[For Carlos, Dorian, and Molly] Take chances, make mistakes, get messy

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie really didn’t know what she thought about this.

She had been making a shift into more modern clothing over the period of months she’d been here, because really, it wasn’t like she had much of a choice. It was all that was on offer, and the gray dress she’d come through in could only be worn so often. The undergarments were the hardest part, really, because they were right next to her skin, and that took a long time to get used to.

This? Was a leap of a different kind.

She stared at herself in the mirror in a pair of jeans, trying to reconcile the sight with the sensation. She’d never worn pants before, and it felt… different. Not as bad as she’d though, but different. Her legs were still covered, so maybe Gran wouldn’t disown her. She’d have to hem them, they were a little long on her legs, but today rolling them would do. She’d already done this. If she took them off and saved them for “later,” it might be weeks before she was brave enough to try again. Best get it over with now.

Best get it over with now.

While she was at it, she may as well get some other things done. After all, worst that could happen was she’d be right where she started at the end of the day. And if she was awkwardly dealing with people, she wouldn’t be thinking about the fabric tubes on her legs.

Comments

For Carlos

[st_rikingblueeyes]

It was mid-morning when Corbie found her way to the kitchen. She’d been in and out of here many times of course, but her purpose on those occasions was food. Today, she had to talk to Carlos.

She’d figured for a long time now that he was magic but he, like Molly, avoided making direct eye contact which was how wizards identified each other in Corbie’s own world. When she’d revealed herself to Felix, she hadn’t used words, only opened herself to her power and looked him right in the eye.

But last week after she’d seen him just vanish in the middle of the snow day shenanigans, well. What other confirmation did she really need?

She’d never been shy of him before. They were both naturally playful sorts, banter was easy. But she’d never really… talked to him before. “Hey.”

Re: For Carlos

[st_illavirgin]

Avoiding direct eye contact was a self preservation tactic. Soul gazes were not fun, especially when you were completely unprepared for them. He knew that it threw people when he didn't make full eye contact.

"Hey Corbie," he called out when he saw her enter the kitchen. He wasn't busy, just trying to work out what the hell he could make with the latest batch of ingredients.

Re: For Carlos

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie hated being a bother when anybody was busy, and that probably decided her words more than anything else. Besides, she wasn't any good at herding people around the bush until they gracefully dovetailed into what she wanted. Felix could do that like a fucking champ, but she couldn't. She just ended up babbling like an idiot. "You're a wizard, aren't you?"

Re: For Carlos

[st_illavirgin]

Carlos wasn't all that busy, but he always appreciated people getting down to business quickly. Her question had him raising his eyebrows for a moment, then leaning against the counter looked at her. "Yeah, I am. Is that a problem?"

Re: For Carlos

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"No." Corbie lifted her chin just a fraction, a hint of stubbornness coming out under the humor. "Unless you don't wanna tell me how I saw you disappear, then I'd be real sad."

Re: For Carlos

[st_illavirgin]

Carlos frowned as he thought back to when he'd disappeared in public lately, then he had it. "The snow day?" He'd dropped out of sight to avoid snowballs, and to sneak up on Buffy. "I used what we call veils - hiding people, care, buildings..."

Re: For Carlos

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie's eyes went huge and she rose just a fraction on the balls of her feet. Not unlike the perking of an excited puppy. "You could hide a whole building?"

Re: For Carlos

[st_illavirgin]

He tried not to laugh, really. It was just difficult when faced with such enthusiasm. It just came out as a smile. "If you have to, yeah. Magic isn't exactly well known in my world. It's useful to be able to have gatherings in peace."

Re: For Carlos

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Now Corbie actually bounced, just once. "Could you teach me to do that? I mean, not a building or anything that big obviously but I'd love to learn veils."

For Dorian

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie did most of her practicing outside. It was… well, it wasn’t like any of them really loved the pink thing they all had to call home for now, but it was all they had and training herself without wrecking anything was part of how she helped take care of it.

Not everything she did made the most sense, so much as it was getting a fine control over her magic. She didn’t need to know how to change the color of objects, but after Kash had showed her that trick she’d played around until she finally found a way to do that herself. After Regina had introduced her to moving things with her magic, she practiced that, too, even though so far she hadn’t found many practical applications (her control wasn’t fine enough yet to fetch down objects that were too high up).

Which was the long way of explaining why it was Corbie had six different rocks that were six different colors floating around her. She was seeing if she could hold all of them still except one, but each time she moved one they all responded. Corbie pulled a face, considering her options.

Re: For Dorian

[st_affandskull]

Floating rocks in different colors honestly shouldn't have reminded Dorian as much of his own training as it did. His own training had more often involved getting into fights and getting kicked out of training, at least until Alexius had stepped in. After that... well, still no floating rocks in different colors.

"Not bad," he commented approvingly from what was hopefully a safe distance. "Very synchronous. You're holding them all in one field, yes?"

Re: For Dorian

[st_rikingblueeyes]

And this was why practicing outside was so important, because when Corbie messed up or lost her focus, there were potentially destructive or dangerous results. Deep in concentration as she was, the girl started at the sound of another voice. But she had been practicing enough that instead of flailing, physically or magically, her response had become to just drop everything.

The rocks all dropped at once, and Corbie winced at herself. She sighed, pushing her hands back through her curls, and finally looked up at Dorian with a sheepish smile. She didn't blush, though. It was really stupid, but she was shyly pleased with herself. "Well. I was."

Re: For Dorian

[st_affandskull]

"I do apologize." He didn't add that he hadn't meant to disturb her; if he hadn't meant to disturb her, he wouldn't have said anything at all. A slight gesture lifted the rocks again, one after another, and left them hovering in air. "I should thank you for not flinging any of these at my head, I think. Everyone around me, when I was young, would have been plus one concussion, displeased to be so, and quite probably retaliating. Your method is so much more likely to make friends."

Re: For Dorian

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"No, it's my fault..." Corbie's eyes went big as she trailed off and watched. "How young are we talking, though? 'Cause I'd like to think I'm too old for something that stupid." But then of course, men. Just men. The boys at school were immature both with and without their magic. She didn't have much desire to hurt anybody, even in fun.

Re: For Dorian

[st_affandskull]

"Four, perhaps five?" After that, if he'd hit someone with a rock, it had been intentional... though he'd found it useful to pretend otherwise, once or twice. "I was jumpy, what can I say?" Almost absently, he pulled the rocks into a tight ball, then released one to float back to the girl. "I've gotten rather a lot better since then, never fear."

Re: For Dorian

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie's jaw dropped. Where she had come from, no kid had magic anywhere near that young. Now she did blush. She knew her efforts were probably fairly childish, but... "My magic didn't come in 'til I was thirteen," she explained, absently taking that rock in hand. "And then I've only actually really been learning to use it... it's less than two years," she stumbled minutely over that word, trying consciously not to say 'indictions.'

Some wizards don't come into their power at all until they're eighteen or nineteen, you know... I can't imagine you're starting ruinously late. But she'd still lost all that time between thirteen and seventeen.

Re: For Dorian

[st_affandskull]

"That's not unusual," Dorian assured her. "My family has spent centuries in a very careful breeding campaign to produce exactly me. You are far more usual than I, and far less destructive than two years alone should provide. What other talents do you have? I don't meant to pry... which is to say I absolutely mean to pry, but you're free to tell me off."

For Molly

[st_rikingblueeyes]

The changing light alerted Corbie that she’d been out longer than she’d intended and, aware that the sun would be setting soon, she decided it might be time to head in. It did her good to at least try to keep busy, though. There were some points in her time here where the days passed by entirely unnoticed, and she was afraid of letting that become anything like normal.

She was not the only person heading back to the Inn, though, and she stopped and peered out to see who it was coming back from the desert.

“Where’ve you been?” she called out when she recognized Molly.

Re: For Molly

[st_eampunk]

Molly waved her greeting and walked over toward Corbie. "Hi, I was just out being a pain in the ass to the Inn." She grinned, "I throw magic at the barrier or edges or whatever people call it every day. One day, I'll find the weakness or make it." Either was okay with Molly.

Re: For Molly

[st_rikingblueeyes]

It really never even would have crossed Corbie's mind that a lone wizard could bust them out of here, but the impossibility that she found easier to wrap her head around was, "You go out that far alone?" Her eyes were huge.

Re: For Molly

[st_eampunk]

"Sure." Molly said easily, not sure why that would have caused Corbie's eyes to widen. "I used to take the trips with Harry, but with him gone." She shrugged, "but there's nothing out there that I can't....." Molly trailed off, "okay Scorpions. I hate Scorpions, but other than that, there's nothing out there that I can't handle."

She wasn't a fan of cactus either. Too many times she'd had to pick the spines out of her leg of side of her hand when she brushed by, but it was a hell of a lot better than some of the areas of Chicago.

Re: For Molly

[st_rikingblueeyes]

While Corbie wasn't spoiled or anything, she was definitely a city girl through and through and really she had no understanding of how to orient herself once out of sight of in the inn. So she'd never been out to the barrier. You could go a long way in four hours.

And when she saw Molly falter around the mention of Harry--something she understood more than she wanted to--she smiled, lopsided and self-deprecating. "Getting lost?"

Re: For Molly

[st_eampunk]

"You could, but the good thing about the barrier and the color of the hotel is one, you can certainly see the Inn from a distance and two, you can only go so far before you're forced to turn back around." Which was both a good thing and a bad thing when you were trying to find a weakness.

Re: For Molly

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie wasn't sure she believed that, but as it wasn't likely she was going to go find out ever, she let it be. "I wish I'd got to know Harry better," she admitted quietly. "He seemed nice."

Re: For Molly

[st_eampunk]

"Oh he could be a pain in the ass." Molly assured her, but the deep affection for him was clear in her voice. "But he was the best teacher I ever had."

Well only teacher except for his godmother, but that was beside the point. He was a really good teacher.