Missing her sisters and cousins was the hardest part of being in Vallo. PJ, however, considered herself lucky. There were people who took her in based on her Aunt, and she even got a pretty fantastic place to live out of it. She finally started to feel a little bit less like a visitor in someone else’s room and started to feel a little bit more and more at home.
She was sitting on the bed with the bedspread. She was almost positive her aunt at picked flipping through the Book of Shadows. It was thinner than she remembered, but it didn’t have all the spells her Mom, Aunt Piper and Aunt Page and her sisters and cousins, and even herself had written in it. She had a separate notebook next to her as she tried to remember all the spells and things that were missing. Who knew what might be helpful here after all.
She heard a soft knock on her mostly open door. Before glancing up, she smiled. “It’s so weird seeing things from such different times, you know?” She laughed softly. “Well, course you do, but this,” she pointed to the book. “It’s a lot thinner. Did Aunt Prue show you a lot of it?” She blinked twice. “Sorry, you probably actually had something to ask me. Can I help with anything?” All of her words were quick but filled with warmth.
The Sanctum could be tricky, let’s just say. Mystical, magical energy was embedded into the walls - the place was once part of Agamotto’s shield to protect the Earth from dimensional dangers, though it hadn’t been a building for that entire time. It was originally a patch of land, a seal over it that grew over time, and before a townhouse it was a structure that had been burned down, it collapsed, or just plain vanished. A long history, and so much of that energy - corridors shifted and changed, artifacts got quirky, hallways expended or sank into themselves.
So tricky may have been an understatement, yes, but it was still preferred over any other place to live - better than the apartments, as it was a place of home. A place he was tasked with guarding and he took that seriously. He was perfectly fine with others living here too - it’d been nice having Prue here but Vallo took her away almost as quick as she’d arrived, and then her niece showed up and it seemed like a nice ‘coming full circle’ sort of thing. Of course he extended an invitation for PJ to live here.
“She didn’t have a chance to show me,” he admitted, leaning against the door frame. And not at all looking like any Sorcerer Supreme, what with how he was dressed in a hoodie zipped up all the way and casual pants, nothing ostentatious. “But I was curious about it. And no help necessary - I just wanted to see how you were settling in? Or if you have questions about anything.” Sanctum aside, Vallo was a lot to get used to on its own.
Frowning, PJ swung her legs around so they could hang off the side of the bed. She still felt a small pain in her heart and had just missed her Aunt but she was going to focus on the good. It was a lot better to do that. “Well, that sucks,” she said out loud with a sigh. “Here, come, have a look.” She said waving him in and moving over so there was room, she grabbed her journal to make even more room.
“Oh, I’m settling in pretty well,” she answered almost as though she’d just remembered his question. “And really, you’ve already helped me so much,” she waved a hand indicating the room. “It’s fun, figuring out how not to get lost around here too.” She smiled. “I also talked to someone at the radio station, so I might be a functioning member of society soon too!”
Stephen sat on the bed, curious about the book - from what he understood, the tome was old. Passed down from generation to generation, for hundreds of years - highly sought after, highly coveted. He’d been pleased on Prue’s behalf when it appeared here in Vallo but she didn’t really have time to study the intricacies of her family history through this Book of Shadows very much. Though he was also kind of surprised that the book remained when she didn’t - but PJ had shown up soon after, so maybe it was meant to happen this way. The dominoes fell as they should. “It’s safeguarded from falling into the wrong hands?” he guessed, and he could sense something about it, magic and endurance practically crackling off of the book and prickling his skin. Magic always sensed other magic anyway.
“And oh - radio station sounds good. Your own show, or something else?”
Looking down at the book fondly she felt that wisp of missing family tied in with feeling them all around her at the same time. It was basically a family member to her, not basically, it was a family member. She nodded at his question. “It can pack a pretty nasty shock, a good way of telling someone’s intentions.” She laughed. “I’ve seen my share of demons and the like go flying across rooms shocked.” She shrugged. “Really do get sick of fixing windows though.” Adding almost as an afterthought.
“Yeah,” she grinned. “Well, not my own show yet, but I bet that’ll come. I need to figure out my way around here, the ins and outs. It’s kind of hard to give relationship advice when I still have so much to learn about this place.”
Maybe that was why the book hadn’t flung Stephen across the room, or yeeted him (was that what the kids said?) out the window - he didn’t have bad intentions. He hadn’t even looked at the Book of Shadows much anyway, not after Prue disappeared - it felt wrong, in a sense, so he was glad that PJ was here now to claim such an important family relic.
Idly, he touched one of the pages - onion skin and brittle, though he was gentle when he did. There was probably a lot he could learn from the book - because he always believed in opening his mind, expanding his horizons; once upon a time, it hadn’t been that way. He couldn’t see past his own nose but now it was different. Because he’d gotten better and realized that pretending magic and science couldn’t co-exist or even merge was doing a disservice to both subjects. “Relationship advice?” he quirked a brow up, intrigued. “Do people just...call in with questions?”
Watching him as he looked at the pages frowning at the image of The Seekers. She didn’t comment on it though and instead focused on the question he asked.
“Yeah, sometimes, my podcast at home I usually get an expert in some form of love, from how love can affect the body on a science level to those who are more based in astrology to give lots of different perspectives on love and how to get advice for ourself and for our relationships. There is usually a good 15 minutes of taking questions on the air and helping wherever we can. There are always interesting questions too, I once had a guy worried that his girlfriend would hate his tattoo and break up with him, turns out she was listening to the show and also had a hidden tattoo. They got married a few months later. Beautiful wedding, interesting tattoos.” She let out a sigh. “It’s a lot of fun to learn about all different kinds of love.”
Love. What a foreign concept. Kind of funny to speculate about it too, while halfway paying attention to a section in a book about a class of demons that fed on brain stem cells. Puncture wounds right at the base of the skull, brains spilling out - they looked like accountants with bad hair (and they were even wearing turtlenecks) but maybe that was just the nature of the illustration. Stephen hoped those guys didn’t somehow become Monster of the Month here in Vallo.
“I’m not - “ He huffed out a puff of air in amusement, because talking about amore meant he was so completely out of his depth. “It’s been awhile since I’ve had to worry about any kind of love.”
He wasn’t going to say he was incapable of it, but maybe he was - his relationship with Christine ended in kind of a fiery inferno; they had since become best friends as opposed to lovers, but it took them awhile to get to that point. And Stephen had apologized for being, well, basically the worst boyfriend ever - she deserved so much better than him, and he was glad she’d moved on to try to find something that made her happy.
A small giggle escaped her. She enjoyed listening to people talk about, or even when they didn’t want to talk about things of the heart. PJ wouldn’t say his heart was closed to love, no, she’d felt that, he didn’t have that but she was going to keep that to herself for the time being.
“Have you ever been in love?” She asked tilting her head curiously. She wasn’t as good as her father was at knowing someone’s history of romantic partners, or even platonic loves which were just as important as romantic ones. PJ just tended to always lean to wanting to help the romantic ones because who didn’t like a good romantic love story?
He considered that for a second. Love - had he ever felt that way about anyone? Stephen wasn’t sure. “Once, maybe,” he admitted, recalling everything about Christine. Time will tell how much I love you, engraved on the back of the watch she’d given him - she knew how much he enjoyed watches, collecting them, keeping them as the beautifully crafted timepieces they were. And it was the only watch he kept with him, even through everything - even after it was broken and didn’t work right. So he must have felt similarly about her - he supposed he still did, but it was more friendship than anything else right now. A deep bond without feeling the need to rip each other’s clothes off.
“But not...not like how people say love’s supposed to be,” he added, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. That fire in the walls, can’t stop it floaty and foamy feeling - in his bones, in his bloodstream; when you just pictured the words and it was loud as a crack of thunder. “I don’t think about it much. I have my work - that’s usually enough.”
“There isn’t one kind of love or one-way love is suppose to be. It isn’t all fireworks and lighting sparks and rose collard glasses, sometimes it’s subtle, a touch on the hand reminding you that you aren’t alone, a glance across the room sharing something no one else around you both knows.” She said. “Sometimes the media, and I know, I’m part of it sometimes, gets so focused on the epic over the top stuff that we forget the little small stuff is just as important and filled with love and in some ways even more epic. Love is unique to each person, to each couple or group if that’s your style.” She smiled. “I don’t judge!” She laughed holding up her hands.
“But it sounds like you do think about it some,” PJ prompted. “Even a busy Sorcerer like you has more than enough time in your life for love.” Her voice was light, a little teasing but mostly filled with warmth and she did truly believe everyone had time for love, no matter what their lives were like or how busy they were.
Stephen snorted a laugh. That was a cute pep talk - clearly coming from someone of the Cupid persuasion, yes. “Definitely not a group person,” he made sure to clarify, because while maybe that worked for some people it wasn’t going to be something that worked for him. Ever.
He was probably enough to deal with one-on-one but add other people and other emotions into the mix, and sometimes communication sucked and feelings of jealousy developed? Yeah, no thanks.
“I don’t...I’m not sure. Maybe. If I do think about it, it’s not consciously,” he said, and did that make sense? Probably not. But Dr. Stephen Strange just wasn’t the type of person to sit around pondering matters of the heart (his own heart was clearly made of stone, cracks having formed - fissures, as it were, that he tried to pretend weren’t there). “Have you ever been in love?”
There. That seemed like an interesting question to ask someone who was part Cupid.
“You don’t give off the group vibe, but I’ve been wrong before,” she offered with a smile and a small laugh. She really couldn’t picture him in a relationship with more than one person.
“You might start thinking about it more, you never know,” she shrugged turning her hands up slightly as she did. At his question, she grinned though. Sighing she thought through how best to answer it.
“Yes, I have been in love, but not with the person that I see a possible real forever with, it’s a little weird dating when you can tell if someone has possible feelings for someone else and if they’d be a better match, that’s how it was with my last boyfriend. Turned out that this waitress at this really cute little bistro was the one for him, she’s pregnant, with twins.” PJ shuddered. “Don’t get me wrong, I like kids, just…” she let it trail off. “But I firmly believe that someday I’ll meet the right person for me, right now though, I’m enjoying helping other people find their right person.”
She glanced back down at the book. “You said you were teaching Aunt Prue some magic?” She asked remembering he had mentioned that.
“Completely understand. Kids aren’t for me either,” Stephen agreed - not really young kids, anyway. Babies. What the hell would he do with a baby? It was enough to almost induce cardiac arrest, but anyway.
Changing the subject to something more magical in nature seemed like a good idea - because magic was what he knew. Lived and breathed it, even - he was a fumbling idiot when it came to matters of the heart. Even if a part of him was a little bit intrigued about how one went about finding their ‘right person.’ “Oh - I was teaching Prue to astral project. She knew how, to some degree, but the way I learned it - your spirit form can do other things while your physical form rests, or if you even want astral and physical form to be doing separate things that can be done as well. If you want, I can teach you too - not sure what you already know and what you’d like to learn but I’m open to anything.”
Watching him switch from a conversation of romance and love to something he knew more about was very telling to PJ, she made sure to put that in her pocket of knowledge (it’s what she likes to call different part of her brain to hold memories). She nodded thinking about what her Mom and Aunt Piper had told her about Aunt Prue and her abilities.
“That’s actually a power I recently developed,” she laughed softly. “Another thing my Aunt and I have in common I guess. It’s not something I have very good control over, it’s not like beaming at all, which I sort of thought it would be, but it feels so d different.” PJ wasn’t exactly sure how to put into words what it felt like. “Yeah, I would love the help, getting better with new powers is always worth the effort, especially given how tied our powers are to our emotions.” She nodded. “I’m not sure if Aunt Prue told you about that, but it’s something all Halliwell witches have had to deal with, our emotions going bonkers and our powers following.”
“It’s an issue a lot of magic users have. We can also start meditating if you want,” Stephen tacked on as an offer. “Meditating is - well, it’s how I began to work with the mystic arts which was founded in both mindfulness and meditation.” For him, it had been a journey of healing - he went to Kathmandu on his very last dime, desperately searching for a way to fix his hands. But he got caught up in that world, in something else entirely - something that was bigger than himself.
Open your mind, the Ancient One said to him - unlocking that power, it allowed him to cast spells, bend time, and open portals (among other things). And he hadn’t looked back since.
Not that it had been easy, of course - it was a natural instinct to want to give up, when you couldn’t master something new right away. But he stuck with it. Now here he was.
“Last time I tried meditating it was in a yoga class and I was getting it, well starting to, and the next thing I knew I was setting up three different couples, let’s just say the instructor was not happy about it. Two of those couples are still together, but it was like I got to this whole mindful place and my mind exploded with, well, love.” She laughed. “But I think it’d be good to work on and learn, clear my head and take time to not think about everything outside.” She meant of herself but didn’t think she had to explain that.
“How long did it take you to get good at meditating?” She asked hoping she wasn’t the only one that wasn’t very good at something like that, she did sort of envy the people who could just fall into meditation.
Some people just couldn’t get into it - which Stephen understood; meditating wasn’t for everyone. But it was important to try new things - and if it didn’t work, well, they’d go for something else. What was beneficial to him personally may not be beneficial to someone else. “It definitely wasn’t overnight,” he assured with a smooth chuckle, cream and velvet. “I studied at Kamar-Taj, where the Masters of the Mystic Arts train, for a few months.”
He slid the Book of Shadows back on to PJ’s lap entirely, moving to stand from the bed. “We can start tomorrow?” he suggested. “And I can go over some astral projection tips too. But I’ll let you get back to settling in now. I just wanted to check on you - and say that there’s no need to be concerned about the demon in the fridge. It likes Wanda best but overall it’s not malicious. Just may withhold cheese from you or something.”
Or maybe it wouldn’t. Could be that the fridge demon just loathed Stephen because he was prickly, which was a fair assessment. PJ was a lot more likeable than he was too, so there was that.
PJ knew she’d ask more questions about Kamar-Taj but held them in for now. “Guess it’s not one of those things that come naturally to everyone.” She smiled wondering how she’d do with working harder at it, really hoping she wouldn’t end up setting up more couples instead and upsetting anyone.
“Yeah, tomorrow is perfect, and thanks, I really do appreciate it. Fridge demons and all, but really, does it have something against cheese or is it other things too it doesn’t like?” She asked now extremely curious about this fridge demon, it wasn’t something she’d ever heard of being possible before. There were a lot of things she was learning that appeared possible here though. PJ waved her hand. “You know what, I think I can figure that one out on my own.” PJ smiled again before pulling her legs back up on the bed getting comfortable to get back into listing things that were missing from this version of the Book of Shadows.
“It’s just ornery.” Stephen’s mouth twitched up in semblance of a smile as he made his way to the door - which he’d be sure to shut behind him, to give PJ her privacy. “Probably mad about being a low-level demon trapped within a fridge’s inner workings, but - who knows.” The damn thing never offered up any details and he didn’t ask.
He’d just let PJ see for herself though - the Sanctum was filled with all sorts of goodies and surprises, and living here was never boring. That was for sure.