[Charlotte-MacNamara International Airport (April 30, 2023)]
"There she is!" Evan practically beamed the moment he finally laid eyes on Valerie. "Good to see you!"
"What's up?!" The tall blonde said in an equally joyous fashion upon meeting the 'wind magic' user.
The two young sorcerers quickly closed the distance between them and embraced each other in a warm hug that lasted quite a long time before finally separating.
Since Chief Zoe was currently at work, Evan had volunteered to come retrieve Valerie from the airport. Naturally, the 'fire magic' user had no problem with this whatsoever. After all, who in their right mind would complain about a hot piece of meat coming to pick them up after being away from home for an entire month?
"Man…look at you." Evan then said while giving the woman a look up and down. "You bulked up a bit, didn't you? I guess all that training you were doing paid off, huh? I almost didn't recognize you."
"Speak for yourself."
Just like they had mentioned before, Evan had decided to spend the entire month growing out his facial hair while the rest of the group was away. So, instead of the clean-shaven look that he usually wore, the green-eyed young man now had a full beard covering the bottom half of his face. And if she was being perfectly honest, Valerie absolutely loved the look. It somehow made him look even hotter than he was before.
"You like the new look?" Evan then asked while rubbing a hand over his face.
"I do!" Valerie eagerly nodded. "It suits you."
"My sisters keep telling me that I look more like my dad now. I don't really see it, but I've decided to just take their word for it."
"You know what…I can definitely see the resemblance."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
With their reintroduction now out of the way, the two young sorcerers began making their way through the airport in order to get to the man's car. It was still pretty early in the afternoon, so they didn't have to worry about rushing to try to avoid the traffic. So, they decided to take their time and catch each other up on everything that's been going on while they were apart.
"So, how was your trip?" The 'wind magic' user asked.
"Amazing!" Valerie smiled in his direction. "I had a great time! And the training was everything that I thought it would be! I could've gone without getting electrocuted nearly a dozen times a day, though. But it was worth it in the end!"
"Glad to hear it."
"Zharia was cool, too. She was totally insane, but she helped me out a lot. She said that she wanted me back down there as soon as possible. And I can't wait to see what else she has planned for me!"
"Yeah, that sounds about right." Evan couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh, and don't even get me started on getting to see the Fountain of Youth with my own eyes!" The young woman then said. "That place is amazing! I still can't believe that it was real. I'm almost mad that you didn't tell me about it before I left."
"Yeah…sorry about that." Evan rubbed the back of his head in an apologetic fashion. "The place is supposed to be super secret. And for good reason. I've only ever been to it once. But I know from personal experience that getting to swim in the water is practically life-changing."
"You got that right!"
The young man then decided to switch topics as the two casually strolled past a few of the nearby restaurants and food stands. "Cyrus and Maria won't be here for another few hours. I was hoping that all of you would get here around the same time. But I guess that was just wishful thinking on my part. It looks like we're gonna have to save the trip to Aurum for later this week."
"Fine with me." Valerie gave the man a shrug. "I was hoping to spend the rest of the day relaxing anyway. Aunt Zoe already told me that I have to be at the station in the morning. So the sooner I get to pack it in, the better."
"Aww…and here I was about to take you to go get some ramen. Silly me."
"Hey, hold on! I didn't say that we couldn't make a quick stop on the way home."
"No, no, you have a hard day of work ahead of you tomorrow, remember? It would be irresponsible of me to keep you from getting your rest."
"You're the worst, you know that?" Valerie playfully shoved Evan on the shoulder. A sudden thought then popped into the 'fire magic' user's mind. "Actually, now that you mention it, can I get you to braid my hair again sometime today? If it's not too much trouble?"
"Sure thing." The 'wind magic' gave the woman a charming smile. "I can do over at Chief Zoe's house since it probably won't take too long."
"Y'know…if the whole super genius hacker thing doesn't work out for you, you'd have an amazing backup career as a hairstylist."
Evan couldn't help but roll his eyes after hearing that. "Yeah, no chance of that ever happening. It's already bad enough that I have to do my sister's hair whenever she feels like it. I don't think I could manage doing something like that full-time. I'd probably go insane."
"You think so?"
"Oh, definitely! Just be glad that I like you, otherwise I'd tell you to just do it yourself."
It was impossible for Valerie's heart not to flutter a bit after hearing that. Okay, it wasn't exactly a romantic confession or anything like that. But it was more than good enough in her opinion. She was really glad to be spending time with her favorite half of the MacNamara twins again after being away for so long. And she was certainly planning to make the most of the rest of their afternoon together.
With that, the two young sorcerers quickly made their way out of the airport before heading over to the house. Now that she was finally back in town, it was time for Valerie to get right back to business. Since summer was right around the corner, it meant that there would be a whole horde of new cryptids for her to shred to pieces. And the 'fire magic' user was ready to put all of her new skills to the test and show everyone exactly what she was made of.
-(o)-
Character Profile: Valerie
Name: Valerie Bernice McKenna
Alias: N/A
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Birthday: May 4th
Birthplace: San Francisco, California, United States of America
Height: 72in
Weight: 187lbs
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Race: White
Magic: Fire
Occupation: DPA Agent
Stat Chart: A
-Physical Strength - 4
-Intelligence - 2
-Magic Amount - 5+
-Magical Control - 1.5
-Magic Sensing - 4
-Special - [Redacted]
Fun Fact:
-Favorite sport is MMA.
-Favorite food is chicken wraps.
-Hates her cousin, Olivia McKenna.
-Has recently taken an interest in learning about the science behind the concept of propulsion.
-Wants to enter a weightlifting competition in the near future.