Magical Man

Ronan sighed, trying to hold back his eyes from rolling. “Okay… But I don’t think either of you will like it.”

“I’m willing to hear it out.”

Ronan blinked unsure how to tell Jia the harsh reality without Garrett or Kaylor coming after him later. Being a father hasn’t made Ronan any more sympathetic than he was before. In fact, it made him tougher and apathetic. Jia emotions were making him more irritable than anything else. “What exactly would you like me to do? Teach him?”

“Yes.” Jia felt exasperated. Ronan felt like the last hope, and clearly nothing was going to come out of this conversation.

“I’ve spent centuries staying out of your relationship, Hu. I know of the situation, Kaylor and Garrett won’t stop talking my ear off about it.“ Ronan sighed. “Take a seat… Cutting bonds for disintegrators is considered a myth. It was more popular before I was born and those were wide spread rumor. Most of them went the same: Disintegrators were hunted down and killed. They came a point where everyone who knew about it was dead or too scared to teach the younger generation. It’s a forgotten master level. They’re off the radar now and it’s not even a rare power. “

“Can you imagine if Garrett had control over cutting bond? On top of being immune to created magic, being able to destroy created magic, being unkillable? You’re old enough to know what will happen if the Head Council caught wind of it. Now, is your relationship worth more than the lives of every disintegrator?“

Jia sat, twisting one of the rings on his finger absentmindedly as he listened. The longer he listened the heavier the lead weight got in his stomach that had been there since the night Garrett told him. “He could lie, or  I don’t know. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t master it, because Minsky could see the bonds. Another Neuromancer could too.”

“We,” Ronan asked looking around for Garrett. “You’re speaking for him now?“

“No, but I didn’t want you assuming I was trying to do something to him. We both want to figure out why this thing happening. And how to stop it.”

Cassandra gingerly sat up, feeling something wet trickling down her face. At the source her forehead was throbbing. She’d slipped on a spilt drink and on the way down hit her head, not that she could presently remember that. As far as she was aware she had been for the door after putting a tray of empty glasses she’d collected in the kitchen. “Jia?” she replied, looking up in the direction his voice had come from. 

Jia walked towards the familiar voice, rushing to her side once he saw where she was lying. “Cassandra, what happened to you?” He stood slightly from his crouch and grabbed a hand towel from the counter. “Have you been here all night?”

Dan was still paralyzed with fear and didn’t moved from his hiding spot. He shook his head at the assumption made but quickly stop. It felt like it was filled with cotton but heavy and painful. “Someone was mixing blood last night.” Dan groaned. “Some idiot may have spiked my drink with a few drops of vampire blood.” Dan didn’t tell him how he knew what the effects of vampire blood was, the stranger didn’t need to know it was one of his methods when he lost Winona. 

Jia’s face became an impassive stone mask. He’d been around long enough to see blood poisoning and clearly he had it. That someone would be spiking drinks at his party, in his house, made him furious. He’d have to ask Jacob if anyone else was showing signs later, but now his priority was Dan. Jia crept towards him, his movements soft enough to not startle or upset the younger man more. “I can call my potion supplier and see if he has anything that could possible help, but you tell me what’s the best way to get you through this?”

Dan sat with his head in his hands away from the morning sunlight streaming from the curtains. His shoulder was slightly burnt and he had a pounding headache. His day phobia was working its way to the surface and he was slowly losing what control he had left. “Stop moving so loud.”

Jia’s lip curled in sympathy and from the look of the burn on his shoulder. With a wave of his hand, Jia filled the room with blackout curtains in effort to solve the first crisis. The next would be how to stop the vampire form attacking and then of course how to get him home. “You know someone would have teleported you Underground before the sun came up if you asked. I always have Designated Teleporters.”

  Fallon had gone to the party with a group of friends that had all left during the course of the party. She would have left by now, but her head was still spinning from her last drink. When she heard Jia, she looked up. “Sorry. I’ll be out in just a sec.”

He frowned and walked towards her, his own tired brain not quite putting together her face with a name. Definitely one of Jace’s... Or was she Eric’s? Nathan’s secretary? He decided to forgo the name and began to speak. “That’s alright, I wouldn’t be a very good host if I kicked someone out and they had a teleportation accident. It would tarnish my reputation.” He joked, waving his hand to produce a cup before heading over to the fridge. “Do you know what potion you took? I might have a remedy.”

Jia puttered around the main floor, still tipsy off of the drinks from earlier. As he meandered he found himself breaking down the illusions he’d put in place for the party. As he moved into the kitchen he heard a groan. “Hello?”

“Thanks!“ Ryan replied, cheerfully. He didn’t mind being compared to his dad and alway took it as a compliment. “I like this outfit. Thanks for that too. And I told Kate about us and the supernatural. I didn’t disturb anything did I? You kinda sounded in a rush to get me off the phone.“

Jia ignored his mentee’s cheery gratitudes for the bombshell he dropped. “You told her? How- you aren’t even dating Ryan. Do you genuinely expect her to become a vampire before you’ve gotten to 1st base? Did you even tell anyone before you did this?”

“As a disintegrator, there’s alot of unknowns about our magic,“ he started with a rush and shifting uncomfortably in his chair. “It explains many different things, if you think about it. The relationship with my biological mother and stepfather. The horribly sibling bond I have with Roman. My inability to keep close friends until recently… And us.“ Garrett tried explained, looking sadly at Jia. He felt out of character. He never feared anything more than he feared Jia’s possible hatred and anger. “What I’m trying to explain is that somehow I’ve been unknowingly disintegrating our bond. Destroy it completely with my powers. I didn’t know until Minsky caught a glismp and called me out on it. I never knew it was happening. I didn’t know it was a thing. Disintegrators being able to break down bonds between people is only a rumor.” Garrett snapped his mouth shut when he noticed he was beginning to ramble. He was Garrett Howard Fucking Cleirigh and he didn’t ramble. 

“Yes...”Jia replied slowly, taken aback by his visual discomfort. Everything about the situation began to make Jia’s stomach start to seize with discomfort. This sounded like the beginning of a break up monologue. when Garrett finally dropped the bomb, though it wasn’t the one Jia expected, he did nothing but  stare for a few minutes; letting the words sink in. “So all the times it seemed like we were going good and it fell apart...” Jia fell back into silence; centuries of memories flooded his senses and he cleared his throat. ”How do you know it won’t happen again?”

If Garrett had any other power beside disintegration he would be worried about the charm in Jia’s hand. It was an unknown charm to him. If either of them lost control it, he would be safe, but Jia might not. Walking over Garrett took the charm from Jia and placed it down on one of their end tables then maneuvered Jia towards their dining room table. “Have a seat,” he said taking the opposite seat across from where he wanted Jia to sit. “That’s a loaded question. I have no idea where to begin.”

Jia watched him as he placed the charm down across the room, and continued to stare as he was directed away. “Ok, well the longer you draw this out the longer I’m confused on whether I should be angry or concerned.”

Arriving Home || The Talk

“Hu… Where are you?“

Jia stopped mid-walk; his newest charm in hand. He’d been just about to start the next charm in his restock for the store when Garrett entered His stomach dropped when he saw his face. “What’s wrong?” He almost asked who died, but wanted to give him somewhat of the benefit of the doubt.

Jia frequently changes his home’s appearance. As an illusionist, he is able to create and change the environment around him to best suit his desires at that moment. He recently has found himself pulled in by dark and moody interiors, and set to work filling his house with even more jewel tones than before. He has tried to keep it more balanced with Garrett’s style as well... or so he thinks. 

“It’s definitely got a deferent look and….vibe” she went with, not able to think of a better word to describe it in English, “to most places in Europe. I was in Marseille in the south of France,” she smiled, thinking that you possibly couldn’t pick two places more different. 

“It’s very new.” Jia supplied, rubbing his fingers together to get rid of the crumbs. “Nothing is falling over or as filled with as much character. I feel like the only place to get that sense of grandeur is by visiting the areas mostly untouched by humans. National Parks and so on.” Jia hummed his approval. “Loved Paris. We spent a coupled decades there around the turn of the 19th century.”