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Jessica's house is cute. Lexi could see doing a lot of her homework here, listening to the calming chatter of gossip and getting help from Jessica on math (Bella's no help there) and helping Jessica on English. Forks isn't so bad. She doesn't mind the rain as much as Bella does.
Jessica goes to pee before they even start their assignment, after just introducing Lexi to her mom and dad as "one of Chief Swan's kids", and Lexi doesn't want to do work by herself or she wouldn't have come over in the first place. She sits on the couch and plunks her bag down and waits. There's a random deck of cards over there; she picks it up and flips through it. She's been trying to learn to bridge-shuffle.
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lexicality
cardistry
Brilliance, meanwhile, shifts from a staff back into a pair of jokers and tucks himself into the rest of the deck.
It glows white; the white glow cracks and shatters and falls away; it glows in Brilliance's every-colour instead.
"Fuck, that's better," he sighs. "Thanks, Bella."
The glow fades, leaving the deck a different colour from when it started - black and white reversed, a magician's deck. The front of the pack says 'Ghost'.
It glows white; the white glow cracks and shatters and falls away; it glows in Brilliance's every-colour instead.
"Fuck, that's better," he sighs. "Thanks, Bella."
The glow fades, leaving the deck a different colour from when it started - black and white reversed, a magician's deck. The front of the pack says 'Ghost'.
incanted
"I don't completely understand it myself, but Brilliance here is some kind of magic weapon, he comes apart, the part with a personality isn't on board with weapon-ing but it got split, I found the personality and you found the rest."
cardistry
"Yep!" says Brilliance. "No more nasty control program. I'm freeeeeeeeee," and the deck leaps up into the air and flies around in a gleeful circle.
lexicality
"But, I wanted to give Bella limitless power so she can feed cancerous grandmas and heal starving orphans or whatever," says Lexi, "was it lying, or what?"
cardistry
"...Yyyyes and no," he says, halting in midair. "It wasn't lying about having the power, just about letting you use it."
lexicality
"So... now you have it?" Lexi asks. "What're you going to do with it?"
incanted
"I second that question," Bella agrees. "Especially since I'm still dressed up like I'm going to an anime convention."
cardistry
"Uh... nothing?" says Brilliance. "I'm pretty much gonna do nothing with it? If you wanna change back, I can do that," he adds. "Or you can. Just - want your old clothes back, like you wanted flying."
incanted
"...Will I still be able to fly if I do that?" Bella wants to know.
lexicality
"What, he doesn't get a lecture about Using His Power For Good, like I did every time we played superheroes starting from when we were six?" Lexi says.
incanted
"I'm pretty sure he's designed to destroy shit. 'Nothing' is next best," Bella says quietly.
cardistry
"You can still fly without the Barrier Jacket, but it's harder," says Brilliance. "With me you kind of get flying for free. ...Uh, not that I'm inviting lectures or anything, but technically my magic can be used for things other than wrecking shit. Yours too. I mean, I'm supposed to be a weapon, not a healing device, but I'm also not supposed to kick the shit out of myself and break my control program, so..."
incanted
"Would you be willing to teach me and Lexi how to use our own magic, before you go find a comfortable place to do your nothing in?" Bella asks.
cardistry
"I don't really know how to use your magic," he says. "...But I've probably got a better guess than you do. Okay, maybe."
incanted
"Also, we'd appreciate a ride home," Bella adds. "...Or back to wherever you put our car. I guess that's Jessica's house."
cardistry
"Oh, sure," says Brilliance.
The rotating figure appears on the ground beneath them, and their surroundings blur, and they are back out in front of Jessica's house.
The rotating figure appears on the ground beneath them, and their surroundings blur, and they are back out in front of Jessica's house.
lexicality
Lexi sticks her head in the front door. "Hi, Jessica! Um, a thing came up, Bella showed up to get me, sorry I disappeared but I had to talk to her, I gotta go, I'm sorry!" And she grabs her bag and ducks out over Jessica's confused spluttering.
lexicality
"I'll drive," Lexi says, hopping into the relevant seat, "you geek out with magic with your new superweapon."
incanted
Bella has quietly willed herself back into her normal clothes while Lexi was making excuses to Jessica, and does now in fact have pockets; she climbs into the passenger seat. "So - why the profane incantation?" she asks. "Where'd that come from? Where do incantations in general come from?"
cardistry
"Spells are named the first time you use 'em," says Brilliance. "And if you don't make an incantation on purpose, it ends up being something you were thinking or saying at the time."