| Logs |
2009-09-27
| Dreams |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
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Beyond the Heavens Above
There does not seem to be a specific change of any sort denoting a Sight and a not-Sight. Jason simply sees -- and what he sees is about two feet of gorgeously shimmering snake swaying back and forth, brilliant wings fully extended and almost dancing as she softly hisses in excitement. A smooth, coolly joyous voice sings words he doesn't understand in his mind -- the voice of a mature woman with some training. The rest of the snake is hidden below the level of the table, probably coiled up in the chair. Light seems to flow from the rest of the room to the jeweled serpentine entity, and Jason feels another wave of disorienting dizziness.
Jason is bemused for a moment, as what he sees does not change: Hepsi really has turned into a butterfly-winged snake. As he continues to stare in wonder, he realizes just how different, how alien she is to previous folks that he has met. Diana and Beatrice, Croaker and Phillip, Phyx, Kira, and all the rest... even as they were clearly non-human, they were all composed of at least a little humanity in shape, form, or feature. Only the Nighthound, Fenris, looked like something totally not of this world, particularly in the way he communicated -- like he didn't fully understand language. Hepsi is no longer even a mammal: she's a reptile, speaking in words he cannot understand at all. No wonder she was cold. Jason clears his throat, as he continues to apply pressure to his arm. "Forgive me, Lady... I cannot understand you."
The large serpent laughs -- a cool rippling of notes -- then focuses those glowing, unblinking, jeweled eyes on Jason. The hissing stops, and as a long, jet black, bifurcate tongue flickers out with slow, hungry interest, the voice in his head speaks -- even though the ophidian mouth does not move. "I was singing praises in my native tongue, child, for my return to my natural form. Fear not; your flesh cannot feed me."
Jason clears his throat. "I wasn't even worried about that, Lady. Though I'm sure you could swallow me whole if you desired. But forgive me for being presumptuous: your natural form is the most..." He discards the word 'beautiful'... that would sound like a lie, considering the love he has for Diana. "...amazing things I have ever seen. But how is it actually going to make us less noticeable?"
The serpentine shape laughs again in his head, then leans forward and slithers up onto the table. She advances on Jason, her many wings still flared out and fluttering in an absent breeze, seeming to almost shed sparks of colored light. Her head is still high, staring down at the mortal as she murmurs, "Does it matter how things work, as long as they work? They will not see me as such; they will see at most only a very large snake." She tosses her head with a mix of pride and exasperation, glancing towards the door as she adds, "Call Carrie and see, if you doubt me, mortal."
This asks a very interesting question. Most often supernaturals are translated as looking like something more normal to the minds of humans. Beatrice, Phillip... they have unnatural forms but they are not shapshifters, like Kira, or naturally having many forms, such as Remiel, the Wheel of Fire. If a supernatural is something with no recognizable counterpart in the real world, do they disappear altogether?
Jason raises a finger. "I admit curiosity, Honored Hepsi. But one moment..." He removes the gauze then and sees to his wound... it still seeps and hurts terribly, but he's at a point where he can properly treat it. Antibiotic ointment and then a fresh bandage held in place with tape. After that he dresses, before going to call Carrie to come to the room. It's then he realizes he should have a reason for calling her. He ponders spilling a little of the blood and asking for cleaner... but no. This is a very bad idea. He's no forensic specialist, and leaving any of himself behind, in a world of supernaturals and cops chasing him, is A Very Bad Idea.
Jason decides to make it simple. "Carrie, I've had a heck of a day and I could use a little help sleeping. You wouldn't have anything for that, would you? Maybe a hot milk toddy or a nightcap or something like?"
Carrie is happy to oblige; she assures Jason she's got some nice herbal chamomile tea that'll do the trick for him! After she hangs up Hepsi murmurs amusedly in his head, "Might you wish to dispose of the pan of congealing blood, mine ride?" She's sliding off the table onto the chair, and rears about half her length up so as to slither up onto the bed. She coils comfortably there, half on the pillow as she neatly folds back the shimmering wings and rests her chin on one iridescent coil.
Jason raises his finger. "Nono, hadn't forgotten, I promise," he assures. Blood goes down the drain, pan is washed, knife is cleaned and put away, bloody gauze is flushed, and long sleeve shirt is on. Aside from him still smelling a little like sex, nothing untoward here. "You look very comfortable there. What's the plan? Am I going to wear you under my clothes, against my skin to keep you warm?" he queries solicitously.
The smooth voice in his head laughs again, then teasingly asks, "You intend to flatter me to death, mortal Jason?" There's an amused tongue flicker again as he hears that, and then she adds, "No, I suspect I'm far too heavy for that. I'll put a few coils into your open backpack, and maybe a loop about your shoulders so I can see." She adds, as there's a knock on the door, "You might not wish to call me Hepsi in front of Carrie, also?"
Jason arches a brow. "Would that actually work? Is there a supernatural creature whose weakness is flattery? What a concept." He inclines his head in agreement and opens the door to solicitously let Carrie in. "Thank you awfully," he greets the woman.
Carrie has a small, wide-eyed child with her. At her gentle urging, the child holds up a little wooden box, "Here you go, mister -- your camel-mile tea!" Then his eyes widen, the tea and Jason forgotten as he spots Hepsi. He breathes an awed, "Oooh, look, momma! Pretty snake!" Carrie looks up and sees Hepsi as well, and her hand on the boy's shoulder tightens as she gives a startled squeak, "Mercy! I didn't know you had that with you!" She hesitates, clearly torn as she glances between Hepsi and Jason -- then with a note of regret in her voice she sternly adds, "I'm sorry, sir, but pets are extra." She hesitates again... then smiles shyly and adds, "Although... I guess if you're a friend of the Riders, we can just add it to the bill later. Is that all right?"
Jason does not mention that technically he's already paid for the snake. That would be amusing, but not particularly helpful. There's a very dry note to the voice in Jason's head, "Pet, hmf. I should be insulted -- I keep pets!" Jason is fascinated that the boy is not afraid of the snake. "No worries, Carrie. This is Avatar. I'm taking her home." Wow, not a lie anywhere in there. "She is very pretty, kiddo, but you probably shouldn't touch her. She's used to me, but you're new," he informs the child, choosing not to respond to Hepsi's mental comment. He accepts the tea thankfully from the boy.
Carrie looks a touch relieved, and she wishes Jason a nice night, then draws the boy away soon thereafter. As Jason closes the door he can hear her saying to the little boy, "Very nicely done, sweetie. Remember what I said, though, about just walking up to strange animals? That they might be afraid of you and bite?" Once the door's closed Jason hears soft laughter again, and Hepsi murmurs, "Nicely done, mortal... although strictly speaking I am not an avatar. I'm the real thing."
Jason shrugs. "It was the first thing that I could think of. I wanted to give you a name that was not an insult, and not the name of some other supernatural snake that might take offense too." She makes an interesting point, though. He refocuses his eyes... does Hepsi have a silver cord? Or is she truly different from all the others?
Hepsi's tongue flickers out again, scenting/tasting the air as she murmurs, "Acceptable. So, child, you have a choice to make now. Do you want to be my horse, or my ox? Do you want to be taught or simply guided?"
Jason squints at the coiled up form, but surprisingly cannot see any silvery cord trailing away from it. This tells him far more than anything previous. If she is of this world then she would be in her own body, rather than being like a dream-self or a projection tied to an actual body occupying some other space, like all other Supernaturals. Rather like Coyote and Jackalope. "I would rather learn what you know, Honored Hepsi, than to simply be your beast of burden. And I suspect that you would find it far more useful, too." He sits on the bed next to the beautiful snake. "Tell me of yourself, and where we will be going, please. I hunger to know more of the one I have sworn my blood to."
The upper third of the serpentine shape ripples upward, as if tossing her head as she laughs, and her wings flare out, "Well enough, then! I enjoin you, Jason who is Diana's, Jason mount of Hepsiburadayunanca, to speak not of this to others without my express permission, on your blood. In return I shall endeavor to return you to your Diana a wiser and more useful creature." The ophidian mouth opens in a small hiss that oddly matches the laughter he hears in his head, and she adds, "For starters, while I do not care to be patronized by you again -- the way you were treating the Riders and I earlier -- I also have no love for false or flattering platitudes. You may call me Hepsi, and treat me as a peer, like a good horse, unless I instruct you otherwise." The shining head tilts as she regards Jason, and if he didn't know better he might almost say those unblinking eyes are glittering with amusement.
Jason was unaware he'd been patronizing anyone -- but then Guthrum's comment from before comes back to him, about him talking too much. "Forgive me, Hepsi. It is not my tendency to speak down to anyone, but when it seemed like the Valkyrie was unfamiliar with certain aspects of this world..." he trails off. "Never mind. It is done, and I will apologize for it, and more words on the matter need not be said. But I will heed your words: I merely did not want you to think I did not respect you, and may have been overdoing it." Not to mention he was, perhaps, trying to feed her ego in the hopes that it would encourage her to be forthcoming.
The long, blunt head nods once, and Hepsi chuckles, then adds, "Good enough. Now, my student and horse: ask and you will learn." She parts her mouth in that serpentine grin again, adding teasingly, "And if not, I will teach you the way of the Trickster!"
Jason nods agreeably. "Are you in truth a goddess? And where are you trying to get home to?" he queries, forthrightly.
Hepsi grins, her voice mischievous, "You will have to define goddess for me to know for sure how to answer your question. If you mean a spirit of great power, from another realm, then the answer is yes. If you mean someone who can work miraculous changes in reality such as bringing rain or moving mountains, then the answer is no. If anything, I am a spy, and I am trying to return home. We called it the land of the People. As to where it is... it is through the gate. Past that I am not sure how to describe the way so you understand, any more than I know how to say the name of my land so you could hear it. It is called," and she hisses something that sounds like a nonsense string of syllables in Jason's head.
Jason opens his mouth. So she is not of this place -- not like the spirits of the land that Coyote and Jackalope are. She too came through the gate, but she did it in her full form. "I meant goddess in the way that you had a following once of many mortals that did honor to you as I did, and your name was passed down through generations, in word if not in text," he explains. "How long have you been here?"
Hepsi huffs a hissing sigh, her voice tinged with exasperation, "Since before the Maya, who knew how to treat a gently born lady!" Bitterly she adds, "Damn those Spaniards for what they did, anyway. It's been a long, hard road to get to a gate after they destroyed the one I came through." She adds wryly, "Oh, if that's all it takes to be a goddess for you, then certainly -- yes, I am one. No longer worshiped, though.
Jason's head tilts. "I must have a place to start in language. You may not have the power to 'move mountains,' as you say, but you are different from most others I have met. They are those that others have told stories of and feared, not truly worshiped. Even Remiel is only a divine servant." His brow knits. "But the Maya were thousands of years ago. Why has it taken you so long to cross continents to come here? Or have you traveled this place back and forth, seeking and never finding the gate that the others came from?"
Hepsi tilts her head curiously at Jason, "Has it been that long? I haven't been keeping track." Her voice gets sharply pointed and wry, "I've been busy avoiding getting killed by homicidal foreigners who were merrily slaughtering my people and unwittingly destroying gates without reason, while marching on foot across entire continents! Sorry I wasn't fast enough for you!" She huffs another hissing sigh before she adds, "Also, I originally was headed for the gate on the exact other side of the world from mine -- until it shattered just recently. I wasn't aware of the one here until it started sparking in the Dreamtime. Funny how close it was all this time... and I didn't even know, dammit."
Now, now the dream becomes clearer. "Do you know how the gate was destroyed?" he asks carefully. "The most recent one, I mean."
Hepsi shakes her head with an exasperated hiss, "No, but I worry for whomever was near it. If it acquired a guardian, that entity will likely be somewhat deranged by the experience." With a flash of anger she adds, "If the stupid gates hadn't been damaged to start with, none of this would have been necessary!"
Jason is not yet ready to reveal what he knows, or what he suspects he knows. "All of them were damaged? How? Do you say, if they were not damaged then humans would not have been able to destroy them?"
Hepsi is weaving back and forth, her eyes glittering with annoyance, "I don't know how -- that's why I was sent to this misbegotten place, so we'd know why people occasionally just disappeared! I think that's why those on this side are damaged, and don't remember their past back at home -- the gates have somehow harmed them. The only reason I wasn't harmed, I believe, is due to how careful we were in sending me through." She adds amusedly, "Believe me, given half a choice I would not have come!" She sighs, her wings drooping a bit as she adds, "I do not know how the mortals destroy the gates. I've not been present for either of the two which I know have been destroyed. But it is my supposition that if you remove the physical framework of the gate, it will indeed cease to function."
Jason ahahs. "You're a gold mine, Hepsi," he says happily.
The serpentine form lifts her blunt nose and grins. Her voice is teasing again, "Of course. Now, we will compare notes, succulent. Tell me what you know of the gates and your mistress as well, please -- and with luck we will learn how to bring all my people home again." There is a note of longing in her voice as she says the word 'home.'
Jason holds up a finger. "Moment, let me get a piece of paper and a pencil..." He gets writing implements. He sketches a quick drawing: the Americas, Europe, Asia -- a very crude world map.
Hepsi slides smoothly across the bed and onto the back of Jason's chair, leaning her head over his as she watches with interest. "What is this, please?"
Jason gestures. "This is a representation of the continents of the mortal world. We are here, in the United States of America." He circles the lower half of Central America. "You came from here, when the Maya were ascendant. The first gate, here, long dead. Never healed." Then he indicates Asia. "The second gate, the one that was recently destroyed, do you know what humans named the place it was located in?"
Hepsi looks fascinated, leaning her head and flickering her tongue as she closely studies the sketch, "No, I've no idea. I just followed the pull of the gate which was directly across the globe from mine. I had to travel a bit even just to realize mine was gone, in fact. It's in-" she catches herself with a small droop of her head, then continues, "It was in a place now called, um..." she says the word carefully, "R. Jen. Tina." She nods her head once in satisfaction, "Yes, that's it -- I said it correctly."
Jason blinks. "Argentina. Okay, my mistake... that actually makes sense." He draws a line from Central America down to the peninsula of South America. "You traveled all the way down here, no gate." He then circles Asia. "Second gate, somewhere in here. Destroyed... and I think you're right that there was a guardian -- and it may be coming here. That's what started all this." He gestures above the continents. "There's another gate somewhere up here... maybe this continent, Greenland, maybe somewhere in the polar ice cap. Could even be in Norway, for all I know -- and the fourth, the one you're looking for... it's somewhere near here." He circles southwest USA.
Hepsi examines the map closely for several minutes. Finally she hisses perplexedly, "If the gates are across the globe from each other, and we know there is one close to us... then how could the last gate be way up there at the top of your map? Shouldn't it be more at the bottom?"
Jason spreads his hands. "That's not what the Dreamtime showed. There was one gate for each of the cardinal directions, and the one in the south was yours, which was dark. So the third gate must be in the north."
Hepsi tilts her head first one way, then the other, as she stares at the map and flickers her tongue thoughtfully at it. Finally she says, "I... remain unconvinced, but I do not know for sure. Still, wherever the fourth gate is, it is likely at least as sorely damaged as the one across the planet from it -- the one near us." She turns and stares unblinkingly at Jason as she adds a touch urgently, "I must find it and get through it before the humans destroy it also! If I do not, both I and everyone here who is supernatural is doomed."
Jason nods sagely. "I have at least three potential places of portent that might be where the gates lie. I did not know it was the gate that I was seeking till I met you, though now it only fits together all the more. And I understand the gravity... it is because the gate exists that your people are still connected to your world, and if the gate was closed..." He shudders. "But there is a greater concern. If the gate that was destroyed had a guardian who was wounded by it, what might they do? Could it be that the remaining gates are endangered by this potentially mad one?"
Hepsi looks away from Jason, her wings folding back unhappily. She's silent for a moment... then she murmurs quietly, "I... would like to deny any of the Lost Ones would strike against each other... but I cannot truthfully state such." She takes a deep breath, then adds quietly, "Yes. Maybe."
Jason nods. "I was not sent here by my mistress," he starts to explain. "Diana is still a child, and knows nothing of these things. But the sphynx, Phyx, knows much, and had a vision of this very thing. I was sent to discover the meaning of this vision, and now it all comes together. We now have many reasons to find this gate, Hepsi."
The winged serpent looks relieved, "Excellent! I would rather have your willing assistance than have to prod you every step of the way..." She goes silent for a moment, then adds quietly, "Especially since there may be danger involved from the various guardians." She sighs, then lifts her head determinedly, "So! What more do you know? Tell me all. Who is this sphynx, and your child mistress?"
"Phyx leads an alliance of displaced people from your world, Hepsi. She lives north and east of here. There are more than a few gathered around: I met four alone that either lived or traveled through my home in the west. Diana was one of them, the daughter of what mortals call a Succubus. She feeds directly from the lust and pleasure of others. Her mother, of course, does not remember her true name, and calls herself Beatrice," he explains.
Hepsi goes completely still, her unblinking eyes fastened on Jason. Her voice is soft and carefully enunciated, "By daughter... you mean the two of them came through the gate together, and remember their relationship?"
Jason was suspecting this might be a point of contention, and was attempting to avoid it. But he cannot avoid a direct query. "No. She mated with a mortal and birthed a half supernatural, half human child," he replies honestly.
Hepsi remains utterly still for a few seconds more... then she draws in a slow breath and leans so close to Jason that her flickering tongue will brush his cheek. Her demeanor is intensely focused, "Are you sure?"
Jason tries to retain his calm under the weight of the snake's scrutiny. "Why does it matter?" he challenges gently.
The light brush of Hepsi's tongue is dry and warm, and her voice is impatient, "Because we should not be able to breed with you, of course! Now, are you sure or not that they told you the truth of her ancestry?"
Jason spreads his hands. "I know what they told me: that Beatrice fell in love with a mortal man and had a child with him... but he died because his body could not handle being her only source of energy, and they were run out of town, branded as evil creatures. I know that Diana could not feed herself until very recently, not long after she met me. I know that Diana looks more human than her mother." He looks wry. "I am... no expert at truth-seeking," he admits. "But their story seemed to have the ring of truth."
Hepsi leans back at that, her inner voice musing, "You truly believe, yes..." She's silent for a few seconds before she whispers, "Is it... a miracle? Or a curse?" She muses silently a bit more before she turns back to Jason and snaps, "Amazing, but not immediately relevant! Our current goal is the gate, and you are not to tell anyone, including the Riders or your mistress, of this discussion. So, for now we must sleep and keep up our strength -- it is going to cost me energetically to keep you hidden, which means I will be asking much of your energy."
Jason winces. "I am going to have to read a book on anatomy sometime soon, then -- and be thankful that I don't have any authority figures who will think that I'm a cutter," he comments wryly. Before she can query what a 'cutter' is he adds, "I have to ask... did you hear me in the Dreaming? I tried to speak with you many times."
Hepsi tilts her blunt-shaped head curiously at Jason, "You did? You are fortunate you did not attract the attention of malevolent entities, if so." She hesitates, falling silent and frowning a bit worriedly -- then she shakes her head once in a curiously human gesture as she adds, "No matter. I hear many voices in the Dreaming, child. It's usually best not to draw their attention."
Jason's lips purse. "I'm not sure I didn't, Hepsi," he says honestly. "Though I never got a response, a couple of times it seemed as if someone was listening -- and we still have the problem that the Eastern gate Guardian is coming here. I think we can bank on that, though I still don't know what they'll do."
The slender serpent sighs softly, murmuring, "Yes... I was afraid of that. We may well be in a race with it to the remaining gates... or gate, if one of the two left is in a place we cannot ordinarily reach."
Jason looks wry. "Without a Viking longboat? Probably not," he agrees.
She adds comfortingly, "It is not your fault if you drew the guardian's attention -- you had no way of knowing. What did you say they called that area, by the way? We should give the poor mad thing a name, even if only of its former home." Then Hepsi tilts her head in perplexity again, "A what? Excuse me?"
Jason smiles. "A vessel that travels on the water. With the gate so close to the northernmost part of our world, it makes me wonder if it was the place that some of your people came from. Guthrum and Herfjotur and the one worshiped as gods by the people of the north." He thinks, suddenly remembering a connection between the vision he was asked to take, and the one he took on his own, represented by Tarot. "There are many countries there, on that continent. But I think this one was in the place called China. It was old and powerful and hungry. It might even have been a dragon. The dream made mention of that. The Lady Dragon."
Hepsi nods thoughtfully, "So we should call it -- well, her or him -- the Chinan dragon guardian, then? All right. That seems appropriate. Ah, you know it's a she? Excellent."
Jason smiles dryly. "I never knew solving a puzzle could be so exhausting. I am tired, now. We should rest, and in the morning I will show you on my map the places we should explore."
Hepsi laughs quietly, "Hardly your fault, child -- I had to eat rather heavily of your energy to change shape." She considers a moment, then adds quietly, "You... might want to spend an extra day recovering, in fact. I do not want you collapsing out in the middle of nowhere, since I don't know what animals here you can eat. Um... wait. You're mammalian, aren't you? You'll need to tear it apart with teeth and claws to eat it, instead of just neatly swallowing, right?"
Jason chokes on a laugh. "Yes, ah, you've got the right of it. Also, human mammals aren't really in the habit of hunting their own food any more. Which is just as well, because there isn't much prey in Arizona. I will purchase prepared food that I can bring with us... an extra day is regretful, but I suppose we'll need it. Though we may need to plan for contingency in case the man with his truck and his gun comes here." He idly picks up his canteen. "Thankfully, we'll never be short for water any more. Which reminds me... I should leave out food for Jackalope."
Hepsi nods firmly, "We cannot fail, so we must definitely plan ahead." As she turns and slithers fluidly for the bed she gives a small, determined hiss, saying, "Very well then! Sleep now, planning tomorrow, yes? We can say goodbyes to the Riders tomorrow."
Jason grins... sleeping in bed with a large snake... that's bound to be interesting. Here's hoping no one walks in on that! He takes a moment, bringing out his bag of nuts and fruit and leaving a small pile on the ground to one side, where no one will see or step on it. "Thank you for the water, new friend. And be thankful that you are not caught up in this kerfuffle."
Hepsi coils up as before: delicate wings carefully folded back, resting half on one of the pillows, her chin on one of her coils. Her voice is a quiet murmur when Jason re-enters the room, "Good night, mine new ally."
Jason undresses and slips into bed, aching but feeling accomplished. "Good night to you," he rumbles. In the dark he remembers some old wives' tale that certain snakes purr when contented, like cats, and for a time he stops and listens to see if Hepsi happens to do this... before falling into restful sleep.