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

"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) ]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Of course magic is real. It's a pretty pathetic person who tries to pretend otherwise!

[Kurt's not fast and he's pretty small, not to mention weighed down by an armload of books, too. They aren't significant to the fraught situation. He took them out before the numbers got into his head and the network took over his brainspace. And he wasn't really planning on getting anything prescient. Books were more of an escape thing.

So just the usual stack of popular press on astrophysics and quantum mechanics, some novels about space you could use to bludgeon a man to death with half the chapters cut out, and a cookbook his dad had asked him to bring back.

Now all mixed in with the older kid's armload, something he'd be mildly annoyed about after he got done being squished.]

Ow, man.

A couple of months ago, I'd have said no, but now? I'm talking to you over some weird network other people can't see, I got chased out of the DD by a damn werewolf a couple weeks ago, and the ghost of a wet dog came up and watched me do my homework last night. Magic doesn't sound any weirder than the other weird shit that's been happening.

Have you always thought that, or only recently?

Always.

Everything happening just proves it.

So you think it's a possibility, at least?

[ That's a relief. Emery's always had his own beliefs, but it's nice to feel as though he might be able to talk about them, however vaguely. ]

I hope there's more to it than this. If it is magic, this can't be how it's meant to be used.

Sure, why not? The rules have changed, and magic's as good a word for what's been going on as any.

What do you mean?

[ In classic Emery fashion he doesn't really notice what's happened until it's happened: until he's sprawled out and tangled up in a heap of limbs that aren't his own. He blinks once, confused, before struggling to his knees and backing up, offering an apologetic hand to the poor kid he's just knocked off his feet. ]

Sorry! I'm so sorry. I ... must've tripped over my feet?

[ He grimaces with suitable self-deprecation as he moves to dust down his pants. This is a merry old mess — thankfully none of the books look damaged (not half as damaged as his poor knees, anyway), and he leans over to start gathering up the volumes that don't look like his own. ]

Are you all right?

[ Emery smiles, not that Bakura can see it, of course. ]

Always? What's made you so certain?

I always thought magic would have a better use than to hurt people is all.

[ ... Not that he's given it a vast amount of thought over the course of his life, or anything. :| ]

Sorry, I'm just thinking aloud. On paper. I probably shouldn't do that - I can get a bit jumbled up.

May as well ask what makes anyone certain about anything.

I just know it is.

Oh.

I guess it'd depend on who's using it, doesn't it? Whether it helps or hurts people, I mean.

At this point, I can't exactly rule it out.

A lot of people would disagree with you, you know.

[ Emery isn't one of them, he just enjoys Bakura's little pearls of thought. ]

But I don't think that really matters in the end.

Edited 2013-05-14 22:31 (UTC)

Would you have ruled it out before?

I didn't believe in anything like all this a couple months ago.

A lot of people are idiots.

Yes. I suppose you could argue that for anything, though, couldn't you.

Fair enough. I don't think many people did, to be honest.

[ Just a scant few, including himself to a certain extent. ]

Do you have any other ideas for an explanation? I mean, magic is only one possibility.

[ Hence his brain-wrinkling foray into the philosophy and science shelves. B( ]

Edited 2013-05-14 22:54 (UTC)

Pretty much, I guess. Not that I really know much about that kinda stuff.

I wouldn't call someone an idiot for having beliefs that don't match my own.

[ A turnip-head, perhaps, but only if he was in a bad mood c: ]

About magic?

Yeah. It never really came up before.

You mean it's not on your syllabus?

[ But it's hard to convey teasing in a written message. Still, teasing is what he's doing. ]

I understand, though. Why it hasn't come up. Unless you've got a personal interest I don't see why it would.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. -Arthur C. Clarke

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