This is a little vignette I wrote a while back for a larger work I had since shelved. Part of my writing process includes writing a series of vignettes and later tiling them together as part of world building and character development.
It features two characters I thought up: Roark Cainhurst, Proctor First Class (think magic police/detective/super agent) and Adriana Castellanos, a child of prophecy. The context is that the Council of Magi (super wizards) has tasked Roark with mentoring/raising Adriana until she is strong enough to take care of herself with the caveat being that he can’t get too attached to her. This vignette shows that, ten years in, any idea of him being emotionally detached from her has gone out the window.
The setting is Salem, Massachusetts in the year 2142 ME (Magic Era) and is a blend of Alternate History and Sci-Fantasy.
Adriana had no reason to believe she wasn’t like every other eleven year old girl in Salem, Massachusetts. She liked ponies and rainbows and watching her favorite wrestlers competing for the heavy-weight championship on live TV. She liked it when Roark took her to the aquarium or far away beaches except for the ones in Texas, as the mournful calls of a distant sea god always made her feel anguished for reasons she couldn’t explain. Adriana liked sugary cereal in the morning, it helps her forget the sorrowful sea god of the Gulf of Mexico, and listening in on Roark’s morning phone calls which she couldn’t fully understand but liked regardless.
“You can tell him I said that that’s a load of horse hockey.” the Proctor would say into his smart phone, cup of coffee in hand. “Lee, you know there’s a child present … don’t actually tell him about a horse NHL – HHL – you know what I mean.” He often talks about horse hockey, bull honkey, and dog shoes whenever she’s present while he’s on a phone call. Adriana doesn’t like the idea of horse hockey, how could the horses hold their sticks if all their hooves had ice skates on them?
Today, however, was a summer Monday which meant that yesterday was a summer Sunday and that Roark had definitely recorded the Regional Championship like Adriana asked him to do for the better part of the week. It was important to her that he did, her favorite wrestler Ruby Red was fighting The Business for the Lightweight Regional Champion title and there was no way she was going to miss that fight. She leapt out of her bed at the crack of dawn and burst into Roark’s room, jumping on both him and his bed.
“Roark!” Adriana cried out, bouncing up and down, “Roark! Guess what today is!” The Proctor groaned and shielded his eyes with his arm.
“Good morning, sweet pea.” Roark mumbled, glancing at the clock. “It’s five AM. Can this wait an hour or two?” She can not wait an hour or two, and said as much with a pillow to his face.
“Hey! I recorded it and I can delete it!” Roark watched as Adriana bounded out of his bedroom, pausing to carefully close the door, before stomping off again. Having bought himself another hour of (mostly) quiet sleep, Roark turned over and wrapped the sheets around himself.
Adriana handled the TV expertly, tossing the remote aside and sitting cross legged mere feet from the screen as the recording started. Bright lights, loud sounds, and louder men blared down at her as the lineup from last night flexed menacingly at each other. She didn’t care much for the other wrestlers but inhaled sharply when Ruby Red graced the scene. Red shorts, red sports bra, red hair, and the body of Adonis, Ruby Red cracked her knuckles and looked down on The Business with a sneer.
“I’m gonna turn your avocados into guacamole!” Ruby Red said, raising a clenched fist and thrusting a finger forward. The Business, a man wearing a full business suit that was just small enough to show off his muscles, flexed his arms and shoulders, tearing his suit jacket to shreds.
“Your stocks are going to take a pile drive!”
They talked trash for a few moments more before the rest of the program moved on. By the time Ruby Red and The Business started to face off, Roark had showered and brewed himself an espresso. He poured two bowls of cereal, generic bran flakes, and sprinkled cereal marshmallows onto Adriana’s bowl before adding almond milk to both. He handed his ward the marshmallow bowl and sat on the couch behind her, idly swiping through his phone and sipping espresso. The girl gasped and bounced as the match unfolded before her, reversals following attempted pins. Ruby Red drop kicked The Business, tangling him in the ropes, before flipping him around and pile driving him into his own briefcase. Ruby Red pinned The Business successfully, winning the match. Adriana cheered with the crowd, nearly knocking her cereal over.
“Alright, sweet pea, time to get dressed. You’re going to spend some time with Kennedy at the park while I get some work done.” Roark announced, pausing to program just before Ruby Red gets ambushed in the locker room by The Business and Rocky Road. Adriana absolutely adored Kennedy, one of Roark’s partners from the Salem Proctorship. She thought Kennedy was pretty and cool and pretty cool, and wanted to be her wife even though she wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. She felt the same way about Lee Michaels, Roark’s other partner from the Proctorship. Lee was a handsome man with a deep soothing voice like molten chocolate. In a flash Adriana dressed herself in blue shorts and an orange shirt, tying her mass of curly black hair back with a rainbow hair tie. She neglected to put shoes on, preferring to walk around barefoot, something Roark had given up trying to enforce during the summer months.
“Alright, time to check the Fanny Pack of Power.” Roark announced raising up the titular fanny pack by the strap.
“Fanny Pack of Power!” the girl echoed with a fist pump before running off to fetch a list of it’s contents. She returned with a clipboard in hand, gripping an uncapped pen. She cleared her throat dramatically.
“EpiPens?” she asked, thumping the pen against the clipboard. Adriana has a lot of severe allergies including, but not limited to: shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, pine nuts, penicillin, nickel, bees, several species of grass, and hypoallergenic pets. Roark pulled out all five of her pens and placed them back inside after she checked them off the list.
“Emergency inhaler?” she continued.
“Excuse me, it’s hardly an emergency inhaler.” Roark said, fishing out the medicine regardless.
“Roark! It’s not like I have to take it.” she protested, checking off the inhaler regardless.
“Speaking of which …” Roark fished out his own inhaler from the fanny pack and took a puff from it. It’s a twice a day thing for him. Adriana checked Roark’s inhaler off the list.
“Adrenaline shots?” the girl asked. A strange thing to be sure, but they never know when they might encounter someone that wants to hurt Adriana. The adrenaline is for the not-entirely-off-chance Roark accidentally stops their heart in retaliation. Roark pulled out a pack of syringes and put them back in.
“That’s everything!” Adriana plopped the clipboard onto the coffee table. Roark reached for his staff, a slender length of ebony as tall as he is, and thumped the floor three times. A tear in the fabric of reality opened up, a hole showing the grass and trees of Gallows Hill Park. Adriana held Roark’s hand and the two of them stepped through the portal.
illuminatus.blog 