songerein | [OPEN] A Late March Catchall

Entry tags:

[OPEN] A Late March Catchall

Who: Herlock Sholmes ... and you?
Which: Open Log
Where: Around Reverein (The Wild Harvest, The Communal Garden)
What: Sholmes enjoys some intellectual pursuits in public
Warnings: Threads may include spoilers for GAA/GAA2 and will be marked accordingly. Feel free to opt out or simply write an OOC note in the tag.

A. The Curious Tale of the Man with the Jars

XXnd of March(?), Throughout the Day
The Wild Harvest

[ If one happens to visit the Wild Harvest today, they will find one of its tables has been completely overtaken by a single guest and his clutter: a stack of books*, a (normal) journal, a handful of measuring tools, and--depending on what time you find him--half-eaten plates of food, a sweaty glass of ice water, a cup of tea, or a neglected pint of beer. His overcoat, deerstalker, and leather bag are discarded on the seat next to him, leaving the detective to comfortably study in his rolled shirtsleeves.

However, all of that aside, one may find a mismatched collection of jars to be of much greater interest. Judging by the stubborn residue from their labels, the containers previously held pickles, jams, and spices, but peering into them now will reveal various specimens, living or otherwise: insects, plants, colorful stones, mysterious fluids, one or two familiar orange hate feathers and a few four-leaf clovers. ]

[[ * OOC: This is a random mix from the bookstore. Feel free to make up titles or recognize a volume from your character’s canon if you’d like another excuse to make small talk! ]]

B. The Adventure of the Fickle Fiddler

XXst of March(?), Late Afternoon, Trending into Evening
The Communal Garden

[ Alternately, if one happens to be enjoying a late-day stroll by the communal garden, they will catch the sound of a violin. A few bars of a tune play, followed by a pause, some muttering, and a bowed revision. It's a bit difficult to make out the song or the violinist's actual skill given the choppy progress, but if, by chance, one hails from some variant of Earth and has a keen ear for classical music, they may recognize phrases of Paganini.

Venturing deeper into the garden, one will find the source of the music: a man standing by the pond with a violin tucked under his chin. After bowing out a bar, he bends to write (or erase) notes on the makeshift sheet music paper laid out across a bench. A chorus of singing fish poke up from the depths of the pond to helpfully parrot his melodies. ]

C. WILDCARD

[ Hit me up via PM or discord if you have other business or scenarios you'd like to address with Sholmes! ]

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[ Despite having spent a few months living here, at this point, the idea of fish chirping is still so... strange. But then again, she's never tried to play music for fish before. Who knows.

In any case, his description earns a thoughtful little hum at her. She's been to big cities, similar to what he's describing, but it's been quite some time since she would have called such a place her home. At his question, she shakes her head. ]

Ah, no. By "primal elements" I mean water, earth, fire... Those elements. I can draw from and manipulate them using spells. It's, um, a bit different from using dreamotion energy.

I take it that your home doesn't have magic, Mister Sholmes?

Not in the sense of spells and curses and so forth, no. Purely the stuff of fairy stories. There's stage magic, of course, but that amounts to nothing more than clever misdirection and sleight of hand. [ He shakes his head in mild disgust. ]

No, my home is ruled by the strict laws of nature as quantified by science—which, if you'll allow me to be poetic, is its own kind of orderly magic. From it, we make medicine, machines, weapons ... the applications are quite endless.

[ He waves his bow again, as if to encompass the surrounding garden and the town beyond. ]

But this place is wont to subvert those laws in rather confounding ways. [ To put it lightly. ] Do you find it's taken a toll on your own magic?

[ Ori tries to imagine herself in a world entirely devoid of magic, which is... incredibly difficult. Magic isn't quite so commonplace or widespread as one might believe, where she's from, but it's just that her own life has been so deeply influenced and shaped by magic that... well, she would probably be an entirely different person, were she brought into a life with no magic.

That being said, what he describes as science does conjure in her mind the image of wizards and alchemists, making sense and order in formulas and runes what the sort of chaos that she draws upon for her own magic. ]

Orderly magic sounds a bit like what wizards do. They understand and use magic in very precise and calculated ways... it's an entirely different way of using magic than what I'm used to.

But, to answer your question— I don't think it has. It's made for some interesting effects on my magic, but nothing... bad. [ Maybe? ] Except for the times that I can't use my magic at all, like in dreamscapes.

[ Sholmes nods at the dreamscape restrictions. Odd that something like magic would find no purchase there, but maybe if it severs a connection with her primal elements ... ? Hm.

Naturally, the mention of "wizards" conjures eccentric, bearded hermits living in crumbled towers or peat huts. To be fair, that's not far from the life of a truly committed scientist, or really, where Sholmes might be headed as he gets on in years. ]

Fascinating. If a wizard's approach is regimented, then yours is more— [ He hums, searching for the right word. Maybe even one that won't cause offense. ] ... intuitive?

[ She's utterly prepared to hear her approach described as something less... flattering, but she's pleasantly surprised to hear "intuitive," as that does feel rather right. Natural might have been her pick of word, with no pun intended. ]

... Hmm! That's a good way of putting it, actually. It's more... Innate, in a way. Some magic users get their magic from their bloodline, or other ways, too.

[ Like questionable pacts with actual literal demons, perhaps. But Ori wouldn't know anything about that! ]

A magical inheritance? [ Sholmes begins pacing and tapping his bow against his shoulder as the cogs begin to spin anew. ] So there may be a physiological component ... An organ evolved to the purpose, perhaps? One that resonates with elements? Or produces a magical bile!

[ If a being can display such unusual external features, it only follows that they might develop equally strange innards! ]

[ Magical bile... Well, she can't exactly say that she's never encountered such a thing... ]

Um... No, not organs, or at least I don't think so? I meant... Say if someone were a descendant of another powerful magical being, or something like that...

Ah. [ He stops pacing and looks ... disappointed? He SO wanted to reduce magic to a matter of secretions. ]

So that leaves me to wonder: which was yours? Did you already have an inherited aptitude? Or was it a talent you cultivated from scratch?

[ Fear not, Sholmes, Ori is fairly certain that there must be a creature out there in this very realm with magic vomit. They've just got to go and find it.

Her lips pull into a smile at his question, the flowers in her hair perking up just a little as she answers, ]

I'm not sure! It's been said that my sister and I were both both with magical talents, but our powers are very... hm, different from each other? But I am sure that mine is connected, like I said, to nature and the primal elements. I didn't know how to use it, really, but I met a druid who helped me focus that connection eventually.

Family can be so very similar and yet so disappointingly different. Some of us cultivate a celebrated profession from the promising seeds of our talents, while our siblings waste them on dreadful mundanity.

[ He shakes his head and sighs. Maybe it's for the best his brother is content to be "mundane" or Sholmes may have ended up the World's Second-Greatest Detective. ]

But, my word! I can't say I've ever met a druid, much less sought the wisdom of one—in my world, they all but disappeared under the Roman Empire many centuries ago. Maybe it's for the best, as they were alleged to practice ritual human sacrifice. [ A brow pointedly raises at Oriphi, more teasing than accusatory. ] I trust that's nothing you enjoy.

[ Oriphi would argue that between herself and her sister, she is rather the more mundane one— but the train of thought (not that she knows what a train is) is derailed entirely by what he says next as confusion washes across her face.

This time, at least, she picks up on the teasing edge of the look he gives her. But still... ]

... No, that's not...

[ She sighs. ]

That's not it at all. But this time I can tell that you're teasing me, aren't you, Mister Sholmes? What would you have done if I said that I do that, I wonder?

Why, my original misconception would have been thoroughly vindicated, Miss Oriphi! Clearly, you collect flowers for the altar before it's anointed in fresh blood. [ He jerks his bow across his neck, as if a ceremonial blade. ]

And I would set about convincing you that I would make a terrible sacrifice. Authority figures find me troublesome—the mortal kind, anyhow, though I can assume the same extends to gods. [ He wags his bow back and forth vigorously. ] No, a pure maiden or a strong warrior would make a more appropriate offering.

[ A pause, before he loops the topic back around. ] Naturally, I must wonder ... if you are drawn to nature, what is your sister's magical inclination?

[ The gesture, harmless as it is administered by the bow of a violin rather than an actual weapon, still draws a frown from the tiefling. At least she knows that he's teasing her, at this point. Unfortunately, she has seen such horrifying sights as nefarious forces using innocent lives as sacrifices for some greater evil, but she's not about to talk about it and invite further questions from Sholmes, especially when she's not sure he would believe her if she were to explain that she was there to put a stop to such acts.

The question he does ask is one she is more than willing to answer, and it certainly invites a better line of conversation than the whole sacrifice talk. ]

Mmm, she uses elemental magic. Ice spells, to be exact. Her magic seems to be something more innate than mine, though. She's really quite a powerful sorceress...!

[ Honestly Sholmes should hope that Valphi never sets foot here, because she would end him if she ever caught wind of what he's said to Oriphi........ ]

[ While, it seems, detection should call for more a more skeptical approach, a combination of Sholmes' wild imagination and adaptability have quickly recalibrated his sense of normalcy. Besides—who is he to question whether someone has, in fact, faced strange evils? This woman is sporting purple skin, horns, and a tail with no indication of make-up or costumed trickery. ]

I've seen companions perform similar feats here with fire and ice. However, I suspect they were clever manipulations of dreamotion.

[ He taps his nose with the bow, then raises his brows imploringly. ] May I see a demonstration of your skills? To compare?

[ No sooner has he asked this than he remembers how embarrassed Susato was when she used hers to burn a spider's web. Maybe magic is a private thing? He quickly adds: ] That is, if it's not too much of a bother.

[ Ori, who is usually quite accommodating and happy to show anyone who asks after her magic anyway, decides this might be a good opportunity to solidify her identity as a Just a Harmless Being to Sholmes. So at his request, she nods enthusiastically, the flowers in her hair bobbing in an ecstatic response to her brightening up. ]

It's not a bother at all! I'm more than happy to show you.

[ And so over the remaining course of their time together this afternoon, Ori offer Sholmes a glimpse at her magical abilities. She elects to demonstrate smaller, more modest feats of magic, for now: conjuring vines, or a small mote of flames in her hand. Perhaps the most impressive of these feats would be her summoning a magical familiar, which takes the form of a cat with flowers covering the fur on its back. Hopefully that sates his curiosity and paints her in a better light moving forward! ]

(( ooc: Hi! I'm wrapping the thread here since I'm on hiatus this month. c: Thank for you for the fun thread, I would love to do more with this cr when I'm back next month! ))

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[OPEN] A Late March Catchall

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