Stop me if you've heard this one: A cat and an ancient little girl teleport into a warzone t- What do you mean you've heard it before?! Uggh! Fine, excuse me for trying to see the funny side of things for once.. there's always that one person who can't take a joke, isn't there? Whatever, lets just get on with this then! Events unfold including but not limited to: Eris making a teddy bear, Gold being confirmed to be a truly awesome color, and Hannah play's the part of the brave shirtless hero(ine)!

 

“Why did you bring her here with you, you stupid little fur-ball factory?!”

“Mau?”
Oh, ‘she wouldn’t let go’ would she?
WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE BLOODY WAITED THEN!

With more force then I intended my hand came up to snag Eris’s wrist and tug her closer to me so that she wasn’t standing quite so precariously on the edge of my bubble shield, right in the line of fire between me and Maven.

“Mom? What’s going on?”
Ah crap.. she sounds scared as all hell right now, who can blame her really?!

“Don’t worry Eris we’re safe while we’re inside my shield..”
..I think?..

“Safe?”
Slowly she turned to look around us and her eyes settled on Maven as the only thing of notice in the hallway that wasn’t currently being protected by me aside from the dead-end wall behind us.

My eyes trailed to follow her gaze and I honestly stalled slightly at the horrified look that had suddenly appeared on Maven’s face?

“A Creature of the Mists? YOU’RE INDIGNITY KNOWS NO BOUNDS DEATH!”
..a what-now?..
“How dare you.. that you would cavort with DEMON filth, while trying to steal MY realm from me and seduce MY subjects as well?!”

..Who mentioned demons?..
It’s only Eris and ‘Mau’ after all.
Although now that she’s said it, why does ‘creature of the mists’ sound familiar all of a sudden?

“Mau..”
Oh yeah!

He’s Part-Egyptian Mau and Part-Russian blue ‘Nebelung’ and full time pain in the ass.
He’s got the best traits of his kin including whatever traits come from being a Nebelung, ‘a Creature of the Mist’ according to the pet-shop guy!

Apparently even when I GET a pet I can’t just have a powers-damned NORMAL one!

“Seriously what was I thinking? Who’s ever heard of a kitten that can shadow-warp?”
There’s no doubt in my mind that shadow warping is EXACTLY what the little fuzz-ball just did either!

..I’ve done it enough times myself to know what shadow-warping looks like after all..
Hell, if I wasn’t still a bit shaken from my close encounter of the ‘staring demon’ kind the last time I used it I probably would have thought to try using the damn skill myself at some point soon too?!

Nothing that I know of aside from possibly that torture box ‘decontamination cell’ that Storyteller trapped me in is likely to block THAT skill from working, shadow magic is rare and powerfully scary stuff for a REASON!
The fact that my bloody cat can pull it off should be very scary and I’m sure would have me very nervous if I wasn’t ever so busy trying to deal with a much worse situation involving an insane Fae Queen at this very moment.

“Mau!”
Yeah, yeah, ‘seeing is believing’ and all that rot.
..smart-assed feline menace..

I still say just because he’s part.. whatever the hell a ‘Nebelung’ actually is.. that doesn’t mean he has the right to suddenly know how to shadow warp on demand!

How did he even know to COME here?!
It’s not like he could hear me from the house or anything; that would just be stupid.

“..Mau..”
You are NOT my familiar you dirty little liar!
“Mau..”
Don’t give me that either!

‘Lady-death should kill-it!’
..what?..

I cut my eyes down to Felix to find his shoulders set in an almost full on fit of rage for some reason as he glared at Mau while pulling himself tighter into my chest.

‘Demon-spawn-are evil, everyone-knows-that!’

“You should listen to your little traitor imp, Death. No good comes from cavorting with demons.. however watered down their bloodline may be..”
..well I’m not going to listen to him now that YOU’VE agreed with him, am I Maven?..

“..Mau..”
No, I’m not gonna kill you dumbass!

‘Lady-death shoul-’

“Can everybody just SHUT UP?!”
Huh.. I’m surprised that actually worked?..

Eris slunk slightly closer to me and tucked herself into my side, offering Felix a wary little wave as she settled in, one that he accepted more out of surprise than anything else.
Even Maven went silent as her cold empty black-hole eyes watched us calculatingly.

“Mau, I don’t care how or.. or HOW you did it but your here now and that’s something at least?”
I fixed a glare on the lying little fuzz-ball.
He seemed to accept my glare for the frustrated admonishment it was with what I can only surmise to be some kind of kitty ‘patient but annoyed’ look about him.
“How stable is your shadow warp? Did you encounter any demons or potential dangers when you moved?”

..If he put Eris in danger just to get here faster, so help me I really WILL kill the little idiot!..

“Mau”
‘Stable enough’

What the hell does ‘stable enough’ mean?!

Well.. either way it’s better than my ‘most likely compromised because several demons know what my magic feels like at this point’ shadow-warp skills, I guess?
It’s not like we have much of a choice anyway.. between Me, Felix and now Mau too we would PROBABLY be able to handle anything she could throw at us long enough to at least escape the Hub eventually.. but with Eris here too things get messy..

“Mau, get us out of here?”
..I just know I’m going to regret this..

For a moment I felt Felix tense in my arms slightly but before anything could come from it the little fuzz-ball jumped into my lap and we were all almost instantly enshrouded in a crashing wave of darkness.

======

The first thing I noticed as we slipped out of the surprisingly uneventful and actually rather pleasant if dark, spinning warp journey was an off-key scream of fear?
It took me a moment to realise that it was off-key because I was hearing it with a slight echo and a few seconds more before it finally sunk in that the screaming was coming from Felix of all people.

“Felix? Calm down buddy, we’re safe now-”
My eyes cut around us and I had to bite back a groan at the sight of the Hub’s reception area that greeted me.
“-well.. close enough anyway?..”

People were staring at us for obvious reasons.
There must be a limit to shadow warping while crossing from one dimension to another, I can’t think of any other reason why Mau would drop us off HERE of all places when he could have just warped us home to start with honestly.

I shot an assessing glare down at the now rather smug looking little kitten in my lap just to be sure he didn’t drop us here just to be an asshole about it but the almost confused look I received in return said enough to assuage my curiosity on that topic.

Shadow warping has limits after all apparently that’s.. good to know, I guess?
“Let’s get out of here.”

It took a bit of awkward shifting but I quickly managed to get back to my feet, Felix clutched tightly to my chest as he shivered lightly for some reason, Eris pulling herself into my side and Mau perched precariously on my shoulder with little more than a hop from the smart-assed little, apparently demonic, kitten bastard.

“That went surprisingly well?”
..considering a few moments ago I was convinced I was dead no matter what I did at least..
“Maybe we sho-”

As a group we got within a step or two of the Hub’s entranceway before being sent bouncing off of some kind of, once invisible, wall that sprung to life with an unnervingly familiar shade of yellow on contact.

“..ah crap..”

“DEATH!!”
With an instinct born more from general caution and the amount of time I’ve spent running from her in the last hour or so rather than anything tangible, I dropped to the floor while huddling everyone close and let loose as much of my diversion magic as I dared directly into the air around us.

It was obviously the right thing to do because moments later there was a flash of yellow light and something splashed harmlessly against the mist behind us.
..so much for other humans protecting us from her?!..

“Don’t you DARE run from me Death! We will END this today!”

I tried so hard to hold it in but that didn’t help much when a heavy, slightly tired but mostly frustrated, sigh tore itself from my lips.
..stupid fae queens..

“Hey Maven.. so how about an encore on that bottle song after all, huh?”
As I turned around slowly to face her enraged form it became pretty obvious that she was in no mood for banter at this exact moment in time.
“You know yellow is a horrible color on you? It makes your ceramic white skin look piss-stained and your black eyes look stupid..”

Might as well annoy her more at this point, right?
We’re obviously past the point of no return on escaping subtly now!

If she wants to make a scene in front of anyone stupid enough to have not run for the halls at this point then I’m game if nothing else.. plus that inch-thick miasma of yellow magic that’s shimmering dully around her whole body really CAN’T be healthy for anyone involved in all honesty, can it?

“You will not run from me Mother, this is MY realm and these are MY subjects!”
Her glare went up several notches and the magic around her body flickered slightly brighter for a second before she seemed to wrestle it back under her control again.
“That you would DARE to bring a demon spawn into MY realm and try to run with its corrupt power; dragging a Fae with you at that?!!”

Several of the more stupid human gawkers started easing their way slowly towards the hallways at the back of the reception area as she trailed off into an angry growl.
Who knew?.. even random people aren’t THAT stupid apparently..

“Fight me damn it!”
Nice try but I’m REALLY not feeling competitively suicidal at this exact moment Maven.

“Uh.. how about a rain-check?”
If anything my response seemed to make her magic flare even higher.

This is definitely not the time to be a smartass!
..although saying that, it’s not like she can actually hurt us right now?..

She can’t get past my ‘bubble shield’ at all without apparently hurting herself badly.. maybe if I just..

Careful to keep Eris, Felix and Mau as close as physically possible I started slowly moving us back around to face the currently blocked entranceway.
It barely took a few shuffling movements for us to get back in range honestly but I had to take my time about it because the shield didn’t exactly move around us like a solid construct; if anything it acted more like a constantly swirling wind full of small particles held loosely into a ‘round’ shape.. which makes sense considering that’s pretty much exactly what it is really?

When we’d all finally settled into as comfortable a position possible in the relatively tight space the shield afforded us, I turned slowly away from Maven to face the field blocking our only exit so efficiently.
In my head I knew that we were about as safe as we’re likely to get at the moment but that didn’t help my nerves in the slightest when it was still pretty easy to feel the sudden spike in angry magic that rose up.
..I suspect in correlation with the point that Maven realised I was now ‘ignoring her’..

“DON’T IGNORE ME!”
..see what I mean?..

“I’m not ignoring you Maven, I’m just busy trying to take apart your ward-line so we can leave.”
She growled low but it didn’t sound threatening enough for me to turn around just yet.
“Don’t pout Maven. Let me just finish taking this apart, then I promise I’ll pay you all the attention you could want before going home safely..”

To punctuate that statement I forced a touch of my magic into the barrier making it light up in an honestly unhealthy looking shade of florescent yellow.
..Come on you fiddly piece of-!..

Maven let off a shriek of rage for some reason and started yelling something about defiling again but I was too busy trying to get a handle on the bloody barrier to really pay attention to her at that exact moment.

..I’ve never seen a barrier like this before?..
It kind of reminds me of that weird barrier Storyteller put on the other side of this exact entranceway to be honest?
The one that would let people out but not back in again.. except for me of course.

Which is kinda understandable because it DID turn out to be a trap set up specifically for me in the end after all.. the annoying thing is that I never broke that bloody barrier last time though!
Edith broke through eventually somehow, so I honestly have no idea where to even get started here damn it?!

Okay, calm down..think!

Most barrier’s and lingering shields have some form of weakness usually.
There’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ defence after all, even if I’m struggling to find this one’s weak-point.

For the sake of being thorough, I prodded the stupid thing with a magic infused finger again and pushed lightly against it compared to my last attempt.
It lit up brightly again which I’d kind of expected but there was definitely more of a pattern to it this time.

This is feeling really familiar?
I think.. I think this might ACTUALLY be the same barrier Storyteller cast before!

It feels different, a lot more malevolent and powerful obviously and the magic is Mavens distinctive yellow mess rather than the dizzying mix of silver and green that Storyteller gave off but that’s something that can be ignored in the grand scheme of things even if it IS worth noting down just in case.

If I’m right then maybe this barrier is specifically stopping ME from leaving again?
I ran into it first and we all bounced off of it..

..the question is, how do we test that theory though?..
Almost as soon as the question formed in my head I had an answer, shifting my attention back down to Eris with my best ‘warm’ smile to help her keep calm despite Maven’s slowly increasing volume and rage.

“Eris sweetie, can you turn this..uh..”
Think, QUICK!

With a burst of inspiration I grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head, dislodging Felix in the process but getting a valuable resource at the same time.
No-one’s around to see us anyway and it’s not like a rather plain looking push-up bra is too embarrassing when you’ve spent a day or two running around in a bikini and short-shorts after all.

“-AND NOW YOU’RE STRIPPING IN MY REALM AS WELL?!!”
Oh..yeah, Maven’s definitely still yelling too obviously..

It’s kind of giving me a headache at this point honestly.

“SHUT UP YA GREAT BIG FAIRY DRAMA-QUEEN!”
That got her to at least pause in her ranting if nothing else!

The Fae really don’t like being called ‘fairies’ to start with, I doubt anyone’s had the guts to point out her more overly ‘dramatic’ traits so bluntly either judging by the protracted silence that came from her in the wake of my shout too.
..stupid fae queen’s..

“Eris sweetie, can you turn my shirt into one of your bear’s?”

Her little eyes went from surprise at my sudden yell to almost glee as she snatched up the shirt and folded it into a ball that she could fit neatly into her hands to cast upon.
I honestly couldn’t care less if she manages it or not at this point, I just need someone else’s magic to be infused into an item that’s easy to throw.

She scrunched up her nose and focused hard for a few seconds while mouthing that strange little mantra she uses for transfiguring things until, with a muted flash, she pulled her hands away leaving a rather sorry looking miniature teddy-bear lying on the floor.

Her head swung up to give me a proud grin which I sent back to her even as I scrabbled quickly to snatch the little bear up in my hands.

Barriers can come in many forms but if you make them specifically to block one person from one direction then only a fool would waste power that’s better used keeping that person contained by blocking everyone else at the same time!
The math alone would be a nightmare, even without casting it on the fly like Maven seemed to do.

“What are you doing with tha-”
Before Maven could finish questioning me I tossed the bear at the barrier making it shimmer slightly but providing no real resistance as the toy flew beyond its line and out through the entranceway.
“-HEY! Don’t do tha-”

“OH SHUT UP MAVEN!”
My yell stunned her into blissful silence again, giving me just enough time to scoop Felix into my arms and offer him a slightly apologetic smile as I launched him bodily at the barrier.
He barely managed a surprised chitter before he was through to the other side, disappearing seconds later as his momentum took him through the entrance and on to freedom.

PERFECT!

Before anything else could go wrong I snagged Eris by the wrist and launched her through as well.
The barrier flared slightly brighter than it had with Felix making my heart hammer for a moment with worry but she was beyond its border a second later, crying out in surprise but free and safe as she fell back into the normal world beyond.

“YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”
I ignored Maven with almost practiced ease at this point.
My time was much better spent snagging Mau up by the scruff of his neck instead after all.

“..Mau?..”
Sorry buddy, I know you want to help but you’re a liability at this point.

“Protect Eris, Mau. Get her and Felix home then bring John, okay?”
His tail swished a little uneasily at first but he didn’t put up any resistance as I tossed him through the barrier as well.

With a relieved huff I sat back on my heels slightly to catch my breath again.
I didn’t have long to enjoy my victory before a blast of yellow light from behind me formed up and splashed harmlessly against my, still apparently impervious, shield as if it was made of nothing instead of the worryingly powerful pulse of magic that it really was.

Maven yelled something about me being untrustworthy or something again.
At this point her rants are all kind of bleeding into one honestly?

It took a little effort to manage without accidentally sticking a body part outside the shield as I went but I managed to roll myself over to sit on my butt properly with my back pressed against her constantly flaring barrier and my knee’s tucked into my chest.

“Stalemate again Maven.. how about we sing about the bottles while I wait for John to break this barrier down from outside, huh?”
Her frustrated yell would have been terrifying if it wasn’t so pointless and over-the-top to my eyes by now.
“You can still walk away from here Maven. I’m not going to chase you, I won’t even come back to the Hub again if you wish.. you leave mine alone and I’ll leave yours alone, simple as that..”

“LIES!”
Oh for powers SAKE!
“ALWAYS LIES WITH YOU DEATH!!”

Rather than answer her I rolled my head back and leaned it heavily against the barrier that stands between me and freedom.
Slowly a tune built up in my throat that progressed to a hum and finally burst out of my lips with an almost happy smile of anticipation.

“Forty-two-thousand bottles of beer on the wall.. Forty-two-thousand bottles of BEER!-”

Her outraged yell was like music to my ears at this point.
She had the home-field advantage, the power advantage and surprise on her side.. but she managed to waste it all in her obsessive need to ‘fight’ me instead of just getting the job DONE for once!

Bad-guys.. I swear there’s a maximum IQ requirement for them somewhere, they NEVER know how to get things done.

..now if I was a bad-guy..
Well.. I shudder to think what kind of world we’d live in if I was in any way ‘evil’ to be honest?!

Past-incarnations excluded and missions ignored, I’m a nice person.
The kind of person who wouldn’t dream of world domination at least.. even if I may have gotten a little bored at one point and come up with an unbeatable fifteen-point plan to achieve such a dream.. with an accompanying slideshow too of course..
Everyone evil loves slideshows after all, right?

“Thirty-nine-thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall-”

======

“Hannah?”

“John?!”
I spun around to stare at the barrier in surprise, I really didn’t think he’d get here so fast.. how’s he even speaking right now anyway?

“I put a pair of remote listening charms on the doorway. Didn’t know if it would work but sometimes you get lucky, huh?”
Oh.. okay, I really did NOT know that you could send half a spell through a dimensional doorway like that!
..we’ll have to experiment with THAT little trick at some point..

“Nice singing by the way, I take it you’ve still got company of the.. how did Eris put it?.. ‘walking toilet-skinned fairy-bitch’ variety, I think it was?”
THAT’S MY GIRL!

After having to put up with her for FAR longer than can possibly be considered ‘healthy’ at this point, the little twitch of outrage in Maven’s magic from Eris’s insulting description couldn’t help but bring a smile to my lips.

“Maven’s still here. She’s being surprisingly stubborn about all of this considering the average attention span of most fae can be measured in minutes.. I’ve got a theory it’s a side effect from poor breeding and having brains the size of particularly small goldfish at this point.”

My golden shield flared to life again as several blasts of yellow magic struck it in response to that one but even Maven seems to be getting bored with uselessly tossing magic around now judging by her lack of shouting or actual rage behind the blasts.

“What’s you’re ETA on getting me out of here then?”

A long stretch of silence was my answer.
That’s.. that’s not good..

“Edith’s here, it’s a struggle to hit the barrier with it tucked so close to the doorway but we should be able to get it eventually.. the real problem is-”
He stopped suddenly and let off the unmistakably pained sound of someone who’d just been struck by a certain little Yoda’s JuJu stick.

“I be talkin’ for me’self, ya daft little toff!”
My shoulders slumped in relief just at the sound of her voice, the reaction was almost subconscious to be honest?
“Useless girl! Fae-pest be maintaining the barrier somehow. Either break whatever be powerin’ the barrier or be breaking HER, be quick about it too, me stories are on and Fena be stupid at recording them right!”

Well.. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I’m kind of glad for her selfish little statement of ‘fact’ too I guess..

So Maven is supporting and maintaining the barrier somehow?
Judging by the fact that I can’t really see anything that could be enchanted to hold it up around here, it must be linked directly to her magic somehow..

So my options are knock out the so far untouchable fae queen, kill her or.. or.. crap, why does everything always have to get messy when I’m involved?!

“You make it sound so easy Edith, anyone got any idea’s how we can pull this o-”
I cut myself short in surprise when something heavy behind the receptionist’s desk fell over for no apparent reason.

Maven shot me a confused look but quickly moved over to check the desk and moments later straightened up, grinning maniacally with a woman held tightly in her grasp by the throat.

Not just any woman either.. it’s bloody Felicia!
Crap.. crap, crap, crapping CRAP!

Maven twisted and show me a wide knowing grin while Felicia kicked her feet uselessly in the air and let off an almost pitiful gasp as her eye’s bore into mine with a look of absolute fear written all over her face.

“She’s got a hostage”

“WHAT?!”
More than one person called out there and I’m in no state to start picking out specific individuals now.

My eyes scanned around hopelessly for a long moment as I tried to think up a solution that didn’t involve either me or Felicia getting killed in the process.
With a wince I forced a bit of magic to build up in my eyes as Maven stepped closer to me, waving Felicia in the air almost tauntingly as she offered me a rictus grin of pure joy.

“Come out from the shield and fight me Death.. or the bitch dies..”
CRAP!

I’ve not exactly been on good terms with Felicia lately but that’s not even close to an acceptable excuse to write her off as an ‘unavoidable casualty’, even if we aren’t exactly friends anymore.

It’s not like I’ve given her much of a chance to make up for things anyway is it?
The last time I even thought about her properly was when Trudy helped me put all those prank spells on.. her.. desk?..

..Oh, oh that’s good!..
THE PRANKS!

The pranks we planted can’t have run out of power yet?!
Maven’s reinforced her barrier somehow, if I can work out how then maybe I can boost the pranks a bit too!

A little bit of power.. a little bit of telekinesis?
If I can super-charge the glyph I put on her chair to give her a cold butt every time she was rude to people and then launch the bloody thing at Maven somehow?!
..who’s ready for a Maven Popsicle!..

Now how can I pull it off?
It’s going to be risky bu-

“Drop the shield and fight or I snap her neck right now Death! We are beyond the point for subtlety thanks to you and your meddling, one human doesn’t mean much to anyone.. especially this loud-mouthed little whore..”
CRAP! Time, I need TIME damn it?!!
“Five bottles.. four bottles.. three bo-”

“OKAY, OKAY!.. Toss her away, the moment she’s loose I’ll drop my shield and fight you, for powers sake you psychotic fairy!”
The irony of her using bottles to count down didn’t escape me, nor her judging by the smug look on her face.. but neither of us was really feeling in the mood to point it out right about now honestly.

“No tricks Death, I let her go and you drop it instantly or the next thing you see will be her body splattered against the wall.”
Her free hand came up glowing in that horrible yellow shade just to prove her point but she really didn’t need it.

I know the stakes damn it!

Maven’s horribly pale arm stretched out vertical with Felicia held at an almost perfect right angle.
In response I crouched low into a sprinters position and started breathing forcefully.

This is all going to be manic for a few seconds.
I need to pull in my vented magic while simultaneously powering myself up to move quickly before she can get a clean shot off at me.

I’m going to have to rely on some dirty tricks just to survive the first few seconds in all honesty!

She’s already seen my velox ped enchantments activate before so the element of surprise they require to be useful most of the time is going to be gone, making using them at all more of a liability than anything else.

Luckily I make it a rule to never put all my eggs in one basket.
Too many powerful enemies have fallen to my hands because they had something that worked and they ran with it for too long, variety isn’t just the spice of life it also happens to be the thing that can KEEP you alive too!

Everything seemed to move in slow motion for a moment, I watched Maven’s grip on Felicia’s throat go slack and pulled my magic back from my currently bloated aura.

For a moment I felt bloated myself with excess magic but that didn’t last long as I redirected the incoming magic down my body towards my feet and forced it out of them as a wave that sank into the floor below me, spreading out and coating the area below me in a charged build-up that was possibly more than I really should have used for what I’m planning.

I honestly don’t know if it’s really got a name or anything but Edith uses this technique with her JuJu stick if she needs to reach the high shelves in the shops storeroom.
I can kind of see why she tends to use it so casually, it’s not exactly hard to pull off or anything, just a bit counter-intuitive at first I guess?

The idea is to coat a surface with a charged chunk of your magic and then invert your output which basically bounces you away from the charged surface at speed.
The hard part is ‘inverting’ your magic because, in general, it’s not something we tend to think of doing outside of specific spells without great caution as mages.

..even the word ‘invert’ is a bit of a misnomer?..
Magic doesn’t have polarity like a magnet or anything, there’s technically nothing to ‘invert’ in the first place.. however, when you cycle magic inside yourself to build up for casting a spell, you have to spin it either clockwise or anti-clockwise and that DOES cause quite a big difference for most spells surprisingly.

On a basic level spell, it can be the difference between summoning something towards yourself or sending it flying away, at the higher levels.. well.. magic’s complicated after all?..

A half-turn clockwise just before casting can be the difference between creating a rabbit from thin air and accidentally calling forth a mini-blackhole powered by your cores energy until it destroys you completely from the cost of maintaining it with internal magic?
..you really don’t want to know how I know that by the way!..

Maven’s hand finally went completely slack and Felicia started to fall.
It really did feel like the world was running in slow motion for a moment as Maven’s head turned sharply towards me with dawning horror on her face.
I have no idea why she looked so shocked but I had no time for curiosity at this point!

A swirl and a tug drew more magic back into my skin, less than a second later I’d managed to spin it and send it back down to my feet.
Obviously I probably put a bit too much power into it because I’m me and overloading spells is what I do sadly.

Either way the clockwise cycling magic I’d embedded into the floor reacted to the infusion of anti-clockwise spinning magic by blasting me up and away from it, right on target for Maven or more specifically for Felicia’s falling body!

We crashed into each other at high speed.
I think I may have actually bruised a rib or two on both of us in the impact to be honest, when the initial blast’s energy wore off it left us to skid across the reception area’s floor and Felicia certainly groaned as if I’d hurt her in some way at least?

No time for guilt though!

I’ve never had it seem to take so long just for me to turn and get back to my feet.
Trails of vented magic drifted from my fingers as I tried to gather together another ‘shield’ before Maven could retaliate.

My mind was so tightly focused on building the shield again, in fact.. that it took almost a full second after the bubble of mist-like magic finally reformed before I could make out the anguished wailing that was coming from directly in front of me?
It took a few more seconds and a confused blink for me to confirm that what I was seeing was, in fact, ‘real’ and not some kind of twisted hallucination or something..

Maven.. big bad, scary-as-all-hell fae queen Maven was crumpled on the floor roughly at the point where I’d launched myself off in my mad dash attempt to get Felicia clear from the line of fire?

“Stop! No, No! STOP!”
Her hands were almost frantic as she slapped them down on the floor at a rapid pace.

Even from here there was no mistaking thin trails of white smoke rising from her palms with each successive slap.

I took a careful step forward, making sure to keep my shield up still of course, but feeling more than a little confused and possibly a little disappointed too.
As I got closer I could finally make out what had her freaking out so much.. a small patch of almost golden coloring splashed brightly upon the floor that, if my eyes aren’t playing tricks on me, appears to be trying to spread outwards?

..insidious magic?..
That’s right! Maven said something about that before didn’t she?

‘Leaving a trail of your insidious magic behind you that I have to fight so hard to stop its corruption from spreading’
..something like that?..

Is.. is my diversion magic INFECTIOUS somehow?!

I stalled slightly as that idea struck me a bit harder then I’d have expected it to?
Magic can’t be ‘infectious’, can it?.. there’s got to be a more logical explanation for this!

I’m sure I’d have noticed a hell of a lot more symptoms from it if my magic really was able to spread or.. or..
..the grass?..

THE GRASS!

Dump some of my diversion magic into the grass under my feet and it springs up in flowers?!
That’s not NORMAL, even by magic standards..

Before I could think deeper on the altogether far too worrying new development and what it could potentially mean for my life in general, Maven apparently finished ‘clearing’ away the golden ‘splash’ because she span on a heel and practically dived at me with her sharp, almost claw-like nails ready to do some real damage, her face contorted in absolute rage all of a sudden.

I didn’t think.. I didn’t plan.. I just REACTED!

In the time it took her to move through the distance between us I pumped a large pulse of magic into the floor at my feet and just about managed to push myself away from her in an admittedly sloppy dodge roll, even if it did leave me tumbling along the floor awkwardly in the end.

“NO!”
A twitch of my arms launched me back to my feet as I rolled with a practiced flourish and yet again I came face-to-face with Maven frantically trying to ‘pat’ away a slowly spreading puddle of golden coloring upon her usually pristine white floor, thin trails of smoke raising up from her now blistered hands.

My lips twisted up into an almost feral grin as I made my decision.

There’s no room for guilt here!
She may look pathetic right now as she fights against a floor, almost to the point of tears as it fights back with more fervour then is normally expected from an inanimate walking surface, but the moment that splash of gold is gone she’s going to try and kill me all over again!

SHE trapped ME in here, I refuse to let myself feel guilty for what I’m about to do damn it!

“Hey Maven.. you missed a spot?”
Her hands didn’t halt in their movement but her head twisted to fix me with an almost pleading look of fear.

Too late for pleading though sadly, she threatened Felix, she threatened innocent Fae, she threatened Mau and she endangered Eris!

With a casual lean forward, I stuck my left foot out delicately and tapped my toes against the floor in front of me, letting a relatively small blast of magic pass into the floor which quickly began to turn that lovely shade of gold I’ve come to appreciate a lot more than usual in the last few minutes.

“NO!”

She dived sideways and tried to slap the new patch of gold out of existence but didn’t quite manage to get it all before having to pull herself back to the, still steadily growing, much larger patch that she’d been working on previously.

Just for good measure.. and totally not because it gave me a nice vindictive thrill to scare her in return for how many time’s she managed to corner me in the last hour or so.. I eased my way along the wall until I was standing behind her, then slammed my foot down hard with another pulse of magic.

“oops?”

The gold was already spreading as I pulled my foot back.
Maven let off a bloodcurdling scream of pain and tried to jump to stop the new patch which inevitably left the other two patches unattended as they expanded all over again.

It really was a vicious cycle at this point.
No matter how hard she tries there’s no way she can clear them all, and while two patches was JUST about manageable for her, three is apparently her limit.

If she was being logical about it she could attack the outer edges of the patches until they all converged in the center then clear them?
That’s what I’d do at least.. not that I’m going to tell HER that, I’m not stupid after all!

For the sake of my own curiosity, and for insurance too obviously, I walked to the final, so far untouched by my apparently ‘infectious’ magic, side of the reception area and slapped both hands on the wall so I could send a pulse into that as well.

The wall started turning golden almost instantly at possibly a faster pace than any of the floor patches had, I think?
Strange.. I wonder why the walls would react quicker than the flo-

“NO!! STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT!!”
I couldn’t help but let out a yelp when Maven came barrelling over and shoved me aside so she could practically lay herself out against the wall in a futile attempt at stopping its spread, earning herself a scream of pain and more blisters just like the ones she’d been gaining from the floors a moment before.
“This is my realm! MINE!”

For a moment I almost.. ALMOST.. felt sorry for her..
The moment passed quickly though and I turned my focus on something much more productive instead, namely creating a new set of restraints like the ones I ‘gave’ Grace earlier.

The leather straps finally formed in my hand after a slight delay, they only took so long because Maven’s feverish screams are rather distracting and my conjuration is still a bit rusty even if I’ve had a fair bit of practice lately.. still, I’m nowhere near as rusty with runes at least!

It barely took me thirty-seconds from the moment that the straps formed before I had them coated in blood runes that were originally designed to restrain demons.
I know she’s not one but she’s a fae, a powerful fae at that, so it never hurts to be cautious, right?

My eyes trailed after her as she scrabbled around at the still expanding patches of gold for a few more seconds but eventually even I couldn’t take watching the pathetic spectacle she was making along with the burns that were progressively getting darker across her body in general.

With a casual toss the straps landed heavily at her oblivious feet.
They drew taut a moment later and within seconds they were wiggling their way around her, securing her tightly within themselves.

“NO! You can’t do this! Make it stop! Make it STOP!”

I couldn’t help but sigh a little as she really did breakdown into tears this time.
Her eyes wouldn’t leave the still spreading patches and the fear in them was almost palpable.

After a few seconds indecision I stepped over to the patch she was staring at and crouched down to touch it gently.

It’s easier to feel details in magic with your hands, there are at least twelve more lines in your hand then in your foot to start with so obviously you can get more out of them, more receptors mean’s more sensitivity, just like any other sense really?

With one uncertain huff I finally gave in and sent out a tiny pulse to draw my infused magic back into my body.
..Uggh, this is going to suck..

Drawing magic back into my body when my core’s already replaced it always leaves me feeling bloated and it’s not like I don’t already FEEL bloated from my stupid, hopefully finally fading, period too so this is going to be doubly uncomfortab-

..what?..
WHAT?!

My.. my magic?
Come HERE you stupid-
No.. HERE!.. don’t- HEY!

Completely ignoring my intention to draw it back in, the magic within the golden patch decided to pull away from me instead, drawing MORE magic out of me as it went?!

It was all I could do to cut off the lines in my hand and move quickly away from the now rapidly expanding patch as it practically chased after me!
In a few short seconds I found myself backed up against the barrier blocking the doorway again as the golden splash came closer and closer until it had me practically cornered.

This isn’t supposed to happen!

A thin trail of gold moved into the space at my feet and it just made contact enough to start pulling more of my magic out again before, much to my surprise, the barrier faded out of existence and I went tumbling backwards through the entranceway with a startled scream.

======

I feel back out into Klamath Falls proper with my arms pin-wheeling uselessly, until they connected with something and I ended up crashing into someone who’d been crouched right where I would have landed painfully on the sidewalk otherwise.

We both groaned but didn’t move at first as we tried to get our bearings again.

“Why do you always manage to hit my nose?”
Judging by the slightly nasally quality to his voice I can quite happily assume that the thing my arm connected with was most likely John’s poor abused nose, and in turn the body I landed on happened to be John’s as well.

“Girl always be havin’ an annoying sense of timin’, useless girl’s pet be used to it by now surely?”
Lovely to see you too Edith!

Wait.. who exactly are you calling my pet?!

“..I hate you so much you old hag..”
Well that’s not very nice John-boy!

You should respect your elders before they-
“BAD JUJU!”
-decide you’re using Bad Juju.. too late..

With a wide swing Edith’s once unseen stick came arching in to clock John across the cheek hard, making him go limp underneath me for a second where I think he might have actually passed out from the pain?

“..oww..”
Huh.. no, he’s still awake?.. nevermind!

..oh well, maybe next time..
I couldn’t help but snort at that thought.
It’s wrong, I know, but some part of me still enjoys seeing him suffer just a LITTLE bit.

Not too much, nothing permanent certainly, but just a bit of casual violence against him to keep him on his toes, ya know?
Getting his ass handed to him once in a while is good for keeping his ego down to a manageable level and he really DID have it coming by calling Edith names, I learnt that lesson the hard way YEARS ago!

I survived with only a slight amount of twitchiness around old people as a result so I’m sure he’ll be fine eventually.

Another awkward groan from below me was the little kick I needed to ease myself off of John at last.
When I’d turned around and settled on my knees so I could look down at him he shot me a slightly pained but overall pleased look that said a lot to my eyes.

I didn’t even think as my magic pushed up slightly and a dome of magic formed around us, healing his poor nose along with whatever other pains he might have had nicely, before I cut it off sharply as my brain caught up with my actions.

What the hell am I doing healing people so casually at the moment?!
My golden diversion magic just went bloody FERAL in the Hub!

Now really isn’t the time to be using it to heal minor wounds, even if I DID feel a bit sorry for him and his wide-eyed look of gratitude DID make my belly tingle delightfully for a moment or two in response?!

“Um.. I may have accidentally infected the Hub with gold and purposefully restrained the Fae Queen Maven inside?.. someone should probably take a look at that at some point, right?”

A long, almost awed, silence stretched out between me, John, Edith and the audience of Hub staff I’d only just started to notice as my eyes shot nervously around us in search of somewhere to look that didn’t have someone standing in it.

Everything happened seemingly at once from there.
John’s frantic cry of “WHAT?!” was almost drowned out by Edith’s breathless cackle of amusement.

Both of them were definitely overshadowed by the sudden surge of movement around us as seemingly every Hub staff member present tried to stampede inside to see things for themselves though.
..some people have NO survival instincts!..

Tell them something weird and potentially dangerous just happen, the first thing they do is go charging towards it for some powers-known reason?!
..stupid people..

“Is the truck nearby? I’d really like to be safely at home behind the wards before they come back out looking for answers I’m really not sure I can offer them..”
John surged to his feet and nodded as he practically sprinted off up the street to go get the truck, all pouting and curiosity put on hold just because of the serious tone to my voice.
..I love when he does stuff like that..

“Useless girl still not been to the shop? We be needin’ a talk!”
I couldn’t help but groan at that one.

I haven’t had bloody TIME Edith?!
I’ll come see you at some point, as soon as I can, okay?

“Sorry Edith. Things have been getting a bit crazy lately, I’m matriarch of the Garnier now by the way.. and John’s heir.. and owner of the world’s newest magical enclave-slash-shopping district which will apparently be run from the back wall of the old elevator in our house..”

Edith fixed me with a hard stare as if it would somehow help her see truth from my apparent 'lies'.
Much to my surprise after barely a few seconds she nodded to herself and huffed loudly before turning away from me to start walking back up the street.

“Useless girl not be takin’ too long! Old bones be waitin’ but not much longer, ya hurry up young’un else I be bringing out me JuJu stick on ya again, hear?”
She twitched her head around just enough as she walked to flash me a wide smile that dissolved almost as soon as she gave it back into her usual grumpy old facade.

I offered her a grin in return and nodded in agreement, making a mental note to ACTUALLY make time to see her in the next few days.. barring some other type of drama or problem cropping up of course?..

As Edith turned around to focus on walking forward again, the unmistakable gleam of John’s beyond-retro truck came peeling out from a street on the right, the one that leads behind the court house naturally, and he pulled up sharply next to me with a protest from his poor breaks.

“Hop in before they really do come after you Han.”

I shot him an amused grin just because I could, he’s already giving me one first so it’s only polite to return the favor after all, right?
In the few seconds it took for me to scrabble inside the truck I could hear some kind of commotion behind me.

John didn’t pause to see what it was.
The moment the door shut he peeled away again, heading for the road out of town that leads to the resort or more specifically to mum’s place.

I sent one last cautious look into the mirrors and could just about make out a rather worryingly large group of people standing outside the Hub’s entrance watching us go.
..that’s really not good, is it?..

Oh well, story of my life really!

Let the things that will bite me in the ass come and try.. later.. after I’ve had time to get my heart back into a calm rhythm of some sort and allowed my brain to fully process what the HELL just happened?!

One thing’s for certain, I’m DEFINITELY not going back to the hub for a while!
At least until someone declares it safe and Maven’s declared dead.. boy is SHE gonna be pissed when she gets free!

..think I'd better add a Fae repellent ward to our new wardstone honestly..
I'll have to key Felix in somehow but I'm sure it can't be THAT hard to do with a bit of well applied runes.. maybe I can make some kind of collar for him that bypasses the Fae repellent effect?

With that happy thought I drifted off slightly to come up with something that might actually work, despite the worryingly large power level such a ward would have to keep back if Maven really did come after me again.

Runes are SO much easier to deal with then politics, Fae Queens and whatever the hell is going on between me and John lately so I'm pretty happy for the distraction at this point.

Maybe if I focus on this first we can get home before he thinks to question the ‘whys’ behind anything that’s happened today.. or he decides to make some kind of smug suggestive comment about the fact that I’m alone with him in his car wearing only a pair of skin-tight jeans and a push-up bra!
..stupid perv..