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 Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 12:33 am
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The next morning, after a breakfast taken in their individual rooms, fetches collect those who have remained for the re-casting of the Charter. On the third floor, the casters change into loose white shirts and pants, clothes that have never been worn and have never been exposed to magic. Then they proceed down to the lowest floor, and fill in the outermost ring of the incised sigil.
There is an officiant: it's Odal. He seems as perky as before as he activates each item. He starts in the east, with fire. Shiloh and Preacher's sweet-smelling mineral flame burns bright and green as Odal stirs it to life with delicate fingertips. The casters can feel the shuddering of the room as outside spellwork is burned apart.
Odal walks the diamond line down towards Theo and Temperance's grave-dirt-imbued vine bracelet. He doesn't exactly put it on; he traces a circle around it with the tips of his fingers, north to south, and then splays his fingers to cast. The edges of the carved sigils feel solid, as if they stand with their backs to a wall, and they know there will be nothing to breach it.
He walks north to the western item. Chester and Preacher's hag stone glimmers faintly in the light from high, high above, absorbs the bright colors of the hollyhock-walls and the green flickering of the mineral flame. Odal lifts the stone into a bowl of its own, and pours it into the small carved trough of the nearest circle, and those casting feel refreshed, as if after the best night's sleep they've ever had, the best breakfast.
Finally, at the northernmost point, Odal approaches the terrifying fan-based monstrosity that is Erin and Rabbit's artifact of air. He stands carefully on the line as he coaxes it to life, and a breeze blows through the confined space of the casting circle.
Odal walks carefully on the lines to the center point of the carved casting circle, and he sets the box that Horace, Eli, and Ollie had built onto the center pedestal. He opens it, tilts it forward to show those assembled its contents: the original charter. Melany's severed arm, the meat of her shoulder scarred with the same symbol of the old charter.
"I require Warg Nokoni, Moonwalker Beaumont, and Visitor LaBelle to come forth, walking only along the lines. If you are standing between a set of lines, you must be still. Do not move, do not shift, stand and focus all of your power here, on these three men. They require your assistance and your focus," he says, "to destroy all that remains of the original Charter. Those among you who were signatory to Lord Ezra's abomination, p***k your burned thumb and allow one drop into the circle before you, and state your intention to dissolve your participation in it. Warg Nokoni, Moonwalker Beaumont: Please do this before you come to the center.
"Should you require a breather, or need to leave, do so aware that you may not re-enter the circle until I, or another fetch, signals that you may. This may cause you to miss critical sections of the casting. I am sorry for that, but this ideal time for casting is quickly waning as the moon does. We must move quickly, but with intention; I hope you all know what it is you wish to achieve in this new Charter.
"We begin... now."
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 12:40 am
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current prompt.Odal has activated the second four items, which are Eve and Lily's pinecone, Shun and Algernon's druid stone, Jamie and Shiloh's conch, and Jeremiah and Cass's censer. Currently, the participants are giving over their consent in the form of a lock of hair to Algernon and Jeremiah. They are also preparing to offer their power to America, Leila, and Kaleb, by imbuing their power into the hair that America, Leila, and Kaleb will use to bind the Charter. They are not casting yet.
what to do.Your response for this prompt should be 250 words or more, and touch upon the offering of your consent (with a lock of hair) and your character's resolve to do what they can. If your character has doubts, etc, please do mention them, but know you aren't required to leave the circle from an OOC standpoint, rofl.
This phase will end on the 3rd of July, and we will move into casting.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 12:43 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 1:43 am
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The sleep the night before had been deep but that, in all likelihood, partly had to do with the magic-deep weariness that had set in. Breakfast had been mostly quiet, as it always was because neither Algie nor himself truly talked until breakfast was mostly done and tea had been drank, and he had only left their temporary quarters to check in on Cassandra.
It was when he returned that they were gathered. His fingers squeezed Algie's, a look given to Cass (because he had to make sure the sleepy head was awake, these were early hours for her), before they followed. The clothing was odd on his skin, as if it was fresh and new and untouched (because it was), but slid on so that he could move on to helping. He found a space where they were supposed to stand, Algie to one side of him and close, Cass there as well to his other side.
Watching Odal work was something else. The way he brought the magic forth from each item, granting each aspect that it was meant to the casting, was artful. This was a man who was more than capable, this was a man who had perfected his craft. Wasn't that what some fetches did? Pursued magic in a way that they could not in a life that was still bound by the cycles? It was not a thought for now, however, not when their focus needed to be elsewhere.
Each activation of an element helped center him but it was the sight of the box's contents, that which was in it, that was another reminder of the severity of the situation. It was the very reason they sought to undo all of this, to step away from what had been part of the old Court. To leave the abuse and blood behind, to free a young woman and give her her life back, to find another way that benefited them all and harmed none.
One more squeeze to Algie's hand, his feelings present and there as always, and he let go. Another reassuring look went to Cass before he looked ahead. Jeremiah had to focus to pierce his own skin, to make himself bleed. It was not something easily done, though he had done so at the hospital at Temperance's behest. His eyes closed, Jeremiah turning inward as he searched out the magic that made him defensible; the magic that protected him from harm; the magic that had spared him harm from the Burning Man's fire.
It was his to control, just as it was his to consent to the use of or, in this case, rescind the consent. For a moment it seemed as if his entire body shimmered and there, on his left hand, it faded. With his right hand, he pricked the smooth skin of his left thumb. The needle point pierced the skin, a single drop of blood welling up and dropping to the groove of the floor directly in front of him.
"I rescind my permission; my consent revoked," he spoke as his eyes opened. They were brighter than usual and, for once, more green than blue. Some of this felt familiar from Algie and himself had to undo their own work. The groove filled with his blood and began to freeze over as he spoke. "It no longer has say or use of my magic, cannot draw upon whatsoever. Let no part of my magic be used anymore for the purposes put forth by another's hand as designed within that document."
His hand closed as he finished speaking, the shimmer disappearing and the hole in his defenses gone once more. There was little else to be said, not when this was done and the groove in front of him solid, frozen over now with his blood. His ties to the old Charter would be severed and all that laid before was the path they would all create together.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 7:52 am
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It usually was difficult to sleep in a new place and the court was no different. Cass had twisted and turned and checked her non-working phone at least twice before it was tucked away into a pocket space in exchange for a Roomba. While not as entertaining to watch or check repeatedly, the 'whrrrr'ing noises it made around the room were familiar. Good ol' Ted. It was inevitably what had been needed to make her actually sleep.
A short, sweet rest. Not that waking up would be easy no matter how well she slept. It was only when Jeremiah had knocked on the door that she roused, finding it in herself to half eat her breakfast before getting dressed in clothing that wasn't hers. But it also wasn't burned to hell, so she was somewhat OK with that.
Sleepy head was only half awake as she followed after the Dads, rubbing her hand up and down her face and trying to work the zombie-sounding noises out of her system as each took their places. While watching Odal was fascinating, her poor sleepy brain wasn't appreciating it to it's fullness. But she tried to remain attentive. 'Focus on those destroying the charter'. She couldn't remember who had said that to her, but somebody had at some point.
The three in the middle of the circle - two of which she knew - were easy targets for her addled attention, keeping her eyes open (because closed-eyed focus would result in falling back asleep) as she felt for her own tendrils of magic. Of locks that were at her mercy. Of keys that were still imprinted on it. Creatures rend open. Raw magic thrown, charged, pulled, pushed...she'd done a lot with it. More than she'd ever expected. She tried to pull that feeling together with those standing in the center of the circle.
Focus. Focus.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 8:44 am
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Shun had kept to himself as much as possible the night before, as he recovered from his burns and exhaustion. When the morning came, he appeared at the ritual space, silent as ever, not really acknowledging anyone else as he focused on what was happening here.
It was intriguing to see Odal work the magic of the various items. Though, he raised his brow when he saw the severed arm mixed in with all the rest. He had a good idea of whose arm that was, but... well. He supposed that was better than putting the whole girl in.
Once instructed, he went ahead and pricked his burned thumb, letting the blood drop to the floor before it froze over, solid.
"I revoke my consent; the use of my magic," he stated plainly.
Hopefully this time it wouldn't end up ******** him over like what it had with the Burning Man's attempt.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 9:38 am
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Clothes that have never before been worn -- Alexis is okay with that, really; even if they'd turned down an almost-full healing of their burns. They want to remember this, they want to remember what they did, they want it to be marked on their skin for a very long time - and those taut-shiny areas of skin on their arms cover their scars. So. It's better that way. They like it better, at least. So sometimes the fabric chafes against their back, or their arms, and they don't like being around other people without that extra tightness around their chest, and they'd had to shed a good four inches of charred hair just to make it manageable - there'll probably be more off, but Wick's no barber. They wouldn't ask him to be.
It makes them feel like they belong here more than they ever did, even without water lapping at their heels. Alexis aligns themself near the hag stone; without magic, water-alignment still calls to them. They'll stay there.
I want this to be better. I don't want Blackfriars. I don't want tithing to ever break someone like it did to Beaumont - like it did to me - this Court should be to ******** help people. They pierced their left thumb, the one the Burning Man had stolen their fingerprint from, and watched the blood ice over the grooves in the floor. "I revoke the use of my magic and my consent." Their voice was clear like a bell (that burning-bright distant point, ever-reaching, so close, so close).
We can be better. I want us to be better. I don't want anyone to have it happen to them ever again. Even if I don't remember next cycle, or the cycle after, if I never ******** remember any of this: I know we can be better. Someone, somewhere - they can be better than this, if they ever want, if they never know.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:06 am
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With wide, curious eyes, Jamie watched as each artifact was cast to life in its intended purpose. It had taken some time to get to sleep last night, but he had eventually at the coaxing of Shiloh's protective presence. With the activation of the water item, though, it hardly felt like it mattered. His body, at least, felt good.
A lot was on his mind still, sure, but he knew he had to put it to the side. Now wasn't the time for faltering. The last thing they needed to do was ******** this charter up as the previous had been. Okay, okay, no more guilt...
"I revoke my permission for the Burning Man's charter..." he said as he pricked his smooth thumb, allowing one drop of blood into the circle. For a moment he watched it, entranced by the way it froze over. "It can't use my magic anymore, I'll no longer participate." Jamie breathed a small sigh. Hopefully that would be enough. Magic could be so picky, so particular. Well, he'd done what he could.
For a short moment, he glanced at Shiloh from the corner of his eye. Then, he returned his focus to the center to help with the casting.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:27 am
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Ah, it was all there. Everything they needed to eliminate was right there in the box, including Melany's arm. Eli made a bit of a face, but regardless never stopped believing the choice they'd made was right. This was the best way to ensure she was totally free of the charter's influence once and for all.
"I'll meet you up there, then," he muttered to Horace and Oliver, leaving them to take care of their consent. Careful to walk along the lines as instructed, he made it to the middle and closed his eyes.
What he did while he waited was concentrate. Eli was very new to magic still, very unpracticed, but in the short span since agreeing to help Horace with all this funny business, he felt like he'd learned quite a bit. He tried to take it seriously, tried to ignore his self-doubts, tried to remember that all of this needed his undivided attention.
It was like he could feel Horace and Oliver at the back of his mind still, mingling with thoughts of the elements as they worked their magic around them. Strange, but not unwanted.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 11:49 am
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Oliver looked exhausted, mostly because he was, but the casting space was refreshing and none of that seemed to matter. He wasn't exactly counting on being called to the forefront of the casting, but he supposed it made sense with everything considered. At least they got different clothes now; not the weird culty fetch robes from before. Elliot went ahead without him, and he gave a curious look down to his still smooth thumb. The gash on his hand from before had been healed at least.
He grimaced at the sight of the arm too, but it wasn't as bad as watching it get severed.
"So it goes," he said with a sigh before pricking his thumb between his teeth. Messy, but doable. The blood dripped into the floor with a heavy wet sound. "I revoke my permission for the amaligation that was the Burning Man's charter. My magic is mine to do with as I choose, not some past incarnation of myself, nor some future's. What I consent is mine and mine alone." What he committed here right now was his. May the Court be better for it.
He carefully followed the instructions to his designated spot, ready to accept the influx of everyone else's magic. |
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 12:29 pm
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Alg kept hold of his husband's hand until the very last moment necessary. He hadn't slept much, not restful anyway, but had a knack for always looking entirely collected, even while wearing borrowed clothes and having slept in a strange place.
He pricked his thumb with all the rest and let the blood fall, "I revoke my consent on the Burning Man's charter, taken in falsehood, and refuse it's use of my magic."
This is what they'd worked for, even with all the hiccups in the way. There was a ball of anxiety in his gut, afraid maybe that some other snafu would happen to attempt to derail things but so far, so good.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 12:42 pm
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Eve and Leila had slept like the dead, but neither of them really felt like they'd gotten much rest. There was still a lot to get done, and even though things were likely to go smoothly with the Burning Man apprehended, the task ahead of them was still monumental. At breakfast Eve had been ravenous while Leila struggled with her food.
They entered the space and took their places, Leila joining the circle of those with stolen thumbprints, and Eve remaining behind. The former fox felt uncharacteristically out of place here. She still had no access to her innate magic, so she wasn't sure if she even had a role to play in this part of the casting. Nonetheless, she performed the exercise of focusing on the three who'd been called forth by name.
Meanwhile, the professor was at a loss for what to do with her eyes. She had to keep them open so she could see what she was doing (as Biscuit was left with Eve out of respect for Silk)... but she was standing in a circle of people who were all marked by an outline of fire from the burning man's geas. Just the thought of having to look at them directly filled her with a churning dread that threatened to pull her back to the night she was threatened and disowned; the evening she learned for certain there had been another Ezra trapped within; the violence of the previous day and the spell that had almost taken his life instead of saving him.
Ultimately she decided to cast her gaze downward so she could get the task done. It felt like a rude gesture in this space, and on top of the dread she felt weak and guilty for it.
"I revoke my consent," she heard herself say, "and the use of my magic." The pricking of her thumb was nothing compared to the burning that had taken the print away. Her blood fell into the groove. It was mechanical and undramatic.
Watching it freeze over in the groove below was a little soothing: a bit of ice for an old burn that still hurt. However, in spite of the finality of the act she had participated in, Leila didn't really feel like it was over.
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