Predators And Prey

[Jocelyn Rose]

Formerly Nerissa's Apartment

September 15th, 2017

11:43pm

 

A brilliant blue and white light exploded in the living room of what was formerly Nerissa's apartment. From it Jocelyn dropped to the floor onto all fours, her pants torn to shreds, and blood dripping between her fingers as they grasped at the ground. Her breathing was harsh, but the first thing she did was check to make sure all of her was there and in one piece. The last thing she wanted was to have lost a piece of her in the Ley Line she used to transport herself from the ambush to here. 

 

"Bloody Hell!" She roared as she slammed her fist into the floor after she was sure her body was fine. As she pulled her hand away, her knuckles looked even worse than before. She was pissed at herself though, more than anything. She hadn't been expecting it. The worst part was that it wasn't even the Order. Those weren't inquisitors. They were something else completely. And yet they cleaned out so many of her mages like they were just toys. Hell, the only reason she was sure she escaped was because they must have thought she was dead and not just teleporting. 

 

Joce lifted herself up though, and glanced around the room of Nerissa's apartment. It wasn't common that she found herself here, but considering the ambush it seemed like the perfect place to go. No one would be here, and she had some supplies she could use to heal herself up. In fact she had been keeping a few things here since she had lost her own apartment. She couldn't keep everything with Kelly's place, and she still didn't have her own. It didn't seem appropriate anymore. 

 

Joce cracked her neck, and adjusted what she could of her pants and jacket, but they were mostly trashed. She froze as soon as she was about to finish though. There was something here, the mana field told her so. She didn't know what though, it was a signature she maybe saw only a few...

 

"...No bloody way..." Joce breathed as she curled up a fist and glanced in the direction of the signature. "Nerissa?"

 

 

[Marissa Ilirran]

The first time Marissa had gotten up the courage to finally visit her mother's old apartment...her apartment now she supposed, Alistair had gone with her. It honestly hadn't been as terrifying as she'd thought it was going to be. True, there were a lot of memories here that weren't hers...but there were some that were. Which explained why she was standing next to the giant fish tank in the front room with a wet rag in one hand pulling the dust and grime off the glass. That fish tank had been her first home, when she was far too small for her mother to risk taking out to the ocean. At that point in her life she would have normally been secluded in an ocean cave with no possible way for any predators to get to her. But...Nerissa was a long way from home and in this new world she'd had to come up with something different. It also had helped that her father was an engineer. She had no idea what she was going to do with it once she was done cleaning it, but for some reason she just couldn't stand to see it in such disrepair.

The feel of mana gathering was the first thing that alerted her, it made her pause, her eyebrows furrowing together in confusion as the only time she'd felt mana move like that was around her mother or her sisters...or Alistair. She turned around slightly so she could see over her shoulder and her odd green blue eyes widened in fright. She had no idea what was happening but she knew that the instinct that told her to run for the safety of the cave was making her scales tingle beneath her human skin. When the bright light flashed through the room, Mari let out a very girlie scream of fright and bolted for the bedroom not far away. It was the closest thing the apartment had to a cave as Nerissa had decorated it to essentially look like one. She slammed the door and leaned up against it while she tried to get her breathing under control.

Searching for a weapon, it would figure that her mother hadn't really had any considering she was essentially a weapon herself. Flipping open the trunk that sat at the end of the bed, Mari rifled through the massive amount of shinies and clothes till she found the dagger hidden amongst the mess. Clutching it tight in her hand, she snuck back to the door and pressed her ear up against it as she struggled to hear what was going on in the front room.

What she heard took her back a bit and she stepped away from the door and stared at it for a moment as if it were going to bite her. Which it promptly did when she went to open the door and her powers shocked her on the metal in her anxiety. She had to take a deep breath to get a hold of herself so she could actually open it, just enough so she could peek out. "You knew my mom?" She asked of the very pretty, if bedraggled, woman standing in the front room looking as if she'd just marched through a warzone to get there. The smell of blood did not go unnoticed to Mari but she wasn't some mindless shark that would attack the nearest source of food. Still, her muscles tightened a bit as the predator within urged her to strike while her prey was weak.

[Jocelyn Rose]

It wasn't possible. Nerissa was long gone. She vanished, and yet there was a signature that Jocelyn could only really associate with the fish-woman. It didn't feel totally right, like it would if Joce had actually encountered that mana signature before, which was even more confusing, but she was counting that as her loss of blood. She was out of it, at least she thought. Especially when someone did step through the door that Jocelyn had been looking at, and said, of all things, something about Nerissa being a mom?

 

Jocelyn lifted a hand up to wipe at her face, drawing away some of the blood that had been trickling down the cut above her eyebrow. Then she grabbed at her shoulder and held onto it, staring blankly at the blonde who looked scared out of her wits. To be fair, it wasn't exactly common for someone to just materialize in a room out of nowhere. It probably felt even worse if this person could feel mana at all. 

 

Joce tried to draw in another breath, but found it hurting. Instead she coughed, but tried to not let her eyes fall away from the other person in the room. "Mother? Did you say mother? Nerissa had kids?"

 

Joce coughed again, tossing her head to the side, when she glanced back she noticed the dagger in the girl's hand. She laughed, which became another cough in between. "Looks like you found one of my hidden items. Think you can find some more? I've got a med kit here, somewhere. Unless..."

 

Joce sized up the blonde that seemed frightened. Then she shook her head. She couldn't do that to Kelly. It was just way too intimate to be drawing energy from someone like that, even if it would speed up her recovery. "Nevermind. Even if you have mana, I couldn't take it."

 

Once she had decided that, she still glanced over the girl in front of her again, then smiled and shook her head. She turned her back and stepped over to the nearest chair to set herself against it. Her breathing was a bit better, but still hurt. "Well, Nerissa's kid. I'm Joce. Your mother and I go way back." Joce winked. 

 

Not that she actually had ever done anything with Nerissa, the woman never seemed interested, not for Joce's lack of trying. But for some reason Joce couldn't resist implying like there had been something. It wasn't like this girl was Joce's kid. Fuck, she was glad she never had to deal with that. Poor Alistair though, he probably had some kid from someone he slept with, and didn't even know it. 

 

"You're not going to eat poor unsuspecting me, right? Or was that a thing you only do to men? I can't remember." Joce sighed. "I'm tired." She leaned her shoulder against the chair and then a few cracks could be heard as she pressed it hard against the chair. A deep moan came out of Jocelyn. "Oh hell that feels so much better."

[Marissa Ilirran]

When the strange woman didn't make a move to harm her, Marissa slowly edged out of the bedroom. Her long blonde hair had been pulled back into a messy bun at the back of her head to keep it out of her way while she was cleaning. Around her slender neck hung a silver locket, which rested against the green fabric of the tank top she wore. The outfit was finished by a pair of blue jeans, all in all she looked like any other normal young woman. Her finger nails and her toe nails were a dazzling gold color and if Joce remembered anything about Nerissa then she'd know they weren't nails but actually scales and the gold was the color she'd be if she were in her Ondine form.

Mari glanced down at the knife when the woman spoke about it, which would figure that it didn't belong to her mom since she didn't remember it being here before. The next few words were a bit confusing and it took her a moment to puzzle it out as her grasp on the language wasn't quite complete yet, and she had to sort through memories from her mother to figure out what Joce was asking for. Meanwhile, the woman was still talking and when she said her name Mari's head snapped up in shock and recognition dawned. "Joce? Jocelyn?!" With another girlie squeal Mari practically ran across the room towards her though she slowed before she collided with her as she had to remember that humans weren't as tough as Ondine.

"Mom told me about you! I am so excited to meet you!" She wrapped her arms around Joce's neck carefully as it was blatantly obvious that she was hurt and in pain and she didn't want to make it worse. Of course when she touched Joce, her skin would spark against the other woman's, her mana reacting to Jocelyn's and it would feel oddly like Alistair's mana. "Of course I'm not going to eat you! Besides I'm not hungry. Depths you are hurt, hold on I thought I saw one of those boxes with the funny looking red cross on it around here somewhere. What did I do with that..." She trailed off as she set the dagger down on the nearby table and moved to the hall closet near the entry way.

It took her a moment but she finally found what she was looking for and returned to Jocelyn's side. "I'm sorry, I don't really know what all these things are for, but I'll help if you tell me what to do." Mari said, opening the box and staring at all the odd little packages and bits inside. Ondine didn't generally need such things, salt water was generally what they needed to heal most of their wounds...and time. Mari was anything but squeamish so whatever Joce needed Mari would do without hesitation.

[Jocelyn Rose]

Holy Hell. Person hugging. 

 

Joce tried not to breath the moment the ondine girl had descended upon her with a hug. Honestly she had almost been expecting to have the girl bite her or something. It was the way her day was going after all. But she seemed excited, especially after the hug. Apparently Nerissa had mentioned Joce to her daughters though. Probably a warning about staying away from her or something. She imagined that is what Alistair would say to his daughters, if he had any. 

 

"Too bad. Eating sounds good right now." Joce mused. She couldn't help herself. She figured she probably made a similar joke about Nerissa too, and being eaten by her. Joce was a shameless lesbian though, what could be expected? Especially since apparently not only Nerissa told this girl about her, but the ondine girl was excited to see her after being told about her?! Joce kept her laugh to herself. She was more surprised by the shock she felt when this girl had touched her. Was that a spark of love? No, probably just a literal shock. 

 

She glanced over at the dagger though when the girl rushed off to see about the med kit. Apparently she didn't know names of things or something. She must have had a sheltered life in the sea, maybe. Jocelyn took a seat on the chair as she waited for the golden girl to come running back with the box hopefully. She fiddled with her jacket, and finally just yanked it off, to show parts of her black shirt torn and even sections of the sports bra she wore. She lifted up areas of her shirt to check around her ribs and make sure they were not broken. 

 

One was bruised and it made Joce hiss with frustration when she touched it. She really wished she had the energy left to just use a spell to change her body around, but she was running on fumes after that last jump through the Ley Line. Her eyes shot up to look over the tank top clad girl returning to her side with the kit. "Nerissa's kid huh? You have a name, or should I just call you the hot blonde one?"

 

Joce didn't want to think about what it meant for Nerissa to have a kid though. She knew about ondine. The man eating. They didn't leave the father alive, and it made Joce cringe that she associated with someone who ate some poor innocent guy. Then again, Joce had associated with blood suckers... hell she did a little more than 'associate' with one in particular. 

 

She reached down at the kit and popped it open. "Think you could manage cleaning off some of the blood? And check over my face, it's a bit harder for me to tell what's been damaged there since I can't see it." She then pulled out some gauze and wrap to place over the wound she could see along her left arm. It wasn't too deep, but it was a long gash. Her eyes glanced back to the girl in front of her, sneaking a peak over the girl's body. 

 

"So you're... an ondine like your mom? What are you doing in her place?" Joce frowned as she thought, remembering the shock to her body. And reaching out to feel the girl's mana. It was so close. Joce just wanted to take some of it. But... she couldn't. It felt strangely familiar though. "Actually, who did your mom have sex with? And why didn't she ask me, is probably more important?"

 

Joce attempted a smile with that, but it just seemed silly. 

[Marissa Ilirran]

"Oh I'm so sorry, I'm Marissa. Though I suppose the Hot Blonde One would work just fine if you'd like, my sisters are darker then I am, Larissa takes after mom and Alissa is so blue she's almost black." Mari told Joce, revealing that fact that not only did Nerissa have one kid, but three. As Joce told her what she needed, Mari nodded her understanding and pulled out a package of sterile gauze. It took her barely the blink of an eye to rip the packaging open, her nails making work of the plastic.

The apartment would be much cleaner then Joce probably remembered it, Mari had been working hard to return it to it's former glory, Nerissa had left in a bit of a hurry and hadn't really taken much time to store anything. Still, there was a lot that was the same, and Mari hadn't had the heart to take down or truly move anything that had belonged to her mom. In some strange way she felt closer to her mother now then she ever had before. She was getting to see and understand the part of her mom that had made her different, that had changed her and that had a lot to do with the people who'd accepted her. People like Joce.

Leaning up, Mari brushed Jocelyn's hair out of her face so she could see what needed patching and cleaning up. However, when Joce asked her about who Nerissa had mated with her little brows furrowed in confusion and what Joce had been saying this whole time finally clicked into place and she froze, staring up into the other woman's eyes for a moment. "You mean...Dad...Dad didn't tell you?" She waited a moment for Jocelyn's body language to tell her the answer before heaving a sigh. "Damnit, he said he was going to tell you." She had no idea how Joce would react to finding out that her father was Alistair. It wasn't like Nerissa had been planning on it, by all rights she shouldn't have reached maturity for another fifty years at least.

Holding up her hand, Mari focused her mana into her palm and little sparks flew between her fingertips, dancing along her skin. "My Father is Alistair, and he's the entire reason that I'm here. Mom's memories of him, of this place, they seemed so wonderful and I wanted to know him. I'm the first Ondine in the history of forever who would get to actually know her father...how could I not try?"

[Jocelyn Rose]

Joce couldn't help the grin that formed when Marissa said she could keep calling her the hot blonde one. She might actually hold Marissa to that, at least when she wasn't around Kelly. It just seemed so amusing to her. She glanced to the girl again but then looked to her wound, applying the gauze and wrapping it. Of course this would all be easier if she just drew some mana from someone. Then she could increase her body's natural healing process through a spell and she'd be better in a day or two. She'd at least feel better immediately. But her phone was destroyed, and the last thing she wanted to do anyway was call Kelly over to find her with a hot blonde in a random apartment. 

 

Joce already knew the first words that would come out of Kelly's mouth. Actually she knew the first words she wanted to come out of Kelly's mouth, 'She can join'. But that didn't mean it would actually be something Kelly said. Joce was about to shake her head to clear the thought away but then she realized Marissa was dealing with cleaning up her face. She glanced back up to the blonde who was inches from her face. Then she froze. 

 

"Dad?" Joce asked with confusion marking her tone. What self-respecting mermaid would keep a man alive after mating with them, especially long enough for the daughter to have a strong enough relationship with them to say 'Dad'. It was even worse to hear that Joce apparently knew who the dad was. She didn't even want to think about that. It wouldn't be Alistair, he wouldn't do that. Maybe it was one of her subordinates or something. Come to think of it, she didn't actually know that many men. 

 

Joce glanced to the hand while in thought, and watched it spark to life. And in that single moment, Joce had jumped back, toppling down the chair she had been sitting on and kept moving away.

 

"You have got to be fucking kidding me. I am going to kill him." Joce said through gritted teeth as she furled both her hands into fists. She relaxed after a moment, letting out a soft breath and lifting a hand up to swipe it through her hair like it was a nervous tick. She grabbed her forehead afterward and sighed, before lifting her gaze to look over Marissa. "I'm going to need some mana from you. So I can go kill your dad. Do I have your consent?"

[Marissa Ilirran]

Marissa instantly doused the sparks when Joce practically lept out of her chair in shock. She held up both hands, palms facing Jocelyn in an attempt to calm her down. "Um, are you serious? No, you can't kill my dad! I just found him!" Marissa didn't know Jocelyn well enough to know if she was joking or not, she'd only known the woman a few minutes.

"I'm sure Dad had his reasons for not telling you, I sort of surprised him by showing up. Apparently you humans don't age like we do, he muttered something about me being a toddler." She stated with a very teenage rolling of her eyes. She lowered herself down next to Jocelyn and reached out to grip her chin in her lithe fingers, bringing the gauze in her other hand up to her face so she could wipe away some of the blood from the cut on her eyebrow.

"What in the Depths happened to you anyway? You look like the wrong end of a warzone. and you can only have my Mana if you swear not to do something I'd have to kill you for." Marissa said seriously..though she was only able to hold it for a few moments before she started giggling.  

"Mom did this for you once didn't she? I remember it though it's hazy, like a lot of the memories I get from her. Something about having to save you from some Water Elementals." Mari was really just trying to make conversation now, though her tone held a teasing tilt to it. Her people skills weren't so great yet, socializing wasn't exactly something she could do before she got her legs. "She said that if there was anyone who should teach me how to fight, it was you. She admired you, though she probably didn't show it, it's not the Ondine way." Mari said, wrinkling her nose rather cutely. "You're a warrior, just like she was. I'm practically useless here on land."

[Jocelyn Rose]

Jocelyn fired off a raised eyebrow in the direction of Marissa the moment the blonde woman said she couldn't kill Alistair. Oh, she could. He might give her a fight, but she could. It was more that she was only partially kidding. She just let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head. "I'm not going to kill him."

 

She let out a laugh after that though. "I wish I could have seen his face though. Cause for a toddler you sure are smoking hot." And then Joce screwed up her face, realizing that sounded really bad. It was bad enough people already called her a cougar. "Uh, but lets just keep to thinking you are at least a teenager. Okay?"

 

Jocelyn flinched slightly as Marissa lowered next to her and wiped at her eyebrow. She kept her eye closed on the side that the mermaid was wiping. "I think you mean, try to kill me. But yes, I'm not going to murder your father." Then Joce said under her breath. "But he'll wish he was dead."

 

The mage lost her focus and glanced to Marissa as the girl let out a giggle and asked whether her mother had done this for Joce. Come to think of it, she had. It had been a while since then though. A smile softened the redhead's face, "Yeah. I was bleeding out after dropping from a three story building into a fountain. She helped fix me up. It was actually from studying how she healed with water that I was able to create a spell to help with my healing process. Not the same, but it works, when I have mana."

 

Joce's smile shifted, glancing over Marissa and seeing the daughter trying to live up to what kind of image her mother was. Joce's cheeks did redden at supposedly being a great warrior. She didn't think so, but then again she had tons of subordinates who were scared shitless of her and what she might do to them. Jocelyn reached a hand up to caress Marissa's cheek. "You are Nerissa's daughter. The last thing she would ever do is leave you unprepared for handling the land. But if you need to learn a few extra things, I'm always around somewhere."

 

Joce finished with a wink, before the fingers on Marissa's cheek started to light up with a gentle blue glow. "It might hurt. It might feel good. Just promise not to jump my bones if it feels too good."

 

She activated the spell that drew mana directly from someone else into her. It was like a gentle coaxing of mana. Slowly sliding out of Marissa's body, traveling through Joce's fingers and into her body. The feeling was different each time Joce had done it, but it was probably one of her most signature moves. One of the first she learned. Of course she could be far more forceful and just yank a chunk of mana straight out of Marissa, but when people gave it willingly she tried to be as gentle as possible with it. Which often left a feeling like Jocelyn was tugging on the heartstrings of someone directly or even like slowly being pulled toward an orgasm in some cases based on what Kelly told her. 

 

Joce kept her smile and eyes focused on Marissa the entire time, concentrating on drawing out the energy until she had enough at least to get the healing process going. But if she had to stop because Marissa didn't have much she would. She wasn't really sure, which made it important to keep her focus on the ondine. 

[Marissa Ilirran]

Marissa giggled at Joce's reaction to her being a toddler. "Like I said, we age differently. The first few years of our lives we grow much like the predators in the animal world, from tiny tadpole to nearly full grown in just three years. By Ondine standards I'm what you'd call an adolescent. I won't reach maturity for another five centuries or so. Till then I'm just supposed to experience life and learn all I can about the world so that when I do reach maturity I'll have everything I need to further to race." By the end of this little speech her voice had taken on a mocking quality, as if she were making fun of whoever had said it before her. "Mom said that was how it was taught to her by her mother.' She offered as a way to explain it.

Marissa leaned in to Joce's touch just slightly, her strange eyes with the gold flecks sliding closed. There was nothing an Ondine loved more then the touch of another, though they hid it well behind their pride and teeth. Joce's words barely registered to Marissa as the feel of her power began to pull on Mari's.  Unbeknownst to Mari, her golden nails began to grow, lengthening and sharpening until they became the terrible claws of her Ondine form. She normally had no control over her transformation but something about Joce's pull of Mana was causing the predator in her to surface.

She was torn between enjoying the feelings that stirred within her and attacking Jocelyn for taking such an intimate thing from her. Her Mana was a mixture of Alistair and Nerissa, just barely beginning to become something she could call her own. While normally her allure wouldn't effect Jocelyn because she was female and therefore couldn't give Mari what she'd need despite jocelyn's own personal feelings on the matter, connecting with her Mana in such a way would allow Jocelyn to feel her Allure for the first time. She was still young, so it wasn't strong, barely a distraction, nothing like what it would turn into in a few more years.

Mari's pool of Mana was surprisingly large, needed to fuel not just her Allure but also her transformation and her electrogenics. If she could use her mana for anything else like the Mage's she'd be one hell of a force to be reckoned with. Thankfully, her Mana was caged by the laws of her Biology. A deep rumbling sound began to resonate from within Mari's chest, almost like purring though much darker and deeper.

[Jocelyn Rose]

It wasn't always a common thing for Jocelyn Rose to admit, but she did know that transferring of mana was rather personal and intimate. It was one of the reasons she actually avoided using her ability to absorb other people's mana on people she fought against. Because the mana is so close to who the person is, sometimes you also got hits of that person's personality, or in many cases coming into direct contacting with another person's mana could result in being effected by a stronger dose of one of that person's abilities. Usually it was only in the case of abilities that were amplified based on physical contact, but for the most part Joce had only encountered a few cases to where anything extreme happened. 

 

That was mostly why when Joce started absorbing some of Marissa's mana, the last thing she honestly had been expecting was to suddenly feel like Mari was the only other person in the world and that she would do anything for that girl. In a way it was like she was looking toward the young Ondine and she could just see Mari's face, which she held along with exploding flowery backgrounds around that. It was almost like being on a drug, if Joce had actually dabbled in more than alcohol. 

 

Joce just swallowed hard, and wouldn't move her hand. She even leaned gently in toward Marissa, whispering softly. "You are so stunning."

 

Her other hand slid up to rest on the other side of Marissa's face, and some of the glow in the hand that was first touching Marissa's cheek started to flicker like it was fading. Jocelyn didn't care though. She was too busy being so focused on Mari that she just didn't care about drawing more energy out of the girl. In fact she probably had plenty, so it didn't matter. All she cared about was touching Mari, kissing Mari, taking Mari. She had to!

 

Her body leaned fully against the ondine and she brought her face in, as the light on her hand flickered out completely. Joce's lips were hovering just out of range of Marissa's lips when her eyes stopped looking glazed over and she blinked a few times. Then she swallowed and looked over Marissa. Her hands flew away from the girl instantly and she turned around, trying to not show that she was flustered and bothered. 

 

She took a few breathes and then cleared her throat. "Uh... that didn't happen with your mother. Was I going to? Were you going to let me?"

 

Joce swallowed hard again as she turned her reddened and flustered face back toward the ondine. She couldn't believe she almost gave into the impulse. It was just so strong. She shook her head and lowered it. "If I hadn't forgot about the spell we would be..." Joce cleared her throat again and stumbled for words, "well... not in this room..."

 

She attempted a laugh but it just came out strained and odd. She couldn't even look back at Mari as she said. "Bloody Hell, Kelly is going to kill me."

[Marissa Ilirran]

Mari's strange eyes opened as Joce spoke, unintentionally amplifying her ability momentarily. It wasn't the first time she'd heard such a phrase, though it was the first time she'd heard it from any female cept her mother. The touch of Jocelyn's hand was so warm against her cold flesh, almost hot to Mari who's silver Mana infused blood was as cold as the fish, people so often mistook her for. So caught up in the feelings she was getting from Jocelyn it was quite a shock when her touch left her. Mari's own eyes had taken on a glassy look to them that cleared when Jocelyn began to speak again.

As Joce turned away from her, Mari finally noticed her fingers, or claws as they more resembled now. Her eyes widened as the two of them turned away from each other at the same time. Mari shook her hands out until they had returned to their human form. She was absolutely freaked out, that had never happened to her before. "I'm sorry...I don't...I...I'm not sure what just happened. My Allure isn't supposed to work on females, and it's never been that strong before."

Memories danced through the back of her mind, but they weren't hers. That had been a taste of what her power would one day be like, a taste of what her mother could do with just a simple glance but it was the first time that Mari realized it wasn't just the males who looked at her that would be effected. She knew she had been the product of pure instinct and hormones, her mother's power in the midst of her first Heat Cycle fifty years too early. Alistair had been the closest male when her focus had shifted from killing the Leviathan to sating her other hungers.

The fact that Nerissa loved Alistair was the only thing that had saved him, especially since Neri hadn't been aware she was capable of such a complicated emotion.

"I'm not sure what Kelly would have to be angry about, nothing happened and you needed to heal, though I know I have issues grasping human relationships. Speaking of healing, you have to be hungry. I was trying my hand at crab cakes earlier. I remember how mom used to make them but I haven't quite mastered it just yet. Care to play taste tester?" She asked of Joce, trying to find someway to change the subject to something far less confusing.

[Jocelyn Rose]

The allure? That made more sense now. She wasn't usually prone to jumping on top of someone she just met... okay that wasn't true at all. She totally would have done that even a year ago. In fact, if her spell hadn't started to die down without her influence then they would have been in a very different room, in very different poses at the moment. And that made her worry. How were you supposed to keep a relationship in tact when there were things and people out there that could sway you into something you didn't want to do? Or for that matter, how did she ever know if a relationship was genuine?

 

Trust. She just had to trust. And she hated the idea of that. Trust was an awful thing. It always led to betrayals in all of her experiences except one. Well two so far. She kept her breathing controlled and Joce smiled with a bit of intelligent thought caught in her eyes. "Maybe you just never used it on women you liked before. Don't worry, I won't tell daddy. As much as I would get a kick out of telling Dresden his daughter is gay... or bi? He would just ask me how I knew then I'd have to figure my way out of that one, and it would just become awkward fast."

 

She laughed as she turned back to face Mari, even though her face was still a bit red. There wasn't much she could do about it. Mari definitely had excited her, even if neither of them had intended for something to happen. And luckily nothing did. Joce didn't want to find out what Kelly would do to a partner that cheated on her. It just sounded like all kinds of bad things. Actually it was amusing to think that Joce was even afraid of Kelly, when it was Joce that had trained her. Maybe that was precisely why the redhead was afraid. She knew just what Kelly was capable of. 

 

Joce shook her head then and let out a chortle. "I guess. And yeah, I don't even understand human relationships half the time. Trust me, if I still didn't have a conscience..." Joce just scanned over Mari's body and felt a full body shiver like all the hairs on her body were standing on end. "Let's just say we'd have fun."

 

She grinned though and leaned forward to kiss Mari on the cheek. "Thanks for the mana. And I can go for some crab cakes. I'm guessing you want some information maybe? I can't say I knew your mother that well which is why I hid stuff here, but I know Dresden... and... bloody hell. You're maggie."

 

Joce exploded into laughter. Alistair was becoming more and more like Harry Dresden, including a child with a creature, who has now returned. That meant that Nerissa was Susan though, which actually made sense weirdly enough. "Well I'm calling you maggie from now on."

[Marissa Ilirran]

Mari arched a brow over her shoulder at Joce as she moved into the kitchen. The apartment had a mostly open floor plan so Joce could still see Mari. "It doesn't work like that, not even for Mom. We can't control it. It's meant to help us procreate the species. You should see how powerful Mom's has gotten now that's she's reached maturity. If she spent much time on land she'd be ruling her own kingdom of drooling idiots." She said mockingly, apparently already she didn't have much to say about the male race as a whole. Perhaps that was her mother's memories sneaking in.

"I'm not sure it's biologically possible for me to be gay...or bi. I'm as much trapped by my instincts as my victims are by my Allure. If you hadn't snapped out of it first I'm not sure I would have. I've never felt it that strong before and if that's what Mom feels all the time...I hope I never grow up." In true fashion of the young at heart, didn't they always claim they never wanted to grow up?

Mari opened the fridge and began to pull out plate after plate. First came crab cakes, and then an array of sea food and sushi that nearly filled the island that stood between the kitchen and the living area. "I may have gone a little overboard. I found these cook books in one of the little shops down town and it just seemed so strange...cooking my food." She said with a soft giggle as she set a fork and a small plate in front of one of the chairs for Joce.

"Are you feeling any better?" She asked, popping the cap off a bottle of beer with her nails and setting that down next to the plate as well. She may not have technically been old enough to buy alcohol but her Allure was at least strong enough to get her something. Mari's pretty face twisted in confusion as Joce started to laugh about something. "I...don't understand. Mom said you liked to give people nicknames but...who are these people you speak of?"

[Jocelyn Rose]

The activation of the healing spell that Joce knew was a relatively simple one to incite but it consumed a lot of energy in the process. Even with the amount she took from the newly dubbed Maggie, she was barely going to have anything left. She wasn't about to ask for more either, especially after what had just happened between them. She just took a breath and crossed into the kitchen to see what the Ondine was doing. Or she started to, until she sniffed herself and looked down to see just how bad she looked. Maybe it was better if she wasn't smelling bad and still partially covered in blood before she helped someone cook.

 

Her attention refocused when Mari thought she couldn't even be bisexual or gay. She shook her head, "Hmmm, sounds like stuff your mother would say. But I knew she was better than that, and so are you. It's not always about procreating, it can be about the connections you have with people."

 

Joce crossed her arms, but stepped back from the kitchen and went around to the chair where Mari set the food. She grabbed the top of the chair to move it so she could sit down but stopped. "I'm gonna wash my hands real quick."

 

She stepped away from the kitchen and led herself into the bathroom to wash off, including rubbing down her arms. While she did it, she continued, yelling a bit louder so Mari could hear. "I mean, if you are such a slave to your instincts then why did that work on me in the first place?"

 

"Because you know you can use it for other means than just procreation. You can use it for fun, and convincing people to do things you want them to do, and teasing people." Joce finished washing, and dried herself off, before stepping back toward the kitchen. In the doorway she added, "There's a lot you can do, and if you learn to control it you could keep it from controlling you."

 

Then she moved to take a seat and look over the food that Mari placed for her. She glanced at the beer and grinned before picking it up. "This is exactly what I mean. There's no way you bought this without an ID. You probably don't even know what an ID is, but the clerk just gave it to you didn't they?" 

 

Joce took a sip and set the beer back down before picking up one of the crab cakes and biting it. She chewed a few times, while setting the crumbling crab cake down. She didn't care to bother with the fork. When she finished swallowing she said, "Not bad, better than some food I've had. But that's not too hard of an accomplishment since I spent a week in a dungeon eating rats one time." 

 

"But maybe I'll just have to come over more often so you can keep testing food out." Joce grinned before she addressed the whole nickname thing, she didn't even bother with answering the how she was doing question. She mostly ignored those these days. The last thing anyone wanted to hear was about how her body ached most of the time, and she was quite ready to start saying she was getting too old for this shit. 

 

"The nickname comes from a character in a book. Your father is named after the main character, Dresden. And he has a daughter, named Maggie. A daughter made from procreation with a half vampire person. Your mom isn't a vampire but it's close enough." Joce paused after that far in the explanation and grabbed another piece of crab cake. "You know what, I'l just bring you some copies. You can read can't you?"

[Marissa Ilirran]

"It's hard to fight millions of years of evolution, though I suppose if Mom could do it..." Mari mused as she slid into the chair across from Jocelyn, though Joce spoke about washing her hands first, so Mari would wait until her return. "Perhaps it'll be different for me. Mom didn't even know she was capable of such complex emotions like love. Before she was brought here, her entire life was ruled by the Imperatrix. It's not like it is here, the Imperatrix doesn't just give orders, she's in our minds, our hearts, our souls. An Imperatrix rules through the magic in our blood, tying us all to her. We have no choice but to follow her, our minds are consumed by the thousands of voices of our sisters, our mothers, our aunts. Mom's memories of that time are clouded, and fading that longer she's here but I can see them and it's....controlled chaos." Marissa wasn't sure if Neri had ever explained to Jocelyn anything about her homeworld.

"The Ondine ruled the oceans, their planet is nearly four times larger then Earth, though the ratio of land to water is about the same. The most common are the greens...like Mom. They are the soldiers, the scouts, not as magically gifted as the others but no less powerful." Mari paused in her telling to reach into a bag in the next chair over, producing a large sketch pad from it's depths. She flipped a few pages until she reached the right one and then turned it to Joce. "The largest are the Blues, they're stronger, tougher, but perhaps slower. That's Alissa, there on the left. She'd be the one to ram the enemy ships from beenath till the hull buckled." She stated, pointing to her sister in the drawing of the triplets together. Mari was on the right, her gold scales glittering in the sun light, and Larissa was in the middle. Though they were all the same age, Mari was smaller then the other two, with Alissa nearly dwarfing her in size. "The golds, like me, tend to be the ones to figure out the enemy's weaknesses, their strengths, how they contraptions and magic work. I suppose you could say we're the Engineers. We're not quite as adept at fighting as the others. The Purples are the most likely to become Imperatrix, their strength in magic far outweighs the rest of us but it's not always the case. Mom is Imperatrix now, her blood rules the rest of us...should she choose to use it. Even as far away as they are I can still feel them in my mind, their emotions, their location, I can sift through their memories though it's hazy. The Ondine can attack and move as one creature, one massive being of teeth and claws."

Marissa sighed and set the sketch pad down. "How do I control something that's never been controlled before? I'm barely strong enough to control my electrical abilities," Mari picked at her food without really eating it. At the question of her ability to read, Mari's gold flecked eyes came back up to Joce. "I love to read, though it's a bit difficult at times. I get the language from others so if they didn't know something, I won't know it either. If they thought something was spelled one way, I might not understand what I was reading. I'm getting better at piecing things together and figuring out what I'm missing though."

[Jocelyn Rose]

Although it might have seemed like Joce was the type to just bash and ask questions later. She rather enjoyed knowing and understanding the stories and legends and tales that were real when the magic came back into the world. So when she sat back down and Mari explained about the life of the ondine from whereever they came from. Joce took another bite of the food and nodded a few times as Mari explained the types of ondine. It wasn't something that Joce had really ever known about before. She was being honest when she said she hadn't communicated with Neri all that much, and Neri was the only ondine she knew until now. 

 

She put her crab cake down and glanced over the sketch pad that Mari pulled out. "Wow, cute family." Joce said as she looked over the person she was guessing was Mari's sisters and her. She couldn't really say the girl was hot because scaly people wasn't exactly Joce's thing, but she felt like she needed to say something. 

 

"So... ondine are placed in a position based on their scale colors?" Joce asked as she glanced over the sketches again. They were pretty well done, especially for someone who has spent most of her time underwater. Maybe she had used water colors growing up? Joce had a silent little amusement to herself with the idea that Mari was the engineer of the ondine. Like father like daughter or something like that, right? 

 

Joce watched Mari pick at her own food and then met her eyes. "Clearly your mother's memories of me are a bit fuzzy. I'm all about going against the status quo, Maggie. Controlling what can't be controlled. That's the thrilling part. It's my whole life. Learning how to use magic on my own, controlling that magic when I didn't know what to do. I'm not saying I can totally help you with your electrical control, that has Dresden written all over it. But..." Joce twirled her hand in the air, "I might be able to help you with overcoming thousands of years of evolution. All we have to do is kick-start your mother's genes."

 

Joce shrugged, and turned her attention back to the food, picking up a piece and taking a bite again. She put the piece back down and glanced back to Mari with a twist in her smile. "So, you have your mother in your head all the time? That's got to be the shittiest deal..."

 

With a shake of her head, Joce then paused and realized she could probably do a bit more. "Or I could give you a taste of being a real human. Want your mom out of your head for a bit, want to be free of your genetics. I can change it. I've done it before. It might not be the best of deals, but if you ever just can't handle it, I can give you something different."

 

Joce then turned her head and leaned in to give Mari a kiss on the cheek. She pulled back with a grin on her lips. "That was for your mom." Then Joce winked. 

[Marissa Ilirran]

"It's a bit more complicated then that, it's almost like our scales mark our gifts. But, this is a new world and if mom was any indication of how much more we could be..I am excited for the next five centuries." Mari paid attention to Joce's words, of course she knew that Joce constantly threw what everyone thought she should be out the proverbial window and then lit it on fire just to make sure everyone got the message.

"It's not quite like she's in my head, it's...hard to explain. There are parts of my mind that belong to her and my sisters. I can feel their emotions, if they're in pain or danger, if they're happy. I can sense all of that but we can't actually speak to each other. The Ondine don't have a written or spoken language, we don't need them. Only Mom can forcibly push her thoughts into ours, thats how the Imperatrix controls the Brood. The rest of us, the memories and such are only annoying if I access the part of my brain that belongs to them. With so few of us it's not so bad. Mom says she didn't even know she had so much room for knowledge with all the others in mind. When she was pulled to Earth, the link between her and the rest of the Brood was severed, she knew she was alone without ever needing to look. I can see her memories of that time and I'm not sure I want to feel that alone...ever. And I'm not sure how you humans do it."

Mari smiled as Jocelyn leaned in to kiss her cheek, a slight spark discharging as her lips touched Mari's flesh. "Mom will see it, the next time she checks up on me...which I expect will be sometime in the next thirty seconds." She said with a giggle as she joked about Nerissa acting over protective. "Thank you, for offering to help me Joce, I do appreciate it." Mari finally began to eat the feast she'd laid out on the table before them. Ondine needed a lot of food, it helped fuel the transformations.