Notes in Costellations

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Adrenaline rushed through Christopher's body as he jumped from one rooftop to another. This would have been so much easier if he had just called on the Eagle, but Josaline told Christopher he was to further his bond with Tiger. Christopher had no idea what Josaline meant by that. What he did know was he was limited to one beast, and there was no way around tonight's training. Josaline would know if he cheated. So Christopher would just have to put up with it for now. Besides, it was a minor spirit according to the information Josaline had given him.

Christopher slid to a stop as he came to the end of the apartment complex and focused his sight on the run down building. His vision blurred for a moment as his secondary vision overlapped to reveal the trace amount of energy coming from within the old building. There was no doubt the spirit was in that building. Tonight was going to be just as easy as he had imagined.

A couple of jumps down the fire escape and Christopher touched down on solid ground. His amber eyes gave the area a soft glow. As long as Christopher did not focus too much energy, the glow would not attract too much attention. He had wondered how he was going to get into the building, but that was solved when he spotted some kids tearing at the boarded up windows. They managed to pry off two of the boards before Christopher decided to step in and scare them away.

Christopher jumped out of the shadows with a loud roar and landed right next to the group of kids. The roar was more than enough to scare them all away, and Christopher waited a few moments as he watched them run away. Once they were all out of sight, Christopher stood straight up and took in a deep breath. The amber energy around his body wavered before it faded away, and Christopher's body returned to normal. A tingling sensation ran through his spine as his body shifted, but he was already used to that sensation. Christopher just had to wait a bit longer as he felt the presence of Tiger leave his mind. However, Christopher could feel Tiger was just there on the verge if he needed the beast.

He turned to the gap the kids had made and realized the gap was still not large enough for him. So a few tugs and pulls and another board came off. Christopher pulled himself through and immediately had to hold his breath as dust was kicked up by his movements. It was such a dirty place, but the building had not been used in years. Now it was up to be torn down and rebuilt, but the spirit in here was keeping people from doing that. Of course, the construction company had no idea it was a spirit causing all the problems. The company just kept running into technical difficulties and missing equipment until the spirit had stepped over the line and actually killed someone. The death had been ruled accidental, but the Blackwalls knew better. And so Christopher was sent to deal with the problem.

Now to actually find the spirit and dispose of it. Christopher focused his breathing as his secondary vision overlapped once more. He could see trace particles all over the place, but none of them were a trail. So the spirit could hide somewhat. That only meant Christopher would have to spend more time searching for it. Christopher shook his head at the thought as he started making his way through the building keeping an ear out for anything that could sneak up on him.

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Lang opened the window the city of Jump. In the night air he could hear distant sirens and the faint baying of dogs in far city. The air of the alley smelled faintly of diesel and rotting plant matter. It was just another night in the city where the abnormal never slept. Another night to work for the abnormal boy.

He was already clad in his work uniform. He had on a pair of jeans and a short sleeved t-shirt, which admittedly did not seem to be much of a uniform by themselves. It was more of going to the grocery store clothes. But holding up those pants was a brown leather belt with brass buttons. And over that shirt was a seemingly normal sleeveless blue hoodie that hid a lining of chainmail between the fabric. He was never much for latex, spandex, or any fabric that ended in ex.

Lang adjusted the straps for arguably the most important part of his uniform, a gift of a friend. His gauntlets were made of a strong blue metal with a silver rim. The plates were fastened over his forearm with thick brown leather straps. Around his fingers were sturdy silver rings.

With one last look towards his mirror Lang uttered his words and shifted forms, leaving his apartment window as Ghostdance with his hood firmly over his eye. Under the lights of the street Lang's eyes flashed and shown off from under his heavy hood as he made his way to his target.

In the papers there were reports about fireballs were seen in the middle of downtown. Fireballs that darted and dashed erratically on their own accord. Even hovering. On the weirdness scale that was definitely up there. The issue in itself was what it actually was. There were thousands upon thousands of things that appeared as balls of fire. Hitodama, Will o' wisp, and even a few Jumbies. He had no idea what to expect, though it was probably something dead or undead. He was 76.3% sure about that one. He'd get a better idea when he got his eyes on it.

As symbolic as his spiritual sight was it was useful to providing hints in it's one Jungian way. Passively, he pondered if it was more Freud before deciding he liked Jung more anyways. "Jungian it is." He muttered as he came to a stop in front of the apartments the fireball was spotted by. Finally looking down away from the skies in search of the fireball Ghostdance raised a brow. "Well Sky and stone. Would yah look at that." he muttered to himself in a growl once more, spotting the familiar sight of caution tape.

It was then he saw a few kids his arch tear out between buildings like a bat out of hell. Ghostdance could smell sweat, adrenaline, the faintest hints of urine. Fear. "Time to work." he grunted, finding his own way into he sniffed the air once more. Mold, concrete, burnt something or another, and most surprisingly human. There were some other smells he could make out but the mold and cold air were starting to make his nose stuffy. "Great." He grunted. But he could feel it in the hairs on the back of his neck. Something was here.

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The inside of the building was just cold, and Christopher could see his breath with every exhale. A shiver went down his spine as his body tried to accustom to lower temperature. Christopher had not expected such a temperature change, but such a thing could easily be chalked up to whatever magic was involved here. Josaline had not given him anymore information than the location and to destroy whatever was haunting the place. Christopher did not like situations like that, so there had to be more behind all of this. All of these missions were always some sort of test, and Christopher had no intention on failing tonight.

Christopher took in a deep breath as his secondary vision kicked in once more. Now that he was inside the building there was no reason not to have it on. If the spirit was invisible, his sight would make it easier to spot, and there was no telling just what else could be in here. Magical signatures were all over the place, but at least all of them were rather faint. Nothing really stood out until Christopher looked up to the ceiling. There was something on the upper floors. It was a large mass, and Christopher had to look away as the signature appeared to grow brighter. He had to wonder if the spirit could tell it was being watched or if it had just happened to increase in power at that moment. Either scenario was not good news. The faster this was over with, the better.

And that was when Christopher spotted another powerful signature on the same level as him. Great. There were two of them. He would have to deal with the first one if he had any chance of making it to the top floor and dealing with the one up there. Focusing himself, Christopher called on Tiger once more as the power rippled through his arms. There would be no need for a full transformation just yet. Claws started to form from his fingernails, and he could feel the warmth spread through his body. No more cold sensation to slow him down now.

Christopher would have to take out the first one quickly and silently. Pinpointing the location through his sight, there was no more hesitation as Christopher made his move. He slid across to the next room before jumping into the room where the energy source was coming from. Christopher had been expecting there to be a spirit floating there, so he was rather surprised when he found something else. Christopher had to dig his claws into the wall to stop his momentum and was now standing a few feet in front of the strange being. Never before had he met something like this, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do now. As his vision focused, the bright energy around the wolf person focused into that of a human. It made absolutely no sense to Christopher.

His amber eyes were filled with confusion as he simply stood there and continued to look at him. "You're not the spirit haunting this place, are you?" Christopher asked as he pulled his claws out of the wall. His eyes seemed to glow a bit stronger as Tiger felt the presence of this other supernatural being. Something about the wolf was just getting to the beast, and Christopher was hard pressed to keep the beast at bay. Fangs started to form from the beast's aggression, but the face mask would keep those hidden for now. He was more interested in knowing who this was standing before him and to know just what exactly they were. Josaline had not told him werewolves would be involved, but this person had a different aura.

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Ghostdance had never seen himself in his own spirit sight. Every time he tried he just came in blank to his eyes. But to Christopher he was something else entirely. Hidden inside his wolfy interior was a human, though not a human-like he had ever seen before.

It hovered and had an air about it that neared on angelic. The creature, or at least an aura hair swayed and flowed behind it like the being was suspended in water. In the beings left hand was a leather bound book with the visage of a crow etched over it's cover in which he held open. The words of the book hurt to try and focus on and read. The symbols shifted and changed in a was that almost seemed organic. The longer Christopher stared at the book the more he could swear that he could hear a droning chorus of androgynous voices that whispered something unknowable and ineffable.

In the visions right hand was a large wooden spear shaft. The head of the spear had a sharp fang like metal head gripped in the fangs of a wooden dog head that was carved with such detail that it looked as if it might bite down and snap that metal head and twain. The base of the solid cedar shaft was wrapped in a red tattered fabric the color of blood. And at the tip, just under the dogs head was an equally tattered blue cloth the color of a midnight sky. But perhaps most curious about the aura was that it didn't look dead ahead, but stared directly at the martial artist with it's own opalescent eyes.

Ghostdance heard him before he saw him. The old floors creaked, hearts thumped, and breathing was deep. He tensed in preparation, digging his feet into a more anchored position and holstering his fist at his hip. He held his position as his eyes surveyed the other. To the shapeshiters own sight Christopher was a light show. A circle of light slowly spun as the martial artists feet. Placed around the circle were three sets of armor with animal-like features. Over the body of the fang, clawed, and striped boy was a fourth elaborate armor.

This fourth armor was feline in shape, though it hugged and clung to the strangers body like it was custom made for him. Fastened by invisible means it glistened and gleamed from a nonexistant light. It was ornate and reminded Ghostdance of something out of a Japanese superero show. If Lang was pushed he would have probably named Kamen Rider.

"I'm a bit corporeal for that, don't yah think?" he snorted in a bit of a whisper. His pointed ears were pulled back and the fur down his back stood up tall. From above the wolf and fighter the sounds of footsteps could be heard. The wolf beast jerked his head up and his tail stood out straight behind him like he had caught the scent of prey. "I don't have time for this." he grunted, turning away.

"Don't do anything stupid or I'll pop you." he growls as he crept up a rickety set of stairs as quiet as possible in the rotting building as he looked back and forth between the boards above that creaked and the super sentai-ish being. And while he was curious about this tiger guy and more importantly while he was here, he was more worried about the slowly fading aura from above him. "Wait here!" he more or less barked, his nostrils flaring.

Upon reaching the second floor the werewolf-like being caught the briefest of glimpses of what appeared to be a skeleton floating in a red fireball dissolving into nothingness. "Dammit." he said. "It's gone now." Whipping his nose he let out a smell like "Blueh." through his stuffy nose.

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"Corporeal? Oh...."

Christopher said as he turned off his secondary vision to see the wolf man standing before him. There was nothing similar about the two images he had just seen, and Christopher was left even more confused. This was definitely not a werewolf in front of him nor was he a spirit. Tonight had taken an unexpected turn that made Christopher forgot why he had even come here in the first place. Well until the wolf man told him to wait and suddenly headed upstairs.

"Wait!" he called out after the wolf man before going up as well. There was still that spirit to deal with, and there was no way Christopher was going to let a stranger be hurt on his watch. Once more he turned on his secondary vision before reaching the second floor a few moments after the wolf man.

Christopher did not catch sight of any skeleton, but he could still see the energy signature as it faded away. He let out a soft growl in annoyance as that energy quickly faded away. Tracking down the spirit would be impossible now, so he had pretty much failed in his assignment for the night. That was never good news for his aunt.

"Man, Josaline is gonna kill me for letting it get away...," Christopher complained out loud as he released his connection with Tiger. his eyes returned to their normal cloudy blue from the deep amber they had just been, and the rest of his features would slowly return to normal as well. Christopher had held onto Tiger for quite some time, so it would be at least an hour before all the characteristics were fully gone.

"Could've gotten here faster with Eagle but nooo..." he complained under his breath until he remembered the wolf man standing near him.

"Call me Chimera," Christopher introduced himself as he turned to face the wolf man and pulled down his face mask. The stripes on his face were already starting to fade away, but he still had the fangs. Normally he would have kept the mask up, but Josaline had told him not to fear when others were involved. They were bound to keep the secret after all or else risk exposing everyone.

"What are you supposed to be anyways? Thought you were a werewolf but your aura is too... elegant."

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Ghostdance looked deep in thought. His eyes were glazed over as his tail swished and wagged behind him. After a good couple of moments, Ghostdance looked back at the other guy with an inquisitive look usually reserved for looking at something under a microscope. "Chimera is it?" he asked with a small flicker of his pointed canine ears. "Can you really see my aura? Fascinating."

Ghostdance had never once seen his own aura. And while his lupine gaze could see many things, the spirits of the dead, the flow of magic, and even the true identity of those creature that walked amongst humanity was no mystery to him. What was a mystery was what he looked like. Whenever he looked into the mirror or down at his hand he saw nothing but himself in his furred or fleshed self. And truth be told it was a fact that had bothered him.

"I don't look like a werewolf because I'm not one I suppose. I'm something more ...native I supposed." The long haired wolf said, pushing a braid of night blue hair secured in a red band from his eyes. "Most folks call me Ghostdance. And it's my job to keep the peace around here. My question is who are you amd why are you here? Who is Josaline?" He asks as he knelt down to get a better look at the spot the ghost disappeared above, feeling it over with his large white paws. His dark claws making a gentle scrap on the wood.

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"Yeah, and it's nothing like I've ever seen before. It was starting to make my eyes hurt," Chimera answered the other. One would think meeting strange creatures was an every day occurrence for Chimera with how casually he was talking with the other. He was more curious about the blue wolf man than anything else to feel fear or worry. The curiosity even overrode the worry he had when it came to returning to Josaline later.

"Ghostdance...," Chimera repeated the name and tasted the air. It was almost as if he had heard that name somewhere before. For all he knew, Josaline had mentioned something about a Ghostdance, but Chimera had not remembered what that lecture had been about. There was simply too much to know, and Chimera only memorized information that was involved with spirits and the like. Anything else he soon forgot if it was not deemed important.

"I suppose we have similar jobs then. My job is take out any spirits that become hostile towards humans. Could have dealt with that one easily enough had there not been any restrictions on my assignment. Training is a pain," Chimera began explaining before going off topic. "Josaline? She's my aunt and mentor. She is going to lay into me once I report back to her."

"You know, we can't track the spirit from here, but I'm sure Josaline can figure out where it went."