This little kitty went to Limbo

Steady Work (with j-has-a-nephilim-problem)

"Kat and her department have had to figure a lot of it out on their own, working from whatever texts we can decipher… and a great deal of experimentation. There aren’t a lot of mages out there willing to cooperate with us, you see. A lot of them seem to have outdated hang-ups about mixing magic and technology." J shrugged lightly.

"I suspect it’s because they want to preserve the ‘mystery’… magic is a technology, like any other. Apply the scientific method, and you make advances.” Their patents, the tattoos on her body, and the extensive warding on the building all spoke for themselves as to how effective they had been in making those advances. “But with Kat running the show, I guess you could say that our guesses are a lot more… educated.” J grinned at the medium.

Gris shrugged, “That could be it. They also might just believe that you can’t be trusted with it. I doubt that you share all your magical advancements with the world either.” She laughed. Believing that every mage who denies you access to their work to be so pretentious, was just as pretentious.

#j has a nephilim problem #gris of shadowfell #rp: steady work

"No one has exactly been clamoring for our knowledge or technology. They're more than happy to sit back and let us take the risks, though." And in some ways, that was probably for the best, as Kat was sure that she didn't want to see her hard work falling into unskilled hands.

Steady Work (with j-has-a-nephilim-problem)

"Mmm, yeah, I seem to remember that the lavender was a tad, uh… friendly last year. Maybe the open air will do it some good."

For Gris’s benefit, J explained, “The Lower Levels are an interesting place. A lot of experimentation goes on there, so there can be… side effects, sometimes. We take precautions, of course, but the high energies down there can have their own effects. There’s a reason hardly anyone stores their lunches in the secondary kitchen down there.”

Gris laughed, “That’s why mages don’t usually do their work in populated areas. They’ll get in trouble if one of their accidents gets out of control.” She remembered where she’d been taught magic, “Nevermind training facilities for casters who don’t know what they’re doing yet.”

"The wards you have around here are impressive though. I’m sure everything is contained." She added hastily, no need to sound like she didn’t think they knew what they were doing.

#j has a nephilim problem #gris of shadowfel #rp:steady work

The medium certainly understood what Gris meant and quirked a little smile. "I can only imagine. About the training, at least. Mine has all been on the fly." And she felt that she did fairly well with the spells and workings that she had developed, and there was no denying that she'd only gotten better, once Vergil showed his true colors.

"But we still try to keep things contained, certainly. Every now and then, we have an... um.. a snafu, but those are fewer and farther between at this point. If we didn't make some mistakes, we'd never figure out how to get better, right?" Kat wasn't afraid of making mistakes. She had the confidence now that, even if something did quite literally blow up in her face, she would be able to keep it under control. There was a good reason that her workshop had some of the heaviest wards in the whole complex.

Steady Work (with j-has-a-nephilim-problem)

"I’ll keep that in mind." She would, shit happens. Her little apartment might one day lose it’s practicality. Until then she was just fine where she was, "It’s always good to have options."

Gris put down her fork, finished with her meal, “This weekend is the day excursion to get your koi? Alright.” Simple, she’d had no plans anyway, not making any to get in the way was easy.

"Well, I’ll need to settle it with Naoya, but I did give him warning that it would be soon, possibly this weekend. Sooner is better for me, because the guy who sends most of this sh…stuff after me seems to have some kind of cooling-down period." J grimaced. "I’d bring a book or something if I were you, though… Naoya says that it’s probably gonna take all day while Showa talks to the koi to find the friendliest ones." She grinned. "Wouldn’t want ill-tempered koi in our pond, now would we?"

Hatsumi perked up, hearing ‘koi’ and ‘Showa’. “We gonna go?” she asked.

"Yes, we are going to go. Soon. Maybe three days." J held up a hand, three fingers first. "But I have to talk to Naoya."

The girl nodded placidly, returning her attention to her fries.

"The fish and the gazebo are pretty much the last of it, from our side," J told Kat. "All of the ornamentals are in place. Have you gotten all of your herbs transplanted?"

#j has a nephilim problem #gris of shadowfell #rp: steady work #watch out for the lavender

As she finished chewing a bit of salad, Kat offered a nod. "Transplanted and doing very well so far. I've been checking just about every day. Everyone seems to be settling nicely. And it'll be good for some of them to be out of the lab, honestly." Some of the plants were developing a little too much in the way of personality down there.

Steady Work (with j-has-a-nephilim-problem)

"Hm? No, I have a place right now." She said, "It’s not much but it’s my own little space." Really it wasn’t something to normally be proud of, but she’d come to Earth with very little resembling currency. Getting the little apartment had taken a few key sacrifices from her belongings, so leaving it was hardly on her list of priorities.

"Anything happens, though, we’ve got both on-site quarters and safehouses here and there. Landlords can be huge, uh, jerks in this city." Dante wasn’t the only one who’d had to temper a blue streak in his language, with an inquisitive set of eleven-year-old ears around.

J had managed to clear her plate, and sat back in her chair, drinking her iced tea. A lunchtime sweet tea from the cafe was a vice of hers that she wasn’t quite willing to give up.

"We should be able to go out and get the carp for the pond this weekend… I kind of doubt that I’ll be seeing a singing telegram from Hell quite so soon, and Gris will be there to keep an eye out. And workers are coming to set up the gazebo this week… starting to get sunny up there on the roof, it’ll be nice to have some shade to escape to when we’re gardening." May as well keep it to more pleasant topics… after all, Kat updated her on her progress on Project Aleph each day via mail.

#j has a nephilim problem #gris of shadowfell #rp: steady work

Kat nodded her understanding as she devoted a little more attention to her food. Just because she'd been only too happy to leave her home didn't mean that everyone else who worked for the Order would feel the same, no matter what the incarnation of the group was. "Just remember that we'll help, if the need arises," she reminded with a soft smile, knowing how hard it could be to ask for help, especially if one was independently-minded. "It's kind-of part of the job description."

As J talked about the progress on the garden, Kat found it easy to divert her attention to that. "The gazebo will be a great addition. I've really had to limit my time so I don't get crispy, and there's only so much that can be done at night." Never mind that, as much as she loved some of the night-blooming things that were really starting to take hold, she never felt really secure up there under so much open sky. Not alone, at least. It was silly, and she knew it, as she knew how much warding was in effect, even there, but some notions were still hard to shake.

Steady Work (with j-has-a-nephilim-problem)

Gris had played two amusing little pranks with her teleportation today. One on Hubert and another on Dante. It was always fun, being able to pull off one harmless little scare when you first meet someone. She remembered the bewildered look on his face, and grinned,”Yeah, I met Dante. J told me that he has some bad habits, but thanks.”

"Good thing too. I’m told it could have gotten messy if I accidentally surprised him by teleporting in." That wouldn’t have been good, but it was a missed challenge…No matter, there would be other less destructive challenges in the future she was sure.

“Messy is one way to say it… though perhaps more like who’s gonna replace my roof," J said, shaking her head. "So not dealing with that. On the bright side, at least Dante no longer wanders the residential floors in the buff now that there’s a minor around.”

Hatsumi had finished her burger and was now poking at her Gris-made slushie again, largely oblivious to the discussion at hand.

"I also took Gris to meet Jules, on our way out to test the teleport," J told Kat. "I think that pretty much covers anyone who might be in my office without me?"

#j has a nephilim problem #gris of shadowfell #rp: steady work #‡:Sanctuary

"All of the major players, certainly," Kat agreed as she poked at her salad. Conversation about Dante was something of a tender spot for her, but she was doing very well at putting her best face forward on it; something she had learned from J. She had so many, better things that she could be expending her energy on. Like the project that was waiting for her downstairs.

That, too, could wait for later, though-- Lunch with friends and coworkers was something that she hadn't been enjoying much recently, and from Gris' grin alone, she had a sense that the woman was going to be an interesting addition to their team. "Have you been installed yet? I mean-- do you need residential quarters?" What Kat really wanted to know was if she was going to get to play with new wards, since J's new bodyguard wasn't exactly human, for all that she was very humanoid. Who knew what she would require for her sleeping quarters.

Steady Work (with j-has-a-nephilim-problem)

"It’s just how teams should work. Isn’t it?" Gris asked, this was something she’d heard and held to be a simple truth for a long time, "If the pieces don’t fit together the machine stalls or breaks. Then nothing gets done, or people die."

It occurred to her that this might not be the best topic for their first conversation, so she smiled, trying to lighten it up, “I just hope I fit into this one.”

"You did well with us on the missions, I don’t see why you wouldn’t do just fine here." J smiled. "After all, Hubert didn’t faze you, right?"

To Kat, she said, “I chose Gris not only because of her prior experience with us, but also because of her more… unique abilities, among them the ability to teleport, and bring a friend with her. We run into him again, or anything too nasty for us to fight, and she can just grab me and blip us right back into my office. S’why I commissioned another token, so she wouldn’t just bounce off the wards.” J nodded toward the ornate ring on Gris’s finger.

#j has a nephilim problem #gris of shadowfell #rp: steady work #‡:Sanctuary

"I'm sure that you'll be fine," Kat assured with a little smile of her own. "J wouldn't have brought you in otherwise. And if you're not phased by Hubert... well... I'm not sure that there is much that could rattle you." The medium paused, then rose from her seat with a quiet 'excuse me' as she went to pick up her food. It was a moment or two later before her number was actually called, but it didn't seem to matter as she made her way to the pick-up area and snagged her tray to bring back.

"You have met Dante, right? He's the only other... um... variable that you would need to worry about around here." To his credit, he did remember to put on clothes when he left his room, but Kat still felt that, as another woman, Gris might appreciate the warning.

Steady Work (with j-has-a-nephilim-problem)

Gris looked over at Kat. She was on the young side to her, but it just meant that she was probably exceptional, J’s words confirmed that assumption. There had been plenty of times when younger people had been snatched up, far earlier than usual, for their skill back in the Shadowfell. Why should it be any different here?

"Parts of the machine working in tandem." Gris said, automatically, "It’s good."

"She’s the last one you said I should meet, right?"

"Yup." J waved as Kat brought her number back to the table to wait for her food. "Hey, stranger." She smiled at the medium before turning back to Gris to explain, "She’s been hiding downstairs a lot, working on a new project."

She turned back to Kat and indicated the shadarkai. “This is Gris, she’s done some work for us in the past. I’ve just hired her on a little more long-term, as my bodyguard. Given the recent… events, I decided it was time to surrender to the inevitable, and start paying someone to help keep me out of trouble. It does seem to follow me, doesn’t it?”

#j has a nephilim problem #gris of shadowfell #rp: steady work

"That is a nice way of putting it," Kat replied before turning her attention to Gris and taking in the details. The self-assurance stood out just as much as the paleness of skin, but confidence was a good thing to have in someone who would be looking out for her best friend and colleague. "I'm glad to have you on board. It will be reassuring to know that there's someone else keeping an eye on J."

What she didn't add was that the reassurance was that the someone was on their side, for a change. The medium still wasn't happy about recent events, but at least this time, J was admitting that perhaps she couldn't handle everything herself (even if that wasn't what was being said aloud).

Steady Work (with j-has-a-nephilim-problem)

Gris laughed at Hatsumi’s expression, “It’s always everyone’s favorite trick.” She smiled, and picked up her own drink, “Can’t tell you how many warm drinks I’ve been given to chill. I don’t mind it.”

"Really though. It’s harder to guard someone who’s half starved and trying to go out and do…things." Almost said ‘shit’ there…Little ears are about though.

"I eat twice a day! Usually." J ran one hand along her side. "You can’t feel my ribs. Much."

“Eat." Hatsumi squinted her pale green eyes over the burger before taking another bite.

"Hey, you’re not the boss of me." Hatsumi just giggled. "Anyway, not gonna faint from hunger, don’t worry." J directed this last at Gris, as she began working on her food in earnest.

"Kat!" Hatsumi suddenly piped up. J glanced up at this; indeed, the medium was getting in line at the counter, looking over the day’s choices.

"Speaking of people who need to eat," J said. "You want to tell Kat there’s room at our table?" The psychic usually took her food back down to her office to eat, after all. Hatsumi nodded, wiping her face and fingers with a napkin before sliding off of her chair and going over to where Kat was standing, tugging lightly on her sleeve.

"Kat," she said in her limited English, "You eat, with us?" She pointed back at the table where J and Gris were seated.

#j has a nephilim problem #gris of shadowfell #rp: steady work #‡:Sanctuary

The medium glanced down at Hatsumi and offered a little smile. She had, in fact, been planning on taking her meal back to her office, but it was very hard for her to say no to such a request. Besides, there wasn't anything downstairs that couldn't wait for a bit. "Sure. Thank you," she added as she glanced over at the table. It seemed like there was someone she was expected to meet, which meant that whatever she had downstairs could definitely wait.

vaginaed

so my friend is in italy and she bought me this

thrashleydawn

Is this what eating a bag of dicks is like

#reblog #bag of dicks #I don't think I need to explain this #but how traumatized with they be once we add the marinara?

[text]: Shouldn’t you be sleeping? (from Sterling because psychics)

[text]: if you're asking, the answer's probably 'yes.' But I'm almost done.

Words Unspoken (RP with limboshadowkat)

"Yeah, well… sometimes we believe our own hype too much." A rueful little laugh. "I don’t know if we can address the real root of the problem… feelings do whatever the hell they want. But it will be enough if we can just block the damn nightmares. The… content of the dreams leads me to believe that he’s doing this intentionally." It also led her to believe that certain feelings of his had not died, either… only twisted back upon themselves, and bearing some very dark fruit, indeed. This part she kept carefully locked up, as best she could… there was no reason to inflict any of that on Kat.

"I suspect that the other half of the problem lies in the tattoo work we’ve done. I’m not a natural-born psychic… at least, not like you. But we have sort of forced those doors open, here and there. The nightmares began after I had a dream about him… about the way things used to be. It was extremely vivid. I have to wonder if it didn’t actually reach him, somehow, and he’s since traced his way back over that path to send these things to me."

#jhasanephilimproblem #rp: unspoken

"That is a possibility. And I'm sure your room isn't warded to keep things from going out," Kat pointed out as she refreshed their tea again. She had the sense that there were still things that J was not telling her and she very much hoped that whatever it was she was still concealing wouldn't prevent them from doing what they needed to do to stop the nightmares and keep Vergil from playing whatever new mind-games he had devised.

"In the meantime, you know the exercises that I use for my own personal space. Obviously, you can't really do those while you're asleep, but if you practice while you're awake, it does help. I still go wandering, sometimes, but I'm sure it's less intrusive than it was when I was younger." After that one bittersweet dream where she'd met Dante, though, she had worked on warding a bit more. And when they'd moved into this space, she'd taken a lot of care with how her sleeping quarters were set up-- there had been too much raw feeling floating around for her to really get good sleep. Dreams could be lovely, but also terrifying and she couldn't have those thoughts seeping into her day-to-day.

rpboxmemes

send my muse one of the following to see how they react:

[text]: What the hell are you saying? [text]: Does that mean you aren’t coming back? [text]: Oops, I brought spandex instead of leather. [text]: Come on if you’re coming. [text]: Are we going to do this or what? [text]: Tell me now..so how often have you had sex dreams about me? [text]: Don’t get too comfortable. [text]: S.O.S. [text]: Do you have to text me at three in the morning? [text]: Shouldn’t you be sleeping? [text]: Is that you’re way of saying you miss me? [text]: Is there something I should know? [text]: Party. My house. Tonight. Bring Alcohol. [text]: Is that suppose to be a threat? [text]: Haha, no. I’m not giving it back. [text]: Time for someone to go grocery shopping. [text]: I’m not going with you to see that. [text]: EMERGENCY: BRING ICE CREAM [text]: Send me another picture like that and see what happens. [text]: Is teasing me the only purpose of this conversation? [text]: Soo..does that mean you feel the same way? [text]: Just admit it..you missed me. [text]: I was hoping you would go with me. [text]: You’re dead meat. [text]: How do you feel about a threesome? [text]: Maybe I just feel like spending my night with you. [text]: We are not going there.

#rp #reblog #i may regret this #but it would be good to think about this muse a bit more #if you have multiple muses please specify?

Words Unspoken (RP with limboshadowkat)

"That’s the thing… this place is warded up to the eyeballs. I’m worried that he’s managed to bypass it somehow… and it might be my own damned fault." J took a sip of her refreshed tea.

"It’s easy to say that you hate someone who has betrayed you, hurt you. But they can’t hurt you in the first place if they don’t have something of yours…. like trust. Respect. Even love. The stronger the original emotion, the worse the backlash, the greater the pain."

She stared down at the slate floor, as if it held some secret for her. “I thought I could bottle all of it up, shove it down, ignore it until it went away. But it doesn’t work that way… and I ought to have known better. And because of that… it could be what’s giving him a foothold. He’s not just a nephilim, after all… he’s also a magician. And who knows what sort of grimoires he’s gotten access to, in Hell?”

#jhasanephilimproblem #rp: unspoken

"I could have told you that, but... well, I know you well enough to know that you would have listened and still waited to come to that conclusion yourself," Kat teased gently. This sort of conversation was, unfortunately, easier than any she might have tried to have regarding her own feelings on the whole messy matter.

"And yes, we are warded up to the gills, but only for more... um... routine threats." At least, as routine as a threat they might be dealing with could be. "Now that I know that there's a problem, though, I'm sure we can fix it." Of course, she had known that there was a problem before, but Kat hadn't felt that she was in a position to force the issue with her friend. Now that there was more out in the open, there was more information for her to work with, and she could get back to the sort of work she loved most-- research.

"I'm not sure that something as simple as a dream-catcher would work," she added, taking a sip of tea. "But I do like the idea of confounding him with a web, after all the ones he wove around us."

The Gift

sterlingstorm

"You shouldn’t. The place was sealed when it was vacated. All we should encounter there are ghosts, and the ones there are pretty harmless."

When she finally pressed activate the portal swirled open. It was wide enough that both could walk easily through. Slipping off the stool, he took her by the arm and lead her through. A grin spread across his lips as they emerged into what appeared to be a good-sized private library. High windows allowed natural light in, and it was clear from the angle that they were farther north and east than they had been at Headquarters.

"This is the library at the elemental school I went to in England. It’s a school for studying witchcraft. When Limbo merged with the human realm, they closed the school down. Most of the teachers were recruited away, either by government or private companies looking to benefit from their magic in combating the demons. There’s no plan to re-open the school. Training for those with magical potential has become much more intensive. No time for a leisurely secondary school education. Long story short: all these books have something to do with the study of magic. Now, with the tesseract tablet, you can access this library from anywhere at any time." Caillen beamed. "I know, it’s all 'La Bell et le Bete', but doesn’t every girl want to be given her own library?”

#sterlingstorm #rp: gift #caillen

"This girl does, certainly," she admitted as she looked around, taking in the sheer volume of volumes and tomes. "Really... any sensible girl would." But most girls weren't sensible and Kat was all too aware of that. "This is amazing," she added, glancing at Callien and offering him a huge smile. "Thank you."

Words Unspoken (RP with limboshadowkat)

"I just don’t see what purpose it would have served, at that point. Or ever, really. I doubt that he foresaw us becoming enemies… though now that we are, he undoubtedly will try to use all of that against me. And that’s how I have to look at it.” She drained her cup, set it aside, folded her hands in her lap.

"But it gets worse. Doesn’t it always?" She slumped a little bit. She was so damned tired… "Lately, I’ve been having these nightmares… they always center around Vergil. Almost obsessively so, and that’s not like me at all - I don’t have repeat dreams, and certainly not like these. I’ll spare you the details… they’re not pretty. But they always have to do with him winning.”

J realized that she was shivering, took a deep breath, let it go. “I’d write it off as nerves, except for how damned persistent they are… and the dreams just feel wrong, like they aren’t mine. I can’t explain it. It’s like… I dunno, like wearing someone else’s glasses.” She finally managed to look up from her hands. “I’m worried that it might be a sending of some kind… that somehow, he’s managed to get a line into my brain, and he’s feeding me this bullshit, like some kind of psychic warfare campaign. And then again, maybe I’m just getting paranoid in my old age.” She would have felt ridiculous saying this to anyone else… but she had to do something, and did feel a little bit better just to get it out.