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"Tanya. Do you know how to use a pistol? If not, I can imprint you with the ability." Vasha plucks the pistol from his hip and offers it to Tanya with an upnod of his chin. Here. "Mei, stay with Fox. Tanya, with me." Vasha checks his rifle to make sure its safety and fire settings are set properly, doublechecks the magazine, then racks a round into the chamber and starts heading off to clear the rest of the house.
"No," Tanya replies, the baby Mastigos shaking her head. She takes the gun anyway, holding it somewhat like one might a venomous snake. She falls in behind Vasha without complaint. "You think there's more..."
"Always, always, always assume there's more," comes Vasha's advice as the pistol is handed over. "Magazine release. Safety. Vibe check button." Vasha points out the important bits. "Check the magazine, make sure you have a full magazine. Count your rounds." He hits the mag release for her, shows her the side of the magazine and that it's full of bullets, then slides it home again and racks the slide to chamber a round. "Now you're hot. Point it at the floor, keep your finger off the trigger until you want to kill something. Then point it at the thing you want to kill's center mass, hold your breath, and squeeze the trigger between heartbeats." That pep talk given, Vasha pats Tanya on the shoulder and in doing so floods her mind with his own personal marksmanship skills. Which are considerable. It all just sort of seeps into her mind via the touch of his hand.
Creepy.
And then he starts towards the stairs to finish clearing the rest of the home. "You don't find abyssal entities on this side of the Astral too often. It's rare. But their presence is always bad. Always. Moreso here at a verge, of all things." Vasha then pauses, turns about, and considers Fox, then the verge again. Then Simone. Then Fox. Then his eyes widen and he barks, "Stop! Stop! Don't!" A glance back to the verge, then back to Simone, then back to the verge. And it's obvious his desire to clear the second floor is waning, and he's staring at that verge like it contains the answer to all of his life's troubles.
"She's awakening."
And then the Guardian does the hardest thing he's ever done a second time in his life. He turns his back on his tower and pursues his duties, resuming his course for the stairs.
She begins to fold her hands into the imago that will let her scan her sister's mind and figure out what's going on, and then Vasha yells, and she literally goes from slav squatting like she picked up from Vasha crouching next to her sister to falling on her butt next to her sister.
Her hands clap over her face, and perhaps Fox can be forgiven for just staring at her baby sister wide-eyed and full of wonder as all of the fear and stress of the last hour starts to spill out of her eyes in the form of copious tears.
Just give her a second. It's a lot to deal with.
Mei is standing around kind of oblivious to the world around her as she dives into the mysteries of what surrounds and runs through Simone at that moment. A lot of the words just kind of wash past her, but the warning to stop, don't, and then the statement that Simone is awakening? Those are things that make it through the focus she has on unraveling the puzzle in front of her.
With a shake of her head she a few blinks to re-focus her eyes on the Fallen World, Mei takes a step back and lifts her hands up. "That explains why it started to feel like I was looking at something I wasn't supposed to. She's visiting a different Watchtower than my own." She looks at Vasha, then at Fox. "I'm going to follow your lead here, Fox. What's the plan?"
The path up the stairs leads to a relatively small floor, with more framed art on the wall, all of it in the process of being re-drawn before Vasily and Tanya's eyes. (roll perception those going upstairs)
Tanya absorbs the impromptu gun lesson, eyes wide. The spell she wove in the bathroom to get here fades, and she looks back over her shoulder with concern, but stays focused on the task at hand. Hoisting the pistol and gingerly checking the parts Vasha has pointed out, she relaxes into a smooth stance once he imparts his skill and confidence via magic. Vasha may have to turn his back on Arcadia, but he at least gets the satisfaction of seeing the young woman doing a perfect imitation of him slinking down a hallway, trigger discipline and all. Without other experience to get in the way, she's Kid Vasha for the moment, complete with a detatched and jaded look. "The portal stopped when I took the gun," she points out, staring at one of the shifting pictures a moment. "I'll have to recast it. I can do it. Is...can you just shoot an Abyssal? With a gun?"
Vasha's keen sense alert him to some sound coming from one of the bedroom, which vaguely sound like a radio stuck between two different station, the volume is rather low. Nothing else obvious is happening at the moment. No sudden movement.
There is a bathroom with an open door right in front of them, which is empty of any obvious threats. two bedrooms, one of which is open as well, where the sound is coming from and the other, which seem to have been converted into an arts room.
That at least shakes Fox out of her absolute overwhelmed state at the news that her sister is in the process of Awakening. "We leave her alone," Fox answers quietly, her hands subtly shaking as she gets to her feet. She pushes the rest of her Big Feelings into the second train of thought she's been carrying. "And we -- by which I mean you take the lead -- start looking for anything that would tell us who is coming home, if anyone. Vasha said she doesn't live alone, but I don't know if that just means she lives here with her--"
And she spins around. "Where are her dogs?"
Vasha leads the way, obviously. Modeling excellent trigger discipline and keeping his rifle pointed away from his companion. He moves in a crouch, heel-toeing his way forward with his rifle held at the ready, sweeping this way and that in search of targets. He lifts his hand up flat and then makes a fist as they get near the door, then points at the door and taps his ear. He heard something. He holds up three fingers, then moves that hand over to the door knob. The fingers curl inward, counting down. Three. Two. One. Then he throws the door open and bursts into the room, sweeping off to the right.
Hopefully Tanya will figure out enough to know to wheel left when she enters.
With a very brief pause for thought Mei looks around and asks, "this floor has been cleared?" She kicks into motion immediately, heading toward the kitchen to check the counters for mail, or other things that might give her clues about who else lives there. Signs of multiple people, and how many. If there's one thing that Mei is quite talented at, it's taking a bunch of clues and painting a picture with them, so she starts immediately working on that.
"... no, I'm not sure if it has been, Vasha may have done it when I was freaking out about Simone, it won't hurt to check it again," agrees Fox. She's still got her gun, so she takes it out of the holster and holds it pointed toward the ceiling, like she's some sort of pro at this and not someone who usually regards Vasha's literal fetishism of his guns (Lyudmila was a magical tool!) as slightly silly. Slinking like a fox along the wall, she goes to make a circuit of the first floor. "I remember," she calls back as it occurs to her, "that someone was going to go walk the dogs. And there's a park nearby. So ... it... probably won't be long. I don't know what to do. We can't move her."
Tanya falls in behind Vasha, steps into the room, raises her gun, looks to the right as Vasha sweeps (while keeping her gun forward), and then sweeps left with only a bit of awkwardness. Finger just above the trigger, ready to slip down should they need to shoot an impossible monster, or something more mundane that's made the bad decision to be here.
Simone is sketching another piece of paper and the scattered paper in front of her, when looked at from a certain distance, displays the sight of her backyard currently, but with the addition of animal paw prints in the snow, the whole courtyard is completely drawn. The woman shivers slightly and the hand not holding the pen reaches out blindly, toward the lower bottom right piece of the artwork and she grabs the piece of paper then lets it down, reaching out toward the very vague direction of Fox as they leave and her hand connects with the back of Fox's leg. "I FOUND YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU LEFT A PRINT ON MY PAINTING HA!!" She lets out a triumphant laugh
She lunges for the nearest piece of paper and starts scribbling on it excitedly.
The gekkering sound of a trickster fox of a fairy tale is heard, like an amused little laugh. The lens effect vanish suddenly, they all feel the backyard change (it's a Hallow now)
Simone jerks backward, falling on her back. The drawing in the house are completely redrawn. Time itself jerks around, readjusting after being altered mildly during this moment.
Vasily and Tanya come into the bedroom, there's no one, no entity and they find a radio on the bedside table. Vasha's Mage sight alerts him that something is off with the item, caught in some threads of fate or another. It's currently spewing static, stuck between two station, it's an old model with knobs to turn the channel. Nothing else in the room sticks out.
Vasha taps his temple and points at the radio, giving Tanya a sidelong glance. He motions for her to guard the door and then slav squats down in front of the radio, adjusting the burden of the sniper rifle case still strapped to his chest. Bracing his rifle across his legs, he begins staring at the radio pensively, attempting to sort out what the heck might be going on with it. "Mei might be able to detect something inside the signal," he murmurs quietly before murmuring once more under his breath, "Oontz-Oontz. I have one for you, little friend."
A moment later a little glowing ball of neon tinted light and buzzing sound appears, hovering in the air alongside Vasha. "Forces," he asides to his Familiar, "this one's on you, Double Oh."
The little spirit crackles in delight as it begins to dance around the radio, getting friendly with its signal and noise. "I'll be shit at retaining the broadcast signal in my mind. Oontz should be able to record it with high fidelity."
Tanya nods firmly and sweeps her gun around towards the door, backing up against a wall just to the side of it. Finger still off the trigger, she only looks away when Vasha says "oontz-oontz" out loud, but quickly returns her attention to the task she was given. "You probably don't want that signal in your mind, either. Creepy static radios are NEVER good."
Mei's investigation leads her to find clear signs of this place being lived in by two people and at least one dog. The other person seem to be at least presenting male given the shaving paraphernalia she saw in the bathroom, but there's just not enough stuff for it to be a long term, maybe a temporary roommate? A new boyfriend?
Oontz Oontz records the frequency and, along with the radio when the spirit interact with it, begin to sing a rather ominous and creepy song given the circumstance. As the song is playing, the fate side of Vasily's sight picks up on a certain 'importance' to it. Like a message left behind to be found.
Every breath you take and every move you make Every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you Every single day, every word you say Every game you play, every night you stay, I'll be watching you...
Meanwhile, Simone is on the ground, staring at the ceiling. "Hey, if any of you could close the patio door, I don't think I can move, please and thank you."
Mei is coming back to report on the results of her quick investigation of the living situation when she gets hit with that wave of magical change from the transformation into a Hallow. She missteps just slightly but catches her balance, grimaces as she looks that way, and then starts to tell Fox what she found. "I think she's living with someone who shaves their face, and a dog. As far as I can tell, that's it."
She looks at Simone and then at Fox again. "I'll get it."
Vasha stares at the radio as though it just shat on his mom's gravesite. I'll be watching you, indeed.
"Not if I watch you first," he finds himself challenging the supernatural message folded into the noise and static. He seems to realize he's arguing with reality over a point of personal pride, and gives Tanya a quick double-take to see if she noticed. When the broadcast ends, Vasha rises from his crouch, makes a little 'round it up' motion with his hand and continues back out the door to resume their sweep of the upper floor.
Before stepping through the door and into the hallway, he gives the radio another withering glance.
Cheeky bugger.
The wave of magic washes over Fox, and she gasps in delight and awe, returning from her patrol of the bottom floor, and when Simone talks, her footsteps speed up, and she shoves her gun back in her holster and drops to her knees next to her sister. "Baby Girl?" she asks worriedly, her stringy hair draping around her face. Fox must be a sight for someone who hasn't seen her for twelve years.
She used to be so buttoned-up. Suits and manicures, a sleek professional. Perfectly done face every time she leaves the house. This Fox is definitely ... was definitely Avigail. But she's wearing a ratty tank top and torn jeans and no makeup and her fingers only rarely ever see a nail brush, let alone a manicure. Bare feet. Stringy hair. Green-gold eyes when her eyes used to be hazel. Oh. And those teeth.
"Talk to me, please."
"Hey...." Simone exhales and almost immediately her facial expression shifts into a crying face, she pulls herself up by hugging her sister as hard as her exhausted limbs let her. "Everything looks really strange right now..."
"I bet," whispers Fox, folding her sister in against her body and hugging so tight: she's warm, and safe, and oh-so-sturdy. She's currently running at Stamina 6 and Composure 7, after all, so she's like, inhumanly sturdy and solid to lean on as a calm port in the storm. "Tell me what you're seeing, and let's talk it through, Baby Girl. I love you so much." A quiet kiss to her sister's temple, and she looks up at Mei. "Let them know we're clear, please?"
Tanya doesn't seem to have noticed, or be concerned with, Vasha talking to the radio. For all she knows it's a very important ritual component or somesuch. She's focused on making sure no horrors come through the door and that she's ready to fucking shoot one if it does. Another spell starts building from her, but it clearly and obviously fails, the taut red strands stretching to infinity around her crumpling and falling to the ground like loose threads, even as she follows after Vasha. "Fuck. FUCK." There's another attempt or two to increase power and force the spell to start, but the apprentice doesn't push it harder. "I tried to see more, through the walls. I can't do it. Sorry."
Mei goes over to close the door as asked, unless she sees some reason why that might not be a good idea, and then heads calmly toward the stairs. She doesn't answer Fox's request directly with anything other than a nod, to avoid taking attention away from Simone in this situation, but she's clearly doing what was asked of her as she heads upstairs to find the others and tell them, "we're clear down stairs. I think whatever was going to happen has happened, one way or another."
"To answer your question from before," Vasha finally speaks aloud once they've finished clearing the upstairs, "you can just blast an Abyssal, yes. If it's manifested. Otherwise you'll need Spirit or Prime magics, typically. Mind can sometimes work, too, depending on whether or not the entity has one." He doesn't comment on the apprentice's inability to manifest a proper imago. "It's fine. This is your first field operation. Nerves will get to you. We can train that out of you." He leads Tanya back down the stairs, adopting a more casual pace and demeanor, now that-- at least in his estimation --the building is secure.
"We're clear," he announces once he comes down the stairs back into the living room. "We encountered a rogue signal. Had fate threads about it. I recorded the raw audio and Oontz-Oontz absorbed the signal itself, Mei, if you want to analyze it later." Oontz-Oontz buzzes out the melody of the Police's most classic hit on cue, which earns him an approving glance from the Acanthus. "That's right, buddy."
It is then that the gun laden, cordite smelling greasy sweatbox that is Vasha crouches down near Simone, his focus leading to where the verge stood just a few moments ago. His content expression crumples a little to find it gone. Closed to him a second time. And then he glances back to Simone, "Hello, little sister. You're going to want to talk to me a lot." He's so certain of himself.
"My backyard is shiny, like it's not made with the same colors as the rest of everything." A shake of her head, as if to try and shake something off. "I see your outline move before you do..." She manages to sit up, but doesn't let go of her sister.
"I don't know what happened, but there was a scary bit I barely remember, I heard gun shots..." she looks to Vasha. "Thanks for whatever help you gave."
Vasha makes a dismissive little gesture with his hand and tishes with his mouth, "You say that now, but you haven't seen what I did to your front door." There's a mercurial grin that has no business being that genuinely self-amused under the circumstances.
Fox scoots around behind Simone, wrapping her arms around her sister's waist and plopping one leg on either side of her. It's an old gesture, a way that Fox used to hold her sister while they watched TV and Simone would fall asleep on her. "I'll fix the door," Fox assures. "That sounds like an awful lot to take in. Don't try to force anything. Your vision will settle out in a little while."
"I'd say it's lucky that I decided to call you tonight," she murmurs, kissing Simone's shoulder familiarly, "but really it's just Fate." She looks up at Vasha. "So... who's out walking the dogs? Because we should get this all cleaned up before they get home."
Mei makes her way back down the door after she and Vasha have finished informing each other of floors being clear, and stands by to keep an eye on things while other people are doing the talking. "Fixing the broken stuff is definitely someone else's department. I wonder who that could be," she observes idly with a glance toward Fox.
"So. Question for you," Vasha inquires with an innocent smile that conceals so, so, so much. "Can you describe what happened? Near the end, in particular. Was there anyone there? Any objects? Any monoliths or seats of power?" That final inquiry is not idle, and if it doesn't send a shiver right up and down Fox's spine, nothing on this earth ever will. But if anyone's going to be asking it, of course it's going to be Vasha.
To her likely relief, his finger remains off the vibe check button.
"That's one of my friends, he's down on his luck a bit lately so I gave him a spot in my home and he helps out when he can." She explains "Oof, I get the feeling I'm going to get a lot of things explained."
"I was trying to find a magic fox, I don't remember why, but it was hiding from something very dark and dangerous, something I remember being false." a shake of her head. "But it disappeared when i began painting the fields..."
clearly, the details of the awakening are fading like a dream as they oftne do "I found the fox again when it walked on my painting and then I signed my painting, because I had finished. I had a silver pen, the fox was silvery too. I left the painting at a... really big door on a really big building?"
"Oh wow," Fox offers quietly, wrapping her arms close around Simone and hugging her again. "Yeah, I'm afraid that you are." She takes a long breath. "Okay. So let's get this all tidied up, and then maybe can you tell your friend that your sister is having a big crisis and you need to go take care of me? We can take you to our house -- there's plenty of room -- and you can bring your dog if you want. And yeah, you're... going to get a lot of things explained to you."
At the description, Fox looks up at Vasha and her eyes glitter with deep amusement. One can almost see the singsong thoughts traveling behind her eyes. :musical_note: Guess who's got a baaaaabyyyyy! :musical_note:
"Welcome to my world, Baby Girl."
Vasha crosses himself, plucks the orthodox cross necklace from under his shirt, and kisses it tightly with his eyes closed. Thank you. He tucks it back into his shirt and vest, then lets out a profoundly relieved sigh that he's not going to just have to put a bullet in her head now they've seen to all of the necessaries. His smile is at once relieved and, for the second time today, unclouded by other concerns. Just genuine and warm. Everyone take a picture.
"I am proud of you, маленький художник," Vasha offers with a brief pat of his hand on Simone's shoulder. "I hung my painting there too, after a fashion." He nods his agreement aside to Fox, then looks back to Mei, "When we get back home, will you be up for some signal examination? It's not my forte."
Tanya peers past Fox with the uncertain expression of a slightly older sibling, realizing they're not the Baby anymore, before smiling with a mix of relief and vicarious happiness. "Congratulations," she says. A beat passes, before she motions to Vasha with her gun-free hand, eyes still on Simone. "Don't listen to him if he starts in with da, in St Petersburg we leave new mage in snow overnight, if not strong enough they feed polar bear," she declares, slipping into the thickest Boris of a voice she can. "He's a big teddy bear."
"Lies," Vasha counters, "lies, slander, and calumny."
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