Gabriel Lawrence (wildhead) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-10-13 12:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | #november 2017, gabriel, gabriel x zania, zania |
Who: Zania and Gabriel
When: Wednesday, Nov 15, late afternoon
Where: the Castell house, the cemetery
Status: Complete
It had been a good day. A really good day. Gabriel had woken up in a good mood, he’d had breakfast in a good mood, hugged JC extra long before she left, and then gone out to enjoy the weather. It was colder than he was used to, of course, but it felt more brisk and refreshing than uncomfortable. Gabriel still went to the store to buy a better coat than the thin-ass hoodies he’d brought. He impulsively bought a few more things for himself, then headed back to the apartment.
After he’d just hung around for a while, he decided that it didn’t seem like a day to stay inside. Gabriel put Anubis’s new jacket on him and hooked the leash up to take him out for a walk. The leash was just for show, to obey the law and not draw attention to himself. Anubis was constantly by his side unless Gabriel sent him to do something else. They started out downtown, strolling along the sidewalk and peering into the shops they passed. One of which happened to be the Castell’s Spice Shop. Gabriel wanted to see if the redheaded Zania was behind the counter, but she wasn’t. It was a dude. But he still wanted to see her, so ...
It didn’t take a lot to track her down. A couple of well-placed questions in another store as he was browsing, then another pass by the spice shop so Anubis could get a good smell of it, and Gabriel had the name of Zan’s street and a good nose to help him find the house itself. It wasn’t hard, and he didn’t even question himself for doing it, not today. He wanted to see her, so he would. Who cared if it was kind of stalking? Before too long Gabriel was at the door to the Castell’s house, a grin already on his face as he knocked. He just hoped she was home now.
It was one of those days that Zania woke up feeling amazing. She slept in, deciding the shop could wait a bit, because who was there to tell her no? If she wanted to open an hour late, then so be it. She took her time getting ready, stopping for coffee and purchasing a new dress, then spent mid morning to early afternoon at the shop. As much as she’d wanted to just leave it closed all day, she was glad she’d opened up— everyone that came in was easily talked into something extra. An extra bag of fall spice chai. An extra quartz crystal. It made her wonder if they thought she was holding some kind of a sale, but no one complained that the prices were normal, so it must just be one of those days.
When Nic came in to take over, Zania headed home. She should have gone out to the greenhouse, but instead she decided to pamper herself, put on her new dress and paint her nails. She was just trying to decide if she wanted a nap or to sign up for a massage when someone knocked on her door. Thinking it was likely Vex or Lem, she hurried to the door, her feet bare, the wood floor creaking beneath her. Seeing Gabriel there caught her by surprise. “Hello,” she smiled. “You found me.” She knew she’d given him her number, but she could have sworn that didn’t include her address.
Gabriel started grinning as soon as he heard the door start to open. Anubis was sitting behind him, closer to the stairs so he was at a respectful distance. Zania had seemed a little nervous about him the first time they met, so it seemed polite. Which was maybe weird to think about when Gabriel had broken all kinds of social etiquette to knock on her door, but it made sense to him today. He leaned a shoulder against the doorframe and beamed at Zania. She looked just as delectable as she had in the shop. “Hey,” he greeted. “I did. What are you doin’ right now?”
“Nothin’,” Zania grinned back at him. “Just painted my nails. Trying to figure out what to do next. Do you want to come in?” She thought maybe she wanted to get out, do something fun with him, but she needed to put some shoes on at the very least. She thought very briefly of the inside of the house and if it was presentable for guests, but it was pretty much in the state it always was— casual chaos, clean but unorganized, and mildly cluttered. It was something that was unlikely to change for anyone or anything, so she decided not to worry about it.
The state of Zania’s house was the last thing on Gabriel’s mind. He laughed softly and nodded as he moved to step in. “Good timing on my part, then,” he said easily. If she was inviting him in, maybe she would be keen to accept his invitation out. He shot a quick glance back at Anubis, who was watching attentively with his ears perked up, and silently told the dog to stay put. “Thought I’d stop by, see if you wanted to get out and do somethin’ on this gorgeous-ass day.” Gabriel’s gaze skimmed down over Zania appreciatively, but he kept it quick. He felt restless in a good way, like there was a whole world out there to be explored, for the taking, anything he wanted. He was out of his hometown element, but he could master Point Pleasant too.
It might have been quick, but the way he looked at her still gave Zania a little thrill. He wouldn’t have put so much effort into finding her if he wasn’t interested, but she still enjoyed the appreciation. “I’d love to,” she smiled. “Just let me get my boots on. Did you have something in mind?” If not, she was good to wander. Now that he’d suggested it, she was eager to get outside, especially with this weather. She wasn’t a fan of the cold, but today was beautiful, the kind of fall day that made her feel alive. Even better if she could end it curled up next to a fire, something that just didn’t make sense in the summer months. “Anubis can come in,” she told him as she took a seat to pull on her shoes. She didn’t think there was anything laying around that he could get into, but even if there was, she knew he was too well behaved to consider it.
“Nah, he aight,” Gabriel murmured as he ambled a few more steps forward. “I don’t like to give him conflicting messages. Maybe next time.” They weren’t staying long, after all, and Gabriel kind of liked to have him on guard in unfamiliar places anyway. “But uh ... yeah, I dunno, no specifics. I wanna be outside though. You got any nice spots you like to walk or anything?” Maybe she wasn’t a meanderer like he was, maybe that was more of a city-people thing. But she was a witch, and they were all tied to nature in their own ways, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if Zania knew some good hiking trails. He slipped his hands into his jacket pockets as he watched her, a little smile toying with the corners of his mouth.
The places Zania liked to wander in Point Pleasant weren’t usually the kind of places that other people liked to wander, but Gabriel was a witch and less likely to be easily spooked or turned off by her choices. At least, she hoped not. “I’ve got a few,” she answered as she tied off her boots. “Some of them are kind of weird. I have some ingredients I pick up in the cemetery and Lyttle Hill, which you should visit at least once. I think this is the time of year they try and tell people not to hike around Blackwater Woods, but that’s never stopped me. And it’s nice up at the lighthouse, but that’s a hike. Any of those sound interesting to you?” she asked as she stood, slipping on her coat and grabbing her bag. “We could also wander around downtown, if that’s more your thing.”
“I got no problem with weird,” Gabriel assured her with an easy grin. He liked weird, he’d lived in the weird all his life. It was in his blood. And if there were special places Zania liked to go, Gabriel wanted to know where they were. “I’m down with going to the cemetery, and the hill if you wanna. Plants ain’t usually my forte, I bet you could teach me a thing or two about the local flora.” Really, he was willing to bed she could teach him a lot more than that. Gabriel had never done magic anywhere but in New Orleans, and so far Point Pleasant had a different vibe to it. He wanted to understand it better before he started messing around too much. Besides, it meant spending more time with Zania and he was very on board for that already.
“Let’s start with the cemetery then,” Zania smiled. If they were feeling it, they could then head up to Lyttle Hill and have a bit of a Point Pleasant history lesson, but the cemetery was beautiful and quiet and there were a few things she wanted to collect there. Leading the way back out the door, Zania stopped to pet Anubis, hesitating only briefly before scratching between his ears. “Good dog,” she said quietly, then turned to lock up behind Gabriel. “My grandmother was an earth elemental who was into plants. The greenhouse out back used to be hers. Then I went actually got my degree in botany, so stop me if I go overboard.” She wasn’t born with a green thumb, but had done just about everything she could do make up for it.
Gabriel ambled back onto the porch with her. Anubis perked up as they came out and sniffed at Zania’s hand before she pet him. He remembered her, and he’d already approved of them being there. Dogs knew good people when they met them. “Oh yeah?” Gabriel asked. He probably shouldn’t have been surprised that she’d gone to that much school, but he kind of was. Maybe that spoke to the crowds he was used to running with. “We only got a few true witches in our family, but the rest is into hoodoo,” he said, moving out of the way so Zania could lock the door. “Lot of ‘em know plants, but I’m bad at rememberin’ all that shit. Gotta respect those who can do it, though. My auntie JC is prob’ly pickin’ some of the same stuff you are.”
“Probably, but I hope not,” Zania said with a laugh. “Hard to sell it if my customers know where to find it.” And annoying to tend to, as well, but that was the downside to planting ingredients in the cemetery. It wasn’t her property, so she couldn’t really control it. The best she could do was ask Rost not to cut it all back. “So how does hoodoo work exactly? It’s like magic, but not, right? And is it different from voodoo?” She hoped she didn’t sound uneducated, but that was definitely not the realm of magic that she was familiar with and she was always eager to learn more. There was so much out there in the world that they still didn’t know and the more information she could gather, the better she could be at her own craft.
“It’s like folk magic, yeah,” Gabriel started to explain. Anubis stood up and followed them down the porch steps. “Spells and herbs and mojo bags and usin’ the bounty of the earth for healing. Medicine woman stuff. But it ain’t really a religion -- no clergy, no certain gods to worship. It’s just tradition and wisdom passed down. Voodoo’s more beliefs, spirits from the old world need appeasin’ ... there’s actually two branches, Haitian Vodou and Vodoun in Louisiana, brought over with the slave trade. It ain’t like in the movies.” He offered her a lopsided little grin. “Some’a them’s real witches I think, but not many. I knew a lot of ‘em back home and most of ‘em liked to take their own credit, no spirits needed.” Gabriel chuckled a bit and shook his head.
“I think it must all be one in the same, at the root of it all. God or gods or spirits or mother earth. Someone or something lets us have magic and, so far, they haven’t been too picky about who I talk to,” Zania said with a grin. At some point her family had followed the Catholic faith, but being Catholic and being a witch just didn’t jive. Something provided her with power and she seriously doubted it was the devil. “It seems like some of them would have to be real witches, yeah. But that’s also really cool. I think there’s a lot to be said from natural remedies and just knowing the earth. I’m also a big believer in passed down knowledge.” Without true spell books on the market, that was the only way for witches to learn, to pass it down or share it. Or create, but there were always risks when it came to creating new spells.
Gabriel had his own theories about where magic came from and the interconnectedness of all things, but he didn’t share them often with people. Most didn’t understand where he was coming from, but he got the feeling that Zania would. “I think there’s somethin’ at the base of it, somethin’ that runs underneath everything else, that most folks can’t see or feel or tap into ... but we can,” he said, tucking his hands into his jacket pockets. “Like dark matter. Dunno if we’re a different breed of human or it’s a slow-ass evolution or what, but ... hey, are we drivin’ or walkin’?” he asked then, glancing around them. Gabriel wasn’t familiar enough with the town yet to know how far the cemetery was.
Zania nodded, picturing the earth with these veins running through it, little lines that seeped out through the dirt into the air like vines, reaching for the sky. Whatever it was, dark matter or some kind of spiritual energy, they tapped into it in a way that no one else could. A witch could manipulate it, but it demanded balance. “I like that. Dark matter. I’ve heard the term, but never applied it to magic, though that would make a lot of sense,” she said, then smiled as she gave a little shake of her keys and nodded towards her car. “Let’s drive. We could walk, but it’s kind of a hike from here.” No place was exactly far in Point Pleasant, but Zania didn’t want to spend the next hour getting there.
“It’s supposed to be everywhere, right?” Gabriel pointed out with a little grin. He might’ve been way off, astrophysics wasn’t his speciality, but he liked the idea, and it made all kinds of sense when he’d been smoking. It was like being a Jedi and having the Force all around you. He followed Zania toward her car and glanced back at Anubis. “You mind if he rides in the back?” he asked. “I can send him home, if not ...” Gabriel didn’t really want to, Anubis came pretty much everywhere with him, but it seemed rude not to at least offer, if Zan didn’t want a big dog in her car.
“Not at all,” Zania said. “He’s, like, the most well behaved dog in the world. It’s not like he’s going to pee on my seat.” And even if he did, they could clean it. She just knew that was highly unlikely. Anubis might be able to find his own way home, but she couldn’t imagine just sending a dog off, even as smart as Anubis. “We can even roll down the windows for him,” she offered, not sure if that was really a thing dogs in cars liked. It seemed like a thing from cartoons and movies. “So what’ve you been up to lately?” she asked as she started up the car. “All settled in?”
Gabriel let his dog into the backseat, rubbing his head and murmuring for him to be a good boy, then climbed into the front himself. Trained and near-human as he was, Anubis was still a dog, and he very much enjoyed a rolled down car window. There was so much to smell out there. Gabriel settled in, glancing curiously around Zania’s car. It wasn’t the cleanest, but it had personality, and he could dig that. “Yeah, much as I can be in my auntie’s spare room,” he said with a little laugh. It wasn’t getting Gabriel down today, that was for sure. “Think I mighta found some space to rent to set up shop, though, so that’s excitin’. How ‘bout you, how’s the spice business?” He grinned and slouched a bit more comfortably.
“Hey, that’s exciting,” Zania grinned as she started them off down the road, back windows down for Anubis. “Let me know if you need any help setting up. I can, like, paint and shit.” She could be handy if need be and she liked little projects—anything that was different from her day to day life. Which had been pretty damn interesting lately. It made her think back on her conversation with Rost, on how something might be coming and she shouldn’t stir the pot herself. This time she seemed to be right. “Spice business is good,” she smiled. “Got some new werewolf questions I’m trying to hunt down. And I’m meeting up with another witch this weekend to watch her do some complicated love spell, so that should be interesting.” It felt like too much to get into who Reagan was and their dynamic. She couldn’t call her an old friend, but saying she was an old enemy felt over the top. Rival was probably accurate, but that brought Caius into the conversation and she kind of wanted to avoid him with Gabriel, at least for now. It was all a bit complicated.
Zan had mentioned some stuff about werewolves last time, and that was still pretty intriguing. It was a subject Gabriel only knew a handful about, and not really from direct experience. “Hey thanks,” he said first, flashing her another grin. “Might just take you up on that, I’d appreciate the company.” JC would offer to help him set up too, he knew, but it would be nice to have someone else he could rely on in town. Someone lovely who smelled intoxicating and he wanted to spend more time with. “Love spell does sound interestin’,” he added. And morally ambiguous, but so was a lot of other shit that Gabriel had personally done, so he didn’t have much room to judge. “Never tried one’a those myself, always relied on my charm instead.” He gave a little laugh; it sounded so egotistical, but it was true. Gabriel usually had pretty good luck with the ladies. That had been on his own home turf though, who knew how it would be here. He was more than game to find out, especially today.
“They’re all kinda sketchy,” Zania said with a little laugh. “I did one in high school and haven’t messed with ‘em since. I don’t really know how you can trick your own brain into believing it’s real. Like, I would always doubt the authenticity of it.” She knew it would never work for her and she wondered how anyone else could truly buy into the fantasy. Plus, the upkeep had the potential to be a pain in the ass. Not all love spells lasted forever. People hoped that beneath the spell the other person was really forming a bond, but Zania doubted that was really the case. “Personally, I’m not into doing spells for random people unless it’s something really interesting.” It just wasn’t the business she wanted to be in, though she realized it could be highly lucrative as well.
“Nah man, I need somethin’ I know is real,” Gabriel agreed. He’d always thought that casting a love spell on somebody else was kind of rapey, but he tried not to judge out loud. He’d caused someone’s death, after all, and that was much farther to the left on the Fucked Up scale. That wasn’t anything he wanted to think about today though, and it was easy to put aside. Gabriel reached back to scratch at Anubis’s head as the dog sniffed at his shoulder, but his eyes were on Zania. “So you don’t do magic for hire?” he asked, curious about that. He could understand the position; Gabriel only sold very specific services of his own, but Zania seemed in a prime position to make a killing with it, especially in this town. Point Pleasant seemed to have a shit ton going on.
“Not usually,” Zania answered, knowing it was a bit different. She could have. Her grandmother certainly had. And a good number of people knew what she was. But it would have set her up to be competition with Reagan again and there were just so many variables when you started doing spells for people. “If someone needs a hex bag, I’ll send ‘em to Reagan. She’s the witch doing the love spell. But if someone came to me and was like, hey, I’ve got flaming fire monkey spirits in my attic, can you help me? I’d be all over that,” she laughed lightly. “I don’t want to be responsible for someone’s magical love triangle or helping them get promoted or making someone disappear, but if you’ve got something cool, then yeah, sign me up.”
Gabriel laughed, because that made perfect damn sense, didn’t it? He wouldn’t want to get stuck doing boring magic for people all the time either, which was part of why he’d specialized so hard. If it wasn’t magic that interested him, he didn’t want to bother with it, and the thing that had held his attention most in his life was the animal kingdom. His skill set just so happened to come in handy for a lot of different things. “So that’s why you’re doin’ all this work about werewolves, huh?” he put together. Gabriel gave her a lazy grin. “It’s a fun challenge.” Probably a bit more dangerous than fire monkey spirits, but that just made it sexier.
"In part, yeah," Zania grinned, and decided then that she could trust Gabriel with a bit more information. "But also because it's my neighbors that're dealing with it, and my brother's seeing one of them, and they're just good people. Weird, but good. And now the werewolf thing's circled around from another direction, so we really need to figure some of it out." It was a fun challenge, but a huge one, and it felt like they were gambling with what worked and what didn't on a monthly basis. She wasn't all that sure about the werewolf expert that Carson had mentioned to Nic, but if he actually knew his shit, then it was worth talking to him. Maybe he could clear up whether Vex would turn or not. If not, then they had a cage for Carson.
“Ahh, the plot thickens,” Gabriel murmured as he slowly nodded his head. Having a werewolf neighbor could be kind of cool on one hand, but definitely dangerous. Something that needed to be under control somehow. Living so close was risky. He was sure she had some methods to defend herself, but Gabriel didn’t want her getting attacked. She was pretty much the only friend he’d made so far. He couldn’t fret about it too much today though, he felt too good. “Weird but good people are my favorite kinda people. Hope y’all can sort somethin’ out and stay safe. Seems like a big problem to wrestle with.” But if Zania and her brother already had some defensive methods and a cage built somewhere, sounded like they were on the right track.
“Yeah, it is, but I think we’ve got the basics covered,” Zania smiled over at him, then turned into the cemetery. There were a lot of pieces to the puzzle, a lot of moving parts, but they still had time and they already had one cage. Building another wouldn’t be too hard. That was the most important part, keeping both the werewolves and the people safe on the next full moon. “I’ll let you know what we find out. It’s nice to talk to someone who’s not freaking out over the whole thing.” Nic wasn’t, but he was her brother. And she didn’t think Vex freaked out over anything. But Gabriel was so chill she felt comfortable telling him what was going on without him going into a panic and that was nice.
Gabriel laughed softly. “It’s hard to freak me out, babygirl,” he drawled. “I seen some shit.” That was an understatement, but he had to imagine that New Orleans was a darker, more dangerously magical place than Point Pleasant. He’d heard all the warnings, of course, but what did these people up here have to compare their experiences to? He opened his door once Zania had parked, got out, and went to let Anubis out of the back. As he gently shut both car doors, Gabriel looked around them and took a slow, deep breath as he got the vibe of the place. It felt ... interesting. He let that place in his mind open up to listen for animal minds, and Gabriel didn’t find many. Just some birds, high up in the trees. He couldn’t even detect any tiny rodents in the ground, no squirrels ... huh.
Zania couldn’t help but grin. She didn’t know if he was speaking the truth or if he was just that cocky, but she liked it. She liked that kind of confidence in a man, and she liked that he was difficult to scare off. Werewolves weren’t the worst things she’d ever dealt with, just the current issue at hand. “What’ve you seen?” she asked casually as she stepped out of the car and pulled her coat tight around her. It was a beautiful day, but it was still chilly outside, though the sun definitely helped. Looking over at Gabriel, she cocked her head to the side, wondering what he was picking up on. There was power in the Point Pleasant cemetery, probably more dead witches than she could imagine, and it always felt like a place of reverence to her rather than just a resting place for the dead.
The absence of tiny minds had thrown Gabriel enough that he kind of lost the thread of conversation, his eyes still scanning around as he circled the car to join Zania so she could lead the way to wherever they were going in this cemetery. Anubis was close at his heels, his ears perked up and alert. “Hm?” Gabriel hummed, bringing his focus back to Zan. Her question really registered a second later, and he chuckled. “Oh, uh ... lots of dark shit. People fuckin’ with demons, dark spirits, possessions, necromancy ...” He shrugged, then gave her a lopsided smile. “Nothin’ to really be talkin’ about on a nice walk on a nice day with a beautiful woman, y’know?” The vibe of the day was too good to dwell on the darker things that he’d done; Gabriel was there to have a break from all that.
Dark as all those things were, they weren’t completely foreign to Zania either. What she hadn’t messed with herself, she’d heard of happening in and around town, and then there was Nic and his necromantic dabbling… though he tried not to let it get too dark. Honestly, she often thought he was too soft to let it get that far anyways. But Zania laughed and nodded, enjoying the flattery from an attractive man. “I was just wondering,” she smiled, then nodded her head towards towards the left path. “Let’s head this way,” she suggested. “There’s some hemlock near the very back and a few things I’d like to grab along the way.” Some of the cemetery herbs were wild, but the hemlock had been planted specifically for this purpose. “I thought I lost you there for a second. Everything okay?” she asked as they started to walk.
Gabriel started walking with her, mentally telling Anubis to not wander too far and to stay alert. He’d been in places that felt even more fucked up than this cemetery, that really gave him the heebie jeebies, but he still thought it was best to be cautious. Zania seemed comfortable here, but her blood had deep rooted ties this place, and Gabriel’s didn’t. He was a bit impressed with her perception of him, and he gave her another curious look as he strolled with her. “It’s okay, just ... kinda strange,” he murmured, glancing around them. “There’s no animals here. Bugs, yeah, but no mammals. No mice, no squirrels ... some birds, but they’re staying up high ...” He tilted his head back to look upward at the trees that lined the cemetery. “Just interesting, is all,” Gabriel added in an even softer tone. He wasn’t sure how to read the situation, but it did feel a little unnerving.
It wasn’t until he said it that Zania noticed it too, and even then she knew he could sense it on a level beyond what she was capable of. It seemed a little weird, but then it had always felt like this to her. Or, better put, this was the norm. When the cemetery felt off, she was much more on guard, since there were definitely times when it was a dangerous place to be. “I’d never noticed that,” she said, lips turning up. “So you can sense all animals? Mice, birds, bugs… can you sense all life? Like, humans too?” That would be quite a power, wouldn’t it? No one would ever sneak up on him. Though if he could control the things he could sense, then it begged the question— could he control another human? That would be dangerous magic for sure, even if it was within his element.
Gabriel shook his head gently, his gaze roaming around them for another moment before it came back to Zania. “Not all life ... humans have more guards up in their brains. I might could start getting a sense of ‘em if I put the work in, but that was never my focus, y’know? People are shitty enough without havin’ to hear their thoughts yammerin’ all the time.” He gave her a lazy sort of grin. “Bugs and fish and reptiles are harder ... the further you get from mammal, the less sense they make to me, the more jumbled they are ... but I get a real vague read from ‘em. I can really only boss mammals and bird around though. S’all I ever needed.” He could work on the rest, and maybe he would eventually, but Gabriel was pretty happy with the current scope of his power.
His powers were so different than hers that Zania found it all fascinating, having never really considered the possible reach of an earth witch. She wasn’t entirely sure what the use of hearing insects and fish might be, but it made sense that mammals were easier. The more intelligent the animal, the more sense it might make to tap into their brain. “I was just curious,” she smiled over at him. “It’s a branch of magic I’ve never explored. I don’t even know what the boundaries are.” But it was kind of nice to know that humans were more difficult. She liked thinking her thoughts were her own. “How did you get started? I know you said Anubis was your first familiar, but you had to have been hearing them before that. Can you control when you hear them?”
Gabriel knew there were people out there who could control other humans. He thought it would be crossing a moral line; he was a big believer in free will. Which wasn’t to say he wouldn’t do it for the right price if he had the ability, it just wasn’t one that he was going to pursue at this point in his life. He found animals much more palatable and enjoyable than people. Present company excluded, of course. “With my familiars, no,” he explained in an easygoing tone. “They’re with me all the time and vice versa, we’re bonded. I gotta open myself up to hear any other animals, and getting into their heads enough to direct them takes concentration and time. So I can mostly control it. With my babies ... it’s kinda like how you can feel your leg all the time, but you don’t really feel it ‘til you’re thinkin’ about it? Like that. It was a slow-ass road to get there, a lotta work and concentration and bonding rituals. But after Anubis it got easier.”
“Now you’ve got me thinking about how I don’t notice my legs until I think about them,” Zania grinned over at him. It was a good comparison and definitely put things in perspective—he could always hear his familiars, but not like a running commentary or a radio playing loudly. That would be horribly distracting. “I hope you don’t mind all the questions. I like learning about all the different kinds of magic,” she told him, even though he’d probably figured that out by now. She wanted to know more about him as well, but unless she just rattled off question after question, she’d have to learn that over time.
He laughed a bit and nodded. “It’s kinda a head trip,” Gabriel agreed. It was especially fun to think about when he was high, paying specific attention to his body one bit at a time. He gave Zania another easy smile. “I don’t mind at all. I’m the same way. So ... expect to be surprised with lots of questions back sometime.” Like once they got to whatever plants she was looking for; Gabriel had always wanted to know more about plants, they were so useful and diverse, they just weren’t really his forte. “Anythin’ I should be keepin’ an eye out for, by the way?” he asked, glancing at the ground around them.
“I guess you don’t usually think about that kind of thing until something’s not working the way you expect it to,” Zania said with a little laugh. She certainly didn’t mind the questions being asked back to her, and found herself volunteering probably more than he needed to know about what they were looking for. “It’s a good time of year for barberry, which is a little shrub that turns red in autumn and has bright red berries that usually last through winter. It’s good for hexing or creating bad vibes, that kind of thing.” While she didn’t use it often herself, it was one of those things that people bought often enough that she made an effort not to piss any of them off. “We might also find some hedgenettle, which is has long stalks, like an ear of grain. It has bright purple flowers in the summer, which makes it easier to find, but the leaves are good for banishing and removing negative energy. Priests used to plant it in churchyards to prevent activity by ghosts, but it doesn’t really work like that.” They were on the right track, but planting a flower rarely had that kind of power on it’s own. “It can also be used to prevent dreaming, so long as the dreams aren’t magical in nature.” That was something she’d learned more recently.
As always when a witch who was accomplished in areas he wasn’t was telling him something, Gabriel listened attentively to what Zania said, nodding along a bit. He didn’t know if he would remember any of that -- he’d never had a great head for plants, in spite of being an earth witch. He probably could get better if he really worked with them, but he had never really started. It was just a lot of memorization, and he wasn’t good at that. When Zan finished her description, Gabriel gave a bemused little chuckle. “You know your shit, huh?” he drawled, giving her a crooked grin. That much was obvious, but Gabriel appreciated that in a person. In a woman especially. He’d been spoiled in his life by knowing some incredible women, and Gabriel didn’t really find some of the ‘hot’ airheads he’d known attractive. “So I’m lookin’ for bright red berries on a bush, and long grain stalks, yeah?”
“I’d like to think I do,” Zania grinned. She didn’t know everything, not by far, but this was what she specialized in and she worked at it. She wasn’t sure she’d trust a witch who didn’t know where the ingredients they were selling came from, so she expected the same of herself. “But yeah, that’s about right. The first is easier to spot.” The downside to the second was that it tended to look like a weed when there were no flowers on it, so it sometimes got chopped down. “It’s hard for me to imagine what it was like when people had to rely on what they could find in their own, native environment. I have some things in the greenhouse that don’t typically grow wild, and definitely not around here. I imagine you could have a spell all worked out and then move across the country only to find that you could no longer locate any of the ingredients.”
True to his word on helping, Gabriel started looking around them as they walked for what she’d described. He hadn’t really planned on strolling through a cemetery on an ingredient hunt when he’d shown up at Zania’s door, but he was still enjoying himself. In spite of the lack of mammal thoughts and heartbeats around them, it felt like an interesting place to be. There seemed to be a lot of power there, thrumming under the surface, and the headstones and statues were fascinating to look at as they passed. Gabriel liked places like this. “Another reason I don’t fuck around a lot with plants,” he said with a little laugh. Sometimes he had to, of course, but Gabriel didn’t even delve into spells a lot in his everyday magical dealings. He could accomplish most of what he wanted with the skills he already had. So far, anyway.
“They can be fun though,” Zania said, grinning as she picked an herb she hadn’t mentioned but happened to spot. She turned towards him, brushing the long stem across his chest. “Like this? Black Snakeroot. Good for x-rated love charms, among other things. I put a bit in lollipops a few weeks ago.” For no other reason than her own amusement, knowing how it would affect those that ate them. It was all in good fun. No one would be hurt, though it certainly made them horny. She didn’t know if Gabriel would appreciate the joke, but kind of hoped he would, though she couldn’t imagine him ever needing that kind of magic for himself.
The brush against his chest, even through clothes, made Gabriel tingle a little, and he grinned at Zania. “Oooh, sounds interesting,” he said, a teasing lilt to his words. “What effect did they have? Got any on you?” He doubted she did, who would just carry those things around? But it still sounded like something to try sometime, just for kicks. Gabriel didn’t really need any extra boosts to his libido, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be fun. He reached out to lightly finger the plant she’d picked, feeling the need to touch something and going for the safer option. For now, anyway.
“No,” Zania laughed, though at the moment she kind of wished she did. Which was wild. It was the middle of the day and she was thinking about getting high on a sex-infused lollipop. “Got a few leftover at home. It’s kind of like a high mixed with viagra, except it works on women, too.” They could be fun, with the right person, or a pain in the ass if you didn’t know what they were. Zania took a step closer as he touched the plant, feeling a little rush at the proximity. “It’s not the kind of thing anyone needs, but…” She grinned, giving a little shrug.
It was impossible to miss how the vibe shifted, like a change in the wind that brought a new smell, and Gabriel smirked faintly as Zania got closer to him. “I dunno ... bet some people’d need it,” he murmured, edging in a bit closer himself. “Sounds like E or somethin’, kinda fun. Prob’ly tastes better than viagra too.” He let out a deep chuckle and let his fingers move from the snakeroot to Zania’s arm, brushing down the length of it as he watched her eyes. It didn’t seem to matter that they barely knew each other, or that they were standing in a graveyard, he suddenly really wanted to kiss her.
“Definitely tastes better. I think. I don’t know for sure, but it’s cherry flavored, so I’m gonna say yes,” Zania snickered, sensing the change in mood, but going with it. The whole day had been like that, kind of perfect in ways she couldn’t explain and didn’t care to examine. It was a good day, dammit, why question it? She liked having him that close, liked even more than he was touching her, and wondered what she could do or say to keep it going. Talking about plants wasn’t exactly hot, but this was. Fuck, he was.
“I never tasted it, so I’d guess cherry’s way better,” Gabriel murmured. He’d never had to take viagra, or even tried it for fun, but if he ever had to use it, having it in the form of a cherry lollipop sounded pretty good. Zania wasn’t pulling away from his touch, and she was actually looking at him like she wanted more of it, so Gabriel moved in even closer, his hand moving from her arm to her waist. “You’re gorgeous, y’know,” he said softly, still looking at her eyes, a tiny smirk on his lips. It was probably overly bold, but that was just the way he was feeling today.
It probably shouldn’t affect her so much, but it had been a long time since Zania had had that kind of attention, not outside a bar. It felt so much more real here, sincere instead of just flattery with hopes of taking her home, and it made her heart beat faster with excitement. She should probably laugh it off, force things to slow down a little and get to know him better, but she wanted this, enough that she found herself throwing caution to the wind. “You’re pretty hot yourself,” she smiled up at him, only mildly embarrassed at her honesty. He’d been the one to start it, so why not?
She wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know, technically speaking, but it was always nice to hear from someone he was also attracted to. Gabriel felt almost high with confidence and that bubbly light feeling in his chest, it made perfect sense to kiss a near-stranger in a graveyard. She was a hot, interesting stranger, whom he already liked and wanted to get to know better ... so might as well, right? Since Zania seemed more than receptive, Gabriel slid his touch to her lower back to pull her lightly in against him and dipped his head down to brush his lips over hers. He kept it soft to start, just in case she wanted to pull away, but today he had zero problems with making the first move.
It was probably weird, since they were in the middle of a cemetery, but Zania didn’t give a shit. New people didn’t come to Point Pleasant often and even less frequently were they witches. Gabriel was attractive and interesting and even if she didn’t know a lot about him, she liked him, damn it. His hand felt so good on her back, sending little shivers up her spine, and then he kissed her and Zania had to work not to melt. She wasn’t normally this easy, or at least she tried not to be, but it just felt so good to be wanted by someone she wanted back. Zania kissed him back, her hand coming up to rest on his chest, fingers curling to grasp his jacket. It was just a kiss, but she didn’t want it to end too soon.
What did weird mean anyway, really? Gabriel had never lived his life the way most people did, nor did he want to. So if he had a first kiss with a beautiful woman in a creepy-ass animal-deserted cemetery? So be it. It felt right in the moment, and that was all that mattered. As Zania responded to it positively, Gabriel lingered in the kiss, liking how she gripped his jacket. He was low-key horny, of course, it had been a while since he’d gotten laid, and certainly not since he’d moved up to Point Pleasant, but that didn’t even feel like a motivator at the moment. He just wanted to kiss Zania. That probably said something. Drawing in a soft breath through his nose, Gabriel parted his lips a bit to deepen the kiss, his fingers spreading slightly against her back.
Zania lifted up on her toes a little when he deepened the kiss, wanting to be closer to him and not at all caring if she was being a little forward. Just a little. If he wasn’t okay with that now, then she would likely be too much for him later. But Zania had the feeling he could handle her. He’d done a decent job of rolling with things thus far, and most people would’ve been scared off by the werewolf talk. She couldn’t imagine him being scared off by a kiss. But this was the opposite of that. This was nice and solid and she wanted it to go on forever. Which really wasn’t sensible, but god, he was a good kisser. Zania only started to pull away when it felt natural, and even then stayed close, her hand still clutching his jacket. “I was hoping you might do that,” she grinned.
Gabriel gave a soft hum into the kiss when Zania lifted herself up a bit, and he decided he loved the way she tasted. He wouldn’t be opposed to tasting other parts of her as well, and he hoped that eventually came to be. He wasn’t going to rush it though -- she already seemed like the type of girl who would be more than just a quick fuck. Gabriel smiled slowly when Zania pulled back, glad that she didn’t move too far away. Her body felt nice against his, even through layers of clothing. “I was hopin’ I might do that too,” he answered with a deep chuckle. “Glad you wanted me to.” He mentally checked in with Anubis, who was still meandering around while he kept an eye out for anything weird around them. All seemed quiet. Gabriel pressed another soft kiss to Zania’s lips, then licked his own. “C’mon though ... let’s find what you’re lookin’ for.”
As good as he felt against her, Zania told herself that she should really try and not let things move too fast. He was still practically a stranger, despite all that she’d shared with him, and she didn’t want to get too invested in someone who might disappear in a week. But a kiss was just a start and harmless enough that there was no reason to deny herself that, especially when they both wanted it. She hummed softly as he kissed her again, then finally took a step back, the smile never leaving her face. “Glad I’ve got you here to keep me on track,” she teased. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.” And he was just the sort of company she’d enjoy spending the rest of the day with.