( one. ) voice • scientia potestas est [ id: nightingale ]

[ettersberg]

[ thomas nightingale does, in fact, know how to use a smartphone. he's owned one for quite a while before the end of the world; google maps in particular has always struck him as rather useful. the knowledge of how to operate such a device comes in handy now as well, though he's not entirely sure yet why he's bothering.

(the answer is peter; peter would want to know and nightingale would hate not to have any answers at all by the time his apprentice wakes up. because peter will wake up, surely. eventually.)

so there is no fumbling, no pauses when the device clicks on except deliberate ones, and a smooth, very british and posh-sounding voice inquiring: ]

It seems magic is not out of the ordinary, here. Someone has already inquired about those who believe in or practice magic, but I'd be interested to hear how magic was regulated, if at all, in your worlds. That, and whether there were particular ill-effects to it.

[ here, there is one of the aforementioned deliberate pauses. ] I'd also appreciate hearing of your experiences with employment.

Thank you.

Comments

voice; un: SKULL

[sakabroto]

[Oh hey, he knows that voice. He sort of...almost punched that voice in the mouth. Sorry about that.]

Dunno about any magic stuff except what they did on TV, but one of my friends here runs some kinda guinea pig program if you're interested in that.

[a beat]

And uh...sorry about goin' off on you up there.

[ettersberg]

I can't blame you for being emotional at the time. [ nightingale won't hold it against him (much). ]

What kind of guinea pig programme? [ the question comes not because nightingale is particularly interested in participating — experiments, especially those involving magic, carry a bitter taste for him after what he's seen happen in his lifetime — but because he used to be a police officer. asking questions is part of the job description. ]

voice | un: sparkler

[flashystyle]

Regulated is a very broad term. Magic comes in many different forms, constantly evolving beyond its limitations. You'll have to be more specific... You are talking about entire worlds, after all.

[ettersberg]

If you know of several ways, I'd be interested in hearing about them all.

[ the question being broad is not a flaw, as far as nightingale is concerned. ]

audio | un: zevran

[agradecido]

[The sound he starts with is almost a laugh.] No one has thus far been particularly enamored of the Chantry when I tell them about it. You're certain you wish to know?

[ettersberg]

Quite.

[ nightingale has seen things he would have preferred not to have seen. he's done things he'd prefer not to have done, too. some things are not worth knowing. it's why he kept peter from seeing the worst of the experiments when he'd had the opportunity.

but some knowledge shouldn't be lost entirely because to forget its horrors make repetition more likely. nightingale bears the weight of plenty such knowledge.

this, he imagines, will not be quite as bad as that, but he steels himself regardless. ]

voice; un: MagicMan

[immeasurably]

I get the sense that if there was anything like that, back home, then the people involved kept to themselves. Not that I could really blame them.

[ If how they treated people like him, like Syd, like Ptolomy and Oliver were any indicator then they'd be wise to keep to themselves. Keep safe. ]

Have you checked out the Institute yet? Seems like that's the place to go for the more— academically inclined?

[ettersberg]

I suppose that is well possible.

[ given that's how it is in his world, in a way. but that's an interesting username to choose. ]

I hadn't, no. [ but, ah. ] I'm not particularly academically inclined, I'm afraid. [ admittedly, he speaks several languages, some of them quite dead, but he's always been happy simply knowing that things work, with no curiosity as to the why of it. that had been david, before. peter shares david's curiosity and scientific mind. nightingale doesn't mind it, exactly. it just isn't him. ]

voice; un: xXdogloverXx

[otiosity]

Oh you know, they simply tell us that we're the root of all that's evil in the world and lock us up in towers and hunt us down if we try to escape. As you might expect, it causes a bit of tension between mages and everyone else.

[said SO CASUALLY that it's clear to anyone that it's supposed to be a joke to undercut the bitterness.]

[ettersberg]

That sounds more like discrimination than regulation.

[ his tone is light, but ah. he imagines peter would have more to say on the matter, and peter would be right. ]

voice; un: luminouslux

[rememberher]

Our nation was created as a safe haven to flee from the evils of magic and mages alike. People who are afflicted by magic are seen as a threat to the peace, and are thrown out into the slums—or worse.

[ She sounds so oddly detached in how chipper she is, almost like she's reciting something from a book. ]

[ettersberg]

Is there a particular reason magic and mages are considered evil?

[ nightingale has seen first hand the horrors magic can create — but also the good it can do. ]

voice, un: flashgordon

[godwins]

This is outta my paygrade, but the Nazis had a secret group of wizards. [ His accent is very American. ] I figure they had to goosestep like everyone else.

[ettersberg]

[ now this sounds familiar. unfortunately so. nightingale fought german wizards during wwii. ]

How did you come to be aware of this group of wizards, if they were secret?

voice / un: merlin

[politrick]

Can't we all assume by now that hardly anyone's from a world that's great at treating magic like it's normal, instead of something terrible?

[He's had this conversation enough times here already; screw everyone who can't handle a little magic, as far as Merlin is concerned.]

[ettersberg]

I'd rather hear first hand how things were done in other worlds than make assumptions.

[ not only does assuming make an ass out of u and me, it's also very bad form for a police officer. ] Is that what happened in your world, then?

voice; un: r.lutece

[originallutece]

Was it regulated at all in your world?

[ettersberg]

Not specifically, no. Though disturbances of the peace by magical means were investigated as other crimes would be.

[ you're speaking to the head of the folly, if by virtue of being the only one left to be able to do it. the folly being that part of the metropolitan police service tasked with investigating magical crimes and all other "weird bollocks", as seawoll would put it. ]

And there were agreements, of course. Amongst the members of the demi-monde.

video | un: aceofhearts

[exorion]

[because everyone wants to talk magic with a robot right]

I dunno if it's exactly regulated. I mean there's different schools of thought on if the Light is magic or just some kinda science we don't understand, but I mean what's the difference, am I right?

[he nods, because he's right]

And then there's ooky-kooky space magic, [accompanied by raised hands and wiggly fingers to illustrate that it's Spooky,] that's a whole thing.

[ettersberg]

So it would fall under the regular laws?

[ nightingale inclines his head in acknowledgement of cayde's point. perhaps magic is only science that isn't understood yet. he doesn't think that holds true for the magic he knows, but if this "light" is something else, who is he to judge? and perhaps peter and abdul would think differently about newtonian magic, too. peter is certainly trying to make a science of it. ]

voice || username: s.black

[doggo]

We had a Ministry. Did very well except when it didn't. [b i t t e r] The Ministry had various departments charged with upholding a load of laws and rules and things, chief of which was the Statute of Secrecy, which kept magic secret from non-magical users. I suppose the ill-effect of that was everyone developing some jumped-up ideas about wizarding superiority, but those were already well in place. Not exactly the Statute's fault.

It's still novel, talking about magic all over the place.

[ettersberg]

That's rather more organised than anything I'm used to.

[ an entire ministry. in nightingale's world, there's a unit of two within the metropolitan police and that's really the entirety of it for the entirety of the government. ]

text | foster

[beknight]

[ Magic doesn't exist — or rather, it doesn't exist to Alan. Bruce is more than familiar with all the otherworldly that goes on in his city, and why he still keeps Zatanna's number. ]

I can't say much about magic, but I work at the Institute here. There's research on the subject in the library. Would you like a tour?

[ettersberg]

A tour would be much appreciated.

text; un: e

[saucius]

Back home magic was a tricky thing, because those that could use it would usually keep it to themselves and basically kill whoever came sticking their noses too deep.

Then again, you just had to avoid going to the planet it came from and ignore it to be safe.

[ettersberg]

Which planet was this?

[ he asks in lieu of confirming whether space travel is really real for her. ]