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Truths
Mar 29, 2019 16:17:38 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Mar 29, 2019 16:17:38 GMT -6
"Seriously and I do think you'd do that, you play fast and loose." The woman said as she climbed out of the mud pit to go talk to the road crew. "Aiya... Go do this Xiao.. go do that Xiao..." She muttered under her breath as she looked for the site supervisor. SHe outranked Molly, but the other treated her no better than a rookie some days. She wasn't happy about it, but was grateful that she didn't have to deal with the things she encountered at her last position. In some ways Dallas was a blessing and easy to coast through most of the daily grind required to complete a case. But then there were the odd cases like this one that made her blood run cold and her stomach turn.
"Shut it down for the day. There's too much risk to your guys until we can get the casket out." Xiaolian informed the man, who clearly wasn't happy with this news, but still complied none the less. "We'll let you know when you can get your guys back in here, I know you have a deadline to make." She was sympathetic to their plight, but at the same time had little desire to deal with mundane coming into contact with those tools.
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Truths
Mar 29, 2019 16:24:56 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Mar 29, 2019 16:24:56 GMT -6
"I play it safe with unknown magic. It's the known stuff I risk." And she knew the risks of. Molly stayed in the pit, taking rough measurements of the casket and passing on the information to the officer on the other end so they could get the crane right the first time. It was going to be a long night. She stuck near the casket the entire time, periodically glancing to her partner. Xiaolian seemed uncomfortable. Ah, dammit.
Molly climbed out of the hole and found her partner. "Hey. Thanks for dealing with the mundanes for me. I don't say stuff like that enough." She really ought to. "Are you going to be okay working this case? Every time you get too close to the casket, or glance at it, you seem...jumpy? Unhappy?" She shrugged, not sure how to say it. "Also, feel free to sock me if you think I'm giving you orders or anything like that. You're the senior partner. I just, I dunno. You're a null. But what if there is a magic that hurts you."
Molly worried. Xiaolian was basically her only friend.
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Truths
Mar 29, 2019 16:34:07 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Mar 29, 2019 16:34:07 GMT -6
Xiaolian tried to listen to Molly's apology, but it felt forced, as if the other had only just remembered that manners were a thing. "Is that all I am? Just... just.. a null? Not good for anything else?" She asked looking at her partner dumbfounded. Xiaolian had known that the other was slightly classist, if not racist when it came to those who weren't in the same social and magical stratum as her, but this was a new level of bullshit that she was not prepared to deal with. "For the record, no I'm not okay. I haven't been okay and I'm putting in a transfer when we get back." She added tersely. It would be the third transfer in as many years, and hopefully with some good behavior on her record she could at least request somewhere safe. Not the center of the universe hell hole that everything was attracted to Dallas.
"You don't even know me Bronson. Good job." Xiaolian huffed before falling silent.
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Truths
Mar 29, 2019 17:04:56 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by demikara on Mar 29, 2019 17:04:56 GMT -6
What the hell? She had really stepped in it this time. "that's not what I meant. I'm just. I'm an idiot. Your the brains of this operation and I know it. And I know you regularly kick my ass but magic is weird and I worry okay?" The other was putting in for a transfer. That was. Oh hell she had been stepping in it for awhile. "I meant that your a null and it means you're immune to a lot. Not that it's a bad thing."
They relied on it for a lot too. Oh hell a transfer. "I hope you manage to get out of this shit hole office though. Surely you've served your time here." She might try herself. "I mean, I don't want you to transfer, but if that's what you want.' she was a big bag wasn't she?
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Truths
Mar 29, 2019 17:27:40 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Mar 29, 2019 17:27:40 GMT -6
Xiaolian continued to look at Molly in disbelief and shook her head. "You're like every one one of them and it always comes to this sooner or later."
Using her for her skills instead of considering the person that came with them had always been par for the course with her. It didn't matter how smart, how resourceful, or how anything she was; usually whatever agency branch she was employed with used her as a glorified babysitter or the scapegoat. It didn't matter how many successes, or failures, she was always treated the same. "At least you're not a god damn orc... there's at least that." She said bitterly.
"The only thing I'm immune to is the rudimentary magics here..." Xiaolian added quietly.
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Truths
Mar 29, 2019 19:43:27 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Mar 29, 2019 19:43:27 GMT -6
"I'm not! I'm trying to..." Molly sighed and ran a hand over her head. "You're more than your powers, more than your skills. You aren't...I know I'm not the best partner, but you don't baby sit me and you don't have to. And you don't treat me like I'm an idiot. And you're a good person." Molly sighed and shrugged. "I dunno. I'll miss you if you transfer out." If the other could. If the people in charge decided that Xiaolian had served whatever penance they demanded of her.
Not sure how to handle it all, Molly slid back down the sides of the hole and took a seat on top of the casket, waiting for the crane to arrive. She was terrible at this being a partner thing.
The crane arrived shortly after and Molly moved out of the way to watch the team dig out the casket and move it. Great. She had managed to drive her partner away. Brilliant.
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Truths
Mar 29, 2019 19:52:53 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Mar 29, 2019 19:52:53 GMT -6
There was always a breaking point for everyone within the team, and while most had been unsure of Xiaolian's or if she even had one, this seemed to be it. Something about the strange casket had placed her more on edge than she had ever been on any other case. Normally the small woman was patient almost to the point of seeming bored, especially with Molly, but this incident was different. She seemed to know something about the casket and it's contents, but so far wasn't divulging anything yet.
"I may be more than the sum of whatever it is I am, but that doesn't mean people see that."
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Truths
Mar 29, 2019 20:07:45 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Mar 29, 2019 20:07:45 GMT -6
The casket was loaded, strapped down and surrounded by magic nullifying runes and Molly didn't know how to handle this situation. The trip back was going to be awkward as hell. She secured the two artifacts that had been in the casket inside appropriate boxes to keep them safe and contained, and then got back in their SUV. Brilliant.
"So." She hesitated a moment and then shrugged, uncertain. "Bets on what the artifacts are?" Bets were a safe topic usually. They made them all the time, so hopefully they still could. This was just. Ugh, how was she supposed to deal with an upset partner who wanted to transfer out?
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Truths
Mar 29, 2019 20:12:32 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Mar 29, 2019 20:12:32 GMT -6
"It's a Ba-Shu ritual dagger." Xiaolian said after a few miles of uncomfortable silence between the pair. She had known what it was on first glance when they opened the casket. The sigils on the outside had been a bit difficult to decipher, as she hadn't seen them in some time and a great deal of them were covered in mud. "There's no bet to make."
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Truths
Mar 29, 2019 20:19:53 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Mar 29, 2019 20:19:53 GMT -6
"Well, that's something at least." She said and sighed. A ritual dagger. Well, that was something to work from. "Right, so we know it's a ritual dagger then, and I'm guessing the scroll is probably related. You don't happen to know anyone who understands Ba-shu sigils?" She'd have to check them out herself. Brilliant, she needed to figure out how to decode another language to figure out what the ritual was for.
Hopefully Xiaolian had some sort of an idea at least. They made a good team, even if Molly had royally fucked up somehow.
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Truths
Mar 29, 2019 20:43:02 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Mar 29, 2019 20:43:02 GMT -6
"Ba-Shu is one of the few I know." She admitted slowly, all Molly had done was complain about not being able to read anything and direct Xiaolian around like an underling. "Like I said, you don't know me... and you never bothered. You just made assumptions." Xiaolian added bluntly. She couldn't help but feel anger and hurt towards what had happened, she had hoped that the Council's and Warden Dumitrescu's decision to pair her with someone of similar talents would have been good. Instead most cases were spent with Molly determining what was what with her magical vision charm, then telling Xiaolian what to do.
When things went wrong, ultimately it was Xiaolian who was on the hook for it as she was Molly's direct superior within their branch of the organization. There had been many times when Xiaolian had advocated for Molly, offering herself to take responsiblity for whatever idiocy her partner and junior had decided to do that week. This was the reason that Xiaolian mostly avoided the Warden unless absolutely necessary. "You can't do that Bronson.. it's going to get someone killed. I would know."
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Truths
Mar 30, 2019 8:53:49 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Mar 30, 2019 8:53:49 GMT -6
"Didn't I ask earlier?" Her brow furrowed as she cast her mind back, then turned beet red. "Ah hell, I didn't. I'm sorry. I've been a bitch haven't I?" Great. She had gotten too absorbed in the work again and had been a pain in the ass. And if she thought about it it wasn't the first time. Brilliant. She scrubbed at her face and wondered what she could say to make it better. Nothing, really. She'd have to do better though, she had to.
"Okay. Can you tell me anything you noticed about it? You're the expert here, not me." Especially if she had seen it. Molly had been getting too cocky. Damn it, she was in for an ass kicking wasn't she? She might as well confess her sins to her mentor and get it over with.
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Truths
Mar 30, 2019 9:37:18 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by Circe on Mar 30, 2019 9:37:18 GMT -6
"The biggest." Xiaolian agreed. The woman usually preferred to wait things out when it came to someone being difficult. Telling someone else where to stick it wasn't exactly in her character. She was known for a cool head under pressure and being nearly unflappable; rock solid and bomb proof is what some of her former colleagues had remarked.
"The only thing I noticed was that there was something missing, and whatever you do.. don't touch anything with your bare skin.*
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Truths
Mar 30, 2019 12:39:33 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Mar 30, 2019 12:39:33 GMT -6
"Ah hell. Lunch on me for the week? Where ever you want." She did feel guilty now. The woman considered what all she had seen. "I'll be sure to handle them with the gloves then. Do you still have your pair?" She knew she had made the other a set as well. Given they were hand made, she was of the opinion she did a decent job of it. The runes kept magic from even noticing they were there. It had taken her a shit ton of time and research to manage it. They also were lightly protective didn't disturb magic when they moved through them. She was rather proud of them, even if she did end up cobbling together the runes from multiple sources.
At least she had thought to secure the artifacts separately. That should help some. And they had been able to move the casket itself, which definitely helped. The damn thing was heavy.
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Truths
Mar 30, 2019 12:54:56 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by Circe on Mar 30, 2019 12:54:56 GMT -6
"No Molly, lunch isn't going to be able to fix the issues here." Xiaolian said plainly. While lunch for the week would have been nice, it still didn't fix the issues between Molly and her partner.
"I still have the gloves, but I think I need to sit this one out."
Xiaolian just wasn't completely comfortable with the case anymore. Normally when mundanes found something, it wasn't that bad, usually just something harmless mistaken for something else much more dangerous. This time though, it wasn't.
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