The day was hot and wet. Very very wet. The skies had opened late last night and remained open throughout. While the ferocity of the rain had abated, it was still very much a constant fall.
At least the humidity would be mostly gone by the time the rain stopped. It was about damn time.
Nino lounged on the head of a statue, watching the rain through one of the nearby windows, air pulled in tight around him and keeping him safely from sight. He'd planned not to move at all when the snap of magic in the air brought him to his feet.
Witch's magic. Minor magic, but magic nonetheless. Curious. Nino took to the air and moved slowly towards the feeling. If there was really a witch in the Cloisters, he wanted to see her.
Meisa meandered towards the Unicorn Tapestries Room, making a detour and taking circuit around the middle and admiring what she saw. It was calming and the museum was surprisingly less full than she had expected. Maybe no one wanted to go out in this weather. She didn't blame them.
Arriving at the entrance to where the unicorn tapestries were, Meisa pulled out a notebook and a pen, gave a smile and nod to the docent on her way in, and after looking around cautiously and seeing no one else around, muttered a spell to animate the pen to write while she talked. She made her way to Unicorn in Captivity and stood in front of it, not knowing where to start.
"Unicorn in Captivity," she spoke quietly, pretending to read the plaque on the side in case anyone popped up, and watched the pen dutifully write. "Now what?" Now what? Oops. Meisa would have to keep in mind that it wrote down everything she said.
Some tourists were coming in to look at the tapestries, so she shut up to let them wander through.
Nino flew lazily, nearly floating, taking his time to follow the trail of faint spice. The magic was stronger towards the little entrance hall and then moved in a winding sort of way towards the unicorn tapestries. It made Nino smile a little - the tapestries were certainly famous.
At the door to the room he paused. There was strong magic here, not yet dissipated. The witch had just performed a spell. Nino stuck his head in to scan the room. Not too many people. One group of tourists, and two single viewers. And one of those with a self-moving pen. At least he assumed it was self-moving, because it was just standing with it's point to the paper and nothing holding it up. Nino moved overhead and landed on a little recess in the wall, watching the pen in fascination. How did it work? When would it work? He wanted to see it!
It was easier to use her body to block the other viewers from seeing her pen, so Meisa shifted slightly as they passed by her, even taking a loose hold of it when the other single viewer came up to look at the tapestry beside her. The viewer glanced at the plaque briefly, looked at the tapestry and moved on down the room. Meisa watched him go, glad to be mostly alone since the group of tourists were fairly noisy in their chatter. It would be easier to talk and let the pen take notes when others were noisy. They served as their own alert system
( ... )
Nino cocked his head and eyed the girl as she stammered and took a deep breath to collect herself. How funny. Certainly she'd seen wings before? She was a witch, after all! This couldn't be her first dealing with a non-human. Right?
"Of course they are," he sniffed. Then cleared his throat. "... but thank you."
He stretched his wings, folded them against his back, and settled lightly onto the windowsill once more. He tossed a leg over a knee, propped his arm on it, and considered the top of Meisa's head.
"They wouldn't be much use if I couldn't fly at a particular size," Nino added, huffing a quick laugh at the thought. "They'd be an absolutely terrible decoration."
While Meisa had not grown up immersed in magic, she did have non-human friends growing up. But they hadn't had wings. Or they had kept them hidden, she amended, remembering that one of her oldest friends had preferred keeping her wings hidden for as long as Meisa had known her..
Nino's voice held a note of pride, she noted with a small smile, finally finding the candy she wanted. She sat back on her heels and looked up at Nino with an amused grin. "That would suck to not be able to fly and just be stuck with wings for show."
"Not that I would know firsthand," she added after a slight pause, "But I can try to imagine."
Her right leg cramped. Meisa shifted uncomfortably, looked at Nino sheepishly, and asked tentatively, "Would you mind if I come up to lean on the window sill with you? I need to stretch my leg out."
Nino froze, the piece of dark chocolate half-way to his mouth. He stared at Meisa intently. She... wanted... Well. It did look like her leg really was bothering her. Nino didn't think she was that good of a liar, if she was a liar at all (and you really couldn't tell with humans sometimes).
Her magic felt Good, inasmuch as witch-magic ever felt Good. Mostly it felt Chaotic, which was really kind of a natural state, or weirdly repressed. It was when it felt weirdly repressed that Nino had learned to be truly wary. Meisa's didn't feel like that at all.
He took a breath and shifted himself over, pressing tight against the wall. "A... all right."
Meisa's leg was cramping and while it didn't hurt too badly at the moment, she really did need to stretch it out. She waited. It was all she could do because she didn't want to scare Nino away. He looked poised to go at any second and she didn't want that. It was enjoyable sitting here talking to him. Well, before her leg started bothering her.
At his concession, Meisa gave him a grateful grin and carefully got up. Hobbling the little bit to the window sill, she tentatively sat down, careful not to invade Nino's personal bubble. He was already pressing tight against the wall away from her as if trying to meld into it.
"Ow." She winced as she stretched it out, muttering, "Either I need to eat more bananas or the heels I had to wear yesterday are exacting their revenge."
"Of course," Nino said, shrugging. "Every being feels different. I'd be a pretty poor excuse for a fay if I couldn't tell a witch from a demon and an even worse one if I couldn't tell a demon from a human
( ... )
Meisa mmmn'ed in understanding and had a minor epiphany. "My sister is good at guessing if someone is supernatural or not. Or at least I had always assumed she was guessing. Maybe it's more than guessing and is a manifestation of her magical powers
( ... )
"I don't guess. Usually. Sometimes I have to guess what type the being is - like demons. There are so many of them it's hard to keep track. And sometimes if I've never run into a type I don't know what to call them. But I always know what they're not." Nino frowned. "If that makes sense." It probably didn't.
A lock of Meisa's hair moved as he settled himself on her shoulder and brushed against his face. It felt soft and silky. As if a small child with a new toy he pulled it back, careful it wouldn't tug her head, and held it. Just held it, stroking occasionally with his thumb. He didn't even register that he was really doing it.
"We can go through this door and then it's a couple more halls until the unicorns. But you were there already. If you go right through two more doors this way you'll wind up in the outdoor garden."
"The outdoor garden this time of year should be nice, right?" Meisa said as she sidestepped a tourist group and set a course for the garden. It was still the middle of August after all. "I haven't been here since early early spring, so there weren't really any plants in bloom."
The bright summer sun greeted them along with the slight remnants of the morning's humidity. "It's bright," Meisa stated, then chuckled. "That was inane and obvious." She pulled out a pair of sunglasses, careful not to jostle around too much for Nino's sake.
"As to what you said before, it sorta makes sense. I guess," she resumed their conversation from inside, "But it'd probably make more sense to my sister." Setting a leisurely pace, she started wandering around the garden. "I've met a demon before. But he was nice. Nicer than I expected to be honest."
"Harry Potter..." Nino murmured, humming to himself. "Wait here, I'll check for the harpsichord."
He launched gently off Meisa's shoulder to search for the place where he thought there might be a harpsichord stored. There were only a few rooms down here - not like the hall where he and Misono had played not that long ago. Between peeking into the doors, he looked back at Meisa.
"If you want to give it to me. Maybe one at a time? I don't have anywhere to protect it if it starts to rain or whatever."
Meisa watched Nino duck his head in and out of the rooms, curiosity bubbling up as she wondered what lay behind each door.
"I can do that. You can keep them for as long as you want, by the way. I kinda have multiple sets..." she trailed off a little embarrassed. "And you don't have to worry about them getting wet. I, uh, have a permanent waterproof charm on them." For when she had time to relax and read in the bath. But Nino didn't need to know that.
"I'll stick the first one into my purse so I don't forget to bring it along the next time I come up here."
There it was! The harpsichord. Nino poked his head around the door and waved to Meisa. He let himself take his normal size as he did so. "The harpsichord is here. I don't know if I can make it sound good, but I can play it."
If there was something odd about waterproof charms or whatever, he wasn't going to say it. Some people were just protective of their things. It made sense. Nino smiled and went to the instrument, pulling off the cover. "This is the only one they have. It's a pretty new one."
"It looks like a piano," Meisa blurted out when she saw the harpsichord. Duh. She had to prevent herself from smacking her forehead. Nino had told her that earlier. Her eyebrows drew together when she stepped closer. "But with two rows of keys?"
Reaching out, she let her hand hover over the keys and looked at Nino for permission. Technically she knew the harpsichord wasn't really his, but it just seemed proper and polite to ask him anyway. "May I?"
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At least the humidity would be mostly gone by the time the rain stopped. It was about damn time.
Nino lounged on the head of a statue, watching the rain through one of the nearby windows, air pulled in tight around him and keeping him safely from sight. He'd planned not to move at all when the snap of magic in the air brought him to his feet.
Witch's magic. Minor magic, but magic nonetheless. Curious. Nino took to the air and moved slowly towards the feeling. If there was really a witch in the Cloisters, he wanted to see her.
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Arriving at the entrance to where the unicorn tapestries were, Meisa pulled out a notebook and a pen, gave a smile and nod to the docent on her way in, and after looking around cautiously and seeing no one else around, muttered a spell to animate the pen to write while she talked. She made her way to Unicorn in Captivity and stood in front of it, not knowing where to start.
"Unicorn in Captivity," she spoke quietly, pretending to read the plaque on the side in case anyone popped up, and watched the pen dutifully write. "Now what?" Now what? Oops. Meisa would have to keep in mind that it wrote down everything she said.
Some tourists were coming in to look at the tapestries, so she shut up to let them wander through.
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At the door to the room he paused. There was strong magic here, not yet dissipated. The witch had just performed a spell. Nino stuck his head in to scan the room. Not too many people. One group of tourists, and two single viewers. And one of those with a self-moving pen. At least he assumed it was self-moving, because it was just standing with it's point to the paper and nothing holding it up. Nino moved overhead and landed on a little recess in the wall, watching the pen in fascination. How did it work? When would it work? He wanted to see it!
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"Of course they are," he sniffed. Then cleared his throat. "... but thank you."
He stretched his wings, folded them against his back, and settled lightly onto the windowsill once more. He tossed a leg over a knee, propped his arm on it, and considered the top of Meisa's head.
"They wouldn't be much use if I couldn't fly at a particular size," Nino added, huffing a quick laugh at the thought. "They'd be an absolutely terrible decoration."
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Nino's voice held a note of pride, she noted with a small smile, finally finding the candy she wanted. She sat back on her heels and looked up at Nino with an amused grin. "That would suck to not be able to fly and just be stuck with wings for show."
"Not that I would know firsthand," she added after a slight pause, "But I can try to imagine."
Her right leg cramped. Meisa shifted uncomfortably, looked at Nino sheepishly, and asked tentatively, "Would you mind if I come up to lean on the window sill with you? I need to stretch my leg out."
Reply
Her magic felt Good, inasmuch as witch-magic ever felt Good. Mostly it felt Chaotic, which was really kind of a natural state, or weirdly repressed. It was when it felt weirdly repressed that Nino had learned to be truly wary. Meisa's didn't feel like that at all.
He took a breath and shifted himself over, pressing tight against the wall. "A... all right."
Reply
At his concession, Meisa gave him a grateful grin and carefully got up. Hobbling the little bit to the window sill, she tentatively sat down, careful not to invade Nino's personal bubble. He was already pressing tight against the wall away from her as if trying to meld into it.
"Ow." She winced as she stretched it out, muttering, "Either I need to eat more bananas or the heels I had to wear yesterday are exacting their revenge."
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A lock of Meisa's hair moved as he settled himself on her shoulder and brushed against his face. It felt soft and silky. As if a small child with a new toy he pulled it back, careful it wouldn't tug her head, and held it. Just held it, stroking occasionally with his thumb. He didn't even register that he was really doing it.
"We can go through this door and then it's a couple more halls until the unicorns. But you were there already. If you go right through two more doors this way you'll wind up in the outdoor garden."
Reply
The bright summer sun greeted them along with the slight remnants of the morning's humidity. "It's bright," Meisa stated, then chuckled. "That was inane and obvious." She pulled out a pair of sunglasses, careful not to jostle around too much for Nino's sake.
"As to what you said before, it sorta makes sense. I guess," she resumed their conversation from inside, "But it'd probably make more sense to my sister." Setting a leisurely pace, she started wandering around the garden. "I've met a demon before. But he was nice. Nicer than I expected to be honest."
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He launched gently off Meisa's shoulder to search for the place where he thought there might be a harpsichord stored. There were only a few rooms down here - not like the hall where he and Misono had played not that long ago. Between peeking into the doors, he looked back at Meisa.
"If you want to give it to me. Maybe one at a time? I don't have anywhere to protect it if it starts to rain or whatever."
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"I can do that. You can keep them for as long as you want, by the way. I kinda have multiple sets..." she trailed off a little embarrassed. "And you don't have to worry about them getting wet. I, uh, have a permanent waterproof charm on them." For when she had time to relax and read in the bath. But Nino didn't need to know that.
"I'll stick the first one into my purse so I don't forget to bring it along the next time I come up here."
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If there was something odd about waterproof charms or whatever, he wasn't going to say it. Some people were just protective of their things. It made sense. Nino smiled and went to the instrument, pulling off the cover. "This is the only one they have. It's a pretty new one."
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Reaching out, she let her hand hover over the keys and looked at Nino for permission. Technically she knew the harpsichord wasn't really his, but it just seemed proper and polite to ask him anyway. "May I?"
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