The Magic Box, Monday

[existencemisspent]

Eliot had spent the last couple of weeks when he should have been working hidding in a pile of luxious blankets at home, declaring the outdoors unfit for either man or beast. But even he knew that eventually that sort of behavior would get him fired (perhaps very eventually, let's be real), and he'd managed to drag himself to work today.

That didn't mean he had to be happy about it.

He was lounging behind the counter, a book on portal magic that he'd already flipped through easily a dozen times open on his lap, a cigarette in hand, and idly used Weizenheim's Third to blow increasingly elaborate smoke rings, even as he collected it all in a dense, contained cloud to be disposed of later.

Just because one was a hedonist didn't mean one had to be an impolite hedonist, after all. Only Eliot was allowed to get cancer from his bad habits.

[open!]

Comments

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon came in with coffee as well as his tea, and stopped to look at that cloud. "Handy."

That was possibly the first bit of magic he was actually jealous of.

[existencemisspent]

Eliot let his eyes drift up to the cloud. "I've found it so, yes. Also, I can do this."

He took a drag and let it out slowly. The smoke formed into the shape of a cat, which stretched langorously and then stuck its leg out to clean its nether regions.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon laughed, surprised. "Yes, all right, Gandalf."

He handed Eliot his coffee.

"I, um. Haven't seen you lately. I hope everything's been okay."

[existencemisspent]

"It's been too fucking cold," Eliot grumbled, accepting the coffee gratefully. "I had enough of cold in Antarctica. If this were any kind of reasonable magical island, it'd be nice out all the time."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Ant- Antarctica." Jon stumbled to not make it a question. "I suppose that would be very cold, yes."

He thought about the rest of it as he sipped his tea. "Given how often things seem to go odd here, I'm not certain I'd trust magical weather."

[existencemisspent]

"Every student at Brakebills does a several week intensive in Antarctica," Eliot explained, even though Jon hadn't asked. "We get there by turning into geese and flying."

His answers would probably never not come with more questions.

"And sure, magical weather has its faults. But it's extremely handy to be able to schedule your annual rainfall."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Wouldn't...that is, I imagine an arctic tern or something would be more practical." Jon frowned. "Unless you prefer to be the meanest bird around for other reasons."

[existencemisspent]

"Yes, well. I gather Dean Fogg wanted Professor Mayakovsky as far from the general population of Brakebills as possible when he decided to exile him to Brakebills South. His philandering had resulted in one student dropping out and another dead."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon frowned. "I'm...not sure what that has to do with the birds, but I'm surprised someone doing that wasn't fired, at the least."

He glanced over anxiously. "Unless...if there was...was a supernatural reason he couldn't be."

Speaking as someone who'd been trapped in his job.

[existencemisspent]

"Oh no, nothing like that. He's just quite possibly the greatest living magician on the planet. Oddly enough, there's a fairly direct correlation between 'powerful magician' and 'raging asshole'." Eliot shrugged. "I think the bird thing is more 'one transformation that can take you over vast distances with the lowest likelihood of you dying of exhaustion or starvation along the way'. Not that they made us get home that way. . . ."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"But arctic terns migrate further and have..." Eliot probably didn't care. "Never mind. Um. But it sounds interesting anyway."

[existencemisspent]

Antarctica had a landmass? Or the whole thing hadn't been set up by ornithologists. Or both!

"It wasn't," Eliot said with a deep sigh. "Cold, depressing, mildly traumatic, but not interesting. Though it is where Margo learned her muting trick."

And where they'd learned how to use mind control. Eliot was going to just. Not mention that part.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"I'm...well, I have reason to be grateful for that trick," Jon acknowledged.

Yeah, mind control maybe not.

"Though it sounds as though your school was actively trying to traumatise you."

[existencemisspent]

Eliot shrugged. "It might've. Magic comes from pain, after all."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon looked aghast, if unsurprised. "But that's...that's no excuse to make it worse!"

At least he'd been an adult when his boss had actively sought to traumatise him.