A Touch of Magic (attn TatlTails)

Leo was a reporter. He was pretty much immune to insult by this point. But he still put a hand to his chest in mock offence. "Me? Unprofessional? I think if you ask around my newsroom you'll find me the very picture of propriety." He put a cup of coffee on the counter for whoever claimed it and set up the second cup to start running. It was easy to rile Dag up, but he was a nice enough guy really. Better when Madi was around, but still. Like Luke said, he was nice on the inside. Leo grinned at that, picking up his own mug and spinning to lean on the counter behind him. He grinned at Dagger, who was practically radiating cynicism.

Callie glanced between the trio. This was a strange combination. Luke seemed lovely though. She couldn't imagine him hurting anyone. She smiled at him. "Thank you Luke, it's nice to meet you too. And Dagger seemed plenty nice to me," she added, to which Leo's eyes grinned over his coffee mug. "So what are you, then?" she asked carefully, unsure what the culture was around asking what people were. Was that rude? Were people sensitive about this kind of thing?
 
"Yes, because humans don't know any better." Dagger replied, finally settling into the usual level of banter he and Leo got into. He had far fewer buttons than some people liked to think, Leo just pressed all of them. "You're probably a completely different person in their world, luckily for them. I've been around long enough to know, humans always expect that sort of bullshit. Putting up fronts to appease the social order. Not even you could get away with being yourself around them."

Ah, two of his favorite things: debate, and subtly mentioning his immortality around third parties. Not every new refugee gave him the opportunity to do so, but whenever he managed it and caught the gears turning in someone's head, it was an undeniably pleasant moment. But Callie was mainly conversing with Luke at the moment, so he probably would end up having to tell her directly.

Oh yeah, this question. Luke didn't like this question, but he also didn't like what he was nearly as much as Dagger did. He loved not being human. Luke? Not so much. But new people didn't mean to make Luke sad by asking, they just wanted to know. Callie was new, she needed to know what everyone was so she could be safe and happy here. So Luke made sure not to look sad while he answered her question. "I'm a werewolf. On full-moon nights I drink a potion so I don't hurt nobody, an' go to my room too jus' in case, an' then in the mornin' I'm all better. Got good smell an' hearin' an' stuff too. What kinda magic're you?"
 
A werewolf? Jeez, tough breaks. She certainly didn't want to ask Luke how he figured out what he was. If he was here, then she could safely assume it hadn't been much fun. "Hey, good senses is cool. I'm a," she swallowed, not due any strange emotion, but because it was the first time she'd actually said it out loud on automatic and her tongue wasn't used to it yet. "A changeling? I guess. Though I'm not much use at the moment. Don't really know what I can do yet except glow some fun colours and make me people confused."
"Yourself included," Leo added through a sip of coffee.
Callie tipped him a look, but nodded. "Myself included."
Leo smiled and nodded at Luke. He'd done good. Compared to the Dagger, Luke was still a baby when it came to this. Well, compared to Dagger all of them were babies, but Luke was still new, and he was pure and precious and struggled a bit sometimes.
"Humans like fronts. It makes us safe and keeps us warm in winter," Leo shot back. "We also revel in pretending to be other people, in fact we've built whole career paths around that and pay them ridiculous amounts of money. Trust me, I'm nowhere near as good as them, or why would I be hanging around with you lot?"
Callie, mainly ignoring the banter now she'd opened up the can of worms, turned to Dagger as she spooned some cereal into her mouth. "And you're a...shapeshifter?" she asked, uncertain. Well, she knew for sure about the shapeshifting thing seeing as it had just happened in front of her, but she really had no other idea what was going on. Besides, Dagger seemed utterly self-possessed, and she thoroughly doubted it was any kind of fear of the outside world that kept him here, so it had to be something else. Either way, he was sure different to Luke and Clarisse.
 
...And there went Dagger's last button. Pushed by the newcomer, of all people.

"Who fucking told you that?" He demanded, although he managed to keep his voice in tranquil rage mode. For a moment. "Was it Clarisse? I fucking told her not to introduce me to people as that. Shapeshifters are a widely varied group of magic beings, with subspecies spread throughout most of Magic Kind. Categorizing individuals as Shapeshifters does about as much good as categorizing humans as humans! Luke is technically a shapeshifter, for fuck's sake! I am a Neko, a specific species of cat shapeshifter indigenous to Japan! And I have told Clarisse that more than enough times for her to get it through her thick skull!"

"Hey hey, shshshshhh." Luke spoke up, rather bravely if he did say so himself. He even stepped between Dagger and Callie, and tugged on Dagger's arm a bit. He didn't pet though, only Madi was allowed to pet. He'd learned that the hard way. "Callie new. Callie didn't know. She know now. No yell, no yell at Callie. There there."

"Luke, I fucking swear..." There was something about Luke's unwavering optimism that managed to embarrass everyone around him (or maybe just Dagger) into toning themselves down. It was annoying, but damn if it wasn't good conflict deescalation.

Especially when the kid just waited there with his giant puppy dog eyes until Dagger told Callie "I apologize for the delivery of that information. The anger was not aimed at you. But I will be talking with Clarisse about this tonight."

There, that was good. No more angry Dagger, hopefully no scared Callie, Luke had done a good. He smiled proudly at his good thing, and showed Callie the smile too before finally going to the fridge for some breakfast. He hadn't eaten yet, he'd been waiting for Leo to wake up and then he was meeting Callie and wow this'd really been a big morning! Breakfast would be a good next thing.
 
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Callie's eyes widened, spoon still in her mouth as Dagger sputtered through his tirade. Well he was certainly cat-like. She could practically hear him hissing. But it was strangely comforting. This was a family spat. Not only was he not angry at her, but despite the content, this wasn't even anything to do with the whole magic thing. It was almost surreally normal, in fact. This kind of normalised the angry catman for her, and Callie actually felt herself relaxing a little. It was a very specific kind of concern that was settled by someone half-yelling, but she'd take it. Swallowing her cereal, Callie glanced down at her bowl. What that sense of normality absolutely did not give her was any form of response. Fortunately for her, Luke stepped up, getting between them.
Callie glanced up again, slightly surprised. It hadn't even occurred to her that Dagger might get physical. She hadn't even thought he was angry at her, more the world. She shot a look over at Leo, who had stolen a spoonful of something-yoghurt maybe? He shrugged. He didn't seem too perturbed, which Callie took as a good sign.
She tuned back into what was going on in front of her. Wait, was Luke protecting her? That sank in slowly. Luke didn't know her. He'd only met her a minute ago, and he was looking out for her already. He was right, she was new, and Dagger shouldn't be pissed at her for someone else screwing him over, but Callie hadn't expected someone to stand up for her. She wasn't completely sure it was necessary-she was pretty capable of looking after herself-but it was still touching.
And of course, it worked. Dagger seemed pissed off that it worked, but it did.
Callie nodded at his apology. "Hey, that's cool. I mean, it's good that someone actually likes identifying with their...whatever this is."
Luke turned to her, beaming, and Callie absolutely could not help shooting him a toothy smile back, just to let him know she was ok. She was starting to get that Luke was fairly hard to dislike. He was so...sweet. It was a strange impression to get from a werewolf, but there was absolutely no better word for it. "Thanks, Luke," she said as he went to the fridge.
Leo smiled at her as well as Luke rummaged through the fridge next to him.
"So are you from Japan then?" Callie asked.
 
Luke's smile got even bigger when Callie was okay and thanked him. Not only did he do a good, but his good thing actually made someone happy. That was the best thing. And there was even still some flan leftover in the fridge! But it looked like a scoop got took out of it... Oh well, there was still plenty left to eat.

"Yes." Dagger sighed at Callie's quick change of subject, the Neko unable to completely mask the relief in his voice. As much as some would like to say otherwise, he did not actually enjoy being angry. It was just his default state after a couple centuries' worth of bullshit. He much preferred rational discussion to heated debate, even if the discussion was one he'd had many times before.

"I lived in Japan for my entire life, until nearly ten years ago when I was summoned by Madi to become her Familiar. The stereotypical witch's animal companion. My job is to assist her in whatever ways I am able, magical or mundane, until she no longer needs me. That is why I am here, and why I was attempting to help you before someone set me off."

Insert brief glare at Leo, before continuing his explanation as if nothing had happened. "Madi is the closest thing to a leader we have in this safehouse, so that leaves me to the parts of her job that she is unable to do. Which includes most of the talking, and standing in for her entirely when she is unavailable. Hence the spot I am in now, and my skill in English As A Second Language."
 
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"Oh wow," Callie said. "That's one heck of a relocation." She'd sort of known about familiars but not that much. Witches were common, so familiars weren't exactly uncommon but still. She certainly hadn't known they could be summoned from halfway around the world.
"So, you just got the call ten years ago and got on a plane?" she asked. That was pretty rough. Did he know he was a familiar beforehand, or had he just gotten a random urge to go traveling? Had he spent his whole life waiting for this to happen? How old was he, anyway? She tried to figure out how old he would have been ten years ago, but she couldn't even pinpoint an age she felt confident with now.

Leo slid Dagger over a coffee cup in penance, but didn't interrupt. He made no attempt to hide his grin though.

So, Madi was their leader. That didn't really surprise Callie. She seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on, apart from Dagger, who was apparently her assistant anyway.
Leo snorted. "What a twist of fate that you end up doing the talking," he muttered. Dagger wasn't exactly as patient as Madi was, as had just been proven. It endlessly amused Leo that Dagger ended up being Madi's mouthpiece a lot of the time. "Good flan," he added as a side note to Luke.

Oh yeah, true, Dagger's main language would be Japanese. Damn, his English was good. Automatically, Callie wondered if he could help her study for Japanese before remembering that school was probably off the cards for a while. "Right, well, is there anything I need to know? Like, rules or anything? And can I get some clothes back or something? Or like, a job so I can buy my stuff back?"
 
This Callie asked some good questions, or at least had good priorities. But her first question would definitely have to be addressed, because it was entirely wrong. Not only did he not 'get a call', but Dagger had never been on a plane in his entire life. And hopefully he would never have to, because he hadn't trusted those things since they'd been invented.

"No," He told her plainly. "I was teleported to her location. With no warning. She was largely self-taught at the time, and performed a spell no seven-year-old should ever attempt, resulting in the two of us being bound together long before either of us were ready. It was an... abrupt adjustment, but it was what Fate intended for the both of us."

Luke giggled through a mouthful of flan at Leo's comment about Dagger. It was true, even Luke could tell. Dagger liked talking more than Madi, but he also liked being left alone more than Madi. But when Leo said something nice about the flan, Luke was just all smiles. He'd worked really hard to get the flan right, so anyone saying it was good was a big reason to smile. And Leo was his friend, so that was even better!

Now that his 'backstory' was out of the way, Dagger made sure not to hesitate into answering Callie's more practical questions. ...After picking up Leo's cup of coffee, because as much as he preferred tea, he recognized an apology when he saw one. "There are not many strict rules here. The strictest rule would be not to leave the area without notifying anyone beforehand, especially before getting a grasp on your new abilities. Once Madi is available and you are willing, she will teach you how to do that. As for clothes, the last remaining resident you have yet to meet is a seamstress. She made the dress you're wearing now, and if you ask her for new clothes, she will happily make you some. Any other essentials can be brought here for you, but I would not recommend reintegrating into human society until you have further adjusted to having magic. A lot of things can go wrong with inexperience, as I can unfortunately assume you know."
 
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Jeez, that was even worse than jumping on a plane. At least it was a clean tie? Callie kind of hoped Dagger didn't really have people he'd been forced to leave behind, but something about him suggested he probably didn't. But teleportation was cool. Wait a minute, what had he said about Madi? "She was self-taught at seven?" Callie was terrified by this whole thing, and she was about to leave school. Then again, that meant Madi was around her age. But Madi was around her age and had been doing this for ten years. That was ridiculous. How had a seven year old figured out magic on their own? Maybe Madi's magic had been a bit less violent than Callie's had been. Maybe Callie had had a bit of a build-up that had blown over or something. Then again, Madi had mentioned something about changelings having charms and stuff on them, so maybe Callie's had just failed. She frowned at that. So someone had cared enough to hide her away for the first few years but hadn't been bothered to keep her. What was the point of swapping out a kid? What was the point of leaving her in the human world she was apparently no longer a part of?

It was way too easy to make Luke smile, which was probably why everyone put up with his chatter. Leo was more than happy to contribute. Right now though, his attention was on Callie. This was getting to the pointy end of things and he wanted to keep an eye out, just in case.

Don't leave without letting someone know. Well, Callie had no intention of going anywhere at this point. She might blow something up, or start glowing and a much higher chance that someone could try and lock her up. Callie nodded at the mention that Madi would help her figure out her magic. She wasn't sure how she felt about even going near it, but a nagging sensibility in the back of her mind told her that she magic wasn't just going to go away because she didn't want to think about it. I was about all she had left at this point-she may as well get good at it. Callie shoved that thought away. It was sensible, but she wasn't quite ready for it yet. Instead, she nodded at Dagger. "Someone actually made this dress? That's pretty cool. Ahm, I mean, I guess I'll try and think of what I want, like a phone charger or something." Not that she was going to talk to anyone.
Leo shared a glance with Dagger. "You might want to leave off contacting anyone for a little while, Callie," he said. "Part of that whole reintegration shebang. Some people might still be looking for you."
Callie doubted it. Her parents had seemed pretty keen just to have her gone. She wasn't sure about her friends. The news would have gone around school by now, but there were probably a couple of people who were more interested in her than the fact she was a fairy. Well, she hoped there were. She nodded. "It's still got some good apps."
Leo grinned. "Fair enough."
 
"We'll see what we can do about getting you a charger." Dagger told Callie, a pensive frown stuck on his face ever since catching that glance from Leo. It luckily wasn't too dissimilar to his normal resting face, but its presence marked a change in the air. As touchy subjects were brought up and practically ignored, Callie's calm demeanor more and more revealed itself to be a strong case of denial. Which was healthy in cases like hers, to a degree. Dagger had seen it plenty of times before. But there was always a point where the facade cracked, and he frankly just hoped he wasn't there when it happened. It was never pretty, and he was awful with crying people.

"And just to remind you," He made sure to let her know, because it was something most people tended to forget at this point of the debriefing and it felt relevant in the current mood, "You are free to take all of this at your own pace. Do not feel forced to do anything before you are ready for it. Our job is to wait here with you until you are."

"You act-tually said it th-this time."

Madi had been woken up by the smell of coffee, and the four (okay, three and a half) magic signatures congregating in one spot down in the kitchen. But it was mostly the coffee. She may be a master of potions, but no potion could beat her favorite source of sweet caffeine. She'd luckily taken note of the newest signature pretty quickly, so as drowsy as she still was, she threw on some real clothes and brushed through her hair before leaving her room. She knew she'd made an awful first impression last night, and she did not want to repeat that mistake. Speaking of mistakes, the first thing she heard after getting downstairs was Dagger finally using the part of the New Recruit Speech that she kept telling him needed to be used on everyone and not just people who were visibly stressing out. Hence the praise, and the glare on his face that she knew too well to do anything but grin at.
 
There was a moment of silence as the conversation lulled that Callie felt creep up on her, adversarial and inevitable. Questions were over with, answers had been given, breakfast had been eaten. For now, there was nothing left to say, and without even knowing why, Callie felt her chest freeze up. A thrill of something shivered through her, frozen terror sharp in her lungs. It was like she'd just been shoved in control of a crashing car. Adrenaline lit her up, and with it, something else. Something intangible, something she couldn't quite feel but she could sense, dancing around her. She recognised that feeling, and she shoved it away. Her hands clutched at the breakfast bowl. Clean it. She should clean up. There was still something to do.
Before she even managed to do anything but tighten her grip though, Dagger kept talking. At her own pace? She didn't have a pace. She didn't want a pace. She didn't want any of this. She nodded tightly, her heart still pounding though the need to run, to escape had happened in the fraction of a still moment, where she'd been faced with the possibility that she might have nothing more to say or do, that she might be faced with herself. She needed to keep moving. If that's what stillness held for her, then she wouldn't give it a chance. Later. Right now, there were people around.

Her head shot up as a young woman came down the stairs. Though her mind shied away from remembering last night, she recognised Madi. She seemed a bit more awake now, less like she'd just been dragged out of bed, which Callie knew was precisely what had happened. How had Madi known she was coming, anyway? Madi was going to teach her magic. Callie swallowed and stood up, going to the sink with her bowl. "I'll keep that in mind," she said, smiling at Dagger. "You guys all seem pretty nice. I don't think it'll be too hard to hang around here for a while. As long as Leo showers," she added.
Leo put a hand to his chest in mock offence, and gave her a look. "That all you got, kid? You're gonna have to up your game."
"Good thing I'll be hanging around for a bit then," she grinned. She looked up at Madi. "Morning. Madi, right?"
 
"Mhm." Madi nodded, honestly relieved to see this girl was doing okay. Some people were just frozen with shock the first few days, couldn't get anything out of them. Which made her job even harder, as much as she tried to help everyone who was brought here. When someone could at least carry on a conversation, it took some of the pressure off of her to do a lot of speaking, which in turn actually lessened her stutter and made her job easier. Dagger was great for the longer speeches, but he was not great at being friendly or empathetic, so there was still a lot of speaking she needed to do.

"And you're C-Callie, right?" She made sure to ask, offering a hand to shake once the changeling's hands were free. "Nice t-to meet you. P-properly, anyway."
 
Callie wiped her hands on her nightgown and shook Madi's. "Sorry if we woke you up last night," she said. She wasn't really sure what else could have been done, but she was sorry.
Leo nodded and waved to her cheerily from behind Callie , holding up a cup to ask if she wanted a coffee.
"Dagger's just been filling me in on some things. And I met Luke!" Callie explained. She didn't know why, particularly, but she wanted to keep this situation chugging along.
 
Madi's instinctive response to Callie's apology was to just shrug it off with a smile. Yeah it kind of sucked while it was happening, but it was all part of the job. She'd signed up for far worse, and she'd been through far worse. Greeting a guest late at night was nothing.

That didn't stop her from nodding gleefully at Leo's silent offer for coffee, though.

"Yeah!" Luke chimed in when he heard his name, smiling at his new friend before remembering to put his plate away. And while he did that, he made sure to tell Madi "Callie's nice, I like her."

"G-good." Madi chuckled, a response to both new friends' statements. Luke was so optimistic about new people, it was hard to trust his judgement sometimes, but he usually ended up right in the end. And Callie hadn't proven to be particularly not nice, so she had no reason not to trust him this time. Speaking of time, however...

"D-do you know what you wanna d-do today?" She asked Callie, since the question needed to be asked. Assuming someone wanted to be left alone was the worst thing to do, even when it does end up being what they want. But the most important thing was to give people options. "We got b-books, games, T-TV. You c-could learn more ab-bout magic, if you want. Or not. Wh-whatever you want."
 
Leo chuckled to himself and went back to the coffee machine. He was a proper barista today. As he set everything up, he watched Callie's face. Leo was good with faces. It was part of being a good reporter, understanding when to push, and when to pull back. Even Callie didn't know what she wanted right now. Leo had his suspicions-he always did, that was how he'd found these guys in the first place. He suspected that if you gave Callie too much of a push right now, she would hate you forever and then absolutely shatter. Push her the right way, and she'd just break. They could fix that. He smiled, but there was a tinge of sadness to it. It was either that or let her do her own thing and wait for her to implode. Who knows, maybe she could figure this out without actually addressing any of it, but Leo wouldn't bet on it. He bet that as soon as she stopped being around other people, she'd be done. But he had no idea what effect that might have on her, or what she was thinking, so he left it alone. It wasn't his job anyway. He'd just make sure he stuck around a little while. Taking the coffee off the machine, he handed it to Madi and leaned on the counter next to Dagger.

What did Callie want to do today? That was a good question. "What do you guys usually do?" she asked. Surely they didn't just sit around playing video games all day. Callie had a little too much energy for that at the moment. Her muscles were positively buzzing. There was a brushing at the back of her mind that whispered it could be magic setting her on edge, giving her so much energy she felt like she could lap the moon. She wanted to go for run, but given the forestry outside and the general rule against leaving, she thought that probably wasn't the best idea. Maybe she should just practice. She glanced down at her clothes. "Well, I should probably get changed to start off with." That's it Callie, avoid thinking about what she actually wanted to do.
 
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Madi was halfway through a sip of coffee when Callie asked what the group usually did, which was good because she didn't have an answer immediately. This was a halfway home, they didn't exactly have an itinerary or anything here. Everyone kind of did their own thing for the most part, whether it be hobbies, work (from home, mostly Madi and Dagger but the others stepped in on occasion), or much-needed therapies. Everyone was free to reach out to everyone else, and often people did (Clarisse was the most likely to in this current group), but to be asked the question of what everyone does all day...

Madi was grateful when Callie came up with an idea on her own. She gave the suggestion an emphatic nod, and Dagger commented "Knowing Jacqueline, that alone could take up half the day."

And after a prodding nudge from Madi, he added "She's enthusiastic about dressing people up. Nothing harmful, just time-consuming."
 
Callie smiled at that. That sounded like fun. A nice, normal activity. Well, kind of normal, anyway. Girls chatting about clothes? That felt a whole lot safer than trying to talk about magic. She knew she'd have to, eventually, but she figured she could at least have a day to settle in and get used to the whole idea, right?
Callie glanced between Madi and Dagger, amused by their relationship. She wasn't sure what it was about them, but they sparked her curiosity. Dagger seemed to know what Madi wanted to say-she got Leo's bit about the mouthpiece now-but she wondered if they were actually telepathic or something? But they seemed comfortable with each other, and it was good to see. On their own, neither of them seemed the most extroverted, but she could see they got along. You'd have to after a decade, she supposed.
"Ok well let's start with that, then," Callie said.
 
Madi only needed to give Callie a thumbs-up in response to her readiness, because Dagger knew everyone in the house as well as she did and they both knew he should be the one to handle introducing someone to Jacqueline. He caught on to his boss' silence, and promptly spoke up to fill it. "Alright, this way. I'll take you to her."

He was tempted to transform just for the trip to Jacqueline's doorway, but he didn't, because he knew he'd have to transform back once he got there due to human speech being necessary. Plus, it wouldn't really do much good to go somewhere full-speed when he was trying to lead a guest there. So he stayed in humanoid form, and waited for Callie to follow before he led her back upstairs. He stopped at Jacqueline's door, and gave it a quiet knock before calling out "Jacqueline. Don't freak out, but we have a new guest."

A moment or two passed in silence, before a clear but gentle voice called out from inside. "...Is it a boy?"

"No."

Cue the door slowly opening, revealing the Jacqueline inside. She was gorgeous by society's standards, petite and dainty with perfect makeup and porcelain skin. The oddest thing was that her short, impeccably-styled hair was a light green color, but it worked for her somehow. Her eyes were big and blue, and they positively lit up when she caught sight of Callie for the first time.

"Oh my gooooosh, she's adorable!" The lovely lady squealed, clasping her hands together as a huge smile spread across her face. "I love her!"

"Congratulations," Dagger replied, wasting zero time in getting to the point. "Because she needs a new wardrobe."

As soon as that information was out there, Jacqueline looked up at Dagger like she'd just heard it was Christmas morning. "Really?!"

A single nod, and Dagger glanced at Callie, saying one word before transforming and running off:

"Enjoy."

It was unclear whether he was talking to Callie or Jacqueline.
 
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After a quick thumbs up from Madi, Dagger turned on his heel and headed back upstairs. Callie jumped to follow as he told her he'd take Callie to this in-house seamstress. Callie had fond thoughts of one of the dance moms who used to make a lot of the dresses and costumes when they were younger. She was crazy, but lovely, and she always made the most outlandish outfits. It was a fun memory. A memory of a six year old Callie with longer hair scraped back and long limbs shoved through holes in a sequined ladybird outfit doing tap dance. She'd liked tap, and she'd done them all when she was younger. There had been a whole lot of shows to go to, but her mum had always run home from work early to make it in time. Just like that, the smile playing over Callie's lips fell.

Fortunately, Dagger had something to distract her with. He rapped his knuckles on one of the doors on the upper floor Callie had gone past last night. Don't freak out? That was ominous. Callie listened out for a response, and snorted when it came. She supposed boys would be in short supply around these parts if they only pulled in strays.
Halfway through her snort, the door opened.

Emerging from behind the door was a beautiful woman with immaculate make up and perfect green hair. Not a thing out of place. Callie's ballet teacher would have loved her. Callie found herself rooted to the spot for a second as a vast wave of the woman's enthusiasm washed over her. Adorable? Well, it wasn't the first time she'd been called adorable. Fortunately, Callie was used to being on stage. She could deal with this. In fact, relief washed through her. She grinned at the woman even more as she lit up when Dagger told her about the new wardrobe requirement. This was going to be fun.

As Dagger beat a hasty retreat, Callie shot him a grin, and stepped forward to the woman. "Hi! I'm Callie."
 
"Hello!" Jacqueline beamed, reaching out to shake Callie's hand with both of hers (if the girl was open to it, of course.) "My name is Jacqueline, it's wonderful to meet you. Please come in, we can get started right away!"

She stepped aside to let Callie in at that point, pulling the door open wider and making sure nothing was in the way. The last thing she wanted was to present a dirty room to a new potential friend, after all. Luckily, it was clean. No half-made projects strewn over her sewing table, nothing left on the floor, her waterbed was clear. Clarisse had been the one to start calling it that, since apparently humans slept on bags of water sometimes and she thought the coincidence was funny. Even though her bed was much closer to a saltwater pond than a bag of anything. But it was clean, as well as her scrying pool and everything else. Perfectly presentable to a new guest.

Which brought her back to the subject at hand. Callie. "So where would you like to start?" She asked, making sure not to crowd the girl. "What do you usually like to wear?"
 
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