smellsvanilla (smellsvanilla) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2020-03-11 13:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | #january 2018, brynn, brynn x liam, liam |
Who: Liam and Brynn
Where: Liam’s House
When: Afternoon, Monday, January 15th
Status: Complete
It was only mid-January and Liam was ready for spring, which was a bummer considering how many more months of snow they had to go. The only upside was the snow days, an excuse to stay home and bundle up until it was safe enough to drive. Liam knew they’d be back at school tomorrow, but he still appreciated the break. With both his parents at work, he invited Brynn over, provided she could get there safely. He’d promised to let her watch while he worked his magic on the masks and now seemed like the perfect time. Liam prepped as much as he could beforehand, then waited anxiously for Brynn to arrive. She’d hung out with him there over winter break, to watch movies and play video games, but never to perform a spell and always with at least one of his parents downstairs.
Brynn was thrilled with the snow day, not only because yay, no school, but it also meant she got to watch Liam do some magic. It felt like the perfect day for it, despite the crappy roads, and thankfully the roads were okay enough for her to drive down from Overlook without a lot of issues. She had to drive slowly, but her parents were at work so it wasn't like they were home to stop her.
The snow was everywhere, but it wasn't like they weren't used to this. The winters sucked in Point Pleasant. When she got to Liam's house, she parked in the driveway so the snowplows wouldn't accidentally bury her car and she hurried up to his front door, knocking quickly as she bounced on her heels to stay warm. She had on plenty of layers, but still. She tried to look cute today and having a red, runny nose and watery eyes because of the chill was so not cute.
Liam hurried to the door when Brynn knocked, not wanting to keep her out in the cold any longer than she had to be. She looked adorable all bundled up, but that didn’t mean she needed to stay that way. “Hey,” he smiled, spent half a second awkwardly wondering if he should hug her, then stepped back to let her inside. “Come on in. Was the drive okay?” He felt bad for asking her to drive, but he didn’t have a car and it made no sense to drag all the stuff he needed for the spell to somewhere else. Hopefully the roads weren’t as bad as they’d been early in the morning.
"It wasn't great, but it was okay," Brynn said, stepping into Liam's house quickly to get out of the cold. "The roads aren't that bad anymore." She tugged her gloves off to shove them into her bag. Then Brynn smiled as she pulled the bag from her shoulder to set down so she could slip off her scarf and start unbuttoning her coat. "I'll thaw out in no time, I'm sure. Do you have everything ready?" She was excited to see whatever it was he was going to do today.
“Yeah, I’m setup in my bedroom, ‘cause if I use my mom’s workroom she’ll freak out. I hope that’s okay,” Liam said, leading the way up the stairs. The real issue was that he wasn’t as familiar with cleansing his mother’s workroom. It had more complex wards in place and if he left behind any kind of magical signature then his mother would bombard him with questions. He was used to doing magic in his room however, and since that’s where Harper expected him to do it, she wouldn’t start wondering what he’d been doing. He was allowed to practice, so long as he was careful and didn’t dip into something he shouldn’t. It still made him a little bit nervous to have Brynn in his room, though he kept reminding himself that she’d seen it multiple times, through the eyes of his mask.
"Yeah, totally fine," Brynn said, shrugging out of her coat and holding it over her arm as she followed him up the stairs. She had been in his house before, though never without one of his parents there. It wasn't like they were going to do anything bad, but it definitely had a different feel to it. "So do you need me to do anything while you're doing the magic thing? Or just stay out of the way?" Brynn smiled. "Which I'm really good at, by the way. But I can... hold things too." Ugh, that sounded lame. But if he needed help, she would definitely help. She would also be fine with standing off to the side to watch.
“Actually,” Liam smiled. “I do need your help. I want to set it up so the telephone thing only works for us, which means I need you to sit in the circle with me and repeat a few words. That cool?” If it had required blood or anything extreme, Liam wouldn’t have messed with it, but this seemed simple enough and he knew Brynn might enjoy participating a little. He led the way into his room, where he’d pulled a large wooden board out from under the bed and into the open space in the center of his room. Four candles were setup, one on each corner, and then another sat in the center. All five were unlit. “It’s kind of weird, but it prevents me from spilling things on the carpet.”
Brynn couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement when Liam said he needed her help. She was no witch obviously, but helping one was something she never dreamed would actually happen. But then, she never thought witches were real until recently, no matter what had supposedly happened in the town's history. She set her coat and bag aside, very acutely aware now that she was in Liam's house without parents. In his room. Not that she expected anything to happen. He hadn't even kissed her yet. And she hadn't kissed him. But still. Not only that, but they were going to perform magic. "It's a smart idea," Brynn told him with a smile as she walked over to the board. "I can barely paint my nails without getting it on my desk or something, so I get it. Are the candles special or anything?"
Liam was most definitely aware that they were alone in his bedroom without his parents at home, but he didn’t think anything was going to come of it unless he grew some balls and kissed her. He’d thought he would after the play, but somehow managed not to and had been kicking himself ever since. If he kept waiting for the perfect time, he’d wait too long and she’d get the wrong idea. “They’re just normal candles, but they’ve been blessed by the elements,” he said, taking a seat on one side of the board and gesturing for her to take a seat on the other side, facing him. “A lot of things we use for magic are just normal objects that can take on magical properties. Like, this is couch grass,” he said, holding up a bundled bit of grass. “It grows everywhere, but it’s good for binding spells. I’m going to burn it as part of the spell, then we’ll each take the ash and rub it along the ears of the mask. It’ll link them together. Don’t worry, we can wash it off afterwards.”
"Couch grass," Brynn repeated, having never heard of it before. She was now imagining an actual couch with grass growing from it, even though he had just said it grows everywhere. She sat down where he had motioned, getting comfortable. Couch grass and element-blessed candles. What were the rest of her friends doing on this snow day? Probably not watching a cute guy perform magic, Brynn thought. "Will it work for me, not being magic?" she asked. She knew Liam would be able to say things and burn grass and all that, but she had not even an ounce of magic in her, so she was curious as to how it would work the same for her.
“Well, you’re not actually doing the magic,” Liam said. “You’re more like a participant or a part of the spell, if that makes sense. I could bind it to you without you here, but then I’d need something like your hair or fingernails and this just seemed easier.” There was no way he was going to ask the girl he liked for a sample of her hair. Having her there was more powerful anyways. It was akin to asking for blood without actually having to take it, another thing he was unwilling to do for a spell that was for fun. “You might feel it though, when the spell is activating. There’s usually like, this warmth. I don’t know if that’s just me, or my magic, or if it’s the same for everybody.”
Brynn wrinkled her nose at the thought of giving Liam her hair or fingernails. That just had a morbid sort of vibe to it. This was much better. "I'll tell you if I feel anything," Brynn said. She paused and then smiled at Liam. "Although now I'm super curious about whether or not you've asked people for their hair or fingernails before." She could only imagine how that might go over, but Liam also didn't seem like the type who would perform spells on people or for people, without them knowing about it.
“Only if they’ve asked me to make them a hex bag,” Liam smiled. “And for those, they can add them themselves, after the spell’s done, so I don’t actually have to handle it. Outside of that, no, never. It’s weird and I don’t normally do magic for people.” There were plenty of other people in town who could do that, plus Liam was still learning and his experience was limited. Only a handful of people even knew he was a witch, so it wasn’t like he was brimming with requests. “Okay, you ready? I’ll start by casting a circle and invoking the elements, then there’s a bit in Latin that conveys intent, then we’ll present the masks. When we do that part, repeat after me. We’ll also mark the masks with the couch grass. Then there’s one more Latin bit, I’ll reopen the circle, and we’re done. It sounds like a lot, but it’ll probably only take a few minutes.”
"It's definitely weird," Brynn agreed with a small laugh. She got comfortable enough and nodded when he asked if she was ready. She was hoping he didn't need her to speak Latin because she had no idea how to do that. But if it was just Brynn repeating his words, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. "It doesn't sound too bad," she told him with a shrug. "I just hope I don't mess it up. The masks won't like, come alive and try to eat us if I say the wrong thing, will they?" Brynn was only mostly joking, but she had seen a few horror movies where Latin stuff invoked evil spirits and while she understood that was all fiction, it still created an uncomfortable picture in her head.
“Oh, gods, no,” Liam said with a little laugh and wide eyes. He didn’t think you could accidentally bring a mask to life, but if that were on the table, then he’d have been a bit more hesitant with just about every spell he performed. Lucky for them, intent was a big part of spell casting and they should be safe so long as he wasn’t wishing harm upon them. “Worse that happens is it doesn’t work. Maybe I suffer a little backlash, but I’m not worried about it,” he said, putting the mask in his lap. All the other supplies he might need were right beside him, safely inside the circle he planned to draw. He really hoped he didn’t screw this up.
She noticed how he said gods instead of god and Brynn wasn't sure if that was just a normal saying, or if it was a magic thing. Maybe witches believed in more than one God? Like the Greeks had. It didn't really matter, but it was something she filed away for later. Brynn lifted a brow and watched Liam work, though she felt some pulsing concern now. "Backlash... I don't like the sound of that. So if you don't do it right the first time you might get hurt?"
“I could, potentially,” Liam said, hedging a bit on the answer. It didn’t feel very cool to explain how magic could be dangerous to witches. No one ever liked talking about the consequences and he didn’t want her to think this was a bad idea. “I wear something that acts as a buffer, so even if it fails completely I think the worst I’d get is a headache from something like this.” He instinctively palmed the ring on his right hand, a gift from his mother when he’d started practicing magic. He’d never done anything big, but he still knew removing it would hurt him at this point, probably worse than a headache.
That was a little unnerving, but Brynn had to figure if there was a chance Liam could get hurt doing this, he wouldn't do it. It would be cool to hear each other through the masks, but it wasn't worth it if it meant pain. "If you get a headache, I'll get you some Tylenol," she promised with a small smile. "The magic stuff sounds a lot more complicated than I thought." Which made everything he was doing even more impressive. Brynn shifted a bit and got comfortable before her smile widened. "Okay, I'm totally ready for this. Just tell me when you need me, obviously."
Liam had been nervous about performing magic before, but now he felt the edge of danger that he usually ignored. There was always a chance things could go wrong, that he could push too far and skew the balance or just botch the whole thing completely. He’d never been dealt bad backlash before, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible, and he prayed to whatever spirits might be listening that today was not the day for him to fuck things up. “It can get tricky, but I think I’ve got this,” he said, trying to sound reassuring. The hardest part, he realized, was going to be keeping his focus. Brynn distracted him just by being there. She didn’t even have to do anything. “Okay,” he said softly, then shut his eyes for a second, tapping into the magic that came easiest first as one by one the candles around them lit up.
Brynn wondered if she was supposed to close her eyes too, but she couldn't. She wanted to see everything as it happened. The candle flame that flickered to life made her smile. It was just so weird to see someone able to do something like that with only their minds. Or bodies. Whatever it was that Liam was using. Brynn realized she was holding her breath so she exhaled quietly and glanced down at the masks. She knew there was more to the spell, but she half expected them to start glowing or something.
Liam didn’t have to close his eyes, but it helped him focus on the spell, rather than the girl sitting across from him. While he didn’t like to admit it, he was still a relatively young witch and doing a new spell, on his own, unsupervised made him nervous. Creating a circle and invoking the elements was something he was familiar with though and he performed that part with ease. He did it all quietly, in his head, then opened his eyes to read the Latin from his notes. He’d practiced it over and over outside the spell, had it memorized, but it still felt smart to read it as he said it. As he spoke, he could feel the magic swirling around them, making his senses tingle. “We connect these masks with ears to hear,” he said, taking the couch grass and burning it in the candle between them. It took a moment for it to create ash on the end, but then he snuffed it out with his fingers and looked to Brynn. “Repeat after me. I, Liam Lyttle Wolfe, mark this mask for my use only.”
Brynn couldn't feel what Liam was feeling, but there did seem to be a subtle sort of hum beneath her skin. She wasn't sure if it was actually happening, or if she was imagining it. Even if she couldn't feel the magic as deeply as he did, it was still fascinating to watch. And when his eyes were closed at least, she could appreciate how cute he was without being caught staring. When Liam's eyes opened again, Brynn quickly looked down at her mask. For a second she nearly repeated him word for word, including his name, but thankfully corrected herself. She could just imagine it being her to mess everything up because she said the wrong name. "I, Brynn Chapman, mark this mask for my use only.” Her eyes were on the mask, still expecting it to do something weird and unnatural.
Liam smiled as Brynn spoke, but had to work hard not to let his mind drift. As the one driving the spell, it was important that he stay on task, otherwise the intent could get skewed or fail completely. Using the couch grass, he smudged ashes around each of the mask’s ears, then handed it to Brynn to do the same. He kept expecting the ashes to glow or light up, but he knew that it didn’t have to be showy to work. Once Brynn finished marking her mask, he took the couch grass back and said the final words in Latin. In that instant, he could feel it all snap into place, a feeling so fast and sharp that he imagined an audible click at the same time. The ash dissolved into the masks as if it was never there and Liam ran a finger along the ears just to check for certain-- they came back clean. “I think we did it,” he grinned.
Brynn bit into her lower lip, watching the masks, and then Liam, and then back to the masks. She was really hoping this would work, because being able to hear each other through the masks would be pretty awesome. It occurred to Brynn that they could just use their phones, but that wasn't the same. The masks were magic, and it was fascinating to be able to see through his eyes, and vice versa. Her eyes widened when Liam smiled and she reached for her mask, just to be able to touch it. "Oh my gosh, really? Do you want to try it out?"
Liam swept his hand over the candle, putting it out and opening the circle in one go. He felt a small shift in the air, but no sign that the spell had gone sideways. Generally, if he’d completely botched it, he’d have known by now. He was just as eager as Brynn was to see if it worked and he flipped his mask between his fingers as he tried to control his excitement. “Let’s do it,” he said, and put his mask up to his face. “It might be kind of weird with us both here, but I think it’ll still work. Like talking to someone who’s on the phone, but in the same room.”
Brynn laughed. "I can always step out into the hallway too," she pointed out. But she brought the mask up to her face and it looked as if she was looking into a mirror. She just knew if any of her friends saw her doing this, they would probably think she was some kind of weirdo freak. But that was okay. How many of them owned a magical mask? And this was so much more fun than hanging out and talking about television or the boys at school. "So what do you think?" she asked, her voice a bit muffled against the inside of the mask. "Can you hear me okay?"
The second Brynn put her mask up to her face, Liam’s perspective changed and suddenly he was looking out her eyes instead of his own, looking back at himself. It was strange and disorienting, like looking in a mirror where a mirror didn’t exist. When Brynn spoke, he could hear her from where she sat, but also in his ears, like she’d moved in close and spoken just to him. “I can hear you,” he laughed, excitement bubbling up in his chest. “It worked! It really worked!” He knew it should have, but actually executing it successfully had felt like a gamble. Liam reached out for Brynn, his fingers lightly brushing hers. “This is so cool.”
"I can hear you too," she exclaimed. It was definitely like surround sound almost and she nearly laughed, picturing herself laying in bed at night with this mask on, talking to Liam like it was a phone. So bizarre, but also cool. It was also really cool how Liam had pulled this off. Brynna had been able to see real magic at work, and if she'd had any lingering doubts about it, they were gone now. When she felt his fingers against hers, Brynn gripped his hand without giving it much thought. "I can't believe you did it. I mean, I can believe it! It's just... this is amazing."
In that moment, Liam wanted to lean forward and kiss her, except when he started to lean in he was looking at himself and that was just weird. He squeezed her hand again and glanced down, except no matter where he looked it was through her eyes. It was such a strange, almost out of body experience, seeing himself from her perspective. “We’ll have to try them out later tonight,” he smiled. “I know we’ve got phones, but I think this’ll be more fun.” Because it was magic!
"Definitely." Brynn liked how he squeezed her hand and she let her hand linger in his for a moment before she let go so she could reach up to pull off the mask. She couldn't wait to try it out later when she was home, and while it was fascinating to still see herself through his eyes, she wanted to look at Liam properly too. "That was so cool. I'm going to try not to be greedy and ask to see more. At least not right now. But if you never need help with another spell... like, having me just sit here and watch, I can do that," she said with a laugh.
“That’s probably the most impressive spell I know, but sure, anytime,” Liam grinned as he pulled his mask away. He wasn’t sure anything could top this, but now he wanted to see what he could come up with. Later, though, because now he was far more interested in spending time with her than searching out a spell to impress her with. “Did you wanna...maybe go play some video games or something? Maybe watch a movie?” He knew she’d come over so they could do the spell together, but that had taken so little time and he didn’t really want to see her go.
"That's okay. Even if it's something less impressive than that, I'd still want to see it," she said. Even Liam creating fire in his hand was cool. He could do things Brynn couldn't, things she never thought would be possible at all, but there he was, doing it. Maybe it was less impressive for witches because it was just a part of who they were. Brynn set the mask to the side and smiled. "I would definitely do either one of those things." She wanted to stay longer, and it would probably be safer that way anyway considering the state of the roads. "Um, why don't we play a video game or something. Your pick." A movie would just mean she would get distracted sitting beside him. Maybe if they played something she would have to focus and concentrate on one thing.
Liam wasn’t all that sure he could focus on a movie either. A video game would keep him engaged enough that he hopefully wouldn’t be completely preoccupied with the fact that he and Brynn were alone in the house. A part of him thought he should take advantage of it, work up the nerve to finally kiss her, but he figured he’d know the right time when it came. He didn’t want to push things, not when that was usually how he’d screwed up in the past. “Sounds good,” he smiled and rose to his feet, then offered her a hand up. “Maybe we can co-op something. Unless you wanna do something like Super Smash Brothers or Mario Kart.” It was competitive, but usually fun.
Brynn took his hand without hesitation and let him pull her to her feet. His hands were always warm and felt really nice in hers. "We can do anything you want," she told him, once she was on her feet. "Honestly, I like playing just about anything. And I don't have anywhere to be or anything, so we could always play more than one game if you wanted to." Brynn didn't want to overstay her welcome, or get Liam in trouble by being there at all, but she figured they could at least hang out for a couple of hours before she had to drive back home.
Liam’s brain took hold of her first comment and spun out of control for a moment, ‘anything he wanted’ being way too open an offer. He knew she didn’t mean it like that, but damn… He had to jerk his mind back to reality, to video games, the subject of their conversation. “Let’s start with Mario Kart,” he said, his hand still in hers as he led her towards the upstairs landing that functioned as a game room. “Then we can take a break, maybe grab a snack, and see what else sounds fun.” They hadn’t talked about it, but she was welcome to stay as long as she liked. Liam couldn’t think of a better way to spend a snow day than with Brynn.
me?