Who: Lina & Zee, with little Amelia What: Scavenging some demon corpses while a baby makes faces at them When: Today Where: Magic Guild HQ Rating/Warnings: Relatively low Status: Complete!
It was Amelia’s first trip to the Guild, and Zee just wished that everything wasn’t in such disarray. Mostly the site of the wreckage was blissfully limited to the room where conjuring tended to take place - an open space, hanging herbs, floors and walls scrawled with symbols in chalk and adorned with shelves that had fallen over, forming a V shape and contents spilling to the floor - a few broken bottles, books open and pages smudged, furniture skewed and certainly not anything feng shui. But the rift was gone and Zatanna was grateful - honestly, it could have been worse.
The Guild was important to her overall. The magic in the air, the way the whole place pulsed with it, the kind that you couldn’t set by the exact gram, no exact boiling point either - it just was. A warm and comforting cloak. She didn’t mind doing a little cleanup, because these things happened sometimes and maybe they could even find some gems amidst the rubble. Or at least forge something useful from the chaos.
“Excuse the mess,” she said kindly, carrying Amelia’s infant car seat with her. Zee’s tiny goddaughter was with her sorceress mother now, but the car seat would provide a nice, cushiony place for watching - surely Amelia would find this fascinating, young as she was. “I think that was the first kind of magic in awhile that I just...could not really comprehend.”
She remembered it being raw, almost godly power, certainly, the glow of the green rift - but since all she got for her efforts to close it on her own was a nosebleed, she thought it best to let the experts handle everything. Leliana filled her in when she could; it was from her own dreamworld, and how lucky the redhead must have felt.
No worries, Aunt Zatanna! Best thing about babies is that they didn’t care about anything else aside from their tush being wiped, milk in their mouth, and something warm and soft to cuddle up against. Amelia really seemed to like her father’s high temperature, for one, but mommy worked just as well - had to do with that bonding a baby just had with their mother after all those months of womb-baking. Now the little one’s head was beginning to lift on its own, curious from all the colors and lights, sounds and voices, and she suckled quietly on the pacifier with the bunny-plush attachment. It kept those curious hands busy.
“Demons finding a way to cross from their world into ours, jesus. I kind of got the impression that where they were coming from was similar to an astral plane?” That’s what Lina’s guess was, only because she dreamt of a world where there was a plane specifically designed for demons and spirits to stay in. Didn’t always work that way, and the ones with enough power could transcend that line and take physical form. These spilled out from the skies from actual openings, but at least someone had the power to close them. “Hawke was giving Pete the rundown over the phone, something about how he’s calling himself the Koolaid Man, but hey - it doesn’t look too bad in here?”
The baby’s diaper bag was feather light thanks to the enchantment she mimicked from her dream-gifted cape, and she set it aside with a smaller bag. There were a couple things she managed to scoop up from demonic goop when she’d done her own investigation of baddies slamming the OC. It was a nice segue back into her more destructive spells now that she was no longer a human incubator, and she had missed the action. “Who were you with, anyway??”
Wanting baby cuddles before tackling the project of poking through goop (and Zee had hit these particular demons with a bit of cryokinesis, eci spoken, so some chunks were still frozen solid) she gently shifted Amelia to her arms and cradled the tiniest Wisdom, swaying back and forth just a little to rock her comfortingly. Even if she did seem curious, and perfectly at home in this magical sanctuary - probably had to do with her parentage, and what ran through her blood.
“I was with John,” Zatanna replied. “Constantine? Occult expert in my land of dreams, I think I told you about him awhile ago. British, chain-smoking badboy with a trenchcoat - one of my worst decisions, truly, but. I still was here. With him. Showing him around since his own talents are beginning to awaken.”
Yes, probably stupid of her - their relationship had been a roller coaster in the dreams, and she’d seen the worst of the worst in terms of John’s magic backfiring, the price he paid for it even when he had good intentions, and regardless. She was drawn to him in a strange sort of way, intrigued by the connections they shared between one another.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh. Well, duh. Of course Lina remembered. It was discussed during their heart-to-heart conversation after her return from the void, right at their very own work desks. Cue the suggestive waggling of those copper eyebrows, hands on her cocked hips. “You told me,” she grinned, tongue briefly poking from the corner of her mouth. “Congrats on having your heartthrob make it all the way out here. How’d it go with the introduction of how batshit this place is?”
It was good to have a buddy (or even complicated love interest in some cases, and this one was definitely Zee’s) from the dreams to pop up. Some who would get your brand of baggage. There were (a lot) of times the redhead hoped to see a familiar face around these parts but, eh - just the way the cookie crumbled. Besides, she had the people she’d come to know here that she wouldn’t trade - not even for the ones she’d known in another life.
Plus, she understood the attraction to the ‘British, chain-smoking bad boy’ stereotype. Father of her child, anyone?
Heartthrob. That was such an embarrassing term, and Zatanna pulled a face - which was currently smushed into baby, since despite her penchant for pooping and puking, Amelia smelled sweet and reminiscent of sugared, confectionery clouds. “He was curious, yet skeptical - because he has only begun to dream. It was at least enough to whet his appetite though, to get him here for a tour.”
Then, the baby was settled in her carrier so Zee could begin examining what she wanted to take from the expired corpses. First, however, she went for a broom (a ‘witch’ with a broom, how fitting) and swept the floors a little, where there were broken bits and bobs. “Yawa,” she spoke to the piled mess - and it simply just disappeared.
Cleaning was handy, when you had certain abilities.
“He actually called upon some of his own magic as well - made a temporary barrier, like a bandaid, to keep them sealed in the portal. I was oddly proud. It is - “ She paused, sweeping black hair from her face, “...it makes me feel a little guilty? To be glad that he’s here, when I know how awful his dreams will be.”
Ugh. Jealous. Lina made a mental note to have Zee over when the house was a wreck, or maybe even teach her that handy trick; she’d need it when Amelia was old enough to start throwing her toys around for daddy and mommy to trip on.
“Mmmm,” she hummed in thought, kneeling down to examine one of the demon-sicles that decorated the Guild. A hand over them, she murmured the beginnings of a moderate fire spell to thaw them slowly, as she didn’t want to completely melt something that could be potentially useful. “It’s natural to feel that, I think? To be glad he’s around to share it with you, but to know what he’s going to go through. But look at this way - he’s better off here with you than without you.”
Kind of the burden of being the first to dream about a world shared with others, wasn’t it? It came with an unspoken sense of responsibility to help and guide - not everyone was that fortunate to have someone to fill the role, and there were times she’d wish someone had for her to warn about certain events. Instead it came as a suuuuuuurprise. An abysmal (literally) bitchslap to the face.
Amelia managed to pull the binky from her mouth and kick her little feet in the air, making all sorts of noises and cooes and sticking her tongue out as if she was participating in the conversation.
Blowing bubbles too, spit bubbles, Amelia seemed satisfied with that being her contribution to the discussion. Zatanna smiled fondly and, once the mess was sufficiently cleaned and the books put back where they belonged (she was like a tarot-reading, part-Turkish Mary Poppins) she could focus on rifling through the corpses. She knew John had salvaged a few things too, from the mess at the Hanged Man, for his own use - surely there was something to find here as well.
“I suppose. He is very closed-off, so sometimes it’s like pulling teeth,” she chuckled. But she didn’t blame him - John, the John she knew before, alienated himself because walking through the flames of Hell was a journey that was better undertaken alone, at least in his view. “However, I will be here. And his specialty tends to be whatever lives in and is spewed from most inferno dimensions and so next time something this happens, we’ll have him around. It’s very handy.”
Considering some more, she decided that John might be able to use more demon’s blood - and the skin, their teeth, this could all come in handy for certain spells down the line. Finding a knife, with a very precise blade, she began to scrape away what bits of skin she could peel off and salvage. Lovely.
“I wish I’d been out more, I miss the demon slaying.” Siiiigh. Orange County problems. “The more the merrier, though, and he’ll fit right in with the rest of the magic people,” Lina said, and lucky them that they lived in a place where magic ran rampant in all forms. There was a good variety to go around, and while part of her hoped a next time wouldn’t happy, they’d be all be as ready as they could be. Seemed like a yearly thing, and maybe next time demons would come out from the oceans themselves? Land and sky had already been covered.
Bring it the fuck on, though. There was always aggression to let out.
The sorceress shook her hand as a way to stop the spell and fling the heat off her skin, and began to pick at the fabric these things seemed to have been wearing. Nothing intricate like full-blown clothing - more like rags with an unfamiliar texture her fingers brushed up against, and there was a signature of something otherworldly her senses picked up. Could be useful to weave into jewelry? “Did you tell him about the nature of your relationship there? Or do you plan to let him stumble onto that surprise on his own?”
Lina imagined it’d be an awkward conversation to have, but some things people just needed to see on their own.
“You will have plenty of opportunities to slay something else, if not demons,” Zatanna laughed lightly. After all, it wouldn’t be the proper Orange County without something going Horribly Wrong™ here and there. “But no, I haven’t told him the exact nature of our relationship there yet. It seems awkward as something to warn for, and I am certain he’ll figure it out for himself soon enough.”
When they got to the tantric sex rituals meant to strengthen the power of their magic, that is - the Maithuna especially; they were both big into that, and well. It worked.
Speaking of that, however. As she began examining what looked like dark cloaks worn by the dead creatures, fingers running over fabric to gauge for oddities. “I did mean to offer, though. If you are interested in something a bit intense for the bedroom - we did practice tantric magic rituals. Mystic couplings, if you know what I mean. I could always give a few tips if you wanted to try for yourself.” She didn’t know if Lina’s other half would be into it, but for those who had a connection with the arcane, with magic, it was pleasurable.
Lina was listening, mostly - attention split on discussing Zatanna’s new dream companion (who she did want to meet, this guy was important to her baby’s godmother and she assumed from now on things would get very complicated for who was her best female friend, with tits) and the silky rags pulled from the melty demon corpse. Made her think of the demons in her world, how their clothes and what they wore were technically part of them, an elaborate manifestation of their astral energy to the physical world. These weren’t, and were made from something not of this plane, so how did -
“Huh?” Wait. Cut on that mental dialogue of nerdiness. Ruby eyes blinked to her, unsure if she heard that right but it turns out that, welp, she heard that exactly right. There was something unsurprising about this particular magic mistress practicing tantric sex sorcery - definitely something Lina had never done, so there was intrigue. “It’s not going to make either one of us extra fertile, is it?”
Please, no. Amelia was the sorceress’ heart manifested outside her body - and look at how the baby was just making funny faces at them, and booger bubbles, awww - but she’d go on a massacre if the next one came too soon.
“Oh, no, nothing like that. Not at all.” Zatanna wouldn’t have wanted to be extra fertile either - her dream self had no children and here she was content with being a godmother for the time being. “It’s simply a different way to achieve pleasurable heights, or however you want to put it. Perhaps I’ll write a book about that too, someday.” There was already one in the works, a modern day sorceresses’ guide to being fabulous - dedicated to Amelia, of course. Writing had been something therapeutic, for her in Gotham. A way to sort of come to terms with everything that had happened, and also to pass on knowledge and bolster confidence in others who practiced magic.
Something felt...silky to her. It was the oddest thing, as she ran her fingers over the find - and it gave them a tingle, certainly. “Feels like essence, doesn’t it?” Zee mused. “Something...essence of something.” Whatever it was, it would probably be useful - she’d have to ask those from the dreamworld where everything originated.
Praise the dragon gods and even the dark lords of the four worlds, holy shit - because then, yes, Lina would be open for tips. And she doubted Pete would be opposed. He was the one that said that accidental breast milk in the face wouldn’t murder his erection (why did that make her laugh every goddamn time), so safe to assume magic sex wouldn’t kill it either.
“That’s a yes on all fronts,” she bit her lip to stifle a giggle. “My philosophy about bedroom activities is the same with food; I’ll try just about anything once. Within reason.” There were some obvious limitations but, look, if her fiance felt like flipping her over and going for the other hole then whatever - bring it, Wisdom.
As for the demon fabric, Zee described it well. Essence. The texture felt smooth, almost airy and light to the touch. Not inherently evil, either. “I did go out for a couple hours near the end of the whole thing. I found some sites where rifts were closed and took some stuff. Talons, for one, and some weird glowy grime. I found a couple brains too?” Those talons and other demonic aspects were in the smaller bag she brought, but not the brains. For one she didn’t have anything to put them in, and two, no thanks. “We can talk to Hawke and his rift-closer pal what’s the deal with all the things left behind, to see what we’re working with.”
Similar for Zatanna too, and she had always been adventurous when it came to her romps. Constantine was the only one she really felt comfortable with suggesting that sort of thing with, however, because she was sure he’d see the benefits as well as she would.
In Gotham. Not here. Bringing it up now would likely scare him off in a bad way.
“Talons and brains, very intriguing,” Zee’s red, red lips quirked into one of those enigmatic half-smiles. “But Hawke and his friend would know better about what the uses are for all of this. May as well find opportunity in the wreckage, I see nothing wrong with it.” That ‘essence’ was bottled for later, Zee popping a cork into place to hold what she found. Same with the skin - it was wrapped in parchment, carefully so.
Then a quick check to Amelia, with Zee tickling her belly lightly along with her tiny socked feet. “Right, little pyro?” Aw, there went a gummy smile - probably more gas, but she was just so cute.
“Braaaaains,” Lina drawled jokingly in a zombie voice, but seriously - someone else could harvest them and let her know what the deal with those leftovers were. As for the rest, she’d ideally like to know what she was messing with before she even thought of crafting something with them - if anything good, they’d make a valuable addition to any talisman creations. “I’ll take demon-wrapped gifts, though, especially if they’ve got some zest to ‘em. Perks can come from disasters sometimes, y’know?”
Amelia’s gummy smiles were becoming more frequent, though, so maybe it was a little less gas-induced this time around - things were catching her attention, and she let a gargled almost-giggle sound at her blue-eyed godmother.
Almost two months, and it was making Lina pout how quick the time was passing. The noise had her tilt back from the Fade-corpse and peek over, lower lip pitifully jutting out. “She’s getting a belly, isn’t she? She’s eight weeks on the fifteenth. I’m not okay with it.”
“Eight weeks already? Feels like just yesterday you were going into labor in Best Buy,” Zatanna quipped, giving Amelia’s barest bit of a pot belly an affectionate pat. “She does look a little rounder though, which is good. She must be eating well and enjoying it.”
And Zee didn’t blame her at all. It must be nice, only having to worry about eating, sleeping, soiling your diaper, and crying loud enough to get someone to come and change it for you. Babies had it so good. “One day her own magic will emerge?”
By then, her godmother would have that book finished. So the sorceress-in-training would have only the best instructional materials at her disposal.
Fawning over her spawn, even if she had the chance to do that every minute of the day (and night, with how often she kept them up), sounded plenty better than poking at what else they could get from the carcasses. Lina sauntered over and pulled some hand sanitizer from her the diaper bag; it helped get the ick of demon off her fingers and palms. “Mmm, it’ll be taught,” she hummed, making a funny face back at the baby’s own contortions. “There’s a magic gene we get to some extent - what she inherits is the capacity of how much magic she can push out, but the spells will need to be taught. I started learning magic in the dreams about ten, the fundamental basics. Theory, lore, chants and gestures. I figured that’s a good age to start her at.”
Lina’s own magical capacity was a side-effect from her sister being born the Knight of Ceiphied, a human born with a fragment of the dragon god’s soul and therefore had an immense amount of inherited holy power to expel, but she channeled it in her sword skills - Luna wasn’t a sorceress, but she was able to cut a dragon down with a butcher knife.
Dreamwise, anyway. Made the stuffy bitch a terrifying force to reckon with, and she hoped her big sis would remain normal here.
“I think we’re a little more concerned about the mutant gene. According to Pete, if she’s got t? It’ll manifest during puberty.” Like that wasn’t an awkward time to go through already, but whatever happened, they’d handle it as a family. “I don’t want her to get too overwhelmed, but we’ll see how it goes.”
It was why they tapped into the two they did for godparents. Should something happen to her and Pete (knock on wood forever), Amelia would have people who could guide her in their place.
“Fundamental basics are always a good place to start,” Zatanna said. “The connection to magic is inherited as well, from what I know - the Homo Magi race, but those who cast obviously need a way to channel their magic. And some sort of focus.” You couldn’t just go around casting anything and everything - for her, she channeled her magic by way of the Backward-Speak; it was not only a source of focus, but also a dedication to her father and his way of doing things.
She would be glad to help however possible - and there were people with inherited superpowers in Gotham, from what she knew, but no one classified as mutants. It was always interesting to her. “Is there a way to tell if she has the mutant gene?” Zee asked, giving the tabletops another wipedown - everything looked clean, and spic and span on this end, so now she was just eager to get rid of the other debris.
“And if there’s nothing else, I will make the rest of the leftovers disappear.”
Hey, it wouldn’t hurt to visit the areas ravaged by demon activity. If it were anything like what they discovered, there were things left behind that regular civilians shouldn’t get their hands on - biiiiiiiiiiig security risk there. “Maybe,” she blinked, haven’t really had thought about it. Lina didn’t like the idea of her baby being poked and prodded; the tiny one already cried when it came to getting her first round of shots and, sure, it sounded stupid, but knowing Amelia wailed because she felt pain from a needle was a stab to the heart.
Could be a mix of wonky hormones, but motherhood had a way of skewing those a little permanently.
“We could try an Agency doctor when she’s a little older,” the sorceress went on, picking her munchkin from the car seat to hug against her chest, Amelia’s head on her shoulder. There was no shortage of nuzzles here, from mother to daughter. “See if it’s detectable at this age. I’ll have to ask what Pete thinks - he’s the best judgment when it comes to the potential mutant.”
It’d be interesting to see how she’d develop later on. Would the traces of magic somehow merge with any incoming mutant abilities? Would she take after Pete with his heat absorption? Would she prefer that over magic, or learn to harness both skills that came from her parents? Lot of speculations when it came to someone who couldn’t wipe her own ass yet, but Lina still wondered.
“It might not even involve doctors at all. There are some who can simply sense their own kind, and that is their gift,” the Mistress of Magic stated, tenderly smoothing some of Amelia’s downy black fuzz, on that soft peach-like head of hers. Zatanna wondered too, how she would turn out - what she would feel strongly about, the paths she would choose. The little one had her whole life ahead of her. “But I suppose Pete would know more about that type of power. Otherwise, I can always turn the cards,” she grinned warmly.
Though she had a feeling Amelia would have some sort of extra ability besides the magic she learned - something innate, that was just hers. And apparently awkwardly waiting until puberty to emerge, what a fun time that would be.
Alright, demon bits. Away with you. Literally, she made them disappear. This type of damage control was easy, and better for preventing more wide-scale disaster. No one wanted the Agency to keep spinning lies, more than already was necessary.
Amelia’s contribution to their questions about her future was a tiny, chubby fist in her mouth a lots of drool, all over mommy’s shoulder. Slobber monkey at her finest. “We’ll see,” she grinned, pressing a kiss against her temple. “Some things I want kept as a surprise. I just want to make sure Pete and I are ready as we can be for whatever she needs.”
Back to the cozy carrier is where she eased the baby back into. It was rearing feeding time soon (she had a bottle in the bag as personally didn’t care for awkward public boob whipping), but before the tell-tale signs of hunger emerged from her child, Lina smirked over at Zee.
“Though, you could give me some pointers on magical sweeping for the future - along with those tantric tips. I’ll trade you a skill in return, whatever you want.” They had a good system, the ladies of magic - lots of tricks to exchange between the two, and they’d been at this for well over a year together.
“Of course, I am happy to share those,” Zee laughed and, really, whatever she could - the tantric tips were simple enough, the sweeping was a little more difficult since her magic was passed on through bloodlines and pedigrees and such; she didn’t learn individual spells, she essentially molded and shaped reality. Pulled those strings, dipped her fingers into a reserve that she could feel as part of the universe. But she would try, and she liked learning new things on her end too.
Not wanting Lina to have to worry about feeding Amelia in a converted wine cellar, she was ready to jet if her friend was. “Shall we depart?”
“Yesssss,” she beamed, hooking an arm under the handle of the car seat with the diaper bag strapped on her shoulder. “More chatting over food? I’m starving, and I miss the goodies you brought me when the cravings hit.” Only Lina could really keep an appetite after picking apart things from demons, but it took a lot for her to not want to eat.
Then, of course, they could discuss tantric romping and other things over Turkish delights, nom.