strangetrip | [EP] Progress (OTA, Corbie or Curnen)

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[EP] Progress (OTA, Corbie or Curnen)

It was almost December, but the day was still more than warm enough to spend outdoors. So two girls were out in the sunshine, one fair, one dark, aware and amused with each other’s efforts but not particularly paying attention to each other.

Curnen’s fingers were starting to remember what to do with a guitar, though they were still incapable of being fancy. Sitting on the lawn with Rob’s guitar in her lap, she played anything that came to mind. Her sixth fingers were a bit lost, but it did sound like music at least. It would be some time yet before she could really play again, though that didn’t bother her much. If it meant she was scraping herself back together, becoming a Tufa again, it didn’t matter. And besides, the singing was always the best part. She wasn’t sure why this song, since there was no wind and rain, but in many versions of this same song there were two girls colored rather like the two of them.

There were two sisters came walkin' down the stream
Oh the wind and rain
The one behind pushed the other one in
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain

Johnny gave the youngest a gay gold ring
Oh the wind and rain
Didn't give the oldest one anything
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain

Corbie meanwhile was busy setting things on fire again, but this was different fire. Or at least it was for her. She and Regina had been practicing creating fire and putting it out. She set a circle of protection around a small stone, using what she understood of Cabaline theory to keep the spell literally grounded. And then she proceeded to do her best to destroy the shit out of that rock by throwing fireballs at it. It gave her something to aim at, gave her more than one thing to practice at a time. She was getting better at aiming and her ward was holding.

She stopped only to take the ward down and set another one, larger this time, on her knees in the road with a piece of chalk.

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"Yes, ma'am," Corbie said again, her hands idly wringing in her lap.

Mary wasn't sure how to follow that up so she stood there awkwardly for a moment, searching for something more than 'that's nice' which wouldn't have sounded genuine.

"...What can you do?"

Corbie shrugged. "Not much as yet. But I know how to set wards, create fire and light, work in dreams, ward off nightmares, cleanse spaces... Most of what I know's still theory, though. There's a lot I haven't had a chance to try."

Most of that didn't actually sound too bad, but something caught her attention. "Work in dreams?" She did not like the idea of someone being able to get into her mind.

"A little," Corbie admitted. "My own, mostly. It ain't magic so much as... Being able to order and guard my own mind, I guess."

"So just your own dreams..." Mary could think of the usefulness of that, particularly against Djinn. "Your magic sounds very... defensive."

It did, when she thought of it. Corbie gave a gesture that was somewhere between a shrug and a nod. "Not all of it. I almost learned about ghosts and spirits and engines and labyrinths, but yeah. Before I was born, there were lots of wizards who did a lot of bad shit to people. My gran wanted me to hide completely, but it was so hard keeping my magic in. Felix, my teacher, wanted me to know how to keep myself safe."

"You might be the first person I've met who wields magic in a way that... doesn't seem to hurt people." Mary managed to say, though a little slowly. Might have been the nicest thing to say to a magic user.

Corbie raised her eyes for the first time. "I don't hurt people, ma'am." She'd never be able to look her gran in the face after she was called from this life if she did.

She had manners and she seemed so... nice. It was really hard for Mary to keep her wall up against this girl though she could hear her father's stern voice from deep within her warning her. Mary pushed some of her long blonde hair out of her way. "I'm sorry for... how I reacted earlier. My son mentioned there were people here who practiced magic and weren't a threat, but I guess I wasn't really prepared yet to meet them."

Corbie perked up at that. "Your son?" She knew about most recent arrivals, but she hadn't heard anything about reunions.

Mary gave a little nod. "Sam? Sam Winchester."

"Oh." Corbie blinked at that, because it didn't seem to make any sense. And then she looked again at this woman and considered Sam, and remembered how time did--or possibly didn't--work here and "Oh! That's gotta be weird."

For the first time Mary looked a bit sheepish and nodded. "Yes... yes it is. Before I came here he was only 6 months old."

And now Sam was a giant man-tree. Corbie's eyes went very big indeed at that. "Ohhhhh..."

And how was Sam taking this? How would she take something like this? If her own mother had appeared from that time of Corbie's own life, Corbie would be older than her.

"Yeah..." There was a slight nod and a bit of a sigh at the same time. "It's... really, really weird."

"I'm sorry," Corbie squirmed and hesitated, but she let herself say the words that were pressing to get out. "You must miss your babies."

When she found her voice to reply it was rather quiet. She hadn't admitted it out loud to anyone. "I do." She was dealing with a lot of mom guilt and trying to come to terms with missing so much of her boys' lives. What was Sam's first word, she wondered. When did he learn to walk?

"...But I get my time with him now, and that's something."

Corbie was not a mother herself, but one of the things that had made her a successful whore was her empathy. Blood was blood, but could a grown man with her son's name be anything other than a stranger? She was on her feet and stepping closer, wordlessly--and slowly, not wanting to alarm her after their initial misunderstanding--reaching to take the woman's hand.

Mary tensed a bit, but she was a bit lost in her thoughts now to even try to evade anything if she wanted so Corbie's hand met Mary's hand. It snapped Mary out of her thoughts an she re-focused on Corbie in front of her. Her lips pressed up in a smile that almost seemed to say thank you.

She gave the hand a gentle squeeze and nodded. "My name's Corbie," she said quietly. "Your boy's been kind to me."

Mary was happy to hear Sam was helping people. She already got the sense he had a lot of morality and she was proud of that even though she had no part in raising her son that way - a thought that continued to sting. "He's a good man. He helped me figure out this place." It wasn't lost on her how it should have happened the other way around.

"Me too," Corbie said. "He was the first person I met here." Sam hadn't exactly been a soothing presence, but he had broken the news as gently as his nature would allow him and that was a kindness she remembered.

He'd been right about Jane Eyre, too, even though she'd enjoyed it.

"He was my second." Mary actually attempted a bit of a joke with a slight smile. "Anyways I... should let you get back to - what was it you were doing?"

Corbie glanced back at her work. "Let's call it studying." She looked back at Mary. "Are you okay?"

[EP] Progress (OTA, Corbie or Curnen)

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