fandomhighdorms | Magic/Support Reserves Meeting, Main Campfire, Wednesday After Classes

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Magic/Support Reserves Meeting, Main Campfire, Wednesday After Classes

In theory, Tara knew everyone who came to a Reserves meeting was her friend. That theory wasn't helping her case of the jitters about leading the meeting as much as she'd like. She couldn't look at the group as a whole, or at Kennedy, or at Karla, Raven and Emmett; she was sure she'd completely lose the ability to speak if she did. She settled for glancing between her notecards and a neutral point on the ground a few feet from the altar she stood beside as she spoke, talking slowly and softly so as to minimize the chance she would stutter.

"Hi," she said. "My demonstration today is mostly for the magic reserves side, so, uh ... support people, if you want some extra chips or something, we have plenty? I'll be done in a minute."

She brushed her hair out of her face, pausing for a moment before continuing. "What we're talking about today is hiding magic. Th-there are plenty of times when you might need to do that, even if you're from a world where everybody uses magic. Say you have a parent or roommate who doesn't like that you're a witch. Or you're in danger and you don't want the people you're working against to know everything you're doing. Or even if you just need to clean up your workspace really fast.

She attempted a smile. "I'd like to hear ideas from the rest of you about what you might do in one of those situations, but first I'm going to show you a spell I've been working on. It's makes all enchanted implements and magical supplies invisible. It, um, was meant to make it so people couldn't see demons. I changed it up a little, 'cause you kinda want to see demons if they're around." She felt like she was babbling, and idly wondered if, as a witch, she'd count as a 'magical supply' for purposes of the spell. Some part of her felt it would be nice if she did.

She shoved that wish to the back of her mind as she poured a little reddish powder from a vial into her palm. "I'm invoking a goddess. The spell s-sounds sort of spooky, but ... a whole bunch of them do. If this works, the book, crystal and herbs on my altar will disappear."

She closed her eyes for a second to focus, then raised her voice again. "Blind Cadria, desolate queen, work my will upon them all. Your curse upon these tools, my obeisance to you." She blew the powder over the altar.

It would be hard to say if she opened her eyes again, since, an instant after she'd performed the rite, Tara seemingly vanished into thin air. Her voice came from above the altar. "That's it," she said, sounding disappointed the book, crystal and herbs were still in place. "... guys?"

[OOC: Up early to maximize time for invisibility! Subthread for post-spell support and recovery here. Edit: Invisible people are free to move around the island, and will return to visibility when the spell breaks no matter where they are.]

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... Well. That was... different.

//I don't suppose I could stay this way, perhaps?//

Sure, it could be inconvenient after a while, but at the moment, Jono had decided that it was sort of nice to just exist without being there for people to see.

"No sneaking into the girls' bathroom," teased a voice nearby.

Well, at least it was a familiar voice.

//Oh, please, luv. I've got better things to do than watch my cabinmates doin' their business.//

Really, now. Jono was an ass, but at least he was a somewhat respectable one, right?

"Even in the shower?" Rinoa asked innocently. "I thought guys went for that. All soapy and wet ... nothing?"

It wasn't as though he could be seen, but Jono was totally squinting in what he figured was Rinoa's general direction.

//If I want to see that, I'll ask my girlfriend,// he decided, perhaps quite diplomatically.

"Awwww," Rinoa said. Because, in her mind, that was romantic, yes. "Don't worry, I wasn't offering. I have a boyfriend, myself."

Honesty made her add, "... more or less."

Slightly less than more, but who was counting?

Edited 2010-05-26 22:19 (UTC)

//I like that 'more or less' part,// Jono confessed, placing his hands on his hips. //Does he know he's yer boyfriend, gel?//

"He knows he's supposed to be," Rinoa laughed, with no trace of shame whatsoever. "He's just being stubborn about it."

Theirs was a love filled with mutual stalking and denial. So healthy!

Far more healthy than Jonothon and Paige would have ever been!

//Well, at least he knows how it's supposed to be, hm?// Jono groped about behind himself for a place to sit down. And hopefully nobody was already there. //Half th'battle, is it?//

"At least half," she nodded. "I'm working on it. He'll come around, sooner or later."

She could outwait him. She was sure of it.

"You can't stay invisible. Not if you have a girlfriend. She'd miss staring at you. And she'd look ridiculous slow-dancing by herself."

//I think she's not really th'sort to worry too much about what other people think of her,// Jono mused. //And I'm not really the sort who enjoys being stared at, anyhow.//

Not even slightly.

"You'd rather hide?" she asked. "It has to get lonely, hanging back in the corners."

Not that she could see, but Jono gave a small shrug at that, eyeing the ground through his feet.

//Not half as lonely as it can get, stepping right into th'fray.//

"Because people suck, and there's no use trying?" He couldn't see the eyeroll, but he could certainly hear it, in her voice. "If you hang back in the shadows, you can just tell yourself they would have rejected you anyway. Everyone leaves eventually, so why bother? But then you miss awesome things like your girlfriend."

Who was, presumably, awesome, or else she'd be his ex.

//Didi's got a bit of a talent for talkin' to the people who think they don't want to talk, who need it the most,// Jono replied. //And besides, where I'm from, hanging back and being unnoticed is safest. I'm not exactly a fighter. I don't know that I really want t'be.//

There was a difference between being a fighter and being able to blow up an entire dormitory with zero effort, really.

"Just because it's safest doesn't mean it's best," she countered firmly. "Safest would be never getting out of bed again so you don't get hit by a car. Safest would be just letting them shoot you into space, just in case."

Not that she wasn't still considering that.

Edited 2010-05-27 23:47 (UTC)

//They exterminate people like me, luv. Pack us away and send us to internment camps. Maybe if we're lucky enough to be able to do something useful with our powers, they'll brainwash us and make us do their dirty work for them.//

'Lucky' was a very relative term, there.

//And I don't exactly fit in, even among other ones like me. I'll be civil to th'people who are civil to me. The rest can bite my transparent leather-clad arse, thank yer.//

Edited 2010-05-28 00:00 (UTC)

There was a long silence from her end.

"That's some arrogance you have," she said finally. "To think you're the only one here who's different, or who could possibly be hated for what you are."

//There's a difference,// Jono replied at length, //between thinkin' I'm the only one, and not throwing myself headfirst into situations that could get me killed for th'sake of being a social butterfly.//

There was a pause before he spoke again.

//If I were the only one, then this would be a very quiet weekly meeting.//

Another silence.

"If you think wanting to be visible means being a social butterfly, than you're even worse with people than Squall is," she said. "You can do something about it, or you can sit and feel sorry for yourself."

//Tried doin' something about it, luv. Didn't work out so well.//

He shrugged, watching his invisible toe idly trace lines in the dirt underfoot.

//Yer talkin' about me steppin' in and talking to people. I... I can't. I'd love to, but I can't. This is about my limit, bein' here and doing this.//

He was lucky he was invisible; it was saving him the embarrassment of being hugged.

"Really," she said softly, "I'm just saying that I hope you don't stay invisible, even if you do."

The embarrassment, Jono could handle. It was the inevitable panic attack that tended to come hand-in-hand with unexpected proximity to almost complete strangers that worried him.

//I'd say that wasn't a very bloody nice thing to say,// he said after another moment's silence, //only I know yer don't mean it like that.//

"I mean that I'd miss you, that's all," she huffed with mock-irritation. "You should learn to take a compliment."

Or at least accept being teased a lot, as that went with the territory of being near Rinoa.

Edited 2010-05-28 00:55 (UTC)

//You barely know me,// Jono pointed out, thus demonstrating his complete inability to take a compliment at face-value. //I can't imagine you missin' me all that much, gel. Anyhow, it isn't as though I wouldn't be here. I'm here right now, aren't I? Miss me yet?//

Re: Demonstration: Invisibility

angelo_wings - 2010-05-28 01:22 (UTC) - Expand

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