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[center][h2]Featuring… [@Indy Cooper] as The Salamander[/h2]

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[b]Time: Afternoon - Present Day
Location: Berenice’s Nest - Carver (Outside Lost Haven)[/b]

Carefully The Alchemyst listened to Salamander, with the end of her staff she hooked the strings against the crystal lifting it up for inspection. Her staff hummed in the palms of her hands against his little creation. Charlie decided Carrie would be able to help her figure out what it [i]really[/i] is.

“[color=honeydew]Thanks I guess.[/color]” She said squinting at the odd little contraption. “[color=honeydew]I actually don’t rely on technology to detect magic, I uh- usually play it by ear. If something feels weird then I trust my instincts.[/color]”

Charlie was convinced he really could do nothing to change Berenice back but she wholly believed trying to would only make things worse, she said as much. “[color=honeydew]I understand that there is little on Earth that can’t be broken down to it’s basics, but I think trying to do that with Berry would just mess her up more.[/color]”

Her right thumb glided across some smoothed copper knot in her staff, “[color=honeydew]I believe you when you say you want to get this ex apprentice of yours off the streets, then why did you destroy his book? With more time I could have figured out what other tricks he had up his sleeve, like being able to survive the magical equivalent to a bomb.[/color]” Charlie paced over to a tree to lean against, “[color=honeydew]Shit’s not adding up with what you say and do, Sally-Man.[/color]”

While challenging Salamander in any way seemed to send prickles across her skin, that brief glimpse of [i]something[/i] when he spoke of Sebastian was setting off red flags.

“Studying that book would only have set it’s dark little seeds into your mind, [i]girl.[/i] I have seen more over my natural lifespan than you will forget over yours. Do not presume that just because [i]you[/i] don’t understand a thing, that makes it a lie.” His beard, already a thicket of iron grey and silver, began to bristle out in consternation as he jutted his chin out in irritation. His eyes flashed again, and this time, they stayed long enough to clearly be those of a blackbird, before he closed them and sighed. The trees around them rustled their leaves slightly with the motion. 

“I understand your concerns, youngling. But studying Sebastian the way you mention will only lead to catastrophe for you and yours. Best to excise him from the world, quickly, cleanly, if necessarily [i]with extreme prejudice[/i], than to try and understand what he has become. His illusions may very well be better than mind, and he knows the human psyche well.”

His eyes went pitch, the whites vanishing in a flash of irritation. Not exactly a naturally [i]human[/i] reaction. She glared at [i]youngling[/i] and [i]girl[/i]. Speaking down to her, not using her name. It was rubbing her raw. Before her temper flared she latched onto Sebastian,  Salamander’s note of illusion magic. That would be really tricky but if he was good at messing with the mind, what was watching her a few minutes ago?

He studied her face for a moment, noting the slight fearful tension, but well masked by bravado. His face lightened considerably. “It is tiring, I must admit, to be suspect all the time, but I admire your resilience. So let’s play a game!” He folded his arms, grinning. “It is a very simple game, one I have played many, [i]many[/i] times, all over the world. All you have to do to win is to guess my name.”

Charlie scoffed. She replied a tad sarcastically, “[color=honeydew]Must be tiring to be stuck dealing with this goddamn youth, all this unadulterated energy and rebellion.[/color]” She took a short breath in through her nose, curiosity winning.

“[color=honeydew]Alright I’m game. Do I get any hints?[/color]”

“Hmmm. Hints would make it a bit easy, but I suppose your brass has earned you...two.” He stroked his beard thoughtfully, then held up one finger on his right hand.

“One, I am not originally human.” Another finger went up. “And two, I have friends and relatives on every continent excepting Antarctica. Any more than that and it would be no challenge at all, I’m afraid.” He winked at her, appearing for an instant much more youthful, with high cheekbones and deeply tanned skin. The visage was so quickly gone it could have just been a wash of dirt over his face.

She watched him and saw the flashes of change. 

[i][color=honeydew]Knew it.[/color][/i]

She rubbed at some grit on her chin, then crouched down to the ground. Working through the riddle off of the two clues. His nickname was given and not chosen, wasn’t originally human to Charlie it must of meant he was some sort of animal or spirit? Carrie rambled about deities, demigods, and great spirits before. Charlie suddenly regretted not listening to those stories more closely. She studied his clothing more closely, noting feathers were worked well into his tools. The staff he had, the magic detector dreamcatcher...

His eyes seemed pitch twice before, reminding her of a pigeon but closer to a bird of prey than a fat shitter. She wondered idly how much he’d appreciate being likened to a pigeon, possibly about as much as she liked being called youngling. The common theme she remembered from Carrie’s stories was that these spirits were [i]old[/i], older than a lot of cultures. She stood back up, running her fingers through the dreamcatcher again. Then tapped the heel of her hand against her forehead. 

He looked Native American briefly, she wished she had seen him like that longer to properly observe. Antarctica was only discovered in… She squeezed her eyes shut trying to remember basic history dates. 1840? 1820? Somewhere around there, she decided and there haven’t been any true discoveries of human inhabitation of it. Charlie still had no indication of a name, he had clues of being a bird but it really gave no concrete conclusions.

She was silent as the minutes passed while she thought, “[color=honeydew]Brainteaser, all I figure is you must be some sort of… spirit? You’re old, really old. Humans haven’t inhabited Antarctica, while there is evidence of humans everywhere else. Salamander was given as a name, not chosen.[/color]” 

She huffed, a strand of hair flying up. “[color=honeydew]You’re probably connected to some Native American culture but hell if I know that is here in North America or someplace else. You’re obviously connected to some bird, all I can remember was the Coyote...[/color]” She felt she was grasping at straws staring at the dreamcatcher. “[color=honeydew]The Coyote was a- a Trickster? Or was it the spirit that created life?[/color]”

“[color=honeydew]Yeah I give up.[/color]”

“Hahaha! Very good, this is all good information. You may even yet make it! Don’t give up, that ruins the fun.” He turned his head to glance up at the hill, where Berenice could be spotted through the trees, probably tying something to one of her treasure lines. “Tell you what, you have until I leave town to guess. If you get it right, I will grant you a favour. You also get three questions from me that I will answer. In return for these rules in your favour, though,” his head turned back to Charlie, and his smile as he did so seemed almost childlike, but also eerily malicious. “You only get [i]one[/i] guess.”

His right hand gestured in the air idly as he spoke. “I will guess that I will be here at most two weeks, though that may change, given how difficult it might be to kill Sebastian or teach the siren. So think hard, eh?”

Finally that little bit of praise got a smile out of Charlie, she glanced away mumbling, “[color=honeydew]Thanks, I’ll- uh, I’ll start thinking of some good questions.[/color]”

Pretending to fiddle with the dreamcatcher again, she asked. “[color=honeydew]So, I was going to ask before the brainteaser. You said Sebastian is into illusions and obviously necromancy.[/color]” She rolled her hand in the direction of the cottage. “[color=honeydew]Would have he have left behind an invisible watcher to keep an eye on Berry while he was away? Or was that yours?[/color]”

She stalked past him drawing a line in the ground between the edge of the forest and the field. “[color=honeydew]Soon as I crossed into the woods the feeling of being watched was gone. I hope it was yours, ‘cause whatever it was must’ve overheard my conversation with my family. I want to keep Sebastian as far away from them as possible. Especially if he’s stalking around Lost Haven.[/color]”

She peered over her shoulder at him, “[color=honeydew]I’ll be straight with ya’ Salamander. I want to stick around and help Berry. Helping you get rid of Sebastian will be hitting two birds with one stone. I know Lost Haven like the back of my hand, all the abandoned areas and spots where someone would disappear off the grid.[/color]”

The old man’s face hardened immediately, all traces of humour gone in an instant. “I do not use watchers, nor would I need one this close to where I am,” he said, voice full of concern. “As long as you mentioned no locations, it should be fine, but I would operate under the assumption you are being followed. It was probably Sebastian’s work, scouting his old laboratory.” His face creased into a frown, and it was several moments before he spoke again.

“Likely, if it has ceased watching you, it has gone back to report to him about the happenings here. He would likely suspect I would track him down eventually, but if it did [i]not[/i] see me, which we can only hope to be so fortunate, he won’t have become nearly as defensive as he might otherwise. If it [i]has[/i] spotted me, my task will have become that much more difficult.” He glanced at Charlie. “As is yours. You don’t happen to have any way of tracking down whatever it was, do you? Knowing my apprentice, it will be something physical, even if you can’t see it with your own eyes.”

She pursed her lips, “[color=honeydew]’Friad you’d say that. I mentioned to my family I was going to talk to a sorcerer who knew Sebastian, didn’t use your name. If he’s not an idiot he’ll prepare for anyone.[/color]” Charlie admitted. “[color=honeydew]I don’t really have the means to track magic objects, I mean I noticed it was watching me…[/color]” 

She tapped her chin in thought, “[color=honeydew]If it’s a physical object, I can find it rooting around the cottage using this thing you gave me. You stay here while I go looking for it. The less the bastard knows the better.[/color]” She stood up suddenly grasping the dreamcatcher in her hand unhooking it from her staff. “[color=honeydew]I’ll have Berry leave while I look so she doesn’t set this thing off.[/color]”

“[color=honeydew]If all this thing can do is watch then it’ll have to watch while I ruin it’s day.[/color]” She grinned winking. She shuffled her mask up over her nose, set her hood up, adjusted the goggles over her eyes. Pulled on her gloves. “[color=honeydew]Nothin’ stays hidden forever.[/color]”

Fiddling with the radio on her hip she turned it up really loud, she found she worked best with some background noise, she spoke over it. “[color=honeydew]By the by, Salamander. The name isn’t Girl or Youngling. It’s Charlie. Now off I go to do arguably the most normal thing I’m probably going to do all day.[/color]”

The old man snickered. “If following invisible things around the coast of Maine trying to track down a necromancer to help protect magically created sirens is your idea of anything even close to [i]normal[/i], Miss Charles, then I may want to leave this town sooner than I thought. You know where to find me if you should need me. And if you come up with a good question.” With that, he sat back down and settled into the nook of tree roots he had been disturbed from and closed his eyes, for all the world looking like just an old man taking a nap in the woods. Excepting the sword, of course.