fiction
"Yes, magic is real. Yes, I could teach you. No, I won't teach you."
"Why not?" Rachel was practically whining at this point. I was in full 'do not give a fuck' mood at this point. The peyote was helping with that. It's hard to give a fuck when you're mildly hallucinating.
"Because you don't believe in magic."
"But I do! I've seen you do it!"
"Yes, you have. But that isn't the same as truly believing." I had to sit down. Rachel's voice was getting shriller and her breath was coming out a dark red. Maybe I'd taken a little too much this time.
"Look, it's like this. There's no genetic predisposition to magic. We're not inheritors of a lost legacy of Atlantis, or any of that shit. Damn near anyone can do magic. But because they don't believe in magic, not truly, they limit themselves."
"I don't understand."
"Okay, look, take some South Pacific tribal types, or South American, or African... doesn't matter. People who have had very little or no interaction with the modern world. They've never seen a TV, or a car, or a radio. They know magic exists because they have no other explanation for events. They can work magic because they create rituals that they believe, that they truly believe, work. Two thousand years ago, lightning was the province of Zeus, or Thor, or whatever storm god or spirits the locals believed in. People didn't have a scientific explanation. Now people do. It's all... I don't know, ions or something."
"So?"
"So you're a child of the modern world. You grew up with cars and radios and science class, and instant messaging and all that shit. I grew up with a boatload of fucked up people who kept me and a bunch of other kids in the dark about all that. I was trained in this from the point where I could fucking walk. I didn't even see a car until I ran away at the age of 16 because I couldn't handle what my parents were trying to do."
She looked up at that.
"They were summoning demons. Well, you'd call them demons. But that's not the point. These people had, for several generations, locked themselves away from the rest of the world in order to produce crops of kids who would grow up believing, truly believing... in magic. I was one of those kids. I know magic is real, not because I've seen it, not because I can do it. But because it is."
"Your average guy on the street might think there's more to all this" I waved a hand at the night sky "then what he can see, but he's too apathetic, or too mired in his own views to try and break out of that."
"But I'm not!" Rachel was insistent.
"You are. I told you to meet me out here, in the middle of fucking nowhere, and how did you get here?"
"I drove."
"Right. And you used that directional thingy in your car, right?"
"GPS. Of course. How else was I..."
"See? Didn't even consider walking here. Didn't even consider not using that GPS. And I'll bet if I dumped your purse on the ground, you'd have your phone, and your music player, and who knows what else in there, right?"
"......yeah."
"Rachel, darling, don't you see? If I wanted to talk with someone miles away, I could use magic to do it. It would take a while, it would be taxing, and it could be dangerous if I fucked it up. You can dial someone on your phone and do the same goddamned thing."
"Without magic." she said.
"Yeah. There's magic in the world. Anyone who truly wants to can touch it, and use it. But no one wants to. Because you don't need it any more."
This entry was originally posted at yah -> (http://kierthos.dreamwidth.org/750496.html).
You can comment here or there.
"Why not?" Rachel was practically whining at this point. I was in full 'do not give a fuck' mood at this point. The peyote was helping with that. It's hard to give a fuck when you're mildly hallucinating.
"Because you don't believe in magic."
"But I do! I've seen you do it!"
"Yes, you have. But that isn't the same as truly believing." I had to sit down. Rachel's voice was getting shriller and her breath was coming out a dark red. Maybe I'd taken a little too much this time.
"Look, it's like this. There's no genetic predisposition to magic. We're not inheritors of a lost legacy of Atlantis, or any of that shit. Damn near anyone can do magic. But because they don't believe in magic, not truly, they limit themselves."
"I don't understand."
"Okay, look, take some South Pacific tribal types, or South American, or African... doesn't matter. People who have had very little or no interaction with the modern world. They've never seen a TV, or a car, or a radio. They know magic exists because they have no other explanation for events. They can work magic because they create rituals that they believe, that they truly believe, work. Two thousand years ago, lightning was the province of Zeus, or Thor, or whatever storm god or spirits the locals believed in. People didn't have a scientific explanation. Now people do. It's all... I don't know, ions or something."
"So?"
"So you're a child of the modern world. You grew up with cars and radios and science class, and instant messaging and all that shit. I grew up with a boatload of fucked up people who kept me and a bunch of other kids in the dark about all that. I was trained in this from the point where I could fucking walk. I didn't even see a car until I ran away at the age of 16 because I couldn't handle what my parents were trying to do."
She looked up at that.
"They were summoning demons. Well, you'd call them demons. But that's not the point. These people had, for several generations, locked themselves away from the rest of the world in order to produce crops of kids who would grow up believing, truly believing... in magic. I was one of those kids. I know magic is real, not because I've seen it, not because I can do it. But because it is."
"Your average guy on the street might think there's more to all this" I waved a hand at the night sky "then what he can see, but he's too apathetic, or too mired in his own views to try and break out of that."
"But I'm not!" Rachel was insistent.
"You are. I told you to meet me out here, in the middle of fucking nowhere, and how did you get here?"
"I drove."
"Right. And you used that directional thingy in your car, right?"
"GPS. Of course. How else was I..."
"See? Didn't even consider walking here. Didn't even consider not using that GPS. And I'll bet if I dumped your purse on the ground, you'd have your phone, and your music player, and who knows what else in there, right?"
"......yeah."
"Rachel, darling, don't you see? If I wanted to talk with someone miles away, I could use magic to do it. It would take a while, it would be taxing, and it could be dangerous if I fucked it up. You can dial someone on your phone and do the same goddamned thing."
"Without magic." she said.
"Yeah. There's magic in the world. Anyone who truly wants to can touch it, and use it. But no one wants to. Because you don't need it any more."
This entry was originally posted at yah -> (http://kierthos.dreamwidth.org/750496.html).
You can comment here or there.