What's up everyone?! Welcome Back to another chapter of The Wizard of Brockton Bay! A big thanks to everyone who has faved, and followed thus far. I don't wanna take up too much time so we're gonna jump right into this. Please check out the bottom for a longer A/N. Lets Go!
"…Fuck."
The one word kept repeating, over and over again. Not only inside of his head, but every once in a while, his incredulousness at the entire situation would overtake him; and the single word would then once again pass his lips as he considered the 'Mote' he'd just purchased.
'Of all the things for me to get out of this…Azkaban'. Jack thought as he made his way over to his couch, collapsing into it as the mild stress of the situation took hold of him.
'What the hell am I supposed to do with an entire prison?!'
Jack nearly found himself spiraling into a thought lock over the entire thing, but a very mild pop sounded directly in front of him, drawing his sight to a part of his newest perks addition to his life.
The little creature was diminutive, as he'd known they were described. The small but pointy bat-like ears flopping ever so slightly as the House elf bounced lightly before him, a seeming bundle of nerves. The little guy's light-colored skin contrasted heavily against the almost jet-black pillowcase he wore, making him look as though he were wearing a dark version of a toga.
A set of bright blue eyes peered at him, the House elf's voice coming out in a slightly deep and musky tone as though he were a very heavy smoker.
"Tonne's be coming to find new Master. Tonne is wanting to tell master that he is now beginning his job of watching over Master's Azkaban."
. . .
'He kind of sounds like Christopher Walken in a way.' Jack thought with morbid curiosity as he stared at his new…Friend? Comrade?
'By all that is good…this is gonna take some serious getting used to.'
Not wanting to insult the little guy Jack stood up and maneuvered a foot or so around the coffee table, before taking a knee and extending his right hand to Tonne.
"Well Tonne, I'm Jackson. You can call me Jackson, Jack, or Sir; but none of that Master business, okay? Let's make that the first ever order that I'll give you, okay? So long as it's just you and I, you can call me any one of the three. If we're in mixed company Sir will be just fine, but otherwise the choice is yours. Whatever makes you more comfortable. You taking care of the prison is a humungous deal to me, because truth be told? I don't want it. I don't wanna think about it. At least… not right now. So, thank you."
The little elf took a moment to respond, but when he did, he shook his hand solidly for a moment with the initial look on his face being one of wonder and profound respect; before said look changed at the final words Jack spoke the look being something more akin to sad understanding.
"Yes Sir. The prison be's a sad place. But Tonne understands Sir's need for it. It's a place for bad peoples."
Jack finished shaking the little elf's hand at his proclamation, and after a moment of mulling over it; Jack couldn't find anything wrong with the way Tonne had remarked upon his newest addition.
'Unfortunately, he's right. Not like I'm going out tomorrow to start filling the place up, but the bright side does exist about it. I've got a place that if it comes down to it, I can stick the worst this world has got to offer in there. Spare the actual good people out in the world some of the crap that happens here.' Jack thought as he slowly began to nod as a few names of individuals like that materialized in his mind, all the while doing his best to try to keep his visage light as he spoke to Tonne.
"You're right my friend. At the very least in time it'll be good for that much. I've gotta know though, are you okay with this job? I want you to know that if you're uncomfortable out there, you don't have to spend all of your time on that island. You can always come here, get a break from being around the Dementors. There's no real…risk… of them escaping is there?" Jack asked, the final bit coming out as a last mild thought that honestly worried him to his core.
'At the very least I hope the door to the 'Enclosure' would keep them barred in there if they can break off from the island and move around.'
Jacks line of questioning saw his new elf friend looking seemingly touched, the diminutive being having to bring its right hand up to wipe a single tear away before straightening up to answer Jack.
"Sir need not worry about the Dementors leaving the island. The magic's is quite powerful there, and they prefer the dark, damp, and cold more than they would the rest of Sir's 'Enclosure'. As for Tonne, Tonne is fine. The Dementor's can't bother Tonne as they would Sir. At most I think they considers Tonne a nuisance, but they ignores me. Tonne would be most happy to help Sir when he's not busy cleaning the prison, which without prisoners to keep; Tonne finds himself with no work."
Jack took a moment to process Tonne's words before he nodded once, standing up to his full height before stretching deeply. By the time he had finished he wound up letting out a slight yawn, the events of the day having finally caught up with him.
"Alright Tonne. Your more than welcome to work around here until there's any kind of work that needs to be done at the prison. For now…I think I'm gonna go to bed. It's been a bit of a day. As I'm sure you can imagine. If you wouldn't mind, I'm gonna wanna get an early start. If you could just wake me up around five in the morning, I'd appreciate it?" Jack asked while looking at the one clock that was hanging on the left-hand side of his fireplace.
At Jack's request Tonne bobbed his head up and down while trying to maintain his very stiff posture, the whole picture coming off as just slightly funny to Jack; though he did his best to not outwardly chuckle at his small friend's exuberance.
After ensuring that the shutter to the workshop was closed and having bid both Hermes and Tonne a good night; Jack went into his room and discarded his current clothes after looking and finding a nice light cotton set of grey pajamas in the right hand nightstand.
A quick brushing of his teeth and ensuring that nothing felt amiss Jack climbed into bed, making sure to keep his wand with him as his head touched the pillows.
Not realizing how tired he had been, Jack was out within seconds.
…
Jack found himself quickly springing awake, a mix of a dream between his original home life blending with one from his Alter's life fading quickly as he realized that he had heard a strange creak.
His left hand quickly darted up from under his left side wand in hand, a Lightning based curse that his Alter had become a fan of while fighting off poachers in the field on his lips; though the action quickly halted as Jack realized what had happened.
Tonne, seeing his reaction had already quickly disappeared via the form of Disapparating from a few feet in front of his bed, though his head quickly poked around the corner of the open sliding doors leading into the kitchen.
"Sir…asked for Tonne to wake him at five. It is five."
Jack quickly lowered his wand and apologized to his new friend, reaching up with his right hand to allow it to rest over his now rapidly beating heart.
'Well at least it's good to know that Alter Me's training worked well enough to pass on to me.' Jack thought as he collected himself before apologizing for a second time.
Tonne seemed to take it all in stride, waving the second apology off as quickly as he had the first.
"Sir need not ever apologize to Tonne. Tonne knows that Sir must be cautious at all times. Sir has taken on a big responsibility. Sir always needs to be at his best. Tonne will always help with that. Tonne has made breakfast and coffee for Sir, and also cleaned his outfit so that if he wanted to wear the same thing again he could."
It took Jackson a minute to catch up to Tonne's words, but his ears caught up at the same time as his nose did as the heavenly aroma of freshly brewed coffee drifted in on him.
Telling Tonne he'd join him in a moment, Jack got up out of bed and made his way over to his wardrobe, quickly throwing it open to make a decision about what he planned to wear for the day.
His relatively normal seeming outfit from the day before was all already hanging on the inside of the right-hand door of the wardrobe, looking thoroughly clean and pressed; his boots still sitting at the foot of his bed.
'Though if I'm right I think Tonne shined them?'
Inside of the wardrobe sat a new array of clothes, a good majority of them being a smidge outside of what Jack himself would normally wear; though nothing unseemly.
A few pairs of shoes were inside of a drawer at the bottom of the wardrobe, a mix between dress shoes, work boots, and sneakers all greeting him.
The double set drawers above that held his socks and underwear respectively.
The third and final drawer held five different pairs each of dark colored cargo pants, and darker colored jeans.
What hung from the bar within the wardrobe however was what deviated from his own normal fare of clothing.
'Button ups. Button ups and damn polos. Why? Had Alt Me never heard of a simple T-shirt?'
Amongst the assorted button up shirts and polo's, Jack also found a few different jackets; each one seemingly for a different kind of weather.
Thankfully, even though he didn't particularly care for the type of shirts he at least had new clothes.
'Could be worse right? Could be stuck with a singular outfit and have to dip into my money for clothes already.'
After grabbing a pair of cargo pants and a dark hunter green polo to go with his leather jacket, Jack made his way into the bathroom and took a quick shower before dressing.
Upon walking into the kitchen Jack saw that Tonne had already gone ahead and fed Hermes, which Jack was very appreciative of.
Sitting on the table was a cup of coffee for him alongside a modest breakfast, consisting of some rye toast, egg whites, and some red grapes.
The meal was gone quick as a flash, and before he knew it Jack was already up and being ushered out of the kitchen by Tonne, the elf saying that he'd take care of all the cleanup.
Not wanting to be in his new friend's way Jack turned and set his sights on the parchment that he'd left sitting on the coffee table the night before.
The one with his to do list on it.
'No time like the present right?' Jack thought as he went and grabbed said list, before walking over to get some more parchment. He had a lot of work to do.
…
After a while Jackson dragged himself back over to his couch, Tonne meeting him there with a large glass of water, which Jack was extremely grateful for; and made disappear within moments.
Jack hadn't realized it, but setting the small stack of papers down made him feel genuinely accomplished.
It hadn't taken Tonne long to not only clean up the kitchen, but also the bathroom; and after that he had quickly joined Jack in his inventory endeavor.
From that point forward Jack got to have a close up look at the way that House elf wandless magic worked…and it left him feeling slightly envious.
'Note to self: start perusing my Alter's memories to see if he trained in wandless magic at all. If not? Start looking for information on it. It'll never be as good as Tonne's but being able to do things wandlessly, or at the very least non-verbally would be a massive advantage.'
One of the many amazing things about having Tonne showed in the taking of the inventory he'd wanted to get done, as with only a few deft gestures or snaps of his fingers Tonne was able to manipulate almost everything in Jack's domicile.
The way things went around the room and then back to where they came from astounded Jack, and all of the shifting helped as he was able to quickly move through all the items quickly.
"Tempus."
The smoke that emulated the clock as he stood in the far back of the workshop near the door to the 'Enclosure' showed that it was now nearing 8 AM, and Jack was now sure that he had a good understanding of all that he had available to him ingredients and supplies wise in the workshop.
'And it's honestly a lot less than I thought it was upon first looking at it.' Jack thought as he and Tonne finished putting away the last of the crystal vials of already pre-prepared potions.
Among his stores he had at least two of every potion prepared that could be made up to and through the third-year syllabus of both Hogwarts and Illvermorny's Potion's curriculum, and though it wasn't really much at all; he could say that he currently had at least one forty-ounce crystal container of every ingredient from the first to the seventh-year curriculums syllabus.
'A decent enough start, but certain thing's I'll definitely need more of, and with that I'll have to consider their shelf life's and so on. All this stuff lasts thanks to the crystal containers and vials, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll last forever. Even being stored in those, these things have shelf lives.' Jack thought as he considered his next move while he put together a small cut down shopping list of more necessary ingredients.
One thing that had in fact come up was the fact that he didn't have any Standard Potioning Water, which was a vital necessity for any and all brewing he could be doing.
Standard Potioning Water was unlike any kind of mundane water available and was the typical fair to be used for potion making and brewing.
'So, I'm definitely gonna need a decent supply. Guess it's about time to give Hermes his first bit of work.' Jack thought as he took the short walk over to the obelisk where his owl sat so that he could check his catalogue.
Fortunately, the catalogue was capable of dividing things by shop, item type, and even serial numbers with the last part causing Jack to laugh a little.
'Why they'd need those I have no idea.'
As he was passing through the catalogue making note of things that sounded interesting, a thought struck him; and said thought brought him to the listings for Quality Quidditch Supplies.
'Maybe I can knock that particular item off of the list early.'
Upon arriving to the company's listing and seeing their products Jack felt a sense of elation fill him before he scanned down the listed products…
Upon his eyes alighting upon the Firebolt and its price, his heart fell so hard he thought the organ may very well wind up in his feet.
'Sweet Christmas. 62,585 Galleons! That's not even for the newest model! Crimeny.' Jack thought to himself as he stared at the page for a moment.
After allowing his thoughts to settle on that Jack shook his head and quickly decided to put the issue of a broom to the side for now, knowing that he had far more important things to work on.
'First Potions ingredients. Then it's finally time to check out the 'Enclosure'. If all goes well from there, then it's time to practice some of the spells that I actually know; before then trying to break into my Alter's memories or even more importantly the journal for it. From there, once I've got a feel for my magic and my casting I wanna start contemplating Apparating. Though...maybe I should study some healing magic first? Yeah. That's probably the best bet. I'm gonna have to lean on my Alter's memories hard for the Apparating.' Jack thought as he looked down at the small, now revised checklist in his right hand.
After coming to be firm on his course of action Jack walked over and deposited the checklist onto the desk next to his Grimoire journal, before picking up his moleskin pouch and proceeding to use the Summoning charm to get the necessary money out that he'd need for his shopping list.
Right as the final Galleon came up out of the pouch, Jack felt another point become available; and couldn't help the small smile that graced his face before he walked over to Hermes.
"Hey Buddy. You ready for your first trip for me?"
Hermes bright eyes looked at him, and by the way they were with the slight tilt of the head Jack could swear that the owl was again judging him with the sarcastic thought of 'No. My whole reason for existence here is actually a lie. I'm just here for you to take care of as a pet. You can get your own damn mail and packages, you numbskull.'
After another second of Jack feeling like an actual numbskull, he noticed that Hermes had already extended his leg for the small secondary pouch that Jack had filled with his money.
Jack proceeded to hand the pouch to his small feathery friend, before attaching a small note with an attached envelope to the same leg.
"Please make sure that you go to Calcrafts Magical Crates first okay Hermes? Give them the note, and inside of the envelope will be their payment for a small magical trunk that's charmed to be able to hold a couple of gallon sized glass containers as well as some other small glass vials or containers of potions ingredients. After that then see if you can get the written order inside of the money pouch there taken care of at whatever local potions shop there is. Do you…think you can handle that?" Jack asked with a small amount of trepidation, his final question gaining him what he'd equate to a human being's deadpan stare.
Hermes stared at him for a moment, and Jack would swear up and down that the owl was actually looking into his very soul this time…the feeling leaving him just slightly uncomfortable.
The feeling passed though as the beautiful owl let out a small hoot before pecking Jack's right hand once, his wings kicking off once powerfully. The owl then circled the inside of the dwelling once, before flying straight out the window; the picturesque landscape view rippling for a moment as if it were made of water as Hermes passed through the boundary.
The final sight held Jackson enraptured for a moment, as he really couldn't quantify what he'd just seen.
'But that was most definitely awesome. I love magic.'
After taking a moment to watch Hermes become a small dot upon the horizon in the window, Jack turned and looked at Tonne.
"Well Tonne, no time like the present. What do you say you take me for a tour?" Jack asked with an upbeat tone as he started towards the workshop part of his case; quickly closing the shutter before turning and making his way towards the large wooden door.
As his hand closed around the brass looking knob for the first time Jackson once again felt his mind assailed by memories not originally his own, the sheer amount from this instance being enough to cause him a slight headache behind his eyes.
The very first time he'd entered the 'Enclosure', any significant time he'd taken a more difficult beast into his care, and even some of the simpler times of just marveling at the fun of being a Magizoologist and all the traveling the case allowed him to do.
'May have to take a Pain-Relieving Potion in a little bit for that one.' Jack thought as he took a deep breath in order to center himself, even while now staving off the slight pounding of his head.
"Is Sir alright?"
The worry in Tonne's voice made Jack feel slightly warm, and he brought his gaze downwards so that he could properly respond to his small magical friend.
"I'm Ok. Nothing that won't sort itself out quick enough. Enough stalling. Let's see what's inside!"
The door was opened at a decent pace, and as it got to the halfway open point Jackson found that he had to quickly shut his eyes for a moment so that he could stave off the artificial light of the sun that was inside.
He knew it was artificial, because he was still even now processing his Alter's memories.
But at that very moment…he was happy to have them. Because while he was okay with being in awe of things, it was nice to able to actually have a bit of understanding at first glance.
The size of the entire 'Enclosure' was hard to quantify for Jack as far as numbers went, but to put it into a far simpler kind of number the entire area was made up of eight different paddocks; not including the newest addition of the small beach that wasn't too far ahead of him on his upper right.
'Which has literal Azkaban at the end of it.' Jack thought morosely for a moment as he strained his eyes to look at the dark toned water set amongst the backdrop of a dark and cloudy sky.
The contrast of that as opposed to the open and sunny setting on his direct upper left was something to behold, and in his opinion would make an amazing interactive watercolor painting as the one side had the dark and dreary backdrop of the crashing and frothing waves while the other had its open and rocky terrain as it was bathed in beautiful sunlight.
The eight paddocks consisted of the Underwater habitat, the Mountainous Forest habitat, the Snowy Peaks habitat, the Eastern Bamboo habitat, the Desert Plains habitat, the Floating Tree habitat, the Earthen Underground habitat, and the final official paddock being the Sandy Oasis habitat.
As Jack took a look around, he and Tonne decided to start the tour by walking through one of the wooden divider walls, and into the beginnings of the Mountainous Forest habitat.
Tonne began to speak of how he'd Apparated around the inside of the 'Enclosure' for a bit before coming to meet him, and what each of the spaces had to offer as far as size and scope went.
While he didn't necessarily count Tonne as a creature due to his intelligence and sentience, or the Dementors due to their lack of anything truly discernable as true and actual life, Jack knew that he'd eventually have a wonderful collection of Magical Beasts living here in the confines of his case.
'Or maybe hopefully someplace bigger if I can ever wrap my head around some enchanting.'
What Jack found truly surprising though was that at bits he could see bugs, some of them being normal looking even with their small size and speed; though there were clearly others that due to their colors Jack found himself questioning whether or not they were magical in origin.
Jackson and Tonne had barely made it a quarter of the way through the Mountainous Forest region when Jack was finally able to actually see the backdrop of a slight mountain in the distance, and once again the sheer scope of the inside of the case left him feeling slightly breathless.
After taking a moment to appreciate the splendor, Jack decided that he'd spend his next point and then maybe get a small amount of spell training in on a rock or tree somewhere in the area here.
Closing his eyes and focusing brought him back to his tree, and once again Jack decided to look at the Item's branch…
He found himself glad that he'd chosen to do so.
The representation of the branch had changed.
The same number of 'leaves' existed on the branch as before, but now the branch's name had changed. It no longer had the label as just 'Useful Item's.
'The branch says, "Useful Items/Beasts".'
…
Jackson felt his world spin a bit and had to take a moment to pull back from the tree so that he could relax; knowing that freaking out would do him no good now.
After taking a few precious moments to compose himself Jack played through everything that had happened since he'd been sent here, and the whole thing left him with only one real conclusion.
'The tree updated the name of the branch because I got Tonne and the Dementors when I got Azkaban. They're all considered creatures no matter how I personally look at it, and that's why I now have the listing for creatures on the branch. I probably would have seen that same change happen if I had gotten a beast one off of the next spent point here on the 'Useful Items' branch.' Jack thought to himself as he tried to logically explain the change to his tree, even though it was technically an insignificant one.
'Though now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't be trying to logic anything having to do with magic huh?'
After that slightly sobering thought Jack brought his focus back to the tree, and back to the branch he had been examining in the first place. After a few moments of warring with indecision in his own head, he focused once again to get the next point from the newly renamed branch.
'C'mon! give me something useful! Is it too much to ask for a Time Turner this early into my journey?'
The 'Mote' came alive like all the others.
But once the motes description came into focus Jack felt his stomach once again attempt to try and pull off the same bottoming out routine that he'd felt his heart try to do earlier.
'The First (XXXXX): But possibly not the Worst- You're first XXXXX class beast has come home! You're quite familiar with her, or at least you used to be. You very well may be again soon, after all…a mind is a terrible thing. The mind of a creature like that of the mighty Wampus Cat? Can be doubly so.'
…
Jack found himself staring at his tree for he didn't know how long, but when he was finally able to find a coherent thought it was a simple one, even though he knew he wasn't likely to get an answer to it.
'Really, Magus?! The first one?! Of all things it's a XXXXX class beast as the First one?! A damn Wizard killer?!' Jack thought with frustration before deciding that he needed to take this slowly.
'With any luck I'll be able to get moving quick and get out before she sees me. This has gotta be done carefully. Agnes will probably rip me to shreds once she realizes I'm not actually her Jack, so I'm not taking any chances.'
Jack mentally shook himself out for another moment before focusing again, which brought him back to the real world inside the case.
All of his possible plans of escape went out the window as Agnes herself was in the middle of coming around a large oak tree in front of him when he opened his eyes.
In a way she was beautiful, and Jack could easily admit that outright, but she was beautiful in the way that all large wild animals are beautiful, which is to say that they are beautiful while it is quite clear that they can and will eviscerate you without a second thought.
Jackson could clearly see that her fur was a beautiful blend of golden blonde and light brown coloring, with her underside being a more off white or light cream kind of color. She looked much like any Mountain Lion he could remember seeing on a nature documentary back home…with the one big difference being that she had six legs instead of four.
Upon taking her in Jack's brain was flooded with memories again, the memories of raising the magical beast before him. Bottle feeding her, weening her, the switching to raw meats and supplements, and even the play time and behaviors.
Along with the documenting of her growth, which as he could recall put her at about 7'2 and at one hundred and fifty-five pounds when she'd stand on her far back hind legs.
'And the fact that she can in fact run like a person but much much faster is pants pissing levels of terrifying.'
Jackson didn't realize that he'd made a possibly serious mistake by staring at Agnes until he genuinely locked his brown orbs with her blazing golden yellow eyes… said eyes taking on a light green shine for only a brief second before he felt his slight headache start to turn into a minor blazing inferno of pain.
He did his best to keep his eyes open, to keep focused on the deadly magical beast in front of him as he didn't know how she'd react to all that had happened.
That train of thought was thrown off when the pain started to recede ever so slightly before he was thrown into brief shock and another blazing set of memories.
-Father...Not Father? –
Agnes's mental voice passed over him, a gently wafting thing that trailed in the smooth way that you would watch light trails of smoke waft of a recently put out candle. Her tone was curious, but also wary; guarded.
Jackson didn't get the chance to try and answer her mental questioning, as once again her Legilimency probe washed over his mind; though again not in a violent manner…more in a test.
It receded for but a moment and Jack watched her briefly shake from almost the top of her head to the tip of her long tail before her tongue went across her maw once, a very human-esque action that a memory provided a reason for. She was concerned.
-Your shields are weakened. That's dangerous. Your mindscape is no longer safe. We need to work at them…Father. As we do, I'll get my answers. –
After her voice faded from his mind she turned and began to walk deeper into the forest, only to stop as neither Jack nor Tonne had started to follow her.
Her unblinking gaze locked with his again for a moment, and this time when her metal probe reached out it wasn't actual words that reached him, but instincts. Intent.
Her mental touch was a hard thing to describe, as in a way it was intimately familiar; and yet at the same time completely alien.
The memories of not only the life that wasn't his warred with his own recent memory of Magus, and the only thing that that made easier was the understanding of the sheer scope in difference.
Magus's presence was overall, suffocating.
An easy thing to understand considering the sheer size that the Entity boasted.
But in that same vein while Magus's mind touch was completely and utterly overbearing, it was in a way almost underdeveloped. Not to say that the Entity's mind wasn't a powerful thing, because how could it not be.
No, the thought of the Entity's mind touch invoked the thoughts of underdeveloped because of the strange way in which it communicated. But that had no bearing on the being's vastness or power.
By comparison Agnes's mind was miniscule in scope, and though most definitely weaker; in no way any less dangerous.
Agnes clearly understood how to communicate as Jack did because his Alter had raised her from the time she'd been a cub.
His Alter had traveled into the Appalachian Mountains and found Agnes's mother being hunted by a small group of four poachers.
Typically, a Wampus is a creature that is considered to be in the realm of being impossible to kill even for the most powerful of adult wizards, hence the XXXXX rating. Their speed and strength being something that no human, mundane or wizard alike could match. The Wampus's extra abilities of Legilimency and Hypnosis, made the already terrifying magical creature just that much more daunting.
There was a reason that the Wampus had been used to represent the house of Illvermorny that people most likely to become Warriors were sorted into.
Jackson's Alter had come upon the group of four wizards accosting the downed pregnant mother Wampus; and whether they had been after her hair for wand core's or for her tears for memory potions had mattered not to the Alter.
A Blasting Curse from behind cover, followed by the Disillusionment Charm had set the group of poachers into a frenzy.
The downed mother Wampus took advantage of the groups disarray and killed one of the wayward members while Jacks Alter had quickly dispatched the other three with a variety of elemental curses.
From there it had been slow going.
The Alter had had to gain the mother Wampus's trust, and she already been too hurt from the ambush that the now dead poachers had set.
She hadn't lasted much longer after the confrontation, but her last Legilimency probe must have shown her what she needed; because she had asked the Alter to take care of her child.
From that point forward the Alter had raised Agnes until she was as she was before Jackson now, a full-fledged adult.
Taking in her mental touch Jackson did his best to respond in kind with thoughts of reassurance and care, before taking steps after her.
"Sir! Miss Kitty is dangerous!" Tonne whisper shouted while gesticulating wildly next to Jack as he started walking towards Agnes's disappearing form amongst the gathered trees.
Jack could only grin at his small friend.
"Tonne it's okay. If Agnes wanted me dead, she could have done it. Easily. She showed me."
And shown him she had.
The brief green eye shine had been an extremely brief illusion that she'd broadcast into his mind.
Had Jackson not had the presence of mind to keep his wand in his jacket pocket, she would have pounced him and mauled him to death. The action wouldn't have even been hard for her.
'Though that doesn't mean I shouldn't still be careful.' Jack thought as he walked a little faster, doing his best to keep his eyes locked on the powerful magical beast in front of him.
Agnes clearly didn't seem to have an ulterior motive however, as Jackson passed a few more trees before reaching the line where the trees opened to a small area that opened into a large lake with a high and raging waterfall on his upper right.
A large and flat rock was wedged into the dirt in front of him, meeting with the water and posing as the perfect platform for their group to sit.
Agnes had already climbed up onto the rock and laid herself down into a prone position, though Jack was under no illusion that she couldn't still spring up and kill him and Tonne if she wanted too.
As Jackson himself sat down cross-legged on the rock he felt Agnes's mind probe hit him again, and across that link he felt her send the same kind of reassuring vibe that he himself had tried to project at her earlier.
Jack was stopped from speaking first as Agnes beat him too it.
-I know that you are not Father. But of that same token, you have his memories. And while I can sense the difference of you, you seem to project the same aura of kindness and protection. This is why I shall help you. –
The large magical cat's words and feelings touched Jacks mind, and he found himself overwhelmed by the warmth radiating from his newest companion.
In that moment he not only understood her feelings, but her subtext.
'You may not be Father…but your what's left of him. So I'll protect you.'
Jack watched Agnes as he felt her mental probe while he had that thought, and once again he was treated to the very human like action of watching the large magical beast nod.
The entire thing was so surreal for him, and yet an amazing and humbling experience.
Not wanting to waste any time Jack held up his left hand in the motion for 'wait a moment' to Agnes, before turning his head to lock eyes with Tonne.
"Tonne, can you please Apparate back to the room and grab me a pitcher with some water and a glass? And some food for Agnes? There's some pre-prepared meat already cut up in the cabinet underneath the butchers table in the workshop."
Jack watched a war of emotions play out across the elf's face as his head comically flitted between himself and Agnes for a moment, the little guy's ears flapping and occasionally catching himself on the forehead at the pace he'd shake his head.
After a moment of that, Tonne finally seemed to concede to the request; popping away with a small and almost sullen "Yes Sir."
'Little dude's crazy loyal for only having known me for how long now? I'm gonna have to figure out a way to show my appreciation without upsetting him.' Jack thought as he briefly shook his head before he turned his head back to look at Agnes.
In that moment Jackson discovered that not only was Agnes capable of being quick…
She was also capable of being very quiet, as she'd moved and cleared the space between them; her face now barely a couple of inches from his own.
…
-Father used to say, 'Constant Vigilance'. You must always keep your eyes on that which can kill you. –
Jackson was still in the midst of doing everything he could to not have his heart explode in his chest from the fright that hit him upon realizing that Agnes had cleared the space between them…
And then his mind processed not only her words, but her mental tone.
…
'You're a little brat. You just nearly scared the crap outta me.' Jack mentally projected, little heat actually accompanying his words as he parsed the memories that had sprung to mind of Agnes as a cub; doing her best to scare her strange father.
A brief mental nudge that felt like a smile pressed against him before Agnes sat back fully on her haunches, her large tail swishing slightly behind her on the flat rock outcropping.
-Now that I've had my fun, it's time to be serious. We will do this slowly. It will take much time. Prepare yourself Father. First, we shall begin by rebuilding your outer mental shields. When that task is fully complete, we shall begin working on the repair of your mindscape. This will Not be a fast process. –
Jack could only nod before taking a deep breath to focus.
For a time after that, all he knew was a combination between deep focus and the throbbing of his head as he developed the mother of all headaches.
...
They spent almost half of the day sitting in that clearing, and by the time Jackson had bothered to actually cast "Tempus" to check the time; it was already 3:40 in the afternoon.
He let out a small breath as he began to focus on his breathing again, doing his best to maintain his calm and aloof demeanor that he'd put up.
Legilimency and its brother in the 'Mind Arts' Occlumency, were a branch of skills that only certain wizards or witches had ever bothered trying to learn. The ability to protect one's mind, however, became absolutely essential in a place where every other 'Thinker' could simply look at you or something you'd done and gain some kind of crazy insight about you.
It had never truly been greatly expounded upon in the books themselves that Jack could recall, but what had been made clear was that having skills within the 'Mind Arts' was beyond useful.
'I may have disliked Snape as a character as a whole, but the bastard was talented and powerful no doubt about that.' Jack thought as he and Agnes took a small break, Jack reminiscing about his memory of the sour Potions Master.
Snape had even at one point used Legilimency during a duel with Harry in the Half Blood Prince and had wound up absolutely trouncing the young protagonist. Countering and even outright negating spells before they could even happen.
'There are no other witches of wizards here as far as I'm aware, but that doesn't mean that I can't use that same tactic against anyone I wind up coming across as a foe. I'm gonna need every advantage I can get. And not just in battle. I wonder how using Legilimency will work against a Parahuman if I need to interrogate them?'
Throughout the day Agnes had used their 'Mind Arts' work to kill two metaphorical birds with the same stone.
She had not only helped Jack repair the apparent damage done by Magus that had been done to what minor mental shields he already had, but then had tested and prodded them. Using a very gentle method to not only help Jack button up his budding defenses, but also gaining a far better understanding of the man now sitting before her.
Together they both had sifted through all of Jacks own memories, which had gone quickly because of his own familiarity with them.
Once they had finished that first step, they had started in on his Alters, and while they weren't close to being finished yet they had actually finished getting through his full first seven years of schooling at Illvermorny.
Jack was now feeling far more confident in his ability to begin casting spells, and as they had seemingly worked on his proficiency with the 'Mind Arts'; Jack had gained a whole two new 'Mote Points' to spend.
Thankful for the small break that they were on Jack first took a moment to eat some apple slices and peanut butter that Tonne had brought for him, before washing it down with a cool glass of water.
After that Jack stood up and dusted himself off a bit before centering himself.
At the halfway point in his meditative state Jack was able to almost glimpse into his own mind and was once again very thankful to Agnes for the work she had helped him do.
Memories bubbled to the forefront of his thoughts and Jack once again peered over his Alter's own understanding of the 'Mind Arts'.
Occlumency was what Jack was more focused on learning as far as this particular branch of magic went, hoping to use it to his advantage to hopefully give himself a decent level of protection against anyone with a post and or pre-cognitive way of looking at him.
'Fuckin superpowers are weird here.'
Occlumency actually worked within two stages as a branch of magical defense for one's mind, and while being in his sixth year at Illvermorny Jack's Alter had begun to study the slightly obscure branch of magic.
The first line of defense is what would be considered the 'Outer Wall' defense, a set of basically transparent shields made within the mind of a witch or wizard. Said wall was not put in place necessarily to outright stop an intrusion, but more so to act as the barrier net that would catch an intruder mid act; giving the target an extra chance to clear their mind and empty themselves of emotions so that they couldn't be read at all.
The second line of defense being the much larger and more defensible portion…the mindscape itself.
Building your mental 'Sanctuary', setting its layout, and then building its defenses; this being the pinnacle… the ultimate culmination of skill that an accomplished Occlumens could hope to achieve.
It would take some more time of working on his outer walls before Jackson would be able to begin the full-scale construction of his mindscape, but thus far he was quite pleased with the progress made.
It would normally take years of diligent work to even establish ones 'Outer Wall' defense, but thankfully the merging Magus had done had seemingly given Jack a bit of a leg up in the 'Mind Arts' department.
'For which I am extremely grateful.' Jack thought, before turning his attention to the focus of his 'Mote Tree'.
Already knowing his plan for these two new points, Jack wasted no time and turned all of his direct focus upon the 'Power' branch for the first time.
The very first 'Mote' blazed to life, and the understanding of the perk he'd just bought passed across Jacks conscious mind.
'Magic's Might: Your power with your magic is increased by 5%. All spells you cast are 5% more effective and hold for a 5% longer duration than they normally would. If the spell you are casting is one that alters one's perception, it is also 5% harder to fight against. Warning: Focus denotes the Power of your spells, and if you put too much power into a spell you run the risk of causing Magical Exhaustion if you use a high-level spell. Note: Extreme Cases of Magical Exhaustion though as rare as they are, are known to have left witches and wizards as Squibs. (1st Mote of 5.)'
Upon parsing what the 'Mote' had just done for him Jack almost felt tempted to try and take the very next one in the bulb before him, but the final warning caused him to reconsider that immediate action.
'I'll have to see what feels like my limit first. Wouldn't wanna wind up being unable to do a damn thing for anyone now would I?' Jack thought before pulling away from the 'Power' branch and shifting his focus to the 'Knowledge' branch.
The first 'Mote' of the branch blazed to life as he spent his last point, and the description came to him in a wave just like all the others.
'Improved Eidetic Memory: Your memory recall is now better than ever! You process your memories in time in vivid snapshots and are able to discern things about those snapshots of memory that most others would miss. The memories obtained via this ability don't last forever. At least they wouldn't anyway… but when one considers the possibility of owning a Pensieve?'
…
'Note to self, get a Pensieve as quickly as possible if it's possible.' Jack thought as he pulled himself out of his trance like state and back to the clearing with Agnes, only to see Tonne Apparate in next to them.
"Sir! Sir's Hermes has returned with his things!"
Jack felt the smile settle onto his face before he turned his head slightly and locked eyes with Agnes.
"I'm gonna go and look at my purchases, okay? I'll be back in the 'Enclosure' to feed you dinner in a little while. Wanna do some more training then?"
Agnes nodded her head, her mental probe passing off an affirmative laced with a mild form of affection before she turned and faced the waterfall before laying down on the flat rock face; seemingly intent to take a cat nap.
Jack turned and held his hand out to Tonne and within a second, they were back in Jackson's main living area of his case.
Unfortunately, the mode of travel left him mildly dizzy for a moment; along with the feeling that he may toss his cookies.
'One thing that the memories don't have a handle on…how Apparating actually feels.'
After taking a moment to let his stomach settle Jack brought his gaze up and settled upon the obelisk, where Hermes was currently asleep.
"Hermes is tired Sir. Hermes went right to sleep after bringing Sir's order back."
Tonne's words saw a combination surge of worry and affection swell through Jack for his feathered friend.
'I'll make sure you get a good treat later buddy, I promise.' Jack thought before turning his gaze towards his desk to see a set of shrunken packages, and his small shrunken trunk.
Not being able to contain his excitement at the prospect of his new items and ability to begin brewing potions, Jack made his way over and pulled out his Aspen wood wand before tapping the two small boxes and his small shrunken trunk.
Knowing what was inside the trunk Jack turned with a small grin building on the right side of his face and looked down to his left at Tonne.
"What do ya say Tonne? Wanna help me brew some Potions?"
Annnd Fin! That's all for this newest addition folks! Did you like it? Did you hate it? Are liking the way that the 'Mote Tree' is playing out thus far? If you feel so inclined, please let me know any and all of these things. A gentle reminder: This story is set way before the Canon of Worm. Taylor Hebert doesn't even have Parahuman abilities yet. To the person who left me the guest review saying that 'I have no clue what I'm doing, and that I should go K*** myself? How old are you? And where are your parents so I can ask them what turned you into such a Dingus? Now with that nastiness out of the way, I'm not sure when I'll have the next update ready, but I will do my very best for it to be sooner rather than later. I'm actually getting a promotion for my job, and as such I'm looking at a relocation soon. So, if I don't update anything for a while, please don't think I'm quitting. I may just be really busy for a while. Until next time, I gope that you all stay safe, happy, and healthy! Take care ya'll! This is Sojiro, signing off!