1288/The Bells: Empty Auctions

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The Bells: Empty Auctions
Date of Scene: 22 April 2020
Location: Westside - Queensland Park
Synopsis: Zatanna visits Lois to share information about the Shadow monsters.
Cast of Characters: Clark Kent, Zatanna Zatara, Lois Lane




Clark Kent has posed:
Zatanna Zatara made a lot of headway in her research into the strange shadows with their odd sounds, as well as into the area of what might have caused it to appear. Some questions have circled around an auction of some unique 'mystical' items that were located in Metropolis around the time of late March. It included a sacrificial dagger, and some 'cursed' totems: a few statues of odd shapes. Oddly, no pictures on the website.

Unfortunately, overall the auctionhouse seems to have been an enormously odd dead-end, just that no calls have been returned. None of the auctionhouse's people are responsive, and all auctions have been delayed or cancelled; the main curator is out of the country. It's just impossible to get in there using 'normal' channels. But there are, of course, other ways into places like that: both mystical or more ordinary...

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
After trying to contact John, and not hearing anything from him, Zatanna had gotten frustrated. This isn't the first time it's happened. It won't be the last. So she decided to forgo what her normal channel would be and decided to find out from Lois herself what was going on. After a fruitless search to find Lois' phone number, she had misplaced it -- she decided there was another way to contact her.

So after donning her adventuring fishnets and tuxedo jacket, Zatanna found a place to stand and then after concentrating, she speaks.

"Enal Siol ot em ekat."

She appears in a puff of purple smoke and magic in Lois Lane's living room and she looks around. "Lois? It's Zee! You feel up to a little B&E with some wine on the side afterwards?" she asks as she waits to see where the woman was.

Lois Lane has posed:
It's not the first time someone's surprised her in her apartment. Usually, though, Lois doesn't have company. These days, however, she finds herself in frequent company. After all, Clark lived so close (seconds away, it turns out). Currently, she's resting on the couch, legs tucked under her, her posture oriented towards the direction of the kitchen where her partner is. Thankfully, he's got a better reaction time than she does.

"Wasn't expecting the extra company, but..." Well, she was always down for a little snooping. "Those are certainly some magic words." B&E? Or wine?

Clark Kent has posed:
Out from the kitchen comes said partner, with the two cups of coffee he'd had in his hands when he'd heard the familiar voice. Indeed, reaction time is quite quick: but he was in another room anyway. It's barely an instant to set down one of the cups to put on his glasses, pick it back up, and then curiously walk forward to the doorway of the kitchen to give a rather convincing puzzled look to the woman that appeared in the middle of the living room. He just stands there with the coffee uncertainly.

"Uh?" is Clark's eloquent question.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"I got a lead on one of the items related to the accident you asked me about." Zatanna's explaining. "Okay, you are totally not dressed for some breaking and entering. Anyway, an auction house has an item that was rumored to have capture the soul if you rapt against the side of it and since //someone// isn't returning my calls, I thought you might want to come to check it out..."

She was just about to say more, when Clark comes out, and her hand lashes out.

"Faed ekam dna ecalp ni mih dloh!"

Lois' carpet and drapes leap to life, imbedded in magic and ensare the reporter in their 700 thread count goodness. She looks back to Lois. "...Didn't realize I was interrupting something!" she admits sheepishly. "I can you know, wipe his mind of the last five minutes and you can go back to doing... you know..."

Sheepishly, "...whatever."

Lois Lane has posed:
"I mean, I could get changed," Lois suggests, gesturing towards the other room. "But if you've got a lead on--" And there's a lovely fabric wrapping on Clark. She blinks, looking a little surprised but certainly /amused/. "No, that's alright. I don't need anyone messing with Clark's mind, please."

She looks back to Zatanna. "Besides, we were already talking work stuff, you're basically right on time. If you could, you know, put those back."

Clark Kent has posed:
There's a squeak from Clark and then he's wrapped in a mixture of drapes and carpet. There's a little bit of a muffled thing from inside the drapes, and then the whole burrito-from topples against the doorframe some. ...And then some stains of the coffee, because, well, he had coffee in his hands when suddenly wrapped up by the items.

"Mmmm ssooo-ree," says the muffled voice of Clark. Probably for spilling coffee on her drapes.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Oh! That's your partner?! I though you just had company of the gentlemen type..." Zatanna is immediately apologetic, and slaps her hands together.

"Naelc ekam dna saw ti sa gnihtyreve nruter."

Hopefully that cleans up any stains on the carpet or drapes as they unwrap and return back to where they were, rehanging thmselves, and the raven-haired sorcress looks extremely sheepish. "Hi. Zatanna." she offers in greetings to Clark. "I am soooo sorry for the wrap job there." she murmurs, glancing between the two.

"And interrupting your meeting."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois seems impressed that magic has the ability to remove stains and files that bit of information away for later. She takes a moment to make sure her Clark is fairly unruffled from the affair, then looks back towards Zatanna with a small grin.

"It's an understandable bit of confusion there. Zatanna, this is Clark. Clark's been my partner at the Planet for over ten years, he's also my partner in all aspects now. So the 'gentleman type' and 'work thing' are all in the same these days."

Clark Kent has posed:
And there's Clark, wincing in some pain at the hot coffee that's spilled all down his left sleeve. He has on a button-up, but it was open partially at the neck, no tie visible. His slouching, uncertain method of standing masks any of his physique that might have been interesting to look at, though, as does the cautious move to step back into the kitchen and put the upset mugs in the sink.

Still, trust Clark to spill things on himself: with or without help from magical drapes. "It... I mean, it's okay, no real harm done," Clark says, in his usual mild, doormat fashion. "I do a poor job as a Disney princess, dressed in the drapes," he jokes, lamely, but with a brief smile, hesitant. He picks up a paper towel and returns out, wiping his wrist with care, the burned skin might be tender, hard to tell with the dark coffee tone on his skin. But Lois introduces him. "Hi. Ah. Lois mentioned you. We're a bit stuck without, um, an expert, with our own magic ...thing."

It's probably odd for Lois to see Clark adapt into mild-mannered reporter so instantly, but he still gives her a brief look and a smile; the warm there confirms her statement about 'gentleman type' - and his quiet pleasure in hearing her say it of him.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
It's better this way, really. Clark not admitting to anything keeps Zee from melting into a puddle after realizing she was blocking Superalonetime. It'd be messy. It's bad enough that she gets just a bit of a blush. But she seems to be recovering quickly enough. "Well, is he any good at being quiet? I got some news. I was going to share it with John, but he's off being..." she waves her hand in a slightly dismissive fashion. "...John." She sighs at that.

"Anyway, there's an auction house that has an item that was a hit on one of my magical searches, and they just haven't been very forthcoming with letting me take a look it. There's a dagger, and a few things related to soul capturing with sound, but you know, rumors and such. Until I have something in my hands, I can't find out it's full nature."

"And since they won't let me in -- I thought I'd invite myself. But I figured I wouldn't go along, I'm not sure if saying I'm there on Justice League business even carries the same weight it used to."

Lois Lane has posed:
"Don't worry, Clark can handle mostly anything, he's put up with me for years so he's had to," Lois points out with a sly smile in his direction. "Usually he runs away from danger, but... I don't hold that against him." Her attention does mostly remain on Zatanna though.

"I'd be willing to go, that sounds like something that should be investigated anyway and given that Clark and I have been leaning heavily on the story, I think we should all go check it out."

Clark Kent has posed:
Clark gives Lois an embarrassed smile. "I'm standing right here, dear," he chides her a little, as she mentions his cowardice. His blush is subtle but there. He crosses into the room more fully looking between the two women as they discuss the break-in. "This is about the shadow monsters, right?" He nods slowly. "Will the magic... protect us from being spotted by security cameras?..." He asks. Trust Clark to always be on the 'is it safe?' side of missions. Lois's personal protector and worrier.

"Lois and I have both witnessed the shadows and a shadow-creature. I've also been..." he looks towards Lois. "Hypnotized by it, Lois claims. It didn't feel like I was missing any time, though, to me. We have a new video, too."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Wait. Record scratch.

"You were hypnotized? Why weren't you, Lois?" she asks curiously, as the sorceress looks between the pair curiously as she considers the options. "I can put up something to make sure the cameras don't see us there." she offers to the as Zatanna taps a well manicured nail in thought. However, as there is mention of the video, she pauses. "What does the video show on it?"

Lois Lane has posed:
Whatever embarrassment Clark feels is covered with a warm smile from Lois. She's doing her best to not seem like she's being too mean--it's an affection there, not genuine picking on him. She nods at him, though. "The shadow monsters, yeah. Zatanna's my resident expert magic-wise, although I did check in with John as well." Her gaze flicks from Zatanna back to Clark. "I figure if she can wrap you up like that she can find a way to switch off cameras."

She looks at him for a moment, then back over at Zatanna at her mention of the hypnotism. "Earplugs. Turns out they /are/ effective. It allowed me to drive really close to the thing even when Clark was entirely zoned out." She pulls out her phone, flipping through to the footage and she holds out her phone for Zee to see.

Clark Kent has posed:
"She had the earplugs, yes. I had headphones that are supposed to be noise-cancelling," Clark clarifies.

"They are not noise cancelling."

Clark puts the paper towel in the trash, lingering to listen to the conversation, and observe as Zatanna looks at the footage. It is from a tilted dash-camera, and doesn't show an actual monster... but it does show strange, moving, massive shadows flexing up and over the side of a building, as if enormous shadowy limbs were casting them from somewhere close-by. Yet the footage doesn't show any creature, only the shadows, the darkness. "That was in the afternoon," Clark offers. The video looks more like late evening or dusk.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"That is a really big shadow." Zatanna muses thoughtfully as she watches the video, and asks for it to be rewound a couple of times so that she can take it all in. "What did John say?" she asks the pair curiously after watching the video one last time just to memorize it as best as she can.

Her attention turns from the video back to Lois, because she gets the feeling that they won't be breaking and entering anywhere tonight.

Lois Lane has posed:
"Haven't seen him since this, but he seemed interested in helping, said he was going to do some research." Lois glances at the video. Her idea of research is much more hands-on. "Clark and I have been trying to get a good feel for what it is, driving as close as we can to it, but it's pretty dangerous. We've seen people completely zoned out at the wheel. Thankfully the earplugs worked because otherwise I couldn't have gotten us both out of there."

Lois Lane, superhero.