[PRP] Pride & Prejudice (Preacher & Pride)

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yeah, wiki's prolly a constant - like Twinkies n' cockroaches. Survive any ol' apocalypse." The idea of a word without wikipedia was ...an odd one. "Art? What - ya the one what made up tha sigil or somethin'? It was pretty even if we gotta new one now."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Pride nodded. "Yeah. s**t, there might even still be some of my stuff on the other side. You should look me up--Jennifer Wells."

She fell quiet. "Not that I like that name, though," she said. "Always felt I was more of a Jason. But Pride works, too." A shrug.

The semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yeah, I'll look ya up! Want a report back with whatall I find?" She grinned. "Pride n' Jason are cooler names anyway. Did ya pick Pride or it get shunted on ta ya? 'Cause I'd ruther call you which one y'like, y'know?"

Her foot bounced a bit as she thought, unable to stay still. "So.... whatcha think of th'new sigil? I want a shield on it, but I got veto'd."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Sure," said Pride with a snort of laughter. He smiled at Preacher, friendly as anything. "Pride's fine. It's been my name for a long time, and I kinda like it."

He said, "It's that tree-key-knot thing, right? It looks pretty cool. D'you know what you wanted the symbols to mean?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Pride n' Preacher - we almost match." More seriously, she thought for a moment.

"Tha knot was supposed ta power the whole thing, I think. N' tha tree was a connector, motherhood, stuff like that - I thought of it like a makeshift shield, y'know. The keys were possibilities, chances, choices. We were s'pposed to make it be 'bout magic existin' naturally n' non-harmfully. Not all wound-tight n' locked up 'cause that's whatall caused that break afore." She shrugged.

"I jus' wanted Sunny ta be okay again."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Trees are a masculine symbol," said Pride. He snickered. "But... that's really interesting to hear, 'cause you definitely did free the magic. I wonder if someone put unwilling blood into the mix?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't there. I dunno. Not sure it even matters anymore."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Tree dicks," she said solemnly. "I mean - did us freein' up tha magic ******** wi' you? Is that why you're all... wiggly - or is that tha unwillin' blood bit?" Preacher frowned.

"Well, I dun think Renard was thinkin' tha same bits as us all, so mebbe that ******** it right up? It prob does matter, though, 'cause we gotta fix this mess, y'know."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Could go either way, to be honest," said Pride. "Or that third way. I don't think Renard would attempt to kill anyone if he saw another way around it, and he's too intelligent to do something if he doesn't think he has all the different angles figured. So..."

He shrugged. "I mean, you've probably got everything you need to disassemble this second sigil. The principals, those whose blood made it into the seal, the focus... It's the first sigil that you have to finish dispelling first, and that's gonna be a lot harder to do."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"How d'ya even dispel a sigil? I know how ta set 'em, it ain't that hard, but is dispelling just in reverse..." She thought about what Zac had told her about the ball. "Please tell me tha only way ain't killin' tha casters ta break a sigil."

She huffed out a breath. "I kinda thought tha old one was jsut like... gone - the sword n' stars n' s**t. I dint know we had to make it go 'way. How do I do it."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Setting them's the easy part," Pride confirmed. "Once you've done the research for the really big, world-changing bits, it's kind of anticlimactic to set and forget it. But, no, you created the new sigil while still inside the world of the old one. It's still there. Just fragmented. Harder to get at." He rubbed at his chin. "I can tell you the things we used to link in everyone we had to, if you promise not to judge me for being a literal grave robber."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Well, s**t. That ******** things right up, didn't it? She shot him a weird look. Grave robber? Regardless, she needed to know.

"Lay it on me, smalls. Promise not ta judge, jury, eht cet ya." Her judging would be silent, if anything - she didn't doubt Pride had thought they were doing the right thing - and hadn't she been the same when she stole this Preacher's world?

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"So," said Pride, "First thing you need to know: it used to be common practice for married couples to pool their magic. We didn't know if the schema was based off just Renard's magic or what, so we needed to bind Renard and his husband. Liam was only ever incidental." He rubbed his chin for a moment. "But Liam was also easier to get at. He had a dead fiancee, and a ring that he'd given her that he had buried with her. It was an item freely given, and an argument could be made magically that a dead person couldn't not consent. So, we... dug up Vivien Hawken's grave and stole her engagement ring."

Pride at least had the good sense to be embarrassed.

"Then there was Renard. He was the focal point of all of it. We had to cut him off from his magic. So... we..." Pride squirmed. "Borrowed. His grimoire. We didn't actually steal it, because Ming was his apprentice. But we weren't intending to give it back, either... Anyway, it looked like an inspirational quotes calendar. It wasn't. So, Renard and Liam."

He picked at his nails as he talked. "We needed to make sure that every scrap of the spell was caught. We knew it was somewhere in Ashdown, but not where. So we took crossroads-dirt under a new moon, and bound the town into the sigil, too.

"We needed an alert system in case he tried to break free once we were done. I had a, a pet bird... I was a vet tech for a while... and we thought, wouldn't it be funny if we used the air raid sirens? So... a mockingbird, taught to mimic an air raid siren. We, um. Fed it blood. From Renard. And the dirt from the town."

Pride cleared his throat.

"Sunny came last. Unintentionally. We didn't realize how far Renard had gotten, not really, and we... we thought the sigil, and that the five of us, would be able to restrain all his magic.

"It couldn't. And I guess Liam wanted a child badly enough that the possibly-pooled magic reacted to his wish and... gave it form."

Pride crossed his arms over his chest. "You would need those pieces. The ring. The grimoire. Crossroads-dirt from the town, if that's even still possible. One of the sirens, if any are still alive. And Sunny."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She couldn't help it... it was all so serious, but she snorted. Literal grave robbing. Preacher made a list in her head.

"So like. cross-roads s**t from like..tho 'riginal town? From afore the first sigil or can it be dirt here?" How the hell were they supposed to... Sunday. Where the ******** was that skank?

"Also, not gonna lie - I don't care whatll 'bout the grave robbin', but tha poor bird, dude. Dude." She counted off the bits again. "N' which Sunny d'we need? And the ******** we do with it once we got it?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"It wasn't kind," said Pride, "but it wasn't as cruel as you think. Some birds eat dirt to alleviate sodium deficiencies anyway. It only knew the blood as extra salt."

He sighed. "Yeah, the original town would be best, but I don't see why this one... or the otherworld version of the town... wouldn't work just fine. And the original Sunny would be best, if you can get her. I'm given to understand there's a new one?"

Pride shook his head. "Destroy the pieces," he said. "Or unmake them. It could go either way."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Oh, I dint know that. Interestin'." Still, feeding a bird blood was kinda gross. Dead people were dead and it didn't ******** matter what anyone did with them. "There's a new Sonny, yeah, but their eyes is changing into the old Sunny's eye color so I.D.K if thatall means somethin'."

Preacher frowned, eyebrows drawing together. "What? I ain't wanna kill Sonny! They're a person." She crossed her arms. "There's 'nother way."

shibrogane