what doesn't kill you makes you stronger? Date: Monday, September 14th, 2015 Time: Nighttime. Location: The foresty area before the Manor. Characters: Ozias Fawkes and Cassidy Lark Description: Cass and Oz go on a date outing, and get attacked by a Wendigo. Status/Rating: Private, complete, pg-13.
Dinner was nice. It wasn’t like a date or anything, but just a fun time hanging out with Ozias. At least, that’s what Cassidy kept telling herself. “Tonight was fun.” She finally said out loud, as she drove them away from the city and towards the windy road that lead to where Azoth Manor was. It was a bit of a drive - first the road itself and then through the enchantments and to the house. Quiet, and somewhat secluded in a way. Not just by magic, but by atmosphere alone. “The movie was pretty co---”
Cassidy’s eyes went blank. She stared straight ahead like she was looking at the road, but you could tell she wasn’t actually looking at anything anyone else could see. She was having a vision. The car drifted dangerously to the side. Her face looked concerned, blank, and frightened all at once. Her grip on the wheel slacked and the wheels turned, quickly shifting the car off the main road and into the grass, heading straight for a tree.
---
They weren't really dating or acknowledging their own emotions toward each other. They were just making up for lost time and spending as much time together as possible. As friends.
But Oz was used to that ten yard stare Cassidy got when she had a vision. And even if he wasn't, he wasn't passive enough to shake her whole the car veered off the road. Oz grabbed the wheel, jerking it hard so that they narrowly miss the tree. He lowered his hand to the emergency brake and jerked in on, because he couldn't do anything about her foot still being on the gas.
"Cass," he said, sounding calm in a far away kind of manner. "What do you see?"
---
It took a moment for her to come back, looking mildly bewildered at them off the side of the road and nearly in all the trees. She looked up at Oz with her eyes still wide before she looked past him out the window and then back at him, all very quickly.
"OZ, RUN!" She yelled, yanking her seatbelt off and throwing open the door. "WENDIGO!" She shouted at him running towards his door to pull him out of there. "I don't know where it is but I think we have just about five s---"
Cassidy let out a blood curdling scream as the Wendigo grabbed her and started to drag her away.
---
The option to run evaporated as soon Cassidy was grabbed. She’d pulled him out of the car with slight help from him - he did unbuckle himself, after all - and then she’d been torn from him. His eyes widened and he saw a multitude of possibilities in his head. He knew all of them were possible but none of them were definitive, because that, obviously, wasn’t his ability. So he didn’t run away, as was the original plan, he run after them, because that Wendigo picked a shit couple to attack tonight, and Oz planned on showing him exactly why that was.
---
Cass had no defense for this. Well - not really. Diviners did not have much offensive magic, and she only knew a few spells. None would really work against a Wendigo and not at this angle and she couldn’t even think, she’d had so little time to prepare for it all. There was a silver-bladed knife strapped to her ankle (as there always was one somewhere on her persons) but she couldn’t get to it. Cassidy tried to twist her leg up to herself to get the knife, but it was an impossible position.
Instead, she wriggled as much as she could, grabbed on to whatever was nearest. She could feel the skin on her hands tearing up as she grabbed onto rocks, tree branches, anything she could get a grip onto. It slowed the Wendigo down maybe the slightest bit, but it kept marching on without a care.
---
Wendigos were notoriously fast and strong, but they also.. y’know, notoriously ate their victims. And while Oz could be fast and strong himself, he couldn’t go full out into attack mode, because Cassidy was so close to the thing. Which meant they needed to slow it down more than Cassidy’s attempts did, and get her out of the range of attack altogether.
He saw her twisting a bit, and got a hint at what she was doing. From what he could tell, all arcanists carried silver on them - it killed the widest range of shadowkind. He carried silver on him. But he didn’t go for his, because if he threw it and missed, he’d probably hit Cassidy, which would kind of defeat the purpose of even trying. So instead, he used a mild telekinesis spell to reach what she couldn’t reach, the knife at her ankle. It pulled free without either of them touching it, and lifted into the air, right in front of Cassidy. Then he untucked his own blade from a sheath on his arm.
---
She felt the blade tug at her ankle and slide out of its holder. Ozias was a fucking genius. Once the blade was close enough, she grabbed it and clutched it in her hand, twisting one last time so she could sort of sit herself up.
Once in that position, she took a wild slash at the Wendigo's arm. The silver burned at it and it let go, giving Cassidy just enough time to stand and run towards Oz, though not directly at him because she saw the weapon in his hand and didn't want to block his shit.
"KILL IT!" She yelled at him, not even needing to look back to know the Wendigo had recovered and was kicking it in gear to recover its lost pray - to recover her.
---
Oz didn’t hesitate. Once Cass was clear, Oz pulled back his arm and threw the blade. It was slightly larger than the one he’d freed for Cass, half the length of his forearm. The blade hit the wendigo dead center in its throat, and Oz opened his hand as he used a spell for telekinesis to tear the blade back out of the wendigo’s throat. That was the bright side of telekinesis. He might not be able to move trucks or normal sized people, but weapons? Yeah. He learned to take advantage of it. He caught the blade and threw it again, making the wound in the Wendigo’s neck larger.
He tore the blade out a second time, advancing on the wendigo the entire time. The silver made it hard for the creature to recover, but the speed in which Oz was stabbing it in the neck made it nearly impossible. He snatched the blade from the air as it returned to him, and when he stabbed it a third time, he did it without throwing the blade, and the force of his stab, cut the blade clean through the wendigo’s neck.
---
Once she was in the clear, and behind Ozias, Cassidy turned to watch Ozias kill the Wendigo. It was brutal, and a little frightening, but it made her feel better. Protected. Transmuters were the protectors, the warriors of all the Arcanists, and when she saw Ozias kill that Wendigo - admittedly, the first time she had really seen anyone kill any Shadowkind, she immediately knew why. Oz was a warrior, born and bred to be. Even if he was so many other things, too, she could see it in his face, in his eyes.
It was a little terrifying, but she liked it.
The Wendigo died without much struggle - though it attempted to fight, silver was fatal to most Shadowkind and severely impaired them. In the throat, a difficult wound to begin with plus being laced with silver - meant that the Wendigo could hardly struggle back and put up more of a fight. Had they been caught more off guard, it might have been worse, but then they were Arcanists - they were supposed to be able to fight things like this.
When it was dead, Cassidy stepped up besides Ozias and put her hand calmly on his, the one holding the knife, and looked up at him.
---
Oz felt the urge to keep stabbing the Wendigo until the head was entirely severed from its body. He was so intent on putting the creature down, that when Cassidy touched him, he jumped. But then the look of vengeance of left his eyes as he met hers, returning them to the much more mellow, softer glint they’d always had in front of her.
“So that was intense,” he said after a moment, sounding surprised himself. .
---
She saw that look in his eyes, watched as it disappeared when he came out from whatever zone he had just been in. “Yeah, just a bit.” She said, ignoring the fact that she felt like her ankle was probably broken or at least very badly sprained. Ignoring that her hands stung and she was pretty sure her face was a bit bruised and cut up. Oz had blood on him - she was sure it was the Wendigo’s, but she wasn’t positive.
“Are you hurt?”
---
Oz patted himself down. His hands were bloody, having been splattered while he’d stabbed the creature’s neck. But he didn’t feel injured. He knew it could be an adrenaline high, or heightened emotion that masked the pain, but it probably wasn’t anything lethal, if it was anything at all. “No,” he decided. “You’re bleeding, though,” he said, reaching to cup Cass’s face.
---
Her heart was already racing from the near death experience and running and all, but she knew if she were in a clearer mindset her heart would race anyway, with Oz's hand in her face like that. It was easy to ignore the pain she felt at the moment, adrenaline and all, but she knew she would be feeling it soon.
"I'm not dead." She replied, staring up at him, "That was... something else, Oz." She didn't move, searching his face for a moment. "My ankle - something's wrong with it." She finally said.
---
She wasn’t dead, but of the two, she’d obviously been the one in more danger, more chance of getting hurt. Oz looked sheepish when she said it was something else. He’d spent the very very mass majority of his time alive training, because that was what transmutation was, it was what they did. They trained, they enforced, they made sure they could survive. But he wasn’t a protector, he wasn’t anybody in charge or important, it wasn’t like he had a lot of experience killing shadowkind yet. He just had the instincts to be capable of doing it. And this was probably the first time she’d ever seen those instincts in any capacity beyond how clever he could be in an argument.
But then he heard that her ankle hurt, that something was wrong with it, and he completely forgot about what she’d been saying before. “Your car,” he said, glancing behind them, back to where they’d left her car, but they’d gotten so far from the car in the struggle with the Wendigo that he couldn’t see it behind them anymore. “I’m kinda not a doctor - yet - but I can - I’ll carry you. Does it hurt? Is it broken? I could probably make a splint. How did you even run on a broken ankle, Cassidy, do you know how dangerous that is for the bone?”
---
This was one of those times Cassidy knew she’d never forget. Not just because of the Wendigo, not just because she’d been hurt or they’d been in danger. It was the look Ozias had on his face when he killed it. She would never forget that look, that moment, his eyes. She could still see a faint trace of it. Whether she was imagining that trace or not was up for debate, but it haunted her. Not necessarily in a bad way, but, she could just… It wasn’t something that could be unseen.
“Well, it was run on a broken ankle or get ripped into little pieces by a Wendigo.” She replied, shrugging casually. “I voted for ankle. I’d rather lose one little bit of limb than you know, all my limbs.” She gave him a little smile before looking down at the dead and decaying Wendigo. They’d need to dispose of it at some point, but she didn’t want to do it now - she wanted to go back home. Someone else could dispose of it.
“I don’t know if it’s broken, though. I mean, it doesn’t hurt all that bad right now. But I think if I put more weight on it, it will, and I don’t really want to test that theory. Besides, you’re the almost doctor who isn’t a doctor, yet. Not me.”
---
“Okay well first, as a doctor, don’t be dramatic, you weren’t that close to being torn apart.” She had been. “I would’ve never let that happen. And second, holy shit, your ankle is not ‘one little bit of limb’ it’s the thing that makes the whole limb function like a limb and not like .. an ankleless tentacle. Why do you think Octopuses - octopi - move like that, they don’t have ankles. And third, I’m giving you a piggy back ride.” Perhaps the look she’d seen on her face would haunt her, but in this moment, it was as if it’d never even happened for Oz. He’d just immediately reverted back to the way he’d always been with her.
---
Cassidy had to roll her eyes. “A piggy back ride is going to jar my ankle.” She pointed out, knowing that first she’d have to hop up there, which was much more difficult with one working leg. Then, of course, he’d be putting pressure near it by holding onto her legs as they walked and the bouncing movement would cause it to swing. “But you can’t drive the car over here - fuck, is the car even running? We didn’t hit anything did we?”
She hadn’t even come to until after the car was stopped, really, and she was in such a panic that she just fled the car without even noticing if it was still running or not. “Should we just call someone?” She asked, looking worried now. As the adrenaline started to wear off, she could feel herself getting more upset about the whole ordeal. Cassidy leaned into Oz’s chest, pulling him into a hug and letting out a deep sigh.
---
Despite their bickering, Oz wrapped his arms around her and held her without hesitation. “You didn’t hit anything,” he murmured. “But since we already ran into one, I don’t think waiting around in the same area’s the best idea. I’m gonna carry you, and I’m gonna be as gentle as possible, but I think, in my humble, doctor opinion, we need to get the fuck out of here.”
---
“Okay.” She said, not wanting to let go of the hug but knowing they did, in fact, have to get out of there. Shadowkind didn’t usually hang out together, and as far as she knew Wendigos were solo creatures, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something else nearby. “Let’s go, then.” She finally let go, but still held her arms out, like she was waiting for him to pick her up.
---
Oz kinda wanted to stay here and spend a couple more hours hugging her if he were being honest. But he’d been taught better than that. You don’t lick your wounds until you’re back in safety. They weren’t safe out here, not yet. So he picked her up, mostly bridle style, with an arm around her back, and another one under the bend of her knee. He made it look easy, as if he had a plethora of muscles that weren’t very obvious on him.
Once he had her secure in his arms, he started back toward their car, walking carefully, to not jostle her. “Did I look like a psycho?” He blurted out after walking in silence for a minute. “When I was killing it? Did I look like a psycho?”
---
He lifted her so gently it almost didn’t bother her at all. Almost. She winced just the slightest, but Cassidy wasn’t known to wallow in her own sadness or pain. She took it like a champ, and after a brief moment she let out a long, slow breath and did her best to not tense up. If she fought Oz’s carrying her, it would just jostle her more. Unsurprisingly, she found herself quite comfortable in his arms.
Surprised by his question, Cassidy’s face reflected her shock at his question and she shook her head firmly. “No, you didn’t.” She replied, though she gave a moment of thought after that, to try and find the right words to use. “You looked intense, but it was more than that. It sounds silly but you looked… fierce. Kind of frightening, but in a good way. Like, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that - but since I wasn’t, I can appreciate the kind of fighter you are. You know, the warrior you are.”
---
Oz made a face. Fierce. He could get behind that. Nobody had ever really said he’d looked fierce before. Or frightening, actually. He hadn’t ever really needed to He could get intense, when he was focused on something but scary wasn’t really his area of expertise. Frightening in a good way… he could live with that. He just didn’t want it to change anything, like how she looked at him. He didn’t want to freak her out.
“Oh, okay, good,” he said. Then he dropped it for a few more minutes, before blurting out, “because I know stuff like that’s not really what we do together. So I don’t want it to change how we act or look or think about each other. Just because I tried to tear off a wendigo’s head, partially with my bare hands. Which kind of feels like something a complete lunatic would do.”
---
If she hadn’t been in his arms, she would have stopped him. But he was in control of the movement here, so instead, she lifted her hand and gripped his face, forcing him to look at her. “All it does is reassure me that when I’m with you, I’m protected. I’m safe. If I was alone, or maybe with someone else, I could have died. That was a very real possibility.” She replied, still holding his face in her hand - more gently now.
“But I didn’t. Because you sprung into action and killed it before it could kill us. It changes nothing.” She wanted him to know that, to be sure. She did look at him differently, she had seen that face. But it wasn’t a bad thing, and it certainly didn’t change anything between them.
---
Oz did stop, when Cassidy grabbed his face and forced him to look at her. He looked young, as he stared at her, and listened to her speak. Pep talks were always weird to him, because he never really received them, but that was basically what this was. Which also felt weird for them, given that half of their conversations was mostly just about bickering. They usually weren’t this bluntly nice to eachother.
It took him a minute before he could nod and process her words. “Okay, good,” he repeated again, this time quieter. Because not changing was what he wanted. He didn’t want her opinion of him to change. He liked her opinion of him. But this also reminded him that if she’d been alone or with someone else, she could’ve died. It reminded him that if they were going to figure out what happened to their parents, to fill into their shoes, maybe it wasn’t good enough that transmutation alone could fight this well. Maybe they all should learn. This was a new era, regardless of whether or not they found their parents. Maybe it was time to start taking matters into their own hands, and become more proactive.
“We need to train harder,” he said. “I’ve never killed a shadowkind before, and you almost got eaten. We’re too green.”
---
“I know.” She said, sighing. She let go of his face and just leaned into his body as they walked, closing her eyes as she pressed her forehead into his chest. “We do. There are so few defensive spells that we, as Diviners, can even do… And I admit I don’t know them all.” She relied far too frequently on her visions - but tonight proved just how bad that plan was. There were plenty of times she had seen what was coming, avoided it, done something - but that’s just not how it worked, not all the time.
She could train harder, she was decently skilled at fighting, but she could learn every spell that would possibly help her and make sure they weren't’ in that situation again. “The easy way for me though, is just to make sure you go with me everywhere.” She replied, smirking a little even if he couldn’t see it because she still had her face turned down towards his chest. “You can be my personal body guard.”
---
That was probably part of the problem. They all relied too heavily on their magic, their visions, their spells. Their parents were more experienced. They could do more. But what they were left with now? All they had were spells. It was rare for Ozias to be more serious than Cassidy. “I already thought of that,” he admitted. “And obviously it’s gonna happen,” he said casually, dismissively, because of course he was going to follow her everywhere, she could die at any minute now. “But I don’t think relying entirely on defensive spells is an awesome idea either. What if we rewrite our entire system, and become more proactive in our defenses? And learn to fight better. We don’t have any old people to take after now. We could take after ourselves and decide how we want to survive. If the others will stop being little bitches and agree to work with us.”
---
“I have learned how to fight. You try pulling a knife out of your ankle while being dragged across a foresty type floor.” She responded, her face setting into a distinctive frown, which she did lift up to show him. But she liked the idea of Ozias never leaving her alone, being by her side at all times. Even if he got annoying, or they bickered about everything. Like about Octopi and why its a bad idea to run on an ankle that might be broken even if you are trying to escape the thing that maybe broke it. Spending time with Oz made her happy.
“But I’ll suggest it - you know, more physical training sessions. Not to rely on our magic. What happens if we can’t use it for some reason? Everyone should know at least basic self defense, whether or not its particularly helpful against Shadowkind is one thing - but its still good to know at least that.” She sighed again, wincing a little as Oz took a slightly harder step and her ankle jerked. “Are we almost there. Are you going to make me hot coco and tuck me into bed and generally baby me because I’m hurt and almost died?”
---
He wasn’t suggesting she’d been a damsel in distress or anything, which he opened his mouth to point out, but the prospect of tucking her into bed and babying her kind of made him stop caring about that technicality. “I kind of have to, don’t I, since I’m gonna be there anyway. The car’s up ahead,” he added. “And for the record, I never said you’re shit at fighting.” He smiled faintly, because he could feel the challenge coming on, and she could probably guess where this was going too. “But after you feel better, if you want me to give you any pointers on fighting, I’m still gonna be in the exact same room as you. Always. Forever. Like a vaguely benign stalker.”
---
The whole horrible situation had been made slightly better, knowing that Oz was going to stay with her all night. She felt like something was off still, and knowing if she had a nightmare or a bad vision, there'd be someone there to comfort her? The thought alone put her mind at ease.
Oz followed up the nice sentiment by offering her lessons. Normally, that would have been a time to argue, about how she didn't need them or was he just trying to point out how inferior she was? But she didn't argue. She was quiet for a moment before she simply nodded her head. Just flat out agreed.
"You're right. When I get this ankle all healed up, I'd like that."
---
Oz’s gaze snapped from the path in front of them to Cass’s. Never in their entire time of knowing eachother had she just agreed so easily and quickly with him. Especially when there was an opportunity to challenge him - he’d made it so easy for her. He eyed her closely, suspiciously for a minute, before coming to a stop beside her car. “Are you agreeing with me to fuck with me?” He asked, gently lowering her back down to her feet. Or … foot, really.
---
She carefully placed her foot down as he eased her back into a standing position - doing her best not to lose her balance on the uneven ground. Once she was steadied, she rose a brow at Oz's question. "No, I'm not. I just think you're right." There had been plenty of times Cassidy thought he was right and she'd argued anyway, for the fun of it. Because it's what they did. But she had to be serious - think seriously, and he was right. And she did want to be more prepared. And she did want him to teach her. "I mean it, Oz. Honestly."
---
Oz let himself smile, slightly sheepish, slightly roguish. “I just think you’re right. There’s something everybody should say to me every minute of the day,” he said, as he reached around Cassidy to open the car door for her. “You okay to get in on your own?” He asked, which made his previous joke sound fake followed by his genuine concern. “You need help?”
---
“Don’t get a big head Oz, it was one time.” She replied with a grin, before his genuine concern caught her slightly off guard. Did she need help getting into the car? Really? But she knew he was just worried, and she smiled in response and shook her head. “No, it’s just one little ankle. Remember how we talked before about how irrelevant the ankle is?” She was teasing, obviously, and as she opened the door she demonstrated that she was still capable of getting in the car - particularly with a door and frame to help her out as she hopped inside the passenger seat.
---
Oz resisted the urge to point out, again, that the ankle was entirely not irrelevant, but he did stay there, somewhat hovering over Cassidy while she demonstrated that she could totally get in the car on her own. Only once she was in it did he move around to the other side.
They hadn’t turned off the car. Cassidy hadn’t even closed her door. He slid into the passenger seat, closing the door and tugged on the seat belt. Then he released the parking break, and began backing the car out of the wooded area, back onto the main road. He did it slowly, mostly in an attempt to not jostle Cassidy’s leg with the uneven terrain. “So that was, we survived,” he noted, as he finally made it back onto the main road, and began them once again on their way back to the manor. “I’m not saying that was a date, but if it were … it would be a pretty remarkable first date. If it were.”
---
What a waste of gas. She was glad they were safe and now that the danger was gone, Cass felt slight irritation about the car having been left on that whole time. Nothing they could do about it, but still. Ignoring that minor frustration, she watched as Oz got in the car and so very carefully took them back to the main road.
Just to call what the whole night had been not a date. Which essentially meant he was calling it a date.
Cassidy turned to stare at him fully for a few moments. She let the silence sort of spread out and fill the car before finally responding. "It could be a date." A small shrug was given, as if the title of date or not didn't really matter. But if he could hear her heart speed up, he would know the answer did matter. To her, at least. "If you wanted it to be. If you feel that way."
---
Oz glanced at Cassidy. She made it sound so careless, like she didn’t have a stake in this. Then he glanced back at the main road. “Nah, I don’t want it to be a date,” he decided. Which was extremely blunt, but that was kind of the guy Ozias was. He didn’t glance back at her to gauge her reaction. “When we have our first date, it’s going to be intentional. And it’s not going to end in attempted murder. And I’m not gonna be wearing jeans. It’s gonna be planned. So that wasn’t a date.”
---
If he had left it at that, Cass’s face would have revealed the absolute devastation she felt. However, he did edit his answer in a way that meant the look on her face dissipated into something a little more pleasant. “Yeah. If we’re going to have a first date, a real date, I want it to be a little less life-threatening.” She replied, giving him a little look out of the corner of her eye, trying to gauge his reactions. She never knew with Oz, it drove her nuts. Maybe it was her own emotions clouding her ability, but she just couldn’t pin it down. Was he into her? Really? Did he really want that date? It was driving her absolutely mad not to know for sure.
---
Oz was still trying to figure out what he felt himself. As a Fawkes, his own emotions wasn’t supposed to cloud anything, least of all his judgment, but Oz hadn’t ever really gotten that memo. Even during training exercises, sometimes his emotions had impaired his ability to finish the given task. He didn’t know how he felt about Cassidy, because he’d known her for so long, and he’d never really had to think about it. It wasn’t a test, it just came natural for them. It was the one thing he’d never felt prone to question. But now, he wasn’t sure if the fact that they were spending so much together was starting to change how they viewed each other. This wasn’t sleep away camp, and they weren’t twelve anymore.
But he figured, why not? If he didn’t know what the fuck was going on, then why not just figure it out? Oz glanced at her again, from the side of his eye. “Want to go on a date with me?” He asked. “For real?” he added seriously.
---
Cassidy was in the same mind set. Things with Ozias had always been fun and nice. They had grown up together, and even though he was younger, his trouble-making ways and his general personality had always drawn her to him. Even as kids, she had found it fun to bother him, and maybe felt a bit like it was her responsibility to keep him out of trouble. Not that she ever really did, and mostly it just brought her in on the trouble too. But it had been fun.
So to have had these moments, where she could tell what he was thinking about her and she was sure he had caught on to her own thoughts about him, that were more than just friendly… It was confusing, and made her question where their lifelong friendship might lead. Would it be worth it, in the end, to take the friendship to a different level? These were things that normally she would feel so confident about…
But he did it. He went ahead and asked her on a real date and Cassidy didn’t even hesitate with her response. “Yes. I would like that. For real, a real date.”
---
Oz smiled. This was going to change things, whether or not those changes were good, but that was okay. He wanted to see what the changes would be. And if Cass saw some kind of prospect in this idea, some reason why it wasn’t a bad idea, then it just wasn’t. Cass was rarely wrong. Her judgment made him more confident, but he hadn’t really not been confident to start with. “Good,” he said.
“But you can’t expect a whole lot from the date, because we’re in different generations, us young kids aren’t as refined as our elders, okay?” He added.
---
Cassidy rolled her eyes at his statement. “Insulting my elder prowess right after asking me on a date. Classic, Oz. Fantastic move.” She smirked at him, shaking her head. He had always teased her about being older, she was glad that wasn’t changing. It was nice, she liked to joke with Oz. She didn’t want things to be different between them in that sense, just because now there might be more than just friendship going on where there hadn’t ever been any before.
“But I still expect a nice date. I’m going to wear something nice. Probably in heels, if we can get my ankle all fixed up. So, be prepared for that.”
---
Oz smirked. “Yeah, but you love that about me,” he said casually, confidently, as if the words didn’t quite register to him as anything but true and obvious. He was already mentally attempting to prepare himself for a Cassidy in something nice and heels, which wasn’t hard, because she always looked nice, even when they were kids and she was being annoying.
“Can’t be hard to prepare. You always dress nice,” he said, just as casually. “I’m going to wear something nice too, which should be harder to imagine. And .. probably not heels. What if I made you some new shoes,” he said, actually - impressively - interrupting himself this time. “In school, I’ve been studying biomechanics. And this is super not the same thing, but I actually got good at learning how to build things. But what if I made you new shoes, that are a little more metallic, like the same way tap shoes are. Because heels would be pretty badass to kill someone with, right? All they’d have to be is made out of silver. It’d be easier than concealing a weapon when you’re literally wearing it. Unless you already have silver heels because you’re a girl and you think of these things…”
---
“I do indeed.” She replied, laughing. She did love that about him. She loved a lot of things about him - it’s why they were friends. Cassidy was friendly with everyone, but she genuinely cared for Oz and had for most of her life, of course she loved him. It wasn’t even a question, or weird. She just agreed because it was true. “But you also love me for being older, wiser, and more cool than you are.” She replied just as easily, shrugging.
Ozias complimented how she dressed and Cass blushed a little. She did try and present herself nicely always, but it was different to do so for a date. Closer to actually how she had looked when she made him waffles on the morning he arrived - but without an apron or pancake batter all over her. Mentioning he was going to dress nicer, it did take Cassidy a few moments to imagine that. It wasn’t that he dressed like a slob - but ‘dress nice’ was a broad term for guys. She assumed it meant not jeans and a t-shirt for Oz, but whether that meant just nicer jeans and a sweater or a button up, or something else was entirely different. It could have meant anything.
And then she started to picture him in business casual, than in a suit, and then a tux, and in her head he cleaned up real nice. And she would have dazed off into that thought process for the rest of the drive back to the manor if he hadn’t brought up the idea of making her weapon-shoes made out of silver. “I do not already have a pair.” It wasn’t the most practical thing she’d ever heard, but it was a kind of cool idea. “As long as they are comfortable to walk in, I think it’s a pretty awesome idea.”
---
Oz was completely oblivious to Cassidy’s focus on his wardrobe because he was starting to reimagine everyday items that could make proficient weapons against a ton of shadowkind, if they were only infused with silver. Belt buckles, hair pins, earrings, purses, mace - which was probably not an everyday item, but still y’know … an item. He was already thinking long term - war, even if there was really no war on the horizon. Their parents were gone, and that left a very bad feeling in his gut, which was fairly uncommon for Oz. He didn’t generally worry that deeply about things. But once he did worry, he started thinking about different ways he could efficiently murder the opposition. But a lot of things required decapitation to truly die, so what common objects could carry out that task, aside from perhaps a silver infused chain strap of a purse?
“Comfortable to run in, at least,” he agreed, super normally, super chill, no contemplations of murder here, nope. “You know what goes awesome with beautiful dresses?” He asked, as if that was even remotely on topic to anything they’d said at all. “Chain link belts strong enough to decapitate someone with. I hear chains are very in right now. So retro it’s trendy.”
---
Lightly and under her breath, Cassidy muttered a little incantation - one that allowed her to read his thoughts. She didn't really need the incantation, but for Oz she thought it might be helpful. She picked up on the obsessive way of thinking - the different items that could be made into silver weaponry.
Cass sighed. "We were having a nice moment and you're obsessing about turning belts into silver laced weapons. And chains are so not back in, nor would they go with a dress. A small pure silver chain necklace would still be enough to slow down or stop or graciously injure most shadowkind, too, by the way."
Frowning at him, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Our real date better have little to nothing to do with silver."
---
Oz glanced at her. “I saw you get all drifty eyes too over there,” Oz added pointedly. He hadn’t, he was mostly just making shit up to sound less defensive. He wasn’t entirely sure it was working. “And I… also have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t obsess over making weapons. Ha. Our real date will… have only the very average amount of to do with silver. Arm sheaths, ankle sheaths, very standard and unspecial attention to silver.” He paused before adding very sweetly, “Because nothing’s going to come close to detracting from my extremely gorgeous date. My gorgeous date who knows that reading minds is cheating.”
---
"Seeing the future is also cheating but I foresee a very unlikely chance of a second date if you make me wear ankle sheaths." She whipped back at him, the blush in her cheeks rising. Had he really noticed she had gone all day dreamy on him, thinking about him all dressed up? She hoped not, but it looked like he had. "Besides, I wasn't thinking about weaponry and murder when I zoned out."
---
“What about a thigh sheath?” Oz asked, because he couldn’t imagine ankle or wrist sheaths actually working with a dress. But as soon as he soon thigh, he started imagine her thigh, since that was the topic. And he nearly missed her blushing, but he couldn’t miss how fast her head whipped back around. “Yeah, no kidding - as you can tell from my reaction, thinking about weapons and murder doesn’t cause that kind of reaction. Only thinking about myself causes that kind of reaction.” Which wasn’t true, but he really struggled with passing up a joke. Always.
---
The spell didn't wear off fully and she may or may not have caught him momentarily thinking about her thighs before his thoughts were closed off to her once more. "No sheaths of any kind, Oz." She warned, her tone only half serious though. Ozias joked about getting day dreamy thinking about himself and she lifted a hand to smack his arm slightly. "Ugh get us home faster grandpa, so you can tuck me in bed with hot chocolate and stop trying to convince yourself silver t-shirts are a good idea."
---
Oz sighed. “Fine. Go in unarmed with your pretty necklace, see if I care.” He cared. But he’d just have to arm himself enough for the both of them. Which was kinda already what he did anyway. “Uh, slow down there, little lady, slow and careful wins the race, or something. I’m being gentle.” He did pause though, his eyes widening slightly. “Silver t-shirts though. They wouldn’t even be able to touch you! Oh, that’s genius.”
---
The added sentiment of being gentle is what kept her from keeling over of exasperation, which felt entirely possible with Oz always. He was all about the silver t shirt thing and she had to roll her eyes, covering her face with both her hands. "You are impossible Oz, you know that don't you?" She tilted her face to look at him, laughing. She loved him for it anyway, though.
---
Oz grinned at her and tried very hard not to seriously consider just making all of his clothes out of silver. It sounded impractical but Oz was very prone to actually considering building a prototype to see just how impractical it really was. Someone probably thought armor suits were impractical at some point too. “Impossible sounds like a fun way to exist,” he said, both amused and genuine.
---
It was entirely impractical and she knew he would keep on about it forever if he could. She shook her head at him and his insistence on being absolutely ridiculous at all times, though she couldn’t really be mad at him for it. In fact, she just kept smiling - because Oz made her happy. Even ridiculous, argumentative, impractical Oz made her incredibly happy. She couldn’t deny that. “I’m going to punch you really hard in the face one of these days. One of these days you are actually going to frustrate me enough that I give in and actually resort to violence. I can feel it. I see it coming.” Her voice was light-hearted though, sing-songy in a very teasing sort of way.
---
Oz scoffed, reaching over to take Cassidy’s hand. He didn’t pull it out of her lap, he kind of just held it. “You won’t,” he said. With most things, he said this confidently, like he knew her well enough to know her reactions to most things, because he did. He was extremely good at reading people, but Cassidy had a core that was understandable to him. “You don’t believe in hurting people, even when you want to. That’s what I like most about you. It makes you strong.”
---
Whatever annoyance she might have felt, which really she didn’t feel much, completely dissipated the second Ozias took her hand. She gave his hand a light squeeze, quieting down for a minute as he told her she would never hurt him. He was right, of course. Cassidy would do anything to keep her family safe, but she was not a violent person. Her abilities innately did not lend to it, and though she knew how to defend herself, she didn’t like to use that knowledge. Oz seemed to think that made her strong, which she immensely appreciated. Often, she felt quite weak not being more… battle-capable. “Thanks, Oz. I wouldn’t ever hurt you. I would have a hard time hurting an enemy, let alone anyone I love.”
---
"I know," Oz said, flashing a smile at her, that was so genuine, it was boyish. "You're not the only one with the ability to foresee the future," he added cheekily. "It's easy when you know people. If you give it time, you'll probably be able to predict me too. Without having to pull that freeze frame vision face."