They’re Creepy and They’re Kooky
((Wrote something for Hallow’s End, which always tends to bring out my writing about the Lorcain family. Enjoy!))
“Thank you, Mr. Lorcain, these help more than you know. And thank you for all your help as well, Abi!” The caravan driver said to the Warlock and his daughter before trundling off down the road with a snap of her reins. Vizriel and Abityria smiled and waved as the drivers took away their boxes of goods.
After Teldrassil burned, the surviving night elf refugees staying in Stormwind and the surrounding lands had very little in the way of clothing. Many local tailors, Vizriel included, had been working hard to create as many outfits as they were able to. The Warlock had gone to great lengths to make sure he wasn’t creating anything slapdash, and had even enchanted the garments he made to keep warm during the encroaching fall and winter months.
Being a priestess, Istari had been more directly helpful in the city during the days, offering healing and praying with the Kaldorei to help keep spirits high. Praying to Elune was not alien, but she was learning different things about the Goddess which had interested her. As intellectually inclined as they both were, she shared much of what she’d learned with Vizriel as well. They always enjoyed studying together.
Bit had helped him load their final shipment of clothing onto the carts, but had kept rather sombre throughout the process. As her father turned to go back inside, she looked up at him. “Dad?”
“Yes my dear?”
“I’m cold, could you make hot chocolate?” She asked, not moving from her spot. Vizriel turned to look at her curiously. He raised a brow.
“Not tea?” Bit shook her head.
“I don’t feel like tea.”
Vizriel hummed, then nodded and opened the door, smiling and gesturing inside. “Hot chocolate it is, then!” Bit nodded and went inside.
Not long after, Bit was sitting at the kitchen table, watching her father pour two mugs of hot chocolate, stirring them before setting them on the table. He also brought out a plate of pumpkin shaped cookies and set them between the two of them. He sat down across from his daughter and smiled. Bit watched him take a cookie, break it in half, then dip it in the hot chocolate before taking a bite. She smiled before she did the same.
“So, what seems to be the matter?” He asked, his fingers wrapping around his mug. Bit feigned a look of surprise.
“You only ask for hot chocolate when something’s wrong. Is everything okay at school?” He asked before reaching for another cookie. They had recently tried sending Bit to school instead of home schooling her, due in no small part to the fact that Istari and Vizriel would both be shipping off to Kul Tiras to aid the Alliance efforts there soon. It hadn’t been the easiest adjustment.
Bit shrugged, then nodded. After swallowing her cookie, she looked up at her Dad and his sympathetic look.
“I got in trouble with the teacher, and I think some of the kids are scared of me now.” She said, pulling her mug closer and sipping at her hot chocolate. Vizriel sat forward, humming and nodding, grinning a little bit.
“Sounds like something a Lorcain would do. What happened?” He sipped his drink as well.
“I talked about Old Gods with some kids at school.” She said. Vizriel set his mug down a bit quicker than he’d anticipated, and a bit of hot chocolate spilled over the edge of his mug. He cleared his throat and wiped the table.
“Ahh, well, that’d do it. Can I ask why you did that?” His voice was patient, calm, understanding. Bit relaxed a little.
“It’s Hallow’s End, and they wanted to tell spooky stories. Their stories were all so boring! I thought of the scariest thing I ever heard of annnnd...” She shrugged before taking another sip of her drink. “When parents came to pick their kids up, some of them wouldn’t let their kids speak to me.” She sighed and slumped in her chair slightly. Vizriel narrowed his eyes, took a breath then exhaled slowly before taking his own sip.
“Well, they certainly are scary.” He said. “They scare a lot of people, for a lot of different reasons.”
“Do they scare you?” Bit asked. Vizriel started a moment at the question, then nodded.
“They do.”
Bit sat up in her chair, her eyes wide. She didn’t think anything could scare her parents, especially her dad, who made friends with demons and dragons and ghosts.
“Why?” She asked. Vizriel chuckled and shook his head.
“How much do you know about them?” He asked. “Which book did you read?”
Bit shrank back a bit. She knew there were parts of her parents’ library that she was told not to read until she was older. After her last birthday, she sneaked into the library with a candle and grabbed a book at random, thinking she was old enough.
“Umm... It was one about Titan prisons.” Her father tensed. “It wasn’t much! Blind Mary caught me out of bed. I just saw a list of ones that were known and where they were imprisoned. A little bit about how dangerous they were. I know one’s dead...” She said. Vizriel sighed and nodded, sipping more of his hot chocolate before grabbing another cookie.
“You’ve just read the one?” He asked, his tone was serious, the way it always was when he talked Old Gods with someone. She nodded.
“I may have heard you talking about Faceless Ones once...” She said. Vizriel nodded and took a bite of his cookie. He chewed it slowly, staring into his mug. He swallowed before shaking his head.
“Well you’d have had to hear of them sooner or later. But I think it best if you not read about them on your own again, at least not for a while. If there are things you want to know, you can ask me. If I feel it’s safe for you to know, I’ll show you some things. With some topics, you can never know enough, but when it comes to Old Gods, there is a very real danger of knowing too much.” He said, making a mental note to seal a number of books with enchantments later.
“It’s dangerous to know too much about them?” Bit asked. Her dad nodded.
“Well, your auntie Mithandra learned too much.” He said, looking at her meaningfully. Bit nodded, setting her cookie down. Vizriel watched his daughter as she sat on her hands, pretending to look like none of what she was hearing was bothering her. He choked back the lump forming in his throat.
“We Lorcains are destined to be a pretty spooky lot, because the things that scare other people witless fascinate us instead. We’re too curious for our own good, it’s true, but as long as we’re aware of that and don’t let our curiosity get the better of us, we wind up knowing a lot about all the right things when real trouble comes along. So all those people who are scared of us now will always come to our door seeking our knowledge eventually.” Bit looked up at him, shrugged and nodded.
“Those kids, and even their parents might be scared of you, but who needs a bunch of people who think boring stories about headless ghosts are scary?” Bit laughed at that part, nodding.
“When something really scary comes along, they’ll know who to ask. But, if you want to return to home schooling, I’m sure grandma will be more than happy to help while you’re staying with her.” Vizriel sat back and finished his drink. Bit reached up to grab her cookie again, dipping and eating it. The smile was back on her face.
“Hmm... I’ll think about it.” She said. Her father smiled and nodded. He looked thoughtful a moment, then hummed out an exclamation.
“I know what we could do!” He said. Bit looked quizzically at him.
“What?”
“We’re carving pumpkins when Mum gets home, right?” He asked. Bit nodded.
“Well, how about tonight, I teach you how I make them float around the house?” Bit gasped, her eyes widening, and she nodded excitedly.
“Ye-ye-yeah!” She exclaimed. Vizriel chuckled and rose from his seat.
“Alright then! Mum will be home shortly, so let’s get dinner started so it’ll be ready for when she gets here.” Bit nodded and gulped down the last of her hot chocolate. Vizriel paused as he grabbed the mugs from the table.
“Oh um... maybe don’t tell her we ate cookies right before dinner...”
“Dad... she’s gonna know!”
“Uh oh...”
