animus_network | ☿ // 001; [text; dated to 3/17]

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☿ // 001; [text; dated to 3/17]

Now that I've collected what I'd evaluate as the basics of this place and how it's run, I'm curious enough to ask for a discussion of general opinions rather than concrete facts.

Particularly, regarding the supposedly confirmed ideas revolving around the state of our worlds. While the evidence supporting our homeworlds' destruction is considerable, I'd still like to hear what people think. It initially crossed my mind that it could be a very well-constructed lie, and while that has become a very distant possibility I'm hesitant to discard it altogether. And if it is in fact true, what happens then? Do you think there is a way to restore the places from which we've originated, or are we fighting for a Pyrrhic victory at best?

And that's not yet touching upon the more clearly confirmed matter of our souls and the replica forms we're using in place of our original bodies. I'd imagine this has caused existential crises aplenty, but let's put that aside for the moment. If the administrators possess the technology or magic to create such close copies, how is it they can't simply take out original bodies along with our souls in the first place And if there is a way to restore our worlds, would you logically assume that includes our original selves?

You're free to answer if you like, or ignore me altogether. It's your own choice. I can't really picture this as a simple matter to talk about without inciting a sense of dread and misery, so I'll hardly be offended if everyone shrugs this off and pretends they never saw it.

--Lord El-Melloi II

[Waver, honey. I'm sure signing your name like that is simply habit by now, but you might give your younger self a stroke.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Or anything but himself, for that matter.

I'm fine. Really. I'm the one with the title at the end of the day, he can name whatever he bloody well pleases after me. What should I care?

Edited 2013-03-17 00:17 (UTC)

Well...I don't think it was name after so much as that is you in that particular world, but I suppose splitting hairs at this point is pretty useless. Will you show me sometime what you have done with his weapon? I have to admit, I am curious.

Gladly. I can't stand using it in a fight unless it's an emergency, but it makes for a pretty good familiar.

Somehow, I can see that upsetting him even more. He really thought he was unstoppable with that weapon in hand. To have it not only being used by you, but in a completely different way...

The thing is, he easily could have been. Volumen Hydragyrum is a difficult weapon to beat unless you know just the right weaknesses to exploit. I can use it the same way he did--that part's simple, once you get the technique and incantations committed to memory.

The real trick is getting it to be actually useful outside of a fight. It took me forever to modify it correctly, and there's still the occasional catch to that particular method.

"Occasional catch?" Why does hearing that from you send a shiver down my spine? No one is invulnerable no matter how well protected they are. As you say, it might take knowing just the right tricks, but really how foolish is it to face a man known at the "Magus Killer" and not expect him to know those tricks?

It's not that bad. Most of the time.

Either way, I never said he had a damn bit of common sense.

Most of the time? ... I think you might be pressing the boundaries of believability to say he had ANY sense.

Tell you what. Come to the workshop on the fifteenth floor and I'll show you. I wanted to talk to you about these swords I'm making anyway.

I'm on my way.

[Not that long later, Diarmuid arrives down in the workshop. When he spots Waver, at first he almost calls out to him, but then pauses as an odd bit of humor catches him. Instead of calling out, he disappears into spirit form and crosses the room to appear behind the magus. If Waver's paying attention, he will probably notice him and ruin the surprise. Otherwise, that tap on the shoulder it going to seem like it comes out of thin air...]

[Waver wasn't particularly oblivious, more often than not; often some idiot or another got the idea in their head to make a name for themselves by force. The world of magi was a difficult place on a good day, so Waver had long since learned to stay alert.]

[However, that presence was familiar enough that Waver didn't even bother looking up from the notes he was reading over.]

Nice try.

[Diarmuid laughs as he returns to normal form.]

Ah well, somehow I didn't think that would work. Not with you, but I just had the urge to try which is weird since I don't usually do such things. Perhaps there is something in the air today.

[He shrugs and then glances at Waver's notes.]

What are you looking at?

You mean other than rain? Is that normal for this place, by the way?

[He closed the notebook, shrugging his shoulders.]

Nothing, just checking over what I've been able to keep track of in this place so far.

It's not.

[An annoyed look crosses Diarmuid's face as he holds out his hand to let a few drops hit it.]

Considering the time of month, I'm going to guess the experiment for the month has started. Do you need someplace to safely store any of your things? We each have lockers on the sauna level only we can get into. So far, it seems pretty safe. Even if the air is somewhat damp, it is better than full out rain.

[He sits by Waver, pulling a pencil from somewhere and quickly writing a note in small print on the edge of the paper. It reads.]

There are cameras watching and listening almost everywhere in the tower. Did I teach you or did you learn to read either ogham or ancient Gaelic?

I'll be fine. Forming a makeshift mercury umbrella is easy enough, and as long as I keep my alchemy equipment and this notebook safe there's not much else I could lose to water damage.

[Waver glanced it over before taking out said notebook and writing a response; his handwriting wasn't illegible so much as it was kind of a mess.]

I taught myself to speak a little of the latter a few years back, though my skill leaves a lot to be desired.

One of those alternative uses for it you told me about? Just so long as there aren't any of those 'occasional catches,' right?

[Diarmuid flashes him a grin, before taking a moment to seemingly study what Waver's written.]

You don't mind if we go over these notes and add a few things, do you? It never hurts to share information.

[At the same time he writes.]

It is all right. I'm sorry for the secrecy. This just must be kept as quiet as possible. If they learn about it, we may lose information we can never get back.

Yeah, that's...a thing. Just promise you won't laugh when I actually tell you about the problem with it.

Got it. Tell me whatever you need to. I'll burn these pages later so there's no chance anyone else can find out.

I...will try? What does it randomly go around hugging people or something?

[Diarmuid gives him a curious look not quite sure why Waver seems so hesitant about it. Surely, it's not that bad is it?]

Thank you. I was going to request that next. After Dax was killed at least one person received a letter from him. If what it says is to be believed, he hide information for us down on one of the administrative levels--information he wanted us to have if he was ever killed.

Not quite. See, what happened was that I converted it into a maid...but apparently you watch one bad movie at 3AM while working on a Mystic Code and it'll act like a killer robot every now and then. One of these days it might just take my damn head off.

How are we supposed to find this information, exactly? I can't imagine those levels are easy to access, even if I sent the aforementioned mercury nightmare.

[Far from looking amused, Diarmuid actually seems concerned.]

Is there no way to fix that? I would be very upset if it hurt you. And this is wrong. It works more like this.

[Diarmuid places his hand on the paper, indicating a paragraph. It's actually just a shield to cover for the rather long paragraph he's about to write.]

That is one of the big problems we are facing. People have been down there--that is how we found out that new information about our souls and bodies--but it's pretty clear that was Dax's doing and he's gone now. Any more trips down will have to be done on our owns, and we will most likely only have once chance. If the other administrators find out about that information before we can get it, it will be lost to us. Especially, since it seems Ruana absorbed Dax's abilities when she...ate him. Even if he set the security on that information so that only he could access it with his abilities, she has those now and can therefore, bypass whatever protections he set. In addition, they added over 50 floors to this place in just one hour. Once we get down there, we have no way of knowing if what we know of the lower levels now will still be true.

It's not hard to get control back once it starts acting up. All in all, it's just a very weird inconvenience.

[Well don't that beat all.]

Great. Let's hope he hid it well enough that she won't find it in the time it takes us to figure out what to do.

So if I ever see a metal maid rampaging outside of your room I should just walk on by?

[Diarmuid grins at the joke, but is writing as he does.]

From the sound of the letter, he did hide it well. And placed many a guard around it. He made a point of mentioning that. I think he expected it to take us a while to get there and planned for it. I just hope he planned well enough. Our planning is at a very early stage. That is why I didn't mention it before, but...I also can't help but worry that this is all a trick by the others to try and find those Dax most trusted in the tower.

Basically. If nothing else it has a tendency to keep me alert. Speaking of which, I said I'd show you, didn't I?

[Waver reached into his pocket and withdrew a vial of mercury before he continued writing.]

Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I would say our best option is to proceed as though it isn't and handle the worst case scenario when we come to it.

Was there anything else?

No. I believe that is is for now. I will let you know if anything else comes up.

Yes, and I would like to see it since I believe I am done looking over your notes for now. The water won't damage it or anything?

[Diarmuid rolls his eyes at the rain falling around them in annoyance.]

No, it's a little tougher than that.

[He quickly returned the notes to his coat pocket to avoid them getting damaged, before pouring out the mercury and muttering under his breath in Latin.]

[The mercury quickly reformed itself in response, forming the silver silhouette of what was unmistakably a girl in a maid uniform, clear even without perfect details.]

Meet the new and probably improved Volumen Hydragyrum.

Edited 2013-03-19 11:10 (UTC)

☿ // 001; [text; dated to 3/17]

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Ugg...missed he closed the notebook. Sorry about that...

happens, no big deal.

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