ꙮ Some hours after the first meeting with Solei, and you’re back at the 36 th Tower. There’s a knock on Unua’s door.
No song playing
Up next: 0 songs
1 listening
- The Dragon
Scene Archives
← Active ScenesThe Academician's Lab, I
#ck
#caion
#solei
#tasna
rises, makes sure Casid is leashed, and opens the door.
: “Hallo, Unua. Are you busy?” There’s a spring in his step.
: “Not at all, Friend-Caion. Time is the thing I have the most of. Can I be of assistance?”
: “At this rate…I may have more treats for Ĉasid than time, but I digress.”
: “I believe so! Or at least, you can be of interest.” A slight smile. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Solei actively gnawing on a question, let alone several, and they asked me if I could come fetch you.”
: “Then I am fetched. Where to?”
: “Follow me!”
Seeing Ĉasid curled up on a pile of the party’s Almachadtan outfits, Unua decides to let the Little Hunter sleep, and follows Caion.
ꙮ Unua’s stride is longer than Caion’s, and so Caion doesn’t have to slow down even a little, as they lead Unua back through to the Central tower - not -up- this time, but ducking into a weird little hallway or two and into a lab that’s just very slightly below sea level, with a wide crystal pane peeking at the waterline. Solei’s there, looking out at the ocean.
: “Good to see you again. Thank you for the time.” They seem a bit less… struggling with their own eidesis, than they were before.
: “Greetings, Academician. I hope you are well. It has been a difficult….three tides, nine lumens, and…” Unua trails off, realizing they don’t know what lumens are subdivided into on Samudra.
clears their throat, despite not using their throat to make noise. “Anyways. How may I help you?”
: “Growing less difficult, now. And I’ve received a final report that Periegesis and Aporia were both evacuated safely, despite the catastrophes that befell them.” This feels more for Caion than Unua, but Unua gets it too. “It’d been a long time since I spent any time back there. Strange to think I won’t get the chance, now, but -people- made it out safely, and that’s what matters.” Beat. “Anyways, I had… questions.”
: “Could you tell me, in -your- words, what happened in Ines’ lab? Specifically, the… culmination of your efforts. Ines and Caesura gave me the context, and described what happened. I’m curious what it felt like from the inside.”
thinks for a moment, trying to make the moments feel like minutes, to better understand. “I heard screams for help. At that point, instinct took as much helm as thought. I saw a crack in the wall, and my thought was to hold it together. Immediately, I felt the weight of the sea bearing down upon me. It should have moved me, but it did not. I was filled with…fire and light. My only thought was to push every bit of gnosis I could grasp into the wall, to seal the cracks as if it were tar. When I felt the pressure relent, I …let go? of the gnosis and the light.”
: “My gears strained near to breaking, my fire has never burned hotter. Steam poured out of me as if I had been filled with water.”
takes a step closer to Unua, curiously. “That does bring to mind a second question I had for you, but, mmm. May I examine you with gnosis?”
: “You may. I would ask a question in return. What do you look for?”
: “I am curious about the metal with which you sealed the cracks. It has -remarkable- properties and a very singular resonance. I’m curious if that resonance echoes within your frame. I also…” They look at Unua, tilt their head to the side. “I’ve never encountered anything like you before. Never -imagined- anything like you could possibly exist, and Curiosity is the River’s headwaters.”
: “I am curious to know what you find. Where I hail from, that metal is known as ‘aurichalcum.’ It is not commonly found and few have the skills to work it. It is rarely found outside of my kind or…those close to them. If I had any knowledge of how to create it, it was lost along with many other memories.”
nods, slightly, and reaches for a crystalline instrument, as Caion watches, a corner of his mouth turned up in a smile. Solei circles Unua, tracing patterns through the air with the instrument- looks more like they’re dancing than anything else, honestly, there’s a fluidity and grace and -joy- to it. This, rather than the impressive room at the tower’s crown, is Solei’s element. Eventually: “Aha! Oh, that’s interesting…”
remains as motionless as possible. “What have you discovered?”
: “Well, for one thing, the -core- of you is definitely made out of - aurichalcum, you called it? It sounds like you knew that already, but it’s incredible to think it’s just…” They -don’t- reach out and put a hand on Unua’s chest, and they -do- consciously lean back a little bit to avoid invading their personal space. “The other thing is… well. You met Synthesis at least, so you’ve seen our Pearls, yes?”
: “I have! They are very interesting to me.”
: “Our current working theory is that the -first- Pearl-clusters were -made- by someone, long ago, and lost to memory. They are… there is a certain, particular -light- that animates them, that keeps them coherent and whole, that is more than simply gnosis, and in many ways is beyond even our best understanding of things. With me so far?”
: “I follow.”
: “A similar light - not the same, but similarly strange, to me - shines within your aurichalcum core.” They look up at Unua, curiously. “Do you -know- who crafted you, or was that memory lost as well?”
: “It was not lost. I do not know exactly who it was, but I am familiar with the….presence there. No other of my kind remembers their creation.”
: “The presence?”
nods. “There was no other there, that I could see, when I awoke in the Deepforge. I woke with my body, my name, and my purpose. And a…knowing. A sensing. Of something far greater. Greater than any city, any moon. Warm. As if the Beast herself had a heart.”
: “….fascinating. At some point, I want to study the light with which you shine, Unua. I have an idea of how I might do so safely, but it’ll take some amount of doing to get things ready. In the meantime, I have other… sillier questions. One that’s been bothering me since I first saw you, honestly, in particular.” They give Unua a long, level stare. “-Can- you swim? Is it safe? Is my entire world a mortal hazard to you we’ve been lucky enough to not have to test empirically?”
: “I have been avoiding that question. I do not rightly know. I am not frightened to discover whether or not I can. It is possible that I can use steam as a propulsion method. But I am dense and made of fire. I would rather find out in a controlled environment if we have a way to test it.”
: “Well, you’re certainly speaking my language. I think we can come up with something.” They glance at Caion - who nods, watching - rummage around for a crystalboard, start sketching. “A platform to very -slowly- lower you into water, with a gnosis-worked dead man’s switch that’ll lift you up immediately if anything feels wrong?”
: “There should be no dead men involved in this experiment, Academician.”
laughs! “Yes, yes, that’s the idea!”
: “Or, wait, do I have to explain what that is? I left ‘jokes’ on a shelf for tides beyond counting and I can’t read your tone.” A wry smile.
: “I jest, Academician. Your safety platform and harness will be much appreciated. I have some questions for you as well, if you do not mind.”
: “Fire away, I can answer and work at the same time.” They lead both you and Caion outside, onto the balcony, and they start mapping out and preparing a space, very carefully and deliberately growing (kind of dull, cheap-looking, temporary) coral outgrowths into a platform built for the experiment.
: “I now have a new question. May I have a piece of the material you are growing. Coral? You called it?”
: “I don’t see why not?” They reach down, spend a few moments on growing a knobby lil’ nodule of it on a stalk, slowly coaxing it up out of the floor, before pinching it off and handing it to Unua. “Odd souvenir, but I’m not one to judge. Coral, yes. Almost everything here’s made out of coral and crystal, it’s a remarkably simple technique.”
immediately pops it through their faceplate to find out how it tastes.
was not expecting that.
ꙮ It’s… oddly delicious? Refreshing, in a way that contrasts with most rocks you’ve eaten. It’s -mostly- Pellucid gnosis, and decomposes quite rapidly to it as it’s consumed.
: “How interesting.” Unua thinks for a moment. “Academician, I have questions about the sea, about Pearls, and about people. Which would you hear first?”
is still staring, fully distracted from what they were working on. “No, first you tell me how that tasted. Then… uh. The sea, I suppose. Not like I’m not familiar with it.” They go back to fiddling with coral.
: “Unsurprisingly, it tasted much more of water than other rocks that I have eaten. Rocks are never as delicious as food, but they’ll do in an emergency. This one was much more….refreshing than other rocks. Your world is mostly sea and appears to be quite…malleable. I am working on a project for at least two reasons. If I were to submerge an item into the sea, do you think I would be able to infuse it either with a reasonable quantity of pellucid gnosis? Or perhaps even some of the…possibility?”
tilts their head to one side. “Pellucid gnosis, yes, absolutely, submersion-infusion is- congratulations, you’ve independently invented an old Naiad technique. As for possibility… elaborate on what you mean?”
: “The essence of the sea changing according to its surroundings. It is not for the noblest of purposes, but where I am from, Rites are many, and I know I will have no shortage of them. Being able to harness the capacity for change seems excellent at overcoming weaknesses or focusing my enemies attention to me, instead of my companions.”
: “I like the way you think. And I do like the idea of you carrying a bit of the Sea along with you, like that. I hope that you’re successful in that endeavour, and… that -sounds- like it makes sense, to me, anyways.” They finish with the platform proper, and start working on the immersion system, delineating a space within the platform, gently coaxing it free of the rest of the coral. “Pearls, next. People are always the hardest question to answer.”
: “You said you do not know how Pearls were made, originally. Are there ever new Pearls? Do they ever die?”
: “There are new Endjinn. None have perished of natural causes yet. We do not know if or when or how they do.”
: “Hm. Strange. Pearls… don’t -die-, per se. But a sufficient shock to the system causes them to decohere. Sometimes it’s as simple as ‘a messy Circle breakup’ and half of a Pearl literally goes one way and the other half goes the other, and it’s relatively peaceful. Sometimes, it’s… well. What happened to Thesis.” They hold their eidesis, through it; it’s something they’ve held in mind enough that they can discuss it in the open, but it’s still taking a bit of their focus. “Pearls can also make… more of themself, over time, so if a Pearl splits in half, eventually, given enough time and a supportive environment, you’ll get two Pearls, neither of whom is… -who- the original Pearl was, exactly, especially as time goes on. And every so often, a wholly new one will coalesce, if enough scattered Pearls are in the same place at the same time. We try to collect them, keep them together, give them the chance to live again, when we can.”
nods. “I am sorry to bring up difficulties. I wished to be able to compare how they might be similar to Endjinn.”
: “No, it’s fine, you’ve got nothing to apologise for. Just… made me thoughtful, is all.”
: “My last question is two. Have you ever looked for this Pearl-light, or now Endjinn-light in someone who was not a Pearl? And regardless, would you do me the favor of attempting it? For it seems to me that the light that moves us could very well just be what moves all people. It just may be more apparent when we do not have the same type of bodies. In particular, I would be interested to see if my companions also shine.”
looks up, a bit triumphantly, but only a bit. “I have! I have, and others have as well. Whatever light animates the Pearls is either unique to them, or detecting it in a human, or Kushtaka, or Naiad body is beyond the reach of our current science. I’ve had the same thought, though; maybe it -is- there, and we can just only see it with the Pearls because there’s so little in the way. It’s why I was so startled to feel a light -like- that within you.”
nods again. “Thank you for answering my questions. I will have more things to think on now.”
takes a couple of steps back from the Apparatus they’ve constructed, and hands Unua a little hand-held switch. “And while you think on those things, we can figure out if you can swim safely.”
grabs the switch in one hand, and removes their cloak and bags.
takes a step back, to a control panel they’d scrapped together, and nods to Unua as they step onto the movable part of the platform.
ꙮ It slowly begins descending into the sea, framed by coral. You’ve certainly had your feet wet before! Nothing terribly strange happens so far…
nods, and looks down at the ocean, deeply curious what this will be like.
ꙮ At a certain point, when you’re up to your midsection in the water, you feel a very curious -bubbling- sensation, from inside yourself. It’s… ticklish? It’s ticklish and you’ve never been tickled before, you weren’t aware that was a thing that could happen. It’s a very -light- sensation, so it’s easy to keep control of yourself, it’s just very -novel- to you.
lets out a bit of a gnosis-laugh and gives a thumbs up.
nods, watching, a bit amused at -that- reaction, and lowers Unua further.
ꙮ Down into the Sea, up to your chest, then, and the tickling’s worse but still perfectly manageable as you acclimate. You’re -bubbling-, rather vigorously. You strongly suspect that you could -apply- this - adjust your vents and mechanisms in such a way, burn your gnosis -harder- than you strictly needed to, it’d be tiring but you get the sense that you might, actually, be -really particularly good at swimming-, all things considered, and could use the effect as propulsion, perhaps. In any event, it’s certainly not doing you any harm so far.
practices moving a few of their smaller plates and gears around, just to make sure it works the way they think it might.
ꙮ Moving around in the water’s a little bit weird, but you think you can get the hang of it!
tries swimming around just a little bit, careful not to leave the platform. They bring their legs up to attempt to tread water while the platform lowers. “I believe I can swim!”
: “Hahahahahh! The virtue of Empiricism!” They grin, and step away from the controls to look down at Unua cavorting in the water. “First Principles, that’s interesting to watch. I wonder if you could boil water for tea.”
: “I am certain I could. I can start fires easily enough.”
laughs, again, because they were hoping that wouldn’t have been considered profoundly rude about a second after they actually said it. “How’s it feel?”
: “I believe this is what the humans call ‘tickling!’ There are tiny little bubbles popping up against my plating. I am able to move reasonably well, and I think I could burn stronger to move faster if I needed to.”
: “Sounds like we’ve got our answer, then. Ready to come back up, or is there more you’d like to try?”
: “One moment!” Unua quickly lowers their head undewater to check to see if they are able to do so and whether or not they can see.
ꙮ Now the inside of your head tickles! And that’s maddening, for a few brief moments, and then all of the bubbles need to clear out of your visual field, and there are just so many bubbles, and there keep being more bubbles, but you figure out the right venting configuration to solve the problem finally, and then you can see perfectly fine.
emerges from the sea and attempts to shake the excess water out from behind their faceplate. “All set to return!”
goes back to the panel, hits a few buttons - the platform starts slooooowly rising up, carrying Unua with it, who is, for their part, steaming rather -vigorously- as they come up out of the water, but absolutely none the worse for wear.
: “A very successful experiment, I think.”
: “Any experiment where you learn something new about the world is a successful experiment, but it certainly also puts my mind at ease knowing that you’re not any -less- safe here than your companions.”
: “Your concern is appreciated, Academician. And my curiosity satisfied. I had reason to assume safety, but it is nice to know it.”
: “Now, I must prepare for further experiments.” They sound like they’re smiling.
tilts their head to their side, curiously, but if Unua shall keep their own counsel, they won’t question it.
: “We Endjinn do not break easily. I would not have been surprised to sink, but would have been surprised to have come to harm.”
: “Would that we were all made with such fortitude.” They approach Unua, circling them again with the crystal wand, examining their gnosis-pattern to see if there are any differences from prior to the Ocean Dunk. They seem satisfied with the results.
: “We all have our own purposes. It would not do for you to be anyone other than who you are.”
looks like that one landed, and they laugh, very softly. “I suppose that’s true.”
Unua thanks the Academician again and says their farewells, returning to their room behind Caion. On the way, they ask “Caion, if I am permitted, may we make one stop before returning?”
glances over his shoulder. “Of course! What’ve you got in mind?”
: “I was told that Tasna’s statue was brought back from the Septentrion. I do not know of her or remember her in my current state, but I would like to see what she looked like, even on the off chance I might remember someone or something about the Beast.”
: “Oooooh.” He pauses, for a second. “Hunh. Yeah, I suppose that would be alright. Up for a trip to the -very- closed stacks?”
: “If I am permitted, yes.”
: “Great news about the short list of persons authorised to sign that particular permission slip.” He leads Unua in a -different- direction.
ꙮ There’s a tower that’s more -underwater- than above the water, with a single thin proud spire reaching skywards, and a vast bulky vault under the waves. That’s where he takes you - down an elevator, into a cold room full of an odd blue light, with a heavy door at the other end.
stands in the middle of the room with Unua by his side, and intones: “In the depths of the River Without Water, I, Caion of Whisker-Clan, Scholar-Emissary of the Zeroth Circle, authorise this passage.”
ꙮ And the heavy door slides open.
ꙮ Beyond it: a dense warren of hallways and other heavy doorways, an elevator that goes even deeper. Finally, another heavy doorway, another authorised passage, and the door opens onto a small room with an alabaster-and-gold statue on a small pedestal.
looks at the statue, with the intent of forcing missing memory, if it is there. Have they ever seen this person before?
ꙮ Please give me Radiant, DC 15.
- Unua? The Clockwork Knight invoked their ⚪radiant gnosis [d8] -> 4.
- Unua? The Clockwork Knight has gained 2 Arete, and now has 5.
ꙮ If you’ve ever seen this face in the waking world before, you can’t remember it. (But there is something familiar about it - imagery comes to mind associated with various of the Rite-tones. Were they -always- thus? It’s suddenly very hard to say. But the images must have been different, once, and now they have her face.)
Curious. Unua etches her face into their mind. They have a plan. No. Two plans. “Thank you, Friend-Caion. Unfortunately, I remember nothing new to aid either of us. But she does seem very familiar.”
seems to be paying his respects to the statue, while he’s here, and appreciates the opportunity to do so. “I can’t believe you’re actually still alive. I have -so- many questions for you…” He steps away, and nods. “Alright. I’m glad we had the chance, regardless.”
places an arm on Caion’s shoulder. “Take the time you need, Friend-Caion. I have enough of it for you to spend as long as you need here. We will find her again.”
: “I’m fine. And I promised I’d meet Synthesis soon to discuss something we’re trying to build for you all.” He takes one last look at the statue, and starts leading Unua back out of the Vault tower, along with all attendant authorisations of passage.
follows Caion back, holding a small piece of crystal in one of their hands, rotating it. 🙧