Owner	Pose
Cael Becker	Having finished her noodles (and even shared a little of the steak with Bear) Cael has gone back to staring at her cellphone, with one hand scritching at Bear just outside the bars. Being trapped in such a small space, for such a long time, was starting to grate on her - but at least she wasn't pacing the bars of her (largely self-imposed) prison. ...yet. She has blankets and pillows piled around her to make the silvered cage more comfortable than it had been initially.     But how comfortable can a small box without any toilet facilities really be?
Marc Spector	Marc, in a pair of jeans, a white button shirt, and comfortable running shoes enters the amory. He blinks and walks to the cage where Cael sits. "Why are you still in there?" he asks, confusion on his features. "It's been over a day... you should've come out the moment the sun rose." He moves and unlocks the cage, swinging the door open.     "Come on... we can move you to one of the dorms for now." So, still a prisoner, but at the very least a comfortable one. At least until they figure out the specifics of her condition and how to better manage it. Nevermind until he knows the status of the little girl who watched Cael turn into a monster hellbent of trying to eat her.
Cael Becker	As Marc goes to just casually open the door, Cael's form stiffens, and she leans away from the open door with a wary expression on her features. "I'd rather not risk it more than we have to," she replies in a tense voice. "How do we really know there's nothing else that can trigger or... force the change? I'd rather not- I don't want to be responsible for killing anyone."
Marc Spector	Marc shakes his head. "Who are you going to kill?" he asks, still standing at the open door of the cage. "Lydia is strong enough to fight you. Jon can put you to sleep again. Last time I looked Hippos were still apex creatures in Africa so Layla's probably more than a match for anyone here. Frenchie has survived more encounters with death than I can count and I know how to run."     "Besides... that's not how it works..." he replies and gestures again. "So come on out. I can't keep you in here. There's too many things I'd rather not have eyes on regularly. Or well... too many things that Steven doesn't want eyes on."
Cael Becker	"Bear," Cael says simply. "Or Agnes. Or- I don't know. I get out on the street and go on a rampage through Queens. I don't- Until we're sure how this works..." She seems rather put-off by Marc's no-nonsense response to her fears and insecurities, but she shows no signs of moving just yet. "And aren't you still powerless? Who's to say I wouldn't kill //you//?" she points out flatly.     "Jon said he was going to make one of the rooms more secure. I'd rather- Let's wait until he sorts that out."
Marc Spector	Marc is still nonplussed. "You give him your blood?" he asks. "Because unless he knows how to immediately retrofit the framework of a building with silver coated adamantium" he knocks on the bars of the cage. "The building can't be otherwise protected from what you are. A blood ward might do it..." he shrugs. "But I honestly don't know enough about medicine to be able to tell if your blood changes when you change. That's more Steven's area of expertise than mine. And even then he has a medical division to handle the deep work like that."     "Look, you haven't changed since you woke up have you?" he asks. "No. So I'm pretty sure what drives it is a conscious will and the full moon. To completely full moon. So unless you -want- to turn into a murderous beast... you won't change. The others... they've all changed at will. There's obviously a way to control it. But I think your base form is the default unless its the full moon. So as long as you want to keep your clothes in tact..." He shakes his head.
Cael Becker	"Yeah, well, who has to live with the fucking consequences if you're wrong?" Cael shoots back - some of her shortened temper rising abruptly to the fore.     "Where the hell is Jon? Just close thee fucking door. I don't want to- I'd rather wait until Jon comes," she insists - her fingers tightening around Bear's fur, as one hand remains threaded through the bars to rest on the pup's shoulder. Bear lets out a worried whine, turning his head to snuffle at Cael through the bars, his tail giving a few hopeful thumps as he tries to reassure her.
Jonathan Sims	Naturally this is when Jon comes in, looking frazzled and like he slept in his clothes again. Which he did. And his hair's a frizzy mess, because curly hair plus humidity minus hair care products equals frizz. But he says, "Okay, okay, I've got a ward set up, I used a bit of your blood and your name, but I'm going to need you to come test it. There's a deactivation phrase, which you won't be able to speak if you're a werewolf."     He blinks at Marc. "Oh! Hello. Umm. Sorry, I should have told you about this. It just... took me a bit, warding against something getting /out/ means inverting things and requires entirely different unilaterals and... it's a whole thing."
Marc Spector	Marc looks at Jon and then shrugs. "Good that you're here. Maybe you can convince her to get out of the cage better than an open door and an offer can" he says with a sigh. He too looks extremely frazzled and his words, clipped and short as they are is a testament to Jon what's going on.     He's losing his grip on himself and a switch is bound to happen any moment. He's here to wrap up things before he goes missing again as Jake Lockely or goes fully public as Steven Grant. Either one is as likely as the other.
Cael Becker	"Jon." There's obvious relief in Cael's voice as they make an appearance. Honestly, all three of them make a fine, and thoroughly frazzled trio, given the current state of affairs. "It's ready?" There's only a momentary hesitation before she climbs to her feet and - yes - makes her way out of the cage, and towards Jon - but not without shooting Marc a rather put-out look. "I knew you'd figure it out," she replies, slipping her hand into theirs, as she seeks some comfort, and reassurance.
Jonathan Sims	Jon squeezes Cael's hand, gently. If that's all she wants to do right now, well, he can understand not wanting to hug in front of a relative stranger. "Well, we need to test it, like I said. I'll need to lock you in and get you to try to leave, and then I'll need to see if the deactivation word works. Alright?"     He looks to Marc and sighs. "She's worried. Should she not be worried? She doesn't want to hurt anyone." A pause. "Who's... ahh... which way are you..." He pauses, to run the emerald hand through his hair, which only makes it frizzier. "Steven or Jake?" he says finally.
Marc Spector	Marc gives Jon a nod. "I understand I'm just... well... you picked the rub of it out right there" he replies, running a hand through his hair. TO the question he shakes his head. "You act like I have any knowledge of that these days..." he say, his smile a wry and sad thing. "It just... happens now. No control. No warning. I've put it off for too long though, so when it happens it's going to just... happen."     He closes the cage shut with a casual push. It clangs with the sound of metal on metal as it locks closed. "I'm just taking care of what I need to do before I go..." he gestures. "Or whoever it is, goes on walkabout for who knows how long."
Cael Becker	Cael nods her understanding, and gives Jon a brief, small smile as she remarks, "I'm sure it'll work. You never give yourself enough credit with these things. But... yeah. Let's test it." She continues to hold to Jon's hand for reassurance - her back and shoulders stiffening at the mention of Jake - though as Marc speaks, something a little more sympathetic shows in her features.     "You don't, uhh... remember what's been happening when one of them's been driving, huh?" That was something she could now relate to. "I'm sorry."
Jonathan Sims	Jon shrugs at Cael and starts for the door that leads out of the 'secret lair' and toward the rest of the basement, including the room that he's warded. "Right. Well... whoever it is... try to tell Steven to come talk to me, if it's him? He might at least bloody well /listen/ to me. We're friendly. Jake..." He huffs out a breath and shakes his head.     "This is the first time I've tried to do an inverse ward like this, Cael. I want it to work properly. You shouldn't be... stuck in a cage until Lydia and I can make an amulet."
Marc Spector	Marc shakes his head at Cael. "Not without Khonshu. It's all darkness and silence, interupted by moments of lucidity that feels like I'm paralyzed and watching everything through a viewscreen." He glances at Jon and nods. "I'll try... no promises though..." He sighs and looks at the pair. "You've got it handled from here?" he asks, clearly eager to release the pressure building up in his mind.
Cael Becker	"Jon's got me," Cael confirms for Marc quietly. "I trust them." As she says this - Bear decides to interject his head into here free hand - after licking it, of course. //Dogs.// "I hope we can solve whatever happened last month. I, uh- I'm sorry if this," she gestures back to the cage she left, and then scratches at Bear's head, "is distracting from that."
Jonathan Sims	"It's all tied together, Cael," Jon replies softly. "These were-creatures are using spells designed by Elias. The last place we saw this 'Sun King' was with Bushman, who I know for a fact used to work with Elias. It's all connected somehow, even it's just something Elias gave Bushman years ago. Maybe helping you helps us figure out how to bring Khonshu back, or vice versa."     He frowns at Marc. "Just... be well, okay? I'm sorry that--I'm sorry." He shakes his head, and pulls Cael along. "Come on. Let's go test this."
Marc Spector	Marc nods. "I will be..." he says. "I'll try and convince Steven to come back here if he gets some free time..." he looks at Cael and nods. "Like he says, it's all tied together rather nicely for us really." He waves to the pair as he moves for a secondary exit. "You guys stay safe too. And good luck."     He turns and adds. "I hope the ward works, Jon. I'd rather replace all the furniture in a room rather than the whole Misson. Just sayin'" And with that he's out of the property and out in the world.
Cael Becker	"Fucking Elias," Cael practically growls. "Lydia told me that this- that he was involved, somehow, in this. In... what happened to me. A bullet's too good for him - I'm going to tear his fucking throat out," she remarks darkly.     As she walks with Jon towards the correct room she adds in an annoyed voice, "Well, if he thinks there's a chance might change... Then why the fuck is he letting me out of the damned cage?"
Jonathan Sims	Jon watches Marc go with a slight frown, then shakes himself and looks to Cael. "I don't think he thinks you'll change. I think he's... trying to lighten the mood and doing it poorly." He smiles down at her, though it doesn't quite touch his eyes. "I don't know that I'd stop you from tearing Elias' throat out, either."     The room Jon takes Cael to is the furthest down the hall from the stairs to the main floor, while Agnes has been put into the closest room. Safety precautions of a sort, perhaps. The few seconds it might take a ravening beast to get down the hall could be the difference between life and death. There's nothing obviously different about the room at first, aside from a very prominent Eye of Horus drawn on the inside of the door in gold Sharpie. Closer inspection will reveal smaller versions of the same written at intervals along the walls.     "So, first off, let me lock down the wards and lock you in and see if you can open the door," he says once they're inside.
Cael Becker	"I don't know that you could," Cael counters - before flashing Jon a brief smile. Maybe she's trying to make light of it, as well. But... it doesn't feel like there's much to make light of about it. Not yet, anyways.     She walks to the room with Jon, still hand-in-hand, with Bear padding at her heels. She steps in, looking around at the markings and reaching out hesitantly to touch one. "If I scratched these... would the wards still work?" she asks uncertainly. "Would it still keep me in? And it's not like- it's not an invisible force field that keeps me in. It's- I wouldn't be able to open the door at all. So if, say, Bear was in here with me..."     She'd tear him to bits.
Jonathan Sims	"I think perhaps that, yes, Bear should... not be in here with you unless someone else is. But if I were in here and opened the door, you couldn't get out. That was the tricky bit, making sure it would work with the door open." Jon gestures to the symbol on the door. "I had to set it up so that the door is /symbolic/ more than anything. No, you wouldn't be able to open the door, but you'd be strong enough to smash through it. The ward actually stops /before/ the door, so you just can't... /get/ to it."     A pause, and then he adds, "So you also couldn't scratch the markings. They're kind of like... projectors? That's how I always think of them. Slightly projecting parts of a sort of mesh that weaves together and keeps things out. Or in, in this instance. Projecting /inward/ was the other tricky bit."     He takes a moment to gather himself, then reaches out to take Cael's hand in his own and presses the other palm to the symbol on the door. There's a soft pulse of power, and a brief flare of light like noonday sun. Then he sighs and says, "Go ahead and try to get at the door."
Cael Becker	Cael nods at the explination. "Okay," she agrees. "Makes sense. I mean, makes more sense then a lot of the magical nonsense I get told. You must be getting better at Muggling things for me," she remarks in amusement.     She squeezes Jon's hand - and is forced to blink momentarily against the sudden, brief brightness. At the request she get at the door, she nods - reaching for it with her free hand, and watching with fascination when it stops before reaching the knob. She tries again and again, pressing against it for all she's worth - she even tries to take a run at it with her shoulder - that ends with her hissing in pain.     That... wasn't a smart move. She rubs at the back of her shoulder - a small amount of blood starting to seep through the shirt due to the wound she'd just reopened.     "Alright. Well... seems to be working. That's, uhh... You could do this to anyone, huh? ...kind of a bit terrifying. Even if you're doing it at my request, and for a good reason.     "If the wards are active - can I be shoved through them from the outside to get trapped in here? Or... do I need to be in here when they're activated to be trapped?"
Jonathan Sims	Jon watches the attempts to get through the ward with satisfaction in his expression, the satisfaction of watching an idea come to fruitition. He hisses, though, as Cael starts bleeding, and immediately steps forward. "Hey, let me see that?" He reaches out, but stops short, letting her show the wound.     As he waits he adds, "I would need their blood, and as close to their True Name as I could possibly get. Ma'at provided the latter. And I think... hmmm. That's a good question, actually, I hadn't thought of that. We should test it, once I've looked at your wound."
Cael Becker	"True name?" Cael repeats - a faint, puzzled frown on her features. "I mean... That's just Cael Becker, yeah? It's not exactly... secret knowledge. I'm not Shelley anymore. I can never be her again."     As she talks, she turns her back towards Jon, asking, "Is the collar loose enough that you can pull it down? Or do I need to take the shirt off?"     Pulling at the collar will reveal the unhealed cut Marc had made with his silvered weapon - but it will also show the top of an ankh, made of red tendrils in her skin.
Jonathan Sims	"Yes and no," Jon says. "I suppose the best way to put it is that your True Name might be 'Cael Becker' translated into Enochian. There's a kind of... I don't know, a mystical resonant sound that's subtle and profound, and hard to capture. It's /you/ as opposed to... well, any other 'Cael Becker.' My name might be a little more relevant: how many people in the world might possibly be named 'Jonathan Sims?' But the /specific/ version of that, that means /me/, if my True Name."     They reach out, in the meantime, to pull down the collar gently and frown at the cut and the ankh. "Good lord, Cael..." They reach out with their green hand, to feel along the area without directly touching her skin. They take in a sharp, hissing breath. "Cold... like the grave. The power of a death god. Anubis? Almost has to be." A beat. "Hmm."
Cael Becker	"You can do that with names?" Cael asks in bafflement - which is nothing compared to her confusion at the next thing they say.     "Huh?" she asks, turning her head to try to look - but human anatomy doesn't work that way. "What do you mean? The- ...cut? It's- Isn't it just a cut?"     Bear has made himself comfortable on the bed - but he lifts his head now to watch the pair of them.
Jonathan Sims	Jon summons up a pair of mirrors, one behind Cael and one in front, angled so she can see the ankh on her shoulder. "See there? That's where you keep itching. Fuck, I should've asked to look at this before." He shakes his head. "No use for that now."     He sighs, and reaches out with his left hand. Warm glowing light surrounds the hand, and he runs it along the area again. There's a cessation of the pain and itching, but the wound doesn't close, and the ankh seems to actively resist the healing.     "Damn it," he mutters. "I can't... it's not /working/."
Cael Becker	"I mean. I obviously have no qualms about body mods but- I didn't //choose// to put it there." And it's clear from the rising note of alarm in her voice that she doesn't //want// it there.     Her teeth grit - and she glances away from the mirror as Bear nudges his head into her hand, after the quiet thud of him jumping down off the bed. She scratches at his head, then looks back to the mirror to see if anything has changed.     "What if, uhhh... What if we just tried... cutting it out?" she asks.     That's a pretty sizeable chunk of skin to simply flay away - but she seems serious as she asks the question.
Jonathan Sims	Jon dismisses the mirror, so that it won't bother Cael any further, and ponders the ankh for a long moment. He shuts his eyes, focusing as much power and energy as he can into the healing, then lets out a sharp breath and stops. He switches to feeling it out again, then shakes his head.     "It's in your blood," he says, opening his eyes. "Like a virus. I am willing to try--but it's quite possible it would do nothing except hurt you, and not fix the problem. But... this gives me and Lydia an anchor for whatever work we do to un-do the spell."
Cael Becker	"I... can take pain," Cael says in a firm voice. "But- there's not much point if you really think it won't work. Is there //any// chance it works? And if so - how much of a chance?"     There's a hint of anger and frustration in her voice as she adds, "I don't want that mark on me. I didn't //choose// it. It's not part of who I am. It's not."
Jonathan Sims	"We'll get rid of it, Cael, but we have to do this right. Cutting it out just to have it grow back puts you through pain with no reason. Worst case, it somehow keeps the wards from working, and I /know/ you don't want that." Jon sighs, and pulls up Cael's collar. "Let me focus my energy on fixing the underlying problem, instead of just a symptom?"     They lean forward to wrap their arms around her. "I'm going to figure this out, okay? /We're/ going to figure this out. And we're going to fix it, I swear. And in the meantime, you're not going to hurt anyone if I can help it."
Cael Becker	"...alright," Cael agrees quietly. She's still for a moment - before leaning back into Jon's presence - her hands lifting from Bear's head, to reach up and rest on Jon's arms instead. She closes her eyes - breathing in deeply, and out slowly, taking in their scent as she slowly relaxes. "We'll figure it out," she echoes back. She has to believe that, or she'll go mad.     "Uh... So I guess we just need you to turn the wards off, let me out, turning them back on... and shove me through the door. Right?"
Jonathan Sims	"Yes. And maybe test the other edges just to be sure there's no holes." Jon smiles down at her and murmurs, "The way to unlock the wards is to say 'Bear is a good boy' while reaching for the doorknob." He leans down to kiss the top of her head.     "Let's take a bit to test and then we can get some food, alright? Wards are hungry work."
Cael Becker	Cael lets out a snort of amusement. "He is a good boy," she agrees. "Especially if he protected Agnes."     She turns in Jon's arms - giving them a kiss before murmuring quietly, "Thank you for humoring me with all this, Jon. What would I do without you?"