#mormoc art

I just had to share these, May. You did SO AMAZING! I’m still not over them!

Here’s an example I sent to May to help with the commission on the left if anyone was curious :D

“Wait! Actually, would you…?”

She stopped and turned her head over her shoulder.

"Would you watch the shop for me?"

She raised an eyebrow, the second small instance of emotion from her, curiosity or confusion maybe.

"With the shop's front smashed open like that I can't leave it alone, but there's someone I have to talk to about the man down in my closet. So, could I ask you to stay here for me?"

The young woman said nothing and I feared she was thinking about ways to say no. I mean, honestly, if I were her I would tell myself no. She didn't know me and I her, but I really couldn't leave the shop's front exposed like that. The only employees I had being ghosts and therefore utterly useless against any physical threat that comes to the shop.

I tried to entice her, "You're welcome to any of the books in my shop. Read through them."

"I don't think..." She eyed the first book closest to her and read, "101 Uses of Frog Guts and Legs for the Modern Witch and Wizard, something I would read."

"There's much more than that." I caught a puff of magic between my fingers and snapped. The sound reverberated through the mile long length of hall behind me and the further the sound was the more lamps were lit behind me.

I finally got an appropriate reaction out of her this time. Her eyes widened as her eyes caught the enchanting wonder of the impossible size of bookstore. I kept the shop mostly dark unless customers came, which was rare, so the magnitude of the space was lost to her until now. She turned around fully to face the length of the hallway with her mouth slightly agape. She looked like a child in a candy shop, in awe of the sheer size and numbers. I felt proud of engaging a reaction out of her. She wasn't a lost cause.

"You're welcome to anything that isn't locked," I informed her. "Or anything that runs away."

"Run away? The books are alive?"

"Most." I turned to follow her gaze. The warm glow of the lanterns in the din of the bookshop making it almost medieval. "These are all magical books. They have a tendency of catching on whatever magic they have written on them. Some are more temperamental than others, but for the most part they act the same as any books you've encountered.

Yet, as if to prove me wrong, a book flew by, flapping on it's front and back cover and the spine breaking against its motions. The motions were lethargic and heavy, as if it were tired, making it easy for me to grip it open, bring it to me, and read it.

"A book on flight."

The sound of a snap pulled me away from the text and I caught her watching the lights purposefully while snapping.

I smiled. "You need magic to turn on the lights in here."

"Like I said, this is all new to me. I didn't know if it was automatic like the sound automated lights or sensor sinks or anything. So how does it work?"

"Why don't you try reading about it?" I enticed her, hoping she'd stay to watch the shop. Normally, if I let a magical child run around casting any spell they found in a book it would be disastrous, but with a human I wasn't afraid of any of these books teaching her anything useful. But people do love magic, whether it was real or not.

"What else can you do?" she asked.

I thought for a second what would be most useful right now and came up with the perfect idea. I raised my right arm and loosely pointed at a specific object in the distance, in a little corner. I gathered up the magic in my body, enough for the command, and spoke, "Animus." To rise or give life. A shuddering purple light erupted from my arm and shot out my hand. The broomstick rose, the bristles shook, then the strands came apart into two like feet and made its way towards us. I could almost hear a song playing.

I snapped up and the broom stood at attention, listening to my orders, "Clean the broken glass, then stop."

The broom shuddered. Then went to work. Marching to its orders.

The young woman moved out of the broom's way as it passed through and watched the progression of its march. She wasn't scared or confused, not surprising considering her condition, nor did she question it. So I explained instead, "The broom will clean up the glass for you and stop. So that you don't hurt yourself while you are here. Can I trust you to stay here for me until I get back?"

Her eyes blinked a few times, the last one stopped mid-way blinking and stayed open, intent on watching the broom. "I have nothing better to do. Sure."

"Thank you. This won't go unrewarded and I do promise to find you a cure."

She looked from the broom, to me, back to the broom, and me and so on for a while. Then stopped her eyes on me and tilted her head slightly to the side. "Do you steal from Disney a lot?"

"It's hard not to think of the man's work when I use the animus spell."