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"How?" Garnet let out a little laugh. "Let me guess, you still don't believe me." It was to be expected. He wasn't sure this guy would like his explanation very much, though. "I'm just connecting to the magic of the city. It's there for the taking if you're willing to learn how." Garnet gestured around them at the buildings and streets. "It's not as simple as whatever you Modern Magic users do, but I think it's a lot more real."
Ro frowned. "The city doesn't have any magic. The old wizards would use the forests or something like that. The city isn't alive, you can't possibly be using its magic, because it doesn't have any." he said slowly. He was still curious, though, and he wanted to satisfy that curiousity. Anything to avoid going home.
"It does have magic because it is alive." Garnet crossed his arms. "How else would I be able to do any sort of magic, huh?" He shook his head and quickened his pace. "Do I really need to get Jo herself down here to explain this to you?" Jo was the god and/or personification of magic and the patron god of the Acadamy, so he guessed that this guy would at least listen to her a little bit. She was also the god and/or personification of the city itself. She was very fond of saying that, even though he and the rest of the witches and wizards already knew it.
Ro paused for a moment at the name, cocking his head. "No, that doesn't make any sense." he replied, catching up to Garnet again after a moment. "How can a city be alive? And what do you mean, get Jo down here? Jo is…" well, teh gods didn't hardly visit, as far as most people knew, so how could Garnet claim he could bring her down?
"It's 'cause of all the magic! Don't you know how the city was founded? A bunch of wizards and witches made it their home and did so much magic that it made the city come alive. At least, that's how Jo says it went." Garnet shook his head. "Well, it's not a guarantee, but she does like appearing when people argue about this. Sometimes even when there is no argument whatsoever." He might as well try. Garnet reached into the holding case hanging from his waist, fumbling around a little until he found what he was looking for. A small paper charm that just said 'Jo' in fancy calligraphy. Placing it on his palm, Garnet passed his other hand over it and whistled a cheerful little melody. The paper burst into flames that burned for only a few seconds before going out, leaving the paper untouched.
Ro arched an eyebrow at him, shaking his head s little. "That doesn't make any sense. That's not how magic works." He argued, frowning a little bit as he looked at Garnet, watching the paper for a moment. "What does…what's that supposed to be for?" He asked, eyes flickering around for a moment.
"That is how magic works. Not all magic has to be constrained by all those strict rules Modern Magic uses," Garnet snapped, slipping the paper back into his holding case. "And to answer your question, I just attempted to summon Jo. There's no guarantee she'll show up, but it's worth a shot." Garnet shrugged, desperately hoping that Jo would appear and help him argue with this guy.
"Garnet!" An old woman appeared on the sidewalk right in front of him, spooking him just a bit. He'd forgive her, of course, because she'd answered his prayers. "What can I help ya with?" Jo–because it really was Jo–glanced from Garnet to his annoying companion and frowned slightly. "Is this guy bothering ya?" Unlike the wizards and witches Garnet normally talked with, Jo was visible to anyone who happened to be passing by. He guessed it was because she was a god instead of just a wizard/witch, even though she looked like any other old person he'd have seemingly one-sided conversations with.
"Modern magic has rules because rules help it make sense. Rules give you a framework to work inside of. Besides, some of them can be broken safely, you just have to know which ones." He pointed out, then looked at the old woman. He raised his eyebrows faintly, studying this old woman who had appeared from thin air. He didn't say anything, just watching Garnet and Jo.
"Ah, no, not really. Just asking a lot of questions," Garnet muttered, shooting the man a slight glare. Jo nodded, then let out a breath and turned her attention to the man.
"Magic doesn't need rules, and it doesn't need to make sense. It's something more felt and nudged in the right direction than ordered," she explained, spreading her hands. "Which is why it's more powerful than Modern Magic."
Ro studied her, eyes narrowing faintly as he listened. "No, magic has rules so that it can be made sense of, and utilized properly." he replied, not quite believing that this woman could be the Jo. The goddess. It had to be some sort of trick, some complicated bit of magic that had made this possible.
"There's no reason for it. Why should someone learn all this stuff just to light their fireplace?" Jo argued, glancing towards Garnet with a look. It probably meant something along the lines of, 'why in the world did you bring me here to argue with a Modern Magic-user, I hate you'.
"I thought you liked doing this," Garnet narrowed his eyes at her.
"I'm not feeling it today. By the way, did Greg talk to you yet about the… problem we're having?" Jo lowered her voice, leaning towards him in a rather weak attempt to keep the stranger from overhearing, as it was still said loud enough for him to hear.
"No, I'm going over there now."
His eyes flickered between the two of htem. "Because if you don't, you can blow up the house instead of igniting the wood. It helps with control and channeling, if you know the rules and know how it all works." he crossed his arms.
"That's why ya learn to feel the magic. Not the rules that keep it constrained, but the way it actually works on its own. Ya learn to see it, talk to it, and nudge it in the right way." Jo shook her head, leveling Garnet with a glare. "Next time, use that for something that's actually an emergency, alright? I have places to be." Jo gave the stranger a curt nod, then disappeared.
"Jo!" Garnet sighed heavily. "Nevermind. To Greg. And you, stop following me."
Ro frowned faintly when Jo vanished again, shaking his head for a moment. "Why?" He asked. "Are you doing something important?" He didn't want to go home. Not when it meant Josef would be ordering him around for the rest of the day, making him do things.
"No, not at all. Just going to discuss the potential death of the city with Greg. Nothing too important." Garnet sighed heavily. He really shouldn't be getting so annoyed with this guy, but he was causing him all sorts of trouble. "I mean, you could come, but you'd just be watching me talk to myself for a while, so…" Garnet shrugged. "Doesn't seem that interesting, does it?" He peered at the stranger, hoping that he would decide he would be bored and that coming would be a waste of time.
"Sounds more interesting than house cleaning." Ro gave Garnet an insufferable smile. "Which is what I'd be doing otherwise." was this a dick move when Garnet so clearly wanted to get rid of him? Yes, probably. Did he care? …not really. Did that make him a dick? Maybe so. He didn't know. Nor did he really care all that much.
Garnet pressed his lips together, wishing quite hard that he had one of Cathy's invisibility charms on him. That way he could escape from this guy. "Fine, just don't blame me if Greg pushes you off the docks." He shrugged and quickened his pace, hoping very much that Greg would push this guy into the ocean. It would be funny and hopefully, get him to stop following him. "Why am I more interesting than literally anything else you could be doing?"
"Because if I don't follow you then I have to go home, and if I go home, I have to do a lot of chores, and that sounds boring." Ro explained, following after Garnet with that faint, insufferable smile still printed across his face.
"So go walk around the merchant sector. I bet it's a hundred times more interesting than I am." Garnet ducked into an alleyway, one of many shortcuts he knew in the city. About halfway through the alleyway, he spotted a deep blue door patterned with waves and a golden sun pop into existence on the brick wall. Interesting. He must be annoyed enough that Sarah's Safehouse decided to pop into existence to try and give him a nice bath to calm down. He tapped the door on his way past as a way to thank the god for showing up and trying to save him, but kept going down the alley. He could relax after he'd talked to Greg.
Ro kept following him. "Ah, but this way I don't get swarmed by people trying to sell me something. Far better. Plus, I don't get bothered by classmates or anyone trying to recruit me." as the Golden Boy of the academy, he had a lot of offers for employment and positions. It irritated him.
"I suppose." Garnet sighed, wishing that he had taken up Sarah's Safehouse's offer. "What do you mean, 'recruit' you? Are you famous or something?" He raised his eyebrows at the stranger. If this guy was famous, what in the world was he doing hanging around him? Besides apparently being very against going to his house and doing chores.
"Uh…" He ran his hands through his hair. To be honest, he had kind of assumed Garnet recognized him, though in hindsight that had been a bad assumption to make. "Kind of? I'm Romeo Heath. Though I would prefer if you called me Ro. Not Romeo." Romeo felt like it didn't belong to him. It belonged to the real Romeo. He was a fake, a farce, and the name didn't fit him.
"Oh. Never heard of you," Garnet said dismissively, taking a left out of the alley and continuing along a rather busy street. He didn't really care all that much for the famous people of Eretien. Unless that included the gods and Greg, in which case he did care very much. Regular famous people usually didn't want anything to do with him, so he just returned the favor.
Ro blinked, a bit startled. Most people in Eretien had heard of him. It was actually kind of nice to run into someone who hadn't. Of course, it also made him more curious, and he continued following Garnet. He didn't speak again, just kept following and hoping no one recognized him and tried to stop him to talk.
At least he'd stopped asking questions. Garnet could deal with a silent follower. He wove through crowds of people, which grew the closer he got to the docks. They were always busy. So it was a mystery why Greg and the Gang of Greg liked to hang out there so much. Maybe they were just really big fans of the ocean. Garnet skirted around a group of people practically blocking the entire road and burst into the docks proper. He immediately started towards the Gang of Greg's usually hang-out area, casually wondering if he could maybe lose Ro in the crowds. It would be very nice if that happened. Given Ro's previous stickiness, however, he was pretty sure it wasn't going to happen.
Ro kept following Garnet, sticking as close as he could so as not to lose Garnet in the crowds. There were a lot of people here, and while he wasn't sure why, he certainly didn't want to lose Garnet. Not when this was such a fascinating diversion.
Garnet glanced over his shoulder to find that yes, Ro was still following him. He sighed heavily and climbed over a stack of boxes blocking the way towards one of the more rickety areas of the docks, which meant that there were hardly any people over there. There were still people, of course. Just not as many.
"Hey, Garnet!" Garnet glanced towards the voice to see Gerdy waving at him. "You do know there's someone following you, right?"
"Yeah, thanks, I know. It's my new best friend." Garnet gave her a sarcastic smile. "Chances on Greg pushing him in?"
"Pretty high. He's pretty grumpy today." Gerdy sighed heavily. "That's why I'm out here. You know what he's like."
"Do I ever."
Ro made his way over the boxes, still following Garnet. He heard Garnet's words, and frowned a little. The water wasn't a safe place for him; it wore at his skin and started to melt it, turning him back into the earth from whence he had come.
Garnet continued on, eventually stopping in the shadow of a rather empty-looking warehouse. There was a gathering of old people in front of it, loitering around a very beautiful table. On top of it was an old tome. Greg was leaning over it, muttering to himself. The rest of the Gang of Greg were standing around, murmuring among themselves.
"Bah! This is impossible!" Greg exclaimed, slamming the book closed with a shout.
"Hey, Greg." Garnet gave the wizard a wave, wondering if this level of weird would finally drive Ro away. After all, it was him talking to a table with a sentient book on it.
Ro stayed a bit back, crossing his arms and watching Garnet quietly. He didn't know who this Greg guy was, but that was fine. He didn't need to know. He just wanted to hear. It gave him something to do rather than go home, and that was really all he wanted for now. So this was fine.