Episode: 5.6

--- Ashlynn Thorne ---

She paused, before setting a glowing blue bullet back on her workstation and taking off her glasses as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

(This is why I do my actual research at home.)

She gave her bullet one last glance, before running her hands over the Spell Circuit she’d carved into the desk, tracing the various formulae that pieced each code together and making sure they hadn’t been damaged by whatever mess Bruiser was causing, because while carving a Spell Circuit into an object made it reusable, it also made the extremely fragile while in use.

She took note of every color and every texture of the magic in front of her, the duality of Magic Sense granting her greater detail of the spell work even if it made her incapable of processing the more complex magics in the world.

(Everything lines up.)

With the sanctity of her work confirmed, she turned and threw open her office door before marching to the nearest officer she could find.

“What happened?” She asked, stopping one of her men.

The man, Kowalski, saluted her. “Agent Bruiser, brought a Creep through the man office, and the thing nearly escaped before the intervention of Aiden Caine.”

She blinked.

(Aiden ‘s here?)

Then she caught the first half of the report and began to rub the bridge of her nose.

(That fucking idiot.)

“And where exactly is agent Bruiser?”

“He and Aiden Caine are currently relocating the Creep down into the holding cells, Ma’am.”

“I see…” She nodded, as several ways to skin an Orkin flashed through her mind. “Carry on.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Kowalski nodded back to her, before continuing on his way, if a little faster than before.

Rolling her shoulders, she turned towards the stairs leading down to the holding cells.

(Right, time to go see how many bullets an Orkin Bruiser can walk off.)

After a few steps she noticed something that made her pause. Not even ten steps away there was a confused looking young girl standing by herself.

She glanced around the office wondering why a kid no older than thirteen was alone in the middle of a Sanctuary station and noted that no one seemed to even notice the girl.

Sighing to herself, she turned away from cleaning up whatever mess Bruiser was responsible for and made her way to the girl.

“You know, it’s rare to see a kid just standing there in the middle of the station.”

The brown-haired girl jumped in shock, before turning to face her. After taking a moment to calm herself down, the girl gave her a once over, particularly focusing on the contracts written on her arms. “Rare to see a cop with so much ink.”

Ignoring the oddly standoffish attitude from a kid so young, since she was more than used to seeing similar attitudes in the more street-smart kids she occasionally dealt with. Still, she decided it wouldn’t hurt to explain to the kid. (After all, “An answer for an answer.”.) “They’re Contractor Marks, they represent my connection to the spirits I’ve contracted and can summon.”

(Corvo…)

She twirled her fingers as she pushed a little magic and intent into the mark of a black bird on her right arm. The mark rippled and blurred traveling down her arm and over her fingers before leaping into the air and congealing together in swirl of black smoke, as they shifted into the form of a black crow.

The crow glanced around before turning to gaze at her for a moment.

[Query] (?)

She nodded to the girl, to answer the unspoken question the crow had sent through their Contract Connection.

The crow, Corvo, puffed up and preened itself, as he realized he had an audience.

After a moment, Corvo leapt into the air performing a series of aerial acrobatics around the girl’s head, always happy to entertain children, even if his skillset fell far outside of the given job.

[Satisfaction] (“That’s enough.”)

With a disappointed huff at having his fun cut short, the crow spun in the air before divebombing her hand and erupting once more into black smoke just before the two could come into contact, leaving the smoke to ripple down her arm before retaking its former shape in black ink.

All the while, the girl watched the display with more curiosity than the usual awe her little trick inspired in the kids who saw it.

“So, you’re… an Arcane?” The girl finally asked in a tone that wasn’t very impressed.

“Yes.” She nodded, hiding her disappointment at the girl’s lack of a reaction.

(Maybe she’s the daughter of an Arcane.)

“And you… work for Sanctuary?” The girl asked suspiciously.

She just barely managed to resist the urge to roll her eyes, knowing full well that everyone who thought of Sanctuary as a racist organization itself had that same question, regardless of their opinion on Deviants.

“Despite what most people seem to believe, several Sanctuary branches are in fact pro-Deviant.” She explained as calmly as she could.

The girl stared at her for a moment with a shrewd look, one she thought oddly familiar. “Just not all.”

“No, not all.” She confirmed, beginning to get a little irritated with the girl’s… attitude.

They were both silent for a moment, and she was considering leaving the girl to be someone else’s problem. The only reason she didn’t was because one of the Scanner-drones the higher ups demanded they leave floating around began to (annoyingly) beep as it drifted closer to her.

“Residual Mana detected…”

(Not this again…)

She was tempted to just shoot the machine, since she couldn’t do the same to the (idiots) that seemed incapable of realizing that the drones would give continuous false positives so long as there was an Arcane in the office.

“Magic usage authorized by Captain Thorne; bypass code 4-1-7-9-3.” She told the drone, for likely the third time that day alone.

“Bypass code accepted.” The drone beeped before flying away as she glared at it.

“You know,” The girl began as she eyed the drone. “I’ve always wondered how people detect this ‘Arcane Spark’ everyone is always talking about.”

She raised her hand to show off her Index Ring, a silver band binding a blue gem, and quite possible the most complicated Spell Circuit she owned. (Then again, Index Rings are probably the most complicated Spell Circuit anyone owns.)

“This is an Index Ring; it is a series of Spell Codes interacting in such a way that they are capable of accessing and projecting information from an external Spell Engine that functions as a database.”

“So, it’s a magical computer?” The twelve-year-old summarized.

“Yes.” She admitted with a thin smile. “Except the Index Rings have been fairly common in the Arcane community since the late seventies.”

“The first computer was made during world war one.” The (petulant) girl pointed out.

“The Arcane database the ring connects to, is closer to the internet. Which wasn’t publicly available until the nineties.” She explained to (not argued with) the twelve-year-old.

Coughing into her hand, she continued. “Anyway, thanks to the ring, people were able to figure out that magic is mostly detectable and learned how to mimic the effects with machinery.”

The girl looked thoughtful for a moment, before asking, “Out of curiosity, how long have magic and technology been in an arms race?”

She rolled her eyes, though there was a slight grin, remembering how many times she’d asked her papa something ‘out of curiosity’. “They’re not, they just tend to… inspire each other to greater heights.”

“You mean they’re trying to one-up each other.” The girl argued.

And she couldn’t help but smirk at that response.

(It’s like teaching an Arcane child, getting sidetracked at every little detail, and wanting to argue every point so they can learn everything they can…)

She paused before giving the brown-haired girl a considering look.

(Now, there’s a thought.)

“You know… you have the right attitude for an Arcane…” She began, pretending to examine her Index Ring. “If you want, I can scan you to find out if you’re an Arcane.”

The girl watched her for a moment with just a touch of suspicion. “Are there any side effects?”

She gave a huff of amusement. “These are probably the most used Arcane Artifacts in the entire association, we practically give away the base models to newcomers, and it’s not uncommon for an Arcane to use their own on themselves at least once or twice a day.”

The girl glanced at her ring and then at her. “And what exactly do I have to do to find out if I’m an Arcane?”

“For a full scan, I just have to put the ring within an inch of your skin.” She explained offering her hand palm up so the girl could decide whether or not to take it.

The girl stared at her hand for a moment before ever so cautiously taking her hand, with a hopeful gleam in her eye.

She couldn’t help but smile at that, remembering something her papa once said back when she was so excited to learn whatever she could about magic.

(“Every kid wants to believe in magic, and we live in world where it’s proven to exist, so why wouldn’t she be excited to learn it herself?”)

Pushing a bit of her magic into her ring, she focused on the trigger word, (Scan.) before feeling an ever so slight drain on her magic as the ring’s Spell Circuit got to work.

Scanning…

Name: Unknown

Age: (Approx.) 12 years

Species: Human

MP: 108 / 108

MP-Regen: (Approx.) 1 / 5 min.

Traits:

(???): Unknown Trait Detected

Attribute Affinities:

Fire: (C ) Concrete: (D) Air: (E+) Ice: (E+) Shadow: (E+)

Skill Affinities:

None Detected

She froze as soon as she read, ‘Unknown Trait detected.’ She’d only come across that trait twice in her life, and both times were situations where she would’ve been better off putting a bullet in the person’s head before their shit spread to everyone else.

Without even realizing she’d moved, she felt metal in her hand, her stance just hiding the gun from view as she pretended to read the girl’s Scan.

She had enough clout for her work stopping criminal Deviants, and pursuing better rights for the rest, that few people would actually ask any questions if she shot the kid. Hell, they’d probably applaud her once she explained why she took the shot.

The only problem was, she wasn’t sure she had it in her to shoot a kid, especially one who might not even understand why they had to die.

“There you are.” She jumped at the voice, and nearly drew her gun, at least until she realized who had spoken.

“Aiden…” She unintentionally ground out, as she forced herself to calm down.

The hunter watched her with a curious gaze, an underlying edge to it as he watched her, knowing full well she’d almost drawn her gun and shot him. Something that would’ve led to a fight, one that could’ve leveled half the building depending on what kind of mood Aiden was in.

“Thorne.” Aiden nodded, something about his tone putting her on edge. “I see you’ve met, Ember.”

“Ember?” She repeated, her face scrunching up in confusion.

“Yo.” The twelve-year-old waved nonchalantly.

“Yeah, she’s…” Aiden paused as if trying to figure out the proper term, “my ward, I guess…”

She was suddenly very glad she didn’t draw her gun.

“Your ward?” She tried cautiously, while crossing her arms to make sure she didn’t accidentally reach for her gun again.

Aiden nodded. “I’m supposed to take care of her for the next while due to…” he glanced at the girl who’d tensed, “familial issues.”

She nodded, understanding that the girl, Ember, didn’t want him elaborating.

“That said.” She caught the return of the burning edge in his tone. “If you don’t mind me asking, what were you doing a moment ago?”

With the way he made sure to glance at the gun at her hip, she knew what he was really asking. (“Why were you about to shoot the kid?”)

“She saw one of my Contracts, she seemed interested in the Arcane, so I decided to give her an Arcane scan just in case.” She answered honestly, if not wholly.

Aiden nodded, as he licked his teeth, a habit he usually covered with his smoking, one that meant he was fully ready to break someone’s kneecaps and start a fire. “And the results?”

(Better to keep being honest… for the most part.)

“She has the spark.” She admitted, earning an excited look from the girl, even as Aiden narrowed his eyes.

“Any interesting affinities?” (“or traits?”) was the unspoken addendum.

“C rank Fire,” She paused as Aiden shifted at that. (Curious.)

Deciding to note that for later she continued. “A mid D rank for Concrete which probably explains why the kid is so street smart. She’s also got a few high Es, but nothing really worth worrying about there.”

While it was never nice seeing a kid so young with Shadows or Ice, they weren’t actually a problem unless a kid had a mid D rank affinity for them, at that point there was usually an actual problem that needed to be addressed.

“Wait, did you say ‘Concrete’?” Ember cut in, effectively giving her reason for a shift in topic. “Shouldn’t that be stone?”

“They’re relative affinities.” She began explaining, the same way she would for the newer Arcane recruits. “They have a lot of overlap but there are certain points where they differ significantly. The easiest way to think of it is that Concrete is a version of Stone that’s stronger in cities, but weaker outside of them. Regardless of location however, most Stone spell formulae should work with minimal adjustments. That said, the reverse might not work out as well for a Stone user trying to manipulate Concrete.”

“The same thing happens with Water and Ice affinities.” Aiden threw in his own bit of wisdom. “Water can still manipulate Ice, but Ice can’t manipulate water, because conceptually ice is still water, but water isn’t ice. Concrete is made of stone, but stone is not itself concrete. Arcane magic has a lot of fine print like that you can abuse if you’re looking for it.”

She nodded, mildly impressed. (And people wonder why I call him to deal with the more unpredictable Arcane, rather than sending my own men.)

“You’re an Arcane too?” Ember asked with a touch of surprise.

Aiden frowned, scratching at his neck, likely feening for a cigarette since he wasn’t allowed to smoke in her station. “No, I know enough to be considered a D rank Practitioner, but I don’t have the spark myself.”

She snorted. “Don’t undersell yourself, you could easily qualify as a C rank if you applied for the tests.”

Aiden shook his head. “No, you need to be able to redirect magic to qualify for C rank.”

She frowned because that was a condition for the C rank Practitioner’s license, and the few times she’d seen Aiden attempt it, he damn near blew his own hands off. “Shame.”

(Might want to see if I can pull a few strings with the Association, the next time I have to seriously piss him off.)

Aiden shrugged. “That’s life.”

She nodded, accepting his statement for what it was, before realizing something.

“Usually you don’t bother coming around here unless you have business, were you just showing… Ember the station, or was they’re something else?”

“Right.” Aiden grimaced, while scratching at his neck. “I was just passing through to see if you had any Hunter’s jobs on the board?”

(Must be rent time.)

“Give me a moment, I’m sure I can find something for you to do.” She assured him as she started making her way to a nearby incident board.

Despite Aiden’s reluctance to ask for help finding a job, she had no problem asking for help solving hers, because while she had plenty of staff to work with, they just weren’t particularly good staff for all of the jobs that needed doing. Namely anything that didn’t revolve around shooting at whatever creature was trying to tear its way through a Rift.

Her hand paused over a report as a number of words caught her attention.

(Disappearances… Strange sounds… Creeping presence…)

She glanced around the board noticing a number of similar reports in the same area, before nodding.

(That’ll work.)

With practiced ease she took the reports off the board, and stuffed them into a folder she swiped from one of her subordinates’ desks, before making her way back to Aiden.

“Now, this is an unconfirmed case, so I can’t pay you in advance, but there’s enough reports that if you can comeback with proof of completion then I should be able to work something out.”

Aiden accepted the file and shifted through a few of the reports, before nodding as he closed the folder. “Alright, I’ll have it taken care of by lunch.”

She glanced at the girl watching them with an Arcane’s curiosity. “What about her?”

Not that she was particularly worried about the girl's health, given how she was with Aiden Caine of all people.

Aiden glanced at Ember and smirked.

“Haven’t you heard, it’s ‘take your kid to work’ day.”