Begun on Twilight-Sky
July 28, 2007 @ 8:31 PM.
Thread originally created by Simply, transferred to I&P by Astrophysicist.
The role of Rebecca Nurse is played expertly by Kelly;
the role of Oliver James "Hawk" Callahan is played by Astro.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:07 am
by Astrophysicist
Family histories are always the most interesting when one discovers a crazy Uncle or a wealthy Aunt. Being related to someone who signed the American Declaration of Independence or sailed under the flag of a Spanish pirate was an exciting find, to say the least. Searching through the dusty attic while the parents are on vacation, only to unearth some dark family secret that had been lurking in that dusty old trunk for decades was entrainment at its best. However, such harmless findings are nothing like what a young woman was to find in her grandfather’s basement...
“Dad! But granddaddy’s house is so terribly...terribly monotonous.” Voiced a girl of sixteen, using one of the vocabulary words that her father had forced her to learn in preparation for the dreaded SAT. With a memory like a sponge, the young woman who stood before an older man was considered the brain child of the Nurse family. Photographic memory is what the scientific community had decided to call the particularly bright child’s ability.
“Then you should learn to mind your mother and she wouldn’t send you away.” Daniel Nurse replied to his daughter, who was avidly protesting the thought of spending the summer at her grandfather’s home on the outskirts of Boston. However, it was clear that the girl’s father was firm in his resolve to send her away. “You are well aware of your mother’s temperament, yet you continue to be difficult. Becky…” He murmured, ruffling the girl’s hair. A heavy sigh emitted itself from the lips of the one called Becky as she turned and headed up the stairs, refusing to continue the conversation that would no doubt turn into a lecture.
“Thomas and Jody never had to do this! It’s unwarranted. Granddaddy’s decrepit and deaf and…nearly unbearable!” Rebecca cried as she climbed the stairs, her back to her ragged father. Her speech was riddled with the vocabulary that he father insisted that she include in his presence. However, her demeanor expressed the defeat that she had already accepted.
“Becky. It’s final, stop complaining. Now where is your suitcase? We don’t want to be late for your plane.”
“My mother dearest might not want me to be late for the wicked summer she’s planned for me, but I could care less." She said, under her breath so her father wouldn't point out the disrespect hidden in her words. “I don’t remember where I put that cursed suitcase.” The lie was well rehearsed, as she had attempted to do everything in her power to avoid making the flight to Boston and the unexciting summer that was awaiting her there.
“Don’t you lie to me, Rebecca Lynn Nurse! You know exactly where it is.” This was followed by a soft growl of protest. Sometimes having a photographic memory was more of a burden than a gift, the young woman concluded as she sought the suitcase that she had hidden in her brother’s closet. He was away at wrestling camp and Rebecca had taken the liberty of using his room to suit her needs.
Rebecca Nurse was quite the astute young woman. She spoke her mind with no thought as to what the reprimand would be, which often landed her in the doghouse with her parents and once or twice with the authorities. A peculiar spirit lived within the daughter of a long line of Americans. It rivaled the incredible nature of one Anne Hutchinson, who sought to defy authority and rule. Wild and charismatic, the young Rebecca Nurse was always finding some new way to entertain herself.
Her mother was the one who was most baffled by the girl’s character. Ever since Rebecca was a child, a certain air surrounded her that no other baby possessed. She never cried when she fell down, only rose more determined to make her little legs walk. Action was always taken over mere words. Lies were rarely uttered from her lips…ones that mattered at least. If a scraped knee or broken leg had ever plagued Rebecca Lynn, no one knew of it. The young woman had seldom fallen ill to the flu and wasn’t as susceptible as her siblings. Rebecca’s nature was one that so petrified her mother, that the woman had come to avoid her daughter.
On the other hand, Daniel Nurse had found a loyal friend and a favorite in his youngest of three. It was so strong that he had argued with his wife for two hours the previous week against the request that Rebecca be sent away. However, her mother’s resolve was deep-seated and wouldn’t accept a refusal. Thus, Rebecca Lynn found herself on a plane to Boston, Massachusetts seated between a robust, bald man and a stinky, little, sticky-fingered child. Behind her a baby screamed the entire fight, while the parents argued about why the child was upset. Oh dear God in heaven.
The plane ride went well enough, considered she had to constantly deny the kid the right to cut her hair off. Landing was most unfortunate, as Rebecca had always been fond of the sky and anything that allowed her to have freedom from her parents…though being sent under the rigid eye of her grandfather was hardly the liberty she had thought she deserved.
Dark eyes fell on an elderly man after Rebecca Nurse had retrieved her two suitcases from the belt. They stared at each other for a long time before she moved over and offered him a feeble smile. The two were hardly best friends, like other grandparents were with their children’s children. Rebecca saw him as an overbearing cryptic psycho and Fredrick Nurse saw his granddaughter as a sneaky, conniving child who sought only to bring her mother pain.
“Hello, Rebecca Lynn.” Why did he insist upon the middle name? For goodness’ sakes, he was already starting to annoy her and it was only the first five minutes. “I see that you have packed your entire house.” He commented, reaching to take the duffle bag that rested on top of the hefty suitcase.
“I didn’t want to make it too easy for you, Granddaddy.” Rebecca replied, still staring at him. Making sure her purse was secured on her arm, she pulled the suitcase as her forefather moved onward without another word to his granddaughter.
The ride to his farm was uncomfortable to say the least. The young rebel was subjected to classical music and the shrill cry of brakes that longed to be changed. Not another word was uttered by Fredrick Nurse while he drove from Boston’s main airport. Thirty minutes passed as he weaved through the traffic of the capital of Massachusetts. Cars became even more scarce as they traveled through the country towards his home.
The arrival was no nosier as the bags were removed from the trunk and carried to the bedroom where she was to stay. The elderly man dropped the duffle bag on the floor of a large white-washed room. He slipped by her, leaving her standing in the doorway, cursing him with every word that she had come across in her sixteen years of existence. In silence, Rebecca unpacked her items and placed them in the closet and two dressers that were contained in the room.
The farm was large, as Rebecca had come to realize her first few days of the summer with her grandfather. Men and women worked around the farm, hired with the money her grandfather had earned by being one of the most brilliant doctor’s in Massachusetts. She spoke with them on occasion, but came to understand that the older ones only wished to work, not socialize with a noisy little brat.
On one particular Monday, Rebecca couldn’t find the old man to ask if she could go into Boston for the day. Angry with his frequent disappearances, she sought him throughout the residence, finally deciding that he must be hiding in the basement. When she opened the door it was dark, but she spotted a light in the far corner. There the old geezer was. Sighing, she sought a light switch on the side of the wall and found the basement harbored no electricity. Dammit.
Holding tightly onto the railing of the steep steps, Rebecca descended in search of her elusive grandfather. “Granddaddy?” She asked, gritting her teeth and trying to ignore the musky smell that filled her nostrils as her feel landed on the hard floor of the basement. However, the young girl was quickly distracted by the numerous items that occupied the space of the cellar. Deep eyes fell on everything from muskets of the Civil War to the records of the fifties and sixties.
Curiosity consumed her as she weaved her way through trunks and boxes after finding a flashlight near a box of old rattles and baby crib. Rebecca’s gaze soon fell upon a particularly old trunk and she felt compelled. As though she was drawn by some invisible force, Miss Nurse knelt before the wooden container and frowned at the old metal lock. Damn her grandfather’s desire to keep everyone out of everything.
With an anger that consumed her, Rebecca let her fist fall on the lid of the trunk. Clang, Ka-thunk! The noise filled her ears as she furrowed her brow, running her hands along the side of the box. As if by some extreme stroke of luck, the hinges that held the lid on were broken. Smirking, as though she had beaten her captor (as she came to refer to him) as his own game, Rebecca removed the lid and set it aside, careful to avoid making too much noise.
Inside were old pieces of parchment that were slowly decaying and paperbound books that looked as though they had been written in the stone age. With a renewed spark of interest, the young woman began to rummage through the contents of the wooden container. The papers on the top were maps and deeds, concerning a certain lot of land in old Salem. The dates were difficult on some, but most dated back the before the American Revolution.
Amber eyes grew wide as she surveyed the first papers quickly and set them aside. The property rights and other things hardy attracted her attention. Nearly to the point of giving up on the old box, Rebecca stumbled upon an amazing find. Her fingers brushed the leather binding of a thick book. Eyebrows furrowed as she withdrew it from the trunk and opened its cover. Her jaw nearly dropped as her eyes absorbed the words on the cover. The name Rebecca was written in elegant hand across the blank front page. With a soft gasp, she delicately turned the page that had been untouched in centuries.
The next piece held the date of March 1692 and Rebecca soon realized it was a diary. She smiled slightly, before flipping through the rest of the journal before a page seemed to attract her attention as though someone else had sought to make it known to her. It was in a more formal script than the rest had been. Slowly, she began to read.
I am one, Rebecca Nurse, and am accused of being a witch. The Circle has sought to rid the town of the ones who prosper more than they in Salem. Ann Putnam and Mercy Lewis and Abigail Williams are the leaders of The Circle. They are young and witless children, but they accuse me as they do the more innocent beings of Salem. However, their accusations couldn’t be more nearer to the truth. I am one, Rebecca Nurse, and I practice witchcraft. I am Wicken. I am Witch.
Rebecca nearly dropped the book. Was this her foremother, her namesake? She shook her head and set the journal aside, certain that all contained was pure lunacy. However, she was compelled to searched further into the trunk but found it was now empty. A frown crept across her lips before she leaned back to examine the trunk. Surely such a large trunk was not so shallow. No, there had to be more.
Slender hands ran across the smooth wooden surface before she found a small piece of fabric and pulled. The thin piece of oak was removed to reveal small vials and books and pieces of stray parchment. It was amazing. Rebecca picked up each vial and read the label that graced each one. Herbs, plants, powders were in the first few before the more interesting ones began to arise. Eyes, blood, animal pieces, those were the ones that Rebecca almost dropped to the ground. Was this really…no, of course not.
Finally, she removed the leather bound books and flipped through them. Potions, instructions for flight and terrors and curses. Her hands trembled as she set them aside with the first journal she had found. However, the young woman was unable to continue.
“REBECCA LYNN!” Despite his old age, Fredrick Nurse’s voice boomed through the entire house. Terrified of what she had found and being found, Rebecca hurriedly returned the items into the hidden compartment and then the others after she laid the board back down. She kept the journal, though, tucking it into her pants and pulling her hoodie over the bulge.
Scrambling with unrest, she ran to the stairs and took them three at time before she burst out of the basement door and right into her grandfather. Her eyes widened as though she had just been caught smoking weed or returning home drunk from a party. The look in his was far different. It contained a shock and then and anger.
“What were you doing down there?” It was a cold tone that filled his voice.
“Looking for you.” She answered, unable to lie when it came to important questions. This was obviously important.
“Did you touch anything?”
Rebecca swallowed. The urge to tell the truth filled her and she bit her lip. As she finally opened it to tell him a man rushed into the room, obviously one of the help.
“My apologies, Dr. Nurse, but the stallion is going mad. He’s already taken out Henry. We need your help.” He exhaled, sweaty from his run from the stable yard.
The old man turned from his granddaughter to the help and frowned. He obviously wished to continue the interrogation of his charge but the call for aid appeared to present a stronger call. “Show me.” He murmured and Rebecca was unable to hide a sigh of relief.
As her grandfather departed, so did the young woman, heading out the back entrance. Her feet carried her up the steep hill behind the main house and towards a place of peace she had found her second day here. A large elm resided near to the spot where the sheep were taken to graze. She settled herself down, breathing heavily and removed the journal.
She placed it in her lap, staring at it as though it contained the words of the Devil; his own will and testament. Tawny pools examined the plain black leather cover before she flipped it open, back to late May of 1962. With slow movements, Rebecca read the pages over and over, absorbing the information.
The Circle would be cursed by the younger Wicken, had I not convinced them otherwise. Sarah has also been accused, but after examination, she had been found innocent. It fills my heart to know this. I have no hope of escape. She will lead the Coven. It is hard to say if we shall be able to save the innocents from the noose, but we cannot expose the Coven—thus I will stand trial with the accused and speak nothing of the our secrets. I record these proceedings now so that my posterity will know of my gifts, my wisdom and the Craft. I am scared, to say the least, but they will not fail me. In the future, witches shall be accepted. I know it. I have-
A young man’s voice disturbed her reading. “What are you doing outside all up here by yourself, kid?”
Summer romances begin for all kinds of reasons, but when all is said and done, they have one thing in common. They're shooting stars, a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, fleeting glimpse of eternity, and in a flash they're gone.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:09 am
by Astrophysicist
”By the pricking of our thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”
He awoke with a start, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. His chest heaved like a man that had just run a mile in a full sprint, and his brow was coated in a thin film of cold sweat. The digital clock cast an eerie red aura of light about the bedside table, the blocky digits displaying an emotionless 5:14AM. In one minute, the ear-splitting cry of his alarm would pierce the world’s current peaceful silence.
Shit, he thought, panting. He threw back his blankets and swung his legs over the side of the bed, his bare feet greeting his bedroom’s cold oak floor. He wrung his trembling hands together before leaning forward, switching off his alarm before it began its daily shriek.
The voice still echoed in his ears, the soft, eerily silken female murmur still as loud and vivid as it had been in the dream. ”By the pricking of our thumbs, something wicked this way comes.” She’d spoken it matter-of-factly, as though her meaning was the most obvious thing in the world. Her sweet, girlish features had been twisted by a malicious smirk, her intelligent honey eyes almost feverish in their bright ferocity. Fiendish laughter had sparkled in her gaze, lighting up her sun-kissed face with an amusement he could not grasp. He’d studied her for some time before she’d spoken, locking eyes with the young woman and silently pressing for answers to questions he could no longer recall. The matter, though it had been lost to him in the transition from sleep to consciousness, had meant life or death…but had it been for him or for another? He’d soon lost himself in her stare, drowning in those deep amber pools of life and power, of light and brilliance, of angels, but also of demons and devils…
He shook his head vigorously, forcing himself to banish the memory as he stood and made his way to the bathroom, swiftly closing the door and sliding over the old-fashioned lock. He turned the circular light switch clockwise, adjusting the dimmer just bright enough to illuminate his face in the mirror. The image of the woman still haunted him, and he shivered as he studied himself. He’d been close enough to reach out and touch her; he’d been close enough to stop her.
But he had not.
Half curiously, half accusingly, he stared at his reflection, probing the neutral expression that gazed back at him for some kind of answer. It wasn’t difficult to recall the horror he’d felt upon learning of the woman’s intentions. What act of terror had he failed to prevent? He knew as well as any other practicing witch that dreams were highly symbolic, and overlooking the latent content was about as safe as throwing gasoline on a fire. It hadn’t been an ordinary dream; it wasn’t even an ordinary nightmare. The visuals had had substance, an unnervingly tangible quality his fingertips could still taste as he recovered from the shock of it. He’d dreamt in flesh and blood, not pictures and visions. Nothing about it felt like the product of an idle, overeager imagination during his slumber. He felt as though he’d witnessed something, something momentous, and now had the weight of the memory to carry on his shoulders.
Not sure whether he should furrow his brow with concern or laugh aloud at his dramatic reaction, he simply sighed, turning on the faucet and washing his face with handfuls of cool water. He had a full day ahead of him to ponder and speculate about the demonic girl that quoted Shakespeare in his dreams. The early mornings were his to relax; he relished the quiet birth of a new day, rising at daybreak’s twilight and heading out to the countryside to work. The day ahead of him would be blissfully long.
He dressed quickly and headed downstairs, not bothering with breakfast. He left a quick note for his mother, the scratching of his pencil on the paper sounding strangely ominous in the silent kitchen. Mom, he wrote sloppily, I’ll be back around six tonight. Don’t wait on me for dinner. --Hawk. He slid the paper to the center of the kitchen table where she couldn’t miss it.
Tugging open the back door and closing it carefully behind him, Oliver James Callahan--known to all but a select few by his nickname Hawk--made his way across their small backyard and to the garage. The garage was good-sized, housing the family minivan and his father’s rusted-but-faithful old Ford in addition to his older brother’s workshop, and sat next to a short gravel alley that lead to the side street. They lived on the very edge of town, one of the oldest districts in the area. Sharply peaked roofs and spires shared air space with the canopies of thick oaks and maples and hickories. .Majestic eighteenth and nineteenth century homes lined each side of the narrow streets, each one mansionlike and beautiful on their immaculate green lawns. But though he could appreciate the history and architecture like any other, it was not closed-in neighborhoods that he loved.
Hawk wheeled out his motorcycle and mounted, sliding his silver helmet on over his ears. Then, jumping and letting his weight come down on the starter pedal, he kicked the engine to life and took off down the makeshift driveway to the street, disappearing in a cloud of dust as he departed.
.+.+.+.+.
“You’re earlier than usual, Oliver James.”
The gruff voice startled him as he took off his helmet and dusted off the thighs of his ragged work jeans. Hawk recognized it immediately: only Harper Johnson insisted on calling him by both his first and middle names when he went by neither. “G’morning to you too, Harper,” he said with a smile, setting his helmet on his seat and turning to face the elder stable hand.
“Still haven’t killed yourself on that thing, I see,” observed Harper. His sharp blue eyes, though sunken in with age, still managed to sparkle with mischief. He nodded to the motorcycle, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned against the side of the tool shed.
“Don’t sound so disappointed.”
Harper turned to walk with him to the stable, trailing one finger childishly along the vertical siding of the back barn. The resulting sound was hollow and uneven, reminding Hawk vaguely of popcorn in a microwave. “The new stallion’s antsy today,” the older gentleman said. “I think we’re-”
“Hey, Hawk!” Henry came around the corner, falling in stride with them. His height was impressive; he towered above them, his presence just as commanding as it was conspicuous. “Think you could help out with the stallion today?”
“I was just going to ask him that,” Harper said with a false scowl.
Hawk grinned. “Sorry, guys, I’m needed elsewhere today. I promised Mary I’d help her out. I think you can handle everything, guys, you’ve been around horses since they were introduced in America.”
“Elsewhere? What kind of teenager nowadays says that?” asked Henry, wrinkling his small nose. He looked to Harper as if for guidance, pointedly ignoring the young man’s jest about their age.
Harper just rolled his eyes. “He must be smarter than he looks. Eh?”
Hawk laughed warmly. Where most would complain about the ridiculously early waking time and the sometimes back-breaking work of a not-so-pleasant-smelling farm, it was the only lifestyle he’d ever known. He’d been thirteen years old when his family sold their farm and moved to the suburbs, and he couldn’t have been any happier when he found out Dr. Fredrick Nurse needed someone to help in his stables. Of course, back then, he hadn’t been aware of the man’s stunning reputation as a doctor--or as a witch.
“He’s looking for older folks, kid,” a five-years-younger Harper had informed him, shaking his head apologetically. “Come back in a few years. Then he’ll do business with you.” But Harper had been quite mistaken--Mr. Nurse had known something the others didn’t. Whether he’d recognized the old Callahan surname from Salem history books or simply knew by instinct, he’d sensed a profound potential within the young Oliver James that others had either overlooked or simply could not detect. Hawk’s mother had introduced him to family witchcraft at a young age, so he was not startled when Mr. Nurse questioned him about it. It came as naturally to him as sleeping or breathing; he’d had no reason to shy away from the truth. He practically burst with a child’s innocent pride when Mr. Nurse’s interrogation went from questions regarding his abilities to questions regarding his talents.
“I’m good with animals!” Hawk had delightedly exclaimed, and that had sealed the deal. Even now, at eighteen, almost nineteen years of age, a high school graduate and a soon-to-be college freshman, he was still having the time of his life on the Nurse farm like the little boy he once was. In the five years he’d spent there, he’d built his own solid reputation amongst the other workers both in the stables and out. It was Hawk that Henry, Harper, and the others called for when there was trouble with one of the horses. It was Hawk the gardeners wanted when the rabbits refused to stop devouring their flowers. It was Hawk the planters asked advice from when gophers raided their fields. Nothing short of a celebrity, he thought with amusement, his hazel eyes brightening with mischief. That’s what Victor, one of the veterinarians, had called him one day. “Wanted to meet you for myself,” he’d told him with a laugh. “You’re the resident celebrity, people tell me.”
“See you after lunch, guys,” Hawk called, breaking away from his two comrades and heading to the north side of the farm. “Don’t let the stallion kick you on your way out!”
.+.+.+.+.
He’d caught only a glimpse of her as he crossed the grassy threshold of the grazing field and headed toward the house, and though he’d never actually seen her before in his life, he’d known exactly who he was the moment he laid eyes on her. With her fair hair and painfully graceful way of simply existing, he could have mistaken her identity only if he’d been blindfolded.
There was no doubt in his mind that this was the young woman from his dream.
Having pushed the matter from his mind much earlier that day, Hawk hadn’t had a chance to revisit it. Mary had kept him hopelessly occupied, and then there was the matter of the stallion and Henry’s resulting injuries to top everything off...he hadn’t had the chance to process much more than the work at hand. And here she was now, the girl he thought he’d conjured purely from his imagination, right in front of him, living and breathing. Had he not recalled his feelings of intense dislike he’d harbored about her in his subconscious, he would have laughed aloud.
Nearly as disconcerted as he was curious, he watched her for several seconds before he dared to venture closer. Engrossed in a faded book with her back against the rough bark of the elm tree that towered above the Nurse farm, she was the picture of teenage innocence, the gentle country breeze tossing her hair about her head. “Well,” he finally said, not unkindly, making his presence known with a purposeful scuff of his boot on a patch of dry earth. A small cloud of dust rose to the air and was dissolved by the wind’s subtle breath, disappearing nearly as quickly as it had sprung to visibility. “What are you doing outside all up here by yourself, kid?”
And then, almost accusingly, he added, “You’re not reading Shakespeare, are you?”
o.o.c. :: Huzzah! I've finally posted! <3 Thanks for your patience, m'dear. I thought maybe if we needed it we could incorporate Hawk's dream into some sort of plot, but if not, then it's a good reason for him to dislike her at first. (:
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:12 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca had crossed the lawn with the sole intention of escaping from her grandfather and his uncanny way of knowing exactly what she was doing and where she was. However, she had realized that he didn’t like venturing too far from his employees and animals. Fredrick Nurse was a hard man to please and Rebecca had realized that it was even harder for her to please him. The man seemed to have taken his daughter-in-laws opinion of his granddaughter which seemed to make her even more miserable than before.
Fredrick Nurse had turned incredibly sour after the death of his wife many year ago, before Rebecca had even been born. She was born on the day that her grandmother had died and so perhaps that is what had caused her grandfather to become so bitter towards her, as though it was somehow her fault that her grandmother had passed away so suddenly.
So the youngest Nurse had to find ways to amuse herself since the help didn’t seem too keen on being her friend and her grandfather only saw her as a worker her didn’t have to pay. Eventually, after the two weeks she had already spent here, she realized that during the summer the sheep were kept on the lowlands and her grandfather wouldn’t look for her among the hills. It was too much trouble for the old man to bother with her when there were horses kicking people in the head. She’d have to find out who was hurt and perhaps she would make him brownies or…something.
Settling down with that intriguing book that simply had to be fiction, Rebecca let her eyes move over the words and flipped through the pages until a rather unwelcome voice interrupted her thoughts. Frowning, she turned her head upward and shaded her amber eyes with her hands. The frown deepened when she noticed who it was. He was the farm boy that all of the others spoke about when something was wrong with the animals.
Studying his face before even bothering to understand what he said, she took in that he was subtly attractive but something on his face made the frown disappear and a confused look pass over her face. He had called her ‘kid.’ Did she look like a child? She wasn’t much younger than he was, two or three years at the most. The frown returned as she understood his words and she licked her lips, snapping the book shut to hide it from his prying little eyes.
She grasped the book in her hands and hoisted herself up from the position she was in beneath the elm tree and found that he was still a good deal taller than she was. Rebecca took an instant dislike to this man who referred to her as a child who was a mere nine or ten years old. Couldn’t he tell that she was sixteen going on seventeen and hardly in the mood for interruptions. But she couldn’t interpret that look her had on his face, a mixture of awe and distain as though she had done something wrong to him when he was the one that interrupted her reading.
“I think it was obvious that I was reading.†She snapped, narrowing her dark eyes at him before making sure the book was securely shut in her hand, so that he couldn’t let his eyes examine it too closely. Shakespeare? She didn’t particularly like the old English guy and didn’t see the need to read him outside of school but this man had asked and she wasn’t in the mood for answering nicely since he had discovered her hiding spot and would likely tell her grandfather about it. “And no. Not Shakespeare.â€
Licking her lips again, she cocked her head slightly, letting her long blonde hair whip behind her for a minute. “And what are you doing up here, farm boy? Aren’t you supposed to be working?!†Rebecca asked, leaning back against the elm, not comfortable with the boy’s gaze on her so intently.
ooc: Short. >.<‘ They’ll get better. ^^ Hope you like it.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:12 am
by Astrophysicist
He didn’t know whether to laugh or frown, and the emotional conflict showed on his face in a bizarre expression trapped somewhere between a smirk and a grimace.
“‘Farm boy’?†he repeated skeptically, his green eyes sparkling with amusement. Though she was giving him no specific orders, her speech was demanding, just as unwelcoming as it was defensive. His mirth inspired his lips to adopt a lopsided smile, and he shook his head slowly back and forth with something akin to relief. Her voice was nothing like the hypnotic purr of the young woman in his dream, and he was more than grateful for that.
As she stood, his gaze flicked from her face to her toes and then back to her face again, searching to meet her honey-colored gaze. The grazing fields and the hills were inarguably the most peaceful places on the Nurse property, and it wasn’t difficult to see why. The breeze tossed the elm’s leafy branches lazily, patches of sunlight filtering through its broad canopy to dance silently upon the grass. There was something unmistakably desolate about the hill the two of them currently stood on, but the sense of isolation was tranquilly wistful rather than eerie or blatantly lonely. It wasn’t difficult to make out why Rebecca Nurse--the name suddenly returned to him, for surely this was Fredrick’s granddaughter, the one he’d mentioned a few weeks ago--had chosen this place to escape to.
He didn’t often speak to Fredrick Nurse, but their lack of interaction was not the product of dislike or animosity. The man kept mostly to himself. The older farm hands reported that it was only after the death of his beloved wife that he turned bitter and distant, like he’d never quite had the strength to pull himself out of his grief. But he was mysterious by nature, it seemed. Even businesslike conversations regarding the farm were cryptic, and though they dealt with very concrete and specific matters, they were rarely straightforward. It was something Hawk--and, of course, the rest of the workers--had simply grown to accept and dismiss, learning with time and experience to decipher what the man really wanted done. He couldn’t help but notice that his employer and his employer’s granddaughter shared the very same trait.
She, of course, was not quite so enigmatic. “It’d be easier just to tell me to go away, you know,†he commented neutrally, lifting one shoulder in a half-shrug.
He took another few steps forward, making smaller the gap between them. Feeling uneasy, watched her carefully as he passed her, trying to assess the situation logically. The woman in his dream had not actually done anything, had she? And how likely was it that Fredrick’s granddaughter was plotting anything sinister? There is no need, his mother always said to him, to make sunny and innocent mortal matters cloudy with magic. In other words, there was no reason for him to assume anything was out of the ordinary until, say, she sprouted gargoyle wings and mauled him with her claws. But though he knew he’d have perished right then and there for disturbing her if looks had the ability to kill, the chances of her literally ripping him apart with demon talons were quite slim. He suppressed a chuckle at the image the thought conjured in his mind, suddenly much more at ease. Once he’d made it a few steps down the hill toward the house, he turned around.
“I think a better question is what you are doing up here,†he replied curtly, regarding her with unmasked suspicion. “I’ve been up workingâ€--he stressed the word and raised his eyebrows--“since five thirty this morning.†He paused, pointedly stealing a glance at her book and gesturing to the filthy state of his ragged clothing. “What have you done all day, city girl?†Though he hadn’t intended anything of the sort, he found himself growing irritated, and it came through in his petulant tone. “Did it ever cross your mind to help out a bit yourself?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:13 am
by Astrophysicist
Those green eyes dancing amused on his face made her scowl slightly. Why did he find the fact that he was a farm boy so amusing? Who wanted to do that kind of work when they could live in the town without bothering on her grandfather’s farm. If she had been him, she would have stayed as far away from her cursed grandfather as she could get. He disliked her quick tongue and matter-of-fact way of speaking since she was usually right when she told him things. After all, with a photographic memory, she usually picked up on thing faster than the old man.
Now as she looked at him with his amusing eyes that ran over her body, Rebecca found that she liked his tone and him, to be honest, a little bit less than she already did. Licking her lips, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, placing one hand on her hip as looking at him as to ask him what he was looking at exactly. This farm boy might have been easy on the eyes but she certainly didn’t like his assuming way of talking down to her.
It would have been easier if you had never talked to me. She thought, though kept it to herself so that he would just continue on his merry little farm boy way and leave her and the book alone. Licking her lips, she slipped her ring finger between two of the pages, wishing that she could continue reading in such a peaceful spot without any further interruptions. After all, she had come out here to get away from things and her grandfather was not the only thing she was getting away from. The constant silence around the house was unnerving but out here the silence was peaceful because it wasn’t really silence. The birds were bickering in the background and the breeze would make a beautiful whistle as it slipped past her head and further away from her into the fading day.
The farm boy stopped and she nearly growled her discontent with his sudden desire to continue speaking to her. Did he not understand that she wanted to be left alone. Ugh! However, taking a quick glance at the sun as it began it’s slow descent down the other side of the hill, Rebecca knew that she would have to start making dinner or her grandfather would find more things for her to do during the day and she’d never figure out if this insane little book was for real. Witches? Circles? Covenants?! Licking her lips, she headed after him slowly, keeping a comfortable distance between them.
Then he spoke and she rolled her eyes. Why couldn’t he just continue on with his duties and leave her alone? None of the other hands seemed interested in her. What made him so eager to speak to her in such a demeaning way? “I told you what I was doing. I was reading.†She frowned. “I know you might not be familiar with what most people call books but we read them. It’s quite common in more…advanced places.†She snapped, not enjoying his tone at all. Those honey eyes flashed with a fire and she glared at him.
“I’ve been down to your precious stable already and no one seemed interested in showing me anything.†She added, tossing her head a bit and the wind caught her hair. She took another few steps down the hill. “All you are too caught up in everything to bother to show me what to do.†And they’d only have to show Rebecca once so long as she kept her eyes on their hands. After all, she could easily replay the memory in her head and perform it exactly as they had. But no one was interested in her. Not even her grandfather, the bitter old man.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:13 am
by Astrophysicist
Well, he thought, still mildly amused beneath his outward aggravation, we’re off to a great start.
Had he known her thoughts, he would have informed her that asking questions only yielded answers. If she didn’t want him to speak to her, why was she speaking to him? She was playing a losing hand in the high-stakes game of social interaction, and he could only thank his lucky stars that this was their first encounter in two weeks. That meant it was pretty unlikely that their paths would cross on a regular basis. Of course, had they met before, it would have been under different circumstances. Perhaps then, after the initial introduction, they would have at least acknowledged each other with more than frowns and furrowed brows. But what happened had happened, and there was nothing either of them could do about it now.
Hawk was very aware of her following him, the sound of her footsteps on the hillside whispering in distinct rhythmic syllables. His throat tightened with instinctive alarm, the muscles in his neck tensing at the thought of the dream-Rebecca Nurse trailing too closely behind. It was a silly reaction, and he knew it, but after the tough day he’d had, he felt he had a right to be a little jumpy. He probably should have been angrier with her and her smart remarks than he actually was, but he was tired, and he had more important things to worry about than a silly little teenaged girl’s stereotyping. Henry, for instance. The stallion had gone wild that afternoon, throwing an uncontrollable kicking rampage outside the stable. His friend’s skull was very possibly fractured from a back hoof’s swift blow.
A pang of guilt raced through his nerves, and he sighed quietly. He knew it wasn’t really his fault, but he felt terrible all the same. It was an accident, and accidents were simply inevitable; not even the most cautious of people could safely call themselves immune from them on a farm the size of Dr. Nurse’s. Since Hawk had been on the far end of the property, he hadn’t received word of the incident in time to be of any use. Harper had rushed in to the house and alerted Fredrick, dialing 911 on his cell phone as the two of them sprinted back to the stables. By the time the ambulance arrived, Hawk had been successfully summoned, and he got there in time to watch Henry disappear on a stretcher behind two heavy metal doors. Kicking up dust in their wake, the noisy emergency vehicles sped off down the narrow gravel road, spooking both the stable hands and the horses with the close grumble of their engines.
Hoping to reassure himself in the process, he remained where he was, doing his best to calm the younger horses that had taken fright. When he'd successfully comforted the animals and unsuccessfully comforted himself, he’d made his way to the hills, hoping to walk off his worries with a good dose of cheery summer sun. And though he’d been diverted for a handful of minutes with Fredrick's granddaughter, his agitation arose again, and this time it had nothing to do with his stupid dream.
“Right. Reading. So you said.†He frowned, refusing to respond to her ignominious comment about his intelligence. All his mirth had dissolved away with his renewed concerns for Henry. “All day, huh? That must be tough. Neck stiff at all? Eyes tired?†He was speaking to her now only because he saw it annoyed her. He knew it was ridiculous and childish; he was searching for ways to provoke her so he could fire right back with his own spiel of less-than-friendly phrases. He reached the side door and paused with weary conviction.
He didn’t allow his exhaustion to stop him from turning around just once more. “Look, city girl,†he said crisply, a strange calm dominating his tone. “Sometimes you have to be hospitable to get hospitality in return. Did you even ask to help out, or did you just wander around and expect everyone to rush to fulfill your every whim? I don’t know where you come from, kid, or who you think you are, but one of these days you’re going to have to accept that you’re not there anymore.†He narrowed his eyes. “So take your advanced reading material and go hide with it somewhere in the house. Stay out of the way. Maybe some of my stupidity has already rubbed off on you. I’d hate to jeopardize your intelligence any more than I already have.†He nodded once dismissively. “Goodbye, your highness.â€
With that, he stepped inside to the kitchen, closing the door behind him soundlessly. He sighed deeply, closing his eyes for a brief second. He still had more work to do in the stables, but he had to eat first, and maybe give Harper a call to see how Henry was doing...
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:13 am
by Astrophysicist
If Rebecca had known that he was remotely hostile to her because she had been some crazy woman in his dream, well then, the young woman would have laughed outright at his insanity. To think that he could be so judgmental and impulsive based on a fabrication of his subconscious would have surely made the youngest Nurse snicker at his foolishness. However realistic the dream might have been for this farm hand, Rebecca would have been happy to hear what he had to say because It would have made her laugh harder than she had in a long time.
As impetuous as she could be, she didn’t see why he had taken such an instant dislike to her. That was the only reason that she had developed an aversion to this farm fellow. The look in his eyes when he had first looked at her was ingrained in that extraordinary mind and would be for as long as she would live. His eyes. Those amazingly beautiful green eyes filled with such an accusation as though she had been openly doing something terribly in public that was frowned upon. It had struck her so hard like a harsh slap against her cheek. That look had stunned her and then hardened her to take an instant dislike to him.
Rebecca had been in the room when her grandfather, the infamous doctor, had been called out to aid Henry. She hadn’t bothered to inquire about the boy because if she had bothered to follow her grandfather to the field where the stallion went wild and kicked him in the head with its hoof, Dr. Nurse would have turned upon her . No doubt he would have shouted at her to stop standing around and go do something useful, like begin preparing dinner (despite the fact that it had only been around four in the afternoon.) The man didn’t seem keen of making amends or being civil with Rebecca and she didn’t expect it any longer. When she was little perhaps she would have cried at his tone and words, but now it only made her angry and distant.
Everything about the young man who walked so briskly before her made her nervous and cross. The muscles beneath his shirt rippled and she tried to ignore them and focus on the book in her hands that she longed to finish reading and discover just who had written this book and made it all sound so real. Perhaps it was a big joke played on her by her grandfather, though, at the same time she doubted he had a sense of humor at all. He was known to be too stern and aloof.
Right now, however, Dr. Nurse was moving along his stables and making sure all of the mares and stallions were back in their appropriate stalls and being tended by the last stable hands before they headed off to dinner on their own. Numerous hands were from other small farms that surrounded the Nurses and others were from in town, liking physical labor than sitting at a desk all day and crunching various numerical sequences for bosses whom they never saw. Her grandfather was far from her mind right now as they neared the house and the stupidly annoying farm boy began to speak to her again.
His intelligence was in question since he asked her the same thing twice but he hadn’t seem to notice that little detail during their bickering back and forth. She felt as though she was back home, arguing pointless things with her mother who annoyed her almost as much as this boy was doing right now and that was a big step for anyone. Beating her mother at being an irriation was an accomplishment, though not one that the farm boy would like to be bragging about.
Rolling her eyes at her own mistake while answering his question, Rebecca took a hasty step back as he turned around to face her. Those stark green eyes met her own honey ones and she stared, unable to break their gaze. “Maybe they are but I doubt you care about my eyes anyways.†She responded, still unable to break her eyes away from his. He had such a intensely strong stare that she swallowed once and cocked her head slightly to the side, letting the blonde hair fall across her shoulder.
“Don’t even act like you know what I did when I went down there.†She snapped, narrowing her eyes. Rebecca had gone down there with every intention of learning about the animals but some man named Richard shooed her off and called her a nuisance when she asked if there was anything her might need help with. She snorted slightly, exhaling the air sharply from her nose. “I doubt you could harm my capacity for knowledge even if you tried.†But then he disappeared inside the house and she raised her eyebrows, wondering why he was heading in there. Unable to stop herself, Rebecca opened the door and let it shut behind her, though it slammed louder than she thought it should have.
“Look, farm boy.†She snapped, mocking the way he had addressed her, though he voice was hardly as eerily calm as his was. “I don’t know who you think you are. Maybe God’s gift to this farm but I frankly don’t care. You’re the one that came up to me on that hill.†She slammed the book down on the desk in her anger at him. “What was it that you wanted exactly? Surely it wasn’t to make friends.†She didn’t bring up his facial expression when he addressed her first. That was ammo for later. Amber eyes flashed dangerously and the glass shuddered in the window panes and the door shook in its frame despite how still it was outside.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:14 am
by Astrophysicist
He groaned inwardly when he heard the door open a few seconds later, and he flinched theatrically when it slammed closed. He didn’t bother turning to look at her when her sharp voice sliced through the cool interior of the old house. Her retorts did not fall on deaf ears, but he certainly made it seem that way; he carried about his business as though no one else was in the room. She simply wasn’t worth the effort, and fighting back had lost its charm. He was quickly developing a stronger aversion to Fredrick’s granddaughter than Fredrick had himself.
Tugging open the refrigerator door, he retrieved the lunch he hadn’t had time to consume earlier that day. The plastic bag rustled querulously as he removed it from the bottom shelf, and he placed it gently on the counter near the microwave before getting out a small jar of mayonnaise. What he’d packed wasn’t much, but it was certainly enough to quell his stomach’s harsh hunger pangs and get him through the last hour or two of his evening. He reminded himself that when he got home, there would be a warm plate of his mother’s dinner waiting for him in the oven; in his mind, it was his reward for a stressful day. Homemade lasagna, if he could accurately draw a conclusion from the noodles and tomatoes sitting out on the counter the night before. And his mother’s was the best in the state, hands down.
Rebecca’s voice was a distant drone now, and at last she seemed to finish speaking. A sour silence descended, blanketing them with its suffocating thickness. Hawk, finding it not at all difficult to ignore the young woman, did not break it with his own set of defenses and new attacks. When he finished spreading a thin layer of mayonnaise on the sandwich he’d withdrawn from the sack, he put the jar away, let the knife drop into the sink with a cringeworthy clatter, and headed for the front door. It was then that something like an earthquake plagued the house, and he turned around, betraying no emotion on his stony face. Anger was powerful, but it generally didn’t shake an entire house on its frame--there was no doubt in his mind as to what was going on.
Was it possible that Rebecca was a--?
No. That was absolutely ridiculous.
Feigning nonchalance, he flashed her a sarcastic smile, and stepped outside without a word. The silent treatment, he lamented with a light scowl, was not nearly as harsh when the receiving party actually desired the solitude and lack of interaction. He wasn’t being cruel. He was giving her what she wanted.
The screen door closed behind him with its usual unavoidable bang!, and he found himself on the house’s grandiose front porch. He took a seat on the stairs, leaning sideways against the carved wooden railing, and took a bite of his ham and cheese sandwich. Though he would have rather avoided the topic, his thoughts strayed back once again to Rebecca Nurse and her appearance in his dream--if it really had been her at all. He was beginning to think it wasn’t beyond her after all to commit some terrible crime; the more she spoke, the surer he became that her bite would be just as powerful as her bark. And hadn’t she demonstrated that just now? She certainly didn’t seem to have any inhibitions regarding arguing or being forward; they hadn’t even introduced themselves. But witchcraft was another matter entirely. The proverbial gargoyle wings had just sprouted, and he supposed it was time to be concerned.
When the sandwich was gone, he reached for a Ziplock bag of apple slices and popped open his can of Dr. Pepper with a swift, gratifying snap. His mind wandered back to the stables in an attempt to rid himself of Rebecca-related notions, and he cast a thoughtful gaze in its direction as he took a long drink of his soda. There was one young horse in particular he wanted to spend time with that evening, one that simply refused to wear a saddle whenever one of the others tried to begin her breaking. Hawk hadn’t been in much contact with her since she was one of Richard’s favorites, but he figured it couldn’t hurt to help the other stable hand out when he was rather conveniently away for the afternoon...and Richard would never know.
It hadn’t surprised him to hear that Richard was the one that had turned the girl away, refusing to let her help out. The man took some getting-used-to, and even when he began to seem tolerable, he had a coarse and crude demeanor that made even the most sincere of compliments sound like an insult. In a strange way, he felt a little sorry for Rebecca; she’d let a wrong-place-wrong-time encounter define her entire opinion of the farm and its workers. But the pity evaporated as soon as he realized it was probably better for all of them if she just stayed away.
A sigh escaped parted lips. It was going to be a long summer if she somehow did manage to secure a position in the stables, or if she really did practice wi...no, that was preposterous.
o.o.c. :: Whoo, worst graphic ever, but it's roughly how I'm picturing Hawk. Sorry for the lack of dialogue in my post; Hawk thought it was necessary. xD
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:15 am
by Astrophysicist
She watched him move about the room, moving back from the refrigerator to the counter. The windows were still shaking in their frames and her eyes were still blazing with her anger. But eventually, as she regained her calm, she let her remarkable eyes follow him around as he headed about with a knowledge of the home’s kitchen. The mayonnaise removal made her raise her eyebrows. So that’s why she’d had to go buy two more jars of the stuff as well as mustard in the last week. Her grandfather allowed the hands access to the kitchen condiments and thusly left her without the necessities for her own lunchtime sandwiches.
Then he whirled on her when the windows shook their hardest and she tried to figure out just what he was thinking. Before his emerald eyes had revealed his instant trepidation and dislike but now Rebecca was left searching that green gaze without a clue as to what was running through his mind. Then a cynical grin crossed his features and she swallowed a hiss, trying to keep her face stoic. She released her grip on the book, turning around and watching him exit the kitchen through the door that they came through. This man…this boy whose name she didn’t even know was driving her mad and she just wanted to- to what? She didn’t know.
Turning back after she was sure that he was gone, Rebecca growled to herself and moved about the kitchen on her own, leaving the book on the table, forgotten momentarily in her anger. She began getting out all of the ingredients for dinner. She had seen a recipe in the paper a few years back with a recipe for chicken in a light marinara sauce and roasted asparagus on the side. She knew what she needed to put together and how she needed to do it. That was the advantage of her memory. Like a steel trap.
Taking out the chicken she washed it and prepared everything in a matter of minutes. The asparagus won’t take more than fifteen minutes so she’d put that in right before dinner when her grandfather returned. Now she would head onto the porch and settle into one of the rocking chairs with that book she had been so interested in finishing. Placing the marinara sauce on a slow simmer, Rebecca made sure that everything was in order before she headed back over to retrieve the old leather bound book.
When her slender hand met the cover it shocked her and she actually saw the electricity shoot between the binding and the tip of her forefinger. Jumping back and bringing the shocked finger to her lips to cool down the sudden burn, her eyebrows furrowed together in amazement. Never had she been hurt like that before. Nothing had ever caused her to bleed or cry or even bruise. After all, if you’ve never been hurt you don’t really know what it feels like. Falling off a skateboard yielded less damage than touching this book and that made her more curious than afraid.
Reaching back out she found that this time it slipped easily into her hand with not electrical protest at all. One backward glance was given to the food and headed outside. Before she could stop the door from closing with that all too familiar bang!, Rebecca’s honey eyes had settled onto to boy that had drawn her to anger so quickly. Frowning, she ignored him as he had ignored her and settled into one of the rocking chairs, bringing her legs up so that her heels rested on the edge of the white wood. A quick hand ran through her hair and she opened the book back up and scanned the words. It was a page of spells, funny sounding in her head.
Completely absorbed in the book, she whispered one of the words beneath her breath, just to see how it would taste on her tongue. “Opitatus Levitum.†And the book was gone out of her hands immediately and slamming into the side of the boy’s head.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:15 am
by Astrophysicist
Like a sudden gunshot, the slamming door behind him made him jump. It shouldn’t have; he’d spent almost his entire adolescence listening to it crash into the frame, day in and day out. But, he reminded himself warily, this was turning out to be no ordinary day. After waking with fleeting remnants of a disturbing dream flitting through his mind, a good friend had nearly died. Then, on his way to the house after trying futilely to clear his head, he found himself face-to-face with the honey-eyed, fair-haired embodiment of his early morning reverie’s antagonist. He shook his head to himself infinitesimally. His father would have told him to buy a lottery ticket, Hawk thought, feeling an ounce of warm amusement return to him.
But it was short lived. When she emerged from the house and stepped onto the front porch, the old floorboards groaning in small creaks beneath her feet, he did not turn around. He didn’t even raise a shoulder in his usual half-shrug of acknowledgment. It was entirely unlike him not to greet another person, but he felt he could make an exception in her case. He would almost have gone so far as to say she wasn’t another person at all, but a demon sent by the devil himself to make his summer miserable. What have I done to deserve this? he thought, exasperated. If he hadn’t been so determined to completely ignore her, he would have picked up and moved back inside the house. But he wasn’t about to let her control him.
Hoping to calm himself, he closed his eyes for a few seconds, sighing deeply. The thick summer air tasted sweetly of hay and grass, the breeze blowing the rich, earthy aroma directly to him. For several seconds, he was falling in complete darkness, his imagined limbs limp and useless as he descended into black nothingness. His thoughts evaporated, and for a handful of blissful moments, he simply existed, worries and memories behind him. Deep meditation was a powerful tool, and it was a skill he was still practicing and perfecting. He relaxed before he was consciously aware of a change, and when his eyes finally fluttered open, he felt renewed. The trance had lasted only a fraction of a minute, but it was enough. Immediately he noticed that his frantic thoughts had slowed to a more reasonable pace, and the concern and confusion that had gripped his heart had eased.
Feeling a little better, he took another sip of Dr. Pepper, the carbonated liquid refreshingly cool on his tongue. The maroon aluminum can of soda was cool against his fingertips, and he ran them along the silver rim absentmindedly. And then a low female voice distracted him, bringing him back fully to the present. From there, everything seemed to unfold in painfully slow motion.
What was it she had just murmured?
Opitatus Levitum.
He sensed the book coming--no, flying; that was much more accurate a description--toward him before he fully realized what was going on. He barely had time to furrow his brow in puzzlement before everything clicked into perfect sense: her slamming the book closed immediately when he’d approached, her defensiveness, the way the windows had shaken with her anger, the way her eyes had flashed with both ferocity and curiosity, her obvious relation to Fredrick Nurse, and then the whispered command she’d said so impractically--
Acting upon reflex only, he dropped his pop can and twisted his arm back, snatching the book from its flight path just as its spine grazed his ear. The Dr. Pepper clattered dramatically down the rest of the stairs, its contents fizzing out enthusiastically. Hawk leapt to his feet, startled and breathing heavily.
For a long time, he said nothing; he stared at her intensely, his viridescent eyes never once straying from her amber ones. It was only when he calmed down that he dared to look down, examining the centuries-old book now in his hands. Delicately, he flipped open to a page, his downcast eyes scanning the slanted cursive with quick understanding. He discovered spells upon spells upon spells documented plainly on the faded parchment as he turned pages. At last, he snapped the diary closed and looked back to Rebecca, his expression the offspring of surprise and accusation.
“I would ask what you were doing,†he said softly, his tone unreadable, “but since that didn’t go over well with you last time, and now I can clearly see exactly what you’ve done, I’m not going to bother.†He raised his eyebrows, his voice losing all traces of animosity as bewilderment replaced it. Holding out his hand, palm facing her in a declaration of peace, he took his own place in a rocking chair across from her. “Where," he began slowly, holding up the diary, "did you get this?"
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:15 am
by Astrophysicist
The second the book left her hand, Rebecca’s wide amber eyes followed its path and sucked in a sharp breath. It was zooming right towards the boy’s head. Of course she didn’t like him but how in the world had the book known that she wanted to peg him without a blunt object just to knock some sense into him or make him understand how much she already didn’t like him. The book seemed to have a mind of its own when she muttered those crazy words and it took off towards the nearest living target and prepared to smack him straight in the cranium with a good deal of force.
But the boy had heard it too and turned, his face contorted in confusion and displaying a sense of bewilderment. She heard the soda clatter on the steps, the familiar sound of crunching aluminum and the eerie way he reacted so quickly. Honey eyes took all of the movements in slow motion, watching the elegantly simplistic way that he twisted his body and caught the book just as it was about to make impact with the back of his head. A rustled of the pages meant that Rebecca’s little magic book had pretty good aim, enough to graze his ear before this super human boy before he snatched it out of thin air.
However, rather than keeping her gaze on him, she let it trail to the Dr. Pepper that was spilling across the bottom step and then leaking onto the walkway and seeping through the cobble stones. The little places of dirt became fizzy mud as she watched, before turning her attention back to him, having finally noticed the paranormal silence that filled the air around them. All of the hostility on her end faded quickly as those amazingly attractive and frustrating eyes focused on her with an intensity that would rival the power of the sun.
Slowly, his head lowered and she followed the path of his eyes, sucking a slow breath as he examined the book. She shifted in the rocking chair, not daring to move. Even if she had dared, she wouldn’t have been able to. Her legs felt like jelly on the ground and her stomach knotted in the most objectionable way.
Rebecca had no idea that what was written in the book was real. She had no idea that witches existed but men could be witches too. She had no idea that witches were innately good but wizards (also both men and women) were innately malevolent. She had no idea that the boy before he was a witch and she had no idea that her grandfather had been hiding this secret from his children for a long time, as none of them had ever showed magical potential. She also had no earthly clue that the novel was the actual diary of her namesake, the young woman burned at the stake in old Salem, long ago before America was known as the United States.
But now, just watching this boy before her scan over the text with an expression of understanding and puzzlement, Rebecca didn’t know what to think. Usually she was quick. Brilliant and talented, Rebecca was utterly stumped as to what to say or do now, merely observing the boy before her, trying to decipher his every move and place it in the back of her mind for further reference.
And finally the silence shattered but it was still highly uncomfortable. The tone of his voice was mysteriously calm and indecipherable. She felt uneasy but dared not show it. Bright eyes scanned his face, chin high and defiant, as he took his place across from her. Lips formed a simple line of dislike as he held up the diary. Anger boiled inside despite him talking in such a nice way to her. She didn’t need to explain herself to him and why did he had to know everything she did. Was it any of his business?
“I found it in the basement.†Her words were cold, blunt, and to the point. Rebecca couldn’t lie. Not that she couldn’t lie well but she could not lie, at all. She couldn’t tell a real lie if it was truly important to the other person. It was impossible. The truth always spilled out of her lips if she parted them. As the irritation raged inside of her she gritted her teeth and wished she had the book back. Almost immediately, the book fluttered out of his hand and onto her lap. It literally fluttered. The flaps became like wings until the book settled into her lap, motionless. She cocked her head slightly, looking down at it.
This was crazy. Magic spells, curses, counter curses, potions, and magical herbs for healing. This was insane but this boy. This boy seemed to know all about it. He wasn’t asking what the book was. He knew. She raised her head back to him. “Why’s this book such a big deal?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:16 am
by Astrophysicist
He was polite enough to stifle his laughter, tucking it away behind an expression of curious uncertainty as he studied her. He opened his fingers as the book tugged lightly against his grip, paying it no attention as it fluttered, birdlike and friendly, back to Rebecca. For all he reacted, flying literature could have been the most normal thing in the world. His focus was on her and only her, and he doubted he could have torn away his gaze even if he’d wanted to. There was a peculiar animation in her amber eyes like nothing he’d ever seen before, and he was as disconcerted as he was enthralled. It was like she perceived a world much clearer than the one he did, where there was no woe or mystery or even deception. A great intelligence, too, dwelled between the walls of her thick skull, and though she hid it well behind her childish defiance, it was most definitely there.
He almost smiled at the realization. Though he could have interpreted the glitter in her gaze as contempt, he somehow sensed that the diary had quelled her hatred, or at least fueled its progression to an emotion less crude. He finally looked away, studying the broad-canopied tree whose shade stretched across the main lawn. It was like a lush, living umbrella, sheltering those beneath it from rain or shine. It reminded him of the old oak on his family’s old farm, the one he used to climb as a youngster, daring his little sisters to venture higher than him. The memory seemed bizarrely appropriate for the situation in which he found himself now; in his irritation, he was challenging her to do better, go further, to best him in some form or another, and she was doing the same to him. But now it seemed they’d both reached the last sturdy branch, unable to go on, exhausted from their strenuous ascent.
In a way, he wasn’t shocked to learn of Rebecca’s magical potential. She was related to one of the greatest witches of their time, and though she probably didn’t realize it, she’d been surrounded by magic all along. What did puzzle him, however, was why she seemed so clueless. Just as Fredrick Nurse had seen something within the thirteen-year-old Hawk, hadn’t he caught a glimpse of that very same promise in his own granddaughter? And surely if he had, he wouldn’t have neglected it. Or had his aversion for Rebecca blinded him, made him cruel? It didn’t make sense. Dr. Nurse was strict, even cold, but Hawk had never known him to be deliberately hurtful. He was a doctor, for heaven’s sake.
“You really don’t know, do you?†he asked incredulously, though the question was entirely unnecessary. If she possessed the knowledge, she also would have known it was nothing to play dumb about--something he doubted she’d do anyway, given what he’d observed of her forward personality. He stole a fond glance at the worn journal, shrugging with a nonchalance that wasn’t wholly appropriate.
But instead of explaining anything right away, he shook his head, arching a brow in further disbelief. “I can’t believe you went exploring in Fredrick’s basement,†he said with conversational awe, like he was speaking to a good friend rather than a recently-acquired enemy. “It was like an unspoken rule not to go down there. He only let us in once during a bad storm...†He broke off, rolling his eyes at his own nostalgia. “Anyway, I’m going to guess you didn’t get permission to be there, and he probably doesn’t know about that diary. Does he?†It wasn’t with accusation that he spoke, it was amusement; he remained true to the truce he’d established when he sat down across from her.
“This is something your grandfather should explain, not me,†he went on warily, rising dutifully to his feet. He cast a glance to the sky to approximate the time, then looked toward the stables. “He’s probably down at the stables...let’s go. It really shouldn’t wait...â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:16 am
by Astrophysicist
All of his looks and words were driving her mad. What the hell was he talking about anyways? He seemed to ramble on about something that only he knew about and it made her feel slightly uncomfortable. His bright eyes seemed to be lit with a knowledge that was so profound it startled her into a sense of awareness of what he could be talking about. The bewilderment had disappeared when she spoke and been replaced with that maddening amusement that glimmered in his eyes like a child opening all of his Christmas presents a day early and still receiving more the next day.
Letting out an annoyed breath, Rebecca didn’t know what he had been thinking about her grandfather was very far from the truth. He would clothe her, send her Christmas presents, and feed her when she was here but he never really had an interest in her. And he never gave her birthday presents. Ever. She had not received one card. Not one iota of recognition that she was now sixteen years old. The boy’s eyes flickered to the tree and she turned her gaze there as well, wondering where his thoughts were now leading him but at the same time not really caring whether or not he was having intelligent thoughts, let alone making a great compassion of his past to this current moment where they had been silently battling and daring each other.
“No. I really don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.†She responded, standing up and holding the book tightly in her grasp. Honey eyes fixed upon him, daring him to actually tell her what he was babbling on about so enigmatically. Gritting her teeth she swallowed some of her anger and she felt he comfortable and already familiar leather of the book beneath her fingertips. “You fight with me and then suddenly send off some kind of truce when I chuck my book at your head. I don’t understand what you’re talking about and I certainly don’t understand you.†Rebecca snapped, narrowing her eyelids just a tad. She was still in denial about the book flying out of her hands and somewhat about the fact that it returned to her when she wanted it too. She could play dumb well enough, couldn’t she?
“I didn’t go exploring.†She added, rolling her eyes. “I went looking for Granddaddy and happened to come across a couple of his old things in my search. I was bored and picked this up.†Then he accused her of her grandfather not knowing and she opened her mouth for some sarcastic response and some fabrication but all that came out was the God-honest truth. “No. He doesn’t know I have it.†It tumbled from her lips as though she had actually wanted to tell him the truth. Closing her mouth immediately, Rebecca inhaled sharply through her nose and then closed her eyes. Damned disability.
Then he rose and she opened her eyes, moving them up his body to his face. Undeniably he had a remarkable body and she couldn’t help but feel her stomach knot inside of her as this realization constricted the muscles inside if her. Licking her lips in a kind of insouciance, Rebecca heard his words and her eyes widened and she examined his face. “NO!†It was an immediate and rather sharp response. “No.†She added again, more forcefully but less urgent. “If you really believe in this…this magic nonsense, there’s no need to tell Granddaddy.†She sucked in another breath, running a hand through her hair as the hot air began to make her form slight beads of sweat.
“Look. I’ll make you a deal. Anything you want but please…â€Her voice was now pleading, though she appeared perfectly calm. The tones of her voice told a different story though and Rebecca let her eyes search his. “..don’t tell him.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:16 am
by Astrophysicist
He couldn’t hold off his laughter any longer. Chuckles spilled merrily from his lips, a broad smile lighting his face. “‘You fight with me and then send off some kind of truce when I chuck my book at your head’?†he quoted dubiously. He paused. “That doesn’t sound funny to you at all?†He maintained his grin, shaking his head gently back and forth. Nothing in his demeanor was mocking or insulting; he spoke to her now like he would speak to a good friend or sister, cheerful and almost playful. “And for one, you didn’t chuck the book...†He cut himself off abruptly, clamping his lips together to refrain from tacking on something along the lines of, your aim isn’t good enough.
The way he acted now, it was as though they’d never quarreled at all. Rebecca had picked a good person to start a fight with if she wanted the scoop on witchcraft--Hawk had never been one to hold extreme grudges for long periods of time. He brought his laughter to a close with a sigh as she once again turned hostile, spitting out an immediate NO! before he could get a word in edgewise. But he felt his hatred falter now as she stared at him pleadingly, her desperation flashing violently in her eyes. The part of him that still didn’t like her told him to take the opportunity and run with it, to lead her straight to the stables to confront her grandfather, but he extinguished that idea as soon as it crossed his mind. He could be mean when he wanted to, but such an occasion was rare. As petulant as this girl was, she didn’t deserve whatever wrath she imagined was in store for her.
But that’s precisely what it was: imagined. Fredrick wouldn’t be so shocked, would he? Why would she want to confide in him, him of all people? And then it dawned on him: when she said she didn’t have any idea what he was talking about, she really meant it. She didn’t have any idea. It wasn’t just that she hadn’t been introduced; it wasn’t just that no one had ever identified her magical potential. Not a soul had ever spoken to her about the blunt reality of witchcraft, of magic, of her lineage. And to her, he realized, it was all a fairy tale, something that belonged in books and movies and in the minds of the insane. He felt his throat tighten with something akin to sympathy. Hawk had grown up surrounded by it all: spells, incantations, healing, and even the occasional potion, and he supposed he was spoiled in that regard. Compared to the spunky blonde that stood next to him now, he’d had quite the life.
“There is every need to tell your grandpa, Rebecca,†he said seriously, her name slipping from his tongue subconsciously. His brows lowered by a fraction. “You’re missing this, here, and I guess it makes sense now that you wouldn’t have known, but...†He hesitated. Was this his piece of information to share? Fredrick Nurse’s status was hardly a secret amongst the farm employees (most of whom shared his magical practice), so she was bound to hear something anyway, right? He drew in a deep, decisive breath of humid summer air, his lips parting to speak. “See,†he said slowly, “your grandpa’s a witch.â€
He gave her some time to let it sink in, wondering briefly if she would believe him. He supposed she had every reason to laugh and dismiss him as a delusional freak, an insult he doubted she’d hesitate to throw in his face if the notion struck her. He’d certainly presented her with enough evidence to draw that particular conclusion, especially given that she was a complete foreigner to his world. But maybe then, once she stormed off and had time to consider everything (avoiding him all the while, of course), she would question her grandfather, and he would reveal it all to her. The scenario was almost appealing.
He returned to the stairs that led to the porch, retrieving his empty can of Dr. Pepper and stuffing it into the empty plastic bag that still hung around the knob of the corner railing. Disappearing around the side of the house without a word, he threw his trash into the large metal garbage can and returned to the front lawn. “Oh, and by the way,†he called calmly, pausing and turning to look up at her. “I’m one too.â€
Offering her an impish smile, he headed off to the stables, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his worn jeans. Maybe his summer wouldn’t be ruined after all.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:17 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca looked at him for a moment and then it clicked in her head. “There is no need to let him know that I was down in that basement when I shouldn’t have been, all right? Do you have any idea what he would do?!†No. He had no idea. Of course he had probably realized that Dr. Nurse could be harsh at times but to his youngest grandchild the man was just plain blunt and cruel. No one on the farm and no one in the family knew that his wife had died on the day that his grandchild had been born. He had pronounced her dead the day after and didn’t breathe a word of the truth to anyone. “I don’t think you know the depth of his hatred for me.†She added, staring directly into his eyes. She tucked the little light bulb of knowledge that she had gained a few moments prior for later, when she wasn’t so scared that he would tattle on her to the man in charge.
The world crashed around her and the book nearly slipped from her fingers when she finally heard the last bit of his words slip from his lips. Witch?? That’s insane. There are no such things. But the book said. The book is lunacy. You can’t possibly believe it!Then how do you deny that the book flew from her hands and zoomed for his head? Freak accident. And I suppose it returning to my lap was also a freak accident? Well obviously. Rebecca was battling internally against herself against reason and what she had seen today. A book full of spells and when she whispered one it nearly knocked the boy she developed a dislike for. Sucking in a breath, she pulled the slipping book back into her hands more securely and stared at him. He seemed amused, almost enjoying this. She was suffering mentally from the battle between logic and her desire for what he said to be true. Was he messing with her?!
“You’re mad.†She whispered but he just moved off towards his disregarded food and retrieved it. Her eyes followed his movements vaguely and for a long time she wondered if he was just going to leave her here by herself, war raging inside of her. Perhaps he was going to warn her grandfather of her treachery in the basement. Taking a few hasty steps forward she heard him coming back before she saw him and remained where she was, just watching him again. Then he paused, as if thinking of something and both of her dark blonde eyebrows rose upward. “You’re what?!†The worlds tumbled out of her mouth before she could even think of anything relatively coherent and reasonable to say.
Standing there, Rebecca watching his retreating form and thought all of this over rather quickly. Her brain was working overtime as she tried to sort out all of the information she had been given. Witches were real. But weren’t men supposed to be wizards? How was her grandfather and this annoying little farm boy witches? Wasn’t that impossible? There were definitely no such things as witches. But hadn’t she done magic when she uttered that spell so innocently, just to taste the feeling of the words against her tongue. Did it mean that she was a witch too? Startled by this thought she saw that the boy wasn’t too far off and definitely not to the stables yet.
Taking off after him, Rebecca found her legs carrying her quickly to him until she passed him and stopped in front of him, placing a hand on his chest, making sure he wasn’t going to just maneuver around her. Amber eyes met his green ones and she frowned slightly. “All right, farm boy. Okay. You win. You have my attention.†She sighed, softly, shaking her head and removing the hand from his chest.
“But if you’re serious and not just making this up, don’t tell Granddaddy. Please.†She sucked in a breath and ran the free hand through the sandy locks of her hair. “I seriously will do anything but please.†She held the book up. “Are you serious?†She waited a few minutes, in the silence of the farm but she stood still until the light bulb that she tucked into the back of her mind.
“How did you know my name?â€
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:17 am
by Astrophysicist
“You heard me,†he called cheerfully in response to her stunned what!?, a small smile upturning the corners of his lips.
He didn’t turn to look at her; he felt her eyes boring into his back as he retreated further onto the Nurse property. It was an unsettling feeling, almost like he was on the verge of shuddering, his posture was slightly stiff under the weight of her distant attention. In all likelihood, she was arguing with herself, trying desperately to sort out the truth from the new information he’d given her. For all she knew, never having consciously experienced any breed of magic at all, he could have been playing a prank with the intent to embarrass and exasperate. But, of course, Hawk was participating in no such game. Hadn’t she caught the seriousness in his tone? Maybe she’d just thought it was an act. Was it really that difficult to believe?
The thought entertained him for several moments. It sounded laughably like a child’s fairy tale in which the narrator, just before the last page of the story, firmly states that all one must do is believe. In a way, it was utter nonsense invented by the old storytellers, but in another way, it did make sense. If Rebecca really did think him mad, then she wouldn’t pursue witchcraft at all. Part of wielding magic was simply accepting and appreciating its existence, and that was impossible if no one knew or believed it was there. If she was to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps, she would undoubtedly become one of the greatest witches in the country, regardless of her chosen profession. Hawk’s family, too, was one of the oldest in the area, descended from one of eighteenth century Salem’s persecuted--and, in turn, executed--witches. His mother had always supposed their magical heritage went far beyond that time too, back to when the practice of magic in Europe was commonplace and admired.
Times had certainly changed, Hawk thought solemnly, wondering what it would have been like if their innocent craft hadn’t been condemned as work of the devil. It was enough to make him frown; watching the working harmony of the modern Nurse farm, he wondered how anyone could curse something so tranquil and lovely, so balanced and absolutely natural. For centuries, groups of underground practices, generally referred to as covens or clans or circles, fought to keep their secret from the public, but their names and influences had slowly lost momentum and faded with time. There were a few farm hands that still belonged to a nearby coven, but the majority did not. Hawk thought it was enough just to not be alone, to be in a place where nearly everyone shared the gift, and those that did not were genuinely accepting.
The quick footsteps in the soft grass behind him alerted him to Rebecca’s approach, and he wasn’t at all surprised to see her pass him and halt. He ran straight into her outstretched hand, and he abruptly stopped and raised an eyebrow. “The city girl admits defeat,†he said, shaking his head melodramatically with mock disbelief. “All right, fine. I won’t tell him. You should be the one to do that, anyway.†He paused. “You wouldn’t have to mention the book, you know. You did manage to shake the entire house when you got mad enough at me.†Had she forgotten, or had she really thought it was an earthquake or a freak gust of evening wind? He shrugged. “I knew your name because Fredrick told us he was having his granddaughter Rebecca stay with him for the summer. Don't worry, I'm not a mind-reader.†He snorted with disapproval at the very idea.
So she still didn’t think he was telling her the truth. He sighed, reaching out as she held up the book, and waved his hand. The gesture, of course, was entirely unnecessary, but she wouldn’t know that--it would perhaps help her to understand that yes, indeed, he was being serious, more serious than she knew.
With a sudden smile and a flick of his wrist, the book was in flames. Or, more accurately, the illusion of flames. The diary was perfectly safe, as was her skin.
He didn’t stick around to watch her reaction. He took back off casually toward the stables, hands once again in his pockets, a grin once again on his face.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:17 am
by Astrophysicist
If she had known about this part of her life when she was older, well that might have made her into an entirely different person. Now that she thought about it however, Rebecca could see all the evidence that magic had been in her life. She had never been hurt. Ever. She had never gotten the chicken pox like normal kids and never contracts the annual flu that plagued every school she had ever attended. Her father had also said that she had never shed a tear when she was little and they thought at first that there was a problem with her tear ducts before they had been properly tested by a specialist. And she had always excelled at anything she put her mind to. If she wished that they had banana pudding at lunch, it was usually there, waiting for her to take the first bowlful. It was odd. Freakishly odd now that she thought about it. Before it had just been luck. Now it was magic. Witchcraft.
Rebecca knew about old Salem. She knew that her family had been present and many claimed that she had been related to THE Rebecca Nurse who was killed after being accused of witchcraft. Chewing on her lip, the young woman couldn’t honestly believe in all of this yet somehow she had managed to be captured in the thrall of this boy’s proclamation that she was a witch and her family was full of witches. Not to mention that he himself was a witch as well, which was more confusing than anything because weren’t males supposed to be warlocks or wizards?
The collision of his weight against her hand caused her to firmly plant her feet into the ground and command her body not to give any ground, which of course it didn’t. Rebecca had remarkable control over her body and not even the champion of the track team had been able to run her down when she ‘borrowed’ his water and took off with it. Then she had been asked to join the team and politely declined. Sports weren’t her cup of tea. She preferred skating and gymnastics and aerobics over everything else. But right now, those things weren’t on her mind. She was solely focused on the man in front of her, watching his eyes intently with her own. “Yeah defeat, whatever.†She frowned, rolling her eyes but thankful that he wasn’t going to tattle on her like her siblings tended to do when she did something unusual. And her mother would get mad and frustrated with her and end up sending her away.
“I’m not going to tell him.†She responded, immediately, tightening her grip around the book once more as he mentioned it. But then he mentioned the house and she let her eyebrows furrow together. “Now you’re messing with me.†She scoffed, rolling her eyes. How could anybody shake an entire house without meaning to just because they were mad? Now that was absolute nonsense. Running a hand through her hair, Rebecca closed her eyes for a minute and whispered an “oh†and when he explained how he knew he name. Pursing her lips then she sucked in a breath through her nose and sighed after a second. Finally, she opened her eyes again and looked up at him.
Then she looked down at her hand and screamed, covered her mouth and dropped the book to the ground. The flames licked around her hand but they didn’t hurt and after a second she looked from the flickering lights that surrounded her hand to the boy in front of her and narrowed her eyes. She closed her eyes quickly and scanned the contents of the book in her head.
Perimente – Bringer of Birds
Kiresta- Growth of Fruits
Revesite- Switcher of Spells.
She thought the last word in her head and the flames leaped from her hand and onto his. Well that’s not exactly what she’d thought it would do. She thought it would make them go away but that was all right she supposed but then shook her hand that had been encased in the cool flames. “Okay. I believe you. I believe you.†She held up her hands. “No more of that magical stuff.†She shook her head. “Look. Just let’s keep this away from my Granddaddy. How about…†Ah, what was she going to say? That he could teach her in secret? Like she wanted to spend time with him. She just shrugged.
ooc: Sorry for the wait!
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:18 am
by Astrophysicist
Her scream was everything he wanted to hear. It was more than just a shriek to slice through the summer air and disturb the farm’s evening tranquility; it was proof that she hadn’t been expecting anything. And whether she’d had such an intention or not, she was now unable to use the excuse of not believing because she had never seen.
He didn’t immediately notice his own flaming hand because it was still buried in the pockets of his jeans. The fire was just an illusion, after all, and what what good was a trick of light and color when no eyes could perceive it? It was the faint billowing of faux-smoke that alerted him to the spell reversal, and a slow grin spread across his face as he removed his hand and studied it in the golden light of the early sunset. He stopped and turned around, held up the bright spectacle for her to see, and wiggled his fingers in a playful wave. Shaking his head in a feeble attempt to quell his amusement, he extinguished the fire and flexed his unharmed fingers, wondering whether the third blatant major magical happening of the evening had finally convinced her of the truth.
He was still smiling when she caught back up with him. The wave of satisfaction that crashed upon his shore couldn’t have been more gratifying if she’d waved a white flag of surrender through the air. But he raised an eyebrow at her demand to cease the magic. “Look, city girl,†he said, though this time he used the name cheerfully rather than insultingly. “This ‘magical stuff’ can’t just be stopped. Especially now that you know what you can do, and what most of the people on this farm can do. You can ignore it if you’d like, but you can go only so long before you reveal yourself unintentionally...just like when you tried to kill me back on the porch.†He lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug.
They were nearly to the stables now, and Hawk briefly wondered if she would follow him inside. Half of him wished she would go away so he could finish the rest of his work in peace, but the other half had logic on its side: it would be quite dangerous to leave her-- untrained, still a little edgy, and unpredictable both emotionally and magically--alone. And she was adamant about keeping the matter away from her grandfather, something Hawk just couldn’t understand. She didn’t know how much she could benefit from having Fredrick as a guide, as a mentor. Maybe that was what the old man needed to ease his spirits--a little family interaction, regardless of any shared hatred between them. But Hawk would stay true to his word, completely sealing his lips in the presence of the talented doctor. Even if he was temporarily stuck with Rebecca, he wouldn’t break his promise. Practicing witchcraft had quickly taught him patience, the most useful of all the virtues.
“I really think you need to tell your grandfather about this,†he said quietly, tugging on the broad, stubborn stable door, opening it right away with practiced ease. “You could be dangerous, especially with how you almost shook the house off its foundation. You don’t have any self control yet.â€
He stepped into the cool interior of the stables, his nostrils filling with the familiar rich, earthy aroma of fresh hay and manure. But the effect he had on the entire atmosphere of the place was obvious and unmistakable--at least, it was to him and the rest of the farm hands that knew the horses’ individual behaviors. He hadn’t called a word to announce his arrival when a well-known voice cut through his thoughts.
“Oliver James?â€
Harper. No mistake. And, as usual, Hawk winced irritatedly at the use of his real name. His annoyance, however, was short lived as the absence of Henry sank in. “You’re not usually here this late. How’s Henry?â€
The older gentleman appeared from around the corner. “I always know it’s you when you come in here. Henry’ll be fine. Fredrick got to him in time, thank the Lord.†He tilted his head to the side, his gaze transitioning from Hawk to Rebecca. Harper was one of the few employees on the farm without magical potential, but his experience and expertise was extremely valuable to just about every field, so to speak “You must be Fredrick’s granddaughter. Rebecca, right?â€
Hawk pushed past him, heading for the stall of Richard’s young trainee. “You don’t mind if she...helps out, do you?†he asked. The young chestnut mare, bright-eyed and eager, stuck her head over the gate and nudged him roughly--but playfully--in the shoulder. He arched his brows scoldingly and, as though he’d given her a spoken command, she recoiled, looking vaguely ashamed of herself. “Is Fredrick here?†he asked Harper, glancing to Rebecca in hopes to reassure her that he wasn’t about to betray her.
o.o.c. :: No worries, love. (: I'm not going to have a lot of time in the next few weeks, so I may be a little slow myself. Sorry about the weird ending of this post...you control Fredrick, so I didn't want to godmode. You should control Harper, though, because...yeah. xD I don't mind at all.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:18 am
by Astrophysicist
Of course curiosity got the best of her and she hurried off after him since he had left her so quickly that she hadn’t been able to reply about ‘this magic stuff.†He might have grown up around it but she certainly didn’t know what she was doing, though she was sure he wasn’t still trying to pull her leg. After all, no one could light someone’s hand on fire like that without a match and make it not burn at all. And she had thought to word, the spell and it had done what it was intended to do. Magic flowed in her veins and she hadn’t been aware of it for her entire life. Why had her family kept such a secret from her? Why had they not told her about this? Why had her father, her protector, not breathed a word?
If her grandfather had been her guide during this process it probably wouldn’t have ended well. She more than likely would have tried to blow him up by the end of it or he might end up with some missing limbs. They were night and day, black and white. Complete and utter opposites and that was the way it would always be. Rebecca wished that this boy, whose name she still had not acquired, would just leave things as they were. She would continue out her summer relatively safe, practicing her new found talent only when she was certain that others weren’t around. Licking her lips, she turned to look closer at him, tilting her head to hear what he was saying so faintly.
“What you think I should do and what’s going to happen are different things. Just drop Granddaddy already.†She breathed back in a hiss before the door swung open with the fluid movement of the muscles in his arm. They drew her attention momentarily before her amber eyes met his again and she raised both of her eyebrows, slipping into the stable behind him, making certain to close the door.
Before the boy could reply, Rebecca let something like a chuckle slip through her lips. “Oliver?!†She wouldn’t have taken him as an Oliver. He looked rougher around the edges to be an Oliver. Oliver was someone who was a sweet boy without a care in the world. This man-boy before her came off as more of a beast, a danger, though a rather attractive one at that. Then he inquired about the boy that Rebecca recalled from somewhere and she withdrew to her thoughts to figure it out.
Ah yes, the boy that drew Granddaddy’s attention after getting kicked in the head. Nodding a bit to herself, she blinked to clear her daze from her eyes and managed to catch the last bit of what the man said. “Yes, I am. You’re Harper.†She responded, knowing who he was because her grandfather had talked about him a few times at dinner, though Rebecca was unaware that he didn’t possess any magic and wouldn’t know about it either. The few witches in Salem now kept to themselves mostly, not telling anyone about their rather extraordinary abilities.
The horse nudged him and amber eyes caught the look that Hawk gave and she frowned. She moved over to the large animal and reached out a tentative hand, but the young mare moved into it and Rebecca smiled, cocking her head slightly. What a beautiful horse.
Beautiful? I beautiful?
Rebecca nearly fell backwards. Where in the world had that come from? She turned away, holding onto the stall door and catching the boy’s look. She managed to hear Harper’s reply about her grandfather having road in the ambulance with the boy and would not be coming back until after supper time, which he was supposed to have told Rebecca about. Nodding her head, she turned her face to the boys and raised her eyebrows, a ‘what not?†kind of look on the face.
Ooc: Oh no. Hah. We can both play those two characters. Freddie boy and Harper. I think it would make it easier if we want to throw in a surprise twist on our own or whatnot. ^^
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:18 am
by Astrophysicist
Hawk turned at the sound of Fredrick’s granddaughter stumbling back in surprise. Furrowing his brow, he shot her a poisonous, scolding glare, his green eyes flashing a stern warning to behave herself. This was his territory now; this was everything he loved and had worked for. And though he was willing to tolerate Rebecca’s company, he would not stand for her disrupting the system in any way.
He sighed, reaching over and unlatching the heavy gate that held Richard’s favorite mare in her stall. She whinnied softly in approval, her ears twitching eagerly at the sound of the squealing hinges. For the moment, he forgot about Rebecca, slipping into the role of animal friend and caretaker. He stepped inside the square stall, something none of the other stable hands dared do with this particular feisty mare, and clicked his tongue as though continuing with the scolding. With practiced ease, he retrieved the lead harness from its place just outside the inner window and slipped it about her head. He fastened it gently and attached the rope with a sturdy metal fob to the appropriate ring, giving it a playful tug to which the horse responded with an energetic toss of her head. “I know, I know,†he replied to the gesture, chuckling good-naturedly. He stroked her velvety nose with his free hand, at last stepping out into the wide stable aisle. “We’re going. Hold your...er...horses.â€
From behind, the mare nudged him, her nose colliding firmly with the small of his back. He turned on his heel immediately, facing her with narrowed eyes. No spoken words passed his lips, but suddenly the horse took a step backward, lowering her head as if in shame. Hawk resumed his leading until they reached the fenced grazing fields--pretending, of course, that he didn’t feel the attention of every animal in the vicinity shift to focus upon him as he passed--and pointedly ignored the training area that made this one so rebellious and jumpy, and then he unclipped the lead rope.
The mare took off as soon as Hawk’s hand dropped to his side, racing toward the distant fence. Her gallop was fueled by youth’s strength and ambition, her energy outshining all the other young horses housed in the Nurse stables. He shook his head to himself. This was exactly what he’d expected...exactly what she hadn’t wanted him to know. Hawk did not communicate with animals in words, exactly; the majority did not possess an intelligence great enough to acquire human language. But that did not mean they did not speak: they could chatter on and on for hours, their remarkable memories displaying for him every image their eyes had ever perceived, every feeling their senses had detected. They spoke in images, feelings, and ideas, and Hawk had long ago mastered the art of understanding and projecting such things.
He often wished humans were capable of that breed of communication. It was much more effective to send a message in a vision rather than a sentence; colors, sounds, and smells carried more meaning than even the most complex phrases and words could describe, let alone deliver. And according to Fredrick Nurse, not everyone had the capacity to learn so natural and sophisticated a language. Hawk had always figured it was like human musicality: some could sing any tune in any note range, and others had difficulty differentiating between changed pitches. Some could pick it up with ease, but others could never grasp it at all, though it was through no fault of their own. He was lucky, he supposed. Fate had given him something significant, perhaps more significant than anyone could have guessed...
Hawk sighed again, though this time it was not with exaggeration. “Well,†he said to Rebecca lightly, “looks like you’re off the hook with your grandpa, at least for now.†He smiled, patiently waiting for the mare’s return. She was dawdling in the longer grass on the far end of the field, doing her best to show off to her new audience. Hawk turned to his human company and held out his hand. “I guess I never introduced myself,†he commented cheerfully. “I’m Hawk. If you call me ‘Oliver’ or any variation, I might have to kill you. Now what do you want to know about this ‘magic stuff’, and why are you insisting on talking to me about it?â€
o.o.c. :: So that reply wasn't the best...sorry. I'm sleepy, and I don't think I'll have time to get anything else up tomorrow. I also sort of assumed Rebecca followed Hawk; feel free to ignore that.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:18 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca watched him with confused eyes as he managed the horse with such easy. She didn’t hurt anything in her attempt to get away from the horse and break whatever connection she had formed with the being in front of her. Whatever had happened the horse had read her mind or maybe this boy was just playing one of his dumb little tricks on her, trying to make her look like an idiot in the stables so that even her grandfather would ban her from coming down her in the future.
But the look on his face when he scolded her with those green eyes said otherwise. He genuinely didn’t want her to fool around in the stables but she didn’t do anything on purpose. That crazy animal in the stall was messing with her head and she closed her eyes, trying to recall what had happened after she thought what she did. She heard a voice but not really a voice it was the project of a question and she had seen the mare as she thought of herself. But that was impossible. The animals couldn’t think and certainly couldn’t project things into her mind to display in a type of limited language what she was supposed to glean as their response. Rebecca had just imagined the whole thing, but nonetheless she would avoid getting to closes to the horses from now on.
Opening her eyes again, she allowed her gaze to rest on him as he turned around to chastise the horse for hitting him in the back with her nose. Rebecca frowned not having noticed the horses nudge as anything to be upset about but she would keep her opinion to herself. These were his stables in a sense and he was allowing her to come down her so she would do her very best not to argue with him…which might not be very good at all considering her personality but at least she was trying to be nice to that annoying man. Following him without a word, Rebecca looked past them as they headed towards the grazing fields and watched as the mare took off in excitement, free of his rope.
“For now?†She snorted and kept her eyes on the horse who was dallying far off in the field with no obvious intention of returning to the stables and the stable man just yet. Amber eyes ran over the length of the field before she turned them back towards the boy who had introduced her to magic in the first place…well explained it better than the book, that is. “I have no intention of telling him anything about the book or about my new found abilities.†The reply was hot and she sucked in a breath, reminding herself that it wouldn’t do well to make the one who knew her secret mad.
She looked at the hand he outstretched and raised her eyebrows. Was he bipolar or something? One second he was pissed at her for being alive, the next he was curious about her, then he was intent on exposing her, and now he was being all friendly. Shaking her head she took his hand reluctantly. “Hawk, got it.†She responded. “You already know who I am.†She added, raising her eyebrows as she held the book against her chest and leaned on the grazing field’s fence. “I don’t know really.†She shrugged.
Rebecca wanted to know everything and anything about this magic stuff. It excited and scared her all at the same time. Licking her lips she smiled to herself before letting her lips fall back down again as she looked at him. “I’m not insisting anything.†The tone was rather strong. “But you’re the only one that knows anything about it. I don’t know. I just figured….†She shrugged again, looking at the mare. “..you’d teach me or something.â€
ooc: Sorry this was so late. I had a massive brain block for how to make her respond to him. I get like that sometimes though I think it’s better now. =) Sorry again, love!
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:18 am
by Astrophysicist
“Teach you,†he repeated emotionlessly, his gaze suddenly distant.
His throat tightened. Another piece of his dream had just come back to revisit him, and for one brief moment he was forced to live it all over again. Swallowing with difficulty, he turned his attention away from Rebecca and back to the mare trotting energetically back toward him. The horse’s mind was aflutter with visions and feelings, and as Hawk opened his own thoughts to her to communicate, he smiled despite himself. He could feel the ground beneath hooves he obviously did not have; he could feel the wind on his face and chest and the tickling sensation of long grass swaying against his forelegs. The boundary was the fence, but the goal was the faraway horizon; oh, what it would be like to run straight into the sky! He chuckled at the filly’s enthusiasm. To be a horse was to be incredibly free, and that was one reason why Hawk liked interacting with them so much.
But as the moment faded and the young mare turned her attention to Rebecca, Hawk’s troubles once again flooded the plains of his mind. Of course the dream hadn’t been clear, but like he’d told himself earlier that morning, it was dangerous to overlook something as insignificant. The appearance of Fredrick’s granddaughter in his slumbering subconscious now seemed even more chilling than ever, especially given that she’d just discovered her magical potential hardly an hour ago. But she seemed powerful enough; her magical grasp was superb for someone completely inexperienced. And now that she was aware of her abilities, everything seemed to be assaulting her at once. That was what concerned him the most. His sudden recollection had involved--not clearly, but involved nonetheless--an ambition beyond anything he’d ever known for a cause beyond anything he’d ever known, and it all centered around her potential...
It was something he definitely did not want to be a part of. But could he really turn her down?
He suppressed a shudder and reached out a hand, the mare recognizing the gesture as one of affection and immediately turning with her muzzle to collide playfully with his palm. He shook his head, momentarily forgetting Rebecca’s inquiry and his own indecision. “She’s not sure what she wants to be named yet,†he stated randomly, running his fingers down the side of her long neck. “Richard came up with something ridiculous, some long name like they give thoroughbreds for racing.†He twisted his face into a scowl of disapproval. “Only this one doesn’t even involve her lineage. It’s just gibberish.â€
A sigh lifted and dropped his shoulders, and his frown of disapproval turned to a frown of reluctance. “Look, I really don’t think I can teach you. I don’t even know everything myself. I may have been surrounded by this my entire life, but that doesn’t mean I’m an expert. I only know a fraction of what there is to know.†He turned to look at Rebecca. The breeze blew a few strands of fair hair softly against her cheek, and her skin seemed to glow in the light of the setting sun. Immediately he glanced away, scolding himself for looking at her like that. Good lord, Hawk, get real he chided. Don’t forget that she almost knocked you out and killed you with her book...
“All right. Fine,†he decided. “Since you won’t go to your grandfather and you probably won’t leave me alone about this, I’ll help you out. You’re going to need to learn to control yourself, and the best way to do that at first is through meditation.†He arched his brows. “But can we start tomorrow? I really need to work with her before Richard gets back.â€
He tilted his head sideways towards the mare, narrowing his eyes slightly as he met the horse’s dark stare. Relax, he projected to her tranquilly in images and feelings. You’re not going to like this, but it won’t hurt you. You’ll get used to it. Before giving her enough time to respond, he hopped up with practiced ease--and a little preternatural assistance--onto her back. Right away, she began to knicker, throwing her head in discomfort, her feet kneading the ground with increased fervor.
“She’s probably the most stubborn horse I’ve ever worked with,†he proclaimed, looking down at Rebecca. “I know you...er...spoke to her earlier, or maybe she spoke to you, I don’t know...but maybe you should try talking some calm and sense into her. Maybe she’ll listen to you.†He grinned. “Consider this your first lesson.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:19 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca watched the mare for a long while, noticing the way she moved her gracefully strong legs and the way she strode with ease around the pasture she had been let into. She was by far a beautiful creature but Rebecca was reluctant to get closer, fearing the intrusion into her mind by the horse when she hadn’t been ready for it in the first place. Her mind, what she thought the most private and solitary thing, had been intruded by the beast, flooding her senses with many smells and sights and tastes that Rebecca would never have been able to pick up on her own. It was a disturbing and magically encounter that she wasn’t sure she wanted to experience again so soon after the previous one.
The soft features of her face fell when he said he couldn’t teach her. Then how would she learn? Of course she could teach herself but only God knew what kind of catastrophe she would end up doing. She’d almost knocked him unconscious with a book for goodness sake! Who knows what she might do when she next recited a work that might ignite of a whole forest or cause a flood to come seeping down upon the whole farm from the sky. She trembled at the thought of wielding so much power but by God, if he wouldn’t teach her then she’d risk the dangers and teach herself.
But just as her eyes grew solid in her determination he relented and she couldn’t help but look hopefully at him with those large amber eyes. His words cheered her a little and then her face fell again. “Meditation?†She could hardly sit still for a few minutes. She was an active person. She always needed to be doing something with her hands, feet, and body. She could do any physical activity he might require of her but sitting around waiting on inner peace? She might as well shoot herself right now. It would be too painful to think about.
Rebecca was not a patient, meditating type of person.
Her bright eyes followed his movements, watching as he stared at the horse, their eyes meeting and Rebecca felt as though the air was being sucked out her lungs. She reached a hand out to grasp the railing of the fence and leaned over, trying to find some way to breath before the feeling was gone, as though it had never been there. Something prickled the back of her neck and she exhaled slowly. Whatever had happened was not something she wanted to experience again. It was far more painful than ever talking to the horse.
She barely noticed the horse protest before he spoke to her, looking down at her face. She looked back, hoping he hadn’t seen that moment of weakness and she closed her eyes for a minute and arched an eyebrow. “You know what?†She asked, coughing and shaking her blonde head at him. She furrowed her brows after a moment and crossed her arms underneath her breasts.
“I don’t know how to talk to her! She’s a horse. They aren’t supposed to talk…are they?†She frowned. “I don’t’ even know what I did early but I smelled her…no felt her respond back and what I saw translated into works. I don’t know…it’s complicated to explain.†She sucked in a breath when he grinned at her and she narrowed her eyes at him, dark lashes reflecting the sun’s light.
“Lesson? Talking to a horse…great.†She murmured but came closer to him, standing near his leg but far enough out of range of the horses hooves. “What…what do I do?†Rebecca didn’t know where to being.
ooc: SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! I GOT MY MUSE BACK!
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:19 am
by Astrophysicist
“Meditation,†Hawk confirmed, glancing down at Rebecca. His expression was a crossbreed of amusement and certainty, his mouth pursed into a serious line while his green eyes sparkled with mischief. “It’s absolutely essential. And don’t look so...so reluctant.†He wound his fingers through the mare’s thick mane with one hand and reached out to gesture with the other. “It’s not what you think. But now’s not the time. Just try not to kill me. Or anyone else, for that matter.â€
He turned his attention away from his new student--ugh, he thought half-bitterly, disliking the term--and focused on the horse, reaching down to run his hand soothingly down her long, well-muscled neck. Be still, he told her kindly, gradually shifting his weight on her back. The mare protested only at first, her wide brown eyes wild with dislike and discomfort, her hooves nervously kneading the dry earth like a baker’s hands kneaded bread dough. Shhh, he instructed, leaning completely forward to rest his torso on the back of her neck. He did nothing for several minutes; he only lied there, motionless, his breathing suddenly deep and even. With closed eyes, he moved on to wrap his arms around her neck and latch his hands together, resting his cheek softly against her coarse chestnut hair. She nickered once, then lapsed into still silence, bowing her head as though she were paying her respects to the earth itself.
“There,†Hawk whispered, the words leaving his lips smoothly, his eyes remaining closed. When at last they fluttered open, he smiled at Rebecca, easing himself gradually into an upright sitting position.
“I explained to her who you were,†he admitted, swinging one leg over the mare’s back and sliding gracefully to the ground, uncomfortably close to her. He stepped back and dusted off the thighs of his jeans. “She was a little nervous.â€
The mare did nothing but flick back an ear at his voice before tossing her head. Hawk could do nothing to quell the playful spirit that dwelled within her, but then again, there simply was no reason to. She was ridiculously stubborn, easily agitated, and full of unending energy, but that was her personality. Like humans, individual animals had their own thinking patterns, their own style of behavior and ritual that dominated their existence. She could be tamed and taught to obey and even to listen to shallow reason (that was, after all, what he’d done; he’d convinced her that it was in her best interest to listen and tolerate him, and to stay close rather than galloping off to the opposite end of the pasture), but she could never be fully broken. He’d seen that much already, and he’d spent only a few total hours with her away from Richard.
In more ways than one, the mare reminded him of Rebecca Nurse. The young woman was filled with an intensity that rivaled very few others, and he was sure she would not obey him without question. Both were stubborn, and wild in the sense that neither had yet been properly taught or trained. There was a strange aura of naturalness that radiated from Rebecca, and though she claimed through words that she was uncomfortable and unhappy in her grandfather’s farm setting, she certainly didn’t act it. In fact, even as she stood there, her arms folded across her chest, her eyes narrowed almost accusingly as she stared at him, she looked to be just at home as he felt. It could have been a trick of his imagination, it could have been his own wishful thinking (though why such thoughts would ever have crossed his mind, he had no real idea), but that was the definite impression he got.
“It is hard to explain,†he confirmed, watching her carefully before his gaze strayed back to the horse, who had turned around to face them. She nudged Hawk in the shoulder, and he gave her a look of disapproval. “I’ve tried more than once to say how I do it, or how it feels. But it’s always just beyond words. And that’s why I can’t tell you how to communicate with her. I think...I think you know. And if you don’t, then I can’t really teach you that. It’s something that just comes naturally, I guess. The first time it happened to me was when I was four.†He smiled. “What else do you want to know?â€
o.o.c. :: Crappy post, but I wanted to get something up for you before my week got any worse and busier. xD
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[18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
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Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:19 am
by Astrophysicist
When Hawk slid off the horse’s back, Rebecca had been standing close and was even closer to him when he arrived on the ground. She shifted and stepped back as he did, though didn’t let the awkwardness of the situation play on her features. She didn’t believe that such occurrences would be on purpose and make things uncomfortably. She didn’t like to admit when she wasn’t feeling relaxed in a situation. Most awkward situations could be readily avoided if both parties ignored the inelegant and embarrassing moment. It made things easier.
The rambunctious mare didn’t seem to be bothered by their little conversation and Rebecca was pleased at that. The great beast was the one that made her entirely uncomfortable, however. She didn’t like that face that her thoughts had been intruded by a being that shouldn’t have been able to communicate with her in a way that was not even possible for humans. Hell, Rebecca couldn’t silently reach into her brother’s mind and tell him to go to hell without her father hearing. Yet, this massive animal that didn’t have their IQ had been able to penetrate her mental barriers and respond to her thoughts. She shivered at such an intrusion, not ready to accept that fact that she had been mentally assaulted. Though the mare meant no harm, Rebecca couldn’t help but shake the feeling that something was tingling inside of her head.
To compare Rebecca to the horse was a rather brilliant move. They both had a tenacity and a stubbornness that few other beings in the world were likely to possess. In a sense, she would never be tamed. Rebecca was a wild one and wouldn’t submit to anyone without knowing that it was in her best interest to use that person momentarily before making her own move. She was rather self-centered but she wasn’t one for instant gratification. If necessary her works would take years or months. That thought made her drift to a memory of a girl in her high school who had insisted that Rebecca do her work since she had caught Rebecca skating and consequently saw her make the dent on the principal’s car. So Rebecca did the girl’s work, all the while waiting for the moment when she received a piece of blackmail herself. Hers was in fact so much greater than anything the girl could have come up with that the girl transferred to another county.
Rebecca didn’t like the farm but it was her other home. She had come here a lot as a child before her mom had gotten sicker as she aged. She knew the hills and the trees, though some had been cut down and others were growing in their place. She was reluctant to go exploring but at the same time she was dying to. She wanted to explore these new powers, these new abilities that had manifested inside of her. She wanted to learn to control them and use them and harness everything.
As he spoke to her, Rebecca was glad that he hadn’t seen her…whatever it was. It was a moment of weakness and she didn’t like to be viewed at weak. Taking a slow breath she scowled slightly at the memory that she would have to meditate.
“Yeah, yeah.†She waved her hand before catching his eyes. “Four? Are you serious? You’ve been a…a this for that long?†She raised her eyebrows and exhaled slowly. She was so far behind.
“To know? Anything really. Can you start fires or bring rain or make flowers grow or just…do stuff?†She shrugged her shoulders as she raised a hand to run through her long blonde hair. She wondered how she was ever going to tolerate him as a teacher if he couldn’t really explain anything.
ooc: A month later. I am so sorry. School kept bearing down on me. Won't happen again, doll!
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:19 am
by Astrophysicist
Hawk laughed lightly and flashed Rebecca a half-smile. “Well, it’s like anything in life. People’s talents lie in different departments, you know?†He placed a hand on the mare’s shoulder, and the horse responded by nudging his shoulder with her nose. “I mean, sure, almost anyone can start a fire or help a seed grow or talk to a kitten, but most people have specialty areas where they really excel.†He paused, chuckling softly to himself before he spoke again. “Apparently it’s rare to find a witch that’s skilled with animal interaction and healing.†He shrugged. “That’s probably the only reason why your grandfather hired me so young. I was only thirteen, but he knew I’d get the experience and supervised practice I need here. If I’d been anyone else, he would have sent me home and told me to come back in five years.â€
He shook his head in amused incredulity, managing somehow to suppress the laugh that longed to escape. “So sheltered, kid. So sheltered. You’ve been a witch†-- since she seemed so reluctant to use the term herself, he emphasized the word smoothly -- “since your first breath. Don’t hide from it. I don’t--â€
The mare nudged him in the shoulder again, the second time more firmly than he first. Furrowing his brow, he held up a finger to Rebecca to say, Excuse me a minute, then turned to the horse and placed both his hands on either side of the her face. Widening his eyes slightly, he met the animal’s intelligent brown stare, reaching out mentally to forge the connection between their two conscious minds. What do you need? he questioned with pictures. Immediately, images of himself, Rebecca, and the Nurse farmhouse were projected into his mind. He arched a brow in confusion before he was assaulted by the memory of the feel of the wind in his hair and the warmth of the sun on his back. The pungent, earthy odor of fresh hay filled his nostrils. “I don’t understand,†he murmured under his breath, momentarily closing his eyes. He flashed the message he’d received back to the mare for confirmation, and she tugged her face away and snorted her agreement.
What could it mean? Rebecca, the sun, the wind, the stables...the smell of hay...it didn’t compute. It was possible that the message was simply a statement of her affinity for Rebecca Nurse, but then why had it seemed so urgent? He sighed, exasperated, and looked back to his human companion. He was beginning to find her more tolerable now that she knew he had some valuable information she didn’t want her grandfather to know about; she wasn’t so quick to snap and accuse. But there was still something about her -- something else -- that bothered him, something he couldn’t quite identify. It drew his eye to her and demanded his attention; it was something in the way she carried herself, in the way she moved. Even when she was cautious, it was as though she was sure of everything, confident in the graceful way Disney villains were confident, ultimately certain that life would work to her advantage regardless of her own action. Another sigh lifted and dropped his shoulders. Naw, he told himself, You’re just biased because she made a bad first impression.
“You know what? I changed my mind. You should learn to meditate now. At least get the basics,†he said, searching for her gaze. “It’s not like the Buddhist stuff you hear about, with the chanting and the sitting for hours on end. There’s nothing wrong with that method, but I get the feeling you’re not the type. Neither am I.â€
The mare had wandered off again, and he clapped his hands to get her attention. Stables, he told her, and she trotted over eagerly. “I’ll tell you about it on the way back, okay?†he told Rebecca, unlatching the gate and pushing it gently open. “Before you say anything, I just want to let you know that it’s not as bad as you think. It’s hard to get the hang of, but once it snaps into place, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it. Basically, meditation is calm concentration. That’s it. You focus on something within your mind, creating for yourself a private mental sanctuary where you can escape distraction and see things from all sides.†He smiled. “You can do it while you’re doing any other task once you master it, because meditation’s all in your subconscious. Your conscious can still control whatever you’re doing. And right now, in the beginning stages†-- he paused to open the stable door and stepped inside, leading the mare to her stall -- “your focus is on the existence of your power and nothing more. You have to control it before you can discover your specialty, what your talents are centered around.â€
He latched the stall door and patted the horse on the nose before turning back to Rebecca. “Got it?†he asked.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:20 am
by Astrophysicist
Sheltered is hardly be the word that she would use to describe herself. Hell, she had probably done a number of things that would make his ears turn red in embarrassment just to hear such ‘atrocities,’ as her mother frequently called her escapades. If she had known that he had thought of her as a protected prude, Rebecca might have had a few choice words and a few noteworthy examples to share with him. But, alas, she couldn’t read minds and had no idea that he had thought of her in such a manner.
However, the words she did here made her want to flinch. She still didn’t like that word. Witch. It made her feel odd and she didn’t like to feel odd. She liked to be sure of what was going to happen. Though she had always felt that she had some innate sense, Rebecca realized that it must have been the magic inside of her all along. That would explain the lack of sickness and lack of injury occurring after all the things that would cause normal human beings to suffer immense pain. She had always thought she was just tough. Not magic seemed to be taking that little spark out of things.
But when he held up his finger, the young girl realized that she had been holding her breath since he had said that word. So, exhaling, she watched as he took the mare’s face in his big hands and stared into her brown eyes. Watching him made her skin crawl and she didn’t know why. It was as though he knew something about her that she didn’t, deeply hidden away in his mind. She wanted to delve into the currents of his consciousness and discover what he was hiding in regards to her, exactly. Rebecca wasn’t the type of girl that liked to be kept in the dark about matters that concerned her. She liked to be involved and she liked to know what was going on and how it was going on. She shifted slightly until she noticed the expression that flickered across his face as though something bothered him immensely about his…conversation with the animal.
“What?†She asked, taking a step closer before she paused halfway into the second one and retreated. She didn’t like the feel of his body heat. And the second she had gotten close she had felt a wave of him rush across her. He smelled like hay and apples and a sweetness that she didn’t know where it came from. Slightly unnerved, she had forgotten for a moment what she had been questioning. Yet, after a small pause to regain herself, the young woman raised her eyebrows, dropping her hands to her sides. She assumed that he hadn’t heard her and she decided to drop her question, for now. Besides, he had started to talk to her again and she didn’t want to lose anything important that he might have to say (though she doubted it would be too important. He was just a farm boy after all.)
At his rhetorical question, the Nurse girl raised her eyebrows higher and cocked her head to one side, straight dirty blonde hair falling across her shoulder in a careless fashion. Her strikingly intrigued eyes ran over him momentarily in the annoyed thought of having to meditate but then he began to clarify his words and she nodded. She wasn’t into the Buddhist thing and the fact that he would have deduced that quickly annoyed and satisfied her. He obviously realized she didn’t tolerate worthless things yet it annoyed her that he had been able to figure parts of her out so quickly. She liked to possess a sense of anonymity while she could. It made people respect her a bit more. Though she doubted he had anything but contempt for his new pupil.
As they walked and he talked she remained silent, absorbing his words and committing them to her memory that was like a steel trap. Taking a slow breath as the stall was unlatched and the horse allowed to enter, she felt his gaze on her and heard his words. She leaned against the door of the stall and held his eyes with hers with all the confidence she possessed. Disney villainess or now, she was quite sure of herself.
“I think so.†But then she frowned. “But what if I don’t have a specialty? And how do I learn to control my power through meditation if I don’t even know where my power is inside of me?†Crossed her arms against her body she still allowed her subtly mischievous eyes to remain on his. “And how do you determine what you’re best at?†She shifted slightly but never did her eyes leave his. “I can already communicate with her.†She jerked a thumb in the horse’s direction. “But I didn’t particularly like the way she intruded my thoughts. She’d have…†Rebecca let her frown deepen. “..access to my personal thoughts.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:20 am
by Astrophysicist
At her words, Hawk glanced around, both satisfied and relieved to find them alone. It was late enough into the evening to ensure a stable empty of human souls. The stable hands were long gone, off eating dinner with their families or relaxing on the sofa after another long day of hard work (to be honest, that sounded absolutely wonderful to Hawk, and he had to suppress a yawn at the thought of lounging in the recliner after a delicious meal). The only possible appearance was that of Fredrick Nurse, but even that was highly unlikely. Rebecca’s grandfather rarely ventured into the stables after hours -- he had no reason to. He knew Hawk was staying late, and he trusted him to take care of everything before leaving for the night. There would be no need for the farm’s owner to double-check.
Nevertheless, it was better to be safe than sorry. “Shhhh,†he hissed, but not unkindly. “If you want to keep this on the down-low, we probably shouldn’t talk so loud.†He found himself smiling crookedly as he fully latched the mare’s stall door, the squeal of metal against metal ringing ominously in the thick air. “The only one around to hear us now would be your grandfather. If he hears you asking questions about meditation, he’s going to ask questions of his own, you know.†Hawk winced, now fully realizing the consequences of playing secret-keeper. He was betraying Fredrick Nurse’s trust by keeping the knowledge of Rebecca’s newfound abilities inside, a trust he’d worked years to earn. He’d put himself in quite the predicament quite by accident, and now...oh, what now...?
Hawk sighed aggressively, gnawing on the inside of his lower lip until the metallic flavor of blood washed over his tongue. Yes, Fredrick Nurse would ask questions. He would demand to know why he hadn’t been informed of his granddaughter’s power; he would demand to know how long the lessons had been going on; he would demand to know what she’d learned. But then he would turn to Hawk -- he could practically feel the older gentleman’s angry, icy stare -- in complete silence, the absence of words worse than the presence. Why? the expression in his eyes would say, the disappointment nearly as prevalent as his irritation. Why? And then he would take a deep breath and purse his pale, papery lips, asking calmly what Hawk had taught Rebecca and how she was progressing. But even as Hawk replied, red-faced and ashamed, the man would shake his head in disbelief, wondering why no one had brought the matter to his attention so she could be taught by a more experienced witch.
An anxious shiver traversed the length of Hawk’s spine at the very thought, and for several moments he wore his deep worry on his face. He had no choice. He had to continue the lessons, especially now that she was aware of her own capabilities. An untrained witch was almost more dangerous than a well-practiced one, and that was simply because of their unpredictability. If Rebecca refused to tell her grandfather, and Hawk had already promised to keep his lips sealed, then he would stick to his word. She had to become his student and he had to become her teacher, regardless of the consequences waiting for them should they be discovered.
“Meditation,†he continued finally, sighing once more as he spoke. “What you have to do is find that power. It lives in you just as your heart lives in you, sustaining the life that anchors it to the earth. It’s a kernel of fiery potential in the very core of your being, a place you can only explore when your mind is relaxed and at ease. That’s why meditation is so important. Once you can explore that place inside and become familiar with its workings, you can begin to control it. That’s also when you begin to realize where your talent lies. You’ll learn more about yourself than you can imagine. The mare†-- he gestured -- “probably started the actual conversation. She’s unusually intelligent, and she’s social almost to a fault. Animals can sense feelings in depths we didn’t even know we had, so it doesn’t surprise me that you communicated unexpectedly. It also doesn’t surprise me that it freaked you out a little.â€
He smiled and watched her, searching her face for any flicker of a reaction. “Right now, when you speak spells or unintentionally shake buildings, you’re going at it blindly. And because you don’t understand what’s going on, anything can happen. It’s like you’re...you’re...†He paused, searching for an appropriate metaphor. “It’s like you’ve captured a wild mustang stallion, and you’re trusting it to stick around the ranch without tethering him or fencing him in, or trusting him right away to obey your commands. It’s not going to work without training and practice. Without that, he’s unpredictable and dangerous, just like your magic is now. He’s going to kick you in the face and run off to rejoin his herd.â€
Wetting his lips with his tongue, he turned toward the door half-anxiously and stepped toward it. “Look,†he said finally, placing his hand on the latch, “I’ve really got to get home. I’m already late for dinner, and I’m beat. It’s been an...eventful...day.†He pushed open the door and stepped outside, the familiar image of the farmyard illuminated by the last golden-orange rays of the day’s setting sun. He turned to her as he walked toward the back gravel driveway, arching a brow expectantly. “So unless you have any burning questions that can’t wait until tomorrow...â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:21 am
by Astrophysicist
The walk back to the stables was easy and relatively silent. She had asked a few questions but he seemed content to mull over them for a while as they ventured back towards the horse’s home. As they entered, Rebecca scowled when he hissed at her for silence. Rolling her eyes, she would have blatantly yelled out. In fact, she felt like doing so. And because she felt like it, she did. Yelling, “I’m a witch!†rather loudly, so that if anyone was in the stables, they would have been able to hear it. She cocked her head at him, smiling and raising both of her eyebrows. The thought of making him angry made her smile. At the same moment, her eyebrows came together. If she irritated him enough in the wrong way he might renege on his promise to teach her. To make up for, though rather sarcastically. “I know when people are…around.†She shrugged. That’s how she often escaped trouble or the cops. Rebecca could just, subconsciously sense if people were present. Her amber eyes flickered around the stable, as if to prove her point. “It’s like a sixth sense.â€
But he smiled crookedly at her and she found herself liking that impish little grin. It meant he wasn’t a complete goody-too-shoes, which she could respect to a degree. It’s not like she was starting to like him or anything. Oh no, he had made too dreadful a first impression for anything of that sort. Besides, in that manner, Rebecca wasn’t one for relationships. Hell, she hadn’t even had a proper boyfriend until…never. Brushing a strand of hair from her face, she let all respect of that mischievous glint disappear as she watched him go quite. She eyes narrowed a bit as she leaned on the stall door that was just closed. A shiver ran through him and she looked him up and down, a curious eyebrow rising. What could possibly be going on in his head to make him respond in such a manner. Before she could question him sarcastically about what made him so scared, he moved on to speaking of meditation and she groaned. Rebecca had hoped meditation could be bypassed.
Nodding at all the appropriate times, Rebecca was only half-listening. It wasn’t like she couldn’t go over the conversation again in her head later. Photographic memory was definitely a handy little tool, so long as no one here knew that she possessed it. When her father and mother had discovered that she controlled such a remarkable ability, they exploited it at every turn. The best grades, the best academy, the best blah blah…nothing that was actually important to Rebecca had come from her parents knowing she was intellectually gifted. Sucking in cool air through her nose, Rebecca rolled her eyes again, letting the milky honey color touch all parts of her eyelid before resting on him again.
“You speak pretty extravagantly for a farm-boy.†Offhanded observation. After all, she didn’t know many farm-boys, or boys in general, that would describe magic as ‘ a kernel of fiery potential in the very core of your being.’ He was either gay or just naturally eloquent. She hoped it was the latter, but she didn’t have time to ponder why she wished for that particular situation. Shaking her head at him, she spoke. “So you mean that I have this whole unexplored chasm of knowledge and capacity that eventually develop into possessing an individual forte that sets me apart from humans and other witches?†She nearly rolled her eyes again. She couldn’t believe it. It was too hard and too ridiculous to even consider. How on earth had she contained that part of her from…herself all these years?! It was insane. If she hadn’t whispered the words that flew the book at his head, she would have died of laughter at him proposing that she was anything other than an ordinary human.
When he continued she bit her lip. For all that it meant, she preferred doing it blindly. It unnerved her that she would have to search her soul for this part that had remained remotely locked away for all sixteen years of her life. Leaning back on the stall, she let her head fall back. Her blond hair tumbled back and her eyes stared at the ceiling. This situation was really…really problematical and unsettling. But she wasn’t one to so easily back away from a new experience. A flicker of confusion crossed her face as she brought it back to look at his but she hid it behind a beautiful façade of raw power and determination. In a way, though she wouldn’t be aware of the fact, it would probably remind him of a specific dream he had.
“I’m not much good for horse metaphors, but I get your point.†She nodded, chewing on her lip and sighing. This would definitely take some getting used to. She probably wouldn’t be getting much sleep tonight. Rebecca would more than likely be up all night meditating and reviewing the book. Then she was withdrawn from her plans for the evening by his movement away from her. She let her eyebrows come together and frowned slightly. Of course she had questions. She had a million burning questions that were blazing inside of her with an intensity that would rival hell. So…she said so. “Of course I have questions. It’s not every day you find out that you possess magical abilities and are in fact a witch that can shake the foundations of a house or throw a book at an irritating boy’s head.†She growled at herself, slightly aggravated.
“Well if you’re late I can’t stop you. But Granddaddy’s gone and I have extra food for dinner if you’re running too late. I don’t mind trading.†She shrugged her shoulder and took a few steps towards the opposite exit that was closer to the house. “Your knowledge for good food.†She made it to the door before she turned around and look at him. Her ocher eyes pierced his and a devilish brow rose. The corners of her mouth didn’t even twitch though. “Your choice.†And she pushed the door open and headed back out where the sun was beginning to set.â€
ooc: Hey! How did you want to incorporate that dream into the roleplay?!
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:21 am
by Astrophysicist
At her comment on his choice of diction, he laughed smugly, his tired eyes momentarily closing as he shook his head. “Extravagance is what I do, kid,†he said, lifting one shoulder in a half-shrug. He left it at that, complete with a crooked smile hanging haphazardly on his lips and a set of green eyes sparkling with mischief. That’s all she would get from him on that topic. He’d already used up his energy for firing city-girl-farm-boy insults earlier that day, and somehow it just wasn’t as satisfying to go over material already covered. Besides, his lack of retaliation was surely more irritating than tossing back some off-hand comment about her ignorant city-dwelling mentality. And hadn’t she just insisted on breaking the calm silence of the stables with an outcry that could have damned her in her grandfather’s eyes?
It seemed the silent treatment -- or at least the refusal to be provoked -- was a quick and effective way to get to her. Slowing his pace a little, he continued walking, allowing only the rhythmic crunch of gravel beneath his boots and her shoes to accompany them. The rustle of the leaves on the trees became the orchestra to the percussion of their footfalls, dancing upon the wind’s warm summer breath without a care. Personally, he didn’t mind the quiet, and he really didn’t care that he hadn’t defended himself against her farm boy stereotyping. Giving in to her was immature; it would be childish to stoop back down to that level. He was a successful graduate of high school with a promising college career ahead of him, he had a respectable job regardless of what the city girl thought, and he was an accomplished witch with a rare gift. Wasn’t he above petty name-calling? And weren’t there more important matters at hand? Besides, deepening his dislike of Rebecca Nurse was not going to make teaching her any more bearable.
Unfortunately, while the idea was both logical and noble, it seemed that particular notion would remain impossible. Not even good intentions could make his nerves immune to her, and now his tired patience was wearing dangerously thin. His amusement faded, replaced by a mixed look of irritation and weariness as she rolled her eyes. “I really don’t think--†he began. But as his emerald gaze shifted to lock with Rebecca’s, he cut himself off abruptly, pursing his lips tightly together.
That look. That look!
He’d seen it before, of course he’d seen it before -- it was precisely the same glowing expression that had graced the glare of the young woman in his dream. And it frightened him. It was indeed as though the flames of hell illuminated those bright amber eyes, boring into him with an intensity he hadn’t known possible from a stare. He was too fascinated to tear his eyes away, and yet he doubted he could have even if he’d wanted to. There was something raw and natural burning there, kindled perhaps by her own irritation or annoyance, flickering with a common strength that was both human and supernatural at once. It repelled him almost as strongly as it drew him in, and now he was much more curious than afraid. For a brief moment she looked almost entertained, but the amusement was more impish than pure, more fiendish than friendly. He realized Rebecca was completely oblivious to the expression she wore and, understandably, to the significance of it all in relation to his dream. He supposed it was a good thing that she didn’t understand; if it hadn’t alarmed her, it would have inspired her, and that thought alone was enough to make him tense defensively.
When she spoke, for a split second he thought he could detect between her syllables the eerie silken tone of the mysterious figure from his dream, but her resigned sigh and general air of exasperation dashed away the illusion nearly as quickly as it had come. He released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and forced himself to relax.
“Dinner?†he questioned incredulously, arching a disbelieving brow of his own. He folded his arms across his chest, not quite sure how to interpret her offer. Unless he was mistaken, and he was very positive he was not, she’d just spent their entire first day of acquaintance radiating her hatred of him. “So now you’re a gourmet chef too?†he said, widening his eyes in mock awe. Hawk smiled suspiciously, narrowing his eyes before he spoke again. “I’ll join you only if you promise your so-called ‘good food’ is better than the plate of my mom’s spaghetti waiting for me at home.â€
Still slightly uneasy, he stepped forward, following Rebecca back towards the house. He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair, the red-brown locks capturing light of the setting sun. It was good to have dinner with her, he reminded himself. He could more easily keep an eye on her in the aftermath of her...well, whatever that was. Just in case.
“So,†he said slowly, stepping up to walk beside her, “what are we having?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:21 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca considered rolling her eyes yet again at him for calling her kid. She wasn’t that much younger than he was, by the looks of it. He could be…eighteen…nineteen? So two or three years. It wasn’t like he could completely refer to her as a child just because she was still in high school and he wasn’t. She shifted her weight when he gave her that messy smile that made her feel weird on the inside. It was like a reflex to gag and capture it in a picture all at the same time. She gritted her teeth at her stupidity and actually rolled her eyes towards that mischievous glint in his eyes. But she couldn’t help thinking back to the way he spoke. It was so eloquent in every sense of the word. His speech seemed to have drawn itself right out of a nineteenth century novel that women still read because men no longer believed in chivalry and all such nonsense. Now, the young miss couldn’t claim that she hadn’t even divulged in a good romance from times long past. Just because she was somewhat of a tomboy didn’t mean she wasn’t a girl at all. “Well I was just saying…it seems out of place here. Not just here in Salem. Here in the twenty-first century.â€
Watching him with her careful gaze that took everything in and never forgot a single movement, Rebecca noticed how he became calm and quiet. Oh the old fashioned silent treatment. Snorting a breath of hot air out of her nose, she stuck her hands into her pockets and tried to resist the urge to slug him. Rebecca hated the silent treatment. She loathed when people would rather ignore her insults that shoot something back at her that was just as intense. The silent treatment was the last resort of people who were too cowardly or too retarded to take her up in a battle, or at least that’s how she saw it. Now that Hawk had obviously resorted to such a spineless tactic, Rebecca found all of that little morsel of respect being eaten up by the monster of hate that still resided inside of her.
Really don’t think what? She asked herself as he cut off. She frowned, wondering why he was nearly gaping at her like that. Had she suddenly spouted the characteristic moles of a witch? Was she turning green and her hair turning black? Unknowingly, she ran a few of her fingers through her hair as she tried to figure out what had made him stop so abruptly. She checked behind her to make sure someone hadn’t snuck up on them. But that was ridiculous. She would have known. A variety of emotions flickered into his eyes and she hastily tried to categorize them. Fortunately for him, she had missed the fear or else that would have boosted her ego to a degree that was nearly impossible to achieve. For a moment she was okay with the odd attention he was giving her face but soon it made her rather uncomfortable that he seemed… spellbound. Licking her lips she wondered if she how someone managed to put him into a trance unknowingly in a effort to extract more magical information from him. When she was planning to reach out and wave her hand in front of his face he released a breath and spoke. For some reason she was happen she didn’t have to interrupt whatever had been going on.
As she turned towards the door, she heard him question her suggestion. “Yes, dinner. It’s what normal people each at nighttime. One of the three basic meals of the day.†She rolled her eyes when her back was turned to him, brushing at a strand of light blonde hair that kept falling into her eyes annoyingly. “Hardly.†She snorted something that could have been taken as a laugh and smiled as she turned to glance over her shoulder at him. “But I used to cook for my mom and I like trying new things so…†She trailed off, reaching the door to the stables and paused. She rested her palm on the door, looking back into his astonishing green eyes and shrugged her shoulders simply. “I don’t know. Your mom might be a better cook than I am but I’m willing to try.â€
That’s when she pushed the door and headed out, waiting to see if he would follow her. She was a little certain…okay, no she was very certain that she would have sparked his interest. She waited, momentarily, until she heard the sound of his footfall behind her. When she did, she hesitated and waited until he stepped beside her before she continued on her merry way.
“Umm… chicken in a light marinara sauce and roasted asparagus on the side. And I made a cherry pie the other day which is still in the fridge.†She tossed a shrug on her shoulders and turned to take a sideways look at him. His hair was catching the light and shining in an annoying attractive way. She swallowed and turned back to look at her Granddaddy’s house. “Probably not better than mama’s.†She grinned.
When they reached the house, she opened the screen door and held it open until he entered before moving into the kitchen to finish fixing things up. She had everything out already, because she had made sure to thaw the frozen ingredients before she left to use magic to throw a book at his head.
“What to be helpful?†She asked, grinning a bit.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:22 am
by Astrophysicist
“Well, aren’t you the little informed one,†Hawk replied to her comment about dinner, rolling his own eyes as she turned her back to him. “I didn’t think naive city girls had the capacity for such abstruce knowledge. I’m impressed!â€
He shook his head incredulously, hardly believing he’d just accepted her offer. Each second in her presence was a testament to his own high tolerance and unwillingness to be downright rude. It’s for the best, he reminded himself as he walked beside her, burying his hands in his jean pockets. It’s for the best. He sighed inwardly, hating how his actions had to be driven by his hunger, weariness, and his concern for the safety of those in Rebecca’s vicinity. He never should have spoken to her back up on the hill behind the house, and he most definitely shouldn’t have helped to fuel the argument that followed. Had he done none of that, he could have been on his motorcycle, zooming down the highway on his way to the spaghetti he’d been looking forward to all day. Instead, he was reluctantly trudging after a girl he couldn’t stand, mentally preparing himself for one awkward dinner in his employer’s kitchen. Well, at least Fredrick Nurse wouldn’t be there. Hawk didn’t even want to think about what he would say or think or do if he saw one of his workers and his granddaughter together.
The thought of them being perceived as a couple was overwhelmingly hilarious, and when he glanced to her as she held open the door to the house, he burst out laughing. When his knees threatened to buckle from the weight and intensity of his mirth, he supported himself by laying a hand on the kitchen counter, squeezing his eyes closed in an attempt to quell the hilarity. “Oh, wow,†he breathed to himself as he calmed, his shoulders gradually stopping their shaking. The very idea was beyond ludicrous. He would rather shovel manure with his bare hands than even think about liking her. And unless he’d misjudged Rebecca, he was certain she felt the same way about him. They were rivals to the core -- enemies, even. It just so happened that Hawk held a valuable piece of information Rebecca would rather not have her grandfather know about, and it just so happened Rebecca needed a non-relative teacher. Fate certainly had a sick sense of humor.
Of course, his dream hadn’t done much to help things along. Unclear and obnoxiously symbolic, it had done nothing but make him jumpy and overzealous to find connections and meanings. If the images in his head of Rebecca had any immediate significance at all, surely things between them would have been beyond a little contention, and Hawk would have been worrying about more than how he was going to get through dinner without strangling his new pupil. It was a relief to know he didn’t have too much to be concerned with at that point in time...and yet it made everything worse. He couldn’t ignore what he’d seen in his dream; despite its many layers, it obviously possessed more than one ring of truth. He’d seen that same fiendish expression in her eyes just minutes ago, and he’d caught a fleeting glimpse of her great potential when she’d thrown the book at his head. No, whatever message his subconscious was trying to get to him was more like a warning for the future, not the precipitate present. Perhaps it would be unnecessary to supervise her over a meal that night. But he couldn’t turn her down now. Oh well; may as well make the best of the situation!
“You made a cherry pie?†he questioned, his voice weighty with disbelief. “You have to be kidding.†He pulled out a chair at the table and sat down, resting his right arm on the table. His eyes never left her as she crossed the kitchen. “What on Earth possessed you to do that? You don’t exactly seem the...er...†He fumbled for the correct term, twisting his lips momentarily in thought. “You don’t seem the patient, dedicated baking type. But I guess it doesn’t matter†-- a proud smirk illuminated his face -- “there’s no way you’re better than my mom, anyway.â€
He scanned the ingredients already laid out on the counter. Though he would never declare so out loud, he had to admit, he was a little impressed.
“No, I don’t want to be helpful,†he informed her matter-of-factly, smiling arrogantly to match her grin. But he rose to his feet anyway and stepped near the stove, raising his eyebrows at the food she’d left out to unthaw. She must have done that just before the flying spellbook incident. “All right, I give in,†he said. “What do you want me to do?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:22 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca’s brows knit together like a blanket made by an older woman. His laughter was annoying her but she tried not to let it show. She didn’t understand what he was finding so funny. Okay, so she held the door open for him. Was that what had made him go into a hysterical fit of giggles. Rolling her eyes characteristically, the young woman brushed at a strand of hair and watched as he supported himself in his fit of the giggles. What was so funny?! “Something the matter, farm-boy?†She asked, raising both of her eyebrows and trying to not get entirely annoyed with his antics. He was so infuriatingly ridiculous. Clenching her hand on the door, she tried to control her anger that was rising. Finally, he moved on into the kitchen and she released the door that was now burnt t to a crisp and smoldering slightly. She glanced at Hawk’s back and then at the door and suddenly grew very nervous that he would find out. ‘No no no,’ she thought, closing her eyes before turning away. He wouldn’t notice.
When he questioned her baking abilities she whirled on him with a strong frown on her face. She moved to the refrigerator to take out the marinara sauce that she would be using as well as the pie that she would heat up later. Placing both on the counter she continued to glare at him. “Just because I’m a city girl doesn’t mean I don’t have patience!†She felt his eyes on her and shivered slightly and relatively unnoticeable. Turning around she leaned back on the counter, placing her hands behind her in a bent fashion. Her hair fell across her shoulders and she cocked her head slightly. She didn’t offer him a wicked grin like before but a simple one full or sarcasm. “I get bored up here all by myself.†She made a motion at the house she was standing in. “It’s not like I exactly have friends here….†She shrugged, and didn’t say the words in a sorrowful manner.
“I won’t even try to be better than your mom then, Hawk.†She said his name and it tasted odd on her tongue but not bitter. She licked her lips as she turned around, wondering why it felt so weird to say it. She ignored it however and bent down under the oven to get out a pan to bake the chicken in before adding the marinara sauce. Another pane was drawn out as well for the asparagus that would be sprinkled with spices and then some cheese, if she remembered correctly. Which she always did.
She heard him sit down behind her as she drew out some olive oil and turned the stove on. She lathered up the asparagus in olive oil after she washed her hands. She moved towards the cabinet and drew out the salt and pepper, sprinkling it over the green stalks carefully. She turned around when he blatantly said that he didn’t want to. She offered him a look, her amber eyes dancing dangerously in his direction. “Oh you won’t?†She placed one hand casually on the lower portion of her hip before he rose to his feet and she dropped it. A smile replaced the look and she turned halfway back to the food.
“We’ll need to wash the chicken before placing it into that pan. I’ll put them in when the stove finish heating up.†She tore the packing of the chicken and opened the trashcan with her foot, dropping the plastic wrap in. There were four pieces of chicken so it wouldn’t take but a few minutes for both of them to wash it. “Just run this one under the water for a few seconds. Nothing fancy.†She handed him one and then took one of her own and turned the water on with her elbow. She held the chicken beneath the water, making sure it just ran all over it for a moment before placing it in the pan. “Think you can handle that, farm-boy?†She asked, coyly and laughing softly before turning away.
“What do you want to drink, huh?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:22 am
by Astrophysicist
When she turned back to look at him, he inwardly flinched, expecting the same hellish ferocity he’d seen dancing in her eyes not fifteen minutes earlier. Instead, he got a glare rich with amber sarcasm. He returned it with a delighted smile in return, completely unperturbed by her irritation. Whatever it was in that vast mind of hers that occasionally flared, it was at least exactly that: occasional. Another soothing wave of relief crashed on his mind’s shore, and he rolled his shoulders back to loosen them as he shifted positions.
Maybe things weren’t as bad and potentially-dangerous as he was making them out to be. He washed his hands quickly at the sink, then stepped aside for a towel. I won’t even try to be better than your mom, Hawk, she’d said, not unkindly. Had she actually sounded genuine, or was it a dirty trick of his imagination? He narrowed his eyes infinitesimally as she turned around, his stare boring into her back as though somehow he could unearth some answers. It was also, he noted, the first time she’d actually said his name aloud. Just as it tasted strange on Rebecca’s tongue, the sound of her voice rolling over the syllable made it sound odd, almost out of place. He imagined it was something like it would sound if the stable hand Harper had addressed him as Hawk rather than the usual Oliver James -- a little awkward, a little out of character. Hawk wrinkled his nose in amused distaste, almost enjoying the discomfort. Yes, that was it; her saying his name seemed out of character, like she’d never address him as anything but ‘farm boy’ or some other equally-stereotypical insult.
The clatter of the pans brought his attention back to the meal, and as he awaited her instructions, he glanced about the kitchen. The fact that not much had changed since lunchtime was a good indicator that none of the other farm hands had been there that afternoon. A lump formed in his throat, and futilely he tried to swallow it away. Henry. He’d forgotten about Henry. Immediately a pang of guilt stabbed him in the heart. If only he’d been there to help him with handling the stallion; he could have talked a little sense into the animal (and probably into the man, too) before the two actually met, avoiding the disaster all together. Now Henry was in the hospital with a fractured skull, and all Hawk could do was help his employer’s granddaughter make dinner. It was discouraging; he hated feeling so helpless. Yes, he could heal minor injuries if he really concentrated -- most witches could -- but there was a big magical difference between the properties of animal and human flesh. Predictably, his area of expertise dealt mainly with the former.
He reminded himself for what felt like the twentieth time that there were more important things to worry about, things he could actually do something about. So he banished depressing thoughts of Henry from his mind and turned back around, but not before noticing the scorched patch of door where he was certain her hand had been earlier. He chuckled. “Nice,†he told her, nodding in mock approval. “How are you going to explain that one? You should know by now that your grandfather notices just about everything.â€
His smile faded, however, when she gave him his cooking instructions. He hesitated, sighing through his teeth in a long hiss, looking from Rebecca to the raw chicken and then back to Rebecca again. “You did that on purpose,†he accused, scowling a little. He bit his lower lip in obvious disgust, stepping up to the sink with about as much enthusiasm as a condemned man trekking to the gallows. Fighting the urge to gag as she placed the chicken breast in his hand, he did as he was told, looking away as he rinsed. When he figured it was good enough, he gladly relinquished it to the pan, hating the way his fingers dug into the slimy meat as he picked up another and repeated the process.
“Ugh, Rebecca! There’s no way I can even think about drinking while I’m doing this!†he croaked, wrinkling his nose. He took the last piece, rinsed it, and tossed it sloppily into the pan with the rest of them, a little shiver running down his spine. He didn't care what she was going to say or think. To him, it was like preparing human meat, and he was sure she wouldn't have much liked that either.
He wasted no time in washing his hands, thoroughly scrubbing them with the soft-scented soap before turning back to Rebecca. “Water. I’ll just have water,†he finally answered, wetting his lips with his tongue. “If there’s anything else you’d like me to do that doesn’t involve rinsing raw dead animal parts, just let me know.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:22 am
by Astrophysicist
The pleased grin that crossed his lips made her rolls her eyes as she was working to prepare their dinner. Which was weird when she thought about it as their dinner. She frowned slightly as the words crossed her mind. It wasn’t really their dinner. It was her dinner and he was just a stand-in. He was a guest. It wasn’t a combination thing with her and him. They were two separate entities. He was Hawk and she was Rebecca and there was no they. Nodding to herself to reaffirm the thought to herself, Rebecca swallowed and turned around to look at him washing his hands and watched the wrinkle in his nose form after she had said his name. She didn’t like saying it either. And since she was displeased with the way it came off of her tongue, she would resort to farm-boy. It seemed to fit him better coming from her. Anything else was too…personalized.
She followed his eyes to the door and winced when he laughed. She let her amber eyes dart in the direction of the door frame and tried to see if there was anyone no one could ignore the scorch mark that was in the perfect shape of a hand. Gritting her teeth, she glared at it and then turned the dark honey eyes on him, licking her lips just slightly before running a hand through her hair. He brought up a good point that she would have liked to avoid. But that’s the thing, if her Granddaddy asked her how it had gotten there, well…she wouldn’t be able to lie. She wouldn’t be able to make something up on the spot like most other teenagers. But she wasn’t like most other teenagers, was she? Rebecca possessed magical gifts and what she now associated as a magical curse. The whole lying thing. Previously, before finding the book and Hawk, she had assumed that her inability to fabricate information came from a strong moral trait inside of her. Now she was fairly certain it came from a magical place. See, if Rebecca is asked a specific question she has to give the specific and honest answer. But if a question is not asked, then she could spin a wild tale. Hopefully, she could figure out a way to fix the door before he arrived home later in the evening.
The hiss from his lips brought her back from yet another mental reserve that she had been concentrating on. She blinked twice before noticing how he was reacting to the meat that she had in her hands. She tossed it from hand to hand lightly and looked at him with a curious face. “Oh.†She said, softly, in a genuinely surprised manner. She hadn’t considered that his connection with animals might cause a slight revulsion to unprepared meat. Well, he could get over it. It was already dead anyways. With that thought firmly in place, she shook her head at him and handed over the meat. “Stop being a cry baby, it’s already dead. And it’s not like you knew it personally.†She mentioned, gesturing to the Tyson wrapper that was now sitting in the trashcan.
At his response she laughed authentically and placed a hand on the door, getting ready to open refrigerator. Her laughter filled the silent home before she let it die away and pulled at the handle, feeling the cool air rush out at her. She pulled out a bottle of Pepsi and waited for him to actually request a drink. Brushing another stray hair from her face, she watched him work to prepare the meat just as she had asked him to. His back was rigid in disgust for the task but the muscles in his arms rippled with a dexterity that she frowned at for a moment before he turned back to her and the frown was replaced with a look of nonchalance. The refrigerator was still pen when he actually replied to her and she stepped away, letting it shut itself with a suction noise.
“Well, that’s easy.†She responded, before setting the bottle down on the counter to inspect his work. She nodded, briefly, before taking the salt and pepper and sprinkling it over the chicken before putting it in the over and setting the timer for a few minutes. It wouldn’t take that long. And while she heated up the marinara sauce after the chicken was done, the asparagus would be cooking. Then, all at the same time the food would be ready and they could eat up.
“Oh don’t be such a baby.†She repeated as she removed two classes from the cabinet next to the sink. She swept past him again, filling them up with ice and one with water. She set them on the small kitchen table and added her bottle of Pepsi and few moment later. She turned to him, raising an eyebrow. “You’re done preparing food. “Now you can answer my questions, farm-boy. Think you can handle that?†She grinned slightly, eyes dancing in a challenging fashion.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:22 am
by Astrophysicist
He turned to look at her, raising both eyebrows high onto his forehead. “What if,†he questioned lightly, “I handed you a slab of human meat and told you to get over your disgust because you’d never met the guy and he was already dead? There’s no way you’d tolerate that.†She may have been strong, but even with all that ferocity, no sane person could shrug it off and continue preparing the meal. He shook his head to himself dubiously, watching her. She obviously didn’t understand; if she did, she would have apologized immediately and assigned him a less offensive task. But he’d prepared himself for her reaction, and really, from what he’d observed of her personality that day, the teasing and name-calling came as no surprise. If he’d learned anything, it was to ignore her, to shrug off her comments and not let them bother him. It doubled as both a stress-reliever and stress-inflictor, angering her while he remained happily nonchalant.
But though it certainly didn’t bother him to see Rebecca flustered with no effort on his part, nonchalance was overrated. There was no fun in her frustration if he wasn’t inflicting the damage directly. Besides, if he was going to be his teacher, he was going to have to verbally communicate with her, and would probably be helpful to practice a little. She wasn’t exactly the easiest person to talk to. Though he was willing to help her, he wasn’t looking forward to the barrage of questions that would soon come spewing at him. The worry still lurked in the back of his mind that she would ask something he couldn’t answer, or that he couldn’t explain something well enough for her to grasp. There were a number of things a witch had to learn for himself with only a small amount of outside guidance, and he wasn’t sure Rebecca was ready and experienced enough to know what was correct. Of course, a lot of it was instinctive; once you wrapped your mind around it, you could practically feel it click into place, somehow managing to work its way into the long-term memory. Hawk, for instance, could still remember the first time his four-year-old self knowingly communicated with his cat.
The thought made him smile, and he easily dismissed his shallow concerns for petty thoughts about his hungry stomach. If he could figure it out at four, she could do it at sixteen. For all her quirks, he had to give her credit for her intelligence. She was aggravating, but she wasn’t stupid. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, she really did have astonishing potential for greatness. If she applied herself and practiced enough, he wouldn’t be surprised to watch her surpass him or even her great doctor of a grandfather. Granted, it would take a few years; even the most naturally talented witches had to hone their potential, gradually sculpting and refining their power to best suit their magical needs and desires. Hawk was still developing his own skills, discovering new ways to be productive and revising the foundations of old spells. He was lucky to have found the job at the stables. Without it, well...he didn’t like to think about where he’d be without it.
Since her words released him from his meager chef duties, he returned to the table. He pulled out the chair at the place she’d set down his water, the legs protesting the sudden movement across the linoleum with a hollow shriek. He winced theatrically as he sat down, angling himself so he could face her as she finished preparing the food, resting his arm on the edge of the table. “Well, just for that last ‘baby’ comment, I’m not going to fix the door for you,†he declared, amused. He chuckled as he glanced over to the door again, secretly loving how obvious the hand-shaped black mark was against the chipped white paint.
“But I guess I’ll answer a question or two,†he said, leaning back. “Let’s just hope you can handle the answers, hmm?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:23 am
by Astrophysicist
When he turned to look at her she swallowed. She could sense what was coming. She stared back, trying not to look alarmed though some part of her was frightened to death. His question was phrased lightly but the weight f her words bore down on her shoulders as though she was suddenly Atlas encumbered by the load of the world. The question, however casually asked meant a great deal to him. She had an answer all prepared out in her head in a matter of seconds. Oh get over it, farm-boy. It was a chicken. It was created so we, as humans, could eat it. That’s what it’s there for. Stop being a Sensitive Sam. It was all prepared in her head, so she opened her mouth and those were not the words that came out.
“No. There is no way I could be able to tolerate it. I’d probably throw up and recoil in revulsion. You’re right. I didn’t realize it was such a big deal to you. I’m sorry.†After the words spilled from her lips so genuinely, she nearly beat herself up internally. How could she have let that slip out? Well, Rebecca, in case you haven’t noticed. You can’t lie. She gritted her teeth and hissed air through her teeth and had to turn away from him, though casting the motion off nonchalantly. He couldn’t find that little secret out. She wouldn’t be able to bear it. Her entire immediate family exploited that fact. Luckily for her, her father had forgotten to mention it to dear ol’ Granddaddy and she was safe. But if Hawk found out. Well that might just be worst than her grandfather. There would be nothing that was safe from him. Her entire mind would be like a book, beautiful and complicated, ready for him to read. She couldn’t bear that thought and had to occupy herself with moving the pie to the kitchen table as though that’s what she had intended to do all along.
Thinking back on her life, Rebecca couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment when she realized she was different. She couldn’t isolate a particular memory because at the time it hadn’t been associated with the idea of magic. It had just been Rebecca being Rebecca. Now, she ran rampant in her head, searching all of the perfectly places files. One moment in particular stood out to her. She was five years old and it was the first day of kindergarten. She had been so thrilled to go. She had a bright blue backpack and an unopened pack of crayons. She smiled to herself as she set the pie down, absorbed in her own thoughts. It was a beautiful smile, one that Hawk would probably never see directed at him. And at school that great first day, she remember looking down at the picture of the giraffe that was as of then uncolored. She grinned and drew out a blue-her favorite color-and proceeded to color his spots with the aforementioned hue. Then some stupid little brat of a boy laughed at her blue giraffe…
“Blue?! Are you a retard?â€
“I wike blue.†Her ‘l’s came out as ‘w’s sometimes.
“Well a gee-raff-eh isn’t blue. He is orange. Like this one.†He waved his orange in her face. She remembered frowning.
“Well mine is special.â€
“Special loser.â€
“What?†Anger flared in her little cheeks and his orange little crayon snapped in half even though he was holding it with two fingers. She remembered laughing. “Seee? God doesn’t like orange ger-affies.â€
The memory stuck with her until the shriek of the floor and chair made her shake her head and wince. Yet, she was further shocked into reality by his words. She let a glare creep to her eyes. “You little…â€But she stopped as he allowed her questions to come out. A smirk crossed her lips and she sat down across from him, her chair sliding out with easy and no noise. “All right then, farm-boy.†She said, opening her Pepsi casually and pouring it into the glass.
“First question.†The smirk lingered. “How do I fix the door?â€
ooc: You need to put up that graphic. It is love! <3
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:23 am
by Astrophysicist
Her apology, so blatantly truthful and so charmingly genuine, shocked him into a speechlessness so pure he didn’t even know what to think. For several moments, all he cold do was stare at her, his eyes wide with an expression akin to amazement. His lips twitched up into a small, albeit surprised, smile of appreciation as he gathered his thoughts. Apparently he’d overestimated her capacity to use sarcasm and underestimated her capacity for compassion and understanding, and he couldn’t say he wasn’t glad for his mistake in judgment. Perhaps he’d just had a rare glimpse into the Rebecca that lurked behind the up-front comments and witty retorts. At any rate, it showed him that she did indeed have a side to her that was human -- whether she wanted to admit it to herself or not -- and had potential to avoid the wild hell he’d seen toiling behind her honey eyes. There’s hope for you yet, kid, he thought to himself, blinking slowly. An unusual feeling welled in his chest that he identified vaguely as pride, and, disgusted with himself, he quickly extinguished it. He was glad for her -- that he wouldn’t deny -- but proud? Ha. Absolutely not.
“Thank you,†he finally said to her, folding his arms across his chest and cocking his head to one side in mild bewilderment. He didn’t bother with hiding his surprise; his attempts would have been futile anyway. I didn’t think you had it in you to actually apologize, he wanted to add, but he couldn’t make his lips and tongue form the words. Instead he just shook his head distantly, reflecting upon their conversation as though he could squeeze from the memory the reason for her sudden solicitude. He watched her as she moved about the kitchen, her nimble fingers finding the edge of the pie pan and transferring the sweet-smelling dessert from the counter to the kitchen table. From what he’d experienced of her personality, she seemed and looked entirely out of place, carrying her fresh cherry pie like a proud baker whose recipe had won a blue ribbon at the state fair.
He was about to laugh again when his inhale caught swiftly in the back of his throat -- he’d looked up and noticed her breathtaking distant smile. Her soft oval face, framed on either side by her honey-blonde hair, was illuminated with a warmth and light unrivaled even by the evening’s spectacular sunset. He glanced away casually but quickly, hating the way it was so difficult. The girl was a living, breathing, walking, pie-baking contradiction, and a pretty one at that. If it hadn’t been for his dream, he almost would have assumed her meanness was a fluke. Not even a half hour ago she’d stared at him with the intensity of a demon, and now here she was, her thoughts very obviously elsewhere, the expression in her eyes dreamy. And to top it all off, she was smiling like an angel, like she’d never quarreled with the ‘farm boy’ or had the rhythm of her life skip a beat by the discovery of her magical abilities.
He stole another glance, less than relieved to find that the smile was still there, beaming as though it were beckoning him to stare. Annoyed, he looked away again, finding it wasn’t any easier the second time. It was only when she sat down at the table that he dared to look up again, and when his gaze was met only by that familiar piqued glare, he breathed a sigh of relief that he expertly disguised as one of irritation. He reached for his glass of water and took a sip before he spoke, hoping to irk her by taking his sweet time.
“Fixing the door.†He said it under his breath like he was contemplating the solution to her problem. He cradled his chin between his thumb and forefinger in mock thought, and his eyes never strayed from hers. “I’d say that’s a waste of a first question. I already told you I wasn’t going to fix it for you. And since right now you don’t know how, isn’t that essentially what I’d be doing if I gave you instructions?†He matched her smirk playfully and unabashedly, clasping his hands behind his head and leaning back as though the wooden chair was the most comfortable piece of furniture in the house. “That’s the third rule of witchcraft, city girl. You scorch the door on your own, you fix the door on your own. Even if you do have to do it manually.â€
The smirk transitioned to an innocent smile. “Anything else?â€
Edit
o.o.c. :: Graphic link! Yay! <3
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:24 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca was entirely unaware that he had been staring at her while she smiled, her eyes far off in the distant memories of her childhood. If she had, she probably would have stopped such a beautiful action, glared at him and said something along the lines of...“What?!†That would be a typical reaction from the young Nurse woman. She didn’t like when people seemed to catch her off guard. It was unnerving because she liked to know where people were and what they were doing and why. It was a compulsion in a way, but not one that affected her ability to function. It was a pleasure that she liked to indulge in, rather, knowing everything about her environment. It made her feel more secure if she was aware of her surroundings. And one thing that she couldn’t figure out yet was the boy that broke her revere of happiness with that screeching chair. That boy who sat there so sure of himself and ready to battle her in any game she sought to take him down in. Maybe that’s why her magic was flaring up. Maybe it was all his fault that she couldn’t seem to control her magic now. He was messing with her head and he didn’t even know it.
The moment he repeated her words she knew that he wasn’t going to tell her. She rolled her eyes slightly as he pondered in mock though but tried very hard not to smile. He looked utterly ridiculous and she couldn’t help but let a tiny grin cross her lips, holding his eyes very carefully. He had striking eyes, those green things. She blinked slightly, ignoring the thought and then the slightly grin turned into a frown. “It was not a waste. No it’s not doing it for me. You’re be instructing me, which is what a mentor is supposed to do in order to keep his student from blowing something up or shaking a house to the ground.†She commented, slightly annoyed that he wasn’t going to help her fix the door. Her grandfather would be angry and then suspicious and she couldn’t lie…dammit. She had to figure out a way to make it whole again. She tossed a glance at the burnt white wood and sighed. This was going to be a problem if she couldn’t coax it out of him.
Watching him settle back into the chair she leaned forward, placing both elbows on the table and reaching out her hand to take the cooling Pepsi to her lips. She took a slow sip before setting it back down and letting one hand rest around the elbow of her other arm. The other hand tangled into her hair as she rested her head in it comfortably. She looked quite picturesque, except for the frown that was tugged at the corners of her lips. She was so mad that he wasn’t going to reveal the secret of it. She needed to figure it out on her own then. Ugh.
“Since you’re withholding certain information, farm boy, I supposed I’ll have to think of something else…†She trailed off as she quickly reexamined some of her past and previous unknown encounters with magic. Now that she was aware of her unique ability, Rebecca was finding the magical essence in nearly all of her interesting memories. It was slightly unnerving to realize there was a cause but at the same time there was closure. At that, she let the though rest. She considered some item from her past and watched the smirk turn to a smile and suppressed another eye roll. “All right then…personal question, in a way. How are you a witch? Does it run in the family, because so far as I know my parents are normal people with no ability whatsoever. I don’t hang around my Granddaddy much so I can’t know and my grandmother died when I was born…†She shrugged slightly. “So?â€
She would have waited for the answer but a small buzzer chimed and she got up, leaning down over the oven to check the chicken. She had wanted to make sure it was cooking right. Seeing that it was doing all right she put the timer back on for twenty minutes and turned to him. She considered waiting for his answer but instead, she turned her mind to something that had been bothering her for a long, long time. “How do I not get hurt? How come when I fall I scab up immediately or never break any bones when I should, like normal people?†She asked the question innocently enough. She had never gotten hurt by falling and whenever she bled I was briefly. At the same time she asked the question, Rebecca was unaware that this phenomena didn’t occur for any other witches. They could all break bones and they wounds would heal at a normal pace. She didn’t realize that she was abnormal in this way. She didn’t realize that Hawk would be shocked by this. Other witches all had to concentrate on healing and even then they couldn’t heal themselves.
Ooc: Graphic= YAY! <3 And hope you like that bit at the end there. I wanted to make her different since we discussed how she will be like..THE Witch or whatnot. Yeah. Let me know. xD
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:24 am
by Astrophysicist
Hawk was much the same as Rebecca when it came to his surroundings. He liked to be familiar with his environment, aware of anything, everything, and everyone in the general vicinity. He knew it was a fairly common trait even among non-witches, but he’d always attributed his to the closeness he shared with animals. It was rare to see a cat trotting across the yard with his eyes straight forward and his ears still; his head would always be turning this way and that, his ears flicking around at even the smallest sounds. Security and self-preservation were the main reasons for the attentiveness, and the source of that was a deep, ancient instinct built within all intelligent living creatures. But along with the crude naturalness of the idea came logic. It simply made sense to know what was going on around you; remaining ignorant and unaware was just as idiotic in the human world as it was in the animal kingdom. It wasn’t something just to indulge in, it was something to practice and hone.
Magic was very similar in that regard. It wasn’t a force made for pleasure and leisure to make life grand and effortless. Hawk scoffed at the thought. Magic, though spectacular, was a burden as well as a convenience. It was a power of which no one had a true understanding, and with its blessings came all its curses -- it was wild, it was unpredictable, it was rough and tricky and exhausting, and it was dangerous. Because it held no preference over good or evil, it was free to roam between the sides of dark and light, assisting anyone with the strength and will-power to control it for their own gain. Magic was a tool, acting like a sixth sense to those with the knowledge, skill, and inborn capacity to wield it. But just like any other natural sense, it required both mental and physical energy to maintain a proper hold and its level of functionality; a day of healing a severely wounded horse, for example, had the potential to drain Hawk of his strength and stamina completely, leaving him as fatigued as a sleepless night.
So when Rebecca spoke of her own lack of injury so lightly, Hawk couldn’t help but gawk at her, raising a brow in bewilderment. For a long while, he said nothing, but the genuinely puzzled expression on his face didn’t foreshadow a brewing sarcastic remark. “I don’t have an answer for that,†he said finally, sounding a little surprised, perhaps even a little frustrated. “Maybe you just clot really fast, or maybe you’re just lucky. If there’s a magical explanation, it’s beyond me. I don’t...I don’t know. A witch truly gifted in healing is extremely rare, so your question might be better suited for your doctor of a grandfather when you decide to reveal yourself to him.†He furrowed his brow, his brighter mood now dampened by the thick rain clouds of concern. “I can heal if I really put my mind to it, but it’s really draining, and that’s just for something minor like a cut. And I could never heal myself of anything more than a bruise.â€
He studied her intensely as though he could find a satisfying answer if he searched her eyes hard enough. “I’m better at healing animals, as I’m sure you could have guessed,†he continued after the pause, “but it’s one of the most difficult things to learn, and it’s almost impossible for the average witch to perfect. The vet that comes here for the trickier diagnoses thinks I’m some kind of miracle worker, but really, I don’t think he understands how much concentration it takes.†One corner of his lips twitched up in a half-smile, but the humor didn’t touch his eyes. “Makes me tired just thinking about it.â€
With an inward sigh, he tried to suppress his confusion and moved on to the question she’d asked first. “No one knows exactly how the ability is passed on,†he admitted. “It has to be partially genetic, but I think there’s a large part of it that has to do with having the qualities necessary to practice witchcraft. You don’t see many unintelligent witches, for instance.†He shrugged. “You didn’t know your grandfather was a witch until today, did you? We’re lucky here, because there’s some degree of freedom with openly practicing and talking about witchcraft. You’ve heard of the Salem Witch Trials, yeah?†He arched his brows. “That’s why we’re so protective of our art. Some people live their whole lives without knowing they’re a witch because their practicing parents were too secretive to reveal anything, and that can be really risky.â€
He paused, giving her some time for his words to sink in. The rich aroma of cooking chicken filled his nostrils, and his mouth watered in anticipation. All memories of washing the raw meat had been abandoned; he much preferred thinking about the delicious-smelling finished meal to come. His stomach growled.
“Does your grandfather ever talk about his wife?†Hawk asked. “What do you know about her or the rest of your family?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:24 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca watched as the puzzled and alarmed expression crossed his features. She didn’t know that that little detail of her life was unusual. She had thought it was typical for witches to be remarkably healthy and vivacious. Well, she hadn’t considered the notion until a few moments ago but it had seemed fairly obvious. If she could do it, why couldn’t everyone else. It seemed logical for them to be able to possess the same ability. She didn’t want to be any different from everyone else. But too late for that. She was already a witch. That was different enough. Not to be a unique witch…this was just proving to be very, very difficult.
The surprised tone if his voice made her frown slightly. She didn’t like that at all. As she had turned around from the stove, she had caught the expression and the tone wasn’t proving very comforting either. “So you mean I’m abnormal?†She questioned, leaning back against the stove and feeling the hot air escape slightly through the slits and rush across her back. The sensation was amusing and in any other situation she might have laughed at the tickling feeling it was bestowing upon her skin. Amber pools searching his face as he finished and noticed how the smile crept up his features but failed to reach his green eyes. That only made her frown deepen. “So what if I’m…all messed up inside or something? What if I can’t control my magic and I just…spontaneously heal myself without knowing it? I’m not supposed to be able to do that, am I?â€
She sighed. One thing that Rebecca didn’t like was being different without choosing to be different. Now she had two strikes against her in one day, and she had made a relative truce with hawk which wasn’t something she wanted either. She rather just be able to freely hate him to death. Things were so not going her way today. Licking her lips, she watched him discard his confusion in an annoyed fashion and turn to her previous question that hadn’t been as difficult for him to answer. She ran a hand quickly through her blonde hair and tried to keep the bangs from rushing back to cover her eyes.
“No…he never mentioned it and my parents certainly haven’t.†She added the latter bit after a moment’s pause to consider anything interesting that might have happened while her parents were around. Nothing came to mind at all. Nothing. She took her lower lip into her mouth as she thought, chewing on it slightly before nodding her head. “Yeah. I’ve learned about them in history and…I think I’m related to one.†She mentioned, though not going to say where unless he asked. Because then she couldn’t lie, exactly. She could evade though. That was a helpful tactic that she had picked up after learning of her inability to fabricate information that was vital to others.
At the mention of her grandmother, her face fell and she turned away from him. She picked up the timer in her hands just to give her something to do. It was one of those typical chicken timers and she acted as though she hadn’t heard him for a moment before setting the chicken down, straightening her face and turned back to him. “No. But even if he did ever mention her. He wouldn’t talk to me about her.†She looked slightly angry, the emotion flashing dangerously in her lightening eyes before vanishing as quickly as it came. “She died the day I was born.†She shrugged slightly, trying to play off the emotion that was welling up inside of her. “She was remarkable, my father says. Even my mom liked her and my mother is…difficult to please. She could cook all kinds of things and she was handy around the farm and she liked to read romance novels.†She remembers going into Granddaddy’s room to find a bookshelf of them covered with dust, when she was little. Then she had been scolded for entering and never set foot in there again. She wanted to get away from the subject and the familiar smirk crept onto her face.
“Personal question.†That would annoy him, certainly. “What’s your favorite thing about being a witch and when did you figure it out?†She moved back over to the table and picked up her glass, not sitting down though. The glass was brought to her lips and she drank a slow sip before continuing. “Are your parents witches too?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:25 am
by Astrophysicist
Hawk wouldn’t have called it a bad day, and the realization pleasantly surprised him. For Henry getting hurt, the bad first encounter with Rebecca, the ensuing torrent of insults, a flying book nearly rendering him unconscious, and agreeing to teach the city girl he’d learned to loathe, the day had been productive. Though it certainly hadn’t seemed that way at the time, he had made tremendous strides with the progress of Richard’s mare. And he’d helped to coax Rebecca Nurse’s undiscovered power into the light, breaking to her the news that would change her life forever. As obnoxious as she could be, for her sake he was glad it had been him and not her grandfather that found it -- Fredrick had had just as trying a day as Hawk, and he knew how the doctor could be when he was tired and overwhelmed. Besides, Hawk couldn’t say he wasn’t curious about his employer’s granddaughter, especially after his dream, and especially now that she’d told him about her apparent inability to be injured. Things were getting complicated quickly.
“Well, healing so quickly is pretty unusual,†he admitted, trying not to let that little fact bother him. “But it seems like it’d come in handy, especially on a farm. So yeah, I’m saying you’re abnormal.†He shrugged. “But then again, so am I. Most witches don’t have in-depth conversations with their pets.†When he smiled this time, it was absolutely genuine, his emerald eyes glittering with the charming sparkle his mother always teased him about. He watched her run his fingers through her hair, flipping back the blonde bangs that always seemed to fall in her eyes. “Everyone has their minor quirks. Not even magic is perfect or uniform. And why,†he continued playfully, breaking off topic, “do you have your hair cut that way if it bothers you so much?â€
He chuckled and shook his head before continuing. “And if you are ‘messed up inside,’ then it’s probably not in a bad way. If you didn’t have the potential to control your own power, you’d have died long before now. And probably in some fiery explosion.â€
Though he chuckled again, dismissing it outwardly as being a joke, it really was no such thing. Uncontrolled magic was more dangerous even than well-trained and experienced wizards -- the term generally applied to evil witches and those practicing black magic -- and that was saying something. Generally, magic lurking inside a person remained dormant (or relatively dormant, in Rebecca’s case) until an opportune moment arose in which to present itself. And the longer it took to present itself, the more spectacular the initial arrival. Spontaneous combustion, dismissed by science and the media as impossible and mythical, was almost always caused by the victim’s ignorance of or vulnerability to his or her own magical abilities. Hawk’s first encounter with his power was at the age of four, so the discovery of his talents was smooth and uneventful. Witchcraft had been a part of him all his life; he couldn’t even remember a time when it wasn’t.
So he told her so, wrinkling his nose childishly at her personal question. “I’ve been doing this since I was four, Rebecca. Magic’s been a part of my life pretty much since the beginning. I guess I was lucky that my parents have such open minds, because real witchcraft is a taboo subject almost everywhere. Especially in Salem.†When she mentioned being related to one of the witches from that time period, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. “That’s a weird coincidence. I’m related to one too, and I wasn’t even born here. How’d you find out about that?â€
He paused, giving her time to answer before he continued. “My parents are both witches, yes. There haven’t been many in my family line who weren’t, actually. So our house is a safe haven for discussion and practice, kind of like this farm. We’re unbelievably lucky.â€
Hawk sighed sympathetically. “I’m sorry about your grandmother,†he said genuinely, lowering his eyes out of respect before he looked back to Rebecca, seeing the flicker of emotion flash behind her amber eyes. He could tell the subject bothered her, “Fredrick doesn’t talk about her much. Actually, I don’t think I’ve even heard him speak her name. But I’ve heard from the older workers here that her death sort of...transformed him. Did your dad tell you all that about her? She was your dad’s mom, I take it?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:25 am
by Astrophysicist
As she watched him try to explain her uniqueness to her, she noticed how he was seemingly struggling with something that was bothering him. She assumed that it was her possession of such an intriguing yet remarkably rare ability. The thing that Rebecca had already learned about the man she was to eat dinner with was the simple fact that those green eyes gave everything away. When he frowned, the mood was in his eye. When he smiled but didn’t mean it if that lingering sense of foreboding was still in those olive orbs. It unnerved her slightly that she would be so astute as to his personal facial features, but she let it slide. She had always been perceptive, hadn’t she? Then he actually smiled and once again her amber eyes were drawn to his different ones and she had to suppress the urge to frown. She didn’t like looking at him in a way that suggested she knew things and appreciated the knowledge. She didn’t enjoy knowing his laughter or the subtle way his eyes gleamed. It was an annoying side effect of her advanced memory. At least, that’s what she had convinced herself in the last five minutes they had been having this conversation about her healing.
She parted her lips to respond to his comment about his pets when he broke the topic and she allowed her eyebrows to rise in an authentic surprise. For a minute, she didn’t know what to say to that and her mouth hung slightly open, exposing the white teeth beneath, the color clashing against strawberry lips. Finally, as though it had been days since he asked her the question, she managed to get out an answer that satisfied her enough. “Because my mother hates it.†She shrugged slightly and mildly shook her head. “No, not entirely. I like it sometimes, when it will cooperate with me. Usually I keep it back though in a ponytail or something.†Another shrug was tossed onto her shoulders. But something inside of her felt entirely funny that he had noticed that little fact about her. She couldn’t place it as it fluttered about inside of her, somewhere around the abdomen area. With its proximity to her stomach, she casually cast it off as hunger pains. Though it wasn’t. Some part of her ware away of that….
She rolled her eyes a little, but in a more amused fashion that she had earlier in the day. “I would like to think that I could manage myself enough not to get killed. Despite my…past performances.†She admitted, casting a sidelong glance at the door that had a burnt handprint just her size in it. A small, albeit attractive, smile pressed her lips as she examined the finger marks as though it was a work of art. It still fascinated her that she could do something like that.
The wrinkle in his nose was cute, not that she would have mentioned it though. Leaning against the table and looking at him, Rebecca deposited her drink glass next to his and turned her face towards the screen door that showed the grass outside, waving at her in the slight breeze. It looked like a beautiful evening. Maybe she’d go up on the hill a read tonight, with a flashlight and a blanket. She’d leave a note for the grandfather of course. He wouldn’t mind, not out here where nobody bothered to travel unless they got paid for it or were forced. Her case was the latter of the two options. Licking her lips, the idea began to appeal to her even more. His words drew her back though. “I’m…named for one. Rebecca Nurse, didn’t catch on did you? Exact same name.†She laughed slightly, shaking her head and turning back to look at him with her startling amber eyes. “Which one is yours?†She asked, placing her hands flat on the table and hoisting herself up. She settled herself down comfortably, never wavering her eyes from his.
Rebecca laughed bitterly when he mentioned her grandfather not talking about her maternal ancestor. “He doesn’t like me because he thinks I killed her or something like that.†She frowned, slightly, annoyed at the thought. “He resents me.†She shrugged then, the frown disappearing. She didn’t like to reflect on the fact that she was the least loved grandchild. “My dad tells me when I ask and yes, she was my father’s mother. He said she always knew what to do and had this uncanny way of fixing things.†A smile curled one side of her mouth slightly. “I guess he never knew about them…†She wondered why, though. Her uncles and aunts and father must have showed no potential for magic.
“Okay, farm boy.†She said moving from the topic and letting her eyes wander back to the screen door that she could see out. “Another personal question. What’s your favorite thing about magic? Does it get all the girls?†The last comment was meant to tease him, though not in a playful way just because she knew it would annoy him. It went silent for a moment and she sighed, obviously her mind had wandered. Making her dark eyes meet his once again, she let her lips go still and held his gaze carefully.
“You’re lucky, you know to have all this.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:25 am
by Astrophysicist
If there was one thing about himself that he truly did not like, it was the tendency of his eyes to too quickly reveal the truth. He was largely unaware of the phenomenon; he knew the problem existed, certainly, but he was completely oblivious to the extent of what he was giving away. Annoyingly enough, it was a weakness he could probably only remedy with a pair of sunglasses, and he would have to live with it for the rest of his life. But, of course, there was a bright side nearly as blinding as the summer sun at noon: it made him come across as a startlingly genuine person to nearly everyone he came across. Naturally expressive, he was quick to charm and easy to befriend, and his opinion around the farm was both heavily requested and respected. But if he’d known Rebecca had noticed, he would have been mortified and undoubtedly a little suspicious. She was his enemy; she wasn’t supposed to notice things like that. Besides, he was too curious about her to be able to avoid her gaze forever.
In a way, and though Hawk didn’t yet realize it, his tell-all eyes weren’t unlike Rebecca’s inability to lie if asked a direct question. The longer he spent in the young Nurse girl’s presence, the more alike he realized they were. It concerned him perhaps more than it should have, partially because he didn’t want to believe what he was concluding. Upon first conversation, he’d branded her as pushy and inconsiderate, someone to avoid at all costs rather than pursue as a possible friend. Firstly, he didn’t like to think he was like that -- he’d always considered himself an easygoing, friendly, polite young man, and generally someone that wasn’t hard to get along with. He was sure Rebecca would have argued, partially because that seemed to be a hobby of hers, and partially because there was a ring of truth to the opposition. It was common sense that no single person could get along with everyone else in the world, wasn’t it? Just being a witch, for instance, entitled him to plenty of around-the-world loathing if he were to openly reveal himself.
Secondly, and almost in contrast, drawing so many similarities between them made him realize they should have gotten along, and perhaps could have gotten off to a much less verbally-violent start. They could have been friends, or, at the very least, peaceful acquaintances that smiled and waved in passing rather than adversaries that looked away and steered clear. The thought immediately conflicted with his current dislike for her, and if she hadn’t been watching him with those bright amber eyes, he would have wrinkled his nose childishly. No, he decided. Just the mental image of them being normal friends was enough to mildly disgust him; their rich and mutual enmity was a much less awkward alternative, dissonance included. But even still, he had to admit to himself that it wasn’t a deep burning hatred he felt for her; it was more of a casual wariness partnered with annoyance. His pupil or not, he was willing to lightly disdain her until the world ended, and in all likelihood Rebecca felt the same way.
As if on cue, she rolled her eyes, and he couldn’t help but look amused himself. “No, I didn’t catch on,†he admitted with a grin. “Excuse me for paying more attention in biology than history. Did you always know you were named after a witch tried in Salem?†He shrugged, his tone growing more serious when he answered her question. “I’m descended from Mary English and her husband Philip, assuming my dad did the genealogy tracing correctly. They weren’t actually executed, but they were accused. They were lucky.â€
He reached over for his glass and brought it to his lips, savoring the sensation of cold water over his tongue as he drank. “So you suspect your grandmother was a witch,†he said, smiling lightly despite her obvious unease with the topic of her grandfather’s questionable affection. “Fredrick Nurse marrying a non-magical woman seems a little out of character, if you ask me. But I guess for knowing him for so long, I really don’t know him very well.†A shrug lifted and dropped his shoulders again, and he placed his glass back on the table gently. He took in his lower lip with his top teeth in thought, pondering what she’d said about how Fredrick thought her birth killed his wife. “It just seems so...unlikely, I guess,†he said, “that your grandma died because you were born. It’s probably just unfortunate coincidence.†Probably, he repeated to himself, logging the fact away for later evaluation. The way the day was going, though, he wouldn’t have been surprised if little infant Rebecca had stabbed the woman’s chest herself. He took another drink.
When Rebecca inquired about his favorite part of magic, he burst into laughter, nearly spitting out his entire mouthful of water. “Oh, yes,†he lied, rather convincingly despite his chuckles. “It gets all the girls. Magic is very sexy, you know.†He widened his eyes. “I can tell you’re falling under my spell already.†After a few more seconds of looking serious, he laughed again, shaking his head. “Okay, seriously now. Without magic, half of my world would be closed to me. I could speak only with people. Imagine only being able to talk to women, or only being able to talk to men. You’d have no contact with roughly half of the living population. See, witchcraft opens up an entire new universe for exploration. And for me, a large part of that involves communication. So I’d say my favorite thing about magic is the freedom of communication.â€
He watched as her expression fell, bearing witness to her mind’s change of topic. He met her eyes fearlessly, the expression in them utterly unreadable. When she spoke, her tone was solemn, losing the teasing joviality that had decorated her syllables just moments before. “What makes you say that all of a sudden?†he questioned.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:25 am
by Astrophysicist
“Oh yes. I can barely keep myself from jumping on you right now.†She mentioned. When she rolled her eyes and he looked interested, she pursed her lips and gave him a look. “What are you smiling at, farm boy?†She teased, grinning a bit and biting her lower lip. She didn’t know where the tease came from but she didn’t bother to pursue that train of though. Her mind was on other things, like his retort to her comment on his history knowledge. Then he grabbed her interest with mention of the English Salem residents. “No…not always.†A pause. “The wealthy ones?†She turned her face away with a thoughtful look as her mind ran over all of the information that she knew about them. The wife, Mary, had been accused first and they had had two daughters. That’s why he didn’t have the last name English. Then the husband, Phillip, had managed to get Mary away from Salem’s insanity to escape to New York. Frowning, she ran over the information again just to make sure she had it right. “Yes. They weren’t killed like Rebecca was.†She felt a little weird by saying that her ancestor, who carried her name, had been executed. It possessed a foreshadowing sensation but she tossed her head and ignored it.
“I’m fairly certain she was, now that I think about it.†She shrugged her shoulders slightly and turned back to him after a moment. A strand of the bright blonde hair brushed her cheek and fell to her nose. She crossed her eyes to examine it momentarily before blowing at it and watching it fall right back into place. She frowned playfully at the hair before finally using her fingertips to move it back against her golden cheek. When she finished managing her hair, Rebecca noticed the simple way his lower lip was pressed between his teeth. Her eyes searched his face, lingering momentarily on his lips. They were soft, for a farm boy that spent so much time in the sun. At least they looked soft. A hated enemy with soft lips seemed like a bad thing but she just focused on the fact that he was and always would be the one person that she disliked to an extent that she wanted, at times, to blow him up. If only she knew how to do that…
Those honey eyes held his as he said her grandmother dying wouldn’t be attributed to her. “Probably.†She echoed his own thoughts. She shivered as she said it, running a hand through her hair to calm her anxious nature. What if she really had killed her grandmother? What if somehow, her magically ability had drained the poor woman of her life? The thought was certainly not a comforting one to the young Nurse woman and she had to stifle the urge to ponder it further. She didn’t like the idea and would try not to dwell on it. It was an unnerving so she cast it aside and focused on his more carefully, ignoring everything about her grandmother. She didn’t want to think of it.
“Don’t get water on me!†She scolded, jumping off the table as he burst into laughter. As she scolded though, a small grin slipped on her lips and her amber eyes sparkled in the light. She whirled around on her feet to look at him as he mentioned what his life would be without his magical talents. Nodding slightly, she let the genuine smile linger on her lips for a little before shaking her head at him again. “Your vocabulary really is abundant and outstanding… for a farm boy.†She let the smile slip into a smirk before their eyes locked and she trembled slightly as he had taken notice of her comment. Inwardly, she had hoped she hadn’t spoken it aloud or that he wouldn’t mention it. As they were locked in an intense stare that might rival the brilliance of the sun, the chicken timer dinged and she jumped, her eyes flashing towards the noise.
She moved towards the oven, acting as though he hadn’t said anything. She leaned over to check the chicken and found that it was tender and juicy, the pan filled with a small bit of the liquid. Rebecca grabbed an oven mitt and pulled the food out and set it on top to cool. She reached over and the asparagus was placed into the oven. The glove came off and she reset the timer for twelve minutes. Then, she poured the marinara sauce into a pot and turned on the stove. She waited for it to heat. A hard line was between her shoulders, her movements stiff and perfectly performed, as though if she slipped up something emotional might happen. Finally, as she stood over the stove, her shoulders sagged. She couldn’t ignore the question and she couldn’t lie. The answer was bubbling inside of her and she couldn’t control the urge to respond.
“Your life is perfect…†She had to struggle to make the words slow. They all wanted to come out and fast. She managed to control them slightly. “You have parents that love you.†She turned around, catching his eyes and staring at them with ferocity. “You’ve always known what you are and you relish it. Your life is so…easy. It’s simple. You know what you want and what fulfills you. You are complete, whole.†The words kept coming and she just wished that now, above all other times, she could lie. “You have this freedom, this air about you. You’re so sure and confident and authentic. You’re…†The word eluded her. “…pure.†And then she expected the laughter. A sigh escaped her lips and her body tensed. But those passionate amber eyes held his and the wait made her uneasy.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:26 am
by Astrophysicist
He grinned crookedly as she crossed her eyes and frowned at the strand of hair that had once again fallen in her face, attempting to hide his amusement behind a drink of water. Though he was tempted to comment again, he refrained, letting his mirth shine in his eyes instead. Just as he searched her, she searched him. The sensation of her gaze sweeping over him was practically tangible as her eyes wandered, and for some reasonhe felt his skin prickle and turn to gooseflesh. He folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow. “What are you looking at?†he queried thoughtfully, not accusingly or unkindly. The tone of his own voice surprised him, but he was too distracted to amend it with a second comment. His thoughts had already shifted.
The idea of her birth causing her grandmother’s death would have seemed absurd to any normal person in the world, including the average witch. But Hawk, well-versed in unusual magic, and Rebecca, quick and perceptive, knew in the back of their minds that it was entirely possible. If she was truly the least loved grandchild of Fredrick Nurse, and he truly believed her birth had something to do with his wife’s death, then maybe the famous doctor knew more than he was letting on. It was a troubling thought. What else was he hiding? What else was he covering for with his stern demeanor and stoic tendencies? Hawk furrowed his brow, staring absentmindedly at the patterns of condensation on the outside of his glass. He traced a line through it with his pinky before picking it up and bringing the rim to his mouth, taking only a small sip. He got the distinct nagging feeling that he was missing something obvious, like the answer was right before his eyes and he was failing to notice.
Fredrick Nurse had proven more than a few times that he was no fool. He, like his granddaughter, seemed to have an innate sense of what was going on around him, aware of anything and everything happening in his environment. Little escaped his notice, and few mistakes around the farm went ignored and unrebuked. During his first summer of employment, thirteen-year-old Hawk had never done anything wrong, and that was only because whenever he came close to making an error, Fredrick was right there to properly instruct him. Henry used to joke that because of his uncanny observational skills, Mr. Nurse was more of a hawk than Hawk. So it simply didn’t make sense for Rebecca’s grandfather to be oblivious, or naively accusatory. The man had to be angry for a reason if he was still so austere after sixteen years, right?
The cry of the oven buzzer interrupted his thoughts, and he sighed lightly, the exhale turning into a tired yawn. He watched her remove the chicken, narrowing his eyes in puzzlement as her movements became suddenly mechanical, her muscles tense. Everything she did seemed perfectly, stiffly calculated, as though she would fall to her death if she misstepped or slipped up. The last time he’d seen her so uncomfortable, she’d practically shaken the house off its foundation. It made him nervous to see her so suddenly uneasy, and he sat up a little straighter in anticipation.
When her words came spilling from her strawberry lips, he felt his facial expression transition from serious and cautious to furious and concerned, his brows coming together in a magnificent expression of defensive irritation. “You think my life is perfect?†he retorted dourly, his green eyes now stormy and dark with incredulity as they found hers, holding her gaze captive with their intensity. If he’d seen himself in a mirror, he would have frightened himself with how similar to his own dream-Rebecca he looked. “Yeah, I’m lucky as hell to have parents that love me, and I’m lucky as hell to have known about witchcraft since I can remember. But if you think even for one second that my life -- that this -- has been easy...â€
He trailed off, too appalled to finish the statement. He was on the edge of his chair now, and he took a minute to calm down, his eyelids fluttering momentarily closed. When he opened them again, his emerald eyes were for once unreadable, and he looked up at Rebecca slowly but not hesitantly. “It’s hard, Rebecca. It’s really hard,†he told her calmly, the honesty in his words so heavy it was a miracle they didn’t fall like raindrops to the floor. “If anything, witchcraft will make your life more difficult, more complicated. You’re not always going to get it on the first try. It’s going to frustrate you. It’s going to drive you crazy. If you’re like ninety-nine percent of us, you’re going to go through a period where you wish you could ignore everything and give it up.†He sighed. “But you can't. It’s a burden you have to be ready to carry.â€
He allowed his words time to sink in before he broke the silence. “Well, that looks good,†he said awkwardly, nodding to the finished chicken.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:26 am
by Astrophysicist
The movements that she made caused a slight ache to come to her head. You see, if she held back the truth and considered deeply to lie, it would hurt. Never having known extreme pain, Rebecca was apt to disagree with the throbbing sensation that pounded inside of her brain. It was as though a little man was inside her skull with a hammer and having himself a grand old time beating her up. That’s why her body went rigid. The pain was unbearable. Even for someone who might endure terrible pain, the quelling of her compulsion for honesty was complete and utter agony. Before she turned around to face him, her lips contorted and her nose wrinkled her anguish. The only way to stop it from killing her was to open her mouth and let all of the words come tumbling out. She couldn’t stop them once they started. Everything had to be said. Everything. The flood gates had been opened and now the raging waters off integrity burst forth with renewed vigor.
Rebecca nearly choked on the words. But when she finished the weight that had been pressing down upon her chest was lifted. She no longer felt as though she was being suffocated. Yet, she would then have to endure his wrath and for some reason she wasn’t sure if it was worse to die. His face lit up like a light with a thousand emotions. There had been solemnity and patience there before, even a tinge of curiosity. Yet those flickered away, extinguished immediately. Rage and annoyance and something she couldn’t name sprang to life and she didn’t realize that she had recoiled from him as though he was going to physically attack her. Never before had she been so frightened on someone.
And those eyes. The one that never left hers. There was a wild ferocity to them that oddly calmed her. The power lurking behind those green eyes drew her closer and unconsciously she took a step forwards. Something in them beckoned to be reckoned with…then he spoke and the illusion shattered. Her face contorted into a bewildered expression and she stopped in the middle of her forward advance. Blonde hair hung around her shoulders until she shook her head vehemently. He didn’t understand what she had meant. He had taken it all the wrong way. Why did he have to be so stupid?! He was being such a…illiterate, stupid, good-for-nothing farm boy and it began to irritate her. She took her lip between her teeth and glared at him, her eyes though a golden hue matched the storm in his.
“I didn’t mean it was easy in that way, Oliver.†Knowing that it would at least make him listen to her out of annoyance rather than anything else. “I meant you knew. You knew. You’ve always known. Of course it has been difficult. I don’t doubt that in the slightest. But it’s easier knowing, instead of doing odd things your entire life and never meaning to. You don’t know of half the things I’ve done to torment my family without realizing that I was doing it. Don’t you see it’s ten million times worse not knowing. It’s ten million times more painful to have your grandfather look at you as though you are Satan’s own daughter; to revile you and be so repulsed he can’t stand to be around you for more than an hour and ever then its only to eat!†She felt her rage taking over and something inside of her snapped. “To have your mother get ill because the things you do, so unintentionally, wear her down.â€
The door rattled in its place and the glasses that rested on the table began to form little cracks at the top. They were on the brink of shattering completely. Yet, this time, she noticed. Immediately, she shut the door on her temper. She was still fuming but had managed to stifle the magical reaction to his words. She shouldn’t have lost control like that. But he was getting mad at her for something she hadn’t meant. He was so ridiculous. She was complimenting him and admiring him. Hell, momentarily she was jealous of him. Not anymore, however, and she just stared at him. Those honey eyes didn’t move in the slightest. The only part of her that indicated that she wasn’t a wax figure was her chest. It was rising and falling in breaths that were obviously purposely slowed.
Turning, eventually, she retrieved two plates and the necessary utensils. She moved over to the table, ignoring his presence slightly as she set her place. She ignored him until she moved to his side, irritatingly close to set the plate and items down. Rebecca moved back over to the sauce that was heating and stirred it a little, still silent. Finally, when she was certain everything was okay with the food, she looked at him. “You know, I didn’t mean it in the way that you interpreted it.†When she met his green eyes this time, the look in her was soft. Softer than it would be for a long time. For a moment, she hesitated in leaving his eyes. And she chose not to. She couldn’t look away. That storm, the promise of experiencing that pull again, as before, was unbearable fierce.
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:27 am
by Astrophysicist
The moment she turned to stare at him, shaking her head violently to rid her face of blonde locks, he knew he’d misinterpreted. The ferocity in her eyes had not been an expression of accusation or even anger, it had simply been a powerful way to mask her admiration, a propensity to cover up what perhaps made her uncomfortable. Of course, Hawk had no idea the level of discomfort she’d suffered in just stalling to answer his question, let alone how helpless she’d been to stop the words once they she began to speak -- had he known, he never would have raised his voice. And in hindsight, he realized she had indeed spoken gently, her tone lacking the biting harshness that should have come with a personal attack.
Though it was not as strong and certainly not as agonizing as Rebecca’s inability to fabricate information, he knew what it was like to have a compulsion unavoidable even with practice. His was nothing so drastic, nothing so major, and for awhile during his early years, he’d just dismissed it as something he had to live with. Shortly after learning of his magical ability and his connection with animals, his mind opened up to a world he’d never before imagined: he could sense and invade the conscious minds of the creatures nearby. He’d been understandably fascinated at first; the beginning years were calm and mild, only gradually increasing in intensity as time went on. His own power was slowly exposing him to what it could do, allowing him to grow accustomed to each bigger stage before advancing to the next. By late elementary school, though, he was constantly assaulted by the open minds of the animals around him, and he couldn’t shut out the barrage of images and sensations. He distinctly remembered going to the nurse and calling his mother, complaining of a headache -- their code for his inability to handle, for lack of a better term, ‘the voices’ -- and vowing never to leave home again.
His father was the one that talked him out of his slump, coaxing him from the confines of the house and trying to help him with his problem. With a lot of experimentation and hundreds of failed attempts, Hawk gradually gained control of his mental ear, learning how to maintain a practically-constant state of subconscious meditation to manually operate his mind’s gate. When he needed to communicate, he could now do it selectively after years of practice, creating just enough of a mental opening for his desired subject and no more. No longer could every passing bird, rabbit, squirrel, or even insect disturb him -- now it was just a matter of listening rather than not listening. Had he known of Rebecca’s trouble, he perhaps would have told her that though she’d probably never completely get over it, she could train it to do her own bidding.
But he hadn’t known, so he hadn’t said that. He’d overreacted, and now the distant ache of chagrin throbbed with each beat of his heart. The angry fire in his eyes ebbed as he listened to her, hating how easy it was to detect the distress in her tone. “You’re right,†he said quietly, twisting his lips. “It’s better to know.†He watched her as the house began to shake, ignoring the tiny chorus of the cracking glasses on the table, much more interested in seeing how she would react to her own angry side-effects than the angry side-effects themselves. He could see it in her expression when she managed to regain and stifle her lost control. A weak half-smile of approval pulled at one corner of his lips.
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, looking down at the scuffed linoleum between his feet and heaving a great, heavy sigh. When he looked up again, he rubbed his eyes tiredly, running his hands down the sides of his face before letting them drop to his sides. When she spoke, he didn’t look at her, and neither did he respond right away; absently, he reached to his water glass, running his finger around the rim that was now scratchy with uneven cracks. “Look,†he said pointedly, at last meeting her gaze again, “I’m sorry I misinterpreted. I’m just...really tired. This wasn’t an easy day for me, as I’m sure you can understand.â€
The silence that followed was appropriately awkward, and he didn’t dare shatter it. Instead, he closed his eyes and reached inside himself, searching for the part of him whose earlier description had prompted Rebecca to comment on his extravagance. When he found it, he drew it forward, channelling the invisible power through his fingertip and into the broken glass, seamlessly repairing the white cracks. He smiled charmingly when he opened his eyes, admiring his handiwork before glancing hesitantly back to Rebecca.
“That chicken really does smell delicious,†he told her, half pleading for some sign of forgiveness, half wanting dinner to be served.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:27 am
by Astrophysicist
There was no way in the world that she would be able to shut off the inability to tell a lie. It was an ingrained flaw in her genetic encoding. For as long as she could remember the compulsion to tell the truth controlled ever fiber of her being. She wanted to describe it to him and figure out if there was a way to shut it off. To be able to lie! She wondered how that would feel. Chewing on her lip, Rebecca allowed her light brown eyes to wander the space in front of her, as though searching for an answer to the question that she would surely never ask and certainly now to the boy who had gotten so angry when she complimented him.
She settled her gaze onto his finger, tracing the rim of the now uneven glass. She frowned upon the container as it was a reminder of her failure to control herself. Rebecca didn’t like to be incapable of something. Clenching her fists she closed her eyes as apologized to her. She heard the apology, could recite it word for word, but her mind was elsewhere. She was remembering the feeling before she magic was unleashed and the glass almost shattered. She searched inside of her, exploring the sensations and feeling that belonged to her currently. Then, slowly, she morphed them examining the feel of that anger. She followed the thread of that rage until she found the reservoir of the enchanted.
The silence that filled the air between them allowed her the time to discover this hidden place. And the way it felt! Her eyelashes fluttered as her eyes were closed and a delighted expression crossed her face. It felt so pure and right and genuine. It was like a place within herself that she didn’t have to hide anything. It knew everything and held nothing back. The beat of her heart sped up, pounding so violently with exhilaration. It was as though there was a paradise that she had never known before. Beautiful and perfect and necessary for her existence. Everything about this place inside of her was…simply beyond everything she had ever experienced before. Then the door shut on that when she felt a pull, but it wasn’t her magic. It was…his.
Honey eyes shot open and she watched as the cracks in the glass repaired themselves beneath his fingertips. She narrowed her lids at him and frowned, though it wasn’t one of his angry or disappointed frowns. It was more of an annoyed but teasing frown. That place of where her magic resided had bettered her mood. When his eyes met hers, the frown had turned into a smirk and she rolled her eyes, annoyed at him. “And you won’t do that for the door? Gee. Thanks.†She said, breaking the silence first and moving back towards the counter. She stirred the sauce, her back to Hawk.
After washing her hands, she drew the marinara sauce spoon from the pot to her lips and tasted. Frowning, she moved over to the large cabinets next to the refrigerator and drew out some basil. Adding that in with a few stirs, she tasted it again and nodded in approval. Better. She turned off the stove and took the handle in both hands and poured it over the chicken. Taking the chicken pan in both of her hands she settled it down on the table between their seats. “I suppose I can forgive you…†A warm smirk played her soft lips and a gleam entered her eyes. “…if you fix the door.â€
ooc: Short. -.-' Sorry. It's blechy.
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[18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
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Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:27 am
by Astrophysicist
She shouldn’t have been embarrassed about losing control of her power. If Hawk had known that’s how she was feeling, he would have quickly corrected her. Especially for someone so new to the art, it wasn’t just understandable, it was expected to lose control, to have wild and random spurts of magical happenings with mood changes. If she could flawlessly handle her inner potential after just a few hours of knowing its existence, she needed a better teacher than he could ever be, and he would have been forced to break his promise and tell her grandfather. As strange as it would have been for her to believe, the shaking house, burned door, and cracked drinking glasses weren’t uncommon side effects of a fledgling witch’s inexperience. He’d certainly had his own fair share of abnormal events plaguing his family.
He suppressed another yawn, realizing suddenly that he was both dreading and looking forward to falling asleep that night. He was curious to see if he would dream again about Rebecca -- or the girl that looked like Rebecca. If he didn’t, then perhaps the first dream was simply a warning against her argumentative personality, and he’d just misinterpreted and overreacted. He certainly wouldn’t put it past himself, especially now that he’d completely misconstrued a compliment, of all things. It would put his mind at ease to know that there was nothing of significant or universal importance regarding his new pupil, and he was free to give his lessons preoccupation-free. But if that was not meant to be (and if the startling reality and potency of his dream was any indication, he really doubted things were that simple), he would at least have another piece of the puzzle to process, another clue to ponder.
Curiously, he watched as she reacted to his apology, unsure what to think or expect of her suddenly-balled fists. It was obvious she was irritated, but it was not dangerous rage that inspired her clenched muscles and tense stance. And though he didn’t know how he knew that, it didn’t make it any less pleasing to learn he was right. He’d witnessed witches’ first attempts at meditation before (his two younger sisters, for instance -- he very distinctly recalled their first lessons), and seeing Rebecca slip into that blissful state of mind was nearly as relaxing for him as it was for her. And though it wasn’t true, deep meditation, it was still a great start. Now that she knew what to look for, she would notice it becoming easier and easier to slide away to her calm inner refuge -- an ability that would come in handy for the rest of her life.
“Hey, I’m already doing you a favor with fixing these glasses,†he said, his mouth set in a serious line but his eyes sparkling with mirth. He sat forward and reached for her glass of Pepsi, sliding it toward him across the table. Gingerly he touched the rim, once more reaching inside for the burning reserve of magic that would bend to do his bidding. Guiding the stream of power again down his arm and through his pointed finger, this time he watched as the cracks faded, stoically staring as though it was the most normal thing in the world. The imperfections disappeared gracefully before his eyes, fading back into the uniform crystal. He picked up the glass and held it up to the overhead light, carefully inspecting the now-even surface for any flaws he may have missed. He returned her glass to its place on the opposite side of the table when he was satisfied.
He didn’t watch her as she turned to stir the sauce, but he did smile, casting a tired glance to the door branded with the blackened mark of her hand. He was still smirking when she turned back and placed the plate of chicken on the table. “I guess I’ll just have to live without your forgiveness,†he said inappropriately cheerfully, “because I’m absolutely not fixing the door. I already repaired the glasses. Now do you have any more questions, or can we eat now?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:01 am
by Astrophysicist
“Oh yes, such an amazing favor.†She rolled her eyes. “Fixing the glasses that I could have thrown away.†She stopped on her way back to the oven, giving him a mock pondering look that was so full of sarcasm it was nearly tangible. “Perhaps the screen door will fit in the trashcan.†With that she shot him a very annoyed, yet good-humored glare. Obviously she had already gotten over his apology and his misunderstanding, reverting back to her usual forms of sarcasm and general dislike that she displayed in his direction. The buzzer announced the finished asparagus, which she promptly withdrew from the oven. She retrieved some shredded parmesan cheese and sprinkled it on top with a few spices to boot. As she turned around, she noticed his finger on the rim of her glass, which was now in pristine condition. She tossed him a look before setting the asparagus down next to the chicken. That’s when she sat down.
She took her knife and her fork and withdrew a piece of chicken that was smothered in marinara sauce. Placing it on her plate, she cast a sidelong glance at him before smirking slightly. “Of course farm-boy, I wouldn’t want to tire you anymore.†It was a low jab, but hey, she could take the liberty if he had yelled at her for no good reason whatsoever. Though, on one plane of her thoughts, she was glad he did. That way she could have a legitimate reason never to attempt flattery again. Another plane, quite near the aforementioned one, countered that though with the knowledge that she hadn’t complimented him willingly. But he didn’t know that so all the better, eh?
“Oh you will, will you?†She questioned after cutting up the chicken into a few pieces and adding a couple of the cheese-crusted asparagus to her place. “Well, Oliver, don’t count on that life lacking forgiveness to be an easy one, on any account.†She raised both of her eyebrows in polite challenge as she placed a piece of the food into her mouth, removing the teeth of the fork from her lips a few moments later. He had gotten himself into a right mess by refusing the condition to her forgiveness. It would definitely be an interesting truce.
For a few moments, she ate in silence. Then she got thirsty and reached to where he was in order to draw her Pepsi glass back towards her place. Raising it off the table to take a sip her hand slipped and it began its descent to the floor. Panicking, she shot out her hand in an attempt to catch it. The liquid, already in the air, froze. The glass stopped falling and Rebecca just sat there, her body tense and her hand outstretched. She narrowed her eyes at it, wondering how in the hell it had just…stopped. She didn’t even draw on the thread, but when she blinked briefly, she felt the thread from her fingertips. Following it, Rebecca traced the cord back into herself and when she opened her eyes she twisted her hand slightly in a counterclockwise fashion. Though she hadn’t mastered it. She turned too fast or lost focus because the Pepsi went soaring across the room onto the floor on the opposite side of the table. However, she did manage to snatch the glass out of the air.
“Shoot.†She cursed, softly. Though it wasn’t really a curse. It was a childish substitution for a much harsher word. Rebecca, for all of her confidence and badass attitude at times, never really indulged in the more choice words of the English language. She didn’t feel as though they were necessary. And they certainly didn’t make he feel better when bad things happened. She learned that little fact a long time ago. Turning a sheepish glance towards Hawk, she frowned. “Guess I need another drink.†Standing up she took her glass and filled it up with water this time and returned. She’d clean up the mess later.
She was going to just continue eating, but something struck her as odd. “Why do you want people to call you Hawk if your name is Oliver James? I don’t see any factors in common between the nickname and the reality.†She cocked her head to one side, finishing off a stalk of asparagus and taking a sip of her water. Hopefully, he wouldn’t scold her too bad to splashing the floor with Pepsi. Even if she hated him, he was still her teacher and Rebecca didn’t like to fail at things. “Besides, you may look like a Hawk but Oliver is more…†She searched for the word. Attractive would be far too personal and charming wasn’t what she was going for either. “…charismatic.†She finished, seeing that it would suffice for the time being.
ooc: Your computer died two minutes before I posted this. *sadness* But PAGE 3!! *happiness*
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:02 am
by Astrophysicist
“You know you couldn’t have just thrown them away,†he countered with a sly smirk. “If your grandfather didn’t actually notice them in the garbage first, he would notice their absence from the cabinet. And that, of course, would prompt him to find them in the garbage and consequently ask questions about how those tiny cracks managed to appear in just the top half of the glass when only you’ve been around.†He took a quick drink from his flawless glass before looking over to her again. “The farm hands that venture in here for meals don’t usually bother with cups,†he explained. “They just grab a can of soda from the fridge. You’d have to have a perpetual dishwashing service in here if they didn’t.†His shoulders rose and fell in a theatrical shrug. “But I can always break the glasses again for you, if that’s really want you want. I assure you it’s no trouble at all.â€
A wide grin tugged at the corners of his lips, and he narrowed his eyes in amusement as he waited for her to serve herself before taking his own piece of sauce-covered chicken. The tangy aroma of the cheese-covered asparagus drifted his way, and he didn’t take his time in serving himself a generous portion. He placed it on his plate, watching the coils of translucent gray steam take flight above his knife and fork as he listened to her speak. “Huh,†he replied off-handedly, the smile never quite making it out of his eyes, “I could have sworn I warned you against calling me Oliver. Threatened you, even. But I do appreciate your concern for my health.†He didn’t have to ask if she remembered his half-hearted threat; she’d already showed and told him that she had an excellent memory, and he doubted she would have repressed a piece of information she could use for later torment.
He looked down and began cutting the meat he could tolerate now that it was cooked through and through. He wasn’t ashamed to admit he was starving; he hadn’t eaten a thing since his interrupted lunch, and it was already later than his usual dinnertime. The meal in front of his now smelled absolutely delicious, and it took practically all his self control to calmly slice his food and wait for Rebecca. For all her apparent faults, she seemed a very promising cook. Not as good as his mother, of course -- his mother was a witch talented in the culinary arts with years of professional European training and magical practice under her belt. Needless to say, the Callahan family didn’t eat out very often. Eating dinner away from home (and with Rebecca) was an unusual occurrence indeed.
“I suppose I could say the same for you, Becky,†he said, fearlessly meeting her gaze. He raised his brows in polite acceptance of her casual challenge. He repeated her words right back to her. “Don’t count on that life lacking forgiveness to be an easy one. Let’s not forget which one of us here has more experience in magical harassment.†He smiled flippantly, turning his head slightly to one side as he studied her. But before he could say anything more, her glass of Pepsi took to the air, gravity pulling it immediately to the linoleum.
Just as she reached out instinctively with her hand and unconsciously with her power to stop it, Hawk reacted by reaching out consciously with his magic. The unrestrained magic pouring from Rebecca was faster, freezing both the glass and the beverage midair, leaving his power hanging in the air for the eternity it seemed to take for Rebecca to realize what was going on. But just like she’d felt the tug of his magic fixing the glasses, he now could feel hers straining and struggling to hold on, untrained, to the suspended soda. The sudden physical movement of her hand startled him, and with the fingers of his magic, he grappled futilely after the free-falling Pepsi as the droplets soared. He got ahold of it just inches above the floor, but he succeeded only in slowing its descent: lingering threads of Rebecca’s power were still clinging to the drink, and as he attempted to stop it, their magic mingled and entwined.
The unfamiliar and uncomfortable sensation caught him off-guard, and he instantly withdrew the cord of his own power. The effort provided enough energy to freeze the liquid as he pulled away -- and it did quite literally freeze. The Pepsi hit the floor with an applause-like clatter as the drops transitioned to medium-sized shards of ice.
After several seconds, he released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He chuckled. “Never had that happen before,†he said lightly, not bothering to conceal his bewilderment. He couldn’t shake the bizarre feeling of their two magics meeting, and he shivered. “Well, at least it’ll be easier to sweep up now, right?â€
As though nothing had happened, he took a bite of chicken, chewing thoughtfully as she asked about his name. “The nickname came about sometime in kindergarten, I think,†he admitted. “Apparently I used to notice everything and point things out to my teacher, so at parent-teacher conferences she told my parents I had eyes like a hawk. It stuck. And besides, I’ve always liked birds.†He wrinkled his nose at her other comment, but not entirely in distaste. “ ‘Oliver’ doesn’t sound charismatic, it sounds...old.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:03 am
by Astrophysicist
She frowned at him. “I could too have thrown them away. He wouldn’t have noticed a few missing glasses. Besides, I could always lie.†She shrugged. Rebecca was used to just stating that fact around people and they took it at face value. After all, how many people did you meet on a daily basis that were incapable of lying? None. Exactly. So there was no reason for Hawk to think otherwise. Besides, she could probably recite a story well enough to herself multiple times in order to be able to get the words out when her grandfather asked her. Then, after she left him, she’d explode with the truth. It was a loop-hole in the contract of her inability, but she used it often…except when there was no chance of escape or the information she concealed meant a great deal to the one asking the questions.
Glowering at him beneath dark lashes, she allowed her facial expression to express her extreme dislike for him using his abilities to restore the glasses to the former imperfect state. Then he tried to act as though he was angry with her for calling him Oliver, but once again those startling green eyes gave it all away. He was probably too relieved at being unspokenly forgiven to bother with actually carrying out his threat. “You said might have to kill me.†A smirk played those strawberry lips. “And for some odd and unexplainable reason, I doubt you’d kill me.â€
Rebecca cringed at the name Becky. “I wouldn’t go around calling me that…around Granddaddy at least.†She offered him a soft look, one that expressed her dislike for the name as well as a warning. It wasn’t a harsh warning, but one he might want to be aware of. “He apparently called my grandmother Becky.†She turned her amber eyes back to the food and finished off two more asparagus, but she had heard the harassment potential and grinned. “Oh really? Hmm…well I might attempt to retaliate and accidentally…†Her grin widened. “…blow you up.†Her shoulders lifted in a shrug as she grin disappeared a bit. For a moment she allowed herself some bites of food having felt thirsty.
The incident with the glass and Pepsi seemed ordinary enough at first, before she used her magic to freeze everything in the air to keep it from splattering on the floor. Then they zoomed across the table to the other side with fascinating speed. She could feel the droplets fall to the floor, still attached to them, being the force that had propelled them across the table. But suddenly something felt wrong…no, it felt right. It felt remarkably amazing as though some piece of her soul had been opened. But then it was gone. She furrowed her brows, not knowing that he had caused it. She hadn’t noticed him drawing on his power, too wrapped up in the odd sensation that had flooded her right before the Pepsi shattered.
His words didn’t implicate him of anything and so she continued to remain oblivious to the fact that he had attempted to assist her magical attempts. With a nod, she allowed her eyes to rest on the floor across from her where the dark colored liquid was frozen like dirty diamonds. Being so focused on them and the idea of fixing something else, Rebecca didn’t notice his shiver. When she did turn in his direction, he had already moved on to explaining his little nickname. At the clarification, the young witch wrinkled her nose.
“I don’t know…I don’t think I could ever call you Hawk. It feels…funny.†Rebecca didn’t want to mention that it wasn’t a bad type of funny when she had first said his name. It was like an ancient language that she alone could speak and decipher. It felt as though some internal thirst had been quenched and she couldn’t explain why. It didn’t happen when she called him Oliver. “It’s not old. Fredrick is old.†She added, laughing slightly to herself as she mentioned her grandfather. She let it settle into a momentarily silence, finishing off one piece of chicken before heading to take her second. The asparagus was soon gone, especially after Hawk had helped himself to a very generous portion. Not that Rebecca minded, she couldn’t have eaten it all herself. Finally, as she was two-thirds of the way through her second piece of chicken, she turned her face towards him, casually.
“What do you do up here…when you’re not working?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:03 am
by Astrophysicist
The feeling ate at him as they dined momentarily in silence, perpetually lurking behind the surface thoughts he used futilely to distract himself. The sensation had been more startling than unpleasant, but still he could not be rid of it. Even as delicious as the food was, it was making the meal he’d been looking forward to much less enjoyable. He would have much rather mopped up the liquid Pepsi himself than have to put up with the undying, almost stinging memory of their two magics brushing together. He scowled lightly as he finished off his first piece of chicken, staring distantly past Rebecca’s left shoulder in obvious thought. As readable as her actions could be and as informed as he felt with the memory of his dream still fresh in his conscious mind, there were few things about her that didn’t still puzzle him.
Mechanically, he helped himself to another piece of chicken, taking the one with the most marinara sauce. He came to the conclusion from her nonchalance that Rebecca had felt nothing during their magical encounter. Or if she had, she didn’t have the practiced knowledge or experience to recognize how strange and out-of-place it had felt. Hawk had worked spells with others before, purposely winding and twisting his power around his partner’s in hopes to strengthen the effect and better the outcome. But the feeling, finally beginning to ebb, was completely mind-bogglingly foreign. Never before had he felt such a tug; never before had he felt like his magic had locked into its rightful place, matching up so quickly and so flawlessly that it scared him more than it relieved him. It had been almost magnetic.
He studied Rebecca neutrally between bites, finishing the last of the food on his plate. He unabashedly took another piece of chicken, watching her reaction carefully as he explained his nickname. “So it’s not a very interesting story, but hey,†he said with a light but not angry scowl, not liking the way she automatically wrinkled her nose, “maybe someday I’ll live up to the name by, you know, shape-shifting.†He raised an eyebrow and adopted a lopsided grin, the playful gleam in his eyes betraying his words as nothing more than teasing.
But a part of him was indeed serious; it was something he probably wouldn’t be able to achieve for years to come as he slowly strengthened his power and self-control. And it was entirely possible that he would never master the ability. But there wasn’t any harm in longing, was there? He loved different animals for different reasons, but he’d always been drawn to birds -- not for their intelligence or their friendliness or even their beauty, but for their memories of flight. It was exhilarating to experience the spreading of wings just before takeoff, the wind catching the longer back feathers that beckoned for the open air. It was pure bliss to soar above the rolling green farmland, the fields stretching horizon to horizon like a monochromatic patchwork quilt. It was like nothing else in nature. Just the thought made his eyes shine with a distant, genuine smile that didn’t yet touch his lips, and a wistful sigh escaped his lungs.
Her comment on his name sounding funny drew him back to reality, the expression of jubilation disappearing immediately as his eyes focused on hers. “It’s Hawk, all right?†he said firmly, raising his eyebrows. “You’ll get used to it.â€
His smile returned when she posed her last question, and he waited until he’d swallowed his last piece of chicken before he chuckled. “What do I do when I’m not working here, well, let’s see.†He pretended to think, glancing up and to the right before his gaze returned to hers. “When I’m here, I’m working. It’s what I’m paid to do, but it’s what I love to do.†He shrugged coolly, as though it was the most normal thing in the world to like to do. “That’s a question better directed to you. What do you do up here all day?†he asked, then impishly added, “Besides read, I mean.†He paused, searching her gaze for a prize he couldn’t identify even as he looked. When he spoke again, his voice was softer. “You aren’t happy on the farm. You aren’t happy with your grandfather. So what are you doing spending your summer here with him?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:03 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca continued to remain blissfully unaware of the magical connection that had startled him so much. She didn’t know that it had made him feel so perfect, the way magic was supposed to be. She hadn’t explored the depths of her own ability and herself to know that when his magic had intertwined with hers that it was different. It had felt amazing, remarkable, and she didn’t know that it didn’t usually electrify her to such an extent. Later, perhaps, when she was more familiar with herself she would remember that the Pepsi experience was different. Then she might ask him…or maybe their magic would wind together again and she would know.
“We can do that?!†She turned to him, wide-eyed a startled. They could change into animals? That was utterly remarkable. She hadn’t realized that they had that much ability and magic at their disposal. “Wait…†She noticed the lopsided little grin and frowned, slightly confused. His tone was teasing and serious at the same time. But Hawk’s face was teasing. She allowed a line to form on her brow as she examined his face and finally raised both of her eyebrows. As she continued to watch him the distant, distinct look crossed her face and the line disappeared from her forehead. So, he must be serious, she considered as the sigh escaped his lips.
She turned her full attention to his face and laughed outright at the firm way he declared that he was to be referred to as Hawk. “You know, farm boy, I think I’ll stick to something easier to remember…for now at least.†She mentioned. Farm boy was simple enough to keep in mind and he probably would like it better than Oliver, at least. Rebecca also didn’t want to taste his name on her tongue just yet. It had been interesting enough the first time that she didn’t want to experience it for a while yet. Once was enough as far as she was concerned. She didn’t like things messing with her preconceived notions of the way the world was supposed to work. The way names felt was one of those defined things in her life that she didn’t want to change.
As she thought on that, the smile returned to his face and she suppressed one of our own that she might return at him. However, her golden eyes sparkled dangerously with amusement as he was preparing to answer her question. As he answered, Rebecca couldn’t imagine liking to be around horses all day but that was his choice so…who was she to disagree? She shrugged slightly at his response, as he mentioned how he loved it. “I haven’t heard the word love very often from guys…†She grinned a bit, finishing off her chicken, though she nearly choked when he fired the question back at her. Hurriedly, she reached for her water and took a long sip. Her sparkling eyes began to water slightly and she closed her lashes in order to hold the responsive tears in.
The lying mechanism went off and she looked down at her plate, pushing around the marinara sauce that was left since she had cleared everything else off in her hunger. “I-†He stopped her with an addition and she frowned. “Well, I mostly read…†She said, just to spite him. She had processed quickly that there were no other avenues of escape and she would have to answer. This time wasn’t as bad as she had accepted the fact faster and the words were more willing to wait since she was going to try and hold the information in like she had before. Finally, her face lifted in his direction and she cocked her head slightly, setting down her fork and leaning back in the chair.
“I never said I was unhappy with this place. It’s remarkable. It’s beautiful and serene.†She continued to hold his gaze, finding it easy to answer that way for some unknown reason. “I was…forced to come away here. My mother started having shaking fits after things I did that I can’t explain. The last straw was when she saw me fall off the balcony of our house and not get hurt. She doesn’t like what she can't explain or control. She doesn’t like how I’m different and…â€She shrugged her shoulders slightly, though the attempt at nonchalance would surely fail. “…I make her sick so my dad thought it was best to send me away for a summer to get in touch with nature.†Rebecca rolled her eyes. “He tried to be so nice about it, like I didn’t know my mom had made him.†She shook her head slightly, wanting to be finished with the answer but it wouldn’t let her.
“I read and I explore and sometimes I watch the farm hands working from a place on the fence.†Her eyes moved away from his then, not wanting to mention how she indulged in the shirtless ones in particular. She was a girl after all and not entirely resistant to attractive muscles. “I like to sit outside at night with a flashlight and a book and read until the battery dies….or I fall asleep.†She smiled slightly, planning on doing it after Hawk left. “I suppose I should stop asking you personal questions so you don’t retaliate.†Rebecca grinned a bit, hoping to deter him from questions. “But, considering your schedule…when are you going to teach me?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:03 am
by Astrophysicist
“No, we can’t do that,†he said in response to her disbelief, the sparkle of mischief in his eyes subsiding a little. “Shape-shifting is just as good as impossible. I’ll probably never get to that level. Only a handful of witches in the world are even capable, let alone able to successfully complete a transformation. It’s dangerous, as I’m sure you can imagine.†He shrugged half-heartedly, pursing his lips in an attempt to suppress a smile. “I used to dream about it as a kid,†he admitted with a light laugh. “If only it were as easy as Harry Potter makes it seem.â€
At Rebecca’s comment about rarely hearing the word love from guys, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Why am I not surprised?†he retorted teasingly, returning his fork to his now-empty plate. The thought of her having a boyfriend was hilarious, and he wasn’t going to hide it.
His thoughts strayed to the internationally famous Harry Potter series, and he couldn’t stifle his chuckles. That magical world was absolutely and amusingly preposterous. To Hawk and his younger sisters, the books made the supernatural even more supernatural, stretching and exaggerating the truth to genuine absurdity. The story was more of a comedy than a fantasy, and when his classmates in late elementary school leapt on the bandwagon and were towed into the realm of obsession, it was hard for him to keep his eyes down and his mouth firmly closed. The rebellious little pre-teen in him had wanted so badly to prove them all both right and wrong at once, to demonstrate that real magic existed without wands and special academies and ridiculous mythical creatures lurking about in the evil shadows of enchanted forests. But he knew he couldn’t. The consequences were too serious, and not just for him -- for his whole family, and his family’s circle of practicing friends.
That wasn’t to say there hadn’t been times when he envied Harry Potter and his preciously-secluded Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If all he had to do was mutter a simple little phrase and flick a wand to get done what he wished, his life would have been far simpler, far more uniform. But just as the so-called Muggle population longed for powers of their own in the wake of the scarred wizard’s popularity, all the wishing in the world wouldn’t make it come true. Real world magic -- real world witchcraft -- was both an art and a craft, and, like any physical trade, it required practice, skill, natural talent, and effort. As he’d already explained to Rebecca, magic was choosy when it came to who was allowed to wield it. Some were more powerful than others, but there were few unintelligent or unwilling witches regardless of their magical strength. His father, for example, was fantastic with music and sound manipulation, but it was a struggle to perform tasks outside his field of expertise.
If magical strength was at all genetic, Hawk and his sisters inherited theirs from their impressively-powerful mother. But that didn’t explain Rebecca. Unconsciously, he furrowed his brow. Though his eyes were on Rebecca, his attention was elsewhere. Neither of her parents were witches, but her grandparents on her father’s side were talented and strong. Perhaps there had indeed been some sort of magical transfer between Fredrick’s wife and his granddaughter, because witchcraft obviously ran in the Nurse line...
When she began to speak to answer his question, he refocused, meeting her gaze again. What he saw in those amber eyes was a strange mixture of emotions, the expressions changing so quickly it was difficult to determine if he’d detected it or imagined it. But beneath the flickering montage of bitterness, irritation, and sadness, she looked absolutely genuine, the heavy honesty of her words hanging conspicuously in the air. “You never said you were unhappy, I’ll give you that,†he said, his tone unreadable, “but you don’t look happy. You’d rather be somewhere else, wouldn’t you? If you were given the choice between going back home or staying here, which would you choose?†He waited for her answer, his brows raised in absolute seriousness. “Why is it so hard for you to talk to your grandfather? Has he ever actually admitted to hating you because he thinks you caused his wife’s death? I bet it’d make your summer a whole lot more comfortable if you tried to sort things out with him. I know it’d be a challenge, but try to convince him you’re not so bad.â€
The questions he asked were difficult ones, but he managed somehow to twist the subject into something lighter. He smiled softly, but it soon broadened to a grin. “Reading alone in the dark outside, hmm?†he said. “Sounds like the perfect time to become a trick victim. Especially now that I know you stalk and stare at your grandpa’s employees, a group I just so happen to belong to.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:03 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca didn’t like being told that she couldn’t do anything, especially by Hawk. Frowning, she glared at him. “Maybe you can’t. But don’t go putting something in my head and then deny me the right to explore it.†She grinned and rolled her eyes when he mentioned Harry Potter. “I’ve read those. I hated all of the characters for the most part, especially Harry. He was so self righteous and ridiculous.†Blonde strands of hair brushed across her cheek and crept slowly into her eyes. Carefully, so as not to draw his attention to them again, she casually tried to tuck them behind her ears. But since she was sitting with a man named Hawk, she doubted anything would really go unnoticed.
When he laughed at her, she cocked her head, eyes narrowing at his direction again. “What are you laughing at, farm boy?†She frowned, looking at him carefully and figuring out what he was laughing at. “I don’t see girls lined up swooning over you and your big words.†She commented, putting her glass to her lips and taking a slow sip as she looked at him over the clear container of her water. Finally, she closed her eyes and drew the glass down and set it on the table with a ‘clink.’
The young Nurse witch was unaware of her family history. She didn’t know that her grandmother had possessed the ability to predict the future, commonly known as the power of premonition. Her grandmother, like Hawk’s mother, was also quite skilled in culinary arts in a magical manner. Rebecca was also unaware of the fact that her grandfather was a minor witch. He possessed an affinity for the healing arts but beyond that, he could not freeze Pepsi midair. In terms of Harry Potter, her grandfather would most likely be a Squib. He was well versed in all manners of magic but that was the extent of his talents in the supernatural. Her father and all of his siblings hadn’t inherited an ounce of magic and were unaware of their parent’s capabilities. Why? Because the pervious Rebecca Nurse, mother of the current one’s father, had foreseen that none of the children she bore would be blessed magically. So Rebecca’s grandparents had harbored the secret and no one knew.
Laughing almost bitterly, she tossed her head about in a negative way when he mentioned how she looked. “You don’t know me well enough to say that.†She looked at him from beneath her lashes as she had lowered her head slightly. “I am quite content and pleasant when left to my own devices. I don’t like being told what to do and for some reason Granddaddy loves telling me what must be done.†The playfulness entered back into her eyes, forcing all of the other emotions out so he wouldn’t get a closer glimpse at the real Rebecca. No one was allowed to know the real Rebecca. The Rebecca that was sensitive and quietly intelligent. The girl that would cry every time she saw Fox and the Hound or Tristan and Isolde. But then he asked her questions again and she glared at him.
“I…†She turned her face away and eventually shoved her chair back from the table, taking their empty plates in her hands. She placed them into the sink, but the truth would not be suppressed and she began to answer, softly. “If you had asked me yesterday, I would have said home in an instance. Now, I’d say here.†She shrugged. Rebecca didn’t have to elaborate…until he questions became more personal and required that she do so. Gritting her teeth, she turned the water on, hiding her annoyed face behind a wall of beautiful blonde hand that feel across her as she leaned over to get the soap. “It’s hard because there’s a tension in the air that I can nearly taste. I can’t talk to him because the accusations that he has never voiced are right there in his eyes. He despises me for my grandmother’s death and for what I do to my own mother.†Then he changed the subject and she exhaled, tucking the hair that hid her face behind her left ear and finished with the dishes before moving back to the table to take the other pans.
“A trick? Hmm.†She pondered it a moment, returning to the sink and then putting the dishes into the dishwasher. Turning, after she had finished, Rebecca’s honey eyes caught his jade ones and cocked her head, a small grin occupying her lips. “Is that a threat or a promise, farm boy?†She raised her eyebrows and continued, heading back to her glass of water and bringing it up to her mouth to finish it off before sitting up on the table, her legs dangling over the floor. “And don’t include yourself in that group…hardly worth watching.†A roguish gleam dancing in her eyes.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:04 am
by Astrophysicist
“You can’t,†he asserted, his expression serious. “The chances of you even having the right gene to shape-shift is slim to none. There are probably only five people in the world that can do it successfully, and none on this continent.†He wet his lips with his tongue. “Seriously, don’t even think about it. And definitely don’t try it. You could...†He hesitated, searching for the appropriate word. “You could permanently disfigure yourself. Even if you did manage the first transition, chances are you’d be trapped in that form for the rest of your life. It’s really, really dangerous. Put it out of your mind. Please.†He shot her a look that clearly said, the subject is closed, and that was that.
The more he spoke to Rebecca about her relationship with her grandfather, the more confused he became. She was dropping him clue upon clue to lead him to an answer she didn’t know herself, throwing real evidence in the open for a crime that may not have been committed. Logically, given what he knew now, it made sense for her grandfather to be hard on his granddaughter; it made sense that he would blame Rebecca for his wife’s death. But Hawk knew from experience it wasn’t wise to make assumptions, especially in the magical world -- a false one could result in any number of disasters. He couldn’t assume it was Rebecca’s fault just as he couldn’t assume it wasn’t. Fredrick Nurse was a brilliant doctor, intelligent in ways most people could never be. The man was experienced and worldly if not particularly powerful, so what vital piece to the puzzle was he withholding that would make him behave so sternly to his own kin?
Unlike her, Hawk was familiar with his family tree. His father had traced their ancestry to Mary and Philip English and beyond, doing his best to look beyond the names and into the lives of the individuals. It had all started with a school project a few years back that his youngest sister had brought home; she was required to write a report on her own lineage and ethnicity. Both the Callahan parents had contributed to the project, but his father had taken things several great leaps beyond what was required. It turned out that very few of his ancestors from his mother’s side were non-witches -- only five were discovered to be free of magical potential. His father’s side was less consistent, but still impressive; just over half were found to have been practicing witches, and more women had had the ability than men. Few had had to harbor their secret like Rebecca’s grandparents, and for that Hawk was very thankful.
It was better to know than to not know. Her words echoed freshly in his mind again, his agreement with the statement strengthening further. Having grown up with the knowledge, it was hard to imagine what it was like to have bizarre and unexplainable events -- like Rebecca’s falling from the balcony and escaping completely unscathed -- constantly occurring. Had it happened to him, he probably would have been more than a little frightened, and definitely more frightened than his parents. Briefly he wondered if her grandfather knew all the details about why she was scaring her mom sick; wouldn’t the man see what obvious symptoms hers were of possessing magical talent? Or perhaps his dwelling on the past was blinding him to what was right in front of his eyes. Why couldn’t everything just make sense, for once?
“Harry Potter was a hard craze to get through in school, and it started around the beginning of my fifth grade year,†he mused, breaking from his more-depressing train of thought. “When everyone was running around yelling lumos, it was so tempting to light the ends of their fake wands...so tempting...†His gaze was momentarily distant, and he sighed longingly. “I almost wish I would have done it. Can you imagine the looks on their faces?â€
He laughed heartily as he stood, carrying his empty plate to the sink and rinsing it off before he stepped aside for Rebecca. He dried his hands on the towel tucked in to the handle on the silverware drawer. His back was to her as he replied. “Let’s just say it’s a promised threat, shall we?†he said conversationally. “And don’t lie...I have to be a part of that group. Your grandfather’s paying me to work on his farm, and, well, let’s face it...you weren’t looking at old Harper or Henry.†He raised a brow, turning to look at her with a crooked smile already pulling at his lips. “And if you were, in that case, you need more help than I can give you, kid.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:04 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca met his gaze with a stern one of her own. “Fine.†She lied. He hadn’t asked her a question after all. She could fabricate things so long as no one asked her a direct question with no other intent than to receive a truthful answer. She had no intent, however, of giving up on the prospect of shape-shifting. To be able to change into something else at will! It thrilled her beyond words. She wanted to experience the sensations of life from the perspective of a different creature. But what creature would it be? Rebecca closed her eyes for a moment, passing it off as annoyance that he had closed the subject from her prying.
“Mmm. Harry Potter was never something I was into but I would have definitely not had the willpower you did. I probably would have lit the wands just to watch the others scream.†She shook her head slightly and ran a hand through her blonde locks. “I don’t know. I’ve read all the books but, the ending was too…I don’t know. I just didn’t enjoy it, that’s all. I prefer other types of books.†She didn’t care to elaborate on it. Most likely he would ask and she would grow annoyed. He seemed pretty keen on interrogating her today and she wasn’t too pleased with it so far. But, she rather be questioned extensively then let him know that if he continued, she wouldn’t be able to tell him a single false fact. In this case, it was better not to know. For her, at least.
Her golden eyes watched at he seemed to be off in his fifth grade world, imaging what it might have been like if he had given in to using his magic. Rebecca was glad, at this moment, that she hadn’t known about her ability. She probably would have exploited it. Knowing her, her little enemies would have sprouted a tail and starting oinking around the schoolyard instead of playing tag. Yes, it was a slightly good thing that she hadn’t been informed of her supernatural prowess. “Yes. I supposed I could. They’d think they were God or something.†She shook her head, turning away from her imagination to place his plate in the dishwasher besides hers.
When she straightened up, her eyes cast out the window and she saw the last faint light of the sun which was as good as set. It had to be around seven thirty or eight at the earliest. They had definitely taken their time eating and getting to know each other. The getting to know each other part bothered her slightly because Rebecca didn’t know if she enjoyed it or not. Not. She told herself as she looked back at him when he laughed. She turned around just as he looked back at her with that crooked little smirk.
“A promised threat. Oh. I look forward to the fulfillment of such a pledge.†And while her bright eyes gazed into his, she crossed her arms beneath her chest and leaned back against the counter, holding his gaze. “You don’t have to be a part of anything.†She responded, shrugging her shoulders in a nonchalant manner. “Maybe I have a thing for older men.†She commented, though the look on her face quickly contradicted the statement as she shoved off of her post with her foot and headed over to the pie. She decided that a change of subject would be best. She really didn’t want to talk about watching him work. It felt awkward enough just eating dinner with him.
“Want some?†Then she remembered what he said and she cocked her head, glaring at him. “I’m not that much younger than you, farm boy. There’s no need to call me kid. You make me feel like I’m seven and you’re twenty.†She rolled her shoulders slightly, popping the clear lid off of the cherry pie before reaching in the drawer next to her to grab out a cake slicer. She cut a tiny one for herself and glanced at him, waiting for his response. She added, as she waited, however, “ So, boy, you never answered my question. When are we going to practice?†She wanted to have something to look forward to during her endless hours of boredom that she might endure just waiting to be able to use her newfound talent.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:04 am
by Astrophysicist
From the look in her eyes and the way she pursed her lips just so, he could tell her reply of fine settled the matter about as well as if she’d told him she was going to try shape-shifting later that night. When she closed her eyes and played it off as irritation, he shook his head slowly back and forth, watching her with a stern gaze of his own. “I mean it,†he warned, inwardly cursing himself for having brought it up in the first place. He should have known she’d taken an interest. Because really, who wouldn’t? What person hadn’t dreamt of silently prowling the night, or sprinting across a savanna, or flying by the light of a full moon over forests and fields? He certainly couldn’t exclude himself from that generalization. He’d spent a good chunk of his childhood wishing he could experience much more than just what he saw by invading the minds and memories of his animal friends.
He sighed, more concerned than unhappy, his unwavering gaze never leaving her. It seemed strange, how neither of them seemed able to stop looking at the other. It wasn’t the sort of staring that implied affection; no, it was far from that, even though -- and it bothered him somewhat to admit it -- she was hardly bad looking. It was more of a mutual curiosity, he supposed. It was like she kept him always on the edge, forcing him to wait to see what she would do next. He felt like he was reading the brief news headlines that always scrolled across the bottom of all the news channels in a narrow banner: the marquee didn’t move fast enough for the speed in which he read, so he was constantly staring at the right of the screen in anticipation of the next words. He didn’t want to glance away for fear of missing a vital piece of information, and yet it was totally aggravating to impatiently stare. He shook his head to himself amusedly. It was almost magnetic; he just couldn’t seem to look away for very long.
Fortunately, that meant he could watch her facial expressions play out, often accompanying her words in a delightfully contradicting manner. “Older men, huh,†he said, folding his arms across his chest. “Well, to each his own, I guess. I’ll put in a good word for you with Harper, though. Henry’s still in the hospital, and his face is probably covered in bandages, so you won’t get to stare at his...er...finely-chiseled features, if you will. At least not for awhile.†He pictured Rebecca perched along the fence somewhere near the stables, and he couldn’t help but cringe. He laughed at his own disgust, his shoulders shaking gently. As odd as it was to think that his employer’s granddaughter had been watching him the past couple of weeks, it was somehow less disturbing to know that it had been Hawk rather than the other stable hands that had been the object of her attention.
He sensed her discomfort and decided against dragging the topic on in teasing conversation, watching as she launched herself from her seat and prepared to serve the whipped cream-covered cherry pie. “Yeah, I’d love a slice or two,†he responded, admiring her baking handiwork from the distance of the dining room table. Of course he wanted some. She shouldn’t even have had to ask. Being the bottomless pit that he was, he was confident in his ability to eat the entire pan of dessert even after the generously-portioned dinner, leaving none for Chef Rebecca. Of course; even farm boys had manners and self-control, and he would never do such a thing. But still, he’d take all she was willing to give.
“There’s really no need to call me ‘farm boy’ either, you know,†he commented wryly, a smirk illuminating his features. “Only a seven year old would insist on name-calling.†Yes, he’d done his fair share of it in his own defense against her insults, but he didn’t feel that that particular piece of information would support his cause, so he kept it to himself. She’d point it out anyway, he knew. He grinned as he moved on to answer her question, the one he’d neglected to respond to before.
“You’ll practice your meditation tonight,†he instructed. “Until you get the hang of that, everything else will be pretty useless. When I get breaks during the day, I’ll find you and teach you something or other, and then you can practice by yourself when I’m busy.†He raised his eyebrows. “Does that sound okay?†Amusement crept into his eyes again, and the broad smile returned. “Or, you know, you could help around in the stables to quell your boredom...and, you know, get closer to the older men.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:04 am
by Astrophysicist
“They all say that.†Rebecca waved her hand about when he said he meant it, acting as though he was an old lady badgering the local child about the impending end of the world because of all the terribly bad people roaming the streets these days. But she caught his eyes and the underlying tones of personal distress that he had caused himself by bringing this up. And for some unexplainable reasons he didn’t like knowing that she was partially the cause of that. She swallowed and nodded her head slightly, rolling her eyes just to let him know she wasn’t happy about agreeing to his little terms. “Fine. Seriously, this time.†But still, she had no intention of letting that little bit of excitement slip away from her. She would try it eventually on her own but wouldn’t tell him. Besides, she was Rebecca Nurse. She could handle herself. The look on her face however was one of reluctant compliance so he wouldn’t suspect that she was up to no good, as she typically was.
When he mentioned the old men she shot him a look, adding another roll of her eyes to the long list that she was accumulated during their shot time together. He seemed to bring out the very sarcastic side of her. Yet, she still felt the urge to comply, after he had obviously dropped the topic and moved on. But he had moved on and she decided to seize the escape and run with it. After she finished cutting her own slice, she turned to glance at him as he made his response. The expression that lingered subtly behind his features indicated that he wanted more than ‘a slice or two’ which caused her to shake her head and put the knife in the sink. She didn’t bother to take her slice out of the pan. Instead she procured two forks and stabbed then into the pie, carrying it over to the table and setting it down in front of him. The pie tin and all were place equidistance from their spots as she dropped herself into the chair.
“Okay, farm- boy. Eat up.†She added the name for emphasis as she cut out a little circle of pie with her fork. It was right in the center with the largest amount of whipped cream. Carefully she placed it into her mouth and chewed for a moment before swallowing, holding the fork in her hand and twirling it around a bit before she spoke to him. “Oh, well I must have been mistaken then. I thought you were closer to eighteen. Hmm.†She shrugged but couldn’t hide the smirk. “Guess you’re just big for your seven-year old britches huh?†She mentioned. After all he had called her city girl in a derogatory sort of way and when you added kid into the lot, well he was just as much of a second grader as she was.
When he mentioned meditation she nearly choked on the second piece that she had put into her mouth. Rebecca swallowed however and glared at him with intensity. “But…†She sighed in defeat, knowing that it would be pointless to argue with him. After all, Hawk might just run to her grandfather and spill the beans. When she considered it for a moment, he was doing her a really big favor. He should have turned her in like the witch criminal she was but he didn’t, which for some reason still surprised her. She cut out another odd shape from the pie and ate it, thinking for a while about the possibility of meditating tonight. That was definitely the last thing that she wanted to be doing. After all, it was ten time more exciting to practice things out of the book. But…she’d meditate for a while at least so he wouldn’t think she was a complete failure.
As Rebecca was just about to eat another bite off of her fork he slipped in the older men comment and she let her lips form into a hard line, though it wasn’t very hard. The right corner of her mouth kept twitching in an attractive manner as she tried to keep from grinning. “The former sounds fine and so does the latter if you subtract that little addition.†She finished the bite of the fork and leaned back for a moment. “I think I could handle working in the stables. I already know where most of everything is.†Of course she would. She’d been in there since she was little but mostly she knew from her most recent visits down to the farmhouse. Photographic memory, and all. “But at breaks, you have to teach me.†The ultimatum was one she was certain he would agree to, so long as they remained out of sight of the other farm hands and particularly her grandfather. They could probably work underneath her tree. No one ever found her there…well except Hawk.
Cocking her head to the side after a bit of silence and a few more bites of the pie, a question rose up inside of Rebecca. “What’s it like in your house…with all the magic?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:04 am
by Astrophysicist
He was startled by the sudden clatter of the knife in the sink, and when he glanced over to see what Rebecca was doing, he raised a brow in puzzlement. Abandoning the two plates she’d set out to place the pie slices on, she grabbed the edges of the tin and swung gracefully around to the table, placing it purposefully between them. He stared in amusement as the two silver forks sticking straight up from the center of the stark white whipped cream, his focus shifting to Rebecca as she took her place at the table opposite him. He flashed her a grin and suppressed the urge to chuckle. “Very nice,†he commented genuinely, nodding in approval. “There’s no better way to eat a pie.â€
It was perhaps the first time he’d eaten something directly from the container in which it was baked. His culinary genius of a mother prepared everything with style and flair, from the mashed potatoes to the main entrée to the chocolate shavings that topped the desserts. Nothing was done purposelessly, and she made nothing that didn’t look and smell as delicious as it tasted. As far as his high school friends were concerned, eating at the Callahan home was like dining at a gourmet restaurant -- an affair to be cherished and celebrated and never taken for granted. His best friend had once proclaimed that an invitation to stay at Hawk’s for dinner was like an invitation to eat at the finest and most expensive eatery in Paris, or like dining with the king. The memory made him smile.
Hawk was well aware how lucky he and his sisters were to have been so well-fed and, in the area of food, spoiled. He’d learned to discriminate subtle tastes of spices in various contexts, he’d learned to detect the freshness of ingredients by the texture on his tongue, he’d learned to appreciate cuisine from all cultures -- the entire Callahan family was practically on its way to becoming a world-renowned connoisseurs of food and flavor. So as far as Hawk was concerned, it wasn’t particularly fun to eat in restaurants like any other family, and eating out had become a chore to dread rather than an event to look forward to. His mother regarded them with extreme disdain; the greasy fast food places made her ill, she’d once told him, and the so-called fancier establishments weren’t much better. There was nothing like a home-cooked meal.
Hawk didn’t hesitate to obey her command to eat up. “Yes, ma’am,†he replied militarily, reaching for the fork closest to him and pulling it out of the dessert cleanly. Instead of starting in the middle and competing with Rebecca for the sections with the most whipped cream, he dug in at the very edge, expertly sliding the utensil between the tin and the crust. He brought the white and ruby forkful to his face, smelling the sugary bite before he actually placed it in his mouth. The flavor that washed over his tongue was, to his surprise, a near-perfect balance between sweet and tart flavors and rough and smooth textures. He was already eyeing his next bite as he finished chewing, his brows raised in wordless assent.
“Well, city girl,†he drawled eloquently once he’d swallowed, “I’m shocked and dismayed at the quality of taste and texture of your pie.†His sincerity shone obviously in his green eyes as he studied her, breaking away for another savory bite. “I think this is the closest anyone’s ever come to my mom’s pies’...er...divinity.†He paused to take a very large bite, his tongue darting out to recapture the escaped whipped cream in the corner of his lips. “I commend you, Rebecca Nurse,†he finished with a smile, bowing his head in theatrical respect.
Her next question didn’t catch him off guard; in fact, he’d been expecting something like it. “My house is a rare house,†he replied slowly. “Not all families with witches are lucky enough for everyone to share the ability. My sisters and parents and I can do whatever we please magically, as long as we’re not doing anything to blow our cover. As your ancestor Rebecca would have known, not everyone is open-minded and willing to accept us for what we are. They would fear, and their fear would come from their envy, and we both know where that chain leads.†He took another bite. “My dad’s a minor witch, but he’s very good with music and sound manipulation. My mom’s a master chef. My youngest sister is a minor witch like my dad, and my middle-child sister is like me and my mother. But our lifestyle probably isn’t that much different than yours or any other non-magical family. Just little quirks here and there.†He chuckled and shook his head. “If you can consider witchcraft a ‘little quirk,’ that is.†A shrug lifted his shoulders, and he interrupted his own words with an extended yawn. “What else do you want to know?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:05 am
by Astrophysicist
The pretty tan nose wrinkled as he called her m’am. It made her sound old. Hawk either made her feel like she was eight years old again or a terribly old lady that was treating her favorite little worker to a nice dinner. She grinned a little as a mental image formed in her head though. She shook it away, trying to not think of him in any other context that her rather irritating instructor in the magical arts. She pondered what his life might be like as they both ate. To know that you were a witch and be able to explore your supernatural abilities since you were young….she had always wanted to be able to do that. It made her slightly envious of him, more so that she had already admitted to when he had taken her compliment so wrongly and they had ended up lulling into an uncomfortable silence.
“Why dismayed?†She questioned as he drew her back to earth with his slight compliment to her cooking. She managed to catch the end of his green eyes studying her before he turned away and she felt a tingling sensation inside of her, like when she had frozen the Pepsi in the air. Still, Rebecca was quite oblivious to that fact that their magic had mingled, intertwining like two strands of thread that had been wrongly separated from each other. She furrowed her brow after he had put another bite in his mouth. She tried to go over the feeling but he broke her revere again when he mentioned his mother. “Well, I definitely will take being compared to your mother as a compliment.†Rebecca smiled to try and hide her dislike for being interrupted as she put another bite of the cake into her mouth.
Setting her fork down for a minute, she smirked a little at his first comment. “Nooo, I thought houses like you were so common.†She mentioned in a teasingly sarcastic tone. She listened with an interested expression though, leaning her chin on her palm and keeping her eyes on his without daring to draw them away. There was certainly a magnetism that kept her amber eyes on his face without wavering for a moment. She didn’t take a big notice of this yet. She had always been the type of girl to keep her eyes focused on someone when they were speaking. What she didn’t realize about the way she looked at Hawk was that even when his lips weren’t moving, her eyes were drawn into those green pools that threatened to drown her every time he caught her looking.
“So…you can do pretty much everything, though you have a specialty with animals?†She questioned, more of repeating his words as she picked up her fork again. She made a line to the edge of the tin and cut out a piece before placing it into her mouth, chewing quickly so she could add some more to what she had been saying. “But your dad can really only just manipulate sound, right?†Sucking in a breath, she put her fork down and pulled her legs to cross them on the chair beneath her like she was very comfortable doing. "Do you think I'll end up as a healer...since I heal myself?" She doubted it even as she said it. "Or maybe I won't have a specialty since I started so late..." Rebecca voiced her fear softly. What if she never found what made her feel alive? What if she never grasped something she loved? Like Hawk was with animals, Rebecca longed for something.
With his question she lowered her eyes and turned slightly to look at the cow clock that they had resting above the oven. It read 8:40 and she whirled back around to look at him, her blonde hair whipping about her face. “When do you have to be home, farm boy?†She asked, raising her eyebrows. As much as she detested his vary existence, she didn’t want to get him into trouble with his family. Because without him there would be no magic lessons and her trying to learn it by herself…well she might just give someone a concussion with a blunt object. She cocked her head slightly, pushing the pie a little closer to him as she had eaten two slices worth of pie and now felt as though she was going to burst.
Luckily for her, she would get to sleep it off beneath the stars after reading a good deal more of the foremother’s diary about the Salem witch trials and the numerous magic incantations and supernatural talents that she could possibly develop in her future. She was secretly hoping to find something about shape shifting within its contents as well.
ooc: *kicks it* Terrible.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:05 am
by Astrophysicist
“There are some things I’m better at than others outside my specialty. I’m not much good with weather,†he admitted, shrugging it off casually. “Have you met Gretchen? Your grandfather hired her two years ago when she moved here from Canada. She can’t control the weather -- no one can -- but she can manipulate what’s already there. It’s really amazing. And totally beyond me.†He paused long enough to shovel two large bites of pie into his mouth, and he chewed thoughtfully before continuing. “I guess it’s true of everything...you’re better at some things than others. That’s just how it is. Not every witch will have as focused a specialty as mine or my parents’ or Gretchen’s, but that doesn’t mean you’re any less powerful or any less skilled. I’m more like the exception than the rule.â€
As completely at ease as he appeared outwardly, the burden of being such an exception inwardly hit him hard. It was difficult enough to fit in with the majority of the non-magical population; it was perhaps more difficult to fit in even amongst his own kind. His oldest younger sister, his mother, and himself were all very unusual given their extremely-specific talents and overall strength, and if Hawk wasn’t a part of the group himself, he would have doubted it was possible for three major witches to be part of the same family. A few of the other witching families in the area scorned them in a dangerous mixture of envy and fear and ignorance. His parents had once belonged to a coven in the area when Hawk was young, but they abandoned it quickly when they realized how strict and judgmental its members could be. So when Hawk discovered the community of witches practicing openly on the Nurse Farm, they were overjoyed to find a relatively safe place for their son to get the experience and practice he needed to hone his special skills.
He wanted to chuckle. It was strange to think about how all those decisions, all those minor steps along the way, had led him to this very moment, satiating himself on chicken and pie in the company of a young woman he didn’t particularly like. He didn’t know why he’d agreed to be her teacher, willingly subjecting himself to barrages of picky questions and deep scowls. He supposed it was because he was curious, but really, the curiosity was just an excuse he used to make his actions more personally tolerable. It wasn’t quite pity that he felt -- he didn’t pity her any more than he pitied himself -- no, it was something deeper, something that his conscious mind was not prepared to wrap itself around. He wasn’t necessarily helping her because he wanted to, it was more that he felt that he had to. If anything, it was because he was a nice guy, unwilling to push Rebecca into the steaming wrath of her grandfather’s uncertain hatred. Humans were animals too, after all, and in more ways than they weren’t.
Hawk didn’t realize how important it was to Rebecca to find an area for her power to focus on. If he had, he would have said something to reassure her, to tell her that age had nothing to do with it. Healing, or at least healing others, seemed unlikely; since the power required for such an art was immense, she undoubtedly would have noticed stranger things happening to her than she actually had, and surely someone as experienced as her grandfather would have taken notice of them. Her symptoms would have been too momentous to ignore. He watched her carefully, sweeping up one last bite of pie before setting down his licked-clean fork. He mentally cursed her for being such a puzzle, a puzzle he felt compelled to solve. Why him, why now? A weary sigh escaped his lips. He was tired of thinking.
“I should get home soon,†he said in response to her quick glance to the clock. His gaze followed hers. 8:40. The time was enough to remind him how sleepy he was -- he’d been up since five that morning, hadn’t he? -- and he yawned, his eyes watering. “I don’t have a curfew, but I do need to be able to drive home without falling asleep.†He smiled tiredly, pushing the pie tin back to the center of the table and sitting up a little straighter in preparation to stand.
He rose to his feet slowly as though the movement pained him, and he reached his arms into the air in a short stretch. “Well, thanks for dinner,†he said. After a glance to the remainder of the pie, with a grin he added, “And dessert. Now, tonight I want you to practice meditating. And don’t try anything stupid.†He paused when he got to the door. “Please,†he threw in pleadingly. “I know how tempting it is.â€
And with that, he pushed through the still-scorched screen door, closing it manually so it wouldn’t break the calm night air with its usual gunshot smack. He made his way to the driveway and got on his motorcycle, placing his helmet on his head before he kick-started the engine. Though he had his soft pillow and bed to look forward to, all he could do was think back, his thoughts not once leaving Rebecca.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:05 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca looked as him as though he had just opened Pandora’s Box and let out everything amazing in the world, which would make it less of Pandora’s Box and more like something out of Harry Potter. Control the weather? He must be pulling her leg because she had never considered something so remarkable. Being able to repair broken glass was handy. Speaking with animals was definitely amazing. But manipulating weather patterns? She shook her head in disbelief. “Like make a storm stronger?†She continued to shake her head in disbelief, running a slender hair through the hair atop her head, before letting it fall back into its annoying place against her cheeks. She blew at it before turning her eyes back to him, still blown away that some woman could make it rain harder than it already was or draw a cold front from a distance away. Now that would be a cool specialty.
Then he burst her bubble. An exception rather than a rule. She sighed. She would probably be the only witch she came in contact with that didn’t possess an area in which she was more skilled than others. Hawk had his animals, his mother her cooking, this lady her weather, and her grandfather his healing abilities. Rebecca pursed her lips as she thought, somewhat upset that she hadn’t known she was a witch before this. She’d probably end up with some relatively worthless ability, like knitting. At that thought she gave a moan of annoyance and shook her head at herself. Knitting…it probably would be something like that. God, she’d rather die than have to tell other witches that she was really amazing at knitting. That would instill fear and awe in their hearts for sure. She rolled her eyes at the mere thought of something so silly.
After she glanced at the clock, she turned her eyes back to him, wondering why in the world she was so drawn to him. Her mind put it off as being that he was the only one to know her secret and he was willing to help her advance in the magical world. But the pit of her stomach wouldn’t allow her mind the satisfaction of that simple explanation. Something having to do with the Pepsi but she still couldn’t place it. She didn’t like feeling uncertain of herself and she vowed silently that she wouldn’t dwell on it anymore. She was going to stick to what her mind was attributing his magnetism too.
When he stood up, she did as well, though taking the pie pan into her hands with the intention of putting what was left in the freezer. The rest of the farm hands could finish it off, though Hawk hadn’t left much for them to enjoy. She shook her head at it, before turning her face towards him as he left. “Sure to both. Least I can do since you’re not ratting me out…yet.†Rebecca added the last bit after a pause and a smirk, turning to watch him leave her alone in the big house. Although she had no intention of not trying anything she wouldn’t attempt anything as stupid as shape shifting. Tonight that is. After she had mastered meditation and finished reading her ancestor’s little diary, there was hardly anything that would deter her from trying.
As she placed the clear lid on the pie, she heard the roar of his motorcycle engine and paused momentarily. Since he had left, her thoughts had been on all kinds of things, though most of them involved the stupid little farm boy that irritated her so much. She frowned as she realized the fact but just shut the freezer with the pie inside. The Nurse girl finished cleaning up the kitchen, clearing away the dishes and making sure everything was just how it had been she when arrived in earlier…minus that dumb door that the irritating little witch of a boy wouldn’t fix for her. That she would try to do now. It wouldn’t go well if her Granddaddy came home to find a handprint just her size charred into a door that he frequently used.
She snatched the book from its place on the counter and flipped through the pages quickly. Her mind ran over the words at a rapid pace, comprehending before she moved on to the next page. Finally, her golden eyes rested on a page that was titled with different types of repairs. A small sound of elation passed her lips as she ran her finger down the list of spells, eyes darting across to see what it meant.
Ostras --- Fixes broken glass.
Postras ---Repairs fractured stone.
Kratras ---Mends splintered wood.
Again a sound of happiness exited her lips but she paused. Hawk didn’t whisper anything when he had fixed the cracked glasses of their drinks. She frowned deeply and headed over to the door. Closing her eyes, she decided to experiment, against the boy’s advice. Slowly, almost as though the wood was sacred, she ran her fingertips along the charred area. She sought out that thread of magic inside of her, exploring the depths of her soul and searching for that paradise. It greeted her in a moment of bliss but she wouldn’t allow it to gain control of her. It flittered inside of her lip a spirit longing to do its master bidding, to be released from its bondage inside of her. Like a dream, she told it, silently. Kratras. If the magic could make a sound it probably would have giggled like a child before it ran down the length of her arms and separated at her fingertips and danced about of the burnt wood. Then the power can running back to her telling her what a wonderful job it had done, just like she asked, wasn’t it great? She smiled as she opened her eyes, looking at the door.
It was flawless. And by flawless, Rebecca meant better than the burn being gone. It was like new. The paint wasn’t chipped and the screen didn’t have any tears in it. She furrowed her brow. She had only asked it to repair the burn so how had it…? She shook her head. That was ridiculous. She probably just like how the burn wasn’t there anymore. That had to be it. She turned away from the door, snatching the book up in her hand and heading back to her room. Once there, Rebecca retrieved her usual blanket and flashlight. She grabbed a hair band, first though, and quickly tossed her hair up into a messy bun.
With that, she gathering her items and headed back into the kitchen. Expertly, she scribbled a note to her grandfather, telling him that she had gone out as usual and would be back to make breakfast. He was used to her staying out at night. It’s not like anything bad would happen to her out in the middle of nowhere. They never even locked their doors. The note was left on the kitchen table and she headed out the newly repaired door, admiring her handiwork out of the corner of her eye as she headed up the hill.
Halfway up, and out of the house lights, she clicked on the flashlight and laid her blanket beneath her tree. She settled down with the book on her lap, knees bent. Her back rested against the trunk and she sighed, content. This was bliss.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:05 am
by Astrophysicist
The night air was cool and soothing on his skin as he rode back into town, the single headlight of his motorcycle casting a golden halo of light on the paved roads ahead. He took a smooth curve left toward his house, pulling into the back alley driveway and steering expertly into the garage between the family minivan and his father’s rusty truck. When he killed the engine and removed his helmet, he shook out his hair and stood a moment in silence, listening to the crickets chirping in a disorganized symphony. Though he could appreciate the evening music that serenaded his walk to the back door, something was obviously distracting him. His steps were mechanical and calculated, and his gaze was distant as he inserted his key into the lock and stepped into the dark kitchen. The silence of his house was nearly as comforting and profound as the crickets outside, and he relaxed a little.
“That you, Hawk?†called a voice, pleasantly splitting the peaceful quiet.
The glow of the living room lamp filtering through the doorway greeted him warmly as he stuck his head around the corner. “Hey, Dad,†he replied with a grin.
His father looked up from his book and fired back that same charming smile. “Fredrick must’ve kept you busy,†he commented. “You haven’t been kept at work this late in awhile.â€
“Not since the Weinderman thoroughbred gave birth,†Hawk replied, stepping into the room and leaning his back against the wall. “Where’s everyone else?â€
“Your sisters are upstairs doing whatever it is they do, and your mom’s helping Marie with her cupcakes.†His father made a face and shook his head.
Hawk laughed. Marie was one of his mother’s good friends, and she was apparently having trouble catering her son and daughter-in-law’s baby shower. His mother, of course, was all too willing to help out. “Kind of last minute, don’t you think?†he said. “Isn’t it supposed to be tomorrow morning?â€
“Leave it to Marie,†said his father good-naturedly, lifting his shoulders in a shrug.
Hawk nodded and dismissed himself, heading straight for the shower to wash away the dirt and smell of a long shift on the farm. But even as the warm water washed away the evidence of the day, it failed to cleanse his thoughts of the extraordinarily disagreeable young woman he’d come to know. She’d haunted his dreams before he’d even met her, and now she had the nerve to haunt him even when miles separated them. He inhaled deeply, and the scent of soap and shampoo filled his nostrils before he exhaled in a sigh. An eerie, edgy flicker of feeling ran down his spine, and suddenly he was chilled to the bone; the memory of their entwining powers was still tormenting him, and he mentally cursed that stupid Pepsi. Why did she have to be so clumsy? Mingling magic was not supposed to feel like that. It just wasn’t.
He frowned as he dressed, glancing at himself in the mirror as though he could search his own face for the answers his soul refused to reveal. He quickly ran his fingers through his wet auburn hair and narrowed his eyes in stubborn irritation. Well, he thought decisively, if it’s haunting she wants, it’s haunting she’ll get. His narrowed eyes immediately adopted the sparkling gleam of mischief. He’d threatened her, hadn’t he? He may as well follow through with his promise.
.+.+.+.+.
Even as he rode back out to the Nurse farm, he didn’t know exactly what he was going to do. There were too many possibilities. As far as he was concerned, she deserved a good scare, and he deserved to be the one to give it to her. There was no doubt in his mind that she was going to be a difficult pupil. With any luck, he could prove to her that he wasn’t one to be messed with before she got ahead of herself and stopped listening to him. From what he knew of her so far, it was bound to happen. So perhaps he would save his more prank-like tricks for a later date; perhaps tonight he would just startle and annoy her.
Hawk parked his motorcycle near the end of the driveway, a good distance away from the back of the house and the tree where Rebecca said she liked to read. He switched off his headlight and killed the engine, walking quietly toward the hill. She wouldn’t have seen him, but just to be safe, he took a long, serpentine path as he approached, giving him time to think and time to prepare. His steps were absolutely soundless. He wasn’t suppressing the sound like his father would have; he just adopted the mindset of a cat, his feet furtive and light as he traversed the grassy lawn. Up the hill and toward the flatter grazing pastures he went, catching sight of the yellowish spot of flashlight in the distance. He felt a smile pull at his lips.
He lowered himself to the ground and closed his eyes, resting his back against a smaller tree a safe span away. And with a little effort, he dropped the state of meditation he’d learned to constantly upkeep in his subconscious, opening his mind to the presence of every intelligent living creature within range. The sounds, images, and memories of thousands of creatures came flooding in, assaulting his mind with an overwhelming montage of sensations. He grimaced and flattened his palms against the earth. It had been years since he’d last opened himself up so completely, and, just as he’d suspected, it had only grown worse with age. Apparently there was a downside to sharpening and practicing his communication skills -- he was even more sensitive now to the presences around him, and if he hadn’t learned to meditate constantly, he surely would have been driven crazy.
Sifting through the minds one by one, he at last came to the one he wanted, the timbre of the slumbering animal’s thoughts familiar from previous conversation. Immediately he closed his mind again, hanging on to the thread he wanted. Awake, he said to the farm’s border collie, and he chuckled to himself as he sensed the dog spring to her feet. He instructed her to find him, flashing her the image of the tree he sat beneath. She arrived quickly, trotting across the grass with her tail swinging wildly back and forth behind her as if she were propelling herself. He had to hold out a hand to stop her from leaping at him in joy.
“Shhh,†he said, holding a finger to his lips and grinned. Recognizing the gesture, she calmed immediately, watching him curiously as he gave her a series of mental instructions. “Think you can do that for me?†he whispered aloud, scratching her ears. She stood, excited, and took off in a run toward Rebecca’s speck of light.
Hawk fell into the trance of the border collie’s mind, seeing through her eyes and hearing through her ears. Her paws struck the earth with the light enthusiasm of determination, the dry grass crackling beneath her conspicuous footfalls. She barely slowed as she approached the reading girl, circling around her with a few puppyish yips. Hawk rolled his eyes. The dog stopped abruptly to Rebecca’s left and sat back on her haunches, staring at her intently, her pink tongue escaping her mouth as she panted. After a few seconds, she rose to her feet and took a few steps toward the girl, looking for attention and a loving scratch. But instead of waiting for it, she opened her jaws and snatched the book away, launching herself back into a run toward Hawk.
Hawk laughed heartily. When the collie returned and delivered the diary to him, he pulled out a small flashlight of his own and flicked it on to read while he waited for Rebecca’s tumultuous arrival.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:06 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca was quite content to be left alone on the hill with her book, flashlight, and nothing but silence surrounding her. It was the embodiment of her ideal night…well the ideal night alone that is. When she was back home, the young Nurse woman liked to sneak out of the house and go mess around with her friends. They did nothing wholly interesting. The night usually consisting of a few tosses beer cans and a bonfire. Now, don’t go assuming that she was a complete alcoholic. Ha. Rebecca would drink one, maybe two and enjoy the evening watching everyone attempt to jump over the fire. She was the only one that had ever made it without burning something. The burns weren’t too bad though…so far.
Thoughts were far from bonfires and bottles though, as she allowed her honey eyes to roam over the pages, letting it absorb her into its century as she explored the depth of her potential at the same time. It was difficult, for her at least, to attempt meditation and reading at the same moment. But Hawk could multitask, which meant that she could as well. Rebecca would never allow a ridiculously stubborn and devious farm hand to ever better her in something, even when he had about fourteen more years experience that she did. A minor setback, in her mind. Sighing softly and shifting her weight, she pick up where she had left off when Hawk had first introduced himself in a roundabout fashion.
I record these proceedings now so that my posterity will know of my gifts, my wisdom and the Craft. I am scared, to say the least, but they will not fail me. In the future, witches shall be not be prosecuted as we are now. I know it. I have the Sight and one day a descendant will possess the abilities, the strength, and the will to surpass us all. Every witch who has ever lived has been waiting for her…the Chosen, the Destined. Witch.
Rebecca pursed her lips as she read it again, frowning. What in the whole wide magical world was going on? Obviously her ancestor had started to go off her rocker towards the end. Of course a witch would come along who would be witch. It was ridiculous to think otherwise. But the part about this Sight, struck her and she allowed the frown to deepen even further. Sight-Seeing-Vision. “Like prophecy?†She murmured under her breath, raising an eyebrow at the book as though it would answer her with a solid yes or no. When it gave no response, she set about to continue and flipped the page.
April 1692
And then there was nothing. No writing. Rebecca hurriedly flipped the next page.
April 1692. And the next.
April 1692. And the next.
April 1692. And the next.
May 1692. And the next.
May 1692. And the next.
July 19
Rebecca exhaled softly, finally recognizing the familiar, feeble hand of her 71-year old foremother. It was slow and the text was small and obviously labored. A line creased the unmarred forehead of the young woman as she allowed her eyes to tail over the words that followed the date.
Today is my execution…today is the day it begins.
That was it?! Six pages of absolutely nothing and then she wrote in it on the day that she was executed? Well, she must have certainly been losing her mind. Certainly, she should have not skipped all those pages in such a worthless and wasteful manner. She could have gone directly from April to July without all the space in between. Ridiculous. Utterly preposterous. Rebecca was seething. Nothing more was written about this Sight and this Chosen and this other such foolery. Rebecca slammed the book shut and frowned deeply. Her fingers traced over the worn leather cover until her eyes flashed upwards at the movement of a…dog? The dog? Wasn’t it supposed to be in the barn?
“What?†She asked, shifting the book slightly closer to herself so the thing wouldn’t drool on it. Then the collie sat down and Rebecca eyed her warily. “What do you want?†The woman rolled her eyes as the dog came forwards, seemingly looking for attention. A slender hand reached over, leaving the book protector-less for just a quick moment before canine teeth hooked onto the leather and ran off. “You little bi0.†Rebecca bolted up, managing to remember to grab her flashlight in time as she raced after the mangy mutt. She certainly couldn’t run as fast as a four-legged animal, but she could keep up enough to follow her at a distance. Finally, as they neared the pasture, she saw the form stop and drop the book onto the lap of another form. Suddenly, Rebecca rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth.
She slowed her run to a walk and approached the flicker of the new flashlight with a matchless grace. She didn’t say one word until she was standing right at his feet, looking down at him reading her book.
“Oliver James, if I knew how, I’d turn your hair pink.†And that’s all she could say before grinning slightly in her anger and frustration but also admiring the sheer audacity he had. Guts, he certainly had guts. How’d he know she would not like, accidentally blow him up…or something?
ooc: Ugh. It's terrible.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:06 am
by Astrophysicist
He’d assumed he would find a book of modern fiction in his hands when he retrieved the bound volume from the collie’s teeth. When he looked down on the cover, he half-expected to see the ridiculous pastel artwork of some sappy romance novel that women seemed so much to adore. He smiled to himself at the thought. Oh, it would have been perfect! It would’ve opened up an entire new volume of material he could have used to tease her with for the remainder of her stay on the farm. Quotes, continuous references -- she never would have lived something like that down. Never.
But instead of an arsenal of cheesy quotes and shallow, clichéd description of lovers gazing into one another’s eyes under the moonlight, he found the smoothly-bound, centuries-old diary of the executed Rebecca Nurse resting in his grasp. Immediately he furrowed his brow. Opening the book that had been hurled at his head earlier that day, he flipped quickly through the pages. Having already caught a glimpse of the extensive list of spells at lunchtime, he skipped that section (fascinating as it was) and slowed down only when he found the regular entries. The angular, graceful scrawl of Rebecca’s practicing ancestor decorated the faded paper beneath the golden glow of his flashlight. “I fear for my family, for my Sisters, for my Brothers...†“The raids continued deep into the night...†“The accusations still fly. It is proving impossible even for innocents to escape the fear of our persecutors...†“The town has turned against itself. I wonder now if We are safe even amongst Ourselves...†His eyes narrowed. But one entry in particular snagged his attention, and he scanned the cursive paragraph curiously.
“In the future, witches shall be not be prosecuted as we are now. I know it. I have the Sight and one day a descendant will possess the abilities, the strength, and the will to surpass us all. Every witch who has ever lived has been waiting for her…the Chosen, the Destined. Witch.â€
He choked on his own breath as it caught in his throat, and he re-read the passage, this time more slowly. In just a few simple sentences, Rebecca’s ancestor had revealed more -- much, much more -- than just her ability to see into the future. Despite the flurry of chaotic thoughts swirling tempestuously through his mind, one thing was brightly, perfectly, unquestionably clear: What Hawk had just read was a prophecy. And true prophecies, as any modern and experienced witch knew, were explicitly rare -- nearly as rare as individuals blessed with the Sight. He anxiously flipped to the next page, gnawing on the inside of his cheek.
It was blank.
Appalled, he turned the pages with careful hurry, desperate to find some other entry, some other clue that would lead him to some kind of reassurance, some further explanation...but there was nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Until...
Today is my execution...today is the day it begins.
There was something about the tone of the words that rang familiarly in his mind as he read them, but any hope of recognition was lost by the approach of the winded Rebecca traipsing through the grass. He did not right away return her smile when he looked up at her; his expression was solemn and puzzled in his distraction, his green eyes hard even in the dim light that radiated from their flashlights. He gently closed the book and handed it back to her, rising slowly to his feet once she’d taken it. “I don’t know, I think pink would rather suit me, don’t you?†he said, at last allowing a grin to surface, his thoughts returning to the present. He ran his fingers through his clean hair for dramatic emphasis. “A nice, natural color.â€
He chuckled. “You were supposed to be practicing your meditation, you know, not reading your stolen book,†he pointed out, raising a brow. “How much of it did you read?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:06 am
by Astrophysicist
The second she got within five feet of him she sensed him and smelled the horror-struck feeling in the air. It was so tangible that she could almost taste it. She frowned and then her eyebrows knitted together in slight anger. She managed to calm herself a little as she approached him but the hint of her suppressed rage was lurking just beneath the surface. It was written beneath her eyes and she tried to hide it but not being able to lie made it even harder to hide certain seething emotions inside of her.
When he offered the book, Rebecca quickly snatched it from his graph and clutched it to her middle, her fingers so tight around the binding that her knuckles were unnoticeable white. She glared at him, ignoring his words for a moment and the chuckle that escaped from his lips. She narrowed her eyes at him, watching him and breathing slowly through her nose. She was trying not to yell at him for reading it. She was trying to keep herself from getting angry and unconsciously drawing on that thread of magic that just might blow up the tree that he was leaning on.
Carefully, she put a stopper on the bottle of her powers and closed her eyes for a minute. The color returned to her knuckles as her grip loosened. Finally, she allowed her eyes to brush open against her cheeks and look at him, watching him carefully before allowing her lips to come together in an annoyed fashion. She cocked her head slightly, a few tendrils of the messy bun dangling about her neck in a tantalizing fashion.
After a moment of silence passed, where she allowed her eyes to never leave his, searching those stupid green pools for some sign of repentance, which of course she didn’t find, she spoke. “I was meditating at the same time I was reading. I can do both at the same time just like you can you know…kind of.†She managed to correct herself at the end so that he wouldn’t turn to questioning her. She really didn’t want to reveal of her lifetime secrets if he ever figured out that she couldn’t lie.
“I read all of it. To the page you were at. I read to…the beginning.†Rebecca said, in such a way that sounded foreboding and all-knowing all the time. She looked slightly up at him since she was taller than she was, cocking her head slightly and the corner of her eyes were filled with liquid amber as she peered at him. She lowered the hand with the book in it to her side.
Rebecca raised both of her eyebrows suddenly, biting her lower lip temporarily. “How much did you read of it?†But she already knew. It had filled the air. He had read enough of it to have been affected and he knew more of the magical realm than she did. If it freaked him out, then she would have to be considerably more freaked out. “And what do you think about it?â€
She swallowed, turning away slightly and looking over the pasture to the hills of the farm and the faint kitchen light of the big house. Her grandfather was home. She grimaced slightly and closed her eyes momentarily before whirled on him with a rekindling of the dislike for him that she had always expressed. “Don’t lie to me about it either…â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:07 am
by Astrophysicist
As Rebecca would undoubtedly soon learn, it was difficult to stop Hawk’s questioning just as it was difficult to quell his curiosity. Even if he didn’t yet know about her inability to lie when asked something directly, it would take a lot more than a few tacked-on words to keep him from digging deeper. He was her teacher, after all, and if she was going to be his pupil, he was going to ask her questions. It only made sense -- it was his responsibility. Lord knew she wasn’t going to go to her grandfather for explanations and lessons. If his inquiries annoyed and irritated her as much as they perpetually seemed to, she was just going to have to get over it or get used to it. He wouldn’t be much of a teacher if he didn’t quiz her on occasion, especially considering the amount of potential her little angry demonstrations had revealed.
“You can not,†he declared, challenging her without a moment’s hesitation. “Meditation multitasking takes more than just a few hours of practice. What made you think you were doing it properly?†He pulled in his lower lip with his top teeth, raising his eyebrows in a perfect expression of skepticism. The border collie too, perhaps influenced by Hawk’s emotions, rose to sit on her haunches and stare up at Rebecca curiously. He reached down to scratch behind the dog’s ears in approval.
“Don’t scorch the book like you did the door,†he warned when he saw her tense and her knuckles whiten, his tone serious but his expression teasing. “If you were truly meditating while you did other things, you wouldn’t almost lose control like that. You wouldn’t have to reach inside for the source of your power to calm yourself.†He paused, studying her dimly-illuminated face carefully. He searched her soft features for the answer to a question that had just surfaced within his own mind, and when he found it, he smirked. “You’re doing it backwards,†he pointed out, nodding. “That’s why your control is faltering. Your initial reaction is to shy away from the power in you that blows things up, right?†He arched a brow knowingly. “That’s the entire problem, right there. You’re putting a lid on it and bottling it up until the anger passes. The pressure just builds and builds. What you need to do is reach further within and embrace it...tighten your grip on it and force it to do your bidding.â€
He watched her carefully, his eyes never leaving hers. “It’s a part of you, after all. Why shouldn’t you be able to control it?†He chuckled, tearing his gaze away from hers to look at the book that she held in her hand at her side. He shone his flashlight on it, a subtle shiver running down his spine as the light touched its worn leather cover. It appeared unharmed, at the very least, but despite the good news, his mood darkened. Thoughts of the prophecy once more swirled through his mind. There was more to that simply-stated prophecy than what dwelled at the surface. Suddenly Hawk was reminded of his dream -- the vivid color, the horrifying and entrancing beauty of the woman’s stare...it was all so reminiscent of...of...
He interrupted himself immediately. No, Rebecca couldn’t possibly be a part of it -- why, she’d just begun her magical training that afternoon! It was ludicrous. He was too tired. At breakfast, she hadn’t even believed that magic truly existed! He pushed the whole idea out of his mind with something akin to desperation, and he inwardly chuckled in an attempt to rid himself of the funny feeling that had crawled over his skin.
When he looked back to Rebecca, his green eyes were solemn, but they didn’t say that way for long. At the melodramatic tone of her voice stating that she’d read to the beginning, he burst into chuckles, her foreboding words echoing comically in his mind. “Pardon me, but I’ve forgotten...are we living in a soap opera, or a horror movie?†His laughter quieted when she returned the question. “I read...enough,†he replied, sobering up. “The last page, and a few pages leading up to the gap in the writing. One entry in particular seemed...important...†A shrug lifted and dropped his shoulders; he offered no more explanation. He had to sort it out himself before he tried to relay it all to Rebecca, and that required more time than he’d yet had that day to spend. “I don’t know what to make of it. There are too many questions and not enough answers, and I think this diary just thickened the unknown.â€
He furrowed his brow at her sudden command not to lie, and he was again reminded just how much he wasn’t going to enjoy the weeks to come. “Why would I lie to you?†he asked defensively, frowning. “Only a liar herself would be paranoid enough to accuse another so suddenly. How about you, Rebecca? Are you a liar?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:07 am
by Astrophysicist
“I’m doing just fine for the amount of time that I have given to this whole magic business!†She corrected, glaring in his general direction as he tried to demean the accomplishments she had made in the shortest amount of time in the world. “I’ve been practicing for less than twenty-four hours and I’ve managed a great deal in that amount of time that I’ve even been aware of the ability to do things with a word or a will. It’s complicated to process. I wasn’t raised in a family like yours you know?†She mentioned, rather peeved that he was lecturing her and severely degrading what she had managed to do.
Rolling her eyes as he continued to stare at her, Rebecca responded again.“It’s not as though I consistently lose control. I’ve lost it only a few times and I’ve been a witch…what, knowingly a day! I personally think I’ve done mighty well all things considering.†She brushed a strand of blonde hair from her face and lowered her eyes momentarily before looking back up at him. “I also managed to fix the crisped door without your oh so wonderful help.†Her eyes gleamed triumphantly but also with a bit of humor sparkling in the amber pools. Then he continued to bagger her about her meditating and putting a lid on it and whatnot. Rebecca tossed her head a little in an annoyed fashion and exaggeratingly rolled her eyes. “I am sorry that I suppressing my abilities so that I don’t bring a house crumbling down on itself or light an entire forest on fire.†She shrugged her shoulders. "I’m more than willing to try if you don’t mind explaining the damage.†Rebecca’s eyes twinkled again as she brushed the same strand of hair from her face. It was very persistent about blocking her vision.
When his flashlight rested on the book in her hand she tossed her gaze down and back up again, catching the look that lingered in his eyes. She frowned deeply. He seemed so lost in thought and then suddenly horrified and filled with a sense of want all at once. Raising both of her eyebrows, she opened her mouth to say something but closed it as he looked up and made fun of the way she had spoken about the reading that she had accomplished before that little dog had come up and snatched her materials. “Oh don’t mock me!†She snapped at him, narrowing her amber eyes immediately, frowning at him. “And you are one to talk...Mr. Thickening of the Unknown. Honestly, don’t act as though I’m the only slightly melodramatic one.†She paused.
“But I agree. I think I need to brush up on my history a bit. I don’t understand much of what is going on besides the general gist of the story of Salem that everyone knows.†She played with the book in her hands, running her middle finger along the pages, feeling the worn sheets beneath touch and enjoying it greatly. It was a rather calming effect but didn't help much since he didn’t seem to elaborate much on his readings.
Then, Rebecca didn’t know why she suddenly asked him if he was lying to her. It was a ridiculous thing to say. She didn’t understand why the words tumbled from her lips and didn’t like the sudden air that tensely erupted between them.
“I don’t know!†She snapped, hoping the conversation would go no farther than his first question. But he continued and she cringed openly, looking deep at his face for a moment before lowering her eyes to her feet. Why had she done that? So foolish. They clearly weren’t moving on from the topic. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She mentally berated herself for being so hasty with her tongue and not thinking before she spoke. Then he asked her if she was a liar. He was treading in dangerous territory and she had led him straight to it. But at the end of the territory was a secret so great that he could have whatever information he desired out of her and the dangerous territory was worth it for him…not for her. Swallowing, Rebecca ran a hand through her hair and let her bright eyes rise to his.
The truth exploded. “No! I’m not a liar!†It was hard to contain in such a way but the urge to elaborate rose up inside of her as well. I can't lie. I can't tell a damned lie when asked a direct question. Anything is open to you. Ask me and it will come straight out. I. can not. lie." She swallowed as though it would keep it in, but it wasn’t holding it back. She shook her head and kept her eyes holding his. Truth. Truth and honesty were a horrid curse. Horrid! Pursing her lips, she swallowed a third time. She lowered her eyes and couldn’t lift herself to raise them. “I am not a liar.†She whispered, softly, her hand tightening on the book again, knuckles the palest white they had ever been.
ooc: Ew....
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:07 am
by Astrophysicist
His lopsided smile returned as she spoke, her frustration only fueling his amusement. “Go ahead,†he prompted. The irritated sparkle in her eyes was exactly what he needed for inspiration. She had been the one to dare him, after all, and he was never one to turn down a healthy challenge. Even if it was only metaphorical, their little confrontations were too good to dismiss with simple compromise. If there was anything he’d learned from the young blond-haired Nurse girl, it was that there was no harm done in arguing for the sake of arguing. There was no such thing as wasted time when one could squeeze out a couple of laughs and a handful of snarky remarks. A battle of wit and sarcasm was worth every second.
“Burn down a forest. Destroy the farmhouse. I dare you,†he continued nonchalantly. He met her gaze, his green eyes twinkling with playful challenge. He knew she would never follow through; her threat was empty. She was nearly as arrogant as she was naive to the world of witchcraft, but he knew she would never deliberately endanger the lives of others to prove a silly point between bickering acquaintances. “I dare you!†he repeated, this time more assertively. His own healthy confidence shone through his eyes. “I can explain anything. You know I could.†He raised an eyebrow as he studied her, stepping back to lean against the tree. He folded his arms across his chest. “Besides, it’s not as if your grandfather wouldn’t figure out it was you. I wouldn’t need to explain anything.â€
Hawk shook his head, his smile broadening. Oh yes, Fredrick Nurse would know. It was a rare ability that the old man possessed -- when used in large enough quantities for drastic enough outcomes, he could detect and identify the lingering magical power in the surrounding air. It was just another quality that made Rebecca’s grandfather distant and intimidating. At first, it had made the young Hawk wary; he tried his hardest to use as little of his power as possible during his chores around the farm in case he made a mistake and invoked Mr. Nurse’s wrath. It was only much later that he learned Fredrick could only detect extremely large quantities of power, and even then it was unlikely that he could accurately trace it back to an individual witch. Hawk had never heard of anyone else with that particular skill. Perhaps it had come from his years as a doctor, getting to know the inner workings of thousands of people over many years.
“So,†he went on, lifting a shoulder in a conclusive half-shrug. “Be my guest, Ms. Nurse. Just be ready with an explanation for Fredrick.â€
He smiled charmingly until he saw her expression rapidly transition from annoyed to fearful. He furrowed his brow. Rather than being on the offense, she was suddenly defensive, her eyes lashing out at him with the same lightning-bright amber anxiety he’d seen in her before. He tightened his arms across his chest and fought a shiver. He wasn’t entirely certain how to react. Her words exploded from her lips with a fervor he hadn’t witnessed any previous time, and he saw the way her posture stiffened and her arms shook. Something was happening that he could not explain, and it frightened him.
He felt exactly as he had in his dream. His heart thundering in his ears with sudden concern, he reached out to her with his power as he would with a wild, scared animal, doing his best to ignore the memory of his nightmare. He knew he could not tap into her mind as he could with them; he knew he could not connect in the same way. But the sudden urge to try genuinely surprised him -- but it was the only way he knew how. If she did not calm down, she would start a fire, whether she meant to or not. She was dangerous. He had to do something.
He pushed himself from the biting bark of the tree and stepped close to her, looking down and waiting for amber to meet emerald. But she did not look up, not even as she repeated herself in a soft whisper. I am not a liar. The pure honesty of those words struck him hard. Without thinking, he gently raised his calloused hand and placed it lightly upon hers, white-knuckled and trembling.
“Tell me something, Rebecca,†he said quietly, still searching for her gaze. “What is it that’s upsetting you?â€
I am not a liar.
o.o.c.:: Look, Kelly! A reply! Finally! I hope it's okay!
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:07 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca suppressed an annoyed noise as he mentioned her grandfather. That accursed man seemed to always know when she was up to mischievous deeds. Whenever she had snuck back in past when he desired her to be home, he would know. It was as if she could never be devious enough to slip under his nose undetected. Frederick Nurse had an ability that she would have called magical but even now that she knew that witchcraft existed, she still didn’t think that her grandfather had extraordinary abilities. Frowning at the thought of having to explain a missing forest, the youngest Nurse let her thoughts travel.
Blond hair caught the slight night wind and whipped around her face, brushing across her freckled nose. Her mind wandered to her family and why her father had never told her about his parents. Why had she never really been introduced to the idea of magic if both of her grandparents had been magical? Was her father a witch too? She needed to talk to someone about it but she couldn’t speak to her father and her grandfather would surely restrict her power if she mentioned it to him. She had a dilemma on her hands.
As she thought, her eyes traveled over his face and an annoyed look passed across her face. That charming smile. How she’d love to knock it off of his handsome face. Damn him for being so smug and sure of himself. She also loathed his desire to argue with her. Of course, she loved to argue but he was supposed to take the so called high road.
Are you a liar?
The feeling continued to bubble up in her. The inability to fabricate truths consumed her entirely. She urged herself to overcome it at this moment. Only her family knew that she was incapable of telling a lie. She didn’t want this farm boy to know her secret as well. She couldn’t have him know it. Hawk would abuse it and manipulate her and she would be able to hide nothing from him that he wanted to know. Licking her lips, her body physically reacted to the mental battle she was fighting within herself.
On the air, she could just taste the magic surging in him. His aura radiated power and if she hadn’t been so consumed, her own magic might have sought out his unknowingly. Now, at this exact moment, her magic was pushing her to the limit. Her magic was urging her to be honest and she was fighting against it. She needed some release, she need to let the power out. Her mind burned as though it was alit with flames.
Amber eyes fazed over with power. It surged beneath her skin and made her fingers itch with unspent magic. Either she gave into the magic and spoke the truth to him in its entirety or she released the full energy of her magic onto their surroundings.
Then his skin touched hers and his hand gripped her own tight fist. Startled honey eyes shot up as the magic retreated, as though he had just blown out the flame of a candle. A candle about to burn down the whole city of Chicago, that is. The desire to be honest faded as she felt his touch. It flickered dimly inside of her and then sparked to life again at his question. She swallowed. Rebecca had no power left inside of her to resist the next words.
“That you may keep asking me questions in hopes of finding out that I am a liar, to prove your own point.†She licked her lips, the truth spilling out of her. Her eyes maintained his gaze as her mouth formed the words. Inside of her, she was afraid of these words. They expressed feelings for him in an indirect manner. They showed that she did want his approval. “That you may think of me as a liar.†And find out my secret.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:08 am
by Astrophysicist
As soon as his fingertips brushed her soft skin, a rush of energy shot up his arm. He was immediately seized by pain’s merciless hand, its fingers wrapping around his body and tightening like a hungry boa constrictor. The muscles in his limbs and torso tensed. The visible jolt threw him violently backward, his stiffened limbs suddenly limp and useless as he was thrown to the ground. He was too disoriented to notice the trembling tree branches and the sudden gust of outward wind; his eyes weren’t open to witness the flash of electric fire that shot like a backwards lightning bolt up towards the sky from where their hands had touched just nanoseconds before.
He didn’t have time to react. He didn’t even have time to think. When he tumbled backwards into the tall unkempt grass, his mind was blank, floating in the black and white haze that existed between awake and asleep, between consciousness and trance. He couldn’t move. A moment of blissful, still silence washed over his senses, and when his eyelids fluttered open, all he could see was the distant star-filled sky. Everything else was dark, dark as night, dark and motionless as death. Unable to quite grasp what had just happened, his first coherent thoughts pertained to the loss of the flashlight; it must have shattered upon impact when it was thrown from his grip. And as those memories dimly returned, his concentration slipped.
And that was when it hit him.
The force of it struck him with the force of a vicious tidal wave, washing over his mind in an onslaught unlike anything he had ever experienced before. Suddenly, he was back in elementary school, calling his parents because of his “headaches†-- his inability to block out the thoughts and feelings of nearby living beings. Since then, he had learned to constantly habitually meditate, keeping his mind closed to the barrage of the animal kingdom’s conscious. He relied on that wall of separation to keep himself healthy, to keep himself sane and functioning. If he could not regulate his attention, he could not regulate his life. He was exceptionally strong, and a very talented witch, but he could not live beneath the ceaseless pressure. The assault of a million cacophonous voices and senses would be too much, too draining -- it would leave him dangerously powerless for little more than a futile chase of cogency. He didn’t stand a chance.
Muscles still aching, he shot up to a sitting position, throwing one arm back to support his upper body. His other hand, his skin raw and burned from where it had come in contact with Rebecca’s, flew to his eyes, his thumb on one temple and his fingers on the other. “H-help, I-I...†he stammered softly, crying out with overwhelming anguish. He shifted positions, trying to get his legs beneath him to stand. Unsuccessful, he fell to his knees, reaching out blindly for some sort of tie, some sort of anchor to reality. The wild, desperate look in his open, unseeing green eyes was frightening.
Distantly, he knew he had to regain control. He had to recognize the situation, stay calm, and push enough of the outside feelings aside to begin meditating again. But that task was much easier imagined than done. It had never been this difficult for him when he was young -- was this the price he was to pay for slowly learning and perfecting his magical art? Was the strengthening of his weakness his reward for diligently fighting it? It didn’t matter. He couldn’t afford it to matter, not now. He was drowning, drowning in a turbulent sea of sounds, visions, feelings, voices, emotions, pain...and the only soul there to take his hand and pull him from oblivion’s embrace was the amber-eyed city girl he’d met only yesterday...
o.o.c. :: Gasp! Drama! <3 You and Rebecca have my permission to do whatever you wish with Hawk. Just, y'know, behave! (;
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Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:08 am
by Astrophysicist
All of her magic retreated and she thought it had gone back inside of her. All of her strength and all of her magical ability was hidden beneath the surface, or so she had assumed when she started speaking to him. But it appeared that instead of blowing out the flame, Hawk just took the candle from her. Before she knew what was happening, he was laying on the ground a good twenty feet from her. Rebecca struggled to understand what was going on. How had he been thrown like that? Things had always happened around her, surprising her, but they had always been related to her thoughts at the time. And she certainly hadn’t imagined Hawk being thrown backwards from her so viciously…well, not at that particular moment at least.
She cried out, alarmed, but unsure of what to do exactly. It was as though she was watching herself in a movie, unmoving as he struggled on the ground to right himself. Her amber eyes watched him struggle but her limbs were too weak to move, her brain was not sending the correct impulses to her limbs. They weren’t sending any impulses. She wanted to scream! What the hell is going on?! She wanted to cry out as she helpless watched him, or tried to watch him when suddenly the flashlight went dead from a distant place beside him. She struggled to draw on her magic, her power, trying to focus like he had taught her to do.
But he was dying! Or it looked like he was dying. The way he was struggling against whatever was tearing him apart from the inside made her want to wretch into the nearest bush. But she couldn’t even do that. She was lifeless. Her body was immobile despite her mind imploring her body to move towards him, to help him in any way she could. All of her abhorrence evaporated like a glass of water in the Sahara. There would be time to chastise him for his idiocy later. Right now, she had to make sure he lived long enough for her to kill him.
Rebecca closed her eyes, forcing them to not watch what was happening to him. Honey orbs were hidden behind her lids as she blocked over his cry for help. She mediated, letting all sounds leave her as she searched for the place inside of her where that happiness was. The place inside of her where she felt a freedom she had never known before. And she found it. A jubilant cry escaped her lips as she drew on her power, finding that he hadn’t drawn it all out of her body like she had assumed.
Just as she parted her eyelids, she watched him try to stand. “No!†Rebecca found her voice, though it was choked with emotion. As much as this farm boy grated on her very last nerve, she had no wish to watch his magical demise occur before her very eyes. Swallowing, she found her feet as she had found her voice and with a run, closed the distance between them. Her knees hit the soft mound of grass with a thudding sound, but she didn’t care if it left green stains on her clothing.
“Hawk.†She called, unsure of what to do. His eyes seemed to look through her as amber and green gazes locked together. Repressing the shiver that wanted to run its course through her flesh, Rebecca acted on instinct. Taking a slow breath, she raised both of her hands to his head and placed her palms against his cheeks. Her fingers spread up to the base of his forehead as she made certain that he didn’t jerk from her gaze. “Oliver.†Rebecca breathed, her voice nearly inaudible, but she wasn’t speaking with her voice anyways.
Oliver. Her velvet voice was in his thoughts as their eyes were locked as if engaged in a staring contest. Listen to me. It was then she was assaulted with a fraction of what he felt and it took all of her energy and magical ability to force her body to remain erect. She gasped in alarm but pushed through it. He needed to be saved from this. It was excruciating, agonizing pain that wracked it way through her. But she focused solely on speaking to him without language.
Focus, Hawk. Focus on me, my voice. Listen to just this. Urgency entered his head then as she let her power channel through her hands and using it to suppress his thoughts the only way she knew how. Listen to me. Follow me back… She pushed through the birds in their nests and the horses in the barn, dreaming of sugar treats. Rebecca drew him towards her, closer and closer, trying to help him ignore the plants beneath their feet, dying under the pressure of their bodies.
Me, Hawk. It’s only me.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:15 am
by Astrophysicist
The wind was beneath his wings as he soared above the vast countryside. His claws dug into the moist earth as he prepared to charge forward after his unsuspecting prey. His jaw worked with the effort of properly chewing his oats. His fleeting dreams of air and sun consumed him. The mosquitoes buzzed deafeningly in his ears. The light flutter of his membranous wings was nothing compared to the strobelike sonar outlines of the flitting insects with whom he shared the night. The rustling of leaves startled him. The frogs croaked. The grasshoppers. The moonlight. Prairie. Earth. Water. Wind. Rustle, quiver, jolt, calm, still, swift, alert, dream, fire, run, run, run, run, run...
She was absolutely right. He was being torn apart from the inside, ripped piece by piece until he had nothing left but his own physical presence. It would drain him of both power and life, depleting his energy until he was gone, completely lost to the raging deluge of his own abilities. It would carry him to a place he had never before traveled, and from whence he could perhaps never return. There was no way to know what would happen if he were to submit to the outside forces and lose himself. Could he come back? Could he ever fully recover? His talent was more curse than gift; it was more dangerous than beneficial. He didn’t deserve it. He had been careless, foolishly allowing himself to take his magic for granted, forgetting in all the chaos the importance of meditation in his very delicate case.
He was in absolute agony. Nevermind the surge of Rebecca’s power that had burned through his body only minutes before -- that was nothing but a spark he could allow to fade into the past. The electric shock of her magic surging within his veins would have been a welcome change to the current migraine pulsing behind his eyes and ears. He was having enough difficulty trying to breathe, let alone clearing his mind enough to regain composure. It was impossible. Distantly, he felt his strength disappearing; he grew weaker by the minute, and it was only a matter of short time before he collapsed with physical exhaustion alone.
His skin was on fire with feverish heat, and his russet hair stuck to his forehead. He couldn’t close his eyes, yet he could not focus on what was in front of him. As she approached, Rebecca was nothing more than a dim vision on the hazy shoreline of his awareness. He could feel the presence of her consciousness among the whir and torment of his bombardment. Without the strength of body to physically reach out for her lifeline, he extended what little of his power he still managed to control, unexpectedly meeting hers midway. It was enough to anchor him, if only for a split second, to his own world and his own thoughts. He pulled on the connection, scrambling to escape his own mental trauma, entwining around the steady stream of her magic just as she was working to find a way in. His eyes began to water.
When her voice sliced through his mind, he started and gasped aloud, leaning forward into her grip. His name? Had he heard his name? It was the same sensation he got when communicating with animals -- a message transmitted wordlessly -- but it was all wrong, so different...
Rebecca...
He clenched his eyes closed involuntarily, but he could still see those amber eyes staring into his. He focused on them, clinging to the sound -- or rather, the feel -- of her soothing voice, of her existence, of her cool hands on his burning face. Her power, whether she meant it to or not, surrounded his mind, filtering the torrent enough to allow him to take over. The safety of the two of them was dependent upon him now; their powers were too closely intertwined for one wrong move to affect only the initiator. Slowly, gradually, he allowed himself to relax, first physically, then mentally. He slouched his shoulders forward, bowing his head and sighing. One voice at a time, he was able to block the assault, reinstalling his shield of meditation, leaving him panting and disoriented when he was finally able to look back up into the city girl’s eyes. The agony began to subside.
Rebecca, you... He stopped abruptly when he realized, startled, that was still connected with her, still communicating nonverbally. He could not read her thoughts; he could not feel anything but tiny bits of her experience. It was so similar in method, but so different in sensation; his mind tingled as though numb. He drew in a deep breath, unsure how to express himself without using words, and continued. You saved my life.
Weakly, and without any premeditation, he leaned forward and pulled her into a tight embrace.
Thank you...for helping me. I...I don't know what happened...
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:17 am
by Astrophysicist
The second her non-calloused city hands pressed against his face, her palms began to sweat. His face was a hot as boiling water and she had to resist the instinct to draw back immediately from the unbearable heat. But she thought of cool water and ice and soon found that she didn’t need to worry about her hands anymore. Rebecca needed to focus all the strength that she had left on trying to draw him back from whatever personal hell he was enduring inside of his mind.
Jump, plop, flee, scurry, munch, snore, hiss, hoot. Rebecca thought that she was going insane. Every animal noise, thought, desire within a two mile radius was echoing inside of her head, as though she was reading his thoughts as his mind was overloading with the thoughts of the beasts around them both. Swim, hop, bark, caw, hunt. This had to stop. The young witch tugged on her power to find him, focusing on her memories of him in order to find whatever personal thoughts he may have left. In her mind’s eyes she summoned a picture of him.
It was the first time she had laid eyes on him, before she threw a book at his head, before he refused to help her fix the door. He hadn’t even known she was watching, from her place up on the hill next to the barn. His dark hair was clinging to the back of his neck with sweat and his muscles rippled beneath his shirt as he tried to calm an angry mare. He was strong in this memory and he was a complete enigma. Rebecca brought this into her mind, and then project, searching through all the thoughts, feelings, ideas of animals to find him.
Hawk. It’s me.
Rebecca feared she was losing him and her grip on his face tightened just slightly as she surged their power together, pushing away the crickets and the frogs and the horses in the barn. Then, just when she felt as though he wasn’t going to come back to her, she heard her name, inside of her mind. The sensation was startling. Her mouth parted just slightly. Hawk had spoken to her. It was a telepathic conversation and she wasn’t sure how it was happening but didn’t care to figure it out. He had responded!
Don’t leave me yet, farm boy. She said into his mind, seeing dogs’ thoughts about catching a cat and cats’ thoughts about how subservient dogs were. Rebecca tossed them aside like a dirty rag, searching for him, trying to clear all thoughts from his head. Everything needed to go, except her own essence, mingling with his.
Outside of their minds, the Nurse girl thought she heard him sigh, but she couldn’t really focus on anything other than his own thoughts. Her eyes glazed over, like his had done. She couldn’t really see him just yet. Her power was draining fast as she managed to force away the thoughts of the owl that prepared to grab a snack on the little wood mouse beneath his tree. Her muscles gave way and she sank back onto her legs, unable to hold herself up in a kneeling position anymore. But her slender fingers did not let go of his face.
His voice echoed in her head again and she blinked, focusing her eyes on him. She cocked her head just slightly, her blonde hair tumbling towards one shoulder. His lips weren’t moving and she felt entirely drained, but they were still connected. How? Oh, who cared. I do. She responded immediately before feeling his arms encircle her. She was momentarily confused, before she let her hands slide from his face to around his neck. She was relieved and she couldn’t keep herself from projected that emotion into him. It seemed Rebecca had no magic left to keep some thoughts to herself.
For a long moment, Rebecca kept her arms wrapped around him, lost in the feel of the safety of his arms. After all, she would have been a fool not to have been frightened out of her mind after what happened. Then she regained her senses and became the Rebecca that he knew better, the one that never let her guard down. Pulling back, her amber eyes looked at his green ones.
You took my power, you idiot. Ah! Stop, no more thoughts. She cleared her throat and looked down for a moment. “When you touched me, I was on the verge of a break and then it was gone.†She glared at him then, but her voice was soft, if not scared. “I could have killed you.â€
Then she felt weak. She had never been this exhausted. Rebecca inhaled a ragged breath and shook her head. How can we still talk like this? Her hands now rested in her lap and they weren’t touching, though they were very close together. I’m not even touching you anymore…
ooc: bwhaha. I thought I would up it a little bit by making their telepathy permanent. (:
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:18 am
by Astrophysicist
He couldn’t shake the feeling. Even after the voices had ceased and the calm of the night settled in their place, he couldn’t quite settle down. He’d been shocked and burned by her magic, thrown twenty feet, knocked nearly unconscious, and then assaulted by every animal mind in the countryside, so it made sense that he felt a little out of sorts. But this was different. He was mentally, physically, and magically exhausted, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t recognize a problem -- if it was a problem at all -- with his back-to-normal perception. Something felt...off.
Hawk could feel her emotional relief as easily as he could feel her arms slide around his neck. The subtle movement was so natural and delicate that he forgot how uncharacteristic the gesture was. Her obvious solace very much mirrored his own -- he was just happy to be alive again, to understand the world through his own body. He inhaled deeply. The thick aroma of prairie grass mingled with the faint scent of her hair, and he allowed himself to relax further, reveling in the silence that now surrounded the two of them. All was peaceful, and with the exception of the bizarre feeling he could not manage to escape, all had been set right again.
It was only when the city girl pulled away that he recognized the tiny shivers traversing the length of his spine. He’d felt the same sort of lingering electricity only a handful of hours ago in the kitchen at dinner. He rocked back to a sitting position, wincing at the stiffness of his joints from kneeling. He momentarily closed his eyes, fighting against the remnants of his headache as he struggled to understand what was going on. Why was it he could still feel her there? Me? I am no idiot! he replied automatically, realizing only after his message that their exchange had been completely nonverbal.
Too confused to be annoyed, he continued aloud. “You’re an idiot,†he retorted, his voice hardly above a whisper despite the old glowing playfulness in his gaze. “You shouldn’t let your power build up like that.†He tried to laugh, but it ended only in a fit of hoarse coughing. He laid back with a grimace, one hand cradling the back of his head against the rough ground, the other resting on his stomach. It took him a moment to regain his breath enough to speak. “If your little lightning bolt didn’t demonstrate to you the importance of meditation and keeping controlâ€--he paused, clearing his throat--“then my experience sure should’ve.†His expression changed then, his brows furrowing. Why could he feel her persisting fear as she spoke?
He frowned, though not with anger, when he received more of her projected thoughts. I do not understand this, he responded, though it was more to himself than to her. We don’t really have to speak out loud this way. Maybe it’s nature’s way of preserving our strength. We very nearly died, you know... He trailed off with uncertainty, propping himself up on his elbow to study her. Gently, but entirely experimentally, he reached out to her folded hands, placing his fingers upon hers. “What do you feel?†he asked, not noticing a change himself. He glanced up, tiredly searching for her amber eyes in the moonlight. “Any different?" He smiled weakly. "Apart from the whole lightning bolt thing, of course.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:18 am
by Astrophysicist
“You are a complete moron! Idiot. Imbecile.†She added, as though to force the gravity of what he had done down his throat. She stared at him with that look that she gave people when she was far beyond displeased with their actions. Rebecca Nurse was very skilled at showing her dislike for both people and situations caused by those idiotic people. “You said it would take me more than a day to learn to meditate properly anyways.†She responded, throwing the words back in his face. He had told her not to rush anything, so why could he assume that she could maintain control now? “So it is entirely your fault.â€
Amber pools ran over his body for a minute and she sighed, closing them to rub at her temples. She was in much better shape physically and mentally than Hawk was. Magically, well, that was an entirely different matter. Her soul had never felt so hollow with that commanding and vigorous presence that had always resided within her. As she closed her eyes, she felt it trickling back into her from her surrounding and her heart skipped a beat for joy. It wasn’t gone forever! Smiling to herself, she opened her eyes and then promptly rolled them at him.
Then his voice echoed in her head and she realized that it wasn’t just his voice. It was his essence. She could smell him when he spoke to her and she could feel the embrace that they had shared. The sensation sent a shiver down her spine but she cocked her head, listening to him intently. To any outsider, it would look as though they were two lunatics staring at each other for sport. His body was laid out before her and it was hard to not notice the ripple of his muscles beneath his shirt as he was sitting up. Embarrassment flared up in her mind and she had no idea that he was getting emotional vibes from her, because she wasn’t receiving the same. Rebecca only heard and sensed his words, nothing more. When he did not choose to say anything telepathically to her, it was as though their connection never existed.
Before she realized what was going on, the farm boy had placed his calloused fingers along her own and she felt a jolt of surprise, but nothing more. She narrowed her eyes at the contact and then raised her gaze to watch his lips form the words. Rebecca decided she much more preferred to actually hear him because she felt as though she was less insane that way.
“Nothing.†She shrugged a little, trying to put on an air of nonchalance at their more than unusual contact this evening. First, he had hugged her and she had not immediately thrown him off, and now his hand rested gently on top of hers. Her eyes traveled back down to it and that when, allowing her eyes to focus in the darkness, she saw that his hand was burnt. She let out a noise of astonishment.
“Hawk! You’re….†She sputtered, not quite knowing how to put it. Burnt would have been an excellent choice. Unfortunately for her, Rebecca was more than a little exhausted. “…deformed!†She managed to say, turning her hand over beneath his so that it was cradled in her palms. Her brows furrowed and she focused a bit more inside of her for her energy, that happy place. Finding it, it was more powerful than she would have thought possible after their horrific encounter with every living creature around.
“Can I…†Could she what? She didn’t know how to heal, exactly. Rebecca turned her gaze to his face. “May I fix it…?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:19 am
by Astrophysicist
He couldn’t believe her nerve. “After everything that’s happened, you think I did that on purpose!?†he retorted, his green eyes flashing fire. His words were as vicious as his hoarse voice would allow. “I was trying to help you!†He coughed, then continued. “You should have seen the look on your face. You looked like death! What the hell came over you?†He glared at her pointedly. Had he the strength to stand, he would have leapt to his feet with sudden anger. This was what it had to be. They were right back to the beginning, “You knew you were pushing it when you started reading spells from that blasted book when I told you you weren’t ready. And now you want to blame me for my own pain and yours? Think again, city girl. I won’t have any of that.â€
He could feel sweat break out again on his forehead from the effort it took to argue. He sat up a little straighter as though to prove his point, trying to hide the trembling in his limbs. He wasn’t sure if it was the exhaustion or the rage; he could only safely assume it was both. How dare she lash out like that! What happened to the magical intimacy they’d shared only moments prior? They had worked together as friends would, fighting a force about which each of their fates were wrapped. And now, in what was supposed to be the calm after the storm, they were stirring the waters again, wasting what little energy they had left. He supposed it was appropriate. The city girl, of course, didn’t know any better, and he was too weary and on edge to let anything slide by for later discussion.
Several deep breaths seemed to be the quick cure for his anger. He felt his heartbeat slow as he watched her look him over, and he found some strange satisfaction in watching her eyes traveled up and down his frame. He dismissed it and opened his mouth to speak. “This isn’t a fairy tale, Rebecca,†he told her seriously, his soft tone almost frightening following his louder outburst. “Magic is not laughter and ease. Magic is life and death. And I don’t think I have to tell you that we came pretty close to dying back there.â€
When he sat up to move closer to her, he hesitated, narrowing his eyes. He felt embarrassment, but it was not his own. He paused, arching a brow, studying the blonde-haired Nurse girl with an expression caught somewhere between surprise and curiosity. Surely his ability to sense her emotions was a temporary side-effect of their power-exchange and connection. It was a strange, unfamiliar feeling for Hawk, who had never before connected with a human in the same way as he connected with animals; the language, the very essence of their conversation, was completely and totally foreign. His own transmission of messages was surely crude and organic, and the complex combinations of simple images and feelings seemed too clumsy for the sharp wit of a human mind. If he was going to talk to Rebecca, he would have to adapt his entire mental vocabulary. It would be no easy task.
You feel nothing, he said to her, more a statement than a question. Her answer should have surprised him more than it did. I can’t understand this. It’s like--
He was interrupted by a sudden onslaught of surprise and astonishment, two feelings that, once again, did not belong to him. He glanced up before she actually spoke, the expression in his eyes betraying his bewilderment. She did not seem to be reacting to any of his emotions, so how was it that he was able to upkeep the connection? Rebecca, unlike any animal, had power of her own, which made a mutual agreement necessary for such communication. It seemed pretty unlikely that she’d given him permission...
Her voice split his thoughts, and he looked down. “How--†he began, then stopped, watching her as she gingerly cradled his hand in her palms. He hadn’t noticed the severity of his burns until then, and he winced as the stinging pain suddenly registered. “How do you have the strength left to heal?†he finished, wiggling his fingers with a sharp intake of air. He groaned. “It needs medical attention. If you can heal it without doing more damage, I wouldn’t complain.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:20 am
by Astrophysicist
“Well you sure as hell didn’t touch me accidentally!†She snapped back, amber eyes just as fiery as his own. Where his remained green, hers seemed to shift to a burning orange, flaring with her anger. He shouldn’t have touched her in the first place, then they would both still be arguing about her ability to lie…well, maybe this was a better situation, for her at least. Then he asked what came over her. Rebecca paled again. Then her amber eyes glared. She tried to keep the anger at bay, not knowing that he could feel her emotions, sense her thoughts. I’m not a liar. She thought to herself. “I don’t like being accused of something I’m not, farm boy.†She spat, accentuating his name with a little more force than may have been necessary for the line.
Her teeth gritted together and finally, she managed to calm herself with a little extra effort on her part. As he spoke, in her mind, she shrugged her shoulders as he reiterated the statement she had just made. Nothing at all was passing between the couple like it had been when she first placed her fingers to his face. And neither of them knew that she had tied her mind to his permanently. She planted herself as an anchor in his thoughts. When she said to follow her, she had left that anchor there, not knowledgeable enough in witchcraft to think to pull it out. It was a lost art among current witches, not used since the 1600s, not even by the original Rebecca Nurse. So how was she to know that she had intertwined them together so permanently?
Despite what he may think, magically, she had given him permission. And she had also staked him as her own. If any other mind would attempt to touch his, she’d sense it. It was something that witches had used in medieval times, to help escape persecution, linking themselves together in order to alert more from a distance if trouble was brewing.
The look at his face made her cock her head again, much like a dog might when someone was speaking to it. “What…?†She asked letting her voice linger for a moment, before returning her attention back to his hand. Her eyes took in all of the burn marks and she frowned slightly. Rebecca didn’t actually know how to heal him. It was a difficult situation but her magic was rebuilding itself inside of her with a remarkable speed. Energy would not be the issue here.
Again, her shoulder rose in a shrug and she licked her lips. “I don’t know. I just…don’t feel as tired as I did when you finally regained control over your mind.†And no more probing from him would find the answer. Inability to lie or not, she couldn’t answer based on what her subconscious knew to be the truth. “Don’t move them!†She snapped, hearing him groan just as she rolled her eyes. Men. She thought again, letting her eyes examine the damage that her magic had done to him. She had caused him this pain. It had been her fault that Hawk was injured so badly, that he couldn’t even find the strength to stand up. Guilt rose up in here and she tried to make it go away. That definitely wouldn’t help her with this task.
“I’m glad you have such overwhelming faith in me.†She raised her eyes just a bit to show her disapproval. “Make sure you don’t go into education. You’re not good at building confidence.†And with that, she tuned him out of her head (or so she thought.) She thought of nothing but the thrill of touching her power source, of letting it wash over her like rain. Once she tugged on it, it came willingly. The magic leapt and danced inside of her and she had to force herself not to lay back and bask in its glory. In her head, she formed an image of him. That same image she had used before wouldn’t work. The one where he had shot out his hand for the glass. The kitchen when he had helped her bake. Rebecca allowed her photographic memory to tap into a detail image of his hand.
As her eyes remained closed, her fingers trailed gently over the scarred, burnt flesh and power surged through her fingers. Slowly, steadily, his skin repaired itself, stitching together like a needle and thread. She thrilled in the sensation of her magic, letting it carry her away as her fingers ran over his flesh, gently and tenderly. It was done in a matter of moments and his skin was as good as it had been, but she didn’t stop cradling it. She let his hand rest in hers as the other hand’s fingers ran from the middle of his palm up each finger. Her touch was a butterfly’s kiss, barely a whisper but amazingly satisfying.
When she withdrew, her green eyes flew wildly open and she looked down at his hand that she still held in her own. It was better. In fact, it was better than better. There were no calluses, no scars from cuts he may have gotten when he was younger. Nothing but pure, flawless skin. Rebecca bit her lip.
“I think I got carried away.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:20 am
by Astrophysicist
nger once again boiled inside him at her outburst. “Of course I didn’t touch you accidentally,†he spat, wrinkling his nose as though disgusted, “but I saved your life.†Though soft, his tone just as serious as it was coldly infuriated. “And I was almost killed, Rebecca. Does that mean anything to you?†He glared at her, pointedly waiting for an answer. This wasn’t something he could let go. If he was going to be her teacher and mentor and school her in the ways of magic, she had to recognize and respect the absolute raw potential that all power contained. As he’d pointed out to her before, witchcraft wasn’t a convenient little talent that could get her chores done faster and make her dreams come true. It was a force of nature; it was a weapon. It was dangerous and wild, a force beyond all imagination and understanding. And it had very nearly stolen both their lives.
He allowed a sigh to escape his lips, his shoulders once again sagging forward with exhaustion. He closed his eyes. It wasn’t worth it anymore to argue; he was too tired to enjoy it, and the gravity of their situation hardly justified their typical silly banter. The surrendering of his hand to her healing power was as close to a handshake of truce as he would ever get with her. Had he any remaining magical strength, he could have mended his burned skin himself; small human injuries, especially when they were his own, were simple enough to fix. But if he’d tried, and sapped the leftover energy from his system, he would have fallen unconscious right then and there. He already wasn’t thinking clearly. Later, he would question his allowance of the untrained Rebecca to heal an instrument as important as his hand...but that was for another time.
When she drew upon her power source, he felt the air change. The hair on his bare forearms stood on end, and he winced at the recent memory it summoned. The energy radiating from her woven magic electrified the air, but it was a strange, soothing breed of electrification, one that made his skin tingle and shivers wrap around his spine. It felt untamed, almost savage with borderline anger (unmistakably her doing), but he felt absolutely calm. He watched, sleepily amazed, as she nestled his hand in her own, her fingers trailing over his palm as her magic worked. His skin, pale and blueish in the moonlight, grew back anew, his seared nerve endings repairing, his muscles regaining their strength. Had he not been so transfixed with the process, he would have laughed at how accurate Rebecca’s accidental usage of the word ‘deformed’ had been. The damage had been more extensive than he’d realized.
She finished abruptly, but it seemed almost as though the process still proceeded She did not let go of his hand, and he made no effort to pull it away. Her velvet-soft fingertips ran delicately across his infant skin, and he felt his heart skip a beat. He looked up calmly, watching the subtle changes in her facial expressions as she continued to look down and trace the newly-reformed lines in his palm. He didn’t quite know how to respond.
“Thank you,†he said genuinely after several moments, flexing his fingers and closing them softly around hers. Remnants of her previous guilt still rung in his sluggish awareness, and he wanted to break the silence peacefully. “Do you think you could help me up? I would kill for a glass of water, and I don’t think it’s the greatest idea to spend the night out here...†He pulled his hand away and pulled his knees beneath him, sitting up a little straighter. He’d been thrown from the vicinity of the tree, so he had nothing with which to support himself as he struggled to stand. “I think I can make it to the stables.â€
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:20 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca examined the skin, marveled that she had been able to repair it. But her memory was entirely photographic, which had helped her ace every test she ever took. It was a rare ability and she supposed it was God’s gift to make up for her lying incapability. She held his hand for a moment longer and watched his fingers flex, amazed at the movement. It was something that she had done that had made him be able to do that again. She was causing damage, like she did to her mother’s frail condition, but she was also repairing that damage now. Perhaps, she could help her mother when she returned home. Now that she knew she was a witch, she would be able to limit the accidents and surprise survivals.
Although he was surely grateful, she felt none of his emotions. Rebecca was quite pleased with herself and smiled, despite the horrid situation that they had just endured together. Her happiness bubbled inside of her but she didn’t let it show outwardly as he asked to be helped up. With her magic growing inside of her, she felt stronger than she had when he just gained control over his mind. Licking her lips, she placed her hands on the ground and forced herself upward with a simple motion. Her body was lithe and she was still young. She also couldn’t get physically hurt, so that helped.
She extended her hand to him and pulled him up effortlessly. Her bright amber eyes looked up into his eyes when he straightened to his full height. She hadn’t realized how tall he was until the moment and it made her feel rather small. Annoyance mingled with another emotion formed in her but she sighed them away. With a toss of her pretty blond head, she laughed at him outright when he said he was going to go to the stables.
“You are dumber than you look, farm boy.†She said, slipping her arm beneath his because she knew that he wouldn’t make it a few feet without tumbling under his own weight. “Trust me, you can’t go anywhere tonight.†Rebecca was not pleased about it, but after nearly killing him with her own power and then saving him, she didn’t really want to see him crash and burn on his way home. She moved him away from the direction the barn was and back towards the house. She peered at it for a moment and noticed that none of the other lights were on besides the one on the porch. “I don’t think my grandfather is coming back tonight. He’ll probably stay in Salem until tomorrow.†She pulled him gently after her.
“You can sleep in my bed.†A thought crossed her mind. The two of them in the same bed and she winced at it, inwardly. “And I’ll grab the couch.†She finished, not knowing that he would be able to peer into her head. Licking her lips, she rolled her shoulder a little and looked up at him. “You look like complete shit, pardon my language.†Rebecca wasn’t one for cussing, in fact she rather abhorred most of the words, thinking that there were enough words in the English language to find a good substitute. However, there was really no better word to describe the current look of him, than ‘shit.’
They passed the tree and she saw the book, making an imprint in the grass. “Hold on a sec.†She mentioned, letting go of his arm and bending down to grab it. She brushed some dirt off of its worn cover and tucked it into the side of her pants, not having any pockets big enough. She also had to help him down the hill, so she had no free hands.
“Come on.†She tugged at him, waiting for him to protest. But he hadn’t argued before well and she doubt he would put up much of a fight now. After all, she was currently stronger, healthier, and more stubborn than he was. Miss Nurse would win without a doubt.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:21 am
by Astrophysicist
It was strange, the feeling he got when she took his arm and helped him to his feet. Through their shared connection, he could feel his own body as someone else perceived him. The certain sway of his tall frame as he walked, the tightening and loosening of muscles as he struggled to maintain his balance, the lingering heat of his own ebbing fever -- it was surreal to simultaneously experience both sides of his own existence.
With animals, it was completely different. While often he could pick up signals that they were sensing him, the messages were far less straightforward. Their language came in rushes of sights, sounds, tastes, and feelings, and it was only with practice that he was able to pick apart their different streams of consciousness and piece them together into coherent lines. The strongest in the hierarchy was never his own perception; they had other things with which to occupy themselves. This was especially true for the young horses, the ones he trained on the Nurse farm. They recognized his presence (since that was necessary for communication, after all), but the task at hand took too much of their absolute concentration for any deeper details.
Her happiness startled him as she latched on to his arm, and he frowned a little. It didn’t surprise him that she would twist the situation to take pleasure from his pain. It was a constant game of give-and-take and laugh-and-be-laughed-at, and they were the two major competitors. What did surprise him was the purity of the emotions he was able to pick up from her. Now that the immediate aftermath of the incident had passed, he had regained enough of his strength to stand and speak without endangering his life. So why, then, did their connection rage on so strongly? He narrowed his eyes and sighed, utterly bemused. He studied her for a moment. Why isn’t she responding to my exhaustion? he wondered. Or my confusion?
She interrupted his thoughts with her laughter, and his frown deepened. “You have such faith in me, city girl,†he said, rolling his eyes. His annoyance didn’t last long before he caved to her suggestion, realizing her logic. No, it wasn’t a good idea for him to drive home. He would have slept in the stables if he’d had to; there was no sense dying in a motorcycle accident on a rural highway after he’d just survived a lightning strike and a full-on mental assault. He felt a small pang of Rebecca’s guilt echo within his system. On a whim, and out of sudden curiosity, he opened his mind just enough to embrace their connection rather than repel it. It was a test, of sorts, to determine just how much information he could squeeze from their shared channel.
Unfortunately, as he was soon to find out, it was quite a bit.
A sudden vision flashed through his mind of two figures in a bed. It didn’t take him long to realize it was himself and Rebecca, alone in the farmhouse...doing who knows what...He slammed his mind closed.
“Ohh, you!†he heard himself exclaim before he could stop himself, his face contorting in an expression of horror and disgust. He pulled away from her grip unsteadily, glaring at her in the moonlight with a wrinkled nose and narrowed eyes. “I’ll take the couch, thank you very much,†he said sourly, keeping his distance. He took a few unsteady steps forward, his arms spread for balance, building his confidence as he taught hie legs how to walk again. He would sooner tumble down the hill and break his back than rely on her for support the entire trek to the farmhouse. He shuddered.
“I think I’ll take it from here.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:21 am
by Astrophysicist
“Just as much as you have in me, Oliver.†She responded, knowing he didn’t have enough strength to swat at her for using that name her had forbidden her from uttering. Her amber eyes sparkled with amusement before he let out a shout and she looked at him in surprise. What had gotten into him to cause such a reaction? Both of her eyebrows rose above her lids and she cocked her head just slightly. She examined his face in order to read his emotions and she saw his displease flash across his features just as he pulled away from her grip.
“What?!†She shouted, annoyed that he would rather hurt himself further than let her help him down the slope. Men were so utterly ridiculously. They never asked for directions and they were incapable of accepting help from others, especially women. She gritted her teeth and anger flared up inside of her to replace the jubilation she felt upon doing something right with her magic. Inside of her, the magic swirled, coming to her aid, ready to take her anger out on someone. But she didn’t want to hurt him again so she turned her back to his retreating form for a moment and bent down.
Placing her hands flat on the ground, she allowed the heat of her rage dissipate through her hands, to calm both her power and herself. When she picked her hands up from the dewy grass, there were handprint sized burn marks into the ground. They were perfectly shaped and she let out an annoyed exhale. Closing her eyes, she shut off her mind to his teetering steps and focused on her marks. That was when she was assaulted with a sensation of pain from…the grass?! She opened her amber eyes and looked down, sighing softly. She shouldn’t have gotten so angry. She needed to learn to control herself.
Very carefully, Rebecca held her hands over the imprints and channeled her magic once more. Slowly, the grass rose in pleasure and recovery and she even encourage a small flower to grow there. It was a small white lily, which certainly didn’t belong in Massachusetts but it would be her apology to the earth that she had caused pain in her own anger. A grin spread across her sun-kissed face and she turned around and moved after Hawk.
A bark of laughter escaped her lips as she discovered just how far he had gotten, which was a miserable few feet away. I will never understand him. Ever. She moved over after him slowly, not yet taking his arm. Rebecca was entirely unaware that he could read her thoughts, had no inclination that he had seen that image in her head that she hadn’t wanted to have in the first place. As she approached his side, her amber eyes turned to him. Miss Nurse thought the connection had been severed over time, because she couldn’t hear his thoughts at all. I was only trying to help. Stupid, farm boy.
“Look.†She said after a minute. “I don’t know what I did, but you have to take the bed. Your muscles will be stiffer in the morning if you sleep on the old couch.†She placed her hand under his arm, but didn’t touch him, just ready to catch him if he took a misstep. “You can lock the door if you’re afraid of monsters.†She teased, narrowing her eyes at him and wondering just what the hell had gotten into him. They had been doing relatively well…for them at least, when they began their descent down the hill.
She tucked a strand of blond hair and watched him totter along, knowing that on his own this was going to take an entire hour for him to make it to her house. She stepped in front of him, stopping his steps. “Let me help you down.†It’s going to take all year to get down if he doesn’t let me help. She thought to herself, rolling her eyes just slightly.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:21 am
by Astrophysicist
The confusion he picked up from her interfered with his own absolute certainty of what he had overseen, and it sent him mentally reeling from the mixed messages. Her bafflement was almost as confusing as it was infuriating. He had to put a halt to his slow descent to turn around and face her, narrowing his eyes to peer through the dark. Her expression was easy enough to read: raised brows gave way to furrowed ones, and she gritted her teeth as her emotions surged between bemusement and irritation. He could feel them radiating from her like the heat from the summer sun.
The frustration and annoyance that flitted through his own system was only amplified by her own as he watched her turn away. Childishly, he ignored her, returning his physical concentration to his gradual journey back to the house. At least her perplexity meant she wasn’t dwelling on the idea of them sharing a bed, and the image had been nothing more than a brief -- albeit potent -- thought. He shuddered once again at the memory, his face twisting into a scowl. He supposed he’d gotten what he deserved for deliberately prying, but it hadn’t been his goal to get that far. He’d only wanted to explore the boundaries of his apparently-one-sided connection, to test its limits. It was only natural to seek such knowledge and control over something so magically intricate; it was the only way to stay safe. Especially with someone as youthful, untamed, and powerful as Rebecca Nurse.
As soon as the name flashed through his thoughts, the familiar static feel of her magical electricity filled the air. Turning around a little too abruptly, he threw his arms out for balance and searched for her wildly in the darkness. The night’s experience taught him that that sensation meant danger, and he wasn’t about to risk another incident -- even if it meant sacrificing the satisfaction of waltzing away and turning a blind eye on Rebecca.
He watched with curiosity as she bent down and placed her hands on the earth. Despite her anger, though, he was not afraid; this time she had recognized the potential within her. It would take several more months of practice before she would learn to dispel her pent rage without having to release it literally. At least for now she could recognize when it was time to relieve the pressure.
When he felt her magic dispel, he turned back around and continued walking. He gained speed as he gained confidence, but he didn’t make it far when he heard the bark of laughter behind him. He could feel her scorn practically tremble as she approached and planted herself in his path, eyeing him patronizingly. “Look, city girl,†he said, his overly-kind tone betraying his displeasure. “It’s either the couch or the stables for me, your choice.†He took several more steps forward, brushing past her with surprising ease. He smiled to himself. His strength was gradually returning, and he could feel it beginning to refill his muscles and veins, perking up like the garden plants after a rainstorm. No longer wilting quite so much, he didn’t look back as he continued toward the house.
“I don’t care if it takes all night to get there,†he called back to her, still wobbling. “Go on ahead if you’re so impatient.†He managed an even broader smile. “Besides, to use your eloquent phrasing, I feel like shit. I think I need a shower.â€
o.o.c.:: Feel free to skip ahead to when they get to the house, if you want. If Rebecca feels the need, she can force help on him. (: Also, sorry about the crappy response -- I haven't had much free time to write! I did want to get something up for you, though.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:22 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca’s power was very similar to an untamed, unbroken stallion. There was no way to consistently rein it in and she certainly had difficulty mounting consistently. But it was such a magical and unknown force that she reveled in its ability to soothe her when she needed it most. Her magic was something that she had possessed her whole life and she had been using it a lot longer than she knew, but it awed her to the point where she was unsure if she wanted to use it all the time. Especially after the catastrophic events that had happened to Hawk and his mind, Rebecca was trying to be more careful with her anger and its link to her magical energy.
“Don’t act so tough all the time.†She snapped back, annoyed that he was being so damned stubborn. Being stubborn was her job, not his. Her amber eyes flared with annoyance and she shook her head. Then he brushed past her and she resisted the temptation to push him over just to show him how weak he actually was. Sleeping on the couch would only make his muscle ache and he had work to do tomorrow. Fredrick might ignore his granddaughter but she would be damned if he ignored a hobbling, stiff Hawk. And Fredrick knew when people were telling lies and then the stupid farm boy would have to tell her grandfather the truth and she did not want that to happen. Ever.
She scoffed at his words, turning around and heading after him. “It will take you all night. Then he’ll come home and you’ll have to explain why you’re stiff and then you’ll have to explain why you were helping his granddaughter learn magic behind his back.†Rebecca knew he was stubborn but Hawk didn’t want to get caught teaching her any more than she wanted her grandfather to know that she had abilities beyond any normal witch. “Come on. I used to sleep on the couch all the time, so it’s not that big of a deal.†Truth.
The young witch was not pleased at all about his antics. They were proving to be most bothersome and she was tired. She had been drained magically, emotionally and almost physically. Rest was necessary but he was making everything much for difficult. Licking her lips, she placed herself between him and the stables, walking on that side of him as they neared the house. “I don’t trust you out here by yourself.†She responded. And so she walked by his side until around fifteen minutes later they made it to the bottom of the hill and headed over towards the house.
“You can take a shower in the back room. The towels are in the cabinet above the sink and I’m sure I can find some of my dad’s old clothes that might fit you.†She had after all, found a bunch of things that were in boxes down in the basement. “I’ll put them outside the door, okay?†Rebecca managed to keep all of her thoughts clean because she certainly didn’t want to envision him in the shower. Luckily for her, she managed to keep her thoughts wholesome.
Opening the door for him, she watched as he hobbled inside. “I can make some tea. My grandmother says it does wonders after a long day.†Her mother’s mother that is. They had meet a few times over the years and were a lot closer than Rebecca was with Frederick. “It’s just back there and to the side.†She motioned down the hallway with one hand and smiled a bit, but just a bit. She hadn’t forgotten how stubborn he had been about sleeping in the barn.
“You need anything else?†She asked, shoving her hands into the back pockets of her pants, looking at him quizzically.
He’s sleeping in that bed whether he likes it or not. I’m not going to get caught because he’s as stubborn as an ass.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:22 am
by Astrophysicist
He ran his fingers through his hair as he waited for her to unlock the front door. The damp locks preserved the paths of his fingers, each auburn strand sticking up in a different direction. Despite his returning energy, the trek across the farm to the house had not been easy. Though he would never admit it to her, it was Rebecca’s steady presence at his side that had allowed him to make the journey in its entirety; knowing he had a shoulder to lean on should he lose his balance had been just enough to get him through. But that wasn’t something the young witch girl needed to know. Ha! The idea alone was enough to make him shudder. It was embarrassing enough to harbor the thoughts himself; her big-city ego didn’t need another spoon-fed meal from him or anyone else.
He raised his eyebrows at her comments, his expression caught somewhere between amusement and annoyance. He didn’t know whether to laugh or roll his eyes, so he struck an agreement and settled with both. “You have even less faith in me than I have in you, city girl,†he said quietly, his green eyes twinkling with mirth in the golden glow of the porch light. A light chuckle shook his shoulders. “I know your grandfather better than you think I do. I probably know him better than you do, come to think of it.â€
He stepped inside after her, gently closing the screen door to prevent its usual gunshot-like slam. The last thing he needed was any more animal activity to weed through and sap his strength, and a sound that sharp piercing the night was liable to wake every sentient being on the property. He shook his head at the very idea, thankful for their quiet entrance and the blissfully silent house. A shower and a good night’s sleep – a simple enough prescription – was precisely what he needed. What he didn’t need was a sixteen-year-old telling him where he could or could not sleep.
For a few seconds, he stood still in the entryway, reveling in the dark, soundless atmosphere of the old farmhouse. He closed his eyes and sighed with weary resign, the weight of the night’s past events finally settling heavily on his shoulders. It will be a miracle if I make it through my shower standing up, he thought wearily. His gaze wandering to Rebecca’s silhouette in the dim hallway, he reached over to switch on the kitchen light. Groping their way around in the dark wasn’t going to help either of their causes.
SNAP.
It was only accidentally that he knocked the light switch down – the back of his knuckles struck the plastic piece as he instantly withdrew his freshly-healed hand. The room flooded with the mild, soothing light of the lamp above the sink. A small gasp of surprise escaped his lips, and he looked accusingly at Rebecca, cradling his right hand in his left.
“Shocking,†he said dryly, barely cracking a startled smile as a shiver ran down his spine. He stepped forward, his heart racing, and headed down the corridor to the back bathroom where she gestured. He brushed past her as easily as he had back on the hill and didn’t look back until he reached his destination. “Muscle stiffness is nothing a little spell or two can’t alleviate,†he informed her confidently. “My strength will be back tomorrow, and then I will be fully capable of taking care of my own aches and pains.†He studied her for a moment, raising a brow. “But I am taking the couch. You think I’ve never slept there before?†He laughed. “Your little secret is safe with me wherever I sleep, city girl, don’t worry. You think it would be any easier to explain why I was in your bed?†He shook his head with playful incredulity, enjoying every second of her exasperation. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me tonight, but if you’re staked out on the couch when I come back out, I’m heading straight out to the barn,†he warned.
He flashed her his most charming smile, disappearing into the bathroom with a satisfying click of the door. Oh no, Miss Nurse was not going to win. Not if Hawk Callahan had any say in the matter.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:22 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca laughed at his temporary pain, shaking her head as though she was a mother with a silly child who had hurt himself. A smile curled her lips just slightly as she looked at him. He was rather pathetic like this. Cute, but pathetic. She would be very surprised if he didn’t fall over in the shower or fall flat on his bottom after he got out. She shook her head as he brushed past her and she leaned in the doorway for a moment, watching him with her dark eyes. He was certainly an interesting boy and she supposed it had something to do with his rural lifestyle because she knew very few boys who would not crack jokes about being offered a place in her bed for the night. Interesting, indeed.
“I rather have you not casting spells for a while.†She mentioned, almost offhandedly but much in the same tone that he had used with her earlier in the day. Just mediate, blah, blah blah. Licking her lips, she paused in her thoughts for a long moment and sighed when he mentioned the couch again. “Whatever you say, farm boy, whatever you say.†She shook her head, watching him before letting out an exasperated sigh. “You may know my grandfather better than I do but you don’t live with him. If he goes into town, to the hospital, he doesn’t return until noon the next day at the earliest. There is no way he’d catch me on the couch and you in my bed.†Quickly, she put her hands up, palms facing him. “But it is whatever you say.â€
As she moved and he shut the door to shower, the wheels were already turning on that cognition train in her head. She bounded down the stairs to the trunks that housed her father’s old stuff and rummaged through it for a while to find someone that he could sleep in. She’d throw his clothes in the washer so he could wear them tomorrow. Finally, she pulled out an old T-shirt and some running shorts. Most boys slept in boxers anyways, didn’t they? She didn’t want to know what Hawk slept in and besides, there weren’t any in the box anyways. Carefully, she moved back up the stairs and set the clothes in a pile outside of the door so that he could grab them when he was done.
Then, she put her plan into action. Picking up the old book that she deposited on the table at their entrance, she scanned the spell pages. Her eyes ran over them all, interested until she found something similar to what she wanted. Locks. A grin curled her soft lips as she moved to the three doors in the house. Placing her hand upon their frames she locked them magically from the inside. Using a word that he would never guess, she set a passcode on it, only to be unlocked by her in the morning. She bit her lips, quite satisfied. Even if she had just put a magical lock that would be opened by any key, she doubted he would have the strength for it.
But he might surprise her and she couldn’t have him sleeping in the barn.
She moved down the hall to grab a pillow and a blanket from the closet and returned to the couch. She placed the pillow at one end and the cover at the foot. After a moment, she set the book on the table and headed off to make tea. Rebecca made a pretty good cup of tea if she said so herself. Her small hands placed his cup, still steaming and teabag still in the water, on the table before parking her bottom on the couch.
Take that. She thought, moving her lips to her mug.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:22 am
by Astrophysicist
Hawk could feel his strength returning with each warm droplet of water than ran down his body. Every deep breath of steamy air that entered his lungs refreshed him, simultaneously waking him up and readying him for rest. His muscles gradually relaxed, the tension releasing and evaporating like the cleansing water that flowed from the showerhead. Even his irritation managed to dissipate. He was beginning to feel alive again, like his old self, ready and raring to take on the world and all that life threw at him.
He closed his eyes and pressed his hands to his cheeks, tipping his head back to allow the water to rush over his face. He was thankful to be alive. Back on the hilltop, he hadn’t had time to be afraid. When his mild concern for Rebecca’s safety resulted in a vicious jolt of electricity shooting through his bones, his mind had been knocked completely clear. In those sluggish moments before he came to, he had known the peace and calm of sleep. The nightmare began when he failed to maintain his protective meditation, too disoriented, confused, and in pain to consciously realize his mistake and correct it before the barrage. There was no time for worry; there had been only desperation and instinct, his body kicking into survival mode when his mind could not. If it hadn’t been for Rebecca…
He gritted his teeth at the thought and turned off the water. He forced himself to discard the thoughts and took another deep breath to relax. He managed to pull the curtain aside and step onto the mat, bracing himself with a hand on the towel bar as he tipped his head forward and shook the water from his hair. He retrieved a towel from the cabinet and quickly dried off, wrapping the cloth about his waist to reach outside the bathroom door for the pile of clothes Rebecca has left for him.
He dressed without much thought, folding the towel and using it to wipe the steam from the mirror above the sink. He peered into the depths of the glass with a sigh. The young man that stared back at him was barely recognizable as the strong, fearless Hawk Callahan that had shown up for work that morning. Only his green eyes remained the same, shining like emeralds through his otherwise-exhausted visage. He shook his head and averted his gaze, squeezing the sides of the sink with tired frustration before heading back to face the force of Rebecca.
The bittersweet aroma of steeping tea mingled with the lingering scent of soap on his skin as he emerged from the bathroom. He immediately wrinkled his nose not with disgust but with creeping suspicion. There was something else in the air, something that reeked of the electric perfume of Rebecca’s magic.
He strode past her without awarding her a passing glance, pleased more than he cared to admit to find his own hot cup of tea waiting for him on the kitchen table. He wrapped his hands around the warm mug and took a sip, undaunted by the clouds of steam rising from the rim. Silently, he stepped to the door and attempted (to no avail) to tug it open. He rolled his eyes. Her doing, no doubt. Well, he was just going to have to find a way to get her off the couch.
His lack of strength did not allow for any spells powerful enough to accomplish anything with any certainty. He would have to resign to something only partially guaranteed to work – or so he hoped. Taking another swallow of his tea, he closed his eyes and sought out the very creatures that would send most humans shrieking and running to the other room: Spiders.
Fredrick Nurse kept his house clean as a rule, but even a sterile home wasn’t immune to the harmless infestation of a few eight-legged creepy-crawlies. They were more beneficial than harmful, and despite their hairy, multi-limbed appearances, they were actually quite friendly. He found a few smaller colonies in the vicinity and politely urged them to pay Rebecca a sweet nighttime visit, enjoying the strange, whisperlike sensation of their legs gracefully scrabbling upon the stucco ceiling.
He appeared in the doorway to the living room, watching out of the top of his vision the many small dark shapes converging to the center of the room above Rebecca’s perch upon the couch. “I noticed you locked the doors,†he said scathingly, leaning against the doorframe with irritation. He folded his free arm across his chest and glanced toward the window. “The windows too, no doubt?â€
As soon as his tongue collided with the front of his gums to finish his question, the spiders – all seven of them – dropped simultaneously to surround her, dangling from their silvery threads. He shot her a look of virescent daggers, a silent warning for her to remain still. Take that indeed.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:22 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca knew that the second he retreated from his warm oasis of the shower, he would feel the tingle of her magic. It annoyed her that she was not yet able to mask her handiwork. At this moment she wondered if he would teach her to hide it. Perhaps he would only teach her what was beneficial to them both…like teaching her to control herself so she didn’t overexpose his body to every living creature in a hundred mile radius. Frowning, she brought the mug to her lips and took a slow sip of the hot liquid. Its sugary taste rolled across her tongue. For a moment, she allowed herself to focus on the liquid. Slowly, she melted into it, stroking it with soft motions in her mind’s eye and felt it swirl. And it picked up its pace, turning into a whirlpool similar to the final scene in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
Her reverie was shattered when she felt him tug against her magic, the door that is. She looked up towards the kitchen and a smirk placed her strawberry lips. The whirlpool died in her mug, sending up a steaming moisture-filled puff directly towards her face. Shaking her head, she wondered what he was up to. He said nothing, which was odd for them. He always had something to say about her magic. The smirk of success turned into a frown of contemplation and a small speck of dread. What had he gotten into his head to do about this? He couldn’t get out. He needed her magically pass code. Was he going to try to smoke her out?
As she had with the mug, Rebecca sought out her magic and ran its tendrils along the halls of the hoiuse, searching him out. But he was more experienced, older, wiser in the ways of magic. She gritted her teeth and withdrew the power to her, securing it safely. She was still worried, after nearly killing him tonight, that if she didn’t control herself, something terrible may happen…to him. And her thoughts flooded with the idea that she would be distraught at his demise. The feeling washed over her and unknowingly, it would rush across him as well, filling him as it filled her heart. That is, until she pushed it aside with annoyance. He was just stupid Hawk. It didn’t matter, really. That boy infuriated her after all.
Beautiful eyes glittered with delight at his words. “Well aren’t you Sherlock Holmes.†She responded with ease, watching him. She took another long sip of her tea. Just as she was feeling superior to him, she noticed that a spider was dangling from the ceiling right in front of her nose. If it let itself go, it would fall directly into her steaming cup. She growled at him. Rebecca had never been afraid of insects but she was annoyed and she certainly did not want them to touch her. It was human nature to avoid creepy crawlies. She swallowed hard and those once happy eyes turned bitter towards him.
“You’re not getting the couch, Oliver.†She moved her teeth from beneath the spider and resisted the urge to gag when she noticed three more. Rebecca was blissfully unaware that they surrounded her. “What’s wrong with sleeping in a bed?†She kept those previous thoughts from her mind and cocked her head. She didn’t understand his odd persistence. Most people would leap at the opportunity to sleep on a mattress instead off the rather uncomfortable cushions of the sofa. Licking her lips she couldn’t sip her tea because it was hit the spider, which would in turn fall on her lap.
Tossing her head just a bit, she focused all of her attention on him. “Seriously, it’s the least I can do for you.†After I nearly killed you… Guilt tugged at her heart again and she tried to force the feeling from her body.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:23 am
by Astrophysicist
A smirk of satisfaction lit up his face. While he hadn’t achieved quite the reaction he’d hoped for – he never would have let her live down a good bout of screaming -- he could nevertheless feel her sudden uneasiness at the presence of the spiders, and it pleased him. He brought the mug of tea close to his lips, slowly inhaling its soothing aroma as he watched her. For a long while, he said nothing, allowing the nighttime silence of the Nurse farmhouse to seep like thick humidity into the cool air. As he watched her, his triumphant lopsided grin faded to an expression of bemusement, and he blinked with thoughtful curiosity.
Had he been aware of the way his green eyes were shining, filled with an emotion that would send most reeling, he would have immediately averted his gaze and sent the willing arachnids straight for her bare skin. Instead, he swallowed the final mouthful of hot tea and nodded slowly to himself. She truly was beautiful; he’d been too blinded by his negative first impression to really see it. Her delight with her own accomplishments and his words was nearly tangible. Her amber eyes burned into his emerald ones with confidence and strength beyond her years, and he felt a small shiver traverse the length of his spine. He chuckled inwardly, another lopsided grin breaking the previous mask. His hand, wrapped around the empty cup, dropped lightly to his side, and he disappeared back into the dark kitchen for a much-desired refill. He really was tired, wasn’t he?
After I nearly killed you. He froze mid-stride. The sudden words, icy with regret, rang through his mind with the clear certainty of a church bell. Still near the doorway, he turned immediately to look at her. His expression betrayed nothing this time – that was, until the wave of guilt washed over him. It was not his own feeling, that he knew, but it was altogether different than any animal he had ever communicated with. Guilt, though indeed known to more than one species, was a solidly human sensation, and it reverberated with potent weightiness across the preternatural one-way bridge that now connected Hawk Callahan and Rebecca Nurse. He felt his posture deteriorate with its sheer intensity, and he felt a sigh lift and drop his shoulders.
Perhaps he was just too tired to upkeep his usual playful persona; perhaps the weariness had finally decided that enough was enough. He urged his eight-legged allies to return to their business, releasing Rebecca from her spider-walled prison and thanking them profusely for their small bodies’ extra effort to help him out. “Look,†he said softly and eloquently, stepping forward to place his glass on the coffee table. “As much fun as it is to watch you wrinkle your nose with irritation, and as arrogant and forward and naïve as I think you are, I could never blame you for what happened.â€
He drew in a deep breath and stepped around the table, taking a seat next to her on the old sofa. “You don’t need to do anything for me,†he told her sincerely. “That’s my point. I almost died twice out there, yes. It was the result of your inability to control your power, yes. But you are a newborn in terms of magical experience, and there was nothing you could have done differently to stop its buildup.†He paused, gnawing on his lower lip as he frantically studied her face for a reaction. “You don’t owe me a thing,†h concluded, placing his hand – the one she had healed for him – lightly on her shoulder.
“Unless,†he added suddenly, mischief creeping back into his voice and expression, “you’d really feel better by doing me a favor. If that’s so, all you have to do is go up to your room and let me sleep here!†He finished his proposition by shoving her playfully to the side with the hand he’d already planted on her shoulder, leaning back with the momentum and feigning sleep with closed-eyes and deep-breathing.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:23 am
by Astrophysicist
The intensity of his gaze shocked her and it took all of her strength to keep herself from feeling any sort of emotion at all. Their eyes were locked so fiercely to each others that she felt something stirring in the source of her magic, urging her to reach out with a tendril of her power to find what she had when they had their minds linked. Little did she know that their minds were still linked in a one-way street that gave him an advantage over her. There was no doubt that once he regained his strength he would use their connection for his personal gain.
As Hawk turned away, Rebecca returned her gaze to the spider in front of her. She glared at it with ferociously and tried to communicate with the animal as he did. And suddenly, it crawled back up and disappeared. A smirk lit her face before the others ran off too and she knew that it was Hawk’s mastery, not her own. Sighing softly, she turned her attention towards the kitchen, wondering what had suddenly made him give up. He never let go of something that easily. The young witch’s gaze allowed some curiosity and suspicious to leak into her gaze but they widened slightly when he spoke to her so softly.
How had he known that she was feeling so guilty? Licking her lips, Rebecca didn’t like to admit that she had feelings. She had always been somewhat of a tomboy and had never really shown an interest in the opposite sex and emotions that usually went along with her gender. But then suddenly she felt some desire to show emotions around him…to actually act like she was a girl and not an invincible neutral persona.
Cherry lips parted as if in shock and closed just slightly again when she realized that she couldn’t find the words to argue with him or to say thank you. It was the sort of relief she needed from the agony and guilt that racked her mind and body when he wasn’t around. She wanted to never lose control like that again. She never wanted to hurt anyone with her power ever again. Taking a slow breath, she looked down, not noticing his movements until he sunk onto the couch beside her.
Amber eyes rose to look at his handsome face and she frowned just slightly before shaking her head. “I could have- I should have been stronger. I shouldn’t have lost control like that.†She whispered softly, before he placed his hand on the skin. And the feeling was electric. It shot through her, exciting every single nerve on its way to her brain and her mind then sent the signal to every part of her body. It took all she had not the gasp. My God.. She scolded herself, wiping her mind clean. She did so for her own sake and lucky enough for her because he would have gotten quite a “mind-full†if she hadn’t stopped herself. As she lowered her eyes to keep herself sane, she heard his mischievous tones and her eyes glittered brightly.
Rebecca returned to her normal self quickly the moment he shoved her. “Don’t count on it, farm boy. You’re in my spot.†She responded, grinning and leaning towards his reclined body. It could have been any number of things that caused what was about to happen next. They were both exhausted in all ways it was possible for witches to be exhausted. They were young and wild and crazy and they shared a connection only one of them knew about.
Or it could have been the thrilling sensation the city girl had experienced upon the placement of his hand. But whatever it was, Rebecca found herself leaning over him, looking down at his feigned sleep. Her face was mere inches from his and one hand rested on the cushion besides his stomach and the other on the back of the couch. Her mind had once had something smart to say and her hands had the intention of pushing him out onto the floor but she remained frozen, her heart pounding and her mind racing so quickly that there was no doubt that he would not be able to catch any sense in her thoughts.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:24 am
by Astrophysicist
The gentle scraping sound of the front oak’s branches, which caressed the rooftop in the soft summer breeze, mingled with their whispery breaths as their conversation fell silent. The calm night was giving way to a tranquil young morning, the day gearing up just as they were winding down. He remained motionless, his mind drifting this way and that, too weary to dwell on a single subject longer than a few seconds. His authentic exhaustion made it simple to stick to his sleepy role, and he had no intention of abandoning the script. His faithful dedication, perhaps too strong, was only reinforced by his drained magical state and physical fatigue. He doubted his current condition of consciousness could last much longer even if he wanted it to. Sleep, knocking steadily upon his door with its bony knuckles, was resorting now to forceful fists. Ignoring its summons would soon prove impossible.
As if on cue, Hawk felt Rebecca’s weight shift, the ancient springs beneath the couch cushions squealing their protest. Had his concentration been any weaker and his body any stronger, he would have grinned at his victory and thrown his arms wide – she was getting up, after all, and that meant he had won their childish battle; he could at last throw his feet up and settle in, heaving the door open to embrace his much-deserved slumber.
When he felt the pressure of her weight transfer to the side, his thoughts faltered. He dropped his celebratory thoughts as though he’d never had them in the first place, irritation swiftly replacing his gladness. He inwardly scolded himself for being so naïve; she would never give up so easily, not even when he had the power to guilt-trip her into giving up her claim. But what she did next took him completely aback, sending his annoyance spiraling into a neutral oblivion like a rainstorm dousing a wildfire. Though he did not open his eyes, he could sense her leaning in, narrowing the gap between their bodies and faces in a steady forward decline. Their magical connection, in his mind at least, flared to his mind’s eye in a burst of white light, the fine hairs on the back of his neck standing on end with the taste of the city girl’s magic in the air.
The only evidence of his simultaneous shock and horror was his suddenly-racing heart. Her own confusion and rush of feeling had crossed their connection, infiltrating his thoughts and magnifying his own experience tenfold. Had he not remembered his position anchored on Fredrick Nurse’s sunken-in sofa, he would have been swept away by the sudden current of electric energy that overwhelmed his senses. The familiar earthy scent of the old farmhouse still filled his nostrils; the soft crocheted blanket still lay beneath him, cushioning his lower back in his reclined position. But the world he’d left as his eyelids fluttered closed – that realm of everyday experience he’d known since birth – had completely dissipated. The earth shuddered beneath him with a different breed of vitality, picking up speed as it hurried to catch up with the rushing electricity in the air. His heartbeat pounded in his ears to its new rhythmic tempo, and he was suddenly afraid to move.
As quickly as the pace had picked up, it slowed, and he felt himself drifting back to the serene familiarity of thoughts and feelings that were solidly his own. Teetering on the edge of actual slumber, he came to his senses with a sharp start, his body jolting as though waking from a dream. His green eyes focused instantly upon her face when his lids flew open, and he withdrew immediately further into the couch.
Fluidly, he wrapped his hand about her wrist and slid from beneath her. He flipped to his side and caught himself with his foot on the cool wooden floor, drawing himself up to his full height. He looked down at her with furrowed brows and a barely-distinguishable blush in the dim light, clearing his throat with a mixture of embarrassment and bemusement.
“All right,†he said breathily, his nervous discomfort recognizable in the way he ran his fingers through his hair. He was already heading out of the living room and towards the stairs when he finished, not daring to look back into those amber eyes. “I’m tired. I’ll see you in the morning.â€
o.o.c. :: Want to fast forward to morning in your next post? Sorry I didn't give you a whole lot to work with...hope it's okay anyway!
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:24 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca didn’t know why she stopped. Her slender hand had been ready to push him wholeheartedly onto the floor right next to that creaky old sofa. But her hand had stopped on the back cushion when her electric gaze fell on his face. Her thoughts flashed this way and that, firing neurons faster than she could comprehend. It was a jumped of pictures and smells and desires and dislikes.
His face. His lips. The memory of his condescending laughter. His hand on hers. The moment their power met. Watching him scream in agony. The gentle look on his face when he spoke to horses. The thought of them in that bed together. The spiders he had summoned. Her anger at him stealing her book. The day she watched him before they had met. The feel of his hand on her shoulder.
All of these sounds, thoughts, images flashed through her mind in no particular order and without any sense that she was entirely exhausted and overwhelmed by it all. Mingled in most strongly with all of the other sensations was confusion. Rebecca was startled by the fact that she had stopped her attack in the first place. Between them the air was filled with magic and a ferocity that neither of them would have been able to deny…well Miss Nurse wouldn’t be able to at least.
His eyes opened and the electricity shattered, its tendrils fizzling out into the air between them. She caught her breath and immediately began to draw back, the second his hand entangled her small wrist. Allowed herself to be pushed back, she turned her amber eyes to watch him. Rebecca was speechless and found this odd occurrence another annoying thing about him. She didn’t like when people made her brain turn to mush and her voice disappear.
“Okay.†She responded, but that was at least a minute after he had disappeared from view. Slowly, she lowered her body back down onto the couch, pulling the blanket out from under her, where he had previously been laying. Throwing it out above her, it fell to rest on her lower body. Rebecca’s exhausted dissipated as her thoughts were consumed with him. What had happened? Why had she stopped? She searched her photographic memory but found that there were too many other thoughts in her head at the moment that she couldn’t place the cause of the occurrence down to one reason.
Eventually, after nearly an hour of contemplation and unease, the youngest Nurse heir drifted off into a perturbed sleep which ended only seven hours later around what was noon. Her grandfather would most likely be home by four…but that was plenty of time to get the farm boy out.
Pushing herself up, she ran a hand through her greasy hair and made a face. She needed to take a shower. Yet, recalling the previous night’s events, she realized that she couldn’t go into her room to get clothes without waking him up. Sighing, she went to the bathroom and settled for a hair tie and a face wash instead.
Carefully quiet feet moved into the kitchen and she began to get out items for breakfast. First eggs and bacon and then she popped a piece of bread into the toaster. She rubbed at her eyes slightly, moving the eggs around in the pan to scramble them to perfection.
ooc: it was awesome!! Hope mine’s okay. (:
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:24 am
by Astrophysicist
Flashing with new luminosity across the surreal landscapes of his tired mind, her face appeared once again in his dreams that night. It was as though she had manifested as a real person in his thoughts, his vision enhanced with the new knowledge that the amber-eyed young woman existed in flesh and blood. Her face, rounded by a sly, malicious smile, was flushed with life as she stared him down, ferocity shining in those bright eyes unlike anything he’d ever seen. The sparkling, familiar aroma of her untamed magic seared his nostrils as he breathed. Immediately his heart began to race with fear, his dream-instincts screaming at him to run, to flee. But he was frozen in place, helpless against the onslaught of memory, hatred, and terror that accompanied her presence. He tossed and turned with feverish discomfort, too exhausted to escape the clutches of much-needed slumber.
Barely forming words, it was her velvety dream-voice voice that woke him that morning, a breathy whisper tickling his ear. At the smooth sound, the wicked imagery of a nightmare-filled sleep dropped away, leaving him with the soft glow of a new dawn and the blissful chill of an early morning in an old farmhouse. A shiver ran down his spine as everything returned to him: Last night’s trickery, the lightning strike, the faltering in his meditation…He tightened his muscles for warmth and reached down for the blankets. The quilts of Rebecca’s bed encased his limbs like a hungry constrictor, tangled around his body as though a hurricane had slept in his place. He blinked sleepily and gritted his teeth against the lingering memory of her villainous face. He banished it with thoughts of the day ahead, busying his mind as he huddled beneath the sheets and planned his activities.
With renewed strength, he tossed aside the blankets and swung his legs to the side of the bed. He rose to his feet quickly and took a step forward, testing his strength and balance before he braved the walk to the bathroom. Satisfied, he pulled the sheets back in order and made the bed, folding the extra blanket into fourths and placing it at the foot. After splashing his face with some cool water, brushing his teeth, and combing his russet hair with his fingers, he made his way to the laundry room where he and the other farm hands kept a change of clothes. He slid off his makeshift pajamas and pulled on a pair of worn jeans and an old white t-shirt – the perfect outfit for a breezy summer day at work.
He glanced at Rebecca as he snuck silently past her post on the couch, smiling involuntarily at her soft breathing and night-tossed hair. He sidestepped the squeaky spots in the old floor and escaped to the kitchen. The green glow of the microwave’s digital clock made the room look foreign. He tugged on the shade and allowed the morning light to flood the interior. 9:37 in the morning and Hawk Callahan, after nearly draining his entire magical supply and stash of physical strength, was back to normal. Pleased with himself, he downed a glass of orange juice and headed for the door. He miraculously managed to remember that the young Nurse girl had trapped him inside, and with a lopsided grin, he wrapped his fingers around the doorknob. He felt their connection flare inside him, but whether it was a warning or a clue was beyond him. He decided it was the latter. Probing with his own power, he explored the web of spellwork with curious uncertainty. The magic vibrated with an old breed of energy beneath his touch. He should have guessed – her only available source was that ancient diary.
Almost without thinking, he whispered, “Prex obduco†– a polite command, derived from Latin, to allow him passage. Almost painfully, Rebecca’s weak spell retreated, her power flowing not to her slumbering form but rather into him, twisting with his magic until he had reabsorbed it all. He shivered, confused. His natural eloquence was neither a coincidence nor a random quirk; though he was completely oblivious to its abnormality and rarely used the skill to his advantage, his ability to verbally command his power with such success was a rare gift indeed.
Shrugging it off as nothing more than a strange after-effect of his regained strength, he left for the stables, making certain to close the door as silently as he’d crept through the house.
.+.+.+.+.
The stable door noisily swung shut behind him as he stepped outside the stables, thankful for the wind’s silky caress after several hours of working in a humid barn. Judging by the position of the sun, it was noon. Past noon. He squinted up at the sky and wiped his sweaty brow with his dirty forearm, glancing to the house without enthusiasm. He’d yet to see Rebecca return to the world of the living. Maybe it was time to make sure she hadn’t spontaneously combusted in her sleep.
Eager for a lunch break, he made his way back to the house, catching the scent of frying bacon via the dog’s keen sense of smell long before he could detect it himself. He entered the kitchen with raised brows, his lopsided smile returning again at the sight of her leaning over the stove.
“You’re up early!†he exclaimed cheerfully, kicking off his muddy boots at the door. It was as though nothing between them had ever happened – no almost-dying, no confrontations, no …he cleared his throat, refusing to remember the moment on the sofa. He stood behind her and looked over her shoulder, his mouth watering at the prospect of such a finely-crafted breakfast. Considering he usually settled for some juice and a piece of toast, this was a feast, even if it was lunchtime. “I really hope you plan to share. I’m famished.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:25 am
by Astrophysicist
It was an abnormally humid in the old house, the young girl noted as she left the eggs in the skillet for just a moment to open the window. Her lips prepared to unlock the window with the charm she had placed on it the night before. However, that proved entirely unnecessary as she felt no magic beneath her touch. Gritting her teeth she realized immediately that the farm boy must have found a way around her inexperienced magic. Rebecca felt her annoyance rise up in her but immediately shrugged it off. After all, he must be feeling better and he would also miss out on breakfast.
He could starve for all she cared.
But the truth of the matter was that she did care. Returning to her cooking station, she moved the eggs around a little more before reaching for a plate from the cupboard above her head. Drawing down the pretty china, she spooned the finished eggs onto the plate. The amount was staggering, if it had just been for her. Unfortunately as it would seem now, she had planned on feeding Hawk. With a mental shrug, she thought ‘oh, well, his loss.’ Then the mind traveled, almost as if it was trying to tell her something, to their sofa encounter the previous night.
Was that his loss too? Or hers? Her mind, photographic since the day she was born, replayed the moment in her head. Yet, something had happened that made the edges blurry of what was normally a vivid memory. Had her hand slipped and she had almost pressed her lips to his? Obviously that it what it had to be. There was no way in her right mind that she would ever want to kiss the dirty farm boy. With a firm nod of her head, she settled the matter with herself.
Pieces of bacon were dropped into the skillets, moving them around in order to make sure that they didn’t burn. Just as she was about to place the first finished piece of bacon onto the egg plate, she heard his voice and it startled her. Her hand faltered just slightly and the perfectly good piece of pork tumbled to the ground. Amber eyes turned to shoot him daggers momentarily before she let out a low whistle. As though he had been waiting for this exact moment, the dog padded hurriedly into the kitchen. Nearly tripping over his own four legs, he gobbled up the bacon and then sat his furry behind onto the floor beside her leg, waiting for another accident.
Rebecca turned her slender back to him once more, removing the remaining five pieces of bacon and placing them perfectly beside the eggs. It was then that she felt the warmth of his body behind her and her magic sparked at her fingers just slightly. Suppressing it with a firm will, the young witch turned off the stove and slipped past him. For just a moment, her side brushed against his hand and electricity shot through her. Angry now, at herself, she thought. What is wrong with me today? Still entirely unaware that there was a one sided telepathic link remaining between them after their near fatal adventure the night before.
“Mmm, I had planned to share.†She began, trying to get her mind off of whatever it was that it seemed to want to be on. “But that was before you ran off without a word this morning. You could have at least woken me up.†The blonde responded, drawing out three pieces of toast and grabbing another plate before turning her amber eyes onto him. She then grabbed the other food-filled plate and placed them both on the table. Grabbing a handful of napkins, she tossed them towards the table as well before heading towards the fridge.
A smile crossed her face just as she grabbed out the strawberry jam and butter. “You can work for your food though.†She responded, the smile turning into a smirk as she sat down at the table and grabbed the fork she had placed there earlier. “If not…†She pulled the whole plate of eggs and bacon to her and jammed her fork into the fluffy deliciousness before placing the huge bite into her mouth. She would eat it all.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:25 am
by Astrophysicist
He didn’t have time for a snarky remark in response to her teasing request to work for his food. The nondescript song of his cell phone pierced the thick kitchen air, shrilly slicing through the mouth-watering aroma of frying bacon. With a glance to Rebecca and an apologetic cringe, he fished it from his worn jeans pocket and silenced the ringtone, staring at the illuminated outer screen with a mixture of shock and confusion. Why is she calling? he thought, arching a brow. He hadn’t seen her since his high school graduation in the middle of May before she took off for France.
Curiosity got the better of him. “Sorry,†he said quickly, rising to his feet. “I should take this.â€
He cast a longing glance at the food awaiting him on the table, then stepped outside onto the back porch where he could carry on his conversation away from prying ears. With mixed emotions, he flipped open his phone with his thumb and paused before he greeted the girl he knew to be on the other end of the line. “Hello?†he said neutrally, as though he were expecting someone else.
“Oliver,†replied the voice loudly, its tone more scolding than friendly.
“Hey, Des.†He made a face and narrowed his eyes, staring toward the pasture where the horses were grazing for the afternoon. Her name tasted sour on his tongue. “What’s—â€
“I’m so glad I got ahold of you!†she interrupted excitedly. “Listen, well…are you busy right now?â€
“No,†he responded, unenthused. “What’s going on? I thought you were supposed to be in Europe for the summer.â€
“Listen, Ollie! I’m coming home!â€
Her words came so quickly it took him several moments to process what she’d just told him. “You’re coming home?†he asked dubiously, running his fingers through his hair. “Why? Is everything all right?â€
“It’s just for a little while,†she said. “My great uncle just passed away, and my dad really wants the whole family to be there for the funeral. He’s paying for my plane ticket back and everything.†She breathed a sigh into the phone, and Hawk held the receiver away from his ear. “I didn’t really know him, but it’s got my dad all sentimental and emotional. I mean, I guess I don’t blame him. They were close, so he has a right to be sad. But I don’t mind, really. Coming back, I mean.†She paused, and when she began again, her tone was slower, sweeter. “I get to see you again, don’t I?â€
He faltered, glancing back to the house. “Well, I’m working this week.â€
“Oh!†she exclaimed happily, taking his dispelling comment as an invitation. “I’d love to see where you work! You could show me around!â€
He sighed wearily and asked when she would arrive. His jaw nearly fell to his feet when she informed him that her plane had just got in, and she would be in town early that evening. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?†he demanded lightly. “Surely you knew—â€
“Sorry, Oliver, but I gotta go.†She muttered something unintelligible to someone else. “I have to arrange some stuff with my ride and get ahold of my mom. So it’s all right if I come see you?†He didn’t have time to respond before she spoke again. “Love you, Ollie. G’bye!â€
The line went dead, and his phone lit up to signal the end of the call. For several long moments he stared at it in his palm, his thoughts spinning wildly about his head. Should he be happy, or annoyed? Should he have been more assertive? Should he call her back and tell her to leave him alone? He grimaced, absentmindedly watching the young filly trotted along the fence line across the yard. They’d broken up for a reason. While it hadn’t been easy for either of them, he firmly believed it had been for the better – a long distance relationship simply would not have worked. She graduated the year before him and went off to college in California; he stayed behind in Salem and completed his senior year without looking back. They’d gone their separate ways, and it was as straightforward as that.
Unsure of what the appropriate response to this news should be, he headed back inside, taking childish satisfaction in the slamming screen door in his wake. He sat once more at the table across from Rebecca, studying her with an expression trapped somewhere between amusement and uncertainty. “Sorry about that,†he said, flashing her a smile. “Apparently a friend from high school is coming back to visit.†His eyes dropped down to the plate of still-steaming food in front of her. She wouldn’t eat it all if he had any say in the matter. “I’ll do the dishes if you’ll share with me,†he told her, nodding to the eggs and bacon. “Deal?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:26 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca turned her eyes towards him and noticed the expression of shock. If she had been the one with the telepathic link, it would have been much easier to know what was going on. Instead she would have to ask who it was. Unfortunately for the new witch, the boy excused himself from the kitchen making it so much harder to eavesdrop on him than it should have been. With her mouth still full of the fluffy eggs, the lithe form of an experienced spy moved from the sitting position it had previously been engaged in. Carefully, her small feet carried her closer to the door.
All she managed to hear were small snippets at first and knew that they had to be a better way to figure all of this out. (Pity the idea of asking him never crossed her mind. That would have been too easy.) Rebecca closed her eyes very briefly before finding her magic and drawing it towards her. She sent tendrils of the power out towards the door but knew better than to go much farther. Hawk was a much more experienced witch than she was and would probably be able to sense her if she allowed her magic to slither much further.
Enhancing it, she curved it, in a sense, around her ears to the point where she could hear just his voice. Regrettable, but it would have to do for now. Why are you coming home? She managed to hear and then her concentration faded away from his conversation to her own thoughts. Who was coming home? Why did this person, this talk, require that he leave the kitchen to converse? It was certainly an interesting train of thought that her mind was on but she realized that she needed to hear the rest of what was going on.
Once again, she sent her magic out but it stepped a little farther this time and she waited, scared, to see if he would feel it. But he didn’t. Hawk appeared to be too enthralled with this person to notice the magic on the perimeter. But now that she was closer she could hear the other line, though it was slightly fuzzy. Closing her eyes, she cleared the tendrils of her magic, making them into soft strings, as though they were small children talking to each other through metal cans connected by a cord.
Love you, Ollie. G’bye!
Immediately, the magic was cut as though by the Fates’ scissors. Rebecca scrambled hurriedly back to her seat and placed her bottom in it before he had even turned around to enter the house again. But she wouldn’t have noticed if he had anyways. Her mind was too absorbed with what she had just heard. Love you, Ollie. As in Oliver. As in an emotion. As in a girl. Her head began to spin as she came up with numerous scenarios as to why a girl would tell him that she loved him. It had been a quick goodbye but she had still said a word that Rebecca had never told the opposite sex before, besides her father of course. Swallowing, she thought that it must be a sister. But his sisters wouldn’t call him Ollie. He hated being called Oliver so she doubted that they would come up with something even worse than that. Something in the pit of the witch’s stomach tightened and made her feel sick. She had never quite experienced it before and attributed it to eating too many eggs too fast.
Thankfully, she came to that conclusion just as Hawk reentered. But the amber-eyed beauty didn’t notice him until he spoke to her and she turned her face up just in time to catch his smile. Her face was blank for a moment before she nodded her head and swallowed, finding that her throat was dry. Luckily, the juice was within reach and she took a long sip before responding to him.
A friend? A friend that says ‘love you, Ollie.’ Must be one hell of a friend. She turned her eyes towards him before pushing the plate away from herself and towards him more, obviously accepting his offer of dish washer. Of course there was a machine that could do that, but it he wanted to, then by all means she would let him.
Finally, the blonde found her voice and she cleared her throat a bit, piling eggs onto her plate, despite that fact that she had suddenly lost her appetite. “A friend, huh?†She asked, moving the fluffy food around on her plate a little, as though to give the illusion of eating it. “Are they a witch, too?†She didn’t know what suddenly made her ask it but then she realized all too quickly. It was a girl, that loved this boy before her and that was coming to visit. If she happened to be a witch too…then Rebecca’s competition just increased a thousand fold and she hated it.
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[18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
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Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:27 am
by Astrophysicist
He took a moment to respond to her, taking his time in loading his plate with a mountain of eggs, bacon, and toast. The atmosphere of the kitchen had changed drastically since he’d departed to take Des’s phone call, and he wasn’t sure he liked how the air had thickened. He narrowed his eyes when he looked back up at her, and when emerald met amber, a shiver rattled his spine. He sensed her confusion and her disbelief, but he was unable to make the connection between her tender emotions and the absolutely blank expression that passed over her pretty features. She alone was the source of the mood change, and the reason behind it was completely beyond him. Women, he thought jokingly, inwardly rolling his eyes. They were a species all their own, and he would probably never understand them. Especially not her.
He chewed and swallowed his first bite of breakfast and suddenly found it difficult to breathe. He was overwhelmed with an abrupt wave of feeling; her mixed emotions were interfering with his own. It couldn’t be a hint of burning jealousy that he detected. It couldn’t be anger or suspicion. Or could it? He sighed softly and set down his fork. All he wanted to do was sort out was how he was supposed to feel about his ex-girlfriend’s impromptu return to Massachusetts, and now Rebecca’s mood swings were getting in the way. He took a moment to collect himself, to re-identify his own thoughts and separate them from the intruders.
Part of him wanted to see her again. He and Des had not parted on terrible terms, and though he doubted their relationship would have lasted much longer than the year it had, there were no true hard feelings of which to speak. The leftover anger from their arguments had long since died with the passage of time. But even still, the other part of him couldn’t bear the thought of it. Des’s personality certainly took some getting-used-to, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to be overwhelmed again. He didn’t know if he would be able to remember how to decode her words and expressions; communicating with Des meant translating what she said into what she actually meant or felt, running each word through a filter before believing a syllable of it. Interacting with Des was exhausting. But maybe it would be nice – at least they had a time limit; her visit would only last a few days, and at least half of it would be consumed with her family and high school girl friends.
Well, it would be what it would be, he decided. He took several more bites before he spoke to answer Rebecca’s question, returning to the present meal with only a little reluctance. “There weren’t many witches in my school district,†he said slowly, trying to break the silence delicately and ease into a conversation. “But yes, she’s a witch. She’s studying in France this summer, and she’d flying back for a funeral.†He took a large gulp of orange juice and cleared his throat. “She graduated last year and is going to U-Mass now,†he added in explanation, his tone less than enthusiastic. “I guess it’ll be nice to see her again. It’s been awhile.â€
The awkward silence that settled between them was unnerving. He finished the last of his food and drained the remainder of his orange juice, his fork slipping from his fingers and dropping noisily to his plate. “Is everything all right?†he asked finally, his expression caught somewhere between concern and bemusement. “You seem a bit…tense.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:29 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca’s magic surged inside of her and she wasn’t quite sure how she was going to handle all of this. If this…this girl came to the farm and hung around him for a week, when was she supposed to learn her magic? Especially after the previous evening, the young witch didn’t want to practice without him around, without some sort of check on her unknown power. Neither one of them knew how strong, how great her magic was. She had been using it since she was born without knowing it.
The questions that the Nurse heir had for Hawk were infinite. Why could she heal herself without even knowing it? Why did it seem as though she never got injured physically? Why was her ability strong enough to send his mind into a frenzy? Why did her power enhance his own capability of speaking to animal? Why had it feel so serene and calm when their magic was intertwined and she had been in his head? She wanted to have a sit down with him and just hand him a list of her questions and have him answer each and every one to the best of his ability.
But this stupid girl was going to slam the breaks on their magical training journey.
Stabbing her fork into the fluffy yellow mound, she mashed them around a bit before reaching for the pepper and shaking it above her meal. Rebecca’s gaze stayed focused on her plate as he began to tell her about this girl that was definitely more than a friend, more than he let on to her by this casual conversation. After half of the eggs on the plate were demolished by her suddenly returned appetite, her amber eyes rose to look at him quizzically. “Oh?†She feigned interest in this girl’s life, as she continued to fume on the inside about Des’s sudden, unexpected and highly unwanted arrival. “She any good?†She asked, wondering if this girl could do all the amazing things that Rebecca would only dream about. Could Des talk to animals as well? “At magic, I mean.†She cocked her head slightly and then his asked his questions.
Visibly tensing now, Rebecca wondered exactly how the farm boy had realized that she was less than happy. She was very good as keeping a straight face when she was less than happy on the inside. One eyebrow rose in question, before she calmed herself on the inside as well, erasing all the jealousy and anger and frustration at this phone call. She managed to do this by reaching for her source of power and bathing herself in its calming effects. The witch shrugged her slender shoulders in response. But the words bubbled up inside of her. Can’t lie. Can’t lie. Can’t lie, The words resounded annoyingly in her head. She swallowed, as though trying to keep the words down. To no avail.
Angrily, at having to tell this backstabbing teacher the truth, she rose and took his plate from him, moving to the sink. “Just annoyed.†The language tumbled out of her unrestrained as she placed the plates in the sink, leaving them for him. She wasn’t about to let him get out of it. “If your girlfriend comes here, then when are you going to teach me?†She dropped the ‘g’ bomb, not knowing for certain or not. Yet, as she said it, the alarm bell of lying didn’t go off in her head, so it had to be partly true. Her magic told her that something happened between this pair, though she might not know to what extent. She moved back to the table, looking at him carefully.
The truth had been told, in part, and her mind was satisfied. She didn’t have to say that she was jealous and then she didn’t have to confront the fact that she may just feel more than she knew for this backwoods farm boy.
ooc: Oh...tricky little questions, farm boy. hehe. I am so excited.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:29 am
by Astrophysicist
Despite the intensity of their magical connection, Hawk could catch only fleeting bits of coherent thoughts and images from Rebecca’s quick mind. While she undoubtedly would have been thrilled to learn of such a limitation, he could only ball his fists in sudden, silent frustration. Her magic and her emotions were too connected for any sort of clarity. Her body language, her thoughts, her emotions, her magic, and her words were each sending him a different message, pulling him this way and that until he feared he would be torn to pieces. If she didn’t even know what to think, how could he possibly manage to maintain his sanity? Keeping herself together was essential to her wellbeing as a practicing witch, especially with the tremendous amount of power housed in that petite frame – but then again, where would she be if she drove her only teacher completely mad, however inadvertently? She would have to explain things to her grandfather, and as she had made Hawk very much aware, that was something she would kill to avoid.
“Rebecca,†he said sternly, raising his eyebrows. The wisdom behind his tone was impressive for his scant eighteen years. “Concentrate. You’re letting your magic build up again. One slip, and it could be another disaster.â€
A shiver ran down his spine as the gravity of the previous night sank in once again. He recognized the sudden electric quality to the air just as clearly as he knew his own reflection in a mirror. Now was the time to act calmly, to guide her down the path of professional witchcraft. His mentality and role promptly shifted from that of Rebecca’s friend – if he could even use that term with her – to her teacher, just as he’d promised. His soothing words and sound advice were all he could offer her; this was an aspect of magic she would have to work out on her own. He couldn’t actively demonstrate something so personal and so unique, especially given his own background and exclusive abilities. No two witches were exactly the same, and it were those profound differences that rendered such teaching impossible. Even the most experienced mentors were forced to step back and wait patiently.
So that’s exactly what he did. It took a tremendous amount of self control to ignore the building magical pressure caught in the air between them. Hawk watched her as she moved to the sink, then calmly averted his gaze to the vacant table in front of him. Come on, Rebecca, he thought, narrowing his eyes and glancing in her direction once more. Get it under control.
In his distraction, it took him a moment to realize she had spoken, and another moment still to understand what she had said. He furrowed his brow. She any good? What sort of question was that? It seemed entirely out of character that Ms. Nurse would suddenly care enough about his personal life to possess genuine interest. As trivial as it was, suspicion momentarily overpowered his concern for their safety. “Des?†he questioned, as though he hadn’t heard her clearly. His shoulders lifted and dropped in a loose shrug. “She is good at what she does.†He knew that answer would not be good enough, but he had no choice but to be vague. Whatever it was about Des’s visit that was irking her was certainly not helping her remain in control of her power. He knew better than to strike up an in-depth conversation at that point in time. If she didn’t release the magical tension soon, well…he would have to intervene.
He released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, using the long exhale as a means to relax and clear his own mind. Without really knowing why, he closed his eyes and slipped his awareness to the kernel of power that resided within his being. All traces of the Nurse kitchen dissolved away. He was floating in a world between worlds, a place that simultaneously existed and did not. Slowly, he beckoned for her – not for her attention or her power, but rather the one-way connection that linked their minds. He found it almost instantly, reaching out with his emerald magic to strengthen the bond. If he could feel her emotions so easily at a conscious level, then surely he could spin it somewhat to his advantage with a little effort.
Can’t lie. Can’t lie. Can’t lie. He immediately withdrew his additional magic, and he opened his eyes. They had not been words, per se; it was a feeling, a desperate, wordless cry for relief and escape. It tasted like panic, like pure fear. He raised an eyebrow and looked back to her in confusion. But he did not get a chance to analyze her unguarded expression; he met her fiery amber gaze just in time for her flood of accusations.
The air seemed to flicker, then grow lighter. His own intensifying irritation did not allow him to feel relieved. “You’re completely bent on doing things for yourself, but you won’t let me have one day to see an old friend?†he asked, incredulous. “You don’t need me to babysit you twenty-four-seven, city girl. You’ve survived quite a few years without me.†He clenched his eyes closed and took another deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice was softer, cooler. “Just meditate. I’ll still be here if there’s an emergency, but I think you can handle yourself just fine.†He raised an eyebrow. “There’s always your grandfather, you know. I’m sure he’d be thrilled to watch over you for just a day.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:31 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca managed to control the surging power inside of her though she had been entirely unable to do so the previous day. It was been hard for her to control. It bubbled up like a shaken soda can and she couldn’t help it from spewing over unless she quickly screwed the cap back in place. Frowning slightly, she shook her head at herself for letting it escalate to such a level so quickly. She had to learn to maintain her powers or else she was really going to kill someone. As she took his plate and placed it into the sink, she wondered exactly what he was thinking for one long slow moment.
Then he asked a question and she felt the inability to lie consume her. Yet, if she hadn’t been struggling with this curse, she would have felt the tingling sensations she had gotten from him ever since last night. It was a warm buzz inside of her head, like someone was bathing her in a temperate breeze while she lay in the cool Salem sun during the summer. But she was entirely unable to recognize this as her mind was so focused elsewhere. Rebecca Nurse did not know that Hawk the farm boy was attempting to read her mind and understand why she had suddenly gotten so worked up over the mention of this friend coming over.
“Des?†She breathed, turning around to look at him and taking not of his own irritation with her sudden change in mood. “What kind of name is Des, no offense?†She added the last two words quickly, as though trying to soften the tension that she had caused to flare up between the two witches in the room. The last thing the Nurse girl wanted was to push Hawk away. She had a lot of magical techniques to learn and only one summer to do it in. She couldn’t afford losing him as a teacher.
Rolling her eyes, she shrugged her shoulders. “I am a very demanding student and I learn faster than most. One day is basically putting me a year behind in learning.†She leaned back against the counter, watching him carefully, noticing the soft way his eyes moved around even though he was more than a little annoyed with her mood. “I’ve already read almost the entire diary, Hawk!â€
At the mention of meditation, Rebecca let a hiss of air escape her lips but she said nothing about it at all. She knew that if she did bring it up, he would just throw last night’s incident in her face and even the stubborn city girl couldn’t argue with that logic. She had allowed herself to get too upset too quickly and she had nearly eaten his mind alive with her powers. Cocking her head to one side, she scratched her nose and licked her lips at the same time. “Yeah, thrilled.†She snorted, moving back over towards the kitchen table, when she suddenly stopped dead in her walk. Rebecca had said girlfriend and hawk hadn’t bothered to correct her. Hell, he didn’t even seem to notice that she had thrown that word in there out of spit. That meant that…
Closing her eyes quickly, the Nurse girl replayed their conversation quickly in her head. It was as though someone had just popped a video into the VCR. It was a crystal clear playback of their discussion and when her amber eyes opened she turned them quickly onto him in surprise. There was no other emotion but surprised that coursed through her body at that particular moment. She was his girlfriend. This Des girl was his girlfriend. Rebecca stared at Hawk longer than she intended before a variety of feelings shot through her like an electric current.
“You dated this girl.†It was a fact. She stated it quite clearly as she looked at him with a bewildered expression on her face. “You dated this girl?†That was when Rebecca recovered herself and suppressed that annoying jealous feeling before it even started to rise in her. “Ha! You? Oh…this is good.†She let out a bark of laughter as she motioned to the dishes.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:31 am
by Astrophysicist
The bark of her bitter laugh should have infuriated him. It should have sent him reeling with the white-hot irritation that so often accompanied her supercilious remarks and hard-edged comments. But instead of lashing out, he joined her in her laughter, draping his arm on the edge of the table and slouching a little further down in his chair. They were, of course, laughing in two very different ways for two very different reasons. But that didn’t make it any less fun, since surely it would be enough to bother her. He refused to allow her the true satisfaction of seeing him angry over this particular topic. There was simply no reason to let her bother him, not this time. He had the upper hand despite the fact that she was the one initiating the discussion; after all, she could know only what he told her himself, and that would be limited at most.
His green eyes sparkled above his lopsided grin as he studied her. She was a puzzle with pieces scattered everywhere, and it was doubtful he would ever acquire them all to grasp the full picture. Even now, he struggled to identify her myriad of expressions as they played across her soft features like a series of frames in a motion picture. All memory of the previous night discarded, she would be the death of him. If it wasn’t with the sheer volume of power she had stowed away beneath that pale skin and behind those amber eyes, it would be her constant mood swings and impeccable stubbornness that did him in. She was an assassin ignorant of her potential, naïve to the tools at her disposal and blind to the effects she had on those that remained her presence longer than a few minutes.
After putting up with Rebecca even for those two full days, spending twenty-four hours with Des would be a breeze. His incredulity was mild enough to fuel his amusement rather than dampen it. He shook his head to himself, resting his elbow on the table and propping his head up with his palm against his forehead.
“Yes, it is good,†he replied finally, his head cocked to the side as he twisted to look at Rebecca. “Des and I dated for nearly two years. I don’t think I need to remind you that it’s none of your business, but if she’s going to be around…†He shrugged, meeting her gaze. “It’s not like it’s a secret. If you want to bring over some city boy of yours, then by all means, go ahead. I’ve no qualms.â€
He stood up suddenly in the uncomfortable silence that followed, his knees pushing away his chair with a screech across the linoleum. He picked up his empty glass and stepped over to the sink, reaching around her to turn on the faucet and rinse out the thin film of leftover juice in the bottom of the cup. He tossed out the water and set it down on top of the dishes Rebecca had already left there. As he withdrew his arm and turned away, he accidentally brushed her skin with the fingertips, his newly-healed nerves sending small lightning bolts of sensitivity through his nervous system and to his brain. An electric shiver immediately worked its way through him from top to bottom, rattling both his thoughts and bones alike. He swallowed hard and snatched away his hand as though it hadn’t happened at all, turning his back to her and pushing in his chair.
When he spoke again, his voice sounded distant, almost foreign. “You won’t…†He stopped abruptly, clearing his throat. When he began again, his tone was frank, but not unkind. “You won’t get too far behind in your studies. Whether or not either of us wants to, I can’t devote all my time to teaching you. I’m still employed here as a farm hand, and I have duties to fulfill. Your grandfather would want to know why I’ve slacked in my duties, and I would have no way to explain.†He took a breath. “And I don’t think you would either.â€
He cast her a look caught between sympathy and helplessness. He paused a second time, watching as her golden hair fell once again before her equally golden eyes. “This will be good practice for you,†he continued, cracking a half-smile to lighten the mood. “Put together what you’ve read in the diary and what I’ve taught you so far. If you’re nearly done reading that old book, then you’ve got a solid start. Stay in control, and try not to do anything stupid until I’m there to clean up after you.†He took a step closer to her and without knowing why, placed his uninjured hand gently on her shoulder and looked directly down into her eyes. “Okay?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:31 am
by Astrophysicist
Their gazes met and she frowned deeply. Two years was a long time to be with one person, especially someone that called you Ollie. She pursed her lips and kept her face entirely stoic as she listened to him, before he claimed that it was none of her business. At that, she let out an exasperated noise of complete and utter frustration. What made her turn at him with a look of surprise, however, was the mention of any boys that may have been in her life. He obviously didn’t know her that well.
Rebecca was not a girl who had boyfriends. She had kissed a few guys but never had she had a connection with anyone. Whenever they asked or it began to peak, she would withdraw coming up with some ridiculous pathetic excuse. The fact of the matter was that there was no connection with any boy. There was not that spark that she felt when she was with Hawk. At the thought, she twisted her head just slightly and ran her fingers through her hair to erase the idea from her mind. That was a preposterous idea and she allowed it to hide in the dark recesses of her mind.
She was so lost in her outlandish thoughts that her skin didn’t register the faintest of touches from his fingers. The hesitation in his soft voice drew her attention and her brows came together in confusion. Ready to question him, he finished speaking and distracted her once more with the mention of her grandfather. An annoyed gleam into her eyes and she moved her head, causing her hair to fall against her skin. Tucking the strands behind her ear, she turned her amber gaze to his green eyes, examining his face.
“I’m not an idiot, Hawk, but thanks for the boost of confidence.†She retorted, rolling her eyes right before the weight of his hand placed on her shoulder. Every single nerve ending was alight with a bright passion that shot through her body faster than the speed of sound. Amber eyes widened as she stepped back to sever whatever connection it was; the connection that was causing her mind to fill with thoughts that weren’t exactly her own and ones that she didn’t want to allow to come to the forefront. Even though Rebecca was unaware of his ability to read her mind, she still didn’t want the feelings coming up inside of her. She didn’t like the effect his touch was having on her body.
Once the touch was broken, she scratched just behind her ear where her head met her neck. Bright eyes looked down at the floor before glancing back up at him with a rather confused look. Quickly, the young Nurse motioned towards the dishes again. “Come on, farm boy.†She said very quickly, trying to mask the confusion inside of her mind. “Going to keep your end of the bargain or rush off to primp for your girlfriend’s arrival?†She asked, smirking slightly. It was easy to jump back into it. She was going to mask whatever emotion this was with sarcasm and her wit. That would be easiest for the both of them.
Rebecca grinned and moved away towards the sink and grabbed a towel. “Tell you what, I’ll even help you out. I’ll dry after you wash.†Then she smirked just slightly again, looking at him out of the corner of her eyes. “And you can tell me all about your lovely Des. Because frankly, if she is going to come onto my granddaddy’s farm and interrupt your work…and ours…†That was key. He had used it against her and she was going to turn it back against him. “I might as well know about her.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:31 am
by Astrophysicist
The bark of laughter that broke from his lips was more doglike than human, and he quickly clamped a hand over his mouth as he continued to chuckle. “You might as well know about her?†he quipped, raising an eyebrow with amused skepticism. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at how nosy you little city girls are.â€
He tossed the plug into the sink drain and threw on the hot water, hyperconscious of her presence just feet away. Still smiling, he shook his head and squirted some dish soap into the rushing water. He pointedly avoided her gaze by staring into the rising suds, his lingering laughter lost in the faucet’s own querulous roar. As much as he hated to admit it, he was indeed at a loss for words. What else could he say to her? Her sudden shift in attitude had been unmistakably triggered by Desdemona’s phone call, and even though he’d been just as shocked to learn of her all-too-soon visit, he wasn’t feeling quite shocked enough to disclose every detail of his private life to a certain amber-eyed young woman.
Amusement springing to life once again, he glanced up at her playfully, biting his lower lip with his teeth. “You’re jealous, aren’t you?†he asked, perhaps a bit too quietly over the splashing. He couldn’t hold a straight face long enough to hear her answer; it was as though the idea had only just dawned on him. He burst immediately into more laughter. The very idea was appalling! He could see why someone would envy Des – she was intelligent, well-spoken, and beautiful, a proud woman with big dreams and all the potential in the world. But what he could not fathom was why someone would be jealous of Des because she was with him.
Suddenly a little uncomfortable, he reached over and turned off the faucet, his forearm grazing the top of the mountain of floating bubbles. “I always liked washing better anyway,†he said with a shrug, eyeing the sink full of water. With mechanical ease that came from years of practice at home, he slipped the dirty dishes beneath the waterline and plunged his calloused hands into the foamy depths. The hot water soothed his worries away, and he began to scrub.
“Des is…†he began, gnawing on his lower lip, unsure how to proceed. “She’s smart. Really smart. Beautiful, too, if you must know.†Inspired by fond memories, he smiled softly. “We met in high school. We had biology together. I took it as a sophomore, so I was in with all the juniors.†He rinsed one of the plates beneath the lightly-running water in the adjacent sink and passed it to Rebecca to dry. “I ended up helping her with her homework.†He interrupted himself with a laugh. “It evened out, though, since I, ah…†Glancing to Rebecca with sheepish pride, he continued. “I couldn’t handle the dissections. When I explained my situation to her, she offered to let me study her notes. And it took off from there. What else do you want to know?â€
He paused, hardly able to believe he’d asked that question. “Within reason,†he added quickly, raising his eyebrows chidingly. He placed the other plates and the skillet into the sink, awaiting her towel. “Let's pretend you've some level of maturity behind that smirk of yours."
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:32 am
by Astrophysicist
It was too late to stop whatever playful thought had entered his eyes. She knew what it was before the words left his lips and fear seized her. She couldn’t lie, not even t herself when that curse took over her tongue. She licked her lips and turned her fiery eyes to him. Thankfully he laughed and she laughed with him, albeit a little nervously. “Yeah, jealousy. That’s what it is.†Her tone was sarcastic. She wasn’t lying and she had found ways to get around the curse slightly. Sarcasm was a godsend. She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m more irritated with that fact that she’s taking away from my training.â€
Delicately, she took each plate from his hand when he had finished, running her towel over them slowly until not a drop remained. Rebecca was careful to keep her fingers from touching his. The lingering electricity from his previous touch ran through her veins still. She didn’t want to experience it again. Or did she? She wasn’t sure and the uncertainty caused her uneasiness. Instead, she turned her thoughts to other things, especially the voice that was filling her ears now.
But the uneasiness was not abated. It grew with each positive word he said about the magnificent Desdemona. “Sounds like God’s gift to men.†She responded, keeping her tone neutral to avoid sounding annoyed with the unknown force that had captured Hawk’s heart a short time ago. She had no chance against someone who was gorgeous beyond words and remarkably intelligent. Rebecca didn’t have insecurity issues and she wasn’t going to throw a pity part. However, she didn’t see herself as beautiful and certainly not smart. It was disheartening to hear him prattle on about how wonderful she had been to him. To keep her attentions occupied, she scrubbed at the plates until the gleamed in all of their immaculate dryness.
She smirked a little at his words, before it broke into a smile. He knew her pretty well already. “All right farm boy. I’ll keep the more invasive questions to myself then.†She grinned and picked up the skillet and a new towel. She ran the cloth over it, soaking up the droplets. “What can she do with magic?†That was what Rebecca wanted to know. How skilled was this Des with her magically abilities. It was hard enough to battle a beautiful, smart, compassionate woman…let alone if that woman had to be a witch.
She finished drying the dishes and she set them aside, brushing back a strand of her hair before she turned around to face him. “Oh, Hawk you have uh…†There was a little bit of foam on his chin but she wasn’t quite sure how it had gotten there. “Here.†She said softly, moving her fingers to wipe it away. However, when he fingers were mere centimeters from his skin, the foam evaporated as though an intense heat had passed between her hand and his face. She withdrew her hand and her eyebrows furrowed together. “Nevermind…†She muttered, feeling foolish as she let her hand fall to her side.
To keep the awkward atmosphere from taking over the entire room, she looked down at his hand. “How’s it holding up…nothing wrong with it?†She rubbed at her neck for a second as she hung the dishtowel on its spot in front of the over. She pushed the chairs in at the table, trying to occupy her hands and her mind. Something was off about his abilities with hers but she didn’t want to think about it. The nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach would just have to go away.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:32 am
by Astrophysicist
“More irritated that she’s taking away from your training,†he repeated, cracking another smile. “So says the witch who just the other day lived completely ignorant of magic’s existence.†He wet his lips with his tongue and stuck his hands in the water once again, feeling along the bottom of the sink for any stray silverware. He retrieved a fork and a spoon and washed them carefully, wrapping the washcloth around each piece with as much thought and care as Rebecca had drying.
Unaware that he was channeling the city girl’s feelings, he shifted his weight, a little uneasy. When he spoke again, it was absentminded, and he kept his gaze strictly on the cutlery. “Like I said before, she’s not staying very long. And it’s not like your magical ability is going to go away.†He placed the spoon in the strainer for Rebecca to dry and moved on to the cups, carefully scrubbing each rim. It was remarkable how such a simple task had become so engrossing, so demanding of their attention. If he’d not been afflicted with such sudden nervous anxiety, he would have laughed at himself. But the mood had shifted markedly, and he dared not break the tension just yet. Something was amiss, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on the source of the agitation.
Though their hands never touched – and he made certain they wouldn’t – he could feel the familiar electricity emanating from her mind and her body. Instead of hiding from it, he embraced it, mentally exploring the sensation upon his thoughts and skin. He felt strangely vulnerable, as though his guard were down when it was certainly not, as though he would be powerless against any sort of attack. But no feelings of fear haunted him. Despite Rebecca’s fiery defenses and immense power, he did not feel threatened. He furrowed his brow in confusion and turned on the faucet, allowing the hot water and soap bubbles to replenish his supply and momentarily distract himself. He would have to ponder it all later when he didn’t have Des’s arrival to worry about too. Right now, he could focus on the chore at hand.
Thankfully, Rebecca’s comment about her landed him back in the present, and he gritted his teeth sarcastically before erupting into a half-smile. Using the sarcasm as a segue from the discomfort to the lighthearted, he turned to look at her. “You’ve got that right, city girl,†he remarked, squeezing out the cloth and draping it over the edge of the sink. He wiped one hand on his shirt, leaving a damp handprint on his side. “You’ve got some competition for my attention. And I’d watch yourself. She’s an empath.â€
He chuckled at his own friendly derision, shaking his head. He placed his hands on the edge of the sink and braced himself there, gazing out the window to the oak tree outside. When she turned to face him, he paused a moment before facing her as well. He leaned back instinctively when she reached up for his face; when she withdrew only seconds later, he raised an eyebrow in question. But before he could open his mouth to speak, she gestured to his hand.
“Oh.†He examined it expressionlessly, flexing his fingers and rotating his wrist. “I’d forgotten about it, actually. I guess that means it’s holding up well.†He smiled up at her. For a moment, a fleeting moment, his emerald eyes filled with genuine appreciation – but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced by an impish sparkle and a lopsided grin. “We could always test it out and make sure, though,†he said. Before he finished the last syllable, he reached into the soapy dishwater with his healed hand and sent a voluminous splash straight for her. Between gasps of laughter, he braced himself for retaliation.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:32 am
by Astrophysicist
“Well hopefully my magic won’t.†She responded, running the cloth around the rim of the glassware before setting it beside the sink to finish air-drying. “But I will be. I’m only here for the summer, farm boy. Then I get the pleasure of returning to city life and finish my last year of high school.†Rebecca licked her lips. She hadn’t yet mentioned to him that she was going to be a senior in high school rather than the junior that her age would indicate. It came with the whole photographic memory bit. Before she had learned to tone down her abilities, the school had informed her parents that she was smart enough to skip a grade. Luckily for her, she realized that it would socially isolate her to excel even further.
That’s when she dumbed herself down. She stopped applying herself as much as she could have, though her ability to memorize came in handy when she was cramming before exams. She was in the top of her class, but she wasn’t the best. She didn’t want to be the best. Perhaps that would have helped her mother’s nerves though…but then again, perhaps it wouldn’t. Rebecca was lost in her thoughts for a long moment before he words pulled her out of her brooding.
Empath?! At that word, she fumbled with the fork that he had just placed on her side of the sink. Damn. Magic was difficult enough as it was, let alone having someone feel what she was feeling. Rebecca had even more incentive now to avoid this Des than she had before. Being unable to lie, meant being unable to lie to herself as well, despite how badly she tried. If Des was around her, she might pick up something that Rebecca hid from herself mentally but couldn’t emotionally. That would not do. “It’s not your attention I want, I just want to learn.†That could be seen as a lie, but it technically wasn’t. She wanted to learn, his attention was just a given with that learning. Loopholes.
As he withdrew, something knotted in her stomach. Well obviously he didn’t want to be touched. She’d commit that to memory. But as she was thinking on it, she caught the expression in his remarkable gaze and her eyebrows furrowed together. Rebecca licked her lips and turned her attention to his hand, giving her something to focus on that wasn’t causing her stomach to do flip flop motions inside of her.
His expression made her wary. His words confirmed her fears. Instinctively, she placed her hands in front of her face, but she wasn’t fast enough. The bubbles tickled along her chin and nose and she gasped, sputtering water for a second. “Not…not cool!†She said, before leaning forward and grabbing a huge volume of bubbles in her hands and smacking her hands against his face gently. She didn’t stop there though.
She followed up her attack with a big splash of water, laughing delightedly before reaching for a towel to wipe off her face while he tried to cope with the water she had sent in his direction. Her hair was damp and the top portion of her shirt was soaked, as though she had been on a jog in the heat of the day. Her amber eyes twinkled with merriment, surprised at Hawk’s sudden childish act. But she wasn’t going to complain. She thought the farm boy was often too stuck up and too much of a workaholic to be much fun.
This was fun. So she wouldn’t say anything about it at all. And it had also seemed to get his thoughts away from Des and for some reason, that mad Rebecca happy.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:32 am
by Astrophysicist
Green eyes twinkling with affectionate mischief, he watched her sputter in the shock of his tidal wave. He dissolved into a fit of laughter as the bubbles dripped from her hair, sliding down her incredulous face and to the floor below.
Unfortunately for him, it took her far less time to recuperate than he’d anticipated. Before he could react, her hands were in the soapy water, preparing to return fire. He wrinkled his nose and flinched in anticipation, ready to feel the warm water splash against his face and clothes. Instead, she caught him completely off guard. As her hands connected with his cheeks, his eyes flew open in surprise. A shock of electric power shot through his body, traveling instantly from his face to his toes. Time seemed to slow. The bubbles exploded around him, plummeting like heavy snowflakes to the linoleum. He paused, searching for her gaze through the sudsy storm.
Her roguish expression did nothing to reassure him. His boots squeaked as he pivoted backward, futilely trying to avoid the imminent tsunami. “No, no, wait!†he protested, wrinkling his nose and clenching his eyes closed. He reached up to shield himself with his hands, not quite fast enough to dodge the worst of her wave. The water smacked his hands and ran down his arms, soaking his sleeves and torso as though he’d been caught in a rainstorm. Reacting without thought, his hand shot out for the washcloth. In one deft move, he dunked it beneath the water level in the sink and launched the droplets in the city girl’s direction. He followed it through with a step forward, closing the gap between them considerably. He held the saturated cloth out of her reach above her head and slowly began to squeeze out the water, reaching out to her wrist with his left hand to restrain her – or at least one side of her – from smacking him.
But there was something about the way the atmosphere had shifted, the way the energy in the air fueled his excitement and sent shivers down his spine. His mind whirled with fragments of thoughts that weren’t entirely his own, and he couldn’t keep the smile from his face. He was drunk on the sound of her laughter, giddy with a childish glee unlike anything he’d ever felt before. The little electric impulses that traveled up his left arm synched up with his heartbeat. He looked down with timid gentility, searching with desperation for her gaze. When amber met emerald, his breath was stolen from his lungs, and he couldn’t tear himself away even if he’d wanted to.
He could feel her breath on his skin. She was drawing him in with her eyes, her scent, her magic…and he was awed, at an utter loss for words. He unconsciously moved his face closer to hers, his stare unwavering. He lowered the cloth slowly and reached for Rebecca’s face, using his thumb to gently wipe away a droplet that had fallen from his hair to her cheek. The softness of her skin beneath his fingertip surprised him, and time now seemed to stop. He could have stood there until the end of time, hovering somewhere between wake and dream, disoriented but very much alive.
Knock. Knock-knock-knock.
The door clicked open.
“Oliver?â€
He inhaled sharply. The all-too-familiar voice sliced the room in two, and he leapt back from Rebecca, his boots once again letting out a squeal on the wet floor. Reality rushed mercilessly back at him, and he landed back in the present with an ungraceful gasp.
“Oliver?†A dark-haired young woman appeared in the doorway, one hand planted firmly on her hip. She raised an elegantly-shaped brow and cocked her head to the side, studying him with an expression caught somewhere between amusement and horror. “What’s going on?â€
He cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his hair, causing it to stick up in all directions. “Des!†he exclaimed, his eyes narrowing and then widening again. He tossed his washcloth into the sink and turned back to her, spreading his arms and stepping forward. “Des!†He embraced her warmly for several moments. “It’s great to see you.†When he pulled away and turned toward Rebecca, his clothes were completely dry.
“Des,†he said cautiously, “this is Rebecca Nurse, Fredrick’s granddaughter.†He smiled sincerely, as though he’d completely forgotten about their water fight. “Rebecca, this is Desdemona. My friend from high school.â€
Des stepped closer to him and put an arm around his waist. “Bonjour,†she greeted, extending a hand for the city girl. “Nice to meet you.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:34 am
by Astrophysicist
His protests fell on deaf ears as her hand cuped a large amount of water and used the force of her arm movement to propel water at him. Her eyes were alight with pleasure, until she saw his hand reach for the washcloth. “No. No. Hawk, don’t!†She objected, reaching out to try and take it from him. But she failed miserably as he grabbed her wrist and a rush of water fell onto her already damp head. The water fell on her lips and down her chin to slap on the fabric of her jeans. He restrained half of her but the other half was already in motion, reaching out to push him away by his chest.
But something changed.
It was as though all the air was sucked out of the room. Her intense gaze turned up to meet his face and her hand stopped where it was, resting on his chest. Yet, despite the lack of air, she was laughing; her smile was broad as she wondered just what had gotten into him. Her laughter was fading as an expression crossed his face that she had never seen before. Confusion flickered in her eyes and then the feeling hit her like a real tidal wave. It sucked her under and left her there, drowning.
Yet, there was her lifeboat, gazing down at her with something she couldn’t explain. A tingling sensation danced up her arm from where it was placed on his chest, feeling the beating of his heart beneath her palm. Rebecca didn’t know what was going on, but the feeling was familiar. As soon as she recognized it, her mind found where it had come from. The couch, last night. The air had hummed with their magic, as though it had left their bodies to unite between them.
Her lips parted, shallow breaths entering her lungs as if she had forgotten how to breathe without him around. Hawk. She kept the words in, unsure if speaking would ruin this moment. Her mind was racing and then, then there was nothing. The entire world fell silent. She could hear nothing but the sound of his breath and the beating of his heart against his ribcage. The kitchen melted away like a bad dream and all that was left was him, filling her entire visual field. Warmth spread over her damp body with the simple touch of his hand to her cheek, she inhaled sharply, wanting to dissolve into that warmth. A single thought came to her mind.
Please.
Noise, light, cold. She was sucked back into reality with the rapping on the door. Rebecca’s eyes ran rapidly back and forth across his face while he drew back, as though she had burned him. Disappointment filled her but she buried it down, unsure of what had happened between them. She felt older now, almost as if time had just passed them by when they entered that little bubble that consisted of only him and her.
The voice caught her attention and she whipped her head around, annoyed. She composed her face the second she realized who this must be. Empath. Swallowing hard, Rebecca watched the new arrival carefully, drawing on a small thread of her magic. She wasn’t sure why she did it, but it was something similar to instinct. The magic calmed her, keeping other emotions at bay as long as she could hold them off.
Rebecca said nothing as they embraced one another, but he eyes couldn’t leave the way that Des’ arms seemed to just fit around Hawk’s body. They obviously had a lot of practice with that. A frown flickered across her face before he moved back. Friend, my ass. She thought as she smiled as sincerely as she possibly could. She raised her hand halfway to be polite and shake the other woman’s hand but Des seemed too occupied for a moment.
The Nurse lowered her hand back down to her side. “Pleasure’s mine.†She responded, taking the girl’s hand when she finally offered it. The poor, wet girl didn’t her best to be polite, but her magic had other things in mind. The second their hands met, there was a strong burning sensation. But Rebecca wasn’t the one that it was directed towards, she just seemed to be aware that it was happening. She withdrew her hand quickly and cleared her throat.
“I’m…uh…†Rebecca’s eyes avoided ever meeting Hawk’s. “I should probably clean this mess up. Why don’t you go show Des the new colt?†She offered, just wanting to be away from the two of them. She didn’t know why there was a tightness in her chest. She just knew it would go away if he was no longer here…with her.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:34 am
by Astrophysicist
Hawk sensed the surge of electricity as soon as Rebecca extended her hand to greet Desdemona. He tensed immediately, partially on instinct to protect himself against the familiar shock, partially to protect Des from the very same thing by preventing skin-to-skin contact. But something within him brought his limbs to a halt, and he bit his tongue, watching as their hands met in the middle. Waiting for disaster, he clenched his fists, his fingernails biting sharply into the flesh of his palm. He was disoriented and overwhelmed, the magical haze of only moments before still haunting his recent memory. Des’s unexpected early arrival was almost too much to bear on top of it all.
It would take intense concentration to hide his confusion and frustration from her. He did, of course, have the upper hand over Rebecca; he’d been dealing with Desdemona for nearly three years, and he knew exactly what her magical weaknesses were. He’d also had a lifetime of practice with meditation – necessarily so, as the midnight debacle between he and Rebecca had proved – that he could often use to hide behind. Granted, Des’s powers were extremely limited; as much as she enjoyed using her abilities, she lacked the magical strength of witches like Hawk and Rebecca. And though she would never admit it to herself, her empathic skill was mediocre at best. Nevertheless, the concept was unnerving. It was especially true now, because the emotion that anguished him was as baffling as it was dismaying: Disappointment.
Des, apparently sensing his sudden discomfort, paused only briefly before grasping Rebecca’s hand and shaking it firmly. Hawk held his breath, feeling the force of Rebecca’s raw power seeping across their momentary physical connection. Des withdrew quickly, shaking her well-manicured hand and pressing it to her side. She furrowed her brow in a brief display of angry confusion before she masked it with another smile, massaging her palm with her unaffected hand. Hawk cleared his throat after Rebecca finished speaking, searching to meet her gaze without success. She seemed determined not to look at him. “Uh, good idea,†he stammered, knocked out of his usual eloquence by his surprising concern for the city girl.
Thankfully, Des took over before he could speak again. “A new colt!†she exclaimed at Rebecca’s suggestion, raising her brows. She turned to Hawk and shoved him playfully, her hands lingering a little too long on his chest. “You didn’t tell me there was a new colt!†she finished. She turned to Rebecca, her scarlet-painted lips curling up in a smile. “He’s so secretive, isn’t he?â€
Hawk chuckled halfheartedly, his eyes slightly narrowed. “I do not,†he said quietly, following her gaze to search Rebecca’s face. He’d seen that look on Des before, that subtle condescending gleam lighting up her dark brown eyes. She’d picked up on something he had missed, something in the way the city girl dismissed them so quickly, something about why she was so suddenly distant and cold.
He didn’t have time to ponder it. Des wrapped her fingers around his upper arm and began to lead him away. “Nice to meet you, Melissa!†she called as she exited, Hawk in close tow.
“That’s Rebecca,†he corrected stiffly, spinning around against the force of Desdemona’s tugging. He cast Rebecca a helpless, apologetic look before he closed the door, mouthing, I’m sorry. If she only knew how much he meant it.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:35 am
by Astrophysicist
The extent of Rebecca’s abilities was unknown at this point. She had just become acquainted with magic only a few days ago. She would find that she was stronger and more adept with her magic than anyone that had ever lived, but even when she discovered the depths of her abilities, she would never be an empath. It was a rare ability that she would never possess. It unnerved her to meet one, even a weak one at that. The poor girl didn’t like the idea of someone riffling around in her emotions, even if she didn’t know that the man that taught her could riffle around in her thoughts at will.
Amber eyes took in the hurt on Des’ face and it took all of her nonmagical talent to keep from smirking. But her eyes caught the smile and a frown tugged at her soft lips, which had been so close to those of the Nurse farmhand only moments before the knock had shattered their moment. But even as she watched Des, she avoided the boy’s gaze, instead dropping her attention to the puddles that had formed on the floor and the soap suds that clung to the cabinets beneath the sink, steadily dripping down due to the call of gravity.
Despite her attempts to look away, her amber eyes caught sight of the way that Des’ hands lingered. Rebecca swallowed roughly, as though her throat was too dry. And then the words hit her ears and Rebecca grabbed on her magic. Des knew. That horrid, manicured bitch knew about it. Hawk was oblivious. The city girl had made sure of that (so far as she knew.) But the empathy must have picked up on it.
She struggled internally to hold it in, to keep from lashing out at the other woman in the room. With just a thought, she could have sent her flying into the other room to slam her petite, perfect form against the wall. But she meditated, as Hawk had taught her. The poor girl remembered all too well what happened when she didn’t keep her magic under control. She didn’t do it for Des’ sake, but for Hawk who might have been an unfortunate casualty of the release of powerful magic.
The name caused her attention to shift back to them and she placed her hand on the counter, trying to think of anything else. Why? Because her thoughts were currently on the spontaneous combustion of a certain evil witch. Nodding her head, she said nothing, though surprised flickered when Hawk corrected Des. She foolishly looked at him, meeting his handsome gaze. Instead of responding, she shrugged, waiting until they were ten counts of ten away from the house before she released her pent up energy.
Intense heat filled the kitchen. Flames erupted around the table, lapping at the legs of the chairs, climbing higher and higher. The heat fed on her anger and frustration until the flames were beating at the ceiling, seeking for a release. And then, as quickly as it has happened, it was gone. There was no burn damage. Not even a tiny ash to give evidence that she had lost her cool. The only thing that had changed was the puddles of water. Evaporated, Rebecca’s amber eyes looked down at her bare feet.
Without another thought, she turned back and finished the dishes and pulled the plug from the sink, letting the water swirl down and out. She took a shower, dried her hair and then grabbed her book, heading up to her spot beneath the large tree at the top of the hill. Dark-wash jean shorts pressed against her thighs. A simple red crew-neck t-shirt adorned her top half. Just as she was sitting down, she caught sight of them with the stallions and the mares.
Gritting her teeth, she severed her connection to her magical potential. She didn’t want to make the mistake of letting go again, no matter how foolishly frustrated she had been. A girl with three years and the ability to sense emotions was competition that she wasn’t willing to compete with. Her fingers ran through the pages, heading towards the end of the journal. She needed to finish reading.
But her thoughts consumed her. She traveled back to those moments leading up to Des’ arrival. The electricity. It wasn’t the same jolt that shocked it. Before, it acted like a teacher trying to beat something into her head that she wasn’t understanding. This time…this last experience had been different. It had been a caress, as though her magic had found the perfect place to reside.
With his.
Shaking her head, she read over the words. The Sight has shown me that one that will come. The one that will be more powerful than any of us has dreamed. But there will be her Choice and she will be torn. One road will lead to a savior of our kind, one who can repair the magical rift created by my eminent demise and those of my other Salem witches. One road will lead to the Destroyer. The Bringer of Death.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:35 am
by Astrophysicist
Hawk, finally managing to pry himself away from Desdemona’s grip, slid open the stable door and gestured for her to enter first. She smiled up at him as she stepped through, waiting to take his arm once again when he followed. He slid the door closed and took the lead, not reacting when she wove her arm through his.
“It’s really great to see you again, Oliver,†she said breathily, looking over to meet his gaze as they made their way down the central aisle.
Hawk ignored her stare. “Here he is,†he announced, pulling away and unlocking the door to the first stall on the right. Immediately the mare inside tensed, swiveling her head to look at him. He held up a hand and raised his brows, sensing her sudden distress and concern for her colt. “Shhh,†he whispered, unlatching the padlock. Sun. Sky. Pasture. Wind. Grass. It’s only me. Hawk. Caretaker. The mare relaxed, but he sensed her suspicion as strongly as he sensed her colt’s curiosity. This particular mother was strict and authoritarian, as careful and protective of her offspring as any human parent would be when approached by a stranger. Aware that Harper had interacted most with her and the colt, he held out his hand, hoping she would recognize his scent for additional reassurance. “Shhhh,†he repeated, stepping forward tentatively.
Des, holding her breath, stepped very close behind him, brown eyes wide with wonderment that was undoubtedly feigned. The mare nickered a warning as she moved, tossing her head and stomping her foot. Hay dust billowed from the angry gesture like golden mist in the sunlight that filtered through the side window.
Hawk stepped back and reached around with his arm, forcing Des to retreat out of harm’s way. “Des. Please,†he murmured, his tone kind so as not to upset the mare. She picked up on his frustrated concern, however, and moved further back, watching from the safety of the barred door. She folded her arms across her chest, watching as Hawk fully closed the gate and placed both hands on either side of the mare’s face. He tilted his head forward to look into her eyes, his thumbs stroking her coarse hair soothingly. The safety of the pasture. The warmth of the sun on her back. The ground rushing beneath pounding hooves.
At last, the mare whinnied her approval. Hawk grinned and knelt down, mentally beckoning for the colt to come forth. The long-legged creature hobbled up to him playfully, tossing his head with youthful confidence. He ran his fingers down his neck and rose to his feet, pushing open the unlocked door and leading them to the aisle. Des jumped to attention, placing a hand on the railing.
“Looks like we got the go-ahead,†he said, flashing her a proud smile as the colt skipped awkwardly after him. The mare took up the rear. Des, a little uncomfortable to have two horses following so close behind her, fell in stride with Hawk as they made their way to the pasture.
She’d forgotten how remarkable he was. She’d forgotten the way his eyes lit up when he spent time around animals, the way he glowed both emotionally and in appearance. In that sense, he hadn’t changed one bit. She couldn’t keep the smile from her lips as she watched him out of the corner of her eye, feeding like a vulture off his contentment and pride. He’d always been somewhat difficult to read, but when he was happy, she soared right along with him.
The colt charged ahead of his mother as soon as Hawk shoved open the doors. He stood to one side and watched them pass before walking further into the field. Des followed along, her eyes fixed on the little horse. “He’s absolutely adorable!†she commented, her eyes sliding to meet Hawk’s. She moved closer to him, stuffing her hands into her pockets. When she spoke again, her tone changed. “I’ve missed you.â€
“It’s been a long time, Des,†he replied nonchalantly, watching the horses cavort in the distance.
“I know.†She reached up to tie her long brown hair back in a ponytail. “Everything’s so different here now. My family. This town. You.â€
He turned to look at her, unsure what to say.
“It’s like I’ve been gone for a hundred years instead of two, you know?†She sighed deeply, but not unhappily. It was difficult for her to feel melancholy when Hawk still radiated such joy. “But it’s good change, I think. Good all around. Maybe it’s me who’s changed.â€
“You?†retorted Hawk, suppressing a laugh. He began to reach out to give her a well-deserved playful shove, but he stopped himself abruptly; it just didn’t feel right. This isn’t Rebecca. This is Desdemona. He continued the motion forward casually and ran his fingers through his hair instead. “You are exactly the same. A little more worldly now, and maybe a little more fluent in French, but you…†He chuckled again at her look of surprise. “No, you haven’t changed.â€
She laughed. “Well, you have!†she exclaimed, pursing her lips. “You’re all grown up now, huh? You haven’t even told me where you’re going to school in the fall!â€
“Of course I haven’t,†he replied. “I can’t remember the last time I spoke to you. Before your phone call this afternoon, that is.†He lifted his shoulders in a casual shrug. “I’m headed for the Midwest. Veterinary school.â€
“Big surprise there,†scoffed Des, flashing him a smile that wasn’t entirely genuine. “What else haven’t you told me?â€
He shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you want to know?â€
Des’s smile quickly transitioned to a smirk. “You didn’t tell me you had a little girlfriend.â€
“What? Come on.†Hawk wrinkled his nose, his heart picking up its pace just enough to make him shift with a sudden emotion he couldn’t identify. “She’s not my girlfriend, Des. You of all people should have picked up on that.â€
All she offered in reply was an incredulous, “Hmmm.†She paused as though about to speak, then dissolved into a fit of giggles. “Try telling her that, Ollie.†She turned to look at him, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. She promptly furrowed her brows when she realized he hadn’t been listening. “Ollie!†she snapped, slapping him lightly on the shoulder.
“Hey!†He flinched. “What? Tell her what? I’m sorry, Des, I have to keep an eye on them. The colt’s pretty young, and that mare won’t have—â€
She interrupted him by stepping up and wrapping her arms around his torso, leaning her upper half away from his body so she could look up at him. “Nevermind,†she said, batting her lashes melodramatically. She pulled herself closer to him, placing the side of her head on his chest as she followed his gaze to the far end of the pasture.
At the compassionate touch, Rebecca’s image suddenly filled his mind and overwhelmed his thoughts, and he endured her embrace for a moment in utter confusion. But their physical connection was absolutely vacant; it lacked life, a tie, a pulse…nothing was right, none of it. He tensed immediately, twisting to the side. He placed his hands on her shoulders and eased her away. “Des…†he said warningly, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t think we—â€
She furrowed her brow and stormed a few steps away. “I get it.â€
“You know that’s not what I mean,†he protested. “We’re not dating anymore, Des. We ended it, remember? It won’t do us any good to jump right back to the beginning.â€
She grimaced. “No, Oliver. I get it, okay? I just…let’s…I don’t know. Let’s go back inside.â€
Hawk did not reply. He sighed and nodded. She folded her arms across her chest and headed for the gate, her posture rigid as though she expected a blow from behind. He watched her with a mixture of longing and frustration before he closed his eyes and turned away, blocking his thoughts with the concentration needed to summon the horses. It was going to be a long evening.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:35 am
by Astrophysicist
The book ended. The book just ended right there. She flipped the last few pages and they were completely and entirely blank. No.No.No. Impossible. Rebecca flipped to the front and then to the back again, as though by doing so she could suddenly see words that weren’t written on the pages. Flustered, she slammed it shut, breathing a little heavier than necessary. Anger welled up in her and disappointment, similar to what she had felt when lovely Desdemona had arrived on the scene.
Shaking her head at herself, the Nurse heir leaned back again the tree and took a shaky, shallow breath. She needed to get a grip on herself. Just let it go. She told herself, closing her amber eyes and basking in the darkness. The girl was so lost in her thoughts, she didn’t hear the snap of the branch above her head. It came crashing down and smacked her square on the head. Rebecca let out a startled gasp of pain and a gentle curse of annoyance as she turned her gaze up to find the perpetration. For a brief moment, her heart leapt at the thought that it might be Hawk being his typical annoying self.
But all she saw was a stupid cat that had stepped on a weak limb. She glared at it until a thought hit her. Hawk had mentioned shapeshifting and hadn’t the diary mentioned the changing of fellow witches into crows to avoid capture or mice to escape the prisons? The diary opened immediately on her lap and she skimmed the pages, her mind remembering the page soon enough. For a moment, her fingers couldn’t flip the old parchment fast enough.
“Yes!†She murmured, excited at finding what she was looking for. Although, it could have been excitement at having something to distract her from the memory of the unfortunate occurrences of before. She scanned the pages and it detailed the procedures of the past. Hawk had mentioned how it was near impossible these days for a witch to shape shift into their…familiar, this diary called it. But apparently everyone in the past could. Everyone from the first Rebecca Nurse’s era had a familiar whose form they took in times of urgency.
The mind must be clear. The objective must be at hand. All thoughts of human essence must be washed away. The witch must desire to retain no part of this human world with human emotions and human ties. Forget family and friends and religion and nature. Everything must wash away, melt like the winter snow to the pressing warmth of spring.
Rebecca eagerly closed her mind to everything. She longed to forget about Hawk and that stupid kitchen with its stupid water fight and the stupid warm touch of his hand against her cheek. It ran over her like a cleansing rain and she inhaled deeply. Something started changing, something started to occur and she panicked, jerking her eyes wide open to turn down to the book.
Fear not even fear itself. Think of no animal. A familiar is simply that, something that is familiar, something that is part of the witch innately. Let go.
Rebecca tried again, feeling the change occurring in her body. She didn’t panic this time. She didn’t fear the changing. She wanted to lose all sense of emotions. She no longer wanted to feel. And it happened.
Her hands grew small and her feet shrunk, yet became thicker pads. Her body condensed, her insides protesting at first. The discomfort was overwhelming but Rebecca controlled herself with her mind, thinking of nothing but the change, the comfort it would bring her when it was complete. Her face grew warm and her body was free of restricting cloth. The book tumbling to the ground beside her, though the thud was suddenly much louder.
Opening her eyes, she saw in different shades. The colors were dull and lifeless, almost as though mere variations of one shade. She frowned and felt a tug on her whiskers. Whiskers?! She turned her little head down and gasped. It came out as a hiss. She had paws! Four of them standing on her jean shorts and underwear. Little black paws. And a long tail that she could swish back and forth if she so pleased. She looked herself over.
I’m a cat! No…I’m a kitten! She made a noise of protest and it came out as a meow. I can’t even been an adult familiar…great. She rolled her blue eyes (which she hadn’t seen yet) and walked around in a circle examining herself. She pawed at the book, flipping it open. The works looked meaningless and she cocked her head to the side. Unfortunate. How did she change back?
Her head whipped to the other side, hearing a whinny from a horse. How had she heard that? For a moment, she was confused before she realized that her hearing was far superior than it had been before. Her eyes fell on Des and Hawk. Her arms were wrapped around him and Rebecca instinctly hissed through her little cat teeth before jerking her fuzzy head away. She didn’t want to see him be affection with her. She loathed Des. She hated that he preferred Des to herself. Emotions filled her and suddenly she was changing back. Her legs grew and her eyes changed colors. Her hair became blonde on her head and her white fur vanished from all over her body. Her tail disappeared and her skin was essentially hairless once more.
And naked.
She gasped, grabbing at her clothing and slipping them on as quickly as she could. When she managed, Rebecca looked around, making sure that no one had seen her. There was no one around and she should have been well hidden from behind her tree. Sighing, she felt giddy with accomplishment. She had to tell Hawk! Without a second thought, she grabbed the diary and headed full tilt to the barn.
Halfway there, she remembered Des. Her pace slows and she turned her sights on the house. Maybe she should just wait until later…but something compelled her and she continued on to the barn. Her walk made it a slower trek but eventually she entered just as Hawk put the colt back in the stall with its mother. She smiled politely at Des as she held the book in one hand and stuck her other in the back pocket of her shorts.
“How is he?†She asked Hawk. “Granddaddy said he was getting stronger though the mare is still….how shall I say…overprotective?†She grinned, almost ridiculously, at him, wanting to tell him of her news. She turned her attention to Des. Perhaps it was the exhilaration of discovering this trick on her own or the aftereffects of forgetting her emotions, but she spoke to the ‘other woman.’ “Wasn’t his coat the softest you’ve ever felt?†She asked.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:35 am
by Astrophysicist
Hawk sensed Rebecca’s approach before she spoke, but her voice nevertheless managed to startle him. He quickly twisted away from the gate of the stall, placing his hand on the top bar and leaning outward eagerly toward the source of the sound
Des watched as he turned quickly around and away from her, raising her eyes only momentarily enough to recognize the young woman strolling toward them. She folded her arms across her chest and walked to the opposite side of the aisle, her attention flicking suspiciously from Rebecca to Hawk. His eyes, she noticed, greeted the blonde girl with a sparkle of affection like nothing Des had ever seen in him before. She immediately averted her gaze and shifted her weight, a lump wedging itself in her throat as Hawk’s emotions swelled and crashed upon her shore. If the girl’s mere presence was enough to summon such intense feeling from someone who was generally emotionally subdued, then she could only conclude that there was more than just friendship brewing between them. He had been lying to her before. She furrowed her brow deeply at the thought, her cheeks flushing light pink with irritation. Unless…
Her eyebrows shot up just as quickly as they’d knit together. Unless he didn’t know. Was it possible he was unaware of it all? She watched as he walked up to her, his handsome lopsided grin blessing his face. Rebecca was a lucky woman; Des knew that he didn’t smile like that for everyone. But if she had her way – and she would, of course – she would be the sole recipient from then on. Because if Hawk wasn’t completely conscious of his feelings for the blonde girl, then they could easily be swayed back to where they belonged. It would just take a little extra effort on her part, starting most logically with the amber-eyed problem herself.
She tuned back into reality just as Hawk began to speak. She smiled softly, reveling in the sound of his voice in precisely the way she knew Rebecca did not. “He’s doing really well, actually,†he said, nodding his approval as he glanced back toward the stall. “Considering how small he was when he was born, he’s really catching up on all accounts. He certainly loves to run.â€
He shrugged and sighed, but not unhappily. He basked momentarily in the glow of Rebecca’s obvious good mood, forgetting for several blissful seconds that Desdemona was looming there. “Mothers have every right to be overprotective,†he continued thoughtfully. “And I don’t blame her. Lots of people and animals pass through here. It’s often difficult to judge which one will be a threat, even though I’ve assured her a hundred times that she’s safe here.†He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Stubbornness isn’t exclusively human,†he commented, his gaze straying to Des as Rebecca inquired about the colt’s coat.
Des pursed her lips before emitting a bark of laughter, her brown eyes gleaming as she looked up at Hawk. “Oh, I didn’t…I didn’t touch him,†she said, holding up her clean hands as though to prove her words. “Besides, I think his mother would have bit off my hand if I’d tried!â€
Hawk raised an eyebrow. “I suppose that’s true,†he said, distracted suddenly by a distant whinny across the vast stable. He paused for a moment and closed his eyes, sifting through the voices to focus his concentration on the animal consciousness that called so urgently for attention. “Could you two hold on for just a minute?†he muttered, opening his eyes. “I need to put out some fresh feed down on the south end. I didn’t finish all the rounds before lunchtime.â€
“Oh, Ollie, don’t let us keep you from your job!†exclaimed Des, bumping him with her shoulder and glancing experimentally to Rebecca. “Go right ahead. We’ll be here when you get back.â€
Hawk nodded his thanks and took off swiftly, heading outside for the supply stock on the far end of the building. Des watched him until the door closed and shielded him from her sight, unable to suppress a little sigh of admiration before she returned her consideration to the blonde. She plastered a smart grin on her face and ran her fingers through her long brown hair. “He’s fantastic, isn’t he?†she prompted, arching a sculpted brow.
She looked down and studied her feet for a moment, drawing a line in the dust with the side of her shoe while she waited for a reply. “So,†she went on casually, looking up, “how long have you been in love with him?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:35 am
by Astrophysicist
“So I’ve seen.†Rebecca responded, completely oblivious to how he grinned at her compared to how he smiled at Des. She had watched the colt prance about in the field, dancing around its mother, who seemed less than pleased that her baby was out in the open for anything to come near. It was an entertaining sight to say the least and the little thing appeared to finally be getting it bearings.
The other girl shrugged when Des responded. “Oh.†She said, almost distantly before Hawk responded. “It’s probably just because you don’t live around here,†was that a jab? She smiled sweetly before turning her eyes to the only male human in the room. She watched as he closed his eyes and winced, just slightly. That ability, magnified by her own unrestrained power, had nearly killed him last night. She shifted slightly and nodded her head in his direction, watching him disappear right after Des nudged him.
The Nurse child wasn’t a fool. She knew that Desdemona was trying to do to her. And she wasn’t going to let the witch get away with it. Rebecca didn’t like to be toyed with and it was definitely being attempted by this new arrival. Little did she know who she was messing with. Licking her lips, her amber eyes traveled to Des and narrowed slightly at her first words. “Yeah, I guess.†She responded with a shrug, slightly annoyed that Hawk would leave her here with his ex-girlfriend who clearly had a vendetta to settle.
Brushing back a few strands of her hair, she leaned against one of the empty stalls and set the diary on the ledge, letting it balance carefully as she suddenly had the urge to stretch in a feline way. Frowning, she wondered momentarily if some of the familiar’s characteristic would transfer over into her human form. That would certainly be an interesting thing to find out. But suddenly, she heard Des speak again and resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Meeting the other woman’s gaze, her jaw dropped before she laughed as though it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. “You must be joking.†Rebecca responded, drawing on her magic and building (in her mind) a guard between her and Des. She didn’t want the girl to catch a whiff of her emotions. Not one tiny feeling. Letting her laughter die down, she cocked her head slightly, her grin almost mocking. Can’t lie. Can’t lie. The curse bubbled up inside of her, but she had already devised her loophole and was currently slipping through it with matchless ease.
“It’s obvious that being an empath,†she let those words sink in as she wanted to let Des know that Hawk had indeed told her about the other woman’s ability, “has dulled the perception of your own emotions. Don’t confuse your feelings with mine.†She responded, sending a glare in Des’ direction but then she pushed herself off of the stall, leaving the book behind on the ledge. She stood a few feet away from Des, shoving both of her hands in her pockets to keep herself from making a motion with her hand that might set the other girl’s hair on fire.
Rebecca wasn’t going to let this newcomer pull the rug out from under her. She wasn’t going to be backed into a corner, asked a direct question where the truth would bubble out of her like foam from a shaken soda bottle. That would not be tolerated. “Or are you asking because you know he doesn’t want you anymore?†She asked, letting her blonde hair sweep across her shoulder. “And you think…or do you know, that he prefers my company to yours?†She breathed, licking her lips, a gentle curl to the right side of her lips.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:36 am
by Astrophysicist
She could have laughed out loud at the blonde girl’s antics. “Oh, believe me, Rebecca,†responded Des, the city girl’s name sliding poisonously from her lips. “Confusing your emotions with mine is the last thing I would mix up.†She tossed her head back and laughed humorlessly, a dark smirk transforming her pretty features. She refused to be intimidated by someone like Rebecca Nurse. The girl was barely older than a child, for heaven’s sake! She was truly mad if she thought she had a fighting chance for Hawk’s affections, and that was precisely what Des intended to demonstrate. Hawk was a man that deserved the best, after all, and this little girl just couldn’t cut it.
“You’re an open book,†she continued, her tone brightening condescendingly. “You should see the way you look at him, pining away. Come on.†She waved a hand dismissively. “You don’t have a chance with him. I’ve been with him nearly three years. And besides, he’s had little girls swooning when he walks into the room since middle school. He may think it’s cute and flattering now, but it’s irritating after awhile.†She lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “It’s your choice. Get over him now, or get over him later. Because right now, you’re just pushing him away.â€
Desdemona pursed her lips in seriousness for a moment before she broke into a grin. When she smiled, her face lit up beautifully; it was really no wonder she’d captured the attention of someone like Hawk Callahan. But right then, the devilish fire that fueled that light that made her almost unbearable to look at as she slithered her way toward Rebecca’s destruction. She was not unkind, not deep down, but she was ruthless when it came to getting her way. And she would never give up someone as valuable as Hawk without a valiant fight to the proverbial death. Without a doubt, Des was in love with him, and whatever small chance the blonde girl had, she was prepared to eliminate it completely – be it now, one-on-one with Rebecca, or later, one-on-one with Hawk.
As she leaned back against one of the stall dividers, her sneer softened slightly. She sensed her defensiveness and dug deeper for Rebecca’s emotions, searching for ways to break her confidence. She studied her with something that resembled pity now.
“Look, I just don’t want you to get hurt,†she said honestly. “Don’t get your hopes up. It doesn’t matter how close you get to him. All you’re doing is distancing yourself. Soon, he won’t be able to stand you.†She nodded slowly, as though she were speaking to someone significantly less intelligent.
Her tone changed completely when she continued. Her voice was warmer, gentler. “Why would you want to destroy what you already have? What if it all goes wrong? It’ll just hurt both of you.†She spoke so matter-of-factly it was as though there was no conflict, like the two were best friends conversing over coffee. She was all charm and sophistication now, tucking away the viperous side of her in anticipation of Rebecca’s reaction and Hawk’s arrival. Her posture relaxed. “Hawk belongs with me, honey,†she drawled, almost soothingly. “That’s just the way it is. The way it has been.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:36 am
by Astrophysicist
“Pining away?†She scoffed, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. This poor girl had no idea that with a single thought, a single angry emotion, Rebecca could reduce her to ash. But she wouldn’t. Because that would make Hawk made and lead to her grandfather asking questions. Her head cocked slightly to the side as she examined the other girl’s astonishingly beautiful features.
It wasn’t fair. This Desdemona was the real deal. She was stunning with a laugh as though it was beauty manifested. Her eyes twinkled like stars when she smiled at Hawk. It wasn’t fair at all. Rebecca Nurse stood no chance against her and she should have just given up right then, but she didn’t even want to battle this woman for Hawk’s affections. The girl didn’t want to have Hawk’s amorous attentions. She didn’t even like him!
The blonde didn’t say a single word until the person across from her switched from bad cop to good cop. It was amusing and Rebecca allowed the emotion to be displayed by the characteristic smirk on her soft lips. Des was really working hard on convincing her that she shouldn’t bother pursing Hawk and she was doing a pretty damn good job. If the amber-eyed witch actually liked the boy, then she probably would have thrown in the towel. But Rebecca wasn’t going to allow herself to truly accept that she had feelings for her instructor. She was a stubborn brat.
“Just because you’re madly in love with a boy that you broke up with a year ago doesn’t mean that every girl within a 10 mile radius of him is.†She shrugged slightly. The tingling sensation of Des pushing on her barriers had caused her to shift uncomfortably before but she solidified them with another mental block. The empath was not going to be allowed to roam through all her insecurities and emotions so easily. “Look, I know you’re threatened by me.†It was said more to build up Rebecca’s confidence than convince Des of it. “But I’m not interested in being your rival for Hawk’s attention. He’s my teacher and I help out in the stables sometimes when I get bored in the big house.†She jerked a thumb towards her granddaddy’s home.
Pushing off, she moved closer to Desdemona as Hawk appeared in her peripheral vision. “But if I was interested,†she breathed in a low, mocking voice, “I guarantee you would be the one that got hurt, Des. Stop trying to get rid of me. I’m not going anywhere and you are just going to have to deal with that.†She responded, before drawing back and smiling at Hawk. Rebecca didn’t even realize that her eyes lit up when he got close to them. She took another two steps back from the other girl and focused her attention on the boy.
“How are they?†She asked, running her hand against her hair, before tucking it behind her ear. Now if only Des would get the hell out of here. I have news! She thought, casting a side glance at the book on the door.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:36 am
by Astrophysicist
Des batted her lashes and glanced down, a smile gracing her features once again. “Oh, honey,†she said chidingly, shaking her head and letting out a chuckle. “If you’ve convinced yourself of all that, I guess I won’t be the one to tear it down. I can’t.†She tilted her head as she studied her, like a mother watching her young child with a mix of incredulity and affection. The blonde girl’s lofty smirk did nothing to deter Desdemona, whose wicked amusement was only heightened as she recognized Rebecca’s false confidence. She truly was an open book. If only she could see, Des thought, her dark eyes bright with mirth.
She drew in a slow breath, lengthening the pause between their lines of banter. She folded her arms across her chest and relaxed her shoulders, her gaze sliding casually to the blonde as though they were close friends engaged in friendly conversation. “I don’t want to get rid of you, Rebecca,†she said, pointedly addressing her. “I mean, it’s obvious Hawk values your company as a friend.†She paused, letting that last word ring cruelly in the musty air of the stables. “And I don’t want to hurt him. I just want to let you know you’re in for a disappointment, that’s all.â€
She shrugged with graceful nonchalance and gnawed pensively at her lower lip. Rebecca was a stubborn young woman – nearly as stubborn as Des herself – but the trait would get her nowhere. Not this time, and certainly not with this opponent. Two could play this game of will, but only one was headstrong enough to battle it out to the end. Des smiled dreamily at the thought of emerging victor, of wrapping her arms around her handsome prize and claiming him forever as her own. She could look back to Rebecca Nurse and laugh, waving to her with the hand that wasn’t already entwined with Hawk Callahan’s.
Des turned toward the barn door when she heard the latch slide open, hardly noticing when the Nurse girl stepped closer to her. Her eyes were locked on Hawk as he approached, a genuine smile planted on her lips. “Hey, stranger,†she greeted, wrapping her hands around his upper arm and pulling herself closer to him. She looked up at him warmly.
Hawk cleared his throat, adjusting the position several loops of thick rope he carried on his shoulder. “Hi,†he said, furrowing his brow as he glanced down to Desdemona and then back up to Rebecca, meeting her gaze for a split second. “You know, Des, I wasn’t gone that long.†He chuckled and pulled away from her grasp, raising his eyebrows. “Did I interrupt something?†he asked, sensing the thick tension in the air. To occupy himself, he wrapped his calloused hands around the coil of dusty rope and brought it to his forearm, juggling its weight for a moment before he tossed it to the corner.
Mid-action, a broken train of thought crossed his mind – a train of thought that was not his own. Des…hell…out of here…news…! He paused abruptly and teetered to catch his balance, reaching out casually to steady himself on one of the stalls. That had Rebecca written all over it, without doubt. And if the city girl didn’t get her way – well, he didn’t want to think about how her newfound magic would react. If she was already flustered enough with Des’s presence, he didn’t want to risk another bolt of lightning or fiery explosion. Acting quickly, he cleared his throat again and donned a smile, his attention shifting to Desdemona.
“It’s almost time for dinner,†he announced smoothly. He wiped his hands on his shirt before putting a hand on her shoulder to steer her toward the door. “Let’s head back to the house and make some plans, all right? Before I get roped into any other work around here.†He glanced quickly to Rebecca, but didn’t get a chance to meet her eyes before Des reacted.
The brunette’s face brightened to a radiant glow as they stepped back outside. Hawk found himself momentarily captivated by her stare as she moved beneath his hand, positioning herself at his side. She slid her arm around his waist and leaned in as they walked, resting her head against the side of his chest. He didn’t let her see him grit his teeth; he only smiled, placing his arm hesitantly around her shoulders to guide her back to the house.
It was going to be a long night.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:36 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca wanted to place her hands on the side of Des’ pretty face and just…The girl made a face as she released hold of that thought in case something happened without her realizing it. Biting down on her bottom lip, she held back her retort. She wasn’t going to give the other woman the satisfaction of making her upset. She also wasn’t going to let Des realize just how powerful she was as a witch. She could easily have destroyed her with a thought if she wanted. Well, maybe at least turned her into a frog.
With her almond eyes turning to the new arrival, she gritted her teeth together as Hawk entered and Des immediately attacked like the hungry lioness she was. Unbeknownst to the Nurse heir, the animal communicator was picking up pieces of her thoughts. If she had known she would have sent a few choice words in his direction, but instead all that followed him were her pretty eyes.
“She barely held it together while you were gone a whole five minutes.†She muttered under her breath, running her lips against her fingertips to hide the remark. But the pair started to retreat towards the house and her light eyebrows furrowed together. Hawk was going with this horrible witch! If he didn’t like her…he wouldn’t. Could he not see how much of a leech she was? There had to be something there that kept him from seeing her for the siren she was.
He loved her.
Amber eyes followed them towards the house as it hit her. She placed her hand on the stall wall, grasping the book tightly in her hand. It felt as though someone had kicked her in the gut, knocking all of the air out of her lungs. Hawk loved Des. He wanted to be with her, that was so obvious now. How had she missed it?!
She closed her eyes tightly and the magic built up in her. It bubbled and rumbled up like a volcano ready to explode. It felt so similar to the previous night. She was ready to let it all out and level the barn to the ground. But she couldn’t. The fear of hurting someone, of hurting Hawk overwhelmed it and it calmed the storm that was raging inside of her. But that didn’t keep her from kicking the stall door.
Hawk and Des were gone by the time she focused her attention back on the path to the house. Rebecca gritted her teeth tightly together and set the book back down. Well if Des was so damned special, the Nurse girl was going to find out just why the girl captured Hawk’s heart and attentions so quickly. All the girl had wanted was a teacher! That’s all, right? But no, he had to go and get himself involved with his ex-girlfriend who was craziness incarnate.
Carefully, she moved over to the house at a slow pace. She entered through the side door rather than the kitchen door. She entered her room and quickly undressed before letting all thoughts fall away. Before she knew it, she was covered in fur and a few feet shorter. She shook herself a bit and let out a meow before slinking from her bedroom and into the kitchen. With cat agility, she pranced down the hall with her black paws leading the way.
Blue eyes scanned the scene as her white tail swished back and forth. She heard their voices in plain English, smiling. Must be the perks of being a familiar. Still able to think like a human even though she couldn’t speak like one would help as she figured out what Des had and she didn’t.
With a graceful leap, she found herself on the counter, swishing her tail back and forth. Stupid Desdemona.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:37 am
by Astrophysicist
Hawk pulled away from Des as they reached the front porch. He tugged the door open and ushered her inside, not bothering to hide his urgency. She looked at him questioningly as she passed through the living room and into the kitchen, but he ignored her, his footsteps coming quickly behind.
“Why the rush?†she demanded, her feigned innocence momentarily shattered by the bitterness of her tone.
“Because I’m hungry,†came his cold response as he opened the refrigerator, absentmindedly scanning its contents. He closed the door and paused, his hand still wrapped around the handle, his head bowed as if in prayer. He’d managed to get Des away from Rebecca without any earthquakes, without any fireballs, without any lightning strikes. In fact, it had gone rather well, all things considered; Des hadn’t even lodged a complaint. So why did his chest feel heavy with something akin to guilt? Why was his mind wandering back to the barn, to the rows of stalls where he’d left Rebecca standing behind?
“Ollie, what’s wrong?â€
He felt a gentle hand on his back, and immediately he relaxed. For one disorienting moment, he was transported back to high school, back when he and Desdemona had been together. They’d shared a tenderness most young couples could only dream about; the chemistry between them had held them to one another like static cling. But the energy had faded over time, and they’d begun breaking apart to go their separate ways – Des had been distracted with plans for graduation and college and overseas travel, while Hawk had had to focus on his studies for his final year. Apart they had grown, and apart they had stayed – until today.
The fire he’d once felt when he spent time with Des had died down to glowing embers, leaving only a glimmer of the warmth and affection they’d once basked in. Compared to the electric surges he felt with Rebecca, well… He brought his thoughts to an immediate halt and tensed again, straightening his posture as he turned around to face Desdemona. She wrapped her arms around his torso. Reluctantly, he gave in and returned the gesture. “Long day, I guess,†he finally admitted, his voice hoarse.
“Would you feel better talking outside? It’s such a nice night,†Des offered, arching her brows.
Hawk sighed and nodded. She took his hand and led him outside, sitting on the top porch stair where he had spilled his Dr. Pepper so many weeks ago. It was strange how vivid and poignant that memory was. He chuckled a little as he took a seat next to Des, propping himself up with a hand as he leaned back and gazed at the oncoming sunset. Rebecca had nearly knocked him unconscious with a flying diary.
Des joined in with a merry laugh of her own, imitating his relaxed pose.
“I’m sorry about your uncle,†Hawk said.
“My great uncle,†she corrected, shaking her head. “It’s not a big deal. I barely knew him.â€
“But your family’s probably devastated.â€
“My dad is.â€
The curtness of her language brought the conversation to a stop. They sat in silence for a while, but it was not entirely uncomfortable. Hawk stared at the horizon, watching as the landscape was bathed in gold from the setting sun. His reverie was broken, however, when a new presence pierced his consciousness, distracting him from the streaks of pink and orange in the western sky.
This…this was far more interesting. He sat up a little straighter, narrowing his eyes in contemplation. It was feline, of that he was certain; he’d connected as easily as he had with any normal animal mind. But something was fundamentally, startlingly different. Its timbre, its syntax, its process – everything was tainted with a familiar tone quality, a resonance he recognized as effortlessly as he would recognize his own reflection in a mirror.
The sound of the wind. Thrills, newness. The cool of the floor. The flashes of blowing leaves in the twilight.
His mind filled with questions. He glanced to Des, who thankfully appeared oblivious of his sudden curiosity, and allowed his eyes to wander slowly across the rest of the landscape. When his visual scan returned no results, he twisted around, his emerald eyes searching the shadows for any sign of the nearby cat he sensed so keenly. Ah, over there, he thought to himself as he caught sight of a light-colored kitten, satisfied.
Anger. Irritation. Bristling, on edge. Jealousy.
A young thing, barely old enough to be called an adult cat. Perhaps that’s why it felt so unusual. Adjusting his position to better face the newcomer, he placed his right hand on the wooden porch floor and immediately felt something shock his flesh. Startled, he sat up and examined his palm, looking accusingly back to the floorboards, which were held together by old metal nails…metal nails that conducted electricity. Electricity he’d tasted before.
Rebecca.
The thought hit him with as much force as the city girl’s lightning bolt.
Rebecca.
Instantaneous fury burned inside him. His green eyes flashed fire as he faced forward again, his posture rigid. As quickly as it flared, he suppressed it, keeping it from both Desdemona’s and Rebecca’s detection.
“Ollie, please, what’s wrong?†asked Des, inching closer to him. She rested her head on his tense shoulder and placed a hand on his upper back. “Please tell me, won’t you?â€
He couldn’t break free from Rebecca’s mind. She was in animal form now; he was connected with her in an entirely different way. He couldn’t escape it, and now that he was so outraged, he couldn’t stop her feelings from influencing his own. He gnawed at his lip, momentarily forgetting about Des at his side. Irritation and anger. Grudges. Burning anger. Envy, annoyed envy… The puzzle pieces were beginning to fit together. He’d done nothing but try to do her a favor, and here she was risking life and limb against his instructions, accusing him now of something neither of them fully understood. If she were going to play at that game, well…he may as well give her something to accuse him of.
He released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, forcing himself to relax for the umpteenth time. Slowly, he leaned in toward Desdemona, resting his head atop hers.
“I’ve missed you,†he heard himself say quietly, placing his left hand on top of hers. Her skin was soft beneath his palm, and he wrapped his fingers around hers.
She sighed contentedly and snuggled in closer, burying the side of her face in his neck. “I missed you too, Oliver,†she murmured, her eyelids fluttering closed.
He shifted and leaned forward, reaching up to touch her cheek. She smiled up at him, their faces just inches apart. Without thinking, he closed the gap between them, their lips meeting in a cold, vengeful kiss.
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:38 am
by Astrophysicist
The pretty kitty perched on the counter, letting her tiny tail swish back and forth as though she had been used to it all her life. She kind of licked having a tail. It was an extra limb, sure, but it could swat away irritating things if she chose for it to. Almost distracted (like a real kitten would be), she focused on the white of her tail and reached out to it with a dark paw. Swatting it playfully she let out a mew before she seemed to come back to her human mind.
With Hawk and Des through the door, she slipped down and landed on all fours with matchless grace. Interesting. She thought to herself as she slipped through the door. She didn’t let out a sound as the broken wire scratched at her fur. Mmm. She almost mewed, arching her back so that it would scratch that perfect spot between the ‘shoulder blades’ of her front legs.
It was a wide porch but seeing Des made an anger flare up into her. She was entirely unaware of Hawk’s presence inside of her mind. She had almost forgotten about his special animal connection. Rebecca had assumed, foolishly so it seemed, that familiars weren’t the same are regular animals and he would thusly not be privy to her secret feelings. Her blue eyes focused on the brunette sitting next to Hawk. Her back hair bristled as she shifted on her paws. It would be so effortless to attack the girl with tooth and claw. Jealousy overcame her, though she didn’t know what it was when it hit her. She just assumed that an entire day had been wasted as Hawk fooled around with his ex-girlfriend.
A whole day wasted.
His emerald eyes met hers and she cocked her head, before turning her attention to her paw, trying to act like a normal cat. His attention was still focused on her, but her own waned over to Des. The annoyingly gorgeous brunette was busy fixing her hair in case Oliver looked back over at her.
Drawing on a thread of magic, she probed Des. All thoughts of the boy were forgotten before she caught sight of Des’ thoughts as though it was a motion picture in her head. It was an image of Hawk, leaning over Des and he was so enthralled by her, drawn to her. The look in his eyes was something Rebecca had never seen before.
Love.
Hatred welled up inside of her and she released a bit of her magic. One paw was placed on a nail and it wasn’t until she felt it hit a barrier than she buried her power back down inside of her. Blue eyes blinked before falling on the back of the boy before her. She heard the singsong voice of the empathy and had to hold back coughing up a hairball. Ollie? Dear God, please don’t make me barf up my catnip. She thought sarcastically to herself, before he turned towards her.
But Hawk pressed his head against Des’. That was more contact that Rebecca had ever gotten. She’d only gotten the brush of his fingers and that was to get a water drop. Her back arched again, the typical response of an angry cat. Her claws dug into the wood of the porch and she watched the actions unfold before her.
Rebecca didn’t remember seeing the kiss. It was just suddenly a blazing sore in her memory like a thief’s emblem burned into a bandit’s flesh. She nearly doubled over. Her claws retracted and her little kitten legs seemed to go limb beneath her few ounces of fur. Some feeling overwhelmed her and she was glad she was in cat form so Des would be unable to feel her complete and utter despair.
Des was right. The witch had been correct all along. Rebecca should have known. She should have known that Hawk couldn’t ever pick someone like her to spend time with over someone as gorgeous, talented and smart as Desdemona. Hawk belongs with me, honey. That’s just the way it is. The way it has been. The words rang in her head as though the entire cathedral of Notre Dame was chiming inside of her mind.
She was losing herself to her feelings. She was changing back. She felt herself losing all control and she had to get it back fast. Rebecca could not revert to human form in front of them. Hissing through her tiny, sharp teeth, the kitten closed her eyes tightly and let go of all the feelings that threatened to overwhelm her. But they were winning and she had to escape. Without opening her eyes, she turned and slammed into the wiring of the screen door. With a mew of distress, she struggled through before opening here eyes.
Bounding as fast as her little legs would carry her, she made it out of sight before her human limbs suddenly appeared and she had to take two steps, entirely naked, down the hall. Slamming the door of her room (not loud enough for them to hear, however), Rebecca leaned down against it. She couldn’t move for what felt like ten minutes before she began to dress. It gave her something to do with her hands. But as soon as that was done, anger overwhelmed her, her hand flew out and the door of her bedroom exploded into a tiny million pieces.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:39 am
by Astrophysicist
No…
The word flashed like lightning across his mind. With a fierce blaze of white light, he was on his feet, one hand clamped over his closed eyes. He stumbled forward and braced himself on the porch rail, gritting his teeth in anguish. A strangled cry escaped his lips.
“Oliver James Callahan!†shrieked Des, half-offended and half-concerned. She stormed after him with her fists planted firmly on her hips. “What on earth is wrong?†She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arm around his lowered shoulders. “You have to tell—â€
“You.â€
“What?â€
“You,†he repeated quietly, shrugging off her arm and stepping away. “You’re what’s wrong, Des.†He blinked his eyes open and stared at her, his green gaze frighteningly devoid of emotion.
Desdemona recoiled slowly, her expression falling in devastation. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but she could not find the words. She was frozen in place with incredulity, her brown eyes locked on the young man she loved so sincerely. “I don’t understand,†she murmured, her voice barely audible.
He should have known. He should have known the moment he’d awaken from that dream, the moment he’d lain eyes on the young blonde girl reading beneath the old oak, the moment she’d saved him from the deep trespasses of his own mind. He did not belong with Desdemona. He never did, never would, and never could – that much had been proven to him with just one small kiss. Their lips had barely touched when a spark of electric energy shot between them, blinding Hawk with a burst of white and sending him flailing back in pain. Every instinct had screamed at him to stop, but he’d been too stubborn to listen, too intent on punishment and revenge for his disobedient student. He knew now he had gone too far to get back at Rebecca.
Rebecca.
He couldn’t describe the emotions that welled inside him as he stared speechlessly at Desdemona, his thoughts only of the Nurse heir. He was trapped somewhere between understanding and confusion, suspended helplessly in a realm of impossibilities that had suddenly presented themselves as possible. She had invaded his consciousness and wrapped herself around his very core, surrounding his being with precisely the pieces it had been missing. It had been there the whole time, floating just within his reach, taunting him on the edge of his awareness like wind chimes on the summer breeze. But he’d been too blind to see the big picture, and it dawned on him now with unrivaled ferocity. Despite her shortcomings, despite her stubbornness, despite her defiance and misbehavior and sarcasm and nagging – he loved her.
“Des, we’re a thing of the past,†he heard himself say, looking at her sympathetically. It was as though he were a puppet, functioning mechanically at another force’s whim. His actual consciousness was with their discussion, but his thoughts were far away, calculating and computing in the wake of his realization. “We had something, yes. But that was a long time ago. We’ve both changed.â€
“But you—†She didn’t get a chance to finish.
“We ended it a year ago,†he stated simply. “It’s over.â€
He watched as her eyes glimmered with tears in the setting sunlight, her brows knitted together with hurt. “I was wrong about everything,†she whispered, more to herself than to Hawk. She folded her arms across her chest and hunched her shoulders, fighting to keep the tears from falling. He stepped closer to her and leaned in to give her a hug, but she pulled away, her back turned.
“I take that as my cue to leave,†she said curtly, the shock gone from her voice. When she turned back to look at him, her flushed cheeks had returned to normal and her eyes, no longer reddened, displayed no evidence of the emotional turmoil within. It surprised him when she smiled and nodded, sighing a breath that merely sounded bored. “I should have known better,†she admitted, her posture still stiff. “You don’t know what you’re missing, Oliver. You really don’t.â€
“Don’t do this, Desdemona,†he shot back.
The use of her full name caught her off-guard, and she faltered for a moment before she regained her composure. “It’s not my doing,†she said sourly. “Nor is it my undoing. I should have known better, and I regret having to come to that conclusion after what we just shared, but that’s life. C’est la vie, right?â€
“What we shared?†He snorted, his irritation swelling once again. “It was only proof that we could never work. Not anymore.â€
“Right.†Des smiled wickedly and took several steps backwards toward the front of the house. “You’re right. You’re always right.†She tilted her head to the side as she studied him, her uncertain smile morphing into a patronizing sneer. “Good knowing you, Oliver Callahan. Say goodbye to your little truthsayer for me, won’t you?â€
For the first time in a long while, words failed him. He watched her turn on her heel and leave, his feet locked in place. He heard her car engine start, he heard the gravel of the driveway crunching beneath her departing tires. And then there was silence – ruthless, merciless, agonizing silence in which his thoughts began to ruminate. Say goodbye to your little truthsayer for me, won’t you? He lowered himself slowly onto the top porch stair, his head reeling. He didn’t know what Des’s departing words meant, and he was too overwhelmed to dwell on it further.
With a resigned sigh, he rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands, his fingertips entwined in his auburn hair. In the absence of his fury, his limbs felt weak. He closed his eyes and began to meditate, doing his best to achieve the calm he knew would be necessary to deal with the insubordinate city girl in the hours to come.
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Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:40 am
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca’s ten minutes on the floor were agonizingly long. She sat there naked as a jaybird, hugging her bare knees to her chest. Blonde head rested on the wood of the door, filled with too many thoughts to notice the slight chill of being entirely unclothed. Amber eyes closed in confusion as a thousand different emotions forced their way to the surface of her thoughts.
She had been so blind to it. She hadn’t realized that with each passing day, with each new lesson, and with each lingering glance, that she had fallen for him. Her eidetic memory tried to find the moment where she had tripped into loving him. Yet, even the striking accuracy and ability of her special mind could not pinpoint a moment when it knew that she loved him. It was painful to come to that conclusion only after watching him lean towards Desdemona. Seeing the action through the eyes of her familiar did not help a single bit. It was still as hurtful and heartbreaking as though her amber gaze had fallen upon the pair.
Licking her lips, she stared at the opposite wall, hoping beyond hope that the world would just swallow her up in a single gulp. Then she wouldn’t have to deal with the despair that was setting into her soul. Watching him kiss Des had made all the parts of her soul scream in sheer agony. It was as though a force was pulling her apart, limb from limb. The power of her magic sputtered and gasped, being choked out of life by the once caressing hands of its other half.
Devastation gave way to anger in those moments though. The defense mechanism that Rebecca had been building her whole life began to repair itself. Oliver Callahan would not longer to be able to break through her barriers. She wasn’t going to let him hurt her like this again. She wasn’t going to feel this complete and utter abandonment ever again. It was far too painful.
That’s when she rose from the floor, reborn in rage. Fury leaked out of her pores like sweat. Her fingers deftly dressed herself in a soft cotton dress to facilitate easier movement. That’s when the magic, enraged by the betrayal of the person it felt so complete with, bubbled to the surface. Rebecca didn’t know why she did it, she just did.
Her hand reached out, like something someone might see in a Marvel comic. The door exploded into a million different pieces and her amber eyes flared with a molten gold. For a long moment, the world seemed to freeze as she watched the pieces of the door levitate in the air. Suspended by her magic, she could see all the tiny splinters. Then, moving out the door, they fell to the ground. The glass of picture frames cracked as she walked down the hall to the kitchen.
Her ears heard the revving of an engine before it disappeared. He had left with her. The horrid bastard. The house began to shake on its foundation and somewhere Rebecca was hiding in the back of her mind, unable to control the outpouring of power. Of course, the girl was angry, she was upset but it seemed as though her magic had a mind of its own.
It wanted revenge.
She had to get outside, to her tree. She needed to calm herself and get away from the house before she brought it to the ground with a single thought. Moving through the kitchen, blonde hair brushing against her shoulders as she walked, the kitchen faucet exploded and began to spew water everywhere. The droplets that attempted to press against her soft skin were repelled and fell to the ground around her. All of the electrical devices began to hum with life and excitement, whirring on and off as thought at will. The blender swirled around nothingness as the toaster would pop up and down entirely empty of any bread.
But through the broke wire of the door, she saw him, sitting there in quiet meditation. She cocked her head and everything went silent. Even the broken faucet stopped, the water freezing over as a cold feeling gripped her. She marched outside, leaving the kitchen to its wreckage. The door swung open without her so much as reaching out a hand to push it from its place.
“It’s past six. Go home, farm boy.†Her words were like daggers. Power and rage radiated from her, filling the air that surrounded them. The rocking chairs on the porch began to move back and forth, steadily picking up speed. “You’re not needed here anymore.†The screen door hung open as she stood in the frame of the doors. Her magic held it wide so she could stand there.
Wind picked up too, whipping her hair around her head, but never obscuring her fiery gaze. Her hands rested calmly at her sides as Rebecca took control of her powers. She was so angry at him. He had betrayed her.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:28 pm
by Astrophysicist
The exploding door should have been the first thing to wake him from his meditative state, followed by the cracking of the glass frames and the suddenly-whizzing electronics in the kitchen behind him. But so skilled was he at slipping into a total state of meditation, he was oblivious to Rebecca’s powerful fury, his breaths coming slow and deep as he gradually cooled his mind and body. He was lost in the tranquil trenches of his mind’s refuge, taking sleeplike comfort in the mental niche he’d carved for himself so many years ago. It was a place where no frustration, no anger, no emotion could exist. It was simply himself and his magic, himself and his soul.
When the ground began to quake beneath him, he stirred, coming to with tired sluggishness. He felt as though he were swimming in a deep pool, breaking through to the surface with the desperation of a man drowning in sudden fear. He gasped as he opened his eyes, his hands flying to grip the edge of the top porch stair. The wood shook violently beneath his palms, the old boards creaking their protests like a chorus of voices crying in agony. He steadied himself on the rickety railing as he rose slowly to his feet and turned back to look at the house, his green eyes wide with horror. The entire structure was writhing! The floor trembled dangerously beneath his feet as he walked across the porch toward the back door, already drawing power to his fingertips to battle whatever force possessed the old house.
The earthquake stopped as abruptly as it had begun, startling him to the core. A shiver ran down the length of his spine. His magic, instead of withdrawing, instinctively intensified, tensing like a muscle in preparation for use – he tasted electricity in the air. Sensing her approach, his eyes settled on the screen door where her silhouette soon appeared. His eyes narrowed.
Speech eluded him. He could only stare, simmering beneath the fiendish gleam in her amber eyes. Her outrage surged across their magical connection and smashed head-on into his consciousness, obliterating what remained of his fear as though it had never existed at all. He remembered his own anger, his own complete frustration at her impertinence and deliberate disobedience. Jaw clenched, he looked up at her again, the fiery expression in his emerald eyes only amplified by the sunset’s glow to the west. His meditation had been completely useless.
When she spoke, the searing hatred in her tone only aggravated him more. He bristled and balled his fists, his magic quivering in his veins. “You have no authority over me, Rebecca,†he spat, his words dry with rage. No longer afraid of what she could do, he stepped toward her and placed a hand on the suspended screen door. He released a tendril of power to still the rocking chair, his trained magic easily overpowering her raw magic. “You disobeyed me. What were you thinking?†He sighed angrily. “You weren’t thinking! You…you…!â€
He couldn’t continue past the lump that had lodged itself in his throat. She was absolutely infuriating! “Get it under control,†he whispered to her icily, his eyes viridescent daggers before he clenched them closed and turned back around, folding his arms across his chest. "Haven't you done enough damage already, city girl?"
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:28 pm
by Astrophysicist
The second he drew on the source of his power, she felt it. Being one with her magic was instinctive now. It did things entirely without her having to consciously think about them. Like breathing and like her heart beating, her magic was a part of her that she could never escape. It reached out, charging forth like a hundred wild stallions towards his mental barriers. The exhilaration of the use of her power fueled her anger and her control.
As he looked at her, her assault faltered just slightly. The look in his eyes momentarily frightened her but the weakness of her indecision was wood to the flame as she regained herself and let the magic whip around her like Medusa’s snakes. The air for her fiery rage was the fact that he had so easily ended the connection she had with the rocking chair. A frown creased her soft lips and she glared at him, balling one fist with slow ease.
“Disobeyed you?! What are you? My mother?†She snapped, staring angrily at the back of his head. She really wished that she had something to throw at it. Maybe knock him unconscious in the process. Steadily, with a careful grace, she moved past him after he had turned around. The door hung open for a second more before it slammed shut with the force of a sudden wind. Thunderous clouds began to roll in as she descended the steps.
All the other farm hands had gone home and her grandfather had disappeared to the hospital for the night. No one was about but them, now that Desdemona had gone, and she was slightly thankful for it. It allowed her to tap into her unknown potential as a witch. The sky darkened prematurely as the clouds leapt over each other, hungrily searching for what called them to this place.
The moment her bare feet hit the soft grass of the ground, she whirled on him. “Damage?†She laughed, almost coldly. Her tone was malicious but she didn’t care. He had betrayed her. Every part of her essence felt betrayed though she didn’t understand why. Unlike her magic, Rebecca was still oblivious to the fact that they belonged together. Of course, she felt the electricity that surged between them when they touched, but she didn’t understand the source.
She didn’t know that their power sources, that their very souls completed each other.
“You’ve seen nothing of the damage that I can cause.†She whispered as the threat laced beneath those words. As if to emphasize her point, a bolt of lightning flashed off in the distance, over the hill along the trees. It struck the exact spot where she had saved him from being overrun by the dark reaches of his mind, of his own power. “And I do have it under control. I am in complete control but you wouldn’t know that.†She snapped. Her unclenched hand reached out, as if beckoning some force. Lightning descended from the sky and hit the very tip of her finger but she didn’t so much as flinch when it made contact. Her eyes didn’t blink when the light seared the space between them.
“You wouldn’t know because you don’t give me any credit. I’ve worked hard these last few weeks. I’ve meditated and I’ve practiced and I never so much as once disobeyed you until today.†She responded, amber eyes flashing dangerously as the thunder rumbled above them. “But then she comes along and I’m put on the back burned like some pet project that you can just pick up whenever you find the time.†Her words were calculated and emotion burned behind them. “So I try it out. And it works!†She laughed, running a hand through her hair and looking away towards the approaching clouds, shaking her head. Finally, her eyes turned back to him.
The house began to shake beneath him again as the thought of what she saw on the porch before came to her mind. “I try and tell you but you’re too busy with your girlfriend." She laughed bitterly at him. "Then you accuse me of losing control?! You don’t understand anything about me. You know nothing about who I am, farm boy.†Her words were venomous as she took a step back, letting the house shake on its very foundation as her anger escalated.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:29 pm
by Astrophysicist
“I’m your teacher, Rebecca!†he snapped back, refusing to look at her. “What do you want me to do? I lay down rules to protect you, not limit you!†He shivered beneath the force of his rage, his gaze sliding to the city girl below. “If you don’t want my advice, well, I won’t waste my time trying to give it to you. Consider yourself on your own.†He held up a hand before making a fist and allowing his arm to drop to his side, suppressing the surge of power that manifested in his palm.
He felt his face flush with wrath as she sped past him. The brewing weather mirrored his mood with dark beauty; billowing clouds gathered on the horizon and stormed closer, riding on the swirling winds that suddenly tossed the old trees near the house. Premature darkness flooded the vacant farm, shrouding the warm sunset with a storm as electric and furious as the two battling witches. The wind chimes sang their soprano to the approaching thunder’s rumbling bass.
She was in pain now, angry pain. He could feel it in the breeze, and he could feel it burning beneath his own skin. He wanted nothing more than to dig his nails into his own flesh and tear it away, to scrape off the pieces she’d left behind and pick up his life where he’d left off at the beginning of summer. But he was stuck with her, tied and anchored like a ship at sea, connected in ways he hadn’t even discovered yet. It was just as unbelievable as it was unfair. He’d donated his time and efforts to her, training her diligently and keeping her secret from her grandfather, and what did he get as payment? More sass, more back-talking, more rebellion, a summer of misery, and never once a thank-you.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears as his mind hyperactively reeled, trying desperately to maintain his sanity while keeping up with Rebecca’s retorts. He didn’t deserve this stress and this confusion. He looked back to her with renewed fire in his eyes, unintimidated by her flamboyant power displays. He took a step down and placed his hand back on the railing. “You’re so naïve!†he exclaimed, hurtling his voice over the storm. “You don’t have a damn thing under control. Look at you! Look at what you’re doing!†He gestured to the sky as lightning snaked across the clouds, illuminating his face. “It’s you that wouldn’t know.†The wind blew his hair wildly as he spoke. “If you think this is control…â€
He trailed off as she held out her hand to accept a bolt of lightning. Inside, his heart lurched in fear, reminded a little too closely of the strike up on the hill. But outside, he simply furrowed an unimpressed brow. “If you were in control of yourself, you would know that none of this…this act is necessary,†he said gruffly. “I don’t care how powerful you are.†He held out a hand of his own – the one Rebecca had healed – and drew on his power, summoning the memory of the previous night and calling to the storm.
With a flash similar to the one that had repelled him from Desdemona, a slice of white-hot lightning cut through the humid air to connect with his fingertips. For a split second, his mind flashed back to their time on the hill. He flew through the memories in fast-motion, the past feelings and thoughts pelting him like heavy raindrops. He watched himself fly backwards from the first strike, he saw Rebecca take his hand, he heard her voice echoing in his head, he felt his mind once again caving in on him, he felt her concern and her frustration, he sensed her great inner battles when speaking of Des, he felt his repulsion, he felt her annoyance and jealousy…
He snapped back to the present just as the bolt retreated back to the clouds, his anger renewed at the mentioning of Desdemona. “It was one day!†he shot back, taking a step down. Her use of the word girlfriend stung him hard, but he didn’t allow the hurt to show. “You’ve had days off before, Rebecca. Why couldn’t you manage to handle this occasion like a mature adult?†His brows came together infinitesimally and he narrowed his eyes, a notion suddenly occurring to him. He took a step towards her. “Were you jealous of Des? Was that it?â€
The memory, having just replayed itself for him within the flash of lightning, was fresh in his mind. Can’t lie. Can’t lie. Can’t lie. Hadn’t he heard those words ring through his consciousness before? Hadn’t he felt that somewhere, some time ago?
Say goodbye to your little truthsayer for me.
Could it be true?
Hawk’s jaw dropped open in disbelief. The pieces finally snapped together. He widened his eyes before narrowing them again, taking the last step down onto the grass level with the Nurse girl. “I don’t know anything about who you are,†he repeated haughtily, chuckling with cruel mirth. “You’re wrong, city girl. Dead wrong.†She was incapable of lying!
“What are you thinking?" he demanded heatedly. "What are you thinking right now?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:29 pm
by Astrophysicist
Her eyes followed his slow descent down the stairs, the storms growling with each step that he took. She lowered her hand back down to her side, annoyed that he could so easily replicated her lightning task. Her lips pursed together as she was entirely not amused with him, her anger boiling inside of her.
“Oh, so now you’re going to name call?! I’m not a child!†She snapped back, annoyed that he would mock her about being an adult. She was mature but Des’ arrival had interrupted something that she had been very into in that moment. Even her magic had not enjoyed the arrival of the other woman. It had shocked the empathy without so much as a thought from Rebecca herself. That thought annoyed her, adding to her anger, because it proved that Hawk was right about her inability to control herself at times.
The question hit to her core and the thunderstorm raged in her shock, clapping loudly as a thousand horse hooves. Can’t lie. Can’t lie. Can’t lie. It told her in almost a mocking tone, betraying her as Hawk had before. She frowned deeply as forked lightning struck the ground behind her, leaving a burned patch of grass and clay in its wake. She was very jealous of Des. She loathed the girl with all her being for her attitude towards Hawk and herself.
He finally lowered himself to her level and she had to tip her head back up a little to look into his emerald eyes which caught every strike of lightning that hit the ground behind her. Running her tongue along her lips she felt the familiar pain of not answering to a direct question. The fingers curled into a fist on her left hand.
“You know nothing.†She whispered under her breath, not breaking her gaze that was locked with his. But the truth was still struggling to escape from her lips and be free to the air. Damn this horrid curse! She shook her head and took another step back, closing her eyes tightly. Rebecca couldn’t look at him.
She could contain it no longer. “Yes.†She breathed. The thunder roared and the lightning flashed. “Yes I was jealous.†Resentment was clear in her voice as she turned her face angrily back towards him. She hated being cheated out of her loopholes.
“That you’re ridiculous!†She snapped, placing her hands on his chest and pushing him back slightly but hardly with any force. “How could you do that!? You knew very well I was there. You knew that I was the cat. You knew and you kissed her. What the hell was that about?†She cursed at him, glaring furiously at him. The heat in the air rose but the clouds grew lighter as she answered; the truth unable to be suppressed. There were no loopholes this time.
“And I’m angry and that I hate you. I hate you so entirely.†And a part of her did in this moment, that’s why she was so angry. She was so furious that he would so something like that when he had to know…he had to by now. She wasn’t the most subtle person in the world.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:30 pm
by Astrophysicist
His prying questions hung in the air like the thick curtain of humidity, suspended all around them and rendering them unable to escape. When her hands brushed his chest and pushed him away, he gasped aloud not with surprise, but with shock. Tentacles of icy electricity transferred from her fingertips to his torso, burying themselves beneath his skin as they traveled to down his arms and legs. Catching his balance, he maintained their distance from one another and searched for her amber gaze. He shivered despite the summer storm’s thick heat, and he folded his arms across his chest. The edge of his anger retreated with the lightening of the clouds, be that a result of his own shifting mood or lingering effects of Rebecca’s relief to be spilling the truth.
Though only he could feel its existence, he became hyperconscious of their magical connection as she spoke, the words bubbling from her like a fountain. For several moments, he was aware only that she was speaking. He could hear the sounds above the storm, he saw her lips working, but he was unable to process the words and sentences she formed. Something felt easy, relaxed, as though an immense pressure had been lifted away with the tempestuous breeze. He was utterly transfixed in the sensation, lost for only a breath in the current of relief that washed away the tension in his mind. For that split second, it didn’t matter what she was saying. All that mattered was that sweet, blissful solace, and he welcomed it as he would the green calm after an evening storm.
A crash of thunder woke him from his temporary stupor, and his brain resettled as though it had never reached that tranquil state. Anger bit at his ankles and kept him on his toes, but this time he did not surrender to every one of its demands. His muscles tensed as he tuned in to Rebecca’s confession. The intermittent lightning revealed in stages the changing expression in his emerald eyes, unveiling every step between outrage and compassion and concern. Yes. Yes, I was jealous. Her hesitant words and jarring change of tone sparked a mild flame of guilt in his chest, chasing away his fury with each syllable she muttered.
He didn’t know what to say, but he knew silence would be worse than even the most insulting of statements. “Rebecca,†he addressed her, projecting over the growl of the thunderstorm, “You don’t understand.†He paused, clenching his jaw with one more wave of irritation. What was he getting himself into? He took a deep breath before he continued. “You left before you could see anything. I barely got close enough to touch her…†He hesitated, tearing his eyes away from hers. “I knew you were jealous, and I was furious that you’d tried shapeshifting…†He paused. “And then something stopped me. I couldn’t do it. And I…I told her to leave, because…â€
He stopped, his tongue freezing in place as she finished her spiel. The air grew warmer as the silence between them descended, her anger manifesting in the temperature. But he didn’t believe her words. His ire had subsided, leaving him feeling vulnerable and weak, but there was no longer anything clouding his perception, no furious bias on his thoughts. There was something in her amber stare, something that the rage and fire and hatred were covering up, something she wasn’t saying despite her inability to fabricate the truth. He stepped closer to her, making up for the space lost when she’d pushed him back.
“Rebecca Nurse,†he said, looking down into her golden eyes with an honesty revealed only by the lightning, “I don’t believe that you hate me.†He blinked, allowing a moment for his words to sink in and the rumbles of thunder to die off. “You don’t, do you? How do you really feel about me?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:31 pm
by Astrophysicist
She couldn’t hear what he was trying to tell her. The rumbling of the thunder was not only outside s the clouds tumbled over one another, but it was inside of her. Each clap boomed inside of her mind, resounding like a gong from ancient times. She stopped breathing, trying to regain the control that she lost when he made her speak the truth. But the truth was winning and it was making the storm die down. But she wanted to let it rage out.
Finding the source of the thunder in her magic, she fueled it with her thoughts and it roared back to life, so loudly that she didn’t hear his confessions, not entirely. ‘Knew you were jealous….couldn’t do it.’ She shook her head, trying to hear but too angry to stop the storm in order to allow it. He was being so cruel.
He knew! He knew! He knew she couldn’t lie. She hissed through her teeth, both of her hands clenching at her sides as she closed her amber eyes tightly to avoid looking at him. How had he figured out she was a truthsayer, incapable of producing a lie? She had done her very best to never let anyone know that she couldn’t lie. The only people who knew were her mother and father. Not even her siblings were aware of the neat little curse that was placed upon the youngest Nurse child.
When she opened her eyes, he was very close to her. She inhaled sharply, lightening striking far off in the distance as if to embody her surprise as finding him so near. Despite the increasing temperature and humidity, she felt his body heat radiating from him. Her magic reached out to touch his defenses, pressing delicate tendrils against his aura. She felt a shock, though not an unpleasant one. It ran through her as light speed, racing along her neurons and exciting them. This feeing let her essence know that they had found a companion capable of matching wits, stubbornness and magical ability.
He said her name and it was as though the entire world fell silent around her so that he could speak directly to her soul. The lightening crashed and the thunder rolled but she couldn’t hear it. Their eyes locked with one another’s and she felt a weight being lifted off her. As though she was Atlas and Hercules came to relieve her of the burden of the world’s weight.
Yes. I do. I hate you. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. “No.†She whispered, the word projecting into the space between them. “No, I don’t hate you.†There was no loophole. It was a direct question. How do you really feel about me? “When you’re around my magic tingles beneath the surface, eager to feel the steady control of yours just graze it even a small amount.†The words came out of her as though she had known the answer all along and was just waiting for him to ask her.
“My essence, my soul, craves you. I long to feel you and your soul touching mine. You’re infuriating and oblivious and obstinate and unbearable. I can’t stand when you talk to me like I’m a child, so far beneath you…barely even worthy of your notice. I’m jealous of Des because you’re hers. You always have been.†She licked her lips, not breaking their gaze and the thunder clouds began to lighten even further. “But nonetheless, I want to know you. I felt so alive in the kitchen with your hand against my cheek and it shook me to my core.†Rebecca unclenched her hands, letting them go limp by her side.
“I love you.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:32 pm
by Astrophysicist
And then something stopped me. I couldn’t do it. And I…I told her to leave, because…I don’t love her. I love you.
The words had been there, on the tip of his tongue, in the forefront of his consciousness, ready and eager to spring to the air for the world to hear. In the aftermath of his experience of calm and relief, he wanted nothing more than to live and breathe that sense again. Speaking his mind would have put them on level ground, he offering her what she was forced to offer him: the bare, heart-wrenching truth. No questions, no uncertainty, nothing to hide and nothing to lose.
But he didn’t. He couldn’t. He bit it back as instinctively as he drew his next breath, choking back the words that would release them from the stress and anger of lingering doubt. When she spoke, he was shocked at her words, drawn in by her voice as she ripped down her barriers and simply let loose. There was something desperate and pleading in her eyes as each syllable flowed from her tongue, something that reached out with longing grace in a violent storm. He wanted to reach out to her, but he didn’t know how. She was the light of the sun after a great spring rain; she was the lighthouse beacon that guided him safely home on the tumultuous sea of life – his reassurance, his lifeline, yet perpetually beyond his reach.
Hawk trembled to his very core at the mention of Des, fueled with a combination of hatred and embarrassment. His guilt was searing, burning his shoulders as he held up its weight. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking; the kiss had been an impulse decision he’d known would affect the eavesdropping Rebecca, but he hadn’t realized then just how strong a blow he’d delivered. Without either of them realizing it, sometime over the weeks of the Salem summer they had fallen for one another. And as much as he hated to admit it, it was the appearance of Desdemona that opened his eyes to what had been there all along. Her imposition had in fact been an effectuation, proving to all three of them that life and magic were full of surprises.
As she paused, he opened his mouth to speak. But what was there to say? He closed it promptly, attempting futilely to swallow the lump in his throat. He was drowning in the pure honesty he had conjured from her by force. The new knowledge of her inability to lie should have made him feel powerful, but he was too lost in the moment of her speech to recognize the advantage he now possessed. Anyone else would have drilled her to tears with questions, but he wouldn’t – he never would and he never could. Not to anyone, and especially not to her, the honey-eyed city girl that had argued her way into his heart.
I love you.
His heart leapt as she murmured those words, and he found himself holding his breath. The world around them dropped away; all that existed was Rebecca Nurse standing beneath the old oak, her blonde hair flying wildly about her soft face, her eyes bright with intelligent fire. The storm dissolved away from his awareness and the wind paused mid-breath. He dared not blink for the time lost seeing her, so transfixed was he by her molten amber stare, overwhelmed by her presence and her power. Fate had guided them hand-in-hand down a path that lead to this precise slice in time. He took a step closer, his gaze never leaving hers as he reached out to take her hands in his.
I love you.
Sparks flowed at their touch. All those magical moments between them – the spilled soda, the lightning on the hill, the closeness of the couch, the playful water fight in the kitchen – they’d all built up one-by-one to this staggering climax. Right here, right now. And with grudges forgotten, annoyances left in the dust, anger buried and disregarded, he leaned in and kissed her.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:35 pm
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca did hate him, partly in that moment, because he had discovered her secret. He was the only person that had ever discovered it for himself. She knew that he had to know it by now. No girl in their right mind would confess to loving a boy that had just kissed another, especially another girl that happened to be a previous girlfriend. The knowledge that he now possessed could bring her crumbling to her knees at any moment.
But his eyes told a different story and after she murmured those three simple words, she searched his gaze. It was kind and almost surprised, hiding undertones of intelligence and amusement. She licked her lips, feeling the air between them ignite. The storm rumbled in protest the moment his hands grabbed hers. The weather knew that it would now have to retreat, pushed from her mind by the pure touch of his hands.
Suddenly, the roar of the thunder and the flashes of light were gone. She could not longer hear, see, smell, or acknowledge anything that wasn’t involved with Hawk Callahan. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked at him. Fire licked its way up her arms, though a cooling sensation enveloped every single part of her body. Her magic reached out and wrapped around his wrists, searching its way up his arms before attempting to find where his own source resided. Yet, Rebecca was entirely unaware of this journey her powers were taking. All she could focus on were his striking green eyes.
Say something. Her mind pleaded with him, a fear gripping her heart suddenly. But his essence washed it away, running over her like the warm water of a much needed shower after a long day of turmoil and strife. The breath she had been holding was released in a soft sigh on contentment, pleased to just stand there and bask in the effects of his magic.
The witch was unaware that every contact that had made, every argument and every event had led up to this moment that was accumulating around them. She only knew that the man she loved was standing before her, so near to her and there would be no interruptions this time. There would be nothing to distract her from just looking through his bright eyes and into the soul that completed her own.
But he had something else in mind.
Warmth spread through her limbs like wildfire the second his mouth landed on hers. Her body tensed due to the shock of the sudden gesture. Even though her body appeared too surprised to respond at first, her magic was quick on its feet. It leapt for joy, bouncing back and forth across the intimate boundary that they had now crossed together. Ecstasy, pure and sweet, filled her body. A pleasant tightness in her chest rose as she finally came to.
Muscles relaxed and her mouth savored the sweet taste of his lips against her own. Behind her, the storm had disappeared, leaving nothing but a bright sky and a full moon lingering behind them. The ground seemed to shake beneath their feet, overjoyed that they had finally figured out what Fate and Destiny had been planning all along for them.
After a long moment of happiness that she would never, ever forget, Rebecca withdrew and looked at him, searching his eyes with her own surprised ones. “But Des…†She murmured, ruining a perfectly good moment by bringing up the girl. But it was legitimate. She had barely heard his words over the storm and she was confused. Her heart didn’t need to be broken and she didn’t realize that by that simple, beautiful action, he had said that he loved her in return.
Rebecca was kind of stubborn sometimes.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:39 pm
by Astrophysicist
The feel of his magic inside of her sent a sensation through her that she had never felt before. All her life, Rebecca Nurse had known something was missing from her life. Once she found out she was a witch, she had momentarily believed that this newfound truth would cause the uncertainty of her life to dissipate. And she was beyond disappointed when it lingered these last few weeks.
But now…oh now.
Now she was complete. Nothing was missing from her when he kissed her. Nothing was missing now that they had accepted the bond that had united them all their lives without realizing it. Oliver “Hawk†Callahan had been what she was missing all along. He had been arguing with her for the past weeks, right there in her face, and she had been too blind to realize that he was her missing piece.
The fingers that brushed her cheek caused her to tremble. It was all so new, this feeling of love for someone outside of her family. It was a binding emotion that she knew would never fade, no matter how long she had tried to bury it deep down. Even with her barriers and her loopholes, the empathy had been able to see what was blossoming between them like the most beautiful summer rose.
Eagerly, she wrapped her slender arms back around him, feeling the thudding sound of his heart against her chest. Her magic enveloped them both, turning and twining with his as their powers caressed each other’s souls. A smile came to her face at his words, but she knew he would continue once her pulled back to meet her eyes. “You did?†She murmured, almost in disbelief. Desdemona was a witch. She was stunningly beautiful. She was smart and talented. She was well traveled and polite (at times.) How could he tell her to leave to choose…to choose Rebecca?
All she could do was nod at his statement, moving after him. The idea of a surprise to show her fueled her curiosity and hid the questions about Des for another day. She pulled a face, leaping immediately back into the characteristic Rebecca that he knew. “Me?!†She whispered beneath her breath, glaring at him as her eyes came to rest on the mess inside the house. “You can clean that up. It’s all your fault anyway with your stupid…stupidness.†Was all she could say. The Nurse heir had a thousand and one different words in her vocabulary that could have more accurately described him but she was far less eloquent than her companion. She would leave the maturity to him.
She stepped past him, turning back to catch him eyes. The witch wanted to make sure that he didn’t just disappear and find herself in her bed waking up from a dream. Carefully, she opened the screen door and looked at all the water and glass on the floor. The table was off-center and some of the chairs and electronic cooking devices had fallen over when her anger had shaken the very foundations of the house. Sighing, she knew that she’d be scolded if she attempted to use magic to clean it up.
“You gonna help or not, farm boy?â€
ooc: I just have to say how EXCITED I am.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:39 pm
by Astrophysicist
“No, city girl, I don’t think I will,†he replied, the sarcastic retort sliding from his tongue as easily as it would have the first day they met. It was remarkable how quickly things fell back into place. Life picked up speed once again, carrying on as though they’d never allowed it to drop away. But as he ascended the stairs and made his way into the kitchen, he was struck by the lightness of his footsteps and the ease of his breathing. He felt buoyant and free, freer than he had in all the years since his early childhood. Despite the mess inside, despite the haunting memory of Desdemona, despite the pain he had caused the young blonde woman he loved, he was finally able sigh away his distress and simply be.
With Rebecca at his side, he felt more alive than he ever had before. His power no longer felt constricted by the sanctions of its own greatness; it drew confidence from companionship, flowing steadily from its inner source to entwine with its chaperone and confidante. The city girl he had so loved to hate was now the shoulder upon which he leaned, the clearing in the dense circle of fog he hadn’t even realized engulfed him. When he smiled at the mess in the kitchen, it wasn’t for the water strewn over the linoleum or the upset table – it was for her. He looked over to her, green eyes ablaze with stark, untethered adoration. He grinned and shook his head, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned back to admire her destructive handiwork.
“I have to hand it to you,†he said with a chuckle, hopping over a puddle to get to the kitchen counter. “This is impressive.†He slid open a drawer and retrieved a couple of hand towels, tossing one to Rebecca. “If we start with…†He paused, stifling another laugh before starting over. He felt like he hadn’t laughed – truly laughed – since the season’s beginning. “If we start with the countertop, we can push the excess water onto the floor, then take care of the rest down there. Do you know where your grandfather keeps the mop?â€
He began wiping down the soaked marble surface, tossing the collected puddles to the floor with satisfying splashes. While it was true that cleaning the water magically would be faster and not particularly difficult, there was always something to be said about good old-fashioned manual labor. Hawk was used to it. He liked the way it liberated his mind and body, allowing him to concentrate his power on tasks that really required it. There was no sense wasting his magical energy on something that could be taken care of as easily as running a cloth along the countertop.
“Good thing your grandfather’s working the late shift again,†he said, squeezing his towel over the sink rather than Rebecca’s head. “Cleaning all this up could take awhile.†He winced theatrically, then smiled. “You know, I hate to ask, but…is the rest of the house as bad as the kitchen?â€
o.o.c. :: Sorry for the shortness! But I wanted to get something up for you asap. (:
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:39 pm
by Astrophysicist
Resorting back to their banter felt normal for Rebecca. She was content to just be as she always had with him, though comforted by the new knowledge that the feelings she possessed when he was around her were now reciprocated. The smile that he gave her made her heart flutter and her magic leap inside of her with joy. She knew that the simple gesture was meant for her as though he was made to only be with her. They were soul mates in the most complicated way possible. Perhaps there was a word for it in Wiccan terminology. She’d have to find out.
Casting the thought aside, the young witch grinned at his slightly praise at her destructive capabilities though she could see how he’d claim she had not been under control. “I got a little carried away.†She responded, looking over at the water, frozen in place as it had erupted from the broken faucet. It looked like a water nymph gracefully bounding out of captivity and enjoying the freedom of open air. She moved over to it and pressed a gentle finger to it. That would have to be fixed with magic because her grandfather would be back from his work long before they could get a repairman (who could keep his mouth shut) over to fix it. The power left her easily and the ice melted away and the metal pieces hopped along the counter and quickly put themselves back together.
Just as she turned back, a towel was flying towards her and she caught it, listening to him carefully. “You could…you know.†She waved her hand. “Just fix it all right now for me and show me that thing you mentioned.†Rebecca said, because her curiosity had been peaked at what he needed or rather wanted to show her. It made her insides bubble with anticipation and if she had to clean the whole house before he showed her, she might die. A smile lit up her face but she tried to maintain a serious expression. “Do not laugh.†She commanded, but the corners of her lips were still turned upwards.
“Yeah, I’ll be right back.†Rebecca moved into the hallway and opened the nearest closet, pulling out the bucket and the mop. She wheeled them into the kitchen and leaned on the shaft of the mop, looking at him carefully. The water would splash onto the floor and soak the bottom part of his pants as it descended. She shook her head. The young witch was still amazed by her magical abilities and used them whenever possible. Hawk, however, was content to take the normal way out and she was glad she had picked him as a teacher. Though she hadn’t had very many choices…
Then she rolled her eyes and looked down the hallway at the shattered glass and the blown apart pieces of the door. Biting her lip, she shrugged a little. “Not the whole house.†She said, grinning a little as she pulled the mop out and began to soak up the wetness on the floor. With practiced ease, she would shove the mop into the top of the bucket and it would squeeze the liquid down into a lower compartment. “Just some small things….†Her eyes danced with mischief before she finished up a lot of the floor before her curiosity got the better of her.
“What did you want to show me? Come on. I’m dying here.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:40 pm
by Astrophysicist
Stepping over puddles, Hawk moved around the room’s perimeter, steering clear of the reach of Rebecca’s mop. He carefully unplugged the toaster and returned it to its place in the cupboard below, then moved on to right the tipped blender. His earlier comment about her successful rearrangement of the house had only been half in jest; it truly was remarkable how someone so petite could do so much damage with little more than a mood swing. She had wreaked havoc in so many different elements, it was a wonder the old farmhouse still stood on its foundation. If the city girl truly did believe she was in control of her power, Hawk had even more to teach her than he originally assumed.
Granted, not many witches had to worry about such grand-scale consequences for magical slip-ups. Most knew of their power from early childhood, and as a result, they could hone and tame it while it naturally grew and strengthened with age. Rebecca Nurse, on the other hand, had lived the majority of her life ignorant of what she was, oblivious to the tremendous abilities she possessed. Not only had her power run rampant and raw for all those years, she also had a great deal more than the average witch – complicating matters significantly for the young man tripped by fate into becoming her teacher.
The fact that she had stopped herself from bringing down the entire structure was enough to be commended for. But quite frankly, Hawk had had enough close calls for the week. Pushing her already-excited magic to its limits was a recipe for disaster, and he had his limits for how many times he was willing to risk life and limb for a simple lesson. “I could do that,†he replied, imitating her gesture for using magic and glancing pointedly to the wet floor. His green eyes sparkled with amusement as he met her gaze. “But I’m not going to.â€
He shrugged nonchalantly and grinned, wringing out his towel. He folded it and draped it between the two sinks, leaning an elbow on the now-dry countertop. “And you’re not going to either,†he added with a playful smirk, watching as Rebecca manually emptied the mop over the bucket. “You have to earn your keep around here somehow. I think you were headed in the wrong direction before.â€
He stepped around her once again and headed to the offset table. “So,†he said. He wrapped his hands around the heavy oak edges and lifted, walking casually toward the wall while twisting it behind him. “What time—†he began, gently setting it down again. “What time’s Fredrick scheduled to get home?†he finished, glancing at the clock. He planted his hands on his hips and surveyed the rest of the room for any damage he’d missed upon first inspection. “You'll just have to wait. I’m not showing you anything until everything’s back in place again,†he told her. His eyes gleamed with mirth as he examined the ceiling for any signs of shifting or cracking.
He flashed her another smile. “Come get me when you finish up in here. I’m going to go make sure the second level still exists.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:40 pm
by Astrophysicist
The mop worked slow wonder on the soaked floor and Rebecca pressed it down into the bucket each time to hear the splish splash of the water against the sides. She had nearly finished one part of the floor when he spoke. She glanced up and pulled a face, mocking the words he was going to say next. Her lips moved in fashion of the syllables ‘but I’m not going to.’ She grinned a little though, amused by the fact that she knew exactly what he was going to say. They had spent a lot of time together in the past couple of weeks, after all.
She made another face at his little command as she leaned against the staff of the mop, holding it down into the bucket to support her weight. Her lips pursed together as she examined the mess that she would have to manually clean up for a good while when she probably could have managed in a minute or two with her magic. He was a slave-driver, she mused to herself but shook her head and kept working, hearing him plant the table back in its proper place.
“He stays at the hospital more and more the longer I am here.†She shrugged slightly as she took the mop back out and moved it around in the various puddles, continuing to do her task. “He may be back around ten tonight or he may just stay the night there.†Rebecca could never be sure what her grandfather’s plans were. He didn’t confide in her and she didn’t ask. The young witch was well aware that her father’s dad didn’t like her very much. Resigned very much to that fact, she was not lonely or alarmed when she managed to not run into him for days at a time.
She snorted when he mentioned the second floor. “Hey! I wasn’t even up there. There shouldn’t be too much…†Maybe a few pictures shaken from the walls. Luckily for the house, her room was on the first floor, straight down the hall from the kitchen. Hopefully there wouldn’t be too much work for him up there but enough so she could finish her tasks and then find out what this secret was.
After he left, she finished mopping the floor and cleaning the counter off. She tidied the cabinets and then headed down the hall to her room. She bent down every so often to pick up the splinters from the door, cradling them in her left arm as her right grabbed onto the pieces. Finally, arriving at her bedroom door, or lack therefore, she set all the pieces down. Taking the doorknob, she placed her hand over it and channeled her magic. Hawk didn’t have to know and she doubted he’d protest. After all, Fredrick Nurse might notice if a wooden door had been glued back together manually.
With a little meditation, the pieces began to reassembled themselves and the door hopped on its bottom right back into the hindges. She grabbed the knob and opened and closed it a couple of times. Good as new. She smiled to herself and then turned to the opposite walls. Pictures of her father as a young boy and her grandmother had cracked glass. That wouldn’t do. She moved down the hall, running her fingers along the wall and allowing her power to drift up and repair the damage.
Studying her handiwork she smiled and then moved off towards the stairs. Her amber eyes fell on Hawk. “I’m done. Can I know now?!†She asked. Much like a child on a car ride with their parents, she was going to play the ‘Are we there, yet?’ game until he gave in.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:40 pm
by Astrophysicist
His magic trembled as he exited the kitchen, protesting his departure with its own equivalent of a frown. It retracted and then reached out, leaping to make up the distance he was physically putting between them. Caught off guard by its mind-of-its-own behavior, he furrowed his brow and tugged it gently back, coaxing it with the promise of a swift return. It wasn’t like his power to be so unruly and defiant, and it felt strange to use discipline on the part of himself that usually did the disciplining. Despite his relative youth, he felt young again, as curious and excited as a child exploring the limits of his power for the first time. He knew it was being unreasonable, but at the same time, he had no desire to lose that innocent thrill of the new and exhilarating.
As he made his way to the stairway, he frowned at the cracked glass in the pictures that hung along the living room wall. He shook his head. He was no longer surprised to find such evidence of her anger, but the details never failed to appall him. Thankfully, glass repair was a simple matter of heating and smoothing, something he could trust to the young witch while maintaining his peace of mind.
Paying it no more heed, he took each stair slowly to the second level, testing each of the boards beneath his weight. When he reached the top, he paused, surveying the narrow hallway for any signs of the same damage that had plagued the kitchen. She was right; everything seemed to be in order. Somehow – and he had no idea how she’d managed – Rebecca had concentrated her outburst of anger and power to the ground floor. The upper floor had only narrowly escaped her wrath, but it had escaped nonetheless. He raised an eyebrow to himself, relieved.
Without warning, he sprang into action, smiling to himself. He made his way down the hallway and centered himself beneath the attic’s entrance, reaching up to tug on the rope that would pull down the ladder. It creaked at his efforts, settling into place with a squeal of its hinges. He climbed up with practiced ease, fueled by a sudden rush of energy. His magic flickered back to life from the suppression he’d placed on it, and his heart suddenly pulsed in his ears. It was a ritual he hadn’t attended to since Rebecca had come to stay with her grandfather; he didn’t want anyone, especially a complete stranger, to find what he had stored up there amongst the old boxes and layers of dust.
Granted, even if someone had stumbled across it, it was unlikely they would have any idea what they held in their hands. Hawk’s lips curled into a half-smile as he knelt down near the small circular window, the full moonlight providing the only illumination. He peeled open one of the many boxes and blindly pulled out a book. The soft leather binding felt cool and familiar in his hands. He turned it over and ran his fingers over the unmarked cover, leaving streaks in the blanket of dust that encased it.
Rebecca’s weight on the ladder tossed him from his reverie, the old wood once again shrieking its complaints. He looked over to the opening in the floor expectantly, donning an affectionate smile when the city girl’s face appeared, silhouetted against the filtered hallway light. “Almost there,†he told her, raising his brows. “Just a few more feet to go. Think you can hold out, city girl?â€
Hawk rose to his feet, book in hand, and tugged on the pull-chain to turn on the single light bulb wedged between the angled ceiling beams. The sudden yellowish glow revealed the rest of the neglected attic; boxes upon boxes, most unlabeled, created a dusty labyrinth of stored-away memories and forgotten truths.
“I thought you might appreciate this since you seem pretty attached to that diary of yours,†he said, holding out the book. “This is something I started working on when I was still in elementary school.†He studied her, his magic reaching instinctively for hers. “It’s a project, of sorts. An experiment. I’ve never shown anyone, so you should feel privileged.†Chuckling half-heartedly, he flipped open to the middle, the paper crackling beneath his fingertips. Each page was covered in small, dense handwriting. The book was saturated with remnants of his power from years of investment. “I know it seems like jibberish, but…it’s not finished yet. Do you understand what it is?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:41 pm
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca didn’t know exactly where he was, but she closed her eyes and realized that she could sense him now. It was as though their kiss, their fight, had triggered a switch and she could suddenly pinpoint his location. A magical beacon called out to her and she followed it, seeing the stairs of the attic. Carefully, she ascended the old wooden planks and peeked her head up into the dusty old area.
Fredrick Nurse was very open and accommodating to all of his workers. Those that lived far away were allowed cots either in the heated part of the barn or in the basement of the house so that they wouldn’t have to stress themselves over getting to and from work. Rebecca had gotten used to the workers coming in and out of the house, unlike what would happen in a city mansion or house. It was unusual but all of the employees were amazing kind and generous. There was not a rotten egg in the carton with this crew.
His voice called out to her and she laughed, hoisting herself up carefully as the wood complained about the new weight addition. She licked her lips and sighed. “I think I might be able to make it, but if I can’t, go on without me!†She said rather dramatically, before she dusted off her dress and looked over at him. Light flooded the attic and she squinted slightly before her eyes adjusted and she could observe him. Looking at her hands to make sure she hadn’t received any payback from the wood in the form of splinters, Rebecca realized he was approaching her.
Running her hands along the cotton of her clothing once again, her eyebrows came together in confusion. “What is it?†She asked automatically as she reached out to take the object from him. It came to rest in her hands and she ran her eyes over it. It was new, obviously not made when he had. It had a proper binding and the paper wasn’t as thick and old as the diary she kept with her was. She ran her fingers over the pages when he opened it.
Momentarily distracted, she felt his magic surge against her and she dropped the barriers that she had been building around herself for longer than she had realized. As a child, she had started to build them without realizing it and now she found that she could raise and lower then at will. His magic was a loving caress against them and they lowered instinctively. Her own power wanted to feel his and it left with joy inside of her when it was allowed to touch his own.
However, the witch managed to push her magical ecstasy aside and focus on what he was talking about and what was in both of their hands. Her eyes scanned over the words, written in the handwriting she had come to be familiar with over the last few weeks. Her tongue darted out across her soft lips as she studied it. The words, nonsense to anyone else (even other witches), seemed to jump off the page and formed before her. She cocked her head slightly before she smiled.
“It’s your spellbook.†She murmured, almost in awe. Hawk had told her all about witch and magical lore of the past few days. They hadn’t gotten into too much detail but she knew that some talents were rare. Speaking to animals, having a familiar and being an empath were rare. Most witches could perform minor healings spells, cook, multitask and make a light drizzle happen over drought-plagued crops, but not much more beyond that. “Elementary school?†She asked, almost shocked as she flipped through a few pages.
“These would actually work. These are amazing, Hawk.†She turned her amber eyes up at him and smiled, genuinely as the book rested in her hands. “How do you do this? I’ve tried a couple of times to write simple ones and I can hardly manage that. Mine just…come in thoughts. Words can’t…express.†She shrugged, flipping through some more pages when she turned her gaze back down.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:41 pm
by Astrophysicist
As he stood there, the book open in his hands, it occurred to him that he didn’t know why he’d brought her up to her grandfather’s attic to show her his project. Of all people in the world, he’d picked the wild city girl with an unpredictable temper and a stash of untrained magic. He supposed he didn’t need a reason to show it off, but as her power and her eyes swept over the crisp pages, he found himself growing uneasy. The floorboards creaked beneath his boots as he shifted his weight, watching as she skimmed the words on the page.
There was something about the way her power quivered as it met his that made his stomach erupt into nervous pangs. In stark contract to his own magic’s steadiness, hers was reacting like an uncontained wildfire. It traveled with renewed energy as it filtered through his book, picking up a force unlike any he’d witnessed in her before; it crackled with a searing electricity that was tangibly painful.
When he met her gaze, her honey eyes were bright with wonderment. His concerns faltered, wooed by the pure curiosity shining in her stare. He smiled softly and reached up to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, the hard lines of worry on his forehead disappearing at the feel of her smooth skin beneath his fingers. At the touch, he felt his magic swell like a great ocean wave, strong but soothing, cool but commanding. It crashed gently against her magical aura, embracing it with the calm and determination of certainty and trust. Whatever had put him on edge, he knew she hadn’t done it on purpose; in fact, she seemed very much unaware of the change that seemed so obvious to him. The only emotions he sensed from her person were curiosity and affection, the latter of which he returned with all his being.
“It’s actually much less impressive than it looks,†he admitted, unconsciously stepping a little closer. “I suppose they could work, but most of them don’t. I haven’t worked on this since I graduated.†He flipped to the last page of handwriting, gnawing at his lower lip as he read over what he’d composed. A chuckle shook his shoulders. “Most of it is just experimentation. Learning how magic will respond to certain letters and sounds. It’s silly, now that I think back on it.â€
“The magic responds to sounds, combinations of sounds, and rhythms and patterns, not necessarily words from known languages. Fitting them all together in the right order is nearly impossible.†Shrugging, his gaze flicked from her face to the book and back again. “It’s tricky business, and I’m no expert. I’d hardly call this my spellbook…†He trailed off, seeing the sense in her label only as he dismissed it. “It’s a work-in-progress. Let’s leave it at that. I’ve kept it up here all this time because I know it will be safe. My house was quite the zoo when my younger sisters were growing up, as I’m sure you can imagine.â€
He caught her eye and winked, once again imagining the havoc her newly-discovered magic had wreaked. “Maybe someday I’ll let you try one out,†he said, snapping the book closed and returning it to the box. He closed the cardboard flaps and wiped his dusty hands on his jeans, sending clouds of the dirt already embedded in the denim billowing in the stale yellow light. He feigned a cough and tugged on the rope chain to switch off the bare bulb. “But we’ve got a long way to go—â€
He stopped abruptly as he turned back to face her, his mouth frozen half-open. Illuminated only by the bluish moonlight that filtered through the small circular window, Rebecca Nurse was stunning, standing like an angel amongst the crowded attic relics. Her light cotton dress swayed gently as she moved, accentuating the grace in her limbs and the softness of her body. He felt as though he would dissolve when she met his eyes, and he involuntarily cracked a one-sided smile as he stepped closer to her. If she’d spoken, he hadn’t heard a word.
Slowly, he propelled his power forward like an invisible hand reaching for hers. And then, without warning, he placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled closer to him, leaning down to plant a tender kiss on her soft lips.
“You know,†he said quietly as he pulled slightly away, speaking into her ear, “I sort of spoiled our dinner plans for tonight.†He smiled, his fierce green eyes sparkling through the darkness. “Any chance you’d let me make it up to you sometime?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:42 pm
by Astrophysicist
“Less impressive.†She snorted her disagreement with his modesty and continued to focus on the words that were written over and over again in some parts. It seemed as though he was trying to just reorganize words in a way that would make them fit. It was remarkable really. Rebecca may possess a photographic memory, be a decent cook and a fairly powerful witch but she would have no idea where to begin writing something, especially not spells that had never been thought up before. For all her talents, this witch was remarkably ineloquent. “I don’t think it is silly at all.†She said, as though she was the teacher and he was the student.
“You could do amazing things if you kept working on it.†Her amber eyes were alit with that familiar fire that burned only when she found something that surprised her. She had read hundreds of books, not needing to look a second time because it was a though she had the words written on her brain. When something truly fascinated her, there was no chance in hell that she would let it slip from her grasp. “Like this one here.†And she was lost to him. She missed what he was saying as she looked over the words.
To make book speak its contents aloud. Now that would certainly be helpful to the blind. She bit her lip as she read over the scratches he had made in his attempt to make the spell work. Leer – Spanish, to read. Auto-self. Lexi – Greek, speaking. Leg/legi- Latin, to read She saw numerous combinations and her mind began to put words together in her head, forming and reforming as she discarded ideas. However, before she finished with her thoughts, the book was snatched back from her hands and she frowned, looking up.
Her eyes followed him to the book’s resting place and her attention remained on the box as he turned around. Her brain registered the fact that he had stopped talking but her eyes didn’t move to him yet. “‘Till what?†She asked, confused as his pause until she turned her face more towards his. He was looking at her funny and she cocked her head, wondering if she had something in her hair or dirt on her face.
“Hawk?†She asked, a blush rising into her cheeks as though her female instincts knew something about that look that she did not. Amber eyes met his green ones, holding his gaze before his power washed over her and every single muscle relaxed in contentment. Again, Rebecca Nurse had been surprised by Hawk but not displeased. She eagerly kissed him in return this time, moving her arms to wrap around his neck before their embrace ended.
Her gaze searched his and she was thankful for the darkness of the attic. Hopefully, he wouldn’t see the results of the blood rushing into her cheeks. This was all still very new to the city girl. She hadn’t bothered with boys much back home, but he made her feel alive and she craved him as much as her magic yearned for his. His voice sent a shiver down her spine and she was almost unaware that there were words coming out of his mouth since she could only focus on the soft tones of his voice and the pleasant aroma of his skin. The farm boy worked all day in the stalls and still managed to smell like heaven. Damn him.
Yet, she smiled broadly at his comment, relaxing her arms so that her fingers rested only gently against the back of his neck. “I don’t know...†She said, biting on her lower lip and peering off towards the left as though she was deep in thought, pondering intently over the dilemma he had just presented her with. “I suppose I could let you make it up to me.†She brought her eyes back to meet his as she smiled gently at him, moving a hand so that she could brush back the hair that hung against his forehead, watching as the strands defiantly whisked themselves back into their previous position. “But it depends on what exactly you had in mind.†She said, her face becoming serious, though she made no move to draw back from him.
Rebecca was content to rest like this, feeling the heat of his body and the pull that his power had over the pounding organ in her chest. “The whole Des debacle and messing up dinner…well, that would require a lot of making up. How do you intend to get back into my good graces, farm boy?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:43 pm
by Astrophysicist
Her kiss swept him away.
He was lost to the rushing current of blood pumping through his veins, his hearing overpowered by the thunder of his own heartbeat as it fell into synch with hers. Everything he knew dropped momentarily away, leaving him to float in stark nothingness as her spell took hold. She was a drug, a remedy; she was a cure for the ache of loneliness he hadn’t even realized he’d had. When their lips touched, he was whole again, united with the missing piece that completed the grand circuitry of his existence. Nothing mattered but the sweet smell of her and the feel of her arms around him, the taste of her kiss and the soft whispers of her warm breath on his skin.
There was nothing to distract him this time. There were no earsplitting thunderclaps to pierce his consciousness, no lightning bolts to stop his heart. They were one with the still calm of the attic, moving with the slow and deliberate care of time’s gentle forward march. Their exchange created memories among memories, stacking new layers of light and goodness upon yesteryear’s age-old dust. Vivid, sweet, and frozen in time and history, that moment would remain with him for the rest of his life. It was a tale of give-and-take love and forgiveness hatched in the Salem summer heat, a romance between farm boy and city girl that blossomed like the crops brought to life by the rain.
A shiver passed down the length of his spine as she allowed her arms to drape from his neck. He wrapped his arms around her and clasped them at the small of her back, delicately completing their embrace. He kept his head bowed, his face just inches from hers. If he sensed her girlish embarrassment, he made no mention of it. He was too absorbed in his own rising emotions. For all his cool demeanor and distinctive eloquence and despite his certainty of what her response would be, asking a pretty girl on a date was no easy task. As simple as he made it look, not even Hawk was immune to such pressure.
He cleared his throat before he continued – the only sign that betrayed his nerves. “Get back into your good graces? Was I ever in your good graces, city girl?†he demanded of her, amused. A grin upturned the corners of his lips, and he pressed his forehead playfully to hers. Their silly nicknames for each other had become terms of endearment that were only half-facetious, and it amused him now to use it lacking its usual sarcasm. His magic, sensing his good mood, flickered with its own breed of merriment as it pressed its kiss upon hers.
He thought for a moment before he continued, choosing his words with care. “Rebecca Nurse,†he addressed warmheartedly, his gaze never straying from hers. His heart once again began to pound. “Would you give me the honor of escorting you to dinner this Friday night?â€
He relaxed somewhat as he went on, feeding off her eagerness. “And then a lesson, perhaps?†He raised his eyebrows rascally. “Or is that too bland for a sophisticated city girl’s taste? I won't have some old-fashioned farm boy disappointing you.â€
o.o.c. :: Sorry it's kind of short. It's almost 2am and I just got back home, but I was too excited not to reply. (:
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:43 pm
by Astrophysicist
Her magic sensed the excitement in him and it made her heart leap. That and his hands around her back. Rebecca wanted to dissolve into his very essence, as though she could become just a tendril of power and nestle in his heart. Yet, her heart regained a steady rhythm as he spoke to her and she responded. Conversations with Hawk put her at ease (when they weren’t arguing of course). The was a calming effect that she experienced from just hearing the gentle rumbling tones of his voice.
She loved him.
Laughter slipped through her soft lips as she danced on the amusement behind his words. Amber eyes met his before he placed his forehead against hers. She was still able to peer up and see the beautiful green depths of his intelligent eyes. “Well, you were borderline.†She responded, unable to hide the smile that played on her lips. Hawk had never been in her good graces, if she even had any, because she had always thought he was a ridiculous farm boy with too many rules. But that was before she had realized that her annoyance stemmed from the fact that she was in love with him and he was entirely unaware of her feelings.
This Callahan boy had taken her heart and run away with it, yet she didn’t care if he never gave it back. Rebecca wanted him to have it. It felt safe, warm and secure with him. There was no place, no person she would rather give it to than him. Calling her name, she met his gaze again. The city girl allowed her fingers to run gently back and form against the soft skin of his neck, occasionally brushing a strand of two of hair. “Hmm?†She responded, softly, before the words came from his mouth and she had to pull back from him, their foreheads disconnecting.
Her arms stayed loosely around his neck but surprise played on her face. “A date?†The bewilderment was evident in the tones of her question. Rebecca had never been on a date, a real date before. The movies didn’t count so far as she was concerned. She licked her lips and finally managed to find the rest of her voice when he finished talking. “Yes!†She responded, moving her lips to capture his. The movement surprised her but it didn’t keep her from continuing. She pulled him close before breaking away, a blush rising into her cheeks once more.
“I mean, no. No, yes, wait…okay, so.†She rambled, entirely the opposite of her perfectly chosen words of eloquence. She sighed and shook her head a little, the redness deepening against the tan skin of her face. “Yes, I would love to go to dinner and no, it is not too bland.†She finally managed to say. Her magic burst up inside of her, exploding from her to collide with his, giving his power the deep hug and kiss and happy dance that she kept herself from doing right there in front of him in the dusty attic.
“But what kind of lesson?†She asked as her magic bounded over his like a playful puppy. “Last time I checked dates weren’t supposed to be educational.†Her eyes twinkled with mirth as she lowered her hands from his neck to rest against his chest, feeling the thudding motion of his heart beneath her palm.
ooc: LOVED IT. SORRY THIS IS LATE! I will be on tonight if you will <3 <3
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:43 pm
by Astrophysicist
The genuine surprise that flickered across her face caught him off guard, and for a moment, he faltered, momentarily unsure how to proceed. But she instantly summoned his lopsided grin with her stammering incredulity, and he beamed at her with contentment so immense he felt his heart would burst.
His green eyes shone bright as the full moon as they locked with her amber gaze. With that one simple word, that one little exclamation, she had made him the happiest man alive. He wrapped his arms tighter around her small waist and leaned back, lifting her effortlessly in the air. With limbs fueled by the surge of ecstasy she’d granted him with that simple agreement, he swiveled so they faced the opposite direction, her face now silhouetted against the small attic window. He placed her gently on the floor, his hands sliding to her upper arms as her lips suddenly collided with his.
The gesture stopped him in his tracks, but his reflexes were swift as a fox’s. He returned her kiss eagerly before he was forced to pull away; his lips were simply unable to hold back a smile. He reached up and brushed her cheek with his thumb, studying her with an expression trapped somewhere between adoration and devilment. Her skin, he’d noticed, was abnormally warm beneath his touch, and the faint light from the little window revealed a pale crimson that hadn’t been there before. “What’s this?†he asked theatrically, arching a brow with impish delight. “A blush?†He found himself chuckling, but it was purely affectionate. “The city girl has flattered me.â€
As she stumbled over her words, his chuckles progressed to outright laughter. “Easy for you to say,†he said. He ran a finger down the side of her neck before he rested his palm on her shoulder and drew her in closer. “I was hoping you weren’t one for city slicking, fast cars, and night clubs. That concrete jungle can be a wild, wild place, I hear. I didn’t want to bore you.†Slipping an arm around her shoulder, he steered her toward the opening in the floor. “Don’t you worry about that lesson. I assure you, you’ll enjoy yourself much more than you would in a regular lesson. Sound good?â€
He paused as he felt the Nurse girl’s leaping power brush against his. Before he could control it, he felt a few layers of his own restraints slip away, allowing a surge of his own magic to dance with hers. His heart skipped a beat as it frolicked; he had to breathe faster just to keep up with it. He smiled down at her as he extended his opposite hand toward the ladder, gesturing for her to descend. “Let’s go downstairs before your grandfather decides to show up,†he said, sparing a glance at his watch. “It’s after nine, and I don’t think he knows that I’m familiar with his attic. He’s probably on his way home if he hasn’t decided to work into the next shift again.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:44 pm
by Astrophysicist
Being lifted off the ground made her feel as though she was flying. She wrapped her arms tighter around him during those moments and beamed up at him when they had ended. But then the farm boy had to go and called attention to the blush that she had been hoping he would never see. Biting her bottom lip, she smacked his chest lightly as she took notice of the wicked smile of his face. “Shut up, farm boy.†She responded. “It is just hot in here, that’s all.†They both knew, however, that he was the source of her embarrassment, her excitement, her everything.
“Mmm, well I do enjoy a night on the town every now and then. But I’m an easy to please type of girl. You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover now.†She responded, letting herself be steered like a car towards the exit of the stuffy attic. It was hot in there, but not hot enough to produce the heat in her cheeks. He had done that all on his own. She looked down at the carpeted floor that was just a few wooden steps below them, before turning her gaze back up at her teacher. “Sounds wonderful.†She murmured, feeling his physical responses to her magic. Again, she blushed, but she hid it by descending the later.
Planting both feet firmly on the ground, she made sure that he was next to her before she moved past him to help put the ladder back up. It hit the ceiling with a thud, the string dangling back and forth above their heads, waiting to be pulled once more at a later date. “Granddaddy will be home soon.†She said, glancing towards the stairs that led to the first floor. “He didn’t come home last night so I’m assuming that he’ll need to get some sleep eventually.†She shrugged, used to not seeing the old man around the house.
“You know,†she began, moving off towards the stairs the led them downwards, “if it wasn’t for you, I would have been alone all summer.†She mentioned. It was a fact and she wasn’t trying to play the ‘poor pitiful me’ card. Licking her lips, she bounded down the steps in all her youthful exuberance as she turned around at the bottom to watch him follow her with careful steps. There was an agility in his movements that she hadn’t noticed before. The strength was there, she knew, since he had picked her up and swung her around as though she was no more than a child. The right corner of her lips curled upwards slightly before she shook her head of those thoughts.
When he finally stood in front of her, she reached for his hand. “Thanks for not ratting me out at the beginning of the summer.†Her voice was soft. Rebecca Nurse was truly thankful that Hawk had decided that she was worthy of his instruction. If Fredrick had been alerted to her witch status, the entire summer might have progressed in an entirely different manner. To avoid blushing and fumbling over her words again, she pulled him towards the kitchen and hi her face from few as she let the cool air from the open windows brush the blush from her cheeks.
She stood near the door, awkwardly, shifting her weight. Rebecca had never had one of these situations. Where the boy she liked, who had kissed her, who she loved, was leaving. It was entirely new to her. She bit her bottom lip and sighed slightly. “Night, Hawk…†She knew he needed to get home to his family, as well as avoid Fredrick’s suspicions if he found a couple of teenagers alone in his house.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:44 pm
by Astrophysicist
Despite the sincerity of her tone, Hawk found it difficult to believe that she was an ‘easy-to-please’ type of girl. He smiled to himself as she descended the ladder, making sure her feet were safely on the floor before he put his own weight on the old wooden rungs. He didn’t know what Rebecca Nurse was. She was fierce but civilized, unpredictable but stable, naïve but intelligent – a walking contradiction with soft blonde hair and a pretty smile. He doubted he would ever really know what to make of her, but neither did he want to. She forced him to stay on his toes and think on his feet, sharpening his reflexes with her razor wit and spontaneous disposition. She would surprise him until the day he died.
The ladder emitted one last complaint as he hopped off, landing lightly next to Rebecca. He studied her out of the corner of his eye, inwardly grinning at the blush that lingered in her cheeks. She was furious with him for noticing back in the attic, but he sensed none of that familiar vengeful anger in her irritation – she was simply embarrassed. But it was difficult for him not to notice, not when his attention was so deeply devoted to her. The one-way bridge that connected them was as sound and sturdy as ever, reinforced by the exchange and reciprocation of their heartfelt feelings. He was bound to her now with his mind, magic, and soul, and there was no state in which he’d rather exist.
His inner smile broke the surface on his lips as he followed her down the second floor corridor toward the staircase. How had he been so blind to what had blossomed in front of him all those weeks? Since the day he stumbled across her reading beneath the old oak on the hill, he’d had in his presence a treasure richer than the purest gold, brighter than the most polished diamond. And yet until that evening, he’d remained ignorant, tucking away his feelings behind layers and layers of faux irritation and false loathing.
He watched her traipse ahead of him, calm affection shining in his eyes. That missing piece had been there all along, staring him in the eye with amber reassurance. He followed her down the stairs casually, hyperconscious of her gaze upon him in the wake of her buoyant descent. He took her outstretched hand in his as he reached the bottom. “You know,†he said thoughtfully, tilting his head to one side, “Come to think of it, if it hadn’t been for you, I would have been alone all summer too.â€
He chuckled. He supposed it wasn’t entirely true; he’d have interacted with the farm hands and other employees, but their few-and-far-between exchanges were purely work-related. They were on good terms, sure, but they weren’t friends per se; he spent time with them only as long as he was on the farm and absorbed in his labors. Despite the team effort it took to keep the farm in order, the majority of the workers partook in individual tasks, consulting one another only when problems arose.
“If I’d ratted you out,†he continued, stepping with her toward the door, “I wouldn’t have had anyone to boss around.†He smiled softly and squeezed her hand. “I’m proud to be your teacher, city girl.†Gently, he pulled away, twisting the front door handle and tugging it open. The warm summer breeze filtered through the opening into the cool interior. He stepped toward her and planted a tender kiss on the top of her head. His magic swelled like a great wave in anticipation of their separation, rushing forward in a desperate search for hers. “Good night, Rebecca,†he murmured, stepping outside. He smiled at her and nodded a second, silent farewell, his shining gaze communicating all the words he could have said aloud.
His power protested every step he took down the driveway, a thin tendril reaching out behind him to span the ever-increasing distance. He heaved a heavy sigh as he turned the corner, sliding on his magical barriers just as he slid on his silver helmet. His power snapped back to its inner reserve as he mounted his motorcycle and started it up, the rumble of the engine drowning out the sad rhythm of his heartbeat in his ears. He felt heavy as he pulled down the long gravel driveway toward the paved county road, and it took every ounce of willpower he had to resist looking back at the old farmhouse.
As he began to slow at the intersection, a familiar dark-colored car turned toward him and immediately slowed. He stopped a little more abruptly and swiveled to face the driver’s open window, not at all surprised to see Fredrick Nurse gazing tiredly back at him. Hawk flipped open his visor.
“Working late I see, Mr. Callahan,†the doctor said, projecting his voice over the roar of the bike.
Hawk smiled kindly. “I could say the same of you,†he replied.
There was an awkward pause before Mr. Nurse spoke again. “Well, get some rest, Hawk.â€
“Have a good night, Doctor.â€
Clearly fatigued, the old man smiled weakly and continued toward the house while Hawk, relieved that he’d taken off before Fredrick returned, accelerated towards the suburbs, losing his separation anxiety in the rush of the wind and pavement.
o.o.c. :: If I don't talk to you later tonight and you're up for replying, feel free to time-skip! <3
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:44 pm
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca could have died happy right then and there. But her magic was less than pleased. The farther away he walked, the antsier she became. Her soul felt as though she was losing a part of herself, tearing apart a perfection that had only recently been achieved. She bit into her bottom lip and convinced herself that twelve hours of not seeing him wouldn’t be so bad. Then she smiled slightly, amused by the fact that she now desired to be around him instead of running for the hills every time he frustrated her (which had been quite often, mind you.)
Turning around, she needed to do something to keep herself occupied and her mind off of the soft wailing her magic was making now that his comforting caress was gone. Amber eyes moved to look around the room, surprised that they had done so much cleaning in such a short span of time. It was lucky that her grandfather was a workaholic or else they could have gotten in serious, serious trouble. The young witch began to make tomorrow’s lunch, which she would put in the refrigerator and then heat up for her and Hawk and possibly her grandfather if he didn’t leave for work at the crack of down.
As she was putting the creation into Tupperware containers, she heard the back door open and she whirled around. Her eyes were alight with surprise and excitement, hoping that Hawk had decided to come back, even if only for a moment. But she saw her grandfather and her barriers went up. He was a witch, too, and she couldn’t have his magic sensing her own. Licking her lips, she smiled weakly at him. “Scare me, granddaddy.†She murmured, snapping the lid onto the square of the box before moving to put it into the fridge.
“Sorry, Becky. I’m going to sleep, then I’ll be staying at the hospital Thursday and Friday night for a big operation that I need to help prep and perform.â€He responded in a voice that betrayed his exhaustion.
“All right. I have lunch in here for tomorrow and I can whip up something for you to take with you so you won’t have to eat the cafeteria food.†She said and he nodded, before she heard the familiar creek of the stairs as he ascended up to his room. She sighed and headed back towards her bedroom, knowing that it would be a long time before she ever fell asleep.
Rebecca awoke at nine o’clock on the dot, bolting right out of bed. The day passed quickly and she saw Hawk sparingly, though she could watch them all work from under her tree as she practiced meditation. He had to work if he wanted to make up for lost time yesterday from the dealings with Des as well as get off a little early on Friday for their date. And Friday came before she realized it and she was nervously pacing her room. What was she supposed to wear? What was she supposed to do? She fidgeted with the buttons on the side of her skirt after she had pulled it on. It was a lose cotton skirt that swayed when she moved. It hit a few good inches above her knee and she had a soft top that was a stark white. But she was still nervous. What if he didn’t think she looked pretty? Well, how could she look pretty when being compared to Desdemona? That girl was the embodiment of beautiful. Her skin had been a beautiful tan with hair that never seemed to go astray.
A frustrated noise left the young girl’s lips as she paced back and forth before running her hand gently against her hair. It had been curled into loose ringlets, not her normal lanky straight hair. Rebecca had even put on concealer and mascara, though that was about as far as she would go with makeup. She wasn’t a girly-girl after all. It’s just Hawk! She tried telling herself. You’ve been with him all summer and he’s seen you in your running shorts and sweaty T. But that didn’t comfort her. It only made her more anxious.
And what if she did something stupid? Like, cause a hurricane just because he kissed her more deeply than before. Rebecca knew, despite what she told him, that her magic was wild when it came to him. It unleashed its fury when he upset her and it bounded for joy like a wild stampede of stallions when he merely brushed his lips against her own. Thankfully, her granddaddy wasn’t here to see her be so nervous, let alone know that she was going on a date with one of the farmhands.
She finally decided that enough was enough and moved off towards the front door, where he would park his car. Car…right? She peered out the window and saw only one headlight. “You’ve got to be kidding me.†She murmured, looking down at her clothes before pushing the screen door open as he pulled up. The roar of the engine died off and she was bathed only in the light of the house.
“Can you wait just a minute? I’ll be right back I promise.†She asked, feeling like the typical girl who he’d think wasn’t ready when she was supposed to be picked up.
ooc: Let me know if I need to change anything. I godmoded a bit so let me know. <3 YAY FOR THE DATE!
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:44 pm
by Astrophysicist
When he stirred that Friday morning, it was as though he had sleepwalked through the entire previous day. Rested energy fueled his every action as he prepared for work, and his blood coursed freshly through his veins to make him feel truly alive. He sped through breakfast before rushing out the door, eagerly starting his motorcycle and taking the county roads just a bit too fast. He was earlier than usual, but that only inspired him all the more to complete his tasks as efficiently as humanly (and magically) possible.
Nevertheless, the time passed him by with sluggish consistency, demanding from him a patience he just didn’t have that day. Even the animals seemed to sense his haste. They worked fast and hard, doing their best to please and pride the human that cared for them. But unfortunately, Hawk was too absorbed in thoughts of the evening, thoughts of the blonde-haired witch that he sensed watching from afar, to fully reward their kind efforts.
He smiled to himself as he returned one of the new quarter horses to its stall. It was strange to feel such excitement about a date. Dates with Des had been lengthy and tiresome affairs, and he’d never really had a chance to look forward to them. The devilish brunette would fuss and preen like a self-conscious bird, striving for the appearance of perfection with every ounce of her being. He’d forgiven her deep concern for others’ thoughts because of the nature of her abilities; even the weakest empath had some difficulty with crowds and confidence during their adolescent years. But when their outings steadily progressed from enjoyable to stressful, the young Callahan boy had realized it was the woman herself that was high-maintenance and imperious – her uncommon power had nothing to do with it.
When the time finally came to depart the Nurse farm, Hawk was down the driveway, into his house, and back in his room faster than a galloping thoroughbred. He took his time in the shower, allowing the warm water to wash his anxieties away as he forced himself to meditate deeper. Now was no time to lose his cool, especially if it were to be at the hand of his nerves.
It was a blessing to pay little heed to his attire. With Des, he had to create an image for himself that would both please society and live up to her high standards. With Rebecca, he felt much more at ease. He could choose his own shirt, his own jeans, his own shoes; he could pick her up on his motorcycle without worrying about giving the wrong impression to the neighbors. He chuckled to himself and surveyed the contents of his closet, a little torn. Once he’d made his selection, he stepped into a pair of dark blue jeans and slid on a narrow t-shirt. Over that, he slipped on the forest green button-down he’d picked from his admittedly-limited wardrobe.
He made his way to the bathroom once again and studied himself in the mirror. It had been quite some time since he had had to look more presentable than a dirty farm hand just off-duty. His still-damp hair hung shaggily over his forehead and ears, and he smiled crookedly at the sight. With practiced precision, he tamed the locks with a fine-toothed comb and examined his reflection, furrowing his brow. No, that wasn’t right. For someone like Des, sure, but not for this. With a rascally grin, he ran his fingers through his hair, ruffling the wet strands so they hung freely whichever way they landed. Well, he thought, laughing to himself, I guess that takes care of the helmet hair problem.
With surprising calm, he navigated the county roads out to the Nurse farm, enjoying the oncoming twilight and the warm air of the summer night. The gravel beneath his two tires crunched rhythmically with his steady pace as he wound his way down the long driveway. He pulled up as close as he could to the front door and dismounted, grinning behind his helmet visor at the sight of the city girl on the front porch. His magic leapt before he could restrain it.
He pulled off his helmet and held it against his side with a loose arm, his grin transitioning to an affectionate smirk. “I thought you said you’d be ready when I got here,†he teased, calling after her as she disappeared inside the house. He shook his head to himself. He didn’t mind waiting. He was thrilled just to be near her again.
It took all his years’ experience in meditation to keep his power from surging beyond his grasp when she appeared on the porch again, this time more suitably dressed for an evening bike ride. “I guess I should have warned you,†he said as she approached, unable to keep the smile from his face. He turned to the motorcycle and untied the straps on the rear of the seat, releasing a smaller white helmet from its restraints. “Here,†he said, tossing it to her. “It’s my sister’s, but I think it’ll fit you.â€
He nudged up the kickstand and swung his leg over the bike, steadying it. “Hold on a second,†he said. He put on his helmet and turned the key, then put his right foot on the starter and kicked it to life in one strong downward motion.
“Okay!†he told her, twisting around to pat the back part of the leather seat. “Hop on.â€
o.o.c. :: I godmoded a bit too! Sorry! Let me know if you want anything changed. (: Also, this is totally what his bike looks like. Classy.
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Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:45 pm
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca frowned the moment she saw the motorcycle but it quickly turned into a grin. Only Hawk would pick a girl up for a first date on that hog. It amused her but she quickly realized that what she was wearing wouldn’t work out very well with their transportation vehicle. As she turned around, she heard his words and shook her head, letting the slam of the door be her response.
Running back down the hall to her room, the young witch threw her clothes around her room in a hurry. Finding some jeans that appeared to be clean, she slipped them on beneath her skirt before shimming the other garment off. Then she looked for a top that would keep her warm against the slight chill of the night and the wind from riding the motorcycle. Finally, she ended up simply putting on a plain white fitted T-shirt and a red, light hooded jacket over top. She looked in the mirror at her tight curled ringlets. That would not do. Very carefully, in almost the same manner that he had, she ran her fingers through her hair and ruffled it a bit, making it appear far more natural yet wild at the same time.
Moving back to the door at a much slower pace, she opened it and clicked it shut behind her, making certain to slip her keys into her back pocket. Even thought she had learned to magic locks open two weeks ago, it was easier and also out of habit, that she still kept the physical key around her when she left the old farmhouse to head into town for groceries or the like. Licking her lips, she looked at him carefully, studying his attire. He had certainly put in some effort and her looked damn good, which only added to her nervousness.
“You should have.†She responded, smiling slightly as she tucked her hands into the back pocket of her jeans and kept her eyes focused on his. It took all of her self control to hold her power at bay, but only with the promise that she would let it reunited with him at some point during this date. Even though her ability wasn’t a physical manifestation, she still thought of conversations she might have with it in her mind.
No. Stay.
But, but but-!
Be good. Stay. Treats later.
Kind of like a dog, she had decided while she had been anxiously waiting for his arrival. Now that he was here and his presence washing over her like a cleansing rain, Rebecca felt much more at ease than she had before. She eyed the helmet and took it from him with unpracticed hands. She hadn’t worn one after the fifth grade. Why? Because she had realized that no matter how serious the injury might feel at first, it turned out to be nothing, absolutely nothing after a few seconds. She could completely heal herself as if an accident never happened. But she would appease him and click the buckle beneath her chin before looking at the bike.
“Sweet ride.†She murmured, having spent some time around motorcycles and dirt bike races since she had discovered her invincibility. “Just to warn you, though,†she began, smiling slightly as she slid as careful leg over the seat of the vehicle and sliding her body up to brush against his. Delicately, she wrapped her arms around his middle. “I have a bad track record with these things.†Her lips turned into a grin as she looked ahead of them.
“So, where are we going, farm boy?†She asked, curious as to what he had in store for them. He was always so mysterious about things. Something to show her or lessons after dates. She would never understand him. Never ever. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:46 pm
by Astrophysicist
“A bad track record?†he questioned, turning his head to the side to glance at her from the corner of his eye. He revved the engine and rolled his shoulders back to adjust his jacket. “Well, then I guess we’ll break even. I happen to have a very good track record with these things.†His good-natured chuckles were lost in the rumble of the idling engine. “Now hold on.â€
Though their destination was not actually meant to be a surprise, he pointedly ignored her question. His heartbeat picked up its tempo at the feel of her arms sliding around his waist, and though she couldn’t see it, he smiled. He accelerated down the driveway with renewed confidence, his anxious power building pressure against his strict restraints. Not unlike the city girl, he calmed his struggling magic with promises of later reward; its patience would pay off in the end if it would only hold still for the ride. The best was certainly yet to come.
When he took off down the pavement towards town, a thrill shook his spine. He was high on the feel of the wind against his body, the road rushing beneath him, the warm arms wrapped firmly around his torso; he was intoxicated with the sweet, grassy smell of the air, hypnotized by the burst of saturated color on the western horizon. His present bliss made the strain of a long day at work worth every sluggish second. It was only the start of their evening together, and already he knew contentment beyond reason.
The approaching city lights glowed against the sky’s vivid fanfare, halos circling the street lamps with a soft dreamlike haze. Fearless, he dove right into the shimmering depths of the historic part of the city. He slowed down to the appropriate speed and turned down a narrow brick road lined with proud old trees. They slipped into a parking space outside an aged group of buildings, the sidewalk illuminated by a red and gold neon sign in the broad window in front of them. Hawk put his feet down and killed the engine, waiting for Rebecca to dismount before he followed suit.
He engaged the kickstand and strapped their helmets down to the seat, arching a brow when he glanced up at Rebecca. “Will this do for the city girl?†he asked with a sly smile, standing up fully and gesturing toward the nearest storefront. In elegant, looping cursive, the word Lumière glowed from the inside of the window. Past the reflections dancing on its surface, patrons laughed and dined. Hawk placed a hand on Rebecca’s shoulders and steered her gently toward the door.
“My mom founded this place when I was little,†he said, holding the door for her. Inside, a sculpted tin-tiled ceiling became the sky; polished wooden floors became the ground. Exposed brick walls made up the north and south walls, mirrored on the east and west by crimson stucco. He met her gaze, studying her for a sign of approval. In the dim, warm light, her eyes glowed honey.
He smiled at her softly before turning to the eager hostess. “Reservations for Callahan,†he told the woman self-assuredly. “Two.â€
The woman led them to a table near the front window. Stepping around her as she placed the menus on either side, Hawk pulled a chair out and nodded for Rebecca to take her seat. “See, city girl, not all farm boys are ill-mannered.†He cleared his throat in lieu of a laugh, beaming his trademark lopsided grin. The candle on the edge of the table flickered a little brighter than the others as he slid into the seat opposite her. “What do you think?†he asked, more than a little tentative despite his sanguine demeanor. “The food is fantastic, I hear.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:46 pm
by Astrophysicist
As they road, she felt the warmth of his back burst across her chest and she had to convince her magic to remain where it was again. She held her arms tight around him, leaning her cheek to rest against the upper portion of his back as they road. So used to riding on motorcycles, she knew better than to try and talk to him over the road of the engine and the whistling of the wind against their helmets. The young witch was so content to just be against him, not speaking and feeling the familiar hum of his power just beneath his skin.
Before she knew it, a warm glow of red and gold lit up the shine of his helmet. She turned her bright eyes in their direction and she was breath taken by the site. She had expected a small diner, like the ones her parents had taken her to when they had visited Salem in her young years. The world faded away as she peered into the window, suddenly feeling very underdressed for the occasion. Damn it, she should have just suffered through wearing the skirt and then maybe she would have fit in their place. If the boy hadn’t steered her towards the door, Rebecca probably would have stood there all night in amazement at the beautiful restaurant that he was taking her to.
All the witch could do was nod as they entered, but the moment he let go of her, she turned her focus onto him. He was remarkable. That was all she needed to describe him, though she most likely could have rambled on and on about him. She licked her lips as he gave the hostess their name. “Hawk, this is too much…†Her voice was but a whisper as she finally found it after they had arrived at the beautiful eatery. Suddenly, she felt as though she deserved none of this, none of this from someone like him. He was talented, brilliant, handsome and he was wasting his time on someone like her.
Then he had to go and pull out her seat. It took all she had to keep her jaw from falling to the floor. She slid delicately, with as much grace as she could muster, into the seat. Her eyes never left him as he went to go take him own place across from her. Her magic sensed his the moment it left him and it reached out, escaping from her quickly. Their powers collided and the light flickered brightly. Her lips curled into a smile and she felt much, much more at ease with him.
She took her menu from where it was standing and opened it, looking at the luscious description of the words, her mouth beginning to water. “It looks phenomenal.†She said, turning her eyes up to him almost immediately. “Hawk…†She said, before shaking her head slightly and her lips turning upwards. “You didn’t have to go through all this trouble for me. Really. I would have been good with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.†Her voice was soft as she met his gaze, her eyes dancing. Her heart swelled for him and the lengths he went to to make her happy.
Licking her lips, she looked down again, scanning the menu and then the prices. She winced inwardly and bit her lip, looking at the lower ended prices. Then she found something that drew her attention. It sounded delicious. She decided and closed the menu. “What are you getting?†She asked, grinning a bit. “Because you know that you’re going to be sharing with me.†Her amber eyes glinted mischievously. Rebecca was a notorious moocher when it came to meals. Her family had adopted family style meals because they knew that the youngest would be eating part of their meal anyways.
Curiosity overwhelmed her then. “So this lesson…†She asked, smiling brightly at him, feeling her magic soar inside of her chest. She let a small tendril slip out and dance against the window, causing fog to erupt as it danced across carefully.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:46 pm
by Astrophysicist
Where Rebecca had come from a family where sharing was commonplace, Hawk had come from the opposite side of the world. Not unlike his gift with animals, his mother had a magical and physical talent for the culinary arts. In the Callahan household, it was rare that a single meal did not consist of multiple dishes. There was never room for sharing because there was always too big a variety, too much abundance. He had grown up spoiled with luscious treats and savory meals, most of them original recipes his mother had put together over the years. Her recipe books became volumes and volumes of spells that only she could weave together, combining ingredients like an artist would mix paints. And in Hawk’s mind, she’d yet to produce anything that wasn’t a masterpiece.
Of course, opening a restaurant was a tricky affair, especially for someone whose recipes required a bit of magic to produce – literally. Hawk remembered lending his small hands in the kitchen as she rendered her work into sets of instructions for non-magical employees. She’d been largely successful, which was a testament to her skills both magically and in the kitchen. As Hawk had learned with his hidden book, composing spells for functionality was difficult enough. He couldn’t imagine tearing them apart in translation for someone else.
“Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?†he repeated, skeptical. His dubiety quickly dissolved into a grin as he studied her, his green eyes smiling as brilliantly as his lips. “We’ll have to save that for a second date.†The words escaped almost in passing, and he said nothing more as he looked down to glance over the menu. He scanned the familiar titles of the dishes as though he’d not said anything at all.
The candle flickered brightly again as he felt his magic brush against hers. Its sudden flare caught his attention – not the dancing flame itself, but its brilliant reflection in the city girl’s eyes. He held her gaze steadily, his heart leaping right along with his magic to reach her. Without looking away, he folded his menu and placed it on the table in front of him. “It isn’t any trouble,†he told her honestly, resting his arms on the edge of the table. “It’s my pleasure. I asked you to come with me, didn’t I?†He paused, watching the light flicker gracefully across those amber eyes. “Order whatever you want, whatever you like. It’s my treat, after all.â€
He smiled only a little wickedly, predicting it would be in her nature to protest. He pressed on in conversation instead of waiting for the assault. “My mom sold the business when my youngest sister was born,†he told her, glancing up and around. “Everything is still essentially the same. The menu, the décor. I’m not surprised.†He chuckled to himself. “My mother wouldn’t have sold it to someone with wild ideas. I don’t blame her. She put too much work into this place to watch her ideas go up in flames for someone else’s.â€
He paused, suddenly aware that he was talking too much. Clearing his throat, he took a sip of ice water from the glass the waitress had brought over. “The lesson?†he questioned. “What lesson?†He closed and opened one eye in a swift wink. “That’s for me to know and you to find out later, Ms. Nurse. You’re going to have to quell your curiosity with some fine cuisine instead, I’m afraid. Did you have something in mind?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:46 pm
by Astrophysicist
“Second date?†She asked, her eyebrows arching delicately over her honey eyes. Then her lips curled on the right side only and she cocked her head slightly, running her finger over the edge of the menu. “Who says I’ll go out with you again, farm boy?†And she was back. Rebecca, though she had been nervous, was set as ease by the contact of his magic and she knew that making such a fuss over dinner or being ridiculously anxious wasn’t worth it.
Carefully, the young woman held the man’s gaze, reveling in the beautiful green glow of his eyes that gleamed with each flicker of the candlelight. “Wait.†She said suddenly, shaking her head a little bit, brushing back the curly locks to tuck them behind her ear. “This was your mom’s?†She asked, amazed, turning to look around the restaurant once again. “I had no idea.†Had he mentioned it beforehand when she hadn’t been listening, too breath-taken by the décor and the beauty of the place? Hopefully she hadn’t been ignoring him for too long.
But as he continued to talk, she smiled. Rebecca realized that he was just as nervous as she was. They didn’t need to be though. She was in love with him and he loved her right back. This was the first of many dates. A frown tugged on the corners of her face as he mocked her, narrowing her eyes at him in annoyance. “The curiosity will kill me before the food even gets here, Hawk!†She protested as she continued to glare at him.
“I was thinking about the Duck and Mushroom Ragu over Creamy Polenta. It just sounds delicious.†She smiled and then settled her hand back into her lap. “You mother came up with all of these?†She questioned as she became interested more and more in his family. It was so remarkable that he had a magically family that supported everything he tried to do. She wondered what powers his siblings had. His mother was bound to be a marvelous chef to have run a restaurant that was still standing today.
“What are you getting?†She asked, figuring that he knew what was on the menu already if his mother cooked for him at home. She ran her tongue across her soft lips before the waitress came over and took their drink orders before returning to take their meal requests. Rebecca was delighted when she found that a salad came with her meal as well. “Caesar, please.†She said, handing the menu to the young waitress who hurried off after taking Hawk’s order.
Blonde head turned towards the window, looking out at the parking spots and the motorcycle that she had ridden in on. “Why a motorcycle?†She asked, feeling as though she was suddenly interrogating him after she had asked a series of three questions. “I mean, I would have stereotypically picked you for a truck boy.â€
ooc: ah..yucky short.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:47 pm
by Astrophysicist
Nerves were silly things. They flared and receded like a stormy ocean at dawn, rising and falling with an anxious mind’s wind of thought and emotion. The soft thudding of his heart in his chest, the infinitesimal quiver in his fingertips, the ease of his chuckles and swiftness of his tongue – they were all side effects of love’s drug. Rebecca, though a sweet pill to swallow, sent him reeling with her power and intensity, overwhelming him and grounding him at once. The fluttering butterflies in his stomach could be attributed to more than just nervousness and more than just his fondness for her; it was a deep desire for calm nights and whispers, for summer breezes and warm rain, for sweet prairie flowers and the salty spray of the sea.
For several moments, he found himself watching her, deaf to the words that fell from her soft pink lips. The rest of the world fell away; he was transfixed. The cerulean gleam of the neon in the window cast an angelic glow about her figure, her face becoming ethereal against the comparatively drab interior of the restaurant. As she turned her head, the golden light of the street lamp caught the amber in her eyes, illuminated as if by magic with the sparkle of genuine affection. As she met his gaze, he felt something within him shift. He realized it was the sigh of his soul, relishing in a contentment he had never dreamt possible. It had found its counterpart, its confidante, its missing piece. And though it slid into place as though it had never been absent, once the gap was filled, he felt born anew.
Warmth coursed through his veins, urging him to resurface in reality. He drew in a deep breath, breaking the surface with a small smile whose intensity burned in his green eyes. Those dulcet summer murmurs, those raindrops, those flowers, the might of the sea – they were all her, they were all life – and he wanted to know it, to know her. His power reached out to her in a sudden wave, and it was several moments before he was able to coax his voice to existence.
“Yes, my mother came up with nearly everything on the menu,†he said, though the words he spoke felt suddenly empty following his recent landslide of emotion. When the waitress came, he placed his order with mechanic precision, his eyes departing Rebecca’s face only once to give his unspoken thanks to the young woman. As she scurried off to the kitchen, Hawk placed his hand and forearm on the table, his palm up in invitation for the city girl’s. The candle’s flame burned a little brighter. His smile broadened.
“A truck?†he questioned softly, a timid laugh shaking his shoulders. “You city girls have such stereotypical ideas of us farm boys, don’t you?†He gnawed on his lower lip, continuing to study her. “I like the feel of the wind on my skin and the ground rushing beneath me. It’s the closest thing I have to physically experiencing a bird’s flight. And it’s not so dangerous with magic on your side.†He shrugged, then winked at her. “My question for you is,†he went on, raising his eyebrows, “why do you have a bad track record with motorcycles?†He paused as the waitress stepped up to the table and placed their salads in front of them. “Or maybe a better question would be why do you have a track record at all?â€
o.o.c. :: Crappy, but it's a post nevertheless!
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:47 pm
by Astrophysicist
As she spoke, his magic rushed towards her and she smiled, feeling the full force of its caress against her skin. Her own leaped up in her breast, spiraling out towards him to clash against his own. Their lines of power tangled against each other and soft lids, glimmering with brown shadow, closed over her amber pools. She indulged in the pleasure it gave her, before finally looking at him again.
Rebecca placed her order carefully, having been momentarily lost in the breathtaking bliss that their magical union gave her. “Everything.†She repeated, casting one glance more at the menu before she handed it back over to the waitress. It was amazing that one person could understand what flavor went so well with others. The young witch was astonished at his mother’s ability. She wished, almost with jealousy, that she had that magical ability to create pleasure through food for another person.
Intelligent eyes flickered with amusement as she felt the momentary increase in heat from the candle between them. Slowly, she moved her fingers across his, slipping them down until she reached his first knuckle and curled her fingers against his gently. Her eyes darted down to their intertwined fingers and then back up to his face. “Can you blame us? We think of farmer’s tanned boys with cut-off shirts and driving dirt-covered trucks?†She mocked a southern accent, as was stereotypical of most people’s idea of farm boys (despite the fact they were up North.)
Rebecca was more than a little reluctant to sever their connection, squeezing his hands to demonstrate this to him before she settled one into her lap and took up the salad fork with the other. The dressing looked delightfully smooth and rich atop the lettuce and assortment of other fresh vegetables. Her stomach rumbled a small amount in protest to her hesitation and so she dug in, placing the delicious food onto her tongue before she shook her head slightly.
Amber eyes took on a mysterious gleam. She shrugged delicately, but licked her lips, removing any remainder of Caesar dressing from the corners. “I’ve told you I’m…invincible, right?†It sounded rather conceited but it wasn’t how she meant it. She couldn’t remember if she had told him, but it didn’t concern her much. He had already figured out (from that snarking bitch of an ex-girlfriend) that she couldn’t tell a lie to save her precious little life. “Well, I found out on a bike when I was little. Ever since I have had a small fascination with how far I could push my luck.â€
She took another bite, telling the story as slowly as she could, dragging it out to make him ansy. “Bikes, then dirt bikes, then motorcycles.†She laughed a little, almost amused at how reckless she had been. “I crashed two and caused two more to blow up before my father stopped believing that they were stolen. So what I meant when I said I had a bad track record, is that they don’t last long around me.â€
Rebecca Nurse met his gaze before finishing off a good portion of her salad. “When did you decide that you wanted to take me out on this little date, huh? Before or after you kissed Des?†She grinned, letting him know that she was just teasing him, wanting to watch his face redden.
ooc: Hope this is okay!! <3 miss you.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:47 pm
by Astrophysicist
Hawk grinned at her sudden southern drawl, rolling his eyes with playful affection. “Come now,†he told her, lightly squeezing her fingers. “We’re much classier than that. My truck would at least be clean. But you city girls are so blinded by your spotlights you probably wouldn’t even notice.†He paused, adopting a thick southern accent of his own as he continued. “There ain’ nothin’ wrong with good clean dirt!â€
He chuckled at their antics and took a bite of salad, watching as her expression changed. In many ways, she was an open book—whatever he couldn’t discern from her ever-shifting facial expressions he could ask her directly and get the absolute truth. He did, after all, know perhaps her deepest and most highly guarded secret. But instead of it being a burden for him to bear or a worry for her to endure, it was an intimate fact that brought them closer together. He chewed another bite of salad thoughtfully, sparkling emerald meeting smoldering amber. He would never take advantage of that knowledge; he would never reveal it to another soul. Magically and emotionally, she was a part of him now. And whether he realized it yet or not, she was all he ever needed.
“Invincible, huh?†he said lightly as she went on. He furrowed his brow not with disapproval but with concern and curiosity. It didn’t come to him with any real surprise; after everything they’d been through together, there was little that could truly shock him. His lips curved upward in a small smile. “Does it surprise you that I’m not surprised?†A small chuckle shook his shoulders as he finished his last bite of salad. “I’m not sure how I feel about you pushing your luckâ€â€”a flash of worry crossed his features before he pushed it back and continued with a mischievous grin—“but if I were a bit braver, I’d dare you to wreck my bike.†He paused. "But don't take that as an invitation."
Invincibility explained a lot, in particular the ability of her body to handle immense amounts of physical and magical energy. Most witches had the same limitations of flesh and blood as any other human, and their consistent good health was solely dependent upon their abilities to heal their own ailments. But Rebecca was different. What came after decades of study and practice for most magic-wielding people came instantly and naturally to the city girl, blowing away even the relatively powerful Hawk Callahan. If her grandfather ever found out about her, well…he shook his head inwardly, unsure how the old man would react. As Rebecca had already insisted, they would try to keep that under wraps as long as they could, and he was just fine with that.
What he was not fine with, however, was the direction their conversation had turned. Desdemona, he thought with disgust and shame, releasing the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He felt his face grow warm, and not without the smallest reluctance, he met the Nurse girl’s gaze. “I think I decided a long time ago,†he said to her, tucking his lower lip beneath his top teeth in an attempt to muffle the bitterness in his tone. He sighed, releasing his sudden tension with another impish smile. “When did you decide I was more than just a brainless hillbilly farm boy?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:47 pm
by Astrophysicist
She just wanted to brush over the fact that she did not get hurt. She thought she had mentioned it before but most likely she hadn’t. Rebecca didn’t like to spill all her secrets and the clever little farm boy had already discerned her most closely guarded information. The talk about the motorcycles just came out of her lips but she kept her eyes on him, focusing on the way the candle between them glimmered in his eyes. Running her tongue along her bottom lip when she finished, she cocked her head slightly as she observed him.
“Don’t trust me with your wheels, farm boy?†She teased, feeling excitement well up in her at the thought of being behind him on that bike again. It had given her a small taste of freedom and a sense of safety all at once. The wind rushing through her hair fueled the fire of exhilaration of being back on a motorcycle again but being with Hawk had made her feel much more comfortable on one. This time she hadn’t been pushing her limits; hadn’t been trying to see how many times she could break her neck only to dust herself off a moment later. It had been an odd sensation.
And she loved every moment of it.
Rebecca Nurse had no idea that the person sitting across from her was the half that she had been missing so long. He was the part that would keep her grounded, nurture her magic and allow her to grow into the woman that her father always knew she could be. Before Hawk, she had been a loaded gun, ready to misfire at the slightest moment. Now, there was a small wave of serenity that had settled itself over her wild heart. Of course, she would always be a pistil, but now she had a safety.
She was drawn back to consciousness by the way his face flickered with dislike. She had only meant to tease him. A frown lined her lips for a long moment, wanting to tell him that she had only been kidding. Des was a thought that was far from her mind now. She wasn’t what was right for him and he belonged to Rebecca. Then she smiled and moved to squeeze his fingers with hers. “I was only teasing. I know you did it just to piss me off because I refuse to listen to your rules.†She met his eyes, the right side of her mouth curling up in a smirk. “And you succeeded. But if you hadn’t…†she shrugged and moved took a sip of her water before turning her face back to his. “Then we wouldn’t be on this date, would we?†And she was certainly happy they were here, together.
The smile lit up his face and she found herself lost in it for a quick second before she gave him a sly grin of her own. “Who said I already decided that?†Her grin turned into a smile and she looked down at her plate. Bringing more of the food to her lips, she placed it on her tongue before chewing slowly, pondering what she wanted to ask him next. “Soo…where are we going after this?†She couldn’t help herself. He had ignited her curiosity and she just wanted to know exactly what this secretive lesson was going to be about.
Her amber eyes glittered in the candlelight of this small little restaurant that his mother has started. It was delightful and was sure to be lovely in every single corner but she only had eyes for him. She loved him. Her whole heart, her whole soul, her whole essence adored every fiber of his being. And he had kissed her and “escorted her to dinner†but…he hadn’t said he loved her. He did, didn’t he? Or did he just like her, enjoy her company? Had he just thought he might be able to love her? She bit her bottom lip and cast those pesky thoughts away. They wouldn’t do at all.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:48 pm
by Astrophysicist
“I think our food’s here,†he announced eagerly, raising his eyebrows and sitting up a little straighter. The waitress approached swiftly, their steaming entrees balanced expertly on each hand. He thanked her as she placed his plate in front of him, then looked immediately to Rebecca, a smile lighting up his face.
“I’m afraid the old saying ‘curiosity killed the cat’ really isn’t very accurate,†he drawled, twirling pasta around his fork with practiced ease, “but you get the idea.†He chuckled as he chewed, watching the curiosity that burned like fire in her eyes. She was adorable when she wanted so badly to know something; how had he failed to notice during all those lessons back on the farm? Or, perhaps more importantly, how had he managed to resist that smart, determined, beguiling smile, a smile that could almost be mistaken as a haughty smirk? A smile that said she already knew exactly what he was going to say, a smile that said she was simply waiting to hear those same expected words? He mirrored her expression with an arched brow and a charming grin. She almost had him fooled. Almost.
“It’s just a little too much fun to torment you with secrecy,†he said tenderly, pushing back the urge to shake his head with the incredulity that fueled his elusiveness. “But if it’s really bothering you that much, I’ll give you a hint.†He paused dramatically, taking his time with another bite. The candle between them flickered noticeably. “It’s somewhere you’ve never been before. Or so I would assume, you being from the dreary city and all.â€
Anticipating some sort of imploring prompt, he continued. “If you’ve managed to keep your nose out of that diary long enough to notice,†he went on, softly teasing, “your grandfather owns some of the loveliest land in the state. Diverse in wildlife too, but I don’t think you’ve got meditation down well enough to control your boredom if I got into that.†He grinned. “But there’s a place I discovered a couple of years ago with a view that doesn’t hold a candle to his acreage.â€
Though he couldn’t quite suppress the excitement beneath his tone, he spoke hesitantly, carefully measuring the city girl’s reaction. “It’s quite a ways out of town,†he admitted, “but we’ve got witchcraft, my driving expertise, and your invincibility on our side. So don’t worry, I’ll get you home before your curfew.†He winked and took another thoughtful bite. Butterflies once again took flight in his abdomen, and he paused while he chewed. A subtle blush rose to his cheeks as he met her gaze, nervousness flooding with all the strength and intensity of a river after spring’s snowmelt.
Inwardly, he rolled his eyes and shook his head at his own antics. It was Rebecca Nurse, of all people! If she hadn’t tired of him by now, what was one more trip? The rational part of him knew she wouldn’t mind—or at the very least she would put up with it for his sake—but that half was easily overridden by the part that obnoxiously remained an eighteen-year-old human boy, quaking in his shoes at the prospect of impressing a pretty girl. Just as Rebecca had agonized over what to wear, Hawk had agonized over where to take her after dinner. And now that it was happening, those all-too-familiar doubts reared their heads and gave a great unison roar that ended with a thundering heartbeat and a sheepish grin. All he could do was take another bite and let the familiar flavor of his mother’s recipe comfort him.
“That sounds incredibly dull, doesn’t it?†he said with a laugh to mask his sudden uncertainty. “Well, at least you can say you had something decent for dinner, right? And who knows, maybe this lesson tonight will pay off too. Now,†he said, lowering his voice and leaning forward, “that’s all I’m going to tell you.†His green eyes sparkled. Even though it was supposed to be a surprise for her, perhaps it was he that should be most excited.
“I’ve told you a bit about my family,†he said good-naturedly, changing the subject in hope of distracting her from asking about their next stop. “Tell me about yours. Your immediate family, I mean. Will I ever get to meet them? Or are you too embarrassed to be seen with a good-for-nothing farm boy?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:48 pm
by Astrophysicist
The young witch was no so green as to miss the characteristic flickering of the flame. Her amber eyes glowed intensely, staring at him with a passion that would rival that shared only between a Capulet and a Montague. “You just derive pleasure from watching me squirm, farm boy. You’re entirely evil, I’m convinced now.†Her lips curled upwards as she moved to sample a bite of her meal. Once the flavors hit her tongue, she had to pause, his words momentarily lost in the space between them. The hovered over the candle as the amalgamation of tastes cascaded over her tongue. She licked her lips and sighed, content. This was the best food she had ever had. It probably tastes better from the original cook. She mused for a moment, before direct her attention back at the handsome (though she would never admit it) boy cross from her.
“Dreary?†She commented, but her lips curled upwards once more, smiling at him in the way she was apt to do. He had captured her interest and it wouldn’t waver again until he had finished relaying this little hint of his. Rebecca was desperate to know what they were going to be doing after dinner. She knew that she would slip onto the back of his bike, her arms reaching out to hold his waist. She’d be able to feel the muscles beneath his shirt, the tanned lean flesh from his house moving hay and training horses. That train of thought was preparing to leave the station, so she quickly shook herself mentally and now devoted her entire attention to the fact that he was across from her and she wouldn’t have to worry about such things until after the meal.
Yet, as he talked, mentioned all the little quirks about the farm where she resided this summer, she realized that he knew her far better than she had thought. Yes, she would have gotten bored with wildlife. She didn’t have the same burning desire to talk to animals and get down and dirty in the barn (with manure at least). And she loved to read, especially that diary. These past few weeks with him, she hadn’t realized that he had been watching her and picking up on her mannerisms as she had with him. It made her heart ache to know that he cared for her that way, so much so that the candle blew out when she exhaled slowly. Her magic had decided to escape with her breath, twirling around the flame before extinguishing it. Quickly, she concentrated and it flared back to life almost as fast as it had gone out. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice.
Yeah, right.
“If I’ve learned one thing about this slow, backwards farm life,†she began, turning her eyes to him, “it is that you are anything but dull.†And with that, she turned her eyes downward and finished off another few bites of her food, enjoying the serenity that came with actually being nice to him for once. Oh, she might have told him she loved him but that sure as hell did not mean that she was going to start being nice and laying off of the farm boy jokes. It was enjoyable, watching him prattle on about this place he was taking her to. But then he had to go and ask about her family, which made her noticeably paused before she set her fork down and wiped her mouth.
Even then, she didn’t speak yet.
Taking a sip of water, she swallowed hard and wondered what there was to tell him. “They don’t visit here much anymore.†She began. “My mom doesn’t like it.†She shrugged. “My mom doesn’t like anything. My dad’s all right but I wore out my welcome in that house a long time ago. That’s why I’m here for the summer.†Her tongue darted over her lips as she would only meet his eyes for a second or two at a time. She didn’t want him to think that she was some kind of unworthy individual because her entire family hated her. “I have a brother and sister, but they’re gone now for the most part. I’m the youngest. My mom doesn’t know about,†she dropped her voice, “magic, but she always knew that I was freak. She has problems with her nerves, she says. But that’s about all there is to say about my family.†She finished up, taking another couple of bites of her food and deciding that that was damn well enough discussion about her family.
“But, I think it would be wonderful if you gave me more hints.†She grinned, letting him know that it was okay that he asked about her family and that the date wasn’t ruined and that she didn’t really mind all that much. Rebecca forked another three bites in her mouth and leaned back in the chair. Her stomach was so full, she feared that it would burst right then and there. “This food is…†She closed her eyes and grinned, before looking at him again. “Wonderful. Your mom must be the greatest chef in the whole world. Do you eat like this all the time?†She sized him up, running her eyes over the parts of him that she could see. “I’m amazed you don’t weigh a thousand pounds.†The waitress came back and took their plates once they had finished. Rebbeca took another sip of water and smiled.
“I don’t mean to rush you, farm boy, but you are slowly and surely killing me with anticipation over here. I can’t hold out much longer…â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:48 pm
by Astrophysicist
“It’s not so much that you squirm,†he mused, deftly twirling pasta around his fork. He took a bite and chewed slowly, his eyes smiling brightly as he met her molten amber stare. “It’s your persistence. Your…your infallible curiosity.†He lifted one shoulder in a casual half-shrug. Despite the mischief shining in his green eyes, tucked beneath his comment was admiration—he’d delivered a compliment she’d have to dig for, buried beneath weeks and weeks of disagreements and irritation, long humid days and electric shocks, rolled eyes and exasperated sighs. Whether she would bother laboring to find it or not, Hawk allowed himself to dissolve into chuckles, shaking his head with affectionate incredulity for the umpteenth time that evening. She was impossible. They were impossible. Like schoolchildren too stubborn to give in to the other’s forces, they would remain content with butting heads and tug-of-war, never loosening their grips enough to allow the other a victory claim.
It was a strange breed of enmity they shared. Crossed with friendship and dependency, it was a hybrid that both purred and breathed fire. Of course he knew her; she shouldn’t have been shocked. They’d known each other only since the beginning of summer, but they had forged a bond unrivaled even by those established over years of friendship. In the world of witchcraft, most young witches were trained from birth by their magical parents or relatives, so the relationship that developed between student and teacher was strong and familial. The common mentor/pupil closeness became masked by the natural love they felt for their family. In Rebecca’s case, she’d had no one there for her; she’d gone magically unchaperoned all those crucial years. By accepting Hawk Callahan
as her mentor, she’d set herself up for a similar relationship: whether they actually liked each other or not, it was inevitable that both student and teacher became aware of the other’s intimate personal habits and details. It was the nature of the game they played. Without that closeness, without that knowledge of the individual, the teacher could never successfully teach; the student could never successfully learn.
But with Rebecca, it had become so much more than that. He’d notice things, sure—his nickname was ‘Hawk’ for heaven’s sake—but ever since the night on the hilltop, the night he’d nearly been knocked to oblivion by her lightning bolt, her subtle mannerisms had become highlights in the dark, graces to break up the day. He would forever live with the regret that it had taken so long for him to realize what she meant to him; he had been blinded by the mutual annoyance born of their rocky first impressions, never falling back into step after getting off on the wrong foot. He could feel the rhythm now, though, with each synchronous beat of his heart with hers. Every stride took him that much closer to her.
He grinned humbly as she moved on to praise his mother’s recipe, pretending not to notice the sudden sweep of breath that briefly extinguished the candle. He’d seen that expression of awe before; it was the whirlwind of flavor in the first bite that kept patrons coming back for more. “I’ll deliver your compliments to the chef,†he said, finishing up the last few bites of his entrée. “My family eats like this every day, yes. Well…†He paused, momentarily lost in thought. “Except on Fridays. My dad usually cooks for us on Friday nights. Doesn’t really compare to this, of course, but my mom loves it.†He laughed heartily. “My mom has to monitor us pretty closely to make sure we don’t end up weighing a thousand pounds.†Finishing with a wink, he picked up his napkin and dabbed the corner of his lips as she began to speak about her family.
He furrowed his brow with concern. “Rebecca,†he told her, pointedly using her name rather than one of their teasing nicknames, “I want you to remember something, all right?†He reached across the table and took her hand in his, giving it a tight squeeze. “You are not a freak.†Trying to lighten the mood, he gently smiled. “At least as far as city girls come. You wouldn’t do well as a country girl, I’m afraid.â€
The waitress came and went, taking away their plates and delivering their check. Hawk swiftly placed his debit card inside the leather holder and handed it to the young woman, making certain Rebecca couldn’t try anything funny like paying for her own meal. He flashed her a grin and tossed his folded cloth napkin on the table, rising to his feet. “Let’s get going before that anticipation kills you, then,†he chirped, raising an eyebrow with good-natured urgency. If she was truly indestructible and they both had magic on their side, then he had no problem driving fast. “We can make it a quick ride.â€
o.o.c. :: If I don't talk to you before you get a chance to write a reply, feel free to move them along to the destination/describe the motorcycle ride/whatever. I know I didn't give you all that much to work with. <3 Good luck on your test!
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:49 pm
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca was grateful for his words and how he quickly brushed the topic aside as she clearly, albeit silently, requested. It warmed her heart that her understood her so well, even about things that he didn’t know about. She smiled and as they exited the pretty eatery, she slipped her hand into his for a moment and looked up at him. The blonde brought her face close to his, so that she could feel when he stopped breathing because of her close proximity. However, as her eyes took in his lips, she grinned and said. “So how fast can you go, farm boy?†She teased before pulling back and grabbing his sister’s helmet and slipping it onto her smart little noggin.
After he roared the engine to life, the witch settled herself behind him and wrapped her arms tight around his middle. Her cheek pressed against his shoulder as they took off down the roads of Salem that were so alive with tourists coming to see all the old artifacts of the witches that had been hung. She turned her face away from the fake setup that they had created. It tugged at her insides to know that her ancestor had been murdered because some foolish little girls thought it would be fun for the little city to enjoy for witch hanging fun.
All of those thoughts soon left her, though, as Hawk sped faster and faster along roads that began more secluded and deserted as they drove. She held tight on to him before she unclasp her hands and placed them right above his hip bones. For a moment, she contemplated this. Oh, it would scare him to be sure, but she was indestructible and he was good with his bike (so he said). Quickly, she pushed herself up and brought her feet to rest on the seat. Using her magic to balance her she stood up straight and spread her arms. The wind rushed at her but she managed to combat it as she lowered herself back down, laughing all the while.
If he had yelled at her, she hadn’t heard it. She was too busy enjoying herself. Rebecca stayed on the bike until it slowed down and she smiled at him. Her eyes remained focused on him, wondering what he would say to her. No doubt he would lecture her on her recklessness as any good teacher would. Yet, before he could say anything, she took in the sights, where they had stopped.
“Wow.†Was all the city girl could manage as her amber eyes roamed over the hills and the trees and the sheer beauty of this place at night. Through the limbs of where they stood, the moon beamed down, making the dewdrops on the grass glisten. It appeared that an angel had come down from heaven and sprinkled diamonds among the blades of grass. Rebecca inhaled slowly as she turned around, continuing to look. She saw fireflies speckling the sky, twinkling their little lights on and off as they pleased as though speaking to the bright stars above. “Wow.†Rebecca managed again, licking her soft lips.
The trees were thick where they had stopped, having driven off the main road a while back. She placed her hand up against a large trunk and her eyes flashed wide. Power flowed from the bark into her hand, igniting the seat of her power inside of her. She laughed then, her tones filling the silent air around them. The feeling was utterly magical. “Hawk!†She exclaimed, grabbing his hand and placing it against the trunk. “Do you feel that?†She asked. This place had to be magical. It was full of a natural, mystic force and rushed up her toes and towards her heart.
ooc: Hope you like that bit at the end. (:
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:49 pm
by Astrophysicist
A broad grin slid across Hawk’s face as they stepped outside into the muggy summer air and headed back to his bike. Hands in his pockets, he paused, watching as Rebecca picked up her helmet and tossed it lightly in her hands. “How fast can I go?†he asked, raising his eyebrows with unmistakable mischief. He waited until she slipped the helmet over her head before he continued, knocking a clenched fist gently against the top. “You’ll just have to wait and find out, city girl.â€
His smile didn’t fade as he slipped on his own helmet and mounted the motorcycle. He kicked the engine to life in one smooth motion, revving the engine proudly as the Nurse girl got on behind him. His heartbeat roared with the growling bike as her arms slid around his waist, and he tightened his muscles in playful acknowledgment of her grasp. Before he knew it, they were off, flying down the quaint side streets of old Salem, a pair of young witches triumphantly riding on the beautiful summer night’s tide. They were living, breathing testaments to the unfortunate souls who perished there so long ago, defying the phobics and nonbelievers with each charming old world block they sped past.
Hawk paid the touristy attractions no heed as they headed out of town. Though she’d lived only a month with the knowledge of her power, Hawk could sense Rebecca’s bitter disgust and silently shared in her sentiment. While the city’s bloody history sickened him as it should have sickened the out-of-town visitors flocking to see its remnants, he was comforted by one simple fact: Life lived on. And when life lived on, so did magic. As a descendent of one of the trials’ survivors, Hawk’s own existence served as solace—the barbaric attempts at eradication only strengthened their foe’s cause. Try as those centuries-old radicals had to rid the world of the foreign force that defied their comprehension, they could never succeed in anything but their own condemnation. He only hoped their dark mistake would serve as a reminder against such judgment and discrimination, and he liked to think each tourist walked away with a small piece of history’s warning.
But those ill thoughts dissipated as they left the city limits, the rush of the wind blowing away the wistful sadness until the thrill of their ride was all that remained. He found a smile on his face once again as he accelerated, leaning forward to decrease his wind resistance. He glanced down just in time to witness his bike’s old speedometer max out at a hundred and twenty. His smile became an impish smirk behind his visor as he watched the little orange needle quiver with the desire to travel further around the circle. He laughed to himself and defiantly twisted the throttle.
When he felt Rebecca’s embrace shift and eventually break, he bit his tongue and turned his head, trying to catch a glimpse of what she was doing. Was…was she standing!? He resisted the urge to put on the brakes, knowing that changing their speed in either direction would make it more dangerous for her as she attempted her little stunt. He felt anger’s familiar sting deep in his chest; he felt his face redden with irritation. Why did she have to do something like this tonight of all nights? “Hey! Get down!†he shouted, though his voice was immediately lost in the wind. Invincible or not, she had to know he would never approve. She of all people should have known that if you asked for trouble, you just might get it, but he supposed she would never heed that advice.
They arrived at the secluded destination shortly after she climbed back down. The quiet of the rural wilderness was deafening in the absence of the rushing wind and the grumble of the bike, and Hawk said nothing as he dismounted and hung his helmet on the handlebars. He watched her in disapproving silence as she took off her own helmet and studied the landscape around them, simultaneously annoyed and interested in her reaction. His vexation, however, didn’t stand a chance against the sudden look of awe in her amber eyes, and he found himself forgiving her at a simple murmured wow.
He watched her for several moments without saying a word; he stood there, his green eyes sparkling like the dew-drenched grass in the moonlight, completely entranced by their surroundings and her presence. The high of the motorcycle ride was fading and giving way to simple, sleepy tranquility. Only when she touched his hand and led him to the tree did he snap from his reverie, woken by the excitement he could feel radiating from her mind and her magic alike.
“I can feel it,†he replied quietly, and though he could indeed sense the pulse of magical life that radiated from the tree, he wrapped his other arm around Rebecca’s waist from behind and pulled her close. He rested his chin lightly atop her head and closed his eyes. “My little daredevil, you,†he murmured, smiling softly as their magic entwined and embraced. He reveled in the moment a few minutes longer before he reluctantly broke away, keeping hold of her hand as he spun her around to face him. “Are you ready for the lesson? Because tonight…†He paused, breaking eye contact to glance to the star-filled sky before erupting into a full-fledged grin. “Tonight you are teaching me how to shapeshift. How does that sound?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:49 pm
by Astrophysicist
His anger was palpable in the air, but it was far less interesting than the sights that spread before her eyes. Even the air was more pure here. It was as though the world had been entirely untouched here to centuries, though that of course wasn’t true. Rebecca wanted to bask in this moonlit beauty forever. Now, she might begin to understand the sheer attraction that the out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere kind of life that Hawk liked to lead. It was comforting to realize that she was just a small speck in the great scheme of things, a minor player in the greater game of the universe. That made all of her life’s mistakes more bearable.
The magic from the tree, dancing along her skin like a soft breeze, was nothing compared to the rush that ran through her when his arm wrapped around her. She would never get used to the electric shock that pierced through her flesh when he grabbed onto her. The witch let her magic loose, knowing that if she caged it up too long, something bad might happen. It bounded like a happy puppy towards Hawk’s slipping side to nestle neck to his very soul.
Hawk’s words made her laugh and she looked up towards him, but didn’t move her head in fear of breaking that reassuring contact that they had established. “I have to keep you on your toes or you might get set in your ways.†She responded, slipping her own arms around his middle and leaning her head against his chest.
And then all there was was silence. Peaceful, bliss-filled silence. Her eyelids covered her amber eyes and she breathed slowly through her nose. Even with the aroma of sap and fresh grass filling her nose, she could distinctly detect what she would only be able to describe, forevermore, as farm boy. He could shower a hundred times, douse himself in cheaply strong cologne and she would still be able to distinguish what was markedly him.
As he spun her, she laughed and her eyes popped open wide, looking up into those shimmering green eyes of his. When he started speaking, she knew something was up. Rebecca took a half-step backwards, following his gaze before taking in his grin. “Oh is that so?†She responded, grinning as mischievously as he had. She pulled back from him, yet maintained her grip on his hand. “Well it seems that the student has become the master and the master has become the student.â€
“What happened to the,†she mocked his voice and his tone, “shape-shifting is just as good as impossible. Only a handful of witches in the world are even capable, let alone able to successfully complete a transformation. It’s dangerous…blah blah blah.†She had recited his first lecture nearly word for word, thanks to her eidetic memory. It was meant to make him laugh and that much was apparent from the broad grin she gave him after she finished regurgitating the words.
Then the thought hit her and she rubbed at the back of her neck with her free hand. “Well we’re going to have to talk it through first. It’s not just a little of this and a little of that.†The Nurse girl chose a proper tone for a teacher, though her eyes dance din merriment
But it had been easy for her. But she was so much more powerful than he was, she had realized moments after she had nearly brought the whole house down to the ground. Rebecca didn’t want to let him know just how quickly she had been able to change into that fuzzy, cute kitten.
“And then there’s the no clothes thing that we might have to figure out…â€
ooc: Couldn't resist the last line. haha
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:50 pm
by Astrophysicist
Her recitation of his past lecture brought a genuine smile to his face, and he laughed out loud at her imitation. “Sure sounds like something I would say, doesn’t it? Well, you’ve got me down pat,†he admitted, his amusement shining like the moonlight in his eyes. Her bright grin only fueled his enjoyment, and he laughed again, reaching up to playfully tousle her pretty blonde hair. He much preferred their teasing and mocking when it was accompanied by affection, the silly words and gestures floating innocently above their indisputable magical connection. They were like schoolchildren and an old couple all rolled into one; with the enthusiasm of youth and the playfully-incriminating knowledge of the other’s habits, they could argue all day with their fingers entwined, teasing one another in the breaths between adoring kisses.
He was both happy and relieved to feel herself let go of her power, and he hugged her tighter in approving acknowledgement of the release. Even as it crashed headfirst into his own with the unrestrained force of new magic, it meant she’d learned the lesson he’d been trying to teach her all summer. Caging power so strong was like trapping a wild animal—when it broke free, it would wreak havoc in its rampant escape. It was a useful honor that he could be the target of that liberation; her magic was still young in its development, and he could help her to handle it if it got out of her own control. They were a team and a couple, co-dependent and learning from the other.
His smile broadened to a grin as she spoke again. Keeping his hands firmly on her shoulders as though to ground her, he took a step back and met her gaze. “I wouldn’t say you’ve graduated to ‘master’ level just yet,†he told her, shaking his head with incredulity. “But perhaps I can give you a temporary promotion. Just for tonight, though.†He chuckled, carefully watching her expression. Whether or not she was reluctant at that moment, he knew she was going to love what was to come—he would question her, she would answer and watch him struggle, and in all likelihood he would fail. But that wouldn’t stop him from trying.
Clearing his throat, he tried to take on a more serious tone as he continued. “And it is dangerous,†he said. “It’s riskiest for me, since you’re already the resident expert.†He winked and turned around, surveying the beautiful night landscape. A wistful hope had built up inside him that he just couldn’t shake off. It was something of a dream for him, the witch whose specialty was connecting with animals. He’d always assumed he would keep the role of outsider forever, experiencing their world vicariously through their senses rather than his own. But to become one of them, to be able to shift his form…it sounded too good to be true, and it probably was; he didn’t want to fool himself. But here, with Rebecca at his side and the magic of this secluded place, he felt alive. He felt ready. And he told her so.
“I want to try,†he told her, his tone subtly betraying his excitement. “You may be an exceptionally powerful witch, Rebecca, but I’m not bad myself. Give me a little credit.†He flashed her a lopsided grin and folded his arms stubbornly across his chest. “So talk me through it, city girl. I’m a good listener. We’ll, uh…†He paused with mirth, unsure how to proceed. “We’ll figure out the no-clothes thing when we get started. How about it?†He stepped forward suddenly and planted a kiss on the top of her head. “Pretty please?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:50 pm
by Astrophysicist
“Well, I just kind of…did it.†She said, licking her lips and looking at him. “Let me think it through. It’s not so much a few words or an incantation. It just kind of, feels right.†Frowning, she tossed her head. “So I don’t think I can tell you.†Rebecca finished but his gentle kiss on her head made her sigh and roll her eyes at him. “Fine. Fine. But let me show you first so I can figure out how to explain it.â€
Stepping back, she had to sever her connection with him and find that silent spot inside of her. It took her a moment to rid the smell of his from her nostrils, to ignore the warm feeling that radiated from where he had kissed her. Finally, she managed to push all of those comforting memories aside and meditate long enough to locate the animal inside of her. She had wanted to be a ferocious lioness or perhaps a peregrine falcon. Nope. She had to be a kitten. For now at least. Perhaps if she worked at it long enough, she could shift into something else.
But that would take lots of practice.
Within a moment, she had shrunk five feet ad was covered in fur. Her clothes lay in a heap beneath her furry paws and she looked down at them. Carefully, she swatted a paw to make sure her shirt covered any items that he didn’t need to be laying eyes on. With grace and care, she moved over to make a figure 8 between his legs, purring all the while. Curious eyes turned up to look at him and she gave him a cat’s version of a smile.
Bounding away, she headed to her clothes and gathered them in her mouth, tugging them behind the tree. She disappeared from his view for a moment before bounding back out to pick up a stray item that had decided to remain behind. Great. She thought. My bra.
If cats could blush, she would have been red from head to toe. In a flash, she had taken the garment and rushed back behind the tree. All that Hawk would be able to hear was a rustling as she dressed quickly and then peered her pretty blonde head back around the tree.
“Soo…†She was beet red, from her ears to her chin. “I think I can put it into words now.†Her tongue ran over her lips as she looked his face over. “You have to meditate. Don’t smirk at me.†She smiled, knowing he’d be cocky since she half admitted that meditation was a worthwhile pursuit. “You have to meditate so deeply, find that place where your most basic instincts take over. Then you let them wash over you. You hand over the reins, so the speak.†A shrug lifted her shoulders, then.
“It just happens after that. And trust me, there’s no control over the type of animal. Obviously.†She rubbed at her neck and smile towards him. Slowly, she leaned back against the tree, watching him.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:50 pm
by Astrophysicist
To most, the young witch’s inability to explain her actions in words would have been aggravating, a weak link in a chain they’d been building since summer’s beginning. But for someone like Hawk, a witch whose specialty was rare and distinct, it was easy to understand the difficulty in translation. Human languages were simply not sufficient enough tools to describe the vast stretches and abilities of magic. Even if he was asked, he knew he could never truly expound upon his methods of communicating and interacting with animals, at least not with any clarity. Witchcraft was tricky and complicated; advanced spells such as the one Hawk was about to attempt could be learned by trial and error only, experience guiding the student’s hand better than any verbal description.
Needless to say, he was prepared for failure.
Hawk watched with affection as she stepped away from him, her blonde hair glistening like an angel’s in the moonlight. When she severed their connection—or at least as much of it as she knew was there—he narrowed his eyes, momentarily surprised at the sudden emptiness that filled his magical core. His magic pined after her retreating power and he quickly forced it back inside, ignoring its pulsating protests as he withdrew it from the air. Neither he nor Rebecca could afford any lingering distractions, not when they were expending power of this magnitude. Instinct told him it would be safest to stand back and passively observe, feeling for her technique through the connecting bridge their minds shared. It wasn’t worth another lightning strike to meddle in her procedures.
Folding his arms across his chest, he felt her mind become still. The atmosphere around them seemed to come to a halt right along with it, as though the earth had drawn in a great breath and paused in anticipation. He found himself holding his breath. The hairs on his arms stood on end with the sudden, sweeping current of electricity that transformed nature’s ambience from calm to quivering. And before his eyes, before he could even process what had happened, she was a kitten.
His eyes widened, carrying an expression caught somewhere between awestruck wonder and complete incredulity. “Rebecca,†he breathed, unable to continue. He slid gracefully to his knees as she approached, opening his mind to communication in a whole new way. Their minds connected with a spark that was practically visible, and he bit the inside of his lip in childish amazement. Tentatively, he reached up and ran his hand down her back, returning to scratch behind her downy kitten ears. He shook his head as he met her feline gaze, chuckling as she bounded away to retrieve her clothes.
“Hey, you forgot your—†he called to her, abruptly stopping when she emerged again to retrieve her bra. He stifled a laugh, covering his grin with his hand as he rose to his feet and leaned back against the tree, waiting for her to dress. When she finally came around from the tree cover, he was smiling ear-to-ear, pure affection sparkling in his green eyes. It took a lot of willpower to resist a comment about her underwear, but she was clearly embarrassed (if a beet red face was any indicator) he was feeling kind—she was, after all, going to teach him to shapeshift. And he wasn’t always as cruel as she liked to think.
“Okay,†he said in response to her instructions, clearing his throat and stepping to the center of the clearing. He took a deep breath and withdrew all his external power to his core, fueling the kernel with thoughts of his goal. Meditate so deeply, she’d said. He cast one hopeful glance at her before closing his eyes, delving into a state of meditation even further than the one he maintained on a regular basis. He strived to feel the stillness in the air, the silent state of fathomless concentration.
And then suddenly, there it was. His heartbeat quickened in anticipation, his subconscious registering that he’d reached and surpassed his objective. But nothing happened. He waited for several minutes, relaxing, reaching the purest state of meditation he’d ever achieved.
Nothing.
He resurfaced with a gasp, reaching out for something to grab on to as he tripped forward. The night seemed bright to his rested eyes, and he rubbed them back to their senses with balled fists. “It didn’t work,†he said, uttering the words like a curse. He looked to Rebecca, too disappointed to be embarrassed. “I…I don’t even know if I was close. What am I doing wrong?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:50 pm
by Astrophysicist
Oddly enough, the feline Rebecca quickly enjoyed having his hand run down her back. The weird thing about being in her animal form, she still felt all the sensations as though she was human. His fingers danced along her back and she meowed at him, half in protest and half in delight. Before she bounded off and embarrassed herself. But when she returned, he was more than eager to give the change a shot. She just hoped that he would be able to do it. Although he was kind-hearted and patient, she knew that he would be upset if she could do something that he couldn’t. Especially since she had just learned to control her magic this year when he had been doing it for years. She stood apart from him, well aware (after all of their lessons) of the effects mingling magic could have. One possibility was that her magic would mix with his and he’d cause her to change or perhaps only halfway. That would be a complete and utter disaster.
The air flickered with silence but then she heard the noise again. It was as though he had found it but something had interfered with the entire process. She sent her magic out carefully, to probe the air and sense what had gone wrong. Just as she sent a tendril to discover the problem, he spoke in frustration and she pulled her magic back. She needed to be his moral support in this moment, though she couldn’t keep the grin from dancing across her lips. “Can the great and powerful Master Callahan not shapeshift?†She inquired, moving to him and wrapping her arms around his neck, just to let him know that she was teasing him. “Well, it looks like I certainly have the upper hand now, doesn’t it?†She planted a gentle kiss on his lips, still too nervous and unsure of their relationship to give him anything more than a light peck.
“But I think I know what you’re doing.†She said, letting go and stepping back. She held him at an arm’s length. Her magic washed over him, but not in the way it wanted to. She probed his pores with her mind, figuring out what had gone wrong. It was something that she wasn’t certain would work, but she was going to have to try. She was interested in how their connection could establish itself when they were both in animal form. And she also wanted to make him happy.
Finally, she discovered what she had thought might have happened. Grinning, she released her hold on his arm and reigned in her magical powers. They pouted as she locked them away, but made sure that they brushed against his in a subtle kiss. “You found it and then you got too…excited that you found it.†She smirked a little and shook her head. “You can’t even acknowledge that you’ve sunk that deeply. It should be so deep that you lose yourself. You lose what makes you human, your ability to rationalize. That releases the inner animal in you.†Rebecca laughed a little then, shaking her head. “I sound weird. Release your inner beast.†She said in a mocking deep voice like some kind of fighting instructor. That made her laugh at herself and she hoped he’d do the same. She didn’t want him to get too stressed about not being able to do it on his first try.
“I think the only reason I did it my first time is because I was so angry. It was such a basic emotion, that all things feel.†She looked down at little before raising her gaze back up to him. “The second time, I was angry that you told me I couldn’t do it. Oh and about your friend.†She didn’t mention Des’ name. There was no need. That stupid witch was a thing of the past. Hawk was her…boyfriend. Weird… “Maybe if you feel something so universal right before you meditate, it could help you with the change.â€
Amber eyes scanned his face, hoping she didn’t sound like a complete idiot that way she was talking. Rebecca lacked Hawk’s natural eloquence. If only she could find words to more accurately describe how she changed. As she watched him, she noticed how handsome he looked with a pale light against his tanned, farmer’s skin. She wanted to reach out and run her fingers against his cheek, but resisted. This was her first real boyfriend. Of course, she had made out here and there but they had never been anything serious. She had never cared about them. She had never loved them. Not like Hawk. Rebecca would rather do too little at first than scare him away by crossing boundaries she didn’t realize were in place.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:51 pm
by Astrophysicist
To be completely honest, he’d never felt anything like it. He’d pressed the boundaries of meditation before, but never like this, never with the finite goal of reaching complete stillness inside, never with the desire to shift his physical form into something else entirely. Rebecca had inspired him to dive deeper, to take the plunge into his subconscious on an adventure unlike anything he’d ever undertaken. It was simultaneously frightening and relaxing, to surrender completely to one’s own mind was to test one’s trust, to test his knowledge of himself. He was disappointed, sure; that much was written plainly across his handsome features. But something about that journey, that attempt…something made him feel hopeful again.
Hawk calmed his breathing and did his best to swallow away his doubts. He clung to the hope that if he could travel so far mentally in such a short span of time, he could surely hold on to himself as his body changed shape—he knew himself well enough, that much he’d learned, and he certainly knew the difference between a human body and an animal’s. So why, then, had he come up empty-handed and disappointed?
He took momentary comfort in Rebecca’s presence as her arms encircled him, his heart leaping with faithful joy when her lips brushed his. He sighed wistfully as her magic surrounded his, using its soothing caress to accept her teasing words without anger. Though he knew she was only being playful, he couldn’t help but feel the blunt truth in her sentiment, the blatant reality in her little speech. She did have the upper hand. And it wasn’t that he was jealous; no, he was above that, and he was proud of his own abilities, but that didn’t make it any easier to be reminded of his limitations. He wanted to impress her, to be her guide and protector, to be strong for her; even if she was factually much more powerful, he did not want to be weak.
He laughed at her antics, cheering up as she lowered her voice and instructed him to unleash his inner beast. “Who knew I could be hindered by my own enthusiasm?†he said, unable to keep a smile from his lips. He pressed his forehead against hers before breaking away once more, stepping back to the center of the grass. He winked at her before closing his eyes and jumping in once more, slowly erasing away his consciousness as he sunk further and further into himself.
Before long, he’d forgotten the world even existed. The trees dropped away, the moonlight was extinguished, even his breathing seemed to cease its rhythmic pattern. He drifted to a niche inside himself where nothing but his burning life force existed, nothing but the distant hum of his power filling the void within. He intrinsically knew he’d reached the point Rebecca had explained to him because he simply stopped searching, his unconscious mind straying to a satisfied stop in the nothingness.
He waited. Moments passed, minutes slithered by.
Something wasn’t right. This was not the place.
His power guided him now rather than his thoughts. His desires melted away to become simple actions interpreted through biological functions; the beating of his heart, the subtle rise and fall of his chest, the circuits in his brain running hot with electric signals. He knew who he was. He knew who he could become. And it didn’t take his human body to make him so.
Much to his dismay, he felt himself rising back to consciousness again, his humanly thoughts once again whirring through his brain. He fought it viciously, reaching back with desperation for the feeling of completeness he’d just experienced, but it was no use. His eyes fluttered open to Rebecca’s hopeful face, and he tensed with irritation at his own ineptitude. He scrambled to replay her words in his mind, grasping at reasons why he had failed again. Maybe if you feel something so universal right before you meditate, it could help you with the change.
Something universal?
His sudden gasp was theatrical, but he was not being melodramatic. He knew what it took. He knew what it took! Why hadn’t it dawned on him before!?
As quickly as he’d opened them, he clenched his eyes closed and dropped to his knees, bracing himself against the solid ground for what he was about to do. He found the silence and the stillness quickly his time, but instead of shutting himself down and withdrawing further inside, he charged forward in the opposite direction: he dropped meditation completely.
The familiar rush of awareness crashed into his mind with the same powerful blow that had overtaken him with Rebecca on the hillside that night so many weeks ago. He opened himself to all that was raw and natural and animalistic; he voluntarily surrendered himself to the organic forces of the forest around them. He felt its overwhelming onslaught and unleashed the full scale of his immense power, enveloping it in one fell swoop and harnessing its energy for his own aspirations. Primal instinct took over with rigorous command, and he felt his body draw in a sharp breath with sudden pain. But he was no longer in control of that; he was stretching, shrinking, bending, breaking—changing.
He’d done it. He’d done it!
With an ecstasy unlike anything he’d ever experienced before, Oliver James Callahan pushed himself from the earth and took to the beautiful night sky, spreading his Hawk’s wings to the cool night air for the first real flight of his life.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:52 pm
by Astrophysicist
He tried again. And again he failed. She watched him open his eyes and smiled reassuringly. She wanted to give him all the support her could possibly need from her. She knew that even though she had been teasing, her words had a ring of truth in them. He didn’t want to be weak. As great of a guy as Hawk was, he was still a guy and guys didn’t like to show any kind of weakness in front of women, especially the woman they were currently on a date with. So she smiled at him, but then it turned into a curious frown as he sunk to his knees.
Her head cocked to the side and she took a step back. As much as she wanted to go rest her hands on his shoulders, she held herself back. Her gleaming eyes watched him with a careful precision, in case she had to rush in to save him at any moment. Although she pretended to throw off the majority of his advice, she was very well aware that it was dangerous for him to attempt the change. He said that very few achieved the complete change. The probability of two young witches succeeding was slim. She didn’t want anything to happen to him.
But right before her, he started to change. It was amazing to watch. He shrunk. His shoulders slipped back and his nose began to elongate slowly. His arms grew feathers and became beautiful, large wings. She gasped at how beautiful he was. She was awestruck by the majesty of this great bird before her. Within a moment, his took off into the air. From his shoes came large talons and she cried out in delight.
“Hawk!†She said and then laughed at the irony of it. “Oh my God…†She breathed, watching him soar in the dark night sky before she lost sight of him. She wished that she could become a bird and fly after him. Her magic reached out to him, stirring up a strong wind to sweep beneath his wings. Rebecca felt her heart soar away with him. When she could not longer see him, she turned her face back to his clothing. Carefully, she gathered it all up and moved to place it behind the tree where she had changed. She made sure that she had gotten all of it, so that he wouldn’t have to suffer the same embarrassing moment that she had.
Returning to her spot, she wondered if she should change bu decided against him. She might need to help him with the converstion back. That had been the hardest part. She had lost control and changed back without warning. She didn’t want him to go falling out of the sky. Maybe…maybe he would hear her.
Hawk! Come back. Don’t go too far… She sounded just like a teacher and smirked at the idea of it all. I don’t want anything to happen to you. Please… There was a little urgency in her voice that she had been hoping to avoid. But when the man you loved had changed into a bird and might convert back to human form at any moment, well that was enough to worry any girl in the world. Her magic sought him out and felt that he was still safe. She kicked up the wind again, a little warning that she wasn’t kidding.
Anxiously, she patted her hands against her legs. Her fingers drugged against the bare part of her legs as she waited for him to return. She had never been so nervous before.
Where are you?! She thought, shaking her head this way and that, searching the sky above her for any signs of the great bird.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:53 pm
by Astrophysicist
He was dreaming, he had to be.
The rush of the cool night air beneath his wings—his wings!—was too exhilarating for words or thought. He soared above the world with a whole new kind of power coursing through his veins, riding on the natural high of his new form and new accomplishment. He was quite literally on top of the world, rising quickly above its sculpted dermis on a column of spiraling wind. Cutting and diving through the air with a seasoned pilot’s ease, he took advantage of his new skin’s aerobatic agility without restraint. Above him, the moon shone bright, and the cloudless sky winked at him jovially in the form of twinkling stars. He couldn’t help but get carried away, and he relished every single second of it.
He hadn’t realized how inhibited and restrained he’d been until he looked back at his life from above, reflecting with wisdom through all his current ecstasy. From his early childhood on his family farm to their current residence in the old neighborhoods of Salem, he’d always followed his family’s rules, abiding by the laws as any well-raised boy should. He’d heeded every warning, followed every guideline, read every instruction; he’d followed orders and watched carefully, treading with the precise caution of a young perfectionist eager to expand his knowledge. But in his quest for perfection, he realized now, he’d left himself vulnerable to the flaw of inexperience, missing out on the powerful (and vital) lessons of trial and error.
But even given that he’d been schooled in magic since learning to walk, he was young. They both were. Despite her magical naiveté, and despite his position as her teacher, Rebecca Nurse had perhaps taught him more than any of his own mentors. She forced him to gather his thoughts and present what he knew; she forced him to take responsibility for actions and events beyond his own control. She inspired him to be more. He never would have tried shape shifting if it hadn’t been for the bold little city girl constantly challenging him to rise above himself. He would have never known the thrill of the climb or the rush of a soar, the raw of the high altitude night or the sight of the rolling hills below. She was just as much his guide as he was her instructor, and he would be eternally grateful for the opportunity she’d given him.
He cried out with a hawk’s screech of happiness as the warmth of her magically-created wind billowed beneath his wings, carrying him higher still. Using her breeze as leverage, he angled his wings down and took a steep dive, plummeting to the earth at a dramatically dangerous speed. He pulled up just before the tree line, using the experience he’d shared mentally with other birds to maneuver the shifting streams of air.
Rebecca’s voice cut through his thoughts then, echoing in his mind with a tone of soft concern. Nothing can happen to me up here, he replied warmly, though he knew very well he was being callow. Banking steeply, he turned around and headed back to their hilltop, using Rebecca’s thread of power as a beacon. I’m on my way, city girl, he reassured, descending rapidly toward their peaceful clearing. He watched as she moved his clothes to the concealed place behind the tree, silently thanking her for not hiding them from him as he would have expected.
He landed with surprising accuracy for how new he was to the sport of flying, alighting with steady grace on the handlebar of his motorcycle. Holding his wings out for balance and flapping them just enough to keep his bike from toppling under his weight, he bowed his feathered head for Rebecca and retreated noisily to the tree. She hadn’t told him how to change back, but it came naturally to him; he simply let go, remembering his human form, using his power to block out the minds of the other animals as he quickly resumed his usual meditation.
He dressed quickly, and when he emerged, he practically glowed with happiness. He couldn’t contain the smile on his face. He stepped up to Rebecca and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her into the air and spinning her around before planting her feet on the ground and a kiss on her lips.
“Thank you, Rebecca,†he told her genuinely, practically giddy from the experience. “I…I don’t think there are words to express to you how wonderful that was!†He took a deep breath and released it with unmasked enthusiasm, his contentment soon turning to its usual teasing tone. “Is this how you feel after all my lessons?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:54 pm
by Astrophysicist
His response made her all the more nervous. Of course, he had mastered the change quicker than other witch’s who attempted it and so far without incidence, but she wanted to keep it that way. Is this how he felt every time she did something stupid? All she could feel was her heart in her throat and her stomach falling through her. Her palms began to sweat from all the stress that he was causing her. Rebecca Nurse was so worried about him, that she considered capturing him in a magically net and forcing him to come back. But who knew how that might end up. She wouldn’t want to him to change back in her net. That would certainly be embarrassing for him and awkward for her.
Thankfully, he heeded her advice and within a moment, she saw his wings lift to make him final descent. He was certainly a beautiful bird. His wings were a creamy color underneath, contrasting so sharply with the dark brown feathers above. And as odd as it may sound, he still looked like him even though he was a bird. The deep color of his hair matched the feathers on his wings. She smiled broadly as his large wings flapped to balance himself and consequently sent a few gusts of air right in her direction. Her hair flew up and into her eyes, making her laugh a bit before he retreated to change.
The excitement and pleasure was etched on his face as though someone had quite literally written the words pleasure and excitement across his forehead. All she could do was catch his contagious smile. Her stomach knotted and she let out a delighted gasp when he picked her up. “Hawk.†His name came out of her lips in a chorus of laughter and sounded more pleased than anything else. He knew exactly how to make her insides turn upside down. With her feet on the ground, she anchored herself in place, trying not to be swept up in the emotional tide that he was on. Bad things happened when she let herself go like that. Oh, but she was so very happy for him.
“Umm, yeah, let’s go with that.†She teased back, smiling up at him. Of course, after his lessons Rebecca was quite ready to send a bolt of lightning where he was standing and be done with him. He was the type of teacher to try and keep her in line as well as test the boundaries of her magical prowess. “But I didn’t really do anything. I’m just here for moral support.†Amber eyes twinkled at him before she settled comfortably against the hands he had left on her sides, from where he had spun her around.
The young witch would have done anything for him, been anything he asked her to be. If he one day asked her to give up her mischievous ways, to stop testing her limits so much, well she just might oblige him. Of course, that wouldn’t be any time soon; but as she stood there looking up at him, she knew that eventually he’d have her heart completely and entirely. She’d be so in tune with him that there would be no more need for actual words. She’d just know.
After a moment, she began to feel awkward however, knowing that she must be staring at him with this wide-eyed innocence that was completely uncharacteristic. Damn, she should have taken up that boy on his offer back home in the city. She should have at least dated once or twice, just so she wouldn’t feel completely ridiculous right now. But she felt nervous all the same, so she stepped back and tucked her thumbs into the back pockets of her shorts. “How were my teaching skills?†She laughed, shaking her head. “I think I’m going to let you keep the title. I don’t think I’m as good as it as you are,†her lips curled into a smile, while her eyes settled on his, “as painful as that may be for me to say.â€
Then she turned her back on him and looked out over the fields with the grass swaying in the gentle breeze. The moonlight reflected off the dew and Rebecca was captivated by the beauty of this place once more. Although she was a city girl, she could see herself living in a place like this. A place that was pristine, untouched and entirely magical. She could hear the rustling of animals all around her. Birds were settling onto their nests for the night. Foxes were returning to their dens with some scraps of a meal in order to feed their pups. And the owls were shaking their feathers and blinking their large, bleary eyes from their day-long slumber. Yet, the strongest presence of all was that of the man-boy behind her. She could smell his familiar scent, feel the lingering warmth of his hands against her body and hear the gentle breaths that he released. After a moment, she just wanted to relish it all, so she sank down to the ground and made herself comfortable.
Leaning back, she looked over her shoulder and smiled up at him. “Come on, farm boy, take a seat.†The familiar teasing twinkle found its natural place in her eye.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:54 pm
by Astrophysicist
If he sensed her nervousness or discomfort, he did not show it. Hawk couldn’t banish the grin from his lips or the smile from his emerald eyes. He’d spent his entire childhood and adolescence exploring the senses of other living creatures, experiencing their worlds through their intricate minds and delicate memories. He certainly couldn’t complain; his special magical abilities and connections made it possible for him to communicate in ways most humans couldn’t dream of. It was exhilarating to form relationships with other beings, to earn and give his trust to an individual entirely different than himself. Regardless of species, intelligence, breed, or age, he loved them all in his own way, carrying on his affinity for life into every aspect of his own.
It would have been greedy to ask for more. But to feel it for himself? To shed his human skin and become one of the animals he’d connected with all his life? It was absolutely and inarguably the most magnificent display of witchcraft he’d ever witnessed. And it had been his own doing, his own spell! Despite all the warnings he’d received from his elders, he’d pulled it off—he’d weaved his own magical quilt in which to wrap his mind, his flesh dissolving away to feathers and talons and wings to become his very namesake. It had been in him all along. And no matter how extraordinary it was to take off on his own accord, to leave the solid ground of the meadow and fly toward the winking stars and the shining lantern moon, the fact that he was even able to perform such intricate and dangerous magic absolutely elated him.
Her voice drew him back to reality, and his grin softened to an affectionate smile. “Your methods aren’t that different than mine, you know,†he pointed out to her, cocking his head to the side when their eyes met. “I may guide you, but you do all the work. And there’s not a lot I can do but stand by and be your moral support.†He cringed teasingly and winked at her. “Though I may be a little more strict with you than you were with me just now, huh?†His hearty laughter harmonized with the whisper of the wind through the trees.
As she pulled away, his gaze followed her. He was seemingly immune to the loveliness of the landscape; even with its surreal magical aura, it could not match Rebecca’s soft beauty, the waves of grasses in the night breeze paling in comparison to her city girl grace. The air in this place was nearly as intoxicating as the subtle lingering scent of her perfume. When she sank to the ground and looked up at him, he felt his power leap forward, spreading its energy as though it too had the wings of a hawk. It soared and dove toward her before he could restrain it, and it crashed into her with all the love and affection of a loyal canine greeting its owner. He donned his trademark lopsided smile, half mischievous and half in apology for his magic’s outlandish behavior.
He took her up on the invitation to sit, sliding to the ground next to her despite the familiar impish sparkle in her honey eyes. “If I didn’t know better, you’ve got something up your sleeve,†he said as he settled in, stretching his legs in front of him. He leaned back, bracing himself with straightened arms behind, and looked to her expectantly. A chuckle shook his shoulders. “As your teacher, I demand to know what it is.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:55 pm
by Astrophysicist
“Something up my sleeve?†She grinned and lay back, tucking one arm behind her head. Her free hand moved to take his, tugging him back. However, she kept her hand in his, slowly slipped her fingers into the perfect spaces between them. She turned her head towards him, to catch his eyes with her own lovely, honey ones. “And you demand?†Her grin broadened into one that mocked the impish one he typically wore when he looked at her. The young witch shook her pretty blonde head as best as she was able in the current position in which she lay. “I don’t know…â€
The words trailed off into a soft, comfortable silence that enveloped the pair of lovers. The female’s mind traveled to what she wanted to show him, but hoped it was not too…forward for a first day. Yet, what would be more forward than nearly bringing an entire farmhouse to the ground right before professing her love? She smiled at the thought and turned her head back up towards the steadily darkening sky. Although the sun had stopped its shining an hour ago, a few rays remained, peaking around that last hill across from them. Rebecca turned back to him, finally filling the silence. “All right, you’ve broken me down.â€
She turned her head towards the sky once more and sighed, content in this moment. “But don’t…laugh.†She murmured, letting her eyes be covered by her soft, shimmering lids. She let her power escape, just a little and it remained completely under her control. Although it wanted to bound towards him, as his had to her, she knew that it also wanted to please him by a display of its abilities. Very carefully and with a great deal of thought, she thought back to the first time he had discovered her magic.
Even with her eyes closed, a scene built itself before them. With startling clarity and precision, a picture merged out of a soft yellow light. Figures appeared in the air, not but a few inches from their faces. A girl say in a rocking chair and a boy sat on the porch, a soda by his side. There was a clear animosity in the air as Rebecca let her magic convey the feelings of her own memories as well. Then an object, a book, flew in a dazzling display of light towards the boy figure’s head. Hawk would no doubt be feeling surprise and satisfaction, much what she had felt when the book flew from her fingers on that first day they met.
The next moment, the magic swirled and took on the appearance of fireworks before another scene unfolded. This time the colors were a soft red. They were together at her grandfather’s kitchen table, enjoying a meal in…relative companionship, when suddenly she knocked off the glass. Her immature magical ability froze the liquid, stopped the glass but she was unsure. And then…their magic mingled and entwined. As the scene unfolded, so did the emotions, surrounding the atmosphere between the couple. He would feel what she had felt in those moments. The uncertainty, the strain of untrained magic, the full force of her power and…fulfillment. Even then her magic and his had known what they had not. They were soul mates.
For a moment, Rebecca hesitated and the lightshow flickered, nearly going dim. Would he find this too much? Would he dislike it or think that she was brash? Swallowing, her eyes twitched behind their lids before the magic continued. She had gone this far already, why not just push it a little bit more?
The light turned to a very angry red. It was the expression of fury and rage. It consumed her to the point that she considered momentarily that she was living too much in this memory. The lights showed herself, standing near the tree, by the house. It was shaking and swaying under the force of her magic and there he was. They were engaging in an obviously heated conversation. She would shake her head and he would clench his fists. Yet then, suddenly there was calmness. Love exploded into the air around him, indicating the moment when he had discovered that she was a truthsayer. The male figure, Hawk, took a step, taking his face and kissing her, delicately on the mouth. Then, before she could stop the memory (much to her dismay and embarrassment), the air was filled with desire, an palpable heat spreading through her body mingling with undertones of adoration.
Then the show ended and she opened her eyes, her cheeks blushing a delicate red in the dark of that field. “Well,†she said, licking her lips and not looking at him, “there you go.â€
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[18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
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Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 7:38 pm
by Simply
ooc: You did all this!?! You're so awesome
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 9:14 pm
by Astrophysicist
o.o.c. :: Yes! Haha. I've been doing it a page at a time so it's not quite so daunting! I hope that's okay that I've just been posting all of them—I can continue it, or you can take over, or we can alternate. We still need Page 7 and what's on Page 8!
Also, OMG. I've been re-reading a lot of it as I post and holy cow, I LOVE THEM. I can't wait to keep going!
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 9:28 pm
by rejecteddounut
ooc; I approve of all of this.
All of it.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:56 pm
by Astrophysicist
While it was true that Hawk knew when Rebecca had something up her sleeve, he didn’t always know what to expect when her amber eyes flashed fire and she pulled out her tricks. He smiled at her when she looked at him, but he didn’t dare ask any questions—he knew it would be useless despite the fact that she couldn’t tell him a lie. Rebecca was a clever witch, and if there were a way to weasel out of his probing she certainly would find it. And, on top of it all, it was quite possible that he did not want to hear the answer. If their summer interactions had been any indication, sometimes anticipation was worse than the dreaded action itself.
Granted, he knew with Rebecca it would only be some bout of teasing, a way to poke fun at him in precisely the way a pupil should. In a way, she was like a younger sister, constantly nagging at him, latching on to his imperfections and throwing them in his face with love behind the gesture. But the affection he had for the city girl was entirely different than the bond he shared with his blood sisters; Rebecca was an extension of himself, the missing piece of his soul’s complex puzzle, a companion in the sense that he felt he belonged at her side.
When she stood up and looked to the sky, Hawk braced himself, unable to guess what she was about to do. He tensed when he felt her release her power, his own magic readying itself for expenditure in case she lost control and he had to intervene. But her grip was strong, as polished in skill and control as a witch thrice her age. He relaxed now and shifted positions, watching curiously as she precisely wove her spell. His green eyes glowed with pride and awe; this was the first time she had demonstrated her practiced control with such straightforward purity.
That was when the display began. Her images, projected before him with all the lustrous, shining details of her sharp memory, played in the crisp night air like a motion picture. Her masterpiece left him speechless (though he wouldn’t have broken their reverie with words even if he’d had something to say), and he leaned back, his gaze flitting continuously between the projection and the honey-eyed source. At first he fought the feelings that tapped on his mind’s door, but soon he gave in and was seized by her emotion, caught up in the flurry of her sentiments just as she had been in the moment. He watched himself—and it was a strange sensation to sense himself through another human—and then her, viewing the world through her eyes.
The moments she chose to revisit were momentous now that they could view them in hindsight. Step by step, their affection had built and grown, increasing magical and emotional pressure until it was all released in Rebecca’s forced confession of love. Her crimson anger and heated desire pulsed through his veins just as it had hers, and he raised his eyebrows as his gaze flicked back to the city girl. His magic, caught in the storm, leapt forward. But all at once it was over, and he was himself again, staring at the blushing Rebecca with a smile in his eyes.
He rose to his feet and stepped toward her, reaching out for her hands with both of his own. “That was wonderful,†he told her genuinely, keeping his voice quiet as though volume would dissolve away the lingering impression of her show. “I’ve never seen you so controlled. You’ve been practicing when I’m at home, haven’t you?†He leaned down and rested his forehead against hers. “You know, I think you throwing that book at my head was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.â€
He paused and pulled gently away from her, fetching her helmet from the bike and tossing it toward her. “I better get you back in case your grandfather gets home early,†he said with a wink. “What do you say? Want to drive?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:56 pm
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca smiled, the blush still lingering on her cheeks like the last light of the sun against the darkening sky. “I am so glad you enjoyed it.†She whispered in response, not making her voice any louder than his had been. Her amber eyes looked up at him and she laughed softly, as their heads pressed against one another. “And there’s my teacher.†She added, her eyes twinkling as he pulled away. The witch grinned. “Of course I practice when you are not around.â€
The helmet caught her by surprise and she caught it, right before it headed towards the hard ground. She looked down at it before her head snapped back upwards in surprise. “Drive?†A lump formed in her throat and she swallowed it harshly, before coughing a little. “Did you miss the part where I said I have a horrendous track record with these things?†Despite her words, the young woman moved towards him and retrieved the keys. She held them in her hand, feeling the weight of them before looking up into his eyes. “You sure?†Rebecca didn’t wait for an answer, however, straddling the bike and starting it as she had so many before it. The helmet fit on her head perfectly and she grinned into it.
He climbed on behind her and she hesitated a moment as his hands encircled her waist. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest and her magic struggled against its chains. She maintained control after taking a rather deep breath. She looked at him over her shoulder before turning the handle and accelerating into a turn. The dirt of the road blew up behind them as they speed towards civilization and her home.
The ride soothed her nerves, especially with the breeze against her face and his arms around her waist. They pulled up into the drive and she still saw no sight of her grandfather’s truck. It didn’t faze her, however. The old man always stayed at his place in town during the week and often let Rebecca fend for herself. Her grandfather’s farmhands knew how to tend to the grounds and he let them have at it. After all, he preferred not to be around his youngest grandchild. Braking, she kicked down the kickstand and took off the helmet, shaking her blonde locks free once she slipped off the motorcycle.
She set the helmet from the space she had arisen, looking at him. “Thank you for the dinner.†She said, a blush finding its way to her cheeks once more. What in the world?! She thought, looking down and thankful for the dark. How does he do this to me? White teeth revealed themselves with a gentle smile. “It was a lovely first date, Hawk.†Then the honey-eyed woman looked firmly at him, straight in the eye. “Assuming that is, that there will be a second one.â€
Carefully, she handed him the keys and turned on her heel towards the door. She assumed he would follow. No doubt he would kiss her goodnight? She swallowed hard. They had kissed half a dozen times by this point, yet still butterflies fluttered anxiously within her stomach and hammers pounded away in her breast. When she reached the door, she turned to him. In the faint light of the porch light, Hawk was astonishingly handsome. She swallowed again. Her heart was no longer pounding, she believed, it had stopped altogether.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:56 pm
by Astrophysicist
Despite the fact that Rebecca’s motion picture had long since ceased its hold on him, he couldn’t quite shake the feeling of her emotions running through his veins. The sensation had been a bizarre one, but he’d welcomed it. His opinion certainly hadn’t changed his mind in the meantime, but it was strange to experience the lingering sensation of another soul’s surprise, another soul’s anger, another soul’s love. His attempts to calm his fluttering heart were futile, but he didn’t mind; it made him all the more eager for the future, to wrap his arms protectively around his city girl as she maneuvered their way back to civilization in a rush of wind and pavement.
Of course he wasn’t sure he wanted her to drive—his motorcycle was one of his prized possessions, and he certainly hadn’t missed her confession to a bad track record—but in spite of her wildness and youthful lack of inhibition, he trusted her. Both as a person and as a witch, he knew her better than he knew any other human being on earth. She was fierce but not improper, and she’d already demonstrated that night that she knew the limit of what she could control with her power. She’d earned that position in the driver’s seat. Besides, she was observant enough to realize what an honor he’d given her, as silly as the notion was. Hawk could never have been called selfish, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t put up a good fight defending what he’d worked so hard for.
“I’ve never let anyone else ride this thing,†he confessed as he slid on his helmet, visor up. “Just try to keep in mind that not all of us invincible, okay?†His chuckles were lost to the sudden roar of the engine as she kicked it to life, and he continued to smile as he pushed his visor down and hopped on the back of the motorcycle. Butterflies took flight in his stomach as he neared her, and he laughed inwardly at the thought that they could be nerves about her wrecking his bike. They weren’t, of course, even though his faith in her exceeded what was rational given her past behavior. He could sense her hesitance, her care; she’d given up her daredevil schemes for mature responsibility.
He leaned forward and wrapped his long arms about her middle, amused that his limbs could so encircle her tiny frame. Despite his position as passenger, he felt as though he were holding her on the bike instead of the other way around. When she took off, he gripped her waist tighter, laughing out loud with childish delight. But the wind was refreshing as she picked up speed and hurtled toward the city, winding their way across the hilly landscape like a boat bobbing on a wavy sea. He thought once more of flying as they crested the final hill before the Nurse farm, and he closed his eyes with lingering bliss when the familiar gravel of the driveway began to crunch beneath the tires.
He dismounted just before her and placed his helmet back on the seat, reaching up to pat down his helmet hair. “You’re very welcome,†he told her, his smile genuine beneath the emerging moonlight. The silence of the farm in absence of the engine’s rumbling was deafening. His voice seemed suddenly too loud, and he dropped his tone, stepping much closer to the city girl as he took back the keys. He followed her to the door and leaned charmingly against its frame, intercepting her hand with his own as she reached to unlock it. “A second date depends entirely on you,†he told her lightly in response. “You hadn’t made up your mind when I brought it up at the restaurant. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, remember? What do you say?â€
He didn’t wait for a response. He leaned in and kissed her softly, pulling away with a lopsided grin as he headed back to his bike. “Good night,†he called before once again donning his helmet and taking off down the driveway towards home.
o.o.c. :: In case I don't talk to you before you reply...I figure a bit of a time skip is in order? Like at least to the next morning, if not longer. Up to you! (:
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:56 pm
by Astrophysicist
“Sounds wonderful.†She breathed, just before he kissed her. Rebecca couldn’t help but feel the butterflies multiply in her stomach. They fluttered about and all she could manage to do was smile lopsidedly back at him as he retreated down the drive. “Night.†She whispered. Her magic protested and reached out to grasp at his but she reined it in carefully, shutting it in for the night. After a moment, she entered the house and managed to find her way to her bed. Once there, she stared up at the ceiling, grinning like a fool for hours on end.
Two days later, she bounded out the back door. Her grandfather had returned home late the evening of her outing with Hawk. She hadn’t mentioned it to him at all. He didn’t need to know. He was never here anyways. Her bare feet hit the grass as she ran full tilt towards the barn. Hawk hadn’t worked yesterday and she didn’t have his cell number. It was something she hadn’t ever considered, especially when she was busy hating him and fuming after magic lessons.
The young witch felt the wind in her hair and just love being her. Rebecca had dreaded for weeks that she would be shipped off like some unwanted brat to live out in the country with her aging grandfather. It was as if it had been a script written for a movie. Then there he was. A knight in shining work boots, shoveling hay in the barn. How she had loathed him when they had first met.
But now…
Oh now, she was happier than she could ever remember being. Rebecca loved him and she was certain (somewhat, at least) that he felt the same. She swallowed hard as she slowed her steps, nearing the open barn doors. She peered in a bit before stepping carefully over the straw and dirt, making certain not to step on any tools that had been haphazardly left here and there. She cleared her throat before calling out to him.
“Hawk?†She asked, shaking her head a bit, this way and that. A few of the horses were still in their stales, though clearly many had already been let out to pasture in the fields. “Hawk?†Where are you?? She thought to herself, searching further for her other half. Her magic could have found him quickly, but she didn’t quite trust it yet in the company of other animals. There was no telling what her power would do when it found him.
ooc: Short and horrible. ):
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:57 pm
by Astrophysicist
He was on the opposite end of the pasture when he heard Rebecca call his name.
Before he could stop it, his magic leapt forward and out, springing away from him with all the reckless enthusiasm of young love. The two horses nearby flicked their ears towards him with curiosity, sensing the sudden change of attention in their friendly master and searching in vain for the cause. Thankfully, he had been just enough involved in his work that it recognized its misbehavior immediately, and it retreated apologetically with his curt prompt. He smiled to himself and reeled it back in, throwing a harness over his power and tucking it safely back in his inner reserves. The city girl was a terrible influence; however carefully trained and well-behaved his was, her wild magic had corrupted his. Suddenly it had a mind of its own, clever and spunky in all its spontaneity, inspired by the free, untrained abandon of its partner's.
He ran his hand affectionately down the neck of one of the thoroughbreds and leapt on its back, quickly fashioning the lead rope into makeshift reins. The horse immediately began to paw the ground with its hooves, kicking up clouds of dry pasture soil in his excitement. With one mental signal from Hawk, they took off at a gallop, soaring across the grassy meadow toward the barn. Hawk let out a joyous whoop as they crested the hill and began their descent, picking up speed at an exponential rate. He leaned forward as he had on the motorcycle to decrease air resistance, pressing his cheek to the laboring mare's neck. They were nearly there.
Understanding his destination, the ecstatic mare slowed to a graceful halt, her sides heaving from the effort of the sprint. Thoroughbreds were indeed born to run. He patted her side in appreciation and, still mounted, led her inside the barn. He heard his name again, louder this time. He donned his lopsided smile and called back, rounding the corner to see the curious city girl looking impatient. "Here!" he responded with a chuckle, dismounting the tall, saddleless horse with practiced ease.
"Didn't mean to keep you waiting. It's been too long as it is," he said, running his hands through his wind-mussed hair. He succeeded only in messing it up further. Shaking his head and rolling his eyes playfully at the futile effort, he let his dirty hands drop back to his sides. "You look lovely today," he commented genuinely. "I would give you a hug, but..." He looked down, gesturing helplessly to his sweat-soaked, grass-stained work clothes. A shrug lifted and dropped his shoulders, and he laughed. He turned to the mare, instructing her to return to the pasture and thanking her once again for her services. He smiled as she turned around and trotted away, the sound of her hoofbeats picking up as she accelerated once again to a gallop.
"Mind if I eat lunch with you before your lesson?" he asked the city girl. "Because I'm starved."
o.o.c. :: Kind of lame, but I figured lunch/whatever else could be a good opportunity for him to hear and respond to her thoughts! I wrote this at work (I'm a terrible person), so it's a little blechy and kind of short, haha. <3
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:57 pm
by Astrophysicist
She watched him dismount with a practiced ease and her lips curled into a bright smile. “Mmm, well you better be apologizing. Who knows what might have happened if you left be without my lessons for too long??†She smiled and watching him mess up his hair even further. Amber eyes took in the handsome, albeit disheveled, man before her. “Ooh don’t try to butter me up with your sweet little compliments.†Despite her words, Rebecca was smiling broadly. “Does that translate to, ‘Rebecca, will you pretty please make me some lunch?’†She inquired, running a hand through her long blonde locks. They had grown at least two inches since she had arrived here and she was contemplating just cutting it all off. She wondered what he would think of that.
Turning on her heel, she waited for him to fall into step with her. Their sauntering across the lawn was quick and simple, quiet and comfortable as well. She contemplated slipping her hand into his but decided against it. She was such an awkward individual. Flirting and relationship nuances were not her forte. Rebecca opened the porch door and walked inside, making sure it was open long enough so that he could grab it too.
“Peanut butter and jelly?†She asked, smiling as she recalled their conversation two nights ago. Does this count as our second date? She mused to herself as she took the bread out of the pantry. Along with the peanut butter and the jelly, she set the materials on the counter. Grabbing a knife, Rebecca quickly whipped up four sandwiches and cut them into triangles. It was more of a habit than anything else. She had been making her own lunches since she was four and loved the little triangles. “You want to make some drinks?†She asked, licking her lips.
She motioned with her foot to the refrigerator. “I’d like some chocolate milk. Yes, chocolate milk. Don’t laugh at me.†The witch smiled broadly and placed the sandwiches on a plate, then over on the kitchen table. “Hey!†She said suddenly, taking the plate in her hands. “Why don’t we get a blanket and go take a picnic up on the hill?†She grabbed two clementines from the basket near the door and leaned near the door. “What do you think?†Her bright eyes scanned over his face as he stood by the refrigerator.
ooc: Epic fail.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:57 pm
by Astrophysicist
Did his charming smile and inquiry about her hunger translate to a hint for Rebecca to make him lunch? He laughed heartily, wiping his hands on the thighs of his jeans. “That depends on the dialect,†he confessed with a wink, following her out of the barn as she headed back to the farmhouse. “Does that translate to, ‘Oh, Hawk, I’d love to make you something to eat because you’re my favorite teacher in the world’?â€
He fell into stride with her as they traversed the lawn, and he smiled quietly to himself when he felt her desire to take his hand. He almost obliged her before he realized that those thoughts were not for him to overhear, and acting upon information he gathered from their mental connection had the potential to be disastrous. He knew he would have to tell her about it someday—he hated keeping secrets, especially from someone so honest herself—but now was certainly not the time. And though it was not his idea to be on the receiving end of their mental bond, he knew she would never forgive him if he let her know now. They were in love, but it was too early and they were too young. She wouldn’t understand. He barely understood himself. All he knew was that it had something to do with her rescuing him after the lightning strike back on the hill all those weeks ago.
He shrugged off the thoughts and stepped inside the kitchen, grinning at her suggestion of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. “That sounds perfect,†he told her, also wondering if this counted as their second date. His smile broadened. As far as he was concerned, it was. There was no reason why it shouldn’t be. He glanced around the kitchen to make sure there were no prying eyes and planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head as he spun around to the refrigerator.
Filling two tall glasses with milk, he fetched the chocolate syrup and squirted a generous helping into each of them. As Rebecca sliced the sandwiches, he stirred, mixing the milk and syrup with a long sundae spoon. “How’s this? Look all right?†he asked, tossing the spoon into the sink and holding up the glasses. “I’m up for a picnic. Back up on the hill—like old times.†He chuckled, recalling their first interaction that summer, and reached around her to hold the door with his elbow. He followed her outside and up the hill, enjoying the cool breeze under the summer sun before he lowered himself to the ground beneath the tall old oak.
Setting the glasses of chocolate milk in the grass, he reached up to take the plate from Rebecca. He patted the ground next to him. “Pull up a chair,†he said teasingly, taking a sip of his chocolate milk. “What do you say…does this count as our second date?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:57 pm
by Astrophysicist
The breeze whipped her hair around her face and for a moment she was blind. Her heart skipped a beat, hoping she wouldn’t trip and fall flat on her face. However, it whipped right away again and she continued onward with their little trek up the hill. It was such a nice hill behind her house. It wasn’t too menacing, but the climb was rewarded with the shade of a great tree. It was, easily said, her favorite place in all of Salem. Although what he had showed her two days before had been lovely, there was something comforting about the well-known spot where she liked to read. Also, it was where she had first met him…it had a special sort of sentimentality to it.
Happily, she dropped to the ground beside him. Both of her legs crossed beneath her and she grabbed a sandwich from the plate she had made. Taking a large bite, she smiled broadly at his questions. She finished the piece she was working on and looked around at their light spread. Her hand reached out for milk and before she took a sip, she responded. “I would like it to be though…â€she trailed off a bit, “you are a cheap date.†She smirked while her amber eyes twinkled at him. She took a long sip of her milk before taking two more sandwiches. She held them in her hands before finishing another one off.
Would this be good enough for a third date? She wondered, chewing on her sandwich. She looked over towards the house, letting her mind wander for a minute. I hope so…but what if he decides he doesn’t love me, well like me. Does he love me? She bit her bottom lip as she thought about it before finishing off another sandwich. A big gulp of milk later, Rebecca turned her attention back to the handsome man before her. Her magic was quite eager to begin their lesson so she held one more sandwich between her fingers before finishing that off as well.
“So what are we learning today, professor?†She asked eagerly, twisting her magic as if around a finger. It was ready to learn something new, as was she. I hope it’s nothing about meditation. I can’t take that anymore. She thought to herself. It wasn’t in an annoyed tone, but quite distraught at the prospect of doing that again. She wanted to learn something exciting. Especially after teaching him to shift. She added to herself. “Something exhilarating?†She added, finishing off the last of her chocolate milk.
ooc: Short again. BLAH. When they're on happy terms, I can't get anything good out xD
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:57 pm
by Astrophysicist
Hawk laughed heartily, his merriment taking flight on the pleasant summer breeze. “Hey,†he said innocently, holding up his hands, “it was your idea to have peanut butter and jelly.†He suppressed his grin until he finished another bite, shaking his head at the city girl. “Besides, I’m just a farm boy, after all. We don’t exactly have sophisticated tastes, I hear.â€
The phrase was absolutely ludicrous coming out of his mouth, for his mother, as Rebecca now knew firsthand, was one of the finest culinary artists in the world. Hawk had been raised on red wine demi-glace, filet mignon, expertly combined spices, and every other five-star restaurant cuisine imaginable. His diet had been a gourmet one ever since he could eat solid food as an infant. That didn’t mean, of course, that he was picky; if anything, his upbringing had broadened his horizons, creating a willingness within him to try new and exotic flavors, to mix and match, and perhaps most importantly, appreciate the simple things. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were not something he had any desire to live without, especially when accompanied by homemade chocolate milk and a clementine.
As though to prove himself, he took another gigantic bite of his sandwich, chewing with thoughtful appreciation. “You can’t go wrong with a meal like this,†he declared, bracing himself with an outstretched arm as he leaned back. He finished off the remaining bit of crust and picked up his glass of chocolate milk. Drinking it slowly, he savored the taste as it washed over his tongue much like a wine connoisseur might sample a mouthful of chardonnay. “Especially on a day like today. I can’t believe the summer’s going by so quickly.†His smiling emerald eyes shifted directly to her as he spoke, searching to meet her amber gaze. It was all because of her, of course, that the long hard days of work seemed to slide past beneath his notice. Because though he loved his job and loved working with Dr. Nurse’s farm staff and animals, her presence was the buttercream icing that tied it all together and made everything worthwhile.
He swallowed the last of his milk and placed the glass pointedly back on the ground next to hers, his magic suddenly leaping with an excitement that wasn’t entirely his own. He looked to Rebecca curiously, wondering for a moment if she had something else up her sleeve. But her thoughts, coming to him in brief flashes of clarity, spoke only of eagerness, of a youthful anticipation. “What do you mean you don’t want another lesson on meditation?†he asked without thinking, the transition between her thought and his voiced response seamless and natural. His tone was lighthearted; he didn’t even notice his potentially disastrous blunder. “I think it’s high time we delve into more exciting material anyway,†he continued, shifting positions. “You’ve already proven that you’ve practiced, so if you keep that up, we won’t have to go over it again during the day. What do you want to start on now, city girl?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:57 pm
by Astrophysicist
The summer was certainly flying by, as though carried by a swift wind. She had imagined that this time would drag on and on, especially since her grandfather wished that she had never come. Sighing wistfully, her mind traveled to all the wonderful things that they had done these past few weeks. Rebecca was certainly lucky that she had found him, that she had sent that book flying full force towards his head. It still surprised her, when she considered it, that they had been able to ignore the callings of their souls for so very long. How had they ignored the undeniable connection that their powers had? It was amusing, almost.
As she considered it, she also thought of what might happen when she went home in less than three weeks. Would he want to continue their relationship or was this a summer fling that would flicker out? He would go off to college and she still had a year to go. They wouldn’t end up in the same place, most likely and…well, relationship apart were very hard. Her heart began to race at the idea but she cast it aside. These were her most guarded and private thoughts, the ones that she kept behind lock and key. Instead of venturing deeper into that dark cavern, she turned her thoughts to their lesson for the day. That is when she mentioned meditation. However, she didn’t say it aloud and when he echoed the thoughts in her mind, her brow furrowed together. Amber eyes looked at him with a confused expression at first before she realized what must be happening.
They had been linked for an hour after she had nearly destroyed but manage to save him up on the hill. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest as anger began to escalate. “I didn’t mention anything about meditation Hawk…†She said, looking at him carefully. Rebecca’s honey eyes scrutinized him very carefully. Had he maintained their connected and not told her? She set down the crust that she hadn’t eaten yet and licked her lips. Her gaze fell before meeting his own again. Her bright mind raced at a mile a minute and then it just all clicked. He had been able to hear her. He had maintained the connection that she had lost.
And he hadn’t said a word about being able to hear her thoughts.
What had he overheard? Had he heard her private musing? Had he thought her more…scandalous thoughts to be vulgar and disturbing? At first, she was embarrassed but now she was angry. “What do I want to start?†She asked, her tone less than friendly at the moment. “I want you to start telling me just how long you’ve been listening to my thoughts. What have you heard from me?†Her magic bubbled up inside of her. She tried to contain it but it grew angry, longing to lash out at his. Her magic hadn’t been aware of their connection and it, too, felt betrayed by his secrecy.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:58 pm
by Astrophysicist
Her terse words sent shivers down his spine, and he realized his mistake as soon as he saw the dramatic shift in her expression. Though he didn’t react right away, he paled noticeably in the light of her suddenly fierce glare. He’d slipped; he’d made exactly the mistake he’d promised himself he would never make. He’d vowed to keep it from her until she would understand, until they were stable enough to handle any truth thrown at them, however bizarre. But now…now he’d gone and ruined everything. Their peaceful week, their lunch, their second date (if he dared call it that now)…and he knew he could do nothing to quell her wrath.
While his physical body’s first reaction was to retreat, his magic immediately charged forward. He wanted to console her, to tell her that it wasn’t his fault and that there was nothing he could do, but he doubted she would listen. Even if she did, it was even less likely she would believe him. He wasn’t a truthsayer. And though he had no intention of lying to her, any of Rebecca’s direct questions could indeed yield untruths—an assumption he had little doubt she would make. A lump lodged itself in his throat, and he swallowed hard to be rid of it. He’d inadvertently taken a plunge into waters too deep for him to tread, and he had the feeling a tempest was brewing. If he wanted to keep his head above the surface, he would have to act fast.
“Rebecca,†he addressed, sitting up straighter. He reached out to clasp her hands in his own. “Rebecca, I…†He faltered, glancing down before he looked back up to meet her gaze. He could feel her pulsating anger like a wave of heat, radiating from her mind as strongly as radiation from the sun. “It’s not my fault.†Her magic bubbled up like lava, and he could sense her struggle to keep it at bay. The animosity it contained unnerved him, and he withdrew his power back deep within himself for protection. If she wanted to be left alone, he was ready to oblige. It wasn’t worth the disaster that would come if she annoyed him any more than he already had.
“Ever since the lightning strike on the hill. When you saved me,†he said, his green eyes cast down now. “You felt the connection for a time, but it wore off. It didn’t wear off for me.†He took a deep breath and continued, hoping with every ounce of his being that she would control herself. If she lost her temper, fine; he could cope with begging for forgiveness. If she lost her grip on her magic…well, they both knew that story. That’s what caused their mess in the first place. “It’s mostly feelings,†he admitted, his face reddening slightly. “Emotions. I feel your emotions. But it’s not always consistent, because sometimes I feel them more than others.†A quick, uncomfortable pause. “Hearing your actual thoughts is an even more subjective event, and it’s almost never clear. I’ve hardly heard anything. Just bits and pieces, snippets of words. That's all.â€
He finally looked back up to her, his eyes pleading. “I didn’t choose to keep the connection alive,†he told her truthfully, bracing himself for any sort of response, good or bad. “I was too afraid to tell you because I didn’t know how you would react.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:58 pm
by Astrophysicist
With his hands reaching for hers, she jerked away. She didn’t want his deceptive power to touch her own. Who knew how else he might seek to manipulate her? “It’s not your fault?†She sputtered at him, as though the words couldn’t leave her mouth fast enough. Even in her thoughts, Rebecca couldn’t really lie. She could say things but she would know that they were wrong. She’d been able to sense when she was lying to herself since she was three, when she understood what lying was…and that she was incapable of it. Now, now he heard her most secret ideas, concerns, and fears. How had he used them against her? Her mind raced, going back over every moment that they had been together over the past couple of days. Had he known what she was going to show him in the field? Was there anything that he didn’t know now?
Rebecca’s stomach plummeted, as though it was going to fall straight out of her and onto the floor. She felt violently ill. “How is hiding this from me not your fault?!†She jerked even further away and stood up. She didn’t want to be near him at all. In fact, she wanted to strangle him. Fury coursed through her veins, lighting ever nerve on fire and charging the air between them. Sparks flickered before her eyes and she tried to control it. “Did someone put a gun to your head and demand that you hide this from me? Did they demand you read my most private thoughts and feelings? How is that fair!?†She threw up her hands and lightning cracked across the sky, despite the beautiful summer day and not a cloud in the air.
“How is it fair that I can’t lie to you? How is it fair that you can also hear my thoughts? How is it fair to me?†She shook her head wildly and placed her hands at the nape of her neck, holding her hair there are she tried to keep herself calm. The lightning hadn’t surprised her but she knew that it would arouse a little suspicion for anyone else that heard it. Maybe they would assume it was a product of the intense heat. At this moment, she could care less about other people. She was only concerned with the facts at hand. “Oh, just emotions? Oh well then that makes it all so much better.†She said sarcastically, much as she had when they had first met. It didn’t make it better at all. In fact, it probably made it worse. She spoke her mind anyway, but how she felt…well how she felt was personal. It was something that was all her own. The way her heart fluttered when he came around or the immense love she felt…had felt? Now, the only thing he would be feeling was anger.
She took a few steps away and then walked back over before she realized that she wanted to punch something, preferably him, in the face. “So keeping it a secret was the better way to do it?†She shook her head viciously, as though she wanted to rid this newfound knowledge from her mind. The Nurse heir was distraught. She had trusted him completely and utterly, with her secret, with her heart. And where had it gotten her? Heartbroken and without a reliable teacher. “ Afraid? Well you have nothing to be afraid of anymore.†She looked down at him and reigned in her magic, holding it back until she had a safe place to release it. “Because I don’t want to see you again. Just…leave me alone, Hawk.†With that, she left all the food, plates, drinks with him and ran back down the hill. She ran until she reached the house.
Rebecca never once looked back, if she had, she would have cried and Rebecca Nurse didn’t cry. She slammed the door shut behind her and locked it, despite the fact that Fredrick rarely ever locked his doors. She moved down to her room and shut that door behind her as well. Carefully, she pulled back the covers of her bed and crawled into it. There was nowhere else that she wanted to be besides in her bed, for the rest of the week. She laid her blonde head against the pillow and before she knew it, it was soaked with tears and was muffling her soft sobs.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:58 pm
by Astrophysicist
As their emotions mutually heightened, he was struck with an intense bout of inner dissonance, simultaneously feeling her distress alongside his own defensive guilt. His magic, confused and perhaps unrightfully betrayed, retreated with cold shock, seeking refuge deeper inside his soul than he ever thought his power could delve. The glare from the warm summer sun became scathing and fierce, filtering through the leaves of the old oak like focused beams of light through a magnifying glass. The breeze was no longer welcome and refreshing, it was hot and uncomfortable, caressing his flushed face with its invisible scalding fingers.
He couldn't speak; despite the whir of pleads and explanations pacing his mind, Hawk's voice was frozen in his throat. When she pulled her hands away from his reach, he felt something inside him shatter, and he couldn't move. Whether it was a feeling of his own or a residual side effect of her sudden anguish, he ached just the same, and the weight of it anchored him down upon the soft grass. It was only when her angry lightning cut across the clear sky that he was able to sort out of his thoughts enough to react, and he leapt to his feet, his fists clenched at his sides. He had so many things to say, so many things to tell her, so many things he wanted to express…but her words were spoken and she was already gone, sprinting down the hill toward the house with fury and gravity powering her swift strides.
He was angry, he was horrified, he was offended, he felt guilty--through and through, he felt terrible. He swallowed hard and forced himself to relax, his head spinning from the effort of his panting. His fingertips shook as he ran them through his wind-tossed hair, and he cast his eyes down to the lingering ghost of their pleasant picnic. Mechanical and numb, he stacked their plates and glasses, hardly breathing now as he headed back to the kitchen.
Leave me alone, Hawk. That's what she'd said. I don't want to see you again.
The memory of her words rang with all their original clarity, stinging him like a thousand vexed hornets. The door was locked when he arrived, but it took only a single whispered word to coax it open as he approached. His magic seemed reluctant to emerge, all too aware that its ability to transmit Rebecca's thoughts was no fault of its own. He gritted his teeth as he washed the dishes and put them back in their rightful places, sensing her distress despite the physical distance between them. He wanted nothing more than to take the old steps three at a time, burst through her bedroom door, and wrap her in his arms…but he knew very well that would only make things worse. His breath caught mid-inhale and he suppressed a cough. Comfort would only bring pain. Her problem was a fundamental part of who he was, and there was nothing he could do to make things right again.
Well, he thought sourly, if she doesn't want to see me, then I'll make certain she doesn't.
With a furrowed brow and a raw wave of nausea, he left and headed back to work, locking the back door behind him and firmly closing the stable door when he disappeared inside.
----------------------
He'd thrown himself into his work with a quiet, seething fervor his coworkers had never seen in him before. It had been nearly two weeks since their disastrous luncheon on the hill, and Hawk had not spoken a single word to Fredrick Nurse's daughter. He'd barely spoken a word to anyone. He immersed himself in his duties around the farm, coming in before the sunrise and leaving long after sunset, working his fingers to the bone and his power to absolute fatigue. It was better to keep himself busy, to distract himself from the hollow paralyzed feeling he felt in his chest upon her departure from his life. If he didn't expend his last waking energy and push himself to pure physical exhaustion, he would lie in bed for hours before finally drifting off into fitful, nightmare-filled slumber--and the last thing he needed was time left alone with his thoughts in the dark.
He could still feel her presence as a distant part of him, a permanent fragment that lived silently in the back of his consciousness, but he'd learned well enough to bury it beneath his own senses. If she'd gone and found herself another teacher, a better teacher, then he would simply have to accept that. If she'd managed in all that time to keep herself under control, then he'd done his job and had no business interfering again. But he shook his head to himself as he refilled the water trough, bristling at the thought of her learning something as intimate as magic with someone who wasn't him.
Resting the weight of his left arm on the hitching post outside the barn, he watched the trough slowly fill in the lingering daylight, wondering what the tricky little city girl was up to. The very idea that she would turn to someone else for magical instruction was sickening to say the least, and he felt a stab of defensive jealousy in his abdomen. He sincerely hoped she would have felt the same level of disgust had she mistakenly chosen to partake in such a betrayal, such magical adultery. He turned off the spigot, wiped his hands on the thighs of his jeans, and headed grudgingly back to his motorcycle. Who was he kidding? She'd been quite clear in expressing her desire to keep him out of her sight for the rest of time. He had no more claims. They were no longer one. They were Rebecca Lynn Nurse and Oliver James Callahan, separate as they had been the entirety of their lives before that fateful summer.
He fished his keys from his pocket as he rounded the corner of the farmhouse and stopped abruptly in his tracks when he glanced up again.
The sun had almost completely set, and Hawk had assumed that the young woman who stood before him now had long since holed herself up in her room away from the farm life she loathed so much. He cleared his throat like a gentleman, and when he spoke, his tone was as languid and elegant as the lovely summer evening. "Rebecca," he said in acknowledgement, his voice doing nothing to suggest the mixed flare of emotion behind his carefully-composed facade. He faltered, unsure how to continue. "Haven't seen much of you lately. Keeping yourself occupied, I trust?"
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:58 pm
by Astrophysicist
For three days, Rebecca stayed holed up in her room. She only emerged to grab a banana or whatever was closest before she returned to the dark that resided beneath her covers. Even when she took food to her room, it didn’t mean she ate. Mostly, she slept and cried and screamed into her pillow. Her magic, contrary to what she had thought might happen, refused to surface. It, like its master, had buried itself beneath despair and betrayal. Her heart beat slower and her mind went so numb she almost couldn’t even recall her own name.
On the fourth day after the truth had been revealed, Fredrick Nurse picked the lock to his granddaughter’s room. Even he was not immune to the gloomy cloud that she had blanketed over the whole house. He was aware that something must have transpired to make her lock herself away. Although he had not great love for the girl, he was also a doctor and his innate desire was to help people. Swinging the door open, he startled Rebecca so much that she peeked her head out of the covers before rolling over and facing the opposite wall. Fredrick made a frustrated noise before taking too long strides over to her and whipping the covers back. Rebecca was so unfazed that she didn’t bother to move.
“You will get out of this bed.†He said and the tone of his voice left no room for an argument. Even in her state, she knew that she would now have to force herself to leave the room, but there was no way in hell she was walking outside this house. She most certainly was not going to take any chances of running into the backstabbing boy that was the hired help. “And you will get out of the house.†With that, she felt tear well in her eyes again and she shook her head viciously against her pillow. Fredrick walked towards the door and deposited something with a soft jingle onto the dresser. “Go into town.†He said and left. Rebecca, shocked, turned to look at the dresser. On top resided the keys to his Lexus, which he had never let her drive.
She could go into town, she thought to herself as she dressed in something other than the clothes she had worn two days ago. Rebecca didn’t bother to bathe, it was pointless. Quickly, she whipped her hair up into a ponytail and grabbed the keys. With haste, the blonde ran to the car and started it up. Through the windshield, she could see the barn but she hastily looked away. She didn’t want to somehow manage an awkward eye contract with the traitor.
Once in town, the young Nurse strolled from place to place, looking awkwardly in windows and through shops as though she was in a daze. She knew that people were looking at her as though she was deranged. Sighing, she decided that if she did have to spend the day out, she should just hide somewhere in a corner and wait for time to pass. So she found a coffee shop. The warm smell of roasted coffee beans, which was normally a favorite of hers, did nothing to excite her or ease the sharp ache that she carried in her heart with each step she took. It was miserable and she was certain that she was pathetic to look up.
Taking a warm cup to a corner table, she sat herself down and sipped it, with not great interest in its flavor. She sat there for thirty minutes before someone interrupted her as she stared blankly down at the cup, which had the same amount of coffee as it did after her first sip. It was now quite cold as well. “You’re supposed to drink it.†A male voice said, an amused tone to his voice. Surprised, Rebecca looked up at a handsome black-eyed boy that was staring down at her. He had a backpack slung carelessly over one shoulder.
“Excuse you?†She responded. Rebecca very much wanted to be left alone.
“You’ve been sitting there for half an hour. I figured you forgot what you were supposed to do with it.†He said, smiling coyly. Rebecca merely stared blankly back at him, before turning to her coffee and ignoring him. Without an invitation, he sat in the vacant seat across from her. “I’m Benjamin, by the way.â€
“Wonderful.†She said sarcastically, turning her attention to the black liquid in the mug.
“I can go get the heated for you.†He said, reaching out for it and Rebecca placed a hand on it. Her magic flowed to it, making it scalding hot. She didn’t mean to, but she also didn’t want to chat. He jerked back in pain, shaking his hand a bit. Immediately, Rebecca felt bad. “Damn, maybe not.†He smirked a little though, turning to look at her. “So…you like, uh, adding a little magic to your day, huh?†He said and didn’t look away as the Nurse heir’s eyes widened.
“Magic to my day? Look, if you’re some local loon, please, leave me alone.†She said, looking down and pulling the mug towards her. It immediately reached a comfortable temperature so that she could sip it easily and ignore him.
“You’re a witch.â€
“Excuse you!†She responded, snapping her head back towards him, glaring.
“Don’t play dumb with me.†He grinned, much like a wolf. “Witches can sense other witches.â€
And that was how Rebecca Nurse got over Oliver Callahan.
_-_
She spent the next two weeks with Benjamin. He turned out to be home from college and in the coffee shop finishing up an assignment for his online class. He had sensed the aura around her, he said, and took it as his personal duty to brighten her day. He was clever and quick. She enjoyed spending time with him and he taught her more and more about her power. But he didn’t teach her how to control it.
He taught her how to magnify it, to built it and master it entirely.
Each day, she felt it built into something stronger, faster, and better than the day before. She grew more confident and soon she stopped noticing that ache instead of her. Her magic ignored the half of it that was missing and her soul was safely tucked away, along with the key to her heart. Those, she had decided, would never be let out of her sights again. Rebecca hadn’t thought about Hawk in five days. She hadn’t cried or gotten upset or even had a momentary thought about him. He was so far from her mind when Benjamin was around.
“Yes…good. Just like that!†He said as she constructed a big bold of lightning in her hands. He had told her to find her specialty. It turned out that it was lightning and weather. However, Ben insisted that she was the best witch that he had ever met. She learned quicker and was the best at everything he taught her. But like all witches, she had a specialty. “You’ve done it!†He said. “Now, release it.†And she did, shooting it up into the sky. It exploded in all directions before dissipating into the air. She laughed in delight and turned to him.
Strong arms swept around her middle and swung her up in the air. Rebecca laughed and beat on his shoulders for him to put her down. “Come on, Ben! It wasn’t that spectacular.†He set her down, but his arms stayed firmly in place, holding her against him.
“No, but you are…†He said in a cheesy manner, but before Rebecca could point it out, his mouth was against hers. She stiffened immediately. Her body rejected it. This wasn’t what she wanted from him. It wasn’t soft and gentle and warm. Nor was it passionate and loving. It was neither of the kisses that she had received from Hawk. Perhaps that’s why she kissed Benjamin back, momentarily, before pushing him away.
“I, uh, I should go. I’ll…I’ll text you.†The blonde said, turning away from Benjamin and fishing her keys out of her pocket. She was thankful that he didn’t run after her as she slipped into the car and sped home. Her stomach rumbled along the way, but all she could think about was the kiss, that moment when she should have felt a surge of desire and yearning. She hadn’t felt it. Pulling into the drive, Rebecca shut off the lights and sat there a moment. Her fingers pressed against her lips, as though almost wanting to feel the kiss again, just to try and make it…work?
Shaking her head, she smiled to herself and got out of the car, locking it behind her. Taking two steps towards the house, she heard her name. Startling, Rebecca tossed her head upwards. Her recently washed (yes, she had decided to start bathing again) tendrils whipped around her face. That voice, oh, she’d know that voice anywhere. Damn. “Hawk.†She responded, inhaling sharply. Tonight of all nights. Of course he would speak to her tonight. But she smiled and took a step towards him.
“Yeah, I uh…†She motioned towards the car with her right hand before tucking both into the pockets of her white shorts. “I just got back in. I’ve been practicing a bit.†She shrugged slightly, casting a glance towards the house and wishing that she had parked closer. Her magic bounded up towards the surface. Unlike Rebecca (at least she wouldn’t admit to it), her magic missed the feel of Hawk’s, that caressing, guiding force inside of her. “And you?†She asked, meeting his gaze carefully. “Have you been working a lot? I haven’t seen you.†She said, trying to make it sound as though she had tried to find him. Of course, though, she hadn’t.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:58 pm
by Astrophysicist
He'd played the situation out in his mind too many times to count in the past two weeks--what he'd do, what he'd say, what he'd feel when he saw her again. But now that she was an arm's length in front of him, the wind running its fingers through her pretty blonde hair as she met his gaze with those familiar honey eyes, he was just as lost as the day two weeks ago when she left him standing alone on the hilltop. He wasn't angry, he wasn't annoyed; if anything, the sight of her confused him, forcing him to improvise an act of casual nonchalance and vague interest.
He pushed back his burning curiosity and studied her, the silence between her query and his reply perhaps uncomfortably long. If he noticed the effect of the extended pause, however, it was obvious that he didn't care. Despite his best intentions of keeping their relationship alive, he couldn't deny the fact that their angry hiatus had taken its toll. Something had indeed changed within him, and it startled him now to realize just how much he'd adapted in a mere summer fortnight. His magic had emerged from hiding and returned to its state of relative normalcy, hardened now by the scars of healed wounds inflicted by her abandonment. And though his heartbeat had increased at the sight of her standing there, his power remained unfazed, upholding the polite and proper distance it would maintain for any general acquaintance. They were individuals now, too distant to be friends and too connected to be strangers. And it had happened just like that.
Yet, in spite of it all, she smiled. She smiled at him. It caught him off guard, the expression in his green eyes betraying a hybrid of puzzlement and suspicion as he offered her a half-hearted lopsided smile in return. "Yes, I've been working," he replied, glancing toward the stables before looking back to meet her gaze again. A tug in the back of his mind alerted him of her mental presence, and he tensed, swallowing back the feeling with little luck in ridding himself of it. This was the closest she'd been to him in two weeks, and the connection flared to life with their proximity. He gritted his teeth.before continuing "I've mostly been in the barn and the pasture," he went on. "It's been harder to keep up with Henry still on leave." But I have more time now that you're not here to teach, he wanted to say, a wave of bitterness hitting him hard.
A flash of something akin to disappointment illuminated his eyes, but it was gone in an instant, replaced with the same withdrawn coldness that had dwelled there since their separation. He hated the way he sounded, all business and small-talk. It wasn't how it was supposed to be. He could honestly say he missed their futile, childish arguments and heated debates about the importance of meditation. But he knew she hadn't tried to find him; he knew she'd avoided him just as he'd avoided her. He didn't bother to disguise his sigh, picking up a great deal of uneasiness from Rebecca's mind. Uneasiness and…and confusion? Emptiness? Disappointment? He raised a brow and studied her once again, this time a bit more critically. What had happened to her depression, her fury? These new emotions had nothing to do with him, of that he was certain; they flowed across the bridge between them like a river's current. Her thoughts had always held a particular timbre when they involved him, easily recognizable because of the way they resonated with his very soul. But these? These were very different, a flavor he had never tasted before and didn't care to taste ever again.
His arched brows furrowed deeply. She seemed as unfazed by their unexpected meeting as his carefully-bridled magic. Was he really the only one to be affected by what had happened? She had loved him. She'd admitted to it. She'd shown him. He found it difficult to believe she'd thrown that away in a scant fourteen days. "Rebecca," he addressed, cautious. "Are you doing okay?" He cleared his throat, very much aware that his questions had become succinct and direct. "You seem…happy." The word felt clumsy on his tongue. "If you don't mind my asking, what changed?" He stopped, forcing himself to look at her as he took a shot in the dark with his final inquiry. "Who have you been seeing?"
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:59 pm
by Astrophysicist
This time, the woman felt the connection flicker into being and she quickly shoved all of her most private thoughts, feelings and desires behind her mental forcefield. That was something she had been working on with Benjamin too. She had insisted that he teach her how to block out intruding forces and he had been more and willing to oblige her. After teaching her a trick or two, he had been unable to break through her mental barriers, saying that it was locked up tighter than Fort Knox. That had made her smile, comforted with the knowledge that no one would be allowed a sneak peek into her mind again.
However, she knew that something had flowed between them before she had been able to stop it. He may still be able to pick up the glimmers of her emotions, feelings and general confusion at what to do in such a situation but he wouldn’t be able to snatch her mental images and private thoughts like the backstabbing teacher he was. She noticed his half-hearted grin and realized that she had smiled at him. It hadn’t been at him, it had just been…been what? She shrugged mentally and cast it aside. It had to be the emotional residue of her most recent encounter with Ben. That was all it was. Preparing to bid him goodnight, she took a step towards the house before he said her name again. Turning her head back towards him, she responded, “Hmmm?†Her mind was clearly elsewhere at the moment as she brought a hand out of her pocket to throw back some of the hair that was assaulting her cheeks.
“I’m fine,†she responded immediately before she became wary of him. Her magic, sensing her alarm began to weave a delicate web that he would not be able to penetrate. She narrowed her honey eyes, staring directly into his shining emerald ones. Questions. He was asking her questions?! Rage built up inside of her. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know that she would be unable to respond with a nonchalant response. He knew that she would have to answer him honestly and entirely. Her heart began to pound furiously in her chest and she took her hands out of her pockets in order to clench them tightly at her sides. Her teeth gritted together and she felt a storm begin to roll in. The weather responded t other every whim, her smallest feelings if she wanted it to.
And when it came to Hawk, she had plenty of feelings.
“If I don’t mind you asking?†She snapped back at him, hearing the familiar clap of angry thunder beating its way towards them across the sky. “If I don’t mind you asking?!†She licked her lips and unclenched her fists, feeling the desire to strike him hard across the face. Instead, she managed to restrain herself and use only her sharp tongue to last him with. “Of course, I fucking well mind you asking!†That was the first time the word had ever fallen from her lips in front of him, in front of anyone for that matter. Rebecca was not the type of girl to curse, it wasn’t in her nature. However, she was plenty well infuriated with him for his treachery.
A bitter, angry laugh fell from her lips as she felt the truth push its way towards the surface. She was angry and she was heartbroken and he was only making it worse. “I shouldn’t have expected any better from you. I should have known you’d use this against me, just like you hid the link.†She managed to say before the truth bubbled up out of her. “I am seeing someone and I am quite happy, no thanks to you.†Rebecca said. “His name is Ben and he’s never lied to me.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:59 pm
by Astrophysicist
The abrupt cessation of her emotions threw up more red flags even than the thunder that growled overhead, and immediately Hawk was on edge. He had lured her forward with a question whose answer she could not refuse to voice, and now he was paying for the information with her oncoming wrath. His magic trembled against the restraints he'd placed upon it, aching to spring forward both to protect him from whatever forces she would bring and to reassure her, to bump into the force radiating from her core and soothe it as he'd done so many times before. A lump lodged itself in his throat and he tried without success to swallow it away, watching as the lightning lit up the wicked vehemence in her eyes.
Control yourself, Rebecca! he thought fiercely, his expression transitioning swiftly from concern to anger and back again. He could feel the electricity in the humid air, and it was close, too close. If she'd indeed been practicing in those two long weeks, she certainly wasn't demonstrating that now. She was riding a furious tide and just barely staying afloat in the tumultuous waters, and he knew she would refuse a lifeboat even if he tossed one to her. She was putting them both in danger whether or not she knew--or even cared.
He drew up his posture. That thought sent a furious shiver down his spine, and he took a firm step forward. Fire lit up his emerald eyes, its blaze intensifying right along with her temper. "What are you hiding, Rebecca Nurse?" he demanded, taking another step toward the porch. "What are you hiding?" Something had taken hold of him, some deep, inner sadness that surfaced now with a vengeance, paving the foundation for his bitter anger and raising it to the point of bubbling over. So weighted was his voice with emotion and fury that he barely recognized it as he spoke. "Why do you mind me asking so much, Rebecca Nurse? After all this--after everything we've been through--after everything I've taught you and everything we've done together--you abandon me for two weeks and expect me not to be worried? No phone calls, no texts. You just disappear and expect me not to ask where you've been!?"
Rain began to pelt the farm, coming down in vicious sheets to assault him as he stood at the edge of the porch stairs. He balled his fists, his limbs shaking. "You haven't given me a chance!" he growled, stepping up beneath the roof. "You think I wanted that connection? You think I asked for it?" He paused, collecting his whirring thoughts before continuing again. "I've never lied to you. Never. There are plenty of things you don't know about me and plenty of things I don't know about you. That much is obvious now." His tone grew cold. "Keeping our connection from you was no different than you conveniently keeping your inability to lie from me. Think of what you're throwing away!"
Treachery. That's what it was. She considered him a traitor, well…she'd betrayed him too, hadn't she? It was clear to him now that she'd meant so much less than she'd let on. Her motion picture show in the meadow, the playfully flickering flame in the restaurant, the kisses they'd traded as their magic mingled in the moonlight--it all seemed so distant now, so farfetched, as though it had never happened. A dull ache coursed through his veins with each rapid beat of his heart.
Raindrops ran from his sopping hair like tears down his cross face. When he spoke again, his voice was seething and quiet. "I'm glad you're happy with Ben, Rebecca," he said, his jaw clenched. The man's name was like poison on his tongue. "As long as you're happy, well, by God, then that's all that matters, isn't it?"
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:59 pm
by Astrophysicist
“Hiding?! Unlike you, I don’t have anything to hide!†She responded, feeling the torrential downpour of rain pelt her skin. She retreated towards the porch, turning her back on him. Rebecca didn’t want to look at him anymore. Why couldn’t he have just left well enough alone? Why couldn’t he just let her be?! She had told him that she hadn’t wanted to see him again. Couldn’t he have at least respected her wishes, after hiding such a crucial part of their relationship from her? She was seething as she whirled around, glaring daggers at him. “Why do I mind?! Because I always have to tell you how I feel. Even when you didn’t ask, you always knew and that’s not fair!†She heard the thunder clap again, directly overheard and she willed it onwards. Ben had taught her how to control her power and how to use it. Hawk never let her experiment. She always had to meditate now and meditate then and don’t let it get out of hand. Well, it wasn’t out of hand. She was the most powerful witch that ever lived and he would have to deal with that.
Wet strands of hair clung to the back of her neck and to the sides of her face, dripping down to her soaked shirt and shorts. “Abandon you?! You have got to be kidding me. You’re the one that abandoned me. You’re the one that messed up and you expect me to contact you? You’re more pathetic than I thought.†Anger fueled her words and there was no barrier left to hold them all back. If he wanted to know her so well, if he wanted to ask these questions and get an honest answer, well then by-God she was going to give them to him.
“You lied by omission!†She responded. “And that is entirely – ENTIRELY – different. My inability to lie only involves me. It’s my burden and my curse. But your little secret affected me! They were my thoughts, my desires, and my ideas and you just listened in like a bratty, little child!†She shook her head and shoved him, knowing that if she didn’t shove him, she might let lightning strike him or the house. She was so angry with him, she just wanted him to go away! She was happy now, albeit not as happy as she had been when she was obliviously in love with a traitor! “You betrayed every amount of trust I had in our relationship. Do you have any idea how hard that was for me?â€
Amber eyes glowed in the darkness of the night, the storm clouds hiding both the moon and the last rays of the sun that had lingered on the horizon. Lightning cracked between the clouds, knowing that Rebecca would not be pleased if it decided to seek the ground. She wouldn’t allow it to touch earth, because despite her desire to see him just a broken and in pain as she was, she wouldn’t let it hurt anyone, even him.
“You were my teacher and I loved you.†She felt the whole ground shake with the force of the storm and steadily it with a single thought. Hawk had never known the extent of her powers. He would never understand just how powerful she was because he never let her work towards achieving her true potential. “But you broke every rule, every single little rule to maintain a connection that let you get a sneak peek into my mind. And then you try and turn this around on me!? Well I am happy and I’m not going to feel guilty about it!â€
Her heart pounded and the thunder dulled to a mere roar. “You ruined whatever we had, Hawk, so don’t you try and make me feel worse about it. I already spent too much time pining over it. I won’t reduce myself to that pathetic state over you again. You had your chance.â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:00 pm
by Astrophysicist
"Lying by omission?" he countered, gripping the edge of the porch rail. "The only reason I omitted it was to protect you. To protect us. Because I knew something like this would happen. I knew you wouldn't understand. I knew you weren't…you weren't mature enough to keep this alive!" His shoulders rose and fell at the pace of his heavy breathing, and he wanted nothing more than to take her by the shoulders and shake some sense back into her. "You don't think I tried to get rid of that goddamn connection?" he asked, his tone suddenly betraying the pain he felt behind the words. "You honestly don't think I tried to fix it after seeing how upset you were?"
He took a step back and turned outward to face the yard, his eyelids fluttering closed. The wind blew cool mist from the rain across his face, and he sighed, doing his best to calm himself. "It happened back on the hill," he said coldly. "When you got inside my head, you never really left. Whatever's causing this is a product of your doing, that's what I realized. If you didn't want a piece of you there, you should have cleaned up after yourself." He straightened, watching as the lightning flickered across the rolling clouds. He couldn't bring himself to look at her; it was enough to know she was standing there behind him.
He knew exactly how hard it was for her--he had experienced the same thing, with all the ferocity of love and betrayal and everything in between. But he was done feeling guilty; like Rebecca, he refused to feel ashamed about things that he could no longer change. Whatever magic that had developed between them was gone now, extinguished like a candle in the rain. For a long while, he did not speak; he simply watched as the clouds thickened and turned and overtook the last remnants of the sunset, shielding the rising moon from their explosive confrontation. They'd had something great, and now it was gone, shrouded over like the stars behind the thunderstorm.
Running his fingers through his hair, he allowed his power to funnel through his hand and dry the auburn locks--a small outlet for the trembling frustration his magic was experiencing. He reached up to wipe the remaining droplets from his forehead with upper shoulder of his sleeve. At last, he turned to her, his green eyes a dull olive, far from their usual vibrant emerald.
"I loved you," he said, unnervingly devoid of emotion. "I loved you. I'm glad you can finally be happy now, but…" He stopped abruptly, hesitating before he continued again. "But I ruined nothing." His expression hardened further. "I won't have you blaming me for something I had no control over. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, and you have every right to be angry with me. But I am not taking sole responsibility for what has happened between us. I may have had my chance, but you had your chance too, Rebecca. And it looks like you made your choice." He smiled sourly, the humor never touching his eyes. "I hope you and Ben are very happy together."
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:00 pm
by Astrophysicist
Anger surged through her veins and she tried to figure this all out. Ben had kissed her and she had felt…felt nothing. There was nothing there but there was so much rage and pain when she thought of Hawk now. She shook her head and forced all of the thoughts away. This was too difficult. She should have just stayed in the city, where she was invincible and blissfully unaware that she possessed any magical abilities whatsoever. Then she would never have met Hawk and she would never have gotten her heart broken – shattered into a million tiny pieces. How had he managed to have such a hold over her?
With his back turned, she leaned up against the house, closing her eyes tight to fight off the hurt and the furious desire to just let the storm ride itself out. The lightning licked at the clouds again, begging to be released by with a simple flick of her wrist it calmed and no longer threatened to strike the house or the barn. The clouds still roared violently as her heart pounded in her chest and her mind raced through every moment she had spent with the boys and every moment that she had spent loving Oliver James Callahan.
I loved you. Excuse you? Her amber eyes flashed open and she placed a hand on the wall behind her to steady herself. Suddenly, the porch seemed very small and he seemed very close. She replayed the words in her head again, over and over and over. She barely heard what he said. Something about sorry and something about chances and something about some guy named Ben. Her heart stopped beating and her breath caught in her chest. The storm fell away and all that was left were clear skies and the moon glimmering down from its watchful place above the earth.
“You what?†She stammered, licking her lips and taking a step towards him. “What did you say to me?†She murmured. Her voice was barely audible over the dripping of the rain onto the porch railing. Luckily, her grandfather was staying in town to attend to a surgical case the next day. The sudden and ferocious storm would have drawn his attention and at the very least he would have come to the porch to investigate the storm’s intensity. Honey eyes scanned the face of the solemn boy before her and she had no other thought but his words. She replayed them. She replayed the way his mouth formed those words. She recalled each syllable in the exact manner that he had said it.
Rebecca was in shock. Some people go into shock after a terrible accident or witnessing a great tragedy. Well, this was…something she hadn’t expected and something that she had convinced herself hadn’t been real. Then he had to go and prove her entirely and completely wrong. Her hand left the support of the wall as she stood there, teetering on the edge of something. She wasn’t sure what it was and she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with it, but she had to hear him say it one more time. She had to understand, she had to know that she hadn’t just imagined those words out of his mouth.
The witch didn’t know if it would change anything between them. She didn’t want to think that far ahead. All she wanted to know in this moment was what he had said and if he had meant it.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:00 pm
by Astrophysicist
He turned her back to her once again, gazing out across the farm too distracted to register what he saw. The storm seemed to be running its course under Rebecca's command, and he stared idly as the landscape was illuminated in short strobe-like bursts from the webs of lightning in the sky. The trees bobbed clumsily on the dying breeze, their leafy boughs heavy with rain. He felt the same world-weary weight on his shoulders as he shifted positions, placing his hands tiredly on the porch rail and heaving a sigh to mingle with the rush of the wind.
Hawk couldn't look at her. He just couldn't. Those amber eyes were burned into his memory in all their expressive glory, and he simply couldn't bear to see them staring so coldly back at him when they had been so warm, so affectionate before. He was paying for his mistake with consequences far too dire for the supposed crime, and he had no longer had any desire to look at the young woman doling out his lashes. She'd made it clear she was done; whether or not it had been intentional from the start, she'd used him and then tossed him aside at the slightest opportunity, crushing the fortress of hope and vitality she'd helped him build over the course of their summer together.
In all honesty, he didn't know why he was still standing there. He was poised as though expectant of some specific response, as though waiting for an end that would likely never come. He should have felt something--he wanted to feel something, be it anger or hatred or even compassion--but the only emotion that fueled his heartbeat's ritardando was simple, cruel apathy. Why hadn't he walked away when he had the chance? Why was he lingering behind, wallowing in what could have been? There were no more explanations to toss at her; there was no more hope for forgiveness. Because if Rebecca had taught him anything, what was done was done absolutely--there was no use in wishing or pointless pining.
Her stammered words startled him despite the sudden softness to her tone. The rain had slowed to a delicate sprinkle, and the clouds had parted once again to reveal the starry sky behind. His body ached to the bone as his adrenaline subsided, his energy draining as the storm waned. He sighed once again before drawing in a slow, careful breath, hesitant to speak again.
"I loved you," he said at last to her request to repeat himself, his voice barely a murmur this time. Slowly he swiveled to face her, his green eyes devoid of expression as he searched for the familiar agony of her honey gaze. "I loved you, Rebecca Nurse," he declared, stronger this time. He swallowed with difficulty, his voice freezing in his throat. He took a tentative step forward, his heart now thundering in his ears as he closed the gap between them. For the first time in two long weeks, his magic broke free of its restraints and bounded outward, surging with wild abandon in the aftermath of the Nurse girl's storm.
But he stopped it. Her desperation shone like the moonlight in her eyes, and all he wanted to do was to make each of them whole again, to press his lips to hers and wrap her in an embrace long enough to forget everything that had happened. Wordlessly, he reached for her chin with his thumb and forefinger and gently tilted her head up towards his. Their faces were just inches away, the sweet scent of her skin mingling with the earthy aroma of fresh summer rain. He moved in closer for a kiss.
He couldn't do it.
He hesitated for a moment, hovering close to her for a few painful seconds after his realization, and then he broke away, facing her as he stepped back. It was too soon. She couldn't possibly want it. She never wanted to see him again; she'd made that deafeningly clear. He studied her sadly for a moment before he took off down the porch stairs and headed down the gravel driveway for his motorcycle, disappearing into the still black night that not even the porch light could penetrate.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:00 pm
by Astrophysicist
I loved you, Rebecca Nurse. She stopped breathing again, but her heart began to pound like a hammer in her chest. She struggled to come to grips with what she had just heard. Her magic escaped from her grasp and surrounded her, anticipating the caress of his own. It never game, but his hand took her face and she inhaled softly, yet sharply. Her entire body was on fire with that one simple touch. Her defenses were reduced to nothing, a worthless mess at her feet. Amber eyes met his emerald ones and her lips were parted just slightly, forming a gentle ‘O.’
Then there was hesitation. Despite the link being entirely one-sided, Rebecca could sense the lack of willingness. There was no emotion there, just that starkly empty apathy that shone quite clearly out of his eyes. She didn’t move as he stepped back, watching with despondency as turned away from her and retreated. Her eyes followed him down the gravel drive towards his bike, the one that he had let her drive from that secluded spot where she had shown him just how badly she needed him in her life. Finally, when the lights from the motorcycle faded, she slipped down the wall and sat on the floor. “I love you.†She murmured, but Rebecca felt entirely numb. She didn’t realize she was crying until she heard the soft pitter-patter of rainfall against the roof.
R&H
From then on, she spent every waking moment learning from Ben. She was gone from sunup until well past sundown. Work kept her from thinking of him. She worked harder at every task with a clear ferocity that kept Ben from laying a finger on her. She didn’t laugh and she didn’t grow excited at her accomplishments. If she achieved something, well, then no doubt she should have been able to do it faster or make it better. Finally, Ben had had enough of it and took her hand just as she was conjuring a tidal wave on the secluded lake where they were working that day.
“Look, Nurse.†He said, pulling her back from the lake’s edge to stand in front of him. “What’s gotten into you? You’ve been practicing like a fiend and I haven’t seen you crack a smile in a week.â€
“I’m leaving in two weeks, Ben, I need to get better.â€
“So you’re upset because you’re leaving in two weeks…†He trailed off, not releasing her hand as his brow furrowed together in confusion.
“I’m not upset.†Rebecca retorted, pulling her hand away and turning back towards the lake.
“Says the clearly distraught girl.†He retorted, meeting her gaze clearly. Rebecca turned to glare at him, but she said nothing. After a moment of silence, Ben approached her and placed his hand on her back, not too high but not too low either. “This is affecting your magic, Nurse. It makes you angry and bitter and that means you’re not reaching your potential.†He said, knowing that that would make her open up, at least a little. “You can tell me, you know. I consider you a friend, not a student.â€
Those words, the ones she had wanted to hear from another teacher, broke her resolve to bury the emotions down deep. Rebecca faced the lake as she recounted the events (most of the events) to Ben. She told him how he had betrayed her, not telling her immediately about the link. She wouldn’t have been mad if he had told her the moment he realized. But weeks had passed and he allowed it to grow and to see into her thoughts. Ben merely nodded, looking solemn as she recounted their fight a week ago. However, she left out the parts where they almost kissed, where he admitted that he had loved her…and when she had whispered those words to no one.
“Nurse…I’m so sorry, I know that must be rough on you.†He said, pulling her into a hug. Instead of saying anything, she just shrugged, but wrapped her arms back around him in return. “How about this?†He began, holding her back at arm’s length. “Tomorrow, bring your bathing suit and I’m going to show you something quite spectacular to take your mind off of all this nonsense.†She smile, the first time in a week and nodded her head.
R&H
The next day, she parked near the forest that lead to the lake and headed in. She stripped down to her bathing suit and Ben pulled off his shirt. “All right, Nurse.†He said, leading her down the old dock that clearly was in need of repair. “Okay so this is what were going to do.†He said, and she turned towards him expectantly just as he reached out a strong arm and shoved her into the water. She hit the surface with a smack and it enveloped her. Kicking, she found that it wasn’t so deep that she couldn’t stand. Sputtering, she came up for air and glared at him while he was smiling coyly at her.
“That wasn’t very nice.†She responded, but the grin on her face said that she wasn’t mad.
“I never said I was nice.†He responded, jumping over her head and hitting the water. For the next hour he taught her how to control currents beneath the surface, how to catch fish with her hands (which took longer than any magical task had), and how to use the wind to increase how fast she swam. By the end, she was clearly exhausted, but laughing at something he had said.
“You’re insane.†She responded. Benjamin grinned and reached out for her arm, pulling her closer to him.
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[18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
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Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:02 pm
by Astrophysicist
Their timing was perfect: Rebecca was already gone by the time Hawk arrived to work for the day, and she was already buried back inside the farmhouse before he left well after sundown. If part of her hadn't existed somewhere in the back of his mind keeping their inconvenient connection alive, he could have sworn she'd already flown back home to the city after a long, eventful summer. Just as the city girl delved further into her magical studies with the mysterious Ben, Hawk dove headfirst into his work as he'd done for the previous two weeks, maintaining as much distance from her possible whereabouts as was reasonable for his job. This time, however, it was not quiet, distant sadness with which he went through his routine, it was a furious, scalding intensity that tasted like bitter resentment and burned like seething anger.
He knew perfectly well what was bothering him, for his magic graciously filled him in with constant pining reminders and longing bursts of energy against his restraints. He hated that she left him so hollow, so numb; he hated that she had been too immature (or perhaps simply too stubborn) to forgive him. He hated that she hadn't stopped him as he turned away from her on the porch that night, and he hated himself for leaving anyway. The list went on and on, but it was more fuel for the fire--the very fire started by Rebecca's lightning and just as immune to her rain.
But there was something else--a nagging suspicion that bordered on worry creeping slowly forth from the depths of his subconscious. Several days passed before he deciphered it as something of great concern, and another two sleepless nights slithered by before he could even put a finger on what he was feeling.
Rebecca Nurse.
At first, he wanted to turn his back, to dismiss it all as a figment of an overactive and heartbroken imagination. Surely he was delusional, suffering from his mind's desperate trickery as it tried to convince him all over again that he should approach the hateful Nurse heir. But it elevated to a point where he could no longer ignore it. Even the farm animals could sense his anxiety, and it was hardly productive to be teaching young horses about trust and companionship when his own mental state differed so greatly from the curriculum. A sigh escaped his lips, and he led the older chestnut filly back to the stables. There was no avoiding it any longer: he had to meet with her, even if she didn't want to see him.
He rinsed his hands at the pump outside the barn and started back for the house, his heartbeat thundering with slow severity in his ears. It was still fairly early, but he doubted she was home. It wasn't news to him that she was steering clear of any interaction, and it was apparent that sticking around the farm during the day was far too risky. He tensed his jaw in frustration, but continued anyway.
That was, he continued until he saw her emerge from the house. He stopped in his tracks, fighting the urge to turn around. He was still a good distance away, and it was clear she hadn't seen him, but…
He allowed his thoughts to trail off, replaced by that same unnerving feeling that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Despite the lingering chill of the morning, he felt sweat run down his temple. He reached up to wipe it away, furrowing his brow in confusion. Something was amiss, and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to get to the bottom of it. Because if it involved Rebecca and her safety, well…then it was his business whether they were on speaking terms or not. And if it had anything to do with the strange dream he'd had at the beginning of summer, then he had even less choice--he had to follow her.
--------------------
It had been easy enough to get away. He'd made his way up to Fredrick's attic, gritting his teeth and doing his best to forget the moment he'd shown Rebecca his spellbook, and opened the little window on the south side of the house. It came to him effortlessly this time, perhaps because he was so troubled, riding on the energy of his nervous thoughts and antsy power, perhaps because the one to teach him in the first place had been the Nurse girl herself. But before he had time to change his mind, he was perched on the windowsill and spreading his feathered wings to the wind, taking to the sunny skies with a heart too heavy to enjoy the ride.
From the air, it was easy to spot her grandfather's Lexus speeding down the narrow road that led to the lake. He circled higher on an updraft, soaring over the water and back down to the tree line, maneuvering his wings with instinctive grace to slow him down so he could alight silently on the top boughs of the old pine trees near the shore. Now all he had to do was wait.
His true hawk's eyes were overpoweringly sensitive, and he was grateful that he didn't have to risk detection by venturing closer for sufficient view. If Rebecca caught him spying on her, she would never look his direction again--and she didn't deserve that kind of pain and disappointment again. She would never understand that his intentions were good, that he was doing it for her own safety in the company of her new friend Ben, about whom he knew nothing. He wanted to protect her, not damage her further. For despite her hatred, he knew she was just as worse for wear as he.
He focused his attention back to the ground, where Rebecca and an unfamiliar young man emerged from the trail. So that was Ben. He watched emotionlessly as they stripped to their bathing suits and meandered out to the dock, watched as he shoved her in and started to laugh. Hawk bristled, the auburn feathers on his back rising. How dare he? Who did he think he was? But Rebecca emerged with a grin, and he felt his heart sink right back down again like a stone tossed to the lake's waves. He never would have pushed her in like that. Not in a million years. And yet, she seemed to be enjoying herself, enjoying the company of this roughhousing stranger who had, over the course of his observation, moved closer and closer to her until they were standing quite close...quite close indeed.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:02 pm
by Astrophysicist
Unlike Rebecca, Benjamin felt the magical presence. He had been trained from his earliest years to pick out other witches and to hone in on what made them vulnerable, even from far away. Rebecca looked up at him, wiping water from her chin as he pulled her closer. “Oh no,†she said, grinning and jerking away, “you’re not dunking me again, hate you inform you.†She responded and wadded a little farther into the water.
“I wasn’t going to.†He responded casually, with a smirk on his lips, slowly chasing after her. While he followed, her searched the terrain. Ah, there it was. A puny little bird. Pathetic. That was his familiar? He nearly snorted with amusement but maintained his smirk as Rebecca continued to back away from him. It was clearly male and this hawk had some connection to Rebecca, he was clearly radiating annoyed emotions at the antics he was watching. Well good for him, if he wanted a show then Benjamin would certainly give him something to ruffle his feathers over. “But now that you mention it…â€
He grabbed her before she could pull away and shoved her into the water. Rebecca felt the cool liquid rush over her head and she shut her mouth to keep from crying out in surprise and subsequently inhaling the water. He brought her back up a second later but wrapped his arms around her dripping form. She struggled to beat at his chest but she gasped in laughter after a moment. “You’re rotten, Ben. Absolutely, entirely, rotten. I hate you.†She said, her hair dripping wet and water coating her cheeks and lips.
“You don’t.†He responded, softly and that made her pause, hesitate as she looked up at him. Rebecca may have been naïve in the world of romance but she wasn’t a moron. She felt the tension and then suddenly, it was all gone the moment his lips pressed against hers. It was a sloppy, wet kiss but not entirely unpleasant. She felt her heart race and her stomach knot as he parted her lips with his tongue. She nearly jerked back but relaxed instead. It was not healthy to hold onto the feeling she got from Hawk forever. It wasn’t right to wait for someone that would never love her back, not the way she should have been loved. Perhaps Ben would take away that pain.
It was Rebecca that broke it, finally, drawing back and looking at her waist that was being gently caressed by the water. Ben’s hand rested on her shoulders but moved down to hold her wrists, gently. After a moment, she looked up at him and cocked her head. Her face was expressionless. “I couldn’t help myself.†Ben said with a smirk, brushing back a wet, limp piece of the blonde girl’s hair.
Amber eyes narrowed. “So I can see.â€
“Neither, it seems could you.†He added, grinning a little more and pressing his hand against her cold cheek.
“I am perfectly capable of controlling myself.†Rebecca responded, confused at the where this conversation was going.
“Not when it comes to me.†He kissed her again and she didn’t hesitate this time, instead tangling her fingers into his hair. She craved him and didn’t understand why. It was an intense, overwhelming feelings but it was foreign and uncomfortable. It seemed as though she was incapable of stopping herself…unable to control herself as she believed.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:02 pm
by Astrophysicist
The wind.
It breathed, it tumbled, it sighed, it twisted; it rustled the trees and sculpted the clouds, it spawned whitecaps on the blue lake and ran its fingers through the meadow grasses. It was cold and numb and terrible as it tore, ravished, and ripped.
And it was him. He was the wind. For that moment in time, that's all he could be—an exhale of a vicious breeze, an unfeeling force that soared above the landscape without reprieve. With the breath stolen from his lungs and the sudden rush of hatred and sorrow and shock, he was knocked from his senses, his mind and power retreating to his inner reserve in search of some kind—any kind—of peace or reassurance. But it didn't come. His heart, torn between beating with rapid denial and sluggish dejection, seemed to stop altogether as he perched there, frozen, too shocked to move but too horrified to stay.
With the sudden onslaught of emotion, he faltered. As his power, injured and throbbing, violently retracted inward, he could feel his wings and feathers begin to give way to human limbs and fingers. But so repulsed was he by Rebecca's demonstration of humankind's devious capabilities that his subconscious mind rejected its native form entirely, stopping the transformation before he betrayed his presence to the one young woman that had stolen his very soul and promptly crushed it with one heart-wrenching gesture. He didn't want to be human anymore; he didn't want to be himself anymore. The wound was too deep, the trauma too raw. How he longed to dissolve away, to lose himself in the minds and presences of the living creatures around him and simply forget.
But he couldn't do that either. Without the city girl there to guide him back to reality, it would be suicide. And despite the shivering agony that overcame both himself and his magic, it was not worth it to die, if only because it would later mean he could irk her with his presence.
Hawk would probably never know how he made it back to the Nurse farm. Looking back from the relative safety of the old man's attic, the round old window still letting in that relentless, merciless breeze, he remembered little more than the singular image seared into the flesh of his memory like a hot-iron brand into the skin of a bovine. Far from graceful, he had more crashed than landed back in the old farmhouse, his exhausted magic too anguished to hold on to his hawk form any longer. He collapsed in human form on the old dusty boards, taking a moment to catch his breath before he forced himself to stand. He slipped on his dirty work jeans, gripping the wall so tightly for support that his knuckles turned white.
"Damn it," he muttered to himself, hardly recognizing the curse that slipped past his lips. What was happening to him? Of course he knew, but that didn't mean he fully understood—wasn't heartache supposed to hurt just that, the heart? Why did he feel so magically lost, so magically alone? It wasn't just that she'd learned to block the majority of their connection, it was something else, something far more painful.
His grip weakened on the old piece of wall-molding and he leaned his bare back against the rough surface, barely feeling the splintered wood scratch his skin as he slid down to the floorboards and buried his face in his hands. Heaving a great sigh, he ran his fingers through his auburn hair and stared at the grain patterns in the floor. His green eyes wandered to his hidden spellbook, and he noticed with a sharp pang of remembrance that their footprints, together, remained outlined in the dust from that night that now felt like so long ago.
For a long time he stared at them. He didn't know how long he remained there, lost like a foolish child, too shocked to do much else than entertain fleeting thoughts of what-ifs and will-never-bes. When the light of the setting sun lengthened the shadows from the little window, he finally stirred, rising to his feet with weak, but stable, limbs. His family would be expecting him soon for dinner, he realized distantly, gazing to the sky and deciding right then and there that he would fly. He would fly, he would once again become the wind, and he would let it cleanse him; he could melt away into its careless sigh and toss away the thoughts of the Nurse girl for just a few more moments.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:02 pm
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca couldn’t stop herself. Her fingers tangled into his hair and her mouth crushed against his. She didn’t understand anything but that she craved him. She had this overwhelming desire to have him, to have him pressed up against her in the cool lake. She had no idea that Hawk was watching and she had no idea that these feelings weren’t her own. They were crashing upon her wave on wave and she felt the knot curling tighter and tighter around her stomach and forcing her to act the way she was. She had no idea that she couldn’t possibly feel this herself.
At soon as it began, it ended. She came away gasping in shallow breaths. Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest. Hormones ran through her bloodstream and her magic didn’t protest, but seemed upset and disconcerted. Something was wrong but she was still on the emotional high that she didn’t notice. Bright amber eyes met his and she pulled away, wading towards the dock. “I think I should head back.†She said, as she had before. She didn’t want to think about what had just happened but then she suddenly felt elated, happy. Her lips curled into a smile but she made herself climb up onto the dock. “We can meet later and finish working.†Ben looked at her, almost bewildered but was smiling when her back was turned. His eyes flicked up towards the place where the hawk had been perched. It was gone.
“Just uh…text me.†She said, wringing her hair and letting the droplets fall to the wood with soft pings. With that, she fled. As she retreated farther and farther, driving in her car, she felt the elation slip away. It was replaced with a sense of guilt and uncertainty. She stared at the empty road before her and it felt oddly foreboding. Emptiness. Solitary. Silence. She swallowed hard as she pulled into the drive. For a moment, she placed her still damp head against the steering wheel.
Why should I feel guilty? He was the one that couldn’t handle it. He never told me he loved me. He never trusted me. He had betrayed me trust. He had been listening in on my thoughts for weeks, ever since I had saved him. Is that how he knew to kiss me? How long had he known that I was in love with him? How long had he been able to anticipate what I was going to do? Just as she finished the stream of angry thoughts, she looked up and there was his bike, like a beacon in front of her. She swallowed hard and looked around. It was late. He should have been gone already. Shaking her head, she slipped out of the care and quietly shut the door. She walked widely around his bike, as though if she got too close to it, it might explode.
Hurriedly, she entered the house and changed her clothes. Her hair was still wet but she ran a towel quickly through it before she turned her face upwards. She sent out a few tendrils of magic, a simple spell that she had read in the book two days ago. It tested out of there were any other living things in the house, any other humans. It pinged in her mind and she followed the source of the stream of magic. It led her up to the attic. She was softly praying that it was her grandfather but the more she walked along, the more she doubted that her prayers would be answered.
Finally, she pushed the attic door open and peered inside. There he was. She hesitated and lingered in the doorway. “Hawk…†She murmured, looking at him. He looked awful.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:03 pm
by Astrophysicist
Through the empty haze of his paralyzed consciousness, he felt the familiar pang of Rebecca's magic as it searched the house for human presence, sweeping through him like an arrow through his chest.
He chuckled numbly, his laughter bitter and cold in the quiet attic. So she had returned, and she had seen his bike. And now, as he sensed her testing out the waters of her grandfather's farmhouse domain, she knew he was there. For a long while, he didn't move; he couldn't move. Even when he heard her footsteps on the stairs, heard her make her way hesitantly down the corridor that lead to the attic's old ladder, he was frozen in place. The strength of his breath was barely enough to keep his bare chest rising and falling. It was as though he were a deer startled suddenly in the wilderness, his senses on fire but his muscles temporarily too weak to function in the face of the predator that could emerge at any moment from the underbrush.
He didn't know what to expect from her, and he knew even less how he was supposed to react. A part of him longed to see her, to find solace in those honey eyes; he wanted her to press her lips to his and save him from reality's waking nightmare. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and pull her close, to plant a kiss atop her head and realize that losing her had only been a terrible dream. Drawing in a deep breath and exhaling with a world-weary sigh, he knocked himself from his stupor and shook his head to himself. No, he told himself bitterly, the word echoing ominously in his mind. She has made her decision, and I am no longer the answer she's looking for. He straightened his posture, drawing himself up to his full height and rolling his shoulders back in a feeble attempt at relaxation.
When she pushed open the door, he didn't turn to greet her. The old hinges squealed shrilly, cutting through the musty air with optimism as out-of-place as that of the sunset's warm rays through the circular window. When she spoke his name, he remained still, flinching only mentally at the sound of her delicate voice. His magic, tucked away deep within himself, trembled in the silence that followed. He wanted to run, to leap from the window and fly until his wings failed him. Anything to escape the tension, the betrayal, the memories...
"Rebecca," he said at last, doing his best to keep his emotions at bay. His green eyes shone with an emerald desperation he could not quite mask, and when he shifted slowly to look at her, they flashed in synch with the wave of heartache that suddenly struck his chest.
He didn't know what to say. Swallowing hard, he bent down to retrieve his shirt from the dusty floor and self-consciously slipped the light cotton garment over his head, keeping his gaze averted from her own. "I, ah…" He stammered, then hesitated to continue; it wasn't often that the eloquent Callahan boy lost his words. "What…what are you doing up here?" The question was calm, his tone soft. "I thought you were spending the day…out."
o.o.c. :: SO HORRIBLE. I'm so sorry. But I wanted to get something up for you! That's what I get for trying to write fast. Forgive meeee.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:03 pm
by Astrophysicist
Her prayers had not been answered and she found herself staring at the back of the boy that had begun her training, but failed to adequately maintain her trust and thusly, left her to her own devices. Even though she had been more upset than any other time in her short life, Rebecca couldn’t bring herself to hate him – especially not when she watched the slumped shoulders that screamed out his dejected nature.
The magic inside of her leapt up in her chest before it was stifled back down, shoved into the furthest part of her soul. Rebecca was unstable when it came to Hawk. Her abilities had manifested magnificently under his tutelage but dealing with Hawk-related emotions sent her magic in unknown directions. Even without her magic, the tension in the air felt thick and metallic upon her tongue. Her lips moved against each other, as thought she was chewing on a tangible thought or trying to rid herself of the awkwardness that filled the space between them.
Bare-chested, the awkwardness between them increased but she couldn’t bring her amber eyes to turn away from him. He has small lines against his biceps, cutting across and showing a distinct line between the tanned skin from his job and the slightly softer skin usually hidden of his shirt. Her amber eyes traced it mentally before he hurriedly covered himself. Quickly, she put together that he must have shifted, leaving his clothes behind. Where had he flown?
“I was.†She responded. “I mean, I did...spend it out, I mean.†Please, say ‘I mean’ one more time. The wind from the open window rushed in and flicked up the ends of her hair. The smell it brought filled her nose and reminded her of the water and Ben. Without realizing it, her nose crinkled as though it had been foul cheese instead of a smell linked to a memory she had enjoyed at the time. “What, uh…†One slender hand reached up and tugged at the collar of her clean shirt.
“What are you doing up here?†she asked, confusion and concern lacing her voice. He didn’t look good now, much more like someone that had been hit full-throttle by a bus. His green eyes were solemn and sad making her, for a moment, long to reach out and comfort him. “Where did you go?†Curiosity replaced the confusion.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:03 pm
by Astrophysicist
For several minutes, Hawk could do nothing but stare at her, expressionless but for the mute sadness in his green eyes. He didn't have the energy to restrain either side of the emotional battle that raged in his chest; even his magic had retreated in its wake, physically tired from its exceptional strain to keep him aflight on the heart-wrenching journey back from the lake and existentially exhausted beneath the weight of misery that now pressed down upon the young Callahan boy's shoulders. A sigh escaped his parted lips. He detested this; he despised himself; he loathed the foul creature that had coiled itself with his Rebecca; but mostly…mostly he hated her. And the fact that he didn't hate her at all—the fact that he adored her, that he loved her more than anyone in the world, that he'd never felt more complete than when their fingers and magics entwined—made him hate her all the more.
Watching her now, he took guilty satisfaction in her apparent discomfort, at the way she stumbled over her words. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than for her to feel what raged inside of him; she needed a taste of that pain, that devastating, mind-numbing agony. He wanted her to see what he'd seen, to feel the floodwaters burst through the gates and storm forth to destroy the foundations of everything she thought she knew. Did she truly not realize where he had gone? He reached up and ran shaky fingers through his hair, tearing his gaze away from Rebecca and turning toward the open window. Of course she didn't. She'd been too busy flirting with her new companion, her eyes too shielded by proximity to that creature's face as they kissed…
He masked a soft but bitter laugh with a cough, clearing his throat and turning once again to face her. If there was one thing he had clearly never understood in the world, it was Rebecca Nurse. Much to his surprise, the concern was heavy in her familiar voice. But he refused to allow himself to be reassured that she still cared. Everything was different now. Rather than its usual compliment, her curiosity was nothing but salt in the fresh wound she'd torn in his flesh that afternoon.
"I was just retrieving this," he heard himself say suddenly, bending down to pick up the spellbook he'd shown her all those weeks ago. The weight of it in his hand calmed him, and he drew in a steady breath. He stepped toward the door, a little closer to the fidgety Rebecca, and forced a small smile that he would have been surprised to learn looked genuine.
At her second question, however, he paused, unsure how to answer. Glancing toward the open window, his smile fell and his green eyes darkened like a stormy summer sky. "I flew to the lake," he informed her coldly, meeting her amber eyes for a split second before he tore them away and pushed anxiously past her, making his way to the lower level of the farmhouse. He owed her nothing that she would not ask for. Let her think what she wanted to think; let her follow if she wants to follow.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:03 pm
by Astrophysicist
Now that she was away from the pool of water, away from Ben – she felt better. She felt like herself. Everything was in the right place. Her thoughts were coherent and strong and all her own, though she wasn’t aware that there had been any infiltration at all. Her body was toned and ready to strike, just like her magic. Fiery eyes scanned his face, examining his reaction, wondering why he was acting the way he was. He was the one that had hurt her. It’s not like she had been able to read his thoughts for weeks without telling her. The idea of it still gave her chills. She already couldn’t lie to him, why did he have to be able to read her most private thoughts, too?
Amber eyes scanned the spellbook, wishing she could know its contents. Suddenly, words flew before her mind’s eye, across her like a thousand little grains of sand, slitting past but somehow she was able to read each one. There were scratches where words hadn’t worked and then others ones filled in their place. There were also unfinished spells that her magic immediately knew wouldn’t work. She felt them pulse inside of her, thumping against her heart in a synchronized rhythm. It made her lose her breath, leaning over slightly just in time to hear him mention where he had flown. If she hadn’t been surprised by the magically occurrence, she certainly was now.
Before she had a moment to react, Rebecca saw his back descending the stairs to the main level. She hesitated. If she followed him, she’d probably explode. Maybe this time the house would crumble to the ground, as if a tornado had destroyed just that area. She inhaled slowly through her nose and stood straight, staring down the stairs. Should she follow him? The debate raged inside of her while she calmed herself, even though it seemed counterintuitive to let the battle rage while she tried to keep her anger in check.
Finally the witch followed him. She didn’t see him anywhere but instinctively knew that he would be heading towards the barn, where he parked his bike and where he would calm himself with the horses before leaving. She hurried quickly out and caught his arm, just before they reached the gate of the surrounding pasture. She pulled him back towards her but then held him at arm’s length. “So you saw then.†It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact. He had seen her with Ben and he had seen him kiss her. He was angry. She cocked her head slightly. Again, what right did he have to be angry?
“Let’s see,†she began, crossing her arms tightly against her chest to keep from lashing out too quickly and too harshly, “firstly, you maintain a private link in my mind so that you can read my thoughts whenever you damn well please. Secondly, you’re following me when I go out. Are there any other creepy and entirely intrusive activities that you’ve been participating in or is that the extent of your backstabbing tendencies?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:04 pm
by Astrophysicist
Ever since Fredrick Nurse had agreed to allow him to work on his farm, Oliver James Callahan had considered the old farmhouse and the surrounding land his home, his home-away-from-home. The old house, with all the character that shone through in every creak of the floorboards or slamming of the screen door, had been a refuge and a comfort as much as the company of the animals he cared for and the fellow farmhands working at his side. He had always found solace in the high ceilings and the tall narrow windows with the uneven lead glass, in the sweet, earthy aroma of swollen woodwork in the humid summer and the deep, nearly-audible hum of memories lost to the steady passage of time. When those walls embraced him, he was exactly who he was and no one else—green-eyed, auburn-haired Hawk, a young man with a magical gift, young and full of promise, humble and accepted. And that was enough.
But wandering back to the lower level from his upstairs hideaway, the walls felt foreign and distant, the house as empty and hollow as his heart. He could draw no comfort from the environment he now associated so heavily with the amber-eyed young woman that had stolen everything he’d ever known, returning it mangled and bleeding. It was no longer enough to be himself, and for the first time in his life, he wished he were anyone else but Hawk Callahan. It wasn’t just that he wanted to be someone more charming, more winsome, more handsome; he wished he had one quality—just one—that could convince her to stay, to let that stubborn head of hers realize that he’d lied only to protect her and nothing more, to make her see that it was not magic-foolish Benjamin that longed for and deserved her affection, but rather the sincere, hard-working, eloquent farm boy that stood metaphorically before her, silently pleading.
He sensed her following him even before he heard the distant crash of the screen door against its old frame. Spellbook clutched tightly in his hand, he resisted the urge to turn around and take in the sight that would greet him—Rebecca, angry, as she always seemed to be these days; his magic, however bruised, however deeply it tried to bury itself within him, felt the familiar quiver of her furious power as she approached. When she grabbed his arm, it was not the shock of her touch that startled him and caused him to whirl about to face her; rather, it was the lack of shock, the complete ordinariness of her fingers brushing his skin. Drawing strength from the swaying grass of the pasture and the proximity of his equine charges, he met her gaze with a ferocity he did not know he still possessed.
“Yes,†he spat, his voice the ice to her fire. His own anger was fueled by hers; he still could not be rid of the channel that connected their minds. “Yes, I saw. What more is there to say, Rebecca Nurse?†He paused, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. A headache throbbed in his temples, amplified by the glare and heat of the setting sun. “I hope your new teacher is everything you hoped he’d be. He certainly seems to know you very well.â€
He drew in a breath, tensing at the mention of their connection. “There is nothing I can do about this link. Believe me, Rebecca Nurse, if it took another lightning strike I would fly into the maelstrom this very second to be rid of it. I don’t need…†I don’t need another reminder. He trailed off with a heavy sigh, the remainder of his words dying silently in the air between them. Pain flashed in his green eyes before he covered them with his hand, gritting his teeth. Visions of the Nurse girl entwined with Ben haunted his thoughts.
“Yes, protecting you and ensuring your safety is the extent of my backstabbing tendencies,†he finally fumed, barely above a whisper. The words were like poison as he went on. “But what of yours? Have I seen the extent of it, or is there more?†He took a step forward and leaned in, looking down at her with narrowed eyes. “Does Ben teach you everything you want to know? Is he everything you were looking for, everything you couldn’t have in me?â€
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:04 pm
by Astrophysicist
The fierceness of his gaze startled her and she stepped back in her surprise, as though she feared him. Something deep down inside of her, even in this moment, knew that they were the fit to the other’s piece. The ice to her fire. The calm to her storm. Never was she so alive than when she was fighting with the Callahan boy. If only it wasn’t deep down. If only she has realized that everything he had done had been for her. Unfortunately, she didn’t know this. She was still livid.
She laughed, shaking her head as she resisted the urge to smack him. “I didn’t ask you to terminate it. All I had wanted, what you should have done, is to tell me that there was a link to my private thoughts.†He should have told her the second he had realized he could read her thoughts. She inhaled sharply at the memory of when they had spoken, when she had come to the realization that she didn’t need to talk for him to know how she felt. “You don’t need what?†Rebecca swallowed hard, as if there was something caught in her throat.
“You don’t need me around anymore? You’ve had your fun teaching me and now it’s just a bothering having that connection?â€
In the pit of her stomach, something knotted tight making her nauseous immediately. She took another step away from him and lowered her eyes to the ground. The feeling was suddenly overwhelming as though talking to him was a disgusting act. The feeling was sudden and sharp and she nearly doubled over in pain. She licked her lips and used her magic to dull the ache. She didn’t have time for this.
Unbeknownst to the arguing pair, this was no ordinary pain. It was adverse conditioning, or Ben’s attempt at such. Far beyond them, in the shade of the same woods in which Rebecca saved Hawk all those weeks ago, was a solitary figure with a smirk on his face and a crease of concentration in his brow. His arms were crossed against his chest but his fingers were drumming against his arms as though playing a piano. Rapidly they played in not recognizable pattern but they stopped suddenly and the smirk turned to a found. The witch was counteracting his magic. This was unexpected…this was not the plan.
“Protecting me? Protecting me from what? You were robbing me of my privacy!†She raised her head as the nausea passed, catching his beautiful but angry eyes. Ben. She looked away as suddenly as she had looked towards him. Again her stomach knotted but it wasn’t because of any third party magic. “He…†She licked her lips and for once Rebecca Nurse had no stubborn retort, nothing she could say in this moment. She searched the green of the grass beside them, trying to find the answer hidden among their blades. “Hawk.†She inhaled slowly, taking each breath of air carefully.
“You were my everything. You had everything I needed.†She met his gaze and there was a sad calm to her previous ferocity. “He’ll never be you.â€
And along the line of the trees, the man retreated to find his elders. This was not going according to plan at all.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:04 pm
by Astrophysicist
If only it wasn’t so deep down. Indeed. Hawk Callahan knew Rebecca Nurse—he knew her in a way no on else did, a way no one else ever could. In the short months they’d known one another, he had not only allowed himself to grow close to her as a mentor, but also as a companion, a honey-eyed confidante that had wrenched his heart clean from his chest. That wasn’t to say he could predict her; if nothing else, he’d learned the absolute impossibility of anticipating the young witch’s behavior. But he could come close to deciphering her feelings and could, as they began to trust one another, guide her magically and emotionally while she learned to master them for herself. Together they had forged a path uniquely their own, each holding the other’s hand as they maneuvered and defeated the obstacles in their way.
But they had parted. When the lightning struck and split their trail, he had drifted to the left while she started off down the right—no shortcuts, no convergences; the bridge had long ago burned, smoldering now with the dying glow of angry, ashen love. But even still, he could not shake her. She soft scent of her skin haunted him relentlessly, following him on the warm summer breeze like a wildflower’s perfume. He’d memorized the pattern of rich amber specks in those entrancing eyes of hers; he knew she shape of her lips and the smooth texture of her skin. He knew the shape and feel of her magic, her power, and he did not take that intimate knowledge lightly—he knew what a privilege it was. And yet there they were, fuming like a late summer thunderstorm, glaring at one another like two enemy soldiers locked in a stalemate. They could have been strangers.
That realization struck him like a knife through the chest, and he clenched his jaw to avoid doubling over in agony. Strangers. They were strangers. She was too carefully guarded; he could not detect her care for him through the walls she’d erected, and it left him feeling cold and isolated in a way he’d never experienced before. Having known her company, it was absolutely devastating to feel its absence. Once again he felt the pang of loneliness and confusion that had plagued him back at the lake.
Her silence—her rare bout of speechlessness—was just another blow to his wounded heart. For a brief moment, the expression in his eyes softened. He wanted nothing more than to reach out to her, to wrap her in his arms and pull her close, to mend the rift between them with a long, loving embrace. With a lump in his throat, he took a step closer to her and reached out, planting a hand on her shoulder. A shiver ran down the length of his spine. That familiar electric pulse was simply not there. Had she noticed it too?
But it was his turn to be speechless, to have the breath stolen from his lungs. He reached up and brushed a strand of blonde hair from her forehead, tenderly tucking it behind her ear. “Rebecca,” he murmured, the only word he was capable of uttering at that moment. It was too much to bear. He clenched his jaw and suddenly turned his back to her, covering his eyes with his hand and exhaling slowly, painfully. “What can we do?” he asked, barely loud enough for her to have heard. He faced her again, pivoting slowly on his heel. “What can we do, Rebecca? You were everything to me. You filled the gaps in my life that I…that I didn’t even know were there.” He swallowed, searching her gaze for something, anything, any clue that might let him know hope was alive. “And here we are now, butting heads and locking horns as though we’d never known anything different. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.”
Anguish coated each of his words, the pain mirrored in his green eyes as he studied her. “What are we?” he implored her, not without desperation. “Where do we go from here?”
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:05 pm
by Astrophysicist
o.o.c. :: We should be all caught up now! This is where we left off on T-S.
So excited.
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 6:21 pm
by Simply
His anguish became her anguish and his frustration was her frustration. She had no idea where they would go from here, what path they would take to try and mend the broken fragments of their life. She lowered her eyes to the ground and swallowed hard. She wanted to reach out to him, her magic wanted to reach out to him and caress him, enfold him and hold him to herself. She knew that nothing more than that would repair the tears in her heart.
But something suddenly changed - her thoughts and along the horizon. Not one shadowy figure resided there – but two-no, three of them. They linked their hands together and a soft, but barely noticeable glow became to radiate from their fingers and between their palms. Their lips forms soft words and their eyes were closed tight in order to concentrate on the taste at hand.
Her eyes changed from soft amber to a fiery stone within a matter of seconds – as though someone had reached in her heart and squeezed all of her affection out. She jerked back from him, from his imploring words and desperation. It disgusted her. This was pathetic and how could she consider this a person that she wanted to be with – someone worthy of being her teacher. Despicable.
“We don’t go anywhere. We’re done, Hawk. This was something that was never going to work. You’re too weak to handle my power, my intensity, my magic.” Even her magic flickered up, licking at his face harshly, sparking and stinging as though it was out of control.
In the back of her mind, Rebecca knew this was wrong, that something wasn’t right but she couldn’t seem to stop herself and the words that poured out of her strawberry lips. Amber eyes flared and flashed and seemed to express her disgust with his current situation and his ineffective way of trying to get her back. The emotion swelled in her chest and tumbled through her stomach and raged out of her lips.
“Just leave me alone, Hawk. Just go. I have no desire to deal with this! You following me – stalking me. It’s insane! Don’t you have anything better to do?!” She turned away from him and the sky got dark, angry and ferocious. “I’m 16! You’re 18! This is ridiculous and not something I want to deal with. Leave me be!” Thunder rumbled over their head and far away up behind the tree line, a group of witches were smiling maliciously.
ooc: This is the worst! But I want to get back into it and who better than Hawk and Becca?!
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:03 pm
by Astrophysicist
He felt her longing as poignantly as he experienced his own, and for a moment, he thought his body might give way to the rush of emotion and dissolve away into the humid summer air. He almost longed for that, to be lost forever amongst the flowers and the trees and the wind, to exist forevermore in a state of peace and tranquility far, far from the tension housed in his physical being. To exist as a force of life rather than having life of his own—would that he could escape the pain and heartache of what living had become.
He wanted to reach out to her more than anything, but something held him back. His magic leapt forward, stretching for hers, straining against his desperate hold and hoping for a touch—if only just a quick, simple brush—with the power that had made it so whole and complete. For a moment, he considered giving in. But as soon as the notion struck him, he was shown that he’d been very, very wrong in the assumption that a caress, even a friendly, supportive hand on the shoulder, would be acceptable—for it would have been more unwelcome and unpleasant than fangs sinking deep into her flesh. The look she gave him then was sharp as a dagger and just as capable of wounding, which it certainly did. His chest tightened.
The stone that her eyes had become frightened him. He knew Rebecca Nurse was powerful, knew she was capable of amazing and wonderful feats even he could never grasp, but he had never been afraid. In all their bickering, all their drawn-out arguments, all her stubbornness and all his persistence, not once had she crossed the line from anger to danger. She’d tread upon it like a tightrope wire, surely, but he’d always been there with his steady hand to balance her, ground her, protect her. This time, however, she had ventured to a realm he had never visited, a realm where his knowledge and power frankly had no influence.
There was a blackness to the clouds that began to swirl overhead that chilled him to the bone despite the heat of the day, and it took several moments before he realized he wasn’t breathing. He drew in a shaky breath and bit his bottom lip as she spoke, pressing down harder and harder until the tender skin broke and the metallic taste of blood washed over his tongue. Her words stung like the relentless attack of an angered swarm of bees, assaulting every inch of him with every breath of air. He stepped back, suddenly numb. No, he wanted to tell himself, though he knew the answer was yes. There was no denying those accusations, those declarations of disgust. The connection that bridged their minds flared suddenly and withered like a tired ember.
He didn’t know what to say. For a moment, silence had to suffice. The air between them was electric, but it was not the comforting, warm, familiar electricity that he’d always associated with the honey-eyed young witch. It was cold, calculated, charged; it was lightning laced with venom, and it buzzed like a rattlesnake’s hollow, rhythmic warning. Move away, it said. Even his magic sensed this shift, retreating to his core where it waited in earnest for an explanation, a release, anything.
“As you wish,” he said, although the words did not sound like his own. He forced a swallow, feeling bile burn the back of his throat. Large droplets of water began to spatter the ground. “It was only for you, you know. Always for you.” He was too numb, too shocked, too uneasy for any display other than complete, total expressionlessness; the rain became his tears instead, the thunder his sobs. “Don’t think you’d be right here, right now today if it hadn’t been for me. You know that. Whatever you may think of me now, Rebecca Nurse. You know that.”
A pause. “I’ll leave you be,” he said conclusively, and then turned on his heel, posture stiff. His legs felt like pillars of lead as he trudged away, webs of electricity tracing themselves through the thick air like crackling fourth of July sparklers.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:48 pm
by Simply
The witches heard all the words, smiled, nearly cackled like the witches of old. The eldest released the hands of the others and turned her back to the scene before them. She was clearly elderly but moved as though she had the strength and agility of a fourteen-year-old boy. She stretched out her hands in front of her, splaying them as though examining them for the first time. Small wrinkles formed, delicately as first and then a little more rapidly. A deep frown formed on her lips and a furrow creased her forehead. She was not pleased.
“Quickly now. We must act tomorrow at dusk.” She said to Ben and all of them disappeared.
Rebecca watched him leave. Heat raced through her veins like wildfire through a forest, hungrily and angrily. There was not enough fuel to feed the fire that was her fury. She didn’t know where the fury had come from but she could not quell it for all of the magic in the world. Despite her previously intimate feelings towards him, the nagging in the back of her mind and the bottom of her head, Rebecca could not stop hating him.
When he had vanished from her sight, she set her teeth together so hard she feared that she may crack a molar. The strength of her muscles was increased by the magic that sparked out of her fingers and sizzled beneath her skin. The thunder roared in the sky and crawled away, dissipating as she finally moved her legs to take her home. Without releasing it, Rebecca was running. She slowed only seconds before she can to the back door of the Nurse farmhouse.
She was certain that the rage, the anger, the pain would disappear if she cooked, if she managed to just take her mind off of what had just happened. It was an itch she couldn’t scratch, however. The more she tried to ignore it, the more it rooted itself into her very core. If, perhaps, the young woman had maintained her friendship with the boy, perhaps-just perhaps, she might have been able to prevent what was going to happen…
A day later, she emerged from her room, bleary-eyed and clearly maniac. She had not slept a wink. Every moment her eyes closed, hoping for the blissful amnesia that sleep would bring, her mind thought of all the betrayals, the pain, and the hurt that he had caused. She could not fall into slumber. Her bloodshot amber eyes turned to the window, noticing that it was sunset. She had sat in the darkness of her room for over twenty-four hours. Like an infection, she had festered and grown and raged. On the hill beyond the window stood seven individuals. They were huddled together. Rebecca blinked, wondering momentarily if she was hallucinating.
They were still there. What the hell?
Exiting the house, in the same clothes she had entered them in, Rebecca walked towards them. Suddenly, she felt seized by a furious rage. The previous conversation with Hawk had been a quiet scolding compared to the tempest inside of her. Her magic roared and tumbled and hissed instead of her. Something was pulling it, wanting it, begging for her to unleash it all in a hideous moment.
Thunder roared. Lightening crashed. The clouds rolled in making the ground and the sky black as night. Nothing was more violent and desperate than the storm that was hurtling toward the Nurse farm. Blue sparks shot from her hands and lightening cracked right into the center of her palms, striking down from the sky with eerie accuracy. Fire burned beneath her feet, leaving deep burns in the green grass beneath her feet as she began to move. Her magic cried out for her help, but she didn’t care. She wanted it gone. She was so angry…so upset, it needed to go. It needed to go like Hawk had. Something told he that she wanted to no longer exist.
Rebecca fell to her knees and screamed. It was not the scream of a young woman in pain. It was not the scream of sadness or despair. It was a bloodcurdling scream of extreme and absolute anguish.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 1:01 pm
by Astrophysicist
He felt her eyes boring holes in his back as he walked away, but he did not turn around, did not acknowledge her. He could see the electricity that buzzed in the air, moving with the steady humid wind and colliding with his arms, his face. The sparks stung his skin like pinpricks. Gritting his teeth, he stormed inside the farmhouse, grabbed his pack and jacket from the hall inside, and headed briskly for his motorcycle. His anger was as palpable as the miniature crackles of lightning that snaked their way through the air, and it protected him as well as any spell—he was too furious to let the venomous charges attack him, too devastated to feel their advances.
The sky had darkened considerably in the minutes since they’d parted company. Low black clouds formed an ominous, swirling ceiling above the old oak near the house. Hawk donned his helmet and zipped up his jacket just as the raindrops progressed from heavy intermittent spatters to a thick curtain of falling water. He kicked his bike to life, flipped on the headlight, and accelerated down the long gravel driveway to the pavement of the county road just beyond. Rain pelted his back and obscured his vision, but still he did not slow down; his magic knew the way if his mind did not, and with thoughts as numb as his limbs had suddenly become, he steered home on autopilot.
His family’s house was empty when he arrived. He walked the motorcycle to the back of the garage and trudged inside, not bothering to flip on the light. Puddles formed at his feet as leftover raindrops slid down his jacket and soaked jeans, but he did not dry himself. Instead, he allowed the darkness of the interior swallowed him whole, and he collapsed, sopping wet, on the sofa. Rivulets ran down his face from his soaked hair, but he did nothing; he simply sat, hollow and empty, with his eyes clenched closed. The storm had lessened outside, but not even the gentle pattern of slowing raindrops against the old windowpanes could soothe the ache that consumed him.
He didn’t know how long he’d been there, motionless. Time seemed to stretch and stretch, slowing until it reached an unceremonious halt, turning moments into forevers and forevers into eternities. He had dissolved into a meditative state deeper than any he’d visited in a very long time. It was the only way he knew to escape the pain. To cope. To forget.
Rebecca. The conscious word flashed through his subconscious mind like a strike of white hot lightning, startling him from his relaxation with a burst of alarming energy. His eyes flew open and he bolted upright, launching himself to his feet from the flowered sofa in a thick cloud of hot steam. His magic had suddenly leapt to life, searing away the remaining moisture from his hair and clothes, and now it bounded out of control in a frantic attempt to get his attention. But before he could make any sense of its frightened, uneasy stampede, a forceful pain crushed his chest.
He brought a fist to his sternum and teetered forward, catching himself with his opposite hand on the fireplace mantle. His vision swum before him in a strange mixture of white and black, and for a moment, he thought he might faint. The stabbing in his chest did not relent, but he managed to hold on to consciousness, jolted into action by panic’s accompanying rush of adrenaline. Rebecca, his magic seemed to say again, rushing back towards him for support. He did not understand what was happening, but he did know that this wasn’t the product of simple grief or even longing. This was something bigger, stronger…something far more serious than a comparatively-little heartache.
A deafening crash of thunder louder than any he’d ever heard rocked the house to its very foundation. Hawk’s eyes widened instinctively. There was only one preternatural source that could produce something as ferociously angry as that, and all at once he knew what he had to do next.
With his chest still pounding, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened their connection.
This time, the pain in his chest felt like an explosion coinciding with another impossibly loud roar of thunder. When he opened his eyes and his vision steadied, he was staring at the ceiling, half-expecting to be greeted with a scene of blood-spattered walls from where his heart and flesh had burst open. It took a moment for him to realize he was whole, and another moment still to remember what had caused such bodily anguish.
Rebecca.
This time, the word was not his magic’s. It was his own. Hoarsely, he spoke the name aloud, and he hauled himself to his feet on shaking, unsteady legs. What have you done, Rebecca Nurse?
He knew suddenly where he had to go. To her side, certainly—to save her from whatever tumultuous assault she’d become subject to, or even to calm her down if it was her own doing—but after their confrontation in the yard he knew he was not the person for either job. Not alone, anyway. While he was quite strong, he wasn’t strong enough; he never had been. Maybe that’s what had pushed her to such extremes in the first place, but he pushed the possibility out of his realm of thought as soon as it occurred to him. This was neither the time nor the place for playing the blame game.
He ran outside and kicked up his bike, leaving his helmet behind in his haste. The rain was increasing again, but his determination outshone its efforts to keep him inside. He was headed for the city. For the lights. For the hospital. For the only man he knew who was strong enough of mind and magic to combat his own flesh and blood.
For Dr. Frederick Nurse.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 1:50 pm
by Simply
The storm clouds gathered in her eyes as she opened them, staring straight up into the sky. Lightening made an evil hiss and struck her straight in the chest, rippling across her skin as though she was made of metal, conducting the current throughout all of the limbs. Her magic fueled the conduction and the ground grew barren around her. All life crawled as quickly away as it could manage as the grass withered and died as though a drought of multiple years was currently in effect. The scream that had left her lips died away as the group of witches along the tree line took one step forward.
The eldest witch, wizen and apparently aging by the moment, placed her hands on the two young men at her side and they helped lower her to the ground. “Grandmother.” Ben called her, as she settled onto the ground. She was not his biological relative, but she was the one being in his life to which he showed respect. She was the eldest by many centuries and the leader of their band of ruffians.
“I must concentrate, Benjamin. To possess her completely is a complicated task.”
“Could we not simply steal her magic to revert the process?” He asked.
Grandmother gave him a sharp look of irritation but her expression soon softened. She was mother and grandmother to them all. “It would be possible and it would be easier but within another century, I would begin to age again.” She closed her eyes as she settled onto the ground more comfortably. “But you have felt her power, her anger, her intensity. Now, with the bonds between her and that boy undone, she is at her most vulnerable. A witch is never meant to be alone. And with magic like hers and a body that knows no pain, I could be immortal and share the bounty with all my children.” Benjamin stepped away from her and questioned the elder no more.
Rebecca felt tears roll down her cheeks as her magic struggled against the current that was binding her to this place, this exact position. There was no one to help her. No one to understand the anguish she was experiencing. What have you done, Rebecca Nurse? Her eyes closed tightly as she struggled to grab a hold of that voice, that familiar thread connected to her mind. It withered and died immediately.
“All gods be cursed!” Grandmother snarled in the midst of her meditation. “The boy has felt her. We must hurry. Form the circle further out, we must be within reach of the storm.” She rose and moved ten feet out into the clearing and settled into her position once more. Ten witches emerged from the tree line and settled around her hands outstretched and palms-upward. Their lips moved simultaneously, forming the words that they needed to strengthen Grandmother’s spell.
Rebecca’s body went rigid and she collapsed to the ground, laying in a perfect circle of dead grass and the smell of sulfur. Her hair splayed out behind her like a golden halo. Her eyes were closed; she looked almost peaceful. For nearly twenty minutes she lay like this, while the witches on the hill chanted and worked and struggled to perform their task.
Then, suddenly, Rebecca screamed again and her eyes snapped open. They were not the molten amber of before but they were black as night. Her pupils could not be distinguished from her irises. Something was horribly wrong and Rebecca’s last conscious thought was, what have I done…
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:13 pm
by Astrophysicist
Hawk was going dangerously fast, impossibly fast. He wound his way into the city, dashing through the puddles and around speeding cars until the reflections and headlights were outstretched blurs in his peripheral vision. Rainwater streamed down his face and soaked his hair, but he barely felt it—his focus was on his destination, his thoughts on Rebecca Nurse. The engine of his bike roared beneath him in protest of his demand for speed, but his magic urged them forward, spinning the wheels and guiding him through the web of congested city streets.
He screeched to a halt beneath the valet awning of the hospital and leapt from the bike, sprinting through a double set of automatic doors that barely opened in time for him to pass through. A woman’s questioning voice followed him as he ran past the front information desk, but he didn’t stop, couldn’t stop, not even for the elevators to take him to the sixth floor inpatient unit where he knew Frederick Nurse worked.
Echoing like staccato thunderclaps, his footsteps in the stairwell echoed deafeningly as he raced up the flights. His feet squished soaked and wet in his boots, but he didn’t care; the least of his concerns right now were the puddles he left dripping in his wake. His magic was too preoccupied to dry him as it normally would have; it was devoting its energy instead to keeping alive the tumultuous connection between himself and the blonde-haired city girl. As long as the bridge between them hummed and pulsed with the strain of keeping it in place, he knew she was alive—not safe, not sound, but alive, and that was all he could ask after the jolt he’d experienced in his living room at home.
The storm raged on outside; he could hear it through the thick insulated walls of the unit as he burst through the door, swinging wide around the corner to rush down the long carpeted hallway of patient rooms. He was operating purely on instinct now, relying entirely on his power to find the familiar flavor of his employer’s magic to locate him in the labyrinth of bays and hallways. At last, as he jogged down the eastern edge, he found him—and Hawk launched himself through the lounge door with an entrance that startled everyone inside.
“What is the meaning of this?” demanded an unfamiliar doctor, who looked their intruder over critically. “Fred, I’m calling secur—”
“No,” came the familiar bark, and Hawk, breathing hard, looked toward the source of the voice with wide, pleading eyes. Rivulets of rainwater ran from his sopping hair down his pale face, and it was obvious from his haunted expression that something was terribly, desperately awry. “What is it, Mr. Callahan?” the man asked urgently.
Hawk cleared his throat. “It’s your granddaughter, sir,” he informed him hoarsely. He bit back a wave of panic, forcing himself to remain calm, and drew in a deep breath. “There’s been an…accident.”
His hesitation caused more concern for the doctor than the words themselves. An injury he could heal, a wound he could stitch back together with little more than a blink and a dose of magic. So why did the young Callahan boy—an intelligent, worldly lad who knew very well the skills of Dr. Nurse—seem so genuinely terrified?
“Come with me,” Hawk said, almost pleadingly. “You’re the only one who can…help her.”
Frederick Nurse cleared his throat and looked to his colleague, the one who had protested Hawk’s entry. “Mark, call Alyssa. Tell her to get in here. You’re in charge until she does.” The older witch turned to the farm hand, seizing his forearm with surprising strength. From his touch radiated a strange warmth that traveled in tiny spasms up and down his arms, and Hawk found himself relaxing a bit. He noticed, too, that he was dry, and he allowed the doctor to lead him out into the corridor near the elevators. When he spoke, his voice was so low Hawk had to strain to hear it even in the quiet of the evening inpatient unit.
“What’s the meaning of this, Mr. Callahan?” His tone implied it better be important, but Hawk was too anxious to be intimidated.
“Your granddaughter—I—” He fumbled, not knowing quite where to start. “Your granddaughter is a witch, sir.”
The elevator bell announced its arrival, and they entered quickly. Frederick’s face had paled considerably. “That’s not possible,” he stated bluntly.
“I’ve been teaching her,” Hawk went on miserably, guilt rising in his chest as he spoke. “I should have told you, but she insisted I keep it a secret. It was an agreement we’d come to.” They reached the ground floor. “She met…she met someone, several weeks ago. He was from the city.” He cleared his throat. “She’s very powerful, sir. More powerful than any witch I’ve ever met. I was afraid that if I didn’t teach her, there would be an accident. And it looks like the trouble came in a way I didn’t anticipate. Sir, I think her new friend was using her, or trying to recruit her. But for what, I don’t know.”
“How do you know she is in trouble? Have you spoken with her?”
Hawk winced, a hint of color rising to his cheeks. “We have a…a connection, sir. And when I opened it, I knew.”
“I want the full story later, Mr. Callahan,” the doctor insisted sternly, his anger and concern battling over which took precedence. “We must hurry; there’s no time to spare. Come!”
“I’ll meet you there,” he replied, the fear returning as he dashed away from Frederick. He kicked his bike’s engine to life when he returned to it outside, and he sped back to the farm, pressing it faster this time, faster and faster until he was no less than flying down the two-lane highway in the pitch dark of the raging storm. He could feel the cylinders and pistons giving way as he reached the gravel driveway, the pouring rain quenching the dusty road as his tires kicked up the rocks, but the condition of his vehicle was of little consequence right now. He let the bike drop to the ground as he jumped from his seat, reaching out desperately with his magic to find her.
But there was nothing. He was met only with hollow nothingness, emptiness—as though a force had wiped out all life in the vicinity. Even the animals seemed distant, ghostly, and Hawk knew then the only way to find her would be to open the bridge that tied them together. He stood near the porch, bracing himself on the rail, and tried to prepare himself for the barrage that would follow. With one deep breath, he pried it open, and…
…there was nothing.
Full-on panic swept through him then, and he dug deeper, compiling the energy resources of his magic to reach towards her. It was there, it had to be there. Was it only hidden? Was the force that kept everything else at bay fooling him in this instance as well?
And then there it was. The assault was altogether different this time—it struck him literally with lightning, so much like their time on the hill, only in this instance he’d been ready. He stumbled backwards, but he challenged the white-hot strike with a return hit of his own, and he pried open the connection with every ounce of magical strength he possessed. He couldn’t see, he couldn’t hear, he didn’t feel the cold rain on his face, but he could feel that she was alive—if only barely—and in terrible, terrible pain.
He came to with a huge gasp of air, flailing his arms as he struggled to orient himself. “Hawk!” shouted a voice over the storm, and he wiped the water from his eyes to see that Frederick Nurse had caught him after his collapse, easing him down onto the back porch stairs. “Hawk, where is she?” the man demanded. The terror in his voice was as frightening as the deafening crashes of thunder breaking overhead. “Do you know? I can’t feel a damn thing!”
“The oak,” he croaked, pointing with a shaky finger to the hill across the pasture, the place where he’d first encountered the feisty Rebecca at summer’s infancy. He drew on the magical strength Frederick loaned him, rising to his feet and following as quickly as he could after the older doctor. The wind was howling now, pushing against them so hard it was difficult to make the climb. But then there she was, collapsed in a perfect circle of earth stripped completely of grass, her golden hair splayed around her face. His heart dropped. Hawk pushed past Frederick and fell to his knees at her side, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“Rebecca!” he cried, giving her a gentle shake. Her open eyes stared straight upward, straight through him, the irises stained a black darker than the thickest of nights. A shiver of fear ran through him. Frederick joined him on the opposite side, placing a hand on her sternum above her heart. A faint purple glow silhouetted his fingers against the cloth of her shirt. He was feeding her outside strength, searching the shell of her body for a sign of life, of recognizable spirit. Hawk placed his hand over the older man’s, channeling his own energy through the doctor’s in a steady stream of chartreuse that sought any sign of the power that at one time had made it whole.
Come on, Rebecca, he urged her silently, holding open their connection and willing his voice—his presence, his anything—to travel across the magical bridge and ground her, help her, reassure her. Don’t do this, you can’t do this, this isn’t you…
What have I done?
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 8:22 pm
by Simply
The blackness of unconsciousness slipped over Rebecca like a wave over a child’s sandcastle – smashing and destroying any sense of the outside world that she still maintained. Inside of herself she moved slowly, searching the depths of her soul and the furthest reaches of her mind. It was pleasant here, in the silence of herself. She fabricated a soft glade with a tall tree billowing in the breeze. The flowers hung from the branches and caught the light. They seemed to glitter as though small flecks of gold and silver were embedded into the petals. She reached out to touch one and it wilted and turned to ash in her hands. Startled, Rebecca looked around and felt something sinister inside of her. Something was here and it wasn’t part of her.
Grandmother’s eyes were blank – as black and Rebecca’s appeared to Hawk. The witches that surrounded her didn’t break their circle and the words that they spoke, even though they had become aware of Fredrick Nurse and Hawk Callahan. Grandmother’s body went limp and motionless on the ground, though a circle of dead grass did not surround her like the halo around Rebecca.
Inside, Rebecca turned to see a woman standing in her glade. Her magic immediately surrounded her but- it didn’t. It surrounded this woman, who seemed to be taking it thread by thread and weaving it into herself. Panic filled her and suddenly she was pressed against the graying bark of the tree that had once had so much life. Vines shot up from the ground and bound her arms behind her, holding her like a sacrifice against the tree. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came old.
The woman that she saw was not old in the sense of age but Rebecca could tell that she had lived centuries beyond Rebecca’s own life. Her hair was black as night and longer than anyone else’s the Nurse heir had ever seen. Her eyes were like hollow shells and something lurked behind them that made Rebecca’s blood run like ice through her veins.
“You do not know me.” The woman spoke, a loose white gown hung from her shoulders, like the old nightgowns from the 1700s. “But I have known your family for centuries. I have known their potential but they had been…out of reach.” Her footsteps brought her closer to Rebecca and there was nothing the young witch could do to escape this invader. Inhaling sharply, Rebecca tried to steal her magic back but she was too defeated – too alone.
“But the wait…it has been worth it. You are more powerful than I had ever dreamed. Your body will sustain my essence for...millennia to come. It will be hard for you at first, I believe,” the young appearing woman stood in front of the Nurse girl, “to reside in a body you are not able to control, but you will live years, be able to witness me in my glory. Like now…” A wicked smile curled the trespasser’s face. She reached out and stroked the gentle curve of Rebecca’s tanned cheek. “Don’t fret, my dear. I won’t kill them unless they come at me.” Rebecca’s amber eyes shot upwards in fear and alarm, her body struggling against the restraints of the vines. She was powerless – worthless.
Rebecca’s body lurched forward and she coughed. The darkness of her eyes receded and they turned a bright, crystalline blue. She looked upwards and the same wicked smile curled against her lips. “Hello Fredrick.” Rebecca’s lips formed the words but her voice was not hers. It was deeper and much more nefarious.
Fredrick slowly pushed Hawk aside, using his magic to push Hawk even further away from the body of Rebecca. “Jezebel.” He said with certainty and despite his strength and his convictions, his voice quivered.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 10:45 pm
by Astrophysicist
Their efforts were futile. Hawk realized this even before Frederick, and he withdrew his hand with a tentative breed of sadness, his fingertips shaking. The green glow that had radiated from his palm withdrew back into his body quickly, and he stepped back, rising to his feet to brace himself against the rough bark of the tree. He watched as Frederick’s purple magic floated slowly back into his wrinkled hand, his deft fingers moving now to settle gently at the notch of tendon beneath her jaw.
Frederick Nurse, still sporting his long white lab coat, black pleated dress pants, and crimson button-down shirt, made quite the strange sight as he knelt at the crest of the hill, his gray hair plastered to his weathered forehead as he squinted down through the rain at his blonde-haired granddaughter in the grass. The air buzzed with a power and electricity he hadn’t experienced in quite some time—not since his wife breathed her last—and it caught him off-guard. He was an experienced surgeon, a genius in his field as a doctor and a researcher, yet the pattern of pulsating sparks in the unnaturally cold air was enough to rattle him to his old bones. It reeked of only one source, one villain. One horrible vixen whose eyes had haunted him since the day their paths had crossed all those decades ago—Jezebel.
When his granddaughter spoke the name, it was not Rebecca’s voice that addressed him, it was Jezebel’s. He bristled, rising slowly to his feet as she regained footing in her new young body, struggling to keep his power from lashing out at the woman—the dark, evil force—that had once tried to steal his wife away. Frederick glanced to Hawk, whose expression was hard and unreadable, and gestured for him to remain where he was. The younger boy obeyed, but it was clear that he wanted nothing more than to charge forward and join the confrontation.
Frederick knew the Callahan boy was strong of mind, body, and magic, and if things happened how he feared they might, he and Rebecca both would be needing his power before the night was over. To spend his reserves now, to tire him more than he’d already expended that evening—that was unwise, foolish. And to make matters worse, the doctor had no real idea what danger they were in. Frederick was strong, one of the strongest witches ever to walk the region, in fact, but that did not mean he was willing to risk the young life of the Callahan boy for the sake of a bluff or a challenge. They were treading on paper-thin ice.
The doctor drew in a deep breath of air, relieved to notice that the storm was lessening somewhat as Jezebel began to settle in to her new skin. It was strange to see his granddaughter without looking into her familiar honey eyes, but he knew he could not allow her possessor’s visual guise to sway him one way or the other. The azure stare he locked upon to did not belong to Rebecca Nurse.
“Release her, Jezebel,” he instructed curtly, small blazes of purple fire snaking around his fingertips. Behind him, he could feel the swell of Hawk’s magic in response. Control yourself, Callahan, he thought, every muscle in his worn body tensing. Anger could be beneficial, but fury could be blinding—and this was a situation more delicate than any surgery. He only hoped the boy had good enough sense to realize that. “She’s not yours to take.”
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:01 am
by Simply
“Not mine?” Jezebel laughed and it certainly wasn’t the soft, melodious sound that left Rebecca whenever Hawk had taken her by delightful surprise. Jezebel’s expression was one of pure delight. Clearly she had waited for this moment for centuries, biding her time and waiting for the perfect specimen to come along to sustain her. Her crystalline eyes darted downward and ran over the parts of her new body. She flexed her fingers delightedly. There was no familiar crackle of arthritis. There was no pain.
There was only power.
Empty gaze caught the sight of the serpentine energy curling around Fredrick’s fingers. “This body is mine, Fredrick, just as your lovely wife’s should have been.” Rebecca’s body moved differently, it was much more fluid and much more demanding of attention than it had been before. “I have waited for…” Jezebel looked up at the sky as lightning and thunder danced together in a dangerous tango. “I have waited for this since the first witch burned.” A dark smile played her features and she held up her hands in explanation. “Well, she wasn’t the witch. I was. It was when I first had found my true strength. I had taken the name Alice Kyteler by that time but by the time they decided to follow through on my burning I had fled to England. Ireland was difficult in those days.” She recalled, almost wistfully. “It wasn’t even the witchcraft that had got me then,” she laughed maliciously as she looked down at her body, letting grass die under her feet as she strode toward Hawk.
With her magic, she held him in place, ever aware that Fredrick might try something, always prepared. “It was a young man – married, of course. He was such a delight in the sheets.” She squirmed her body as though she had been writhing beneath a man. Fredrick should enjoy that one. “But-“ She paused a moment.
Inside of herself, trapped like a mouse in a cage, Rebecca screamed. Jezebel reached out a hand in Rebecca’s mind and swept it through the air, plucking at memories and fantasies, hopes and wishes, desires and secrets. “Ah…how quaint.” Jezebel’s black hair caught the angry breeze of Rebecca’s mind but she quickly quelled it with a simple, curt flick of her wrist.
“You have no even lain with him? Though you had thought about it I see…” Shaking her head, the assault continued as tears rolled down Rebecca’s face. “Women these days. They think that we were pious back then but they were so foolish. We were just better at hiding it,” Jezebel cocked her head as though she was consenting something, “though I suppose it was easier without streetlamps and technology.” That thought took her a short trip down, what Rebecca could only assume, was memory lane. “But still,” and they were back on track, “this boy, this young faced little hero – imagine what this tedious farm work has done to his body.” Jezebel made a throaty noise and closed her eyes. “I do miss that about the 1800s – railroad men and Indians.” Rebecca let out a soft sob as Jezebel finishing combing through her memories of Hawk.
“You wouldn’t know about that. Pity. That would have been a memory I might have stolen from Rebecca.” Jezebel raised Rebecca’s hand and placed it against the curve of Hawk’s neck as she leaned in close to whisper to him. Her other hadn held her magic in its palm, ready to destroy any attempt Fredrick made. “How she wanted it. How she wanted you. It’s almost as strong as my desire for this body but you hurt her. How does it feel knowing that her descent into my hands is all your doing…” As her lips resting against his cheek, Jezebel smiled.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 9:34 pm
by Astrophysicist
Frederick seemed to tense anew with every word the woman spoke. He was rigid and bristling, the periodic lightning illuminating a gaunt, furious face whose time-earned wrinkles seemed to smooth away in the heat of his rage. In those moments, he looked forty years younger—a man whose body was still as sound and strong as the mind and magic it housed. Hawk had never seen the man look so irate. But it was beyond ire that burned in those eyes of his; it was a particular breed of desperation, of madness that seemed to transform the aging doctor from the part of elderly gentleman to strapping, powerful witch.
And the madness, Hawk saw, was love.
It was love for his deceased wife, but it was also the love for his granddaughter that he’d not often shown to her in their sporadic summertime interactions on the farm. There was pain there, pain and fear, a combination that would only drive that venomous spike further and further into his chest until it split apart and burst forth a magical assault that would make or break them all. Frederick was right—Hawk was young, but he was far from naïve. His own special power had taught him that at an early age. And the farm boy, as petrified as he was in the presence of such a villain, knew better than to interfere. One wrong move, even from him, was liable to send Frederick into a dangerous fit of premature action.
“I warn you now, Jezebel,” the doctor spat. His voice was poison but his words were almost laughable—Jezebel was clearly in control, and she was not at all too shy to throw it in their faces. As she moved Rebecca’s slender body as though enjoying the pleasures of a man’s bed, Frederick took a step forward and let out a noise from his throat that sounded more animal than human.
But she paid him no heed, stepping around him as though the old man wasn’t there at all, and settled her black attention on Hawk Callahan.
Hawk did not have to fight the urge to run. As he felt the woman’s power seize his muscles, essentially paralyzing him where his feet stood in the burnt grass, hatred rose in him like white hot electricity. Every word the vile villain uttered was like a fresh dagger through his flesh, and he desperately thrashed against her magical restraints to no avail. His limbs, though as strong and muscled and lean as Jezebel had made them out to be, moved sluggishly through the air as he fought to keep his balance in a peculiar sort of dance. He stopped, recognizing the futility, and glared venomously, predatorily, into the blue eyes that were not Rebecca’s. The world seemed to drop away—the storm, the rain, the wind, Frederick, everything—and in that moment, it was just the two of them, facing off in a battle of magical strength and wit that held the life of the doctor’s heir in the delicate balance.
Her touch burned his skin as her fingers traced the curve of his neck. Steam rose like thick summer fog from where their flesh brushed against one another. It was one thing to stand there, forced to endure her monstrous caress in the body of the woman he had loved—it was another entirely to listen passively to her slimy, treasonous whispers.
“NO!” he screamed. A bolt of lightning snaked its way from the clouds to strike Hawk in the chest, charring through part of his soaked shirt and jolting his heart with a burst of energy that fueled his power enough to fight back against his paralysis. The electricity tasted familiar, but he couldn’t think of that right now—for he was already springing into action, leaping forward with his hands wrapped around Jezebel’s throat as he pushed her roughly into the trunk of the old tree and rested his forearm against her throat. His eyes glowed emerald from within, burning with the fury of his heart and his magic.
“I warned her against you!” he bellowed, trembling. “You used her, you manipulated her, but I never did.”
Distantly, he heard Frederick’s voice shouting from behind, but he continued anyway.
“Rebecca Nurse,” he heard himself whispering, the murmurs almost lost in the rush of the rain. “It was always for you.”
And without thinking, without any care to the consequences, he shut out the existence of Jezebel from his mind and pressed his lips to Rebecca’s lips.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 10:27 pm
by Simply
Jezebel could feel Fredrick’s anger behind her and his despair. She could almost sense his love for this young woman’s whose body she had taken over. Deep inside, Rebecca squirmed but Jezebel’s hold remained strong. Bright blue eyes stared directly into Hawk’s as Jezebel drew her face back to watch him. When she drew her head back, she knew that something was coming but right as she started to turn her head to figure out what it was, lightning flashed across the sky.
The witch’s teeth ground together as she pulled magic from Rebecca’s soul to repel anything that came her way. However, just as she was going to restrain him to the ground, she was momentarily blinded by a flash of lightning directly in front of her eyes. Blinking, she found herself pressed up against the tree trunk. Her eyes flashed amber for a quick second before back to blue.
As he spoke, a smile curled at Jezebel’s lips. A reply formulated in her mind but deep inside the body, Rebecca heard her own name…
“He’ll destroy you.” Rebecca said as Jezebel’s anger grew. “He won’t let you take me. Neither of them will.” The young witch smiled but it faded when Jezebel let out a roar of anger. She started to gather Rebecca’s power to herself. But the magic wouldn’t respond to Jezebel instead it rushed towards Rebecca and filled her long enough to suppress whatever hold the medieval witch had on her body.
A mouth pressed against hers that she was quite familiar with. Rebecca responded as water wet her face and drenched her body. She wrapped her hands into the soaked fabric of his jacket. Pulling him closer, she pushed Jezebel further inside of her but her hold began to weaken. The horrible wench possessing her was too strong. She had rooted herself inside of Rebecca when the girl had been at her most vulnerable. It was not as easy as a kiss.
Rebecca drew back and looked directly in Hawk’s eyes. “Why…” She breathed and that was all before blue eyes were looking directly into the boy’s before her. “Well played, boy. “ She placed her hand against his chest and shoved. Magic sparked at her fingertips and Hawk flew backwards into the air. As though she had just brushed a fly from her drink, Jezebel turned her attentions towards Fredrick Nurse.
“How precious was that? He tried to save her.” She laughed coldly and took the time to brush some of the water from her eyes. Rebecca’s blonde hair clung to her neck but Jezebel didn’t seem to be bothered by that fact. Instead, she formed a halo about herself of static electricity as the witches from the hill began to descend and watch what was occurring. “Are you worried, Freddy?” Jezebel asked but didn’t bother to wait for a response from him. “You should be. IN less than thirty minutes, the transition will be complete and she will cease to exist – much like your wife did sixteen years ago.”
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 11:24 pm
by Astrophysicist
It was Rebecca.
He could feel her body change as their lips met, how suddenly it was warm and familiar again, her arms wrapping tightly about his soaked torso as though her embrace would keep her anchored there. His arms found the small of her back, and he pulled her closer, wrapping her protectively in his arms. But even as she pulled back, those familiar eyes flashing amber as they met emerald, he knew it couldn’t last—Jezebel was too strong, and he wasn’t hopeful enough to believe that a gesture as simple as a kiss could penetrate her defenses. Not when she was drawing on a power as significant as Rebecca Nurse’s.
When those honey eyes flashed back to ice blue, Hawk braced himself for retaliation. He barely had time enough to draw a breath before he was flying through the air, flailing helplessly as he tried to maneuver his body to a position to land. His shoulders burned through his jacket where the medieval witch’s hands had shoved him away, but he was momentarily distracted from that as he collided with the hard earth, the wind rushing from his lungs in a loud gasp that mingled with the toying winds. Through the ringing in his ears, he could hear distant chuckles as their audience descended to watch, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.
Though at any other time Fredrick Nurse would have been horrified to witness one of his farm hands planting a kiss upon his granddaughter, he didn’t have time to comprehend what he was seeing. But somehow, Hawk had shocked his way through the villian’s barriers and coaxed Rebecca free; he could sense it in the way the air responded, the way the storm seemed to distance itself for those few precious moments, the way her eyes flashed their familiar color in the lightning. He stepped forward, extending a hand, but she was gone again before he could act. Jezebel responded with a haughty snarl, and the doctor watched, dumbfounded, as the young Callahan boy flew through the charged air to land hard on the soil behind him.
But he didn’t have time to check on him. Jezebel had turned his attention back to Fredrick, and she was addressing him now with that same malicious tone that made his heart slam against his ribcage. “You have no business bringing my wife into this,” he returned, his voice terrifyingly calm as his fury burned in his gaze. “Neither do you have any business hurting my granddaughter. I warn you again, Jezebel.” He turned to look at the other witches who had gathered, but it was not out of intimidation that his glare focused on each form in turn—it was challenge. When they laughed, he did not react.
Meanwhile, Hawk had regained enough of his breath to sit up. Pain shot down his limbs in protest of his movements, and his head throbbed with the effort. Blood, thick and warmer than the rain, matted in his auburn hair and ran in scarlet rivers down his temple. When he at last could open his eyes without being greeted by the static of blurry, dizzy stars, he focused in on Fredrick Nurse, just in time to see his palms suddenly engulfed with purple flames.
The old man brought his hands together and, with a great shout, propelled it towards the centuries-old witch in a gesture too fast for his eyes to follow. Before he realized what was happening, Hawk was scrambling to his feet and rushing clumsily to the doctor’s aid, his body protesting every action.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2012 12:53 pm
by Simply
i]Rebecca cried and cried and cried inside of herself. She felt helpless and powerless now that her magic had left her. It had been stolen and there was no way that she could get it back. All those heroines in stories managed to somehow overcome the atrocities that were laid before them but Rebecca knew that she was not strong enough on her own. She was not capable of this and that thinking so was just a childish fancy.
The woman before her smiled as she felt the energy of another witch. “Your grandfather is resilient. No wonder he helped to create Witch.” Rebecca’s sobs momentarily stopped and her brow furrowed.
“What are you talking about?”
“You are Witch.”
“Of course, I am a witch.” Rebecca snapped back, her cheeks stained with tears and her eyes hard.
“Witch. Capital W, no ‘a’ beforehand. You are Witch. The power incarnate. The most powerful witch to walk. It happens every couple hundred years.” Jezebel looked off, as though distracted and her eyes went blank.[/i]
“You’re warning me?” Jezebel laughed in Rebecca’s body. “Oh, Freddy, how darling. It’s nice to think that you can defeat me. That you can save her.” Jezebel splayed her hands by her sides and held them there firmly. She resolutely ignored her followers that were behind her and circling around with laugher in their voices. She felt the surge of power in the air that he was about to send her way. She knew that she had a few moments and so she just stood there, amused.
The power came quicker than she expected. She turned sideways but it caught the left side of her body. She hissed as it twisted her sideways and threw her to the ground. She pushed herself up and laughed a little until she felt the pain rush against her side. “Faster than you look old man.”
[i]Jezebel turned some of her attention back towards Rebecca. “I missed the last one. One of your ancestors or something like that, I don’t know.” She flipped a wrist as though brushing off the details. “By the time I came to America she was too old but she knew me for what I was. She cursed your family and me, in a sense. But I broke it. You broke it. You stole a life and all the power from future generations so far. Something something blah blah blah blah,” another flick of her wrist. “All that matters is that I have you now and you will be stuck there. We’ll never age. We’ll see great changes. Everyone you know and love will eventually pass and perhaps we can be…friends.” Jezebel laughed at the idea because she didn’t care either way.
ooc: gahhh it's bad.
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Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 10:01 pm
by Astrophysicist
Fredrick Nurse had never been one to give up. He was resilient indeed, and strong, and he had never been one to back down from a challenge. His determination had only increased with age, and the death of his beloved wife had only served to instill within him a greater desire to achieve his goals. The experienced doctor’s daily routine consisted of saving lives, of healing, of putting fears to rest as he mended flesh and eased minds. But when it came to his own family and the safety of his granddaughter, he was a magical force to be reckoned with.
Hawk felt as though he were running in slow motion as he scrambled across the knotted earth towards the older witch. Blinded by the searing glow of Fredrick Nurse’s purple magic, the rain in his eyes, and the blood running down his forehead, Hawk Callahan felt as though he were trapped in a dream. The air smelled of an electricity that was both familiar and foreign at once, and it frightened him as much as it encouraged him to shake himself from the vision. He could still feel the pressure of Rebecca’s lips on his own, but watching her through the explosion—watching Jezebel—he felt his heart drop to his stomach.
The purple light blasted from Fredrick’s fingertips like rocket fire. The heat from the toiling purple flames brought the falling raindrops to a boil as they flickered through the humid air, creating clouds of white steam that rolled over their circle like a summer fog. He saw Jezebel’s mouth move as she spat some inaudible comment, but it was too late—the magical fire struck Rebecca’s body straight in the chest, knocking the woman backwards in a flash of light that prevented Hawk from seeing its effect. Before he could fully process what had happened, however, he once again found himself flying backwards through the air, his vision a screen of white as Fredrick’s angry heat blasted the bare skin of his face.
Streams of sparkling magic burst forth from the older gentleman as though he were a fountain of power, each one branching from his writhing core in a pattern that would have been beautiful had it not filled Hawk with such terror. He realized as he hauled himself once again to his feet that each individual strand had sought—and presumably struck—one of the cackling dark witches that had descended around them. But the old man was faltering. The fire burned impossibly bright, but it could not last forever—not at such a tremendous volume, not against so many a foe. Hawk rushed forward, then halted abruptly in his tracks just an arm’s length from the doctor, bracing his physical body for the mental and magical barrage that he was soon to withstand.
And with that—with thoughts full of Rebecca and the prospect of getting her back, of saving and relieving Fredrick Nurse from his own rescuing attempt—he called forth a bolt of lightning from the black and twisting clouds above them. It hit him square in the chest, and, as it had back on the hill with Rebecca, it knocked him senseless enough to drop his mental barrier of meditation and embrace, in one drowning gulp, the full strength of his unbridled power.
A burst of green brighter than Fredrick’s aubergine exploded from his silhouetted form, twisting like electric vines around the older witch’s established currents.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2012 11:21 pm
by Simply
Jezebel was quite certain of her victory. After all, a dozen witches like Fredrick or Oliver would be unable to vanquish the power she had at her disposal. It was almost comical as she watched the little boy run. She felt something switch around and she cocked her head, almost listening for the magic. It began to fill the air, as though the floodgates had broken and the waters were unleashing their fury. That was interesting but hardly worth more than a second thought as she drew on more of Rebecca’s reserve. It was so plentiful that she even withdrew inside for a moment.
“It’s cute, how they’re trying to save you. Endearing. I will almost be sad to see such optimism die.” She cast a glance at Rebecca, who still had her body plastered against the tree that was her prison. Bright eyes were rimmed with tears and her eyelashes clung to her lower lids. She wanted this to all stop, just to end. Her life? This fight? It didn’t matter.
Rebecca wanted it all to end.
And end it would.
Jezebel felt the power add on to Fredrick’s and it made her twitch just slightly as she grabbed onto the remainder of Rebecca’s power. The surrounding witches watched, surveyed and attempted to determine the best way to most efficiently finish them off. As fun as this was, she wasn’t in the mood to continue on this much longer. Jezebel had a life to get on with. After all, an eternity of youth and power…well, the possibilities were endless.
Rebecca did not want Hawk to get hurt. She had been betrayed, battered, abused and she was worn out. She was tired. She still wanted it to be over. OVER! She screamed at the top of her lungs and this little between world that they were residing in needed to end. Her heart pounded in her chest and her magic flickered in Jezebel’s grasp, just long enough to have that bright beam of light, of Hawk and Fredrick, of hope and beauty and love burst at Rebecca’s body.
People often said that when they died, life slowed so that they could see everything that had happened in their life. But for Jezebel, who had lived countless lives and killed countless witches to do so, didn’t have that moment. Her life ended abruptly as power slammed into her form all sides and all of her energy was drained back into Rebecca but then with all that force, all the power coming at her, it vanished and with it so did her consciousness.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 8:04 pm
by Astrophysicist
Hawk did not know where he was. The barrage of voices, of consciousness, washed over him like a great tidal wave, seizing him in its mighty current and tumbling his mind in its vicious white rapids. He was drowning in his own existence, in his own flow of power, and yet he could not bring it all to stop—another presence kept him going, kept him just enough afloat to catch a fleeting gasp of air. The continuous feed of Fredrick Nurse’s immeasurable power, the depth and strength of which the old man had never fully revealed until now, wound around Hawk’s own magic like the warm embrace of a life vest. Their braided streams twisted in a flickering electrical display of chartreuse and aubergine, drawing white hot lightning from the storm still brewing above.
The Callahan boy was not aware of the shrieks of anguish from the witches that had encircled them, but Fredrick, whose power did not depend on the sacrifice of his own self-awareness, drew strength from their cries as he pressed forward. He stood in the center of the dissolving gathering, distantly aware that more and more members of Jezebel’s coven were retreating in pain, his arms outstretched as his power flowed from his directing palms. As a doctor, it was a struggle to continue inflicting agony on another living being, but right now—as Hawk’s firm hand on his shoulder reminded him—he was not playing his usual role of nationally renowned surgeon. He was Fredrick Nurse—a witch, a friend, a grandfather. A protector.
Jezebel’s end came in an explosion of white light as the essence of her being disintegrated in the humid air, her power—the pieces of herself that she had anchored to Rebecca—dissipating like a cold, ghostly mist in the clouds. The world seemed to move in slow motion in the aftermath of her destruction; Fredrick staggered back, his magic snapping violently back to his core, flailing to right himself as the field flooded with darkness. Hawk, too, suffered from the abrupt severing of their magical feed, his power retreating like a stretched spring back to his chest.
For a moment, he stood there in pause, holding his breath as his thoughts calmed. Lightning flickered above, lacing its fractal fingers across the churning clouds, and he caught sight of Rebecca’s crumpled form in the blackness of the night. A scream of concern caught in his throat, and he lunged forward towards her. His heartbeat slammed like rhythmic thunder in his ears, and with most of his strength depleted, it was a struggle to cross the grass without stumbling to his knees. He collapsed at her side, Fredrick not far behind, and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Rebecca,” he said earnestly, his voice hoarse and breathy. “Rebecca!”
Panic gripped Hawk as he watched Fredrick lower himself to her side, his face grim in the intermittent flashes from above. Rain began to fall from the swollen clouds, drenching them as they crouched beneath the oak. Fredrick’s fingers found the pulse in her neck. “We have to get her back to the house,” he croaked over the growl of the lingering storm.
Hawk, whose magical reserves had been depleted to naught, shook violently as he slid his arms beneath hers and hoisted her into the air. Fredrick, who looked worse than Hawk felt, grasped her legs. Weak and trembling, they picked their way back to the old farmhouse and laid her soaking form on the sofa.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 12:52 pm
by Simply
Rebecca fell into unconsciousness like a lover fell into the arms of their companion. It cradled her and eased all of the worries and stress and pain that had built up in her and bubbled ferociously over the past weeks. Her mind blackened into a soft slumber. She didn’t feel the men carry her to the farm and lay her nearly broken body on the soft fabric of the couch.
Fredrick lowered himself shakily into a chair, placing his head in both of his hands. His mind and body were weary from the exertion that it took to combat someone as powerful as Jezebel. Even though he was exhausted, Fredrick knew that it was the combination of Rebecca’s power and the Callahan’s boy’s that had done the dead. He knew that he was a powerful healer and that he was competent in many areas but he had never felt a combination like those two had.
“You need to go home, boy. You need to rest. She needs rest.” He ran his hands up his face and through his hair. He was worn down. He was old, far too old for this anymore. He could barely even heal as much as he used to, let along fight a millennia old witch that had possessed the granddaughter that he had never fully loved. Sitting there, watching his life tick by for a few more seconds, Fredrick realized that he had further tarnished his wife’s memory by never accepting the granddaughter he had never wanted. It wasn’t a particularly comforting realization.
His eyes moved over to Rebecca, watching her breaths occur much less frequently than they should be. “She should survive but I will need to devote time to her and she will need to rest. You should do the same. When she recovers, I’ll call.” He swallowed and stood shakily, holding his hand out to the boy. “Do you need a ride?”
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 7:07 pm
by Astrophysicist
By the time they reached the farmhouse and laid Rebecca’s unconscious form on the sofa, Hawk could barely stand. The strength had leeched from his limbs with every labored step from the fateful confrontation on the field, his heart thundering in his ears almost as ferociously as the storm had raged only minutes before.
The three of them were completely drenched. The young blonde woman’s storm had left them soaked to the bone, its downpour fading to a gentle summer drizzle in the aftermath of Jezebel’s death. Even the sky had begun to clear as they neared the back porch, the dense clouds stretching apart like fibrous balls of cotton to reveal a navy sky of winking stars. Normally, Hawk would have dried himself immediately with a burst of power coursing across his skin, but he had nothing to spare, nothing to grasp; what little remained of his reserves were spent on keeping himself alive, keeping his meditation in check, and keeping himself calm after the terrifying fury they had just witnessed.
Wordlessly, Hawk sunk into the other armchair, his fingertips digging into the upholstered arms to combat the violent trembling in his hands. He could sense Fredrick’s confusion and disapproval, but he did not have the energy to refute words and assumptions left unsaid. But the knowledge of how the evil witch was defeated—how it had been Hawk and Rebecca’s conjoined forces that struck the young woman from her relentless clutches—hung in the air thick as the curtain of post-storm humidity. Despite the outcome, despite how they had triumphed, the Callahan boy felt as though he had betrayed his employer, breaking the older doctor’s trust. Hawk’s relationship with Rebecca, though rocky of late, had been blasted into the open now for everyone to see, including the man they had excluded all along.
But the doctor was right. They needed time, they needed space, they needed rest. The road to recovery would be long and grueling, particularly for Rebecca, he knew. Uncertainty was what frightened him the most, however, and Hawk rose to his feet unsteadily at Fredrick’s curt prompt. He didn’t know whether or not to take the man’s hand when he extended it, but he completed the handshake with as much of a grateful smile as he could muster. “No, I’ve got my bike,” he rasped, the sound of his voice hoarse and foreign.
“You’re in no condition to ride,” Fredrick stated, his expression unreadable. “You can stay in the guest room. Would you like me to call your parents?”
Hawk nodded gratefully, reaching up to wipe away the rain that ran down his forehead from his sopping hair. “Just…don’t tell them…I mean, don’t tell them anything to worry them.”
Fredrick nodded once, eyes cast down. “Go upstairs, boy.” He placed a hand on the young man’s shoulders, sending a pulse of power at the point of contact to dry him. “I’ll bring you some clothes as soon as I get her upstairs.”
“I can help—”
“No. You cannot. You will go to bed immediately.” Fredrick’s pointed dialogue came so naturally it was almost as though nothing had happened. Without the strength to protest, Hawk trudged upstairs, clinging to the railing for support as he ascended.
He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 11:03 pm
by Simply
The minutes clicked by as Fredrick listened to the soft drudging steps of the boy as he found one of the beds and tossed himself in it without a second thought. The thud indicated to the old man that he had found his place and with a little concentration, Fredrick made certain that he could hear the boy’s rhythmic breathing. He lowered himself back into the seat and turned his hard gaze to the blonde girl sprawled on the couch. Her chest rose and fell gently, almost imperceptibly.
She was something that he hadn’t anticipated, hadn’t been prepared to deal with. All of his own children had been utterly and completely mortal. They were unmistakably human. They did not know of the power that their parents had possessed and that was always best when extraordinary ungifted children were born to witches. It happened, uncommonly, but it happened. Witches married witches to keep the line pure, to preserve the talents that had been nearly expunged through witch trials and time. Many witches found mortals to be their preferred company, their spouses and so many lines died. Fredrick had thought theirs had died…
He, for a brief moment, almost wished it had.
Taking a moment’s rest, he moved over to her and scooped her into his arms. He carried her to her room and placed her upon the bed, letting her hair fall gently, like a halo, around her head. She looked so pleasant there, reminding him of her grandmother. Swallowing, he rested a hand on her forehead. Whispering under his breath, he let the last of her power flow from him to her, restoring her as best as he could. Falling to his knees, he withdrew his hand and rested there a moment, until he managed to push himself up and find his way to his own bedroom, where he collapsed on the bed, drained.
Seven hours later, the amber eyes blinked against the light that was gently filling the room as the sun had risen. It caressed her face, easing her away. Then she gasped, as though she hadn’t taken a breath as herself in years. The breath led to a cough and she forced herself upwards onto her elbows, letting the coughing fit exhaust itself so that she could breath gently and carefully. She immediately looked around. In her own room, in her grandfather’s house, Rebecca relaxed against the pillow.
The memory of the previous night flooded her and she began to sob, unable to stop as the tears rolled down her cheeks. She had nearly killed them, been unable to stop herself. Jezebel had made her want it, she had wanted to destroy them, wanted to be free of them, that was how she had managed to worm her way into Rebecca’s body and soul. Part of her had wanted to be free, to have that power. The realization hit her hard in her chest and she stifled her sobs, slipped from the bed and making up her mind, instantly.
She had to leave. She had to never come back, ever.
With that in mind, she hastily wrote Fredrick a letter. She would purchase a plane ticket and have her parents call him when she arrived safely. She was due to return home in a few days, what did it matter if it was a few days earlier than planned. Rebecca packed hastily, lingering only the briefest of moments when her hand passed over the book that had started everything. She placed her bags at the door and found a small square piece of white cardstock. Slowly, she tapped her pen to the paper before scribbling on it slowly. Sighing, she placed it on the book and slipped out the door. She tossed her bag into the trunk of the taxi that she had called when she had made up her mind. Yet all she thought above, even as she boarded the plane, was the three words she had left for him.
Hawk. I’m sorry.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 10:36 pm
by Astrophysicist
He couldn’t hear her anymore.
The voice in his dreams—that dulcet sound that was simultaneously gentle and powerful—had dissolved to silence, an unnerving absence of sound that made his ears ring deafeningly even in his slumber. The eerie quietude haunted him like a ghost—or perhaps the absence of a ghost—and rang to his magical core like the hollow vibrations of silent wind chimes in a summer storm.
Hawk felt empty. No, he was empty; his flesh and bones were a shell for a life stripped of its warmth and meaning, animated only by the emerald energy that stirred in his soul. His power was his only constant besides the profound vacancy that plagued his thoughts and emotions, and though he performed his routine as though nothing had ever happened, his mechanized actions couldn’t hide the marked change that had irreversibly overcome the Callahan boy.
Even the note she’d left for him, placed atop the fateful diary she’d found in the basement amongst her grandfather’s things, had echoed in his own voice through his head. She’d departed the farm before he’d even awoken from his painful sleep, long before he’d recovered enough of his magical strength to return to work. He couldn’t remember the words Fredrick Nurse had used when he informed him of her leaving, but it didn’t matter anyway, he supposed—she was gone, vanished, run away, a distant memory of dissipated feeling and abandoned love. However he said it, she still wasn’t there.
Fredrick avoided Hawk for the most part; given that it was the boy’s last summer working on the acreage before he went off to college, he kept his interactions short and direct, speaking to him only when he expressed his thanks and said a final goodbye. The older man’s health had declined significantly in the weeks following their intervention on the hillside; his reserve of power had taken a hit even the most resilient witches would have difficulty rebounding from, and at his age, with his physical body also having been drained of its life force during the confrontation, he was having a harder and harder time keeping up his strenuous hours at work. Hawk witnessed this from afar; whenever he’d tried to lend an extra hand or share his concerns, the doctor would dismiss him promptly, with words harsh enough to deter him from asking again.
He departed Salem that autumn with a heart too fragile to feel much more than hollow. With a thousand miles between the Nurse farm and his new Midwestern home, he began to regain a sense of normalcy that allowed him to dream again, to slowly fill the void in his soul with remnants of his own shattered pieces. He dove into his studies—veterinary medicine, the natural choice for a witch whose extraordinary gift involved communicating with animals—with reckless abandon, falling into the routine of classes and studying with much more ease than that of his non-magical classmates. But even as he learned to live with the memories of that fateful night, the battle with Jezebel was never far from the forefront of his mind—and as such, neither was the honey-eyed young woman who had disappeared from his life like a candle’s flame in the breeze.
He’d been in the lab when he got the call from a distressed Harper Johnson, one of the men he’d worked with back on the Nurse farm during his teenage years. A slew of words reached his ear through the receiver, but Hawk only remembered the very last sentence: “He didn’t make it, Oliver James.” The gruff man’s voice had cracked over the line as he spoke, sending a pang of agony straight through the young man’s chest.
Fredrick Nurse is gone. The words repeated in his head like a mantra, coursing through his conscious in a repetitious growl that rivaled the roar of the jet engines as he flew home for the funeral the next afternoon. White-faced and exhausted, he stepped off the plane with his shoulders slumped beneath the weight of his new grief, trudging down the jetway beneath a barrage of remembrances.
Fredrick Nurse is gone.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 9:23 pm
by Simply
Days fell like grains of sand through a tiny hourglass, each one a struggling to slip through but continuing to pass without fail. The world had become incessantly dull, as though the vibrancy had been sucked away. The colors of her life now were drawn in gray and black and white, the ink of despair and forfeiture. And his voice, the music that had cut through the darkness, was not gone. His voice was everywhere those first two years. Rebecca heard him in certain words that other people said, causing her to turn her head rapidly to search for his familiar face. She heard him in her dreams, constantly beckoning her or chiding her or laughing at her. His voice filled her mind but nothing was ever really said and no comfort was ever achieved. For the longest time, she struggled to cope with the decision that she made, but slowly she learned to deal and those whispers in her mind melted away like snow yielding to the spring.
Rebecca’s life returned to what it once was – devoid of magic. However, it was far more agonizing than it had been before. She couldn’t even do a simple movement spell, couldn’t ask a flower to open and couldn’t light a candle. There was no swelling inside of her chest when she called upon her magic. Her bones broke when she attempted the same activities she had done before and her memory came imperfect. It was a struggle to adapt, at first, and she broke down along the way.
Picking herself up and putting herself back together after the life-changing ordeal had been painstakingly difficult but Rebecca Nurse managed after a time. Time would heal all wounds…eventually. She never visited her grandfather again but wrote to him constantly, letting him know that she was well and that Jezebel’s minions wouldn’t be searching for her anymore – she had nothing that they could want. Whatever greatness had been inside of her had been dispersed the moment she collapsed beneath the big tree on the hill.
The greatest adjustment that she made was going off to university. She rushed a sorority and quickly made friends, falling into a party scene temporarily before getting her life back on track in her second year attending. At first she drank heavily and slept around and made no real progress. For a year, she struggled but soon Rebecca found a passion for graphic design, pursuing it eagerly. The witch, or was she even that anymore(?), also took Latin, as though it might tie her to something she once was, as a gentle reminder of where she had been and how far she had come.
Friends came as well as suitors and Rebecca didn’t think of him in those years. When she dated, she didn’t recall the restaurant he had taken her to. She didn’t compare the meager feelings she had towards her dates to the rush of exhilaration she had felt on the back of Hawk’s bike. The typical questions that first dates asked each other did not progress as they had between her and the Callahan boy. She didn’t tease these boys about their previous girlfriends, she didn’t call them by their given names instead of what they preferred. With them, it was normal and nothing ever came of them.
Rebecca was in her bedroom in her apartment, busily editing one of her final projects for a class, growing slightly irritated with the program she was using. Her cell vibrated on the table beside her and she turned to look at it, reaching out and muting it quickly so she could continue looking. She turned back to her work, running a hand through her hair that was longer than it used to be. Her phone rang twice more before she picked it up, irritated. Sliding her finger across the bottom of the screen, she brought it up to her ear. “Uhh yeah.” She said, still focused on the computer screen in front of her. Suddenly, the phone thumped the mattress she was sitting on before clattering to the floor.
The next few days were a blur and Rebecca couldn’t have articulated how she had gotten home, subsequently flown to Salem and made it to her grandfather’s home. Her dress was black and he hair was tied back gently, half up and half down. Her father and the rest of her family were attending to some things at the funeral home but Rebecca had elected to stay behind. She wanted to search through his things, to spend some time alone, in the place that had changed her life.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 5:36 pm
by Astrophysicist
His father picked him up at the airport that day. Hawk loaded his carry-on suitcase in the trunk of the family car and climbed into the passenger seat, his green-eyed gaze simultaneously empty and full of feeling as he stared unblinkingly at the road ahead. They hardly spoke as they wound through city traffic to their stately suburban home, sharing the understanding of grief’s unrelenting torment. When they pulled into the back alley and into their gravelly driveway, Hawk elected to stay behind, allowing his father to take his bag inside while he numbly visited his old motorcycle in the garage.
Running his fingers along the smooth fuel tank, his touch left lines in the dust that had accumulated on its previously pristine surface. When he’d moved to the Midwest to attend college and veterinary school, he had elected to leave the two-wheeled vehicle behind—in part because it would have been difficult to haul it cross-country along with his belongings (the mature, logical reason he told his parents), but the truth was that it carried with it memories he preferred to forget. The amber-eyed young woman with whom he had shared a preternatural connection already haunted him like a vindictive ghost; he did not need to recall the blissful night they’d shared that fateful summer, when the blonde daredevil had stood with her arms outstretched like a bird in flight as he peeled down winding rural roads.
The funeral was at noon the following day. Though Hawk’s family had not known Fredrick Nurse particularly well, they knew how the Callahan boy had idolized him, how much he owed to the older gentleman who had seen the great potential in Oliver James. His parents and sister got out at the funeral home door where Hawk, behind the wheel, dropped them off. “I’ll go park,” he told them, doing his best to smile. As they disappeared inside and he turned the car around towards the quickly-filling lot, he knew he was in no state to follow them. Instead, he drove past the vacant spots and down the winding entrance, past the rest of the city and into the familiar country.
The scenery unfolded before him almost cruelly, the golden sun beautifully illuminating pitching hills that alternated between dense woods and open, grassy pastures. Gritting his teeth as he reached the turn-off from the main stretch of road, he slowly made his way down the crunching driveway, parking alongside the nearest barn and climbing reluctantly out of his seat.
It felt ridiculous to be on the familiar farm dressed the way he was—clad not in stained, ripped work clothes and boots but rather in a well-fitted black suit and tie with polished dress shoes. Thankfully, no one was there to see him; the property was vacant but for the confused animals in their respective stalls, all the workmen and their families at the funeral with the rest.
With a sigh, he made his way onto the front porch and pushed through the unlocked door, letting the screen door close behind him with its usual forceful bang. The sound echoed through him like a gunshot, and in the total silence that followed, he felt the stifling absence of Fredrick Nurse weighing heavily in the air.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 1:30 pm
by Simply
Rebecca wanted to search through his things, wanted to remember him. She walked up the stairs to the attic slowly, holding onto the wooden supports and letting the smooth feel of the worn wood run beneath her fingertips. It was familiar, from the first time she had walked up these stairs, climbed and found the book that had changed a mundane summer into one that she wound never forget. Even though her memory was not like it used to be, everything from before she lost her powers was a crisp as when she had them. She knew the grooves in the wood beneath the soft soles of her flat black shoes. When she arrived on the landing, she inhaled through her nose, letting her memories flood her.
Carefully, she ran her hands over the boxes of items that clearly hadn’t been moved since she had left. Everything was as she remembered it, except the box the held the books. Her eyes narrowed and she moved over to it, bending down to it and pealing back the lid. She peered inside and immediately her eyes brimmed with tears. She reached in and withdrew a letter in a deep blue envelope. On it, in Fredrick’s chicken scratch known as handwriting, was her name. Becky. She swallowed hard, flipping the envelope back and forth in her hands. She wanted to open it and read what was written inside but at the same time she didn’t want to know what he had wanted to say to her. She had only spoken to him twice maybe since she had left. Once to tell him she had arrived home and another when he called her to wish her a happy twentieth birthday.
She placed the envelope against the darkness of her dress. She slipped her finger beneath the lip of the envelope and ripped it upwards. Withdrawing the multiple papers within, she began to cry, tears spilling down her face, slightly smearing her mascara that she had placed appropriately for the wake. Rebecca couldn’t even read the words at first, instead she set the papers in her hand and calmed herself, stopping the flow of tears before she began to read.
Becky,
I know I never called you that when you were here. It was difficult, as that is what we called my wife, your grandmother. She was my everything and she was more beautiful that you could imagine…well, perhaps not. You are her spitting image after all. She died when you were born, because of what you were our female magical line…it, it was how it had to be and I’m sorry if I ever led you to believe I felt anything less than love for you. It was just hard, without her. She knew what to do, what to say, how to dress, how to cook. I was lost without her at first.
Rebecca put the back of her hand to her lips, looking up at the ceiling and forcing herself to keep reading instead of bursting back into tears. He had never spoken to her this way. She made herself keep reading.
I’ve begun to ramble, but it’ll take too long to write this to start over again. Some day you’ll read this after I’ve gone and I wanted you to know that I loved you as much as I loved her. I’m sorry for what happened that summer, for your suffering. I pray that you will be able to move on from that incident. I don’t know if you’ve regained use of your powers by now, part of me hopes you never do. It is easier that way, being what you are – being Witch.
Take all these books. Your father tells me you like to rebind old ones and I think you could keep these, perhaps if your children. There was a smudge there, as though he had hesitated. Don’t forget that time but don’t come back to this place afterwards. I’ve given it to you, in my will, but I want you to sell it and move on. You’re free from the power, I hope that you can move on. That Callahan boy missed you I think but…I don’t think it would be wise to see him again. He’s moved on from what I can tell and I know that you have. Sell the farm, Becky.
I love you.
Fredrick.
The ending was so abrupt that she choked on a sob, feeling it stick in her throat. Too many emotions. He loved her. He had mentioned Oliver. She felt the familiar tightness of pain and memories in her chest. Just then, the door slammed and she turned her head around, the tears drying in her eyes. Her brow furrowed and she stood up, picking up the old leather book that she had caused to fly haphazardly towards Hawk’s head that day on the porch. She folded up the letter and tucked it inside the book before descending the stairs. It was probably some that was too early for the reception.
Rebecca tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear with her free hand as she rounded the corner. “The reception isn’t until 4:30, if you want to come back,” She had been looking down at the floor and when she looked up, Hawk was standing there. The book fell to the floor from her grasp with a thud and all she could do was stand there, mouth slightly parted in complete and utter shock.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [for Kelly <3]
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 7:30 pm
by Astrophysicist
There had been a marked difference in his life after that fateful day, the evening when the witch Jezebel had threatened them all from within Rebecca’s helpless body. It hadn’t just been the sight of the amber-eyed young woman being tortured from the outside in, although that had certainly been a part of it; it had, Hawk suspected now, everything to do with Fredrick Nurse and the love and devotion the old man had demonstrated that miserable night. The aging doctor’s well-disguised emotions had at last come to light in a display that would have frightened any witch in his or her right mind, bursting forward from their repression in a way that allowed him to harness the power of his feelings on top of the magic stored within. Combined with Hawk’s comparatively volatile, much younger power, the unlikely but undeniably suitable pair made a team that had bested an entire malevolent coven of dark hopefuls.
They had saved Rebecca Nurse that night, it was true, but both of them bore scars that would never fully heal over. Though Fredrick’s power had been honed and strengthened over the years, his physical body had paid the price for such potent expenditure. The older man had never been the same; he had grown weaker, more frail, his skin and bones holding on with the help of his magic until its grasp loosened enough to slip away forever. Ever the proud, honorable witch, however, he wore his troubles like a badge of honor, reassuring himself that he had paid a reasonable price for the life and safety of his family—be they his blood, like his granddaughter Rebecca, or an extension of it, like the steadfast Oliver James Callahan. He had known satisfaction until his last breath.
Hawk, on the other hand, suffered his scars on the inside, becoming more reserved with his power and more withdrawn in his attitude. He was not actively frightened, per se, but he could not deny that a certain degree of tentativeness had rooted in his bones and refused to depart. With magic, Jezebel had taught him, there was a fine line between talent and insanity. Knowing now what it could do, he took every step in fear that he might cross it. He had always been unusually disciplined for his age (out of necessity, to keep his power in check), but in the aftermath of that event he had taken it to an even stricter extreme.
The farm was almost exactly as he remembered it. The gravel of the driveway as he crossed it had made the same crisp crunch beneath his shoes; the porch stairs creaked the same pitches beneath his weight as he ascended; the old screen door slammed behind him with exactly the same deafening strike of the frame. Even the scent of the house remained unchanged. The aroma of aged wood, notes of lemon furniture polish, and the tangy smell of the pumice-infused soap at the sink used by all the farmhands to scrub away long days’ work—that specific perfume alone threatened to lower the floodgates of Hawk’s checked emotions.
But nothing could have prepared him for the sight that greeted him when he looked up to footsteps rounding the corner.
“Rebecca,” he breathed, her name spilling from his lips for the first time since their mutual departure that summer. He froze in place, his body paralyzed while his magic, struggling against the hold he had kept upon it for so long, flared to life in a blaze so strong that his fingertips shimmered emerald.
“I…I can come back later,” he stammered, unable to tear his green eyes from the sight of her. The young man, normally so gifted with words, remembered quickly that Rebecca Nurse had been one of very few people capable of putting a hold on his verbal eloquence. “For the reception, I mean,” he amended, clearing his throat and angling slightly towards the door. But as much as he knew he should leave, something else—something he couldn’t identify—refused to let him. A tense pause settled between them.
“How are you doing?” he asked at last, breaking the quiet in hushed tones that indicated he was referring to her grandfather. He glanced down to the book she had dropped at her feet, swallowing hard at the sight of the old familiar spellbook. Without thinking, he stepped forward and bent down to retrieve it. When he stood, he was far closer to the amber-eyed young woman than he meant to be. His brows knitted together infinitesimally. “Here,” he breathed, looking down into her eyes. “I’ll…" He stopped abruptly, his heart racing at their proximity as he searched her honey gaze with his own unreadable green eyes. "I'll go," he finished in a whisper, but still he remained where he was, unable to pull himself away…
Re: [18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 8:59 pm
by Simply
The book was on the ground by her feet but it was deemed insignificant now – completely unimportant since her eyes fell upon the familiar face with those piercing green eyes. Those damned eyes always seemed to know what she was thinking – but then again, having an open link into her mind hadn’t hurt him on that front. Yet there he was, nearly the same as she remembered him. His shoulders were broader – he had filled out into his frame since they last saw each other – though the same curve of his bicep was present from working on the farm. She swallowed, noticing all of this the moment, she realized who it was.
Her name left her lips and her stomach flip-flopped around inside of her. Too many emotions flooded her at the sound of her name with his voice speaking it. A flash broke her attention on his eyes and she sent her gaze to his fingers. They burned the same brilliant green as his eyes and for a moment she was captivated. Magic. The sight of it and the feel of it in the air made her eyes tear up but she cast them aside with a simple blink, her lashes coming away dry. It had been so long since she had felt its warmth or seen its majesty.
He spoke again and broke her concentration on the emerald flares that quickly flickered out. Come back later. She’d have to speak with him, to talk to him. That familiar ache set in. It was the throbbing that had persisted for months after she had abandoned this farm early in the morning at the end of an awakening summer. She longed to apologize, to reach out and touch his face, to feel the dark strands of his hair beneath her skin.
She had loved him, she realized then, but that time was past now. She had grown up and lost much after she had left. It was hard to look back and she what had happened to what she had left behind. Again he spoke and she realized she had just been standing there, a complete mess of emotions. Disbelief was first and foremost at the sight of him in her grandfather’s home, though her surprise shouldn’t have been so strong. Hawk had been a stable presence in this house since she had arrived. Anger had surged through her when she had remembered his betrayal of trust. Then agony at the way she had left without closure – without telling him she was going – without telling him how she had felt. Sorrow followed at the memory of her first love and the way that he had told her how he had felt about her.
“I’m…” She began, her lips separating and her throat felt raw and hoarse as though she had traveled endlessly without a drop of water since they last parted. What was there to say? “I’m fine.” She breathed as he took a step towards her. Fine?! God, she had imagined this moment in her head a thousand times. She imagined acting coy and being beautiful but instead all she could manage was fine and a dumbstruck look like a schoolgirl receiving her first kiss on the playground.
Every muscle in her body tensed, drawing taut as the smell of him enveloped her. While she suspected that he had not been in the barn for some time, he still smelled like fresh straw and hard work. At this closer proximity she could see how he kept a beard of sorts – a rough and tumble, I-don’t-care look that exuded masculinity from him as though he had done it on purpose. Rebecca knew he hadn’t. He wasn’t that type of man. The idea struck her. He was a man. What was he now- twenty-four? They had both aged so much since the summer when she was sixteen, since the summer where she had truly become a woman. She had discovered who she truly was – come into her power as Witch. She had learned how to control it, to morph and to laugh. But most importantly, she had found and lost the love of her life.
Reaching out, she wrapped her fingers around the book, her eyes still on his. The moment her fingers brushed his a whoosh ripped through the house. Windows exploded in the kitchen, shattering outward as though a blast had gone off inside the house. Blonde hair whipped across her face but all around them, immediately surrounding them the air was still and calm while around them it raged. Papers and cups and napkins for the reception turned about in the air like leaves. Rebecca pulled the book from hand, severing their connection and the world fell still. Behind Hawk a napkin fluttering down through the air like a feather in the wind.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 10:39 pm
by Astrophysicist
Rebecca Nurse was a hurricane, and Hawk Callahan had wandered straight in to the eye of her storm.
The world around them flew in a circular whirlwind while the space in their immediate vicinity remained utterly calm. From the corner of his eyes, Hawk watched as the napkins, paper plates, and plastic silverware painstakingly laid out for the upcoming funeral reception blasted from their neat piles and joined the rush of fast-moving air around them. Distantly, he heard the heavy wooden dining chairs tumble to the floor to crash against the kitchen wall. The glass from the shattered windows rang like deafening chimes as the shards struck the ground outside. But despite the sudden chaos surrounding them, it was suddenly completely silent to Hawk’s ears—he was lost in her gaze, in the wild, straining expression in her honey eyes.
Though Hawk could not detect outright the magic that powered the sudden display of her storm, his own emerald power exploded from its internal restraints in desperate search of the force that had once made it feel whole. Flashes of green quick as lightning tore through the air, casting a bizarre, shifting emerald glow throughout the kitchen and across the former lovers’ faces. The bright smudges of his magic in the wind stretched out like wings; their feathers were outlined in neon as they flew and flapped, seeking the comfort of what had once felt so familiar—her, her magic, the complementary energy that
For a long while, Hawk forgot to breathe, inhaling only when the storm around them faded quickly back into stillness. He hadn’t allowed his power such reckless freedom since the summer he’d spent with the woman who stood before him now. His stalwart discipline wasn’t the only thing that had changed about him in those years; he had grown taller, stronger. He had seen the real way the world worked without the veil of youthful naivety to shield its less desirable qualities. Gone was the carefree innocence that had propelled him those years ago on the idyllic Massachusetts farm; Jezebel had stolen that away, and life had filled in the rest.
The silence in the aftermath of Rebecca’s wind was suffocating, but words jammed in Hawk’s throat as he struggled to formulate the right thing to say. His magic, suspended all around them, retreated empty-handed back to its place, its unsatisfied quivering sending a jolt of unease through his physical body. He cleared his throat and stepped back, widening the space between them. The heel of his polished shoe crushed a plastic fork with a sharp snap.
“Here,” he said quietly, averting his gaze to the floor. The scuffed linoleum was covered in unfolded napkins, styrofoam cups, and scrambled cutlery. “I can get the windows if you want to get the…this stuff.” He gestured widely with an arm, indicating the reception supplies that blanketed every surface. He didn’t—couldn’t—think about her crazy display of wind and force; it was no longer his responsibility to see to her magical control. Nevertheless, a spark of concern lit a fire deep within him. “You had it all ready before. We’ve still got a half an hour before the guests start to arrive.”
The Callahan witch reached over the sink, placing his fingertips on the edge of the chipped wooden frame. Willing just enough of his magic forward to complete the job, he summoned the broken pieces from outside and watched as they reordered themselves into a proper, solid pane of glass once more. He turned, startled, to find the kitchen in the same state of disarray. “What’s going on?” he asked, his voice surprisingly tender despite his racing pulse and the residual shock of their reunion. Tentatively, he took a step toward the blonde witch. “What’s wrong?”
Re: [18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 9:16 pm
by Simply
The wind surprised her and she assumed hat he had been the perpetuator of the storm. The rush of magic made her feel alive and frightened her at the same time. She trembled in the wake of all of that power, pain stabbing her heart as she ached to be the cause of such enchantments. The last spell she had ever cast had been her undoing and had let a literal jezebel in. Swallowing hard, she held the book against her chest with both hands. Her amber eyes held his emerald ones but she was startled and looked down when his weight snapped a fork that had been blown into their path.
“Sure.” She said, though she knew what he wanted her to do. Flick her wrist, bend her fingers or whisper a command. To make everything go back to the place where it belonged but she wouldn’t to be able to do that as much as she wanted to. The desire overwhelmed her and for a moment she thought that yes, yes she could do this. Her mind willed the forks to place themselves back up on the counter. She sought out her magic and beseeched it to whisk the napkins back into place.
Nothing happened.
Sighing, Rebecca realized that her hopes had not really risen and she leaned down, picking up the broken fork and tossing it into the trashcan as she entered the kitchen, where Hawk was leaning forward to repair the window that had shattered.
Her gaze lingered on him for a moment longer than was proper and she turned away. Placing the book on the counter, the young powerless witch began to pick up the napkins that were around the room.
Her progress was terribly slow and she heard his voice. Stiffening, she stood up with three napkins in her hand and lowered them to the pile that had remained on the table in the place that she had put them earlier that day. “I’m cleaning up the kitchen.” She responded though she knew what he meant. Why was it taking her so long? What was wrong with her powers? People were going to be here in a few minutes and she was completely worthless and incapable of helping them.
Swallowing, she turned to look at the leather bound book that rested on the counter. Amber eyes longed to read and whisper the words inside of it so that power would rush from her body and fill the air. Nothing would ever happen again like that for her. Licking her lips, her tongue ran along her bottom lip, which she pressed against her top one in thought, trying to decide if she should actually tell him or make up some excuse for why she didn’t want to.
Even now, though, Rebecca couldn’t lie to him. “I can’t do magic anymore.” She finally looked at him, straight in the eye. “I haven’t been able to do anything since…then. I get hurt. I remember everything like any other mortal person. I just can’t.”
Re: [18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 10:26 pm
by Astrophysicist
The broken windowpane shattered in reverse as Hawk’s power beckoned the jagged shards. The emerald glow of his magic was intensified by the reflective glass, sending tiny splotches of light throughout the old kitchen like miniature lights on a stage. With his back turned to the rest of the room, he did not consciously notice the absence of Rebecca’s power; after the summer incident with Fredrick and Jezebel, he had reigned in his magic to be more focused, more disciplined. He was stronger this way, he knew, but he felt constricted—empty. Like a wild horse brought to captivity from from the open plains, he had broken the worst of its untamed spirit and taught it to more effectively do his bidding. The price, the experience with Jezebel had taught him, was worth the discomfort.
But what he had not prepared it for was the reintroduction of Rebecca Nurse into his life, however fleeting her presence likely would be. Time and distance had quelled his heartache, but it had never extinguished the burn completely. To be thrown into her world again was a cruel form of punishment for a crime he hadn’t realized he’d committed. The universe knew something he did not.
He had expected to see her at the funeral, at the reception. He had even prepared to speak with her, if necessary, to exchange condolences and move on to disappear in the throng of friends, family, and coworkers Fredrick Nurse left behind. Instead, the confrontation was one-on-one. For a moment, the Callahan witch could forget everything that had happened—the way Rebecca had betrayed him, the sacrifice Fredrick had made, even the doctor’s unfortunate death—but the slate was clean for only a fleeting second, and it wasn’t long before the emotional floodgates returned to their wide-open state on either side of the conversation.
“You’re cleaning up the kitchen.” He repeated her words in confusion, his tone expressionless but for the puzzlement on his face. Studying her carefully, he remained where he was, his fingers balling into fists before relaxing again at his sides. “I don’t understand.”
His words pleaded for an explanation, one he could not deduce for himself from her reserved body language and tentative actions. Nothing could have prepared him for what she revealed when she spoke, however, and he took a moment of tense silence to process the unexpected—and impossible, surely—news. But the connection they shared would not allow him disbelief for long, and his bewilderment was soon replaced by dread, dread and concern.
“People don’t just…stop being witches,” he said, his tone betraying sudden frustration. He furrowed his brow and took a step forward, allowing his magic to tend to the napkins, cutlery, and drinkware while they spoke. “It’s impossible. And you weren’t an ordinary witch.” He wanted to reach out and touch her, to reassure her both physically and magically that she had not lost what she claimed to have been rid of. But even as he spoke, he could feel now that something was amiss. The sensation he’d experienced the moment his magic had returned empty-handed from her strange windstorm was suddenly explained, and it sent a shiver down his spine that he couldn’t quite suppress.
The last of the plates flew lightly into their stacks on the table, the room once again organized for the guests that would arrive at any moment. Quickly, and against his better judgment, he reached out to place a hand on her shoulder. It was more than just a gesture of reassurance; at the direction of his palm, his magic flowed freely and magnetically towards her, searching desperately for the kernel within her that housed its other half.
“It can’t be,” he said incredulously, swallowing hard. “It’s not possible. Can you feel this?” He removed his hand from her shoulder, showing her the blaze of green that traveled from his fingers to her chest.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 10:13 pm
by Simply
The confusion was etched into his face and it pained her to look at it. It was the same astonishment that had plagued her when she had tried to have her luggage unpack itself when she arrived home. She had screamed and cursed, before dissolving into a puddle of tears on her bedroom floor. At first, she thought it might come back – maybe it was a like a cold. It must be some kind of possession malfunction where her power was just taking some time off in order to refuel.
But that was not the case. It was gone.
“I did.” She responded, hearing the frustration and pain in his voice. Hawk liked to solve problems but this was not a problem that he had encountered before. It was not something that he could fix. She shook her head slightly, letting her blonde hair brush against her cheeks in wisps. “And…” she exhaled slowly, as though she had had this conversation with herself many times, talking herself into believing that she would never feel magic again, “perhaps it was because I wasn’t ordinary.” A shrug lifted her shoulder. “I was Witch and now I am nothing. It’s…how it is, Olli.” She almost laughed at calling him that. Well, she would have laughed, had it been a few years ago in the barn and she was teasing him about his real name.
The weight of his hand fell on her shoulder and she flinched slightly, as though dreading the contact – yet it didn’t cause an explosion of power and wind. Instead, it was just a touch. She relaxed, taking slow breaths as he, she assumed, tried to scrye her. Blinking, she wondered if anything was supposed to happen. She closed her eyes and waited and then opened her right eye slowly at his words.
“Was I supposed to feel something?” She breathed, opening her other eye. She looked at him carefully and then laughed, nervously and hardly with any real sense of amusement. “Look, it’s okay. I mean, it’s just how it is. I’m me now. I’m not a witch. I’m definitely not Witch. I can’t practice or cast or spell something to do anything.” Another nervous laugh as she slipped away from him and picked up a few more cups off of the ground, placing them (rather unhygienicly) back in a stack onto the table top. “I can’t even get a food processor to blend half the time but I’m okay with that.”
She picked up a few more napkins and plastic utensils and briefly thought about how idiotic she must sound to him. He must think that she was crazy to be okay to give all of that magic up. He wouldn’t realize the pain that being repressed and possessed by Jezebel had caused. He wouldn’t realize that she had agonized over the loss of her magic for nearly a year in a barely functioning form of complete and utter depression. Not only had she lost something so much a part of herself, but she had lost him.
“I’m fine, truly.” She ran a hand through her hair and turned back to him completely, now that a few feet of space separated them. He had no idea how truly not fine she was in this moment. He was back in her life. He had just walked in as though she had never left. His eyes were that familiar hue of green and his touch still sent a chill running up her spine, even without the electricity of their magic to chase it. He was everything that she had worked so hard to forget and yet, he was standing right in front of her. Hesitating, her tongue darted across her lips before she spoke. “We should get this place picked up though. My parents will be back soon and I can’t explain the fluke windstorm you caused. They’re not witches, my parents.”
Re: [18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 10:20 pm
by Astrophysicist
Was I supposed to feel something? The words may as well have been armed with daggers with how deeply they wounded and startled him. The farm boy's pulse quickened, and with each new beat of his heart came a fresh wave of ache and uncertainty that coursed through his veins like a terrible drug, a disease. He wanted to comfort her, but he no longer knew how to do that. And to make matters worse, he was certain she didn’t want him to; they were strangers now, with separate lives, and Hawk could not pretend anymore that the years apart had not changed them. One precious summer was not enough to anchor destiny. He knew better.
But still he could not stand there and listen to the nonsense spilling from her lips. “You can’t just stop being a witch, Rebecca,” he said, his tone desperate. “It’s impossible. Magic…it doesn’t just disappear. It can’t.” Can it? The farm-boy-turned-academic faltered, his doubts suddenly turning to irritation. Rebecca had suffered tremendously under the influence of Jezebel, and the mere fact that she was alive and breathing was nothing short of a miracle. But Hawk had never heard tales of one witch stealing the power of another, and the prospect made so little sense that he was inclined to believe it simply could not be done—so what was it that kept the Nurse girl’s magic from her grasp?
“You’re not fine,” he said at last, his brow furrowed. “You can’t be fine with this. Is it really what you want? You would rather accept that you’ve exhausted your abilities than fight to get them back? You are Witch, whether you want to believe it or not.” He forced himself to unclench his fists, which had begun to glow with shifting tendrils of green light at his sides. “Do you resent what you are that much?” Do you resent me? His voice was quiet now, filled with the ache that threatened to consume him from inside with words left unspoken. Because if she truly loathed that part of herself, then what did she think of him, the boy who had coaxed that side of her to life?
It didn’t matter. He shook his head to himself and turned away, his throat tight with a lump he couldn’t seem to swallow away. With his eyes closed, the remainder of the napkins and plates flew slowly from the floor to rearrange themselves neatly on the table. “There,” he said, turning back to her. This time, his emerald eyes were cold. “Everything’s back to normal.”
As his gaze locked with hers, the screen door opened wide and several guests marched inside. Hawk pursed his lips and slipped out to the porch, his posture rigid and his arms folded tightly across his chest as though to protect the heart slamming unforgivingly behind his ribs. They were there to console Rebecca; he had no business being there. Besides, he needed to wait for his family, who would be wanting an explanation as to why he never showed his face at the funeral.
But as the people steadily filed past, grieving for Fredrick Nurse and his legacy, all Oliver James Callahan could think about was the deceased man’s granddaughter inside.
Re: [18+] I am Witch [r. Kelly]
Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 10:31 pm
by Simply
Her temper flared, and once upon a time, her magic would have flared with it. Rebecca had always been quick to anger, quick to have some emotional response to a posed conflict. However, she inhaled slowly between gritted teeth and swallowed all of the negative emotion that had sparked at his antagonistic words. “It was not a conscious decision, Oliver.” She responded, only a slight edge to her voice but nothing like It would have been give years ago…when she had shouted maliciously at him from the steps of her grandfather’s porch, causing a storm to roll through like nothing that the farm had ever seen before.
“When I left…it left.” A shrug raised her shoulders. Rebecca had come to terms with it. She knew that she would never feel the polarizing happiness of magic coursing through her veins, running wild and making her heart beat firmly in her chest. “It did. I don’t know what else you want me to say.” She muttered the phrase again. He was so insistent but he did not have a single idea what she had been through. Bright eyes flickered over him, looking away from him. His gaze was too intense…too harsh for her to stare into directly.
When he told her that she wasn’t fine, her eyes snapped back up towards him, narrowing steadily. The anger raged behind her lashes but she held it in check, just barely. “It is what it is. I am fine. It’s been five years. I am not a witch. You don’t know me so please don’t presume to know what I do and do not resent.” Rebecca watched as he readied the kitchen and she fled the room, to the living room, where she began to prepare some small cups and a few bowls of chocolates for the guests that would be arriving.
As she placed the last Hersey kiss in the bowl, she leaned over, letting her hands grip the table firmly. Inhaling deeply, Rebecca made every attempt to not let the tears fall down her cheeks. Fredrick was gone and so was her connection to this place. He was gone and he had left her a letter…a letter that she wished she had never read. He wanted her to sell the farm…sell the last connection she had to him and to Hawk. Then the screen opened and people began to trickle in. She greeted her father and her siblings and watched as her mother was led to one of the back bedrooms, clearly having had too much of the day.
Rebecca mingled and accepted all of the condolences that people gave her. She was in a small corner of the kitchen, finally having a moment to herself when someone came to speak with her. She turned and saw striking green eyes.
“Please accept our condolences on your loss.” She said, extending a hand to press against Rebecca’s hands.
“T-thank you.” The stutter left her lips. “I’m sorry, I do not believe I’ve had the pleasure…” She trailed off.
“Of course. I’m Mrs. Callahan.” The woman gently squeezed her hand and Rebecca felt her stomach fall. “I had known your grandparents a long time. We are sorry to see him gone but I know he is in a better place.” All Rebecca could do was nod before the woman left. She needed air. She needed air badly. As reverently as she could, Rebecca ran from the room and out the door to the porch. Most people remained inside, out of the muggy air but she needed to escape. Bursting through the door, she launched herself out and down the first two stairs before clinging to the railing. Gasping for breath, she held a hand against her chest and tried as hard as she could not to sob. For Fredrick…for herself…for him.
