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?

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]

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?

[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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[foxable]

[ There's a pause. ]

So, against their will? [ He sounds a little more somber, now. ] When do you find it useful?

[bearshermark]

[He can certainly understand that]

When we rescued you, on the slave ship. It was better than killing the guards. It's not something I try on allies.

[foxable]

Well, when you put it that way, yeah I'd rather that option too.

[ A pause. ]

Still getting used to the concept of having enemies who will actually kill you. Even back home, it-- [ He abruptly stopped talking. He didn't actually know that. He didn't know that they wouldn't kill him. He wet his lips and with an audible shrug continued: ] Well. Usually they just chase you around a bit. Murder is still pretty illegal and all that.

But I'm getting the impression a lot of these guys would drop us without a thought, so... Yeah. Sleep magic might not be the worst idea I guess.

[bearshermark]

It's an unfortunate circumstance we've found ourselves in, here. I wish it wasn't. But I'm always grateful when this magic spares a bit of conflict- though it only really works on the living.

[Granted, he doesn't have as much compunction about slaying the undead]

[foxable]

Oh, huh.

Yeah that makes sense I guess. Zombies aren’t exactly known for taking long naps, am I right?

Sorry, bad joke. Still getting used to the zombie thing, too. Anyway, who are you?

[bearshermark]

[It might be a bad joke, but amusement colors his voice all the same- they're pretty short on humor here]

Eleven. You said your name was Fox? It's good to meet you.

[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]

Yeah, that's right! Fox it is.

Eleven? Like the number? [ I am so sorry, he says everything on his mind.. ]

Do you have ten older siblings? Or is it like - or did you choose that name?

[bearshermark]

[A quiet sigh, voice going a little flat like he's answered these exact questions one too many times]

Yes, like the number. No siblings. I don't know why my birth parents chose that name. You can just use El, if you'd prefer.

[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. ]

[foxable]

Ah- no, no, Eleven is fine. Sorry, sorry, that uh - that was a bit rude of me, huh? I'll call you whatever you want to be called, and if that's Eleven, that's awesome.

I'm down. With the cool names. Yeup.

[ He doesn't sound awkward or embarrassed at all. ]

[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?... ]

[bearshermark]

It's okay. Sorry. Someone else here is named Five. I guess there are a lot of weird names here, actually. But most of us are from different worlds, so it kind of makes sense.

[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?

[foxable]

Yeah, Mingyu's been telling me a bit about the 'different worlds' thing. Honestly I thought this was our world when I got here just super fucked up, but I don't think it is anymore. Or if it is, it's such a far dimension along the timelines as to not make a difference.

And yeah, weird I guess? I don't know. Every culture has different naming conventions, right? "Fox" isn't- well, I mean, it can be used as a name back home but it isn't very common. That's why I like it. It's not like - Steve, or something.

God. Can you imagine if my name was Steve? Terrible.

[bearshermark]

[A light chuckle]

I guess it does sound pretty plain. The people from my village all had rock-like names: Gemma, Amber, Chalky, Cole.. I was never sure if that was lucky or not that I didn't. Maybe the kingdom where my birth parents were from all had- well, no, their names weren't numbers.

[A brief pause] Hm. Well, could have had some other meaning there.

Do you think your name suits you?