16711/Get in Loser We're Opening Portals

Get in Loser We're Opening Portals
Date of Scene:	29 December 2023
Location:	Master Bedroom - Third Floor - Hellstrom Manor
Synopsis:	A successful negotiation to six and a half.
Cast of Characters:	Daimon Hellstrom, Nico Minoru

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Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
Around 5 AM, Nico Minoru will be awakened by the sound of furniture being moved. Daimon, still wearing the same clothes as he was when Nico arrived last night, is pushing an armoire off to one side, having already relocated a chest of drawers to a different corner of the room. He's clearing a section of wall, apparently.

Nico Minoru has posed:
Nico wasn't kidding the previous evening. She did sleep in the nude. So when the sudden sound of furniture being moved starts to make those loud sounds from the heavy friction, she gasps, and sits up immediately, keeping the blanket over herself.

Squinting, she looks towards Daimon rather curiously. He's wearing the same thing, and the furniture has been moved. "Is all this to make room for the portal?" she asks.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
Daimon looks back over his shoulder. "Good, you're up." He sets the armoire down and shimmies it back against the wall, apparently not wanting to leave it crooked. "Quite right. It would be pretty annoying to try and walk through a portal and end up smacking into the back of a dresser."

Daimon dusts his hands. "There's a bowl on the bedside table next to you. Stir it for me, please. Don't want it clumping up." In the bowl is some kind of deep red paste, with a consistency not unlike custard. Fortunately for Nico, there's a spoon already stuck in it, which Daimon must have used to mix it all up, whatever it is.

Nico Minoru has posed:
Thank GOODNESS that there is a spoon. Scrunching her nose, she picks up the spoon and begins stirring it gingerly while looking towards him. "So what is this? Something to keep a portal open? Hidden? Both?" Nico asks, thinking of the possibilities why such a thing would be needed.

"And considering I teleported blindly into an icy lake, I can appreciate not doing that."

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
"Something to /create/ the portal," Daimon says. He motions for Nico to get up and come over to the bared wall, where he is. He doesn't seem to care at all that she's naked.

"And you /did/ teleport blindly into an icy lake, which is why I'm handling this one, to make sure it's done right. Though quite a lot of this is also going to depend on you, Minoru."

Nico Minoru has posed:
Pushing off the blanket, she doesn't seem to mind her state of undress. Witches perform some rituals skyclad in the moonlight with their hands covered in blood, right?

As she remembers that, she looks at the paste. "This isn't blood related, is it?" Nico asks, taking extra care if it is, before she hrmms. "You need to know exactly where the portal should send me? Or is it something else?"

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
"Do you spend every page of a novel trying to guess the ending?" Daimon asks, one eyebrow askance as he looks into Nico's eyes. "If you're trying to impress me by jumping ahead, stop. What'll impress me is if you focus and listen."

Daimon rolls up his sleeves, and motions for Nico to hold the bowl closer. "There's no blood in this. There's some iron, I suppose, but most of it is made from secretions that you probably don't want to learn more about just yet. Suffice it to say that monster's bodies contain elements that aren't available elsewhere."

Daimon dips two fingers into the paste and starts drawing runes on the wall. "These runes are in a dialect of Old Kushite," he says. "The runes themselves don't open the portal. They're a focus -- a place to channel the energy we're putting into this ritual. Do you understand?"

Nico Minoru has posed:
Nico is self-didactic meaning she can get a little ahead of herself as she tries to teach herself based on what she's seeing. As she's called out on that, she blushes, her cheeks turning a slight tinge of pink. "Sorry, bad habit."

It's then that she simply remains quiet and lifts the bowl and squints at the mention of various secretions to make the poultice.

"A focus, like the staff or my arm." she repeats, though she could be completely wrong on that.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
"Right. Think of this like the engine in a car. You can't start it without a key, but the key alone won't actually make the engine turn over. What does that is the /act/ of pushing the key in and turning it." Daimon looks back to Nico, perhaps to underline the importance of that difference.

He ends up drawing four runes on the wall, continuing to dip his fingers in the paste as much as he needs to ensure thick, bold lines. He then starts drawing a rectangle around them, from the floor up -- the shape of a door. "What I need you to do, Nico, is visualize where this door is going. Your place. A clear, concrete vision, held tightly in your mind."

Nico Minoru has posed:
"Is it the runes themselves that are focus, or do they need to be runes made from..." and she points with the spoon at the bowl. That would be an important difference in her mind. "And the placement, does that matter? Like if you don't have enough room going in the horizontal, will it not work if you place it in the vertical?"

Nico is a rather precocious one. Somewhat annoying trait of hers. But at least, she wants to learn!

The instructions are clear and she nods, taking in a long and deep breath, closing her eyes as she starts to visualize. It's a simple studio apartment in the middle of Manhattan in the Lower East Side. It's got a great location, just a block and a half from a Target and Trader Joe's. It's a tall building, and she's on the 22nd floor, with a balcony that has a view of both the GW Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. Her apartment itself is simple and well maintained. It's got that Japanese minimalist aesthetic. Or she's just poor.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
"It's all connected," Daimon says. "Rituals are a series of steps. Hoops to jump through. If you want to bake a cake, you can't say 'oh, well, I don't have any eggs, so I guess I'll just use this bottle of Pine-Sol because it's closer.' To get the thing you want in the end, you follow the steps. The more you do, the more you learn, the more nimble you'll be with it."

Daimon takes the bowl away from Nico with one hand. "Keep visualizing. Hold the place in your mind." Daimon dips a finger into the paste, and then starts drawing on /Nico/ -- the stuff tingles on her skin as he draws two runes on her chest, above each breast, and one on her belly. Then he walks around her, to draw another on her back. "Keep visualizing."

Nico Minoru has posed:
The sudden sensation of the poultice upon her skin causes her to shiver just a little. Still, Nico focuses, visualizing that apartment while biting on her lower lip. The tingling sensation of the paste should fade with time, right?

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
Daimon finishes drawing on her. "When you think you're ready," he says, stepping back, "walk through." He'll wait as long as it takes. The tingling lasts until Nico finally does step through the portal -- and ends up walking through the door of her studio. When she's on the other side, the runes drawn on her are gone, and... there seems to be no way back. No runes drawn anywhere!

Barely a beat follows before the door to the studio opens again, and Daimon steps through, wiping at his hand with a cloth.

Nico Minoru has posed:
Did he just tell her to walk into a wall? There's a bit of hesitation and the quirk of her brow. Is he being serious or will just hit the wall for potential amusement. Well, she decides to just risk humiliation and walks towards the wall...

To end up in her apartment.

!!!! She looks back to see if there's some sort of swirling portal, but alas, she grumps and flails, "It's one way!" just as Daimon steps through.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
Daimon gives Nico a Look as she starts nakedly flailing.

"No. It's not," he says, with a tiny bit of irritation in his voice. "What I did was I connected you to that portal. It was your visualization, your focus, that was applied to the runes -- on the wall, and on you." Daimon looks for a trash can to throw away the cloth. "Daubing runes on the wall here would cost you your security deposit, and I'm guessing that you probably don't have the nest egg for that."

Nico Minoru has posed:
Her cheeks flush bright pink as she's somewhat scolded by her mentor. She reaches back and scratches the back of her head, "So, is this portal limited to that wall then? Or do I just visualize the bedroom in your manor and walk through a threshold?" Nico asks, not quite sure how this spell works.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
Daimon motions to the door that they just walked through. "Focus. Hold in your mind that guest room. And then just use your door." Daimon throws away the cloth, checks his hand, makes sure he got all the paste out from beneath his fingernails. "You wanted a way to train your will. This is one of the baby-step ones. If you aren't focusing hard enough, you'll just walk out into the hallway."

Nico Minoru has posed:
"Okay, visualize that room." And she does it, closing her eyes while biting on her lower lip. She can see the room, though in her mind's eye the furniture setup was the previous one. As she walks into the wall, she does precisely that. She might have had the will, but the image was WRONG.

With the bump of her forehead, Nico squints and rubs at it, before looking over to Daimon. "That... didn't work." she says with clear frustration building up, trying to regain her composure.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
"It usually helps if you open the door," Daimon says, his tone droll. He approaches Nico and takes her by the arm, to drag her back a bit. Then he gestures to the doorknob, and makes a turning motion with his hand.

Nico Minoru has posed:
"Oh." And now she really blushes hard, as she looks at the door, when he takes her by the arm to try again. All this should show him her reliance on one of the most powerful artifacts in the Marvel Universe. How the hell did this girl end up with such a thing?!?

Nico takes in a deep breath, opens the door, and closes her eyes as she walks through the threshold again. Where she ends up? Either naked in the hellway or at the guest bedroom is up in the air...

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
Nico steps through the threshold, and finds herself... in the guest room of Daimon's estate, back in Massachusetts.

Daimon himself steps through a moment after, emerging from the wall like he's just phasing through it. He golf-claps. "You took your first baby steps, Minoru."

Nico Minoru has posed:
The realization that she could've gotten a change of clothes hits her and then she laughs from relief and exasperation. Looking back towards Daimon, Nico offers a bright grin. "It was pretty fabulous if I do say so myself." she says with a sage nod.

"So is that portal open to anyone? Or is just limited to us, those with the runes?"

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
"Just us," Daimon says. He still doesn't seem to care that Nico is naked -- he would have just let her stroll out into the hallway in the buff, as a learning experience if nothing else.

"Do you plan on doing every lesson without clothes, or is this just a momentary whim?"

Nico Minoru has posed:
"Momentary whim." Nico says rather matter of factly, as she heads on over to the neatly folded red velvet dress that was once soaked in icy cold water but magically was cleaned, dried, toasted, and folded.

"Witches tend to do their more complicated spells skyclad though." she says as she wriggles into her underwear. "I mean, there were enough Satanist witches doing their sacrifices naked in the woods." Ahem. "Or at least, that's what my grammgramms told me."

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
"Correct," Daimon says. "Though nowadays most of the people who tell you it's necessary to go skyclad are just taking the opportunity to see people naked." He folds his arms. He's watching Nico, but absently, like she's a zoo exhibit. "Of course, they'll coach it in terms about learning to release your shame, conventional social norms, whatever."

Nico Minoru has posed:
"I always thought it was so there would be no barriers between the witch and nature as she communes with it."s she says equally deadpan. "The druids did it waaaaay back in the day." Nico says as she turns around at him.

"Would you mind helping me zip up?" she asks, motioning at the zipper starting at the small of her back.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
"Yeah. That's why they did it back /then/. And even then, I'm still not sure that it wasn't just a way to see one's fellow worshippers naked. If you can talk them into standing in a skyclad circle, you can probably talk them into an orgy." Despite Daimon's dismissive tone, he does step forward and zip up Nico's dress.

Nico Minoru has posed:
Huzzah. Her bodice is zipped up and she offers him a warm smile. "So cynical. Not all people have ulterior motives." Nico tells him, almost chastizingly. "But I think the connection was needed as some component. People only took advantage when they saw an opportunity for an orgy after."

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
Daimon runs a hand down the back of the dress to smooth it. It's not his first rodeo. "Not all people have ulterior motives," Daimon says. "Those are the people who get taken for a ride by the ones that /do/."

Nico Minoru has posed:
"You seem to have a rather jaded view of humanity." Nico says, with that youthful idealism still part of her core, no matter how cynical she can tend to appear at times. That's just her gothiness coming out.

Hrmming for a few moments, she turns and peers at him, studying his features. "So what about me? Do you think I have any ulterior motives?"

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
"I just had to show you how to use a door," Daimon replies, his tone dry and matter-of-fact.

"You want to learn to be a witch. From me, the son of one of Hell's most powerful demons, when you've apparently already had the chance to learn under Stephen Strange." Daimon folds his arms once more. "You're up front about what you want, but there's always the question of 'why' -- and the question of 'why this way.' Maybe you honestly believe that it's because this fell into your lap, but... I don't believe in coincidences. So you might have to figure out what your /own/ ulterior motives are."

Nico Minoru has posed:
"Stephen Strange is dating? Married to Illyana Rasputin. Who is my age." Nico says rather matter of factly in tone. "He's old enough to be her father, and so I was a bit uncomfortable in learning from him." It's a simple reason.

"And there are no coincidences. Maybe I find you hot compared to that old man." she says with another shrug. "Maybe it simply felt right, learning fromsomeone who would more than likely understand my own connections to dark magic. There's lots of possibilities why I could have sought you out. Does it really matter when you and I are here now?"

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
"Maybe?" Daimon asks. "I would say there's no question that I'm more attractive than Strange, since I don't go for the whole... Frank Zappa mustache and soul patch look." Daimon's kidding, but he says it with a straight face. "And if it felt right, there's usually a reason for that. As for whether or not it matters -- it might not right now, but maybe it will one day. That's the sort of thing you can only really judge in retrospect."

Nico Minoru has posed:
"Hindsight is 20/20, right?" Nico replies with another shrug of her shoulders, letting out a hearty laugh as he compares attractiveness. Stepping forward, she purses her lips and gives him a look. A real look this time as her gaze goes from head to toe.

Now thathe's not just douche at a bar, she can give him a more objective appraisal.

"6 out of 10."

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
Daimon's hands rest on his hips while she studies him. After her appraisal is given, he lets out a snort of a laugh. "You're a terrible liar, Minoru."

Nico Minoru has posed:
Blink. Blink.

"I am? And why do you say that?" she asks, furrowing her brows as she pffts in his direction.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
Daimon shrugs his shoulders. "That's something you need to square away with your own self," he says, with a crooked half-smile. "Some things, I can't help you with, kid."

Nico Minoru has posed:
"6 and a half then." Nico quips with another harumph before she runs her fingers through her hair and looks at the door to the portal. With another pfft, she focuses on her apartment and disappears as she steps through the threshold.