Hunting for Trouble ((For magpiemythos))

[eumenis]

Arrangements are made quickly and decisively, which is Furiosa's usual style of command. She needs only two days to get a car set up for her and Loki to scout the desert in search of Max. If he can be found, they'll find him. If he's alive and in trouble, then she has all the other volunteers to help.

It's just, she feels she has to start with magic, since she has no leads at all other than the spot he left the Citadel from six months ago, and the handful of bits and pieces he leaves behind when he goes.

When Loki arrives at the Citadel for the expedition, Furiosa has an old car radio, a scrap of leather, and a book of poetry sitting on the workbench in the garages. She shows her the items at once, right after exchanging greetings and offering her her choice of firearms and spare canteens from their armory.

"These are the last things he left behind," she explains. "We got the radio working, off and on. The leather's from his jacket sleeve, and he brought the book for me. Any of that help?"

Comments

[magpiemythos]

The world is generally a big place, so Loki can understand how daunting it is to track someone, especially after so long a lead time. Furiosa's right on the money that magic is the best way to get a start on it, and hopefully her friend isn't in as much trouble as she might fear. But from what she's said, it seems he's all but a magnet for trouble so it's likely he'll need a hand.

Loki seems unaffected by wearing her usual when she shows up, but that's what a simple cooling spell will do. The coat is simply too useful to leave off for comfort when travelling unfriendly territory after all. And while she turns down the gun, she'll accept the canteen. It's easy enough to go without for quite a bit longer than any human, but it won't do anything good for her own focus and it'll keep Furiosa from worrying.

"The book'll be good to start with. I can use it to whip up a bloodhound charm, but that's only really good longer distance. Bring along the leather and we can use that when we start closing in for something a little more specific." Intent in all things. The book had been a gift so would be a good way to forge a link between Furiosa and Max that would get them going the right way. A magic game of Hot or Cold. And picking up the book, a thread of magic fed in told her there was enough intent left to make it work, which was a good sign.

[eumenis]

Max is a peculiar person. Loki will notice, if she ever meets him. There is something of the Mythic that clings to him, as if he's more than just a man in a bad situation, but he's forgotten that. The Wasteland itself has something of that kind of not-quite-magic about it, too, as if the Apocalypse killed time and weakened logic to the point where it limps along on three legs, like a wounded animal.

"He found it in a library that had been under the sands for years," Furiosa says fondly, picking up the book and holding it out to Loki. She's read it, and while she hopes it'll survive whatever magic Loki needs to do do it, if not? It's a fair price to get Max back.

She pockets the leather. "The place we're in used to be Australia, before the world fell. Not sure if that helps you to know or not. We think we've pinpointed where we are on old-world maps."

[magpiemythos]

It's a strange place, without a doubt. Something about it crawls under her skin not in a negative way but just in a way of like meeting like. As if this place was bound together and altogether composed of stories and tales, held together by the logic of epics and legends rather than reality and science.

"An enterprising sort, it sounds like." Luckily for Furiosa, the book will only suffer a little indignity- Loki made sure the careful strips she took from several pages with the edge of a small knife didn't cut in past the margins. Not exactly pretty, but the words were intact. A few of the bits rolled up and tucked away for if she needed to repeat the spell, as she fished out a small wax paper-wrapped bundle of palm heart slicing off a small chunk.

"That'll help once we're out there. This specific spell is more concerned with the distance between you and Max, but anything else will be a bit more situational." A quick poke of a hole through the white chunk, and the thin strip of paper was rolled even more tightly so it fit inside, before she was tying it together with a thin silvery thread. Once she seemed satisfied with it, she passed the little bundle to Furiosa. "Down the hatch. Chew if you have to, but it'll last longer if you can swallow it whole."

Luckily it wasn't overly large, but Loki wasn't the one eating it. "You'll feel a bit of a tingle and then a tugging. Like a thread tied on your ribs. Nothing too big or painful but we'll be following that."

[eumenis]

"Who, Max?" She smiles, a little bit fondly. "He's a crazy smeg, is what he is. You first meet him, he looks like he's afraid of everything, and maybe he is, but when he decides to do something he's unstoppable."

She watches Loki cut slivers from the pages, relieved not to have to sacrifice too much of the material. She's never seen palm heart before and eyes it with just as much curiosity as Loki's actions. It reminds her of sugar cane, which they grow here, and she's not the least bit worried about eating it. The pages within are a little less palatable, but she accepts it with only a raised eyebrow and a glance at the other woman as if to say 'I'm trusting you'.

She pops it in her mouth and swallows it whole, the way she would a bug she doesn't want to taste, and chases it with a little sip of water. "How long will it last?"

[magpiemythos]

"Sometimes fear is a good place. Not far from fear to 'fuck it, yolo' as the kids say." She can see that affection in Furiosa, both glad because it seems this place was hard, and thus friendships are all the more precious, and because it will help to make the spell more effective. It doesn't work as well if you don't want to be around the person you're seeking after all.

Luckily it's only one small strip per spell. Not too much paper to try and digest, Loki waiting patiently, with no offense taken at the sideways glance. Magic or no, it was nuts to trust without even that little bit of balking. But Furiosa was eminently practical, which served well enough here.

"About six to eight hours or so. Stomach acids tends to wreck it, but I've got a few more strips and palm heart, so there's no trouble refreshing the spell." Sure enough, Furiosa would start to feel the tingle of energy like Loki had talked about, the light tug. Like a string tied to her being tugged lightly.

This way!

[eumenis]

"...yolo?" Furiosa repeats, mystified. She hasn't heard this one before, oddly enough, even if the sentiment is just a few degrees away from 'WITNESS ME'.

"All right," she says quietly when told the time they have. "Let's head for the car, then. It's already stocked. I'll drive, you direct."

It's just going to be the two of them this time, because Furiosa doesn't want to put anyone else at risk on what is essentially a scouting mission, which might stray into unfamiliar territory. The Council and Ace have their instructions, and Furiosa has calculated her fuel and supplies very carefully. They can be out for a week or more, if they ration well enough.

Before she's taken more than a step or two, she feels the tingle and the pull, and puts her hand over her midriff, finding it a little eerie. "Oof. Well. We're heading South, I think."

[magpiemythos]

"You only live once," Loki clarified, hands settled in her jacket pockets as they started towards the car. "Tends to be shorthand for throwing caution to the wind and taking a risk, whether for joy, anger, or spite."

Loki was good at living by that, if not for the fact that she didn't only live once. Being a mythoform was just weird at times.

When Furiosa pauses, Loki can guess what that's about, even without the hand moving to illustrate. "Just remember- the spell directs as the crow flies, so we'll have to find our own way around obstacles. The closer we get, the more the direction will 'wobble' and that's when we'll swap to a more specific tracking spell."

But she trusted Furiosa would know how to navigate. This was her world after all, who better to know the tricks of the place like a native?