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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 19 2014, 12:46 PM (838 Views) | |
| Smitejr | Apr 19 2014, 12:46 PM Post #1 |
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Kursten walks around the vacant lot that they had chosen for their little arena, making sure there was no interference that would reduce the value of their experiment. When he's satisfied that there are no errant phenomena, he turns back towards the two people who had accompanied him. "Alright, test area looks good. Are you people ready to start?" He palms his book...he's never really tried using it in anything even approaching a combat situation...but he's fairly confident that he could reign in the errant thoughts that tended to get in his head as he drew power from it. And it was worth testing...he didn't know nearly enough about the actual effects it produced, most of his work till now was in translation. "Okay, dictee, note that the test site is as control as anywhere in Reliquus can be. We might want to try the experiment outside of the city later to see if there's any noticeable difference." He takes a breath to steel himself, then nods. "Let's begin." |
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| Smitejr | May 12 2014, 06:30 PM Post #41 |
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Kursten tilts his head. "What's a relief about it? I'm not sure I understand..." He rests his forehead on his hand as Tru continues talking, before sighing as Destiny follows up her idea about him. "I'm not...I just don't have time to go looking for people...and my parents wouldn't want me being with people they haven't chosen. Something about 'preserving magical power for the next generation' or something, I'm not sure I understand how that works. Then again, a lot of magic is like that..." He frowns at them, pouting. "I'm not a cultist!" He thinks about that. "I mean, I don't think I am. Looking into cults hasn't really come up with any solid matches for this book...even though in acting the way I am, I might be communing with whatever lies on the other end..I don't know. What I do know is that cake is just fine, thank you very much." |
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| SarahSyna | May 12 2014, 07:13 PM Post #42 |
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Destiny rubbed her chin. "Well, presumably magical ability is a recessive characteristic, while a lack of it is a dominant one. We'd probably have lots more mages if it was the other way around. But while it is possible for a recessive characteristic to show over a dominant one, it's way more likely that the dominant will. So if you want that recessive characteristic to show up in a child, the best way to get it is to have two people with the desired trait be the parents. Or perhaps genetic engineering, but that can be awkward on account of sheer complications, and magic might not respond to it anyway! But yeah, that's my guess for what that is." She laughed as he got all pouty on them, then shook her head. "I don't think you're one. I think you have to be aware of cultiness to be a cultist." she said, thinking about it. "I don't know, but it sure doesn't seem like it's one of those thing where you have to tick a box or you get signed up without knowing. Otherwise people would buy a goat to make cheese at home, and then they'd get loads of junk mail from Elder Gods Weekly and surprise specials on those wavy knives and splatterproof aprons. I mean, you could still be a medium or an anchor or a... phone, but being a cultist requires active commitment!" At his mention of cake (though not her own for some reason), she suddenly gasped and flipped open the basket. "Speaking of, we brought cake!" she said, pulling out three wrapped slices of chocolatey-ganachey-caramelly cake on paper plates, plastic forks taped to the sides. Like the Bible-thick sandwiches, each portion was made with a big eater in mind. Destiny passed them around. |
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| Smitejr | May 12 2014, 07:50 PM Post #43 |
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He ponders that. "I'm not sure it's that simple...after all, there are different levels of magical ability you can have. It's not just limited to 'you have it or you don't...'" He shrugs. "Still, genetics are a very real possibility for it, though nothing's been proven yet that correlates them besides the difference in results between old families and young ones...well, generally, at least." His long winded explanation was cut short though, by her assurance that he wasn't a cultist. "Yeah, that makes sense. I'm not actively a part of the belief in book-thing, so I'd imagine I wouldn't qualify. Still...I'm not quite sure a god's on the other end...though that'd be pretty neat." All concerns at the present, however, were washed away when he heard that cake was being served. "Wow...you brought a cake out here? That's incredible, thank you so much!" With that said, he takes his portion and begins digging in, devouring the beautifully sugary goodness like his life depended on it. "You guys really went all out for this...I'm impressed. Did Tru do all the cooking, or did you and Harry help too?" |
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| SarahSyna | May 12 2014, 09:36 PM Post #44 |
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"I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong, considering I haven't ever had the chance to read about magic as a genetic or hereditary trait and how it compares to non-magical traits. There's probably lots of books written on it, but, well, not everyone can look at them." Destiny said cheerily, unwrapping her slice. "And regarding the belief thing, I read once that the problem isn't if you believe in it, but if it believes in you. I find the idea of that kind of interesting, if a little suspicious!" "Seems like a bit of a bloody loophole to me." Tru muttered. "Great way for some jerk to have a claim you never gave him." "Well, it's probably not even true. I just thought it was interesting." Destiny said. She stuck out her tongue. "So shut up and eat cake." Tru messed up her sister's hair fondly, before criss-crossing her legs and shaking her head at what Kursten said as she took a big forkful of cake. "Dee did most of it, actually, with help from Will-" "-the younger of our older sisters-" "-and I just bought the ingredients on my way home." She neglected to mention the first two cakes that had been made. They'd been left at home, since they were beyond any mortal help, or even divine, and Dad was probably dousing them in holy gasoline or something at that very moment. |
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| Smitejr | May 12 2014, 10:54 PM Post #45 |
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Kursten tilts his head at her explanation. Most of the stuff regarding science was fascinating, and he'd need to work that into his own research, bu the thing that really got to him was her opinion on belief. "Not if you believe in it, but if it believes in you..." he repeats, mulling the words over. "I should probably try communicating with it eventually...likely it won't understand us...but if it can affect personality, it must have some way to connect with people..." He grins, despite the rather morbid pronouncement. "But that can definitely wait, I haven't even gotten far enough into the book to find out what it is! I've got a lot more work to do...and cake to eat!" With that, he goes back to scarfing down his sugary treat. Kursten blinks slightly. "Your sister's name is Will? Isn't that a..." He shakes his head. "Well, it's not all that unusual. Still, regardless of who did it, thank you for setting this up. Do you need help cleaning the kitchen? I don't feel right just taking this without giving anything back, it's so good!" |
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| SarahSyna | May 14 2014, 11:38 AM Post #46 |
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"Oooh, maybe it's a cipher thing, like a... Rosetta Stone!" Destiny said excitedly, "I mean, if I wrote a book that put people in contact with some unknowable wotsit, I'd make a bit of it be a how-to guide on how to tell it 'don't eat me and all my friends'." "Why are you always so concerned about being eaten?" Tru asked with a laugh. "Because a lot of things can eat me, Tru. It's a rational fear!" Tru shrugged, apparently seeing no flaw in this logic, and dug into her cake with great enthusiasm and minimal table manners. Destiny made herself more comfortable before she began savaging hers, sitting midway between the other two. She looked up at Kursten and gestured with her fork. She swallowed her first quarter of cake easily. "So how far have you gotten into it? Oooh, can you tell me how it seems to work so far?" she asked, the gestures making a lot more sense when they were paired with actual verbalisation. "Is it the only magic you do, or do you have other kinds? Do people usually have more than one, or is it specific to each person? Are the types inherited, like, um, ferromancers having ferromancer kids, or is it possible for a ferromancer to have a pyromancer?" She chopped up the cake into smaller slices with her fork as she continued. "Mom was a magical theorist, but we've never seen any of her work anywhere, so we don't know much about magic in general, and I'd love to know a little." |
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| Smitejr | May 14 2014, 05:31 PM Post #47 |
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Kursten considers Destiny's thought. "It could be...but it didn't help at all with initial translation. Maybe the language on the book is something translatable to the thoughts of whatever's on the other end, while still alike enough to human script and thought that it can be legible and somewhat translatable? I don't know...I really need to read more of it before I start tossing around conjecture, reading into things too early can lead to mistaken assumptions!" He interjects on Destiny's behalf. "Lots of things can eat you, it's true! God forbid either of you run into interplanar beasts, those things are monsters! My family worked a lot with that kind of stuff, dealing with things we just don't see on earth very much...it's really cool, but summoning a daemon or a shoggoth, even behind ritual circles of entrapment and protection, can really make you wish a bathroom was drawn in the circle!" He continues to nom on his cake, the poor thing already down to its last legs as he devours. "I've gotten pretty far, yeah! So far, it seems like there's two distinct parts of it...one's a history of the time before Gods, and the other is a massive, text-spanning ritual! So far it's fascinating...but actually trying out an incomplete ritual can be disastrous, and I don't even think I'm halfway through it!" Her question on magic itself requires an infusion of cake to fully explain, so he accomplishes that before bursting onto another topic of conversation. "Well, no, it isn't! Our family has always been based around the use of artifacts and the like, specializing in things that predate the Gods. Most magi can't even get power out of artifacts more complicated than the gemstones, so it tends to be in high demand...or it was, before we started getting generations without magic." He frowns a bit, before continuing. "I have it, though, so I have to pull a lot of weight to make up for the people who weren't as lucky as I was. Doing something as intricate and obviously powerful as this book should really get my name out there! But in general, families have specific traits they specialize around, and a family can have more than one. It'd be common for one generation of a magi family to have pyromancy and the next three to have ferromancy, but it'd be very rare for one person to have both at the same time. Does that make sense?" His eyes go wide at that admission, and he presses hard. "She was? Do you have any papers, any writings she did? I...can't imagine you do, but anything could probably turn out new ideas! So little's been done with magical theory, most people just want to craft a better fireball, and don't particularly care how the first one was formed, and what makes the second different more than you have to." |
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| SarahSyna | May 16 2014, 10:45 PM Post #48 |
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Destiny made a face at her own from-the-hip theorising. "I know, I know. I just get ideas and then they run away with me, and before we know it there'll be theories about... about flying saucers made of goop or something!" "Again." Tru added lightly. "Oh, you make it sound so damning." Destiny sighed, then said to Kursten, "but I was drunk last time I said anything that silly. ...honest!" She consumed two full quarters of her slice in a go, and pulled a bottle of clearish fruity juice from the basket. She struggled with the top until Tru took mercy on her and yanked it out of her hands, twisting it open before passing it back. "Did you do a lot of magic at home, or was it mostly watching your parents do stuff?" she asked, taking a sip straight from the bottle. "I guess that either way, they're going to be so amazed when they see how well you're doing in it! Especially if it's something like a pre-deist period of history. I don't think I've heard of something quite like it before!" Her usual smile brightened into a proper beam as she said, "And you think my stuff is interesting, but it sounds like anything I could do doesn't hold a candle to what you can." She handed the bottle over to Tru and laid back on the blanket, tucking her hands under her head, and listened to his explanation of magic attentively. "I think I get it." she said once he was done. "Like how my mom, Tru, Erin and me all have pyrokinesis, but my aunt has got electrokinesis, and Will can move rocks and plants, and my cousin Kahrii is a hydrokinetic. It is different stuff, but it's all elemental based, with only a couple exceptions here'n'there. Artefacts sound super cool though. I can't do a thing with them, but I've always wanted to go explore the ruins and maybe find some. If I ever do, I'd make sure to bring them back to you; you're the best person for it!" She shook her head as he asked about the papers. "I think we might have some, somewhere. There's a couple of safety deposits we're not allowed to access until we're eighteen, and I do remember seeing loads around when we were kids, but after her and dad died... well, it's like most of them just vanished or something! Who knows, maybe that's what the people wanted? But that's a silly idea, like some... half-baked conspiracy or something." |
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| Smitejr | May 17 2014, 12:43 AM Post #49 |
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Kursten's eyes widen a bit. "Flying saucers....made of goop?" He's completely bewildered, but he wants to know more. "Umm...I'd like to hear about that, if it's not too tangential. I mean....what kind of information did you go off of that would make you come up with that!" He was fascinated, Destiny's head worked in mysterious ways, but it was all so interesting! He was glad she was his friend. "Ah, alcohol would probably lead to something like that. Though it's effects are more about lowering inhibitions, so it might've still been valid..." He reaches out a hand to the juice, wanting a bit to drink after polishing almost all of his cake off. "Magic? Yeah, I do a lot of it...my parents actually don't do much of it at all, they only do a little and most of that is just to show me how I should be doing it. The reason my family isn't in the best of positions is because we've had about three consecutive generations skipped in regards to magical potential...but I'm the best they've had in five, at least they said. I've got a lot to live up to!" He shakes his head. "Honestly, I think you have a great deal of potential, but what mainly makes it so interesting is that I've never heard anything like it before! That kind of magic....if it even is magic, is something new and unexplored, something just as valuable as the contents of this book. It's something that should be studied and known, and not just left to the dustbin of history!" He rubs the back of his neck. "I'm...probably getting too into this.." He nods at her example. "Yeah, that's right! Your family likely has a wide variety of affinities...or would, if it was based on traditional magic. As it is, it's hard to say, since I don't know where you get your magic from." Kursten beams as she talks about ruins. "I know, it's really cool! Maybe we could go explore one sometime, I've only been once. There are a lot of great ones all over the world, many picked over for gems but with things I can use left behind!" The news of her mom's papers leaves him a bit in shock. "That's horrible...and there haven't been much new theoretical work released to the general public since over a century ago. The only person that really works on it at all is Dr. Lou Levy..." He smiles a bit. "He's...a bit of an idol of mine. He does so much different work, and he's so good at all of it! It's definitely an example I want to follow. Shaking his head, he turns back to her. "Well, that aside...I hope they'll be in the strongboxes, thinking about a big conspiracy leaves me a bit worried, especially if they're suppressing knowledge..." He tilts his head quizzically, something just hit him. "Wait a minute...you're both not eighteen? But...you're a doctor!" |
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| SarahSyna | May 18 2014, 09:45 PM Post #50 |
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“I don’t know, it sure was lots of alcohol. It wasn’t researched or well thought out at all. Well, not unless you’re completely drunk out of your beanbag. Then it’s actually really persuasive thinking....” Destiny paused to think about that. Tru handed over the juice to him, after taking a gulp of it herself. “You’ll do fine. You have the kind of social stupidity that comes from dealing with books more than people.” she said casually. “Uh... I don’t think I’d phrase it like that... but you seem really committed! I bet you’ll manage to really bring your family back to the tops, or close enough to it!” Destiny said happily. “If I can, I know I’ll help any way I can too!” At the flattery, she wriggled her feet and tried to touch her elbows together so her arms would hide the tiniest of blushes on her face. It was really nice to get compliments, but she just knew that Tru would make some kind of terrible comment if she didn’t. “I reckon she wants you to be getting into something else.” Tru said in a certain tone that was so obviously that kind of tone that even if Destiny hadn’t heard a single word, she’d have been able to tell what kind of thing she had said just from the tone. Tone didn’t even feel like a real word anymore. Also, damn, that plan failed! “I’m fine with you being into it, I think your stuff is really cool too!” Destiny said, ignoring Tru’s sudden snort. “No such thing as too much enthusiasm!” She rolled over to look at him properly. “Ooooh, we’d make the best archaeological explorers! We’d never be short of light, and we’re both smart enough not to do anything stupid, and between us, we have all kinds of skills, I bet even heavy rocks wouldn’t be able to stop us, and that’s saying something, because they always stop me.” “That was one time.” “That one time was a whole week!” “I moved it eventually, didn’t I?” “Yeah, but you put it there to begin with.” Destiny said. She turned her attention back to Kursten. “What? I don’t think it’s a conspiracy, much. Mostly, I just think that the people that did it wanted to do as much damage as they could, so they took what seemed important to them.“ She shrugged lamely. It... wasn’t really a good excuse, but it was better than the alternative, right? “I hope there’s some in there too. We don’t have much of mom and dad besides old videos. It’d sure be nice to have some of their actual work too though!” She brightened at his surprise at her age, and the pride shone clear on her face. “I know, it’s awesome! I mean, I don’t want to blow my own whistle or anything, but I’m actually pretty smart. That said, it helps that I’ve been home-schooled most of my life, since I couldn’t go to regular schools. I’m lucky enough to have been born knowing what I want to do, so I’ve been learning how to doctor since I could read. Also, we had to sign a lot of papers to have me declared a legal adult, I swear dad and I almost got hand cramps from all the signing and initialling!” Tru shrugged. “Personally, I just lie. Much easier. Less paperwork.” |
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8:46 AM Jul 11