[ Strange sizes her up. There are other, more anthropological questions he wants to ask, but suspects would be too impolitic and unwelcome; what are illithids like outside of their reproduction? Is this the only way they can reproduce? Do they have any choice? What looks unsavoury in a parasite might just be a fact of biology—
But at least he’s tactful enough not to go down that route. Instead: ]
I’ve known you for several weeks now, and your skin doesn’t seem particularly grey, and your memory is as sharp as any student I’ve known.
[ at any other time, ness might be willing to answer all those questions—she could even genuinely enjoy the conversation, despite the subject matter—but for now, it's probably best that stephen listens to the little voice of tact in his head.
she nods, understanding his implication, but doesn't look much happier about it. ]
But that's where this magic comes from, I think. Contact with strong magic can... leave an impression, sometimes, in my world. Like the rifts leave a bit of themselves in us, in the anchor, I've been left with... Aberration. Invisible but ever-present difference.
[ ...hang on, she's getting maudlin, this is supposed to be about practicing magic. ness visibly pulls herself back together, shaking her head and straightening out her shoulders. deep breath, chin up, pen back in hand, where were we? ]
So that's where I think it came from. Mindflayers are psychic, and you saw the tentacles, ergo. It is, at least, the strongest theory I have, given I'm not likely to ever know for sure.
What makes it aberration? [ Strange repeats, drilling in on that particular word choice. His voice has taken on a faintly professorial air as if he’s questioning a theorem, interrogating an assumption. ] You and I, we’ve got glowing green shards in our hands that can seal rips in reality. Anyone who sees them knows we’re rifters. We’re already visibly aberrant. And just because you can read minds and get a little tentacle-y sometimes, I don’t think that necessarily entails a judgment call either way.
[ This angle is perhaps a little self-serving and biased, considering Stephen Stranges across the multiverse and their predilection towards alarming-looking spells, but. He folds his hands on the desk in front of him. ]
Magic’s gross and ugly and a little slimy sometimes, sure. But if it gets the job done, I don’t see what the problem is. Any tool in a kit.
Ah, [ she presses her lips together—there has been a miscommunication, here. ]
I don't mean aberrant as in... morally repugnant, or reprehensible in any way, [ although that debate may be worth having too, considering the unfortunate bent of enchantment magic in general, ] but instead...
[ ness rolls the pen between her hands, squinting softly, a delicate crinkle between her brows. ]
There is a plane of existence known to my world as the Far Realm. It's a place of madness, by all accounts, where many layers of reality blend together. From that Realm come Aberrations, creatures that don't fit in the natural order. Creatures inexplicable by the laws of man or gods.
[ she looks up to catch stephen's eye and spreads her fingers; see what she means now? ]
Mindflayers are one such creature. And now, touched by their magic as I am...
It still sounds like there’s a big of an implicit judgment call in the name. Although, who am I to say— my mentor drew her power from an outside plane of existence known as the Dark Dimension.
[ Also arguable as to whether or not that was wise.
He’s looking at Ennaris across that table, sizing her up and feeling her out. Part of this is getting a sense of what her abilities are, and how she feels about them, considering how skittish she’d been in their earliest conversations about it. If only he can help guide her away from the fear, and back to that pleased beaming smile when she displayed her telepathy; the pride, the delight that he remembered magic sparking in him, too. ]
Well. Regardless of origin, you have those tools now. So: you want to be able to practice this— telepathy, this mind-link, in addition to the tentacles? We can do that.
Dark Dimension surely sounds more judgmental than Far Realm, come now—
[ she smiles at him, tight-lipped but sincere, and mouths dark dimension to herself, gesturing—attach the words to a motion, and she's more likely to remember to come back to it later, if she can't take her own notes just yet. ]
I need to practice both, but the telepathy seems to be the most immediate concern. Imagine if I accidentally linked with Ser Keen!
[ he already hates them all enough, from what she's heard, no reason to give him cause to get the whole organization shut down.
(annulled? they're not a circle, but they've so many mages, would the chantry brand it on annulment even so? ]
[ Wry admission, camaraderie: ] I’m always half a breath away from assuming he’s going to clap me in chains if I say the wrong thing. His priorities and mine are— very different.
[ And Strange hadn’t missed what she’d said, the implication that it’s already been happening out-of-control, and so he segues easily into the next question: ]
[ an understatement if ever ness has heard one, but she just smiles, because—yes. very different priorities, indeed.
she doesn't bother to pretend that she has to think about the answer to his question. ]
There was the elf, Tav, Captain Baudin, the Warden von Skraedder, the Griffon Keeper, and the giant qunari. None seemed terribly perturbed by it, and it has been long enough they could have certainly said something if they'd a mind to, but. That's still more than I'm comfortable with, and I'd like to make sure the number doesn't grow any larger.
[ A longer list than he’d expected or hoped for, either; this is the sort of secret that ought to stay on as short a leash as possible, particularly around the locals. Von Skraedder could be a problem; he doesn’t know her well enough to say. But the rest are fine: rifters all, and then Gwenaëlle. He trusts her more than himself, some days. ]
Hmm. Yeah. That’s a lot of rifters, which gives you a leg up in terms of acceptance. And Riftwatch as a whole has gotten accustomed to stranger magic than anyone else you’ll run into on the street. But we can work with that. We’ll want to get you in enough control that the list doesn’t get much longer.
[ And they start to delve into it, their training starting in earnest: forging that link and Strange counting the seconds for how long it lasts, until Ness gets tired, until the connection peters out and she slumps in her seat. Magic and telepathy is a muscle like any other; it needs practice. They work, her reserves run low, they try again. They part for food and he summons her the next day for more: straightforward, business-like, occasionally sprinkling his own insane anecdote into the conversation so she feels better and less alone about her own circumstances, but he carves out the time for her as surely as if it’s scheduled office hours.
Can’t have the locals tarring and feathering the nice young scholar from Candlekeep, after all. ]
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portalling) wrote2022-04-02 01:17 pm
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no subject
But at least he’s tactful enough not to go down that route. Instead: ]
I’ve known you for several weeks now, and your skin doesn’t seem particularly grey, and your memory is as sharp as any student I’ve known.
[ A hint, an implication. ]
It seems it hasn’t followed you here, at least.
no subject
she nods, understanding his implication, but doesn't look much happier about it. ]
But that's where this magic comes from, I think. Contact with strong magic can... leave an impression, sometimes, in my world. Like the rifts leave a bit of themselves in us, in the anchor, I've been left with... Aberration. Invisible but ever-present difference.
[ ...hang on, she's getting maudlin, this is supposed to be about practicing magic. ness visibly pulls herself back together, shaking her head and straightening out her shoulders. deep breath, chin up, pen back in hand, where were we? ]
So that's where I think it came from. Mindflayers are psychic, and you saw the tentacles, ergo. It is, at least, the strongest theory I have, given I'm not likely to ever know for sure.
no subject
[ This angle is perhaps a little self-serving and biased, considering Stephen Stranges across the multiverse and their predilection towards alarming-looking spells, but. He folds his hands on the desk in front of him. ]
Magic’s gross and ugly and a little slimy sometimes, sure. But if it gets the job done, I don’t see what the problem is. Any tool in a kit.
no subject
I don't mean aberrant as in... morally repugnant, or reprehensible in any way, [ although that debate may be worth having too, considering the unfortunate bent of enchantment magic in general, ] but instead...
[ ness rolls the pen between her hands, squinting softly, a delicate crinkle between her brows. ]
There is a plane of existence known to my world as the Far Realm. It's a place of madness, by all accounts, where many layers of reality blend together. From that Realm come Aberrations, creatures that don't fit in the natural order. Creatures inexplicable by the laws of man or gods.
[ she looks up to catch stephen's eye and spreads her fingers; see what she means now? ]
Mindflayers are one such creature. And now, touched by their magic as I am...
no subject
[ Also arguable as to whether or not that was wise.
He’s looking at Ennaris across that table, sizing her up and feeling her out. Part of this is getting a sense of what her abilities are, and how she feels about them, considering how skittish she’d been in their earliest conversations about it. If only he can help guide her away from the fear, and back to that pleased beaming smile when she displayed her telepathy; the pride, the delight that he remembered magic sparking in him, too. ]
Well. Regardless of origin, you have those tools now. So: you want to be able to practice this— telepathy, this mind-link, in addition to the tentacles? We can do that.
no subject
[ she smiles at him, tight-lipped but sincere, and mouths dark dimension to herself, gesturing—attach the words to a motion, and she's more likely to remember to come back to it later, if she can't take her own notes just yet. ]
I need to practice both, but the telepathy seems to be the most immediate concern. Imagine if I accidentally linked with Ser Keen!
[ he already hates them all enough, from what she's heard, no reason to give him cause to get the whole organization shut down.
(annulled? they're not a circle, but they've so many mages, would the chantry brand it on annulment even so? ]
no subject
[ And Strange hadn’t missed what she’d said, the implication that it’s already been happening out-of-control, and so he segues easily into the next question: ]
Who have you already told on accident?
no subject
she doesn't bother to pretend that she has to think about the answer to his question. ]
There was the elf, Tav, Captain Baudin, the Warden von Skraedder, the Griffon Keeper, and the giant qunari. None seemed terribly perturbed by it, and it has been long enough they could have certainly said something if they'd a mind to, but. That's still more than I'm comfortable with, and I'd like to make sure the number doesn't grow any larger.
potential 🎀
Hmm. Yeah. That’s a lot of rifters, which gives you a leg up in terms of acceptance. And Riftwatch as a whole has gotten accustomed to stranger magic than anyone else you’ll run into on the street. But we can work with that. We’ll want to get you in enough control that the list doesn’t get much longer.
[ And they start to delve into it, their training starting in earnest: forging that link and Strange counting the seconds for how long it lasts, until Ness gets tired, until the connection peters out and she slumps in her seat. Magic and telepathy is a muscle like any other; it needs practice. They work, her reserves run low, they try again. They part for food and he summons her the next day for more: straightforward, business-like, occasionally sprinkling his own insane anecdote into the conversation so she feels better and less alone about her own circumstances, but he carves out the time for her as surely as if it’s scheduled office hours.
Can’t have the locals tarring and feathering the nice young scholar from Candlekeep, after all. ]