Magical Bonds

@ BearGirl

Esther was upstairs in the little loft area that was her bedroom, working on putting away the few clothes she had brought with her into the dresser. When she heard Blaise call for her she jumped a little in surprise, before turning to hurry down the stairs. "Sorry, I was putting my things away, I only woke up about twenty minutes ago.." she admitted softly, glancing over at him worriedly, wondering what he'd have to say about her new appearance, as well as what they would be doing today now that she was officially Marthe.

@ katahdin
Blaise raised a hand and waved off her words. He wasn't overly concerned about what she was doing before he got there, nor what time that Marthe woke up. Standing up, Blaise pulled out a few things from his pockets and set them down on the coffee table. "I have a few things to give you and some things that I want to say. Firstly, I have decided to postpone our lessons for two weeks. Now, I don't want to hear any arguing about it. You need time to assimilate yourself into this new life and, try to find a job. Besides, it will be best if you spend some time away from my house until the search for you calms down."

Once Marthe was in front of him, he handed an envelope and car keys. "Inside the envelope is your new identity. Everything you need to be Marthe, including a ID. There is also some money in there for you to buy yourself food, clothes and other things. Also, I am letting you borrow one of my cars. You'll need to get around. Especially once classes start again. Now, is there anything you want to say about any of this?"

@ BearGirl

Esther frowned as he held up his hand, falling silent. Her eyes widened a bit as he handed over the things he had brought for her and explained what they were, looking between the objects before looking up at him finally when he asked if she had anything to say. She frowned a bit, looking at the envelope and car keys in her hand before looking back up at him. "..Thank you, Blaise... for everything." She murmured softly, carefully setting the things on the coffee table, as if she were afraid that they would disappear, before she offered her hand hesitantly for him to shake. She figured he'd appreciate it more than giving him a hug, even though that's what she wanted to do.

@ katahdin
Blaise seemed to visibly relax once Marthe offered her hand for a handshake. Getting another hug from Esther had worried him as it was clear she was a touchy-feely sort of person. Something that he wasn't really into. But he reached out, taking her hand into his and shook it. Though, as she let out, Blaise reached out and pressed his hand against the top of her head gently. He knew she needed some comforting, even if he wasn't the best at it. "Everything is going to be okay."

@ BearGirl

Over the next two weeks, Esther poured all her energy and magic into growing a small garden on her patio, and bringing the excess produce and preserved to a local farmer's market to sell. Her goods became so popular, especially her pickled radishes, that they offered her a regular booth to sell her produce throughout the week, and a few local grocery stores even agreed to sell her pickles on their store shelves. She hadn't told Blaise at first, and when he found out he was rightly furious, but after explaining that she didn't have to be the one at the store everyday and showing him the money that she would be getting, and after letting him try some of her stuff, he agreed to her new job, as long as it didn't get in the way of her lessons.

Over the next year, she'd sold all of the furniture on her patio and transformed it into a large garden, full of raised beds filled with herbs and vegetables. The inside of her apartment was also full of plants, most of which she'd raised from seed as part of her lessons with Blaise, and her magic was coming along quite well, making a lot of progress in getting it under control. For the first few months she'd only see Blaise at her lessons, or occasionally if she asked him for his help with her garden, but now he was coming around her apartment more often, whether she had asked him to come over or not. She noticed his attitude toward her had changed as well, and while she was glad he finally seemed to be her friend, especially considering the massive crush she had on him, but she was worried that he wasn't friends with her, but with Marthe, the woman she was pretending to be.

@ katahdin

After knocking on the door, Blaise walked into the house and moved straight to the couch. "Esther! I am here!" He said before basically flinging himself onto the sofa and laying down. Over the last year, Blaise had found himself creating more and more of connection with her. At first, Blaise was just trying to help out a young witch who - as he saw it - was struggling. He had just been trying to do right by his student and protect her from those monsters of a family. Though, as time passed, he started to feel a connection with her. It was hard to figure out at first, but he had started to see her as a friend. That alone had been strange enough. But, with more time, Blaise could feel it growing even more... he was beginning to feel this crush on Esther but, unlike usual, he wasn't quite sure what to do about it.

He laid his head down against the pillow of the couch as his eyes wandered around, looking at all of the plants that had overtaken her home. It was quite a bit to look at, but it was also showing him how much she had learned over the last year. It really was quite impressive.

@ BearGirl

Esther had grown used to Blaise simply walking into her apartment and announcing his arrival before making himself at home, so she didn't worry too much about stopping what she was doing. "Just a minute!" She called from the patio, where she was carefully placing seeds in grow pots and using her magic to grow them into tiny little seedlings before placing them in the sun, needing to replace some of the vegetable plants she'd been using for a while. Once finished she peeled off her gardening gloves and slipped off her gardening shoes before coming inside, not wanting to track in too much dirt, although there were little smudges of it on her face where she'd brushed her hair out of the way or scratched an itch. She'd also managed to get a few seeds stuck in her hair, which had sprouted when she'd used her magic on the others, making it look like the little seedlings were growing out of her hair.

After washing her hands in the sink and getting herself and him a glass of water she plopped down in the armchair across from him, setting his glass in front of him before taking a few sips from hers. "So, what are we doing today?" She asked curiously as she looked over at him. Sometimes he'd help her with her garden, other times she'd make them dinner and they'd watch a movie or a TV show, and sometimes they'd just sit in silence and read or talk quietly, which were always her favorite days. She sometimes let herself imagine what it would be like if they ever became more than friends, often imagining that they'd spend rainy days curled up in bed reading together, and the thought always set her heart fluttering, although she doubted it would ever happen. He was friends with who she'd become, the tall blonde who was confident and had a handle on her magic, not the shy little brunette who she really was.

@ katahdin

Blaise took the glass of water and drank from it before setting it down on the coffee table. He let out a sigh as Esther asked what they would be doing today. Today was a lazy sort of day, he could feel it in his bones. Though he was also hungry, though he had no idea what for. Turning his head, Blaise glanced out of one of the windows and let out a long hum. Well, he supposed he didn't really care about what they did as long as they weren't working. "I don't know. Is there anything that you would like to do?" Turning his head back to Esther, he watched the woman as he asked the question. "We could lay around in here or go get dinner or go to a movie..." Blaise let out a small sigh before giving her a shrug. "Whatever you want, we'll go do it."

Slowly, the man sat up and leaned a bit forward. He reached up and started to fix his hair, it having gotten messed up from the way he jumped on the couch. His eyes dropped from Esther and glanced around the house, looking at all of the plants again. "These are turning out rather nicely." He murmured. The man reached out and started to examine the plant closest to him. His fingers lightly holding onto a leaf to look at it closer before letting the plant go again.

@ BearGirl

Esther nodded a little as she listened to him, agreeing with his suggestions for a lazy day. She was exhausted after gardening and working hard for the past few days, and wanted to do something relaxing. "Alright.. Maybe we could go out to dinner and watch a movie? I'd say we could just eat here, but I don't have much in the fridge and I haven't left the apartment in a few days, and it might be nice to get out for a bit... if you don't mind." She was quick to make sure he approved of the plan, not wanting to rope him into something he didn't want to do.

She finished her water and watched him as he examined one of her plants, starting to feel nervous of his scrutiny. She knew he could be a very tough critic, and hoped that all of her plants were up to his standards. "I've been doing everything you taught me to do.. Although I've had to look up a few spells to get rid of some pests..." She admitted sheepishly, knowing he had warned her against performing spells he hadn't practiced with her.

@ katahdin
Blaise nodded in agreement. Now that was a plan he could get behind on a day like this. Plus it felt too hot to really try and enjoy the weather. He enjoyed nature, in fact, he loved it as it was part of his magic but there were still limits to that. 103 degree weather happened to be one of them. "We can pick out the movie once we get to the theatre but let's head to the restaurant soon once you're ready to leave."

 Though as Esther continued to speak, Blaise raised an eyebrow. A frown moved over his face before a slightly annoyed sigh left his lips. He knew that this would happen at some point, that Esther would start trying new spells off by herself. Earth magic was difficult, things could backfire... but Esther was competent enough to do some things without him now. Blaise pinched the bridge of his nose before letting go and responding. "If you are going to learn new spells by yourself, stick to level 1 and 2. You should be able to handle those without much issue if any."

@ BearGirl

Esther nodded as she stood from her seat, putting their empty glasses in the sink before heading toward her room to change out of her dirty gardening clothes. "Sounds good. Let me just change first, and then we could go..." She stopped though when he seemed upset about her trying new spells, biting her lip as she waited for him to scold her, although she was quite surprised when he told her to stick to basic spells if she were going to try anything new.

"Alright.. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just didn't want to bother you with it, I know I can be annoying.." she murmured apologetically. Even though they were friends, and got along well outside of their lessons, he was still rather strict when it comes to her learning magic, and she knew that all her questions could annoy him quite a bit.

@ katahdin
Looking up, Blaise gave her a stern look. "What you are is lucky," He told her. "Lucky that those spells worked and lucky that they didn't backfire on you. You know what could happen if you mess up poorly enough. A fire could be set, you can create something you didn't mean to, you could die from a spell backfire. You need to be careful, you are not an expert yet. I am many levels above you and I could get in trouble with some of these spells."

Sitting up, Blaise ran a hand through his hair before letting out a sigh. He then motioned at Esther, just wanting her to get ready for dinner. The man wasn't quite up for lecturing Esther on the importance of magic safety. Even though she did magic on her own, Blaise could only assume she stuck to her levels and didn't do something overly stupid. "Go get ready so we can eat."

@ BearGirl

Esther fell silent, eyes fixed on a spot on the floor as Blaise lectured her. She knew he had a point, but she'd taken all of the precautions he had taught her whenever she tried a new spell at their lessons, and she'd been careful. It wasn't like she was opening her spell book to a random page and choosing the hardest spell without taking proper precautions. But in Blaise's eyes she might as well have done exactly that. "I'm sorry... I won't do it again." She promised softly before turning and hurrying into her room to change.

She wasn't really feeling up to going out anymore, but she didn't want to upset Blaise even more by bailing, so she quickly picked the seedlings from her hair and washed the dirt from her face and hands before changing and grabbing her wallet, heading back out to Blaise shortly after she'd left. "Ready?"

@ katahdin

"I trust you to do the lower level spells. I just want you to be careful while you do it." Getting up onto his feet, Blaise headed over to Esther and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He felt a little bad about the lecture but it was important that Esther was careful. "Yes, I am ready," He said softly before leading her out of the apartment. After making sure that she locked the door behind her, they headed down to his car.

Once settled in and after he pulled out of the driveway, Blaise started to head to his favorite Mexican restaurant close by. It seemed that Esther didn't care too often where they went to eat, and if she did, she tended to speak up. "I am starving. We should get an appetizer once we get there. What do you think?"

@ BearGirl

Esther blushed faintly when he wrapped his arms around her shoulder, although she hid it by turning her head and tucking her face against his shoulder for a moment while he reassured that he trusted her and wanted her to be careful. "I'm always careful." She murmured softly. It was true: she always locked her door, never went to the grocery store at busy times, stayed away from the places she used to regularly visit, and always called or texted Blaise if she thought something was wrong. She didn't want to risk losing the life she had now, certainly not to her making a silly mistake.

She followed him out to his car, looking out the window as they drove to the restaurant, feeling a bit better about going out after his reassurances. She usually let him decide where to go, as it was easier and her picks might cause them to run into her family, but occasionally she'd ask if they could go to her favorite Thai restaurant in town, although she'd only asked to go there twice: once on her birthday, and another time on the year anniversary of when she'd became Marthe. "Appetizer sounds good. They already give us chips and salsa, but maybe we could get guacamole too? Or we could get something else, if that doesn't sound good."

@ katahdin
"Guacamole is always a good idea." Blaise took a moment to look at Esther, giving her a light smile before he went back on focusing on the road. After a couple of minutes, he pulled up into the parking lot of the restaurant. He lead Esther inside, and requested a table for the two of them. At which point, the hostess brought them to their table. Blaise pulled out Esther's seat before moving into his own spot.

The man took a moment to look over the menu before setting it down and pushing it to the side. They came here often enough that Blaise pretty much already knew what he wanted. So, leaning into his chair, he looked over at Esther curious. "So... I want to ask you a question, about your last year. It is been some time since you... moved. How are you liking it?" Blaise didn't typically talk about Esther turning into Marthe, but he wanted to know. But he tried to be vague enough so anyone who was eavesdropping wouldn't know.

@ BearGirl

Esther thanked him as he pulled out her seat for her, glancing over the menu briefly before setting it to the side, having already figured out what she wanted, focusing her attention on fiddling with her napkin. She looked at him in suprise though when he asked about her "move," shrugging slightly as she sat back in her chair.

"I don't know.. the move was a bit hard at first, but I guess I've gotten used to it now. It's certainly better than where I was before." She murmured with another shrug, thanking the waitress when she brought a couple of glasses of water for them to start out with while they waited to place their order. She wanted to tell him she hated being Marthe because she felt like she was lying, but knew it wouldn't do her any good, and there are no other options.

@ katahdin

Blaise smiled lightly at her. It was good to hear that Esther had adjusted to her new life well enough. It seemed that she was happy with where she was now, even though it had to be difficult. There was no doubt in the man's mind that where she was now was better than where she was before. Though, he still hoped that she was happy. He wanted Esther to be happy...

"I am glad to hear that. You are definitely in a more comfortable place than you were before, and that has to be better than where you were, right?" He reached over and lightly put a hand over Esther's, wanting to comfort her. Over the last year, he had gotten a bit better at being there for her, but he still found it difficult to do and say the right things. It just wasn't natural to him.

@ BearGirl

Esther nodded a little as he spoke, blushing as he reached over to set his hand over hers, stopping her fidgeting. "Yes, it's better.." she repeated, almost as if trying to convince herself. She was happy with what she was doing with her life, but hated pretending to be someone she wasn't, even if it was the only thing keeping her safe.

When the waitress came over to take their orders she smiled, looking between the two of them once she'd finished jotting everything down. "I just have to say, you two make such a cute couple, you're both adorable! How long have you been dating?"

Of course, her comments caused Esther to freeze up, the girl quickly pulling her hand back away from Blaise's as she shook her head, clearing her throat awkwardly. "W-We're not.. We're not dating.."

"Oh I'm sorry, my mistake. Well, I'll have everything put shortly." The waitress said before disappearing, Esther sinking lower in her chair as she dreaded whatever Blaise would have to say about the waitress's mistake.

@ katahdin
Glancing over at Esther, a frown moved over Blaise's face. Seeing how awkward Esther had become at the waitress' words stung a bit. He was only beginning to figure out what to do with the fact that he had a large crush on Esther. Though, with the way she was acting, did that mean that Esther didn't like him? That she was embarrassed at the thought of dating him?

It was hard for Blaise to say that that had to be the case. He knew he wasn't great with people, and being able to read someone was a bit out of his wheelhouse. Plus, normally Blaise had girls falling all over him. So he wasn't sure what to do now that he was the one wanting to fall for her.  "Hey, at least she thought we were cute, right?" Blaise said with a light laugh, rubbing the back of his neck as he did so.