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Sarah Petrelli ([info]nopoweroverme) wrote in [info]parabolical,
@ 2009-11-05 20:31:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:cathy mcdonald (née hyatt), clarissa morgenstern, gabriel "sylar" gray, lindsey mcdonald, paige matthews, sarah petrelli (née williams), tara maclay

WHO: [ in no particular order! ] Sarah Petrelli, Lindsey McDonald, Clarissa Morgenstern, Tara Maclay, Paige Matthews, Sylar & Cathy McDonald
WHERE: the Welcome Center
WHEN: Sunday, November 5, 2006; umm... late afternoon?
WHAT: Rescuing Cathy.
RATING: PG-13.
STATUS: thread; in-progress

Standing in one of the larger rooms of the Welcome Center, Sarah once more went through the bag she had packed to take to the other dimension, from necessary tools like the books to just as necessary first aid and nourishment, because they had no idea what they would find. The books that had been carefully chosen from the Hyperion's large library were her personal responsibility, and so long as she came back, so would they.

And not coming back wasn't an option. It might be a fear and a worry, but it wasn't an option. Not this time, not in any form.

Similarly, those waiting to carry out the rescue had been carefully chosen, but that had been Lindsey final call after Sarah had presented him with a list of people in the city with various magical abilities, whether they called themselves witches, wizards, wiccans, Goblin Queens or something else. Though Cathy was her best friend, she was Lindsey's wife and next to actual 'evil' side people, he knew the most about how Wolfram & Hart operated and how their 'punishments' could work, so she had been following his lead exclusively, devoting all her time to solving this and protecting the LAWC while its security was in a state of flux.

Determining that she truly did have everything she could hope to need for this, and that if she found she didn't she really wouldn't have been able to predict it, Sarah slung the bag over her shoulder and tucked its bulk against her side, then turned to face the others. What they faced would be just as difficult as other things faced in the past, and though there were those 'magic users' in the city that she shared considerable history with and would trust with her life without hesitation, she trusted the people in this room to know their strengths and weakness and be able to all work together.

"If everyone else is ready?" she said, the question there as she looked to Lindsey, then to Clary, Tara, Paige and Sylar in turn. "I am."

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[info]angelblood
2009-11-06 03:08 am UTC (link)
The attack now seemed like forever ago, weeks, even if it had only been days. But then again, that was always how this seemed to work. It had only been a few months since her life and been turned upside down with the revelations of her past, but it seemed like a lifetime. Just a few days had past and they were on their way to get Cathy. Again she didn't know what to expect. But a 'hell' holding dimension didn't sound of sunshine and roses. So again her seraph blade was strapped to her back, her stele in hand to open the portal. That was all she needed. Her weapons. Spell books wouldn't be any good to her, she wasn't a witch. She had what little training she had acquired from the Hyperion, her never ending dumb luck, and the runes that formulated in her mind when she needed them. She couldn't offer anything else.

"Ready." she said with a nod to Sarah, before looking at Sylar. "I just need the image of the dimension so I can know where I'm going." she didn't really think portaling them to an unknown place was the best idea. They could end up in a wall or something along those lines. She didn't know anything about this guy, or what his powers were, or where they came from. She knew people had been freaking out over him before, but if he was helping, then that was enough for her.

"Can you transfer the memory, or put the image onto paper?" she just didn't a glance to form the destination in her mind. She gripped the Stele tightly in her hand, and looked to everyone in turn. "I'll have to open the portal twice. Once to get there, and once for back. It will only stay open a short time. It's not much of a luxury ride either. Be prepared for a rocky landing, elbows might be bruised tomorrow." she had a tendency to fall and land on her elbows. It wasn't a smooth ride, but it did the trick, and it got them there fast.

And considering how long Cathy had been in some place that is like hell, they did need to move fast. Her attention shifted back to Sylar, waiting for the image.

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[info]witchwithaplan
2009-11-06 03:56 am UTC (link)
There hadn't been any debate in Paige to come with the Book of Shadows. There might have been some hesitance, okay lots of hesitance. Piper, and Phoebe and Leo as well, had managed to drum the necessity of the secrecy of the book into her head; leaving it so that it was almost, not quite, second nature. While the book was just as important to her as it was to them, more so in certain ways, her mind went to an automatic need to protect and help someone in need. Not to uphold precautions that might be useless in this dimension. Not that she didn't think evil here could do a lot of damage with the book; however, that wasn't the pressing thing.

The fact that the book could save someone was what mattered. So she'd brought the Book. It was the only thing she could bring since she was short on her own supplies. The book and herself.

"Ready." Paige said, giving a small nod of the affirmative, Book hanging from a large sack on her shoulder. There was a chance that she might need her hands free.

Tara, on the other hand, had a bag filled with supplies. Candles. Herbs. The proper tools necessary for most sort of rituals. She didn't have any of her books with her but she was sure that Sarah would have more than enough from the research area of the AI. Tara had brought everything she could and then some. She wasn't planning on leaving until they brought Cathy back from the dimension she was in.

"I'm ready." She said, firmly.

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[info]godlikesin
2009-11-06 04:08 am UTC (link)
Transferring the memory was a no go but putting the image down on paper was definitely possible. Looking around the area, Sylar reached out and picked up a blank shirt of paper from one of the surrounding tables and laying it out flat. He had only used this ability once or twice, but in the long run, it was like all of the others that he'd picked up. Perfect control, perfect clarity, perfect understanding. Summoning the memories up in his mind, Sylar extended his hand towards the paper, watching as it shimmered, lighting up before the lights sank away leaving a perfect replication of what he'd pulled out of the other man's mind.

"There it is," Sylar said, stepping back so that she could get a good look at what he'd put down on paper.

Not to mention he hardly wanted to look at it in such a concrete form. It was bad enough as a fluid memory in his own mind.

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[info]morallydamaged
2009-11-06 04:32 am UTC (link)
Once Cathy's location had been retrieved, the plan came together quickly. From the list Sarah had put together, Lindsey had discussed his options with her and come up with a small team of magic users to take into the dimension. The demonstration of Clary's talents and Sylar's ablities in getting the location had gotten him thinking. Magic from other worlds had an effect on this one but each form was different, bringing something new to the table.

So following that reason, he'd chosen those assembled now. Sarah had been a certainty from a start and brought to the table her talents as Goblin Queen, Paige with her magic, Tara with the magic native to this world. Lindsey's own talents lay more in the chaotic magics but if they needed a fourth, he was ready and willing. Anything to break Cathy out of the hell dimension she was being kept in.

"I'm ready," he replied quietly, pacing slowly. He wanted to be there now even though he knew Clary was doing what she needed to do. He hesitated long enough to watch Sylar imprint the memories onto the paper.

"Once we get in there, we find Cathy, we find the key to fit the magical lock and break the dimension's hold on her, and then we get out of there. Hopefully we'll be long gone before they realize that they've go trespassers." He was going in light armed but hoped, for once, that it didn't come to confrontation. A smooth, easy execution for all involved and a safe delivery home.

He glanced back at Clary. "When you're ready."

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[info]angelblood
2009-11-06 05:02 am UTC (link)
Taking the paper from Sylar, she held it out infront of her. It took a moment for her mind to register what it was she was looking at, causing her to blink several times before flinching slightly. "Creepy." was all she had to say about it. Still, she closed her eyes, recalling the picture in her hands. She visualized it, how Cathy was there, and the need to arrive there to get her back. Opening her eyes she looked at Sylar and smiled, before folding the paper and putting in her pocket. "Thanks."

Looking to Lindsey she nodded before stepping up to the wall. "Sorry about defacing the wall." she added dryly, figuring no one was actually going to care if it was going to help bring Cathy back.

Bringing her stele to the wall, she closed her eyes. Lines of light began to form in her mind, lines of other dimensions, of being carried away, traveling, winds to take her off. When the Stele touched the wall, the acidic smell of burning reached her nose quickly, as the black lines flowed over the wall. The heat from the rune was intense, and she could easily feel it against her face. The paint and plaster burned, and when she opened her eyes, there was the familiar rune.

A flower blossoming. Stepping away, the lines of the flower began to change, almost melt, and reform. The dark lines moved, and when it was finished, the rune was different. Now infront of them was the outline of a glowing doorway, at least eight feet tall. The light was dark, but familiar to her, and she knew this was going to work.

Looking over her shoulder to the rest of them, she took a deep breath in. "Remember, be careful. It's like being sucked up by a tornado." She imagined someone else would want to go first, but instead of stepping back, she stepped forward, reaching out for the door. A white light spread from under her touch, and the white nothingness of the dimension Cathy was being held in appeared before her. As she moved closer, she was sucked in, and suddenly the welcome center was gone. She caught a glimpse of the room spiraling away from her as she was sucked up into a whirl wind, a force strong enough to uproot trees.

White chaos was how she would describe it. Then the white floor of the dimension rose infront of her, and she fell hard onto it, throwing her arms out to catch herself.

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[info]nopoweroverme
2009-11-06 06:22 am UTC (link)
Having watched and listened to Clary without making a sound, drinking it both the process and the cautions, Sarah had been prepared as she could be for this, but that really hadn't been prepared at all. Being sucked inside the portal was instantly disorienting, and while she'd thought she could pull herself out of any possible fall by simply taking a second to relocate her body, it was too fast. Down she went near Clary with a slap that sounded almost like skin against linoleum, the collisions of any others just as much of a strange echo in this space.

"Oof!" The sound was followed by a curse that was mostly muffled over the bag having slammed into her body with its own momentum, and after sucking in a breath to make sure she wasn't winded, Sarah struggled to her feet.

"I don't know how you do this often," she murmured to Clary once she was upright. She hadn't ever thought of anything she could do as easy, but she had just gained a new level to the respect she already had for Clary's talents. Rubbing the backs of her forearms as she discreetly pressed them to her chest – ow, yes, those hurt too – she gave herself a moment to react to the stinging before pushing the feeling away. The discomfort was for another time.

Sarah looked around, a frown quickly knitting her brows together at the sight that met her eyes.

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[info]climbing_uphill
2009-11-06 06:29 am UTC (link)
Thank God for Reb. He was her saving grace at the moment, the only reason Cathy was able to keep it together at least somewhat for the sake of her daughter. When it all became too much and a breakdown was inevitable, he was there for Izzy while she stepped into the privacy of her bathroom, running the water and letting it out until there were no tears left to cry.

Mourning, she had discovered, came in waves. One moment, she was curled up on the couch with the four-year-old and the dog, watching children’s television in a blissfully numb and distracted state. The next, the whole world came crashing down again, until her body so badly needed a break that the force of the emotion dissipated, and she was free to check her email, or currently, cook for Izzy.

She wanted scrambled eggs. Specifically, she wanted her daddy’s scrambled eggs. Cathy wished there was something she could do to give that to her, to give him back to her. She wished it more than anything.

Izzy wasn’t any better off than she was, she recognized, and it only shattered her heart all the more. The tiny blonde’s face was just as tearstained, her eyes just as bloodshot, her spirit just as broken. The only solace came with the fact that sleep deprivation made it a little easier for her to escape the world, and while she was sleeping, she looked to Cathy just as peaceful as she had the night her father saved her life.

The temper-tantrums while she was awake, her method for expressing the loss she couldn’t fully understand, were a stark contrast.

Finishing up at the stove, Cathy was careful in serving up two plates of the scrambled eggs, which had been slaved over painstakingly as she recalled exactly how she had watched her husband prepare the comfort food over the course of five years. Nevertheless, she watched her child’s expression apprehensively as she passed over the plate, once she had deemed it cool enough, prepared for the worst. Sure enough, Izzy didn’t even have to lift her fork.

“It smells weird,” she whined, the sniffling starting up again. Cathy managed to calmly slide into the seat beside her, turning the contents of her own plate over with her fork despite the fact that the last thing she wanted to do was eat.

“I made them just like Daddy,” she offered, all the while knowing it would be a futile case. Izzy looked blankly back at her, then back down at the plate. She didn’t budge. Cathy sighed.

“Eat your eggs, baby girl. Don’t make me count.” The authoritative command lacked its usual verve, as did every move she made, and she couldn’t keep the tears from rushing to her own eyes for the millionth time as the preschooler’s chin began to tremble. Obediently, she lifted the fork to her mouth, making a face but no verbal complaint.

“If I eat all my eggs,” she began at last, serious as anything even as her little voice trembled. “Will Daddy come back?”

A tear slid down Cathy’s cheek, but she was quick to brush it away. “No, baby,” she told the little girl honestly, wishing it weren’t so. “But you need to eat, okay? Can you do that, for me?”

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[info]complete_dork
2009-11-06 06:53 pm UTC (link)
Tara's eyes widened slightly as she watched what Clary did. It was impressive, she'd never seen anything quite like it before. Following Sarah and Clary, Tara went in. Hearing Clary's warning was one thing, following it was another. Nevertheless, she managed not to lose her supplies, even as she lost lost her equilibrium and everything else that came with it. She was pretty sure she'd jammed her elbow onto the ground, however, her focus was more on settling her eyes onto what was around her than the pain of that.

Sitting up, Tara made to adjust her bag, but her attention was caught onto what was in front of her. She took in a sharp intake of breath.

Paige had walked .. went in right after Tara. Her attention more focused on getting to where they had to go than on how 'cool' Clary's portal was. She'd been cautious, hearing the other females warning. But she'd been through portals before, sure they were all different. However, she hadn't expected it to be that different. She fell hard, Paige did, and she was pretty sure the Book of Shadows had left a heavy book shaped bruise on her, "Ow." She groaned, more automatic than anything. She'd thought portal travelling was weird in enough in her world. Unknowingly she was sharing Sarah's sentiment on respect. While Paige didn't know what Clary good do as well as the other female did, but she could respect anyone who had to do that on a regular basis. Gingerly, she managed to sit up, her attention quickly moving from the bruise that she was rubbing to her surroundings.

There hadn't been kidding on the creepy.

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[info]godlikesin
2009-11-06 11:28 pm UTC (link)
Of all of the things that Sylar had seen in the last two years that his understanding of the world had been broadened, that had to have been one of the most impressive. The familiar spark of jealous flashed in his mind, but he quickly smothered it. He hardly needed to be focused on thoughts like that when there were more important things to be concerned about than his own potential.

Clearing his throat for a moment, Sylar hesitated. It wasn't as though he was afraid to step into the portal. Not really. But going into something so foreign and unknown, especially with the knowledge of the sort of situation he'd be stepping into, was hardly something that he wished to do. He liked being prepared before he entered a situation, and he knew that he was hardly prepared when it came to this.

Anchoring himself to the ground with his telekinesis as the portal opened, pulling the others in, Sylar had already decided that he didn't need to go along with them. He was already so far out of his depth with all of this, and he didn't want to go just to be in the way. Besides, someone had to stay behind to make sure that their way home didn't get savaged by anyone that might have potentially gotten wind of the situation. Not that there likely would be anyone like that, or that Clary couldn't take care of herself. But it was better to be safe than sorry.

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[info]morallydamaged
2009-11-06 11:54 pm UTC (link)
He didn't know what he was expected when Clary had said she'd had a way in, but what she managed to do was impressive. He watched the portal grow and the girls disappear into it. Then it was his turn. This was the moment he'd been waiting for. He glanced over at Sylar, lifted his head slightly in acknowledgement, and then took the step. Then it was all out of his control and he was pitching forward, sucked up by the portal.

The experience was not unlike being taken up by the Senior Partners, disorientation hitting him hard. What hit harder was the ground, knocking the wind from his lungs when his back hit the floor. Lindsey inhaled deeply, trying to regain equilibrium as he rolled onto his side. The rest of them were here, shaking themselves off. "That's one hell of a rid-"

He went silent as he got his first good look at the room he was in. White. Nothing but sterile, lifeless white stretched on forever. Walls, ceiling, floor, the sparse pieces of furniture. And the color in all the white, his wife. "Cathy." Lindsey was off the floor in a second, rushing across the room to her side. He reached out to touch her shoulder. "Hey," he said softly. "We're going to get you out of here."

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[info]angelblood
2009-11-07 12:45 am UTC (link)
One by one they came in after her as she picked herself up off the ground. The room was creepy, that was for sure. No wonder all she had seen was white. "I try to avoid it when I can." she said in response to Sarah. Getting tossed around in a whirlwind wasn't exactly her idea of a good time, but sometimes you just needed it in order to get past barriers.

Brushing herself off- even if there was nothing to brush off, she looked around the room. Everyone seemed alright. After Lindsey came in, the portal closed, the entrance was sealed off. Not that she couldn't open another one.

Clary glanced to Cathy, Lindsey was already there. She watched the two for a moment, before starting to look around. For all they knew there was some sort of guard posted close by that would attack. She didn't really feel like getting taken my surprise. Clary would open the portal as soon as they had Cathy ready to go. A glance over her shoulder, she could tell Cathy was talking, but to who?

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[info]nopoweroverme
2009-11-07 05:23 am UTC (link)
Lindsey moving quickly to action broke Sarah out of her stunned, confused stupor to dart after him. As he reached for his wife, she acted on instinct and reached out as well, closing her hand over his fingers.

"Don't." It wasn't a sharp command, just a soft one of caution. "At least, I don't think you should right away," she clarified, giving Lindsey an apologetic look as she released his hand. "Did you ever hear 'never shake a sleepwalker awake'? That might be something to keep in mind here, just in case."

Which was one of only many concerns, because what looked like Cathy sleepwalking could also be Cathy driven half-mad by whatever had been done to her or Cathy stuck in some kind of drugged hallucination or... well, that list was one they needed to make short, and they needed to do it quickly.

The problems was, there wasn't very much to go on, as Cathy seemed to be miming everything and carrying on a conversation with someone she didn't identify by name and – my God – crying. All there was, for the moment, was just pieces of what Cathy had said in her half of the conversation. "Daddy. Eggs. Baby girl."

When it hit her what those added up to, she turned to look at Lindsey, horror written clear on her face.

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[info]climbing_uphill
2009-11-07 05:36 am UTC (link)
The preschooler's expression steeled, and that shattered Cathy more than any amount of tears possibly could. Leading by example, she picked up her own form, helping herself to the eggs on her plate and closing her eyes, analyzing the taste for herself. Izzy was right, it wasn't the same.

After today, she doubted the two of them would ever touch the breakfast food again.

Standing, she set her still-full plate by the sink, aware of the eyes that scrutinized her every room as she made for the pantry, gathering the supplies to make two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The task at hand was mechanical, nothing painful or memory-evoking about it.

"I hate him for leaving." The announcement was abrupt, more force behind the words than she had ever heard from her daughter, even when protesting the injustice of bedtime or her distaste for any green vegetable.

Cathy did her best to swallow the lump in her throat. "No, you don't."

There was no response. The sandwiches set on two fresh plates, looked up to catch sight of her daughter, curled up inside of the already gigantic t-shirt that had belonged to Lindsey, a bundle of blue topped with blonde hair. Sliding the plate over to where she sat, she sat back down, forcing herself to take a bite as she considered how to go about handling this. Alone.

"Your daddy didn't want to go, you know that, baby girl," she reinforced for umpteenth time, hoping it would finally be the one to sink in. "He loves you more than anything in the world, okay? Forever and always, even if--...even if he can't be here to tell you anymore."

The makeshift tent the child had created from the t-shirt turned out to be a blessing in disguise, allowing her mother to reach for a napkin to press over her eyes without feeling guilty about it.

"I want to see him," Izzy demanded, relentless. "Right now."

It felt something like drowning, Cathy realized, squeezing her eyes shut and scrambling for yet another explanation, the 'right' thing to for the benefit of their child. "I know he wants to see you, too, Iz. But he can't. We talked about this, remember?"

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[info]witchwithaplan
2009-11-07 09:53 pm UTC (link)
Paige didn't know what was going on, but she managed to figure certain things out from Cathy's state and the look on Sarah's face. She only had assumptions to go on, but she could add two and two together, and what seemed to strike her was that not one of them was good.

Her eyes widened slightly at Cathy's words and her heart went out to all of them. And she didn't have to look around to know that she wasn't the only one who felt the same way. However, as much as she didn't feel as it was her place to be the voice to pull them back into reality, the the sooner they got this over with and helped Cathy out of .. wherever she was, then the better.

Tara startled slightly when Paige took the bag of supplies from her nearly limp hands. It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on. She wasn't sure exactly what it was, whether Cathy was living through hallucinations or the words she was saying was a residue for how they'd already played with her mind. Either way, it was plain to see that the woman was going through something painful, that made Tara's heart squeeze with so many things. Concern, worry, ... fear. Fear because she remembered all too well how it was like to be trapped in one's mind and the fact that for Cathy's seemed much more lucid than her own, meant nothing to her. In fact, that alone could, and more than likely was considering who they were up against, make it all the more horrible. The word unpleasant wasn't even near the same dimension of describing how badly having ones head played with felt. What made matter's worse, to Tara, was she had this strange feeling that Cathy might not know that it all wasn't real. Which heightened another emotion. Anger. She wouldn't wish this on her worse enemy.

Goddess help anyone or any being that tried to stand in their way in helping Cathy. Hopefully, nothing did.

"Ideas?" Paige spoke up. She tried not to wince slightly, as it felt as if her voice echoed, even thought it didn't quite do so. "Anyone have any ideas on where to start?" It didn't seem necessary to clarify.

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[info]morallydamaged
2009-11-08 12:32 am UTC (link)
Lindsey turned on Sarah, about to demand a reason for stopping him when she spoke first. His expression softened, the point logical, and he lowered his hand when she released him, looking back at Cathy again. She looked exhausted, worn out physically and emotionally, and as he looked on, tears welled up again. Whatever she was seeing, it was tearing her apart inside.

"She thinks she's talking to Isabelle," he said softly, catching Sarah's look. It was possible that Wolfram and Hart had given her another child, one that she believed was her own, but he knew that an even better way to make the lie believeable was to use something already established in the life of the victim. Izzy residing with them while she had been there, who she had been, hadn't been a secret.

He took a step back suddenly, as if his mere proximity to her would cause something cataclysmic to happen. Cathy's one-sided conversation was giving him an increasingly clearer picture of what was going on and it horrified him, overriding his anger. He heard Paige speak behind him, knew full well she was right, but at first couldn't find his voice to speak. He just wanted to touch her, wake her up, tell her everything was all right.

Shutting his eyes, he turned his head, trying to focus on doing just that. Paige was right. "She's seeing something that we're not," he said, once he found his voice again. "Somehow, we need to get on the same footing."

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[info]nopoweroverme
2009-11-08 07:37 am UTC (link)
...even if he can't be here to tell you anymore

Sucking in a breath, Sarah forced her stomach to stop the sick jumping it was doing. OhmyGod. It didn't matter that she had no idea as to the 'why' of what Cathy was saying; the 'what' was too easy to guess from this side of the conversation. In her mid, she'd been given Izzy, but had Lindsey taken away. Was it the lesson served, or only the beginning of their cruelties? Absolute bastards. Still not strong enough, it would never be strong enough.

After a moment, Sarah flicked the wrist of the arm that had been dangling at her side in shock, a crystal appearing in her palm. She had finally made progress with making the crystal reflect things when people touched them, but even now, to put a persons thoughts, desires, dreams into them unaided required an answer to her skills that she didn't have.

But she had to try, because it wasn't just people touching Cathy that could be the concern, and Sarah wasn't taking the risk right now of the act to help being the reason for more harm.

"Other ideas? Certainly welcome right now," she said softly, then knelt at Cathy's far side, the crystal cradled in her palms, and focused her entire will on her friend.

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[info]climbing_uphill
2009-11-08 06:05 pm UTC (link)
There was no reply from the child, but after what seemed like hours, she emerged from her makeshift hiding place, picking up one of the carefully divided halves of her sandwich and grudgingly taking a bite. "Can I have some chocolate milk?" Her way of changing the subject, however abrupt, her capacity for dealing with the subject filled.

"Please." The reaction was automatic, and Cathy's eye-roll at herself was in unison with the dirty look the child shot in her direction. Izzy humored her (in a grumble), and she stood to cross to the refrigerator, fulfilling the request. The Nesquik was claimed from the pantry, but she had barely managed a spoonful into a glass when a piercing shriek from behind her nearly stopped her heart.

The little girl was frantically pressing her napkin over her chest, trying to wipe something away with a life-or-death ferocity. "What's wrong?" To say Cathy was alarmed would be to put it mildly, and in a split second she was at her daughter's side, attempting to pry little hands away so that she could determine for herself what the problem was. Relief was the first thing to hit her--she was fine, there was no blood, nothing horrifying to be found. She had simply spilled a drop of grape jelly onto her father's favorite t-shirt. Unfortunately, the stain had been worsened by the preschooler's reflexive attempt to undo the damage.

"I broke it," Izzy kept repeating tearfully, slumping against the back of her chair and weeping as if her heart had broken. Cathy shook her head, quick to reassure her.

"It'll come out," she promised, smoothing a hand over Izzy's hair, a kiss pressed to the top of her head. "C'mon, it's okay. You didn't break anything."

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[info]witchwithaplan
2009-11-09 04:07 am UTC (link)
"I could check the Book. See what it has." Paige said, though she frowned slightly. As if there were something else. She felt like she should know something but she was missing it. There was the fact that they, she at least, didn't have enough information. What exactly were they dealing with? What was Cathy seeing? Was it a hallucination? Were they making her see something or was it .. the result of having her mind played with? She didn't even know the woman and she didn't even want to go near that particular option. "But the two of you know Wolfram and Hart better than we do." Paige stated, looking at Lindsey and Sarah. "Do you have any idea what this could be? The more details we have the better. Is she hallucinating because of something .. done to her? Maybe she's stuck replaying something they've already had her seen. Or do you think ... I'm not exactly sure how it works here. But I'm willing to take a guess that the Senior Partners are key with different forms of reality warping." But even that ... if it was like Barbas. And she was reliving her greatest fear, well there was nothing they could do. Cathy would have to go through that on her own. However, if it was something similar to what Cole could do with the demonic projection ... that essentially meant that Cathy was their puppet and while there could be something in the book, that would take time they probably didn't have. "Am I making any sense?" She asked. She probably wasn't. And it was on the tip of her tongue to say, 'Basically, I want to know all the different ways they could be messing with her head'; however, she managed to still her tongue. The people here weren't quite clued into that habit of hers to make snappy comments or crack jokes in moments in which they'd be considered inopportune. Like this one.

This frustration of not knowing where to start was different from the similar frustration she got back home. She knew the ground rules there. Paige willed herself to calmly think. It would be like Year One of magic for her, a pain of the ass year for her, where her first spell wouldn't be a backfire inflation of her bra-size but messing around with the possible illusions someone's wife was seeing. She could stay calm.

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[info]morallydamaged
2009-11-09 07:49 pm UTC (link)
He watched his wife moving around the empty space, going through motions with something that wasn't there. Talking to someone who wasn't there. It was the problem he focused on, concentrating of figuring out the 'what' instead of the 'how.' The basis of the problem.

Lindsey crouched down, glancing up at Paige as she spoke. "Wolfram and Hart has hundreds of holding dimensions like this one. Most of them mess with your mind, but usually it's something to keep the prisoner compliant. Something normal until it's time to send him to his punishment." He ran a hand over his mouth, gaze returning to Cathy and Sarah. "But usually with that sort of punishment, there's a piece of jewelry that acts as the focus. A necklace, a ring, a bracelet. Spell is broken once it comes off. Not only that, but we'd be seeing everything she's seeing. The other is straight up torture."

He'd sent a couple of people to the holding dimensions during his tenure as CEO, but he'd specified the details, never the how. He rose to his feet, walking closer to Cathy. His hand passed in front of her face. He glanced back at Paige.

"Reality warping," he murmured thoughtfully and took a step back. "The room is blank, she doesn't see us, and she's seeing something we can't. What if they're using her mind like a projector? Put something in there and that's what she sees?"

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[info]complete_dork
2009-11-10 09:38 pm UTC (link)
Of course they wouldn't be a jewelry option. That would be too easy. A pensive expression came over Paige's features. Projection wouldn't really need someone to physically be there to place images that Cathy was seeing, that they weren't seeing. Just needed someone strong enough and they could create an entire scene for Cathy to play over and be physically in another room. Or even another part of the city. Like Barbas when he had Cole's powers.

But to stop it they'd have to vanquish who ever it was? Wouldn't it? Something was niggling at the back of her mind again.

Tara frowned at what Lindsay said. She couldn't think of anything that she could do that wouldn't hurt Cathy. If they were projecting something in her mind there were ways to stop that but with the state that Cathy was in and who they were dealing with ... shutting down the projection could very easily shut something down in Cathy as a result. A back up plan. If there were only a way to see what she was seeing. The statement might seem to be a ridiculous one but with the kinds of magic they had at their disposal, if they were careful. It could happen. Couldn't it? It was best to at least ask. "Do you think ..." She paused. "Maybe there's a way that we could get into her head? O-or ... maybe project what she's seeing out to us? So we can walk it through with her."

"Walk it through with her?" Paige looked up at Tara. Now where had she heard of something like this before. There was ... no. Get into her head ... and then it clicked. "I think I know what'll help us get on the same level with Cathy. But I don't know if I have the right -" Then she stopped herself, looking at the supply bag Tara had. Or maybe she did.

Quickly squatting down, she took out the book and flipped, having a vague idea of what she wanted, then going back a bit before finding it exactly. "This. This will let us see exactly what she's seeing. In fact, it'll let us experiance it with her." Paige said, turning the Book of Shadows so the spell was facing Lindsay.

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[info]morallydamaged
2009-11-11 03:55 am UTC (link)
Tara was on to something. Lindsey snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Something like that could work. If someone has something that could let us see what she sees, maybe we can break the hold it has on her." His frustration with the situation was pushed aside in favor of hope that the idea presented would get them somewhere.

It was risky but anything they tried would be. Without knowing exactly what Wolfram and Hart had done to her, it was tenative guesswork to find solutions that would yield the least amount of damage. So far, it seemed like one of the less riskier proposals.

He glanced at the page that Paige held open for him, then up at the witch. "Do you have what you need to do the spell here?"

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[info]witchwithaplan
2009-11-13 09:34 pm UTC (link)
Paige looked to Tara, "You woudn't by any chance happen to have five blue candles, would you?" She had sage and crystals and she had a couple of candles. Three white, and one blue.

Tara knew that even the colours of a candle mattered with a spell and she couldn't help a tiny quirk, not of happiness but one sort of relief. She happened to have both blue and white candles. Blue was linked to calmness and tranquility. It was also linked to consciousness and had a history of being linked to sincreity. Although white candles were traditionally used for magic, because the connotation of safety. Blue candles could be used for protection. "I have six." She said simply. "And lighter. Do you need anything else?"

Paige shook her head. "We only need five candles. Lighted for protection." She explained to the others.

"Tara could you-" Paige started but the other woman was already on it.

Tara gave Paige a small smile before casting a circle with five candles.

Looking once again back at Lindsey, she asked, "Alright. Your call."

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[info]nopoweroverme
2009-11-14 02:12 am UTC (link)
Sarah had remained quiet all this time, letting the conversation flow around her without really concentrating on it, as all of her concentration was on the crystal in her hand growing warm with her efforts. Indistinct and shadowy, in the end the contents only told her what she already knew, that Cathy believed she was in this room with Izzy and that something very terrible had happened to leave them both looking how she had already witnessed Cathy looking. There was nothing there to offer as new information and the world within the crystal was not substantial enough to even begin to debate solving the problem this way.

Time was precious here and Sarah had no preference for how any of it was done, so long as it freed Cathy and released them all from this dimension after.

Shaking herself slightly to plant herself in the here and now, Sarah looked around, absorbing the preparations and piecing them together with the half-heard conversation. A spell. Experiencing what Cathy experienced. Candles for protection. Taking a deep breath, she stood and looked at Lindsey.

"I can't get anything useful, not without more time. I'm ready to help do this," she said, nodding in the vague direction of the candles and Book.

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[info]morallydamaged
2009-11-14 04:07 am UTC (link)
They had a spell and what was needed to pull it off. Now it just needed to work. Lindsey glanced back at Cathy. After the one sided conversation, he was worried about what they would find once they were on the same wavelength with her. His attention shifted to Sarah, a small nod following.

"Yeah, me too," he added quietly. Turning to Paige, he nodded at the book in her hands. "Your spell, you take the lead on it. Tell us what we need to do to pull this off." The statement was followed by a moment of silence. An inquiry of how much experience she had with the spell appeared briefly before he dismissed it. Right now, he'd take whatever they could pull off.

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