Friday, May 2nd, 2008 Who: Erik and Astrid Magnusson When: Around 6 PM Where: The campus grounds What: Astrid's dad finally asks about the book, and DOESN'T go well
Astrid hung up her phone and slipped it into her back pocket as she strolled across the campus grounds. There was her dad, leaning against the rental car, looking tall and brooding and Norse like usual. And man, she just knew that now that the wedding was over that he was not going to waste any time getting into things. If they even actually left the campus she'd be surprised.
"Hullo, Astrid." Erik's face was neutral, not friendly, not angry. He was leaning against the car, but fished the keys out of his pocket and pressed the button to unlock the door. "How were your classes today?
Oh, great, heading to the car. This was gonna be fun. "It was fine, papa." For anyone else who would have overheard them, they would have realized Astrid had slipped into Swedish. Being in a bilingual household did that. She would rather not plaster her business all over the school. "Professor Wilson's already on her honeymoon, so that made science class much easier to deal with."
Erik walked over to the passanger side of the car and opened the door for Astrid, "And your Math class? Earth magic? Practical Magic?"
Astrid frowned a little, not looking forward to getting into the car at all. She knew her dad's style. This was his typical cornering method. But, she didn't have a way to really counter it at the moment, and she knew that he'd just been dying to get her alone so he could tell her how horrible she was. She plopped into the front seat and took the typical pose of a petulant teen, slouched down in the seat with her arms crossed over her chest. "They were fine. Papa, I have all A's. Are you expecting any different?"
"I expect the teachers to have to invent a new grading rubrick for you." Erik shut the door and walked around to get into the drivers side.
"Wow, no pressure or anything, there, papa..." Astrid grumbled as she watched her father walk around the vehicle, before stepping in. She took a deep breath, looking over at him. She wasn't about to start this doomed conversation. Heeeeellz nah.
Erik got in the car, made sure Astrid's seatbelt was buckled, and turned on the car. The doors autolocked. Before putting the car in gear, Erik took a deep breath. "You need to return the Book, Astrid."
Astrid rolled her eyes. "There it is."
"It was not yours to take. Your mother and I are highly disappointed in you." The tone was rapidly going from fatherly to father is pissed.
"You know what, papa? I don't know what you're talking about." Denial first. That tended to get things rolling. After all, even if she said she had it, there was no way in hell she was going to give it back til she was damn good and ready.
"Astrid, you were the only one at the house. We know the book is no longer in the city. I can feel it here." He looked at her sternly, "Return it."
Astrid sat up a little more in her seat, starting to feel the indignation welling up from out of nowhere. "I'm not giving anything back because I have every right to have it! And I'm still not saying that I have it!"
"You do not have the right to take something that is not yours, Astrid. You know this. That book is the family's, not yours." Erik's voice was raising, his promise to Engla to keep his temper even being forgotten. "You are not old enough to have that book."
"WHAT?!" Astrid screeched with the full force of a twenty-one year old pissed off blonde with one hell of a temper like her dad's. "Odin's Eye, you have GOT to be kidding me! I'm not old enough?! That's such a load of BULL!"
"NO you are not old or mature enough! If you were you would have ASKED to see the book and study it in a group, as we taught you!" Erik gripped the steering wheel. "You know the rules against practicing and studying on your own."
"You never gave me the chance!" Astrid shouted, all too aware of the circumstances that her brought her to this school in the first place. "You sat there and TOOK the book from me when I was learning and then accused me of stealing parts of the book that I'd never even seen before!" The reflection of shock from her father was enough to tell her he hadn't known she'd been eavesdropping the of her argument between her parents. "You just STOPPED! You! My father! Who taught me that knowledge shared is knowledge that protects! That knowledge forgotten is knowledge that harms! YOU just stopped teaching me!"
"We sent you here to broaden your education! To teach you about the other covens and magic users in the world. Clearly it is not working." His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "Return the book or I will pull you out of this school."
The look on Astrid's face was absolutely furious. She had actually gone red with anger, and now, she was feeling that gutcheck reaction of wanting to defend herself, but also indignation that her father was pulling the authority card on her. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Astrid reached over and opened the car door, nearly kicking it open in her haste to get out. "This is bullshit, I'm not sitting here for this!"
"Astrid! Come back here this instant! I am not done with you!"
"Yeah, Dad?" Astrid turned to look at him and flicked him off quite mightily. "Well, I'm done with you! Stop trying to pull your strings, dad! I'm not leaving here and i know you don't want me to, either!" Astrid turned and kept stalking off towards the grounds.
Erik climbed out of the car, "ASTRID MAGNUSSON! You come back here THIS INSTANT!"
Astrid ignored him without a second thought. She was too angry to do more than mutter and stalk away at this point. She was terrified of the idea that her dad was honestly going to pull her out of the school. After she'd finally made some friends, finally settled in, and all over the stupid fucking book! The book that she should have been allowed to see in the first place! What the hell was it with her father?!
Before Astrid had realized it, she'd totally left the clearing of the campus. She was at the edge of the woods and had slipped in between the trees onto a small path. She didn't really care where she was going, she was just... in that general direction moving. The more Astrid walked, tough, the less she knew about where she was, and her anger had started to fade away to leave remorse and that fear that she was suddenly going to leave the school. She had to fix this, but giving the book back wasn't an option. Her father only responded to the same kind of obstinate ways that he followed.
While Astrid was wondering what exactly she should do, she found herself walking uphill a little, but she didn't think anything of it. In fact, she wasn't even looking where she was going. She pushed herself a little harder, wanting to cover more ground. If she stopped walking, she was going to start dwelling worse.
Sniffing, Astrid suddenly realized she couldn't see very well. She was crying and had totally missed that. As she reached up to wipe her eyes free, she felt a sharp pain against her toe all of a sudden, and she lost her balance. She felt herself falling towards the ground, and her ankle twisted painfully. Before she knew it, she was sideways and she hit the side of the hill before she knew it.
Astrid rolled down the hill at breakneck speed, before suddenly hitting the bottom of a ditch soundly. The pain that radiated up against her arm was more exruciating than she'd ever remembered feeling, and she gave a strangled groan as she lay flat on her back in a few inches of rain water and mud. Gasping for air, she tried to push herself up a little, but even moving her arm an inch made her cry out again, and she clutched her arm to her chest.
The ditch was at least 10 feet high. She was in too much pain to force herself to scale it.