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After the main meeting breaks up and some people have begun to make their way home, Mitzi invites Donnie into the kitchen, and anyone else interested in the discussion of magic.

"So, what do we know, do we know what traditions they're using?  That would be a good start."

Samantha hangs around in the kitchen if only to listen while she waits for her mom to come and pick her up.

She doesn't ask if Sylvia's moms need help cleaning up after the gathering, she just starts doing it automatically.  It'll keep her from feeling like an idle mouthbreather  if nothing else.

Sylvia is there, too.  Her cleaning up is just part of playing hostess, and she wants to hear just what expertise her mom can provide on magic.

Mom's a witch?  Who knew?

Colin is there with them too. Mitzi's presence is soothing. A part of him finds that asking the good witch for help against the evil witches is very Wizard of Oz, and he expects flying monkeys to appear any time now, since they already got dragons, and "we're not in Kansas anymore" feels such a massive understatement. Anyway he's there to listen and to learn. At least until  he sees Sammy and Sylvia cleaning up, and he stands to help.

"I'm afriad I don't know anything about traditions. What I know is that one of them can cast illusions. Like turning into someone else, make bruises appear on her body, and leaving duplicates of herself behind. Probably making a whole class believe they heard the principal calling too. We don't know anything yet about the others. We just know they summoned a spirit that was half man and half snake into a friend of ours, and that seemed to make him incredibly attractive. But it was feeding on his life force."

He thinks for a moment.

"Oh, but I do have something about them. I was forgetting." He reaches into the backpack he never goes anywhere without, and shows her the photoes of the summoning circle, and the symbols on his chest. "This is what they did to me." he explains, shivering.

Mitzi looks at the photos, and gives colin a hug.  "This is horrible."  She studies the pictures of the circle for a while.  "This is Sun/Moon stuff.  Chances are they all have Glamour, that's the illusion thing.  It's pretty simple for Sun/Moon practicioners.  These marks they drew on you are for an Oracle spell, so one of them must have assumed the role of Oracle.  That's the first one you want to try and squash, that way they can't have a heads up as to what you're doing."  Mitzi's smile is mischevious as she looks over the other pictures.  "They have some skills, but they don't take it too seriously.  See how these symbols look painted over, that's dangerous.  These girls are likely to hurt themselves if they do anything really big."

"Illegal?  sure.  One thing would be to do a binding, but you'd have to be pretty powerful to do that or have lots of help."

Sylvia looks at Colin and Donnie, nods their way, and gives Mitzi a look.  Them, maybe?  Powerful enough?  That's what the body language says.

"Yeah, Sun-Moon traditions. They are sloppy because they kept the same circle, just redrawing it when it started to get scuffed. We know who the Oracle is: she's the one who cast the glamour on herself and fooled all of us into thinking she was Sarah. When some of us approached her, she distracted Colin, Kel, TJ, Matt and Sylvia with another illusion and escaped to the principle's office telling lies about a supposed assault against her, which was utter bogus. How do we stop her? I was scribbling some ideas down about a binding spell to cut her off of her power, but that's kind of dangerous for me. Backlash in magic can be nasty, and I have managed a single spell so far. It was pretty complicated and took me darn near a week to come up with it. As far as what materials they have been using, they had the traditional candles, *insert name of specific type of* incense, and simple chalk for the circle. We do have one serious advantage in preperation for any sort of spell we might come up with: we have their athame, and Colin says they have used it to cut themselves during spellcasting. It's tied by blood to them.

I am not so sure they are the ones responsible for what happened to Rory, since they don't seem as powerful as they would need to be to create a talisman of thet magnitude." If Mitzi is unaware of what happene to Rory, Donnie will explain, with help from Matt who has done as much or more research into it.

"Do you have any suggestions how we can deal with this without it escalating into something even more violent?

Mitzi's hug was unexpected, but surely welcome. He didn't tell his mother, so it's the next best thing. He surely needed it, and feels a little better after it.

"We also need to find out who the fourth one is. When Jane was in the office, there were three of them looking out for us, and we only got two names so far. I never thought they had anything to do with Rory though.  That's a whole different can of worms."

"Well, if you have their athame then a binding will be cake.  If you all help, it should be possible.  If they have invoked the spirit, and I'm guessing they have if they bound one to your friend, then they will have lots of other powers.  You'll need to vanwquish that first."

"How do we do that?  Where do we find it?"

"Well, they invoke the spirit into themselves.  You'll need a banishing spell, or someone that can banish."

"Colin can."  Sylvia says it like Colin can banish spirits while playing Für Elise and picking his nose.

Colin blinks a couple times.

"I guess I can but... it's more complicated than that. It's not really me doing things. And the banishing part... needs work. What if they got something bigger than the snake man? We barely bested that."

Blackbird, it was you who dealt with that spirit. Do you think we can do that again? What's the proper way to do it?

Donnie looked thoughtful. "Yeah, he cast out that urban spirit from Rory with a single touch."

"You dealt with it, I was only your messenger."

"This is different.  This isn't a spirit bound to them, they invoke it.  It's like being plugged into a huge power source."

"When can we do this?  What do we need?"

"You just need to face them and do the banishing.  You'd best have everything to do the binding right away though, so they can't invoke it again.  If you're powerful enough you can do more then one banishing at a time, but that's pretty tough."

Donnie sighed, smiling wryly at his friends. "Guess I will be burning the midnight oil in making that binding spell. Colin, can I have that athame? I will likely need it for the physical aspect of the spell. I think we need to get this in place soon, before they can make any major plans of their own."

There is something soothing about washing dishes.  Maybe its the warm water.  Maybe its the fact that it doesn't require much attention, so your mind can wander where it likes.  Maybe its just that when you are done, there is a nice shiny stack of clean things next to you, proof that you actually accomplished something.  Sammy stacks one dry plate on top of another and another, sort of paying attention to the conversation, sort of not.  The words "if you're powerful enough" catch her attention.

"Is there any way we can stack up the power of a bunch of magically weak people  into one big pile and lend it to Donnie or Colin to make them stronger?  Because I'm sure not using mine, at least I don't think I am."

"You can do a circle, and that will lend your power to the person doing the banishing.  There is strength in numbers."

Donnie turns to Samantha. "Sam, can you hold someone in place with your wind, like, hold them down on the ground?"


"Ms. Vaughn, I am nervous about binding a witch from her powers. You know, the tri-fold returns and all. If I do this, will kharma come back and kick my ass, or does am I a means for kharma to visit punishment upon her? I am not all that familiar with Witchery and it's results and pathways.."  Donnie flushes a bit, feeling like he revealed weakness in front of others.

"Does everybody in the circle need to know they are involved?  Or can they be borrowed from without hurting them?  And does it have to be an actual circle shape?  Like, if a bunch of people were all focused on the same thing, and that focus was tweaked just a little so that what they wanted was pushed through a single person?"  She flushes.  "Sorry.  I read a lot.  But Kel and Sylvia are cheerleaders, so theoretically they could lead the student body in something at a football game, like a moment of silence in remembrance of the boy who died, and a wish that the people behind the violence be brought to justice.  Couldn't he, you know, grab that at that moment and use it?"

Sylvia pricks up her ears at that.  That's a pretty cool idea.

"Well, you want to bind her from doing harm to others or herself.  It's sort of a loophole.  That way they can't use their powers to hurt others and they can't do anything that would hurt them.  If they're 'bad' then they just wont be able to use their powers anymore.  oh, and Donnie, please watch your language in the house."

"They have to join hands.  It doesn't have to be a circle, but it usually is.  The target of the effect doesn't have to be inside it or anything.  All the participants have to know that htye are sharing their inner strength though."

Donnie flushes. "Sorry."

"What?" he says out loud, then he realizes he did, and that the others are looking at him. "Sorry, I was just a little lost in my thoughts." he offers them.

What do you mean I dealt with it? We were not exactly in speaking terms then, I saw you flying away and I cried for help. That was it? I just cry for help and hope you come back with reinforcements? Or it's more a thing like at the hospital with Billy?

Now that I think of it, there's another question you haven't answered. Bobby said the spirits would have helped me more the more I helped them. How do I help them exactly?

He rummages into his backpack and gets out the athame, still wrapped in the plastic bag, and gives it to Donnie.

"You mean they have to know they're doing magic?"

"Your subconscious knew what to do, you expressed it.  Soon you will learn to do these things consciously.  You help the spirits in many ways, by helping others, by helping strangers, by fighting the dark forces in the world.  With time the spirits will know you are someone they can help, someone that will repay their help with kindness and good works."

"Well, if I am the one doing the banishing, I wouldn't like to trick people into giving me their strength. It sounds a bit too much like what they did to me."

"Yeah.  Keep in mind that the root of these magical traditions is a religion that's been around for a very long time.  The participants have to be willing, and to be willing they have to have an idea of what's happening.  They don't have to know magic or anything, but they need to know that they're participating in a spell and do so willingly."

"Yeah. We are going after those that did something to Rob, not Rory. Though that is a thought for when we find out who is responsible for his necromantic curse."

Sammy is still grinding out the use the crowd idea for her own satisfaction, and she thinks out loud.

"They have to know they are sharing their inner strength, but do they need to know exactly why, or something just close enough so that its not a lie but not the entire truth?  It might scare people if they knew the entire truth.  But if you said that at halftime or before a game you were going to have a remembrance ceremony, kind of like a prayer service, and you guided the thoughts towards justice then used that power, that'd be fair, wouldn't it?   It wouldn't be all that hard to get people to hold hands either, but you might wind up with more than one circle -- would that make things too complicated?"

OOC:  Wow.  Its late.  oops.  Bad Kat.

At this point Samantha's mother pulls up in front of the house.  Time to go!  Sammy makes her departure.

Well that's nice. It's like a virtuous circle. If I help people they give me the strength to help more people. I like it. It's something I can look forward to. Thanks.

Mitzi shrugs.  "They might get concerned when Colin starts chanting in a language they can't understand.  You also have to have the target there to do the banishing on.  It's worth a try if you can pull it off."

"How do you know?!" Colin nearly drops the glasses he was carrying and stares at Mitzi in wide eyed surprise. "I haven't told anyone about the One Tongue. Only my mother knew."


"Good night, Sammy. It's always nice to have you around. We'll tell you tomorrow if anything else interesting comes up."

"Uh, I was talking about Latin sweetie."  Mitzi says with a smile, "But that's really special if you can use the One Tounge."

"I... I don't know if I can use it. I tried it a couple times, but it didn't work, so far it only came out while I wasn't thinking of it at all. It's still more likely than me using latin though, I don't know anything about it. Unless Donnie teaches me everything I should say, a la 'Klaatu barada nikto'."

"It's just words of power, man. Some people like me who start from an academic standpoint need to use them to access the magic. Other people like you just seem to have it in the blood. What is this 'Old Tongue'? I have seen soem reference to it, but I didn;t know you knew it!"

"One Tongue. It's a language of magic, it's like the root of the languages, before they got different from each other. But you're right this also makes it pretty old. And I can't really say I know it. Sometimes it just flows out of my mouth. Apparently medicine men can learn to use it.
Donnie, you've got dragons defending you. How can you say magic is not in your blood?"

"The One Tounge is the single language that everyone used to speak.  Sometimes it's called the language of the birds.  aboriginal medicine men sometimes use it to tap into the spirit world and other magic."  Mitzi starts making lemonade, "I've never heard it spoken, I'l told it's very beautiful though."

Colin decides to give it another try, just for Mitzi. He closes his eyes and tries to relax, to let go all the worries that trouble him. To feel as a little child, chatting with his mom. Mitzi is so... motherly that it's not difficult to imagine that. Finally, he tries even to forget he's trying to speak in another language, he just lets the meaning flow.

"I like this house a lot. It's not only beautiful, one can really feel loved here."

"Uh, well. I still don't understand that yet. It's only happened the once. I still feel his presence, but maybe it's my imagination.  Who knows, it might have been Sylvia's illusion again. Maybe they are independant or something. I don't know, I have to experiment tonight."

Everyone hears Colin speak.  His voice isn't his own, it sounds like a dozen people all saying something different.  It sounded fine to Colin though.

CRUNCH...CRUNCH...CRUCNH... sounds begin to come from the living room.

Donnie is suddenly nervous, knowing Pip's predeliction for getting into things he shouldn't have. He looks into the room. Aww crap. He's not going to be pleased with me if it really is him..

Sylvia's eyes go wide.  "Mo-om?  If his head spins three-sixty, can we send him home?  I don't want demon barf on me."

Colin looks at Sylvia's reaction and realizes it probably worked.
"Oh. It never worked before. How was it like? Scary? I just keep hearing my own voice when I do that, so I can't tell on my own."

Donnie sees Pip, sitting in the cooler eating ice and a can of soda.  Pip looks up as donnie gazes at him and smiles, but you have to know it's a smile to really beleive it.  Then he goes back to eating his can of soda.

She smiles and shakes her head.  She's just joshing.  "It's not scary.  It's just kind of . . . it's like trying to order fries at the drive-thru.  You know, you get there and you ask for your fries, and this noise comes out of the speaker that sort of sounds like human speech, but you can't pick out more than a syllable or two, and like, no human being could make that noise for real without technical assistance."

Donnie motions for Pip to come to him. The dragon climbs out of the cooler and hops into the air , landing on Donnie's shoulder and wrapping his tail around his neck possessively. His needle-like icy claws prick him through his shirts, and Pip kneads his claws, like a cat preparing a surface for laying down. Donnie scowls at the little jabs of pain, but doesn't complain. "I guess I deserve that, huh?" Pip licks his chops, wiping his pop-smeared chin on Donnie's new shirt and purring.

"You really are here, aren't you."  Pip rumbles contently, rubbing his scaly skin across Donnie's cheek. Donnie swallows the huge lump in his throat and wipes away the tears that threaten to escape his eyes, then returns to the kitchen. He clears his throat. "Consider me chastened."

ooc: Donnie left the room prior to Colin's example of the Old Tongue.

Sylvia gives Donnie a curious look when he goes to see what Pip's doing, but she can't see the little dragon from where she is.  What's that weird noise?  Sounds like someone's ice fishing in the living room.

"That doesn't sound very beautiful. I wasn't probably doing it right. It's the first time I can use it with someone who isn't my mother. That's already something. It's probably another thing that will come at the right time."

As Donnie returns to the kitchen with the dragon, Colin smiles widely. "Look! There it is Sylvia! You haven't seen it yet. Amazing, isn't it?" then he worries "It being here means something is threatening you?" he asks Donnie.

At the phrase "..threatening you.."  Pip Stands up and looks around, a growl coming from inside the small dragon.  His head whips back and forth for a moment, and it snifss at the air.  finally it settles back down on Donnie's shoulder.

Donnie whsipers shhhhh and scratched the little dragon under the chin. "Him. This is Pip. Pip, this is Colin, Sylvia, and Ms. Vaughn. I think he was just out there to prove that I was deluding myself about his existance. He is very intelligent."

Colin's talking in tongues was neat, but how can that compete with a purring, tennis-ball-sized dragon?  Sylvia exhibits the innate reflex all fourteen-year-old girls exhibit toward little baby animals.  Her voice gets small, and her eyes get big.  "Is he friendly?  Can I touch him?"

Donnie smiled, holding out his arm. Pip pranced down his arm to Sylvia sniffing at her outstretched hand. His forked tongue flicked out, touching her fingers.

Donnie said seriously "Sylvia and Colin are to be protected as you protect me, ok?"  Pip snaked his head around to look at Donnie, as if to say You're kidding, right? He allowed himself to be touched by Sylvia, purring like an enormous cat as she scratched beneath his chin.

ooc: Pip is about as big as an average house-cat.

Sylvia coos over Pip, smiling blissfully at the thought that Pip is real and warm and affectionate.  Then, when the first flush of the cute reflex has faded, she has to ask, "Um, where does he go when he's not with you?"


OOC:  Gotcha.  Will amend in future posts.

"Pip. I like it. It's... appropriate." Colin says as he keeps his own curiosity in check allowing Sylvia to go on her "cute puppy trip" without making the dragon nervous.

When she's done, he tries shyly to touch him too.

"It looks like he understands what we say. What about him? Do you understand him?"

Colin checks both Donnie and Pip's aura, wondering if they share one, or are two separate beings.

They are certainly seperate enteties.  Pip's aura has a trailing thread that runs from it up a few feet and seems to vanish into nothing.