Active Magic (TatlTails and othyrworld)

Madi was only a bit surprised when Sequoia pulled her into the conversation. She wasn't stupid, she knew this question was being asked around to everyone, but it was still a bit of a question when it would be sprung on her. She was glad to listen to and nod along with Sequoia's preferences, it gave her some more time to think and it was just nice to hear. But when the floor opened for her to answer, she just said "I lik-ke anything in b-bunches. L-little b-b-bunches of f-flowers. D-don't mind w-which."
 
Sequoia nodded emphatically. "Yeah, those are super cute! You have an herb garden right? What do you grow in there? Also, how do you use all those herbs? Most of my spells take verbal commands, not herbs." Flora gave a light cough, telling her to tone it down on the questions. Sequoia had a tendency to stockpile questions and comments on top of one another, completely overwhelming the person she was talking to. Well, as long as that person wasn't Flora. Flora had been hanging around with Sequoia far too long for any amount of questions to faze her.
 
To Sequoia's credit, Madi wasn't mentally overwhelmed with questions. Physically? That was another story. But even then, magic was one of Madi's favorite subjects, so she still had the energy and drive to reply pretty quickly.

"P-potions." Was her short answer, but she went on to add "St-tuff for p-potions, I d-do a lotta that. I c-could show you s-sometime."

Her offer wasn't quite either a statement or a question, but it was very clearly something Sequoia could deny if she didn't want it. Madi knew better than to push anything when it came to magic.
 
Sequoia pondered that for a few minutes. She could only do elemental magic right now, even though she'd wanted to learn how to use others. Of course, that was all in the realm of verbal magic potion making was different altogether. Potion magic was more like charms, it needed physical materials to work and you had to infuse the stuff with magic. It seemed pretty fun, plus it could be helpful too. "I'd love to try it out! What's the worst that could happen?"

Flora coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'tightrope' and Sequoia squeaked, hitting her friend on the shoulder. That was never to be mentioned again, especially not when others could hear about it.
 
"Tightrope?" Luke blurted out with a tilt to the head, picking up on the disguised word but not on Sequoia's reaction.

Jacqueline was seated next to Luke, so after paling a bit at the potential confrontation, she leaned in to tell him "Uhm, I don't think they want to talk about that, Luke."

"Why not?" Luke replied, still not getting it at all and just genuinely wanting to know.

"Well..." Jacqueline spoke slowly, not in a mocking way but in a contemplative way. "If they had wanted to talk about it, they would have. It's not our business why or why not."

It took a moment for that to settle in Luke's brain, but once it did, his eyes lit up with understanding and a little guilt. As that energy faded, he breathed out "Oooooh! Sorry, S'oya an' Flora. Don't gotta talk about tightropes."
 
Flora all but cackled, while Sequoia squawked, thinking back to the rather embarrassing incident where she tried to use transmutation and accidentally turned a tightrope into a giant snake, which promptly tried to eat her. It was a harrowing and humbling experience. Flora still wouldn't stop holding it over her head. "Thanks, Luke," She muttered, grateful that he wouldn't let her dearest friend abuse her.

Flora stuck out her tongue, at Sequoia but began sipping at her rissotto not long after. She was too mature for this. At least, that's what she told herself. "Anyways, I'm sure Sequoia'll definitely come over. It'll be a good experience for her."
 
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Luke nodded at S'oya's thanks, and was happy to tell her "Ya welcome!" He knew about not wanting to talk about stuff, he didn't wanna make friends feel that way.

Meanwhile, Madi was nodding at Flora, and was just as happy to hear she would be getting a new magic student/buddy soon. "It'll b-be fun." She declared, feeling relatively confident that it would be true. "We c-can start w-whenever."
 
"Cool!" Sequoia squealed. "But, uh, what'll we be doing? I've never really seen anyone do any potions before." Although she knew a bit about the magic in theory, she was still very new to the whole 'using magic that wasn't elemental' thing. She thought about what little she knew, quickly adding "Can Flora come too? I'd feel way more comfortable with her around." Flora smiled warmly at her, pleased Sequoia wanted her along. There were worries bouncing around in her head that Sequoia wouldn't want her around anymore now that they were free. Now that they didn't need automatic support all the time.
 
Before Madi was able to say anything to answer Sequoia's magical questions, the question of Flora's involvement came up. That question immediately got a nod as an answer. She knew better than to make Sequoia go anywhere alone, especially so soon after being freed. Anyone could see how close Sequoia and Flora were, and Madi knew she wouldn't want to be without Dagger in the same situation, so she really had no problem with letting these two girls stay together as much as they wanted.

As for the rest of Sequoia's questions, it took Madi a few moments to formulate her answer. "I can sh-show you s-some recip-pes, the p-process. Help you t-try some...?"
 
"That would be, like, super great! Thanks so much!" She finished her food, holding the bowl out to Luke for some thirds. "Can I have some more please?" She asked, hoping she wasn't overstepping her boundaries or taking too much food. She'd stop eating except for the fact that she was still hungry. She'd been hungry for a while, now that she thought about it. She couldn't be expected to say no when food was being freely offered. That thought led her back to the whole 'why are these strangers so kind' question, but she knew better than to ask this time.

Flora finished her risotto as well, setting the bowl to the side. "Thank you, Madi. May I ask what kind of potions you make?" Flora had never seen anyone make potions, or even heard much about their effects. She was curious about what they could do. She knew some potions could heal you- like the one Madi had used on Sequoia- but she'd also heard some could transform you into animals and others give you abilities like flight or extreme luck.
 
"OK!" Luke told S'oya right away, happy to take the bowl for her and get her food. But while he did that, he also had to tell her "Almos' out though. I give you what's left. Might be small bowl, but I give you what's left."

Madi honestly wasn't used to answering so many questions at once, at least not all on her own. Usually by this point she'd duck out and let Dagger do the talking for her, because he almost always knew what she wanted to say. But after all the issues from this morning, she knew that he probably wasn't an option. So she just tried to suck it up and keep talking, even if her answers weren't exactly what she wanted to say. "I d-do a lotta d-different ones..."

Okay, no. Dagger had been watching this conversation from the sidelines, and fighting the itch to jump in and bail Madi out like he usually did. He didn't want to fuck something up again, and get everyone pissed off just when everything had calmed down. And for the most part, Madi had handled herself pretty well on her own. But she was reaching her limit, and he was not going to just stand by and watch her flounder when he knew he could and should help.

So he moved silently to stand by his witch, and added on to her meager explanation. "Most of the potions she makes are medicinal to some degree. They can have such effects as stitching up wounds, causing restful sleep, easing... unwanted side effects of magic." That statement was accompanied with a brief glance at Luke. Mentioning werewolves in his presence would not be a pretty picture, so he made sure to avoid it. "She also creates incendiaries, affectors of probability, the occasional hallucinogenic..."

He was cut off with a smack on the arm, Madi blushing red as she tried to tell the girls "I d-d-don't u-use those! They're f-f-for em-merg-gencies..."
 
"Thanks, Luke!" Sequoia cheered, digging into the last of the food. She listened to Madi and then Dagger begin explaining kinds of potions. She had to grind her teeth to keep herself from being snarky when Dagger began speaking, but she remained quietly polite. She wondered how Flora did this all the time. She wanted to butt in, ask more questions, and make comments.

"Sounds interesting," Flora said. She made up her mind to ask fewer questions. It was clear that Madi relied on Dagger to help explain things, and Sequoia was obviously struggling to be civil with Dagger. Flora sighed. She wished Sequoia could speak her mind without being so brash and abrasive. At least Flora could do her best to smooth things over. She sighed, rising from her chair and gesturing for Sequoia to do the same. "I think we're both finished. Is there anything you'd like us to do?"
 
Madi shook her head at Flora's question, Dagger knowing to step back so he didn't rile up the unusually-quiet Sequoia any more than he had to.

"You d-don't have to d-do anyth-thing." Madi informed them, definitely used to answering this question. "You c-can help L-Luke if you w-want, b-but you d-don't have to."

Luke was currently starting to gather up the dishes, and tuned into the conversation when he heard his name. "Yeah! You can help wash dishes." He offered, holding up an empty bowl as an example. "Don' gotta though, I can do it."
 
Sequoia jumped at the opportunity to move around, grabbing empty bowls and cups until her hands were full. Flora picked up what few dishes were left. "Where should we put these?" She asked, eyeing Sequoia's giant pile of dishes with worry. She was definitely going to drop them if she had to hold them much longer. She grabbed a few plates off the top, hoping Sequoia wouldn't break anything too important.
 
"Sink." Luke declared, bringing his own dishes over to the sink so the girls could see where it was. "All in here. I start scrubbin', you can help."

It was awful nice of the girls to wanna help. Sometimes people didn't wanna help, and Luke was okay with doing the work on his own, but it was still nice when someone wanted to join him. It meant they were friends, if someone liked him enough to help him out. He liked having more friends.
 
Sequoia dumped the dishes unceremoniously into the sink. Flora winced, setting her bowls and cups in far more gently. She grabbed a nearby towel. "I'll dry if that's ok with you." Although she wanted to help, Flora wasn't about to soak herself in gross, food chunk filled, sudsy water. Sequoia, on the other hand, stood beside Luke, more than ready to start rinsing and scrubbing. It was nice to have something to do. She wasn't used to living without a schedule anymore.

"So Luke," She started, deciding to start a conversation. Work was much faster once you started having fun. "If you had a million dollars, what would you spend them on?"
 
Luke was just fine with Flora doing the drying and S'oya helping doing the washing part. Then S'oya started asking questions, some really thinky questions. A whole million dollars...?

"I dunno." Was all he could tell her. "I never really thought about it. Maybe I could buy a whole bunch'a food and cook for a whole bunch'a hungry people... Or maybe get a whole restaurant! A whole place to make whatever I want, for anyone who wants it. But I do that here too, so I dunno. Wha' 'bout your million?"
 
"If you started a restaurant that'd be so awesome! I'd probably like, buy a little cottage out in a forest, something really cozy and nice. And then I'd buy a bunch of pastries with the rest of my money," Sequoia answered, turning on the water and looking around for some soap. "How about you, Flora?"

Flora thought about it for a few minutes. "In a perfect world, I'd get some medical training and become a doctor or start a flower shop. Of course," She gestured to her wings with a sad smile "That would never happen. Realistically I'd do the same as you. Buy a cottage, live out in the forests."
 
Luke nodded at S'oya and Flora's answers, handing S'oya the soap when she needed it. It kinda sounded like living here, what they wanted, with the little houses and all. But Flora wanted to doctor and flower-shop, too, even if she was giving up on it. She was real nice, she could probably be a great doctor or flower-shop person. But if she didn't really wanna try, then that was up to her.

Jacqueline, however, had a slightly different viewpoint. "Oh, but that's such a shame!" She blurted out, before catching herself and more quietly continued. "I think you would be wonderful as either a doctor or a florist. It doesn't seem right to give up on those things completely just because you have wings."

"'s not imp-possible." Madi reluctantly admitted, though she really hesitated to do so. "There's b-been a p-push, f-for more op-portunities f-for us. Mayb-be not now, b-but in our lifet-time..."
 
Flora laughed bitterly. "Prejudice is a strong thing. I do not know if I will ever be accepted by humans or if any magical creature will. If people could see us," She gestured between Sequoia and herself "at the circus and do nothing, they will not be pushing for us to be equal to them. Change is a long, twisted road, one humans will never be enthusiastic to take."

Sequoia pushed her hip against Flora's a silent show of support. "I'd hold your hand right now but I have gross water all over my hands," She teased, squirting soap over the dishes and scrubbing. Flora smiled in return, hoping they could leave the serious talk behind and get back to the levity of their earlier conversation.
 
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