AN: The Title says it all…
And Happy (Observed) Memorial Day: Regardless of the politics, the years served, or the theater of war we all owe an unequivocal debt to those who have and are willing to pay the ultimate price to defend our respective nations...
While Jade and Tori descend to the second level basement James leans over and speaks to Robbie,
"So…do you need the location of a guy who makes fireproof clothing?" Understandable Robbie is thoroughly confused,
"Uh?"
"I can tell that at some point in the near future one of them is going to throw a fireball at you." James speaks flatly.
"Wh-why?" Robbie with a rather obvious look of shock on his face.
"Trust me, I've been doing this for over forty years and I can tell when someone is annoying enough to make a mage throw a fireball at them." He does internally shudder at his own experience in this field and how lucky he was that the mage only threw a warning shot.
"Looks like he's got you pegged, Robbie." Andre draws the attention of the two into the little circle behind them.
"I'm not annoying." Robbie's not even able to convince himself of this as he smiles nervously, hoping that someone will agree with him.
"Uh-huh, sure if you want to keep living in your little fantasy world." Rex's words cut deep.
"I still think he's a malacant." James narrows his vision on the puppet.
"So living puppets are that evil." Beck finds it hard to believe that a piece of wood and cloth could be lethal.
"Malacants pull the strings of people, lovely bit of irony there I guess. But it's still nightmarish to have to fight your own comrades just to kill it." A little gloom taints his voice as his eyes harden.
"Bad personal experience?" Beck can feel his demeanor is shifting toward the negative.
"Mixed. If it wasn't for my first malacant, which was my first creature encounter, I wouldn't be a hunter. But then again, I wouldn't be a hunter. This life ain't easy, you're going to see a lot of terrible shit… however it does feel good to be one of the guys protecting the world from evil." After a roll-a-coaster of emotional turmoil James settles on pride.
"So an evil mind controlling puppet was your first monster?" Beck understands how crappy that must have been, hell he got goblins and wasn't exactly doing well… or almost pissed himself, either or.
"Body-controlling, it's much worse because you have to helplessly watch as you do bad things… But yeah, I was just a young soldier serving in the early years of Vietnam until one of those things took out damn near my entire unit with a group of farmers… You could see the look on their faces, they didn't want to do it, but had no choice…" His eyes take on a ghostly frost as the memory tries to claw its way into his mind…but before it consumes him he snaps back,
"I'll skip the gory details and just say that if it wasn't for the Legion I'd be dead. I owed them my life and they got forty-two years of it." He shows no signs of the previous emotion as he beams with a little pride at his length of service, especial considering very few make it twenty years without dying, going evil, or going insane.
"You've been doing this for a long time… what do you know about magic?" This isn't exactly the smoothest transition, but Robbie is going to seize any opportunity he can to find out about magic. After a brief beard scratch James speaks very casually,
"…Enough to survive a few angry mages." He does respect the boy for his straightforwardness, but also isn't sure that hunting is his field… Leaning on the counter Beck lazily clarifies Robbie's intent,
"He wants to know if just anyone can use it."
"Yes, all humans can use low level very basic spells. In fact the Legion has the five basic spells that are considered the most useful taught as part of the standard training course. But it takes a unique individual to be able to use the stronger stuff." His glances over at the elevator with cagy eyes, the others don't notice the action. However Robbie is very happy to hear about him being able to use magic and,
"So you do know a few spells?"
"Yes, but only the five. I was never talented with mystic chanting." James shakes his head at the whole magic thing. Despite having been saved by more than one of the five spells and more than a few mages, he still doesn't care for magic…too metaphysical for his tastes, he will always prefer bullets and cold steel.
"Can you teach me?" The ventriloquist takes a respectful tone, but it's about to be washed away by the excitement he's suppressing…rather poorly mind you.
"There isn't much to teach, just recite the spell. Here I'll write down the first two." He moves back behind the counter and grabs a small piece of yellow paper and scribbles down the spells.
"Only two?" Disappointment graces Robbie's face.
"The last three are more dangerous and I just met you. These two are relatively safe, so you can get the hang of it." He hands him the paper and nods.
"Thanks."
"In fact it wouldn't hurt for all of you to learn them. I mean they're taught because they can be invaluable in a pinch." James glances around at the others.
"I guess I could learn a little magic." Andre happy to give it a try if it might save his life down the line.
"Alright, but I don't want to hurt anyone." Cat bounds over to see the words written on the paper. James sighs, 'God, please keep an eye on her, you know she needs it.' With his prayer recited he proceeds,
"…The first is a flare; used to signal other units or call for help with a lovely little flash of green light. The second is a mystic flashlight, very useful if your batteries die or you're suddenly in darkness without one."
"Why would we suddenly be in darkness?" Beck shakes his head as he tries to think of any situation when that would happen. James requires no time to answer as he draws from his own experiences,
"Traps, weak floorboards, or unexpectedly chasing a monster into darkness. It happens more than you think… But there're two things about the torch, you have to say, 'Dissatra', in order to dismiss it and it will continuously draw energy from you as long as it exists, so you will need to dismiss it if you start feeling a little weak."
"And the other three? Robbie's inquisition garners a sigh from James,
"…Three is an emergency fireball spell in case you run out of ammo or find yourself in a really tight spot. The fourth is a minor healing spell, but like all healing spells it requires focus and a reasonable amount of energy, so for now it's off-limits. And the final spell…have you seen MIB?" His pause is a flash of brilliance in explaining this trickier last spell.
"Yeah, why?" Most of them speak simultaneously, accompanied by looks of confusion. James grins,
"That little pen that erases memory was inspired by this spell. It erases the last twenty-four hours of the memory of anyone who sees it. Incredibly useful for hunter operations. The time lost can be decreased if you have proper training… and it only works on humans. It should be obvious why I'm not teaching you this spell." He stares at them accusatorially.
"I wouldn't teach that spell to Jade, she would enjoy it way too much." Andre definitely doesn't want chunks of his memory removed at her pleasure.
"I'm surprised she doesn't already know it, considering her and Tori have Charles's spellbook…" Then the full implication of that hits him,
"Come to think of it, I should really confiscate that… then again Charles did give it to them…" Seeing as he has spent the mass majority of his life in service to the Legion and consequently it's leader he knows full well that Charles doesn't do things without reason or cause, plus,
"Obviously they aren't just reading from it carelessly or they would have already read the memory eraser and none of you would be in this building right now." His own point has brought about a rather interesting little dilemma. To combat this he boards the elevator and ascends to his floor, deciding to sleep on it.
This action leaves the others in a state of mild confusion before they shrug and head out. Beck looks back at the lift, 'Jade, what in the world have you gotten us into?', then he's gone out the door.
In a club called Blood Creu, a lovely little creature only mixer, Dan Glyphson and Justin DuCox arrive through the back entrance. Reginald Boreas; a short raven-haired, clean shaven man of only about four foot three but with a build akin to iron, and Felicity Sol; a medium length red-haired woman standing at five-eleven with a slender build and long thin fingers, are already waiting backstage when the two ascend the steps. The Scotsman's thick ascent cleaves into the two of them,
"What kept th' two of' ya'?" Reginald's slate grey eyes fall on Dan, the one who is usually responsible for…any problems really.
"Don't look at me. Justin was late picking me up." Dan grins big as it wasn't actually his fault for once.
"Weston's apprentices were…having a rather interesting conversation." Justin drops his head in shame of this dishonest action. Dan's grin increases ten-fold,
"Eavesdropping is my thing. Being noble and honorable is yours." Justin cuts the Dan a razor's glare.
"So, what did they say?" Felicity's charming South African ascent causes Justin to look up and meet her gorgeous deep sea blue eyes. He has to tear himself away in order to concentrate enough to remember any of the conversation,
"I think…one of them is dating Sunny." Reginald grins, 'Aye', now tha't would be inter'estin'.' Dan however completely dismisses this,
"Nah, they're a couple." He picks up the crocodile skin guitar case setting on the amp…what he's a snake, not a croc.
"Who?" Felicity cocks her head as she waits for Dan. He turns around after retrieving the black nineteen-fifty-two Gibson with a white rose on the guard and slings the strap over his shoulder,
"The apprentices, they're together. I can feel it." He has no doubt that they're a couple, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary…well semi-overwhelming. Justin may be younger than the other males in the group, Dan was significantly older than his twenties appearance let on and Reginald was basically a living fossil, but he's fairly certain that's not true,
"I don't think so. I didn't get that energy from them." He moves over to grab his signature dark blue Rickenbacker bass with gold trim.
"What did you get from them?" Dan with a smirk as he strums a few chords.
"There's this familiar feeling when they approach, but I…can't quite…place it." Justin starts to scratch the top of his head as he makes a minor adjustment to his instrument with the other hand.
"Ya' mean th' same feeling whenev'r Weston's near?" Reginald had already prepared his drums so he had no need to multitask.
"…Now that I think about it, yeah." Justin bobs his head in agreement as he simultaneously approves of the sound of his bass. Dan looks over at Reginald with a smile and a raised eyebrow,
"Should we finally tell him?"
"Tell me what?" Justin looks up at them with confusion.
"Do you think Weston is human?" Dan asks slyly.
"Of course, what else would he be?" Justin feels this is one of their tricks.
"I'm rather curious myself." Felicity had been double checking her cherry red Fender Stratocastor while she mused over this little discussion, but now her interest has been fully peaked.
"Reggie, would you like the honors?" Dan does a deep bow to the shorter man.
"It' t'would be me pleasure, Danny." Now they are both wearing a diabolically joyful grin,
"He's ah Dra'goon. And I'd be willing ta' bet ya', so 'are those two lasses."
"Dragoon? Are you sure?" Both Felicity and Justin are completely shocked by this, 'the legendary Dragoons!'. Justin can't imagine how many times he simply considered Weston a human and now his apprentices, 'This can't be happening.' Felicity has a slightly lesser reaction, having not met the girls yet, 'He always had a powerful presence, but a Dragoon…'
"We both saw him turn. It t'was quite ah sight, seeing one of' tho'se beasties slaugh'ter ah few doz'en were-bears." If at all possible his ascent gets thicker as he grins like a fool and slaps Dan on the back, rather hard. Dan laughs it off with the joyous Scotsman, the sight of the two cubs' bewilderment is more than blissful to the aged warriors.
Their laughter comes to an end as a blonde male elf informs them that's they're on. They recollect themselves and prepare for the curtain to rise.
"Beasts of all species, we have a very special treat tonight. The one and only…River of Steeeeelllll!..." The satyr announcer's voice is rapidly drowned out by the excited cheers of the creature crowd. The curtain rises on one of the biggest rock bands to every grace the beast world. Then the crowd grows dead quiet as Dan approaches the mic…
AN: So, was that weird or what? I'm not terribly likely to continue with the River of Steel angle…I just wanted to give Justin and Dan a bit more of a story…and maybe a possible tie-in later, but again unlikely.
Oh and an apology to any Scotsmen/women reading this, I don't know much about writing heavy Scottish accents but wanted to make damn sure people got that Reggie had one, because he's pretty awesome… and on another note kind of inspired by 'Trick' from Lost Girl.
P.S.: Should Robbie invest in some fireproof clothing?
And yes the next chapter is Jade and Tori…
-May Dread watch over you- (this is my new signature/monk chant thingy, to ward off evil spirits and bad luck.)