Room 223, Friday Night

[life_inshadow]

The spellbooks from Tara's shelves -- and more than a few that she'd borrowed from the shop -- were scattered around her bed, the result of what felt like weeks trying to get something useful out of them. She'd heard the announcement about auditors, which sent her back to the beginning for any reference.

Conclusion: Nothing, though there was a kind of "accounting demon" that Tara would really prefer not to have balance her checkbook.

She sighed and flopped back on the floor, then flicked a cat toy toward Mr. Moxy, mildly pleased she could at least make him happy.

It was that kind of exciting Friday night.

[OOC: Door open, post open!]

Comments

[inaskinnyway.livejournal.com]

Susan didn't like having something to do right now, so she took to things like wandering the halls. And apparently, glancing into rooms of people she only knew from a class.

"Not finding anything?" If she saw books lying out everywhere, she would just take a wild flying leap and assume they were focusing on research.

[life_inshadow]

Tara glanced up, surprised, and smiled tentatively.

"Not so much," she said. "I ... found my cat's favorite toy? But, uh, nothing that looks like it's going to help."

She shrugged. "Are you having the same thing?"

[inaskinnyway.livejournal.com]

"My forms of research haven't given me much more information," said Susan carefully. "Though I'm not sure whether anything would actually be in books, either."

[life_inshadow]

"If it is, it's not in my books," Tara said ruefully. "What are you doing instead? I did a little magic, but I don't even know what kind of spell I want to use."

[inaskinnyway.livejournal.com]

"Er. I asked about them," she admitted. "What kind of magic?"

[life_inshadow]

"Wiccan," Tara said, almost apologetically -- she was used to people not knowing what that was. "It's one of the main ways people do magic in my world. Basically it's learning to do spells? I wasn't born able to do it or anything."

[inaskinnyway.livejournal.com]

"Are you good at it?" She found that more important than natural ability.

[life_inshadow]

Tara shrugged thoughtfully. "Not as good as my mom was," she decided. "But I can usually do most of what I want to do."

She glanced around the books. "... this situation excepted."

[inaskinnyway.livejournal.com]

"Are you looking for something specific, or trying random things?" Susan had no idea whether magic would work or not, but she understood how powerful witches and wizards were supposed to be. Maybe in this situation, they had something she didn't.

Not that she would admit that out loud. Ever.

[life_inshadow]

"I started with something to ... see if one of the missing dimensions was still there?" Tara said slowly, watching Susan to see if she followed. "It didn't work right. I played with it for a while but it sort of turned into trying random things and reading about hellgods. And now there's this auditors thing the principal mentioned, but that's ... not really helping."

She leaned back against her bed. "Do you know a lot about magic?"

[inaskinnyway.livejournal.com]

"Wizards summoned me once," she said with a shrug. "They were looking for someone else. If you can read about hellgods, would there be any information about those who are in charge of reality itself?"

[life_inshadow]

Tara frowned and bit her lip. "There should be, but I've never heard of anybody like that."

Which seemed like an odd omission, now that she thought about it.

[OOC: Night!]

[inaskinnyway.livejournal.com]

"Of course not, that would be easy," Susan sighed.

[Night!]

[life_inshadow]

"No kidding," Tara said, and thought some more.

"There are tons of gods of dreams," she finally offered. "And in some belief systems, a god who controls one thing, also has some relationship to its opposite. So, order and chaos, war and peace, maybe dreams and reality? I can see if that gets me anywhere."

[inaskinnyway.livejournal.com]

"Well, we're not looking for gods." She paused. "I think. Gods tend to take credit for this sort of thing, so let's say no. More like... bureaucrats."

[life_inshadow]

Tara looked distinctly skeptical. "Reality has bureaucrats?"

Why was this harder to believe than the gods theory?

[inaskinnyway.livejournal.com]

"That's what they are," she said matter-of-factly. "The Auditors of Reality? They make sure that all the little things that make the universe work do indeed work."

[life_inshadow]

Okay, there was nothing like that in any of Tara's books.

"So ... the theory is that they're doing this because someone didn't fill in a form or something?" She asked in a very small voice. "That's so ... mean."

[inaskinnyway.livejournal.com]

"They're doing it because life is 'messy.'"

If a person could pronounce air quotes, it was just done right there.

"So they're getting rid of it. Completely logical, and completely stupid at the same time."

[life_inshadow]

"Kind of like chopping off your head because you have a toothache," Tara said incredulously.

[holy-daughter.livejournal.com]

Lucrezia's letters from Cesare had become increasingly odd. Requests to send her love to la bella Farnese were met with a polite inquiry: with which fair lady she was implying him to be consorting? Nonsense. Giulia Farnese was their father's mistress, and had replaced their mother by their father's side at most Papal events. Cesare could not misunderstand her meaning.

As worrisome as the letters were, it was far worse when they ceased. Her dove, St. Cecilia, did not return. Had she been devoured by the aching void? Had all of Rome? Papa, Mama, Cesare?

She could not stand this torment any longer. The doors were closing, and she needed to make a choice.

"I beg your pardon," she said, standing in the doorway of the other girl's room, looking lost. "I believe I may be in need of assistance?"

Presumptuous to ask a stranger, but she was low on alternatives.

[life_inshadow]

Two near-strangers in a night. Tara was popular.

"I can try," she said, stepping up and away from the cat with a slightly surprised look on her face. "Is everything okay?"

[holy-daughter.livejournal.com]

Lucrezia flushed. "No," she said. "But I fear the malady to be a common one. I have heard nothing from Cesare in days, and it is said that the gateways are to be closing. How does one request a portal?"

[life_inshadow]

"Normally you go to the Portalocity website or call them and book it," Tara said cautiously. "Or else you talk to this girl Raven. But, uh ... are you sure that's what you want to do?"

She would not go within a thousand yards of a portal, thanks much.

[holy-daughter.livejournal.com]

"I must," Lucrezia said, closing her eyes. "Cesare may be ... gone already. I need to be with them. If the Apocalypse has come, I should be in their arms when it happens."

She could hardly force her voice to say the rest. "I will die more surely if I stay, here, while all whom I have ever loved are destroyed, than if I am with them for the end."

[life_inshadow]

"If you really have to go, I can help you," Tara said, swayed by the girl's passion. "Just ... you're okay with the risk? You might not find him at all."

[holy-daughter.livejournal.com]

"I will owe you a debt I can never repay," Lucrezia said, swallowing past a lump in her throat. "Unless you should like a favor from a Pope who m-may no longer exist."

Papa, gone. Who would sit on his throne if he had been taken? She could not bear the thought of it.

"I take full responsibility," she said, steeling herself to sound as though she knew her own mind. She was a Borgia, after all. "I know that that this is a decision I am unlikely to be able to reverse. But should the end come here or there, I choose there."

[life_inshadow]

"I think we can just call it a favor," Tara said, and dialed Portalocity on her phone. She doubted the website would be any faster, and Raven had looked wrecked all week. Best to call in. "You don't owe me anything."

"Where are you going? I mean, what place and what year?"

[holy-daughter.livejournal.com]

"The Holy See," Lucrezia said, quickly, "Rome. 1494. Is it very hard, setting up a portal? I've money to pay for it, if they accept ducats."

And if the price was not astronomical. She had never tried to order buy a portal before. Surely a portal couldn't cost as much as a dowry?

[life_inshadow]

Tara shook her head quickly. Normally it wasn't hard.

This wasn't normal.

A few minutes into trying, and after a lot of, "No, R-O-M-E" and "No, I'm not the passenger" and "no, f-five transfers in hell dimensions is not okay," she handed the phone up to Lucrezia.

"You might get a better result," she said, wincing.