Lyra Heartstrings v. Republic of Terra

by PegasusKlondike

Bonus Chapter: Mr Patterson Talks About Magic

Another day, another lackluster hour of talk radio.

Ed Burns kicked back in his studio chair, switching off his headset and wishing he had time for a cigarette. Unfortunately, no companies had come forward with offers of funding and none would pay for commercial time. Whatever companies there were, at least. Though nearly every house in Lazarus had a radio, nobody cared enough to pay for a commercial spot. That, and no companies were wealthy enough to afford a commercial segment.

On the other side of the studio desk, Lisa Eddin finished with the weather report, too quickly as usual. "And our pegasus friends report that today will be mostly sunny with scattered cloud cover later in the afternoon. High around 89 today with a low of 68 tonight. And now for a little song request from one of our boys in uniform. This is Du Hast by Rammstein." Lisa pressed the play button, blasting the Neue Deutsche Härte out on the radio waves and into every home in the city. Most people wouldn't like it, but if they didn't like it maybe they should freaking make a request! But the absence of telephones made it kind of difficult to make a song request.

Lisa switched off her headset, dropping it on the table. "Well, that was a disaster."

"Yeah, typically 'no news is good news', but we need something damn it! We've replayed the interview with Senator Brownstone three times this week! There's only two sports teams, and nobody is interested in how the basketball team and the soccer team are practicing! We need something good, something that will boost our fan base and maybe even draw some investors."

Lisa busied herself by tying back her auburn hair and applying some more of her ruby lipstick. "We could do another farm report. See how the turnips are coming in vs the corn speculations for this fall."

Ed sighed, running a hand through his short black hair. "That crap is so boring not even the farmers will listen to it. I thought we were trying not to become an NPR knockoff."

"How couldn't we? We're LPR, Lazarus Public Radio, 101.3 FM!" she said in her falsely excited radio voice.

Oh how they had been so excited the day that the government had dragged out a small radio tower out of one of the auxiliary storage vaults in the Undercity, intending to sell it at auction. Instead, Ed and his best friend and roommate Lisa had offered to buy the old tower and the radio jockey supplies. After a week of attempting to set it up and finally just hiring some professional electrician to do it for them, they brought radio back to mankind.

That is, if anyone really had the time to listen. LPR was considered by most to be a complete dud. The signal strength was often sketchy depending on the weather, or if their solar panel crapped out or not. And then there was the actual content. Public polls had shown that 'Ed and Lisa in the the Afternoon' was generally crap, just the two hosts sitting there talking about the day before, which had been nothing but working the radio station. The two of them never could agree on what genre of music to play, so the in the morning when Lisa was behind the desk, they typically played techno, dubstep and rock. But with Ed at the helm, more country, jazz and some pop would filter through.

"Hey Lisa, song's over."

She didn't respond, instead turning on something a little softer and more crowd pleasing than Rammstein. Holding up a makeup mirror, she applied a little eyeliner.

"Who're you getting dolled up for? Got a date tonight or something?"

"Nope, got an interview today."

"Quitting radio already? What, three months of bombing and you're ready to throw in the towel?"

She snapped her mirror shut, tucking it into her purse. "Let me clarify, I got us an interview today."

Ed leaned forward in his chair, curious. "Who the hell could you con into being on our show?"

Lisa flashed a mischievous smile. "A celebrity of sorts. I caught him shopping in the market yesterday, we chatted a little, I told him about our radio show, and then I asked him if he wanted to make an appearance. And fortunately for us, he said yes."

"What celebrity? We already did Mr Sedgway on his art, Rich Mattson turned us down, and none of the politicians have any time!"

Lisa smirked. "He'll be here for the lunch hour. I've already given out fliers advertising it all around the market and the Undercity. Just read the questions I prepared, and try to avoid mentioning grimmer stuff. Trust me, it'll be a hit!"

Ed noticed the small pile of notecards on his side of the divider for the first time, and with some curiosity he began to flip through. "What kind of spells can you perform? Lisa, what the hell kind of a question is that? Are we interviewing a unicorn or something? I don't know any famous unicorns in Lazarus, they'll all be here tomorrow for the big bash."

"Oh, he's human alright. And kind of a VIP."

Ed set the cards down, his eyes growing wide. "You can't possibly mean-"

"I can and I do! I got us an exclusive radio interview with Aaron Patterson!"

Ed had to control his urge to leap over the divider and kiss Lisa on the lips. "Lis, gal, you may have just saved our radio show! I could kiss ya! I take back what I said last night!"

Lisa folded her arms and raised a well plucked eyebrow. "The little comment about the only option we had left was me turning tricks in the alleyway behind the Slagworks if the show tanked? All is forgiven, Ed. But remember, I get to ask some of the questions too!"

"Done! Put on some easy listening, I've gotta go iron my shirt!"

The disk jockey leapt out of his seat, bolting out the door from the studio and into his living room on the other side. So what he did radio out of the guest bedroom of his house? It saved money on buying and building a radio station.

**************************************************

Ed drummed his fingers on the studio desk, stealing glances at the clock ticking slowly in the corner. He could vaguely hear some Aerosmith song playing out on the radio, but the playlist would cut out at noon for the lunch hour talk show. Normally they tried to have a theme for each hour of talk. Last week it was the Arts in the Park, and the week before it was the recent tariff on iron ore imports. But today was the dawn of a new era for LPR's talk show hosts! Today, they went where few radio personalities had ever dared to tread, the misty realms of the supernatural!

Even from the mostly soundproofed studio, Ed could hear the soft and subtle knock on the front door. His eyes flicked back to the clock, noon already? Very quickly he poured a cup of coffee and tried to assume his best Howard Stern-esque relaxed pose in his chair. Just so he might actually look like he knew what he was doing in front of the man who had single-handedly prevented a war and stopped a genocide.

Taking a quick, fortifying swig out of a small bottle of whiskey that he kept under his half of the desk, he switched the mic back to 'on'.

"And that was Aerosmith playing the title track to their 1975 album, Toys in the Attic. This is Ed Burns here with your daily dose of the Lunch Hour, where Lazarus's two favorite disk jockeys sit down and talk about all the most important subjects. My co-conspirator tells me we have a very special guest here today, and he ties in very well with today's subject. 'And what that might be?' you ask yourselves. My good listeners, it would be a subject that nobody took really serious except for what it meant on their Dungeons and Dragons character sheet or in the Harry Potter books. That's right, you'll hear it here first as we delve into the untapped subject of the arcane. You heard right folks, magic."

Lisa opened the door with their guest host, and Ed was stunned to see just some kid in a tee shirt, fairly worn jeans and some Nike sneakers that needed to be put out of their misery. Well, what else could he expect? Some old, bearded fellow with flowing robes and a pointed hat, waving a wand around like it was nobody's business? That, or some kind of wacko messiah's robe.

Lisa passed an extra headset to Mr Patterson, switching it on before doing her own.

"With me here today is Dr Aaron Patterson, Ambassador to the Realm of Equestria. Mr Patterson, sir. I'm Ed Burns, you already know Ms Eddin, and we'd both like to welcome you to our little studio."

"Thank you for having me today," Mr Patterson said quaintly.

"Sir, may I simply say that it is an absolute honor to have you here on our show, and we apologize if we may have interrupted any preparations you were making for tomorrow night. As Lisa may have told you, our subject today is magic, something that nobody ever used to talk about except for fantasy roleplaying. And our first question for you is: How exactly do you use magic?"

Aaron took a sip of coffee from an offered cup. "That's actually a very good question to start with, Mr Burns."

"Please, call me Ed."

"Alright Ed, anyways, there is no real 'trigger' to making your magic work. Most of the time you just visualize what kind of action you want completed, and depending on several factors it will happen."

"What kind of factors could there be, Mr Patterson?"

Aaron reached into a pocket, pulling out a small notebook. "Sorry, just gonna have to dig into my notes here. My teacher makes me take very thorough notes, she even grades me on them." He flipped to a certain page, finding what he needed. "Should have brought Twilight today, she's the real expert. But there was this lecture that she wanted to hear on astrophysics at that impromptu university. Let me just start my own little lecture here; there are four parts to any spell. First, the knowledge of the spell. You have to know the right way to weave it, the right way to command it and control it. Second, the visualization, you have to be able to see what you want accomplished. And with a little practice it just becomes second nature. Third is summoning your willpower, having a strong will is absolutely key to performing any spell more complex than simple levitation. And after that is just executing your spell. Of course, the amount of magical power that your body and soul can wield greatly affect your range of spells."

Lisa leaned over the divider, completely fascinated by this little lecture in magic. Her early days of black metal as a teen had often incorporated odd little rites and weird chants. "Would you be willing to demonstrate for us?"

"You'd like me to demonstrate? I guess, don't really see why not. Okay, I think I have a good one for you here."

He held his hands cupped over one another, his face becoming firm with concentration. A reddish light began to glow between his fingers, and with a grin he held out a ball of fire the size of an orange before his hosts. "This is your standard fireball. It's taught to most unicorns as a self defense spell, but I tell you now that it has almost no practical use in combat. It's really just a ball of super heated air being held stable. I've only ever used one once, on a timber wolf as it tried to nosh on my leg. Startled it long enough for me to get away."

Lisa and Ed were speechless. Here this legend of a man sat bouncing a fireball on his fingertips. "You want to hold it?" Aaron asked nonchalantly.

Lisa's eyes went wide with wonder and glee. "Can we? I mean, can someone not like you, do that?"

"If your will is strong enough. Here, I'll just pass it over slowly. Hold your hands out Lisa, and use your will to command this fireball to be yours." He extended his hands, gently cupping the flaming ball of air and holding it out to the hostess.

She'd always had this little belief in some kind of power of the universe, and now it glowed mere inches from her fingers. Lisa felt like she knew what to do, but she still spent what felt like minutes mentally preparing herself. "Okay, be mine, be mine. You won't burn me," Lisa whispered to herself. Holding her hands cupped underneath his, Lisa braced herself as he slowly released the dangerous spell into her grasp. She winced when he withdrew his hands, and she closed her eyes, expecting to be scorched, her slender hands turned into barbecue. She cracked an eye open, looking warily. A pleasant warmth rested just a few inches above her hands, held there by her will alone.

"I...I...listeners, I wish you could see this. I am actually controlling a fireball! Are you doing this in any way Mr Patterson?"

"Nope, she's all yours right now, I'm not doing a thing," he said with a proud grin, leaning back in his chair. "Just be careful not to-"

Lisa aimed her fireball towards the clock on the wall, and after that, the room became chaos. She didn't know how, she didn't even know why, but she let go of the combat spell, firing it across the room. The fireball ricocheted off the face of the clock and began to bounce off of other objects in the room. Ed hit the deck, jumping under the desk and covering himself. Lisa shrieked as it whizzed by her head, singing a few of her auburn hairs.

And as it sped towards his face, Aaron caught the ball of fire like a baseball. "-point it at anything. I forgot to warn you, fireballs that don't have a target can get....bouncy." Clenching his fist, he reabsorbed the magic spell.

Ed peeked out from under his desk, checking for danger. "Well faithful listeners, that was the most excitement we've had in the studio since we found a cockroach in Lisa's coffee. If you're just tuning in, Lisa nearly destroyed the studio with a fireball, fancy that. Is it safe to ask another question, or will that somehow end in our destruction?"

"Uh, no more combat spells for today," Aaron reassured.

"Thank Jesus for that," Ed murmured under his breath. Picking up his stack of notecards again, he pinched out a singed corner that was still smoldering. "Now, we've noticed with some of our unicorn citizens that they practice different kinds of magic based on what their special talent is. Some of them rarely even practice magic at all, which brings us to the question of: What types of magic exist, and how do they differ from person to person?"

Aaron leaned onto the desk, thinking for a moment. "Mr Burns, did you ever take a physics class in high school or college?"

"Yes I did."

"And in that physics class, did they tell you how many forms of energy exist in the universe?"

Ed chuckled a little bit, remembering how he slept through most of his high school physics classes. "I am sure they did, but I don't quite remember."

"Science used to believe that there were only four types of energy holding the universe together; electromagnetism, gravity, strong radiation and weak radiation. But, we were off the count by one. Magic itself is a universal form of energy that draws characteristics from all the other types of energy. And, magic has the unique aspect of being able to alter the other four energies as well as matter. And just like the 'normal' energies, magic has its own spectrum."

He held up his left hand, glowing with his magic. However, the magic divided from his hand, forming into a hovering sphere of light. "At one end of the spectrum we have harmonious magic. Magic that tends to encourage things to come together, to reduce entropy and coalesce matter and energy into new forms. This is the type of magic that we use to heal wounds, encourage growth, reduce pain and bring about order. Harmonious magic is very powerful, but it has limited uses. And on the other hand-"

His right hand glowed with magic, separating off and forming into an oily black sphere. "-we have chaos magic. This is what encourages entropy and dispersal. Chaos magic exists simply to tear things apart, to return the universe to a state of utter simplicity by destroying anything complex. Most of that fireball was constructed of a lighter form of chaos magic. Illusion, deception, pain, decay, fear, they are all the calling cards of the purest chaos magic. Not to mention, both magics become highly contagious at the ends of the spectrum. Even harmonious magic becomes opportunistic and parasitic when presented with a good host."

He pushed the two opposing spheres of magic together. Ed and Lisa braced themselves, expecting a violent reaction from both. Instead, they swirled together, forming an aura of Dr Patterson's forest green magic. "But when combined, they form something completely new, the middle of the spectrum. The natural magics, completely neutral in their use. These are the most common form of magic in the universe with nearly infinite uses and types. There's the elemental magics, runic magic, ritual magic, shamanistic magic, blood magic, spirit magic, song magic, alchemical magic, active magic, latent magic, soul magic, heart magic, emotional magic, the list goes on and on!"

"And how does something like unicorn magic differ from something like cloudwalking, something that pegasus ponies do without thinking?" Lisa inquired without consulting a card.

"Ah yes, I have that here in my notes. Cloudwalking and by that proxy weather control are a mixture of blood and latent magic. Blood because it is an inherited trait that is passed from pegasus parent to pegasus foal, and latent because there is no conscious thought attributed to the phenomenon. I speculate that there might be some elemental in there, but neither of my pegasus friends are willing to consent to an examination. Unicorn magic however is a hodgepodge of most of the active forms of magic combined with blood magic, as it is passed from unicorn parent to unicorn foal, with the arcane strength of the foal depending on the strength of the parents. And the different mixtures of the different prevalent magics result in the specialization of most unicorn's magic, and I speculate the same thing for the magi children that will be coming into their magic fairly soon."

"It all sounds like Mendelian genetics, or even mixing chemicals in chemistry," Ed commented. "Now let me ask you, Mr Patterson, what is your specific magical talent? What is your mixture?"

Aaron froze in place, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. "Oh god, well it had to be brought up some time. Before I tell you this, you must promise me that it will not change your opinion of me. Please do not become afraid, but also do not rouse up an angry mob with torches. Do you swear?"

Ed scoffed, a half smile forming on his face like this was a joke. "Scout's honor."

Aaron turned to the other host, a look of dead seriousness penetrating her view. "Lisa, do you swear?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

Aaron took a deep breath, bracing himself to come out about his form of magic. "I have a fairly....unique combination. I am what you might call .... a necromancer."

Ed blinked from his seat, taking it in. "Correct me if I'm wrong, my DnD lore might be a bit rusty, but isn't that a sorcerer who deals exclusively with the dead?"

"Yes and no. The age old view of the necromancer has been that of a plague maker, body snatcher and a mad wizard who makes the dead do his bidding. I assure you, I have never done a single one of those abominable acts and I never intend to do them. That is a completely different form of magic, one that is almost exclusively chaotic called reanimism, or reanimating once living entities. What I do is a form of soul magic, a natural form of magic that tends to lean towards harmony. I can communicate telepathically with the souls of the deceased. I can channel them to extract certain traits or information, or send them on their way to the next plane of existence. In a way I'm more like a priest or an exorcist than anything."

"You said you had a combination, what's the other part of your mixture, Mr Patterson?" Lisa asked.

Aaron grimaced again. "Another touchy subject. Are either of you particularly devout in your faith?"

"No sir, I left behind Protestantism when a wall of green magic hit me and then my dog told me he was leaving with the family jewels," Ed said jokingly.

"I was never really a person of faith," Lisa said.

"Right then, the other part of my mixture is god magic. Magic that is gifted to me as a part of my service to my matron. She gets to borrow my body every now and then to use as a bridge into this world, and I get the sweet pizzazz from the other side."

"Who is this 'she', Dr Patterson?" Lisa asked out of turn.

"A deity that likes to call herself 'Mother', but she's told me her real name before. Though it was in some kind of language that cannot be replicated by the human tongue. Conveniently it translates to 'Gaia', so all those Wiccan circles were at least on the right track. My communication with my matron is also telepathic, just like when I speak with spirits."

Ed tried to take this in. "If I may ask, where might I find this 'goddess' of yours?"

Aaron spread his arms, indicating everything in the room. "She uses the gravity well that planet Earth exudes as an anchor. She is constructed completely of energy fields, and can interact with any energy field within her range. Magic is what gives gods like her their sapience; and they grow, feed, fight and evolve just like us, but on a much more grand scale and over billions, not millions of years."

"They? How many gods are there?"

Aaron chuckled, taking a sip out of his cup of coffee. "Might as well ask how many particles there are in this galaxy. Each and every planet, star, large asteroid, wanton gravity well and nebula in the universe has the potential to harbor one of these celestial energy beings, if not multiple. Trust me, Mother showed her view of the universe once, space is at a premium out there. Some of them even band together to form 'pantheons', rough governments to decide how energy is to be divided amongst their members."

"Why energy? What's so important about energy to them?"

"Simple, they need to feed on energy sources to maintain their minds and expand their influence. Our matron protects us like a lioness from other gods not only because she so dearly enjoys our company, she can incorporate the excess energy that we put out, limiting her need to risk herself by venturing out for sustenance. It's not harmful or detrimental to us, she just absorbs what we don't use or what we put off as waste energy. By the way, she's telling me that your radio signal sucks and that I need to put my hand on your mixboard."

Lisa gave a nervous laugh. "Well, if 'god wills it', by all means."

Aaron nodded, placing a hand delicately on the on the electronic device, clearing his mind and allowing for a transference. A stream of magic flowed into the device, spreading into every electronic in the studio. The pulse receded, and Aaron seemed to shake out of some deep sleep. "Whew, hate it when she takes over like that without a rune circle to dampen it. But your signal should be strong enough to be heard clearly in Gladstone."

"You're kidding, right? All the way to Gladstone? Well listeners, tell me sometime soon if the quality of my voice just became HD or if we just saw some fancy smoke and mirrors. I mean, pardon me for being abrupt with you, but despite the very philanthropic gesture you just did I have a few more questions to ask. Actually, I think it's Lisa's turn."

"M'kay, this is just a personal question, what's with the color of your magic? I've seen blues, reds, purples, and even some golden magic auras, what's the difference?" the hostess inquired.

Aaron summoned a tiny glow of his own magic. "It's just like a fingerprint, there's no real correlation between the color of your magic and what it does. Unless of course your magic is one of the more pure forms, in which case it will take on a corresponding color. Typically white or polychromatic for harmonious, and black or dark purple for chaos magic."

Ed loudly cleared his throat, calling to attention the need to get back on subject. "Alright, our next question for you isn't necessarily relevant to magic users. What about the rest of us? Is there some kind of magic we can use?"

Aaron nodded, turning to another page in his notes. "You are of course familiar with earth ponies? You notice how naturally strong they are, how tough and resilient they are? I've seen an earth pony take a blow that would have hospitalized a unicorn, and just shake it off and keep working. The latent magic magic present in earth ponies makes them stronger, tougher, faster, more in tune with animals and plant life. Now, let me ask you Ed, have you felt any more fit? Or have you even noticed that you can do something you like with far greater proficiency than you ever could before?"

Ed thought for a few moments. There had been times when he seemed possessed by almost superhuman strength, like when he had lifted the entire kitchen table so that Lisa could sweep under it. And now that he thought about it, back in the old days of the twenty first century, he would never have been able to do such a job like this. "Yeah, I guess I have."

"What you are experiencing is the activation of your latent magic. You are stronger, smarter, faster, and you have activated your savant ability."

"Savant ability?" Ed asked in confusion. Typically savants were kids with autism or Down's Syndrome that could play piano like it was nobody's business or paint a picture of Buckingham Palace from memory.

"Yes, just like ponies have a special talent that is displayed by their cutie mark, humans are now starting to show signs of such specialization. Look at Mr Sedgway in the Park, how many statues has he cranked out in just one year? With such perfect features and heart wrenching emotion? It's his special talent, his savant ability to create such beautiful art from lifeless stone. I mean, just this morning I was walking around the market and walked into a shop to look for some souvenirs for my friends. It just so happened that the man who ran that shop was a recently discharged Army Ranger, with several commendations for valor and more than one medal to his name. He had arms that could put most oak trees to shame, and he was tall enough to stare a minotaur in the eye. And do you know what he was crafting in that little shop? Toys. Little toys for all the newborn children of Lazarus. And he was easily the happiest man I have seen yet today. He was doing what made him happy in life, and he did it almost perfectly. That is what the meaning of a savant ability is, doing what makes you happy, and doing it good."

"Wow," Ed said quietly. "I never thought that I might be doing some kind of magic just by doing what I do. So, does that not mean I'm a not a human, like those mage babies?"

Aaron's eyes seemed to glow with a seething anger. "Do me a favor, never say that again. I've heard what some parties are saying. I've heard all that propaganda and baseless 'facts' that seems to hold such faithful credence among some circles. Magi like myself, like those children down in the nursery, we are not some subspecies of humanity! Homo arcanus, that's what some people are to pass those harmless children off as. Some kind of separate species that deserves to be studied under a microscope, I've even heard socially conservative women say they would rather miscarry than bear a magi. There is nothing, NOTHING wrong with them! They're just as human as any person born in the twenty-first century, they just have their full potential unlocked and made available to them."

"I, uh, didn't...realize-" Ed stammered, not knowing how grave of an insult he had doled out.

"Just be sure never to think that way again. What if one of your children turned out to be a mage? What if I used my magic to peer into your genome, and told you that you were intended to be a mage child? Would you want to be treated any differently than any other person?"

"No sir," Ed replied very quickly, shaking his head.

"Then follow the Golden Rule." Aaron leaned back in his chair, folding his arms and glaring holes through Ed. "Next question, please."

Ed seemed to cringe in his chair, his eyes flicking over to his co-host and pleading with her: save me damn it!

Lisa caught his gesture, clearing her throat and flipping through the cards. In retrospect, most of them seemed redundant and repetitive. Tossing them onto her desk, she drew a question off the top of her head. "So, can anyone learn how to do magic?"

Aaron shifted over to Lisa, still seeming to hold on to that feeling of anger towards Ed. "Depends. Nobody except unicorns and magi can do the active form of magic. But with enough training, discipline and study, you can be taught certain forms of magic. Runic magic, alchemy, rituals, chants, they're very user friendly forms of the arcane. Alchemy is probably the simplest of the lot, but it still takes years of practice to make the most effective potions and it is easily the most expensive."

Lisa tapped her fingers in anxiousness, despite his little show of opinion a few moments earlier, she still wanted to learn even more about magic and how to do it. "Is it true about the old fictions of wizards using wands, magic trinkets, staves and the like?"

"Some of it, yes. I've never seen anypony use a magic wand, but I know for a fact that some unicorn wizards and conjurers bind spells to objects like talismans, jewelry, and even weaponry. Enchanting is its own field of magical study, and like all the other schools it takes years of study and practice." Aaron slipped a hand into his pocket, pulling out a large sapphire gemstone.

"What is that?" Lisa asked, leaning close and looking for any sign of magic power coming from the stone.

"This is a little practice experiment of mine. I wanted to make it into my familiar at first, but Twilight says that is years down the road if I continue to study. Imagine that, a little gemstone golem following me around! But she said that would be a waste of a good gemstone, and then I'd probably neglect it. But anyways, I've laid a spell on it that activates with a command word. Here, try it out." He tossed the gemstone over to the hostess, who caught it in her slender hands. "Just say, light."

"Um, okay. Light." The facets of the gem began to glow with an internal fluorescence, and the sapphire shined with a bright light that easily illuminated the entire room.

"Pretty neat, huh? It's what ponies used back in the ancient days as a flashlight when torches were too cumbersome or when they needed a stronger light. You can go ahead and keep it, I've got three more. And to turn it off, just say dark."

Ed's eyes flicked over to the slightly scorched clock on the wall. "Well Mr Patterson, I'm afraid we're out of time. Thank you for coming in for our show, and we wish you the best of times for tomorrow night. Once again listeners that was Dr Aaron Patterson, Ambassador to the Realm of Equestria, and might I say very opinionated fellow. This is Ed Burns and that was your daily dose of the Lunch Hour, and now for a few choice pieces from Eddie van Halen in his prime."

Both Lisa and Aaron switched off their headsets, letting Ed take over the studio once again. She escorted the guest host out of the studio room and out to the living room of their house.

"Hey, thanks for coming in today. I know Ed can be a bit of an unthinking jerk sometimes, and I apologize for that from the bottom of my heart."

"It's no big deal," Aaron replied. "He just kind of hit me in a soft spot, and I overreacted to it, and for that I should be the one apologizing."

Lisa bit her lip, wondering if she should ask the question that had been nagging her throughout the entire interview. "So, um...do you think I might be able to learn some of those spells you were talking about?"

Dr Patterson raised an eyebrow. "You mean the alchemy, runes, rituals and whatnot?"

"Well, yeah."

The man flashed a quick grin. "Is your heart in the right place? Are you willing to dedicate years of study into this endeavor? And most importantly, are you willing to use such a gift for only the good of all peoples?"

Lisa had a moment of soul searching, wondering whether her urge to do magic was all selfish. "Yes. I'm willing to be nothing but altruistic."

Dr Patterson nodded, turning to walk out the door. "Good, we'll meet at the gazebo in the Park, two days from now at sunset. Trust me, after the gala it will be much simpler to practice and perform. Also, invite some friends if you want. On a personal note, a friend of mine has been whispering to me that you might try spicing up the show by adding some fresh blood."

"Fresh blood? You mean hire another jockey?"

"Yeah, and why not diversify while you're at it."

*******************************************************

Don't know why I wrote this, should be focused on the main story. Actually, I should be focused more on my slipping grades, or my crushing loneliness. Anyways, enjoy!

Comments

[Shpoople96]

Slipping grades

I hear ya!

[Iron Sides]

Threw Rich in there I see. That made me chuckle. He isnt a very... social person. he likes to spend time with his steel leviathans and whatnot lol.
This was a very interesting look at it I must say. With the little hints at things and what not. I suppose Rich is out there going "PLAY MORE COUNTRY YA IDIOTS!" XDDDD

[Detective Chmilewsky]

I should be writing my I Search Essay, but instead I have been writing my fanfiction during school. I know that feel.