deercountry | drive and purpose; [ spring catch-all ]

Entry tags:

drive and purpose; [ spring catch-all ]

WHO: Lord Asriel + you!
WHAT: Asriel has settled in and is getting to work.
WHEN: March + April.
WHERE: Gaze, Trenchwood, and wherever else!

CONTENT WARNINGS: Will be added in headers as needed! General warnings and opt-out is here!

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There is no way it could have known.

I am still trying to understand the mechanism behind it, but it must be very similar to what we've observed before with Dust. Curious, isn't it?

[ the conversation is muted, clearly a discussion intended for the two of them as they stand over the slain corpse of a large rabbit, perhaps one that owed its peculiar size to advanced corruption. people hunt all the time, so on its own, that's nothing strange, except that the blood spilt isn't normal animal blood. ]

Quickly.

[ there is no particular rush, but there is always a risk in dealing with Forbidden Blood that makes stelmaria a little tense until asriel is finished gathering the samples. this is potent stuff, after all, even if he takes every other precaution to limit his exposure. despite enough unease to set the snow leopard to pacing, asriel is very steady and methodical about his work.

once he's finished and his samples are securely stored, he picks up his rifle from where it's been set on the ground beside him and prepares to head back. the ravens that have been gathering noisily in the trees get even noisier. asriel is accustomed to their presence, and at least someone is cleaning up after him. ]

[ the libraries in Gaze keep odd hours, and so does asriel, so it's not strange to find him there very early or very late.

he is not particularly fond of this research even though he keeps at it relentlessly. it must be done, and so he will do it, but it doesn't mean he enjoys it. he would rather be doing experiments or out in the field. asriel prefers results, and pouring over old books feels like wasting time even if it's not. unfortunately, there's nothing to be done for such restlessness but to bear it.

this does not help the fact that stelmaria is also more on edge than usual as she prowls the aisles nearby. to make matters worse, the nagging feeling that something, somewhere just isn't right has gotten through to her as well, so it's debatable who would be worse to sneak up on right now. ]

[ It hadn't taken Blake to find the libraries in Gaze; to her delight, she's discovered that the Clockhouse is nestled in amongst the highest concentration of academics in Trench, and her exploration had turned somewhat more pointed after that. Perhaps it's because the realm of education is a familiar one, even if Beacon and the School of Mutter serve two entirely different purposes.

She hadn't been able to sleep, and she's found herself at the library at an hour where everything is hushed and still, one of her favorite times of day. The smell of dust and paper help settle her nerves a little as she glances over titles; she seems to have found herself in a section devoted to analysis of blood types, but that's not what she's after. Unfortunately, she can't find what she is looking for, and after some fruitless searching, Blake circles back, coming to a halt when she spies something slinking between the aisles.

It's... a snow leopard. Not exactly something you expect to see in a library. And she's agitated; Blake recognizes it in the set of her ears, because her own set of feline ears do the same thing. The snow leopard, as best Blake can tell, is staying in the radius of a man who looks vaguely unhappy to be reading, but he does look familiar with the place, so he's Blake's best bet. She makes sure her footfalls are heavier than silent, making quiet noise so that she doesn't sneak up on them. Her voice is equally hushed, the respectful quiet of an avid library enjoyer. ]

Sorry to bother you, but could you tell me if there are any books on the Pthumerians here? Or... point me toward an index? I'm not familiar with how they order subject classifications in Trench.

[ asriel straightens up from the book he's leaning over, sliding a blank bit of paper between the pages to hold his place before closing it with a satisfying thunk. the heavy, leather-bound books are at least pleasant to handle. she's asked a good question, so he's willing to look at the interruption as an opportunity for a break instead of a nuisance. ]

If there is one unified system, I've yet to discover it.

[ that probably has to do with the real possibility that the information you're trying to index might drive you mad. ]

But as for what you're looking for, I've been compiling a list of several subjects. What's your interest in the Pthumerians?

[ he flips a few pages in a journal that's open in front of him and slides it across the table so she can look it over. the words on the page are written neatly in ink that catches the light strangely and smells like older and dustier books than those around them. it's a list of titles and other relevant metadata about them he's deemed useful. ]

It's written in Darkblood. It would be a terrific waste of paper to start over whenever I find a new book.

[ use your own blood and be your own edit button. ]

[ Of course there's no unified system. Blake doesn't know why she was expecting simplicity in this place, especially not in Gaze, a place that seems to have been put together by an absentminded scholar. Given its population, that's probably exactly what happened.

Interested, she leans over to study the paper he shows her. It takes her a moment to catch the fact that it's written in blood, the same kind that flows through her veins now -- the scent is familiar, but she hadn't expected it to be used as ink. (It does make for a nice ink color, though, she'll admit). ]

I'm just trying to get some general knowledge for now. I'm new. [ Blake can't help the embarrassed little twist to her voice as she says it. She's lived a life being particularly vulnerable to feeling out of place. ] Where I come from, the gods weren't as... tangible.

[ Or to be more accurate, they'd left the world a long time ago. Having the Pthumerians here, and present, and affecting reality, it's fascinating, and concerning. She scans the list he's written, committing as many of the titles to memory as she can -- half of them have the word god or patron or Pthumerian in them, and some of them don't sound related at all. More unorganized chaos, she assumes. She tilts her head curiously. ]

How did you collect it as ink? When I nicked myself to test it, it just... sparkled out of me.

[an audience of one watches Asriel and Stelmaria as they tidy up. Jin Guangyao isn't making any effort to hide himself from view, nor does he appear armed. (he is, naturally, but he never broadcasts such things plainly.)]

Is that Forbidden Blood?

[his tone and demeanour are pleasant enough on both the ears and the eyes, but this is startlingly direct behaviour for him. but in his defence this is the first time he's witnessed anyone in the Trenchwood gathering Forbidden Blood, and given its ominous provenance, he is understandably alarmed.]

Tangible and far more interested in our affairs than they have any right to be.

[ asriel won't pull any punches on where he stands on things, even with a stranger. ]

Many of these will familiarise you with the basic concepts. Some are niche and esoteric; this place is a breeding ground for cults, and occasionally, you find a thread of useful truth among the religious absurdities.

[ he trusts she'll know the difference when she sees it. ]

You can learn to manipulate darkblood with practice. It will respond to your intentions. It's not as direct as simply thinking it into ink, but it's enough to transform it into a more stable form and make it workable with the rest of the ingredients.

It is.

[ asriel has no issues with direct. if anything, he prefers it. with one hand, he unfastens the topmost fasteners on his jacket and pushes the leather apart. the local style has been useful with its high collars; it's an extra layer of protection in this work. not so good for holding a conversation, though. ]

Did you need something?

[ he doesn't assume the pleasant tone means this is a good thing, but he has no reason to feel defensive either. his work has never been about what others approve of, after all. ]

[ Far more interested in our affairs than they have any right to be. Yeah, so Blake's heard. Qrow had filled her in on some of the little things they loved to do, like, for instance, force people to tell their worst nightmares to complete strangers. Blake's already... not a fan.

Clearly, this man is very definitely not a fan, given the distinctly unimpressed tone of his voice. ]

After I work my way through the basics... honestly, the more niche and esoteric, the better. [ Blake almost smiles. She pulls her omni out of her pocket, and after fumbling with it for a moment -- she's not used to crystal-shaped communication devices yet -- she takes a picture of the list. ] That's where you find the really interesting things, right? The things that the people in charge don't want you to know. Even if you do have to dig through bizarre theories and conspiracies.

[ Not that Blake has any real clue yet about what things the Pthumerians might not want people to know. Maybe it's her distrust of authority, maybe it's her curiosity, maybe it's because in her world there were so many stories and then the reality behind those stories that caused a war, maybe she just hates being lied to... but she wants to sink her teeth into the academia here and yank until she finds something interesting. ]

Thank you for this. I'm Blake. [ One ear perks up in her intrigue. ] Do you work with the Arcane Scholars?

( Peter is not a researcher. He's not much of a studier at all, in all honesty. He attends the School of Mutter mostly just to stick with Luna, but most of what's taught is so far beyond his scope of normalcy that he zones out even harder than he already did back in his normal school. Half the time he skips altogether.

These days, however, he's finding himself coming back to the School more frequently — or rather, to the Archives. It's not a typical place to find Peter Graham, but he's becoming more... involved in things out of an odd, discomforting necessity. What's happening with Riteoir... Peter has direct fucking experience related to the concept of some powerful entity with a bunch of fanatic followers trying to help bring it through. This thing wants to overtake the other Pthumerians; who knows how this world might become damaged, ruined, as a result? It's wrong, breaks certain rules. Nothing good can ever come of it. It can't be allowed to happen; he has people to protect.

....He'd also seen Riteoir's followers firsthand, been held in one of their temples. He'd seen what they're capable of. What they will do, what people like that have done. (Behind his eyes: flashes of his mother and grandmother kneel at his feet as though in worship of him, and there is black, rotting flesh where their heads should be. Candlelight flickers; he breathes in and something else breathes out. He wants to die. The nightmares never stop, not even when he's awake.)

So there he is one late night, dressed in a warm sweater and pair of pyjama pants.... looking very much like a college student having an all-nighter in the library. There's a stack of books at a little table, illuminated by a lunar orb, and a thermos filled with coffee — still a rarity in this place, but found more than it used to be, due to people growing their own beans.

He's getting up to return a book he doesn't think he needs anymore, and also to stretch his legs, have a deep yawn, blink heavy-lidded eyes — moving down an aisle, when he crosses the path of a large creature, and Peter startles. Flinches backwards with a gasp, dropping the book in his hands with a loud thud. Somewhere in his mind he probably realises he recognises the cat, but for the moment his shock of seeing it face to face and not over the network steals everything. He's just staring, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, slowly backing up until he feels his spine press against an opposite bookshelf. )

Not fond of the "people in charge", I take it? [ he certainly approves. ] But you'd be correct. It's difficult to know if the pthumerians deliberately obfuscate the truth or if it's simply the nature of the beast when Corruption is an ever-present risk with everything in this place.

[ that could be taken as a warning, but asriel has no real concept of a stopping point himself and so caution never enters into it. he assumes others are unlikely to go as far as he's willing to, as a rule, and so why worry? it's nothing he would hold against her any more than anyone else. ]

Always happy to share with like-minded people. I am Lord Asriel Belacqua. The snow leopard is Stelmaria, my daemon.

[ most of the time, no one knows what he's talking about when he says that, but he does it anyway. ]

I am a Scholar in name and practice only, I suppose. I don't belong to any formal institution, at least in this world.

[ he considers that Never Mind might automatically consider him a part of the School of Mutter, but asriel is the last person to place any value in a scholarship he was essentially born into when he arrived here. ]

I'm... not a fan of any authority with hidden agendas. [ Blake says it carefully; after all, she has no idea if there's a penalty for speaking ill of the Pthumerians, if she'll be smote into nothingness for thoughtcrimes. She also has no idea who's listening. This man certainly seems on board with a bit of rebellious research, but she doesn't know who else is. ] And the stories of heard of their whims don't sound at all pleasant.

[ His introduction makes yellow eyes widen a little, taken off guard. She'd had no idea she was talking to a Lord. Perhaps she should have guessed, because he does have a rather refined way of speaking, but she had no idea if that was unique to him or common where he came from.

Her gaze tracks to the snow leopard, and where before she'd seen an animal, she now sees the intelligence in her eyes, and it's fascinating. She has no idea what a daemon is, but she's obviously sentient. (And adorable. And so fluffy.)

Somehow, she gets the feeling that the School of Mutter would either desperately want Asriel in their ranks because of what he could bring to the table... or they desperately want him as far away from them as possible. She can't quite put her finger on which would be true, not yet. ]

I was thinking of visiting the school later. If the libraries outside of it are good, I can't imagine how great the one inside must be. I hear Never Mind knows everything. [ Blake half-smiles. If any Pthumerian had to be her patron, she supposes she's glad it's him. ] Have you ever talked to him?

[ it's true that stelmaria is asriel's watchful eyes and ears, but just as likely are the instances when she paces as an outlet for their shared restlessness while they mull some problem over together.

now happens to be one of those times. she's too proud to admit that her attention had also lapsed, and she was just as startled, but a surprised snow leopard is hard to differentiate from an angry one, so this works in her favour. it's really all posturing anyway; she would never risk touching another person who isn't asriel.

still, stelmaria recognises that he's no threat and settles down. ]

You keep odd hours.

[ as if they aren't also here right now doing the same thing ... ]

I'm sorry I startled you.

It's like this: the Archive is alive, and its interior spaces move with a will of their own. But perhaps that isn't a metaphor; perhaps the Archives do possess a consciousness of their own, either shared with the Pthumerian Never Mind or something even more...non-human. Perhaps that consciousness has its own interests and priorities, beyond the storage of books. Perhaps it even possesses a strange sense of humor, such that it may wish to see what happens when it smashes two humanist Sleepers together like dolls.

(Keep wishing, Archive. There is no way on earth or in the heavens that Shen Yuan and Lord Asriel are going to kiss.)

OR, failing that, perhaps the people who work in the Archive just suck at their jobs. In any case, a very exasperated Shen Yuan eventually wears one of the librarians down into admitting that there is currently only one available copy of Book of Bausphomette, and it is currently being viewed by another patron. A few minutes after that, Shen Yuan tracks Asriel and drops his bookbag next to his table, smiling toothily and near-snarling, "Hi."

And then he stops and makes a visible effort to moderate his tone and face. "Excuse me," he continues more softly, "I wonder if I could trouble you to share that book in your hand? I'm afraind I also need it for my own research, and it's the only available copy."

[Jin Guangyao has done what he can with the supplies available to him in Trench to ensure his fashions resemble the traditional hanfu of the jianghu; no such high collars interrupt the view of his deceptively mild expression. but he isn't reaching for a weapon, and while his displeasure over Asriel's confirmation of his suspicions is plain in his pursed lips and drawn brow, this is still very much a talking confrontation. not, you know. the other kind.]

Perhaps an explanation, [he suggests simply. his eyes flick from Asriel to Stelmaria, then back again.] It was this one's understanding that Forbidden Blood can only be shed through wrongful killing, rather than through self-defence.

That's correct.

[ he answers easily, almost conversationally, because he's more than happy to share his work. his secrets are all personal; when it comes to knowledge, he's happy to disseminate that freely.

stelmaria is content to sit nearby and calmly observe, having nothing to say to a stranger at the moment. ]

I've been putting the different circumstances that are said to result in it to the test to better understand how it works. What exactly constitutes a wrongful death under these circumstances? That's a question I'd like to discover the answer to.

Shen Yuan is definitely heard — along with that tone initially — but no one has ever been able to rush Lord Asriel, and he's not about to start now, meaning he finishes what he's writing before he bothers to look up.

"And so, you've encountered the same problem I've faced for the past week."

But it's not entirely a no because most people he's had to contend with for material have been Trench natives. The interest of another Sleeper piques his curiosity.

"Is Bausphomette your Patron?"

It's the most straightforward assumption, even though he'd said research, which implies something more than casual, but he's still being difficult and trying to decide if he's willing to give it up. Stelmaria appears from her pacing the aisles, although she regards Shen Yuan with only minimal interest; she's not here to threaten, at least?

Okay, Tywin Lannister. Shen Yuan huffs quietly but doesn't try to interrupt or hurry along his little power-play; he supposes he has it coming for being so rude just now. Instead he sits down opposite from the stranger and pulls a notebook of his own out of his bookbag, opening the page to a list of complaints he pulled from the network circa last May -- apparently there was an epidemic of binge-eating and insects appearing out of nowhere? -- and when Asriel finally deigns to acknowledge him he merely smiles sweetly and says, "Actually, no."

"My patron is Remina," he confesses easily, taking a pencil out of his bag and checking its point. "But then I'm not researching on my own behalf, but on the community's. Has Senior had time to familiarize himself with the yearly cycles of our city? Just as every Patron has their own particular interests and responsibilities, so too do the months they oversee differ from each other, sometimes in unexpected ways. These peculiarities are the focus of my research."

Despite his agitation, the condescending smile on his face turns briefly real when his gaze lands on the snow leopard Omen, struck unsurprisingly by her beauty and grace. As he turns his gaze back to the Sleeper his own Omen, concealed in his robes, reaches out mind to mind, as they do, and whispers in a soft, ladylike mental voice, Greetings, friend. Pay my companion no mind; he has more ego than is good for him but he means your Sleeper no harm.

It's Asriel's practice to test people like he tests everything else, less concerned about the consequences as much as what he can learn by trying.

"I have come across mentions of patterns in my research, but they have little practical bearing on my work. For instance, I am less interested that a Pthumerian may choose to alter our physical shapes at a certain time of year than in understanding the mechanisms that make that possible in the first place."

He makes one more note in the journal he's writing in before he snaps the book closed and offers it to Shen Yuan.

"It's helpful to know if blood will rain from the sky, but never forget that this world exists at the whims of the fickle creatures lording over it. The weather can change around here just to spite you."

I didn't think so, Stelmaria responds to the other Omen in the same way, even if it isn't her typical way of addressing others. They have both had to adapt to living in a world without daemons, even if Omens are more similar to the worlds they've visited where daemons are entirely invisible and lack voices of their own. In any case, she is observant enough to detect Shen Yuan's annoyance but doesn't get a malicious vibe.

( Oh, shit, it talks—!

...She. And yes, she's familiar, Peter's realising weirdly belatedly, with a flurry of memory as to seeing the cat and hearing her voice before. He's gaping like some dumb fish, mouth and eyes wide, trying to not swallow his tongue as he continues to push back against that bookshelf, but slowly. Should he be used to bumping into all manner of animal Omens in this place? Yes. Is he? No.

....Even his own sometimes startles him..... )

Oh— I'm sorry—

( The young man gasps, genuinely apologetic. Fuck. His heart's pounding away and Peter's always in threat of tumbling headfist into another panic attack, but something keeps him grounded. Maybe it is the fact she's speaking to him. Gives him something to reply to, to think about. )

Y-yeah, I uh— Doing some studying. Uh, books. Are you..... looking for books, too?

( Maybe the snow leopard is also perusing the Archives for a certain book, okay. )

[Asriel's claim of a machine capable of traveling from dimension to dimension makes him someone to keep an eye on, and Chrollo's own research is limited in some areas due to a lack of experience.

This visit serves multiple purposes. Keep an eye on what Asriel is up to, see if there's any information useful to him, and possibly make use of equipment Chrollo doesn't have and can't readily steal or make on his own.

The samples of metal and various implements Chrollo can identify as metallurgical are a surprise.]

Metallurgy. I didn't think about applying blood during the refining and alloying process.

[Chrollo has given some thought to metals recently, but in his own reality there's a strict separation between most physical objects and magical abilities.]

Edited 2023-04-09 03:20 (UTC)

[ asriel is at work in the Archives just as he'd said he'd be, presently in the private workroom he's taken for himself.

most of his things are gathered on the table in the centre of the room, but everything has mostly been pulled away from the walls in general because he's been painting intricate-looking symbols on them. in blood.

well, that's only partly true. it's paint, mostly, but it's undeniably blood-based. still understandably weird if esoteric sigils painted in blood(-based paint) are a red flag.

there is also the matter of the snow leopard half-napping nearby. asriel has been doing busywork, which is an ideal time for stelmaria to relax.

the door is open so anyone can come and go as they please, although anyone crossing the threshold would feel a distinct energy shift. ]

Good timing. I needed a test case.

[ congratulations on getting roped into some dubious science? nothing bad seems to happen, at least. ]

It was the basis of my work previously, so I'm fortunate that the same principles apply. Not all of it involves blood for that reason.

[ he picks up a small strip of silver metal with a unique bluish sheen as an example. ]

This is a manganese-titanium alloy. When fashioned into a blade, it can be used for various things, not the least of which includes severing the soul.

[ at least part of the box asriel is constructing is made from the manganese-titanium alloy he described, although he's clearly not using it as a blade in that case, but for containment. ]

I'm still in the early stages of testing with other blood types, but I've had quite a bit of success with Darkblood.

Asriel has enough books for the both of us.

[ the way she says it is underscored with a tone suggesting it's less than ideal.

she peers at him somewhat curiously, rather unused to engaging with others independently of asriel. it isn't unusual for people to be intimidated by her — she's still a rare and impressive sight even in a world of daemons — but peter is clearly afraid in a way a simple apology can't dispel. ]

You can relax, you know? You have nothing to fear.

[ she has a feeling he won't, but any improvement is good, right? ]

A daemon will never touch a human that isn't their own if they can help it, but most people around here don't know that.

[ and the efficacy of that speaks for itself, but it's safe to let peter in on the truth. it's not exactly a secret. ]

The curse last month would kill as a punishment for stubbornness, so you would be correct.

[ speaking from experience. ]

I spoke to Never Mind early on while I was still trying to determine what I needed to do here.

[ asriel has never doubted that he was meant to do something big, even if he was directionless for a time. ]

Never Mind reminds me of an old acquaintance. She was an angel who rebelled against her own kind and granted mortals Dust, and with that came knowledge and creativity.

[ it's a question he wrestled with a lot more than he expected to at first, but mostly because he wasn't certain what the pthumerians' role in the world was meant to be. it's one thing to fight the natural order of things and another to fight an occupying force. thanks to his work with john gaius, asriel feels like he has a better grasp of that now. ]

To his credit, Never Mind always seems willing to share what he knows and encourages further study, which is why I'm sure he would understand why some of us would look into ways to free ourselves from Pthumerian influence.

[ it's probably fine... ]

[ This whole omen thing was troubling to he who was but a small robo-boy with crippling anxiety and other stuff. Wrench didn't let it show all that much with the small ones (his was a spider, larger than average, and looked mechanical in nature which was apparently rare). In case there was anyone wondering, a fucking snow leopard was not a small.

But here he was as promised and he looked as promised: spiky. swag ass walk that may or may not be purposefully hiding a limp? It's hard to tell. Was the kneepad functional? Was if fashion? No one knows. ] Damn, Patricia Arquette sure looks different now.

[ HE REALIZES that this is a reference which has a 99/9% chance of going totally over everyone's head, even people from world's similar, because who the fuck references a movie like Stigmata? This guy, that's who. Aaaanyway. He makes a pretty big effort to avoid the Fucking HUGE CAT. ] Always wondered what it's like to get possessed. So, what am I being subjected to?

Possessed? Nothing as interesting as all that, I'm afraid. [ he has a sense of humour, but it's difficult to know when he's joking. ] At the most basic level, it's a detection ward, but one of my own creation aside from following the basic principles I learned from others' work.

[ and now he finally gives wrench a good look, confirming that he is indeed as spiky as promised. ]

I'll admit I don't understand your joke though, which reminds me of someone else I work with.

[ but now that he's become desensitised to the worst memes and puns, asriel can pass the savings on to everyone else's minor pop culture references. ]

[ Wrench shrugged as he further entered the room; LED X's moved and blinked just enough to state that yes, indeed, those were suppose to be eyes. He casually looked around before his attention met Asriel. ]

It's cool, man. Wasn't a good joke anyway. Referenced some old movie about some non-religious person experiencing stigmata or some shit honestly I barely remember it. [ He laughed. ] Detecting something in particular, or anything at all?

( Peter blinks, again, slowly loosening some of that painful tension in his shoulders. He does manage the smallest hint of a laugh at the words about relaxing — although he continues to look very much like someone is holding a gun to his head — something decidedly self-deprecatory to his body language. )

Sorry. I uh. I guess I'm not used to seeing ones that look like you.

( Omens, he means, only..... the great cat uses a different word. One that gives the young man an odd sort of pause, eyelids fluttering, focus wide and open and exposed. There's a quiet kneejerk horror, one he can never shed when he hears that word (or what he thinks she means as demon, anyway.) )

You're.... a demon? Not... an Omen?

I'll take your word for it. Our moving pictures were mostly religious films or propaganda pieces, so they were hardly worth the time.

[ also, he calls them moving pictures. ]

It tells me what someone is — human or Sleeper, at least for now. The idea is to create more targeted effects when combined with others. I am researching different methods of keeping Pthumerian influence out, but this particular experiment requires a bit of each blood type, so I prefer to work out most of the bugs beforehand. Pthumerian blood is much harder to come by.

[ despite his claim to dislike lectures, asriel is happy to explain everything anyway. ]

Do those have a purpose, or are they purely for show?

[ he points to his eyes to indicate the LEDs. ]

It's a technology that's well above what my world was capable of in either case.

That's right. These days I'm a little of both, but the distinction matters.

[ it matters enough to her and asriel to maintain the distinction anyway. ]

Everyone has a daemon, but yours are invisible and internal. Blood magic allows them to have physical forms as Omens, but the bond is different.

[ asriel would have likely explained it in detail, but that's just one way that the two of them differ. she understands everything as well as asriel does, but hers is the inner voice and so she is more reserved with others. ]

We've been together our entire lives before ever coming to this world; in our world, that means something.

[ Moving pictures. Okay, so that's what he's dealing with. God dammit. Marcus, please. Lend him your wisdom on everything Retr0. Wrench slowly nodded. ]

Gonna be hard to do given where you're currently situated, dude. Not opposed to it, though. Hell, making something happen right under their surveillance is kinda hilarious. What a great fuck you.

[ Wrench seems to be quite animated when he's speaking. Plenty of gesticulations. The mask changing expressions to suit the emotions he's trying to convey. When the question was dropped though there was a pause, a moment of awkwardness, a but of "oh, uhm. Uh" stuttering. It's funny, right? Cause you'd think people would ask him about it a lot but they don't. Most people, he figures, accepted that it was what it was. ]

It, uh. I— well, people don't really. [ A hand came to rub at the back of his neck for a moment. ] Ask me that. But I guess you could say it's kind of like. I dunno. [ God, does he want to share? Well, too late now he's being all fucking awkward and shit about it. Obviously its important so if this guy wanted to pinpoint his weakness for any reason, whether or not he knew why the mask was important, he knew it was. The joys of anxiety and catastrophic thinking. ] an assistive device, I guess?

All the more reason to do it. Few things that yield real change come easily; if they did, we wouldn't have to fight for them.

[ spoken as the guy who finished one revolution and decided to try and start another as soon as he got here.

the sudden awkwardness is a curious turn — enough that he and stelmaria exchange a look — but it's not asriel's way to dig when it's something that seems too personal, which he's willing to bet this is. ]

As you say. I wondered if they might help you see in the dark or something to that effect.

[ which could easily fall under the umbrella of assistive device, if you think about it. ]

You'll find I have a habit of asking questions others don't, but my fight is with the Pthumerians.

[ so he's not a threat, at least to anyone who isn't one of Them. ]

eh, its more like. [ he rolls his wrist a few times searching for the words. can't find any. shrugs. (the guy made a point though, he should work on infrared). anyway! oookay, welp. that happened, and now he's moving on! back on schedule. here we go. just another wrenchism. don't worry about it.

as for everything else? well. don't he know that feeling? then again, he's never been up against god-like beings before. just soulless corporations and political powers. in their own way they were just as much a god as any. more than capable of ruining the lives of many, and often did. ]

back home the eyes were easy to hide from if you knew how to do it. i'd be interested in knowing how they see. Is it our blood, is it our [ both the display shows quotes and he uses quotey' fingers ] energy, is it actually just their fucking eyes and they're simply omnipresent?

cause it's gonna take a lot more than some cloaking device that i could make and that's if [ he punctuated that with gesticulation ] nanotechnology even works the same way here. was talking to someone recently whose world wasn't even made up by fucking quarks and shit. i dunno. that's fucking insane to me.

anyway, asking questions people don't isn't a bad trait its just not something i get hit with often. crowd i run with operates on a don't ask don't tell kinda policy but like. in the 'about anything that could dox you' kinda way.

[ Blake is sure that Dust in his world, and Dust in her world, are likely two very different things. Are angels different too? Or are they a more multi-universal concept? Of all the things Blake's become fascinated by since dropping into this world, that is one of them: the worlds they're all from, and much knowledge and magic and diversity must be out there. ]

You think a god would be willing to let us study how to free ourselves of his influence?

[ Blake can't quite help how doubtful she sounds. If a god is happy to be dethroned, are they really a god?

Now that she's been introduced to Stelmaria, Blake glances between both as them as she talks, addressing them both. Stelmaria has an intelligence in her eyes that Blake's never seen in an animal -- whatever a daemon is, it's more than just the animals she's used to. ]

If that's true... how? [ Doubt fades into thought, into curiousness. She's not expecting Lord Asriel to hand over all of her research, but she'd love a basic summary. ] A different location? Or some kind of psychic shield, or blood magic? A way to strip them of their power? And if we do cut ourselves free of their influence, what effect does that have on us? Does death become permanent here? What about the blood magic, does that fade? What about-- [ Blake makes herself stop, embarrassment flooding her features. ] Sorry, that's too many questions. I'll just go with one: have you found a method to escape their influence, or is it still theoretical?

[ OOC: please ignore the part in my previous reply where I implied Blake knew Never Mind is her patron, I'm retconning that lol ]

[ well. that is a lot that just wrench just said, and asriel takes a few seconds longer to mull it over because those weren't all words he knew the meaning of right away. ]

I work under the assumption that the answer to that question is all of the above. I imagine Never Mind utilises the ravens for surveillance, for example, but I have no idea how the Doorway was affecting people it had never seen, so I assume it was blood magic. It means more effort finding solutions for both, but being thorough isn't a bad thing.

As for what the world is made of...— [ asriel can't resist. ] — did you have Dust in your world? We also knew them as Rusakov particles, which might also be meaningless to you. What else did they call them..?

[ while he appreciates the differences between worlds, sometimes he feels the language barrier, and it's frustrating. fortunately, stelmaria is always there to compensate for his failings. ]

Dark matter.

Right. Dark matter. It's a funny name for it, isn't it? [ and yet he calls it Dust. ] I ask because much of what I can tell you deals with it. I am not a magician; I deal in natural philosophies — science, as you say.

And yet I incorporate a lot of blood magic into my work like I used to working with Dust. Technology and magic pair in curious ways. Often an application of Darkblood can bridge a gap otherwise unsolvable by conventional measures. Some might call that cheating, but only if you're a traditionalist.

[ which he clearly is not. ]

[ asriel sits patiently through all her questions, aware of her embarrassment by the end but unable to avoid laughing anyway. he doesn't intend to mock her, but curiosity in other people is one of the few things he considers an endearing quality. ]

For the record, I don't believe anyone can ask too many questions.

[ they're questions he's had to consider. he hates the idea that the pthumerians have embedded themselves so deeply in the fabric of the world that no one can ever be free of them, so understanding how the world is structured is vital to the overall plan. ]

I've had no objection so far from Never Mind, and I've done most of my work in Gaze. Assuming we keep the ravens fed, no one disturbs us.

[ he won't mention what happens when you don't feed the ravens. ]

I intend to secure a secondary location soon for more sensitive work as a precaution. Still, at least so far, I haven't seen any efforts from any of the Patrons you could consider direct intervention. Nothing that isn't part of the current monthly cycles.

[ which brings him to the last question, which he likes a lot more than the others. this one he's actively finding solutions for, even if they aren't perfect. ]

It is theoretically possible with a sufficiently powerful ritual. I lack the expertise even to begin to imagine the complexity involved, but it shouldn't be impossible.

However, it is proven on a small scale through wards and special shielding. Both methods are costly right now, but I hope we will come to understand what can happen when we remove their influence entirely.

[ ooc: noting that i will forget what you're retconning lol! no worries! ]

Edited (forgot to add the ooc note lmao) 2023-04-24 04:18 (UTC)

[ Mhm. He hummed in thought. More thorough was always the better option it was just a matter of actually being able to pull it off. Gaze gave him a constant feeling of being watched with or without anything or anyone present. By all means, though. Don't resist. To be honest, he talked pretty casually and didn't even stop to consider that maybe Asriel had different words or understanding of things.

Which was why it looked as though Wrench was processing things silently when Rusakov Particles was brought up, but Dark Matter. He let out an 'ahhh'. ] Oh, yeah. That's a branch of physics I'm less knowledgeable in. Actually, a lot of physics I'm not the strongest in, I'll admit. But yeah, yeah I'm familiar with dark matter.

[ He walked a bit as he talked. Helped him process, and also was a good cover for somewhat snooping eyes. ] Don't think our world figured out what the fuck to do with it yet or if anything could be done with it, but we've observed it and. [ Wrench stopped for a moment as if searching his mind for any articles of relevance. Yup. That's where that ended. ]

Eh, tradition. [ Wrench waved off. ] If you need, by the way, for me to explain what the hell I said let me know. My kind of more specialized area is in robotics. From more traditional robotics to biomechanics which works a lot with science that just does what it wants because it wants to. Man, you get into quantum shit and usually the answer is "I dunno, it just fucking does because it did" and you have to kind of accept that for what it is. [ He laughed. ]

Anyway. What I don't understand is how these things pair. Bloodmagic and technology. But I'd like to. Cause I kinda need to at this point. What is magic but a science that's not understood yet anyway, right? Some shit like that.

Edited 2023-04-26 17:42 (UTC)

That's fascinating.

[ Blake's breathed words come a bright, curious gaze, absorbing Asriel's imparted knowledge. Ever since Qrow told her about the Pthumerians meddling and love of making you... tell your secrets to other people, or bare your most awful memory, or have to touch other people to stop something bad from happening, or whatever their whim of the month is... she's been wondering if there's a way to avoid all of that. And that's not even touching the concerns of authorities with no checks on their power, or the influence they may have over the land, or the whole concept of stopping people from being drawn to this place. ]

So, right now you're mostly in the experimental phase? You've found wards and shielding that can make them blind to individual people, but you're looking for a way to extend the area of effect, or make it much more powerful?

[ And they don't know what will happen when they do. It sounds immensely dangerous, but... very worth looking into. ]

I wish there was something I could do to help. But I'm still such an amateur when it comes to knowledge here. If you think you lack the expertise to imagine that kind of ritual, I've got all the knowledge of an ant, in comparison. [ Blake's little smile is wry, self-effacing, a little frustrated. ] But if you need... I don't know, extra blood, or someone to volunteer for an experiment in the future, I'd be happy to help.

Robotics?

[ here, there is a brief lapse because asriel's mind has immediately filled in many blanks about what that could all mean. sure, he could ask, but he's already off on another thought. ]

Hardly my area, but I would be very interested in seeing your work. We had nothing of the sort, but I've encountered some technology like that on my travels.

[ it had been evident when he'd developed many of his late-stage inventions, which were so unlike anything ever seen in his world that he could have only managed it by reverse engineering tech from other places. ]

Dust works on intention. Mind over matter in a literal sense. If you want a giant, wingless, metal spider to fly, it will fly. In this case, it works because I wanted it to. [ he remains immensely proud of this, but who wouldn't be in that situation? ] Darkblood aligns very neatly with what I was previously doing because it operates in almost the same way, but all the blood types have their uses.

Consider materials as one example. I imagine you could do much more than you would ordinarily if you had an alloy as durable as steel but much lighter and more flexible, yes?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

drive and purpose; [ spring catch-all ]

⚡️ in trenchwood;

⚡️ somewhere in gaze;

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cw: mention of dead bodies, decapitation, as one does

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THIS IS SO LATE WOW but i get to use stel icons so that's cool orz

(backdated to 3/31)

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I'M SLOW AF forever but I love her she's so pretty ;;;;

Along came a spider for a lab visit

⚡️ for wrench;

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