*click*
“Time is.. noon exactly, fancy that. Seventh moon, twelfth day. We're in a private room at the Emerson, a private library at which I am a member. Can we start with your name, please?”
“You can call me Hex.”
“And how would you describe yourself, Hex?”
“Ah..”
“Sorry, I mean physically. For the demographic data.”
“Ah, yeah. Um. My mama’s like… oh gosh, it's gonna be impossible to describe my heritage succinctly. There's a lot going on there.”
“You have cross-world heritage?”
“You know, I’m actually not sure. I was born.. Sorry, one thing at a time. End result has me mid height, golden skin, red hair, four horns and a tuffed tail. On paper I should be mostly human but the end result is more demon than anything.”
“Oh, I have so many questions. You have horns?”
“They're filed down right now, but I'm thinking of growing them out again.”
“What can you tell my about your heritage? We have time.”
“That might be a story for another time. It's complicated. The world my mother brought me from, it was a nexus world and it was in shambles. War torn, reality frayed by a mad god of luck. My parents were… affected. A high priest of chance, a demon, a witch, a… fae? That's not quite the right word. Point is, they had a lot going on all at once, and I got a little bit of all of it.”
“When did you come to Spire?”
“When I was six. Me and my mom.”
“How was that change for you? Do you remember much?”
“Bits and pieces. There were a lot more kids my age here. And it's a lot safer here, even out in the mid Wilds. They actually brought our whole home over, so it's not like I had to give up any of my stuff. The biggest change was just being able to explore on my own.”
“They let you out alone at six years old?”
“I was well versed in combat magics by then.”
“Impressive. Is that your preferred field of magic now? Combat?”
“Pfft, no. I'm a warding specialist. Spacial augments, luck manipulation, bindings and boundaries. Occasional charm work, when I need the extra cash. Here, you want my card? I just got cards printed. It’s exciting, makes me feel professional.”
“Ha, sure. Take one of mine too, yeah?”
There’s a moment of rustling, fabric and paper.
“Ooh, pretty. I like the gold leaf.”
“Thanks! I grew it myself.”
“Impressive. Ok, I’m thinking of questions faster than I can ask them, this is fascinating. I’d love to hear more about your work and your magic later, but first, your… home? It came over? A caravan?”
“Nope. Full house.” There’s a smile in that voice, smug satisfaction.
“...Expand on that.”
“Ha! Ok.” There’s a dull thump, a wooden creak, elbows settling on the table and weight leaning over it. “Don’t be shy. If I don’t want to answer something I won’t. This one’s a pretty dull story though. My mom was witch enough to pinch and pull, fae enough to be sensitive to boundaries. Fae as in… losing her humanity, one oath at a time.”
“Warlock oaths?”
“Nah, though the sorts she dated… woo! Maybe, actually. I hadn’t considered that before. Big power, little sense. And her husband at that time, he certainly helped ease the passage. Some sort of lesser deity in his own right, though personally I think that’s more hot air than anything. I think he found Spire first, though he never bothered to cross over. He liked his little patch of chaos over there. Mom had already been messing with pockets and shallows for ages by then. Our house was tucked away, only half connected to those old ruins. So when the time came, they just…. Tunneled, I guess. Felt out the light and dug towards it, and tied off the strings connecting it to that place, and re-tied them here. Took a little swath of beach and sea and plopped it in the middle of the wilds, out in mid Autumn.”
“That’s fascinating. I haven’t heard of anyone drilling right into the wilds before. The near areas are so settled and warded.”
“Yeah. She’s impressive. Taught me a lot. We don’t quite have the same senses, so there’s a lot of lessons that were dead ends, but it was a solid start.“
“You came here so young. Were you able to benefit from any of the educational opportunities out here?”
“Mmh, sometimes. Not the Spire ones, but some of the outer court resources are available to non-citizens. Kinda depends on who’s leading the court, but there’s usually something. It’s just a question of if the quality’s worth it, if it’s close enough, lotta questions like that. So some years I’d be in school, and some years I’d study from home and help mom out with her work. Or she’d get me a membership at one of the nice libraries like this one and I’d study there for a year. Or sometimes we’d find a good homeschooling group, but those are… hmm.”
“Yes?”
“They’re.. Hard to predict. Lots of social posturing. A microcosm of the courts.”
“I understand. Why did you decide to go into warding?”
“I’m good at it, mostly. It was that or I go be a wrestler.”
“I can totally see that.”
“It would've been fun I think. I still hit up some of the local rings sometimes. When I’m bored, or I need a little extra cash, or I’m trying to impress a girl. But you don’t get a very long career in that field. And warding is interesting, it’s always a puzzle. I’m real sensitive to boundaries and thresholds and edges. Feels like I’m catching on them, like… like when your bag strap catches on the door knob, you know? But like, every time. Makes it easy to find their echo on the other side, which makes it a lot easier to touch that echo, which makes it a lot easier to twist and turn and add onto it. And then… do you know much about Platonic magics?”
“Not a thi- wait, wait. Oh. Is that the one where you’re working with like… the idea of things?”
“Ha! There’s not a sorcerer alive that wouldn’t cringe to hear it called that, but yeah, you’re thinking of the right one.”
“Oof. Well then no, I know very very little. Don’t have the gift for it myself, though I know a thing or two about wards, and burrowing.”
“Well you’ve got a lot in common but I’m not taking you home to meet my mama after just one date, I’ll tell you that for free.”
“Oh, no! I didn’t…. I mean I wouldn’t… I mean you’re very, uh, I’d love to, but…”
“Ha! Relax beautiful, I’m joking. Anyway you don’t know enough Platonic theory for any of the deeper explanations to mean much, probably. A shame. My practice is all patchwork but most of my theoretical study is there. Anyway, the point is my biology is real attuned towards edges, and oaths, and probability. You need your doors sealed up tight against intruders? I can probably manage that. You need to make sure that whoever’s been breaking into your booze stash gets hit by the worst bad luck streak of their life? Hundred percent, I’m your gal.”
“..Huh. Hexes.”
“Hexes! You get me.”
“That’s great. Your lovely card here doesn’t list a guild?”
“Or a mentor like yours does. I’m working on it though. I’ve taken the entrance exam three times now, trying to get into one of the warding programs.I just gotta get my theoretical knowledge up. I ace all the practicals, but I can’t always explain how I did it in the words they’re looking for. Experience doesn’t mean shit if I can’t explain it to a teammate.”
“That must be strange, to be making your living on this but to not be able to make the job program at the same time.”
“Eh. It’s more common than you’d think. Yeah, though. Yeah. I don’t know. I’ll get it eventually. Even if it’s just, like, construction level gate maintenance, you know? I’ve been aiming a bit higher than that, but I’m shooting for the gates next time. Got a spot on the next round of application exams.”
“Those are coming up soon.”
“A couple weeks from now, yeah. I’m hitting the books hard. I figure, if I get my foot in the door here, it doesn’t matter how much of a downgrade it is cuz I’ll be able to work my way back up again once I’m in the program.”
“That makes sense. Usually I end these interviews by asking what job program you would shoot for if you know you were guaranteed in-”
“Warding, easy.”
“Haha, yeah. Um. But, you’ve answered that already, so my last question today, why are you trying for citizenship? You already have the skills, the job, the business cards. What can Spire offer you that’s worth rewinding your career for?”
“Medical care. Housing.”
“...Ah. Would you like to add anything, for the record?”
“Nope.”
“Alright. Well thank you for joining me today. And, you mentioned some stories for another time, if you’re serious about that I’d love to hear them some time. Maybe over coffee?”
“....I’ll think about it, beautiful.”
*click*