The following takes place shortly before the group leaves for Texas at the start of Part 10: Bloody Aces & Eights 

Our story opens in India with Arja lounging in the harem quarters watching soccer on TV (she's unable to play herself due to the constant moving around the world, and it'd be an unfair advantage due to the supernaturally enhanced physical prowess, but she's quite a fan of the sport) as Simoni enters with a large trunk that Arja's father brought back from a trip to Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia. Apparently he'd been given it as a gift for visiting the country and said that they could have it. 

Once they open it the reason why becomes obvious. Its full of, well, junk... mostly. A couple bolts of silk which Simoni happily says will be a new sari within a week, but otherwise its some old books written in arabic, a few empty bottles, and so on. Arja comments that they probably just grabbed something out of the attic so that they wouldn't get gossiped about for not giving the diplomat something, then says that the alchemists at Hanuman's Temple may be able to use the bottles at least before opening one. 

As the cork comes out Arja gets a faint wiff of something... some kind of spices... and then there's a bright flash of light and smoke fills the room as she senses a powerful supernatural presence. "Ugh! FINALLY! I thought I'd never get out of that bottle!" says a voice, then it pauses and sounds confused, "Wait... this isn't the Sultan's palace, where am I?" 

The smoke clears, revealing a tall woman standing in the middle of the room and looking around in a confused way. She has dark skin, lighter than Arja and Simoni's but not by much, and long hair that's a bright violet color. She's wearing a pair of baggy red silk pants and a tight red silk top, several gold bracelets on her arms, and her ears have a gold earring in each of them... and are pointed as well. "You there. Child. Where am I?" she asks, looking at Arja.

A fairly straightforward question... except for one problem. The woman is speaking in Arabic. Arja only knows enough to ask directions to a hotel and other things a diplomat's daughter might need, while Simoni is totally lost. 

Arja blinks as she looks at the strange figure "Uuuuh...Hindi? Or English?" she offers, barely understanding just a few words. 

The woman looks at her, raising her eyebrow, then sighs and reaches out a hand, pressing a fingertip to Arja's forehead. She feels a tingling sensation all through her skull as if someone just ran a weak current over her brain, and the woman straightens back up, "Ar...ja... and... Si..mo...ni?" she says, as if tasting the words in her mouth, "And..." she blinks, "I'm in India?!" she looks around, "What in Allah's name am I doing in India?!" she says, sounding rather irritated. "Ugh, there must have been another war. I swear one little argument over a translation of the Koran and half the country is dead by sunset!" she throws up her arms and yells, then sighs and looks at the girls, then at the TV, then up at the electric lights, "... what year is this?" she asks.

Arja tells her she doesn't know of any war, then tells her that it's the year 2014. The woman asks what callendar they're using, then lets out an exasperated sigh and falls onto the couch. By her count she'd been in the bottle for almost five hundred years, give or take a few. 

"There had to have been another war and my last keeper must've been killed before he told anyone where I was. No wonder it felt like so long..." she grumbles, looking over the two girls, then letting out a long sigh, "Alright then, what do you want?" she asks in a resigned sort of way. 

Arja giggles "We should let Natasha meet her, they can share stories...you're Arabic not Turkish right? She has ~issues~ with the Turks...." 

She rolls her eyes, "Of course I'm not Turkish!" she replies, sounding a bit annoyed when you suggest it, "I am Lubanah, formerly a Jinn of the Sultan of what you would call Saudi Arabia... of course given how long I've been in there I would assume that he and probably most of his descendants are long dead." she replies.

Arja grins, asking her what the rules are and if the 'no killing, no making people fall in love, and no bringing people back from the dead' thing is real or not. Lubanah just looks confused by this, calling Arja a 'very strange girl', before clarifying that she cannot bring people back from the dead as that requires divine power which she doesn't have. Making people fall in love is out too, she's unable to mentally or emotionally manipulate humans. As for the last one she conjures a scimitar out of the air and tests the blade with her thumb, saying 'Killing is not a problem. Who do you want to die?' 

Arja Barjar thinks "You'd have to attack them though, right? It's not a magic spell or something? There is a guy I wouldn't mind having his head removed but he's a pretty dangerous guy and he has a weapon that can do horrible things to creatures like us, seems cruel to sic you on him..." 

She considers this for a moment, then flicks her wrist as the sword flies up into the air, vanishing before it comes down. "Hmm... My geas compels me to grant favors for those who release me... but not favors that would result in my destruction." she says, leaning in and giving her a stern look, "Tell me of this 'weapon that can do horrible things to creatures like us' Arja." she requests. 

Arja raises a brow "It's called the Mundane Blade...given where your from it probably has a different name, I think there's an Arabian myth about a pair of knives called Ifrit's Spite that may be it? It's a blade that doesn't just hack and slash but it also utterly destroys everything...supernatural...about you, usually with fairly fatal results." 

The woman listens, then raises an eyebrow at her, then tilts her head slowly as she looks Arja over. "... Ifrit's spite... you are children, yet you have made an enemy of a man who wields one of the swords of hubris?" she asks in an incredulous tone, "... girl... I mean no offense when I ask this but... how is it that you are not dead?" she asks. 

Arja smirks "You have your god's blessing and I have mine I guess?" she says, despite her lack of language skills she actually was fairly well versed in Arabian folklore. "Your people are pious people, right? Made by God just like humans, but out of smoke rather than earth? Well this guy with this blade...is a very bad man, by any faith's standards," she nods to Simoni at that, "He's her grandfather despite appearances now, he's done terrible things to usurp her clan's leadership and has basically declared a war on anything supernatural that stands in his way." 

She nods and leans back, "Hmph, sounds correct." she replies, "The swords of hubris as my people call them, or at least used to... I cannot say if they still do. Ironic in that the men who wield them often die due to their own hubris." she smirks, "One would wonder if the gods of our lands knew what they were really doing when they gave men the means of creating those cursed weapons." she nods. 

Arja nods "Yea I heard these came from Babylon. We know about it's hunger turning on them and all, but if you have any insights in how to get that we'd be very grateful" she says. 

"As for how to remove one from power... that I cannot say. Our kind cannot even hold one of the weapons without suffering great pain... but they did not just come from the first kingdom." she replies, "The first of the weapons was created there, yes, but each land had it's own weapon in the earliest days of humanity." she replies, tilting her head, "I -could- tell you more... but that would be considered a 'favor'..."

Lubanah says that she can explain the origins of the Mundane Blades, but that this will count as one of the three 'wishes' that Arja can ask of her. Arja and Simoni debate it for a moment, then agree to use their first wish to hear the story of where the swords came from. Lubanah agrees, but tells them to gather any allies they may have as she will only tell the tale once. 

Arja goes to gather the others, having to wake Natasha up as it's just barely past sunset, and finally everyone is gathered in the harem quarters. 

She watches them come in, raising an eyebrow at the crew, especially Natasha, Lupe, and Drusilla. "Hm... you keep interesting company Arja..." she says, then once all of them are settled she stands up, "Very well, listen closely as this story will only be told once. This is how the Swords of Hubris, or the Mundane Blades as you call them, came to be." she says, clapping her hands together. The minute she does the house and everything in it vanishes, and the group is standing in a dense jungle, a few small buildings nearby, but otherwise the place is no city. Its no illusion either, they can feel the heat of the jungle, smell the different plants... 

"This is your land as it was in the first days... before the swords, spears, arrows, and other weapons you know as the Mundane Blades came to be." she says as a loud stomping sound draws close... and then not one, but three Rakshasa burst through the foliage, laughing wickedly as the head towards the houses. The people inside try to bar the doors, barricade themselves in, or flee into the jungle, but two of them simply kick the doors in or rip them right out of the frames, the third changing into a giant tiger to chase down those who run. 

As they flee there's another crash from the forest and a massive giant, fifty feet tall at least, steps into the clearing, grinning with pleasure at the sight of his kin hunting down the humans. He's huge and inhuman, with twelve massive heads upon his shoulders... Arja recognizes him instantly, even if she'd never seen a picture you somehow -know- who this is. Ravana, the Rakshasa King, who is sealed inside Rama's Arrow. 

"In the first days, the enemies of humanity were many, and great in their strength..." she says, the scene shifting to show an ancient vampire, surrounded by pale and weak humans, the vampire lord the picture of strength, blood running down his chin as he feeds on a mortal. "Those who tried to fight would die, or face a fate worse than death." she nods, the scene shifting again to show a pack of werewolves howling and dancing around the wreckage of a town under the light of a full moon, exalting in their kill, some of the bodies in the pile were quite small. 

The scene shifts back to Ravana and his kin, "Though, humanity was not without it's allies." she says as Ravana is suddenly struck in his head by a large dead tiger, one of the rakshasa that ran into the woods. Striding into the clearing, grinning confidently at the demon, is a muscular indian man in a loincloth with a fighting staff balanced on his shoulders. He has red fur all along his body with gold highlights, shining iron claws for finger and toenails, and the crown of an ancient Indian king on his forehead. Arja knows him as well, this can only be her ancestor, Hanuman the Monkey King. 

Arja nods, smiling a bit as she sees her divine ancestor in 'person'. "I don't really have any spite for the ancient humans having the blades in the first place. If I felt as if I was under siege by beings far stronger than me who saw me as food or labor at best, I'd do anything I could too" she says. 

Lubanah nods, "That is how the gods felt as well." she replies as Ravana roars in fury at the death of his kin, raising a massive club and bringing it down hard enough to knock any trees that it hits out of the ground, though Haruman nimbly sidesteps it, scrambling up the demon king's shoulder and giving one of his heads a harsh blow in the face with his fighting staff, smashing it's nose in. 

"As I said, humanity had its allies." she replies, the image shifting back to the vampire lord as he rises up from his throne as a man comes in, welding a holy symbol before him, the vampire hissing and turning it's gaze from it as the human recites prayers at him, the very words seeming to burn the undead creature's ears. The scene changes again, this time the werewolves roar in anger as their celebration is interrupted by a group of bear-like redhaired men wearing kilts and wielding large two-handed swords edged in silver. Followed into battle by a red haired woman wearing an iron helmet with three ravens etched into the front, dressed in a long green robe under a breastplate and holding her own sword. She yells something in Gaelic and behind her a group of women summon up a snowstorm, pelting the werewolves with hail and ice as the men cut them down. Nelen whistles at this, "Huh, so thats what Clan Fullmoon used to be..." he mutters. 

"Indeed... this worked for a time, however..." the scene changes to show Hanuman, looking weary now, a whole village wrecked around him as a mob of Rakshasa and other monstrous beings surround the ancient king. "The enemies of humanity were many, and their allies could only do so much. The darker forces of the world would feed on humans and multiply, growing stronger..." the scene changes again, showing a city in what looks like Italy where a well suddenly erupts with hundreds and hundreds of red-eyed rats, a huge twisted rat-like human scurring out after them as they swarm over the nearby humans, leaving only bones behind. "And some humans would learn magic to defend their people... but so many would wind up corrupted by the very powers they sought to use." she nods gravely, showing an old keep now, the warriors inside dead and covered in what looks like pox marks as one tries to flee, only to be struck in the back by a splatter of blood, a pale faced man with a long gray beard in a tunic holding out a hand towards him with a sigil etched into the palm. 

"The gods were mighty, but even they could only do so much... humanity needed to be able to defend itself from their many enemies... and so the gods looked outwards from their world, and found an answer." she nods, the scene showing Hanuman again as the Rakshasa close in... Hanuman tilts his head as if hearing something odd, then quickly jumps up into the rafters of a half-ruined building as the sky opens and a burning meteor falls from the sky, crashing into the middle of the crowd of demons. As the metal cools one of the Rakshasa, curious at this new thing, reaches out a hand to it, and then screams in agony as it vanishes. 

Arja frowns "The mundane blades...were forged from meteors?" she says, watching the Rakshasa react so badly "Huh...that makes sense in a weird way..." 

She nods, "Indeed. You know of the fair folk, the fae, and their fear of iron correct?" she asks, "The iron they fear is but a weaker form of this material." she says as the rakshasa retreat in a panic, afraid of this strange rock that could devour them as easily as they devoured humans. "They called it 'void iron', iron born of the darkness between stars. Of the emptiness of the void, that knows only hunger." she says, the few survivors creeping out of their ruined homes to look at this material that terrified their tormentors so. One of them cautiously touches it, and finds that he can do so without pain... for he has no magic for the iron to consume. "It is from this that the blades were created. The iron is very difficult to work, and much dross was mixed into it that had to be worked away. Each meteor could only make a single sword, a few spears, a single quiver of arrows... but it was enough." 

The scene changes showing meteors landing in Ireland, Africa, Russia, China, even America... the people of those times finding them, realizing what they could do, and turning them into weapons. "They were originally called the Blades of Hubris because of what they were used for. So long as the supernatural beings of the world left humans alone, they would do likewise... if any of them ever went too far..." she nods, the image showing the bethulu fleeing in terror back into the sewers, their leader cut down by a young knight wielding a blade with an edge surrounded by darkness, "A warrior wielding one of the blades would come." the image changes, showing an Indian man wielding a bow, shooting an arrow into Ravana's body as the demon king lets out one loud piercing cry before vanishing, the arrow clattering to the ground. 

"However... soon mankind would feel their own hubris... the tides turning against the supernatural beings of the world. Humans continued to grow and multiply, and when they realized that they no longer had to fear their old enemies. Those who once hunted them now became hunted themselves." she glances sadly to her right as you see a pack of werewolves fleeing from a Fullmoon warrior, wielding the same sword Franklin now carries, the werewolves obviously terrified as Lupe lets out a low whine and leans into Natasha. "Humans became arrogant, and no longer listened to the gods who gave them such a powerful gift." she adds, the image showing Hanuman leading his kinfolk into his temple, sending them through into the supernatural world as outside an ancient Indian king stood, a curved sword with a glowing black edge at his hip, watching them go. 

"In time however, many humans forgot that their old foes even existed. They began to worship their gods again, but believed the old stories to be nothing but that. Stories and fables of a forgotten time." she nods, the scene showing a prayer service at Hanuman's temple, as if the previous scene had never even happened at all. "Their foes went into hiding, waiting for a day when humanity would forget them and the blades, and one by one the ancient weapons were lost and scattered... and now all that remains are stories of the past, and a few who do remember and know the truth of things, such as yourselves." 

Arja nods slowly "I see, so the blades came from space. That explains a lot about them, what kills supernatural like something even more unnatural..." she muses, rubbing her chin softly "Maybe Bethandi would know how to break it then? I mean we call it a fancy 'metal from between the stars' thing but I'd bet her people have actually seen it and all..." 

Lubanah thinks, "Perhaps, if this 'Bethandi' herself comes from where the void iron did." she replies, "However, I do not. We jinn know many secrets, but the means of destroying the Swords of Hubris is not among them." she replies, the visions fading and the room returning. Nelen glances down at his bandaged hand, clearly troubled by seeing a blood mage abusing his powers, and Lupe whimpers and nuzzles into Natasha after seeing a sight that was quite possibly very close to what had happened to her pack. 

"Thus, the first boon is granted. You may have two more." she says, nodding to Arja.

Nelen and Lupe look troubled by what they saw, Nelen by the blood mage who abused his powers and Lupe by both the savagery of her ancestors and the way they were cut down by the mundane blade, though Drusilla and Natasha comfort them. Arja thanks Lubanah, then asks her to tell them who imprisoned her. 

Lubanah frowns, "That was the Arabian 'hero' Ali Baba." she replies, "That -horrible- little mortal tricked me into the bottle and bound me with a geas that compells me to grand three favors to whoever lets me out." she says, sounding very angry about the whole thing. 

"I'm sure you probably heard the tale... unless mankind really has begun to forget the old ways. He would approach a jinn with a specially prepared bottle and challenge us to prove our magical prowess, betting that we could not make ourselves small enough to enter the bottle. Once we were inside he would cork it and we'd be trapped and bound." she glares at the wall as she says it, her cheeks burning. It clearly bothers her to admit that this happened to her. 

Arja nods "I've heard, to be honest I didn't think many actually fell for it..." she says, "Can you be freed?" she adds in casually. 

Lubanah huffs in an irritated way at Arja's words, then raises her eyebrow, "... yes I can... you would do this?" she asks, sounding suspicious. 

Arja nods "I'm not OPPOSED to it, you helped us and, as funny as I think the story is I don't think a being should be trapped in a bottle for centuries at a time." she says, playing coy at the moment. She knows Jinn can be tricky, they were made with the same moral scales as humans, some could be incredibly noble, some horrifically cruel, but many of them straddled the line well..."Question is what makes that a better option than have a genie literally in my back pocket, right?"

She frowns, but decides to trust Arja for now, and tells her how she can be freed. Its not like in the movies where the genie must be 'wished' free of their lamp, bottle, or whatever. The truth is the geas holds them so long as the third wish is always for them to return to their bottle. If the third wish is anything else, the geas is broken the moment it is granted, and the jinn is free to do as they will. 

Arja nods "Makes sense, so as long as the last one isn't 'get back in your bottle' we're good." she laughs, "Pretty big loop hole honestly, I can't imagine many would think to 'waste' their last wish putting you back in..." 

Lubanah smirks at that, "Yes, well... Ali Baba made a point of spreading the legend around as much as he could so that everyone who could know would know... but this was centuries ago, and stories do change sometimes..." she replies as Dawn pipes up, "Yeah, you're not blue, goofy, and voiced by a hairy and hyperactive old man." she grins as Lubanah just looks at her in a confused way, "... why would I be blue?"

Arja bops Dawn's head lightly for that, then asks the group if they have any ideas for the second wish. Nelen shrugs, not sure what to ask for, though he does seem to be looking at his bandages again in a thoughtful way. Lupe scratches at her ear and makes a suggestion of a new collar, but then she's not the biggest thinker. Simoni just shrugs, knowing that the one she really wants is one that Lubanah wouldn't be able to pull off (i.e. dead Franklin). Dawn's suggestion of catnip unto infinity is met with a resounding no from everyone else in the room, except Lupe who just barks at her. 

Then Arja comes up with an idea. She asks Lubanah for the means to travel to Jinnistan, the kingdom of the jinn, whenever they need to incase they can't contact Bethandi for whatever reason, basically wanting a second 'get out of oh shit card' besides the communicator implant behind Simoni's ear. Lubanah warns her that this could have it's own dangers as some jinn are not very fond of mortals, but Arja just says it's more of an emergency switch and that 'we're not planning on building a vacation home or anything'. 

Lubannah shrugs, taking one of her gold bangles and running her fingers around it, causing a row of Arabic characters engraved along it to glow a faint blue for a moment. 

"If you find yourself in peril then hold this bracelet in both hands and call out for entry into Jinnistan, and the kingdom of my people will open to you." she replies, handing Arja the bracelet. 

She nods in a satisfied way, watching her closely. "Thus is the second favor granted. You have but one remaining." she says. 

Arja nods "So, let's go back to telling me about you then. Forgive the delay but I'd like to know a bit about who I'm releasing, ya know." 

She frowns, clearly annoyed at how perceptive you are, "Very well. Ali Baba came to me after he'd already imprisoned several of my kin. I found this out after he had trapped me of course, none of the other jinn could warn us of his plans because they wound up trapped themselves." she replies, "I... may have been bothering a certain Sultan of the time... nothing dangerous... just embarrassing him in public for my own amusement." she admits, glancing away, "Making him fall off his horse, making him break wind before foreign visitors... it was quite amusing, and then Ali Baba came and spoke to him about me..." she glares, "And I wound up trapped in that stinking Allah-forsaken bottle for centuries!" she shouts, then grits her teeth and forces herself to calm back down. 

Arja giggles softly "Hmmmm, interesting. Well you hardly seem DANGEROUS, but still you could be a problem for people, it's a difficult question isn't it?" she says as her eye flashes wickedly "So, here's my third wish, Jinn!" she says, pausing to let her stew a bit before holding her hand up "I want a ring that allows me to summon you when I need. You'll be free to do as you please any other time, but the ring's call will be like the voice of god itself calling to you. That's a fair deal isn't it? You get freedom and I have a way to check on you." 

Her eye twitches at that, and she tries to think of any sort of loophole in her geas that will still allow her freedom while avoiding that... but in the end sighs and slumps her shoulders. Its well within her power, and she can certainly say that it won't threaten her life... "... truly you are as cunning and devious as your divine ancestor Arja..." she grumbles, snapping her fingers as a ring set with a ruby appears on Arja's right ring finger. "When you... require my aid... simply touch the ruby with your fingertip and say my name... and will come." she grumbles, then goes shivers a bit as the group feels the jinn's magical aura suddenly flare up, the geas breaking as the third and final wish is granted. 

"Your pardon for a moment Arja." she says, picking up her bottle by the neck and looking it over... then smashing it hard against a wall and shattering it into pieces, grinning in a satisfied way. "You do not know how long I have been waiting to do that." she smirks. 

Arja giggles "Don't worry, I won't abuse it, believe it or not." she nods to her little harem "I do have my ancestor's belief in freedom above all. You don't have to be worried about me calling you every week to harass you." 

She looks over the harem and raises her eyebrow, "... those in your harem wear a collar only if they choose to do so..." she says, sounding honestly impressed, "I must admit, this is new to me." she nods, "Very well then Arja, by your leave I shall be going. The world has changed much since my imprisonment and I wish to see what has become of it." she nods, then vanishes in a burst of light.

Simoni looks at the ring and asks Arja if it's really okay for them to just let her go, wondering if that wasn't the real reason she got imprisoned. Arja just smirks and says that if that is the case she'll use the ring to call her back and stuff her back into a new bottle, saying that while jinn are clever and tricky that breaking a boon is worse than death for them and that she's certain the ring will indeed do what Lubanah said it would. 

As she leaves Simoni snaps her fingers and says that she just thought of what she should've wished for, a belly dancer costume like the one Lubanah had. She's just joking, but the jokes on her as she notices she's suddenly wearing one in a deep emerald green. Dawn grins at her and comments that she thinks the jinn heard her while Nelen throws up his arms and leaves saying 'I see where this is going. Goodnight everybody!'. 

Simoni giggles as the group files out, then thinks for a moment before she holds her arms out and starts to swish her hips, looking a bit surprised. "Huh... guess this came with instructions." she grins, swaying her hips back and forth as she performs a rather authentic Arabian belly dance, though she does throw in a lot more teasing than is necessary, making sure to sway up close to Arja every so often and tease her body against her's whenever possible. 

Across the ocean in America a teenage-looking young Arabic girl sits in an internet cafe watching youtube on a borrowed laptop. She's wearing a loose teeshirt and jeans, along with a red headscarf over her head and sandals on her feet. She gets to the end of the video, then raises her eyebrow, "So thats what that cat was talking about... humans are weird." she sighs in an annoyed way.