8961/Tea, Magic and Misfits

Tea, Magic and Misfits
Date of Scene:	06 December 2021
Location:	Shadowcrest Manor - Bristol Township
Synopsis:	After Barbara gordon put them together, Zee and Misfit come up with a plan.
Cast of Characters:	Zatanna Zatara, Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe

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Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Like her last visit, a servant meets Charlie at the door and leads her to the library. A long knee-high table of oriental design has been set with a tea service and a set of tiered silver sandwich trays heaped high with cut sandwiches and petit fours. She had seemed to like it last time and Zatanna wants her to be comfortable as they get to know one another.

While she waits, Zatanna is at the desk that sits in the center of the room. A desk owned by Leonardo da Vinci, still in pristine condition, handed down through successive generations of Magicians in her family. A large book, antique from the color of its pages, lies open in front of her.

Zatanna does not wear the iconic formal wear used on stage. She likes Japanese designers, leaning toward a more androgynous style of draped tailoring, seldom wearing anything but black. Like today. A boxy jacket over high waisted pants and a white-tailored shirt.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie shows up the same as the last visit. With a slash of purple and pink smoke that clears on the doorstep to show the chaos muppet in her civilian clothes. The bang of chaos magic as always accompanies it. If nothing else figuring out a way to dampen that clarion call or shield her profile could be useful as all heck. Not that Charlie even seems cognizant that she is loud.

    She bops along after the servant, hands shoved in her hoodie pockets as she enters the library "Ooo.. more little sandwiches. I forgot to ask Alfred about these." she heads over to the tiered trays and peers at a petit fours she didn't see before.

    "How are you today Zatanna?"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
She is amused by the burst of chaos magic on Charlie's arrival, but, only smiles faintly, saying, "Looking forward to seeing you, Charlie. We've got a lot of work in front of us."

Gesturing to the sandwich tray, "Some ascetic sorcerers would say you need to work on an empty stomach. I don't agree! There is juice for you in the pitcher, lemonade, today, I think. And water for us both in the carafe besides tea."

Joining Charlie, Zee helps herself to several small sandwiches, foie gras and cheese, and a tiny strawberry tart.

"Help yourself. I want you to show me what you can do today. And we will work from there."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie after the invite to the sandwich tray does indeed pick up one of the small plates and carefully looks them over. She makes sure to pick one that she liked from last time, but otherwise seems to naturally gravitate towards ones she didn't get to try.

    How will she know if she likes them or is missing out on something if she doesn't try them all at least once right.

    Juice poured into a glass she settles in on the couch and looks to Zatanna. "Happy to show you what I can do.. I mean... right now it is like one thing really." she smiles a bit sheepish but she does seem happy to show off her one trick. "I'm told it's very magical." which is unusual that she had to be told that "What do you want to see or know?"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"If it's not destructive, go ahead and show me. No fires or explosions in the library, please."

The magician wipes her fingers after popping another sandwich into her mouth, putting the plate down in case she has fire control to do.

"Go ahead!" The teen's chaos magic is an outlier for Zatanna's organized, classical magic. She sits back with an expectant expression, intrigued by how different Charlie's chaos magic is from her orderly, classical magic.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie ohs "Well... my teleporting is my one magic trick. It isn't destructive or explosive though don't worry." she pops a small sammich in her mouth and then moves to stand back up.

    "I mean... as long as I only teleport myself it isn't destructive. I can't teleport other living things." she seems very, very serious about that.

    Then in a heartbeat she is gone, a slash of the pink and purple smoke where she was and pretty much in the same instant she is across the room by one of the reading desks. With someone like Zatanna watching, specifically to see what is happening, quite a bit could be clear.

    The application of chaos magic almost seems reflexive. What the teenager is doing though is blatantly convincing reality that she was not by the couch but was always by the desk. It's a violent trick on the fabric of realtiy and worked flawlessly. No wonder it is loud to the mystic senses though. Also there didn't seem to be a cost extracted.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
A pause, pregnant with surprise, a moderate amount of shock for what was done to reality and a tiny sneeze follow.

eiknaH, she mutters, frowning as she puzzles out what Charlie just did.

"No one? That's unusual and inconvenient, I imagine. That smoke... certainly makes it easy to tell where you are. Hard to hide, too. But quick and instinctive from the looks of it."

Standing up, she walks a step away from the couch and slashes the air, then palm to palm opens her hands and walks forward. There is a barely discernible pfft of air when Zee appears at Charlie's side. "No smoke. But different magic, it does cost a bit. More as you learn it, less with practice. Porting people takes more energy. But we are not there yet."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Evidently she meant it about just living, she pops the rest of the small sammich in her mouth as stands by the reading desk watching Zatanna study her.

    "It's... really bad for the other living being if I try to take them with me. They don't really make it in one piece to the destination." which is really code for violent explosion as strain of reality trying to deal with them being yanked along on that trick spreads them into a fine mist across the local space. "My mom made me promise never to try that... or well use my powers.. but mostly I think she wanted to make sure I didn't accidently explode anyone...." she sounds distant there, like there is some trauma. Probably definitely trauma.

    She watches Zatanna do the spell and then nods slowly. "That is... a very neat trick. Uh.. what does it cost?" puzzled tone. "How far can you go with it?"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zee sniffs then wipes her nose with the hanky, which she crumples into her fist, making it disappear without paying much attention.

"It's a bit like running, not that you're breathless when you arrive. But how do you feel after you've run a few blocks or let's say, half a mile, and recovered your breath? Like that. Porting people takes more energy.If you go by ordered magic, you might lose the smoke. I'm not saying don't do that, but for stealth, something less recognizable as you, it might be good to learn."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "Oh.... that makes sense.. like using a muscle or burning calories. But magical calories." she considers "What do you mean ordered magic?" yeah she probably needs a primer book or something to be made to take home and study. She steps back across the room for her lemonade.

    "Do you want to see me go farther.. or somewhere specific?" she smiles brightly. "I can go like.. pretty much anywhere I think. I haven't tested it but .. I just sort of need to think about it and I can go somewhere. Even if I haven't been there before.... which is cool I think." which is cool. Also very unsuual.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The magician nods thoughtfully, "Tell me when you port like that, are there any other side affects? It has the strangest signature to it."

"Well! That is a big question. Everything, or most everything is ordered. Most everything in this plane of existence has an intrinsic structure to it that takes energy to maintain. Vaclav Havel says: 'Just as the constant increase of entropy is the basic law of the universe, so it is the basic law of life to be ever more highly structured and to struggle against entropy.'

She sniffs again, "I'm a nerd."

"The portal magic posits that all points in space are connected. Think of it as going from A to B. NO matter the distance, they are quite close. Do you use logomancy at all? That might be a good aid for you. The farther you go, the more energy needed, if you don't know someone at your destination, or know it a map can help. "

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "No side effects that I am aware of.. I mean other then the smoke... which I thought looked cool. I mean .. it's dramatic and mysterous.. also pretty right?" oh god, is she causing the smoke because she is convinced it looks cool and pretty without even realizing it.

    "Logomancy sounds like math... I mean the part about it all being connected does make sense. I just .." she considers. "I just think about it though. Like oh I want to go to the top of Big Ben... and then I bounce there.. or if I want to visit someone. I could just be like thinking about wanting to meet Superman and I'd bounce wherever he is." which is really something else. "Oh.. side effects. It doesn't seem to set off alarms or be stopped by magic wards and junk." which alarming but if she is violently convincing reality she was there all along, that makes a bit of sense. It isn't a traditional portal in any sense. Madness. But sensible. Chaos really.

    "So um, order magic. Did Mr. Havel write a book on it or is he a scientist... is there a book on all of this?" she glances around at the library and her expression goes sheepish. "Is this all books on magic?"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna's eyes widen slightly at how cool the pink smoke looks. It takes an effort for her not to show her alarm. "Believe it or not, he is a Czech poet and dissident. No magic but it is a good quote about entropy and I'm a nerd."

Turning to look at the collection. "A lot of it is. Some of it is medicinal, herbals, botany, and religions...mystical speculation, speculation on the universe, Talmudic studies, Egyptian, Greek and Chinese scholars and sorcerers writing about the world. Even Buddhists." She sighs, happily, "It would take 3 lifetimes to get through it all. The secret is good cataloging. The older books never heard of indexing." She measures the girl for a moment, "Up for some reading then? You can. But I believe, you'll just need practice to believe in yourself."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "Well I figure I am up for homework of the magic variety. Especially since there isn't a magic wizard school for teenagers out there in the world. Which I am going to die mad about at this rate because that would be so cool. Even if the author turned out to be a bit of a bad person... magic school. Good idea."

    She picks up another sandwich. Maybe she gets hungry from the bouncing. Maybe she is just a teenager with an amp'd metabolsim. "I'll do whatever homework.. practice or otherwise you think will help Zatanna. I'm excited to try to figure all of this out." she means it to. She is enthusiastic and if nothing else has a whole lot of confidence. The believing in herself may not be the hard part.

    Though it will be interesting to see how she takes to Order magic instead of Chaos.

    "LSo load me up teach." she grins.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"You asked for it!"

As nerdy as Zatanna can be about magic, she never sets out to hurt feelings over misnomers or lack of knowledge.

Chewing the inside of her lips to not smile, she queries gently, "Do you ever uses words to make spells. In our family, we attach the magic to words spoken backwards. Have you ever done that? It's logomancy. Homo magi use it frequently. It's a kind of fast track magic."

"If you want to stealth into a situation, you can portal using my method but keep yours for other adventures. Does that work for you? Want to try?"

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie sits on the edge of the arm of the couch as she nibbleso n the new sammich. "I've never tried to do magic. I mean not really. I thought that the whole bouncing thing was actually like a metahuman thing like.... all of those superheroes. Like mutants. I had no idea it was magic until someone told me it was and .. woah right."

    She smiles brightly though because well she is excited to be talking about this.

    "I can try logomancy though if you think I should.. and I'd love to learn a way to be sneakier. It would help fighting crime I think."

    Honestly it is like square one on learning magic.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna picks up on her enthusiasm that almost but not quite covers darker corners, places where the magician feels she must proceed cautiously.

"Finish your sandwich. Let's try it. Portal with me once, paying attention to the magic, then do it on your own." There is no suggestion of taking someone with her yet. Something tells her that she might panic at the notion.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    That isn't a bad assumption. There is a very important reason why she doesn't transport someone through rewriting reality. Why she knows other 'living beings' can't go with her. Trauma.

    She stuffs the small finger sandwich into her mouth and swallows then pops back up to her feet "Reathy." she saws chewing and padding back over to stand by Zee.

    Yup tons of enthusiasm.

    She looks sidelong now to study Zee "So um.. I can feel it when people do magic I think. Is that what you mean about paying attention to the magic?"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"That's exactly what I meant. I bet you could tell me, step by step what you do when you bounce. It's part of being homo magi. All the things you were told not to do." The latter said with a measure of sadness. The magician has an idea of the girl's potential power.

"Alright let's go outside. Then we will each come back to this room, using the same method but separately."

Zee uses hand gestures and words, in a very didactic portal opening. A hand knifes the air, then palms together she separates and enlarges the line hovering in the air, that only another magician could see. At the same time, she whispers loud enough for Charlie to hear, ".edistuo latroP"

Pffft. She is gone.

A disembodied voice says, "Come on through."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "I'm ..actually not entirely sure I could tell you step by step how I do the bouncing." she muses thinking about it. There is no visible casting or words or anything and all. It fooled her into thinking she was a mutant as well.

    She does watch very closely as Zee uses hand gestures and words and then uses the backwards talk to pull the portal open. She can sense it. See it. Seeing isn't quite the right word but she can sense the orderly magic and the portal being drawn into existence. "Coming."

    Then she steps through to follow Zee outside. The coming back in is the test she figures of casting her own spell right.

    Once outside with Zee she finishes her thought. "Oh.. I remembered a side effect. I heal when I bounce myself? Like one time I was shot through the stomach but ... when I bounced I come out healed?" which further cements that what she is doing is what it feels like. She isn't teleporting or doing a portal spell. She is resetting fundamental reality to being somewhere else and .. or.. and.. creating herself there but her idealized non-injured self.

    The ... power required for that is daunting.

    Charlie is just blithely chipper about it.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Internally, Zee launches into an impressive rant that she hopes doesn't show on her face. Only her nostrils pinching slightly might give it away.

"Heals you does it?"

She takes a deep breath. It's all she can do not to yell, "Hecate, mother of us all!" R
Instead, she says mildly, "We need to talk about that. That...takes a lot of energy from someplace. Ready, to go the classical way?"

Zee repeats the hand gestures and backward spell to demonstrate again. Not needing those props to portal normally unless taking a crowd with her.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Yeah Charlie is much too excited about having stepped through a magical portal. "Those things always make me a bit dizzy.. which is funny cause I do magical teleporting all the time right." she looks around the outdoors. "Oh um.. yeah I mean.. sometimes it takes a couple of bounces. Like one time a bad guy in Gotham stabbed me a lot and it hurt bad but it was all gone after I bounced away from them and then back to kick them in the head."

    Maybe the fact she was really hurt meant she couldn't picture herself at the other end without the stabbing. Regardless. Damn. It isn't a portal whatever cursed chaos reality mucking is going on though for certain.

    Charlie does step closer and watches very closely at the mundane portal spell. Mundane. Classical. Okay right. The hand movements and the words. She nips her lower lip then steps half a step away from you and lifts her hands. She slowly works through the motions with her hands and then murmurs. ".edistuo latroP" as she tries to pull line apart so she can step through.

    It doesn't pop the first time. She furrows her brow and then does it again after corredcting her hands a bit.

    There is a flavor of chaos there despite it being an ordered spell, but it is quiet like it should be.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Perhaps the whiff of chaos will always be there. Every magician has an aroma to their magic, not real but an impression they leave. Constantine, she swears really has a whiff of sulphur and cigarette smoke to his. Her father's signature was frankincense and burned acorns. She has been told her's leaves the impression of aloe wood with a sharp tang of cinnamon. Charlie's is just wild and she can't identify it yet.

"Well done! That felt nearly textbook right." So much of magic is controlled by the temperament of the caster. That wildness doesn't surprise Zee in the least. Does the chaos shape the girl or the girl shape the chaos is the question.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie nods "I could feel it." she notes her brow pinched a little like perhaps a touch of stress from it all. She shuffles her footing a little bit and bows her head and then goes through the hand motion once more and murmurs ".edistuo latroP" as she feels through it trying to pull that line of power to her and apart so she can step through an actual single person portal spell.

    It works. It has this sensation of chaos still but almost crystaline and hard to it. Surpisingly concrete for something that almost tastes on the senses as wild chaos. Also dark red. None of this is visual but it is distinctive as a signature. No pink and purple smoke. The scent well a bit like fire. Not smoke but fire.

    Still .... pfft she is gone... staggering on the otherside and wobbling to sit down on the couch. Pinching the bridge of her nose like it gave her a headache.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna reaches for the tea that a servant refreshed while they were gone.

She cautions, watching her pinch the bridge of her nose, "Mmmm. that's enough Charlie, not everything you cast will give you a headache. Your magic is wild which is not a bad thing in and of itself. This will help you sneak and maybe help you port others when you're ready. You can't rush these things and you have already done very well for a first try at magic so alien from what you do instinctively."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "Okay." she says unhappily about it though. She has a splitting headache and she has no idea why. She is pretty sure this must be the cost that Zatanna was talking about. Like working a muscle that has never been worked.

    She is absolutely wrong about that line of thinking but it is an understandable mistake since Charlie has no perspective on it. What is actually going on is the magically enforced mental blocks and suppressed memories of a time when she did magic is being ground towards conciousness.

    She reaches for her lemonade and takes a big drink "I did do it though... and that... is totes cool!" she smiles despite the scrunch of pain.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Absolutely, totes cool," she nods emphatically, wondering at what generated the sudden onset of pain. Thought she rather thinks it /isn't/ a magical conflict but something else.

"Okay. No more of that today. We will practice again and try something else next time. How would you feel about meeting some other magic users, not homo magi, per se but powerful people in their own right or when they manifest the powers of the Gods they speak for. I was thinking of Jon Sims for starters."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "I like meeting new people. I've met a few magic peeps through Constantine's friends and his bar. We went hunting for a jack the ripper serial killer in London one time.. that was rad... also fought faeries in a park too. Also very cool."

    The headache seems to be fading with distance from the magic. "How does one speak for a god?" she ponders then nods. "If you want me to meet someone just tell me where to be Zatanna." a smile. She doesn't seem to know Jon Sims though no recognition.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"I will. Never worry. I thought you may have met a few magicians already." She regards the young girl with so much power and potential thoughtfully a moment. "It's important that you meet the ones that will help. I didn't when I was your age and nearly didn't live to regret it." End of that story for now, little by little they will get to know each other.