She hasn't even opened her eyes yet and already the stabbing pressure surrounding her skull was imposing itself first thing in the morning. Still barely awake, and already the prospect of opening her eyes was now put off until the last minute.
Lucy rolls over in bed, face down on the mattress and puts her pillow over her head, trying to see how well it'll block out not only the light but the greater outside world. The sharpness beside her eyes stabbing her awake without her consent. No better way to wake up, but she supposed that this is only fitting.
Yesterday after getting back from exile, the teen couldn't shake Jack's odd question he posed during their session, not actually odd in of itself but unexpectedly poignant. The concept of future plans that used to trouble her suddenly resurfaced out of the blue. The reinvigorated listlessness was also punctuated by a hint of annoyance for how easily he managed to get in her head and how quickly it tripped her up.
The whole night with her family she tried distracting herself, steadfast in her goal to not be bothered or to even question what he said. And it worked for most of the day until evening fell. The night crept into her window as she sat on her bed just staring at the staff propped against the opposite wall. Staring at it as if it will hold all the advice she needs. She doesn't know why she keeps looking to inanimate objects and silently interrogating them, because nothing has come of such a venture thus far.
But nonetheless the staff held no words, and falling asleep that night proved to be a little difficult. Her headspace was unusually busy, as if it was trying to catch up on missing work; worrying about her future all in one sitting and making up for lost time.
She thought that she would have been past this by now. She had a talk with Charlie about it and everything, at least that put her on the right path at the moment. But then magic had to come crashing through the door to mess it all up again. In some ways having magic should make the decision making process easier, but it only served to further complicate matters for her.
The possibilities were endless and that was great! But also really confusing and scary even. She doesn't know how much confidence she has in herself to wisely split her time between being a human and being magical. And she could very easily give up her powers in ten years time, but that thought doesn't sit right with her either.
A part of her feels that she should be smarter than this. Maybe she is overcomplicating it. Maybe there isn't really that much to think about in the first place. Maybe she is psychoanalyzing too much.
And she would've stayed under the pillow much longer to ruminate on last night's tirades some more, had it not been for Tulip abruptly and aggressively pushing the door open with her nose and trotting up to Lucy's bed side to place her chin on the covers.
She peaked out from her hiding place and was met with a face full of dog breath. Lucy made a cartoonish gagging noise and reluctantly placed the pillow aside. Petting the dog's head, she realizes she still has a few things to finish with the tome copy before she could print it out; things to do and such. The march of time waits for no one.
"Tuli…take me to breakfast…" she groaned, locking her arms around the dog's neck.
Tulip instinctively backed up, dragging the girl with her. But she only made it half off the bed before letting go, with the side of her face firmly planted on the carpeted floor and her legs still somewhat on the mattress and still covered by the blanket.
This action only served to exacerbate the headache and even give her a small wisp of vertigo in the process. She quietly groaned into the floor for a moment, working up the courage to properly start the day. Tulips nose makes its way across the back of her head, trying to sniff out the face underneath it. It serves as a small pick me up and, with a very loaded breath, she hauls herself off the floor and trudges through the morning.
Still in her oversized pajamas she makes the trek down the stairs and to the kitchen, giving view to both parents leisurely enjoying their breakfast. It's Sunday, which means both Laura and Neil have the day off. They both notice Lucy breezing by the dining table and headed straight to the fridge, setting down a bottle of ibuprofen that she snagged from the medicine cabinet on the counter next to her.
"Morning Luce," Laura said between sips of her coffee.
"How did you sleep?" Neil asks after a mouthful of oatmeal.
They both silently examine her as she rifles through the fridges contents, looking between each other like they're watching or waiting for something.
"Hard to fall asleep, but it's this morning that's been the real trouble. I woke up with a massive headache," she sighs, retrieving the milk carton.
She uncaps the medicine bottle, popping three pills into her palm and then directly into her mouth, washing them down with a milk chaser straight from the container. She catches the eyes of her parents when she's done, both casting a stern look her way that silently says that she was in poor form.
"Sorry," she said, "but if it's any consolation no one else will have to worry about using it next because it's all gone now," she shakes the empty carton for emphasis before trashing it.
As she lazily walks around the kitchen in the process of preparing some toast, Laura and Neil share a look between themselves before going in.
"So you slept alright then?" Laura asked.
"About as well I usually sleep."
"So you don't remember what happened last night then?" Neil finally inquired.
Lucy furrowed her eyebrows, "No…? What happened last night?" Popping the bread into the toaster she grabbed the strawberry jam, a plate and a butter knife from the cabinets.
Neil ate another spoonful of oatmeal before answering, "Well, I had to use the jon in the middle of the night, and I walked out into the hallway and found you, completely out of bed walking down the hall."
This gives Lucy pause as she places the pieces of almost burnt toast on the plate, "Really?"
"Yeah. And I thought something was wrong at first cause you were mumbling to yourself and almost tried going through the door to the bypass, or whatever its called. So I turned you around and your magic was showing up on your face. Your eyes were all glowy and you had a big circle mark going around your eye."
The pace of spreading the jam on the toast was almost fully halted at the revelation, "Huh. That doesn't sound right, are you sure it wasn't the usual face paint?"
"Very sure. It was the only light I had at 1 am."
"And you said to the bypass?"
"That's what I saw. I'm just glad that I managed to catch you before you tried going down the stairs or something."
Laura shoots him an unimpressed look, "Honey, I think getting lost in another dimension while she sleeps is more of a threat than her falling down the stairs."
"...Well if anything, I stopped her from doing either of those things so, I call that a win for dad," he punctuates the statement with another spoonful. Laura rolls her eyes.
"That seems really weird," Lucy interjects, joining her parents at the table with toast plate in hand, "I've never sleep walked in my whole life. Was I using my powers in my sleep too?"
"Not that I could see. Just a little glow in the dark is all," Neil paused, muttering under his breath, "never thought that'd be a normal sentence I'd say."
"It's true, ever since you were a baby you've always been a very sound sleeper," Laura takes another sip of the hot coffee.
"Maybe it's just something that happens. Maybe I'm still trying to get used to all the magic in my system or something," Lucy added between mouthfuls of breakfast, "Maybe it's just a side effect. Uncle Scott had all kinds of those when he got his powers right?"
"Mostly physical, but you're not wrong." Laura said, "In any case, if you end up doing it again you might wanna think about locking your bedroom door at night. Just so that you don't try and wander too far."
"Have you been stressed at all sweetie? Sometimes that can cause sleepwalking if you're stressed enough. I've had a handful of patients that only started sleep walking because of their daytime problems."
Something in Lucy splinters at the question. She can't be totally sure it isn't stress, but she didn't think she would be so stressed that she would walk around in her sleep because of it. It hasn't even been a full day, she cant be that worked up over this yet.
"Uh nope. Not stressed. Training can be physically demanding sometimes, but I can't think of anything I would be stressed over," she takes a large bite from the toast as she trails off her less than truthful sentiment. "Honestly it should be fine. As long as I'm not using my powers in my sleep we should be good. And at the very least I can probably ask Sandman about if it starts happening more."
She offers this solution to her parents which satiates their mild concern, steering the conversation to much less magical endeavors.
The rest of the morning carried on in much the same way as the previous night for Lucy. She milled about her room, constantly trying to bat away the aporetical flies that hung over her. Slowing her movements and giving her pause during her day that she wouldn't normally take. That usually she was too confident to even notice or heed warning to. Like the taste of iron in one's mouth that lingers for far too long. The thoughts of her situation and her identity play like a broken record in the next room over. Audible from everywhere in the house and growing more annoying as time goes on.
But she presses on as best as she knows how. She distracts herself by finishing the xeroxed copy of The Moons Tome and prints out all those pages, pinning them into signatures and corralling them with a couple of binder claws. She tackles the thing like it's a final project worth 80% of her grade, armed with highlighters and sticky notes aplenty.
She learns that order and harmony were aspects that the Man in the Moon greatly appreciated and tentatively carried out like an honorable duty, in spite of the little to no personal anecdotes present in the beginning chapters. And with barely any personal comments to add, she finds herself intrigued by the detailing of the beginnings of magical life.
"Separating the categories of magic is to be separating myself and the facts of my being. My hopes, dreams, desires, knowledge, heart, soul, morality, among many more. These parts of a whole shall tear my body apart upon creation, giving them a new purpose and new names:
Earth * Time * Dreams * Love * Belief * Hope * Wonder * Fear * Luck * Blood * Fire * Craftsmanship * Healing * Music * Crystal * Balance
From these my essence and soul are split into. Giving life to a people I will never see, a world I will never know. All of magic is raw and finite, it cannot be created nor destroyed. Only changed and transmitted. Flowing freely from one state of being to another. A field, a forge, a body, a mind. A people. From this sown earth all magical life will spring forth."
She reads further and flips a little ways ahead before her face scrunches in confusion when she realizes the next chapters, and seemingly the rest of the book, don't mention a key aspect she was told about by Father Time. She writes down a comment on a pink sticky note and pastes it to the begging page on the beginnings of life.
"Doesn't explain forge clusters? More research is needed."
She also takes the opportunity to write a separate note and stick that onto her corkboard directly above her desk.
"ASK ABOUT NORTH POLE FORGE."
But even the engagement of pseudo studying did not keep the cloud away for long. All throughout her work the atmosphere lingers just out of sight. The sheer veil turning into a heavier and heavier blanket the more she gave it direct thought.
Until she suddenly gets an idea and rises from her desk chair and plops down on the floor directly in front of a full length mirror. She gets the idea to try and see her own aura, try to use her powers on herself to see if maybe there's really anything to worry about deep in her own soul.
She takes a deep breath in, remembering the pathway she needs to take in order to draw the power out. And much to her own satisfaction it works. Her eyes spark to life changing their color, and staring back at her she can see the pink and gold colors marbling around her. Like the Auroras in their gaussian light and shifting hues. She looked, squinted her eyes nearly shut in trying to pick apart anything that seemed unusual.
The ring of color around her seemed artistically organic at first glance, but she could see past that, closer into the details like a microscope. Just a little out of alignment, occasionally spiking in places they probably shouldn't, the levels a bit diminished. But otherwise nothing extravagantly wrong. Unsure more than anything.
Great! This little experiment has yielded the exact notion she already knew from the start and was hardly a comfort to her. But even still, she continues to move forward. Afterall the time has gotten away from her it seems, she does have somewhere else to be.
Even on her trek to exile the mists of doubt hang around her. Hauling her staff and manuscript with her through the bypass she couldn't help but take the long way around despite herself. A polite way of her rationalizing taking a walk. Far enough down the massive ground floor and circling back around the other end she slowly shuffles along her path.
Along her walk she took notice of the different shops lining the walls in between the teleporter alcoves. The establishments and their wooden signs and open entry ways gave the feeling of walking along in a homelier looking airport. Something almost quaint and knowable in the sea of the fantastical.
Crystal balls, health elixirs, magic weavers, even the normal things like book shops and cafes. And she will admit, even with no magical currency to spend, the feeling of something so alien yet very familiar did give her mind a bit of rest.
Her eye eventually snagged onto a kiosk front selling cloaks and overcoats. Green garlands with gold tinsel outlined the entry, to align with the rest of the surrounding bypass's seasonal branding. The cloak on the mannequin directly in front of the side window caught her interest, slowing her down to a full halt. A half length wool hooded cloak in dark magenta. Rather plain looking by the standards of any random passersby. But Lucy being one of occasionally odd tastes finds it rather endearing in its plainess.
But before she could think of going into the establishment, she was suddenly bumped into, someone accidentally shoulder checking her. The person was sturdy and more so sent Lucy stumbling away from what felt like fur? They were wearing something of the sort as they collided. And of course they just happened to be carrying two small crates on top of eachother which came tumbling out of their grip and headed toward the floor.
Lucy lost her footing and stumbled over herself a fair bit but was quick on the reaction time. Hastily dropping her binded papers, sending the signatures scattering, both hands landed on the staff and caught the two crates from the fall with her telekinesis.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize I was in the way! Are you okay…?" The apology hesitantly fades as she sees who ran into her.
The woman standing before her had the lower half of a lion's body from the waist down. Leopard spots, dragons wings, a snake for a tail and cats ears and horns sitting on top of her head. With the added stature she towered over the teen a standing height of 6' 4".
And because of her cacophonous appearance, it took a moment for Lucy to realize that she had someone else in tow. Sitting on the haunches of her lions back, between the enormous wings, sat a diminutive goblin child, no bigger than even 4 feet. They were clad in a dark forest colored poncho and a very off putting porcelain mask. Cracked and dingy the mask gave way for two eye holes and had a delicately painted face, worn away with time. They nervously peered around the woman to see what had happened.
"Am I okay? Sweetie it takes a lot more than that to phase me," Chimera crooned.
And Lucy was going to apologize some more, but the light from her staff keeping the boxes in the air started flickering. And completely by accident the magic from the staff died and the two crates came crashing down to the floor, admitting a few loud and worrying noises of breaking or clinking glass and rattling metal as some of their contents spilled onto the tile floor. A few books, brass containers, trinket boxes and velvet satchels of other smaller items. As well as a few broken remnants of shattered glass vials.
Lucy held a tensed grip on the staff watching the boxes nearly break, contorting her face as though the action physically harmed her. She sucked in a sharp breath through gritted teeth.
"Again…I am so sorry! I didn't mean to get in anyone's way here. I guess I've been a little distracted today."
Lucy was quick to tuck the staff under her arm as she kneeled down to the floor to start recollecting the items. The younger child riding the woman like a horse, quickly jumped off her feline haunches and shuffled around to her side. Obscuring themselves as much as possible to avoid any unnecessary social interaction.
"Sorcerer?" Chimera asks, lowering her front legs to gather her possessions.
Lucy looked surprised at the question at first before giving a nervous chuckle, "I'm trying to be I guess. It's a lot harder than it looks."
In the middle of flipping the crate back over, Lucy nearly picks up a discarded plant that's fallen out of its pot. She goes to reach for it but is abruptly stopped.
"Hey! Don't touch that one!" the woman warns, grabbing the girl's wrist, "That one is extremely poisonous. I cannot express to you how deadly it is for you."
Lucy surprisingly stares at the plant on the floor and then back up to the stranger, "R-right, okay then. But…if it's so poisonous then why do you have it?"
The woman smirks, "Because, toxins are kinda my thing," she effortlessly grabs the green and purple leafed plant from the ground and places it back in its pot and into the crate. "The names Chimera, Spirit of Poisons."
The lioness procures a small black card from her strapless top and hands it to Lucy along with the rest of her papers. Lucy reorganizes the stack in her arms and inspects the card. The card read her name in large cursive font on the front, metallic in magenta and green. The back read in the same lettering: Tender of premium poisons and toxic materials.
Lucy suddenly remembers the meeting she had with the legendary council. Cupid's voice waving through her memory of there being eleven magic spirits in the world (minus herself). The light bulb went off as she silently realized this must be one of the eleven she hasn't met.
"There's a market for poisons here?" Lucy inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"There's a market here for everything," she grins callously, "Vic, mind helping out with the last of this here?"
The goblin by her side jumped at the mention of their name, and quickly made work on the rest of the mess, stacking the reconciled crate on top of the other. They worked as though they had a time limit, and seemed skittish and nervous as they did so.
"Family friend," Chimera gestured with her chin toward the child. "They're a little anxious but their uncle is working on that with 'em."
Lucy curiously looks at Vic and produces a small smile and a polite wave. This seemed to freak them out even more as their posture stiffened and they hurriedly finished the clean up job to return to hiding behind their chaperone.
"So, what's your name red?" Chimera asks.
"Oh! Uh—," she stumbled, shuffling the papers and her staff to free up her hand, outstretched to the woman, "—Lucy! Lucy Miller."
Chimera returns the polite handshake, "Well Lucy, allow me to give some advice to a prospective spell caster."
Lucy watches as the woman lifts both of the boxes from the floor again, placing the stack in her hands.
"The realms are great and all, but you need to be careful. Watchful of the things going on. There are plenty of scammers around here. Tricky people around these corners. You'll do well to be careful with who you lend your power to," she gave a knowing sharp toothed smile to punctuate the sentiment.
Lucy thought that this piece of advice was strange in of itself, possibly a more far reaching warning than she was thinking of. Cryptic advice from magical strangers was not doing much to ease the doubt of purpose she's been trying to battle thus far.
"I'll…keep that in mind, thanks," she tucks the business card into one of her coat pockets.
"It's a dangerous place Lucy Miller! You can't say I didn't warn you. Vic, let's go! Gotta get you home before your family kills me."
Vic was quick to return to their original spot on Chimera's back, skittering up her legs and wings. But she didn't take a few steps on her path when she remembered something and twisted around to Lucy again.
"Oh! And by the way, most of the sorcerers I know can just leave their staff in the air and it should float and follow them. Might wanna look into it if you're planning on carrying anything else."
And with that, Chimera with Vic in tow walked off to Vic's home realm. Off on their own business, leaving Lucy behind.
The spirit notes to herself as she leaves of just what kind of arrangement she has with Jack in banishment. She sounded like she might still be in training, but learning from him? That poor poor soul. She couldn't help but pity her.
And Lucy couldn't tell if she just made a friend or possibly an enemy. She was thinking friend, but foreboding and vague warnings about dangerous people leave substantial room for suspicion. Cant have too much of that it seems. She gives a cursory glance to the staff in one of her hands, and the large bundle of papers in the other.
She's too curious not to see if this actually works. She holds the staff out in the open air, wincing as she lets go of it finger after finger. And when she does fully release it from her hand, she tenses waiting for it to fall. But caught herself by surprise when it didn't, instead standing perfectly still in the air just as Chimera had said it would.
A curious smile made its home on her face for the first time today looking at it defy gravity with barely any intention set. She triumphantly grabs the staff from the air, and speed walks her way to exile.
"Okay, try again but this time really think about it," Jack instructed, holding the binded signatures in his hands.
Lucy stands a few feet away, arms going limp in defeat with staff in gloved hands, "That's what i've been doing! Let me see that."
She walks over in a huff to look over his shoulder at the makeshift grimoire. The image of a barrier sigil printed under its appropriate passage. The sigil was mostly empty in the center with only slight sweeping details and half circles making up the tiny border.
"You're thinking too much about the minutiae of it. Don't think about how the border looks, think about what shape the border is in," Jack remarks, taking a step back as Lucy closes into his personal space.
She narrows her eyes at the page, nearly grabbing it from Jack's hands. A moment of analyzing the text again passes and she hands the "book" back off to the other spirit and walks back to her spot to try again.
"And you're sure the shape is what's important here?" she asks with her arms outstretched, staff held directly in front of her.
"That's what works for me. I already showed you that, remember?" shifting the papers he takes a free hand and swishes it in the air summoning the likes of a long, thin icicle. He carves a line into the icy ground under his feet, it glows a familiar blue and a small stack of icicles spring up from the command. "I'm sure this is going to be just like that."
And while his arrogance about it was unappreciated, his little demonstration did make it click more for her. Just think about making the shape.
Her expression hardened into concentration, her eyes closed and the staff alight as she summons the power she needs and tries channeling it into the form she wants. This specific power of barrier work Jack has been very keen on exploring. So interested he hasn't bothered to keep up as much of a front about it in her presence. She could see as much from his core that something about it has piqued his interest. Not excitement per se, but something akin to that. Something, like many things about him, she just can't put her finger on.
As the staff glowed, so too did a rough circle imprinted in the ice. The lines traveled and etched themselves onto the ground, slowly walking around the circumference of the circle. Lucy's face also sported the constellations and small magic designs on her cheeks as she continued. She strained at the unexpected amount of power needed. But all too soon she faltered, and just before the lines could meet to make the full shape, her grip on the staff wavered and the tension in her body snapped; canceling out the enchantment and sending the lines receding back to sender.
She let out a small gasp of air, only now realizing she was holding her breath, slightly leaning on her staff for support as she regathered herself. Jack shook his head disapprovingly.
"What the heck!?" Lucy asked through patched breathing, "How much power do I need for one tiny little barrier?"
"Oh please, it can't be that hard," He criticized, "didn't your parents ever teach you how to make a simple shape?"
"Didn't your parents ever teach you to shut up once in a while," she frowned.
"Nice try Miller, but I don't have parents," he smirks, "no spirit does, and I thank the skies for that every single day."
"I heard about that. Father Time laid it all out for me a few days ago, do you guys really just come from pure magic?"
"Spirits are pure magic. The collective of one type, one field," he says scanning over the pages.
"That's what he told me. So that means that you must've come from the winter field right?" she prods as innocently as she can muster, hiding the true extent of her knowledge.
She might not be on her A game today, her usual bright exuberance dimmed from her own mental battles of the day, but she finds it in herself to not miss such an opportunity. Of course she already knows the correct answer here, but she wants to see what he will do. She tries to act nonchalant by readying her position to start the circle again.
He pauses, the briefest of pauses for only a split second. Not something Lucy herself notices, but something Jack himself definitely feels. One microsecond feeling like far too long without answering.
"Yep. You're right on the money," he asserted, "It's how everyone is made after all."
"Right. So does that mean there's one for every season then?"
"Not exactly. Seasons are complicated," Jack scraped together a grin, "why so curious?"
"I'm a curious person, haven't figured that out yet?"
"Haven't been so inquisitive yet thus far today. And this is the thing that grabs your attention?"
"Yeah, I'm so sorry for trying to make light conversation."
"You can make all the conversation you want, after you stop stalling and try the circle again."
Not the answer she was hoping to get, but also not even remotely surprised at his secrecy about the topic. Even though he's failed the trick question test she keeps it in the back pocket for later. Jack is not the only one who can go digging for information.
Lucy says nothing back and focuses her effort on the circle. This time she braces for the amount of energy she'll need and the line once again sprouts from under her feet and draws out the outline of a glowing circle on the floor. She takes controlled breaths through a clenched jaw, feeling the magic make an image of the circle behind her closed eyes. She strains and pushes forward, watching the shape in the darkness near completion. The magic fills her senses with the feeling of something on the edge of a precipice. And when the circle finally completes, both ends meet and the object falls off the cliff face.
The tension of forcing the two ends together clasps closed, releasing Lucy of the metaphysical stress. When she opens her eyes again, she lets out another held breath to find a full circle on the floor and a magic barrier wall stretching toward the sky. The wall shimmers and feels alive, looking like multichrome purple cellophane. Like the pastel northern lights trapped in this specific shape.
She looks to Jack who marvels at the barrier like it's the only magic he's ever seen before. The same strange anticipation filled his hollow gaze.
"Perfect," he utters, "That's perfect!"
Lucy, out of breath from the magical strain, crouches forward, placing a hand on her knee as she too takes in the glowing force field she's willed into existence. The heaviness in her arms and legs settled into her bones soon thereafter.
After a moment of the two of them gawking at the shield, the purple color, along with the sigil on the floor faded away into invisibility; leaving no traces that it had ever been there in the first place. This gave Jack pause as he cautiously approached the spot where it had once stood. He reached out a curious hand and ended up finding that the wall hadn't disappeared from reality, only from view. He gave a few experimental knocks and kicked the barrier with the tip of his shoe. His eyes were wide with manic enthusiasm as he silently noted to himself how identical this was to the real thing. The walls that currently surround them, the walls that have held him captive for years.
"Not bad! Not too shabby for a human I would—," but before he could finish, he heard the sound of a dull thud and the rustling of snow. He turns to see that Lucy has planted herself firmly on the floor, laying on her back starfished with her staff laid next to her.
"Jesus Christ!" she exclaimed, "why is this the thing that's so draining!?"
Jack casts an arrant glance to her out of the corner of his eye with a raised eyebrow, "Skill issue."
Lucy's mouth forms into a tight line, annoyance plastered on her features, "Excuse me?"
"Skill. Issue." Jack snaps back, "You are very new and hardly even good at the basics yet. While I do believe pushing one to greater heights is best, I'm not surprised that something of this level would trip you up."
With a flourish of his wrist, he tosses the binded papers directly onto Lucy's awaiting face landing with a pathetic flap.
"I made a whole wall, a whole magic barrier!" she grabs the makeshift book from her face and aggressively tosses it to the side, "what do you do again? Oh yeah, snowflakes and frost fractals."
This comment gave Jack pause, "And what's that supposed to mean exactly?"
"It means I'm doing a lot of heavy lifting here! I don't see how comparable snowflakes are to stuff like this."
"And you think that snowflakes are easy?" he shot back.
"I do actually. Small details, huge wall."
"Detail work is not as easy as you think! It's difficult in its own right," he stifles the urge to argue. The feeling of choking it all back down in the case of defending his seasonal work was all too familiar for him.
She sits up from her spot on the ground to make her point, "You can't tell me that making frost patterns is harder than making a whole barrier. Can't be harder than the stunt you pulled on the first day."
His eyebrow slightly twitched with annoyance. He can tell that she's been having an off day today. Both more quiet and more combative than usual. And somehow even more annoying, "Antagonistic today aren't we?"
"If it was anyone else but you I'd actually feel bad."
"You know what they say, the devil is in the details. Watch."
Jack pulls himself away from the wall and takes a standing place next to the teen. In a huff, he summons a pillar of ice, a little less than shoulder height in front of him. He creates a bowling ball sized sphere cradled on the very top and goes to work.
Lucy watches on in confusion as he works in a literal flurry of action. Slivers of ice and crumbs of snow go flying in all directions, propelled out of the dark blue cloud that hovers around the sphere. His expression scrunches as he works, annoyingly determined eye contact lasered onto the task at hand. The look of someone deep in their lifelong craft. She crosses her legs and perches her elbows under chin as she watches. He really doesn't have to do any of this, it's a little over the top. But interesting nonetheless to see him work this intensely. Even if it is out of spite.
Once the main component was done, he ice breathed the object coating it in a thin film of frost. He abruptly severed the sphere from the column, dematerializing its stand and letting the item crash into the floor with a heavy thud. Lucy jumps at the sudden drop, noticing that the ground has slightly cracked under the pressure. She looks at Jack utterly confused.
He doesn't provide any response other than raised eyebrows and an open hand gestured at the thing next to her.
Her expression furrows in annoyance, begrudgingly grabbing the ball of ice and taking its uncomfortable weight into her lap. When he again provided no verbal instructions, she gave a small disapproving head shake before doing the next logical thing. The sphere's surface was opaquely frosted over, so she slowly turned her attention to the cold surface, and with the palm of her gloved hand brushed away the surface layer of ice.
Erasing more of the shale pattern, her eyes widened as she got the full picture. The ball of ice was completely clear all the way through, but semi transparent white ice detailed the scene they were both standing in. An icy replica of both of them standing in Antarctica with astonishing accuracy. Even down to the detail of Lucy sitting on the ground. It even had accompanying micro specs of snow coming down on the scene just as in real life. More magic particles than snow, the little white crumbs of winter magic gently drifted down from the top of the sphere and disappeared before hitting the bottom.
"Detail work is just as important as big shows of power. Subtlety as a magical tool is just as important. Like I said; Skill issue. You couldn't do something like that even if your life depended on it."
Lucy sat in awe at the sculpture for a moment, mouth agape taking in all the details.
"Are you kidding me!?" She struggles to stand up in a hurry, weighed down by the ball of ice in her hands as she ascends with buckling knees. "This is incredible! This is so wicked cool!"
Jack was caught a little by surprise at the enthusiasm. With crossed arms he watches her gawk at the creation, expecting more sass by indication of her tone today. But instead he was met with genuine appreciation. For something he made. A circumstance that is far and few between, and left him grasping for the mask of his usual cockiness.
"I—I know that! I'm Jack Frost, head of the entire season. I think I would know how astonishing my own skill level is. You think I wouldn't know such a thing?"
He turns his head away, feeling the mask falter, feeling his heart rate tick ever so slightly. And he was about to resume the usual demands of getting this girl back on track to the task at hand. Remind her of the very important piece of the puzzle she has to make for him when he was interrupted by something even more dumbfounding.
"Can I keep this?" she said with a wide grin, a spark in her eyes. The spark that had been dimmed or missing from her so far.
She basks in the magical work of the object like it was a patch of sunlight in a cloud covered sky. Something extraordinary that had lifted her spirits and she felt like she must keep it.
The mask slips even more, nearly falling off his face entirely.
"...Huh?" was all he could manage to say, his mind going as blank as a piece of paper.
"Can I keep it? Because this is beautiful! And I've got a really impressive snowglobe collection back at home and THIS will be the perfect addition!"
She spoke with warmth leaking from every word, continuing to inspect the finer details of the frozen diorama. It's a good thing for him that she was too engrossed to check on how his core was reacting. Because it was nothing big or even violent. It was…calmer. Relaxed. Satiated in some small way that confused him to no end. Even now she continues to perplex him and he didn't even have the guts to question why exactly she would want anything of his own creation. He could only confusingly agree.
"….I uh…Sure. I—I guess," he stumbled.
Lucy cradled the massive orb in her arms, "Really?"
"I, y-yeah…whatever. Keep it, it's of no use to me anyway."
"Yes! This is gonna look so good next to my other—Oh!" she snapped up to look him in the eyes, "could you make it so that it never melts first? Could you like, perma-freeze it or something? I don't wanna keep it locked up in the freezer forever, this thing is going on display."
The tiniest spark, somewhere deep within him, ignited into a foreign warmth. A tiny hot coal he tried to desperately smother, and cover up the remenads on his face. So small and yet so warm, almost in a way he once knew before.
"Fine, I guess," he mumbles, waving his hand over the sphere, "You humans get caught up on the strangest things." His hand turns blue, sprinkling a small amount of blue magic and snow down on the object surface. A bright light shines across the ice, signaling that the enchantment was complete.
"Thank you, Jack! I really appreciate it," she said, "I will take you word about detail work, and I will take this as an early Christmas present."
The snarky remark about not calling it a Christmas gift as well as the barely formed frown, melted away just as soon as they came. He blankly watches her walk off with that heat searing smile, so proud of herself for such a score. She gently places the load on the ground near the door and rolls it next to the icy frame, leaving it for her exit home later.
Jack takes the opportunity while her back is turned to straighten himself out and to come back to earth. Nearly having to shake the warmth that started creeping onto his skin. He fidgets with the rolled up cuffs of his shirt and shifts his weight from one foot to the other; once again claiming the hard and cold exterior he's come to rely on for so many years. Back into character.
"Alright alright, enough procrastinating Miller! Not very star student of you. Let's get back on track shall we?"
Lucy hurries back over to Jack and the invisible wall, picking her staff up from the floor where she left it, "Okay, don't get your icicles in a twist!"
"Two weeks, kid! We're on a time crunch here."
"Calm down, It's only been two days," she explained, "we're making great time!"
"Uh huh. I'll believe that when you can dismantle this barrier," he casts an arrant finger to the invisible wall.
"Hmmm," she reached one of her open palms to the surface, contemplating on where to start searching for the anti-command.
"Now from what I understand, this thing can be highly specified, to block out or keep in whatever you want. But for now we should really only start with turning it on and off," he trails off, keeping a very close eye on the open air where the barrier is. Scrutinizing it to the highest degree to see how it will respond. Any trace of the warmth he had before was fleeting and now completely gone. Fully refocused on his real goal here.
Lucy narrows her eyes at the invisible surface as well. Her constellation face markings appear as she tries channeling something to interact with the barrier. The glow of her palm leaking through the glove, pressing down on the wall as she concentrates. She tries straining her metaphysical ears to see if the magic wall itself will tell her the answer of getting rid of it. But when she hears no response, her arm falls limp beside her.
After another moment of pondering, she lights up with a different idea, "Oh! What if I try this?"
She takes the staff in both hands and channels the magical flow once again, through the instrument this time. Holding it down near the base of the wall, a small gathering of light collects to where the head of the staff is pointed. The closer the head is, the stronger the color of the spot. A target has made itself known. She feels a little resistance in the column of the staff, but presses the moon shaped head onto the surface.
Surprising the both of them, the wall suddenly has give, the staff pushing into it like taught rubber. But it's not there yet, something here is a little off.
Jack watches with baited breath as she switches her stance. She rotates the staff so the pointed tip of the moon presses further into the veil, eventually puncturing right through it. The other end of the tip goes straight to the other side. She readjusts her grip and slowly drags the staff upwards, creating a noticeable tear in the fabric of the barrier.
Jack's eyes gain a hint of crazed fascination, his breath hitching in his throat watching the key manifest itself right before him. He still doesn't know for certain if the walls that surround him are in fact moon based, but this is all becoming very promising.
But Jack's hopes would soon be dampened by Lucy's lack of control. She tries forcing the rift open by lifting the staff upwards, further tearing the fabric of the veil. But ultimately was met with too much resistance and the barrier abruptly clamped back down on the intrusion, forcing the staff out and sending Lucy flying violently backwards. Landing firmly on her ass with a thud, she had a good view of Jack looking very unimpressed as the hole in the barrier closed itself.
"Nice landing," he commented with his arms crossed.
Breathless and irritated, Lucy was quick to get back up, brushing the straw snow off her coat and pants.
"Okay, obviously that doesn't work," she huffed.
"I say to try the same thing again. Maybe if you poke a big enough hole in it, it'll do the trick."
"Maybe? It really felt like it was fighting me though. I'm not sure how well forcibly destroying it will work."
"Can't hurt to try, now can it?" He holds an open palm out to the invisible wall.
Lucy gives nothing more than a questioning glance his way before trying it again. And again. And again.
Three separate times she attempted to tear the thing like paper, but the spell proved to be rather sturdy and the result was equivalent of one girl trying to tear a phonebook in half. With each attempt she landed more and more gracefully but was still thrown around by the resilience of the wall nonetheless. She can feel the handful of bruises starting to form from the endeavors.
And Jack remains resolute in both his place of supervision and his concealed, yet growing amount of disappointment. Trying not to show the amount of impatience, he strenuously waits for the destruction of the walls with each attempt. But all three times yield the same result of failure.
And it wasn't until Lucy stopped for lunch, stepping outside of exile to eat and reheat did Jack think to put it off for one more day. If only because his insistence might become a little suspicious, he continued to harp on this one spell for the rest of the session.
She even cut lunch a tad short and when returning to the Antarctic, insisted that he take some of her food as reciprocation for the ice sculpture gift. Jack however was quick on the trigger to assert that he did not need any food from her, and was eager to turn the conversation back to the lessons at hand.
The aspect of magical control is something that they continue to work on after the break, and is still something that's a bit out of reach for her. And while a lot of passages in the makeshift tome was incredibly powerful and might hold some significance to him later, for basic power governance and barrier work it served to be fairly useless to him.
They focus on the main beginning steps with the innermost channeling of power and return to the grab in mid air/explode tossed snowballs exercise. Her control was better than before but not all that spectacular. But it was good enough that he was willing to take a chance on it tomorrow.
And before either knew it the allotted time for the session had closed. Jack watched over his shoulder as Lucy took her leave, plunged back into the defending silence. But it won't be that way soon enough.
Lucy placed the binded stack of papers under one of her arms and held her staff firmly in both hands. She held the icy snow globe in stasis directly in the air in front of her, carefully walking it back to the door to her home.
Not even two steps into the house and Tulip, who has been waiting by the enchanted door, nearly trips the girl up as she enters.
"AH!" She stumbles over the dog's body as she crosses the threshold. Tulip jumps up from her place and aggressively wags her tail as Lucy tries to not to accidentally step on her. She keeps a panicked gaze on the orb in mid air as she regains balance in record time.
"Tuli you gotta step back from doorways! People need to move here," she politely explains to the dog who couldn't care less.
She walks the object through the air and directly into her room. Squinting her eyes in a certain way she hovers the chunk of ice over the bed and lets it drop onto the comforter, sinking into the mattress.
The teen lets out a breath and tosses the copied tome onto the surface of her desk. Testing her new ability yet again, she stands the staff out into the air and hesitantly lets go; once again surprised that it stayed perfectly still in place where she held it.
Lucy and Tulip both make their stay on the bedside to further inspect the new addition to the home. She kneels down next to the bed while Tulip makes quick work with her nose and starts licking the surface.
"Ew! Tuli you can't eat this one. This ice cube is not for puppers," she gently redirects the dog's head away from the ball of ice.
The light from the barely setting sun of late afternoon pokes through the windows glass, refracting off the blanket of snow on the edge of the cill. The light is captured by the out of proportion artifact, bouncing back and forth on all the artistic icy surfaces within, giving it a ghostly golden hue in its highlights.
Lucy crosses her arms on the bed spread and rests her chin on top. She takes in the snow globe as all the details as if it should be in a museum. The muffled dullness of doubt tries creeping in through the back of her head in the moment of calm. But it has a harder time pushing itself to the forefront when she's so enamored by this unexpected gift of sorts.
Running her fingertips across the surface she can feel that it's not slippery but very dry and very cold if she lingers her touch for too long. She was appreciating the accurate depiction of herself in the ice when she got an idea.
She concentrates her magic into her fingers, feeling the presence of winter magic already present, faint colors glowing and transferred from flesh to ice. The tiny droplet of magic seeps into the top of the snowglobe, and Lucy watches with satisfaction as the snow falling from the top of the globe starts to turn purple. Lavender flakes now gently cascade down onto the scene.
Now it's complete.
She pulls out her phone from the pocket of her puffer coat on the floor next to her. She angles it this way and that and snaps a photo of the ball of ice in its kaleidoscope of sky and magic colors. She is quick to send it to Charlie with the caption.
Massive score today! Acted like it was a hunk of junk so I snagged it :)
The snow really falls, and I made it purple!
The sun sets and the day concludes. Lucy peacefully drifts off to sleep that night. More unsure than before, but unencumbered by events yet to come.
Jack just the opposite. He waits for sleep to come to him in his smaller holding cell. As certain as smog in the city skyline, knowing and gambling with his fate about what is yet to come.
