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Tweak says, "Padmichael forever!"

ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇss ᴏғ ᴘʀᴇsᴛɪᴅɪɢɪᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ (cigam) wrote in valarlogs,
@ 2017-08-22 19:18:00

Entry tags:

!complete, lina inverse, zatanna zatara

Who: Zatanna & Lina (plus Amelia)
What: Having tea and shopping turns into eavesdropping on some shady people who know too much about a certain dark lord
When: Today
Where: The Broom Closet
Rating/Warnings: Pretty low!
Status: Complete

Gods, it was hot. Like, smoldering hot - it made outdoor adventures dreadful, so sticking to air-conditioned facilities it was. To be pregnant during this heat wasn’t anything Lina wanted to imagine - Zee had her deepest sympathies - and the day, at least, started in a mall with a billion stores filled with crap they thought they needed.

Mrs. Wisdom herself wasn’t much of a retail butterfly but there were exceptions to the rule; mainly in the company of friends, and now that the magic mistress was transitioning to the dreadful third trimester, there were things to shop for. Nursery decor, accessories, outfits, all of which would be amplified at the (very secret) baby shower in September. Amelia had joined them too, pushed in a stroller and absolutely reveling the time spent with her witchy godmother. It was good low-key exercise for the mother-to-be, and they’d gotten ice cream on their adventures as promised, although Toddler Wisdom’s need to put her face in dessert that wasn’t hers made it difficult to properly enjoy (typical Amelia at this rate, seriously).

Today’s final stop of their day was Romany’s Broom Closet, a place they were all familiar with - work business, pleasure, and family matters. The atmosphere was relaxing and so zen, and the tea bar was a nice, flourishing touch. It was a spot to unwind, relax, mull things over with some drinks (Lina’s was always caffeinated, duh) and soothe Amelia’s sugar rush.

It was at least working, sort of. She wasn’t thrashing in her stroller out of excitement so much and instead sat, chewing on one of those gem teething necklaces Auntie Rom had given her.

“You want me to get any scones for you or anything?” offered the sorceress, seated at a table in the corner, comfortable in denim shorts and a plaid shirt. Her casualness was completely opposite of her husband’s suit fetish. “Sorry about Amelia, I feel like she didn’t let you really have much of your ice cream because she’s a shameless pig.”

“Booooooooooom,” was the child’s giggly reply, drooly was ever.

For this outing, one stark difference was that Zatanna wore an actual wedding band - it felt a little tight, and so did the engagement ring that had once belonged to John’s mother, but she made it work. Same as she did with the summer sandals to accommodate her swollen feet - she’d ordered a few new maternity dresses and they’d arrived when she and John returned from Paris; today, she was definitely wearing one. A floral-print wrap dress, cool and breezy to make this unbearable weather somewhat bearable after all. The ice cream had been a godsend, sitting in general was, and concluding the adventure with an iced tea (decaf) really did hit the spot. Never would she turn down a trip to The Broom Closet anyway - it was where she stocked up on a lot of occult supplies.

“Boom,” she repeated, laughing, as she tickled Amelia’s belly. Honestly, Zee would cuddle and snuggle this little mini-sorceressmutant any day of the week. “It’s fine, I didn’t mind sharing. I mostly just am glad for the getaway. Helps me get over the jet lag and get back on a normal schedule.”

They weren’t in Paris for very long, but enough to throw the sleep schedule out of whack a little. “I brought you and Pete and Amelia souvenirs, by the way.” Sweets for Amelia from the oldest confectionery in Paris, and coffee for both Pete and Lina from a highly-recommended roastery. She’d also picked up some snacks in London she knew Pete liked and couldn’t get in the States, since her and John were there to visit his sister’s family for a day or so.

Now that Amelia was getting a mouthful of teeth the latest adventure of childrearing involved brushing those chompers - especially with her penchant for sweets, sometimes getting into them without them noticing (if she was being quiet, it meant that she was getting into trouble). “Zee, she’s going to go apeshit for these!” was the redhead’s response with a carefree laugh, and the coffee - yesssss. Coffee was a staple component for the Wisdom household. Caffeine in general was, but she was the only one that could guzzle down energy drinks while the husband looked upon her with great judgment.

“And Pete for these, too - you know the way to our hearts.” Lina was as smiley as her spawn right now. “How’d that trip all go anyway? Meeting the family’s always a fun part. Nothing dramatic there, I hope?”

Because, you know, family. It happened. And she had little idea of what John’s family was like to boot.

“Oh, it was great. No drama,” Zee assured. “John and his brother-in-law never get along but his sister is all sunshine and rainbows. Complete opposite of him. And his niece, Gemma, is a teenager and kind of worships him a little which is cute.” But the Masters family had been very welcoming (save for Tony, who was nice enough but his ultra-religious, Christian views naturally clashed with a man who held a disdain for God due to personal experience). Zatanna absolutely adored Cheryl and Gemma, and she was eager for Leo to meet them too. Family was important.

They’d moved from Liverpool (but still had that accent, it was so sharp and pronounced and clearly specific to the region) to escape the cloud of bad memories left behind after tragedy - though Zee still got her fair share of photos and stories of John’s youth, so she couldn’t complain. Overall, a successful trip.

She sipped her tea, poking the ice with the straw a bit. “It’s nice because I don’t have much family to introduce him to. Mostly just the circus clan.”

Ohhh, that circus clan. No doubt Zee’s cousin was all up in that baby business too - actually, the sorceress had reached out to that snark-infested bitchfaced of a woman for plannings of that super secret baby shower, too. Filming with her immortal husband led her outside of the OC but Megara would make an appearance, even reel the freakshow of a family into the shenanigans in September.

“Sunshine and rainbows, damn, not how I pictured at all,” she snickered, chewing on her straw a little - she was about to get up in a minute and get herself another one of these drinks, they were pretty good. Her spouse was a total hater. “You’re literally growing more family, though, that’s kinda the beauty of it all in retrospect. You’ll all have more of a reason to get together and do the whole bonding thing.”

As they chatted, a peculiar group of folks entered. It wasn’t uncommon for Romany’s shop to attract some interesting clientele (putting it lightly, alright) and it definitely wasn’t the first time for clientele to enter in completely pitch-black garbs like they were attending a funeral (amateuers, really, that read too much Harry Potter and identified with the ‘dark arts’ to curse their college professors). If Lina was an empath, perhaps she’d pick up on the aura of nerves and paranoia they emitted, but all she did was raise a brow past Zatanna for a second, shrug, and re-focus onto her friend.

Zee wasn’t an empath, not really - she could read auras, part of her mystical skillset and bloodline. It wasn’t like she did it often though, but sometimes, on occasion? Something just triggered her magic-senses. Like a nudge of something off, a disruption in the Force (if you wanted to go with the Star Wars comparisons).

“Who are they?” she asked, though she doubted Lina knew. It was more just musing out loud and making her displeasure known. The overall appearance and demeanor made Zee frown a little - she didn’t particularly care for this, even if she had no detail yet.

She could read minds, though. View memories, erase them. If she focused her magic - telepathy was a skill she’d learned, granted, not one used very often (she would if she had to). In fact, she felt sorry for those who couldn’t turn it off.

“Who, them?” Nope, Lina hadn’t a clue, personally. “Sometimes Rom gets some weirdos with some interesting imaginations in,” she motioned vaguely to the group - though none of them really noticed the two women, too wrapped up in their own world and exchanging whispers among themselves. “Why, what’s up?”

Either it was innocent curiosity or there was a reason for Zee’s question. But the group got their orders - hot teas, black, probably like their souls - and occupied one of the more larger tables not far from them at all. It wasn’t the most spacious area; sometimes, conversations were innocently eavesdropped on. Sometimes.

This wasn’t an innocent one. There was urgency in their hushed whispers, some of it incoherent but alright, the sorceress could spare to be nosy and see what interesting gems they’d drop. Hopefully something laughable. Bitch was simply part of her nature.

“I don’t know about this anymore, did you even see that - ??”

“...and if we find one of them then, what, what the--”

“We’ll handle it!” hissed one of the women, slapping her hand on the tabletop to announce to her, ah, ‘colleagues’ that she was speaking. That caught some unwanted attention for a second, but once eyes were off them (Lina hadn’t even been looking but oh, she’d been doing her best to listen), she continued. Quieter, more assured, like she was so certain of her destiny. “This is his desire, what he wants, what we were chosen to do - find a human with one of the seven, awaken a piece of the ruby eyed lord and we’ll be spared to serve him.”

Alright, yeah, that last line? That’s when Lina suddenly turned her head (away from Zee and baby) and spat out the last of her tea like a fucking lady.

“Back out, fine, but that’s how you perish.”

Well, Lina doing a spit take certainly cemented Zatanna’s decision to do some more probing - eavesdropping of the personal kind. She had no idea what any of this meant, and yet it didn’t appear to be anything good.

Her backward-speak sounded like gibberish and she spoke it quickly in case anyone happened to be paying attention to them, sthguoht rieht em wohs, and she closed her eyes to let the images and words filter into her own mind. What followed was a movie reel, all sorts of colors and feelings - emotions, dark ones. Things that were bitter as black coffee.

“It’s like an exclusive club no one sane would want to be a part of. Scientology, the next level,” she spoke quietly once her eyes opened and the chattering filtered out of her head, faded to a dull roar before squelching entirely. “...’find a human with one of the seven?’ I take it you’ll know more about that and whatever a ruby-eyed lord is.”

Oh, she knew, and she wasn’t laughing about it like she hoped she’d be either. First thing was to get a napkin, wipe her mouth, devil eyes narrowed something nasty - but she let the thoughts turn through her head like a wheel as Zee’s words hooked in.

“A cult,” she mumbled, decidedly still not looking at that table. Espionage wasn’t her strong suit (leave that to her husband), but she still knew not to blatantly stare and make her attention towards them obvious. “I’ve seen it before, but how…?”

Dumb question, maybe. They’d both been around the Orange County block to know how things carried over. Thing was, even in the world she dreamt of, the tale of Shabranigdo was regarded as a myth to most. Cults had formed, sure, but most turned a blind eye or they never got too far until they, for example, got their greedy little hands on physical Claire Bible manuscripts. Lina didn’t know enough to come to conclusion that something similar happened.

A small cough helped clear her throat, and she brought the straw to her lips but didn’t sip, just tried to act casual. “Ruby Eye - think of a god who's the source of all demons, negative energy, black magic for one entire world. Split into seven pieces, sealed into humans so reincarnation could whether the parts obsolete,” she whispered. “Dream thing, so why the hell do these Hot Topic regulars know that?”

In a minute she was about to turn to them and bluntly ask them to please, ladies and gents, tell me more about your dark lord and savior, Ruby Eye Shabranigdo? Did they hand out pamphlets and knock on people’s door for recruits?

“I can’t really tell,” Zatanna replied just as quietly, closing her eyes again to try to center and focus. She murmured the words for her mind-reading spell, though unfortunately, she didn’t have the time it would take to sit and sort through their memories and make sense of things. Still, she attempted to get what she could.

Worship and possession and darkness. “A weapon?” She opened her eyes then, and they were cloudy from the haze of wading through the swamp of other people’s conscience thoughts - reading minds felt a little like being a pinball in a machine, just pinging off directions and hoping to fall down the right path; she didn’t have the practice or finesse to really get a gold medal at the skill, she just used it to infrequently. “Something about a weapon. And they must know about it because...well, something appeared to them. Not from this world. There was a catalyst, something to push them into believing this is all going to be worth it for them.”

No doubt something that bled through from another ‘verse. And it likely came from the pits of Hell.

Both of her brows flared curiously. A weapon. What weapon? There were a slew of weapons in her dreams relevant to another dark lord, but not exactly Shabby (his name was a mouthful, c’mon). Unless - shit, is it something she hadn’t dreamt of yet?

Oh, to hell with it.

Refraining from saying hey losers, listen up, Lina turned her chair a little - thank god Amelia was just distracted with her teething thing and the toys on the stroller while the women mulled shit over - and whistled for their attention. They blinked, turned their hands and oh, did she smile. In her infamous shit-eating sort of way.

“Followers of the infamous Ruby Eye, eh? Don’t worry, we’re total fans.” We as in she and Zatanna - she even motioned to her pregnant friend, sorry. “Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond the blood that flows, yep, that’s our dark lord alright - do you guys meet up here, or?”

They all were a little (okay, a lot, actually) caught off guard with her, ah, approach. The woman doing the talking looked like she just sat her twat on a hive of bees, but here was a middle-aged man with receding hairline and a gut ready to burst through the confines of his belt more than stupid enough to answer. “No, we just like the tea here,” he admitted. “And we get our books here, but uh, we actually meet up -”

“None of your business,” the twat full of bees spat. “How about you -”

Another member swatted her arm. “Look at her eyes.”

Her - oh. Lina blinked. They then whispered among themselves, but she gathered they thought the color of her eyes were actually relevant to this whole thing. Wouldn’t be the first time someone had the suspicion that she held a piece of the seven because of the rare coloring (she didn’t, obviously). McPudge Pants then took a napkin, and scribbled an address down to pass over. “Here, every Friday is our day of worship and discussion. Tell them this password and they’ll allow you inside.”

A password. What the heck? How big was this gathering?

Oh, joy. The cult was having regular meetings - and Zatanna would be willing to bet that Romany didn’t know her shop was being frequented by morons drinking the ‘dark lord’ (that sounded like something from Harry Potter) kool-aid.

“Finally, people who appreciate our dark lord as much as we do,” she breathed a sigh of relief (that wasn’t a chortle, really) and took a glance at the paper, already committing the location and password to memory. Not that Zee planned to actually attend this madness. But she could be on standby, or something. It was a drag being pregnant sometimes.

Gathering her things, she stood up so they could make a break for it before the cultists suspected something was off. “Shall we?”

Zee must be reading her mind, too. It wasn’t the right time to fully sit and chat up these dorks anyway - but the address was a lead to something. A way to figure out what the fuck was going on here, because while she didn’t think these morons had the ovaries to really do something? Whatever, whoever, gave them the knowledge of a malignant god of another world could be a threat.

What a day. To go out and enjoy one another’s company and do the girl thing, only to have the discovery of a cult be the cherry on top.

“Thanks for this,” she replied cheekily, tucking the paper into her denim pocket and gathering her stuff. “But we really gotta go - kid’s naptime is soon and there’s hell to pay if she doesn’t get some shut eye in the next hour, but we’ll see you guys there?”

Poor guy, he seemed kinda nice and was ready to introduce himself (chances are he probably still lived in his mother’s basement) before the two of them rose to get the hell out. Lina made a note to text Romany later about these guys; maybe she’d seen them before, maybe not.

Sigh. “Well, that just happened,” groused the sorceress, parking the stroller by the car so she could pull the napkin out and look it over. It wasn’t an address she recognized. “That’ll be another story to tell the kids as a precautionary tale of why they shouldn’t join cults. Right, Amelia? You join a cult and you’re grounded, your dad and I won’t care how old you are.”

Oblivious to the world despite all the crazy and all the bad, the toddler grinned and blew spit bubbles. That must be baby talk for ‘screw you, mom.’

“Your mom’s right, cults are bad news - sharing one brain is not the best way to be successful,” Zee stated wisely. She couldn’t help it, she picked up Amelia from her stroller and snuggled her before moving to help buckle her into her car seat. The day had definitely taken a turn for the intriguing - and not in a good way.

However, she was pretty sure that it would take something really terrible to top the experience of Lina disappearing to hang out with the Lord of Nightmares for a month or so - and Zee losing her voice, breaking up with Dick because of it, and so forth. She couldn’t go through something like that again - being knocked up with precious cargo - but she knew she’d dig into this regardless.

“So, you’re taking someone to that meeting with you, aren’t you?” she questioned, lifting an eyebrow. “I’d volunteer, but. John might have a conniption. I’ll be just a blink away if you need me though.”

No, nothing could really top being used as a vessel for chaos and sucked into the abyss - so there was at least that. Knock on wood. “Obviously,” she sighed, biting the inside of her cheek. “And I know, I know, I’d never in a million years ask that unless you want some goth kids delivering Leo as they sing hymns of evil.”

Gods, no. Judging by anything her dreams ever carried over it was going to get violent - eventually. Lina knew the next logical step was to infiltrate and see what this cult really was about. How it started, and who started it. Lucky her, she knew people that were a little more skilled in the art of going undercover.

“But I’ll definitely let you know if there’s any cult gossip and if I could use potential research help?” offered the sorceress, getting into her sedan (the Shagmobile was long retired, alas) and buckling in. Time to blast that air conditioning and make sure preggo hear got enough cool air. “Too bad we can’t stop somewhere and grab a drink. It’s one of those evenings.”

Oh, well. Lina can always drink for the both of them.

“You can if you’d like,” Zee chuckled, and she certainly wasn’t going to put up a fuss if Lina wanted to stop at the store and buy a bottle of wine or two. Or...lambic beer, perhaps? That was on the agenda to drink, once Zatanna gave birth. It was good when you were breastfeeding, right? Not like a whole six pack, but hey. An old wives tale worth looking into.

Buckled up in the car, she rested an arm over her protruding baby bump and sighed. Leo was fluttering about, tossing and turning in there and she knew her ribs were about to be assaulted. “Research help I can do,” she nodded. “I needed a new project at work anyway.” It was her job to assess magical threats to the OC, and this fit the bill. Very well.

That really was the best thing about their gig, wasn’t it - considering anything that bled over for them involved magic, why not get paid to make sure it doesn’t get too nuts around here with it?

“Team Occult again,” high-fived the redhead. At least she had people she could trust on this; until she figured out what the fuck was actually going on, there was no need to blow some smoke and freak people out too much - and there was no way she was going to let a piece of Ruby Eye awaken here, not on her watch.