[Leslie has largely avoided the sitting room off the kitchen, at least whenever the fireplace was lit. But the fire is out today, and so are most of the other residents. Edelgard is asleep and both Bernadetta and Hubert are out of the house. (The former is likely at Sylvain and Felix's house and Hubert might be down in his lab.) And Leslie, the only one awake and indoors, is not about to change the state of the fireplace herself.
Taking advantage of this rare opportunity for the comfortable seating, Leslie curls up in one of the armchairs with a book. Because this is Leslie, "curls up" means "sitting straight up, her knees still bent over the edge of the chair even though this means her back is nowhere near the back of the chair, with the book on her lap." It's still pretty comfortable.
Since she has been frustrated by her difficulties with getting started with the magic of this world, she ends up getting very absorbed into the book on foundational magic theory, reasoning that if she understands the whys of magic, the hows should follow more easily. She's concentrating much too hard to notice when she's no longer the only awake member of the house.]
[One day, Leslie is going to get used to Hubert appearing out of nowhere just out of repetition. At the moment, she's just more used to it than she used to be, so she's only a little startled this time.]
Good evening, Marquis Vestra.
[The sight of the head by his scarf changes a casual glance up into a closer inspection. A benefit of spending 99% of her life indoors is that she hasn't learned a fear of snakes, but she isn't sure what this thing is. It looks very different from anything she's seen before. Maybe....]
A Witch's familiar can be any kind of creature, hypothetically. Typically more domesticated creatures are chosen—such as cats, for example. The friendlier the animal is towards humans, the easier it is to establish the bond. This—
[He raises his hand near the cobra, and it reluctantly slithers onto his arm, coiling loosely around his wrist and fist.]
—is a snake. It's a kind of reptile, and mine happens to be poisonous. Take care not to startle it.
[Leslie had begun to raise her hand, as though she wanted to pet it or let it sniff her hand or something like that, but that hand drops like a stone as soon as he finishes.]
I'll be careful.
[But...bond. She looks startled and maybe a little hopeful as that part registers.]
You mean that it's possible to bond with something other than another human?
[Someone who doesn't have a chance of sharing her nightmares and/or memories? Or at least mightn't understand them to worry about her?]
[Hubert almost chuckles at the speed her hand drops. And he hasn't even mentioned the fact it spits.]
In a sense. A bond with a familiar is not precisely the same, and hardly as mutual, but the fundamentals at the same. The key difference is that magic does not cycle through familiars as it does Monsters; it is more aptly compared to a magical battery, if you've seen those about. I have a vague awareness of my familiar's location and emotions—but seeing as it is a reptile, this is largely limited to hunger, prey, hostility, or calm.
Snakes are, however, cold-blooded. [Hubert turns, walking to kneel by the slumbering fireplace and the snake slithering onto the hearth.] That's why you might see it under my collar or scarf in cold weather.
[She’d be even more cautious around the snake if she knew about the distance option, but she does know that the snake can only be so dangerous if it lives in the same house as Edelgard (or even Edelgard’s cat). Still. Caution.
Her face falls a little as she hears that familiars don’t have the same effect. She’s too distracted by this and learning about cold-bloodedness that she doesn’t think about what Hubert moving to the fireplace means.]
So, Witches do need a bond with — another person in the end. [“Monster” still feels rude to her.] But...you can feel the locations and emotions of something that you can’t talk with if you make it a familiar...how hard is it to make a bond with a familiar?
[As nice as it is to have the shadows follow her from back home, she misses feeling where they are and both having a sense of what the other wants to have happen (though mostly in the direction of Leslie to the shadows).]
Correct. The ritual itself is fairly simple, but is important to do precisely. Perhaps after you've studied your basics a little more—maybe even as soon as next month.
If you choose an animal amenable to humans, it should be an easy matter.
[Hubert had a hard time with it, but then, he chose a fucking snake, because he's like that. He waves casually at the fireplace when his familiar had settled into a coil.]
Cats, dogs, some birds are all simple choices. So long as you live here, you will not select a rat.
[And the fire slowly creeps to life, halting at a moderately low burn.]
[From what he said, it sounds like she might even be able to make a bond like that herself, unlike the bonds that seem to mostly be performed at the Coven. It’s not that she feels that she has to hide the shadows — which she hasn’t, since Miss Nessie at least noticed almost immediately — but she prefers not to talk about them much. She tells herself it’s because they might make people from Aefenglom nervous, with the shadowy nature of the Cwyld, but it’s really that she likes it when the shadows are hers alone.
Even if she ends up needing Hubert’s help to make sure she gets it right, that would be fine. Even if she hasn’t bothered to mention them, it feels like her housemates would have more of a right to know about them.]
I wasn’t planning to select a rat. But why did —
[As Leslie stops in mid-sentence, there’s a soft thump from the book in her lap falling to the floor. Leslie herself shoots backwards in the chair from her initial position at the front of the chair to now being pressed up against its back with her legs curled in as closely as possible. Since the fire grew slowly and hasn’t reached a particularly large blaze, Leslie is able to keep herself from going over the arm rest and booking it out of the room, but she can’t stop her subconscious movement to put as much distance between herself and the fire possible.
It’s just a little fire. It’s barely more than a candle, and she can usually pretend to be okay around a single candle. Don’t make a fuss and don’t bother Marquis Vestra over something as small as this, she tries to tell herself, but at the moment, she can only manage staring at the fire from her huddled position, her expression not hiding her fear well enough for someone like Hubert.]
[Her halted words are and the thump of the book are hardly subtle. The cobra reacts first to the sudden movement, its head rising to attention and hood flaring out Hubert rises to his feet, turning around.]
Is something the matter?
[The fire is so small, so mundane it doesn't pass through his mind at first.]
[Frankly, a venomous snake worries Leslie less than the little fire. But since it is a small fire, she is able to make herself break line of sight with the fire in order to looking Hubert in the face.]
I wasn't expecting the fire to suddenly -- happen. It startled me. That's all.
[But the moment she finishes saying that, her eyes are darting back and forth around the room, wanting to reassure herself that there is an unblocked exit to the room.]
But I should, um. I have something to do, so I. I should get going.
[Her lying here is perhaps a little worse than when she called him Uncle Hubert.]
[Not only worse—she was trying to use his own "get out of jail free" card against him. Hubert could spot that maneuver a mile away.]
[His brow furrows, eyes flickering as they follow her conspicuous glances about. He's seen this behavior before. Too many times, unfortunately.]
[A curt little motion of his hand cuts the burgeoning fire off. His familiar notices the lack of heat immediately, and lifts itself up to his coat sleeve, burrowing inside and curling around his forearm. It's a poor fit, though; the last third of the cobra's tail hangs out. Stupid cold winter.]
[If there was any doubt left in his mind about what was going on, it would likely be extinguished alongside the fire. The tension in her body doesn't leave her entirely, but the tension left is much less obvious and she's stopped looking around for an exit.]
[With the fire (and, to some extent, the snake) in front of her, she might have climbed over an arm of the chair to escape, but with both out of commission, she scoots forward to get down off the chair normally and pick up the dropped book. Hugging the book, she turns to Hubert.]
Thank you. [There's a little more emotion put into that thanks than would normally be the case for just him not holding her up.] Then...excuse me.
[She doesn't run from the room, but she's walking a little faster.]
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Action, sometime in the first half of Feoveuer
Date: 2020-02-14 11:26 pm (UTC)Taking advantage of this rare opportunity for the comfortable seating, Leslie curls up in one of the armchairs with a book. Because this is Leslie, "curls up" means "sitting straight up, her knees still bent over the edge of the chair even though this means her back is nowhere near the back of the chair, with the book on her lap." It's still pretty comfortable.
Since she has been frustrated by her difficulties with getting started with the magic of this world, she ends up getting very absorbed into the book on foundational magic theory, reasoning that if she understands the whys of magic, the hows should follow more easily. She's concentrating much too hard to notice when she's no longer the only awake member of the house.]
no subject
Date: 2020-02-15 03:01 am (UTC)[Did he walk in? Teleport in? How long has Hubert been standing there? No one knows. The man moves like a shadow.]
[He strides past her chair, loosening the scarf about his neck, and something stirs beneath it, poking a beady-eyed head out.]
no subject
Date: 2020-02-16 12:13 am (UTC)Good evening, Marquis Vestra.
[The sight of the head by his scarf changes a casual glance up into a closer inspection. A benefit of spending 99% of her life indoors is that she hasn't learned a fear of snakes, but she isn't sure what this thing is. It looks very different from anything she's seen before. Maybe....]
Have you been practicing conjuration? [summoning]
no subject
Date: 2020-02-16 02:40 am (UTC)[Hubert pauses as a thought occurred to him, then turns to face Leslie.] Ah, you mean this one, don't you?
[The snake's tongue flicks out as it slithers from underneath his scarf, coiling loosely around Hubert's neck.]
This is my familiar. Have you learned of those yet?
no subject
Date: 2020-02-17 03:31 am (UTC)No, I haven't. Are they some kind of small, legless dragon?
[No, he didn't mean the species.]
no subject
Date: 2020-02-17 04:45 am (UTC)A Witch's familiar can be any kind of creature, hypothetically. Typically more domesticated creatures are chosen—such as cats, for example. The friendlier the animal is towards humans, the easier it is to establish the bond. This—
[He raises his hand near the cobra, and it reluctantly slithers onto his arm, coiling loosely around his wrist and fist.]
—is a snake. It's a kind of reptile, and mine happens to be poisonous. Take care not to startle it.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-18 03:20 am (UTC)I'll be careful.
[But...bond. She looks startled and maybe a little hopeful as that part registers.]
You mean that it's possible to bond with something other than another human?
[Someone who doesn't have a chance of sharing her nightmares and/or memories? Or at least mightn't understand them to worry about her?]
no subject
Date: 2020-02-18 05:15 am (UTC)In a sense. A bond with a familiar is not precisely the same, and hardly as mutual, but the fundamentals at the same. The key difference is that magic does not cycle through familiars as it does Monsters; it is more aptly compared to a magical battery, if you've seen those about. I have a vague awareness of my familiar's location and emotions—but seeing as it is a reptile, this is largely limited to hunger, prey, hostility, or calm.
Snakes are, however, cold-blooded. [Hubert turns, walking to kneel by the slumbering fireplace and the snake slithering onto the hearth.] That's why you might see it under my collar or scarf in cold weather.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-18 11:24 pm (UTC)Her face falls a little as she hears that familiars don’t have the same effect. She’s too distracted by this and learning about cold-bloodedness that she doesn’t think about what Hubert moving to the fireplace means.]
So, Witches do need a bond with — another person in the end. [“Monster” still feels rude to her.] But...you can feel the locations and emotions of something that you can’t talk with if you make it a familiar...how hard is it to make a bond with a familiar?
[As nice as it is to have the shadows follow her from back home, she misses feeling where they are and both having a sense of what the other wants to have happen (though mostly in the direction of Leslie to the shadows).]
no subject
Date: 2020-02-19 02:12 am (UTC)If you choose an animal amenable to humans, it should be an easy matter.
[Hubert had a hard time with it, but then, he chose a fucking snake, because he's like that. He waves casually at the fireplace when his familiar had settled into a coil.]
Cats, dogs, some birds are all simple choices. So long as you live here, you will not select a rat.
[And the fire slowly creeps to life, halting at a moderately low burn.]
no subject
Date: 2020-02-19 04:30 am (UTC)Even if she ends up needing Hubert’s help to make sure she gets it right, that would be fine. Even if she hasn’t bothered to mention them, it feels like her housemates would have more of a right to know about them.]
I wasn’t planning to select a rat. But why did —
[As Leslie stops in mid-sentence, there’s a soft thump from the book in her lap falling to the floor. Leslie herself shoots backwards in the chair from her initial position at the front of the chair to now being pressed up against its back with her legs curled in as closely as possible. Since the fire grew slowly and hasn’t reached a particularly large blaze, Leslie is able to keep herself from going over the arm rest and booking it out of the room, but she can’t stop her subconscious movement to put as much distance between herself and the fire possible.
It’s just a little fire. It’s barely more than a candle, and she can usually pretend to be okay around a single candle. Don’t make a fuss and don’t bother Marquis Vestra over something as small as this, she tries to tell herself, but at the moment, she can only manage staring at the fire from her huddled position, her expression not hiding her fear well enough for someone like Hubert.]
no subject
Date: 2020-02-23 02:04 am (UTC)Is something the matter?
[The fire is so small, so mundane it doesn't pass through his mind at first.]
no subject
Date: 2020-02-24 02:16 am (UTC)I wasn't expecting the fire to suddenly -- happen. It startled me. That's all.
[But the moment she finishes saying that, her eyes are darting back and forth around the room, wanting to reassure herself that there is an unblocked exit to the room.]
But I should, um. I have something to do, so I. I should get going.
[Her lying here is perhaps a little worse than when she called him Uncle Hubert.]
no subject
Date: 2020-02-27 03:50 am (UTC)[His brow furrows, eyes flickering as they follow her conspicuous glances about. He's seen this behavior before. Too many times, unfortunately.]
[A curt little motion of his hand cuts the burgeoning fire off. His familiar notices the lack of heat immediately, and lifts itself up to his coat sleeve, burrowing inside and curling around his forearm. It's a poor fit, though; the last third of the cobra's tail hangs out. Stupid cold winter.]
I see. If that is the case, I will not hold you.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-28 12:53 am (UTC)[With the fire (and, to some extent, the snake) in front of her, she might have climbed over an arm of the chair to escape, but with both out of commission, she scoots forward to get down off the chair normally and pick up the dropped book. Hugging the book, she turns to Hubert.]
Thank you. [There's a little more emotion put into that thanks than would normally be the case for just him not holding her up.] Then...excuse me.
[She doesn't run from the room, but she's walking a little faster.]