Katherine Lily Peony Davenport (whitewitching) wrote in worldsapart_ic, @ 2019-02-17 18:55:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | brett conroy, katherine davenport |
Who: Brett Conroy & Kitty Davenport
What: Saturday Morning Witch Class
When: Feb 3rd, mid-morning [backdated]
Where: Brett's home
Rating: PG
Kitty hadn't had much time to text in advance to tell Brett that she was coming over because her decision had - uncharacteristically - been last minute. She'd been looking through her mom's Book of Shadows, and her own, and there was nothing in there that would help. She could have gone to Elijah, of course, but she wanted him to think of her as completely competent and Brett was like a big sister - it was easier to ask her for help when she was totally lost. She'd made charms once or twice, bracelets and necklaces, but they'd been weak and not long-lasting and that wasn't what she needed right now. She needed something permanent. And the requirements were a little too far beyond what she was able to do. Her speciality was healing, that was what the lessons from her mom had been. Not protection. Not as much. With her bag on her shoulder and her hair in a messy bun atop her head, it was half eleven on the Sunday morning as she knocked on Brett's door, chewing her lower lip and anxiously rocking her weight from foot to foot as she waited for it to be answered, hoping that she wasn't unwelcome or interrupting something. Brett had been in the kitchen, flicking through a magazine while snacking on some raw veggies, she had a room upstairs to paint at some point, but was willing to put that off for a little bit longer. It wasn't like she had anything else going on today, it was early enough to procrastinate for a bit longer. At least until she heard the knock at the door and Leia went running past, mewing softly. Her cat's obsession with checking the door was cute sometimes, but Brett didn't have the energy to chase her down the street before getting her back inside. "Leia, in the kitchen, on you go." Brett waited for her to scurry back inside, along the hall, before opening the door and giving Kitty a wide smile. "Hey, Kitty. This is a surprise." Not an unwelcome one, sometimes Brett spent the whole weekend on her own and that led to wallowing or worse, craft projects -like the unfinished photo albums clogging up her hall cupboard. "C'mon in, you want something to drink?" Kitty looked visibly relieved when Brett opened the door with a warm smile and an offer of coming into her house. She almost deflated, half of her anxiety coming out of her immediately with the breathy laugh as she re-shouldered her bag and stepped inside. "I'm not bothering you, am I?" she asked, coming inside anyway and toeing off her shoes a little awkwardly as they were laced up. "I just- I needed to run some stuff past you and I don't- I mean I know you won't call me an idiot and tell me I'm fussing over nothing and you're much better at this stuff than I am- Hey, where's Leia?" Normally the cat was making a break for the door, she'd gotten pretty good at catching her before the furry monster escaped down the street. "Water would be fine, thank you." "Leia's in the kitchen, I already had to chase her for a block yesterday when the UPS guy dropped something off." And Brett wasn't in the mood for it again, not on a Sunday, not in her flip-flops. Just as if talking about her caused the appearance, Leia poked her head out of the kitchen, tail high in the air, a soft mew rumbling from her at the sight of someone familiar. She was a very friendly cat, rather than hissing and taking time to warm up, she was prepared to slink close to Kitty, even with unfamiliar scents around her. "You're not a bother at all, c'mon in and lay it on me." Refilling her kettle to boil up some water for a tea, Brett snagged a bottle of water from the fridge for Kitty and a glass, automatically dropping a lime and lemon slice in there while doing the same in her own tea. "You know that you don't need to worry about being perfect at whatever, right? If you're struggling, it's natural to ask someone for some help. We all do sometimes." It was almost automatic to switch on the high school counsellor role, wanting to make sure Kitty didn't feel bad for asking for help with anything. "Hey Leia, you gotta stop escaping. One day your mommy might just wait for you to come home on your own and then what'd you do?" Kitty greeted, crouching down to let the cat come close and rub her face over Kitty's hand. She gave the cat a gentle rub under the chin and then straightened up, settling at the kitchen table, bag on the floor beside her as she wriggled to get comfortable. She ended up tucking one foot underneath herself and watching Brett as she moved about the kitchen. Elbows coming to rest on the tabletop and chin in her hands, Kitty heavily and her brows furrowed. It was an instinctive response to being told that she didn't need to be perfect but she felt like she had to be. Her family was counting on it, for a start. "I know, Brett," she replied but it was about as believable as it was every time she said it. "But that's why I'm here. I'm not- this isn't- I mean I'm not good at some of this stuff that I wanna do and you're better than me so who better to ask?" She could have asked her hellhound to watch Jesse if she was that worried but she was pretty sure they'd both hate that assignment. She rubbed her hand over her face. "I met up with Jesse for breakfast the other day," she started, feeling like this needed backstory. That was hardly unusual, though, she often met up with him for breakfast, as often as she could because their schedules conflicted so much. "He told me another fight broke out in Midnight. A vampire went for him, broke a few of his ribs." It was unlikely that Leia would ever stop slipping out the door, although she thankfully never went far, mostly because she was a little scaredy cat, and partially because she was more of a princess than her namesake and the darling wasn't about to hunt for anything when there was plenty of very good food at home for her and numerous places to lounge in the sun. Firing a look at Kitty, one that she'd perfected on teenagers who constantly told her nothing was wrong, before a little prodding spilled out the issues, minor or major, that made certain aspects of the day utterly dreadful. Usually it was a fix she could work on, either through avoidance, adapting or just talking things through, but other times, like when people said they were fine, never were fine, but attempted to convince the world of it, they were harder to get through. And Brett would know. "No one is instantly good, you'll get there Kitty. And until you do, it's not a bother for you to come and ask for help, and if anyone calls you an idiot, punch them. I'll smooth it over with your dad later." At the very least, people might stop thinking or saying stuff to negatively affect some people and their observations of self-worth. Settling at the table beside Kitty, Brett sighed softly, "Should Jesse really keep working there if they're not especially good at keeping everyone from lashing out?" It was one of the reasons why Brett avoided a lot of the supernatural clubs -she didn't need to be caught between vampires and werewolves, just like those other vampires and werewolves just minding their business didn't need pulled into the stupidity either. "I know," Kitty repeated with the petulance of a younger sibling who was being told for the hundreth time something she'd heard and was annoyed that people still didn't believe her when she said she understood. "Dad probably won't worry too much if you punch someone defending me. He's been saying more and more that people are assholes." She glanced up at Brett when she came to sit beside her and folded her arms down onto the table, slouching over so she could rest her forehead on them and hide her face. It meant that her voice was slightly muffled - even to her own ears - as she responded. "He said he's fine, and that's what security's meant to do, y'know? But what happens when someone brings a weapon in? What if he gets really hurt one day and there's no one to bring him home where I can help him? What if someone brings silver in?" Her voice took on that slightly hysterical tone again, evidence that she had been spending far too much time thinking on just this eventuality and it had spiralled somewhat out of her control to become a giant, monstrous anxiety bead that was hanging over her head. "They don't do a 'check your weapons at the door' official pat down or anything, just rely on the good nature of people who wanna see naked people dance." She paused, "I don't even know if they're naked, I've never been. Do you think they get naked?" Did Jesse spend every night in the company of gorgeous, naked men and women or were they clothed and just being all sexy and sensual with clothes on? People were assholes, and while Brett knew that it was important that everyone understood that it was a possibility, she didn't want Kitty growing up (or growing up more) believing that everyone was like that, not when it was important to still see the good in places. Brett had gone through her own phase of hating the world, hating anything in it, but it didn't get you anywhere, it was important to keep moving forwards with some hope. Sipping her tea, Brett followed Kitty's spiel, even as it was muttered at the table at high speed. "Slow down and take a breath, Kitty." There was plenty that could go wrong, and it was clear that Jesse telling Kitty not to worry wasn't really stopping Kitty from worrying. "I'm sure that there will be contingencies against someone bringing in silver, it would negatively affect everyone if they did. And he probably has some friends who work there, right? He's friendly with the other employees? If they don't know how to help him they'll know how to get him somewhere that can help." Otherwise the whole organisation was a total sham. Midnight catered to too many different species to not have things in place to protect their employees. "It's a strip club, they're usually in varying states of undress -rarely fully naked, but usually just little modesty covers, you know?" She'd been a few times, usually when there was a girls night out kind of thing. But it had been a while since Brett had been on a 'girls night' anyway. Breathing as she was bidden, Kitty tried to calm her racing mind. It wasn’t working very well, but listening to Brett offer rationalisation worked much better than when Jesse had been trying to tell her with bruised ribs that everything at work was going to be okay and he wasn’t going to get hurt when he was, in fact, hurt. She rubbed her palm against the glass, lifting it to her lips and taking a sip. She could feel the cold of the water as she swallowed, hitting her tummy and making her shiver a little. Idly she wondered if Jesse thought the women at the club were beautiful, if he got another girlfriend if he’d compare her to the women that he saw when he was at work. His last girlfriend had been really tall with long dark hair. She’d had a laugh that Kitty had found annoying, though Jesse hadn’t seemed too upset when it had broken down. “I’ve never been to Midnight,” she said. “I’m not sure I want to. But the pay’s good and Jesse likes working there.” She cleared her throat. “But- I didn’t come here to ask you about strip clubs,” she mumbled sheepishly, tucking her hair behind her ear again even though there was no need to. “I want to make something for Jesse so that he’ll be warned if there’s concealed weapons, or silver. I- I just don’t know where to begin. I can do basic charms but something reactive is beyond my expertise.” She turned her head to look at Brett. “I was hoping maybe you could help?” Not everyone had the inclination to visit places that catered more for hedonism and carnal entertainment. And Brett didn’t think there was anything wrong with that at all, Kitty knew what she wanted to do and where she was comfortable, Brett was sure that if the day ever came where she wanted to give it a go, Kitty would be sensible about it. Moving away from talk of strip clubs though, Brett turned over the issue at hand in her mind, “Warning charms aren’t unheard of, I know there’s a good number to give warning of when there’s another species nearby, and I have one for warning of darker things that my grandmother worked on.” Brett had tried in the past to further refine her grandmother's charm, since it wore off exceptionally quickly and only worked once and for one wearer. It was a highly specific charm after all. “I think there’s a way to warn for potential danger to the user,” Although where she might’ve come across that one was lost on her at the moment. “Give me a second.” In the hall, just before the stairs, Brett had a set of bookcases. They were mostly filled, idle books, some glossaries, cookbooks, a manual on car maintenance for a car she no longer had. But right in the middle, taking up a whole shelf, there were numerous leather-bound journals, all with dates engraved on the spines, initials on the base of them. Tugging out the green encased one, with delicate tree etchings on the front, Brett returned to the kitchen to lay the sizeable book out. “This was Memaw’s,” her great-grandmother, “I’m pretty sure she has a few notes on reactive charms.” "That's kind of what I'm looking for," Kitty said, turning to watch Brett pad away down into the hall. She could hear shuffling and the sound of books being moved and she was - once again - exceptionally grateful for the other witch and her knowledge. Kitty was still collating and though her family had more handed-down copies of familial Book of Shadows than she could count, their spells were always very specific as their family had a role to play and it was one they held in great esteem. Unfortunately, the specificty of their craft meant that no one really ever tried anything new. She wriggled on the chair and pushed her drink out of the way when the book was placed down on the table. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally knock her drink over onto something so old and precious. "I just wanna make him something so if there's weapons or- I dunno, something that might hurt him is there he gets a warning, y'know?" She wet her lower lip and leaned forward, looking at the pages. She felt honoured; getting to see something of someone else's family history, someone else's secrets. "I appreciate you helping," she added, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Hey,” pausing in her reading through the page, Brett pushed her own hair to the other side of her shoulder, “I never mind helping, so don’t worry about it at all.” Sharing the books, under her supervision, didn’t bother Brett at all. She’d learned her craft with her mother’s friends daughter, and her siblings. So she was used to sharing information and adapting things. “Okay, here,” the writing was a little complex, since it was an exceptionally old book and Memaw’s writing had never been the best, even worse after the stroke, “this is about safety and perception, so the perception of safety to the wearer.” Charms in her family always worked better on objects rather than people, and some of them wore off faster and needed replenishing while others destroyed the item charmed after however many days, moons or warnings. “We could specify a little clearer on safety and harm, and maybe some direction toward those with ill-intent.” Since intention was 90% of danger. “See how that works?” Kitty read through the page, gently running her finger along the lines to track the movement. "I think so," she said, frowning at the page. "Do you mind if I take a photo of this? That way I don't risk copying it down wrong and have something to refer back to later." She was trying to digitise her own Book of Shadows since it was more reliable to have something in the Cloud than in something that was inherently flammable. Though she did also pull her notebook out along with her cell phone and rested both on the table. "Do you think it'd need regular top ups? Would it be easy enough to edit? I've not done anything like this before." She bit her lower lip, eyes flicking up, "Sorry- I- sorry for the questions." "Go ahead," it wasn't like photography hurt the books anymore, so Brett didn't mind in the least if Kitty wanted a little more solidity in her text. Brett's family were very old school about their practise, to the point where she had her altar in her spare room and her own reading section set up for any private tarot or palm readings she did. Her mother was a firm believer in keeping the energy in a certain space and only practising there -enough that Brett kept it up. "Questions are natural, don't apologise for being curious or seeking knowledge." Brett most certainly wouldn't tell Kitty off for asking about something she didn't understand. "But from what I remember about Memaw's charms, they do need a semi-regular top up. Think of it like nail polish, you want it look good the whole time, but you get little chips or lines from wear and tear, so you need to cover it up, or redo it. Charms that identify a certain thing, they're constantly active, always scanning for that thing. So it needs more juice more regularly." It was also why it made them semi-reliable at times too. "It depends on how specific you want to be though, casting a wide net is probably easier to alter than specifying a certain thing, there's more room for error in that. But trial and error might be the best starting point." Kitty nodded, scribbling some thoughts down in her own notebook. "I mean, I thought I wanted to just warn him about silver, but... if that's too specific then maybe something that'd just warn him about someone trying to hurt him? I mean- it's him I'm worried about." It might have sounded terrible, and she knew that Cassidy worked there too, but Jesse was her primary concern. "It looks complicated, but I think you're right, we can probably streamline it a bit?" A lot of Kitty's older books had a lot of steps in that weren't strictly necessary but had been an added layer of superstition. She'd taken a few of them out experimentally and hadn't suffered any ill effect from it. But then, often if she was doing something risky, Kyle insisted on being present just in case. Wriggling on her stool, Kitty smiled, practically vibrating with hopeful energy. "I'm so glad you can help me. Jesse won't appreciate it so much, but you know, he'll appreciate it eventually." Trimming off some areas of the charm, altering the general purpose but keeping the bones, it would tend to lead to a potential new charm itself, one that could be refined better as the charm itself took a better shape structure wise. Fundamentally, experimenting with charms was, in most cases, how to build into new charms, with new purposes. Provided they were properly researched and cast. It was probably why Brett tended more towards charms than anything else, charms and enchantments were her better practise, something she enjoyed for the solidity of it all. "Well, gearing it towards Jesse's safety could work to start, and then narrowing it down towards guarding against silver once the general structure of the charm takes hold. It's easier to refine something you know works than try to narrow something untested." But then this was what Brett lived for, altering things, building charms, finding ways to make new ones work. "I'm pretty sure, once he can tell who is going to be a problem, and he stops getting hurt, he'll be thankful for it." Macho men and their 'I'll heal' or not, the stress and duress of injuries would wear on not only Jesse but Kitty too. Kitty nodded her head, teeth catching and worrying her lower lip as she doodled around the edge of the notes she had taken, swirls and flowers as her mind whirred with ideas and possibilites, along with relief that Brett understood. It didn't matter that he healed more quickly than most, or that he'd been hurt before - and worse - on the job. The simple fact that he got hurt in the first place was distressing enough for her. "So maybe see how it works for now with just a general safety charm and then once I know that works, I can start adding specifics?" she asked, "That'd work. I could probably do that." She wanted to make one for Cassidy too, since he worked at Midnight as well and it was discomforting that he might be in the line of fire, too. And then she could make one for McKenzie, too, and a few others in the pack once she got better at it. And Elijah didn't need one, but she might make him one anyway. And she'd definitely get one - or ten - for Kyle. "Exactly, and remember that the more your fiddle, the less effective it'll be, so know when to stop, yeah?" Too many alterations would take a lot away from the magic, and constant changes might lead to changing items, or making a specific charm unusable with a certain person. But if Brett knew Kitty, and she liked to think she did, the younger witch was probably already pondering how to give her whole social circle charmed protection. "I'm sure it'll work out, and if you need any help or ideas, you can just ask, I don't mind." If this could give Kitty some peace of mind, then Brett would do what she could to help Kitty make it work. Kitty nodded, though knowing when to stop wasn't really in her vocabulary. She was a chronic overachiever and was convinced that she could be better if she just kept tweaking or changing things. It had been very difficult for her during her college years considering she'd ended up awake for days on end trying to get her essay or assignment perfect. "Yeah- I mean, I want it to work and warn them first and then after that I can build on it. I might call you when it comes to starting to try and specify stuff. I mean, would it be easier to have a separate charmed item for-" She cut herself off. "I'm getting carried away. I- I should start small, right? I don't gotta refind it just yet. Start from the bottom and work my way up..." "Small and build up," Brett nodded, starting with Jesse, getting to the point where she was happy with the charm to warn him of danger, that was the goal, Kitty just needed to stay focused on that. "You'll get there like that, and it'll be more effective because it'll have a stronger base." Which was important for everything. Having something for the roots to grip to, everything needed a strong foundation, even magic. Kitty nodded again. "I could probably just stack charms too, right? Rather than charming one thing to do multiple things, I could just... get the base and then stack other charms rather than re-charming the same thing with different requirements?" She was getting carried away again and so tucked her hair back behind her ear and just cleared her throat. "I- thanks, Brett. This'll be really helpful. Do, um, do you have anything I can eat?" She looked sheepish, "I- uh- haven't eaten yet today." "You can, so long as they don't cancel each other out, so make sure you don't overlap or alter." It would likely work better than attempted to recharm, given the cleansing requirements to stop multiple charms of the same kind bogging down until things were too convoluted. But then Kitty admitted to having not eaten yet, and Brett checked her watch. It was getting on a little bit, and while Brett did have food in the house, it was a lot of grazing food. "How about we go out instead?" Since a sandwich was fine but it was rarely filling. "Take any more pictures you want, let me grab my bag and I'll take you to lunch. We can go over any other ideas you have while we're there too." "Sounds good," Kitty said, eyes brightening. "That'd be awesome. I'll- yeah, lemme take a couple more pictures and then we can head out. I mean, once you've grabbed your bag." She smiled and lifted her phone again, humming to herself thoughtfully as she snapped photos. This was good, she felt hopeful about being able to do something practical and, if that was going to be combined with lunch? Even better. Not bad for a Saturday. |