un: silhouette among silk spreads

[foxable]

[ A cheerful voice comes on over the network the night before they are set to leave. To some of you it may be familiar already, to others a mystery, but thankfully he is not going to leave you in the dark for long. ]

Alright, sounds like we're rolling out tomorrow! I haven't even met everyone yet so this is going to be interesting, but, uh, Hi! I'm Fox.

[ There's a long pause... ... ... Just long enough to make someone wonder where the fuck this guy went when suddenly there's a sound of a bunch of pieces of paper falling loose everywhere and him scrambling to pick them up: ]

Sorry! Sorry, uh, where was I? Right, I'm Fox, I'm - ah - a mage, I guess, is the best way to put it. Wizard always sounded stupid. Anyway, uh, so this is all a little new to me, haha - uh - not that it isn't new to you guys? From what I understand, pretty new for everyone. Even the um. People who have been here a little longer. Still not totally clear on all that but - right, sorry, not the point.

The point is! I do a lot of enchantment magic. I guess here they call it thralling? Anyway I'm from Canada and while I can't say I'm from the tundra exactly, Toronto still gets pretty fucking cold so warming spells on clothes is like, a must have, for at least six months of the year. It's kind of like - um - you know those little packets that you can rub together and they heat up? No? Handwarmers? I can't remember what they're called. Anyway - it's kind of like that. But in your clothes. So you're just always warm. Which is good, in the winter. Obviously. Um--

Uh--

God I know I had something more to say but uh--

I guess if there's anything else you think you'll need, let me know? I'm not charging anyone for spells, but you will have to bring components. So uh for warming spells incense is great, or like, a box of matches or something like that usually does the trick. In a pinch, tinder wood, but you need like a good couple handfuls of it and then a way to burn it. Anyway. You probably don't care? You don't care.





OH-- [ For a second it seemed like he was done, but he wasn't. sorry. ] -- one last thing. Um, magic? Other people's magic? Your magic? I'd really like to take a look at it. I'm real quick at picking stuff up and I'm happy to teach my own in exchange if you want? If that even works here. Still experimenting with that! So if you're up for experimenting that's good t--

[ He gets cut off by someone's screaming orgasm. ]

-oo... okay. Okay! Yeah, anyway, hit me up! Cheers!

Comments

un: anglicized

[descendency]

You are too charging for the spells.

At least for your time.

Or do you suddenly no longer believe in living wages for labor?

[foxable]

We're like, going to live on a commune, Mingyu.

It's literally basically a commune. We are all going to live on a derelict farm in the middle of the boreal forest. What's the point of making the people living with us pay for it?

Are we going to like, pay each other for cooking and cleaning and shit?

[descendency]

You're still offering a specialized service, so at the very least they should be trading you something in return.

You're the one who wants me to stop working, but fine.

It's your labor. Do as you like.

[foxable]

[ Ow. There is an abrupt silence on the other end of the line as Fox tries to not physically wince.

Yeah, he doesn't like the idea of Mingyu having to 'work' more because of him. At all. But he has no idea what he's supposed to say to that, so the pause is just real long and awkward. ]

That was. Um. A bit harsh. [ Quiet. There's another pause as he mentally and almost audibly forces himself past it and back into a semblance of good humour: ]

I mean, if you have an idea of what would be fair... I just, you know. Figured we were all, um, working together. Or whatever. But trade is fine.

sweet lily of the hidden valley

[bearshermark]

I'd love to trade magic uh- spells, I guess? I've been trying to figure out thralling, so if your enchanting is close to that, I'd definitely love to try it.

[foxable]

Yeah! I haven't had a chance to look real close at the thralling yet, other than this thing, and it does seem a little different. Harder to read, anyway. But that might just be a language-like thing. You know? Magic vocabulary except instead of words it's magic.

That made more sense in my head.

Uh-

Anyway! My point is sure! Let's trade! When we reach the house, maybe? I figure I'll probably be spending a lot of time helping clean stuff up and getting it working again, so that's a good time to show you some shit, yeah?

[bearshermark]

Yes, there probably will be a lot of work to do, so that sounds ideal.

I have fire, healing, and a sleep spell I can demonstrate for you in turn.

[foxable]

Neat! I've got a lot of fire magic too, but my healing magic can always use a brush-up.

When you say sleep, do you mean making it easier for you to sleep? Or putting other people to sleep?

[bearshermark]

Other people. It doesn't always work- I think it has to do with how alert someone is- but it is useful sometimes.

[handmaiden of unsheathed swords] voice posted:

[darkeststars]

Components. Hm. Even for the littlest things? You certainly practice an interesting discipline over there on Canada.

[ giving a hum of idle, thoughtful curiosity for a moment before he moves on ]

At any rate. [ dryly now ] Don't believe we had the opportunity to properly introduce ourselves as yet, since you were too busy dragging me across a battlefield to pick up bits of broken mirror. Fox, is it? Some call me Darth Imperius. You may call me Archeval.

[foxable]

An interesting discipline? For what? Not making something out of nothing?

[ A pause, and, sorry Archeval you THOUGHT you were moving on... ]

Wait - wait, wait, wait, are you saying you can enchant things without using components? How? You have to have some kind of a power source, right? It can't just -- Can you actually just pull shit out of thin air?? Seriously?? I mean I knew about the like, laser sword and shit, but--

[ Yeah. Good luck getting him back on topic. ]

[darkeststars]

It's not thin air. [ scoffing ] It's the Force. The energy that surrounds us and binds us all.

Granted that imbuing power into objects is not my speciality-- [ and using the Force for something like warming his clothes is not a thought he's ever had in his life, for that matter ] But as far as I've ever learned, the principle is all the same.

What use has the energy of creation itself for any little offerings? The Force is all things, even we.

[ still doing his best to interpret all this 'magic' business inside a framework he understands. That's what the Dathomir witches call it, and they're still Force-users, right?... ]

[foxable]

I mean - uh - okay so you're talking like a sort of, uh, universal energy? Well I guess that could work. If you could use electrons themselves as components. I sort of do that, sometimes - that's how fire works, after all, yeah? It's one of the reasons fire magic is relatively easy. A spark and oxygen is all you need, and they are in laaarge supply.

[ A pause. ]

Energy of creation--- Hmm. The background radiation of the universe? I mean, yeah, hypothetically, could also be used as a component, but hell, I don't even know how to really figure out how to grasp the concept let alone it itself. Huh.

Well, what is your specialty, then?

un: dappled pearl of the parted seas [voice]

[beitangmoran]

That sounds like it be will useful wherever it is we are going, since I have been reliably told that spring is not really a thing in this part of the world.

[foxable]

I mean, spring isn't really a thing in Canada either. The joke is that we've got two seasons: Winter, and Construction. [ He laughs, like he's hilarious. ]

But, uh, yeah. From what I can tell this climate is basically Nunavut? Like, arctic circle tundra. Though I don't know if that actually means we're near a pole - it depends on the climate of, um, whatever the hell planet we're on. I'm not really convinced it's Earth anymore.

Has anyone done any star studies? Maybe I should start jotting down sunset and sunrise times, figure out the elliptical-- Shit, that could totally mess with any sort of time magic, probably a good idea to figure that out--

[beitangmoran]

[The joke... falls entirely flat, because, well, like a great many people here, Moran has never heard of Canada.]

Your land is in the deep North as well, is it?

I have acquired a few star charts, out of personal curiosity, and made a few observations myself... the stars are different from what I'm used to, and so are the constellations. My Star Master abilities work regardless of whether the constellations are physically present or not, but it is strange not to see familiar stars above.


I haven't been able to find a world map. I assume those would be extremely costly.

[foxable]

If they even have them. World maps weren't really a thing until the circumnavigation of the globe, and even then, they were kind of shit. Accurate maps didn't start appearing until they started putting down survey markers and that took foreeeever in Canada. Kind of took humans getting stuff into orbit before accurate maps were available.

Anyway -

Okay, well, different constellations means uh... probably not our solar system, then. That's... distressing. I am not an astronomer unfortunately - just never really needed to look into it too deeply since it doesn't actually effect magic much. Like you said, even magic that claims to be linked to the constellations is workable regardless of where those constellations are, right? God there is so much nonsense about mercury in retrograde, I tell you what--

un: first blush of tender youth

[somebadnews]

[ So this is Fox. Five's already heard quite a lot of his voice on this thing, so it isn't unexpected to hear his offer. He knows a lot more about the guy than he really should, but it's to Mingyu's credit that he is exactly as he described.

He thinks for a minute, then decides it's worth his time to take the excuse. ]

Sounds useful. [ Then, because he expects someone might be listening -- ] I don't mind paying.

[foxable]

Of course it's useful! But you really don't - ah - [ He hesitates, and then grimaces, and sounds a bit sheepish when he replies: ] Well, I'd rather not charge people but uh I've been told I have to value my um, my work, so uh - that'd be fine. I have no idea what to charge, though, so maybe we can just trade.

Okay! So! How much do you need? Multiple sets of clothes or just one? I mean I guess most people have multiple sets of clothes, but mine are enchanted to self clean and also to change colour and shape a little so in the end it's like having a full wardrobe on you without ever needing a laundry machine. That takes a lot more time to enchant, though, you have no idea how many different soaps I had to try looking for the right components? So many soaps smell so strong. Who wants to smell like an acre of lilac all the time, I ask you?? Lemonbalm is more my thing.

... Anyway. I'm rambling? I'm rambling. You got any incense or matches handy? And where can I find you?

[somebadnews]

[ Holy shit. Does he ever take a breath?? How much patience does Five have to spare for this? Apparently he's going to test that out.

Also self-cleaning clothes. He's not opposed to the idea. ]

We... can start with one. I'll dig something up. [ Steal from whatever is handy. Everything is stolen, Fox, get used to it. ]

I'll meet you by the servant's entrance.

~It's My Party And I Can Action Spam If I Want To~

[foxable]

Alright, sounds good! I'll be right down.

[ Mingyu had warned him about five, of course. Be careful, he had stressed, and while Fox had been flippant about it at first, he did eventually take the warning to heart. He'd be careful. He was always careful! He was super careful. 100% careful.

He was just... you know. Also extremely curious.

So he made his way down to the servant's entrance, pulling his hood up as he did so, the shadows darkening until only his eyes were visible as points of green light. Then he leaned up against the doorframe, loitering, and waiting.

And fiddling. He could only stand still for approximately 43 seconds before he started fiddling with a couple loose components in his pocket - a couple shiny pieces of glass that he'd gotten from Mingyu's room. He didn't really have any idea of what to use them for, yet, but he liked to have something to manipulate with his hands while he thought about anything. Or waited. Or spoke.

... He just fidgets a lot, okay?

He wasn't entirely sure what Five looked like, but he knew he was supposed to be young - that he looked like a kid even if he wasn't one. (Some fucked up Time magic, Fox thought to himself, and couldn't help but feel sympathetic, despite Mingyu's warning.) So when he saw a young man approaching that seemed just a little out of place, he raised a hand in greeting. ]

I take it you're Five? [ The voice came from inside the hood - at least until he remembered he was wearing it. Then he pulled it back a little and the unnatural darkness faded into regular shadow. ]

I'm Fox.

un: yiling patriarch

[weifinder]

( he swears this is like a conversation he's had with Eleven but: )

Nice meeting you by voice at least, Mister Fox, I'm Wei Wuxian, and I recommend that if you're trading your skills in some form you don't do so without charge in general—you might think about... undercutting some of the thrallers, but they're going to be about what you'd expect anyone is, so maybe away from the docks, or if you've got any new and inventive way of presenting things?

( All y'all with your magical skills that are useful but also marketable please. Please!

The necromancer going "pls market them well outside our group?" )

[foxable]

Oh! Um - I would definitely charge for, uh, not you guys.

I just figured, you know... it seems like we're all basically going to have to pool our resources anyway, yeah? We're all going to be like, living on a farm. Together. Like a commune. Making people pay me there just sounds like we'd be trading money back and forth, which is stupid.

As for the rest, um... I'm hoping to not have to uh sell my services myself. You know? I'm not exactly cut out for retail. I don't mind doing the enchanting, but I really really don't want to have to do the sales.

[weifinder]

( He laughs, but it's more of a chuckle because the er, thought. Of going out. To wolfland. It just sucks, for many reasons all involving Teeth and lifetime marrow-deep fears.

So he'll ignore that pointedly and focus on the rest. )

We are, and we will, but I know some of us with various skills have also thought about not extending any kind of, ah... trade to those not as displaced as we are.

( Which he does understand, but also: it's a luxury they can't afford. )

People doing sales for you, that's something not difficult to work out—I suppose even I could, though I'd probably see how much longer any auctions are running through town before the ports empty. May be better overall for the funds we're being asked to find again.

( Again, because it's exhausting, and he's doing what he can to pull money up in all ways he can. Short of diving deeply into the necromancy of this region, or his more home flavoured version of things. )

[foxable]

Oh? They do auctions here?

... Okay I'll be honest I've never actually been to an auction, I've only like, seen them on TV. With little white number signs with numbers of them and never being able to smile because apparently smiling might mean a bit. It always sounded intense.

But, uh, enchanted objects might work well for an auction, maybe? ... I have no idea, maybe they just want art and shit.