章 266: Brandishing The Shovel
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Quinn sat in the lounge with a book in hand. He raised the glass of cold and smooth banana milkshake, put the straw to his lips, and took a refreshing sip. The printed words formed chains of understandings and thoughts in his mind as he read through paragraphs and flipped through the pages.
He looked at the glass in his hand. He glanced back to the book for a second before going back to the glass. He clasped a touch harder, and the milkshake began to shake with tiny droplets bouncing on the surface. Quinn glanced back to the book and observed a diagram. His eyes returned to the glass, and the entire glass began thrumming against the inside of his palm with the straw jumping from rim to rim.
"So, something like that, huh." Quinn removed his hand from the glass and left it floating in the air. He rested his open palm on the armrest of the sofa, magic flowed, and the couch started to tremble in its legs. He could feel the vibrations spread through his body. "Okay, this is sort of neat."
He closed his hand, and a two-tine tuning fork manifested in his grip. He pushed magic through the conjured tuning fork, and the tines began shivering and producing a shrill melodious sound. Quinn ramped up the magic, and the tine's oscillations increased in intensity, creating a high-pitched sound.
Pang!
The tuning fork cracked and disappeared in his grip.
"Ah, it broke," he sighed. "Vibrations are neat."
He grabbed the floating glass to sip sweet goodness and placed the closed book on his lap. 「Oscilation Theory of Harmonic Magic」it said. It was one of his latest endeavors — the fabled vibration magic. It could make cutting sharper, break objects, among various other uses.
Quinn had come to notice the presence of vibration in various magics he was using — the water sonar and earth sense both at some point were indirect applications of magic, even the Viking book of winds had a portion of sharp winds that essentially used vibrations at the core for cutting, the severing spell itself was pure vibrational motion splitting the target. The sound itself was vibrations — the silencing wards dulled the vibration till there was no sound left, the voice modulation while he was dressed in Noir transformative suit was a modification in vibration, he could even make the air molecules vibrate to emulate speech that didn't come from his voice box.
And according to the book, vibrations had a whole rabbit hole worth of connections with magic, which Quinn was interested in exploring.
He sucked in the last bit of his milkshake and lifted up the straw with his mouth. A little breath down the straw, and the long tube split in the middle.
"What are you doing, Quinn. You're going to make a mess."
Quinn watched as George walked into the lounge. "Nuh-uh, I won't," he said, and the straw joined back together. It floated out of his mouth and dropped into the glass on the table.
Quinn watched as George sat in front of him. However, there was something different about him. George looked. . . restless, and the last time Quinn had seen his grandfather look restless was when he had lost his magic.
"Grandfather, is something wrong?" asked Quinn. George took a deep breath as he looked at Quinn. He didn't reply immediately, which set up a worry inside Quinn. "Grandfather?"
". . . Lia—"
"What happened to Lia?" asked Quinn, getting to his feet. A million thoughts passed through his mind — which started out with what might have happened to Lia, but soon the thought that someone had found his identity and had targeted Lia dominated his mind.
"She. . . She is bringing home her. . . boyfriend," said George, gravely — as serious as he had ever been.
"I'm going to ki — huh. . . what?" said Quinn, the energy he had built up drained right away. "Boyfriend? Did you say, boyfriend?"
"Yes, boyfriend."
"Ah, that's nothing to be —," Quinn started off relieved that his worst thoughts didn't come true, but then his mind caught up with George's words. "Oh. . . oh. . oh. . . OH!"
Quinn sat down, and the grandson and grandfather pair sat in silence for a while.
"I didn't know she had a boyfriend," said Quinn breaking the silence.
George sighed, "You know how she is about her relationships. She only tells when she thinks the relationship is going somewhere, and her standards for that are quite high."
"Quite," said Quinn, sighing. His sister was very personal about her love life, even with them — her family, and he didn't mind — however, this was different. "Lia hasn't brought any of her boyfriends home. . . this will be the first time."
"Yes," George said, gazing at the table in front of him, "and that can only mean one thing."
"She must be really serious about this guy," said Quinn, similarly staring at the table in thought.
Polly popped into the room to take away the empty milkshake glass. The glass flew into her hand, and she was about to leave but stopped when she saw her Big master and Little master staring at the table in silence and with the same expression on their faces.
"Do you know who this guy is? What does his background report say?" asked Quinn. The first step to fighting(winning) a war was to know the enemy.
George shook his head, "After your sister found that I did it with that Jason fellow, she got angry and didn't talk to me for months. . . I never kept tabs after that."
Quinn clicked his tongue. So they were going to go blind. 'No, you can't think like that. Lia's going to bring the punk here at the home ground; we have the advantage.'
"When is she bringing him?" he asked.
"Tomorrow for brunch," said George.
"That isn't much time," Quinn stood up, "but let him come. . . I will see what Lia sees in this. . . what's his name?"
"Abraham. . . Abraham Astier."
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- (Scene Break) -
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The floo fireplace roared green, and out of the flames came Lia walking out into the West mansion's floo fireplace room. She was excited for today. It was the first time she was bringing her boyfriend home, after all. There was a flash of green behind, and Lia turned with a small to see her companion walk out of the fire.
He walked out on the floor and immediately stumbled as a step. Lia knowing there could be a chance of this happening, reached out her hands and stabilized him before he could fall.
"You really are bad with the floo," said Lia, smiling.
Abraham nodded a thank you to Lia as he regained his balance. He pushed up his thin-framed wayfarer glasses and helplessly smiled, "The floo doesn't agree with me, unfortunately."
Lia looped an arm around her boyfriend's arm and tangled her fingers with his. "There's a trick to it, you know. If you'd just let me teach it to you, you won't have to fall every time."
"Believe me when I say this, but I have tried every trick and tip in the book, but nothing has ever worked for me. The gods of floo have never favored me — they seem to hate me even."
"Aww, that's impossible. How could anyone hate someone as cute as you?" said Lia, pressing a kiss onto Abraham's cheek, just at the edge of his lips.
"We are at your family home!" Abraham said in a rushed whisper as he looked at the door, fearing someone would walk in the very moment.
"So, what?" said Lia with a mischievous grin on her face; she leaned closer to Abraham and whispered into his ear, "You know we could stay here for the night; we could stay in my childhood bedroom and. . ."
"Lia!" Abraham said, feeling scandalous. "You know how anxious I am, please can we not do this. If this is your way of helping, it's not helping."
"There's nothing to worry about. My family's going to love, I'm sure of it."
"Didn't you say that your grandfather is a strict man? What if he doesn't like me or approve of us?"
"Yes, he's a strict man, but that doesn't mean he isn't going to like you. He's a stickler for manners and likes things to be done in a proper way, but other than that, he's just anyone else. If you stay true to yourself, he won't have any problem with you or us."
Abraham peered at his girlfriend through his glasses as Lia reached out to fix his tie, which had shifted in the floo. His eyes widened. "You. . . You're scared too, aren't you?!"
"No, of course, not," she said. However, her hand freezing for a second gave it away.
"Oh my god, you're scared!" Abraham said, now feeling more anxious than before.
"Of course, I'm nervous!" said Lia. "This is a big deal for me. This is the first time I have brought someone to see them."
"What. . . I-I am the first one?" A feeling of giddy happiness bloomed in his heart, and he smiled when Lia silently nodded. "Well, if you say that we're going to fine, then we're going to be fine."
Lia looked up at Abraham and saw the giddy smile on her face. His smile gave her confidence, even though it wasn't a dependable smile, but it was one she liked.
"Of course, we would be fine. I said so already, didn't I?" said Lia with a bright smile which then turned into a teasing one. "But, I am still feeling a bit nervous, so. . ." She tiptoed and leaned forward.
Abraham's eyes widened as he peeked at the door, but sighed and leaned in, but before their lips could meet. . .
"Little mistress."
The pair broke off at the instant and looked at the room's door to see big-elf eyes peeking from the corner of the door.
"Polly," said Lia clearing her through, "would you inform everyone that we have arrived."
The house-elf nodded and popped away.
"Uhm, is there something else that I need to keep in mind?" asked Abraham as they walked to the lounge. "I should be careful of my etiquettes, and Ms. Rosey would be fine. Elliot, you said, won't be here today, but if he's, I should remain polite and ask him for some advice about my herb garden. Then there's your brother — he might tease us and that I should talk to him about magic."
Lia nodded, proud of him for remembering. "Out of everyone today, I hope you'd be able to make friends with Quinn," she said. "My baby brother doesn't let people close to him easily, so if he likes you, it would be a great deal to me." Abraham grasped her hand, and Lia smiled, "But you know, he might be the one you might be able to impress the easiest."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, I'm his beloved sister, so, naturally, he'd like to know more about my boyfriend, so he will actively seek you out, which he doesn't usually do with new people. Plus, he's also dating someone, and that's the point of importance."
"What does your brother dating someone have to do with him liking me?"
"The relationship is very new, and more importantly, it's his first relationship," a calculative glimmer shone in Lia's eyes. "You can exploit that and profit by giving him advice about how to progress in his relationship. He'd listen to you who had much more experience than him carefully, and when his relationship, he'll remember that you helped him and give you credit. Voila, you'll be best mates in no time."
He stared at her, wondering why she was talking as if this was a business strategy. "But what if his relationship fails? At your brother's age, relationships change faster than you can brew a polyjuice potion."
"I'll have you know that my brother is very-very charming. The reason I'm so confident this is going to work is even if you give him mediocre advice, he'll just end up making it work, and you'll be reaping the benefits of his work. Also, didn't I say that my brother doesn't let people close to him easily. The fact that he started dating means something in his world, and I know that girlfriend of his; she's like my baby brother in that aspect.
"Finally, Quinn has my looks, so you know, he's the full package. Girls will brew Amortentia just to have a tryst with him," said Lia with overflowing pride.
The couple finally reached the lounge.
"How do I look?" asked Abraham.
Lia observed him from up and down before nodding, "You look perfect. Now, don't be nervous; you'll be amazing."
Abraham took a deep breath, faced the lounge door, looked at Lia, and nodded. When they entered the room, there was only one person in the room, sitting on a sofa, facing away from them.
"Quinn," called Lia as they moved forward, and Abraham braced himself. "Look who I have with me—"
Lia stopped speaking, and Abraham froze in his spot when they had walked near Quinn and had the entire him in their view.
"You're an idiot," said Lia, her hand going up to her face.
"Now, why would you say something so hurtful," asked Quinn; he was the furthest from an idiot, so it was pretty hurtful to him.
He walked to Abraham with a smile on his face and raised his right hand for a handshake while his left hand raised a shovel over his shoulder.
"So you're Abraham. My name is Quinn, and well, I'm looking forward to knowing more about you," said Quinn with a bright, friendly smile.
Abraham shook hands with Quinn, but his eyes were fixed on the shovel, noticing the shiny edges of the spade blade that looked dangerously sharp. ". . . I-It's a pleasure to meet you, Quinn. Lia has told me a lot about him."
"I hope all good things," said Quinn, noticing the man's French accent. "I can't say the same about you, though. Lia hasn't talked about you at all. Before tomorrow, I didn't even know you existed."
Abraham, of course, already knew that. Lia had explained to him how she shared her love life with her family. He, however, wasn't expecting it to be brought up and thus was at a loss on how to respond.
"I-I see," he said.
"Quinn. . ." said Lia, her words burning with anger.
"Alright, alright, I'll stop," Quinn wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He removed the shovel from his shoulder and dropped it, but the shovel disappeared before it hit the ground. "I was just playing around, you know, breaking the ice with a little bit of comedy."
"That thing you said to him wasn't funny," Lia said, still looking angry.
Quinn pursed his lips. "I'm sorry. I was purposefully hurtful. But you know, I don't like this. He's going to take my big sister away from me. How am I supposed to feel about that?" he said with the world's most pitful puppy-dog eyes.
And they were super effective. Lia West, one of the most protective sisters on the planet, melted away at those words and the look. She immediately hugged Quinn and spoke placating words of comfort and love. "What are you talking about? Who said I'm going anywhere. I'll always be here for my baby brother. I love you, Quinn, and nothing's going to change that."
"So if I come to your house to go out for a fun evening to the non-magical world, you'll come with me?" asked Quinn, channeling the younger brother energy.
"Why would I ever refuse that? You can come to me any time, even if I'm in another country, and you come to me there, we'll go do whatever you want."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Okay, I'm glad," said Quinn and hugged Lia, swaying a bit as he started at Abraham, who only had one thought that when he saw the smug smile that Quinn flashed him.
'Did she mean cunning instead of charming?'
Quinn and Lia ended the hug, with the latter feeling emotional about her brother's worries. Her brother didn't usually open up like this, so the moment now felt special to her, even causing her to tear up a bit.
Quinn walked to Abraham and quite uncharacteristically hugged the man, and Lia might have noticed it, but she was busy with her flowing emotions.
"Listen, mate, I don't have anything against you. I don't even know you. But you're the first guy Lia has brought home, which is really special for her. So if you hurt her in any way, I won't need to make you regret it as Lia will do on her own, but I will come after you and make you wish you had committed genocide instead of hurting my sister."
"I will never hurt Lia."
Quinn firmly patted Abraham on the back before ending the threatening hurt, but he frowned when he saw Abraham smiling.
"Why are you smiling?"
Being threatened by Quinn felt like validation to Abraham — that Lia's family had accepted the existence of their relationship and so had to threaten him. And when he told Quinn about it, the younger brother quirked an eye and said, "You're a little weird, aren't you?"
"Where are the others?" asked Lia after having a moment by herself.
"Today was a sunny day, so they're sitting outside in the garden," said Quinn. He observed the nervous couple as they went to meet the elders and chuckled, "You don't have to be anxious; you already passed the most challenging part of the day.
Now, leave it to me. I, with my heart of pure gold, shall help you lovebirds as the world's best cupid. I'll have the award of the best couple in your hands by the end of the day."
Lia brightly smiled with complete confidence in her brother while Abraham glanced at the sibling pair in worry.
Was this going to be alright?
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Quinn West - MC - Shovel is one of the most lethal weapons invented.
Lia West - Big Sister - Is wrapped around her baby brother's finger.
Abraham Astier - Mr. Boyfriend, French - The reserved one in the relationship.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - Lia & Quinn's Picture (sort of). See para comment.
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