#and found out that they didn't actually have one in stock. unspeakably frustrating

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: February 23

“Inkpot Gods” by The Amazing Devil

[innytoes]

More sleepy prompts! 21 for Carrie/Reggie?

"So magic's real," Reggie said. He was covered in what was hopefully just debris, and not monster-guts. "And monsters are real."

"Hmmhmm," she agreed, wishing Alex was here. His fanny pack would have some decent wet-wipes, she was sure of it. On the other hand, Reggie was taking this much better than Alex would have. He wasn't even pacing. He was just sitting there, looking shell-shocked. "Most people can't see them, and they don't usually attack normies."

She came back with a wet washcloth from the bathroom. Thankfully, even though Julie didn't like coming here anymore after her mom died, the place was still well-stocked. She grabbed the normie first-aid kit as well as the magical one, assessing herself in the mirror while Reggie wiped his face. Now that he was clean, she could see how pale he looked.

"Drink this," she said, shoving one of the potions at him.

"And you're a..." Reggie faltered, staring at the potion. It was very sparkly. "Wiiiitch?" He said slowly, wincing as if he wasn't sure it was offensive.

"Magical girl, actually," she said. "Rose was a witch, though."

"So I didn't dream up that transformation sequence?" Reggie blurted out. "I just thought I hit my head and my fantasies mixed with reali-" He clamped his mouth shut, looking embarrassed.

Of course her nerdy, normie boyfriend had dumb, cliché anime fantasies, next to the usual 'you can dress up as Princess Leia for Halloween and I'll be Han!'. "The transformation sequence was real," she said. "So were the sparkles." Then, just so Reggie wouldn't get any ideas: "So was the sound of bone crushing when I used my staff to cave in that Shadoweater's head."

Reggie turned from pale to slightly green. Whoops. Sometimes she forgot that normies weren't used to the unspeakable violence that sometimes came with the job. Even Julie kind of made a face whenever Carrie showed up covered in demon-guts. As if she liked trying to get that stuff out of her hair. Saving the world was messy.

"Hey," she said, crouching in front of Reggie and putting her hands over his. With a little spark of magic, they stopped shaking, and she smiled. "It's going to be okay. We're going to figure out why they targeted you, and fix it. But until then, you can't go home."

Neither could she, since she didn't want to leave him. Luckily, her dad never really noticed if she was home or not anyway. "The Molinas have some pretty heavy-duty wards on this place, and they don't mind the occasional overnight stay," she said. "Come on, it's late, let's get you to bed."

In the morning, she'd ask Ray for help, he was always good at the research thing. Even if she and Julie hadn't been doing well lately, he wouldn't turn down helping a civilian in trouble.

She let Reggie take the first shower, rummaging in the loft for something for him to wear. Sure, he looked kind of silly in an oversized purple sweater pronouncing him to be a Nap Queen and a pair of what she assumed were Ray's old swim trunks, but it was better than nothing while she washed (and performed a cleansing spell on) his clothes.

He'd managed to pull out the couch and find the blankets, so by the time she got out of the shower (she thankfully still had a go-bag here with some clothes) he had made a veritable nest. Which was never a good sign. Reggie always made nests and caves when he was feeling anxious of scared. The first time he'd stayed over, she'd found him in the back of her walk-in closet after he'd had a nightmare, because he hadn't wanted to wake her.

"I need to go back out there," she said, regretfully. She hated to leave him, but at least one of the Shadoweaters had gotten away, and they were not very nice when they were frustrated and hungry. She'd texted the other Candis, of course, they were already out patrolling, but she was their leader. She really should...

"Can you stay? Just until I fall asleep?" His voice sounded so small and uncertain. She was pretty sure the shock was wearing off, and she'd have to get Kayla in here to do the whole 'welcome to the wonderful world of magic' spiel. She was much better at it than Carrie. She had a PowerPoint and everything.

"Alright," she said, curling up next to the pile of blankets that was her boyfriend. It tilted, and he collapsed into her side. She rummaged around until she found his head, stroking his hair.

"So you're a magical girl?" he asked. "Like Sailor Moon?"

"Kind of," she said. "With a little Buffy thrown in there." Except Buffy's vampires all poofed into ashes, and she had to pretend to be a rich girl shopaholic just to cover up the fact that she regularly had to trash her clothes because she got blood or demon guts on them.

"How long?"

"Since I was thirteen," she said.

"Were you going to tell me?" he asked. "I mean, I guess I understand why you didn't. I'm not... I just kind of froze. And I'm kind of a blabbermouth. And my D&D stuff must seem really stupid to you and-"

"I was going to tell you," she promised. "I just... wanted to enjoy having something normal in my life for once."

"But you dated Nick," Reggie pointed out. "Nick's like the most normal dude around."

"Nick's a werewolf, sweetie," she said, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"I think I need to lie down."

"You're already lying down."

"I think I need to lie down more."

She helped Reggie curl up on the bed, his head in her lap. "Listen, you're safe. Nick is harmless. The worst he's ever done is chew on one of my heels."

"I'm not scared of Nick," Reggie said. "But those... shadowdemons?"

"Shadoweaters."

"They scared the hell out of me. You're sure they can't find us here?"

"I'm sure. This place has more protective wards on it than the La Brea Tar Pits." Which probably didn't make any sense to Reggie, considering he was a normie, but he still nodded sagely. Or maybe he was just finally dozing off.

She kept talking, mostly about nonsense. About school, about how homework was a bitch when you had just stayed up all night fighting evil. About the next Dirty Candi performance. About a cute dog she'd seen last week. About how yes, she did have a magical tiara, and she rocked it. Eventually, Reggie's questions and responses turned into little noises of acknowledgement, then small, snuffly snores.

She hated to leave him, but duty called. She pressed a kiss to his temple and gently scooted out from under him, swapping her lap out with a pillow. He mumbled a little, but then snuggled into the pillow. God, she loved him so much.

She was going to make whoever or whatever was after him pay.