16839/Ketch-Up.

Ketch-Up.
Date of Scene:	08 January 2024
Location:	The Curio
Synopsis:	Summary
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Daniel Ketch

---

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The Curio Lobby is still decorated for Generic Winter Holiday (Christmas). There are stockings hung over a fake fireplace set in the wall, and Phoebe BEacon is in the process of taking them down. And since it's highly unlikely that just anyone is going to waltz in off the street, she's practicing.

    Her fingertips have a rose-gold glow, and she's wearing a pair of blue acetate glasses, her dusk-pink hair set in a pair of low braided buns, wearing a T-shirt that shows a mechanical-looking giraffe that appears to be steam powered, beneath a washed-out hoodie, and a pair of jeans. A speaker is playing music as she bobs her head along with it, the music echoing slightly in the lobby and connected halls and stairwells of the old tenement building.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Generic winter holiday decorations are much better than the stuff Daniel had to see in most place. Even his workplace. Nothing is safe, nothing is respected, not even auto workshops!

Fortunately the carols were off the shop speakers last Friday, just when Daniel's sanity was about to snap. During the weekend, the owner also retired the ornaments and tinsel. Now the place looks its normal grassy self. Of course Daniel worked every day, to make up the days he missed because flamehead was up to his shenanigans, and the trip to Florida.

He has been scarce at the Curio the last month, but today he decided to show up to remind the rest of the JLD he has not been abducted by aliens or gone to hell for a ride or anything. That is why he catches Phoebe doing the redecoring. "Hey," he offers laconically. "How goes the post-Christmas time, Phoebe?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe looks up from where she was standing, some red and green garland hanging mid-air stretched between unseen hands, and she gives a bright smile.

    "Danny!" she greets the flame head, and she briefly turns her attention back to the garlands, easing them down into a box before she wipes her hands on the back of her jeans for show.

    "Post-Christmas is pretty chill man. How have you been doing?" she questions, eyebrows rising up.

    She is wearing a piece of new drip (as the kids say). On a fine chain around her neck there's a new bauble that looks like flame formed into glass, that seems to have fire inside it that subtly shifts. It definitely feels like Hellfire.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"I was okay. Actually, I was in Florida a few days," replies Daniel. He eyes the necklace, but he asks no questions. "It wasn't chill-y, it was the Everglades. And I met my mother's family."

Which as intense. He sighs, flopping down in the closest available seat. Now, New York is chilly in January, he didn't even take off his coat. "It was interesting, and finally I got some answers to questions I had for years."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Would you beleive I've never been to Florida?" Phoebe questions Daniel as she plucks a stocking off the wall and tosses it into the cardboard box as he collapses onto one of the third-hand couches in the lobby of the Curio.

    She comes down to sit on the arm of the same couch, looking over to him as her eyebrows rose up.

    "I'm glad the meeting went all right. I know meeting family is not all it's cracked up to be some times," she trails off in thought.

    "What kind of questions, if you don't mind me asking?" she inquires politely.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"My family is a cult of some antediluvian messiah mystic figure," how is that for weird? "Why would you go to Florida, you are fifty years to young to retire," that was a deadpan joke.

"Anyway. It was about Noble, of course. He was real... I mean, he was this guy that lived in New England in the Seventeenth Century. I was told his father was a demon-worshipping warlock serving Mephisto, who is one of the big devils. He pretty much was screwed over and narrowly avoided ending up a puppet of hell. Instead, he is what he is. Which... I think the story has a lot of holes, to be honest. There was also an amulet created millennia ago involved that was supposed to hold a fraction of the essence of yet another big demon. One Zarathos."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Always wanted to go to Disneyworld and get my picture taken with Mulan." Phoebe answers back with a wry smile. "I was supposed to go when I was fourteen but -- shit happened." she shrugs, and she crosses her leg over the other, listening intently now.

    "Oh hey, whose family doesn't have cults in it?" she chirps, and she purses her lips a moment. And then her eyes narrow, and she opens her mouth, then closes her mouth.

    "Wait, so, Noble, who is the Rider you...er... work with..." she tries to find a good euphemism because 'bonded to' sounds WEIRD, "... was a Satanistic warlock who served Mephisto, just three hundred or so years back, and ended up being a spirit of vengeaaance?" she trails off.

    Of course she wanted to know more.

    "Zarathos... Zarathos... that name sounds weirdly familiar, I should know that one --" she trails off.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"Noble's father was the warlock. Noble was just a guy, a farmer," explains Daniel. "And I bet not many families have a cult that goes back to a character that lived in Atlantis before it was sunk. Zhered-Na. Rings a bell? She was apparently a prophet and sorceress. But yeah... tens of thousands of years ago. Most scholars don't even believe in the Hyborian Age, this would be millennia before that!"

Ming-boggling old, really. Incredible that the cult has persisted so long. That is magic for you.

"Zarathos, yeah. The Caretaker mentioned him," Daniel tries to remember. "But he hinted he was the Ghost Rider. Well, a Ghost Rider."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Ah, I stand corrected. Ech. Poor Noble then." Phoebe considers. Zhered-Na.

    "I'll have to ask Atrun-Rai if he recalls that name." she remarks thoughtfully as her fingers curl against her bicep, into the fabric of the hoodie she's wearing.

    "According to Atrun-Rai, most magicians are decendants of Atlanteans who went to land, which means my family, who were ancient Egyptian worshipers of the Old Old Gods, probably worshiped Atlantean counterparts before moving in-land. I mean, my family cult only lists like, a thousand or so generations, though most of the old ones are theoretical." she explains, and then she gives a level look at Daniel.

    "I'm getting the feeling that 'Ghost Rider' is something that was applied long after spirits of vengeance took control of humans." she frowns a moment. "But that means that of the two that I know, you both got... Ghosted differently."

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Daniel nods. "Well, Noble was called 'the Ghost Rider', but apparently he rode a skeleton horse, not a motorcycle." Which is... odd? Daniel knows Robbie uses a car, not a motorcycle, but can a living horse be used. Maybe it was just some animated bones.

That is a very minor point considering all the other things he wants to research. Mephisto, Zarathos, Zhared, and the ruins of a town in New England he is not sure he can find. "Wait, did you said ghosted differently? Are you still in touch with Robbie or Johnny?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Johnny, no, I ah.. met him once."

    Phoebe's shoulders rise up though, and she lets her cheeks and ears get dark as she rubs the back of her neck.

    "Robbie and I have been dating for a little over a year." she admits quietly. "I try not to be super showy about it, but ah, yeah... we've been together a while." she states quietly, almost shyly.

    "So, yeah. I've asked him some questions, but his firned isn't forthcoming with info." she admits, considering as she takes a deep breath.

    "And then, another Spirit of Vengeance concealed in a stone was taken by some group called the Injustice League. Which is a stupid name, but it's lead by a psychic gorilla who *really* has a hard on for killing people working for the Justice League." she gives a soft hum.

    "It's just a weird thing that I've been researching off and on -- but I wonder. If there are ghosts in that area, I wonder if they could shed some light...."

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"The what?" No, not the psychic gorilla. That is the usual insanity. The unsual thing is 'Spirit of Vengeance concealed in a stone'. "In a stone? How does that work?"

Still, he seems interested. More interested that he is in... well, Daniel never seems interested in anything much. Sarcasm and indifference are his armor and shield, or something.

"Would it be okay if I talk with him?" He asks. "Robbie, I mean. And also the thing in that stone, now I think about it."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I'm not sure. I'm still doing research. I've gotten access to Zatanna's library, but it's slow going with everything else going on." Phoebe states. "There's also weird magic feels in Gotham. Like... a fuzzy TVF set. Remember how old ones used to feel fuzzy if you got your hand close to the screen? Kinda like that, on my senses." she replies, and she pauses. "I don't have the stone. But, if we recover it, I'll see if we can set up an interview. Safely." she replies, and gives a wry smile.

    She gives a shrug of her shoulders and a grin. "I'm his girlfriend, not his gate keeper. You wanna talk to Robbie? Reach out sometime. Want his number?" she asks, taking out her phone.

    "... you're not gonna fight him, are you?" she adds in curiosity.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"Gotham is always weird," comments Daniel. "Yeah, give me the phone. I am not going to fight him. Unless she treats you poorly, then no promises. I can also not speak for Noble, he doesn't like Robbie's other self. But he doesn't like Johnny's other self either. Maybe it is normal."

Probably not. Nothing is normal with flaming skeletons!

He notes the phone on a scrap of paper, because his cellphone is not 'smart' and probably worth like $30 or so.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Ohmigod nothing is ever normal about any of you guys whose heads just catch on *fire*." Phoebe comments, and she scribbles it down. It's probably an LA number.

    "Here, that's Robbie's number. If he gets heated, you can say I gave it to you, that should help him relax." Phoebe states, and she gives a wry smile to Danny.

    "Just... don't be disappointed if he's not forthcoming with info. I'm not sure even he knows a lot about it. And after what he's found out about me... we're careful about what conversations we have, since his is always listening and sometimes providing..."

    She then just gives a flat expression.

    "Less than helpful commentary."