I own nothing. Except a cauldron. I do own one of those.
"Lucy Heartfilia? On a tablet? Is the world ending?"
She looked up at the shit-eating grin on Vander's face as he welcomed himself to her table. Bickslow and Kaleb followed his lead and sat down before she could comment.
"Do you think I stand cackling over a cauldron all day?"
"A little bit."
She logged out before Bickslow could even think to steal her computer. Like most of the dragon slayers, he knew she liked to write. Though she wasn't certain if he knew that she was dual majoring in Creative Writing and Business. Most importantly of all, she didn't want him to know what she was writing.
"Do you have a cauldron?" Bickslow asked.
"Yes. Mostly for Professor Simmons' class. Usually, I just use a pot on the stove."
"If you've updated how you use magic, why do you hate Techs so much?" Vander asked. Like Bickslow, Vander knew his brothers were interested in the woman. She was beautiful but hadn't interested him enough that he was willing to go up against his brothers.
"You know what my magic is, right?"
"Celestial magic," Vander said.
"And?"
"Dragon tamer," Kaleb said.
She turned to look at his nose. "Yeah. When I was growing up, I spent time around all kinds of mages. Especially after Mom died and I'd spend time at Fairy Tail and later, Sabertooth. There's- Dragon tamer magic is both hereditary and knowledge that's passed down. That kind of magic can't be learned through technology. And yet, people act like it can. I got bullied a lot growing up because Techs act like magic like mine is obsolete or useless.
"Magic comes from nature. What happens to us when we no longer know how to commune with magic?"
Kaleb rested his head on his hand to look at her. Without eavesdropping on her thoughts, he knew she was thinking about the incident a week earlier with the pendulum. And she was right. He hadn't known how to ask the stones which one was right for him. That hadn't stopped the stone from being right.
"I don't know," Kaleb admitted.
"I don't either. But I'm pretty sure, it's probably not a good thing."
"Lucy, you think you're gonna look higher than his nose?" Vander asked, deciding he was tired of the more serious conversation.
Lucy blushed and accidentally met Kaleb's eyes. Almost immediately, she felt her brain struggling not to turn to mush. Taking pity on her, Kaleb stood.
"My brother, the philosopher," he said, mentally telling Vander to leave with him.
"His eyes are more dangerous than yours," she muttered to Bickslow once they left.
"Probably because you haven't figured out what your heart wants," Bickslow commented. "Had to tell Cris that he didn't stand a chance. Glad I caught that one in time. I've seen you with Zen and Kaleb. Your-"
"Bix. Shut up."