#A Prison for What No One Sees | Boden Severin

[morgansmornings]

Closed Thread with @little-earthquakes-rp. Continued from this. ~~~*~~~

“What is with the tone?” Jayden asked, stopping short of the headless body. One hand curled into a fist around her whip and propped on the top curve of her hip. The other splayed wide, waving at him in an up and down gesture. “You did tell me to stay in the car, but never told me for how long.”

It was unavoidable. When they had met it was a charged tension. Not negative, but off the bat she knew several things about Boden. One, that he was a Hunter. The kind that she learned to fear showing up at her door in the dead of daylight to take her away and either imprison her or kill her. Two, that despite being a towering imposing figure, he was a lot softer that most would give him credit for. Three, that he was fairly good as backup on her own personal hunts involving the supernatural realm.

Fourth, ah yes the fourth thing she knew and came to understand in the five years that they had known each other. The fourth thing was that she couldn’t help nor stop herself from teasing him. It was too easy with all the times that he opened the door to the jokes and invited them in

“I’m not a fan of rules, Boden. In fact, I take pride in breaking them. That’s why you put up with me.” When he grabbed her free hand and started dragging her along, she stumbled a moment. Often forgetting that he was a lot stronger than he looked. She figured that he caved and knew that she was just going to follow him with or without his permission. She smirked into his back, always the protector. Though he had a good point. “I told you that if you had given me another day we could have had the floor plans-”

She sensed the demons as soon as the door was cracked open, taking a lower stand she pivoted around his frame, unleashing the whip with the added momentum, taking one demon by the neck. Instantly the skin began burning from the Holy enchantment engraved into the links of the thong. Pulling the neck snapped, dropping one demon. Pushing off Boden’s chest she tackled the other demon and drove a blessed dagger into the thing's chest. She shook her head to clear the slight dizziness from her nerves. Looking back at him over her shoulder with a slight smirk.

“You know, one of these days, you are gonna admit that having me with you is going to raise our chances of survival by a significant amount.”

[morgansmornings]

@little-earthquakes-rp

Why does this feel like a continued argument between Boden and Jay? But in a friendly way.

Tol v. Smol

Insp. 

[morgansmornings]

Connected Calling

Closed for @little-earthquakes-rp. Continued from this.

~~~*~~~

“It wasn’t your sobriet-” She stopped talking as soon as he posed his question. Her hand sliding against the knife she had been using to dice up some herbs. Her phone slipped out from her shoulder and she managed to catch it before it fell into the boiling pot next to her. “Ow! Fucking.-!

She was thankful that Boden wasn’t in her home to see the variation of unflattering faces she was making. Starting with shock, going to offence, then confusion and coming to settle on slightly horrified. Was she being obvious? Had she done something stupid and told him anything that she didn’t remember. She was pretty certain that she hadn’t. Why was he calling her out on that night?

Bringing the phone back up and resettling on her shoulder. The bleeding side of her palm getting wrapped in a towel on her way to the sink. She couldn’t hold back the huffing sigh that escaped her. She would do what she did best in situations like this. Deflect with Sarcasm and Humor.

“I was asking, because I know that you had been on a hunt without me, even though I told you that I was almost done with my newest enchantment. And that I told you I wasn’t sure about trusting the other Hunters that reached out to you.” She said, washing her hand with soap, using the stinging pain as a means to focus on her chaotic thoughts into order. She forced her voice to be bright and chipper. A tone that he should have known by then meant that she was joking and not even close to the realm of being angry. Only teasing him as she knew how to do best.

“But what do I know? I am just your convenient personal GPS with a fantastic personality, and non-robotic voice.” She said after adjusting her grip on her phone to hold it properly.

[morgansmornings]

It was jarring. One second she was chanting in rhythmic yet complicated Egyptian while trying to ignore the flickers of new demons spontaneously coming through different rifts. The few multiplying, each bringing a new signature she had to weed out from being able to cross through and follow them. Hearing the clipped urgent tone in his voice. Could sense him tensing behind her as he played the role of bodyguard. 

The next she felt his arms clamp around her waist, hoisting her up and sideways. There was that fraction of a second where reality warped and curved. Time flowed while the concepts of moving through space stayed at the same rapid pace. Shadows flickered in the spectral realm. Being far beyond comprehension unaware of their passage. Or if they were, decided against intercepting them. 

Finally they breached on the other side the portal opening under the staircase. Her loft apartment was the same as it was when she left the night before. The open floor plan was clean with everything in its rightful place. Even her Familiar was still snoozing away. Not expecting the witch back before sunrise. The pair slid across the floor, tumbling up and over the back of her L shaped couch and right into the coffee table. Boden taking the brunt of the damage, though her cherry hand carved coffee table would have argued that as it shattered under the enhanced weight and force of the hunter. 

“Ow!” Jayden snapped once the daze of being forced into one of her own portals passed. She pulled herself out of his arms only to kneel at his side to smack at his arm. Not that it would hurt him, but it made her feel better. She pushed at his shoulder to turn him onto his back so she could inspect the damage. “What have I told you? Walk into the portal, don't throw yourself in there. And wait till I give the okay. We could have ended up in a different plane of existence or in Aruba!” 

She wouldn’t lie. She was thankful for the timely rescue. That she could rely on him to keep her alive for the most part. That she was relieved nothing came through with them. That he was safe and so was she after the investigation turned into a death trap. Then she saw the remains of her table. 

“Again? Boden, this is the third time you’ve broken this table.” Jayden huffed, slumping forward to bury her head into his chest. Her hand raised, pressing her fiddle finger into his jaw lightly. A sign from years of friendship that she wasn’t really mad at him.

The building floorboards were shifting and bowing under their feet. Time was of the essence, but still, the two of them had time for jokes. Lord knows he'd likely meet his end trying to one-up his friend as a burn sat on his lips just waiting to be uttered. Guiding them back towards the ballroom, it was strange that not a demon was in sight. Clearly, their presence had been detected.

All he could do was come to a complete stop and mean mug after the Shaggy remark. He'd told her countless times that he identifies more as Fred, but she still continued the Shaggy campaign. He watched as she pulled out her ceremonial knife. They had just cleared the ballroom doors, and opening a portal in the middle of the dance floor seemed as good of idea as any.

Boden kept watch over the multiple exits and, about a minute in, felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Something was coming, and suddenly the rhythmic sound of marching was becoming louder. Turning his attention to Jaden, "You've got to move faster," he barked as there was still one more hieroglyph to charge.

No sooner did the words leave his mouth the both doors fly off their hinges on the north side of ballroom. Adjusting his stance he own enchanted weapon ready for use. Suddenly feeling the a breeze he turned to his head to find the portal open, and quickly sheathed his dagger before grabbing Jay and jumping into it.

After several seconds of disoriented travel, they found themselves being tossed onto Jayden's living room floor. Boden took out the coffee table, and sent the items on top scattering.

[morgansmornings]

“There was no need to yell.” She said, having flinched at the sudden rise of his voice. Drying her hands she headed for the spice barrister that kept all of her ritual herbs and major necessities for potion craft. Opening the glass door she started reaching in to find the most recent jar of honey. With the jar in hand she moved back to the island counter and reached into one of the hidden cabinets for the first aide kit while he rattled off his questions.

“First, I cut my hand because I dropped my phone. I’m fine, it is along the outer edge of my palm and I am taking care of it. No need to break every traffic law to cross the city to get here.” She kept her voice soft even as she rolled her eyes. Was she being childish in answering him, maybe. But she couldn’t bring herself to care about the consequences. But in fairness, he had started it with the clipped tone of voice. “Second, I never said you were incapable. I said I don’t trust other Hunters because I don’t work with them on a regular basis. Or did you forget that I have been a witch since I was born and that is often the Prey of said Hunters because most of them think all Witches are put into the Wicked Witch of the East camp as soon as our magick presents itself?”

Boden and Jayden have had this same argument once every eight or so months since they met. It was out of a mutual need to look out for the other. He’d been one the few Hunters that didn’t automatically try to kill her when he discovered what she was. That he had offered her protection when they did work together. She appreciated that fact most of all, and from that seed trust began to grow. Five years later and the roots of that trust were strong enough to withstand the snark fest that usually happened. Setting the phone on speaker she started to work on patching herself up. She spread a thin layer of honey over the cut then applied a large bandaid to cover the area.

“Boden, I know you don’t think of me as just GPS. And while I get why you are worried, the same can be said going the other way. I can and have been protecting myself since I can remember.” She leaned against the counter now that her hand was tended too. A softer look taking over her features. “Now back to the topic at hand, why did you bring up David?”

Yes, she knew the other Hunter's name was Derrick, but this was a game she played with Boden often. She would pick a new name for someone that irritated him, just to make him smile about the situation. In her line of work, Names held power far greater than most realised. So by misnaming something or someone, she took that power away.

“What? Were you jealous?”

Over the last several days, the Derrick incident had been on his mind, as he tried to pick apart why he reacted the way he did. Measuring whether or not he overstepped a boundary and offended Jayden. Honestly, he couldn't imagine what other reason she would be worried. Maybe she was suspicious that his behavior was out of character, and was worried he'd fallen back into drugs. She'd begun to deflect the question when she suddenly screamed out. Gripping his cell, he stood up and called out, "JAYDEN...Jayden...what's happening?"

Competing worst-case scenarios ran through his mind as he headed for his keys, but she was back on the line as if nothing had happened. Boden stopped in his tracks and frowned as he processed what she said. "First of all, what the heck happened? Are you alright?" he asked with excitement still in his voice. Waiting to see if she was actually going to answer before he continued, "Second, since when do you think I'm not capable of hunting on my own, even if another hunter can't hold up their end?" Perhaps his words were a little biting after the fright she'd just given him, so he tried to tone things down.

Lowering his voice, he tried again, "Sorry, I can appreciate that you worry, but you have to know I've been hunting for more than fifteen years. I know when to fight and when to cut my losses." He was about to lead into his speech, she'd heard a million times about his accolades, when she silenced him with her GPS remark. The tone was playful, but still, there was some truth in there, wasn't there? An audible sigh escaped as he grappled with the disconnect felt. There was a long pause before he finally said, "I know you're joking, but I don't know what to say other than you're my friend. One that I care about deeply, and I don't consider you some magical GPS. If I don't want you alongside me, it's because I find it difficult to focus on anything but you, and your safety."

[morgansmornings]

“I’m a distraction?” She countered with a touch more sarcasm that was probably necessary. Letting him help her up as adrenaline spike wound through her veins and giving what was supposed to be a helpful edge.

There it was again The serious hunter opening another mental door to a host of teasing jokes she could make. None of them were appropriate, but all of them were hilarious to her. She should have been grateful that he caved and was dragging her along. She had half expected him to hoist over his shoulder and march her straight back to the car if she was honest with herself. 

“You just had to say it.” Jayden fought against the frequency echoing from the rift she could feel opening. He had told her sooner, she could have contacted her allies and formed a temporary coven to help deal with this. Yet she knew better than to bring that up. She felt him catch her wrist, falling into step and to his left like always. Despite her smart ass commentary, she knew better than to try and have Boden be a follower. In certain aspects, yes she would do the same. But in this unfamiliar building, with an unknown factor and enemy count, she deferred to him. 

“Sure thing, Shaggy.” She said, taking her hand back and reaching into her jacket pocket. From it, she removed a wickedly sharp knife. The blade itself was made of pure copper. The handle was stained wood with ivory, gold, and obsidian inlays. “Keep us safe. This is going to take a minute.” 

She crouched next to Boden. A prayer to both Bes and Sekhmet leaving her lips as she began to carve hieroglyphs into the floor. It would take a total of two minutes for her to get her personal portal as she let the magic flow through her. Connecting with her abilities, and charging each completed hieroglyph.

Boden's hazel hues blinked as she chided him. Those sensible shoes just missed a patch of gore on the floor as she argued semantics with him. Letting out a weighted sigh before he admitted, "The implication was to remain in the car, but by all means, if you want to scrape demon guts from the treads of your boots so be it."

Honestly, what did he expect? There was a better chance of being struck by a meteorite than Jay actually listening to him, but hasn't that always been their way. She was capable; a gifted witch and a skilled huntress when needed. The problem was he still saw her as a kid–well most of the time. Several years had passed, but Boden found his overprotective nature difficult to let go.

Before she could continue a lecture of why she deserved to stay he was already dragging her out and down a hall. Opening the door he answered in a hushed tone to counter her suggestion, "We don't have another day this place is a beacon..." Suddenly, she stepped around him, and before he could so much as tug her back she attacked the two demons before them.

The sharp snap of her whip cut through the air. The demon had only a moment to reconcile the offense before she broke its neck. A dagger plunged into the other's chest as she sat on top of them victoriously. He could feel her satisfied albeit slightly smarmy aura radiating before he noticed the smirk.

Holstering his own blade he gently lifted and helped her to her feet. "Listen, I can admit you have a talent but you're distracting as hell," it wasn't lip service either. Looking over at the two slayed demons in an otherwise empty room he shrugged and muttered in defeat, "Fine. Let's go."

Moving back to the hall they made a few feet before the floor beneath their feet shuttered as the walls groaned and cracks sprouted. The hair on the back of his neck stood as the air turned electric. A loud shriek could be heard above he shot a glance at her to grimace, "Guess we're just in time for a portal party."

"Fuck," was all he could mutter at the turn of events.

Anything could come crashing through, and Boden didn't really like the odds of them against a legion of demons. There was no choice. Turning he gazed down at her, "Come on Scrappy-Doo time to fly." Once again going for her hand he headed back towards the ballroom full of carnage so they could head out. He wasn't asking.