Ritual UP

[Star]

"No, it's my fault."

It is. It's not a Blame Game, but if anyone's short-stacked, it's Tuesday.

"I did. And I wasn't sure if, you know. But I do. Like, want to take it that way. I'm going to. Like, right now. Just so there's no confusion. And you're being all, like, vulneradorbs. So. Yeah. That's was me telling you. Right now. I'm." He'd been kinda staring at her hair. Sorting things out. "Gonna." Now the eyes. Leaning in. "Kiss you."

And he did. Soft, slow, still full of questions but also with some answers.

"Whoo." Nervous, yo. And pulse-pound-y. "Okay?"

I am Jack's Long, Deep Breath.

"And, uh. I don't think Dea messed you up. Just confused you." Like We are. Poor Tuesday. "Bad choice of words. Sure, you can have things that make it easier. More comfortable, puts you in the zone, you now? But they're not, like, needed. You, uh. You want to? Try. My way. Go grab a blanket and pillow. Get comfy."

He nodded to a booth.

"I'll be right here. Making you a pie. Or later. We can do it later. No pressure."

[Tuesday]

Tuesday gives a little nod, "This is just...weird." Understatement.

"Okay." another nod, so flirting is a go? Then greenish eyes are there. Seeing hazels, and leaning and words and. Oh. Wow. Kissing. Slow and sensual and nice.

"Ooooh." a breath that she doesn't realize escaped her. Her pulse pounding in her ears was drowning everything else out. "That was nice." This is why she has a dictionary. So she could find better words. But. Now is not the time to grab it and find a better word. So 'nice' will have to do. "I'm good. Yeah. Okay."

Blinking.

"So. Okay. Confusion. That, I can deal with." and it's easier to fix then 'messed up'. "No prob. Words. Messing them up. Yeah. Get it." the tug at the corner of her mouth could be a smirk, if it wasn't for how soft it looked. "And comfy. Sure. I'm all about comfy."

"I'm still gettin' pie even if I haven't Ritual'd yet?" She slides into the booth. Jammies and orange and purple fuzzy socks counted as comfy. Plus she didn't want to walk away to just get stuff. Just because she has stuff now, doesn't mean she needs stuff.

Carefully not looking at Star, "So-uh-do I need to let go of my Shield? Or can I just add onto it?" it was questions like this that made her feel like an idiot.

[Star]

"Maaaaaybe. Maybe not. I might just be making myself a pie. If, you know. Your rit sucks."

A smirk went lopsided as a mental image of feeding each other pie intruded. Nope. Stop that.

"Wow, okay, there you are." Eyebrows bobbed as she found a booth. "Not even anchor socks. Cold turkey. You got moxie, girl."

He leaned onto the counter, folding is arms and resting a hatchet chin on them. So different.

"You can, if you want? If it's not giving you any static. Uh, Contagion. I might even, you know. Look at it. The one you have up. If you don't mind. Just to, like, see. See what you're doing slash working with. But only if you're cool with it."

Staring someone's casts down is rude, yo. Unless they're a jerk. Which Tuesday wasn't. Besides? Someday he might need to know her signature. Totally not because he wasn't just a teeny tiny bit curious about her resonance. Totes not.

"What's your Imago? Medieval shield? Energy bubble? Protective swarm of butterflies? Iron Man suit?"

[Tuesday]

Defiant sparkle in her eye, the stubborn tilt of her chin. "It's not gonna suck."

Eyeing Star. Sure. Let's call it moxie instead of stubbornness or pride. "Yep. Imma big girl. I like my turkey day old and in sandwiches." not to mention the, you know, cold part. Cold turkey sandwiches with some pepper. Yum.

"Yes. Oh. Yeah. Right." Tuesday nods, this is why this is weird. Tying to think about things, while not trying to think. About Things. Stuff and Things. You end up forgetting the little things like how she's not that great at drowning out more then a few spells at a time. "You want to look..." she blinks, "Um. Sure. I guess. I mean. Sure?" shaking her head. "If you want."

Tuesday might be a little pink. This felt a little more intimate then an Eskimo kiss. Then she went a darker pink. Since. Actual kissing.

"No. None of those." a head shake. "I could say something like a fairy ring. But I don't want you to think I fantasize about mushrooms." A sigh, "My Imago's threads - like tapestries. It's just easier for me to weave spells together when I think of it like that. Plus. Threads. The Fates." a shrug, "It works."

[Star]

"If it does suck, I won't tell anyone."

I Am Jack's Totally Insincere Pearly Whites.

"Weaving. I dig it. Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos? Sometimes I think of rays of light or waves. My Shield is like that. Waves. Like, a tide going out? Away from me." Long fingers rippled outward as he righted himself up. "Whatever's coming in, you know. Has to fight the tide."

Pie-making things began to appear from cupboards and the refrigerator. Slow and quiet.

"I like that, you know. You blushed." Slow and quiet words, too. "I don't think it's because you're, like, embarrassed about your spells. But the other thing. That magic is, ummm. Intimate? Of course it is. How could it not be. Your Soul and Will combined and expressed in a working? Some people don't. They act like it's just, I dunno. Spending money. Or getting out a pen to write a letter."

Skritch-skritch.

Gotta sift flour. Because lumps.

"I won't look. Maybe later, if you want. When you can look at mine."

Maybe that blush is contagious. Know why it's weird? Because it's not just magic. That Question that wants an answer every time he looked too long and thoughts wandered has an answer that was going to Mean Something. It wasn't going to be meaningless and disposable and available.

"...Uh. Sorry. Spaced out. Ummmm. Go for it? Just hold your note. I won't say anything, just makin' a pie. But I'll stay with you."

[Tuesday]

"It's not gonna."

Was Star doing this on purpose? Did the angel know her well enough already push her buttons?

Probably.

"Weeeell It could mean, Uror, Veroandi and Skuld, buuuut I said Fates. And not the Norns." Hazels sparkle. "Maybe I should go with the Norns, and the see if I can wriggle some tree, Yggdrasill style stuff in. Since. Tyr."

Nodding at Star's light and waves, she has an itch to explain. "It's like when you pull a blanket over you. Feeling it over your shoulders. It makes me feel safe. Like when I was little and hiding from the monster under my bed, as long as I'm all tucked in and can pull the covers up over my head, I'm safe." It seems kind of stupid to say out loud. When Dea started teaching her, she definitely thought so. But maybe Star'd get it.

"I'm not embraced by my spells." her rasp is clear as she can make it, but matches Star's volume. "If..Dogma got more. Uh. More. You might have seen me naked. Which is...it's. Well. A step. And stuff. Everything would be weirder. But...it's not the same." She looks up at the angel getting all his pie making do-das together, and the flour all....Tuesday tilts her head. Because sifting flour. She thought only TV chefs did that. "It's...yeah. Intimate. It's more then just seeing someone in the buff. It's...more." Tuesday still told him to look. If he wanted. "I just..don't understand people. Like I know I can be irreverent, or flippant or whatever. But I know that it's more. Magic's special and wonderful and magical. And." A sigh. "Yeah."

Nodding. "Okay." was this a quid pro quo thing? Or a respect thing?

"It's-ah-It's okay." a nod. "Um okay. Sure. I'll just." Swallowing she dismisses her current Shield. Can't have static. "Get to it." Tuesday's suddenly feels really, really weird about her anchor sockless feet. Not there's anything wrong with purple and orange. But. Anchor Socks. "Thanks." She says, hazels dancing around Star, before she takes a breath, knees tucked close to her chest and starts building her own tapestry.

Rolls

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-01-12 02:25:16		[01] Tuesday rolls 5 to Rit Up a Fate Shield (Fate 3 + Gnos 2) (10 Again)		6, 9, 4, 1, 10, 1		2 successes

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-01-12 02:25:16		[02] Tuesday rolls 5 to Rit Up a Fate Shield (Fate 3 + Gnos 2) (10 Again)		9, 7, 4, 9, 7		2 successes

[Star]

Uror, Veroandi and Skuld?

He'd look that up later. He wanted to know now-now, but Tuesday was off in Opera-land. Which is just dirty pool, yo. Talking about... naked and... stuff... and then zoning out for hours. But the blanket bit had gotten a legit nod. He knew that feeling, just different.

In the middle of grift, or magic trick, when everyone's attention is right where you want it? You're safe. You could reveal anything.

Long fingers worked at the pie crust slowly and carefully. It was going to be three layers, with the traditional crushed grahams for the middle layers. The key lime was going to float on a layer of meringue, and a thick chocolate with just a hint of mint was going to be the bottom. Depending on how much of each you got, it'd taste different but however it went down, the tart-sweet top was going to end in rich cocoa with a crisp zing.

He had all the time in the world. Eventually, he shed the jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Got Tuesday a glass of milk. Only left once to use the bathroom. Because he said he'd stay. So he did. Six hours, yo. Even with an hour of pie making stretched out to three, that's a lot of time to no think about... Stuff. Or talk. Just to talk. About Norns. Or blankets. Or any of those things that might distract her and mess up the rit. Maybe he'd decorate the pie.

Eventually, the cards had appeared.

Soft shuffling sounds turned into silence as the cards were peeled off and leaned against one another to create a house of cards that mirrored the one in his mind's eye. He sat in the same booth, the pie between them, garnished with paper thing slices of lime twisted into spirals.

  7 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-01-13 17:05:31		[04] Star rolls 7 to Make a Pie! Int + Crafts + Spec (10 Again)		6, 5, 6, 8, 7, 6, 3		1 success
2017-01-13 17:05:31		[03] Star rolls 7 to Make a Pie! Int + Crafts + Spec (10 Again)		1, 4, 1, 6, 3, 10, 5, 10, 6		2 successes
2017-01-13 17:05:31		[02] Star rolls 7 to Make a Pie! Int + Crafts + Spec (10 Again)		9, 5, 1, 8, 2, 3, 6		2 successes
2017-01-13 17:05:31		[01] Star rolls 7 to Make a Pie! Int + Crafts + Spec (10 Again)		1, 1, 4, 7, 6, 10, 4, 8		2 successes

[Tuesday]

With a gasp everything clicks into place. Snuggled, cosey under her blanket-Shield. She uncurls, and her knee hits the table. "Owe. Crap. Gotta pee." she slides out of the booth and get to her feet, all the while muttering, "Cramp, cramp, cramp." under her breath as she hobbles into the bathroom.

When she comes back her face is pink, and sheepish. "Sorry." she whispers, her voice a little rougher then normal. The glass of milk gets a questioning look, and when she knows it's a Tuesday glass o'milk she'll eagerly take it and gulp some down.

Seeing the house of cards, and not wanting it to fall (if her quite exit hadn't already toppled it), she carefully sides back into the booth, but biting her lip at the pie. "Oh. Wow. That's..." swallowing. "It looks beautiful." she smiles. Because, there it was. A Star made pie.

"So," hazels move away from the perfict looking pie, up to Star and his greenish eyes, "How'd I do?"

[Star]

Yeah, there's that.

Apparently Dea skipped the 'You-Can-Take-Breaks' chapter on Rits 101. He'd kinda-sorta figured it out sliding into the fourth or fifth hour when she hadn't stretched. Or touched the milk. Or, you know. Peed. What a stone cold bitch, yo. This Dea person.

"Welcome back." Jack's got sleepy eyes, and even the mop looks droopy-tired. "Yeah? good."

See this empty hand? Nothing up the sleeve except a bracelet. Until it flourishes, and there's a fork. Held out of reach. With a grin.

"Well, let's see. But, first, for yooooouuuuuu..."

Clean white lines flare into a glyph that slowly spills downward and onto a card. A perfect imprint of it's own center, captured on the card like a pinned insect. A long finger kicked it across the table.

"By the way? Next time you're being mad at Dea, add that she didn't tell you, you know. You could like, take breaks. During rits."

Greenish eyes laughed at hazel ones before sliding into the golden warp and weft of her new Shield.

  Sigilization

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-01-13 19:45:11		Star rolls 10 to Sigilization! Prime + Gnosis + EA (10 Again)		2, 9, 2, 1, 3, 3, 8, 3, 6, 8		3 successes

No reason to roll for Scrutiny. Both know the other is doing it and there are no time constraints.

[Tuesday]

Greenish eyes were sleepy ones.

And yeah, Tuesday totally got that. Since. Six effing hours. holyeffin'jeezeowie.

Then fork. Since pie was still a thing that should get nomed. Matching his grin Tuesday snags the fork, hazels catching the bracelet.

It makes her stare. Because bracelet. And wearing it. And yeah. It's there like it has been there and not just slipped on to coddle the Unicorn and her mushy feeling.

The magic takes her by surprise, pulling her from a surge of those mushy unicorn-typed emotions. This is the first time she sees something other then gold from the angel. Tuesday watches because why not? And because she's confused about what he's trying to do, until Star flicks the card to her.

Hazels look. "Oh." a breath, Star figured out a way for her to see without waiting. This is just...Tuesday shakes her head. Words. She really, really needed better ones.

Hazels snap to Star with that tidbit of info. Her eye twitches. "So yeah. She's a controlling bitka. Knew that. She calls herself Dea Ex Machina. But this..." Tuesday groans, and nearly drops her head on the table. But there's pie, so she doesn't. "See this. Reasons why I didn't wanna Rit. Since yeah." words said as she gets herself a slice, because by golly she's gonna has her pie and she's gonna has it right meow!

Even if her hazels are still locked onto the card.