[Sodium_noir] A saturday in Darktown

[eagandigh]

>Maurice, Goldie, Panic
>Serpent, Whore, Mage
>The Chaste Dragon
>
>
>"What?" Panic asked again, stalling while he thought. 
>
>It wasn't like it was the worlds best kept secret anyway. The 
>Talisman was gone, destroyed by the unlikely alliance, and its 
>powers passed on to another where it would remain safe. 
>
>"It was a Statue, a Rattlesnake made of Volcanic rock. A real 
>ancient statue that was worshipped in South America as far 
>back as the Olmec. Maybe even earlier. Sacrifices to Gods were 
>made in its presence and the statue, so the Ahua Can believed, 
>acted as a conduit for their devotion and as a bank vault for 
>their sacrifice. Sort of like the collection plate over at St 
>Bridget's only not so corrupt!"
>

Maurice smiled at Panic's jibe at the church. Olmec? Shmolmec, sounded
at least very old and Mexican. A relic of the fallen natives of this
land. The only name he could place at all was Aztec, and this reminded
him of bloody sacrifices and hearts burned. He needed to ask Antoine
about this, he usually knew such stuff.

>He lit another cigarette.
>
>"After a coupla thousand years of precisely carried out 
>sacrifice and adoration, the thing had collected a lot of 
>power. A lot of souls. Akril wanted that power to use as a 
>short cut, to make him a Mage. Sort of like magical spinach. 
>The Ahua can wanted it back. It was a religious item to them, 
>as important as an Icon or a statue of a Loa is to you. It was 
>stolen from them and their worshipers and so they came to 
>Gotham to get it back."
>

What an ass Akril had been. It was good he got busted. Trying to get
such power into his hands just to become a fucking mage. What a sorry
ass. No vision, no imagination. A hiss of agreement bubbled up from the
recesses of his mind. But he could understand the Ahua Can now. He would
have done the same if it had been an artifact of significance for the
loas. But then the loas were everywhere, they didn't limit themselves to
fancy brickwork. He wondered, which powers they worshipped. Could they
be secret allies, or degraded slaves to demonic entities. The images
brought up by Middle American natives suggested the latter. But then, it
wouldn't be the first time that someone fell prey to bad propaganda.
Well, if they were the first, he would need to reconsider his stance
toward them, if they were the latter it was just common compassion to
put them out of their misery.

>He takes a long draw.
>
>"Not that it matters now, because it's gone. Busted into tiny 
>little pieces and the power all used up. On that you can be sure!"

He wasn't sure that the boy wasn't too confident in his assessment. With
powerful toys such as these, using the power all up tended to be
difficult. Something always stayed behind. Something always would
survive, maybe transform or evolve. He remembered something taught to
him in school. Energy is never used up, it just took on a different
shape or form. Even scientists had found that out, as limited as their
understanding of the world was.

Maurice's phone rang. He looked at the beeping thing in annoyance.
"Ssorry, might be important." He said to Panic, taking the call. "Yess,
I am bussy right now. Make it quick and make it important." He hissed
into it. "Hi, it's Antoine. Don't know if it's important, but we got
word, that a fucking white asshole on a bike is driving through our
hood. Has a big sword on his back, like Blade or the Black Mamba. Well,
strike the last one, he isn't sneaky enough for that." Maurice raised an
eyebrow. "'ass ssiss mosserfucker done anyssing, except parading 'iss
asss about?" - "Apparently, he's just driving through." - "Well, tell
sse children to watch 'im. If 'e makess trouble, ssnatch 'im, sso I can
talk to 'im later. If not, don't bosser. Bye." He disconnected. He
looked up at Panic. "Sseemss like more and more people ssink of
ssemsselvess ass fucking 'eroess out of a Marvel comic. Firsst, ssiss
shiny pharao, now ssomeone iss imperssonating Blade, only 'e got sse
sskin colour wrong. What comess next, Batman?"

He leaned back, taking a big puff from his cigar. "About our original
topic. Ssat leavess two quesstionss. 'oo wass sso powerful to desstroy
ssat artifact? And what entitiess do sse Ahua Can revere?" He leaned
forward again. A thought coming to his mind. "Do ssey know ssat sseir
preciouss ssing 'ass been desstroyed?"

[Tags to the mindreader]