Renewal Who: Angharad & Shimmer What: A delivery, and recognition of old friends When: Present day 2021 Where: Lux, Las Vegas (or is it?) Warnings: It’s Shimmer, and Angharad?
The last time Shimmer had turned up here, like other invited guests, she had found herself transformed. Turning into Cthulhu, Lovecraft's tentacle-faced monstrosity of the deep, might have been horrifying for anyone else, but the winged nightmare had proceeded to get up on stage and belt out some Lady Gaga, dancing as best it could and being a merry little nightmare of doom.
Shimmer had considered the being worthy of admiration, in a way. An inspiration, but not because she had a thing for apocalyptic monsters. Quite the opposite. All good things, however, must come to an end and, so, Shimmer eventually changed back to her old self. There hadn't been too much of a panic, because even her human appearance was a disguise.
Shimmer hadn't twigged it was one and the same place. Her focus was more on a successful delivery of the package in hand, but when the door opened for her, revealing a lengthy corridor and veils hanging from the ceiling, Shimmer craned her neck inside, gingerly walking within and calling out.
"Ohhh, I know this place," the nymph remembered with a dawning smile of delighted realisation. It had been crowded, back then. More lifeless, as it were, now, outside of opening hours, but yes... The costume party. Shimmer more felt the air of magic than saw it, but knew it to be there, without doubt, as she crossed the threshold.
"Heeey...! Delivery! I got a thing for an... Annie Grand? I think. Arnold, maybe? It got scrawled over and... Hello?"
Angharad had just returned from Faere where she’d been visiting with Finn. The young fae was slowly improving, his time back in the homeworld steadily restoring his lifeforce, but it was a long, slow process, as most things of importance were in that realm. Her visit had also served to renew Angharad’s own energy. It would deplete if she spent too long away, made much work of renewing accesses or building new ones, or too much time in the world that had become so riddled with iron - its structures, its transportation, all built from the base metal that was almost toxic to the fae. Although it was ‘watered down’ when combined with other metals to create what was then used in the buildings and vehicles, it still caused her to feel uneasy when surrounded by so much in such high concentrations. Hence her need to complete the construction of a new ‘access point’ in a location far, far away from any dense urbanisation or human city.
The sound of the voice in the entranceway had her stop mid-jacket-donning. She was preparing to visit the new location she had accessed through the new entrance, but the recognition she felt listening to the caller’s voice had her pause. She shrugged the denim jacket off, dropping it on the back of a bar stool, and moved toward the entrance. “Hello, can I help you? I’m Angharad,” she replied, her curiosity piqued, her memory quickly searching for why that voice sounded familiar.
Shimmer's wasn't always spoken with an American accent. Indeed, her true name, long before transfer to Earth, was unlikely to translate to any human language, let alone English.
"Angha-what...?"
The resulting squint of confusion wasn't so much due to mishearing, as stirring a very old memory. Not many went by Angharad's name, after all. Only a few, perhaps even just one, had ever been interacted with by Shimmer - and that was in the days when her humanoid appearance, for the sake of mortals, was more likely to be decked out in flowing robes and bare feet, than jeans and sneakers.
"Oh, mighty sorceress..."
Just for a moment, catching sight of Angharad, the diminutive courier reverted back to the accent of a voice once used for mortals' sake, during a much earlier time. It was melodic, dreamy and self-assured. Even the term of address had been on partial autopilot; the same one spoken long, long ago.
Rapidly blinking, shaking head, Shimmer widened her eyes and stepped uncertainly towards someone not seen since...
"Fuck me with a pufferfish!!!" The package in her hands was almost dropped to the floor and Shimmer staggered back, excitedly recalling. "I remember you!"
Angharad blinked with shock and no little surprise. And the fate of the package caused her to glance again at the hands that held it, mostly.
The fae sorceress again blinked as her eyes returned to the young woman’s face, surprise now overriding the initial shock at the crude exclamation and the image conjured moments earlier. She started to recognise the spirit of the being in front of her, her energy, the aura surrounding her a little confusing, though. “Are you…” she said, falling silent as the ‘name’, as it would be considered in earthly terms, was not a verbal representation, but more a combination of a specific thought and musical tone.
"On time...? Yes!" But then the being now called Shimmer realised the meaning of Angaharad’s query and stopped herself, pausing in reflection. "I... Yeah. Yeah, I... I guess I am."
A lot of things were now different about her. Hadn't even belonged in this dimensional plane, back then. Just used it for periodic visitation, every now and again. Her name, her true name, couldn't properly be verbally articulated, because that wasn't the typical method of communication used by her kind. Had been more... Airy. Had been different in a lot of ways and meeting Angharad, once again, brought those memories back.
"I'm..." Glancing down, the package was thrust forward. "I've got a people-name now. It's 'Shimmer'," she explained, raising a small smile. "I had a kind of... There was this whole big... Thing. With magic! And I came here to... Y'know, see if I could 'mend'," Angharad's courier clarified with quotation marks in the air. "B-but, how are you?! This place yours?"
The simple fact that ‘Shimmer’, as she now called herself, had to ask that caused Angharad to feel sad. The spirit she had come to know on those past visitations was a very different being. She had been representative of a different plane of existence, one which Angharad had found fascinating, and at the same time encouraging. It had given her a glimpse into another realm, one beyond the two she knew, inhabited, and loved.
“Hello, Shimmer,” she replied, nodding as she held her hand out to receive the package. “And yes, this is ‘my place’,” she continued. “It’s probably changed since you last visited, that would be why you might not have recognised it.” Angharad reached over with her other hand and turned the stool with her coat on it, until she could perch herself on the edge, indicating for Shimmer to do the same.
"Ohhh... I was the squid-headed, um - I was Cthulhu! I got up on stage and sang, a little! It's the hardest thing, man - givin' your all to Gaga, when you've got a mouthful of tentacles... But lemme' tell you, finding my way around teeth was no easy matter, back when I was getting used to this form, either," Shimmer added for clarity. That was why she had adjusted with a minimum of fuss on the night in question: It had just been another disguise for her. "Plus, I'd kind of admired the Cthu' for a while! Like... Any cosmic being who could sleep through the freaking jet age?! That's mad respect, right there!"
Going off on tangents was definitely a 'now-thing' for Shimmer. In the days of yore, she may still have possessed a playful side, but would have been far more relaxed, easy-going and respectful, not mentally zapping from one tangent to the next. Shimmer was taking up her own offered seat, even as she continued her proverbial tidal wave of conversational onslaught.
"Sooo... You still jacked in? You lettin' rip with your inner Holy Sister, now you're in Vegas? Huh? Huh?! This place feels like a nuclear reactor! You've got to be doing all kinds of freaky stuff in here!"
Angharad found the urge to blink almost overwhelming, but she was slowly adapting to the ‘new’ presentation of an old friend, one who’d clearly gone through something traumatic and was entirely different to their former self. And the torrent of words, seemingly spilling forth from a source of thought that was as mercurial as its owner had formerly been calm and ethereal, threatened to swamp the fae’s consciousness. But as anyone does when wanting to survive a flooding torrent, she simply mentally rolled onto her back and floated along with the tide, allowing the detritus to wash past and instead focused on the truth behind the ‘people thing’ mask. The spirit of the one that was looking to ‘mend’.
And therein lay the issue. Whatever had caused the damage initially was not done. Angharad’s face remained serene, appearing centred on the verbal cascade as she reached over and gently took the package from Shimmer’s hands, the courier having become distracted with her descriptions of past events. Before her fingers closed around the corner of the package they gently brushed across the back of Shimmer’s hand and along her fingers, the contact light, but enough for the fae to make that connection.
With zero aplomb the package was placed on the bar and Angharad inhaled softly. “This city does have some interesting events and characters seemingly drawn to it,” she agreed, nodding. There was no doubt Shimmer did not even realise she was a part of that group, the unusual, the gifted, the lost, the capable, the mystical and those who were not what they appeared on the surface, all drawn to this place, this city, this county, whatever the zoning authorities deigned to designate as the descriptor in this age.
“How did you decide that this was the place for you?” she asked her ‘new’ friend - for there was still a tiny flicker of the former spirit in place, but it was buried deep behind the scarring from whatever accident had befallen her.
“Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah, yeah, yeah… Yeah. Yeah,” had repeated Shimmer, fingers unconsciously drumming at high speed on the nearest available surface. She was beginning to look like an ex-smoker or junky in need of a fix; eyes darting around, half-listening, while mouthing an unheard tune. “What’s that? Oh, yeah, I mean… Yeah… You feelin’ a...? It’s made of sugar-feathers or…”
With that, Shimmer involuntarily laughed, as if being tickled and waved her hands out to either side, fluttering them like wings.
“O-O-O-O-OK! That’s, um… Hoo!” And she shook her head, shivering down her ectoplasmic spine. “You got some magic runnin’ through you, girl! You gots it all over! I need a… Have you got some water? No booze, though! I got conned into that by an angelic and it made me do weird stuff!”
Clearing her throat, Shimmer did her best to mentally stay in the moment, until able to spiritually anchor herself and considered the question put to her.
“It was, uh… It was, uh… It was music! Uh-huh! Celestial choirs are one thing, but I’d never heard rock and roll!”
The cacophony of sounds created by the single entity now known as Shimmer had drawn the attention of Aonghus, one of Angharad’s offspring who’d chosen to stay with her for some time after his first human wife and family had passed some centuries earlier. His look of concern eased to puzzlement when he saw Angharad was talking with a humanoid that had a different aura, a very different aura indeed. There was something vaguely familiar about it, and he thought about it as he listened. Angharad smiled and signaled with a simple gesture he knew only too well, and he went about preparing a drink for them. Once it was ready he brought the two glasses from behind the bar to the two sitting at it. There were no other patrons as it was during the day time, and the types who visited Lux usually arrived at the venue during the latter part of the day, and evening.
“Thank you Aonghus,” the sorceress smiled as he placed the two glasses, similar in shape to what people called ‘martini glasses’, on the bar. The liquid inside was translucent, a hint of blue hues brushed at times by what could be described as an iridescent range of pinks, reminiscent of a spring-time sakura blossom, delicate, and transformative, bringing life to a formerly barren branch, announcing the arrival of new life.
And it appeared to have life, the colours mixing and separating, forming tiny strands that tangled and danced delicately in the glass. Angharad lifted hers, enjoying the display for a moment. As she did she looked at Shimmer. “Music is indeed a child of the soul, and here there are so many, so varied, and so exciting and inspiring!” She held her glass a little aloft as she added, “to life here, may all those who have it, enjoy it and live it to the fullest.”
For an otherworldly being, Shimmer's spiritual energy regulation had some major issues. It was like someone had rearranged the plumbing of a house, interconnecting the lavatory to the shower and somehow powering it via the lights on a Christmas tree. She tended to be very susceptible to beings, like Angharad and Phanuel, who brought a little of their own worlds along with them, such were their connections to magical energies.
Shimmer's run-on sentence came to an abrupt end as she tried her usual strategy of thrusting fingers into the contents, hoping it at least had a high percentage of water. That was her element and what she used to counter-balance, anchor herself back down with.
"Oh... Oh. Ohhh...!"
Tilting head with a wide-eyed response, Shimmer looked half-dazed, half-scandalised. Was she being electrified or having an orgasm? Both possibilities looked equally likely. Especially when she began to physically glow.
"ANGHARAD... THIS REALM HAS NEED OF YOUR GIFTS. A GREAT STORM IS CLOSING IN."
It was far louder than even Shimmer's former self had spoken, but verbalised in a similar tone and she had suddenly looked at Angharad with a remarkable sense of clarity; eyes shining like heavenly sapphires.
Angharad’s eyes flew open, meeting that light now issuing forth, the shift in Shimmer’s aura even greater. Aonghus turned back to watch as Angharad reached out, not with a hand, or arm, but energy, almost appearing to float off her stool. Her physical body remained where it was, but her own aura became visible as it grew and brushed against Shimmer in greeting, no words now exchanged but another level of communication taking place.
Something was passed between them. An image of somewhere beneath the city. Sewer pipes leading to somewhere, a turquoise light shining over walls and feeling of... Suffocation.
ZAP!
No sooner had it happened, than the interplay between Angharad's energy field and Shimmer's formed a hum, which quickly grew to something high-pitched, until the visitor suddenly transformed into her true form of a brightly glowing ball of light. One which shot a few feet into the air, then rapidly changed between ball and humanoid guise, on the way back down.
Zap-change-zap-change-zap-change-zap-change! Shimmer was glitching out, flipping from one form to the other in quick succession.
Before landing poor Shimmer on her ass, down on the floor.
"Wow... Did I black out and eat a cheesecake? Again...? 'Cause I feel like I did."
Taking a shaky breath Angharad blinked a few times, recomposing herself as she watched her friend glitch from one form to the other repeatedly, but finally settling in the earthbound representation again. “Something like that,” she agreed, acknowledging to herself there was more awry here than even she’d come across before. Shimmer’s true self was indeed being suppressed, thwarted beyond just mere damage. There was an intensity to the being’s existence that was causing this extreme occurrence and Angharad would have to take some time to delve into the causalities, try to find some way of aiding the halt of the damage that was still taking place at a level beyond human comprehension. And then commence in the recovery process. If she in fact could.
She was still absorbing the message presented to her, the true form of Shimmer having been almost terrifying in its intensity and urgency with the delivery. THIS REALM HAS NEED OF YOUR GIFTS. A GREAT STORM IS CLOSING IN. Aonghus was quickly at her side, but she held her hand up, signaling she was indeed still in control of her own spirit, concerned for Shimmer, but also quickly realising the ‘courier’ was now simply back in her mortal form, and would have no recollection of what had just happened.
“Do you eat cheesecake often?”
“I’ve been known to take a shine to dairy,” Shimmer answered in a semi-teasing fashion, giving a roll of shoulder, bashfully leaning into it. As she got up, what passed for her head swam a little and Shimmer had to steady herself. “Oof… I do not channel energies like I used to,” came her remark and there was a wet dog-like shake of her entire physical form, right down to the wrists. “Bleargh!”
She really did need some water to elementally stabilise herself, truth be told. Without it, Shimmer would try and soldier on. To that end, she made a frustrated noise and decided she would have to try and ingest some of the provided concoction. Not much, but just enough to get by on. There was a slight glow around her aura, though not on the magnitude of before.
“Heh! Look at that… I’m all festive,” she said, looking down at herself and… Oops. “Oh, OK. Apparently floating, too. I’ll just pretend I’m plankton.”
Having recomposed herself fully now Angharad reached over and took Shimmer’s hands. “You make fine plankton,” she offered, smiling, holding the being steadily as the concoction leant itself to helping the physical, psychic and mental needs of the entity. In Angharad’s mind it was akin to placing a healing leaf against the wounds of great depth and damage, but it would give her whatever she needed in that moment, what her form required right then.
“And I best keep my whales away,” she teased, holding Shimmer’s hands gently. She decided to see how much disconnect there was between Shimmer’s consciousness and her former self. Head tilted a little to one side, she tried to draw Shimmer’s gaze to her for a moment. It was something akin to asking a child to watch a single blade of grass when in a meadow of flowers and fireflies. “Tell me, have you heard of any approaching bad weather? Any storms I should be aware of?” she asked. “I had just been considering taking a walk.”
Angharad's initial diagnosis wasn't quite on the money. Not that she could know it, but there wasn't so much a hidden version of Shimmer being imprisoned or eaten away at, as one which had received a heavy dose of mystical essence suddenly mixed into it, causing her spiritual plumbing to burst at the proverbial seams. And she had just - albeit, momentarily - been dramatically realigned. Aligned and amplified... Shimmer's old self dialled up to eleven and plugged directly into the heavens. There hadn't been the more relaxed, serene qualities there had once been of yore.
Which was why, now, having only imbibed a little of Angharad's concoction, rather than opening herself to an entire mixture, the nymph was looking more... Graceful. Humanoid, but floating in a fish-like manner and doing so with a peaceful smile.
"Whales... You're funny," Shimmer praised with a friendly giggle, clasping the sorceress' hands with an emotional warmth which was now almost tangible. As Angharad tried to redirect her attention, there was a semi-distracted, "Hmm? What...?" Because the courier honestly seemed a little... Tipsy. In a good way.
"Oh... Storms," Shimmer repeated, looking down and frowning in deep thought. "Like... Like the... There's this patch of magic all through Nevada and... Have you felt it? It's like lemonade, except... Wowww, I forget how good it is to float," she remarked, almost inclined to head off to the ceiling, before Angharad's hold anchored her back down. "Oops! I mean... Wait, wasn't there a... Package... Wait-wait! Storm! Right... Um..."
And she thought. She thought. Shimmer thought real extra-hard!
And said...
"Ohhh! You're talking about Florence! I mean... That's not its real name. I nicknamed it, s’all.”
Blink-blink.
"That big... Energy thing around these parts? I can't figure out if it's a portal spewing stuff out or a thing in it's own right, but she's pretty! Kind of wanders around? I keep trying to talk to her, but always turn up late..."
Angharad had indeed felt the irregular radiations of random power surges that had begun to emanate from various locations in the region identified by the current ‘management’ of the area as Clark County. The new entrance to Lux was in fact located at the southern end of said county, in a small trailer town called Searchlight. It hadn’t been opened to anyone as yet, the sorceress having only just created it. It was located abreast a small but popular business, a coffee shop that had a rather interesting barista by the name of Myles.
“Florence, you say?” she replied, smiling as she watched the myriad of expressions flow across the countenance of the face opposite. She wasn’t sure if this nickname had been given to the energy, the storm, or perhaps her ‘whale’, but was concerned about her friend’s earlier warning. The ‘courier’ in her former life had often been the delivery vessel for important messages from another realm, and Angharad had witnessed the realities of the consequences of the message being ignored, or misinterpreted. Or not in fact interpreted at all, as had been the case when the great ice covered much of the surface of this world.
“Do you see Florence often? Or just what had happened when she had been active?”
Wait until James heard about this... Another owner of supernatural premises, who had recently offered to help Shimmer repair herself back to something roughly approximating fully working order. This wasn't quite the solution, but was a good first step. Perhaps, when Shimmer energetically settled back down, she would speak to him of the fae magician and the pair of them might have an intriguing conversation or hundred.
Right now, Shimmer wasn't thinking very coherently and was starting to rhythmically dance to a tune heard only in her mind. Although, in fairness, that wasn't terribly different to her behaviour on an average day.
"Flore... Huh? Oh, yeah," Shimmered answered, still in that dreamy, semi-dazed frame of mind. Something of a 1960s flower-child, at the moment. "It's, like... Feelin' currents in the water? Except it's the ether and... Can you smell catnip? Anyway... Yeah, I totally sense her, every now and again, like... When she's close an' doing her thing?"
A pause and Shimmer narrowed eyes at Angharad's assistant, looking like she was about to ask something, before making a hiccup and starting to float a little less.
Where and when the energy manifested had always been random. In fact there had been many occurrences not noted, nor effects even noticed in the vast open spaces that formed a large part of the territory affected by the surges. Angharad’s fingers rested on the rim of her glass, slowly turning the shape as the liquid inside continued to swirl almost in rhythm with the figure of Shimmer. Even as the sorceress lifted it to her lips and took another sip it created a shower of iridescent sparkles in the liquid, defying the ‘norm’ and traveling both with and against gravitational forces as it was consumed.
As the glass was lowered to the bar again Angharad’s smile gently widened. She had long admired the being in front of her, and enjoyed their interactions in the past. This time was no different, although the exchange had, and was still in her mind, a little unnerving, but the learning of information was going to be a long and involved journey, just as it had been when they had first met, and had to learn about one another. It was like that time, only now Angharad could see she needed to also ‘unlearn’ a great deal to make way for the new.
“You must let me know if you see or sense Florence,” she said to Shimmer, holding out her hand as she slipped off the stool and joined in with Shimmer’s dance, a musical accompaniment now audible around the room as she started to hum a melody that wound its way into her mind.
“Wow, my mind-thoughts are in, like, super-3D, today,” Shimmer remarked, widening her gaze as she looked around at music suddenly filling the air. Real, audible music. “Not hearing so much Johnny Cash now, though…”
Angharad laughed as she continued to move to the music now surrounding them, becoming more familiar with this new presentation of her old friend. While it had been a little jarring initially it was now becoming more familiar.
Then, Shimmer suddenly made a double-take, catching sight of her own hands and how they seemed to… She was kind of tripping. It was Woodstock in Shimmer’s head and she was wearing a facial expression to match.
“Cher would freakin’ love the acoustics in here, I’m tellin’ you, man,” the assertive little nymph observed, marvelling at the simplistic little pleasure of syncing up a sideways hip-shimmy with the venue’s proprietor. “There y’are! Now you’re getting - oh! Hey-hey-hey! That thing I delivered! It wasn’t a box of puppies, was it?! That box had no holes!” Shimmer had suddenly become very animated and focused. In fact, she had seized ahold of Angharad by the wrists, looking at her with a grimace of impending worry. “It’ll be like that thing with the sea cucumbers, all over again.”
The concern for the contents of the package returned Angharad’s attention to the item, now sitting on the bar. She wasn’t expecting anything and the expression on Aonghus’s face confirmed for her he was also not awaiting any deliveries. She paused her dance, her eyes traveling from the package to Shimmer as she asked, “do you know who sent it?”
Shimmer just flung arms out to the sides, making a big shrug. “They wore a blue tunic, if that helps? I just took the money, man,” she simplistically answered, before the metaphysical after-effects of the earlier commotion triggered a sudden jerk and…
“Sands may shift, Angharad, but life is renewed with every blossoming of the flower… Every gift of rainwater… To commune with the souls of mortals is to revive oneself with purpose. To forget this is to forget ourselves.”
With that, the momentarily altered Shimmer gave a more faithful glimpse into her past self. Even her body language was serene and she had seemed, almost, to radiate positive energies around her. Then, her inner circuit board malfunctioned again, causing the nymph to double-take at her surroundings and rapidly blink. She paused, trying to get her words right and, as thoughts grounded themselves, so did their owner. Shimmer’s feet meeting the floor, once again.
“You know what…? I don’t even know where that came from. I’m just a big ole’ fortune cookie. Free wisdom with your first delivery!”
The sorceress’ head tilted slightly, her curiosity matched with a smile that was followed with a small nod. The recognition of the alterations was slowly strengthening, and while there was still much unknown about it, Angharad willingly accepted the new personification’s presentation of her old friend’s messaging.
“I sincerely hope it won’t take another delivery to bring you to Lux again,” she told Shimmer, taking her friend’s hands in her own and giving them a gentle squeeze. “I always enjoy your visits,” she added. The information Shimmer had delivered was making Angharad both curious and feeling some small trepidation about the contents of the package. It could be as inane as something ordered for the club, or a whole gamut of possibilities, given the messenger who’d brought it. She was fairly certain Aonghus would be preparing to open it once they were ready for whatever it contained.
“Are you needing to go, or would you like to stay?” she asked the messenger.
Although the gesture was heartfelt, that squeezing handhold sent a jolt of magical dizziness straight to what passed for Shimmer's nervous system and she fluttered with an impulsive, high-pitch giggle. "It has been a while," she agreed with a trembling - and glowing - shiver. Being around energies like this was a minefield in James' shop, but this place hummed with it and Angharad, in particular.
"Ohhh, you stop that now, you're... You're like one of those head-zapping massage things on TV," Shimmer had to excuse, before barking out with more direct laughter and having to retreat palms quickly. She hadn't felt like this since... Ah, her poor hermit of an angelic friend. Shimmer hoped those cellphone gifts had proved sufficient.
"Yeah, I... I think I need to float in a bucket of ice-cold water, this place is really... Ooh, it's buzzy," the nymph described with a big smile. "But you and Aonghus can totally get discount rates when I next come over! A-a-and I'll give myself a, y'know, an aura bathing before I show up next time!"
Shimmer tried to locate the direction she had entered from and zapped randomly between ball of light and human guise, a couple of times.
"I'm fine! I'm... It's good! Just need some air pollution!"
Angharad’s expression flickered between amused, bemused, and a small edge of concern as Shimmer seemed to have difficulty finding her direction. A small flexion of fingers and a gesture toward the entrance Shimmer had used to arrive, and the sorceress sighed softly. “You will have no challenge finding that in this realm these days,” she mused openly, collecting her glass from the bar and finishing the contents. The opening to the passageway seemed to widen, and lighten, while the rest of the room’s ambience softened.
“Stay well, my friend,” she said with another wave of her fingers as the flickering entity finally found the exit.