Wired

[un1uckyst4r]

Alison closed her eyes out of instinct and the world became hearing and feeling - hearing strange words furtively whispered in Alex's lilting voice, feeling his fingers rest against her forehead. A chill descended over her like plunging into lake water at the crack of dawn, and with it came an overwhelming sense of order - not quite calm, but more like things had been restored, at least for the time being, to some semblance of normalcy.
"That should help," he said at last. "It won't last long, though, so lead the way."
She opened her eyes, and two things struck her in that moment: the hint of a bluish luminescence surrounding one of his hands, and the spiral-bound Hilroy notebook in the other, covered in barely-comprehensible scribbles and twisting runes. A poor man's grimoire.
She snorted.
Alex glared indignantly at her.
"I'm sorry," she said, suppressing another giggle. "Totally sorry. Really. Completely spoiled the moment. Let's go."
They made their way out of the alley together. "By the way," she asked, "whatever you just did back there to make me stop doing anything stupid - do you think it can stop me from saying anything stupid?"

---

"Well, well. We've certainly got quite the set of developments on our hands now, don't we?"
"I didn't think that kid was going to get involved."
"I did not foresee him either, but it's of little consequence to me; he could prove to be an interesting variable yet. Although I must say, this is exactly the sequence of events you assured me you would easily be able to prevent."
"I didn't have enough time, damn you! If you'd only given me a couple more days -"
"Hush, now; there's no need to raise your voice at me. Things do not change from here, my pet, but we do need to proceed with haste. It would appear that our Sleeping Beauty is ready to awaken."

---

"So. Uh. Coffee or tea?"
"Coffee's fine."
Alison dug through her pantry, absently wondering if she'd even restocked on coffee this week. The apartment had been in disarray for the past month; laundry on the coffee table, papers and textbooks strewn all over the floor, a fridge bereft of fruit and vegetables but stuffed with half-empty take-out containers, and, at this moment, Alex sitting in the heart of it all, looking at her as if he expected her to sprout a third arm.
After discovering a rather depressing lack of not only real coffee, but cream and sugar besides, Alison returned with two steaming mugs of instant coffee of questionable virtue, knocking a pile of balled socks off the table to accommodate them. Then she crossed her legs underneath her and surveyed the stranger sitting on her couch.
"Okay. You're telling me you know what's been happening to me. So tell me what's been happening to me."

[Caelitus]

He nodded his thanks for the coffee, and began sipping it slowly.

'Where do I begin?' He thought to himself.

"Well the simplest answer to that question is to tell you its magic." It sounded lame even as he spoke it, and now she looked at him as if he was crazy. "I know it sounds crazy but it's true, magic does exist although it's a little bit more complicated than that. I've been working to piece it together mostly myself, what I have figured out is that there are different strands of magic. When a mage awakens as its called they have an ability in one of the strands."

He looked into his coffee cup as he spoke, he sounded a little bit more than crazy. Looking back at the woman he saw the swirling eddies of magic starting to bring back the chaos and randomness. He had to think of a way to show her.

"I got it!" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter and handed it to her. "Your particular strand seems to be tied to things like probabilities, luck and fate. If you can control it I think the crazy things that seem to have been happening around you should be a little more manageable. Flip the coin ten times, and i want you to focus on it and make it always land heads"

'I hope this works' He thought.

[un1uckyst4r]

Alison stared dumbfoundedly at the quarter in her hand. Magic. Exploding fire hydrants, freak car accidents, electronics shorting out - that was magic. She thought back to the dream that had been plaguing her for the last month - running through campus, turning the stop light green on command, breaking an elevator, bolting through the Fine Arts building with the sprinklers on berserk and a sentient suit of armor out for her blood - and somehow, that madness had something to do with magic, of all things. She looked back up at Alex, recalling the iridescent blue surrounding his hands. Never mind the sheer improbability of the existence of magic - Alex had just blown that out of the water an hour or two ago - there was no way that her ridiculous streak of bad luck and improbable events was the same thing as whatever he'd done to stop it from happening.
Probability, luck, fate. Her eyes rested on the coin in the centre of her palm. It would make sense, wouldn't it... the most ridiculous kind of sense, all things considering, but it honestly wouldn't be the weirdest thing that happens to me today. She flipped the coin, following it with her eyes as it traced a shining path in the air, throwing her full force of thought behind a single word: Heads!
The quarter zoomed off its arc, ricocheting off the walls before crashing through the window.
Alison winced. "My landlord's gonna have a fit." She reached into her pocket for her change purse and produced another quarter. Let's try that again... maybe with a little less 'oomph' behind it.. Then she threw the coin into the air, watching it as it fell back towards the coffee table. Heads, she thought again, this time as a whisper.
Washington stared back up at her as the quarter clattered against the glass.
That's one for ten. Alison retrieved the coin and tossed it into the air once more, whispering for heads - then again, and again, and again. Six, seven, eight, nine times in succession, it landed with heads facing up from the table. Alex watched her intently, a kind of studious awe in his eyes as she gathered the quarter into her hands. She looked over at him as the coin sailed into the air and landed one last time.
It landed upright, stock still and perfectly balanced on one thin edge. Neither heads nor tails.
Alison allowed herself a roguish grin.

[Caelitus]

He watched the aura around her as she tried to control the spin and angle of the coin. The first flip didn't work out so well, The swirling magic around her spun wildly out of control. Ducking with his arms over his head Alex watched the coin bounce around the room and out the window. He chuckled to himself and waited for her to try again. As she flipped the coin the next time he watched as the aura came into perfect alignment, beyond perfect it was purely magical as it swirled and ebbed and touched the coin ever so gently as it spun in the air. It landed exactly where and how it was supposed to according to how she wanted it to. He started to get excited as she flipped head after head. The final flip landed on the edge of the coin, Alex couldn't help but laugh.

He grabbed his notebook and started flipping through the pages. He turned back to the young woman. "Unfortunately that's about all I can help with, the rest from what I've pieced together is instinct or actually being taught by someone who knows this stuff. I was looking for someone to teach me when I saw you."

'Wait a minute, why am I being so trusting here. Perceived damsel in distress or not, I barely know this woman. Hell i don't even know her name' His thought stopped him dead, and he tensed up somewhat nervous again.

"Look I'd like to talk some more but i hardly know you and quite frankly i don't even know your name." He spoke matter of factly as he finished his coffee and put it on the table.

[un1uckyst4r]

Magic or no magic, it was easy for Alison to sense Alex's unease. It was perfectly valid; he'd only known her for a matter of hours, all he'd seen from her until moments ago was a capacity for random, wanton destruction, and for heaven's sake, he'd met her in a dark alley where she'd accidentally sent him flying into a pile of trash. That would make anyone uneasy. On top of that, she couldn't help but feel like they were playing out a little bit of that old cliché with the geek and the head cheerleader - except she'd never been on the cheerleading squad. Details, details.

Yet for reasons she couldn't quite pinpoint, she trusted him. He'd made sense of the madness of the morning, after all. And he'd unlocked a few key pieces of information for her. One, this was shockingly normal. Two, there could be someone out there that could teach her more. And three, there was a whole world of it beyond the flip of a coin. A rush of something like giddiness went through her at the last thought.

And besides, she added wryly to herself, you've already let him into your apartment without so much as a how-do-you-do. It's your own damn fault if it turns out he's a sexual predator or a murderous psychopath.

She smirked at him. "You never asked. But all things considering - I mean, you're sitting on my couch and consuming my coffee, after all - I guess I could oblige." She extended her hand. "I'm Alison. Pleased to meet you - officially, anyway."

[Caelitus]

Alex took her hand and shook it, the tingle from the swirling aura of magic felt warm and familiar as their hands met. Alex let go of her hand quickly and mumbled something about needing to use the washroom, Alison pointed down the hall to the washroom. Alex excused himself politely and hurried to the washroom. Alex closed the door and looked at himself in the mirror, "What is going on here? I meet this girl in the most random of circumstances, here i thought i could find some answers about this magic thing but only more questions keep arising." He mumbled to himself in hurried German. He splashed some water on his face and looked in the mirror again.

He watched the aura of his own magic swirl around him. He wrapped it around himself like a child in a security blanket, the warmth and security of it cleared his mind and calmed his nerves. Splashing some more water in his face, he closed his eyes and reached out with his magic this time spreading it slowly away from himself, he guided it towards the woman in the other room. He analyzed the power surrounding the woman, 'Can I trust her?' He thought to himself as he scanned her magic from a distance, the warmth and tingling just as strong and vibrant as when their hands connected. He opened his eyes and wrapped himself in his aura again. "Too late now i guess." He muttered as he left the washroom and headed back to the couch.

[un1uckyst4r]

Alison spent the entire time Alex was gone staring at her hands.

Anyone viewing the situation would have thought she'd completely lost it, the way she turned them this way and that, holding them up to the light, stretching her fingers as if she could see something between them. She figured there ought to have been something there, some kind of visible manifestation of... whatever she just did, but neither air nor light revealed anything. She had a feeling Alex could probably see what she couldn't; he had a way of staring in her vicinity her instead of staring at her, watching the air around her in conversation where most people would be looking her in the eye. Perhaps she'd see it herself someday.

Someday. God help her, she was losing it; she was already thinking about this in the long-term. Dr. Halsing was right. Or wrong. In fact, now that Alison thought about it, the good doctor had never been particularly clear on a diagnosis. Details, details.

There was definitely something almost thrilling at the thought of that someday, though. Not that she was necessarily rejoicing at the fact that she not only had to accept the existence of something that, until two or three hours ago, did not exist, but she was also very much party to that something-that-wasn't-supposed-to-exist. It was like waking up to find Santa Claus patiently explaining to you that a) he's real and b) you're one of his elves. Impossible, but useless to deny once faced with the facts.

And, admittedly, very hard not to get excited about the possibilities.

She heard the bathroom door open and decided it would probably be a good idea to stop waving her hands around like a flower child on an LSD trip. Alex returned, sitting down and rearranging his lanky frame on the couch, and they sat in silence.

"So. I'm a baby freak, and you're a freak-in-training," Alison joked good-naturedly. "What happens next?"

[Caelitus]

Alex couldn't help but laugh. "I suppose that's one way of putting it."

He stopped and thought for a moment. 'What does happen next?' He had been wandering from place to place looking for someone like himself, hoping to get some answers. He didn't expect someone who was just as new to this as he was. He also never put much thought into what he would do if he did find anyone else like himself.

"Honestly, I hadn't put much thought into what happens next. For the last six months or so, i've been travelling around trying to find someone who can teach me, or to help me to learn more than the bits and pieces i've picked up on the internet or in whispered rumour. So don't have a clue, but i would like another cup of coffee if you don't mind."

Alex hoped he didn't sound like too much of a raving lunatic, he had a tendency to get carried away and ramble on a little too much. Hopefully some more coffee would calm his nerves a bit.

[un1uckyst4r]

"Coffee, I can do," Alison quipped, taking her mug and Alex's and retreating to the kitchen, busying herself with concocting another batch of questionable instant goop, making a mental note to pick up something that didn't taste like soil and tar the next time she was at the grocer's. "But unless someone out there wants to drop us with a nice, juicy clue-by-four sometime soon, I think that's about the extent we can do for now. You mentioned something about a teacher, though, so that's one place we can start." Returning with two steaming mugs, she set one in front of Alex and sat down, taking a sip from her own. "It's lame," she finished, "but it's a starting point, at least."

Alex made to say something but was cut off by an obnoxious, jarring buzz. Alison rose to answer the intercom. "Hello?"

"G'morning, babe. Can I come in?"

She could feel herself going pale. Shit, shit, shitshitshitshitshit. She'd recognize that soft drawl in her sleep. "Five minutes," she replied, hoping she sounded as nonchalant as she didn't feel. "The place is a mess," she added, letting a bit of embarrassment into her voice - which wasn't hard, as she would be embarrassed as hell if she had to explain what Alex was doing here.

"Five minutes? Come on, Ali, I brought lunch, it's gonna get cold -"

"Don't be such a baby, Bobby. Five minutes."

"Oh, all right, then," the voice on the other end conceded, mockingly petulant. "Better make it worth my while, though."

This time she felt the blood rush back into her face so hard it might have bruised. She let the intercom go dead and turned back to Alex, who looked up at her askance. "Boyfriend," she explained tersely. "Which means you have five minutes to get out of here because hell if I feel like explaining you, this -" and here she gestured around herself - "or the hole in my window."

He rose, and she had half a mind to shove him out the door - she stopped just short of that, pulling him to the door and opening it. Oddly enough, the quarter she'd left on the table zoomed into the air, creating a second hole in the window. "Damn it to hell," she muttered, then turned to the table by the door, grabbing a post-it note and scribbling something on it, shoving it into Alex's hand. "House number, because I blew up my cell phone. Meet me at Cafe Freret tomorrow morning - it's just by where I, uh, messed up a couple of cars - and we'll... figure something out. Talk. Something. " She looked up into his face, and her expression softened a bit. "I know I'm coming across as an ungrateful wench, kicking you out of my house and all, but seriously, thank you." She managed a smirk. "Now you really do have to get the heck out of here."

[Caelitus]

Alex thanked her as she put the coffee on the table. A buzz sounded by the door, Alex watched as she went to answer the intercom, and he heard the drawl coming from the man on the other side of it. He watched as her face completely lost colour. Her stammering explanation about the man being her boyfriend caught him off guard. Alex tried to say something as he stood up. Alison didn't give him the time, she dragged him to the door shoving a piece of paper into his hand. Alison's thanks was hurried as she insisted he leave.

Alex left the apartment and caught a glimpse of the man as he was leaving. Alex mumbled to himself, "What does that guy have that I don't." He shook his head, and thought to himself as he walked down the street. 'I seem to be getting ahead of myself, I must be overtired thinking I felt something between us.'

Alex walked aimlessly down the road, he decided to get a cheap motel room and get some sleep, it had been days since he had got a good night sleep. Things were starting to look up however, so this time was better than any other. He entered a cheap motel near the coffee shop Alison had asked him to meet tomorrow. He got a room key from the front desk and headed into the room. He put his bag into the room safe, and took a long hot shower. After his shower he put his old clothes back on and collapsed onto the bed falling into a deep sleep.