Part 6: Poetry in Motions

A short update for today; I'd forgotten how close the next decision was, sorry

Chapter 4.5: Poetry in Motions



"Probably," Virginia said. "There's a lot of creatures in the Otherworld, and a lot of them ain't the kind of people you'd wanna meet in a dark alley."

"Otherworld? What's that?" Ellen asked.

"Well," Virginia says, scratching her head, "I guess you'd learn about it White Magic, but basically, it's anywhere that's not Earth- or, well our universe. Honestly, it's complicated- one of the professors could explain it better."

Actually, I think I'll pass on that; if I want to learn anything, I'd just go to the library. "But if Damien's only 'probably' a demon..." I shrug, and Virginia sighs.

"Look, I'm not judging him by his looks- well, not totally," she says. "Lots of magical people in this school, and some of them can look pretty strange. Like there's this Wolf guy, with equally-wolfy ears? That's Manuel. And that pink haired girl, you know her? The one with butterfly wings?"



"I mean, he's not fully human, right?" Virginia adds. "So he's can't be a wild seed like you, 'cos the only time we get wild seeds is when your Mom and Dad aren't magical. Guys like him can't just 'happen', you know? So when he turned up the same year William was a freshman, nobody seemed to know who he was or where he came from- of course people get suspicious. If he's from a magical family, why doesn't anyone know him?"

"You make it sound like magical families all know each other," Ellen says.

"Well, not personally," Virginia admits, "but everybody knows somebody if you look back far enough."



"And, um... William doesn't like him," Virginia says, rubbing the back of her head, "so I don't like him either. Yeah, it's a pretty dumb reason, but William's never steered me wrong intentionally before, so I trust him."

"Well, as long as he's nice to us, it should be all right, right?" Ellen asks. "Besides, all that secrecy might not even be his fault."

"What do you mean?" Virginia asked.

"Well," Ellen says, considering her words carefully. "Maybe his family made a lot of enemies, and people just didn't want to talk about them. You did say he's half-demon after all, and from what I hear, demons make a lot of enemies. But that doesn't mean Damien's a bad guy himself, and I'm sure the Academy would never let anyone really dangerous in, right?"

"Well..." Virginia starts uncertainly.

"In any case, if he's evil, then he's too good for the letter I'm sending him," I say, trying to lighten the mood. "And if he's good, then he doesn't deserve it- so you know, revenge for initiation one way or another!" I exclaim.

"Really?" Ellen asks. "Why do you say that?"

"Let's just say all this demonic talk has given me ideas!" I say, before I clear my throat and begin.







I don't know what art is, but I know what I like- and that's not art

There is a stunned silence for a few moments, one that Ellen breaks. "That... that didn't sound very romantic," she says.

"And I do not know how you got to that from our talk about demons," Virginia adds. "Honestly, I'm not sure I want to know how either."



"Well then, congratulations!" Virginia says, clapping uncertainly. "You certainly did it. Did what, I don't know. But you did it!" she says, as I take a grandiose bow.

"Thank you, thank you!" I announce, before taking another look at my letter.



"Or, to be more accurate," I say, looking at the mess on my table, "I have nothing intact and cutesy."

Ellen raises her hand. "I can do it," she smiles. "It sounds like a lot of fun!"

I hand her my scribbled monstrosity, and she recopies it on a piece of pink paper bordered with printed flowers. I think it's even perfumed. Ellen's handwriting is also very nice, all flourishes and curves, yet still quite legitimate. I look at the Etruscan hieroglyphs that is my handwriting- maybe I should take lessons? I look to Virginia, and she shrugs, holding up her own book. If anything, her writing's worse than mine- but on the upside, it totally looks like it belongs in a wizard's book, so bonus for her, I guess.



"Urgh, do you have to go that far?" Virginia grimaces.

"No choice," I sigh. "That was one of the conditions, and for all I know there's a spell to detect that. Anyway, even if he does detect it, it will only make the surprise all the more surprising,' I say, with as evil a grin as I can manage.

After a moment Virginia gives me a thumbs-up, and I think she's a little surprised when I fistbump her hand with a thumbs-up of my own. Not to be left out, Ellen adds her own thumbs up to the mix. There is a moment- no, a Moment.

And another Moment.

One more for good measure.

"Uhm, what happens now?" Virginia asks.

Still with the evil grin on my face, I reply, "I have absolutely no idea." And with that, the three of us begin giggling like mad, progressing into outright raucous laughter, and I only manage to deliver the letter a good five minutes later.

The day after, I'm heading off to Blue Magic class and feeling a little let down. I hadn't seen Damien all day yesterday, and I was wondering where he'd gone to. Not that I had, you know, feelings for him, let's get that out of the way, nuh-uh, but I wanted to know how my letter had gone down. To try keep my mind off things, I reviewed a few things I'd learned yesterday, things I was eager to try out in class today. See, if I could release and contain arcane energy as light, why couldn't I do the same with sound? It wasn't all that harder than light, and with a little work, I could even enchant a person or item for a short while with it!



While I was musing, I found myself having missed a turn and I happened to pass Potsdam's White Magic class, where I overheard the strangest thing.





Professor Potsdam laughs, and motions for poor Luke to sit down. "My dear starlings," she says, "Seniors do not override professors, and Initiation do not override school rules. If someone orders you to do something in class, ignore them! Initiation doesn't excuse one from punishment."

Luke's face fell so far, it must've given some poor guy in China a severe concussion. "So I get detention now, huh?"

"Not at all, dear!" Professor Potsdam laughed. Well, I guess she isn't all that bad. "That was actually my favourite poem! You will have to stay behind and recite it for me later, mind you!" And you," she says, suddenly turning to me, "have a class to go to, don't you, young lady!"

Okay, scary again. Scary, but with a point. I nod, and rush off to Blue Magic class. Again, I'm barely on time- but Grabiner doesn't seem to notice, being absorbed in reading a letter of some sort. I breathe a sigh of relief, and take my place at my workpla-

Wait, is that my letter Grabiner's reading?

Oh my God, it is- it's got flowers around it and everything!

He lets out a loud sigh, and I tense up slightly, ready for the inevitable tongue lashing.

"It is said that an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite amount of typewriters given an unlimited amount of time would eventually write the works of Shakespeare," he begins. "However, it is quite obvious to me that the ape that scrawled this near-illiterate doggerel placed very little effort into it, which to be honest, offends me almost as much as said doggerel itself. Now, as this is my first class today, I think it is perfectly reasonable that our aspiring troubadour is present in class, awaiting the reaction of his or her audience. I assure you, the reviews are in, and they are not promising."

He looks around, his eye spending as much time on the other students as it does on me, which is a bit of a relief. But that relief is short-lived when I see him nod, and wave his hands above the letter. And what happens next almost makes me collapse there and then.

An image appears above the letter- but it isn't my image, it's Ellen's!

"So, it seems that Miss Middleton is my secret paramour," Grabiner says, his brow furrowing and his eyes narrowing. "It seems I must disabuse her of that notion," he says, getting up from his seat.

Goddamnit, Damien! I will KILL you when this is over- but it's not over yet, is it?



Only one choice here- and I think it's fairly obvious what it is:

- Stand up and take whatever Grabiner dishes out?
- Keep quiet; Ellen's our friend, she'd understand, right?

Voting ends at 0000 GMT, Wednesday, June 13th!