precious_metals (precious_metals) wrote in valloic, @ 2020-06-10 16:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | ₴ inactive: hazel levesque, ₴ inactive: zatanna zatara |
WHO: Zatanna & Hazel
WHERE: Bookstore
WHEN: June 10
WHAT: Discussing magics~
WARNINGS: Nothing rly
STATUS: Complete
Zatanna loved visiting bookstores - especially those hidden gems, and there were a few back home. Here in Vallo, she had yet to make those discoveries but since she still had days free and was figuring out what kind of job she wanted to get (and what kind of daycare to put Leo in - she was a bit wary of an actual business-daycare type place with a lot of other kids because those sorts of places were germ factories), she had time to do some exploring. Leo was with her now, in fact, and he was as stubborn as his father so he didn’t care for the stroller (hadn’t for some time, in fact) but preferred to walk instead - which was fine with her, because the stroller was a pain to lug around. Though the problem was his little toddler legs took about a hundred steps for every two of her adult steps, and he got to the point where he wanted to be carried. That whole ‘I want to be independent, no, I want to feel safe with my mom’ cycle - so she scooped him up, obliging his whims. The bookstore they wandered into seemed quaint and charming - it was bright and airy, housed under a stained glass skylight, with books organized by the color of the spines. Leo spent some time in the rainbow kids section, picking out a couple things (he couldn’t read yet, of course, but he recognized his favorites by their covers), before deciding he wanted to poke around more - Zee caught up with him, taking his hand so he didn’t put starfish fingers all over the wares, and when they rounded the corner they almost ran into someone. Leo offered a copy of his favorite, Llama Llama Red Pajama, because he thought everyone should want to read this book, clearly - but Zee chuckled, plucking it from his hands and putting it back into their shopping basket. “It’s his favorite, sorry,” she explained. “I guess he wanted to share the love.” Hazel had found a library that she hadn’t been to before. She was trying to find various books in Latin. Ones that weren’t just magic. Sabrina had magic books in Latin and that was really nice. She was particularly happy to know that she could at least read magic books without the letters dancing and moving and making her feel like she’d just gotten more stupid. Her back up had been mostly the audiobooks. Those seemed to work easier for her and then she could just take notes in Latin. After a while of looking, she settled on the knowledge that she was probably going to be stuck with audiobooks and made her way to look at the art books they had. There wasn’t an art class at the school, but she was determined to keep learning and practicing until she got better. She was determined to fill her apartment with pictures and drawings of the people that she missed from home. The six other demigods from their Argo II monthly meetings, her mom, and probably her dad. If only so she could see if she could capture the suit in all it’s ‘has the souls of dead people trapped in it’ glory. She might not be able to get the same movement, but she could try. She had a feeling she wanted to do this in oil pastels. She thought it might be even better than colored pencils. She’d have to stop at the art store later for those. Nearly being run into by a child wasn’t exactly the most surprising thing that happened, but she definitely startled all the same. She looked down at the book he held out to her for a moment. “It’s okay,” she said after a while. “I get wanting to share things that you really like.” She glanced down at Leo, giving him a small smile. She’d never really been around kids before outside of the ones she helped Geralt with. “Thank you for the thought. Maybe you can tell me about it later.” Leo’s grin was toothy and friendly - his mother tried to impart ‘stranger danger’ but he just seemed to want to talk to everyone. Ah, well. She was here to keep an eye on him now and it could be worse - he could hate it in Vallo, but so far he seemed to be adjusting decently. “My name’s Leo!” said the toddler. Bold as brass, apparently. “He would love to tell you about it later,” Zatanna smiled, warm and fond. “But yes, this is Leo. I’m Zatanna - call me Zee.” It was probable that she’d talked to the girl before, a fellow Outlander on the network - but it was so hard to tell based on a teeny, tiny picture. She glanced up then, noting what section they were actually in. “Are you an artist?” Leo. She smiled for a moment. “Like Leonardo, right?” She couldn’t forget that conversation because it reminded her of home for the umpteenth time. She felt like everything reminded her of home somehow. “Hi, Zee. I’m Hazel.” She glanced at the books in front of her. “I’m...not really? I mean, my dad got me colored pencils once when I was thirteen, but that was a really long time ago.” Which didn’t seem like it because she was only fifteen now, but she’d been dead for a long time between thirteen and fifteen. “I just got myself more colored pencils recently and I’m trying to work on it. I’d like to make portraits of people from home to hang up in my apartment. Kind of a way to have them without having them, you know?” She shrugged. “I’ve never really had a lot of time on my hand before. We’re always fighting things at home or training. I don’t know. I’ve never just been a teenager before. Not sure how to do it.” Ah, yes. Zee remembered talking to Hazel on the network. She seemed nice, mature for her age - that was further confirmed when she said she had never just been a teenager before, which seemed sad in a way. Zee’s own upbringing was far from typical - she wasn’t a demigod or anything, but the circus wasn’t what she’d call stable. Every six to ten weeks she’d pack up her few belongings and move to another city, hoping the apartment she’d rented with her parents (when they were still alive) was okay - sometimes it was, sometimes it had mold in the walls. It just depended. “I think you kind of just go with what feels right?” she suggested, giving Leo one of his selected books so he’d have something to look at while mom conversed. “Practicing art doesn’t seem like a bad way to do it. And portraits to remind you of people who aren’t here are a good idea.” She squinted thoughtfully, recalling other bits and pieces of that conversation. “You had magic from your mother too, right? Divination?” It was something she could sense - magic had a fragrance to it. Heated and spiced, it always prickled her senses a little when she was around others who tapped into that otherworldly pool and in the presence of old magic, ancient and intelligent. Spellcasters had a steep history, after all. Magic itself was nothing new. She nodded at Zee’s words. She was probably right. It just seemed like a mostly confusing situation right now. She would undoubtedly figure it out eventually. She was just glad that most adults here didn’t seem to discredit her based on her age and Gladio had been good about making sure things were easier for school lessons. She just didn’t know how to relax. Her mind was built to always be working and sensing and preparing for some sort of battle. “It seemed like one of the better ideas.” The magic thing was a bit uncertain for her, though. “I have magic, but all I know how to do is manipulate the Mist.” She pressed her lips together. “But Mom did some fortune telling and talking to spirits. Apparently at least one spell. To summon my dad.” But she never really considered talking to ghosts as a thing really because they had Lares and they were always around. Maybe it was something to tap into here if there were some. “But I can hide things with the Mist, move things, move myself, create illusions. I had to learn on my own to protect us and to fight Pasiphaë.” Learning on your own, at any age, was rough. When Zatanna’s magic came back to her, throughout the course of dreaming, it wasn’t without some snafus. She didn’t learn everything all at once either - of course, having her library from Shadowcrest show up was also very useful. It was endlessly packed with spellbooks and other magical tomes - she wished she had them here, but maybe everything would show up at some point. She had to admit she’d prefer her own home over a two-bedroom apartment in an unfamiliar building. There was a lot that was familiar and comforting about Shadowcrest, a lot she wanted to share with Leo too. “Well, once I can get my hands on a decent tarot deck - I’d be happy to teach you a few things,” she offered. “Or some other kind of divination tool. Maybe stones, or the like. Reading tea leaves is also something I can show you. If you want.” It didn’t seem like Hazel had anyone to show her here, so, Zee was more than willing. Sabrina had spellbooks and Hazel was supposed to look at them because they were in Latin. She also trusted Sabrina, but she wasn’t sure she was nearly as confident in her ability to learn magic. She’d taught herself mistiokinesis and she was so much stronger since she started with that, but that was knowing she could do it because Hecate had told her she could. Anything else was up in the air. And it wasn’t like she’d looked into other kinds of magic or asked Hecate if she could do anything else. Now she wished she had. There was an awkwardness that settled over her in that moment that she wasn’t sure she’d experienced in a while and she was glad that she was indoors. She was Praetor now and she should put a more confident foot forward. “I’d like that, thanks. My friend Sabrina has been talking about starting a coven of magic people here. With just the people that have come here from other worlds. It sounds nice to have people to help, but I feel like almost everyone is way ahead of me.” She shrugged. “Kind of like school. I missed a lot of history, so I’m still learning new things.” “Oh, right, I remember her mentioning the coven,” Zee nodded; her words were spoken over Leo’s mommy, mommy, mommy repeated ad nauseum, of course, and tugging at her shirt. She knew what he wanted - so he rummaged through her purse (which was really more of a beach bag at this point) and gave him a few animal crackers to munch on. The books were placed back in the shopping basket. She’d pay for them first, before her toddler got his grubby hands on them. “I plan to join. But you’re right, if you’re first learning something, one-on-one is a little better. I’m sure learning divination with a group could get overwhelming. You’re on summer break from school, right?” she guessed. “We can work something out during the day.” Maybe start with tasseomancy - have a cup of tea and study the leaf squiggles left behind. Hazel glanced at Leo for a second, smiling a little as he chewed on the animal crackers. Her mom hadn’t ever been like that with her that she remembered. She guessed she might have been too young to remember. But she didn’t linger too much on it, turning her attention back to Zee. “Yeah. It’d be nice.” She liked Sabrina because they were friends and she wanted to feel like she was a part of something on some end. She knew, in a way, she was, but it felt like she couldn’t stop missing home or Camp. “Yeah. But I’m still catching up on things, I guess. I missed almost seventy years.” She smiled. “But yeah. That should work. I help out with the horses at Skyhold, but I think that mostly that’s pretty flexible.” She’d never tried to really pay attention to tea leaves and she wasn’t even sure it would make that much sense. Seventy years, well, alright. People had different lives here, they came from different worlds - it was a lot to grasp, but at the very least, Zatanna liked meeting new people. If she was going to be stuck here, she’d prefer to get to know those who were also stuck here and at the whims of magic that felt ancient. And far too powerful to be comprehended. “Alright, then I’ll let you know as soon as I get a tarot deck,” she promised. She had one at home, of course, one that was also very old and one that she had a connection to - that was important, when practicing divination. You had to have a connection with and a respect for the tools that you used. “We can start there. Save the ghosts for...maybe the fifth meeting or so.” She was teasing. Though she could communicate with spirits, it wasn’t exactly a good starting point. Baby steps - you couldn’t walk before you crawled, and so forth. Hazel smiled a little. “The dead are a little easier. But then I’m used to them. And my dad is sort of Lord of the Underworld.” She shrugged slightly. “But I guess the Lares don’t count cause they’re always around. My brother can do necromancy, but I’ve never tried that. I can control skeletons, though.” That was more because of their father than magic. She could do a lot of things due to being a demigod. It was hard, sometimes, to be certain what could be magic and what was because of her dad. She assumed most of it was her dad. She’d just been told that the mistiokinesis was from her mom. “I’ll wait to hear about the tarot deck, though.” Perhaps with some practice, Hazel could figure out what she was capable of - you never knew until you tried, right? Zee herself had pushed her own limits and participated in some trial and error. “I at least know what you mean about complicated family lineages,” she laughed a little. “I’ll explain it sometime.” For a long time, she hadn’t even known who her own mother was, what legacy she’d left behind after she passed on. It was a strange, hollow feeling - then when she first heard the words Homo magi, she yearned to know more. To uncover answers. And she hadn’t been as young as Hazel either. She could imagine the girl’s curiosity was quite substantial. “I should get him back,” she decided, scooping Leo up and balancing him against her hip. Her basket of books was placed over her opposite arm, like some stage show Red Riding Hood. “It was nice seeing you though, Hazel. I hope I can help a little.” Hazel smiled a little. She was sure that demigods couldn’t be the only ones with interesting family lineages. She was related to a lot of important people. Not all of them good. But only on her godly side and she had a lot of godly family that she tried not to think about too much. She’d never date anyone if she thought about it too much. And she really liked Frank too much to let his being related on the godly side of things affect anything. “I’m sure it’s an interesting story.” When Zee picked Leo up, she waved to him before looking back at his mom. “It was nice to meet you in person. I hope you have a good rest of your day.” |