2020-09-08: Subtle and Quick to Instruct
| Subtle and Quick to Instruct | |
|---|---|
| Vic visits Hardy again, she teaches him about mages and learns somethings from him in the process as well | |
| IC Date | September 8th, 2020 |
| IC Time | Afternoon |
| Players | Hardy/Hydra and Vic Rasmussen |
| Location | The Hydra's Lair |
Preliminary text messaging included using my Formatting Text Messages for Wiki Log Posts method.
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Vic takes a bus from near the southern edge of the city to the northeastern corner of the Prospect. She walks from the bus stop to the warehouse Hardy resides in and raps on the door with her kubotan which was in her hand the whole walk though the neighborhood.
Hardy would let her inside and take her towards the apartment "Ah, I smell it.. though not a lot of it" nodding to her with a broad smile. "Want something to drink? Snacks?" trying to be a good host. The large man smiles broadly "Anything interesting happen?"
Setting her messenger bag down on the sofa as they enter the apartment, Vic says, "Sure," and asks, "Do you have any of those rootbeers and chips I brought over before?"
Vic then addresses the primary question on hand with, "Not really, I was scanning someone who might have been a vampire... wasn't... and my first attempt the world decided to spank me for trying to do something against the consensus. It burned as it worked its way into me."
Hardy nods slowly "Nettle is never pleasant" smiling broadly to her and goes to get the rootbeers and chips that she brought over "Got them right here" nodding to her "Ehm so before we, eat it.. want to do something? It is taxing devouring it and we sort of have a rather long nap afterwards"
Vic takes the bottle and bag of Chili Cheese Frito's and takes a seat at one end of the sofa. "Sure, have anything you'd like me to tell you about perhaps?" she asks, "I've been doing a lot of asking of you after all."
Hardy nods and seems to ponder as he sits down "Mmmmm well, could tell us abit about yourself. What you like and stuff" nodding to himself "We are curious but don't want to be invasive. A lot of people are very private, we can be to but once we consider someone a friend we can be to forward." nodding to himself
"Yeah," Vic says nodding, "I do consider you to be a friend also Hardy." She then ponders the question a moment. "What do I like... well, there's the obvious... computers and music...." she says, glancing at Hardy somewhat apologetically for the blatant obviousness of that statement. "I'm really into languages also. I like science fiction, find some of it amusing even. I also like athletic activity but I've not found an outlet for that interest yet," she adds and then shrugs. "I've never been good at talking about this kind of stuff though to be honest," she follows up.
Hardy chukles "You are doing fine, we like languages too. We speak Ancient Greek, Ancient Egyptian, Latin, Norse, Gaelic, Irish, German, Portugese, Spanish, French, Greek, Korean, Mandarin, Japanese, Russian, Feline, Lupine... aaand thats about it" nodding to himself with a broad smile. "Athletics? You tried spelunking, that is fun... we also do enjoy sparring alot, it can be very fun and well noone gets hurt when we are around as we can heal people in notime" smiling to her "We like music but we cant really make it... we can draw though as you seen"
Vic nods. "In addition to English I speak Tagalog, Spanish, Klingonese and Japanese as well as knowing American Sign Language," she says - Hardy can sense she is withholding something when she says sign language but without pressing her that's the best he can tell there. "And no, I've never tried spelunking I tend more towards parkour... or free running, which ever term you'd rather use for the sport. Are you familiar with it?"
Hardy nods "We are but never tried it... it just sounds like moving about... but with flips" tilting his head "Something bothering you? Seems like there is something more to it" watching her but not seeming bothered by it.
"Wrong?" she asks, "No, not wrong. Just you've been so open and here I am having to keep something to myself." She pauses and says, "I know an additional form of sign language but the person who can clear me to share that information isn't part of this world... and I haven't met anyone else from his Tradition who could clear it also... I hope you'll forgive me for having to keep that from you for now?"
Hardy nods "Oh well thats alright, you don't have to tell us everything, we know that mages like to keep secrets. Specially since your Traditions somewhat not permit it all...we do not have such a organization, we are just we" smiling to her "Here is nothing to forgive at all... then again we could demand recompence" the way he said that made it obvious he is just fooling about.
Vic laughs and nods. "Yeah, you could," she agrees and then, completely seriously, she adds, "Thank you for not doing so," before taking a couple of chips into her mouth. After those are washed down with a drink from the IBC bottle. "But yeah, when its someone elses' secret I don't really have a choice but keeping it after all, so I appreciate your understanding, Aitch," that last being H pronounced percisely as a nickname.
Hardy smiles to her "If we would it be only a token or something given lightly and freely. Like some chips or a joke or a kiss" shrugging with a broad smile "We would never demand anything real unless there was a real offense, like attempting to hurt a friend or.. spreading our secret to those that would use it against us. But then that would also require alot of forgiving too" nodding to himself again.
Vic frowns a bit at the last and says, "If it isn't clear I've given you my sworn vow, Aitch," she pauses and asks, "Wait, do you know about the Protocols?" her expression softening as she realizes he may not have realized what he was approaching with that suggestion.
Hardy looks to her "I picked up a few things here and there.. nothing officially learned but.. a word is to be held... and dont tell the humans" shrugging "We heard Traditions from time to time.. its the groups you have... well the big group.."
"So, how far down the rabbit hole do you want to go, would you like to know more about us mages?" Vic asks pointedly.
Hardy nods "We would like to know as much as you are willing to teach us" smiling to her warmly "Always good to have the information right." nodding to himself "We could teach you more about ourself"
Vic nods and smiles as she says, "I'd like to learn more about Hydras at some point," and then begins by saying "Okay, first, give me a summary of what you /already/ know about mages," in an authoritative but still friendly tone of voice.
Hardy looks to her "Ehm we can't help with that... We are the only Hydra we know and the only Hydra of stories. We can teach you abit what we know of those like us. Bygones of another time.. but Hydras... that is not a thing" nodding to her "We told you what we know, that you can use magic, that you can gain nettle... that you have traditions.. that you hold your word and to not speak to humans about it"
Vic ohs and nods. "Yeah, okay, that's very basic," she says. "So, magic, as we use it, is basically imposing our will upon reality, bending it to satisfy our desires. The more blatant the effect the worse the paradox when reality reacts and backlashes on us. As I mentioned the other day, paradox is what you call nettles and what I inadvertently collected a small quantity of. Basically what you're smelling on me is about the smallest amount I've ever felt. Much much less than what went me here."
Hardy nods to her "So the nettle brought you here? Interesting we never heard of it but we have to admit as you know, our knowledge is limited" nodding to himself "We also met those who can use magic without nettle, sorcerors." smiling to her "Tell us more about your Traditions?"
"Well, it was an epic level paradox backlash specifically," Vic clarifies before continuing the lesson. "There's nine of them, correlating to the nine spheres... the ways that magic is divided. Energy, Life and Matter, Space... referred to as Correspondence... and Time, these five could be looked at as Order. Entropy is its own sphere. As are Mind and Spirit which are separate even if some mundanes... or Sleepers as they are traditionally referred to by Tradition mages," she pauses and grins at the intentional pun, obviously hoping for some sort of acknowledgement. She continues however, "Even if some mundanes would argue that there's no difference. Virtual Adepts, the Tradition that I'm part of, usually uses Correspondence. I'm what I would call a heterodox V-Dept. I use the Data sphere. Not one of the traditional nine of course but a semi-equivalent to Correspondence."
Hardy nods "Fascinating, we know of the elements but that the world is split in such ways for you to control. What control do you hold then... apart from Data? Information? Correspodance" seems to be tasting the words abit "What can you do more.... exactly? And less... metaphysically?" watching her curiously
Vic chuckles and says, "Tell me how you metabolize nettle. Describe red to a person who was born blind." She shakes her head, "I'm no where near leet enough to try to figure out how to translate the hows and why-fors to a non-mage. Maybe an advanced techno-sorcerer because they're on the verge of a true awakening. I just don't know that I have the vocabulary. How about I tell you some more about the fringes of our society while I see if I can think of a way to answer that question." She asks, "Would that be okay?"
Hardy nods "More then alright, we are not in a hurry" smiling to her "Though we would appriciate if it was within your lifespan" looking to her "We do not know -how- it works, just that it works, we can sense it, breath it in... devour it... our body processes it and.. we get very very tired" ponders to her "We will try and describe it when it happens but... it is like eating and... food coma? Sort of.. but more... out of this world"
"Okay, so since we've talked a bit about the Traditions you need to hear about our opponents... mages you should absolutely not help and likely avoid as they would not respect you," Vic says. "First, there's the Technocracy who we've discussed briefly before. They want to abolish all magic. They're likely to want to dissect you, harvest you or maybe even clone you and have your cloned brother-siblings enslaved to their will as war beasts. Bad news. These are the mages who don't believe in magic for the most part. You'd be an unknown creature to them, not a living myth."
Hardy frowns at the notion "It is a thing that we fear would happen, that we would be contained and tested upon. We still find the idea of mages who do not believe in magic fascinating though.. then again we met bygones who do not think themself bygones"
"Really?" Vic seems fascinated and doesn't mind diverging from the lesson about mages. She then asks, "What do they tend to think of themselves as?"
Hardy smiles "Well we did not see ourself as a Bygone but learning what it meant and that it is more a catch all name for mystical creatures and animals... we do fit some into it. But first and foremost we are Hydra" smiling to her. "We are not really unified in any way, we know of others but.. we rarely meet them. Which is a shame."
Vic nods understanding the concepts expressed. "That is a shame but it is also good to know oneself," she says. She indelicately shifts gears back to the previous discussion. "The other two classifications of mages are /more/ dangerous than Technarchs," she says. "Marauders are insane mages. And yes, that's as dangerous as it sounds. These are people who have the same abilities as any other mage but their desires are twisted by insanity, their warped world view will cause effects to go into effect unconsciously sometimes even." She lets that settle in for a moment before dropping the other shoe. "Nephandi, on the other hand, are a sect of demon worshipers. Think sociopaths with magical powers and nasty umbral creatures at their beck and call."
Hardy smiles to her "So MagenoMage, CrazyMage and EvilMage" nodding to himself "Got it" looking to her "So... the traditions.. there are several of them, the groups in the big group? Of the good mages"
"Exactly, each one specializing in one of the spheres and represented at local and world-wide levels by a group of elders from each of the Traditions," Vic explains. "And we collectively adhere to a group of rules called the Protocols," she explains, "For example, we are not to break a sworn vow - such as mine to not reveal your identity except to those who you've approved and who have made a similar oath to me on your behalf, we are to protect the sleepers and a tutor's debt must be repaid. There are eight in total, mainly to keep us civil with each other even when our view points might put us at odds."
Hardy smiles "Always good idea to have rules to keep people who can change reality civil" looking to her "So Virtual Adepts are one of these then, yours as you said?" curiously watching her taking in every word she says, not even seeming to doubt any validity of her words in any sense.
Vic nods. "That's correct. Us and the Society of Ether are the technomagical Traditions, where we focus on computers and the Correspondence sphere... at least the orthodox V-Depts... they focus on the sphere of Matter. There's an order of martial artist monks who focus on the Mind Sphere and the Life Sphere is the purview of old school witches while Spirit is epitomized by a collection of shamen of various traditions - lower-case T versus the capitol T of the collective term for all of us."
Hardy tilts his head "So Arumi is of the Society? We know several witches, only monk we know is Tian but he is not a mage" seeming to ponder "Shamans we have yet to meet" nodding to himself with a smile
"Yeah, she's an Etherite," Vic replies with a nod. "You could know other Tradition mages without even knowing it, remember that we are subtle if perhaps quick to anger."
Hardy nods "We know several who are sorcerers, might be of the traditions. Oh.. who among you deal with fairies?"
"Fairies?" Vic asks, "Oh, they don't exist anymore. The Order of Reason drove them from the mundane world entirely at the very least. I'm in the camp that believes that they were actually driven to extension. Spirits are real though so I'm sure that some of those protray themselves in guises of the fae."
Hardy raises a brow "Fae are very real and not dead, they just hide very well, we know several. And of course spirits are real... we can wander their realm and we see them with our own eyes... Ghosts are real to, as is the Shadowlands." smiling to her
Hardy adds "And werewolves and vampires..."
Vic huhs. "Okay," she says. Then, on the others, she says, "Of course ghosts are real, the Euthanatos talk about ghosts frequently. I've learned a bit about vampires and I'd heard from other trusted sources were wolves are as well..." she trails off and then says, "I guess we just found another difference between my world and this one."
Hardy nods to her "Well seems like good one, the fair folk are very pleasant people"
The conversation continues over the next half hour, during which Vic finishes her soda and bag of chips. She explains the Rule of Shade to Hardy (Her paraphrasing of it was "Don't limit yourself to the darkness as that can lead to corruption, don't avoid darkness entirely as that can lead to exposure and discovery, walk in the middle Path of Shade so you can guide the sleepers without fear on either side of the relationship.") as well as discussing magical energy: Quintessence and Tass (both intially referred to as "Juice" and "frozen Juice" using V-Dept jargon then clarifying it further).
As the lesson winds down, Vic says, "I hope all that made sense, its a lot of information though," and then asks, "So, when you eat my paradox will I feel anything and is it dangerous for either of us at this low exposure level?"
Hardy nods "It make sense" smiling to her "No it is not dangerous in anyway, we just get tired, that is all really"
He looks to her leaning close, invading her personal space. Then he sharply inhales, taking a very deep breath sucking the paradox out of her with that action, devouring it himself. "Mmmmmmm always hits hard... we need to take a nap..." smiling to her appologetically "Sorry its...." he yawns "...just how it is" and then the grown man is out like a light on the couch leaning against her.
The relatively tiny young woman manages to shoulder the massive human-form Bygone off of her and then finds a blanket to cover him where he lays upon his sofa. Vic then finds a pen and some paper upon which she writes "I saw myself out, counting on the doors to lock behind me. - Vic".
After setting this note down where it will be seen when Hardy opens his eyes she collects her bag and lets herself out of the warehouse and proceeds to take a bus back to the gym in which she currently resides.
