strangetrip | Training day [ota]

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Training day [ota]

Ever since his trip to Europe Carlos had been antsy. Europe had been too good, though the frustration at not being able to get home and check on things was strong. He had growing links here, but he needed to do more than just wile away the time here.

He took to the gym, trying to burn off any excess energy he had. Normally he would focus on free weights, but today he wanted to spar. He had picked up a quarterstaff, and was running through some motions with it - he always had his staff close by, so it made sense to improve his fighting style with it. Occasionally he would appear to be colored green as he worked on mixing his shield in with it, so that he could throw his opponents off with surprise. A definite bonus.

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It would be hard to miss Zahra. Being 30 weeks pregnant with twins meant that she took up a lot of space wherever she was somewhere and it also meant moving around got more taxing as the days passed. According to everyone, the babies' heads were up and they needed to be down and so, Zahra had been instructed to move around as much as possible and swim and do something called cow and cat - poses, she was shown.

Currently she was walking, but the caught sight of the green through the window of the gym door and found herself moving inside the gym. She, too, had her staff - an iron staff featuring four dragons carved at the end holding a moonstone planet in their mouths. Normally she fought with it. Lately, it was just helping her get around.

She watched for another moment. "Impressive."

It was indeed hard to miss Zahra. Carlos had seen her around the Inn, but he hadn't had cause to talk to her before now. He wasn't sure why - they were all stuck in the same way, and should get to know each other, but he found it very easy to get caught up in things. Something he was remedying.

The staff caught his eye, and he gave an appreciative look. "Thanks, I think," he said with a grin, then nodded at the staff. "That's impressive too."

"Thanks." She grinned back, her fangs hinting a little beyond her lips. "I made it myself, actually. Wish I could join you in the ring there, but I'm afraid Kash might come and lecture both of us to death."

"Yeah, I can see that it might be a bit difficult to fight at the moment," he agreed, moving a step closer to her. "I'm impressed at the work. I made this too, but it's a little more... basic." Though putting a touch of magic made the runes carved in it light up green, something he could easily show her.

To be fair he was seventeen when he made his staff - just before heading out to fight vampires for the first time.

"You know magic too, then." She was quite fond of him already. That he made his own staff was impressive - not a lot of people did. "The gem in mine helps to focus my magic and encourages it to grow stronger." As did her patron. "Green - is this a colour choice, or one that is different dependent on the user?"

"I do," he nodded soberly. "I'm a combat wizard in my world. My staff acts as a focus for me in general."

He looked at the green runes. "I use entropy in my magic a lot, as well as water magic. It just seems to naturally be green. Fire magic for instance is as you would expect, red. Most wizards have a particular affinity.

"Ah, you're a wizard." They had wizards in her world as well. "I'm a warlock. Though I've come to learn that might mean something negative in some worlds, so I assure you I mean you no harm." She probably sounded more amused than actually worried. She was aware of how she looked, after all.

"Yeah, warlock doesn't have good connotations in my world," Carlos admitted. But she wasn't in his world, so he ignored it. Besides, who decided what was a warlock? What is in a name? "But since we are not in my world, it's nice to meet you."

"As with you as well." He seemed pleasant, really. "It's strange how many worlds seem to hold warlocks in such dubious regards. Then again, my horns and tail often do the same, even where I'm from." Her lips quirked into a wry sardonic smile.

"Yeah, for us, warlocks are wizards that have gone back, and will turn to dark magic." Which, technically Molly was, but a far as he was concerned, the jury was still out, most likely fallen on the side of 'not guilty'. "The horn and tail would probably be a problem in my world as well. But here... well, who am I to judge."

His run in with Bo proved that.

"What people don't realize is all the fun one can have with a tail." Zahra winked. Well, Kash knew now, of course. And Lillith. "But I'm interested in your world. You have wizards and warlocks and yet, you look, as they say, modern, so I'm going to assume you're from Earth, correct?"

Carlos couldn't help his curiosity, and studied her for a moment... especially the tail. "I can only imagine," he said with a smirk. "Yes, I'm from Earth, from a place called Los Angeles in the United States. we have wizards and warlocks, but most normal people don't know anything about our world." And he'd like to keep it that way. Most people were definitely not ready to find out that magic was real.

Everyone was familiar with magic to some degree back home, but Zahra still understood. "People can be stupid when they get scared over things they don't understand." Perhaps that was true about just about everyone, really.

"That's true," he agreed. He might not agree with keeping magic from humans, it was becoming harder and harder to hide as the world became more crowded, but they were in the situation they were in, and there would be no easy way to change it and be accepted. "Most normal people seem to take stupidity to extremes at times." They would be the dangerous ones.

Zahra laughed. Oh, she liked him a lot. "I gather you have some stories to share about that, then. Has anyone seen you for what you are in your world?"

"Well there are some groups that we do work with, minor practioners, but we try to keep out of the way of normal people most of the time. It's amazing what we have managed to hide in plain site though. People can ignore a lot if they don't want to know."

"It is why there is poverty in all worlds I've come to learn about." People were also good on focusing on the easier things in life rather than the harder ones.

Her babies began to move in her belly and Zahra braced a hand over it. Suddenly she felt a pang of hunger - it was still incredible to her to feel suddenly hungry without little warning.

"I'm being summoned to the kitchen, it seems." She smiled wryly. "When I'm a little less with child, I would love to have a round with you and your staff."

Carlos gave her a sympathetic look. "Is there anything in particular you want? I'm the restaurant manager here so I'm happy to make you something if you want. When are you due?"

"Sometime in September, I'm told. But then they also tell me since I'm carrying twins it could be any time now." So the answer was - who knew? "You cook as well? It would be a lie if I said I didn't miss a few tastes from home, but lately I've been eating pretty much anything to do with strawberries." She thought maybe her children were trying to tell her something.

He got that. He had a large family, who were all producing a lot of cousins, he's pretty much seen it all - and more to the point knew how to feed heavily pregnant women. "I have a couple of ideas," he said, grabbing his towel, and tilting his head to the door. "And we have lots of strawberries. Want to see what we can make?"

Her interest piqued at that and she smiled widely. "How could anyone say no to that?"

(ooc: fade?)

[ooc: works for me!]

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Training day [ota]

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