14525/Downtime and Spring Cleaning

Downtime and Spring Cleaning
Date of Scene:	27 March 2023
Location:	Candle, Booke and Belle
Synopsis:	Spring Cleaning at the Candle, Booke, and Belle! Evil books found, sans owners.
Cast of Characters:	Belinda Gutierrez, Gabby Kinney, Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe, Talia al Ghul, Nettie Crowe

---

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Eveningtime and weekends in the House of Crows. Fortress of Fowl. JLD Darkeholde? < Remarkable, Mystical, Exotic Name To Be Determined Here >

"So, is the JLD's staying here just a matter of temporary convenience that keeps being too convenient to leave?" Belinda Gutierrez asks, moving some reasonably old books back into their places on the shelf. Dusting, straightening, checking the stock areas for minor damages-- Spring Cleaning, in all its Muggle glory. Belinda takes her hiring on/joining the Justice League Dark seriously-- she continues her one-girl whirlwind assault against all things grimy and dusty and dreary with a singular ferocity. "Or am I still missing something? There is everything here!"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney loiters near the tea counter carefully sniffing each jar in turn to make sure it's still good. Tea could go bad, right? It's also a good practice for her senses to begin with trying to focus on ONE smell at a time amidst the mingling scents of the shop itself. The jars also get a good wipe down with a cloth because if she's going to be doing something, she might as well make it sort of useful, too.

"Ah, well that kind of gets into the history of the JLD a bit," she explains with a grin over toward Belinda, and a quick glance to the door to ensure no other muggle types were around. This time of day though business seemed to lull. Plus it was Monday.

"This is the third itteration of the JLD. It was first known as the Midnight Brigade and the safehouse was a bar. I wasn't a part of it back then, but Nettie was. Turns out one of the founding members was actually a demon in disguise as a wizard or sorcerer, and that fell apart."

"The remaining members formed the JLD after that and shortly after is when I came into things." She pauses to sniff at one gold flaked tea that was written with a stupid expensive price tag, and crinkles her nose. "This has to be Ty's fault," she mutters.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda steals a quick glance over, ears sharp enough to catch the grumbling as she stifles a giggle, grinning as she hums to herself. "Could you set some of that aside?" she asks. "I no it is estupido expensive, but I do not think Mr. Wayne will mind. Unless he is actually Senor Scrooge. Perhaps he will like it, and buy it all from Mrs. Crowe?" A last few sweeps of the (shudder) goose-feather duster, and she nods to herself in prompt satisfaction.

She tilts her head, listening raptly, intently. "So, she is very..." She pauses, searching for the words. "...very experienced with JLD things?" she finsihes lamely. One does not mention ages, ever! "Or is that a witch thing?" She follows up with dusted area with quick, cleaning swipes of a lemon-scented terrycloth, polish and a bit of oil to help maintain the shelving.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney hesitates in putting it back on the shelf, only to shrug at the question. It's set on the counterotp instead to be readily available. "Doesn't smell like anything special. I think they just mixed gold flake in to make it be expensive. Maybe though." The Waynes certainly had that kind of pretentious money. Even if she knew a thing or two about where most of their money went.

"No... Yes? Maybe." The cleaning pauses to lean her arms ontop of the countertop watching as Belinda continues to clean with that cloth. Though she was usually a bit hyperactive, given Nettie wasn't here she was in 'serious bidness' mode. Besides there was a lot to cover.

"Nettie retired after the Brigade due to a personal loss. Nettie is *old* though. Older than you'd think." Here she pauses with an amused grin before it fades. The topic right now was apparently history so she continues. "The JLD was taken over by a couple of guys that had been members, Chas and Jon. My oldest sister is a sorceress and so I joined as well with her to help out, and learn. I'm gonna be pretty long-lived myself so it made sense to try and help out... Plus, I mean, she was family."

Lightly clearing her throat she glances away. There's some trouble with that topic there, her sister, but it's quickly brushed over. "We had a castle base in the astral plane that they'd found which SEEMS like a good idea, but it really wasn't. Plus only people with access to it could GET there. I mean, we dealt with issues, but most of them were issues other members kind of got themselves into in the first place. Anyway," she sighs, "After some Really Bad Times, the three leaders decided to go off to explore other dimensions. Jon with his family, Chas and... my sister, who had apparently bonded and fallen in love or something. They just."

Was her voice growing a little tighter? It's hard to tell because she turns around to fiddle with some more jars keeping her back to Belinda. "She left me a note. Everyone in charge left the same day. The JLD was good as dead, so I took over."

Not Nettie. Not Sara. Her. Odd that.

"I asked Nettie to come out of retirement, asked Sara to be our third, and here we are." Here she glances over her shoulder to grin at Belinda. "In a base where people can actually FIND it, and come to ask for help if they need. Have you seen the rest of the place yet?"

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda listens and listens and *listens*, eyes widening at everything. "A bit," she admits, smiling with a wry grin. "Corvax showed me where a few things are, and I only had to open a jar for him." Pause, giggle. "And a tin of seeds. And maybe a grape or three. One green, one purple, one red." She hums quietly, an absent song; she tucks the last of the books back into their places, sliding down the ladder's rails before hefting the steps, moving them over to the next stack of shelves awaiting her attention.

"I have seen the workout room," she explains, "And the lounging zone. And the rest areas that need a hoteler's attention!" She snorts, lips twitching ruefully. "Those are *next* on the List. But..." She slows, glancing over. "...is it bigger inside than out? Like the Big Blue Who Booth?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"He is kind of easy to bribe. I made him the little tri-point hat," Gabby explains gesturing up to the top of her head as if that explained everything. "I used to sew clothes for my friends pets as a hobby. I don't do it as much anymore but it's still fun to do."

Mention of bigger on the inside has her nodding... Only to pause and tilt her head at the reference she didn't quite catch. "I guess so? Nettie put a space expansion spell on it to get the other areas outside the training room. She already had that for her old students. The other rooms were added so it could be more useful as a base, safe haven, hangout. All sorts of things we might need to plot, plan, and party." That probably wasn't the original phrase for it all, but alliteration was cool.

Turning away from the tea cannisters she regards the array of teacups. "... I'll leave those to Nettie, she seems particular about them." Again she swivels on the ball of her foot to at least swipe the cloth over the counter taking time to rub at any water spots that might have gotten on it. "I'm not a magic user, just a mutant. I was raised working with teams though, and I know how important it is to build that. Sometimes magic users need to be reminded that they don't have to go solo on everything, so that's my job."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
"And stab demon geese?" Belinda asks, teasing with an innocent expression. She moves the next set of books down, one at a time as she gauges their age, wear, whether they can take sterner handling. "She asked me to leave the tea area to her or to you, too," she remarks, nodding as she grabs her duster, feathery down sweeping across the smooth wood again. "I never did anything heroic, or super, or... Anything back home, truly. Never saw mutants, or Superman, or heard anything more frightening than Chupacabra." She hums innocently, eyes twinkling. "That might have been me. Ah, also--!"

She twists on the ladder, leaning over to wipe a nearby chandelere of chimes. "If there is a book on things I should know about magic, or JLD history, or anything..." she begins, trailing of with a sigh. "Homework. Dios. It never ends!"

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    To anyone mystically inclined there is a bit of a pop bang of chaos magic down the side of the building in a convenient alley. They really should get a circle upstairs setup as a landing pad, but she keeps forgetting to ask about that.

    Regardless the door in pops with the usual little chimes and Charlie slinks inside kicking it shut wiht her heel behind her. The young woman is dressed in civvies, beat up but secretly armor lined jeans, hoodie, and stompy boots. Her goggles are pushed away in her big hoodie pocket with her gloves and her belt is out of sight under it. It is a fantastic wonder woman hoodie.

    "Hey!" she calls as she enters, not a shy one, not sure yet who might be on this floor and prepared to head up looking for people if need be.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Stab demon geese *and* help rescue injured BigFoot," Gabby corrects waggling a stick in Belinda's direction that was labeled 'mystical oak wand' or some such nonsense. It was a stick. Not everything in this shop was 'legit' after all, sometimes it just pandered to the civvies who were curious. "I want us to be more than just attack rar types," she starts to explain.

Starts to. The chaos magic causes her to sneeze a single time right before Charlie tromps into the shop kicking the door shut noisily. If Nettie were here she might get yelled at. Instead the figure behind the counter was Gabby, dark haired, scar faced, and short. Yes. Short. Not as much as she once was, but short and wearing a hoodie and leggings and boots.

"Charlie!" She greets cheerily recognizing the woman even in her Wonder Woman hoodie disguise. "Been awhile. Hey this is Belinda, our newest," she introduces gesturing over toward the latina that was also helping to clean up the shop out of, I dunno, boredom or something. "I was just giving a general run down of the group history. And," she adds with a grin cast toward Belinda. "Don't worry there's no books with our history. Maybe should write it down but right now it's more all... Oral history." Yes, that was a good way to put it.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda tenses at the arrival of the newcomer-- Muggle Alert not yet properly attuned! -- relaxing as Gabby gives her greeting. Assumes 'In the Know'-- waves from around her mouthfull of duster, turning attentions to wiping down the shelves with fierce relish. "'Elcome!" she manages, humming to herself as she cleans the shelf behind, nods in satisfaction, replacing the temporarily moved books back to their proper places.

And stealing innocent scents. New people! Habit.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would enter in quietly, a large blade over the back of her body. SHe would look at what was going on, and then note, idly, "I'm here to drop off. I saw something and was wondering if it was one of your's." She would note while going to reach over into a large sack, tkaing out some sort of ancient tome made out of stitches of ancient skin of numerous wretched things, a manacle and chain wrappeda round a glaring, muzzled face and eye..

Covered overi n glitter, hello kitty stickers, nad several rainbows.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "Sorry sorry." to Gabby with a cheeky grin, she isn't very sorry. "Work and school keep me slammed ... like fifteen ways of slammed.. I mean. School. Homework. Night job. Sometimes even sleep." she sounds, caffienated. Like very.

    Her scent is pretty distinct with the tinge of chaos, metal, expolosives, exotic substances, etc to the good nose too now that she is in the shop. Especialy to scent thieves. Her scent profile is wildly different than the teenager in a hoodie appearance.

    "Oh hey" to the new person laughing a bit at the Elcome with a mouthful of duster. "Woof.. history lesson... did you cover the angel war... or alien invasions.. or other dimensional fortresses... faerie invasion..." she rambles as she heads to the teapot intent on stealing some.

    Talia's arrival makes her pause and peer at Talia though and the .... pile of stuff. "I mean... .. what the heck is that..." she veers towaards it. "I love the glitter..."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie, silver-white hair, Janis Joplin T-shirt and jeans, sips from her flask as she eyeballs the assembled cleaners, getters, and fellow leaders of the JLD. She has slightly narrowed eyes and knit brows behind a pair of half-moon glasses today, and has a large sealed cylinder under her arm marked in Lhasa, except the words BRUCE WAYNE written on it in copper sharpie. How long has she been there? Who knows. She's not currently putting out a scent, which is weird enough, but she's also lacking Corvax.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney opens her mouth at the question of things she's covered only t give a single nod while drawing out the word, "Nnnnnnooo. That was a bit more in-depth than I could info dump in a half hour." An almost apologetic smile is cast toward Belinda at having missed all that IMPORTANT STUFF but then again maybe she was doing the poor gal a favor by not covering it all. "Mostly just why this is our base now," she explains.

Then her attention shifts to Talia along with the book that she has. All things aside, she gets rather serious taking a deep sniff of the air for her nose to wrinkle. "Nettie's not here right now so..." She reaches up to gather the leather chord of the necklace tucked into her shirt, pulling it out. "Magic sensor activate," she mumbles while reaching out to take the book.

Just in time for her Badger Sense to go off. That whole remark about Nettie not being here seems rather false now as her gaze slowly swivels over toward the woman to flash a sheepish grin. "Heeeey Nettie. This might be more up your alley."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul smells like someone who has gone through Gotham, gone to a place that smells like a chemical disposal plant, and then come out smelling even more strangely like gunpowder, dynamite, and with some flecks on her of what seem to be small bits of rubber with a nozzel. Probably best not to ask on the particulars.

"I haven't the slightest. It did seem rather.. Peculiar.. So I thought I would bring it to here for it's.. Disposal."

That has the gagged mouth of the book snapping over and hissing, with what appears to be a candy cane stripped tongue.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda giggles around her mouthful of duster handle, adding the books to the shelf with swift, deliberate care. Finishing the last, she glowers at the bookcovers-- giving the m quick swipe with her rag before waving to Nettie. "Hola, Mrs Crowe!" she sings out, grinning cheerfully. Warm breath, rich and deep-- the city-scents, faint and fading swifter still. The distinct scent of civilization, of New York. And Gotham, with its own unique brand of extremes, fair and foul. Quiet thought-- put a finger on one day. And that raw, wild, unruly, chaotic scent, like...

"Like nothing ever heard of before.." she murmurs, grinning wistfully. Blink! "Fresh water in the kettle for tea, Mrs. Crowe," she begins again, stepping down from her stepladder, hefting it up to move to the next section. "We're almost finished with the cleaning here. Dusting! Put everything back where it goes."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie is not at all shy or one to stand still, she slides closer and leans to look at the book in question. "Pecular is a good word for it... hungry.. irrate.. angry... surly... also good words." she peers at Gabby then at Nettie.

    Then her focus is right back on the book. "Where did you get it?" is the question lobbed up to Talia. "I mean.. was it restrained like this when you found it?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "The Justice League Dark was the invention of a demon and a trio of unfortunate souls left in his wake from a group called the Midnight Brigade. 'Twas supposedly going to be the 'grown up's club' to the Night Brigade pups-and-kittens group. Demon was ousted when the be-trenchcoated man he was imitating returned from a beach vacation chained to a beach on a river in Hell. Its first task was killing a necromancer afflictin' his unfortunate daughter, whose adopted parentage is as complicated as New York City business tax law on account that her other then-adopted-dad-and-founder-of-the-League-Dark mucked about with an Archangel and nearly brought about the Apocalypse, creating quite a mess in New York City an' an angel invasion. Followed by finding a Gods-Forsaken castle in the astral that involved repeated suicides and horrible visions of their own deaths to open the first few doors, followed by battles with the Old Ones, and when the then leaders fucked off," Nettie pauses, holding up a hand in a one-moment fashion as she swigs from her flask again, "Miss Kinney took it over, an' asked Detective Pezzini and I to return. And now we handle the things that Superman can't touch -- bless the ol' boyscout -- seems his kind have an allergy to magic. Most unfortunate." Nettie gives a small smile to Belinda, and then she switches the flask for one of her cigarettes, the hand-rolled, cherry-scented tobacco lighting on the way to her mouth as she tucks the flask in the back pocket.

    "Aye, Miss Gage. This book is all those things --" Nettie agrees, and she goes to brush her bare fingers against the spine of the book, like you would a cat.

    "How the bleedin' rivers of Hades did it end up in the hands of a second-grader though, Talia?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney regards the book with it's glitter glue and rhinestones on the potentially human-skin binding as it's candy-cane tongue lolls out toward her. Her hand is still held up with the necklace in hand though she doesn't bother to look at it. It was OBVIOUSLY going to be glowing in her grasp. "Yeah I don't even have to test it, that is VERY magical and I wouldn't trust my fingers near it," she reasons. "Got to admire the vibe whoever owned it had though." Glitter? Gems? Her kind of gal.

The necklace is tucked back in place, and she gives a little pat to the countertop indicating Talia should set that sucker right THERE where it would hopefully not manage to nibble on either of them. Even if it wouldn't hurt Gabby she didn't really want to be feeding fingies to the book. That got messy.

Speaking of info dumps. Nettie quickly and succinctly fills in the gaps that she hadn't quite covered, and she flashes Belinda a little sheepish grin. "Yeah pretty much that." Lightly she coughs, clearing her throat, and steps to the side to let Nettie take over the book handling. All hers.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shrug it over, "I haven't the faintest. I saw it over on a street somewhere with a couple of balloons tied to it that were floating. I think the intent was for hte balloons to float with it but I can't be sure. I didn't see the.. Individual that had it. I thought it might belong to someone in here.." That is spoken entirely without any form of judgement in her tone at all.
    "If not, then know how to get it back to it's owner. I wasn't sure particularly whether it was safe to look at." The blinking eye on it, the snapping teeth.. The 'eye' clearly has eyelashes that have been dutifully done up in all pretty purple glitter.
    As Nettie goe sto pet the book, it hisses, attempts to snap the teeth over on the bright rubber thing preventing it from doing so, then lets out a whine of indignity.
    She would nod at Misfit, "There's a.. SEries of somewhat colorful.. Establishments around the Chemical Plant." By which she meant 'abandoned practical joke factories'. "It was outside one of them."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda blinks wide, whistles softly to herself as she nods. "I am going to have to take notes," she vows, smile fading as she finally catches a partial sight of the mysterious object. Book? Curiosity gets the better of her-- she cranes up, tiptoe as she steals a glance over at the Hellbound Book (Glamrock Glitterstar Edition), staring with a wide-eyes surprise. Leather. Glitter. And way too many teeth for something outside the dental profession. She glances back to the wall of books she had just-so-recently been elbow deep cleaning, snorting with a lusty fervor.

"No," she murmurs to herself firmly, "I am not going to have nightmares about demonic paper binders and evil encyclopedias and end-term papers from literal Hell...."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "Okay. To be fair. It would not be outside the realm of reason for me to coat an angry magic book with glitter and stickers."

    A pause. "Especially if it was a dick and I wanted to piss it off a bit."

    She watches it struggle then nods to Talia. "I... sincerely hope Joker hasn't gotten a criminally insane magic young sidekick of some sort..."

    She steps back curiousity for the moment satisfied and looks to Belinda. "So what's your sitch?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "There's no history test. Some of us prefer to live in the 'now'. Living in the 'then' tends to make for night sweats an' blatant alcoholism." Nettie gives an amused snort -- a joke possibly at her own expense. "Aye, Miss Gage, it would be very you to decorate so... enthusiastically." Nettie states as she gives a frown, and looks to the book, and then looks to Talia.

    "No sign of its human companion?" she asks with concern in her voice, puffing at her cigarette as she sets the cannister on the ground as she brings her pale, scarred hands up and over the book.

    The old witch mutters in Olde English, a rough equivilent translation being:

    'Let's take a look - what's in this book - is it a Reading Rainbow?'

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shake her head over at Nettie, "I didn't see anyone around that it might have belonged to. Just the normal dour of the area and the normal agonies and calamities of there." Gotham was always Gotham. ALways that pit of suffering.. Right next to the factory that made the exploding whoopie cushions and.. That actually probably explained the smell when she came in, come to think of it.
    "I didn't spend too much time around or ask questions. I just thought to bring it here."
    As the book is looked, there is in fact a rainbow underneath the chapter index. ANcient writings etched in blood and fire from a tome however many eons old, that had passed down through however many families and histories.. Lots of small smilie faces, stick figure drawings, and random musings..
    Admittedly all of them written in some sort of eldritch style magical font (how exactly magical font of letters translated to young girl doodlings is an exercise left up to the reader to interpret)

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney shakes her head a little at the talk of the book. It's the area she's more curious of at this point as Talia explains where she found it. She starts to flip through her phone using a mapping app to makr a few spots. "I put a word out to keep a lookout in the area for any thing further... I mean besides the usual. I can hop by later and sniff around, literally, to see if there's a trail maybe."

Looking back toward the group she grins anew. "Though I think just getting this out of someone's hand is probably a good idea in and of itself."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
"New hire!" Belinda says cheerfully, tucking the goose-feather duster under her arm. "Yes ma'am," she tacks on for Nettie's benefit, biting her lip as the young-old lady gets to work. "Mostly go-for gopher, though I do deliveries too when the situations calls for it," she explains to Charlie, "Though right now, just trying to be helpful and keep things cleaned up for Mrs. Crowe." She gestures to the bookshelves, smiling. "But sophmore in Happy Harbor over the way." She brushes her hands off, turning back to Charlie after casting another long-glance at the book, shaking her head with a wry murmur.

"..I would have used stickers," she whispers nonchalantly, lips twitching. Poor Hellbook. Ahem!

"Like, really recently brought on," she adds, "Whatever odd duties need my help, I stand ready to give. Never met bitey books before though... Y tu-- er, and you?"

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "I mostly run deliveries, go to classes at Gotham U, and punch villains.. demons.. faeries... whatever needs an asswhupping honestly. Hellhounds are bad puppers not good puppers." she seems cheerful and chipper about it.

    "Sereriously though if you need anything not alive delivered anywhere, I am good for it." a grin as she glances at the book. "Or picked up aned yeeted somewhere.. good for that too." then back to Belinda. "Isn't Happy Harbor a High School.. " she trails off. Not that she didn't get involved before she turned eighteen. "So.. how did you uh.. get involved in all this?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "This book--" Nettie begins, and she deftly grabs it by its spine, gives it a shake (glitter and a sticker drifting off it in a shower of rainbow sparkles in the light of the shop) "-- is the Libro della lingua della pecora nera -- The Book of the Black Sheep's Tongue. It's bound in the skin of a nun who had fallen to darkness and partook in congress with demons -- not unlike our own representatives in Congress currently." Nettie offers a slight joke. She does not approve of some of the people in Congress. "It's written in the blood of black lambs mixed with the coal from an oak struck by lightning from the Russian Urals." she pauses, holding the book shut carefully and turning it over.

    "I'll add it to the 'private collection' in the nest. It's for the best this not be returned to its...err... owner." she states, and she wrinkles her nose a moment.

    "We should find the owner, though. Miss Kinney, why don't you and Miss Gutierrez handle that? Keep Miss Gage in the loop as well if you need a sudden extraction." she states, looking to the young pups.

    "I can trust you three with that, aye?" she asks, interrupting Charlie and Belinda for a moment as she looks to the trio

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would look amused over, "I suppose that it's somewhat of an interesting academic curriculum. Should we look for any old Mansions continuously struck by lightning surrounded by tombs and gargoyles?" She would consider. "NO, that's too common in this district to be picked out at all. Is there some sort of academic facility nearby that engages in such terrors?"
    Then again, if this was a grade school level book, could it be all that bad? Then again, by the rather unphased look on Talia's face, the book's designation and binding didn't really seem to phase her.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Conversation interrupted, Belinda is quick to nod, giving Mrs. Crowe her fullest attention. Casting the book a look of distaste before she forces herself to step closer, nostrils quivering. The change is marked, sudden; intense, she leans down over the hellish, bound book, breath quickened as she just hovers there for a moment, lingering.

"I'll do my best," she promises, rising again as she chuffs-- an unusual sound, rubbing her nose. "Got it. Weird, weird enough that even around a chemical plant it sticks out like sore thumbs."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "I mean.. you would be very surprised how strange things get by chemical plants in Gotham. Especially that neighborhood... lot of abandoned toy and practical joke factories..." she eyes the book again.

    To Nettie she nods. "I'll run some overwatch and ... well emergency backup and evac sure." then her attention bounces back to Belinda. She is being sent to do glittery field work. She wants to know. Though well the question can be dodged. She will find out eventually.