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[incantates]

[ Please enjoy the communication-enabling device magically hovering in the air and capturing Magnus as he wriggles something that looks awfully dragon-eye shaped at the screen. It's 30cm of pure what the fuck. ]

Oh, don't mind me showing up uninvited in the middle of dinner. I just felt I should make a follow-up report to all interested parties on our recent expedition to the Sibilant Sands –courtesy of one depressed dragon lord named Cain, a plucky group of fellow curious minds, and a beautiful Shadowhunter who had to pick through bones with me for hours. I had my skepticism about dropping in on a pair of advertised coordinates with little planning, but, you know, I'm an adventurer at heart.

[ Lucky for him and everyone else who joined, it worked out about as well as mysterious expeditions into creepy wastelands could work out. ]

So... curious thing about this eye! Apparently, the magic imbued within makes it easier for the owner to parse through whatever illusory enchantments have been running amuck in Serthica. How did I learn this? Well, I advise you look away now if you're faint of stomach.

[ Magnus keeps his grip on the eye with one hand and uses the other to magically produce a small visual replica of what he'd witnessed in the form of a floating, nearly transparent screen, reflecting exactly what Magnus saw when he positioned the eye on the dragons that were loaned to them by Cain, who were brimming with good health, versus Lethe, who was... well, definitely not alive. ]

...Not pretty, I know, but it could have some practical applications on how we move forward unraveling the great mysteries of this world.

[ At least, he hopes. ]

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[matermali]

[ Right to the rough stuff. Stop flirting, Magnus. ]

Oh?

[incantates]

[ How does he even broach this delicately... ]

It's more that I couldn't help but be a little nosy while trying to unravel Lan Wangji's ...Lan Wangji-ness when he'd been discussing the vision of the child he had. You mentioned you might be able to reach the child if the child wished to connect with us.

Has there been anyone at all, not necessarily the child, who's been trying to reach out since you arrived here?

[matermali]

There have been moments within the Mouse House where I awaken from a dream that seemed to belong to another, but...the memory recedes when my eyes open.

[ Useless, really, just like anything else she has to offer at the moment. ]

I've been unable to hear or see any visions that one might send from a distance, within the citadel. I ought to find peace in it, but the silence is disconcerting under the circumstances. I am sorry, I know you were hoping for more. Something here seems to stifle my reach more often than not.

[incantates]

[ It was probably too much to hope that being away from the main city areas would lift more of whatever is muffling all their powers. ]

No need to apologize. I know it's difficult for those who are sensitive to the spiritual and paranormal to deal with the sudden radio silence. Do you think anything might arise if I gave you some dragon remains to hold? I'm not sure what usually triggers your ...unique gifts or if you'd even be willing to hold a slimy eyeball for even just a few seconds.

[matermali]

[ How she tilts her head in curiosity, rather than recoil in horror, should suggest how little she frets about touching any slimy body part. Not when it hopes for further insight. ]

To be quite truthful, these senses have always been unpredictable. I can make you no promises as to what may happen, but...I would be fool not to wish to find out.

[incantates]

For the sake of science, let's try. Assuming you're somewhere relatively close by, I could briefly teleport the eye to you with magic. Just promise you won't break it. It's the only one we have.

[ Not unless he manages to unearth the other eye, but he's not holding his breath. ]

[matermali]

[ More than the thought of touching an eye, Vanessa is somewhat thrown off-kilter at the suggestion of teleportation. Not for the wonder of the magic (which is present), but for the risk it could pose. ]

You would trust it to my care without forcing an escort?

[ Obviously it would only be temporary, but she still is a bit shook. It's a little touching how trusting he is, but also that's a lot of pressure. Such magic shouldn't be wasted on something that could be a lost cause. ]

[incantates]

What's the worse you could do to it? Drop it? It's already in rough enough shape. Stealing it is also highly inadvisable when I could just teleport back into my possession with a simple spell.

[ And he doubts there's anywhere she could hide it from him that he won't be able to find. Perks of being a warlock. ]

You also don't seem like the type who'd destroy our only means of dispelling the magical illusions currently covering Serthica.

[matermali]

[ This teleportation thing is definitely something she wants to discuss at length, but maybe when the situation is a little less focused. ]

I am glad that I don't seem like 'the type' who would act the villain. I do promise to take a care with it. Even if I cannot summon any visions, I am most keen to appreciate what the eye of a dragon looks like in person.

[ How many people get to?

She'll need a moment to find somewhere that's a little more tucked away down a hall and behind a patchwork curtain, to which she'll share the location. ]

[incantates]

Consider your wish granted. Just give me a moment– 

[ One dragon eye coming up. It should pop up right in her grasp. ]

Let me know when you are done experimenting with it. I have a few more tests to carry out myself.

[matermali]

[ That's absolutely fascinating. If she had been taught that sort of magic, the uses would be endless. ]

Of course. I'll respond promptly.

[ Although it may be closer to thirty minutes, since Vanessa needed to have a sad little stare into the void afterward. Quite a traumatic vision, but nothing bearing fruit.

She's quite put together when she responds again, but she'll still resume with only the audio. ]

Forgive me, I wish I had better news. I didn't witness anything that would enlighten our cause any further.

[incantates]

It's more or less what I expected, but it's always good to be thorough. I was just hoping we'd at least learn a bit more about the dragon it came from and what made its sight so impressive.

[ He hasn't checked the other dragons' eyes, so he's not really sure if they can do the same. It's also a bit challenging to simply ask them. ]

You're more than welcome to also take a look at everyone around you with it just to make sure that we, the otherworldly visitors, are still alive.

[matermali]

Sadly, nothing so enlightened. I only felt its last moments alive.

[ Only. As if it doesn't still leave her heart beating too loudly; deafening when it should be nothing, it should be dead. She felt it die.

Vanessa stays curled up. Is it any wonder she'd rather not be viewed? ]

You may take it back.

[ A strange sadness to the prospect, though. Her memories are now piled with more pain; pain that wasn't hers but then it was and now it is. The eye was hers, too. She remembers the feel of it, seeing through it, and the touch of the sky. The sky was so large, but it should have been larger─endless─until it became filled with airships and artillery.

A little 'hmm' as she shakes her head, to herself and only herself. ]

I would be too tempted to use it on the native denizens. Take it, please.

[incantates]

[ He doesn't want to press her if she's uncomfortable or experiencing too many overwhelming emotions from the contact. With a snap of his fingers, the eye re-appears in his grip, relieving her of anymore undue stress. ]

I think the citizens' deaths are less of a mystery anyway, and there are far too many of them to examine too closely. Does your power work in an empathic fashion, or do you only see visions?

[ His best guess is more of the former, but he'd rather hear her explain it herself. ]

[matermali]

[ She never lets on the frustration, but it runs deep. People always ask, how can they not, and yet she so rarely knows the answer. To be coy is often the better route, but she's hardly in the mood to use such energy. ]

When understanding another's memories, they are often felt as my own.

[ Not always. Not the case for everything, such as when someone is trying to speak to her psychically, but even that doesn't stick to any rule, it seems. No matter what, it always seems to be traumatic or unpleasant. ]

Strange to fly. Terrifying to fall so far. The poor creature.

[incantates]

All the better reason not to make you strain yourself more than you already have. I appreciate you assisting me with this little experiment and will let you know if I find more developments on my end.

[ He's already worried how she'll react as more of the undead are uncovered. Being in the Unwinding alone had to have been a harrowing ordeal. He's still struggling to make sense of it all himself, and he's not the one with psychic-empathetic powers. ]

In the meantime, do get some rest if you can.

[matermali]

I would appreciate that. Such a discovery should only serve our goals, if we can manage to learn where best to focus it.

[ He isn't the only one worried about that. ]

Soon, I hope that we will land upon a moment that brings us more joy than sadness. We are in sore need.

[incantates]

I agree fully, and I'll do what I can to get us to that moment quicker. Until then–!

[ He'll bid her farewell and continue to fiddle with the dragon eye. ]