mayfield_logs | If you believe in magic

Who: Caroline Martinez and Ilsa Higa
What: Caroline decides to meet up with a fellow mage for some practical discussion
Where: Achewood Bakery
When: Wednesday afternoon, after school lets out
Warnings: Technical mage babble

Ilsa's casual mention of being blinded by her returning Sight had suddenly made Caroline aware of the situation she could potentially be in. Right now, she was just another person running around Mayfield and trying to come to terms with her situation. If or when her abilities were returned to her, she would probably have a little problem.

Actually, a big, painful problem, judging by the last time her abilities had been woken up.

If this was a real possibility, she needed to have at least one person that knew what was going on and might be able to help. So she was waiting for Ilsa, fidgeting with a napkin and currently ignoring her coffee. She was a barely trained mage, when she was honest with herself, and she was going to need support. She was going to follow her gut, which said this lady was someone she could trust.

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[ Ilsa shows up just about a half hour after school dismissed for the day. ] Sorry I'm late, I had to wait for the drone partners to sneak out before I could leave. How has your week been?

[ She sits at the small table, signalling the waitress for her usual. ]

Edited 2012-05-03 15:22 (UTC)

No worries, I didn't want to be late so I hurried and ended up being early.

[She set down her napkin before she started shredding it.]

It's been a pretty quiet week. Some spit balls in class, nothing major. How did your bonfire go?

Pretty quiet - first time everyone met, so nobody got traditional.

[ Ilsa chuckles. ] Of course, with Granny there, I don't think anyone wanted to dare that glare.

[She winced a bit.]

I can't imagine anyone getting too traditional with anyone called Granny being disapproving. So a bit more meet and greet, a bit less naked dancing around the fire?

Yeah, Granny is one of the senior witches here, but she'll deny she has seniority, even while she uses it. [ Ilsa chuckles. ] I think last Monday might set the tone for the later ones, if we have them. Hopefully by Yule, we'll be able to have the networking indoors.

She sounds like my Nana.

Yule's around Christmas, right? If that's the case, you'll definitely want to have them indoors or you'll have less meet and greet and more huddling for warmth.

It'll depend on how many we have here, and the security level we'll need for everyone. The point is pretty much neutral territory, and most people use it for sparring or meditation.

[ Ilsa nods to the drone waitress as she brings the teapot and a plate of cakes. Waiting for the server to retreat to the counter, she continues. ]

So it didn't need that much cleansing, and the circle I used was the one my great-aunt used for cocktail parties.

Sorry, I don't know a lot about . . . circles and such. Just what came up in my World Religions class, and that was just one lecture. I grew up Catholic. [She shrugged, looking a bit lost.]

Security's still a big issue here?

Security is a huge issue for some people, anywhere. [ Ilsa pauses for a moment before deciding how to elaborate on that. ] Sometimes the magic calls people in a way that makes them extremely conscious of the dangers out there.

[ Then she smiles, gently. ] You've been working alone, for the most part?

Right. It's less about making sure no one finds out, more about making sure certain things don't get involved.

No, I've got a couple teachers back home. It's just been more 'don't blow things up, Caroline' then circles or anything like that. Though James was really nagging me to hit the books on formal spell work. He's convinced some wizard is going to burn my ears off because I'm not going to have a clue. [She sighed and it's obvious that she misses him, even as annoyed as she might sound.]

Looks like I might have needed to listen to him on that one.

Ah, I had paranoid parents, but in a good way. They made sure I had the formal training, as well as the ability to improvise.

Of course, in my world, standard operating procedure is to clean up after yourself, so nobody would grok what you'd been doing, and nothing was left to stagnate. Tight circles usually means a smaller area to erase your traces.

If they ever send any of my library here, I'd be glad to share.

My parents have no clue. Neither did I until three months ago. Magic isn't really okay on my world, I didn't think it existed outside of TV and movies. James and Nova just wanted to make sure I was going to be safe before they started working on anything more complicated.

I'd appreciate any help. It looks like there are a lot of mage types around this place.

Oof, the magic found you that late? I was about six when my grandmothers saw me playing with the pixies in the garden, and they started some of the informal training then. What had your teachers covered so far?

Yeah, I was a late bloomer. It's pretty embarrassing to have teenagers staring at me like I'm clueless.

Pixies? Wait, what kind of pixies? Probably not the ones I'm thinking of.

Other than 'don't blow things up, Caroline?', basic energy manipulation. How to sense it, manipulate it, consciously control it rather than having instinct take over. Enough telepathy to get myself in trouble. I was cleared to do short 'ports recently, so long as I have a spotter.

Hm, in terms of how I was taught, they went for the triage, which is good, but may mean I could miss something you don't know in translation.

There's a sort of small Fae in my world, averaging about 15 centimeters tall. The ones in our garden were winged, and acted like pollinators and guardians. They got along with Mama and were allowed to stay. There's other types in my world, the ones you want to encourage to move along, as well as the ones you banish.

Triage is pretty accurate, considering they packed me off to boot camp after a little . . . accident at school.

Fae? Real Fae? That's amazing! Pixie is a human name for another species back home, since no one can pronounce the pixie language. They were named after pixies from folklore. They're little, Jade can fit on my hand, and look a bit like lizards with wings. Not the same thing at all.

The Fae in my world are as real as far as I know. They're a mix of cross-dimensional refugees and homegrown resident species, but the one thing they have in common is they use magic as part of their existence. As things moved away from the mystic to the scientific, they went into hiding.

I haven't heard anything about actual pixies being on Earth. Or anything else using magic except for the humans, and since the humans aren't interested in magic, it's all in secret.

Cross-dimensional? You work across dimensions?

Not yet, I'm not up to that level. But Daddy's not a local boy, as it were.

[ Ilsa smiles and sips her tea. ]

Really? What --

Is it polite to ask questions, or do I need to just drink my coffee and nod?

[ Ilsa chuckles. ] I'm a mix, yes. Though I've found a couple of historical references for that list people like him as a demon, it's like any other group. You have good and bad in any population. Our branch of the family tended to be guardians. So I come by it natural on both sides.

If you believe in magic

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