8647/The Librarian: It Was Gremlins, in the Magic Shop, with a Candlestick

The Librarian: It Was Gremlins, in the Magic Shop, with a Candlestick
Date of Scene:	04 August 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Willow, John, and Buffy attempt to scry for another of the missing items, only to find the candlesticks had been right beneath their noses all this time.
Cast of Characters:	Willow Rosenberg, Constantine, Buffy Summers
Tinyplot:	The Librarian

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Willow Rosenberg has posed:
John's visit to the old woman at the church had brought up as many questions as it had answers, but one thing was for certain, the key to tracking down the other items on the checklist was that altar cloth that was already in their possession. And while Willow would have been more than happy to have done her stuff at home, it was suggested that the magic shop offered some conveniences that her apartment didn't: namely better warding, the proximity of ley lines, and more magic items and books than you could shake a stick at.

Okay, maybe not that many, but alot. And, if Willow were honest, she felt just a little bit safer doing it where both John and Giles had had a hand in clearing the area and setting up the foci.

That, and she had one of those niggly little feelings that maybe if she was looking for the items, they were looking for her, and did she really want them knowing where she lived? She didn't think so.

So, dutifully, she brings altar cloth, her laptop, and her other personal magical foci items to the shop, ready to set up and buckle down on whichever item it was that John had decided they'd go for. That, or whichever actually got a hit. Willow wasn't sure John actually got a say in that.

Constantine has posed:
For John's part the suggestion of the shop may have had a bit to do with wanting to rummage around through Giles' books again. You know, for the good of magical knowledge, not because John wanted to knick one.

Anyhow the other elements were there too, the leylines, the wards, true the House was better on both counts but the House wasn't of this world and what they were looking for was. It was a simple choice on all fronts.

John produces the altar cloth from his leather doctor's bag, and lays it out on the table. "Figure this is our best bet, old bird said that the things are connected, so there ought to be a magical thread we can pull on to find one of the other items." Made him think about his connection to the House and if someone could find it the same way with him... but that was a problem for another day.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"You don't think it's bad form to put my laptop on it, do you?" Willow was Jewish. She had no clue what Christian traditions said about such things. She wan't actually sure if it would be bad form in Temple either, but she could at least reassure herself with the fact that the cloth was of another religion so she only had to worry about their taboos.

"I think we should like.. make it a proper ritual." She nods to herself. That meant candles and candlesticks. Sage smudging, or other incense. A cup with some.. well, she wasnt' sure they had wine or holy water, but really the particulars weren't as important as the rituals themselves. Anything could be made holy if you treated it with that respect.

Willow wouldn't admit it, but she was a bit nervous about showing John her stuff. That, and she was curious about what he could do. And.. well, there really was something exciting and reassuring about creating a ritual of this. So far plain scrying hadn't proven all that useful. Maybe that added oomph would help.]

Constantine has posed:
John wasn't exactly what you'd call a pious or even practicing christian, "Bugger if I know but if it helps the magic then, be my guest," he says.

"An' sure, proper ritual," he says as he turns from the table and wanders into the store room for a moment, muttering, "Now where'd Ripper put it... ah there it is!" a few moments later he's back with some sacramental wine, working off the cork's wrappings with his teeth.

"There, got that part covered, what else you going to need, luv?" he asks Willow.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Holy. John was going to buy into the whole ritual thing, which makes Willow little magic using heart go pitter patter. She's not sure if he's the ritual using sort of magician... shouldn't warlocks be? Didn't demons require precise wording and instructions to get thee hence? And how did he not know if this was bad form or not?

Willow gives John a tiny bit of stink eye of suspicion. "Well, you need something to put the wine in. And.." She ponders. Like should she go all out and ask for some arcane magical tome, just because it's there? Or make him dribble salt all around their makeshift altar? (Sam would say that's a good idea. He'd likely suggest wards over all the entrances and exits, too, but honestly those things weren't foolproof, and besides, you'd have thought John would have dealt with that already, right? Right?

She puts her laptop in the middle of the cloth, making it the focal point of the ritual space. "Some incense if you can find some. And some candles - any coloiur, but I like pink. Oh! And something to stick them in. And if you have any pretty stones?"

Yes, Willow knows the names of the stones, but in her mind John doesn't, and she figures 'pretty stones' will cover it nicely. Again, it's less the specifics as the general of it all. She was winging it here.

Constantine has posed:
John nods, about something to put the wine in, snatching a chalice off one of the shelves and setting it down on the table.

As it happened John was pretty much a ritual caster, most of his on the fly stuff was only for emergencies and of course he and Giles had seen the shop warded six ways from Sunday.

"Pretty stones?" John asked brows raising a little. "Wanna be a bit more specific?" he asks, as it turned out he /did/ know the names. "And pink candles? Are we doing a ritual or throwing a birthday party?" he asks as he grabs down a box of them anyhow. What else we need, a Care Bear? A My Little Pony?" he jokes as he makes his way back to the ritual space.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers came to the Magic Box, ready for another hyped up session with Giles. Unfortunately she had yet to learn that he was once again out of town, probably for some emergency or other. She had a spare key which she was prepared to use in the case that the door was locked, which is likely given the late hour. What she wasn't expecting was to find Willow and Constantine performing g some ritual or other in the back room, and while she normally knew well enough not to interrupt, it looked like the spell hadn't yet started, so she slips in, peering around. "Okay, this wasn?t exactly what I had in mind when I said I wanted to get in some extra practice.." she smirks wryly.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"What's wrong with pink?" Willow complains, looking disappointed at John's reaction. "Fine. Make them white. But pink is perfectly okay for rituals. It doesn't really matter what colour they are!" Even if pagan lore might insist that colour did matter, Willow knew differently, but now that John had dissed her pink idea she wanted none of that. How could he not understand that as a red-head a major lament in her life was being unable to wear pink, so she tried to shove it into her life any other way she could?

"And, well.. wait, you know stones?" Hey, maybe he wasn't so bad after all. That, or he was bluffing. Willow wasn't sure. John had helped with Superman, and wasn't a slouch there, but he didn't really seem the sort to go for the other things. "Quartz. Tourmaline. Amethyst. Fire agate." She lists off the biggies, even though there are others. And even if there weren't all of them available, she could make things work with quartz alone.

She's about to say something else when Buffy shows up, actually surprsing Willow enough she *eeks* out loud and jumps, then giggles. "You have to be louder than that. You scared me. I almost did a bad thing." Willow cranes to see if Buffy is alone. "Just you? And we're trying to find something. John thought it was better if we did it here."

Constantine has posed:
"Nah, already got you pink," John says dropping the pink candles down with the rest of the supplies before circling 'round for the stones. He /does/ seem to know his stones picking the right ones out of the box and bringing them to the table.

"'Cours I do, I summon demons," he says of knowing his stones.

Buffy's arrival and Willow's reaction earns a grin, "Careful there," he tells his apprentice. "'s only the Slayer," he says with irony since only and Slayer didn't go together. "An' fraid your practice is with me again these days, with Ripper off on walkabout."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers chuckles, "Considering all the spooky stuff you do these days, I figured it'd take more than a lil' Slayer to freak you out.." she arches a brow, never been fully comfortable with magic. "Really? What you looking for?" does she really want to know..? When Cons explains his new role with her, she arches a brow. "Oh yeah? guess we'll have to see how it goes..Hopefully you're not like that last one.."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow beams at John for the pink candles, even if a moment ago she was ready to blow them off in a fit of pique.

"I didn't knwo it was her!" is Willow's protest that it was 'only' the Slayer. "Besides, it could have been that undead priest guy. He's looking for these things too." And the altar cloth had been his.

She tilts her head at John, while taking the stones. "Don't you banish demons? Isn't summoning them, well.. bad?" There's a moral dilemma for you. When your mentor summons demons and your beste makes a living ginsuing them.

While John explains about Giles' absence, Willow pushes the table so that the corners mark the cardinal directions and carefully places a stone in each corner, then a candle to either side of the laptop. The insence, well, she kind of just places it behind the laptop as there isn't really another space for it.

"I was telling you," Willow explains to Buffy. "That thing that Sam and I were working on. This book that summons demons. Or banishes them, depending on who is using it." Okay, it was a little more complex than that, but that was the Coles' Notes version of it. The rest could come out as they went along.

Constantine has posed:
"Last one?" John asks Buffy.

John snorts at that smile for the candles, "Still belong on a birthday cake," he says helping to get things set up. "An' I summon demons for educational purposes," yeah right, and he levels curses because he likes them better than crossword puzzles. "Generally, not to be trifled with though. So it hasn't made it into our lessons yet."

"Yeah, nasty book and some ritual implements, we got one on the table here, we're using it to find the others," he says adding to the explanation.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers rolls her eyes at Willow's other comment. "Yeah, Yeah, don't remind me, I'm *only* the Slayer.." she she shrugs, a sparkle of amusement in her eyes, glancing at Cons with that same smirk, "Oh yannow, another British guy who was way to proper and persnickety for me. Couldn?t even begin to hold his own against me in sparring sessions" she shrugs, unconvinced by his 'educational purposes'. "Ummm So you guys are summoning an evil Demon to study him and write a book about him...? I thought we generally killed 'em... because they're, yannow, evil?"

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow blinks at Buffy. "Brian? Were you mean to him?"

Everything is in place on the 'altar' such as it is, but she holds a moment before starting anything.

"Oh, we're not summoning anyone." A pause. "I hope. We're trying to find the rest of the items we need to stop the undead guy. There's a brazier, and candles, and candlesticks, The pieces of the book.." She looks vacant for a moment. "Oh! And an athame."

Constantine has posed:
"Nah, think she means ol' Ripper," John says of this mystery brit. "Wait. Who in the sodding hell is Brian?"

He counts off on his fingers, "Got Xander, Anya, Dawn, that Billy Idol looking bloke, Willow's ex an... yeah, not rememberin' a Brian."

He nods to Buffy, "An' yeah what she said about the ritual, trying to find some mystical doodads," a nod to Willow follows, "Right always forget the athame," he says before continuing on. "As for your training I'll try to find someone who might be a match for you. Friends with the Justice League and all now, they might be able to lend us someone to practice slaying."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers blinks slowly at the mention of Brian, which conjures confused, conflicted thoughts. "Brian? What?Errr..No, I meant Wesley. Silly.." she chuckles, "Brian's not my Watcher." she glances at Consand shrugs, "Oh, yannow, just some dashing Brit who occasionally helps us out on patrols and what not..Lives in a castle, super rich, super powerful, etc..." she nods to Cons. "Okaaay, So you need a bunch o things to stop some evil guy.. "Okay, sooo you're performing a ritual with pink candles to find something to help with a spell to stop a bad guy. Sure. How can I help?"

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow looks utterly confused. "What Billy Idol looking.. oh, Spike?" She avoids the matter of her 'ex', and nods when Buffy explains Brian. "She called him an Adonis once. If that helps." Yeah, Brian was built like that, though utterly not Willow's type, unless you counted brains, in which case he was totally Willow's type, other than she amounted to furnishing in his eyes. Nothing new there for Willow, she was used to that.

Buffy gets corrected, "No, we're actually scrying. Not for a spell. I just thought a ritual might help. Everything I've been trying at home has been getting empty hits." Though she hadn't precisely tried with the altar cloth before.

It hits her, about then, that John and Buffy hadn't precisely been introduced, Giles' leaving timed to just miss Buffy's and his return overlapping.. and oh.

"Wait, you two don't know each other really, do you? I mean, John knows who you are," to Buffy. "But you haven't met him. This is John Constantine. He's kind of Watching us while Giles' is away. Something about some promise he owes him. And he's kind of mentoring me." Something about Willow being tempted by the Enchantress and some concerns Willow was open to just such a discussion. *ahem*

Constantine has posed:
"Help's out on patrols, eh?" John says with a smirk. "Is that what you kids are callin' it these days."

There is a snort for the description. "Nah, must be faking the accent, we Brits don't have Adomises, Adonisi?" he says pondering the proper plural of the word for a moment before brushing it off.

"'lo," John says with a wave to Buffy. "Don't worry, I'm much more fun than Ripper, er Giles," he promises before looking at the ritual set up.

"Shall we get this show on the road?"

Buffy Summers has posed:
"Scrying, right right.." she shrugs, "Well sure, whatevs, how can I help? Not much of a witch but gimme something to beat up, I'm all over it." she nods to Constantine. " Yea Yea, Wil's always talking to you, I'be seen you around. Well I'm looking forward to 'fun training sessions!' can't wait!" she's either overly peppy or super sarcastic. she steps back when Cons gets ready for the ritual. "I'lol just stay out of your hair then..."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Well, you can help by standing.. there.." She directs both Buffy and John so that between the three of them they form a triangle about the altar space, and once they've taken up position, she lights the candles and begins calling the quarters.

It's all rather perfunctory - at least as far as John will be concerned. Buffy, it depends on how many rituals she's actually witnessed. Either way, Willow isn't doing anything untoward. It's really the bread and butter of any mundane ritual she's going at.

While she's at it, though, there's a faint scratching sound that comes and goes in the silences between Willow's words. Once or twice it even sounds like a squeak. Or a high pitched little garble.

The squeak could easily be passed off as an unwanted rodent. The other?
5rOkay, that could also be passed off as an unwanted rodent too. Only a rather less mundane sort.

There's a soft tsk of sound and something that sounds distinctly like a nasally, 'nonononono', and more than that, a tap at Buffy's foot, as much as to say 'could you please step that way for a moment, you're in my road'. Only less polite, and with a lot less comprehension.

Unless you speak gremlin.

Should she look (and she should), it is a gremlin. Much as Giles had described to the group at the Bronze, and this one is holding, of all things, a piece of chalk, which it's been drawing a circle of some sort around Buffy's feet. The circle marked with arcane symbols that John would recognize are similar to warding symbols. Only to keep something in, not out.

Constantine has posed:
John takes his place, and keeps a close eye on Willow while she's performing the ritual, 'checking over her shoulder' from across the circle as she weaves the magical energies of the spell.

The squeek had John's attention at the first hint of the noise. His eyes dart about the room, he has an inkling of what these might be... then he sees what's at Buffy's feet.

"Bollox, a bloody gremlin," he steps out of his place in the circle and stomps down hard by the circle drawing creature. "Oi, off you!"

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers blinks and nods wordlessly to Willow, moving to form the last third of the circle. She knows enough of rituals at least, to know that she should stay still and as silent as possible. That is, until she hears shuffles and squeaks. Just a mouse, don't let it get to you..,And then there's a gremlin. Totally different ballgame there. She narrows her eyes, getting ready to stomp it when Constantine breaks the triangle and stomps on it first, much to her surprise. "Wait, is that wise? The circle.." she murmurs uncertainly.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Turns out the gremlin has almost been stomped on by better than John. Or at least John's equal. AND he brought friends.

With a cackle, it tosses the chalk over by the makeshift altar, where it's caught by another, who draws a symbol on the air, and out of that window, several more pop out, chittering and squealing complaints. One grabbing up the chalk again, and trying to trace a circle around the altar.

Several others are tugging on the altar cloth, arguing with one antoher over how to do it, while another pair are struggling to move one of the candlesticks closer to the side where the cloth is being tugged upon.

Willow has her own problem, one dancing upon her keyboard, happily deleting icons and other materials from her laptop all the while pointing and laughing at her.

In short, it's chaos.

But two things are clear: They're trying to get those candlesticks, and the altar cloth. All the while playing keep away with that piece of chalk.]

Constantine has posed:
"Good instincts," John says to Buffy about breraking the circle. "But shouldn't hurt us, them stealing," his eyes narrow as the gremlins try to steal the cloth /and / the candlesticks... "Those things is going to be a problem."

John wipes his foot through the circle to break the magic there and letting the slayer loose to do what she does. As for that chalk?

He points his finger at it shooting a bolt of flame to try and turn it from chalk to cinders.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
There's a screech of dismay as the chalk is destroyed! Clearly that little piece of limestone was terribly important to them. Or someone else! But yes, Buffy is free to move, and the gremlins are furiously struggling to get those items.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers frowns, peering around in near darkness and goes to work, trying to stomp, throw and stab gremlins here and there. They may be small and kinda cute but they are demons nonetheless! "Did I get 'em all? Little brats!" ok this wasn't how she intended to spend her night patrol, squashing 1 foot tall critters, but...

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
The gremlins squish and splat, and voice what can only be expletives at the trio of humans - John probably understands more than a few of the choice words and phrases being used.

Willow tries to rescue her laptop, but the gremlin on top of it merely snaps at her, attempting to deliver well placed bites.

Another is knocking the stones off the altar (much good that's doing!) and all those who aren't trying to bite Willow, or throw the stones, are tugging on the same corner of the altar cloth.

They're actually making some progress, the thing tugging inch by slow inch towards the floor.

The initial gremlin, the one who had marked the circle around Buffy, and who seems to be the ringleader, is making encouraging gestures while trying to gather up the itty bitty bits and pieces of the chalk that John had obliterated.

Constantine has posed:
John grins when chalk burns to ash, though the chalk itself gives John an idea, grabs for his old leather's doctor bag, ripping it open and pulling out a bit of chalk of his own.

He begins sketching a circle, a dangerous one, full of the same demonic runes that the holding one had contained. Ones he suspected the gremlins could read. A summoning circle for a hunger demon, an indescriminate devourer of flesh, human, gremlin and otherwise.

"Hey," John shouts in a devilish tongue he hopes the gremlins understand, it seemed close enough to their chittering. "You see this?" he gestures at the circle. "You lot don't leave the doodads be and sod off, I'll finish this and you'll be in a right lot of trouble," after all the summoner controlled the demon they summoned. "Fair deal yeah?"

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Oh, now that has their attention. They're even ignoring Buffy - and she's full on attempting to smush them into gremlin shaped puddles of ichor on the Magic shop0 floor.

Gremlin the senior waves his arms about in a 'wait now, let's be reasonable' sort of manner, which is likely just as well, as the others are trembling in supplication, and cringing away from John's little circle. They might not even be sure exactly what it is he's about to sic on them, but they're afraid. What he's already completed reeks of power, and they know that well enough to know it likely isn't going to be pleasant for them.

Only gremlin number one has a fair gist of the amount of trouble they're all about to be in, and it clears its throat, about to make a counter deal..

Willow grabs her laptop, and several things happen all at once:

Willow gets bitten. Hard. Enough she drops her laptop.

The last tug on the altar cloth is a full on yank now that the laptop isn't on it anymore, and cloth and candlesticks (and lit candles!) clatter to the floor.

One gremlin catches on fire and dances about trying to stomp the flames of itself into oblivion.

One of the candlesticks rolls and comes to a stop in front of gremlin number one, whose eyes light up in delight. <<Trade?>> it garbles at John, nodding at John's summoning circle.

Willow is scrambling for her laptop and sucking on her wound. Buffy is stomping out the small fires. And the gremlin? Does John want to take a chance it didn't get enough chalk to complete a tiny window? He might not be getting everything he came for, but he'd have a candlestick - and they'd be short one.

What's the deal, John?

Constantine has posed:
John grimaces as things tumble to the floor. If Zee were here she'd backwards talk the stuff back on the table. Not John though, not his kind of magic.

The offered trade is met with a grimace then a nods. << Sure, done deal. Jus' let your boss know, got worse than this waiting for him, might be better off locked up again >>

It was a bluff but John sells it like a pro, sure John could likely summon things to give Blue Boy a fright, hell, he could summon things that'd give Supes pause, the problem was the price, an' from experience the more powerful the demon the more that bodies got stacked up like cordwood, usually bodies you don't want to see dead.

'Course John, the old con man gives none of this away and leans into his reputation, using a bit of illusion magic to make him seem taller, the shadows around him darker.

<< Well, sod off >>

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
John's deal seems to be ammenable to the gremlin. However, he's a bit of .. well, let's just say there's no love lost in love and war, or when it comes to saving your own skin if you're a doomed gremlin.

Gremlin senior gives a snarling nod to John, and kicks the candlestick at his feet towards the man, and with nary a pause between that action and the next, he's popped out of existence.

Tough luck for his gremlin friends who are suddenly very, and more than aware, that they've been abandoned to their fates with this crowd that seems more than capable of dealing with them.

Willow, much as she might be a help, is moaning over bit hand, and the missing data on her laptop - tapping away at it, trying to ascertain that the poor thing hasn't been broken (it hasn't), and that it's still got most of her data (it does).. She's lost some things on it, but not so much that she's in despair. It's all backed up. And, further, she's able to confirm that much like John has probably already guessed, those candlesticks they were looking for were here all along. All it took was them settling down to look for a *specific* item to draw attention to them, and as it happens, summon the gremlins.

Gremlins who are now faced with the fact that there's a very angry Buffy, and someone who is likely just as frightening as he who sent them. And without their leader, they're at a total loss as to what to do.

They're really easy pickings.

Constantine has posed:
John picks up the candlestick and turns to the other gremlins.

He grabs an empty box off a shelf and tosses it on the floor. << Anyone who wants to live, hop in and I'll take you for a ride >>

He turns to the ladies, "Got this," he promises. "Should all work out."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
To be honest, gremins are light fare for Buffy - not that she'd be adverse to stomping a few into oblivion, but hey, John is a creative man with grudges, why not leave them to him.

Willow is happy enough to let John deal - she's cottoned onto the fact they have one more of the items on their list, so while John has one of the candlesticks, Willow picks up the other, and the altar cloth (which has somehow, miraculously, missed any of the candlefire) and clutchese them tightly to her chest while waving her free hand at the remaining gremlins.

Faced with certain death a la Slayer stomp, or whatever it was John might have finished summoning, the box seems a really nice alternative. The remaining gremlins scurry and fight over one another to be the first into the box, scrabbling over one another and clawing and fighting their way until one last gremlin, a full handheight shorter than others, clutches the lip of the box struggling to get in is all that is left.

Constantine has posed:
John grins as the gremlins pile into the box. << Smart lads >> he says before he puts the lid on the box for now with a << Stay >>

"Got to deal with these pretty quick or they'll get squrimy, but good work all," he says. "We should lock down what we've got pretty quick here, then find a new spot to see the rest of the pieces."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow nods, "Buffy can watch me while you deal with the gremlins." She's not sure where they can put the items. It didn't exactly come up what they'd do with the things as they collected them, and of the two magicians in the room, John was the most likely able to find a secure spot. Willow was good with wards, but she'd need help with the other, especially obfuscating the location of the things while they kept looking for others.

But now they had two things off their list. And if the old woman was to be believed, each object they got would make finding the next easier.. and also make it more dangerous as the items called to Father Halvorsen.

The clock begins to tick...