Who: Ty Lee & Regina What: Magic discussions! When: Recent! Where: The Broom Closet Rating/Warnings: Low Status: Complete!
Now that Regina had done an official inventory of what all her crypt contained, stocking up on bits and bobs, ingredients and so forth, had become the next thing on her agenda. Romany’s shop gained enough familiarity during Neal’s unfortunate father predicament, and apparently the dear was helping the little ‘magic guild’ when it came to any sort of arcane supplies. Quite the busy shop owner, Miss Wisdom was.
Heels stepping into the store, the sound of the bell signified her arrival and she peeked around, up until she saw an utmost bubbly little face behind the register. “Ty Lee?”
"Ms. Mills! Regina? Whichever you prefer!" Ty Lee grinned at Regina and waved a hand at her. The shop had been busy earlier in the day, but at the moment was quiet enough that she'd been taking care of a few things behind the counter. She slid her register drawer shut and hopped over to the counter, "What brings you to the Broom Closet today?"
The only formal titles Regina really liked were your highness or your majesty - she wasn’t picky, but those were labels fit for a queen that she wasn’t. Ms. Mills made her feel a tad old, and she visibly winced. “Regina will do, hon.” Really, she’d been in and out of the store enough and had the girl handle her money plenty of times. It was safe to say they were on amicable terms.
“I have a list this time, actually,” was her announcement, pulling a piece of quaint stationery from her purse and unfold. Regina’s lazy scrawl still had curves of elegance, strangely enough. “An assortment of herbs, candles - you’ve got black mirrors, yes?” Pendulums were on the list too - she was snatching up extra things for Hans to practice with, as magic didn’t always need to include fireballs and telekinetic chokeholds.
"Ooo..." Ty Lee had caught the wince, and made a mental note to always call her Regina from now on.
The stationery was cute, which is what had made her coo at first, but now she was peeking at the list and getting excited at the contents. "You're just in time, too, we got a fresh herb shipment today. There was a huge sale a few days ago to clear out the old stuff because it was losing potency, but I can give you a nice discount anyway. It only seems fair for an esteemed customer like yourself!"
"Okay but first, black mirrors. We have a small selection of those in the back." Ty Lee grabbed the keys and ducked out from behind the counter. 'The Back' was a special set of rooms in the back of the shop where they housed the really serious stuff. Not everyone was allowed back there, but Regina was among the exceptions. "Follow me!"
Ty Lee exuded the essense of sunshine and rainbows, Regina was sure of it. Most of the time the overly cheery attitude made her a bit twitchy, earned a lot of dramatic eyerolls on her behalf, but this particular one latched on and grew on her. Like a fungus, she supposed. A pink one with almond eyes and the happiest of smiles.
“A discount isn’t necessary, dear,” said Regina. Money wasn’t really a problem and a lot of what she was looking for was reasonably priced. This was a business and she’d like to help keep it afloat, but stationed in a county booming with magic like this one, she was sure it had the potential to keep on thriving with or without her as a patron. “But it’s appreciated, regardless. How’s business been around these parts? I feel as if I haven’t seen Romany in quite some time.”
"Business has been crazy," Ty Lee admitted, as she lead Regina to the appropriate door and unlocked it. Regina was one of her favorite customers. She was regal in a way, almost like an actual queen, and she was always so well put together. She was also one of the few customers they got in that knew exactly what they wanted. And exactly what to do with it. She really admired that.
"Just this morning we had so many customers in here that I thought I'd never get a chance to restock!" She swung the door open and headed inside. This area of the store was as well set up as the main area; Shelves of books and display cases, just for the more rare things. One such case had a selection of black mirrors in it, and Ty Lee headed towards it, "The new herbs have a really good energy to them, I think you'll like working with them at least! But here you go! We don't handle these too often so you should be able to find one that speaks to you pretty clearly."
Ah, mirrors. Regina’s little smirk was mostly hidden when it came to the comment of finding a mirror that ‘speaks to you,’ because all she could think of was dear Sydney, trapped on the other side of her reflection. Come to think of it, the poor fool was trapped right where Belle previously was - in those tight and isolating rooms in the hospital basement, waiting to be tapped to when she needed him.
That fucking tool.
“I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” Regina expressed, lifting the first one that caught her eye with care. Decent sized with an ornate frame, recognizable runes engraved into the metal. “How’ve you been, hm? Aside from being obviously pre-occupied with the store - and I don’t want to hog your time if you’ve got projects to finish.”
"I've been pretty good! I got those dreams like everyone else gets, but so far it hasn't been too scary. No one trying to invade my consciousness or whatever was going on with Neal, anyway. Mostly I'm younger and in love with a princess from this nation trying to conquer the world. She's pretty special, but I'm just bendy." Ty lee shrugged a shoulder. She could block the flow of Chi in other people in that world, but so far she hadn't really had anyone to practice that on, here, "I learned this way to stop their powers from working. Like... temporarily? It's all about the flow of energy and pressure points. Kind of like what they use in eastern medicine! But I don't use it that often. I don't even know if I can do it, here."
She shook her head at the idea that she had other projects to get to, "I got most of that taken care of before you showed up, actually! But if you want some space to yourself, let me know. It can be kinda weird having sales people hover around you, right?"
Stopping the flow of powers - wasn’t that a handy little trick? Only when you weren’t on the receiving end, of course, but the concept intrigued Regina enough. “When you speak of powers--” A pause to click her tongue, all while she thought about the careful choosing of her words. “Are we discussing things like, I suppose, superpowers?” It was the only way to explain what people like Pete and Rogue had; they had their own special race name and everything last she recalled, but the concept was far from magic. “Or do you think it’s something that could stop magic, too?”
With it involving pressure points and the sort, she’d imagine the technique would feel awfully uncomfortable, but she wanted to know.
"Uhmmm..." Ty Lee scrunched her brow together a bit while she thought about that. She'd done some studying of chi and the flow of life energy here in the 'real' world. There were all kinds of books and graphs about it, maps of pressure points and flow patterns. She wasn't sure that magic flowed through the body the same way, though.
"In my dream world, when I say powers, I mean bending; That's what we call it, the ability to manipulate the elements? Like there are some people, usually from the earth tribe, who can 'earth bend', and there are people from the water tribe, who can 'water bend'."
She blushed a bit as she continued, "The princess and me and my friend, we're from the fire nation. Azula can fire bend. Her brother can, too! My abilities hit certain pressure points that make limbs stop moving. If a bender can't go through the forms, they can't bend. And it blocks their chi internally too. No energy flow, no access to the elements! So they're stuck until it wears off. But I'm not sure it would work on magic, or other superpowers. I guess I'd have to try, but I don't think anyone would just volunteer, you know?"
“I can’t imagine too many people volunteering to be a guinea pig,” she admitted, though if she really wanted to know, Regina would suck it - tooth and nail - and raise her hand as a tribute. All for the study of magic, she supposed, and she was an eager student and mentor still. She knew the quirks of the way her magic worked, but here everyone had their own thing, their own source, much more to learn if some of it was actually teachable and not entirely inherited by biology.
Anyway, back to the shopping - Regina ultimately picked two black mirrors, one as a gift for Hans and another for more decorative purposes in her crypt. It’d add to the rest of her magical items, some of she was unsure of what to even do with. A time would come, likely. “You don’t need to throw fire to be dangerous - your skill seems formidable enough. You’ll have to practice here. It all bleeds over, somehow - but I’m sure you’ve been able to expect that, hm?”
Ty Lee locked the mirror case back up, and nodded her head, "I think so, yes. I mean... Azula's throwing fire already here in this world, I think. She said something about her alarm clock catching fire and back then I thought it was an electrical fire, but that doesn't really make sense. Mai already seems kind of... deadlier than she was before, and I'm definitely more bendy than I used to be. I think I'm picking up my dream fighting skills, so I guess the blocking is only a matter of time?"
She shrugged a shoulder and smiled at Regina, "I'm just glad I get to be useful, mostly! In that world there's more people who CAN manipulate the elements than not, so I'm pretty proud of the fact that I can hold my own. What's next on your list?"
“Coming into a skillset like that is startling. The beginning of my telekinesis brought havoc to every mirror and window at my house,” she explained, rolling her eyes at the memory. “Wasn’t very cheap to fix, I’ll say that much. First time I tried my teleportation I ended up in a fast food restaurant - particularly the bathroom, while it was occupied.” It all seemed like long ago now. Regina’s grasp on her own abilities was practically flawless at this rate, but practice did wonders. Control didn’t always carry with the dreams, she realized. “Sounds like your friend wasn’t hurt, so there’s at least that bright side.”
But yes - the list! Most of it was memorized, but she unwrinkled it from the confines of her purse just to confirm. “Mugwort, sage, black snake root...” Mugwort especially, it felt like an all-purpose kind of enhancement for practically anything, and she showed Ty-Lee the rest on her list. “I’ve taken my brother-in-law under my wing when it comes to all this. Might as well get him a little familiar with the tools this world provides, hm?”
"That sounds pretty bad, I'm glad you didn't get too cut up!" Ty Lee said, while perusing the list. She was glad that her abilities weren't as shocking to get - there wasn't really any potential for her to break all the glass in her house, or set things on fire, or any of that. "I think I have it lucky when it comes to the dream gifts, since I can't really hurt myself with any of mine. Lets drop your mirrors off behind the counter and then we can get you stocked up on herbs!"
As for getting her brother-in-law all stocked up, Ty Lee nodded her head a bit, "I think the best thing about the world we live in is that there's so much more available to us. And everything can give magic a try, even if they aren't very gifted at it. There's so much out there to learn, too, and so many more resources!"
She asked, as she collected a basket for Regina to hold all of her ingredients in, "Is he like... a sorcerer or something, too?"
“As it turns out, there’s a version of his dreams that lands us in the same world,” explained Regina, red-stained lips curved into a crooked type of grin. Not that she’d met him - and she trusted him to tell her if he dreamed of her, but it looked like Elsa and Anna were possibly making a trip to Storybrooke. And Arandelle was apparently cross the waters from the Enchanted Forest, what a hilarious coincidence. “Our magic can be taught, so I’m teaching him.” Some people had a natural-born inclination to it without any mentoring. Emma came to mind, specifically. Instinct played a part, kicked it in when it was needed the most - she needed fine tuning, and she’d been providing her that.
Might even happen on this side, too. Regina was expecting it, one way or another. There was no way Emma Swan would show up around these parts and not dream; that’d just be too good to be true, wouldn’t it?
"So it's kind of like how it works here, too. If you get the recipes and the books and believe enough, you can get magic to work! But I think some people are naturally more inclined to like... believe in it or sense the flow of energy? I guess?" Ty Lee had always believed in that kind of thing, even from a young age. She practiced Feng Shui in her apartment space and could 'feel' when things were off or her own aura was out of whack.
"I can see auras! I've never tried any actual spells, though," She added, thoughtfully. Her hands were busy opening drawers in a wooden apothecary chest. These were the herbs that were more rare, and she put parcels of those rare ingredients on Regina's list into her friend's basket. These were all things Regina could handle on her own, but she didn't want her hands to be idle while they talked.
Believe enough. Regina almost snorted. Ty-Lee couldn’t be farther from the truth, as belief was a key ingredient when it came to magic. It brought her memories of Henry, memories that weren’t technically hers, weren’t of here - the boy that was her son in these dreams. Neal proved he existed even on this side. It hurt to know, but all she could want as a mother - even if she never was one here - was for him to be happy. Safe. Wherever. With whoever.
Even if she wanted to be selfish.
“Let me know if you ever want to try?” A shrug. Regina didn’t mind offering. “I’m getting a hang of this teaching habit, but I suppose what makes it easy is that Hans and I share a world - your energy might be a little different, but...wouldn’t hurt to try?” The guild had a training space, much better than the underground walls of her private crypt - she had so many fragile things in there, including the stone that Rumple (or whatever that mass of dark energy was) resided in. She’d kept it to herself. Regina trusted no one with it, absolutely no one.
"I'm not sure if it would work, but I like learning about new things. I read these books and I respect the things I learn about magical objects, you know... pendulums and mirrors and things that have a certain energy to them. But I've never actually given that side of things a try!" Ty Lee bounced on her heels at the thought of it, in fact. Even if it didn't work, she'd have more experiences she could use to help other people out when they stopped by the shop. She couldn't see a downside to this at all. Plus, she'd get to spend more time with Regina!
"Maybe I could trade, too. Aura cleansing, or yoga lessons, or something!"
She liked that idea. There was something about taking someone else's teaching for free. Everything Ty Lee had read about learning the eastern arts at least, like Reiki, involved recognizing the worth of the knowledge they were receiving. The best way to do that was to trade, or barter, or pay for it.
Regina wasn’t entirely sure what an aura cleansing would do - she supposed it would clear out the negative energies, or something of the sort. And yoga? Something she could probably get behind. It was supposed to be a relaxing kind of exercising, to zen your mind or whatever nonsense - was it more therapeutic than choking someone with a wave of your hands? Probably not, but she’d give it a try.
“We’ll work something out,” she assured, corner of her mouth tilted up. “You’ve got my number on file, hm?” A business card had been dropped off to Romany before, and she had extras in her purse. Those black mirrors were set on the counter. “Trying doesn’t hurt.” Usually. “And I figured you might be interested in seeing where I keep all this?”
Her crypt had been glamoured away from naked eyes - it was a little hard to advertise when she brought clients home and they saw a giant tomb of a grave in her yard. And the last thing she needed was a little dimwit trespassing on her property and falling into it out of curiosity, so hidden it would stay.
"Oh yes! I always like to see how other people are set up. I got to go over Zee's place that one time when all the books showed up and it was a lot of fun to see her space and help organize her collection!" Ty lee nodded, and then nodded again re: Regina's phone number. "We've got your business card in our client directory. I can grab it from there."
Ty Lee made her way back to the counter, noticing that other people had stepped through the door and were milling around the shop. "I can give you a call on my day off, that's usually a monday! You probably work those days but I can call after work hours, if that's okay."
“You can text me, you know,” Regina chuckled, readying her wallet. “My cellphone’s on there, but that will be fine. You’ll have to give Romany my regards, considering I’ve missed her yet a second time.” Ty-Lee was sweet, clearly helpful, so she’d gladly take the substitute. And a little more familiar with the dream phenomenon anyway, it did bring a strange sense of connection to others, whether it was other people she liked or...other people she clearly abhorred. A shame this shit didn’t discriminate. “But that’ll be all for today. Going to get out of your hair before…” Her head turned, eyeing the newcomers, the sudden wave of busy pouring in. “Before the crazy settles.”
"I can text you, too, then! Let me just get you all rung up and we'll wrap your mirrors up so they don't get damaged in transit. It really did get pretty busy suddenly, didn't it? It's so funny how this happens sometimes."
Products were carefully packaged and money exchanged, and Ty Lee handed Regina her bag with a smile. "There you go! I'll talk to you soon!"