Amycus Carrow (bithnyianking) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-09-15 21:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, amycus carrow, zatanna zatara |
Who: Amycus and Zatanna
What: First meeting in person, talking, a promise to help is made
When: August
Where: The Magic Guild
Rating/Warnings: There is an ugly dream tattoo and talk of a psychopath from Amycus’ dreams so be warned
Status: Complete when posted!
Amycus wasn’t sure exactly what he could expect of his meeting at the Magic Guild today. He’d fought the suggestion so hard when his sister had brought it up, wanting to ignore the effect the Dreams were having on his life, the way they were changing things but with the Mark showing up on his wrist he’d had to admit that he couldn’t do that anymore. He had to get someone to help him with these abilities that were starting to cross over and while he wasn’t quite convinced that the Guild was the right place for him to get that help - he was willing to look around the place and talk to the woman who’d posted about it on the network. She’d seemed nice enough and if he didn’t like the place he didn’t have to join or come back here. And maybe they’d be able to do something.
It felt weird to be carrying his wand, he’d kept it locked in his safe since it had showed up most of the time but he’d brought it today and as he parked his car he glanced at it in the passenger seat. It was a piece of wood with a magical core. Nothing terrifying about that right? So why did it frighten him so much? Other than the power it contained. And the things he’d seen in his dreams that he knew he could do using it. He took a deep breath as he reached for it with one hand as he opened the door with the other. “Here I go.” He muttered to himself, steeling his nerves as he walked up to the building and knocked on the door before trying the handle.
***
Let’s just say that if Amycus hadn’t a certain arcane power within him - well, he wouldn’t have been able to even see the entrance to the Guild (it was cleverly glamoured from regular folk, the way her Shadowcrest manor had been). But he did see it, as Zatanna knew he would, and he’d made it out here just fine. She understood being apprehensive about newfound powers though, especially when you had children. John was absolutely adamant that Leo be raised as close to ‘normal’ as they could get around here - if he wanted to learn to practice magic, it would be his choice when he was older. But being saddled with much of Constantine’s powers at a young age, seeing the dead and dealing in demons and souls - yes, she knew that was her husband’s biggest fear.
The door was answered by her, a very pregnant olive-toned woman with black hair that tumbled around her shoulders and vibrant sapphiric eyes. “Hello, you must be Amycus, right?” she smiled.
Zee opened the door wider, to let him step into the corridor. There was a set of steps leading further down, the stone walls lined with torches and the scent of the earth itself and fresh spice wafting up. “Come in, I’ll show you to our library first - we can talk there.”
***
Amycus’ smile as he stepped through the door was friendly but there was a little bit of apprehensiveness obvious at the same time on his face and he was fighting the urge to hide the Dark Mark on his arm. This wasn’t the world of his dreams, it didn’t mean the same thing to people here that it did there. No one was going to call for an Auror to arrest him because of it. He just didn’t like that obviously visible mark of his stupid moronic choice in the dreams.
“That’s me. I’m sorry I don’t believe I caught your name when we were setting this up.” Or if he had he couldn’t remember it right now. That was a downfall of his job at times. He talked to so many people in passing that sometimes he couldn’t remember all their names. He’d tried to work on it but being a single dad - somethings just fell by the wayside in taking care of them at times.
***
“Zatanna,” she introduced herself, turning to lead the way down to the library. “I’m an Occult Researcher, also a stage magician with my own show - well, when I’m not so large.” A soft, husky chuckle at that. Lina was her booker of gigs, though the Mistress of Magic (her show was simply called Zatanna!, short and sweet and memorable) had been taking a break from that sort of thing the bigger she got. Once Leo was born and she felt comfortable leaving him for a few hours at night, she’d get back into it.
Lighting the candles in the library with a quick, spoken erif, she motioned for Amycus to take a seat. The collection of books had accumulated the couple of years the Guild had existed, and in the corner of the room - past the fluffy pillows, the sofa, the chairs and tables - was her tea station. Something she’d refurbished from an antique dresser.
“Do you want some tea? Or wine? I always offer, when someone comes by.” She liked to create a soothing, homey environment for study or just a moment of quiet taken by those who frequented this space.
***
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Zatanna.” He said, following her through the halls, looking around him in curiosity. The feeling of this place was the same as he got in his dream school but it looked vastly different. And he had to admit he preferred here by far. A place to learn that wasn’t so confusing and didn’t have moving staircases. Whoever thought that moving staircases in a school was a smart idea was very wrong. Especially when some of the professors wouldn’t accept it as a reason to be late to class.
He took a seat in one of the comfortable looking chairs, smiling a little as he realized this room especially felt comfortable to him, reminding him somehow of his mother’s library back in England. That had been one of his favorite rooms at the Estate growing up and still was when he went home to visit. There was just something...homey about it. “Tea would be lovely actually. I can make it if you’d like to sit though.” He remembered when his exwife was pregnant and was nearing the end of it - there had been times when she wanted nothing more than to sit down and rest and times when she couldn’t sit still so he figured he’d offer.
***
“Oh, no, don’t worry about it - I still like to be as active as possible,” Zee insisted, and she’d been cleared as healthy by the doctor (no reason for bedrest) so if she felt fine, you can bet she’d be up doing something. Preparing tea didn’t take much anyway - she heated the water in the kettle with just a bit of magic, pouring them both hot mugs of tea and adding the extras to the tray. Milk, sugar, honey. She’d gone with a deep, earthy rooibos - it also tasted vaguely of vanilla, at least to her. One of Zee’s favorites.
Bringing the cups over, she took a seat near Amycus and handed him the still steamy tea. “So, tell me a little more about your magic. What you can do and what you’d rather not do, things like that.”
***
Amycus smiled her as he took the mug from her, taking in a deep breath and feeling himself relax slightly. He hadn’t realized exactly how tense he was until he felt his muscles relaxing just doing something so simple and homelike as drinking a cup of tea. Especially one made in what he personally would always feel was the proper way despite Regulus’ arguing that milk didn’t belong in tea. “Thank you.”
He closed his eyes, trying to organize his thoughts as he took a small sip of his tea and then he opened his eyes. “The only bit of it I’ve actually practiced much here is apparition - my world’s version of teleportation I guess. But I’ve got spells in my head for charms and transfiguration and defensive magic. All of that is pretty useful I think. Or would be if I practiced them but I’m worried about what it could do to the girls growing up like that. Especially since there’s no guarantee they’ll have abilities of their own when they grow up. It’s not a guarantee in my dreams when one parent has powers and the other doesn’t. Or even really when both parents do. Or neither parent. I don’t think they really have any clue why some people have magic in my dreams.” He gave a soft laugh and shook his head.
“I also know how to cast a spell that will kill someone or force them to do what I want them to do. Another that will put someone through excruciating pain. Those spells...I was very glad to learn in the dreams but here - they terrify me. It terrifies me that there might be some part of me that would be willing to do those things. That might actually enjoy doing them to someone. I was trying to ignore it until - this showed up on my arm,” he said, holding his arm out in her direction so she could get a clear view of the Dark Mark on his arm.
“This is...a kind of spell of it’s own I think. The man whose mark it is - he can use it to summon his followers to him somehow. I haven’t seen him here but - I’m worried that he’ll show up here and be able to use it somehow. I really don’t want to turn into the man I am in the dreams.”
***
“Hmm - “ Zatanna made a thoughtful sound, leaning forward a little to examine the mark on Amycus’ arm. She’d listened to his explanation, and it made sense to her - he was a different man in this life, with different priorities and an actual family who loved him. History repeating itself would be disastrous - it scared him, of course. She understood that. “Well, and this is just my opinion - I think the best thing you can do is recognize that, yes, there may be parts of you that are echoes of your dream self. Those not great things, those desires to hurt others. Because they are us, it’s like a cracked mirror reflection. It’s always going to be with you but it doesn’t have to consume you, if that makes sense?”
He could make the choice for it not to, he could rise above it - maybe it would be difficult but lots of things were. But for his own sake, the sake of his children? The effort would be worth it. Zee wouldn’t want Amycus to lose himself; she doubted he wanted that either.
“And the man whose mark it is - he could be out there. We don’t know. He could show up tomorrow.” No sense in lying about that, since they both knew how the OC worked and tended to attract those who were ‘meant’ to be here. “If he does, maybe it would be best to be acquainted with your magic, the spells you’re comfortable with, so he can’t get a jump on you.” Preparation was key in any situation, she thought. If you controlled your magic, it couldn’t control you.
Zee sipped her tea, her hands around the heated mug. “Do you know if there’s a counter-spell to rid yourself of that mark?”
***
“That actually does make a lot of sense and goes along with the conclusion I’d come to. I don’t agree with the decisions he made but I can understand why he made them. Why he seems to have thought they were the only things he could do. Which I’m not sure if that makes me angrier about him doing it or makes me pity him. Do you think the Magic Guild can help me make sure he doesn’t consume me?” He’d been talking to a therapist here and talking to Regulus always helped him but a part of him worried that he was putting too much on his boyfriend because Regulus had his own dream life to deal with.
“His name’s Voldemort,” Amycus told her, the word coming out of his mouth almost like he was angry just hearing it. “Or at least that’s the name he’s using now.” Something in the back of his mind was insisting that wasn’t his real name. And that Amycus knew what his real name was if he could just think of it. “If he does show up here and he’s at all like he is in the dreams - I need to know how to protect my kids from him. I guess what I’m asking is - will you help me master my abilities so that I can?” God it killed him to have to ask for help from someone he didn’t know but he needed help and he felt that he could trust Zatanna. She seemed to understand where he was coming from.
He thought for a moment before shaking his head no. “If there is - I haven’t dreamed of it yet. I’m hoping there is. Or that someone with a different type of magic can do something about it. Either to remove it or make it so that it can’t be used against me.”
***
“Of course any of the Guild’s resources are at your disposal. I will help you too,” Zatanna promised, and she meant that. She knew what it was like to look at your other self - for her, multiple versions - and know that they wouldn’t ever get to have the good things they were lucky enough to have in this life. The last thing she wanted was to lose what she had here. “Your magic is a part of you as well - once you accept it, you’ll feel more whole. I guarantee that.”
She was also very optimistic about removing that mark from Amycus using some of her own spellwork - she would have to do some research first, see what would be best. But it could be done. The thought of him being a slave to some psychopath was chilling, and she’d be damned if she’d let that happen. “My job is occult research, like I said, so I’ll come up with a few options for removing that mark from you. The key may very well be magic not from your dreamworld.”
That was why she’d started the Guild, to learn more about the different types of the arcane people were familiar with. If it didn’t work one way, it might another - there was more than one way to skin a cat, as the saying went.
***
Amycus gave her a small smile. “Thank you Zatanna. I’ll take you up on that.” It was hard for him to accept help sometimes but when he had to - he could swallow his pride and take it. Especially when it really wasn’t strictly for him that he was taking it. In the long run it was for the twins and Regulus. Controlling his magic, and maybe doing something about the Mark, would make them safer in the long run and he’d do anything to make that happen.
“Just so long as it doesn’t do anything to mess up my other tattoo you can do whatever you need to get rid of this one. Or at least deactivate whatever spell’s in it.” He could get his other one redone if he had to, it would probably need to be retouched at some point in the future anyway, but he’d rather put that off for as long as possible. He didn’t regret it, never would, but it would probably hurt some. Not to mention being touchy as hell for a few days afterward if when he’d first gotten it was any indication.
***
“I hope for it to be a matter of deactivating the spell,” Zatanna said thoughtfully, fingers drumming on the sides of her teacup, bright blue eyes flicking to the extensive collection of books in the library. She was already thinking of where she might start, in terms of research. “There has to be something. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I can do many things with my own magic.” Just about anything, if she spoke the (backward) words correctly - it was a matter of getting them right so the effects didn’t backfire, but she’d had a lot of practice over the years.
And being careful was certainly best in this case. “But yes, main objective is to not hurt you in any way. We will figure this out, Amycus.”
Zee was good for her word. He’d trusted her to help him and, come hell or high water, she would deliver.