writing snippet for alston invita academy

[thegoodwitchh]

for the discord fuck jkr magic school idea. its quickly evolving in my mind into something more though and so this is me trying to put my ideas into words with some characters. the characters featured here are euphoria (effie), thaddeus (tad) and maeve.

The overpowering scent of nail polish greeted Tad as he entered Effie's dorm room."Oh, Eff, open a window." He groaned at his friend. She was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed and her back to the door, bent over what Tad presumed was a bottle of nail polish. "It cannot be good for you to be breathing this stuff in."

Effie sat up abruptly, breath catching in her throat. "Tad, you startled me." She turned to look at him, shaking her head disapprovingly at him. "Almost knocked over my cauldron."

"Cauldron? What are you making?" Tad asked, cautiously approaching his friend, pausing on his way over to her to open her window as wide as it could possibly go. This is what Maeve had been worried about when she'd sent Tad over to see what exactly Effie was doing and why she hadn't been out of her room all day. Effie had a tendency to get so caught up in her projects that she didn't think about or do much else. Then again, Maeve had a similar problem, which Tad supposed made it easier for her to notice when it happened to Effie. Tad was the only one Effie listened to when she got like this though, just like Effie was the only one Maeve listened to.

Effie returned to the task before her, which Tad could now see was a small cauldron filled with a neon pink liquid. "A potion." She said simply, in the same tone a child might when you asked what they were doing mashing berries and leaves together in the garden.

Tad sat down opposite her, almost choking on how strong it smelt being so close to the substance. "Please tell me you haven't been breathing this stuff in all day." Tad choked, holding his scarf over his nose.

Effie reached for her own scarf, hanging loosely around her neck and waved a tassle at him. "I have protection." She said absentmindedly, too focussed on measuring ingredients to give Tad her full attention.

This did little to reassure Tad. "Its not protection if its not actively over your face." He said, letting uncharacteristic sternness creep into his voice.

At his tone, Effie looked up at him, her cheeks going the same pink as her scarf. "I'm fine, Tad." She said softly. "I know what I'm doing." She pulled her scarf over her mouth and nose though, tying it at the back of her head with a knot, securing it with a wave of her hand, wordlessly spelling it not to slip off. The mood ring on her left hand flashed blue for a second at such an act of unconscious magic. Effie didn't seem to notice.

"So, what exactly is this, anyway?" Tad said, following Effie's lead and spelling his scarf to his head. His spell was far clumsier than hers though and he could feel it clinging to the back of his head, sticky like honey. It would take hours for the feeling to fade.

Effie's voice was muffled but Tad could hear her excitement clear as day. "I'm making nail polish that changes colour according to your outfit." She said proudly.

Tad fought the urge to laugh. It was such an Effie thing to do; putting a serious bit of magic into something as trivial as nail polish. "How very Coramina of you."

Effie shrugged. "I would argue that its more Caerulique actually." She stirred the potion carefully and the pink somehow got brighter. It almost hurt to look at and Tad looked up at Effie instead, watching the concentration in her face. "Its a very everyday sort of magic, yknow? Saves having to waste nail polish every time I want to match it to my clothes."

Tad returned Effie's shrug. If Maeve were here, she'd be able to articulate properly what Tad was thinking, which was that at its core, Effie's idea was about self-expression and creativity, which was ultimately very Coramina. Effie could argue all she liked that she had a lot of Caerulique and Auravia tendencies (Maeve called her "Divergent", whatever that meant) but anyone could see that she was a true Coramina. Tad wished he saw magic through her eyes, or even through Maeve's, who treated magic like it was a science experiment that needed solving. In comparison to the girls, Tad felt like he had a very simple view of magic, and didn't overthink it too much. Effie said he helped ground her and Maeve and keep them from going too far. Speaking of which, he was getting distracted from the true purpose of his visit.

"Do you wanna maybe take a break and get something to eat?" Tad asked gently. "Maeve and I have been worried about you all day."

Effie didn't glance up. "In a minute." She murmured. "Its nearly perfect."

"Eff, come on." Tad pleaded. "Have you even had any water today?" He looked over at her bedside table where she usually kept a glass of water. Sure enough, there was a glass full of water, probably untouched since the morning. He stood with the intent to get it and bring it to her but Effie tugged on his leg.

"No, wait, I think its ready." She said, gesturing for him to sit back down. "Do you wanna be my tester?" She finally looked at him, giving him puppy dog eyes, her blue eyes twinkling with the knowledge that he couldn't say no to her.

"Not my whole hand." He warned her, begrudgingly sitting before her and holding out a hand. "Just a few nails to test."

Effie nodded enthusiastically, taking Tad's hand and dipping a polish brush into the potion with her other hand. "Let me know if it burns, the last one did."

At that, Tad nearly pulled away but somehow he trusted Effie to be quick to react to any potential disasters. She was chaotic but almost never dangerous and she knew enough about magic to know what to do if her spells and potions went wrong. Plus, Effie always tested on herself first and only on others when she was almost sure it would work.

She held his hand gently as she painted his ring and pinky fingers. She was shaking slightly, probably from hunger and a day spent hunched over a cauldron. But of course, Effie probably felt totally fine, too focused on completing her project to tune into her body's needs. Tad didn't know how they could do it, but both Maeve and Effie could ignore everything else to put all their energy into a project.
"There, all done." Effie said, sitting back and admiring her work. "Let it set a bit and hopefully the pink colour will fade into a colour that matches your clothes."

They sat in silence for a minute, staring intently at Tad's fingernails. He would have laughed if he wasn't so curious to see if it would work.

Sure enough, the pink began to fade, becoming a deep purple, matching Tad's uniform.

Effie let out a little "whoo!" of excitement. "Yesss!" She crowed victoriously. "Oh, that is SO cool, I can't believe I did it."

Tad had to admit it was impressive. "Proud of you." He said softly, watching Effie hum to herself as she carefully began to pack up. Her hands were beginning to noticeably shake though, which was impacting what she was doing. Tad could see her getting more and more frustrated.

He stood and retrieved the water for Effie, handing it to her. "Drink." He said, leaving no room for argument. Effie had already packed away most of her materials, made easy because she mostly packed up as she went. Tad finished off the rest and placed a lid on the cauldron.

Effie pointed to a gap in her bookshelf when Tad seemed lost as to where to put the potion. "I'll put it in a proper container later." Effie explained. "Plus, its probably safest in the cauldron for now."
Tad slid the cauldron into place, in-between Maeve's copy of 'The Hunger Games' that she had leant Effie as an introduction to non-magic literature and Effie's trusty spell-book 'The Good Witch'.

"Alright, now food?" Tad asked, turning back to Effie as she placed the empty glass back beside her bed.

"Yes please, I'm starving." Effie said eagerly, wringing her hands as if that would get them to stop shaking.

Tad held his arm out to Effie like a gentlemen and she took it gratefully, letting him lead her out of the room.