//------------------------------// // The Creature's Name // Story: Something to be Proud of // by Eighth //------------------------------// Trixie's hooves now have a shiny gleam to them after the human creature's spell. There's almost a reflection there. Trixie remarks for a moment how she doesn't think any part of her has been so clean before returning to the more pressing questions. "You can do magic?" She calls as she steps inside. "Of course I can. Don't be silly," as voice calls from one of the many rooms. Trixie looks down a few as she tries to find where her host disappeared to. Once she catches a glimpse of him, he steps into the next room. She hastily follows to find him burrowing in a few bookshelves. Leaving him to his devices for a moment, Trixie scans over the room. A few animals like fish, birds, and insects are in tanks or cages across the room. Any space that isn't completely littered with paperwork, has magical rocks, plants, vials of unknown concoctions bubbling or humming away ominously. "Can all humans use magic?" "No. Just the interesting ones," he remarks as he throws a book behind him. It nearly collides with a bird's cage causing it to screech and flutter about in a panic. "Right. Sorry, sorry." He hurries over to the birdcage to hush the skittish bird, and it seems to do the trick. Once it stops flapping, he places a cloth over the cage and then takes a seat. He gestures to Trixie to sit opposite to him, so she does. "Are you senile?" Trixie asks abruptly, figuring it best to not mince words. It'd likely be easier to talk with him if she knew if he was. The creature stops and gives her question some thought. "No, definitely not. What a rubbish name senile would be anyway." "I mean," Trixie stops as she decides his actions do kind of answer her question anyway, "How can you not remember your own name?" "I talk to the bird, but not myself. I'm a genius, not mad," he says indignantly. "Well, what do I call you then?" "You can call me... Splendiferous." He leaps up and throws his hands into the air causing little bits of confetti to spray from his fingertips. Trixie even swears she heard a little bit of fanfare, though assumes the creature just made it. With all that fur in front of his face, it's hard to tell when he talks at all. Unless his hair moves about a lot. Despite the oddness of the situation, or perhaps because of it, Trixie laughs heartily. And something seems to snap as she continues to laugh and laugh, so much that her cheeks hurt. The creature beams so brightly you can see it in his eyes. He returns to his seat as Trixie takes deep breaths and wipes away a small tear. "I haven't laughed like that in a while," she says off-handedly. This causes the creature to harden his mood. His eyes bore deeply into Trixie's and an aura of intensity seems to ebb from within. "Why not?" "I don't know. Just... Lots of school work I guess." "Don't you get time off?" Trixie nods. "Then why don't you read a fun book, play with friends, imagine various breeds of happy talking frogs that can croak the alphabet then help them organise a choir to sing swear words." Trixie chuckles again, much more dispirited by the new topic, then shrugs. To which the creature shakes his head and tisks. "Are your friends also stressed like you?" "Yeah," lies the uneasy filly. "What are their names?" presses the creature grimly, leaning forward causing Trixie to avoid eye contact. Like many folks often do when pressed for fictional names they haven't thought up prior, Trixie's eyes dart around for inspiration. She steals a glance at a few words on a piece of parchment in front of her then notices a fairy fluttering in a bottle behind the human. "More the... Fae." "More the Fae?" "Yes." The silence stiffens the surrounding air. As the pause stretches on, Trixie can feel but no longer hear the thundering of her heartbeat. "Any others?" He cooly asks. "Y-Yes. There's Starswirl... And... Celeste." "Starswirl and Celeste?" the creature repeats, seemingly easing up a bit as he relaxes back into his chair with a quiet confidence. Trixie mentally takes a sigh of relief. "And... Morgan Le... What was that last name again? Blast this memory." "Morgan Le Fay," Trixie slips, turning her face deathly white. "Yes, I thought as much... Look, you need not lie to me like that. I mean, the closest thing I have to a friend is a possum familiar and this stain on my favourite mug I can never get out." Trixie's head drops. She nods but refuses to lift her eyes from the floor and internally she is wreaking havoc on her own nerves as she chastises and insults herself relentlessly. "Now, now. Don't do that. It does no good to think like that," the creature says as if he was there in her mind with her, "Besides, we have more pressing things to do if we're going to make it in time for your magical exams." The creature pulls out a large tome from inside his robe and slides it across the table to Trixie. Trixie glances at the tome titled, 'Magic and its Magical Properties', then back at the human. "What do you mean?" "Well, you need to study, don't you?" Trixie warily backs up a little on her seat, "I never said anything about exams." "Oh," the creature looks to the side and stares off at some place distant before his attention to the world he inhabits, "Did we not get to that part yet?" "What part?" an annoyed Trixie asks. "The part where you ask me to teach you magic." "Who said I was going to ask you to teach me? What makes you think I need teaching?" "You did, or rather, you will. That's if you want to do it. No sense asking if you don't want my help." Trixie internally weighs the scenario in her head. While the thing before her is a little odd... Much more than a little odd, she does need help with her magic. Despite being a unicorn, Trixie does seem to have an ineptitude for magic. A growing worry that Trixie's teachers will discover she merely lucked her way through the entrance exam returns to her. Her head falls lower. Then she thinks of the human she has just encountered, and how he definitely has magic. Though he is odd, old, and doesn't seem to be entirely there. But he might have powerful magic. Something about him makes Trixie hold fast to that belief. "Are you sure you could teach me magic?" she utters slowly as her eyes rise to meet an empty seat. "Did you say you want one sugar or two in your tea?" "Uh, none... Please." "Right, here we are," he says as he returns with two ornate teacups each with spoons that stir themselves. "So, you do need to give me an answer you know. I can't go getting ahead of ourselves like that, it would just be a waste." "If you do teach me... I need a name, to call you. Are you sure you don't remember?" He shakes his head. "I'm sure we'll get to it around chapter seven or so." Trixie eyes him with confusion until he taps the tome between them. Figuring there is some kind of memory spell in there or something, she leaves the matter alone. For now. "So... That's a no to the Splendiferous." "It doesn't suit you," an adamant Trixie shakes her head. "Oh," the creature replies, dejectedly. "I mean, you just don't look like one. You know?" It's a poor attempt at saving the attempt, but the human takes note of her efforts and takes a breath to compose himself. His fingers tap on the table as he thinks. "Well, what do I look like?" "Old," Trixie snickers under her breath. The creature looks himself over, and seems to have a particular fascination with his faded purple robe and it's starry pattern. "If we are choosing one, then the name should reflect me a little. Don't you think? Though I look rather plain for a wizard, I suppose." "No name, plain, and yet unique. In your own way. There's not really a word that fits that description." "We can make up our own then. I recall in this old, dead language... Or maybe it was the other one... Anyway, we could combine words like 'an' which means something like without, then we combine it with 'name', and just chuck something wizardly at the end of it like 'ous'. "An-name-ous," Trixie sounds it out then glares at the creature who smiles knowingly back, "You mean 'Anonymous'? As a name?" "What's wrong with it?" He remarks, leaning back and stroking his beard proudly. "Well... It's rather unimaginative." Trixie is overwhelmed by how unimpressive this thing's thinking ability. How dull. How plain. How boring. And once he picks up on her opinion, he goes on the offence. He raises his voice and Trixie does too. "What do you mean? I just imagined it now." "You--It's not a real name." "Oh, and you'd rather call the magical being of infinite power in the forest something like 'Derek' or 'Sprinkle Fingers' I suppose then?" "Better than 'Anonymous'. At least Derek is a name!" "Then how about 'Anon', for short?" "That's not my point--ARGH!" Trixie slumps back into her chair and resigns. She decides that something as trivial as a name isn't worth bickering over. And besides, it's his name. "Let him have whatever he likes. But if he forgets it again, I'm going with 'Sprinkle Fingers'." she thinks to herself with a cackle. Then she looks up at... Anonymous to check if he is reading her mind again. But he is sitting back in his chair, pleased with himself as he sips away at his tea. Which reminds Trixie to drink her own.