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Thursday, May 4th, 2023. Aaron's been out Doing Rabbi Things -- visiting sick people, checking in on a few disabled folx who struggle with leaving the house, that sort of thing. Ziv tags along because it's a good way to spend time together, and these are their friends and fellow Jews, too. They sit and talk with people, get lists of errands which need doing, drop off food, and toddle off to the next person. Once the list is all done, they stop off for food on the way home -- good deli sandwiches, pickles, bottled sodas -- and are on their way to grab the subway.
It's a nice night for being out, and Ziv is doing her level best with all the walking. She doesn't fuss. Every so often, Aaron feels the rush of what he knows is her Spring healing, just them managing their own self.
"Hunh," they offer idly, pausing on their absent scrolling through TikTok as the pair come up to the stairs down to the Broad Street subway. "... look at this."
And as they hold out their phone towards Aaron, with a video already playing, there's a strong wash of something in his Peripheral Mage Sight. Unfortunately, his peripheral mage sight isn't terribly keen, so all he knows is its vague direction and how strong it is -- like getting a flashbulb set off an inch from his face. Has Aaron ever felt an Awakening that isn't his own before?
Judging from the startle he gives at the flash that Ziv probably can't see-- sense, maybe, but not see --Aaron has not. He takes a moment to make sure he hasn't been smacked with some sort of effect he can't identify, then orients himself towards his sense of that power. "We need to get to the mosque not far from here, Ziv. At least, that's where we're going to start. At the very least, some people are going to need some calming down. You can ride piggy-back if you want, it's more walking than you usually like." He pulls out his phone and searches for 'mosques near me' to see if he can't confirm his hunch before the starts off walking.
"I think I should," she agrees. Sometimes, you just notice the little startle, and the tone in the boyfriend's voice, and you just... go along.
Because being carried or piggy-backing is a relatively normal part of Ziv's life when they're out with Aaron, she's thought to wear shorts which won't show the world her entire butt when she's being carried around. Very thoughtful of her. She tucks her phone into her backpack and prepares to get carried about, also taking a minute to fiddle the handle of the sandwich bag around the strap of her backpack, so everything stays all neat together. (Of course the bag won't fit in her cute lil backpack, don't even ask.)
Mosques near me pings one in the exact opposite direction from where he felt that flash from, which means: choices.
Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice Tower of BonerForever...
Aya finds herself: a) on the ground at the top of a derelict building. b) soaking wet. c) shoeless. d) with torn-up feet.
This is not where she started the evening.
Aya took stock of her situation. Pain, wet, in strange place. Her eyes go to her missing fingernails on her right hand and shredded feet. Taking deep breaths before reflexively trying to reach for her bag with her phone in it, only to remember she left it on the shelf in the mosque before praying. She tries to stand up, but with her feet as they are, she settles for kneeling as she softly speaks a supplication for guidance and ease as she tries to see even which way she should go to find some stairs or other way down. (edited)
There are stairs down -- old concrete things, with no railing, and some of those sections of stairs pass through some ... let's call them really exposed... sections of the derelict building. Broken concrete and glass scatter everywhere, along with empty spray paint cans and occasional evidence of squatting -- old sleeping bags, a huge coffee can someone made a small fire in, a broken pipe, the occasional used needle.
Aaron, standing in for a young Luke Skywalker, sprints through the concrete jungle down Broad Street, Ziv-as-Yoda, flopping about on his back. The Perfected Adept runs with uncanny speed. He keeps it strictly speaking humanly possible, but the man's strides devour ground as he's clearly got more in his tank if needs be.
Once he reaches the cross street, he skids on his hands and feet to an eventual stop and starts sprinting towards the wall of the building. Derelict and dangerous, but only so much. He takes a moment to reform his hands and feet for climbing, sprouts membrane between his legs and arms, and makes the pair largely invisible where visible light is concerned. And then he starts... climbing up the side of the building like a spider. Or a money. Or a spider monkey. He climbs the way he ran, in wall-devouring confident motions. He's just a physical machine doing a job it was designed to do with all the practiced and predictable efficiency of a machine.
"Don't look down," is his advice to Ziv.
It takes everything she has in her to not go wheeeeee! as she's carried around. "Should I be... calling someone?" she calls into his ear, her knees gripped tight at his sides, skinny arms in a death grip around his neck from behind.
And then he starts climbing. "... I mean not now, but... " A pause. "... where are we going? What made you ... start like that?" These questions come while the mermx has their eyes smushed against the side of Aaron's neck. Nope. Not looking down. Nope nope nope.
With such a bleak path ahead of her, she takes a moment to consider whether or not she was healthy enough to survive Apportation. But even when she decides that it's worth a risk, it's a moot point. Something has changed, and as she tries to focus on shifting herself from here to the ground, she simply.. can't. She then tries to instead invoke her Clairvoyance, trying to look back to the mosque she came from... nothing. The attempts, though, highlight to her some of the ways the world itself feels.. different.
"Start like what?" Aaron wasn't really paying attention to how he started any particular action he's been undertaking so far. He's sort of mission-minded, which is great for everything but side-conversations.
"I think what happened in that video may be related to what I just sensed, and I'm running towards what I sensed because I'm pretty sure I am not the only one who will be running, and I want to be there first. If we get there first, yeah. We'll call people. Otherwise we may tip people off that a thing happened worth responding to. On the off chance they didn't sense it. So. Right now we're silent running-- climbing? Silent climbing. Only we're actively talking, which isn't silent at all."
Once they reach the lip two thirds of the way up, Aaron switches from climbing on the outside to stepping into a window and into the stair well to finish the rest of the ascent in a more sanity saving manner. Less startling when someone enters through a door and not over the side of the building when you're this far up. It's the little things.
Though now that they're inside there's no point in holding back. So he begins zipping up the stairs without pause, finally bursting out onto the roof top and skidding to a stop with Ziv wobbling on his back. His arms cartwheel a bit, as his center of gravity jerks about to combat his inertia. But he finally manages to stop himself with his hands on his knees, sucking a bit of air.
"...so many... So many stairs."
When Aaron says that they are not being silent at all, Ziv quiets, waiting until they're inside the building, quietly answering, "You sort of... like when you're in a dark room and the lights suddenly come on." And then she doesn't say anything else at all, because, well, quiet.
And lo and behold, here comes Aaron, up to the top floor of the building. (It's a lot of stairs.) And there's Ziv, hanging like a monkey off of his back, wearing a tank top, pink shorts, thigh highs, and high-top sneakers. Everything is pink, but since they were off doing rabbi things, none of it has their usual overtly queer messaging on it. Well, at least not piles of reclaimed slurs. The dark-haired creature blinks into the darkness, takes a deep breath, and sighs. Sometimes it would be nice to be able to see in the dark as well as she could in Arcadia.
As she looks around, a bit stunned at her circumstances and steeling herself for the journey down the stairs on her hands and knees, Aaron and Ziv appear. Her eyes blink. And then, a reflexive laugh that's almost a snort in duration, "Hah!"
She gives a weary smile and lets out a gentle sigh before speaking with some levity burdened by a little disbelief, "...Aaron? Is that you?"
It is and it isn't, clearly. He looks like a hairless flying squirrel and has big claws on his hands and bare feet. This explains his sudden fondness of muscle shirts, one supposes. He doesn't bother reshaping his body yet, since he may need all of this for the trip down.
"It is. It is. Yeah. Ziv here-- Ziv, you've met Aya, haven't you? --Ziv here showed me a video of a woman who mentioned someone disappearing out of a mosque and then I felt-- it's a long story. Anyway, we are here, Baruch HaShem. Or. Inshallah. Either one works. And anyway, we should get you somewhere safe. Er. Safer. Because you're probably safe right now."
He nods at himself. "Yes, probably. You can ask questions while we travel, it'll be helpful I imagine. Don't let people wheedle out of you what you went through over there. That's between you and God, as far as I'm concerned. Don't be made to feel like you need to talk about it with anyone, or to anyone. But. Yeah. That said, I'm here if you have questions."
A beat. "Ziv? Have you met Aya? Aya, Ziv, Ziv, Aya. Ziv's my partner. Aya's a friend of mine from work." In the literal and Thor: Ragnarok sense.
"I... I don't know that I have. Maybe? I am... kind of a flake," Ziv admits, and carefully, she detaches herself from Aaron's back. "Hi. I'm Ziv Altshul. She/they. I am indeed Aaron's partner. It's lovely to meet you." The skinny androgyne mostly walks on the balls of her feet and the tips of her toes, rather without thinking about it, as if she's very carefully placing her feet every time. "Are you hurt?" A beat. "I can take us home, actually. That's easy. We can answer any other questions once we're home." She turns slowly, looking for -- a small piece of window is all she needs, and she gestures with one hand towards a chunk of glass stuck in a frame in the low light. "That'll do."
"I have an actual mirror, but I don't want to leave it behind." A pause. "So, I have to lead." She stretches a hand out to Aya. "Aaron, my love, if you can get her other hand, I'd rather you were last through."
"Alhamdulillah! How good it is to see you.." She says, smiling warmly as ever as she tries to walk over with hands and knees, but stops as they approach. "I'm glad I needn't speak on it, it was.. difficult."
She looks to Ziv, "I assure you, Ziv, that I lay claim to the greater share of happiness at this meeting." There's another staccato laugh before she adds, "I am Aya Jabir. She/her. As to my condition..." She holds up her hand with the missing fingernails and then uses those fingers to point to her feet before holding both of them out for help. "..please be gentle with this hand."
"Oh. My God," Aaron intones in a Pitch Meeting perfect beat. He looks aside at Ziv and then gestures between the two of them. Do you want me to--? Are you gonna--? I can not, if you'll be hurt-- Or if you wanna hide your powers I can--? The fact his lips move as he's doing it sort of give the game away, in the end.
"Let's get her patched up and then we'll travel through. Do you mind if I check your injuries out, Aya? I have eyes like a television doctor. It may feel a little weird, because I'll be staring at you. So I like to ask before I start doing that."
"Oh, I can take care of that, or you can," Ziv says simply, her fingers sort of absently twirling in the air, as if reacting to water that no one else can see or feel, like a swimmer absently stirring in the current. Their smile towards Aya is fond and gentle, deeply understanding. "I wasn't sure how fast you wanted to be out of here. Blood cleans, and she's soaked to the skin, which is going to start to chill." She leaves her hand turned up, waiting for everything to be resolved, and deferring to Aaron, clearly.
"It's fine. Go ahead and check, I trust you," She says to Aaron. "I trust both of you, however you wish to proceed."
Aaron's gaze travels over Aya in a manner her extended family would probably strongly disapprove of, but his claim of being a television doctor holds true. He begins listing off a thoroughly comprehensive list of medical needs in order of intensity and urgency of needed attention. The missing fingernails feature prominently in this list, no doubt. It's spoken for Ziv's benefit, apparently, and it seems Aaron expects Ziv to be able to a) understand him and b) do something about most or all of it.
As he's doing this, the membrane under his arms retracts and the claws on his feet and hands shrink back into finger and toenails. Like you do. "Think you can knock a dent in all that, Ziv?"
Aaron's gaze travels over Aya in a manner her extended family would probably strongly disapprove of, but his claim of being a television doctor holds true. He begins listing off a thoroughly comprehensive list of medical needs in order of intensity and urgency of needed attention. The missing fingernails feature prominently in this list, no doubt. It's spoken for Ziv's benefit, apparently, and it seems Aaron expects Ziv to be able to a) understand him and b) do something about most or all of it. As he's doing this, the membrane under his arms retracts and the claws on his feet and hands shrink back into finger and toenails. Like you do. "Think you can knock a dent in all that, Ziv?"
Aya has torn-out fingernails on one hand, her feet are all cut up and gross from running around the city without shoes on, but Aaron's TV Doctor Eyes find no other real damage to her. She's a little dehydrated, fatigued -- nothing that a slight application of Life or Spring magic won't fix.
Standing by the reflective surface she located, she flutters her hands in a way that's supremely familiar to Aaron and probably looks to Aya like Ziv is dancing to music only she can hear, or possibly just swatting at a bunch of very persistent gnats. "It is the work of but a moment," Ziv intones. "Honestly. But please, I don't want to stay here. It'll take me a second when we're home. Please let me take you both away from here. Hopefully what I do is harder to track than what you can do, to your enemies." The power of cross-community magic, etc. etc.
Aya didn't seem too bothered by the look Aaron gave, given the circumstances. She nods to Ziv and takes a deep breath. "Y-yes, I think I can agree with that. It's.. a b-bit nippy up here." The cold air and her soaked condition mixed with fatigue starting to affect her speaking. "We're going somewhere warm, yes?"
Aaron gives Ziv a double take, being just himbo enough to need to catch up to the conversation. "Er, right. I mean. Yes. She's safe to move, if that's the concern. Your way of getting down probably beats the idea I was going to have to use." It was probably jumping. He steps closer to Aya, offering her an arm to help hold some of her weight. "Ready steady, Freddy."
"Yes. We'll get you to the house, we'll get you clean and dry. We've got sweatclothes you can wear while we wash your clothing and make a plan." Ziv moves delicately, on the balls of their feet, but with a certain amount of bustle. "I don't think you've ever walked with me this way before, darling."
This, of course, is directed to Aaron as she takes his free hand and reaches her hand out toward that little fragment of glass stuck in a windowframe, that bit of fractured silica just large enough for her hand to fit through. That... can't possibly be a doorway, can it?
But it is. There's a moment where her hand touches the glass, and Ziv looks back and smiles winningly at both of them, though she doesn't show her teeth. Her dark eyes glitter, and then she looks towards the glass again. "It may feel a little wei-- "
And then there's a feeling of being pulled forward inexorably by Ziv, even though the pressure of her delicate hand in Aaron's doesn't change, and Aaron's arm supporting Aya doesn't seem to move, exactly. There's no way that Aaron's "I Never Skip Chest&Shoulders Day" Dorito of a torso is going to fit through -- and yet, it's as if the Arrow (the Aarow?) is an octopus. There's a feeling of being ... extruded, somehow, but it's not painful, or even really unpleasant. It's just weird.
Aaron passes through like a piece of toothpaste coming out of the tube but also he's still standing up and Aya is still standing up and holding on to Aaron's arm but she is somehow folded conveniently and passes through that tiny space.
There's a breath of a moment when they are between.
And it's the between that's actually the worst of it. Not because it's physically painful -- it isn't -- and not because it's very cold -- it is, cold enough to make them gasp -- or very dark -- it's also that, dark like they're entering into the house from Stranger Things without flashlights in hand, at midnight -- but because there's a sudden you don't belong here feeling which passes over both of the Awakened. This place is not for you just sort of impresses itself on both of them, followed by the feeling that they're being watched. There's just long enough for them to feel upright and correct in themselves, but also standing somewhere that Is Not For Them.
It feels, not to put too fine a point on it, like they suddenly find themselves standing on the altar in the middle of Catholic communion. It's not bad, it's just wrong. This Place Is Not For You.
For Aaron, if his Active Mage Sight is still up, there are definitely living things in that space. They appear as fuzzy humanoid shapes scattered through the near distance, like seeing an Ender derezzed and not too far off.
But then?
Then it's over, and the extrusion process begins again, and they find themselves standing in the living room, having exited through a mirror in the pupil of the eye at the center of Ziv's favorite hamsa. It's only about the size of the lid of a can of tomato paste, but somehow, they passed through that little mirror.
Don't think about it too much.
"We're here!" Ziv chirrups, as if that's all totally normal and nothing to worry about at all.
She takes Aaron's offered arm and nods to him. After the bizarre traversal through the mirror, she looks between the two of them with her eyes wide. Deep breaths. She settles on Ziv, "...where is 'here'?" She lets out a sigh, "This... has been.. a very strange day.." A thought occurs to her and the looking between Aaron and Ziv resumes.
"...is this even the same day? What was this about a video of me that you saw? People saw me disappear?"
"This? South Philly. Our little love nest. It's maybe cozier than you're used to if you live in the suburbs, and also gravity isn't as much of a deal here. It's kinda like swimming. Because it's exactly like swimming, only you can breathe. It's an accessibility feature for Ziv." Aaron's explanation is thorough and polite, but also ends where Ziv's privacy begins.
True to his word, walking around the living room has most of the physics of walking underwater, save the pressure is one atmosphere. It makes short motions a little more spry than they might be in a pool.
Added bonus? Not being wet.
"Hmm? Well. Yes. But I think we can probably fix it so it's all okay. We just need to find a Time person, do some informed consent discussions with you, plan our response to your awakening, wind back time a bit, and then do that. And it will be a super clever smart plan because they have whole rooms filled with people who do nothing but talk about not letting something like this ever happen. They're probably good at it, I hope." Aaron gives them both an encouraging thumbs up and a quick nod of the head.
"I did my bit, which is safe rescue. Congratulations! You're safe! I can help with the next bit, the salvage the mess bit. But there's better people than me at that." He looks to Ziv for confirmation, "Right?"
Ziv blushes a little when it's called a love nest, fussing her hands a little in the air and slinging her backpack off of her back. She moves more easily now, pushing herself off the floor and lazily sliding over towards the front door so she can hang up her backpack. "It's terribly considerate of him. I'm far, far more at home in the water." A little glance aside at Aaron, a coquettish thing through their lashes.
Once that's done, she asks, "Is it okay with you if I heal your injuries?" of Aya, their attention turning back towards her. "Once I do that, we can get you some dry clothes and I'm pretty sure i have a scarf you can use, I love accessories."
A soft smile aside. "You did your bit, and there are a lot of very smart people who can help salvage the rest of the mess. There are people better at it, but I don't think you're not good at it, darling. Just not as practised."
Upon being informed of the special physics of the place, she lets herself 'float' a bit on her own with her weight off her legs and feet. She lets out a sigh of relief and the worry goes away more as Aaron explains about there being a fix for the situation, "Good to hear, I usually go to a lot of trouble to keep my teleporting out of sight." She gives a deep low nod to Aaron, "Thank you for coming to help me."
Aya looks to Ziv and gives the same nod, "Thank you, as well, for everything. It's definitely fine to heal me, and some clothes would be much appreciated."
Aaron takes two strides forward and then lunges up into the air, rising up the staircase like a harpoon and finally coming to rest on the top step. He pulls himself into the bedroom, grabs the sweats, and then dives back down the stair case like he does this a dozen times a day. It explains the footprints on the ceilings and walls, at least.
"Oh. You're welcome! We're happy to help, you know. If it wasn't going to be this, it would have been some old zayde with a flat tire. So don't even think it an imposition, really." Aaron sets the clothes down in the half bath off the kitchen. Cozy, like he said. Then he floats up towards the ceiling to make his bulk easier to navigate around in the downstairs. This, too, seems habitual. Like he's some overly muscled octopus.
"Baby, can you grab the scarf hook from the bedroom closet, please?" Of course Ziv has a whole set of scarves in different sizes and weights and materials, lots of different colors, too. They're neatly sorted on a set of rings hanging from a hanger-style hook, wound through the rings so they hang nicely.
In the meantime, their soft, fluttery hands come out to take one of Aya's, folding gently around her fingers where they meet her hand, careful not to touch the wounds directly. The warmth of a Spring morning spreads through her from that point of contact. It's like she put her hand into gentle sunshine on an early June morning, and it ripples through her body like liquid gold, like honey, warming her from within. Her fatigue lifts, her feet heal. The wounds close, pushing out dirt and grime, and while she's still hungry at the end of that handful of seconds, she feels -- physically, at least -- as right as April rain. "There you go," the mermx says softly.
Aya feels herself becoming well, and moves her fingers and toes in the air, then rubs her hands together for a moment and takes in the feeling of being healthy when previously not, "..it was like I'd forgotten what it was like to feel right." She smiles to Ziv and nods, "Even knowing magic is real, these things astonish. Thank you, again." Recovered, she seems to be back to minding her modesty with crossed arms to help cover her chest in the damp clothes until Aaron returns.
"So.. the next step is the smart people who can do the Time stuff? What comes after that? I.. just know there's a lot I need to learn, and a lot of myself to.. get real about." (edited)
"Ah." Aaron freezes near the ceiling, and then chooses the moment where he'd be stuck giving a newly awakened person advice, and darts off along the ceiling to fetch one of the aforementioned scarves for Ziv. It's presented to her with a dopey grin. A dopey grin that wins him slightly more time to come up with a good answer.
He opts with honesty. "Now? You should listen to your gut and ask a lot of questions, because a lot of people will have a lot to gain from getting you on their side. Don't be afraid to ask political questions. If it feels wrong to you, it is wrong. You don't need to explain why you're saying no to anyone. Uh." Aaron drifts along the ceiling of the kitchen, turning over his brain for useful memories.
"Do the hard thing. You won't regret it probably." He gives another of his patented rabbinical thumbs up. So encouraging.
When he dashes away, Ziv shrugs a little while he's upstairs. "He's only been doing this for a couple of years, so he gets nervous. He's been a rabbi much longer." Once the healing has taken effect and Aya feels so much better? They sit down on the couch and start to unlace the boots which have been providing most of the support for their ankles and feet. Slowly, Ziv starts pulling the boots off, with that sort of expression where people are trying not to show how uncomfortable a thing is in front of others. "Oh, you're welcome. I hope it never becomes less amazing."
"There's a bathroom right before the kitchen," she adds, "If you want to go put on the sweatclothes and stuff for a bit, then we can put your stuff in the washer and you'll have clean things soon. I'd offer you a skirt, but all of mine are like three inches long."
She accepts the clothes and the advice from Aaron, listening with a thoughtful expression and returns his thumbs up. "I hear you. I get the feeling this will be a bit like like meeting everyone all over again. Except for you, as you seem to be just as good a friend as before."
To Ziv's mention of the 3 inch skirt, she chuckles, "A good call, that is not my typical fashion; admittedly, though, today is not a typical day." She works her way to the bathroom to go change into the sweats and the scarf before returning with her damp green dress. (edited)
Aaron is quick to check the care instructions to see if it's something his washer and dryer can manage, or if it's bound for the cleaners. He'll start the load if he's able, and returns to the living room to float down onto the couch.
"Okay. If you're okay trying to undo all of this, we should really reach out to the Guardians. Or the Sentinels. Someone. Right now we only get in trouble if we pretend nothing happened. It's fine to ask for help with stuff like this. So that all said, I'd sure like to call them in. But it's your awakening."
Once her boots get peeled off, and while Aya is in the bathroom, Ziv pushes themself up from the ottoman she sat on briefly and floats for a moment, wriggling out of her tights, shorts and underthings and handing them over to Aaron to get tossed in the wash. There's a moment where their eyes roll up into the back of their head with the sheer relief of taking off their shoes, a moment they have while their guest is out of the room -- Aaron knows by now that this is the mermx's feet unfolding into fins, legs fusing into the more comfortable tail. A little sigh, and she looks up at Aaron, "I love you!" before a snap of her tail takes her bare ass off up the stairs before Aya can exit the bathroom. Zoom!
Okay, so her skirts aren't all three inches long, but they're definitely not modest enough for a frum girl or an observant Muslim. That might, in fact, be the point. In either case, the clothing Ziv comes back in is a loose, just-above-knee-length tunic with a second skirt beneath it. Long enough that nobody gets flashed by the mermx swimming past, short enough that she doesn't feel constrained to Enforced Modesty. "It's not a typical day," she agrees, curling her hands through the air at the foot of the stairs, "but I'd like my guests to be comfortable. Speaking of which, are you hungry? It's well night still."
She nods to Aaron's suggestion, "I'm fine with calling them in and figuring out how to deal with everything, and I would think my status as a public figure would make this a very urgent matter. If there's a 'by the book', or at least a list a things not to do, I'd prefer to work from that until I have my metaphorical footing."
Aya's attention goes to Ziv upon the offer of food, "Yes, I'd love to eat something. Thank you." She looks between them once more, "Is it still Laylat al-Qadr?"
Aaron fishes his phone out of his pocket and starts texting. He has a chain of command, so he does what they suggest. So it's Aaron calling Esther that gets her calling the Guardians which is probably how Thespis hears about all of this. It's a big city with a finite number of wizards in it, so it's catch as catch cam sometimes.
"Someone's coming," Aaron eventually assures them all. "So our butts are officially covered. To a point." He hops up from the couch to turn on the porch light, since company is coming.
Fortunately, people coming and going from the Rabbi's place at weird hours literally always happens. So this is just another day to the neighbors.
About half an hour later, a 1980 Oldsmobile 442 pulled up in front of the place, Thespis stepped out and pulled off his sunglasses and looked at the row house, putting the mirror shades back on he stepped up and knocked on the door. He was wearing a black shirt, black pants, and a dark purple suit jacket.
"What are we dealing with." he asks simply to whoever answers the door
"It is!" One of the advantages of being Ziv is that they've been studying alongside Aaron for so long that all of these dates just sort of flow through their brain. "I'll get something ready for us." And thus, they float off into the kitchen to get together food. First, though, they bring out water and pour glasses for everyone, in the best spirit of Jewish hospitality. There's an extra couple of glasses for whoever it is that Aaron's called.
By the time that Thespis arrives, Ziv has cobbled together a dairy-based charcuterie board, including hummus she just whipped up in the food processor, grapes, strawberries, a bunch of sliced cheese, crackers, green and black olives... she lays out food on the living room table like the Russian Army is expected, and not one Guardian. Ziv's tail feet don't ever actually touch the ground, and for the observant, her feet kick in synchrony.
And it's Aaron who answers the door. The skinny Lost androgyne will be over here, floating and eating green olives stuffed with feta cheese.
When Thespis arrives, Aya is with Ziv, enjoying a little of everything that's been laid out. She savors every bite, delighting in taste and smell and texture with more glee than she would have before. As Aaron goes to answer, she watches with interest. (edited)
Thespis is ushered inside Aaron's front door and into the altered gravity of Aaron's sanctum. There's snacks. The Better Homes and Gardens life of a middle class gay Jewish couple has a lot going for it. But the living room is straining to fit four adults. Ziv may be tiny, but Aaron compensates. They average out, see.
Aaron opens his mouth to answer and then closes it promptly. Uh. He finally goes with, "She awoke at evening prayer and now it's on YouTube. And it turns out I can't suplex this problem away so we called you guys."
Aaron makes little boxing motions at the air. Very half-hearted. "There are many styles of Kung fu." He clears his throat, "As they. Uh. Say."
it didn't show under the mirror shades, but he blinks when he see's it's Aya, a ghost of a smile on his face.
"Ok, so, I'm just a time apprentice, but I can call a Master, I can handle the video though, I have contacts within the media and we can spin a publicity stunt explanation, that's a form of advertisement that's popular, hell, I can see to it a movie get's inspired." he said, turning to Aya and giving her a bow, his hand over his heart, "I congratulate you for your Awakening, Miss.Jabir." he allowed himself a smile, "Witnesses that where at the actual scene, other then the video, who was actually there?"
"You can get something removed from the internet? That's almost more impressive than punching through rebar." A tiny glance aside at Aaron, and a glittering little smile. "Almost."
There's a raised eyebrow from the skinny little thing floating just above the couch next to Aya. Ziv covers their mouth with a hand when Aaron says he can't suplex the problem away, possibly to conceal a giggle, and they delicately pick up another olive and pop it into their mouth. The washer buzzes, and they clap their hands together. "Hello, wizard I don't know. I'm going to go change the wash." And with a swish of loose clothing and far more motion than one would expect from a human kicking their feet against the air, Ziv carries herself off to tend to domesticity.
"Guerilla advertising... at a mosque?" Aaron is dubious on Aya's behalf. "Maybe something slightly less ... uh. Bad." He furrows his brows and mutters, "Shame I can't just find all the places the data of the video is stored and corrupt it. Corrupting it would be super easy. Barely an inconvenience. Finding it all, though..." Aaron squints at Thespis, "How's your fate?"
Aya was certainly pleased to see a familiar face and finished stuffing her own before going to greet him, "It's good to see you. As for all of that, the witnesses were the women's section of the Mosque. I do not think it would be appropriate for me to have had a publicity stunt while participating in group prayer on our holiest night of worship."
She ponders for a moment, then looks between Aaron and Thespis, "It wouldn't be entirely inaccurate to put it that I left the mosque in an altered state during intense prayers following a long period of fasting through a busy public speaking schedule. It would be the truth, just with the edges sanded off, and give a reason to take a break from public appearances while I get myself up to speed."
"Oh, I know it sounds bad, simply what I can do with my resources," he shrugged, "like Time, only an Apprentice, Master of Mind and Disciple of Space and Forces." he listed his stronger Arcana, "We can try to hijack the story then, have it simply be an ecstatic state episode?"
Make that three people reacting with unease and dubiousness. "Yeah, maybe we won't do that," agrees Ziv. "It isn't a good thing to sever people from their mundane communities when they've gone through a big shift into a supernatural community."
And then, after a beat, she folds her hands on her knees. "My name is Ziv Altshul, by the way. My pronouns are she and they. I live here." (edited)
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