Recording #002 | June Log

[the_archive]

WHO | Jon and OTA.
WHAT | DITL mostly, with a few starts in the comments. Feel free to run into Jon anywhere mentioned. He's flexing his Knowing, so if you're interested in dropping some knowledge, that'd be lovely.
WHERE | The Castle, Thorne, the Library, the Dungeon
WHEN | Post-Festival through the rest of June

Realizing that his connection to the Eye is whole again rather soured the end of the Festival for Jon. He spent a day behind the curtains in his room, enduring a headache, but now that's settled down to a mute throb, he's walking off the rest of it while he wrestles with himself.

It's not a surprise, this reconnection. Ambrose told him the respite would only be for a few days. And it's not explicitly unwanted. There are a lot of questions to which he needs answers, and he knows he can seek out those answers, but not without some cost. He knows he'll do it, since the information isn't only for himself. He has to work up the courage.

And he hasn't read a statement in over two weeks now, which is... troublesome. Despite taking full advantage of the dining hall daily (okay, nearly daily), he's aware of a constant vague hunger.

So the walking is as much distraction as exploration. He's going to wear out his sandals pacing the corridors of the castle and the aisles of the library, walking out into the town. He mostly confines his town visits to mid-day, when folk are often too busy to waylay an "honoured guest."

Comments

[the_archive]

He makes a considering sound, glancing from the book to the other man. "It's good to see someone working on direct action. Do you need to prove their innocence here, or just lack of guilt?"

[iobject]

"The good news is I only have to convince one person that they should be free. The bad news is... I only have to convince one person that they should be free." Phoenix has his struggles with the legal system back home--the legal system where the deck is always stacked against the defense, and nothing but physical evidence matters even when all the prosecution's witness testimony falls apart on the stand. That said, it's a system, and it's a system he understands. This is appealing to one man's temperament, and there's no guarantee that justice will matter to him.

"Ambrose has the authority to put people in and out of jail at will. Since they're in there on his authority, they need his authority to get out."

[the_archive]

He nodded contemplatively. "And Ambrose made the decisions which put each person in. Sounds like an uphill battle." He looks at the other man again, with an absent frown that isn't for him. At least he's used to uphill battles, it seems. "Do you remember him looking at a book, when you arrived?"

[iobject]

Phoenix nods in agreement. An uphill battle is right. But then again, when in his life has he ever had anything but an uphill battle?

"Yeah, I remember the book. It seemed like some kind of record book that told him who was supposed to be here?" Phoenix rubs his chin, looking off in the distance in thought. "I haven't been able to learn much more about it, though. They say that they hear about our heroic exploits, but that doesn't make all that much sense to me. I don't know about you, but my life isn't exactly one for the storybooks."

He is vastly underestimating the interest and heroism of his life. He doesn't think anyone but legal nerds would be interested in what he does.

[the_archive]

Jon pulls out an unused chair to take a seat himself, looking over the books, this time with a little more intention. But the Eye doesn't seem to take an interest in any of them. But Jon is interested in what he's trying to do. Especially since it seems like his own niche. Interesting.

"No, that's certainly a lie," he says, positive. "I've never had a heroic exploit in my life, and they gave me the same pitch. I would actually assume they didn't know anything about us as individuals, on arrival. Except maybe to assign this-" He taps the embroidery on his back. "But even that- most cold-readings of tarot seem to work specifically because the cards can be so broadly applied."

[iobject]

Phoenix glances at the embroidery on his cloak, touching the stylized heart there. "Yeah, I haven't the slightest what these are supposed to mean. They seem like just some other kind of astrology." And Phoenix isn't exactly an astrology believer. "'The Lovers' sounds like the kind of thing some Lothario would have. If I didn't know better, I'd say they mixed me up with someone else when they were handing signs out."

The Lovers actually fits him very well. He loves too hard and too much, and he always needs at least one person who can accept that love or he'll drown in it. Not that Phoenix really allows himself to think about it. Self-reflection is something he avoids.

[the_archive]

"Tarot, it seems. All the ones I've seen match with tarot cards, back where I'm from. The Lovers is more about- about choices than actual romance. The consequences of choice. The way making a choice collapses the possibilities open to you."

[iobject]

"I've heard of Tarot, but I can't say I know anything about it." He cocks his head at the explanation, still rubbing his chin. "The way making a choice collapses possibilities? Well... isn't that life?"

He shrugs his shoulders, a wry smile teasing his lips. "We all have to make choices some time, and that means not doing things we could have done instead."

[the_archive]

"Of course it is. Tarot cards aren't meant to label people. If you believe in them, they're meant to give you an idea of how to address whatever you have going on. The Lovers is probably usually interpreted as a warning. If you choose A, you can't go back and decide you want B later."

[iobject]

"So my sign is a warning? That's pretty ominous." Phoenix rubs the back of his neck, momentarily unsettled before remembering that he thinks these signs are wholly arbitrary and don't actually have any bearing on who people are. "What's yours supposed to be?"

[the_archive]

"The High Priestess." He turns his sleeve, looking at the little version of the sigil embroidered there. "The recordkeeper, and keeper of secrets. She carries a scroll with all the knowledge of past, present, and future, and usually means something about secrets, or mysteries, or solving mysteries." He gives him a wry look. "The Nancy Drew card."

[iobject]

"Oh, that's a good one." Phoenix means it. It definitely sounds a lot better than the 'warning: choices are permanent' card. "Are you a detective?"

Then he remembers he doesn't actually buy into these things, but who knows? Maybe Ambrose observed them and slapped some card assignments on them based on their jobs or something.

[the_archive]

"No. Recordkeeping." Because he's doing his best to leave the word archivist behind. "But it's still a little close to the mark."

[iobject]

"Oh. Like a stenographer? Or a librarian?" 'Librarian' seems closest to 'recordkeeper' to Phoenix. He's not sure if everyone has stenographers, though. Or maybe librarians. Trying to think of all the ways people's worlds could be different from his makes his head spin.

[the_archive]

"No, like a recordkeeper. I oversee- oversaw the records of a specialized research organization."

He glances around casually, but meaningfully. Inside the castle library is not where he'd discuss that in any real detail.

[iobject]

Phoenix didn't spend seven years looking over his shoulder to not pick up on that cue. His smile stays unmoving and polite, an impeccable poker face, and he nods. "It sounds interesting. I'd like to hear about it some time."

Polite, sounding totally normal, while still shutting down that line of questioning.

"Are you interested in learning about Thorne's legal theory? I could recommend some books that aren't as dry as these things usually are."

[the_archive]

"Do they actually have a legal system?" It's pessimistic interest, but it's interest. Jon picks up a nearest book, raising an eyebrow at the title.