Storm and Stillness
17th of October 2006 A.D.
Do I trust the woman in front of you, all five feet of professional aplomb and human candor? Knowing what you do about what she's done, understanding 'why' with arcane insight it is easy to say 'yes', you do so with a light heart. Special Investigations should know when monsters are in town, even monsters too powerful for them to fight or else they might get caught in the crossfire. In fact you consider making them the same offer you made Olivia.
The one universal gift of awakening the shadow self is being harder to hurt and that is definitely something Detective Murphy and her colleagues could use if they keep looking under bridges for trolls, but looking ahead to how much of your time is already spoken for... that's not a pledge you can make even generally. Not to mention that I should probably see how the binding works before I try it on strangers with little cause to take advice from a teenage girl. They can't all be as stubborn as their boss, but that is a hell of a high bar.
So you bid her farewell, glad that you had settled things amiably. Judging from her handshake in parting you guess she feels the same. It's an odd thought but you guess that makes sense, you make a hell of a contact for someone in her line of work,
***
18th of October 2006 A.D.
The next day's a Friday, though when the final bell sounds you do not exactly rush out the door thinking of all the parties and dates you are going to have tonight. When was the last time I was even on a date? Too depressing to think about, you decide. In any case you are going to take your lame self over to Brother Divsimar's place and... learn how to brew tea.
That actually sounds a lot less impressive than it is. For people bereft of the wizard's ability to feel magic and unable to tap into external power it is pretty amazing that the shih learned how to not only deduce the minute external signs of imbalance but to assign to each one a remedy along dozens of different scales, all without poisoning the patient. So you pack up your alchemy books, courtesy of Bob and a collection of kettles and pots made from various metals and in all different styles all set to learn how to balance chi
It's raining buckets when you arrive in Hyde Park, the gutters clogged and windows above tightly shuttered against the storm, but even with the sound of thunder in your ears you can't miss who else is there. There crouching his shoulders in a battered black raincoat is J, looking... better then when you had last seen him though not by much.
As soon as he sees you he seems to shrink into himself even more.
"Hi," you flash a smile, not knowing what else to say. Somehow you do not think asking the man if he is still considered legally dead is polite.
"Hello, are you going to see Brother Divsimar... I'm... that is..."
Once both of you are out of the rain a bit of coaxing reveals that he is here to learn from the aged monk just as you are, his lessons the same ones you seek, though he is not looking to go beyond balancing the spirit. It seems that the nearness of death that was eating at him, the one that had seen him made a pawn of the akuma is... Yin imbalance, constant by the nature of his connection to Tuzi, hard to treat, but by no means impossible.
You do not know if you should be shouting at the man or congratulating him, though in the end you settle on the latter out of respect for Brother Divsimar's neighbors.
He explains that both he and Tuzi
owe you and they are ready to fulfill that debt so long as it is within their power to do so. "She'd be here herself only you know cats and rain..." The joke is kind of weak, but as he waves disarmingly towards the mini-deluge outside you get an inkling of what the senri had seen in him.
"Use the debt as leverage to persuade him to join the Order of the Cauldron, Sublime Queen of Endless Night," Usum offers as you work to grind and seep tea leaves, leaving you momentarily bewildered, before adding.
"For his own protection..." Which just makes you confused in an entirely new way before he finishes:
"It is that those of lesser stature gain what mastery they can over their paltry powers and are not consumed. I have observed this, so I offer counsel. May they serve you well."
Not exactly how you would have put it, but it works, though you are not sure how much the suggestion does. Having been founded by three women the Order of the Cauldron is still not entirely comfortable accepting men, though if it were just that you would probably go ahead anyway. Men or women the minor practitioners of Chicago need to stick together, but as you had found J is... not the most reliable person. Should you make him Anna's responsibility? If you don't is he just going to end up yours again?
[] Suggest that J join the Order of the Cauldron and vouch for him
[] Say nothing, he can handle himself
[] Write in
OOC: No rolls in this one since Molly has not finished her learning yet. 
