Xaviers!

Sean was a jumble of emotions after the fight. He was some measure angry, disappointed, and frustrated. He'd left the arena quickly because he was not sure if things would turn into a brawl after the right and whether or not he'd have been the one to continue it. Instead of punching things, or channeling them into something productive like research or work he nursed a drink in a corner of the XUB the other patrons seemingly maintaining what they thought was a safe distance.

((Open))

Stephanie was cleaning a nearby table when she spied the brooding in the corner. “Need a refill?” she asked just before her tail knocked a salt and pepper shaker to the floor.

“Gosh damnit....” she growled.

"Uh, yes," Sean said a bit wrongfooted before he waved a free hand. The fallen shakers stirred and then semed to almost climb back onto the table they'd fallen from.

"This is perhaps an oddly personal question, but are you a werewolf?"

She watched the shakers float back to the table with interest, her head slightly cocked to the side.

“So. Uh. Well, sort of, though apparently here there are actual werewolves. I just have a mutation that. Well more or less makes me a werewolf. Minus the magic curse.”

"I think there are three. Two of them were at the fight today," Sean said, "Actual werewolves I mean."

“Oh...that thing with Will, right?”

She paused awkwardly. “I felt...like that would be too stressful to watch. So I uh. Didn’t ask to change my shift to watch. I...sorta felt bad. But also I don’t quite understand the whole thing I guess.”

Another beat.

“I don’t understand a lot of the things that happen here.”

Stephanie started as she forgot her original question. “Shoot. What did you want to drink?”

"I don't think any of us understand, so I wouldn't worry too much," Sean smiled. "Just a pint of something amber. Doesn't matter what I suppose."

“Whiskey is amber,” she joked, turning and heading back to the bar. She returned a moment later with (thankfully) a nicely poured rich amber colored beer.

“Sean, right? You want it on your tab?”

"I half expected whiskey," Sean smiled. "Yeah, Sean Hall, a pleasure to meet you."

"Pouring you a pint of whiskey would have added about £100 to your tab at our prices," she chuckled.

"Stephanie Kaltiera. Likewise."

"There are worse ways to spend the money," Sean smiled. "Plus it's been that kind of day."

“Fight didn’t go well?” she asked, holding up a finger to tell him to wait until she returned with a bucket filled with clean silverware and napkins that she began assembling to “work” while seated talking with Sean instead of tending the empty bar.

"Less than a tenth of second difference between winning a losing," Sean said, "But it also got a bit more... personal towards the end."

“Yeah?” she asked, building a pile of completed silverware sets in front of her.

“Sounds pretty close...but why’d it get personal? I thought this was supposed to be like... you know one of those football scrimmages where players from the same team are just having a fun little practice game.

"Yeah, but with fireballs and punching, " Sean said, "So maybe more like footie hooligans after a match between rivals."

Sean smiled for a moment while he put his thoughts together.

"The Morrigan and I were the last two left and we started in at each other because I tried binding her early in the fight. Something she took a bit personally. She got a bit high and mighty and so I laid back into her."

"Alright so, that's something I've been too shy to ask her myself...why does she call herself that? Is she just keen on Irish mythology or are her powers sort of...related to that somehow? Or...is she really somehow...well. Her?"

Stephanie tucked her mane of longer hair atop her head back out of her face. "Which sounds less ridiculous to ask than I ever would have imagined considering I'm friendly with. Well, an *actual* werewolf, and there's another one I still haven't met, and Trev told me there's an actual wizard on campus."

The werewolf girl hesitated mid-assembly of another place setting. "Wait, that's you isn't it?"

"Indeed," Sean smiled. "And maybe at one point the Morrigan was only obsessed with Irish mythology, but now she is Irish mythology."

“Strange really is the normal around here, isn’t it?” she mused. “So your trick with the things I dropped...not a mutant power, that was...a spell?”

"Quite," Sean said, "More a cantrip than a true working. I gave them a spark and a simple instruction and so they went about fulfilling it. Once they fulfill their task the spark vanishes..."

Sean paused for a moment.

"That was probably more than you wanted to know, aye? I'm not a mutant. I don't carry the X-gene."

“...I don’t mean to pry or be rude or anything but....well if you aren’t a mutant. Well. Why come here?”

Stephanie looked conflicted about that just coming out of her mouth. Muzzle. You know.

“Not that this is a bad school! The professors have all been really great so far.”

"Well, there's not exactly a Hogwarts I can attend so I can openly practice using my abilities here," Sean said, "And for the most part nobody outside this school knows I'm a wizard. My parents still think I'm a mutant kid they adopted. Most people think I've lost the plot when I tell them. Even the Headmistress at this school."

“The headmistress is...interesting yes. And I’m a little sad there isn’t actually a Hogwarts. I was hoping you might bring me some Butterbeer from your next visit to Diagon Alley or something,” she chuckled.

"I could use magic to make you some to help soften the blow," Sean smiled. "Nobody was as disappointed as I was. Instead I learn magic by nearly blowing myself up and old dusty tomes written in ancient languages. I'm sure my parents would be impressed that I can now read ancient sumerian."

“Sounds way more Lovecraft than Rowling. I hope you don’t bring anything with non-Euclidean geometry or tentacles to campus.”

"I'll just say I didn't then and you can continue to think better of me for it, but sometimes you need hyperbolic space to get an enchantment just right," Sean smiled.

Stephanie chuckled.”So can anyone learn magic with enough practice, or is there some...spark or something you have to have inside you?”

"Some scholars say a certain spark is necessary or every Wiccan and self-processed witch in the world would cast spells," Sean said, "Others say anybody can learn magic and that it's all just a matter of learning how to think. That you simply need to be able to map the complex patterns of thought necessary for a spell to work. I'm not really sure who I agree with because I've been able to see the weave my whole life."

“The Weave?”

“Sorry,” she added, “don’t mean to pester you with basic questions but...well not every day you meet a real wizard.”

"The tapestry, the winds, the skein. Just a bunch of pretty words for the magic that exists around us," Sean smiled. "It's like... another reality that exists on top of our or around our own. It has ebbs and flows. Sometimes it's peaceful and serene and other times it's like a storm. In some places the winds can be soothing or comforting like standing in the sun or the smell of fresh baked bread."

Sean paused for a moment thinking.

"Honestly it's hard to describe, it's almost something you need to see to understand."

Stephanie nodded thoughtfully. "Is the magic around here...strange? Is that why this place seems to attract...so much trouble? I swear I've not been here that long and I feel like I've seen more dangerous things than I've seen in 19 years of living."

"Might be because the lighthouse was built on a ley line," Sean said, "The building is pretty much a nexus of magical energy. A place where the veil between worlds is thinner. And a place where you can try to tap into a large well spring of magical energy to power a large working."

"You learned all of this yourself?" Stephanie asked, clearly impressed.

"Yes," Sean said, "Mostly from old books and nearly blowing up my parents house. I didn't meet another practitioner until I came to this school."

"Wait there's another wizard here?"

"I'm not sure if they'd want to be called wizards or not, but there are two other students," Sean said, "And then a third in Maldon who isn't a student."