deercountry | and the world was gone || April Catch-All

[Adaine arrives at Lexi's house shortly after messaging her, she has her hands in the pockets of the jacket that Sansa made for her.

She has, in her hands, a bag full of her meagre belongings. Her sword stays strapped to her back, of course, but she can't exactly carry around her spellbooks and notebooks and regular books. What if it rains. What if she gets mauled by a beast. That's crazy.

So she raps against the door with her hand, reaching out with magic to see if Lexi is close enough for Message to reach her mind.]

Lexi? Can you hear me?

Edited 2022-04-17 03:11 (UTC)

[Lexi's kind of been sitting in the living room, trying to keep still and not pick at her hangnails or fuss with her surroundings too much. there's a coffee table book about rebellious Barbies on the endtable and it had been there since she moved in, so she didn't feel quite right about getting rid of it.

when she receives the Message, she's surprised since she thought only Palebloods could do that, but she goes to the door, anyway. it's already unlocked, so she opens it and smiles a little self-deprecatingly]

Yeah. Sorry for making you come out all this way.

[Well, she is a Paleblood, but it's also just a regular spell for her.

She laughs a little at Lexi's greeting, a shy smile on her face.]

I mean, you're giving me a place to stay. You absolutely do not have to apologize. [She shrugs, just slightly, and only hesitates a little before verbally taking the gamble of saying it out loud.] Besides, you're my friend. You're not making me do anything.

[still! she's like, that must be useful. and reminds her that she's going to have to get someone to help her with her own abilities, the only time it really worked seemed to be a fluke.

she smiles shyly back]

Oh. Okay. [she's not used to people wanting her to do stuff for them without expecting stuff in return. but being told that she's a friend? apart from herself and any mess with Cassie? that makes her smile widen]

We are. So, come on in. And I should have asked in advance, are you a vegetarian or vegan or anything like that?

None of the above. [It seems an odd place for her to draw a line, really. She continues inside, glancing at the interior decor. It's so much less bland than the house she used to live in. It's smaller, less wealthy, but there's a lot of colour that she's unused to seeing in a home.]

Oh, um, are you?

[Is that what she's supposed to ask? She's very awkward.]

[it's been kind of nice to be able to decorate to her own tastes and interests. she'd shared a room with Cassie her entire life and Cassie's tastes ran to pastels and pretty, girly ruffles and frills. Cassie's vanity had been surrounded by silk roses while Lexi's was pretty much bare bones]

No, neither. But I figured it would be nice to ask. Not that there's much in the way of meat here, other than fish, though I did see a large container saying that it contained a whole cooked chicken. It looked like something out of a science lab. So, come on in, I'll show you around.

[so is she but she's trying not to be]

[Rumour has it that pirates are snatching up newcomers and attempting to sell them off to the highest bidder, or bleed them dry, or feast on them or any other number of horrible things.

Well, Adaine's sick of their shit. She boards a ship leaving, grabs her sword and her spellbook and decides it's time to lead a slaughter. As she spies one of the ships they're looking for, she'll take a look at whatever Sleeper decided to join her for this endeavor.]

Have I mentioned that I fucking hate pirates yet?

[That's her very dry remark.]

Edited 2022-04-17 04:06 (UTC)

[Adaine sits at the very back of this lecture, which, in her vastly superior and intellectual opinion, has been going on for far too long. The teacher is an older man, who seems to love the sound of his own voice.

She came in here to learn about blood magic, and specifically in how it's used by Architects to maintain the city. The lecturer keeps just reading from his own book, something Adaine already read and strongly disliked. She's had her hand up to contradict him on some wild sweeping statement he made and about three minutes later, he still hasn't even looked up from the book enough to notice her.

She puts her hand down with an irritable huff, then looks at whoever's next to her and lowers her voice to a whisper.]

You getting anything from this...?

[academia never changes, that is what viktor learned the moment he started coming to the school in gaze. no matter where you are, no matter what world, he is now fairly certain academics are just like this, and he has no idea if that's comforting or the most frustrating realization he's had here.

'like this' isn't always bad at least, quite often it means you'll find data in perfectly efficient manners or passion where others would find the dullest subject in the world. it also meant you had professors who thought lectures were a place to dump information without any form of conversation or interaction from the audience, likely hoping to get their hours done to crawl back to their offices and research. uninspired in this case. gods, what a dull class.

viktor's taken to drawing up a schematic rather than bother after the first ten minutes, still trying to figure out how to channel lunar energy into a laser for welding purposes, when his neighbor speaks. he looks over with an expression that tells her everything she needs to know, murmuring back,] I am getting an hour of white noise, which is very much not what I had hoped for. I should have known, the excerpts from his book were hardly promising.

[She snorts, very much in solidarity and agreement on this.]

At least white noise would be neutral. He's been straight up wrong on about four points. [She slouches back in her chair with an irritable sigh. There's nothing she hates more than having to put up with incompetence that she can't immediately zero in on and challenge. Of course, even the former is a struggle. His words are drowned out by about fifty others.

Well, if she's stuck here for another thirty minutes, she might as well get some work of her own done. She flips open her spellbook and opens onto the page for the spell she's making for Sansa. More a wall of arcane equations and loosely strung together runes than anything immediately identifiable. It's not as if the spellbuilding she learnt in Spire was particularly focused on tracking through the multiverse. She idly looks over her own notes, looking just as bored with them as she is with the class, before she spots his drawing.]

...What are you working on? [This is a lot more interesting, actually.]

And not taking questions about those points, I notice. At least it's better than back home when he'd be trying to sell his book every other turn.

[nope, just boring so far, unless he thinks this is somehow selling the product.

her question makes him glance over, keeping his voice low as he explains,] Eh, trying to figure out how to use lunar energy to make a laser point for welding purposes. I cannot tell you how much easier it would make my life. [but! this in turn makes him notice her notes, the runes both familiar and unfamiliar, bringing back ages of pouring over old texts with jayce.

jayce was always better with the runes than he was, but he still finds them fascinating. it's in his tone when he asks,] What are you working on yourself? Spellwork?

Depressingly enough, I think he is under the impression he's selling it. [He's definitely trying to get other people to read it, like he's really onto something. She just rolls her eyes.

She nods along with his explanation, this is immediately more interesting than the lecture. Welding, hm. An artificer...? Especially since he seems to at least partially recognize her own work.]

I'm uh, designing a spell for a friend. It's proving to be a bit of an overcomplicated mess... I think I might have to start over and simplify it. [She's only Level 9 after all, she can't really be expected to be building fifth level spells. Or maybe it's just something in the very premise that's wrong...? Well, whatever.]

Are you an artificer?

Edited 2022-04-18 06:00 (UTC)

[such a sigh, she's right and he wishes she was not.] That is incredibly painful to witness.

[there's far more interesting things though, like designing a spell. it has him glancing over her notes more closely, not quite understanding the runes themselves- different runes, it seems, though very clearly of a similar family to those of his world which opens endless possibilities and questions to him about the link between magic between realities. it takes him a moment to say anything, and when he does he sounds sheepish for that pause.] Apologies, this is- ha, I would need to give you a quite longwinded explanation of my world to explain why your work is so fascinating.

[she's actually right on the money, though he's never heard the word before.] I'm afraid that term isn't familiar to me- I am an engineer, or an inventor I suppose. Would you-

[the teacher finally notices enough to glance up and shush them, making viktor's lips thin. like fair man, but also-] Would you be interested in eh... skipping out and having some tea? I think even an idle conversation on this would be a far better use of both our times.

[Being shushed by the teacher makes Adaine blink in surprise and then roll her eyes. Now, he notices. Her arm is sore and it's his fault.]

And miss this absolutely riveting lesson? I could never. [She smirks, and then nods.] Sure, that sounds a lot more interesting. I like longwinded explanations provided there's time to actually listen to them.

It'd probably also take me a bit to fully explain what an artificer is, anyway.

[She scoops up her own note book. Luckily, they're very near the door, and there's nobody in their way.]

[ah, freedom. viktor grabs his crutch and pulls himself up, tucking his notebook under an arm and ignoring any looks sent their way. he imagines a few people are envious, but ah well. every student for themselves.

out in the hall he lets out a sigh of relief.] Academia never changes. Now, I know a shop for the tea, if you don't mind a lamp trip to the Willful Machine.

[he'd just offer to make some where he lives but... it's a bunker and pal also lives there, so it seems rude on some levels and weird on others. a tea shop is probably better.]

As for longwinded starts to explanations- my world considers magic and mages dangerous. There was a war a great many years ago where magic caused unspeakable destruction, so of course it was labeled dangerous and evil rather than simply a tool that was used in a heinous way.

[hey, someone has some opinions about that it seems, huh. he's practically rolling his eyes about it.]

I don't mind. It's definitely a step up from whatever the hell that was.

[She sighs as she gets out the door, stretching her arms and allowing a glowing translucent mage hand to carry her books for her.

She listens to his explanation. It's... abnormal, predictable and utterly stupid all at the same time. She can't imagine a world where magic of all things was blamed for all the misfortune in the world.

Of course, she doesn't know about the wizard who struck down a god, or the whispered one, or the many many many other crimes wizards have committed against reality and the Great Wheel of Planes. It's not immediately relevant to her, anyway. And she'd never agree with banning it wholesale either. What a stupid solution.]

They know that people will still find a way to experiment with it, right? It'll just be underground and unregulated and there's nothing they could do to control it, and anyone who might have been interested in it for ethical reasons will have to seek out deeply corrupt sources to even access it?

People never learn. Prohibition never actually works as a preventative measure for misuse. Idiots.

Edited 2022-04-23 04:08 (UTC)

[oh the mage hand- he makes a mental not to ask about that, it fascinates him. if only he had even a hexcrystal, the things he could try to do with all this new inspiration- but no, focus.]

Oh they should have, given my research partner and I founded a technology that could manipulate the arcane like a mage could. You can imagine the drama it created, but I suppose ultimately it was accepted, so there's that step forward.

[then again there's places like demacia that actively hunt mages but... he'll stick to piltover.] I see you are a mage of sorts? Is magic common in your world? Are people born into it as well?

[sorry just. a lot of questions he can't help, clearly very intrigued by all this.]

That's very impressive. [It really is, especially if they had to do it in secret if the technology was outlawed.] Is your partner in Trench...?

[Worth asking, even if it might be a sore point. Adaine's never been one to dance around the point if she can help it. Then he asks about magic and the question makes her laugh a bit.]

God, people always ask that. [It's depressing to imagine the state of their own worlds' magic, really, if that's what they assume.] Some people are. A lot of people are born with a very small amount of magic they can draw on, but even the people who aren't can still learn it. It's a skill, like music, or math.

Some people can reach a certain level of power drawing on inherent magic alone but they can't reach the heights that someone who learnt it can, at least not without picking up a spellbook and learning.

No, which I'm not sure is unfortunate or not. [not a sore topic- he does miss jayce, yes, but he's not sure wishing anyone here is good or not. they simply are or aren't and that's easier to accept than fruitless hopes.]

That is fascinating. Runes are an important part of spellwork in my world but without the connection mages have it is impossible to learn, presumably. [the idea that anyone can learn magic is kind of thrilling, though more to him because of the possibility it presents about magic as a whole and how it presents itself in the trench. you know, big nerd stuff.]

You said you were making a spell, how does that work here? I assume using blood might act as a medium?

Mm, I know the feeling. [She thinks it would be nice if Aelwyn were here with her, but beyond that... she misses her friends and she misses Jawbone but she doesn't want them to have to deal with this place.]

Yes, it does. It seems somewhat similar but it's different depending on the type of spell. Divination and Enchantment is Paleblood, Evocation is Coldblood, Transmutation appears to be Darkblood, though sometimes Vileblood as well, Necromancy is Vileblood... I haven't yet figured out Abjuration but it seems Warmblood can work as a component a lot of the time. [She blinks.] Oh, uh... sorry that probably didn't make a lot of sense. There's different schools of magic. Put simply... Divination is about prophecies and visions and such, Enchantment is about meddling with people's minds, Evocation is channeling elements, Transmutation is about manipulating things and turning one thing into another which can be applied on a greater level to manipulating times.

And then Necromancy is about channelling the powers of life and death, or positivity and negativity, as they're known more scientificly.

The spell I'm making is Divination... at least, I think so. I might need to incorporate bits of Abjuration. It's looking like I'll have to redo it, honestly, I think I went wrong at the very root of the spellcrafting.

[She doesn't realize she's rambling. Or, well, infodumping more accurately. It's a nervous tick.]

He has never had the stomach for violence either. [which... yeah. he offers a shrug, one that's sure another sleeper understands the complexity of this particular dilemma. selfishness vs care, ah emotions.

viktor listens to this with a nod here and there, already forming a list of questions to be asked. no shame here, infodumping is a favorite of his, more so when it's fascinating.] Such a structured system- what I would have given for runes to have such a solid basis. We were stuck finding the dustiest of old tomes with a great deal of personal conjecture mixed in.

[turns out mages have egos, which... well not shocking.] What is the purpose of the spell exactly? I doubt I will be much help but I would be happy to be a sounding board.

[She remembers not having a stomach for violence, tasting bile in the back of her throat at the sight of Doreen's exposed grey matter and bloodied and bruised face. She got over it fast. She had to, really. Can't be a hero without killing a few people, after all.]

God, that sounds like a nightmare. Honestly, I don't really do well with learning from old textbooks and such. The practical aspect of casting is the part that really interests me, even though the theory is obviously a requirement as well for anything serious.

[She considers what he says afterwards, pursing her lips. It's a complicated request, more complicated than Viktor actually intends it, she would wager. Sansa was conservative with her secrets, so she'd need to be very careful, though having another academic to bounce ideas off of would be nice.]

...It's an alarm, sort of. On a... umm. Planetary scale, I guess? I wanted to know immediately if certain people arrived here, so I could prepare.

It was abysmal. So much ego, so much shorthand. [a sigh. better than sitting through that lecture but Still.]

In truth it was always more Jayce's area than mine. Even here I've been trying to recreate a similar technology with blood gems and I rely on Palamedes' understanding of magic, wards in particular.

[fascinating stuff, but he's always been an engineer at heart. that's part of why the structure she mentions intrigues him as much as it does.

that explanation gets a nod and sort of understanding- the 'could prepare' makes it sound like these would not be friends coming.] Useful, on several levels. You could scale it down to the oceans if that would make the load easier, as far as I understand all who come here come through it. Then again, if you wished to be thorough... perhaps not.

[Adaine is very busy, on top of looking for this teacher fellow, she's also wrapped up in a big mystery surrounding this ancient blood cult operating out of an elaborate tunnel system that seems to connect to the graveyard.

So, it's with only mild annoyance that she realizes the book - more a series of annotated maps of Trench, detailing locations relevant to blood rituals - has been rented out by someone. So, after a better part of an hour's worth of wrangling, they've tracked it down to this guy's table.

A necromancer, is what the mousey girl at the front desk said. This might be more beneficial than she thought. It's a large generalization that he knows "Harrowhark" or "Teacher", but it's really the only lead she has apart from Paul, and that's a whole other challenge.

She approaches his table after about ten minutes and thirteen seconds of nervous procrastination, hands in her pockets, and hesitantly gives him a wave.]

Uh... hi. The girl at the front desk of this floor said you had a... um, book? That I was looking for? [Good going, Adaine. You sure are the Oracle of Everywhere.]

[Arguably, Palamedes has too many projects. He has a vested interest in too many things, and they overlap in a few places, but not enough that he has fewer than a dozen books sitting in ostensibly random piles on his table back here. They put up with him, the locals working at the Archives, because he's quiet and returns his books eventually and makes a point to bring them the occasional pastry to show his appreciation. It's the done thing.

But he has too many projects, still. His dozen-ish books are accompanied by several notebooks, a few open at once to cross-reference himself, and he is presently filling the entire surface area of a tiny adhesive note (off brand), which he has hunched over in deep concentration. If she makes the effort to read his tiny handwriting upside down, it appears to be something about bloodstone acquisition.

There are a lot of question marks, but in a good way, maybe.

He looks up mid-sentence, using the back of his hand to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose instead of his terminally ink-stained fingers. Ah.]

I probably do. [there are a lot of books here,] Which one?

[Roll a perception check.

(PERCEPTION CHECK: 4+6=10. Fail.)

She caught just the faintest glimpse at the small written words, but not enough to really get an idea what he's working on. She's not quite eagle-eyed enough to be able to read upside down without difficulty, after-all.

Never the less, she gives a small smile to announce that she isn't mad, in case that wasn't clear.]

It's a bit less of a book and more a lot of maps. Annotated with locations of interest regarding an old cabal of blood witches I'm researching. It's titled... "Secret Societies of the New World," I believe?

Edited 2022-04-18 02:06 (UTC)

[He takes a second, then-]

Oh; the big one. Hold on, it's under the rest over here.

[The Pile, which is indeed piled high with several thick books and a few loose papers, one notebook... he extracts the book of maps from it, wider and flatter than the rest, and nudges his open notebook aside to thunk it down in the middle of the table in the notebook's place.

There it is. The big one.]

I didn't flip through it all the way to the end, or I'd point you to the cabal spots. What do you need old blood witch rituals for?

[She takes it with a nod and a smile. Only struggling to pick it up a little. Her strength stat was raised to be in the positives and not the negatives thank you! She may be extremely average in this regard but she's not a weakling!] Thank you. Yeah, it's um... large.

[Actually, in a moment of teenage uncertainty, she decides to gently lay it back down while they're having a conversation.]

They had some old rituals that I'm looking into to restore my own magic from back home to it's full strength. And there's some weapons and tools that have been lost for a long time that could come in handy for a lot of people here. Plus... I don't know, I just think exploring the tunnels and secret passageways left behind by an ancient secret society is kind of cool, I guess?

[She's a nerd, what do you want from her, sir.]

[Please, no shame, he moved this book several inches and he will not be able to move it again. He was built only for moving pens and little pads of paper. She says 'tunnels and secret passageways left behind' and he thinks of horrible Lyctor basements, and he says,]

You'd be surprised.

[But holds his hands up a moment later, like, no, no, ignore him; he is merely curmudgeonly out of habit.]

Don't let me spoil your investigation; take the book, I won't need it. You're talking about mix-and-matching the magic, aren't you? Blood magic and how it meshes into our own. [He's looking through his notebooks as he says this, somewhere in here there are notes he scribbled down from Sayo's ideas of cracking the blood magic puzzle.] Oh— what tools?

[She blinks at his initial reaction, wondering if there's something more to it.

Roll an insight check.

(INSIGHT CHECK: 4+2=6. Fail.)

She decides it's ultimately not her business. If he has a concern, he'll bring it up. Probably. She's never been good enough at reading between the lines when it comes to people and not mysteries. So she continues, with a simple nod. It's a little more complicated, probably, but close enough.]

Most of my magic isn't something that comes from within me, it's just a practiced extensive ritual, that we then translate into more... minute casting practices. Chanting, wand writing, incantations, rune summoning. So, not being in my world, it seems I need to figure out how to translate some of it to this world's own understanding of magic before they'll function as intended.

[It's very frustrating, and very tedious. But at least the pursuit of these resources is interesting to her.]

I don't know the full details behind it, just the accounts of what they were able to do with it. They were able to track corruption and beasthood all over the city with a crystal ball, apparently. And they supplied the architects of the time a way to modify gravity within locations, uh, they had something that let them grow crops that just don't grow in Trench. Those are only a few examples, though. They seem to have made a lot of things between all the murders.

Edited 2022-04-19 13:46 (UTC)

[Ooh, magic with a medium. Palamedes nods; he's more or less familiar with the concept of medium-based magic, if only in the sense that necromancy has... materials. Obviously materials used as supplement to innate talent are a wholly different thing, but there are only so many different ways to create large-scale magic.

Now then, cool magic items. His eyebrows go up at tracking corruption and beasthood, oh, that one would be interesting to study. Maybe he should have looked at more maps.]

If you're talking about gravity, I'd guess that has something to do with darkblood— applied, of course. I made a chalkboard float out of a window with only a couple well-placed smears just the other week. If there's a device that does the same, renewably, I'd be interested in seeing it. Blood magic existing independent of its originator is something I've been trying to play with.

[Between all the trauma, as it happens. Hmm.]

You aren't going to get blood everywhere without a plan, are you? I have to ask; you understand.

[some folks around here are a little irresponsible!!]

That was my thought as well. Though I suppose you could create an illusion of as much with paleblood. It would be ideal if there was a way to replicate blood magic without spilling blood. It's a necessary sacrifice but each time it's done the world becomes more and more unstable. So I think magic done through the use of items is a good alternative to that.

[She blinks at that question. He does have to ask, it's only fair, though she'd be lying if she said she wasn't the slightest bit offended anyway.]

I'm not a complete incompetent nutcase, no.

That's good! Anyway, if there weren't any blood involved, it wouldn't be blood magic anymore. I'd guess that the blood-as-medium can be harnessed and used more than once, the way coldblood can be applied to weaponry and so on, but I've no idea if the magic is as potent when removed, literally, from the source.

[Presumably it isn't, but equally presumably: not enough to matter, if magical items with blood rituals involved have existed. Why, exactly, would they stop using them, then... hmm.]

Are you going on a treasure hunt anytime soon? I'll come, if you need another set of eyes. [A beat.] I'm Palamedes, by the way.

Sometimes the blood doesn't need to be taken out of a subject's body, though. A coldblood could press their fingertips against a glass of water and use their magic to cool it down or heat it up. That doesn't involve bleeding.

Architects use their blood to infuse items often, and I think some blood mages carry samples of other blood types to borrow some of the magic properties inherent to them. But you're right, I don't know if it's as powerful or if it even could be. But clearly if used in the right way... [She gestures toward the maps with a shrug.]

Oh, I was planning on going tomorrow. Plan the route today, actually follow through with it tomorrow. You're welcome to come, I'd appreciate the backup.

Oh, I'm uh, Adaine. Probably should have introduced myself sooner.

Sure. My schedule is both completely packed and mysteriously flexible; I can pencil in a treasure hunt.

[He drums his fingers on the table, considering options— for blood magic, not for treasure hunting. That's good, he can do that.]

The goal would be total equivalence, wouldn't you say? To take an ultimately finite thing like blood magic and extend it into what can be used longterm, by those who lack the innate ability entirely...

[Giving the blood magic to the people, more or less. If it can be done with minimal blood pollution and the corrupting aspects reined in, why not!]

Let's assume the power degrades outside of its source, or over time. Or it doesn't, and the problem is managing an unfettered chunk of magic. I can't imagine why these items would fall out of use besides inefficiency or disaster.

Great. [She smiles. She's not used to making... well, positive acquaintances this fast? She's not sure if she'd be so bold as to use the word friends but talking to people about magic is always enjoyable.]

That's the idea, yeah. I figure actually saving this world from steady decline would take a lot more work, and probably some kind of miracle. [She'd never be so arrogant as to say she could do that, eventually, because more likely she'll have died or gotten sealed in some horrible fate long before she's at the level of wizards like that. But she thinks it's a goal that would be worth it eventually.] In the meantime, making the magic more viable longterm seems like a good middle ground. Since without it, we have very limited protection from the beasts or the more malicious Pthumerians.

[She thinks Bud Cubby would appreciate her redistributing the power to the people. Down with the Sleeper class.]

Well, I think either option is reasonable. Though, these specific items were locked away in a series of hidden tunnels so that only members of the coven could reasonably reach it. There's other items that are more openly available. Forging magical weapons is a sizable amount of what architects do. But making the effect last forever might be the reason why the artifacts of extraordinary powerful fall out of practice more quickly, or why they're hoarded by groups and individuals.

Hmm— I don't disagree. The bare minimum security is a pretty intolerable way to live. There's obviously something wrong here, but it seems downright ghoulish to let a chunk of the population fend for themselves without defensive magic.

[Down with the Sleeper class, indeed. He taps the end of his pen on his notebook, heedless of smudging ink on the page. Hmm.]

The blood magic being finite poses an interesting problem to solve. If these artifacts of yours can be found and still work, reverse engineering the mechanism should be easy enough. ["easy enough"] Then again, it could also explode in our faces. Do you have any defensive options? I can handle that, if not.

[It starts out the prior morning. A bad dream, more than anything, of the mud in Darcmouth splitting open, of flame and corruption pouring out of it like a geyser of everything that rots this world, that rots all worlds. All the evil pouring out like the world itself was bleeding, and the only thing keeping it safe was the scab they called a civilization.

It's a vision, she's pretty sure. She rushes over to Darcmouth quickly that morning. Nothing happened. She asks around, pulling people from their tasks and telling people that something bad is going to happen here today. Some of them take her seriously. Others just shrug. Death will come for them all in Trench. When is a nightmare not occurring.

Nothing happens. And she feels like an idiot.

But of course nothing happens. They were in hiding. And when she arrives the next morning, annoyed, that feeling leaves her very quick as she sees a small collection of demons - devils, she feels like she can hear Gorthalax correcting her even here - standing over a pile of rubble that she believed used to be a small cafe. There's still people wriggling beneath it, and what looks like an architect with the biggest amongst them, a tall devil in something resembling a suit gripping his shoulder with a vice grip, muttering sweet temptations in his ear. There's no hunters in sight.

And when the smaller fiends, bounty hunters probably, are issued a command to sweep and destroy by the tallest, Adaine knows she has to do something.

It's not hard to see what happened here. God damn it. At some point she'd love to be wrong (she was in fact wrong about many things in this specific instance, but she's pretending otherwise.) Adaine draws her sword, muttering curses between incantations.

Roll initiative.

The turn order, however, was already set.]

[It's routine for Katsuki to go out on a run first thing in the morning. It's been annoying lately, to have to use an alarm to get his ass up to do it, but that's neither here nor there. He always picks a different direction--a different district to do it in, that way he can get the first part of his workout done and familiarize himself with all parts of Trench.

There's always something fucking insane happening here, too. Those warnings he'd received in the beginning were aggravatingly true, not that Katsuki had ever doubted them in the first place... but it's still not a truth he's exactly thrilled about either. It's led to him making sure that he's always at least mostly battle-ready in his costume. This morning is no different, he's turning a corner and coming upon a scene of disaster.] What the hell... [It's said under his breath as his eyes narrow and take in the scene before him. A building is rubble--with people underneath; there's a group of whatever the fuck they are, and nothing about them or the way the tall one whispers in the architects ear or directs the others that spells anything good. It's clear that they're responsible, and Katsuki wasn't in any mood to fuck around prior to coming up on this bullshit.

Adaine isn't noticed by him, but she will definitely notice Katsuki. Because he wastes no time in using his quirk to blast himself forward to get himself right into the space of the tall one. Take out the ring leader, and the small fry'll be next. Gloved hands come out to form an almost ball in front of the blond as soon as he lands in front of him, and there's a sudden burst of blinding light that explodes outward. One of Katsuki's signature moves--Zero Distance Stun Grenade, meant to disorient him and prevent any counter moves. Katsuki is fast, anticipating that there is every chance that this being won't be effected at all. He's already moving to use his famously strong right hook punch to separate the tall devil from the architect--trying to get them apart and the villain away from the rubble that has people underneath.]

[She sees him rush, and quickly deduces a few facts. One, he probably has never had to fight a fiend before. Two, he will get there before any of her spells could fire off. Three... the devil is already moving to shield himself from the attack.

Even though her feet are moving and she's leeping into the fight with her sword glowing an ethereal silver, her conciousness is split between the immediate surroundings and a world that is only her and the strings of possiblity that tie every occurance together.

In one, the devil in the suit dodges, whispering enchanting words to Bakugou as he moves to continue fighting, and it takes a hold of his mind and suddenly Bakugou is ensnared by the devil's mental prison. In others, the bounty hunters surround him and stab away at him. He takes out several of them but he's overwhelmed and dies. It's horrible to behold but the Oracle simply hums in consideration, before finding another string, where the devil itself was gobsmacked by the gall of this boy that he simply forgot to jump, and immediately failed at resisting the stun.

The dice rolls, and the number that would have been a nineteen, very handily protecting him, instead turns to a four and Adaine rips that fate into motion. She cleaves through a bounty hunter devil as her concious mind reconnects with her body and she hears herself yelling out.]

They're immune to fire and non magical attacks! You'll have to get creative! [The bounty hunter attempts to rush after her as it recovers from the slash, but it's stopped in its tracks by the spell Adaine used on her attack, howling in pain as it's nerves light up and spark as if it's one large firecracker.]

Edited 2022-04-27 05:00 (UTC)

[ You can find me at the School of Mutter. Look for Adaine Abernant.

School of Mutter isn't far from where Kaneki works, the Archaic Archives. The fact that the two locations are so close to each other is helpful, because it means Kaneki can get cold feet and go back to the Archives if halfway through he decides not to do this after all. It's a really difficult step to take because, even if Adaine assured him she would not tell anyone, he will still come to her and stand in front of her as a monster who eats people. He will be seen as such, not by other ghouls who do and feel the same as he does, but by someone who never had to do such terrible things.

And by someone he will have to trust his existence with. Because he currently is hiding and he lives hiding. To tell someone what he is and then meet them is incredibly dangerous because Kaneki could be hunted and shunned due to what he is. In the end, this is about trusting a stranger he never saw.

But a stranger who could perhaps help him.
And that is very important too.

Because he doesn't want to be like this.

In the end, he does enter the school, clearly lost and too shy for his own good. He asks for Adaine, as he was told to do, and afterwards waits by the entrance quietly, while he feels like his heart is about to leap out of his chest due to nerves. ]

and the world was gone || April Catch-All

SOROCIDE | Lexi (Early April)

Re: SOROCIDE | Lexi (Early April)

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IT'S HUNTING SEASON || (Open)

BACK IN SCHOOL || Viktor (Mid April)

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I FOUND GOD || Palamedes (Mid April)

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HELL FREEZES OVER || Open

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School of Mutter