Scene #671: Hungover in Chi-Town feat. Harry and Riva

Owner	Pose
Harry Dresden	Harry Dresden is in his living room. The lights are out. The curtains to the outside are pulled across the glass block windows. Harry has a strong pot of coffee bubbling and a bag of frozen peas on his forehead. Harry Dresden isn't moving much. Bluh.
Riva Banari	Riva isn't entirely sure how she ended up here. Pizza might have been involved. Pizza and more strong mead and microbrews than anyone in their right mind should be drinking. But hangovers are something she's familiar with. She's currently helping herself to Harry's glasses in order to drink some water and take some pain relievers. "Ugh." She mutters. "You're the wizard, do you think dying is a good cure for a hangover? Because I'm pretty sure it's up there on my possible solutions." She flops bonelessly next to Harry, staring up at the ceiling. "Ugh, and I've got to get work done today, too."
Harry Dresden	Harry grumps at the noise, but helpfully flops an arm over to offer Riva a pillow of sorts as she's flopping around herself. "Bluh. I have no idea how far the Buzz Buz have spread so I couldn't even tell you where you'd end up here. Maybe one of the ley nexuses or something. You're really loud."
Riva Banari	Riva grunts and rests her pounding head on Harry's arm. "Anima Wells. They're basically ley line nexuses, so probably whatever equivalent would be nearest around here. And sorry about the loud thing. I can't turn it off. Just... magical earth power, forever. I feel like a walking Captain Planet episode." Riva grumps. At least she's animatedly grumpy.
Harry Dresden	The wizard also lifts up his bag of peas and plops it on Riva's forehead. "Bluh. I suppose so. That would put you over at Holstein, probably. Hell, maybe Saint Mary's." Those eyes close. It hurts to remember things. Harry also burps, and blehs at that. "Least you don't have to worry too much about dying. I'm just... hard to kill."
Riva Banari	Riva lets the frozen peas sit on her forehead for several seconds, before she reaches up and plops them back over on Harry's head. "Keep them. The cold just gives me more of a headache." She shrugs a little at the assertion, before ruthlessly adjusting the relative positions of Harry's arm and her head in order to find an angle that hurts less. "Well, that's good. I barely met you and kinda like you. You dying would be a problem." She grunts. "And the whole coming back thing isn't any walk in the park, either. First there's the whole dying part which is usually painful as hell, and THEN you have to deal with a walk through the spirit world or wherever ghosts hang out. And THEN you reincorporate your body and all your crap starts breaking from the stress." She pauses, then, and then adds quietly, "And then... there are things worse than death out there."
Harry Dresden	Harry snorts at that last of that, but goes quiet. "I know that worse than some, let me tell you. Just... we're already hung over, let's..." He sighs a bit, looking up at the dark cieling of the apartment, and counting the threadcount of the second hand shag throw run under his left arm. A chuckle. "And what, not enough fella in the Knighets for you to like, you gotta find some dumbass meathead what casts spells?" That's pronounced in the Monty Python manner.
Riva Banari	Riva snorts. "I barely have contact with most of the Templars. They send me out solo to go on operations. All I've seen are the trainers, the crazy occult librarian who has two rich women hanging off of him all day, my handler who would fit right in with the knights in the 'noble conviction' department, and the guards." She takes this opportunity to mock-punch Harry in the arm that she's borrowing. "'Some meathead what casts spells' is better than most. Besides, it's not like I'm thinking about marrying you or anything. You're just cool. And a wizard. Cool wizard. Wizards are cool, right?"
Harry Dresden	Harry snorts and chuckles and lets out an appropriate oof. "Hahah, sorry, just... Uh. There's a lady I work with who always gives me crap about all the ladies from the Union who turn up out here helping me out." Ah, Murphy. He adjusts his arm a bit to keep circulation going, and then sighs. "Besides, I've got my own bunch to worry about here. The White Council. Guess who they're in charge of."
Riva Banari	"Hope she's not jealous." Riva grunts. "I'm just a painter. Hah." The mention of the White Countil causes Riva to pause. "Lemme guess, ancient graybeard Gandalf-a-likes who think they know everything? I've got someone like that in my group too. She doesn't even know how to use a /cellphone/."
Harry Dresden	"Man they wish they could be as cool as Gandalf. Nah, but you're right. S'the ruling body of Wizards. Sort of a compulsary thing for us. Either join and follow the rules or get dead. Or sometimes both." That arm shifts again, and Harry sighs. "They like their Order the way they like everything else. Stuffy and stifled."
Riva Banari	"Well, that answers that. But you seem like the kind of guy who plays fast and loose with the rules." Riva says, grunting. finally, she forces herself to sit up again and get to her feet. "Okay, enough of that. I can't lie around moaning all day." It's clear she still hates her life, but it looks like she's moving, at least.
Harry Dresden	A sigh from Harry, as he appreciates the relief on his arm and the view from the floor for a moment more, before grumbling and sitting up himself. His head swims and he groans as he rubs at his temples. "Coffee should still be hot. I think... my house keepers put the pot on while we were out." He grumps, and attempts to get to his feet. A s-wait nope nope nope, right back to sitting.
Riva Banari	Riva sidles over towards that pot of coffee, and begins pouring out some more. "You want any?" She asks, before she hits the fridge, checking for milk and what its expiration date is. "Just gotta get moving. If you can keep get moving, you can collapse later."
Harry Dresden	Harry grumps. "Coffee please, there should be some clean cups in the sink-ish." He manages to wobble up to his feet, and snorts a bit. "A painter. Lemme guess. You were an art major before the Buzz Buzz chose you." There is half-and-half in the icebox, with a recentish expiration date. "So how did the Templars find you?"
Riva Banari	Riva duly acquires milk and makes a sugary coffee mess in one cup. Harry gets his black since he's not specifying. Riva hold out the mug to Harry. "Got it in one." She begins chugging her sugar coffee and she comes up for air to reply, "One night I was sleeping. Had a nightmare, and next thing I know I was leaking explodions and soul fire out of my mouth and eyes. Totally wrecked my apartment." She grunts. "It was a nice apartment. Either way, the Templar contact showed up a week later to give me contact information. That's it. I have no idea how they found me."
Harry Dresden	Harry grumbles, and sips at his black coffee. He's pacing a bit now. "Well, that makes a little sense, actually. If they're all... anything like the Council, they'll have ways to keep tabs on that crap. Hell, the Buzz might just tip them off, who knows. All I know is I was... well. Mom was a Wizard, and that's why the Council had their eyes on me."
Riva Banari	"Wizard mom, huh." Riva looks more animated now that she's gotten some coffee, and she sits down more proper-like. "Wizarding hereditary here? Did they drag you through some kind of crash course and tell you not to screw up? Or Else?"
Harry Dresden	Harry lets out a breath. "Dad died and I got put into foster care for a while, and... uh." He grumps and leans up agaisnt the wall. "And then the man they put me with for training once I started showing my abilities decided he wanted to turn me into a thrall. Me and the other girl that was with him." Siiiiiip.
Riva Banari	Riva hisses. "Oh man, that's bad candy. You look like you got out of it fine, though. What happened?" She leans in, clearly intent on the story. And her oversugared coffee. Sssssssip.
Harry Dresden	Harry lets out a breath. "You saw... Inga's episode last night. She saw most of it. He let loose an Outsider on me, I stopped it, and then I killed him. In self defense." Siiiiip. "And that made me a warlock in the eyes of the Council."
Riva Banari	"Inga saw it, huh. So she kind of saw the big thing that was your defining conflict?" Riva thinks. "So what's an Outsider, and what does it mean to be a warlock?"
Harry Dresden	"Outsider. Means what it sounds like. Something that is from Outside, like not supposed to be here in our existance. Real spooky shit. This one was He Who Walks Behind. The Slow Death." Harry grumbles. "I blew up a gas station to stop him." "Warlock means you broke the Laws of Magic. There's only one penalty for that." Siiiip. "Luckily one of the wizards on the council convinced everyone that self-defense wasn't cause to kill a wizard with potential, so I got put on Double Secret Wizard Probation. And here I am." A shrug.
Riva Banari	This explanation makes Riva squint. "So let me get this straight." Riva says. "This guy tried to turn you and the other girl who was training with you into super magic slaves, and when that didn't work out he sicced Shadow Cthulhu on you. You freak ou and blow up a gas station to get away from Shadow Cthulhu, maybe annoy it a bit but you take out Asshole McDouchepants in the process. And then they were going to execute /you/ for saving your own life?"
Harry Dresden	Another sip, and Harry squints at the Painter. "...Yep." More sipping.
Riva Banari	"Man." Riva says, shaking her head. "Old wizards are assholes. Don't get old." Riva sums it up.
Harry Dresden	Harry sighs. "They're not wrong under most circumstances. Magic around here is like the Force. You start doing too much terrible stuff and it eats at you. Rots you out. Makes it so much easier to do terrible stuff." The cup gets set down, and Harry takes a mouthful of asprin from a bottle on the counter. More coffee to wash that down. "So, most of the time... it's the decision they have to make."
Harry Dresden	He sighs. "Besides. Magic is the energy of life personified. It's... it's the will of man made manifest. Killing people with that is... it's /wrong/."
Riva Banari	"Meanwhile, I get magic powers and I /have/ to kill things with them." Riva grunts. "Ugh. Hope I don't turn into a Sith Lord because of this crap. That is the worst thing for your complexion." Riva seems to be bouncing back astonishingly fast for how much she drank. "But yeah, killing people is wrong. But you didn't have a choice... At least they settled for Double Secret Probation, which is probably Wizard Slang for 'we own your balls'."
Harry Dresden	"You're going to love the name for it, Miss Art Major." Harry grimaces. "It's the Doom of Damocles." A frown. "Also killing Things as opposed to People is not forbidden. Vampires and faeries and bump-in-the-nights are A-Ok."
Riva Banari	"Doom of Damocles? Seriously?" Riva replies. "That's so wizard." Riva's coming up with new slang all the time, looks like. "No chance that they Wizard court would find out that the guy was secretly a double Vampire, huh?"
Harry Dresden	"Noooope. He was a former Warden even. Wizard cop. No one really believed he was turning Black until the end of things." He grumbles. "Rot in hell, Justin." He drains off his coffee, and sighs, sliding over to lean his lanky self near to Riva. "WELL. Now you know the sordid history of Harry Dresden."
Riva Banari	Riva whistles at that. "Wow, Wizard cop, dead. And he was secretly evil but no one believed it." She shakes her head. "You just have the worst luck, Harry." She shrugs. "So what do you do now? How does a modern wizard make ends meet, since I doube the Graybeard Brigade are going to subsidize you with cash. Or maybe gold coins, I guess."
Harry Dresden	Harry grins. "You're looking at Chicago's only openly practicing Wizard. Harry Dresden, paranormal investigator." He shuffles around in a pocket, and pulls out a rumpled business card. HARRY DRESDEN --- WIZARD Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties or Other Entertainment Hmmm. "Look me up."
Riva Banari	Riva arches an eyebrow and then starts looking Harry up on her phone. Looks like she does this a lot. She stares for a minute. "Seriously, you're in the phone book? That's awesome." She laughs. "Man, no one probably takes you seriously, either. You've got it rough." She tilts her head. "So what are you going to do now? Anything on your mind, or breaking right now?"
Harry Dresden	The phone... is only getting one bar right now. It's awful slow in here, must be shitty reception. Harry steps away as she pulls it out, coughing... and the bars immediately go back to four. "Not really, no. There was a bunch of hubhub a while back for the Summer Solstice but that died down and now I'm sort of in a slow time. Next month when Nothing Happens I'll probably be busier."
Riva Banari	Riva squints. Normally this thing gets reception /everywhere/. Even in alternate spirit worlds. When Harry moves away, she suddenly understands. "Huh. You're one of those wizards that messes up tech, huh." She says without rancor, just putting her phone away after she's done messing with it. "When nothing happens? I get the feeling you don't mean nothing in the boring sense."
Harry Dresden	Harry shuffles into a pocket, and pulls out a crystal with a delicately braided wire around it. This he bends around the back of his ear, and speaks.
Harry Dresden	Harry grumps. "Guess not. The answer is that Nothing Happens on October 31st." A pointed look at Riva.
Riva Banari	Riva exhales. "Halloween. That's got to have bad news written all over it." She shudders. "And it's going to happen... /everywhere/."
Harry Dresden	A poke at Riva's shoulder. "Nope. Cause nothing ever happens on Halloween." Harry looks firm about that. "And that's how that stays, yes sir. Even if something might happen, It Doesn't."
Riva Banari	"Are you kidding? But what if..." This seems like the exact opposite of what Riva expaected.
Harry Dresden	Harry sighs. "Because we keep these things under wraps, really. People get scared, people get edgy, and then the Mortals are out with the pitchforks and otrches and heavy assault weapons and it gets very messy for everyone involved in the supernatural."
Riva Banari	"Well yeah... It's the same reason why we keep things the way they are in our world, but..." riva shakes her head. "Surely not /everyone/ cares."
Harry Dresden	Harry shrugs a bit. "Honestly, I really just prefer a nice quiet Halloween. No zombies. No ghosts. No nothing." He slumps. "Last year Psyber threw a party for the Union as thanks, that was nice."
Riva Banari	"Well, that'd be a nice change. I wonder if all Union parties are going to be like that one." She smirks. "That'll be great." Clearly, she's already looking forward to more shenanigans.