Lessons in Magic Protection

“Theoretically, well, anything once you know what you’re doing. Though uh, I’m not quite at that point yet.” She continued, rubbing the back of her neck, looking a bit bashful. “Mine are designed to keep me safe from nonspecific magic that directly affects me.”

She pursed her lips, debating whether she should mention the next part to Gany, before deciding she could probably trust him with the information.

“My body reacts stronger to magic cast on it, and since the island has things like people who affect your emotions by just being near them and um, other things, I thought it be best to try and keep those out. It won’t be able to keep me safe from physical threats, but I might be able to put something together for that if I had the time.”

"Uh, yes, something like that." That same bashful look didn't go away. "Before I was born my parents did...um, well, they never really told me the details, but it ended up changing me. It's not another curse, thankfully, but uh...it can be inconvenient in a lot of ways."

She was aware, logically speaking, that having green skin wasn't exactly the most outlandish thing for a person on the island, but that still didn't keep her from feeling self-conscious whenever it got pointed out. She quickly moved on to the second question to push aside her discomfort.

"Yes, that's another thing I need to think about when preparing these. My magic has a lot of moving parts, it all needs to be right for the spell to work. I need to take it all into account."

Wednesday couldn't keep a small frown from forming on her face. The other witches had to learn and study just as much as she did in order to perform magic, they had all worked together on enough rituals for her to know that. But even basic, everyday spells took a lot of work for her to achieve, things that the others could do with an incantation and a flick of their wrists.

It was hard to not feel a little frustrated; surrounded by so many talented magic users, hard not to think her own difficulties made her inferior.

“W-well um, it wasn’t all by myself, you know.” She stammered a bit, rubbing the back of her neck, surprised at him suddenly picking up like that. “I uh, had a lot of help from my family and it took me a long time…”

Despite her own insecurities, and her being humble, Gany wasn't entirely wrong with his assessment. Wednesday magic was passed down from a long line of witches. She took a lot of pride in that, even if she didn't think she lived up to that yet.

“But, hey, don’t sell yourself short like that. You’re a smart kid, and I know you’ve been working hard trying to learn more. I’m sure you could pick this up fast if you stuck with it.”

She gave him a smile again.

“Well, it’s a good idea to draw over with something like this first,” She explained, gesturing to the body paint she brought with her. “Just to make sure all the symbols are correct. You don’t want to mess it up using the actual spell.”

Wednesday, was at least perceptive enough to pick up on his excitement, and when she did her smile went just a little more sly.

“It might take some time to prepare the actual magic paint, but the temporary ones should last for a little bit if you want to show them off.”

She started flicking open her books, going over her notes in preparation. As she found the page she was looking for, she looked over Gany again.

“Um, would you like to go get changed first? I wouldn’t want to accidentally get any spilled on your dress.”

Having seen Gany bamf enough for it to no longer surprise her, Wednesday simply chuckled to herself as he vanished, turning to open the small tub of dye she'd brought. By the time he returned, she'd already found the pages she'd been looking for and was ready to go.

"Alright," She said with a smile. "Let's start then."

She gestured for him to hold his arm out to her, scooping some dye onto her finger so she could start painting on the basic shapes. And then she noticed the tattoo. She didn't point it out right away, but it did obviously give her pause for a moment.

Ganymede had explained about his past as a Nek0 before, though he hadn't gone into much detail. Wednesday had heard enough about the other Nek0's to guess it wasn't too pleasant though.

"Hey...um," She began, beginning to draw the first few thin marks along his arm. "I know you probably don't want to think too much about life before the island, but um...if you ever want to talk about it..."

Considering how cagey she usually was about herself, she didn't want to start prying too much. So she wouldn't push any further if he didn't want her to.