5'10. She was a single inch taller than Pierce. He had never thought of himself as short before today, and now that he was thinking about it, he couldn't stop. Ophelia bent down to remove her shoes, then began to rummage through her bag for something. Pierce saw his opportunity as she was busy finding whatever she was looking for. Apparently the bag was deeper than it looked, because she was making a lot of movement inside it trying to find something.

With Ophelia distracted, Pierce added an inch into his height. It was only an inch. She wouldn't notice. An inch wasn't that much, just enough to annoy Pierce endlessly. As she withdrew from the bag, a new pair of shoes -- flats -- in hand, Pierce smiled. "Now we're the same," he announced brightly. "Shall we continue on our... walk?"

Ophelia looked back at Pierce and did a double take. He was her height. But just a moment ago, even with her shoes off, Pierce had been shorter than her. Her eyes flicked downwards to his feet, but he was not standing on his toes. I am such an idiot. I should have seen this one coming. She grabbed Pierce's hand and dragged him to the bathroom. Ophelia didn't even care that the waiters and waitresses were casting smug looks at one another. She just knew that she had a magician in her grasp.

Once in the bathroom, Ophelia slammed Pierce against the wall, her eyes burning with tears. She hated them. All of them. And deep down she hated herself. But today was not the day to address that. Today she hated them. But she didn't hate this one. It hurt her to hold him against the wall. The tears that were forming in her eyes slowly started to trickle down her cheeks, and her breathing became more ragged. All of this resulted from a single inch growing on Pierce.

But wait. Having a single wizard by her side wouldn't be so awful. Maybe his only power was increasing his height. That wasn't even too magical. That was more human that magician. But it still hurt, and Ophelia released her hold of Pierce, sobbing at this point.

"Why did you hide your true self from me?" she demanded through broken gasps.

Pierce's smile fell as Ophelia stared at him. Had he done something wrong? There was suddenly a tight pressure around his wrist as she squeezed his arm and dragged him to the bathroom. Um. It felt a bit early for this to Pierce, but he supposed he wasn't going to argue. As the door slammed, she pinned him to the wall with a show of extreme force. "Feisty," muttered Pierce as he looked down to Ophelia.

But there wasn't love in her eyes. It was more a look of sheer hatred. No, not quite hatred. More... Betrayal. She began to yell, asking why he had lied to her. What had he done? There hadn't been anything he'd done, apart from a bit of changing the course of conversation earlier. Except...

The height.

How had she noticed? It was only an inch. But her anguish made Pierce worry. He wanted her to be happy, even if he wasn't the one to make her so, but he also didn't want to be murdered in a bathroom because he had wanted to be tall. "I'm... I'm sorry. I just... with the Defenders, I don't really like to reveal my power in conversation. I've lived in fear ever since I discovered what I could do. If I make a single slip up, I could be killed. Please, I didn't mean to hurt you."

The Defenders. He was afraid of her. He hid himself from her because he was afraid of being found out by someone like her. Wow. Her sobbing began to slow as she leaned into Pierce's shoulder, softly crying. Even though Pierce was a magician, Ophelia still felt comforted by his presence. Pierce was pure, and Ophelia could sense it. Realization slowly dawned in her eyes.

"Are you...divine?" she whispered, her watery eyes looking directly into Pierce's. He didn't even need to respond - she knew. She had never felt that purity before in anyone beside herself. She took pride in being the only one. Now there was another, and he was just what she needed.

Pierce felt his eyes sting as Ophelia continued to cry, still holding him but gently now. He slowly took the inch back out of his height, and then wrapped an arm around her. It could still be okay. He was still lying to her, he felt, but there were some things she just couldn't know. The Academy had to remain secret, and if he revealed his true self to her... well, there was a story behind that and if she wasn't frightened away by the subhuman he was, she would be after a tale of pain and revenge. She would know that he was responsible for his own misery, that people who got too close to him always wound up dead.

Quietly, she looked to Pierce with tear-stained eyes. Was Pierce divine? After a quick swallow, Pierce nodded. She couldn't be a Defender... surely he was safe revealing that secret. "And you?" Whispered Pierce, eyes wide. Now that he was thinking about it, he was aware of the power practically radiating from her skin like heat. Another divine.

He was a divine. There was something good in the world. Ophelia breathed a sigh of relief, and she felt even better once the glamour around Pierce to enhance his height faded. She was looking at the true Pierce, and it felt...right. The Defenders did not need to know about him. The divines were a sacred race that deserved to be at the top of the food chain. Once Ophelia cleansed the earth of its impurities, divines like her and Pierce would rise up and lead.

Pierce asked her if she was divine, but Ophelia knew that the moment he uttered the words he knew. That subtle intake of breath. The way he looked. She could feel that he had sensed her purity. Simply for bragging purposes, Ophelia generated a very small amount of electricity in her fingers and poked Pierce. It would not hurt him, but he would know. That was her answer.

Everything was out in the open, and Ophelia felt strangely calm. It was nice.

"I think I found out what's so special about you," she murmured softly, her tears now dry.

Pierce tensed slightly as a small jolt of electricity ran through his body. It seemed as if that were Ophelia's answer to him, confirmation that she was divine. For the years that he had known if his power, he had been told that he was the only one left. Yet here was another magician with magic of practically god-caliber, standing right before him, living, breathing... And hugging him.

She began to speak, murmuring that she knew why he was so special now. He nodded. They seemed almost meant to be, matched in power, (almost) matched in height, they would just flow together. Pierce just hoped to god that she hasn't been sent by the Defenders, a plot to capture Pierce --and possibly Ophelia -- again. She couldn't just be another Micah. Pierce didn't know if he had it in him to kill this woman if it came down to it. Of course... Being heartless made a lot of things possible that Pierce had never known he had in him.

"So... Shall we continue our walk?" Asked Pierce, shifting his weight slightly as he gazed into Ophelia's warm eyes, the years slowly drying on her face.

Ophelia felt Pierce's body moving, so she looked again at him. The walk. Of course. She had almost forgotten. That "walk" was what had started this whole fiasco anyways. Ophelia chuckled and nodded her head slowly at Pierce, separating herself from him and taking a deep breath. She forced a wide smile out before once more taking Pierce's hand.

"I think a walk is a wonderful idea," confirmed Ophelia. With her breathing now steady, Ophelia led Pierce out of the bathroom. The waiters and waitresses passed those smug looks again, but Ophelia liked them. More attention for her anyways.

The moment the couple stepped outside, Ophelia felt it. The stares. But not all of these stares were directed at Ophelia. Some people were looking in awe at Pierce as well. He is my equal.

Ophelia took Pierce's hand and led him out of the bathroom. He was a bit dazed from what had just happened, all the shouting and crying and revelations, not to mention that he had been shoved at a wall. He noticed the staff of the small coffee shop passing knowing looks, and made an effort to straighten his expression. Nothing like that had happened in the bathroom, despite what it may have looked like.

As they walked outside, Pierce began to notice stares burning into his back. What was it? Had his illusion slipped? Were people seeing his true appearance? There wasn't quite enough screaming for that to be what had happened... Pierce glanced down to see his hands still pink and pale. Was it his height compared to Ophelia's? He couldn't be the only one bothered by that. With a frown, he looked to the woman who had him ensnared in her grasp. "Uh..." said Pierce quietly, pulling at his lip with his teeth, "Why is everyone staring at us?"

Ophelia noticed that Pierce's body language had changed. Was he...uncomfortable? Her suspicions were confirmed when he asked why everyone was looking at them. How cute, she thought with a smirk. Pierce obviously didn't get out often, and it was probably because of the Defenders. Ophelia almost felt guilty for a moment. Almost.

"People long for what they cannot be," Ophelia returned, her eyes meeting the eyes of their onlookers. Most of them looked away when they saw her, but some stared defiantly. She would remember their faces and return to haunt them. Those who did not fear the perfect had to be taught a lesson, for they obviously thought they were perfect.

Ophelia looked once more at the awkward Pierce. "Do you not get out often? A divine like you is bound to be stared at."

A divine, bound to be stared at. It was an interesting outlook, though Pierce did not share it. He didn't think of himself as above anyone despite his power, nor did he show his power enough for most to even know its caliber. Perhaps it was because of Ophelia's modeling, people knew her face and were able to connect it to her skill. But if that were the case... why hadn't she been killed by the Defenders yet? Pierce knew from experience that they had no qualms with apprehending a divine magician. Though, if Pierce had escaped, maybe she had, too. She may not have mentioned it for bad memories, so Pierce decided not to bring it up, though it began to gnaw at him.

Pierce noticed that when he or Ophelia made eye contact with those staring, they looked away. It made him feel awful. He didn't want to be one who struck fear in people's hearts, not anymore. The only ones who deserved fear were the Defenders, but Pierce had even stopped going after them ages ago. He just wanted for there to be harmony, and he did the best he could by offering a haven for the magical with his school. Everything about this situation was making him uncomfortable. "I know I just said we should take that walk," Pierce said with a small frown, "But... do you think we could go somewhere else? Somewhere less... public?"

Pierce didn't like it. Ophelia could tell the moment he told her that he wanted to go somewhere else. It was a small flaw of his. She would change it. Soon, Pierce would love the feeling of striking fear into the hearts of mortals. But for now...

"Of course. I know a special place we can go to." Ophelia poured every ounce of warmth left in her into what she said, but maybe it was a little too warm. What she said was a blazing force. There was a growing darkness inside of Ophelia that she both loved and loathed, and it turned all of her magic into something even bigger and more terrifying.

"It's a gazebo, just, in case you were wondering," Ophelia stammered out in a desperate attempt to hide the darkness that had just surfaced in what she had previously said. Pierce couldn't know she was a Defender, he was the only pure thing she had ever met. And Ophelia planned on holding on to it.

Pierce followed as Ophelia led him away from the streets, away from the people and the stares. She was taking him to a gazebo, apparently, as she had stammered rather quickly and quietly, unfitting of her commanding presence and her air of control. Pierce hadn't noticed anything wrong before she had begun to stutter, but he wasn't the most observant of people. Once again, he decided to just let it slide. He didn't want to embarrass Ophelia or anything.

They arrived to the gazebo, a small weathered thing with chipping white paint and flowering vines growing up the sides. It was quiet, even quieter than the coffee shop had been, though just as pleasant. Pierce let out a small sigh of relief as he went to sit beneath the round roof with Ophelia. He turned to her with a smile before beginning to talk. "So, you're divine, just like me... but what areas of power do you particularly focus in?" He wanted to know as much as he could about her. After all, until just minutes ago, he had thought he was the only divine magician left on the face of the earth.

Ophelia felt safe in the gazebo. Safe yet alone. But while she was here alone with Pierce, it was not awful. She normally hated being alone, it meant less people that would worship her every move. And now he wanted proof that she was a divine. Ophelia could do what any normal person would do and just tell him everything about herself, but Ophelia preferred to show.

The dark-haired witch tenderly let go of Pierce's hand and took a few steps back, her breaths slowing. She focused all of her energy onto being something else. Her eyes closed, and she felt her body changing. The moment she opened her eyes, Ophelia found herself in a pile of her clothes. She had transformed into a black snake. She narrowed her small eyes into slits and coiled around Pierce's leg. In order to show the other sides of her magic, Ophelia concentrated, and an apparition of her human self appeared in front of Pierce. "That's only a small taste of my power," the hologram stated with a smirk. Ophelia looked up inquisitively at Pierce, slithering up his body until she rested on his arms. "What is it that you do?"

Pierce watched as Ophelia slowly shrank and twisted into a dark viper, slithering to twist around his leg. He stiffened slightly, feeling the movement against his skin as his dark slacks were pressed tight to his calf. Shapeshifting. He looked forward to see the human Ophelia standing in front of him, though he still felt the snake on his leg. Some sort of astral casting, he supposed. The snake Ophelia climbed his side, settling on his arm, while the projection tilted her head and questioned what it was he could do with his power. Pierce felt a smirk make its way onto his face as he pondered what he would show her.

Pursing his lips, Pierce raised a hand in front of his face. With a look of concentration, he sprouted a small flame above his middle finger and began to move it in a twirling motion, feeling the warm glow against his cold skin. "One of my biggest things is elemental control," he said, extinguishing the flame with a quick burst of water, which vanished in a cloud of steam. Then, an idea formed in his head.

As Pierce put out the flame, he lowered his glamour piece by piece. Quickly, his false heartbeat faded and his skin became icy before staining a dappled grey. He closed his eyes momentarily, before flicking them back open a bright yellow. His teeth sharpened in his mouth, and outcroppings of bone twisted themselves out of his forehead. He tilted his head with a glance towards Ophelia, then grinned, revealing his razor-like canines. "I'm also pretty good with illusions."