[prp] book bindings (america / kaleb / leila)

[cibarium]

The Fitzpatrick-Townhome home was a decent place to host a study session, mostly because there was a wide array of dubiously-reputable books on magic available there thanks to Eve. Leila had sent a list of titles already on hand out to America and Kaleb, invited them to stop over and look at them, and asked them to bring anything else they thought looked good -- not like any of them would know for sure what was and was not a good reference on magic.

She'd left the front door unlocked for them the afternoon they'd decided on so they could simply let themselves in and settle down. The coffee table had the wifi password, a cheese and crackers platter, and a jam jar she'd opened for some of the crackers.

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grey dragon

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

America brought printouts of Renard's email, along with her own magisec textbooks, notes, and as always, the Cage Conundrum, because Reasons. But the first order of business was definitely helping herself to some jam and crackers.

cibarium

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb had, for once, not brought books. In the new world of questionable published literature on magic, he had discovered many internet sources for alternatives. Aimed towards providing the modern-day wiccan with information on the natural magic of the earth, rather than the weird and unsettling abilities some people had been given over the years, these websites were little treasures of historical ideas and symbolism that had survived the passing of generations.

At least his old laptop had the reassuring weight of a couple textbooks as it rested in his messenger bag.

The shy teen's first struggle of the afternoon was the front door. By the time he worked up the courage to enter the house on his own, finding America already there and making herself at home was literally the best thing that could have ever happened to him. Kaleb gave her a shy wave, still a bit too nervous for speaking, and far too nervous for crackers and jam.

cibarium

lizbot

 

[cibarium]

"Hi, sit anywhere you want," greeted Leila, gesturing towards the living room furniture. "I know the invite's a little weird, so thanks for coming. And please don't call me Professor in my own house." Continuing with the informality, she also made no effort to hide her eyes: they'd finished their molt, revealing bright red clusters of ommatidia on a black backdrop.

"I was just about to ask America if she knows anything about knot magic when you came in. Seems like something to consider if we go the thread route."

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lizbot

grey dragon

 

[lizbot]

"A bit," America admitted. "Some of the things I do now gravitate toward it naturally, ever since becoming the principal for the trinity knot. It's part of why I decided to work on this particular task."

She pulled out the folder of print-outs from Renard, they were, for the most part, diagrams and material lists to work off of. Like the Ikea version of magical instructions. "The frame stuff should be pretty easy, since we're just making temporary ones and not the Big Deal one."

cibarium

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb shook his head, having found a seat on a couch. "I don't know much at all, just what I've read when it comes to historic symbology... And what magic I've been able to see, some types of magic always feel like threads, or bindings."

He leaned over timidly to peek at the diagrams. "Do we know what the frame is being made of yet, so we can make testing frames with some validity?"

cibarium

lizbot

 

[cibarium]

"Historical symbology is the kind of stuff worth knowing about here," said Leila, arcing a brow. "There's always some metaphorical or symbolic aspect to spells you have to prepare and cast." That seemed to be the general trend, anyway, based on what she'd learned from Renard and Eve, among others.

"You think we could make a test frame from an egg? Unfertilized ones are biological blank slates, and I have a steady supply of fresh ones."

Why in the hell did she keep bringing up eggs?

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lizbot

grey dragon

 

[lizbot]

"I think you'll do fine, hun," America nodded at Kaleb.

Thinking over Leila's suggestion, she answered, "We can try. I think there needs to be a...making aspect, added on, though. Something to prime it I guess, make it more receptive." She gestured at the schematics. Woods, stones, metals, dyes, were all listed out, hinting at the wide variety of materials they might work from. "Renard mentioned making a few, so maybe for that we can just bring some bins of this stuff, keeping that symbolism in mind, and arts'n'crafts several for figuring out the binding."

She paused a moment, before going on, "I think we should probably stick with Renard's suggestion and keep the binding simple for now. If it doesn't pass muster and we need something more complicated, then at least we'll have a strong base of understanding what we're doing."

cibarium

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb flushed ever so slightly at the words of reassurance, and hesitantly let it bolster his confidence.

"We could include the material as a potential variable when we do the testing, some might accept the magic more easily than others, or require a slightly different process..." He might have been somewhat cowed by the freedom of arts and crafts, but he had confidence in the scientific method, and trusted it as a tool to reveal the best path.

He pulled the old laptop out of his bag and cracked it open, and when the screen lit up it revealed a multitude of browser tabs that were open and available for perusal.

lizbot

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Eve's okay with us borrowing some of her stuff for this," Leila replied to both her guests. That meant she was going to pay her wife back for some of it, but all the same. "She's compared magic to programming a couple times, since she started studying chronomancy... there's a lot of different ways to convince the world to do something for you, and the important thing is to use the, uh, language that suits you personally."

She peered over at Kaleb's laptop screen curiously, then turned to America. "If you represent the trinity knot, it sounds like you could use your power to facilitate the binding directly. Have either of you thought about being present for the casting, like Renard mentioned?"

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lizot

grey draon

 

[lizbot]

"I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be there for it no matter what," America replied. "It'd be good, I think, if all of us were if we're able to."

Pausing a moment, she asked, "How familiar are you both with drawing out your power? You were both in the Void place, so you've fixed your power to stuff before, but I mean like..."

America drew her power out and with it came a warm, homey feeling. It smelled nice. "It's easier, in the Other Place, but this is the um, most directly..." she searched for the word, "...malleable way to use power? It's out and has potential but it's not defined yet."

She willed it into a blob and then pulled it into a long, thin string. It's not quite a visible thing, here in the normal world, but it's not undetectable either.

cibarium

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

The nervous determination on Kaleb's face broke into a little smile. "I like that thought, convincing the world to do something for you." The smile was a fleeting expression though, and didn't last long.

"I didn't know I had a choice when it came to attendance," the shy teen admitted. He certainly hadn't had a choice the last time crazy magical re-writing had gone down. "But if it's important... if it's something that would help, I'll go."

Kaleb thought he had gotten used to the void in his magical senses, accepting that he was normal on this side, and perceived the effects of magic in the same way 'normal' people did. Yet when America summoned her power, he could feel it as clearly as any magic on the other side. It was a distinctly warm, thickening of the air that formed a shapeless bubble, and then was drawn out into a thread. It felt like pure energy, fluid and powerful.

He jerked back in his seat, nearly knocking the laptop onto the floor.

lizbot

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

As Leila watched America work her very literal magic, she underlined and annotated some of the notes she'd taken the other day with Renard. "Pax showed us a trick to focus on it a long time ago, but I haven't done much with it... especially lately," she admitted. "I didn't know you could do something like that."

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lizbot

grey dragon

 

[lizbot]

"It's a step in making a glyph, drawing out your power and letting it pool, then shaping it down to push it into a glyph'd object. I figure it's the simplest way to use power as a thread."

She held out both her hands and went on, "If you want, I can guide help guide you both in drawing out your own like this. It's not hard, after doing it once. Like those seeing-eye puzzles. Once you see it, it's there for as long as you have eyes."

cibarium

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"That's... not something everyone can do on this side, is it?" Kaleb asked, still unnerved by the unusually strong perception of it. The explanation made sense though, even his first successful attempt at magic on the other side had followed a similar progression. Once you had the magic, you just had to shape it to what you wanted.

lizbot

cibarium