Open Day At The Library (Event)

The weather was amazing and as Elara glanced up at the lovely blue sky, a smile crossed the dark haired girl’s features. Life had been pretty good lately and for the summoner at least, she felt more at ease than she had for ages. Her relationship with Lehanna seemed to be blooming more by the day and the teenager couldn’t have been any happier about that. Things had calmed down a little since the last time that they’d been to an event like this one and as much as Elara enjoyed some excitement in her life, she didn’t actually mind taking things a bit slower at the moment. They’d both been through so much, her girlfriend especially and the slayer didn’t want to push anything too much. As long as Lehanna was comfortable then Elara was happy.

Speaking of social events, the one today was quite a relaxing one and as the teenager looked back towards Lea, her nose in a book, Elara tried hard not to snigger. The Oak Town library had opened up their beautiful garden to all those who wished to read and eat in peace, which the two youngsters had jumped at the chance of making the most of. There was a lovely spread that the two had made that morning, which Elara was quite proud of in truth. She’d never much had the chance to learn to prepare food before running away from her parents but thanks to Lehanna’s teachings, she’d come on leaps and bounds. The summoner had to admit that Lea was still better than her at it but Elara was trying to catch up as best she could. She’d beat her partner in a cook off one day.

Elara wasn’t the best when it came to hunkering down and focusing on a book, finding the whole deal kind of boring but she’d managed to find a couple while searching the shelves to interest her, one about summoning and another one that she was doing her utmost to keep hidden for the time being, buried underneath the other. For now, she was quite happy to just relax and make the most of the beautiful day while she had the chance. Considering how things usually went for the young duo, it wouldn’t be quiet for long.

Smirking at her partner, she’d ask, before starting to much on a sandwich. “Do you even remember what you’ve read after you’ve finished? You devour books like Nunu devours a meal.”

There was a big sense of familiarity in today’s events that seemed to help her relax and enjoy the idea of being out amongst so many people more than usual. What she didn’t realize was that her trying to go back to school had already begun to help her getting acclimated to being in public more often more and more. What had helped bed today more than anything had been that she went to this event with Elara to spend some time out of the house, but having pushed her nose into a couple of books, she was more than happy to let her mind zone away from the voices whispering messages of paranoia and fear into her head to psych her out. Lehanna made sure to grab the limit that they would allow her to take out, mostly being of educational material… but, she did squeeze in a book or two on origins and myths of curses in order to try to understand the affliction that she had in hopes to find some logical way to overcome this. If that were possible anyway.

The sunny weather helped her to relax a little more as well. Settling into the picnic blanket the two girls had brought along, the cursed mage had brought it on herself to make the food that the two would eat together and knowing Ela’s rather voracious appetite as a slayer, she was sure to make a lot more so they could both have enough to fill their bellies. Then again, she also couldn’t be sure one or more of her partners spirits might pop out and scrounge through their meal. God rest their soul if they deprive Elara of food before she got a chance to eat. The two would have some nice spirit related decor in the apartment.

With one of her normal books in hand, she flipped through another page. Popping a fresh and chilled grape into her mouth, her eyes scanned the pages. The book she was reading had been on some advanced mathematics with one of scientific inventions sitting on top of her little pile of books. She picked her head up and away from the pages when she heard Elara ask her about her interest in the books she were reading. Or more so her ability to retain the information she took in when she read them. ”Well, yeah. I mean, it started as a sort of a coping mechanism after the first bad home or two. After a while I just sort of began to in-vision myself having a different life than that, maybe helping other kids to escape a chance of going through the things I’ve gone through as well as others.”

The short haired teen popped another grape into her mouth and set her book down and giggled a bit while she chewed the grape. ”Besides, nobody devours things like Nunu does. We both know that.” With a gentle shake of her head, she simply placed a bookmark into the page and closed it, setting it on the pile and turning her full attention to Elara. ”So, school ends soon for the summer, so is there anything you might want to do over then? We could do a couple of jobs, but… I just remembered I don’t really have magic anymore. Dang it… ugh.” Letting out a light sigh, she tried to brush it off and await her reply, but it didn’t go without having scraped her own knee on that idea.

584 words

It appeared that she still needed some practice when it came to jokes as her own seemed to miss completely, much to the slayer’s chagrin and she felt that familiar pang of guilt as Lehanna mentioned her bad homes. Elara was amazed to this day by just how her partner had managed to handle the pure and utter hell of her childhood, which made her own seem almost trivial in truth. The summoner’s parents were scum of the Earth for sure and Elara wished only a foul future for them but Lehanna had put up with more crappy families than most. The dark haired girl was simply glad that at least now, her girlfriend had a home and a family that did love her. There wouldn’t be any more of that misery, not if Elara had anything to say about it anyway, there’d been enough of that. Still, she kind of wanted to reply with a joke about her partner trying to make her feel bad but decided to let that thought slide. Her sense of humour seemed a little whacky today and she didn’t want to cause an argument.

Elara chuckled at Lea’s comment about her spirit though and answered with a smile. “Yeah, I’ve never seen anyone so smile eat as much as she does. It’s quite a gift she has.” The relationship that she had with her spirits was rather odd, given that many of them had been pretty dark when first aligning with her but the truth was that Elara wasn’t the same girl that she’d been back then, with her summons remaining the same. There were times where summoner and spirit didn’t agree any more and the teenager knew that sooner or later, she might just have to end a contract or two, for the good of both.

The topic of Lea’s missing magic soon turned the conversation in a more serious direction and Elara wasn’t quite sure what to say about it. They’d spoken about it before briefly but the summoner had been reluctant to breach the topic in case it upset Lea. There had been many rough days since her girlfriend’s return and although things were improving, Elara still felt that she was standing on eggshells sometimes. Still, since Lea had brought it up, the slayer decided to offer a suggestion. “Maybe we should try and find a way to get your magic restored? I was hoping that we could travel a bit this summer and see a little more of Fiore and beyond, as there’s a lot of this country that we haven’t even glimpsed at yet. Surely there’s someone out there who can help you fight off this curse, right? Or perhaps help you discover a new type? I don’t believe that the blonde bitch just sucked out all your magic power and that’s the end of it.”

After a moment's pause, she then added. “Of course, you still have that flaming sword of yours which is still giving off heat whenever I pass it. You can still wield that, yeah?”

She was determined to try and keep things positive, which was becoming something of a trademark of hers, whether she knew it or not.

In a moment of silence, Lehanna turned her gaze to the bright summer sky above them. She seemed to and definitely had been a little lost in thought and it was a look that was not something she generally could change about it. What Elara suggested was certainly nothing that she hadn’t considered to go with, however it was a little bit too late of a consideration that she’d put forward in her mind. The hard part was deciding how to execute that plan. She already felt like an outcast just by her appearance. If she were to let that out into the public… then that there would lead to one of several nightmares she’d jumped out of her sleep from time to time. And it wasn’t like Elara not to know of her night terrors either.

”Why go see the world when the world is right here next to me?” She replied, sounding rather deadpan about it. Of course, she certainly didn’t give any hints that she was trying to fluster Elara a little bit. ”Though I’m not sorry I said that, I did hear that in some soppy movie. Momma Kita thinks I enjoy romance movies since the magazine came out so I’ve had to suffer through some truly terrible films. Still… I can’t help but think I have several really good lines to say once in a while.” Giving a light smile, she would reach out and place one hand on a free hand of her dark haired partner.

”But to be serious, the hard part comes with making myself find someone or something like that. I have time set aside once school is out to do some research back here. However, to find someone who would be able to help me? That sounds far fetched to me. It’s not like I can put out an ad in the magazine saying, “cursed mage looking for professional tutor.” now can I?” With a calm shrug of her shoulders, she would pause to take another grape from the bag they had been in and tossed it into her mouth.

After a moment to pause and eat, her eyes would linger down to her hands moved slowly to now be rested on her lap. ”While that is true, I cannot seem to manipulate flames of any sort without that sword. Granted, knowing that sword works in my hands has kept the hope I have SOME form of magic inside of me, I just cannot seem to figure out what it is. I don’t believe it’s fire related anymore, so I simply have to continue my research is all. No matter how long it may take. I just… I don’t want to continue being a burden…”

“You’re not a burden and never will be.” Elara replied, having waited for her partner to finish before uttering a word. She loathed hearing such a thing and her free hand naturally slipped down, gently taking one of Lea’s own in hers. There would be a warmth to her grasp, as though she was trying to instil her own confidence into her girlfriend. A daft act perhaps but the dark haired teenager was simply trying to help in her own awkward way. “Just because you can’t fight as you once did right now doesn’t mean that you’re letting anyone down. Not one member of the guild has said anything of the kind, have they? We’re all here to help you to get back what was taken from you or if not that, discover what powers this curse has left you with.” Her tone was kind but there was the usual determined touch to it as well.

Taking a deep breath, she continued. “I’m sorry if I’m being pushy about all of this. It’s just so frustrating to see you struggle so much with all of this. I feel so helpless sometimes and I don’t know what to say or do to really help. I just wish there were some magic words that I could say which could fix all of this.” There was a hint of unhappiness now, a few moments where Elara’s irritation and anger came to the surface. Of course, it wasn’t directed at her partner, just the affair as a whole.

Shaking her head, Elara would do her best to push her negative feelings away and bring a smile back to her features. “There’s me dragging the conversation down again when we’re supposed to be having a good time. If you don’t want us to go travelling then I’m happy for us to spend the summer at home, if that’s what you want to do. The world can wait until we’re ready.”

Nibbling at her sandwich, she’d add after a moment, thinking back to her partner’s rather adorable quip from before, her cheeks turning quite red. “You can spend the summer testing out your romantic one liners out on me instead.” It was as if Lea could just cut through her cold exterior like a hot knife through butter, a fact that Elara was all too familiar with. She just wished that she didn’t turn as read as a beetroot every time.