Adagio, Aria, and Sonata looked around as they arrived in Tangiers. They had been here once long ago, while they had been helping their mother back while The Brotherhood was attempting world conquest, and they'd been in similar lands in other worlds as they'd been repeatedly banished each time they tried to gain enough power to get back home and free their mother. Still, the bead curtain doorways, the shape of the buildings, and the local bazaar all combined to give them a brief sense of nostalgia. While they had adjusted to various worlds as time passed and things became modern, there was a special place in their hearts for the lands they had seen and known as children, and the land here still strongly resembled that ancient time, with only a few modern touches. The only thing that caught them somewhat off guard was the sight of a juggler street performer who was aided by a Genie of the Ring dancing to draw attention.
"Was...was magic something that got shown off this much when we were young?" Aria asked in confusion.
"Well...we were magic and trying to take over the world, so...maybe?" Adagio allowed. "Sonata, what do you-" She cut herself off as she saw where their sister had gone.
Sonata had made her way to the juggler, mirroring his Genie's dance moves on his other side, which drew a great deal more attention...especially after she and the genie started using their dance moves to suggestively 'bounce' the juggled balls back to the juggler when they went wide.
"Well, looks like she's going to be fine," Aria grumbled under her breath as she crossed her arms. "Do you think she even remembers what we're here for?"
"She just shifted into the Nyan Dance, so...maybe?" Adagio allowed with a shrug. "Though I think she might be onto something as far as gathering information."
"What do you-" Aria's eyes widened as she realized what Adagio was saying. "What, trawl the local bars, song-and-dance mesmerize the patrons, and get them to tell you everything they know about our target?"
"Fits right in my skills," Adagio confirmed. "What about you? Have you got a better plan?"
"Figured I'd wander around until I found some criminal element Enforcer types, and beat the crap out of them until they gave me some leads," Aria replied easily, cracking her knuckles. "That's right in my skills. ...think we can leave Sonata to her own devices for a while?"
Adagio shrugged. "We're right by the airport, and we're at most an hour ahead of the Chans. As long as no one tries to do anything bad to Sonata before then, she'll be in plain sight when they arrive and they'll look after her like the goody two-shoes they are."
"And if someone does try to do something bad to her?" Aria asked worriedly.
"Then we call our new Dad to clean up the mess and get out of town," Adagio stated flatly. "And I don't pity the idiot who tries."
Aria shuddered, briefly remembering the...creature...they'd encountered in one world who - on a whim, as far as they could tell - taught Sonata how to fight...among other things. "Right...let's move quick to get away from the idiocy/war zone."
The pair quickly moved off to pursue their independent investigations without bothering to tell Sonata where they were going. Sonata wasn't worried. She'd talked to her New Daddy before they left about what to do if she got separated, and he'd explained that he'd left a little bit of his own magic in the repaired pendants, which linked them together. She would be able to find her sisters as long as they were within 30 miles of her just by grabbing her pendant and focusing on them. Instead, she could follow her own plan as far as finding the Stone Kitty.
Once the juggler finished his performance, he happily gave her some of the coins to thank her for her efforts before going off somewhere with his Genie. Sonata took the coins and headed for a stall that sold, among other things, arts and crafts supplies. She bought one large piece of white cardboard and a black marker, then walked back to the exit to the airport. It wasn't that complicated a message she needed to write, and it would be in large letters that she even knew how to spell!
With the message written, she held it up to wait.
Jackie was forced to admit he was reluctant to leave the plane when it arrived in Tangiers. His previous flights since magic became normal in the world had all been hurried, frenetic, or on military aircraft. As such, this was the first time since the change in the world that he'd been able to lean back and really appreciate the positive side of the world's change, and enjoy a flight.
Still, his sense of responsibility had been somewhat stronger than his desire to relax-
"You mean Viper's offer of changing tickets so we'd be in 'First Class Couples' while the youngsters were in 'First Class Children's' made you eager for the flight home," Tiger taunted from his shoulder.
"We are not so hormonally driven as to be completely sex-crazed when it comes to Viper!" Kitten insisted from the other shoulder.
"You're only saying that because Saint and Queen are watching," Tiger countered, gesturing towards Jade's shoulders. Jackie couldn't see anything there...which, given the nicknames for - he assumed - Jade's shoulder consciences, he was rather glad of.
"I would say that no matter who was watching!" Kitten insisted.
"Ugh..." Jackie groaned as he rubbed his forehead.
"Yeah, they comment on internal monologues, too," Hsi Wu confirmed, glancing towards where Viper was strutting...deliberately positioning herself to give Jackie a good view.
On Viper's shoulders, her 'shoulder people' were also in a debate. One was Viper in her thief suit, exaggerated to the point she somewhat resembled the comic book Catwoman. The other had a somewhat more motherly look, dressed in a sundress and apron...which she still somehow managed to make look sensual and fantastic. "We are not jumping Jackie in the middle of an ancient temple," Domestic Viper insisted, waving a whisk at her counterpart. "It's a bad example to Jade-"
"You've seen herrr stud," Adventurous Viper purred eagerly, stretching like a cat and deliberately swaying her rear in Tiger's direction, much to his pleasure. "She'll need to learn the trrricks eventually."
"She learns more than enough as is," Domestic grumbled irritably.
"Are you taking notes?" the white robed figure on Jade's shoulders - the one Tiger dubbed 'Saint' - demanded of her counterpart.
"Absolutely!" the blue-skinned Queen hissed excitedly. "How else is Jade going to know the stuff we pick up from the other consciences? She can't see them!"
"It's also a bad example to the fillies!" Domestic continued her chiding of Adventurous.
"Like they're even wirrred to have an opinion on human mating beyond being happy theirrr Uncle is 'getting some'," Adventurous countered dismissively.
"And Jackie wouldn't thank us for 'desecrating' an ancient temple, especially not on an archaeological expedition," Domestic insisted firmly, laying down her final point.
Adventurous tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Fine, I concede the point," she allowed ruefully. "But in the rrrruins of the temple if we accidentally set off a booby trrrap?"
Domestic smirked, shifting the whisk so the batter clinging to it dripped suggestively. "Now that is a completely separate issue." She then giggled wickedly. "I'm so glad we finally found a man who can not only keep up with us, but indulge us in our entirety. Even the Writhers were starting to get dull and predictable."
"Well now Jade knows what to ask for if she wants tentacle toys," Queen chuckled as she made a note.
"OH MY GODS!" Saint gasped in embarrassment. "Seriously, stop!"
"Does it ever get easier to deal with?" Jade pleaded of Hsi, gesturing to her shoulders.
"It's not as difficult before magic gets involved in shaping the Yin/Yang aspects of your personality," Hsi Wu explained apologetically. "Once they've been defined by magic, however..." He gestured to Queen. "Yeah, they become a lot more excitable and energetic at that point."
"You know, I was beginning to feel left out that we don't have shoulder ponies," Sweetie Belle observed thoughtfully. "Suddenly...not so much."
"Amen to that," Apple Bloom agreed.
"Right back at ya," Scootaloo confirmed.
As the group exited the terminal, their eyes widened as they caught sight of Sonata Dusk standing at the side of the road, grinning at them and holding up a sign that read 'CHAN CLAN'. "Sonata?" Jackie called in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"New Daddy asked my sisters and I to find the Cat of Khartoum since it's a dangerous magical artifact," Sonata explained. "He wants to hang onto it so he can keep track of what baddies on whichever side of legality want it. I figured if we were getting sent after it, you would be too, which means that we'd be showing up to take it from you just after you got it safely out of wherever it's hidden...and you've tangled with New Dad enough to know that's how it would happen too. I figured as long as we know that's how it's going to wind up, why not just go together to find it? More eyes are better, right?"
Jackie sputtered for a time. "W...wha?" he finally managed to ask.
"Sounds like how it would go down, yeah," Tiger agreed.
"And given that, I can't fault her logic," Kitten allowed.
"Friends are always welcome!" Sweetie Belle called out happily.
"And she's a siren," Queen purred eagerly. "Maybe she could teach Jade a few things-"
"How do I get you to shut up?" Saint demanded as Jade blushed brightly.
"Ooh, I can help!" a Sonata wearing a taco suit called as she bounced up and down on one of Sonata's shoulders. "Well, not me, but my friend! Come on out!" She danced over to the other shoulder and knocked on a door that wasn't there.
A very dark skinned male djinn appeared out of nowhere, smiling out at the various 'shoulder people' presented before him. "Hi~," he greeted, his voice a deep drawl that was simultaneously friendly and yet carrying a sense of absolute death and destruction.
Everyone else's 'shoulder people' vanished in terror. Hsi Wu hid behind Audrey III, whimpering in fear.
"And...now I feel like I should be terrified of Sonata, for some reason," Scootaloo observed thoughtfully.
...
This guy better be helping. Or he's screwed.
Like seriously, Jackie Chan in real life is still badass enough to film two movies on two continents simultaneously. At the age of sixty. And is the Grandmaster of Real Life of Unconventional Weaponry.
In Magic Land?
...Everything gets 20% more cooler. On top of the other 20* it does.
Mathemetically it comes out to (AWESOMENESS)*(20%^20)
OH FUQ! MR! POPE!
Nice chapter This keeps getting better and better
I approve of Sonata's benevolent shoulder person. At least, I hope that was the benevolent shoulder person.
Sonata shoulder people OP. PLEASE DON'T NERF
What's a djinn?
8551976
Might want to change that to "(AWESOMENESS)*(120%^20)"
Your equation simplifies to (AWESOMENESS)*(0.00000000000010489) while the 120% version simplifies to (AWESOMENESS)*(38.3376)
8551983
This will show you who that is...just remember, First Rule of Popo's training, do not talk about Popo's training.
FIRST RULE OF POPO'S TRAINING: DO NOT TALK ABOUT POPO'S TRAINING!
8551998
Never was good dat writing down the math on paper.
Funny since my major is math.
Chapter One Hundred Sixty
"Aiyah!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 47
"One More Thing!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 83
Tatsurou... where do these Ideas come from?
8551992
A Genie, but popular fiction has generally separated the two with Djinn typically being much, Much meaner when making pacts with them. Not that Genies tend to be all that accommodating to begin with when called upon for wishes.
8552001
Well, I was specifically referring to the little Sonata in a taco suit.
...and I could've done without that video, thanks...
Seeing this, it feels like the portrayal of Sonata was slightly influenced by my Sonata comment in the previous chapter. It might not be the case...but seeing what you've done with her made me so happy!
Also, finally saw that blog you put up about the hiatus. Sorry to hear about that. Honestly, it's amazing you've kept up the break-neck pace with your updates on multiple stories. For what it's worth, know that everyone here supports you. If you ever have to, take a break and just blog what's bothering you. There'll be plenty of people ready to lend an ear and offer encouragement. Heck, you can blog if you just need to brainstorm. I know getting feedback in the comments might seem like there's added pressure so you could just take a break and send a blog saying you need some suggestions or to bounce off some ideas. I can safely say you have a lot of fans that would be happy to help anyway they could.
Tets please answer this question, will we find out who Sanata's teacher was or who her shoulder do is suppose to be in story, and if not will you please tell us here in the comments, also as a side note I'm curious at what type of Jinn you are refering to in this chapter it's clear who the one with the juggler was supposed to be/inspired by but what about the shoulder jinn, is he an Ifrit, a Jinn of a lamp/ring/random object Ik these are more about having fun with the magically enabled world but as a major mystic/occult guy these are questions my mind demands answers for
Mr. Popo...we're all DOOOOOOMMMED!!!
8552053
General consensus in the comments on who trained Sonata/her Shoulder "Djinn", is that it's Mr. Popo from DBZ Abridged.
8552063
As likely as that is I still want confirmation from Tets just because I've been around some of the stranger parts of the internet that makes Mr. Popo look like yamcha and i'm glad I can't find it again that was a terrifying experience
8551992
Think of djin like this
Apes/human
Djin/genie
Shoulder people! ALLLLLL the shoulder people! Oh man, this is going to be even more hilarious going forward!
I knew exactly what Sonata had written on that cardboard the second I read the line, and got a good laugh. Gotta say, despite Sonata supposedly being the dim-witted one of the three, that was amazingly bright of her. Even from a thieving perspective, and she even got in a shot at the Chans, if unintentional: "We're going to snatch it from you later anyway, so we may as well work together." That's pretty spot-on. AND she gets chaperones!
Chapter One Hundred Sixty
"Bad Day"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 40
"He's Not My Boyfriend!"/"I'm not his Mistress!"
Chapter Count: 0/0
Total Count: 45/3
8552071
It will be spelled out more blatantly in the story later.
8552086
Ok I can wait then
Both of these should be 'too'.
8552073
only the second one really answers the question and that is still extremely vauge as their is so many types of Jinn out there
not bad; also:
wait, when did THIS happen?! not complaining, but how and when did she get inspired to subconsciously envision her "angel/demon's" image, for lack of a better term, the way she did? wait, scratch that: when and where did Viper get enough magical exposure for her "shoulder angel" to be "born" in the first place? after all, I've yet to see any evidence to suggest that he/she/they would appear in any other fashion, at least in this universe...
...aaaand you jinxed it
you know, I'm not too surprised that Sonata's got the whole "Shoulder Angel" thing going on: many viewers, including myself, seem to agree that she's the more...innocent member of the Siren trio: the fact that she hinted at helping with the organization with the party in the gym back in EQG2 (Adagio Dazzle: [mock surprise] Oh, no! No one's mingling! It's like there's some kind of underlying tension that could bubble to the surface at any minute! Sonata Dusk: It's the fruit punch, isn't it? I knew I used too much grape juice!) hints at the fact that she's the most open of the trio to friendship and/or the moral high ground...though I WILL admit I'm a bit worried about the WAY it/they is/are represented...
Aw, I bet Sonata’s shoulder people are just adorable -
...Wat.
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/727/911/515.gif
8552024
Eh, sorry about that, but I feel this particular bit of info needed to be shared. Know you do not suffer alone.
We asked for more shoulder people and we got it.
Thank you.
I just dropped a literal gallon of LSD and now I'm seeing shoulder people everywhere! "HI!" Oh hi Mr. Popo! Thanks for the invite to that rockin party on the lookout!
This is a sweet chapter! Nice to see Viper’s shoulder beings getting in on the fun and the CMC don’t get any. Plus I think that this version of the Sonata, Aria, and Adigo will get along great in My Little PWNY when that story commences.
8552098
Djin are the ancestors of genies after the djin died out from none of them mating or none of them paring up to mate(this is the vaguest info that i learnd). or thare bindings alterd they only. Or the djin died and the bindings took a mortal man/woman to be the mind of the uncontrollable and wild magic that was a djin
Related to this story, though not this chapter, there's something I want to share with my fellow readers (that I've already shared with the author).
Some chapters ago I said this:
"If I meet James Hong, I'm gonna ask him to say this and I'm gonna record it to put online.
Hm?.......Why?.........*looks left and right*......be....cause I and many other people's lives will not be complete until that's an actual thing that can be listened to. Is....is that somehow not clear? Or obvious? Or a given?"
James Hong did Daolon Wong's voice, if you didn't know. I was not personally able to get a recording. But a friend of mine was, and I asked him if he could and.....
8552146
That is one part of their mythology, other parts include Ifrits a spirit of fire as a type of Djinn that were commonly known to protect temples, it is one of the reasons why their is so much Islamic influence in the Fire Temple of Ocarina of Time, which puts them close to Spirits of nature that act in similar ways to angels. Djinn of certain objects like Lamps were also known as mainly malicious trickster spirits that gave you what ever you asked for but twisted it into a punishment, like a monkey's paw would.
My shoulder people left me for a more agreeable moron.
8552156
Oh that is interisting makes the djin sound more like the Fye (sprits of malcontent that make deals that benefit them more than the one dealing with them)
My shoulder people kept asking "where is the next chapter?".
8552174
Well one thing of not the Fye or more commonly refereed to as Fae(as I can only assume you are using Nordic mythology thanks to the store of the same name killing google results) are very similar styled spirits in mythology to Djinn as spirits of nature though are rarely seen to have as much of a religious duty making some examples like the Ifrits more like angels but of the earthly realms instead of the heavenly ones. Though another side note unlike the Djinn the Fye/Fae had their malicious side grounded in the uncaring view of nature itself along side a need for ballance making it so the vast majority of the higher breeds(ones that aren't specifically named like gnomes, selkie, ect.) required to even out debts for what was given be it paying you back or collecting from you. Though if you want some more info about the religious aspect of the Djinn through Ifrits here is a video about why Ocarina of Time had a number of controversies towards Islam because of how much inspiration was drawn from it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59LHQ1bKS-M
So whilst most characters have moral vs. Self satisfaction, Sonata has crazy vs. Suffering personified.
No wonder she acts the way she does.
Mind this has got me wondering how Audrey or Tohru shoulder people would act
I guess someone was just introduced to the pecking order.
......POPO
also Sweetie Belle I wouldn't get so comfortable not having shoulder ponies......*looks at Rarity*
pretty sure your big sister has a pair....
....that's no Djinn.
How much do you guys know about the Black Pharaoh, Nyarlathotep?
8552232 Persona has taught me to fear that thing. It's creepy and evil and powerful.
8552290
I meant the original, from the works of Lovecraft.
He who comes in the guise of a man, with skin as dark as the night itself. Who serves, without question, the dread command of its master, Azathoth. He who twists men to his will, manages the cults of all the gods, and leaves only madness in the minds of those that devote themselves to him.
He has a thousand forms. I wonder which of those Sonata glimpsed?
Mr. mother fucking Popo...I fully approve.
8552306 The Persona version is based on the original. He is the big bad of one of the games and is a nightmare-inducing, sanity-destroying fight.
by
8552001
Holy high fructose corn syrup. Completely forgot he's some sort of genie thing (or is a genie/djinn, I forgot).
He's the bringer of nightmares and bitch-smacks.
Well, I can tell who he isn't:
Safe. :D
So Sonata’s shoulder people are Taco Cat… & Mr. Popo.
And Hsi Wu can see him. Oh this is going to be so much fun!
I wonder, how many others can see Mr. Popo… and whether or not Valmont can get him off of Sonata’s shoulder and into the real world.
8552205
Shoulder Person Mr. Popo: "Alright Maggots! Here’s the pecking order. It goes you, the dirt, the worms inside of the dirt, Popo’s stool, Sonata, and then Popo. Any questions?"
Dead silence from all shoulder people, Hsi Wu, and Audrey III.
Mr. Popo: "You’re all smarter than the last batch of maggots I trained. Pity."
Mr. Popo looks straight at Hsi Wu.
Mr. Popo: "I like you."
Hsi Wu: "I need an adult…"
Mr. Popo: "Bitch, I am an adult."
Sonata: "He’s right you know! And so are you!"
If that is Mister Popo, please do not make him even a fraction of his Abriged counterpart. Besides, if he is Sonata's Yin then we have nothing to worry about, he's nice but powerful.