12-02-2023, 07:21 PM
With a deep sigh of relief, Jaxen opened his eyes to find familiar territory. The alien world was gone, and in its place was a posh bedroom. It was decorated in expensive furnishings, the walls were swathed with navy blue paint, elaborate moldings wrapped the edges, and impressive paintings hung on the walls. When Jaxen said he wanted to go home, he did not mean this.
He sat up, discovering himself in the middle of his bed, but not the famous bed in his condo. It was his childhood bedroom in Scion’s house. Grumbling about twisting his wish to go home into a sentence that banished him to his father’s estate, he knew it was going to be annoying to sneak off the grounds without being seen.
Speaking of not being seen, he reached to toss what he believed to be a heavy blanket off his legs when he realized he had no legs at all.
He screamed...
...And frantically clamored at the lower half of his body he was sure was there, only to grab a handful of cloth and upon yanking it away, rediscovered his lower limbs.
The hell? He blinked, piecing together the clues to what was happening, before turning the cloth in his fist around in his hand, finding that his own hand was blurring in and out of view.
Not sure if he should be freaked or intrigued by the strange phasing, he slithered quickly from the bed, happily grounding his feet on the bedroom floor while his heart returned to his chest and his brain caught up.
From there, he scratched his cheek, finding that the scruff of his facial hair was unchanged from last he treated it. The first time he was sucked into nagaland, he was gone for two months. His father still didn’t buy the story that he’d been kidnapped especially since no ransom demand was ever sent. The second time he zipped off world, he was gone for what he thought to be a few hours and it turned out to be more than a day.
If the pattern held, as he suspected it did, it must be at least a few days since he was at Almaz with Mikhail, Oriena, and … oh shit, he suddenly remembered that one cannibal dude. What the hell happened there? One minute he was ready to pinch the squirrelly little asshole’s head off and the next he was ready to bow down and worship the fucker. First thing first, he settled himself and turned in a circle, finding no sign of his wallet. Until he remembered it was in his pocket. Patting down his own body, he discovered the device inside his jacket. The suit was the same brown velvet one he wore to Almaz, albeit a bit more wrinkled than he preferred, but between the unchanged beard and clothes, he had to guess that his absence wasn’t an obscene length of time.
Luckily, the wallet told him it had only been a few days. He breathed a second sigh of relief, only to realize that today was his second date with Zephyr. Normally, he’d be rushing to the spa to get primped and preened, but after promising away his ‘first-born child’ (eye-roll) to the aliens, second-guessing the date was only natural — even for a moment. It wasn’t like he was going to turn that down. Seemed everyone on and off the planet wanted some Jaxen Juice. Super-sperm was a pretty good reason to be flattered after all.
Ok. So he knew what day it was. He was at Scion’s house. The aliens were gone. That left the puzzle of what was happening with his body parts going in and out of view.
Investigating the bed discovered that there was some strange cloth laid out like a blanket. Picking it up, he discovered the same phenomenon persisted. Now, Jaxen wasn’t one of those LARPing nerds, but he’d seen movies. The idea of an invisibility cloak dawned on him, and so, he pulled it in one sweeping motion and draped it around his shoulders.
“Fuck, YES.” He exclaimed, looking in the mirror, discovering he was only a floating head. A thousand ideas blurred through his mind as he doffed the gift. He folded it inside out so to not lose it and considered adding a gps tag to the inside seam just in case that happened. That was a problem to figure out later, though.
So he was home at his childhood home. Those alien bitches gave him a way to stop being chased by the Atharim. That just left..
He gasped.
The sword!
At least he had a way to get out of Scion’s house without being seen.
He drove one of his father’s cars right out of the garage, and upon arriving at his building, sent instructions to Scion’s goons to retrieve it before they realized it was gone.
As soon as he was back in his condo, he descended to his secret under-level, which was essentially the condo on the floor beneath his that he purchased and combined into one secretly accessible unit. It was there that he stored the invisibility blanket and retrieved the sword.
As soon as he climbed back to the main condo level and locked the passageway behind him, he slipped his jacket off, tossed it on the couch, and summoned the Ancient Power to him in order to push it into the sword. He stretched and cracked his neck, and grinned smugly to himself. That was when he heard a noise, and turned to discover a familiar face waiting for him.
He practically jumped out of his skin.
He sat up, discovering himself in the middle of his bed, but not the famous bed in his condo. It was his childhood bedroom in Scion’s house. Grumbling about twisting his wish to go home into a sentence that banished him to his father’s estate, he knew it was going to be annoying to sneak off the grounds without being seen.
Speaking of not being seen, he reached to toss what he believed to be a heavy blanket off his legs when he realized he had no legs at all.
He screamed...
...And frantically clamored at the lower half of his body he was sure was there, only to grab a handful of cloth and upon yanking it away, rediscovered his lower limbs.
The hell? He blinked, piecing together the clues to what was happening, before turning the cloth in his fist around in his hand, finding that his own hand was blurring in and out of view.
Not sure if he should be freaked or intrigued by the strange phasing, he slithered quickly from the bed, happily grounding his feet on the bedroom floor while his heart returned to his chest and his brain caught up.
From there, he scratched his cheek, finding that the scruff of his facial hair was unchanged from last he treated it. The first time he was sucked into nagaland, he was gone for two months. His father still didn’t buy the story that he’d been kidnapped especially since no ransom demand was ever sent. The second time he zipped off world, he was gone for what he thought to be a few hours and it turned out to be more than a day.
If the pattern held, as he suspected it did, it must be at least a few days since he was at Almaz with Mikhail, Oriena, and … oh shit, he suddenly remembered that one cannibal dude. What the hell happened there? One minute he was ready to pinch the squirrelly little asshole’s head off and the next he was ready to bow down and worship the fucker. First thing first, he settled himself and turned in a circle, finding no sign of his wallet. Until he remembered it was in his pocket. Patting down his own body, he discovered the device inside his jacket. The suit was the same brown velvet one he wore to Almaz, albeit a bit more wrinkled than he preferred, but between the unchanged beard and clothes, he had to guess that his absence wasn’t an obscene length of time.
Luckily, the wallet told him it had only been a few days. He breathed a second sigh of relief, only to realize that today was his second date with Zephyr. Normally, he’d be rushing to the spa to get primped and preened, but after promising away his ‘first-born child’ (eye-roll) to the aliens, second-guessing the date was only natural — even for a moment. It wasn’t like he was going to turn that down. Seemed everyone on and off the planet wanted some Jaxen Juice. Super-sperm was a pretty good reason to be flattered after all.
Ok. So he knew what day it was. He was at Scion’s house. The aliens were gone. That left the puzzle of what was happening with his body parts going in and out of view.
Investigating the bed discovered that there was some strange cloth laid out like a blanket. Picking it up, he discovered the same phenomenon persisted. Now, Jaxen wasn’t one of those LARPing nerds, but he’d seen movies. The idea of an invisibility cloak dawned on him, and so, he pulled it in one sweeping motion and draped it around his shoulders.
“Fuck, YES.” He exclaimed, looking in the mirror, discovering he was only a floating head. A thousand ideas blurred through his mind as he doffed the gift. He folded it inside out so to not lose it and considered adding a gps tag to the inside seam just in case that happened. That was a problem to figure out later, though.
So he was home at his childhood home. Those alien bitches gave him a way to stop being chased by the Atharim. That just left..
He gasped.
The sword!
At least he had a way to get out of Scion’s house without being seen.
He drove one of his father’s cars right out of the garage, and upon arriving at his building, sent instructions to Scion’s goons to retrieve it before they realized it was gone.
As soon as he was back in his condo, he descended to his secret under-level, which was essentially the condo on the floor beneath his that he purchased and combined into one secretly accessible unit. It was there that he stored the invisibility blanket and retrieved the sword.
As soon as he climbed back to the main condo level and locked the passageway behind him, he slipped his jacket off, tossed it on the couch, and summoned the Ancient Power to him in order to push it into the sword. He stretched and cracked his neck, and grinned smugly to himself. That was when he heard a noise, and turned to discover a familiar face waiting for him.
He practically jumped out of his skin.