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It is a very hot night. Central Park does not have very many people at 8 pm on a weeknight. The heat is pushing many of them inside.
For Maria, it fills her with nervous excitement. She can barely contain herself as she dashes into the park, looking for a relatively private place.
She finds a small natural alcove, almost vibrating with excitement as she looks around nervously. No one.
She closes her eyes, and calls the Jaguar spirit, and then her world flares with green light…
And then Amanda promptly tumbles out of her teleportation spell, ending up sprawled on the grass. Sigh. There is a building in New York that has anti-teleportation protections. Whenever she hits it, she has a tendency to end up somewhere she really did not want to be. Or plan on being. She lies there in her white ensemble, staring up at the night sky. "I am beginning to hate that place."
And then the night sky is blotted out by a shape. A very tall…large…Amazonian shape. Green feline eyes shine in a dark face framed by a thick black mane of hair.
The being that was once Maria looks down at Amanda, assessing her as if to ifgure out if she is bad…if she is good…or if she's good to eat. No way to tell, really.
In a husky and resonant yet still female voice, the shape with green eyes asks, "…And where did YOU come from…?"
Amanda Sefton is /clearly/ a good witch. She's wearing white! Amanda narrows her eyes, staring up. Unsure, for a brief moment, if she's hallucinating from some kind of magic backlash. "Germany," she says. Which isn't a lie, but she has a growing headache from being rerouted unintentionally, and is prone to snark when headachy.
The shape steps back, and then the ambient light is cast on her. She is tall. Seven feet if she's an inch, with the black mane of hair adding a couple of inches. She is powerfully-built, muscled, but still buxon, without the usuallt diminishing of femininity that occurs with that kind of musculature. And it is all concealed in a brown bodysuit that is sleeveless, the tight legs of the suit ending at the upper calf, with brown bracers and jaguar-print ankle wraps to complement the suit. A spotted V plunges to just above the navel, and a spotted sash completes the outfit. Such as it is. She's barefoot.
"Really," she rumbles. There is a primitive sound to that deep voice. "I am from Brazil."
To be fair, she does hav a German accent. Or rather, something that sounds German enough. It's not -quite- right, but pretty close. "Really." She rubs the sides of her head before she sits up. Oh, the cat woman isn't going away. So much for the hallucination theory. "They have a lot of cat people in Brazil, do they?"
"I am…THE JAGUAR."
Wow, saying it for the first time in this body…no embarassment at all.
"And as far as I know, there is only one…and with all due respect, there are none right now, as I am here." She tilts her head. "Are you one of them? One of the superiors?"
Amanda Sefton stares up and up at the feline woman, trying her best to keep a straight face. "You… are just going to go with that? Okay." Slowly she stands, brushing any dirt from her long white coat. "Of the superiors? Well. I guess it depends what you mean by 'superior'." She grins a bit. "I am a superior card-reader, but that's my own opinion."
The Jaguar pauses. She frowns thoughtfully. "Superiors. Superiors? Supe…" She sighs. "I am using the wrong word again. It's…SUPERHEROES." She smiles widely, displaying some sharp teeth in her gladness. "You must forgive me…there is no correlating word in my native Portuguese."
"Me? Oh, I don't think so." She just deals with the small stuff. Rogue elemental spirits. Would-be conjurers. That sort of thing. "But.. you…" She gestures. "This is something you're built for, it looks like."
Jaguar looks a little self-conscious about that, who looks strange on a giantess cat Amazon. "Really? I have thought long and hard about what I should do with this gift, but I don't exactly know how to start." She leans closer, then says with a tone of embarassment, "I…don't know anything about being superio…SUPERHERO…"
Amanda Sefton feels terribly short compared to Jaguar, and when the woman leans in, she leans back. "Here, let's just step back…" One hand on the woman's arm, taking her away from the main path they're both near. Just to keep them out of sight. "I think the main idea would be to help people who need it."
The big lady looks a little lost. "But…but I don't know HOW. Apart from two instances, I don't know how to find people to help. Do I just…wander the city? Do some kind of patrol like some kind of *policial*?" She looks a little woebegone. "And add to that the difficulty of…controlling myself. The last time I…ran into someone who was hurting someone, it took all my will to keep myself from simply…tearing them apart…"
The number of times she's run into a situation where she winds up listening and providing insight is becoming startling high. Maybe Amanda needs to look into becoming licensed! "Hmm.. that is… tricky." She taps her chin, looking over the big woman. "I am guessing that has to do with the… being a cat."
Jaguar looks to Amanda. "My pet Angora is a cat. The Jaguar is a predatory animal that rules the jungle." She smiles wryly. "They are not the same…"
She looks around, sniffing the air, actually sniffing the air. "Someone is approaching, but they are still a good kilometer away."
Amanda Sefton frowns. "What direction?" She makes like she's desperately trying to see, but what she does instead is weave her fingers around and… no, better not. Who knows, maybe she'd smell magic or something! "It's still a cat. A wild cat, though."
The Jaguar points off to the south. "Two people. A man and a woman. The woman is wearing lipstick. The name is using too much cologne." She looks back to Amanda. "Well…perhaps I am…what is the term? Picking gnats?" She pauses. "That doesn't sound quite right."
"Nitpicking," Amanda suggests. She shrugs. "That might be true. But.. if you're afraid you're losing control, you should take steps to help keep yourself in control."
The Jaguar nods, "Of course. Killing is a mortal sin! If I did something like that…" She shudders. "…I just CAN'T. I'd rather be beaten and humiliated than kill anyone…"
Something dawns on Amanda. She smiles apologetically and offers a hand. "I'm Amanda, by the way. Amanda Sefton."
The tall woman blinks, looking startled. It is almost comedic for someone of her stature to look that way. She reaches and, almost hesitantly, shakes Amanda's hand. "I…can't tell you my real name. You understand, right?" She sounds and looks uncertain, like the world's tallest pre-teen.
Amanda Sefton tilts her head and shrugs. "I know. And I'm not exactly hiding behind a mask, either, am I?" She stands out. Her looks see to that, and she knows it. Besides, she's the fortune teller at a very successful circus nearby. She'd have to do better to hide her identity if she was going to do heroing.
The Jaguar (Jesu Christus, is she always going to think of herself that way?) shakes her head. "No, you are not. I apologize. It is so strange for me because until a week ago, I did not have any special powers. They came because the previous bearer of the Jaguar Spirit died…and from her, it came to me." She looks down at her hands. "I…am not sure how to feel about that."
This is… a lot of information to give to a strange. But maybe the Jaguar just needs someone to talk to. With a hand, Amanda gestures that they move onwards. Away from paths. "That… has to be overwhelming." She can't imagine how she'd feel if she woke up this morning and found out she coul cast spells. Elated? Terrified?
Jaguar nods as she retreats back into the comforting darkness of the wooded alcove. "I…still don't know what I can do. I punched through a brick wall. It felt like I was punching a cardboard box. Want to know the difference between the Jaguar Spirit and a refrigerator? The appliance comes with an instructuon manual." She pauses. "All the other things, too, but the manual seems the most important."
"If spirits came with an instruction manual, learning about them might be seen as too much of a time waster," Amanda says. "My mother used to insist everyone should learn for themselves. She did not like the idea of manuals of any kind."
Jaguar snorts. "I'd like to see how she would have reacted if someone put a pistol in your crib and told her you had to 'learn for yourself.'"
"My mother tended to react poorly to anyone threatening someone under her care." Until, of course, it was time to go mad and try to kill her daughter. But that… Amanda doesn't talk about that.
Jaguar nods. "But that's how I feel. I have been given something dangerous and I'm expected to 'learn for myself.'" She looks to Amanda. "My aunt had this power. She used it to kill her enemies. She told me, when I was 12, when I was too young to understand. She was following a cause. And she told me what she was going to do for her cause." She looks up at the night sky. "She said, '…what's a few boneyards?'"
It might be hot out and they might be walking, but Amanda seems in no hurry to pull down her hood or undo her coat's buttons. "What DO you know about this jaguar spirit?" she wonders.
Jaguar looks to her. "Nearly nothing. I know it comes through the women of my bloodline. And I know it has no mind of its own. It is pure instinct. Detect. Track. Pursue. Catch…Kill. Eat." She sounds hesitant, and for apparently good reason.
Amanda Sefton doesn't seem bothered. Or, if she is, she's good at hiding. "That would lead me to believe it can be used for any intentions. Good or bad. It doesn't have a moral restraint."
Jaguar nods. "So…I have to guide it away from what it considers natural. And I have no choice in the matter." She looks around. "I should go soon. I will be missed before too much longer. She smiles slightly. "But I wish to thank you. Being a sympathetic ear helps more than you realize."
Amanda Sefton sticks a hand in a pocket, quickly conjuring a pencil and paper. It's a simple spell. She produces them both and scribbles something down. "Here's where you can find me if you need to talk to someone in the future."
Jaguar looks at her and ponders. How to handle it? If she held it, she might lose it. She might have to put it someplace in her dorm room, or it will vanish when she Changes. So much to remember.
"I…will try. And I thank you. I hope that you can help me when I need it the most."