Better Things To Do (Sept 3)

[Snick]

Lorccan liked the clock tower. It was not easy to get to and rather dusty with cobwebs in all the corners. Not a place many girls would come to. He should tell Elizabeta to set her traps up here, as he definitely saw evidence mice lived up here.



It was one of the places he liked to hide, especially from his sister. At lunch he had heard somebody talking to her about it which unfortunately reminded him of the stupid meeting. How dull. When he was appointed a committee member last year he had gone to one or two meetings but quickly found the whole thing rather boring. Mostly bickering on who's idea was the best. That and his ideas were ignored anyway. Not that had had any earth shattering ideas at the time. After those first few meetings he simply stopped going. Used the time for other things, like working on his homework, assuming it was interesting enough.



He had noticed the announcement of the meeting on the bulletin board and he had no intention of showing up for it. Homecoming Dance..he hated dancing. Nor did he feel like hanging around watching half the school making idiots of themselves. There will always be some sneaking drinks in the bathroom or in the Legacy buildings and showing up half drunk and thus more likely to get into fights. He seen it in past years. It certainly became old fast. Being older now, he did find girls more interesting but not so much he wanted to take any to a dance just so he can make an idiot of himself due to the fact he didn't know how to dance. If only there was something more interesting..like a LARP meet, instead of a stupid dance, then he would show up to a meeting.



Reaching up he grabbed a hold of one of the lower beams and pulled himself with a struggle then sat astride it. He shimmied across till he could look out one of the small windows. He view was spectacular from up here.



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As classes were starting just the next day, Lex had decided that to take that Sunday to explore the school. She'd wandered around the grounds and seen the legacy houses after the Assembly, but now she wanted to get to know the school buildings better. She knew she was bound to find something interesting, it was a magical school after all. She simply couldn't sit around in her dorm room all day, she needed to get out and do something.



So, after lunch - the mannequins were certainly going to take some getting used to - Lex set out on her mission to find something interesting. Before making her way to the clock tower she had already managed to get told off by a teacher who found her trying to force her way into the potions classroom. The clock tower looked interesting and Lex had never been to a school with a clock tower so she figured she'd check it out, plus it was unlikely to be occupied by a grumpy teacher.



At first Lex didn't see the boy up in the rafters as she entered. She had the hood of her blue hoodie up and it was blocking much of her peripheral vision. It wasn't until she deliberately looked up that she saw him. "Woah, what are you doing up there?" She blurted out in surprise. Maybe this was the interesting thing she'd find that day, a boy who lived in the clock tower. His small frame and red hair certainly gave him a mysterious appearance.



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Lorccan had heard somebody shuffling about and entering the clock tower. Not knowing if it was a teacher looking for him or just another student coming across one of his favorite hiding places, he had remained quiet. He pulled his feet up so they weren't danging off the side of the rafters which was probably why the student didn't notice him.



Looking down at the person, he wasn't sure if it was a girl or boy and her clothing didn't make it any easier. When she looked up at him he smirked, whatever she was wearing, her face looked girlish so Lorccan expected she was a girl. A Firsty wasn't any worry to him, afterall she wouldn't know he was suppose to be elsewhere.



"Its a great view up here. Climb up and see, if you can find a way up." He challenged, curious if she was adventurous enough to join him up on the rafters. She made her way into the clock tower so she at least had to enjoy exploring. "Unless you are afraid of heights."



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Lex rolled her eyes at the challenge the boy gave. She could certainly find her way up and she most definitely was not afraid of heights. Even if she had been, Lex would not have admitted it to this new boy. Being quite a bit shorter than him, Lex couldn't simply catch hold of the lower beams from the ground and had to find another way up. She glanced around the room and caught sight of a supply box in the corner. She made her way over to it and climbed onto it. Standing on the box, she was now able to catch hold of one of the nearby beams. With little effort she swung herself up and twisted herself around until she was sitting on the beam.



However, she was now not very near to the boy. She stood up and, with one hand trailing along a beam overhead, she made her way to where the boy sat. It probably wasn't the safest thing, walking across a narrow bean, but there was no way that Lex was going to crawl. She wasn't worried about falling, though, and quickly found her way across. Lex settled herself down near the boy, though not too close that she was in his personal space, and followed his gaze out the window.



"You're right, it's a pretty cool view." She commented. She'd have to remember this place, it was a nice spot to get away from the rest of the school if she needed it.



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Lorccan had a feeling the girl was the sort who wouldn't be daunted by climbing up into the rafters. If she was then he would have had a bit of entertainment. He watched the girl use a box so she could reach the nearest beam so she could climb up. As she moved carefully across it he watched. It was pretty obvious she felt comfortable balancing on the beam so he wasn't too worried about her taking a tumble.



"Glad you could join me and agree the view is good. Name's Lorccan by the way, you?" He asked, deciding there was no need for him to be rude. Besides, having company did distract him for now. His attention will depend on how interesting he found the girl once they started talking.



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Lex leaned her back against one of the cross beams and pulled her legs towards her, sitting in a sort of half indian style, one leg crossed in front of her, the other dangling down so keep her stable. As it was the weekend, she wore her usual jeans and sneakers. Though she was inside, she left the hood of sweatshirt up. She liked to something on her head, be it a hat or the hood of a sweatshirt. It was going to be frustrating to not be able to wear them now with the strict uniform.



"My name's Lex," she answered. Lex had long since found it easiest not to introduce herself with her full name or else people seemed to get the idea that it was okay to call her by it. Of course, there were always teachers, councilors or social workers who refused to call her by the name she wanted. "You must not be new, right? Any sagely advice for a firstie?" She'd heard that word being thrown around by older students. "I've already heard all about Throckwattle." She added. She still wasn't sure what she believed about Throckwattle, though she didn't plan on going near it, even if only some of what people said was true, that was certainly bad enough.



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"Pleased to meet you." Lorccan replied. "So, is Lex short for something? I like it either way. Kind of makes one think of Lexx Luthor."



"Yeah, unfortunately I have been here a few years. Start of my forth year now." Lorccan admits, leaning against the corner of the window near where the rafters meet the support beam. "Throckwattle house is pretty interesting to look at...it tends to fade in and out of existence, rather cool to see, from the outside. Inside, its suppose to be like living your worse nightmare, or so I heard. I am not stupid enough to check it out. My nightmares may be interesting but I rather not find out they are also terrifying."



"For advice...get out while you still can, before the total boredom of this place sinks in."



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"Yeah, but it's stupid." Lex gave in response to the question about her name. There was far more to it than that, but Lex wasn't about it to get into it with a stranger. Alexandra was a very common name and though it didn't exactly suit the tomboy, the real reason for her dislike was that it reminded her of her parents. A teacher had once had the audacity to tell Lex that she should respect the name her parents had given her and not go by an "unattractive" nickname. Lex had not taken kindly to the suggestion and had ended up in the principal's office for informing the teacher where exactly she could stick her advice. "I get the Lex Luthor thing a lot," she shrugged, it didn't bother her, maybe it was fitting even if it wasn't the reason she had chosen it.



"Yeah, I have no interest seeing my nightmares come to life," she said, her voice lowering slightly. Lex could readily imagine what she would see in the Throckwattle house and she didn't need a confirmation. She was a bit surprised at what Lorcan said next, though. "Get out? Where would you want to go instead?" It was school, after all, and Lex was sure there would be many parts of it that she didn't like, but Salem represented a lot of things for Lex and most of those were positive. She also knew that all wizards and witches had to get a magical education in order to be allowed to use magic, she didn't know why anyone wouldn't want to know how to do real magic, even if school could be boring.



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"I don't really like it here. So many things bore me and what does interest me, there just isn't enough of it here. The first year I was totally amazed, probably like you are right now. My family is magical, but most of my brothers and sisters are squibs, save for my oldest and youngest sister. And me of course. Folks are magical but they choose to stick with the family business. Makes me glad I am not the eldest son, if I was then father would expect me to run the business." Lorccan thought the whole idea of a bar ridiculous. They were magical afterall, why run a bar to cater to a bunch of drunken sods? Not what he wanted to do. Unfortunately trying to figure out what he wanted to do when he grew up was the tough part. "When I came back home after my first year, all my friends from the neighborhood, treated me like I was a retard because I went to a special boarding school."



"Learning magic has a price..."



Lorccan had no idea why he shared that much of his past. Maybe he was just tired of keeping that aspect silent. He looked out at the view, wondering what it would be like if he set the decorative hedges aflame. He could probably do it from here, if he could open the window that is. It was locked and sealed, and the spells he tried didn't work. There were other spells he could try but he didn't' want to blow a hole in the wall.



"I am sure you don't want to hear about my mishaps from earlier years. You may find this school fantastic, whereas I find it mostly boring. The Clubs are interesting, except when the idiot powers that be thought I would enjoy being assigned as a committee member last year. Kind of where I should be now, in a committee meeting. Too lame and boring."



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Even after Lorcan's explanation Lex was finding it difficult to wrap her mind around why he wouldn't want to be at the school. Maybe because magic was mundane to him he didn't find it as interesting or as exciting as she did. It was hard for her to imagine growing up in a magical family where all the things she'd learned and come across of the past few months were normal. She tried to come up with a comparable experience that she had had, something that she found boring that other people thought would be interesting or fun. The only thing that came to mind was the romanticization of orphans in books and movies. She sometimes overheard angry kids saying that they wished their parents were dead or that they had different parents. Though Lex had never had a happy home life, even with her own parents, she was jealous even of the less happy families.



"So you would rather be with your muggle friends, in a muggle school?" She still didn't quite understand. Lex tried to imagine what it would be like to have to lie to all your friends about the school you went to and what you did there. For Lex, leaving had been easy. The explaining had been done by officials and a story whipped up and told to her social worker. No one would miss her, no one would care to ask questions when she got back. It had been easy to disappear. Moving to a new school had been relatively easy for her as well, she had done it so many times, but she supposed that it wasn't so easy for everyone.



"And what's a squib?" Lex asked, still unfamiliar with all the new terminology she was coming across.



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Lorccan looked askin at Lex for a few moments, surprised she didn't know what a squib was. Then he realized why. "You're a Muggleborn? Well, a Squib is pretty much the same thing, except exact opposite. A non wizard born of magical parents. A squib isn't the same as a muggle however, they still have a magical awareness, can see certain Magical creatures which Muggles cannot. That and a few other things."



"As for what I rather do than be here, its a bit complex. There are really interesting classes and clubs here, its not completely boring. Its more, I find no purpose in learning it all. So I become a better wizard, what am I to do with what I learn? Some boring desk job? Its not like I want to be a magical cop or an Auror." Lorccan shrugged. "That's why I hate it here, too many rules to follow and too many boring classes, that just drone on and on and on."



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Being a squib sounded pretty awful to Lex, to know all about the magical world and then not be able to do magic? That was a pretty terrible hand to draw. Lex tried to integrate this new information in with what Esther had been telling her about how magical bloodlines worked and magical genes. Lex concluded that being a squib must be like having a birth defect.



Lorccan was not making Salem sound at all appealing and it was a bit discouraging. But he could just be wrong, Lex thought. It didn't matter how great something was, there were always people who didn't like it or who were unhappy. She was starting to get frustrated by his angsty attitude. "Don't you think you would be bored at any other school? All schools have boring classes, all schools have rules." She retorted. "Where would you be happy?"



Maybe this school really wasn't so special after all, Lex thought. She'd come in with the impression that everything would be different here, that witches and wizards would be different from normal people, but maybe she was wrong. It was just like any other school, with the nerds, the jocks, the loners and filled with angsty teenagers. They just had magic now. Lex wasn't sure what kinds of jobs were available to wizards but no matter what, she was fairly certain that whatever was available to her after Salem would be better than what had been available to her before she came to Salem. Her future had been extremely dim, and now there was possibility.



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"I had friends in my previous school. But I lost them all because I didn't go to the same Jr. High they did. Maybe they were all just jerks but they were always interesting." His father didn't like them, probably because they tended to get into trouble. Nothing serious but vandalism, causing disturbances, but mostly kid stuff. Last summer however, Johnny did get himself arrested by the Muggle Police for breaking and entering. Maybe it was best Lorcca was no longer a part of that group. "Maybe the school won't be so bad this year. Well except now that stupid Lighthouse took my sister. That really annoys me. She could do so much better than being stuck under the control of a flashing piece of stone. That is what it does you see...claims random students, four each year and it pretty much dictates what you do for the rest of the year. I read into it you see and I remember last year an older student who was Keeper get taken by the Lighthouse right in the middle of lunch, poof. I didn't see him for nearly two days. Oh I know I could have just missed him but I went up and asked. Wouldn't tell me what happened but only that he just returned. So now I have more to worry about. Stupid Lighthouse should just leave the students alone. There's a staff member who takes care of the thing, he should be enough."



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Now that Lorccan was giving her more details Lex was starting to see the bigger picture. She figured the real problem was that he was upset that his sister had been chosen and was being taken away from him. He was taking it out on the rest of the school, blaming everything else. Now that was something Lex could relate to. Maybe he was mostly jealous that it hadn't been him, despite what he said about the lighthouse. She was frustrated by his complaints though. His sister wasn't gone forever, she hadn't died, she hadn't really been taken away from him. He would still see her everyday. Lex stood up suddenly, too suddenly considering she was currently sitting in the roof. She had to grab at the wall in order to steady herself.



Lex looked out the window silently for a few seconds, her jaw working before words suddenly came tumbling out. "It could be a lot worse you know. It's not the end of the world. It's one year. One year where your sister will have her attention on something that isn't you." Her tone was more vicious than she had intended. She was now annoyed at herself as well for losing her temper. She didn't look at Lorccan as she tried to slow down her breathing.



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Lex's sudden jump to her feet and looming over him caught him by surprise. For a moment he worried she would lose her balance and fall but he saw she braced herself in time. When she started digging into him about how worse it could be he had a sudden urge to knock her right off the beam. An urge he quickly suppressed. He wasn't a violent sort, about the only time he picked a fight was when his sister was being bothered.



"Who asked for your opinion, Short stuff." Lorccan snapped, sick and tired of people coming down on him because they didn't like what he said. "I am not stupid, I know it could be worse, she coudl be dead or something but she isn't. And my sister is important to me, she's the closest person in my life so yeah, it pisses me off she's a slave to the Lighthouse. Since you are knew to the school you don't known nothing about what happens with Lighthouse Keepers. For all you know, half of them die each year that is why the Lighthouse needs more each year. So if you like it if I want to talk about my woes, you are free to get lost."

[Snick]

Lex rolled her eyes at Lorccan's angry retort but didn't say anything. She knew that the Lighthouse Keepers didn't die. She'd already been told about them before she'd seen two of its Keepers chosen and she had asked for more information afterwards. He didn't need to pretend that his sister could die being a Lighthouse Keeper. It frustrated her that she had let herself get so angry. She wanted to get control of herself. She leaned her head against the glass and closed her eyes, trying to breath slowly. Lorccan didn't know why what he had said had hit a nerve with her, he couldn't possibly know, she reminded herself. He had a right to be angry and frustrated. What had she been told to do, again? Count backwards from ten? As much as she had been mad at Lorccan, she was now also angry at herself for being mad a Lorccan in the first place which didn't help the problem of being angry.



The glass felt nice and cool on her face which helped after she had been flushed with anger. After a few moments Lex calmed herself down so she was no longer fuming and opened her eyes, though she wasn't about to apologize to the older boy. She knew that he did not mean a personal slight, that didn't stop her from thinking that he was being overdramatic. "Yeah, okay, I get it," Lex leaned her back against the wall of the clock tower, managing to look impressively petulant despite the fact that she was holding onto the edge of the windowsill for balance.



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She didn't get it, Lorccan thought to himself. He didn't know why he was getting so worked up. The fight with Siobhan earlier didn't help, one reason he had been avoiding her. Why did he care so much she was made a Lighthouse keeper? Its not like its really any more dangerous than any other Legacy.



"Sorry Lex, shouldn't have unloaded all that on you." Lorccan said after he found the silence oppressive. "I had a fight with my sister, it rather unsettles me when we fight. The school isn't all that horrible, I do enjoy some of the classes."



"But enough of my issues, tell me about yourself Lex, its plain you aren't the typical trimmed in lace, playing with dollies type of girl."



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Lorccan had calmed down a bit and Lex was surprised that he had even apologized. He even went on to say that the school wasn't all that bad, which was nice to hear. She desperately wanted to like it at Salem. She had never felt like she had hope for a new school, but Salem was different. It didn't matter if Salem wasn't perfect, Lex wasn't looking for a fairy tale, she just wanted somewhere she knew she could return to. Lex acknowledged Lorccan's apology with a nod, but couldn't quite manage to return it.



When Lorccan asked her to tell him about herself Lex sat back down slowly to buy time. She situated herself so she was facing into the clock tower. "No, definitely not," She said in response to his assertion that she was not a the kind of girl who would play with dolls. The last time Lex had had any kind of real toy was when she still lived with her mom, not that she had played much with them then. In foster care there had been toys around and sometimes even an effort to give her one or two, but she hadn't played with them then either.



Lex was very unsure of what she wanted to tell Lorccan. What if she just lied? Told him about some boring life that he wouldn't ask any more about? She could reinvent herself here, she didn't need to tell anyone she was a foster kid, no one had to know. But no, she couldn't do that. Lex didn't lie, no matter what her various foster families and social workers thought. Lex hated lying so it was difficult for her to justify doing it, even now. The options, as she saw them, were to either not say anything at all or to tell the truth. Lorccan seemed sincerely interested, he had apologized and he had told her a lot about himself. Did she owe him the same in return?



Lex realized that silence had grown between them again and that she should probably say something. "Well... " she began slowly. "I grew up in foster care. I've been in the system since I was six. That's probably the most important thing about me," she said dryly, still not looking at him. Lex didn't know how to talk about herself not in terms of being a foster kid. It had always been apparent to her that no matter where she was or what she did, that was how she was defined. "Otherwise I like to play sports, but I've never gotten to play on a team so I want to do that here," she continued, still not looking over at Lorccan. She didn't really know what else to say about herself, people so rarely asked. To Lex, that seemed sufficient. She was a foster kid. She like sports. She didn't know what else there was to say about herself that Lorccan would want to know.



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Lorccan was starting to think Lex had no intention to talk about herself. Was her life so horrible she couldn't bare to speak of it? He seen enough television and read enough books to know some kids had it far rougher than he ever did. The street gangs in his area of Boston caused enough trouble and most of them came from broken homes, abusive parents, were born out of wedlock, rape babies, you name it, the gangs had them. He pretty much was just one of many and barely even acknowledged till it became apparent he was wizard. That made him get more attention from his parents, not much but more.



"Foster care huh?" Lorccan said, broken out of his thoughts when she finally started to answer his question. He shrugged, she's not the first student at Salem who ended up raised by foster parents. "Nothing to be ashamed about that, you are not the only one here who lived in the system. So you don't need to worry about anybody treating you badly cause you are a foster child."



"So you like sports? Not my thing, but tons of sport teams here, if you are any good at sports you won't have any trouble getting on a team. Myself, I prefer the LARP club, get to be somebody completely different and they are a blast. You being a first year, won't be in the same club, the earlier years, first to third, have a separate team when it comes to the clubs. Not that it really matters, as you continue each year with the same team, unless people drop out, and new ones come in."



"You an only child, or did your brothers and sisters get scattered through the system?" Lorccan couldn't imagine what it would be like not having his sister around. He was still angry at her, and she had not even talked to him during lunch. Eventually he will break down and go find her himself, but for now, standing her up at the big fancy committee meeting, suited him quite well. It was foolish for the teachers to assign him as a committee member. Bet they won't do it again this year.



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Lex was surprised by Lorccan's response and finally looked back over at him as he spoke. She was glad to hear that there were other foster kids at Salem. Of course, she had been to school with other foster kids but for some reason she hadn't imagined that Salem would be home to any. She supposed it made sense, it wasn't as if foster kids were any less likely to be born magical than anyone else but it had seemed so foreign that Lex had just assumed that she would be alone in her experience. She wondered who they were, if she would be able pick them out and if she even wanted to meet them. Would it make things easier? She really didn't know.



Lex appreciated Lorccan's explanation about how the sports and clubs worked at the school. "Being someone completely different, maybe I should try that out." She commented wryly. Lex had never tried LARP and only knew extremely vaguely what it entailed. She doubted she would ever get into it, even at Salem but she decided not to say anything. She needed to stay active and burn off energy or else she got far too restless.



Once again Lorccan was a asking questions Lex was finding it difficult to answer. The fact that Lorccan had already anticipated a possible answer helped in some way, though. It made Lex feel less uncomfortable about it because she didn't have to contradict him and provide surprising information. "Yeah," the answer was almost inaudible and Lex quickly cleared her throat in an attempt to cover it up. She looked away again and started busying her hands with a hole in the knee of her jeans. When she spoke her voice was still quieter than normal and had taken on a stressed quality. "Yeah, I have a younger brother. I haven't seen him since we entered the system, they split us up when I kept getting in trouble. He got adopted when I was seven." Lex coughed again as if that would keep the uncomfortable lump rising in her throat. She couldn't remember the last time she had willingly talked to someone about James.



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Lorccan studied her for a moment, wondering what it would be like being orphaned and having to be placed with foster parents. If he was placed somewhere without Siobhan, he wouldn't stay, he would go back to get her. Same if she was placed somewhere without him. His family was so big he knew no matter what happened there would be sisters or brothers he could stay with, even Aunts and Uncles.



"It really sucks they didn't place you and your brother together. When all you have left in the world is your brother, putting you somewhere else without him or him without you, is just torture. Do you think he may be magical too?" Lorccan looked over out the window, a plan coming into mind. Since he did have a sister in the Lighthouse, maybe she could convince it to bring Lex's brother here. Then again if he is magical he may end up here anyway. "How old is he?"



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It was weird. Lex wasn't sure why she was letting Lorccan know so much. Though she didn't actively keep it a secret from people - Lex was very honest - she didn't often have a reason to tell anyone. Maybe that was it. Lorccan had actually asked. She was usually ignored at school and if people did ask, they soon changed the subject, looking uncomfortable. It was too unpleasant. Other foster kids had their own stuff to deal with and though Lex had discussed her circumstances with a few other kids in the homes she'd been in, it was more of an exchange of information.



"I was too much trouble, they couldn't find a place for both of us." Lex said, as if that was an explanation or a good reason for why they were separated. "It at least gave him a chance. He didn't have a chance with me." Lex still believed that it was better that James had been adopted and that he was better off without her. Though she was miserable without him, she thought it a fair enough trade off that he now had a chance at a better life. If she hadn't been so undesirable as a potential adoptive daughter than they would have been placed together. Now she didn't want to be adopted at all.



Lex shrugged when Lorccan asked if she thought her brother was magical. "I dunno.... I don't... know." With the last word Lex brought a fist down on the beam next to her. She wasn't angry at Lorccan but the entire situation made her feel so hopelessly powerless. She'd been agonizing over the fact that James could be magical ever since she found out that she was a witch. She let out another slow breath."I didn't even know I was magical and I don't know how to tell. He's eight now and was four last time I saw him. Do you know how common it is for there to be more than one magical person in a muggle family?" She asked, looking over at Lorccan. She'd been trying to lead up to that question when talking to Esther after the assembly, but Pratt had shown up, cutting her off.



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"What sort of trouble did you get yourself into?" Lorccan asked, curiously. So far she was keeping his interest. He couldn't see himself separated from his sister and he knew he caused a fair share of trouble himself. Mostly due to his lack of attention or enthusiasm on certain things.



Hearing her brother was currently 8, he wouldn't be notified he was a wizard for another three years or there about. Even then, would he be invited to come to Salem? How did the Magical Educational system even know who to send the invites to? There had to be some way to detect magical children.



"You know what you should do, see if you can get a note to Principal Cook, or if not her, then one of the other teachers. There has to be a way for the schools to know which kids are magical. Everybody gets sent a letter during the summer once a child comes of age to come to a magical school, Salem isn't the only one in the US. But however they figure that out, they may know already if your brother is one. Then you can see if he can be invited here. This way you can be reunited with him."



"I know Muggleborns are fairly common, well, more common that squibs. As for the chances of more than one child born of the same Muggle parents being magical, I can't say I know the odds. I expect its likely enough, if one child is, then more can be. Afterall out of 8 children total in my family, only three of us are magical, the rest are squibs. Pretty unusual that. I would say your brother has a 50/50 chance to be magical too."



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"Yeah, I can try that." Lex said in response to Lorccan's suggestion that she try contacting the principal, though she didn't sound too optimistic. She wasn't going to get her hopes up. Both she and James were minors, which meant she didn't have many rights when it came to fighting to see James if his adoptive parents didn't want it. She was also unsure of the laws surrounding information regarding magic. She had been told that the school waited until muggleborn students were eleven before informing them and their families and Lex didn't know if this was a law. And then there was the question of confidentiality when it came to records involving magical children. She wasn't legally James' sister anymore so doubted she would be allowed to know whether or not he was on those records.



On top of all this, Lex didn't know if she was even ready to know. She wasn't sure she could take either answer. Though she had been having an imaginary correspondence with Jaime for years, she had never dared to think that she would actually see him again. When she had been told about Salem her first thought had been about James. If he was a wizard than maybe he would come to the same school. And though she desperately wanted to see him again there was the ever present terror that he didn't even remember her. How could she possibly deal with that?



"Anyway," she said, as if Lorccan could hear her thoughts. She didn't really want to keep talking about Jaime so decided to answer his earlier question. "I got in a lot of fights, mostly." She admitted. Lex hated that about herself. She didn't want to get into fights with people, it just seemed to happen before she could stop herself. "I was also accused of lying a lot which I don't do." She continued, putting emphasis on the second part. "I've realized now that a lot of it was 'cause of magic. Stuff would happen and then when I tried to explain no one would believe me. That got me a crappy reputation so people started to think I just made shit up all the time."



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"I bet you would make an excellent Amazon warrior in the LARP club." Lorccan guessed, though she would be rather short. Not compared to the rest of the First years she was going to be mixed with. "Too bad I am 4th year now, otherwise we would be in the same group, The clubs are all split between junior high and high school. In a couple years though you will be old enough to join in the older group. Either way, I think you will make a great Amazon warrior, or maybe a warrior priestess."



"Incidental magic is hard to explain...in a way my sister and I sort of missed it till we were a bit older. Big household, so many older children, pretty much forgotten and ignored when we were told not to get underfoot. Siobhan and I knew we were different but we were so used to seeing magic being done by our parents and oldest sister we didn't realize the few odd things happening around us was well, our incidental magic. I suspected I was a wizard but didn't want to say i was and have everybody just laugh. When our letters came, well, the entire family thought we were special then."



"Now that you are here, nobody's going to think you are lying and making stuff up, as we all know magic. No need to get into fights anyway, unless some jerk is pestering you and deserves a good punch in the face." Lorccan grins. "Not that I would pester you. I am not a fighter, but I do get into the odd fight time to time."



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"LARP is that tabletop thing, right?" Lex asked, confused as to why her personality would affect what kind of character she could play. She hadn't had any real experience with roleplaying games and didn't know the difference between the live action ones and the table top ones. Being into LARP would have practically been a death sentence, not that she would have gotten much of a chance to play anyway. Though she was often unsuccessful for several reasons, Lex did try to blend into the crowd, it was far safer that way. Admittedly, the idea of being a warrior did appeal to her. Though Lex did not play make believe exactly, she had often wished that she was bigger and stronger, better able to defend herself.



"Being here and learning real magic is supposed to make those outbursts go away, right?" It had been something the school official had said. That was why magical kids had to go to magical school, to learn to control themselves. Lex had been disappointed to learn that she would not be able to use magic outside of the school until she was 17. There were all sorts of things she would like to be able to use magic for.



"Well, it'll be nice to be around people who get that," Lex said in response to Lorccan's comment about no one thinking she was lying anymore. In fact, despite the fact that Salem hadn't even really started, Lex was already dreading going back into foster care for the next summer. She smiled a bit wryly when he said there would be no need to get into fights. She hoped not, but her temper was something she sometimes felt like she was constantly having to keep in check. Previous fights hadn't always been magic related and she doubted that everything would magically get better just because there was magic.



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"Its quite a bit different than the table top versions. LARP stands for Live Action Role Play. You dress up as your character, learn how to fight if you are a warrior using padded weapons of course. All about safety. There is a system of rules and when you hit somebody you have to give your attack rating and damage, this way the person you are hittings knows whether their skill and defense is good enough to avoid damage. Its actually quite fun despite the rules take a little time to get used to." Lorccan explained. "Now SCA, or Society of Creative Anacharism is more re-enacting Medieval times, dressing up in armor and such, learning real sword play and the like. Its not as fun as a LARP but if you like the more real and historical aspects then that's fun too."



"What I really enjoy is the LARP and this year I can join the Vampire LARP too. They restrict it to 4th year and higher. Too mature for younger students. Kind of lame, but its not like I can ignore the rule."



"Once you spend a year here you get better control over hte incidental magic. Not sure why, its not like they teach you specifically how to control incidental magic. I think its learning how to focus one's magic through your wand, makes it easier to not lose control of the magic during other times."



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"Its quite a bit different than the table top versions. LARP stands for Live Action Role Play. You dress up as your character, learn how to fight if you are a warrior using padded weapons of course. All about safety. There is a system of rules and when you hit somebody you have to give your attack rating and damage, this way the person you are hittings knows whether their skill and defense is good enough to avoid damage. Its actually quite fun despite the rules take a little time to get used to." Lorccan explained. "Now SCA, or Society of Creative Anacharism is more re-enacting Medieval times, dressing up in armor and such, learning real sword play and the like. Its not as fun as a LARP but if you like the more real and historical aspects then that's fun too."



"What I really enjoy is the LARP and this year I can join the Vampire LARP too. They restrict it to 4th year and higher. Too mature for younger students. Kind of lame, but its not like I can ignore the rule."



"Once you spend a year here you get better control over hte incidental magic. Not sure why, its not like they teach you specifically how to control incidental magic. I think its learning how to focus one's magic through your wand, makes it easier to not lose control of the magic during other times."