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Post by demikara on Jul 11, 2020 15:17:28 GMT -6
There were times the weight of her binding got to be too much and she couldn't help but push back at it. It wasn't something she even was aware of doing, not really, but when the binding began to overwhelm her, just trying to walk the tree again was something she couldn't help but do. They hadn't cut her off from the In Between entirely, but she could no longer get there on her own and sometimes the pressure of that was too much. Which led to moments that she was sure an outsider would consider weird at best. Molly was literally pushing at the binding with her hand, feeling the tearing pressure as it kept her from the simple shift to the In Between that she had known since she was a little kid. Time was difficult between the planes. Here it had been centuries. Back home it hadn't been centuries but it had been a long time. Time in the fae plane was well. It was unusual at best. Fickle.
Here it was very straightforward. Everything proceeded at the pace of one second per second. Time dilation was still theoretical, something only people with too much time on their hands and too many brains in their heads pondered and studied and threw math and theories at until something stuck. They called it special relativity here.
In the fae realm, time moved however fast the court willed it, as far as Molly could tell, and everyone not part of the court could just deal with it. It was almost always summer on the farm and she had decided she wasn't fond of winter her first winter here. Winter in Albany had been bitterly cold in comparison to what passed for winter on the farm. In Dallas it was somewhat better, but still got entirely too cold for her tastes.
But her mind wandered. Molly pressed against her binding, reaching for the In Between until the pain got to be too much and she hissed, holding her hand close to her body and inspecting it. It always felt like it was cutting into her. There was no sign of it now that she wasn't fighting it again, but every time she felt like it, it ended feeling like something was cutting into her skin.
With a sigh she turned her attention to the case on her desk again, and flipped half heartedly through the pages. "How did this even make its way to us? It's an open an shut." The wards sketched had been handily broken from what the impressions sketched out showed. It was a simple truth that most of the force got pretty good at doing a basic sketch of a scene. There was no real way to photograph magical traces after all. "Maybe the Warden was still recovering from the solstice when she accepted it." She had heard from the Jinhai what had happened. She almost even understood what they had been saying about it all. Something about the veil buckling at the ranch where Catherine and Tyrus had been. They thought very differently than what she was used to so following along with what they were saying wasn't exactly easy.
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Post by Circe on Jul 12, 2020 13:42:47 GMT -6
"Eh? What?" Xiaolian asked glancing across at where Molly sat behind her desk. The solstice had been an utter nightmare, for both her and Zhen. It had required her dragging an experienced Guardian along during the incident, one who just so happened to be a sibling. The dynamic had been chaotic to say the best, especially given that the one of the problems had tried to help and only added to the problems. The threat of a paralytic ward still hadn't done much to discourage him either, and then only briefly. The solstice had required wards, charms, and magical configurations that Xiaolian hadn't had to use in close to thirty years. It had left her spent, exhausted, and more than just a little bit short on patience with individuals like Molly. But she supposed that was what happened when she had decided to bet the majority of her career with MCU on the easy nullifier magics, while still keeping active status as a Guardian.
Xiaolian just considered herself lucky that Heaven had so far been merciful and uninterested.
"Is there a problem Bronson?" She asked the other quizically. The other had spent the majority of the day alternately squirming or day dreaming it seemed.
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Post by demikara on Jul 12, 2020 15:14:06 GMT -6
The solstice had been a nightmare for everyone. Molly had been kept running across Dallas from one incident to the next, putting out fires and wondering where the hell her team was. The solstice was a hell of a day to not come into work, given the solstices, the equinoxes, and fucking samhain were some of the busiest days in Dallas. "The binding just itches." It was the easiest way of putting it. "And the latest case should never have been sent up to us. I know they teach this level of warding in the academy."
Some of the lower officers were idiots. She grabbed her notepad and scribbled her diagnosis on the sheet in front of her. This was not specialist level work. "I have enough warding cases without dealing with kiddie stuff."
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Post by Circe on Jul 12, 2020 15:22:16 GMT -6
"Ah. I see." Xiaolian commented idly as she turned her attention back to her own work. She had limited experience with bindings, but experience none the less. Her teachers had explained that it was a last possible resort and to never intentionally leave someone defenseless or helpless. After that the students, including, Xiaolian were expected to wear a very simple one for the next fortnight. It had been intended to build empathy, but many students had seen it as a harsh and undeserved punishment.
"Most of the lower level officers aren't taught warding outside of one day in academy." She added off hand.
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Post by demikara on Jul 12, 2020 15:35:08 GMT -6
"This is still basic information." Molly grumbled. "You can tell by the fraying that a clumsy ward slicer did it. Track down who has one and you find the idiot responsible. This is why you shouldn't use basic wards. They have too many work arounds." They were decent when you were in school, she supposed, or surrounded entirely by mundanes, but a decent thief would pick up a ward slicer or cracker and get through most garden variety wards. Molly should know. She was a wardbreaker and could make a ward cracker in minutes.
She made certain her notes were comprehensive at least. She wasn't going to do a half-assed job and get yelled at for it. "Hey, what the hell happened on the solstice? Dallas is hell to handle on solstices on my own." And Maria was still limited to desk work for a bit longer.
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Post by Circe on Jul 12, 2020 15:44:06 GMT -6
"Oh you know.. just general chaos." Xiaolian shrugged as she typed something into the computer. She herself still wasn't sure how to explain what had happened, and was just glad that the seals had held. More than likely she was going to have to go back out to Mezar in the coming weeks to inspect it for damages, especially given that her initial assumption about category may have been wrong. She was still analyzing the information from the sigils she had recovered from the two ground zero occupants in hopes of providing her fellow Guardians with a bit more information on how this particular plane worked. It was perhaps both one of the least and most magically rich on the tree, and there were things out there that would love to take advantage of such a place.
"Ward slicers aren't illegal Bronson. They're the equivalent of a lock pick or bolt cutters." Xiaolian added with exasperation. "The majority of the community doesn't have either the skill or money for better wards you also realize? Right?"
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Post by demikara on Jul 12, 2020 15:50:58 GMT -6
"True. Warding services are expensive. And this is a clumsy ward slicer. Not a professionally made one at all." There were times she wondered if she should leave MCU and go into warding. Then again, she had to stay in MCU to eventually lose the binding, so she didn't have much of a choice. It was MCU or be stuck on this plane for the next forever. Unless her being fae ate through it like it ate through magic dampeners. That would be nice. She had a feeling the fucking council accounted for that though.
She really should not have pissed them off.
"This is like...saw how to make one in a book but it's their first time doing anything like that level of ward slicer. And it was weak too. Not something some one with decent magical reserves would make." Then again Molly's version of decent magical reserves tended to be set at fae level and below that, where most humans were, were all weak.
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Post by Circe on Jul 12, 2020 15:59:18 GMT -6
"Yep. $5k for a basic whole house set up like what the Warden has, and no customizations." Xiaolian agreed. Negating the wards during the solstice had been a headache. Some of the structures were things she had only ever seen in ancient texts, and were generally accompanied by a vauge warning not to attempt to use them as no one was really sure what they did exactly. Fortunately for Xiaolian or unfortunately for Catherine, there was something of a master key in knowing how to nullify specific points of a ward's structure. It wasn't breaking anything really, it was just switching it off temporarily.
"It probably was. Most people with two brain cells to rub together don't try to charge an entire ward at once."
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Post by demikara on Jul 12, 2020 16:07:26 GMT -6
"Please say that in front of Rahal at least once." She grinned. "I want to see his face when someone points out what an idiot he is. He has the firepower, but its dangerous." Even Molly raised wards in stages rather than all at once and she was a professional. "And the wardens wards are worth closer to 100K. They're a work of art." It would take serious time to get through them, if Molly ever had to. "Even her office wards are gold standard." It was impressive. Molly had found breaking into the council chambers easier to do. Catherine had serious firepower behind her wards.
Also, the council's were old and based on outdated math. They really should be updated at some point. Molly was not going to tell them this however, given they were the bastards who had bound her.
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Post by Circe on Jul 12, 2020 16:18:49 GMT -6
"The good doctor is talented, but I agree he is dangerous with his desired methods." The only person who had gotten away with calling Tyrus an idiot to his face was Catherine, but it hadn't been nearly as blunt. She suspected that that was where some of the animosity between the two lay, but she could be wrong. All she knew was that the fledgling had limited control over their new abilities, despite the best efforts of the sire. "As for Dumitrescu's wards... I wouldn't say $100k. No one can construct those anymore, no matter how much you pay." Xiaolian knew some of the concepts behind them, as they hadn't yet disappeared by the time she had been trained. However now they had, and there weren't many left who could even raise a portion of them or sketch out the configuration.
"What's with the sudden curiousity all of a sudden anyway? You don't generally want to talk shop." Xiaolian asked Molly, suddenly suspicious.
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Post by demikara on Jul 12, 2020 16:24:53 GMT -6
"Eh. They keep out extraplanar incursions on her office, at least. Those wards are expensive." And rare. Very few people had the plans on how to cast them anymore, something more than one Ratatoskr had helped along. Being kept out of places was annoying to all of them. Molly was not alone in this. Generally, it took a guardian to keep their nose out of someone else's business if they were curious enough. "And generally there's no point in talking shop. You're convinced I do a terrible job at everything. I was mostly venting about the case. The warden must have been run ragged as hell on the solstice to send this one through." At least it was better than something that didn't contain wards at all. She could at least get some mild amusement out of it.
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Post by Circe on Jul 12, 2020 16:43:37 GMT -6
"You shouldn't be in her office regardless." Xiaolian commented plainly as an uncomfortable silence fell over the pair for a time. There was little more than the sounds of the office between them as they went about their duties on shift, before the other sighed. "I think you need more training and experience, not that you're terrible. Sometimes the words come out wrong."
The training a Ratatoskr recieved was vastly different than that of a Guardian. The two were supposed to work as a team, but in recent times the Ratatoskr had been going off and doing as they pleased. Often leaving messes for the Guardians to clean up. Many of the Ratatoskr had taken to calling the families that served as Guardians, as "Houses of Bamboo". Corrupting and turning a previously well meaning phrase into something derogatory.
"And yes, the warden was run ragged." That was putting it plainly.
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Post by demikara on Jul 12, 2020 16:56:55 GMT -6
"I like knowing things. I've gotten better about asking first." It was in her training to seek out new information whereever she could find it. It tended to mean she had very few boundaries on things though, compounded by having a pseudo-sibling who would definitely go through her stuff and take what he wanted. She did the exact same thing to him though, so she couldn't complain too much. It was just something siblings did. Though humans were very different on their boundaries than her family had ever been.
"I ended up in the dump at one point. Some idiot let a freaking chupa off the reservation, and the officers had chased it into the dump of all places." Why they even kept those little beasts around she didn't know. They had to have some use, or serve some niche purpose, but as far as she was concerned they were blood sucking menaces who were a lot less peculiar about their prey than legends made them out to be.
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Post by Circe on Jul 12, 2020 17:07:43 GMT -6
"The persuit of knowledge is nothing if you do not learn anything." Xiaolian muttered looking at her now cold coffee with mild distaste. All this talk of shop was exhausting, she still had work to do for MCU, the court, and the guardians. Three jobs was a bit excessive, but at least she hadn't done what Tyrus later told her about Zhen, who had promptly begging the other not to eat him as soon as things went vaugely sideways.
The device from the jinhai had been helpful, and prevented further problems. But ultimately the storm had left more than enough damage in its wake. Between figuring out how to sheild the new magical hot spots on the property, and assuring the court that no harm had come to either of its heirs, Xiaolian had her work cut out for her.
"They're endangered in Mexico. Something about the natural order of things... was probably set to go back."
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Post by demikara on Jul 12, 2020 17:21:29 GMT -6
Molly was trying to offer some kind of olive branch. She fell silent and the silence hung there a moment, heavy before she broke it again. "I wonder if the mundanes will ever find out about them. Since they know the secret now." They knew magic existed, but the unseen was cagey with every scrap of information that had been let out. The reserves were still very much hidden after all. Safety of the community came first, despite the horrific events that had led to the unseen ending up in the public eye.
Not that the mundanes had remotely taken it well. Luckily, they were mostly idiots who never quite figured out where to harass unseen people at for existing. So their protests were mostly at government centers with the unseen didn't share.
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