Active Magic (TatlTails and othyrworld)

"Whoooooa, that's super pretty!"

A high-pitched, but definitely male voice blurted out from the doorway, completely disregarding whatever conversation had just been going on beforehand. The source of the voice was a scrawny young man in his early 20's, probably the oldest-looking person in the house so far. But he was gawking up at the magic wind and vines like a kindergartener, and looking at the causes of said magic with near-awe in his big blue eyes.

"Who're you?" He asked curiously, as soon as it even seemed like he had the girls' attention.
 
Sequoia jumped, letting the tiny hurricane dissipate into the yard. Flora stiffened, but once she realized that there was no harm intended by the curious man, she smiled at him, manipulating the vine so it was waving at him. She wondered if it was the cook -Luke, she abruptly remembered. Sequoia looked a bit sheepish that this simple surprise had ruined her trick, but she waved as well before she re-summoned the wind to her hands.

"Thanks!" Sequoia shouted, pleased that such a simple spell could cause the obvious amazement in the guy's eyes. At the circus, this trick had never been a crowd pleaser. "I'm Sequoia, this is Flora. We got here last night, who are you?"
 
"I'm Luke!" The young man replied, happy to have waved back at the vine and the girls. Sequoia and Flora. They seemed nice, they'd be good new friends. "I live here. I cook too. Ya wan' some breakfast? I can make breakfast, thank ya for the pretty magic."

That was his best way to make friends. Food made everyone happy, even if it was only certain types of food for different people. That was even part of the fun, finding the right foods for everyone! And if he gave these new girls food, then they'd be happy and they could be friends, and Luke liked that idea. So he met new friends and offered them breakfast.
 
Sequoia jumped at the offer of food, deciding that she was going to make him her second best friend. She remembered the kitchen and her mouth was watering at the prospect of getting more sugar. Flora seemed to know what she was thinking and immediately answered Luke

"That's very flattering, thank you! Should we head to the kitchen to get the food, or is there a dining room?" Flora hoped there wasn't a dining room. She didn't feel like getting completely lost in this big house, plus she'd hate to miss what was sure to be a delicious breakfast. Sequoia didn't seem to have the same worry, as she was already pulling Flora towards the door with a look of extreme determination on her face. Flora hoped they were having waffles because Sequoia looked like she was searching for a sugar fix and the last thing anyone needed was her eating straight sugar again.
 
"Kitchen." Luke confirmed, grinning like a doofus as he led the girls back inside. Kitchen table was the best place to eat breakfast, and it was a big table. Enough for everyone, just about.

"I didn' start cookin' yet." He warned them as he walked into the room, in case they wanted food right away and they would be sad when there wasn't any yet. "I'm gonna make the food now. Ya wanna eat somethin' special for breakfast? I can make lo'ssa different foods, so if ya want somethin' special I can make that."
 
Flora let out a breath of relief, letting Sequoia lead her all the way to the kitchen. She would be surprised Sequoia remembered the way if she didn't know she'd forced herself to remember where the food was just in case. Once they reached the room, Sequoia headed straight for the pop tarts and began stuffing her face, ignoring Luke entirely. Flora was more respectful.

"Thank you for cooking something for us. I think Sequoia-" She added a patronizing tone to her friend's name "Would like some chocolate chip waffles if that's ok. If you don't mind making two separate meals, I'd like some bacon and hash browns." She took a real critical look at Luke, making sure she would remember his name. The last thing she wanted was to appear rude, especially to the person who was very graciously making her a meal.
 
"Ooo, all that sounds super yummy!" Luke breathed, mouth practically watering as he thought about it. "I'mma make both, an' have a little both. It'll be super yummy, jus' watch!"

And that was when he set off to working, pulling out cookware and ingredients and giggling at Sequoia a bit as she ate up all the Pop-Tarts. Those were pretty tasty, and they lasted a long time for travelin' and stuff. Good food, good choice Sequoia. But now was time to focus on cooking.

To anyone on the outside, Luke seemed dead to the world as he started his prepwork, speeding through making a batter and grating potatoes like he was an expert. By the time things were frying and cooking, the guy just looked totally relaxed and in his element.

"Almos' ready." He made sure to let the girls know, poking at the hash browns a bit and turning them over. "Can ya get plates? Up there."

He pointed up to a nearby cupboard to show where 'up there' was, then went back to focusing on the food. It was almost done, he had to make sure it all went right.
 
Flora smiled softly. "Thak you so much." She looked over and saw that Sequoia was on the last pop tart in the box and shot her a disapproving glare. "Sequoia! At least leave a packet!" Sequoia gave her a dirty look in return, but she set the package aside and pouted for the three seconds that she actually cared. She then set about exploring the kitchen.

"So Luke, You're the cook, right? Do you cook all the time, or only for the normal three meals? Do you let people in the kitchen, or are we restricted except for special occasions?" She stopped suddenly, realizing that most people didn't like having to answer her with what amounted to an essay. "Sorry for asking so many questions!" She rubbed the back of her neck in agitation, hoping she hadn't put him off. Flora sensed her unease and shot her a comforting smile, making what Sequoia had dubbed 'the apology eyes' at Luke in case he took offense.
 
Luke didn't seem to take any offense to all the questions, but he did end up blinking owlishly at Sequoia as he tried to process each one. "Uhh..."

He actually went back to the hash browns and started taking them off the heat before he finally started answering. "I cook meals, an' I try new recipes sometimes durin' not-meal times. Not every day. Most days. People come in most days, only special days or hard new recipes get Quiet For Luke time. An' moon days. Everyone too loud an' smelly on moon days, I don' like it. Not a moon day yet though, good time for friends in da kitchen."
 
It was Sequoia's turn to blink owlishly. She tilted her head slightly to the side, trying to process the meaning of his words through his accent. She finally settled on the two words that confused her "Moon days?" Flora mouthed the word 'werewolf' and Sequoia let out a loud "OOOOOOOHHHHHHH" She hadn't known many werewolves as they were too violent for the ringmasters' taste. She had a hard time seeing this gentle guy as the bloodthirsty beasts the ringmasters had always described them as.

Flora too seemed to be assessing him in a new light, though she didn't seem to be keen on acting on her thoughts. "By moon day you mean full moons, right?" She seemed to realize that could be misunderstood, and quickly added "Not that I care about you being a werewolf, I just don't want to intrude on days when we're not allowed."
 
Luke couldn't help but giggle at Sequoia when she went all "Ooohh!", but he tried to cover it up with his hand so he wouldn't be rude. He calmed down when Flora asked a question, because it was about moon days and he wanted to get that talking over with quickly.

"Yeah, moon days when the wolf wakes up." He confirmed, getting the bacon off the stove before it burned. "Wake up slow, senses wake up first. Too much senses, I don' like it. Luke gets quiet time on moon days. Then Madi gives a potion, I bake it in a yummy thing so I don't taste icky potion, eat it all up, an' go in my room so I don't hurt nobody. Then I get all achey next mornin', an' it all over. Then friends come back to kitchen like normal. All done. Moon days not yet, we tell when moon days come. Promise. Now breakfast!"

Luke segued right into pulling waffles out of the waffle iron at that point, because he really didn't like thinking about moon days when he didn't have to so he would much rather just eat some breakfast instead.
 
Flora smiled, relieved that she hadn't caused offense with her questions. "Thank you for telling us." She giggled when Sequoia began practically salivating at the sight of the waffles. "I can't believe you want more sugar, you had so much last night!" Sequoia gave her a mock offended look before she turned back to the waffles looking like they'd given her the most precious gift she'd ever received.

"So, The kitchen is open all the time unless you're trying something new or you're super out of it, or it's a super bad day?" She hoped she was right because unlimited access to food seemed like one of the best ideas she's ever heard. "Also do you have any snacks I can take with me?"
 
Luke saw Sequoia getting all smiley at the waffles, which made him all smiley. She hadn't even eaten them yet and she liked them! And then Flora said something about eating a lot of sugar... Oh, was that why the sugar bag felt a little lighter today? That was a bit silly of Sequoia, sugar tasted much better when it was in stuff.

But then Flora asked him some more questions, so he answered them. "Mhm," to the first one, and "Yeah," to the second. "There lo'ssa snacks. People visit lots, an' they go 'way lots. Lo'ssa snacks for them, an' for you. I like makin' stuff instead, goin'-places snacks aren't as tasty."
 
Sequoia nodded in agreement, still watching the waffles. Flora swatted her on the arm as if to tell her to start engaging in conversation. Sequoia absentmindedly swatted her back, unwilling to take her eyes off that tasty, tasty breakfast. "You've been here a while, right?" Sequoia asked as if she were coming to a sudden realization. She didn't wait for him to answer when she asked her next question. "Do you know who that vampire girl with the blue hair is because I had a weird conversation with her in the middle of the night last night and she seems really cool and I'd like to get to know her." Flora gave her the look that said 'other people can't understand you when you talk that fast' and Sequoia blushed.
 
Luke tilted his head at Sequoia's fast question, and took another moment to try and decipher it before he answered. He knew he heard "blue" cause that was his favorite color, an' "vampire" cause people used to scare him a lot with those, so those together...

"Oh, Clarisse!" He blurted out, perking up once the epiphany had dawned on him. "Tha's Clarisse, she got da blue hair. She maybe sleepin' now, she ge's tired in daytime. Sometimes Clarisse stay for breakfast though."

"Someone call me?" The vampire herself called out drowsily from the doorway, shuffling in in a huge hoodie she hadn't been wearing last night. The hood was up, almost covering her eyes, and the long blue braid of her hair was snaked down the back of the shirt, barely peeking out the bottom. She didn't even stop to say hi to anyone, just smirked a bit and gave a weary little wave to the group as she made a beeline for the fridge. From that, she pulled out a literal pouch of blood like one would find in the hospital, and bit down on it like it was a hybrid between a burrito and one of those rainbow-colored Icy Pop things. Not even thinking how fucking creepy it probably looked.
 
Sequoia sat up straighter in her seat when Claressie- as she now knew she was named- but blanched when she pulled a bag of mysterious red bag of what was probably blood from the fridge and bit into it like it was some weird, horror juice box. Flora grasped her hand tightly under the table, obviously disturbed by the shocking scene. Sequoia looked at the girl critically for a few seconds before she turned to Flora.

"That's the girl I talked to last night, after the whole nightmare thing," She whispered. Flora nodded, not able to tear her eyes away from the vampire. Sequoia seemed to like her well enough, but Flora wasn't sure about her. There had been a vampire at the circus once. He was a nasty brute, always angry and usually threatening the people working the other acts. She knew it was wrong to base her judgment on an entire species off of a single man, but she still had a bad feeling about this Claressie girl. Sequoia gave her hand a squeeze of comfort, and Flora forced herself to try and keep an open mind
 
Clarisse made no effort to do anything other than consume nourishment until the packet was empty, but once it was, she sighed with satisfaction and licked her lips like it'd been a refreshing smoothie. The satisfaction faded when she got her first proper look at the newbies, and hesitated one awkward moment before saying "Sorry 'bout that. I'm about ready to crash, didn't even think about you guys bein' here. I promise, I ain't gonna drink from anything but these." She held up the empty packet for emphasis. "Y'all got nothin' to worry about from me, swear on my undead, stakeable heart."

She gave a comical little bow at her promise, then straightened back up and pointed at Sequoia. "I met you already, doin' OK now?"

About half a second's pause, just enough time for a nod or something but not really for an answer, before she shifted her finger over to the other girl. "An' I haven't met you yet, what's your name?"
 
Sequoia flashed her some absolutely perfect finger guns, while Flora recovered from a scary vampire woman addressing her out of the blue. She blinked a few times and answered after a few minutes. "Oh, I'm Flora. Nice to meet you." She held out a hand for Clarisse to shake before abruptly setting it down again, realizing she would need to reach across the table to do anything. Sequoia grabbed her hand, giving her a reassuring look before she dropped it. It was clear Flora was far from comfortable, but Sequoia was sure once she had a good conversation with Clarisse she'd realize that she was actually super cool, even if it took her some time to get there.

Flora did feel slightly better after the vampire girl made her silly little promise, but she was far from comfortable despite what Sequoia was obviously hoping. It would take a while before she could talk to Clarisse, though she was willing to put in some effort and try. Flora smiled tentatively at Clarisse. "I hope to see you around."
 
Clarisse responded to both Sequoia's finger guns and Flora's quickly-rescinded handshake with some finger guns of her own, and to Flora's attempt at politeness with a casual "Yeah, yeah that'd be cool. If you're still up by like sundown or whatever, I'll be hangin' out somewhere around here by then. An' like your friend over here figured out, I'm up all night so you can find me any time then. Unless I'm out runnin' or something, but I always get back by dawn. Speakin'a dawn though, I'm fuckin' beat so I'mma hit the hay. See y'all tonight, I guess!"

And she headed for the door, tossing her packet in the trash along the way and giving a last wave to anyone and everyone who gave her a goodbye.
 
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Sequoia waved as Clarisse left, fixation once again on the waffles. They just seemed so tasty and warm, and god she hadn't had food most people would consider edible in years. Somehow, she was glad someone as open and friendly as Luke was manning the kitchen. Croquella, the circus cook, had been rude and stingy, practically starving the people there when she could get away with it. Flora felt similarly. Even though she hadn't known Luke for long she could tell he would let them come and go when they needed to.

She felt the need to express her gratitude, settling for another round of thank-you's before she slipped into a gentle silence. It was nice, being to appreciate a quiet morning.
 
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