It began as a simple attempt to change topic before my poor heart exploded from all the worries, but excitement surged through me at the idea of showing off my magic. I wanted to share it with the entire world. If Rita didn't blurt out what she did, I'd be showing it to her right now. Instead, I had JJ, which wasn't in any way worse.
I got on my feet to give an outlet to my jittery energy and pulled the hairbands out of my pocked. "Behold then! Let's see if you ever saw something like that before." Then, my feigned, exaggerated arrogance left me and I added much more modestly, "Though it's all basic tricks, really. And it might take me a while to do it, especially since your aura is kinda distracting."
JJ looked at me curiously. "Distracting, ma chèrie?"
I nodded. "It's just so bright compared to everything else around that isn't as magical. Though, auras are very distracting on their own, so…" I shrugged. "Anyway, now watch carefully, but don't do anything."
JJ widened his eyes comically as he stared at the hairbands in my hand, which made me grin at him before I set them on the chair and closed my eyes to concentrate better on the surrounding auras.
Just like the previous time I glimpsed it, JJ's aura hit my perception like a music in a nightclub. Now I couldn't avoid looking at it better. It was like trying not to see a flashlight when someone pointed it right at your eyes.
It had a bazillion different aspects, the most complex aura I've seen until now except for my own. It made sense, though, that living creatures, especially sentient ones, were complex things. The aspects of emotions and thoughts alone were like a kaleidoscope in which you can easily get lost.
I avoided looking deeper at that. Instead, I settled for a broader observation, something I grew more and more proficient with as I practiced magic.
Most of JJ's aura was taken by things that made his body. Material aspects, though, took only about a third of that—the rest was something pure, magical and abstract.
There was a lot of a grave's chill—the same chill I felt when touching JJ with an open well, no doubt. Then there were the borrowed blood and life, the shimmering veil of intent and emotion around that was probably the glamour, the enchanting potential of whatever other magic JJ could do.
It was a haunting, but beautiful vision worth exploring for longer and in more detail, if that didn't feel so much like peeping at him in a shower. So I focused on the hairbands.
With the practice I had already, mixing up their colours was a simple thing to do. It was all a question of speed, but I tried to hurry that up. In what felt like three minutes, but probably was all seven, I closed my well and opened my eyes.
The bunch of hairbands, previously each sporting a uniform colour of their own, now were painted in streaks of all these colours. I put my hands on my hips and raised my chin victoriously. "Ta-da!"
JJ smiled, looking more impressed that this parlour trick, in my opinion, deserved. He even clapped his hands a few times. "Amazing, ma chèrie! And you can do this by simply moving aspects around?"
I nodded, glad to have this conversation with someone who read Alexandra's manual together with me. With someone who understood.
"Yeah, I just mixed up their colours. The trick is to keep them separated from each other, because if they lose form, they layer up and it becomes more like this." I pointed at my blue-tinted chair.
JJ hummed thoughtfully. "Like paints, is it?"
"Yep. I've noticed that there are only three colours: green, blue and red, which is basically just like RGB scheme. I think I've noticed aspects for infrared and ultraviolet, but I'm not very sure that's what they meant… It's not like I can see in these spectrums…"
"I'm sorry to interrupt, ma chèrie, but you will have to explain me some of the terms you mentioned."
I let out a sheepish chuckle. "Right, sorry. RGB stands for red, green and blue, which are the colours from which all other colours on… basically everywhere are made. But especially on computer screens. I sometimes forget that you missed an entire century, with how well you had adapted. I'd think you grew up with a computer if I didn't see you type with two fingers!"
"I've always preferred a good old-fashioned pen to typewriters," JJ said with an unashamed grin. "When you are of my age, one can easily become a little conservative. Though I do like modern pens. They are exquisitely neat and smooth. Not like the fountain pens at all."
"Fountain pens?" I had to wrack my head a little to get what he was talking about. "Ah, ones that are like quills, but with ink inside? I remember seeing a few around the shop, but the name always eluded me, heh."
Just like that, our conversation moved from magic and into the history of pens, a big chunk of which JJ witnessed personally. Some of what he said I knew already, while some was a fascinating novelty, especially when it included JJ's personal accounts.
I kept throwing questions at him, fascinated by an opportunity to listen to more of his stories, to more of his enchanting voice. If not for my need to eat from time to time, maybe I would've kept JJ talking until very evening.
As it was, I still had daily tasks to do, but now I could do them with a smile on my face and a belief that maybe, just maybe, no danger waited ahead. Or at least no danger that JJ wouldn't be able to deal with.