Spellcasting in the Loo

Beyond the obligatory smiling and nodding, Lumina made no effort to socialize with her antisocial neighbor. Between her own uncertainty on what to do and the awkward space between them, Lumina found herself feeling uneasy. The faint buzzing that had been with her since she had stumbled beyond the veil seemed to grow louder in the silence, contributing to a sensation that something was amiss. After looking around to see if there were any noticeable threats to justify her paranoia, Lumina sighed softly and settled into her seat. She knew it was a risk to pull out her books in such a public location, but if she didn’t do something, she would go crazy. In retrospect, she would realize that watching the TV on the back of the screen in front of her was a perfectly valid option, but at the time, she decided to risk it and pull out Dresden Files.

Lumina quickly found herself missing having access to the commentary piece as she picked up where she had left off before the medical emergency event had displaced her. She strived to push through, but between lacking the commentary book to reference (she didn’t dare pull it out for fear of giving her neighbor a peak at something she had no business reading) and her own paranoid anxiety, Lumina found she was comprehending no meaning from the text. With a sigh, she gave up and began putting Dresden back.

As she did so, she caught sight of her spellbook, and the neurotic thought occurred that she should cast a detect magic spell to see if there was indeed something fishy about her neighbor. Lumina tried to dissuade herself of the nonsense of casting a spell in such a public space like this, but she just couldn’t dispel the idea, and soon she found herself trying to figure out if she had the range of motion necessary to perform the spell in her seat while buckled in. To satiate her curiosity, she pulled out Order of the Phoenix and flipped to the page in which Detect Magic was on to remind herself of the motions. Even as she did so, it occurred to her that her motions and mutterings would not likely go undetected, and considering the recent medical event which had occurred here would likely make the nearby passengers a little jumpier. No, performing that spell here would definitely be a bad idea. Finally convinced that she just needed to get over herself, Lumina packed Phoenix back up.

And then the sound of a flushing toilet gave her an idea. She could cast the spell in the lavatory. Excusing herself once there was nobody else waiting to use the bathrooms, Lumina made her way to the back and got into one of the tiny plane lavatories. After gauging the position she needed to be in to perform the gestures of the spell without colliding with anything, Lumina began to bring the incantation to mind. She paused. This is so stupid, why am I doing this?

Perhaps she would be able to rest easy once she proved that there was no foul magic in play. With that justification in mind, Lumina went through with the spell, quietly muttering the incantation while performing the gestures with a practiced grace. She could feel the power leave her as the spell went into effect. Lumina held concentration of her spell as she flushed the toilet and turned the sink water on and off just in case someone was paying attention to her, Lumina opened the door of the bathroom when she saw it…

Traces of magic. A spell had been cast here recently. Those traces were fading, but she could barely make out the type of spell it had been. Somebody had cast an illusion spell. Lumina spotted a trail of those traces, and she followed it… right to where the asian girl sat. Lumina felt her blood go cold. This didn’t prove anything, but, what did this mean?

Lumina looked around and saw no other signs of magic nearby. Struggling to force herself to calm down, she stopped concentrating on her Detect Magic spell and sat back down in seat 70C with as much cool as she could muster. That whole endeavor had been intended to dispel her paranoia, but now she had even more suspicions and questions than she’d had before. Glancing at her neighbor, Lumina discarded the notion of asking her about anything. No, it would be best to keep her cards to her chest and pretend as if nothing had changed. It was going to be a long night…

Lumina made sure to take advantage of her coupon in an effort to take her mind off her worries and ordered a mediocre cocktail. The alcohol helped a little. Lumina did her best to remain on guard against the unknown force that was the girl two seats from her, but eventually she dozed off.

The next thing she knew, the plane was descending. By the time they landed, Lumina had largely gotten past her grogginess, and when they stopped and everyone started getting up, she was ready. Lumina made sure to let the asian girl get past her, as she did have one last order of business on the plane that she did not want the girl to witness.

When she spotted the stewardess who had informed her of the medical emergency, Lumina approached her and asked, “Hey, sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to ask, is that woman going to be okay?”

“Oh yes, definitely!” the stewardess replied.

“What happened?” Lumina pried.

The stewardess hesitated, but then answered, “Well, she seemed to have experienced some kind of shock, and fainted.”

“An electric shock?”

“No, she, well, she claims that she saw the young girl next to her that she had been talking to shatter like glass,” the stewardess responded. “Needless to say, this young girl was completely fine, so we think the poor woman must have had some sort of hallucination.”

“Did the woman have any additional such hallucinations throughout the flight?” Lumina inquired.

“No ma’am, other than being rather rattled, she seemed completely fine. Thank you again for giving up your seat.”
“No problem, I am just glad she will be okay!” Lumina replied, making her leave.

Traces of illusion magic, and now a reported hallucination. And a hallucination involving the girl, most likely at her seat. Very strange. She was one to keep an eye on.

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Lumina and Corinth were able to get their bags and get through Customs without incident. Corinth, or more likely his handler had arranged lodging for them, so getting registered and getting a room was a breeze. Lumina was thankful that she was not sharing a room with Corinth, as it would be nice to have her own space, and she didn’t think she could stand his smoking. She also had one particular idiosyncrasy that she didn’t think Corinth would care to deal with either, so having separate rooms was definitely ideal.

Lumina sighed as she cast down her bags and fell on the bed. Corinth’s quip about not giving up the room had stung her a bit. Apparently giving up her first class seat to the old woman had bothered him. They weren’t even a day in yet and she was screwing up.

She might have taken a nap right there, but then a heavy rap on the door followed by Corinth’s “Hurry up, got a rental being dropped off in a few, and we need to go. No rest for the wicked, eh?” broke her from her reverie. With a moan, Lumina sat up and looked at herself in a mirror. She looked tired and uninspiring. She thought about touching up her makeup, but another rap on the door dispelled that idea. It was time to go.

Lumina approached Corinth in the lobby of the hotel a few minutes later. The old monster hunter did not appear at all worse for wear from their journey. She envied him for that. “Alright chief, what’s the plan?” she asked as she struggled to suppress a yawn.