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

[elfstoned]

Then why shouldn't I take them at their word? Besides, whether I believed it was magic or something entirely different wouldn't change what they were able to do.

[PRIVATE TO EMERY]

Why? Do I have a friend who thinks he can work magic?

upgraded to text • henceforth private to Aaron!

[abidan]

Not necessarily? Just. Another friend who doesn't know what's happening to himself, maybe.

[elfstoned]

Does that friend want to talk? If he does, by my reckoning I owe him a listening ear.