15381/Consulting A Witch

Consulting A Witch
Date of Scene:	17 July 2023
Location:	Candle, Booke and Belle
Synopsis:	Superboy consults the Justice League Dark on how to banish an evil imp back to the Fifth Dimension. Vampires, and werewolves, and witches, oh my!
Cast of Characters:	Jon Kent, Billy Batson, Nettie Crowe, Talia al Ghul, Belinda Gutierrez, Lydia Dietrich

---

Jon Kent has posed:
It's a warm, sunny, summer evening in the East Village and people move about their personal tasks in the lazy manner that the heat demands. At first glance it seems destined to be just any New York evening. But then a boy tugs on his mother's wrist.

"Sweetie, it's too hot for me to carry you," she says reflexively.

The boy tugs harder. "Mama, it's Superman." With his free hand he is pointing upward as a figure in blue and red descends from the above. As he gets closer, it's clear he is too young to be Superman. Although he is 19, his Kryptonian heritage will keep him looking like a high school student for at least a few more years yet.

"That's Superboy," someone says.

When Superboy lands, the boy lets go of his mother's wrist and runs to him. "Superboy, Superboy!"

With a warm smile on his face, Superboy squats down and clasps the boy's shoulders. "Hey there, little man," he says warmly. "What's your name?"

Many phones are out taking pictures and videos now.

"Kody!" the child squeal-shouts.

There is some muted laughter, including from Superboy. "Well, Kody, you eat your vegetables and listen to your mother," the young half-Kryptonian instructs.

Then he stands up and offers a friendly smile and waves to several of the bystanders before heading into the Candle, Booke, and Belle.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam flies downward to the street and lands. Kody looks at him and says, "Look momma... Flash!" Shazam gives him a wave and a very forced smile. He's about to say something then enters the Candle, Booke and Belle, backpack in hand and sighs. "My lightning emblem is nothing like the one on the Flashes. It's always 'hi flash' or 'Why are you wearing red, Superman?' or Captain Thundercrack!"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Inside the Candle Booke and Belle things are a little weird at the moment. The 'Closed' sign is flipped because the owner and proprieter had some Unfinished Business to attend to, which means that a jukebox has been placed on the floor, and is currently playing the classic Michael Jackson song 'Don't Stop 'Till you Get Enough'

    Non-stop.

    It's on hour 14 and Nettie, wearing her finest shredded jeans, gray chucks, her hair pulled back into a pair of braids and then pinned in a bun with her wand struck through it to secure it is WRESTLING with an arm from the jukebox, which is attempting to strike her with Frankie Vallie's Greatest Hits.

    "No. NO. NO. STOP. THAT. NOW! I refuse to be struck with the soundtrack of JERSEY BOYS!" she bellows.

    "Belinda! Be a dear and hand me that wrapped Palo Alto stick, the bundled rosemary, the dried ancho chilies with the crosses struck on them and -- OW STOP THAT!"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul has tkaen this moment and is scrolling her way through Tobin's Spirit Guide and to the side the Spate's Catalogue. Looking through it in one of the older tomes in Ancient Egyptian, looking through the hieroglyphs over on the book, occasionally taking a note over down to the side on a pad of paper, her scribbling in secretarial shorthand while jotting down things along it.
    The exact ways that something from the Great Library of Alexandria was transcribed exactly in an edition of a book taken from the Library was a story one did not want to learn. She goes to look up at Nettie. "I believe you have visitors." Looking out and glancing at Jon. Ah. One of -those-.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Warm summer evenings-- the proverbial 'Dog Days of Summer', named for their monstrously unbearable heat-- hence, the refuge of coolness and shadowy bliss that is the Candle!

"Dusting finished too," she adds helpfully, fighting down the giggles for the dozenth time. Palo Alto stick in hand, she skitters towards the Greywitch, bundle of herbs in hands as she sets them down alongside. She cocks her head, listening to the song for a second before running back to the counter, leaping over before hunting swiftly for the chilies. "Got them!" she adds, tugging the simple plastic-wrapped set from storage beneath the bar. "And perhaps try something new? Pink Floyd is nice this time of year, I am told."

Pause, wave to the newcomers (VERY distractedly) "Hola, welcome to the Candle, Book, and Belle--look-around-at-your-convenience-be-right-with-you!"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Nettie, if you don't get that damn Jukebox exorcised I'm going to demolish it!" shouts a voice from upstairs. "I like Michael Jackson as much as the next person but this is ridiculous!"

    She pokes her head out of the stairwell to add something else, but the sight of Superboy and Shazam catches her off guard.

    "Oh, hello!" she says to them, coming full down the stairs. She's dressed in a peach colored spaghetti strap summer dress that gives her unusually pale skin just a hint of color. Her very curly hair is held back by a clip, but that doesn't stop it from escaping here and there. And, as always, the twinkling of stars surround her.

    "I'm sorry for the..." she pauses and gestures at Nettie's current struggle, "...chaos. Nettie's a bit busy at the moment, but if I can be of assistance...?"

Jon Kent has posed:
Looking around the room, Superboy can't help but let a surprised expression bloom over his features. First and foremost, it looks like Nettie is doing some sort of battle with a jukebox. Under normal circumstances, he would superhero it up right now. But although he hasn't known Nettie long, he knows enough that this sort of thing is precisely her wheelhouse.

Next, Jon offers a smile to Shazam. "Nice to see you again, Shazam," he says, giving the godling a clap on the shoulder, the likes of which can only be shared between two super-powered beings without jellified bones being involved. "I didn't know you were going to be here, but I'm glad you are."

He likewise gives greetings to the others who are gathered here in turn, some of whom he does not know. His gaze follows Lydia as she descends the stairs. "Ma'am," he says politely, with a nod of his head.

As is his way, Jon-El waits patiently out of the way. His hands are clasped in a relaxed manner behind his back on the outside of his cape. "Nettie, I was looking to have a word. If this is a, um, bad time I can come back."

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam glares at the jukebox. "Knock it off or you're going to get a taste of DC current. Nobody wants DC these days. Hello Belinda... is she going to be all right? If that thing switches to Nickleback I am intervening."

He goes over to Jon and offers a bro hug. "Where you been keeping yourself? How's things?" He then takes Steve the stylus out of his bag. Several sheets of paper float after Steve and array themselves on the bar.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
As Jon goes to enter in Talia goes to keep her face neutral, give a nod over at Jon-El and keep her head back to her pair of books. "You are quite popular today it seems, Nettie." She would speak in light amusement to the woman that was far, far older than hse was. Finally going to close the books over while giving Shazam and Jon a wary glance.

She was rather cautious given her exact status in life. She was after all still one of those that had a free-standing pass to go to the Bar With No Name without any sort of issue from the waitstaff.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Oh, so you're saying you've Had Enough?" Nettie calls out incredulously to Lydia, and with the reagents in hand, she grips her hand tightly around stick, smoke stick, and medal, and ignites the whole thing before shoving the mechanical arm and record back into the cavity of the jukebox with a loud CLATTER.

    There's a mechanical grrrroooooaaaaaan. The Michael Jackson song ends. There's a calmer whrrrrr of a record being changed over.

    Ba-dum-diddledum baah daaah, daaah baah deddlebeedle bah-dah DAH dah dah dah --

    "We're not strangers to Loooooove, you know the rules and so do--"

    Nettie eyeballs the jukebox, and it shuts down meekly. Obediently, it did not play NIckleback.

    "Great. I have a haunted jukebox with a sense of humour now." she mutters, then sweeps back her gray hair and pulls out her half-moon glasses as she gives a smile to Jon-El.

    "Hello duckie! How are you faring?" she pauses "No remaining nightmares or night terrors, right? After our outing with Miss Kinney?" she questions gently, and motions to Shazam and to Jon.

    "They're friends, no worries, no doubt need a hand with a bit of advising. Which is what we're here to do!"

    The jukebox meekly winds up its still-unplugged cord and slides back to the wall with a ssscrrrriiiitch against the floor.

    "No time like the present, lad, and we have a fair amount of power in the room at the moment." she gives a nod to Talia and Lydia, and then to Belinda:

    "Nicely done, you're doing well on the recognition."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
"Labelling the packets with a Sharpie marker helped," Belinda replies meekly, finally giving the new arrivals a solid glance. And trying hard, VERY hard, not to stare!

"I, ah--" she begins, trailing off with a blush. And a faint. high-pitched squeal! "--ahem! Tea?" she asks, offering a wave and a grin and an oh-dear-god-did-I-dust-the-shelves?!?!! Panic firmly stifled down, she walks (calmly) around the end of the bar, beginning her rummaging for the appropriate cups. Warm porcelain. Bright colors.

"We can make anything," she adds from her quick search, "But the tea of today is Egyptian Chamomille. Fragrant, good for sinuses and such!"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia enters the shop properly and offers a hand to Superboy. "Superboy. It's a pleasure to meet you. I've met your father and he was a delight. I'm Lydia, resident vampire and authoress." Once hand is shook she turns to Shazam and offers the same hand. "Shazam! A pleasure to meet you, as well. Come in, come in, and make yourselves comfortable. Do try the tea. It's most excellent."

Jon Kent has posed:
When Nettie indicates that now is as good a time as ever, Superboy leaves his wallflower perch and moves deeper into the room. Lydia approaches all warm and friendly like, and Jon is the Goodest Boy so he returns the smile and starts to extend his hand. But then Lydia announces that she is a vampire. To his credit, the young half-Kryptonian *barely* misses a beat. One might detect the smallest hesitation. This is his first vampire. He watches her carefully as he shakes her hand. "Thank you, ma'am."

Although he has twice fought alongside Belinda, she was a bit wolfed out, so it seems like he might not recognize who she is. "Thank you, I'd love some tea," he says to her.

Then he finally arrives at Nettie. "Nettie, I've got a problem that is a bit outside my experience. Have you heard of an evil imp named Mister Mxyzptlk?" He watches Nettie's face for any signs of recognition. "He nearly killed Batwing recently, and obviously set us both up for me to find him dead. Fortunately, his plans didn't exactly work out."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would quirk a brow over thoughtfully, "Imps? Imps are rarely openly evil. Maliscious, sometimes. Quite often antagonistic. But rarely o penly evil. If so tehre is a rather large scale differentiation in them. There are multiple.. Incarnations, from the fae to the demonic. That particular combination of consonants does not sound like either. There's no inflection of anything remotely approximating any Earthly, Demonic, or Otherwordly language there." she goes to tap over at her thigh thoughtfully over and goes to consider..

Then as Jon goes 'nearly kill Batwing dead' her expression turns to slow, slow murder. "Tell me exactly what happened. What did he look like, how did he behave?"

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam accepts Lydia's hand and shakes it. He'd met her before and hey, no bites. Besides, she is a friend of Nettie and he heard not all vampires were like that. "Hi. We met but I think you were more in awe of Steve. Heh. That's okay." Steve inclines towards Lydia in greeting.

"Mix pickle-lick. We met. Nasty piece of work, he cancelled all my powers," Shazam says, suddenly serious.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Huh... ordinarily I would voice protest about saying the names of interdimensional beings, but I should hope my home is warded well enough against such interruptions." she states, wiping off her hands on her jeans as she considers, giving a small smile, and motions to the counter girl. "This is one of the younger members of our League. I've taken it upon myself to give her some instruction. Belinda, Super-Boy, and Shazam. Around the shop -- Talia is a good friend and has accompanied me on many outings as of late, and Lydia is one of the finest circle constructers and warders I've had the pleasure to work with in recent memory, but she's really quite modest introducing herself as *only* a vampire and author."

    She turns to Belinda a moment, and gives a smile. "Better to know what we're up against when it's not giant demonic geese, mm?" she states as she steps behind the counter and assumes her stool, leaning over a moment. Her eyes dart to Talia's reaction when Batwing is mentioned, and although tea's going to be poured, she reaches for the flask in her pocket first, and she pulls the cork, gives a swig of something that smells like Pine Sol and a bad Alpine Air freshener had a bad night together and re-corks.

    "Talia, I'm sure it's fine." she comments breezily, not wanting to tip Talia's identity, though she gives a soft hum of recognition.

    "Being able to cancel the powers stemming from the Rock of Eternity's no small feat, though. And at least two wards of mine are suspect." she considers a moment.

    She reaches beneatht he counter, and she draws up the cloth-wrapped tarot cards, and a black cloth pouch.

    "But if such a being garners that reaction from Talia, it should be dealt with as soon as possible."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda winces as Jon recounts his concerns, frowning briefly as she begins running through the motions of tea service-- set cups, confirm cleanliness, wipe down one last time just for satisfaction. The two thick cups are placed on a simple wooden serving tray, the young woman humming quietly to herself as she retrieves the kettle from the warmer and pours. The kettle itself is simple, cleanly shining metal; the aroma that wafts dreamily in silent steam is anything but. Prepare, place, pour-- dress serving platter with packets of sugar, creamer, and a small glass of juice syrups labelled "Peach", "Cherry", "Apple", "Honey", "Jalopeno"...

Strike that last. Jar taken back, stuffed back under the counter. On demand only!

A last glass added for Mrs. Crowe (yellowed porcelain, ringed with tiny black feathers), and Belinda steps down to the gathering of minds, presenting the tray for each person in turn. "Even if he did providde a wonderful feather-duster," she remarks idly, cheeks pinkening with mirth.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Mister Mxyzptlk?" Lydia asks, slowly trying to pronounce the name correctly. "Boy, that's a mouthful. How do you even spell that?" She scowls and waves a hand, sending a tendril of amber light over the counter to dig up a notepad and a pen. "You said he was able to nullify your powers? That's no joke, then."

    She purses her lips and starts writing down notes and ideas. "If we can get a handle on what kind of imp he is, we've got his name, so I'm pretty sure I could draw up something that could contain him while we find a way to banish him from this plane of existence."

Jon Kent has posed:
Jon doesn't know who Talia is, but he can tell by her expression and tone that she means business. Drawing in a breath, he says to Talia, "Ma'am, I don't know what he looks like." He approaches Talia. If you've never been up-close-and-personal with a Kryptonian, it's...a thing. They radiate a presence that is larger than life. The very air around Jon is warmer. He reaches into a small pouch on the underside of his belt and tugs out a folded up piece of paper and hands it to Talia. "He left us this, ma'am."

The note reads:

Dear Superboob!

Be at the toolshed atop 2973 W. 81st in Gotham at precisely 1:22 a.m. Don't be late!

XXOO,
Mister Mxyzptlk

"I arrived a few minutes early and was only in time by seconds to save Batwing from an explosive. This Mister Mxyzptlk intended me to find him dead."

Then Jon-El returns to where Nettie is setting out tarot cards. "What's this, Nettie? Tarot cards? How do they work?" The young half-Kryptonian seems fascinated.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam says, "He told me he was multi-dimensional. Caging him was like trying to trap one of us by drawing a circle around our feet. Whatever that means. He seemed not out to kill anyone but not against putting them in some danger. We had to get him to write or say his name backwards. This girl, Bette I think was her name, demanded to see how to spell it and he did in letters of fire. But... a pool of water showed the name and it reversed. We also... well I kicked him in the slats and knocked him behind the name and it reversed. Then he said no hard feelings and left."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
And then Talia frowns, "To cancel out the abilities of a greater being requires significantly more power at all." So that means whatever the Imp is is more powerful than the Rock of Eternity - significantly so to have completely depowered Shazam. She would quirk over a brow.

"Multi-dimensional? Then it's no imp that you're dealing with. Imps are things that are tethered to Earth. If they are from Otherworld, from the Infernal Realms.. You are dealing with something that is not tethered to this realm." She would glance over at the note and frown for just a moment more.

Evaluating over in her mind, furrowing her brows and thinking. "It wants to play a game and thinks itself so above us that it uses this as some sort of entertainment." Her hand twitches over and takes a breath. "It cannot be defeated in battle. It can only be met with cunning." She would close her eyes.

"And.. Backwards, you say?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Mm." Nettie considers. "Damn bird ate me." she mutters conversationally, and then she rolls over a couple of thoughts in her mind.

    "May I have the letter?" she asks politely, holding out her hand and removing her glove. HEr hand is ashy gray and the fingers blackened as she purses her lips, and she tilts her head back.

    "I don't beleive this is a spirit or devil or 'imp' in the way we normally handle them. Cross-dimensional travel is tricky. And it *hurts* if you do it accidentally with your pinkey toe and forget the rest of you." she comments as she rolls her wrists to bring the sleeves of her shrug up.

    "So, Tarot is nominally a card game generally played in Italy and France, regarding a point system based on your 'trump' cards and --" Nettie begins, and then gives a soft smile.

    "They're a focus." she explains.

    "Most beings have a tiny bit of Extrasensory ability. Your gut feelings. Some of us have it in larger amounts, some in smaller. I know a chap who could guess every number in the lottery and which sequence Bingo would happen, but never who'd win."

    The silver-white haired witch gives a soft sound.

    "Remember, we exist in four dimensions, with many senses. I'm no expert in that, of course." she leeaaaans back behind her, drawing a pillar candle from a drawer, and coming forward, she sets the candle on the counter, and lights with a click of her fingers.

    "And you just need the right circle, Shazam, I reckon Lydia could construct one given enough forewarning. Or five-warning. Fifth dimensional and all." she murmurs.

    And she pulls a card from the top of her deck.

    It's a Clow Card from Card Captor Sakura, for anyone who might recognize The Windy.

    Nettie gives a *frown*.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda stands to one side and behind the Greywitch, a double-take flicking back to the card Mrs. Nettie draws.

She gives the deck a *look*. "...behave, you," she mutters under her breath, glancing askance. And suddenly noting to self-- ask Melvin to reinventory his game cards again!

Just in case.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Indeed," Lydia says, agreeing with Talia's assessment. "Backwards is interesting." She starts furiously taking down notes and ideas. "Fortunately, I have experience with trapping overpowered extradimensional entities. It's not easy, and the math gets //very// complicated but it can be done." She scowls looking at her notes. "But I'll need more information first."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would tap over at her arm thoughtfully, "You're not going to win against such a thing by power, skill, or finesse. It is beholden to rules, whether they exist at it's amusement and convenience or not. The thing is that it must state it's name in such a way. Names have power, and it has given you it's." She's not even /bothering/ to try to pronounce it. It's filed away for later.

"You must engage it in a battle of cunning, like Crow and Anansi. I do.. Have a thought." She would go to tap her fingers over to the side.

Tap-tap-tap. It's an old rhyme and back and forth. Shave.. And a haircut?

Jon Kent has posed:
Jon-El hands the note to Nettie as requested and grows quiet, watching and listening as she manipulates the tarot cards. He was raised to recognize when he is out of his depth, and to show respect to those who aren't.

But when the conversation starts going around about tricking Mister Mxyzptlk into saying his name backwards, Jon interjects: "I spent some time at the Hall of Justice reading up on past encounters with this this guy. Each time he appears here, the trigger to send him back is different. And sometimes he has a weakness of some sort. Again, different every time."

He returns his focus to Nettie. "I was hoping you might be able to, I dunno, do your magic stuff and maybe figure out how we deal with this thing. He is /very/ dangerous. You just heard that he suppressed Shazam's powers. He has been known to manipulate my dad, even teleporting him to other dimensions."

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam searches his memory. "He's dismissive of ordinary humans. He never expected Billy to just kick him in the goods, though it didn't hurt him... my name's Billy. He was upset I made him drop his cigar, a Cuban. He animated statues and they caused a panic and he said he could do anything he imagined pretty much. that's all I remember. I was just Billy, his memory isn't perfect. I hope that helps." He seems out of his depth as well.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Two Bits." Nettie mutters under her breath as Talia knocks.

    She accepts the page note, and she looks it over a moment as she looks to The Clow card that's shown up instead of her tarot card. She takes the card and shuffles it one-handedly back into the deck.

    She shuffles the deck, cuts it, and then turns the card over to reveal:

    "HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRBY!"

    Flip. "We've been trying to reach you about your Broom's extended warranty!"

    "Ooh, I don't like it when someone messes with my deck."

    Nettie gives a harrumph. She grips the page in her hand tightly, she crumples it, and when she casts magic it errupts into a silver and purple flame, followed by the sound of rapidfire cartoon footsteps and the SLAM of a door, the open of a door, a VERY loud raspberry, and then the SLAM of a door.

    Shuffle go the cards. And then Ace of Cups.

    Crossed with: The Moon.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would go to let out a sigh and move over to stretch over and go to smile at Nettie. The woman gets it. Then she goes over and moves to head to a place on the wall, fiddling over with a book to reveal a.. DVD collection? 'Loony Toons Golden Age'.

"Meet him in the styles of Crow, Spider.. And Rabbit." Sliding down, she would go to return to her seat and then back over to her Book.. Which has now relettered itself to 'Walk Like an Egyptian'.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda snorts, caught between a grimace and a guffaw and a groan as she listens, shaking her head minutely. Quiet as she stands still, she exhales carefully, ears pricked as she listens, senses on alert.

Picked up from the Greywitch-- most unappreciative of Things Going Bump Where They Should Not Be! Even multimegadimensional things.

She quirks, attention drawn sharply. The Moon.

Keen interest! Bite back sudden urge to sound. Mmmph.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Oh, I don't know, Talia," Lydia says, looking up from her notes. "I trapped the Archangel Michael in a circle. Of course it took six people to force him to bilocate and draw him into a fourth dimensional circle that existed in two places simultaneously, but it was done." She shakes her head. "I'm not saying that a circle to bind this thing will be easy to construct, or easy to lure him into it, but I'm fairly certain it //can// be done."

    She watches as Nettie starts going through all sorts of cards from her deck, resting her head in her hands. "I swear to God, Nettie, you do these things on purpose."

Jon Kent has posed:
When Lydia casually mentions trapping the Archangel Michael in a circle, Jon-El does a double take, peering at her. Yeah, he's out of his depth here in this humble little shop. For real *real*. So he does all he can do: he stands quietly and observes and listens. He hasn't drank any of the tea that was poured for him but he is fiddling with the cup with his fingers.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam gets up and says, "I hope I was some help. I need to meet with a hero who is learning the ropes. Poor thing looks up to me and I need to find Kid Flash about an event we're setting up. C'mon Steve." He scoops the stylus and the parchment up and heads for the door with his bag.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie appears to take offense to the accusation of the weird things happening by HER will.

    "I promise you, Miss Dietrich, I would much rather not have someone mess around with a deck older than this building if I can help it. Especially where the young ones are concerned. Including yourself."

    "Be well, Shazam. I'll recall you to Broom, Steve." Nettie states with distraction as she settles back. Her eyes go a bit out of focus, and she gives a soft mumble as she squeezes the ashes of the letter in her ungloved hand.

    "Admittedly would be easier with a bit of blood magic, but I'm not sure how safe it would be for any of us to pursue this gentleman unprepared."

    She flicks another card from her deck. Temperance.

    "You must trick him into drinking well water from a silver cup." she announces, slightly abruptly, and physically winces.

    "Good Luck on that one."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda's eyes widen at that comment, blinking before she stares down at the Tarot again. Stare.

"...Dios!" she murmurs quietly, shaking her head. And biting lip-- Reading ! Very serious business.

Jon Kent has posed:
Jon-El is a good-natured, easygoing person. It's literally in his blood. But he doesn't have tolerance for shenanigans and foolishness. And this new information about getting Mister Mxyzptlk to drink well water from a silver cup does not seem to be sitting well with him if the sour look that has bloomed over his face is any indication.

He looks to Belinda. "Did she say well water from a silver cup?" he murmurs quietly to her, not wanting to speak louder and risk disturbing Nettie. "Where do you even *get* a silver cup? Do they sell those at Target?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Macy's." Nettie answers, "But I can loan you one."

    She then rolls her neck, and with the ashes of the letter in her hand, she crushes them to her palm, and then lets them flow over the candle, like slowly falling sands in an hour glass.

    The area no longer smells like tea. It smells like... salt. Like the ocean at high tide, like the bite of fresh seaweed.

    And crushed velvet.

    Nettie's unfocused eyes seem to stare into space.

    "And you can give him pause with salt, spread over him from a pair of violet velvet gloves. Gods bless The Artist." she snorts, and shakes her head "At least we don't need to seek out purple rain for it to occur --" she leans forward, bringing her hands to her face. One hand gloved, one hand ungloved.

    "Good. Heavens. That. Imp."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Smiling faintly, Belinda blushes a quick heat before she rallies. "They do," she murmurs in answer, "They did, even. Old days, a cup-- a glass used in the Far South to serve a drink called 'mint julep'. It was tradition then. I think one could even order replicas online, but an original... Might be in a museum." She bites her lip, a brief glance and grin on her features. "Our is not exactly a cup," she explains, gesturing to the tea glass in Jon's hands. "It is a silver chalice, from the Catholic church--" She pauses briefly, blushing again. "They are used in Holy Communion. Usually, they hold sacramental wine. Ours is very old though, and should serve!"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "They're more common than you'd think," Lydia explains. "Do a bit of thrift shopping and antiquing and you can find some of the most damndest of things. Sometimes quite literally," she adds brightly.

    She looks at her notepad and makes a note of that. "Sometimes these creatures have compulsions. Like... you could trick old school vampires by spilling some salt and they would be compelled to count the grains." She shrugs. "I don't know where they come with that one. All the vampires I know couldn't give a shit about table salt."

    Then, off in the corner, the haunted jukebox starts up. o/` I never meant to cause you any sorrow o/` comes Prince's plaintive wail over the machine. o/` I never meant to cause you any pain! I wanted one time to see you laughing.... o/`

    "Oh, for fucks sake," Lydia grumbles, her strange golden eyes starting to glow as she stalks over to the jukebox. She leans over to it muttering quietly to it, ill intent roiling off the vampiress in nearly palpable waves. There's a record scratch and the music stops, and Lydia stands up pointing to her eyes, then pointing to it.

    She turns and her demeanor immediately lightens, "I'm sorry about that, Superboy," she says. "You must think us... having gone a bit 'round the bend. When you have so much magic concentrated into one spot things can get a little..." she purses her lips, searching for the right word. "Chaotic."

Jon Kent has posed:
You can't really blame Jon-El. He is just barely out of adolescence, even less so if you account for his long-lived genetics. There is a sound of glass breaking and the tea cup shatters into pieces in his hand. The mounting frustration is replaced with embarrassment. "Oh my gosh, Nettie, I'm so sorry!" he exclaims. Since the tea was untouched, it starts spreading rapidly.

But then the strangest thing happens. The young half-Kryptonian is staring in surprise down at his hand. It's cut! He's bleeding! (And there's a vampire in the room.)

The spreading tea actually begins to form a pattern on the counter. It forms the letters SUPERBOOB.

But Jon doesn't notice it because this is the first time that he can ever remember bleeding. He doesn't look afraid -- he is chock full of his father's boldness -- but he does seem perplexed and shocked. "Is this blood?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    CRACK.

    "You're all right, Lad. Belinda -- the white tea towel, right there, please." she asks, and she pulls her glove back on with her teeth to accept the tea towel, and go to wrap Jon's hand.

    Her too-blue-to-be-real eyes look to the word spelled out, and she scowls at the counter.

    "Lydia, this isn't his first time working with some of us... Superboy was present when Corvax was killed." Nettie comments quietly, mostly to Lydia. "He took to a situation with the supernatural when Miss Kinney asked us to aid against what we found to be an infestation of skin walkers. He fought most admirably, and was the one to locate the survivors, and another band of Sasquatch that preserved them." Nettie frowns.

    "Should be ready to bring Corvax back soon. Ugh. I hate doing it in the summer. Always tends to rot quicker. That's the nature of the beast though, isn't it Lad?" she gives a smile, trying to distract Jon.

    She didn't want anyone with a Kryptonian power set freaking out in her shop.

    "Aye. That's blood. And if he knows what's good for him, he'll leave this little patch of Earth well alone, 'cause I have nothing but time to figure out every little rule of his... and /choke him with it/." she mutters.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda stares for a heartbeat. Crack of porcelain, warm tea, coppery sharpness, bright-- bloodscent. Fiery, hot-- she moves in an instant, swift as she plucks one of the towels designated and hung for tomorrow's service from its hook. Snapping it around expertly, she ands it off to the Greywithch; barely ceasing movement, she carries herself to the end of the bar, ducking down to rummage, search, find--

"Aid Kit, Abuela!" she calls up triumpantly, quick to return withh the plastic box in and. She pops the seal on the case, cracking it open with an antiseptic scent and a snap.

"Hand," she announces withhout preamble, setting out bandages, gauze, a small bottle of alcohol. "No arguement!"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Blood. It's been almost two years since Lydia has been turned, and the casual smell of blood no longer brings out the beast in her. But kryptonian blood? It smells rich. It smells potent. It smells //powerful//. Her eyes are laser focused on Jon's hand as her body locks up, as she wrestles for control of her instincts.

    "Nettie," she says stiffly, the warning clear in her voice. "It's time for me to run some research." She manages to turn herself around and marches herself back to the stairs. Once she's far enough away, those with enhanced hearing can her her gasp "Oh God," in panic, and then she flees upstairs to lock herself in a room.

Jon Kent has posed:
Superboy literally doesn't know what to do right now. When you live 19 years without ever getting a headache or a cold or skinning your knee or stubbing your toe, you end up with a young adult who hasn't the slightest clue how to care for even the most minor injury or illness. So Jon-El falls back on just doing what he's told to do. He holds his bleeding hand out for Belinda.

"I have to stop him," he says with a grimace. "There is no way that I can allow this menace to...OW! OH MY GOSH WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" This in response to Belinda applying antiseptic to his wound. Oh yeah, he also doesn't really understand pain in the traditional way. Not in this my-hand-is-cut-and-the-werewolf-is-pouring-battery-acid-on-it kind of way.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "You have to stop him. And I know Shazam will help. And you have the backing of the Justice League Dark." Nettie states, and steeples her fingers. She ducks the blood-dabbed tea towel away below the counter.

    "And that's your nerves. They don't know what to do so your own body heat is flipping them out with the introduction of antiseptic alcohol."

    And then Nettie helps herself to some regular alcohol. From her flask.

    This is going to take some working.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
"Hush," Belinda replies, laser-focused on the hand as she adds alcohol, letting it wash over the slash. "It will only sting for a moment. Or two." Taking cotton balls from their own pouch, she cleans the wound with stuied care-- if a bit too eager. Determination over practice, for now! "I am going to clear the wound," she explains, words running like a mountain stream, "I do not know if Earthly germs can do things to you, but I shall not find out today!"

The matter is quick, practiced... if rough around the edges. The cleaning is easy enough; the bandage finds itself reapplied and retightened two or three times before Belinda is satisfied with it. She gives the knot a last tug, sweeping the bloodied cotton into a rubbish bag, adding to its contents with the towel below. Kryptonian blood-- magically spilled. Definitely set aside for proper disposal

"Now go sit down," she remarks, "And I will get you some orange juice. Vamina, pronto!"