Title: Practically Magic
Author: Evil Little Dog
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: So very, very not mine.
Notes: Written for the LJ community, Comment_Fic.
"So, tell me. Magic."
Lucifer raised his eyebrows. "Tell you what, Doctor?"
"Is it." Linda hesitated. Twined her fingers together. Pressed on. "Is it real?"
"What, you mean like the Burbank Avenue illusionists who con people out of their money? The Three-Card Monty dealers?"
"No." Linda frowned at him. "I mean magic."
"Oh, for the love of...you mean witchcraft?" Lucifer tsked. "Doctor, I thought you more pragmatic, really."
"Witchcraft, magic..." A thought clicked into place and she focused on him again. "Witchcraft is a type of religion but the Salem witch hunts. Did you have anything to do with that? And the European hunts?"
"No." Lucifer had that distasteful, horrified expression on his face. "Those people were innocent worshippers of the trees. Talk to Father about those people dying! I had nothing to do with it!" He flared his nostrils and widened his eyes and slashed the air with the blade of his hand. "I didn't coax those people to follow me! They were women and men who had some skills in healing others with herbs. Some simply had the bad fortune of being ugly, hair-lipped, or skew-eyed. Others were widows who had land men wanted. Men - so-called doctors of medicine - couldn't stand the power some of these women had and turned their fellow villagers against them." With a huff, he shot his cuffs and leaned back into the couch but Linda could see his mood had soured.
"So..." she said, trying to turn Lucifer back to his charming self rather than this darkly-brooding creature. "What about actual magic?"
"All smoke and mirrors." He brushed aside the question physically with a wave of his hand. "No such thing as unicorns, no fairies. No swords in stones or magic arrows."
A little part of Linda felt hurt at that but she kept it to herself. After all, coming back as a chameleon meant she'd have to eat bugs, right? "That's actually disappointing."
"Really?" Lucifer cocked his head at her. "I would've thought you, a woman of science, would be above that sort of thinking."
"Inside every woman - and most men, too - there is still a little child who wants to believe in magic." She bridled a bit at Lucifer's snort. "What?"
He chuckled. "Next you'll tell me you believe the Easter bunny has something to do with the Resurrection!"
~ end ~
