InsaneJournal

WHO Sara Lance & Jiang Cheng • WHERE DOA - JC's office • WHEN Backdated to the 21st
WARNINGS Talks of possession and violence, some language from Sara

Monday afternoon rolled around and Sara found herself with a to-do list void of anything that needed to be done immediately, and only items that could be delayed. That was probably as good as it was going to get for ‘free time’ to talk to Jiang Cheng, assuming he had time now himself.

Sara headed out of the office she shared with Shiro and down the hall toward Jiang Cheng’s office space. She hadn’t spent much time in it, but she knew it was smaller compared to the space she shared with Shiro. But there were two of them and a lot of strategizing and planning went on in their space.

She’d considered what she was going to say to Jiang Cheng. It seemed he wanted to know as much information as he possibly could. That could just be about combining the totems, but there was a lot of important information that fed into that. With any luck, they’d never be required to combine them, but he could understand and appreciate wanton got be prepared. If only every one of them felt the same way. Sara wasn’t convinced every person who had a totem actually would come together if it was needed.

When she reached his office, she knocked on the door firmly, “It’s Sara.” she said, loud enough to be heard. “Can I come in?”

Jiang Cheng's office was very cramped. He would argue that it was cramped not small, because saying it was small made him cranky. Cramped felt like a choice. Like he just had so much stuff and presence that the space was naturally full!

That was not at all the case, but he was a creature of insecurity and drama. At the very least, none of that changed his work ethic. When he heard the knock, he was wrapping up a report and printing it out for those that preferred a hard copy like he did.

"You may," he answered, stapling a stack of papers together and setting it to the side. "Is everything alright or should I be prepared for a new arrival with bite?"

At his confirmation, she pushed open the door and half stepped in, holding off of fully entering until she figured out if he had time to talk.

Part of her was forever thankful that once they managed to get a new arrival here, someone else at the DOA had to take over. She dealt with the attempted stabbings and punches. That she could manage just fine. “Oh, no, you’re good as far as I know. I don’t think there are any newbies. I didn’t hear anyone bitching and complaining on the way here at least. ” That didn’t mean someone else wouldn’t show up to tell him otherwise.

“I’m wondering if you had some time now to talk about the totems and Mallus - the demon. If you don’t, we can try again another time.” He hoped he had time though because if she was going to talk about her experience with that demon, and bringing the totems together, she’d rather just get it over with.

Jiang Cheng lifted a lofty eyebrow in faint amusement at the bitching and complaining commentary. He was still a little surprised how often people spoke their mind in this place but it wasn't as shocking as it used to be. He liked it, to be fair. His nature had always been direct by preference, respectful by expectation.

"The demon," he echoed. "Right." He gestured at the only other chair in the room and turned his chair to face it. "Please, I need a break from finishing this report and I don't want you having to track me down again just to do as I asked. Tell me as much as you're comfortable telling me."

“Thanks,” she said with a nod. Sara stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her and taking a seat in the open chair. She’d rehearse what she was going to say several times in her head, but she still took a moment to collect her thoughts, deciding where she would begin and making sure she had all of the facts straight.

She really hoped everything she told him would end up being irrelevant in the long wrong. “Mallus was a primordial time demon, he’s existed for centuries, though for the last several of them before he was destroyed it was within a prison world. I had mentioned that the tribes of Zambesi were given the totems to destroy him? It takes all six totems working together for that to actually happen. Centuries ago when the tribes originally came together to destroy him, the tribe that held the Death Totem ended up siding with Mallus, so the remaining five tribes were only able to imprison Mallus in another reality, which is why my team eventually ended up having to destroy him. He couldn’t physically escape, but he was able to possess people, even managed to gain his own cult that was dedicated to bringing him back to our world.”

Sara shifted in her seat, crossing one leg over the other, kind of staring past Jiang Cheng as she recalled events. “The whole Mallus threat fell into our hands after my team and I made a mistake on another mission. Our mistakes ended up causing chaos he took advantage of, and he was able to weaken his prison and get a firmer grip of controlling people in our world. Jumping past all the side stories about collecting the totems and dealing with his worshipers, Mallus was eventually able to break free. Which was bad, but also meant my team had a shot to take him down. I didn’t want to be the one who had the Death Totem. Mallus managed to get into my head, and when I touched it the first time it took control of me, giving Mallus an opening to possess me. I almost took out my whole team before they were able to stop me. A second round with the totem seemed like a terrible idea, but I ended up not really having a choice.

The six totems together create a powerful weapon that can defeat Mallus. It’s literally all six totem bearers coming together. Through physical connection- holding hands” she said, casually waving one of her hands “Then there’s a mental connection. We’re connected psychically. Surface-level thoughts mostly. The weapon is created from us. What we think, what we visualize becomes the weapon. I do mean anything. One of my team members back home let his mind wander too far during the process and the weapon ended up taking on a ridiculous form. All six totem bearers are the weapon. It’s like we were all combined into this one form, our minds working together to control it. It was weird. But luckily brief. Because it worked, and we were able to kill Mallus. Once he was dead, we all reverted back to our own bodies with no lasting side effects.”

That was a lot, and also only a summary, so she would not be surprised if there were questions.

Jiang Cheng frequently went hours without saying much of anything at all and he was engrossed in the subject, so it wasn't hard to sit and listen. He imagined the subject was fraught with memories left unsaid, with as power as the totems were and how strong their enemy sounded.

"Do you know where they came from? Who gifted the totems?" He reached for his, on a necklace around his neck, by instinct. He was fond of it now. Maybe a little too attached. But he'd always been close to water and desperate for something to mark him as special growing up. "Do you worry at all that the power that united you all and formed the weapon is something just as bad as the demon?" Having been manipulated for power once, he was loath to do it again.

“Sort of. Legend has it the six tribes of Zambesi prayed to their gods for help, and one answered. But it was apparently a trickster god. Which might account for why sometimes the power of the totems can end up messing with people’s minds. The totems can help, but there’s a catch.” Sara was lucky that she was able to overcome that herself because there had been others who had been driven to madness and death.

He had a good point with the powers of the totems, but it hadn’t been one they’d stopped to think about. “It’s probably possible. The weapon is supposed to be a force for good, but again, it depends on what the totem barriers put into it. So I suppose if one of us decided to try and twist it, it could happen. I don’t know if there’s a failsafe. I’m also wary of just about anything that comes from the gods. But it works if everyone wants it to work, or it did last time.” Sara had proof of that through the experience of defeating Mallus already.

Jiang Cheng's frown deepened for a second and he let go of the totem. It was something he'd considered from the start, but he'd selfishly set it aside. That didn't mean he wouldn't strive for balance though. He would not be controlled by anyone or anything ever again.

"I don't like the sound of a trickster god. But I suppose I always assumed there was something not necessarily good mixed in with all this power." He sat up a little straighter and smoothed a hand down over his clothes habitually. "It seems our mindset is the most important thing, yes? If we stay focused and cautious, and watch out for each other, we should be fine. Cultivation magic works much the same. Some are strong enough to delve into the demonic side of things. Some are better off leaving it alone."

He wasn't entirely sure which he was, but his stubbornness would say the former every time. "Any warning signs when the totem is starting to affect people negatively? Anything we might look out for within ourselves, that is."

Sara smiled, shrugged her shoulders at this statement. “Can’t that really be said for any power though? Power is wielded by people, people have both light and dark, so even the purest of power could be twisted, couldn’t it?” Not that she had any type of extra power or magic on her own. But from what she had observed, it seemed that way.

“I’m definitely not an expert on magic. But I don’t think any of the six of us are at risk or would do anything purposely to compromise the weapon. When I lost control it happened instantly. From what I understand that’s how it’s happened in the past too. It’s not a subtle thing.” She didn’t remember her temporary take over, but she’d seen the footage of it from the ship’s security feed. “I was someone else entirely, I didn’t even look like myself.” Though she was also possessed to, so that probably had something to do with it.

"Not purposefully, no," Jiang Cheng agreed. "Recklessly make a mistake, perhaps. From inexperience, from eagerness." There was a lot of intensity between the six of them. Some of it controlled, some of it instinctive. He was curious to see how they all fit. And if he would be at his best or if fighting alone had conditioned him to be too selfish for teamwork.

He had hoped to be able to plan better for such an event that one of them was corrupted either way though. But Jiang Cheng supposed this was strange magic and some things had to be dealt with in the moment. Still.

"How did they stop you? When you were under control?" he asked.

“Yeah, I can definitely see reckless being an issue.” She’d made her own vast number of reckless mistakes over the years, that was for sure. She probably wasn’t the only one out of the six of them to do so. Fire dragons came to mind, from a recent conversation.

Taking her down hadn’t been easy, but her team had done exactly that. She knew she could count on them to make hard choices if they needed to, including taking down their Captain. “Well, first they kicked my ass.” between the others who were wielding totems, and everyone else, they’d knocked her out. “One of us back home, his name is John, is what he calls a Master of the Dark Arts. He has experience with magic, demons, all kinds of things. My history with him regarding the dark arts is kind of complicated, but he was able to use his magic to help the person I was in love with at the time - Ava- reach me in the realm my mind was trapped in. When I was under the Death Totems control, I also became possessed by Mallus. Mallus hijacked my body and used his power combined with the Death Totem to try and kill my team. But like I said, they kicked my ass.

Somehow with John and Ava’s help, I was able to push him out? I kicked him out of my body, and with him, the control the Death Totem had over me.” She still wasn’t sure how it happened, because according to John people just didn’t kick demons out of their bodies. But she had.

Sara shrugged, “I guess I’m just stubborn enough to enter a willpower match with a demon.”

Jiang Cheng raised his eyebrows slowly at her words and sat up straighter in his chair. He didn't know what he was expecting but 'I fought off demon possession' wasn't it. That kind of thing didn't happen at home. There was only one known survivor of being turned into a fierce corpse and it had taken everything his brother had in him and a lot of new magic to return Wen Ning's mind and personality to his body. Even then, he was forever changed.

"That sounds very complicated and impossible to replicate. Great," he smirked darkly. "I suppose I'll just be glad you're on our side and hope it stays that way, then. Wei Wuxian has some experience with the demonic that could prove useful," he admitted, "but hopefully that won't prove necessary. It's not particularly simple or easy to replicate either." He sat back a bit in his chair, almost relaxing if he were capable of that in a work environment. "Is there anything else you think I should know?"

She could guess what caused the physical reaction in Jiang Cheng, even if it wasn’t totally obvious. Sara had learned later that most people just didn’t kick out a demon from their body. She’d also learned that John had suggested her teams should be prepared to put her down permanently because realistically the demon shouldn’t have been fully gone and Sara was at risk of being taken over again. Luckily, she’d proved them wrong.

“Who knows. Maybe it’s not impossible. John might not be here, but there are plenty other people here with magic.” she motioned at Jiang Cheng himself, as far as Sara knew he was one of them, though she knew he didn’t call it magic. “He’d mentioned that. He worked with me a few times when I first got the Death Totem here in Vallo. Control over the dead isn’t exactly something I want to add into my skill set, but I figured I should at least get somewhat used to it.” At least she only had to worry about when she actively carried the totem.

“Not about the totems or Mallus in general. But maybe specifically about your Water Totem.” she’d kind of forgot this one thing, since her team had ended up changing the timeline and the fate of the last person to wield it. “In a different timeline, before my team ended up changing it, the last person to wield that totem was named Kuasa. She ended up dying, but the totem was used to resurrect her. It ended up becoming part of her. She could use it to become water and move around in that form. It made her a pain in the ass to deal with when we were working against each other. I have no idea how it was used to resurrect her, I don’t want to know, but it is potentially capable of it. Maybe all of them are.”

"Control over the dead is risky. Unreliable," Jiang Cheng frowned. Trust Wei Wuxian to have brought up such things in his cavalier way. "When it works, it is beyond powerful. When it backfires, it is beyond tragic. And in our world, it can negatively affect a person's spirit. Be cautious, Sara Lance. It seems these totems are a concern in that regard all on their own."

He didn't like the sound of resurrection and turning into water. His humanity was important to him; his soul was important to him. But he appreciated her knowledge. He stood and swept his arms in front of him, fingertips to fingertips, and bowed.

"You have done me a service, taking your time to share these things," he said, his tone excessively serious. "I am grateful."

“It also feels like a complete invasion?” she said, agreeing with a nod. “Just let the dead rest already.” At least when she had been revived, she had been revived as someone who got back to her life with extra work. But overall it just seemed invasive. She appreciated his warning, but it was well received and she wasn't going to forget it if she could help it.

Sara shook her head, “You’re keeping the totem, if I was you I’d want to know all I could too.” Sara was not the level of serious that Jiang Cheng was, and she never would be. Part of her wanted to tell him not to take it too seriously as well, he was going to make himself sick. “It is serious, the totems. But it’s pretty cool, too. As long as we’re not risking dragons made of fire burning down the forest, it is okay to have some fun with it, if you want to.”

But she wasn’t about to tell him how to feel, or act. It was whatever he was comfortable with. “If you think of anything you want to know, let me know.” The conversation was winding down, and it didn’t exactly feel like he’d appreciate it if she stuck around to hang out for a while, so she got to her feet and headed toward the door. “You’re always welcome to stop into mine and Shiro’s office.”

"I have fun with it, don't worry." Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes but there wasn't any real annoyance there. He was a private person. It wasn't Sara's fault she didn't know he had dunked George in the lake and regularly interrupted his brother's annoying moments with water to the face or a drenched head.

"You're the one with the depressing one. You have fun with it," he countered. Smirking, he held open the door and waved her out of his tiny office. "Just don't do it here."

Sara raised her hands in front of her briefly in a ‘you got me there’ kind of gesture, she definitely was not using hers to have fun with, because it absolutely was the depressing one. “You’ll regret saying that when I start using it to teleport around the office and scare the crap out of people.”

With that said, Sara pulled the door open and stepped back into the hall. “Enjoy the rest of your paperwork!” she called as she closed the door behind her and headed back down the hall to her office and her own stack of paperwork that she was likely going to ignore for at least another hour.