Who: Alecto & Lina with a Hawke cameo What: Meeting in person with discussions of life and magic When: Tonight Where: The Hanged Man Rating/Warnings: Relatively low Status: Complete!
After her talk with Isabela, Alecto found herself spending a little more time than she had before. Sometimes she drank, but today, she was mostly sitting at a table in the corner, trying to subtly move items on the bar with magic. A couple glasses had broken, but she was actually pretty good with a Reparo, so nothing stayed broken. At least she could say that they’d save on glasses because anything that broke could easily be fixed. Though, that could have been the case anyway. She didn’t really know what sort of magic the people in Isabela’s world had. At the moment, she was carefully moving a glass down the bar, only a few inches each time. The man sitting at the bar looked slightly confused, but Alecto kept her expression neutral and her wand mostly out of sight.
The tavern was nice. Nicer than the Hogshead and probably nicer than the Three Broomsticks. She hadn’t spent too much of her adult life at either, though, so she couldn’t say much about it. She had to wonder, though, what she was going to dream next. Nothing that would signal her death had happened in the last dream and she hadn’t had even the stirrings of a dream or any weirdness when she was visiting her parents in England. Everything had been too normal for too long, which meant something was probably lurking around the corner, but she could ignore it until then. Just a little longer. Maybe she needed a hobby, something to do. Only she really had no idea what that would be outside of practicing magic more often.
The Hanged Man was a place Lina came often to, considering the relationship one of the owners had with her husband - Hawke was her daughter’s godfather, and she and Bela were chummy (from picking out wedding dresses to assaulting thugs for their loot, gold diggers unite), and hey, discounts on food and drinks. Couldn’t pass that up, and she’d brought some things from work to look over and gobble up some gravy-fries before heading home. It wasn’t awfully loud here, she could concentrate, cross-reference some suspicious weapon shipments that had caught her attention, but then -
Then there was something doing a little bit of telekinetic hoojoo at the bar, and she knew Hawke would grouse at broken merch.
“Careful there, don’t mess up anything too important,” the sorceress smirked, crimson eyes as out of place as Alecto’s little trick there. Lina was a tiny thing, barely five feet tall, button-nosed and seemingly harmless up until her temper flared and she blew something the fuck up, anyway. A folder was set down and she took the stool next to the anonymous dreamer. “You’re the one they’re renting the dwarf’s room to, I take it?”
Alecto glanced up, smiling a little. She noted the eyes, but she didn’t comment on them. She assumed that it meant she was one of the people on Valarnet, so she wasn’t really going to need a creative explanation. “I’m doing my best. It’s a little practice and the faces are good.” She shrugged. “I can fix the cups at least.” The drinks, she couldn’t do much about. She was still figuring everything out. Remus knew more. She should have known more, but she didn’t have books to search through and she was starting to regret feeling that she didn’t need them anyway. Maybe she’d get them one day.
“And yes. I’m the one. Alecto Carrow. I didn’t mean to steal his office, but I’m a small person and it’s only temporary anyway.”
“Oh, yeah, we’ve spoken before,” blinked the redhead, waving a little at Bethany’s direction (the sister counterpart of the Hawke twins, she helped out a lot) - Rat Droppings, coming right up. “Good to put a name to the face. I’m Lina. We bonded over the internet about the black arts, that sort of thing.”
It wasn’t common for her to meet someone else who dabbled in that kind of magic either. Hexes fell under that category in her world too, but she specialized in the more combative spells - they were the ones most effective against demons, and she had a habit of running into those a lot. Not by choice.
Frosted glass of ale slid to her, she picked it up and tilted it towards her mouth. “What happened, did you burn your place down?” That’s happened to her about twice when it came to magic, it was possible for other people aside from her, alright?
“Oh. I remember you.” It was a vague sort of recollection, but she could remember talking about magic. “Yeah. This is my face. It’s a pretty great face.” Her smile grew and she leaned back in her chair. “But it’s nice to meet you, too.”
She didn’t really run into that many demons, just other wizards and witches. She didn’t really hide much about the nature of what happened in her dreams, but she did hide a lot of her feelings on the matter. It was difficult to feel connected to herself in the dreams because that person didn’t really care that she hurt people. Alecto couldn’t say she was a saint that never hurt someone, but she had at least not tortured them with magic or killed them.
“Oh. No. Just…” She looked off to the side, her smile dimming for a moment before she forced it back to something a little more normal. “Just needed my own place. My brother has young kids and I figured they probably needed their own place since sometimes I work late or I have stuff kids really don’t need to be around.” It was sort of true. It was easier than saying that she’d had difficulty talking to her twin brother, that they were out of sync. She learned to be careful with her words because when she wasn’t, they got in arguments. She refused to let the separation get messy. They were twins. In the end, she still needed him...even if things were complicated now. Sometimes she wasn’t really sure how much of it really had been her. Maybe she hadn’t thought things through or considered his feelings enough. She didn’t feel like thinking about it too much, though. Not for right now. “No big deal, though. It’s not like we’re tied at the hip, so we know how to be in separate living quarters and function as a unit.”
“You’ve got magic, of course you’ll get things kids aren’t supposed to be around,” Lina chuckled, sipping her beer. Thank fuck Amelia wasn’t entirely mobile yet, but she practically had an armory of dangerous magical trinkets and weapons locked up in what was her and Pete’s ‘office’ of the house, banned from baby access for a damn good reason. “But overall it sounds like sibling complications?”
Not like she meant to pry. Tense relationships with siblings, she could relate - she and Luna weren’t the most chummy, their interactions pretty still rocky but they tried for the sake of their parents, and she wanted her daughter to know her maternal aunt. “Space doesn’t hurt, and the best part is that you live on top of a bar. Not far from Disney. Might as well live it up while you can, right?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged. Amycus would be careful about it around his kids. She would, too. Obviously. She wouldn’t do anything to actually harm them. She wouldn’t do anything to really hurt Amycus either, which was why she hadn’t told him everything she dreamt. She’d kept some things vague and talked to Remus and Sirius about them. Maybe not telling him might hurt him later, but she didn’t want to hurt him in advance. Maybe she should let him decide. She wasn’t sure. She made a note to ask if he wanted to know. “We’re okay,” she replied, trying not to make it sound defensive. She just didn’t want to talk about it. It was easier not to.
She wanted things to be normal again, but maybe that was the problem. She wanted things to stay the same and they hadn’t, they couldn’t. Even she’d changed, albeit in small, probably unnoticeable ways. At least she didn’t think they were noticeable because she had tried to keep others from seeing them. “That is the best part. I can just walk upstairs when I’ve had too much to drink. I’ve never been to Disney, though. I don’t know that much about it.”
No offense taken. Couldn’t expect someone she was an acquaintance with to spill out her guts anyway, and for now, Lina filed away the paperwork - all related to a certain half-demon dabbling back into the firearm trafficking world, surprise surprise - for the sake of company and social drinking.
“It can be enjoyed by people of all ages,” she grinned. “Try it. I probably won’t go again until my kid’s older and can remember the experience, anyway - and maybe once this place calms down, if it ever does. Disney tends to be a weird hotspot for things. It was a literal mouth of hell at some point, then some Star Wars troopers came out of it shooting, and then I heard it had some kind of gate to the Underworld. If you go, sneak in some booze.”
“I remember those. There was far too much fighting and I don’t remember if I had any magic at the time.” She probably should have kept a more thorough list of things. “I didn’t hear about the mouth of hell. That was probably before we got here.” They’d been in New York before they got here. Rebekah had been there with her, too. At least nothing had changed there. “You can get into the Underworld now? I wonder how difficult it is to get through.” Not that she probably would go, but hey, if she got curious, she might peek.
There was a little more interest in going now. “And I’ll remember the booze.” Maybe she could drag Remus with her and get him a little drunk in the process. “Do you know Isabela and Hawke pretty well?”
Lina had been around for awhile, being an unfortunate witness to all sorts of strange shenanigans bestowed upon them by the OC Powers To Be. Disney seemed like a damn peculiar spot for a lot of it, but she was also sure it was one of the many ways this place loved to troll them. Knowing her luck, the day they took Amelia out for her first Mickey Mouse excursion would be the day the amusement park became a sinkhole.
Oh well.
“Oh, um.” Don’t mind her, she had to wipe the beer foam from her lip. “The Bearded Wonder is actually my daughter’s godfather? Him and my husband are pretty chummy, old friends from across the pond too. Bela and I met through them. They’re willing babysitters when we need a night off to do our own things - you’d be surprised how well Isabela’s mastered the art of not overdoing the application of baby powder on a tiny butt.” For someone who had once been a commitment phobe and didn’t even really know how to handle a squirmy infant, the pirate queen had done pretty well. Gold star for that one. “What about you?”
Alecto laughed at the nickname. Bearded Wonder. She’d have to remember that. It was interesting to find out about the fact that there were a lot more people from home here than previously realised. “I just met her when I joined the network. I don’t remember exactly. I just remember talking to her. I hadn’t really talked to Hawke a lot before, but maybe I did once? I don’t remember.” She remembered talking to someone who was talking about magic people, but she didn’t think that was him. But maybe he replied? It didn’t matter. “But it’s pretty nice of him giving up his office for me until I find somewhere else to go.”
“As long as you don’t break the goods, love, you’re good,” came an accented voice, masculine and clearly not Lina’s. Hawke lived and worked here, it wasn’t a surprise to see him roaming around to ensure his investment was operating smoothly, and he gave the two ladies a pat on the shoulder before writhing behind the bar to assist his younger sister. “I have it permanently reserved in case my dwarven companion ever arrives.”
Ohhhh, right. That dwarf with the fabled chest hair and tall-tales. Bela and Hawke spoke of him fondly (or in Hawke’s case, always too fondly, how romantic!). “Welp, the network’s the best place to meet people with the same dream-plague - it’s like some kind of annoying brotherhood, so if anything ever crosses over you’ve got people to keep an eye out on you,” Lina said. “You haven’t woken up in a puddle of your own blood yet, have you?”
Alecto grinned. “I haven’t ruined anything,” she said as she turned to look at the person who’d spoken. Hawke. “I’m excellent. You know, though, once I figure out how to cast it properly, I could probably use magic to make your goods refill themselves.” She needed books. She couldn’t remember that spell. Maybe Remus had them. She figured this made her an important asset. Spending less money might help at some point. Probably. “Unless you already have that skillset somewhere amongst your other people.” Anything was possible. “But I guess good luck on getting your dwarven friend.”
Alecto wondered about that. She guessed it was true. She hadn’t done anything crazy yet. “Only when there was a lot of eye bleeding and everything. Oh, and then the vomiting blood. Otherwise, no. I’ve been mostly okay.”
Hawke had to pause for a second at that offer. Because no, an eternally restocking spell exist in his times but alright, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t open to the idea. “Come talk to me when you figure that trick out, I may cut you a deal on the rent,” he winked, so charmingly, before disappearing into the back cooler to restock on the domestic bottled beers. Ironically enough.
C’est la vie, Hawke, at least for a couple minutes. He’d be back, grousing about something, and Lina snickered into her beer. “Can definitely relate on the blood vomit thing, but hey, if you ever learn that spell you just mentioned? Hit me up. I need to diaper refills for the next three years or so - and food in my fridge so I don’t ever have to stand in a grocery line and have awkward conversations with random strangers again. I’ll give you one of my spell secrets as a trade.”
Alecto grinned widely at his words. Who knew it was so easy to get a possible rent cut? “I’ll figure it out and get back to you.” She didn’t mind. It meant that she could also get her own bottle that refilled. She wondered if you had to renew the spell after a while or not. She’d have to figure it out.
When he left, she turned her attention back to Lina. “I’ll have to find the spell in our school books. I know there’s also a duplication spell I can do. She could actually do that one, though. Probably because she got bored enough to do it. “I’m not sure if I can help with the groceries, but I can try.” Spell secrets sounded absolutely amazing and she was prepared to learn things even if she couldn’t technically use them. “Maybe the milk, though. I could help with that.”
“I know a couple of handy ‘life hack’ spells but they tend to be more beneficial in a medieval setting,” the sorceress explained, her button nose hilariously scrunched. Things like turning a stand of hair into an unbreakable fishline or strengthening a flimsy piece of rope, enchanting a hook to attract all sorts of aquatic life for the sake of sustenance, making a purse or cape feel lightweight even if it was loaded with a fuckload of items. “I expanded my enchantment crafting during my days of being knocked up for more safer practices, but the majority of my stuff tends to lean towards destructive, combative spellwork. I need to branch a little more out there.”
There was always something that needed to be fought in the dreams. That’s where Lina’s expertise sprouted from. Violence, and there wasn’t always a situation around here that required that in high demand. It almost made her feel a little pointless sometimes.
A gulp finished the remainder of her beer, and she pushed the glass to the edge for Bethany to get when she came back to do her rounds. “Anyway, I’ll definitely see you around more often?”
Life hacks. Alecto had a few of those abilities, but not necessarily all of them. She was sure there were more skills that would help her in general. She just had to take the time to learn them. Cleaning spells in particular seemed boring, but so did cleaning. So she was determined to figure those out as well. No one liked cleaning...and if they did? Well, Alecto was pretty sure she would let them clean anything she needed cleaned. As long as they didn’t try to do something weird.
“I’m better at things that fuck things up in the dreams. And the illegal sorts of magic.” And torturing innocent people with magic, but she decided not to mention that. “I don’t know what counts as safe? Maybe shield charms? Those are pretty useful.” She wasn’t sure what sort of magic other people had, but it was interesting nonetheless. It was part of why she talked to people that mentioned having magic. You could learn a lot about things that way.
There was a quick nod at the question. “Yeah. I’ll definitely be around more.”