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Isabella eats up as much magic as Vivian can teach her; both of their library cards see a lot of use. The list of spells she's allowed to cast gets longer, and eventually she gains permission to cast one or two by herself. Vivian worries, but she's also proud. It's nice to see Isabella so motivated.
Now that Isabella has a medallion and a library card, they go to the Avalon more than just "as necessary to replenish her cash." It becomes something of a habit for Vivian to arrive, drop Isabella off at the library, and then wander around to sell her charms, do her shopping, catch up with her friends, or whatever else she feels like exploring that day. The critters are blinder to human society and politics than she might like, but she thinks she's getting through to some of them. If they want to blend into human culture, these things matter, after all.
Today in particular being a nice day, Vivian and Isabella took the whole day to go out. After a protest demanding equal rights for LGBT employees, they head into Avalon. Vivian leaves Isabella at the library and goes to grab a cup of tea from the cafe next to the marina. She drapes her jacket over the back of her chair, but when she sees the woman at the next table eyes her Out and Proud! button on it warily and grimacing, she removes it from the coat and puts it onto her shirt, front and center. Take that, nosy lady.
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revivian
revivian
"It makes itself pretty obvious. Also, he named the place Ye Olde Magic Shoppe. Subtlety was not the goal."
"Oh. I suppose that would help. I've seen a number of stores with names that are puns and I'm not sure I'd reliably get one of those."
revivian
"Really? I'm surprised, your English is very good."
And that accent but she is not mentioning that.
And that accent but she is not mentioning that.
"I'm an interpreter," explains Gianna. "But puns are tricky even if you know all the words; context helps less."
revivian
She can talk while she walks, if she doesn't get too distracted admiring Gianna; she starts them towards the magic shop. "That makes sense," she allows. "I'm fluent in Mandarin and I still struggle with the jokes sometimes. There's so many homophones."
"Mandarin is - a Chinese dialect?"
revivian
"Yes. It's the official language of China, so it has the most speakers, but some of the dialects are so different I'm never quite sure they count."
They turn onto the second shopping district street and head down it. The magic shop sign can be seen a couple blocks down. "When did you learn English? Did you always want to be a translator?"
They turn onto the second shopping district street and head down it. The magic shop sign can be seen a couple blocks down. "When did you learn English? Did you always want to be a translator?"
"I started in school and everyone thought I was good at it, so I just - carried on with it, and went to England and America a few times, and then it turned out to be my most marketable skill. The work is good but I didn't dream about it when I was small."
revivian
"Well, you are good at it, they were right. Though now I'm curious what you dreamed about when you were small."
"Oh, the same things everyone else does. Being a princess or a painter or a rock star."
revivian
"I wanted to be a rock star too! Although I wanted to be the king, not a princess." Vivian smiles rather mischievously. "I suppose that should have been a hint."
They're not far from the magic shop now. Vivian nods at the sign, which is now close enough to be easily read. "The shop's right up there. Don't worry about the owner, he's standoffish and bitter to everyone, just be polite and you'll be fine."
They're not far from the magic shop now. Vivian nods at the sign, which is now close enough to be easily read. "The shop's right up there. Don't worry about the owner, he's standoffish and bitter to everyone, just be polite and you'll be fine."
"All right," nods Gianna, and she pushes past the door.
revivian
Vivian watches her go with a rather goofy smile, then shakes herself and goes in search of Isabella. Knowing Isabella, this will be a search of, at most, ten feet.
revivian
"Ready to go, love? There's something I want to discuss with you on the way home."
shesepankh
"Uuuum okay." Isabella puts bookmarks in the books and then goes and checks them out. "What is it?"
revivian
"I met a nice lady at the docks today who has a sick brother. I'm going to look into spells to try to make him feel better. Would you like to help?"
Vivian will explain things in more detail to Isabella later, when saying "sphinx magic" will not get her stared at by passersby.
Vivian will explain things in more detail to Isabella later, when saying "sphinx magic" will not get her stared at by passersby.
revivian
"We will learn all the magic and fix all the things," Vivian agrees. "And we can heal people and help fix the environment and solve world hunger and be superheroes."
revivian
Once they're safely in the car on their way home, Vivian circles back to the subject. "One more thing, sphinxette. I didn't want to say anything in the Avalon in case anyone heard, but I've read a couple books that said that sphinxes were often healers. I can't find anything saying what exactly they did, so I know I'm not being very much help, but I think you might be able to do more than just the spells I've shown you."
shesepankh
"I don't know how though. I read that too and I tried to fix my knee when I tripped once and I tried to fix my shoulder when I had that really big bruise and nothing happened."
revivian
"It could only be for certain things. Maybe they can only make illnesses go away instead of fixing injuries, or maybe they could only reattach things you lost, or something. 'Healing' is pretty broad."
shesepankh
Nod, nod. "I'll try to fix the lady's brother. And it's okay to do that? They know things?"