((We think this is fantasy, although it is based in modern times, just with the return of Magic. Please move it if you find this placing inappropriate))

"Persinia" a gruff voice called.

There was no way she was answering.

"Persinia" he called again.

Nope, not a word. Not one gosh diggity darn word.

"Persiniaaaaaa" he persisted.

"WHAT?!" she shouted in angry response, her fists hitting the table in frustration.

"Do finish cataloging those by four today" the gross old man replied smugly. He sat at his desk on the far side of the room reading some sort of nasty magazine, "we're closing up shop a bit early."

"Fine" the woman replied, looking back down at her work. She had to open all these crates, document and catalog each item upon arrival for the new Egyptian exhibit at the ROM. The amulet in front of her was a beautiful golden disk, little larger than a toonie with a pure black gem in the center. She touched the Gem, it moved slightly and she swore under her breath. Had she accidentally hit it when she slammed the table?

"What's that?" her boss asked loudly.

"Nothing Mr. Jowles" Persinia replied with as calm a tone as possible. The gem had come loose, and she tried not to panic but these things were ancient! Priceless! Maybe if her good-for-nothing boss actually did his job instead of getting someone else to do it this wouldn't be happening but as it was, she was going to get into so much damned trouble for this! ~I can't lose this job~ she thought to herself anxiously, ~I can barely pay for my apartment as it is...~ her eyes turned to the document page she was writing in, ~... it came that way... it must have been damaged in the transport process... yeah, that'll work.~ she swallowed hard and hastily wrote down the information before packing it gently away again and moving on to the next artifact.

The city hummed a drone of tires and sang the morning's tune of sirens and honking. The dark-eyed boy surveyed the streets from across the steering wheel. Eglington St. was clear for now. He picked up speed, debating for the fourth time whether to drive to the Sticky Buns Bakery. Just for breakfast. Something sweet.

Right. The beep of his Bluetooth put that thought from his mind. Jed sighed, tucking his brown hair behind his ears before punching in.

"Beck Taxi."

"Need a lift from 29 Hawthorne. Faster would be better."

Yeah, you and everyone else. "Be right there."

Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, Jed's eyes were drawn to a billboard for a museum exhibition. "Power of the Ancients". He didn't read the words. An amulet, blackened pumice set with a blood-red jewel was rendered in the center of the ad. The ruby seemed to shift and change under his eyes, whispering like storm-clouds.

"HEY! BUDDY!" The chorus of at least ten car horns jolted Jed back to his senses. Two blocks of traffic at the intersection. He shook his head, and continued the drive downtown. It was going to be a long time before lunch.

Persinia, she hated that name. What had her parents been thinking? Who names a child Persinia? You can't even shorten it to something cool, Percy-a boy name, Sinia, Sin, she hated them all. She would much rather be known for her passion which, as it was, stood far from the museum. She loved birds and was studying to become a falconeer-a lost art in her eyes. For years now the mocha skinned woman had adopted the nickname Talon. It had been a joke at first among her friends but Persinia liked it so much she kept it.

As for this job, well the only reason she was working at the museum was because she needed a job and through a friend of her aunt, managed to land one here.

With a sigh she brushed back her straight dark hair, it had red highlights streaked through it although you could hardly tell with it tied back at the moment. Moving on to the next display item it caught her eye in a peculiar way. The gem was bluer than the ocean and just as deep. She touched it gingerly with her gloved hands, completely mesmerized by it.

((Would you like to describe Kiya's entrance?))

To return out of nothingness- it was nothing like waking from a long sleep. It was as if for the longest time, one had been drowning without noticing. That simple shifting of fingers through cotton was like a gasp of the freshest Nile air. For a moment Kiya simply reveled in the sensation of consciousness. Then, expanding her awareness, she reached out to the soul whose touch had awakened her.

She could recognize instantly the noble blood that flowed in the woman's veins. This girl was a direct heir to the line of Pharaohs- her line. Recalling the frantic instructions of the high priest, she called out strange words in the ancient tongue. The spell acted as a siren call, drawing the woman to touch a bare finger to its ocean jewel.

She was so close that resistance was not an option. Like a wave breaking on the seashore, Kiya's spirit flowed into the other woman, causing a slight tremor to pass through her body.

Once inside, Kiya could see open spaces, fields and forests converging to an organic labyrinth. Within the mind-scape she flew upwards to get a better view.

Well, this is all shades of strange, Kiya noted some sort of strange structure in the distance. The skyscrapers and monuments were entirely foreign. Shaking her head, she cleared her throat to make her presence known.

"Kiya, daughter of Senuset. Princess of the Nile," her melodic voice rang clearly in the maze of the woman's mind, "I have returned from centuries of sleep to preserve the legacy of my fathers, and restore to the world of Ra the blessing of magic."

Talon yelped and drew back, thankful that her so-called boss had gone off to the bathroom. "Who's there? Where are you?" she looked frantically around the room.

"It might be best for you to calm yourself, and close your eyes," Kiya maintained a regal, yet serene tone, "Visualize where you are most at home. I will be there."

She took in a deep breath, "Okay Talon" she talked to herself, "You're just hearing voices, no big deal. Go to your happy place, happy plaacceeee" she swallowed, picturing herself in a park that had been near where she grew up. That's where she had seen her first hawk.

The landscape around Kiya shimmered, revealing a small park. A single bird-call shrieked in the sky. She could see the tall, black haired woman just ahead of her. Her skin had a darker tinge than those of her lineage. Kiya pursed her lips. No matter.

She approached the young woman slowly, her linen trailing elegantly behind, "Hello. I believe you said your name to be Talon?"

"Woah... what is going on?" Talon looked around the park and then stared at Kiya, "... yeah... Did I accidentally get into the restoration chemicals?"

"I am not entirely sure what is meant by chemicals..." she paused, "My name is Kiya, as aforementioned. You may excuse my rather rude invasion into what is no doubt your personal domain. However, given my circumstances, I feel this may have been necessary. I am a Princess by birth, and thus hold the abilities granted by Bast. You are my heir, Talon of..." she faltered slightly, "Where, exactly are we?"

Talon stared at Kiya, looking her over long and hard, "... Toronto" she replied, approaching cautiously and giving Kiya a good hard poke, "hm.... persistent hallucination..."

Kiya shrunk back from the sudden contact "Hallucination? Oh, no, Talon of Toronto," the alliteration rolled over her tongue, "You have been gifted with the gods by magic. Perhaps a demonstration, if you would allow me just a moment of liberty with your physical form?"

"... sure, where's the harm in that?" Talon replied sarcastically with an eye roll. Regardless, she did take a step back to let Kiya in.

((We can do a little time skip anytime you want, have Talon finally believe all this and move on to Malum))

(( Just going to mess with her a little bit))

Kiya extended tendrils of consciousness to the boundaries of Talon's fingertips. She flexed them lightly.

It felt good to be alive again.

The garments on Talon's lithe body clung strangely as Kiya stepped out of the dimly lit room. She could sense a feline presence somewhere in this strange maze of curios. Passing through a strange menagerie of insects, she came to an exhibit where a large tiger was housed behind glass. She whispered a few words in an ancient tongue. The tiger stood, pressing itself up against the glass, and Kiya stared with wonder and this airy, yet seemingly solid substance.

Perhaps magic has not left the world after all... she mused, then remembered that her body was not in fact her own. She murmered a few words to open the sensory pathways such that both she and Talon could see the tiger's adoring gaze.

((The concept of 'work' hasn't really been gone over with Kiya yet...))

"Woah" Talon stared at the Tiger, "uh oh, you'd better put that thing back! It's part of the exhibit!"

Kiya whispered a few words and the tiger backed down. She retreated to the shimmering headspace of the park.
"Thank you. And now, I believe I require your help. There is a legacy thousands of years in the making, waiting to be reborn..."

((Okay, timeskip can happen now! :D ))

Talon listened, and although it was all completely insane it was very hard to ignore, so it would seem she had little choice but to go along with it. Plus, Kiya did seem nice enough.

About a week or two later the Egyptian exhibit was finally up and running and the rest of the talismans were out in display together, all except the one that Talon had accidentally and secretly broken. That was off being restored to the best of others abilities.



((Idea. What if when the other person is in control, it's their appearance that gets recorded on cameras?))

((Good plan! Do you want to give Malum a character intro now, or after contact?))

((After contact me thinks))

It was the evening in the basement of Sticky Buns. The three friends were together again, John with a beer, Melissa sipping a glass of wine (she liked to pretend playing pool was some degree of boheme-classy) and Jed simply with a cue. They were arguing again.

"Alright, alright, I'll break," Jed leaned over the green felt, cue in hand. John always gave him a hard time about the way he shot, but damn it if no one else wanted to start. Melissa went up next. Of course, Jed loved pool because of the occasional time Melissa would lean over the pool cue, her tight jeans showing off that gorgeous ass.

She glared at him, naturally. He looked away, trying not to blush. Then, he caught sight of a brochure on her coffee table. The selfsame ruby jewel stared back at him.

"Hey guys, uh," Jed spoke without meaning to, "I think I know what we're going to do tomorrow. Let's check out that Egypt exhibit. You know, the one at the museum."

He was met with two incredulous stares.


"What?"

((Okay, I wasn't sure if you wanted to fill in with Melissa (Her name's Melissa, right?) at this point, but I think we talked about this?))

((Yeah, I can take Melissa, at least for now. We can switch it up later if need be))

"Let me get this straight" Melissa rested the end of her pool cue on the floor, leaning against it like a staff, "You, the least cultured man on earth, wants to go to a museum?"

"Look, I just want to, okay? I feel like it's important," Jed glared at her, "Is that a crime? Maybe we'll look at the section with the naked Greek statues too, for John. And for me."

He hesitated to spin the cueball off the red solid, knocking it straight into the pocket.

"We can go just for a bit in the afternoons. Then hit the bar scene, whatever you guys want. But I wanna go to the ROM."

"Oh no, by all means" Melissa replied, holding her hands up in surrender, "It's just the last thing I expected to hear from you. I'm all for it, I've been dying to see that exhibit since it was announced two weeks ago."

"If I had known that, then I would have made it a date," Jed grinned lopsidedly at her, only half-joking.

"And make me the third wheel between you and John? I think not" Melissa quipped back, taking her turn at the pool table, "Meet at the museum at noon tomorrow?"