The Mountain and Mohammed

[Trillian]

Jack shook his head when she spoke of a rock being a tablet.  He felt compelled to correct her, though he\'d not wished to offer help without being asked.  Perhaps it was from Kerr he wanted the request for help.  In any case, it was quick to explain.

"A tablet is an old word for what is written on.  A tablet used to be a piece of parchment, a headstone, a square of wood to be carved into or anything that is to be drawn upon."  He paused, realising that their eyes were on him because they were expecting him to show the mark on his back, not because they were listening to his argument.

With a slight narrowing of his eyes, he stood and began to unbutton his shirt from the collar down, pulling it off his shoulders and then removing his shirt completely, holding it in his right hand even as he spun around to show her, standing up straight and saying nothing more as they both looked at him.

[Harlequin]

Though her eyes had been on Jacks in the first place, her attention was immediately diverted from his torso to his face as he corrected her. "Of course!" she exclaimed, "How silly of me!" and she did feel silly for missing such an obvious piece of that puzzle. It got her thinkng, though, about the clue they hadn\'t been able to figure out – the locked stone – and how, possibly, language had gotten in the way there, as well.

Right now, however, she leaned forward in her chair as far as she cold – bending down until she was almost kneeling –to look at the mark on Jack\'s skin. Had she not seen much, much worse in her time, Sabrina would have winced; it couldn\'t have been pleasant to receive those scars.

But, sure enough, there were the six points. The gears clicked in her head, and she grinned madly, "Ohhh, now that makes sense," she said, almost whispering. "You draw the symbol in the sand, place the vessel in the center, and the objects at the points. Tablet." So simple!

"Thank you. You can put your shirt back on, if you like," she said, though she noted that Kerr didn\'t seem to ind the view. As she sat back in her chair, however, she frowned, and regarded Jack in a calculating fashion, though she held her tongue, for now. If he ahd known the answer to that clue well enough to correct her, why had he said nothing to Kerr about it in the first place? She knew, of course, that he\'d wanted Kerr\'s attention – but would he really stoop so low as to jeopardize his own freedom?

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr was mostly distracted by Sabrina\'s latter interpretations of the riddle, spoken to he and Jack, thinking about them as he watched Jack\'s shirt come off.  It was an automatic thing, to let his gaze wander freely over Ben\'s exposed torso and the admiration was equally as instinctive.  Ben looked sexy in leather pants but Kerr was frowning slightly as his mind turned over the fact that a coiled embrace could be a snake; he wasn\'t convinced.

Sabrina\'s declaration when she saw the mark drew his gaze towards the woman and took his thoughts in that direction; he was enlightened at the same time she was.  He looked back up at Jack then, pondering the fact that he\'d been able to correct the tablet misunderstanding and wondering what else he knew.  He looked into the eerie white-blue of his fledgling\'s eyes, his expression thoughtful as he considered that he probably should\'ve just asked him before he\'d ever even come to Sabrina.

[Trillian]

Jack watched Kerr watching him, noting that all the other\'s vampires thoughts were turning inward, that the appreciation he had for him was almost in passing, and was frustrated by this turn of events.  When given permission to put his shirt back on, he wanted to throw it at Kerr\'s face but opened it up to slip his arms through instead, shrugging it back on and doing up the buttons starting from the bottom.

He remained as he was, standing between Kerr and Sabrina for a little longer than necessary before eventually choosing to sit at Kerr\'s side again, though this time he looked a great deal more sullen.

[Harlequin]

So now there was standing, and sitting, and looking at one another. So she raised the question she\'d been pondering, "Is it it possible that there might have been some other error in translation? Because I\'m thinking something similar might have ahppened with the locked stone clue."

And then, never one to mince words, she cradled her chin in her hand, she asked the other question she\'d been pondering, "Now, Jack, I\'m going to assume you\'ve had a lot of time to ponder out this riddle – so, how was it, exactly, that you knew I\'d interpreted it wrong? Simple conjecture? Or do the spells – for lack of a better word – bind your tongue, as well?" Her tone was carefully neutral. It could be that he was forbidden to say anything unless prompted, or it could be – as Kerr said – all a ploy to get the elder vampire\'s love and attention, the thought of which made her truly sick at heart.

[Trillian]

"If they bound my tongue, I wouldn\'t be able to speak the riddle," he said with a growing smile and raising of the eyebrows.  He found that he didn\'t mind Sabrina after all; she wasn\'t the kind of witch he was expecting.  She was in his presence with Kerr though, so he supposed he was thinking of her differently than if they\'d met out of this particular context.  "I\'ve never been brought to the surface this way, only via the ritual\'s completion have I managed to be summoned forth."

He waited then, for someone else to say something more.  Sabrina\'s question was far too generalised for him to merely make a speech.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr did a double take; he literally glanced at Jack, looked at Sabrina, shook his head and gaped back at Jack with a slack jaw.  His mouth remained open for a good ten seconds as his brain worked feverishly to process that last statement, then his jaw snapped shut with a loud click of teeth contacting teeth.

Idiot!  You fucking idiot!  He practically told you and you didn\'t get it until now!

"You\'ve completed this ritual before?" he asked stupidly, still not quite able to believe it.  For some reason, he\'d blindly assumed that this was the first time it had cropped up, and now that it was made clear to him, he couldn\'t rightly say why he\'d even thought that way.  "You know the answers to the riddle clues already?  That is why you told me you\'d help me when I asked?  Because you were... testing me or something?" he demanded, his tone high and clearly conveying that he was upset by this information.

Even inside himself, he couldn\'t decide whether he was hurt that Jack had been so pompous (which really shouldn\'t have surprised him) or whether he was just aghast at his own stupidity.

[Trillian]

Jack frowned at him.

"The ritual changes over time.  I don\'t know how or why.  I cannot recall the previous riddles, I only remember that it is vastly different now to the first."  Perhaps that was a part of the curse that befell him, but at the same time, was it a magic that also protected him?  If he\'d been brought forth by this magic and he lived and died over and over, was it a precedent to immortality?  Oh, he knew when he wasn\'t walking the earth, but he also had hope he would again.  It was enough to keep him sane, he believed.  Then there was the other sensation of knowledge when dormant, of being passed.  It wasn\'t just, black.

"And, I have never completed the ritual.  I have never been able to do so.  Others have summoned me forth.  You did something different to me with the necklace, you and Ben decided that you would meddle.  Do not blame me for things of which I have no control over."  He glared at Kerr, challenging him to contradict his words when Jack had been honest with him (or as honest as he could without risking his own survival).

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr\'s lips thinned as he pressed them together - hard.  Jack was upset with him in return and he figured it was the accusation that there\'d been some subterfuge on the other\'s behalf that had done it.

Realistically, there\'d been some on his own (with regard to involving Sabrina) so he logically knew he was best to simply shut his mouth and not argue the semantics; the semantics would likely implicate him and really, what purpose would be served by pandering to them?  He and Jack having a domestic here and now, in front of the witch who was trying to help them?  He couldn\'t see how that would be even slightly constructive.

"Alright," he said softly - if a little stiffly, through his compressed lips.  "So you\'ve lived before when others have summoned you forth - but they completed the ritual, correct?" he persisted, wanting to be very clear on this.  He was pretty sure that this grey area was why he\'d had confusion in the first place; through the talk of summoning and the ritual he\'d assumed the two synonymous, rather than different things.  "Why have you never been able to complete the ritual?  Because you didn\'t have possession of the body you were in - like you have since Ben\'s and my meddling - right?"

He tried not to sound too bitter upon stating the word he\'d exaggerated but it was very difficult.  The fact was, he was bitter; enough that he\'d tagged on that final question simply because he wanted to bring up the \'meddle\' comment once more.  If there\'d been no meddling, they certainly wouldn\'t be in the position they were in now, and that was an entirely rancid fact to swallow.

[Trillian]

Jack stared at Kerr for a long moment, aware of the witch in the room with them and knowing that she wasn\'t silly enough to interrupt a conversation that might bring forth answers that were likely of interest to both parties.  He was aware of time passing, that with each second that ticked forth came the risk that someone else would say something else, that the moment would be lost forever.  He was aware of the thundering silence that shrouded this room, of the witch\'s quiet breathing and of her pounding heart, of the expression on Kerr\'s face and the tone upon each of his words, of the scowl on the vampire\'s face and the fact it was Jack\'s existence that put it there.

"I am dormant until the ritual is complete," he said finally, keeping Kerr\'s gaze locked, wanting the other to look away first.

[Existentially Odd]

A gentle cough of understanding erupted from Kerr\'s throat as he stared back at Jack, their eye contact unwavering.  Jack was giving away no superfluous details and it was in that moment that Kerr finally realised that things were being kept from him, that he\'d been gullible to feel he was superior in sneaking around and speaking with Sabrina about the riddle, for that was likely nothing compared to what Jack already knew.

In amongst the sudden, overwhelming feeling of foolishness, Kerr was actually hurt by this realisation.  He tried swallowing such emotions down but they came on so rapidly and without warning that he believed he projected them at Jack, even as he blinked rapidly and looked away from him with a terse, "Right."  His gaze fell blankly upon Sabrina and he wanted her to say something, because he was too busy feeling like a manipulated idiot whose information had been carefully meted out so that he didn\'t shoot himself in the foot.

Or, rather, so he couldn\'t shoot Jack at all.  It was ridiculous for him to be this upset about not being trusted - and hypocritical, too, considering he wasn\'t all that trustworthy as far as sharing information went - but there it was, all the same.  The fact was, Jack was dormant until the ritual was complete but even then, he would\'ve awoken and seen the layout, seen the objects that people had used to summon him; he\'d have woken up amongst them, right?  He\'d been through the process before and he was well aware of what it took to complete it.

But he hadn\'t told Kerr everything up front because he didn\'t trust him to go through with it.  Was there something else?  Something he hadn\'t told Kerr that would make the Irishman desire to not go through with it?  He\'d always felt the ritual a risk simply because if they didn\'t get the artefacts right, it might not work, but why would Jack guard himself by giving out so little information?  What was he missing... and why did he feel so stupidly betrayed that it was practically seeping from his pores?

[Trillian]

The wave of emotion that Kerr sent to him had him breaking eye contact in the form of several blinks, almost mirroring Kerr\'s own reaction but unaware he was doing so.  The difference between them was that he didn\'t turn his head to look at Sabrina, he dropped his gaze to Kerr\'s chest instead, so that he could still see Kerr\'s face peripherally, though without all detail.

It was likely Sabrina would speak before either of them found their voice.

[Harlequin]

Somewhere during the exchange, the giantess had sat back, letting her back lean against the chair. One elbow supported her chin. Somewhere along she\'d also gained and lost a slight frown, and her expression, as Kerr found it when he looked at her, was intent, but otherwise neutral.

There was no part of this that she liked (though she was glad that she at least knew the logistics of the ritual). Sabrina did not make a habit of wasting time. She didn\'t like deceiving people, either – but she\'d done so at Kerr\'s behest. To learn now, that, it had been for naught – she was less than pleased. Ever-graceful, she didn\'t comment on their tiff, but when she finally broke the silence her voice was serpent-cold, though her face remained mostly aloof, "What manner of creature are you, Jack?" she asked, "A straight answer, please, if you have one. Because, as fun as this may be for you, I, for one, do not enjoy having my time wasted."  If Jack had thought he might like Sabrina, before, than she was the opposite – her opinion of him was only dipping lower and lower.

[Trillian]

Jack turned his head to look her way when Sabrina spoke, his gaze finding her empty one.  Curious, he tilted his head at an angle as he puzzled her out, wondering what he\'d done wrong now.  It seemed being himself was enough to irritate both her and Kerr and yet he\'d not been deceptive with her.  With Kerr he\'d been so in order to better understand where he was and what was going on, after the truth had come out, he\'d stuck to it - though had left behind choice details in order to ensure his own survival.
 
"I do not understand," he said stiffly, though it was a poor choice of words.  He understood the question, he just couldn\'t provide an answer.  "I am not having fun.  There is no name for what I am."  He stared at her, expecting her to be upset with this outcome.  It seemed that they wanted answers for everything without having to ask them.  Sabrina, on the other hand, had better questions than Kerr and was at least asking them.  If she continued on in this vein, asking questions, he would answer all he could.  He preferred they come from Kerr, but at least he was in the proximity.

[Harlequin]

She left it the issue of fun alone, and the job of explaining why they were upset to Kerr.

"Could you try and explain it, then, please, if possible?" To her, saying that there was no name for he was was simply a way of skirting the question, and her voice lost none of it\'s iciness, but rather gained a slight edge of irritation, "I\'ll do my best to keep up."