Loki awoke as the Renraku link blasted the alarm he had set the night before; apparently he'd forgotten to adjust the volume. Anyone who wasn't already awake was sure to be so now, as the device certainly had more oomph than he'd ever thought possible. He headed out just in time to watch as the light of dawn began flooding the Emerald City, and caught a breath of relatively fresh air compared to the stuffy insides of the shop. Suddenly, seeing the beams of golden light scattering across a copse of somewhat unharmed trees, he found himself strangely missing the Tir.
"For all it's faults, it's still home", he thought to himself as he shook himself out of his reverie.
"And, I guess I'll get to see it soon enough. Anyway, enough faffing about, time to go to work."Walking back inside, he nodded to the others as they stirred and went about their business, and headed over to the corner he'd claimed for himself. The young elf sat down, leaned his back against the wall, and spoke in a mirthful voice.
"All right, boys and girls, I'll be out for a while taking a look at the kid and his bodyguard, so don't go assaulting anything while I'm gone. Also, anyone fucks with my body while I'm out and you will all find yourselves in a pile, naked and sweaty, while I'll be in possession of some pretty compromising photos you might not want circulating the 'trix for eternity. Let's just say it's in your best interest to ensure I stay undisturbed for the next four to five hours, at most..."Loki grinned widely and added a cheerful
"Imo herme!", the beginning of a traditional Sperethiel parting phrase, before leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed, his body going limp as a ragdoll.
The emotional weight of the world crashed into him as he left his body for the Astral, as the intensity of the sensation never ceased to shock him. After stepping across the threshold, he checked that his body hadn't fallen over somehow as he hated waking back up with a serious crick in the neck, and then took a look at the others briefly.
"Nothing special," he thought as he read their surface moods.
"At least no one seems nervous enough to indicate that they're going to betray us, so that's something I guess."His Astral form "jumped" up and he flew through the roof of the shop into the early morning sky. He settled in the clouds once again and called forth an ally from the mist.
"Trickster, hear me! I have need of your people once again, and I honor our ancestors by making this sacrifice in your name!" Shouting out his call, he drew his black dagger from the sheath on his back and ran it's edge across his left arm, the wound opening and closing almost immediately. A flock of ravens descended upon him almost instantly after the blade had rasped his skin, and they pecked at his head and scratched at his face, but his resolve held and he weathered their passing. When the cloud of feathers, beaks, and claws dispersed, a lone humanoid figure remained, his form cloaked in shadow.
"Thank you, honored spirit, for coming to my aid," he said softly, bowing to the form in front of him.
"Please, cloak my form like your own in this place, hide it from prying eyes, and then follow me and protect me if I am attacked. Do not risk your form to save me, I only ask for time to escape my assailants, and remain only for as long as I stay in this place." As the apparition nodded it's understanding, Loki watched as the shadows surrounding the being spread out and engulfed his own form making it almost translucent, fading into the background of the astral world.
Satisfied with his efforts so far, he sought out the location he knew as the residence of their target, and arrived almost instantaneously. He began looking around for a suitable place to wait, and after observing the area for a little while from up above felt confident that the house next door did not have any Astral wards nor watcher spirits nearby. As it had a perfect vantage spot of the parking garage of his target he settled in behind the chimney on the roof for the wait.
Some time later, he watched as an aura exited the building and seemingly looked around, then advanced towards the garage as a second aura followed him. Astonishingly, while the second aura was certainly smaller, it was all the more vibrant. Where the aura of what could only be the child's bodyguard was faded and dull, tendrils of grey and black crisscrossing his form, the child's aura was unlike anything he had ever seen. He was definitely no mage, but something was...
wrong about his aura, not just because it was incredibly vibrant but because it looked like he should be capable of manipulating mana, or at least some kind of energy like it. He risked a closer look, straining his senses to "see" his form more clearly, and nearly fell off the roof. Pure energy seemed to run along and through the child's form, an energy he'd never seen before.
"This child is like no mage I've ever seen, that's for damned sure." Loki thought to himself, puzzled by this new revelation. As the two entered the garage, Loki vaulted into the sky once more and just flew for a while, soaring amongst the clouds, thinking long and hard about what he'd just seen. There had been talk of some kind of craze at a hospital in Neo-Tokyo a few years back, but he couldn't remember the details. Word on the street was that something had been going since the Second Crash, and he'd heard rumours about a Horizon massacre in Las Vegas which had been really unpopular.
"Wait... could he be... Oh, drek..."After what felt like an eternity, he felt his body begin to tug at him, the loss of it's spirit making itself known to him. He immediately released his watcher, thanking him for his help in mid-flight, and returned to his body in a flash of motion that made the transition back into the real world a painful experience. The shock of it made him bolt upright, inhaling deeply, and he began coughing roughly. He immediately looked for the presence of the others, shouting for them to come quickly. Once he saw they were within earshot, he asked them a simple question.
"Well, this job just got real fraggin' interesting. What do you all know about these so-called virtuakinetics?"Summoning F3 Spirit of Man
Summon Spirit of Man [3]: 9d6t5 3
Spirit Resist, Drain Resist: 3d6t5 1 13d6t5 5
Spirit gets 1 hit on resistance, 2 services total. Drain DV of 2 resisted
Assensing the kid (and any bodyguards with him)
Assensing [9]: Kid and bodyguard: 12d6t5 5
Trying to recall anything about the aura he's just witnessed:
Sprawl Life Knowledge Skill: 8d6t5 2
Trivia Knowledge Skill: 6d6t5 2
