[This sounds familiar. Sam fights the urge to roll his eyes, considering they're playing off a much better playbook.]
Let me guess. Playing the game means playing our roles?
[Sam could do self-righteous man with too much pride, he's been there before. But he doesn't want to waste his time playing a game that Gabriel already put him and Dean through years ago.]
("Play your parts good enough and even WC won't see through your charade. Muck up and draw the town's ire, well, there are the stocks. And worse."
Allison has had enough of this game and it hasn't even started.
"Contrary to what the others do, they like you nice and alive."
How else can they inhabit you if you're dead. )
We're vessels now?
("Way it works. You volunteered to be tributes. Guessing you left your friends behind. They're either mulch by now or in their grubby little hands," she says, clearly not on one side or the other.
"But don't listen to little old me, what do I know? I opened my eyes and I was in Wuthering Heights."
But, here she is, aware of what's going on, and transferring with the world shifts. That must mean something. )
I refuse to believe there's a way out.
("They trapped a god. Well, demigod, but I've tussled with gods before and they should not be trapped anywhere. Barring massive cosmic comeuppance.")
What do you - you just talk to hear yourself, don't you? Slow down, or actually help. Because we've all done this before in one way or another. And there's always a way out. God or no god.
( Scott steps forward.
"Caroline mentioned the gods when I was touring the school, but only in passing."
"It's not mine to mention," Mary says. )
You just mentioned it. You call it babysitting, but I call it being a smart-ass. What if we can help you?
( Mary's about to scoff, turns away, takes a long puff from her pipe. "It's okay, Spike," a voice comes from up the stairs. He comes down in colonial garb, dressed quite like Mary might be dressed, but looking very much like a timeless blonde - in a dress.
He stops on the bottom step.
"He's right. I shouldn't be contained." Ben says. )
[Davina doesn't know Ben, exactly. She hasn't met him personally. But he feels familiar (11), magically speaking. Her eyes study him curiously as he moves into the room.]
You came to New Orleans once, didn't you?
[But that's not the important thing. Sam on the other hand, is not in the mood to be someone else's vessel.
"Sorry. Lucifer already has dibs on me as a meat suit and he doesn't share."
So if the witches were expecting to jump into him, they're about to be very disappointed. Never mind the fact that Lucifer is dead. Though that does give him an idea.
Cas, if you could hear me, we could really use a hand right now.]
( absolute (natural 20) recognition, both of the power she possessed as regent of New Orleans, and that one vampire's friend. she was at rousseau's after they visited the bayou. he can see the power she wields, and how it should be stifled but isn't.
could she be a solution?
allison makes a face that can't be described, because, she's very thrown, and then confused, but one thing at a time.
"You're the demigod?")
I prefer Ben.
( Cas, wherever he is, definitely hears Sam. And he can pinpoint a general Muir Woods location, though it's muddy, like the signal is brighter than it should be and it's not clear where in them Sam is. But, the source of that power is a building about a mile out from the great bank of magic. )
That being said, Davina nods, and that puts some of the complications that they've experienced into context (16). If this isn't behaving the way it should, it could mean a number of things, but she's willing to bet that Ben isn't something it was designed to hold.]
What was the date when you fell through?
[She figures he doesn't know how much real-world time has passed, but he might be able to at least tell her the month.]
( It was right before school was starting for Jed, in the midst of him still deciding if he's going to follow through with the New Orleans pack. He'd been leaning in that direction.
Ben is definitely a major complication to the structure of this cage. And, depending on what Davina knows about Spike, that could give her a little more knowledge of how it might work and treat certain people some ways. Also, if she knows Spike should be dead. But, I don't know how aware Davina is of slightly famous older vampires with a better reputation than they used to have. )
( Maybe she could channel him. He doesn't have magic himself, but he has everything a god is afforded that he possesses underneath. )
I don't feel as limitless as I should. I think the spell is using me. Taking advantage of what I am, siphoning me enough to keep me here, but not keep everything together.
So there's two ways we could do this. We could overload it, or we could cut it off.
[Cutting it off would be more complicated, overloading it could be more dangerous. But they're stuck here, and Davina would very much prefer to not be. She turns back to Spike.]
Are we sure there isn't some other way out of here? Some kind of puzzle to solve?
( Allison would also prefer not to be stuck, especially if the "dads (Wallace and Corsair)" could join them at any time. And they wouldn't know who they were possessing. Men, probably? Based on Spike's assessment? )
There's always something off about it. A name is wrong. A place. I was in Succession, ( Jed was taking him through it ) but, Logan and Kendall were swapped. I wondered if there was something in that, an exploit I could take advantage of. But, they mean it, here. I've died a few times. You step out of place, the entire thing turns on you. And, maybe, they were there, too. I suspected. Once.
( And it never sticks, does it?
Spike feels at least a little better they know he isn't some little tattletale of a girl called Mary. But, he still looks and sounds like her.
"Last I knew, I was taking my last non-breath in London. Then I was here. Only, like I said. Heatchliff. Catherine. Anyway, funny story. I killed my minder and all that did was transfer the power to me. I call it a power, but really it's a stain. One I'd like to rid myself of, along with my third chance at life. Just saying, you find a way out of here, I'm hitching my trailer to yours.")
[Davina weighs her options. Layers and layers of illusions could take some time to work through, before if it's this constantly renewing process. She rolls her shoulders, before turning back to the rest of the group.]
If Ben and I combine our magic, I could brute force our way out of here. But it could be risky, depending on how they built this portal world. It also could summon them down here to deal with us in order to get us to stop.
[So it's up to the group if they want to take said risk, but Davina would like to get her eyes on their captors, if nothing else.]
Not magic. ( He points out. ) But, I do carry it. ( Literally carried it, in order to empower the mortals. ) Divine blood.
("Oh, none of us are vampires," Scott says with a recognition of (4).
Allison, probably still stuck on 'Lucifer's meatsuit,' gets a (2) and no commentary whatsoever, because - right. Next moves.
"If they're summoned down here, then odds are that makes them vulnerable up there. But, we don't know the rules. If you have their magic, they probably do, too," she reasons. )
Divine blood may not be super helpful to you, but it is channelable by me. In fact, I think the witches who made this place may have tried to tap into that power, and that's already too much magic for it to sustain itself. It's probably why it's getting so confused.
[Sam rolls his shoulders before grabbing the iron poker from the fireplace and testing the weight. "Sometimes the subtle route doesn't get you anywhere. Let's see how breaking things goes."
[Davina closes her eyes, pulling gently on the magic offered to her, and then feeding back in some of her own (16). She pushes her own magic into the equation, and begins to chant, trying to see if she can push back enough to see the skeletons of the spell itself.
The first faltering seems to be the revelation of Spike: Not a little girl after all, but a full grown vampire.]
Hey now. ( he looks down at himself, dressed how he was when he'd disintegrated into dust. ) Any of the witches want to tell me how I got Little House on the Prairie'd, I wouldn't say no to the explanation. Keep it going, Davina.
( That (16) is amplified by it being Ben's divine blood she's pulling from. Ben's not weakened, only used, tilting a head at Spike. He does not look like a Mary.
The others, stand at the ready.
There's a knock at the front door.
"John, Abigail, are you alright in there?" a male voice asks.
"Don't. Stop," Ben winces out.
"John! Proctors!" From the back, a pounding starts on that door. )
[Davina doesn't stop. She doesn't lose her focus (15), and continues to keep the flow of magic, let's it batter through the walls, push against the seams, trying to break it apart as much as she can.
Sam moves to the closest window to the door, trying to peer out to see what's happening outside, before raising his voice.]
We're fine! Nothing to worry about.
[He figures that probably won't work, but worth a shot.]
( No amount of persuasion is going to help, no, there's a sudden crowd outside, a cacophony of voices. Very crazy mob storming the Beast's castle. A rock is thrown through the one window, Sam make a dex check to dodge it.
Davina is tearing apart at the magic trying to hold them in, trying to tether everyone together. Spike reverts back for a second. )
Bollocks. Bloody this again?
( Before being restored. )
Not. Funny.
( Glass shatters outside, the sky darkens, the sun turning a shade of red. Scott smells smoke - and then a fire. Not in their hearth, but right outside. Flames are visible from the opposite window.
"Does it count as smoking us out if it's not real?")
[Sam jerks to the side at the flung rock (18), feeling it whiz past him. He grits his teeth, before glancing back over his shoulder. "Davina? Move a little faster please."
The chanting trails off as the wind picks up, lifting her hair and letting it flail around her. Just as she hits the most narrow edges of the spell (16), she opens her eyes and speaks to those trying to contain her, rather than the rest of the room.]
I am the regent of New Orleans. I am the last of the Harvest Girls. I've stood against immortals much scarier than you. So if you're going to try and hold me, you're going to have to come down here and face me first.
[And then she slams a final wave of magic into the spell, hoping that she will feel it shatter.]
( In an instant, everyone's eyes open as they gasp for breath. In a cavern, they dangle with their hands chained above their heads, a tube connecting through their noses. Sam would recognize it as a Djinn-like outfit. There are runes all over the cave walls, Sam and Davina can make an arcane check to see if they recognize them.
Scott's (nat 20) has him breaking his chains immediately with a wolfy growl as he drops to his feet.
Ben's (10) is less successful, but he's been kept down here longer. He's back in his body and god or no god, his body's atrophied.
Spike (also nat 20) yanks his hands free, while Allison's (14), brings dirty and branches down with hers, but she is still chained. )
[Davina is winded from the spellwork it took to get them there (7) and is unable to break herself free, but she does try to scan the walls to see if she can make sense of them (5). Unfortunately it seems to be a bit out of scope of knowledge - or maybe it's just the way her vision is blurring.]
Okay, may have overdid it on the last one.
[Sam also stays put (3), but that's more likely because he got distracted by the runes and is trying to decipher them (12). He can't make out all of them, but there's a few he does recognize.]
( Some are ancient Sumerian, others Viking and one other rune is Celtic. The spell combines different elements. Some are about locking them in, others lock the spell in place. It's beautifully overlayed.
Scott goes to Davina (19), yanking her free and bringing her down to the ground. He lets her down lightly, nose to nose. "Hi," he says. Sam gets help from Spike (14), he has to yank a little harder, and a big patch of dirty and vines falls down on top of his head. Sorry, Sam.
Ben's second attempt (unnatural 20) has him breaking his shackles altogether with his restoring God strength.
[She smiles at him as she finds her footing again, before glancing around the rest of the room as things begin to solidify. She frowns, before pointing at one of the sigils:]
This looks like Old Norse. I think I remember it from the Mikaelson grimmoire.
["Not all of it. This is Sumerian and this is Celtic." Sam frowns as he looks it over. "It looks like they layered a lot of different spell work to make this hold." He then crouches towards the bottom and frowns. "And this might be Enochian. Might be why Cas couldn't come right to us."]
("No, we prefer angels stay out of our business," a voice comes from behind them. The woman in a camo vest speaks, standing next to one of the gunman who has his gun up and trained on all of them.
"Years and layers down the drain, thanks to the Regent of New Orleans, Sam Winchester, a god, a vampire, and two nobodies," he says.
Both voices have a second voice accompanying, as if someone is speaking through them - because they are.
"I wouldn't move if I were you. Witch-killing bullets. You understand."
He points with the gun, gesturing everyone to get closer, stay together.
"Calling us out, directly? You've got big, brass balls.")
[But beyond that, she doesn't make a sign of fighting back, moving closer to Scott accordingly, but she doesn't seem any less defiant.
Sam shrugs as he moves to stand in front of Allison instinctively, eyes narrowed with a glare. "And if you know my name, you know that calling things out is kind of what we do. Wallace and Corsair, I presume?"
He can feel the weight of his gun in his pocket still but he doesn't reach for it just yet, wanting to see how this is going to go.]
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everyonelives2025-03-12 08:39 pm
no subject
Let me guess. Playing the game means playing our roles?
[Sam could do self-righteous man with too much pride, he's been there before. But he doesn't want to waste his time playing a game that Gabriel already put him and Dean through years ago.]
no subject
Allison has had enough of this game and it hasn't even started.
"Contrary to what the others do, they like you nice and alive."
How else can they inhabit you if you're dead. )
We're vessels now?
( "Way it works. You volunteered to be tributes. Guessing you left your friends behind. They're either mulch by now or in their grubby little hands," she says, clearly not on one side or the other.
"But don't listen to little old me, what do I know? I opened my eyes and I was in Wuthering Heights."
But, here she is, aware of what's going on, and transferring with the world shifts. That must mean something. )
I refuse to believe there's a way out.
( "They trapped a god. Well, demigod, but I've tussled with gods before and they should not be trapped anywhere. Barring massive cosmic comeuppance." )
What do you - you just talk to hear yourself, don't you? Slow down, or actually help. Because we've all done this before in one way or another. And there's always a way out. God or no god.
( Scott steps forward.
"Caroline mentioned the gods when I was touring the school, but only in passing."
"It's not mine to mention," Mary says. )
You just mentioned it. You call it babysitting, but I call it being a smart-ass. What if we can help you?
( Mary's about to scoff, turns away, takes a long puff from her pipe. "It's okay, Spike," a voice comes from up the stairs. He comes down in colonial garb, dressed quite like Mary might be dressed, but looking very much like a timeless blonde - in a dress.
He stops on the bottom step.
"He's right. I shouldn't be contained." Ben says. )
no subject
You came to New Orleans once, didn't you?
[But that's not the important thing. Sam on the other hand, is not in the mood to be someone else's vessel.
"Sorry. Lucifer already has dibs on me as a meat suit and he doesn't share."
So if the witches were expecting to jump into him, they're about to be very disappointed. Never mind the fact that Lucifer is dead. Though that does give him an idea.
Cas, if you could hear me, we could really use a hand right now.]
no subject
( absolute (natural 20) recognition, both of the power she possessed as regent of New Orleans, and that one vampire's friend. she was at rousseau's after they visited the bayou. he can see the power she wields, and how it should be stifled but isn't.
could she be a solution?
allison makes a face that can't be described, because, she's very thrown, and then confused, but one thing at a time.
"You're the demigod?" )
I prefer Ben.
( Cas, wherever he is, definitely hears Sam. And he can pinpoint a general Muir Woods location, though it's muddy, like the signal is brighter than it should be and it's not clear where in them Sam is. But, the source of that power is a building about a mile out from the great bank of magic. )
no subject
That being said, Davina nods, and that puts some of the complications that they've experienced into context (16). If this isn't behaving the way it should, it could mean a number of things, but she's willing to bet that Ben isn't something it was designed to hold.]
What was the date when you fell through?
[She figures he doesn't know how much real-world time has passed, but he might be able to at least tell her the month.]
no subject
( It was right before school was starting for Jed, in the midst of him still deciding if he's going to follow through with the New Orleans pack. He'd been leaning in that direction.
Ben is definitely a major complication to the structure of this cage. And, depending on what Davina knows about Spike, that could give her a little more knowledge of how it might work and treat certain people some ways. Also, if she knows Spike should be dead. But, I don't know how aware Davina is of slightly famous older vampires with a better reputation than they used to have. )
no subject
It's November now.
[She glances around the spell, before taking a step towards Ben.]
This spell was probably not designed to hold a god, especially not for this long. There's a chance if we combine our efforts we can find a way out.
no subject
I don't feel as limitless as I should. I think the spell is using me. Taking advantage of what I am, siphoning me enough to keep me here, but not keep everything together.
no subject
[Cutting it off would be more complicated, overloading it could be more dangerous. But they're stuck here, and Davina would very much prefer to not be. She turns back to Spike.]
Are we sure there isn't some other way out of here? Some kind of puzzle to solve?
no subject
There's always something off about it. A name is wrong. A place. I was in Succession, ( Jed was taking him through it ) but, Logan and Kendall were swapped. I wondered if there was something in that, an exploit I could take advantage of. But, they mean it, here. I've died a few times. You step out of place, the entire thing turns on you. And, maybe, they were there, too. I suspected. Once.
( And it never sticks, does it?
Spike feels at least a little better they know he isn't some little tattletale of a girl called Mary. But, he still looks and sounds like her.
"Last I knew, I was taking my last non-breath in London. Then I was here. Only, like I said. Heatchliff. Catherine. Anyway, funny story. I killed my minder and all that did was transfer the power to me. I call it a power, but really it's a stain. One I'd like to rid myself of, along with my third chance at life. Just saying, you find a way out of here, I'm hitching my trailer to yours." )
no subject
If Ben and I combine our magic, I could brute force our way out of here. But it could be risky, depending on how they built this portal world. It also could summon them down here to deal with us in order to get us to stop.
[So it's up to the group if they want to take said risk, but Davina would like to get her eyes on their captors, if nothing else.]
no subject
( "Oh, none of us are vampires," Scott says with a recognition of (4).
Allison, probably still stuck on 'Lucifer's meatsuit,' gets a (2) and no commentary whatsoever, because - right. Next moves.
"If they're summoned down here, then odds are that makes them vulnerable up there. But, we don't know the rules. If you have their magic, they probably do, too," she reasons. )
no subject
[Sam rolls his shoulders before grabbing the iron poker from the fireplace and testing the weight. "Sometimes the subtle route doesn't get you anywhere. Let's see how breaking things goes."
Davina nods before holding her hands out to Ben.]
Only if you're okay with it.
no subject
He's not going to waste time and say his divine blood isn't helpful to him, as it usually eliminates and surpasses magic.
Allison finds the frying pan.
Scott tests that he can't wolf out, but he does move to the back of the room, in case he can get the drop on them.
Spike drops his pipe and stomps on it ceremoniously.
"Let's get this over with," he says, jumping from foot to foot, shaking his hands out. )
no subject
The first faltering seems to be the revelation of Spike: Not a little girl after all, but a full grown vampire.]
no subject
( That (16) is amplified by it being Ben's divine blood she's pulling from. Ben's not weakened, only used, tilting a head at Spike. He does not look like a Mary.
The others, stand at the ready.
There's a knock at the front door.
"John, Abigail, are you alright in there?" a male voice asks.
"Don't. Stop," Ben winces out.
"John! Proctors!" From the back, a pounding starts on that door. )
Think it's fighting back!
no subject
Sam moves to the closest window to the door, trying to peer out to see what's happening outside, before raising his voice.]
We're fine! Nothing to worry about.
[He figures that probably won't work, but worth a shot.]
no subject
Davina is tearing apart at the magic trying to hold them in, trying to tether everyone together. Spike reverts back for a second. )
Bollocks. Bloody this again?
( Before being restored. )
Not. Funny.
( Glass shatters outside, the sky darkens, the sun turning a shade of red. Scott smells smoke - and then a fire. Not in their hearth, but right outside. Flames are visible from the opposite window.
"Does it count as smoking us out if it's not real?" )
no subject
The chanting trails off as the wind picks up, lifting her hair and letting it flail around her. Just as she hits the most narrow edges of the spell (16), she opens her eyes and speaks to those trying to contain her, rather than the rest of the room.]
I am the regent of New Orleans. I am the last of the Harvest Girls. I've stood against immortals much scarier than you. So if you're going to try and hold me, you're going to have to come down here and face me first.
[And then she slams a final wave of magic into the spell, hoping that she will feel it shatter.]
no subject
Scott's (nat 20) has him breaking his chains immediately with a wolfy growl as he drops to his feet.
Ben's (10) is less successful, but he's been kept down here longer. He's back in his body and god or no god, his body's atrophied.
Spike (also nat 20) yanks his hands free, while Allison's (14), brings dirty and branches down with hers, but she is still chained. )
no subject
Okay, may have overdid it on the last one.
[Sam also stays put (3), but that's more likely because he got distracted by the runes and is trying to decipher them (12). He can't make out all of them, but there's a few he does recognize.]
no subject
Scott goes to Davina (19), yanking her free and bringing her down to the ground. He lets her down lightly, nose to nose. "Hi," he says. Sam gets help from Spike (14), he has to yank a little harder, and a big patch of dirty and vines falls down on top of his head. Sorry, Sam.
Ben's second attempt (unnatural 20) has him breaking his shackles altogether with his restoring God strength.
Carefully, he tugs at the tube attached. )
no subject
[She smiles at him as she finds her footing again, before glancing around the rest of the room as things begin to solidify. She frowns, before pointing at one of the sigils:]
This looks like Old Norse. I think I remember it from the Mikaelson grimmoire.
["Not all of it. This is Sumerian and this is Celtic." Sam frowns as he looks it over. "It looks like they layered a lot of different spell work to make this hold." He then crouches towards the bottom and frowns. "And this might be Enochian. Might be why Cas couldn't come right to us."]
no subject
"Years and layers down the drain, thanks to the Regent of New Orleans, Sam Winchester, a god, a vampire, and two nobodies," he says.
Both voices have a second voice accompanying, as if someone is speaking through them - because they are.
"I wouldn't move if I were you. Witch-killing bullets. You understand."
He points with the gun, gesturing everyone to get closer, stay together.
"Calling us out, directly? You've got big, brass balls." )
no subject
[She glances over her shoulder.]
No offense, Spike.
[But beyond that, she doesn't make a sign of fighting back, moving closer to Scott accordingly, but she doesn't seem any less defiant.
Sam shrugs as he moves to stand in front of Allison instinctively, eyes narrowed with a glare. "And if you know my name, you know that calling things out is kind of what we do. Wallace and Corsair, I presume?"
He can feel the weight of his gun in his pocket still but he doesn't reach for it just yet, wanting to see how this is going to go.]
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