She'll teach those hatches! [Open to Multiple]

[rae_of_sun]

Well, if there's ever been a reason for Sunshine to start pushing herself in the magic-handling department, the arrival of a mega-toxic kali nightmare goon from wherever-the-hell - and a subsequent text containing a ward symbol against said nightmare goon - definitely qualifies. Gods, has she missed wards. And, okay, she finds it a little hard to fully trust the effectiveness of a ward symbol drawn by… well, anyone aside from an accredited wardsmith (herself included)… but if there's even a slight chance that it'll work, she will gladly wallpaper the entire damn building with the thing.

Better to start small, though, especially if what she's going for is 'permanent.' Which is why she's standing outside her own apartment door with the little image of the symbol pulled up on her phone. She examines the picture with a tight little frown, memorizing the details in case intent is not enough. Then she tucks her phone into the back pocket of her shorts and braces her palms against the door.

Okay. She can do this. It's big - far bigger than anything she's attempted before - but it's only wood. Easy compared to metal or stone. And her grandmother said she could do anything in bright sunlight, and there's plenty of that shining in through the window at the end of the hall, all of two feet to her right. So.

Sunshine shuts her eyes, pictures the ward symbol as clearly as she can, and shoves.

A bolt of power runs down her arms and into her door, the recoil strong enough to force her back a pace. She opens her eyes, regains her balance, and takes in her new door.

At first, she thinks it was a bust; the change is so subtle. But then she realizes that the ward symbol is there, right in the middle of her door and as large as a dinner plate. It's visible only because the grain of the wood abruptly changes direction, like an incredibly fine inlay. She steps closer and runs her fingertips over the line where symbol ends and door begins, but she can't feel a seam.

"Gods," she breathes. Could she darken it? Probably, yes, if she tried again. Make it a bit more obvious, if that's what's needed. A smile tugs at the corners of her mouth. It worked. How's that for permanent?

Okay. She'll come back to her own door later. First, she has to do Spike's. And then the main entrances. And then the windowsills. And then literally every other flat surface she can reach.


[ooc: Sunshine is gonna spend the day WARDING ALL THE THINGS, so feel free to have your character run into her in any given hallway, down by the front door, or even up on the roof. Pretty much anywhere in the rebel apartment building is fair game. And hey, she'll probably ward your door if you ask nicely.]

Comments

[rae_of_sun]

"A mass text went out with a ward for Lucifer attached. That's what the thing in the park is called, apparently - Lucifer." It doesn't seem like an appropriate name for a mega-toxic kali nightmare goon, but 'Bo' is a pretty ridiculous name for a vampire, too, and look how he turned out. "Back home, a good ward requires a good wardskeep, but that doesn't seem to be the case with this one. Anyone can reproduce it."

She raises her eyebrows at him. "Including artistic types with a steady hand. I've been trying to cover all the entrances to this place, but I don't think my transmutation would work so well underground."

[peeta_mellark]

"I really should get a phone," he says, somewhat sheepishly. In his mind, the name Lucifer rattles around. On the one hand, it's nice to have a name to put to the being. On the other, the name seems to fall short of the evil thing it represents.

He ponders for a moment. "Do you have a picture of the ward? Or can you draw it? I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't already done something at the base, if anyone there got the message, but if they haven't I'll see what I can do."

[rae_of_sun]

Sunshine arches an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, you really should," she says. How does he still not have one? Yeesh.

Straightening, she says, "There's one on my phone, but it's not perfect - the guy who sent it was in kind of a hurry. But I was going to do the door to the stairwell." She inclines her head in said stairwell's direction. "You could take a look at it once it's up."

[peeta_mellark]

"Okay," Peeta says with a nod. He starts to sit back in his chair, ostensibly to go back to his sketch while she works. But then he sits up and asks, "Would it be okay if I watch while you do it?"

Magic will never get old to him, no matter what it is.

[rae_of_sun]

"Sure. I mean, it might not look like much, but you can watch if you want." Or it might look spectacular, for all she knows; she generally has her eyes shut. But whatever it looks like, it'll be brief, so she doesn't want to make any implicit promises.

It's nice up here, in the full sun. She's aware that she needs to pace herself, especially after the past two days she's had, but anything she does will be easier up here than it was elsewhere in the building.

Except the door is metal. Damn. Even in full sun, she's done enough work today that the prospect of large-scale metal transmutation is pretty daunting. "Huh," she says to herself, running her fingertips over the door's surface.

… The door's painted surface. Okay, maybe she can work with this, after all. She presses her hands against the door, shuts her eyes, and gives the thin layer of paint a careful, gentle push.

With her eyes shut, she isn't privy to the way the ward blooms into being, bright gold swirling up out of the dull grey hue the door was painted with. But when she opens her eyes, she can admire the finished product. There's a faint, responsive ping against her fingertips when she runs them over the ward, and she glances back at Peeta with a smile. "So, yeah. This is what it should look like."

[peeta_mellark]

The change is quick, but not so fast that Peeta isn't able to see something happen. He would never be able to describe what it is he sees, but there is definitely something visible to the process.

When Sunshine steps back, Peeta steps closer - both to admire her handiwork and to get a better view of the ward he needs to replicate. It isn't too complicated a design - though the fact that Sunshine can make it using just her mind (or magic, as it were) is still impressive.

"So this will keep the thing - Lucifer - from being able to get in?" he asks, turning to a clean page in his notebook and beginning to outline the symbol.

[rae_of_sun]

Sunshine nods. "That's the idea. I've been putting it on the doors and windows." She steps back from the door to give Peeta a better view, then goes about taking her hair out of the messy bun it was in and pulling it into a slightly less messy one.

"Yolande - my old landlady - would have a fit if she saw this," she says with a faint, wistful smile. "Warding isn't something you're supposed to be able to do without training. I still can't quite believe the ones I made are live, but they sure feel like they're working."