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Stiles meets a mysterious woman named Kira, who offers to teach him how to survive immortality.
Beacon Hills Public Library
Stiles is camped out at a table, a wealth of information spread all around him. A variety of books, a few maps and scrolls, and even a laptop and tablet all displaying various texts and images. An empty cup of coffee lies near to hand, and he's at this point just sitting and staring at the laptop, a hand fisted in his hair. This shit is crazy.
It all started with the werewolf attack last month, he was sure. Then, over the past weekend, he'd been... struck by magic lightning, or something. And he'd been nudged into the direction of certain research. And... he'd started to learn things. It seemed insane, if not for the fact that he routinely hung out with werewolves of various types. But, still...
He was immortal?
Well, unless he got himself beheaded, anyway. Even then--holy crap. Picking up his phone, he stares at it. He'd send a message, but he's still not sure what to send.
A walk through town, after finaly getting the deed to her new teahouse. Kira still wants to know the layout of the city, and upan passing the Library, she feels the buzz, and can tell it's a very young immortal. She walks into the Library and follows the feel of the buzz until she finds Stiles, and crosses her arms over her chest. "That buzzing in the back of your head should dim somewhat..." She states, not know how much the kid knows, but starting with that would be an excelent ice breaker. "And no, I'm not here for your head."
Stiles glances up in surprise when he feels that increasingly familiar feeling nagging at him, and then there's Kira--and she's explaining the sensation. His jaw drops open a bit, and he blinks at her. He glances over at a document that bears vague references to The Game. Clearly, he's been researching immortals and their history, piecing together what scraps of information he could. It isn't much. "Uh, well... good," he says lamely, looking up at Kira. "That's always a... reassuring start to a conversation." But the curiosity he feels is clearly reflected in his eyes, his expression. "Nice... to meet you?"
Kira smiles and walks forward. "I'm guessing what little you've read doesn;t fully explain the situation..." She tilts her head at him. "You've recently had a quickening." Well, at least there's that. "Anyway, I'm here to answer your questions, and to make sure that head stays firmly on your shoulders." She says with a smile. "Kira Wu, nice to meet you." She says as she offers him her hand.
"Uh," Stiles says, "A Quickening..." But then, she's introducing herself, and he offers a weak grin. "I'm Stiles. Stiles Stilinski. So, uh... what's... a Quickening?" He stands up, shaking hands, and gives a helpless shrug. "I'm guessing you know what all this 'immortal' stuff is about? 'Cause... my life's gotten kinda freaky lately, and... I'm not finding as much information in books as I'd been hoping for."
Kira smiles. "You won't find information in books, or much of it, we have kept it secret for as long as we've been around." She says as she looks at him. "A quickening is the electrical phenominon that happens when you take the head of another immortal. It's our source of power, and our means to get stronger." She says with a smile. "The 'Game' is over though, one of us ended it when he gathered enough quickening to earn the prize, lucky for us, we don;t have a goal or a pull to kill eachother, though, some will come and try and kill others of us for the power we have alone." She says softly before looking to the side. "Effecitvly, you will live forever, heal quickly, and can never have children, look into adoption if you really want to raise a child. I myself have been around for over five hundred years, and there are some who can reach into the thousands." Yes, that was plural.
Stiles nods very slowly, swallowing hard, and... sinks right back down into his chair, his knees having gone weak. It was all suddenly way, way too real. He finds himself pressing his fingertips hard into the tabletop, biting his lip--and then he lets out a slow, careful breath and looks up at Kira again. "And that's... what you are--what we are?" He licks his lips, which are suddenly feeling dry. "So, uh. What... what do I... need to know about this? I mean, this is kind of a lot to just... y'know. Happen."
Kira gives a shrug and sits across the table from him. "Well, it's alot to take in, but you have to hear it. The first thing you need to know is how to fight, Un;ess you want to live on holy ground, oh yes, we can't fight eachother on holy ground, it would cause a catastrophe, like Pompeii in ancient italy... Our power derives from the source of life, and that source doesn't take kindly to us killing eachother on holy ground, so, you're safe there." She says. "I spent my first thirty years as an immortal on holy ground, a shaolin temple, I learned alot." She says as she reaches over and takes his hand in a comforting gesture. "It's common for older immortals to tutor and train younger immortals. it's safe for you, and I'll be less worried about your well being, trust me, I worry about all younger immortals." She says softly.
Stiles nods slowly, numbly, but seems a bit comforted by her gesture. "Thanks," he says quietly, then reaches up with his free hand to scrub it through his hair and exhales a sharp sigh. "Wow. So, you'll teach me... how this all works? I'd... definitely prefer to learn." He frowns a little, though. "Fighting... so is this the swords thing? The guy that tried to kill me before had a sword. Then he--freakin' random as hell--he actually fell into a guillotine and beheaded himself. True story!" He shivers a bit, shaking his head. "But then he died, and... the energy--The Quickening?--jumped out of him and into me. It was... freaky."
Kira smiles. "Yeah, that's the funny thing, accidental decapitations cause the quickening to go to the nearest immortal, deliberate ones go to the one who did the decapitation, and if no immortal is around, the power returns to the source." She says and tilts her head. "Do you have a sword? You know that you will need to learn to use it. immortals and other supernaturals can sense you now, granted, from what I'm told, it comes off as a really strong force of nature, which is what our powers are, and not evil or good like demons and angels." She says as she sits back after releasing his hand. "Also, all duels are one on one, we can't interfere, it's forbiddon." She states, that last part said with a sober look.
Stiles reaches up to rub both hands across his face, but he holds back the groan that he'd like to indulge in. Once he drops his hands to the tabletop, he gives a slow nod, just as sober as that look Kira gives him, and says, "Okay, I'll definitely be keeping lots of notes on this. And, yeah, I actually do have a sword. Pretty nice one, actually, I think. So... I gotta learn to fight. Does... that mean that you're gonna teach me?" He raises his eyebrows, slumping back in his chair, and looks vaguely hopeful.
Kira rolls her eyes. "Yes it means I'm going to train you, and that sword, you know how to conceal it right?" She asks with a cant of her head. "You should NEVER be without it, make it apart of you, and make you apart of it, sometimes, it may be your only friend." She says as she stands and reaches behind her, pulling out her own sword. "This one was made in the fiftheenth century, and was my master's before he fell." She says as she puts the blade away, and sits back down, the blade once again concealed.
Stiles boggles at the sword when Kira produces it from seemingly nowhere, his jaw dropping and eyes going wide. At least he wasn't leaning back in his chair, as he often does, or he might have gone tipping backwards. As it is, he just answers in a strangled voice, "I have it stashed in the back seat of my Jeep, outside. I... guess you'll have to teach me that 'concealing' trick, too." And he exhales slowly again. Reaching for a pen and a piece of paper, he jots down his phone number and email address, then offering the paper to Kira. "So, uh... guess you'll want to be able reach me."
Kira smiles and takes the paper, and give him her own number, and the adress to her teahouse. "Actualyy, why don't I show you that trick right now?" She asks as she stands up. "Better for you to know it then not, oh and don;t worry, the polcie, should they ever frisk you, wont be able to find it." But of course, supernatruals on the other hand....
Stiles stands again, too, and nods. "Just, gimmie a sec," he mumbles, and he quickly stacks his various materials back on a cart, putting away his laptop and tablet, and then shoulders his backpack. Nodding, then, he says, "Okay, uh... lead the way, uh--hey, is this like a Jedi thing? Do I call you 'master' and stuff, or... uh... what?"
Kira chuckles. "I'm not short and green with pointy ears, so no. The closest thing would be Shifu, which is chinese for Martial arts teacher, which I of course, hold that rank." Even if that particular document is a four hundred and fifty year old scroll. "Even though, a lightsaber would be awesome to have." She says as she leads him out of the library with a smirk, well, someone goes to the movies apparently.
Quite a wide grin spreads across Stiles' face at this, and he follows along with a bright chuckle. "Okay, then I guess when we're training it's 'shifu,' then. Because you're clearly cool enough to deserve respect. Man, a lightsaber would be awesome." And as they reach outside, he leads Kira over to the old blue Jeep parked nearby, where he opens it up and stashes his backpack inside. Then he reaches into the back seat, withdrawing a sheathed Japanese katana. He holds this out to Kira for her inspection. At a glance, the most obvious thing about it is that the hilt has been carved to resemble a wolf's head.
Kira nods. "Not bad, the person who ended the game used a Katana." She says as she gives it a once over. "Pretty neat, now, to show you how to conceal it.' She says as she hand it to him and then takes out her own sheathed sword. "Now, I draw from the back, but you, you may wish to draw from the side, so slip the sheath along your leg here, and cover the hilt with your shirt, then focus on concealing it, think of the buzz, and just, imagine it covering the sword, it's the best way to control quickening, which is our power source." She says and demonstraits with her own sword, back onto her back once more.
Stiles follows Kira's instructions, looking impressed by the mention of how a katana was used to end the Game. He holds the weapon against him as instructed, letting his flannel overshirt fall closed around it, and closes his eyes. Reaching into his mind, he calls up that sense-memory of the buzz, frowning a little, and focuses carefully. For a moment, nothing happens--but then he makes a soft noise in the back of his throat, and with a tiny ripple of the Quickening, the sword seems to melt away beneath his flannel. He blinks a little, running a hand up and down along his side, and says, "Whoa... that... was actually really cool."
Kira smiles and nods. "Yes." She says softly. "Now, pull just the blad,e leave the sheathe." She says as she looks at him expectantly. "You have to be able to do this within a moment's notice."
This proves a bit trickier, but on the second try Stiles manages to find the hit of the sword, and he draws the blade smoothly enough free. He lacks speed, but he at least manages to be steady about it. "I'll, uh," he says, flushing a bit, "I'll practice it."
Kira nods and smiles. 'Yes, that should be your first lession. If you have time, we should head to my teahouse, I have a basement level where I can show you a few things for you to practice on your own time." She says and tilts her head.
"Well," Stiles says uncertainly, "I do need to go and meet someone. But... if you want to give me the address, then I can come by sometime soon and start the training." He doesn't seem to be trying to deceive her, but his manner is still wary. This has been a lot for him to take in.
Kira nods. "I already handed it to you." She says with a smile. "Take care, be safe." She says as she pats him on the shoulder before turning and making her way down the street, looking down at her phone for a moment before slipping around the corner.
Stiles takes in another deep breath and lets it out slowly, pulling out the paper Kira gave him and looking at it. Okay, so... tea house. Cool. He stows the katana again and climbs into the car, pulling the door shut after him. He sits there for a long few moments, absently drumming his fingertips against the wheel and lost in thought. Then, shaking it off, he starts up the car, turning to look behind him as he backs out into the road, and drives off.
Who wants to live forever? For the first time, he'll actually have to think about it.