XOqNI

[tongueamok]

Hello, this is Carlisle. I mean, it's not Carlisle as in I'm actually answering you right now, so if you're trying to reply to me at the second, you should probably save your breath because I'm not really here. This is some kind of a recording of my voice, but this is my communicator. I'm going to assume these devices are as common here as they are in other places — not my world, but others, ones more technologically advanced than where I come from— so if you'd like to leave me a message, then you may do so here, or er... Right. Here is fine. So just leave yo— [beep]

Comments

[tongueamok]

I've never had to name a pet before. Or named any living thing, really.

[Much like he isn't the type for physical exercise, he's also not the type to have had a pet until relatively recently.]

[aroundthecoroner]

I... [Hmm.]

I haven't either.

[Oops. What do people name pets???]

Usually you'd pick something cute, or like, a food name. Or maybe a mythological figure?

[He can't even count the number of cats named Loki.]

[tongueamok]

I'm not about to name a creature I suspect others would eat if given the chance after food.

[Michael, please.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Michael gives the nug another scrutinizing glance.]

Who would eat one of those? And that's not the only thing I suggested.

[tongueamok]

I don't know. Somebody. Vampires, probably. Deranged, godless beings.

[Said like someone who has met one of those and doesn't want to talk about it. He then changes the subject, exactly like someone who doesn't want to talk about it.]

I think calling him Rabbit is best for now, seeing as he likely doesn't know any other name. Do pets get a surname?

[aroundthecoroner]

[Ah yes. Deranged, godless beings. He's choosing to ignore that, and any truth inherent in that. Carlisle is probably talking about real vampires, anyway.]

I think pets usually just get the same surname as their owners? But I've also seen people give their pets new ones. So, up to you.

[tongueamok]

Hm.

[Too many choices, but he has to admit that this has, as the very least, been an adequate distraction from the fires.]

I suppose Rabbit is fine for now. Rabbit Longinmouth.

[Maybe that's... a bit much.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Michael makes a face and then quickly unmakes it. It's not his pet. He has no right to judge its name.]

Right. Rabbit Longinmouth it is.

[He takes yet another drink of his tea so that he won't say anything else.]

[tongueamok]

Right.

[Here comes the awkward silence. He sips at his own tea as the rabbit (Rabbit) makes his way around the room and vanishes in to the hallway once more. Several seconds pass.]

I, er. Received your application.

[aroundthecoroner]

[Ah yes, the awkward silence. It and Michael are on very familiar terms.]

Oh, right. For the, uh, glyph-crafting?

[Is this an interview now? He'd prefer that to the silence, honestly.]

[tongueamok]

Yes. For the glyphcrafting.

[Is this an interview??? It is a mystery.]

I wasn't aware you were particularly interested in magic.

[aroundthecoroner]

I kind of thought it was all fake back home, but learning that it's real here-

[He shrugs.]

And that it's something you can learn? I think it'd be a useful skill to pick up.

[tongueamok]

It's something most people in my world can do to some degree, and are taught early on should they show any scrap of talent. It's been strange, finding there are places where magic is either an unknown or a fictional entity.

[And that those with magic are a minority of sorts. That mostly means he doesn't have someone to chat magic with.]

[aroundthecoroner]

How do you know someone has talent?

[All he's seen of magic from Carlisle's world is the glyphcrafting and that seems like a weird thing for a kid to accidentally show promise in.]

The longer I'm here, and the more people tell me that this stuff is secret in their worlds, the more I wonder if it's just secret in mine.

[tongueamok]

It's no secret in my world by any stretch, but it seems I would be in the minority with that in a place like this. To find if someone has talent in a certain craft, they need only show some capacity for it despite a lack of proper training. Emily, for example—

[His expression falls just a bit. Boy, does thinking about his missing student hurt more than he will ever admit.]

... She, ah. I taught her glyphcrafting, and she immediately began to inscribe glyphs with not only the sigils I taught her, but those of a language from her world, as well. And much to my surprise, they worked. She had a gift for such things.

[Which makes her loss even worse to bear.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Whoops, accidentally stumbled on a sore subject. Michael makes a mental note of that.]

Sounds like she was pretty smart. I'm, uh, sorry she disappeared. Hopefully that means she went back to her world.

[Wait.]

Unless her world was one of the bad ones. In which case, uh, hopefully she went... somewhere... else?

[Nailed it. A+ comforting.]

[tongueamok]

Her world is a magicless one that is nonetheless host to monstrous abominations. I cannot imagine her return is a pleasant one.

[And this is why no one should ever invite these two to a party.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Unless it's the Debbie Downer party.

Michael isn't even sure what to say to that.]

Sorry. [He says that a lot, he thinks.] But you said she was resourceful, right? I'm sure she'll make it.

[tongueamok]

[Carlisle's brow knits tighter in a way that says he doubts that very much, but he's never been known for his optimism. He instead dodges the subject; it still hurts.]

Do you believe you'd be good at magic?

[aroundthecoroner]

[Michael's not sure how to answer that, exactly.]

I don't think I'd be bad at it, necessarily? [A glowing review.] I'm pretty good at memorizing stuff.

[And he has attracted at least one (1) ghost, so that probably means something, right?]

[tongueamok]

Memorization is good for some crafts.

[Carlisle looks down to his hands, trying to figure out how to explain the magical ins and outs of his world to someone from a completely different one.]

I didn't realize I'd have any true proclivity for magic until I was a teenager. I already knew well by that age that adventuring, like my father, was not for me.

[aroundthecoroner]

Yeah... Adventuring doesn't sound like it'd be for me, either. I met someone here who does that for a living. Seems like a high-risk occupation.

[Which is not actually the part he takes issue with.]

Did you figure out your talent like Emily did? Like you just picked it up really easily?

[tongueamok]

Ah, no, um. [His hands twitch, eyes darting away.] I was... injured quite badly once, when I was younger.

[Understatements: they have been made.]

It was grievous enough that my father called for healers to attend me. They found through their work that my own energies adapted well to theirs, and suggested I be properly trained.

[aroundthecoroner]

[Michael catches that evasive body language, but he doesn't pry. He wouldn't want anyone prying into his past, so he'll extend the same courtesy to Carlisle.]

Oh. [Hmm.] I'm guessing that's not exactly an easy test.

[tongueamok]

Healing is not an easy craft to learn at all. It requires a certain degree of control the other schools lack, lest you hurt yourself and the person you're attempting to heal.

[And that would be one of the many reasons he doesn't trust other healers.]