Chapter 24
"I had to use the toaster,"
~*~
Midshore swiftly stood from her seat and walked to an open area just past the tents. Gloria thought perhaps she'd rather go a bit further away from camp than she did, but Midshore was very sure of her abilities and it wasn't as if they hadn't extinguished enough fires in their time together from ary spells.
Alex was slower to stand. He arched an eyebrow and breathed deeply as he walked over to where Midshore was standing, leaving roughly 5 paces between them. Midshore started saying incantations, and her hands started to glimmer as if they were conjuring glitter from thin air.
Alex scowled at the ease of use she had over her power, and made sparks fly from his hands. She wasn't the only one who could conjure a light show. Alex even enjoyed a bit of flare once in a while, so this could be fun. Maybe he'd get extra points for style.
"You may take the first move when you are ready," Midshore smirked.
"Good," he said, letting the first impulse he had fly from his hand. Cold balls of static manifested in his hand, and he threw them like an old fashioned cowboy at Midshore. He'd been quick on the draw, but he hadn't fully expected to hit his target. Midshore frowned as they struck, but was still very much on her feet.
"That spell, I don't recognize it," Midshore said, trying to analyze what she'd been struck with. "What was it?"
"A personal cocktail I made myself," Alex said. "A good bartender makes a few of his own recipes. I use that one primarily to start my car on cold mornings,"
"You shot a mechanic's spell at me?" Midshore asked with a tone of disgust. She shot a flame towards Alex, which he countered mid field with a flame of his own. "You thought that would work on a person?"
"I may use it on my car, that doesn't mean it doesn't work on other stuff," he shrugged, not letting his guard down. "Could work on 'aging women', " he quoted Midshore's earlier comment.
He threw a hot peppered flame next. The spell had a literal smell of spicy curry and sizzled like water in a hot pan. Midshore blocked it with a simple but strong shield spell.
"Are all of your spells food related?" Midshore half teased. "Calling them recipes is one thing, but that spell made me miss home. My wife cooks a mean curry,"
"Then let me give you some more to take home with you," he said as he shot the spell again, a furrow of effort on his face. Articulating the spells he'd discovered over the years wasn't easy. He'd used most of his magic in small doses to start his engine or spice up food. He hadn't used his magic in a competitive way before and Midshore clearly had.
She blocked the shot with a splash of ice that smelled of ocean and rain, like a cold shoreline in the middle of winter. "The same spell twice in a row? That feels a bit desperate, don't you think?"
"I'm anything but desperate. You'll never see me going back to an ex-girlfriend," he chuckled while a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead and along his nose. He added a second hand to push his spell harder, "I just trust the basics,"
Adding a second hand and sweating was always a look of desperation. Gloria looked on, unsure how she should be feeling. She wanted to laugh at Alex's arrogance and how he'd made a gentle mockery of the craft, but she also knew that accepting being a spellcaster could be hard. Alex hadn't grown up in a time when if was widely accepted to be different and she knew nothing about his upbringing. What if his parents had forced him to hide who he was? What if he'd never been given the opportunity to thrive? Should she be laughing at someone who hadn't been allowed to live up to their potential?
"I can see your effort, and it's valiant," Midshore said on an exhale. "But for all your effort, a fire spell is still easily broken by an ice storm," She had a frown of concentration on her face as she welled up her power and brought it to a point in her hand, pushing the pulsating collision of spells towards Alex and overtaking him.
With ice encompassing the fire, she lifted Alex. "Your hot headedness should be cooled once in a while so you may have the humility to learn new things," Midshore said as she spun him to the ground.
Alex gave a grunt as he landed on his stomach, scraping his palms as he attempted to catch himself. Gloria gave him a weak smile as he pushed himself up from the ground.
You could have told me that it wouldn't go my way, his look said.
I didn't have the time and you should have listened to the wise spellcaster when you had the chance, her's said.
"Now, who wants a proper lesson?" Midshore asked as the look of pensive puzzlement changed to one of laughter.
"If you can teach me how to do that to Alex, I'll take two!" Aquila ogled.
~*~
But he couldn't stay in his room forever. He'd have to face them soon, what was he going to say? How was he going to handle the situation? He was getting hungry and he had to fetch something from downstairs. He shouldn't avoid the situation as he had nothing to hide, but it was hard for him to openly face conflict.
Was it a conflict? If he didn't acknowledge it, would it not exist? Could a conflict be one sided? The whole problem lay in Deliah's head, not in Seneca's.
He sighed, logged out of his computer, stood from his chair, and started the journey down the stairs. He hadn't eaten nearly enough to get his strength back after he'd been sick, and he made sure to have a tight grip of the railing as he went. He could hear the two young women talking in the kitchen, and he set his nerves and straightened his posture to be further erect. His mother had never let him be a sloucher, but he'd also learned how to make himself look more confident than he was feeling. A slight, easy going smile made everyone think things were going the way you want them too, and a straight spine made people think you were comfortable even if you were in an uncomfortable situation.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Seneca turned to walk towards the kitchen. Yuzuki and Deliah were eating ice cream, talking about the geology homework.
"But it's just rocks, right? I'm not a geology major, not even in sciences! I'm getting an arts major, why do I need to worry about geology?" Deliah whined, eyeing Seneca as he walked in but saying nothing about it.
"Because some people are geologists and if you paint something or design something wrong for a company, the company could look incompetent! The layering of rocks is important, and the stuff we're learning in geology is common knowledge. You'll get through it and if you don't need it again, then you won't, but it's important to be able to show you know something. And if you call an igneous rock a metamorphic rock or label lava flow wrong you’ll look like a moron. A lovable moron though. " Yuzuki argued.
"What're you going to school for, again, Yuzuki?" Seneca asked as he fished around in the fridge for something with protein. He was coming up short, damn college students and not having responsible grocery habits. Maybe he'd order pizza. Definitely not Chinese.
"I'm going for education," she said, taking a bite of ice cream and continuing to talk. "It's for- Creator that's cold- teaching elementary school. I need to get my bachelor's to be hired as a full fledged teacher," she breathed in as if the ice cream were hot soup. "Goodness, Deliah, how are you cramming that stuff in your face so fast? Don't you have a brain freeze?"
"Brain freezes are for the weak," she said as she ate another spoonful.
Maybe there was a frozen pizza in the freezer? Seneca turned around and started rummaging through there, but it was mostly ice cream bars and frozen burritos. That'll have to do, he thought and took it out. It had ice crystals on it from being in there from probably the prior tenants of the house, but it wasn't growing mold and it had the heating instructions on it, so it'd do for now.
"What're you going to school for, Sen?" Deliah asked.
Seneca turned around while holding the burrito in his hand, not looking up. The cold of it burned like frozen nitrogen. How was she eating the ice cream so fast? "I'm going to editing," he mumbled. "My girlfriend insisted I go while she's-"
"-on a farming fellowship, I know," Deliah asked. Had Seneca told her and forgotten? He didn't remember everything anymore, must be the aging mind. Or too much internet use rotting his brain cells.
"Right... so we're both following our passions and we'll see each other when we can. I'm hoping to see her over the long weekend around Halloween. It'll be nice to see her, I can't wait,"
"When did you know you loved your girlfriend?" Deliah asked nicely, and the tone of it surprised him. She asked as if she were in awe of the relationship, not a jealous school girl.
Seneca looked up at her. Yuzuki gave her a sharp look, but Deliah ignored her.
"Um, probably when she started sharing dreams with me. Or when she healed me when I was sick? Or maybe it was when she brought me back from the dead. Or maybe she's just so cool and radiant that I love her beyond all of that," he shrugged, turned around and put the burrito in the microwave, only to find the microwave unplugged. "Who- why would someone unplug the microwave?"
"I had to use the toaster," Deliah muttered.
Ayyyyee! Another chapter! I have a few external factors that are inspiring me to write currently, and I am grateful for it! I love writing, you guys. I know, 94 chapters (70 in a previous story) in to a story line, I'd hope I love writing but I mean, I really love writing.
As always, here are a few bloopers!
^ I do love a good profile shot.
^ I cut a few of the pictures that didn't fit with the dialog.
^ Guys, this isn't the right time for that! There's an awesome fight you'll be remembering for years happening right over there! Guys!!
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