[PRP] Air Time [Jeremiah/Cass]

[demon_pachabel]

"Oh! Well I guess that makes sense," Cass said even though she still barely wrapped her head around all of that stuff. Still, she didn't hesitate to move closer when Jeremiah beckoned, nearly sidling right up next to him.

Worse that could happen was they'd end up somewhere when she blinked again, right? Or she'd end up on fire. She'd probably be OK with that too.

"I'm ready when you are."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Close enough, Jeremiah linked his arm through hers. "It's part of being a Noble of the Court of the Sorrowful One. You, actually, helped me settle an affair of the Court with the, ah, glitch." He still had no better word for it.

When she was ready, he smiled and it was the same as before: for her it was a blink, for him it was a breath. Before them were a pair of wide, ornate wooden doors (at the end of a hallway) before he glanced to Cass and his lips twitched up.

"Ah, I neglected to warn you. The magic of the Court dresses you appropriately when you come here." Jeremiah was no longer wearing the comfortable clothing he had been but instead something else entirely. It was not the comfortable clothing he had been wearing around the house but something more regal, befitting of nobility. If said nobility was perhaps a bit roguish.

Jeremiah was in a deep dark blue waistcoat with a matching vest and shirt. His cane had become something more ornate, fingers still curled around it while his other hand raised to the lace mask that was covering one portion of his face. He rolled them, realizing it was somehow part of the attached broken pieces of crown that were on his head.

"Technically I can adjust the clothing but it tends to make the magic get a bit ... ornery. If you want to change it?"

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

While a skirt wasn't the most unusual thing she ever wore (and in fact, catching her in pants are far less common), Cass wasn't used to garments that itched like lace, no matter how nice they looked on her. She somewhat matched his blue - though hers was a lighter shade - with silver details sewn into thick, almost suede-y fabric. Even her plain ponytail had been somewhat jazzed up a bit.

Cass released Jeremiah's arm to take a step away from him to actually look at what she was wearing. After a moment, she nodded. "It's not the most inconvenient thing I've ever been caught in. As long as I don't need to pull birds out of things in the near future, should be fine." Which with Jeremiah being as hurt as he was, she didn't exactly want to see him do it either.

"I feel like I was invited to a dress up party but the host forgot to tell me so it just sort of...picked something."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Not entirely an inaccurate way to describe it," Jeremiah chuckle. "The magic of the Court dresses His hand merely hovered over the door handles and the doors swung open. A room, as large as a ballroom, was before them and everywhere along the walls were shelves upon shelves of books.

In the center of the room was a table, a chaise lounge, a couch, and a couple chairs. The table was covered in what looked like magical odds and ends. "Thankfully," he said with another chuckle, glancing towards Cass (the glow of his eyes brighter now), "we won't have to climb since we're here."

Jeremiah actually stood straighter here within the Court, as if some of the pain faded, but it was more than that. This was a man in his element, part of the world he had made a place for himself in.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Well they'd just walked into Belle's Wet Dream with that library. Cass did a single turn as she looked up the walls, looking more intimidated than excited by all of it.

"Well, climbing wouldn't be an issue.." she looked down at her dress, then ammended, "Okay, climbing would be an issue in this, but...this is a lot of books, Jer. Where do we even start? Is there a magical like.." she went through the ctrl+f gesture with her fingers "find option that just goes 'Oh, these books mention the air element'?"

It would have been really convenient. Maybe if she just focused really hard....

Still, the library put a certain air (hurr) about Jeremiah that was refreshing for Cass. Seeing him hurt had definitely been bad for her hidden anxieties, but there was a certain power to him in this place she enjoyed.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"There's a ladder actually," Jeremiah chuckled, "though it isn't used a lot since Algie can float." His fingers tapped against the cane, glancing towards the table and what was left there before he looked to the walls themselves.

"If Alg was here, he could just pick exactly the right book we need. As he's not, we're better off consulting the section guide especially since this isn't all of the books or tomes that are here. This is merely the main room." As if sensing the need, a door to one of the side rooms opened (the shelving actually moved; it was a hidden door) and a figure stepped out.

She was small, barely five foot, and wearing what looked like a maid outfit, though the skirt was a bit elaborate and she had elbow length gloves that only went to her palm and allowed her fingers to be free. Instead of hair, it looked as if she had used silks to create something that looked like it and was styled into a braid. The same silks were also covering her face, only her sunken in eyes visible (one was a bright golden, the other entirely black). It was the pallor of her skin that gave her away in the end, that there was something not entirely alive.

"Constable Mercer," Fell said, a curtsy given to the both of them in greeting.

"Fell," he responded, head tilting in greeting. "This is Cass, the young woman that assisted me with the glitch," there was a flicker of recognition and a nod from the small fetch, "and we're actually here to locate books on the topic of elemental magic and the manifestation of." As obviously she would know since she helped curate the books.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," spoke Fell, looking towards Cass, "as anyone who truly supports Constable Mercer is welcome within. The books you would want would be in section thirty-seven. If you've something specific, I'll pull it down. Though some of those books are not filled in currently."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Cass was about to point out that she couldn't float when she remembered the court was technically located in a place where if she'd really wanted to, she probably could. Which meant she'd probably give it an attempt at some point.

"There's more?" she probably would have cried at the idea of going through all of these books if it weren't for the fact that she was distracted by a new face entering the room. The young woman (????) didn't immediately strike Cass as odd, except the longer she looked, the more little things seemed to stand out more - the hair, the eyes, the skin. She'd never actually seen a Fetch before, and Cass found herself looking to Jeremiah to see how he'd react.

It seemed he knew this one.

And she tried to not giggle at Jeremiah being called 'Constable'. It was so...stuffy. She failed, a small noise barely muffled into her hand and a half-smile smothered into it.

"Sometimes I think Jeremiah supports me more than the other way around," Cass replied, "though I do try my best." Her skill set consisted of birds at the moment though. Birds and keys. She needed to go see how her tiny bird friend was doing soon, on that thought. "We're specifically looking into the Air Element, if that's specific enough."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah had gotten better about not making a face about being called Constable. There was little to be done about it since Fell had settled upon it and it was, in his opinion, better than being called Lord Mercer.

His lips twitched a bit at Cass's stifled laughter, a quick look given - a definitely bemused look.

Fell's gaze on Cass seemed to be approving, though it was hard to tell given most of her face was hidden. "Then you'd want subsection four," she said, gesturing for them to follow. She seemed to move without a single noise made, walking towards the previously mentioned section. "You'll find the coverage of specific elements therein."

"That should help speed things along." Jeremiah was looking towards the numbers up towards the top of the shelves. "As there's not much time left."

"You're looking to create an item attuned to air, yes? Have you decided upon what it shall be? Or where to look for materials?" Fell actually came to a stop, looking between the pair of them.

"Not yet, not until we've done some more research. I was wondering, however, if you knew of a market that might be occurring?" An eyebrow raised, Jeremiah looked expectantly at his fetch. (After he would explain, of course, to Cass about the nature of Fell but not right now.)

"There is actually but I have to find the location as it is a floating market. The location changes depending on the phase of the second moon and I've not been in some time so I cannot say off the top of my head." Fell's tone was thoughtful. "I'll leave you to your research and return shortly." Which meant in those same unheard movements, she turned to leave.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"Any uninformed decision made by myself would be....well, I'd rather see what we have to work with first," Cass said with a smile, trailing after Fell as she headed in the direction that they apparently were meant to be checking into. She looked back to Jeremiah when he spoke.

A floating market, hmm? That sounded kinda fun. "How do they make it float? I mean, besides magic." Cass asked, her tone somewhat obvious in her inquiries; floating was air, and maybe such information would be helpful to their own task? Maybe there was something in a book or someone at said market they'd be able to ask.

But first, she was at least going to pretend to look professional and browse through a book or two. "This is section four, year?" she asked, more towards Jeremiah this time with a puzzled expression.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I think more a floating market in that it changes location? Though I could be wrong and it could actually be floating." Jeremiah was looking to the shelves, a hand hovering in the air and settling near the section he also believed to be section four with a nod.

"Yes, though we have to peruse the titles ..." His finger slid in the air right above the book bindings without actually touching. He glanced towards Cass, then back to the books. "Fell is my fetch, though she is part of the Court just as I am. More than servant but not a Noble herself. The Court is responsible for making sure the affairs of those who are native to this world are taken care of and don't necessarily influence Ashdown itself. Or," a wry smile, "that was part of the original intention. To keep an eye on things here and be gatekeepers."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Cass also drew a finger along spines, lips sometimes pursing as she pondered the words written - not everything was in a language she'd read easily. "Are these all in different languages? I can read at least two if needed...if magic translates it then maybe not so much." She pulled a book off to flip through it as Jeremiah explained Fell's nature to her.

"So the Court supplied you with a Slave," she said with a small frown. Yes, she was going to just straight up go there. Clearly, Cass was going to have a few issues with that - but she wasn't a Noble and that would simply. "That's what that sounds like to me, at least."

Cass paused on a page to start reading, even if only because that page had a picture on it.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Not all in a different language but sometimes the magic ... doesn't make it easy to understand. Essentially, some of these books are not easily understood or even filled until the time is right for you to learn what is within," replied Jeremiah. It was a little convoluted but he understood it, at least, because of Algie's grimoire.

Then snorted. "Fell is far from a slave." Not that he had not had that sort of idea originally but now it was far from the case. "Fetches are people who have, in most cases, let their studies of magic go too far. Part of the reason the Court exists is to give them a safe place, for them to continue their own research and not worry about those who do not understand them or their nature hurting them." His eyes flickered a moment. "They're meant to be companions to Nobles, to assist us and guide us and enable us to perform our duties."

The picture in Cass's hand turned out to be a diagram of how to imbue an item with an element. It looked as if one had to gather things that were associated with the element as part of the process.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"Well, I have Greek and Latin covered, so I can probably guess a lot of other things too..." Elizabeth Simons had been a linguist after all. It was a surprise Cassandra hadn't picked up more languages in her life. Mostly because of her dad. She'd...tuck that thought away somewhere. Mostly because Samantha wasn't here. Only Cassandra.

It was OK to be 'only' Cassandra.

"I see. So it's more of an assigned helper because they know more than you do?" She'd handle an assigned helper more than a slave as a thing. Then again, if she thought about it critically, Jeremiah would likely be the first one to throw a fit over such a thing if he'd been given an actual slave.

She held up the book so Jeremiah could see. "I don't think that's the symbol for Air, but should I dig through this for it? Are we going to need this sort of diagram for our use?"

Were they allowed to check out the books or was it going to be a case of 'write down detailed notes, ahahahaha'.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I can cover Italian, Spanish, and Russian as well as sign language but hopefully that will not be what a book is written in." Just the idea alone was something else. Jeremiah would have definitely been the one to protest if that had been the case but he also had a reminder, a very heavy one, that Fell was not truly loyal to him but the Court and, through actions, the Spinel Lady herself.

"Essentially. If it was anything else, I'd not ..." He shook his head. "I would not approve of it in the slightest." See? Definitely not down with slavery (even if, in a way, his own tithing was like that).

He looked to the book as it was held up and looked it over. "No but you could hang onto it if you want to understand what we're going to be doing at some point." A soft breath escape. "This is similar to the method Alg and I used when we were imbuing items with our consent."

Then, as if realizing it: "... and, yes, you can hold onto the book. It must be returned, of course, but you can hang onto it for reading. I think there's likely something to what it seems to be describing and goes together with your idea of having an item or object manifest the air itself?"

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"I think if you could find a book written in sign language, I'd be curious who it was written for." Besides a 'how to speak Sign Language' sort of manual. But that was different.

"Gotcha. I wasn't sure what all we were going to need to...well, I'm going to admit I'm glad there's a library to look in because left to me, this charter would be more like a bad letter written by a 6 year old who didn't understand the world." Which basically meant things would be really bad.

"Yeah, I think there's some good stuff going on in here and...really this is a bit more of what I was expecting after the 'Ur a wizard, Cass' talk." Not charging Glitches and pulling birds out of things. Not that it hadn't been extremely cool, but..."It's interesting to see things in context. My only concern about borrowing anything would be where's the 'return' slot for this library?"

azuredreams