“H-Hi, I'd like to hire you?” Hayan wasn't quite sure why the statement came out as a question, but there was a lot of uncertainty around his request. He wasn't even sure if the job was doable. “Do you accept missing person cases? Specifically ones where the person's been gone for twenty-plus years…”
Maryse had asked Magnus to wipe the girl's memory before she went back to California, despite Jonah's protests. The former dissuaded him from trying to see Briggs before she left Korea, saying it was for the best.
He had plenty to keep him busy – after all, the rogue monsters weren't going to stop what they were doing any time soon – but he sort of missed the small Mundie. Their interactions had been brief before he rescued her from the half demon, but he could still see her bright eyes looking at him when he showed up, her shy smile when he called her "baby girl", and how excited she would get about her little translation device making a difference in the world.
Shortly after she left, he passed stores and companies who carried and promoted the translation device, often looking in windows to see people testing them out and looking surprised, but excited when it translated phrases immediately into other languages without much hesitation.
Izzy took some pity on him and mentioned that Emma from the California institute was asking for a transfer to Korea, citing she wanted a change in scenery. Jonah volunteered to swap places with her on a exchange, and he packed his bags for a half year stay in California.
Jonah didn't hold his breath though, knowing that the chances of running into Briggs again was unlikely, and she probably didn't remember him at all.
As he hoisted one of his bags higher on his shoulder, he passed Magnus and nodded at the warlock in gratitude for the portal. Jonah began to step through it and frowned when he didn't see the Institute in front of him. Instead, it looked like a parking structure for some outdoor shopping mall in Los Angeles.
He turned to look back at Magnus in confusion and the warlock leaned closer to say, "A little detour – you could use a mindless break I think."
Jonah didn't have time to question it as he was nudged forward and the portal closed quickly behind him. He looked around and saw no one else was around, and shook his head as he looked for an elevator or escalator to get out of the structure.
Upon descending the final escalator of multiple floors in the structure, he exited into the outdoor mall and carefully wove his way through the crowds of people who were trying to find their cars or make their way to some of the shops and restaurants. He noticed a sign said he was at The Grove.
"...he's pretty cute..."
"I was thinking he's more Bridge's type."
"I don't have a–"
The voice made him snap his head around in the direction it came from and he saw a small group of girls standing by the movie theater talking to each other. The one on the left looked back at him and his skin prickled when he saw who it was.
The other two girls excused themselves and pushed the third girl towards Jonah, leaving the pair alone.
Jonah swallowed the lump in his throat and slowly approached her. "How's it going?"
The girl looked up at him and she shook her head with a laugh. "Too bad you didn't tell me you were coming to my area, I could have shared a flight with you Nightcross."
Wait, she said his last name!
His eyes widened as he stared back at her. "You, you know me?"
Briggs tilted her head and nodded. "Of course, you're Jonah, AKA the guy I accidentally tested my device on, but it was useless because you're fluent and perfect in English already. I accidentally opened a door and hit you with it. And –"
Jonah found himself wrapping his arms around her and he buried his face in her hair. "I missed you, baby girl."
"Uh-oh," one of the coven members muttered when he saw Carter holding knitting needles.
Carter ignored him and pressed Play on the video to start the tutorial he found online for how to knit a scarf as a beginner. He grabbed the ball of yarn and searched for the loose end, frowning when he couldn't find it easily.
----------
"He's what?"
"Hayley, he's trying to knit! With knitting needles! Who allowed him to buy those?!"
One of the other coven members guiltily raised a hand and explained that he and Carter went to an estate sale. "They had a deal on these fancy yarns and the needles and I also bought my ring there. The owner only did knitting the old school way, otherwise I probably would have suggested one of those magic scarf knitting machine kits for kids."
Hayley sighed as she shook her head. "How much trouble could Carter get up to with those? At least they're not sharp and he's not going to hurt himself..."
----------
"Make sure to count your stitches each row," the video instructed. "It's always possible to lose or add a stitch by mistake. When that happens, try to analyze your work and find the mistake, then undo the stitches and redo them."
Carter winced as he stared at the small block he had hanging off the needles. The bit he had finished was lumpy and uneven, due to him dropping and adding stitches by mistake on the rows. While a few other coven members told him to simply use magic and cheat to finish the scarf, he insisted on continuing to learn from the video. The nice lady running the estate sale patted his cheek and said scarves were super easy and he'd have no trouble making his first one. So why was his looking like a disaster?
Hayley knocked on the door and stepped to the side to show that Seb was here. "I know you're engrossed in that knitting video, but Seb's here and he only has a couple of hours," she noted.
Carter dropped the needles and scrambled to clean up his bed, which had the laptop with the tutorial on the screen and the entire ball of of yarn spread across his bed. (He had unraveled the whole ball, thinking it would be easier.)
"You um, you knit?" Seb asked as he gestured to the tangled mess of yarn that Carter was trying to collect in a pile.
"No, I wanted to learn," Carter sighed. "I fail – this was supposed to be a surprise for you, because you said your grandma's cat ruined your scarf."
Seb shrugged and offered a small smile. "Y'know, it's the thought that counts, right?"
After Seb’s father meets Carter and the coven, he does take a liking to the group. Naturally he’s oblivious to the fact that the group has magic abilities, but he reassures his wife and tells her they are decent kids.
If Seb does accept a letter and any funding from a school outside the UK, (and it happens to be in the US), Hayley and Carter send their congratulations and they also reassure Seb’s parents that they’ll look out for Seb.
Someone else in the coven accidentally ate some of Seb’s British candies and Carter gave that individual a lot of grief. Thankfully, Carter and Hayley were able to find the same ones in nearby shop and they replaced the candies quickly before Seb could discover that anything was missing.
Around Lunar New Year, Seb finds himself being roped into making traditional dumplings with the coven based on his grandmother’s recipe. There were a lot of imperfect dumplings with too much filling, too little filling, etc. It made for some comical, but delicious results. (As well as some of the coven members teasing one another if they did a bad job on their dumplings.)
“Yeah don’t tell my mum that you Americans eat a lot of “Chinese” takeout,” Seb once commented. “She tried the stuff from that Panda chain and spit it out after one bite.”
“So, she doesn’t like orange chicken?” Carter asked.
“No she’ll probably make a proper traditional dish and it will not taste anything like the chains,” Seb groaned.
“Can you explain to me why there’s an entire bag of sugar in this tea?” Seb demanded one day after trying a single sip of a traditional American Southern iced tea.
“Yeah it’s a thing in the American South – they put sugar in their tea drinks,” Hayley explained.
“How has no one died from drinking this stuff?!”
Carter is trying not to laugh at the completely disgusted look on his boyfriend’s face from drinking the very, very sugary tea. Mental note: brew an unsweetened version next time Seb comes over.
There was a time where Carter met Seb’s roommate at university who also happened to be an exchange student. Initially Carter did get a little nervous seeing the guy and worried about losing Seb. Then the guy introduced himself to Carter and replied, “Oh right, you’re the boyfriend! Nice to meet ya.”
ANONYMOUS SAID; @fatcdrcam is one of the best writers i know on this site and is a true joy to have on the dash & always fun to write with and be around
“ quick ! do you know cpr ? it’s an emergency. “ seyeon huffs as soon as she approaches faith, leaning over against the counter with a feigned look of worry upon her features that she playfully extends until her classic smirk appears. “ because you took my breath away. “ ( @fatcdrcam )
» @fatcdrcam answered the siren's call.
(for Jaeho)
A small boy clung to the seam of Eunsae's trousers as a foreboding stranger stood in the doorway. Eunsae could only guess that rumors of a ‘winged beast’ who stole children had begun to spread & this man had tracked him down in response.
“Wait upstairs,” he told the boy, who followed the order in a trance.
Turning to the man, Eunsae unfurled his dark wings which had already been on display. “If you're here for the child, it would be in your best interest to leave.”
@fatcdrcam kindly liked for a little starter, could be loossely based on this.
not really knowing when she fell asleep, nor when the jacket had landed to rest over her frame but, she woke up rather confused and looked around a familiar room; unable to hide a smile as she could easily smell who the jacket belonged to. ❝ good morning ~ ❞ she called out when she saw the familiar silhouette at the door. ❝ when did i pass out ? ❞
