Lords And Ladies (2.18)

“Eva, please tell her to wait a minute.  Or call back later.   Please.   I’m very busy, having a little drama with Anilin right now - please don’t tell her that.”

“...She heard it,” says Eva, wincing.

“...Okay, well.  I need to go take care of her first, okay?  So just...Hang tight.  Very busy today.”

“I could keep an eye on her?”  offers Eva, suddenly.

“Um, no, no, this is my fault,” says Kitty, creeping towards the stairs and back stepping up them as if expecting another person with a gun and a fedora to burst through the door.  She bolts to her door, twisting the handle.   Locked.  She knocks politely on the door.

“Annie?” she calls out softly.  There is no whimper, no little reassurance that Annie is okay, no demand to go away.  Just...nothing.

Kitty clenches her first in anger - not at Annie, gods know, but at herself.  She calls out again, quietly, listening for an answer.

"Kitty..." says a voice on the other side of the door, weakly.  Nothing else.  The voice sounds pitiful, small, and not at all the boisterous, enthusiastic, and - admittedly - slightly unhinged voice Kitty was used to.

"Annie...Can we talk?  I want to talk."

"You're just going to roll your eyes again at something stupid I said.  Why bother?"

"Annie...I won't.  I promise.  Please.  This is all my fault.  I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."  She rests her head against the door, shutting her eyes.  "I'm sorry I didn't believe you.  I'm sorry I kept rolling my eyes at you and treating you like a little child.  I'm sorry I just...smiled and nodded at your...charms and magic.  I'm sorry I tried to sell them.  I'm sorry, because I know I'm the pain.  I'm the brat.  I'm the fool, Annie.  It's me."

Her voice cracks, her palms sweat.  She had thought nothing of it at the time, but now every single veiled insult, every eye roll, every...mere toleration of her girlfriend comes flooding back into her mind, clear and vivid and painful.  Every denial that they had something.  Every refusal of help, putting her and her little sister in worse straits.

The door clicks.  Kitty pulls back as the door opens.  Annie's there, her head down.

"I'm sorry," says Kitty.  "I'm so sorry."

"Kitten...The one person who I know loves me, the one lady I trust, the one girl I've let...touch me...Thinks I'm a fool.  Tolerates me.  Finds my voice irritating.  The one person who I can trust to be honest.  The one.  Single.  F-friend who isn't sucking up to me just because I'm a princess.  There's no one else, Kitty, not right now.  It feels...it feels...poopie"

"Poo-" begins Kitty, and she bites her tongue.  "Annie...I don't have any excuse.  I don't...know anything.  I'm the fool.  I've spent my whole life shut up in this place with nothing but a sister who constantly wanders off and Old World books to keep me company-"

"You have me," says Annie.  "I just don't count."

Kitty's heart doesn't just ache.  It...breaks.

"I've always been here, Kitty.  Every.  Single.  Day.  I'd gladly live here full time if you wanted me to.  But you never did.  You never introduced me as your girlfriend, not until lately.  Kitty, do you realize for how long I wasn't sure if we were a thing or just...experimented?  And how long I've had to watch you and your sister, here, alone, just...refusing my help.  Falling apart.   And if you didn't believe me, you could have just...asked."

"I...never thought to..."

They both stand there, in silence and pain.    Annie sniffles and rubs her eyes.  Kitten returns it in kind.  She rubs her arm.  Stares at the wall.  Breathes in deep, and lets it go.

"Teach me," says Kitty, suddenly.

Annie snaps up.  "Huh...?"

"Teach me how to...to..." Kitty made a series of indecipherable hand gestures.  "To do the magical...thing.  Teach me to be the witchiest...witch."  She gently takes one of Annie's hands.  "Make me your magical girlfriend, like one of those manga."

"I thought you didn't like manga?"

"I don't!  People keep asking me about them!  But I love you Annie, and...I want to be a part of your world."

Annie looks deep into her eyes, biting her lip.  She shuts them, turning away, her face red now.
"What's the matter, Annie?  What's wrong?"

"N-nothing!"  she replies quickly.  "Only..."

"What is it?  I'll do anything..."

"I...can't teach you."

Another ominous silence presents itself.

"...What do you mean, you can't teach me?"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

Annie bites her lip again.  "I'm not actually that good."

"What?  I'm sure you're fantastic...Amazing, even.  You're probably the best witch in town."

"Heheheheheh....heheheh...heh...heh..." Annie fiddles with her dress a little.  "Um.  No.  I am the most enthusiastic witch in town.  Well, that's probably not true either, you've seen Mindy.  I bet that girl throws a mean curve ball.  Made of fire.  A fireball, if you will."

"What about all those charms?"

"Oh, well, I made those with the power of love," says Annie.

A big, enthusiastic, awed smile crosses Kitty's face.  "The most powerful magic of them all, right?"

"Yes!"  says Annie.  "And, um...No.  Not really.  I mean.  I don't think so.'

Kitty's face went into a free fall, crash landing somewhere between hope and disbelief.

"What?"

"Oh, I mean, love and positive thinking and hope and stuff is powerful!  Just...Um...It would be more powerful.  If I...Was better at being a witch.'  Annie coughs slightly.  "But the gesture means a lot to me Kitty!  I mean, it'll take me some time to get over it, but um...Yeah."

"So...What can you do, Annie?  I'd love to see it..."

"Well...Okay, it wouldn't be fair of me to go through all that and not show you!  That'd be awful.  Just, um...Don't laugh, please?"

"I won't."

Annie smiles, with a little cringe.  She pulls a metal wand out of her bra.  It's ornate, and gorgeous; decorated with silver and saphire.  Distinctive designs resembling a sea serpent snake around the base of the wand, the head of one devouring a sapphire at the tip

Annie takes a few slow, deep breaths before holding out the wand.   Her eyes seem to glaze over in concentration, as if staring off in the distance...

And then a stream of water douses Kitty's face temporarily, knocking off her cat ears.

"Oh," says Kitty, as water drips from her head.

"Yes, heh," says Annie, embarrassed.  "You see, most wizards or witches or whatever the individual prefers have, um..."  Annie clears her throat again.  "Found their familiar by now.  Or been found by their familiar.  It's kind of silly, really, but you know what they say about witches without familiars."

"What do they say?"

Annie  taps her chin.  "...Never mind, it would just make you angry."  Annie snaps her fingers.  "You know what though?   We know some magical ladies.  Right here in this building!"

"You think they could teach us?"

Annie looks thoughtful.  Then she grins wickedly.

"More than that."  She grabs Kitty's arm, pulling her along.  "C'mon!  Come with me!" She shouts, all eager and smiles again.

***

As they come down the stairs, Eva pokes her head in again.

"Duchess," she says quickly.  "The bartender wants you to call back around six-"

"Evangelina!" says Annie happily.

"...Evangeline!  But close, princess," she says, and bows.

"Good enough!  I was drunk when I met."  She grabs Eva's arm.  "...Hot biceps.  Hot hot.  Hey, you know what would be fun?  Coming with me and Kitty.  We're going to do a magic thing!"

"A magic...thing?" asks Eva.   "Magical...lesbian things?"

"Why, yes, sexuality is magical!" says Annie, dragging both girls along now.  "But this is more of 'magical secret things' than 'magical sleepover with Kitty when we were-'"

"Hey!" says Kitty.

"Perhaps..." says Eva, coyly.  "Magical conspiratorial things?"

"Something like that!"

"I like those."

"I thought so!  See, I wasn't that drunk..."


***


"Hello, Bante!" shouts Annie, storming back into the sarcophagus.

"Dante," says Dante, not looking up as he, Roxanne, and Oreo focus on the sarcophagus.

"Right!  Where are your witches?"

Dante's head looks up slowly regarding her with a stare that was piercieven under the unnecessary sunglasses.  "My what?"

"You know!  Mindy, and...The other two.  The ones that are not Mindy."

"...I believe they're hanging out in 312," he says, looking back down.

"Thanks!" shouts Annie gleefully, already dragging them down the hallway.

As the door slams in the distance, Roxanne smirks.

"What's so funny?"

"You didn't ask her what was on the sarcophagus."

"...Damn."



***



Annie slams the door shut behind her after Eva and Kitty are dragged in.  She turns around to the other trio.  Mindy and the...other two Annie doesn't know...are sitting on a bed, chatting away about...who cares!  It's not nearly as interesting as what she's got to say, she knows that.

"Mindy!  Other two!"  says Annie enthusiastically.

"Tara," says Tara.

"Despina, but you can call me Destiny, your majesty."

"Right!  So."  Annie claps her hands together.  "I was thinking.  Kitty's magic, I'm magic, you're all magic...Let's form a coven!"

"...Like a witch co-" begins Kitty, before palming her face  "Right, yes, stupid question, sorry."

"Oooooh.  Sounds shadowy and mysterious," says Eva.  "And sexy."

"You know!   You teach us, we teach you, circle of friendship.  Maybe some pagan worshipping.  Learning new things about magic.  Becoming a mysterious and powerful shadow government once I'm in power.  You know!  A coven."

Everyone in the room seemed to ponder this.

"...That does sound like fun..." says Mindy.  "...And my sister's already on board..."

"Cov-en!  Cov-en!  Cov-en!  Cov-en!" cheers  Eva.

"I though cheerleading was my thing, Eva."

"Cov-en!"

"Could be interestin'," says Despina.  "Certainly wouldn't be boring..."

"I don't know you," says Tara.  "And I'm pretty sure neither of you know Despina.  This is a really, really poorly thought out idea.  No disrespect, princess."

"So we're agreed then?' says Annie.

"Yes!' says Eva.

"Um," says Kitty.

"I'm going to enjoy this, at least," says Mindy.

"I don't have anything better to do on weekends," says Despina.

"This is a terrible idea," says Tara, "and I don't want to go along with it."

"But you are anyway, right?" says Mindy.

"Yes."

"Yesssss!"  shouts Annie, punching the air and running a lap around the room.  "We've got so much to plan, now!  Schedules, secret handshakes, meeting places, rituals, lesson plans, uniforms...Hats!  I'm going to knit so many hats."

"Don't we need a name first?" asks Mindy.

"YES!  A name, name, we need a name...Something magic-y and order-y and coven-y and yesssss!' Annie skids to a stop.  "...Does anyone have a name?"