[Open] November catch-all

[blackeyedprince]

Who: Kell and open ;)
When: November and possibly spilling into December
Where: Thorne, Nott, Nocwich, the Horizon
What: Catch-all for November, Kell being even more grumpy mess
Warnings: none for now, will add when necessary

[ooc: Prompts in comments, open unless stated otherwise. For plotting PM or poke me on bitweaver ]

Comments

[techmaturgy]

"Part of being a scientist is admitting your own shortcomings. You're a real magic user--you likely know more about it than Jayce and I ever will."

Suffice to say, he appreciates the input.

"I'll let you know our progress. It's likely we'll need field testing sooner rather than later."

If they can smuggle it through Nocwich, that is.

[blackeyedprince]

"That's not very different from being a magician."

Magic is always more powerful than the person wielding it. It always ends badly if a magician forgets it. The balance must be kept. There's only death and destruction when it's not.

"What kind of enchantments do you think would it be best for storing?"

If he were to suggest anything, he'd choose something that's either complicated or time-consuming. More complicated than a stupid rain spell.

About the smuggling... hmm... that was Kell's illicit hobby for a long time. He likes to think he was quite good at it.

[techmaturgy]

"Then perhaps our disciplines are not so different."

Viktor, of course, knows this already. Magic and science complement each other, and need to be approached in similar ways. Still, he's more than willing to admit that he's been dabbling in it for a comparatively short period of time.

"Right now we're working on various protective charms--physical and magical defense. Until we're able to successfully strengthen the metal itself, it seems more suited to jewelry. Tokens. Things of that nature. Also, much easier to pass off as a gift."

[blackeyedprince]

Kell lights up at Viktor's acknowledgment. From what he heard from Jayce descriptions. Even from his worries how both can be misused. Worse still when they work so well together. He agrees. It's really just two ways of approaching the same problem.

"Clever," Kell comments with a smile. "Nobody pays attention to jewellery. Unless they are a thief or themselves a jeweller." If you don't have precious gems grafted into your cheekbones, it's transparent to most people's eyes. "You can pass a lot of magic pretty much unnoticed."

[techmaturgy]

"If they stop us upon entry because they can detect the enchantments, that might get us in trouble, but there's no indication they're looking for that."

Just weapons or other contraband, for now, though he's not so optimistic that he doesn't think it might change, depending on the larger political situation.

"But that's something for Jayce and I to worry about. All we'll need from you are your notes, when you test something for us."

[blackeyedprince]

"That I can definitely deliver."

Because it is obvious by now, that unless barred from by external circumstances he can't somehow circumnavigate either by skill or by cunning, Kell is more than willing to test anything they produce.

"I bet simple enchantments are pretty common. Or at least that's the impression I got from the Thorne side of things. Obviously, I don't know how it's on your side."

Kell smiles, fishing out from under his coat the enchanted pendant they all need to have to even pass the portal to Nocwich.

"Besides, we're already coming in wearing enchanted jewellery. What difference does it make if someone has one more item on their person?"

[techmaturgy]

"Well, that's different. Those are sanctioned." But Viktor laughs, then offers a shrug, seemingly conceding the point. The unfortunate reality of the situation is that they won't really know until they try. If they get in trouble, well, Viktor's been caught doing worse.

"Jayce and I are far from experts, so we'll have to start small anyway. Protection charms and the like. Surely they won't blame us for that."

[blackeyedprince]

"Is it really that different?" Kell winks, but doesn't follow through with this train of thought.

The thing with blatantly trying to play dumb is that you can only pull this off once. So not a sustainable solution for their smuggling needs.

"I don't think they would. A protection charm seems like a reasonable thing to have, even if they do not allow weapons here. Some people don't need weapons to be dangerous. Hypothetically, of course."

Kell hardly believes anyone could attack any of the Summoned in Nocwich. He's mainly trying to build a plausible explanation for Viktor and Jayce to use on why would they want to bring an enchanted object here.

[techmaturgy]

"Hypothetically."

Viktor offers Kell a wry grin to say that he understands. Besides, he's never cared much for rules and regulations, especially when it benefits him to break them.

"You've given me a lot to think about," he says, like he doesn't always have a lot to think about. "I'll let you know when we've made some headway on your cloak."

I'd call that a wrap, what do you think?

[blackeyedprince]

See, that's why they understand each other so well. Kell was never one with much respect to rules. And there were so many rules governing his life back home. Some of them he bent only slightly. Some he broke when no one was looking. He was rarely openly defiant - that would be costly - but he had his ways.

"Thank you. I'd love to hear about it, even if you end finding out that's not possible with the local magic or technology."

As much as he'd love to have something close to his coat back. The process itself is interesting.