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Vivian has always been a rabid environmentalist. Learning about magic didn't change a thing; it just gave her another tool. She's had so many plans. Some of them worked. Some of them didn't. The failures, she learns from and moves on. Today is by far her most ambitious project. Today, she's trying a spell of her own invention: restoring extinct species to the world. And not just any species. She wants to bring back the powerful magic of ages past. She wants dragons and sphinxes.
She did her research. She's cobbled the spell together from six or seven different places, and joined it together with hypotheses and crossed fingers. She tested out the individual pieces as much as she can- there's a few newly-not-extinct beetles running around her hometown now- but finally it comes down to it. The spell has some weird preconditions and a hell of a lot of setup, but she's done. It's time. Reversing the damage done in the Great War. All in a day's work, right? That's the goal, anyway.
The spell goes flawlessly. The runes and the chanting and the various pieces take her three days, but if she can do it it's worth it. When she's finally done, she has to take a moment to collect herself, and then she looks at the circles she's drawn.
The circle to her right now holds a tiny sphinx. All paws and fluff and sprawl, it's utterly adorable and Vivian can't restrain an "Awwwww." She walks over and cuddles the new arrival. "You're just the cutest little sphinx, aren't you? Yes, you are, you are the cutest." She turns to the other circle. "And your sibling is-"
-not there.
Vivian blinks at the empty space. "...huh." She looks down at the fuzzball in her arms. "Well, you worked," she tells the girl. "Nothing's wrong with my spell. So the only other thing that could have gone wrong is..." She pauses to sort out her thoughts, not quite trusting herself, but she's double checked it twice. "...I guess there's dragons somewhere after all."
Ultimately, she decides that the dragons will have to wait. Given the whole medallion system- which she's mostly impressed by, but has some really glaring, obvious flaws with perfect hindsight- the dragons might not even know they exist. She could try to tweak the spell to create a new dragon even though they're not extinct, she could try to find existing dragons, she could-
-she has a baby to raise. An extraordinarily cute little girl who just so happens to come with paws, wings and a tail. And she will raise her without all the ridiculous cultural baggage that led to the first war, and teach her magic, and they'll help save the world from itself.
She finds them a house with a backyard and wards it so the mundanes will overlook it. She arranges to sell spells and charms to the local Avalon for an easy source of income. And she focuses on raising her daughter.
She names her Isabella.
shesepankh
Isabella trips over her paws but learns to fly pretty quick. Isabella is fuzzy and likes to nap in patches of sunshine. Isabella asks a lot of questions and starts reading not too long after she gets really going on the concept of talking. Isabella lashes her tail when she's thinking. Isabella wants hands, so she can write things in addition to reading them, and because Mommy has hands.
Vivian provides lots of soothing hugs and learns to carry band-aids and Neosporin. Vivian is considered extremely odd by the local pet store but returns with a pile of different types of brushes to try to tame some of the fuzzy. (This meets with only moderate success. Isabella is very adorably fuzzy.) Vivian cooks comfort food and sings bedtime songs and sews up many, many claw-shaped rips. Vivian reads their entire library out loud twice, throws out the books that are sacrificed to tiny claws, and concedes the point about hands.
When Isabella is six, her birthday present is one small, plain and very old amulet.
When Isabella is six, her birthday present is one small, plain and very old amulet.
shesepankh
Isabella figures out how it works! She can do just hands, if she wants, and at first this is a favored option, but then she finds that she can more easily write if she does elbows, too, and reconfigures everything from the hips up for sitting straight. She learns in short order that hands are not good for walking. Paws aren't so hot for walking either, if you're a little fuzzy Isabella, but at least when one of those chokes under the pressure there's two more.
Isabella's fur sleekens, over time. She stops clawing things. She preens her feathers and brushes her own hair and writes and lashes her tail.
After she has had her amulet for four months, she says, "Mommy, you know to not read my writing, right?"
Isabella's fur sleekens, over time. She stops clawing things. She preens her feathers and brushes her own hair and writes and lashes her tail.
After she has had her amulet for four months, she says, "Mommy, you know to not read my writing, right?"
'Know' is not the correct word here. It hadn't even particularly occurred to Vivian to read Isabella's writings, except for the obvious cases such as 'Isabella made me this drawing' or 'Isabella is practicing her letters and I am checking them'. But her own mother was not good about giving her daughter privacy, and Vivian has no interest in continuing the trend.
"I haven't read anything you haven't shown me, love, and I won't if you don't want me to," she reassures her. "Are you keeping a diary? Would you like an actual diary, instead of just paper? There's even some with locks, if you'd like."
"I haven't read anything you haven't shown me, love, and I won't if you don't want me to," she reassures her. "Are you keeping a diary? Would you like an actual diary, instead of just paper? There's even some with locks, if you'd like."
shesepankh
"I might need a lot of those," muses Isabella. "Lots of locks for lots of diaries."
"Tell you what. We'll start you with those and when you learn magic you can make your own. How does that sound?"
"...did I do something to make you worry I would look, love?"
If Isabella thinks she's untrustworthy, she wants to know about it. (And then fix it, immediately.)
If Isabella thinks she's untrustworthy, she wants to know about it. (And then fix it, immediately.)
Vivian has a trip planned in two days to sell her latest batch of spells and charms in the nearby Avalon. When she returns, there is a little stack of diaries sitting on Isabella's desk. They are all different sizes and colors and in some cases patterns, and are in no way discernibly similar except that all of them have some kind of lock.
shesepankh
Isabella loves them! She writes things in them. She conscientiously locks them and puts all the keys on a necklace, marked to indicate which book they open.
revivian
Her next batch of diaries comes with a small pile of nail polish bottles, each bottle a color matching a particular diary. In case somesphinx should want to paint her keys to match.
Once Isabella is old enough to hold her human form properly, Vivian starts planning to get more involved in the world again. She's kept up on world news, she's familiar with the political climate, but she's not doing anything about it. She investigates the state of local activism and picks a few nearby events to volunteer for. Then, after some debate, she invites Isabella.
Once Isabella is old enough to hold her human form properly, Vivian starts planning to get more involved in the world again. She's kept up on world news, she's familiar with the political climate, but she's not doing anything about it. She investigates the state of local activism and picks a few nearby events to volunteer for. Then, after some debate, she invites Isabella.
shesepankh
Isabella paints her locks and keys. (She tries painting her claws. This experiment is not repeated.)
Isabella is excited about leaving the house! There is room to fly in the back yard, fromw which she can do some modest spying on the neighbors; and there's TV and books to give her an idea of what else there might be to look at, but she is excited to not have to be Secret And Fuzzy anymore.
Isabella is excited about leaving the house! There is room to fly in the back yard, fromw which she can do some modest spying on the neighbors; and there's TV and books to give her an idea of what else there might be to look at, but she is excited to not have to be Secret And Fuzzy anymore.
revivian
There have been some details of how Isabella is Secret that have already been covered. There are still a few left.
"Isabella, love, you know what 'adoption' is, right?" Vivian starts. They have been through many books and newspapers; this shouldn't be a new concept.
"Isabella, love, you know what 'adoption' is, right?" Vivian starts. They have been through many books and newspapers; this shouldn't be a new concept.
revivian
"I know. But because magic is secret, people won't know that. And I can't be your birth mommy because I'm Asian and you're not." Vivian feels strongly about Isabella being a well-educated citizen of the world (filtered age appropriately), so Isabella is familiar with enough faces from newspapers that this isn't a new concept. "So to people who don't know about magic, we have to say you're adopted, okay?"
shesepankh
Isabella considers this. "We could pretend I had a daddy who wasn't Asian," she suggests. "To explain. I could take after him."
revivian
"That's a good thought, love, but children with an Asian parent almost always look a little bit Asian. If people see us, they'll assume you are adopted. Okay?" If they don't assume that Vivian is a nanny of some kind, but that's a whole separate societal issue.
She doesn't mention her general disinterest in finding Isabella a daddy. She is quite clear that her sexuality is nothing to be ashamed of and of course she'll talk about it when Isabella's older, but the goal here is keeping conversations age appropriate, not hiding anything. Once Isabella is ready for a conversation about her mother's love life, she'll include it then. (...is there ever an appropriate time for that? Vivian's not clear. It's certainly not something she ever experienced with her own family. Also, ick.) But it's hardly like Vivian's been on and about on the dating scene anyway. It can wait.
She doesn't mention her general disinterest in finding Isabella a daddy. She is quite clear that her sexuality is nothing to be ashamed of and of course she'll talk about it when Isabella's older, but the goal here is keeping conversations age appropriate, not hiding anything. Once Isabella is ready for a conversation about her mother's love life, she'll include it then. (...is there ever an appropriate time for that? Vivian's not clear. It's certainly not something she ever experienced with her own family. Also, ick.) But it's hardly like Vivian's been on and about on the dating scene anyway. It can wait.
revivian
"Magic knowing people-"
Vivian starts to say that it's fine, they can know; it's not like she doesn't have a perfectly valid reason to have magicked up a daughter rather than going the conventional route. But then she rethinks that.
"-might want a copy of the spell, if you said. And the spell has to be secret because it only works on species that don't exist any more, so they could find out that you're not a human, you're my sphinxette."
Vivian starts to say that it's fine, they can know; it's not like she doesn't have a perfectly valid reason to have magicked up a daughter rather than going the conventional route. But then she rethinks that.
"-might want a copy of the spell, if you said. And the spell has to be secret because it only works on species that don't exist any more, so they could find out that you're not a human, you're my sphinxette."
shesepankh
Isabella considers this gravely. "Does this mean I have to be all human all the time even when there are only magic knowing people?"
revivian
"Honestly? Probably, yes. I'm sorry, love. But it's a big deal that you're a sphinxette. You can be a sphinx at home! And if you want we can try to pick you something to pretend to be, if you want to be able to turn partway when we're out. But you'd have to pick one thing and stick to it, and never ever show anything that didn't match."
shesepankh
"What things would let me have my wings and my tail? I like those best."
revivian
"A winged lion, maybe? There's not a lot of things with feather wings and lion tails."