Participants:
| Scene Title | Six Feet Under Pt 4 |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Jolie and Rain go to Haiti. They face the Mauvais Air! |
It's been a few days since the pair has arrived in the Dark Hour. It seems that each separate location has different sets of rules..or something like that. The case is no different in Haiti as there's chaos in the village.
There's a high pitched scream from one of the huts. Not the one that was warded by Rain, but there's a terrible cry of pain and anguish..
Jolie runs to the hut. She runs like her ass is on fire. "What's happening? Please, tell me!"
Rain looks pained at the scream. She too runs, like a schoolgirl in a calamari bar. "Oh no…" They aren't too late, are they?
As the pair arrives, they find a rather odd sight. It's very reminiscent of the fly, but instead it's a young woman holding the limp body of her toddler. She cries out once more as her features start to change. Her nose becomes longer until a rather almost mosquito like protrusion bursts through the skin.
Gore continues as her skin starts to shed to the point where she's covered in the muscle and sinew of her own musculature. The young woman's once bronze skin falls to the ground as she cries out once more while wings start popping out of her back…
"Dammit! If we'd only gotten back sooner," mutters Jolie. "Rain, make sure no one comes in here." And she rushes the mosquito-woman, trying to get her toddler away from her while she is still in the painful throes of transformation, hoping against hope that the child might still be alive.
"Righto!" Rain replies. She nods solemnly, too wishing they had gotten there sooner. She looks pained at the young woman's transformation and turns away to keep people from getting too close to the transforming woman.
The toddler is unfortunately dead. No breathing, no pulse, nothing.
Quickly, another scream of anguish can be heard in a nearby hut. It sounds pained and sad at the same time…
Meanwhile, the woman continues her transformation, her eyes becoming more mosquito like, her eyes bulging out of the sockets before suddenly having lens much like a mosquito..
Jolie carefully lays the child on the floor. "I'm sorry, lil'baby. I failed you. I've failed this entire village." Then she slowly stands up. And smiles. "Alrighty, Rain. If you got any ideas, let me know. Right now it looks like there's some kinda infection goin on. That thing you did to the place we were stayin, can you do it again to one of the houses that ain't got screamin people in it? I'mma go check the other one." And with that, she rushes to the other hut.
"I can," Rain smiles. "I warded it against the couchemal, I am not sure about this other thing. I could ward against ghosts entirely," She offers. Rain pulls her scroll to keep it close to her. She is moving away fast though, to start warding one of the houses that isn't full of screaming people.
As Jolie runs into the second hut, there's a woman starting to fall towards the ground in agony. There's a fully formed mosquito woman draining a young girl, no more than eight years in age. The mosquito like protrusion is stabbing the young girl in the stomach as she becomes moreand more pale…
"NO. NOT AGAIN." Jolie raises her baseball bat, both hands gripping the handle, her face twisted with guilt and anger. "NO MORE WILL YOU DEFILE MY FATHER'S PEOPLE!" And she rushes in, moving to swing right at the head of the mosquito woman who is draining the girl.
"I hate mosquitoes," Rain winces. Egyptians have a natural loathing of them after all. The woman bolts to a house that doesn't have screaming and quickly scribbles a hieroglyph into the air with her pen tip. "Mosquitoes stay out." Pause. "That means one mosquito too." Apparently Rain remembers the tree house no girls/no girl allowed rules. She takes a deep breath and tries to ward the place against bad bugs. Then she scampers to the friendly couple's home to get garlic. "Garlic garlic-"
The friendly couple's home has garlic, and lots of it. It seems they knew something like this might happen, or at least the wife did, and thus bought lots of cloves. Mortar and pestle and a variety of strong spices like mace are available for the concoction as well.
Meanwhile, the Mauvais Air is punched and it lets out an annoyed buzz. The young girl in the arms of the creature is still breathing..but barely. There's a wound on her side as expected of being stabbed by a giant mosquito, butit seems the creature focuses its attention on Jolie now. Divine ichor is more delicious afterall as it lunges towardsher, trying to stab the Scion in the stomach.
Jolie dodges the stab, then gets an idea. "That's it, Skeeter. You don't want that ol'normal blood. Come an getta piece of me." She flashes her midriff then tries to grab the girl out of her arms.
"Thank you ma'am," Rain bows. She pulls out the pen too. *fwip* Ginsu knife! She sets it beside the mortar and pestle and spices. Huff. She sets to work, finally in her element. Normally mediocre at most things, Rain is growing more talented! But this - this is her arena. She is a spartan and the mosquitoes are to be kicked into the pit of death (Although, what civil engineer allowed a pit of death in the middle of town?). Hopefully she manages this…
It takes a few minutes to successfully mix and mash everything together, but eventually the pungent smell of the concoction fills the hut. It might be a bit too much to bare. This shit is strong!
Meanwhile, the Mauvais Air buzzes once more, starting to go after Jolie, it wants some of that ichor damnit!
Jolie mocks the Mauvais Air. "So slow. And you call yourself a mosquito woman? That sparkly vampire guy's faster than you!" She slowly backs out of the hut. "Come and get it! Alla this tasty tasty bloooooood…"
God of the kitchen, eat your heart out. Sure, even Rain managed a course on the impressive cooking style involving flying knives, fire and goodness knows what else. Can the same apply to a garlic dish? Time to find up. "Jolie! Eat this! The garlic stuff!" Antidote time! Rain takes a deep breath. Visualize. She winds up and -tosses- it to Jolie. She almost wishes she had bullet time here.
Mauvais Air is angry. Most definitely angry. Her wings twitch just a bit as she continues to look towards Jolie, its beedy eyes staring at her while watching all sorts of movements. The stench of the garlic concoction gets it to hesitate for a few moments. Who made it? How did they know? With that, it angrily buzzes before trying to stab Jolie before she can eat the garlic breath nightmare…
It's like a soft drink commercial. The garlic potion goes flying through the air towards Jolie. Jolie puts up her hand and *bam!* she catches it, just as she dodges the Mauvais Air again. And down the hatch it goes. She gulps down the concoction, makes a screwed up face, then says to the mosquito woman, "Bite me."
Bug zapper! Rain recalls summer evenings spent flailing at them, hoping the skeeters would hit the light and not her soft, filled with blood self. She scrambles to whatever passes for storage in the hut and grabs the light. A few thunks. Still some juice left! She holds it out to Jolie. "This might lure her over."
BZZZZZZT! Like the bad guys are that stupid. This isnt a hero level threat anymore afterall..or maybe it is. Still, the Mauvais Air is not stupid as it has basic survival instincts like don't poke the lady who just ate the one thing that can kill you. Instead it buzzes around Jolie before starting to hover over towards Rain..it's not fast enough to poke her yet…
"Man, am I stupid," Jolie mutters. "Note to self: Don't drink the garlic stuff where the mosquito woman can watch you." But watching the Mauvais Air hovering around Rain gives her an idea. "Forgive me, Rain," she says softly, then out loud, she says, "Aw man! Rain, you're so slow, that thing's gonna get you!"
"Huh?" Rain looks up, holding the bug zapper. It glows with a soft blue light, flickering. SOme juice, not a LOT. "Okay…?" Rain seems confused as to why Jolie asks for forgiveness. She furrows her brows, then blinks. "Well, it IS pretty fast," She blurts out, unmoving.
Bzzz. Bzzz. And there's the long protrusion needlelike nose of the Mauvais Air rushing towards theunmoving Rain. And it aims for the stomach hoping to drain ichor!
And that is what Jolie was waiting for. As the mosquito woman rushes in towards the vulnerable Rain, Jolie moves as well, zipping in to try and intercept the Mauvais Air and get lanced instead of her fellow Scion. Bait and Switch, a race against time, with Rain hanging in the balance.
Flail! Rain does make good bait. She's tasty. But she catches onto the plan after a moment. She will try to zip out of the way and help Jolie. She'd really rather not be slurped like a Capri sun on a hot day.
Jolie is super fast. Faster than the Mauvais air even. As it's about to pierce into the slurpalicious Capri sun that is Rain, the young mambo steps into the way and the creature buzzes in an annoyed fashion. But it's too late, it's long proboscus pierces through skin as it starts draining Jolie of ichor..ichor mixed with that garlicky fluid before it suddenly explodes in front of her leaving an unconscious young woman naked on the ground.
Unfortunately, there's a giant proboscus stuck in Jolie's stomach..oww.
"She's slow. But I'm not," says Jolie as she dives in. And then she gets speared but good. She drops to the ground, her face twisted in pain. "Ow. Ow. Rain, remind me to be smarter next time," she winces with a smile. "Go…go check and see if the others are still changed."
Rain IS pretty slow. Alas. Rain looks sympathetic as she gets speared. "Jolie…" She frowns and nods. "Alright. I may have to make more of this stuff. There has GOT to be an easier way," She considers as she scampers to check on the others. "Do you need bandages or - anything?"
There have been two explosions in the other huts. One of them reveals yet another young woman still sobbng on the floor from the death of her child. The other explosion..there was no woman. Perhaps it was too late for that one..
Jolie slowly stands up, with more wincing. "First we care for the other wounded. Get those women into a warded hut. We have to get to the bottom of this, before more craziness happens. Why did those children die? Are they victims of Uncle Gunnysacks?"
"Okay." Rain nods. She will try to get the women into a warded hut. "I think the Tower is doing this, and the children are a sacrifice. But that doesn't explain everything…" A frown. "Perhaps some are," She can't seem to say but she does set about her work.
And the people are safely brought into the warded hut where the beautiful young woman waits for them once more. She smiles towards Rain and hrmms for a few moments. "Please bring my husband's daughter in here..I will tend to her wounds.."
Jolie isn't moving very fast right now. But she manages to walk over to the infected huts, asking any nearby people to help her with the dead. "Can you tell me if anything happened while me and Rain were gone?"
Rain nods at the beautiful young woman. "Yes ma'am," She turns on her heels to find Jolie. Then has to pause a moment. Husband's daughter. The dots slowly connect. OH! Maybe! She strides on towards Jolie. "Jolie? The kind woman we are with wants to see you, to tend to your wounds. She's um, your dad's wife." If Jolie didn't know already…
There's a soft chuckle under her breath as she spies Jolie enter the hut as she nods. "It took most of my power tostop what was going on, but alas, I could not protect everyone.." she says with a sigh of regret.She heads towards Jolie and just pulls out the proboscus..it would hurt as she pulls it out but at least there's nothing sticking out of her stomach anymore.
Jolie's eyes go wide as Rain tells her the identity of the beautiful woman. "Oh. Wow." She follows Rain to the hut and is ever so humble when she sees the woman again. "Hello, Maman. I'm so sorry I couldn't stop it all and - OW - " She doesn't try to hide the pain because, well, she's not a all tough like David and Haldor and, well it HURTS. But she's not whiny about it. Putting a hand over the wound, she manages to say, "It all has somethin to do with that tower out in the swamp, ma'am. The babies are being sacrificed to bring it here, we think."
Jolie adds, "Oh, Maman, this is Rain. She's Anubis' daughter."
Nod. Rain smiles and walks along with Jolie over. "Yeah… I feel really awful." Then a wince as the probiscus is removed. She's sympathetic at least. She looks away respectfully for a moment. A nod at Jolie's addition. Rain doesn't seem sure of what to say. She takes a deep breath. "I also think the tower hurt Uncle Gunnysacks or something," A quiet addition. But she looks grateful.
"The babies are sacrificed.." There's a soft hrmm under her breath though from the slight reddening on her cheeks she wants to curse and scream, but alas won't do such a thing in polite company. She bows her head towards Rain and smiles once more. "The Tonton Macout… hurt?" And she looks confused as she mulls everything over.
"Yes ma'am. It's all really messed up, " Jolie says. "The couchemals said that they had escaped the gunnysack, and were helping more children escape. And some shapeshifter at the tower said that Uncle, er Tonton Macoute had come out of the tower. Something's not right with him, as right as he can be." She whispers to Rain, "Can you get me a towel or somethin? I don't wanna bleed on the floor."
"Well, for better or worse, he does have a purpose," Rain notes quietly. "Not a pleasant one but…" She shakes her head. She does move to get a towel and bring it to Jolie. "It could be corrupting him, I don't know." She seems annoyed that she doesn't know more and just frowns. She goes quiet for now.
"Or he could be lost. While he has a purpose, the realm you entered has connections…ties that bind its fate together with other places.." Maman says matter of factly as she heads towards Jolie and closes the wound. She isnt exactly a healer, but at least there's going to be no blood..or no more of it dripping onto her floor.
"Thanks," Jolie says to Rain as she brings the towel. "Oh! Thanks!" says Jolie as Maman Brigitte closes her wound. She makes sure to clean up any spills, then asks, "So, we need to find him, then. Maybe he's in another tower? There's one in Times Square."
"I wonder how in the world we'll even deal with the towers," Rain frowns. "I doubt just being there does anyone any good…" She nods after handing over the towel. And cool! Healing! She looks like she's thinking a moment. "If it's bound to other places," Ponderponder.
"I honestly do not know. There are connections here.MY nhusband is a better psychopomp than I, but we both know that Uncle Gunnysacks looks for children..if he has indeed been able to free himself to his binding here in Haiti, then perhaps finding out where missing children are would help. I have not explored the realm myself..there are too many dark magics that have made it.." And of course, she helped bring it about considering its history.
Jolie ponders just like Rain, only probably not as well. "The children are still dying here. We can't leave here until we stop that." She shakes her head. "Too many irons in the fire, huh?"
A sigh. "A lot like trying to untangle a really long cord," Rain wriggles her fingers a little. "I'm not sure where to start. The Tower seems like a place to look, but if we go, people tend to get hurt. But I don't know if the children are there." Pause. "Or…" Hmmm. Maybe another realm…? The hampster is running on the wheel, but is it turning?
"Everything is connected. The children, teh Tonton Macout, the Dark Spires…everything is connected. Figure out the connection and perhaps it can be stopped.." she muses under her breath.
"Okay. We've got work to do. But first, we need to rest and send the deceased to their final restin place," Jolie says thoughtfully. "How's that sound?" She looks over at Rain. "Any ideas?"
Connected, all of it. "I'm thinking. There are ways things are connected. Like relation, corruption, similarity, dissimilarity, location… Origin, sympathy, stuff like that." She taps her chin. She nods at Jolie. "I guess we should do that too."
"Perhaps..you should go back and find out what is going on in New York. Or find your bandmates and seek them out. I think you al have separate pieces of a much larger puzzle.." Maman Birgitte says once more, smiling warmly as she takes a deep breath and hrmms for a few moments as she looks towards Jolie and steps forward before touching her on the forehead. Suddenly and abruptly, the mambo is covered in dark energies of death…
"I don't want to leave the village behind, in case there is another attack," muses Jolie. "But I am part of a band, and we do our best work when we're together. Not to mention the fact that they need m-ooh!" Jolie is taken by surprise when Maman Brigitte touches her. But she goes still and quiet.
"That could be it too," Rain considers. "But-" The village! She looks worried. And then Maman Brigitte touches Jolie and there's dark energies all over her? Peer. Rain looks between the two, puzzled.
Jolie would definitely feel…different. She's faster, more limber, stronger, and even more beautiful. The dark energies concentrate the ichor in her blood washing away just another bit of her humanity as soon the energies disappear.
"You are now changed. Your father is regretful he can't do it himself, but he asked me to bestow upon you new powers..you have proven yourself worthy afterall.."
Jolie blinks, clenches and unclenches a fist, looks down at herself. Then she humbly says, "Thank you ma'am. And thank you, Daddy, whereever you are." She's pretty overwhelmed by the change.
Blink. Rain smiles. It's not something one witnesses often. She beams at Jolie. "Congratulations," She nods. She pauses, to see the change. Yup, definitely more divine.
"Go and find the connections..perhaps you'll be able to understand the mystery of the Dark Hour now with your new gifts.." Maman Birgitte replies, smiling warmly towards the two as she wrinkles her nose a bit as she runs her fingers through her hair.
Jolie smiles softly. "All I can do is try, ma'am," she replies. "Try as hard as I can."
Nodnod. Rain smiles back warmly. She's happy for Jolie and hopeful.
Maman Birgitte smiles warmly and takes a deep breath as she wrinkles her nose just a little and looks towards the two women before her. "I will do what I can here..for now, your father wishes you to return with your band to bring the pieces of the puzzle together. Right now..all of you acting independently…nothing good will come of it.."
Jolie nods curtly. "Yes, ma'am. Plus, I'm keepin Rain from her business." She looks over at Rain. "Like my brother." She winks.
Blush. Rain shakes her head and smiles. "N-not at all!" She holds up her hands. "I mean, these towers and all are really bad and … well, um, it's a tremendous milestone - " Flail. Rain is NOT a public speaker.
A soft and amused chuckle escapes from her lips as she looks towards Jolie and smiles warmly before winking towards Rain. "You're lucky..my husband approves of you..says you're quite charming.." Maman Birgitte replies before she takes a deep breath and opens a portal back to New York. "My other husband has already brought your things back if you so wish..we will need you again, I'm sure..but for now..I think your bandmates need you more.."
"Thank you, ma'am, and please tell your other husband thank you, too," says Jolie, blinking a little as the portal is revealed. She goes to get her luggage and awaits Rain before the two of them step through to New York.
More blushing. "Wow. Thank you. I'm flattered." Rain nods again. She smiles at the woman. Then blinks. That's impressive. She nods as Jolie speaks. She will step through to New York, once sure of her things coming back. She waves.
