thespherelogs | The first night work

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The first night work

Who: Seregil, Alec and Jag
What: Seregil posed a thought on the network and now he, Alec and Jag are discussing it in further detail
Where: One of the less occupied or inviting pods
When: The beginning of February
Warnings: Scenes of a conspiering nature (possible interesting vibes if Jag gets touched)

The boy had been an exciting find. There was sarcasm, but no bravado to offset it. Seregil had decided rather early in their conversation that he enjoyed engaging with the boy. And that he would be useful. There were things that he and Alec were lacking and, he had become well aware of that when he'd been here for some time before Alec arrived. This wasn't their world, and they needed to compensate for that. Having been exiled from his people and thrown into a world, he knew little to nothing about at such a young age had taught him more than he should ever know about that.

One couldn't exist on one's merits alone, there needed to be at least some form of a network in place, and unfortunately, Seregil feared they would have to establish it themselves. Especially when you added those damn locks into it, they would be the death of their trade if there weren't some adaptation. This was the first step.

Alec was warier then Seregil; something still a bit disconcerting to him. The man he'd left was a wide-eyed and trusting man full of good nature and accepting of everyone. A trait that Seregil feared would get him killed one day and the reason he kept him as close as he did when he knew it would eventually break his heart. This Alec was closed. Not to him, but it seemed to others. There had been no bright and shining pretense over the network or attempts to establish a connection. There had been sticking close and to himself. It made Seregil wonder what they'd been through that had caused the change. What horrors would await him in his future - or had awaited another him in another future

One day he might crack the man's shell and learn what had caused the change, but not wasn't the time. So they waited, him watching his friend with cautious curiosity as they waited for the boy to arrive.

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Now, this hadn't been part of his and Jagger's discussion. It was new information that might have been better to learn beforehand, but if the boy was a wizard, well, that could be even more useful.

Back home, it was always so difficult for Jagger to explain without someone looking at him as though he'd grown a third head or something equally ridiculous. It was easily validated if he were to touch something important to the one offering the questions, or even more so if he were to touch the individual themselves. Without focusing his mind, he perceived only the briefest of glimpses, indistinguishable from blurred images viewed from the window of a speeding railway car, easily missed and nearly impossible to identify unless he were to turn, hone in, interpret.

Somehow, he got the feeling these two might understand without the necessity to be considered insane or the never satisfied requirement of proof. He shifted, holding his hands out before him, still gloved but almost as though on display.

"Ever since I can remember, I've had the ability to...know things about objects, people by touching them. Objects are easier to read. Whatever's touched them leaves a sort of...finite impression upon them. People are changing constantly, so it's harder to get a read on them. They're like...trying to pause a kaleidoscope being turned by someone else."

Alec's brow rose, and he nodded slowly. He couldn't imagine that was an easy kind of life, but it was--

"Useful," Alec said. "At least, in certain situations."

Ferreting out contraband and blackmail from nobles' studies would be a hell of a lot easier with a compass like that. It could have some applications in street performing too, though something told Alec that Jagger wouldn't care to degrade himself like that.

Alec and Seregil certainly weren't above it.

Ah, magic then. That wasn't so surprising really. Home, in Aurenen most possessed some form of it; why would it be surprising for someone here too as well?

Alec was right though, it did sound useful. It would certainly make the following of someone or weeding out a spy easier if one could read objects or people the way Jagger could.

"And you used it to read the glass around the sphere?" At least that seemed to be what he had been implying.

"Useful, sure, and annoying." Even when he focused his mental eye, they were riddles at best.

"And I did, yeah, but it was...very clean. Too clean."

"Too clean? As if no one else had ever touched it?"

Or some other thing was erasing the history and impressions from it. Not for the first time since their arrival, Alec wished Thero were with them. He'd have a more solid idea of what could cause these things, about what manner of magic could purify it in such a way.

"Have you ever encountered that before?"

Seregil had other ideas regarding understanding what was going on, but he let Alec follow his line of thought. He wished Nysander were here. He'd know the right things to ask to figure this all out.

Jagger shook his head to answer the question. "No, never. It's...really impossible. At least I thought it was. Everything I know about this ability I've learned through trial and error, but...generally, everything collects some sort of impression from people or spirits. For it to be completely clean?" He shakes his head. "I'm at a loss."

"But that's alright! Because that tells us something too. It's impossible for the thing to be totally clean, right? Logically, considering how many people must make contact with it, and must have in the past as well, there has to be some history. So let's try to look at this a different way."

A different way, indeed. Alec wasn't even sure he understood what needed understanding with any of this. It all felt so far outside the realm of possibility. Then again, so had a good deal of his life in general over the past five years. Was this really so much further removed?

Alec stared hard at the ground, brow in a deep furrow as he absently tucked his hair behind his ear. As his fingers brushed the gold disc, he suddenly looked up between Seregil and Jagger. The discs... now that was an interesting thought.

"What if it's blocking you from getting anything from it?"

"I know quite a few wizards who could perform a spell like that." Seregil was certain that there were others from other worlds who could do the same. After all, a spell like that seemed like it would be universal.

"Perhaps....I mean, It's possible, yeah." He began to subtly pace, not a conscious gesture, as he thinks, running a hand back through his hair as though that somehow makes things clearer.

"So, you think some wizard or...mage cleaned it...magically?"

"Or it's not clean at all."

Alec tilted his head to the side slightly, motioning to the gold disc behind his ear.

"They're in our heads. These things allow us to communicate with one another, to project images from our own eyes into other peoples' minds by just thinking it. I can barely grasp technology of that magnitude, but I wonder if they're just for communication. I wonder if they're not controlling your abilities, to a point. Just enough that you can't get a read on that sphere.

"I just think it's rather convenient that you can feel everything except for that thing."

The notion had some disturbing connotations, not the least of which being: what else was being taken from them? What else was being limited and controlled?

They were the same thoughts that Seregil had about the annoying golden ball that served as a messenger stick. The thing was connected to their brain, and who knew what it could pull out of them.

He had a sneaking suspicion that they were the reason for the memories that had been shared before, but he said nothing on that.

"If there is, there's no way around it right now, so we'll have to work with what we have and circle round back to it. Perhaps we'll gain a technological ally that can help us figure out the way they work." Or steal an unused one (he'd prefer not to try to remove one from someone).

A sinking feeling began in the pit of his stomach as Alec spoke and solidified to an icy berg was Seregil agreed with the other man. He swallowed, thoughts drifting to the golden sphere behind his ear as he regarded it with a new sort of suspicion. It hadn't even occurred to him it could be controlling his abilities. He had so little control over them himself it hadn't even occurred to him it could be possible.

"...maybe. That's...a good point."

"Jag? Are you alright?"

Jag seemed disturbed by the notion. Not that Alec wasn't, and all rightfully so. But there wasn't much to be done than to work through it as best they could, and Alec resolved to make the best of this incredibly unfortunate situation rather than dwell on the ramifications. Unerring positivity -- or perhaps merely upbeat realism -- was Alec's only weapon against despair.

Seregil can guess what unnerved Jag. The idea of others being able to suspend your natural ability is terrifying. Having once been a wizard's apprentice and having the affliction he did, he could imagine Thero or any other young wizard's reaction to not being able to use their magic due to outside sources. It would feel like an invasion, a violation of their very existence. He imagined Jag was feeling much the same way.

Rather then moving on, he allowed Jag some time to recover.

He was thankful for Alec's question, blinking and nodding to come back to the present. If something was restricting his abilities in some way, that would mean something in itself, after all, shock and awe be damned.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, mate. Just...I barely have control of it most days. It'd be nice if they clued me in if they can do it so well, yeah?"

Alec gives a short chuckle with a shake of his head.

"It would. I think we'd all like to know how any of this works."

"Personally, I'd like to know how to get around those damn locks." It was said in jest as if he weren't earnest. Alec, on the other hand, knew just how serious he was.

"Have you been able to use your abilities on things other than the sphere?"

"You and me both, mate." Jag nods and looks over to Seregil. "Yeah. Otherwise, it's worked fine."

Alec sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair.

"Well, that's frustrating. And it must be a bit unnerving for you. But a working theory gives us something to start on. Perhaps there are other ways to find what we need. We'd need to do a bit more digging to figure out how though."

Alec looked to Seregil. "What do you think, tali?"

"Well," Seregil pushes off his spot on the table and pokes around at something that caught his eye as they were talking. The man is a true magpie if ever there was one. "I'd say it's a reasonable assumption that whatever is hindering abilities is localized to the Sphere itself. Possibly something like a warding charm or the like."

Easy enough he's turned in the opposite direction and moving back, still laying out the situation as he sees it. "It's possible to get into the pods, but impossible to get into those damn lockboxes; which is where I would hypothesize any hidden information would be kept. Which means we'll have to do this through open ears and following leads." He turns to Jagger. "How good are you at that?" At spying; how good is he at spying is the question, only he's not asking it in so many words.

He follows Seregil's motions with his eyes, crossing his arms and regarding him. The way he moves around, curious, but also slightly invasive. A thief? Maybe something more?

"About as good as picking locks, which...I'm a fair hand at. Like you said, secrets are usually behind locked doors." He makes a motion toward the lockboxes." They're electronically locked, probably with a passcode, or a fingerprint, like our own. Everyone's hands have unique prints, no two are alike. Someone savvy with technology might be able to bypass it, though. Every lock has a failsafe in case the owner, you know, dies." He motions around, as though that's the likely idea here, "or disappears."

"Perfect. We're such a dab hand at this technology." Alec sighed and rolled his head back across his shoulders.

"We've tried everything we could think of. It doesn't work replicating the fingerprint. And I would rather not cut off our fingers to test that one out. But there's no internal mechanism to release either. It's impossible."

"We're not cutting off anyone's fingers, talí." There was a finality to that as if there was a thought that Alec meant to cut his finger off to see if it would work. Doubt on if he would was high, but Seregil still felt that needed to be addressed. "For now, let's look at the material in them as untenable, unless our friend here knows of a way to get into them. What we need is information."

Moving back to his seat he began fiddling with the small gem that he'd grabbed, thinking a moment before looking at Jagger again. "Which means ears to the ground, unless you have another idea."

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