رضا

But he had to try something else; if it failed at least he'd attempted.

It just wasn't a comfortable idea; folks knowing about the curse. But if this Reza fella was a sorcerer who worked at breaking curses he probably was discreet about that sort of thing. Or at least Lucky hoped he was.

When the door opened he...actually he didn't know what he was thinking because what did he assume a sorcerer was going to be? He was around sorcerers all the time and down and they were just completely normal folks so he wasn't sure why I had gotten into his head that this one would be something different.

"Lookin' for somebody named Reza, actually," he offered a smile, "asked 'round town an' ya might be th'one 'round here who can answers some questions for me."

If the man was, in fact, the one he was looking for.

Oh, that wasn't terribly unusual, but still unusual enough that it took him by surprise.

"Right, well that's me. I'm Reza. Come in, make yourself comfortable." He said.

Reza gestured to the workshop's small kitchen.

"Tea? Or straight to what I can do for you?"

Hopefully she hadn't said anything too mortifyingly wrong before this. She knew she wasn't educated in everything, but that was no excuse for being stupid.

"I think that sounds wonderful! A wedding is a perfect reason to go back and spend some time with your family, and it can't really be that far from here. You should go!"

Reza made a face.

"Eh, it's a bit complicated, my mother's side of the family. My mother." He said with a shrug. "Sabiha and I have a similar experiences where the anti-magick sentiment in Tunisia got so bad that our mothers both peaced out, mine back to Europe, hers back to a pixie hollow. I was fifteen, I resented her for a long time, my mother. I threw away my chance to go to university in Austria because it would've meant having to live with her, which was the stupidest thing I've ever done. Fadela hated her even more than I did but still took the opportunity to do it."

He shook his head at himself.

"My father used to live in West Germany, when it was West Germany. He was allowed through their gastarbeiter -- or guest worker -- program. My mother was born in West Germany but lived most of her life in Austria, though she went back to West Germany for university and worked there for a little while after, where she met my father. Then she moved to Tunisia to marry him. Didn't speak a word of Arabic, she learned it there. My mother's a badass. She's 67 now but we still fear the wrath of Ingrid, I think she could still punch. But yeah, she lived in Tunisia until she just couldn't take how anti-magick is was, it really got to her. So she left the three of us with my father and went back to Austria."

Reza smiled, because he didn't feel bad about this anymore and didn't want Cass to.

"We're cool now, my mother and I. I got older, I understood her, forgave her. She adores Sabiha, last time she was here she bought her whole closet. It just still feels awkward with her side of the family. Though I guess being invited at all means I should go. It's a chance to use German-- or try to anyway. A lot of my German-slash-Austrian relatives can't stand my Tunisian accent so they will just switch to English or French if they speak it." Reza said, chuckling about it.

Reza was working in his and Fadela's workshop, which was a small barn on their property converted into such a space, when the doorbell attached rang.

He suspected it was someone for his sister, a love witch, but she was out. Most calls for her, a lot of his work was from out of town clients.

He opened the door and recognized Lucky, vaguely, from the cinema. "Hello there," he said. "Looking for Fadela?"

She didn't think that was true. If you made yourself a mystery, people gossiped about the mystery. There was no real way to avoid it. Instead, she did her best to seem so open that no one looked too much beyond that. She hoped anyway.

That last piece of information was a surprise, although she admittedly didn't know that much about Korea, let alone the Korean fairy experience. She should probably learn more.

"Oh, wow, that is impressive. And here I thought travel was tricky for me the last time I did it."

"Well, thanks to you, we made the cut," Reza joked.

"Oh, yeah, I know about all that because my ex-wife is a fairy. Obviously, if Sabiha's half. Getting a her a passport to travel to Austria to see my mother, that was an adventure." Reza said, shaking his head. "Traveling while fairy can be tricky unless you were born a citizen of a given country, which not all fairies automatically are."

Speaking of passports and travel, he really should go see both of this parents soon but that requires flying to Austria then Tunisia.

After all, if he hadn't cared, he would have said nothing at all. Even then, the little pieces he let drop felt more like accidents or a carefully laid trail for anyone who might be paying attention. She wasn't always, but she'd done her best to keep track of it where she could.

"But you know, most people wander into the Lucky Cat at least once, for curiosity's sake if nothing else, so I've met almost everyone. It was really amazing that so many of his family was able to be here, wasn't it?"

"That's incredibly sweet. That man is so private, I'm impressed you got even breadcrumbs out of him." Reza said. "Don't blame him, people love to gossip. People can't gossip if they know nothing about you I guess."

At the mention of Mu-yeol's family, Reza had to smile.

Of course, weddings being what they were, Cass had barely remembered to eat. She'd tried a few bites here and there, and then got distracted talking to people or dancing or spending time with the happy couple.

She was still glowing from the wedding as they slid into the booth. "Oh really? Good to know that milkshakes are a danger food, I'll have to keep that in mind," she said with a laugh.

"Wasn't that so wonderful?"

"It was beautiful," Reza agreed. "It was my first time meeting Hatter's partner -- well, husband -- too. He seems great, very extroverted compared to Hatter. It makes me wonder how he got him to talk to him enough to actually get to know him."

Reza smiled as he gently poked fun of Hatter's quiet nature.

As a sorcerer who was once married to a fairy, Reza had expected Hatter's wedding to be unconventional. It didn't have some of the bells and whistles of people more willing to be the center of attention, like a first dance, but it was sweet. He could tell that the kitchen witch had allowed his sister to captain things which was probably for the best.

And more importantly, Reza and Cass somehow made the cut for the invite list so you know what, good for them! That felt like an accomplishment considering how antisocial Hatter was for a man who made his living in customer service.

When he'd asked Cass if she was still hungry after the wedding, he was glad she said yes. Their only option at this time was Chippa's, but greasy food and milkshakes was the perfect thing to eat mildly buzzed after a wedding.

"Sabiha's going to be so mad I got a milkshake without her." Reza joked. "I might be nice and bring her home something."

She hummed at the mention of Reflection of Cloud, grimacing a little at the thought of it. "I can only imagine how long that took." She said, shaking her head before she chuckled. "But, like you say, good to have it in stock." She had managed to get a good collection already this morning, and so she asked Reza, "Is there anything in particular you're looking for? I was about to wrap up, but if I can lend a hand...?"

"Now that you're offering," Reza said, as it was rude to decline, wasn't it?

He sighed and looked rather sheepish.

"Oh, fuck, you feel so good. God, you take my cock so well." Reza picked up the pace, fucking her harder, relishing every moan and gasp from her.

"Just collecting to have them." She agreed with a nod and a faint smile. The jars clinked in the basket by her feet as she set the latest one in amongst them. "I like to be stocked up, when I can. And like you say, spring is fast approaching. Though I might steal your idea, sell a few on somewhere."

Reza chuckled then joked, "But the Tunisian market's mine, you can't have it."

He nodded to her basket.

.

Hatter remained quiet throughout the cursebreaker's spiel on his kid, as he often was when listening to anyone. It didn't take all that long to notice that he was speaking from a place of sincerity rather than it being a performance. Often he could hear people talk about their kids and their accomplishments like they would a prized car or something– like the kid was a product of their own winnings rather than the kid being...a person who did things of their own merit. It as a bit bizarre.

Then Kasraoui-Muller said what he did about university and while Hatter might have agreed to a certain degree, he wasn't on the you must go to university train like some people were. If it worked for someone, great. If they didn't want to go, fine. If they wanted to go later, okay.

But he wasn't a parent, and he wasn't this kid's parent, so his opinion didn't really matter, now did it?

"Well, she's kind of torn between trying to be a professional figure-skater, and a few other things. She's talking about teaching secondary school French or Arabic which she'd need to go to school for. Then she's talking about moving to Switzerland, Germany, or back to the Middle East to work 'just a job, any job,' but I told her she'd only be competitive with a degree." Reza explained.

She was finally thinking about ambitions besides skating though and he was relieved.