The Silent Circle (boyxboy, PAFP)

It was probably around seven-thirty or so that Lucas woke up as well, a shiver of something slithering across his skul, disrupting his peaceful sleep. But, when he reached out for it with his senses as he regained consciousness, there was nothing there. Figuring he must have imagined it, or perhaps that a bad dream had intruded on his rest, the young man forced himself to get up, as much as he just wanted to go back to sleep. His wards hadn’t been tripped; Which meant there was nothing wrong. Still, he doubted he would be able to go back to dreamland, so he forced himself to rise and shine, properly.

Normally Lucas would have just wandered out into the living room in just a pair of sweatpants, yawning his head off and hoping fervently that Evan was both up and had or was going to make breakfast. And, judging by the smell of pancakes filtering through the house, this morning he had; But Luke wanted to be on his best behavior for awhile, and that did not include his usual routine of trying to bum food off of his roommate just now. So he threw on a t-shirt as well before heading out his door cautiously, feeling a bit like he had when he was a kid and he was sneaking into the kitchen to nick a cookie from the jar. When they’d been able to afford them, of course.

“Uh, hey,” Lucas muttered once he reached the kitchen and he spotted Evan sitting at the table studying. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then shut it again, coloring a bit. Shaking his head slightly, as if to tell himself off, he went over to the fridge and pulled it open, frowning at the contents... Though he did notice the ward stone sitting on the counter.

“Someone made you a ward stone. Good,” Lucas chanced saying, hoping Evan wouldn’t be totally averse to even just a single reference to what had happened last night. At some point Luke would have to tinker with Evan’s stone, connect it to his own wards as a precaution. But now wasn’t the time to go explaining to Evan why he would need magical wards around himself now. Time enough for that a little later once he was in a more receptive mood.

Normally when Lucas got up and Evan wasn’t here, or still asleep, he would just temporarily animate the coffee maker. A few choice sparks of magic into the coffee brew did wonders for the taste, it could almost be considered artisanal... But just suddenly using magic willy-nilly around Evan probably wasn’t the best idea right now, so he settled with setting it up manually, punching a few buttons on the machine to set it brewing.

“Just give me a minute, and I’ll get out of your hair,” he added, knowing that Evan needed to do some studying given that he’d been unable to do it last night. Not at any reasonable hour, at least. Though Luke may not have done much studying for his mundane classes, he’d pulled quite a full all-nighters himself in his room with a privacy enchantment up to make sure Evan didn’t try coming in at an awkward time. Of course, Lucas had been studying something rather different, but the slog was often very similar. A lot of memorization and heavy reading.

OOC: I was thinking about that, and, though I know what I want to do in the long term, I have a few ideas for the short-term too; For today (in the RP) Luke and Evan should probably talk a little bit before he leaves for his exam. Said exam is not exactly going to go how Evan imagines, however. ^.^ I figure something will either happen during the exam, or his teacher will be acting very strangely, and Lucas is going to have to intervene.

Was there a stage somewhere beyond awkward? Because that was what Lucas felt they’d reached. Mortifying? No, that was more like the next level of ashamed... And, as guilty as Lucas did feel for having hurt Evan, he wasn’t ashamed. He’d kept quiet for very good reasons, and those reasons still applied, even if silence was no longer an option. Well, not in the long term, at least. Short term, every word exchanged was beginning to feel like the drop on a particularly crazy rollercoaster. Hope lives ever on, however, as, miracle of miracles and without warning, Evan basically invited Lucas to have some breakfast just as the red-head was taking his first sip of coffee.

“Oh, thank God,” he muttered under his breath, wasting no time in grabbing a plate and a fork from the cupboard and heading over to the table, sliding into one of the chairs diagonal to Evan, so the other man could more easily avoid looking at him, which seemed to be Evan’s new go-to move since last night. It had always been so easy before, like they’d just... Clicked. Now, even this small amount of contact was jarring, and Lucas didn’t like it.

Taking a huge helping of pancakes from the plate, Lucas dug in happily. He could honestly just live on Evan’s cooking forever, and be utterly content. Food preparation was one of the things that magic really couldn’t do; Adding flavor to coffee was one thing. Preparing meals was quite another. Any food cooked with magic came out tasting like something totally different; Hell, Lucas had tried to create lobster once, and it had ended up tasting like potatoes. Like, what? How did that even work? Magic could be a conundrum, sometimes.

“Thanks,” he mumbled inbetween chewing and swallowing one bite and taking another, his dark eyes flicking to Evan for a moment before he refocused his attention on his plate again. Pancakes were love, pancakes were life; But in this case, pancakes were also progress. Every little bit helped.

“I, uh... I know you have that exam, today, but... Maybe when you get back later, we can talk about this?” Lucas asked hesitantly a minute or two later, glancing up at Evan again. “You know, only if you want to. If you don’t, that’s totally okay too, I understand. There’s no, um, rush, or anything!” he added quickly before Evan could reply to his question, backpedaling from a perceived push on his part. The last thing he wanted was to get his roommate wound up again and suffer through another tongue-lashing like last night.

Lucas had never been forced to explain his alternate life to anyone before. Everyone he’d ever known, before last night, had either already known about magic, or had been completely in the dark. He honestly had no idea how he was even going to begin to get Evan to understand what he’d been doing with his life for the last four years. The Liber Speculum would help, obviously, but still... And, yet, there was a part of Lucas that was actually looking forward to it, he realized with not a small amount of surprise. One of the best ways to learn a subject more thoroughly was to teach it, after all. Would Evan have the same level of sheer fascination with the Art as Lucas first had, when he’d been recruited four years ago? He supposed only time would tell, but he very much hoped so.

OOC: I know, it’s both adorable and exhausting at the same time, especially because even though Evan is the one just learning about a magical world, he’s not the only one in totally uncharted territory here.

P.S. Also I spent, like five minutes staring at the gif I’m using for Lucas, and I’ve suddenly decided that it’s actually kind of creepy, so I’m changing it. XD

Okay, good, he’d said yes. Now he’d have a chance to really get into some of this stuff with Evan once he got back later. He’d have to be a little cautious, of course. This new world being a little overwhelming was inevitable, but Lucas didn’t want Evan to be thrown into the deep-end just yet. He’d start with the minor stuff; What magic basically could and couldn’t do, how people like Luke tapped into it, and things like that. Foundations were good.

Evan’s statement about studying with friends was almost certainly code for “I need to get out of here for awhile”, which, while a little discouraging, Lucas did understand. And, having no intention of pushing his roommate any farther than he had to yet, the red-head just nodded.

“Okay. Uh... Good luck, on your exam. I know Monroe can be a hard-ass with those things,” he replied, giving Evan a little wave and an attempt at his usually easy smile, which, while only partially successful, was something, at least.

“Definitely,” Luke agreed to Evan’s question about seeing him later. “I’ve got a few things to-... Um. A few incantations to memorize, anyway,” he went on after a moment, coloring a little as he almost, by sheer force of habit, obfuscated what he was really planning on doing. If Evan was going to trust him again, though, he had to start telling the truth about what he was doing on a day-to-day basis, and his own studies were a part of that.

Just before Evan was able to actually leave, however, Lucas just couldn’t help himself. He’d decided to do it later, but now, with Evan literally walking out the door, he found he didn't want to risk waiting. If something happened to the other man in the meantime... No, better to be safe when it came to Evan’s freaking life.

“Actually, hang on a second,” he said, rising from his seat and circling around the table to grab the ward stone that Evan had left on the counter. Holding it in his left palm, he tapped the stone softly with his right index finger, willing a connection between the object and himself. The rune on the stone flared into golden life instantly, and Lucas frowned down at it as he focused, quickly snapping his fingers and flicking his hand back down at the object. The air between his hand and the stone seemed to shiver for a moment, as if someone had dropped a pebble into a pond, and then both the air and the stone calmed down, leaving the latter looking no different than it had when he’d picked it up.

“I know I’m not really in a position to be asking favors, Evan, but I’d really like you to keep this on you,” Lucas said, walking over to his roommate and proffering the stone to him. “I can explain exactly why later, when you get back. Can you do that for me?” he asked hopefully. He’d connected the stone to his own personal wards, which would now extend around Evan for so long as the man had the stone on him. It was likely an overly cautious move, but, hey, better safe than sorry, right?

OOC: Thanks :P Poor Evan is in for a bit of a scare in a bit. (Muahahaahhaha)

Professor Monroe had a predilection for the dramatic, and he didn’t disappoint this time; The door to the classroom slamming open as the man strode inside like a soldier on a mission. Most of the students in the class glanced up at him, and most also tried to resist the urge to groan; Judging by the look On his face, this exam was going to be a particularly brutal one. The more relaxed Monroe was in class, the worse it generally was for his students... And he was looking positively serene.

“Hello, class. You know the drill for these things; You’ll have an hour and a half to complete the exam. There will be no talking during the exam, and if I see so much as the tiniest corner of a cell phone, I will kick you out and give you an F for the whole thing,” the dark-haired man announced, marching over to the whiteboard and turning his back on the class, collecting a marker and starting to write something on the board; Likely the rules, just in case anyone could possibly forget given how many times they must have done this by now.

He went on after a few moments of writing. “You should all be ready for this exam. If you aren’t, it’s entirely your fault for neglecting to study in favor of partying, or doing keg stands, or whatever it is you do these days. This exam counts for a full twenty-percent of your grade in my class, so hope to God that you-“

And then something odd happened; Monroe stopped. No, that’s not quite the right word. He didn’t stop so much as he just froze, as if someone had just flipped a switch somewhere inside of him. He just stood there, arm raised, marker in hand, doing absolutely nothing, totally and utterly still, for the next several long, awkward moments. A few nervous coughs sounded around the room, and a few students shivered a little as the temperature suddenly seemed to drop, weirdly. Finally one student got up the courage to say something.

“Um... Professor? Are you okay?” a petite girl who always sat near the front asked cautiously.

“Turn it off.”

The words seemed to have come from Monroe, but there was something very wrong with his voice, something empty, and cold, and eminently angry. The professor started to move again with an abrupt and almost jerky energy, his arm moving much faster than before as he started to scrawl on the whiteboard in large, messy writing, far-removed from his usually neat style;

Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off, turn it off, turn it off, turn it off, turn it off, turn it off. Over and over again.

“Jesus, is this a prank or something? I didn’t think Monroe had it in him!” a boy sitting near Evan said, amazed.

“Turn it off. Turn it off. Turn it off. Turn it off. Turn it off. Turn it off.”

Except now it wasn’t just Monroe, and it was no prank; The students sitting near the front had, even as the idea of a prank was being floated, stiffened just like Monroe had. And, out of their mouths, came the same three words on repeat, like a tape stuck on a loop. And then the row behind them started doing it too. And then the row behind that one. The voices grew louder, and louder, every moment more joining the chant, and, the closer to Evan it got, the hotter the ward stone in his pocket became. Evan felt no particular urge to start screaming about turning something off, protected as he was by Lucas’ wards, but with every passing moment the chant was growing louder as every other soul inside the large classroom succumbed in record time.

The whiteboard was covered entirely now, and Monroe had started to write on the walls to the side of it. The students were doing it too, using their pens and pencils to scrawl the words onto notebooks, their desks, textbooks and loose notes, the sound rising, twining with the cacophany of the chant that had now reached a fever-pitch. Within moments, even the students sitting right at the back, to the sides of Evan, right next to him even, were acting just as crazy as the rest of them.

And then bad became worse. Monroe finally stopped writing, though his chant never stopped, and he turned around to face the students. One might have expected a crazy look in his eyes, or perhaps some kind of weird smile or sneer. But the reality was even more terrifying; His expression was totally blank, his eyes utterly empty, as he began to slowly walk forward, every step taking him closer to Evan, his cold eyes fixed resolutely on the young man.

“TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF, TURN IT-“

OOC: The door will not open if Evan tries it, FYI. ^.^ I figured I’d let Evan freak out a bit, then Lucas will come to the rescue, if that’s good with you!

Lucas knew that something was wrong a few minutes before anything actually happened to Evan. He’d felt it again, just like he had when he’d first woken up this morning, a sort of slithering sensation, like something slimy had just brushed up against his skin. He knew that feeling, because he’d felt it, really felt it, once before, in the presence of something he’d never wanted to come face to face with ever again, even though the first time there had been a massively powerful summoning circle inbetween him and it. Not all aspects of Lucas’ world were pretty. Or safe.

Evan didn’t even cross his mind at first, at least not directly. There was absolutely no reason it should have been gunning for his roommate personally, after all. Lucas had abandoned his work, setting the Liber Speculum down and resolving to later clean up the piles of ingredients he’d left haphazardly around, and had quickly gotten dressed and left the apartment. His destination had been Whiteridge Hall, to speak with a Primus and see if anyone else had felt what he’d felt. His plans took an abrupt change, however, when another sensation presented itself; That of his wards being tripped.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Luke snarled, his formerly brisk walk turning into a run as he made for the sciences building, which was, fortunately for both of them, on the same side of campus as the Hall.

God, what he wouldn’t give to know how to do a personal teleportation spell right about now. But noooooo, Adjutor’s weren’t ready for that kind of power.

His wards grew increasingly strained as he neared the building, and Lucas had to start feeding them energy to keep them up, which did not bode well. Bursting through the double doors and practically sprinting down the hallway, nearly bowling over a few students walking to and fro in the corridors, Luke took the stairs up two at a time to reach Evan sooner. He didn’t actually know which classroom the other man was in, but that was fine, the wardstone would help Lucas find him easily, he just had to get there before his wards gave out.

He arrived just in time to hear, almost at the edge of his hearing, Evan call out his name. Grabbing the handle and pulling, Luke cursed under his breath when the door wouldn’t budge, held in place by a crushing strength of will. The red-head banged both of his fists against the door; But, unlike Evan, he just held his fists there, focusing on the material itself, willing it to bend under his touch.

“Evan, just hang on! I’m coming!” he roared at the door, hoping against hope that he wasn’t too late.

Inside the classroom, the possessed people were continuing to stumble closer to Evan, until Monroe was within arm’s reach. That formerly expressionless face, however, broke into a snarl of effort as he tried to reach for the dark-haired man, but seemed unable to actually touch him, his fingers grasping at thin air in front of him. The air itself started to distort where his hands were trying to push through, the ward stone glowing even brighter as the professor fought against its protection; But every second his fingers pushed slightly closer. And closer. And closer. The students reached out their arms as well, that unearthly cry still sounding from their lips.

“TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF, TURN IT O-“

At that moment, the door let out a distinctly displeased sort of scream, and flew open with enough force to break the rubber doorstop on the floor and for the handle to slam into the wall, cracking it. Lucas strode inside, dark eyes widening as he saw the crowd of people converging on a cowering Evan, who was barely visible beyond the crowd.

“Hey, asshole!” Lucas snarled, planting his feet more firmly on the ground.

The chant did not stop, but the slow march toward Evan did; With a single mind, the students turned to face Lucas. The professor, however, kept up his efforts, the chant dying in his throat, and a low hiss escaping instead as he stared unblinkingly at his student, forming a name;

“Evaaaaaaaaaaan...”

These people weren’t to blame for this, something was doing this to them. Luke couldn’t hurt them, but he also wasn’t about to let them do whatever it was they wanted to do to Evan. So, with that in mind, Lucas stuck his left hand out, open and palm facing upward, and closed his other hand into a fist. As the students started to move toward him, he shaped the intent. As Monroe’s fingers got ever closer to the trapped Evan, he summoned up enough energy. And, as the first of the wave of students started to reach out toward him, he raised his right hand, and then slammed it down into the open palm of his left.

“Somnus perpetua!” he snarled, the moment his hands met.

Sleep spells were easy, under normal circumstances. Indeed, Lucas had used one of himself to get rid of insomnia a few times, without difficulty. But there was a distinct difference between putting one willing subject to sleep, and making an entire classroom full of people go nighty-night. But that’s exactly what Luke’s spell did; There was a single pulse of pale white light, a breeze played across the room, and, like puppets with their strings cut, the entire classroom, sans Lucas and Evan, collapsed into a heap. Whatever had been controlling them, its grip had been tenuous; It hadn’t even been able to resist the spell on their behalf. Thank God.

“Jesus Christ,” Luke muttered, stepping over the unconscious students until he’d reached Evan, watching the other man carefully. “Hey, I’ve got you, it’s all okay now. They won’t hurt you, I promise,” was all Lucas could even think to say. He had no experience with comforting scared people, and could only go with his gut.

Managing something at least resembling a reassuring smile, Lucas let himself be pulled down with Evan, kneeling beside the other man and using his free hand to cover Evan’s own currently grasping the red-heads arm. Thank God, the Universe, or whatever else might have been listening that he’d been cautious enough to have Evan take the ward stone. If he hadn’t, who knows what might have happened... Though Luke was fairly certain that Evan wouldn’t have just fallen into a trance and started shouting about turning something off. Those things had seemed to be after him, for some reason.

“Take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere, I promise,” Lucas assured him, glancing around for a moment at the pile of sleeping humans, nose twitching as an odd smell hit him; Juniper berries, mixed with rotten eggs.

Ah, shit.

“Hey, E, we need to get out of here, go home, yeah? You okay to walk?” Lucas asked after just letting Evan calm down for a few minutes, noting that a pretty large-scale perception spell had just been thrown up around the building. The Circle was coming to clean this up. He’d have to explain what he’d experienced to the Council, of course, but hopefully they would understand that he needed to take Evan back to the apartment first.

There was absolutely no reason why Evan should have been targeted. He barely even knew about the supernatural world at all, let alone anything that might have been useful to this thing. And, yet, it had just made a massive nuisance of itself in trying to get to him, enough for the Circle to take notice. Individual mundanes were sometimes killed or taken by things that went bump in the night, but an entire lecture hall full of people? That was beyond the usual level of interference by unsavory creatures.

“And don’t worry about those people,” Lucas added, frowning down at some of the unconscious individuals inside the room. ”They’re just asleep, and the Circle’ll make sure they don’t remember this. They won’t even know anything bad happened.”

Luke wasn’t entirely certain that would actually make Evan feel better; He’d just barely gotten over the idea of being lied to by Lucas for so long, so maybe the idea of people being mind-wiped against their will wouldn’t sit well with him, once he’d had a chance to really calm down and think about it? But, there were few other choices. The Circle couldn’t let a bunch of people start traipsing around, talking about being possessed by some otherworldly force. Though they wouldn’t be believed by most, the publicity was... Well, bad for business.

Lucas nodded firmly when Evan requested they leave. “You got it. I never liked the science building anyway. Too drafty,” he agreed, grinning at Evan as the other man quickly let go of his arm and rose to his feet, a little unsteadily, but still managing okay. He felt a surge of distinct affection for the other man when Evan apologized, as he was clearly worried about Lucas’ feeling despite what he’d just gone through. He really was a good person. And this is what he’d gotten for it. Awesome.

“It’s totally fine, Evan. Let’s go home,” he reassured the dark-haired man easily, some of his old easy-going confidence returning. At bad as this incident had been, and as ill as it boded for the future, Lucas couldn’t help but be a little glad if it meant that he and Evan’s friendship was back on the right track again. Plus... Okay, so it might have felt a little bit good, to be able to protect Evan. Luke had rarely had cause to come to anyone’s defense before, and it felt good to save the day, it had to be said.

Almost immediately upon exiting the lecture hall, the two young men encountered three people; Two strangers, and one guy that Evan would likely recognize as a T.A. from one of his General Ed classes a couple of years back. His distinct frown of concern, and the fact that there were shimmering curtains of some kind of energy hanging at either end of the hallway, immediately gave away that he was one of them.

“Primus, Adjutor’s,” Lucas greeted them, but he didn’t stop to talk to them, instead just indicating for Evan to keep following him. Evan’s old T.A., Kevin, started following, while the two others stepped past and disappeared into the lecture hall. “They’ll all need memory hexes in there. Probably a deep soul-cleanse as well, and I’d throw in a regular old therapy, too. Whatever did this was a nasty one.”

“You believe this incident was connected to Chaos?” Kevin asked as he strode with the two for a moment on the other side of Lucas from Evan, his tone concerned.

“Yes, I do. It stinks of juniper and sulfur in there, and you know what that suggests. I know I need to talk to the Council, but let me take Evan home first and make sure he’s okay, Kev. Please?” Lucas asked quietly, glancing sidelong at the older man.

Kevin nodded. “The Council can wait. I’m sorry about all of this, Evan. It’s not exactly the introduction to our world that I would want for anyone,” he replied, turning to give Evan a sympathetic look before stopping, waving the two younger men off.

“Just walk on through, it won’t hurt you,” Lucas assured his roommate once they reached the shimmering curtain of light at one end of the hallway. Students could be seen going to and fro on the other side of the barrier, but, every time one of them seemed to be heading into the hallway it was protecting, they would stop and get a peculiar look in their eyes, as if they’d just remembered something they had to do. Then they would turn around and start walking briskly in the other direction. If any of them could perceive the curtain itself, they weren’t showing it.

It was weirdly easy to be surprised by Evan’s sensitivity to all of this, and his worried question about the other students knowing drove that home. Lucas certainly wasn’t adept at guiding mundanes through the culture shock of discovering the hidden world around them, and he wasn’t entirely sure how to go about it, beyond regular old reassurances. Hopefully that would be enough.Giving Evan as comforting a smile as he could muster, Lucas put his hand on the man’s shoulder as a further gesture of reassurance.

“They probably did notice, but I wouldn’t worry. There’s... A sort of field, around the building. The Circle put it up a minute ago to calm people down, alter their perceptions just enough to make whatever they might have heard seem unimportant. And the curtain you just passed through is a more centralized version of that working, it distracts anyone without wards who tries to walk through it. People just suddenly remember that they have some urgent appointment somewhere else, whenever they try to go through it,” Lucas explained, though his face fell a little when Evan asked if they were safe. The last thing he wanted for the other man to start becoming afraid of every shadow, believing some monster was behind it.

...And there may very well have been, given how many supernatural beings tended to congregate in big cities like New York, but Lucas did not want Evan to know that just yet.

“We’re safe, Evan, I promise. There’s no one and nothing, supernatural or otherwise, that can hurt you while I’m with you. I’d like to see them try,” he vowed, the claim, while quite bold, seeming surprisingly believable given his iron-bound confidence.

Though only an Adjutor, there was a reason Lucas had reached that rank in four years when most people required six or seven. He’d never been much good at anything before the Circle; But once he’d been initiated, he’d begun to shine in a way he’d never thought he was capable of. He had years of learning still to do, (hell, sorcerers really never stopped learning), but he was more than capable of handling most threats one would encounter in one’s day-to-day life, even if that life happened to be quite influenced by the supernatural. Lucas hope was that he would be able to make Primus in another two years; His participation in the ritual the night before had been part of that plan, proving himself trustworthy and capable to the Council. Of course, Evan had complicated that somewhat... But you had to roll with the punches, right?

“The apartment is warded up to the nines, as well, it’s one of the first things I did when I moved in with you. Wards are defensive spells that protect you from hostile magic or creatures; That’s why I gave you the ward stone this morning. I didn’t ever think you’d need it this soon, but I’m so fucking glad I did. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that when you’re home, you’re totally safe, even if I’m not there too,” Lucas added, squeezing Evan’s shoulder, standing closer to him than he normally would have, a protective gesture.

“Lucas is one of our brightest young practitioners when it comes to defensive magic. You’re in good hands, Evan. We’ll handle things from here, Luke. You and Evan just head home for now, and we’ll contact you when we have something,” Kevin reiterated, nodding at Evan briskly before turning around and heading back through the curtain of light, likely to inspect the lecture hall himself.

“Shall we?” Lucas asked, his grin still in place, hoping that his confidence would make Evan feel better rather than making him worry that Luke wasn’t taking this seriously, which he was.

The walk back to the apartment was utterly uneventful, though Lucas never let his guard down. If he was right about what manner of thing had taken control of those people, then one thing was certain; It was highly unpredictable. There was no telling what it would do next, or when. It might try again weeks from now, or it could return in five minutes, or it could never bother Evan again. There was just no real way of knowing, and, so, caution had to be maintained. Hopefully the Circle would have more information once they’d had time to investigate; Lucas didn’t relish the idea of forcing Evan into the magical equivalent of protective custody for a long period of time.

It was only when the two men had actually arrived home and stepped into the apartment that Lucas let himself relax, the tension draining from his shoulders at the familiar feeling of his own wards rising up around him. He took a moment to shrug off his hoodie, tossing it over the back of the couch and noticing the chaotic remains of his interrupted study session.

“Sorry about the mess, I’ll clean it up in a minute,” Lucas apologized, eyeing said couch, which was half-covered in glass vials, colorful rocks, a few dried out plants in baggies, loose papers with long, flowing script written on them in a language Evan wouldn’t recognize, and a single, nondescript book. He had to admit, it was definitely nice to not have to worry about hiding it all from his roommate anymore. He couldn’t even begin to count the times over the last year that he’d been forced to put a perception spell around his room to keep Evan from coming in when Luke was studying. The occult-looking paraphernalia likely would have raised red flags, to say the least.

“You want anything to drink? I’d offer to cook you something, but I don’t think poisoning you would be a great way to help you relax,” Lucas offered, giving the kitchen a sort of self-deprecating once-over as he headed for the fridge. He’d tried to cook Evan dinner for his birthday last year; It hadn’t ended well. No hospitalizations, thankfully, but they’d been forced to order pizza, seeing as Luke had somehow managed to both use and ruin practically every ingredient in the apartment. There were some disasters that not even magic could remedy.

As he retrieved a soda for himself and whatever Evan may have wanted (if he wanted anything at all), Lucas glanced back at the other man over his shoulder. Luke wasn’t sure which side of Evan was going to be winning out just now; The side that would want to curl up in bed and try to get some rest after what had just happened, or the side that would be burning with curiosity and questions. Once he’d gotten what he wanted and shut the fridge, he turned around to lean back against it, considering. There was no point in putting it off, if Evan did want to talk now.

“So... We did say we’d talk once you got back, and I’m sure you have questions. I can answer them now, if you want, or it can wait until you’ve had a chance to relax and unwind. I can only imagine how terrifying what just happened must have been for you, so whatever you want to do, I’m good with. Just say the word,” Lucas offered, his direct nature making a distinct appearance. For better or worse, he’d never been much good at dancing around an issue or artful evasions, hence his supremely awkward demeanor that morning when he’d been trying to give Evan space.

It was with no small amount of relief that Lucas mirrored Evan’s actions in sitting down on the same stool he’d occupied that morning. He leaned forward toward the other man a little with his elbows on the table as Evan began to ask a few of the questions on his mind, listening carefully. He was unable to help himself from smiling as Evan apologized, though. Luke had always been both amused, and a little bemused, by Evan’s propensity for apologies.

“I know it is, so don’t apologize for having a lot of questions,” Lucas advised him, opening his Coke and taking a drink before answering any of the said questions, marshaling his thoughts.

“I was approached by the Circle during my Freshman year,” Lucas began, his smile fading slightly as his expression grew more contemplative. “I had just moved here from Chicago, it was new city that I knew nothing about, and I was totally on my own for the first time. I couldn’t focus; At the time, I thought it was just nerves. But, as it turns out, it wasn’t; It was the Call.”

At this point, Lucas removed his elbows from the table and placed one hand flat against it. Then, as Evan watched, he raised his index finger slightly, and then tapped it against the surface, once, gently. For about three seconds, Evan could hear something, just at the edge of his consciousness; A humming sort of resonance, almost as if a car was driving in circles at the exact edge of his hearing. For three seconds, it was just a little odd. If it had been a lot longer, it likely would have driven him a little mad.

“Magic is hereditary, but a lot of people who have the Gift go their whole lives without realizing it,” Lucas explained, “In the case of the Circle, they keep a constant spell running over New York City at all times; A sort of tracking enchantment that specifically finds people with magic in their blood. Then, when the spell finds someone with the Gift, the Circle watches them for a few weeks, maybe a month or two, to see if this person has the right... Temperament. Magic in the hands of some asshole psychopath is very bad news, and they do their best to avoid it by filtering out anyone they deem unstable or dangerous. In my case, I was neither; So they Called me. It took me a few weeks to get my courage up, but finally I just had to find out what that sound was; So I did. And it led me to where I led you last night; Whiteridge Hall. I know that’s a confusing explanation, but it’s hard to be more clear about it; It was like an instinct that just got stronger, and stronger, until finally I had to follow it. That was how I was initially recruited; And when they explained the truth to me, I leapt at the chance to join. I mean, magic. How could I not?” Lucas spoke at length, feeling strangely pleased to be talking about this with Evan. He’d never really discussed the circumstances of his joining the Circle before, with anyone.

“My family is back in Chicago, as you know; All they know is that I had a rough patch starting out, and then I got my feet under me and started acing most of my classes. Plus, I started sending some money back to help them out; They think I have a part-time job here, when the truth is that I’ve been transmuting metal paperweights into gold and selling them at pawn shops. That’s where I’ve been getting most of my money.”

“In answer to your third question; Yes, and no. The Circle is a New York City institution, and it’s not limited to Hudson. They have branches in N.YU. and all five boroughs besides, but it doesn’t extend beyond the New York and Jersey City area. There’s organizations like the Circle all around the world, each one with its own territory and traditions, but there’s no one, overriding authority, no. As for how many people can use magic; I don’t think anyone knows for absolutely certain, but it’s less than a half of a percent of the world’s population. Of course, that’s still a few million people, so there’s quite a few of us scattered around the globe,” the red-head went on, trying his best not to leave Evan with more questions than answers.

“The Circle isn’t an organization that prides itself on openness and transparency, obviously, but that’s necessary. Magic-users have been persecuted in the past; And not just in the obvious cases like the witch trials. Our secrecy protests mundanes as much as it protects us; Knowledge of our world is dangerous in and of itself. Some entities that wouldn’t give you a second look if you didn’t know about magic, will now that you do. It’s why I didn’t tell you about any of this, and why I likely wouldn’t have, ever. I’m sorry about that, but I didn’t want anything happening to you... But that cat’s out of the bag now, I guess,” Lucas sighed, leaning back against and eyeing Evan, wondering just how far down this rabbit hole he would want to go today.