January 23, 2015:
Magical Minds Meet on neutral territory to discuss the HYDRA threat
Silveroak Tavern - New York City
Characters
![class="image1"](http://cmbeta.wdfiles.com/local--resized-images//class="image1"/medium.jpg)
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
A Dark Hold
Apocalypse: Only the Strong
Blood versus Family
Bones Of The City
Breaking the Universe
Cyberdata War: First Strike
Dangerous Esterikos Wonderous Mystikos
Dark Gods & Times
De Oppresso Liber
Demon Lord of New York
Diaz de Muertos
Don't Tell Thanos The Babysitter's Dead
Empire of Tears
Escape from Sakaar
From the Ashes
Gateway to the Stars
Genosha: Rebirth
God Of The Dead
Hacker, Sass-Mastah, Engineer, Spy
Himmel und Hölle in Bewegung Setzen
Mood Music: None.
Fade In…
The night of Trent's — or is it Magik's? — summit meeting, the Silveroak is largely empty. Wassea managed to close the pub earlier in the day, so those that remain are trusted staff… in this case, Paddy the bartender, Wassea herself, and Dana, who has armoured up and assumed the role of 'Rune'. Rex, rather than being flopped by the fireplace, sits at the door alertly. The bartender stands at the far end of the bar counter, near the kitchen door. Wassea is hidden within the great kitchen, and Rune, hood back to reveal her face, leans against the front of the bar, not far from either Paddy or that kitchen door, waiting for the guests to arrive and the festivities to get underway.
***
Jericho is not generally late. Advantage of being able to teleport around. Also, you know, Illyana can mess with 'when' she comes out of Limbo. She doesn't do it often for good reasons but she's more than capable. "Time to head over?" He says, glancing over at the blonde sorceress he's accompanying. He's got only very basic magical knowledge (and incomplete at that) and no talent at all but he does have an in depth knowledge of HYDRA, it's operations and the state of the current problem. His role in this meeting will be laying out what is going on and what needs to happen. What can be done about it, that's up to the other people who attend.
***
Pepper Potts has always had a tendency to arrive early, and this time is no exception. She came straight over from work, thus is still wearing her own version of 'battle armor' in the form of a sharp black business suit jacket and pencil skirt, with a deep royal blue peacoat and high heel knee boots in place of her usual shoes.
After hurrying through the door of the Silveroak, Pepper takes a moment to greet Rex fondly and shed her coat before moving toward where Rune is waiting.
***
Illyana's only answer to Jericho is to raise one hand upwards, a stepping disk appearing at their feet and a moment later they appear outside the pub. Because Illyana won't be so gauche as to teleport into someone else's 'territory'. Well, another magic user's anyway. Normal people's 'territory' doesn't mean as much to her.
Illyana's in her Red costume tonight, her own version of working clothes. She lifts a hand to greet Rune as they enter, a smirk on her lips. "I wasn't thinking of you as Switzerland, Rune." Illyana did ask for a netural spot, so none of the oft-paranoid magic users would feel uncomfortable.
***
Having received notice of the meeting, Zee teleports to the Silveroak for the Titans base. She's been to the Silveroak before so she's certain her teleport won't be off today, small miracles never cease to amaze her. Arriving just outside, wearing her dove grey business suit with a red shirt underneath, Zee takes a deep breath beforing stepping inside and moving towards the waiting group.
***
Captain and Rain seem to operate more as a unit these days. Unless there's a no cats policy, mind you. "If they got fish, I'm ordering some," captain states. Rain, having gotten the notice and/or invitation, will likely arrive just after Z. She seems to favor her motorcycle or broom to teleporting. Something about ending up in drag in England or other. Nevertheless, the duster coat wearing witch will follow in quietly, orange cat in a trenchcoat on her shoulders.
***
Rune greets Pepper with a smile, and Rex greets her with a chuff. He's a little bigger, tonight, than usual, putting on a show of being a 'big mean hellhound'. But, perhaps, that's to be expected. There's a table pulled up near enough to the fireplace to enjoy its warmth, far enough a way to be comfortable. It's even round… likely pulled out just for the occasion. Rune gestures Pepper towards it. "Work for you?"
She glances over as Magik enters. A low chuckle sounds from her. "Surprise," she grins, a twinkle in her eye. "It's the only way I've managed to survive this long." Translation: it's the only reason she's still free to walk around and not rotting in one of Maeve's various dungeons. "When you come from a cutthroat society of vindictive magic users," — she means the Sidhe, not homo magi — "you learn pretty early the importance of neutral territory and demilitarized zones."
As the others soon arrive as well, she pushes off the bar and gestures to the table. "Welcome, everyone. Shall we have a seat?" In the meantime, Rex eyes Captain warily and Paddy slips into the kitchen to see if Wassea needs any help. It's not like he has to tell her company's arrived. She knows.
People like Wassea always know.
***
Pepper Potts smiles to Rune then looks at the round table and can't help but chuckle faintly. "Perfect." She steps over to pick a seat at the table at random, then smiles hello as the others start arriving. She doesn't actually sit until everyone else is ready to do so.
***
Jericho nods to Rune in greeting and the others. He's… you know, it should probably worry him that he's met everyone here prior to tonight. Or perhaps not. Magical things seem to happen around him. He briefly, briefly imagines how this meeting would go with the one missing magical woman he knows present. Then immediately abandons that line of thought. Too early for a massive fight full of explosions and swearing.
He waits until everyone is situated and gives a glance to Illyana just to make sure he's not missing some kind of point of protocol before starting in.
"Thanks for coming." His amber eyes gleam a bit and his traces start to glimmer as they absorb the magic from around the Silveroak. "As some of you will have already heard, we have something of a problem. HYDRA, an organization of world-domination crazed terrorists, has decided to add magic to it's arsenal and they're doing it… badly. Illyana can explain to you exactly how, since she's seen it and it's more her bailiwick than mine. What they're doing though, apparently, is divining possible futures and then attempting to eliminate threats to some outcome that they hope to bring about. They have, so far, staged over thirty attacks on SHIELD personnel and allies that I am aware of and killed a dozen agents. Again, I'm still working on getting a handle of the scope of this. There could be, and probably is, more activity that I'm unaware of. The focus of all this seemss to be the ley lines in central america though I'm starting to suspect they wer eused as a test case for affecting the ones up here. Somehow."
***
If this were some sort of official magical conclave, there'd undoutably be some ritual to go through. Especially if a Hermetic were hosting. But this isn't that. It's informal. It's a 'hey, if you can be arsed to help out…'
Illyana takes her seat as Jericho gives the skinny, her manner relaxed. She's been here before and knows Rune well enough to trust that when the faeling promises neutral ground, they'll get it. As Jericho wraps up the fifty-thousand foot version, she narrows it down a bit.
"They've got enough people with skill and talent, not always the same individuals holding both at the same time, that it's more than just some yokels that found a grimoire. And they either don't know enough or they're dumb enough to think that the way to gain more power is to jury-rig as many different disciplines together as they can to get the effect. We've seen them mixing Hermetic magic, Witchcraft and Demonology to try to affect the ley lines. Which it's starting to look like is their goal."
Illyana looks over to Rune, "I think you're our resident expert on the Lines." A glance around the table, mostly to Rain whom she hasn't met. "My background is demonology and black magic."
***
Zee slips into a seat, listening quietly. She's met everyone here, even if just in passing, and Jericho and Illyana have shared most of this information already. "We're seeing evidence of ley lines being tampered with Gotham. I've helped repair two in the last few weeks." She shrugs "They may, or may not, be related but it seems far too coincidental."
***
In fairness, aside from her house making the news by uh, well, landing, Rain is a pretty big unknown. She seems to prefer that. Captain stays on Rain's shoulders for now, listening. They're catching up on the news, it seems. The violet-eyed witch is also quiet by her nature. News of the upended ley lines clouds her face a bit, and she frowns faintly. The cat on her shoulders looks uneasy, too. Well, that would probably explain it, too.
She looks to Illyana, bobbing her head politely. "I'm a witch. I usually heal people, but I'm pretty good at divination, I think." "Better than her teleporting, unless you want someone naked in England," Captain offers helpfully. Rain's left eye tics a bit. "We don't talk about that." She seems to be more of a generalist and probably one of those whacky pagans (too bad she's not a dj who looks things up. Then she'd be a wiki-wiki-wiccan). "I go by Rain. And the ley lines in New York seem a bit off. Someone seems to have 'sterilized' one, for want of a better word," She offers. "We thought perhaps it was related to the disasters, too, but…"
***
Rune does know quite a bit about the ley lines. She travels them frequently. And they've been… turbulent. "There are ripples across the planes," the realmwalker concedes. "But, I haven't had any specific Visions of Impending Doom," (a.k.a. VoIDs, in case it comes up) "related to anything outside of the Otherworld." And she's kept mum about most of those — even to the Sidhe. Perhaps especially to the Sidhe. "But, idiotic tampering would explain the turbulence I've encountered when shunting." 'Shunting' being her word for the line surfing she does.
She purses her lips. "Shifting ley lines is quite a feat. They're like rivers — they follow the natural lay of the land… so to speak. And, the greater the concentrations of energy, the stronger the current. But, like rivers, they're not easily diverted. They can be dammed, but that takes a very high level of both skill and talent. Not to mention serious rituals and often sacrifice. Too, as you might expect, it's easier to affect weaker lines than stronger. If they really want to change the course of… well, anything, really, using the lines… they'll probably have to capture or at least isolate several nexus points — which is much easier said than done. Think of them like river deltas. Lots of energy, lots of lines, and a big knot in the middle to mark where they converge."
She leans back, considering it. "You don't divert rivers without reason — that reason usually being either to drown something or to dry it out… or else to convert the flow into raw power you can then harness and use for other applications."
And, at that, she frowns. That's actually a scarier thought than the others.
***
Pepper Potts pulls a tablet computer from her shoulder bag and sets it on the table. "Two of my associates currently helping in Metropolis sent this to me just yesterday, and when they explained the significance, it made me really glad we'd arranged this meeting." Pepper taps the device awake, sets something on the screen, then lays the tablet flat on the table. She holds one hand palm down an inch or two above the display, then raises her hand up and away from the StarkPad, causing the flat image to become a 3D hologram floating above the table. It's still kind of small, but what it shows is clear: The Metropolis electrical grid, overlaid and eerily mirroring another set of lines that Rune will likely identify immediately as ley lines.
***
Jericho leans back on a table and frowns. Diverting the actual course of ley lines is… a possibility he hasn't considerd. And with the new information on Metropolis, he'll have to start. Nothing solid on that yet though. "In addition to whatever else they're doing," He starts. "We believe it's possible that they're trying to alter the 'flavor' of the local ley lines. Possibly to affect long term changes in the nearby population. Or… align with something else." He doesn't know what though.
"Either way, I've got HYDRA occultists murdering SHIELD agents and anyone else they think may get in the way. I can respond to the attacks, and I have, but I can only do so much. I'm only one guy. We need predictive or preventative measures while we figure out what they're up to, and we still need to be able to shut them down when we do."
***
"There's enough coincidence kicking that I'm betting bigger picture." Illyana notes. "Rune, they're mucking with divination magic. Is it possible they're messing with your precognitive abilities? By the way, should we take bets as to how long the tech survives?" She jokes. Maybe it's just her, but the gremlins in her electronics tend to end up real and causing things like oh, her phone to fritz out all the damned time.
***
Zee cocks her head as she listens and frowns "The last ley line Gotham was being cleansed, it was like they were trying to cause it to explode and affect the rest of magic there." her frown deepens "there's a Druid there, and he took the crystals that were being used to a friend of his and the 'seeing' they had… said that Gotham was almost like a magical ghost town." Sortof that, but not quite. "I can get those crystals if it will help." The young magician shrugs again "It would be interesting to see if the Gotham grid looks similar to the New York one… too, wouldn't it?"
***
"Mine does pretty well, but I can create or bolster stuff as I need." Pause. "… it's also what I did in college," Fidget. Dang electrical engineers. "I built a toaster. I - can talk about that later," Yes. Rain is going to stop there. "I'm not sure why the ley line I ran into in New York felt 'sterile', but it was like someone injected and altered energy," She offers. "Some of the local ghosts slash spirits seemed upset," She considers. Captain hops off her shoulders to look around. Cats. She looks to Pepper, considering the group quietly.
***
Rune's frown deepens as she looks at Pepper's display, though a bit of snirk curls her lips at Illyana's suggestion the tech's life is limited. But, since she often uses her own tablet in here, and it's not Starkmade (although, yes, it's protected by a beruned case), she's not overly concerned. Then again, who knows what the addition of all these other strong magic users will do.
Rune's frown deepens as she looks at Pepper's display, though a bit of snirk curls her lips at Illyana's suggestion the tech's life is limited. But, since she often uses her own tablet in here, and it's not Starkmade (although, yes, it's protected by a beruned case), she's not overly concerned. Then again, who knows what the addition of all these other strong magic users will do.
"That's actually highly unusual. Strong leylines often short out electrical fields. They don't typically track to them." Not without help, anyway.
She cants her head, though, at Illyana's suggestion and then gives a slow nod. "It is possible," the seer admits. "And, in this place I'm not often as troubled by visions as I am outside." Yes, this place, while suffused by magic, also has a subtle dampening effect. Though whether that's just on her or on everyone is a matter of some debate. It's entirely possible the muting of Rune's abilities here is Wassea's doing. And, if it is, the diminutive Fey landlady isn't admitting it.
She glances to Zee and nods. "Actually, I would be interested in seeing the crystals. I'd also be interested in seeing this 'ghost town' effect. My talents include True Sight and Realmwalking." Both of which the others might have heard of in less formal terms. One is perceiving the true nature of things, the other in traversing the planes. When combined, it usually means the poor sap with the pair of those abilities sees all the layers of realities and alternate realities at once. Is it any wonder she prefers being inside the Silveroak's suppression field?
To Rain: "Whereabouts was this sterile line? It'd be interesting to know which course it runs and how wide the field of affect is." She can do quite a bit with information like that. Maybe even without Wassea's help.
***
Pepper Potts lets the others study the holographic image, then lets the tablet turn itself off to conserve its battery before stowing it back in her bag. She's not really had any problems with her phone or tablet in here, but then, she doesn't really get to visit all that often. "I'll have my associate who discovered this talk with you if you want, Dana. You've met him before, Jim, from Quality Assurance." And his accompanying Buddha Bird.
***
Jericho pulls up a map on his HUD, looking at the power generation lines. Gotham and New York have much messier civic grids. So it's unlikely that they'd have the same kind of resonance effects as Metro's. He can't map ley lines though. That'll be up to this group. "We'll be making an excursion down to Central America. If there's evidence of what they're doing it'll be there. Beyond that I can't say that I really have a plan. See about getting that crystal set, though we haven't seen Hydra using htat yet. Lots of obsidan and blood magic foci though. And they've taken to trying to bind vampires and demons." Whatever's up, it's gonna be fairly big.
***
"Rune, if you have any ley line maps that we could add to the pool of knowledge, that'd be helpful. I can sense when the major ones are around but that's not helpful when dealing with things at this scale." Illyana notes before nodding over to Zatanna. "Zee's going to see about getting in touch with some of the local practitioners down in South America, see if they've managed to sense any weirdness but if the incidents down there were just test cases, we're already chasing ghosts." She looks over to Rune then. "We need to figure out where they're setting up shop and get to them before they're in deep. Hopefully we can find some folks to ask questions to get ahead of them. They're using Witchcraft and that discipline is a lot more community oriented than others. Try to scare up some intel from that side?"
***
Oh yeah, contented kitty Zee had agreed to doing getting in touch with local practitioners in South America. She flushes slightly before nodding to Rune "I can do that… and I might be able to put you in touch with the woman the Druid speaks to." Zee gives Rune an apologetic look "I'm not sure how her power works, I've not met her, but it was definitely by touching the crystals." Zee will go gather the crystals after this meeting "Where's the best place to get them to you, Rune… here?"
***
Rain is more quiet. A lot of this is new and worrying to her. She smiles. Jim. She quite likes Jim and his Buddha Bird. She looks to Rune, "If I recall rightly, it was near Queens. Sort of along Bronx Park, too. In New York," She taps her chin. "I haven't poked at Gotham too much, outside of um, meeting the Druid." And her face goes r-e-d. Oh dear. Captain giggles wildly. Oh man, this is rich. Humans, right? Right. Rain tries not to look too obvious about turning a bright shade of red. "We did manage to help a ghost whose remains had been interred by the disaster, but that was the most notable incident in New York."
***
Dana remembers Jim. Strange fellow. Makes him hard to forget — even when you're used to meeting strange fellows. He's a little more of a dichotomy than most. She nods to Pepper. "That's a good idea," she agrees. She'll also likely make a trip over to the Big Apricot on her owm, too. Evidently, she's been spending too long fencing with Maeve in the Otherworld, to have missed so much here. Damned faerieland time differential.
Her nose wrinkles at Illyana's request. "I actually don't use maps. I just… know where they are." She has a natural sense for the things. She considers for a moment. "Maybe, though, I can still at least show you what I know." She pushes back from the table and rises, crossing to the bar while she continues to speak. "I can also speak with the demifey, if you want. If anyone knows when things are disturbed, it's them." Of course, it'll likely exact a bloodprice from her to do so, but she knows how to handle that. "I can speak with my mother, too. See what she's heard through the grapevine." She's half witch/half fey. There are connections she can take advantage of on both sides. And Shannon often knows things about the Witches her daughter doesn't… if only because Dana's distanced herself from them to keep them out of the line of fire.
She stoops behind the counter and pulls out her ubiquitous runic satchel, withdrawing a small wooden box from it as she adds, "And there's a ghost of my recent acquaintance who's got an afterlife community service sentence he's serving I may be able to press into doing a little investigation for me."
She brings the box back to the table and opens it, revealing it to be full of white sand that, upon closer inspection, is likely crushed shells or crystals.
She nods to Zee. "Here. Or through Pepper." She often finds her Sight activated by touch, too… though it doesn't have to be crystals that trigger it — all evidence in the sandbox to the contrary. It's just as likely to be a random cosmic kick to the back of the head by The Powers That Be, just Because They Can. (The bastards.)
She politely suppresses a smile at Rain's discomfort. "I know my way around Druids," she admits. Daughter of a Celtic God. Gawd, she's starting to hate her pedigree. "They're always fun." (Of course, she sometimes defines 'fun' as frickin' unnecessary nonsense.)
***
Pepper Potts nods her agreement when Rune names her as a point of contact. She's okay to do that, even as busy as she's been lately. "Rune, if you want, I can let Jim know to expect you in Metropolis. He's quite good at parsing maps, so maybe you and he can draw a map of the ley lines in the area."
She looks from Rain to Dana perhaps a bit curiously at the mention of druids, though if there were a way for her to help with the demifey, she'd happily do that as well. Though, now that she considers it, her contribution to this group is likely going to be more logistical. Not everyone has access to Illyana's stepping disks.
***
And as a neutral party everyone trusts who is currently doing important work in Metro and can probably get access to other places. There was a reason Jericho wanted her here. The hacker watches as Rune moves across the room to get… whatever it is she's going to get. "That sounds good on the investigation front. What about the defensive one? How would you guys defend if someone were attacking your friends and homes?" In Illyana's case that'd be particularly foolhardy but Limbo wasn't always hers and he knows that she knows wards. They're all over his safehouse.
***
"So I think what we want to accomplish here is first, see if people can leverage their contacts. Get some eyes out. Folks that can sense the mystical to try to track down the snakes. Secondly, get some different people thinking on what they're trying to accomplish and how they might be trying to accomplish it to get ahead of them. Because I'm fairly sure they're working on some ideas no one's been stupid enough to try before." Illyana doesn't normally talk this much. Pretty much like, ever. She rarely has folks to 'talk shop' with.
***
"OK, I'll try to grab the crystals tonight or tomorrow morning." Zee looks to Pepper "If I can't get them here, I'll drop them to … oh is Stark Towers back in commission yet or where would be best Miss Potts?" Glancing between Jericho and Illyana, Zee wrinkles her nose "Maybe… once we have more information, getting someone in undercover, might be worthwhile. It seems like we need to think like these people do."
***
Rain is more an audience, but she seems happy enough to talk shop and listen. It's somewhat rare she talks about witchin' beyond 'hold still and hum your favorite song while I put someone back together'. "Few people mess with the Manor. There are labrynth wards, among others." And the house staff. And a freaking Loki. And… well, don't poke the Manor. "Usually, I try to keep a tamp down on sympathetic connections and keep an eye out, alongside mundane security measures. But I'm sort of odd." She mixes her magic with her tech. It's like marshmallows in hot cocoa. Sometimes they melt, and sometimes they float.
Rain smiles, the blush fading after talk of druid passing. Someone might have a wee crush. Maybe. At least Captain stopped giggling. She's not entirely sure on her heritage. There were an awful lot of parties in the family tree. A lot.
***
Rune has wards all over her armour, nevermind anywhere else. "The Sidhe have a tradition of preemptive strikes," she tells Jericho. "Most attacks by the Sidhe are far more subtle than what you've described. They work through catspaws and pawns, rarely directly. Because direct attacks are met in kind and usually involve savage, unforgiving clan wars that last for centuries." And get very, Very, VERY bloody. "And most Witches with any sense are wary about using black magic in the manner Hydra is because of the Threefold Law." In which Karma proves she's an überbitch and revisits any harm a Witch does back upon her… only three times worse.
She nods to Illyana. "The main problem I see is that, without understanding the specific and overall pattern and purpose of attacks, it's very difficult to lay a defensive perimeter down. We can lay wards, we can amass protective spells and artefacts, we can even enlist a supernatural neighborhood watch. But, at the end of the day, it's all guesswork. And most countermagic, to really work well, needs to be fairly specific. Until we get a good picture of the lines, their shifts, and some better intel on what these snakes' endgame actually is, we're shooting nearly blind." Seers don't like being blind when it comes to the future. Go figure.
She wrinkles her nose and sighs softly. "I can try a vision quest. But, that may be dangerous, and I'll need someone to watch my back, if I do." Metaphysically speaking, she means… Well, and physically, too. "Because the best place to do that is someplace they've worked magic fairly recently and pretty heavily." A grimace twists her features. "And, frankly, if people have died there… well, that's actually helpful to me." Distasteful, but helpful. Gotta love psychopomps.
She nods her agreement with Zee, with regard to the undercover work. But, they'd need a reliable agent, and one who couldn't be coerced. Dana's not volunteering for that. She prefers looking in from the outside. "Anyone know a decent spy with magic training or resistance?"
***
Pepper Potts can't really think of anyone that fits Rune's criteria, but… "Vision quest sounds like something out of a movie." But she of all people knows that a good amount of fiction is based on fact that is just too weird for people to accept. Really, at this point, she's not got much at all to contribute to the meeting.
***
"That I do not suggest." Jericho's rather emphatic about not liking Zee's suggestion to plant people. "HYDRA has a long history of conditioning it's operatives and it's pretty broad based. If you decide to do that be very, very careful."
"I'll work what I can on my end of things." Which will probably be close to Illyana's end of things but operations like this get unpredictable sometimes. "Is there anything else or shall we declare this meeting of the magical types successfully non-disastrous?"
"Best to escape before someone gets turned into a newt." Illyana agrees, pushing up to her feet while one hand comes to rest on Jericho's shoulder. Of course the magical types are likely to sense the link there, but most people would be clueless. "So if we get any information to share, we'll drop by here or get it to Ms. Potts?"
***
"Perhaps it is" Zee already knows the link between Mistress and Familiar. Rising as Illyana does, Zee smiles to Rune and Pepper "I'll be in touch as soon as I have those crystals." Turning to Rain and Captain, the raven haired woman grins mischieviously "Want to stick around, you two… we can catch up. Something we've not had a lot of time to do."
***
"Well, generally speaking, witches are like a box of chocolates. We come in many flavors. I have a broomstick and generally dislike hexing people," Rain remarks. "Others come in more unpleasant flavors." Like, oh, her murderous, necromantic aunt who ended up a skeet shot at the hands of some - defenders. "If you're serious about a vision quest, we'd be alright looking after you. But I can't suggest infiltration," A headtilt at Jericho. "You never know what they'll do." Rain wrinkles her nose. Don't think about the druid. Don't think about the druid.
Then she smiles to Zee. "We can stick around if you like, if it's okay." Captain pokes his head out. "I don't get a martini, do I?"
***
Rune glances to Pepper and nods. "I think Pepper makes an ideal central point of contact — unless you object, Pepper." But, it seems to be her thing, really. As the meeting begins to break up, she adds, "Before you go, Pepper, do me a favour and turn on the tablet's camera. I'll conjure up the ley line map as I know it and perhaps you can get JARVIS to do something useful with it." That's what the box of sand is for. An 'illusion' the AI can actually see. "The pub's open to all of you as long as you'd like. I've no doubt Paddy will be back to sack the table and take drink orders soon as I'm done with this."
As she begins her spell, Rex saunters back over, continuing to eye Captain (whom you just know he shadowed during the cat's explorations).
***
"No, that's perfectly fine, Rune." She's the central point of contact for several other things already, one more wouldn't really faze her all that much. When the request is made for her tablet to be pressed into use again, she pulls it back out of her bag and activates the camera function. "Okay, I'm ready."
***
"Alright then. We'll be in touch." Jericho nods in a polite, oddly deferential way. His traces are flushing red now, the color spreading from where Illyana's hand is. Likely the others can indeed sence the link between the two. "Good luck and don't hesitate to contact me if you need help of the nonmagical type. Illyana or Pepper can get word to me." He glances over to the blonde.
"Whenever you're ready." He murmurs.
Illyana gives a nod as their methods of communication are outlined. She looks over to Pepper and gives the older woman a small smirk. Yeaaaah, giving Illyana an excuse to drop in on people? Something they often regret.
The blonde raises her hand and a stepping disk appears at her and Jericho's feet. In another moment, they're gone.
***
Zee grins at her fellow Titan and nods. "A meal and conversation then it is…. " Captain gets a wry grin from the Mistress of Magic "If Rain says you can, I'll buy you a martini… ok?" Rune gets a small smile "Thank you, Rune. This is a lovely place and it's nice to know we have somewhere to come." Zee settles into her seat, she's not going anywhere fast.
***
Captain peers at Rex in turn. "Yeeeeeeeeeeees?" He tilts his head. Oh man. A dog. This is gonna be interesting. His tail flicks a bit. He just settles for letting it go. Rain pauses. "I - don't know. I assume his metabolism is that of a cat, but… I guess I can change it a bit for one evening. You did get thrown at war spirits. And at elementals. And launched through a window." He's earned it at least. Rain looks to Zee and smiles. "Sounds like a plan," She nods.
With that, Rain looks to Rune, too. "Yeah, thank you. It was nice of you to let us in." She appreciates it, and all.
***
Paddy returns momentarily, as Rune suggested, to fetch both Zee and Rain their choice of drinks… even one for Captain. Rex snorts and goes to take his customary flop by the fireplace.
Rune smiles at the others. "The Silveroak is always open to those that need it," she says. "You're quite welcome." With that, she then turns and begins concentrating on the sand. Slowly, it ripples across the table, forming a three dimensional image of the TriCity area. The sand separates into colours, grey for the city scape, and colours for the criss-crossing of leylines. Certainly, the Metropolis grid looks familiar, though both New York and Gotham are more chaotic — the former far more tangled than the latter, which is far more sparse.
When Rune has the map as firm as she can make it, she holds it long enough for Pepper to get the footage she needs. Then, she funnels the sand back into the box and puts it all away… so Paddy can then remove the table and set the room to rights.
***
Pepper Potts started recording the images from the oment the sand started moving, so she collects a good, steady image of the completed map, then nods and rechecks the footage while Run puts the sand back into the box. "This will give us an excellent start, I think." She wishes she could just ask JARVIS to correlate everything, but the AI's not been feeling quite up to snuff lately.
Seeing Paddy return while putting her tablet away, she smiles to the bartender and asks if he'd be so kind as to bring her a glass of water.