Gabriel Lawrence (wildhead) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-03-14 08:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | #december 2017, gabriel, gabriel x zania, zania |
Who: Zania and Gabriel
When: Wednesday, Dec 6th, early afternoon
Where: Castells’ Spice Shop, the lighthouse, Gabriel's shop
Status: complete
Gabriel had been working hard the past couple of weeks. He’d called in some money he’d been owed from back home -- it was so hard to get people to pay up when you were hundreds of miles away, but he managed -- and got the space for his salon rented close to the downtown area. Not that there was much of one, but still, the location was good. The rest of his time had been dedicated to fixing the place up, getting a few chairs installed, cleaning a lot. All while making fliers and social media posts and trying to get the buzz going. He’d put a lot of work into it, giving himself boosts with magic pretty sparingly, and he was almost ready to open. It was exciting; he’d never done something this big on his own before.
Meanwhile, he’d been keeping in touch with Zania. They hadn’t had a lot of time to see one another lately, and Gabriel had felt a little weird about the day he’d gone to her place so into her, but he’d gotten over it quickly. He obviously hadn’t made enough of an ass of himself to scare her off, and that was what counted.
Wednesday turned out beautiful, if chilly, and Gabriel didn’t have a lot to do around the shop at the moment, so he’d texted with Zania around mid-morning to see what she was up to. He told her not to eat lunch yet, and to try and free up her afternoon. She was working, so he turned up at the spice shop a bit after noon, carrying a cloth shopping bag with several containers inside and some drinks. It was a perfect day for a little sidewalk picnic if Zan couldn’t get away from the shop. He walked in with a smile, Anubis trotting at his heels, and looked around for the fire witch.
The last few weeks had been busy, at least by Zania’s standards. Normally she just had work with the occasional bit of weird here and there. But normally she was able to pick her weird, limiting it, rather than having it come to her. For instance, if she’d had it her way, she wouldn’t have had the full moon so close to when Reagan and Caius had dropped in. And she wouldn’t have piled Nic’s weird telepathy on top of it all. It meant she’d barely had a chance to dig into the spell that Reagan and Caius had uncovered and that she’d barely gotten out socially. She’d hoped to see more of Gabriel, but instead had spent her weekend dealing with curses and werewolves, neither of which were actually her problem.
So she was pleased when he called her up and asked if she was free, and asked Nic to cover the store for the afternoon so she could spend some time with him. She needed some normal back in her life, which was just crazy to realize, and spending the afternoon with a guy she liked was just the way to do it. Her face lit up with a smile when he walked in the door and stopped restocking the tea to walk over to him. “Hey,” she grinned, “Nic’s gonna cover for me this afternoon. I just need to let him know you’re here.”
There were few bigger joys in life than someone you were into being happy to see you, and Gabriel beamed back at Zania as she approached. “Perfect,” he declared, leaning in to brush a kiss over her cheek. Then Gabriel arched an eyebrow at her. “Is this a good time to meet him?” He’d heard some about Zania’s twin brother, of course, but he had yet to formally meet the guy. Gabriel didn’t want to rush anything though, in case Zania wasn’t ready for that introduction to happen. Or if Nic always hated the guys she dated or whatever. Gabriel had experienced his fair share of overprotective brothers already, and he’d never dated a twin before.
It was kind of wild to Zania that she’d been seeing Gabriel this long and he hadn’t met Nic yet. Growing up in Point Pleasant, that just didn’t happen; if someone knew one of them, they typically knew both of them. College was the only time where they’d lived almost separate lives, even if in the same city, but then they’d returned to Point Pleasant and moved in together. Which some considered weird. Maybe it was. Regardless, it fused their lives back together, making it hard for someone to know one without knowing the other. And yet Gabriel had managed it. It put Zania in a situation she rarely found herself in, where she was nervous about them meeting for the first time. Nic didn’t always like the guys she dated, though mostly that pertained to Caius and Zania couldn’t think of anyone more different than him than Gabriel. “Yeah,” she smiled. “Let me go get him.” Then she headed towards the back room, sticking her head in to see Nic reviewing their sales records. “Gabriel’s here. Do you have a minute to meet him before we go?”
Nic looked up from the book, pen in hand, and clicked the end of it on and off a few times. “Sure,” he smiled, shutting the book and rising from his seat. He’d been wondering if and when he might meet the guy, not sure if Zania had put it off on purpose or if time had just gotten away from her the way it had with him. He knew that it could be seen as a big step, but with them living and working at the same place, if she waited too long it could also be seen as avoidance. For him, he was curious what kind of guy had caught his sister’s attention this time and really hoped he was a step up from her usual picks. As he followed her back to the main part of the shop, he realized that she’d left off a few things in describing him, things that made him and Caius look like night and day, at least at first blush.
“Gabriel, this is my brother, Nic,” Zania said, bouncing a little on her toes as she looked between them. “Nic, this is Gabriel. And Anubis,” she added, reaching out to pet him.
Zania was only out of sight for a minute or two, but it was long enough for Gabriel to get a tiny bit nervous himself. He’d met a lot of brothers, and he had no idea what to expect from a brother of Zania’s. As Nic walked out with her, Gabriel smiled automatically, relaxing a tiny bit. They obviously had very different styles, which was okay because he didn’t want some hardcore punk dude marking him as an enemy right off the bat or something. He moved in closer and extended his hand to Nic. “Nice to meet you finally, man,” he said. Anubis sniffed at Zania’s hand, then allowed himself to be pet, sitting down on his haunches and letting his tongue roll out in a comfortable pant.
“You too,” Nic said, smiling as he shook Gabriel’s hand. “Zan’s told me a lot about you.” Like how he had a way with animals far beyond anything Nic had ever seen, how he’d sent them to woo his sister on the day that Nic had turned their house into a flower shop. Nic wondered if Gabriel knew that he’d been under a spell that day, a spell that Zania had had a hand in casting, but doubted it mattered. It didn’t sound like the guy had crossed a line and he appeared to have genuine feelings for Zania, which was what mattered to Nic. He really wanted to see her dating someone worthy of her affection for once.
“All good things,” Zania smiled, petting Anubis once he seemed to accept it. So far there were no bad things to tell, since the one weird experience they’d had had been attributed to a love spell gone wrong. And even then, that wasn’t bad. it was just over the top, too much too soon, mostly stuff she would have enjoyed if it had been real. Except for the animals. That part had been a bit creepy.
“Still getting settled in?” Nic asked. “Zan says you’re staying a while, that you’re gonna open up a shop.” He hoped that was the truth and not just Zania hoping he might. Or Gabriel saying he would, but never getting around to it. He knew how those things went. Some things were pipe dreams, desires for a future self you’d never meet.
Gabriel was glad to hear that Zania had had good things to say about him. Not that Nic would probably tell him if she hadn’t. He knew that day with the animals had been strange, but he still hadn’t sussed out why. It hadn’t seemed to ruin anything, so he wasn’t stressing it. Mental and magical blips happened. He grinned at both of them and rubbed his palms together with obvious delight. “I’m almost ready to open the doors,” he said. “Just got a few little loose ends to tie up, then Point Pleasant’s got a legit salon. I’mma start slow at first, gauge the interest before I hire anybody else, you know? I plan on bein’ up here a while, so hopin’ it’ll take off. That’s actually part’a why I wanna steal your sister for a bit today, to celebrate.” He smiled broadly at Zania.
“Seriously?” Zania grinned, eyes wide in surprise. “That’s awesome! I didn’t realize you were that close to opening.” It made things feel real, like he wasn’t only starting up his business, but that he wasn’t going to disappear the next day either. She knew a lot of guys that were all talk, with big plans that just never came into fruition. It was exciting to meet one that actually made things happen. “I’m gonna have to be your first customer, you know.”
Only two things really mattered to Nic when it came to guys that dated his sister— that she was happy and that they were treating her right. So far, Gabriel seemed like a winner and he’d give him the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. “Go celebrate then,” he smiled. “But if you have cake or something, bring me back a piece.” He didn’t think it was that kind of celebration, but it never hurt to put it out there.
Under normal circumstances, Gabriel might not be so quick to set himself up, but he knew for sure he couldn’t go back home for quite a while, and he was starting to like this little town. Sure, it felt weird in spots, but there were good things too. Like the woman standing in front of him. Gabriel reached up to finger one of the dreads near her face, smiling like he was trying not to and failing. “Can’t wait to get my hands on ‘em,” he said, then looked at Nic again. “I got some cobbler, thanks to my auntie. We’ll save you some.” Nic might not have been serious, but sharing dessert was ingrained deep into Gabriel. And everybody ought to sample JC’s cobbler, if you asked him.
“Hey, thanks,” Nic smiled. “Looking forward to it.” He hadn’t been serious, but if Gabriel really had cobbler to offer, then he wasn’t going to turn it down. It was no skin off his back to work the shop that afternoon and it clearly made his sister happy. She could be difficult at times and he’d rather take advantage of one of her easy requests when he could.
Zania was still looking up at Gabriel, doing her best not to go all heart eyes at the way he played with her hair. It was an affectionate gesture, one that never failed to bring a smile to her face, especially when Gabriel seemed so genuine. She flashed Nic a smile, glad he was making this so easy, and quickly pulled on her coat and grabbed her bag. “Thanks again. I’ll see you back home,” she smiled, then turned to Gabriel. “Ready?” She wasn’t trying to rush them off, but she’d rather have Gabriel to herself today. The guys could get to know each other better at a later date.
Anubis stood up as Zania got her stuff, knowing it was time to go more from his master’s thoughts than any external cues. Gabriel had a grin ready for Zania when she turned back to him, and offered his arm. Not strictly necessary, but nice to do. They were embarking on a date, after all. “Absolutely,” he said. Gabriel escorted Zania to the door and opened it for her, then tipped Nic a quick salute before he walked out behind her, Anubis right at his heels. “Hope you’re hungry,” he told her as he led the way toward where he’d parked his SUV. The food was gonna be good, but the company would be even better. “Now I know you’re all about that fire ... you prefer indoor or outdoor picnics?”
Zania grinned as she took Gabriel’s arm, butterflies fluttering around inside her. This was a date, a real date, something she hadn’t had in so long she’d forgotten what it felt like. She was too distracted to even wave goodbye to Nic as she and Gabriel headed out into the cold. “I’m starving, and excited to see what you’ve got for me.” He’d been an excellent cook so far and that was only breakfast she’d sampled. “Outdoor picnics are the best, but maybe one near a fire? Or a heater? Or at least in the sun,” she laughed. “It’s a little cold otherwise.” She’d be good for a few minutes, but she didn’t want to ruin their lunch with her teeth chattering.
“Think I can manage that,” Gabriel said with a grin. He thought he had a pretty decent indoor-outdoor compromise, even without knowing where any good legal firepits were in town. Once they reached the car, he opened the passenger side for Zania, then let Anubis in the backseat. The dog only had a moment of pouty jealousy that he wasn’t up front, but he got over it fast. Gabriel had brought plenty of treats for him too. And his favorite tennis ball. Gabriel climbed into the SUV himself and settled behind the wheel, tossing a quick smile over to his date. He felt a little nervous too, but in that good way that kept him on his toes. “So how’s things?” he asked as he started up the car. “Feel like we haven’t gotten to catch up in a while.”
“Things are good,” Zania said, shooting a smile his way as she buckled herself in. “Finally settling down a little, I think. They’ve been a little crazy lately, but we made it through the full moon and that was the big thing I wanted to get past.” Now that they’d successfully navigated one, she felt like the rest should be smooth sailing. The crazy part was that for all the drama going on in her life, none of it was actually her problem. Not the full moon, or the curses, or the ghosts in the graveyard. But the people involved mattered to her and it was all too interesting to ignore. She just would have preferred it be a bit more spread out. “I can now add Werewolf Cage Construction to my resume with confidence.”
Gabriel hadn’t forgotten the werewolf thing, they just hadn’t had the time to chat about the details. He’d been glad to get Zania’s text the morning after, like proof of life, but he’d just been content to know nobody got hurt until they could have a face to face. Gabriel laughed a bit as he started the SUV up and got them on the road. “That’s gotta be a marketable skill for sure,” he said, grinning. “So how’d it all go? Any snags? I never seen a werewolf up close, gotta admit I’m kinda curious.” He was also curious as to whether there were others in town or not. If Point Pleasant could become like, some werewolf haven with safe cage-filled hotels and lots of tranquilizers.
“I think it went as good as can be expected,” Zania said, turning a bit in her seat so she could talk to Gabriel as he drove. “We shot him with a tranquilizer as soon as he shifted and then he was out the rest of the night. The only little bump was that Nic has this weird telepathic connection to Carson and they haven’t learned to control it yet, so when he began to change Nic suddenly had a werewolf screaming in his head. Luckily, that stopped when we knocked him out.” Zania hadn’t actually had to do anything herself; she was just there on standby. But that was a good thing, in her opinion. It meant that they’d adequately prepared and nothing had gone wrong. If she’d had to act, she wasn’t sure she could do so without injuring Carson and the same went for Nic. Having working tranquilizers was a much better solution.
That all sounded like a reasonable plan, and Gabriel was nodding approvingly until she got to the bit about Nic. His brows raised and he glanced over at Zania curiously. He supposed telepathic connections weren’t too rare, but before the moon she’d made it sound like they didn’t know this guy very well at all. Interesting. “Well, m’glad nothin’ worse happened, sounds like y’all had it under control,” he said. “Why’s Nic all brain-attached to this guy? Telepathy somethin’ he can just do?” Gabriel had heard of witches who used their powers to create psychic abilities, but if he personally had to pick one, telepathy wouldn’t have been it. And one would think he would want to turn it off for something like that. “Wonder what it would sound like to me, if anything,” he mused absently.
“I’d invite you over next full moon to find out, but I don’t know how Carson would feel about that. Nic said the wolf was loud, angry, and bloodthirsty, but he couldn’t make out anything beyond that,” Zania explained. She couldn’t remember if she’d told Gabriel about Nic’s dream issue or not, but she might as well. She hadn’t hesitated to tell him everything else so far and she couldn’t see the harm in it. “Nic’s been having these weird shared dreams with a few other people. Carson, the guy that’s a werewolf, happens to be one of ‘em. Over the past few weeks they’ve formed some kind of telepathic connection to each other and we can’t figure out why. None of ‘em could do it before. The dreams seemed to have stopped, which is good, but they still have this link.” Zania doubted the dreams were gone for good, but she was trying to be optimistic. Maybe whatever had taken an interest in them had moved on.
Gabriel was sure the guy didn’t want to become some sort of zoo animal, with lookie-loos wandering through to stare at him, all werewolf and unconscious. But Gabriel did kind of hope that he would get that chance one of these days, if this arrangement continued as it was. How often did the chance come around to be in the same room as a werewolf and not fear for one’s life? He listened to the rest of it with interest as he drove them toward their destination. “Huh,” he said once she finished. “That’s really odd, never heard’a that before.” He was sure there were more in-depth details, but dreams were really not his forte, so Gabriel wouldn’t be much help anyway. “And y’all haven’t been able to get anywhere with just spells?” he asked, glancing over at Zania.
“Nope,” Zania said with a little shake of her head. “We’ve tried everything. Someone in the group even managed to track down a dream walker to help ‘em out. She was able to see this monster thing that’s in their dreams, but none of them can see it and it’s nothing we’ve ever heard of. It’s all really random. Like, it’s a witch, a werewolf, a librarian, and a high school cheerleader.” Not at all a cohesive group, from what she understood. She could just imagine how awkward those three guys had to be with a high school girl. At least Carson and Nic seemed to get along. It was kind of a surprise that they hadn’t known each other before now, with them both knowing Rylee for so long. “It’s really kind of interesting. I just wish it wasn’t impacting my brother, you know?”
Gabriel couldn’t help but laugh at that list of characters. “Sounds like the start to a bad joke,” he said, amused but sympathetic at the same time. Or a porno, he thought, but had the good sense not to add. “A witch, a werewolf, a librarian, and a cheerleader all walk into a bar ...” He gave a little snicker and shook his head. “Sorry. But yeah uh, that’s some wild shit. Hopefully just some bad nights and a psychic link is the worst that’ll come of it, but you never know with these things, right? I dunno what I can do, but lemme know if I can help in any way.” He turned them down the road that led to the lighthouse, the SUV climbing the hill easily. The picnic table that Gabriel had scoped out had better be free.
“Now I really wanna hear the punch line to that joke,” Zania grinned. As funny as it sounded, what really made her happy was seeing someone that she could actually talk to about all the weird stuff in her life. Even if there was nothing he could do, he was a witch like her and knew what was out there. It made Gabriel feel more like an equal than most of her other boyfriends had been— not that he was technically her boyfriend. Though she’d like that. She just didn’t want to jump the gun and some people were so touchy about titles. “I’ll definitely let you know,” she smiled, then looked out the window towards what she assumed was their destination. “We checking out the lighthouse?”
At least she seemed to have a good sense of humor about all of it, Gabriel appreciated the fuck out of that. He’d tried to date chicks that were just too serious, and he couldn’t get into them. Life could be crazy and dangerous and dark and all that, but it was also hilarious more often than not. Or maybe he just had a fucked up sense of humor, who knew. Gabriel didn’t mind if he did; he’d long since learned that it was far more worthwhile to find his tribe than to try and change himself. “Just outside it,” he answered Zania’s question, glancing over at her with a smile. “There’s a lil spot with a firepit and a picnic table, thought it might be nice. But we can open up the back, put the tailgate down if you get cold. I wish there was a big ole fire goin’ at the top, but I think they’re electric these days.”
“Ooo, you gonna let me play with fire?” Zania smiled. While she wasn’t crazy about this time of year because of the cold, she really did enjoy the chance to randomly light fires in public. She liked feeling the warmth on her body in such strong contrast to the air outside, the smell of burning wood lofting through the air. Her friends used to tease her that she was just a hair away from being a pyromaniac and that wasn’t too far off. She just knew when it was appropriate to set fires and when she needed to refrain. “You know, for all the time I’ve lived here, I don’t think I’ve ever been up to the lighthouse. I bet we can see the whole town from up there,” she said, turning to look out the window as they climbed the hill. “Did you have a favorite spot in New Orleans? Some place you loved going?”
“Never?” Gabriel asked, his brows lifting briefly. He would’ve explored it already if he’d been there longer, he tended to like the high places. Birds eye views and all that. “We can go in and go up if you wanna, pre-picnic.” They probably wouldn’t feel like climbing a bunch of stairs on full stomachs, but Gabriel was game to poke around inside the lighthouse if Zania wanted to. He pursed his lips thoughtfully at the question. New Orleans had felt like an oversized backyard to him, he knew it so well. It was difficult to pick a favorite place in what he’d always thought of as his city. “I love a lot of it, but people-watchin’ in Jackson Square, walkin’ the Garden District ... and you can just feel the history hummin’ everywhere. Preservation Hall, that’s a place of power if I ever been in one.”
If she’d been there before, Zania didn’t remember it, perhaps as part of some outing with her parents as a child. There would have been a lot of rules, a lot of not touching and not exploring, which really defeated the purpose in her opinion. If you were going to go someplace new, you should have the chance to see it from top to bottom. “Let’s go,” she smiled as she nodded towards the tower. A little pre-lunch exploration sounded like fun. “I love people watching. It’s hard to find a good crowd of people around here on a normal day, but occasionally there’s festivals and things. What’s Preservation Hall?” She was familiar with places of power—Point Pleasant definitely had their fair share— but she wasn’t as up to date on New Orleans history as she would have liked.
That was the thing about small towns, wasn’t it? Either nearly everybody was in one place, or the crowd was thin. It was still taking getting used to for Gabriel, he just hoped he would drawn in enough business to stay afloat once he opened up shop. This town did seem to have its fair share of witches, so there were other possible avenues of income, but still. “Preservation Hall is a music venue,” he told Zania with a little grin. “Got a lotta history there, it’s the heartbeat of New Orleans jazz. It’s got deep roots though, and if you can feel that kinda thing, you can feel it.” He pulled into the little parking lot for the lighthouse and took a spot. There was only one other car there, so he was pretty sure they would have the lighthouse to themselves. “You ready to hoof it up some stairs?” Gabriel cut the engine and looked at Zania, one hand reaching back to scratch at Anubis’s questioning face. He would have to wait in the car, but that was all right.
Someday Zania was going to make the trip down to New Orleans and see all those places for herself. It sounded like her kind of city, where magic was in its roots, cropping up all over the place. She couldn’t think of another city more known for magical influence, except for Salem. Point Pleasant was too small to attract that much attention, however she often felt it ranked up there in terms of the hold the supernatural had on it. With the car parked and the lighthouse before them, Zania grinned at Gabriel before opening the door. “Luckily, I wore my walking boots today.” She tended to wear somewhat sensible shoes any time she was working in the shop. Heels were fun, but too many hours in them killed her feet. “He’ll be okay down here?” she asked, nodding towards Anubis. She hated to leave him, but she doubted the lighthouse was animal friendly.
“He’ll be fine, won’t’cha, boy?” Gabriel cooed at Anubis, grinning when the dog licked his face, his short tail wagging. Gabriel rubbed his head, then had him lie down on the backseat to wait for them. It wasn’t hot out by any means, so he would be okay. And if things turned Not Okay out there, Gabriel would know. He got out of the vehicle with Zania and locked it up, then went around the car to take her hand and escort her toward the steps that led further up the sloping hill to the lighthouse.
The caretaker’s cabin wasn’t attached to it, it was a ways down the path, but there was a little desk inside with a very bored looking teenage girl behind it. She accepted Gabriel’s cash payment for the entry fee, handed them a pamphlet from the stack next to her, muttered something about non-slip shoes, then went back to poking at her phone. The first level of the lighthouse was lined with old photos and little placards about the history of the place -- most of which were also in the brochure, it seemed -- along with some antique furniture and relics. Gabriel glanced over the first few they could see, then shot an amused smirk at Zania. “History lesson or more stairs first?” he asked.
Zania’s heart jumped when he took her hand and she smiled as she walked with him, hoping he didn’t notice how much she enjoyed that little gesture. Little things like that stood out to her, things that a guy normally didn’t do unless they really liked a girl. Not that Gabriel had given her any reason to doubt his interest, but she’d learned to look for and appreciate those things. She walked with him into the lighthouse, waiting patiently as he purchased them passes to the top. It hadn’t even occurred to her that they couldn’t just march up there on their own, but Gabriel didn’t seem too put out that they had to pay. “Stairs first,” she smiled, tugging his hand towards the stairs. “We can always get our history lesson while we’re enjoying the view.”
That didn’t exactly surprise Gabriel. Zania didn’t seem like the ‘lazily wander around and look at plaques’ sort of person. He went where he was tugged, grinning the whole way, and started up the narrow, winding stairs behind his date. It wasn’t just for the view of her ass -- though that was pretty spectacular -- but the steps were single-file and steep, and Gabriel knew he could catch Zania if she fell better than she would’ve caught him. It seemed higher and more challenging the longer they went up, and Gabriel was kind of glad they were doing this first, not on a full stomach. When they finally reached the top, surrounded by glass, it all seemed worth it. Gabriel let out a low whistle and turned in a slow circle to take in the 360-degree view.
While Zania had been teasing about wearing her walking shoes, she quickly realized she couldn’t have made the climb in anything else without worrying about falling. Even still, she made sure to hold onto the rail until they got to the top. “Wow,” she said softly as she stepped up to the glass. “You really can see the whole town from up here.” It was too bad the lighthouse closed in the winter because she suspected seeing Point Pleasant covered in snow was magnificent. “We may have to sneak up here once everything freezes over,” she grinned, jumping a little when a bug ran into the glass closest to her. “I know it’s more convenient, but I wish they hadn’t switched it over to electric. A fire up here would be nice and cozy.”
Gabriel didn’t even notice the bug, much more captivated by the view and the woman with him. “Already makin’ plans to break into a spot just for the view,” he teased, amused at the idea. “You’re bad.” He knew they wouldn’t destroy anything, so why not? If they could make it past whoever manned this thing during the winter, it might be a fun little diversion. It would be gorgeous with the snow, he would just have to be sure and bundle up. Gabriel reached for Zania again as they stood in front of the glass, and pulled her in close with a little “c’mere,” his expression turning even warmer and more flirty. He wet his lips, sleepy eyes on her face to make sure she was receptive, then kissed her.
Zania wasn’t sure she would have considered the lighthouse romantic, but in that moment it sure felt that way with Gabriel’s arms wrapped around her waist and his lips on hers. She closed her eyes and kissed him back slowly, enjoying the moment when she heard a little thump against the glass. Then another. And another. It sounded like rain, or maybe even hail, and it was enough for Zania to eventually pull back and investigate. “What the fuck,” she muttered as bugs continued to fly into the glass, more and more each second, some of them hitting so hard that they died on impact, the way they would on a windshield. Zania’s hold on Gabriel tightened as she took a step back from the glass, slowly darkening with a coat of dead bugs. She didn’t even want to think about what that would have been like if they were outside and wondered if the whole town was experiencing it now.
The kiss was definitely nice while it lasted, the heart-thumping kind that was always so exciting in a new Thing with someone. They were still getting to know one another, so Gabriel wasn’t going to call it a relationship yet. Not that he was thinking about anything but Zania’s mouth. Until the bug kamikazes started. Gabriel looked over at the lighthouse glass to see a swarm of what looked like beetles smashing themselves against it. Some just flutter-clung to the layer of goop gathering, all of them seeming to try to get inside. “For real, though,” Gabriel murmured, moving backward a bit with Zan. He still stared at the insect assault, fascinated. A few bugs running into shit was one thing, but a whole swarm? He’d never seen anything like it.
It sounded like it was pouring from within the lighthouse, but it wasn’t water hitting the glass. The bugs continued to pelt themselves against the glass until there wasn’t a spot left to see out from and only them did it seem to stop. If Zania had to guess, she’d say there were thousands of them, all dead within seconds, with no reasonable explanation as to where they came from or why they’d hurled themselves at the lighthouse glass. “Do you think it’s over?” she asked Gabriel, glancing up at him. While she wasn’t quite scared, the whole thing unnerved her. She could only imagine what might’ve happened if they’d been outside. Or, worse, if it had been something bigger than bugs.
Unnerving was definitely a word for it. Gabriel had tried to reach out with his magic to get a sense of why they were all committing suicide by lighthouse, but insects were so difficult to read in the first place, much less in the milliseconds before they died. It was just so weird, it made him nervous, so his arm was perhaps tighter than it needed to be around Zania. “I dunno,” he answered in a murmur, looking back at her with his brows drawn together. Gabriel did a quick check-in with Anubis in the car, his eyes glazing over for a second or two before he focused again. “It wasn’t everywhere, the car is clean,” he told her. Gabriel’s gaze was drawn back to the covered windows around them. It filtered the sunlight into a creepy sort of dappled gray. “C’mon, let’s ... go back down.”
Though it was probably better for the town as a whole that they didn’t all have to endure the bug attack, being in the one place that had been swarmed creeped Zania out far more. It made her eager to leave the lighthouse, despite having enjoyed it only moments before. Not to mention the fact that the view was gone. “Yeah… I’m not really feeling the sight-seeing anymore,” she said, slowly moving towards the stairs. They could still picnic, she still wanted to hang out with him, but maybe a change of venue was in order. “How would you feel about taking our picnic somewhere indoors?” She loved his plan, that he’d put this together for them, but sticking around the lighthouse seemed like a bad idea now.
Gabriel was not going to argue with any of that. The whole experience had given him the creeps, and he wondered vaguely if the girl down at the desk had even noticed. If the bugs had even bothered the downstairs windows. He didn’t envy whoever had to clean all that shit off, either. He moved with Zania, his steps more of a shuffle for a few seconds as Gabriel continued to stare at the carnage, then he focused better and started down the winding staircase with her. “We can definitely do indoors,” he said. “My auntie’s at work if you wanna come back to my place. Or we could go to my shop, I got a table and chairs and all. Or anywhere else ... I wasn’t exactly thinkin’ of contingency plans for crazy bug swarms, y’know?”
“No, I wouldn’t expect you to,” Zania said with a little smile. He’d planned for a lot, giving her all kinds of options on what she wanted to do, but nobody could have planned for this. “I’d love to see your shop,” she said, looking back over her shoulder as they headed down the stairs. “Maybe get a little tour before the grand opening?” She’d love to go back to his place as well, but that had connotations that she just wasn’t feeling at the moment. She’d probably regret it within the hour, but this seemed like a better option at that exact moment, knowing she couldn’t predict her moods. When they reached the bottom of the staircase, they passed by the girl at the bottom, so absorbed in her book that she didn’t even look up at them. Zania debated telling her about the mess upstairs, then decided against it. Someone else could try and explain it; she was ready to head to lunch and move on.
Gabriel wasn’t put out that she wanted to go to the shop instead of the apartment -- of which he really needed one of his own, gods he hoped this salon took off -- as he still felt rather unsettled too. Plus he wasn’t a rushy asshole when it came to women he actually liked. “Sounds good to me,” he answered, trying to shake that off-balance feeling. “You’ll be my first tour.” At the bottom of the stairs, Gabriel was also tempted to tell the desk girl about what had happened, but he kept moving along to the door with Zania. It could’ve happened at any point after they left, it wasn’t like the place was crawling with visitors. The place would figure it out come sundown. He escorted his lunch date out and as they started down toward the SUV, he tossed a few wary glances up at the sky.
Zania glanced over at Gabriel, then followed his gaze up. Nothing looked amiss, there was no giant cloud of insects hovering or waiting to charge a new target. Her eyes ticked up to the top of the tower, but they were too far away to see any detail. From all the way down at the bottom, the glass just looked cloudy, rather than coated with the entrails of bugs. “It looks like it’s over, whatever it was,” she said. “Sometimes these things happen around here. Unexplainable things. I used to try and figure out why, but I’ve come to believe that there’s just something about this place that invites that sort of chaos.” Sometimes she even enjoyed it, so long as it wasn’t directed at her.
“Yeah, I’m kinda catchin’ on to that,” Gabriel murmured as he glanced around again. “My auntie said as much, but that’s the first truly weird shit I’ve seen so far.” He felt on guard now, like something else weird might suddenly start to happen, so he kept his senses open for ... anything. Some sign that wildlife was fritzing out around them. If he could feel it coming, he could possibly stop it. Anubis was picking up on his worry, and the dog was alert and standing on the backseat as they approached the vehicle again. He gave a single bark, and scrambled between the two front seats to lick at Gabriel’s face when he opened the door to get in. “It’s okay, you big baby,” Gabriel murmured with a chuckle, rubbing Anubis’s head and then nudging him back out of Zania’s way.
The weird shit tended to come in waves and it had actually been a while since they’d encountered anything big. If this was the start of something new, she wasn’t looking forward to what might come next, however it was most likely some random, unexplainable event. Zania climbed in the car next to Gabriel, casting a glance in the back to look at Anubis. “When you talk to him, is it like…words? I mean, could he tell you what he saw?” she asked, looking back at Gabriel. She should probably try and forget about it and move on, but it was hard without a distraction. It would be easier once they arrived at his shop.
Gabriel gave a thoughtful hum as he started the car up. Communicating with animals had become such second nature to him, it was sometimes hard to explain when people asked him questions about it. “I talk to him in words out loud,” he said as he buckled up and started to back out. “Like most people do to their pets. But when it’s on the inside ... it’s more emotion, more intent, more mental pictures. That’s mostly what I get back from him too. Definitely all from my other familiars. Dogs are smarter than most, in that kinda way. But he’s got a good memory, he could show me what he saw. Which ....” Gabriel did just that, quiet for a second or two as he pulled those images from Anubis’s mind. “... wasn’t much. Just a big cloud of dark bug-spots swarming around the top of the lighthouse. He was more worried ‘cause I was worried.”
Gabriel’s abilities would always be fascinating to Zania. They were just so different, so far from anything she could ever manage herself. She’d always considered herself to be well versed in all kinds of magic, but what Gabriel could do couldn’t be taught to just anyone. There had to be some natural talent there as well and it just wasn’t in her blood. “He’s a good dog,” she said with a little smile. “I was just wondering. It seems so random, but maybe it happened in a few different places all over town. We’ll have to wait and see if anything’s reported.” She doubted anything would come up based on the lighthouse alone, but if it happened some place with more people she could see it causing a stir. “So, you’re opening the shop soon?” she asked, trying to get them back on a more pleasant topic. The afternoon was only ruined if they let it be and she was determined not to let bugs dominate her thoughts in his company.
Gabriel knew his abilities were pretty rare in the magical world, and he attributed a lot of it to the family he’d been raised in. There was a lot of love and reverence for nature, he’d just been blessed with some extra talents that allowed him to tap into nature more directly. There were a ton of things he could’ve learned about magic instead, but Gabriel had always felt the pull toward animals, and it had served him well so far in his life. Anubis settled down in the back seat, reassured. Gabriel turned onto the lighthouse access road to take them back into town and toward his shop. It was within walking distance of Zania’s shop, if he didn’t mind a long stroll when the weather was good, and that had been another selling point of the place. Not that much in Point Pleasant was out of walking distance, but still. “Yeah, should be in the next week or so,” he said, looking over at Zania with a brighter smile. “Which ... is probably shitty timing, with the bad weather comin’ on, but hey, s’worth a try. You gonna be my first customer?”
“We’ve got months of bad weather ahead of us. Don’t let that stop you. People still need to get their hair done,” Zania smiled. She knew the weather was something Gabriel was going to have to get used to, especially the snow. It was true that there were times that people were stuck at home due to a storm, but for the most part people had learned to live with it. She hated the cold, but didn’t let it stop her from getting done what she needed to get done. “But yeah, I’d love that,” she grinned. “No one around here knows what to do with it, color or cut. I’ve been doing it myself for years, so I’m excited to let you have a go at it.” Having anyone else do her hair was going to feel like she was getting pampered at this point. It didn’t take a lot of day to day work, but when it needed an update it was a pain on her own.
People did need to still get their hair done ... whether they would trust a black man like him to do it was another story, but Gabriel didn’t say so. He would just have to wait and see on that score. For the moment, it was good to know that Zania trusted him with her head. “I got you, cutie,” he told her, grinning a bit. “You’re gonna feel like you at a spa.” He was completely professional with clients, of course, but when he was dating someone, doing their hair could be a genuinely erotic experience. He was kind of hoping it would go that way with Zania. “You and your brother don’t look much alike, style wise. You said he’s your twin, right? That’s pretty special. I got four siblings, but we all singles, you know? I’m only close with a couple of ‘em.”
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Zania smiled, her hand dropping between them to lightly brush over Gabriel’s. She’d never thought of getting her hair done as a way to connect with someone, but she knew it would be that way with him. It was just something she could feel between them, a vibe that had been there from the moment she met him and was only getting more intense each time they were together. “He’s fifteen minutes older than me,” she said with a little laugh. “I think, outwardly, we’re really different. We look nothing alike, have completely different styles, and almost opposite personalities. And magical elements. But we’re also super close and the things we do have in common are the things that matter. It’s more like values, how we handle situations. It’s just the two of us and we both kind of rebelled against our parents.”
Gabriel laughed a bit at the ‘age difference.’ Fifteen minutes was enough to lord over a sibling for forever, wasn’t it? He would’ve been that petty himself, at least jokingly. He’d only met Nic for a few minutes, so it was good to know he had a sense of humor of some kind. The little touch was nice, and since the driving wasn’t exactly complicated, he turned his hand over to catch Zania’s fingers and toy with them lightly. It gave him a nice little buzz under the surface of his skin, though whether that was from magic recognizing magic or just the attraction, he couldn’t say. Didn’t matter. “Only two of my siblin’s -- both my sisters, actually -- are witches too. They got different styles, so I know how that kinda goes. That’s good that y’all are close though, and you balance each other. All’a life needs balance.” He glanced over at her with a little smile.
“It does,” Zania smiled back at him. It felt natural that she and Nic be opposites in almost everything. If they’d been the same, if he’d been a girl blessed with fire as well, it would have tipped the scales. That and Zania would’ve likely hated her twin. It was better that it was Nic. “Five kids is a lot, especially if three of ‘em are witches. Where do you fall? Not the oldest,” she said thoughtfully. He was too laid back for that. But he didn’t seem like the youngest either. “Are both your parents witches?” If so, then it was probably hard for the two that weren’t, whereas it felt a bit even if not. Family dynamics were always interesting and complex, but it was even more complicated when magic was involved. She knew Nic had struggled when he’d thought he wasn’t a witch, but she couldn’t imagine how their lives would have played out if it had never happened. She doubted they’d be near as close as they were today.
It had definitely been an interesting household, and Gabriel chuckled fondly, giving a slow nod. He thought it was perceptive of her to name him as not the oldest, because she was right on the money. “I’m the fourth, actually,” he answered, grinning a bit. “Only got a little brother, the rest are older. My dad’s the one with magic, but he don’t really call it that. My family on both sides are into hoodoo, some of ‘em are just better at it, y’know? So it all kinda gave me a different perspectives. I didn’t know much about spells and grimoires and witchiness ‘til I was a teenager and started minglin’ in the community. It was all animal spirits and the loa to me.” Gabriel glanced over at Zania again, curious as to just how different that had all been from her experience. Point Pleasant and New Orleans seemed worlds apart. They were getting close to the shop now, and Anubis sat up in the back seat.
“Sometimes I wish we had more of a witching ‘community’ here,” Zania said. “I mean, there’s a lot of us, especially for such a small town, but we all keep our distance to some degree. We’re all very private about what we can do. I think a lot of it stems back to the six and being persecuted, but it’s hard to say.” The only witches she knew that were close to her in age were Reagan and Caius and they had a complicated relationship, to say the least. Zania still wasn’t sure if she should call them friends. Caius had been once, or so she thought, but she’d been doubting that more and more recently. And Reagan had definitely not been a friend, but more recently felt more trustworthy than Caius. It was a lot to get into and not something she was super eager to talk about. “We do tend to know who’s who though. Especially me, since I sell to most of ‘em.”
Gabriel gave an understanding sort of hum as she described the witch culture in Point Pleasant. He’d kind of gotten that vibe from the place -- it was a small town, but not incredibly friendly. And he’d definitely noticed the rich people neighborhood on the hill. Gabriel didn’t mean to stereotype, but he wondered a bit if the lack of community was because most of the town was white. He couldn’t imagine growing up without being surrounded by adopted family. But maybe their shared roots had something to do with it too. “Well you’ll have to make me a list,” he said, shooting Zania a little smirk. “Introduce me around. I’ll have to start comin’ to hang out with you at work more.” He pulled into the little parking lot next to the row of buildings where his shop was and cut the engine. “You ready to be wined and dined?”
“You should,” Zania smiled. “I have some friends that want to meet you.” He wouldn’t meet all her friends at the shop, since they weren’t all witches, but there were plenty of events with the upcoming holidays to introduce him around. If she couldn’t talk him into going to the gala with her— which was totally understandable, since it wasn’t her crowd either— then he could still meet people at her Christmas party. Zania grinned when they pulled up into the parking lot, looking in the direction of his shop, then back at him. “More than ready,” she smiled. “Lead the way.”
Gabriel’s brows lifted and he grinned a bit at the revelation that Zania had talked about him to any of her friends. It seemed logical, of course, since they’d seen each other a few times now and there was obvious chemistry, but it was still a confirmation of her interest, so it gave him a little electric charge inside. “Aight then,” he murmured happily to himself as he opened the door and got out. Gabriel moved around to the back of the SUV to pull the picnic basket and a couple of bags out, then clicked his tongue for Anubis. The dog bounded over the backseat and hopped out of the car as well. Gabriel led Zania to the front door of the shop and unlocked it to let them in.
He hadn’t had a lot of spare cash for decorating, but he’d given most of the place a light gray paint job that reflected the light that came in from the big picture windows in front, save for the sectioned-off back of the shop, which had accent walls in a muted green. It was a pretty standard small barber shop with three swivel chairs in front of big mirrors lined with lights, and a row of comfortable second-hand chairs along the opposite wall for the folks who were waiting. The front desk was neat and organized, and everything was clean, the black and white checked floor shiny with fresh wax. He’d color-coordinated everything as best he could, but a bit of thrift-store chic was kind of his style anyway. His equipment and supplies were all new and good quality though, and he felt ready to be open. Except for one thing ... “Only thing left? I need a name for the place,” Gabriel said as he turned to look at Zania. “Gonna get it painted on the window ... eventually get a real sign. I hope, anyway.” He chuckled.
Though Zania owned her own business, she’d never had to go through the work of putting it all together that first time. The shop had been in the family and she’d just taken it over. True, she’d done some re-arranging and added a few of her own personal touches, but the look and feel of it remained the same as it had when she was a girl. Starting from scratch seemed like a difficult task and she admired the work Gabriel had put in, aware that he’d had to pick everything out himself from the light fixtures to the floor tiles. She made sure to wipe her feet before stepping inside, looking around with a grin. “It looks so good,” she smiled, walking over to one of the chairs and taking a seat. With a little push, she spun around, turning it to face him. “Do you want, like, a generic name? Or something kind of fun and modern?”
It was Gabriel’s first time building a business too, though he’d helped with a lot of them back home. He knew enough bookkeeping to stay afloat, and how to handle employees and all that. Not that he had any yet, but he’d been brushing up on the Maine state employment laws. Some of it was hard to get through, but Gabriel was pretty sharp, so he thought he would be okay. Now he just needed to do the hardest part and build the customer base. Even if he didn’t succeed and the business tanked, a lot of the money was given string-free by his family and friends, so he wouldn’t be in a terrible place. At that moment he was feeling pretty damn good to see Zania smiling in his chair. Gabriel moved to the front counter to put the picnic basket down, then ambled in closer to give her another spin with his sneaker against the footrest. “Somethin’ fun and modern,” he said. “Cheeky, y’know? Though ... you know this town better’n me, what do you think would be ear-catching?”
Zania grabbed the arms of the chair as he spun her, grinning and barely refraining from a ‘whee!’ in response. “I dunno. My shop has the most boring name in town. But I agree with you on it being fun and modern. Maybe something like Muse Salon or…hmmm…” She paused to think for a minute, then grinned. “If you wanna go really cheeky, you could do something like Rock Paper Scissors Salon. Not sure how the rock and paper fit in, but I like the scissors.” It was just an idea off the top of her head and he could probably do far better, but it was fun to give it a shot. “Do you have any ideas you’re tossing around?” She might not have the best names herself, but she could help narrow it down for sure.
Gabriel chuckled at that idea and squinted one eye a bit. “I guess I can start doin’ waxes and ... I dunno, hot stone massages? Rock Paper Scissors?” He snickered and nudged Zania’s chair for another slow spin. Gabriel didn’t have the licenses for that kind of shit, but hey, it would be witty, right? And if the business started to take off and he started getting requests for aesthetician type work, maybe it was something he ought to look into anyway. “I keep tryin’, but I’m only thinkin’ of animal names. Like ‘Feathers n’ Fur’ or somethin’. But I don’t want people to mistake it for a groomer’s, you know? Hair Lair? Mane Magic?” Gabriel leaned over and stopped the chair with his hands on the arms, smiling at Zania as he leaned in close. She looked so fucking cute, he really wanted to kiss her. “Locks on Lock?” he murmured.
While she liked her name suggestion, he’d have to go full on day spa to make it fit and that was too much work. He’d be spreading himself too thin and it was generally better to stick with what he was good at. “Feathers n’ Fur definitely sounds like a groomer’s,” she grinned up at him, leaning a little closer so there was even less distance between them. “I like the use of Locks though. Locks on Lock. Rockin Locks. Twisted Locks. Something like that. I’d hit up a place with a name like that even if I wasn’t sweet on the owner.” Obviously, he could name it Gabriel’s Barbershop and she’d still come, but he was trying to draw in more than just her. The name needed to be catchy enough that people might give him a chance. Once Gabriel got them in the door, then he could work his magic on them, so to speak.
There were pros and cons to witty names -- they would draw in young, cool people like Zania, but were there enough of those people in town to keep him in business? Would little old white ladies still walk through the door if it said ‘Locks on Lock’ on it? Though he doubted most little old white ladies would sit in his chair once they saw him anyway. So why not name it what he wanted to and see how it went? The name didn’t seem so important at the moment, just that he was close enough to smell Zania and feel her warmth. “I’mma hire you as my marketing consultant,” he murmured with a lazy grin. Then he closed the gap and kissed her, soft and slow. There was still food to eat, but Gabriel wanted a taste of his date first.
It probably wasn’t good business sense, but Zania would have told him to name it what he wanted and people would come based on his skill, not the name on the door. She didn’t know that for a fact, since he hadn’t touched her hair yet either, but it was how she would have wanted to handle it if it were her. Zania laughed softly as he leaned in and closed her eyes as he kissed her, whatever response she’d had ready slipping from her mind. When the things had gone haywire at the lighthouse, she’d thought the date was ruined. It was nice to know when the guy was good enough, and was willing to be flexible with his backup plans, it could still be salvaged.