Freya has set down roots in the time since they've seen each other last. She's found her family, found her home, tried to build a life for herself in New Orleans, for better or for worse. She's still a Mikaelson and that name will always carry a certain amount of baggage, but she's also done enough good for New Orleans that she's managed to balance some of her siblings crimes.
Emphasis on the word some.
Still, when the note appears in her pocket and she scans over the familiar handwriting, surprised that Kirigan has reached out after all this time. Flipping the paper over, she replicates the spell and scribbles down a message to send back to him, along with her current address.
Kirigan will be here soon. One of the benefits of being a rare shadow witch is he can use those same shadows to travel with, bringing him over temporarily to the shadow plane and then placing him wherever he wishes to be in the world. He did not used to be so good at teleportation via shadows.
It took time and practice.
But now it only takes the current address and knowing the person he is teleporting to to find his way to them. A moment later, there's a sweep of shadows as he appears in a corner where the light did not particularly reach well. He steps out from those shadows into the room properly.
"I appreciate your quick response and the offer of drinks."
They will both need one is the implication within the gravity of his otherwise smooth voice.
"Whenever someone says they need to meet in person, I assume it's a drinking situation."
That's just how they roll in New Orleans. She passes the drink off to him as she looks him over, trying to see what storm might be following him in from the shadows. Not that she's one to assume that Aleksander only wants to see her when he's in trouble. But usually when someone indicates they need to with some urgency, something bad is coming.
Aleksander takes the drink from her to have a long sip from the glass as he closes his eyes through the taste of it, simply allowing himself this moment to be centered again. He tends to be less dramatic when he wants to meet to spend time with another person. It's true.
He opens his eyes again to look at her at the question. He is not one to beat around the bush - certainly not when their people are at stake.
"...there is a monster after witches. A beast that feeds on magic."
"I take it the two of you have been personally acquainted?"
She's guessing from the urgency of his request. He seems to have been able to fight it off for now, but that doesn't mean that whatever it is isn't following him. The witches of New Orleans will need to be prepared.
Aleksander takes a longer sip from his drink at the question though he does not answer it immediately. He lets the burn slide down his throat, remembering being in the moment, feeling a fate worse than death- his magic sucked from him, his very being torn from his soul.
"We have. I barely escaped. There were bodies left behind in the wake."
He attempted to save them. He could not.
"No. The magic it consumes- it's gone. It hollowed out the witches it swallowed."
Aleksander takes another drink from his glass, savoring the taste of it even as he nods in agreement. His dark eyes lift from the liquor to her - his gaze sharp with anger in the dark of his eyes. He is grateful for the drink to soothe it.
"We do. The bait is easy enough given its hunger for magic, but what can be used to trap it is limited to non-magical options. I suppose there could be magic it cannot consume, but we may waste valuable time testing those methods out and still end up unsuccessful."
The killing it is another matter entirely.
He doesn't carry around mundane weapons so he doesn't know how it would fare against bullets.
She runs her finger along the lip of her glass as she considers her options. Given how much magic runs New Orleans, it certainly makes things complicated. But Freya has other resources, it's just a matter of selecting the right ones.
"What about vampires or werewolves? They were created with magic - do they still count as magical as far as the creature is concerned?"
"I am not certain." It is a good question - one he had little time to consider in his race to escape it. He stares into his glass and then takes another long sip from it, letting the burn slide down his throat as he weighs the possibility. "I only know of witches who have succumbed to the beast, but I imagine they would have some draw to the beast as well. Perhaps not as much as a witch."
When given a choice between the two, it would go after the larger source of food, but it must sense magic even in those created from it.
"Then perhaps it might be a good idea to have an Original vampire or two on hand."
Just for back up. Freya doesn't do much alone anymore, and she doesn't think that this is solely a witch problem to solve. Tapping her finger against her chin, she considers the plan.
"They'll at least be able to supply a bit of brute force."
"You would be the one to make that happen. They are also more difficult to kill, yes?"
They might not die simply from having the magic drained from them, but then again, they also could. They are moving through new territory now after all, and there's no telling what could result. However, they would not leave Freya to deal with any of this alone. Aleksander has met all of them- her siblings at least briefly. They do not always get along, but they can face a similar goal when it presents itself.
"Regardless I am certain your family will want to assist against this threat."
"When someone tries to siphon the magic out of a vampire, they simply dessicate. So while, yes, they would be put out of commission, it likely wouldn't kill them."
They would just need a little bit of a blood infusion, and they'd be good to go. Easy breezy.
"Especially considering Hope might also be a target as well." Speaking of, she frowns. "Which direction was the beast heading in? Do you know?"
Aleksander lifts his gaze and meets her own - his expression is one of quiet reassurance. He knows how important her family is to her as difficult as that may be to wrap his own head around. He has never quite had a family- Baghra does not count.
"It was in Europe. I do not believe it had an easy or fast way to travel as I came here without trouble once I escaped it. Your niece should be safe for the time being at least."
But ultimately, this monster would threaten her as well simply for being what it is, wanting what it does.
"Still, we should warn them. Between her and the last scions of the Gemini coven, as well as all the other witches, there's a large concentration of powerful magic at that school."
Either way, it'd be a rather solid meal between it and where they are now. She'll call Alaric after she and Aleksander are done here.
"We should. I would hate for anything to happen because we did not take proper precautions," Aleksander says and then lifts the drink up further to his mouth to down it slow.
When he sets the glass down once more, he lifts his dark gaze toward her. There's a soft smile then despite his otherwise frazzled appearance. He escaped. The monster is still out there, and he will not be settled until what threatens witches has been killed, but he can relax. somewhat.
"I wouldn't call it confidence so much as grim determination."
When Freya sets her mind to something, she intends to see it done. There is no option for failure, because failure means that she clearly hadn't tried hard enough. It's not a healthy mindset by any sense of the word, but she knows herself and she knows her skills.
Not many things have tried to come up against her and lived.
"I prefer to focus on the goal rather than the what-if's."
His gaze lingers on her at the response and then he tilts his head to the side as if in thought, as if in consideration. He approves of this line of thinking. Half success is simply believing that no other possibility can manifest.
He nods then after a moment, stepping away from the wall he'd found himself on to walk closer to her.
"It is a smart way to focus. The what-ifs can make a person lost in them. Rather grim-determination than total despair."
Though she can't say the what ifs don't sneak up on occasion. Sometimes in the heat of a bad time in New Orleans, she can be paralyzed with the possibilities, especially when she truly experiences how bad things are. But that's not a problem for now. That's a problem for future Freya to worry about.
She smirks as he comes closer before straightening to meet his gaze.
"Perhaps our best course of action is setting a trap."
Kirigan keeps her gaze as she straightens and smirks, and he smirks too in turn, breathing in, taking strength in knowing he has such a powerful ally against an enemy so great. His gaze lingers on her own.
"I like the way you think. If we set an effective trap, we may be able to get the jump on the monster."
Instead of being surprised by it, overwhelmed by it. He prefers being a step ahead.
So does Freya. The more steps they are ahead, they better they can be prepared for surprises. "So. We'll need a large concentration of magic, the means to hold it in place and the means to kill it."
She pauses for a moment, taking stock of the spells she has in her mind. "I do have a spell for neutralizing magic in a given space. Do you think that could set a boundary to keep it trapped?"
Kirigan breathes in deeply, nodding after a moment. He takes the time to truly think of what she suggests, to decide if it will be worth effort or not-
He truly knows so little of the beast. He was surprised by it, escaped from it as soon as he could.
"I believe it is an intelligent idea- a step in the right direction if nothing else. We should try it." There is a more lengthy pause then, because he means to say something else, something important- He rests a hand over her own briefly. "Thank you, Freya." for her help, for believing him without question.
She can't say that she's surprised creatures like this have been appearing. With what she's heard about the things coming out of Malivore, it makes sense that something that eats magic would be on it's to-eat list.
"There have been a lot of strange creatures appearing these days. It wastes less time if we avoid the skepticism. And you certainly aren't one to jump to conclusions in that respect."
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Emphasis on the word some.
Still, when the note appears in her pocket and she scans over the familiar handwriting, surprised that Kirigan has reached out after all this time. Flipping the paper over, she replicates the spell and scribbles down a message to send back to him, along with her current address.
New Orleans. I'll pour us some drinks.
She assumes that he'll be here soon.
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It took time and practice.
But now it only takes the current address and knowing the person he is teleporting to to find his way to them. A moment later, there's a sweep of shadows as he appears in a corner where the light did not particularly reach well. He steps out from those shadows into the room properly.
"I appreciate your quick response and the offer of drinks."
They will both need one is the implication within the gravity of his otherwise smooth voice.
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That's just how they roll in New Orleans. She passes the drink off to him as she looks him over, trying to see what storm might be following him in from the shadows. Not that she's one to assume that Aleksander only wants to see her when he's in trouble. But usually when someone indicates they need to with some urgency, something bad is coming.
"What happened?"
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Aleksander takes the drink from her to have a long sip from the glass as he closes his eyes through the taste of it, simply allowing himself this moment to be centered again. He tends to be less dramatic when he wants to meet to spend time with another person. It's true.
He opens his eyes again to look at her at the question. He is not one to beat around the bush - certainly not when their people are at stake.
"...there is a monster after witches. A beast that feeds on magic."
no subject
She's guessing from the urgency of his request. He seems to have been able to fight it off for now, but that doesn't mean that whatever it is isn't following him. The witches of New Orleans will need to be prepared.
"Have you seen anything like it before?"
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"We have. I barely escaped. There were bodies left behind in the wake."
He attempted to save them. He could not.
"No. The magic it consumes- it's gone. It hollowed out the witches it swallowed."
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She doesn't mean to sound so casual about it. It's just Freya's default setting, her emotions simmering until she needs to use them for fuel.
"So it sounds like we need bait, a trap and the means to kill it."
Because this is about killing it, isn't it?
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"We do. The bait is easy enough given its hunger for magic, but what can be used to trap it is limited to non-magical options. I suppose there could be magic it cannot consume, but we may waste valuable time testing those methods out and still end up unsuccessful."
The killing it is another matter entirely.
He doesn't carry around mundane weapons so he doesn't know how it would fare against bullets.
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She runs her finger along the lip of her glass as she considers her options. Given how much magic runs New Orleans, it certainly makes things complicated. But Freya has other resources, it's just a matter of selecting the right ones.
"What about vampires or werewolves? They were created with magic - do they still count as magical as far as the creature is concerned?"
no subject
When given a choice between the two, it would go after the larger source of food, but it must sense magic even in those created from it.
no subject
Just for back up. Freya doesn't do much alone anymore, and she doesn't think that this is solely a witch problem to solve. Tapping her finger against her chin, she considers the plan.
"They'll at least be able to supply a bit of brute force."
no subject
They might not die simply from having the magic drained from them, but then again, they also could. They are moving through new territory now after all, and there's no telling what could result. However, they would not leave Freya to deal with any of this alone. Aleksander has met all of them- her siblings at least briefly. They do not always get along, but they can face a similar goal when it presents itself.
"Regardless I am certain your family will want to assist against this threat."
no subject
They would just need a little bit of a blood infusion, and they'd be good to go. Easy breezy.
"Especially considering Hope might also be a target as well." Speaking of, she frowns. "Which direction was the beast heading in? Do you know?"
no subject
"It was in Europe. I do not believe it had an easy or fast way to travel as I came here without trouble once I escaped it. Your niece should be safe for the time being at least."
But ultimately, this monster would threaten her as well simply for being what it is, wanting what it does.
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Either way, it'd be a rather solid meal between it and where they are now. She'll call Alaric after she and Aleksander are done here.
"Though we'll likely get to it first, I'm sure."
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When he sets the glass down once more, he lifts his dark gaze toward her. There's a soft smile then despite his otherwise frazzled appearance. He escaped. The monster is still out there, and he will not be settled until what threatens witches has been killed, but he can relax. somewhat.
"Are you truly so confident?"
no subject
When Freya sets her mind to something, she intends to see it done. There is no option for failure, because failure means that she clearly hadn't tried hard enough. It's not a healthy mindset by any sense of the word, but she knows herself and she knows her skills.
Not many things have tried to come up against her and lived.
"I prefer to focus on the goal rather than the what-if's."
no subject
He nods then after a moment, stepping away from the wall he'd found himself on to walk closer to her.
"It is a smart way to focus. The what-ifs can make a person lost in them. Rather grim-determination than total despair."
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Though she can't say the what ifs don't sneak up on occasion. Sometimes in the heat of a bad time in New Orleans, she can be paralyzed with the possibilities, especially when she truly experiences how bad things are. But that's not a problem for now. That's a problem for future Freya to worry about.
She smirks as he comes closer before straightening to meet his gaze.
"Perhaps our best course of action is setting a trap."
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"I like the way you think. If we set an effective trap, we may be able to get the jump on the monster."
Instead of being surprised by it, overwhelmed by it. He prefers being a step ahead.
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She pauses for a moment, taking stock of the spells she has in her mind. "I do have a spell for neutralizing magic in a given space. Do you think that could set a boundary to keep it trapped?"
no subject
He truly knows so little of the beast. He was surprised by it, escaped from it as soon as he could.
"I believe it is an intelligent idea- a step in the right direction if nothing else. We should try it." There is a more lengthy pause then, because he means to say something else, something important- He rests a hand over her own briefly. "Thank you, Freya." for her help, for believing him without question.
no subject
She can't say that she's surprised creatures like this have been appearing. With what she's heard about the things coming out of Malivore, it makes sense that something that eats magic would be on it's to-eat list.
"There have been a lot of strange creatures appearing these days. It wastes less time if we avoid the skepticism. And you certainly aren't one to jump to conclusions in that respect."