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[evocation]

@kyna.medina | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[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.

[evocation]

[Okay, so she's reading that as him not really wanting to talk about the coven stuff. When they walk through the door, she lets go of his arm and grabs a table.]

What do you want? We've got deer now.

[hiyakai]

[ she didn't read wrong. ]

Are they making deer burgers here? [ he pulls out a chair, flopping down into it. ] Because I'll take one.

[evocation]

Yep.

[The nice thing about the implants is that she can just order without waiting for a server. Two burgers it is. Then she pauses, tapping her lower lip as she studies him.]

I'm gonna try to guess what kind of drinks you like.

[hiyakai]

Sure. [ he rests his arms on top of the table, clasping his hands together. ] Shoot.

[evocation]

Nope. It's a surprise.

[She puts the order in, then leans forward a bit.]

So you grew up in Portland?

[hiyakai]

I do love surprises.

[ he rests his chin on the palm of his left hand. ]

Yep. Good ol' Portland. Home of the world's smallest city park.

[evocation]

[Kyna grins at that.]

What's it like? Did you like it?