2014.02.08 - Haunted House

Zatanna Zatara knew about it by some guy that burst into her dressing room after a show one night. (Well, 'burst' is a bad word to use - he had asked her beforehand if he could talk with her about something ~mystic~, and Zee had agreed). Said man was tall, broad of shoulder and belly, and had a casual style and long hair - even if he was balding at the top a bit.
"Like, you gotta help me! I was looking for a place to, you know - get out and have a little privacy? And smoke a couple... uh... cigarettes? So I went to that old abandoned school in Millbrook? And I took my great dane Scooter? But the place is haunted man - /haunted/ - and the ghosts took Scooter! You gotta help me, you /gotta/!"
Zee quirks an eyebrow.
Of /course/ she had to visit the place at night. Millbrook was nearish the Connecticut border on the east side of the state - not that driving was an issue for Zatanna Zatara anyways. Magicking up some working clothes, and a portal there, Zee reaches up a hand to steady her hat as she finds herself rather suddenly in a driveway, looking up at the face of the Bennet School for Girls - a decaying building that seemed to creak and rattle in the wind - overgrown with ivy and other sorts of plants - it looked unsteady - unstable. Certainly a dangerous place for a 'normal' type to be sneaking around in.
Lucky that Zee was not normal.
Well. Rain seems to work as an occult detective out of Gotham. And quite frankly, she's happy to work on a case that isn't 'hex my ex', 'underpants and socks gnomes got my stuff again' or some other little thing. It wears you down, really. And heaven knows how many actually haunted ouija boards she's had to deal with pointing people at naughty adult books in the forest. Seriously. The dead have a sense of humor and all but - how did they find that many magazines...? It is a mystery for the ages.
Either way, a little old lady was convinced the house was haunted and they were stealing dogs or something equally strange. But leave it to little old ladies. Rain could hardly say no, and an genuinely haunted house is a dangerous thing. Too many urban explorers, occult enthusiasts and such around to let it be. Rain has opted for broomstick based transportation, although - she really should buy a car someday, or a motorcycle or something. She's too used to being homeless for so long. And just for Amy, a friend, she's even worn a pointy hat with a silver moon charm dangling off the top in lieu of her gambling hat. She has a soft spot for friends.
Nevertheless, she lands near the edge of the lawn of the property and peers around. Okay. Plants. Creaking. Lady in a ha-- heywaitaminute, "Oh! Erm," Awkward. Rain is awkward socially. "Pardon - me?" Yes, there you go.
Lifting up her arm - Zee gives a little flick of her wrist, and out of her sleeve - a magic wand - the sorts with the black body and white tip - comes out of her sleeve and falls into her wrist, Zatanna kinda narrowing her eyes as she looks up and down the face of the building. Whispering odd-sounding words after waving said wand, Zatanna learns two things rather quickly.
Well, that there was a voice traveling up the drive towards her. And that her scrying spell had found...!
Well, Rain.
Snapping her eyes open, Zatanna spins on her heel - dropping the wand to kinda point towards the ground. It was probably a little odd, overall - Zatanna perhaps looked remarkably out of place - top hat, fishnets, magician's coattails - the magicienne's eyes drifting up to the pointed hat atop Rain's head first of all, before she gives a dazzling smile to the witch proper.
"How do you do? Do you... um... live here?" asks Zee, kinda casually waving her wand over her shoulder towards the abandoned school.
A magic wand? Headtilt. Rain doesn't seem to have any wand out, although if one could possibly sense magic items, her twin pistols holstered and hidden within her jacket about her waist are relics, channeling items. Although, happily, they are left hidden and all she needs is to have them on her person. Then a blink. Rain seems surprised. She lifts a hand in a wave and smiles back. It's a more subdued smile, covered in awkward like cling wrap. Which is really clingy.
Still, it seems Rain is just as surprised to see Zatanna there in a magician's outfit. "Hello! I am alright, how are you? And um, nope! A little old lady was worried about a dog she saw around here," Rain remarks. "And heard some weird things..." She adds. "I don't think you live here?" That's the impression she gets, anwyay.
Zatanna herself kinda radiated with magic. But channeling items in particular? A simple scry spell would probably find the deck of cards on her person seemed to have a little bit of magical mojo to them, the magic wand too - but /especially/ the hat atop her head. Zatanna's eyes kinda flicker down from Rain's hat to her waist area - and one may get the sense that Zee's attention was kinda drawn to the area where the pistols were. But Zee doesn't quite stare - that wouldn't be polite.
The smile on Zee's lips was hardly real, as well. It was a showwoman's smile, as much a mask as anything else - but a mask that made her look (she hoped) friendly, approachable, and above all else... ~dazzling~.
"I'm doing well, doing well," says Zee easily, although that smile turns into a bit of a smirk. "Besides standing at night in front of a supposedly haunted mansion, in fishnets. I'm looking for a dog as well, for a... client," she says, "In the loosest term of the word. I don't quite think there's anything /bad/ here... but..." A beat. "What do you sense?"
Yes, she could just be a normal person with magic guns, but.
She could also be a witch of the nth order. It was sometimes hard to determine these things. Magic made life wonky sometimes.
Rain can't hide her magic aura. It's a great flaw. Soul, blood, all that jazz. Thankfully, she doesn't sparkle when you punch her. That would just be weird. And if she sparkled, she might have to start hanging out around high schools. Yikes. No wait, that's vampires, not witches. She's safe! Rain looks curious. It can be a bit awkward having magic guns, but it beats all the terrible jokes that'd go with a 12 inch wand. Yeah.
But Zee is polite, dazzling and probably capable of magic missiling Rain into next week. "That's good - er, unless you're cold." Rain has jeans on. She's a witch of simple tastes. "I wonder if the dog the lady saw is the one you're after. It's been really cold, so..." Animals seeking shelter? Not unusual. At the sensing thing, Rain wrinkles her nose a bit. "Well. If it's haunted, I imagine there's a feeling." That's resonance. "And it depends if it's souls or spirits, really. Let's see." Peer. Sadly, Rain has to open her senses a bit to pick up souls or spirits. Magic, she can get a slight handle on, but after a second, Rain looks more zoned than a stoned cat. Completely serene, dark purple eyes blank. Eerie. She's a will worker, her magic requiring no gesture, incantation or reagent. The downside is, it takes her a moment.
Also, she looks really, really goofy. "... hmm. There's probably something in there." And she's just a witch what got booted out of the Easy Bake Coven.
No one seemed to make those jokes around Zatanna. Perhaps it's not just owning a wand, but how you... ... oh, nevermind. No good can come of a segway like that. Lifting both her eyebrows as she kinda waits for Rain to finish her statement - patiently waiting for the other woman to scry.
There would actually be no spirits, no souls, no restless dead. Just a spooky old house and then... a flash of green arcing across the vision. Something that smelled of vitality and life... and blood. Zatanna seemed to catch it too, judging by the older woman's twist of her head back towards the building, pursing her lips and kinda narrowing her eyes as the smile finally fades out, leaving her looking thoughtful.
Zatanna could sense the magic of the other young woman, but it just seemed a little... untrained-slash-unprofessional. "Perhaps you should wait out here - if you and your... um... coven," Zatanna says the word like it wasn't anything like a real coven, "...are coming here to do some spells, I get the feeling that you're flirting with danger," she says, glancing back towards the school - and letting her eyes flick along the trees and things beside it.
Segways are kind of silly, anyway. Rain hms. "What the-" Rain blinks owlishly, her eyes widen a bit. She pauses. "I don't have one. I was unworthy. And urm, I didn't plan on just slinging spells," Sadface. "I think I was going to go inside." Yes indeedy. She's Darwin's lil' winner. Evading natural selection. Her magic is a little unusual, subtle and probably more - well, okay, she's weird and not at all showy.
"Even if it's dangerous, it should probably be looked at so someone doesn't get - in trouble." Possessed, eaten, whatever. There's lots of infinite and horrible possibilities. "Er, if it's not going to cause you any bother." Rain gets the impression the magician operates on a much higher level. Friendly fire is still fire, and witches aren't huge fans of fire.
So subtle, not showy - pretty much the opposite of the style of magic that Zatanna tended to prefer. And while she was a powerful sorceress - such things might have left an inflated opinion of the populace in general at the celebrity magicienne. Zatanna lifts her wand again - pointing towards the school and waggling it in a circle a bit. Although what Rain says - Zee's brow furrows.
It, at least, wasn't sounding like it was someone with hidden magical ability getting suckered in by a coven of high school neopagans.
"Well," says Zatanna, a little bit of the showwoman leaving her - honest thought etched on her features as she kinda narrows her eyes at Rain, trying to take a measure of the young woman. There was magic, she could see that - but there was just something... she couldn't quite get her head around. And it intrigued her.
"You can come in with me. But I'd like for you to... if I ask you to do something, please do it?" she asks.
Nope! Rain's ancestors were around long before writing even got figured out. The real, rather powerful, ancient kinda deal. Unfortunately, Rain kinda got hosed in the genetic lottery. Someone always gets the booby prize. /Always/. And her style seems to suit her. Rain might bolt mouse style under the fridge pulling a math book with her. But she's nothing if brave when it comes to looking at something.
And really, the neopagans are great cover for actual witches(TM). Rain's dark purple eyes are still a little wide. "Sure. I'll give it a shot," She nods. She's easy going, if nothing else. She seems curious in turn, but it's a cautious sort of curiousness. Like observing a lion. Don't poke the lion. Not unless you want to have an epitaph that reads: Here lies Rain. Poked a lion. What did she think was going to happen? Also, it's just good manners. It seems to be more good manners than cautiousness. "Um. I think I met - someone like you ages ago. His name was Zachary Zatanna. He liked a similar outfit. But less fishnets. I mean, I'm sure he COULD wear fishnets if he wanted..."
Zatanna kinda... glances towards Rain as she starts to step up towards the school, pursing her lips a little bit - her heels kinda crunching on the gravel driveway, hidden beneath a layer of overgrowth. There was a path in the plants that led up to the front of the building - and that's what Zatanna was following. She'd lead the way, unless Rain would rather, as the path was only really wide enough for one.
Splitting her attention between house and witch, there was an honest-to-goodness smile that spreads across Zatanna's lips. "You met my cousin, then - I'm Zatanna Zatara. How was he when you saw him? I haven't seen him in forever - I'm a little hurt he didn't come to visit when he was around!" she enthuses, her eyes flickering back towards the house.
If either of the magic women would focus - that little flash of /green/ something would come up again, before fading away to absolutely nothing, leaving the house entirely dead of magic. Dead - or masked and hidden away.
"What's your name by the way? How long have you been... investigating haunted houses?" she asks, finally reaching the door. It was chained. With a twist of her wand, she murmurs, "Snaihc lliw eb nekorb!" and taps the chains with her wand, which snap into two with a sharp sound.
Rain glances back, tilting her hat up. She seems to trust Zatanna's judgment. And besides, Rain can heal pretty well! So that's a plus. Rain looks thoughtful. "It's been at least a month. I bet he probably just got busy, you know? Being a magician seems tough," But Rain herself is far too shy to pull it off. "He was um, hanging with a couple of Atlanteans or so - maybe that's hard work, too." And a glimpse at Atlantean magic, maybe? Rain doesn't know. But it probably involves water. She looks sympathetic and concerned. "I did! He was very nice," She nods. "And it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Zatanna. I go by Rain. My real name is really dorky." Really, it is. Just awful.
Rain looks to the house, and hms. Of course it's intermittent. A steady path or chain would be too easy, wouldn't it? She frowns faintly. "I've had magic about a couple of years or so?" She considers, trying to recall. It woke up in her later in life, it seems. "And I settled in to the job once I had a home. Before, I was more an itinerant healer," She offers. She goes quiet as Zatanna does her thing with the wand and snaps the chain. Neat! "Neat." Why not say it? "Though, if this building is so far gone, I wonder why no one's put up the usual condemned signs. I guess the inspectors got spooked off..."
Zatanna - last she met Zach, well... it didn't go as well as she had planned. Not that she was going to share that sort of history with a stranger. Potentially a dangerous one, at that, but Zee had a good feeling about Rain, and wasn't the paranoid sort. Zatanna - after the chains had broken, does reach forward - otherwise remaining silent as Rain talks about her younger brother. Bringing up a hand, she reaches for the doorway and pulls it open...
And the door bursts free - a young woman kinda edging around Zatanna and running off into the brush. "Oh, pardon me!" she calls back towards them, kinda giving an odd glance at the two magic users, clutching her schoolbooks to her chest. Big hair, jean jacket, jeans - and big earrings with a bow in her hair. The college-aged woman looked like a transplant from the 80's.
And so did the interior of the building. In fact - in contrast with the outside - the indoors was sparkling, shiney and new - the halls filled with young woman chatting amongst themselves, backpacks and schoolbooks in attendance, curious looks given to the two women at the front door.
It was a college.
If one were to look at the outside of the building again, it would look just as condemned, just as broken down. And Zatanna kinda looks shocked, lifting up her hand to close her eyes and murmur, "What in the seven hells..." she could be heard grumbling.
Rain /could/ be potentially dangerous. She's hardly a slouch, although compared to many magic users roaming around, she's one of the weaker ones. So probably less of a threat outside of the whole having guns thing. Either way, Rain doesn't pry. At least she's polite. She didn't really know Zachary too well, mostly as sort of an acquaintance. But her thoughts are lost as a lady from the 80s goes by. "No problem!" Wavewave. "... wait. If the door was chained and ..." Totally retro dress style. Then again, retro is in if the sales online were any indication. She looks puzzled.
Okay, this is getting kinda weird. A college. Rain went to college but this just got kinda weird. She blinks, more. Her expression is one of puzzlement. Well, she doesn't see any dogs or green magic. "Hmmm." Does she feel anything odd? Time to activate some magic senses! Could it be a portal...? No, that seems a bit much. Think Rain, think. She does smile back politely, if a bit sheepishly.
Okay. Normally, when stuff like this happened - when there was a ghost manifestation, magic and stuff could pick that stuff up like a beacon across the infinite worlds. Likewise a portal would have a very unique magical signature. But there was... nothing. Beyond those mental flashes of green as they had approached this place, there were no further warnings. For all intents and purposes, everyone and everything was here, according to magic.
Zatanna steps forward, her heels kinda making a squeaking noise as she steps on the freshly polished floor, giving a smile to a staring young woman, who smiles back at her kinda awkwardly, before looking away.
"/Definitely/ something weird going on here," says Zatanna, glancing back to Rain. One of the young women - one loitering near one side of the hallway says, "I'll say. Who ordered a stripper?" she says, to a chorus of giggles. Zee glances to that woman - but pointedly ignores them, taking step after step into the school...
Before she vanishes from Rain's sight.
Okay. Right. Normally there would be something... Maybe this place was interposed from another multiverse? Sometimes the universes bumped into one another, but that's quantum - although, technology and science sufficiently advanced and all that. Maybe it just happened to overlap. Rain reaches for any sort of explanation. She's thinking desperately.
She follows Zatanna, her own shoes flat. There's a polite smile to people in passing and she nods to Zatanna. "I can't feel anything unusual." She admits. Then a pause as someone makes a stripper comment. Rain frowns faintly. That's not nice and really- well. She doesn't engage. Mean Girls are a master of their art and Rain would lose that fight.
And then Zatanna just up and disappears. Rain's eyes widen. Oh crap. "Miss Zatanna?" She asks, calling after. And she'll have to find a place to sit and look zonked before she can attempt divination. She looks over her shoulder to make sure the door is still there first.
The door was still there. Fully restored, someone had propped it open with a rock from outside. But remember how it was evening? Outside - sunlight filtered in, and through the door, Rain could see a immaculately tended lawn, and perhaps even - fuzzy with the distance - see a team of young women practicing soccer in a field.
It was a college, first and foremost, so even though the young women in attendance did avoid Rain, they were becoming more and more used to the young woman's appearance, apparently.
But there were unused classrooms to zonk in - and even ones that were in use - if Rain continues to step down the hall, she might be able to look into a classroom, and see an algebra class in the middle of a lecture.
Okay, goo- wait. It's not evening now. That's bad. Rain feels her stomach sink and not becaus of the people playing soccer. Hm. She frowns a little. Okay. Deep breath. Steady now. No one should bite, and it's unlikely she'll run into any demons or whatever. She seems relieved that the women here are less freaked out by her after awhile. But college IS one place you can dress strangely. And considering her /hat/...
She'll step down the hall to find an unused classroom, blinking and peering in. Algebra? Oh, those were such pleasant days. But she's one of those weirdos who LIKES math. For now then, Rain steps into an unused one, and sits at a desk. Right, look like you kinda zoned here. She takes a deep breath. The downside to her magic is that it takes awhile to deploy. She'll try to divine Zatanna's location. Hopefully.
Rain's magic starts working, starts piercing the aether and whatever else - and at the back of Rain's mind, that green was rising again. The scent of blood. The sound of breathing leading to a scream. And... and...! Zatanna was near. So near. Just a handful of steps away, really, over towards the...
"Hi!"
That voice belonged to a young woman - she had the freshman look to her, brand new backpacks, all smiles, kinda tapping her knuckles on the desk in front of Rain. If that didn't work, she'd shake Rain's shoulder. "Sorry to interrupt your nap here, but Ms. Zatara doesn't like people asleep in her class. I know the last time that happened...?"
The freshman leans forward, to whisper, no matter how hazy Rain looked. "She cut them open, and put their head on a pike. You can still see the skull if you look outdoors - unless the other girls have played a game with /that/," she whispers, straightening up, the friendlist smile in the world on her lips.
Okay. Green rising, a scent of blood and - wait, breathing and a scream? Her expression contorts to one of worry and fear. And just over towards - Rain jerks, startled at the tapping of knuckles. Bother. That was another weakness to concentration based magic. She's probably more interruptable. She lets the fog clear, blinking owlishly. A weak, apologetic smile. The sort one gets before one has had tea or coffee. "Hi. And did you say Ms. Zatara?" Her eyebrows lift. Now she's more awake.
And then, as the freshman leans forward to whisper. Head. On a pike. The soccer players. Her stomach sinks about to her feet. "... guess she's serious about studying," Rain offers meekly. One hundred percent full power studying! Geez. But that seems dissonant with the impression Rain got of Zatanna. That can't be right. Even with the last clinging fog, it just doesn't feel right. "Thanks." Wait. "Is ... it - oh, hm." She will look outside, then.
Too bad she can't recast, because if she sees a skull, Rain is going to panic. Apparently this spell wasn't meant to be but then... a lecturer? Zatara here?
"I said Ms. Zatara," says the freshman, the young woman kinda dragging a nail across the desk. And if the women outside were playing with a skull, it would be hard to tell at such a distance. Instead, they were gathered in a circle around... something, a red-stained axe lifted by one of them and brought down again and again in the center of the circle.
"The most hellish teacher there is," says the freshman, kinda casting her eyes out the window as well. "Oh, don't worry. They're just welcoming a new person to the college," says the freshman, kinda shifting her bookbag to her other shoulder, the wickedest of grins touching her features as she dips her hand into the bookbag. "But you knew how we welcome new people here, don't you? You're not ~new~, are you?" she asks, the smile on her face growing wider - and toothier.
As she draws a butcher knife from her shoulder bookbag.
"... yeah," Rain nods. She looks /worried/. That's one heck of a welcome. Used to be they would just put shaving cream in your hand while you slept or had a pajama party or something. Something about this seems all wrong. The most hellish teacher? Rain might barely know Zatanna, but Hellish wasn't an impression she got. Hmm. She looks to the freshman. She smiles faintly. "Oh. Er. Very welcoming. Sorry, I was sleeping pretty deeply," She offers. Bluff, Rain, bluff!
But there's a butcher knife coming out. "No, I'm not new, sorry." She moves to stand. And wait... out of the corner of her eye. It's said that the vision from the corners of one's eyes is the sharpest, most able to see in the dark. Although, its color capabilities are sometimes wanting. She's - there's ruins and flakes and chips. So is it real or not? Rain decides against trying to find out if that butcher knife is capable of doing its thing or not. She has to do /something/. She'll pray this works, slipping a hand to one of her pistols. "Um, I left my knife." Yeah, there we go. Back away a little. "Do you think she'll be mad?"
And really, she has to move or do SOMETHING. Whether it's to see Ms. Zatara or just back away from Stabitha over here. Rain isn't going to sit and take it. What was that direction she felt Zatanna in now...
"Mmmn. No, I don't think she'll be mad," says the freshman, not really advancing on Rain as Rain starts standing up, and moving away. "I mean, Ms. Zatara does love the subject of ritual sacrifice dearly," says the young woman, her eyes twinkling a bit. "And it's more that you be willing to learn," she says a little bit. A beat, and the freshman kinda shrugs her shoulders.
"Normally, it's /so hard/ to pick who will be the sacrifice for the lecture. I mean, you're just in time! And if you forgot your knife..." says the young woman. Now she kinda smiles, bringing the flat of the blade up to her mouth to lick it, before she looks over it towards Rain. "...you can help out the class in other ways," she says. Zatanna was literally feeling like she was in the hallway, right outside. If Rain's Zee-sense is accurate enough, Rain would kinda be able to track Zatanna to an otherwise empty chair.
And the other students? They still looked reasonably normal.
Hmm. Rain listens. But Zatanna doesn't seem... this seems wrong. "Well, you have to love what you do, right? Or at least care about it," She considers, trying to stifle the inner horror of what's being discussed. How she'd love to just turn the girl into a newt and run screaming. "It's probably a good skill to have," Yes. Go with it. Go with it.
And then option B comes up. She's trying to cling to the threads of divination, much like someone hangs on to a rope over the side of a cliff. "I imagine so," She offers. "We'll have to see how she decides," Rain just remarks as if they were discussing the weather. "Do you think I should open the door for the others? It's a bit stuffy." Must. Make it. To the hallway and that chair. Just to try. "Is it your favorite subject?" She asks, as if one might ask someone's major or favorite class.
The divination - beyond the sense of Zee being outside of the hallway - there was no magic here. Or... was there? That green. There was that green. If one were to try to follow and chase that green, it would suffuse /everything/. The young woman was made of it. The classroom walls were suffused with it. Everything around was covered with that green - and the people outside were created of it as well, even as they wore young women's faces.
But perhaps chasing that would be folly.
Especially as the freshman comes up. "You ~are~ new, aren't you? You don't even know how we choose?" asks she, ignoring the 'smalltalk' questions.
Kicking a chair aside with a strength that should not be in a woman of her build, the freshman hangs onto her knife with white knuckles, her smile growing a bit sad. "...the old must always die, to make way for the new. And I /refuse/ to," she says, her voice going gravely and low a moment, perhaps even shaking the bones with how loud and low it was. Loud and low - because it came from everyone. Every student in this place. The soccer team - if one glances to the window outside, they would see nothing but the crumpled form of /something/ lying in the middle of the field - before a bloodstained student in a soccer uniform presses up to the window, her eyes fully on Rain.
The chair, when Rain arrives - like before, it was empty.
But the chair itself? It was clean, pristine - but the sharp tang of bloodscent was rich there.
Well. That thread... wouldn't work. It's made of something and chasing isn't going to work. But that green stuff, sort of makes sense now. It is - is it the fabric of this place? Some sort of anomaly that is trying to hold itself together. And her bluff is coming undone. "Huh? Um, oh! N-no, sorry. I just - it's a process to watch, you know?" Erk. Well, she's kicked aside a chair. This is serious. Rain has to do /something/. All out combat might be bad.
And as Rain gets there, the sharp tang of blood scent is rich. "... Zatanna?" She asks softly. That freshman's sad smile and her voice going loud and low. Then the student presses against the window. Rain stifles a scream. "HI!" Yes, that'll do. Get away, back away. Hold fast to your gun. "Zatanna!" She tries now. "Why do you - you don't want to die? What's going to happen to you? Maybe we can stop it?" Someone has to be here. Something has to change. What's Rain going to do? Her head is spinning as she fights her inner coward. Her bravery at exploring is ebbing away like a tide.
Rain no doubt would put her hand to the chair. And it would be occupied - there would be /nothing/ visible there, and the back of Rain's mind would /know/ that there was nothing there. But there was an invisible woman seated on that chair. And if Rain attempts to reach for her, and pull her hand back - there would be blood on her hands. And not Rain's.
The other students in the hall, they turn to look at 'Stabitha' coming out of the room, wielding the knife. Remember the 'mean girl'? She was lingering near the water fountain still, and she starts to snigger - likewise shifting her bookbag forward and reaching into it. Her knife was pink-handled, and glimmered - clearly she could afford better instruments. "Let's welcome the new girl, girls!" she calls out. And one of the students near Rain rolls her eyes, even as she starts shifting her backpack to the front. "God, this is like, the fourth one this /week/. It's getting boring," she says.
Pushing the gum she was chewing to the side of her mouth, that young woman glances to Rain. "We /are/ stopping it," she says then. A glance to the window would show the bloodstained soccer persons moving away from it. There was a door leading outside down a short hall nearish the chair. The handle turns, then does not open. And there was the sound of a bump against it, as if someone were trying to break it down.
Wait. Rain gets it now. They don't want their house to decay, their school to. Oh. Oh geez. Rain sort of - freezes as there's blood on her hands. Not good. Not good at all. The mean girl and the others... okay, so even in Stabworld, apparently some girls get cooler stuff. Good to know. "Seriously?" The time for talking has faded away it seems. She's going to have to protect herself. And then someone is trying to break down the door. And the forth one comment has Rain feeling more than a little sick inside again. Again, again and again. "Whether or not you like it... things change. The world goes on, time goes on. You can't keep this up forever," Rain remarks. She'll stay near the chair, since the blood - and Zeesense is there. Still, if they were big and bad enough to hurt Zatanna.
Portals, counterspells... Think Rain, THINK. Hmm. All she can do, perhaps, is try to heal that wound at the end of the sympathetic connection. She tries to put distance, but having to concentrate is really limiting her movement. "I don't know if I can do this alone." But if they rush her, she'll just have to try. She's also hoping she's not healing someone who wants to stab her face off.
The young woman nearest Rain makes a little scoffing noise. "Easy for you to say," she says, "Wait fourty years, and see how you feel," the young woman rolls her neck, and she makes a sound, hefting up the knife. "Except you won't get that far," stepping forward, the door leading outside likewise breaks open, and the soccer team were beginning to file in - one carrying an axe over her bloodstained shoulder. There was no escape for a typical person.
But Rain and Zatanna both were not typical people.
That sympathetic connection seems to - if Rain could sense such things so finely - a jagged cut across Zatanna's throat was being mended. And the very next things that Rain hears...
"Rettahs eireaf snoisulli!"
In the space of a few moments, to a cacophony of wails, the clean world around them starts to decay, starts to fast forward - flash forward, rotting and falling apart - the women themselves turning from flesh and bone - rotting down to skeletons - piles of bones with little knives and faded clothing falling into little piles.
And there was another handful of words.
"Dnoub ni snori, latnemele!"
In the handful of moments that Rain would have to readjust to her environment, she may notice a few key things. The halls were littered with debris and dust - and there were spectral forms of ghosts swirling over and over again to the ceiling. Zatanna - with bloodstained coat and lapels, was rising shakily to a stand, her eyes not turned upward - but if one traces, there were faint silver lines from each spectral form coming down to... it looked like a lump of branches and wood, but there was a malevolence there.
Chains were flying from Zatanna to surround and squeeze that pile, but it seems to flex /something/, and the iron chains snap, a vaguely humanoid figure - it had no face, it had nothing but moss and branches - rising from the floor of the school.
"Well, maybe. But you get to do a lot of cool things over 40 years, right...?" Does a woman really shrivel up and become worthless? Rain doesn't want to think about that. She's not too sure on the senses. Right now, her brain is trying to override her casting and go 'HEY RAIN. STABBINGS INC. AXES TOO. RUUUUUUUUN, FOO'. RUUUUUUN.' She would love nothing more than to bolt, teleport, hide, anything. And in this case, it was a shot in the dark. Maybe her healing spell wouldn't land ANYWHERE. Or heal one of THEM, which would end all kinds of badly. And then the door breaks open.
Her heart joins her stomach in sinking. It's done. Then suddenly, she hears backwards speech and not stabbings! She sort of clings to her gun and stares a bit. Her eyes are as wide as saucers. Ghosts. So many ghosts. And everything changes. Her brain has to put the anti-lock brakes on to cope with this one. She just - needs a moment. Ghosts. Okay. Beaten up house. And chains. She stares a long moment. She's gotta help Z! Deep breath and time to concentrate. She's going to at least try something. Electricity maybe?
Zatanna was breathing heavily - throat slashed - and left to bleed out on a chair in some dreamworld, unable to speak a word due to the lucky strike - well, she had been panicking. It would have been utterly ridiculous for her career to end on the hunt for some guy's dog. She wasn't expecting anything like this - and as it is said - it is what you are not expecting that gets you in the end.
But not today. Lucky for Zee that Rain was here.
The chains not holding the pile of leaves and swamp - the electricity that Rain sends upon it causes the pile to begin to quiver, the selfsame electricity starting to travel up those faint silver cords up towards the ghosts flying overhead, hugging the high ceiling of the room.
The chains break.
Now - /now/ there was the sense of the spirits, of the dead here - of the magic suffusing this place. It screamed of magic, where before it was silent. The floors - the ceilings /screamed/ with magic.
The ghostly shapes and forms start swooping downwards - lunging at the pile, one by one by one. And the pile disappears, darkening and shivering as it hunkers down and vanishes, Zee's face a mask of seriousness as she points her wand at the place where it was.
The scream of magic - of the presence of the dead - fades away to a whisper, then back to silence once again.
A lucky strike indeed. And no one expects to go this way. Nor did Rain expect the 'forth one this week' comment. And if Zee hadn't been there, Rain would've just ended up all kinds of chopped and stabbed and - yeah. That would be bad. She's thanking her lucky stars a bit. She's not quite as awesome at casting on the fly - it still takes her a moment to deply, but for now, it was enough. And now the magic and spirits are in full force.
Her eyes widen as the ghost swoop downwards at the pile and all that goes on before her. Her breath is caught. But then, she finally breathes as the magic fades away. "... well." That did explain the college lady leaving. She's at a loss for words. "Are you - okay?" First things first.
Zatanna's voice was still gravely, and her clothes were perhaps ruined. Well; of course she can magic the stains away, but she had more pressing concerns than fashion right now. Bringing up a hand to haphazardly brush the front of her coat off, Zee takes a moment, brings her wand up to her head, "Thgis dnoyeb thsig!" she whispers - her eyes glowing a blue when she opens them again, sweeping her gaze along the walls and house. Finally, with a heady sigh, she flicks her wrist to sequester her wand away, looking back towards Rain.
"I think you chased them off - or killed them. I'm not... sure which," says Zatanna, sucking a painted lip into her mouth to chew on it. "But, oh! I'm okay. Are you okay? What did you do? I kinda... started blacking out," she asks, glancing Rain up and down. She /looked/ okay.
Poor Zatanna. Rain looks worried. She is quiet as Zatanna casts her spell and looks around. Her eyes are wide but she looks to be calming down a little. Deep breath. Nothing is moving, screaming or stabbing. Although, the dog and those people... her mind flicks to awful possibilities.
She looks to Zatanna. "Me? But you did the chains and the banishing..." She blinks owlishly. "I'm glad you're okay. I'm not hurt. Startled, but - unhurt. I started to try to find you with divination when you disappeared. I couldn't see you, but when I put my hand out where I felt, there was blood. It was honestly a huge shot in the dark," She admits. Rain was lucky. She should buy a lotto ticket or something. "They picked up on the fact that I was new after awhile, though. Then they were about to get stabby at me. How about you?" She peers over.
Zatanna does breathe a sigh a bit - looking remarkably relieved. "I didn't banish them," she says, tone of voice soft. "I destroyed their little illusion that they were living in, and tried to stop the source of it... I don't think I've ever run into faerie magic that powerful before. But after you..." Zee was looking at Rain a bit oddly. "After you used electricity on it, it seemed to disrupt its... control? Link? Magic? And they all... fled. Or maybe the ghosts dragged it into hell. Isn't that how it ends in the movies?" she asks, kinda pursing her lips.
"But... I'm doing fine. I think I have a bottle of whiskey calling to me tonight, though?" says she, that showwoman's smile springing back up unto her lips with the joke. "But I didn't get seven steps into that place when /something/ cut my throat. I managed to stumble onto that chair, and I was trying to think of something, but..." That smile takes on a thin quality. "I couldn't speak, so I could barely cast anything. I shouldn't have left my potions at home," she says.
"And... to be honest, I didn't notice much of anything happening after a few minutes. Until you... presumeably healed me. That /was/ you, right? And not something else waggling around here?" she asks. But interrupting their conversation was a bark. As far as great danes go, this one was goofy looking, mouth hanging open with slobber, and a bandana around his neck serving as a collar. It had a marijuana-leaf design.
The dog was dirty, but it just about charges Rain - hoping to jump on her, and slobber over her with a series of licks to her face. It was happy to see humans, that was for sure.
"Could be. Or they moved on," Rain admits. "I'm glad it's done here, at least," She frowns. She seems concerned about them coming back. "So it was faeries and ghosts." Rain boggled a bit. "I didn't want to use fire in here," She adds. "But either way... at least people won't get trapped like /that/," Headshake.
She goes quiet. "No, that was me. I could kind of sense you, but I couldn't see you. So it was a HUGE shot in the dark," A sheepish grin. "I guess they-" Pause. And a doggie! Rain's eyes widen again as the great dane jumps on her and slobbers over her. "Eep! Hi there! Found you!" She acks, trying not to get too much slobber on her. She also tries not to sigh a bit at the choice of collar. But still, she's glad to see it and not more faeries. She rubs him between his ears. "Aw, hi doggie. I think - I don't even have a leash on me," She looks to Zatanna.
There was a little smile that bounces unto Zee's lips at the sight of the dog. "I guess all's well that ends well, hmm?" says Zee, reaching down her hand to give the dog a scratch on his expansive back. When Rain looks at her. "Oh, alright," she says, with a little laugh, bringing up her hand and snapping her fingers, "Lanrefni reklawgod rnruter eht god ot sti renwo!" she says, and then... crawling out of a hole in reality that suddenly appears, an green, stretchy-limbed imp tumbles forward, wearing both goggles, and holding a huge leash in its hands. "Alright alright, come on..." he says, reaching up to snap the leash unto the great dane. "Dey don't call me da doogwalker fir nothin'," it kinda slurs, tugging on the leash as it starts to kinda trundle towards the exit for the mansion.
As for Zee? She pulls a business card from inside her jacket, and offers it to Rain, giving her a wide smile. "Pleased to meet you - wish it could be under better circumstances. If you need help - or just want to chat sometime, let me know, okay?" she asks.
Zee would fade out and teleport back home to a bathtub and a bottle of bubbly, unless Rain should stop her.
Rain smiles back. "Yeah. I'm worried about - but then," She considers. Rain shrugs it off and seems amused as an imp with goggles and a leash appears. "Hee! Hi dogwalker," Wave. She looks to Zee and carefully accepts the card. "Thanks. The pleasure's all mine. And the same! I think - oops, I lost my cards. Oh well." Sadface. "I'll leave a message." Yes. "And I understand. I will do! I'm around if you need anything, too." She waves to Zatanna as she fades. Rain is not one to deny someone their bath and bubbly. She might be tempted to go do something similar. Phew.
Category:Log