1.19 I'm Still Myself

Is it time yet?!

NAH. There are so many experiments to keep up with it's not even funny! 

Having no baby books to read this time around and having all the subjects already in her lab, Meghan gets more biological experimentation done than ever. Hope this kid doesn't come out glowing! He should be fiiiine.

“My wife!” The somewhat-now-respected local Magician pauses in his conjuration.

She marches up to him, toddler in arms and shakes her head. “What is that? There's no birthdays today, you're just out here handing out cakes to people? I thought you were working. Where did it come from?”

He smiles patiently. “Think I'm going to tell that to you?” He gestures to the tip jar. “Maybe for the right price...”

She rolls her eyes and sets the child down gingerly. “Sorry we missed the show. Somebody thought it would be a great idea to wrestle momma with every little thing instead of getting her shoes on and letting her hair be brushed out.”

“That's adorable.”

“Is that what you call it?”

“Hey there's only a few years we get to see her like this. We should be committing it to memory.” He points out, and is happy to see Meghan visibly relax a bit. She's been more stressed out this pregnancy than when she was carrying Jyoti, for at least one very obvious reason. He beams at her. “I'm glad you made it out of the house though.”

Meghan smiles in return and lets him get back to his work. Jyoti's been pulling herself to her feet and toddling around for a while now without actually taking the meaningful steps that would prove she's gone mobile. Meghan thought since the little bundle of crazed energy loved being outside so much she could practice at the park after the show. It's a clear night, and it's warm outside, so why not?

But she's frustrated. Meghan is the one that needs time to herself. She was counting on the baby to nap today so that she could nap too, which of course never happened and now she barely has the energy to deal with the constant pick up-set down- hold toddler movements that Jyoti needs from her in order to learn. She is. Fed. Up.

And she has to go, like now.

She stomps off to the restrooms on the other side of the park and mutters to Dustin that he's got to take over. He should have known 'hang out with daddy at work' was a ruse so he could help her with the baby. Not that he minds, it's kind of cute how Meghan tries to do everything on her own all the time and he's glad to be relied on a little. She doesn't need to trick him into hanging out with Jyoti.

His daughter for her part just sits there cooing, playing with her feet and watching him.

“You look like you need something better to do.” He puts the tip jar away and ignores the fact that there's something like twelve simoleans in it. He had just gotten started for the night, after all.

“You ready little lady?” He talks in a soft yet commanding voice. “Come at get me!”

Dadda is totally better at this game than momma is.

Plus she feels like the most important person in the world for even the tiniest of accomplishments with him.

“You gonna be famous like me baby, or smart like your momma?”

The little girl giggles and had no coherent reply to that.

“Or are you gonna be an astronaut, and go streaking across the sky to chase all the stars!?” And he hauls her into a game of airplane, spinning her around wildly. “Fast'r Fas'r!!” She screams in delight.

“Right the fastest astronaut!” He laughs.

They run all over the park after that. Dustin forgets he was going to keep working, and Jyoti has no idea she was supposed to figure out the whole walking thing. They just enjoy spending time together and are already impossibly close.

Meghan's never-ending shift is momentarily paused, so she goes home to nap, too tired to feel any relief yet.

Jyo gets all her energy out for once too.

After that Dustin cuts back on his street show time a lot. He doesn't want to be the reason Meghan has more to do, and he has a few shows throughout the week now, so as long as he does well with those he knows they're going to be fine financially. He focuses on bettering himself and helping around the house and sometimes in the garden. But who are we kidding, the garden is lucky it gets sprinkled on.

“Winning. It's what we do. We're fearless, okay Jyoti? Say it with me. Sparrows are Win-ners”

“Rows. Wos. Ners. Win. Ners. Winn... NORS.”

“Close enough.”

“Also the best thing you can be to other people is kind. This is called the benefit of the doubt. You can doubt someone and still be their friend. So what is that? Friendship.”

“Ship. Fr'n'shp.”

“FRIENDship.” He corrects.

“FRENshp.” She muddles it.

“Heh. That's right. Friends are kind to each other okay?”

“Kay.”

“If you fall asleep during your lesson I'm taking a picture of it for the family album,” He warns her as she nods off.

She nods off anyways.

This one's got to be a boy. Meghan is HUGE. And irritable and exhausted and annoyed and not always herself. She'd be more thankful to Dustin for watching the toddler if there wasn't so much around this place to clean all the time. If she wasn't so exhausted all of the time.

She flits in and out of herself, and sometimes hours are lost for which she has no memory.

It's been a whirlwind of a year. A second baby is close to being delivered, Dustin's career went through a blender of a rocky start and is finally rising, wobbly, into the air. Meghan has made some breakthroughs but nothing that she can write home about (if she had a home to write back to), but they've been happy despite the many challenges they've faced together. Their relationship is strong. Unassailable.

So when the figure of a familiar person appears on their doorstep a week after Meghan was due to give birth, it's unclear if this will become another blessing for the new family or another stumbling block.

It's too late to go back now. Not that he would intentionally hesitate here after coming so far, but the fact that Loki has a very limited time to have this meeting before he changes irrevocably is not lost on him. There is no better moment to clear his future of any regrets than now. Circe had agreed with Moira that this was an important step in his therapy, also it was supposed to be some kind of evidence that he was going to survive the upcoming ordeal which until he was facing directly, didn't bear thinking about.

Right now he had something to focus on: saying goodbye to Andrea for good.

It hadn't been difficult to find her as she publishes scientific articles on a regular basis through the local hospital. According to the phone directory, Dustin and she still still live together.

Still now Loki, sporting a pair of contacts that weren't quite the correct color, the lines on his face covered in make up, and a thin scarf wrapped closely around the wounds on his neck, having traveled hundreds of miles to be here, hesitates.

Nervously his fingers twitch away from the doorbell and he clears his throat before simply stabbing the button once. Man up. He can hear Circe's words in the back of his mind. Such a lazy thing for her to tell a patient. Somehow though he's amused by the memory. If nobody else would tell him something he needed to hear, at least she would. He hoped what he felt with her was real, but who knew? They'd known each other for the better part of four days, and been engaged for two of them. A potentially dying man was allowed to have a little hope though.

Idly and morbidly, he wonders whose name will be on his lips in his final moments.

His musing is interrupted by the approaching figure of a woman from on the other side of the door. Mutely she stands there for what seems a lifetime, frowning as if she doesn't know who he is or if she knows, and it's not enough to make her want to open the door.

Was I that bad to you? He thinks, annoyed. This was a horrible idea. If Moira hadn't plucked Andrea's name from his mind when she'd asked him about his regrets, he never would have had to confront her like this.

There's a part of him that hopes she won't open the door, but she does. He steps forward, ready to move on.

“Andrea?” He tries to take her in, the way she looks now. It's different from what he'd expected. He'd often wondered if she'd settled down with someone, had a child. And the child, well actually the little she girl she's holding, has her eyes. Is it hers? And her cousin's hair coloring. It must run in the family.

She looks him over tiredly, as if she's bored or has no time for whatever this is. Her expression is guarded as if he's going to try to sell her something. Her lovely amber hair curls on one side over her chest and her head is shaved on the other. It's not girly but it's not boyish either. Something about it is very much her. She's heavily pregnant. He clears his throat, well aware they were both merely staring at each other now. “How, have you been?” He asks, barely trusting his voice. It sounds hollow even to him.

Her face regards him with a tired recognition. “Loki.” His name sounds distant, as if it hasn't come up a lot. Of course it hasn't. He's probably not on her mind much anymore.

“Hi. Um, how have you been?” He repeats, trying to find out what's different from the Andrea he knows. Aside from the many, many things that are obvious.

“You mean, how has Meghan been.” She states, and again her voice is unusually cold.

He frowns, finally shaking his head. “No, what-”

But she's already backing through the doorway and turning away from him. “Dustin! Your friend is here!” She calls while the toddler in her arm begins to fuss.

Loki waves at her, absolutely confused. “Wait, what did I say?” And then Dustin is at the door. Loki doesn't realize right away, but his arm is still suspended in the air. “Hey...”

“Loki.” Dustin says with solemn recognition. “We should talk outside.” Because Meghan isn't here right now, he thinks.

And Loki, inexplicably, feels the thought. It's not clear, other than the name that Andrea just used and the feeling of frustration, of she's not here. He doesn't hear a lot from other people's minds, he doesn't know if he will once the virus that's ravaging his body has taken over him, will it be passive like this, amplified, or is Dustin yelling it in his mind? Loki shakes his head slightly in an attempt to clear it, then self-consciously snugs the scarf tighter around his neck. I'm already not like them, he thinks.

They walk down the steps together, and Dustin frowns, trying to figure out how to say the important things to Loki that he had never been told. Trying to decide if he should tell him now, when Meghan couldn't really speak for herself. He inwardly curses. Of all times, Loki had to visit when she wasn't herself! She had been herself more than ever but with the stress she'd been under towards the end of this pregnancy with a toddler in the house and unable to take the medication that had been so helpful to her, there was nothing he could do for her lately. It scared and worried him.

Now on top of all of that, this.

Loki, who was gaining more awareness in each passing hour, saw a few things in whisper as they passed over the forefront of his friend's mind that he couldn't explain. Dustin was clearly concerned about Meghan, and only Meghan. That name, again. Everything else must be less important.

“Who is Meghan?” Loki asks when they've stopped walking, trying to get to the bottom of one of the many things that weren't making immediate sense.

“Meghan is...” How could he tell his friend, who even though they'd had a falling out, Dustin could no longer really feel any vitriol towards? Loki had never been in on their secret in the first place, but there wasn't a concentrated effort to leave him out of it either. “My wife.” He says, heavily.

Loki doesn't understand why it sounds like such a burden. Doesn't that deserve congratulations? But there is a guilt on Dustin's face despite the way his mouth is set in determination. “And you should probably know the truth about her.”

“Why didn't Andrea seem to recognize me at the door?” Loki can't keep the hurt from his voice, it was too unexpected, too surprising. “She said my name, but-”

Dustin decided to be as honest as possible without getting into any gritty details. “I don't know. I'm guessing it's because she was Andrea that she didn't... well there's no easy way to say it Loki. Andrea is Meghan and Meghan is Andrea. In a way.” Dustin shakes his head, continuing, not sure when he had actually realized it himself. “You really never noticed that anything was strange about her back then, did you?”

Loki is quiet, deathly so, but not with anger. Mostly there is shock, and disbelief. “What do you mean, who is Meghan? What do you mean they are the same, and one of them is your-”

“We never were cousins, Loki. If that's what you're stuck on. We couldn't tell you that because we couldn't be found by the people we'd... run away from. Eugene is my actual cousin, he sort of, adopted Meghan for my sake.”

Loki stared without moving, his eyes raking the house behind his former friend. His blue gaze was piercing in a way that Dustin forgot it could be. He wasn't always perceptive, but when his attention was set to something he was kind of like a bulldog who wouldn't let go of it. It was one of the things Dustin had admired about him, so long ago. His dogged ambition.

The young father took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly, gathering his thoughts to say the next part right. “Meghan, chose the name Andrea when we started school together in Aurora Skies. I found out later, but she chose it because... sometimes she IS Andrea.”

Loki keeps staring for a second, straining his eyes which couldn't see her anymore as if he could view everything that was happening in the house if he merely tried hard enough. “You mean... ”

Dustin shifted his weight. “It was to protect her in case she lost sight of herself. Because she has other personalities. Not in the creative or conventional way, like how I play a part on stage as a magician. She has no choice in the matter, and just becomes them against her will. She could have shifted to Andrea at any time so-” He falters here, changing topics. “I had often wondered if you knew about it.” Dustin admits, quietly. “I didn't really know much about it, until college, when Andrea came out often. She was under a lot of stress then, and a lot of our conversations gave me like a whiplash. I couldn't keep up with it sometimes.'

“She's under a lot of stress now, so I think that's why...” His voice trails off. He has no idea what to say next.

Loki's gaze shifts to Dustin and he takes a step back, narrowing his eyes. It didn't take him long to start piecing things together verbally. “Okay. So number one, you aren't related to her?”

Dustin mirrors Loki's stance without realizing it. “No. No we're not.”

“So that's your daughter, yours and... hers?”

Dustin nods. “That's our daughter.”

Loki pinches the bridge of his nose before speaking again. “And number two. She has some kind of condition. That neither of you thought I needed to know about.”

Dustin nods, making note of the way the other's voice is getting lower ever so slightly with each passing moment.

Loki's fingers flex. “Is this your way of telling me that the two of you... were together, the whole time?” It all finally bubbles up in a disbelieving anger, he'd always thought of Dustin as a bit weird, but direct enough and generally an honest guy. He hadn't expected something like this from him.

Dustin for his part had expected this reaction much earlier in the conversation. He shakes his head, not breaking eye contact. “No. But you really never knew about it, about her? Did she ever tell you anything?”

“You told her that night the two of you went out to study.” Loki's words comes out hoarse as he realizes it, all the small things, the moments in time that had seemed odd that he only now is able to piece together. “That was when she changed in her attitude towards me.”

“Oh please, how does it matter now, when I told her?” Dustin finally grumbles. “She was different all along, you just never saw it.” The ferocity in his voice fades as he looks at the expression on Loki's face. “I'm sorry you had to find out this way. But, you had so many opportunities to get to know her!” This time Dustin begins to lose his temper a bit, and points.

“Besides, you got over it pretty quickly, correct me if I'm remembering it wrong, but you brought another girl to our house the day after Meghan broke things off with you! You were selfish, you never saw the things she went through, and that's why she left you, Loki! I trusted you with her, but you didn't take care of her. Do you think it was easy for me, to leave it alone, to give you a chance when you had no idea what she had gone through, and didn't care enough to find out?!”

Images flashed through Dustin's mind now; Andrea, no, Meghan as a child, as a young woman, missing, found, running, her hand in his. Loki blanches at the clarity of them. His ability comes and goes, but theses memories are being shouted by Dustin and they are clear, as if they'd even helped form who he is. They probably had. It certainly explains some of the overprotective behavior he had exhibited when they were younger. She was someone they both had cared for deeply. This is more of a profound realization than anything else had been. Andrea... or no, Meghan? Well it was clear that something had been going on with her because she had mood swings that were sometimes nearly impossible to navigate, so finding out that she has a disorder of any kind isn't really a surprise. Loki had always assumed she would talk about things with him when she needed to.

He had been blind.

“Listen, you're not wrong about any of that.” Loki says in an effort to diffuse Dustin's anger.

His former friend folds his arms over his chest. “I know I'm not. So why are you here?”

Loki looks to his feet, laughs a short, humorless laugh. He's on a fool's errand. “For closure. I needed to know what I had done wrong... I've regretted how things ended and I want to tell her... goodbye. If what you're saying is true, and it sounds,” He stops to find the right words, “real enough, it seems like there was a lot I wasn't aware of.”

“They weren't my secrets to share.” Dustin says cautiously, relaxing a little bit. “You can meet her, if she wants to, but you have to promise not to force any topic she doesn't want to discuss. I can't always call her back, when she is Andrea like now.”

“I understand,” Loki says numbly, and follows Dustin to the front door.

Dustin just hopes that everything will be okay. He'd kind of forgotten about Loki, having been lost in his own happiness for so long. Meghan and he had a life together now, and the last things she needs is instability. Why now? Is all he keeps thinking. Why did this have to happen now? Should he ask Loki to come back instead, after the baby is born? But she'd already met him at the door and as Andrea, and didn't seem to care one way or the other.

Loki follows, too lost in his own thoughts to worry about what he'd seen in someone else's. This paints their entire relationship in a new color. He wonders if it was doomed from the start. Why hadn't she told him about anything? Why hadn't he asked? He has the sneaking suspicion that she would have relied on him had she and her 'cousin' not already been so close to begin with.

Dustin and Andrea- no, Meghan are together, as in, an item, and they have a baby on the way. Unreal.

He stops at the door to look annoyingly cute. STOP THAT, these are serious moments!

And why is there a cucumber on the ground when they don't have any cats?

(Answer: Meghan was analyzing it to get samples)

That doesn't keep him from sauntering in like he owns the place though. He looks over everything, is it good enough for her? Are they happy? It's painful, seeing the life that he could have lived but now at least he knows how far away that dream really was for him. With Andrea, at least. He wonders if all women harbor secrets like this that they keep from the men they profess to care about, or if it was just something about him that brought out their duplicitous sides.

“If you'd like to sit down for a minute, I'll go get her.” Dustin says over his shoulder.

“Sure,” Is Loki's all-too-casual response. Inside he feels anything but calm, but he's too surprised to act on his feelings. Maybe his feelings... are dying with the rest of his body, being reset, remade.

Dustin returns. “Sorry about the dishwasher, it's a piece of junk. I've been tinkering with it but we should probably let it go soon. Anyways, I let her know, I don't know if you'll get to see Meghan honestly, she's been like this for the better part of the day.”

Loki nods, absently. He's still feeling an overwhelming sense of I shouldn't be here.

But life is weird, and so here he sits. Surrounded by somebody else's baby stuff and waiting for his ex girlfriend to come and tell him off again. He must be a glutton for punishment.

Dustin sits next to his friend, begins to ask him mundane questions. “So what did you do, after college? Did you go back? I don't listen to the radio all that much so I'm a bit behind and I don't know if you broke into the industry.”

Dustin is still trying to build bridges. How odd is that, when Loki's here to tear them down? “You don't have to pretend you wanted to see me.” He says frankly, “I thought I was done with you too. I understand why you took her side, but we were friends first before I ever met her. You could have explained this. You should have had my back.”

I'll have you back outside my house, Dustin thinks but doesn't voice it.“Just play along and pretend we're still friends so we don't scare her off you freaking idiot.” Dustin replies in annoyance. “I don't hate you or I wouldn't have let you in. Meghan can decide for herself if she wants to see you or not anyways.”

“Did I strike a nerve?”

Before Loki gets a response Andrea walks back into the room. Her expression is unreadable and solemn. He stamps back the urge to rise and meet her halfway, help her to a chair, or something.

“Hey! How are you feeling?” Dustin interrupts to greet his wife. He never did specify who he thought she was at the moment. Loki realizes they are both equally in the dark on that one.

The woman shrugs.

Loki tries to listen, but there's really not a lot coming from Meghan's mind, as if there's nothing she needs to think about at the moment. He's not getting much from Dustin either, so it's clear he has no idea how this new ability works. He's sure it means he doesn't have long, if parts of his brain are being overtaken by his... current condition.

“Hello Loki.” She says, scooting a chair out and addressing him as if she'd never left him standing outside. She does not look him in the face.

“Uhm, who am I supposed to-”

“It's Meghan. I've always been Meghan.”

Dustin's entire face lights up in relief. “Finally.” He comments.

“I know. I'm sorry.” She tells him. “How long was it...?”

“Since three or four, I'm not sure. I was out working on the car when I heard the baby fussing from her crib.”

“I-” She starts to apologize again, but Dustin shakes his head.

“It's fine, I know. And before you ask, no I didn't miss anything and no I'm not booked for anything this week anyways. I'll be here.”

She nods, accepting what he said without further comment.

Loki speaks up at that point. “Does this sort of thing happen a lot?”

There's enough concern in his voice she finds herself answering him honestly after looking to Dustin for confirmation. “It's been once a week or something, lately. We had it down to once a month a while ago, but in my condition, well I can't take anything that will calm me down and help keep it from happening.”

“I'm sorry.” He replies, quietly. The apology is for so much more than this moment and everyone in the room can tell. “It's not a lot of consolation I know, but I mean it.”

She frowns. “Thank you.”

“You're awfully calm about all of this.” Dustin tells him, a little suspiciously.

Loki surprises even himself, and shrugs. “I've learned that life is never going to be simple. We lose people we care about, our plans are changed before we know we're already heading down an uncertain new course, and all we can do is take it in stride, sometimes.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Loki?” Meghan quips, no humor in her voice.

“I'm still myself.” He protests quickly.

“You never were this relaxed before.” She stares at him hard for a few moments and he shifts in his chair. Andrea, Meghan, whatever she called herself, was proving to still be the brazen girl he fell in love with. She must know his secret for the way she seems to be looking directly into him. He resists the urge to adjust the position of the scarf he's wearing. Would she even know what this wound was?

And then he realized, she probably knew more about the living dead than he did. It could easily be one of her hobbies, like her fascination with the fae. This conversation was going to quickly become very interesting if that was the case.

“What's her name?” She demands, interrupting his thoughts.

“What? I don't follow-” Loki sputters in surprise.

She settles a hand on her hip, eyes continuing to bore into his. “You've changed. I wonder what type of person she is, to make you rethink your whole approach to life.”

His blue eyes widen too innocently. “A guy can't change his mind on his own?”

“Probably. If that guy wasn't you.” Dustin says, a smile slowly spreading over his features. “So you heard the adorable pregnant lady, who is she?”

Loki legitimately begins to sweat. He'd forgotten how close the three of them had been, and there wasn't much to dissuade these two when they shared a curiosity. He hadn't expected them to find out about Circe, or to have to explain his current bout of hopeful idiocy regarding her.

“She's a nurse.” He says, giving up. “We're engaged. We haven't known each other for very long actually, but-”

“But she makes your eyes light up.” Meghan observes.

She is rewarded with a rueful smile. “Maybe.” He shifts his weight again. “So honestly, I'm really here to say goodbye to you, and to apologize for the way I treated you, at the end. You deserved better from me, and I want to be better, for her sake. I don't want to have any regrets.”

“I have all kinds of regrets.” Meghan says. “I didn't always know if what I was experiencing was real, I was scared, there was so much I couldn't tell you because you were there to help me feel normal. I didn't want to lose that feeling, that anchor. For the couple of years we were together, I felt like I had a really normal life. I didn't realize that it was so serious on your end until you started to really focus on us having a future together and then I panicked and pushed you away. I wasn't about to jump into trying to have a family when I didn't even really know how those were supposed to work.”

I wonder how long it took her after breaking things off with me to run into the arms of her 'cousin', Loki muses. It was hard for him to not feel betrayed when he felt their lies had cost him everything. Then again, in that everything he had a chance at a new start, or a different end? It wasn't worth worrying over right now. At the end of the week he would get to find out if he was going to die, or going to succumb to the infection, the virus, whatever it was.

“Just so you know!” Dustin feels the need to elaborate, “She never makes anything easy for me, and it wasn't easy for us not to bring you into this. But there was no way of knowing what was the best thing to do...”

The cautious friends spend the next hours or so reminiscing and talking about their working lives. Loki became an inventor, Dustin a magician, and Meghan a biological researcher under her pen name. Nothing is perfect, but everyone feels they are in a better place than they were when they were younger. Loki's melancholy begins to lift when he realizes that everyone is afraid a little for the future, and holds out a guarded hope for it anyway.

Dustin eventually says goodbye to Loki and heads over to check his daughter. He wants to let Meghan and Loki have a few moments to say goodbye in private, so nothing is left hanging in the air.

(Loki gets charisma points by talking to an unborn baby XP)

“Well you look radiant.” He says, emotion catching up to him for once. He struggles to keep his voice steady with some success. “And for what it's worth, I know I was a jackass about it all. Thank you for telling me everything. I have a chance at a new start right now, and I needed to know how I broke my life last time so it doesn't happen again. If it can't be me, at least I know it's someone like him.”

Loki gets the sense that it really was never about him in the first place. It's hard to accept, and it's impossible to agree with their methods, the way they left him out of it, but what can he do about it now?

Meghan hugs Loki goodbye. “Thank you for visiting. I'm sorry I confused you so much, it wasn't my intention. I was pretty confused myself, at the time. I hope you do get married and have a house full of babies, like you dream about.”

Loki tightly returns the hug. “Thank you. I don't know if it'll ever sound right, calling you Meghan. But if your fake cousin ever does anything to make you upset, you can call me over here and I'll come yell at him for you, okay?”

He doesn't realize that he's already started thinking about his own future for once, not the past, and not his inevitable status as a Vampire. He shudders at the very thought of the word. He hopes she never does call him. He'd probably want to drink her blood the most.

“I probably won't call you, but I won't ever forget you either. Goodbye, Loki.”

“Goodbye, 'Drea'.” He says, smiling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let's all pretend that I know the difference between a virus and a bacterial infection, which I do. But I apparently don't care enough to be specific on the details of which one Vampirism is. I'm hoping not to have to figure that out for a while :P

Of course this begins the moment I'm done shooting the scene.

Also I moved the 'Rendall' family into town so I can keep an eye on what they get up to and this was their immediate reactions/ thoughts. Loki's already forgotten the existence of Circe, who is like, staring at him with love in her eyes (or attraction w/e), but no, he's concerned about Andrea. 'Drea' is nowhere near your house, how are you attracted to her-?!? You know, I guess I'm just leading him to water and instead of taking a drink he plans on drowning in it. Whatever, I'll try to be a good overlord-ess? To you.

Magicians should totally be able to play at birthday parties. They conjure up cake, for goodness sake!