Lower Fens Home Early

[Billy Broder]

Billy carefully poured out colorful sand from a jar, making slow progress with the circle in the living room carpet. This wasn't the best way to draw a circle, he knew that perfectly well, but for this it would serve. He'd been doing a lot of research into this and if it all went well he would only have to draw the circle proper once, well twice but once on the ground. The symbols themselves were piled on the coffee table, drawn on small sheets of paper he would tack down into place. He had warding stones but the paper was partly for an experiment and he wasn't too worried how it would go on that front. No the sand and the components were the big draw here. Oh... and the small booby trap he'd rigged up. It wasn't anything crazy, just a string and pully tied to the iron that Billy pretty much had never once used to get wrinkles from his clothes. Fuck, he'd used the fold up ironing board stored in the cupboard for a table more than its actual purpose.

Billy made a very careful slow circle until the colorful sand was all perfectly laid out. He tried not to do much proper magic in the apartment, sure some small spells in his bedroom but he had separated that space so that it wouldn't bother Junebug. However this circle, for its first time cast, was going to just be too big for his bedroom. between his bed and dresser he couldn't make enough space even if he tipped the bed on its side like he'd done before.

It was all fine though, Juniper had classes today. Or her part time job. Either way she probably wouldn't be home for another fifteen or twenty minutes and this wouldn't take that long. Stepping over the sand circle, Billy laid down a notebook with its blank pages open at the center. He was ready, and absolutely nothing could muck it up. As long as a window or door didn't suddenly open up to disturb all the groundwork he'd just laid.

[Juniper Gray]

A moment later, the door opened. Juniper was a little forceful with it, needing it to stay open long enough for her to wheel her bike through while her other hand was occupied with groceries. She'd finished her last courier job early enough to stop by the store for snacks, and so, as she rolled through, she announced triumphantly, “Spicy Cheetos were on sale!”

And she did, in fact, have several bags of them, bumping against her hip as she propped her bike in the front hallway. They had a wall-mounted bike rack to save room, but she didn't yet lift hers onto it, meaning to pass into the kitchen to put the goodies away.

That was when she spotted Billy in the living room with a jar of colorful sand, and she paused, clearly perplexed. “The beach is like... right down the road,” she said with a confused little snicker. Realistically, it was at least thirty minutes away by car, but they were a port city despite all the traffic.

[Billy Broder]

Billy was getting the sand into a solid circle shape when the door snapped open and Juniper came in like a storm. Oh it wasn't that bad but the door was open long enough to let a disturbing breeze in and she rolled her bike through while holding a lot of bags. Rowling instantly ruffled his feathers up annoyance but Billy just snorted and grinned at her timing. Honestly... better now than right in the middle of it all. He was just putting the colored stand down on the ground when she mentioned the beach was down the road. He looked to answer when his booby trap went off, likely from Juniper slamming open the door, it hadn't meant to be super good or anything. The iron, tied to string and the ceiling, came off the shelf it had been precariously balanced on and swung right toward the Wizard.

He ducked on instinct, then caught it as it came back around. It wasn't going very fast since it was really more just meant to test the defensive spell he had been about to try. Ideally it would have bounced off a barrier, if he had one. He smirked and then let it swing listlessly in the air as he walked away from his colorful sand toward Juniper. “Hey Junebug, need any help with the bags?” he said.

This was something he had been working on, prioritizing people over rituals and magic. He could finish his circle and experiment later, at that exact moment his roomie had a bunch of bags on her arm and- unless he was waaaay off the mark- he was willing to bet he could snag a few cheetos as tax for offering to help her square everything away. “"How was your day?” he asked, forcing a bit of cheer into his voice that wasn't really there. Still, it was about the effort. He'd been way too gloomy lately. He didn't want to bring Juniper down with his drama any more than he already had.

[Juniper Gray]

The more Juniper looked at the set up in the living room, the more perplexing it became. There was an iron on a length of rope, the colored sand, and of course, the giant fuck-off owl looking at her with death in his big eyes. Honestly, typical wizard things and she had to shrug it off.

Shaking her head to his question, she slung the bag down on the kitchen table along with her trusty backpack. The tiger smelled like a work-out and the outdoors, having just come in from biking across town, but the exertion always left her in a good mood. At least, until she caught the forced cheer in Billy's voice.

It was a common thing these days, ever since they got back from Vegas last year. Juniper got why, but she was concerned. Billy was her friend, and they'd gone through something fairly traumatic. Still, she wasn't going to poke at it right away. “Good, busy,” she said succinctly, before stepping up to the threshold of the living room and taking a better look around. She leaned on the door jamb. “What's this? Are you playing Home Alone?” She gestured at the swinging iron.

[Billy Broder]

Billy acknowledged she didn't need real help with the bags. For all of his own insistence on never making more than one trip when towing groceries, June could outpace him a hundred times over without a bit of trouble. To be expected when you were a super cool weretiger. Instead, he moved around into their small kitchen and started opening cabinets and drawers to help put everything away. As messy as he could be, he liked everything having a proper place and legitimately enjoyed sorting such things. Also, again, this was his best chance to score a cheeto tax.

He nodded his head when she said she had been good and busy then glanced up at the living room when she commented on his little project. Rowling ruffled his feathers at the insinuation that this could be anything other than a ritual but Billy just waved his hand nonchalantly. “Its a ritual, I needed the extra space and didn't know you'd be home so soon. I'll clean it up in a minute, no worries.” he said, causing Rowling to turn an eye to him just as annoyed. He made eye contact with the bird for a moment and the two exchanged a quick mental link. No words- just feelings. The Owl's annoyance and desire to do the ritual and Billy's stubborn refusal. He was the wizard so in the end, Rowling hopped off his perch and then walked across the floor over to Billy's bedroom. A moment later the door shut with a soft click- the equiveillance to a slam considering the bird had to use all its weight to get that result.

Billy smiled and shrugged at June. “Sorry, he get's grumpy when he misses a meal.” he explained.

Rowling did not need to eat.