fandomtownies | The Perk | Thursday Morning

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The Perk | Thursday Morning

So, Annie had spent the better part of a week as an energetic, friendly, blonde...dog. And while it hadn't been the worst (given that her personality aligned much better to 'golden retriever' than it had to, say, bat), she was still working on getting somewhat back in the swing of normal human things.

Like doing a normal human workout! And going to get normal, human coffee (with normal, human pumpkin spice in it.)

"So do you only give cups of whipped cream to dogs?" she asked the barista curiously, just, like, wondering.

And now she was going to go to a table with her coffee, chagrined by the look the barista gave her and not even bothering to go ahead and ask outright for a puppaccino for her normal, human self.

Even if it sounded really good, okay? This was probably more appropriate to sip on as she flicked through Citizen Starlight footage with one earbud in, anyway.

(And maybe she could make up with it by just ingesting straight whipped cream at home later, with only Diego to judge.)

[totally open!]

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Yeah, Annie spent most of her time sequestered away in a skyscraper in Manhattan, but even a small-town girl like her could appreciate a waistcoat.

"Annie January," she replied, grinning. "Super nice to meet you. Welcome to Fandom. Liking it so far?"

"Well, magic works here and the local talking animals aren't demanding I provide them with dental benefits, so it's not the worst place I've been exiled to."

The 'exile' part was a slight exaggeration. The other bits were not.

Annie took that in thoughtfully, folding her hands under her chin and tilting her head. "So you sound like you're better off than a lot of people who come here?" she offered. "Like, we don't have talking animals or magic where I'm from -- at least, we don't call it magic -- and that stuff can kinda throw people for a loop when they first arrive. Or are exiled."

"So I gather, yes," Eliot said. "The animals did throw me too when I first got to Fillory. It's not every day on my Earth that you have shots with a bulldog named Bristleyfoot. But you get used to them quickly enough."

He gave Annie a faintly measuring look.

"What do you call it, then? If not 'magic'."

"I'm super-abled," Annie shared. "So, like, people have superpowers where I'm from? But it's one of those things where I'm learning that what I call science, a lot of people would call magic, and vice versa."

This is what being friends with the Scarlet Witch got you.

Eliot was starting to pick up on those sorts of nuances himself, thanks to working at the Magic Box.

When he bothered actually doing any work, anyway.

"Ah, yes. We've got both back home. And our magic is quite ordered and disciplined, much in the same way science is. I have definitely taken advantage of people's confusion there and claimed to be superpowered before, though."

Specifically, he had intimidated a security guard at a house museum by claiming to be a supervillain.

And that made Annie smile (though she might have felt differently if she'd known he'd been a supervillain, oh no.) "I'd be willing to bet," she admitted, "that your magic is probably a lot more versatile than my superpowers, too -- most Supes I know can only do one or two things. Magic seems...expansive. You could probably confuse the hell out of the folks I work for."

Look, the breaking and entering had been for a good cause! As had the bank heist he'd technically died during a year later. Multiple times, even, fun with time magic and astral projection.

"Sounds like that could be fun," he said, faintly teasing. "But magicians do tend to specialize at least a little, where I'm from. I myself do mostly physical magic. My friend Josh is a Naturalist, and works mostly with plants. But we all learn some basic skills along the way."

He lifted his chin. "So, what one or two things do you do, then? If you don't mind my asking."

See, that sounded fascinating in a Barry Plodder kind of way (even if between Nina and Wanda, Annie had a pretty good idea that no one's magic worked like it did in those movies and books.) And while Annie was curious, she also couldn't resist the urge to show off. Never.

"I can manipulate electricity," she shared with a little smile, and with a quick buzz of the overhead lights, she illuminated her eyes and held out a glowing palm in demonstration. "As long as I have a power source, I can convert it to light and shoot it out of my hands."

And just as quick as they'd light up, Annie's eyes and hand faded back to normal. "And I can lift about eight hundred pounds." Her best was around 860, these days, but there was bragging and there was splitting hairs. "So -- just a couple things. Physical magic sounds like a very useful magic, for what it's worth."

"Oh, I agree completely," Eliot said, even as he nodded appreciatively at her demonstration. "I may be a little biased, but the Physical Disciplines are some of the most powerful and useful around."

He was more than a bit biased. All his close friends, barring the ones from Fillory and, well, Josh, were at least tangentially connected to the Physical Disciplines.

"My personal Discipline is telekinesis, though I like to consider myself something of a Renaissance Man of Physical Magics." In part because, having first used it to subconsciously murder a fellow classmate, he tended to use his telekinesis as little as possible. "Your abilities sound a bit like phosphoromancy or maybe . . . electrokinesis?"

He held up one hand, working through a few sharp gestures to do some showing off of his own. When he finished, he had tiny bolts of electricity flickering between his first two fingers and his thumb, like a tiny death ray.

"I've dabbled a bit in both."

"Oh, wow." And of course now Annie was wondering whether she could use Eliot's magic as a power source, herself -- but that was one of those things that would just get filed away in the back of her mind for an emergency. Like the question of whether she could use BB-8, or other robots. "I've heard of electrokinesis -- it's sort of like that, but I used to know a chick who could shoot actual electricity out of her hands, so I think there's a teeny difference? But I love the sound of phosphoromancy."

Annie and Alice would get along famously, for the record, though Annie would actually find a lot to be jealous of in terms of what phosphoromancy actually entailed.

"Love the choreography," she added, doing a little twirly hand gesture of her own in turn, just because it was fun. "My friend Wanda has to do little, like, finger gestures to do her magic, too." Whereas Annie's powers were much more blunt-force than she might like to admit.

Annie and Alice teamed up would be a terrifying force to be reckoned with.

"The gestures and occasional words are how we channel the magic for full control," Eliot explained. "And it does add rather a bit of flare, doesn't it."

Eliot opened his hand, dissipating the electricity.

"You're friends with my boss at the shop, it seems. She did mention she was surprised to learn her powers were magic rather than, ah, 'super'."

"Oh, you work at the Magic Box. That makes sense," Annie realized, nodding. "Yeah, Wanda's on a superhero team like I am, but things seem a little more...flexible in her world. Where I'm from, we have to add our flare with, like...costumes and codenames."

And Annie had the flariest of both, thank you.

"So are you going to this party tomorrow?" she added, eyes wide. "The posters said something about magic." Which meant that Annie had purposely made sure that she (and Diego, because God forbid those two not be adorable about this) had an outfit that would go well with gold in case superpowers counted.

"My darling, I am cohosting this party tomorrow," Eliot said with a small chuckle. "Margo and I were well known for our parties back home, and figured it was as good a way as any to really get to know the local populace." He gave a little twirl of his finger. "But let's get back to this codename business. What do they call you, then? Are we talking descriptive, like 'Flashlight', or florid, like 'Ms. Fantastic' or something?"

"Oh, 'Flashlight' isn't bad," Annie decided, having absorbed the knowledge that this was one of the party hosts with a wide-eyed little clap. "It's a little bit of both -- I'm Starlight, when I'm all suited up."

It was one of the best superhero names ever, if you asked her. Descriptive and florid!

"And the team I'm on is called The Seven, which is very perfunctory and descriptive." Sad trombone noise.

“They don’t even have an adjective? How uninspired.” Eliot shook his head. “Really, if you’re going to do team- and codenames, you might as well go all in. ‘Starlight’ seems an excellent choice by the way.”

Though he was now wondering if her costume involved roller skates.

IT MIGHT AS WELL. Annie was a hop, a skip and a disco ball away from being Dazzler, honestly.

"The other big team is named Payback, which is slightly better," Annie offered. (Especially given all the avenging they did and seriously it was sort of embarrassing that it had taken this long being friends with both Steve and Wanda before she'd put that together.) "But okay, Mr. Party Host -- is there anything I should know for this party of yours tomorrow? You're totally right that it's a good way to meet people -- I swear I met half the town when I threw my boyfriend a birthday party a few weeks ago. People love an event around here."

“Thank god for that. I happen to know from experience that Fillory can’t support a decent party if their lives depended on it.”

It was a serious problem, in his opinion.

“As for what you need to know. . . . There will be glamour. And a signature cocktail. And masks can be provided if you can’t locate anything spectacular in time.”

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The Perk | Thursday Morning

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