[PRP] A Summons (Temperance & Theo)

[The Semblance of Unity]

smerdle

Recipient:
Sender: heart.swords@gmail.com

Theodore, you're a visitor, right?
I need you to help me with something with the charter. Want to meet?

Temperance C.

It was an inelegant email, but Temperance hoped it would convey some sense of urgency. She felt too awkward to contact those she knew... And this guy had just joined the listserv. As they liked to chant in her mmo circle 'fresh meat', 'fresh meat'. She stared at the email, willing a reply.  

[Smerdle]

The Semblance of Unity

Recipient: heart.swords@gmail.com
Sender: theopenny91@hotmail.com

Yes. I am.

I don't know much about this letter, but I'm willing to hear you out.

I get out of work at 4 tomorrow, if you've got a place you want me to be?

Theo

He didn't particularly appreciate his recent tendency toward helpfulness, but Theo was curious about his weird letter, and this Temperance person seemed to know what it meant. He supposed if the meeting went someplace he didn't like, he could always walk away.

It was lucky that he'd been in the library when her email had arrived or he might not have seen it for a week. The only downside was, now he couldn't leave until he got a response. Theo crossed his arms and sat back in his chair, at a loss as to what he might do with the stupid computer while he waited.  

[The Semblance of Unity]

smerdle

Recipient: theopenny91@hotmail.com
Sender: heart.swords@gmail.com

If you can come to the alternative Ashdown, you can meet me at court. Otherwise, there's a magic-friendly tea shop called Equinox. Let me know.

Temperance C.

Luckily, Temperance was very good at multi-tasking. Despite taking a few moments to reply to Theo's email, she still didn't die in Overwatch. The Reinhardt she was supposed to be healing did, though. Oops.  

[Smerdle]

The next day at twenty minutes after four o'clock, Theo pushed into the tea shop. He had passed Equinox before, even considered going in despite his preference for coffee, but he had never managed to convince himself he needed to free his mind or to have his chakras realigned or whatever else they must have done here when they weren't sipping rooibos.

He had vaguely described the pulled-back hair / embroidered polo shirt / khakis thing he would have going on as a result of just coming off a shift at the diner, and it was only now that he was standing here that he began to consider this might be some sort of prank. He wasn't well-versed in email. It was all too possible that the people who used it were no more serious about the messages they sent than frequent users of the phone.

With a sigh, Theo stuck his hands in the pockets of his pants and looked at his pristine shoes.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Hi." Temperance stood next to him, dark circle under her eyes, but still looking surprisingly refreshed. "You're Theodore, right? I've got a table in the back." She looked at him expectantly.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

He gave her the side-eye so immediately that it must have been reflex, surprised that she was young and blonde and to-the-point. She didn't look like someone who would steal a person's kidneys, but she could have easily been the bait, leading the unsuspecting to the butchers in the back. Hrm.

"All right." Theo gestured toward where he presumed her table was. "After you."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Oh good, she'd gotten it right. Perhaps it was because of the outcome with Hart, but she'd been feeling more forceful as of later, but it was always a gamble. And it was probably kind of rude, but here Theo was. She led the back back to her table, her laptop already open and a backpack propped against the table. Her letter was inside.

"So. I want you to help me with one of the charter elements. Earth, to be specific."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Me, specifically? Because if there's anyone more suitable, you might be better off with them. All I know is that I can see through the eyes of a skunk sometimes and that... place likes to kidnap me in my sleep. I don't even know what a charter is. So, I don't want to ask what's in it for me, but... what's in it for me?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She rolled her shoulders. "Well, first off what's in it for you is not being bound by the strictures and rules of something you didn't agree to. An abusive, power-hungry set of rules is what the charter is. It's magical and it was sealed inside the body of a girl who didn't get a choice." She took a deep breath. "We're rectifying mistakes." Temperance should have known he wouldn't be so easy to just boss around. But the idea of explaining everything in its full magnitude...

"Unfortunately, you've magic whether you like it or not - and this affects you." Temperance tied up her hair into a ponytail. "Don't you want a say in things? Everyone is trying to remake the charter and, in order to do that, we have to gather certain magical reagents for the casting."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Theo was quiet and still as Temperance spoke, trying his best to soak in what she said, but feeling like a lot of it was dribbling all over the floor. When she was done, he leaned in, searching for something to say that wasn't full of disbelief and mild exasperation.

"Who are you?"

No, that wasn't it. He rolled his eyes at himself and waved a hand over the table once or twice to indicate it actually didn't matter. He'd stepped into worse on much less.

"Forget that. I don't need to know. It's fine. I got it. I'm Frodo and you're Galadriel and we're finding a charter element to save the girl who didn't have a choice." Theo sighed. This was ridiculous, but it wasn't like he had anything better to do. And... magic. Saying he had a love/hate relationship with it was an overstatement on the love and an understatement on the hate, but, well, he was still alive despite its best efforts. And sometimes these adventures turned out to be fun.

"If I were to agree, what would I need to do?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance looked mildly irritated. She placed a hand on her chest. "Temperance Clark." The same hand then extended to point at Theo. "Theodore Penny." Her lips, however, did twitch at being called Galadriel.

"I know it sounds pretty weird... Frodo, and you're probably new to magic so it sounds even worse. The first point to remember is that magic doesn't make sense and it tries to exact prices it shouldn't. We're cleaning up an old, old mess." Temperance rubbed the bridge of her nose. "If you would help me, I... would appeciate it. Magic works better in numbers. And we'd need-" She rummaged around and pulled forth the letter from Odal.

Scanning the list, she pointed, flipping the paper around. "-something to symbolize earth. For protection from outside influences. To keep things from going horribly wrong."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

All right, he had deserved that. Theo chuckled, sitting back in his seat again and crossing his arms. She was right that it sounded weird. It always had, which was why he had never let it in until stupid Toto and his stupid face.

"I guess I've got to agree then. If you'd appreciate it." What would have sounded like a line from someone else came across as remarkably wholesome from such a grump, mostly because he 1) said it in a monotone with a distinct lack of winks and nudges, and 2) didn't mean it like that anyway. Theo took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling, as if moving his gaze toward his brain might stimulate it in some way.

"Something to symbolize earth and keep things from going horribly wrong. Maybe a gem of some sort? The protection thing makes me think of a net, but nets don't have anything to do with the earth."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She swallowed her laugh with difficulty. Theo was so straight-faced, but at least he'd agreed to help her out. Temperance had felt too awkward to try and contact any of her friends after... so long.

She pulled her laptop around and began typing. Temperance was googling protection stones, because how could they get any better than that? "A gemstone is a good idea - maybe one of those ones supposed to be for protection. What do you think?" She swung her laptop around to Theo, Showing me pages on sodalite protecting from external negative energy, chrysoprase for spiritual protection, and black tourmaline which apparently used to protect magicians from evil spirits while casting. This stuff was so weird.

smerdle

link
link

 

[Smerdle]

Theo looked at the hated machine like he had caught it watching him in the shower, biting his tongue as he skimmed.

"If we have to pick one, this black tourmaline sounds the most appropriate. But if we can just... surround people with rocks, we could get all of them. How do we do it? Do we just buy them?" It didn't seem very magical.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"The computer doesn't bite." She tapped the letter thoughtfully. "I don't see why we can't go and buy some of these stones. I think it'd be better to get something that uses... all of them?" Temperance chewed her lip. Numbers were important, items were important.

"We attune it to earth later. We could... we could find a bracelet! There's one of those hocus pocus stone shops down the way..." She looked up at him expectantly.

smerdle