A Solstice Threat

[Circe]

Xiaolian considered it for a moment, she knew she could likely call her brother who was probably just sitting at the restaurant drinking and entertaining a few favorite customers. The others it was uncertain if they would agree, they had been willing to help with the new seal, but that had been where things had ended. More than likely they had their own hands full with solstice incidents. "I would agree that both of you likely belong in at least the class 5 category." She agreed, but only because neither of them really had explored their full potential. Sure Tyrus may have been pushed, and Catherine in her own way, but it was nothing compared to what they might have been had their training been different. But perhaps Xiaolian was biased based on her own experiences.

"I can call my brother... but that's dependent on how ... drunk he is." She frowned, Z's methods of coping of the loss of their sister were not exactly reflecting well on their family. But it was still better than being the cop, which in a way was almost a betrayal of her family and heritage.

"But you don't need to pay or sign any NDA. Most will just be glad for the practice without the pressure of others... but... well it might have to wait. Solstice is busy, and few people are available. Your wards should hold though, it's the seal of heaven after all."

[demikara]

"So long as the wards hold, we should avoid the worst possible situation." He agreed. "And I can pull the magic out of where I'm storing it when things have calmed down." It was in the meantime that he was worried about. In the meantime it would attract all sorts of trouble. But he'd find ways to use the magic up, even if it was via death by a thousand cuts. He could always use the stored magic to mass create protective amulets. They were more alarms than anything else, but he could probably work a simple shield in each of them, given the amount of stored magic in them.

"If your brother is in the right state, he'd be welcome here." Assuming he wasn't too drunk to be any help, of course. That was not a guarantee if Xiaolian was worried about it. Though he hadn't even known that she'd had a brother, so he was learning all sorts of things about her today. And he'd not mention them to anyone. That was the nature of the Unseen, even with them more out in the open now.

[Circe]

"The wards will hold, I wrote them. They're defensive wards for things beyond this plane." Xiaolian assured Tyrus. They would hold because she designed them, and had written into their construction a loop that fed off any of the residual magic. It held the benefit of keeping things neat and tidy in addition to providing protection. "Never in all my years have I see the Seal of Heaven's Will fall. I don't think your magic can really do much do it, it takes a Guardian or hell... demi-god to pull those strings." Granted it was those who determined what planes were kept sealed and later remade in whatever image the Gods desired. Serving Heaven was a double edged sword, and often led to politics far more complex than anything the vampires could dream up.

"I'll call him later, and forgive me.. Tyrus was it? We first we need to get your sire somewhere safer than near a mirror. Her magic is greedy and destructive, and will only bend to her will for so long before her mind is lost to the veil." Xiaolian said emphasizing the urgency and necessity for Tyrus to stop talking and act. She could already tell that the other was even more unwell than when she had initially found her.

"Listen to Boyuan, Tyrus." Catherine groaned tiredly. "Just shut the fuck up and tell me where I'm supposed to go." She didn't know the property having only been there a handful of times and was quickly loosing patience with Tyrus's desire debate what he needed to do later.

[demikara]

"Right, sorry. Grab a four wheeler and follow me." He waited for them to each get on and led the way. It was a solid twenty minutes out when he finally stopped. "This should be far enough away from anything." It would be a decent distance from him as well. "I'll be due east of here, about two miles. That'll give us both plenty of room. The four wheelers should be fine. They've got enough protection inscribed into them that they shouldn't be damaged by your magic." Theoretically. He hadn't exactly tested them under these conditions. He didn't think he could replicate these conditions if he tried.

The mage held his magic close, not letting it escape. It was exhausting, and he was fairly certain he was glowing, but he was in better shape than Catherine. Catherine needed Boyuan there significantly more than he did.

[Circe]

Xiaolian nodded, "I'll let Zhen know." He wouldn't have the problem of using the mirrors or a vehicle. But he likely wouldn't know how to get through the barrier that kept both of her charges for now, safe. "I won't need the four wheeler, but we'll keep it close by just in case." She assured the other as she helped Catherine, who was becoming more disoriented by the moment, off the vehicle and into the deep shade of a large oak tree. It would help with the grounding and if push came to shove, something for Xiaolian to temporarily bind the other to.

On initial inspection, Catherine's connection to the veil was vastly older, more entrenched, and stronger than Tyrus's was. Which explained much of what she was experiencing, but also meant that Xiaolian would have to fall back on some of the more ancient aspects of her training. "Forgive me here Warden, but this is for your own safety." She muttered pulling out yet another slip of parchment and pinning it to the other's shirt. Xiaolian then chalked a strangle sigil on the rough bark of the tree before easing the other down onto the ground.

[littlekreen]

The solstice ran the servitors of Myrkul's Vein on high alert that the veil shifted so much in Dallas. Constant efforts to arrest the sway from crashing waves of natural magic flows of a damaged bulwark near an impact crater balanced on the central axis. This storm surge of background magic did provide for a particular utility in that they did not need to bring the grey plastic suits of exoplanar frames to persist their existence. Catherine's eruption on the face of the veil then move across the city drew the rapt attention of the aether constructs. Alerted further to her direction across the planes as she slipped through a shadow network to a place with something more profound than just a sinkhole behind its looking glass.

The almanac was consulted as one of the creatures dressed in a city worker uniform inspected Catherine's house from outside the door threshold. Evident by its ward and utility of the veil that the building wasn't like the others.

A group text from a sent to that group recognized by Myrkul after they'd realized what the numbers were even for, "Cohortes Localia, there is a growing disturbance in the already high planar field. We examine a building with extreme veil torsion as Jinhai can survive in the solstice. A section of the impact site's underside is now warded, and we cannot perceive the disturbance beyond it. We wish more information to determine its risk to the central axis."

[demikara]

Tyrus nodded and pulled out a compass then headed due east, as he had said, traveling about two miles before stumbling off his four wheeler and hitting the ground hard. With a gasp, he poured the magic he had been holding into the ground, trying to find some respite from the waves of magic crashing over him. Catherine was safe now at least, and he could begin to relax.

Or at least, he could let the magic loose a bit more than he had been. He was miles away from anything and anyone else. Magic surged and he stumbled upright. He needed to get out of the sun or he'd end up sunburnt. More so than he was sure he already was. The mage found the shade of a tree and collapsed against it, setting down at its roots and closing his eyes.

This would be the healthiest damn tree on the ranch by the end of the day. Also, quite possibly the most magical one. But it was a place to rest and be in the shade while he dealt with the solstice. Hopefully this Zhen would be able to come help because he could use some real rest.

[Circe]

"Sleep if you can, sunset is still a long way off." Xiaolian explained to Catherine. She couldn't even begin to imagine what the other was going through, it had to be absolute torture to have one's mind torn apart and then reformed twice a year. She was amazed that the other woman was even able to withstand it this long. A class five or higher veil storm generally got the attention of things outside of the current plane, but so far she hadn't heard or seen any incursions. Surely someone would have told her if they had.

Silently thanking the gods for whoever had invented cellphones, she called her brother like she had promised Tyrus. "Zhen. I have a class five storm and no one is able to respond. I need you at the coordinates I'm going to send you." Xiaolian was not going to take no for an answer, and she would prefer working with Zhen to others. "But 'Lian! It's the solstice... and I'm busy." He whined glancing back towards the restaurant full of customers. "I don't care. I need you here Zhen! Quiang and Wei are busy!" She demanded her tones harsh. Zhen didn't often cave to anyone but his sister, who took no pride in the particular ability to get results out of a very spoiled and willful sibling. "Fine, I'll be there in five minutes." He grumbled and hung up.

Xiaolian looked back at Catherine and frowned, she could have sworn that the tree was much smaller a few minutes ago. Oak was generally a safe bet, but the florid carpet of grasses growing beneath the woman said otherwise. "There must be a damn ley line around here." She grumbled before setting to work rerouting the magic.

Zhen meanwhile followed his sister's instructions and found Tyrus. "Hello there." He said cheerfully, leaning over the vampire. It was perhaps not the smartest of decisions.

[demikara]

Tyrus was out of it, but aware enough to realize his territory had been invaded. He flashed his fangs at Zhen before realizing who this must be. "You're...Zhen. Boyuan's brother." Or he better be. The mage sat up a bit straighter. "I'm Tyrus Rahal. Please tell me you can help?" He was tired. Pouring magic into the ground was only ever a stop gap, good for short bursts. The prolonged nature of the solstice meant he was stuck dealing with the magic with no real release.

At least he'd have plenty of magic to pull from where he was storing it.

"Right now, I am tired, growing hungry, and the only upside is I'm not my sire." Who was worse off than he was by far. There were little mercies, he supposed. He could be Catherine and be much more tightly bound to the veil than he was.

[Circe]

Zhen scrambled backwards tripping over a large tree root. Drawing a quick protective sigil, leaving a glowing violet path behind in the air. "S-s-stay where you are!" He stammered, silently cursing his sister for not giving him the entire story. "I can help you.. just please don't eat me." He pleaded wondering if Xiaolian was faring any better.

"Your.. sire??" He asked wondering why his sister had gotten involved with these two. "You mean the lady with the white hair? You know she's been touched by the veil... right?" He continued. The young man looked a great deal like Xiaolian and at the same time different. He wore his hair in a short and shaggy cut, and dressed a bit more fashionable than his sister in a pair of shorts, sneakers, and logo'd tee.

"Okay okay.. whew.. let's just start over. Hi Tyrus, I'm Zhen, Xiàoliǎn's younger brother." He smiled, clearly nervous and unused to the real world. When he had completed his training, there was little for the Guardians to do, it had been an age of peace for the Ba-Shu. Xiaolian however had completed right at the bitter end of the war, and had quickly been put into service to Heaven and the Gods.

[demikara]

"Yes, the lady with the white hair." He agreed. "She's the one who turned me." Or close enough to count at least. "I'm not going to eat you. I have better control than that." This was a very jumpy younger brother. "And I know she's been touched by the veil. Trust me, it makes magic much more complicated when dealing with her." Much more complicated. He forced another wave of magic into the ground and groaned.

"If you can help me, that would be great. I'm tired and I can't keep this up much longer." The tree was much healthier than it had been, he was sure of it. It was also glowing slightly, but that was definitely not on purpose so he was going to ignore it.

[Circe]

Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and released the protective sigil from his control. "Okay, I can do that... I think." He said trying to think for a moment. Dispelling didn't come to him as easy as his sister, but she was also older and more experienced.

Moving quickly, he took stock of the tree and examined Tyrus. "Hm..." He muttered before digging in his pockets much like his sibling had done earlier. "Your connection isn't nearly as entrenched as hers, it should be easy to..." He continued talking to himself more than Tyrus as he fiddled with a piece of paper. ".. this should slow the rate of effusion, and let you rest. I don't know what I can do about a meal." Zhen explained as he took a pen and scribbled on the folded paper. Muttering an incantation, he afixed it to Tyrus's shirt just above his heart.

[demikara]

Tyrus relaxed slightly as the sigil went to work. "Thank you. That's much better." He was curious about the new form of magic in front of him of course, but it was hard not to be, under the circumstances. Whatever it was, it was powerful and useful. "I'm going to have to figure out how to do something similar by the next solstice. I'm afraid I probably shouldn't call upon you and your sister twice a year for this." Plus it meant less depending on someone he didn't really know.

"And don't worry about food. I'll get a meal delivered for everyone." Though he suspected the man would not be pleased with the meal delivered for him and Catherine. Well, with the distinctly human meal delivered. Tyrus planned on getting a meal of regular food delivered for each of them as well. "The service I use doesn't have a choice in what you get, but it's always good."

[Circe]

Zhen rocked back onto his heels, squatting down beside Tyrus. "Good." He beamed as he watched relief wash over the vampire's face. He couldn't even begin to understand why someone would want to be tied to the veil of this particular plane, but apparently some genius had thought it was a good idea and created the ritual. "Well.. I was more worried about you and.. you know." He motioned uncertainly. Control or not, the throws of a veil storm were to be taken seriously. If Xiaolian was right, and she usually was as much as he hated admitting it, this was a solidly class 5 event. While minor for most Guardians, it still had the potential to have effects after.

Across the ranch, sequestered in grove of trees, Xiaolian watched and waited with Catherine. The sigils seemed to be holding, she couldn't directly observe any interruption to their integrity so far. But that hadn't stopped the nearby vegetation from taking on strange and unusual shapes as it became exposed to the locally high concentrations of magic. Hearing a muffled chime from her pocket, she dug out her phone and glanced at the screen.

'Cohortes Localia...', it began which confused Xiaolian greatly. It sounded like they were addressing either her, MCU, or even the Guardians, but she wasn't sure. She didn't often receive text messages, unless they were from Zhen whining about something or Molly sending some random photo and garbled text. As she read further, it mentioned extreme veil torsion and warding. "Oh fuck... Jinhai." Xiaolian muttered wondering what the next thing that would crop up would be. How had they even gotten her number? "Molly..." She swore under her breath as she glanced up at Catherine.

The other was soaked in sweat, with her long white hair plastered across her neck and face. Xiaolian didn't know if it was from either the hundred degree heat or efforts to remain on stable footing as the storm raged on unseen to most. Despite whatever was going on, Catherine to be drifting in and out of sleep or consciousness with her mind clearly elsewhere. Xiaolian did not envy the other, but for now was satisfied that the magic had somewhat slowed and stabilized. For now it seemed that it would not take a third sigil like she had initially feared, for a third one ran the risk of causing more damage than good.

'Two category 5 veil entities compromised due to storm from planar local solstice.' She typed back to the unknown number. How could she explain it? Jinhai were nosy, and she wasn't entirely sure they were good for anything other than being nosy.

[demikara]

"Ah. Don't worry about that. I'll have some blood delivered as well. This much magic passing through me means I'll want to feed a bit earlier than usual." And probably a bit more deeply as well. If nothing else, an extra meal would help with the exhaustion he felt. Getting bagged blood wasn't as good as having something from the source. Fresh blood provided the most benefit overall. But bagged blood and a meal of human food would be enough for now.

Grigore would be pissed at the bagged blood if he found out, but neither of the two vampires on site were in any shape to hunt. Bagged blood would have to be enough. It would at least take the edge off and once the sun set and the worst of the solstice was over, they could properly hunt down a fresh meal. That would be fun.

The mage closed his eyes and smiled. "Is it safe to take a nap?" He was worn out.