oo4 • handwritten | open action behind the cut! come get smashed into with books.

[abidan]

"Newton was not the first of an age of reason. He was the last of the magicians".

[ The words appear in a sloppy, cursive line: Emery is writing his network address on a page in the back of his ratty old notebook. Forgive him, he's in the library and this is a spur of the moment thing. ]

J.M.Keynes said that in 1947. Anyone who's studied a bit of history knows that we had alchemists, sorcerers and magicians before we had today's science — before "reason" got all popular.

[ A pause. A few dots appear as Emery taps the nib of his pen against the paper, contemplative. ]

All this. Do you think it still counts as reasonable?

[ He certainly doesn't think so. Werewolves? Ghosts? Why not a little magic too? Emery's always been of the opinion that there's more to the world than meets the eye, but. Now. Now that he can move things without touching them; halt the fall of water in mid-air ...

Not that he's going to be telling anyone about that just yet, of course. ]

I suppose I just want to ask. Do you— [ And this time he pauses because of uncertainty on his own part. Emery needs answers that books can't give him. Not these books, anyway. ] —think magic could be real?

★★★

[ Emery has looked better. It's been a fairly peculiar week-and-few-days as far as peculiar weeks-and-few-days go: the whispers that kept him up all night are still fresh in his mind despite himself, and the dreams, those god-awful nightmares filled with pained howls and ragged breaths. He isn't the only one, of course, which anyone else might consider some small comfort, and yet ...

No. That's a different thought, for a different afternoon. Today he's out looking for answers to a very specific question: to what extent is there a difference between science and magic? These things, these inexplicable things that have been happening all around them. Should they be calling it by something else? Has he been experiencing something else? "Magic" has so many silly connotations nowadays — a word associated with smoke and mirrors, children's birthday parties, con artists and Psychic Hotlines.

But Emery believes. A different kind of magic, perhaps, but magic all the same, but now manifesting within him as a rush of gold and impossible feats. That's why, today, he's hurrying down the steps of the library with a stack of books clutched to his chest: alchemy and philosophy; texts on medieval mages; the dawn of science; the place of magic in the world today.

Of course, he's just about at the bottom when he trips. ]

[ ooc; How far he trips is at your discretion! Have him crash into your character, land at the feet of your character, swoon into the arms of your character ... anything goes. 8) ]

Comments

[withregret]

I have several. However, given the lack of information, none of them have much ground to stand on. What we know for certain is very, very limited.

[ There's a pause in her writing for a moment as well. ]

When there is a reason there's a focus point. Aliens, magic, the government - it doesn't matter. It's something to build on. Right now it feels like we're waiting. There's not much that binds us, even with this network and the strange "experiences" we're getting.

[abidan]

Mm. I think you're right. The network hasn't brought us together, really, it's only made people more suspicious of each other.

[ Divide and conquer - works every time. ]

At least we know they're afraid of us, whoever they are. [ He taps pen against paper for a moment. ] They wouldn't have gone to such trouble to threaten us if they weren't.

[ Another pause, then: ]

I mean, imagine what we might be able to do if we got some traction as a group.

[withregret]

There are remarkable people connected to this network - or, better to say, there are people who have the potential to become remarkable. If we managed to pull together I personally believe we could make progress.

Unfortunately a few blunders made by -- certain individuals -- have all but made sure of separation and suspicion. For now, at least. It won't be easy to come back from that.

I do believe you're right about that. Even if they aren't afraid of us, it doesn't seem like they want to deal with us.

[abidan]

Do you mean Casval and the werewolf hunt? I heard about how that turned out. I'm sorry, if you were involved.

[ Yeah. Rough. If they're talking about the same blunders then he can see why it might take a while to fix the group's broken spirit. ]

You've met some of these potentially remarkable people? [ An assumption, sure, but Rue seems to be speaking from experience. ] Or did something happen to you?

[withregret]

He is one of the offenders, yes. But certainly not the only one.

[ She'll neglect to comment on being a part of it. Yes, she had gone, but that was because she felt obligated to. So many children and young people who had never touched a weapon or didn't know how to defend themselves were involved -- standing by and letting that happen without doing anything hadn't sit right with her. Having no right to tell them not to go, she had followed, to see to it that everyone would make it back.

And they did. Not without consequence, but they did. ]

I have met some. Watched others. It's not difficult to spot.

[abidan]

Well, then. We'll have to hope whoever's sending the threats isn't having such an easy job of it, too.

[withregret]

Yes. Anything to level the playing field would be ideal.

[abidan]

How would we do that?

[withregret]

That, I'm afraid I don't know. Yet.