Topaz and Nica (and Midnight)

[xp_spectrum]

Finding Midnight wandering the halls, Nica braves her distaste of magic to return her to where she belongs.



"Meow!"

Nica looked down at the black bundle of fluff at her feet who was demanding her attention. The cat was sitting on its haunches, glaring at her with what she could only describe as a certain sense of expectation. "Um, hi there, kitty kitty. Are you lost?"

"Meow!"

"I'll take that as a yes, shall I?" Letting a bit of warmth glow into her hands, she bent to pick up the black fluffball. With a couple of mews and chirps, the cat settled into her arms and started to purr. She barely blinked as Nica reached for the tag on her collar. "Oh, so you're Midnight, are you? And apparently I need to take you back to Topaz. Well, I guess that's where we're going." And in that vein, she continued down the hall, hoping that Topaz would be home when she knocked on the door.

She was indeed home - in fact the door was even open a bit, and Topaz could be heard muttering inside, her accent thick with annoyance as she tried to go through the six large boxes currently taking up her living room. They would be a cat paradise once they were unpacked. Which was going to take hours because they were absolutely full of books.

"Completely mad," Topaz muttered as she tried to figure out where to start. "I didn't mean send the entire bloody library. Jesus."

Her head tilted slightly toward the door when she realized someone was coming to her door. "It's open," she called without looking up.

Well, at least that made things easier... Nica poked her head in the open door. "Um, hi. I have your cat?" She knew Topaz from using the library, but hadn't really had much of a conversation with her before. And the large boxes full of books filling the living area give the impression Topaz was kind of busy. "She was wandering the halls, so I thought I'd bring her back, in case she escaped or something."

"Hm?" Topaz finally raised her gaze from the box she was digging through to look at who had walked in. "Ah, hello. Yeah, I think the books are making her a little nervous. Some of them are..."

One of the boxes rattled right on a cue. Midnight, still in Nica's arms, hissed. Her fur was on end. "Oi, wait your turn," Topaz snapped at the box.

Nica blanched and reversed the step she'd just taken into the room. "Ah, what was that?" she asked, instinctively petting Midnight's raised hackles.

Topaz softened a bit when she felt the other woman's fear. "Nothing dangerous," she assured Nica. "It wouldn't have made it past the wards if it was. I haven't unpacked the box yet so I can only guess, but I'm going to assume it's a book with... opinions on its current situation."

"Books can have opinions? Magic ones, that is?" Of course, normal books didn't do this sort of thing. "How do you manage it, dealing with that sort of thing?"

"They can when someone decides they need life and personalities." Topaz shook her head, sighing. "Manage dealing with... magic stuff? Honestly it's pretty natural to me at this point. I've been exposed to magic in one way or another since I was seven."

Nica looked aghast. "Seven? That's awful! Weren't you terrified?"

"Not really." Topaz shrugged. "I know you've dealt with a lot of... unsavory magic things just by being here, but that's honestly not the norm. Most magic users live completely mundane lives where nothing ever happens to them. Hell, the bloke who sent me all these books works in tech support. The most horrifying thing he ever sees are people asking if they need to get prescription medication to treat the virus their computer has. And I didn't start out dealing with demons and monsters. The first thing I ever learned was a light spell."

"I guess..." Nica seemed unconvinced. "It just seems so strange, spells and rituals and demons and monsters. And complicated - how do you remember all those words and gestures and things? And what happens if you get it wrong?"

"Ninety-five percent of the time? Nothing happens," Topaz said. "Magic is finicky. If you don't get it exactly right, it's more likely to just not work than it is to backfire. As for remembering... how do you remember equations for math? Science? Studying and time."

"Huh. I hadn't thought of it like that." Nica hadn't put Midnight down yet and she stroked the cat meditatively. "I have to admit, whatever magic I've experienced hasn't exactly been... benign. Clan Akkaba, mostly."

"Yeah this place attracts a lot of chaos." Topaz waved a hand around. "I guess that's what happens when you put so many magic users in one place. There are people who can spend their entire lives immersed in magic and never meet anything even slightly dangerous. It's impressive how often we get into it here."

"Kind of like Hogwart's - a new monster in every book," Nica said with a snort. "Plus we get to deal with mutant menaces too. Remind me what we get out of living here again?" It was said with humour rather than any ill-feeling.

"We don't have to pay rent and we're within walking distance of New York City," Topaz said dryly. "The people are okay sometimes too."

Comments

[xp_catseye]

It's always nice to see the culture-clash between magic users and non-users. Also, noting that in case of emergencies Nica can be used as a portable heater.