Personal Space [Zatanna]

[rae]

Players: Zatanna and Raven
Location(s): Coast City and later Hell
Plot Summary: Raym is summoned by group of amateur magic enthusiasts. Both Zatanna and Raven sense his presence and go to fight him. They fall for one of his traps and wind up stuck together in anti-magic handcuffs. They both aren't happy about that.

"Sweet Mother Earth, it's here! Get everyone and meet by the creek tonight at the witching hour!" Celeste chirped on the phone. Later that night when her fellow cult members arrived to their sacred ritual ground, she shared with them the package they had all been anticipating for six weeks. "The Magister Templi of Nimeuh," Celeste read the old book's title out loud. "Arcana imperii." Everyone ooh-ed and aww-ed. "Put on your ceremonial robes, Pillars. Tonight, we summon a demon to do your bidding. Then everyone will know that the Pillars of Nimeuh are the most powerful cult in the world!" she said, as menacing as she could. "Sarah, what the hell? I told you purple robes only! This is black," Celeste screeched when she spotted the imperfection. Everyone was dressing in their ceremonial goods when she yanked the black robe from Sarah and handed her the only extra purple robe the group had. "Gawd. It's like you don't know how to like, listen or something. You need to show commitment or we're kicking you out and you can go back to those vampire freaks you love so much." Sarah turned red. Celeste rolled her eyes and tuned back into the head witch mode.

"Gather you all in a perfect sphere so that we may call upon our brother Raym. Chant with me," she bellowed. "He who is in Hell, come forth. Raym who is in Hell, come forth. He who is in Hell, come forth. Raym who is in Hell, come forth," the six teenagers chanted with eyes shut and heads bowed. The candles around them flickered. The markings on the grass trembled. Celeste held up the book and read from its pages. The words were all in Latin, but she did her best to read them anyway. The other teens continued to chant. This went on for three minutes until a terrible caw startled them all. Perched on a branch nearby, a large crow cawed again. The light from the candles reflected off its big black eyes. "Is...is that Raym?" Sarah whispered. "Shut up Sarah!" Celeste barked. The head witch thumbed through the book. She didn't read or understand Latin besides a few key phrases she memorized. She wasn't sure what she was looking for in the book, but she had to do something. "That isn't Raym. He... he looks different. Someone didn't do the chant right! Who messed up, huh? Admit it right now before Mother Earth devours you into oblivion." The crow cawed again. "Oblivion?" the bird spoke with a terrible rasp and a posh English accent. "I'd like to see that trick." The teens screamed and ran off into the woods, heading back to civilization.

Raven, invited to Coast City by Hal Jordan, was on her way back to San Francisco. She was there acting as an emotional consultant for a friend of his, and when she was able to successfully calm the woman of her terrible recurring nightmares, she was ready to leave. But a throbbing pain overcame her. A dark presence in the city limits redirected her focus. Demonic vibes coming from the forest called to her so strongly she couldn't ignore them. Raven had the unfortunate luck to pick up Raym's presence. She followed the vibes to see what horror she had stumbled upon now.

[Zatanna]

Zatanna was actually at home when the alarm spells went off. Imagine that. Not that that was a good thing. Shadowcrest was one of the most magical locations - and safest, at that - on the planet, and throughout the realms. Zee didn't have to worry about upkeep beings that it pretty much kept itself clean and polished, but she had still grown up in the grand, multidimensional mansion. It was her home even more than the spotlight on center stage was. So, when Zatanna had just situated herself before the roaring fire in one of the ground floor dens, typical as ever things went sour.

Magical alarms were - if you can imagine - even more obnoxious than bells or whistles. In this case? A loud, distorted squawk likened to a crow's cackle. Zatanna scowled over the magazine that she had just opened on her thighs, and wiggled her slippers regretfully. That moment ended with a puff of breath exhaled through her lips and then the sorceress was on the move. Investigating the alarm's nature, Zee discovered that it was tied to a screening spell that had been put in place to alert of demonic activity that popped up concentrated in one place.

Not just demonic activity in general, either, but the ghoulish signature of a certain evil spirit. "Raym," Zatanna said with contempt. Then she assembled her outfit - black pants, leather heeled boots, white tunic edged in black lace and a slim leather jacket - and wished herself away to the site where the energies were coalescing. Imagine Zatanna's surprise when she found herself on the edge of a small wooded area almost within sight of residential Star City, planted between two expensive cars that were parked on the side of a winding country road.

Zee blinked once as she watched a group of screaming teenagers in oddly flattering robes sprinting towards her from the dark shadows of the trees. "Really?" Zatanna questioned to herself. All this trouble unleashed because a group of bored adolescents had been bored? What happened to sneaking booze out of their parent's liquor cabinet? Zee scorned herself for the thought, but if the reality was as she predicted, these young men and women had caused her a lot of work. Not to mention they'd put the entirety of Star City at risk. And that was just the beginning.

"Hey! Hold on!" The teenagers were truly spooked, because when they saw Zatanna standing between their getaway cars, they screamed even louder and stumbled to a full halt. "We didn't do anything, I swear!" A girl gasped, mascara running down her face not quite hiding the fact that she was the closest living Barbie doll that Zee had ever seen. The other teens looked towards the blonde, exchanged glances with themselves again, and then nodded. All save one brunette girl, who bolted around Zatanna to try and get into one of the cars.

"Screw you, Estelle! This is all her fault!" Zee's eyes flicked to the blonde who looked somewhere between a mental breakdown and an immature tantrum. "Kcol." The cars locked with a flash of headlights to assure that the deed had been done. "I'm Zatanna, some of you may have heard of me?" Her tone wasn't conversational, it was sharp and demanding. There was a look of comprehension on everyone's faces and then the brunette, who now hung pleadingly to one of the door handles to the nearest car, gasped a curse word.

"So tell me what the hell you guys did, or you'll never have clear skin again." Zee didn't like that she had to play the stereotypical threatening card, but it worked. The girl named Estelle - who was now shivering uncontrollably - gushed everything, somehow turning every decision that was damnably hers to be the fault of someone else in sight. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" Zatanna asked in a whisper, then shook her head. They wouldn't be able to fathom the depths of their mistake. "Just go. And if any of you so much as types a magic word into a search engine from now on, I'll find you."

The group of teens were already scared out of their wits, and seeing that they were in deep trouble for the little summoning they'd done, and each knew that Zatanna was a hero known for turning her enemies into rabbits, they were easy to coerce. Zee almost felt angry enough with them to let them fare on their own, driving with such jittery nerves. Only when they were about to pull out of sight did the sorceress turn a phrase to get them to their next destination safely. Then she turned towards the imposing forested area from whence the group had come.

[rae]

With young innocent screams growing distant as they ran in the opposite direction, the dense forest quieted down once more. Raym, still in crow form, stretched out his wings and spread out his feathers after centuries of confinement in the cage that is Hell. Now that his summoners were gone and had failed to ask anything of him, he was free to do as he wished; so goes the demon code. He changed into his human form ready to explore the modern world when he sensed a source of magic coming his way. He had yet to reach a strength level strong enough to combat the powerful entity heading toward him. Risking a fight was not wise, and losing this being would be impossible too. He knew it had his trail.

Raym sat on the branch of the tree where his crow form was originally perched. He jumped down and landed in the amateur "rising star" (as the youngsters had referred to it) they had made in his honor. He put out the candles with his new human finger tips, the fire lacking any burning sensation for him. Out from the trees emerged none other than Zatanna. While he had never had a personal run-in with her, the magician's power and potential was famous in Hell. And so were her looks. Raym continued cleaning up the mess left by the teens, his loose hair covering the cryptic smile on his face every time he bent down.

"I'm sorry, dear. You're a bit late for the evocation. You will be pleased to learn, though..." he said, standing upright to finally look at her eye to eye, "it was a success." His eyes were red, it was the only indication on his physical form that gave away his true being. Raym pulled his arms behind his back and held them there as he used his bare food to rub out the markings on the grass. "You know humans don't really do anything for me, but you are a magnificent specimen. I wonder if what was written about you in the bathroom stalls of Hell are true," he grinned. His smile was gone in an instant when he sensed another magical presence approaching. This one was different though. There was a familiarity about it.

From up above, Raven descended to the scene. She was certainly frowning before, but now, after seeing who was here, she a lot more tense. Zatanna had yet again beat her to the punch. The last time she saw the magician was in New York. They had put aside their differences for the sake of closing a rift to an inter-dimensional hell world. And now, in the presence of Raym (Raven recognized his animal form's aura), Zatanna was once again the leading figure. Raym smirked. He too could read body language. "My, my. I highly doubt other demons gets such a welcome as this. So tell me, who's first? Or do I get to choose?"

[Zatanna]

Zatanna contented herself on the walk through the forest by looking at the positives. Raym was bad news, sure, but he was far from the worst that the group of teens could have conjured. They'd escaped with their lives, hadn't they? Raym's magic wasn't the kind of apocalyptic, razing-civilization type that some of the greater demonic forces liked to dabble in. If anything, this particular demon's greatest asset was his cunning. The sad thing was that one, small, clever curse could be much harder to combat than a big, bulky, obvious one that packed a bigger punch.

The Mistress of Magic had quieted her thoughts, wrapped herself in the proper number of wards against the unexpected, and evened out her breathing by the time that the site of the summoning came into view, and with it, Raym. Zatanna's eyes narrowed critically at the opening statement. Demons were usually of two molds. Gross and slimy, or attractive and charismatic. Rarely was there a gray area between the two archetypes, and Raym was plainly the latter. His "mortal" form was actually pretty attractive - especially beings that hadn't went through the trouble of conjuring a shirt for himself.

Zee acknowledged the material, true, but her mind was focused to a razor edge. "You haven't been doing your homework," Zatanna noted mildly, "or you'd know that I'm not human." She was playing on technicalities, blowing her heritage as a homo magi slightly out of proportion, but Raym didn't know that. Either he'd call her bluff, lose his footing, or be entirely indifferent. Zee was contemplating whether she should make the first move or not when Raym stiffened slightly.

She could feel it, too. A presence that seemingly appeared from nowhere, similar to Raym's own power, but definitely different. Zatanna recognized the newcomer before Raym did, and for good reason. Internally, Zee groaned. Raven's appearance might have made her job easier - power in numbers, and all that - but it also meant an uncomfortable situation was made even more so. Zatanna was good at showmanship, thankfully, because she rolled with the unexpected and remained outwardly confident. "Why does it matter?" Zee asked in response to Raym's question. "Either way, you're screwed."

[rae]

Raym almost burst out laughing. "Me? Screwed?"[/b] he grinned. The tension in the woods was thick, but he lavished in the fact that it wasn't toward him. The tension was between the two Earth dwelling beings that apparently had some history between them. Raym was intrigued. Although he was a demon of Hell, set on the ultimate destruction and reign of the mortal realm, not everything was so serious. Sometimes, he just liked to mess with people's heads. Even once Earth is destroyed, he'd miss not having mortal souls to poke and prod at before they arrive to Hell. He certainly wasn't planning on being summoned tonight, but now that he was, and now that this opportunity fell to his lap, he'd have to take it.

"You're mistaken."[/b] Swiftly he raised both his hands in the direction of Zatanna and Raven and hellfire shot from his palms in a thick pillar of raging flames. They were however, not meant to burn the ladies of magic, but instead herd them closer together which Raven did exactly that. As soon as she saw the fire headed more toward her right, she jumped left, bringing her a lot closer to Zatanna who also had her own fire to avoid. Raym spared them no moment to breathe when a cloud of smoke blew out from his nostrils and encased them both in its black ash. Raven coughed and summoned her shadows to her to protect her from inhaling the demon's breath. The shadow spread out and forced the smoke to disperse, but it was too late. Raym was nowhere in sight and accomplished what he wanted. Distant crowing drew Raven's attention to the sky. She stepped forward with intention of following the sound when something held her back. She turned her head and noticed her hand was cuffed. When the last of the black smoke disappeared, she saw Zatanna on the other end. Raym had handcuffed them together.

"You have got to be kidding," Raven said under her breath. She lifted her hand to examine the handcuff. There was no doubt that Raym had done this, but on the off chance that it was a failed attempt of Zatanna's, she wanted to be sure (she was after all a stage magician too and they use handcuffs don't they?). There were demonic letters along the cuff, it was Raym's fault alright. Raven's eyes drew back to Zatanna. Neither of them were smiling. "Tell me you have a key somewhere. This is your kind of thing, isn't it?" she said without an ounce of humor. Nope. This was not going to be a good day.

[Zatanna]

The cockiness was to be expected. Demons were always pompous, it's what made them so annoying. It's also what made them pretty easy to out-wit and vanquish. You just needed to brush against their pride so that they'd act even less rationally. Therefor Zatanna didn't blink when Raym began taking the cocky approach. Though... he did make arrogance appealing... Eyes up, Zee, she scolded herself. Why hadn't the hell spawn worn something more conservative?

Raym gave his little speech, and then sent the first attack. Several torrents of hell fire surged from his body in sweltering columns. Zatanna acted on instinct governed from years as the Mistress of Magic. Fire of that intensity was powerful, and packed a punch. Blocking wasn't impossible, especially for a sorceress of Zee's caliber, but it was unnecessary. She didn't want to waste the energy required when dodging was a simple feat. Zatanna sidestepped, and felt very proud of herself for acting so lithe on her feet.

That was when Zee felt a circlet of demonic energy encase her wrist, and knew that she'd fallen right into a trap. While Raven's eyes followed the sound of the shrieking crow, Zatanna was looking in shock at her arm. Shackles of hard, black iron locked the two mystic women together. Slanted, harsh words in a strange language were etched into the surfaces and shone with a dull crimson flame. Damn. Zee glanced up when Raven made the discovery, too. Her eyes became less thoughtful, more dry.

"Nepo!" Zatanna's voice rang in mighty commandment, filled with power. Nothing happened. She cursed under her breath. "These are Stygian Shackles," Zee explained hurriedly, "they're a demon's ultimate trick. The only way to break them is to have a pure concentration of a certain brand of magic and overload them." The Mistress of Magic ground her teeth. Raym was smart, the bastard.

"Because we both are on one end, and our magic is..." Zee looked at Raven and chose a different phrasing, "different, the only way to get them off is to vanquish Raym."

[rae]

Every word Zatanna said weighed heavy on the ends of Raven's mouth until a definitive, non-mistakable frown was on her face. If they couldn't break out of it, considering how much firepower they were collectively carrying, it meant one of two things: they would try the efforts of equally powerful magi, sorcerers, and the like, or they had to find Raym and break the cuffs through him somehow. Raven was about to speak up when Zatanna continued, and what she had to say next did not make the situation any better.

"Different" she called it, a euphemism to appear polite about it. All Raven wanted at that moment was to leave, fly away and escape into the shadows to gather herself and return to a state of perfect emotional balance. Instead, she was forced to stand next to a woman so obviously uncomfortable with her very existence, someone who would probably be the first to gather a pitchfork and torch at Raven's public burning. That's how it felt being around Zatanna, merely seeing how the magician looked at her with suspicion and unease. It was a slow burning witch hunt.

Raven's eyes glowed black. Her astral projection surrounded her body to help her escape the handcuffs but nothing happened. Shadow surrounded the cuffs to try and break them, and nothing again. She even searched for some sort of lock to pick on them, and still the evidence proved they were stuck together. "Raym could be anywhere right now. His residual trail will be too weak to follow, even for a half demon," she said, inflection piercing and unmistakable. "We need a tracking spell then," Raven added. "Do you have a piece of silver, dry reed and goat's blood on you?" Her tone still made it difficult to tell just how sarcastic or mad she was.