The Witching Hour: Two's a Couple... (Arc/Lani; language)

The people of Montana seemed to be rather fond of their fish; everything in the area the Witch found herself in was named after the local Flathead: the lake, the reservation, the forest. Honestly, she was beginning to wonder if the fish would gain some sort of complex from the fact, were they smart enough to do so. She didn't quite know why she was surprised by this, or really why it was that she was trekking through the national forest like some tourist. Afterall, even with her hood, it was several pains in the ass for her to blend in, even in Death City. Halloween would be easy as pie; she could pass her horns off as part of a costume. Actually, if she felt like it, she could just opt towards being a little devil. It would be fitting. Still, it was perhaps the most discreet way of her getting to the lake in question, what with the fact that it was a tad bit easier to travel freely in the forest.... at least when she could fly a little. So what if she used a walking stick in place of a broom? The witch community could sue her; she didn't much care. She had her own reasons for being here, and everyone else could fuck off. There were legends of a monster here, something possibly kin to the monster of Loch Ness. It was an opportunity that she couldn't pass up. With her Soul Protect in place, she set about wandering, ignoring the fact that still smelt faintly like a reptile from her previous transformation. Really, she didn't want to transform into a chameleon again just to feign invisibility.

At a certain point, somewhere where the woods met the lake in a rather secluded spot away from any places where other people might commonly visit, resonated the sound of a flute. It echoed in the trees from rather far away, though not far enough to be heard by anyone outside of the forest. It got louder, rather logically, the closer you got to it. It was normal up until then. What was strange, was the change in the wind that could be felt anywhere the upbeat music touched; any witch or sorcerer would know at once it wasn't natural and many besides those too. The breeze it produced was calm and gentle along the ground, pleasant even, but it moved the leaves and branches of the trees more vigorously. It was like the wind was trying to add to the music, to be the backing to the notes coming from what seemed to be towards the water.

At the source of the music was the sorcerer Jay, enjoying some time alone and relatively far away from the noise and bustle of any large town or city. Alone is the only times that anyone would get to hear Jay playing the flute he had received in the will of the man he would call his saviour, friend and teacher. He sat in a clearing, in the middle of which was a stump cut from a rather large tree, which in some time past was likely the reason the clearing existed now. Nothing else would be able to get much light, there. Still, he sat on the stump, cross-legged, looking out over the lake. Probably reminiscing about someone or other that showed the sight to him, long ago. Only the most dire of circumstances could interrupt him in the middle of a piece, though he wouldn't start another if anyone were to find him.

Anime music on the flute, because it sounds nice.:

The sound was comfortingly melodic to the witch. In the midst of far too many animal forms, her hearing had a way of not suffering below human hearing, only excelling. In that, she discovered the sound before she possibly should have, and pinpointed it's source to possess some sort of magic rather quickly. That brought forth an internal debate; she could investigate the monster, on her own, or she could go to the magic-user now and see how things went from there. After some thought, she redirected her path to cross the other's. Her day just got more interesting.

It just so happened that, as the person whom Jay didn't know entered within the clearing he began playing what would be the final chorus of the piece if it were a song, the wind swirling around him, lifting him into a standing position. Jay could feel in the wind that this person hand been approaching for a short while now, and turned himself towards them, the lack of any malicious intent obviously evident. Eyes closed now, and smiling, he was listening to what he was playing as much as anyone who was hearing it. He really did enjoy playing and listening to the flute. It brought back so many memories for him, memories of people who would forever be nothing but mere memories. Ah, but these memories helped him to feel less lonely when alone. Still, as the music neared its end, Jay gave one last flourish before bowing deeply in the direction of the new arrival, deftly placing the flute deep into the quiver filled with feathers at his waist. The wind died down rather quickly, returning back to what was natural.

"It's a beautiful day, is it not? I do love it here." He said, turning on his heel away again. "My name is Jay. Just Jay." He introduced himself, but didn't ask for a name in return.

She clapped gently, working against her expression to not make the gesture seem sarcastic. The witch was not one to show much expression, especially on her face. Her voice showed more feeling than her face or body language ever did, which worked against someone when it came to first impressions. "You play beautifully." The witch spoke, her voice melodic and earnest. "Talent combined with magic --- it's enchanting."

"Thank you very much. If only you could hear the one that taught me..." Jay said, hopping off of the stump and gently landing down on the ground, almost silently. Following a short walk around the circumference to be facing the person who found him again, he sat down on the edge one more. "Few notice that part, though I don't hide it. You're a magic user, too, I presume?"

Phoebe pulled the hood off of her head, taking care to not catch it on her horns as she revealed them. "Witch, specifically, but yes." She answered him, offering a slight smile, only noticeable if someone actually saw her transitioning to the gesture. "What brings you out here?"

"The great view, the memories I have and the relative solitude." Jay answered with another smile of his own, noticing the smile she gave rather easily. "And yourself?"

There was a shrugging gesture she made came more from her eyebrows than her shoulders. "Monster hunting." She said, honestly, gesturing down towards the lake, "Have you heard about it?" Phoebe asked him, studying him as she said the words. It was quite possible he'd stop her, though with all honesty, she wasn't sure what she was going to do if she found it.

"I see." Jay said, not really letting on about his stance towards such. "And, I can't say I have. Nor have I seen much like that out there, at least not that I can remember. That isn't to say that something like that isn't out there." He said, looking back over his shoulder. "I can see some fish, but not much of any monster."

Phoebe nodded towards the lake, the slightest expression of such perhaps anyone had ever seen. "There's an urban legend... local myth, whatever you prefer to call it, about a creature that's supposed to be similar to Loch Ness or some sort of snake... or eel." She cast her own gaze out towards the waters, wondering if she could find it. "Some monster stories are true. I thought I would check this one out for myself."

"That sounds like a... Distraction." Jay said, wondering for a short time about his word choice. "I haven't done anything to... take care... of the Sway, recently. Want help?" He asked.

She blinked a single, pointed time, her face shifting, brows knitting as she thought it over. The fellow magic user seemed rather peaceful so it didn't make much sense that he'd be willing to go after a potentially dangerous creature. Of course, the Pull of Magic was nothing to fuck with and that was reason enough to understand his motives. "If you want." Phoebe held out a hand before introducing herself, first name alone.

Jay stood up again as he shook her hand, with a short nod. "Nice to meet you." He said after he let go. "Do you happen to have any kind of plan to smoke such a creature out, so to say?"

"Different ideas, but mostly I want to explore, to... 'play the tourist,' if you will. In all honesty, I only need to be able to use Soul Perception on the lake to try to find it.... but actually going after it will have to wait until after nightfall when people have already been kicked out." She glanced towards the lake again before refocusing on him. "Capturing it is going to be a... fun endeavor, but that's assuming it's worth catch. If it exists, it could merely be peaceful, it might not even be particularly intelligent."

"That would be boring." Jay said, thinking for a moment. "I'll put my Soul Protect up. I'm in garb and you've got horns. Either one of us is an obvious witch and sorcerer, not that it's a problem for me, but if we walk around together we'll just seem like some pair of weirdos. If we're asking about a monster in the lake, then hiding in plain sight will be even easier."

Phoebe worked her hood back up and over her horns, hiding them as best she could. She'd need the very end of the month to come even sooner for her to be able to truly hide in plain sight. "So, act like we're crazy?" She asked, amusement leaking into her voice and expression. Her hip cocked a bit, her brow slightly raised as she studied him. A partner wouldn't be a bad thing, especially not another magic-user. Vivian, afterall, busy catching up on her own studies and had no interest in the recon mission, not that Phoebe minded. No one dared mess with her partner, and it was easier for her to use her magic without having to explain herself to the Axe.

"Yes, basically. If you want to keep hidden, then that's one way to do so, don't you think?" Jay said, nodding once when confirming. "I usually don't hide, however, so I'm no expert." He continued with a shrug as he put his Soul Protect up and turned to walk off into the forest, or rather stroll, as seemed to be the case with his arms behind his back and the relaxed way he was doing the walking.

She took to following after him, pulling him a notebook from her back and beginning to jot things in scribbled, hurried writing based on what she'd been able to uncover about the beast before arriving. It would help for later; she could just pull the notebook out and continue whenever they spoke to anyone else. "You have a cool head on your shoulders." She said, casually walking along, seeming to be using him as a bit of a guide while she kept her face in the notebook. "I can pull off 'eccentric' if you can just... well, act normal."

"I'm not that strange a case, am I?" Jay joked, mostly trying to give a wide birth to any tripping hazards, while trying to see if there happened to be any people along the edge of the barely-visible coast, such as fishermen, at the same time. He figured the people who would know most about a legend such as a monster in the lake would probably be the fishermen, or at least the local ones.

She let her lip pull up a slight bit at his tone, but it returned to a neutral line soon after, "If you remain perfectly calm while I'm comparatively... unstable, it will not only make me seem crazier, but you seem crazy for putting up with it as though it's normal." Phoebe offered a quick wink, lifting her head finally. There were now sketches spread haphazardly across the page, with various notes scribbled between. At the top, "Loch Ness???" was circled insistently and then X'ed out even more so.

Jay, being the curious type at times, looked over his shoulder at what Phoebe had been writing. Didn't take long for him to look away again, to keep looking around. "You can read that?"

A quick, sharp shrug followed, "Only because I wrote it, and even then it's... fuzzy." They were getting closer, now, so she chose to punctuate the words with an obnoxious, almost shrill laugh, something that died down like a shaken hyena before resting in silence. Another wink was shot towards him, though her expression and posture quickly changed. Whereas before she had managed to be almost refined, she now hunched over the notebook almost possessively, and her eyes seemed more wild, a thin veil of insanity placed almost overtop of the coldness that had been there before. It was perhaps too chilling. She thought about tuning it down.

That was unexpected. Jay almost let himself be taken aback by the almost perfect show that Phoebe was putting on. Had he not seen her acting normal, he would have been fooled. Still, her performance meant that acting normal for him, would be a performance too. Still, he could pull it off easily. He let himself become a little more casual, and a lot less proud. Just a guy looking like this obsessive person next to him was the most normal thing in the world. "That's damn good." He said, quietly, just before they would be clearly visible to any potential onlookers.

"You learn a thing or two when you have to hide, or blend in, especially when you have horns." She seemed almost thoughtful for a moment; somehow, in a world where monsters, witches, and people turning into weapons was normal, seeing someone with horns still made people assume demons were at work. That was the trade-of, though. Phoebe had an arsenal array of varying spell sets, but she could never look truly human.