”Y’know what, I think they’ve got it, actually,” He told Mithza. Connie seemed to be handling one of them at the very least. Somehow, it appeared Cal got himself under control pretty quickly while surrounded by a bunch of damn shadow dragons, and moving through the Neverish with three or four plastered wizards that didn’t know their ass from a phylactery was going to be a hassle. Then again…
”Hmm… If the brothers want them out that bad, they know how to get favors.” Rohan could crack jokes, too. He sat the now-empty mug off to the side on a coaster, and tapped his staff against the floor.
”If anybody thinks they’re too intoxicated to get back out on their own, now’s the time to let me know,” He announced.
”I’m heading out, so come if you’re coming.” He wasn’t about to just use the staff’s power on them, then turn around and let them get drunk
again. It was getting late, and he wasn’t about to fall asleep for a few more months, but they were getting kicked out.
”Best not to keep the old man waiting.” He felt sassy today.
Annika reached for another glass of water when Rohan made his pronouncements. She looked him up and down.
”You're not old,” she declared.
”I meant that old man,” He explained, pointing his stick in Barty’s direction. Root ruffled his wooden feathers on his shoulders.
”He’s immortal.”Annika followed the pointy stick to look at Barty. She cocked her head and drank her water, nearly spitting it out when Rohan said he was immortal.
”Really?” She moved closer to Rohan to whisper, but in her inebriated state, it was more like she was talking at a normal volume.
”Why is he in school then? He definitely doesn't need it.””Ask him yourself. But between you and me, I’m pretty sure it’s just fun for him. All the time in the world, you get bored sooner or later. You coming?”Annika nodded eagerly.
”Yes, please! Come along Charlie and Lunchbox Jr. We're going on an adventure,” she said, hopping towards the picture frame. She continued to cradle one of the dragons in her arms.
Rohan spun around on his heel and saw himself out, slow enough for Annika and her creatures to follow. He opened the door and headed down the long and winding tunnel that led back out into the school itself.
It was not until they were out and able to speak easily that he struck up a conversation.
”So… What’s with the dragons?” He asked.
”You summon things?”Thankfully, the three creatures Annika called to had made it through the otherwise of the portrait. The Shadow Terrier, Lunchbox Jr., and Barker bounded down the hallway, whereas the rabbit, Charlie, hopped around their collective feet and sniffed corners.
Annika rubbed the shadow dragon's chin, her power tingling just underneath the surface still.
”Oh, yes. This is one of the little tricks I have. Once I see an animal or creature, I can recreate it completely from shadow. I've used them to help me fight or just keep me company. My family told me our ancestors used to be able to transform into animals. I developed this ability shortly after that. A sort of homage to the family I didn't grow up with,” Annika explained, feeling talkative thanks to the drug.
That was interesting. Could she recreate monsters, or demons, or other things that weren’t inherently natural to Earth? Rohan would have to remember not to let Annika follow him into the woods.
”You didn’t grow up with them? Looks like they taught you a lot.”Annika shook her head, smiling fondly.
”No, I was adopted. But my dad never stopped helping me try to find my family.” She scratched her dragon friend once more before setting him down to chase after the Terrier.
”What about you?” Annika looked over, wondering if Rohan’s familiar would accept scratches.
”I learned my stuff myself. Started back when I took a long walk, realized I’d gotten across an ocean in just a couple of days. I think I figured it out okay.”His owl croaked.
Annika squinted her eyes at Rohan.
”You walked across the ocean? What are you, Jesus?” Annika asked and laughed until the owl croaked.
”Hello again, shonkwahsótha.” She held her hand out to the great, wooden owl, hoping to make a new friend.
Root craned his head forward, like a cat. He blinked slowly, also like a cat.
”No, that’d be weird. I cut a raft out of a tree, first. Then I crossed an ocean. Turned out to be magic, since it was so fast.””Ah, that makes more sense,” Annika agreed. She turned her hand over and curled a finger and rubbed it gently against the owl's wooden nose and headed like she would have with any other bird or owl.
”So is your magic tied to nature, or more specifically trees,” she asked her coven mate curiously.
”Both, kind of. It’s complicated… I could take moss and make something that heals wounds, or sap from a tree to make what’s basically Greek Fire.” He didn’t have any at the moment, but there was always a use for it.
”A tree just happens to have a lot of uses for magic.” Annika smilgrinned and bounced a little as she walked.
”Both. That makes sense. Trees hold so much spiritual and ancestral energy. And wood acts as a conduit. Scientifically speaking,” Annika said.
”Yeah, something like that. And there’s… A few thousand species of them, I can pull off different things depending on the one I use. I’ve got a mask made of bog wood that lets you see things normal eyes can’t. A magic ring made of Yew, which is usually planted in churches, and a few other things.”Root’s head twitched around Annika’s fingers, it seemed like he was…
Purring? Like a cat.
Annika’s eyes sparkled and she sighed wistfully. She pet the owl for a moment longer before she pulled her fingers back. [color=#66339]”That would be nice. To be connected to nature like that..”[/color] She fiddled with the shirt tied around her waist.
When Annika was first introduced to her family, she had worried her magic was a bastardaztion of what nature truly was. It was a complicated feeling, since she loved the Everdark and the knowledge it shared with her. She knew how special that place was and how much it meant that it had accepted her. But some days she still felt like something was missing.
”There’s a whole planet we’re standing on, you know. Just take a walk, get away from the screens and the cars, it’s not so difficult.” Just don’t bring me along, he elected not to add on.
”It’s easy to get disconnected in places like this, but it’s easy to find it again.”Annika glanced at Rohan, she smiled a little but shook her head. That wasn’t entirely what she was getting at. [color=#66339]”Is there anything else we can do after classes other than go to Haven? I feel like I wouldn’t be able to sleep even if I tried.”[/color] Annika was still vibrating with energy.
”Depends. There’s a library that people can spend time in, so long as they don’t wreck the place. There’s a few workshops some of us use to constructive magic like mine…”Root jumped from Rohan’s shoulder to Annika’s.
”...You could always go for a walk. It’s a big school, I’m sure someone’s got something planned.”The mention of workshops had Annika bouncing on the balls of her feet with a little more interest. She could do whatever she wanted if she had a workshop. Or if Rohan let her borrow his. The shadows in the hallway seemed to turn with interest in Annika’s direction, drawn to her sudden excitement.
When Root moved to Annika’s shoulder, the girl’s eyes widened before she giggled and offered the sweet owl more pets. It was easier to run her fingers along his wooden wings and head this way.
[color=#66339]”Do you think I could borrow your workshop? Does it have a window?”[/color] If there was a sliver of moonlight showing, Annika could work with the light. She was still honing her skill with Mother Moon.
”Technically, it’s not mine,” He grinned, watching those two enjoy each other.
”Belongs to the school, but if you’re careful about bumping into things and not setting of any spells? Sure, go right ahead. Windows are locked, though. I’ve got a spare key somewhere… We’re gonna be using one a lot, I think, when Marino gets her hands on us.”Annika continued to pet Root while they walked, it simply being a task that faded into the background. [color=#66339]”You could just let me in yourself. I don’t know where I’m going,”[/color] she reminded him. She was disappointed to hear the windows were locked, but maybe she could figure out a way to open them anyway. At the mention of their professor and mentor’s name, Annika concentrated on Root a little more.
[color=#66339]”Any words of advice when it comes to her?”[/color]
The owl croaked again. Clearly, he had a way with words.
”Never met her, no clue.” Rohan twirled his staff around until it rested in the crook of his arm.
”Seemed awfully eager to meet me and get to work, though. So maybe don’t let her catch you standing around doing nothing.”They turned a corner, and Rohan fished around in his pockets.
”Speaking of work, maybe I will let you in. Might as well, I won’t be sleeping much anyway.”[color=#66339]”Oh, is she new?”[/color] Annika asked, while smiling at Root. Once they reached Rohan’s workshop, the shadows seemed to relax and settle back into their natural formation. They were obviously happy with the decision to visit the workshop.
Annika was never one to stand around and do nothing. Her father always made sure she was learning, and her family used silences as moments of teaching as well.
[color=#66339]”Are you a light sleeper?”[/color] Annika asked, standing outside Rohan’s workshop with her three shadowy companions and Root on her shoulder. She looked like the rejected version of a Disney Princess, standing in her grudge clothes, with an assortment of magical animals.
”Not exactly.” When they pulled up to the door, he finally produced a simple iron key that they gave out to anyone that needed a space like this. The door had his name written on it, and it opened without a sound.
The inside was cold, and pitch black until he stepped in. Lanterns lit up along the walls, and a practical-looking chandelier that looked more like a hanging furnace lit up overhead to fill the room with light. It was pretty simple and straightforward in there. Long tables with papers and other things stacked away, hammers and chisels, the usual things.
”I just don’t sleep unless it’s winter, magic thing.”Annika waited to step inside until Rohan did. The room lit up, and she did a small turn, her hand brushing along Rohan’s name on the door. She nodded her head appreciatively. Simple yet perfect. Her shadowed animals bounded in, examining everything that they could at eye level. The dragon seemed to find a spot on top of the chandelier and curled up. They looked very content.
Annika walked over to one of the tables and peered down at the papers. She smiled at Rohan’s statement. [color=#66339]”Magic thing. Sounds more like a bear thing,”[/color] she teased.
”You could say that, yeah. Basically impossible to fall asleep unless it gets cold enough, and then it’s hard to stay awake.” He sat the key down on one of the tables, cherry wood that was nearly black with age. He sat the Mountain Scepter down beside it.
”If you’re unlocking the windows, make sure they’re locked when you’re done. Don’t want anything sneaking in.”He walked over to a smaller table, which contained several cubes of wood carved with monstrous faces. It had drawers underneath it, which he pulled a few tools out from.
Annika turned around and leaned against one of the tables, watching Rohan. [color=#66339]”What would sneak in?”[/color]
”Ghosts, ghouls, goblins, demons, the wrong kind of dragons…” Or the Wrong Things.
”You never know, when you’re in a place like this. That key goes to the windows, have at it. You have any artifice experience, or did you get picked at random? I’m rounding up some tools for tomorrow while we’re here.”Annika grinned and grabbed the key. [color=#66339]”Mmm, so the usual then? As long as there are no Green-Eyed ones here, I think we can manage a few rogue demons. And I can create dragons now.”[/color] Annika took the key and reached up to unlock the window. She inhaled the fresh air, feeling infinitely more clear-headed. What she wouldn’t give to just run around outside and find a lake to jump into. Annika turned and set the key on a table.
[color=#66339]”Metal working. Although, I suppose I need to stay away from metals Finley doesn’t like.”[/color] They seemed particularly concerned with Annika’s metal work.
”Yeah, they’re fae.” He picked out a chisel and a wood mallet, then went over to another table to grab two sharpening stones.
”Iron is bad, so is silver, copper, pretty much anything like it if you want to play it safe. It’s like poison for Finley’s people.” Which was, coincidentally, why Rohan made sure to take good care of the steel sword Connie had gifted him once. Just in case not lying wasn’t actually a problem.
”I don’t have a lot for metal, but I do have stuff to keep an edge sharp.” He sat the stuff on the table, looking it over.
”Root, go grab the knife set.”The owl chirped and fluttered into the air.
Annika wandered over to Rohan’s side after Root flew off. She peered down at his work. [color=#66339]”What are you working on?”[/color] she asked, her previous notions of playing with the moonlight gone.
”Thinking about what Marino’s gonna have us do. The whole coven’s meeting to discuss the Mystery, and that means we ought to be prepared to waste zero time. Gonna throw some of the good tools I have together, with a few to spare just in case.”Root swooped down to a rack and clamped his wooden claws on a leather, rectangular thing. He brought it over, and Rohan caught it mid-air. He opened it and pulled out a knife that resembled a cleaver.
”I do have a few other things I want to work on, though. I’m short on arrows, those will be easy to make. And I ran out of Flamepitch before I came back… Hm. Root, the sandalwood.”Root flew off again.
The coven’s mystery, the assignment for the year. Annika took a step back, looking around Rohan’s room once more. She gravitated back towards the window, staring up at the sky. She thought back to Sariel’s words earlier. They would meet in a lab tomorrow to start working on how to discover this mystery.
How does one find a mystery? If the mystery of her life was any indication, it was done through a lot of research and experimentation, but at least then Annika knew the mystery was herself. This mystery was just that. A mystery.
Annika pushed away from the window and wandered back to Rohan. [color=#66339]”Have you solved many mysteries?”[/color] she asked, picking up one of the blades he had.
”Hm, not really.” He was already trying to solve the problem of losing his humanity. Another mystery on top of that was… A challenging prospect.
”There’s all kinds of things people don’t know. It’s only impossible until it’s done. You?”[color=#66339]”Aside from the mystery about me? A few…but my father was always there. He told me we solved one a long time ago, but I have no recollection of it,”[/color] Annika said, darting around that topic of conversation. [color=#66339]”Hopefully we will have more of a direction tomorrow. At least a starting point,”[/color] Annika said. She stuck the point of the knife on her finger and twirled it.
”That’ll help, yeah. Careful with that, it’s sharp.” Root dropped a long length of wood down onto the table, then swooped around over to Annika again.
”He seems to like you.”Annika smilked. [color=#66339]”Sharp things never bothered me,”[/color] she said, but set the knife down to make Rohan happy. She turned to Root and offered a finger for him to nibble on. [color=#66339]”And I like him. As I got older, my father would leave more often for various things. When I was lonely, I’d talk to my familiar or find other creatures to talk with. They’re just easier to get along with. They like you or they don’t. There isn’t any of that pretending to like you just to save face.”[/color]
Root just tilted his head at her.
”He doesn’t talk much, but he’s always decent to be around. He’s a good scout when I’m in the woods. It’s hard getting lost, or caught off guard by anything thanks to him. Who’s yours?” He asked, grabbing a knife, ruler and pencil from around the shop.
[color=#66339]”He certainly wouldn’t do that if he didn’t like you,”[/color] Annika agreed. [color=#66339]”Nochella. They pop in and out as they want, unless I really need them. She sort of, formed one day and never left.”[/color]
Rohan took to drawing out straight lines on the wood block he had, then using the knife to split it into smaller pieces.
”Just out of nowhere? She’s magic too, not just some ordinary animal like some familiars, huh?”Annika smiled and nodded. [color=#66339]”She is. She moves between home and here through portals and shadows. A bit of complicated magic,”[/color] Annika said, picking up one of the smaller blocks. After she examined it, she offered it to Root.
Root stuck his beak around it, and just held.
”That sounds pretty useful, actually. Root flies and he’s hard to spot in the air. Something that can slip through portals, I can see that being hard to find too. I guess you get around easy, yeah?”He was whittling the pieces of wood into straight shafts, which he’d turn into arrows eventually.
[color=#66339]”Even faster than building a magical raft to get across the ocean,”[/color] she grinned.
”I bet.” He grinned, gliding a draw knife over an arrow shaft.
”Do you do any archery? I’ve got a magic bow stored away in my dorm. Thinking about making some magical arrows, too.”Despite being a magical craftsman, there didn’t actually appear to be any cool relics or supernatural whatnots in this workshop. Rohan made a point to keep those with him when he left for the woods.
Annika shook her head, finding the way Rohan worked soothing. [color=#66339]”No… I created one from shadows once, but I gravitated towards a blade,”[/color] she informed Rohan before yawning.
”I’ve got one of those too. A sword, but it’s metal and not wood. I should look into making a wooden blade sharp and hard as steel, though. I have a piece of ironwood in here somewhere, it’d be perfect.”He cut some notches into the arrow shafts.
”Nothing’s keeping you here, by the way. I know some people here still actually sleep.””A wooden blade would be interesting. I'm sure you could trial and error it until it's refined enough to work better than even steel or shadow,” Annika commented. She pulled over a blank piece of paper and found a writing tool before she started doodling on the page.
”I'm okay… Besides, I think it might be quieter here than in my dorm. I share with Jake and Frankie,” she told Rohan. And Jake had been spitting bubbles earlier and all over one of the twins. She didn't know how Frankie had fared, but Rohan's workshop seemed like a safer bet.
”Probably not nearly as comfortable. But it’s fine if you want to stay a while, that Jake guy did seem like a lot.” All it really meant was that Rohan wasn’t going to try restocking on Flamepitch tonight. Not while someone else was in here. He didn’t want anyone seeing
that.Annika smiled and nodded, continuing to doodle a wooden sword while falling into a comfortable silence with Rohan.
Root trotted over and plopped down beside Annika, then shut his eyes. Meanwhile, Rohan kept up his work, and in a strangely short amount of time, he had a decent pile of them. Twenty in all. He gathered them up and tied some twine around them for later, and then double checked the edges on all the knives and chisels. The windows were locked, double and triple checked, and stared through before he was sure everything was in order.
Next, he secured an old wooden toolbox, and started laying some tools for tomorrow inside. It was near midnight when everything was set for tomorrow.
”Planning on staying up much later?” He asked Annika.
Annika had slowly drifted. She started with resting her head against Root. He made a good companion and place to roost. The sound of Rohan's voice had her jumping and dropping the pencil in her hand. She flushed with embarrassment.
”Um… no. I should go to bed.” She stood and stretched, yawning wide enough for her jaw to crack. She looked down at the doodle of the wooden sword. It looked simple and straightforward enough, but she tried to embellish it. Adding a small Root at the top of the blade.
”Don’t let me keep you. I’ll probably still be in here by the time you’re awake, if you come looking for me. If I’m not in here, I’ll be on my way to meet everyone.”Annika smiled and nodded. She left the paper on the table and rubbed her thumb along Root’s head.
”Good night then.”
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