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‘I’m right here with you’ The thought appeared in Dear’s mind, helping to ground them as they prepared to tell Abby. “Hey Abby?”
The ever-energetic girl turns to look at them, both sitting on Rose’s couch in her rather cozy living room. Exscaleibur sat in her arms. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“Can we talk for a minute?"
“Okay! So you finally got to tell me why I'm here or- oh,” Dear was looking right at her, their prior cheery expression gone, “You look serious. Getting a little nervous but, sure, say whatever you gotta say…”
They shifted in their seat as they spoke, struggling to keep eye contact. “So, you remember when we talked about magic?”
Sitting up a bit at that, Abby responds, “Yeah, I remember that… It was a while ago but, I mean, my life’s getting to talk about magic and stuff like that, so getting to chat with you on a philosophical level, it was nice… Not sure what that has to do with now.”
Rose’s gaze shifts from Abby to the clearly anxious Dear, who has stopped talking and is just sat there, she sends them a thought in an attempt to help, ‘Deep Breath. You can do it.’
“Well, if you've got something to tell me, then tell me. I'm all ears, I promise…” Abby says, looking between the two.
“So you remember what I said when we spoke about magic?”
“Yeah. We talked about this, I know you don’t think magic is real, like, we had a whole discussion about it. Real magic- listen, I run a supernatural podcast but I still think that concept is pretty subjective, we don't need to all agree on what magic is- I mean this I don't care if you don't believe in magic you don't gotta pretend that you do just to be on the same level what's…” Abby’s train of though is only stopped by what they said next.
“Abby, magic is real.” Rose quickly follows up, “Abigail, when we say magic, we mean it.”
“Shit, I knew I forgot something.” The two look at her with a mix of surprise and confusion. “Yeah I kinda already knew that.” The tension in the room disappears, as the two wielders just sat there, befuddled.
“Abigail, what do you mean you already know?”
“Like, I already know about magic and all that, what are you two anyway, wielders, shifters, Bud I know your not a vampire cause I’ve seen you in the sun but Rosey here…”
“But you weren’t in the NWL database, I confirmed several times with the Bureau, I checked under Abigail, Abby, there wasn’t even anyone with your last name in the system.”
“Well that’s cause they probably think im dead,” she says matter of factly, after getting suitable confused and concerned looks from the others she continues, “Okay I figured I’d tell you two this at some point anyway, just not this soon. I’m trans, changed my name, gender, all that legal stuff after graduating college. Before that, I was made an NWL cause I was one of those cryptid hunters that was a little too good at their job, and the Bureau had to tell me just so I knew what not to talk about. So after I graduated, made the podcast, and forgot to tell them I changed my name. From what I heard from some other trans NWL’s theres a slight issue in their system where when someone legally changes their first name, they get treated as if they are dead and the Bureau has to re-add them to the system. I kinda forgot to reach out to them so they kinda just figured I was dead, and that was why you couldn’t find me.”
“So the entire time we were doing our best to not let you know about magic, all the worrying about telling you, was for nothing cause you already knew!?” Dear exclaimed, before falling over slightly and whispering, “I was so worried you’d be mad, I was so worried you’d not want to spend time with us anymore.”
“Bud, even if I didn’t know you wouldn’t have lost me, id probably be more stuck to you two cause Id need answers.” A certain intensity filled her voice as she said the last bit.
“You already knew, she already knew. Well Abigail, since you already know all that, we can skip to if you have any questions for us.” Rose says, trying to keep herself composed.
“My initial question is still there, what are you two?”
“Well I’m a telepath, and they are an open wielder.”
“So you can just look into my mind and see what im thinking? Have you done that before? If you did how did you not know I knew?”
“Well, I could have found that out, if I ever looked. I am going to be honest, your mind is a bit overwhelming to look into, you are thinking about so many things at the same time, and there is no way to sort through it all.”
“Well that’s the neurodivergence for ya, cant really help with that. And Bud, an open wielder, what are you doing working at a library here in Glenwood, no offence Rosey, it just seems like you could be doing so much more.”
Rose gives her a slightly indignant look before answering, “They are interning so they can finish their education. The universities can be a lot, and not everyone is built for them, so the Bureau allows wielders to study under one another instead. We make use of the library’s store of magical texts for most of their learning.”
“Is that why there’s always so many encyclopedia’s on the desk all the time, I thought there was something up with those”
“Yes, I’ll get you a new library card so you can see what we are up to now. I hope you won’t be interrupting our lessons though.”
“I wont, honestly, might listen in a bit, just cause I figured this all out doesn’t mean I know everything. Anyway I remember you were taking something out the oven earlier, so you got snacks or something?”
Rose gets up with a sigh and heads for the kitchen, while Abby and Dear resume fawning over Exscaleibur. The rest of the night goes quietly and calmly, as the three just spend the time enjoying each others (and Exscaleibur’s) company.