Daughter of the Sea (lord_admiral) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-12-14 20:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, daisy johnson (quake), jaina proudmoore |
What’s your next trick?
Who: Jaina and Daisy
What: Beer and hooking up
when: Late October
Where: Bar then Jaina's
Status: complete
Rating: PG-13
Jaina wasn’t actually sure what she was doing, other than, frankly, showing off and half-hoping for more than a conversation.
Maybe being around hormonal girls was just making her really bored and lonely.
She sat at the bar, twirling her hand around as a tiny little water elemental followed her hand, wondering if she could conjure an elemental out of beer. Say an Alemental.
Skye didn’t actually know what to expect. She wasn’t always one to do more with someone on a first meeting, but she’d been known to if she was in the mood. But at the moment, she was rather curious as to just what Jaina was going to show her to prove the crazy shit she’d read on that network.
And Jemma was here as well. That was unexpected, and Skye didn’t yet know how to feel about that. Part of her really missed Jemma and regretted their break up, but she was happy that Jemma had found someone else and was happy. That was the important thing.
Skye had stopped at a gym and used the bathroom to freshen up before she headed to the bar. She stepped inside and glanced around, spotting a blonde at the bar.
“Jaina?” She asked as she approached the woman.
Snapping her fingers, Jaina returned the water elemental to her glass as just regular water, and turned to greet Skye. Her long blonde hair hung loosely around her face. “Yes, that’s me. You must be Skye.”
She held out her hand.
Skye’s hair was long and loose. And at least she’d dressed in clean clothes that weren’t wrinkled to death. Living in her van wasn’t the best thing ever, but given the hacking she tended to do and chasing down any and all leads on her biological parents, it was the best option so she could move quickly when she needed to.
“I am. It’s nice to meet you.” She said with a smile as she shook Jaina’s hand. She then settled herself on the stool next to the blonde woman. “So, drink first or your proof first? Or is this a situation I’d rather deal with by having a drink before and after?”
“Depends on your constitution,” Jaina said. “But I’d rather you not blame it on the drink. God knows I would have.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “I moved out here and got a crash course in absolutely losing my mind.”
Skye just kind of looked at Jaina a little skeptically. “Do I even want to know what made you lose your mind? I mean, I’ve seen some wild crap on the darkest corners of the internet, but what I’ve read on that Valarnet thing is kind of beyond some of the shit I’ve read. As for my constitution, I’m not the fainting type, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Jaina brought her hands to her lips, fingers steepled together as she composed herself. Then she dropped her hands to the bar. “The sun disappeared. I’m a physicist and the laws of physics don’t apply to Orange County.”
Then she conjured a ball of fire in her palm, and said simply. “It gave me magic.” The flame snuffed out, and ice formed on the bar in front of Skye, a mini blizzard that turned into a ball of ice.
Water flowed out of Jaina’s glass, forming a bobbing little figure with shackles that floated over to the ball of ice and picked it up. It brought it to Jaina.
“And this is just small things.”
“I’m sorry, what? The sun disappeared? Like, just disappeared-disappeared, or eclipse kind of disappear?” That was a little crazy to think about. Okay, more than a little crazy. But even with that, Skye wasn’t at all prepared for what Jaina did next.
The ball of fire in Jaina’s palm made Skye jump a little and lean away from it. After all, she didn’t exactly know if it was entirely safe and she didn’t feel like getting burned right then. Then as the mini blizzard formed, Skye stared at it. Then she proceeded to stare at the water figure that came over and picked up the ball of ice and took it back to Jaina. She blinked a couple times and stared at Jaina a bit.
“Holy shit. Small things? You mean you can do a lot more than that?? The fuck is going on with this place? And why doesn’t the rest of the world notice??” So said the hacker who had hacked into plenty of things she shouldn’t hack into and who poked at the dark places of the internet and she hadn’t caught wind of anything like this before.
“It literally disappeared,” Jaina said, with the long suffering tone of someone who still hadn’t accepted it and was Traumatized For Life over it. But she lightened a little, smiling at Skye’s reaction as she bounced the ice globe in her hand. “These Dreams people talk about. In mine, I’m one of the most powerful mages in the world. I think there’s multiple layers to answer you question. Some kind of magic keeping things mostly contained here, and an actual independent Agency that spends most of their time keeping it all a secret; when they’re not putting out fires.”
Jaina set the ball down. “I’m sure you could imagine what a government or company like Boeing might do with even a little bit of this.” She thought of her own father and shuddered.
Skye looked at Jaina. She heard words, but they didn’t make sense. In fact, while she normally would’ve zeroed in on some independent Agency that kept all of this a secret (and subsequently hack into it because that was totally like waving a red cape in Skye’s face), the whole magic thing is what her brain was utterly stuck on right then.
“Magic.” Skye said in an incredulous tone. She was going to continue, but she instead got the bartender’s attention and asked for a really strong drink. Because honestly, what the fuck was going on here. Once she got her drink, she took a long drink of it, letting it burn its way down her throat. She then turned back to Jaina.
“Okay. Magic. So. You can do magic. Like real magic, not the smoke and mirrors kind of stuff normal magicians in this world use.”
“Real magic. Elemental… and Arcane energies. Arcane is derived from the phase transitions of mana. If mana were water, then arcane would be steam pressure.” A bright glow appeared in Jaina’s hand. “Arcane can be harnessed as a weapon, to portal or teleport across vast distances, or…”
In her hand appeared a pastry. “To conjure food in limited quantities.”
That was...an oddly helpful comparison Jaina made. Okay, Skye could handle that much of it. The teleporting thing was weird, though. And then there was a pastry sitting in Jaina’s hand and she looked at it.
“Okay. So you can basically do a lot of damage, teleport far away and conjure up food. I kind of like that conjuring up food thing. You never have to go hungry with that kind of ability.”
“Not really. Most of the stuff I conjure can help me regain my mana over time too. I have a very deep pool of it inside me, so it’s not usually needed without a great expenditure of energy,” Jaina said, studying Skye’s face and eyes.
Now, Jaina was using words that Skye could understand on a basic level. She wasn’t a complete gamer, and would never call herself one, but she knew some games had mechanics like mana for mages and so forth. “I could make such a terrible remark on that, but my brain is still trying to catch up with itself. So just insert a witty response to the deep pool comment here.” She then took a longer drink of her drink and took a breath.
All things considered, she was taking this relatively well. Or so it seemed, at any rate. She’d probably text Jemma later and ask what the fuck was wrong with this place, but she would play it cool for the time being.
"Thank you for saving me from a that's what she said joke," Jaina said, grinning at her. "Magic has many uses."
She let her hand brush Skye's and there was something like a buzzing spark.
"But it all comes with some really bad downsides."
Skye chuckled a bit. “You’re welcome. I like to be a giver where I can be.” When she felt the little buzzing spark from the brush to her hand, she jumped a little, like anyone would do if they’d just received a static shock.
“What kind of downsides?” She asked, looking back at Jaina.
“Dragons, Orcs, decades of warfare, demons…” Jaina shuddered, remembering it all. “And it crosses over. It can, it has. But the magic itself, at least the form of it I have is… beautiful.”
Arcane arced across her fingers, runes circling her hand. “I’ve always been drawn to math, and the magic of that world is based on math.”
“That’s quite a range of things to deal with,” Skye commented. In all honesty, it felt like something that would happen in a video game. Or Lord of the Rings. She watched the arcane arc across Jaina’s fingers and it was oddly intriguing. Even as she couldn’t quite believe her eyes.
“Wait, so magic is based on math? How does that even work?”
“To paraphrase Arthur C Clarke, any science sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic. There’s a lot of physics and mathematics involved in the magic I dream about. It’s still magic but there are rules and the rules make sense when they’re laid on top of a scientific framework.”
Jaina frowned. “It’s really the only way I can explain how portal magic works. It’s like wormholes.”
“So like, some spells operate like mathematical equations and adhere to the laws of physics? Are the laws of physics you dream of the same as apply in this world?” Yeah, this sounded way crazy, but Skye had seen crazy ass things on the dark corners of the internet before. Plus the multiverse theory and parallel dimensions were a common thing she’d read about. That she didn’t completely question. She wasn’t a scientist or a mathematician, but she had a grounding in science. Computer science, but still.
“Portal magic? You can open a portal to, what, other places on the planet? Another dimension? Another plane of existence?”
Jaina nodded. “Most of the laws seem to be the same. There are… some differences. Things that fly that shouldn’t be able to. Dragons, for example, should be unable to lift off the ground. Not enough wing space or wing muscle, and yet they can fly. Probably some magic involved there.” Jaina spoke enthusiastically. “I suspect it’s a similar effect to the edge of a black hole or as you approach the speed of light; regular physics breaks down and there’s something else there. Magic just makes this effect apparent.”
She took a sip from her drink. “Any place I’ve been or can visualize. There are certain rules and laws in place; it’s generally frowned upon to portal into the throne room of Stormwind without permission of course, and you’d need to be a powerful mage besides to get pass magical wards. But yes. I could take us to Paris right now, if you’d like. And I know the spells to a number of towns and cities in my dreams but they don’t work here. I don’t actually know the effective range, either. I’m tempted to steal a space suit and portal to the moon. Sometimes.”
The more she talked to Jaina, the more overloaded Skye’s brain was getting. She tried to follow along, and to her credit, she made it farther than most people would before her eyes started glazing over. Honestly, it was the science and math aspects of Jaina’s magic that got her this far. But finally, Skye just downed the rest of her drink and ordered a second one. Because seriously, magic and a lot of the stuff she read on the Valarnet website should really not exist at all.
“Okay, I think that’s about all I can handle before I lose my mind. I mean, it’s interesting, but oh my god what even is this place?”
“I don’t know yet. It’s driving me mad.” Jaina ordered herself another drink. “There’s a lot of nice people, at least, but anyone looking in from the outside would think we’re all crazy. The fact you’re not looking at me like I’m a weirdo is nice.”
Skye brushed some hair behind her ear. “Yeah well, I’m more the run screaming out the door type than the looking at you like you’re a weirdo type,” she quipped. “At any rate, I’ve read enough crazy shit on the internet to be able to stomach weird. I also may be trying to completely rationalize the magic by you potentially having some special effects machine up your sleeve.” She was teasing, but she also was slightly serious on that note.
Jaina smiled at her, then held out her arm and quirked her eyebrow. “If you want to take a closer look, go ahead.”
Skye eyed Jaina, quirking her own eyebrow in response. “The magic-user is willing to be searched for the secrets to her tricks. How curious,” she stated before she leaned a little closer and reached out to take Jaina’s arm and look it over. Her fingers brushed along the inside of Jaina’s wrist.
Jaina laughed, though the sound caught at the fingers on her wrist. “These secrets are ones I’m willing to share. Though they only really work if you’re attuned enough, I think. You can’t teach someone who’s magicless how to cast an ice bolt.”
“Well I have to say that I don’t think I’m attuned for magic. Computers, I’m a genius with those. So I suppose I can do magic in video games.” She lightly traced the inside of Jaina’s wrist with a finger tip. “Unless it’s about what other sorts of things I can do with my hands.” There was a somewhat suggestive smirk on her lips.
“If you’re good with computers, you’re probably good with your hands,” Jaina replied, a shiver running through her as she tried to pretend she wasn’t a constantly touch-starved woman.
“I’m known to have very dexterous fingers,” she said, pulling her hand away from Jaina’s arm, letting her fingertips trail along it before she picked up her drink and sipped it. Jaina wasn’t the only one who could be categorized as touch-starved. Skye hadn’t the best of upbringings, and she tended to get most of her touches from her sexual dalliances. Which ever since she and Jemma had broken up, Skye had made Poor Life Choices. And after that last boyfriend, she was going to just stick to one-night stands or friends-with-benefits types of things.
Jaina’s eyes followed the path of Skye’s fingers, and the way she sipped at that drink. Slowly, she reached over and drew a buzzing pattern on Skye’s arm. “Mages have to be nimble to cast spells.”
She tried to think if Chloe was home or was out tonight, hoping that Skye was interested in more than flirting.
Skye shivered a bit at the buzzing pattern and she looked at where Jaina traced. “I bet. I also bet that you have quite the finesse to your touch as well.” No doubt that Jaina had quite the touch as well. Skye was certainly open to more than flirting, as far as tonight went.
“So, do you use your magic as a way to get girls? Or am I just special?”
“You’re pretty special,” Jaina admitted. She hadn’t really tried anything like this before. Not picking up someone, anyway. “Though I usually can rely on my other assets.”
Skye chuckled. “Well, your other assets are pretty damn effective, I have to say.” This hadn’t been how she’d pictured this discussion going, but she also wasn’t going to ignore the fact that Jaina was attractive. Yeah, okay, Skye was lonely, but she wasn’t about to admit that.
That made two of them. The loneliness thing. Jaina might have the occasional lover but still craved that contact. She was going to blame her dreams, wherein she always needed a nap and to quote the great poet Britney Spears, her loneliness was killing her.
Face warming up, Jaina asked. “Do you want to go back to my place?”
Of course, part of the being lonely thing may have also been Skye’s fault. She wasn’t exactly one to stay in one place for very long. She was on a search for her biological father, and tracking him down was rather difficult, so she had to be able to move at a moment’s notice if she stumbled on a hot lead.
“Sure, I’d love to,” she responded with a warm smile.
“Lets go,” Jaina murmured, leaving some money on the table. There was a swirling blue light and a rapidly shifting portal appeared. Jaina didn’t really give Skye a chance to react before she pulled her through it and emerged in her living room.
Skye finished off the remainder of her drink before she got up. Now, like any normal person, she expected to drive to Jaina’s. Even with the conversation she’d had with Jaina, she hadn’t expected a portal. So when she was pulled through and emerged in Jaina’s living room, she blinked a couple of times.
“Holy fucking hell,” she commented as she wavered on her feet and promptly fell over. She was highly disoriented from the experience.
“Exciting, isn’t it?”Jaina smiled at her, eyes alight with mischief. “Traveling through an actual wormhole!”
“I guess? Just. Give me a few. I think I left my body on the other end of the wormhole.” Skye was just going to remain there on the floor. Was she even on the floor or had she fallen onto the couch? She couldn’t tell and at the moment, she didn’t completely care either.
“That’s okay. I’m admiring the view,” Jaina said. “Would you like a nightcap?”
Skye brushed some hair out of her face and took a breath. “That would be appreciated, thank you.” Yeah, she definitely needed a stiff drink after that. “I should hopefully be good by the time you’re done pouring the drink.”
“I should have warned you.” Jaina got some glasses and a bottle, smiling apologetically. “I was too excited to show you the magic.”
“It’s alright. I mean, it could’ve been worse. I could’ve blown up or something.” Skye joked. As Jaina got the drinks, Skye managed to pick herself up and move to sit on the couch like a normal person. The room at least had stopped spinning. “Have to say, that beats driving. Or flying.”
She handed the drink to Skye, taking a seat next ther and smiling a little nervously. “I hope you like my next magic trick too.”
She took the drink with a note of thanks and took a drink. If Skye didn’t know any better, Jaina might think she had an alcohol problem. But given the whole conversation of ‘magic exists’ blowing Skye’s mind, alcohol was appropriate. “Oh yeah? What’s your next trick?” She asked, looking at Jaina.
Jaina couldn’t blame her, it was a lot to take in and she’d honestly spent half of her first month not-sober.
“The one where I show you how nimble my fingers are.”
There would probably be more days ahead when Skye preferred to be less than sober while she adjusted to the crazy that was this place. But for now? She was enjoying the company more than the alcohol.
“Now that is a magic trick I can guarantee that I’ll like,” she responded smoothly with a little smirk.