Filler Bits: A Flying Lesson
When someone thinks of magic, inevitably one of the powers they'd like to have would be the ability to fly. People don't have this naturally, and so are forever looking to the sky, watching the birds soar past, wondering why they weren't meant to be able to do that. The clouds forever float above them, teasingly close at times and nothing like you expect them to be when you reach out a hand and touch them. They're cold and damp and you remember, people aren't meant to fly.
But, as is the nature with all human beings, what they don't have they want. They want it even if they don't know what it is. Even if they know that they shouldn't have it. Magical people are just the same as regular people. They can't fly naturally, but still long to touch the sky. Still long to rise above the trees and look down on the crests of mountains. Still long to feel the breezes in their face, causing their hair to fly out behind them. Still long to know that they are all powerful and everything below them is beneath them.
So magical people devised a way to fly. They could levitate objects, but it was much more difficult to levitate oneself the early magic users (and many small children) found. Mostly, it was because people had such distorted views of themselves that they didn't know where they started or ended. Even small children suffered from this, not understanding the concept of a back, something they couldn't see on themselves most of the time. And the older ones had different senses of self. They thought themselves larger in places, smaller in others. And it all just led to an unsafe flight.
The night before Alf's flying lesson he couldn't sleep. Like a child on Christmas Eve who still believed in Santa Claus, he was having visions of what would happen the next day. It ended with Alf dreaming he was Harry Potter at his first flying lesson, sans broomstick of course, and he'd managed to do it the first time in one go while Ron (Damien) and Hermione (Jessica) looked on in amazement. He then found himself in the air battling Damien and Rock for possession of a golden snitch. Of course he fell, and then he woke up. But nothing he'd dreamed, or thought of before his dream, could compare to real life flying.
Aliana had Damien and Alf standing on the back lawn of the Aldus estate. They were looking at the sky, marveling at the birds and getting mentally prepared to join them for the first time in their lives. Neither of them had so much as been in a plane, helicopter or hot air balloon. The closest they'd been to flying before had been roller coaster rides at Australia's Wonderland before that had closed down. So this would be their first time flying, and both of them expected it to be fantastic.
"To start with," Aliana stated. "We need to cover a little theory."
Alf and Damien gave audible groans and Aliana only laughed at their misery.
"There are two ways of what we'd call flying: levitation and wind riding," she looked at the two boys. "Care to guess what the difference is?"
Damien shrugged, unsure.
Alf hazarded a guess. "Levitation is where you move yourself like a bird. Wind riding is more like gliding? Like the difference between jet propelled planes and gliders?"
"That's right," Aliana smiled.
Alf shot his friend a superior look. Damien just rolled his eyes.
"That's enough of that, boys," Alian reprimanded gently. "Now, we usually prefer levitation as our means of transport since it doesn't involve the use of magic on anything other than yourself. But control of the wind, especially if you're good with controlling the air, is quite simple although messy. Messy in terms of people noticing because the wind around you has to be moved. It's generally faster than levitation, though, as it requires less thinking. But with time, you should be able to levitate almost as fast, with no problems."
Seeing that even that short little speech had bored her pupils, Aliana decided to get them started with the practical part of the lesson. "If we start with wind-riding, first you just want to gather up a bit of the wind. You might have trouble with that, though, Alf. And then get it to push you, and cushion your fall. If you can maintain a hover, you can probably manage to figure out how to position your body and your winds to move in an appropriate manner."
Alf tried and failed to conjure a wind strong enough to support himself. He'd never been able to cook up a wind any bigger than the palm of his hand so that was only to be expected. Damien, on the other hand, had managed a wind and was doing what seemed to be a semi-controlled fall down the hill they'd started at the top of. He landed with an ominous thud.
"Oww," came Damien's pained cry, although it seemed more exaggerated than anything.
Aliana didn't look surprised at all that Damien had failed, though Alf knew that it was unlikely that they'd managed to fly on their first attempt despite what he'd dreamed. As he clambered back up the hill, Aliana explained how they would attempt the levitation. "Levitation of yourself," she began. "Is exactly like levitation of anything else. You imagine where you are, and where you're going, and how you're going to get there, and it should just happen."
Alf attempted this, quickly finding that he was suddenly flying sideways when he'd meant to go forward. His head was closer to the ground than he'd intended it to be and it wasn't long before he crash landed. Apparently he'd managed better than Damien, who was already picking himself off the ground much closer to where he'd begun.
Aliana was having a difficult time restraining her giggles as the two boys came closer to her, silently demanding the information she'd obviously forgotten to tell them. "Levitation," she continued. "Is considered to be the more difficult because it requires that you know where your body is at all times. You have to know exactly how big you are, or you'll fly off course. Wind-riding, on the other hand, means that you can control the wind around you when you're moving. You can change it's shape, but you can't change the shape of your body without some very odd consequences. None of them being particularly smart or comfortable at all."
She then conjured circular mirrors around them. "These mirrors will reflect your proportions exactly. Know yourself physically, and then you should be able to hover out."
It was a disturbing half hour of being in a mirrored box where all you could see was yourself for miles. Looking up was his only relief, and made Alf long to be able to levitate. But to levitate (without crashing into the mirror, which (un)luckily didn't break) required a bit more staring at himself. In that half hour, Alf acknowledged who he was. There was no hiding from yourself in that box. Once he'd gotten over that, levitation was surprisingly simple. He managed to fly straight up. The slight sideways thing took it all out of him, though, and he ended up falling to the ground, at least it was outside his mirrored box.
"Well done, Alf," Aliana congratulated her pupil.
"Thanks," Alf said. "Hear that Damien?" he called. "I'm out!"
Damien swore at him, and soon after Alf saw Damien's head peek out. Followed by naked shoulders. A naked and chest and Alf couldn't stop himself from looking to see if Damien was completely naked.
He was.
"Gross, Damien!" Alf yelled. "Put that away."
Damien shrugged, comfortable in his own skin. "It's easier this way." As though to prove it, he circled Alf and Aliana before landing.
Aliana immediately covered him with a blanket she conjured. "I must say, that was unexpected," she said with a nervous blush. "I think you boys have got the hang of that for now. But I'm expecting you to be able to do that with your clothes on next week, Damien."
"I bet Jessica was watching," Alf said to Damien who immediately turned bright red.
"I hope not."
"You mean you'll strip in front of her aunt but you care if she's watching?" Alf asked, confused.
Damien only turned a brighter red. "Shut up," he said halfheartedly, as though resigned to having Alf tease him.
Alf left him alone and began trying to levitate again.
In the end flying was rather anti-climactic. You'd think you'd get a bigger thrill but it all seemed like science and physics to Alf. And he didn't see any reason why he wouldn't get just as large of a thrill from piloting a hot air balloon. Damien seemed to enjoy it, though. Alf could take it or leave it. He'd only be using it when necessary, not just for fun joyriding.
Filler Bits: Alf gets a job
[[These aren't going to have continuity notes since I have pretty much no idea where they fall.]]
School had just let out for the summer, so it was almost Christmas. Alf had no idea what he was going to do with his six weeks of summer break. Of course there was Damien and Rock and Jessica to hang out with. And he hadn't had so many friends before. And of course there was magic. Aliana already wanted to start him having training sessions at least twice a week and preferably three times a week instead of his usual once a week lesson. The only reason why she hadn't insisted upon lessons five days a week was because she had other students. Not to mention Damien hated going to the lessons even if he did find them interesting. And now that Alf had a friend there, he didn't want to come when Damien wasn't going to be there.
Rock had also started talking about all the road trips he'd be taking. His older brother Eric had left him the car when he decided to travel the world the magical way - the magical equivalent of a gap year, although he'd been gone for over one but would be back over Christmas. Despite the fact that they weren't Christian, the witches did still celebrate Christmas. They didn't call it something else, but merely celebrated in terms of atheists throughout the world. And not in the commercial sense. They celebrated it as a time for people who loved each other to get together.
But Rock wanted to take the car out for days at a time, and go camping or something. Up in the Blue Mountains, or maybe take trips down to Melbourne or Canberra, or up to Brisbane or Cairns. In his more adventurous moments, he proposed trips to Ayers Rock or Perth. And while the thought of getting carsick for hours at a time didn't appeal to Alf, the thought of spending that much time with his friends away from his parents was. But of course, his parents didn't want him to do. It was dangerous to have a lot of people in a car. To go on a long road trip with a P-plater. A red provisional driver, and one who, they discovered, failed his exam the first time.
Rock insisted that that wasn't his fault. There had been a pedestrian that he thought was about to cross the road so he'd slowed down and caused a bit of a traffic obstruction. Apparently that had been enough to cause him to fail. So really, he hadn't failed for a good reason like speeding or breaking the law. He'd failed because he was being cautious about a pedestrian. That wasn't a problem to him. Alf didn't think it detracted from his driving ability, even if he did cause a bit of a traffic lump. After all, he didn't kill anyone, and he wasn't going to kill anyone. And even if there had been a car accident, they weren't going that fast so everyone would have survived. The pedestrian would probably have died if he'd hit them.
But Alf's parents weren't going to have any of that. Instead they suggested that now that he was fifteen it was a good time to start thinking about getting a job. Helping out with someone was good, and isn't Jessica still working for her uncle? Jessica only helped out Rock's father occasionally when he was experiencing a bit of a backlog, or if his secretary called in sick. There was no backup secretary, so Jessica or Aliana would have to help out. It annoyed Jessica, but because it wasn't an actual job she was free to decline. Of course, since it wasn't an actual job, she actually felt bad on days when she didn't turn up because she knew they'd have difficulty coping.
So it was with a blank resume, and a heavy heart that Alf proceeded to go on a job hunt. The first couple of places he tried: the gelato place and the cafe next door, had both wanted someone a little more experienced. The gelato place said they'd give him a call, though, if they suddenly had an opening. They'd only wanted someone if they could help out, someone who'd need very little training. The cafe was often busy so they'd wanted someone who was experienced with being a waitperson. Alf was neither.
But three was probably Alf's lucky number because after leaving from there he noticed that there was a Help Wanted sign at the local nursery. A year ago, or even a few months ago, Help Wanted at the nursery would have been ignored. After all, Alf knew nothing about plants and he was pretty sure that he'd never need to know anything about plants. But now he looked at it as an opportunity.
He met Owin Ramon there, a man wearing denim overalls and a wide brimmed straw hat who seemed to be a giant to Alf. Rock was big for his age, but this man was huge. He was tall and tanned from working in the sun, muscled from having to lift things and he seemed to look at Alf as though he was the very opposite of everything he was looking for in a nursery worker. But no one that had applied thus far had seemed suitable, so, thinking that perhaps his standards had been too high, Owin granted Alf a trial run. Starting that day. He showed Alf how to run the register and the various different areas of the nursery. He introduced him to the people who usually worked in each section. Alf wouldn't be expected to help people directly the first few days and would merely be helping re-pot in the back sheds, and cart things that had been delivered. He would maybe have a turn at the cash register, and would help customers with large purchases get them into their cars, or alternately, take them away to be stored for delivery the next day or that afternoon.
Alf had managed to blend in quite well there. He made quick friends out of all the staff members, and managed to remember where everything was. He was friendly to the customers, easily directing them to the right sections and salespeople to help them find what they were looking for. And although Alf was a pasty white colour that would make most people cringe and similarly pasty people sympathise, Owin found that the boy seemed like he belonged amongst the various pot plants. So after his one day of training, Alf found himself hired.
Despite his misgivings about finding a job in the first place, Alf found that he liked working at Owin's nursery. The people were friendly and in the moments he had alone with the plants, they always made him feel better. He was quick to learn all the names of the plants in the nursery, as well as make sure they looked their best when he showed them to the customers. Gardening was his thing. He'd known it ever since that day when he and Damien had been growing sprouts. Working was a break from the magical world and his familial life that he hadn't managed to achieve ever before. He was going to miss it when he started at school and wouldn't be able to come in every day anymore.
Story: Ending Part 10
[[Continuity Note: It's the final countdown!!!]]
A month later, Jessica mentioned that she had news so the four of them gathered at the bottom of the Aldus back yard, at the food of a small grassy hill. They weren't sitting on a rug for once. Damien was resisting the urge to pull up individual blades of grass. Magic lessons, despite not making him want to use magic, had taught him a greater respect for the environment. It didn't stop him from wanting to be destructive, though.
"They're putting your plan into place, Alf," Jessica said as she leaned back on her elbows casually. "Each magic user is allowed to tell one person about magic. But just us in this area. It's sort of a test run for the rest of the planet. Since people here have to know about magic because they might develop magical powers, or already have them and not know what to do with them. Auntie Mary-Ann and Uncle Dex are trying to discover if anyone else has powers, but they're not having much success. But in a few weeks, we might be able to use magic in public around here."
"Does that mean I can tell my parents?" Damien asked excitedly, that thought still playing at the forefront of his mind all the time.
"Well, not technically," Jessica said, and Damien's face fell. "But since they're going to find out anyway, it's not going to matter."
"Okay," Damien says. "I'm going to tell them everything." He stood, ready to take off.
"And if anyone asks," Jessica added. "Pretend that I told them. I don't know of any nons to tell this to anyway."
"Thanks Jess," Damien said, using her nickname for perhaps the first time ever. He hugged her quickly before running off.
"Well I guess that's that, then," Alf said, as they watched the sun set over the forest.
"Yeah," Rock agreed. "That's it."
And instead of feeling bereft like Jessica thought they might, a remarkable feeling of peace descended upon them at that point. It was all going to be all right.
[[THE END!]]
Story: Ending Part 9
[[Continuity Note: Alf, Damien, Rock and Jessica are all back to being friends despite their differences.]]
A couple of weeks passed casually by. Rock, Damien and Alf visited the labs for their magic tests as they tried to determine how much magic they each had left. The Eldred Hillel Institute for the Acquisition of Knowledge of the Magical Field of Study, where Mr Wiley and Ms Aldus worked was more interesting than just the mouthful that was its name. Alf wasn't certain what he'd been expecting when he walked in with Dr Aldus, Damien and Rock. It certainly wasn't something that appeared to be a laboratory out of a university. There were lots of benches and strange machines along the wall. Microscopes and slides were scattered across the benches and there were lots of sinks, too. Alf hadn't thought that the study of magic would be as dirty as the study of biology, but apparently it was. Though the magic was never handled, it was still in their best interests to remain as hygienic as possible.
Mr Wiley had started to insist they call him Dexter, meaning that Alf was suddenly struck by the realisation that he was in Dexter's Lab. Dexter explained the measuring process. They'd have to press a fingertip to a contraption like something diabetics used to test their blood sugar. It would send a magical pulse through their body and some how, by timing how long it took to get through the body it would give a measurement in mus (magical units). A single mu was the measurement of how much magic a simple levitation spell depleted. As levitations weren't elemental, it was deemed an accurate measure of power. After being calculated once, they'd levitate an object then take the test again to determine the rate at which their mus would deplete.
After the three of them were tested, it was unsurprisingly Damien who had the least amount of magic left since he'd been draining it almost non-stop since he found out that it didn't really belong to him. Alf had been conserving his magic and therefore had the most left. Rock had used it at every opportunity he had when he wouldn't be seen by a non. As a result, he didn't have much more than Damien left because the more intricate nature of the magic he wove used up more power. At the rate they were going, Rock and Damien would be done within the month whereas Alf would have an indeterminate amount of time to use his power.
[[End mini-scene.]]
Story: Ending Part 8
[[Continuity Note: Alf, Jessica and Damien have a little confrontation in a stair well.]]
As the three of them left the stair well, Alf noticed Alyssa Marx at the bottom, looking up at them curiously.
"Hey Alyssa," Damien greeted her as they walked past.
"Hey Damien," she said, then looked towards Alf. "Hi Alf," she greeted with a smile.
Although shocked that she'd acknowledged him, Alf managed a small "Hey" as they walked past.
"Real smooth, Struthers," Damien laughed once out of her earshot.
"Shut up, Reid," Alf retorted grimly. He hadn't made a fool of himself. Why did Damien have to tease him?
But thoughts of Alyssa Marx left his mind when he saw Rock at the corner of the school grounds.
"Rock!" he called.
The senior looked at them then looked away. He didn't move from his place, though.
"I don't think he's going to acknowledge us either," Damien stated, raising an eyebrow at Alf.
"Yeah," Alf agreed. "I think I pissed off everyone over the past couple days>"
"You didn't piss me off," Jessica inserted.
Alf rolled his eyes. "But I thought I did. You weren't being very nice to me."
"Sorry," Jessica apologised.
"Don't worry about it," Alf said as they drew closer to Rock. "Just help me out with him."
"Hey Rock!" Damien greeted the older boy cheerfully.
"Hey Reed, Jess," Rock greeted in response, not cheerful at all and purposely leaving Alf off.
"Hi," Jessica returned.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," Alf apologised.
Rock frowned. "I don't need your pity."
"And that's what I'm apologising for," Alf stated. "I didn't understand. And you're right; I can't understand. I can't understand because I've never been ostracised like that before."
Rock looked as though he wasn't paying attention, but he hadn't walked away so Alf continued even though his audience (besides Damien and Jessica) didn't seem to be listening.
"I still want to be your friend is what I am trying to say," Alf said finally. "Can't you pity me a little and give me that?"
"We're nothing without you," Damien added. Though he'd objected to Alf being friends with Rock at first it was just jealousy. They needed Rock to even out the balance between the reckless and the cautious. In Damien's opinion, they'd never have any fun if it was just him, Alf and Jessica. It was okay when it was him and Alf, that was balanced. But Jessica was too much like Alf and it was difficult to convince two people to step out of their comfort zones without a lot of compromises. Compromises made everything a lot less fun. And if you had too many of them, it was no fun at all.
"You do make it easier to live in that house," Jessica added. She'd always been stifled in there, but with Rock she found an escape from the pressure inside the house. She didn't have to run off like Rock always had before.
"I guess I still want to be friends with you guys, too." Rock smiled and gathered the three of them into a group hug, shocking the rest of the school outside.
In fact, Ms Mathers, the teacher on duty came closer to investigate this strange occurrence. But upon seeing the smiling faces of the other three teenagers, she was forced to accept that Rock wasn't doing anything wrong, despite the suspiciousness of the situation. After all, Rock was known for being a bully. But that Jessica was his cousin, and all three of them had approached him.
And so that was all tasks completed for Alf (bar getting home and he was pretty sure that he'd manage that one okay). All in all, a good day. Alf was sure that he'd never know the bottom of the friendless pit while his three best friends were alive.
[[End scene.]]
Story: Ending Part 7
[[Continuity Note: Damien and Alf are confronting Jessica in a stairwell at their school.]]
Jessica turned slowly, like a small child who'd been caught dipping their finger in the icing of a cake.
"Why aren't you talking to us, Jessica?"
"I can't tell you," she said. "You'll think it's stupid."
Damien looked at her. "Then obviously it must be, so why are you letting it get to you?" he asked.
"I don't know," Jessica shrugged.
"Just tell us what it is," Alf stated. "I want to make up my own mind about whether or not it's stupid. And to do that I need some information."
"Fine," Jessica grudgingly sat down, and they sat in the relative privacy of the stairwell.
The boys had expectant looks on their faces. "You guys are losing your magic. But that's what brought us together in the first place. I'm getting worried it's all going to go back to the way it used to be. I'll be friendless again."
The blunt honesty of her statement really threw Alf. She was feeling exactly what he was feeling.
"Then why push us away?" Damien asked.
"Literally," Alf added, making a show of rubbing the back of his head where he'd landed.
The trio laughed before Jessica answered. "I figured sooner was better than later."
"You've been listening to the council too long, Jessica," Alf stated. "They're dead boring. Do you want to be dead boring too?"
She shook her head. "But I was right, you did think it was stupid."
"You thought it was stupid yourself," Damien reminded her. "How could we not agree with logic like that?"
"No matter what," Alf said. "We're all still going to be friends. Aren't we?" And looking into his friends' eyes, Alf knew that they agreed with him.
"Can we go and eat now?" Damien asked.
Alf laughed and the trio went down to eat their lunch as they usually would, though only half of their lunch break was left.
[[End scene.]]
Story: Ending Part 6
[[Continuity Note: We now know how Rock, Alf and Damien feel about this whole no more magic situation. Things aren't looking good for Alf.]]
After his disastrous afternoon with Damien, Alf wanted to relax with a friend. Sadly he had no friends that he hadn't managed to insult or offend over the past couple of days so he had to settle for his parents. He ranted to them all night, over dinner as they tried to reassure him that everything would work out in the end. It wasn't the end of the world, they were his friends, they would forgive him. But Alf wasn't sure that they even wanted to be his friends anymore. He'd been down to the bottom of the friendless pit last year and he didn't want a repeat performance.
And suddenly they were rushing him off to bed because school began the next day. Something that Alf had completely forgotten. What was he going to do about school? He had friends, but he wasn't sure if they'd be speaking to him. Alf understood that Damien wanted to use his powers, even if he didn't really agree with that point. Alf understood that Rock was feeling neglected because he had been neglected. But Alf did not understand what was going on with Jessica at all. Her powers weren't about to disappear, so what was the deal with that?
Restlessly, Alf managed to get to sleep late at night.
The next day, Alf decided to pretend was a normal school day. He walked to school. He (hoped) to meet Damien next to the fence. And he'd go to class like normal, and eat lunch with Jessica. He would see Rock randomly and try to start a random conversation. And then he would go home. And it would all be better.
The first part of Alf's plan went over all right. He walked to school. He didn't die on the way there. The second part worked out okay, too. Damien was waiting for him. He acknowledged him even.
"G'day Alf," he greeted. He didn't smile, but that was okay. Alf hadn't apologised yet. Because Damien hadn't done anything wrong, it wasn't his fault that they'd had an argument.
"I'm sorry about yesterday," Alf apologised. "I shouldn't have said anything. You should be able to do what you like with your magic. It is yours for the moment."
Damien smiled. "I'd already forgiven you. It's not your fault you don't understand."
"Thanks," Alf said, and the two of them were back to talking about random things as they always had.
Phase three of the plan: go to class as normal, went well as well. There was the usual first day of school assembly, and arrangement into classes. There was a lot of administration to be undertaken on the first day as always.
The fourth stage of the plan was to eat lunch with Jessica. This proved to be a little harder than Alf had first thought. She wasn't sitting in their usual place by the fence. But he had Damien for back up now. The two of them could find her together.
They found Jessica in the library. She was sitting at one of the tables in a back corner, obviously trying not be seen by anyone. The people she was trying not to be seen by turned out to be Alf and Damien. As soon as she saw them coming she'd packed her bag and started heading around the bookshelves nearby. Damien and Alf split up and attempted to corner her. They didn't manage this until she reached the stairwell outside the library. Alf had already gone down and Damien was following her.
"Why are you running away from us?" Alf asked.
"I wasn't running," Jessica stated, as she attempted to manoeuvre around them. It was going to be difficult if she didn't want to fall and break her neck.
"Maybe you weren't running," Damien said. "But you were definitely trying to avoid us."
"No I wasn't," Jessica stated.
"Okay," Alf stated. "So where are you going then?"
"Bathroom," she stated.
Damien raised an eyebrow. "Then why didn't you use the one upstairs in the library?"
"Because it was taken."
"You didn't even go past it to check."
"It's always taken," Jessica stated. "What is this an interrogation?"
Damien and Alf exchanged a glance. "Yes."
Jessica made a noise of frustration and attempted to push past Alf. Alf went flying and Jessica turned white with fear and guilt.
"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, before rushing down to help Alf up.
"I'm fine," Alf said, sitting up, rubbing the back of his head. It was strange to suffer an injury and have enough presence of mind to know that it was actually being healed by magic as you sat there.
"Not bad," Damien commented. "9 out of 10."
"Real witty there, Damo," Alf commented in return. "Real witty." He watched as Jessica tried to sneak away. "Stop!"
[[Um, there's a day missing here somewhere. Oops. And I'm going to eat now. Bye.]]
Story: Ending Part 5
[[Continuity Note: Alf has a D&M with himself. Realising that he's a different person.]]
The next day, the day before school started and a Thursday, Alf headed for Damien's house after breakfast. His spontaneous visit was temporarily put on hold when he found no one home. Not sure if he wanted to face Jessica or Rock yet, Alf returned home.
In the afternoon, Alf rang Damien's house this time, not wanting to run into the same problem he had earlier in the morning. Damien picked up and consented to meeting with Alf. They arranged to meet up at the corner where they used to meet before everything started.
When Alf arrived at the corner, Damien wasn't there yet. He sat on his usual step as he waited, wondering when the last time he'd been here was.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Damien voiced over Alf's shoulder, obviously thinking what Alf had been.
"I know what you mean," Alf agreed.
"Hey," Damien greeted him with a smile.
That smile was a relief to Alf. Although he'd suspected that things between him and Damien were okay since he'd agreed to meet with him, he hadn't been certain until he saw Damien then. "Hey," Alf responded.
"What did you want to do?" Damien asked as they began walking. Walking with no destination in mind.
"Let's just walk," Alf said. They used to do that. Usually they'd head over to the park and Damien would try to coax Alf into chucking a footy around. Or they'd attempt to go fishing in the stream. But all they had were lines with fake flies attached, no hooks. So they never caught anything. Often they'd just sit there and talk. They'd talk so much that Damien would feel like they were being too much like girls and so would tackle his friend. But other times, they'd just walk.
Damien nodded in response. "Something normal," he stated.
As they walked, Alf sometimes felt as small spray of water hitting him. Though it cooled him a little under the afternoon heat of an Australian summer sun, he wondered where it was coming from. Eventually he noticed that it seemed to be coming from Damien's fingers.
"Damien," Alf said, stopping his friend from walking any further. "What are you doing?" he asked accusingly.
"What do you mean?" Damien asked, hiding his hands behind his back. But since Alf knew what he was looking for, he could see the cool tell tale spray of liquid spurting from behind Damien's back.
"Are you using your magic in public?" Alf asked sternly.
Damien's expression quickly turned into a scowl. "So what if I am?"
Alf frowned. "What do you mean 'so what if I am'? You don't know who's watching. So stop it."
"No one would notice if you hadn't called attention to it," Damien shot.
"Why are you even doing it?" Alf asked. "It's not that hot."
Damien gave him a look.
"Okay, so maybe it is that hot. But it's bearable. And if you're really that hot we could have hung out at the gelato place instead."
"I'm doing it because I want to use my magic," Damien stated. "It's got nothing to do with the weather."
"You want to use it?" Alf was confused. "What happened to being the guy who would never use his magic ever again?"
"Are you that dense?" Damien asked his friend. "If I use up all the magic then it's gone forever. Then I can go back to being a normal guy again."
"Oh," Alf finally comprehended. He'd known that Damien didn't want to use his magic. But he hadn't realised that that's what he'd do to get rid of it. He hadn't really understood until now. Hadn't really understood how desperately he'd longed to be rid of it. Hadn't understood how differently the two of them thought.
"I don't understand why you're not doing it too," Damien said to his friend. "Don't you want to go back to the way it's always been?"
Alf shrugged. "Not really. I have more friends now."
"I forgot," Damien deadpanned. "You're not the one lying to his parents every time he goes out."
"I'm sorry you can't tell your parents, Damien. But you can't blame that on me. It's not my fault."
"No," Damien agreed. "But you could be a little more understanding."
"I guess," Alf said. "I don't understand why you don't like magic, even with that taken into account. And what if there does come that time when you want to save someone's life and you can't because you used up all your magic."
Damien frowned. "That won't be my problem. Because I'll know that there wasn't anything I could do to help them anyway."
Alf gaped as Damien stormed off. Why was his entire life falling to pieces around him?
[[End scene.]]
Story: Ending Part 4
[[Continuity Note: After everything falls apart, Alf has a D&M with Rock.]]
After speaking with Rock, Alf could only go home and deal with what had been dealt him. It was strange, how such a short amount of time having something could suddenly become such a big part of yourself. Having magic had become part of his identity.
Who was Alf Struthers before he'd become a magic user? How could he go back to being that person? And he would have to. The council had ruled that he, Damien and Rock were to be treated as though they were nons, even now while they still had magic. Supposedly it would be better in the long run, for them not to get too used to it. But Alf already had. He'd forgotten who he was.
He hadn't listened to any of his favourite rock groups since he'd found out. The Go-Betweens, The Rolling Stones, The Killers, The Church, INXS, Deep Purple, Queen... He hadn't heard a single word of them since before that fateful day when he'd left Rock stranded in a parking lot. And though it had all worked out, nothing could get him to forgive himself about that. And because of it, he'd always want to be there for Rock. But right now he couldn't. Alf berated himself. How had he managed to screw that up? The old Alf would never have done that, would he? He didn't know.
He hadn't watched a single cricket match or tennis game since he'd found out. The Ashes were on, and Alf hadn't caught a single minute. He wouldn't be able to tell you who had won. The single most important series of test matches in the Australian/English cricket calendar. The one event that you couldn't be caught dead missing if you were a cricket fan, even if you hated the Australian team at the time. The most important matches of the year, and Alf would not be able to tell you whether the convicts or the poms had won. Even if he could tell you everyone who'd ever won in the years before that. Even if he could tell you the final scores, wickets taken and runs scored by each player on both teams from each of the ten Ashes series before that.
He hadn't eaten anything strange like tacos with no filling, or asked to have cheese melted on the top of his pide from the local kebab shop. He'd eaten whatever was on his plate without pouring extra (unneeded) sauce on top of it. He'd never asked for things removed or added to his Big Mac at McDonald's. And no one had commented on it. People liked the new Alf Struthers better.
On the other hand, he could now tell you the botanical and common names of every plant in his family's garden, as well as at school. He hadn't quite gotten around to naming every single one at the Aldus house, though. Simply because they had such a wide variety.
Alf could now list the forty-eight shades of brown from Nick Earls' book since he could now name that many different brown birds.
Alf hadn't realised how different he'd become, how his habits had changed, just because he'd found out that he could use magic. He wasn't as shy as he used to be. He wasn't as keen on following the rules. He had hardly paid attention to his school work in the past few weeks of year nine.
Alf was a different person. And he was pretty sure that he couldn't go back to being the old Alf Struthers even if he tried. And he was pretty sure that he didn't want to go back to being the old Alf Struthers.
[[End 'scene']]
Story: Ending Part 3
[[Continuity Note: So, we have a council meeting and it finishes.]]
As soon as the meeting was over, Damien left the room as quickly as possible, zooming away on a gust of wind. Alf left slowly, and met Jessica outside who was wondering why Damien had left so quickly. They waited outside the room for Rock who was taking his time, looking utterly depressed. Alf and Jessica each grabbed one of his arms and they headed to the conservatory to have a talk. Jessica hadn't been deemed important enough to attend the meeting so she needed a lot of filling in. Since Rock was in absolutely no mood to talk, it left Alf to explain the entire thing to Jessica.
"Basically," Alf began his summary of events. "The magi-scientists studied our magic and discovered that it was all the same."
"But that's impossible," Jessica breathed, incredulous. "Surely that was a mistake?"
"No," Alf stated. "It's actually because our magic isn't normal. It's a mixture of all the extra magic that's come out of your family since they've been living here. And since it ran out of things to do, it went looking for people to help. People being me, Rock, and Damien. So basically we've only got borrowed magic. It's not going to last forever like yours will. It will eventually run out; even faster if we use it."
"Oh," Jessica frowned. "So the three of you will be back to normal one day?"
"Yes," Alf confirmed. "Back they way we were before this all started. Worse off, I think. Because the magic's been healing us the entire time we've been alive, pretty much."
"Oh," Jessica looked at the ground, trailing her fingers along the stone bench she was sitting on. She then stood, not making eye contact with Alf. "I've got -ah- things to take care of," she said, before running away.
Alf stared after her, wondering what could possibly be so important. He looked at Rock. "So," he said. "What's the matter with you?"
Rock just laughed. It was a mocking, hysterical sort of laugh. The sort of laugh that had that empty ridiculing sound of hyenas, not the cheerfulness of kookaburras. "What do you think?" he finally spat, a look of contempt on his face. Though Alf wasn't entirely certain that it was aimed at him.
Alf looked at him blankly and shrugged.
"Of course," Rock nodded to himself. "You don't think."
And for some reason, that little insult cut Alf deeper than any Rock had ever thrown at him before. Even deeper than any he'd said when they weren't friends. And maybe it was because they were friends now. It's easy to ignore someone who doesn't matter. They can't hurt you if they don't know you. Rock was blocking him out. Jessica too, if he thought about it. Maybe even Damien, with the speed he'd left the ballroom. He didn't want them to shut him out. Weren't they all friends in the end?
"You don't know what it's like," Rock started. "To be an outcast within your own family. And to be worse than an outcast, really. Because everyone looks at you with pity. It might have been better if people had just ignored me. And then I had it. Magic. The one thing that would make me the same as them. And then they call us all in there and tell us that it's going to go away. It's only temporary, borrowed. It sucks, Alf, you know? It sucks big time." He let out a half-hearted chuckle in response, as though not believing his own awful luck. The irony of the situation. The way the fates played with them.
And Alf didn't know what to say in response. How could he reassure Rock that everything would all be okay, that losing your magic wasn't the end of the world? Surely his family loved him. Would continue to love him? But Rock had felt so unloved before, and surely it was the same thing. How could he tell Rock that no magic wasn't the end of the world, when he wasn't sure that even he believed that himself?
But he wouldn't pity him. That was the one thing that Rock hadn't wanted. He wouldn't. So it disturbed Alf when the only thing that could come out of his mouth after that was "I'm sorry."
And the disbelieving look on Rock's face was all it took to shatter Alf completely. Why had it all gone so badly? How had it all gone so badly.
[[End scene.]]
