(open) look what remains

[scholiast]

who: Lucretia & you
what: open/catch all
when: before & after the chalice event
where: a bunch of places!
warnings: n/a, will add if necessary

01 gramarye magic research institute

(You might have heard about the researcher who has been asking around her colleagues about the different ways they cast and use magic.

Lucretia is working on a personal project, one that she's been heaping her free time on lately. This is what she loves to do: ask questions, gather information, write everything up at her desk for hours at a time, eyes darting between her notes and the page as she transcribes everything she's learned so far. She's even put up a general message on the Gramarye network to ask around: a simple message, asking politely for anybody to seek her out if they would like to talk about spell casting methods, and how they obtained their powers.

You can find her at her desk with a pen in each hand, writing in two books simultaneously- or leaving a lecture theater, several heavy books in her arms- or perhaps in the library, checking her phone for responses to her message board.)

02 the river

(While Lucretia has often admired the river running through the middle of the city, she has never thought to follow it before. It's with this objective in mind that she sets off on what she hopes will be a long, distracting walk out from the center of the city; her morning has been far too quiet and reflective for her liking*.

She walks for what feels like a good two hours in silence, enjoying her unorthodox method of touring the city via the twists and turns of the river through the middle of it. The sheer greenery of the surroundings is startling to her: she can't remember the last time she saw so much foliage on a world before. She even stops to take a couple of pictures on her phone, for future reference.

Eventually, she stops walking when she comes to the edge of the first wall and finds a small cove along the riverline that opens up into a beach. She finds a place to sit that borders on the sand, pulling the strap of her bag off her shoulder and dumping the whole thing unceremoniously down beside her. In it, she has her phone (now switched off), some food and water, and a book taken from Taako's shelf that she's still half-way through.

If you're in the area, you'll find her with her elbows propped up on her knees, staring contemplatively out over the water in somber silence. Anybody who knows Lucretia even a little bit might find it odd that she isn't taking notes, or sketching; she's left her notebook at home, tucked underneath of her pillow so she doesn't have to look at it.)

*((ooc: big ol spoilers for the adventure zone in corresponding thread, take care!))

03 future prowess (chalice event catch-all b/c i forgot to do one earlier hwhoops)

(While the chalice pitching her abruptly into the future might have revealed a lot of things about her that Lucretia isn't exactly sure how to even begin processing, she is at least happy with one thing: the big increase in power. Turns out she's mastered spells she'd never dream of knowing, and her knowledge feels almost limitless, like there's nothing in the world she couldn't do. It also gels with her appearance: she's a bit taller now and her body has finally been allowed to age, released from the stranglehold of the IPRE's mission. If she had to guess, she'd think she looks around about sixty years old. Her hair is white, cropped close to her skull. In Lucretia's opinion, she finally looks every inch the powerful wizard she has grown to become.

It's hard, warring with the guilt of knowing what the future brings and wanting to be excited about this, that she's been learning how to defend her, how to keep people safe. It's all she's ever wanted to know.

Today she's trialing her magic in a wide open, grassy area on the fringes of the city. Unfortunately, she doesn't have her staff, but she's borrowed a spare wand from a friend that is working out just fine. Of all the new spells in her arsenal, her favourite is a shield that she can conjure like a wide, arcing half-bubble.

She's playing around with it now, and there are several small shields rippling and shimmery in the air about her, as if she's trying to seal herself off from the outside world.)

04 inbox

(You know you wanna be the first one to post on this sweet, sweet ic contact thread.)

05 wildcard

If you'd like to plot out something/want me to write a specific starter for ya hit me up at blisters

Comments

[aeturnus]

[ That double-writing thing is certainly impressive. He shakes his head and shrugs at the question. ]

No, I just get lessons here. Heard someone was asking about magical practices from other worlds, though.

[scholiast]

(Pretty neat huh.)

Oh. Well, that'd be me. (She grins, embarrassed.) Is word really getting around? That's good.

What kind of lessons are you taking here?

[aeturnus]

Somehow I'm not surprised. Getting good data out of it?

[ He lets himself in further at the question, wiggles his fingers. ]

Magic lessons. One of the people here agreed to teach me.

[scholiast]

Incredible data.

(She's so pleased with her little pet project.)

Oh, magic lessons! That's so exciting. What school?

[aeturnus]

That sounds promising.

[ His brows go up. Wanna share? ]

I think he called it sorcery. I don't know that there's specific schools where he's from, we're still in the conceptual stages.

[scholiast]

It's just a lot of raw information at the moment.

(She gestures to the stacks of paper piled neatly on her desk, and makes a face.) I... Let's just say I'm very thankful for actually enjoying the editing process. Should I let you know when it's finished?

(Oh, Lucretia thinks she knows who he might be talking about.) Oh, for sure. How is it coming along?

[aeturnus]

Sure, or I could help you look it over.

[ Ever the intellectual, this one. Cain is and has been a lot of things in his lifetime but collection or data, sorting it out and coming to new conclusions is still pretty exciting. Plus it helps pass time. (As if he hasn't been trying his best to keep his time filled anyway.) ]

Pretty well. Had to do a bit of catching up where Romulus started without me— [ ha... haha ] —but we're back on track already.

[scholiast]

(She's never had somebody offer that before.)

I... yes, actually. That would be really helpful. (It's always better to have at least two pairs of eyes on things like these, just to catch anything she might miss.)

Good! (And then, a little shyly,) Maybe we could practice together some time.

[aeturnus]

[ It's a shame, because it's important work to do. Better to have company for it, too. He just grins. ]

Awesome. Where do we start?

What kind of magic do you do? Could be interesting.

[scholiast]

Well... (she glances around and finds him a spare chair, getting up to drag it over towards her desk.) I suppose I can start by showing you what I have so far.

And I specialize in abjuration magic. I'm getting pretty good at shields, so if you ever want to practice anything offensive...

[aeturnus]

[ He moves to take a spot on the offered chair, scooting closer to give a look over to what she has so far. ] All right. Lots to go through already.

[ That specialization gets an odd look, eyes narrowing in discernment as he tries to figure out what that could mean in a magical sense. ]

You specialize in... renunciation magic? Shields, though, I think Victor's going to teach me those, too.

[scholiast]

No kidding.

(Most of what she has to get through is notes she's taken while talking to other people. The other is the books, stacked in little towers beside her desk, each thoroughly bookmarked with little strips of coloured paper.)

Sure. I mean, I know how to do other magic too, but abjuration is my primary school.

[aeturnus]

It's a good thing. Just hope there isn't a whole lot of overlap.

[ How magic actually works is still rather strange to him. It seems to be so different between worlds yet some commonalities remain and that's the weirdest part; such different forces linked by something undefined but always called the same thing? ]

What kind of magic does that involve? What sort of spells?

[scholiast]

I think there might be.

(She gives him a rueful smile. Because of the nature of how she's been finding people to talk to, she hasn't been categorising her notes in any special way. Most of it is all over the place.)

Well, it's primarily glyph magic, protection spells... um, to be specific, I've always favoured 'alarm'. It sets up a barrier that alerts me if anything magical crosses it.

[aeturnus]

Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Maybe we should get all these notes copied first...

[ Yes, she writes in duplicate (which is still pretty awesome) but she probably wants to keep both copies in that case. ]

Useful around here? Alarm. At Gramarye.

[ He's grinning, obviously teasing. ]

[scholiast]

Easier said than done.

(But she still passes him a stack of carefully shuffled notes anyway, and one of her notebooks for reference.)

No, (she says, and elbows him, grinning.) Obviously. Such a spell would be an absolute nightmare to maintain here.

[aeturnus]

C'mon, this place has got to have a copier.

[ Don't be stuck in magical medieval times, Lucretia! Gosh! That said, he does start to skim over the notes and glance at the notebook. Just to get the idea first. ]

Right, I thought as much. Can't make it more attuned to only specific types?

[scholiast]

A copier?

(But this is how she's always done it Cainnnnn.)

I– (well, maybe. She hadn't thought about it like that before.) ... Perhaps? I might, uh, try that, actually.

[aeturnus]

Yeah, machine that you can feed the paper into and it'll produce a copy.

[ Live a little! New world, new tech, new knowledge! ]

I'd offer to help, but my grasp on the magic I'm learning is... rudimentary, to be incredibly kind.

[scholiast]

(She looks at him strangely.) I... don't have one of those.

(Duh.)

No, it's okay. I wasn't about to ask for help. (Mostly because this seems like it will require a hefty dose of experimenting.) Would you like some help, perhaps?

[aeturnus]

Not here, but somewhere else. I'll ask around.

[ It may be partially-magic, but a city like this? There has got to be some office equipment. There's just no way. ]

I mean... sure? Different schools of magic, I'll bet, but any help would be good.

[scholiast]

Alright. That... would be useful, thank you. (She doesn't know how she feels about it, but he's right: it would save a lot of time.)

Well, the theory is probably relatively similar, so. Besides, I'd love to see what you've been learning thus far.

(What better way to pad out her personal project than by following somebody's progress as they actively learn magic for the first time. She's actually quite excited about it.)

[aeturnus]

Sure. When I find one, I'll let you know.

[ That gets her a side glance, amused and knowing. ]

It might be. We'll have to compare notes. So far it hasn't been a whole lot of practical, mostly just seeing if I can tap into it at all.

[scholiast]

Tap into it?

You mean– like, the potential is there, but you just need to find a way to access it? How do you know it's even there?

(She doesn't mean that in a snippy way, promise.)

[aeturnus]

Well, I should hope because my teacher wouldn't take me on if I was a lost cause. We're testing for aptitude more now than anything. I've been able to touch it, but just for brief moments.

[ Getting the actual feel, like developing a sixth seventh sense, is just not that easy. ]