[Sarah]

Vestel had the increasingly good luck of being a child. He could do stupid shit all day long and as long as he didn’t die or severely maim himself he could get away with the stupid shit essentially into infinity. Today was one such day for shit. Halloween was drawing near, and the slums looked just as much like a horror movie as any other day, but there was the added participation and inclusion into the living hell they were all stranded in.

[Sarah]

“You really think this is going to make him anything more than incredibly upset?” Jaze asked. Vestel’s ever-present and often unseen partner in crime was, as always, accompanying him. Jaze was a demon… sort of. Technically Vestel had no idea what Jaze was, and the often-disembodied voice gave no hint at species if there was one to know. Vestel’s father was a djinn, his mother was a deep-space thoughtform, and his best friend might as well have been a mental illness.

[Sarah]

“Not really. That’s why you’re here,” Vestel replied. He wasn’t really paying much attention to anything going on around him. He knew that no matter how upset Jaze acted about what they were doing he’d still make sure Vestel didn’t get caught or in trouble. Vestel focused on the task at hand: a complicated web of spells that would trap his father inside the house. It was a silly trick, and his father probably didn’t deserve it, but it was the season for tricks.

[Sarah]

“What?” Jaze had the audacity to sound genuinely upset or maybe shocked.

“Yeah, if he hates it then all I have to say is a demon made me do it,” Vestel said dismissively. Jaze was always with him, and whenever michief was afoot Vestel’s father always turned the blame on Jaze. It was easiest that way. Jaze couldn’t actually be punished and it made Vestel’s father feel better about doing absolutely nothing to really raise Vestel in any way that was important.

[Sarah]

“Hilarious. I bet that’ll go over well,” Jaze responded dryly. Revazi was a powerful and tricky djinn, and Jaze would be honestly amazed if he let himself get trapped in his own house. That being said… Vestel’s father could apparently only see his adoptive son as a saint. Jaze couldn’t say he particularly cared about being blamed all the time, but it was beginning to become a matter of principle. Revazi couldn’t see his son was a little shit, and that was annoying.

[Sarah]

“If you’re nervous its because you think he’ll believe me,” Vestel said. His voice sounded like he’d returned his focus back to his magic.

“Of course he’ll believe you!” Jaze exclaimed, frustrated, and wished he had a corporeal body, so he could throw his arms up in exasperation. Instead he just huffed and puffed and continued to be a good look-out. “You’re his innocent child that has never done anything wrong ever,” he muttered, mostly to himself.

[Sarah]

“Why did you attach yourself to me?” Vestel asked. He’d never really bothered to care. It was kind of nice to have a constant companion – that was Vestel enjoyed the drowned-out voice of Jaze. The creature would talk forever if Vestel let him and the white-noise was soothing.

“What do you mean?” Jaze asked.

[Sarah]

Answering a question with a question was not what Vestel had intended. He wasn’t even sure what about his question needed clarification. “Why me?” he reiterated.

“As opposed to anyone else?” Jaze expanded the question himself. “Your living situation I think,” he said. “A djinn for a father and an outer-realm being for a mother. A human child who developed magical abilities through what was essentially toxic radiation from your parents… I knew you weren’t going to be boring,” Jaze explained.

[Sarah]

Vestel made some kind of noise that suggested he was keeping up. He felt Jaze was about to continue and interrupted him, “check these for me?” Vestel knew his spells would hold and that they were calibrated correctly to lock his father in the house, but he wanted a second opinion. He was still a kid, and his powers sometimes escaped his full control. He wanted to make sure he’d set a cage trap and not that he’d set something that would burn the house down.

[Sarah]

Jaze examined the spells more closely. He wasn’t exactly corporeal as he had no physical form in the realm that Vestel took form in, but he wasn’t omniscient. He did take up space and had a somewhat limited range of sight which was limited further if his sight needed to be precise. His hearing was also somewhat limited. He could, from his place in existence, feel the spell as if it was a corporeal thing beyond a sort of magical tingle that most species could detect. “Feels sound to me,” Jaze confirmed.