14217/A Tale of Two Witches

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A Tale of Two Witches
Date of Scene: 22 February 2023
Location: The Curio
Synopsis: A post-surgery Ariah is resting at The Curio when a certain goth girl makes a dynamic entrance via magical portal! Nico and the vampire chat about stuff and then catch some much-deserved rest.
Cast of Characters: Ariah Olivie, Nico Minoru




Ariah Olivie has posed:
    It hasn't been long. Ariah had just finished being operated on. She's lingering near one of the empty apartments upstairs, resting, wrapped up mostly in a blanket but the collar of a black cardigan can be seen. She's just in the hallay, watching the elevator and peeking out to see just who may or may not be coming and going.

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico has a bit of a penchant for dramatic entrances. It's not her fault, they just kind of happen, and they're usually the result of her getting in over her head and needing a quick exit. Usually she tries to make her exits to a private place... but all she could think of was The Curio. She'd been intending to move in there what felt like a lifetime ago, and so it sprang into her mind as she cast a hasty teleportation spell. Which means for a brief moment, the elevator door is replaced by a shimmering portal the goth girl comes barreling through, before it snaps shut... and severs what looks like some sort of insectoid arm, which she then spends several seconds kicking off her ankle while trying not to hyperventilate too loudly. Whatever she was up to? It must have been a little dramatic.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    The portal's opening makes Ariah's eyes widen. Mismatched gaze in silver and purple starting to glow. She rushes over to the girl that tumbles through, her hands clutching the blanket against herself. She.. might be moving fast but she's got a hitch in her step. It's easy for Nico to see, if she glances, that the girl has bare feet and her legs aren't covered, either. There's a glow coming from her arms, though, as she stares, "...who are you and where did you come from?" she asks, her voice cold and soft, thickly accented in what must be French. Staying about two arm lengths back, she holds out her hand, threads of blue-white energy coalescing in her palm from her fingers. She does seem to be more concerned about the... insectoid arm.

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico doesn't look all /that/ worse for wear, she went out in leather pants and a tanktop and jacket... and the tanktop's fine, the jacket's just... kind of disturbingly slick with strange green ichor, and has a few spots that are going to need Totally Cool Patches to cover up little rips and tears. And those pants are actually just fine too, once she's managed to kick off that grasping bug arm, eying it for a few moments... but no, it does _not_ jump back to life all on its own. Her eyes widen as she looks up from the floor at her arriving glowing... oh crap. She teleported into an apartment building. This is totally a resident, "Oh! Hi! I'm Nico! I'm from LA! ...I mean, I didn't come from LA right now. I came from the Bronx." She points a metallic finger down at the bug arm while her other hand is propping her up. "Some kinda weird cult was operating out of an old warehouse. Guess they're like... weird extra dimensional bugs? I dunno. Listen, long story short things got a little... uhh... on fire. So I needed a quick exit and that guy didn't agree and..." She frowns, "Do you have any big garbage bags? Seems wrong to make someone else clean it up."

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    The small woman, about half a head shorter than Nico, stares blankly for a moment. Such cheer on the other girl! Slowly, though, she lowers her arm, the glow fading. The energy around her fingertips slowly gets absorbed back into herself. Then she steps back again. "...Ariah..." she says quietly. "This is. Not my home. I only have my clothing and a blanket," she shakes her head. "...I am sure there is a place for that. We can also burn it.." she turns, as if to head back towards her current place of rest. "Bug cult does not sound fun. Come? I have a place you can sit."

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico grins broadly, "Hey, that's like... a blanket more than I had the last time I was looking for an apartment in Manhattan! You're doing pretty good! I'm Nico." She grunts softly and heaves herself up, eyebrows perking... and she snatches up the arm with her witcharm, "Wait, we /can/ totally burn it... uhhh..." She looks around the hallway and then settles her gaze on the window at the end of the hall, casually sauntering over and opening it up, leaning out to peer up, down, all around... just making sure it faces an alley. And that no one's watching. And then that metallic arm flars with purple fire and the bug's reduced to ashes. Nico dusts her hands off... a little pointlessly, but still. She slides the window shut and spins about, quickstepping back to Ariah, "Okay! Let's get you back to resting... I'm assuming that limp's a temporary 'Got into trouble' thing, and you should probably be on bedrest."

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Ariah just blinks at Nico, glancing back at her. She watches the business with the arm as she slowly walks back to her temporary room. "Non, I am just visiting..." she tries to explain, opening the door. "I..." she ponders how to respond to the trouble business, and frowns. Her lips purse a little and she points to the door to the First Aid Kit. "Trouble, oui, in a sense. But. I am recovering from surgery..." she states without further details. "You are a practitioner of arcane arts, too, non?" she then asks, her gesturing hand sweeping from the door all the way back to Nico's self, though prominently to her metal arm. "Or is it something else?"

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico's eyebrows perk, like she's just noticing that accent for the first time. Or, you know, putting together 'visiting' and accent to realize Ariah might be from pretty far out of town, not the usual tristate area. Nico laughs softly and nods, her flesh and blood hand reaching into her jacket, rummaging and pulling out a small pendant she's had hanging around since she got tangled up with Constantine a couple years before, "Yeah, used to uhh... kinda know a lot of the people who lived here, but we sort of fell out of contact." She shrugs and sighs out, slipping into the First Aid Kit, "It's alright. I was just out of town when a bunch of craziness went down and by the time it cleared up we'd kinda fell out of touch." She frowns thoughtfully, "I didn't owe anyone any money though, so it's not a big deal."

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    "I only know one person who... used to live here..." she considers, shaking her head. "I am just visiting. Phoebe was here last night, and helped me. You are welcome to stay with me for the evening. I am only here to rest and recover--and avoid trouble." She pushes the door into the small, borrowed apartment open and hugs the blanket a little tighter around herself. The door remains open, though, and she beckons for Nico to follow. It's not much, basic furniture for basic use. Though the bed has a half-dozen blankets on it. The small woman mayhaps built a nest for now. "Welcome back?" she then asks. The pendant means nothing to her, though, if there's a symbol on it she's meant to recognize!

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico's lips press into a thin line thoughtfully... well, it's getting a touch late to be heading across town, especially tired as she is after her little bug cult misadventure. Shoulders lift and fall and she grins lopsidedly, "Sure, just consider me your like... nurse? I mean, okay, don't actually rely on me to be a nurse, I don't have any medical training." She snaps her fingers and points to the bed with its pile of blankets, "But I can still order you to lay back down, right? Rest up, or Phoebe will probably get all grumbly. Or at least like... sad frowny faced?"

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Despite her saying she had been operated on, there's no real smell of weird antiseptic or other.. medical. Stuff. In fact, Ariah smells more like a mix of cocoa, cherry, and mint. For whatever reason. "Will she?" the little witch asks. "...I do not know her very well. Not yet. I hope to call her friend, in time, however," she states. Her eyes wander over Nico's form as if pondering the nature of her magecraft, before finally making her way over towards the bed. "You would be a cute nurse," she says off-handedly.

    Then she finally sits on the edge of the bed and pulls the blanket around her more snugly, watching Nico. "Tell me about your magic? I am unable to open portals, but you would be the... second person now that I know who is ... at least versed in such. I am more... something else."

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico laughs a little ruefully, sighing out, hands disappearing into the pockets of her jacket, "Well, I haven't seen her in a long time, but I remember her being nice. Friendly." She shrugs lightly and laughs softly, "I mean, she might not even remember me. She had a lot going on at the time."

    "Oh, yeah, but TV is all lies! You don't want the /cute/ nurse, you want like... the nurse that actually went to medical school." She frowns thoughtfully, "Well, okay, guess I could use my staff to whip up some healing magic if things were really dire. But it's hard to phrase those spells, so... I try not to rely on them."

    Nico flops herself down onto a chair and heaves out a loud sigh, "Oh, this might take awhile. It's... I mean, /my/ magic's kinda... amateur." She lifts her metallic arm and wiggles her fingers, "This came from my staff. The staff comes from..." She presses her lips into a thin line, "I don't think it counts as a /demon/, it doesn't have horns and a tail or anything, but... some kind of ancient magical... /thing/. I bleed, the staff shows up, I get to cast a spell. But I can only use any phrase once."

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    "She seems to be the type to remember things," Ariah says quietly, moving to stand up.She plucks one of the other blankets from the bed and carries it over to Nico. "The bed is big enough for the two of us," she says, stating it in a tone that just sounds ilke a simple fact. No implications, no motives. If anything, this small girl's cold neutrality at least gives some hint to her being... rather straightforward. Blanket taken or not, she returns to the edge of the bed to listen.

    "That sounds. Complicated. I feel as if I am very lucky to have what I have..." she considers, shaking her head slowly. "...but... power in phrases?" she tilts her head to one side slowly. "...that is not so different from runic symbology... something else I am versed in..." she nods slowly. "Do you rely entirely on this staff? I, too, have a staff. But I do not require it..."

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico reaches out on reflex and takes that blanket, swirling it around her shoulders like a cloak... at least for a brief moment until the coziness takes over. She snugs it tight and laughs softly, "Yeah, I remember that much about her. Maybe I'll try to grab her for coffee sometime. We can catch up, I mean, I'm sure neither of us has had anything too dramatic going on. I haven't /felt/ like the world ended and restarted recently."

    She grins just a touch lopsidedly. Surely that was a joke. She sighs and shakes her head, "Not entirely. I can do some smaller... ritual magics. Find people. Protective wardings. But I can't like... do the flashy stuff without the staff. Can't throw lightning bolts. Oh! I can fly! ...Also I guess I can kind of shoot fire out of my arm, but it's... like, that's the arm. It's not really... me /doing/ it, I'm just... making the arm do it?"

    She shrugs lightly and slinks closer to the bed with a little laugh, "But I probably shouldn't keep you up too much with all my magical woes. Plus, I've got some people I keep meaning to reach out to for training."

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    "Not recently, though there have been... things going on..." Ariah says quietly. "I helped save New York City two years ago," she waxes nostalgic for a moment, then slowly shakes her head as she makes her way back to sit on the bed. Just in time for Nico to get closer. "Non, I will not likely sleep until the morning comes..." she settles in and hugs the blanket around her a bit more snugly.

    "Training...?" she then muses, looking Nico over again. She focuses on that arm but eventually, meets her eyes. "I may be able to offer some, myself. But it depends on if I am able to teach you the same techniques as I know..." her head slowly bobs one direction, then the other.

    "Besides, I am interested in magicks. It is as much a part of my being as my blood is."

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico's head bobs as she slowly makes her way towards the bed and then drops down with a soft little exaggerated 'oof'. She grins and bobs her head, "Yeah, I mean, same here. The magic and my blood being equal parts of me... I mean, they're literally entwined and all." She perks her eyebrows up, "Oh! The angel stuff? I was out of town for that, by the time I heard about it, I figured trying to get back into the city using magic would've been more likely to cause trouble than anything."

    She slowly falls back on the bed, arms stretching above her head, fingers idly curling and fidgeting, "This /is/ a big bed. Jeeze, to think I was looking forward to like... an air mattress in a closet, and now even my last second teleportations are bringing me to actual, high quality furniture!"

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    "Angel... stuff...?" Ariah asks, blinking. She shakes her head slowly. "...non... the birth of a new god of the city. It was. Tumultuous. The city's heart. Literally..." she explains quietly, slowly. She watches as NIco *flumps* on the bed and just lays there in the nest of blankets. "I do not take up much space."

    She's quiet for a moment before scooting further up the bed, to make it easier for her to watch Nico's face as they talk. Something about the courtesy of eye contact while conversing. "My magic and my blood are not so intertwined, but they work in paralell. But I must manage both, and am thankful that one does not require the other to... function. But I am here because of that," she gestures to the room. "Measures were required to keep things flowing properly."

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico's eyebrows lift, "God of the... city?" and for a brief moment, the two are bonded. Sisters in confusion! But she's quickly nodding and murmuring out, "Yeah, I get that. Me neither. Benefits of being kinda small, you can pretty much get cozy anywhere." And then she's shifting onto her side a little, the better to match gazes.

    Her eyebrows perk, lips quirking in a slight little frown, "Well, that sounds... bad. I mean, at least it looks like whatever had to be done to fix things up has worked!" She grins crookedly and shakes her head slowly, "Well, I'll hang out until tomorrow and keep an eye on you at least. Consider it my payment for interrupting your rest. I... wait, did I introduce myself? Did I tell you I'm Nico?" She frowns even deeper and sighs out, "I gotta stop meeting people directly before or after crazy magic hijinx."

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Ariah's gaze is a pretty, mismatched affair. One silver eye, one deep violet. Both seem to glow faintly in the darkened room. "...I simply do not wish to... what is the word these days..." she frowns, lips pursed. There's a clear hint here that she's a creature that may be out of the normal timespan. "...TMI?" she tilts her head, looking to Nico for approval of the term. After all, she's a young, hip gal that knows all the cool modern slang termms... right?

    Right.

    "You did introduce yoursef, as did I. I am Ariah," the small woman states in that quiet, near-deadpan tone. "Do, please, rest here. A night of ... 'magic hijinx' often leaves me needing some time to recover as well. But, the offer of helping you is still there. If my methods are compatible." She looks around the room. "...but I am afraid I do not have anything for you to eat..." she says with a small frown. "My apologies."

Nico Minoru has posed:
    Nico takes a slow, deep breath and grins crookedly, "Riiight, right... I knew I knew your name, I just... forget to give mine a lot. It's a whole... thing. Don't worry about it." She clicks her tongue and bobs her head, "Well, I recommend we get some rest, and then we can totally check out if I can like, learn your magic or you can help me with mine when you're all the way back up on your feet and feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed as it were."

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    "We will see what we can do," Ariah says with a nod. She scoots up towards the pillows and pulls a few more blankets over her. There's room for Nico, too. "It is pleasant to meet another witch, of a sort. If I may call you that. I refer to myself as such as well..." she explains, trailing off as she gets cozy. She may not really need to sleep, but the draw of warmth and her body needing recovery time still is a clear siren's song.

    "Practitioners of magic must stick together, I believe. The things we deal with are best taken in shifts and teams," the girl says quietly, pursing her lips. Two years ago she was so much more of a loner. Maybe she still is. But. Kindred spirits and sorceresses are always good to keep close by. The tiny vampiress curls up slightly, snowy head resting on a pillow as she stares, briefly, towards the blackout curtains. At least the morning sun won't make her uncomfortable.

    "Rest well, Nico. Sometimes the best sorts of friends are made when strange magicks converge."