voyagers | open } { how much trouble could he get into?

When it comes to Alexander Abernathy, they answer is a lot. He could get into a lot of trouble.

And he'll probably drag Rafe down with him, let's be real.

See the problem with Alexander is that he's bored. He's easily bored, which is why the ship, in all of it's wonder and majesty, was able to hold is attention was able to hold is attention for a few weeks but now he's back to being bored again. A bored Afreet demon is a problem. Especially when he has access to copious quantities of alcohol. Because when you can set fire to things all on your own, you tend to investigate mundane things you can do with that particular power, especially when you have the power of the internet at your disposal.

And he's always really thought flaming drinks looked cool. Especially a Flaming Lamborghini. Which is what he's currently trying to do at one of the many, many bars located on this ship. He's mostly got the glasses stacked at this point and is working on mixing the part of the drink that's poured over top - his dad taught him to mix cocktails ages ago and he's probably going to bartend in college once he gets there - so he hasn't gotten to the actual fire yet, but it's coming.

When it does, whoever built this ship will probably forever regret leaving that much booze lying around.

---

Meanwhile another, less destructively minded teenager is also testing out some abilities of her own. After a brief trip home, Zoe Dabrowski can be found favoring a long sleeved Henley that hooks around her thumbs as she sits cross-legged on the main deck with a small potted plant and what looks like an old notebook. The plant itself is nothing more than a sprout, with a small purple bud at the tip, but she's looking to change that, given the right amount of time and concentration.

And, of course, the right spell.

When she finally finds the one she's looking for, she pauses for a moment, letting the fingers not holding the book in her lap drum idly against her knee as she tries to figure out the best way to approach it. She's still fairly new to her magic in a lot of ways, and there's a lot her mother didn't get to teach her and her father refuses to. But at the same time, there's always a chance she could figure it out for herself, which is why she took her mother's spell book before she left again. If he won't teach her, she'll learn on her own.

She glances from the book to the plant for a moment, before holding out her hand in front of her. She pulls at the magic somewhere inside her and anyone paying attention will see the colors around her hand distort slightly, almost like a thermal coming off the pavement on a super hot day. As she focuses, the flower in front of her starts to stretch towards it, arching up towards the sky until it very slowly peels back the layers of the bud and comes into full bloom.

She jumps up with a pleased noise as she finishes because she did it.

Then gasps as the pot tumbles off the end of the lounge and shatters on the deck.

Whoops.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Zoe and magic are complicated. She knows that her mother loved hers (loved as much as she can convey to an eight year-old, where every emotion is so much bigger than it is for an adult, as though they can make up for what they lack in size and maturity with pure intensity), but her father ... magic turned her father into a man she doesn't recognize and it's hard to reconcile the two sides of the same coin. The ecstasy of life and possibilities with the hard truth of the limits and the problems that not even magic can fix. But in the end, the answer is usually the same.

"It's part of me. I'd feel weird without it. The world ... you kind of feel connected to it, in a way. I don't want to be disconnected from that."

No matter what it costs her or what she loses along the way, she wants to be a part of the universe. That has to be worth something.

"Well, all magic is different. It depends what discipline you were raised in. My mom was a witch so she taught me to be a witch so that's natural magic through spells and stuff, but druids learn different magic - they have potions and heavy rituals, not so much with natural communion. Shamans focus on the spirituality and visions - like, they think Cassandra of Troy was a shaman." She still is, actually. She's working as "psychic" in the middle of Manhattan, but Zoe doesn't know that. "I don't know much about the Asian disciplines, but I'm still learning, so I've got time to figure it out."

"We don't even get our powers from the start. They generally develop when someone is a teenager." John was a different case. He was a special case. "But it's the same way for us, losing our powers... it's like being a really hollow version of ourselves. It's a part of us too."

He has seen it happen. John has seen Ultra strip people of their powers. They scream from the pain of having them ripped away.

It is something-- it is one of the only things that terrifies him for himself. All his other fears and worries are for the people who he feels responsible for, to protect and to lead and to train.

"So magic has different disciplines, and each one can do different things within it. Does that mean you can train yourself in how to do other disciplines too or do you have to stick with what runs in the family? The natural magic?" The curiosity is very genuine, and it is really helpless for him to reach out to another person especially someone younger who has powers of their own. He isn't always sure that he can help even people with powers like his, people like him, but he tries.

Maybe especially for all that time that he spent doing the opposite.

Zoe's never heard of someone losing their magic like that. She's heard horror stories about rituals that bind people's magic to someone else, allowing them to borrow their power for short periods of time, but those are mostly rumors. As far as she knows, someone can give it away or they can be killed - that's the only way to take their magic off the table.

"The natural magic is the one I'm strongest with," she replies. "But I can learn other stuff, it just won't come as easily. Like shaman rituals where they're navigating dreams or trying to channel visions would be harder for me, because it's not really in my skill set."

But it's not impossible. She could learn to do it, given enough time and practice.

John nods, because he can understand that. He is the strongest with teleportation after all. Cara is the strongest with telepathy. Russell is the strongest with telekinesis. They can all three do each of those three powers, but they're far better at certain aspects than others.

"Ours works similarly. We have the ability to do all three, but everyone tends to be best at one of the three. It's the one that comes most naturally even if you can develop the other skills." His voice is quiet then, thoughtful. "...channel visions? Wow."

Navigating dreams is something Cara could do. It's the easiest way to dig into someone's mind when they're sleeping. No guards up. Though most people don't know how to keep people out of their heads. It's not a skill taught.

"Yeah. I hear it's ... insane. It's like it takes over your whole body and all that matters is whatever you're seeing." Her eyes are bright as she talks about it because there's a lot about magic and about the different disciplines that she really loves, and that she doesn't quite understand yet, but she wants to learn more. That's the part that matters.

"I haven't seen it myself, but I've heard stories. It sounds ... amazing."

John shakes his head with a soft smile when he sees how bright her eyes get as she talks about it. It is clear she is very passionate about magic. It is clear that it is a part of her.

"It does sound... amazing, a little scary too but amazing. Not a big fan of anything that takes over my whole body." He has been there and done that in other ways, but it sounds like it would be amazing.

"They're stuff is all about out of body experiences. Dream walking and that sort of thing. A lot of shamans just sort of ... give themselves over to it which is kind of scary."

And probably why a lot of them are insane. Or ... some kind of insane.

"That's not my specialty though. I'm mostly just trying to work on growing things."

"That's pretty huge," John says, thinking of all the possibilities when it comes to making things grow, how important and valuable that could be. There are people who are hungry all over the place.

They could put a garden somewhere easily accessed by the lair and get food more easily that way if they had someone that could make things grow like that. Instead they end up scrambling to grocery stores, stealing food in the night in large quantities. "You look like you're doing good work with growing things so far."

She grins a bit, before nodding. "And I'm just a beginner. Given a little time and a little elbow grease, who knows what I'll be able to do." Which is what she's really looking forward to. Just seeing how far she can go, what the limits are to what she can do.

It's nice to be doing something, rather than simply reacting.

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