toblameforit | (no subject)

"Go wild." He leans against a table stacked with extra blocks of various woods and pieces of scrap metal, well out of the way. "Might wanna stand back a bit, though. Sometimes the magic kinda... bounces."

Tony is not worried about her setting anything on fire, though. There's enough space around the coat, and the room has an excellent sprinkler system.

Alyce nods and starts with little jabs of power. Nothing extreme. Her spells don't seem to touch the coat itself. They are absorbed and deflected with ease.

"Hmm."

She closes her eyes.

"Alara, patron of the lost, send me power, tempest tossed."

A vicious wind builds up in the vicinity of coat. It would rip anything in its path to pieces.

Anything except the coat. The wind skips over and around it, before it dissipates. The stand wobbles slightly, bit the coat doesn't.

There is a mild dust storm, or sawdust storm as the case may be, when the wind picks up the debris off the floor.

Tony looks impressed. Well, a little impressed. Jarvis quietly turns up the air filters.

Alyce is good at what she does. She's not the most powerful witch ever, but she's quiet and she's competent.

She is getting a little tired. That's why covens exist; it's easier for magic users to work together to amplify each other's magic. Otherwise, you burn out and use up what stores you have. Some can go longer and do more than Alyce can; some can't do as much.

"This is good. I mean, I'm not all that strong with magic, but it's standing up to a lot. Let me try one other thing, though."

She breathes in deeply to clear her mind. She and Alec used to make storms all the time. It's harder on her own, but she can still call down the lightning.

"Water, air, wind, and fire, come and make what I desire."

Dark clouds build into banks on the ceiling, and lightning sparks. There is even a rumble of thunder within the clouds.

Alyce twirls around, the joy and the thrill of working magic overtaking her. She raises her arms to her storm and cries, "Lightning strike my enemy!"

A bolt of lightning blasts from the cloud and strikes the coat. Or, at least, it appears to. There is bright glow and then the lightning explodes back, completely deflected, in ragged shards of magical energy.

Alyce shrieks and ducks to avoid being zapped. After a moment, she looks up.

"Um. Okay. Yeah. That- wow. Your coat works. At least for what I can throw at it."

She's breathing hard. Doing intense magic always makes you feel pumped up on adrenaline, but this is particularly exciting.

"...Goddamn," he says approvingly, coming out from under the table with a grin on his face. "Remind me not to piss you off. Yeah, I think we'll call that a success."

He does glance over at the far wall, but none of the ricochets got that far. His works in progress are safe.

Part of him hopes that somebody tries to chuck a lightning bolt at Sherry, but he has enough tact not to say that out loud. Besides, next time it might not be so... spectacular. The effect depends as much on where something hits as what it is.

And he's pleased to see that the coat isn't even scorched.

Damn right he better not piss her off. Oh, wait, that is the old vengeful coven witch thinking.

Alyce bites her lip.

"Tom Riddle can do worse. But I think... I think I'd be okay with someone I cared about wearing this around someone like Tom."

"Good, 'cause I'm giving it to Sherry the minute he wakes up."

He crosses to the middle of the room and picks up the coat. Underneath, the flimsy block of Styrofoam is pristine.

Who's the man? He's the man.

"Do you have to? I mean, it's not like we have to rush a confrontation or anything."

Tony does not know what Sherlock is facing. Why won't anyone in this house listen to her about the danger that's right in front of them.

(She bets Jarvis would listen. He seems sensible.)

"Yeah, tell that to Sherlock fucking Holmes." He rolls his eyes fondly. "I'd have to wrestle him to the ground and sit on him all day if I wanted to keep him here."

Note that he does not say 'chain him to the wall' or any variation thereof. This certainly isn't because they have discovered in their experiments that Sherlock is a bit of a Houdini, or anything.

A funny side effect from magic, in addition to that mad adrenaline rush, is a spike in libido. Magical energies are sensual, after all, and when teenagers use them - well, let's just say that Alyce has had some very interesting encounters after coven gatherings.

"I could think of some ways to distract him."

Oh. Did she say that out loud? In that tone of voice? Shit.

"With books," she adds quickly. Probably too quickly. "Plans. That sort of thing."

Change the subject, change the subject, change the subject.

"So has Sherlock always been like that? With the detective thing going on?"

Tony flashes a broad grin.

"Books. Sure." But, graciously, he goes with the change of subject. "Yeah, since—"

Crap.

"—well, since we were fourteen."

Tony is such a bad liar. Since when is three or four years 'always'?

Alyce may or may not keep close track, so it's all good.

"Oh, so you are the same age? I wondered, since he's behind you in school."

Tony might be a good source of Sherlock-related information. Sweet!

"I skipped a year. He didn't."

She nods. "That makes sense."

She thought as much, since Sherlock mentioned that academics was not his thing.

Anyway, why are they standing around down here chatting when they could be chatting in the kitchen where the coffee comes from? He makes for the stairs, carrying the coat.

"He still sleeping, Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir." Jarvis sounds slightly amused. "Any minute now, no doubt."

She follows along. Tony is hard to keep up with. She's glad she doesn't have to chase him around town or something.

"So, um, you're going to get some sleep soon, right? Since you were up all night?"

She doesn't mean to be a mother hen or anything. It's just good sense. Sherlock's her friend, and Tony's his brother, so by extension, his health and happiness is important!

"Pff, who needs sleep?"

"You have been awake for nearly twenty-four hours by now, sir." Now he sounds reproachful. "If you do not stop drinking coffee before noon I will ask Sherlock to tie you to your bed."

Tony grins. "Yeah, yeah."

"See? Jarvis is totally right. You should get some rest."

She knew Jarvis had good sense.

(...Why is the computer the one with sense in this household?)

"I know. If you're worried about Sherlock running off and doing something stupid while you're asleep, I could seriously keep him busy with research and planning before he runs off. We need to do that anyway, and then you could get a nap at least."

She pauses a moment. "He might have told you about my twin brother, Alec. I know how it is to worry. You know?"

Actually he didn't, in so many words, but that is one set of dots Tony has no trouble connecting.

"Yeah," he says softly, hefting the coat and glancing to one side. "I just... yeah."

A long sigh.

"Trust me, he's gonna want to go buzzing off looking for more information as soon as he's had breakfast. At least with this, he can do it without getting his ass blown off, y'know?"

"Oh, right, I know. It's stalling the inevitable."

She shrugs. "Look, it's nothing to me if you don't want to get any sleep. It was just an option. I don't want Sherlock leaving here, period, not yet. So I can't help wanting to try and stall him."

He rubs his face with his free hand.

"For all I know," he says optimistically, "you might be better at it than I am."

"I'm different, anyway. So I might be able to make it work."

She'll cry, if she needs to. She will probably not be faking it, either.

"And if not, at least he'll have your coat."

"Yeah," he repeats, brightening a little.

"Sherlock is awake now," says Jarvis. After a short pause, he adds: "He says he will be downstairs in a few minutes, that he is glad Alyce is feeling better, and that Tony is a bloody idiot who should not be allowed caffeine."

Alyce covers her mouth in a vain attempt to hide the giggle.

"Jarvis is a bit of a gossip, isn't he?" she whispers.

"He totally is," Tony agrees, flashing a grin.