Tonight, Zoe had taken Douxie hunting for the first time. Someone else came to their rescue.
Hey, @peanutbell, sorry about the undue stress from earlier today. To try and make up for it I wrote a short fic for you ft. Roxanne and Nina. I hope you like it and they're not too OOC.
(To anyone else reading this: Roxanne and Nina are peanutbell's OC's. Roxanne's design can be found here.)
Also, I use my revised backstory for Douxie in this.
Title is from Hayley Kiyoko's "Ease My Mind"
AO3
FFN
Tonight, Zoe had taken Douxie hunting for the first time. As much as he had refused to join her coven, claiming his Master would definitely come for him despite abandoning him for over a thousand years, Douxie had been eager to learn the ways of the modern world from her. It had taken her three months to finally convince him that no, receiving supplemental magical tutelage was not a betrayal of his Master. Zoe had forgotten just how much she'd hated the apprentice system. It had been a long time since she'd last encountered an abandoned apprentice, but she recalled the last one being this stubborn as well. At least the last one hadn't tried to claim he was older than her because he had been born in 525 and she'd been born in 1094, even though Douxie had only lived fourteen of those years.
And so, Zoe was trying to give Douxie some practical lessons, like how to deal with the local goblin population. It was after midnight on a Saturday night, and so this large alleyway between the grocery store and one of the residential areas wasn't going to be having any human visitors. Sometimes, Zoe wondered if there was a larger changeling or trollish population in Arcadia Oaks than she had expected, since goblin nests were often found within ten miles of a trollish settlement and there were several nests within Arcadia Oaks.
One of the most important things to do around goblins was not be afraid. Unfortunately, whomever Douxie's old Master was, he had made Douxie into a nervous wreck around authority figures, especially authority figures with something to teach him. And unfortunately, Zoe and Archie couldn't electrify and burn the goblins fast enough, not without Douxie becoming collateral damage.
A breeze blew through the alleyway, carrying a scent Zoe had tried to forget. The wind swirled around Douxie and weaved its way under the goblins, pulling them away from him. A few of them splattered against the walls, and Zoe pulled lightning around her fists. Lovely. Whomever had saved Douxie clearly didn't understand restraint.
Except, faster than the wind, two blurs came through. One was orange and came up to Zoe's hips and the other was dressed in black holding something glowing red. They zipped through the alleyway, making quick work of the goblins. The scent Zoe had tried to forget was stronger than ever.
Well, no, the scent had been stronger when the two of them had met at a concert back in 1997 and had tried to put aside their differences. Zoe had littered hot pink lipstick stains across the dark skin of the woman now standing in front of her next to the teumessian fox (named for the dots encircling her legs and tail) that served as her familiar.
"Nina. Roxanne." Zoe narrowed her eyes. Now what was her ex doing here? Last Zoe had checked (and no, it was not stalking to look at Roxanne's instagram profile on incognito mode, it was keeping her coven and other immortals safe from the prying eyes of the internet!), Roxanne and her familiar were in San Jose, nowhere near Arcadia Oaks.
"Zoe," Roxanne said. "I thought you were more careful with the kids in your little coven?"
"I'm not in her coven," Douxie said quickly. Zoe highly doubted his Master would come back for him, but she doubted even more that Douxie's Master would go to Roxanne of all people to check on Douxie's loyalty. "That was so cool what you did with the wind! Is air-based magic your specialty? Do you think you could teach me? I was taught more neutral non-specialized magic, but I do lean towards light-based a bit!"
Oh, come on. Zoe had spent months trying to get him out of his shell and he took a liking to Roxanne of all people?
(And, well, sure Zoe had taken a liking to Roxanne centuries ago, but Zoe was gay and she was pretty sure Douxie was, too, so she highly doubted Douxie would take a liking to Roxanne for the same reasons that Zoe had.)
"I don't know," Nina said snidely, crossing her forelegs. "We are rather busy."
Quietly, Archie growled. Oh, good, at least Douxie's familiar had common sense even if Douxie himself was sorely lacking in it.
"I promise I won't take up too much of your time!" Douxie continued, and Roxanne had the nerve to smile at him. "I'm a fast learner!"
"Roxanne, why are you here?" Zoe cut in.
"Douxie, let's go home," Archie said.
"But-!"
"Don't you have homework, Hisirdoux?" Douxie pulled his hood over his head, and Archie stiffened, a guilty look forming on his face. Zoe remembered Douxie telling her that only his Master called him by his real name.
"It was nice meeting you," Douxie said. "Thanks for saving me."
Zoe, Nina, and Roxanne watched as Douxie and Archie left. "Taking in strays?" Roxanne asked.
"You didn't answer my question,"
"Ever heard of HexTech?"
Yes, and as the leader of the coven who ran the local branch, Zoe could keep Roxanne from being hired. There were other jobs in the city. Better yet, there were jobs in the far end of the county.
Nina turned to her familiar. "Roxanne, don't you think we shouldn't reveal our cards?"
"Oh, relax, Nina, I'm sure Zo-zo won't spill any secrets." If Zoe blushed at the nickname, it was entirely out of anger. It wasn't because the nickname held any fond memories. "I work for the head coven, and I'm inspecting the Arcadia Oaks franchise."
