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The Magic Box [Friday]

Celia bustled into the shop after class, and wasn't surprised at all that Fridays seemed to be much the same as Tuesdays, here.

And with that out of the way -- though, really, she didn't know what she would have done if she had discovered that Fridays were drastically different and she had made a terrible mistake -- she set to work plucking up a few of the stones laying about and using magic to warm them.

It wasn't quite as nice as buying chestnuts on a street corner, but it helped with the cold, all the same.

[open and still ocd freeeeeeeeeeee]

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"It's cold out," Anders announced. He hadn't had anything particular to do in the dorms -- even Lachlan was asleep -- so he'd decided to walk to town and check on things at the shop. He made it without his fingers freezing off, but he suspected it was a near thing.

He smiled at Celia as he unwound his scarf. "Which ... you probably knew already. Hello."

"Hello. I'm heating up rocks," Celia said with a small smile, offering him one. "They're retaining their warmth a little better than my just, you know, heating the whole shop every thirty seconds."

She made a face. "That -- thermostat thing doesn't work quickly enough for my liking."

"Do you know how it works?" Anders wondered, with genuine curiosity. "I like the stoves at home better. You can see what's going on inside those and when they need more wood."

He accepted the stone gratefully, bouncing it a bit from hand to hand so it wouldn't burn his fingers.

"I don't," Celia confessed, looking pained to admit it. "I'm sure it's something to do with electricity, and maybe...electrically heating air and pushing it through the ducts? But I'm with you -- I'd much prefer the warmth of a stove or a fireplace, where I can see what it's doing and compensate accordingly. Electricity makes things annoyingly...nebulous."

"Right," Anders agreed. "The way you explain it makes sense, but I'd still rather deal with a nice fire than try to figure out what the numbers on the display mean. And I like most technology."

"I like using computers," Celia acquiesced. "And I'm familiar enough with electrical lights -- we have fluorescents' ancestors, in my time. But I'm not overly fond of anything that overcomplicates a simple process."

She smiled. "Like heating. Fire's a lot more reliable than technology -- or at least, I don't need to go find Barry if I need to start a fire, you know?"

"Neither do I," Anders said. "Though I'd probably use magic because I'm too lazy to bother with flints, which I suppose is overly complicated in its own way."

"Oh, no, magic's the simplest answer of all," Celia smiled, shaking her head. "I don't even have to stand up to do that. Magic is the best for enabling laziness. I'd be more ashamed of that if it weren't, you know, magic."

Anders laughed. "We got our gifts for a reason," he offered. "The Maker -- or whatever you believe in -- must have wanted us to be lazy. At least about lighting fires."

Ichabod had gone for a walk and on his way back he stopped by the Magic Box. "I'm afraid I'm not here to buy anything," he said as he opened the door."

"You think that God gave you your magic?" Celia asked, mildly surprised. "I mean, your Maker is your deity, right? That's...huh. My mother always blamed the Devil for mine. I rather like your approach better."

"No? But are you quite sure that you don't need some of these magical stones?" Celia asked, smiling at him. "I have no idea how to use them, but supposedly they'll make you sleep better and cure all sorts of aches and pains."

Of course, Celia was using them as handwarmers, so.

"Supposedly?" Ichabod raised an eyebrow as he closed the door behind him. "Are you saying you are uncertain whether they work or not?" He smiled back.

"I have no idea," Celia confided, raising her eyebrows at him playfully. "Don't tell anyone. I'm just warming them up for my hands since I've never figured out how their intrinsic properties are supposed to work."

"Perhaps they are just... stones. Although if you can make them permanently warm they would be useful in this weather."

He crossed the room to where Celia was standing.

"It does seem a little kinder, doesn't it?" Anders agreed. "Though we also believe it was man's abuse of magic that got the Maker angry enough at man to ignore us, so it's not quite as pro-mage as it sounds."

He squinted at Celia, concentrating to warm the rock he still held. "I thought the devil was just another word for a demon. Your mother thought magic came from that?"

Well, if he was just going to come over all conveniently like that, he was getting a kiss for it.

"I don't know about permanently," she admitted. "But they retain the heat naturally for quite awhile even if I just warm them up once."

"She hadn't seen anything like it before," Celia said, nodding. "And in Christianity, the Devil is sort of the...head demon. God's greatest adversary. So there's been a long history of fearmongering and blaming evil for things that people just don't understand, in the hopes that identifying the supposedly-evil thing will save the faithful."

She sighed, sympathetically, and added, "But really, I still like yours a bit -- I'd prefer to think my gifts were well-intentioned, even if there are meant to be checks against abuses of it. Though it's sad to think that your Maker is ignoring you."

Perhaps that had been the reason why he had positioned himself next to her. In any case, she got a kiss back. Then he picked up one of the stones, examining it.

"Apart from magic stones, is there anything else you think I need?"

"Ah, at least it's not personal," Anders said lightly. "He's ignoring all of us until everyone believes in him, or that's what the clergy says. But for what it's worth" -- and here he sounded more serious -- "I absolutely believe there's something good behind all of this. It'd be stupid to suffer for it this much if there wasn't."

Of course, stupid things happened all the time,but Anders needed his faith in this small way.

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The Magic Box [Friday]

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