9962/The FBI Agent, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The FBI Agent, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Date of Scene:	03 February 2022
Location:	Grand Central Station
Synopsis:	Cael visits Lydia in her workshop to learn more about traveling to Duat.
Cast of Characters:	Lydia Dietrich, Cael Becker
Tinyplot:	Path of Glory

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Lydia Dietrich has posed:
It's early in the morning, and the sun hasn't risen yet. Lydia is just finishing her day in the workshop, cleaning things up and putting things away. The Great Seal is finally done, having snuck into the last location and inscribed the last circle and driven the last orichalcum stake into the ground. Just in time, too, since the rite is set to take place two days hence.

Weary, she opens her laptop to check her email one last time. A letter from her editor wondering why the work on her latest book is running late. If only he knew. She fires off a reply saying that her life had gotten rather busy and her book has been put on the backburner while she takes care of several personal emergencies that have cropped up. Not exactly a lie. The archangels would be proud.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Rising early is really not Cael's preference - but she'd had trouble sleeping anyways, and after her latest nightmare, she opts to simply stay up. Giving Jon a brief kiss and a reassurance that she's fine, she dresses in SHIELD fatigues and makes her way to the workshop - where she's forced to rap politely at the door. Turns out Red Robin's security measures don't recognize her as a friendly face. Strolling at her side is her ever-present white furred companion - without his service vest, for the moment. In his mouth dangles a stuffed rabbit with a squeaky toy at its center.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia looks up from the laptop when she hears footsteps come to the door. Who could /that/ be at this hour? Ah, a dog. Bear's unmistakable smell. Cael must be here to take her up on her offer. She politely waits for Cael to knock before opening the door. "Good morning," she says. "Come on in. Would you like some coffee? I usually turn the espresso machines on before I leave for Phoebe."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "God, yes," Cael says immediately, putting her hand on Bear's head as he balks subtly at Lydia's presence. "You're good, Bear," she murmurs softly, as the pup leans in against her leg - as if subtly trying to push her //away// from the vampire. "We're fine here."
    She glances around the workspace curiously - since this is somewhere she certainly hasn't frequented. Her attention returns to Lydia as she adds, "Look, I'm sorry about the meeting yesterday. I've been... tense, you know? I hadn't meant to- you know. To react that way."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"It's fine," Lydia says as she goes over to the Starbucks espresso machine. "We've all been on edge. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that either." After a bit of fiddling she gets the grinder going and packs in the expresso.

"That's one of the things that I miss about being alive," she says contemplatively as she hooks in the cup to start the espresso. It hums to life and she starts frothing some milk. "Animals used to love me," she says over the sound of the frother. "Now I can't get near them without them trying to run away or bite me in fear." One more thing to burn on the fire.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I'm sorry - that must be difficult," Cael replies with- well, as close to actual sincerity as she ever seems to manage. She makes her way towards one of the open chairs, dropping into it tiredly, and idly stroking Bear's head when he sets it in her lap. "I wouldn't be able to manage at all without Bear these days. ...or without Jon," which, naturally, was part of the reason she was here. A very large part. "He wants to come back from all this - I'm determined to ensure that he does," she says in a fierce tone. "...but I'm completely lost when it comes to things like this."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia pours the doubleshot espresso and frothy milk into a cup. She tries to make a little pattern with it but fails miserably, leaving what is akin to a Rorschach ink blot. Ah, well. She comes out from behind the counter and hands Cael her coffee.

"He'll come back," Lydia says with the kind of certainty that one reserves for stating the color of the sky. "He has a plan. I have faith that he'll be able to pull it off."

"So, you want to know more about what to expect?" She turns and searches for something on her laptop. "I'm going to have to explain a little bit about how magic works. Usually I use kabbalistic magic which is kind of an offshoot of Judaism, but this is more akin to how Phoebe does her magic.

"Ah," she says finding what she wants. She turns around, holding up the laptop and displaying an image. It's the rather famous painting of a pipe, with the words, 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe.' written underneath. "Here we go. Tell me what you see."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I want to know how we get there. I want to know there's a concrete plan. I... I need to know the framework, so I know what I'm doing when we get there. I mean, I more or less know what to expect when I go on a combat mission, so I can adlib and roll with the punches. Here... I got no fucking clue, and I cannot tell you how anxious that makes me. Especially when it's this important," Cael says firmly, scratching at Bear's ears a moment longer before she picks up her coffee and takes a sip of the drink.
    When the laptop is turned towards her, she studies it for a moment then remarks, "That's hanging in the MOMA. It's a painting of a smoking pipe."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods, "I understand. I'll tell you what I know, but there isn't much information about what lies in the underworld. People who go in... typically don't come out again."

She shakes her head as Cael identifies the image. "No. What do you /see/?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Well. That's rather the point of an underworld, I hear," Cael says in a dry voice, before taking another sip of her coffee. "Not that I have any experience with it, clearly.
    At Lydia's repeated question, her eyebrows knit together in puzzlement. "Uhh... I don't know. Paint on canvas? Pretention? Personally, I think it's a lot more famous than it warrents. It's not even a very interesting piece of art."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"Closer," Lydia says. "The words underneath says, 'This is not a pipe.' Usually when people are asked that question, what do they see, they respond with, 'A pipe." She shakes her head, "But it's not a pipe. It's just paint on a canvas that, when viewed just looks like a pipe. This is why the painting is called 'The Treachery of Images."

"But you're not seeing paint on the canvas, are you?" She says, with a knowing smirk. "Tell me what you /see/."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael gives Lydia a slightly exasperated look over the top of her coffee cup. "It's not even //dawn// yet. I don't fucking know. I told you what I see: a painting of a pipe. And it's way more famous than it ought to be - I just don't get it. So... why don't you just tell me what I'm supposed to be seeing?" she asks in a dry voice, still stroking her dog with her free hand.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods, and obliges the FBI agent instead of pushing. "On the next level, you're seeing an image of the painting on my laptop, and not the painting itself. And even /then/ there's another level. You're not even seeing an image. You're seeing tiny little points of colored light that fool your brain into thinking that you're seeing an image."

"Thus: The Treachery of Images."

"Magic is kind of like that. Peeling away the layers of reality until you find the hidden underneath," she explains. "Even then, what is a pipe? We, humanity, have collectively agreed on what a pipe is. One might argue that the idea of 'pipe' must exist on some level, and on some level it does."

"In the Astral realm, there is a pipe. Or, rather, the /idea/ of a pipe made manifest. In some ways all pipes are connected to this idea," She explains. "This is kind of how Jon's power works. He's able to reach into the Astral plane, grab that idea of 'pipe' and pull it into our reality, manifesting a physical pipe."

"In the same line of thinking there's something in the Astral plane that represents 'door,'" she says. "It represents the very idea of what a door is, and is thus connected to every door out there. What this ritual will do is connect to that door, and reach out through it and connect to one in the Duat."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "No wonder I fucking hate magic," Cael mutters under her breath, rolling her eyes at Lydia's explination. "So someone - you?- are going to create 'the concept of a door with magic - and we all step through into Duat?" She frowns before adding, "There has to be more to it than that. Is there anything //I// have to do to help us get there? Is there any chance this might fail? Are we working under any sort of timecrunch - or do we just not know?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"It's a ritual that you have to participate in, yes," says Lydia. "Just as we have to create a connection to the concept of 'door' we have to create a connection with the concept of 'the underworld' to point us in the right direction. It involves various bits and pieces that signify what it is."

She makes a visible wince, "Unfortunately one of those things is eating a live scarab. You're taking what the Egyptians saw as the literal concept of death and rebirth into yourself." She shakes her head, "I'm really not looking forward to that."

"The chances of failing is negligible," she explains. "Something will have to go catastrophically wrong in order to screw this up. Like I said: the spell is surprisingly easy. Getting /into/ the Duat isn't hard. It's staying alive once there, and getting out in one piece is the hard part."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "...I have to eat a bug," Cael repeats. "Cool. Okay. //Fine//." From the face she's making, she's not exactly looking forward to it either - but she's willing to do whatever it takes. "What else? I mean - maybe we should brief everyone coming on what's involved, rather than surprising them with this shit." There's a momentary pause before she adds, "Though I suppose that'd just means cluing in Phoebe - and maybe Lady Death, since I don't think briefing Fairchild on this is in the cards just yet." And Jon will already be... dead.
    "And all we really have concrete details on is this ceremony you've devised to get us down there? Do you know anything about Duat that you didn't share in the meeting?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"I was planning on going into details once we assembled the team, yes," Lydia says with a nod. "But since this is a source of anxiety for you, it was better to have this conversation now with you."

"Here's what I know what we should expect once we get through the door," she says, drawing up a knee against her chest. "Firstly it's going to be dark. Not, like, night dark. Primordial blackness dark. That's why we're taking Phoebe. She can light our way. According to several sources, Duat looks much like Earth's wilderness, except more hostile. Giant snakes, lakes of fire, that kind of thing."

"The first part of the journey is going to take twelve hours, marked by twelve gates guarded by demons." She purses her lips together thoughtfully. "There really isn't a consensus on how to beat the demons. They each give you a challenge of some sort. Might be physical, might be mental, like the riddles of the Sphynx."

"After /that/ we'll be in the Hall of Judgement, which is where we'll meet up with Jon. This is going to be the dangerous part for him," she says. "This is where they'll take his heart and weigh it against the feather of Ma'at. If it's heavy with sin, the scales will tip against the heart, and his soul will be devoured by the great beast Amit. If not, then he gets sent onto the Egyptian afterlife."

"It's at this point I don't know the details. I think Jon has a better idea of what's going to happen at this point." She shakes her head, "I /think/, but don't quote me on this, that his soul has to be eaten by Amit, since the souls she eats are going to the Great Old Ones instead of being recycled. That'll give him access to where the redirect is. It's either that, or the problem is with Amit herself." She lets out a sigh, 'Or maybe something else. I don't know. It's Jon's show from there."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "...you think we //want// Jon's soul to get eaten?" Cael says in a dubious tone. "I'm pretty sure he //doesn't// want that. He's been trying to unburden himself - not the opposite." She frowns uncertainly. "I'm pretty sure I don't like the idea of Jon's soul getting eaten. That sounds- I don't know. Beyond dangerous."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia just shrugs helplessly. "I don't like the idea either. I /hope/ it doesn't come to that. You spend more time with him than I do, at this point. If he has a plan, I don't know what it is. I'm merely speculating."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "He hasn't told me specifics," Cael admits quietly, in a frustrated voice - though that frustration does not seem to be aimed at Lydia, at the moment. "Only that it has to do with changing how... souls are processed, I supposed, in the afterlife and keeping them from going to the... 'Old Ones' to be destroyed, instead of recycled?" She frowns before adding, "Knowing Jon, he plans to //talk// to Amit, the eater of souls. He loves talking."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia chuckles and shoots Cael a grin, "That he does." She drums her fingers on the table, "The problem wouldn't be with Amit, though, or else it would be affecting only a few souls here and there. I can't imagine very many are still connected to the old Egyptian pantheon. It's something wrong with the entire system, which is why I was thinking Jon might have to get his soul swallowed. It might be the only way to access where the problem lies, which is why we need somebody /dead/ to do it."

She waves a hand before Cael can say anything. "Again, speculation. Just trying to think of this logically. If I had my way, nobody would have to die /at all/ and we'd just trek in, fix the problem and trek out again." She shakes her head, "But it's been made clear to us, over and over again, that somebody needs to be dead in order to get at it. Jon, unfortunately, is the one that was chosen."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "But we can't follow him," Cael points out a bit coolly. "And we can't help him. And if we're right about things - that leads to souls being //destroyed//. Who says anything gets fixed that way? It makes as much sesne to me that that would simply lead to him being //destroyed.// We'd lose him forever." She'd lose him forever - and from her expression it's clear what she thinks of that idea.
    "I don't like how blind we are on... //all// of this," Cael complains in a quiet, frustrated voice. "I don't like that we can't shield Jon from //any// of this. The whole thing is bullshit, no one man should be asked so much."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia lets out bitter laughter, "This /whole thing/ is bullshit. Instead of outright just /telling/ us what we need to do they turned it into a game and put odds on us trying to figure it out." She gives a little shrug, "That being said, several interested parties have tried to stack the deck in our favor as much as they were allowed, so we've at least got that going for us."

"This spell that I'm working on," she says gesturing to the worktable that has piles of papers and books on it, "doesn't really solve anything. It's just a stopgap to give us enough time to do the real fixing. It's like giving a person with appendicitis morphine. Sure it'll treat the pain, but if they don't do surgery, they'll still die in the end."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Wheeee..." Cael says dryly - she even waves one finger in the air in a circular motion when Lydia talks about the deck-stacking. She doesn't seem to have much faith in the efforts of these various celestial entities.
    "I know we still need to deal with the actual problem - after we stop the angels from destroying everything. But I'm telling you - Jon doesn't intend to get eaten. Whatever his Gods have been telling him I don think it involves getting eaten. He's trying to unburden himself."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods solemnly. "I hope you're right. I wish I knew more, but it sounds like Jon has a plan. Hopefully, when this is over," she says gesturing at the worktable, "we'll have enough of a breather to confer and try to iron out the details."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "If the only way out of this is the let a good man sacrifice his life, and his soul, and to cease to exist entirely then- fuck it. Maybe we don't even deserve to fix things. We find another way - or I'm about ready flip the fucking table myself," Cael mutters under her breath. "I won't sacrifice Jon's very existance. I just..." Cael sighs in frustration, and hides her face in her hand. "I haven't been sleep well. Jon's trying to help but- Fuck, like he doesn't have enough, already? I just... I want this to be over and behind us."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia gets a determined scowl on her features, "I'm not about to let his soul get sent to oblivion," she says resolutely. "If it comes to that we'll find another way."

"I used to have sleep problems, too," she says giving Cael a sympathetic smile. "But now I sleep like the dead. I miss being able to dream, though."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I would happily give up dreams," Cael answers quietly. "They're rarely good." She rubs her hands over Bear's head as she adds, "They're all about... past mistakes. Gang violence from when I was younger, or Hydra agents killing themselves in front of me, or- ... Jon. Everything he's going through. The thought of losing him. Of losing Sara. I mean, my dreams aren't subtle!" she remarks with a humorless laugh.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia scowls. "The price is... I don't want to say it's not worth it. It's more of a tradeoff." She stares off into the middle distance, "I used to have a lot of nightmares, too, when I first joined the Brotherhood. I asked to be taken on missions because I wanted to help. I was... naive. I'd only been in a couple of fights before, but nothing like a /real/ battle."

She closes her eyes for a moment, reminiscing. "We have a member, Sabretooth, who is as feral and vicious as the name implies. What he did to people.... I had nightmares over it." Her eyes open, "but now? The thought of the things he does doesn't bother me as much." The corner of her lips pull into a frown, "The fact that it /doesn't/ bother me bothers me. It /should/. I should be very much bothered by it but now...." she shrugs. "Don't be so quick to give up on such things."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Yeah, lovely people in the Brotherhood, from what I hear," Cael remarks in a dry tone - before letting out a sigh. "Sorry- sorry. They've been... helping out around here, I know, and that at least is appeareciated. After all, I guess they live in the same reality as the rest of us." But it seems like Cael won't be fully trusting the Brotherhood anytime soon.
    "It's- I don't want to just grow... inured to the violence. I don't want it to stop bothering me, really. I just- ...I wish I could sleep."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia shrugs. "The Brotherhood's reputation is well deserved," she says. "But they're not all like that. Being a terrorist organization was, ultimately, doing more harm than good for mutantkind, which is why there's a shift in direction for the organization."

She looks thoughtful for a moment, and then turns around to start digging through piles of stuff until she pulls out some dried herbs. Singing what sounds like a prayer in Hebrew, she pulls out what looks like some cheesecloth and puts what looks like a heaping tablespoon full of the herbs into it and then ties it all up in a tidy little package.

"Here," she says, handing this over to Cael. "Seep this in hot water to make yourself a tea of it, and drink it before you go to bed. You should get a good night's rest."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "...yeah?" Cael says uncertainly, as she takes the little bundle, and sniffs at it - before giving Lydia a curious look. "How's it work?" she asks - before adding a quiet, but sincere, "Thank you. Really. I, uhh... Even if it's just sometimes, then... well. It'll help. I get pretty tired sometimes," she admits with a small smile.
    "It probably won't be as bad after all of this is over. I hope not anyways - it didn't used to be //this// bad."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"Ancient herbs have medicinal qualities to them," Lydia says. "If you add a little magic to it to give it a bit of a push, then you increase the effect."

She gives a small nod. "Stress doesn't help with the dreams. Once this is over hopefully there'll be less stress and we can get some time to relax and enjoy ourselves."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Yeah, well. Also didn't help... what Michael did to me, just before all this happened," Cael replies softly. "And being reminded of it - day in and day out." Her gaze locks onto the tattoo on the back of her hand for a while, before she picks up her coffee for another sip.
    "After this is over... Jon, Martin, their daughter and I are going on a trip... somewhere. I mean, we haven't planned anything out beyond that. //Somewhere//."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"No, I suppose it wouldn't," Lydia says gently.

"Take her to Disneyworld? I always loved going down there for the holidays."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I've never been at all," Cael admits quietly. "Disneyland, Disneyworld... anywhere like that." She looks thoughtful at the idea, then gives a shrug of her shoulders. "Not sure I really want to be somewhere big, and crowded, and hectic... not the entire time, anyways. Maybe if we split our time between there, and somewhere more... I don't know. Relaxing."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia gives another shrug. "If you go in the offseason it's not so bad. You just have to put up with awful weather rather than awful people."

"Mm," she grunts looking out to the window. "It's almost sunrise. I can feel it. I better head back to the Asteroid before it gets too much later." She turns back to Cael, "Look, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask, and I'll explain as best as I can. Give Jon a hug for me when you see him next."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Well. I guess we'll see. I have no idead what Jon and Martin might have in mind." She looks thoughtfully before she adds, "Might be a good thing to talk about. Something to look forward, you know? After... this." She sighs tiredly, then rises to her feet. "I will. I may try slipping back into bed. Thanks for at least trying to explain everything. If you learn anything else about what we need to do..." She gives Lydia a brief smile, waving the sachet of tea on her way out.