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 Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 11:20 pm
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The opening of Rose's door interrupted the complicated and delicate process of an archon trying to construct an explanation of how 'comfortable' meant not only safe but also compatable on an energy level that a person without magical knowledge could accept and also how it was a poor introduction to demolish a portion of a person's residence. Rose's question also fit some of Tzzek's own musings.
"I believe you are right, Rose, but the last pages of this book hold another part of the puzzle. They are covered in what you flesh people took for meaningless decoration. They are actually a pictoral representation of the way a specific energy balance looks to archon. I can project it as it is meant to be seen so that you can examine it. There are two portions that I do not understand and I wanted your assistance in figuring out. Also... Luna's presence may be necessary." Tzzek said as briefly as possible before drifting inside. Once the door was shut behind them he continued. "Luna's aura helped me realize what the pattern actually was. A part of it reminds me of her. It may be coincidence but it could also be a valid correlation. The notations also mentioned cooperative magic to be employed under the effect of a harmonic stabilizer. "Allow me to illustrate."
Tendrils of white energy extended out from Tzzek, bonding seemingly at random and weaving together until a three dimensional and elaborate network of interwoven rings and spheres was held in the air. It was both incredibly intricate and somewhat pretty, though likely alien in appearance.
"This is how archon perceive the reality of multiple forms of magic moving in the same space. But, it isn't a general analogy. There are three focal points and a contextual background field." As Tzzek talked one or another section would change color to blue as he referred to it. "One of the focal points is the archon, here in the center. The background field resembles a number of magic circles but this one seems to have some kind of material specified, perhaps silver or some relative of it, as a necessary component. However, it seems inert and is of less importance than these two points." The two points highlighted were very different in location. One was the centerpoint of the second largest sphere and the other was at the key weakpoint in the background field. "This one in the background field reminds me of Luna's personal energy flow. However, I cannot be certain that these two points are the harmonic stabilizer and cooperative magic that the text mentions." |
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 6:33 pm
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Rose blinked at the woman and with a small shrug said. “Well forgive me, I’m afraid my mind was rather occupied.” She glanced at Tzzek at the same time “Yeah… Although I’m not sure why Cain just didn’t send up Morty, my Ghoul, with the book, that is his job after all. I’m sorry if he interrupted something of yours, Cain has a bit of a one-track mind.” Rose smiled crookedly “The darling.” Her feelings for her absent-minded fiancée was rather apparent. “Thanks for bringing it up though.” Rose immediately flipped through the book, skimming a bit for any information, she’d read the rest of it fully later tonight, take notes, then go through her own books, and likely her Grimoire to try to lace all the puzzle pieces together.
Rose flipped to the last pages of the books, and examined the intricate designs. A snatch of it here and there looked like magic circles, but nothing quite like she had ever encountered before. Furthermore, the parts she was able to decipher at a glance were contradictory; one of the sections was normally used to draw energy, the other to expel it completely from the surrounding area.
It was quite the volatile combination.
Rose gave out a low whistle when Tzzek had finished explaining everything. “Damn. Well, at least we’ve got a bit to go on now, huh? I’ve never seen anything like this, ever.” She placed the journal onto the table then turned back to the pair.
Rose reached for her knife, then remembered that there was a vampire in the room. “Oh, and if you can’t handle a bit of blood, and by a bit I mean a good two pints, I suggest you leave. Can you keep up that projection for a bit Tzzek? I’m going to make a copy so I can examine it later.” Rose shrugged off her cardigan, revealing extensive scarring on her upper arms. It soon became very clear where the scars had come from; Rose took her silver knife and sliced her arm without a shred of hesitation. As the blood flowed down her arm (and there was quite a bit of it) she hissed from the pain, and her forehead wrinkled in concentration. The blood began to flow faster, although rather than giving into gravity and pooling on the floor, it instead formed a set of fluid crimson ribbons which immediately began to bend upon themselves, copying each sphere, every delicate arch. The final product was a bit bigger than Tzzek’s projection, so she could examine it a little closer, and had indeed required about two pints of blood from Rose.
A regular human would have probably fainted from blood loss, or at least felt weakened enough to slump to the ground. But Rose was used to this sort of exertion; it kinda came with the territory of being a blood mage. Her wound clotted immediately after the required amount had left her veins, she hadn’t wasted a drop. There wasn’t even a trail where the blood had initially flowed down her arm. She tucked her knife back into its sheath on her thigh, and then the model of the energy flow hardened with a sharp crack, it’s iron binding it together. The complex network of circles remained floating, suspended by her limited telekinesis. It drifted over to the coffee table where it landed with a dull clunk.
Rose looked rather pale by the end, that was quite a bit of blood to give in one go, although she’d had done more when the situation required it. Slightly unsteady, she plopped down onto one of the couches.
“Right. Well, I must say that this is going to be combed over by at least one other person with a more extensive knowledge of magical theory. Jack’s supposed to be here soon, he was actually the one who introduced me to magic. I think this will intrigue him quite a bit.” Rose smiled at them. “So Luna, do you use any form of magic at all? Wear any enchanted or cursed artifacts? Pray?” All could potentially shift the equations that would be required to recreate it.
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 11:36 pm
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 10:45 am
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The flow of magic that Rose employed was fascinating. It involved the simple combination of two magical systems but they didn't directly interact. They passed through but did not affect each other. Her control was definitely something worthy of respect and the final result was quite effective. Tzzek swept a scan over the structure to ensure that no detail was missing. It was complete and he reabsorbed the energy from his own projection as it was no longer necessary. Rose had a thorough enough grasp of the basic principles that she understood exactly how dangerous this method could be if not employed correctly. Though there was something that had started to bother Tzzek. It seemed like the flesh people were treating different energies as though they didn't follow the same behaviors. That could be a problem. All energy is magic, all magic is energy. To an archon this was as evident as the difference between a solid and a gas.
"Rose, I think there may be some form of buried spell in the sword but it isn't actively emitting an aura at present. So long as the conditions are not fulfilled to activate it there should be no influence from it. Though, it should probably be left outside any active field magic to avoid that very kind of event." He said this mostly to advise caution. He had not deeply scanned the sword and knew even less about Luna's background. But, he needed her to understand something and drifted a little closer to her to address her ernestly.
"Luna, there is something that I have noticed repeatedly while interacting with people who have bodies. You seem to distinguish between the energy of motion and that of magic as though they are different things. They are the same. There is no movement, no change, no force that is truly 'non-magical'. All movement and change requires energy and all energy contains a magical and non-magical dual nature. The aura I enjoy so much is not from a purely 'magical' item or spell. It is your own life energy, the energy used when you stand and sit, breathe and speak. Do you understand now? It is not something added to you that makes you comfortable. It is you."
While Tzzek was explaining mostly to assure Luna that she did belong in these matters and that she was important, he was also explaining something that Rose might need to incorporate into her understanding a little more than she already did. Her blood magic already inclined her to an accurate understanding but her methods showed that her education was likely from sources that did not understand well enough exactly how present magic was in everything. Then again, humans had no inborn perception of free magic and little enough perception of motion magic. Vampires and other types of creature that come from a human origin point would naturally have the same kind of preconceptions. |
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 12:22 pm
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Rose remained silent through Luna's bit of show-and-tell, then waited through Tzzek's short spiel. She wasn't clairvoyant, but she could practically see the friendship the two were likely to fall into. A small smile graced her lips "Tzzek, I certainly hope that you'll be up for a major Q & A session with me and a few of my friends once we get you settled into a body." Rose grinned at Luna "And you, I certainly hope you won't mind being part of this. It'll be a great chance to see how channeled energy interacts under the premise of a spell." Half-formed thoughts floated in and out of her head, giving up so much blood translated into feeling a tad-light headed, with her thoughts slowly unraveling. Rose had only meant to blink, but instead she dropped off into a light doze. She was worn out from what Cain had put her through earlier (although she had literally asked for it, and enjoyed every moment of it), then with all the excitement from meeting an Archon, and the stress that her research had put on her... It was safer for her to just close down for a few moments before she strained herself. Rose was still anemic, although she didn't act like it much, it was fairly easy for her to over-exert herself.
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 12:33 pm
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 9:37 am
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Tzzek bobbed once to Rose and was going to reply but... she fell asleep. She had used a significant amount of blood to form her construct. The archon refrained from trying to wake her. He could tell that her energies were depleted and did not want to strain them further. If he had known what she would do with the diagram he would have waited until she had rested but the past is one thing that an archon cannot change. Well, as far as Tzzek knew.
However, while he could let Rose's comments go unanswered, Luna's comments were something he could not ignore. He drifted farther away from Rose, into one of the corners of the room, and began to correct some of what Luna had apparently been taught in error.
"Luna, this isn't going to be something bad. I've been trying to convert to a physical body for almost a year now. Don't worry. The only person at risk during this spell should be me." Now for the hard part. "And, you are not dead. I can't see the way you do or hear the way you do. I perceive energy directly. I can tell what a living thing feels like and what a dead thing feels like. You aren't dead. Dead things have no aura, none at all. Corpses have no vital energy flowing through them. You do. It's different from unaltered humans but it is still vital energy. And, it isn't really about you being useful. It has more to do with you being necessary. I don't understand the method perfectly yet but I think that you will have to be there for it to work at all." Tzzek let out a low buzz, remarkably similar in tone to a sigh. "I wish you could see how you look to me. It's so hard to explain..." |
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 9:46 am
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 12:46 pm
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Rose mumbled something that sounded like "I said the forceps Helen, you're gonna get him killed..." This was followed by a quiet snore then "No elephants in my operating room... Tell Donny to get my rifle.. Not the purple one, good god woman, what's with your addled little mind..." She was clearly wrapped up in another curious dream of hers, a jumble of past memories and nonsensical fragments of her psyche.
A tall figure in a slightly thread-bare suit opened the door, pushing a meal cart for his mistress. A circular, lace-like pattern was barley visible on his forehead. A physical marking from when Rose had hijacked Kula's spell on him and made him her own. The Ghoul, Morty, looked curiously at the floating sphere, and at the hooded woman, but paid them no heed. They were not a threat to him, nor his mistress. Otherwise he would have already tried to eat them.
Life was fairly simple for him, follow Rose's orders, eat only when required.
Much better than his last Mistress.
He set up the table for a meal, then walked over near the couch to where Rose was sleeping, peering curiously at her.
Morty was once a mercenary, killed by Kula's hand in order to enslave him as a (mostly) mindless flunky. Rose's influence had re-sparked some of his former humanity, he enjoyed looking at flowers mostly, to pass the time.
He wordlessly opened the door and gestured for the guests to please leave Rose to her rest.
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 11:31 am
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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 8:22 pm
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Cain ran into the room and froze when he saw Rose. Passed out, as he'd been told.
He moved over to kneel beside the couch to check on her, only then noticing Morty, "Morty. Go to the kitchen. Get me two packets of... Nevermind," he started then snatched a piece of paper and a pen from one of the end tables and scribbled a note then passed that over to the ghoul, "Take that to the kitchen and bring back everything they give you as fast as you can," he told the ghoul simply.
Once he'd left, Cain returned his focus to Rose. He gently picked her up and carried her into the bedroom where he laid her on the bed, made sure she wasn't wearing a corset, then covered her with a blanket to warm her up and started to pace the bedroom as he waited for the ghoul.
Thankfully, Morty got back before Rose's friends arrived. So he was able to start a transfusion for Rose then hoped she woke up before Brian and James got here... |
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 5:25 am
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Rose was still caught somewhere between dreaming and alertness, the p***k of the needle had registered, and she had mumbled in response "Gaddaminit Donny, stop waving that hypodermic needle around, you're gonna take someone's eye out you fool." A few other mutterings crossed her lips, mostly noting on how Helen needed to keep Donny out of the operating room. Then she managed to surface into full consciousness.
Her pink eyes fluttered open, she felt like someone had used her brain as a pinata. Her body just felt so heavy... To her surprise, she wasn't on the couch anymore, but rather snug under the covers in bed. And that there she could feel the foreign blood creeping through her veins. It felt quite strange to have an awareness for it, like how one becomes aware of the position on their tongue in their mouth and realizes just how akward it is. She shifted slightly,causing the bed to creak softly,her eyes zeroing in on her fiance'.
"Hey there sweetie. Guess two pints is still to much for me to give in one go then..."Rose didn't sound particularly concerned, just a bit tired. This sort of thing was relatively routine, happening every few months (more frequently is she was particularly dedicated to an experiment).
James and Brian had both stood there, stunned, when Cain had made his speedy exit. The book was simply placed on the table, and the brothers bickered among themselves on whether Cain was actually trustworthy. Brain was convinced that he was, after all, once they had told him of the state Rose was in, he had rushed off to assist her. James on the other hand, was convinced that he just did it to keep up appearances, and that he had somehow hoodwinked Rose into falling for him, so he could get at her blood. The argument had escalated quickly, both hissing their points at each other while they were nose-to-nose.
Finally, James gave up, stalking off to go find Jack (and hopefully an ally in him) While Brian had gone strait to Cain's suite to check on Rose. He dropped his illusion of visibility on the way over, appearing as a fine Victorian that was walking itself. He tapped lightly on the door, hoping that Cain would let him in.
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 7:18 am
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Cain ignored the door for the moment, letting Morty handle that while he moved to Rose and put a hand on one of her shoulders, "You're not getting out of that bed until you've had at least one more. You really do have to watch that, Rose. Brian and James had to come tell me what you'd done. Admittedly, it was likely that they thought I'd been the cause. They probably still do," he shook his head a bit as he switched out the packet for a fresh one attached to her IV.
"You're just lucky Desha taught me how to do this ages ago. He was an actual doctor for a long time, just like you were. Only he was a medical doctor and used his healing abilities when he knew he wouldn't get caught. Had to move around and re-invent himself alot too. Anyway, you're lucky he taught me how to do this or you'd have frightened me out of my fangs," he babbled a bit as he dropped the empty packet into the trash can then set her arm with the needle in it over her stomach then tucked the covers over her.
Then he pulled the covers back again, lifted her arm back out, covered her again, then set her arm over the covers. After that, he started pacing again. Of course, he never heard Morty open the door for Brian. It was safe to say that Rose passing out like that had rattled the poor man a bit.
"Now I'll have to worry about James or Brian trying to stake me in my sleep... Knowing my luck, they'd get you by mistake. Then I'd have to kill the b*****d. Provided it was James. Brian I'd have to feel around for to strangle for hurting you. Provided he went fully invisible by taking his clothes off to do it. Then I'd have to beat his corpse for coming anywhere near you nude. Then I'd have to hide the body so Sebastet wouldn't find out. But I'd have to tell her anyway because I'd have to tell her there wouldn't be a wedding because one of them tried to stake me for hurting you and wound up staking you by mistake and things would get complicated from there," he rambled that bit off while pacing, of course.
But he finally came to a stop beside the bed and looked down at her with a small frown, "I don't suppose we could elope? The demon king could marry us, I think. There are a few priestly sorts over in the elven realm that could do it," he thought of that for about two whole seconds then shook his head and started pacing again.
"No, that won't work. I want everyone to see us get married, not run away just to get it done. Guess I'll just have to get Morty to station himself outside the door to the suite and not let any of them in when we're asleep. Then you'd be safe," he paused there to tilt his head a bit as he considered the pint of blood slowly working it's way into her through the IV, "Of course, I have to try to keep you from killing yourself before the wedding... Though that one's a bit more complicated since I have no intention of trying to change you in any way or even considering trying to inhibit your use of your magic... No, can't do that. So how to get to the wedding with everyone alive, no one bleeding, and all in one piece... That's the complication..." he said that bit when he started pacing again... |
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Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 7:14 pm
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Rose's eyes followed Cain as he paced and fretted. Finally she had enough and grabbed his wrist. "Let's not get too carried away here, Lover. I'll just do book work for a bit okay?" She smiled slightly at him, Cain was certainly cute when he got like this. Her forehead wrinkled suddenly. "Wait. Morty... Oh crap, you can't let Jack see him!” Rose attempted to lurch out of bed, only to find that anemia and gravity were currently holding her down. She flopped back onto the pillows. “He hates hates everything that smacks of necromancy, even if I technically didn’t do it, the fact that I dabbled in it a bit will probably bring out his inner witch-hunter again… And that would not end well.”
An invisible head poked itself into the doorway of the bedroom. “Already taken care of Rosie. I’ve got an illusion running that he’s just an animated wooden statue. Don’t want Jack to flip on us.” Brian had listened in on the conversation beforehand, and had taken the initiative to hide Motry’s nature to everyone who would set eyes on him. For now anyway, the spell would wear off in a few weeks unless renewed. Morty was bemused that he appeared to be made of a honey-colored wood, highly polished.
An animated suit of Victorian finery stepped into the room. “Also, I’ll have you know that I can turn completely invisible without stripping, what kind of illusionist would I be if I couldn’t?” To illustrate the fact, the clothes winked out of sight for a moment, then back into visibility a few feet away
“Child’s play really.” Brain said with a shrug. Then he crossed his arms “Sorry I jumped to the assumption earlier that you were bleeding Rosie dry Cain, James owes me about…Five ounces of gold now!” You could practically hear the Cheshire-cat grin in his voice. The brothers had made a bet, and it appeared that Brian had won indeed.
Rose grinned at Brain’s entrance; he was always the nicest of the three, the most open-minded. Hopefully Cain would see that.
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