[X] Tell him your real name.
-[X] Lean close and whisper it, last thing you want is anything else hearing you. Make a note to look into altering records of your name, not in a big way, but just an extra letter or two to make sure any enemy learning it that way will miss pronounce it. Ask the old man how he'd go about it while he's here.
I planning on adding stuff to the wiki, how do you if I add in mafia or cartel type gang to the worldbuilding? How about the city's own superhero team?
[X] Tell him your real name.
-[X] Drag him away of the the possible fairy spy tree to somewhere else?
-[X] Lean close and whisper it, last thing you want is anything else hearing you. Make a note to look into altering records of your name, not in a big way, but just an extra letter or two to make sure any enemy learning it that way will miss pronounce it. Ask the old man how he'd go about it while he's here.
I planning on adding stuff to the wiki, how do you if I add in mafia or cartel type gang to the worldbuilding? How about the city's own superhero team?
-[X] Lean close and whisper it, last thing you want is anything else hearing you. Make a note to look into altering records of your name, not in a big way, but just an extra letter or two to make sure any enemy learning it that way will miss pronounce it. Ask the old man how he'd go about it while he's here.
-[X] Lean close and whisper it, last thing you want is anything else hearing you. Make a note to look into altering records of your name, not in a big way, but just an extra letter or two to make sure any enemy learning it that way will miss pronounce it. Ask the old man how he'd go about it while he's here.
[X] Tell him your real name.
-[X] Drag him away of the the possible fairy spy tree to somewhere else?
-[X] Lean close and whisper it, last thing you want is anything else hearing you. Make a note to look into altering records of your name, not in a big way, but just an extra letter or two to make sure any enemy learning it that way will miss pronounce it. Ask the old man how he'd go about it while he's here.
-[X] Lean close and whisper it, last thing you want is anything else hearing you. Make a note to look into altering records of your name, not in a big way, but just an extra letter or two to make sure any enemy learning it that way will miss pronounce it. Ask the old man how he'd go about it while he's here. No. of Votes: 6
"Ciara. My name is Ciara O'Deorain." You told him your real name, leaning close to whisper it. The last thing you wanted was anything else to hear you.
"O'Deorain." The Englishman murmured the name, rolling it over his tongue thoughtfully. "In its original Gaelic form, it's O Deoradhain, derived from the term 'Deoradh,' which signifies an exile or an outcast apostle."
"But why would one of the Tuatha Dé Danann be an apostle?" you questioned, furrowing your brow. His explanation had only served to deepen the mystery of your lineage.
"Who can say?" The Englishman merely shrugged, his eyes gleaming with amusement at your confusion. "Perhaps they defied Danu, choosing to remain in our world while the rest of their tribe departed for Tír na nÓg. Or perhaps they committed some other transgression that resulted in their exile."
A memory stirred, a fragment of your grandmother's diary you had once skimmed over.
"My grandmother referred to the term 'Apostle' in her writings," you recalled. "I think it was in the context of a fairytale, a tale of forbidden love between a human poet and a fairy princess."
"A princess from the royal family of the Tuatha Dé Danann falling in love with a human." He mused aloud, processing the information. "I think I understand how you came to have your faerie blood."
"Danu called her daughter to come with her to Tír na nÓg." You murmured, the last pieces of the puzzle locking into place. "But she disobeyed, choosing to remain with her human lover, sacrificing her immortality in the process."
"Becoming an Apostle." The Englishman's voice was a soft echo, completing your thought.
"I think I have found my superhero alias." You decided to honor the faerie princess who had sacrificed everything for love, your long-forgotten ancestor whose faerie blood still flowed in your veins. "Apostle."
"Not bad, kid." The Englishman chuckled, a soft, rare sound. "Better than America-Man or Iron Crusader, at least."
"You still haven't given me your name." You reminded him pointedly.
"I was counting on you forgetting that detail." His feigned despair didn't fool you. "You may call me Jack."
"That's not your real name, is it?" You narrowed your eyes, the name sounded fabricated, too mundane for a man shrouded in mystery.
"What were expecting?" 'Jack' responded with a derisive snort. "Something weird and unpronounceable? Occultists in real life aren't like the wizards you might've met in fantasy books, kid. My parents expected me to be a regular bloke, thus they christened me a regular name, not something weird like 'Merlin' or 'Gandalf'."
"Fair enough," you conceded, making a mental note to look into altering records of your name, not in a big way, but just an extra letter or two to make sure any enemy learning it that way would mispronounce it.
"So, if I wanted to, you know, change my name or tweak it a bit for protection, how would I go about it?" You then inquired, looking sideways at 'Jack,' the corners of your mouth curving upward into a faint smile. "Considering you're an expert in the occult and all."
"Interested in the art of misdirection, are we?" Jack chuckled, his gaze fixating on the smoky tendrils spiraling from his half-smoked cigarette. "Simple mispronunciations won't cut it, kid. There's an innate power to names, especially 'true names'. If an entity knows your true name, altering a letter or two won't deter them. To change your name, you have to change the essence of what it represents, change its nature entirely."
"Sounds complicated," you muttered.
"Indeed. It's not like changing your name legally or adopting a pseudonym. It's more like forging a new identity, creating a new you, imbued with its own essence and power," Jack explained, drawing another long drag from his cigarette before exhaling a puff of smoke, which swirled and danced into intricate patterns in the night breeze. "It's almost like… like splitting your soul into two."
"Like a Horcrux?" You chuckled at your own jest, but Jack's stoic silence wiped the grin off your face. "You're kidding, right?"
"Not exactly like a Horcrux, but yes, there's a splitting, a separation," Jack clarified, his eyes bearing into yours. "And with separation comes vulnerability. It's a delicate process. If you're not careful, if you don't balance the scales just right, you might end up losing yourself. And not just metaphorically."
A chill ran down your spine as you considered the ramifications. Being a superhero was already proving to be a dangerous business. You had no intention of further complicating things by potentially losing yourself in the process.
"I think I'll stick with my own name then," you decided, forcing a chuckle to mask your unease. "Thanks for the advice, though."
"Perhaps for the best." Jack shrugged. "Remember, kid, sometimes the simplest way to hide is in plain sight."
You nodded, absorbing his words. Hide in plain sight. You had always been the 'girl-next-door,' the 'good friend,' and the 'responsible employee.' Now, you could add 'fairy-blooded magic user,' 'wannabe superhero,' and 'student of the occult' to that list. And somehow, you had to find a way to reconcile these contrasting identities.
"I hope you're ready for what's ahead, Apostle," Jack said, putting out his cigarette and crushing it under his heel. "Learning the ropes of magic is never easy."
"I'm ready," you answered, steeling yourself for whatever lay ahead. You were Apostle – a descendant of the Tuatha Dé Danann – and you were going to be the hero Annwyn City so desperately needed.
"Very well, then," Jack said, glancing at the ancient, leather-bound tome in your hand. "What do you want to learn?"
[] You want to be able to choose what you summon.
[] You want greater control over the entities you summon.
[] You want to summon multiple entities at the same time.
[] You want the summoned entities to remain longer than an hour.
[] You want to summon more than three entities per day.
[] Write-in.
[X] You want greater control over the entities you summon.
This is what we need rigth now.
Because people went with the most powerfull but hard to control units.
[X] You want to be able to choose what you summon.
With that we can choose those who have a good balance between power and control for our protection, like the Gallant Knight. And with that we can invoke Constatine later to learn control over the most powerful (and dangerous) ones.
I really want to know the Knight's backstory and if he knows he's going to be serving a real fairy princess.
And how the hell does a modern kid owe something to be invoked by us and what the hell is he going to be useful for (besides a kinda normal friend to talk to).
