Post by The Traveler on Mar 7, 2023 7:34:35 GMT -6
Chapter 13, pt. 2
Charlie, Juno, and Arthur scoured the cottage for a suitable item for a good part of the afternoon. Juno had to leave halfway through the search when Theodore asked for her help in the greenhouse, and Arthur refused to enter such a sunny room anyways, so Charlie left it unexplored (for now). But, they still turned up a variety of candidates: a pen and pencil from a drawer in the kitchen, a bookmark from a book in the living room, a chess piece from a chess set in the storage/training room, roller blades from Charlie's bedroom, a portable CD player in Arthur's room, and sunglasses from Theodore's bedroom.
At present, Charlie sat in Robert's room, next to the bed where his father lay, still asleep. Arthur had sat with him at one point, but had proven too much of a jittery and anxious distraction to Charlie, and after asking politely to be left alone with his father, the vampire neonate had left to return to his own room.
Charlie currently held the chess piece in one hand and the sunglasses in the other, staring down at both of them in contemplation. Both held promise.
He had selected the rook piece from the chess set after Arthur had unearthed it, which in his mind, he saw as a sort of “defensive” piece in the game of chess, if only because it was shaped like a tower or castle, and thus could potentially be good for a warding enchantment. The sunglasses, which Juno had pointed out to him, also seemed like it could be good for warding - it had already been purpose-built for warding off sunlight, so, this was just an extension of its original purpose, right?
“There needs to be a way to activate the enchantment though,” Charlie muttered. “Right? Otherwise it would just... be active all the time? Fuck, I don't know.”
He slumped in his chair, moving to hold both the rook piece and the sunglasses in one hand as he dragged the other down his face. Though Joanne's crash-course had been thorough with enchantments and artifice, there hadn't been enough time for the information to sink in for Charlie, and the ticking clock she had given him now caused it to fracture and fragment under pressure.
Charlie glanced out the window, noting how low the sun was in the horizon. At this point, he just needed to choose, if he wanted any hope of success. Failure loomed on the horizon.
Poetic, he told himself, giving his inner voice a sarcastic tone.
“Are those my sunglasses?”
Charlie turned to see that Theodore had walked up to the door and paused at the threshold, before deciding to actually enter and sit down in the beanbag chair. His gaze briefly went to Robert, and, noting no change in the older man, refocused on Charlie.
“Were you snooping in my bedroom?” He asked. “You know those are prescription.”
“No.” Charlie answered his second question with a shake of his head. “Joanne didn't fill you in?”
“No,” Theodore answered in turn. “What errand does she have you running that involves my sunglasses?”
“I'm supposed to find a suitable handheld item to enchant with warding magic.” Charlie glanced down at the sunglasses, and after shifting around the items again, held out the sunglasses to Theodore. “Guess that just leaves the chess piece. Did she have you do the same task, when you were first starting out?”
Theodore took the sunglasses back and turned them over in his hand absently. “Not exactly,” he answered. “Joanne will tell you she focuses on fundamentals. That's true, but she also tries to cater to her student's interests and aptitudes - more so the latter than the former, I discovered. Green magic comes easily to me thanks to my power, and I have a knack for healing that's based in herbalism because of it. Joanne's encouraged my self-study and growth in both of those areas, along with a basic understanding of the underlying arcane principles. I'm sure she's had to condense things tremendously for you, given the circumstances.”
“How'd you become her apprentice?” Charlie asked, curious. “Were you her apprentice when we met?”
“Technically yes, but I didn't spend that summer with her,” Theodore shifted in the beanbag, trying to sit up straighter, but failing in achieving his goal. He sighed, and slumped. “Joanne was a good friend of my Great-Aunt Giovanna. She was my first teacher, I suppose you could say, shared similar plant-based powers and everything, but I never saw it that way - she was just my prozia. When she died, Joanne offered to continue to teach me and I accepted. I've been her apprentice since senior year of high school.”
“You know, speaking of plant-based powers, you never told me what your power was.” Though he was getting used to the notion, the concept of powers still felt a little foreign to Charlie. Even the word felt unfamiliar on his tongue.
“And I never will. Just be satisfied with green magic. That's basically what it is.”
“But not exactly.”
“Weren't you trying to figure out how to enchant that thing?” Theodore said, changing the subject and pointing to the chess piece in Charlie's hands.
“You were the one who came in here and struck up a conversation, not me.” The reminder of his task pulled Charlie's mouth into a frown, however. “I'll take any advice you can give me though. The rook seems close to the answer, but not quite.”
Theodore hummed in thought, and let his gaze fall on the chess piece. He remained silent for a few moments before speaking.
“I can't speak on enchanting - that's more Joanne's expertise - but I've often discovered through my own magic that the more personal or individualized I can make something, the better the result I'll have.” He winced slightly, unsatisfied with his explanation. “It's hard to describe. It's not... something that has a firm, tangible, black-or-white rule. It's kind of a feeling, or a gut instinct. So, I guess, if you've exhausted all options with your head, go with what your gut is telling you.”
“My gut is telling me this could work, but it'll be complicated.” Charlie held up the chess piece as he talked about it. “A rook can symbolize protection, but it's static, immovable, inflexible. This won't move with me, which is kind of what I want, and I think I would need to spend a lot of time and effort trying to enchant it to do so.”
“So you're looking for a shield, not a barrier,” Theodore summed up for him.
Charlie nodded.
“Well - “ Theodore glanced around the room, but finding no suitable item for Charlie, gave a shrug. “I'm afraid that's all I can help you with. Like I said, enchanting isn't my strong suit. But hopefully that should help you with what you're looking for. I'll be downstairs in the kitchen - holler if you need anything, or if he wakes up.”
Theodore nodded towards Robert, and then hauled himself to his feet.
“Oh, and stay out of my room.”
Charlie gave a scoff and rolled his eyes. “You should tell that to Juno, she's the one who brought the sunglasses to me!” He called after Theodore after he left the room.
Hearing no response, Charlie looked down once again at the chess piece in his hands, before carefully setting the rook down on the nightstand next to the bed. His gaze alighted on his father.
“Got any bright ideas, Dad?” He posed the question.
Robert did not respond.
“Yeah, thought not,” Charlie murmured. Much like Theodore had done mere moments ago, he searched with his eyes for something, anything, in this room that could work for the warding enchantment he wanted to create. Sparse rooms didn't hold much, however.
Except...
The box of junk. On the nightstand.
“Son of a bitch, you actually did have a bright idea,” Charlie swore, reaching over and pulling the box into his lap.
He pulled out the shawl first, perplexed as to why his father had such a thing in the box of junk. It was greenish-blue on one side, and had a floral pattern of green, gold, white, and pink on the other, with fringed ends. Something left to him from a new girlfriend, perhaps?
“Well, good for you if that's the case, Dad,” Charlie muttered.
He set the shawl aside and pulled out the books next. Flipping through them, it became apparent to Charlie that these books had not come from Robert's bookshelf like he had suspected, but were actually journals and diaries, though he only recognized his grandmother's maiden name, Diana Weaver, in one of them. Though they plucked at his curiosity, he also set them aside and went through the miscellany of antiques at the bottom: a cameo pendant of a woman he didn't recognize, a sterling silver crucifix, a black ring in a ring box, a compass, a bell, a stick or two of incense, a small knife, and...
Charlie reached in the box for the last item, and pulled out his dad's pocket watch. A sober look crossed his face as he clicked it open.
The clock stared back at him, the second hand tick, tick, ticking away, but that hadn't been what he wanted to look at. No, instead, Charlie stared at the photograph that had been pasted on the inside of the watch cover: a black and white portrait of his mother.
She wore a classy, elegant blouse, and had left her dark hair down for the photograph, its long curling locks cascading over her shoulder. A bright smile graced her face, emphasizing the apples of her cheeks and nearly making her eyes squint closed. Her lips had been painted with makeup, but Charlie couldn't (and wouldn't) even begin to guess at what color it actually was. She always struck him as both dignified and playful all at once, whenever he saw this photograph.
“I promise I'm going to talk to you, one day,” Charlie murmured to the photograph.
He lingered with the pocket watch longer than the rest of the items. He closed and reopened it once, twice, thrice. Brow creased with thought.
Then he closed the pocket watch a fourth time, and placed it in his pocket, before returning all of the items he had pulled out back into the box. He unfastened his own watch from his wrist next, and carefully deposited it into the box as well.
“I'll take care of yours if you take care of mine, Dad,” Charlie promised to his sleeping father.
He pulled himself out of his seat, plucked the rook chess piece off of the nightstand, and left the room to begin his warding enchantment on the pocket watch.
Charlie, Juno, and Arthur scoured the cottage for a suitable item for a good part of the afternoon. Juno had to leave halfway through the search when Theodore asked for her help in the greenhouse, and Arthur refused to enter such a sunny room anyways, so Charlie left it unexplored (for now). But, they still turned up a variety of candidates: a pen and pencil from a drawer in the kitchen, a bookmark from a book in the living room, a chess piece from a chess set in the storage/training room, roller blades from Charlie's bedroom, a portable CD player in Arthur's room, and sunglasses from Theodore's bedroom.
At present, Charlie sat in Robert's room, next to the bed where his father lay, still asleep. Arthur had sat with him at one point, but had proven too much of a jittery and anxious distraction to Charlie, and after asking politely to be left alone with his father, the vampire neonate had left to return to his own room.
Charlie currently held the chess piece in one hand and the sunglasses in the other, staring down at both of them in contemplation. Both held promise.
He had selected the rook piece from the chess set after Arthur had unearthed it, which in his mind, he saw as a sort of “defensive” piece in the game of chess, if only because it was shaped like a tower or castle, and thus could potentially be good for a warding enchantment. The sunglasses, which Juno had pointed out to him, also seemed like it could be good for warding - it had already been purpose-built for warding off sunlight, so, this was just an extension of its original purpose, right?
“There needs to be a way to activate the enchantment though,” Charlie muttered. “Right? Otherwise it would just... be active all the time? Fuck, I don't know.”
He slumped in his chair, moving to hold both the rook piece and the sunglasses in one hand as he dragged the other down his face. Though Joanne's crash-course had been thorough with enchantments and artifice, there hadn't been enough time for the information to sink in for Charlie, and the ticking clock she had given him now caused it to fracture and fragment under pressure.
Charlie glanced out the window, noting how low the sun was in the horizon. At this point, he just needed to choose, if he wanted any hope of success. Failure loomed on the horizon.
Poetic, he told himself, giving his inner voice a sarcastic tone.
“Are those my sunglasses?”
Charlie turned to see that Theodore had walked up to the door and paused at the threshold, before deciding to actually enter and sit down in the beanbag chair. His gaze briefly went to Robert, and, noting no change in the older man, refocused on Charlie.
“Were you snooping in my bedroom?” He asked. “You know those are prescription.”
“No.” Charlie answered his second question with a shake of his head. “Joanne didn't fill you in?”
“No,” Theodore answered in turn. “What errand does she have you running that involves my sunglasses?”
“I'm supposed to find a suitable handheld item to enchant with warding magic.” Charlie glanced down at the sunglasses, and after shifting around the items again, held out the sunglasses to Theodore. “Guess that just leaves the chess piece. Did she have you do the same task, when you were first starting out?”
Theodore took the sunglasses back and turned them over in his hand absently. “Not exactly,” he answered. “Joanne will tell you she focuses on fundamentals. That's true, but she also tries to cater to her student's interests and aptitudes - more so the latter than the former, I discovered. Green magic comes easily to me thanks to my power, and I have a knack for healing that's based in herbalism because of it. Joanne's encouraged my self-study and growth in both of those areas, along with a basic understanding of the underlying arcane principles. I'm sure she's had to condense things tremendously for you, given the circumstances.”
“How'd you become her apprentice?” Charlie asked, curious. “Were you her apprentice when we met?”
“Technically yes, but I didn't spend that summer with her,” Theodore shifted in the beanbag, trying to sit up straighter, but failing in achieving his goal. He sighed, and slumped. “Joanne was a good friend of my Great-Aunt Giovanna. She was my first teacher, I suppose you could say, shared similar plant-based powers and everything, but I never saw it that way - she was just my prozia. When she died, Joanne offered to continue to teach me and I accepted. I've been her apprentice since senior year of high school.”
“You know, speaking of plant-based powers, you never told me what your power was.” Though he was getting used to the notion, the concept of powers still felt a little foreign to Charlie. Even the word felt unfamiliar on his tongue.
“And I never will. Just be satisfied with green magic. That's basically what it is.”
“But not exactly.”
“Weren't you trying to figure out how to enchant that thing?” Theodore said, changing the subject and pointing to the chess piece in Charlie's hands.
“You were the one who came in here and struck up a conversation, not me.” The reminder of his task pulled Charlie's mouth into a frown, however. “I'll take any advice you can give me though. The rook seems close to the answer, but not quite.”
Theodore hummed in thought, and let his gaze fall on the chess piece. He remained silent for a few moments before speaking.
“I can't speak on enchanting - that's more Joanne's expertise - but I've often discovered through my own magic that the more personal or individualized I can make something, the better the result I'll have.” He winced slightly, unsatisfied with his explanation. “It's hard to describe. It's not... something that has a firm, tangible, black-or-white rule. It's kind of a feeling, or a gut instinct. So, I guess, if you've exhausted all options with your head, go with what your gut is telling you.”
“My gut is telling me this could work, but it'll be complicated.” Charlie held up the chess piece as he talked about it. “A rook can symbolize protection, but it's static, immovable, inflexible. This won't move with me, which is kind of what I want, and I think I would need to spend a lot of time and effort trying to enchant it to do so.”
“So you're looking for a shield, not a barrier,” Theodore summed up for him.
Charlie nodded.
“Well - “ Theodore glanced around the room, but finding no suitable item for Charlie, gave a shrug. “I'm afraid that's all I can help you with. Like I said, enchanting isn't my strong suit. But hopefully that should help you with what you're looking for. I'll be downstairs in the kitchen - holler if you need anything, or if he wakes up.”
Theodore nodded towards Robert, and then hauled himself to his feet.
“Oh, and stay out of my room.”
Charlie gave a scoff and rolled his eyes. “You should tell that to Juno, she's the one who brought the sunglasses to me!” He called after Theodore after he left the room.
Hearing no response, Charlie looked down once again at the chess piece in his hands, before carefully setting the rook down on the nightstand next to the bed. His gaze alighted on his father.
“Got any bright ideas, Dad?” He posed the question.
Robert did not respond.
“Yeah, thought not,” Charlie murmured. Much like Theodore had done mere moments ago, he searched with his eyes for something, anything, in this room that could work for the warding enchantment he wanted to create. Sparse rooms didn't hold much, however.
Except...
The box of junk. On the nightstand.
“Son of a bitch, you actually did have a bright idea,” Charlie swore, reaching over and pulling the box into his lap.
He pulled out the shawl first, perplexed as to why his father had such a thing in the box of junk. It was greenish-blue on one side, and had a floral pattern of green, gold, white, and pink on the other, with fringed ends. Something left to him from a new girlfriend, perhaps?
“Well, good for you if that's the case, Dad,” Charlie muttered.
He set the shawl aside and pulled out the books next. Flipping through them, it became apparent to Charlie that these books had not come from Robert's bookshelf like he had suspected, but were actually journals and diaries, though he only recognized his grandmother's maiden name, Diana Weaver, in one of them. Though they plucked at his curiosity, he also set them aside and went through the miscellany of antiques at the bottom: a cameo pendant of a woman he didn't recognize, a sterling silver crucifix, a black ring in a ring box, a compass, a bell, a stick or two of incense, a small knife, and...
Charlie reached in the box for the last item, and pulled out his dad's pocket watch. A sober look crossed his face as he clicked it open.
The clock stared back at him, the second hand tick, tick, ticking away, but that hadn't been what he wanted to look at. No, instead, Charlie stared at the photograph that had been pasted on the inside of the watch cover: a black and white portrait of his mother.
She wore a classy, elegant blouse, and had left her dark hair down for the photograph, its long curling locks cascading over her shoulder. A bright smile graced her face, emphasizing the apples of her cheeks and nearly making her eyes squint closed. Her lips had been painted with makeup, but Charlie couldn't (and wouldn't) even begin to guess at what color it actually was. She always struck him as both dignified and playful all at once, whenever he saw this photograph.
“I promise I'm going to talk to you, one day,” Charlie murmured to the photograph.
He lingered with the pocket watch longer than the rest of the items. He closed and reopened it once, twice, thrice. Brow creased with thought.
Then he closed the pocket watch a fourth time, and placed it in his pocket, before returning all of the items he had pulled out back into the box. He unfastened his own watch from his wrist next, and carefully deposited it into the box as well.
“I'll take care of yours if you take care of mine, Dad,” Charlie promised to his sleeping father.
He pulled himself out of his seat, plucked the rook chess piece off of the nightstand, and left the room to begin his warding enchantment on the pocket watch.