fandomhigh | Practical Folklore, Monday 2nd period

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folklore and fact

Practical Folklore, Monday 2nd period

"Welcome back, everybody," Jon began. "My apologies for last week. This week, I thought we could begin with something a bit more nebulous than the others: witches. I'm aware we have at least some people on the island who identify as witches, and there may be more I'm unaware of. Traditionally witches are women with some form of magical power; beyond that, there are a number of possibilities for narrowing it down."

He shrugged. "Honestly, in my version of Earth, witches were mostly women that knew a bit of science and didn't like being bossed around by the church, and therefor got painted in the worst possible light so as to make it easier to kill them with impunity. It's possible some had actual power, but given the rate of experiences with the Fears, I'm guessing the vast majority did not. Other worlds, of course, may have different ratios of actual power to innocents men hated.

"In folklore I'm aware of, witches are often depicted as old women, generally living alone, and run the gamut from helpful to horrendous. The one rule of thumb seems to be that you don't want to treat them poorly. Which can be generalized to 'don't be a bastard to old women', which seems like a decent rule anyway."

Said the man who pissed people off on the regular. In his defence, he often didn't mean to! "So, let's discuss witches. Are you one, do you know any, does your world have them or stories of them? What other applications can you think of other than to treat people well?"

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"Aunts, just like in any other family," Charlie said. "Well, not exactly like any other. All the Gale girls have the ability to charm. We come into our power at puberty usually."

Arden knew that feeling pretty well. "So then are they - you? - witches before you get upgraded to Aunties?"

"Witches is not a word we use," Charlie says. "We're just Gale Girls."

"But you are magic," Arden asked, nodding once to show that the w-word was off the table. "With the charming and the ability to just, like, accrue power like a savings bond?"

Charlie shrugged. "I suppose. I don't think I've ever heard the Aunties refer to it as anything but power, but then I don't pay a whole lot of attention. Here, though, it definitely fits with what people call magic. And yeah, we can charm and we fget more powerful as we age. I'm a Wild Power, though, so I don't follow a lot of the rules."

"A...Wild power?" Arden asked.

She couldn't mean...could she?

"My powers don't folow the rules," Charlie said. "And Wild Powers usually don't end up settling down - at least not for a long time if ever. We have the ability to do great things. And I swear, if one of the Aunties says, 'with great power comes great responsibility' one more time, I may scream."

She grinned. "Actually, last time I threw my phone into the ocean while they were still talking."

"But what are the rules?" Arden asked. "The ones they don't follow, I mean?"

"I don't know," Charlie said. "Like, find a nice Gale boy and settle down. And baking - all the Gale Girls bake. It's a great way to make sure someone unsuspecting gets charmed, but when I do it..."

Half a continent away all the Aunties stopped and shuddered without knowing why. "Charlie..." Auntie Jane said. "Remember the brownies?" And they all shuddered again.

"It's bad," she said. "Weird things happen that shouldn't. I mean, the lawn in that spot my backyard will probably never grow back. Makes my dad crazy."

Arden had just like. So many questions. "A nice Gale boy?" she asked. "Like one of your cousins?"

"The Aunties keep track of the bloodlines and make sure no one marries anyone too close and makes sure we all stay within the seven year break. We're a really big family. Like massive. And, of course, we do bring in boys from outside the family if the Aunties approve. But, you know, we're a Lot."

Arden was getting a really bad feeling about this conversation. She didn't look like an elf and there wasn't that scent of elven magic, but Charlie could also be a 'low-blood', they looked more human than elf anyway. "Can you do any magic right now?" she asked, forcing a smile. "I know, nosy, but..." She gave Charlie a little shrug. "I'm really curious."

Another thing to NEVER say in front of the Aunties! Elves? Good lord!No, the Gales weren't Fae. Though as the story went they were descended from a Green god of the Forest.

"Sure," Charlie said easily. She set her guitar on the desk and sketched a quick charm to start it playing, then drew a few in the air around the space to contain the noise within it. Then just for fun, she sketched a charm on her hair to shift through all the rainbow colors in a shimmering dance.

And, Arden, being very normal, leaned forward and--sniffed? Maybe?

Anyway, totally normal things, don't even worry about it.

"Oh huh," she said, looking a little...consternated maybe? "That's really cool."

Okay. Not an elf. Good to know. Arden let herself relax.

"I can do a lot of other stuff, but I figured these were okay for class," Charlie said.

"No, no, they're very cool," Arden assured her.

Much cooler than anything Arden herself could do, and also she was freely able to do them.

Charlie grinned at her. Arden was awfully cute. "I can show you more another time," she offered.

Arden had also never been flirted with before, or at least, rarely enough that she had no idea that Charlie might be doing so now. "Oh cool!" she said. "Sure! That'd be fun!"

Whoa. Calm down girl. Fewer exclamation points. "I mean, yeah. Honestly, I'd love to just hang out with folks, magic or not, you know?"

"I am always up for a good hang," Charlie said with a smile. Charlie was happy to flirt with follow-through or just flirt or just be friendly. No pressure ever. "We can talk magic or music or movies or anything else."

For there to even begin to be pressure, first there would have to be recognition. Arden, uh. Didn't have a lot of interpersonal experience, especially not with people her own age. At least, not after the age of seven, anyway, and even then, nobody really looked at foster kids as bastions of great socializing.

"I didn't have a TV growing up, so I don't know if that makes movies and shows a good place to start or a terrible one," Arden said with a slightly self-conscious laugh.

"Or, hear me out here," Charlie said, "We could hang out and watch them. Anyone who wanted could join us. And just think how happy that Porg would be if there were dorm notes for radio!"

"Sure!" Arden said with a bright smile. "I'd...I'd really love that, actually."

"I think it will be great fun," Charlie said. "When would be a good time?"

"I mean, I don't really have a lot going on," Arden had to admit with a rueful laugh. "Any time this week, really. How does...uh? Thursday? Sound?"

"Thursday sounds great," Charlie said. "We can order a bunch of food, I'll bring some lightly charmed pie, and we can watch movies and chat."

Practical Folklore, Monday 2nd period

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