Dancing Fox Inn 97: Roman Numerals Are Stupid

[Morty]

Wenomir turns to look at Cass, unsure if he wants to play along with Anika's encouragement. Kr was... not good with children, to put it mildly. And he hasn't seen much from Cass that would suggest she's different in this regard.

"Kids do love tricks, that's true. I have no magic, so I make do with swordplay and acrobatics. I'm better with kids than you'd expect from someone with this many scars. I'm sure the Mithar and Frescot kids would love Cass' magic, but they can also be overwhelming when they gather in numbers," he adds to give Cass an opportunity to opt out of the whole thing.

[Ashen Lilies]

"...Yeah," says Cass, looking away, her cheeks flushing with embarassment. "I've never been exactly comfortable with kids."

Yet.
It's a learning experience. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea?

Cass shakes her head, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly as she tries to process through her thoughts. Wenomir might notice that, well, something unusal is going on. Cass is certainly struggling with some kind of emotion - Kr certainly never felt much shame about being bad with children. She'd no doubt have had no difficulty taking Wenomir's offered exit from the situation, and avoided interacting with Cessie's children at all. She always had.

'I... could give it a try. I suppose."

[Shadowcaller]

Anika beams. "But only if you want to. I'm always told I was a pain in the ass as a child and I don't think I will be the only kid like that. C-command's kids are fine though and I'd guess their friends are too." Anika pauses as she suddenly recalls something. "Oh! There's also this one kid in VIGIL that kinda looks like you. Lapis she's called and I think her mom is a ancient spirit or something? It's weird." A beat. "Uh, what were we talking about again? I think I lost the thread at some point. Was Cass going to visit the C-keep for some reason?"

[Morty]

This is odd. Cass is clearly not enthusiastic about the prospect, but she feels she has to? Why?

"We seem to be rambling along from topic to topic," he tells Anika, then back to Cass: "You could come along with me when I'm training Cora, maybe. As a fellow student. No pressure, though. It's not like you have to get along with kids. Plenty of people don't."

[Ashen Lilies]

It's worth a try.

"It's... worth a try," says Cass, rubbing her temple as she glances at Wenomir. "Plenty of people don't, but I... think it would be better for me if..."

Cass sighs.

"It's just... I've never had a reason to before."

[Shadowcaller]

"You got a reason now?" Anika inquires with a smile. "I mean, besides your hot boyfriend training one of them I mean." A beat. "I suppose that is good enough a reason. Sign me up to that too if Cass is okay with it."

[Morty]

This is certainly strange. Why does Cass have a reason to get along with kids now? She's not expecting to have any, is she? A ridiculous idea, yet one that sticks to Wenomir's mind far more stubbornly than it should.

"What's this new reason?" he asks, doing his best to keep the worry out of his tone.

[Ashen Lilies]

Something in Wenomir's tone makes Cass look up at him, and she blushes deeply.

"Oh, no. N-not like that." She says, hastily. "It's, um. You've met Geneviève."

She wraps her arms around herself, not sure how much detail she wants to go in, especially with Anika, who doesn't know much about who Cass is or who Geneviève is.

"And you know the spell that we... uh, the magic that's responsible for..."

She bites her lip, rubbing her arms.

"Well, she.. that's to say, uh... I have a brother?"

[Shadowcaller]

Anika looks increasingly confused as she starts noticing that Cass is blushing. She was clearly missing a lot of the context here as she couldn't think of a reason why she'd act like that.

Even when Cass stated the reason it took the druid a moment. "...you just learned? That's awesome! Congratulations!" She didn't know what it had to do with spells but brothers were cool. She wished she had one.

[Morty]

Wenomir's irrational worry is replaced with equally irrational relief. However, it equally quickly gives way to incredulity. He understand more than Anika about how Geneviève might suddenly produce a son, but it's still surprising. She just... created a person? With magic? When she created Cass' body, she had a soul ready to occupy it, so how did this work now?

"That does explain things," he simply says. "What's his name? Have you met him yet?"

[Ashen Lilies]

Hopefully Wenomir won't be foolish enough to actually ask Cass those questions he has. Because if he did... she'd actually answer them!

She drums her fingers on the edge of the table, still visibly anxious, though a little calmer now that she's revealed the thing that had been weighing on her mind.
"His name is Lucien," says Cass. "We've met, yeah. He was asleep most of the time that I was last there."

[Shadowcaller]

"Wow, I always wanted a baby-brother." Anika remarks excitedly. "I bet he's adorable. They always are." Her grin is wide, while she never wanted kids for at least a couple of hundred years she still found them cute.

[Morty]

"Having siblings... well, it has its ups and downs. I had a few kid siblings when I was younger. Had to wrangle them fairly often." Wenomir smiles at his memories. "Though life with Geneviève is nothing like the life of a dirt-poor serf family, I'm sure. But you'll do fine."

[Ashen Lilies]

Cass nods, looking down, her tongue freezing in her mouth. She doesn't say anything for a moment, avoiding meeting either of their gazes.
"I've started going to Geneviève's for magical instruction, so I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

[Shadowcaller]

Anika wasn't sure what to say as Cass seemed to be retreating further and further into herself. She had done something wrong, probably by being a stupid loudmouth again as usual.
It was just... she couldn't control it. The words just flew out her mouth sometimes despite the best of intentions. It wasn't an good excuse though. She had to get better than this.

"Um... well, good luck. I also took magic training..." The druid starts while looking at Cass, trying to gauge her reaction to the topic. "...for a couple of years actually. More like a decade really..."
Ugh, she sounded idiotic. She couldn't finish a single sentence without having to add something she had forgotten by the end. No wonder Cass didn't want to talk to her. "...uh, sorry. Never mind."

[Morty]

Wenomir shifts awkwardly in his seat, glancing between the two women. He has no idea what to say; Cass was obviously taking the whole situation poorly and now Anika seem to also have caught it. He's not sure why. He doesn't have any input on the conversation except for awkward silence for the moment.

[Ashen Lilies]

Cass frowns vaguely, looking distant for a moment, before she suddenly jolts to the present, looking at Anika.

"Huh? No it's..." She runs a hand through her hair awkwardly, gathering the ends as if to make a ponytail, before releasing her hair and bringing her hand back to the table.

"Please uh... It's just an awkward situation for me, Geneviève and I... it's nothing you said. Really." She says, looking at Anika with a mix of anxiety and surprise.

[Shadowcaller]

Anika raises an eyebrow. "So you do want to hear about my training then? Since I figured you might be interested." A beat. "I just... some mages I've come across think druids don't use 'real' magic. Like we're just dumb hillbillies or something and I was afraid you felt the same way."

[Ashen Lilies]

"Of course!" Cass says, nodding emphatically.
"All magic is real magic. There's some types of magic that I can't learn or won't use, but that doesn't make it less interesting."

[Shadowcaller]

"Yeah! Exactly! I mean, I'd like to learn your type of magic but I just don't seem to be able to wrap my head around it. But my great, great grandmother, she's a super-powerful mage too so I must have somewhere within me, right?" A beat.
"But, uh, if you're really curious I can tell you all about druids. Or at least the little I know." Anika chuckles. "I'm more about the, whaty'callit... practical parts." The druid grins widely.

[Morty]

Wenomir really has very little to say about magic, but he's glad Cassandra and Anika are getting along. Of course, Anika has an amazing ability to get along with almost everyone. And she's good at getting Cass out of her shell.

[Ashen Lilies]

"Maybe you do," says Cass, smiling. "I mostly learned magic on my own, by studying a couple of books on the subject."

She pauses.

"I've uh... there might have been some gaps in my learning that need to be fixed, though," she says, blushing. Though, that might just be all the wine at this point. Her cheeks overall have quite a healthy flush to them, so it's hard to tell. What counts as the practical parts?"

[Shadowcaller]

Yes, what did count as the practical parts?
"Tell me about it. I've forgotten so much of my training since I never used it even once. It's less like holes in my education and more like giant chasms you'd need wings to cross." Still, Anika chuckles.

"But the practical part is the shapeshifting of course." She holds up her hands, finger spread, and wiggles them up and down as she explains as if trying to grasp a giant invisible ball sitting in her lap. "All about... communing with the ancients and stuff. I guess it's like being a priest? You channel this big powerful being into you or whatever. I never really think of it that way though. It just rushes through me like my own blood when I call to it so it never really feels separated from me. I'm just 'let's be a bear' and boom, I'm a bear. It's not like I'm asking anyone of permission for it, it just comes to me. Like it always been inside me." She rubs the back of her neck as she seem to consider something for a moment.

"But that's why I call it practical since I can't really teach it to anyone. It's just a part of me now, y'know? Like, I don't even know the words to properly describe it if that makes sense." She glances down at Cass. "But... I still remember some theory which is the more magic-y parts such as healing and the other spells. Like what you do but less impressive."

[Morty]

"There are certainly more problems that can be solved by application of a bear at high speed than I thought there were before meeting Anika," Wenomir jokes. "But I think I get it. It's the same as with learning martial arts. You study moves and forms until they become as natural as breathing and you stop thinking about them. Though I had to start again to teach others."

[Ashen Lilies]

"It's very direct, Cass agrees. "Refreshingly straightforward."

"I can't turn into a bear or turn anyone else into a bear, but I could probably trick someone into thinking that I did."

[Shadowcaller]

Anika nods to Wenomir. "Something like that, yeah." But also that there simply were things you had to experience to learn.

Her attention is then drawn to Cass again. "How you'd make people think you're a bear? Since that sounds hilarious."

[Morty]

Wenomir tilts his head.

"I'm guessing an illusion. I don't know how easy making someone else think they're a bear would be."

[Ashen Lilies]

"Yes, an illusion is simple enough. People don't tend to look too closely when you start waving your paws around and roaring, so it doesn't even have to be a very good illusion," says Cass, grinning. "Making other people think you turned them into a bear is where the fun is, yeah."

Cass' grin fades a little, and she looks thoughtful.
"But being able to actually turn into an animal... fly like a bird, or... see the world through the eyes of a cat. That sounds.... interesting.

[Shadowcaller]

Anika grins at the idea. But that would also make you able to cast illusions on others right? Like, making people see Wenomir as a bear. Or convince some poor sucker that they had turned into a bear for at least for a couple of seconds.

It sounded awesome.

But speaking of awesome...

"Oh yeah! It's beyond cool, thought as I said. There's like no way I can explain it to you guys. Like, you don't even think in the same way so it's hard to really, uh, translate the experience into words. In some ways you feel like you've been compressed but in others it's like a completely new aspect of the world have opened up for you." She at least attempts to explain.

[Morty]

"Wouldn't the illusion break pretty easily once the person tried to do something a bear should be able to do but couldn't? Like, say, knocking something over." Wenomir sounds thoughtful as he works his way through this. "Or would it be possible to get them to rationalize it?"