9634/Space for Plans

Space for Plans
Date of Scene:	14 January 2022
Location:	The Gardens
Synopsis:	How to corral an angel.
Cast of Characters:	Lydia Dietrich, Zatanna Zatara, Phoebe Beacon

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Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia likes coming up to the gardens to write. There's nothing quite like it on Earth. Literally. She sits with her back propped up against one of the many trees that line the gardens, with her journals in her lap, which she's writing in. She's writing down what had happened at the fountain last night. It's all part of the project that she has undertaken to record all the events that have to do with the great game that they've all been playing.

She's in the middle of a sentence when there's a *poof* of displaced air and a bit of purple smoke, and a folded piece of parchment flutters down into her lap. She blinks at it for a second, surprised at it's sudden existence, before picking it up and reading. Zee's coming for a visit, it informs her.

She grabs her phone and dials up H & D. "Hey guys. I've got a visitor coming in the gardens. She's a teleporter and a friendly so you can ignore the alarms when she suddenly pops up." There's a pause as they ask her a question. "Yeah. Add her to the list. It may not be the only time she's up here." And with that, she folds closed her journal and waits for her guest.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The raven-haired woman dressed in armor nods to Lydia and then walks straight to the wall of the glass domed faerie garden to look out into space. The magician stands silently for nearly a minute before turning back to her host with a bemused smile.

"It's incredibly beautiful Lydia. I had heard but hearing and seeing are not the same. We should consider moving the headquarters out here." She makes a sweeping gesture that encompasses the garden, "It's like walking into the best of futures for humanity in space."

Her bemused look becomes more serious as she comes closer. "Thank you for your part at the fountain last night. You said something that really intrigued me about seals. You seem to have realized some important things that I haven't."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"In about half an hour, the Earth should be coming into view. We're in geosynchronous orbit around Genosha. That's when things get /really/ breathtaking." She takes a large rubber band and binds all her journals together and gracefully stands up. "We had offered the Asteroid for temporary headquarters while the attack was going on, but it was decided that the optics would look bad." She shrugs without rancor, "Too many people think that we're still in the terrorism business."

"Come on. Let's go sit by the pond and we can feed the koi while we talk." As they walk she explains what she was talking about last night. "A couple of days ago, I had a dream. I /don't/ dream. Not anymore. Not since..." she shakes her head. "When I sleep I just kind of just turn off, unlike when I was alive. But, I dreamt, so you can tell why that's something of a remarkable event."

They take a path that winds through the trees and grass until they come across a rather large pond, with a ten foot waterfall feeding it and some benches around the area. She goes over to one of the rocks that line the pond and does something to it to make it click open to reveal a hidden little cache of koi treats. She picks out a bag and walks over to one of the benches and holds it out to Zee to take before settling down.

"I dreamt that I was above Manhattan, looking down on it. First that came to me was six points of light in different colors. They form a Magen David which will open a path directly to Gaea herself." She looks up at Zee, her hazel eyes glittering, "One of those points was the Fountain. I can tell you exactly where the other six are that we need to defend to keep Michael from opening up that door."

"That wasn't the only thing that was shown to me. Eleven more lights appeared in Manhattan, in the shape of a Sefirot. When activated, these will seal the door, or portal, or whatever it is that the Magen David describes, for good. Michael and his forces won't be able to use it to gain access to Gaia."

"I've already started scouting the points," she says digging out her phone. "Being able to fly around Manhattan as a raven is handy. The angels just don't pay me any mind. I've already marked all the locations on the map Meggan set up for us, and I've been leaving a mark on the places where we need to inscribe the circles."

She starts going through her photos on her phone until she finds the one that she wants and shows it to Zee. It's a rather nondescript part of Manhattan, one of the alleyways really. On one of the walls there's a peculiar scribble. "It's the Hebrew Tav," she explains. "It was used by the angels to mark worthy people to be spared from the Angel of Death during the ten plagues from the book of exodus." She gives the woman a wicked grin. "Literally X marks the spot."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna brushes her fingers over leaves as she walks, leaving them to waver in the quiet air behind them. She stops before a beautiful flowering plant and stares, then comes to herself and takes a few steps to catch up with Lydia, "It sounds like Passover to me. Except that all humanity are the Egyptians with the exception of a selected few? Did I understand that correctly? And it seems to me they want a world with no injustice by visiting a great injustice on us. Frankly, I'm confused and feel relegated to a spear carrier, right now." She sighs and adds, I know that can change."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia shakes her head and quickly clarifies. "Nonono. The mark is a little joke of mine. I wanted something to mark the spot where we'll build the circles, and in Hebrew, Tav was derived from a tally mark, and was used in Passover." She gives Zee a lopsided grin. "I was just trying to be clever."

"No, the real point is that we need to construct a Sefirot that stretches the length of Manhattan that will seal the portal to Gaea before Michael has a chance to open it," she explains, taking a small handful of pellets and tossing them into the pond. Soon the water is a flurry of activity as the nine fish suck up their treats.

"The Sefirot is the skeleton of the spell though," she says. "I'm glad you came to see me. I was going to talk to you about this because I'm going to need help building the eleven circles, and then I'll /really/ need help getting them down and activated. We'll need to be doing this under the radar so the angels will have no idea what it is that we're up to. We may want to get Phoebe, too. She's clever, but she's also busy with her angel battery."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The woman taps her chin while thinking aloud. "What do I know about the Sefirot? Not a lot, it's one of those things that I have /meant/ to study but like a lot of things, events outstrip my time. I should likely just ask about the elven circles and if are they related to the individual sefirot?"

She holds out her hands and counts on each finger, slowly, "Like The supreme crown, wisdom, intelligence, love, might, beauty, eternity, majesty, foundation, and kingship or leadership. Whew. That's all I know and remember."

"We will need someone else, someone with a particular light. Do you mind me summoning Phoebe if she is available, Lydia?

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods in agreement, "Keter, Chokhmah, Binah, Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malkuth. There's an eleventh, Da'at. Not every sefirot uses it, but we'll need to. It's... balance. It's all the seferot bound together. It's the interconnectedness that ties it all together We'll be needing that one, too."

She nods when Zee suggests that they bring Phoebe up here to talk with them. She whips out her phone again and sends out a text. "She says to come and get her. I'll go warn H & D that I'm expecting another guest." Another text is sent to make sure that the alarms that would normally go off on for an unexpected teleport will be silenced, so as that they're not met with heavily armed mutant guards.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There's a portal of swirled, Rose-Gold energy, adjusted somewhat around, trying to zero in on Zatanna -- and then Phoebe appears, stepping out of the portal and directly into the koi pond.

    There's sputtering, surprised sounds from the younger mageling and latchkey leader of the Justice League Dark as she arrives unprepared and unceremoneously.

    And when she stands up, she coughs, soaking wet.

    "Ladies." she states.

    She looks between Lydia and Zatanna.

    "I appear to have created a portal to a koi pond."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Just in time, just not in place," Zatanna laughs aloud.

""We need you." The mage looks at Lydia to confirm the 'we'. "We need another hand building something important and the architect is right here. She'll explain."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia leaps up to her feet when Phoebe deposits herself right into the pond, causing all the koi to hide from the disruption. "Oof! Hey, there. Let's get you on out of there." She reaches out with a hand, and a tendril of onyx ectoplasm curls around Phoebe and gently lifts her up out of the pond. "Welcome to space," she says. "I was hoping your first visit would be dryer. If you want I can take you to one of the changing rooms and we can get you into some dry clothes."

She nods at Zee, confirming the 'we'. "I had a vision a couple of nights ago. Well," she admits, "it was more like a dream, but I don't dream anymore so..." She shrugs. "In it I saw the six locations that Michael is looking for. It'd give him direct access to Gaea, which is... bad. Jon has those locations so he's taking care of that."

"What /else/ was shown to me was eleven other locations in the shape of the Sefirot," she says, "If we put the right circles in those spots and power it up, it should seal the gate that Michael is looking to open, so he'll have to try something else."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe is lifted out of the koi pond, and she shakes her head (with water going a bit everywhere as she does) "No, no, I'm fine... little... cantrip..." she states, giving a cough and a muttered phrase into her closed fist, and then as she squeezes, the water's wrung from her clothing. Unfortunately it's into the garden, and she flaps her arms a bit. She's wearing a black T-shirt and now just semi-damp jeans, looking to Lydia and Zee, and she tilts her head a moment, listening to the explaination.

    "So we're looking at a sealing overlay in the form of a Sefirot?" she asks, and then her nose wrinkles a moment. She opens her mouth... and then closes it. "Sorry, thought Sephiroth for a second -- totally nto the correct thing --" she breathes out. Nevermind that you're in space, Phoebe. In a garden. In SPACE. Is *Magneto* on the asteroid?

    "What do you have drawn up so far?"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Yes," Zee says with a small nod and smile, "knew she could do it."

"Yes, it would seem that is what we are looking at, an excellent idea. From what I can see we are down to the nitty-gritty of how to do it. Lydia will explain."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia looks rather impressed with Phoebe's little cantrip. "Handy, that." She scoots over on the park bench to make room for her, and pats the seat. "Come join us. You can feed the koi if you like," she says offering the bag of pellets.

She quirks a grin, "Even though I've never really played a video game, even /I/ know that reference. But, yes. A sealing overlay using the Sefirot." She looks up at the stars as she recalls the work that she's already done. "Not much. I've only gotten the vision the day before yesterday, and last night we were busy keeping the angels from one of those points that Michael was looking for."

"Mostly I've been scouting the locations for the seals. I want to make sure that when we go out to inscribe them we know *exactly* where to go." She shakes her head, "I've only gotten to two so far. I've marked all the locations on Meggan's map. If you want to help me scout, you can, but since I can be a raven and travel around the city largely unnoticed I'd rather do that myself."

"What I'm going to need help with is crafting the circles." She takes a breath just so she can let it out puffing her cheeks, "I won't lie. They're going to be incredibly complicated. Not only are they going to have to perform their function they're going to have linkages to certain other circles to pass information back and forth, and they're going to have to do this over a great distance. Frankly, I'm not going to be able to do this on my own. Not without help."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Yeah, learned it when The Other One and I knocked over a ..." she suddenly buttons her lip, sucking on her teeth a moment, and then she looks to the two, and she breathes out as she looks over the two other mages, and she raises her left sleeve.

    She shows off a burnt circle in her skin, still blistered. Traced with accellerant and set aflame in an instant, flesh kept agonized by a eight-set of pins that are not comfortable to look at. The circle is complex, and has Heiratic script on four sides, a sealing gesture.

    "I think I can handle complicated on the quick." she states with a dry tone.

    The circle has transferrence, transformative, sealing properties -- that's how she's storing the Celestial energies.

    "Easier to tattoo onto someone else, I'll add, than it was to give to myself." she gives a snort of amusement, and then she considers. "How big of a distance are we looking at? Meters, kilos, miles?" She asks, and she taps her right hand against her thigh.

    Her eyes look so tired, but the fire behind them is going, stoked by the ideas that are floating there.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna looks like she ate something extremely unpleasant, not just for the pain and the type of magic that Phoebe showed them mortified into her flesh. She also takes a deep breath, wishing for restraint and patience. Fear nips at the back of her mind not only for the outcome but for the pride bordering on hubris that the young magician displays - a slippery slope.

"I once played with fire and watched a lover go to hell. But that won't help us with these circles. Should we work on those that are fundamental to our natures or magic?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia's eyes go wide as Phoebe shows off her burnt flesh. "My God, Phoebe! What did you do to yourself? You should at least put some antiseptic on it so that it'll heal properly." She shakes her head to get herself back on track.

Now that the water has settled the koi have come back out and she throws some pellets in. "It's going to be nearly the width of Manhattan so a couple of miles wide, and maybe five... five and a half miles in breadth? The center of it, Da'at, is smack dab in the middle of Central Park.

She nods to Zee. "That's what I'm thinking. I know Kabbalistic magic the best so I'm fairly certain I can set up the framework. From there, Phoebe can work on the circles and Zee can work on the linkages. I've got some orichalcum from Atrun-Re and I figure we can use them to act like... sympathetic magnets. Have them resonate at the same magical frequency so the individual circles know who to talk to."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "God has nothing to do with it, yours or mine. And it's fine. My body will fight off any infections I may contract. The voudon pins keep the skin agonized so that it focuses on the thin tendrils of magic and not on the burn itself. Another couple of days and it should stay." she looks to Zee. "I had to do it to myself first to make sure it worked before I put it on Sara. Cael would have outright killed me and fed me to her dog, I'm pretty sure, if Sara got hurt." she explains, almost apologetically to Zee.

    And then she tilts her head back and forth. "Golden Dawn bullshite's based on Kabbalistic magic, I'm familiar enough with the research from that. So we're looking at maybe two and a half miles between circles. -- could do it in blood, but that'd take an *awful* lot of blood." she wrinkles her nose, and she waggles a hand back and forth as she considers.

    "It *can* be done. It'll be tricky to get all the lines matched up, that's the part I'm worried about, directing everything to go over one or the other without causing wrinkles, linkage problems, places where the amount of angels that can fit on the head of a pin can break through and undo the workings..." she considers. "... do you happen to have a whiteboard? Or blackboard? Holographic emitter with colors?"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"However you want to qualify the magic," Zee looks pointedly at Phoebe's wrist, "it is workable. Besides, there is a lot of the pot calling the kettle black here, my dear."

With a sniff, "Mathematics is our friend. I can cast lines that you follow. Blood? No, I thought the orichalcum would be the base and that can be in very small amounts. We can measure by spell."

Dropping her upset over the magic used to trap angels at least for the moment, "Where do she see an eventual problems with linkages? A careful spell that wraps each circle can tie them together. The power for that will not be insignificant."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia rolls her eyes at the mention of the Golden Dawn. "That hack," she says derisively. "But, yes. I have a /lot/ of books on the Kabballah, if you'd like to borrow some. It's how I started this crazy path to magic. They're in my apartment in Brooklyn though. Safe enough since the angels are sticking to Manhattan."

"We've got a meeting room on the Asteroid that has all those fancy holographic projectors that we can use." She gives a nod in it's general direction, "Mystique offered to let us use this as a base of operations for the resistance, but the optics just wouldn't have worked out on that. The offer still stands for this project." She gives her companions a wide grin, "Plus our cafeteria is free and we have a waffle bar. Also an open bar if you want to drink. We're in international space so you won't get into trouble if you want a little tipple, Phoebe. God, how I miss getting tipsy."

She nods to Zee, "Exactly. A lot of Kabbalistic magic boils down to mathematics. I had to take a crash course on chaos theory in order to work up the binding circles we used for Michael."

"The biggest problem I foresee is powering the damn thing," she says. "It's going to take an awful lot of power spread over the entire city if it's going to work. Fortunately for us, there's a rather sizable ley line we should be able to tap into running under Manhattan, and when we light that thing up it'll attract every angel known to man."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe makes a face, and she scratches at her left wrist. "That was a gift given out of love, for the sake of protection. Even if he was drunk and a demon." Phoebe states defensively about her wrist tattoo, and she holds her hand over it, and then looks back to Lydia. And her stomach gives a grumble at the mention of a waffle bar -- even if she really, really wanted to be running around an asteroid. "Oh. I can't get drunk. I'd have to do the pin thing on my stomach and liver and really, really no one wants to see me do that. Or get drunk. Slinging light around the place like 'zing~'." she explains.

    And she gives a soft hum.

    "There may be alternate ways other than relying on just the leyline. The subway system runs all over Manhattan, we can also draw on the electrical that runs under the city. Supercharging it or flooding for the initial charge? I've had some luck pulling from the Gotham electrical grid, but it's an older grid that's only updated in certain places after the Earthquake." she comments in consideration.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna had remained quiet during their discussion of power sources. She frowns, thinking deeply of what could be /reasonably/ used. Power is power is power being one school of thought. Not everyone agrees when the power can rip through you and literally drive a person mad.

"I really need to think on it. But, we seem to be getting the rest of it down. Yes?" Her gaze shifts between the two looking for confirmation.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"Now /there's/ an idea," Lydia says, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "I wonder where the subway lines up with those nodes. If we're lucky we can do them all underground out of the eye of the angels." She pulls out her phone and starts making a todo list.

She nods to Zee, "We're off to a good start, I'd say. There's a /lot/ of work ahead of us, and only so much time. If we're going to use this as a base for this, I'll need to get you two added to the database so you can come and go as you wish."


She looks up when she hears Phoebe's tummy rumbles. "Let's take you to the cafeteria and get some food in you while we talk," she suggests. She gets up and stores the koi food away in the false rock and seals it back up. "And then when we're done, I'll bring you back up here to watch the earthrise."