[PRP] that big nerd brain (america & jeremiah)

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah's fingers flicked in greeting, an arm already held out to give America a hug.

"So," he said with a smile, "still want to borrow my brain?" His satchel was on his side, a new thing that he had taken to carrying with him.

lizbot

blasphemy! a short start from me! your choice of where they are meeting up to discuss things ~ <3

 

[lizbot]

The trailer had lost the holiday decorations, though a sparkly heart bobble headband was still hanging on a coat hook, and the curtains had been changed to light green with little white daisies. There was also an increasing amount of paper and books laying around, each of them littered with sticky notes. Some were distinctly school work, but others seemed tied to their shared concerns. Very prominently was the book in question, its title clear form where it sat on the table: The Cagemaker's Conundrum

A bookplate on the inside over read: To Liam, with love. VTH. Unlike the other notes in the house, the post-it tabs weren't in America's looping girlish handwriting.

"Professor Noor gave it to me when he was talking about his class, after he brought up cages and such." She needed to ask Sunny too, the offer to help not at all forgotten but put aside until PAX was okay. One could you please save me/us/this person at a time, right?

"It was written by Miss Vivien. She was a little girl in the veil when I met her, but grew up to be his fiancee." A story that very clearly didn't have a happy ending.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Her father was ... Cam Rylan in that time, wasn't it?" The firefighter, the one that was with Lucas? Jeremiah remembered him from a few different instances but he had not seen him in some time. Not since the world was reborn.

His fingers delicately brushed against the spine of the book, the cover of it, and he sighed. There was a serious lack of happy endings because he knew, without a doubt, that before the cage - before all of this - that had also been the case for himself.

"I'll admit that my knowledge of magic has grown," there was so much more available now, "but whatever way that I can help clear things up, I will." Certainly, if this was about cages it was something that they could benefit from.

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

"Yeah...can't imagine what it was like for him to meet another him's daughter, but she was pretty great. The sort of person you feel lucky to meet even when she's tiny."

America nodded, and explained, "The first few chapters are all introduction stuff, but it gets like...pretty dang whoa wait what once you're in. I have trouble lining things up and connecting the dots." There's a few scraps in there that do have America's handwriting and awful little doodles, like she's trying to turn certain concepts into people.

"I'm better at like...doing things than reading the hows, but when it comes to this, doing anything seems a bad idea. Least for now."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Considering that the cage is responsible for the fact we are caught within the cycles ..." Jeremiah could not agree more that doing something with what was outlined.

"This could, however, be useful in potentially opening the cage if we wanted. Perhaps unraveling the Sigil?" Was that in the book? He had not flipped through past the first few chapters as he was reading through America's notes. "What parts are you having trouble with?" He looked up to her, his eyes always bright now regardless of being in other ashdown.

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

Taking a deep breathe, America flipped to one of several sections that had caught her interest and then tangled it all up.

azuredreams

shibrogane

halp

 

[shibrogane]

The Cagemaker's Conundrum
Chapter 4: Why Cages?
Caging a living being is a horrific act. The focus of your spell work will never recover from this violation. In many cases where a human person was caged, the world was observed to forcibly reset in a manner unknown to most of the populace; we only know of this effect because cage makers tend to take copious notes. Where this did not happen, the results echoed that of Phineas Gage's impromptu lobotomy. The focal point's personality and abilities changed, and not often for the better...

Quote:

This entire chapter seems to be an attempt to dissuade people from caging living beings for any reason except the most dire, and focuses very much on consent as a tenet of magic use. It makes repeated reference to this work being mostly a study of theory, or intended to be used on non sentient creatures, such as species of wolf or computer viruses. An entire passage about not creating a cage for human beings, no matter how degraded by magic, is highlighted in two different colors.

Chapter 9: Materials and Methods
It is a fact well known that using coerced materials for your spellwork is unwise. This can cause nullification or worse, backfires. Both results consume both materials and power, without giving any net positive result. Unfortunately, the very nature of a cage implies lack of consent or at least lack of knowledge on the person or being to be caged. Steps must therefore be taken to ameliorate the innate risk of using coerced or outright stolen materials...

Quote:

The writer goes on to list the ways to counteract stolen materials. It seems to divide down the line of biological materials (best counteracted by something of the caster's, but overall to be avoided; trickery is the best route here, apparently) owned materials (best counteracted by using an object to which you have a claim or could feasibly have a claim) or created materials, such as a photograph taken non consensually (the weakest form of connection, to be avoided if any other method is available; the more definition available the better for the casting).

An old, folded magazine advert falls out of the far pages. It had previously been wedged into the pages of the index. It is yellowed and fragile, but might be able to stand up to examination...

lizbot

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah's fingers trail just above the pages as he reads. What he reads made him pause, things pulling together in his mind in a way he is not quite certain he likes.

Yet whatever he was going to ask is waylaid as he moves to catch the advert that falls before it can get too far away from them. It's aged with time, clearly not new, and he passes it over to America delicately.

"Have you looked at this before?" he asked, wondering if it was something worthwhile or if it was simply something stuffed in to be used as a bookmark at some point.

lizbot

leaving shibe quote up to you! since it's your post ~ (jer also wants to talk about these chapters but ... thing!!!

 

[lizbot]

There was a lot to pour over, but the sections she at least partially understood had made her all the more aware of how important it could be...

America wasn't one to linger over regrets, she hated looking back at mistakes for longer than it took to figure out what to do next. But it all was so complex and so important that the void never felt too far away, like at any moment she might look over her shoulder and see herself bleeding into the sigil.

She was wondering how to voice this and get his perspective when the paper fell out. Brow scrunching, she shook her head, and delicately unfolded it, "No, not at all."

azuredreams

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Upon being opened, the paper splits down the middle. Still, it's intact enough to be read.

It's an advertisement for a gallery showing in Ashdown. The date listed is November 2, 1983. A bold and feminine hand says, See you there? A spidery note beneath it in a different ink reminds the owner of the book to remember the ring.

The two hands would be familiar to America. The spidery one was Liam. The bolder one was Vivien.

lizbot

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah leaned close, reading as America carefully unfolded and worked the paper. He reads it over and the ring - that sparks memories that he'd rather not come up but they do all the same; the painting in the Shore mansion and a redstone that was set in so many things in so many times - but that's because this book came from Liam and he, of all things, is tied to Renard.

The Enemy, though the lines were quite blurred.

He was looking over the gallery name, wondering if it was one that was possibly still open before he looked to America. "Is the handwriting familiar to you?" Jeremiah would bring up his thoughts about the ring in a moment.

lizbot

shibrogane

... is this a gallery jer might remember?

 

[lizbot]

"Oh no," America cried quietly as the paper split. Carefully she placed it down on the table and went to go find some clear tape. She couldn't help but feel a pang every time she saw the two sets of handwriting in vicinity.

Finding some clear packing tape, the girl nodded, "The sprickety writing is Professor Noor's. The one that knows where it's going is Miss Vivien."

shibrogane

azuredreams

 

[shibrogane]

azuredreams

It's a small indie gallery in boston! :> not particularly significant... or is it

1983. That would've been shortly before Vivien died.

A sentimental guy like Liam Noor might have held on to such a thing as a reminder of the day he proposed, but... This would've been a note left to a different Liam by a different Vivien. This Liam might have even had the ring... A silver ring, with a red stone. It seemed too coincidental that such a thing would've popped up again just as the new sigil-makers started to look into how to take it apart.

Sonny would know... But then, they might not.

Either way, they had some information to work through.

lizbot

 

[azuredreams]

Hearing the confirmation, Jeremiah let out a breath and sighed. "So far as I know, this is a small gallery in Boston. Indie, some up and coming artists. A lot of local works ...

"... and while there's a few things I want to discuss about the chapters, this ring? It could be incredibly important that we find it." That, of course, meant there was a reason that it was.

lizbot

shibrogane

best info 5ever

 

[lizbot]

"Sounds like a field trip to me," America offered a smile and a waggle of eyebrows. "Do you think Sunny might know about it?" If it belonged to one half of her magical twinpop Dadsicle, then there might be a chance.

azuredreams