The Cult of Jennifer [Unfinished]

Jennifer

Jennifer appeared to be calm, but to the careful observer one would notice she kept playing with her charm bracelet.

Serafíne

Thursday morning.

Serafíne and Dan, quite true to their word, spent the remainder of that late night at the chantry and Sera didn't really sleep. If Jennifer paid any attention to the locus of Sera's resonance in the house, it was wholly centered around the hotspring.

Morning though - and rather an early morning for the Cultist and her consor - has her up and showered and dressed and sitting on the kitchen counter watching Dan as he cooks eggs to order and russles up pancakes or maybe waffles to go with for Elijah and Jennifer and himself.

Sera doesn't eat. She's fasting. In a few hours she will start a series of rituals that will -

- well, that comes later.

But there she is, lean and perhaps even sharp, with her half-shaved head and an old band t-shirt and combat boots and a leather jacket and fishnets and there's Dan in his crimson-colored skinny jeans and artfully mis-matched button-down flannel with a little bow-tie, and his tattoos and his blond beard and his familiar manner with Sera and his easy grin that encompasses her somehow entirely.

And how the morning goes and how it grows and how it feels really depends on one's tolerance for the antics of tattooed hipsters and perhaps for how one feels about high-churched episcopals because Sera has a goddamned potty-mouth but yes, she and Dan (in their conversion van full of remnants of old shows and music equipment that hasn't made the transition fully here or there and whatever) take Jennifer and perhaps Elijah all the way from Morrison to a very, very poor, rather tough, heavily hispanic neighborhood off Federal where they pull up outside a traditional looking church surrounded by a weedy asphalt tarmac (basketball courts; children's playground) surrounded by a chainlink fence and take them inside, right through the high-church sanctuary which feels like a blast of illuminating light, soaked with this brilliant and far-seeing resonance, and looks like a Catholic church but isn't. Pan's one of those Episcopals who is as Catholic as he can be, except for the sexism and homophobia. But listen: Mary is everywhere, and the stations of the cross. All the symbolism, all the soaked-in ritual.

--

There is an audience with the church administrator who does not approve of Sera and then a brief audience with the tall priest, who considers Jennifer thoughtfully and not-unkindly though perhaps still somehow with frightful thoroughness, and then Jennifer and Elijah (if he has joined them) are encouraged to leave and Serafíne and Father Echeverría are alone for a time, and then Sera comes back and picks up Dan and Jennifer and perhaps Elijah from the waiting area and they all troop back out through the church and back to the van where Dan climbs into the driver's seat and looks at Sera who has taken shotgun and curled up her long legs beneath her body and who in turn turns around to glance at Jennifer, taking her in.

Sera isn't a careful observer but she is so aware, so very aware.

"Pan says you're okay." Sera tells Jennifer, quiet. "But you and I need to have a really solid talk. We can go to my place, or we can drive to a park and find someplace where we can be alone. Whichever you feel more comfortable with."

Jennifer

"umm.... It is up to you, but Umm... I think Elijah has some test today and I don't want him to be late on account of me. Would you mind dropping him by his class and then... " Jen closes her eyes and takes a deep breath " then i trust you to take me wherever you deem appropriate Sera."

Serafíne

Sera's dark eyes are steady on Jennifer and she's half-peaking around the headrest, resting her chin on the shoulder of the bucket seat.

"Yeah okay," quiet, with a darting glance Elijah. "You shouldn't trust me though, you know? I mean, I am fucking trustworthy but I'm also a fucking stranger. We'll go to my place."

Dan already has the van in gear. They're pulling away from the curb. In the end, they end up dropping Elijah off at the Uni and swinging around through the leafy, mixed residential neighborhood of Cap Hill. Dan pulls up in front of a three+ story blond-brick home with a wide porch and an old maple tree in the front yard and a spreading oak in the back and a unicycle on the porch. An impression inside of a kind of creative chaos, though one expects that Jennifer does not have much of an eye for the decor in just this moment.

Sera's housemates are out, so they can take over the kitchen. Much as she did in the chantry, Sera takes a seat on the counter, here. Jennifer can sit wherever she likes. Dan puts the kettle on for tea.

"I'm gonna be honest with you, Jennifer. Some of the shit you said - and some of the shit you didn't say - last night really creeps me out. That's why I took you to Pan, and that's why I brought you here. So I'm gonna ask you more questions about shit. Your family and your community and what the hell happened to your folks, and you shouldn't try to hide or conceal any of it from me, because I'm a Disciple. I can read your thoughts, as you're thinking them.

"And I'm concerned about you, and also what you mean to us, to Elijah and other people that I love, that I need to know more. Some of the shit I say about people that you love and people that you care about and people that you miss is going to be right painful, and I'm sorry, and it's okay if you cry and it's okay if you hate me just a little. And I need to be honest with you, and I need you to be honest with me. Deal?"

Jennifer

Jennifer nods at Sera. "That explains how I upset you without realizing it last night. I trust you because I trust Elijah and he seems to respect and trust you. My past is sorted and confused. I am confused. I will answer to the best of my ability, but as you learned last night there are things I'm realizing that I don't know many things, but I will try to put your mind at ease. Elijah is my only friend other than the two letting me live in their condo. If you are his friend and you are worried about my impact on him I will do my best to help convince you that I mean him, nor any of the other... Mages any harm."

Jennifer kept fiddling with her charm bracelet trying to comfort herself . This was feeling like all the conversations the FBI and the police kept trying to have with her. At least not she was in a more comfortable location. She hopped Elijah was not too distracted to do well on his test. His late night boredom seemed to have gotten them both into trouble.

Serafíne

"Listen," Sera says, with a glimpse all aslant at Dan, who is quietly fiddling with the kettle, opening the cabinets maybe, getting down the tea tin. "I don't think that you mean us any harm. It's just that belief has power. Belief is the source of our power, and you seem to have come to us - Awake - from a religious community that brooks no doubt and no contrary views, that isolated itself from the world."

Here Dan quietly interrupts, with a lashed glance at Jennifer. "Crusades have been fought for less."

And Sera smiles, this hooked frame of a smile, and settles on Jennifer this glance.

"Were other people you lived with Awake? Your parents, maybe. Your dad, or your mom?"

Jennifer

"Well, My mom was.... I'm not sure the term here because I've apparently learned different jargon for Mage topics in some areas, but my dad was awakened and my mom was ... in between I guess, from a sleeper and awakened. She fell for my dad and they had me. My dad was the spiritual leader of the group and my mom was.... like the government part. Other people were awakened around the camp and some were in between like my mom. I was still very protected though from all of them in that my father taught me everything himself. He would always say stuff like the daughter of the leaders had to learn to be a leader from them. It was odd, but I have been groomed since my dad first felt my purity to increase it as much as possible. He said I was a miracle and that there was a goddess living within me and that she would be born on my 21st birthday. It is my understanding that the goddess within is how I have magic powers. Elijah brought me to the house because of the library, I have read many occult books, but I now think they may have been edited in some way and I want to gain further knowledge of the truth of things. I feel like my dad was hiding something from me... but I do not know what and I hope to find the answer in your Library. I have tried the Metro Library, but it is not very helpful with Occult topics and the librarians look at you very oddly if you ask them about those books.

That was a little more information than you asked, but I thought I would answer some of your potential questions. I do not remember all of the thoughts I had that night, but that is a basic overview of life before the FBI came. Life after the FBI has been on the news and would be easy for you to research. Though you were around the hot springs so I doubt you did; however Dan. " Jen nods politely in the direction. " probably had the chance and could have filled you in this morning."

Serafíne

"You didn't have contact with anyone outside your community, did you?" This is Dan. The kettle is starting to rattle and he is listening for the noise it makes just before the boil. That's how one makes the best tea. "The group was closed-up and closed down. Isolated. Controlled from above. Like the FLDS, with magic to make it more fucking interesting. I haven't looked it up online, but I will if that's easier for you."

He glances at Sera, who gives him a rather grave look back.

"Your father. You remembered that sometimes he would grab your arm too hard. Did he - " a thoughtful pause. " - ever do more than that? Hurt you, or other people?"

Jennifer

"well, sometimes new people came in to learn from my dad. Sometimes he would go to other places and speak, but he would always come back home and say he had missed me and I was his most important work! Every once in a while I would get to go to the nearest town... like Estas Park for my Birthday or a special trip. I was always escorted though. The first time I had ever been out on my own was the day I met Elijah. After coming here the cops or lawyers were always with me until mom's trial was over, then I was no longer their problem. I think they also gave up on my dad coming back for me, but i know he will. At least for my 21st Birthday in a few months to do the ritual, but we did not tell them about that. They were not very good at asking the right questions.

As to the hand print..... dad got very mad at me because he had asked me to let it go and I wasn't. He said I was going to damage my purity if i did not follow directions and that the goddess might be born unpure and rule the world poorly. Mom would usually calm him down, but dad did have a temper and we would just lock ourselves in a room he had made for us until he calmed down. He had put a silence over the area so we couldn't hear anything and it was protected from majik. As for what he did with his disciples.... I have no idea. I did realize while I was out with Elijah a few weeks ago that the Halloween celebrations I was never allowed to partake in were human sacrifices. I do not know if these people were willing, but John burnt his hand on the stove that day and when Elijah asked me about Halloween I placed the smell. I lost it in the middle of the art district and he just held me until I could gather myself. That is when I first started doubting in my father and what he said. I know it seems silly, but when I doubted when I was young the consequence was not worth any of the risks involved with challenging something he had said. " Jennifer let all of these words tumble out of her mouth with the least emotion manageable. She was focused on facts. She kept her calming breaths flowing throughout her dialogue to keep calm and keep the emotions down. This was hard for her as Sera had though it might be - telling a stranger so much about herself, her past, but she felt she had to do this for her only friend.

A spark of light popped into her eyes. "Since I am telling you so much, if you find me worthy, could I know who the owners are, or at least have you deliver a thank you note to them?"

Serafíne

Prime 1: Watch the Weaving. Difficulty 4 -1 (focus)

Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (2, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Serafíne

"Holy shit."

That's Dan, and the curse is both beneath and over the frame of his breath. His gaze draws a line from Jennifer to Sera and back again, and he has forgotten the kettle which will get itself to boiling soon. He'll have to empty it and restart, won't he?

Sera's heart is not quite beating, in those spare moments. That's what it feels like. This hollow space in her chest filled with possibility where some muscle should live. Squeezing.

"Human sacrifice is not okay, Jennifer. What they did to you - keeping you away from the world, wrapped up in this cult - was not okay. And I'm pretty fucking sure that what they are going to do to you when you turn 21 is equally not okay.

"The owner of the chantry is the sister of a young man who died - along with six others, his entire cabal - working to protect a girl a bit younger than you from people who wanted to use her to bring about - " the briefest pause. " - god knows what. Father Echeverría and I fought them. And we won. And she gave us the keys, and we buried her brother and all his mates in the field. But I can't tell you her name, because I don't want your father to take it from your mind. Okay?

"Do you know what your father intends when you turn 21?"