Daemon couldn't help the slow, triumphant smile that crept onto her face at her reaction. Even before she said, 'I have powers too,' he knew. Because a hiss and a scold was the kind of thing someone who understood would do, entirely absent the shock of 'you can do magic?!' he would have anticipated from a landen.
Casually, he ate another fry and did not look at all inclined to move, despite her question and the sudden regard of the other patrons. "So I take it that abilities beyond the physical are...uncommon?" His tone was low and conversational--and since she was so concerned, he tucked a psychic sound shield around their booth so their voices wouldn't carry. The 'size' of the room that he could hear shrunk, most incidental noise cutting audibly out. It would be better to move, but he had his questions first.
"I don't think I'm like you," he told her gently. "Your mind doesn't feel like those of my kind."
He paused.
"But then you don't feel like those around us, either."
"No abilities are common here. People are just... people." She was trying to relax but it felt like all of her nerves were humming with energy that she had no outlet for. She was tense and she was struggling to keep her thoughts in control. Airy didn't want another accident. Not here. She really liked this place and the owner had been so kind to her.
If he won't go then maybe she should. It would be safer for all of them if she wasn't anywhere near anyone.
"I'm not. I-" Airy's lips parted and her face flushed with embarrassment. "I don't know what I am. But I can't always control it so... I have to go. I don't want to accidentally hurt someone again. I'm so sorry. I really want to help but I can't. I'm- you'll just get hurt too."
She rose to her feet and once again slid her backpack over her shoulders. None of this was normal. It had to all be a bad dream or something. If she ran it'd be okay but there was nowhere to run that would let her outrun herself.
The lights flickered over head and Airy felt the tension in her shoulders redouble.
You arrogant... Daemon berated himself. He didn't know anything about this realm, about this young woman, and he'd just assumed that she'd been concerned about being overheard and making a spectacle. Not that she needed to get out of there because of an impending, well, it felt like a witchstorm.
He followed her to his feet much more slowly, rising with fluid grace and trying to keep all the urgency he now felt out of his movements. It wouldn't do to draw any more attention to them than she did with hopping to her feet.
"Allow me to walk you out, then?" Because getting her out of here was starting to look like a very excellent idea. The flicker of the lights was alarming enough, and if whatever was about to happen was anything like a witchstorm in truth, emotional releases of psychic energy that manifested with violence, they needed to be away from bystanders. Not that he counted himself. "You can't hurt me."
Bold words for knowing shit-all.
He amends, "And if you do, it'll be my own fault."
It wasn't a storm that was about to take the bar but a manifestation of Airy's fears. It happened whenever she felt nervous or scared and she'd been fighting back her panic for too long. She couldn't hold it back anymore. She didn't have the practice or strength.
Her lips tilted into an awkward smile. "Sure but that's it. I know you don't mind but I do. If I hurt you..." Her voice trialed off. "It will be my fault. Nothing you can say won't stop me from feeling that."
She turned and headed towards the door with Daemon following behind her. Once outside she took a deep breath of cool air and continued a little ways from the bar. Their exit hadn't been smooth or unannounced but it didn't look like anyone was going to follow them or bother them. A black alleyway appeared at her side and Airy jumped when she heard a growl within the shadows.
"Ah!"
It was only a noise, there was nothing there, but Daemon might feel the subtle tension in the air as magic poured from Airy into her surroundings.
Daemon followed, jacket over his arm, trying to project concern and goodwill that would discourage interference. He couldn't afford a confrontation with the squishy locals. He caught up with Airy just as the growl sounded from the alleyway.
More instinct than anything conscious, he probed the alley with a thought and found...nothing. Something? But even if it were nothing, that "nothing" had threatened, and he tried to step between her and the dark.
His hand came up and a Red shield popped into existence between them and the alley, a smooth and translucent curve of power, to protect them from anything physical or psychic that tried to leap out at them.
Airy pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to steady her breaths. Her heart began to slow and her thoughts calmed enough for her to focus on the man standing in front of her. This was either going to turn into the narration of a bad teen novel or a news story of when her body was found in pieces or... something else.
It was hard to think straight.
"It's fine. It's gone. I'm okay." She opened her eyes and watched that red translucent power. "That's cool."
"It's a basic shield," he said, wary. "Not quite Basic Craft, but simple enough."
Daemon considered her 'It's gone' and the absolute zilch in the alleyway. On edge, he took longer than he would if he knew what it had been in the first place, but he did drop his shield. Once more he was just another guy in a suit on a not-so-busy street.
"It's gone," he repeated, just shy of a question. "Do you know what it was?"
Airy inspected the shield curiously but her focus was too divided to see more than the translucent shimmer of energy. Then it was gone. It felt as if the air had been pulled from her lungs. She wanted to gasp for air but forced herself to breath normally.
"Yes. It was-" She looked behind her and frowned. "You know how, when you're little, and you're afraid of the dark. They tell you that there isn't anything there. I- my nightmares are real. Not for long or forever but something about me." She didn't know what it was, only that she had absolutely no control over it.
"It was just a shadow in the dark." She smiled up at him, her blue eyes glimmering apologetically. "A child's nightmare. I'm sorry. I really didn't want to bother anyone with this. I was told that there were... people, who helped those who were different. Here. Somewhere in the city. It's not exactly normal. That is, people don't believe in magic. Not for real anyway."
Daemon felt very stupid for a long minute, because all he really wanted to do was repeat her words as if they'd make more sense the second time he heard them aloud. The closest analogy he had were witchstorms, where the emotion of a witch drove a physical phenomena. This was more like...the waking dream of a tangled web without the very necessary tangled web. As...wary as he was around those of Airy's gender, the prickle of a need to protect the combination of power and vulnerability caught him in the chest.
"I did not mean to scare you," he said, tucking his hands in his pockets and giving her as mild of a smile as he could manage. "I apologize." Then his smile widened, just a touch, and his gold eyes sparked with mischief, "Though I don't believe in magic, either."
"You didn't scare me. Not... exactly." She laced her fingers together, too nervous to remain still for very long. "I'm scared of me. Of what I might do. I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't want to hurt you either." They had only just met but Daemon had been so nice to her and he had no reason to be.
Airy didn't feel like she deserved his kindness.
"You don't? What do you believe in?"
If what she was doing wasn't magic then what was it?
Daemon's mouth twisted at her words, though he did not respond to those particular ones. She was afraid she'd hurt him? Well, 'hurt' was relative, after all, and the kind of hurt he'd been subjected to ceased to matter more than as tally marks of an ever-increasing debt he would one day call to be repaid.
Returning to smiling, however, and not trying to hide it at all, he said, "Craft. I believe in Craft."
Opening his palm, he summoned a small ball of witchlight in the center, burning a merry ruby-red.
"Craft?" Airy had never known what to call her abilities or those like her. She only knew what media and books told her and that wasn't particularly helpful when your entire world has been turned on its head. "Is that what this is?"
She paused when he summoned the ball of witchlight, her blue eyes widening at the sight. "It's beautiful."
Airy met his gaze and hoped that he was as kind as he seemed. "What's the difference? Can you tell me? I don't know... what any of this is. I'm not supposed to have powers. I'm supposed to be normal." That was all she had ever wanted.
"That's what mine is called. My power is a gift of the Darkness, and the use of it is called Craft. I wouldn't call it magic because there's nothing magic about it. If my skill and knowledge are both great enough, I can do again what I have done before."
Meeting her eyes, the corners crinkle briefly with warmth before he breaks the connection and scrapes said gaze from her head to her toes. He then shakes his head briefly. "I don't think that...however you do what you do is quite the same. Yours might be magic in truth and I would have no way of knowing."
After a pause, though, his brow furrows and he questions her words. "Were you originally lan--without powers? Did you acquire them somehow?"
Oh. That sounded a lot more complicated than what Airy had been imagining. She had hoped that it was like a book where everything fell into place and it was somehow explained to her... but life wasn't like books.
"I don't know. I don't think so. I think I did things when I was little but I always thought it was my imagination. Then I seemed okay for awhile. Now... now I can do things." Airy didn't realize that her powers affected her most of all. For most of her life, her desire to be normal had suppressed her abilities until her creation magic grew too powerful.
"Ah," Daemon says. He then tucks his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels. He studies her from beneath his lashes. "You know?" His lips quirk. "I don't think you need to know anything. I'm just someone you met in a bar. But--I do think we can help each other."
With his chin, he gestures down the sidewalk, away from the alley. "How about we find somewhere that we can chat. It doesn't have to be private. I can make anywhere private. But maybe somewhere that's not the middle of where people are walking?"
"Help each other?" She thought about that but her thoughts couldn't dive too deeply before he called attention to their surroundings. Standing on the street wasn't normal and... well... she didn't trust him but if they were going to talk it'd be better if they were somewhere comfortable, or that she was comfortable.
"Yeah. Sorry. Let's go this way. I am staying at a hostel like place. It's just a bunk in a room with a lot of bunks but they have some smaller rooms and places we can talk there." It wasn't private but it was more private than this and Airy could at least sit down without worrying about where she was sitting.
"If you're willing," Daemon agreed easily, though his gold eyes turn a little more wary.
He was surprised at himself. He'd been the one to suggest that they find somewhere more suitable to talk, yes, but he hadn't thought he'd react to her choice of the hostel with...caution. Let's call it caution. Until this point he'd been confident enough. He'd overpowered Blood far more overtly powerful than she—but perhaps the description of overtly was part of his concern? She had a kind of magic he didn't understand, and he had not survived this long by being careless, not when the kind of privacy they were about to find had sometimes been more dangerous for him than he'd care to admit.
"That sounds good," he says anyway. "Lead the way?"
She nodded her head and turned to lead the way. After a few steps she stopped and made sure that he was walking at her side before continuing further. She tried to find a pace that suited them both though the occasional crowds made it difficult to stay next to him. "Er. One more block." It was a pretty heavily traveled street but they found the small hostel and ducked inside.
The front room was a common area with a fire place that kept it warm. Airy waved at the man behind the counter and stepped forward to talk to him. "Hey Mike. Are any of the private rooms open? I ran into a friend and I wanted to catch up." He looked around the counter and pointed to one of the opened doors.
"Thanks." She flashed him a smile and the older man blushed before busying himself behind the counter.
Airy turned towards Daemon and kept smiling. "We're in luck. One of the rooms is free. So we can chat there. It'll still be loud and people might pop in but it's private-ish."
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2019-05-20 06:19 pm (UTC)Casually, he ate another fry and did not look at all inclined to move, despite her question and the sudden regard of the other patrons. "So I take it that abilities beyond the physical are...uncommon?" His tone was low and conversational--and since she was so concerned, he tucked a psychic sound shield around their booth so their voices wouldn't carry. The 'size' of the room that he could hear shrunk, most incidental noise cutting audibly out. It would be better to move, but he had his questions first.
"I don't think I'm like you," he told her gently. "Your mind doesn't feel like those of my kind."
He paused.
"But then you don't feel like those around us, either."
no subject
Date: 2019-05-27 03:13 am (UTC)If he won't go then maybe she should. It would be safer for all of them if she wasn't anywhere near anyone.
"I'm not. I-" Airy's lips parted and her face flushed with embarrassment. "I don't know what I am. But I can't always control it so... I have to go. I don't want to accidentally hurt someone again. I'm so sorry. I really want to help but I can't. I'm- you'll just get hurt too."
She rose to her feet and once again slid her backpack over her shoulders. None of this was normal. It had to all be a bad dream or something. If she ran it'd be okay but there was nowhere to run that would let her outrun herself.
The lights flickered over head and Airy felt the tension in her shoulders redouble.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-28 07:28 pm (UTC)He followed her to his feet much more slowly, rising with fluid grace and trying to keep all the urgency he now felt out of his movements. It wouldn't do to draw any more attention to them than she did with hopping to her feet.
"Allow me to walk you out, then?" Because getting her out of here was starting to look like a very excellent idea. The flicker of the lights was alarming enough, and if whatever was about to happen was anything like a witchstorm in truth, emotional releases of psychic energy that manifested with violence, they needed to be away from bystanders. Not that he counted himself. "You can't hurt me."
Bold words for knowing shit-all.
He amends, "And if you do, it'll be my own fault."
no subject
Date: 2019-05-29 01:56 pm (UTC)Her lips tilted into an awkward smile. "Sure but that's it. I know you don't mind but I do. If I hurt you..." Her voice trialed off. "It will be my fault. Nothing you can say won't stop me from feeling that."
She turned and headed towards the door with Daemon following behind her. Once outside she took a deep breath of cool air and continued a little ways from the bar. Their exit hadn't been smooth or unannounced but it didn't look like anyone was going to follow them or bother them. A black alleyway appeared at her side and Airy jumped when she heard a growl within the shadows.
"Ah!"
It was only a noise, there was nothing there, but Daemon might feel the subtle tension in the air as magic poured from Airy into her surroundings.
\o/!
Date: 2019-10-04 06:31 pm (UTC)More instinct than anything conscious, he probed the alley with a thought and found...nothing. Something? But even if it were nothing, that "nothing" had threatened, and he tried to step between her and the dark.
His hand came up and a Red shield popped into existence between them and the alley, a smooth and translucent curve of power, to protect them from anything physical or psychic that tried to leap out at them.
<3
Date: 2019-10-19 07:19 pm (UTC)It was hard to think straight.
"It's fine. It's gone. I'm okay." She opened her eyes and watched that red translucent power. "That's cool."
She hadn't seen a power like that before.
:lays on floor: I'm very slow. You are a gem.
Date: 2019-11-27 10:32 pm (UTC)Daemon considered her 'It's gone' and the absolute zilch in the alleyway. On edge, he took longer than he would if he knew what it had been in the first place, but he did drop his shield. Once more he was just another guy in a suit on a not-so-busy street.
"It's gone," he repeated, just shy of a question. "Do you know what it was?"
<3 I am also slow
Date: 2019-12-03 01:55 am (UTC)"Yes. It was-" She looked behind her and frowned. "You know how, when you're little, and you're afraid of the dark. They tell you that there isn't anything there. I- my nightmares are real. Not for long or forever but something about me." She didn't know what it was, only that she had absolutely no control over it.
"It was just a shadow in the dark." She smiled up at him, her blue eyes glimmering apologetically. "A child's nightmare. I'm sorry. I really didn't want to bother anyone with this. I was told that there were... people, who helped those who were different. Here. Somewhere in the city. It's not exactly normal. That is, people don't believe in magic. Not for real anyway."
:D
Date: 2019-12-03 06:54 pm (UTC)"I did not mean to scare you," he said, tucking his hands in his pockets and giving her as mild of a smile as he could manage. "I apologize." Then his smile widened, just a touch, and his gold eyes sparked with mischief, "Though I don't believe in magic, either."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-17 02:55 am (UTC)Airy didn't feel like she deserved his kindness.
"You don't? What do you believe in?"
If what she was doing wasn't magic then what was it?
no subject
Date: 2020-02-09 09:23 pm (UTC)Returning to smiling, however, and not trying to hide it at all, he said, "Craft. I believe in Craft."
Opening his palm, he summoned a small ball of witchlight in the center, burning a merry ruby-red.
"Very different from magic."
no subject
Date: 2020-02-12 01:25 am (UTC)She paused when he summoned the ball of witchlight, her blue eyes widening at the sight. "It's beautiful."
Airy met his gaze and hoped that he was as kind as he seemed. "What's the difference? Can you tell me? I don't know... what any of this is. I'm not supposed to have powers. I'm supposed to be normal." That was all she had ever wanted.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-19 09:11 pm (UTC)Meeting her eyes, the corners crinkle briefly with warmth before he breaks the connection and scrapes said gaze from her head to her toes. He then shakes his head briefly. "I don't think that...however you do what you do is quite the same. Yours might be magic in truth and I would have no way of knowing."
After a pause, though, his brow furrows and he questions her words. "Were you originally lan--without powers? Did you acquire them somehow?"
no subject
Date: 2020-02-21 03:57 am (UTC)"I don't know. I don't think so. I think I did things when I was little but I always thought it was my imagination. Then I seemed okay for awhile. Now... now I can do things." Airy didn't realize that her powers affected her most of all. For most of her life, her desire to be normal had suppressed her abilities until her creation magic grew too powerful.
"I'm sorry. I don't know anything."
no subject
Date: 2020-02-22 03:57 am (UTC)With his chin, he gestures down the sidewalk, away from the alley. "How about we find somewhere that we can chat. It doesn't have to be private. I can make anywhere private. But maybe somewhere that's not the middle of where people are walking?"
no subject
Date: 2020-02-26 06:28 pm (UTC)"Yeah. Sorry. Let's go this way. I am staying at a hostel like place. It's just a bunk in a room with a lot of bunks but they have some smaller rooms and places we can talk there." It wasn't private but it was more private than this and Airy could at least sit down without worrying about where she was sitting.
Cities were gross like that.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-02 08:28 pm (UTC)He was surprised at himself. He'd been the one to suggest that they find somewhere more suitable to talk, yes, but he hadn't thought he'd react to her choice of the hostel with...caution. Let's call it caution. Until this point he'd been confident enough. He'd overpowered Blood far more overtly powerful than she—but perhaps the description of overtly was part of his concern? She had a kind of magic he didn't understand, and he had not survived this long by being careless, not when the kind of privacy they were about to find had sometimes been more dangerous for him than he'd care to admit.
"That sounds good," he says anyway. "Lead the way?"
no subject
Date: 2020-03-03 05:56 pm (UTC)She nodded her head and turned to lead the way. After a few steps she stopped and made sure that he was walking at her side before continuing further. She tried to find a pace that suited them both though the occasional crowds made it difficult to stay next to him. "Er. One more block." It was a pretty heavily traveled street but they found the small hostel and ducked inside.
The front room was a common area with a fire place that kept it warm. Airy waved at the man behind the counter and stepped forward to talk to him. "Hey Mike. Are any of the private rooms open? I ran into a friend and I wanted to catch up." He looked around the counter and pointed to one of the opened doors.
"Thanks." She flashed him a smile and the older man blushed before busying himself behind the counter.
Airy turned towards Daemon and kept smiling. "We're in luck. One of the rooms is free. So we can chat there. It'll still be loud and people might pop in but it's private-ish."