my_belfry_of_fun | PSL--Making everything 'equal' does not mean reset-to-0.

"Fresh out of catnip. Sorry." (She didn't sound sorry at all.) "We only have one pet here, and Wolf's not much of a fan of the stuff."

The other three items, on the other hand...two of them were in the far corner cabinet, mixed in with the other spices, but the third--

"We might not have Bergamot, honest." She frowned slightly, actually surprised at the lack of even Earl Grey. She could have sworn there was some the other day, unless one of her roommates was experimenting with Earth flavors again. Or Wally was over. "But I know I have White Willowbark in my room, and there's blueberries in the fridge."

Oh well.

"It isn't essential. Blending them with the chamomile will help." The smile widened, still teasing and slightly smug. "If we're to be of any use, we have to be subtle, which means we do things in more difficult ways."

Then there was a chuckle and his hands rubbed together. "It should be an interesting challenge, won't it?" But business--or they wouldn't be able to function. Well, not as well as they might otherwise, and the situation was something even Klarion would consider 'dire' enough to warrant them both being able to focus. "First, we take care of the focus issues, then I suggest wards and protection, THEN we search for clues."

She did her best to ignore the smug. It was...strangely easy. Must have been all that practice.

The ingredients gathered on the table, she moved to set the kettle on the stove. It wouldn't take long to boil, and she grabbed two mugs without really thinking. Even without steeping, the faint scene of herbs wafted into the air, and she knew they would be stronger once incorporated into tea.

"I think we can manage that. But you're not warding anything. Not here." That much, she was insistent on. Though, as an afterthought--and in the spirit of...whatever their current arrangement was supposed to be...she did add: "...I will take a few suggestions, though. Well, listen to them."

Her insistence actually seemed to amuse him more than anything. A deeper chuckle, genuine actually and a faint bow of acknowledgement. "Would it help if I suggested common ways to help make it difficult for deception to prevail?"

Teek'l stayed balanced on his shoulder even in the half-bow, asleep. Klarion looked up, smile still somewhat smug. "If nothing else, the blueberries are a good first step in that direction. You were kind enough to grab two mugs as well."

"I know," she replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Condescending came with Klarion's very nature, but did he really think she was that new to the art? "And you were the one who asked for the tea in the first place. Getting you a mug was easier than listening to you complain about me not getting you one."

"Your kindness is appreciated, even if not entirely altruistic in nature." A dry reply, also resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm sure you do, but I'm also just as certain that there are others listening besides us. We had a conversation about how far a toddler might throw someone after all."

Pausing and shifting the still sleeping familiar into his arms, stroking her fur from head to tail. Smile dropping, as his eyes regarded Teek'l for a moment, before turning back to his current-companion-in-magic. It was an oddly serious and human expression on his face though.

"If you have heal-all, ague weed, caraway seed, it would be appreciated if one of those could be steeped in a small dish of milk with cinnamon and a pinch of honey."

Edited 2017-11-29 04:23 (UTC)

She shrugged, as if not only unsurprised by that, but having expected it.

"Super hearing." Was her only explanation. Because it certainly wasn't an apology. "Conner would probably be listening in even if he did trust you at all."

It had led to more than a few amusing situations on her end since moving into Mount Justice. Ones that probably should have caused her more embarrassment than the young Kryptonian, but..well...it wasn't her fault he embarrassed far easier than she did.

Recognizing the special dish as something for Teekl, Zatanna bit back some of her snappier comments and bend down to check the bottom right corner lazy suzan drawer for more spices.

"No promises, but I'll see what I can come up with."

In fact, she happened to have all the ingredients listed, and casually sprinkled them into a bowl she pulled from the upper shelves, placing it on the ground for the animal familiar to lap at her leisure. Frowning slightly when she took note of the way she was moving. Not necessarily concern, but...well...a small voice in the back of her mind wondered how badly Teekl was being affected by all this as well.

Klarion was not the type to thank people. It simply wasn't in his nature even when things weren't out of balance. But the familiar was placed down with a care that was rarely seen, and he studied her as Teek'l moved to sniff and then lap at the mixture.

Arms folding then, he closed his eyes, focusing. Teek'l paused mid-lap, looking up and still. Both of them like that for several heartbeats, before their activities resumed. "From what I can tell, we're going to have be very careful of what we say, and what we mean." Addressing that to Zatanna with that inscrutable smile again.

"Fortunately for me, I tend to mean exactly what I say," she replied back, also folding her arms. But the subsequent eyebrow raise indicated she knew what he meant, and was waiting for further elaboration before making any more comments.

If even Teek'l gave pause, then that moment of stillness must have carried far more significance than first glances let on.

Klarion gave a soft scoff, but still kept his smile. Reaching out for the mug to take a sip. "Humans think that, but then they always get upset when they get exactly what they think they want." A dry comment. "It's like the blue jeans in the bottle and granting wishes."

A soft 'mrow' from Teek'l, and his eyes whipped to his cat. "Yes, that's what I said." Wisely, the familiar ignored this comment.

She let out a quiet snort at the error, and took great amusement in watching Teek'l correct her master.

"So what you're saying is that our spells are going to have to be extra literal in order to work the way they're supposed to."

"More accurately, they will likely be interpreted extremely literally, despite what we say." Another from his mug, and a pause. Especially a look between cat and witch-boy, before speaking again. "Chaos accounts naturally for things not going as they are meant to. That's the fun of it, and why it's chaos. It's unpredictable. Order tries to make sense of the nonsensical."

"Think of it as if you were an artist. A painter in particular. To create a 'random' scene, you might simply splatter paint all over the canvas with no care for where it goes. Yet if you look, there are still ways that paint clusters in small orderly groups. Whereas when someone does their best to deliberately be random, they often end up acting in ways that are semi-predictable, even if it's extremely convoluted."

Another soft m'rowr, although of approval this time. The bowl was half-gone, and the cat sat and groomed a paw before looking at Zatanna for a long moment. Then moved back over to Klarion's side. "I still think it'd be more fun to explain it with tangled snakes eating their own tails." This comment seemed more for Teek'l, from how it was murmured around the rim of the mug.

Zatanna didn't stare, exactly, but it was probably the first time she had ever heard Klarion speak in such a way that not only made sense to her, but in a relatively calm manner. For a Lord of Chaos, she often forgot--(and it wasn't as if his usual words and actions helped any)--that he carried the title for a reason. Behind the childishness was the brain of a master. One whose power and grasp of the art and elements was far beyond that of even her father.

...until that last line, of course, which earned a small eye roll as she took her own mug and began walking back to the table with the books.

"You can explain it however you want, if it gets us an answer that much sooner. Though if our spells are going to have to be scrutinized, I'm wondering if we should actually pre-write and train with them before going anywhere."

A small frown appeared at the thought, even if was her own suggestion. She hadn't had to pre-write spells since she was 8. Mastery of their family's language had come even easier to her than Giovanni, given he'd raised her to speak it from birth along with English and Italian.

Teek'l moved to keep pace with her, since Klarion was holding his own mug. A small wave of his hand, and although it was shaky--the small dish for his familiar did levitate. But it stayed in one place, and he moved to grab it from the air, rather than levitate it over to the table on it's own.

"Actually, I'm not at all certain how any spells would manifest. Simply that given how the balance has shifted, it is a strong possibility." A blink, and the smile morphed into an outright grin. "It might be they don't work at all how we'd expect or like them too, since there is an imbalance due to a lack of chaos..."

Would that be ironic? Taking out 'chaos' from the universe and reality just making things manifest as more chaotic to fill the void.

"You would find that amusing," she commented, noting the grin out of the corner of her eye.

What wasn't so amusing was the shakiness of Teek'l's dish. It was one thing for Zatanna's magic to be on the fritz, but if Klarion's was too...

...actually, no, she mentally took that back; she felt better knowing he was suffering in a similar matter as she. It meant less chance of him continuing to mock her (presumed) lower power levels.

"All the more reason to practice. We have a training room. Robin's been working on replacing some of the more delicate fixtures with Nth metal to keep the damage to a minimum, so it might actually be the best place to practice chaotic non-deliberately chaos magic."

He was highly amused by it. Teek'l settled down near one of the books, looking over it curiously, then a m'row? of query. "I don't think she's allowed to have boys in her room Teek'l, so we're stuck with what she brought. The library here isn't suited to our needs either."

But oh, look, he could at times be...mercurial at best. By pulling out a chair for Zatanna, like a gentleman. With a small gesture to indicate as such.

"I'm allowed to have anyone in my room I want." She replied back, taking another sip of tea. "I just don't want you in--"

She was cut off when she realized what Klarion was doing. Did he just---? An eyebrow rose, and she waited for the catch before tentatively taking a seat.

"...thank you?"

Catch? No catch. Well, unless one counted that he was a being of chaos, and did whatever he found 'fun' for the most part. Which meant pulling her chair out for her, and then helping her resettle, amused him.

Or he wouldn't have done it.

Certainly her thanks wasn't overtly acknowledged, or commented on. Taking his own seat, the mug was brought up again. A long drink, savored, while he was thinking, as Teek'l moved back to her own dish.

"I can't imagine the little red bird being too happy with me in a training room." A small amused grin. "Which of course, means that I absolutely want to see it now."

The thinly veiled metonymy was easy enough to decipher, and might not have garnered the reaction he was seeking. In that she barely reacted at all.

"Don't really care what you want. It's bad enough I have to deal with you right now. I won't drag him into this unless it's absolutely necessary."

Regardless of any personal feelings, Robin had about as much magic as the average rock. On top of that, he technically still wasn't team leader (yet). Both those attributes would have fallen to Kaldur, whose absence was explained with a recent trip back to Atlantis. Which, Zatanna assumed, was the only reason she had yet to hear from him on the matter.

The metonymy might also really have just been to amuse himself, more than any reaction. "You assume he isn't already being dragged into this. Or your hydromancer-aquatic friend. Just because they're not here doesn't mean they might not be put to use elsewhere."

Another long sip of tea and a pause.

"Honestly, I'd be wondering what they weren't up to, if the big scary bat hasn't put them to use."

The small dish that has been his familiar's was now empty, and the cat groomed her paws for a moment. Before turning to stare at Zatanna again. Then deliberately pacing over and butting her head against the girl's hand.

"...he probably has,' she admitted with a sigh. No point in hiding that much. Robin might not be on babysitting duty or anything that requires a knowledge of magic, but there was no way he would sit by with all this going on.

A slight bump against her fingers only partially drew her attention, and Zatanna sat back as she offered Teek'l a light scratch behind the ears. Klarion was a brat, and yeah, the cat was his familiar...but she always had a soft spot for animals. Especially the wild ones.

Teek'l wasn't simply a familiar; she was Klarion's anchor to the physical plane. There was a soft "mrrr" of appreciation, as she leaned her head more into the scratch. Bumping her head against Zatanna's arm again for more contact, and actually being deceptively cute. Deceptively only because usually she was facing the other in battle.

Klarion was silent, as her words needed no response. Surprising perhaps to others, but it was because he was thinking. His mind racing and moving from topic to topic quickly wasn't unusual; he was chaos personified which meant keeping to one train of thought was often more difficult than letting several flow. But it was certainly something none of the team was familiar with likely.

Quiet for so long, and trying to think, that he seemed surprised to look down and find his mug of tea empty. Nor with a recollection of his drinking it (although that again, wasn't unusual. (Forgetting things that is.)

"Your books are helpful, but I don't think we'll find answers in them. Or clues. Not to solve this." Because a thought had occurred to him. "Are you familiar with the Sorcerer's world? Would someone in the League be so, if you are not?" There was also no hint of condescension (aside from that which was part of his usual manner) in the question.

Eyes upwards and head tilted, Klarion made a small thinking sound, then murmured "It's official name is something silly, like that machine that copies papers en masses."

Her reaction was subtle--at least, by her (or, really, their) standards--but still noticeable. A split-second freeze as she'd been prepared to lift the mug of tea to her lips. Recognition flashing across her eyes. Recognition, but not familiarity. Curious. Questioning. And also a slight hint of annoyance, because Klarion had actually said something that could prove to be useful.

"I've...heard of it. A little." She frowned, glancing down at her mug. The reasons behind her knowledge of the Sorcerer's World were private. But clearly ones that brought about a wave of melancholy nostalgia. "But I was never told the name. Or how to get there. Dad...might have known."

"Oh please. Your surprise is mildly insulting. Although that will hardly deter you now." Dark eyes met her own, and there was a genuine frown and hint of annoyance in his expression. Teek'l gave a soft mrr, and gently pawed Zatanna's hand for more scratches.

"Even if we don't contact them, it might be worth seeking out contact with one of the realms connected to them. If the League has not done so, then it is likely only because of a lack of knowledge."

She was barely paying attention to Teek'l at that point, and it was only through muscle memory that her fingers chose to move of their own accord, returning to scratching the familiar's ears. Strange, how the gesture--even when she wasn't consciously aware of it--could ease her some.

"I'm not saying you're wrong," she began. "But wouldn't that only be useful if we knew who in the world to contact? I don't know anybody from there. And there aren't many Leaguers with that much magical knowledge."

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