Summary:Sindr is sighted in Patna Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Patna, India. Fenris, Astryd and Ambrose have been in the area for a couple of days now. Their proximate task - the one they're most concerned with - is to TRY to track down a locket from Ambrose past which might in the wrong hands be used in an effort to CHANGE his past. This would be personally disastrous for Ambrose in particular but wouldn't be super great for anyone else.
There are other problems here, some of them quite large. There always are. But today something happened that made Fenris send for backup.
He saw a jotun in the city. Not just any Jotun either. Sindr. Daughter of Surtur. Who is… well. Bad news.
Not wanting to start a MASSIVE street brawl, Fenris has been content with sending Astryd to GET the backup he requested, alerting Ambrose and following Sindr. She went into a discotec a little bit ago and hasn't come out.
Unable to resist following his curiosity, Ambrose chooses to slink out from his proverbial den and follow his proverbial nose. Fenris's alert did rather the opposite of perhaps his intentions; Kent wasn't pleased, but after being mollified that his Jackal would return whole and hale, he too was convinced to stay put and hidden.
Standing near to Fenris now, a tall shadow dressed darkly and uninclined to make himself too obviously present, the master-thief still manages to grump at the Dread Wolf. "So you are telling me that if I set up a fire extinguisher nearby her and shot it live, it would make no difference for this…Sindr?"
Because if there's one thing Ambrose fears more than anything else in this wide world besides death? It's uncontained fire.
Of course Fenris had sent Astryd to get the backup. It was a good way to *ensure* a street brawl didn't occur. Astryd had pouted a little but called Cuan and asked him to call a pack mate - she didn't want to risk the Underways this time.
And so, the two women had arrived not too long along and been deposited on the outskirts of town.
The blonde Valkyr is just joining the men now. "Oh, it would make a difference. You'ld likely end up wearing it." She answers Ambrose, dropping a kiss to Fenris' cheek and taking a seat. "Is she still dancing, my heart? How much Saturday Night Fever do you think she can do?"
It likely didn't take much to get Sif to come along with Astryd, though she might not have fully comprehended WHERE they were going. She arrives in her usual Midgardian clothing, but ready for just about anything — especially considering the last time Astryd wanted to drag her along to someplace in Midgard without fully explaining, she'd ended up having to wrestle a hooved beast to the ground by its horns. In front of a cheering crowd.
Travelling here with Astryd via a packmate of Cuan was … an experience indeed. She's not sure she prefers it over walking the Underways or suffering through Fenris' modes of fast transport. Why couldn't they be sensible and walk, or use horses?
"This is… what place is this?" While the local dialect is not and will never be a concern for her, she can instantly tell they're no longer in Manhattan simply by the smells. The place smells completely different. "And what about this place would cause a fever? Why only on a specific night?"
"This is India." Fenris says. "Saturday Night Fever is a movie about dancing to a particular style of music in a place like this." That should do for the introductions. Does Sif know of India? If not she may know of its gods. Shiva. Kali. Brahma. They did not have much interaction with the Aesir on Earth but their kind is always out there in the cosmos where Asgard projects much of its influence and spends much of its time.
"This is where the blue skinned folks with lots of arms were worshipped." He adds as Astryd kissses him on the cheek.
"It would be a bit akin, Ambrose, to trying to put out an Australian Forest Fire by spitting on it. It's just… not at the scale you'd need it to be at."
Sindr DOES finally emerge in the company of someone and they head in a direction that will take them to the alleyway on the other side of the building.
"There she is." Fenris says as he starts to move. He wants to get them as they enter that alley. That'll he hopes be the best place to catch them away from other people.
"Sindr was involved in that… bioweapon targeting asgardians, wasn't she?" He asks idly.
As they round the corner and get to the alley though, they are treated to the sight of Sindr next to a man who quite clearly has the head of an elephant. Fenris stares…
"Fuck."
"Disco is not dancing, my heart." Astryd sniffs "It's only marginally better than rap and hip hop." She shudders. Clearly Astryd has opinions on dancing. "We're in Patna, to be exact Sif."
"She was yes. Hod took Sif and Betty to get something from them, if I recall correctly." The blonde agrees. Sif might have more to add to that though. "What the Hel is he doing here …"
She doesn't make the quip that the God with Sindr isn't anything like the icing that sounds similar.
"That is dreadfully unreasonable," grumbles the Jackal of the absolute loss of an option against potentially troublesome fire. He falls quiet and glances between Sif and Astryd with a lidded nonchalance. Feeling at his hips and various places around his torso assure him of weaponry in their appropriate places; this mollifies him a little.
When Sindr appears, he can be heard to cycle in a calming breath and exhale it. Used to moving as part of a unit — or at least having been at one point — he falls into place slightly behind Fenris. The alleyway's revelation has Ambrose also pulling up short. His eyes go wide and the Bane's werelight flares up crimson in his pupils with a fervor.
"…bloody fuck," he echoes after the Dread Wolf in a hissed sotto-voce.
Sif ohs faintly at the brief and not at all clarifying explanations. At least she knows they're now in a city named Patna, in India. Not that that really helps.
"Yes, that was Sindr," she says in agreement with Astryd's words. Seeing Sindr, her expression goes serious an she moves along with the others to follow. The man with the head of a beast is certainly not something she's seen on Midgard before. At least not outside of images decorating the walls of a few restaurants she's tried. She didn't care for them, they seemed to be quite lacking in proper meat dishes. But clearly, both Fenris and Ambrose have, if their nearly synchronous cursing is any indication.
"Sindr. You seem to have guests." The Elephant headed man says, looking at Fenris and Company.
"So I do, Ganesh."
Ganesh is a major god in the Brahmin pantheon, while Sif did not associate that name with the man's visage, she very likely DOES know the name.
"Fenris, Sif… and who are your companions?"
"That is Astryd…" Sindr says. "And you I do not know." That is to Ambrose.
Ganesh has a sort of… wild look in his eyes. Almost… fevered.
"I see. Do you think Gurim might like any of them?"
Gurim is NOT a name that Sif knows but it doesn't sound good.
"Yes. Actually. He might appreciate having an agent in the Asgardian Embassy."
Sindr looks dead at Sif with an unpleasant smile.
Ambrose is also not about to pipe up with any form of any name or self-identification, not after hearing the dreaded Gurim's name dropped like a piano from a thirty-foot building. There's even an accompanying subtle wince, as if the discordance of it haunted his psyche.
Ganesh is also a known entity at least by name and now, unfortunately, in-person. The Jackal swallows. If the premise of godliness continues in the vein of Kali being a very real entity with very real powers…and Ganesh seems to be slightly out of his mind…?
Sliding a step to the side to see if he can get one of the Asgardians to eclipse the sight of him, the master-thief silently reaches for one particular knife on his person.
"He's one of ours." Astryd answers, stepping just slightly in front of Ambrose and Fenris. It's a gaurd position. If these attack, they'll have to come through her. "So you've decided to be Gurims pet, have you, Sindr?"
"It's very nice to see you again, Ganesh. I trust you are well."
"Oh and Sif, it's a song. The title of a movie by the same name. One day I'll subject you to it."
"Pet?" Sindr laughs. "No. Ally. Yes. He has a wonderful way of bringing people around to his point of view and as fate would have it, he doesn't like asgardians very much.
Fenris, out of nowhere, has a sword in his hand and he steps forward, between everyone. "Ganesh you are being manipulated." His voice is very… growly.
"Oh I don't think so." Ganesh responds and raises his hands. "And you'll see soon. Let me show you… the truth."
Magic fills the alleyway and EVERYONE present is suddenly assaulted by visions very similar to the ones that Ambrose had when Kent was probing Oliver. But orders of magnitude more intense. The void, the machinations of fate, the insignificance of everything before them, the hunger of nameless things. It is all there in horrifying, crystal clear detail, seared into the mind and never to be forgotten.
Fenris winces and reels before the mental attack.
Kent had some forethought to futher shore up Ambrose's mental defenses and they mitigate some, but not all of this unbelievable wash of reality-warping magic. Ambrose immediately clutches at his temple with one hand and staggers in place, his eyes squeezed tightly shut and teeth bared.
"No…! No! NO!" Pitiful-sounding, his whimpered denials, and cold sweat breaks out at his temples visibly. Whatever blade he was reaching for on his person is never revealed. Rather, he stumbles against the nearest wall in the alley and continues twitching even as he starts to curl on himself, barely aright.
Astryd has withstood so many attacks in the centuries she's lived. She's walked the Underways of religions long dead and had Gods and dieties attack her with sights and images of things that most can't imagine.
It doesn't quite prepare her though for Ganesh's attack. And it is an attack.
"Nooooo." The blonde yells, pulling the pin from her hair - it transforms to her shield and sword.
In a battle frenzy driven by the curse and the fear that Ganesh is delivering, she moves to stop him - "You will not affect my Lord and drive him to his destiny."
The blade flashes.
Sif draws her sword almost at the same moment as Fenris, but then all but falls to her knees at the mental attack. That's something her buckler would never be able to block, and she can't even begin to react the way Astryd does. Stabbing her sword point-down into the pavement of the alleyway, it's all she can do to stay on her feet.
"ASTRYD STOP!" Fenris snaps. He swings his blade down, hard, rotating it to land with the flat and aming for Astryd's knees. Sindr laughs and backs up the alley, eyes shining in delight as Ganesh pours his magic into 'convincing' them. One of the daeva with him moves to grab Ambrose by the scruff of his collar and lift him up. He wasn't the one being aimed for but they will take the prize if they can get him, apparently.
Hopefully Ambrose can see to himself, or Sif can help because Fenris is busy trying to keep Astryd from committing deicide.
It's when Ambrose's booted feet clear the ground that he lets out a strangled "ARK?!" of sound. Still blinded and reeling with the visions of that which lies beyond the veil of horror, he's unable to do much more than stop himself from choking by dint of counter-tugging at his long-coat's collar.
The other hand swings out spread of fingers to see if it can't make even glancing contact with the daeva. All around him, the Bane has gone defensively hurricane-like — tendrils of the curse whip out like the arcs of a static ball, heedless of friend or foe, and they will sting something fierce after they leave frostbite's numbness in their wake.
"DROP ME…RIGHT NOW?!" gurgles the Jackal, most offended in mid-air!
Despite the chaos assaulting her mind, Sif reacts almost reflexively when Ambrose makes that strangled sound. She pulls her sword up and slashes at the creature that scruffed their Midgardian companion, turning to follow her blade with a shield bash from her buckler.
She's sufficiently disconcerted that she's not even thought to hold back even a tiny bit of her strength or the wordless yell that accompanies her lashing out.
It only takes Fenris' command for Astryd to halt her strike. Which happens at the same Fenris' sword hits her knees. Her knees buckle as the blonde gives out a strangled cry and ends reeling backwards.
Her eyes are still grey but there's a madness in them. Not the fevered madness that's been seen around her, but its close. It takes a moment before the blonde holds the blade across her body in both hands, offering to the God Wolf. She doesn't say anything. Not here. Not now.
Fenris takes the sword but he's very quick to follow that up by throwing it at Ganesh. Pommel first. It strikes the elephant headed man right between his eyes and causes him to stagger. The mental attack stops.
Sif manages to first cut the daeva and then slam him into the discotec wall so hard that he bends a steel support beam inward and causes all of the masonry work to just powder. He doesn't get up. Just raises both hands and hopes to the various multi armed gods that Sif and Ambrose do not kill him on the spot.
Fenris puts his boot on Ganesh's trunk and does not let him up. Which is slightly undignified but… you know. Needs must.
"Sif we need to secure somewhere to take Ganesh where we won't be bothered. Do you think you can appropriate a building for us? The hotel we are staying at will not do."
Ambrose would have applauded for the sight of the sword thrown as such, a trick as it stands! However, he's still involved in scrabbling to his feet after dealing with a series of events beginning with a war-cry to rival anything he's heard on this green earth and ending with an undignified thump to the alleyway's floor after being swung off the wall as a result of redirected physics.
Coughing now with his windpipe fully freed, he stumbles away from the fallen daeva, gone wide-eyed and sallow-faced. This entire affair is far too similar to successful kidnapping in the past and for once, the Jackal has been scared beyond words or vengeful action.
The mental attack stopping is a huge relief to Sif, and it gives her enough of a reprieve that she doesn't continue to attack the daeva as she probably would have. Instead she hesitates long enough for Fenris to suggest she find them a more private venue to speak with Ganesh further. "I will find one promptly," she promises.
Just before dashing out of the alley, she pauses next to Ambrose and after a second of consideration, presses her buckler into his hands.
Astryd doesn't say anything to Fenris. They'll speak later, she's sure. He'll have words to say to her and justifiably.
The blonde moves to Ambrose, not touching him till she's sure the Bane is under control - looks at the Daeva on the ground, then Ambrose and then daeva again. "Shall I knock him out till you're ready to talk to him?"
Because she's sure they'll want 'words' with man - very select and precise ones.
"Please." Fenris says and glances back to Sif and Ambrose. Sif is already on her way out, with alacrity. Ambrose is… well. He looks like he's in bad shape. And so the Old Wolf, the Destroyer, the Odinsbane, the great beast of the end times… walks over and puts a hand on his shoulder.
"You alright?"
He's had a REALLY bad scare. They all have. The measure of how bad it is can be seen by the fact that the DESTROYER is trying to comfort someone.
"Astryd once we have him secure I need you and Ambrose to find Rachana. We need some answers and I suspect she will have them."
Fenris will do some reaching out on his own and he and Sif can keep Ganesh on ice until they're ready.
Somehow, he has a buckler. He has a buckler? Ambrose blinks down at the Asgardian shield in his white-knuckled hands and it anchors him more in the present. Astryd's voice is familiar and he looks over at her first with a continued wide-eyed look of horror — it's not her, but the memories in the moment. Then the Jackal's balefire'd gaze returns to the daeva still cowering.
"I, uh…" Fenris's presence makes the master-thief stopper up speech yet again in nervy reaction. It's only through long-practice that the Bane's tendriled interest is pulled away screeching into the Jackal's bones. Must not nip friendlies!
"I…am…fine," lies Ambrose for the sake of appearances and bruised pride both. "That…ruddy jackaknave, yes: knock him cold and I will be having a bloody drink before I speak to that woman."
Rachana, he means, and the Jackal can still be seen to quiver the slightest. Yep. That woman.
Astryd brings her shield down on the daeva's head, knocking him out cold. Her hand rests on Ambroses other shoulder. "I was just one of many paths, Ambrose. Ones that we can shape ourselves." She says lowly.
She hasn't looked at Fenris in all of this and when he speaks, her shoulders tense. "I will do that, God Wolf, after I take Ambrose and fortify him."
"Then I suggest you go get a drink. We need to speak with her. Quickly." Fenris nods to Astryd. She'll handle it. He'll handle her… later. She very nearly created an interpanethon incident and notwithstanding that Ganesh may be insane, killing him would still have been a BIG problem.
Fenris goes to go pick up the elephant headed man. They'll be on the move… shortly. Albeit, all going different places.