moderatelycompetent | IC Inbox: Penance

[He reaches in for a chocolate cookie before backing away to give her room to enter.]

I know what you mean. I've been feeling great today. You think Krampus is making the rounds in Hell? [And if he is, would they actually care about it?]

[She shrugs as she follows him in, peering around the suite as she does. She can't remember if she's actually been to Landon's or not.]

Honestly, at this point I wouldn't be surprised. Everyone else is here, why not Krampus too?

[His suite is a little sparse in the common areas, with much of it still the default, aside from Faith's stuff. Faith kind of spreads out.]

It might even be a break if it's him. I don't think anyone had to lift a finger the last time. It's pretty convenient.

I guess that depends on whether or not Santa is in Hell too. He's the one who did most of the heavy lifting.

I don't want to think about Santa being in hell. That would murder my inner child.

Neither do I, to be honest. He was pretty cool.

[You would have liked him, Landon, were you not off finding Raf's dad.]

[It was an important trip to take, but it doesn't mean he wasn't invested in the stories about Christmas-in-October when he came back. It sounded awesome.]

Did he really start bodyslamming people?

Only Krampus. And it was kind of amazing. You wouldn't really think that a guy of his size would be that limber.

Maybe he's like the Kingpin. Six hundred pounds but it's all muscle.

[She smirks.]

Or like Popeye. Only instead of spinach, it's Christmas cookies.

Santa's real superpower is never having to worry about diabetes.

[But -- right, there was something more serious they were supposed to be talking about, wasn't there? It's so easy to let that slip away, he nearly forgot.]

So... When you said Hope told you what happened, did she tell you all of it? Because while you're here I might need to ask some witch questions.

She said that she killed you while she was a vamp? Something related to the nightmares. And it took a really long time for you to come back. She waited the whole time.

[She is here to answer any witch questions though. That's what having a designated witch friend is for.]

What do you want to know?

Yeah. That too, but. [He hesitates.]

Look, it's better if I just show you, okay? Wait here.

[Rapidly disappearing cookie in hand, he'll leave her to settle down while he vanishes back into his room for a moment. He returns with a duffel bag, and pulls out what mostly looks like a pack of folded sheets. He hands it to her as he takes a seat nearby and grabs a refresher cookie.]

[She eyes him for a moment as she takes the sheets, before starting to unfold them. She's assuming that he's not just handing her sheets and there's probably something inside.]

Is this something that came with you from home?

Yeah. Probably more like it came in me.

[She's unwrapping a thin arrow, still such an untarnished gold that it finds a way to glitter in dull overhead lighting.]

[She catches the implications of that and she looks up at him, eyes wide.]

This is the thing that ...

[She suddenly doesn't want to be holding this arrow anymore, but he wants her to study it, so she will, peering closer at the golden exterior.]

Where did it come from?

I'm not really sure. There was a break-in at the armory back at school. Maybe it came from there? The necromancer got a hold of it eventually. [He leans closer, though tries to keep from going too deeply into her space.]

Is there anything weird about it to you?

Maybe? I might have to spend more time with it.

[She lets it drop out of her eyeline before turning to face him.]

Okay, so the whole things about werewolves and silver is a myth, but it's not out of line for a specific element to play into supernatural weaknesses. A lot of the time, they have to do with their origin stories. Like ... with vampires, Hope's grandmother channeled a white oak for longevity, so wood from that specific tree could kill the Originals, and the vervain that grew at the roots could prevent compulsion and could weaken them. As that trickled down to normal vampires, it became wooden stakes from any tree, plus the vervain allergy.

[She glances down at the arrow again. And this long lesson on supernatural vulnerabilities is because Emily has no idea if the arrow is spelled, so she wants to hedge her bets.]

So maybe gold has something to do with the phoenix origin story?

So I guess that means I should be researching more about where phoenixes come from. [It never seems like there's enough time for vanity projects with everything else that's happening.]

I never had a problem with gold before this, though. Granted, I've never been stabbed with gold before...

Yeah, it's weird. Like, wolfsbane and vervain cause an immediate reaction for werewolves and vamps, but vampires can handle all the wood they want until they get staked or shot with it.

[So ... it's complicated.]

That would mean that the problem is with me? You just need any golden arrow, not this specific one?

Theoretically?

[She doesn't really know. She needs more time to do some research, and figure out what it really means.]

But I'll see what I can find out. The library is huge here, maybe there's some text in there that has the answer.

[She's not her dad, super researcher. But she picked up a few things and knows her way around a library.]

I appreciate that. I've tried to look through things, but once it starts getting into grimories and the kinds of books that scream when you touch them, I'm a little out of my element.

I mean, there are books that do worse things than scream.

[Or at least ... so she's heard. >.> But Landon has a point, and she can at least tackle the grimmoire end of things.]

But yeah, I'll dig into it and see what I can find.

Thanks, Josie. You're a really good friend.

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polydeukes - 2020-10-17 21:18 (UTC) - Expand