blood sweat tear

[imeanforever]

He's moving her to a different court to see if it'll improve her attitude. She's allowed to fly. It's been a long, long time since she was allowed to -

She is only allowed to fly to her destination, not anywhere else. She notices that she is not where she should be, that she cannot progress to where she was told to go, and she careens out of control when her wings won't flap anymore, and she crashes.

---

with Miles (kappa)

with Minus (kappa)

Comments

[imeanforever]

"Except for removing a curse if someone used one of the other recipes, I can't imagine wanting any of them. Maybe mortals have discovered extremely useful liquids of some kind that need multiplication."

[eversomuchfun]

"I can think of a few. If I were somewhere that animal blood was very scarce, I might like to have a flask of liquid-multiplier on hand. But yeah, a lot of old magic is primarily concerned with doing nasty things to one's enemies."

[imeanforever]

Promise puts that book down and opens the one about dark rituals.

[eversomuchfun]

Dark rituals are primarily concerned with doing nasty things to one's enemies! The book offers a variety of signs that a dark ritual may be going on nearby, recommends several effective ways to thwart one, and advises that you do so anonymously if possible because the kind of person who does dark rituals usually doesn't appreciate being interrupted.

There's a densely-written page and a half of advice on ensuring that you can't be easily traced: don't let them see your face; don't let them hear your name (where 'yours' is any you commonly use); keep very good track of your hair, fingernail clippings, blood, etc.; do not lose any items of sentimental value near a dark ritual site; if you suspect you may have lost a glove, sock, shoe, or other paired garment near a dark ritual site, burn or abandon the remaining item immediately.

"Very thorough," comments Sherlock regarding these safety measures.

[imeanforever]

"Rather. Goodness."

[eversomuchfun]

"It's good advice, if you ever plan to get on the wrong side of the sort of person who does dark rituals."

[imeanforever]

"And I guess for this purpose 'Promise' in fact counts as my name."

[eversomuchfun]

"Yeah. If there's any fairies you'd like to curse with unspeakable harms, and you know what they call themselves and can draw a reasonably accurate picture of them, I'm sure I can come up with a book on how to do dark rituals."

[imeanforever]

[eversomuchfun]

"That a yes?"

[imeanforever]

"I'm trying to figure out what would happen to the court structure if I incapacitated Thorn. I don't know if Blossom could hold it together, how it would fracture if she couldn't, or whether she'd be any better than him if she could."

[eversomuchfun]

He shrugs. "Can't help you there. ...Although if you want to spy on them, this is also doable with magic and the requisite books might even be in this library somewhere."

[imeanforever]

"...Might help. But only so much. I didn't have a privileged view of the social relationships but I saw plenty and I think Blossom's basically brainwashed and don't know how she'd jump without him. Maybe Rainfall - I don't know."

[eversomuchfun]

"So, books on scrying, yes or no?"

[imeanforever]

"Yes."

[eversomuchfun]

He searches for books on scrying.

[imeanforever]

Promise, meanwhile, investigates the other books he pulled.

[pythbox]

Well, would she like to read about vampires? Incubi and succubi? Assorted other varieties of demon? Or perhaps this book on the history and nature of magic mirrors?

[imeanforever]

Her native guide is a vampire; she may as well skim that book.

[pythbox]

...Being a vampire looks really inconvenient!

They catch fire in sunlight. Certain items and substances (crosses, holy water) cause an instinctive aversion and raise painful blisters on contact. They are physically unable to enter a private home without the explicit invitation of a resident. They cannot eat food and must drink blood to survive. The process of turning a person into a vampire replaces their soul with some sort of demonic entity, which is why they are all irretrievably evil.

[imeanforever]

"What's holy water?"

[eversomuchfun]

"Why do you ask?"

[imeanforever]

"Because I don't know what it is. I don't know what souls are either, that was going to be my next question."

[eversomuchfun]

"Holy water is water that has undergone certain rituals conducted by a properly authorized individual. A soul is a metaphysical property of humans and if you take it away, significant pieces of their personality go missing, usually the nice bits."

[imeanforever]

"Why are their - personalities detachable...?"