#Lore24 – Entry #195 – Supers Month II #14 – Reuniting with the Genies
From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate
And so it was Asher and me stepped out of the leyline portal for the first time since I’d brought Liz home. At first the world seemed not to have changed too much since then, but it weren’t long before I’d start to see just how different it was, even after only forty years, give or take. Actually takin’ a few moments to take it all in, I decided it was downright alien out here now. I went lookin’ for Assane first; Chrona told me she was somewhere in Los Angeles. Last time I’d been out this way, you could still see the hills and valleys around the city; now it was all pretty much city everywhere I looked, and not a nice one, neither. I had my cloakin’ spell up, since I figured seein’ a lady ridin’ a horse through town dressed like a cowboy might not go over so well. After an hour or so of wonderin’ around, though, I don’t know if the spell would’a mattered or not; saw some right freakish things wonderin’ those streets, downright depraved a good number of them, and what with them “smart phone” things glued to people’s hands like they were, I doubt I woulda been noticed anyway.
I could go on for a long spell about what I found terrible about that city, and the one I’d be visitin’ next, but I’ll save that for later on and just focus on my mission. It took me a day or so to track down Assane; though I didn’t know what she looked like these days, it weren’t too difficult to spot her once I’d tracked down her magical aura. It was a bit stronger now, but looked just the same as the last time I’d seen her. She looked like a youngin’ again, and was chatting and walkin’ along with a fellow that looked right ghoulish to my eyes, and I knew what she was doin’. So, I hung back and let her work. Weren’t long till they went to that pervert’s car. She musta been worked up somethin’ fierce, cause it weren’t a minute later that I heard the screamin’ and saw the icy spikes shootin’ from that car, turned it into somethin’ resemblin’ a hedgehog. She stepped out a few moments later, lookin’ quite pleased with herself, her icy creations lingerin’ and radiatin’ cold even in the heat of the summer sun, the pained cries of the pervert lingerin’ on along with it. Well, guess he wouldn’t be doin’ that kind of thing no more.
I called out to her, and I think she was actually surprised when she recognized who I was, but then she was all smiles and hugs for a spell, eager to catch up on what I’d been doin’ with my time. We rode off to a more pleasant spot, one of the parks that weren’t filled with homeless people and filth, but even then Asher didn’t care much for the grass there. I told her what had finally dragged me out of the Sanctum, explainin’ what all trouble Liz had gotten into, and what it was that got taken by that Kitsune and her boss. Though I could tell they were havin’ another rough patch, I told her I needed to hunt down Richard too, cause Chrona had requested they get involved in these matters, given their relationship with Scheherazade and all. She weren’t too pleased, but agreed to help us; was why I went to her first, cause she was always the more level-headed of the two.
And so we headed off toward the other side of the country then. I let Assane take us there to save some time, since she was far better at teleportin’ than me. We hopped through one pond or river or lake to another, all across the country, in a handful of minutes, comin’ out in the middle of Central Park in New York City. I could go on about just how much that city had declined since I was last there, but I’ll refrain, though I’ll say it was somehow slightly less unpleasant than Los Angeles; the depravity weren’t quite so obvious, I suppose is one way to put it.
Assane led me right to Richard, who was holed up in his office somewhere in that chaotic urban sprawl, a little blink and you’ll miss it kinda place that was as run down as near everything else in the area. He was a mite drunk when we got there, but it didn’t take long before that burned right off once Assane started her mouth. Once again, I found myself bein’ the mediator between the pair, and he finally realized I was there after I’d preempted the shouting match between them. He was all smiles and pleasantries with me, but even with me tryin’ to keep him on track, he just kept digging barbs into Assane because of her appearance.
I’ll never understand these two, I don’t think.
Anyway, once I’d smoothed things over and got them to be civil, we sat down in his little office and had us a chat about their grandmother and her legacy that got stolen out of that Sentinel City museum.