[Squire's Dormitories] Friendly Faces (Isolde)

by **Katelyn Marks** on May 8th, 2015, 6:44 pm

Katelyn smiled, a little glad to have stumped the more experienced Isolde. Yet another new experience--being able to actually teach someone something fresh about magic. Her cheeks with rosy with pleasure, and the squire shook her head at her new roommate. "Ser Moore said Djed is part of the natural world. Like when we eat, we take the energy from our meal to replenish what we've lost. He said it's the makeup of everything. Like the foundation of a house. Everything is built up from that energy--that base."

But it was Isolde's turn next to share with Kate, and it was a definite learning experience. She'd had the general idea down--obviously Morphing meant changing shape. The redhead just didn't know how extensive that really was. For some reason even her wild imagination hadn't conjured visions of changing into animals. The idea of shifting into a bird like a Kelvic and taking flight struck her into silence, and her lips parted in quiet awe.

She wasn't entirely sure about letting go of her physical self though. "What are the risks with that? Surely not just overgiving? I mean, letting go of the way you perceive yourself and then changing your shape... couldn't that have some severe consequences? If you wanted to change back, and you forgot some details, you could be permanently altered. Right?" The idea of forgetting what she looked like and never looking quite the same again was a horrifying thought--but the intoxicating allure of shifting into another creature at will was a little stronger. Katelyn would be investigating further--possibly even experimenting.

She was deep in thought throughout Isolde's silence, and didn't even notice the lapse in conversation as her mind chewed on the possibilities that Morphing provided. Kate looked up at as her new roommate finally spoke, and frowned at the uncertain tone of her voice. Her lips parted to ask, but as the words swelled in her throat the older woman dropped her news. The redhead's voice died on her lips, and she sat back in her chain in silence, regarding the Nuit perched on her bunk.

"A... what?" Katelyn had heard stories. She couldn't lie. Honestly, she thought they were more like ghost stories. Undead creatures that walked the earth possessing corpses. Also called--drumroll--Nuits. Kate didn't actually think they were real. Her brothers used to try to scare her with the tales, but she'd never believed them. Now one was sitting in front of her, in the flesh. Undead flesh. "Wait. Give me a second. I'm not sure I..." she tried to say, but trailed off into silence. It made sense now, in hindsight. Isolde's stained mouth, dark eyes, terribly pale skin. Kate took a long, deep breath.

"I don't know what to think. I mean, I thought Nuits were just stories. I've never met one--not knowingly at least. I can't really say how I feel, because I'm not sure myself." She wasn't going to lie. It wasn't a cruel honesty, nor impartial. She simply didn't know. At the same time, Katelyn really liked Isolde. When she was under the impression that the woman was a more or less normal human, things had been totally fine. Why should it be any different.

"What is it like?" she asked suddenly, then blushed. "Sorry, you don't have to answer that. That was a rude question."

by **Isolde Seibold** on May 14th, 2015, 5:55 pm

Everything being built up from energy was a strange idea to take in. And she could tell that Katelyn meant everything. Not just people or animals or even plants, but rocks and like... shoes and books and things like that too, all of everything having djed and auras to read. How was that possible? She could accept that even plants might have djed, considering they were alive, even if they didn't move or think like people and animals. But the thought that her boots might contain some measure of djed was intriguing. She knocked her heels together where she sat on the bed and wondered where the Burned Man had gone wrong in his teachings.

She was absolutely certain that boots didn't have a soul. That chairs didn't, or pots and pans. People, yes. Animals... maybe? Plants, she hadn't thought before, but now... maybe yes, too? The Nuit tried to reconcile the two theories, Katelyn's and her mentor's that everything had djed, and the Burned Man's and her own that djed came from the soul. Since everything did not have a soul, then how...?

"Built up from djed like a base," she muttered, lost in thought, tapping her fingers against her other arm. So maybe... in living things could that 'base' be the soul?

That... made sense, right? In morphing, it was the djed, the soul, that you altered, and in turn it affected your form. She still wasn't certain how djed worked for nonliving things, but... well, maybe this was one of those things she could ask Lady Freed?

"Magic is fascinating," she said out loud, almost not realizing it, and then ducked her head slightly. That was not something one heard said often. Most people were terrified of magic, or at least distrusted it. Isolde certainly new of its dangers. But still... to manipulate the very 'base' part of a thing's being, that was incredible.

Katelyn, she thought, might agree, from the way she launched into questions about morphing. Isolde tried to answer as best she could. "It's, um, different from what you describe. At least, how I've experienced morphing. Perhaps that can become an issue, but... well, I've never seen it myself. Let me think." She placed her fingers at her temple, eyes going slightly blank as she remembered far, far back. Back to the Burned Man and his teachings.

"Okay. So your body has a particular form, right? The form you are in now, the one that you have been in your whole life. This form can be changed naturally by aging or sickness or injury. But those changes are not usually major and usually happen gradually. Altogether, you could sort of think of that form as... as how your body 'wants' to be.

"My teacher said that to manipulate the body you must first manipulate its djed, which he called the 'soul' as I've already said, sort of like the 'essence' of a person-- their identity, their everything. You said, however, that Ser Moore taught you that djed is in fact a 'base' of every thing, something to be built upon. That makes sense with morphing. In morphing, the 'base' of your body is your djed, and your djed contains your 'essence'... what makes you look like how you do, etc. That 'essence' is used to being a certain way, as I said before. In morphing, when you change that 'essence' it wants to change back to how it was before. It takes energy --the use of djed-- to make it change, and then it takes more energy --more djed-- to keep it changed."

She wasn't certain she was doing such a good job of explaining this, but finished anyway. "I'm not quite certain exactly how it works, but essentially when you morph you must continue to concentrate and fuel your new shape or you start to change back to how you looked before. Your body wants its 'essence' to be how it usually is. So it doesn't really matter, I suppose, if in your mind you forget what you look like, because your body doesn't forget. As soon as you stop the morphing process, or loose your concentration, you begin to turn back. My teacher was better at morphing than I was, and he came back to his original form more slowly. So maybe what you said could become a problem... but I think that would be pretty far down the line."

The Nuit had been using her morphing talk --wow, she had really rattled off about that, hadn't she?-- to keep from thinking about how she had told Katelyn about what she was. Now, as the other mage started to respond to it, Isolde drew back slightly, an unconscious movement, watching Katelyn's reaction carefully. It seemed... it looked like Katelyn was shocked, perhaps. Isolde didn't know what emotion might come after that shock. Anger? Hatred? Disgust?

Surprisingly, though, the other squire seemed to accept the situation as much as she could, and asked, "What is it like?" Her embarrassment and apology went a long way towards reassuring Isolde that things, at least for now, were still alright. Most people wouldn't bother to apologize. Not to something they perceived to be a monster, or less than a person.

Though she didn't like talking about it, Isolde pressed on. Besides. Orin, a friend of hers, had sort of taught her that maybe she should be more open with people, even if it made her uncomfortable still. So she took a deep breath and said, "No, it's fine. I brought it up, so questions are to be expected. Um..." She ran a hand through her hair. "It's not like living, I guess. I don't what it is, exactly. I'm still here, I'm still me--" that wasn't exactly right, because she wasn't like she'd been before, but she had no good way of explaining that,
"--but... at the same time, not. I don't need what living people need. Food, water, sleep, even air. I don't age, though I do still feel emotionally, physically. I guess some people would think being this way would be pretty uh, useful." She shrugged. "I never really thought the positives outweighed the negatives, but I am how I am."

by **Katelyn Marks** on June 21st, 2015, 7:14 pm

It was a little overwhelming at first, learning what Isolde was, and realizing that such an entity did exist--she couldn't say thing, it seemed too cold. Could her new roommate still be considered a she? Perhaps, perhaps not. Isolde had the body of a woman, but if the stories were true, it could very easily not be original. But while her doubts were growing, her heart couldn't help but swell. The Nuit had opened up and exposed a deep secret--one that could easily cause troubles among some. The squire decided that she couldn't judge, nor should she feel apprehensive, or consider her some kind of creature. If anything, she should relish the opportunity to learn more about her--and she decided that Isolde was definitely still a she.

"Well, thank you for telling me, and trusting me with this. I know it had to be hard." Isolde had clearly been apprehensive to say anything, and she wanted to try and put the Nuit at ease. "I can't say I understand, but not that I don't at the same time. I understand what you're saying--I just can't imagine how much of a change that is." It was all she really knew to say, and it was very little. She felt a little helpless. At a loss for words. Still, she smiled at her new roommate and shrugged. "I guess if you don't sleep, it'll be hard to catch up with you in training," Kate tried to jest. "Won't need to take any breaks. You'll be knighted in a fortnight."

Isolde was obviously going to be a good to have around. She'd already answered some of the questions that had been driving Katelyn crazy with curiosity. The redhead decided to trust her first impression. She liked the Nuit, and was glad she was here. "How about I give you a tour? Show you some of the places you'll be seeing frequently? We can talk more, come on," she invited, standing and offering a hand to help her new acquaintance up. Kate was wide awake now, and it wasn't as if Isolde would be drowsy anytime soon--if ever again.

OOCThis is pretty short, but I feel it might be a good place to end before this thread gets too long!

by **Sayana** on August 6th, 2015, 9:46 pm

Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request. If there's anything I may have missed, please PM me and I'll be happy to look into it.

Katelyn

Skills

Endurance : 1
Meditation : 1
Observation : 4
Socialization : 5
Hostessing : 4
Storytelling : 2
Rhetoric : 4
Teaching : 2
Interrogation : 2

Lores

Meditation: Basic breathing techniques
Location: Squire Dormitories
Isolde: Nuit mage squire
Squires wary of mage squires
Rhetoric: Lightening the mood with a joke
Isolde: Knows reimancy, morphing and alchemy
Isolde: Grew up in Mithryn Outpost
Morphing: Magic to adjust one's shape or composition
Morphing: Requires djed to be used to stay morphed, otherwise one reverts to their original form
Nuit: Don't need food, water sleep or air
Nuit: Don't age but still feel things physically and emotionally

Shield Points