I1: The Long and Winding Way

[Will Stanton]

After his meeting with Nailah, Will knocked on Victoria's door.

[Victoria Valentine]

Eyes seemed to open in midair, red and threatening, as a disembodied voice rang out... around him? In his head? It was hard to tell. This was Victoria after all. "WHO INTERRUPTS THE WORKS OF THE TW- Oh. It's you. Ah... give me a just a minute."

There was some movement inside the room as Will waited, though the eyes thankfully closed and vanished. A moment later, Victoria opened the door, tightening the sash of her silk kimono robe. There was a ritual circle drawn in the room behind her, though a sheet had been thrown over whatever (rather large things) had been in it with her. "Hello!" she said, a little out of breath.

[Will Stanton]

Will didn't even raise an eyebrow.


...Ok, so he DID raise an eyebrow, but it was momentary.

"Hi, Victoria. Are you ripping open any holes in space and time back there? That would go against your housing agreement."

[Victoria Valentine]

"Darling, the only holes in space and time that have been in here have been of the 'outside coming in' variety, and I do try to avoid them as much as possible. And now I put on my offended eyes and ask... why?"

[Will Stanton]

"Because if it's not you, I have some research to do, and I was really hoping to be lazy today.

Have you been watching the news? Giant cockroaches, massive leeches from the pipes? MI-13 is drawing chalk circles and satarim are appearing in our dimension.

Professor Weaver's cards indicate there may be a connection to the Winding Path, which leads me to your door."

[Victoria Valentine]

"I've watched, but it's a bit outside my area of study. I tend to butt my nose in on things where I won't end up looking foolish."

Still, she frowned. She didn't like that this was popping up, and apparently was connected to her own mystic path, right when she'd been set against another student of the Way. "Although..." She sighed, moving into the room and nodding for him to follow. "I don't suppose you've gathered anything from the disturbances that I can use as a spell channel? That would make this much easier for me right now."

[Will Stanton]

"Nick and Eric brought in one of the bug things that whatever these ripples are have summoned, and I have some dust from an Asakku that nearly smashed Westminster."

[Victoria Valentine]

"Hm. The... bugs sound like a better means. But first... well, the more unpleasant matters have to be dealt with first."

She took a deep breath, then pulled out a stick of lipstick and drew a circle on the wall. "Goddess, I hate doing this. Do try not to jump, all right?" Then she took a small mirror out of her purse, smashed it in her hand with her fist, then threw the shards, blood from her palm and all, at the circle where they seemed to spread like water into a silver film inside the circle's boundaries.

"Hear me spirits, heed my call,
Know my purpose in this hour,
Come and seek me, one and all,
Meet me in my place of power,
State your price and for all I ask,
My honor goes before me,
But if you fail to do thy task,
Your end will lie before thee!"

Then Victoria thrust her cut hand into the shimmering 'mirror,' and there was a red flash as her avatar passed through it. Her hand passed just into the surface, and her avatar's clung to it, in equal parts still within the room. Victoria kept her eyes shut. "This... might take a few minutes. I have to judge the spirits that will know anything useful against what they're going to want from me in return. I'd really rather not inadvertently sell half my soul today." She didn't want much, really... enough information to start looking. Occasionally you got a real deal and something truly useful for not much cost, but that was rare.

[Will Stanton]

"Hrm," Will frowned. "I hate magicks," he said, sotto voice, waiting in the corner.

[Victoria Valentine]

"No you don't. You just hate when we make it obvious. Life is magic. Love is magic. A flower blooming slightly out of season is magic... It isn't all pixies and fiery demons and... this." Victoria's eyes were closed, most of her attention going through her other body. "Although 'this' is bloody marvelous, if you could do it you'd love it, too."

[Narrator]

A fair number of spirits seem reluctant to deal with Victoria at the moment. A few are just spooked and not dealing with any magi right now, but a number of others bear the subtle marks of spirits already sworn to a deal.

The closer she searches to Westminster, the worse it gets. More of the spirits there have been bought off, and a fair bit of them seem actively damaged.

She runs across a particularly wretched example that usually roams near Hyde Park, a pigeon spirit nurtured by an older couple that has always gone to the park to feed the birds.

"Sons of the mountain... Faltine's folly... The sons call... the father answers..."

[Victoria Valentine]

"I hate when it's someone smart. The spirits... won't answer. Can't answer in some cases. This is..." She shook her head. "Someone is going to have a steep price they're going to be trying to back out of, I think." She focused on the rambling spirit... at least it was saying something, even if she couldn't think of anything that linked what it said together yet. She had a few ideas, naturally, but... nothing concrete, and nothing that fit everything. "I think that we're going to have to use that cockroach after all..."

[Narrator]

"Knife cuts the wound... hand plants the seed... the wound grows..."

[Victoria Valentine]

"...Although maybe there's something to be said for simple things being overlooked..." Victoria concentrated again on what she was doing through her avatar, trying to coax more out of the little bird-spirit. "I think I might know where to look for where this started. Granted... that's not always as useful as you'd think."

[Narrator]

"The wound grows... One, one, two... two, two, three... Come the tunnelers, the filth-eaters... three, three, four... Come the blood drinkers, the pattern-scribers... four, four, five... Come the sons of the mountain..."

[Will Stanton]

"Anything you have is a help, Victoria."

[Victoria Valentine]

"Ohhhhh my I don't like the sound of that. I might be wrong, spirits don't stay completely localized. But this one... obviously saw something, and it seems pretty strongly tied to Hyde Park."

[Will Stanton]

"That seems bad," Will said, calmly.

Well, almost calmly. He may have been freaking out about a mystic thing that could rattle Victoria, of all people.

[Victoria Valentine]

"Well, darling, nothing for it but to go have a look, I suppose."

"Are you coming with? Or is this too much magic for you?" she asked as she headed into the bedroom, starting to strip out of the robe as she kicked the door shut behind her.

[Will Stanton]

"No, I'm coming with you. Just because I'm uncomfortable..."

[Victoria Valentine]

"Which, of course, you aren't," Victoria said diplomatically as she walked out, wearing a black ritual gown and carrying her car keys. "Shall we, then?"

[Will Stanton]

"We shall.

And of course I am. I just hang around anyway."