The Pool (Open)

Charity was out by the pool, lounging on a beach chair, and reading a fashion magazine idly. Philip of Macedonia poked his head out of the pool, and gave her a look. She'd offer a wave, and then Philip would submerge and continue swimming. It was a rather odd thing to have a large albino croccodile in one's pool, but she'd gotten used to Philip, who was actually quite friendly. Plus, he was also a Shabti, so that helped. She knew she should be focused on her studies of Khonsu, but felt like taking a lazy day today.

Omaira walked out into the pool area, watching as Phillip of Macedonia splashed about in the water. She had a few strips of bacon in her hands--one of the shabti crocodile's favorites. Just because he was made out of clay didn't mean that he needed to be treated like one. She looked over at Charity and nodded her head in greeting before tossing the bacon strips at Phillip, watching as he happily caught each strip in his mouth.

"Hey Aira." Yeah, Charity didn't particularly care for Omaira's name, and had basically slapped the nickname "Aira" on her, because it actually sounded pretty cool. "I might let my Hydra out and see if Philip wants to play with him in a bit." For her first Shabti, she'd managed to make a Multi-headed Hydra, which had been really difficult. It had taken her almost a month to make it the first time, and a few more months of work so that she could make it in an hour. One day, she planned to see if she could make a 20 head hydra version. Probably not, but she was willing to try. "What's new?"

Omaira shrugged. "Nothing much--cracked that locust plague spell, though. Sadie said to never use it. Ever. Oh well, it wasn't my fault that they ate all of her clothes," she replied nonchalantly as she collapsed into one of the lawn chairs. "Did the hydra turn out well?" she asked. Though Omaira was primarily a sau, she was also quite skilled in the art of figurine-making and always liked to talk about it.

"I think it did. The first one was kinda of a brat when I summoned it. The ones after that are more cooperative and friendly. Maybe they're tied to moods or something?" She wasn't that familiar with making the figurines, so she had her own guesses. "I wonder if there is something about the amount of heads that makes it cranky? But the first only only had one head, so that might not be the case."

"Well, they have personalities," Omaira replied, stretching out her limbs. "Clayton hates me--which is normal, I guess. He's also a die-hard Belieber. I'm thinking of destroying him." Her gaze wandered to Phillip, who was still swimming around in the pool, content as could be.

She'd give the other girl a horrified look. "That is horrible... Clayton must be disposed of before the others join'em. A Hydra dancing to that trashy music would be traumatizing..." Well, that and the fact that Hydras shouldn't even dance. It was more constantly undulating, which can be quite hypnotic. She'd learned that the hard way from "Bob", the first incarnation. "I'm glad Bob never heard that music..."

"It could be worse," Omaira pointed out, glad that someone sympathized with her. "He could enjoy listening to Shawn Mendes. Or One Direction. Or My Chemical Romance."

"Just be glad you never saw Bob 'dance'. I think he managed to hypnotize a few students with all that Undulating." She'd frown, realizing she hadn't yet named the new one. "Hmm, I do need to give the latest one a name... I wonder what I should pick."

"Chadwick Templeton," Omaira said, without hesitation. Personally, she was going to choose Ryan Reynolds for her next shabti, but she still felt like someone should use Chadwick.

"Interesting name. Chadwick it is, I guess. I'll test it later, someplace safe from music... Dancing does not need to happen." She'd giggle a little bit. "Seriously, if you ever see a 'Dancing' Hydra, look away. Look far far away. You don't want to be hypnotized by it." She'd eye Philip, wondering if he'd mind if she laid atop him for a bit. He didn't usually, but she preferred to ask. And she was wearing a two-piece swimsuit.

"Noted," Omaira replied. She sighed, closing her eyes. It had been an uneventful day for the most part, but she was glad for this moment of relaxation. Normally, she was a very dedicated student and would never even consider lying about for no good reason--but today she was feeling lazy. Perhaps it was the sunshine, or the perfect weather. She wasn't quite sure.

"Sometimes I just want to sleep atop Philip when he's in the water." She'd just randomly say this. "I tried to sleep atop Bob a few times, but he kept moving around, even after I told him not to. Hopefully Chadwick is more cooperative. I'd hate to be in a battle and summon a lazy Hydra..." She knew Hydras weren't really Egyptian, but she'd been curious as to what she could make, and she'd wanted something difficult. "At least I haven't wrecked the microwave or the oven yet"

"Ya, the Kanes threw a fit whenever I did that," Omaira admitted. It had been an accident; she was trying out a new spell that was supposed to perfectly replicate an inanimate object to its every detail and function. Well, that hadn't worked out.

"Oh, well I more or less speed up time when using it. No more waiting 20 minutes for a pizza to cook. Or 3 minutes for a hot pocket." She'd gotten her timing down, and sure, it was technically an abuse of her magic, but Khonsu didn't seem to mind. If anything, he was probably amused. Then again, it was also likely that Khonsu himself used his own power to speed up his food prep. Maybe she'd ask him someday.

It was always good for a magician to show more mastery in the certain path that they chose. Sometimes, Omaira questioned whether it had been wise for her to choose Seker over the other gods. Horus would've been more pratical....Thoth would've been more convenient....but, in the end, it felt as though the minor god of craftsmen had called for her to follow him. She couldn't explain it exactly, but she just had a hunch that it was real. "Wonder when things'll get interesting around here," she commented.

"Well, we could just summon our Shabti and see what happens, but I don't think Philip would appreciate the tranquility being ruined." She noticed Phil's eyes on her, and waved. Phil just blinked. "Also, I'm pretty sure if either of ours started farting nonstop, he'd be pretty pissed." Yeah, the Carters farting Camel was not popular.

Omaira shuddered. "Let's not bring up our dear 'Pharaoh of the Universe's Great Creation,' " she groaned, turning over on her side. Carter may be one of the most powerful magicians to be born in ages, but he could't make a good shabti to....well, he had before apparently, so that was the wrong train of thought. To convince a mortal. There. That was better.

"I lost my appetite for a week after that... that... Camel farted in the kitchen..." Nobody blamed her. "It's a double-edged sword, one that I wish didn't exist. At least Hydras can't fart." This was true. It appeared they couldn't. They didn't really do much besides attack or undulate hypnotically. Though, if you were careful, you could coax'em into letting you slide down a head into the pool.

"That was, by far, the worst use of magic in the history of magic," Omaira went as far to say. The sad part was that she was pretty certain that any member of the House of Life would agree with her. "Even worse than that other time Carter tried to make donkey that could talk--remember that?"

"I try not to. Ever. You'd think Sadie would smack him upside the head when he gets those stupid ideas." She'd watch Khufu the Basketball Addicted Baboon, with a giant bowl of Sphagetti-Os, as he came out onto the roof to eat. "I will never understand that one."

"I will never understand either of them," Omaira agreed. "It's quite strange, how the two most powerful magicians in centuries act like that. You'd imagine they'd be....well, more mature, I guess."

"Well, they are younger than some of us, so there's that. And they did have two totally different upbringings... And they're not your normal siblings... So I guess a lot of that is why." It was pretty true. Carter was Black, Sadie was White, and they were still brother and sister. It was just weird.

"Carter's also technically the Ultimate Pharaoh or whatever," Omaira pointed out. "Not to mention that they're both the Eyes of two of the most important and powerful of all the gods. The only one that I can think of that is more important is Ra, and he barely does anything anymore."

"Can't really blame him. Forced into retirement, didn't really want to come out of retirement. But the World would have ended, so he came out of it." She'd shrug, then flinch. Phil had somehow managed to sneak up to her. "Dammit Phil!" She'd roll her eyes in exasperation and scratch his head. "What have I told you about sneaking up on me?"