riverviewlogs | [open] it's time to tip it off

Entry tags:

[open] it's time to tip it off

who: cisco + anyone!
what: catch-all
when: july
where: anywhere; if you want a starter, please hit me up!
warnings: discussion of sex & drinking

i. tech testing

[ Most of Cisco's work is done within the privacy of his workshop, but there comes a time when he has to leave and find a nice quiet place to actually test some of the tech that he's made. The one time he'd done so outside the wall, things had gone very very badly. So he makes a compromise, finds an alleyway that is within the city but deserted. Sure, he might blow up a dumpster or two and make quite a racket, but he is less likely to get attacked by monsters here, and if anyone disturbs him he can just tell them to clear out.

That's the theory, anyway. But some of the stuff he brought with him might be a bit more powerful than he'd intended... ]

ii. nesting

[ Cisco had been very tentative about his new living situation, at first. He didn't want to get too comfortable, in case Yuri changed his mind, or Eddie got sick of him. But after a few weeks, with no signs that they want him to leave, Cisco starts to think about maybe settling in to his new room. It's fairly stark, still - just a bed, some sheets, and an old couch. All his clothes are still in bags, but the first thing on his list is some dark curtains for the windows. He was never meant to be a morning person.

He can be seen in various shops in the quarantine, looking at furniture, rugs, curtains, etcetera. Cisco's not above asking random strangers for their opinion, either. ]

What do you think, this one or this one?

iii. misc

[ Come plot something! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Cisco has heard quite a bit about this Gramarye place, and has spoken to more than one of its employees via the network. He's also not entirely ignorant about magic; those conversations had been supplemented by the things Taako has told him here and there. But none of it had been very systematic, and it had only served to make Cisco more curious. He has a lot of questions that he wants answered.

So, one day, he leaves his workshop early and goes to visit and see if he can't find out a little bit more about what sort of stuff they do there. Probably it would have been wise to contact them in advance, maybe set up a tour or a meeting. Instead he just turns up at the door, with a little notepad and a pen and a big grin. He asks at the front desk (if they have one) whether there are any magicians or sorcerers or witches or warlocks or other magic-workers willing to see him and talk for a little while. ]

Edited 2017-07-05 20:33 (UTC)

(He most likely gets directed to Lucretia's office, as she's been specifically researching the variance in magic of the people who live here. She's in there with the door open, flicking idly through a little bunch of notes with her thumb and trying to jumble everything into some semblance of order.

When somebody appears at her door, she glances up, pushing her glasses up her nose with her forefinger. She spins her chair to face the door.)

Hi. (Lucretia notes with interest that he's holding a notebook and pen.) Can I help you?

[ Cisco feels a little guilty interrupting, but anticipation and curiosity are overriding the better part of his nervousness. He steps into the office, gives a quick glance around it before transferring the pen and notebook both to his left hand so he can extend his right for her to shake. ]

Hey there, my name's Cisco, Cisco Ramon. They told me you were probably the best one to come talk to? About, y'know... magic!

[ Wow, Cisco. Real specific, there. He huffs a little laugh at himself, ducking his head and explaining in a rush: ]

See, back home my job, well, part of my job was researching some pretty weird and unexplained stuff, trying to understand it and figure out how it works. But we didn't have magic. Magic was just... totally not a thing outside of stories for kids. And then I came here, and magic is real, like, I've seen people doing spells! So obviously, I wanna know more about how it works, but everybody I've met who does magic is more of a "I don't know the nuts and bolts, I just wave this wand and I levitate" type of person. So I thought I'd come talk to someone who studies it

[ Some of that was probably not information that Lucretia needed. In fact, most of it probably wasn't. He could have just walked in and said "Explain magic to me please," but Cisco is something of a nervous talker. ]

(Cisco? Sounds familiar. It could be that Taako has mentioned a Cisco before.

She shakes his hand with a mutter of 'hail and well met', before he launches off into a complicated explanation; which is fine. She's more than happy to sit and listen. It seems like he's quite passionate and interested in the whole thing, and it kind of makes her a bit excited to talk with him. Working here is so great.)

I'm Lucretia, (she supplies the moment he's finished talking, lips quirking in a quick smile.) It's good to meet you. And I'd be happy to talk to you about magic, though you have to understand that I can't speak generally for- uh, for magic as a whole. I can only speak for my own experiences. That's fine with you?

(Hopefully that's not too blunt an answer.)

[ It's encouraging, when Lucretia smiles briefly at him, and Cisco relaxes just a fraction; he perches on the edge of the chair by the door that is clearly for visitors, opening up his notepad and tucking a stray lock of hair behind his ear and out of the way. This is all going so much easier than he'd anticipated. ]

Yeah, of course, are you kidding? I'm starting from zero here, so anything at all that you can tell me is gonna be super informative.

[ He tries to think of what would be helpful to him, if their roles were reversed: if a witch or druid or whatever showed up at his workshop and said "tell me all about science". He imagines it's probably difficult to know where to begin, so he chooses one of the many many questions he's had rolling around in his head for some time. ]

So... I heard that magic's got something to do with the manipulation of energy?

(She's a little flustered by his obviously eager attention, but pleased to be able to help. Strange combination. She clears her throat and looks away across the room, gathering her thoughts.

When she starts to speak, it's accompanied by a lot of hand gestures, as if she's feeling her way through the answer.)

Well, it's... for me, it's about visualisation more than anything. To cast spells, I need to prepare it first, in my mind. Um, different kinds of magic have a different kind of feeling. And to access that... that visualisation and turn it into magic, you need a word, or a ritual. Something to harness it.

Does that make any sense? I feel like I'm rambling. (It's strangely hard to explain how something she does without thinking actually works.)

It's a manipulation of mental energy, more than anything.

[ If Lucretia's explanation is at all vague or confusing, Cisco gives no indication that that bothers him one bit. He listens to her without interruption, jotting down a few notes as she speaks, eyes narrowing now and then with interest or confusion. He waits until he is sure that she's finished before he speaks again. ]

Okay first off, you're not rambling, this is totally what I came here for. Second off, so... anyone can do it, right? I mean... setting aside the whole bit where some people are just naturally good at some things and other people suck. The mental energy isn't specific to someone's DNA? I mean- to their genetics?

[ Cisco is trying to avoid scientific terms that may not translate well for someone from a different world, but there's only so much he can do. He tries again: ]

The ability to do magic isn't passed down from parent to child, it's something everybody has, in theory?

[ He wants to know more about the words, and rituals, and all of that, but his primary concern is this: the ability to do magic, and to what degree it might be encoded in someone's genes. ]

(It's very strange to have somebody taking notes while she talks. Is this what it feels like to be the various people she's asked for quotes, and comments over the years? Not to mention her coworkers, who have simply let her journal their lives for more than thirty years, now. Strange. Lucretia clears her throat.)

Yes, generally anybody can do it so long as they are willing to learn. I'm– um, I'm human so I have a decent proficiency in magic. Elves are very attuned to the right sort of energy, so they find it the easiest to learn, whereas orcs or dwarves have a much lower compatibility, and find it harder to learn.

So yes, everybody in theory has the ability. It's less about genetics, and more about race- but even then, that doesn't fully impede anybody from learning.

[ Cisco continues listening and taking notes, privately relieved that he doesn't have to try again to explain what genetics are, that Lucretia in fact clearly understands both the term and the concept behind it. It occurs to him that perhaps it might be a good idea to lay a few of his cards on the table, explain a little bit why he is interested. Some of it is pure curiosity of course, but... ]

See the reason I ask that is, like I said when I came in, nobody can do magic where I come from. But about a year or so ago, there was an accident at a particle accelerator, and it released all kinds of weird energies into this one city, and it changed some people's DNA, and after that they could do some stuff that you might call magic.

[ Cisco taps his pen a few times against the notebook before he amends: ]

Or maybe it's something else entirely, 'cause there's never any rituals or special words. Maybe some visualization, though, and that might be all that matters?

[ Lucretia had said that she was most comfortable talking about her own experience with magic, which is what makes Cisco think it might be okay to ask: ]

What's your, um, area of expertise, then? I heard that in some worlds there are specializations, like, druids or necromancers, or warlocks, that sort of stuff.

(She gets a funny look on her face as he talks, like she's trying to process what he's saying and is hitting a wall somewhere in her mind. Pulling one of the open notebooks from her desk over to her lap, she finds a fresh page and a pen, and makes a couple quick notes of her own.)

Okay...

(She circles something twice in her book, then snaps it shut.)

I've never heard of anything like that before. To me it– it... doesn't sound like magic. I can't imagine any circumstances in which magical potential could be forced into people, accident or not. But, like I said before, where I come from everybody already has the ability, so the thought of something like that happening is... absurd.

(She shrugs a shoulder.)

My class, you mean? I'm what we call a wizard. I specialize in abjuration magic.

[ Cisco nods, not questioning Lucretia even though her answer isn't phrased entirely decisively. She's an expert on magic - that's why she works here - and it doesn't sound like magic to her. Which, for Cisco's purposes, means that he's unlikely to find a whole lot of answers about his own powers by learning more about magic. A bit of a disappointment, there, but he doesn't let that show. ]

Abjawhatnow?

[ Cisco may be young, but it's been a few years since he was memorizing lists of SAT words. As soon as he was in college he promptly forgot just about all of them - anything that wasn't related to science, anyway. Besides, there's no guarantee it would mean the same thing in this context. ]

So... if everybody starts with the potential to do magic, is there no way to block that? Like, to prevent someone from being able to do it?

[ He asks this last question a touch hesitantly, aware that it might sound a little suspicious. If it weren't so important, he wouldn't risk it. ]

(She hides her smile behind a hand. His confusion is kinda cute.)

Abjuration. It's primarily a form of defensive magic, so lots of shields, wards, glyphs. That kind of thing.

Do you know magic?

(But her question is sort of answered for her. Cisco is being very casual about the whole thing, sticking only to hypotheticals, but it's quite clear to Lucretia that he's asking about his own experiences. She wishes she had some better advice to give him. She taps her fingertips on the front of her journal thoughtfully.)

I'm sorry, but I don't think I have the answers you're looking for, Cisco. From what I know of magic, if you wanted to prevent somebody from casting a spell you'd simply dispel them, or block them from preparing the spell in the first place. But those are very short term options.

Cool. So, like, forcefields.

[ Cisco has some experience with those, though the ones he'd made had always been engineered, rather than cast. Which, come to think of it, might be the inferior option. He's had some significant difficulties with forcefields that failed because they were tampered with. Clearly, harder to pull that kind of thing off against a magic-user. ]

No, not a bit. Just, you know. Wanna know as much as I can, if I'm gonna be living here and all.

[ And if it's a little more convincing than his usual lies, well, Lucretia has herself to thank for that. She'd just said metahuman abilities don't sound like they're the same as magic, therefore, he's not at all magic. Simple! ]

Hey, it's cool, I'm not looking for any answers in particular. [ That lie? Considerably less convincing. Better dodge the point by asking a bit more about her area of expertise - she must be excited to talk a little more about that, right? ] So what's a ward? Is it like, a spell you could put on a place to keep a particular person out? Or like, is it not a personal thing and it'll just keep anybody out who doesn't have the password or something like that?

Yes, in a way.

(Yeahhh, Lucretia isn't buying it, sorry Cisco. She at least has the foresight to understand it's something he doesn't want to go into great detail about though, so she simply nods, and doesn't let the suspicion show on her face. It isn't her business, despite how interested she is now that she can tell he's trying to hide something.

Also stop reading her, she'll talk about this all day if you let her.)

It can be both: wards can be personalised in any way you see fit. You set the conditions as you cast the spell. If I wanted to put a ward on my office to keep people out when I'm not there, for example, I could set a password for select individuals to use or keep everybody out. They don't have to be set on a place, either– you can cast them over objects.

All this, and they're invisible once cast, so. Highly useful.

[ See, this? This interests Cisco in an entirely new way. He leans forward in his chair, not bothering to hide how intent his interest is. Before, he'd been asking about magic just to learn, to be better informed. But if Lucretia is an expert at wards, and wards can work in the way he's hoping they can... ]

But I mean, could you make a ward against one specific person, only? Would you have to know that person, yourself, or have them around? Could you do it with a- a name, or something like that?

[ The somewhat boyish enthusiasm and smiles sort of fade away for a moment. Cisco doesn't just look interested, he looks urgent. Serious. His voice even drops a bit lower as he explains: ]

There's someone. He's... not here, right now. He might never be. But just in case he ever comes through that portal, well. If it's at all possible, it'd be nice to make it so he couldn't get anywhere near me.

[ It's possible she can't actually do what he's asking, or what's more, that she won't be willing to. But Cisco's gotta ask. Maybe it's paranoid to be planning for something that might never happen, but if Cisco is paranoid, he knows who to blame for that. ]

(Lucretia looks at Cisco for a long moment, as if she can correctly gauge his reason for wanting to know this the longer she stares. Turns out she doesn't have to play guessing games. He gives up all pretense of the hypothetical pretty quickly and this leaves her frowning at him, lost in consideration.

Eventually, she sits up a little straight in her chair, and looks down at the journal in her lap so she doesn't have to meet his intense gaze.)

Well... yes, I suppose that is possible. A glyph of warding may be cast at a much higher level which would allow the caster to set it according to very specific physical characteristics. So it would be entirely possible to, um, keep this person away from you with such a spell.

(She looks up at him then, and it's clear she feels badly over what she is about to say, because she can tell that this is of great importance to him. Not only that, but– this is her thing, keeping people safe. It feels like a failure.) Um, unfortunately it's– Cisco, a glyph of such magnitude is at least a sixth level spell, and I... I can't cast to that degree, yet.

Oh.

[ Just for a moment, the disappointment shows in Cisco. His face falls, his shoulders sag, and he looks younger somehow, and worried. But quickly, he covers that up, sitting up straight and smiling again. It's not quite a genuine smile yet and the airy nonchalance in his voice is a touch forced. He waves a hand in the air as if he could push away the moment of awkwardness like it were a physical thing hanging between them. ]

Of course, that's cool, don't sweat it. Thanks anyway. And he's not even here, I mean, when you think about it the likelihood of him showing up is- I mean, statistically- so... no worries.

[ Cisco can see that Lucretia doesn't feel great about having to tell him no, and he imagines it's not the world's best feeling, admitting that the magic is possible but that she's not strong enough to do it. He hadn't come here hoping for favors, and certainly didn't want to make this nice lady feel like she's inadequate. There's a solicitousness to his next question: ]

So what's just, you know, the best, coolest thing about doing magic, for you?

(Oh, no.

Lucretia opens her mouth like she's going to offer some kind of further apology, but Cisco barrels on with his babbly reassurance, so she closes it again and smiles weakly. Just another good reason to really crack on with the self-study, huh. She very much wants to get to a point where she never has to turn anybody with a sincere request away.)

Hmm. I suppose, um, being able to help out in fights is... pretty good. (She shrugs a shoulder.) Where I'm from I'm almost strictly a non-combatant, but every so often I have to go and fight anyway. And it's good to know that what I do know how to do is helpful.

(It's a bit of a lame answer, huh.)

[ Cisco doesn't appear to think it's a lame answer, at all. He nods along as she is speaking, smiling softly, as if agreeing. The specifics might be different, but it still sounds very familiar. ]

I totally get that. I'm not exactly a front lines kind of guy, either, but I got friends who love nothing better than rushing off right into danger as fast as they can get there, so I build stuff to help out - you know, protective suits, weapons, tech, that kind of thing - and it's the best feeling. Helping out. Helping keep them safe. Being a part of it all.

[ It might not be the same as actually going out and fighting metas, himself, but it's the best he can do. Or... he's used to thinking of it as the best he can do. That's a little less clear-cut, now that he knows there are possible offensive applications to his powers. But that's a thought for another day. ]

So is there, like... a lot of fighting, where you're from? You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, I'm just curious.

Oh, that's really neat. (She smiles tentatively, quite relieved by his answer. It's nice to find somebody who comes from a support-esque standpoint too. All of her fellow team members tend to favour a much more direct action, and sometimes she feels strange for constantly remaining so passive.)

Sometimes? It's... complicated. At the moment, I'm currently travelling through the wider planar system with a small crew, so. Sometimes we visit planes that are peaceful, but others will be very conflict heavy. In those cases, I mainly try to use my shields to protect my colleagues, or redirect enemy attacks.

(Lucretia very much prefers the former; that much is probably obvious. Unfortunately, those planes seem to be few and far between lately. Even the ones that appear quiet often have hidden dangers lying in wait, so Lucretia has been finding it hard to truly relax on any plane.)

Um, you might have met one or two of them before? Taako and Lup are both here, now.

Wait, for real? Oh, snap!

[ Cisco had known that someone arrived a while back from Taako's own world, but they'd never really talked about her much; simply telling him that she knows Taako and Lup immediately fills in a lot about her story, to Cisco. After all, she must be a member of their crew, the crew that had gone through those cycles for 100 years fighting off the Hunger. She must know about the relics, the voidfish, all of it. ]

Yeah, yeah I know them! Well, I know Taako, anyway, and I've met Lup. I had no idea. I mean... earlier when I said I'd talked to someone who did magic but didn't like explaining it much, I was totally talking about Taako. But I didn't know you were both from the same world! I mean, if you think about it, it'd be kinda messed up if I did assume you were, like, just because you both do magic.

[ And Cisco finds himself in a weird position where he's not sure if it's less weird to just keep talking to her, or to admit that he knows a bit of what she and her friends have been through. In the end, he opts for the second option: the last thing he wants to be is someone who knows more about people than he lets on. That's creepy shit, and very much not his (sometimes painfully over-honest) style. ]

He told me about what you guys are doing... how you were running for so long, and the ship, and the resets and everything.

(At least Lucretia is spared the whole rigmarole of wondering how much Cisco knows, because, apparently, he knows a lot. Maybe she should be surprised by that, but finding out that it was Taako who had spilled the metaphorical beans is sort of par for the course at this point. Besides, it actually makes things a lot easier on her part, and it's kinda funny to watch Cisco slowly put two and two together. Lucretia links her hands together in her lap, and smiles at his expression.)

Yes. Um, it's kind of nice not having to explain it all over again, actually. It's a long story, and trying to condense it down is difficult.

(And she's not even into the later half of the cycles or anything. There's so much more story to go, yet.)

And I'm not surprised Taako didn't explain the magic very much. I tried to ask him about his technique while I was learning, and he told me he 'just did it', so. Fairly unhelpful.

[ One thing that Cisco does not put together - and it's fortunate for both of them, or the tone of the conversation might be just a touch different - is that Lucretia was the one who, in the future, would be responsible for messing with Taako's memories. When he'd dropped that particular bomb, Taako had been discreet enough not to name names. He'd merely explained the voidfish, and then moved on. ]

Yeah, like... I can't even imagine. I'm sure I don't even know anywhere near the half of it.

[ There are parts of it that, it is all too clear, Taako doesn't like discussing; some details had only come to Cisco by way of vision, or thanks to some pretty meddlesome truth potion. He's sure that there's much much more he doesn't know, and may never know. ]

Thaaaat sounds about right, yep.

[ Cisco grins, clearly fond of Taako for all his unhelpfulness. ]

Can I ask about a different school of magic, even though it's not your specialty? I'm kinda curious about divination stuff. Anything you could tell me would be great.

(Hey, don't worry about that Cisco he's probably waiting until you become better friends with her, and then he'll tell you without getting the OK first!!!!)

You're telling me. It's... so strange, knowing that Taako is past all of it too. (She's assuming she can speak freely about this.) You know, before I came here we were all dead-set on the cap being at fifty cycles. Just goes to show, huh.

(The change in subject is a small relief, actually, because she feels a bit disconcerted talking about the mission and the Starblaster.)

Oh, of course. Were you after any information in particular or just a general run-down?

Edited (accidentally a word) 2017-07-22 08:18 (UTC)

[ That tells Cisco quite a bit - he'd forgotten Taako mentioning that his friend here from his world was from earlier in the timeline, but now of course, he remembers. From the sound of it, quite a lot earlier. Before the 50th cycle, and hadn't Taako said there were like... at least a hundred? Cisco's pretty sure it was in the triple digits. And then of course, he'd had a few years after that with his dwarf friend who had a thing for plants and his human friend who got reverse Pinocchio'd.

....damn that man's life is complicated. ]

Strange as hell. I don't even know what I'd do if any of my friends from a lot earlier in the timeline showed up here. I'm... kind terrible at lying, I bet I'd just blurt out everything that was gonna happen within the first hour. Half hour, probably.

[ Cisco is just as relieved to move away from the somewhat awkward topic of him knowing too much about their lives, and on to something a little more academic, a little more distant. ]

General run-down, especially about how it actually works, and how it's related to, like... time stuff.

[open] it's time to tip it off

for lucretia

ty! ♡

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