15390/A Crow's Revival

A Crow's Revival
Date of Scene:	21 July 2023
Location:	Fledging Space
Synopsis:	Lesson in Necromancy and 'why you shouldn't do it' goes... actually horrifically well. There's tea and cakes and a crow's return.
Cast of Characters:	Nettie Crowe, Gabby Kinney, Michael Hannigan, Franklin Richards, Megan Gwynn

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Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Welcome to the Candle, Booke and Belle, the metaphysical tea and book shop that hides the New York headquarters of the Justice League Dark, where the unmarketable (and often occasionally morally grey and contending with the supernatural) heroes go to... occasionally socialize.

    Tonight, the friendly neighborhood witch and leader of this misfit brigade, Nettie Crowe, has offered to pull back the veil a little bit on the world of magic, and show how she brings her familiar back from the dead. Directions from the entrance of the shop will direct visitors upstairs to the second floor Fledging Space.

    The double doors are held open wide with cast-iron winged pigs weighing them to the wall, leading to the Fledging Space itself which doesn't seem like it should fit over the shop; it seems much larger. Possibly because it's relatively empty.

    Tonight there are chairs and tables set up. Tea service is set to one side, with a complete selection of finger and cucumber sandwiches, dainties and meringues, followed by a selection of fancy biscuits and small cakes. The tablecloth has bats, spider-webs and of course crows (they're probably actually ravens) and is silver and purple.

    THIS CONTRASTS GREATLY WITH THE FRONT OF THE ROOM:

    Nettie is standing wearing a butcher's apron and having long leather gloves at the ready. There's black candles lit, burning with gray and black flame. There's the sensor full of myrrh, its heady perfume disguising the smell of singed feathers and body product, and the remains of a black chicken are slightly carved, with long, ivory-handled knives holding a section of the chest cavity open.

    MOre than a few people who had come in off the street leave very quickly. Apparently no one read the fine print of 'why Necromancy is bad for familiar spirits'.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney was there when Corvax lost his life in part to help save her own. It was quite possible she could have recovered from the attack, but he had bought her time to do what she needed to do. He'd made the sacrifice and she was going to be here when he came back. Even if Nettie hadn't offered to open up the ritual for all to see she would have requested to be there come hell or high water.

She owed it to him as a fellow that had fallen in battle. As a member of the JLD.

Which may be why she was pointedly ignoring the majority of the refreshments placed out. Such things were always a temptation to her and rarely did she turn them down. This however? This was her being serious.

Quietly coming in with a package in hand she heads for one of the seats with a nod solemnly given toward Nettie. "If you need a hand with anything..." The offer is left hanging because she may very well be offering a hand. It'd grow back eventually. No need to freak out any more of those that came, peeked, and left in a hurry.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Mike has been to the Candle Booke and Belle a few times. At least one it was when he was in another person's body. But despite the occasionally odd manner of his visits, his time spent in the fledging space is minimal. As Mike enters the room, he pauses to wave to Nettie. The apron is registered later, leading to him to look to the chicken's remains.

Another glance is given to the refreshment table and then back to the dead chicken.

It is at this point Mike is very glad his spells don't require 'ingredients'.

Franklin Richards has posed:
Franklin returned to Nettie's shop with Dog, the well-trimmed sheepdog he had acquired in Siberia. Franklin chuckled as he spoke to the dog, teasing him about scaring kids before instructing him to say hello to Miss Crowe. The dog eagerly ran ahead, sitting near Nettie and looking at her with expectant eyes, hoping for some attention or maybe a treat.

At the door, Franklin greeted Nettie with a wave and a smile. "Hey, Miss Crowe," he said. He seemed a bit unsure as he continued, "You mad at me for last time? Seems everyone else is." He chuckled lightly. "I thought I would bring Dog with me just in case, though he's still upset about being brought to a groomer," he added, looking affectionately at the dog named Dog.

As Gabby passed by, Franklin made sure to give her enough room to pass, offering a casual wave and a simple "Hey." Unbeknownst to Franklin, Mike also walked past, but he was too engrossed in watching the others that walked away as they walked down the block to notice.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie gives a kindly smile. "No, no miss Kinney I've got this one well on my own. This is probably the... seventh or eighth time I've brought him back in the last fifty years or so. We've been terribly careless." she states gently. "I'll be fine."

    Mike is given a wave! "Michael, hello! Welcome, take a seat, I think I've set up too many of them. Pity Belinda can't be here tonight, she could have learned a thing or two..." she states and then she pauses. She looks down at Dog. She looks up at Franklin. She points at him.

    "Yes. You sent three lads to Tahiti on the fly and I'm quite cross with the attention that's brought my shop. It's difficult to be a 'Dark' organization when someone wantonly dispatches ne'er-do-wells to tropical paradises, mm? Also--" she points at the dog. "That dog is under your influence. Animals unassociated with death do not *like* me. That's why I have a robotic cat." she points out, and looks at the dog.

    Sighs.

    And then motions to the refreshments "Pretty sure the butter-and-cucumber sandwiches will just give him horrible gas. Serves you right."

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn clearly missed the action from previous days, and so she's only catching bits and pieces of what's going on...Something about that crazy crow of Netties about to be revived or something? A lesson in necromancy? Well...Sounds a bit creepy but she's always game for something 'fun' if it involves more lessons in magic.

After attending an exciting sci fi convention earlier that day however, she rushes in a bit late, peering around, making a beeline for tasty snacks before finding a seat. "Hi! Sorry I'm late! I...er..."she wrinkles her nose at the sight of the giant black gutted...Chicken?.! "Uhhh." she chokes a bit on her food...Yeaaaah maybe she should have waited til later for snacks....

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney raises an eyebrow as a dog bounds in and over to Nettie as if he were the happiest pup in the world. Having seen animals reactions to Nettie before that was Sus as Fu... But Franklin coming in along with the dog seems to make it all make sense. "Ah." A knowing nod comes, and she allows herself a small grin because dog.

"Evening Franklin. Hey Mike." And then Megan pops in much to her surprise. "Oh, hey, been ages," she greets her fellow mutant with another nod. Settling the small box in her lap she clears her throat.

"I'd request no farty dogs if possible thanks..."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
"Evening Nettie." To the invite to sit down, Mike makes his way over to a seat in a most roundabout way. There was tea and tiny cakes to partake in, after all. A cup and small plate of cakes and biscuits are set down upon a table. There's a squeak across the floor as the chair is pulled across the floor. The musician sits, taking a moment to look to the other guests. A nod is given to each of the visitors as he spots them. First Gabby, "Hey Gabby." Then Megan, "Hey Megan." And then...

Mike pauses, looking to Franklin.

...The glance sets on the dog the longest before looking back to Franklin. "Hey. Nice dog."

Another nod is given in greeting before he sips his tea, ignoring the dead chicken view. It seems that he opted not to sit the closest he could to that scene.

Funny that.

Franklin Richards has posed:
"Fair point," Franklin nodded in acknowledgment of Nettie's concerns. "I should have taken the potential negative attention into consideration. However, you know, a little attention might not be a bad thing in the modern world. Some even think that stuff is cool now," he chuckled lightly, shrugging. "And just so you know, the police have already talked to them, and my connection to your shop wasn't brought up further."

"He's a friendly dog, actually picked me," Franklin assured Michael with a smile. "But yeah, he can be a little too friendly sometimes."

Turning his attention back to the group, Franklin smiled and remarked, "It's great to see how many friends Miss. Crowe has, for an evil Necromancer, it ain't bad." He winked at Nettie, emphasizing that he was using the  nickname she had called herself earlier, without actually believing the evil part.

Curious about the open house event, Franklin finally asked, "So, what's this open house all about? I saw the open doors and figured it must be something interesting." He looked around at the setup and the people, genuinely interested in the reason behind the gathering.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Ah, Miss Gwynn, no you're right on time." The Witch states, and she folds her hands behind her back, looking at the gathering. "Somewhat smaller than I was expecting. I'll have someone fetch to-go containers afterwards." she states, and then motions downwards "Not for this one." To Franklin she gives a small smile. "Open lesson on necromancy and familiars gained through the Dark Arts."

    And she clears her throat a little bit, taking herself into a somewhat more professional stance. "So, Necromancy. Nearly universally revered and reviled Dark Art, playing with energies like The Black and messing around with Death itself isn't a good way to go about things unless you are incredibly smart, incredibly lucky, or incredibly desiring of dying yourself." Nettie pauses. "Two out of three ain't bad." she recounts, slipping in a joke.

    "So, as the assembled here know, my familiar Corvax is unusual; where as some familiar spirits can be simply very smart animals, or animals that have a touch of the fae on them, or simply someone's pet they fancied would be better if it were smarter after the fact. There's almost as many ways to create familiars as there are familiar spirits. The Not Recommended Way of creating a familiar spirit is to bind the soul of a dead human into a vessel of your choosing -- dogs, rats, crows, cats, dwarf hamsters are two ounces full of hatred, so those are right out. It creates a certain sort of possession." she explains, "But the tie between the summoned soul and the summoner can be unusually strong."

    She pauses.

    "Corvax as some of you know is a human soul bound to the form of a crow, who was raised from an egg by an overly ambitious eight-year-old witch without her parents knowledge who then got a very colorful education on curse words of the non-magical variety. I went to a crossroads and disembowled a man hanged for murder to get the reagents for binding -- and luckily, that's just for the primary summoning and binding. You can use any old entrails for re-summoning. Of course if you have a flair for the dramatic as I do, you want to keep a theme."

    And she holds up a bowl full of black offal, presumably from the chicken in front of her, which go back into the bird.

    "I feel a bit like Julia Child, except instead of French Cookery it's horrible magic."

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn looks around and beams and waves at Mike and Gabby. "Hey you two, how you been?" she smirks at Gabby's comment and shrugs, "Been busy." she says simply.

Frank she does not know or at least not well although she gives him a small wave and smile..But it's the doggo that gets the most of her attention, peering at it and holding out her hands to him and clicking her: tongue. "Awe cute doggy! Is he your familiar?"

But then Nettie addresses the group with something serious and she sits up a bit in her chair, focused primarily on Nettie as she speaks. And talks of disembowlment and does other 'fun' stuff that makes her lose her appetite...Mmmmaybe she'll reach for snacks after..

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney scrunches her nose at the smell of the offal produced. It had already been lingering in the room and in the periphery of her awareness, now it was just more front-forward. "Ugh." She actually lifts her hand to press a checkered handkercheif folded into a neat square against her mouth and nose. Not something one might expect her to have much less use in such a fashion. It was a trick she'd picked up to help with her senses though.

"Yeah it's a lesson on 'don't be like me' is my guess, pretty much. Though..." Here she trails off paying rapt attention to what Nettie was starting to do. "I kind of owe Corvax so I'm here. Besides," she adds, eyes narrowing to really *focus* on the matter at hand. "It might help me get used to sensing this sort of magic in the future. Maybe."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
"I'll be sure to pack up enough for my roommate." Mike assures regarding the excess amount of leftovers to be expected. It is unstated that he'll avoid mentioning the necromancy demonstration.

As Nettie goes into her initial explanation. When the reasoning for not using dwarf hamsters for familiars is listed, Mike cocks his head to the side. "Wouldn't the extremely short lifespan be another reason to avoid hamsters entirely?"

He starts to lift up one of the tiny cakes to eat but pauses as Nettie picks up the entrails. The cake is set back down on the plate.

Maybe later.

Franklin Richards has posed:
Franklin smiled and nodded as He tries to make a point about how people are wierd though he tries not to judge them. He acknowledged his mistake and admitted, "My bad. While they did have it coming, if it helps, I did learn a bit. Though it was more about someone I thought I knew." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, reflecting on the situation and the different reactions of those involved. He fell into a moment of silence, lost in his thoughts about someone he thought he knew.

As the dog made a quick move towards Megan, happy to find any reason to move away it hopped up running a bit too fast it ran in place for a moment, as it then approached her. Franklin sighed as it was hard to find good help these days, realizing that the friendly dog act wasn't really working as planned anyway. He chuckled to himself, deciding to overlook it this time.

He turned his attention to Gabby, asking about school and mentioning the recent complaint about Rogue. Franklin acknowledged that times like that could be tough for the person on the other end of that hate. He shook his head also mentioning the cure issue at the same time, recognizing that it was a complicated situation.

When Megan asked about Dog being a familer, Franklin smiled and replied honestly, "No, I don't know magic." He looked at the dog, playfully adding, "I just changed the rules a little," as if that could explained the mysterious actions. He chuckled, looking back at the street, and said, "It's not as impressive as it may seem. Sometimes, it just takes a little push, and our minds do the rest."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Correct, this is actually a lesson of 'what not to do'. Don't do this because it will end up killing some of the people who try. I was an absolutely precocious child and had the support of my very experienced parents and uncle." Nettie replies. "You won't find that much anymore. SO. Offal in, awful out, add in some skullcap, snapdragon gone to seed and harvested on a new moon." she stretches her fingers out.

    "And yes, because crows and humans are so long-lived--" she offers as a joke back to Mike, and releases her breath.

    HEr eyes roll back into her head ad she begins to murmur. The candles without light to their flame all begin to flicker.

    The electric lights above even begin to dim, and not even the myrrh in the incense censor can cover the cloyingly sweet smell of rot and old earth.

    The words she utters may even FEEL dirty, grating against ears. Necromancy is no joke.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney blinks a bit at Franklin when he asks about school, and starts to mention the staff there. A bemused smirk creeps over her only to shake her head at him in response. "I don't attend there anymore. I got my GED and got out, since..." She lifts a hand to gesture around the room in general, and lifts her chin toward Nettie. "I'm one of the others running this group. I haven't been back in awhile. Don't have a place there anymore." It's shrugged off lightly, and she clears her throat. "Not the first time someone's been spouting off about a 'cure'."

"Anyway... We'll just have to see how it plays out."

SPeaking of how things will play out, it seems Nettie's begun, so she falls silent turning her attention to the matter at hand.

And grimacing with a shudder at the way those words sound, like clawing inside her skull.

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn cringes as she listens, scritching doghouse under the chin perhaps for comfort as she ponders, "Sooo some crazy witch girl trapped a human soul in an egg? Did she like, rip it from a live human body or what? Cuz that's totally disturbing.." even more disturbing than watching Nettie stuff a giant bird with guts and herbs and...Dirty words...Ewww..She has sooo many questions right now but she's afraid to ask any of them for fear of disrupting the spell..Or something..

Gabby's response causes her brows to arch just a little, biting her lip but afraid to ask there as well. Right, might be safer if she just shuts up for a while and watches. Taking a bite of her cookie, she nearly gags on it, finding this whole thing disturbing..

Michael Hannigan has posed:
"Well, fifteen years versus three years is not something to sneeze at." Mike starts. As Nettie starts to murmur, he grows quiet, observing the process. It's probably not a good idea to be saying random words when someone is focusing on casting something.

Oh wait. Conveniently provided food and drink props.

He takes a sip of his tea to avoid the urge to interrupt the process with random statements.

Franklin Richards has posed:
As Nettie began her spell, Franklin nodded in acknowledgment and pulled out some earplugs, remarking, "Oh.. Well if you hear something let me know it seems like interesting times." He put the earplugs in and leaned back, observing the process with curiosity even though he couldn't see the magic itself.

Meanwhile, the friendly dog seemed happy to receive attention from Megan, wagging its tail appreciatively. However, as Nettie's spell progressed, the dog started whining and sought refuge behind Megan, clearly uncomfortable with the magical atmosphere. Franklin noticed this and gave Gabby a funny face, understanding that she couldn't respond at the moment.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    It's almost as if Nettie knows that refreshments are GREAT for occupying mouths while she's doing something.

    The air shifts in the room, during dark and clammy, brimstone and fire smoke, and then it's clear why Nettie is wearing the butcher's apron.

    "I COMMAND THEE RETURN TO MY SIDE! SPIRITUS FAMILIARUS CORVAX CORVIS!"

    And she brings one of the ivory knives down into the black chicken, and stirs everything counter-clockwise -- and from the awful offal erupts in the unholy scream of man and bird combined exploding from the form of the bird, half-human hands reaching for Nettie's body, leaving scorched trails of blood and ash down the front of the apron.

    And then it rapidly shrinks. Grows feathers, and crawls out of the other bird, shaking off a bit.

    "OI NETTIE. THat was BLOODY FUCKIN' AWFUL this round! Did you KNOW they updated the SULFUR LAKES with **extra burning**?!"

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn tries to reach for another cookie but she stands, or rather sits rather transfixed by the gory yet fascinating sight before her..And then some creepy disgusting man bird thing all covered in blood erupting from the chicken and..."Gah, I can't watch!" she gasps, covering her eyes as giant hands reach for Nettie...She never really liked horror movies, too much blood and violence. Oh yeah, that fearful scream is probably Megan, don't mind her.

And then she hears Corvus' familiar voice and she peeks through her fingers, laughing nervously, "Eheheh, Corvus, is that you...?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
As if the magical chanting wasn't grating enough on Gabby's senses. All of them cued up, and fixated on what was going on, her eyes threatening to water from the mix of smells and magical ear-clawing sounds. Franklin's look earns a gesture to her ears as if to indicate he'd be better off keeping those earplugs IN.

Then Megan screams as well.

Gabby shuts her eyes and reaches up to pinch the bridge of her nose holding that pinch until she hears Corvax's familiar voice complaining about lakes. Ears still ringing, she looks up again a bit tired seeming but... she was expecting awful things to get the result necessary. That's what Nettie was trying to warn people of after all.

"Corvax. His name is Corvax," she states quietly. Her lips purse together, and then she asks, "Megan, are you sure you're really cut out for the JLD? I mean... I appreciate the interest but maybe this is a bit much for you."

Pushing to her feet she steps forward holding the box between her hands. It's opened, and a new, fresh tricorn hat his plucked out which she offers out. "New body, new hat. Only fair."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
As the screaming starts, Mike sets the cup down in order to free his hands to cover his ears. Good timing too as Megan adds to the volume. Once the visual of the bird playing alien with the chicken carcass appears, the hands lower. "Welcome back Corvax." Mike greets, lifting up the cup to do a mock toast to the bird. "You hungry? Nettie's got a LOT of food here."

Franklin Richards has posed:
Franklin raised an intrigued eyebrow as he observed Nettie perform the dark arts spell, recognizing its negative nature. He understood why the apron was necessary for such practices, and though it was another use of energy, it was something he had never seen before. The location from which the crows were coming was unfamiliar to Franklin, making him slightly uneasy as there were places even he would be nervous to explore.

As Megan reacted strongly to the dark arts display, Franklin remained calm and analytical, wondering if her reaction was how normal people would respond to witnessing such a thing. He silently nodded to Gabby, giving her the scout symbol with his hand, acknowledging to always be prepaired.

After the ritual concluded, Franklin popped out the earplugs and smiled, finding the experience interesting. "Well, that was something," he commented with a playful grin. "Next time, we might need some ponchos for those in the splash zone," he added jokingly.

Feeling hungry, Franklin suggested going inside. "I could eat," he said, expressing his desire to head in and enjoy some time at Nettie's shop. He had enjoyed the magical display glad his pressence did not mess up any of the mojo though he wasn't sure he could it was always best to be safe.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie is already reaching for her ears and giving a soft 'eeh?' noise, looking around after the screaming.

    "Welcome back, Corvax. Sorry about that. Did you at least find a place to hide from that one--"

    "PREFER NOT TO TALK ABOUT THE ONE THAT HAS THE CRUSH thank YOU." Corvax answers, shaking off again with a 'brrrrrrrr' sound, and then hopping a bit to shake off some of the ashes.

    The carcas collapses in on itself, the power from its flesh spent as it too turns to Ash.

    "So. What did we learn today duckies?" Nettie asks, taking off the butcher's apron and folding it, stashing it under her display table before she reaches down and lifts Corvax to her shoulder, who hops right up onto her hand, and then to her shoulder, giving a flash of his wings.

    "Starving!" Corvax answers, "Nettie, let's get some dainties! They didn't have any this time!" he crows a little.

    The air clears. The myrrh is spent and the room fills with the smell of tea and cakes, with a little afterwhiff of burning.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Mike observes as Corvax immediately jumps on the idea of having some of the food set out. Which helps with coming up with an answer to Nettie's question about what was learned today.

"Coming back from the dead works up an appetite." Mike supplies for an answer before popping a bit of cake into his mouth and chewing.

Franklin Richards has posed:
He was about to grab some food when he suddenly frowned, feeling a call to duty. "Sorry, I'm being called," he said, turning to Nettie. "No days off for our types, you know. If you need me, you know how to contact me." He waved a bit before heading out.

Before leaving, Franklin turned to Gabby and offered some advice, "You might not be part of the school, but you might want to check in. They are still friends, right?" He shrugged, recognizing that it wasn't his business, but he genuinely wished he had the time to follow his own advice. He then called his dog, "Dog, come on!" as the friendly dog happily followed him with a bark and a smile.

With that, Franklin exited the shop, ready to attend to his superhero duties once again, leaving behind a hint of intrigue and excitement in the wake of his unexpected visit.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    And with that, the event ended. Now there was just an awful lot of bits and piece sto consume, which Corvax was happily helping with.

    He did, though, hop off Nettie's shoulder and over to Gabby.

    "Thank you for the new hat. I was rather attached to the old one. But that Skin Walker got what it had coming, didn't it?" he chipperly states, gives an affectionate soft peck to Gabby's cheek, and then flaps (clumsily) off towards Nettie again.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney chuckles a bit at that only to nod in agreement. "Yes, it did. We even saved a bunchy of townsfolk thanks to you buying us some time. You did good, Corvax." The little cheek-peck (literally) earns a grin and no complaint from her. Though she does offer over the new hat before he hops back toward Nettie.

"Let's get you fed and feeling better."