Can You Help Me? (Zodiac)

[Madison]

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." The mystic refilled their cups and returned. "Some wise man or woman said that, and it truly applies now. In our case, it is probably even more foolish. The living always seem to thing they are better than they were with each passing generation and that they have become too smart to fall into the traps their ancestors did, but what happens? Plop! Arrogance is one quality the living share with us totally."

Madison leaned forward to hand Zodiac the empty tea cup and nodded in agreement with what the other woman was saying. When the cup was returned to her in a full state, she took a sip and then held the cup in her hands with her elbows on her knees. Her tongue darted out to lick the bit of blood left on her lips and then over her teeth before she smiled and said telepathically, "If anything, I think being turned only amplifies that arrogance."

She listened quietly as the mystic went on to talk about the younger generations view of the elders. There was nothing that was said that Madison didn't agree with. It made her think about herself and her own reactions to those older than her. It was hard for her to find automatic respect for those who had been turned since the elders came out of the shadow realm. Sure they had a few years on her as a vampire but some of them were still younger than her in terms of years on the planet. Being a vampire didn't change one's maturity level. Her interaction with any of the actual elders were limited. That was something she should probably change.

"And I suppose I could argue we are debating several points of the same question here, but we are drifting off track now badly. You came to learn more about rituals. I tell you what, why don't we go upstairs to where I have my alter and I can try to show you some things?"

"That would be wonderful," Madison said and set her teacup down on the table. She took a glance towards the curtain that led to the front of the store, wondering if they would miss Zodiac's absence. There was doubt though that the woman would have offered had she not had the time. Her gaze returned to the gypsy, her body ready to move and follow the woman, "It's been a long time since I tried my hand at any ritual so whatever you can show me will be great to jog my memory I'm sure."

[Zodiac]

Zodiac picked up the cups and quickly washed them in the small sink near the mini stove. After setting in the drainer to dry, she smiled and cocked her head at Morgan and motioned for her to follow her.

Outside of her reading parlor, she stopped one of the girls who worked for her and explained what she would be doing.

Taking my friend upstairs for private lessons. Come shout if anything comes up you can't handle. Her hands moved smoothly as she signed to the girl.

"No problem, Zoey," the girl nodded. She looked at Morgan and smiled with a nod and then went back to her work. Zodiac pulled a ring of keys from her pocket and opened a door which revealed a flight of stairs going upwards.

"I keep this locked for now," she began to explain telepathically to her new friend (Zodiac had the habit of saying and thinking 'friend' till it was proven otherwise) "Because it is still in a state of not being finished. Every time I call a designer 'I'm booked!' Well good for them, but..."

She locked the door behind them and led the woman upstairs. When she turned on the lights it was easily seen what she had meant. Two by four frameworks separating parts of the room could be seen and seen through into other planned areas. In the largest open area an alter sat just under a skylight surrounded by well cared for plants.

"We had a rush job one evening and had to make this all pretty-pretty for a binding ritual," she explained. "But I liked the setting and decided to expand and keep it." She walked the decorative path and stepped inside the pentacle she had put into place to surround the alterstone. "This one is just decorative, but over there I have a real one set up for more specialized work. On the shelves along the wall are some boxes with a few required items for this." she patted the worn surface. "So perhaps the best way to do this is why don't you show me what you can do and how you do it, and I can offer suggestions or show you some different ideas to consider."

She held up her finger asking for a moment and concentrated. She didn't know if Morgan could perceive wraiths or not, but waited till the one she had some form of control over drifted into the room with them.

"I am here," Dahlia sighed.

"Hush, you," She cast a stern eye in the direction of the voice. "I had my wraith come in case we need to go check if a location is right or not. So, dear, as they say in the movies- 'Show me what ya got'. "

[Madison]

There was no way for Madison to know that Zodiac was referring to the telepath inside her own head as 'Morgan' and not 'Madison' but had the gypsy called her that, she would have politely corrected her as she wasn't the best at names herself though Zodiac was a rather unusual name and not one easily forgotten. When the mystic tilted her head in motion for Madison to follow, the blonde was up and out of her seat in an instant. It was rare that anything excited her as of late but to be so welcomed by the other woman, she was eager to learn and soak up everything that Zodiac could teach her. She fell in step behind the other as they exited the reading parlor and headed back into the main room of the shop. The pair paused there so Zodiac could sign something to one of her employees. Not familiar with sign language, Madison had no clue what the woman said to the other female but assumed it to be something along the lines of letting the employee know what was happening. The girl smiled at Madison and Madison gave her a polite smile back before the other turned back to her work.

Looking back to Zodiac, Madison was patient for the gypsy to lead her to wherever they were going. Zodiac pulled out a set of keys and unlocked a door that had gone unnoticed to the telepath on the way in. The pair ascended the stairwell as Zodiac explained why the upstairs was kept locked at the moment. Madison could relate about the designers always being busy. She had questioned a few about decorating projects as well and after finding out how long they would take and how much they would cost, she had decided to just try to attempt to decorate her living spaces herself. Madison still hadn't gotten around to it yet besides her Beta Tower apartment which only had the base necessities and not much else.

Upon entering the second floor, Madison gave a look around, noting what Zodiac meant by the room not being completed when the lights were turned on. She followed still as the mystic led them to the center of the largest room where an altar was set up beneath a skylight. Looking up at the night sky through the window in the ceiling, Madison appreciated the view of what stars she could see until Zodiac asked her to show what she was able to do. The telepath looked at the mystic and blinked a few times as her mind raced, trying to recall the details about any ritual.

When a voice she didn’t recognize spoke out, her first reaction was to look towards the door to the stairwell. Seeing no one, she gave a confused look around the room. There wasn’t anyone there except Zodiac and herself. Madison looked back to Zo as she explained that she had called her wraith in to join them. The blonde gave another look around the room, not wanting to move in case the wraith was anywhere nearby. Unlike some, Madison wasn’t able to see wraiths or sense their presence and she wasn’t overly familiar with how the bond between vampire and wraith was formed. The only wraith she had ever met was that of Blake’s and she couldn’t even remember that one’s name.

Again Zodiac prompted Madison to show her what she could do. Her hand moved up to brush a few stray locks of blonde hair back behind her ear as she looked over to the shelf where boxes of ritual ingredients were waiting for use. Pale blue eyes stared at the boxes for several moments, hoping that they would jog her memory of at least one ritual that she could attempt but nothing came forward. All she could remember was what some of the rituals did, what ingredients were needed for some (but she couldn’t tell what ingredients went to each individual ritual) and maybe a handful of the Fae words.

A soft sigh of embarrassment escaped her lips as she looked back at Zodiac a tad sheepishly, ”To be honest, that’s why I came here. I only tried my hand at rituals once and that was months upon months ago. I don’t remember much of anything about the ones that I attempted either. I know one of them calls for zombie ears to keep the circle strong and another, the one that locates enemies needs a hunter’s charm. I could maybe tell you what a few of the others do but other than that, I’m pretty much lost when it comes down to it.”

[Zodiac]

It was painful to watch.
The girl knew just enough to be dangerous- to herself.

Zodiac watched in silence as Madison tried to find her away around a ritual. Several times she wanted to say something, but held her mental tongue. She could not comment. The gypsy could remember the beatings she took when she first started learning them herself. Each time a new tome was discovered, the battle damage as they all worked to try and force the fae to their wills. It was a process, but in time the constants were learned and common sense helped fill in the rest. Some words appeared more frequently than others to the point the odds of them being used could be calculated into educated guesses. It didn't always work, but anything to keep the whole process from a mad calling out words and finding your throat cut for you efforts was better than nothing.

”To be honest, that’s why I came here. I only tried my hand at rituals once and that was months upon months ago. I don’t remember much of anything about the ones that I attempted either. I know one of them calls for zombie ears to keep the circle strong and another, the one that locates enemies needs a hunter’s charm. I could maybe tell you what a few of the others do but other than that, I’m pretty much lost when it comes down to it.”

She nodded in understanding and held up a finger as she went to a bookcase nearby. A thin note pad was pulled from a pile of copies of the same thing and she brought it to the alter and laid it in front of the woman. "This is something I have been working on for awhile now." she began as she opened the pages. "Some might call this 'Rituals for Dummies', but don't think that. You are hardly dumb. But like everything else, a beginner's 'how to' book never hurts to look into."

Inside was notes she had written on the basics of rituals. Requirements, areas of personal growth that were needed to have time and effort invested in. Inside, the five beginning rituals had been broken down. The constants, required items, notes on what kind of injuries to expect if things went south. Items that could help a person be better were also listed along with prices, plus a few tricks she had discovered along the way. She handed the notebook to Madison and inclined her head.

"The basics in those notes applies to all. The same logic that is used to do the simplest ritual applies to the most complex of the lot. And trust me, even I don't remember every detail. I have my own sets of notes to fall back on when one I have not done for awhile is asked of me. You know you need the matching tome itself to do them, of course, so if some are not in your possession, make me a list and we shall see what we can do to help in that."

"There is no need to feel discouraged," Dahlia added her own opinion now as she watched the pair from above. "Like anything else, you have to start somewhere."

"Ghost girl is right."

"I wish you would refrain from calling me that."

Zodiac grinned and nudged her guest. "She gets so testy sometimes. Now," She flipped the notebook to the first ritual shown and then moved next to Madison. The items were laid out and then she cracked her knuckles. "First thing- don't panic. Second thing, put in the words you know first. The more 'right' words spoken keeps the fae from attacking the barrier its trapped in. Meaning you have more time to solve the ritual rather than fixing the barrier. So watch."

In a calm series of motions, the gypsy sat several words into place. Showing her guest each in turn via her notes. "That is the basic start of the Locate Enemy ritual. Now we shall find us a fadebeast. In my list in the back," she flipped to a small appendix of names. "It's known as Ryt Ee" She added to the arrangement. "So now we have pretty much solved the majority, and Skippy the wonder fae is sitting there being mad cause it has had no reason to freak out so far." She winked at Madison. A few more notes pointed to as she continued. Twice the thing raged, but Zodiac did not even flinch at its actions. A final flourish, and the fae spoke the location before vanishing with the offerings on the alter.

"Know anyone who can check out if its there? Is not far from here."