Open Log - Thorne Castle

[nadine_he_loves]

Who: Nadine and OPEN
Where: Thorne Castle
When: June 12th and 13th
What: Meeting roommates, getting acclimated, exploring
Warnings: N/A, will add if needed




Exploring

There's little to do but poke around wherever they're allowed to poke around. And, while at it, slip out a few sweets from the dining hall to share with the less fortunate. Nadine made a promise, after all.

But there's plenty to see, in this area they're kept to. The library and the study hall are of the most interest, the books and practicing mages likely the most promising option for learning anything worthwhile. Their hosts are being very specific with what they say and what they don't, offering just enough information to avoid accusations of keeping everyone entirely in the dark. But still not sharing all they know, it's obvious there's much more going on than any newcomer is privy to.

That's alright. It's not ideal but it's alright. Nadine has her purpose to put herself towards, and she does. She can be found flipping through book after book in the library and muttering under her breath or quietly watching magic lessons in the study hall, eyes narrowed and lips pursed as she follows as best she can.

And of course, she makes sure to linger in the dining hall, idling by the offerings of food and perusing them seemingly casually. When she thinks she isn't being watched, she'll slip a small morsel of dessert or chocolate treat into her tunic sleeve.


Room 2

The idea of shared quarters is not one that Nadine is thrilled about. She'd already met one earlier, and somehow, through some blessed - or cursed - twist of fate, it's a friendly face. Sort of. She'd never met Lloyd before but she knows who he is, and any right hand of her husband's...he's on her side, is the point. Someone she can, to some extent trust. And who'll look out for her.

But there are two beds who's occupants she's yet to meet, and she's too pragmatic to imagine they'll be left empty. Especially now, the day winding down. It's been a hectic and long one, and Nadine's feeling it in her bones. She settles on her own bed, curtains open, and hands folded in her lap to contemplate her next move and wait for whoever she's stuck sharing her personal space with.

Comments

[nightwash]

Impressive. She's pegged him for a terrorist already. That's got to be some kind of record.

"Do I look like I'm fighting anything anytime soon?"

Nevermind that he looks like he lost at least one fight very recently. Ronan checks his nose again. Still nothing dripping out of him. Small mercies.

"I wanna see what you can do."

[nadine_he_loves]

"Honestly? You look like you already were."

There's nothing accusatory in the words, just a simple pointing out of the obvious. He looks like he's been fighting with someone or something. Nadine wouldn't be surprised if he had plans of doing it again. Everybody had their skills, maybe Ronan's was his fists. She's not about to judge, not in circumstances like these.

"I don't blame you, at all. If I thought I was in any position to fight back, I probably would too." She hasn't exactly been silent in her displeasure, though her questions and concerns have all been brushed off.

"As for the magic, it's really not that impressive. And nothing the mages training in the training hall aren't doing..." She shrugs, but stands up anyway. She's not sure if she can do it sitting down, so far it seems like how she stands and how she holds her hands matters. At least now.

[nightwash]

Ronan doesn't deny that he's been fighting, but he doesn't correct her assumption about the target, either. He's got the sense its best to play his cards close to his chest.

He suspects she's doing the same.

Leaning forward, Ronan fixes his attention on what she's doing with her hands. "I haven't even tried this shit yet," he confesses, "so at least you're better than I am."

[nadine_he_loves]

"They seem weirdly interested in teaching us. Little things, but..." Well, Nadine has her suspicions. They don't need to be shared at this particular moment, she's not about to offer up every opinion she has about this place.

Besides, she needs to focus. Magic isn't a natural inclination for her, and she's only just started learning. She takes a deep breath, cupping her hands in front of her and looking down into them. Her eyes narrow, as do her lips, all three becoming thin lines in her heart shaped face. Think of fire. Picture the flame. Build it until it seems real...

She starts muttering under her breath, a repetition of the same few words over and over again as her breathing slows and evens out.

Eventually, as Nadine begins to sweat lightly, a lick of flame appears in her cupped palms, bright and dancing and almost an inch high...and it promptly snuffs out in a wisp of black smoke.

[nightwash]

As he watches, Ronan unfolds from his slack position and stands to full height. What do you feel? asks the relentless voice in his head, now an unbreakable habit. And he tries — he really does — to find the energy between all things that must be powering her magic. He can see it with his own eyes. It has to be here.

He is so, so hungry.

When the flame snuffs out, Ronan blinks at the afterimage. He can't tell if the spell ran out because she's bad at it or because this place has been sucked dry. He can't fucking feel anything at all.

As if someone just dumped a bucket of cold water on is head, Ronan scowls and slumps back against the canopy post of his bed. He's in an even worse mood than he was two seconds ago. He might as well have asked her to wave a slice of cake in front of his face and tell him he's not allowed to eat it.

"That's all you got?"

[nadine_he_loves]

"Well, I just started learning magic at all yesterday, so yeah, that's all I can do." Hadn't she said at the start it wasn't impressive? She'd offered the warning for a reason, she knows it's next to nothing.

But some people always ignore what it says on the label.

"I've been trying to figure out summoning wind, but I haven't had any luck with that so far. Magic...isn't really much of a thing, where I come from. I've never done anything besides...the stuff every kid does, at some point, I guess. Messing around with 'spooky' stuff. But it was just kid games."

Except when it wasn't, but that's Nadine secret. That's private, something treasured and special.

[nightwash]

Ronan waves a hand, dismissive — only the gesture seems aimed more at himself than at her. For fuck's sake, she's just a human. It's impressive that she can do anything at all.

"Sorry," he mumbles, scrubbing at his face, trying to keep the sleep from creeping in. "I didn't mean it like that." But he can't really explain how he meant it without getting into the whole thing, and he doesn't want to say more than he has to. Not when he's got Kylo to watch his back.

...Sometime soon, he hopes.

"I don't get how it works. The magic here. It's like it's everywhere and anyone can just reach out and use it, but then... I don't know. I know they said the summoning fucked us up and we'll get back to normal soon, but I don't get how one kind of magic can work but not the other. Same cord, wrong outlet?"

Maybe he'll close his eyes and electrocute himself.

[nadine_he_loves]

"Interference." The word bubbles up to the top of Nadine's mind and slips out. "Like...radio waves and static. That'd be my guess."

Something like that. Whatever it is, it's strong. The magical static or however one wanted to explain it, it managed to even cut Flagg's magical legs out from under him. As far as she's concerned, Flagg's powers tread close to those of a god's.

"But I don't know. A lot doesn't add up around here. I hope whatever it is clears up soon, and they're not just lying about that."

[nightwash]

Interference. That's right. That's exactly what it is. It has to be. Like a junkyard choking a ley line, only now he's the ley line and it's junk magic choking him.

"It wouldn't make sense for them to lie about it," Ronan says, kneading at his temple with a knuckle. "Why bring us here if they don't want to use what we've got? If they could just pick up any asshole off the street and teach them their trademark brand of magic, they wouldn't need to summon us from every other bumfuck universe. They obviously need what we brought with us."

They'd better. Or else Ronan's going to be dead within a week.

[nadine_he_loves]

"Do they? I sure didn't come with anything. Maybe they just don't want to use their own people as canon fodder."

An optimist Nadine is not. Life has taught her, time and time again, nothing is free and nothing is ever as good as it seems. Or even half as good, usually. All of this? She's sure it's set dressing, prettying up something darker and more sinister. It's always pleasant at first, but then the reality slips in. Sometimes slowly, sometimes all at once, but it's coming.

It always comes.

"I just know when one group of people has power over another, it never goes well. For the ones without the power, anyway."

[nightwash]

"No," Ronan says. Not a fearful or desperate denial of the circumstances, but a solemn understanding. "I'm not saying it'll go great for us, but we're not cannon fodder."

The people who want to kill him never delay in attempting it, because they know that if he gets a single opportunity to make his move, it's over for them. They hunt. They don't capture. The ones who try to capture him want something more valuable than his death.

"They know me. They know what I do. They wouldn't waste something like me when they could use a human instead." He glances at Nadine. "No offense."

[nadine_he_loves]

"I'd say that would probably depend on what kind of cannons they're dealing with. Or maybe that's why they took people like you and people like me - maybe you're a battery. Besides, these wouldn't be the first people to waste resources they could use better. History is full of countries making really stupid decisions."

Nadine just can't dismiss the idea outright. Even if they took powerful people - and she knows they have - it doesn't mean they plan to utilize them well.

"Have you ever heard about the time ancient Athens tried to invade Sicily? They had the resources and the manpower and a brilliant general...and they said to hell with tactics and basically threw their entire army against a wall, threw their general under the metaphorical bus, and spectacularly lost to a much smaller and less prepared force. Good resources doesn't mean they'll be used well."

[nightwash]

"Then why aren't we all in cages? Why put half of us in the luxury suites if we're just going to die?"

It doesn't make sense. Ronan is as paranoid as anyone, but there's got to be some kind of logic behind the way they've all been sorted and arranged. It would sure as shit help him figure things out a little easier if Nadine would stop hiding whatever she's hiding, though he's not feeling desperate enough to drag answers out of her. She probably has as many reasons as he does.

[nadine_he_loves]

"Psychological control?" It's clear Nadine's only offering it as a suggestion, something she's come to after a bit of thought. "I've read about a lot of psychological experiments and research, and it's a tactic used sometimes. Create a divide where there isn't one. Treat one group differently than the other, make sure both groups know...maybe they're hoping we'll spend more time being suspicious of each other than them."

Or they just want to keep everyone off balance and guessing, again, for control.

"There's all sorts of ways to show and exert control that don't obviously look like it."