my mother I mean, from back then before Gabriel killed her?"
She asked and looked at you wide eyed.

He nodded, "Not a microgram left unaccounted for."

That seamed to calm the girl a little and she looked at you and nodded.
"Thank you Mentor."
She muttered though she was still shivering.

He nodded, "The last legacy of Tremere, in a convenient bottle. The worst fate for a Mage of any sort..."

"That...is...horrible..."
Anna muttered and she gave you a shocked look.
"I hope you did not end up having to use that option..."

He nodded, "True, the memories will come back... but they are only that - memories, without solid form or force. They can no longer hurt you, so long as you remember that. You endured them when they happened the first time, you survived - and though they latch on like a parasite, they'll only wither and die once you remember to stop feeding them."

Anna nodded though she seamed a bit doubtful.
"I do not know how to stop feeding those memories Mentor, they are always there, and they come to me in my nightmares...when I am not dreaming of the Caul that is."
She said sadly and shuddered.

He nodded darkly and answered in a low tone of voice, "Her Fallen Mentor had torture and lobotomy as something of a hobby, and forced her to watch... Anyone bringing needles anywhere near her head will answer to me."

"That is...just gruesome."
Helen said and shook her head sadly and glanced over at Anna.
"I will make sure never to bring a needle near her head for any reason then, poor child."

He looked at Anna with a half-smile, "Would you like that, sweetie? An ointment to numb the skin a little, so it doesn't hurt?"

Your apprentice considered for a moment then she nodded.
"Yes...but if I can not feel it if anything go wrong you have to keep watch Mentor and make sure the needle don't break and slip or end up anywhere it should not."
She muttered nervously.

He nodded, "You've been held down enough for a lifetime - even several. You and your dragon were meant to soar, not be restrained."

"Yes...we are..."
Anna muttered softly then she sigh.
"At least I have not had it as bad with that as some of the vampires we know have, they have a suspend button built in after all."
She said and shuddered at the thought.
"Poor vampires."

He nodded, "Of course you are afraid... I'd be more worried if you weren't. But acknowledging that fear opens the door to owning it, to controlling it... and that's what you need to do, more urgently than I had hoped. I would have preferred for you to work your way through it at a more comfortable pace until you reached a breakthrough, but... luck isn't always on my side."

She nodded and looked down.
"I understand that Mentor but fear is not easy to control."
She protested then she looked at you.
"Perhaps if...this go well and you can stop the serum from happening in the past, and stop that doctor from letting his students train on me, perhaps I can overcome this then...perhaps I can learn to embroider like Mistress Crexia do, I mean at least touching a needle."
She said and smiled a little.

He shook his head, "Liv's father... he was a bit obstructive during those complications, but it mostly worked out in the end... Mostly. Raiding his fridge, under the circumstances, is a reasonable approach."

"I remember you telling me about him Mentor he tried to save Liv but caused problem at Steelhaven instead, I guess raiding his fridge will be ok then, and you said it made that Handler happy, enough so she would listen to you and cooperate so I guess it is for a good cause..."
Anna said and nodded.

He nodded, "I shall need to cover her eyes, so... let's try the chair first."
He looked down at Anna, "Shall we try there?"

Helen nodded at that she was busy gathering the equipment together on a tray discreetly. Anna looked at the chair hesitantly but after a while she nodded and tried to get up to walk over to it but she was shaking to much to find her footing.
"I...ehm...will try...Mentor..."

He smiled, "I'm not going to show them to you, and I am about to be certain. The awakened one it is."

Your apprentice nodded and that she gave you a nervous look.

He grinned, "This pleases me. Will you permit me to work a little magic on your needle, to strengthen and grant it further fortuitous precision? On my magic, I have neither desire nor will to harm or offend you."

The spirit nodded as he danced about happily.
"Magick is fine as long as it do not try to change my purpose. I am what I am."
He told you and gave you a friendly smile.

(OOC: Yes there should be, however Anna is convinced that if he had to he would run all over the city looking for one.)

(OOC 2: Well that might just reduce the amount of Vulgar Magick done in the Traditions.)

(OOC 3: Since Colin have the idea about what Rote future Anna meant would distract Matty's Avatar perhaps we should play out him informing Crexia or at least returning to his senses alongside with the rest of the forward vision so that Strife do not have to wait. He could get ammunition to make sure that serum is used with more caution as well as perhaps other bits of information so playing out the scene is good but we could do both at the same time not to clog things up with a lengthy vision while Strife waits for the battle to start in the present since the information needed for the here and now have already been found.)

[Adley]

"Friends would be better...and you have not been made a fool of you are loyal to your House and while horrible there where a meaning in this." Arto said softly.

"And what did it mean to you?"

"Yes I suspect he will...and perhaps that is a good thing." The Diedne said and grinned.

"Some mentors are not adverse to lighting fires under the bottoms of their apprentices."

Colin shrugged, "Hm, the nine billion names of God, I suppose..."

"Something like that...!" he said seriously, entirely missing the reference.

He squeezed back, "This is real, this is now, and it seems we're no longer allowed to enjoy a quiet, restful moment... if you'll pardon the expression."

"That's now I know it's real," he quipped back.

"Good, as for how long you have it is hard to say, our commander is trying to buy us some more time but it is not going as planned, so assume the Carlyle woman will be on us sooner rather than later, but you might have a minute or two to catch your breath and prepare."
Andy said and glanced in the direction the poor, broken woman and her Avatar was likely to come from.
"Do you need anything while it is silent before the storm?"

"Perhaps that is because the spiritual is eternal and not bound to time as we are..." he said, following her glance as he spoke. He nodded to her and stood. "No, thank you. I'm sure those here need your help more. I'll work on a defense while I have the time," he said, looking at everyone's positions and nodding to Crexia before he started to work again, to let her know he wasn't half-mad and if she had specific orders for him.

// don't worry about me, I'm ok - been trying to catch up since I got back from vaca and so don't mind waiting (you've waited for me before too, so no worries). Also, photobucket packed me a sad and no longer hosts links for my pics without paying exorbitant fees which has caused annoyance, so I will have to rehome Steelhaven's map pictures at some point ;_;

ooc 2: First round roll for putting back up the spirit shield is 5, 5, 5

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"And what did it mean to you?"

"Pain for the most part."
Arto said and sigh.
"But in keeping the Order together, this war have in a strange way served to protect magick in general, it have had value, but for me personally, it have meant nothing but pain and loss."
He muttered bitterly.

"Some mentors are not adverse to lighting fires under the bottoms of their apprentices."

"Ah yes and some fires are at time needed, if they are done right and for the right reason and not just done to force the student to walk the teacher's path."
The Diedne commented.

"Perhaps that is because the spiritual is eternal and not bound to time as we are..." he said, following her glance as he spoke. He nodded to her and stood. "No, thank you. I'm sure those here need your help more. I'll work on a defense while I have the time," he said, looking at everyone's positions and nodding to Crexia before he started to work again, to let her know he wasn't half-mad and if she had specific orders for him.

Andy nodded to you.
"Most who needed healing have been taken care of but I have some defense to set up myself."
She said as she left you to your work and puled her dagger out of her belt apart and put a bit of antiseptic hand wash on the blade and then begun to carve more runes into her arms, wincing a little as she worked.

Crexia gave you a nod back, for now she had no orders and she let you work but she might have some later.

You begin to rebuild your kinetic shield, you get the working going but it was a little shaky and would need a little more work but at least you where back in the saddle.

(OOC: I did not know photo bucket had done that that is irritating of them. Well I would not want you to have to wait for to long.)

(OOC 2: Let me see, it is Forces 2 and is Coincidental here so that makes the diff 6 if I am not completely mistaken.)

[Warpmind]

Adley's Quiet:

"Something like that...!" he said seriously, entirely missing the reference.

Colin nodded, "Arthur C. Clarke. Assigned reading in school. It's a bit of an odd tale, really... Faith and automation bringing about the end of the world."

Horizon, Future:

Anna nodded slightly she looked down again.
"I...am still sorry I made the assumption, I was just a kid."
She told you then she smiled a little.
"Do you think that is even possible Mentor? To save my mother I mean, from back then before Gabriel killed her?"
She asked and looked at you wide eyed.

He grinned, "Well, you never know, perhaps I'll hop back and start a few myths in ancient Greece..."
He cleared his throat, "You know what I say about the impossible - we are Mages, so the impossible is just a little harder to do. I think I may be able to do it some day, but not yet... I don't quite have the mastery I need over the space-time continuum. But I'm confident I will, soon enough... and then I will fairly literally move heaven and earth to save her. I cannot guarantee I will succeed, but I will try my very best."

"That...is...horrible..."
Anna muttered and she gave you a shocked look.
"I hope you did not end up having to use that option..."

He nodded, "That bit is in flux right now - I might and I might not... but there are other options that will be tried first, and they stand a good chance of success. Including the pine cone..."

Anna nodded though she seamed a bit doubtful.
"I do not know how to stop feeding those memories Mentor, they are always there, and they come to me in my nightmares...when I am not dreaming of the Caul that is."
She said sadly and shuddered.

He nodded, "The Caul would be a persistent malignance... It changed you, and it would try to prevent you from undoing that. Well, you will prove stronger in the end, I'm sure of it."

"That is...just gruesome."
Helen said and shook her head sadly and glanced over at Anna.
"I will make sure never to bring a needle near her head for any reason then, poor child."

He nodded, still a whisper, "The first victim she was forced to watch was her mother... that was the first time she and I met, from her perspective. It gets a bit wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey..."

Your apprentice considered for a moment then she nodded.
"Yes...but if I can not feel it if anything go wrong you have to keep watch Mentor and make sure the needle don't break and slip or end up anywhere it should not."
She muttered nervously.

He nodded, "Of course I will keep watch. One attempt, and one attempt only - I'll hold to that as I protect your eyes."

"Yes...we are..."
Anna muttered softly then she sigh.
"At least I have not had it as bad with that as some of the vampires we know have, they have a suspend button built in after all."
She said and shuddered at the thought.
"Poor vampires."

He frowned, "Yes... staking is a harsh thing, and seems absurdly painful... I don't know whether it is a curse or a boon that they can survive that."

She nodded and looked down.
"I understand that Mentor but fear is not easy to control."
She protested then she looked at you.
"Perhaps if...this go well and you can stop the serum from happening in the past, and stop that doctor from letting his students train on me, perhaps I can overcome this then...perhaps I can learn to embroider like Mistress Crexia do, I mean at least touching a needle."
She said and smiled a little.

He smiled thinly, "Perhaps crocheting or knitting would be a better place to start, with bigger, blunter needles that can't really break skin..."

"I remember you telling me about him Mentor he tried to save Liv but caused problem at Steelhaven instead, I guess raiding his fridge will be ok then, and you said it made that Handler happy, enough so she would listen to you and cooperate so I guess it is for a good cause..."
Anna said and nodded.

He smiled wryly, "Observe the plans within plans within plans... I must be giving Old Man Wrinkle a Paradox headache at some point..."

Helen nodded at that she was busy gathering the equipment together on a tray discreetly. Anna looked at the chair hesitantly but after a while she nodded and tried to get up to walk over to it but she was shaking to much to find her footing.
"I...ehm...will try...Mentor..."

He gently helped her up and guided her to the chair, so she could sit a little more comfortably, and nodded to Helen, "If you would apply the anaesthetic salve, then? I expect it still takes a little time to take full effect."

The spirit nodded as he danced about happily.
"Magick is fine as long as it do not try to change my purpose. I am what I am."
He told you and gave you a friendly smile.

He smiled back, "Then so be it, friend; and after your purpose is finished, and you are to be recycled, would you perhaps wish me to fashion you into a new form of your liking?"
He carefully cast the simple spell that increased the tensile strength in metal, and the simple blessing of purposeful luck, and left the needle, still sealed, on the table as he packed away the others.
"Alright, doctor, this one it is - enchanted for greater accuracy and durability... and I have the precise molecule count in mind."

Chicago, Now:

"That's now I know it's real," he quipped back.

He smirked, "Glad to be of help - at least there's a reliable constant, hm?"

He looked to Crexia, "Ma'am, my apprentice-to-be will just have given me an idea, five years from now... I can try to distract miss Carlyle's attack dog with... er... a sort of fireworks. I'll just have to work out the specifics."
He glanced at the others standing ready, "Those of you who see spirits might find this... an irritant. Hopefully, the target will be more irritated..."
He whipped out the chaos wand and started concentrating, starting on the invocation, "Pompa spiritualis, sensibus vexo..."

((OOC: So, an attempt to create the equivalent of fireworks visible on the spiritual plane - not sure if Colin has all the spheres needed to pull this off; seems Spirit and Forces 2 would be needed as well, but... Prime and Entropy might help make up for what's missing... So, Arete rolls - 1,6,9 - 3,4,5 - 4,4,9 - 2,3,6 - 1,8,0 - 8,9,9 - and that should be cap at six (well, seven) successes. I don't know, however, how many rolls Colin has the time to make, so if there's less than six rolls of prep-time, pick a cutoff point, and see what sort of flash-bang Colin can make with that. ))

((OOC2: Well, Colin would scour Horizon if necessary, so... ))

((OOC3: And everyone would be happy. Especially those Mages who don't give a rat's ass about indignity. ))

((OOC4: Yeah, I was mostly waiting for the necessary info and a good hook to pick up the thread in the present again. And here we are.))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Horizon Future:

He grinned, "Well, you never know, perhaps I'll hop back and start a few myths in ancient Greece..."

Anna grinned at that.
"Not that would be...interesting Mentor."
She said and she was amused enough to smile for a moment.

He cleared his throat, "You know what I say about the impossible - we are Mages, so the impossible is just a little harder to do. I think I may be able to do it some day, but not yet... I don't quite have the mastery I need over the space-time continuum. But I'm confident I will, soon enough... and then I will fairly literally move heaven and earth to save her. I cannot guarantee I will succeed, but I will try my very best."

The young mage nodded and gave you a warm smile.
"Thank you."
She whispered.
"I hardly remember my mother, but she did not deserve to die...like that...I worry how much Paradox you would attract by such a feat of magick though Mentor, granted the Reckoner is not as cruel to you as it is to me but even so things like that is dangerous and I do not want to loose you."

He nodded, "That bit is in flux right now - I might and I might not... but there are other options that will be tried first, and they stand a good chance of success. Including the pine cone..."

"Ah the...pine cone...when you showed it to me..."
Anna's voice trailed of.
"I hate that I am to sick to be able to survive Miss Florentine's Seeking regimen...I would have liked to see what my Glass Dragon would be like cleansed."
She said and she looked a bit regretful, but there was no way her heart could take those grueling Seekings so for now that path was locked away from the girl, though seeing the pine cone had some effect.
"Well in either case I do hope you do not...ehm did not...have to use the most drastic method to deal with Matty...that would be just terrible."

He nodded, "The Caul would be a persistent malignance... It changed you, and it would try to prevent you from undoing that. Well, you will prove stronger in the end, I'm sure of it."

"Well I have become cleaner, working with Mrs Knox husband on his quest for redemption...I wish I could try Miss Florentine's Seekings though...in either case I think I have nightmares about the Caul less because it try to hold me back and more because it was...bad..."
She said and her eyes darkened.
"Please Mentor let us not discuss the Caul."
She begged and looked away sadly.

He nodded, still a whisper, "The first victim she was forced to watch was her mother... that was the first time she and I met, from her perspective. It gets a bit wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey..."

"That is just...horrible poor girl there is no wonder she is afraid."
Helen said and looked at Anna with a shocked expression in her eyes.
"I...knew what she had witnessed was bad but not...that horrific, she is a brave child that she is here at all after what she have experienced."
The healer said and sigh then she raised an eyebrow.
"Yes Mr Wainwright you told me about your visions that is quite...well confusing...but I have dealt enough with Chronomancers to get your point."

He nodded, "Of course I will keep watch. One attempt, and one attempt only - I'll hold to that as I protect your eyes."

"Thank you Mentor...I...trust you."
Anna said softly she was shivering with fear but at least she trusted that you would keep her safe and protect her eyes.

He frowned, "Yes... staking is a harsh thing, and seems absurdly painful... I don't know whether it is a curse or a boon that they can survive that."

"Yeah it hurts them really bad, Alexandra is so freaked out about it, even so I saw John William, Mrs Knox's husband come out of a meditation, those on his spiritual quest if you will have almost Seekings and I do not know it went wrong or something and he pulled Drake aside and asked to be staked until he regained control...we did not see him for a couple of days after than and when he returned he did not speak about it."
Anna said and sigh.
"Well I guess that if John William can handle asking for something like that to not put others in danger...I can take a small needle...or that is what I try to tell myself...ehm...yeah..."
She said nervously and picked at her shoes.
"I think Mrs Knox's husband is allot braver than me."

He smiled thinly, "Perhaps crocheting or knitting would be a better place to start, with bigger, blunter needles that can't really break skin..."

"Crocheting is ok, it uses a hook not a needle...I know it sound strange but it is the same as a scalpel do not scare me, sure I do not like having my fingertip cut to draw a bit of blood to check on my health, it hurts a bit, but it do not scare me other than you know regular aversion to pain, it is done, it is healed and let us get on with the day, a crochet hook do not register as a needle, knitting pins though...they are even more scary I mean they are more similar to the large needles my first Mentor used to...well you know."
Anna said and shivered.
"Perhaps I could do one of those embroidery kits for children, with big, blunt plastic needles, I might and I do press the word might, dare to try one of those...if I wore gloves."
She said hesitantly.
"It is a bit embarrassing to go to the store and buy a crafting kit for five year olds though...the clerk would look at me strangely."

He smiled wryly, "Observe the plans within plans within plans... I must be giving Old Man Wrinkle a Paradox headache at some point..."

"What I fear you will be giving him Mentor are overtime and that he will not be best pleased and will take it out on you."
Anna said and she gave you a stern look that Freddy must have taught her.
"I do not want you to get hurt by Paradox...that is just not acceptable!"

He gently helped her up and guided her to the chair, so she could sit a little more comfortably, and nodded to Helen, "If you would apply the anaesthetic salve, then? I expect it still takes a little time to take full effect."

Anna sat a bit nervously in the chair, she had a terrified but resigned look in her eyes, she looked very much like some men you had seen who where waiting for their executions, scared out of their wits but still darkly accepting what was to come, the girl's hands grabbed the arm supports of the chair tightly and she looked at you and whimpered.

Helen nodded and went over to Anna slowly, holding up a dark, glass jar of ointment to show her that was all she would be doing.
"May I apply the cream child? I promise I will do nothing more before you are ready."
She asked and Anna looked at her hesitant for a moment then she nodded.
"O...ok..." she whispered nervously. Helen sat down next to the younger woman and begun to gently apply the ointment to places that where good candidates for the IV, a slight smell of herbs begun to permeate the room, you remember the same smell from an ointment Helen had given you to treat a diaper rash your son had gotten, it had made the child stop crying almost immediately and by next morning the angry red rash had been gone, it seamed the cream was rather effecting in suppressing pain, or at least smaller pains.

He smiled back, "Then so be it, friend; and after your purpose is finished, and you are to be recycled, would you perhaps wish me to fashion you into a new form of your liking?"

"My purpose is to be metal that moves through flesh...all my brothers are so, two are scalpels, another is a needle as well and a forth is on Earth in Tennessee where he is a decoration in a woman's belly button...hum...I guess I would like to be an earrings...I thing I could be a good earring."
The tiny Umbrood said after he had considered your question for a moment then he smiled up at you joyfully again.

He carefully cast the simple spell that increased the tensile strength in metal, and the simple blessing of purposeful luck, and left the needle, still sealed, on the table as he packed away the others.
"Alright, doctor, this one it is - enchanted for greater accuracy and durability... and I have the precise molecule count in mind."

"Very well...I am ready."
Helen said as she went to wash her hands and put on gloves, she prepared the needle and put it as well on the tray. You saw Anna jump as she heard the packaging being opened it was a sound she knew to well. Helen gave the girl a sympathetic look then turned to you.
"If you go to your apprentice and prepare her, and I will see as I examine her arms if she is calm enough that we do not need to hold her arm still, mind you I will not force her but it is important she do not flinch to much. I will ask for her permission in each step."
She said as she lifted the tray, you saw Anna's eyes where on it as if the healer was holding a deadly snake...well not really your apprentice liked snakes, all color had drained from Anna's face and she gave you a fearful, desperate look at shook her head.
"No...don't ask for permission at each step...tell me what you are doing but I do not think I can tell you I am ready...I never will be...just...just get it over with..."
She whispered and looked at you.
"M...mentor...you are going to cover my eyes right...and it will only be once right I..."
The girl took a deep breath and tried to calm herself without much success.
"O...ok I am a bloody mage I...can change reality with my mind...I can....do this...I...ehm...think...if John William could willingly go through something far worse I can...do this...I mean that is far worse and he was so calm about it and...fuck I am babbling."
Anna said apologetically she was sweating now.
"I...am sorry but...I...am going to scream...I do not think I can not scream you know...I am going to scream like a little girl in a meat grinder..."
She said apologetically and moved around a bit nervously in the chair, she looked at you miserably and then at Helen then she whimpered again and squeezed her eyes shut.

Chicago Now:

He looked to Crexia, "Ma'am, my apprentice-to-be will just have given me an idea, five years from now... I can try to distract miss Carlyle's attack dog with... er... a sort of fireworks. I'll just have to work out the specifics."

Crexia nodded.
"Well if you think it will work young man, we only need a few moments to set our plans in motion..."
The archmage said though she seamed a little doubtful.
"Well your visions have been right so far."

He glanced at the others standing ready, "Those of you who see spirits might find this... an irritant. Hopefully, the target will be more irritated..."

Olamide gave you a solemn smile.
"Oh I am sure we will be fine, I do hope your plan works though."

He whipped out the chaos wand and started concentrating, starting on the invocation, "Pompa spiritualis, sensibus vexo..."

The rote was beyond your current capabilities, but you remembered showing it to Anna, trying to amuse her and reward her after she had faced her fears, you knew more then, and while you yourself did not really know what you where doing the rote did work, creating the small thought form of fireworks in the Umbra, a pretty glittering display, something that Anna would use to amuse the ghost cat that lived in your house, various Umbroods and other spirits. Normally it would not be seen by an Avatar other than through the eyes of the host but Matty's soul was bonded with an Umbrood and suddenly the dot on Leon's phone that indicated Carlyle rounded the corner into the Northern hub and you got a feeling of darkness and despair that followed her, you could feel the presence of her mangled soul as it rushed towards the Traditionalists but then it stopped, dead in it's tracks and reached for the fireworks, like a cat reaching for a string.
"Hurry, try using the pine cone and I will get the rest ready!"
Crexia ordered as soon as she saw the abomination stopped.
"Whatever you did bought us a moment but doubtfully more, let us not waste it."

(OOC: You do not have allot of time to work but the rote go off. Prime 2 are enough to make simple thought forms, it is not actual fireworks, it is the primal representation of fireworks, it is about like this, I would need allot of knowledge to build a house, but I can use a 3D program to make the representation of one. Colin do not have enough Spirit for doing this though but I am thinking future Colin do so for this one rote that he made in the future when he knew how, I will say it works.)

(OOC 2: Yes I guess he would."

(OOC 3: They would be overjoyed.)

(OOC 4: True and then we have an opening, excellent.)

[Warpmind]

Horizon, Future:

The young mage nodded and gave you a warm smile.
"Thank you."
She whispered.
"I hardly remember my mother, but she did not deserve to die...like that...I worry how much Paradox you would attract by such a feat of magick though Mentor, granted the Reckoner is not as cruel to you as it is to me but even so things like that is dangerous and I do not want to loose you."

Colin smiled wryly, "I have heard a tale suggesting the Reckoner is not entirely without compassion... Oh, I doubt I would warrant sympathy, by any means, but in doing for another... well, whether I get off easy or not, it will still be worth it. I'm made of sterner stuff than that."

"Ah the...pine cone...when you showed it to me..."
Anna's voice trailed of.
"I hate that I am to sick to be able to survive Miss Florentine's Seeking regimen...I would have liked to see what my Glass Dragon would be like cleansed."
She said and she looked a bit regretful, but there was no way her heart could take those grueling Seekings so for now that path was locked away from the girl, though seeing the pine cone had some effect.
"Well in either case I do hope you do not...ehm did not...have to use the most drastic method to deal with Matty...that would be just terrible."

He smiled, "Your glass dragon is working his way toward the beach, sweetie; you are making progress, even if it seems slow... and besides, miss Florentine didn't have the pine cone to light the way; you have the option of a slightly less grueling path for now."

"That is just...horrible poor girl there is no wonder she is afraid."
Helen said and looked at Anna with a shocked expression in her eyes.
"I...knew what she had witnessed was bad but not...that horrific, she is a brave child that she is here at all after what she have experienced."
The healer said and sigh then she raised an eyebrow.
"Yes Mr Wainwright you told me about your visions that is quite...well confusing...but I have dealt enough with Chronomancers to get your point."

He nodded, "Braver than you can quite imagine, I think... and luckier than most, as well."

"Yeah it hurts them really bad, Alexandra is so freaked out about it, even so I saw John William, Mrs Knox's husband come out of a meditation, those on his spiritual quest if you will have almost Seekings and I do not know it went wrong or something and he pulled Drake aside and asked to be staked until he regained control...we did not see him for a couple of days after than and when he returned he did not speak about it."
Anna said and sigh.
"Well I guess that if John William can handle asking for something like that to not put others in danger...I can take a small needle...or that is what I try to tell myself...ehm...yeah..."
She said nervously and picked at her shoes.
"I think Mrs Knox's husband is allot braver than me."

He frowned, "Perhaps what Mr. William feared he might do was worse than being staked, hmm? The lesser of two evils..."

"Crocheting is ok, it uses a hook not a needle...I know it sound strange but it is the same as a scalpel do not scare me, sure I do not like having my fingertip cut to draw a bit of blood to check on my health, it hurts a bit, but it do not scare me other than you know regular aversion to pain, it is done, it is healed and let us get on with the day, a crochet hook do not register as a needle, knitting pins though...they are even more scary I mean they are more similar to the large needles my first Mentor used to...well you know."
Anna said and shivered.
"Perhaps I could do one of those embroidery kits for children, with big, blunt plastic needles, I might and I do press the word might, dare to try one of those...if I wore gloves."
She said hesitantly.
"It is a bit embarrassing to go to the store and buy a crafting kit for five year olds though...the clerk would look at me strangely."

He smiled, "And is it so implausible for the clerk that you might buy something for a niece or nephew? I'm fairly sure most clerks have encountered far stranger..."

"What I fear you will be giving him Mentor are overtime and that he will not be best pleased and will take it out on you."
Anna said and she gave you a stern look that Freddy must have taught her.
"I do not want you to get hurt by Paradox...that is just not acceptable!"

He chuckled softly, "My darling wife has taught you well, grasshopper."
He turned a bit more serious, "Paradox is something that comes to us all from time to time, whether it is because we do something outrageous, or because we just slip up. Which is why we must be sure, when we know we do something over the top, that the goal is worth the punishment. Saving lives... is a simple equation, sweetie."

"My purpose is to be metal that moves through flesh...all my brothers are so, two are scalpels, another is a needle as well and a forth is on Earth in Tennessee where he is a decoration in a woman's belly button...hum...I guess I would like to be an earrings...I thing I could be a good earring."
The tiny Umbrood said after he had considered your question for a moment then he smiled up at you joyfully again.

He nodded, "An earring it shall be. Will you accept being alloyed with other metals, or adorned with gemstones?"

"Very well...I am ready."
Helen said as she went to wash her hands and put on gloves, she prepared the needle and put it as well on the tray. You saw Anna jump as she heard the packaging being opened it was a sound she knew to well. Helen gave the girl a sympathetic look then turned to you.
"If you go to your apprentice and prepare her, and I will see as I examine her arms if she is calm enough that we do not need to hold her arm still, mind you I will not force her but it is important she do not flinch to much. I will ask for her permission in each step."
She said as she lifted the tray, you saw Anna's eyes where on it as if the healer was holding a deadly snake...well not really your apprentice liked snakes, all color had drained from Anna's face and she gave you a fearful, desperate look at shook her head.
"No...don't ask for permission at each step...tell me what you are doing but I do not think I can tell you I am ready...I never will be...just...just get it over with..."
She whispered and looked at you.
"M...mentor...you are going to cover my eyes right...and it will only be once right I..."
The girl took a deep breath and tried to calm herself without much success.
"O...ok I am a bloody mage I...can change reality with my mind...I can....do this...I...ehm...think...if John William could willingly go through something far worse I can...do this...I mean that is far worse and he was so calm about it and...fuck I am babbling."
Anna said apologetically she was sweating now.
"I...am sorry but...I...am going to scream...I do not think I can not scream you know...I am going to scream like a little girl in a meat grinder..."
She said apologetically and moved around a bit nervously in the chair, she looked at you miserably and then at Helen then she whimpered again and squeezed her eyes shut.

He smiled warmly as he sat down beside Anna and gently covered her eyes with one hand, gently holding her free hand with the other, "Come now, sweetie, breathe slowly. Recite the litany, while she works; squeeze my hand if you must..."

Chicago, now:

Crexia nodded.
"Well if you think it will work young man, we only need a few moments to set our plans in motion..."
The archmage said though she seamed a little doubtful.
"Well your visions have been right so far."

He nodded, "This might be a little beyond my current power, but I'll try..."

The rote was beyond your current capabilities, but you remembered showing it to Anna, trying to amuse her and reward her after she had faced her fears, you knew more then, and while you yourself did not really know what you where doing the rote did work, creating the small thought form of fireworks in the Umbra, a pretty glittering display, something that Anna would use to amuse the ghost cat that lived in your house, various Umbroods and other spirits. Normally it would not be seen by an Avatar other than through the eyes of the host but Matty's soul was bonded with an Umbrood and suddenly the dot on Leon's phone that indicated Carlyle rounded the corner into the Northern hub and you got a feeling of darkness and despair that followed her, you could feel the presence of her mangled soul as it rushed towards the Traditionalists but then it stopped, dead in it's tracks and reached for the fireworks, like a cat reaching for a string.
"Hurry, try using the pine cone and I will get the rest ready!"
Crexia ordered as soon as she saw the abomination stopped.
"Whatever you did bought us a moment but doubtfully more, let us not waste it."

He frowned, "Future me helped... I'll move to prepare for... the worst..."
He narrowed his eyes in Matty's Avatar's direction, trying to make out the shape but not quite seeing it... then he kept an eye on the blip on Leon's phone and swapped out the wand for a pistol, starting to sneak up behind Matty...

((OOC: Alright, Future Colin must've meddled again. So, I'm guessing a Dex+Stealth roll is going to be called for to circle around Matty unnoticed? 4,4,5... not so good. :/ ))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Horizon Future:

Colin smiled wryly, "I have heard a tale suggesting the Reckoner is not entirely without compassion... Oh, I doubt I would warrant sympathy, by any means, but in doing for another... well, whether I get off easy or not, it will still be worth it. I'm made of sterner stuff than that."

Anna nodded but she looked doubtful.
"Paradox have never shown much compassion to me, I hate it, but I guess it is a cost of being what we are and if it is the price I have to pay to have magick I will pay it, I am worried about you though Mentor."
She said and gave you a concerned look.

He smiled, "Your glass dragon is working his way toward the beach, sweetie; you are making progress, even if it seems slow... and besides, miss Florentine didn't have the pine cone to light the way; you have the option of a slightly less grueling path for now."

"I guess you are right...he is leaving sand...everywhere it is embarrassing...I mean when I take the bus, what if someone learned that the few specks of sand in my seat was from me."
The girl said and shook her head, she was a teenager now and quite concerned about what others might think of her, especially since so many where negative to her on sight if they knew what she where.
"I am glad...I mean John William's meditations are hard work but my Glass Dragon seam...livelier these days, he is not so lazy anymore though he still prefer to just just up in my soul and watch."

He nodded, "Braver than you can quite imagine, I think... and luckier than most, as well."

Helen nodded at that.
"She is a remarkable child Colin, and you are doing well with her."
She said as she continued to ready the equipment.

He frowned, "Perhaps what Mr. William feared he might do was worse than being staked, hmm? The lesser of two evils..."

"He has a double first name Mentor, John William, he have never told me his last name...perhaps he is worried I would use it against him."
Anna explained then she sigh and looked down.
"I guess I can understand that...if I ended up in a really bad Quiet and the only choice to prevent me from harming someone was something really bad...I guess it would be better to be stopped from doing harm...to anyone even if it was with something...bad...he still got allot of guts though, and he was all calm like...though I guess he would not want to let anyone see him weak...I can not manage that, not showing fear you know."
The girl said then she sigh.
"And now I am babbling again...sorry."
She said nervously and picked at her shoes.

He smiled, "And is it so implausible for the clerk that you might buy something for a niece or nephew? I'm fairly sure most clerks have encountered far stranger..."

Anna scratched her scars under her green blouse for a moment.
"I guess...but what if the clerk think I am childish."
For a teenager being seen as childish was something that seamed like quite a catastrophe.

He chuckled softly, "My darling wife has taught you well, grasshopper."

Anna smiled at that.
"Well someone have to watch over you Mentor."
She said fondly.

He turned a bit more serious, "Paradox is something that comes to us all from time to time, whether it is because we do something outrageous, or because we just slip up. Which is why we must be sure, when we know we do something over the top, that the goal is worth the punishment. Saving lives... is a simple equation, sweetie."

"I guess you are right Mentor, saving lives is worth risking Paradox over...but I still do not want to see you hurt, even if it is worth it...I have already lost one Mentor I do not want to go through that again."
She muttered softly and looked down sadly.
"Just promise you will be careful please..."
She said and looked up.

He nodded, "An earring it shall be. Will you accept being alloyed with other metals, or adorned with gemstones?"

"I am willing to be alloyed with other strong metals, but I do not want to be weak, my function is to penetrate flesh and pleasantly as possible, that is what I am and I do not want to loose what I am, gemstones though is fine, I am partial to red stones and hematite."
The spirit said as he jumped about happily on the tip of the needle.

He smiled warmly as he sat down beside Anna and gently covered her eyes with one hand, gently holding her free hand with the other, "Come now, sweetie, breathe slowly. Recite the litany, while she works; squeeze my hand if you must..."

Your apprentice was hyper ventilating ans whimpering but at least she sat still she managed to weakly mutter the words of the litany while she squeezed your hand as hard as she possibly could. Helen gently examined her arms while explaining what she was doing, when she put on the tourniquet though Anna nearly panicled.
"No...no...no...no..."
She whimpered and Helen stopped.
"Do you want me to stop child? For if you do I will stop it is up to you."
She asked gently and Anna was quiet for a moment then she drew a deep breath.
"No...I...ok...do it...I...fuck!"
Helen nodded and continued.
"Shh you are doing well, I have found a vein...and I will be bringing it to the surface, just be calm..."
She said as she brought a strange device from her tray, it looked a little like a tricorder only that it had a small chamber where you put a bit of coal and the heat from that ran it, the machine let off little puffs of smoke as Helen held it over Anna's arm for a few moment before she turned of the engine and put it on a metal tray to cool down.
"I am going to place the needle now, try to stay calm."
She said softly and Anna started screaming, she was near panic but at least she was sitting still. Helen worked fast with practiced hands and brought the needle into the vein, placed the tubing and retracted it with a few swift motions. Anna was howling the whole time but you do not think she felt much, not from how your fingers had felt after you had spread that ointment on your son's bottom to cure his rash, they had been pretty damn numb for a good while, no it was fear that made your apprentice scream, pain had probably been kinder than this terror though.
"Don't hurt her anymore...please stop...don't kill her!"
Anna screamed and you could smell the sharp tang of urine shed in mind numbing fear. It was neither you nor Helen your apprentice spoke to though, but rather her words where directed at her own inner demons.

Helen quickly got the caterer taped down and preceded to draw the blood she needed, Anna whimpered desperately, that she probably did feel she was sensitive and some found the pressure difference in their vein as glass for blood collecting was changed to be very uncomfortable, it was soon over though and Helen quickly covered the tray and stepped away in case her presence would scare the young mage further.
"Once she have calmed down a little we can take her to get the scan taken, I will give her the contrast medium once she is in position in the CT, see if you can calm her, her heart do not do well with such strain."
The healer said sounding concerned. Anna still sat stiff and tense, she was not screaming anymore but she was sobbing uncontrollably.
"I am going to throw up..."
She managed.
"I can feel it there...in my arm...I can feel it..."
She screamed.
"I want to go home!"

Chicago Now:

He nodded, "This might be a little beyond my current power, but I'll try..."

Crexia nodded.
"Be careful."
She told you.

He frowned, "Future me helped... I'll move to prepare for... the worst..."

The old archmage looked at you for a moment then she just nodded a grim expression on her face.

He narrowed his eyes in Matty's Avatar's direction, trying to make out the shape but not quite seeing it... then he kept an eye on the blip on Leon's phone and swapped out the wand for a pistol, starting to sneak up behind Matty...

You moved to get around Matty just as the woman rounded the corner and came into the hub, she looked like death warmed over, her eyes where glossy with pain, she could barely stand, ah yes the Spirit Masters had gotten her good there was no doubt about that, it however did not mean her Avatar was not dangerous. Matty lifted a arm, she held a gun in it and as she noticed you she fired at you, but she was in no shape to aim and the bullet was way of, then again that did not mean the next one might not be placed better.
"Traditionalist asshole!"
The young woman hissed at you as she tried to aim better for the next shot her eyes narrowing in concentration.

(OOC: Future Colin is a meddler.)

[Adley]

"Pain for the most part." Arto said and sigh. "But in keeping the Order together, this war have in a strange way served to protect magick in general, it have had value, but for me personally, it have meant nothing but pain and loss."

He nodded at that. "I think we lost also, we just do not know it. Though as you say if magick persisted then that is good. Still I am sorry the cost was...you."

Colin nodded, "Arthur C. Clarke. Assigned reading in school. It's a bit of an odd tale, really... Faith and automation bringing about the end of the world."

"That sounds terrible."*

"Those of you who see spirits might find this... an irritant. Hopefully, the target will be more irritated..."
He whipped out the chaos wand and started concentrating, starting on the invocation, "Pompa spiritualis, sensibus vexo..."

It was about here that Adley realised he had lost his ability to see spirits, as well as his shields and all his other magick when he fell into his Quiet. His first attempt did not go well - it did not, at least go as poorly as the one before it at least. But then Matty was upon them, or her avatar was at any rate and brandished the flyswatter.

"Hurry, try using the pine cone and I will get the rest ready!" Crexia ordered as soon as she saw the abomination stopped.

His free hand ducked into his jacket to retrieve the pine cone. Such a small thing, demure but so powerful. It was so hard to prick oneself to bleed...he heard the words, the face of the girl as if she were right there. He heard also Arto, that if it was not done, then they would die, worse. He knew the way to do it, the essence of the soul that caused the body to make a light from the true blood was sacrifice, the five petaled rose nestled in the heart and tipereth and so he did. He wicked the quintessence from his own body, the thick heavy matter vibrations loosening with the formula of the light, LVX. He did not know how much it would demand; he gave at a steady measure he could control to see if it was working. The sangraal liked to be full. But the pine cone may not be so thirsty, if it still needed to be planted.

// vacations are great but coming back to work...the work from that week waiting for ya xD So it's okay I don't mind waiting, and I wouldn't anyway, but yeah I'm a bit crammed and slightly exhausted anyhow. So all good with the pace.
ooc2: re: dunce caps: shame for social change - except for those mages that dgaf
ooc3:*lol, according to the metaplot that is sort what almost happened, only the autonomoton 'the computer' was a spirit iirc xD

ooc4: yup, three fives are nuffin right there
00c5: S1: 5, 5, 7 for spirit senses, if he has time to put that back up before Matty arrives.
ooc6: P2: 5, 4, 9 +1WP +1 quint (normal quint) to lower the difficulty to 5 and ensure 1 sux
– I’m not entirely sure how Adley's pater would have taught him other than the 'quickest' battle-hermetic variant to the verbena bloodmagick way of doing the rote so I didn't specify too much, but he'd do it the way he was taught (there are layers of symbols that would work and if he actually had to anoint it then he'd do it) and let me know if there need to be more rolls

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

He nodded at that. "I think we lost also, we just do not know it. Though as you say if magick persisted then that is good. Still I am sorry the cost was...you."

Arto nodded and looked down at his hands.
"I wish the cost was just me, and not the rest of my House, but at least a small group will survive but this war will create wounds in relations between mages for centuries to come, but magick will survive and perhaps it would not have if the Order had collapsed."

His free hand ducked into his jacket to retrieve the pine cone. Such a small thing, demure but so powerful. It was so hard to prick oneself to bleed...he heard the words, the face of the girl as if she were right there. He heard also Arto, that if it was not done, then they would die, worse. He knew the way to do it, the essence of the soul that caused the body to make a light from the true blood was sacrifice, the five petaled rose nestled in the heart and tipereth and so he did. He wicked the quintessence from his own body, the thick heavy matter vibrations loosening with the formula of the light, LVX. He did not know how much it would demand; he gave at a steady measure he could control to see if it was working. The sangraal liked to be full. But the pine cone may not be so thirsty, if it still needed to be planted.

You managed to cast a quick rote to part the veil and let you see spirits, the spell was rather hasty and not exactly quality work but it was all you had time for before Matty arrived, you could feel the presence of her foul soul, feel it's pain and despair as you begun your rote to feed the pine cone with the Quintessence of your very life.

You had seen Beatrice work, seen the symbols she would elegantly carve into her own flesh but Jeffry had little time for such tools, and besides a open cut was always an infection risk and spilled blood could be used against you so he preferred to use words and gestures to force your very life, the essence that manifested you and gave you a presence in Malkhut. Your will wandered up the Tree, up the path that had manifested you, up the personal Tree in the center of your being, right to the heart of Tipereth from where you could will your personal Quintessence forth and into the pine cone...into the gift your sister had left behind.

As your personal Quintessence touched the pine cone you felt Beatrice...Claire...the old, powerful Druidess Einje had once seen as a respected enemy, you felt them all, you felt Heylel's daughter...you felt them there, and you saw glory, in your hand suddenly where not just a pine cone, but a piece of the Druidess' Font, the Unawakened potential Haylel had inscribed part of his Grimoire on, the perfect, uncorrupted soul of Claire, it was a part of the Forest God, not as he was now, decrepit and broken but as he had once been, an ancient, wise guardian, the enteral companion of your Fiery Angle, it was perfect, beautiful...powerful and it was pure.

Suddenly the thing you saw beside Matty, the horrid, dark thing that had once been her soul who had been distracted reaching for, of all things fireworks Colin had manifested in the Umbra, a feat of magick that should be beyond him, the abomination that was Matty Carlyle's Avatar turned sharply in your direction and it's horrid presence glided towards you but it did not attack, it looked at the pine cone transfixed and you heard it's broken voice crackle.
"I...was like...that once...I...was more than...this..."
There was so much pain in that voice, so much despair and that pain did not come from the cuts and wounds you saw over the dark thing, the result of the attempted Gilgul, the abomination raised it's head and looked at you.
"I used to be a part of creation...I used to be glorious..."
It whispered.

Matty who was busy trying to shoot Colin suddenly paled.
"No...no no...you are supposed to fight...fight...snap out of it and fight!"
She screamed terrified.
"Kill them...kill them all!"
And yet her soul for now seamed to just be transfixed by the presence of the pine cone and filled with...a sliver of a memory of it's pervious existence it looked to be in pain and confused and for now it did absolutely nothing.

(OOC: Let us say Adley have to use four drams of Quintessence from his life pattern, enough to weaken him but it do not threaten his life. I am more thinking Jeffry would see it as taking Quintessence from your own personal Tree of Life, the path that manifested him into physical existence through birth.)

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