xp_logs | Amanda and Catseye - Backdated to Wednesday

Catseye meets with Amanda to discuss Nico's dangerous use of magic.

With two burgers in wax paper in front of her, Catseye drummed her fingers on the formica table at the Burger Shack and tried not to listen to the voice inside her head telling her to eat both the meals right now. She tried to stamp the voice out, telling it that she was waiting for Amanda and that she would eat when Amanda got here, but the voice was only getting louder. Eyes narrowed, she sat in an almost trance-like state staring at the tray with the burgers in front of her, trying to meditate the voice away.

"Looks like I got here just in time," came Amanda's voice as the witch came in and sat down. "Sorry I'm late, Cats. I haven't been here before and I took a wrong turn." Despite her carefree tone, she looked tired and worried.

Amanda's voice had Catseye's head snapping up and a look of relief flooding her face. She pushed one of the burgers almost violently across the table and had unwrapped and bitten into hers before Amanda had sat down. "Hi Amanda," she greeted through a mouthful of burger. "It is okay. You sound sleepy. And you look sleepy. And upset. Are you upset?"

"It's been a rough week or so," Amanda replied, knowing Catseye would question a lie and going for a vague truth instead. She pulled a few bits of lettuce out of her burger, nibbling on them. "I've been working a lot, so I haven't been sleeping as much."

"Working with Nico?" the catgirl inquired curiously.

Amanda raised her eyebrows, in the process of picking up her own burger. "Nico? No more than the usual amount we do. What makes you ask?"

"I need to tell you something," Catseye began, setting her burger down. "Nico wanted me to not tell you if you did not ask but I cannot keep this secret I do not think. It is about Nico and her magic. If a secret is bad should I keep it anyway? I do not want Nico to be in trouble and I know she did not do it on purpose so maybe I should keep it a secret and not tell you?"

"The thing with bad secrets, Cats, is they can hurt people. If Nico's doing something with her magic that could hurt her or other people, then you'd do better to tell me about it so I can make sure nothing bad happens. And if it was an accident, I won't get mad at her. I'm her teacher, I'm here to help her with things," Amanda said, setting her own burger down untouched and speaking earnestly. She was telling the truth about not being mad, but the fact Nico was keeping secrets, so soon after finding out about her parents, bothered Amanda. "Tell you what; if you tell me and it doesn't sound like a big deal, there won't be any need to say anything to Nico, all right?"

"Yesyes that is why I wanted to tell you because I think Nico needs help from her teacher because her magic can hurt people. Nico is Good but her magic is IckyBad and she tries to do Good things but the magic makes them be Bad and that is almost worse than trying to do Bad things and getting Bad things! I think Nico will be veryvery sad if she tries to do something Good and something Bad happens and someone gets hurt so that is why I have to tell you if you want me to. But I do not want to keep a secret from Nico about telling you I told you. I never promised I would not tell and I want Nico to know I want to help her even if it makes her angry so I do not want it to be a secret from Nico," she informed Amanda with an emphatic nod.

"All right, so we've sorted out that Nico's doing something I should probably know about," Amanda said in an attempt to find out what her apprentice had been up to. And maybe eventually get to eat. "And we've worked out that you're not breaking a promise and that I don't need to promise anything either. So... what is it that she's been up to? What happened?"

"I heard a big boom in the woods while I was hunting," she explained, poking at her hamburger bun. "It was Nico practicing exploding magic. In my woods. She exploded a log and all the pieces flew everywhere and she could have hurt one of my Prey or herself. We talked about magic and she said she could make plants grow so I asked if she could and she grew some seeds by making a water bottle get all smushed and old. Except the seeds were very sharp big thorns! They were Bad! And then Nico did not feel good and she got sick in my woods. And I took her home and went back and cleaned up the sick and cut down the thorns."

Amanda sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. After Sunday, she should have seen this coming. Nico was scared and trying to do something about it. "It's a good thing you told me," she told Catseye at last. "If Nico's making herself sick with magic, she needs to stop before she hurts herself. Or someone else."

"Or my woods," Catseye nodded. "You are not angry with her are you? She meant to do Good things not Bad. I told her that if she practices magic she is not allowed to do it by herself."

"No, I'm not angry. I'm worried, mostly." Amanda rested her elbows on the table, propping her chin on her hands. "We had a talk the other day, about her magic and her family. I think she's worried and confused and scared, so she's trying to make herself stronger by practicing. But you're right, she shouldn't be doing it alone. Or keeping it a secret from me."

She bit her lip. "The thing is, see, if I go in all heavy-handed, she'll just feel worse. Like she doesn't have any choices, see?"

"Your hands do not look heavy to me," Catseye pointed out, confused.

Amanda snorted and straightened up. "What I mean is, if I go and be all stern teacher at her, it'll make things worse," she explained. "Nico's a good kid. I think I'll give her a couple of days to work herself out, and if she hasn't told me by Thursday, I'll be all stern teacher, 'cause she ought to have more sense. She knows magic's dangerous, after all."

"When I was sad about my family Nico told me about her parents and that they are Evil and do BadMagic and tried to kill her that she wants to be good at her magic to make sure they never hurt her again because she has to kill them or they will kill her," Catseye tried to explain. "I know she knows magic is dangerous but I think she wants to be smart at doing magic so she will practicepracticepractice even if it is dangerous because it is more dangerous to be killed yes?"

"Yeah, that's part of it. She needs to know how to protect herself against people like her parents, since those sorts of people just don't go away and stay gone." Amanda finally lifted up her burger and took a bite. When she'd swallowed, she continued. "The other side of it is, with magic, you can't just not use it. It builds up, like a pressure cooker, and then things can go really wrong."

This concept intrigued Catseye. "Does your magic work like that too? You must use it or things go wrong?"

The witch nodded again, mouth full of burger. "Uh-huh," she replied indistinctly, before waiting to finish the second bite. "'S like filling up a bath. Nico's the bathtub, right? And the water is the magic. If you leave the plug in and don't turn off the tap, the bath overflows. With magic, we can't turn it off - it's all around us all the time. So we have to pull out the plug, which is casting spells." It possibly was one of the more mangled analogies she could have used.

"I understand!" Catseye announced, proud. She hadn't expected to. "That is an easy thing to understand when I think it of a bathtub and water! Thank you Amanda!" Her curiosity was so piqued she'd forgotten about her burger. "Does that mean you cast spells every day? Are they pretty spells? Can you make flowers grow? Or turning BadPeople into frogs? Can you make me a frog to play with?!"

"Well, yeah, I do. But my frog days are long gone, Cats. I'm more of a working witch these days, which means I use my magic for practical things. Like my protection wards at the school."

Pouting, Catseye went back to her burger, wolfing more of it down. "Practical things are practical but sometimes not as fun as frogs and flowers," she mumbled.

"Magic's like a power drill, Cats. Neither's meant for playing games with," was Amanda's serene reply as she bit into her own burger.

"What is a power drill?"