( 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. ]

[sakabroto]

You were kinda bein' the opposite. It freaked me out.

[Like really freaked him out, so he got mad.]

Uh, I think they just want people to donate blood or take some kinda new medicine they're developing. Honestly, I didn't know Makoto did that kinda stuff, but I trust her, so if you want some work, she's a good person to go to.

[Speaking of]

You might actually get along. She's sort of all about the rules and whatever. You're like that, right?

[ettersberg]

[ nightingale doesn't like admitting as much, but, after he takes a breath and lets it out slowly: ] There are different forms of grief. [ anger is one. resignation, shock, drawing in on himself? that is another. he knows how to recognise it in himself, even if he doesn't know how to pull himself out of it.

if not for peter and the promise of his waking, if not for wanting to be able to provide molly with a safe space when she wakes, he doesn't think he'd be able to do even this much. he has no duties here except to them. ]

A medicine for what?

[ once upon a time, nightingale might have smiled at the assessment of his character. he wasn't always a stickler for rules. ] I am.

[sakabroto]

[Grief...? Oh.






Oh.

Ryuji goes quiet for a bit. He's never really met anyone who acted the way Nightingale did when faced with grief. But he'd seen what happened when people got pushed to the edge a lot of times, people whose hearts distorted or people who lost hope. Now he's suddenly worried.]

...You doing okay?

[The medicine can wait until later. He has to check on this first.]

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.

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]

Of course.

[ he wouldn't have admitted even to this much if not for ryuji's earlier words, if not for the fact that in some ways, ryuji's arguments had reminded him of peter.

though he knows better than to think that a simple "of course" will be believable now. so after a moment, he continues - ] As much as any of us can be, I suppose.

[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. ]

[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. ]

[flashystyle]

Oh, you are going to make a lecturer out of me yet. Don't say I haven't warned you, because I adore the sound of my own voice.

[RIP]

Magic on Thedas has infinite amount of fields and specializations. Commonly practiced magic pulls from the the earth's elements... Then there are those who pull from nature, spirits, considerably more morbid sources, and various other forces that are still being discovered. It is natural to those who are born mages, inaccessible to those who are not, and unnatural if they go on to perform magic that tampers too close to the source: a plain of spirits and dreams called the Fade.

Individuals can perform magic if they're connected to the Fade, with the exception of dwarves, who aren't at all. But simply because they can, doesn't mean their country's people want them to. My homeland recognizes as a gift to be utilized and consequentially abused, but my country's enemies bind and leash any of their people who show to have been bestowed it. Then South of all that business, mages were locked in towers all their lives with no contact to the outside world up until the recent rebellion.

[sakabroto]

[Yeah, he's not going to believe that one bit.

It isn't until he continues that Ryuji can let the tension ease from his shoulders and his fists relax.]

It's a hell of a thing to have to deal with, that's for sure. I'm still not sure how to wrap my head around it, you know? It's freakin' weird.

...

So is that why you're askin' about magic? Is that a thing where you're from?

[immeasurably]

Neither am I, actually. [ Then, he clarifies. ] Well, it's not the word I would use to describe myself.

But there's a library and there are people there that probably know a thing or two worth knowing about this place.

Otherwise it seems like the Guard is always hiring, though I'm not sure how serious I'd take the guy that was talking about it judging by some of the comments.

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.]

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]

There are worse vices.

[ that is a great deal of information, and most of it unlike anything nightingale has experienced or knows of the history of newtonian magic — and that history is quite well preserved, even if he's hardly a historian. ]

The recent rebellion? [ "do continue", his tone implies as much as his words. ]

[ettersberg]

[ nightingale is grateful for the change of topic. ] It does exist in my world, though it certainly isn't employed quite as openly as it is here. Or talked about.

[ at all, really. some of the colleagues he has who are aware of its existence have taken to saying "the m word" in lieu of having to use the word magic. it messes with peoples' world view. ]

[ettersberg]

Perhaps I'll have to have a look around, then.

[ libraries are rather useful places, and nightingale is willing to admit he prefers them over other sources of knowledge, such as the internet. though it is quite admirable what amounts of information peter can find on it in little time. ]

Have you made a choice with regards to your employment?

[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. ]

[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. ]

[otiosity]

Surprising how thin the line can be, hm? They aren't supposed to be captives in the circles. Just there to be trained so they don't turn into demons and go off eating people and leveling villages.

It's inconvenient how the world is complicated, isn't it?

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]

At times.

[ inconvenient, yes. marvelous, too, if he's entirely honest. for too long, nightingale had been happy to let it all pass him by. he's trying, he's trying not to fall into that same trap again. not to let grief close in on him from all sides, separating him from that inconvenient and complicated and terrible and great world.

even if it's a different one from the one he knows. knew. ]

Is that a common occurrence, then? Turning into demons, eating people, the like?