For Alec and Isabelle

[sayshazam]

Billy was a lot less nervous about letting Isabelle in on his secret than he was Alec. Maybe because Alec hadn't given him any reason to regret it and it had turned out so well. Well, as well as he could expect it to he supposed. He didn't know how he had expected it to go but Alec had been cool about it and had even told Billy he wouldn't have even told Isabelle about it. Still, Billy thought it was kind of shitty to expect someone to keep a secret from their sister when they were so close to them.

It was late in the evening with the sun just setting when he got to the park. Freddy, Seymour, and Naga were with him. Two dogs and a polar bear dog were a pretty good excuse to be at the park any hour. Earlier he'd realized how dumb it was to make the only door to the cave here in the park and had added one at his apartment too.

Whistling to the animals they bounded over to where he was standing and he gave them all a scratch behind the ears and treats from his pocket. Glancing around he wondered how much longer Alec would be and what his friend would have told his sister to convince her to come with him. One thing for sure was that Isabelle was probably going to give Billy the biggest "I told you so" when he proved he wasn't actually a normal kid. Was it too late to change his mind?

Comments

[seveninches]

Isabelle stops admiring the view if only because Alec will chastise her for making Billy uncomfortable later and she can't be bothered with that conversation. Instead, she focuses in on the whole wizard thing because what.

"Some old wizard." She shrugs. She's learning that Darrow houses more of the Shadow World than she knee existed, more things that Hodge never told them about. This is another new one, but how far off from a warlock can a wizard be? She's heard mundanes refer to them in much the same way.

"It sucks that he died." She doesn't know if they were close, but she's guessing not from the way he's talking. "It must be hard to go it alone." It's sympathy that Isabelle wouldn't normally dole out, but despite herself she does like Billy, and she can't imagine being alone. She's always had Alec and Jace and their parents and Hodge. Even after Hodge betrayed them she still had an Institute full of people to train with.

[deflectere]

"I told Billy I'd spar against him sometime," Alec said before adding, "but not while he's like this. Might be good practice for a Greater Demon but I've put enough iratzes on myself lately that I don't need more after a training session."

That was Alec's way of saying he didn't think he'd be able to beat Billy when he was like this. The last time he'd gone against a Greater Demon, even with Jace and Isabelle and Clary there, he'd almost died. It still rankled that Simon had saved the day while he'd been pathetically dying on the ground.

"I bet you could show him something with your whip," Alec joked, glancing over at Isabelle and the bracelet that adorned her wrist.

[sayshazam]

"Eh, it's no different than normal," Billy said with a shrug before Alec's comment about Isabelle's whip threw him off guard a bit. Alec had made it pretty clear that he didn't feel the need to spar with Billy when Billy was like this but apparently Isabelle might not feel the same way.

Billy still had a hard time fighting against girls sometimes. The dumb thing was he'd had his ass kicked by girls plenty of times to know that they weren't delicate, fragile flowers. But fighting them, even sparring them, was especially uncomfortable when he was Shazam and knew he could hurt or incapacitate them without much effort.

"Wait, what whip?"

[seveninches]

Isabelle doesn't answer straight away, just lets go of the glamour and lets the whip uncurl from her wrist, shining and deadly. It can cut almost anything, and she's never had any problems with it slicing off a body part of two before.

"This whip," she says once she has it in her hand, giving it a snap against the ground for emphasis. "Weapon of choice and all that." Her whip is part of her, and extension of her arm almost, hardly ever free from her wrist. It's her safety net, and it's gotten her out of more scrapes than she can count. She eyes Billy - Shazam - off, sizing him up. He's big and strong and the muscles are thick, but she's pretty sure the whip is an even match.

[deflectere]

"Electrum," Alec explained, watching the whip uncurl and grow to its full length. When they'd been younger, he'd tried to handle the whip and had done all right but he didn't come close to the level of skill Isabelle had. It was truly at home in her hands and it was lethal when she wanted it to be.

"It can take off limbs if you're not careful," he went on, glancing over at Billy. "I'm not sure how different you are in this form in terms of bone and skin but I've seen her whip go through Greater Demons before and slice them like they're butter."

He paused and added, "Not that I want her to cut off your arms or anything. It might be a good test for you for flexibility and agility if anything."

[sayshazam]

"I don't know. I haven't really found much that can hurt me. Werewolf and vampire claws and bites can sometimes scratch my skin but that's it," Billy said, although it was half-mumbled as he watched the whip. It looked pretty awesome and Isabelle was totally comfortable with it. It didn't even seem like a weapon in her hands, more like just an extension of her arm.

"It looks... beautiful? Is that weird to say? I mean, it looks like it could take someone's head off too..."

[seveninches]

"It has taken someone's head off," she says with a wicked grin, half to mess with him and half because it's the truth. She's never tested it on someone like Billy, but how different could he be, really? She's sliced a Greater Demon with this thing and not much is tougher than that.

Isabelle curls the whip again, lets it settle against her skin and glamour into a bracelet again. "Easy to hide, too. Just like your magic cave."

[deflectere]

Billy's words combined with the knowledge he had of what Isabelle's whip could do actually made him curious as to if her whip could actually have any kind of affect on him. He didn't necessarily want to put it to practical use because no one needed to lose limbs but he was still curious.

"Greater Demons can take a lot of abuse but if she uses that whip or we get a seraph blade in them, they're pretty much done," Alec said, shrugging. "Seraph blades are in short supply here, though. I've got one that I haven't used yet."

[sayshazam]

"Except my magic cave has a pool," Billy murmured, although he was kind of interested to know if her whip could cut him. Unfortunately he didn't want to know so bad that he would risk getting his hand cut off. It was probably just best to avoid getting whipped by Isabelle.

"What's a Seraph blade? Is that a magical knife?"

[seveninches]

At the question, Isabelle pulls the seraph blade out of her belt to show him. "It's a sword that's been blessed with the name of an Angel," she tells him. All of a sudden she feels like Hodge, like she's teaching a class on Shadowhunter weapons and she resists the urge to roll her eyes. This is just Billy being curious, not Shadowhunter show and tell, and besides, she'd like to think that she's much prettier than Hodge. Also way less prone to betrayal.

Like Alec, she's yet to name this blade, keeping it in case of a tougher demon. It's certainly not active now, so the blade she's showing him is dull, lifeless, not particularly impressive, but she knows the way it looks when she calls its name, knows how powerful it is. "This one hasn't been called on, obviously."

[deflectere]

"Best weapon to kill demons," Alec filled in, giving Isabelle's blade a quick look. He was pleased to see that she had the same idea that he had, that they couldn't use these unless really needed since it wasn't like the Iron Sisters could resupply them here.

"It looks a lot better when it's named," Alec went on, nodding. "We give it the name of an angel and use it to cut through any type of demon that wants to stand in our way. They don't stand too long."

[sayshazam]

"And you just have a list of angel names you can call your weapons? Like... you decide its name is Noah or something and suddenly it's super powerful?" he asked, trying not to sound like he thought they were full of it. He knew they weren't. Isabelle seemed like the sort to make up something ridiculous to see if someone would believe it but Billy didn't think Alec would let her get away with it while he was here.

[seveninches]

Isabelle shrugs. It sounds stupid when he puts it that way but it is, more or less, the gist of it. "Yes, I suppose." She rolls her eyes, tempted to name the damn blade just to show it off. "But it does have to be an Angel's name. I can't just call it... Barry or something and have it light up." She should have taken this and run with it. She can see the disbelief on his face, like he thinks he's being taken for a ride, and it makes Isabelle want to make things up.

[deflectere]

Alec can almost hear Isabelle holding herself back from toying with Billy. He can tell that she wanted to mess with him, tease him, and she admirably stopped herself. Impressive.

"Anyway, once we name them and use them, that's it especially here," Alec sighed, shaking his head. "We'd need the Iron Sisters to recharge them and unless I've been looking in all the wrong spots, we have no Iron Sisters or adamas so we have to be careful with what we use them on."

[sayshazam]

"So it's a magical sword that you only get to use once? Does it last very long?"

He knew it was a lot of questions and it was probably super annoying for them to answer them all. It was super basic stuff to them and he had no clue at all. But these were his friends and they did a really dangerous job. A dangerous job that he wanted to help with and the more he knew the better he could help if they asked.

"And why do you need them if your whip can cut of a demons hand? You should just use that. Which is why cooler than Alec's bow," he said before turning to Alec. "Sorry dude, but it is. It's all camouflaged and stuff and your bow is super obvious."