The Beauty of Creation

Newt can’t help but mimic the same expression on his son’s face. He hadn’t expected such an excited response. He knew how most people viewed the badger house, and if the choice between a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff came along it wouldn’t be the latter. Though, to know that his son would want to be in the same house that he was sorted in made him SWELL with pride. “I think you fit all the houses a little bit, but you’d make a BRILLIANT Hufflepuff.” He chuckles. “If you’d like to, I don’t see why not.” He nods his head at the thought. For such a young age Caleb was quite gifted, he could certainly see the benefits of him attending a magical school, but that was ultimately HIS choice to make.

❝ It’s not as though I expected faeries to be real . ❞ Well , barring the fact that he got rescued by The Mothman , seen an eldritch being , is being stalked by a shadow person and has a hellhound as a casual pet , there were just some things that appeared to be too fantastical for him to comprehend . Next thing you know , he sees a dragon .

His brows scrunch together , staring at the feather in his hands , the downy fluff tickling his palms and seeming to speak in candy - floss and gentle safety . ❝ Ok . If I ever need help . I’ll use it . ❞ Stern parrots , already making a note to keep it tucked between the pages of his Cryptonomicon . At this rate , his well - kept book was turning into a scrapbook . 

❝ This is a one - time sort of deal , right ? ❞

      Moore refuses to be held responsible for laughing ❝ You can deal with Mothman and skinwalkers and whatever the hell else lives around here, but it’s faeries that make you turn up your nose ? ❞  He might’ve been offended if he hadn’t found it all so amusing.  ❝ To be fair, we are more common in across the pond than here. ❞

❝ Good. And you better take good care of it. That’s one of my feathers, and I will be very unhappy if I get it back damaged. ❞  He gives first the human then his feather a sharply pointed look. It says he expects agreement and compliance in this matter and will accept nothing less.

                  “ Yeah, of course! That is so much cleverer! Rer. Cleverererer? Would TOTALLY have been my second idea, actually. ” ( There’s a self-conscious curl to Dirk’s lips suggesting rather rudely that by totally he means, in fact, definitely not and I’m just lying to look brainy in front of a STUPIDLY sweet man who gave me his number like the absolute darling he is, and who makes the very most scrumptious tea on the entire planet, by the way. ) Try as he might, he can’t straighten his mouth into a normal line - you know, the less treacherously tell-tale kind! -, so he decides instead to go back to smiling. Which is REALLY not a terribly difficult task, when he’s being given not only the time of day by Jiang, but also his number! Did he mention that before?! His actual number, connected to his actual { and rather charmingly battered-looking } phone! A number Dirk could, if the mood ever struck him - and it will! -, ring up at any given point. Just like that. No prior investigation needed.

                  If there’s a bit of a commotion going on behind the counter, Dirk hardly notices it. Like any true detective, he’s focused ENTIRELY on the  i m p o r  t a n t  details - such as his fingers, currently the object of much befuddled staring. Jiang touched them. Just now. With his own fingers. Without any apparent reason beyond simply WANTING to. { His blush must be spreading from head to toe by now. }

                  “ Yes! Text! Me, texting you, that’s a thing! Or, well, it’s — it’s going to be a thing, just as soon as I —- ” The phone escapes Dirk’s fumbling hands and clatters loudly to the floor. Much louder than it’s got any right to, the silly thing! Oh, God - what if he broke it? Now of all times ?? When it FINALLY contains a number that belongs neither to a client nor one of several pizza delivery services? But no. Still intact. Thanks, universe. You can be kind, when you really make an effort.

                  ( text: Fan Jiang 🐉 ) Hi! ✨ It’s Dirk Gently, your tea-loving detective customer in the yellow jacket! You gave me your number and told me to text, as I’m sure you’ll remember. So that’s what I did! 🐈 Yours, Dirk. P.S. What a SUPER adorable dragon!! Fits you so well! Much like your shirt, I might add! 👕💛🌈😍 

      Jiang notices the self-conscious edge to Dirk’s smile and offers the most reassuring, kind expression he can manage. “Usually when people call me clever, it’s not a compliment,” he observes with no apparent offense, leaning against the cash register. Usually it’s more along the lines of too clever for his own good and he thinks he’s just so clever, doesn’t he ?  "So thank you. And for the record ?”  His grin turns light, playful. “I think you’re very clever.”

He brushes his hair from his face, trying to hide how pleased he is with this turn of events. It’s not often that he develops any sort of interest in anyone beyond the most casual and  ( usually )  physical sort. So this--- this crush, this fluttering in his stomach and this smile he can’t get rid of, is unfamiliar, but it’s... nice. Having a crush is fun, and Jiang is determined to let himself enjoy this for once, instead of retreating in a panic because he doesn’t know what to do. Especially not when it comes to dating a human. Or explaining that he is not, in fact, a human. No need to get ahead of himself though.

Jiang’s lips twitch in amusement, but he’s not laughing at Dirk. He’s really not, cross his heart and everything. It’s just nice to see he’s not the only one who’s so affected by this apparently mutual crush. He suspects the only reason he isn’t fumbling just as badly is the strict self-control he’d had drilled into him. Some lessons never quite fade, and those ones were particularly hard learned for him. Instead of trying to voice any of that, he says, “Take your time. It gives me a chance to admire the view.”

He’s more than a little head-over-heels for the unbelievably sweet, undeniably handsome man in front of him. He just wonders how long it will take for Dirk to realize it.

    Ray clung to him for a few extra moments not able to resist it.  This was the nicest he had been to her all night.  After a moment she back off to give him just the biggest possible smile.  That had made her entire night.  She would be much better now.  “We can agree there.”  She didn’t like to lose.  She handled it with grace however because she had to.  “Alright!  Name the time and place.  You are on.”  She didn’t mind losing to Sebastian in this situation though considering he was a trained sniper.  “So food then you can put me to bed.”

It’s strange that being addressed so formally, it grates against her skin. She’s grown so accustomed to her title being dropped that hearing it now, and almost every time he addresses her, feels wrong. Which maybe says more about how she lets herself be treated by the team then she wants to think about now.

“Please, call me Jemma.” Earlier thoughts aside, they’ve been working together long enough and if they’re going to get dinner, there’s really no need for proper titles. “Do what you need to. Whatever makes you the most comfortable.”

      “Thank you, Jemma,” he says, even though it feels a little odd to address her that way. It feels rude, almost, and he tries to be anything but. Being polite, being respectful, doesn’t cost anything. Not even when he’s as tired as he is now. “You can call me Steve.”

“Did I? Huh–I must be POPULAR.” He said with a satisfied grin. This wasn’t something new of either of them. Those who weren’t that close to them often confused them for one another. With their MISCHEVIOUS personality, they liked to play it off. “I’ll be sure to give her a call later.” He said with a thoughtful nod of his head. “How was your date last week? I almost forgot to ask you about it.”

The childlike wonder from Warren that follows brings a fond smile to Connor’s face. It’s good to see them be able to enjoy themselves without having to worry about all the shit going on in Los Santos. They’re on the opposing side but that doesn’t matter to them now. This place was never a conventional place to begin with, however, & Connor knows full well how weird it truly is.

“Yeah, no gives backs, I’m not 10,” He says teasingly. Connor never had any siblings. Sure, he had a few friends but nothing seems to compare to having a younger sibling. In a way, he sees the AI almost like such, which is a different pace from how they were some time ago. It’s a nice change.

Maybe the city is rubbing off on him in a way he never expected.

“It’s all yours pal. I just wanna know what’s inside.” He’s curious, but not enough to figure it out on his own. Though, out of the two of them, it’ll be put to better use with Warren than Connor.

      The wariness in Warren’s frame drains immediately, and they relax their grip on their newest puzzle. “Are you sure about that ?”  they retort, just as teasing. It’s weird sometimes, being so friendly, so casual with someone they shouldn’t get along with. It’s the principle of the thing, and they’re on opposing sides of the law. It’s--- it’s nice though. Having another friend, especially one who doesn’t seem to mind their quirks. “You could fool me sometimes.”

Now that they’re sure their newest prize won’t be snatched up from them, Warren starts moving the little tiles around again. The pattern seems to be geometric, which makes it easier. Warren can see where all the lines fall in their mind’s eye, and it’s just a matter of matching the tiles up with that mental image.

He couldn’t have said it better himself. He nodded his head in response wit ha bright grin. “YEAH.” He said with a chuckle. He can’t help but feel excited about it now, the idea of coming to see her home and exploring a place he’s never been to before. “Yeah? You think so? I’d love to come, the SOONER the better.” He chuckled once more. He knew that his parents would be supportive of his adventurous endeavors as they always were. “I think they would be too, I’ll be sure to bring it up to them soon.”

The first time Stephen had even realized that Kamar Taj wasn’t as out of touch as even he assumed was when he met Wong’s rolodex. He supposed he should have known when on his first night Mordo gave him the wifi password, but the rest of the “detachment from mortal comforts” schtick had rather reinforced his idea that they were more than a few steps behind the times. But as it turned out, Wong’s rolodex contained a true wealth of resource information the likes of which exceeded even everything the fledgling digital age had managed to amass.

Everything from London boot makers that hadn’t been open or on the books since the 1880s, to the best potion ingredient retailers on the market. Which was the pristinely extracted card Wong come to him with one afternoon when he’d been stocking the Kamar Taj libraries with volumes that had been requested from the New York Sanctum. Wong was doing an advanced potions lesson over the next month - for acolytes, apprentices, and masters alike - and had quite an extensive shopping list. And as the other man had smirkingly asserted, Stephen had the widest variety of favors to offer in barter.

The bastard even had the nerve to send him off without letting him stay for lunch, something which even the students and Master Hamir bemoaned, but Stephen let himself be herded back to Manhattan so he could find his way to the artifacts shop. Thanks to the magical seal Wong had placed on it, all he had to do was tap into the charms micro-consciousness to access the memory of where it was located before stepping through a portal to its front door.

He smiled to him self, breathing in the different air and wondering when it was he got to go shopping last. Let alone for things not entirely unlike eye of newt and tongue of dog. Hopefully they were a bit more humane ingredients, but Stephen already knew that Wong had requested a pint of his blood for one of the later stages of the potions, which did not bode well for how complex of an instruction process it was going to be. Wong’s lessons had always been exacting, and humane ingredients tended to be hard to come by in magic.

Pushing open the door to the small shop, he was met with the favorite and familiar smell of truly ancient dust, antique parchment, and something that danced in the corners of the room that may just have been faerie dust or something else entirely. The bell that chimed merrily upon his entrance even felt like it was in the right key for heaven’s sake. “Hello?” he called, peering around the shelves to see if he could scry someone else in the shop. “Anyone home? The sign did say ‘open’… I think.”

( @infinitelydiverse )

      “I’ll be right with you !”  Niall calls from the back of the shop, the door of which is half hidden by a set of bookshelves. He’d gotten back from a flea market about an hour ago, and he’d been adding the new items to the store’s inventor. He always finds a few items of magic at places like that --- he supposes it has something to do with the random, organic nature of markets and thrift stores. Or maybe it’s the items themselves, the magic in them, calling out to people until it finds someone who knows what to do with it. “If you happen to see a cat, don’t touch him. Mercutio gets antsy around other magic users.”

Niall gathers an armful of books and other items to shelve in the front of the shop before heading up. “Hey there !  Welcome,”  Niall greets the man cheerfully as he sets his armful down. He looks a far cry from the stereotypical witch: young with a plain button-down, dark jeans, a pair of worn sneakers, and a toothy grin. No one would guess at what he could do.

Before either of them could say anything, a short, sharp meow cuts through the air. Niall glances up at the top of a nearby shelf, momentarily distracted. “Are you coming down then, or are you just going to yell at this perfectly civil customer ?”  he asks his familiar. His answer comes in the form of the cat leaping from the shelf onto his shoulder. He staggers slightly under the abrupt weight; Mercutio is as large and muscular as any barn cat under all that fluff, and he feels it now.

           “i don’t know that much, i’m afraid. i just know it exists. i think animals have a better immune system? maybe? i’m just guessing at this point.” there was a limit to her knowledge and she’d reached it. she really had no idea why it was fine for them to eat it as animals but when they were human - it needed to go through so many different trials for it to be deemed fully edible. she shrugged hr shoulders, offering a little smile. “just know that they’re doing it so that it doesn’t hurt you, okay?”

His brows arch hearing his son’s words. He’s quick to turn his head and attention towards the small boy. He can’t help but grin at the question. Though brows furrowed a bit that he’d asked Tina and Queenie about Ilvermony first. “Ah–I definitely think you’d be a HUFFLEPUFF, just like your dad, don’t y’think?” He said with a PROUD grin. Thinking of his son being in the same house as he was. He would surely fit in among the other badgers. 

“Really? You’d wanna come and see?” Dark hues light up in EXCITEMENT. He knew he could be a bit much for some people. Too adventurous and wild that they couldn’t or didn’t care to keep up. But he loved the thrill of it all. It was something he wanted to share with people around him too. Most weren’t too keen on it though. “Yeah? Oh man, that would be so cool ! I’d love to visit, I’m sure it’ll be like NOTHING I’ve ever seen before.” That was enough to excite him.

            “…Like what??” There is a follow-up question lingering on the tip of their tongue–can it hurt you?? That’s a few too many words for R in one sitting though. They’ll circle back to that question later.

Connor coughs in discomfort, turning his head towards the mirror. “Yeah uh… It’s no problem.”

It’s been some time since he’s seen someone eat so fast like Warren. The very few friends he had when he was younger was a crowd that didn’t fit a mold similar to how the FAKES are. He could see the Jericrew acting the same when it came to feed; it makes him nostalgic. In a way, they were family just as Warren saw this gang.

Connor knows he’d get just as upset if anyone tried to dispute that so it’s not as surprising anymore for Warren to be so defensive.

“So, technically, we’re only allowed to keep you for 24 hours.” The reality is, they’re not charging Warren for anything. They just wanted information which makes this a botched interrogation. He can imagine the higher ups laughing behind the one way mirror; so much for being a great detective. “Do you have someone who can come pick you up or do you need me to drop you off somewhere?”

      Warren huffs a soft little laugh, eyes straying to the window as well. Is that really what makes him uncomfortable ?  A sincere thank you ?

Instead of looking at the window and trying to calculate the possibility of someone watching the proceedings from the other side  ( the likelihood is uncomfortably high and creates unfortunate parallels with rats in cages ),  Warren starts picking at their nails instead. They hate seeing the dark crescents of dirt and grease under their nails.

“I know. I have a basic knowledge of law, and I was never formally booked anyways. Besides letting me keep this,” Warren taps a nail against their worn, slightly dinged laptop cover, “was a bit of a giveaway. I assumed it was just your way of trying to make me comfortable though, on account of my age. Which probably isn’t as young as you think, by the way.” They have a baby face. They know it and use it to their advantage.

   “It’s not anythin’ ta be sorry for.  I think it’s better this way.  Cause I don’t want pity or sympathy.  I jus wanna be accepted.  Here I am.  So that makes me very happy.”  She offered a warm smile to them.  Deep down it did bother her but in all reality she knew this was the best thing.  “A family you are now a part of too!  We are suppose ta look out for each other n no matter what I got your back.”  She promised.  She meant every word of that. She didn’t know Warren well but she didn’t need to.  All she needed to know was that they were there and wanted to be good.   “yeah it’s so much fun.  You jus gotta be on my team!”  ray stopped at the door to what would be Warren’s room.  She quickly lounged forward to give them the biggest hug.  “Of course!  You can get settled now n when you are ready I can show ya around the nearest town.  It’s kinda small but it’s nice.  There is a mall.”