driftfleet | mingle with the commoners or something

Mugg -- [ james pauses, wrinkling his nose before adjusting his vocabulary. ] Non-magical folks have made it to the moon. Us wizards haven't quite made it there yet.

[ but, you know. we have magic. ]

But I imagine shoving a bunch of people who have no idea what the hell they're doing is a lot more interesting than watching business as usual.

[ he looks over at james, slightly more interested now. ] Which moon? Which system? Maybe I know it.

[ it's not likely but it's worth a try. ]

I come from a world where there's a galactic government. We don't have... wizards. [ though, he knows that some jedi who encounter civilizations that have never met the jedi often think they're the wizards ] .... Not exactly. There are a species of witches. I don't know what or how but they do have some kind of "magic" that comes from their planet.

Aaaahmm... it's the moon. There's only one.

[ james is pretty sure that that's... right. (maybe he should've, like, actually paid attention in astronomy.) ]

I'm on planet Earth, though, I can tell you that much, and we haven't had much contact with people off-planet. [ even wizards would've heard about that. ] But my world's got non-magical folks, and people like us. We sort of live without interacting with each other, most of the time.

[ which is kind of dumb, in james' opinion, but hey. ]

We don't have spaceships or electricity or anything like that, magic doesn't interact very well with it. So, naturally, they let me pilot it.

[ james thinks the atroma are a bit touched in the head tbh ]

[ a lot of the time, there's no filter between anakin's thoughts and anakin's mouth. this is one of those times. ]

So you live on the same planet and you're the same species, but you don't like to interact with each other. [ squinting again ] Why? That doesn't make sense.

And how do you even know if someone you meet doesn't have any magic in them? Do you just know?

[ he glance at the controls and steering over at james' side and briefly goes over the checks for proper function. he's not paranoid, he just wants to know when he needs to eject. ]

Lots of history and nonsense that's foolish, quite frankly -- and I didn't say I didn't like to interact with them, I personally don't care.

[ he glances over at anakin, almost feeling the anxiety, and he lets anakin have his moment of are we going to die, faintly amused ]

Magical people, witches and wizards, live in secrecy. We know who each other are. Muggles -- non-magical people -- they have no idea we exist. In theory, anyway.

[ pause ]

I know how to fly the ship, mate, we're okay.

[ He chuckles. ] You better. You got one of those chips in you, just like I do.

Alright so you live in secret from the "Muggles". Because...?

[ He sounds suspicious and not because the magic-wizards part. ]

Did they do something to your people?

[ it's not often that james is asked that sort of question, and he considers it for a moment before making himself comfortable. it's a long story! ]

Wizards and Muggles used to co-exist with one another... not openly flaunting our magic or anything, but not living in secret, either. But magic's hard to understand for people who haven't seen it before, and some people got scared. There were a bunch of witch trials in... I think the 1600s? Remus would know better than me -- anyway, there was such fear that we decided it would be easier to just vanish. And we did, and we've been living separate ever since.

[ james pauses ]

I don't think there's such a big deal, and I don't think people would be afraid, really, if we were honest -- but it's been so long now that unveiling our society would probably cause a bloody war. The Muggle Prime Minister in England knows about us, and our Minister of Magic has meetings with him, according to my dad -- but other than that, we stay apart.

[ anakin listens quietly, thinking on similar problems and how they ended up. ]

The species of witches that I talked about? The males don't have magic like the females do. So they're enslaved by the witches. I think they would've killed the males if they didn't need them.

So, maybe it makes some sense to stay hidden but I can't imagine having to live that way though. Don't you get tempted to... [ He shrugs, a wry grin. ] use magic in front of them?

[ huh. well.

that sounds

delightful.

james tilts his chair back slightly. ]

Tempted, sure, but I'd get expelled from school or jailed if it was something seriously awful -- most of the time, the Ministry just covers it up when younger wizards and witches do something stupid.

[ james is certain his parents have had to cover it up more than once ]

It's been that way for so long that I don't think we're going to change it anytime soon. It works, even if it sounds bizarre.

[ he doesn't like the sound of that...

covering up for the whole of their species? that's fishy. that's impossible right?

jokingly: ]

Right, what do you do? Just erase the memories of the Muggles who have seen a little bit of magic?

[ .......squints. ]

Depends on how severe the sighting was, I suppose.

[ MEMORY CHARMS ARE TOTALLY A THING MAN ]

[ he's laughing because it's a joke right. they're joking.

wait--is he...?

...

he sits there... not quite sure he believes this is the causal manner to go about when talking about erasing one's memories. ]

You're not kidding.

Edited 2016-01-20 22:57 (UTC)

[ his brow furrows slightly. ]

No -- if we were discovered, the entire thing would be chaos. And it's only done if there's something... big, you know. Nobody's gonna believe someone who says a bloke vanished off the side of a street, but people might wonder about a baby bouncing thirty feet in the air or something.

[ he thinks about that for a moment then looks at james. ]

Can you do this?

In theory.

[ he inclines his head toward anakin ]

I've never actually done a Memory Charm before, but I know the incantation. -- I haven't got my wand, anyway, so the incantation's a bit pointless without it. I can't do that type of magic without it.

[ there's a slight pause ]

... I'd never wipe someone's memories, you don't have to worry about that.

[ besides, james is setting toward a different magical career, one that requires more fighting and war and less nuance. ]

[ he wasn't worried. he was wondering if james could do it!! ]

I didn't think you were the type to.

[ he flash an amicable grin then leans back into his seat, wondering how to approach the topic of jedi powers. ]

We- The Jedi, that is, can do it with some practice. It's not exactly a memory wipe. It's telling you not to think about it.

[ -- oh, right. he remembers that much. ]

Not quite so quick and easy in the magical world, I'm afraid.

[ admittedly, with a slight grin. ]

I imagine there's a way to reverse memory charms -- and if you use them too frequently on the same person, your mind can get a bit addled, so one-and-done's enough for the Ministry. Nothing so simple as telling someone not to think it.

[ there's something ... about the casual way that james puts it. one and done, like a motto.

he smiles wryly ]

Alright, I'll admit it. I'm glad you don't know how to do this magic. Even if you aren't the type.

[ the ministry is fucked up, anakin, ok. ]

It does sound a bit barbaric when you explain it.

[ admittedly ]

But keeping the two separate has kept both sides safe for so long that I doubt it's going to change anytime soon. Learning that magic is real is a bit unbelievable for a lot of people -- and the wizarding world's got a lot of problems right now as is, without adding discovery to it.

Huh.

[ A slow spreading grin, mostly to himself. ]

I thought in your world, problems would magically go away.

[ Oh, who's he kidding. He turns towards James, a brow raised in a "did u get it" way ]

{ there's a short laugh at that, and james spins in his chair neatly to properly face anakin, his eyes bright. ]

You know, you'd think.

[ in a teasing tone ]

But I'm told that sometimes, it just makes things worse.

[ there's a shitload of racism in harry potter ok ]

mingle with the commoners or something

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