[plot: I Put A Spell On You]

[porcupineliz]

(index!)

A reading of the sweater she got from Matt doesn't give her much, but there are definitely traces of a magic around it. Something artificially imposed, and ... she's pretty sure something outwardly imposed. It doesn't have Matt's feel to it at all.

Scrying is somewhat more useful: she gets a very brief blurred image of someone who's probably the caster -- older woman, graying hair, smiling earnestly -- and a much more definite sense of the caster's magic signature. And enough sense of the spell to make her skin crawl, even though as far as she can tell it was done with the most benevolent of intentions.



When she gets back to Milliways, she finds the note. There's no good way to say this, but I'm actually under a --

Oh.

Oh, shit.

Comments

[porcupineliz]

"Will do."

A beat. "... I would ask for your actual number, but I don't think my phone gets reception here anyway." Wry.

[semicharmed]

"Thanks."

Matt smiles, running a hand through his hair.

--Shit. He should stop doing that.

"So I guess we should ask Jordie if he'd be okay with scrying."

[porcupineliz]

"Yeah. -- Do you know where he is?"

(She's watching him carefully, to see if there's any sort of tropism; if he shows any signs of having an unconscious sense of Jordie's direction, rather than a conscious awareness based on where he saw him last.)

[nita_callahan]

She half-smiles. "I can probably set up your phone to call mine, if you want."

[semicharmed]

Matt looks exceedingly, and therefore terribly, innocent.


"In his room?"

[porcupineliz]

"... you can?" She starts to grin, and fishes out her phone. "This I would love to see."

[porcupineliz]

No tropism; good.

"... Is that question mark there for my benefit?" Just a touch dry.

[semicharmed]

Sheepish, "I really don't know what your situation is. Aside from the light bondage."

[nita_callahan]

"Unless there ends up being some kind of interference with your world's magic." She holds out her hand for the phone. "But it worked fine with Matt's phone."

Ironically? Appropriately?

[porcupineliz]

"Hmm. It's sort of like ... do they still say 'friends with benefits' in your time?"

[semicharmed]

Matt grins.

(Though there's a flicker of hurt in it, one he tries to dismiss.)

"They do, actually."

[porcupineliz]

Liz hands it over, readily.

Worst that can happen, she figures, is that it'll screw up her phone beyond repair and she'll have to get a new one. A risk easily worth seeing how this works.

[porcupineliz]

"It's kinda like that. We're not ... you know, exclusive or anything."

She gives him a swift sidelong glance; that flicker of unhappiness wasn't missed.

[semicharmed]

"Okay," he says, "cool. Well, he's probably in his room."

[porcupineliz]

"Wanna come with me to try and find him?"

She'd send Matt to ask him to come down, but ... high odds of them getting distracted instead.

[semicharmed]

Matt looks briefly panicked.

"Oh," he says, "well--"

Any feelings of awkward have got to be due to the spell, right? (Okay, not any feelings of awkward. But Liz wants to help, and thinking anything else about it is just ... unproductive.)

"Maybe it's better if I go grab him," he says thoughtfully. "Just so I can fill him in on what we've been talking about."

A little dry: "If I'm not back in ten minutes, feel free to break down the door."

[nita_callahan]

Nita takes the phone, pulls out her own, and spends several minutes talking to both of them. Electronics aren't her specialty, but she's done a similar spell before, so it's pretty smooth going.

[porcupineliz]

And Liz watches, in wide-eyed -- and eventually openmouthed -- wonder.

"That's amazing," she says after she's sure Nita's finished.

[porcupineliz]

"That might be the best idea," she says, carefully ambiguous about whether she means fill-in-Jordie-first or break-down-the-door. "I'll hang out here."

[semicharmed]

"Aces," Matt says, rueful.

And off he goes, mentally drafting opening pitches that don't include so Liz and I think we should cast a scrying spell on you to see if this is my fault or take off your shirt.

It takes some concentration.

[nita_callahan]

Nita grins, a little tired, and passes Liz's phone back.

"I know, right?"

No matter what, wizardry is pretty cool.

[dr_j]

The bar is in the business of cockblocking today.

Jordie, looking rumpled and a little damp (but at least he showered!) staggers downstairs. He wants breakfast. Delicious breakfast.

He did not see Matt. More's the pity.

(Maybe he can find Matt and convince him that they should get breakfast to go.)

[porcupineliz]

"How do you -- I mean, I could tell there was a binding and release of energy, but that's all I could tell, and I can't for the life of me see how you did it."

She's examining her own phone, looking delighted.

[porcupineliz]

Well, if he wants delicious breakfast, he could do worse than head in the direction of the bar.

And oh hey, there's somebody he knows sitting there, with a cup of coffee.

[dr_j]

He is heading in the direction of the bar!

And rubbing his eyes, so possibly he does not see Liz until it's too late.

When he does, he jumps and looks guilty.