9445/Pendants for Puss, Circles for Cats

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Pendants for Puss, Circles for Cats
Date of Scene: 04 January 2022
Location: Lydia's Apartment.
Synopsis: Terry comes over to Lydia's to see if she can't cobble something together to make it so that he can fight without tripping.
Cast of Characters: Lydia Dietrich, Terry O'Neil
Tinyplot: Path of Glory


Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia had been given Terry's number to call, with the note that he needed help being warded against angels in the oncoming invasion. Intrigued, Lydia gave him a call and offered to meet him at her apartment, which is where all of her supplies are.

She got here early, to turn up the heat and warm up the place. She leaves the heat off most of the time because she doesn't really feel the cold anymore, but always turns it up in case she has company. She also went to the store to buy some cookies, and checks to make sure her tea and coffee collection are well stocked.

Now all that's left is for the man of honor to arrive.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
And arrive he does. After knocking on the door, the Cheshire cat steps back to make sure he's presentable. He is dressed with unseasonably light clothes, because the cold doesn't bother him anyways- at least, up to a certain point. Being covered in fur does have as many advantages in winter as disadvantages in summer.

He silences his cell phone, but keeps the T-comm clipped to his ear in case of emergencies. A necessary precaution when you never know if a host of angels or aliens will suddenly decide to descend upon one city or another. This is life, nowadays.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia opens the door and gives Terry a pleasant smile. "Come on in," she says, taking a step back to let the Titan in. Once in, she closes the door and makes her way to the kitchen. "Would you like any coffee, tea? I don't really have anything else because... well... I don't drink anything other than... you know," she says with a shrug.

The vampiress is dressed casually, with blue jeans and a cream button down blouse that's a bit ruffly at the cuffs. Her pale skin and ruby lips mark her as something not quite human, and as always motes of black ectoplasm fall gently around her like the inverse of snow.

"So Jon mentioned that you'd needed help being protected from angels?" She asks. "Can you tell me a bit more about that?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh, don't bother yourself on my account. I wouldn't expect you to have any of those things ready," the Cheshire cat grins as he comes in. "Water's just fine."

He is dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, intentionally not wearing his hero attire so as not to draw attention.

Well, more attention than necessary, felinity and all. He had approached the building invisible, too, to avoid being identified on the street and thus avoiding any curious people. If he knows something about magical people, it's that they enjoy their privacy.

"Well- it's like this... any time I am exposed to any significant amount of holy magic or anything related to order, magically, I kind of..." he waves his hand, "kind of trip balls. Go totally goofy, like I just spent a night trying to drink an Amazon under the table." He shrugs, "As you can imagine... with all of this Archangel Michael nonsense, unless I find a way to protect myself from that, I am going to be absolutely /useless/."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia almost pouts. "What kind of hostess would I be if I didn't offer tea or coffee," she says moving to retrieve a glass and filling it with filtered water from the fridge. "I even bought fig newtons."

She hands off the water and makes her way into the living room. The only reason why it's a living room and not a library is because it has a comfortable looking couch and a TV taking up space in the myriad of bookshelves that line the wall. There's also an old roll-up style writing desk set off to the side that looks like a well loved antique, and under the coffee table is a large chest that has a faint aura of magic about it.

"Please, sit," she says, motioning to the couch. "So you need something to protect yourself from the holy energy so you can engage the angels," she concludes.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Basically," Terry says, sitting down on the couch and giving the living room a cursory glance, paying attention to the many, many bookcases. "I like your living room. I had to switch to digital because I ran out of room at my apartment," he confides, grinning, and taking a sip from his glass.

"The heart of it is that I'm, essentially, the Cheshire cat, and I am a creature of chaos magic. Holiness and order don't hurt me, but they put me off goofy," for a moment, his head changes into that of a certain famous animated dog, before returning to normal, "and the situation being what it is, I need help. How does someone ward themselves against that? I realize there's a lot I don't know about magic. Over in Wonderland, my Cheshire half just needed to think up something and it'd happen!"

he deflates a little. "Over here, things apparently are a lot harder."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia can't help but chuckle as Terry does a bit of shapechanging. "At least it doesn't hurt," she says. "I'm running out of space, myself, but I just can't bring myself to go digital. There's just something about a physical book that you don't get with an ereader. The smell... the way the pages flip through your fingers, that kind of thing. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get to that point."

She settles herself in front of the coffee table and drags out the heavy looking chest. "You can ward yourself against just about anything," she explains, grinning. "One of the first wards that I learned was a ward against hedgehogs. You'll never see a hedgehog within a hundred meters from here."

There does seem to be any kind of lock or latching mechanism on the chest, simply a small hole. She sticks out an index finger and an ebony tendril of ectoplasm extends and inserts itself into the chest. After a moment there's an audible *click* and she opens the chest.

"A regular circle isn't going to help unless, that is, you want to tattoo it on your body." She gives Terry a mischievous grin, "We'd have to shave your body for that, and then you'd look silly, so I think we can count that out."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry watches the proceedings with great curiosity, his eyes widening as the magical chest is unlocked.

"Oh, yes. We can completely jump over /that/ option, I don't want to look like one of those weird furless cats. For starters, Gar would never let me live it down. And Troia. Troia would take pictures and post them on the Titan website."

He crosses a leg over his right knee. "So what other options do I have? And I imagine that wards do have a limit as to how much power they can hold back?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"Gar?" Lydia asks curiously. She knows Troia, but only in passing. She was there when Mystique held the Lasso of Truth to announce her legitimacy, and she was there at the first formal meeting of the Justice League Dark. Gar, however she has no clue about.

When she opens the chest, the aura of magic grows a bit stronger. "I'm thinking an amulet," she says as she rummages around in the trunk. "That way you can take it with you." She looks thoughtful as she pulls out a old, worn grimoire, some chalk, a few candles and a small green vial. "Hm... where did I put it..." she mutters to herself as she continues to search for something.

Shaking her head she gets up and goes over to the roll up desk and slides it open. "Ah! Here we go. She grabs a small, ornate silver box and returns to the coffee table sitting crosslegged. "I wouldn't get too close to too many powerful angels," she suggests. "You should be fine fighting the lesser ones, and just... you know... /being/ in Manhattan while the invasion happens. We don't have a lot of time, and I don't think I can get the materials for something stronger, especially with the evacuation going on."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Glancing at the silver box, his curiosity getting dialed to 11. "That... may work up to a point, but I wonder how long it'll be before the powerful ones start coming out of the woodwork..."

He taps his chin, "Gar... oh, he's Beast Boy. One of my boyfriends," he says casually, scratching his chin. "Troia mentioned something to Jon... she wondered if a sufficiently powerful burst of chaos could do to angels what a powerful burst of order does to me..." he glances up at the vampiress, "Do you have any thoughts about that?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"One of your boyfriends?" Lydia asks with amusement. "How many do you have?" She shakes her head and turns to her book, flipping through the pages. "Chaos should be more effective than not. What's /more/ effective is if you can channel the primal chaos of the Void the... nothing that came before creation. We were able to use it to effectively bind the Archangel Michael." She looks up and gives Terry a humorless smile, "That's why he's so angry at me personally. I designed the circle for it."

"I can't power my own circles anymore," she explains, not since... well... /this/ happened to me." She runs her hand along her pale white jaw, indicating her vampirism. "So when I get everything ready, I'll need you to power it."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"... only two. And before you ask- they know about each other. It's a long story. Involving interdimensional travel, being presumed missing in action, and a telepathic extraterrestrial's perspective on relationships." Clear as mud. But it would probably make a good book.

"I see... I can do my best to power out. The biggest issue I have is that I can't really access what should be my /full/ potential. I sometimes feel like my human side gets in the way somewhat..." He crosses his arms, "I really should know more about magic than I do," he chuckles a little.

"So the amulet could shunt some holiness away from me. Is there anything that could give my chaos an ooomph?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia just blinks at Terry as he explains his boyfriend situation. "Boy," she breathes as she flips through the pages. "and I thought /my/ life was weird." A few more flips and she finds the pages she needs. "Ah. This is close. With some modifications it should serve its purpose."

She clears a spot on the coffee table and takes the chalk and starts outlining a circle. It starts out simple enough, but soon enough she's adding lines and glyphs and even Hebrew letters into the mix.

"Do you know how to use any weapons?" she asks. "Simplest thing would be to turn a weapon into a focus and use that. That kind of thing can take a while, though, depending on what it is you're making."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I know how to use swords and bludgeoning weapons. I've gotten training from Troia and Harley Quinn on those, respectively?but I don't /own/ a weapon, per se. I tend to make my own..." he extends a hand and, in a rush of chaos magic, a glowing flamingo mallet appears in it. "So in a way, my weapon is already chaos personified. But I can't create swords or other poky things. Not without..." he trails off.

He clears his throat. "There's something that happens if I stay too long as this part of myself. Chaos starts accumulating. I get reckless and? not exactly. Well." He clears his throat, "I am usually not in my best frame of mind at that point. When I reach that state, I can summon, er, the vorpal blade. But it's /not/ a good place to be."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia looks up at Terry in surprise. Of all the things that she had expected to happen, summoning a glowing flamingo mallet was not one of them. "Interesting," she says. "My point was, that if you had a focus of some kind that you could channel your magic through, it makes it easier to pour more magic out of it without it backfiring. The shape of the focus should match what you want to use your magic /for/, which is why I suggested a weapon."

When she's done inscribing the circle, there's something about the strange geometry about it that makes it hard to look at. She places the candles at the four cardinal points and unstoppers the small vial. She reaches for the silver box but hesitates. "You may want to prepare yourself," she warns. "In here contains some angelic artifacts. I don't know how strong they are since I can't sense magic anymore, but I don't think they'd be /too/ strong. I'll try to keep your exposure to a minimum, but be prepared to get a little loopy."

She quickly opens up the silver box. The angelic energy isn't strong, but it /is/ noticeable. Inside are a collection of blue flower petals that fade off into white. She takes one and quickly stuffs it into the vial and stoppers it and immediately closes the lid, cutting off the energy. She looks up at Terry, hopeful that she just didn't get the cat person high as a kite.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The Cheshire blinks a couple of times, and for a second the air around him acquires a multicolored aspect, as if he were the personification of the rainbow itself- but the colors fade away within seconds. Terry takes a few breaths and blinks again, looking down at his hands, and then back up at Lydia.

"That was a little different. I'm okay, though. Sober. I think."

He touches the tip of his nose with alternating index fingers, and nods, "Sober."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods in satisfaction. She pulls a little etching tool out of the chest and starts inscribing little Hebrew letters along the six facets of the green crystalline vial. "Good, good. Those petals were from the archangel Gabriel after he poofed back into Heaven," she explains. "At first I was going to throw them out, but you never know when you're going to need something created by an angel."

Placing the vial in the center of the circle amidst a smattering of runes she starts lighting the candles. "Okay. So. Every kind of magic has it's own... frequency, let's say. It has its own resonance. This will act kind of like active noise cancellation, where it picks up the resonance of the petal inside the vial and repeats it out of phase, thus canceling it around you."

She pulls out a notebook and starts scribbling down some words, spelled phonetically. "So what I need you to do is touch the circle right on the edge. You should feel it wanting to draw power from you. Go ahead and feed it some of your energy and then read these words aloud." She hands the slip of paper over to the cat. "The incantation and the circle will be enough to power the amulet and you should be good to go."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Wait... Gabriel sheds /flowers?/" Terry asks in disbelief, "Huh, I would've never put him down as a flower child."

The Cheshire cat listens to the instructions, carefully, and reaches to touch the circle on the edge. He shudders. "Oh yeah, I feel it! Let's see..."

He stares at the writing and rehearses the words in his mind before he finally speaks them, carefully and as deliberately as he can, quietly hoping that he gets it right and not cause some sort of magical conflagration.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia sits back to watch Terry as he powers the circle. It glows faintly at first, but Terry speaks it grows brighter, the colors swirl together shifting chaotically. When Terry utters the last syllable, there's an audible *pop* and the sound of a party noisemaker and confetti rains down on them.

Lydia blinks in surprise, raising a hand to catch one of the pieces of paper as it flutters down. "Well," she says, amusement in her voice, "I think that means it worked." She picks up the vial and pulls out some silver filigree, and starts winding it around the enchanted object. Once done, she hooks it around a leather thong to be used as a pendant.

"Here you go," she says. "Do you want to give it a go? I can open the box of petals and bring it close to you to see if you can feel anything."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry blinks in surprise as well, "Wait... that's that? Wow... I thought there'd be more... you know. Gesticulation." Which is what you get when you read too many D&D Manuals.

He glances at the vial, "Sure, let's give it a go! I should be very careful in combat with the vial... what would happen," he muses, "if it were to break?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"I mean... you can gesticulate if you want," Lydia says with a small shrug. "Usually you don't need it for simple circle work. A bigger ritual might be more involved though. The moldavite crystal that's holding it should be sturdy enough, but if it should break the enchantment should just drop. You won't get any backlash or anything."

She snags the ornate silver box and brings it around to where Terry is sitting. "Ready?" she asks. Once affirmed she opens the box and holds it out to him. Inside there's quite a few of the blue-white flower petals, which should be enough for Terry to tell if the enchantment is working.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
As the chest opens, the Cheshire flinches reflexively--- but then he opens an eye, looking slightly embarrassed.

"I... think that works!" He says, sitting up straighter and glancing at the flowers again, "Okay, I have to know... why does Gabriel shed flowers?" he says, holding on to the amulet. "That's something I never even /heard/ about...."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"If you ask me, which you just did, I think he was just showing off at that point," Lydia says with a grin, closing the lid. She goes back to the chest and starts putting the myriad of stuff she pulled out of it away. "I mean, if you could disappear in a puff of pretty petals, wouldn't you? I sure would."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I guess. But that's decidedly un-angelic. Isn't humility supposed to be a virtue?" The cat chuckles and stands up, hanging the amulet around his neck. "In any case, what can I do for you in return for this amulet? There must surely be something I can do..." He pauses. What /could/ he do for a vampire? It's not like she would need help with groceries...

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia stands up with Terry and walks over to him, resting an amiable hand on his shoulder. "The only thing I ask for is that you don't die in this conflict, okay?" She gives him a serious smile, "We're all in this together. Now's not the time to be hanging favors on acts of preservation."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry smirks, "I can promise, but I hope I'm able to live up to it. I've never fought angels before. Demons? once. I really wish I could find a way to become a chaos cannon and weaponize myself as easily as they weaponize themselves." He chuckles.

He pauses for a moment, and reflects. "You know... that circle stuff you did... it looks fascinating. Do you mind if, after all this is done, I come by to learn more about it? I don't really have that much information about magic..."

He gestures, "I mean, Raven is one of the Titans, but to be frank I don't think she'd appreciate me coming around with questions of the sort. SHe's rather. Uh. Private."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia grins when Terry mentions becoming a chaos cannon. "Speaking of which, I'm working on something like that for Michael. Should put him down for a while but it's something I'm going to need help with powering. We could use your help powering the thing."

She chews her lower lip as she considers Terry's request. "I'm pretty much self taught," she says. "I feel like I'm kind of winging it most of the time, but I can teach you the basics. Got a book here that has /all/ kinds of wards and circles that you can study from."

"The stuff I do is a lot of geometry and math with Hebrew. You don't happen to speak Hebrew would you?" she asks hopefully.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry shakes his head, "Irish Catholic family, unfortunately," he chuckles "Which is why I'm so eager to kick angel ass. But I'll gladly read the book once all of this nonsense is over..." he pauses, and then he glances at the room, at the bookcases.

"Are you evacuating your books? I mean. It would be a terrible shame if something happened to your library because a winged asshole got punched through a wall..." he scratches his chin. "I have an extra room in my apartment in Metropolis. We could Rabbit Hole your books there to keep them safe?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia gives off a little chuckle and a grin. "Didn't think so. Want to learn?"

She follows his gaze towards her books and thinks about it for a moment. "Yeah," she decides. "It's either that or the Asteroid. I'll get Theo to help me move them either way. It'll be easier, and I'll get to treat him to some dinner."

She turns back to the cat, "Thank you for the offer. Thank you for even /reminding/ me of the possibility that my library could get damaged. If we don't have any space to spare in the Asteroid I'll take you up on your offer."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I'd love to learn. I have a lot to learn, once we help save the world, right?" He grins, a little less pessimistic now that he doesn't feel as useless in the coming fight.

"I should head back, though. I have to try to convince my mother and my cousin to evacuate. Considering they're related to me, it's going to be like herding..." he pauses, and chuckles, "Herding cats, I guess. O'Neils don't run. But we also have the self-preservation instincts of ferrets on cocaine."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia laughs at the metaphor, "I know what you mean. My parents are being stubborn and won't leave our house in Brooklyn." She chuckles with a shake of her head, "Hopefully we can contain the fighting to Manhattan. We /really/ want to keep the collateral damage to a minimum."

"Anyway. I'm glad I was able to help. We're going to need everybody we can get to handle this." A sigh escapes her lips, "Unfortunately, fighting the angels is just stalling for time. We're reasonably sure that the solution for this doesn't come from battle so... start thinking outside the box on this one. Let us know if you come up with something, no matter how crazy it may be."