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]

"Yeah, it's… it's okay." It's better than okay; she hasn't felt this good in days. It's like he just supercharged her like a battery or something, the come-hither taking up the excess. The glowing's a bit much, though, and she self-consciously rubs her arms until the light fades.

The cringe-inducting whistle gets her attention, and for half a second she expects it to be Spike. But no, it's just Crowley… who apparently has been demoted to 'just.' Well, after Lucifer, it's hard for even a full-blooded demon to inspire much terror. He might have freaky shadows, but at least he's not nothing but freaky shadows.

Still, that doesn't mean she's delighted to see him, and it's still a somewhat unenthusiastic, "Hey," she throws his way.

[bibliophale]

"Look!" He turns to Crowley, rather delighted to see him, actually, and for a moment not bothering to hide it. "I gave her an energy boost for her magic! I can do that!" He points, just as excitedly, to Sunshine's warded window. "She's been putting them up all over. Isn't it brilliant?"

He wants to ask Crowley if he's put any up at his flat, but that might not be a good question. Especially not in front of Sunshine. Who, thankfully, seems less cagey around Crowley than before.

"So what brings you to our neck of the woods?" he asks, doggedly cheerful.

[anguiform]

Sunshine's lack of enthusiasm is met with an arched eyebrow and a little, finger-wiggling wave. Yeah, yeah, he knows, you don't like him, see how much he cares?

'Is that your magic?' Aziraphale had given him a fairly useless, handwaving response when Crowley had asked after her abilities, and he is actually quite curious. All this business with multiple universes, there's flavours of humanity here in Manhattan that neither he nor Aziraphale have ever encountered who can (presumably) do all sorts of things the humans they're more used do certainly couldn't. 'Very flash.'

And the wards are her work as well? Crowley nods up up at the window, which does not merely have a symbol painted onto it or anything so simple; the window itself has been altered, the ward worked into it in stained glass. He frowns in approval. 'I noticed; 's good work, actually. Thorough.'

He gives Aziraphale a flat look at his obstinately sunny question, because really, angel? 'Just running errands,' he says vaguely. 'You're looking much more in one piece than you were the other day.'

[rae_of_sun]

Well, Crowley can have a subtle eye-roll right back. She might be less cagey, but she still doesn't appreciate the evident kick he gets out of being obnoxious.

"Sort of," she replies in response to his first question, giving Aziraphale a faintly disapproving glance. Just what has he been sharing?

But she can't help but be a bit mollified by the genuine compliment to her wards. Hey, she's proud of them - not to mention ridiculously excited that she can pull them off at all - and the corners of her mouth tick upwards. "Thanks," she says, stepping away from the window so she can turn and examine her work again. "The text did say 'permanent,' so." Doesn't get much more permanent than a proper inlay, she figures.

Her smile vanishes at 'in one piece,' and she gives Aziraphale a worried look. She's been trying not to think too hard about that lingering bruise, or how badly he might have been hurt before he had a day or so to shake it off, but Crowley's comment has made that impossible.

[bibliophale]

Aziraphale doesn't notice the disapproval - anyway he'd only mentioned that she could do magic, nothing wrong with that, is there? For a moment he's busy smiling fondly at the two of them, happy to see them getting along, or displaying a fair amount of civility, anyway.

And then Crowley has to go and make that comment. His smile fades, not completely, but downshifting into a wry shadow of itself.

"I'm all right," he murmurs. He can feel Sunshine's eyes on him, and he glances over at her. "Nothing I couldn't come back from. And I had someone looking after me just as Spike did."

He resists making any direct indication of Crowley, but he smiles a little wider, just for a moment, before redirecting his gaze to the floor. There had been distractions enough at the time, but now that there's some distance from the aftermath of his ill-fated fight, he feels an even greater warmth toward Crowley for the care he'd taken. As much as he knows Crowley doesn't want to hear about it.