Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

About and hour and a quarter later, Artemis finally breaks out of her meditation, stroking Sgavrinn gently as she smiles and looks to the side; before seeming a little shocked when she doesn't see Ihra.

"Ihra?" Artemis calls, looking around.


Strangely, the smaller figure seems to sputter a little, before only dispensing enough liquid to fill barely half of the cup. No more liquid seems to be produced, and drinking it causes Scurn to only grow to the size of a baby relative to Praecantatia. This is, however, enough to get her attention.

"Oh, hello Scurn. Fia notified me of your arrival, is your friend Thirteen with you?" Praecantatia asks, smiling as she glances toward where Scurn entered from. She closes her tome after putting a bookmark into it, turning her attention to Scurn instead.

 

"She left already." Sgavrinn replies.


"He was, until quarantine threw me here and left him outside." Scurn says, carefully putting the cup back without much concern. "Considering I'm not dead yet, I'm guessing you didn't call me here to get rid of me?"

 

"Oh, was she alright?" Artemis asks, concerned.


"What? Certainly not," Praecantatia says, gently touching the drink-dispensing totem. She gives it an annoyed look when no liquid is produced, glancing back at Scurn for a moment, "I assume your species isn't naturally...so small?"

 

"I think so. She just didn't want to bother you and headed off again."


"Apologies for taking the last half cup. Resonance suggested its use, and I assumed that was what I was intended to do." Scurn says. "I'm usually a margin under two meters, if that makes you feel any better."

 

"Where did she go?" Artemis asks, a little less worried.


"No need to apologise, I've been meaning to refill those for a while now. If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'll get you some more so we can speak properly." Praecantatia says, getting up and leaving the room.

A few moments later, Praecantatia returns with two potion bottles; one green and one red. She pours another half-cup of green liquid into the smaller cup from the totem; the cup itself seem to magically lift itself to Praecantatia. She gives Scurn the cup, before picking up the totem and turning it over; pouring the green and red potions into their respective totems and putting it back.

Once Scurn drinks the rest of the potion, he grows to his normal size relative to Praecantatia - who seems to be slightly taller.

 

"She just teleported away and didn't tell me." He shrugs.


After drinking it, Scurn looks at what appears to be a blade somewhat concealed within his cloak.
"Asmia would totally gut me to look at these. She's been looking into normalized scaling effects for months!" Scurn chuckles, the dagger seeming to in part reveal the magical structure of the fluid.
"Right, best behavior. Uh... Sorry."

 

Artemis sighs.

"Well, you did your best." Artemis says, smiling and petting Sgavrinn some more.


"What do you have there?" Praecantatia asks, curious.

 

"I tried to reach out to you when she started to leave, but something blocked me from doing it. Sorry."


"I'm probably going to die for this, but... dagger. Custom build with a less than legal composition analyzer. Cuts well, and helps save notes for any spells I'm exposed to. Usually I relay them to the rest of my crew so they can study it, but I'm assuming that's a good way to never leave here alive." Scurn says, taking the dagger out of his cloak and handing it to Praecantatia. "I assume you probably weren't told I'm a lowlife spellthief who doesn't really have the luxury of showing their face in cities, but I'm still not dead so I'm assuming you're a lot more tolerant than the filthy rich."
Pause.
"Thirteen also said I was only allowed to bring four with me."

 

"It's ok, Sgavrinn. I can be little hard to reach when I'm meditating." Artemis says, petting Sgavrinn gently.


Praecantatia looks the dagger over, before sliding down her goggles to give it a closer, more analytical look in terms of magic.

"A spellthief is a rarity. Humans now are fairly non-magical, though they do possess some slight ability with magic that most don't channel. Many guardians stay to their assigned element, so the concept of a being able to steal the spells from others and use them against them is...rather old," Praecantatia comments, "A common strategy I've seen recently is to simply use mage crystals to try and capture spells. They don't tend to work very well, though."

 

Sgavrinn hums, seeming a bit tired.


The dagger seems to analyze magic material nearby and structures a code-like runeset into its blade for later noting.
“Asmia usually just checks to see how something works, then tailors it to our own gear. I’m just the thief, though. Not the engineer. All due respect, I kinda can hardly help but to look at that kinda stuff. Even when I’m not supposed to. Like now.”

 

Artemis glances around, before letting Sgavrinn rest.


"You've developed your own language for analysing magic?" Praecantatia asks, impressed.

 

She notices Iris dozing off on a nearby tree branch.


“I specifically haven’t, but it is unique to my crew.” Scurn admits. “Gotta keep every advantage we can on the streets, especially since I may have accidentally pissed off a god.”

 

Artemis keeps and eye on Iris to see if she does anything, though stays with Sgavrinn to make sure he's comfortable.


"Perhaps if you were visiting the god of death, you'd be able to annoy him to the point of him torturing you. However, I find your work quite interesting. Just don't steal any of my personal belongings." Praecantatia warns.

 

She seems to literally just be sleeping.


“Unless you intend to restart a war that killed millions, I don’t really want to touch anything. If you do intend to do the former, then I can’t promise anything.”

 

Artemis rests with Sgavrinn for a bit, though stays wary of her surroundings.


"There's enough war, death and blame on us going around already. I don't intend to get in any worse standings with the other reality than we already are." Praecantatia explains, seeming a little drained just by talking about it.

 

Iris eventually lazily opens one eye, peering at Artemis through the tree.
"She left without me, didn't she? Bah, whatever. What exactly was with that vision?"


"If it's any comfort, that hasn't gotten to the Hive Master's ear yet. At least, not from O'rogal's side. Cresma says there's been no communication to or from O'rogal since Idhaenna thoroughly destroyed pretty much everything and everyone in his palace and the grand archives. I do worry a bit, though - word has it Xlentia was sealed and left undefended in order to wind up in Atavul's claws. I wouldn't be surprised if Idhaenna's aggression causes the Hive Master to trade O'rogal's life for Xlentia's."

 

"I'm not sure, I doubt we both experienced the same vision," Artemis says, "It was likely related to Ihra's stress in some way, though."


"The word is true, and it's something I've been attempting to fix; albeit unsuccessfully. Negotiations in this war are hard - they're hard and nobody appears to understand that." Praecantatia sighs.

 

"Not really. She had a vision regarding her younger self holding a pinecone as a token, able to offer it to a younger Abigail, Shadow Aj, or you. There was an opening in the fence that hurt her, so I suppose that could be seen as being related to stress."


"Now I'm in no position to attempt to negotiate here, but if you think Gaia could offer a different life for a few of the... extras... I picked up lately, I might be able to convince some of my crew to seeing what they can do in terms of getting Xlentia out of there. I can't promise much, considering I'm the first to step past the glacial barrier, but... perhaps I can leave you with one of my biggest secrets?"

 

"That's...certainly odd. Maybe she was given ways to deal with her stress, represented by her close friends and how they would act, and the opening in the fence that hurt her was facing things head-on?" Artemis theorises.


"I'm not sure how much Grace is able to offer in terms of asylum from the war," Praecantatia says, thinking, "Earth is already quite populated, and her gardens are exclusive to those that follow her."

 

"Well, she went with you. I don't know whether to tell you to feel honored or if I should go laugh at her."


"Can she still bring life to a now lifeless waste? We're all fairly resourceful, we just don't have any place to start anything."