Welcome Tome (Jesse)

[Ursula Wolfe]

At his motioning to the couches and chairs set up in one of the few seating areas the lobby of the Flats had, Ursula gave a nod. She was more than willing to just sit and catch up with Jesse, even though he was by far the one she saw the most in the family. Still, she listened as he spoke about the magic of the Home Bound tome. It was still a bit of a mystery to her, how these things work, why they work. Fae rituals were leaps and bounds different than normal rituals of the human world she had once been a part of. His thought about magic waning had her nodding a bit.

In the human world, magic, no matter how powerful the spell, would eventually give out to time. How much time was simply a matter of the power of the witch or witches that created the spell. But before she could tell him what she remembered of her human life as a witch under the mastery of her mother and aunt, he was answering the last part of her curiousness. The tomes don't like company, that brought a smile to her face and a soft laughter bubbled up in that moment.

It was a little sad that he didn't have the full answers that she was seeking about the tome in question, but then he brought up asking someone else and then getting back to her. She smiled and nodded. "I would appreciate that very much Jesse. Might I ask who it is you know that you plan to ask? I haven't really had a chance to meet a lot of people and knowing another Ritualist would be nice. It feels like a life time ago that I was in something akin to a coven." She said, making sure that her bags were safe as were the things she bought within them.

"Oh, and going back on something you said earlier. I don't know how it works with the fae, but my mother and aunt always told me that magic will always wane. It is the nature of magic. It waxes and wanes just as the moon does." She said softly, in that moment of talking, her voice had taken on a slightly musical tone. It rose and fell as if each word out of her mouth was a spell in the process of being created. It was the only hint she held from her past that she had been born with power, the power of witches. A power that seemed to now be in its own waning stages given that she was no longer of nature. Power yes, but nature. She doubted, though she was nothing like some of the others she knew of, that mother nature would no longer see her as a part of nature itself.

[Jesse Fforde]

”Micah,” I answer, simply. Micah is the one I now go to if I need anything for rituals – if I need to know anything, or if there are any ingredients that I am missing. I know that there are a few within Tytonidae who have the ability, who know how to do rituals, but it’s Micah who I see most often, and who, for some reason or other, I trust to have the answer. I pull the phone from my pocket with the intention of asking the question then and there – I am distracted for half a minute while I type it out, and I let the phone sit on my knee while I wait for a response. I throw my arm up over the back of the chair and have to smile a little bit.

”Unless you consider Tytonidae a coven, I’m not sure we’re a part of anything like. We’re just a couple of people who like doing rituals. I know a few others… I can try to organise a meeting, if you like?” I ask. I know that Axel does rituals, but I also know that Ursula doesn’t seem to get the best vibe from Axel. I understand if he’s not one that she would consider to go to for help. I wonder if there’s some group out there – I have to continue to smile as I imagine it. Some ad service: I’m a twenty-four year old male, looking for some ritualist buddies. I like tattoos and I’m an asshole. Call this number if you’re interested. I dismiss the idea. It doesn’t seem likely, much, in this city, that there’d be a group or somewhere to go to get that kind of help.

Of course I could be wrong. I’ve just never looked.

I’m not sure what Ursula knows about Tytonidae, or what we do. I’m not sure what her opinion is, or whether she’d ever consider trying to join. It’d be interesting, if she were to meet a few of the people I consider solid acquaintances. To see if she’d get along with them. I know that when I joined Tytonidae I found a home, and now, in Micah and Velveteen, two people who treat me like they had turned me themselves, regardless of any kind of stupid blood connection. I wonder if Ursula might find a home there, too. Though I suppose being a member of Tytonidae requires not only the true belief in the requirement of the Masquerade, but a certain amount of bloodthirsty-ness. I know that Paige is bloodthirsty, gloriously so. But is Ursula the same? I recall the night at the bar and the bartender we killed together. It doesn’t seem unlikely. I lick my lips, take a breath, and arch a brow.

”And there you, exactly. That’s probably how it is with the tomes, then. The newer it is, the stronger it is,” I say, with a nod.

[Ursula Wolfe]

The name rings no bells, it's not a name that Ursa knows so she just nods a little and then gives a bit of a huff as she relaxes into the couch as well, her eyes watching as Jesse pulls his phone and begins to do something with it, of course she doesn't may too close of attention to it because it's not really any of her business who he calls or what he says to another in a text. He goes on to mention a group, one that she had heard briefly in passing with either her sire or one of her siblings. She can't quite remember whom it was but she shakes it off.

"I wouldn't quite know if this group you mention is a coven of sorts, from the very little I have heard about it, but I would be interesting in meeting others that practice the craft. So if you could gather others, I would very much appreciate it. Plus it works out for you, then I don't have to bug you every time I have a question." She added in with a bit of a joking tone to her voice.

When Jesse confirmed what she thought about the tome she nodded and sighed a little. "I guess then I shall only be doing that particular ritual once... at least correctly. It's just figuring out the words themselves. That seems to be the tricky part for me, though thankfully, the bracelet Jordan got me helps protect the ingredients I use, at least the ones that aren't used to bind the circle." She said, letting her hand move over the relic that was a Christmas gift from her boyfriend.

"Now, I just have to save up for that other one." She said as she glanced over to the shops once more. She still had quite a ways to go before she would have the money to buy that particular relic. Once she got that then she would think about buying other necessities, a car, a new phone so she didn't have to use one that she picked off of Joe-Schmo, perhaps even more Hydros so that she could grow more plants. Something that was touch and go for her, especially if she forgot to where her thick leather gloves that kept her from weakening and killing things.

[Jesse Fforde]

”You haven’t heard of Tytonidae?” I ask. It seems odd – does she live under her rock? Both her sire and her grandsire belong to the group. Hell, even her great-grandsire had at one point, and the group itself could be the ultimate blame for why I am no longer a part of Altaire. I was forced to choose between the two groups.

”You mean the hood?” I ask – the other relic that Ursula is after. At the same time, I hold up my own arm, around which is secured the same kind of band that Ursula has. ”I wish I could help you – I can’t even afford to buy my own ****, though. Maybe I could, if I didn’t hoard everything. And sold it instead. Velveteen fronted me for the relics I have now. Well, the two for the rituals, anyway,” I say. There’s quite a lot that Velveteen has bought for me, that she has done for me. As well as Micah, too. They were the ones who helped me with the disenthrallment.

There are plenty of other things that I need to save up for, too – I want to be able to have enough in the bank so that I can buy expensive things for those connected to me. But I also need a couple more lockboxes. I do get paid above and beyond requirement from Masterpiece, however, so I just have to wait and try to save as much as I can, and not spend frivolously.

”And anyway, I’ll introduce you to others not because I don’t want you coming to me. You can bug me whenever you need to – but just in case, at some point, I’m not around,” I explain. I pick at a piece of lint on the couch as I say it, feigning disinterest, though I know it's a possibility. The way I've been acting recently - there really might come a time, sooner rather than later, that I might not be around. I’m watching the phone on my knee as I talk – I know sometimes Micah may be busy. Could take him a while to get back to me. I turn away from the device – it will vibrate, when I get a message. I focus on Ursula instead. It’s strange, this talking thing. I thought that I wouldn’t do much of it, even after getting my voice back. But I suppose, with particular people, it’s easy. And a welcome form of communication. I smile.

[Ursula Wolfe]

His question made her blink, she thought back to what she said to him about the Ty but didn't remember saying she didn't know the Ty just that she didn't really know much about them. Then again, there were times she tend to put her foot in her mouth. She didn't say anything in response though. Not at first, she would save it for now.

Then he brought up the hood and she nodded, that was exactly what she was after. A soft smile came to Ursula's face when he said he wished he could help her. Hell he had helped her by leaps and bounds. All the tomes, the ones he gave her before and the ones that he hand delivered to her tonight, the information as well as the tip he had given her earlier on in her studies about the ingredients. She smiled a bit more when he mentioned that he was hording his ritual ingredients, she too had the same problem. As it was her messenger bag was near overflowing with things, tomes, ingredients, two guns, one a bit bigger than the other but it had some serious stopping power.

However, she was never big on guns, she had only begun to learn how to really use them without harming herself. The kick on the gun she used was like a Mack truck. Her favorite thing to use was her Master Blade that she had luckily come upon when she hacked the head off a paladin. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, concentrating on Jesse once again and what he has to say. The last bit was rather confusing and a little worrying to her but she didn't let the soft smile fade from her face as she watched him for a moment more, noticing the smile.

"You know, talking to you now, like this, at times I find it hard to believe that you couldn't talk, but i'm glad you can now." She said softly, he was one of the ones that she enjoyed speaking to, not just about rituals, but **** in general. "As for your group, I have heard bits and pieces, but nothing really other than when Phoenix was having problems and then the random mentioning of it from either Axel or Paige. I think even Renee brought it up at one time." She sighed a little, the bits and pieces had her worried. Not in the way that she was scared of them, but the fact that so many of her family was in the group. Would they see her as a failure for not being like what she had heard?

Again she shook her thoughts and lifted her Crystal eyes to her grand-sire and smirked a bit as she relaxed into the chair. "It sounds like those two you have mentioned are better mentors than your own sire ever was."

'Sounds vaguely familiar to me little wolf' A voice whispered behind her and she sighed and shook her head, "I swear, only I would summon my uncle from the underworld." She said with a soft laugh "Even dead as a door nail and he continues to bug me." She said, noting the hint of a shadow dancing around her own shadow that was trying to smack the other shadow.

[Jesse Fforde]

The mention of a dead Uncle coming back from the dead to haunt Ursula has me tensing; I remember my own Uncle, from when I was eight. I remember his greasy hair and his beer gut. I remember the way he sneered, and threatened. The way he stole my voice from me. And then I remember my Uncle, the very same one, from months ago; the one who’d had a haircut, and a change of personality. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d somehow ‘found God’. It didn’t matter. I tortured him anyway. I flayed him. I spayed him. I bled him and made him scream for mercy – mercy which I did not give. And then when I was done, I burned him, and the building around him.

I roll my shoulders, sharp gaze drifting about the room as if looking for Ursula’s phantom Uncle – as if expecting to see mine – before returning my attention to the vampiress. I try to push the images and the fury from my mind—the grief and emotional turmoil—as well as the notion that the ****** might try to come back and haunt me. I should hope that I got to him so badly that he’d want to stay the **** away from me, even in death. I take a breath that I do not need, the roll of my shoulders morphing into a shrug.

”I’m sure Phoenix could be a great mentor,” I say. ”Honestly? I think she just doesn’t get me. She thinks I’m serious when I’m joking, and takes **** too personally. We have a clash in personality. Doesn’t make for a great mentor relationship,” I add. A lot of the problems between Phoenix and I seem to be one sided. We have had conversations recently where I believe we’re getting along just fine, but I still don’t feel like she’s given up on hating me. I have too many other problems; I haven’t got it in me to hold a grudge for something she’s apologized for.

”With Micah and Vel I don’t think it’s so much about mentoring, though. It’s them not giving up on me even though I’m an absolute **** sometimes. They don’t take my ******** seriously,” I give a slow shrug. I then narrow my eyes at Ursula. ”Like you. If you were mine, and you came to me whining about being a disappointment, I wouldn’t take any of that ********. I’d call it as ********, slap you over the head and tell you to get on with it,” I say with a grin.

[Ursula Wolfe]

Ursula spotted the moment that Jesse tensed, the moment that she mentioned her uncle. Was there something about the old voodoo priest that Jesse felt was a danger? She turned her head to spot her shadow and the shadow of her uncle for a moment before her eyes once again returned to the male before her. Her brow arched slightly and then relaxed as Jesse began to ease and talk about the two that he had mentioned a bit throughout the night and how they never took **** from him. It made her smile a little as he talked but it also made her curious as to just what this '********' was. However, she wasn't going to ask, it wasn't the time and she could pretty much tell it was a subject he didn't want to go into detail about, especially when he switched the spotlight to her.

Telling her that he would smack her upside the head and call her on the ********. That made her smile a bit "Well, there is a difference, at least from what time we have spent together. You've never given me a reason to think I am a disappointment, you've helped and you've made it clear that I can come to you with any question I may have. Then again, I guess your ease with me could be the fact that I'm in fact, not yours, but Axel's. Grandparents are always better to the grand kids than they are to their kids." She said with a teasing tone.

After a moment though, she heard a chirp from her phone and reached into her bag to get it, she glanced at the message on the screen from her boyfriend Jordan and smiled a bit. "Jordan just found a building full of gangsters, up for a little slice and dice session?" She asked as she slid her phone into her back pocket, smirking to the man, her hand going to her Master blade that she carried with her. It wasn't like her katana that she was used to fighting with when she was a human, but then she was quite a bit stronger now so the sword she had now sliced with the same ease and power. Ursa also reached into her bag to make sure that she had her gun with her and lots of ammo, she wasn't the best with guns, tended to burn through ammo, but she felt that she was getting better.

She turned her eyes on Jesse, wondering if he was up to the fight with the gangsters.

[Jesse Fforde]

As much as I feel soothed in the presence of those from my own lineage, I cannot help but continue to spiral into the depths of that all too familiar despair. It’s a darkness that’s been handing around my head, and in my heart, my soul, infecting me like some chronic oil spill. I can’t shake it, and even sitting here with Ursula, when ordinarily her very presence would comfort me, I can feel myself needing to break away.

Grandparents are always better to their grandchildren, she says. Better than they are to their own children. She’s teasing, I know, and the use of familial terms ought to have had me chuckling, too. But the implication is clear. As attentive as I might be to Axel’s childer, and as grateful as they might be, I am not as attentive to my own. It’s a barb in my chest, the unfamiliar pang of shame and disgust; of worthlessness.

Slaughtering gangsters sounds like a grand idea, but I don’t particularly feel like doing it as a social experiment. Right now, I feel like I need to be alone with my thoughts; I need to figure out what the **** is wrong with me. Though I know I won’t get very far. I’ll no doubt find some abandoned building to set on fire. Consider, again, throwing myself into the middle of it. Refrain, only because I still have my doubts. I know that I do want to meet Jordan, and this would be a means to an end, were I to accept the invitation. But the idea that I could soon be face to face with a blazing inferno is somehow more enticing. Just for now.

I don’t smile as I stand. I’m not really known for my courtesy; and right now, blunt is all that I can achieve.

”You go on ahead. I might see you there later,” I say. I know I shouldn’t treat her like this. I know that. But I cannot help it. I cannot change. My mood swings like a pendulum between something resembling contentment, and doom. One extreme, and one vague state of near-happiness. Lately, the pendulum seems to be broken. There’s no consistency. There’s no balance. Doom. Doom is all that I can think about.

”Let me know how you go with those tomes. And I’ll talk to some people. Set up a meeting,” I say. I know there’s no colour to my tone, but that’s okay. It’s a broken husk anyway.

[Ursula Wolfe]

Ursa continued to wait for Jesse's answer but there was something in his eyes, a pain that she didn't know if she was truly seeing it or imagining it. She took a moment to think about the things that she had said to him and wondered if he took what she said about the grandparents being better with their grandchildren rather than their own children. Surely he heard the jest in her voice? That is how she had meant it. The only one that she had been close to aside from Axel that was his childer had been Abigale before she vanished into thin air. From those times she could see he had been a very attentive sire so to think that she had called him anything else gave her a pang of regret.

As he stood, telling her to go on and that he might see her later, she nodded, and stood herself, placing her new tomes into her bag before she moved over to his side and placed a light kiss on his cheek as she normally did whenever she ran into him. "I'll see you later then Jesse. By the way, you totally rock!" She said in a playful tone before she turned to head for the raid that was currently going on. She turned on her heels and headed for the door but then glanced over her shoulder and smirked at him "Call me when you get that meeting set up?" She said and with a wink she hurried out of the building, heading for the address that Jordan had given her.

The moment she got in the door she could hear the bullets flying and she pulled out her gun that she was still learning to master like she had her blade. It was time to get her killing on.