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Post by demikara on Sept 23, 2020 15:40:39 GMT -6
"I don't know. All I know if you are perhaps the scariest person I know. And that list includes the person who had part of my finger cut off. And the people who regularly flogged me until my back was open. They couldn't take away my magic. You can." And that was terrifying. His magic gave him some agency, some taste of freedom. Not a lot. Not enough. He would always be owned by the court.
But it was enough. Enough for him to be able to breath at least and be able to live however small a live he really had. And given he spent most of his time working and very little actually enjoying life, he was not sure it could really be described as living at all.
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Post by Circe on Sept 23, 2020 15:50:09 GMT -6
Xiaolian's expression quickly became more serious as Tyrus mentioned taking away his magic. "Tyrus, I only did that because you were going to burn yourself out and things were getting out of control. I only did that to preserve the integrity of the veil, especially given how closely tied you and Catherine are to that thing." She explained plainly. "If I didn't do that, we would have had more than just jingling to deal with." A lot more, and Xiaolian did not want to think about what could have been an absolute disaster. Especially given how green and inexperienced Zhen had been.
"Someone can always take away or seal off your magic. It's not restricted to just Guardians." Xiaolian added. Taking things away had been humanity's specialty since time was new. Someone got mad or jealous, and then all bets were off; especially if that person just wanted to watch the world burn.
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Post by demikara on Sept 23, 2020 15:53:40 GMT -6
"Yeah, but I terrify the only group who could do it to me." He pointed out. "Plus Kasimir is basically in my pocket. I understand why you did it. It made perfect sense, and I already managed to burn out the connections in my eyes. I'd even understand doing it ahead of time on the next solstice. But it was terrifying. I haven't been helpless since I was a kid." And he had been completely at her mercy there
And she could do it again if she wanted. She was fundamentally a good person, so he was fairly certain she wouldn't. But she was about as human as he was, which meant she had probably unpredictable responses to things. People had learned to hide among the humans. They certainly hadn't learned how to be human.
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Post by Circe on Sept 23, 2020 16:01:44 GMT -6
Xiaolian shook her head, "I don't mean the Council either. There are rituals and spells out there that can change a person for the worse for them and the better of their enemies." She had seen it happen, and it often left the victim vulnerable beyond what any normal non-magical human might be. There was some strangeness to how magic interacted with a being, often providing protection that one didn't realize was there until it had been taken away.
"Kasimir is a fool, but harmless." She added. The vampire ultimately wanted what was best, but didn't always think things through and at times found himself entirely at the mercy of the court. "I imagine the winter solstice will be less eventful... but you will have to plan carefully, and I or Zhen will be there to help both of you along the way. I hate to imagine what would happen were we to allow twinned storms on this plane again."
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Post by demikara on Sept 23, 2020 16:06:18 GMT -6
"I hope it'll be less eventful. Concealing the groves... There's no way I can drain that amount of magic from them. I've got wards on them so no one will notice, but the magic on the ranch is thrown off by them." They would definitely need to better plan the winter solstice. He'd have to talk to Catherine about it. Closer to the solstice though. They had nearly six months to come up with a solution.
That would be enough time to come up with something at least, and all he needed was something for it all to work out well. "I am sorry it was such a burden on everyone. I don't think I could have anticipated that if I tried. Reports came in from around the globe of troubles on the solstice." The storms had been local, but ripples from them spread outward. He was monitoring the chatter but so far no one seemed to have tracked the trouble to outside Dallas.
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Post by Circe on Sept 23, 2020 16:23:56 GMT -6
"No I don't think anyone could have. The change has altered things somewhat, for both of you I suspect." Xiaolian agreed. The storms hadn't been anything that anyone was able to predict, or forecast. "The decay rates for the magic both of you used are fairly... well it's going to take awhile for the magic to fade and transfer itself back into aether." She explained. The fae based stuff that the Warden had a preference for was one of the magics with the longest half life, and no one really knew how long that took to decay and become negligible.
"I'm not surprised that reports from all over came in. The solstice is generally a high magic day, and the amount of magic being transferred back into the veil was abnormal. Especially given the shunt that the Jinhai so graciously loaned us."
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Post by demikara on Sept 23, 2020 16:29:26 GMT -6
"It was unusual. It started out fairly normal, with my magic transfiguring everything in reach. But by the end...I think it was straight up manipulation instead." A different discipline of magic entirely. But it was one of the longer lasting ones. Alchemy had the longest half life, but that was all he could recall of the order off the top of his head. "The shunt probably did a lot of good, didn't it? It's insane that it was even needed. But I suppose we both have a better idea of what to expect, at least."
No other storms were reported on the planet. What a lonely life, being one of two people with that much magic at their fingertips. And he could barely control it at all. It didn't help that the magic wanted to be used and wanted to be used for more than the paltry things he had been using it for.
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Post by Circe on Sept 23, 2020 16:49:43 GMT -6
"The shunt did it's work as intended." Xiaolian nodded. Standing outside, and from their vantage point it was hard to actually see the groves. They seemed to be largely hidden by intense warding and illusionary workings; likely powered by the magic of the groves itself. In theory there were methods of encouraging the magic to allow itself to be used for purposes such as warding and other more energy intense methods.
"Sheer manipulation would perhaps be the best way to describe it. Although I suspect it was a mix of quite a few of the higher orders, given your sire's specialty in fae magics," She reasoned. Catherine had always claimed her specialty was in psionics, and the officer profiles generally confirmed that until you got into Council records. There everything was listed, if you had the permission to view it that was.
"It's also not that far a jump to ritual and manipulation." She explained. Fae based magics not only required specific and carefully chosen words, they also had a hefty dose of ritual and manipulation behind some of the more complex spells. "I suspect your miscalculation after the winter solstice over wrote your pattern with hers. I don't know how else to describe it." Xiaolian added shaking her head. She knew a great deal more about the ins and outs of magic it seemed than she often let on, but this was normally due to the fact that no one ever thought to ask her. Most people just considered her vaguely useful for the nullification fields she could cast.
"However yes, given time we'll know how best to avoid another situation like this most recent one."
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Post by demikara on Sept 23, 2020 16:59:08 GMT -6
"Most magic is a mix of some sort. But I think you're right. I'm not as big on greenery as she is." Not that that stopped the grove from growing wildly out of control. The tree had enough magic in it now he doubted it was still the same species as it had been before. "I've been much more careful with my calculations isnce that first misstep. But it never quite seems enough." He felt like a bumbling child all over again. Too much power in his form and little clue what to do with it. That was where he had been living the past six months. Too much magic to control.
And Catherine was worse. They had enough control to manage to prevent any accidents, but actually casting? That was insane. It was a crap shoot as to whether he'd pour way too much magic into something or not enough at all. Though the latter was significantly rarer than the former. He felt like he was tryign to capture a waterfall in a teaspoon. Eventually, the spoon would give.
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Post by Circe on Sept 23, 2020 17:09:35 GMT -6
"I suppose that's one way of looking at it." Xiaolian shrugged. To her it didn't matter who liked what, or what the preferences were right then and there. All that mattered was that for now a crisis had been averted, albeit temporarily. "As I would expect." She added, at least he was starting to learn; although six months was a painfully short time. He hadn't had the advantage of the time dilation that the fae experienced on their home plane.
"Everyone will have to relearn things." Herself included she suspected. There wouldn't be anymore magical mishaps on her end if she could help it, at least not immediately. But it did feel good, and it felt right to have her magic no longer blocked up or sealed away from her. Xiaolian just hoped that she hadn't invited disaster by doing so.
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Post by demikara on Sept 23, 2020 17:17:19 GMT -6
"Something to look forward too I suppose." And no one to teach him how to safely wield this much magic or how to control it at all. His previous techniques weren't enough. He had tried again and again but it was like he was hitting his head against the wall for all the progress he made. "I'll need a teacher again soon. But how the hell do I find one who can control this amount?" Whose techniques worked?
Most magical users could brute force their will on their magic. He hadn't been able to do that as a child, and his parents had found a way of manipulating magic so it was under control at least. But brute force wasn't the answer here and he knew it. Besides, his magic had a will power all its own lately.
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Post by Circe on Sept 26, 2020 20:15:02 GMT -6
Xiaolian thought for a moment, carefully considering everything at stake. The Guardians were just that, Guardians of the tree and in some ways the magic throughout the tree. It didn't by any stretch mean she was invincible or all powerful, just that she came equipped with specialized knowledge and a few tricks that not everyone knew. "Control doesn't come first, that's the thing. You have all this... space, and all you can think about is control." She finally said. In her mind, control was somewhere in the middle of learning a new technique, first you needed to learn the mechanics and what it did before attempting any sort of control, much less fineness.
"I predict a teacher will present itself soon enough though." This wouldn't so much be taking a student, as mitigating circumstances that were bound to attract the corruption. Between her, Zhen, and Zhen's newest buddy, they would have Tyrus whipped into shape in no time. The Warden however, Xiaolian suspected just needed time and the right motivation or circumstances.
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Post by demikara on Sept 27, 2020 8:05:18 GMT -6
"I had always thought control came first. It's difficult to use magic that won't behave." He smiled wryly. "Though there are always different schools of thought on magic. And I hope one will soon. I'm in sore need." He knew he needed a teacher at this point, however my it chafed to admit. He was one of the pre-eminant people in the Dallas community. he taught control to young children who struggled. And here he was struggling with control himself. There were at least mitigating factors in the entire thing. No one was meant to have this much power at their fingertips, for instance. There was more than one occasion where he cursed his parents for selecting him for the ritual.
Sometimes he wondered what it would be like if he lived his life with a normal level of power. He'd not be the same person, he was sure of it, but how different would he have been if he had been allowed to grow up with his birth parents?
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Post by Circe on Sept 27, 2020 14:55:33 GMT -6
Xiaolian scowled, "You think entirely too much." Tyrus was so caught up in the cans and can'ts of the subject. "Tell you what..." She started to say, unsure if this was the best idea. But it was the only option, especially given the risks that they had all agreed that Tyrus had posed to everything. They could only hide it for ao long before something happened.
"I'll meet you back here in a week, with a teacher for you." She didn't have to say it would be her.
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Post by demikara on Sept 28, 2020 18:02:06 GMT -6
"Really?" He hadn't been expecting that. He gave a bright smile. "Thank you so much. I'm sure if they're recommended by you they'll be excellent." She seemed to have someone in mind, and he was fairly certain he could trust her on this. She had nothing to gain by misleading him and plenty to gain by helping him after all. He was pretty certain he had been in her hair entirely too much over the past several months. His magic had been acting up for some time after all and she had helped him clean up more than one mess. This would just be further help from her and he was glad to receive it. "I will of course pay. I suppose the rate is to be negotiated though."
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