12.24.2019

We get all dressed up, me in my rocking new suit that Kat gave me for Christmas and head out to the 1st annual Christmas ball at the palace. Even Danno went out and got a nice tailored suit, for once he looks stylish. We round up our dates and since the basement portal is keyed to just the 4 the others are going to have to travel via mundane means so they call up Lylith and arrange for the stretch hummer to come pick them up. Danno prefers to take his motorcycle while Briana will ride in the limo with the others. Red escorts Annie while Ohm invites Malcathet. He even bought her a nice old Colt that he enhanced to be very silent and able to hit things in twilight. I think Ohm finally put on the goggles. Thomas takes .... Oopie? I really don't want to know. I tell the others I'll meet them there. Kat and I will take the space limo.

The palace is done up very nicely. Lylith did a fantastic job. As everyone enters they are announced by the court harpy. Normally I'm not a big fan of this archaic way of doing things, but I have to admit I enjoyed the announcing part. You have everyone looking up at you as you enter and when you are escorting the most gorgeous woman in all the land, people stare even longer. It does the ego good. Ohm got some great stares escorting in a half demon, thats not something you see every day, even in this crazy ass place. We mingle for a bit and hit the buffet table. This thing has every supernatural type delicacy from this world and some of the others. We finally run into Lylith. Reason we couldn't find her before is because she decided to shrink down to the size of everyone else so she could dance. Soon after it is time to announce the Lady Abigail.

The whole palace goes quiet as Lady Abigail is announced and makes her way into the room. She is dressed in what can only be described as angel battle armor. A shining gold breastplate and her wings were full on out. She had a string attached to make it look like they were fake since there were only like 6 people in the room that knew that they weren't. She was looking quite good. Powerful, sexy and a little scary. I couldn't help but stare a little bit, especially when she walked by Malcathet. Angels and Demons oh my. That vision was soon disrupted by a forceful wack to the back of head. My Christmas gift to Kat was working already. Maybe the empathic link wasn't the best idea. This is going to get dangerous for me being surrounded by all these umm,,, distractions.

The night went on. I teleported our snow angel onto a dias that Lylith had arranged for it. The Lady Abigail seemed pleased with it. She danced with each of her horsemen. Thomas gave us all gifts, mine was a well made leather scabbard for my dagger. Atlantean runes carved into it. His gift to the Lady Abigail was a song and he sang it very well.

[something else happen? perhaps my eggnog was spiked and i dont remember]

Cygin

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A few hours before we went to the ball I started a ritual that would become the last piece of my gift to Kat. She had dropped subtle hints along the way that she gets a little worried when I disapear for days halfway across the world. She knows that I'm probably going to get into a fight with nasty creatures and is never certain I'm going to come back. I can understand that, there has been a few battles where I wasn't certain I was coming back. So I devised a ritual that would create an empathic link between us so she can sense how I'm doing when I'm away. I needed this link to be active indefinitely but the threads of a spell tend to unravel over time when knitted into a living pattern. So I needed to create inanimate objects to hold the focus of the spell. The objects needed to be special though. They needed to symbolize our love for one another and to represent our hearts and souls. Luckily I can tap into the universal consciousness and make myself one hell of a jewelry maker.

The first piece was a plain pentacle made of white gold, polished to almost a mirror like surface. Placed in the top left point was a small ruby. The ruby is a favored gem of the Mastigos and the placement was where Space and Mind intersected in the tapestry. The pentacle is a powerful symbol to all mages, it represents magic and how we work our will upon the fallen word. To me it represents hope. Hope that the Lie will be shattered and everyone can see the world for what it truly is. Placed upon the pentacle is the rune of the Mastigos made of platinum. The rune is the symbol of my soul and represents my connection to the supernal.

The second piece was a plain piece of iron worked in the ways of the smiths of old. It was fashioned in the insignia of the Uratha tribe known as the Iron Masters. This is Kat's tribe. While my understanding of the Uratha is not as deep as my understanding of the supernal, I know that the tribe is a powerful aspect of any Uratha. The ways of the tribe's totem resonate in each member and it becomes a code they follow. It is this code that keeps Kat here in this city. This is her city and she will see it kept safe from the things that dwell on the other side of the gauntlet. In the eye of the likeness of the Red Wolf I placed a small ruby identical to the one in the pentacle. I painted the iron piece in a rusty red, the pigment made with my own blood. Most who know me would raise an eyebrow at me using blood in a ritual. It's not so much I dislike the concept of using blood, it's how the blood is used. When it's consumed to feed, not a fan, used symbolically as a component of a ritual, don't mind so much. In this case it fit. It was common for the Uratha to use blood in their rituals. Blood is the life force and to willingly give it has meaning. For me it is a sacrifice. I tend to be a bit on the paranoid side, even more so of late with all these bad guys chasing us around and evil incarnate waiting to consume my soul. I am very keen on not letting anyone in and establishing this link with Kat is akin to giving her the keys to the castle. But it is a sacrifice I am willing to make. I then rolled more platinum into a thin rope and crafted the rune of the Irakka and brazed it onto the iron piece. The Uratha draw their power from Mother Luna who influences the phases of the moon. The Irakka represents the new moon which is the phase that was in the sky when Kat made the change. Her soul is forever bound to it.

With the pieces crafted now it was time to finish the ritual which involves Kat.

First I asked Kat if she willingly enters into this bond for which she replied "Yes"

Next I brought out the pentacle amulet.

"This is the pentacle of the tapestry fixed with the rune of the Mastigos."

"It represents my soul's connection to the supernal realm of Pandemonium and to the Watchtower of the Iron Gauntlet from which I call down my power"

"In this world it symbolizes my heart"

I place the amulet now hanging from a platinum chain around her neck and bring out the iron piece.

"This is the insignia of the Iron Masters fixed with the rune of the Irakka"

"It represents your soul's connection to the Red Wolf and the new moon from which you call down your power"

"In this world it symbolizes your heart."

I hand the amulet now hanging from a leather thong to Kat and indicate she should place it around my neck.

"With the dedication of our hearts to one another the bond is complete."

There was a small audible hum of power emanating from the amulets. As the hum diminished a flash of scarlet light appeared connected to the rubies in both amulets. The scarlet light flashed brightly in the middle of the beam and began to retreat in both directions in to the rubies. The rubies themselves now seemed to glow ever so slightly.

With that the ritual was complete. As I sat there and stared into those amber eyes I didn't need to activate any magic to know that Kat was happy. She was pleased with her gift and I could see that she understood what I was giving up.

"All you have to do now when you wish to know what I am feeling is to conjure an image of me in your mind and focus that image through the amulet. The link will work no matter where in this world I am. And I will be able to do the same with you"

"You can also use the amulet in reverse and project what you are feeling through it"

"The amulet must remain in your possession for it to continue to work. If it is out of your possession for a period of 24 hrs the bond will be broken"

And with that I tried hard to fight down the immense feeling of pride. It escaped as a little smirk that I tried to hide. But all I could think was damn I am good. This is one hell of a present. Then the smirk faded as I realized that ya this was one hell of a gift, how the hell am I going to one up it the next time a gift was in order. Shit February is right around the fucking corner.

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