fandomhigh | Office Hours - Abnormal Psychology

On a break from the library, Parker came in yawning. "Good morning, Miss Calendar. Thanks for helping with the disinvitation yesterday at Echolls'. I meant to ask you about the curse, but, well. Floating happened, and I got distracted."

"Hi, Parker," said Jenny. She nodded to the coffeemaker. "Want a cup of coffee? Don't worry about it. If I were floating? I'd be having too much fun to talk about curses."

"It was kind of fun, once the freak-out factor passed. Also? Don't eat candy from Willy Wonka's this week. That was probably what was doing it." Parker sat down, and looked yearningly at the coffee maker. "Half a cup, please. And yeah. Curses." She grimaced.

"Magical candy?" asked Jenny. "That's interesting. I've got a couple of extra cups on the counter; feel free to get yourself some."

"So what do you want to know about the curse? Let's spread the information far and wide this time."

Parker helped herself, adding cream and cuddling the cup like a pet. "I know that the-- Kalderash? -- made it to punish Angelus for feeding off one of their tribe. I know it locks the soul in with the demon inside the vampire. The copy I used is at Mr. Phale's bookshop. I'm thinking of putting it on the internet, so it can't be lost again." Parker took a sip of her coffee. "I know it's a punishment for the demon, and it gives Liam-Angel-whoever a chance to atone. What I don't get? Is why it even *has* a loophole. Unless that's the only way it can work, it seems stupid." She blinked, and bit her lip. "No offense."

Jenny leaned back in her chair, looking thoughtful and wrapping her hands around her coffee mug. "How much do you know about curses?" she asked. "The basic premise, the magical theory, anything?"

Wincing slightly at another pull in her calf, Elizabeth knocked on the door after speech.

"Assume nothing, and you'll probably be close." Parker shrugged. "The only thing I know is a curse is a curse because it doesn't benefit the person it's cast on. That's it."

"Door's open," called Jenny. It was a statement of fact, not an invitation, despite the fact that it was daytime.

Elizabeth pushed open the door, and smiled at Jenny. "Hi. Is now a good time, or do you want me to come back later?"

"A curse is fed by the caster's hatred," said Jenny. "And fueled by his or her desire for revenge. Especially that curse. The story behind it's not so pretty."

"My ancestors devised that curse. Angelus was the boogeyman in every bedtime story I grew up with. The girl he killed was my several-times great aunt, and he didn't just feed from her. Angelus never "just" feeds from anyone. She was the favorite daughter of the baro--the guy in charge. One of the elders at the time was a chovihani--a witch."

Jenny smiled bitterly. "Every curse needs a loophole. It's impossible to make one that's unbreakable. Not even the gods can do that."

She stops and takes a long drink from her mug.

"Just grading assignments," said Jenny. "So now is a very good time."

Parker rested her chin on her fist. "I thought it might be something like that." She frowned. "So, was it so hard for Tara to cast it because she likes Angelus? Or is it just realy difficult?" She took a sip of her coffee, and shook her head. "And *why* perfect happiness? Couldn't they make the loophole that he, I don't know, walk on the moon? That one seems fairly vague."

Elizabeth laughed. "I can well imagine," she said. "So, um, magic."

"The loophole has to be related to the curse. There has to be a chance for it to be broken, however slim and remote."

Jenny tapped her forefinger on the coffee mug and looked thoughtful as she spoke. "My people are big on vengeance. And the chovihani? Really mad. A moment of perfect happiness is a simplistic description of the curse's loophole. Angel's not human. He's a vampire. Restoring his soul caused both Angelus and Angel pain. The chovihani wanted Angel to suffer with that knowledge through every instant of every day. If he forgot, even for an instant, and felt the simple contentment of being human--"

Jenny spread her hands--one palm flat, but the other hand still wrapped around her coffee mug--and shrugged. "Good-bye soul, and hello Angelus. Who, might I add, comes back with a real mad-on for having experienced human feelings. It's like a two-for-one vengeance bonus."

Jenny nodded. "You're curious," she said. "How come?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I've seen a lot of things," she said. "But magic's never been one of them. And I've always been curious about things."

Parker stared at her, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "I would've just killed him, if I were them." She shook her head, dropping her fingers from her face. "And if we could've found him this time, same deal. Aghh. What a mess. And now, those stupid prophecies say he has to be around, or at least a souled vampire does, for the End of Days. It just *can't* be easy, can it?"

Broots knocked on the door frame, nervously adjusting his laptop.

"Hey, Broots," said Jenny, smiling at him. "How's it going?"

"Um, good?" Broots shifted his own weight a bit uncomftorably. "Can I come in?"

"Death is easy," said Jenny. "Vengeance makes you suffer. And I don't know about the End of Days."

However, she's going to research the heck out of it soon.

"You don't need an invitation to come in for office hours, do you?" asked Jenny. "What do you need?"

"So what about magic has you curious?" asked Jenny. "I mean, besides 'everything,' which I'm guessing is the case. Give me something to start with."

{{OOC: I hate you. Do you know why I hate you? Because I have another viable crossover idea now for SG/BtVS--the damned Ancient plotline and magic in the Buffyverse.}}

"Parker mentioned that you were Romany. Is magic ability heredity, like, needing a specific gene? Or does that have nothing to do with it at all?"

[[ooc: *is not laughing* *really* Sorry?]]

Jenny frowned. "You know, I never really thought much about it that way before," she said. "There are definitely hereditary witches. One of my kids back in Sunndyale was one. I found out later that there'd been a body-switching incident that didn't end well." Jenny wrinkled her nose in distaste. "It runs in my family, but not all the Romany are choviani--sorry, witches."

{{OOC: You are laughing and you aren't sorry! I know you! You're going to try to get Janet to start analyzing the genetics of magic users, aren't you? Which, actually, would be a pretty damn cool plot.}}

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows but chose not to comment on the body-switching. "What about the usage of Latin? Are all, um, spells based from the Latin?"

[[ooc: But you love me anyway, right? *g* I'm just linking it back to what Elizabeth understands, which is the Ancient Gene... *g*]]

"I don't think so?" Broots came in, still nervous. "Um, you said you were a, um, a techno-something? Mixing magic with computers?"

"Technopagan," said Jenny. She waved at a chair. "Have a seat."

She'd offer him coffee, but he was already too tightly wound.

"Okay. So. Magic has more rules than I thought." She rubbed her temples. "If Professor Gandalf hadn't been eaten by Special Collections, I would *so* be signing up for his class on this."

Broots nodded and sat down. "Yeah, that. Um, I was wondering if maybe you could explain, like the basics of how that works? Do you have to be born with it or can you learn?"

"A lot of them are. Not all of them, though. There are older spells, newer ones. Lot of different languages, but Latin's probably the most common."

{{OOC: Oh, absolutely I love you anyway. And she's going to be think of the hok'tar soon too. Could you imagine a goa'uld with a magic-user as a host?}}

"Are the newer spells written in the language of the writer, then? Or does it not work like that?" Elizabeth asked. "I'm guessing that you can't just get up one day and think "I'm going to write a spell" and do it. Or can you." She waved her hands slightly, grinning slightly sheepishly. "Feel free to tell me to shut up at any point."

[[ooc: Ooh, hok'tar. That would be Bad. Very Bad. So Bad, it deserves a capital B!]]

"Magic's a very complicated process," said Jenny. "And I'm a little more fringe than most. On the other hand, I got a seriously in-depth course on the rules while I was growing up."

Jenny frowned. "There are no classes on magic in a place with a whole bunch of magic users. Not even magical theory?"

"You can write a spell in whatever language you want," said Jenny. "It just so happens that Latin was the scholarly language for centuries. Heck, even most of my people's spells were written in Latin."

"I could write a spell. But what I generally do? Is take an existing spell and run it through a computer."

Jenny grinned back. "Please. My last school? No one wanted to talk about this stuff. Now I've got kids swarming me to get the rundown on magical theory. I'm kinda liking it."

"Theories differ," said Jenny. "On whether magical ability's genetic or something anyone can learn. Why? You interested?"

{{OOC: Actually, to teach magic to anyone from a non-magic canon, we'd probably have to go through and get admin approval. I'd probably insist he learn the basic theories first before applying it to technomagic.}}

"I think there *were*, but like I said, Professor Gandalf disappeared in Special Collections almost a month ago, and Professor Jareth had to leave.They were the ones trying to teach those classes," Parker said. "I don't know if they have anyone lined up for next semester." She grimaced. "This school has some really great courses offered, but some huge gaps too. They didn't get a math teacher until really late in the term, and they still don't have a qualified counselor again."

"Weird," said Jenny. "But magical theory's something that should be elective--wait. Why the emphasis on qualified for a counselor?"

"Because we had one at the beginning of the semester, but she left. And since then, Jonathan Crane is 'here to listen.'" Parker made a face. "I wouldn't trust that creep with any of *my* inmost secrets. Even if he wasn't only sixteen."

"So, how does the whole magic and computer thing work? It's like these two completely different things. Or at least it seems like it to me," Elizabeth said.

"Well, there's a fair amount of magic around this place and I've been pretty curious since the start of term. But I'd rather ask an adult about it, and I wouldn't go to Ms Maclay if you paid me." She tried not to grimace at the name.

"Jonathan Crane is a high school student," said Jenny. "And he's part of that Junior Achievers group I heard about. And he's totally unqualified to be a counselor."

She frowned. "Damn. I think I may need to pay one of the Deans a visit."

"This would be why *I* don't go near him," Parker said. "Even if I didn't have analyst issues. I know he's supposed to be really interested in psychology, which, hello, does not qualify him for anything more than putting mice on little wheels." She grinned. "Definitely. Go talk to the Deans. Tell them I said 'hi.'"

Broots shook his head, a bit terrified. "Oh, no, just really curious. Cause a lot of the firewalls and stuff up at school are backed up by magic and I'm interested in how it runs and such."

((ooc: Oh, please, no, no, no teaching him magic! He's just curious about the ideas behind it.))

"In high school? They don't even let you put mice on wheels." Jenny grinned. "They might let him psychoanalyze a household pet or two, though."

"Well, look at computers. Programming is all done in a language, right? A lot of it is just translating the spell into a specific programming languate." Jenny grinned. "It's also a lot more fun than the stuffy traditional sort of spellcasting."

"I've noticed that the magic isn't so much in hiding as it was in Sunnydale," said Jenny. "And I've been hearing a lot of that about Professor Maclay lately. You've had a bad experience too?"

Elizabeth tilted her head. "Okay, I see that. Does traditional spellcasting require a lot of preparation and detail work?"

Elizabeth nodded, her face serious. "I dropped her class after her decision to teach students about slavery by making the class half the class masters of the other half. I'm guessing you've heard about her latest mistake, which I only know of second half." She shrugged. "It's my belief that Miss Maclay's a bad teacher, and shouldn't be allowed to continuing teaching ethics of all things."

"With the number of cats and other fauna around here, he'd probably make good money if he did." Parker looked amused. "Anyway. Thanks for clearing up that 'perfect happiness' loophole." She stood up and headed for the door. "I just wish there was some way to make it a moot point."

Office Hours - Abnormal Psychology

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