i will be rocks [August, catchall, open]

[ruinsprofessor]

Characters: Raine Sage and many others (that is, open)
Date: August 2018
Location: Around [Guild, apartment, other]
Situation: Many, lots [Overwork, friendship, souls]
Warnings/Rating: will update as required


A | Healer's Guild | Open

Look who's overworking herself again.

Having ceded about half her responsibilities to Suhiet frees up Raine's time somewhat, so she's not technically obligated to be at the Guild; but all this means is that she spends more time in the lab that was Solomon's instead. She keeps busy.

There's a few days toward the beginning of the month where this isn't the case, as Sheena's returned from the Dreaming and some kind of celebration seems the order of the day. Apart from that, however, Raine can usually be found at the Guild, and if she isn't at the front desk then one of the volunteers can easily find her. She's the person to talk to for health concerns or helping out around the Guild. Or if she's been demanding answers about someone's home world.

B | Earth Sector | Open

When she's at home Raine can often be found in her apartment proper -- never in the kitchen, owing to an age-old conspiracy against her, but tending the small planter boxes in the front or sitting in the window of the open living room, reading or writing.

Sometimes she can be found instead at a park nearby, sitting with her staff across her knees and her hands glowing faintly. Her eyes are half-shut, but she tracks anyone who comes within a few meters, and won't be startled if interrupted.

C | anywhere | Open

[If you have ideas feel free to pm me or discuss them at makaricrow! or if we did discuss something and it doesn't fit either place, we can work something else out. <3 ]

Comments

[annihilist]

Devin is not so concerned with privacy that he feels like the door needs to be shut. If she doesn't care, neither does he. He frowns slightly, thinking where best to start with someone completely unfamiliar with his universe.

"It has to do with the basic forces at work where I come from - creation and destruction are primary, and everything else falls out from that. The method is actually a language belonging to the beings of creation that allows them to manipulate reality on different scales," he begins. "I don't have access to the complete language, but I know enough of it to make a dent."

[ruinsprofessor]

"I take it that language uses a different alphabet, naturally." She's seen what he was writing. Raine taps her fingers on the desk beside her thoughtfully, turning over what he's said so far. Principles. "Are you using both creation and destruction for warding, then, or simply creation, as the language implies? Are there similar beings and languages for destruction?"

[annihilist]

"Yes, although the individual symbols can be used separately as well as in conjunction with others; it's a less elegant approach, but sometimes you're in a hurry," Devin replies with a mirthless smile, observing Raine's office. It's very hers in a way he can't yet put his finger on, but it doesn't feel like any random space.

"What I use is exclusively creation, but that doesn't mean it can't be made to do damage. Creation unbounded is a problem on it's own," he tells her. Devin pauses, considering how to answer her last question. "There is what you might call a dialect - a version of Enochian that was twisted when Lucifer's angels fell. There are probably several other demonic tongues, but I'm not well-versed in any of them. Demons are somewhat less reliable than angels, and that's saying something."

[ruinsprofessor]

All of the writing visible is Raine's, though there are at least three different alphabets, and there's very little that's purely decorative. Everything is either functional, readable, or the small portrait on her desk, turned away from the door.

"I've heard of Enochian," she says thoughtfully. "It doesn't seem to bear much resemblance to the angelic tongue I know, but ours has other roots. So you associate angels with creation and demons with destruction, if I understand you correctly. Would you be amenable to showing me some of the script for comparative purposes?"

[annihilist]

He's definitely in a scholar's office. The fact that Enochian is not exclusive to his world is met with mildly displeased surprise, although he's pushing down a much stronger reaction. Bloody angels.

"That's more or less how they're aligned, yes. I won't pretend to understand how it all works." Some of that knowledge of the world was purposely kept from him, in fact. Devin regards Raine instead of her office then, as if studying her motivations. "To what end?"

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine forgets, sometimes, that wanting to know things for the sake of knowing them alone isn't considered a standard motivation. And it isn't as though she doesn't have others; it's just been a little while since someone's questioned why she wants to know anything.

"I'm curious," she says after a moment. "And more than that, I'm making a study of the similarities between worlds. Ultimately, I want to understand how they're all connected. My hope is that if I can understand that, I can begin to understand how the magic that brings us here works, and perhaps replicate or alter it. Studying the systems of magic, and their similarities and contrasts, is my first step."

[annihilist]

Raine's explanation is reasonable, although it doesn't do much for his level of trust in her. Part of it, he can admit, is that she's seen him in a state he doesn't allow himself to be seen in. Weak, beaten, reactive. As a healer, it probably doesn't seem as important to her - he wasn't the first to end up before her hands like that.

He's silent for a moment or two longer. "That's a tall order. Aren't you the one who told me there was no way to return to our worlds, save by chance?" It's prodding. The vampire exhales slowly. "Show me yours first, if you will. This isn't a skill that should be handed over lightly, and I can determine if there's any shared script or not easily enough."

Which doesn't mean he won't write out some Enochian for her, just that he's curious enough himself but still quite wary.

[ruinsprofessor]

It makes no difference to Raine, it's true; she regularly sees people vulnerable. It's the willingly-given vulnerability that matters more to her. If he doesn't bring it up, she has no plans to mention his injuries now.

She supposes it's a fair request. She picks up a slate and chalk from her desk, dislodging a notebook or two to do so, and begins writing out letters, perfectly spaced. The angelic letters curve and circle, with barely a hard corner to be seen among them, and judging by the number there's certainly not a perfect correspondence to English lettering. "The alphabet," she explains after a moment, handing it over. One of her notebooks is flipped open to a page full of tight angelic script, and this displayed in Devin's direction.

"There's no way to return to our worlds on purpose, it's true." Raine dips her head in agreement. "However, all of us were brought here in the first place, and even those of us from worlds who aren't Earth find through-lines of their worlds in those of others. In other words, there must be something that connects every world, something that they all have in common. If I can learn about it, and learn how to use it-- it would be a benefit for many people." The press at her wedding-ring isn't entirely conscious.

[annihilist]

Her ready willingness to share helps a little, and Devin watches her mark out the lettering. He studies the chalk on the slate when it's handed to him, noting few distinct similarities with the language he knows. Not the newest script, anyway.

The absent gesture with her ring is noticed but not commented on. "Entropy is a constant," he says after a moment. The notebook gets a few more seconds of observation before Devin picks up the chalk. "Commonalities in some worlds doesn't mean there's a thread between them all, necessarily. It is suggestive, I'll grant you that, but it's a hard thing to prove."

He clears the slate and begins writing out a portion of his own Enochian alphabet. It has as many curves as hard edges, letters with curling tails and a variation in thickness of some lines. "Each represents a sound. The grammar is exceedingly strict, and the vocabulary shared with mere mortals is incomplete, but I know enough to be a problem," Devin remarks, hand steady as he completes the set. One or two of them almost seem to glow as they're marked out, but only barely. "It's an alphabet, but individual symbols are roots of effects, and can be used on their own. It's blunt, and leaves a lot of wiggle room for intent; they serve in a pinch."