Megara @magicandnutmeg - Tumblr Blog

My demons are begging me to open up my mouth // Melara

melaenis-ficente‌:

Mel simply smirked again. “You tell me, Miss Megara,” she said as she leaned back in the chair and regarded Meg with another clear, cold glass-eyed stare. “Is there anything else? Anything you want to ask me?”

Because that was the key, wasn’t it? What set apart one apprentice from the next– one sorcerer from the last– was if they knew how to ask questions. And those who were great, who were excellent– they knew which ones to ask too.

She could not pluck those questions from the air and give them to Meg. It was up to her. And Mel was not optimistic, that was against her nature and so far the best Mel could say for the girl was that she recognized great power when she saw it. Not a bad trait at all, but certainly not apprentice material on its own.

But she did want for the girl to surprise her anyway. If only because Mel liked to be surprises.

She wouldn’t hold her breath, though.

Megara took a deep breath at that, looking first at the book and then back up to Mel as she exhaled. “Actually, yes. I have- a few questions, actually...”

In truth, Meg had more than just ‘a few’ questions, she had loads of them. However, bombarding a possible tutor with millions of questions the very first day was a sure way to become annoying very quickly. And so, for now, Megara figured she’d do best to simply stick to the important inquiries.

“Who did you study under?”

#mel #my demons

magicandnutmeg

My demons are begging me to open up my mouth // Melara

magicandnutmeg

melaenis-ficente‌:

Naturally, Mel had to take her word for it– though it’d become obvious rather quickly if the girl’s skills were lacking. A good transmutation relied on the laws of the universe first and foremost. There were naysayers who saw those laws as limits and transmutation magic, therefore, as lacking. But those naysayers were jealous or otherwise small-minded. For math was the key to unlocking the universe– to learning how to rewrite the laws.

“Hm,” said Mel then, observing Megara for another moment. Mostly she wanted to see how silence fit on Meg’s shoulders. Would she fidget? Look away? Keep Mel’s gaze?

After she’d gathered the answer, she continued. “Well, I suppose the only way to see if your mundus skills can translate is to do a little test run. Diaval, will you fetch the Transmuter’s Tome?”

Diaval let out an agreeable squawk and then flapped off, disappearing into the hall. Mel sipped her tea, staring down Meg until the crow returned, dropping a thick book in front of Meg.

“This is the beginner’s guide, which goes over the rudimentary equations and runes used for the most basic transmutations. You’ll need to read the first three chapters before you get close to transmuting anything. And then I’d like for you to draw me a rune,” she continued. “A rune to turn a euro into a pound sterling.”

Megara bragged about being a good student, and Mel simply ‘hmm’ed, eyeing her over as though waiting for something. Meg watched the older woman, knowing she was still being assessed. (Any good tutor always assessed for a long time. In fact, the best never stopped.) So she waited, patient, trying not to give away anything that could cost her this opportunity.

Finally, Mel spoke, and Megara watched as her familiar flew off into the house, still slightly amused by Diaval’s personality. It wasn’t long before they were back and the book was dropped in front of her. Meg resisted the urge to run her hands over the cover, for just a few moments, until she realized that this book was being given to her to read and to use to prove herself.

There was a tiny part of Megara that whispered Isn’t that wrong? However, she quickly swept it under the rug, feeling that itch and ache for power that was beginning to get all too familiar.

“Consider it done.” Reaching out, Meg took the book, already wanting to dive in. (She’d most likely binge-read it in a day or two. Maybe three - it was pretty thick.) She’d take her time practicing over and over until she was damn near perfect. Whatever it took. “Anything else?”

#mel #my demons

xlec

astrology side of tumblr….stop

mariofartwii

looks like we’ve got ourselves a Virgo…

xlec

shut the fu k up I am a virgo

#this is mE and meg #we are virgos #and we feel called out

hufflepvffa

osvaldrps-archived

Stella Maeve as Julia Wicker in The Magicians, season 4 episode 4: ‘Marry Fuck Kill’

My demons are begging me to open up my mouth // Melara

magicandnutmeg

melaenis-ficente‌:

Interesting.

Now Mel could be difficult– it was ever so natural for her to be so. She could remark that it sounded like Megara had a fickle mind to abandon the practice of true kitchen witchery, which was quite the commitment as it were, and could lead to the sort of power that even a witch like Mel could admire. The most skilled kitchen witches– witches who had worked at the craft for a hundred years– could merely break bread above the window sill of their home and with that one act alone, no reagents and no incantation, protect their home for a thousand years. Such mastery was truly rare because it took so long to reach such a level. Mel would never hope to achieve it herself–

But she didn’t want to achieve it. Kitchen Witchery was perhaps the oldest of all sorcery practices, but that was precisely why it bored her. Who knew what transmutation would bring her, the more she studied and practiced? Perhaps one day her specialty would yield those same impressive results. It was her lifetime love to find out.

Plus she loved being complimented. And she loved the glint in the girl’s eye, for it matched her own. Yes, she wielded beautiful power. Like none the girl had probably ever seen.

And part of that was because it was the dragon under her skin who breathed the magic into her.

“It’s also no easy feat,” she remarked to the girl now. “The sort of magic you saw me do are advanced transmutations. It takes years to get to such a level, and many less talented than me still have to draw out runes to do so. You must have a mind for science.” Mel tilted her head. “How is your physics and chemistry?”

Mel said “No easy feat,” and Megara could feel her lips twitch upward momentarily. Good, she liked a challenge. It wasn’t that kitchen witchery wasn’t challenging anymore so much as... it wasn’t as exciting as she’d hoped.

This? This was exciting.

This time, Megara did smile, feeling just slightly more relaxed. “Oh, I was sort of hoping you’d ask me more about my studies,” she laughed. (And, okay, maybe there was a slight warmth in her cheeks as she cast her gaze to the side, only slightly embarrassed.) “Okay, so, confession? Yes... I am a complete nerd. Trust me, I don’t usually talk about it too much unless the subject arises but, yeah... I love learning, and I always give it my all. Chemistry I’m especially adept with, and it shows in my potions. I’m pretty strong in Physics too, I guess. Yeah- I’d say so.”

#my demons #mel #you can pry my gifs from my cold dead hands

i-hate-life-so-so-much

#x #gifs #ugh

mushi-and-junior

d&d alignments: TRUE NEUTRAL [5/9]

Most True Neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Some neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run.

#bits #my morally grey baby

magiciansladies

I want to exist in that moment and make the art that other people can enjoy.

#x #YES

adeles

Aren’t you, a damsel in distress?

#counter

magicandnutmeg

My demons are begging me to open up my mouth // Melara

magicandnutmeg

melaenis-ficente‌:

Mel had no idea if by companion the girl meant familiar in the sense of Diaval, for Diaval was no…companion and such a word Diaval most certainly found offensive. She saw it in his ruffled feathers. Besides, the girl’s magic smelled like nothing of the sort to have a familiar. And what witch traveled without her familiar?

She supposed this familiar could still belong to Meg’s parents. It was a boring question that Mel decided to stop thinking about as soon as she started. She did not need to know about Megara’s pedigree; Mel came from no royal pedigree at all; she needed to know about Meg’s magic.

So she just made a noncommital sound in her throat– “Mm”– and then sat down. Diaval swooped to one of the chairs and landed on the back of it.

“Oh yes, I’m very nice. To my maestra’s friends, that is,” said Diaval now, his beady eyes sharp on the girl. “We will see if you are one of those.” He clucked his tongue against his beak. “Sit now, girl.”

“Diaval is quite impatient,” Mel said to this, though her eyes twinkled. For it was Mel who was impatient, Mel who was waiting– but not for long– to be impressed.

“But please, do. And tell me– who did you study under before? You’re quite old to consider switching specialties.”

The bird’s words made her raise a brow, a small smirk tugging at her lip, before she sat down. “I can’t blame him. No one smart wants their time to be wasted.”

Taking in a deep breath, Megara raked her fingers through her hair and remembered her previous mentor, an older woman in Greece who had helped her hone her kitchen witchery in ways she’d never deemed imaginable. “Until recently I’d been studying under Chetana Kostopoulos, in Greece. Kitchen Witchery.”

Meg’s features betrayed her mixture of emotions, scrunching slightly, brows furrowing and lips pursing for a moment. “As much as I love the specialty, it’s something I’ve always been guided towards due to a natural gift for the magic. Plus, it is useful. But it’s just become a- a lifestyle, now. It’s how I live. I’m comfortable with it. It’s not something I’m...”

She wanted to say drawn to. Megara had always been a natural with Kitchen Witchery and had far exceeded her previous teacher’s expectations when it came to her studies, however, it wasn’t something she’d felt an ache for. Not like, well...

Her gaze had drifted slightly, so she brought it back up to Mel’s own. “What you can do- What I saw you do, that night- That’s powerful.”

#my demons #mel

meyerlansky

what you feel, the haunted look in your eyes, doesn’t come from nowhere.

explosiives

in my shot || open

magicandnutmeg

vitanixsauda‌:

“If you don’t like them, take your own damn pictures next time, yeah?” Vitani huffed, and tugged at the strap around her neck, a bulky camera dangling at the ends and bumping against her chest. Her reporter was – of course, like usual – pissing her off. Such fickle, picky twats, reporters were. The woman wrinkled her nose as he turned away from her with a disgruntled frown.

The job paid the bills, left a little bit of coin for smokes and drinks and food, when she’d the time to fill her fridge with more than take away containers and beer bottles. The hours weren’t fantastic. Apparently news happened regardless of the hour, and the paper always needed someone ready to shoot unfolding events, causing Vitani to develop frustrating habits like chaotic sleep patterns, an addiction to caffeine, and a constant accompaniment of her camera wherever she went.

In the midst of a drizzling street in The Next Town Over, Vitani wiped a collection of raindrops off her lens while her reporter exchanged information with a law enforcement officer about a burglary at an apothecary that happened overnight. The front window was shattered despite the shop’s wards. Vitani overheard some snippets about a stash of rare ingredients swiped from shelves. She sighed, looking at the sky. A great, big blanket of grey. One that would undoubtedly fuck up the drive back to Swynlake. She plucked the lone cigarette from behind her ear, pinched it between her lips, and wished there was a spell that could light it for her, sans ritual, so that she wouldn’t have to make her hand swim through her pockets for a lighter. She knew well enough that that wasn’t how her magic worked, but still, the fantasy tempted.

When Vitani had first arrived at the apothecary she’d taken a peek through the windows to see if anything caught her fancy. The tarp taped over the window fluttered against the wind with an annoying thwacking sound. If you lifted it up and looked around it - which Vitani had absolutely done the second she had gotten there and eyes were no longer on her - the interior boasted a fine enough display. Most of the glass had been swept up and there was an attempt to restore order. It was easy to tell where the knocked over jars once sat. But there was no way she was finding the blood of eel she was low on here. It was all pastels and aesthetic interiors. Real kitchen witchcraft shit. She’d rather hoped to try a new spell that day, just flip to a page of her former partner’s grimoire and have a go at one of them. Cross her fingers she didn’t lose an arm or an eye in the process…

But of course, she was here instead.

She reached the end of her cigarette before she knew it. Vitani stubbed out the smoldering bit and beneath the toe of her boot the gravel crunched. When she raised her camera to her eyes, a blob of shadow obstructed her sight, a sudden silhouette interrupting her framing. Right when she was ready to do some work and everything. Vitani lowered her camera, trademark frown pressed into her lips. “D’you mind? You’re in my shot.”

Megara had finally become accustomed to what stores were in Swynlake and what stores were not - the sorts of shops she’d have to travel out of town for and the sorts of shops that she could simply walk to - and found herself rather disappointed in the fact that she often had to make trips to The Next Town Over (which, seriously, who named that place?) in order to get her typical ingredients for kitchen witchery. At least it wasn’t too far, though, and the little apothecary shop had more to offer to those who happened to get along well enough with the owner.

At the moment, there were a few things Meg was looking for, and so she’d hopped on over to TNTO in order to restock. As she made her way towards where the shop usually stood, however, she noticed the tarp and the reporters and-

What had happened?

Her footsteps slowed as she neared, confusion blossoming on her face, along with a tinge of concern for the shop and its owner. Had there been an accident? Had the shop been robbed? Was everything alright? Well, there was only one way to know, of course.

Approaching the nearest person (who happened to be about to finish a cigarette, so of course, Megara felt naturally more comfortable around,) she looked between them and the shop. Unfortunately, she hadn’t spoken soon enough, however, and when she turned back, the camera was raised and the woman was... irritated.

Rightfully so.

“Sorry-” She stepped out of the way, back to the other woman’s side, and looked back at the building again. “Shit. There goes the only place decent enough to get things for basic potions. What the hell happened?”

#vitani #in my shot #hello!