Nine Swords

Jenn took a look at Wes' “supplies” and growled. “If anyone even breathes 'I put on my robe and wizard hat', I will cheerfully sell the both of you out to the Phoenicians.”

She sighed and nodded Wes at the couch. “You two might as well enjoy the Cheese Puffs and the games. There's Dew in the fridge. I'll just have at and open a link with the artifact and do all the serious bits.” Jenn tried a scowl but couldn't really manage it. She was too fond of both of them, and she'd rather they didn't stress and worry about things for a change. She'd caused enough trouble.

After tugging the map into a corner of the room and laying it on the floor there, she gathered her things off the coffee table and piled them on the floor by the map, to make room for Cheese Puffs and other male paraphernalia. Curling up on the floor with her legs tucked under her, Jenn opened a small, very old leather-bound volume to a feather she'd used as a bookmark.

She had a tendency to be matter-of-fact about her magic, and this was no exception. Ignoring what Tom and Wes were up to, Jenn pulled the little stone bowl in front of her, picked up the knife, and casually ran the blade across her palm. She encouraged the blood from the wound to pool into the little bowl as she reached for one of the feathers with her less bloody hand after setting down the knife.

With the feather in hand, she tugged the gris-gris that Conlan had made for her out of her shorts pocket and tossed it across the room. The whole process took moments, and by the time the charm hit the far wall, Jenn wasn't looking at the room she was in anymore. The link with the artifact flooded back into her, and she closed her eyes to try to keep some whisper of control.

Tom stood and took the robes from Wes, hanging them over the arm of the plush leather sofa. He grabbed a DVD and popped it into the DVD player before turning on what was possibly the most fancy and expensive thing he owned, the TV. "I'll grab some Dew, make yourself comfortable." Tom disappeared into the kitchen as Jenn set about getting ready for her spells. Tom's arms prickled, he didn't like magic. For all he had been exposed to it, he still wasn't used to it.

He pulled a cooler out of a cabinet that he kept around for just such an occasion. He dumped a freezer full of ice into it, then tossed several cans of mountain dew into it. He glanced back out into the living room, then tossed a few beers in as well. He hefted the cooler up onto his shoulder and walked back into the living room, plopping it the drinks down next to the couch. "Grab whatever you want."

He flopped onto the sofa and reached into the cooler to grab a soda. He cracked it open and pretended not to notice Conlan's sack flying past Alyssa Milano's face. He turned his head to watch Jenn out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't begin to understand what was going on, he supposed he would just have to smash everything if anything went wrong.

Wes absently reached for a Dew and cracked it open as he watched the TV. "Nice toy Tom!" Wes approved as he enjoyed the clear, crisp image of Ms. Milano's cleavage on the screen before him and then added something about showing her 'Who's the boss'.

Scratching at his palm as he felt a sudden itch there, Wes settled back into the couch and propped his feet on the cooler. Just as he was pondering why so few of the supernatural things he dealt with were as hot as the witches, demons, and sundry other baddies on the screen, Wes felt an on tugging on the deep recesses of his consciousness. At first he couldn't place it's source, but it became clear as he peered over his shoulder at Jenn. She was still there, but some part of her was elsewhere now.

Wes frowned at this and grunted to Tom in the ancient language of males. Roughly translated the grunt conveyed, "Hey, did you notice your girlfriend there is dabbling in arcane mysteries best left to moldering sages sequestered away in lichen encrusted keeps at the very edge of reality?" Well, it was a -rough- translation.