Help!

East Dallas

Though mainly older bungalows, Tudor or Prairie style homes built circa 1920, East Dallas has seen some new buildings and establishments crop up in recent years. A lot of the area has been deemed historic, and thereby untouchable, but it hasn't stopped the American Vampire League setting up shop here.
The AVL building sticks out like a sore thumb, being a large, square building with multiple windows - though the shades are generally drawn.


For the last week or so, several calls a day were placed to the Ogham. No response was ever received. Walking by the business every day on the way home, it looked dark and empty. There was no sign on the door that said the establishment was closed, or the proprietor evicted. Nothing telling Chloe how to get in touch with Ms. Haul.

Things like this are never good, and so finally after eight solid days and no information, she's contacted the only witch she actually really knows. Now, at approximately eight in the evening, she's sitting outside the shop, on the steps. The ever present book that Chloe keeps with her is opened on her lap, two cups of coffee in a paper tray beside her.

"Hmm… no… not attempting anything that involves animal parts," she mutters to herself, flipping a few pages into the book.

Ivan was rather surprised - after all, usually he's the one that ends up running towards the manner, and usually out of fear for his beloved significant other. Now, since Faith is fine…he's confused. After all, Chloe can only be summoning him as an extension of King Will. That's a given.

And so, it is with some degree of uncertainty that Ivan strides down the streets of Dallas, his button-up shirt and tie loosened considerably as a way to combat the heat the sun is railing down upon them. Once he catches the red head and - more importantly, the current state of the shop - he frowns. "Hey," he calls out, giving her ample warning before fully approaching her. "Is everything alright?"

"In the broadest sense, yes." Chloe frowns at the book again before looking up at him. Then she motions to the coffee, and slides over on the steps. "In the strictest sense, no… and I really need to fix this before Will gets back in the city." Reaching into her purse, she extracts a small box that looks as though it could fit a necklace.

"You're the only witch I know, and I need some information. I tried getting in touch with the woman who sold me these things," she says pointing to the box, "but the store's been closed up for over a week, no answer on the phone, and today it sounded as though the number had been disconnected…"

Ivan blinks. Not once, but twice, as she begins to speak. Quirking a brow upwards, he allows a velvet "thank you" to escape his lips before settling down onto the steps beside her. Not wanting to look rude, he takes the opportunity to drink from his coffee as she continues to explain the current situation. "Eh? Alrighty." The cup is put to the side as Ivan instead reaches for the box. "I didn't know The Ogham went out of business…And let's see what you have here…" With that, he attempts to open the box to scope the situation out.

"GAH! Be careful with that." Chloe doesn't know just how mystical those ribbons are, and the last thing she needs is for Ivan to become all weirdly infatuated with her too. "They're magical ribbons."

Another few pages in the book are flipped, and she stares at it in an appalled manner. "What do they need baby brains for? That's… it's… sick." Slamming the book shut in disgust, she sets it to the other side of her and then glances at the shop. "I don't know that they are out of business. Maybe it was a family emergency. I can't wait to find out. I need to deal with this now. The sooner the better."

Ivan is about to pluck the ribbons out of the box when Chloe freaks out. Confused, Ivan turns to face her without bothering to pick up the ribbons. he knows enough about magic to know that safe is better than sorry. "That's not very descriptive," he calmly points out. "What kind of magical ribbons? Are they cursed? I need to know as much information as possible, and…" Beat. "Baby brains? I…really?" Bemused, he leans towards the woman to try and read over her shoulder.

Chloe groans. She really, really, really doesn't want to tell him. "You get one joke, Fontane. One. Then you're going to pretend this conversation never happened and help me, okay?" Brushing her hair back from her face, she lifts the book up and hands it to him. "I stopped in here just before Valentine's Day. You know how that went, with everything at Mary's right?" She waits for confirmation before continuing.

"Anyhow, Lillian, the woman that works here, or owns the place or something, she sold me these love ribbons. Sort of conned me into them, but hey, nervous girl, trying to get a certain vampire…" Sigh. "Doesn't matter, I didn't use them, and I tossed them in with the wrapping stuff I keep at the apartment. I chickened out, basically. The other day, I bought a gift for a friend, and I grabbed one of those ribbons by mistake… and now I need to fix this."

Wait for it. "…Love…ribbons?"

"BAHAHAHA!" The guffaw that Ivan lets out is full-bellied and genuinely bright, as it is clear that the man is gleaning much personal enjoyment from the situation. If that wasn't bad enough, he mimes the act of laughing quite beautifully, even stopping to brush away an imaginary tear of laughter as he turns to beam at her. "Now I heard of women loving their accessories, but…" There's joke number one. "Ha! Sorry. It's just…I always pegged you as a potion girl myself. Huddled over a cauldron with a lock of Will's hair…" There's joke number two. "Ahem! I suppose we ought to fix this before anyone else finds themselves wrapped up in this love fiasco." There's no stopping him, he's on fire!

"One joke!" Chloe, cheeks reddened, turns to smack him on the shoulder. A playful smack, but it's good and firm and should indicate that she's upset about this enough as is. "Doesn't matter, I don't think anything like this would work on a vampire anyhow… and she didn't have potions, she had ribbons. Wanted me to wrap it around my thigh or something." Whatever the backstory is is much less important than the at the moment story.

"Ivan, this is serious. The gift I gave? It was given to a really close friend. One that already sort of had a thing for me a few months ago. One that is having problems with his girlfriend, and now this?" Beyond the fact that Will is going to kill her, she truly needs to fix it. "But with everything that I've been able to pick up from the minds of other witches in the city, I don't know any that dabble in this sort of magic. Illusion, sure. Bobby told me your sister does protection magic, and I've seen Eberle do his little parlor tricks with fire, but love spells?"

The redhead blushing doesn't do much to alleviate his case of the giggles. In fact, it merely prompts him to snicker longer, harder, and more violently as he is hit. In the process, he nearly brushes against the ribbon himself - but recognizing the danger, he sobers up rather quickly before tucking the box shut once more. "Ah - I think I'm good now…Sabrina the Teenage Witch." Well. You can't expect him not to make fun of her about it!

"Okay, okay. Hold on." He takes in a deep breath, drawing his eyes shut to relax. "All witches have within them the potential to use all sorts of magic. So, though I mainly deal with illusions, I could, theoretically, whip up one of you love ribbons if I knew how to. As it is…I guess it depends on how strong it's been charmed. There's a good chance that I could break it for you, but…" And he looks around, curious. "The street isn't the place to do it. I'm going to need a couple of good spellbooks and possibly a shitload of weird things. So…I think I might just have a family member or two to visit."

"Great. While you're working on that, then, Harry Potter, figure out how I can get the one that he tied around my wrist off without infecting anyone else." Chloe glances down at the spellbook she snagged from another book store. "Weird things aside, just promise me you won't use baby brains for anything? It's creepy and gross." Vampires can drink from her, Shifters can turn into whatever they want, but witches using baby brains is just twisted.

"The potential to use all sorts of magic… great. So there's no telling what she used to enchant these or whatever she did, and no telling how potent they are, and how long they'll last." Exhaling a heavy sigh, she finally reaches for the coffee she brought for herself and takes a sip of it. "I was hoping that it would dissipate after a few days, but no such luck."

"I make no such promises. And…eh, why don't you take it off yourself?" Ivan looks over to her and her wrist, confused. "Is there something you're not telling me? Does it only work by untying the ribbon?" Ivan inquires, pursing his lips slightly. "Anyway - give me that." And with grace, the man tries to make a grab for the spell book, so that he himself can look it over with a discerning eye. "Ah. Well, spells of these types usually do wear off - but the effects can last for quite a while. For example, I doubt it'd still be working in…say… 6 months. The whole idea is to give yourself a chance with the person. If after 6 months and the person doesn't actually love you, then they never will, and…Well. Magic is powerful, but…we can't manufacture love, no matter how close we get."

"That's… exactly how it works. By untying the ribbon." Which is why Chloe has been wearing the tacky ribbon for the last little while. "Right, so it'll wear off in six months, or he'll be killed by Will in a few weeks." The telepath does not look happy at either outcome. "The big difficulty here is that there was infatuation or something already there, which is probably making things worse." At least, that's what she's figuring. Either way? Not good.

Once he has the spell book, she shrugs her shoulders. "If you can help, you can help. I'd appreciate it. If you can't… then I'll just start listening in on everyone in the city until I find someone that can."

"Huh…well…try burning it off." Ivan suggests, eyes narrowing thoughtfully at he looks to the ribbon on her wrist. "Or perhaps cutting it off. Granted, neither are foolproof and you might find yourself mildly infatuated, but the effects would surely be very muted. "Best idea is to have him take it off for you. And…huh. So, he liked you already, eh? Well, that'll make things a bit more confusing. The effects might linger afterwards even if I break the charm, as a sort of dull resonance of his feelings, then." Back to the book. "Look…I can't make many promises, unfortunately. But I will try my best to break it, and keep you posted. Is is alright if I ask my sister for help if necessary, or my coven? Or is this strictly confidential shit…"

"Thought of that. Problem is…" She really doesn't want to wind up in bed with herself for days on end. People already think she's insane. Chloe shrugs, and then shakes her head. "Him who? Will? He's not around." The other 'him' is out of the question. She's not going back to the other apartment until this is fixed. For her own safety.

"Seriously?" Nodding, she sips from the paper cup again, then bites on her lip briefly. "Ye-ah, I guess. Just no names, please? Situational anecdotes and making fun of me only. And if you could find out what happened to the Ogham, and the proprietor, I'd be thrilled." Mainly because she wants to pop Lillian in the nose for the ribbons actually working.

"Well, yeah. Your friend that's infatuated with you. He tied it on you, right? So if you untied it, you'd be infatuated with him, right? So if he took it off, he'd be retracting his own 'spell', so to speak." Ivan shrugs his shoulders, unsure of how else to put it. Realizing he has coffee here for him, he pauses before reaching for his own and taking a sip. "Alright. Would you like a code name to go by? Would Hermione do, or Glenda the Good Witch?" Cue a broad, curvy smirk on his features.

"You're going to wind up calling me Endora soon, if you keep the jokes up, Derwood." Chloe rolls her eyes at him and then shakes her head in the most vehement manner possible. "I won't do that to Will. I will not allow myself to get infatuated with anyone else, or have anyone else infatuated with me." Not with the way she was feeling a few months ago. Too fresh. "But if it's going to have to happen? It's going to be someone I don't work with on a daily basis. Since I really don't know that many guys, it means you'd have to do it, and that's a can of worms I wouldn't wish on anyone." She grins a little. "Though I'm sure Will would get a good laugh out of that particular incident."

"I…ahh…thinks it's too late for that." Ivan points out, softly, faintly bemused, even, when she talks about not wanting anyone infatuated with her. "Anyway, I don't think I'd - wait, what do you mean I'd have to do it?" He pauses, staring at her point blank right now. Beat. "…I…I can't do like, 6 months of being infatuated with you. No way. I've just got my life on track. I'm buying a house with my girlfriend. No way!" And with that, he shakes his head viciously. "Just keep that tied on for a bit. I'll see what I can do."

"You're the only person I know that I don't have to see day in and day out. Besides, you're already in love with someone else, so that would make it not work?" It's a hopeful sounding question, but she frowns. "I can't keep the damned thing on my wrist for the next six months either. It itches." Especially when it gets wet in the shower. "Anyway, I'll pay for whatever gross things you need. I just want this over and done with."

"Yeah. I'm in love with someone else," Ivan repeats, frowning to Chloe. "You don't see how that could be a problem? How it'd be a mistake if I was infatuated with some other woman while living with my girlfriend? And…just keep it on 'till I figure out how to undo it! Jesus. Anyway, I'll get going then. Call you when I've found something, so that we can…Oh! I can take the ribbon with me, right?" Looking for verification, he holds the box up and gives it a thoughtful shake.

"What problem? If you're in love with someone else, a love spell shouldn't work on you at all." Chloe gives him a lop-sided grin, but nods. "As long as you don't take six months to figure it out, I can live with it until then. Maybe I'll add a bead to this dreadful thing, and it'll actually look like an accessory." Sliding the ribbon around on her wrist, she nods. "Please do. Just be careful with them, Ivan. Keep them away from Rose, and don't let them fall into the wrong hands."

Ivan shakes his head slowly. "That's not how love spells work. They don't replicate love - just intense attraction. I could love her with all my heart, and with the help of a little spell, desire you with every fiber of my being. It'll work on me, regardless of my status. And that's why I can't…I don't want to do anything like that. I don't want to endanger my relationship. And - yeah! I've got it, no worries." With a reassuring smile, Ivan gets to his feet then. Following that movement, he sticks his hand out so that Chloe may take it.

Chloe listens, and she nods again. "You're the witchy one. You'd know." Taking his hand, she uses it to get to her feet, rather than giving it a shake. "I appreciate this, Ivan. I really do. I would have gone to Will, but with him making sure the rest of Texas is in order, it's been really hard to get him back in the city." After a moment, she's thoughtful enough to add, "Good luck with the house hunt." Beat. "There's a place not far from my parents' that's for sale. Nice neighborhood, pool in the backyard."

Ivan meant to push her upwards, not shake her hand, so it works perfectly. "Hey - it's no problem at all. I owed you one anyway, Chloe." He has not forgotten what she has done for Rose. "I should be in touch within the next few days, alright? If not, hunt me down and kick me a few times. Also…if there's anything else I can do to help…don't hesitate to contact me, yeah?" And with that, he flashes a grin in her direction. "Heh. Thanks. We're still shopping around the places - I'll be sure to check it out!"

"Literally or figuratively?" This in regards to kicking him. Chloe smiles. "Great, yeah. A few days I can handle. Even if it's just an update to say you can't do anything, at least then I'll have a frame of reference, so I'll know if I need to transfer to the library at the university." A few days will give her enough time to get info on that house for him too, if he's interested. "See you around then." Her apartment isn't far, and the street is well lit. Besides, they got the wolf, right? So she should be safe to just waltz on home without too much issue.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License