Zania Castell (brokendoll) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2020-03-23 19:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | #january 2018, gabriel, gabriel x zania, zania |
Who: Zania and Gabriel
When: evening, Wednesday, Jan 17th
Where: Gabriel’s apartment
Status: Complete
Gabriel had felt out of sorts all day long. He was finding that wasn’t entirely unusual in Point Pleasant, but there was something more about the feeling of disquiet that settled over him on Wednesday. It felt magical in nature, like there were ripples in the Force or something. His animals seemed to sense it too -- Anubis was more agitated than usual, going to peek through the living room blinds to look outside every ten minutes or so. Bastet had been pacing and yowling periodically too. So Gabriel had felt rather high strung all day.
He did, however, get some good news from his contacts back home that morning. Gabriel reached out to Zania that afternoon to invite her over to dinner. His auntie was working, and the steadily falling snow seemed to call for something savory and hot like a stew. With his mom on the phone for some guidance, Gabriel had piled stuff into the crock pot to let it cook. Then he’d settled in to look over what his friend had emailed to him. It was information on a certain type of possession, and the associated ritual to help with the problem. Whether it would completely solve it or not was unclear from the scanned pdfs he’d received, but something was better than nothing, right? It was more than they currently had, and Gabriel was pleased to be able to deliver a good meal and good news to his girl, especially on such a weird-feeling day.
When Zania woke that morning, she was struck with an unsettling feeling that stayed with her throughout the day. By noon she was sure that another attack was coming, from dogs or cats or wolves or bats, or some other goddamned creature that she’d failed to prepare for. She felt safe enough when she was inside the shop or her house, she didn’t think anything bigger than a rat could easily find its way in, but going between the two put her on edge. She didn’t like the thought of becoming a shut in, or of living in fear, but something as simple as going to Gabriel’s had her frazzled. When she arrived at his doorstep unscathed, she breathed a sigh of relief, but continued to look over her shoulder as she knocked on his door. No doubt they’d attack as soon as she let her guard down.
Zania wasn’t the only one worried about an animal attack that day, but Gabriel had managed not to let it consume his thoughts too much. Studying up on the ritual he’d received had taken over his brain, more or less. It wasn’t going to be an easy one to pull off -- it required animal sacrifice and blood, two things he avoided in his magic for obvious reasons. But there were three of them in danger now, and they had to take care of this before it escalated into real injuries. He looked up from his laptop when someone knocked on the door. Anubis was equally startled, as he’d been focused on the view through the glass of the porch doors, and he let out a low bark. “It’s okay baby,” Gabriel murmured as he set his computer aside and stood up. He’d lost track of time. Giving a little stretch, he went to the door to open it and let Zania in. “Hey love,” he greeted, leaning in for a quick kiss. After he’d shut and locked the door behind her, he asked, “You all right?”
Zania felt some of the tension drain out of her when Gabriel opened the door and she returned his kiss before stepping inside. Even though she knew she could be attacked when they were together, she felt safe with him and knew that he’d do everything he could to help protect her. “Yeah, I’ve just… I’ve had this bad feeling all day that I just can’t shake. It’s making me a little crazy,” she said as she shrugged off her coat. “Hey boy,” Zania murmured as she stopped to scratch Anubis between his ears. The animals made her feel safer too, like an extra alarm system. If something was coming for them, they’d pick up on it first. “Thanks for having me over. I needed a change of scenery. What’s for dinner?”
Gabriel took Zania’s coat to hang it up for her. The coat tree was right there, but the gesture was part of how he’d been raised to be a gentleman. “Beef stew,” he answered absently, then looked at her with a slightly furrowed brow. “You’ve had a bad feeling today too? I woke up with this ... I dunno, kinda sense of foreboding? Sounds dramatic, but it’s been lingering all day long.” Now that Zania was coatless, he pulled her in for a closer hug and kiss, then let go to lead the way to the kitchen so he could check on the food. Having magical company made him feel a little more secure too, like the two of them combined could handle whatever might come their way. Gabriel hoped that was the case, anyway.
Zania could have stayed in that hug all evening, but it would be better to get some food in her first. Then maybe they could lounge around on the couch, since just being near him made her feel better. “I’m glad it’s not just me,” Zania said as she followed him into the kitchen. “I feel like sometimes things like this happen around here and I’m never sure what it means, or who it’s even affecting. I was sure that a clowder of cats was going to attack me between my house and the car, which sounds ridiculous, and completely unseasonal, but after the snakes came after Nic I think anything’s possible.” She generally liked cats, but they could be fierce little creatures, just lions in smaller bodies.
Fully aware of the damage cats were capable of doing, especially a whole group of them, Gabriel winced a bit. If enough of them swarmed her, they could probably kill her. Or at least cause a lot of mutilation before she fried them to a crisp. He wasn’t sure if this demon was only sicced on witches, but he was feeling pretty grateful to have magic. And that Zania was a fire witch, since she was getting the worst of it so far. “Yeah, it don’t seem to care much about sense,” he said ruefully. Gabriel lifted the lid on the pot and gave the stew a stir. It would be ready soon. “I got some good news though. You want a beer?” He ambled toward the fridge, glancing over at her with a raised eyebrow.
The upside to being a fire witch was that Zania could set just about any creature on fire and kill it. The downside was that fire was destructive and likely to draw unwanted attention to her. There were people in Point Pleasant that knew about witches and magic, but it wasn’t common knowledge and it needed to stay that way for the safety of all. “I could do with some good news and a beer,” Zania smiled as she took a seat at the table. The kitchen smelled amazing, as it always did when Gabriel cooked. He had a knack for comfort food that she envied, but was glad she got to partake of. It was just what she needed today. “Did you find something?”
Gabriel pulled two beer bottles out of the fridge. “One of my boys in NOLA came through,” he said, moving to set the beer down on the table. “Hang on, lemme grab my laptop ...” He exited the kitchen to fetch his computer from the living room, then brought it back and put it on the table in front of Zania. The pdf file was open on the screen, scans of a ritual from an old book his friend had been lucky enough to have access to. Gabriel pulled a chair in closer and plopped down, reaching to crack open his beer. “Scroll back up a bit and read, think it might be our answer.”
Zania’s heart began to race at just the mention of an answer, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up too soon. She’d felt good about the last solution and that one had blown up in her face. As soon as Gabriel set the laptop down in front of her she began to read, resisting the urge to quickly scan. While the spell was meant for dealing with a specific type of demonic possession, she could see the similarities between her issue and the one on the page. The demon could be dealt with if properly seen, allowing a witch to then trap and banish it. The spell was dark though, darker than anything Zania had ever performed, and her stomach turned when she realized it involved animal sacrifice. “This might work,” she said, then pressed her lips together and took a breath. “But it’s… I’ve never done anything like this. I mean, I’ve worked with blood, but it’s always been my own.”
Gabriel sipped on his beer and let his gaze wander while Zania read from the laptop screen. He’d already pored over it, and he could see the shift in her expression when she got to the bad part. As connected as he was to animals, it turned Gabriel’s stomach a bit too, but ... human life took priority. And this wasn’t just one human, it was now three and the longer they waited, the more danger they were in. He knew this might end up backfiring on them like the other attempt had, but he didn’t know what else to do. They had to try something, before packs of wolves or bears came out of the woods to kill them all. “I know,” he said to Zania, his face grim. “It’s not gonna be easy. But me and Nic will be with you again, putting our magic into it too. And I can at least make sure the animal doesn’t feel any pain.”
Zania reached for her beer and took a slow sip, her attention turning briefly back to the spell before she pushed the computer away. She’d need a copy of it, but for the moment she just needed to let it sit. If she’d found it without needing it, the whole thing would have been fascinating, but having to perform it was a different story. “You can do that?” She asked, hopeful but feeling guilty about it. Taking another life to save her own felt wrong, except she didn’t want to die and it was just an animal. She ate meat and never felt guilty about it. And it wasn’t like it had asked her to use a dog or a cat, which felt too much like a pet to contemplate. “It doesn’t say what to use,” she frowned, already thinking that it needed to be something big enough to provide enough blood. “Fuck, this sucks. I mean, it’s good. It makes sense. I can follow the logic behind it, and with you and Nic there I’ll be plenty strong, but fuck.” Zania bit her lip, worrying it for a moment. “You sure you’re okay with this? You’re the one with the connection to animals.” It felt cruel and unfair that he should need to be there, except she needed him. And the animal needed him even more.
Gabriel set his beer down and leaned in closer to Zania, sliding his hand across the table to cover one of hers. “It does suck. But what’s happening to you -- to us -- sucks even more. Better one animal life than three human ones, right? Or even three human ones and dozens of more animals as we try to fight them off,” he pointed out. There had already been a lot of deaths of innocent creatures; they couldn’t control what was happening to them, what they were being made to do. “We have to stop this before it escalates more, and this is the best bet I’ve seen so far. But yeah, to answer your question, I can make it painless for something. It takes some hard concentration, but ... painless and fearless. I’ll ... find an old deer or something that’s lived its life.” It wouldn’t be easy on Gabriel, but he was more than willing to do it to take care of this problem. The death wouldn’t be in vain. “I’m here for you, baby. I mean, myself too now, but you.” He offered her a lopsided, sheepish little smile and hoped she knew he would be doing this even if his ass wasn’t on the line along with hers.
Zania grimaced at the thought of killing a deer, but she knew he was right. If this kept going, she’d continue to kill animals in an effort to save herself. It just wouldn’t be under Gabriel’s calming spell; it would be in a burst of fire and pain. One animal one time wasn’t near as cruel as killing the masses of the cats, dogs, wolves, or whatever the fuck came at her next. Zania’s hand turned in his and she squeezed it tight. “Thank you. I hate that I dragged you into this. I feel like these last few weeks have been insane. If this works, we should-- we should take a vacation,” she laughed softly. She’d never had a real reason to escape Point Pleasant before, but now she needed a break for a while, a chance to really relax without expecting something new to crop up the next day. “We need to do this soon,” she said, mentally gathering herself back together. “If this works, I don’t want to wait around for another attack. I think I can get everything ready by Friday night? If you can… if you can find a deer. Or, like, a chicken.”
He shook his head at the word ‘drag,’ but Gabriel let her finish. He didn’t feel as though he’d been dragged into anything -- he’d wanted to help her, and none of them had any idea that it would backfire onto Nic and himself. But they’d get through it, because they had to. Gabriel squeezed her hand back and gave a grim nod. Some forest creature would be better than someone’s domestic pet. Friday night was only a couple of days away, but he thought they could pull it off by then. The spell didn’t have a lot of weird ingredients, just demanded animal sacrifice. “From the impression I got from it,” he said, nodding toward the laptop. “Don’t think a chicken’ll be enough.” Gabriel gave Zania a regretful smile. He knew none of them were going to enjoy this bit of magic, but it had to be done. “But I’ll find something suitable, don’t worry. And then fuck yes, I’m fully in favor of going on a vacation. Preferably somewhere with sunshine and a beach.” He chuckled faintly. “We’ll aim for Friday night then. You think you’ve got everything else on hand that it calls for?”
Zania had been pretty sure a chicken wouldn’t be enough, but had wanted someone to confirm that for her. A chicken would have been easier than something cute and cuddly. Or a rat, though she’d been sure that wouldn’t have enough blood for the spell. Zania scanned the list of ingredients again and nodded. “Yeah, I think so. Nothing else here looks out of the ordinary.” A spell didn’t have to have rare ingredients for it to be dangerous though and Zania had the feeling this one would test her strength and abilities like nothing else had. But if it worked, it wouldn’t just save her, it would save Gabriel and Nic too. And then they’d vacation for sure. Zania almost wanted to start researching someplace tropical now, but she didn’t want to put the cart before the horse. “You know, I’d love to get my hands on this book,” she said with a little smile. “You know where your friend found it?”
Gabriel would’ve been happy to do the actual sacrificing for her, but the ritual demanded it be done by the main witch performing it, and that would be Zan since she’d been the first affected. He would make it as quiet and peaceful as possible, but she would still have to spill the blood. Not pretty, but a small price to pay for their lives, Gabriel thought. He chuckled at what she said, completely unsurprised. She was a good, educated witch, so of course she would love to peruse the source material for this ritual. “I don’t,” he answered, half-grinning. “He wouldn’t even really tell me where it came from. Things’re pretty different down there, folks guard their secrets pretty close, there’s a lotta magical competition. I had to trade some favors for this much.” Gabriel gestured briefly at the screen.
“They’re not that different,” Zania said with a little roll of her eyes. “There’s just been a lot of exceptions lately.” Coming together to form a coven, even to save a life of one of their own, wasn’t something she’d ever thought she’d see. It had seemed unfathomable in years past and she wasn’t sure anything would ever bring them together again. But it hadn’t just been about saving the McCarthy boy’s life--it was about preventing a dead witch from returning, one that continued to cause damage from beyond the grave. Zania attributed the curse to her, even if she hadn’t been the one to cast it. “What kind of favors?” she asked with a small frown. “Nothing too bad, I hope?”
From everything Gabriel had seen so far, magical culture in New Orleans was very different from Point Pleasant, but he wasn’t going to get into all of that at the moment. Maybe once all of this blew over, he would take Zania down there for a visit and introduce her around. She would definitely fit in aesthetically, and he already knew which of his friends would try to flirt with her. “Naw, nothin’ bad,” he said, giving her hand a little squeeze before he let her go and stood up. “Just gonna arrange for him to get a few things that’re hard to get, that’s all. Pull s’more strings from afar.” Gabriel went to the stove to check on the stew, and hummed an enthusiastic ‘mm-mmm’ as he turned the crock pot off and moved to grab some bowls and spoons for them. “You ‘bout ready to eat, babygirl?”
Zania hoped to get down to New Orleans some day, hopefully with Gabriel, but they had to get through this first. Then they could go wherever they wanted. “Let me know if you need any help finding things. I’m usually good at that,” she told him with a little smile. Herbs were usually her specialty, but she sold all kinds of things in the shop, some of them ‘special order’, if such a thing existed in their world. Besides, it would be nice to have a project that didn’t feel like her life depended on it. “Yeah, bring it on,” she smiled. Now that she had started to unwind a little, she realized just how hungry she was. The day felt dark, but with good news on the table, hopefully there were better days ahead.