8338/Through a Looking Glass Darkly

Through a Looking Glass Darkly
Date of Scene:	23 October 2021
Location:	Westchester High Haunted House.
Synopsis:	For once, a day ending in Y doesn't end with blood and broken bones for anyone.
Cast of Characters:	John Constantine, Mairin Moran, Jubilation Lee, Roxxi Smith, Radha Tackeray, Jessica Cruz, Paul Ramsey

---

John Constantine has posed:
    It's nearly midnight and the Westchester High's annual haunted house fundraiser is in full swing for the last hour of the night. Screams and giggles fill the air throughout the school despite it being only one hallway dedicated to the spooks and thrills.

    If cheese had a picture in the dictionary, the costumes and props for this one would be next to it. But it's put on mostly by the students, so they get an A for effort.

    They even managed to pull off a Frankenstein walking around on stilts! Not terrible! The biggest screams seem to happen at the end when Jason Vorhees leaps out to chase unsuspecting patrons with a wicked looking ... obviously fake and even a little jiggly butcher knife.

    The big attraction this year, however, is the room of mirrors. More cheese on a cheese sandwich, the mirrors distort body image and make it appear as if something creepy and sinister is standing RIGHT BEHIND YOU! From Pennywise to Michael Myers, each mirror contains a different spooky spectre.

    It's that room where John steps from the House of Mystery portal along with any dragged along with him. Needless to say their arrive results in screams from those already in the room... and a few giggles and a few wide eyed 'wtf' *stares*.

    "Bollocks. *Mirrors*," John mutters under his breath. "Don't touch *any of them* he warns." Screaming people? Not his concern. He just knows that he got an 'alert' that something was going down here.

    Just what it is, isn't immediately apparent.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin steps out of the portal behind John. Because... How esle is she supposed to get here. She already has a moth-bot fluttering around her head, giving a soft glow of light, and her wand in hand, while her other hand rests inside the large satchel at her waist, ready to grab whatever she might need.

    "Mirrors? Really? She doesn't sound any more excited about it than he does."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "You could've said this was in Westchester..." Jubilation complains, hunched forward with her forearms resting against her thighs. She dry heaves a couple of times and shakes her head. Nothing comes. She's still not used to this method of travel. "I could've, like, walked!" Jubilee stands up straight and reaches up to pull her hair into a tight ponytail.

    Jubilation looks up at John and gives him a big fangy smile. "This. Is. Awesome!" Jubilee's eyebrows lift as she takes in her new surroundings. Haunted house! Her smile fades a little as she notices the mirrors surrounding them. She has her own reason for disliking the mirrors: she's a vampire.

    Jubilation looks around and watches as her reflections send back slightly different versions of herself, each a little out of sync with her. Some are smiling. Some are frowning. Some are giving the finger. One of them seems to be dressed in an awful yellow raincoat and sports a terrible 90s cowlick haircut. Truly scary...

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     It wasn't so much that Rocci was sneaking out, as it was she was just leaving Xavier's without telling anyone. That a fellow student showed Roxxi a circuitous route out of the mansion to avoid detection had nothing to do with it! She'd been at the school now for several weeks and gone no further than Mutant Town. It was past time for an adventure.
     Roxi took a bus out to Westchester, dropped off not far from the High School. This should be fun! Roxxi doesn't wear a costume, but she blends in with those that do. With her vibrant green space buns and Twisted Sister Tee, she slips into a group of other teen girls who wear cat ears and slinky witch costumes.
     The group makes their way through the maze, which as it turns out, hardly scares her. There is a troubling moment when Jason Vorhees jumps out, and Roxxi chases the actor, but that is quickly rectified. Finally, they get to the mirrors, just as a portal opens. Roxxi is neither a giggler nor a screamer. Instead, she gives a cheerful and frenetic wave. "Hi Jubes!" She calls to the familiar Jubilation.

Radha Tackeray has posed:
After her last encounter with horrible things, Radha had taken some 'me time'. Then a little 'anxiety and guilt time.' Then a 'try to find more of these dolls' time. When the call came, she had been eating a plate of chicken wings while reviewing-- what, eBay listings?

She has her reasons.

And in the Laughing Magician she can leave out someone.

Someone... is a sort of robot toy; something older than a Gundam plastic model, but not much older, and made of actual tin (or some kind of metal at least). This twelve-inch-tall warrior for justice is hanging onto a black-pattern wool shawl that Radha has worn over her shoulders because she's in a stock-issue Little Black Dress suitable for the season (aesthetically).

Radha looks left, looks right. (The robot looks right, looks left.)

"So where is it," Radha says.

"Greetings!" says the robot toy, raising one mechanical forelimb. (These have been replaced with something newer, and apparently more robust... nipper claws.) The robot toy is addressing the floating moth.

"Oh, you've met," Radha says warily when someone comes in to greet Jubilee.

Jessica Cruz has posed:
Walking through, Jessica looks over at Mairin's 'moth' and stares at it for a long moment before shaking her head. She's still not used to the weirdness that happens around here even with a voice inside her head. She immediately looks at the mirrors when John mentions them and blinks a few times before looking over at the mirrors.

<He is right, Jessica. Do not touch them and honestly, it is best you do not look into them.> And of course, like an idiot, Jessica looks a little closer. When you spend your time being cautious of things, you would rather look than not. Know than not know. Things you don't know CAN hurt you.

<Jesssica!> The voice states more demandingly and this time, a man stands in the mirror she is looking in, glaring at her. His image that of a man of Middle Eastern descent, dressed in somewhat though altered modern clothing, business casual. Jessica, for her part, jumps back and sucks in a breath. The man simply walks out of the proverbial frame.

"Yeah, got it. Avoid the mirrors."

John Constantine has posed:
    John's third eye opens, it's not a visible thing, but as much as he's had to open it lately maybe it should be? His gaze sweeps over the mirrors and he starts toward one of them. Must be their target, right? Seeing the world overlaid on world of his 'half here, half there' sight is always distracting so he seems a little unfocused.

    "Ngggg..." It's a real sound and he makes it... because obviously something he's seeing makes him NOT happy. If the sound wasn't enough, his expression might be... if he didn't *always* look like that.

    Still yet, not liking it doesn't equate to 'difficult'. "This... shouldn't be too hard to deal with," he announces to anyone bothering to listen.

    He's just about to drop the small duffel in his right hand to the ground and open it when it happens. A teenage boy wearing a werewolf mask runs in chasing a teenage girl. The latter turns to look at the former and plows *right* into John Constantine. ...who staggers, arms flailing, and falls *right* into the mirror he was standing in front of...

    ...and he's just gone. That particular mirror? Well it gives the appearance of one looking gaunt and skeletal... and what appears behind when someone looks in is a cheesy Grim Reaper.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin turns to look at Radha and grins, waving to the animated robot. "She says hi too. This one doesn't have a speaker." ANd just like that, her attention off John for a half second, he goes and gets himself shoved through a mirror.

    Mairin reaches out for John as he falls into the mirror, even going so far as to push the girl out of the way to get to him, But she's too slow. Instead, she's stuck in front of the mirror beside his bag just staring into it at the cheesy Grim Reaper behind her and her own gaunt form.

    Thinking quick, she flicks her wand and the illumination from the moth-bot goes to about sixty watts as shoots through the mirror after John.

    She then checks a small datapad attached to her wand-wrist..... and curses.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "This? What's /this/?" Jubilee turns her head in every feasible direction, which sends all of her reflections into a tailspin of untrustworthy motions. Some vampires don't cast a reflection at all, though Jubilee does. It's just not accurate. But then, all of Jubilee's reflections, every single one, turn their heads to look at Roxxi, though not all of them do so at the same time.

    "Roxxi, what are you doing here?" she wonders. It's a dumb question -- this /is/ the Westchester High Haunted House, after all. It's enough of a distraction for Jubilee to lose sight of Constantine and then... he's gone.

    "Oh, /seriously/!?" Jubes exclaims, turning her head towards Mairin. "Where'd he go?" She turns towards the mirror in question and folds her arms across her chest. A pink bubble is blown from the gum in Jubilee's mouth as she turns to look at the Grim Reaper mirror. Her own form appears... the same as it normally does. Not gaunt, not even a little. The reflection, along with all of her other ones, turn towards Roxxi again. Finally, Jubilation herself does.

    "Be careful, Roxxi!" she says, not clarifying what she has to be careful for.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi absorbs more of the group as they step through the portal. After greeting Jubilation, the robot 'toy' and moth get her immediate attention. "Oh neat!" She gasps at first, though the floating, glowing moth has her slightly mesmerized. "Ooooh." She vaguely gives a distracted wave to the others.
     That is, until the unfamiliar John falls through a mirror. "Oh that's /really/ neat!" As Jubes admonishes her to be careful, the green-haired teen is trying to shimmy her way towards the mirror in question. If she's able to get close enough, she'll jump right on in.

Radha Tackeray has posed:
"I don't have a speaker, either," explains Radha's robot. "I'm technically only an animated toy, but as a bold,"

"Shh," Radha tells the toy, who salutes with one nipper claw -- a moment later -- in comes Teen Wolf and Radha's eyes go wide. She reaches up with one hand BUT it is a moment too late, hesitation paying its bloody wages.

Well, they're not bloody, yet.

"Did you find anything?" Radha asks Mairin. "I'm Radha, incidentally, I am glad to meet you even if I look a bit downcast."

"I am hoping he didn't go to the same place as last time," Radha informs Jubilee. "That one was very difficult. If I understand his modus operandus, he brought us here because he perceived, through occult awareness, some imminent threat, and I suppose we know what the threat is."

Radha takes a moment to comb out her hair with her hands. "I assume these mirrors are bewitched somehow, but... Jesus, this is tricky, isn't it?" I expect we're going to have to go through but oh my God," Radha says, seeing Roxxi approaching the mirror with a look of growing horror mingled with a certain whiff of cosmic outrage.

"Why are there swarms of teenagers here?" Radha asks Jubilee. "This isn't a horror movie, is it?"

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul came along in part out of insistence on John... well, if he was going to work in his current mood, Paul was going to be with him. The maze wasn't that bad, except that he eyed every clown in annoyance.

    And then John's falling through a damn mirror.

    "John is..." He turns around in a circle, frowning at the mirrors. He puts a hand to his chest. "He's /distant/." He looks to Mairin. "What... do your..." He frowns at the datapad. The moth bot. Robots and magic, it's... a little confusing.

    "...What does your, ahh, wrist computer tell you?"

Jessica Cruz has posed:
A look at the mirrors only briefly again, Jessica looks at Mairin before looking to John again. She listens to what he has to say before looking over at the mirror where John gets bumped and goes through. So to speak anyway. He's gone and she's staring. She slow blinks at this and stares.

"Your definition of not too hard needs some serious work, John." She then walks over to the mirror that the man fell, proverbially, through and shakes her head, "And just how are we supposed to help him and not look into the mirrors at the same time."

<Jessica, your understanding of magic must improve.> THe voice says in her mind and she glares at nothing in particular as she sucks in a breath.

"Then teach me or stay out of the way. You want me to learn from a guy who just vanished into the mirror dimension and I'm over here with a ring I don't know how to use." She then turns and looks at the mirror and poitns the ring at it, "Alright, go ahead. Figure it out." And there is an almost audible sigh from no where as Jessica holds the ring.

"Well, waiting."

John Constantine has posed:
    <If an ally or friend were behind a closed door and needed help, what would you do, Jessica?>

    There's no sign of John, not a peep, nothing, nada, just that blank mirror save for that Grim Reaper.

    Through the Looking Glass

    So where is John Constantine. In a room, very much like the one everyone's standing in now. It has no mirrors, it's empty save a few overturned desks the chalkboards on the wall bear messages such as: Turn Back. Evil Lies Head. You're going to be late for DINNER if you don't HURRY.

    Spider webs line the ceiling, hang thick from the corners of the room. "Hello?!" he calls out, not panicked, just ... experimentally.

    ...and his voice *will* carry, the faintest of whispers to the most sensitive of ears.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    "It's not telling me anything, Paul. You said he's distant, do you know HOW distant?" Mairin throws out an arm to catch Roxxi before she can dive through into some unknown danger, but Mairin's a small lass and the block wouldn't be hard to avoid.

    "Can someone get the kids out of here?!" she yells, then turns to Radha. "If you know anything about where he went or how he got there, now's the time.."

    All while her left hand reaches into her bag only to come out with a fistfull of little bots that she whispers something to before tossing them into the air. The sail up in a small cloud like large jelly beans, before darting off, one to each mirror.

    And then dissapear into them.

    "Ahhh fuck..." she says, turning back to the mirror John went through, an indecicive look on her face. Yep... she's thinking about jumping in.

    John's deffinitly rubbing off on her, and in more ways than one.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Yeah... /we/ know, but all of /we/ haven't been told," Jubilee says to Radha, her brow lowering a little as she stares at the mirror. Running with Constantine means accepting a certain amount of 'he knows what's going on but doesn't tell you.' The woman's comment about the swarms of teenagers brings some pep into Jubilation's step. "It's the Westchester High Haunted House... They do it every---"

    "Woah, woah, slow down, Night at the Roxbury!" Jubilee announces as she puts herself between Roxxi and the mirror. "It's not part of the house..." She lowers her voice and leans in for a.... whisper. The vampiress can't retract her fangs but she's only going in for a harmless whisper. "We gotta keep kids away from that mirror...They're too.../normal/ for this!"

    Taking her own advice to heart, Jubilation steps away from the mirror and moves to block the entrance to the mirror room. She lifts both hands over her head, bares her fangs, and snarls at the next wave of kids arriving at this section of the house. They let out a scream, turn around, and run back the way they came!

    That ought to do it, she thinks, giving a nod in Radha's direction. Jubilation no doubt hears John's voice. It's distant with an unclear source. She reaches up with one hand and rests her index and middle fingers on the raw sapphire amulet that hangs at her neck.

    <You want some gum?>

    The thought is a silly one, sure, but it's just her way of checking in. Jubilee grabs the wad of chewed gum from her mouth and throws it at the mirror. She stares, stares, STARES as the pink blob disappears into the mirror.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     As Mairin darts out her arm, Roxxi ducks and slinks under it. However, she falls short as Jubilee interrupts her attempted leap. "We're not going in after him?" She asks the other teen, peering around Jubilation to study the Grim Reaper and Roxxi's warped reflection.
     She pouts for only a moment but continues to stare into the mirror as Jubes tries to block the entrance. Roxxi, has extraordinary selective hearing. The conversation buzzes over her head until Jubilation throws her gum. Giggling, Roxxi starts digging through the pockets of her cargo pants in search of something to throw. She pulls out a fistful of pennies and begins to chuck them at the mirror.

Radha Tackeray has posed:
"Gods of death having a spat and nearly killing everyone. It was horrible," Radha says to Jubilee. "Ruined me on religion. Had to go fetch this maniac from the underworld." She sucks in a deep breath through her nose and breathes out. "... Oh," she concludes, belatedly, at the news of the haunted house.

She gazes at the mirror John went through. Her head tilts slightly.

"New Space Ranger," Radha says, which appears to be -

"Hey!" the robot toy's name.

Radha disentangles it from its koala-esque perch and raises it before her, coming head to head with it. "I have a mission for you."

"Of course!" the robot toy answers.

"You're to go through this mirror. If John Constantine is there, keep an eye on him, and defend yourself if you are attacked."

"Got it! You don't need to be as specific as you are with the other ones, ma'am, I just want to be helpful and --" ("Shh," Radha tells the New Space Ranger.)

"You have your knife?"

"Yessm! What should I do if he's not there?"

"Await me," Radha tells the robot toy, "and if I'm not there in a year and a day, you're free."

"Oboy!" says the robot toy, who is placed on the ground and draws out a pen knife from a cunningly prepared scabbard on its leg, before marching forwards into the same mirror Roxxi threw a bunch of pennies into.

"Ultimately I suspect we will have to go in, but it's not impossible Constantine will resolve this somehow without us," Radha advises the others. ("Where did you get all those pennies," Radha asks Roxxi, parenthetically.)

To Paul, Radha says, "Have you... worked with him often? I was drafted."

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul makes a noise of vague irritation. "It doesn't work that way, just... distant." A pause. "He's... frustrated, irritated, /slightly/ afraid but not... I don't think anything /terrible/ has happened yet." Which is why /he/ isn't freaking out just yet.

    To Radha: "I have worked with John regularly, yes." The specifics of their relationship aren't really a matter for public consumption right now; he's focused on the mission.

    "I'll handle the children," he says to the others. "Find John." Then he pulls a badge out of his pocket: Gotham PD. Not that this is Gotham, but in the dark the badge just looks like a police badge, and he carries himself with the authority of one who bears the badge by right. He starts stalking through the maze, to clear out the kids and close it down so nobody else gets trapped while the more mystically inclined figure out where John went.

Jessica Cruz has posed:
"Ok, maybe we can do this, then." She makes sure that the kids are fleeing the scene before raising up her ring and aiming it at the paths that take people into the areas with the mirrors. Jessica takes a deep breath and focuses and a beam of green flows out of the ring and begins to seal up the doors with a green energy.

<Yes, Jessica! That is good. Keep that up.> Jessica frowns a little at the praise, not used to it and continues to focus.

"No one will even be able to enter this area."

John Constantine has posed:
    By now, word is traveling that something's up in that mirror room, it has some avoiding it but others, of course, trying to lookie loo. Smart move, Jessica!

    It would be so easy, wouldn't it, if those pendants just worked. Well, John's not in the 'astral', at least not on any plane that's readily accessible *without* magic mirrors, that's some bit of information, right?

    Through the Looking Glass

    Over there, with John is one little light bot, an action figure that walks and talks and, now, a wad of chewing gum IN HIS HAIR - thanks Jubilee. His attempts to pluck it out only seem to make it want to stick more. Of course he has no idea who might have thrown it, so he just casts an annoyed look up and barks out, "Oi! That's unnecessary! Then it's raining *pennies* on his head. "STOP THAT!" Bellowed, but barely there and only to Jubilee it seems.

    After having looked this room up and down, top to bottom, John heads for one of the two doors in the room, opens it... and hell the fuck nos that thing right back shut again.

    It's in that moment, only briefly, that Paul would get a spike of fear that fades just a little, turning to more a high anxiety state.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    "Right..." Mairin says, as much to herself as anyone else. Civvies are out of the way. Now she can focus. Her mind is racing through several possibilities, and she's hoping this is one of the more tame ones. Still she doesn't want to be rash. If John isn't in any danger, there's no reason to be hasty.

    "Everyone please just stand still a second!" She steps back a pace or two, then lifts her wand, using it's fiently glowing tip to draw a magic circle into the air in front of her.

    "Brath." Theres a soft circle of light that pings out from Mairin, and she nods.

    "It looks like they all go to the same place... I'd rather not go through any of these unless we have to. Can someone find a rope or anything long enough for us to toss through and see if we can't just pull him out?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "It's a time honored tradition," Jubilee adds, shrugging at Radha as she returns to the mirror room, passing by the officer as she does. Jubilation gives Paul a mock salute. "Sir, yes, sir," she replies, grinning a little as her hand extends out from her forehead. It's important to let the law know you don't respect them.

    "You mean, pull /us/ out," is all Jubilee says to Mairin. With one hand, Jubilee reaches up and pinches her nose, as though she's about to jump into a swimming pool. With the other, she's flashing the group a peace sign just moments before leaping into the mirror and...

    ...lands next to John Constantine. She gives off the vibe of a frivolous teen, but she could hear John's reaction to the thrown objects and that's enough confirmation that passing through the mirror is survivable. Without even a hello, Jubilee walks towards the door that John just opened and reaches for the knob. "What's in there?"

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     At Radha's parenthetical aside, Roxxi turns to grin brightly at the other woman. "Oh, mostly from my pockets. My pants have /lots/ of pockets, see?" She leans down, opening a thigh pocket in a demonstration. At about that point, Jessica and her green light steal Roxxi's kitten-like attention. "You're all so /neat./" Roxxi gushes.
    Despite Mairin's suggestion for them all to hold still, Roxxi is quick to follow Jubilation's lead. Like a slippery fish in a pond, she dodges any attempts to stall her and leaps into the mirror. As she lands on the other side, she gapes at her scattered pennies. "My pennies!" She says gleefully.

Radha Tackeray has posed:
"Hey there, Mr. Constantine! You look like you could use a stress pill!" says the Radha Robot Toy as it trundles through the looking glass.

"Getting a rope and an anchor would be a good idea, but I think he would just go back in," Radha answers Mairin. She adjusts her shawl, as well as her dress, breathes out with only a second glance to their friend who is revealed to be, secretly, a cop - and strides forwards. Into...

... the looking glass...

Just in time to see Roxxi going for her pennies! "Well, certain enough," Radha murmurs, before looking up as Jubilee goes for Door #2. "Damn it! Don't go opening doors casually! Constantine, what is happening here?!"

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Jubilee gets a raised eyebrow from Paul, and once she's turned, a /slight/ smile. Can't let the teenagers know you know they don't respect you, after all. He was never /secretly/ a cop, he just... hadn't said anything about it.

    And then everyone's going through the mirror, and there's a spike of fear from John on the other side. The tall man frowns to Mairin. "I could hold an anchor out here," he says. "Or I can go in with you." He'll defer to her on this, since she's the most sensible one here at the moment besides himself and John.

John Constantine has posed:
    Through the Looking Glass.

    By now, word is traveling that something's up in that mirror room, it has some avoiding it but others, of course, trying to lookie loo. Smart move, Jessica!

    "Don't!" John bellows but he might not make it across the room in time. If Jubilee manages to get that door open? On the other side of it is a great big swirling mass of nothing... at first. If she leaves it open long enough, two glowing red eyes appear in the distance coming closer... closer... Fangs, arachnid fangs become clear on the face beneath those eyes right before... John slams the door shut, nope. Not that way, little bebe vampire, unless there proves to be no other.

    "Don't *touch* anything," he barks at both girls. His job down here, in his eyes, just got a whole lot harder.

    "I know where we are, I just don't know how to get us out *yet*. Because I've never been on *this* side of it," he tells Radha.

    The fear and anxiety from John swells but he hides it well. Now he has *other* lives to worry about in this bloody place.

    "I don't know how this *happened*, it shouldn't be possible."

    Welcome, one and all inside the mirror, to the depths of John Constantine's own *home*.

    "This is my fuckin' *basement*." ...if by basement he means the place inside the House where the most evil of all the evil creatures it holds captive are contained.

    "I put that spider thing here my fuckin' self, about seven months ago. We don't want to fuck with that, it *bites*." Hard, he still has the scars, buried under a few newer tattoos, to prove it.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    "Don't....! No...!" Mairin holds out a hand as first one then another of her teamates jump into the portal. Growling in frustration, she kneels down and opens John's bag, She riles around inside, tossing out a few items as she searches inside it. "Damn it John! You carry around jars of paint and brushes but no rope?!" Chaulk that up as another item to add to her list. Sam Gamgee was right. Never leave home without a good rope.

    She growls in frustration and looks around for something... anything. Then her eeys fall on a loan coat, off in the corner, forgotten by some student and tossed to the side as the room was set up for the haunted house.

    She runs over to grab it, then dumps the contents of her bag into Johns, and ties the sleeve of the coat to the long handle of her bag.

    "It'll have to do..." she tells Paul, before tossing him her bag and grabing onto the other sleeve. It's only about six feet long, but at least it's something.

    "Stay back as rear guard, will you, Paul?" she asks with a weak smile before heading into the mirror herself.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation's eyes widen as she stares at those two red ones in the darkness. And then... the door is shut and Jubilee turns and throws both arms up in the air. "Why do you even bring me along for this stuff?" Jubes protests. She could've stood there staring at her own reflection or jumped in and she made her choice.

    Roxxi's voice draws Jubilee's eyebrows up. "Roxxi! You can't be---" She's about to say '--in here' but Jubilee doesn't finish the sentence. She has become aware of her own hypocrisy. "John, that's Roxxi. Roxxi, that's John. His basement..."

    "...Sucks."

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi does a terrible job of listening to John. She doesn't know him, and therefore his commands carry little weight. She begins to scoop up her pennies when she notes Jubilation opening the Spider prison. She's managed to pick up only about half of the copper coins, but she drops them in a pants pocket anyway. She then heads over to the door, just in time for Jubes to close it.
    When Jubilation introduces her to JOhn, Roxxi smiles and offers a fast, hyper wave. "Hi John!"
    She then looks around at the other women dropping in from the mirror and offers each a wave. Turning to John she states simply, "You need exit signs."

Radha Tackeray has posed:
Radha looks dubious - on several levels - when John reveals this is his basement, and Jubilation reveals knowledge of that basement, and in turn that it is linked to a high school.

She is quiet for several moments, and asks, "Have you... ever been to this school, then? This is a damnable - oh," Radha says, then "oh," then, "Oh, I see, it's like something you've locked up is..."

"Getting out," Radha concludes, looking a bit glassy eyed.

"Wuh oh!" says her helpful robot, who is moving back to her immediate area.

"Wuh oh indeed," Radha agrees.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul merely nods to Mairin, grabbing the sleeve and the bag both. He sets his feet firmly, bracing himself so he can pull people out if need be. He can stay aware of the general contours of what's happening, enough to be able to jump through and help if anything /really/ bad shows up. In the meantime, he'll make sure no one else wanders in through the mirror, and provide a way out if need be.

John Constantine has posed:
    Out there, in the world, poor Paul finds himself suddenly all alone and holding one end of a rope... that's attached to nothing. It's only about half the length it was before. The other half? Well, we all know where that went, it's an easy guess.

    Through the Looking Glass.

    "This room shouldn't *be* here," John mutters. Then there's... Mairin too and what is she *holding*? All the girls. He looks heavenward and pinches the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger along with a mumbled, "Bollocks."

    When he lowers his hand and his gaze he asks pointedly, "What part of *don't touch* the mirrors was unclear to any of you? What bit of 'well, look, John just vanished when he fell into it' made coming through it seem like a *good* idea?"

    Pot, meet Kettle. However, he *has* been doing this for a loooong time.

    "This place is *designed* to keep the Really Bad Stuff inside. It's not *designed* to have a way out, ever."

    He falls silent, wheels spinning his head. They can be heard even when he starts muttering, "Mirrors... magic... reflections. Magic mirrors reflecting..." Like he's trying to work out A to Z with the rest of the alphabet missing in the middle.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin dumps John's bag on the ground when she arrives and immediatly proceeds to grab a bolt from her... or rather John's bag (now that they are one in the same). With a couple quick twists her wand becomes a bolt driver and she's driving a bolt through her end of the rope and into John's floor. Which is exactly when she realizes that her rope is no longer a rope.

    It takes a deeeeep breath as she standing up to keep from just cussing the piece of rope out.

    That done... calm maintained, she grabs John's bag and walks it over to him. "Huh... she says softly. Almost like someone tried to tell everyone NOT to jump into the mirrors." She thumps the bag into his chest. "You owe me a new satchel, John." It's a jibe, nothing more. A way to let off some of her frustration.

    "Does anything else know how to get in here?" She asks. "Could it have set up a trap?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "What's the point of even bringing me along to this crap if you're going to act like that?" Jubilee repeats, hands on hips. "I came in here so you wouldn't be in here /alone/!" Harmph! Bratty pout.

    "Besides! It's probably also not designed to have an entrance in Westchester, so, we can just ignore the blueprints, then!" Jubilee fires back. "And /that/ means... there /could/ be a way out of here."

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi considers the conundrum. It's not like she knows a lick about mystical affairs. She's a bit out of place. All the same, she's largely curious and begins to walk around and examine the room. In her experience (not that it's very profound) is, if there is a way in, there is often a way out. Roxxi keeps her hands folded behind her back, to lessen the chance of touching something she shouldn't.
     "Maybe a hidden door?" She suggests as Jube's almost echoes her own thoughts.

Radha Tackeray has posed:
"Happened in London too," Radha mutters after what Jubilee says.

"I think all of you folks should just take three nice, deep breaths with your flesh lungs and think about something that brings you joy," says her little robot friend. Radha picks him up, on general principles.

"It could have been some kind of a trap... something ironic, perhaps, if it's some being you'd... confined, trying to get away and take back its pound of flesh."

John Constantine has posed:
    Through the Looking Glass."You don't... my House..." Big H there is nearly audible. "...it's not... It got us here tonight, right? It can get me *anywhere*, there's no end to its exits and entrances. It... " How in the name of All that is Holy does one explain the House of Mystery to a bunch of noob to the shit *kids*. "It's *sentient*." There, that works. Nothing should be able to get in here unless I put it here. No one can get into the House unless I let them in. This shouldn't be *possible*."

    His tone is increasingly agitated as his blood pressure soars and his fear mounts. Bad, it's bad bad bad to be stuck down here.

    "Fuck it..." He strides to the other door in the room and jerks it open. Nope, not *that* way either. It opens into a bright white space of a void, at its center is what appears to be an island suspended in the mid air and let's not even speak of the thing that takes flight from that island as soon as the door's open. It could be a dragon, if dragon's looked more like slimy slugs dripping with ichor than y'know, scaly dragons. ...and if they were the mottled gray of death itself.

    "That was ten months ago. Don't want to do *that* again." Chas *died* during that one, but not something he'll bring up now.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    "Or it could not even be aimed at you. Perhaps the mirrors were tampered with to mess with anyone who was in front of them" Mairin walks around a bit, pacing more then really examining. Her little moth flutters over to land on her shoulder and she reaches up to pet it absently.

    "What if the mirror was reflecting the portal you created to get here?" She asks. "I ran a Brath circle back there and all of the mirrors led somewhere in... here. But this was the focal point. They were all in a circle, pointing at the portal we opened from your house, to get there. What if they reflected that portal, and opened one of their own. To your house, but the worst parts of it?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Ahhh, so this is, like, a disorder, then?" Jubilee mutters back at Radha. To the robot, Jubilee bends down and reaches a hand out to gently patpatpat it on its metal head. "I wish I could, little dude," she says with a smirk. Blink. Wait. Jubilee looks up at John with a sudden seriousness taking over.

    "...Wait, you're serious? This is your actual house?" That part seems to trouble Jubilee. The girl who jumped into a magical mirror into a magical prison for horrible monsters without even a blink is troubled. It doesn't matter that the house is sentient, apparently. The second door holding a giant dragon slug monster back doesn't even matter, either.

    "...I...I...I didn't...I didn't know..." Jubilation stammers, looking over at Roxxi for a moment. That supernatural confidence that she was broadcasting moments ago has left and been replaced with the general aura of a scared teenager. "...Oh fuck." She blinks a couple of times and hunches forward suddenly, gagging. At first, it's nothing, but after a few more, Jubilation wretches, sending a mouthful of blood splattering against the ground.

    Vampires need to be invited in.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Mairin's musing flit past Roxxi's ears, making little sense to her. She does look up as John opens a door. Now wait, that isn't fair, they've gotten to open up doors! The green-haired teen moves to the door closest to her, ready to throw it open. However, Jubilation's distress is enough to distract her. She hurries over and tries to put a comforting arm around her friend. She pats consolingly with a silent 'there there' implied by her touch. A sudden lightning bolt of realization strikes her, remembering a previous situation, with Jubes. "John, John?! Did you invite her in?!"

John Constantine has posed:
    John was back to pacing the floor and muttering under his breath when Mairin started talking. It takes a beat for her words to reach his brain to be processed. He's actually showing outward signs of being a little rattled now. He *knows* what's down here, even the things he didn't put down here... he has a list.

    His attention snaps in the girl's direction. "What did you say?" ... but then he doesn't really need an answer, it just took a beat for the answer to come. "... That's what I saw when I looked at it..."

    "Okay, okay... so, a portal, a bloody fuckin' ugly ass reflection of a portal from my House. How do we..."

    The Jubilee is barfing blood all over the damned place. And Roxxi's talking at him about invitations? "Bloody Hell, no I didn't invite..."

    Oh.

    "I invite you into my home, Elvira." Pace, pace... pace... heart rate through the roof already. "How do we... reverse it." Unraveling the magic of the mirror would be easy from *outside* its effects. Inside... outside... outside... could it *be* that simple.

    No, it can't be because, "How the fuck are we going to tell Paulie to turn the damned things *around*." When he's... out there and they're in here.

Radha Tackeray has posed:
"Oh! It's like a magic Tardis," Radha says to John, smiling.

Then she considers the implications of this, and frowns.

A moment later, Jubilee begins throwing up blood. Radha yelps! "Are you alright?!" she calls to her, from a pace or two further back, before --

Radha looks at Roxxi. Then at John. Then at Jubilee. For a moment, over to Mairin, to whom she explains as if she knows s-word about d-word, "I think that means that she's-- regardless, what's a Brath circle exactly?"

The question of how they escape is, Radha thinks, a very good one. She has no immediate plans.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin spins around to look at Jubilation and for the first time, she looks worried.

    "John! We need to figure this out quickly." Yes, she is now very familiar with the whole, vampires must be invited in, after her time with Demona.

    She walks up to the exorcist, grabbing him by the shoulder. "If the mirrors were reflecting the portal, we should be able to break that effect by breaking the mirrors." She pauses... her own mind going much the same direction as Johns. "Or reverse it by reversing the mirror?" She just actually says it.

    "But would Paul know to do that? Can you comunicate that to him at all?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation drags the back of her hand against her lips and chin. "Thanks, Roxbury," Jubilee mutters. "I'm okay, I'm okay..." She's not. She's not. Blood has started to slowly drip out of wherever it can. Both ears. Her tear ducts. Nose. Mouth. Her fingernails. Probably elsewhere. "I'm fine, I'm fine!" Jubes replies to Radha, rising to stand up straight. The color has drained from her skin, her hair has started to frizz. Bags form under Jubilation's eyes.

    When John invites her in, it's as though some kind of spell is lifted. Jubilee stops leaking blood, she stands up straighter, looks more alert, more full of life. "...Gee, thanks," she says with trace amounts of sarcasm, just in time to hear the new problem of 'how do we tell the guy on the outside something if we're stuck inside'

    "Just...shout for him," Jubilee replies, her voice hoarse. "...I mean, he'll hear us. I heard you when I was out there." Blink. Oh.

    "...I...shouldn't have come in," she mutters to herself, though no doubt everyone could hear it.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi continues to try and soothe Jubes, until the other teen is up and moving. She then turns her attention back to the unopened doors. While the others discuss theories and stratagem, Roxxi is moving towards an as of yet unopened door. Then, if not stopped, she throws it open.

John Constantine has posed:
    "I don't know..." Sure, Paul can *feel* John, as in what he's *feeling* but that doesn't translate to... Paul, turn the bloody mirrors around. Or *does* it? Or maybe...

    "Go stand over there." John to the Slug Dragon Thing door. "Don't *open it*. Does he really need to say it? With this crew? Probably.

    Once everyone is over there, well John strides to the other door and slings it open.

    His heart races in his chest as those red eyes come to view in the distance, terror creeps icy through his very soul. See, Paul Ramsey, does not like Clowns. John Constantine? Does not like spiders. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.

    He's absolutely, positively *terrified*, but at the same time? All he's thinking is 'turn the mirrors, turn the mirrors, turn the mirrors, turn the bloody mirrors, turn them now, before this motherfucking Spider of Unusual Size bites my head off. TURN THE MIRRORS PAULIE!

    None of it comes to Paul as actual words. It comes as 'John's in Danger and this is what he *needs*. Like a feeling, a compulsion just as blinking to his side would be if that's what he needed. Will it work? John has no idea, he's never tried it before. Maybe it'll just confuse an overwhelm the poor bloke.

    There's the outline of those dripping arachnid fangs, black in an only slightly less black face under those red glowing eyes.

    John's heart feels as if it's about to *explode*.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin does as she's told, slapping Roxxi's hand away to keep her from opening the door. "Please... Please... just try to stand still for *one* minute." she begs the girl, all while watching John stand terrified in front of that door.

    She can see what's on the other side. And it terrifies her too. But she doesn't have to stand right in front of it.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Maybe it's... divine providence, or maybe it's luck. Maybe it's just the fact that he's tired of seeing weird clowns in the mirrors.

    Paul feels... something, some compulsion, some /reason/ to... go ahead and turn the mirrors around. So, he does. One by one, and quickly, he grabs each mirror and yanks on it, wrenching it around to be facing away from the place where they first came in. He's stronger than a normal human, so he's able to do this relatively quickly.

Radha Tackeray has posed:
Radha raises a finger to her mouth and bites into the skin at the edge, worrying it as she goes over to one of the doors. She touches it with this droplet of blood and tells the door she has chosen to begin with, "STAY SHUT."

"I suppose this is silly but... are all of you... I mean, especially you, miss...? Are you, er, holding up? Despite this situation?"

John Constantine has posed:
    For this to actually *work*, John knows he has to be scared. So until it does work, he keeps that door open. Closer and closer... it actually looks like the head of a spider now, one that would probably be way too big to get through that door. And did it just hiss John's name or was that just in his head? No, no... it did. It knows how put it here.

    John closes his eyes, or at least he squints them almost shut so he's not looking at that thing coming toward him full frontal. Then he opens one eye and just closes the one. Then, just as the thing might just breech the doorway, the *entire room* shimmers, sifts, goes all desert sun mirage looking.

*SLAM*! Nope, not today. John slams that door.

    Only to find himself looking utterly ridiculous... back in the room with Paul and the backwards mirror ... slamming a door that's not even there with both eyes squeezed shut tight.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Thumpthumpthumpthumpthump. Jubilee's eyes dart around as the sound keeps getting more and more pronounced. She lost a lot of blood just now, relatively speaking, and it's going to need to be returned sooner or later. But, how is she supposed to even think about that over the sound of John Constantine's heartbeat? Thumpthumpthumpthump. "What the..."

    And then she sees it. "It's like we're in one of Freddy Krueger's own nightmares!" she cries out, pressing both of her palms against her ears, as though it might help her keep her mind off of the pulses in the necks all around her.

    And then... They're back.

    "Well, you can all relax, I saved the day," Jubilee quips before taking a few steps away from the others, turning so they can't see her struggling.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Standing still is not something Roxxi does well. Neither is getting slapped even though it's more likely gentle swats and shooing away. What happens next is pure reflex, as Roxxi turns, and jabs quickly at Mairin's upper arm. The strike isn't too hard, but clearly, she knows how to punch.
     And then, just like that, they were back at Westchester High. Roxxi let herself relax and began to laugh. "Oh that was fun. I wish we could have opened more doors, though." The green-haired teen laments quietly.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    "Ow!" Mairin glares at Roxxi and lifts her wand between them, the tip sparking with electricity as she gives her a level look of 'don't. please... don't'

    Then the room shimmers and she's suddenly back in the real world and not guarding anything at all. So backs away from the girl and turns to quick-walk to Paul, her wand snuffing out as she does.

    "You're the best, Paul!" she cries as she wraps him up in a quick hug, before turning to John.

    "You'll have to excuse me if I don't take any Thanksgiving invitations, John."

    But her gaze finishes on Jubilation... her brow furrowed in concern.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul... blinks at the hug, clearly not entirely comfortable with, well, being hugged. "I... you're welcome?" He sounds slightly confused. All he did was turn the mirrors. Then, "Oh, was that the problem? The mirrors?"

    Jubilation gets a slight frown, but that's not really his business to get deeply involved in.

John Constantine has posed:
    "Fucking *Wretched* Pile of Sticks." It wasn't the House's fault, it really really wasn't. John peels his eyes open and takes a breath that's mostly to will his heart to stop racing out of his chest. Another deep breath and he turns to face Paulie.

    He offers the Fallen Angel a wink, a tiny tilted shake of his head and a crooked little grin, tongue poking out just barely from between his teeth. "Aye, and you won the grand prize, love." Might sound a little suggestive that, but it's *John*, is anyone surprised. Only a really talented ear would pick up on the difference between love and 'luv' though and only the truly astute to a situation would even bother to care that he used such a thing in regards to another man.

    He turns away again and it only takes a matter of maybe fifteen minutes for him to have the magic on all the mirrors bound. ...wheels ticking and clicking and clacking as he goes through the steps. How *handy* could these be? Reflecting magic back on the source... darkly.

    John got a 'ping' of something Weird Going Down and not a single person is bleeding in the aftermath. Are there any days that don't end in Y? Because this certainly feels like one.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation is very casually making her way towards the mirror room's actual exit. "Great, so, I'm going to go and complain about this and maybe get my money back," she announces, still facing away from the group. She didn't buy a ticket and never went through the turnstile, but places like this aren't exactly known for giving receipts.

    It's all a lie, anyway. Unfortunately, there's just no easy way to say 'I'm going to go now before I lose control and drain you of your blood.' A lie is just easier.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi quickly forgot about her stand-off with Mairin. At least there's a good side, to having an attention span that flits about like a butterfly's flight. She peered after Jubilation, watching her go. In the distance, a gruff and grumbly voice can be heard demanding entrance, bub.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin watches Jubilation leave, considers going after her, but thinks it might be better if she didn't. She knows how hard it is on Demona when she's.... low.

    So she turns to John instead, watching what he does intently as she goes through his bag and finds all of her bots and pieces. These, she deposits into her bag. It's still a bag even if it no longer has a handle after all. And, with John still working, she just takes a seat.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul nods to John, relief on his face. Once he's certain everyone is alright--letting Jubilation go with a brief nod--he stands to one side and waits while John finishes binding the magic on the mirrors.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation's hasty exit is cut short. She comes gliding back in almost immediately. She's walking normally, one foot after the next, but doesn't seem to be bobbing up and down. That's something that requires effort to do properly and she just doesn't have it in her.

    "Other way, other way, other way!" Jubilee almost shouts. "Logan's here!" she hisses at Roxxi as she passes on her way to the mirror room's /other/ way out. And that's the way Jubilee will go, out of the haunted house and into the Westchester woods, where some animal is about to have a really bad night.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     "Oh, I better go too." She murmurs, mostly to herself. If Mairin is still near, Roxxi attempts to give a distracted hug. Apparently, she's completely forgotten the gentle slaps. She waves to those gathered, then says to John, "Thanks for the fun, I had a great time!"
     Despite Jube's warning, she hurries towards the irate Logan. Better to not run, at this point and just face him. Hopefully, he wasn't aware of Gabby's part in Roxxi's little adventure.

John Constantine has posed:
    Bound and safe, John opens an ... NO! It's all good this time when he opens that portal to the House. "These need to go someplace safe," he murmurs to himself before addressing Paul again, "Love, can you stand on the other side and I'll hand'm across?" He means the other side of the portal that is, the one that seems to open into a single room with no doors to an old Gothic style parlor. If he carries them through, he'll have to keep opening the damned thing.

    Safe, in the House of Mystery, like to be put to use later.

    "Who the fuck's Logan and do I need to kill him?" he mumbles, given Jubilee's reaction. But the girls are gone, one one way and one the other, and there doesn't seem to be anyone in pursuit and no one's screaming so he lets that drop. Thank God right?

    He might already be spinning wheels to try and figure out how to use those things against his current Public Enemy #1.

    All in all, not a bad day.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin s too taken by surprise to return Roxxi's hug. She just stares after the girl as she runs off, and shakes her head slightly. As John finishes up, she stands and walks over. "Can I help at all?" Yes... she IS still here John.

John Constantine has posed:
    "No, luv, this one seems all tied up in a bow," John replies as he's working on moving those mirrors. Once they're all moved to the House, he'll gesture for Mairin to head on through, have her dumped out wherever she wants to go. Before turning to Paulie in that parlor, with them all surrounded by magical mirrors. "That wasn't so bad, aye?"

    No blood, nothing stinks, he didn't puke... definitely could have been worse.