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[evocation]

@kyna.medina | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[hiyakai]

I think it's more than that. [ his voice softens considerably. ] It's like... you've lost yourself. [ again. ]

They took that away from us, so... [ his expression is impassive and unreadable, yet there's a hardness in his eyes that wasn't there before. he keeps his gaze fixed ahead of them. ] the only thing we should want from those gods is our magic back. Nothing else matters. At least not to me.

[evocation]

Yeah.

[She says it softly, giving his arm a little impulsive squeeze.]

But we haven't lost ourselves. You know that, right? We're still us, magic or not.

[hiyakai]

[ something unravels within him then or, rather, reverts back to its original state as his countenance smooths over and a smile once again neatly adorns his lips. ]

Yeah, [ he looks over at her, a moment's passed. ] you're right. We are the only ones who can define who we are.

[evocation]

[It's so sudden that somehow, it doesn't feel fully genuine. It feels like a defense mechanism. Kyna frowns up at him, brow furrowed.]

I'm that convincing, huh?

[hiyakai]

[ he flashes her a grin. ]

Super. [ he offers a light shrug of his shoulder. ] So, what form of magic does yours take? And do you rely more on spells or some other medium?

[evocation]

Uh...

[The sudden snap back to casual and charming has thrown her, and it takes a second for her to get her train of thought back.]

A little bit of both. Back home, people who use magic pull it from the world around them, right? And some of the ways we use it are just sort of... instinctive. But some of them get more complicated, and we have to use spells or rituals or whatever you want to call them.

[hiyakai]

Yeah, that's how ours work too.

[ he tilts his head thoughtfully. ]

Wouldn't it be funny if we're from the same world? You ever been to Portland, Oregon?

[evocation]

[Her lips quirk up.]

Nope. I'm from Brooklyn.

[hiyakai]

Brooklyn. Man, I'm jealous. I would have loved to grow up in a city. Any city.

[evocation]

Really? Where'd you grow up? A farm?

[hiyakai]

More or less. My family was big on the whole self-sustaining type deal.

[evocation]

What does that even mean? Were they like, preppers?

[hiyakai]

Kind of. [ he slips his left hand into his pants' pocket, hooking his thumb over the edge. ] I grew up in a coven.

[evocation]

Oh. We don't really, uh, have those where I'm from. What does that mean?

[hiyakai]

It's like... a gathering of witches, except think less community and more cultish.

[evocation]

Oh.

[Sort of vague, but—]

Back home it's usually old, established families that stick together. And they're usually assholes.

[hiyakai]

The older the bloodline, the more susceptible they are to the asshole gene. So, were you a part of one of these families?

[evocation]

[She wrinkles her nose, scowling.]

My dad was. My mom can't use magic at all. My brother and I weren't good enough for them, and they treated us like shit. I guess in a weird way we were lucky, though. I didn't become a fucking snob.

[hiyakai]

I guess your old, established families aren't so different from my coven. Your value entirely depends on whether you were born with magic. If you aren't, then you're worthless.

[ and if you were something else, then you shouldn't have existed at all. ]

But it sounds like yours took it a step further if they placed more weight on the purity of blood lineage than they did on innate magic.

[evocation]

They were mostly just distant with me, but my brother couldn't use magic at all, so they treated him like... Yeah, like he was worthless. And then they acted surprised when I hated them.

[hiyakai]

Guess you got lucky that you didn't have to grow up in that kinda environment then. It can be a real pain in the ass.

[evocation]

Is that how your coven was? A pain in the ass?

[hiyakai]

Oh, they were more than that.

[ a thoughtful look settles on his face before he suddenly points ahead of them. ]

There's Red Wings. It seems like the popular hotspot around here. I've only been there once. When I just got here and I was still rocking the bald look. Met Marcos there. You know Marcos? Broody guy, nice beard?

[evocation]

Uh...

[Wow, whiplash.]

Yeah, I know him. Why?

[hiyakai]

[ yw ]

No reason. I was just wondering. [ s h r u g ] Come on, let's go eat. I'm famished.