porcupineliz | [plot: I Put A Spell On You]

[plot: I Put A Spell On You]

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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.

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

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

"I'm in favor."

Beat.

"Can I get a sandwich first, though?"

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

Beat.

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

He looks at the bar.

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

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

"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."

Jordie takes a bite of his sandwich and wanders over that way.

There's a handy salt shaker; Liz sets down the two dishes and starts pouring a stream of salt into a circle on the table.

"I can do this two ways," she says as she pours carefully, "either physical contact with you or using a personal item of yours. Any preference?"

"...the only personal item I have on me is my sandwich," he says blankly, and holds out his free hand.

She takes his hand, carefully.

And is not immediately assailed with any unwanted visuals of Jordie and Matt last night, so that's something.

(Yes. Unwanted. Completely. Shut up.)

"Okay," she says, resting their joined hands on the table outside the salt circle, "this shouldn't take too long, just ... hold still and keep contact."

Jordie does as told.

And has another bite.

Liz takes a deep breath, clears her mind, and reaches to pour the oil into the water; it scatters and pools on the surface, drifting in directionless spirals.

Show me, she tells it silently, and focuses.

He figures that taking another bite probably counts as not holding still.

Hopefully chewing is legit.

She doesn't tell him to stop it, so presumably he's okay.

And it's actually less than thirty seconds before she blinks, leans back, breathes out, and lets go of his hand.

"Confirmed," she says.

Jordie takes another bite. "What, that it's the same thing?"

"Yup. And same caster. I think after this is solved I'd like to have words with her."

She says that just a touch grimly.

He nods, mouth full.

And swallows. "So... what does it tell us, that it's the same thing?"

"It tells us that Matt didn't accidentally cast a spell of his own on you while he was under the influence of the original. If that's what this was, I'd have seen him instead of her."

"Huh." Jordie blinks. "Well. I'm glad it's not him."

He thinks. He's not sure about that.

"He'll be glad to know too. It was worrying him."

"Ah," he says.

"So."

"Where does that leave us?"

A pause.

"Is that 'us' as in ...?"

"...maybe?"

"... You want to talk about this before or after we get you out from under the influence?"

Sheepish: "After's probably better, isn't it."

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porcupineliz - 2013-01-20 19:21 (UTC) - Expand

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dr_j - 2013-01-22 00:43 (UTC) - Expand

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