2015.10.08 - Felling Trees Warlock Style

*Brodie suddenly gets attacked by Warlocks, pulling bystanders into his own fights.*

Golden Gate Park/San Francisco

As noon closes in on the early day of fall, Tamamo takes a break in the Golden Gate Park. Dressed in Jeans, sneakers and a T-Shirt, it is the blue 'woodcutter' jacket that protects her from the sometimes cool breezes and morning cold. Accompanied by her backpack full of notes, paper, pens and a Kindle, the young Japanese woman had went up to one of the hills that caught at least a tiny bit of sunlight on this day, sitting down against the trunk of an old tree, while dozens of other students pour into the park and occupy benches and other spots to discuss, have lunch or learn. Tamamo though pulls out a sketchbook, a pen running up and down along the paper to create something, while it leans against the pulled up legs, the backpack open at her side.

The Indian Summer has really drawn the blond Aussie to San Francisco. Yes, it was totally the weather that brought him here and not anyone else. Definitely not an English person who may or may not be in the area. And he definitely didn't drop a text message to inform said person he isn't here to see where he was going to be. He climbs up on the hill to get the optimal amount of sunlight. He pulls out a small blanket and whips it into the air to spread it wide. His shoes are kicked off and used to hold down the blanket. His bright blue eyes scan the park and he peels off the tee shirt that he was wearing. Did someone request a gun show? He tosses the shirt down and pulls his shorts down a bit to get as much sun exposure as possible and he flops down on his blanket.

It didn't take long for Lockie to get ready and fade out after 'not' getting a text, he had been planning on staying in and working on getting his magic back in order but a trip to the park to see who was about suddenly sounded a whole lot more appealing. Fading into view obscured by the branches of a tree he jumps down and heads in the direction of the sunbathing lion boy, "I'm always gonna feel overdressed around you aren't I Blue-Eyes?"

Tamamo couldn't help but notice the public striptease, her lips curling up as a smile crept into her face. Still the pen ran over the paper, up to down, right to left, as if plotting something or painting in a plotter-way, but it was instead some taking of notes, though not in Latin characters. Why take notes on stuff people shouldn't read in a language everyone could read? So she just wrote it down in Japanese, even if it was not the most fluent language she could. As 'blue eyes' got his visitor, she once again looked up at the Aussie and the other guy, giving them a smile "Does that become a double-deal of beefcake?"

Brodie doesn't acknowledge anyone just yet. He just keeps his eyes closed and absorbs the sun's rays. Even when Lockie comes over to him and starts to talk to him, he doesn't open his eyes. He laughs softly. "I can't help it. I'm allergic to clothes. And the sun is nice for a change. So I came here to soak it up." As if someone was listening to Brodie and waiting for him to jynx it. As soon as he starts talking about the sun, the sky above them darkens almost unnaturally fast and there is a rumble of thunder. Brodie lifts himself up in surprise and he says, "Um, is that your idea of a joke?" He can feel the magic in the air from whatever it is that changed the weather. He hops to his feet just as the rain starts to hit. He scowls at Lockie, "That wasn't you, was it?" And the few people that were gathered in the park start running for cover. He spins around, his bright blue eyes looking around wildly. Something is not right in the park.

Lockie Mitchell is about to laugh at Brodie's response but then the weather changes and he switches to a frown, "This isn't me, the only storm spell I know requires being near the ocean, we're to far from the bay for me", Lockie looks round and his eyes eventually land on Tamamo, "The fox from the Nameton...", he feels the rain hit, "Something not right is going on, can you feel anything?"

Tamamo perks up the head on the sudden thunder, tucking the scrapbook away in the same moment the first raindrops fall. The pen follows instantly and then she slips back into the warming jacket, though it does not provide too much rain protection. The weather forecast hadn't talked about rain, and so she hadn't packed an umbrella, but the tree with its leaves starting to turn yellow did provide protection of the rain still. "What you speak about? I don't know about foxes." Well, of course she does, but she isn't going to tell people she is a fox. "And the only odd thing is that you don't come under the tree." People do flee the park from the rain. Obvious.

Brodie flicks a look towards Lockie as he asks, "No, I just feel it in the air." He looks towards the female as Lockie says that she is a fox from the Nameton. He scowls at her, looking at her with his otherworldly sight and he shakes his head. "It's not her." He sniffs at the air. "Who the hell would purposely make it rain? It was so beautiful out." And that's when the forms blink into existence. The four of them, wearing all black and leather like a goth biker reject group. So cliché for Warlocks to be wearing all black in the 21st century. Brodies big blue eyes take in the group of them. "Bloody hell." Okay, they might actually be kind of attractive Warlocks. One of the Warlocks says, "The blond one. Dispose of the rest." They may be darkly and mildly attractive but that doesn't stop one of them from hurling a fireball right towards Lockie. Another one starts to step on the earth and causes the ground under Tamamo to tremble, fissures start opening up and the roots from the tree attack the Japanese woman.

Lockie Mitchell nods to Brodie, he's got faith enough in the other's abilities that he excepts that it's not Tamamo, and then there’s the Warlocks blinking into existance, he's more than aware of Warlocks modus operandi, kill the witch and steal their power, wait... the blond?! "Brodie, run!", he steps in front of the lion boy and aims to use his telekinesis to deflect the fireball, his irises turning a fiery orange/red colour.

Tamamo perks up the head on the sudden thunder, tucking the scrapbook away in the same moment the first raindrops fall. The pen follows instantly and then she slips back into the warming jacket, though it does not provide too much rain protection. The weather forecast hadn't talked about rain, and so she hadn't packed an umbrella, but the tree with its leaves starting to turn yellow did provide protection of the rain still. "What you speak about? I don't know about foxes." Well, of course she does, but she isn't going to tell people she is a fox. "And the only odd thing is that you don't come under the tree." People do flee the park from the rain. Obvious. And then the Warlocks pop up, the one trying to shake the wood apart and the other trying to incinerate the guy she had seen once before. In a moment she is up on one of the thick roots, feeling the tree tumble forwards and she has to jump several times forwards over other roots so she can jump and hop onto the back of it, her face pulling a grimace. "I don't like that..."

"I'm a Bryant. We don't ru..." And then an energy bolt from one of the Warlocks zaps past his blond head leaving him slightly frazzled. "Jeez." The Warlock who threw it was obviously not aiming at Brodie specifically. The Warlock that told the others to get the blond grumbles. "I said, not the blond. That one is blond. That one is brunette." He points from Brodie to Lockie. "Kill that one. We need the other one alive." The electro-Warlock just shrugs his shoulders. The one who flung the fireball dodges as his ball of flames is deflected with telekinesis. The one controlling Tamamo's tree just scowls and the earth is trembling and more roots poke through the earth. Like vampires clawing their way from the grave. The roots are trying to grab the prime target, Brodie.

Brodie just scowls and he starts to chant something. He holds up both of his hands, one in back of him and one in front of him. The magic flows through him and he channels the spell. A barrier of light creates a perfect circle centred around Brodie and it goes around Tamamo and Lockie. It cuts the trio off from the four warlocks. The not so smart warlock who threw the energy ball at Brodie's head, starts to hurl them angrily at the barrier that is created. They start sparking at impact with the barrier and deflecting off in all directions. The Aussie says to the Warlocks, "Good luck getting through that."

Lockie Mitchell puts a hand to his head as the headache kicks in but then there is a wave of fire travelling across the ground to meet the roots, "Brodie this is too public, you've got to get out of here", what is going on? even Warlocks are known for doing what they can to keep themselves secret, "This is planned for you right down to blocking out the sun, I got this, go!", he sends a waves of telekinesis at Mr. Electroball.

Tamamo jumps backwards from the spot she had conquered on the very tilted tree, as the barrier suddenly appears, losing a few inches of hair as it gets caught int. "Do you know how much time it takes for that to grow back?!" and within a moment or two, a blazing blue sextet of balls appears around her wrists, a triplet around each. A moment she looks to the other two that are caught together with her, both no further away than two yards, then she turns herself around her axis once, stretching out the left hand and pointing at the warlocks, letting loose the balls of foxfire upon the one who had thrown the fireball and who she suspects of the hot barrier. They ride on a trail of lightning as they move, electric fizzing following them. "And that was my most favourite tree in this park!" With that, Tamamo pulls back the left and punches the right forward, the other triplet of flames starting to move towards the earth-caster, spiralling towards him and changing the colour from pale blue to deep red. While they look different, both are Foxfire, the ire of a Kitsune.

"Oh, I’m sorry. Not exactly an exact science." Brodie does look slightly apologetic. But he is distracted by the display of power and then Lockie's words. The Aussie retorts "And leave you to have all the fun? I don't think so." Brodie keeps the barrier up but he moves from behind Lockie and he places a hand upon his arm. As the flesh comes into contact with flesh. It's like a bolt of energy coursing through Lockie. "I got your back." His normally bright blue eyes take a look around and they actually glow brighter. He channels his energy through the physical connection and gives it Lockie. There is a reason that they were after Brodie. He wasn't kidding when he told Lockie he had a shit load of power in his line of witches. Now it may make a bit more sense why the Witch has a mental block on his active power.

The electro-dude goes flying back at the wave of telekinesis from Lockie. He hits a tree with a loud thump and a crack. "Fuck." He lands on the ground and then blinks out of the park. The pyro-warlock is not immune to fire. And so when the foxfire blazes towards him, he does what Warlocks do best. Run when things get too difficult. He blinks out of existence before the fire hits him. Earth-caster doesn't even wait for the ire of the Kitsune to come his way. He blinks too. The last Warlock, the 'ring leader' of the group says, "You can't have them babysit you all the time blondie. We'll get you when you least expect it. And we'll drain you dry." And then he blinks out of existance too. As soon as he does the clouds start to break up and the sky returns to normal.

Lockie Mitchell gives a sudden intake of breath as Brodie channels his power though him followed by a grin as his magic makes contact, he reaches out to attack again but that’s where all the warlocks start blinking away, "Well that’s no fun...", then remembering their target he turns to Brodie and starts checking him over for signs of injury.

Tamamo almost hisses as the guys just flee, instead of taking the hits of the foxfire, the anger about the destruction they caused not fully ebbed off yet. "What by the yellow river..." she shouts, glaring at the spot the last man had vanished, before turning at the other two, her finger pointing at Lockie "I know your face... you did hit your head against the tree when Mr. Archangel Michael did slay two beings. Don't tell me you have nothing to do with that - I see your face twice and twice someone tries to kill people, including me." Then the finger moves to Brodie, the eyes narrowing a bit before she lowers the hand "And you, what made them that angry that they tried to kill you?"

Brodie just laughs at Lockie's comment, "Yeah, I guess they weren't all as stupid as that one guy." The scantily clad blond shakes his head. "I'm fine Lockie. Are you okay?" He knows how much pain using the power can cause. "It will take more than those dorks to hurt me. I'm quite resilient. I jumped off of a cliff with you yesterday. I think I can survive them." He looks to Tamamo as she gets a bit heated. Not that one can blame her, but still. Brodie blinks and he realizes the barrier is still up. He mutters a dismissal and the protective barrier drops. He bites his lower lip and says, "Maybe they have a problem with nearly naked guys sun bathing?"

"Then they shouldn't come to the sunshine state and keep their sorry behinds to Chicago instead of running amok in San Francisco." Tamamo answered with an evil glint in the eye, measuring Brodie with the eyes. "What you tell makes me even more believe Lockie here is a sign of bad luck, no matter how many fireballs he tosses to prevent you getting killed."

Brodie looks towards Lockie and he says to the unknown Asian woman. "Um, I've been around him a few times and I haven't been attacked by anything before. Perhaps you're the bad luck charm?" He is a bit salty, probably because he's wet and they interrupted his sun time. That and someone is accusing the guy he may or may not like as being bad luck. "Shit happens. It is probably just a coincidence." He goes to grab his shirt off the floor and he wipes off his wet face.

"If I would be bad luck, then why it only triggers when he is around?" Tamamo asks, stepping closer and gesturing as Lockie, almost touching the young man. That would give her a glimpse on his karma, and she didn't liked what she saw most times. "Anyway, seems like you were lucky to have two people around, who could handle them..."

Brodie scowls at her, "Maybe there is a bad mixture between both of your energies." When the fox gets up in Lockie's personal space. The lion in him gets defensive. He practically roars. "Step away from him. Or you'll learn that I don't need yours or anyone elses help to defend myself." His beast rears it's head and he fights the urge to really snarl at her. His eyes bleed with the gold of his feline side. "I don't know you from a hole in the wall. I just got attacked. I am on edge. Keep your space from me and mine." The teen rarely loses his cool, but everyone has breaking points.

"Oh, you can?" Tamamo responds in a way that is pretty much a call for that self defense, as she moves sideways, away from Lockie and keeping distance to Brodie. "Even if you loose your posture like that? I can tell from here, that you behave like an angry cat, and that might not be the most wise for both of us. Cut it down a bit or we might get swamped with hunters in five minutes. I doubt you like getting shot at with Elektrum tipped wooden harpoons." Inhaling deeper, Tamamo eyes the disturbed place and closes the eyes a moment or two, working on an illusion to cover up the signs of magic battle a bit as some kind of freak weather, just adding more water to what the people see so they think the sudden gush of rain did open a hollow space under the hill, lightning signed the grass and then fell the tree into the hole. "So, You said you are Byrant... Abe No Tamamo I am."

"Yes, I can. I have been dealing with shit like this my entire life." The blond just laughs. "You have not seen an angry cat. I'll introduce you to my brother." He just shakes his head at her and then he says, "You were the one who wanted to get up in our faces." He shakes his head. The rest of his stuff is gathered and he says, "Hunters have nothing on the people i've been dealing with." He looks to Lockie and he says to Tamamo. "Alright Abe No Tamamo. Been swell but as you said, we should probably clear out of here." He takes Lockie by the hand and heads out of the park.