Owner	Pose
Damian Wayne	Damian is sitting alone in the study, still wearing his Happy Harbor uniform. He's on a chair that is in front of the (currently unlit) fireplace with his laptop open on his lap and several books piled on the end table next to the chair. He is pouring through a college-level, calculus-based physics text. "This is the stupidest problem I've ever read," he murmurs to himself. "If the elevator suddenly doubled in speed, I'd plant a charge and blow out the roof and grapple to safety."     With a deep frown on his displeased face, Damian starts furiously typing on the laptop. Anyone who knows him would see that he is in his element. Being angry at textbooks and rage-typing are two of his very favorite things. Happy Damian is happy.
Phoebe Beacon	A slightly familiar face pokes into the study, hair wrapped in a dull pink wrap today, wearing a local band's promo shirt and soft leggings, her hair put into chunky braids that reach down to her shoulders. She spies Damian, and taking a small breath to steel herself, she gives a knock on the study doorway.     "Hey, Damian -- mind if I join you?" she asks, waiting politely at the door.
Damian Wayne	Getting pulled from his zone, Damian peers over at the door to see the nameless girl from the other night. "You might as well. I doubt there are any other empty rooms in this rundown shack we live in." That is *literally* as close as anyone gets to being invited into a room by Damian.     He looks back at his computer and starts typing again. "Do you know anything about hyperbolic cosines, by chance?" he asks while typing.
Phoebe Beacon	"I know, huh? Regular hovel. Definitely not as nice as my room at my last house." she states, coming in with her own books -- leatherbound and old, and her sketchbooks.     "Trig was never my jam, I went into bio-chem in highschool preparing for pre-med." she explains, and she breathes out.     "Phoebe, by the way. Your latest sister by law. I feel we got off on the wrong foot the other night." she introduces herself properly, and looks awkwardly down at her hands, and then opens her sketchbook to her circle working.
Damian Wayne	There is a long, slow blink from Damian. "You're my sister-in-law? Which one of my siblings did you marry?" he asks. Now Phoebe seems to have something rare: Damian's undivided attention.     He saves the document he's working and and turns in his seat to better view Phoebe. One gets the sensation of being a slab of meat being sized up by a butcher when Damian stares intently.
Phoebe Beacon	"/By/ law. Adoption. Unfortunately my relationship status is tenuous at best." she states flatly. "Hence my joke about breaking in the slow way, followed by paperwork."     She gets a thousand-yard stare a moment.     "But I mean, if I had to choose one, it'd just be weird at this point. Tim is my best friend, but unavailable. Jason has his whole deal going on, and Dick's also already attached and that would also be weird. So weird." she comments quietly.     But she looks back to Damian's stare, and raises her eyebrows.     "Why? Were you looking to battle someone to the death for a girlfriend?"
Damian Wayne	Damian quickly looks away and back down his computer. Awwwww, someone made Damian avert his gaze. "Definitely not. Tim and Lonnie were fighting the other day. I definitely do not want to subject myself to someone's ire in exchange for carnal pleasures. And Father is dating a criminal. My entire family is certifiable. It's just a matter of time until I figure out what your lunacy is."     He spends a few moments typing again as though he's basically done with the conversation. But then out of nowhere: "What are you drawing?" No eye contact. No engagement. Just a question ejected out into the air.
Julia Pennyworth	A small snort of amusement comes from the doorway where a figure holding a serving tray with some drinks, and apparently snacks, resides. It's not Alfred though but his daughter who steps inside regarding the pair with amusement. "Pops thought you studious sorts might like a snack and I was already heading this way myself." It wasn't because she was bored. Okay maybe. Stepping further in she finds a spot to set the tray down between the pair before rising again. As she does she snags a can of Coke off the tray for herself. "Sorry to interrupt I guess."
Phoebe Beacon	"Yeah, they kinda are nuts. What kind of person dresses up in a Halloween costume and goes out to fight crime?" she questions, and Phoebe knows precisely the irony, and she looks down at her notebook and was about to answer when Julia arrives. Ooh. Cookies. Alfred makes *the best* cookies.     "Thank you Alfred, and thank you Julia!" she smiles, and then looks back down to her notebook.     "It's a scrying canticle. I used one with a friend to try and find my dad. I'm altering this one to find someone elsewhere." she explains.
Damian Wayne	Among his many other blackbelts, Damian has a blackbelt in feigning disinterest. There might be eight...*maybe* ten people in the world who are better at it than he is. He keeps his eyes on his laptop screen for as long as he possibly can. But when Phoebe mentions that she's drawing a canticle, Damian looks over. It's not all at once, though. He peeks slightly. Then he peeks slightly more. Then he pretends to be looking for a different book. Then he just full-on peers at what Phoebe is doing.     At Julia's entrance, Damian glances quickly in her direction for a moment. "Pennyworth," he says curtly. Acknowledging someone who just entered the room? Damian is in some kind of rare good mood today. He takes a water off the tray. No thank you, he just takes the water.     "For Pennyworth's sake, you should probably explain what a canticle is."
Julia Pennyworth	"Wayne," Julia greets in response to Damian's own greeting. Phoebe gets a nod as well as a grin. "Welcome, Phoebe." She's about to say something more but pauses to crack open her soda and glance curiously at what the teen is doing herself. Even when Damian says it's for her sake, she just gives a shrug allowing it. She was just about to ask anyway when she takes a sip of the soda--And promptly chokes on it. Quickly twisting away she pounds her chest with a fist so as to not cough toward the others while regaining her breath. "Bloody hell what the hell is this tastes like absolute shite!" The can is raised up to regard the listing of ingredients on the side. "Ugh I forgot you Yanks have more crap in your sodas than in your beer."
Phoebe Beacon	"Ordinarily it was a scrying song, but someone stole the basic movements from it and transcribed to a circle form. Easier to deal with when you don't speak Old Welsh.." Phoebe explains, and she draws one leg up as she considers her next words.     "Well you can make adjustments to circle. so I've been going back and forth between the languages and modern translation, it's slow going, but once it's done... I might be able to find the person I'm looking for no matter where they're hiding." she gives a small grin, her shoulders slacking from the weight on her shoulders from that admission.     And she looks at Julia, and rubs the back of her head.     "Yeah, if there's a way to make something cheaper and less healthily, Americans kinda own it." she frowns. "Definitely miss working at a proper pub."
Damian Wayne	Cracking open the water bottle, Damian takes a deep drink. To Julia he says, "Try the water. We pretty much just put the two hydrogen and one oxygen molecules in it here in the United States."     Then our sarcastic little fuckhead actually closes the laptop and -- get this -- gets up on his knees on his chair and puts his elbows on the end table to he can better see what Phoebe is drawing. Careful! He has killed people to hide behavior he would consider less shameful than this. "So, wait, you can find anyone in the world with this thing?" he asks. His gazes is now completely affixed on the drawing.
Julia Pennyworth	Julia Pennyworth sticks her tongue out at the sachinrine sweetness of the drink. Next time she'd just go for the bottled sort that has actual sugar. The drink is placed back down in favor of a water with a nod, and a mutter, "Hard to mess up that recipe," she has to agree. The water at least washes the lingering taste from her mouth as she, too, steps a bit closer to regard Phoebe's work. "That's pretty interesting. Not familiar with this magic stuff but I have seen a thing or two in my time."
Phoebe Beacon	"They add baking soda for flavor." Phoebe tacks on to the comment about the water, and she draws back so that Damian can see.     And then she folds out her notes. Everything taped together to create a huge circle with notes written in middle Egyptian.     "Once it's finished -- if it works -- I'll be able to find anyone anywhere, as long as I have a drop of blood, a piece of hair, or an item that was given of them." she gives a smile. "And if the math's right, I can narrow it down to about thirty meters..." she smiles, and leans onto her left fist, the one with the spider-webbing bracelet and little wooden spiders and eight-pointed starbursts on it, and the leather strap.     "I won't have a lot of opportunity to do research once I start conditioning again, so I try to do as much as I can."
Damian Wayne	Damian sits back in his chair again, but curls his knees up to his chest. He considers this closely. "Hmmmmm, that could actually be very handy. Father keeps blood down in the Batcave from each of us in case of a medical emergency." He rubs his chin as he considers the consequences of this newfound discovery.     "We could start collecting blood samples from every villain we encounter! And if they ever go missing, we could use this magic of Phoebe's to find them!" His eyes are positively ALIGHT as he thinks about all of the possibilities.
Julia Pennyworth	"What are the limits to it, though?" Julia asks even as Damian considers the far-reaching possibilities. She's still regarding the drawing though it means little to nothing to her. It was just habit to try and memorize diagrams that might be useful at some point, even if not directly to her. Her eyes just skim over it while thinking. "From what little I understand, everything requires some kind of power or exchange to work. Like machines require some method of power." Here she pauses giving a shrug. "That's about all I know. There's a cost for everything. Would there be a cost for overusing this or..." Here she pauses with a frown. "Say someone has spilt blood all over the city, would it make it harder to locate them if traces are all over the place?" A sip of water is taken before she adds, "Because I know a lot of you get beaten up fairly often."
Phoebe Beacon	"Yeah, once you have a big enough power source. You can't just plug in a circle like this, and you would need to make it larger depending on the size of the search area. For what this would take..." she gives a small frown.     "... probably something the size of the whole property here, piggy-backed on the electrical grid for downtown, causing brownouts and pulling from electricity and amient powers in the area." Phoebe explains.     "Magic always costs. It's why there's not a lot of old magicians hanging
Damian Wayne	The teen fidgets more in his chair. Now he's sitting back against one arm and his legs are draped over the opposite arm. It's like he's at a slumber party. If his brothers could see him, he would /die/ from embarrassment. "Lots of power, you say?" he asks excitedly. "What about the hydroelectric generator in the Batcave?? It creates way more power than we use."     As he works out logistics in his head, he actually grabs a cookie from the snack tray and starts to nibble on it. Mr. Pastries-Are-A-Waste-Of-Time-And-Energy is eating a cookie!
Julia Pennyworth	Julia Pennyworth winces a bit at the first mention of cost. That was a rather hefty fee. Though Damian's mention of the generator earns a lift of her eyebrows. "That's interesting. I didn't know there was one down there. That's possible, maybe?" The question is directed back toward Phoebe while she glances back her way waiting to hear her thought on it. Given the cookies were being tucked into rather well she finally gives in leaning forward to snag one herself. A little nibble is taken, and she has to give a grunt of silent agreement to it's taste being excellent.
Phoebe Beacon	"Hydroelectric could work." Phoebe states thoughtfully, rubbing her left arm. It's back under its athletic sleeve now. "I'd have to gauge how much energy just a small one takes. The more complex, the more energy. Just like running computer programs, the more boom you want, the more oomph you need." Phoebe adds on, and she helps herself to another cookie.     "The last time I used a scrying canticle it... uh... took a blood sacrifice." she admits, her ears darkening and she rubs the back of her neck in embarrassment at the memory. "And it didn't quite work the right way because the person we were trying to find was... Elsewhere."     She purses her lips a moment and then motions to Damian and to Julia.     And she folds up her circles.     "It's not nearly ready though. If I tried to cast it now, there's a pretty good chance I'd be ripped to primal elements. Or disappear out of people's memories. Open a Hellgate the wrong way. Telegraph *my* location to everyone on the planet. Magic's tricky business."
Damian Wayne	When this scene is over everyone is going to have to kill this pod person with fire and go find the real Damian Wayne. When Phoebe motions, Damian -- who is currently enthralled by this concept of a magical drawing that can find people -- leaps up and moves closer to see what cool thing she's going to reveal.     "A blood sacrifice, you say?" Damian murmurs, rubbing his chin. He looks down at the expensive, high-end watch on his wrist. "I can have a blood sacrifice here in two hours. Only one hour if you don't mind them being unwilling."
Julia Pennyworth	"Hey, no, bad. She never said it had to be human anyway," Julia points out with a wag of a finger at Damian that drops away with a small frown of thought. "Honestly I think I'd be more concerned where you managed to find a willing blood sacrifice, but I'm not sure I want that answered, either. It rather rings of the talking pig at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe." Really who wants a pig giving suggestions as to how to eat it? The fact it was talking at all made it 'not edible' in her mind. "No cows though. My mum would never let me hear the end of it."
Phoebe Beacon	"... yeah, no, it was human blood and it was mine that was shed to power it." Phoebe replies, and she shakes her head.     "You would be surprised how many humans are willing to just... die. How many feeder bodies in vampire dens and horrible, horrible smells from them..." Phoebe trails off a moment, and she looks down, and she thumbs through a couple of pictures.     "Before Bruce brought me back to Gotham, I was pretty heavily into New York's magic scene, and lived at what felt like the heart of it. But... I... lost... a good part of myself."     She rubs her left arm.     "Magic determines what kind of cost it pulls out of your life. It's one of the reasons Bruce doesn't want me using magic while I'm here."
Damian Wayne	Damian waves a hand in the air dismissively. "Father said the same thing to me about razors. What he doesn't know won't hurt him."     The teen takes to pacing in front of the fireplace, hands clasped behind his back. So like a young Bruce he looks, brooding, thinking heavily.     Then, like a starship dropping out of warp, Damian stops dead in his tracks and peers at Julia. "Why would you mother object to using a cow?"
Julia Pennyworth	Julia Pennyworth mouths a silent 'ah' when Phoebe explains just a bit further about the sacrifice. "So it doesn't have to be a life. That's rather reassuring at least. Still a bit ..." Her hand lifts to wobble as she indicates it was iffy. The arm that Phoebe rubs is eyed as well. "Bit self destructive though." Nodding she adds, "Right, then leave this as a 'in case of emergency' option once you get it all sorted, and don't mess with it otherwise." Looking back toward Damian she regards him with a slow spreading grin. Black eyebrows rising high she tips her head as if this were the silliest question ever. There's no mocking for it though. Instead she responds simply, "Cows are considered holy in most parts of India. While she's lived in Britian most of her life, that's still ingrained into her by my grandparents."
Phoebe Beacon	"I usually operate under the assumption that he already knows what I'm doing. He seems like a hard man to surprise, most of the time his depth of knowledge is *astounding*." Phoebe breathes out, and she gives a wry smile and a shrug.     "Magic can be. I'm... I've got reasons for doing what I did. Maybe not the right reasons... but having lost four parents so far?" Phoebe helps herself to a third cookie, and she raises her dark eyes to Damian's pacing and Julia's commentary, and she looks down.     "I couldn't watch someone go through it, constantly, like I do. Damnation is worth getting back what was taken."
Austin Reese	You know, when Austin first showed up in front of the manor very confused (and yet also kicking himself for not putting two and two together), he'd never figured this place as as big as it is. Ever since then he's learned of even more and more rooms and hallways and hidden passages behind walls and the place just seems impossibly large. So it's that same exploration that finds him wandering into the study, phone in one hand as he looks through something. He stops as he nearly bumps into a piece of furniture, and looks up from his phone, "This...This is not the kitchen." How anyone figures their way around here is anyone's guess. He'll have to try again. But his eyes do light up a bit when he sees the cookies, "Ooh, can I get one of those?" At least he's asking first.
Damian Wayne	Damian is frowning at something that Julia said just before Austin entered the room. He shakes his head. "I'll never understand that sort of thing. Faith is belief in the absence of data." A shrug.     "So are we doing this sacrifice thing or not? I gotta give my guy a heads-up if we're going to do this thing tonight." And although Austin enters the room on that comment, Damian doesn't seem in the slightest bit bothered by it. But the unexpected arrival of someone new does cause him to stiffen a bit. He watches the newcomer closely.
Julia Pennyworth	Julia Pennyworth shakes her head in response to Damian's uncertainty to that. "It's not necessarily tied to faith in regards to how Hindu's percieve cows. They're considered a gift from the gods because of their usefulness. They pretty much take care of themselves and don't require anything from Humans, yet they provide so much. They can lift heavy loads, help plow fields, they provide milk for cheeses, attack snakes to keep them at bay, and much more. Which is why even many who aren't Hindu in India still consider them treasures." "I don't believe Pheobe is ready to try it tonight so your guy is safe," she adds with a worried glance cast toward Phoebe. Right? Back her up here. Austin's arrival provides a very good distraction as she gestures to the plate and the abandoned Coke she'd only taken one sip of. "Have at. Pops made plenty more though he did warn not to spoil your appetites. I'm no babysitter though," she adds with a chuckle.
Phoebe Beacon	"Uh... did you miss the part where I said that the circle was not ready and if I tried to cast it I could be reduced to base materials? And you are all incredible people but I doubt even your father has the ability to reconstitute me --" she pauses, and cheerily Phoebe waves to Austin "Hey, Austin! What's up? Have you met Damian and Julia?" she questions, motioning to the two in the room with her, and then is immediately back to "-- and the only two magicians who might be able to do it are Zatanna Zatara and Dr. Fate, and I don't exactly see anyone with a shiny helmet or speaking backwards right at this moment." Phoebe points out, and she scratches at her left wrist now, nervous tic.     "Besides. There's other ways to power it. Blood was just the most handy at the time and we needed it done quickly." she leans back a moment, looking at the cookie.     "But hey if you insist, and you have something you're looking for, all I need is a couple of ounces of blood of the Seeker."
Austin Reese	Austin did manage to catch the last words about a sacrifice. And he'd be ready to go, after he eats some cookies, "Hey Phoebe." He says, before he takes a bite of one of the cookies and chews it for a moment or two before swallowing, "I've met Julia, haven't met Damian though." He takes a look at him for a second, "Like she said, I'm Austin. Sorta the still new-ish guy around here."
Damian Wayne	Damian's gaze goes up and down Austin's form. It looks like exactly what he's doing: figuring out all of the ways to disable him based on how he moves and walks. A frown.     "Father is going through a middle-life crisis, letting strays in by the day."     He turns back to Phoebe. "Well, yes, reconstituting you does sound difficult. We should probably skip the magic for tonight just to be safe?" Is Damian expressing concern for Phoebe's welfare? This is a banner night. "But if you get it worked out and need a bunch of human blood, just let me know and I'll set it up." Deadpan. Is he...is he joking?
Julia Pennyworth	"Right, so no sacrifices tonight, cow or otherwise," Julia affirms with a quick nod. At least it puts her more at ease knowing there wasn't going to be some rando showing up asking to be shivved. Her fingers are licked clean of the cookie and she contemplates another---but she just licked her fingers. Bad idea when it comes to sharing plates. "Good to see you again, Austin. Fitting in alright?" She's one to ask that being new herself, and older than all of the teens currently here. She has to pause and think on that a moment. Did she get relegated to babysitter? Naw.
Phoebe Beacon	"Austin's a good guy." Phoebe replies to Damian, and she then opens her sketchbook again to a different circle, and takes one of the emptied water bottles and puts it in the center of the circle.     She brings her hands down to it, placing her thumb and middle finger on each side. She breathes out, and she speaks in a hushed tone of voice, gutteral, old words.     And the empty water-bottle fills with a dark, purplish-red liquid, slowly rising into being from the bottom.     It fills half way, about eight ounces of the sanguine liquid, slightly thick.     Phoebe wobbles a moment.
Austin Reese	Austin gives Damian a grin, as he takes another bite of one of the cookies. "Woof." He laughs a bit to himself, and then turns to face Julia, "Well enough. I keep getting lost. I mean did this house has so many rooms. Do you have a map app or something?" Finally he turns to watch Phoebe and as she brings the liquid into the bottle, he does tilt his head a little bit, before taking another bite of cookie.
Damian Wayne	Damian has taken being disaffected to the level of art form. But when Phoebe starts magically filling up the bottle with purple-red liquid his lips part slightly, and if someone is *really* paying attention they might even hear a slight gasp escape him as he stares in wonder. But he quickly catches himself as he clears his throat, stands straight, and finds his comfortable, familiar frown.     The 'woof' noise from Austin gets him another brief glare from Damian. I mean, a few years ago he would have already killed Austin. So...growth?     He looks at the snack tray. The waters are all gone. He sighs. Life can be so trying. "I'm going to get some water," he says as he stalks toward the kitchen. Then...the oddest thing...halfway to the door he stops, lets out another dramatic sigh, rolls his eyes, and asks, "Does anyone want anything?"
Phoebe Beacon	The magician wavers again, her left hand twitching, and she breathes out and opens her eyes, looking at the bottle carefully, as if it were something incredibly dangerous.     "Well, you did call him a stray -- do you expect everyone to fight you? 'Cause I know I'd lose." Phoebe shrugs, picks up the bottle, unscrews the cap... and then drinks it.     "No. I'm good." she states, leaning back a moment, her eyebrows rising up.
Austin Reese	"I'm good." Austin replies to Damian. Does Damian want to fight? Austin has done plenty of sparring since he got here but that kid would probably murder the hell out of him. Still, he turns his attention back to Phoebe just in time to see her down that bottle of magically appearing goo, "Hope that was syrup summoning or something."
Julia Pennyworth	Julia Pennyworth finishes off her own water bottle with a quick gulp. It's then smooshed down between her hands and recapped so that it can be recycled later. They did that here, right? Some habits just were ingrained. "Another bottle of water would be ace," she offers over with a grin. "Thank you. I should probably get some tea later to wake up a bit. Or coffee. That can wait though." Besides, she was contemplating seein if Alfred would make a pot. While she hadn't grown up with him she found it interesting getting to try his cooking now, as an adult. "That's the issue with having so many well trained teens around, got a lot of energy to burn off. If you guys want to spar though it should be somewhere meant for it."
Damian Wayne	Damian departs the room into the kitchen. A few moments later his voice can be heard from here: "What?!? I'm not carrying that in there. I'm not a servant!"     Then Alfred's calm, measured tone: "Master Damian, need I remind you who holds sharp implements near your body when you need to be stitched up."     Silence. Two people -- TWO PEOPLE IN THE WORLD -- can talk like that to Damian without reprisal. One of them is a tough-as-nails, heart-of-gold English butler.     Then he returns. One hand holds two water bottles -- one for him and one for Julia -- against his body. The other hand is carrying a silver tray with freshly baked, cinnamon-sugar scones that Alfred just made, so fresh that the steam is still rising off of them. Damian's expression is one of pure misery. "Alfred made scones," he says. He sets the tray down where everyone can reach it, then hands Julia the water she asked for.
Phoebe Beacon	"Sanguis uvae --" Phoebe states, and then hands the bottle over to Austin if he so wishes to take a sniff.     "Grape Juice. Usually I can do water in a large amount. Before all the bad business in New York, I was training to be an exorcist. That was my family's business back in Sudan and Egypt." she explains quietly. "I was doing pretty good at it, too. I once punched a conquistador ghost."
Austin Reese	"Man I never get to punch ghosts." Austin says, as he takes a sniff of the grape juice, and then hands it back over to Phoebe. His attention turns to Julia and he nods, "We'll do it downstairs if need be, don't worry." The arrival of the scones gets his attention, and he takes a few steps over to take hold of one, "Thank you." He turns to look back at Phoebe, "You want one?"
Julia Pennyworth	"Water into wine?" Julia asks with a wry grin after watching Phoebe fill up the bottle. It's the easily heard conversation outside which causes her to grin wider suppressing the urge to outright laugh. Carefully schooling her expression to one of disintrest by the time Damian comes back to pretend she hadn't heard that, she instead takes the bottle of proffered water from him with a nod. "Thanks, you're the best." Might as well reward politeness, right? Right. Just as she might say more her phone goes off earning a sigh. "Should go take that. Pardon." And out into the hall she goes while flipping her phone ope--Wait she has a flip phone? Jeeze.