Northrop National Park Pre-Game Wizard

[Emily Reyes]

Outfit

Emily had always told Max that there was no reason for her to be up in Northrop unless she was with him or there was a murder. She was not a 'take off into the woods' kind of girl. Emily Reyes was very firmly a city girl and happy to be that way.

And now she was eating her words. At least Max's insistence on dragging her off into the woods at every opportunity had her outfitted with the right shoes, the right clothes for the weather, and a comfortable backpack with her components. She didn't know how far Billy wanted to go for these wizard experiments, but she also brought water and snacks. And, rather than hunting for a battery she couldn't trust, she'd dropped a hundred bucks on a fresh one and stashed it in a duffel bag.

Fortunately, a coworker offered to drive her up to the park since he was heading out to the ranger station anyway, so she rolled up to one of the trailhead parking lots in a cop cruiser. Saying her goodbyes, thank yous, and see you laters, she shut the door and sent him on his way, wheels crunching in the gravel as he drove off. She glanced around and found the space was busy with the Saturday afternoon crowd, although 'crowd' was pretty relative. One or two hikers, a biker, a family going to the playground nearby... Emily had her eye out for someone tall, gangly, and potentially still hoisting two duffle bags everywhere.

[Billy Broder]

outfit

Billy got out of the Uber and almost tripped as his second foot crossed the door frame. He managed to catch himself though, receiving a somewhat worried look from the driver for his acrobatics, and proceeded to grab his bags from the trunk of the car. The ride was paid for on the app. Billy didn't have much left in the bank but he had enough to get by and even grab some fast food on the way home. He'd promised to grab something sweet for June in return for her not kicking him again for being loud about magic.

It was a pretty solid trade because Billy could ideally keep bribing his way out of her ire with more sweets. Forgiveness, they Name is Oreo milkshake and toffee candies.

Billy carried his two duffle bags with him as well as a backpack. All three bags looked fairly full. Emily would likely note the shape of the duffle bags had changed. Less clothes and more components and such nonsense.

After glancing around a bit Billy finally spotted Officer Emily. He grinned at her and waved a hand. He wasn't wearing a sling anymore and seemed to not be having any trouble with his arm.

"Hey, you ready to draw in the dirt and work some magic?" Billy said, a bit loudly.

[Emily Reyes]

Ah, there he was. And not only did he have his two duffle bags, but he also had a backpack. She was starting to wonder if she was underprepared.

The greeting was something Emily had come to expect of Billy, based on their correspondence leading up to this meet-up, but it still took her by surprise. Eyebrows bouncing up, she glanced around out of habit and quickly realized nobody had noticed or cared. Hell, it could've been a euphemism.

A lot of her reaction didn't come from secrecy, though. Emily didn't like drawing attention to herself. Ultimately, though, none of this dimmed her smile, although she wrinkled her nose.

“Well, you can draw in the dirt,” she chuckled as she closed the distance, her soft voice hitching as she hefted her own duffle bag. Hers was loose, weighed down only by the car battery. “I was going to...” Hm... What else could she draw on that wouldn't get her hands dirty? Nothing. It was all dirt out in the woods. Damn. “Well, I'll figure it out. It's nice to see you in one piece.”

[Billy Broder]

Billy chuckled as he walked up beside her. "Nice to be in one piece." He said.

He started to walk with her and looked around with a bit of interest at everything. "Have you been out here much before? Know a good spot or should we just go up the trail a bit then ditch into the nearest wooded clearing?" he asked. He'd done some magic out in the wilderness before but there were no woods out near Vegas. It was all desert. Billy hated doing stuff out there because it was either hot as balls or dark and cold.

Nothing broke your focus like a coyote howling in the not so distant distance. The forest was a nice change of pace needless to say, and he hoped maybe Emily was a wiccan or something and knew a good spot where the witch types did their best work or just danced naked at the equinox. Either way they would probably have enough room for their circles in that kind of spot. He glanced at Em's bag and saw it didn't look as heavy as his own. That was fine, she could use some of his stuff if she wanted.

"So what kind of rituals were you wanting to try?" he asked, a note of excitement clear in his voice.

[Emily Reyes]

“Unfortunately, yes,” she sighed, but with good humor. “I have friends who like to drag me out here whenever the weather is nice enough.”

Emily consciously stayed vague on “friends”, not wishing to leave an unwitting trail of breadcrumbs back to the shifters in her life. And she was the private sort anyway.

The springtime woods were damp with yesterday’s rain but the sun was out, drying the path. The foliage was bright with spring-green buds, while cool mountain-top air breezed past for the sea.

At the head of the trail was a map and when they reached it, she pointed to a spot next to a creek, just before a bridge. “There’s a deer path here that follows the creek.” she said, carefully following the blue line. “It takes you around the bend out of sight of the main trail. I think we can find a clearing there.” And maybe Emily would be able find a flat boulder to draw on instead of dirt. “And ah…” As they started walking she chewed her lip, a little shy at admitting it. “I want to make a flying broom. Just to see if I can. I know it’s kind of- Well, a classic.” The woman laughed quietly at herself, glance flitting to Billy and away again. “Not today though. I didn’t bring one and it’s… hard to explain to coworkers why you’re carrying a broom out to the park. I just wanted to see what you thought of my rune sketches.”

[Billy Broder]

Billy nodded at Emily's direction and let her lead. He really had no experience with hiking in a park like this and he was freezing to boot. Not that it was particularly cold by Massachusetts standards. Just not what he was used to at all. Keeping pace behind Em, he lugged the bags well enough too, the heaviest clearly tossed over his left shoulder. The one likely sporting a car battery.

"A flying broom? That I'd an AWESOME idea!" Billy said with enthusiasm.

"What is your formula for it? How do you plan to enchant the broom? Do you need help with any wards to help make it safer or keep the wind from blowing you off?" Billy said with the kind if excitement you usually only found with kids at a candy store.

He didn't really have magic that would allow for flight. Maybe he could puzzle it out eventually but... well with his luck? Maybe best not to be high up in the sky? Still the theory was plenty cool.

"Did you want to try anything else besides a broom? Personally I was hoping you'd give a hand making a familiar." he revealed. His grin looked a little cocky at that. He'd held off on trying the spell because it was tricky.

Buuuuut he kind of wanted to show off in front of his new wizard pal.

[Emily Reyes]

Oh my, so many questions. Emily ducked her head and grinned at the path, a little bashful at his enthusiasm but grateful for it at the same time. Tucking her hair behind one ear, she glanced over at him as they walked and talked. The trail had a gentle downward slope so far, but she hoped the duffle bags wouldn't become unwieldy when they went off-road.

The fledgling witch did have a few ideas for making it work, and as he mentioned the wards again, she mentally noted that down. She hadn't thought about the wind at higher altitudes, but she was already feeling excitement at their collaboration.

As he mentioned making a familiar, Emily's thoughts turned to the huge cat that kept hanging out around her apartment. It appeared around the time of Emily's first clumsy ritual, and it was difficult to ignore the coincidence, even though the ritual had seemed like a failure. She'd taken to feeding it. Was she the kind of witch to have a broom and a cat familiar?

“Sure, I'll take a crack at it,” she said with a little nod. They did seem to be moving onto that in the rush of Billy's excitement, so she turned the questions back on him. He was looking a little cocky, which Emily thought was charming. Was it a particularly difficult spell? “What goes into that? Is it an animal like in the stories? Like-” She huffed a little laugh, “Harry Potter?”

[Billy Broder]

Billy laughed as well. "So first things first Harry Potter is both awesome and wildly inaccurate near as I can tell." he tugged the dufflebag a bit higher on his shoulder as they walked the trail together.

"I think familiar work differently for different people. At least from what my dad told me about it. He had a pigeon as a familiar since no one ever looks twice at a pigeon and thinks oh that must be magic." and of course, though he didn't admit it, his dad used the bird to spy on people and such. Billy had seen Avery (the pidg) help his old man cheat in poker a few times.

"I think you can turn animals into familiar, but that's not what I'm doing. I'm trying to make a familiar." Billy said enthusiastically.

"All the notes I have say a familiar should be tied to your magic and knowledge. So they can help with your own ritual work and stuff. I've never actually tried it before." Billy explained.

As they walked Billy figured he should ask about more than just magic... more to be polite than anything else. "So how long have you been in Easthaven?" he asked.

[Emily Reyes]

Even with her sparse experience with magic, she already knew Harry Potter was inaccurate, which had her laughing again, but it was nice that Billy didn't look down on it while being a real wizard. He just enjoyed it for what it was! Emily didn't feel like a wizard herself, but she felt the same. Few people knew that she'd go through the series at least once a year, turning it on at home while cooking or cleaning.

As he delved into the concept of familiars, Emily listened carefully, scrunching up her nose at the mention of his father's pigeon. Flying rats, she thought affectionately, but the reasoning checked out. If she were going to have a familiar, she'd want it to be something lovely because Emily was a bit of a princess.

And the thought of making a familiar had her looking over at Billy, eyes popping wide with surprise. That gave her the heebie-jeebies something fierce. Just making another creature? His mentioning that it needed to be tied to one's magic made her desperately curious about what kind of magic he did.

Thusly, his attempt to be polite was, well, polite, and she appreciated that, but they were talking about magic. “Six years or so,” she answered, but her next question already locked and loaded. “What kind of magic do you do?”

[Billy Broder]

Billy gave a relieved smile as Emily brought the conversation back to magic. He wasn't great at small talk and had of course only asked to be polite. If she'd been in Easthaven for 50 years he might ask if they'd known his dad but he doubted it. Back to what mattered though!

"A lot of what I do is defensive. Warding and shields. Plus separation magic, I don't have a better term for it but it's the concept of separating things or keeping g them from joining. It has a lot more application than you think." Billy said. He felt a bit embarrassed trying to sum up what he could do. "I was use a kind of change magic, it's what I'll be using for the familiar ritual. The principal of change is easy enough but in the end all I can garuntee is that it'll be different. Sometimes the final result can be a bit weird." he said.

"Dad only taught the first two. I've been learning the last on my own from his notes and stuff. I mean, a lot of what he showed me prepared me for it I found out but... anyway its mostly experimental so it might not even work." he said. Talking about his dad so much showed how much he had looked up to his father and for some reason was sapping his own confidence.

"But yeah. I do a lot of shields and things mostly. What about you? Tell me about your magic." he said. Though somewhat subdued the light of excitement to learn about new magic was still strong in his eyes.

[Emily Reyes]

Warding and defensive magic were both intriguing, and when he brought up separating things, Emily marveled at how all of Billy's magic seemed far more physical. And there was a lot too. The principle of change went a little over her head, but based on context, she thought she had a few solid theories... But then, magic was still a world unto itself, and she was only a beginner, so she kept herself from settling on any conclusions until Billy taught her more. She didn't feel bad about knowing so little, though. She was starting and fumbling around alone while Billy had a teacher in his father. She was pretty jealous, but eager to learn more from him.

Still, she caught something unsaid there--Billy had learned a good chunk of what he knew from his dad, but now he was just working on the notes. He'd mentioned it on the phone. So what happened to his father? Emily could guess, although her ideas ran into more mundane tragedy. Perhaps if they got along and got to know each other better, she might satisfy that curiosity, but for now, Emily considered the relationship equivalent to a professional one.

When the question was turned back on her, Emily was quiet with thought, trying to put it all to words. She enjoyed writing rune formulas with their rigid structures and mathematical precision. And she'd wandered into manipulating light, although she suspected that being dropped into complete darkness in the catacombs beneath the library with a monster that had haunted her dreams for months afterward had influenced her decisions. Emily never wanted to be in the dark again, even after discovering Max was the monster.

“I like to write enchantments and do runework. It's... very clean and precise. Easy to follow, I suppose. And the work is quieter. I like that.” Glancing down, she hooked her finger through the cord around her neck and pulled her spellqueller from beneath her sweater. “Like- Here, I made this.” Pulling it off over her head, she wore an uncertain smile as she held it out to Billy to take and inspect if he liked. Then, she brightly added, “It's a shield actually! Only against magic, though.” It was a droplet-shaped crystal that glowed faintly with sunlight. Its surface was fogged with microscopic runes, and it was warm to the touch.

The pendant has the Null and Light keywords if Billy decides to inspect it!

[Billy Broder]

They moved off the main trail and Billy shifted his things around again to be comfortable. A faint sweat was beginning to work up on him but it wasn't the worst work out he'd gotten. To be honest worst was running from one end of the Strip to the other after some.... well it was a bad day but Billy wasn't adverse to exercise even if he was obviously more inclined toward runework than legwork.

Billy's pace did drop considerably though as the trail went from comfortable flatfooted trek to the more arduous effort of not tripping over every divot and root he passed. As they walked Emily revealed her own fascination with spellwork and figuring out enchantments which made Billy grin again. She did mention that her own work was clean and precise which was nice and he figured he probably should never show her his own notes straight out as it might give her an aneurism. His notes were not clean and precise. Oh in the end his circles got there but up to that point... look don't judge he managed to read the damn things just fine and that was all that mattered.

When Emily started flashing around fancy jewelry. Billy threw a hand out right away when Emily looked to be taking the necklace off. "Ooh lemme see. Gimme Gimme." He said like a kid trying to grab candy at a store.

He held it up and looked at it against the backdrop of the sky. Carefully he spun it to look at it from different angles and then cupped it in his hand to inspect the natural glow it seemed to have. The defensive runes were new to Billy, not like the ones he used at all, but he still looked at it intensely as if he'd learn them just by memorization. "How do you recharge the magic in it?" He asked curiously, curling his fingers over and open again to observe the glow at different states of shade. It wasn't too bright, it wouldn't be more than a pinprick in the dark the thought. "How wide of an area does it protect? Have you had to use it or just tested it?" he asked. His excitement was giving way a bit to a kind of technical professionalism as he studied the thing.

[Emily Reyes]

The way he snatched it had Emily pursing her lips in amused disapproval, like the mom of this metaphorical kid in the candy store, but she wasn't about to scold a grown adult. Letting him take it, she tucked her thumb under her backpack strap as they found the deer trail next to the creek and started into the woods. Emily didn't get winded as quickly, but she wasn't carrying as much either.

Watching Billy inspect it, she was keenly curious about what he thought about it. Ms. Duarte had been esoteric about the whole thing, but that seemed her style. Billy was far more straightforward about it all.

“I feed it a vial of sunlight. And about ten feet in diameter, or so?” she answered calmly, an inadvertent counterpoint to the other wizard's bouncy energy. She'd held her arms out to demonstrate but quickly realized she did not have the wingspan to show it accurately and dropped them.

As for testing it? Emily hefted her bag a little higher and huffed a laugh. “It's a bit of a story? I've had to use it, yeah. Max and I were attacked by a monster down at UMass. It could amplify sound with uh--” She pulled her bag around to start rooting around inside with one hand. She went on, “When I find it, I'll show you but... it could magically boost its' scream. It was similar to a sound cannon, an LRAD, so it did a lot of damage to me...” Her brow furrowed, and she trailed off, looking for the smooth shape of the monster's scale.

[Billy Broder]

Billy seemed to absorb her words as she spoke.

He nodded to himself as she explained the distance that the shield would protect. He nodded as he considered it. He hadn't done many portable shields himself so he figured that was probably a pretty solid range for a personal barrier. He handed the necklace back to Emily, his fingers entwined with the chain and the pendant hanging low. "What kind of monster?" he asked.

Billy only had a small experience with monsters and no experience with Umass but he wasn't unsympathetic. "Are there a lot of things like that here in Easthaven? Monsters and stuff?" he asked with a hint of worry in his voice. If there were then he would need to get his magic butt into gear a bit sooner for making defenses and stuff. Maybe a weapon too... he'd never made a magic weapon before. Maybe a knife? He could use a gun but he'd never really fired one before and worried about hurting someone. Unless he used magic to make it less lethal... that was probably doable.

"Have you seen any good spots yet?" Billy added as he glanced around the unfamiliar area.

[Emily Reyes]

As she was rooting around in the bag, Emily opened her mouth to answer that she couldn't say what kind of monster it was--a kind of cat monster, she supposed?--but missed her chance. Billy was curious about monsters in Easthaven. She had a little bit of a better bead on that, she supposed, but it was second-hand, primarily information from Max.

She made a thoughtful noise, picking another interior pocket to feel around in for the little scale. So it was the vampire wedding, the vampire at the bookstore, the rat-men, the ghosts, the tiger monster, the Mari Lwyd... Emily could go on, but she was left wondering if there were many monsters in Easthaven, or were they finally noticing how strange the world was?

But they were moving on--Billy did seem to have many questions, which she was okay with, but it was a little overwhelming. Finally, Emily looked up as he asked for a good spot, taking her pendant back and drawing in a breath. The brook and spring air smelled nice. Further down, the water cut around a pile of boulders, and just behind it, a flatter space of dirt laid bare by the passage of animals. Emily pointed it out. “That's probably good... How big of a circle are you planning to make for this?”

[Billy Broder]

Emily didn't really give him much info on what kind of monster she meant but that might of been his fault for his rapid fire questioning. He tended to be a bit hyper about this kind of stuff, the supernatural and all, so he was surprisingly used to people only answering a couple of his questions before losing track. Shame people couldn't hyper-fixate the same way he could, but the world was probably better off for it as well.

When asked about space Emily said the general area was probably good but she wanted to know how big of a circle he planned to make. He took on a contemplative look while surveying the area. Pursing his lips slightly while thinking Billy eventually answered.

"We want to be safe about this so at the very least I'll need about fifteen feet in diameter for a warding circle. We can do our other circles inside of that one, so that if one of them breaks we can catch any backlash with a barrier to limit the fallout." he said seriously.

Billy was trying to lay out the space in his head to see where it all needed to fit. With a ward around them they could safely draw and redraw different circles as needed and it should be safe enough. Yeah... yeah at least fifteen feet to play in.

[Emily Reyes]

“Oh!” Emily hooted, distracted from her story and finding the scale as she surveyed the area. “Fifteen feet! Damn, I've been working so small.”

But Billy's reasoning made complete sense. A warding circle around their smaller circles, and Emily's eyes lit up with her smile. She was learning so much and with that came earnest enjoyment of this little trek through the woods.

[Billy Broder]

Billy looked around and seemed satisfied with the area.

He sat down his two dufflebags and the backpack. "Alright, this place should work. You mind if I start?" he asked, unzipping the bag. He grinned as he pulled out a hammer, two hard plastic stakes, and a long nylon rope. "This is a trick I learned for circles." he said with an eager smile on his face. He quickly picked a spot and hammered the first spike into the ground a small ways. Once done he tied the rope tight to the free spike and made a loose loop in the rope that he casually tossed over the grounded spike. Then stretching the rope out to its full length Billy walked a circle, dragging the free spike deep in the ground to make a near perfect circle.

Once that was done he looped the roped a few times around the free spike and repeated the action to make a slightly smaller circle inside the first. When he was finished he looked at his work and nodded. "It doesn't have to be this big ya know, just enough to surround one circle is fine. But if we are doing more than one ritual today then it is better to make it big so we know it can fit anything. The two circles will be one ritual ring, I just made two so we can scale all our runes to the same size. Another trick to cheat and make sure its even." Billy said with a grin. He walked over and tossed the rope and free stake down to the ground. They could use it again for making the smaller ritual circles once they were ready for that point.

"So, want me to show you warding or do you want to give it a try on your own first?" Billy said cheerfully.

1/3 Ritual prep

[Emily Reyes]

After putting her things down on a boulder, Emily eagerly watched Billy work, quickly feeling like she ought to take notes. Instead, she did what she could to stay out of his way, absorbing these new techniques. The stake and the rope made her make another 'oh' of interest and grin faintly. Then her mouth fell open when he put another circle inside it, setting an easy way to keep the runes consistent.

Her delight was akin to the sort one felt when learning a life hack that works, like how vinegar could be used as a fabric softener—or cleaning a hot grill with an onion. Of course, she wasn't expected to know this, but it made everything so much simpler.

Pinching her chin, thoughts whirling with new possibility, she nodded along with Billy's explanation, walking an arc around his circle and taking in the pleasant smell of disturbed soil. No runes yet, but the circle itself was very functional. When he asked about the wards, Emily glanced up and immediately shook her head, dropping her hands. Then, rubbing her palms against her legs, she laughed nervously.

“Ah, no, I wouldn't even know where to start.” She shook her head a second time. “Go on, though. I'm stealing all your trade secrets.”

[Billy Broder]

Billy nodded as Emily said she was fine with him setting the ward. Even mentioned she was happy to steal his secrets too, for which he just grinned at her and then looked back at the circle.

He took a slow breath and centered himself, the boyish lines of his face washing away to a serious stare as he observed his work space. He did some quick math in his head and was ready.

Then he grabbed a pocket knife from his bag and took a knee by the circle. "Dirt is good for circles but one of the harder mediums to make runes with. Honestly if this was for anything more than a day I wouldn't use this but since it's all temporary the dirt will do fine. Just have to make sure you dig deep enough and don't obscure the runework with dug up dirt. he explained. His tone was more serious, almost like a lecturer.

"Lots of runes work but I use the ones I know best. This one here is the basic sign of protection I'm familiar with. It ties into this part here and flows through the next three runes to create a link which becomes a metaphysical chain of sorts." as Billy spoke his hands seemed to move as if on autopilot.

He cut into the ground and marked or dug different symbols over and over again. When he finally finished one sequence he moved and repeated it over and over. Three times each before making a similar pattern with a different series of ending runes. "The lines are similar but each have a different ending. I'm trying to cover my bases. This one here is physical, the world that is. The next three are based on energy, the world that can be, and the last few are going to be aimed at spiritual, the world that was and was not." Billy pointed his knife at the different symbols so Emily could look close at the differences and copy or compare them if she wanted.

2/3 Ritual prep

[Emily Reyes]

When Billy pulled out the knife, and she realized he would be digging the runes directly into the dirt, she didn't try to hide her worry. He went on to detail exactly why she thought this was a terrible idea, with some reasoning that made complete sense--a temporary solution for a temporary circle--but that barely justified the danger for her.

Of course, she did have to ask herself what the alternative was when they were out here in the woods. Emily followed him around the circle as he began to draw, listening closely, but she was still glancing around, uncertain. They could create runes from sticks and stones, although they'd sacrifice dexterity. Drawing on leaves, but chalk wouldn't do... Charcoal? What if they wet the dirt?

Perhaps the wards would handle it, and Emily absorbed the ideas of body, energy, and spirit. Although she didn't recognize the runes, he drew for the body, and she started to pick up similarities to her work when he began the sequences of energy and spirit. That was more firmly in her realm of expertise, it seemed. One of them even looked somewhat close to the Futhark and- Wait.

“Hang on- No. I don't think we have to just use the dirt,” she said thoughtfully, stepping away towards the pile of boulders as she continued. “So, you've heard of rune casting, right? The runes are carved into smaller stones, but- see, they're already written out. And that's how magic flows through the enchanted items I've made. It's activating pre-written runes. So, I think we can take it a step back, take a page out of the pagan playbook, and do the same with a bit of chalk: cleaner runes, easier arrangement and rearrangement, and quicker casting.” Hefting a large flat rock, its surface smoothed by flowing water long ago, she held it up for Billy's inspection.

[Billy Broder]

"It may seem comprehensive at first but this ward is actually something of a catch all. I could make it more simple and shrink it down, or make it bigger and longer, but either way it's spread too thin to be really impressive. Lots of chains but they aren't all tuned to the same thing, understand. You could think of it like a net with big gaps between the ropes. It'll catch your big fish but smaller fish could slip it easy enough.".

Billy's hands were quickly becoming filthy and his Jeans were not much better as he played in the dirt and broke down quick conceptual energies that he knew of and why the ward wasn't really great for anything too fancy. But before he got much farther Emily interrupted him, his hand froze mid plunge back into the earth and he turned his head slightly to eye her and see what she wanted to say. She brought up rune casting, which he was kind of familiar with. Principal theory made sense but he really didn't do much with long term enchantment. Emily mentioned marking stones ahead of time for spellwork and then went and found a rock. She mentioned the pegan book and Billy nodded grasping the rough edges of the idea.

"Show me." He said, his focus on the flat side of the rock while his free hand fished out a slightly worn piece of chalk that he held out to Emily.

2.5/3 Ritual prep

[Emily Reyes]

Cinder, Rune Copying and further notation: complete success

Emily brightened at the invitation, and taking the worn piece of chalk, she set to work. She hardly wanted to step on toes but the opportunity to add something and build together had her excited.

After bending to pick up a few more flatter stones about the size of her hand, she settled down next to the rune circle. On each, Emily began to copy Billy’s runes in a neat hand and set them down on the outside of the circle for his inspection. She had to, being unfamiliar with the more physical magical notation, but he’d explained the sequence to her, and she began to work out the pattern. Then, when she reached the sections dealing with the ephemeral, after a moment of thought, she began to add her own runes, strengthening the wards for energy.

It didn’t take long for Emily to run out of rocks and as she got up to hunt for more, she asked with quiet, if eager, interest, “What do you think? We can place them just inside the first circle.”

She wondered if Max’s warning about not using river rocks around campfires lest the heat make the water inside boil and the rocks explode applied to magic circles. These were dry though, so hopefully it would be okay.

2.75/3 ritual prep

[Billy Broder]

Billy moved behind her and looked at each rune she drew and compared them to his own work. He couldn't deny that the lines were much cleaner on stone and less trouble with dirt. Emily kept bringing in more and more rocks and Billy fished out another piece of chalk for her when the first wore through. Rules one of ritual magic. Always have chalk on hand. Rules two? Never wear clothes you need to wear to dinner later. Billy glanced at his filthy jeans and took some time to wipe them clean-er while Emily did some more work on the circle.

While Emily worked Billy got to work too picking out as many more flash-ish stones that he could find to give Emily as much time to write as she might need. When she reached the energy and spiritual sections of the runes Billy's eyebrow cocked up when he noticed some unfamiliar runes. He walked over and gently ran his hands over the stones, recreating the rune lines with his fingertips. "I don't know these, tell me about them." he said. He liked learning new symbols and hoped Emily knew where the origin of the runes were.

"Yeah. Yeah I think this will work out. Keep tossing stones down and I'll get the components set up." Billy said.

He made six quick circles inside the circle. In five of them he placed down quartz crystals. "These should be able to resonate and absorb any backlash from the ritual that comes our way. It'll limit any problems, plus their fairly cheap which is important for temporary wards." he explained as he sat the crystals all around. In the sixth circle, he lifted up the car battery he'd brought and sat it down. From that single smaller circle he ran a straight line in the dirt to connect it to the larger ward circle.

The battery was their power source.

2.90 Ritual prep

[Emily Reyes]

Emily was quietly thrilled when Billy approved the alterations to his ritual, with both the stones and her additional runes. As she began to carefully place the stones within the circle, she thought about how she might improve on the idea of rune stones in the future. Perhaps she would just go to Michael’s and buy a bunch of small chalkboards. Wizards of old would scoff, but it seemed like both she and Billy liked to be thrifty.

Still, when she gazed at the crystals in their circles, and the stones with their markings, Emily thought it all looked grand and magical, and she wore a pleased smile. Very official for a pair of thrifty wizards. Then there was the car battery, and as Billy blithely placed it down, she laughed quietly. Modern and thrifty. She supposed that in ages past it would’ve been a crackling fire or a thunderstorm or a raging river.

“If you can’t get your own powerful natural phenomena, store-bought is fine,” she joked softly, almost to herself, reminded of Inna Garten. But Billy had asked for him her rune origins and she went on as she polished off the wards. “As far as I’ve found, these come from a script that inspired Enochian. Whether it’s... from angels or something else, I can’t say for sure but... well, I’ve noticed things. While casting. Whispers, eyes and feathers, fire... Sometimes things go a bit static-y?” Emily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and stole a glance at Billy, wondering if her lack of wards was to blame when she glimpsed things beyond her comprehension.

Assistance provided for Billy’s ritual roll

[Billy Broder]

Once all the runes were in place, the components set, the circle solid, and the source ready to draw from Billy made a second and then third walk around the area to be perfectly sure it was all safe and prepared. "Its all well and good to be confident in your circles, but always triple check your wards. If something goes wrong you do not want your last line of defense to be where you skimped." he said somberly. He liked the runework a lot, much better than just dirt carvings. Now if it started to rain or something he wouldn't worry about the whole process being a total waste of time. Not that the chalk would survive the rain but it wouldn't wash away instantly either. Meanwhile as he checked everything Emily told him about her symbols.

He nodded, impressed with her research. "Some of my rituals bring in some strange phenomena too. After some I can't look at the center of a circle for a while without it giving me headaches. Like my eyes want to see something that they can't process. I think its just part of drawing on power not meant for man or something." Billy said. Once he'd made double triple super sure things were good he looked over to Emily.

"Alright. I think we're ready to power up the ward." he gave her a confident, bordering cocky, grin before looking back at their work.

Billy sucked in his cheek and then bit down hard. He winced a bit from the sharp pain and tasted blood almost at once. The inside of the mouth healed remarkably fast so it was usually his go to for scoring a few drops of his own blood. Billy put a finger into his mouth and pulled it away scarlet. He glanced over at his partner in magical, and metaphorical, crime. "Shed a drop on the circle. We'll power it up together so either of us can activate it in an emergency." Billy explained.

He took a knee next to the circle and hovered his hand over the edge, from the inside of the circle, ready and waiting for Emily to join him. He closed his eyes and started forming and preparing the energies of the circle, as soon as Emily dropped some red on the circle he'd latch all the power together and activate the ward.

Billy Ritual Cinder Roll (8d6 - Help from Em)
7 Passes = Exceptional Success

2.9999/3 Ritual prep

[Emily Reyes]

Overly cautious as she was, Billy didn't need to tell her twice about the wards. Emily did a quick pass over their work, applying the same critical eye to it as she did her own rituals. She stood back when she was satisfied, listening as Billy detailed his own experience.

She was relieved to hear she wasn't alone in seeing strange things during or in the wake of a ritual--it was easy to conclude then that it had nothing to do with the wards then. It was simply... something beyond. Emily shivered a little, but she wasn't discouraged. It just made the warding all the more important, and she made a mental note to avoid looking in the center of the circle when Billy did his spells.

When he noted that they were ready to power up the ward, she was surprised when Billy invited her to add her blood. His first, she supposed, to activate it, then hers to it would be keyed to the both of them. She nodded readily and nimbly stepped back to her bag to pull her pen knife and an alcohol swab. With practiced motions, she cleaned the blade and then slid it along the side of her left thumb. At this point, the sting was barely noticeable.

Crouching down next to the circle, she thought she could feel the growing tension around the ring. The little whispers of potential vibrated in her joints. Or maybe that was her excitement. Squeezing her thumb against her knuckle, she dripped a drop of red blood that puffed as it landed in the dirt. The rush of magic was unmistakable after that, familiar, but this time rushing past her as Billy wove his magic together.

[Billy Broder]

Once the blood was applied the ritual snapped into place fast and smooth. Billy felt the sensation as a subtle change in the air, like when a plane rises up and you need to pop your ears. Incidentally, Billy wiped his bloody finger clean against his shirt then stood. As he was faced away from Emily he closed his nose and blew to force his ears to pop.

Nice, simple, and that small pressure was gone. Pleased with his overall and what he had learned from Emily he glanced back at her and smiled his boyish grin again.

"Nice. This baby should protect us just fine. Now, you want the first ritual?" Billy asked.

He gestured toward the stakes and rope so Emily could size her own ritual circle within the ward

[Emily Reyes]

The ward was invisible, but its effect was very tangible. Emily looked around in quiet wonder, working her jaw to equalize the pressure in her ears. This was standard practice for Billy, but it had Emily getting in the zone, ready to do some magic. She visibly perked up when Billy offered her the first ritual.

“Okay,” she said, taking a steadying breath, even though her eyes were glimmering with renewed energy. “Well, I'm going to try and make the broom.” With the stakes and rope, she started carefully marking her circle in the soil. Even on this smaller scale, she followed Billy's advice about the concentric rings, although she added a little more, doing a bit of quick math to break the circle into nine equal segments.

As she worked, she talked. “I'd like you to check behind me, though. I don't know these runes as well as I'd like, but what I'd like it to do is--well, sitting on a broom is uncomfortable, especially long term. So, instead, I'm planning to have the broom imbue the power of flight on the rider. Or riders. So- I guess the broom is more about style, but what do you think?”

1/3 circle drawn

[Billy Broder]

Billy smiled back at her as she seemed excited to take the challenge. She stepped over to the rope and stakes and made her circle. The. Her inner circle. Then several other inner circles. Billy's face lost his excitement as he adopted his more serious expression.

"Why nine?" he asked curiously.

Billy nodded along with Emily as she explained the idea. "Upside of a broom instead or a ring or something... more room to etch runes in. Maybe throw in a shield charm too? Block wind resistance and keep you safe if you fall?" he said pitching the idea.

"I don't have much knowledge in this area but you're welcome to use my runework for a shield. I'll work behind you to keep the symbols clean too." he said. Even as he spoke he walked after where she had been to keep careful watch of it all.

Now that the emergency ward was up he didn't worry as much about trying some fancy spell work that might not pan out. Confidence comes from knowing you're good and having one hell of a safety net.

[Emily Reyes]

Strike, strength on stick: complete success

Ah, true! Nodding, she snapped her fingers and pointed at him, with a “good thinking” expression. More surface area for runes. Emily had been planning to put the runes under the bristles to keep them out of the sun, but she didn’t have a ready-made broom handy so perhaps she could just enchant a tree branch and add the bristles when she got home. There were plenty around them, good for use as a hiking stick.

And a shield was also a good idea, but she would almost certainly need Billy’s help for it.

“Nine, for the nine choirs of angels,” she answered absently as she worked but with confidence in her tone. “The number also signifies completeness, for a complete circle. I suppose… well, I suppose I was writing my own kind of ward without realizing it,” Emily chuckled faintly, putting the finishing touches on her nine interior circles. She stood up and brushed her knees off and with a very careful step over the warding circle, she started a little bit into the underbrush to start hunting for a stick.

Emily didn’t have to look too far when they were this deep in the woods. Finding a long branch that was sturdy, dry, and fairly straight, she brought it back and with a little grunt started working it into the dirt in the center of her circle, in the hole left by the stake, so it would stand up straight.

[Billy Broder]

Billy took a knee as he considered the concept of the nine teir circle. A symbol of completion... personally he would have chosen three or seven or thirteen but that was an influence from his own study. Emily had a different background of magic. Different rules, different runes, different source. Something told Billy nine circles wouldn't mean as much if he'd been the one to draw them.

But Emily saw them as important. Which made them important. Spirit, the world that was and was not. He nodded more to himself as he considereal it and made a mental note that Emily used the number nine in her own rituals. In case he ever stumbled on one of her old circles.

She would probably be able to pick his out just from his runes. Billy had never seen anyone use those runes but his dad and him. He didn't even know their origin to tell the truth. Google was no help there.

"We all make our own wards one way or another. So, tell me what I can do to help." he said, pulling yet another stick of chalk from his pocket.

Billy actually had an unopened box of chalk in one pocket and an almost empty box in the other. Chalk was a modern wizard's lifeblood. At least it felt like that sometimes.

[Emily Reyes]

Once the staff was firmly planted, Emily puffed a few breaths, and brushed dirt and bark off her hands. Pushing her hair back, she smiled a Billy and went to her bag to pull out her notebook. It had a riot of colored tabs between the pages, and Emily flipped open to one with a blue tab.

On the page were about a dozen runes, interlocking in a flowing pattern. Emily had each one written separately as well, with detailed notes on placements. Standing next to Billy, she bowed her head over the book and pointed at the series that activated the spell upon physical contact and guided it with the broom. “I think you’re going to have an easier time with the more, uh…” she waved her hand in a circle searching for the words. “Tangible? The physical aspect of the spell. These control movement—I figured it would be more intuitive to pick up flying if you had a kind of tangible control scheme? Anyway, I was having a difficult time with it, so if you want to make some improvements go for it.”

Fishing out her own stick of chalk, she offered the book to Billy to copy from but started scribing her own work from memory around the head of the staff.

2/3 runes drawn

[Billy Broder]

Billy looked at all the notes Emily offered up and calmly flipped between pages and glanced at runes. "In regards to flight... what are you thinking? Manipulating the wind? Or maybe gravity? Localized spacial anomaly? I think we could get levitation but... I dont know anything on my end that could generate thrust.... unless you want to see if we can make you sprout wings?" he said seriously, though his expression showed it was a joke.

Probably.

Billy stepped to the side and started digging in the dirt again as he drew a few practice runes in Emily's style and then started mixing in a few of his own here and there. Some he felt clashed and others he thought he could find a harmony in. When he looked satisfied with a few combinations he started to draw them on rocks to set into the nine-layered circle.

"So when did you first learn you could do magic?" Billy asked. It was a small talk question but he was actually interested in the answer this time.

[Emily Reyes]

Billy’s question needed some thought and Emily chewed it over as she marked the head of the broom, the soft chalk making thick, sharp lines. She was quiet, but hummed in response to let him know she was thinking about it.

The key to flying was throwing yourself at the ground and missing. Somehow this made complete sense and no sense at all, much like the spell—the way it generated lift and thrust were all beyond her. So, as she polished off her runes and stepped back to give Billy space, witch could only smile apologetically and shake her head. Levitation was a part of it but she suspected the entire thing would always be beyond her, departing from the realm of phenomena explained by magic and dipping into pure whimsy.

As she thought, Billy filled the comfortable quiet with another question and Emily chuckled, thinking it wasn’t so much “learning” as “stumbling blindly” into it.

“About a year ago, I found a book at the Inkpot. A book of perfect circles. I didn’t know what it was but I tried my first ritual about a month later. It went badly,” she said as she walked a circle around the broom, head tilting from one side to the other as she inspected their work. Then, bending to peek at Billy’s practice runes, she went on a moment later. “When I say I’m new to it, I mean it, so… sadly, I don’t know,” she sighed ruefully, gesturing at the broom to indicate she was answering his question. “The spell itself will be activated by holding it and belief, though. I don’t want just anyone picking it up and taking it for a ride. Don’t want anyone to get hurt, so- you think it’s just a broom? It’s just a broom. If you think it can fly, it can fly.”

3/3 ritual ready for activation

[Billy Broder]

Billy smiled softly as Emily described finding a book of perfect circles and her first poor attempt at a ritual. Billy had learned when he was eleven. He'd always gone out in the summer with his dad but that was the first time the man had shown Billy the book of twisted lines. He hadn't thought of it like that back then but if Emily found one of perfect circles then twisted lines where the best way to describe his father's book.

Billy had done his own first ritual that summer. No help from his dad. It had ended up breaking a rock in half, which was not what the spell had been intended to do.

"I think most people's first rituals go bad. Gotta stumble to learn to run." he said. His tone made it seem like those words weren't his. Just something he'd heard a lot growing up.

When Emily pointed out her broom working off of belief Billy nodded. He nodded to make Emily feel more confident, since she apparently needed to believe. Fact was that was pretty far away from his own magic, at least in his head.

"Okay. We have a circle. We have the runes. What are you going to use to balance it all?" Billy said, glancing over at the quartz crystals he had laid out for the ward they'd set up.

[Emily Reyes]

Emily’s grin went crooked when Billy nodded. She couldn’t know what he was thinking, and she didn’t read doubt in his micro expressions, but the fact that he didn’t recognize her technique for building a secret activation into her item highlighted disparate approaches to magic.

Rather than feel self-conscious about it, Emily thought it was academically thrilling. How would he have tackled the same puzzle of a flying broomstick? There seemed no end to solutions. He mentioned wings? That sounded breathtaking and she thought back to his cocky look as he mentioned creating a familiar. Perhaps he’d earned his swagger!

Rooting around in her bag, Emily produced a long flight feather from a sparrow and a freeze-dried ice cream bar. However, Billy’s next question left her puzzled. What did she need besides the circle the runes and the components? “Balance?” she asked, openly curious.

[Billy Broder]

Billy saw Emily pull out a feather and some other objects and nodded. When she asked about balance he made an odd face. "Balance probably isn't the right word, just how I think of it. Balancing scales and stuff between magic and all. Sacrifice is probably a better word." he nodded toward her feather.

"The things you use to direct the spell and tie it to the senses or the cardinal directions. Depending on what you're doing I guess." Billy said, trying to explain what exactly he meant.

He didn't really use the word components when he was taught. In his head you were trading items for the power in a way. Balancing a scale of things given up to things received.

But he figured, actually he'd experimented a bit too, that that concept wasn't a universal. His magic just focused a bit heavier of the physical making him lean toward giving things up for a return.

"So what items are you using for this part?" he said, excited to see what she would use and her reasoning.

[Emily Reyes]

Cinder, Collection: complete success - Good quality Sunlight

As Emily continued pulling out her components--a brilliantly red and orange leaf from last autumn carried to her on a breeze, a tiny figurine showing a whimsical witch on a broomstick, and then she captured a few drops of sunlight in her hand from the dappled forest floor--she glanced up every few moments to listen.

By balance, Billy meant sacrifice. A payment. She blinked in surprise but didn't look too perplexed by the idea. It had never been framed to her as such, but it was becoming clearer and clearer that their magics were very different. Hers was not keyed to a 'pound of flesh' as it were. Hers tested concentration, clarity of thought, or the strength of her spirit, and it took its toll when it found her wanting.

Eyes alight with interest, Emily was eager to ask more, but decided to wait until he showed her his spells. When he asked about her components, she'd just started laying them out. “These are all to keep me focused, so I suppose they engage the senses, like you said.” She pointed to the flight feather and the leaf. “The feather's obvious, I think, but it's special because it came from the baby sparrows that decided to live in the birdhouse on my neighbor's fire escape. They're learning to fly now that it's springtime, so it felt right. The leaf is from last autumn. I like the color, mostly, but I'm reminded of the way it floated.”

She placed the freeze-dried ice cream down, unwrapping it a little. “This is from the Air & Space museum down in DC. Maybe another obvious one,” she laughed, and then chuckled again as she put down the witch figurine, “Goals.” And finally, the vial of sunlight. “Light. So we feel... light!” Emily smirked at the pun, and then brushed her hands off, pinning them between her thighs as she glanced over at Billy for his thoughts. “Ready?”

[Billy Broder]

Billy looked at her components, his eyes seeming to sparkle a bit as Emily pulled sunlight as a component right then and there. She explained why she picked each object and a slow smile spread across his face as she finished up.

"I think those sound perfect." he said.

Billy hasn't been to DC proper. He considered visiting some time. The air and space museum... the vast night sky... probably something worth looking for there.

Asking if he was ready, Billy held up a hand and quickly paced around the circle to check the runes again. Then Billy nodded and he stepped to the edge of the warding circle.

Taking a knee, he reached out and felt the slight pressure against his fingers as it neared the ward. He was ready to activate it in a heartbeat.

"Ready. You got this.

Billy has given the help action to the ritual!

[Emily Reyes]

Untrained Keyword: Flying (threshold increase)
Assistance (threshold decrease)
Cinder, ritual roll: 8 Passes, extraordinary success

At that, Emily decided that Billy was exactly the decent kind of person she could easily be friends with. If magic hadn't brought them together, she'd want to be friends if they had something else to talk shop about. She smiled and turned around to check and recheck her work. Then, kneeling in the dirt, she drew a steadying breath and nodded to herself.

With a swipe of the pen knife, she held it out over the circle, her nerves warring with excitement. Then, pressing her knuckle into the meat of her thumb, she forced the blood droplet out and watched in what felt like slow motion as it puffed in the dirt. She could feel her heartbeat thumping in her ears.

Like always, the blood hit the circle, and then the purple-white light of her magic flared in the runes. The link between the ring and the car battery lit up as well, and as the spell soaked up the energy, the light reached inward and began to flow up the staff. It filled the runes marked along its length, burning the markings into the wood. Emily knew she would need to wrap the whole thing in something to protect the enchantment, but now there was no time to think about that.

She had to focus. Focus on flight--the whimsy, the freedom, the joy, the weightlessness--as the spell spoke her will out into the universe. By now, the gaze of a million eyes and the weight of sun-warmed feathers was almost familiar, and she couldn't begin to comprehend the power's feelings... But as it regarded her, it seemed almost... Amused. Pleased, even?

The dirt tumbled over Emily's knees as the staff pulled itself out of the ground and rose a few inches. The head flared where she'd written the greatest concentration of runes, and there was the unmistakable sound of thunderous wingbeats as feather-like motes of light soaked into the wood. The surface took on an almost varnished quality as the magic sealed the way behind it, and then, all at once, the light blinked out.

The staff thumped into the dirt and fell toward Emily. With a squawk, the witch fumbled and caught it but not before it bopped her in the side of the head. Not too bad, though, and she had it firmly in a clumsy grip over one shoulder. The wood was warm to the touch but quickly cooling, and she stood to hold it in hand.

It stood taller than her by a foot or so, its smooth surface sealed with the black marks of Emily and Billy's runework. With a pensive glance towards the other wizard, Emily turned the broomstick sideways, held it away from her at arm's length, and envisioned it floating in the air, like an idling car, waiting for someone to get in.

When she let it go, it hovered, perfectly still and waiting. Emily whooped, her smile bright and broad with excitement. If Billy didn't stop her, she would jump in for a quick celebratory hug that she'd be very embarrassed about later.

Ritual success!

[Billy Broder]

The light was impressive, and Billy watched it with fascination. Her magic really was different from his. The light, the feeling, it was all foreign. Magic he hadn't seen or known. He loved that. He was especially taken with the sound of wingbeats and the light that seemed to soak into the wood before vanishing.

He continued to wait by the ward as Emily held the staff, bonking herself in the head briefly with it which Billy actively did not snicker at, and then willed the thing to hover in the air. It stayed... waiting... patient.

When Emily turned and smiled at him he relaxed and stood up away from the ward. Just in time for Emily to try and hug him.

He didn't stop her.

Instead he wrapped his arms around her and spun her once laughing before setting her down. "That was amazing!" he said excitedly

[Emily Reyes]

Emily’s incoming hug was clumsy, the sort where one party was yelling and bouncing, so she was glad Billy stood up in time. She whooped in surprise when the taller wizard lifted her from her feet, but laughed as they spun in a celebratory circle.

Back on her feet, Emily gave him one last squeeze and took a polite step back, flushing at having lost a bit of her composure but far too delighted to care. “Sorry-!” she chuckled, a little breathless with her excitement as she waved a hand at the broom. “Now’s probably not a good time to test it but… ah!” Eyes bright, she did a little jazz hands maneuver at the exclamation before spinning back to the floating broom.

It wasn’t a good place either. A dense forest and flying practice did not mix! And besides, they had to make Billy’s familiar. One hand on the broom, she pulled it through the air toward the other wizard if he was curious. “Imagine never having to pay for gas again.” Emily laughed, too elated to be concerned about silly things like air traffic control. “I’ll have to wrap the runes up, but look, here’s yours.” Emily ran her fingers over the sequence of runes that looked more like the wards rather than her flowing script.

[Billy Broder]

Billy laughed and sat Emily down as she preened over her new broom. It was very impressive. When she talked about maybe testing it Billy had a slightly worried look on his face. "Ah careful." he said.

Of course he wasn't thinking about the trees or something reasonable. He just wasn't sure the broom would set off the ward and throw Emily to the ground... or waste the ward they had sat up. You know... magic concerns.

"I mean... I take the bus almost everywhere so.." Billy chuckled a bit. St not having the money to buy a car.

Funny stuff.

Anyway, time for more magic. When Em showed off his set of Runes he quickly scanned them to make sure they were just the safe ones. They were which made him happy. "Very cool." he said.

Moving over to an empty space he sat the stake and rope up again and drew a new double layer circle. Then he marked out five quick smaller circles inside where he intended to put his components.

"If that broom works off of belief then would it crash if you thought you were going to crash? How much of your own assumptions and perceptions affect its spellwork?" he asked, his tone taking that more serious note that he got when working magic.

[Emily Reyes]

“Oh God,” Emily laughed, still admiring her handiwork. “If it did that, I would never fly this thing. I'm a skeptic to the bone.” With another effort of will, she deactivated the soon-to-be broom, and it weighed in her hand, the butt hitting the dirt with a solid thump. The runes faded, and she laid it by her other things, eager to test it more but tempering her excitement. There would be time later.

“No, it's more about knowing its secret.” Emily turned back to Billy as he started his work, intent on paying him back with proper focus. Kneeling beside him, she started gathering another pile of rocks that could serve as rune stones. “If you think it's just a broom, it's just a broom. If you know what it truly is, you'll be able to activate it. After that, the spell will work by controlling the broom. At least, that's the idea.”

[Billy Broder]

Billy looked at the circle and saw Emily gathering up runestones for them to use. He took the free stake and one of his notebooks as he started scripting out his runes in the dirt away from the circle. "These five lines are key here. They have to be aligned in the right order near the right circles." Billy explained as he pointed to which script went with which circle.

Then he picked up a rock and started chalking in the rune. "For this one, I don't think I can use the car battery. I think to properly tie it to myself it'll be better to draw the power from me too. Might be a good chance to test how much juice the battery has anyway." Billy explained.

While chalking the stones he bent down next to his bags and rolled out a very cheap battery tester. "I'm hoping we can score another ritual out of it once this one is done but honestly I'm not sure. he said.

Walking back to his circle he started carefully placing the stones before removing two, decoding they were a bit too big and would throw off the spacing, and replacing them with two smaller ones.

1/3 ritual prep

[Emily Reyes]

Emily stepped closer to Billy's workspace, leaning over to take a good look at his notes. Although she was meticulous with her notes, Emily was well used to deciphering other people's writing. Still, she was glad when he pointed to the relevant part. Crouching, she read the script a few times, although 'read' was generous. She examined it, and although she could make out a few familiar strokes from her research, the runes as a whole were indecipherable.

Instead, she paid close attention to the placement, thinking that using the rune stones would simplify that. Emily's head twitched in his direction when he noted he wanted to use himself instead of the car battery, both eyebrows lifting in surprise.

Whenever she forgot a power source or keyed the ritual to herself, she felt the aftershocks for days. It always hit her with both a physical and mental toll, subjecting her to otherworldly attention so intent that it burned.

“Is that safe?” she asked, in mild astonishment, “How often do you do that?”

As for the battery, if Billy's ran out of juice, they had hers.

[Billy Broder]

Billy was scribing on stone after stone, He'd mark the next rune then set the stone aside until he had a nice little pile going. Then one slipped and he had a nice little rockslide instead. Still, he kept going, several times marking one only to frown at it and wipe all the chalk away to remark it. The stones really were a great idea. "For this familiar I want it to be a part of me and be able to help with my ritual work, so its real important that it be as tied to me as I can make it." He said while marking his last few runestones. When he was done he stood up and stretched. He felt his back pop a bit and grimaced even as relief washed over him a second later. Never good to sit hunched over like that for too long.

Emily asked if it was safe to use himself as a battery and how often he did that and Billy just shrugged at the question. "I wouldn't do it more than once a day, or hell even once a week, but its not the most dangerous thing in moderation. We're wizards, so we work as natural conduits for these kinds of energies. Honestly we would be the perfect batteries for spells if doing so didn't use us up so quickly." Billy said, not really realizing he wasn't painting the prettiest of pictures with his words.

"I've done plenty of rituals like this. Even the one I did to save our- June and me's- new dog. No good power source in an alleyway so I just used myself. As long as you rest up after and get a good meal its no biggie." he said. He didn't want Emily to just start throwing around her own body as a power source of course but it was always nice to know you COULD if you had too.

Billy walked over and started setting the stones down in order, making small tic marks outside the circle to show Emily the boundaries for where the runestones had to fit to make the proper sequence he needed for this ritual.

2/3 Ritual prep

[Emily Reyes]

Cinder, Rune Scribing: Complete Success

Emily was a quick study. With the notes and a few minutes of carefully observing Billy's work, she picked up a stone and some chalk and started to mark out her own. This time, she kept herself strictly limited to Billy's work since this was firmly in his realm of expertise.

As she worked, she listened, adding her runestones to the pile. Her work was slower due to unfamiliarity, but it was no less neat or attentive.

She was aware of what he was saying to some degree, but her experience was different, and she wondered why that might be. Was it because Billy's magic was more physical? When she neglected a power source and used herself, she felt as if she were being weighed on an ineffable set of cosmic scales. Fortunately, each time she had not been found wanting, but the more she risked it, the more she tested the weight of her heart against that metaphorical feather.

(Emily did have her doubts that it had anything to do with morality, though. Whatever cosmic force, entity, or entities that moved behind her magic, did not seem to be concerned with such things.)

Regardless, she nodded along, openly curious. As he started marking out spacing, she began to put her stones down, frequently checking the arrangement against his notes. “Our magic is so different,” she replied, astonished but intrigued. “Have you met many other wizards?”

Assistance bonus offered to Billy

[Billy Broder]

With all of the runestones marked down Billy nodded and finished lining all of them up around the circle. This was honestly the easiest part and he had the whole thing finished in a couple of minutes while he looked over it all. Once the the script was done it was time to balance the circle. He stood up and looked over at his bag. Emily mentioned how different their magic was and he smirked. "I noticed that too. I wonder why that is." he said.

When he reached his bag he started pulling out all manner of strange objects. A small stack of notebooks, a bird skull, feathers, and several small vials and trinkets. Billy moved back to his circle and placed the four sets of objects into the circles while leaving a single circle open and clear.

"Not really no. My dad of course. I think I might have seen a few in Vegas but its hard to say with all the street magicians and showmen there. I met someone else in town, Serafina, who healed my arm for me. Then you." Billy summed up while counting off on his hand the ones he knew. Of course that was just wizards. The list was a little different if it was anyone supernatural. "What about you?" he asked.

Billy moved over to his third bag that he had yet to open and pulled out... a log of wood. It looked like a rather typical log of wood waiting to be split by someone on tik tok. He moved back over to the circle and sat it standing up in the middle of the circle. On closer inspection it had already been carved with many different runes into the wood. Double and then triple checking all the runes and items Billy seemed pleased with the result.

"I'm going to start if you want to man the ward. Also, remember not to look at the center of the circle once I activate it." he said.

3/3 Ritual prep!