Finders Keepers

[all_too_familiar]

Sometimes witches have powers before they turn. But this is rare, uncommon.

More often, a potential witch displays almost nothing out of the ordinary at all. Just, say, a little more skill with people, a little more natural charisma. An extra dose of something that could almost be called luck, if one were paying attention and on the lookout for witches.

There is one such maybe-potential, right over there. He's not from around here, but he is fluent in Italian and French and German and he professes that English is his first language and laughs when people call him a liar because of his perfect accent. He might not be the most powerful, but a polyglot witch could be useful for something. And who knows, maybe there's more to it.

Maybe someone would care to find out.

Comments

[honey_twining]

"Witchcraft can run in families. It doesn't always, but it can. If you have a power the Volturi want, they'll pay attention to you. You can't adopt children, not young ones anyway - unless you want to lie to them their whole lives, somehow pretend to be human. If you turn a child that's the death penalty for you and anyone who shelters you, so you'd have to be ready to have the immortality you want so much held in your mouth and not give it to any children you were ever near. You might also have some concern for the state of your soul."

[poll_the_stars]

"I would not want to turn them when they were children," she says primly, "because they would then be children for the rest of eternity and that is a really terrible idea. If I draw the Volturi's attention I will handle that accordingly, but the mere possibility's not enough to scare me off. And..." She peers at Edward, a little confused. "The state of my soul?"

[honey_twining]

"Well," Edward sighs. "Most of us couldn't help it, but the bargain's a little classical, isn't it?"

"Edward believes we've lost our souls," Carlisle murmurs. "I don't think it can be as simple as that, but it might be worth considering if you're giving up more than just your human lifetime."

[poll_the_stars]

"Ah," she says, after a pause. "Yes, I suppose that's worth considering. Hm."

She considers.

She is of the opinion that if a god kept innocent vampires out of eternal paradise, even when they were turned unwillingly, even if they didn't kill anyone, she doesn't want to be in that god's paradise anyway. Also maybe wants to commit some blasphemy. ... Also probably wants to commit some blasphemy. Killing deities is viable, right? Right. Just give her time and maybe a pocketknife, she'll be good to go.

Besides, this is a thing she can't really know or account for, is it? She was never a fan of churches that talked about what God needs you to do in order to be Saved. Because no god has shown up to actively demand anything of anyone in particular, at least as far as she can tell. Just a lot of people with a lot of conflicting stories all saying that their way is the right way. While in the meantime, they commit very real, very living atrocities, and say it is in the name of the soul...

Yeah, no, she can't account for that. She'd go mad. If there is a god, and if he or she is upset with her decisions, he or she will have to understand that she lacked information to work with while trying her sincerest to make the world a better place, and being blamed for making the wrong decision with the weight of eternity while trying to do the right thing is - well. See her thoughts on wanting to commit some blasphemy.

She's not sure how to word this politely.

"The more than just my human lifetime is not actually proven to me. As far as I know, I have just this one life to live, I can't rely on the ideal that I have another in a better place while living this one, or account for the second with proof that I just don't have. Building my life around hearsay is not the way I want to live. And if God does exist, and He has opinions on my conduct, I imagine he will take into account more than just my pedigree when choosing whether I get damnation or not." Or the system is flawed and should cease to be.

Pause.

"Sorry," she says to Edward, she is vaguely aware that he did just get her going, 'Yep, I'd commit some blasphemy.'

[honey_twining]

Edward endures her thought process without further comment, although he doesn't make eye contact.

[poll_the_stars]

She does not want to linger on this topic that causes him distress, she thinks apologetic thoughts in his direction and then attempts to change her thoughts to something that is less, uh, that. She is not interested in attacking his beliefs, just - thinking it through honestly while in her own head. Sorry.

"So, are there any other illegal vampire things that I don't know about? I hadn't known about the children, is there a reason besides it being kind of cruel...?"

[alicornucopia]

"They don't grow up," murmurs Carlisle. "Their memories are as good as any vampires, but they can't improve their impulse control, they never mature. And they are still vampires, and they are - very compelling, very appealing, covens used to die to protect them before the Volturi stamped them out, even as the little ones slaughtered entire villages. For a while the Volturi kept a few, they had the resources to control them - but they never found a way to make them capable of secrecy."

[poll_the_stars]

"Ah. Yes. That's a good reason for immortal children to be outlawed," says Yvette faintly. "Also terrifying."

[alicornucopia]

"I met them. The ones the Volturi were keeping. When I visited the coven, years ago. But even the friendlier among the children, the older ones - the least upset would send them into unrestrained rages. Tantrums with vampire strength behind it."

[poll_the_stars]

Wince.

Those poor children, stuck forever in limbo...

[all_too_familiar]

Right, now his sister is sort of distressed, topic change.

"To go in a completely different direction, I'm curious, do vampires just mate to other vampires? If she kept to places with just humans, would she be fine?"

[alicornucopia]

Carlisle looks at Esme.

"No," he says. "It's no less common for it to happen with humans."

[all_too_familiar]

And the typical response to that is the obvious.

...

And judging from his opinion of the importance of being human, and that - that face... Carlisle had not taken the easy path of 'bite and then true love.' Willingly. He's not quite clear on the details after, because Carlisle's only turned people in emergencies, but there is definitely some 'My mate was human and I let her be so she could live a normal human life' in that gaze.

He's seen mates being mates at each other. That would take a tremendous amount of willpower.

He smiles at Carlisle faintly, but doesn't comment out loud.

[poll_the_stars]

His sister completely misses the nuance present.

"Good to know," she says, because she completely missed the nuance.

She's still not thrilled about the mate bond, but. Knowledge is power.

[honey_twining]

"Another unique distinction Carlisle holds is that he is the only person who's ever managed to meet his mate and leave her," murmurs Edward. "Vampires, in general, cannot do that."

"He did," nods Esme. "It was pure coincidence that he found me again before I died. He wasn't looking."

[poll_the_stars]

Yvette blinks.

"Oh," she says. "I mean, I knew the mate thing was permanent, but um. I continue to be impressed with your willpower."

[all_too_familiar]

Maybe he can convince his sister to join a Carlisle fanclub. Does Edward want to join? They could make t-shirts.

[honey_twining]

Edward smiles only very slightly. But then says, "So that's another consideration for you."

[all_too_familiar]

(Blair is very proud of himself, he earned a smile from Edward, that is damn hard to do, ha!)

[poll_the_stars]

"Yeah. But it's still based on compatibility?"

[honey_twining]

"That's the usual guess, but no one knows for sure how it works."

[poll_the_stars]

"So, magic." Sigh. "Well. I hope my magic mate does not have a high body count."

[honey_twining]

"There's no way to guarantee that. Vampires do mate to other vampires fairly often, and the vampires whose counts are 'zero' and 'one' are already taken."

[poll_the_stars]

What, we can't work out an arrangement with three people, I'm crushed, she thinks, then immediately clarifies that she did not at all mean that and that she's very sorry that Edward has to hear her commentary when it's not at all appropriate for the conversation.

"Noted."

She notes that if Edward were her mate he probably would have noticed by now, which means her viable vampire options are down to three, and they have the highest body counts. (Them being female doesn't seem to matter very much to her.) That's exciting. And by exciting she means augh.

"Still doesn't change anything," she says, and it doesn't. It just bothers her. A lot. New topic, please?

[honey_twining]

Edward shrugs. He does not indicate a sudden burning desire to vampire marry her. "The Denali sisters prefer men," he mentions.