Clearing in the Preserves, Tuesday Afternoon

[not_every_mage]

Anders was relieved to see the day he and Nathan had set for their picnic had dawned clear and warm. He made his way to the clearing and got the space organized, spreading out a blanket and putting the cookies, fruit and drinks he'd brought to one side.

The shop had refused to sell him the ale he'd wanted -- something about drinking laws -- but he'd gotten lemonade and sweet cider, and those seemed almost as good. Not that he thought the choice of beverage could ruin his time with Nathan, but fussing over that kept him from fussing over anything else.

He was, perhaps, a tad excited. (And a tad nervous.)

[OOC: For that one boy.]

Comments

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

Nathan knew the preserve well so he knew where the clearing was which made it easy not to be late. He didn't want to show up too early and chance the food cooling so he timed his arrival as best he could.

He'd baked fresh bread and made sandwiches since that seemed like the best picnic food. It wasn't too messy or too much to carry. He'd added a few bags of potato chips and some cookies and that's what he was carrying when he arrived.

When he stepped into the clearing, he waved and said, "Hello, Anders." He smiled after greeting Anders and walked closer.

[not_every_mage]

"Hello back," Anders said, smiling as he stood to greet Nathan. "Wonderful day for a picnic, isn't it? I kept worrying it would rain."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"It looked like that yesterday too for a bit," he said, glancing up at the clouds. "Hopefully it holds off. I already took a shower this morning."

And there had been no dreaded bathroom octopus as a result.

"It's a brilliant day for a picnic," he added. "Not too hot, not freezing. Just right, really."

[not_every_mage]

"I know. It's like the weather is thanking us for not waiting for the weekend," Anders concluded, stepping back to the blanket and sitting down. (He knew he was grateful they'd planned on Tuesday.) "What did you bring? I have cookies, some strawberries, a few oranges..."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

He wasn't alone. He was glad to have planned for Tuesday as well and that wasn't even because of this weekend being some event that he expected no visitors for. It was just nice to see Anders again.

"Some sandwiches with bread I baked myself, potato chips because they're apparently a good picnic food and more cookies," he said and snickered at himself. "Guess we'll do well with dessert."

He'd developed a bit of a sweet tooth after leaving his grandmother's house. He'd gone for so long without that being able to eat it freely was something he really enjoyed.

[not_every_mage]

"We could just eat dessert and call it lunch," Anders offered. "I do that often enough. I'm still making up for all the sweets we didn't get at the Circle."

Not that it showed yet, though it was fair to question how long he'd stay lean if he kept eating entire sleeves of Oreos and calling it dinner.

"But then I'd miss out on your bread. I'm impressed you can bake."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"It's one of the rare things I was able to learn and not be completely terrible at," Nathan told him, silently proud of himself for that one. "I'm better with breads, soups, stews and some meat then I am with more complex recipes."

As long as he didn't have to read, he could hobble through.

"And I'd like to get better at baked goods like muffins and cookies. Because I didn't get a lot of sweets either back home."

[not_every_mage]

"I've never learned to cook properly, but I can make a sandwich," Anders said, grabbing one from Nathan's pile. "Not the bread part, though. Just the piling-things-together part."

He leaned back, idly checking the inside of the sandwich. Nathan seemed to have the piling-things-together part down as well. "And I doubt you're terrible at things, for the record."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Some things I'm right terrible at," he said, reaching for a sandwich of his own and taking a quick bite. "But, I'm trying to get better at the things I might not be good at. Now that I have the time and I'm not looking over my shoulder constantly."

[not_every_mage]

"That's a luxury, isn't it?" Anders asked, thoughtfully swallowing a bit of sandwich. "My magic isn't improving as fast as it would be in the Circle, but the freedom here means that I'm getting so much better at everything else it hardly matters."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"How good are you when it comes to your magic?" Nathan asked curiously. "I don't think I've asked you that before. Is it something you're just really learning or are you just working on fine tuning it now to make you more powerful?"

His father had magic and he knew he'd get a Gift one day so he couldn't help being fascinated by those who already had and harnessed their powers.

[not_every_mage]

"Mainly the fine-tuning," Anders said. "I can do all the basic elemental spells and I'm fairly good at healing, but it's like anything else -- the longer you practice, the better you get. I'm still learning."

He poked Nathan lightly with the tip of his shoe. "How good are you? I know you have magic in you, but I've never seen you use it."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"I'm actually not sure yet," Nathan admitted, nudging Anders back with his foot and laughing lightly as he did. "It's not clear what I'm supposed to be able to do yet. Witches from my world get a Gift after their seventeenth birthday. One thing that they're exceptionally good at."

He tapped his foot against Anders' again. "My grandmother was skilled in potions. My sister's husband is able to do something with paperwork. I had a friend who could look like a fain -- uh, a regular human."

[not_every_mage]

"You have to wait until you're 17?" Anders asked, musing it over. "Maker's breath, it would be such a disappointment to wait that long and come out of it with powers over paperwork. We usually start showing powers before we're 10."

He tilted his head at Nathan. "You look like a regular human," he pointed out.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

Nathan nodded.

"I do. Mostly. I'm not sure if you'll be able to see but the only way to tell that there's something different about me is by my eyes."

His black eyes had dark triangular glints that rotated slowly and weren't really glints at all. They weren't shiny black, but a sort of hollow, empty black. He knew other witches could see theme but he wasn't sure if Anders could.

"No one else has eyes like mine," he said. "You can look."

[Totally up to you if you want Anders to be able to see the eyes. I'm good either way!]

[not_every_mage]

"I'm not sure," Anders said, and leaned closer as his own hazel eyes widened. "Hold still."

He blinked again and then saw the not-glints. "I see it now," he concluded. "Someone could fall into those. What is it?"

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"I don't actually know," he murmured now that Anders had leaned closer and he became acutely aware of Anders' nearness. He blinked. "I think it's just something special to me because of what I am. It's why I wore sunglasses at first. I didn't know if they'd freak people out."

[not_every_mage]

"They don't freak me out," Anders told him, staying right where he was. "I like them. And I'd about forgotten the sunglasses, but everyone looked a little strange to me the first few days. You could have been wearing a nug on your head and I wouldn't really remember."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Nug?" Nathan asked at that unfamiliar word. He didn't know if it was something familiar to his world or not since he didn't recognize a lot of things. "Is that a hat?"

He stayed right where he was too.

[not_every_mage]

"Stupid little animal," Anders clarified, after a snort of laughter. "Like a miniature pig with a long snout. And it tastes like chicken."

Didn't everything?

"Though I'm sure someone, somewhere, has worn one as a hat."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"So, a little more involved than a hat," he said, reaching a hand up to touch his hair. "I think, along with looking ridiculous, my hair would be a mess. It's already messy and to add a live animal? No one would want to be around me. I'd be a reclusive hermit with only a little animal for company."

Sad situation that one. "And bad hair."

[not_every_mage]

"And claws digging into your head," Anders added. "You can't forget that. They aren't sharp but it still bloody hurts. So you'd be in your cave, smelly, reclusive, and with welts rising underneath your hideous, nug-decorated hair."

That ... was quite a mental image. Almost as good as the bathtub octopus.

"It's better you were only wearing sunglasses, really."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"I'm actually glad I got rid of those," he said, snickering a bit. "Everything was very dark."

He was trying out the whole 'making jokes a little more regularly' thing.

"But, you've just made me grateful for the hair that I have. I didn't think that'd ever be possible. I always thought it was too, I don't know, dark and uncooperative. But, it's not nug covered so I'm better off."

[not_every_mage]

"We should always be grateful for small gifts," Anders said, and finally, with some effort, pulled far enough back that he wasn't completely invading Nathan's personal space. "Your hair's fine. I don't mind the color of mine but I can't stand having hair in my face, so I keep it long enough to tie back. I look silly with it short."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"I like your hair," he admitted quietly, pulling his eyes away from Anders' face so he could glance up at the hair in question. "It looks soft. It reminds me of sunsets, actually."

He bet it felt soft too. Nathan tilted his head and let his eyes flick from hair down to Anders' face and then back again.

"And when it falls in your face, you just need someone to push it bac -- " Well, that had come out before he'd even realized what he was saying. He meant it, yes, but didn't know if it was too forward of him.