[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]

A pause.

"... because of the age difference?" she essays, feeling a bit lost. "Or are you usually not into guys, or ...?"

[dr_j]

"The age difference. The whole demon thing. I don't know if you noticed, but it's not like he's the poster child for functional adult living -- "

(His voice is getting higher and higher.)

[porcupineliz]

"Wait," she says, "wait, slow down --"

She wants to tackle that from about five or six different directions at once, and she can't until she understands where Jordie's coming from.

[dr_j]

" -- and you think I like feeling like I'm some kind of predatory asshole who's only in this because he actually is the poster child for adorable twinks? The king of twinkery? Do you think I'm a predatory asshole?"

[porcupineliz]

Liz is not at all sure she follows the first half of that -- if nothing else, there's definitely an ambiguous he in there -- but it finished with a direct question, for which she's thankful.

"Of course not," she says, with enough vehemence to hopefully get through to him.

[dr_j]

See, the thing is? Jordie can't actually say this wasn't my idea.

Because it kind of was.

He touched Matt. It was his idea to make out. It was his idea to have sex. And Jordie is feeling kind of like a predatory asshole! A predatory asshole who has had lots and lots of nice sex in the immediate past.

(Who are we kidding? Great. Great sex.)

"Then what?" he demands.

(Because he's also had pretty great sex with Liz in the recent past. It's awkward! (Liz isn't a twink.))

[porcupineliz]

"I don't know what," she says truthfully, "but I know you, and you're not a predatory asshole. If you feel like you're acting out of character, you probably are and it's probably not your fault."

[dr_j]

Warily: "Because of the spell?"

It sure would be nice if he could write it off to the spell.

[porcupineliz]

"Can you think of anything else that might be influencing you to make decisions you ordinarily wouldn't?"

[dr_j]

Whiskey.

"No."

[porcupineliz]

A pause.

Softer: "You're really worried about this."

[dr_j]

"........wouldn't you be?" Beat. "Don't you think it's -- awkward? At the very least?"

[porcupineliz]

"Oh, it's awkward as hell," she says with deep sincerity. "But it's not, I mean ... under the circumstances I don't think it's like you deliberately took advantage of him."

[dr_j]

Silence.







"Okay," he says. "Now what?"

[porcupineliz]

"... well," she says with a crooked smile, "on the subject of awkward ... would you be willing to let me do a scry to confirm that the spell on you was cast by the same person who cast the one on Matt?"

[dr_j]

"Sure." Immediately.

Then: "...what's awkward about it?"

[porcupineliz]

"The scry? Well -- I mean, for one thing, I'd understand if you weren't too comfortable about the idea of having more spells worked on you. And for another ... if Matt's worry is right, and I don't think it is, but if it is ... given how his magic works, I could wind up getting more details than any of us necessarily feel like sharing."

[dr_j]

Jordie shrugs.

"It's... pornographic?" he says. "But nothing really out there."

[porcupineliz]

"Okay. Just ... privacy, boundaries, trying to respect as much as possible under the circumstances."

Half a beat. "I guess that's what's awkward about it."

[dr_j]

"Given the alternatives, I'm fine with it."

[porcupineliz]

She nods. "And once we establish that, I'm going to try a few different ideas for how to get rid of it."

[dr_j]

"I'm in favor."

Beat.

"Can I get a sandwich first, though?"

[porcupineliz]

"Sure," she says, "no hurry."

Beat.

"I can hang around, or if you'd rather I can come back later ...?"

[dr_j]

He looks at the bar.

Says: "Can I get a turkey sandwich with mayo and lettuce?"

Picking up the sandwich: "Let's do this."

[porcupineliz]

"Right," she says. And to the bar: "Could I get a glass bowl half full of water, please? And a little dish of cooking oil?"

She scoops up the items as they appear, and gets to her feet. "There's a booth over there we could use."