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Max had had his fair share of strange things happen to him within his short lifetime. Between the mystic puzzle box that turned out to be a containment unit for the immortal Selene, to well…just about everything else in his life. He thought he'd seen it all. So when he'd used his mutation to teleport from place to place in an effort to strengthen his abilities with it, he hadn't expected to pick something up along the way. He didn't realize it at first, figuring something had just shifted in his pockets and was poking him the wrong way. But when Max had went to fix the problem, he felt an unfamiliar object press against his hand.

When he pulled it out, he saw it was a necklace similar to Strange’s. The Eye of Agamotto, only, it looked slightly different. It even felt different. Having been the Sorcerer Supreme for a moment and having wielded the Eye of Agamotto, he knew its mystic energy and felt its being. But this…this was different somehow. If he went to Strange now, then he'd either task him with figuring out what it is on his own, or take the amulet and lock it up for the greater good. Max didn't know which was worse. But there were other wizards he could turn too, others who dabbled in magic and contained knowledge of mysticism. So he turned to Neil, going towards his bedroom door and knocking on it softly. [Color=aba400]”Hey, Neil, you in there?”[/color] 

Neil was in their room, reading through a weathered tome - a religious text that had been handed down through their family for generations, each newborn child receiving a copy. There were things within that they didn't agree with - cruelties and atrocities, things that Neil had been raised to perceive as normal. But ever since the asteroid, when they had questioned their view of their self, they had started to question everything, even the basic rites they had carried out without question since childhood. 

They glanced up at the knock, and quickly crossed the room, opening the door slightly, a blush sprayed across their cheeks - [color=12ABB0]"Max! Um, how can I... what's up?"[/color]

Max noticed the rose colored tinge on Neil's cheeks, his eyes subconsciously looking past him into the room, wondering if they were with another. [Color=aba400]"Oh...I, uh, am I interrupting something? I can go. If you...um, like"[/color] He said awkwardly as he motioned towards Neil's room

Neil stumbled backwards for a moment, almost tripping over nothing - or their own legs. They were considerably taller than they had been before, and sometimes, finding that center of gravity was still a challenge. [color=12ABB0]"No, nothing at all - I was, uh…”[/color] they hesitated. Max probably wouldn’t approve of their family’s beliefs and practices - it would be like revealing that they worshipped Shar. [color=12ABB0]"... reading.”[/color]

[Color=aba400]”Oh. Perfect. I uh, found something on one of my journeys and was hoping maybe you could help me figure it out. I don't exactly have any real leads on it, save for another relic that appears to look similar but not identical. Aside from that…I'm not even really sure how I acquired it.”[/color] Max took one step forward towards the tumbling Neil, stopping just short of the threshold. [Color=aba400]”Can…I come in? Or would you prefer my room? Or?...”[/color] He let the question cling in the air.

Neil’s face was positively crimson. An ancient wizard wanted to come into [i]their[/i] room? They were so flustered that they stepped to the side, not considering that their family’s religious text was simply lying there on the bed in plain sight. All they could think about was the fact that Max wanted [i]their[/i] help - with some sort of ancient artifact found on his travels. Neil didn’t feel qualified at all, but they nodded anyways. [color=12ABB0]"Uh, sure, I can…. I can take a look at it. I’m not… Yeah. So… What is it?”[/color]

Max made his way into their room. Trying to look for a place to sit, while also taking the chance to take in the environment. Noticing any decorations that Neil may have put up until his eyes finally fell onto the book Neil had been reading, splayed open on the bed from where he'd left off. [Color=aba400]”No idea. Best I can tell so far is that it appears to look like The Eye of Agamotto. One of Strange's relics out of the hundreds housed within the walls of the various Sanctums. But I haven't seen anything like this one before.”[/color] He circled his way towards Neil's bed, finally sitting down at one edge of his near the ancient texts, pulling out the relic from his coat pocket and placing it softly onto an open space in the sheets. [Color=aba400]”You read Latin? How's your Sanskrit?”[/color]

Most of the room’s decorations were drawings - either digital or done with pencil. There were wolves and moons, but predominantly, sketches of Dungeons and Dragons characters - characters from the campaign that Neil was running for their friends in the mansion. But for the most part, the room was dimly lit - shadows were cast onto every surface, making the finer details of the drawings hard to see.  [color=12ABB0]”You… you have something of the Sorcerer Supreme’s?”[/color] Neil asked, surprised - why was Max coming to them and not just asking his colleague? 

Their eyes widened though as Max spotted the book, and Neil quickly grabbed it and shut it.  [color=12ABB0]”Sorry that’s… That’s personal. And I um, I can’t read Latin. Or Sanskrit,”[/color] they explained, flustered, as they put the book into a drawer and shut it. 

[Color=aba400]”Oh…I uh, I see.”[/color] He didn't mean to snoop, well he did, but not onto personal matters. He recognized the letterings,, the patterns in the words that allowed him to glimpse its origin without truly haven't read what any of it said. [Color=aba400]”I didn't mean to pry, just naturally drawn to books. Especially ones that look as though they hold older knowledge.”[/color] Max answered as he shifted slightly in Neil's bed. [Color=aba400]”But back to the matters at hand, it isn't Strange’s. I've known his amulet for some time. Could feel it's pull and connection from my time as Sorcerer Supreme, but this feels…different. It's the same feeling as walking into a room where everything has been displaced a mere inch to the right. Never knowing why you feel like something is off until it is revealed.”[/color]

Max let the analogy linger in the air for Neil to chew on for a moment. He grabbed the amulet once more, running his finger across the smooth cold metallic surface of it before holding it out to Neil. [Color=aba400]”Well, the no Latin and Sanskrit does put a bit of a dent in my idea to raid the Ancient Texts within the vault and tackling them together. But that also means I'm saving myself from an earful from the guardian of those same texts so…it works out. Think you can gleam anything from this? Or perhaps we can just find out by messing with it.”[/color]

Neil hesitated, before accepting the amulet. They turned it over slowly in their hands, feeling the groves wrought both by intention and by time. They weren’t magical like the rest of the family - nothing innate dwelled within their bones. But they had been around enough magic to recognize the buzz of it, the feel. And there was magic within the artefact for sure. However, telling that to Max would be embarrassing - Max already [i]knew[/i] that the amulet was magic. [color=12ABB0]”Um, where did you… where did you get this from then? Any information you have on it would help.”[/color] 

They were wondering if perhaps they could discreetly text their cousin - perhaps she could do some spell on the artifact from a distance and text Neil back what to say?

[Color=aba400]”That's one of the mysteries surrounding this thing. It just sort of…appeared. I was practicing with my second mutation, something akin to Nightcrawlers teleportations, when suddenly as I came out of my teleport I felt a weight inside my coat. I reached in and…well that was there.”[/color] Max had no further information than that on how this item came to be. He was just as puzzled as Neil was, even if he didn't show it as much.

Neil paused, tilting the amulet from side to side. When Max explained how the amulet had suddenly appeared, it reminded them of an old children’s tale their aunties had told them and their cousin as children - about a mystical amulet that could reveal the truth. It was something that would appear suddenly without notice or explanation, and disappear one day just as quickly. If this amulet were the one from the stories… Neil peered into it, calming their mind. 

And then a single word popped into their head. 

A name.

[color=12ABB0]”Does the name [i]Avery[/i] mean anything to you?”[/color] Neil asked.

Max had laid down on Neil's bed, pulling out a pen from his pocket and balancing it on his nose as he watched Neil focus intently on the amulet. [Color=aba400]”Avery? No, not really. Why? Should it?”[/color] He said, sitting up as he flicked the pen into the air and caught it in one hand. Watching Neil closely as he interacted with the amulet. He held out his hand, wondering if the item would speak the name to him as well.

[color=12ABB0]”My aunties told a story about an amulet like this - one that is supposed to reveal the truth when you gaze into it,”[/color] Neil explained. [color=12ABB0]”If you quiet your mind, it’ll whisper it to you… And it said ‘Avery.’”[/color]

[Color=aba400]”The truth? To what? Is this like the number 42 thing. Some grand cosmic ideal that we aren't meant to comprehend?”[/color] Max ran his fingers through his hair, trying to piece together the things that Neil had said. [Color=aba400]”Does…the name Avery…mean anything to [i]you?[/i]”[/color] Maybe this was more of a personal truth? To be honest he was grasping at straws. 

Neil hesitated for a moment, considering it. The name Avery didn’t mean anything to them - they didn’t know an Avery, didn’t know anyone who went by that name. There was no reason for it to have shown up in the amulet, unless… Perhaps Avery didn’t mean anything to them [i]yet[/i], but it did [i]now[/i]. 

They whispered the name again in their mind, mentally tilting and rotating it, getting an idea for the feel. 

Avery Spellman. 

It didn’t sound half bad. 

[color=12ABB0]”Actually… It does,”[/color] they said, smiling slightly to themself. [color=12ABB0]”It’s my name.”[/color]