[Bharani Library] Slightly Less Hollow Points (Mauriel)

[Savis Maren]

Continued From...

12th of Autumn, 518. Just after Midnight.

Little Miss Dazzling either very much liked to hear herself speak or one of her passions in life was argumentation. Savis Maren contested her view of habits in passing, but her companion seemed far more eager to indulge in that point. Did it make sense to indulge her? Both the beings had nothing but time, but perhaps Savis Maren wished for another course of action. Her question elicited the slightest of laughs from the Nuit woman before shrugging her shoulders. Perhaps it was fine, just this once to indulge her.

"Oh, I couldn't be sure. I've heard your tales, but not yet your songs. Though, I'm sure your singing is as lovely as you are," she mused. Sickly sweet was the tone that dripped into her voice. Savis Maren reveled in the ability to express her points vocally. Sarcasm, amusement, mirth, the entire ensemble of emotions was available for her dulcet tunes to demonstrate, a stark difference from her muted fate of the previous season. Mauriel asked about Tanroa, and Savis shrugged when the Ethaefal brought up Syna and Leth, informing her of a bit of history she didn't know about.

"On the island of Sahova, some of my undead... acquaintances," she shied from the word colleagues, for they were nothing of the sort. "Were privy to the knowledge of a Goddess of Time. They used her name mockingly at times, with reverence in others. It depended greatly on the speaker, but I won't pretend to know of Tanroa and her appointment of other deities," she clarified. The Nuit mentioned her proposal and was very present of the fact that it might be questioned. Savis Maren did not abide idiocy. She was glad that Mauriel wished to proceed cautiously, proving that her advice was to be heeded in full. Savis did not try to deceive or manipulate anyone into learning magic. It was a difficult subject to breach and it could end in any number of mental illnesses. However, the trepidation was no longer necessary.

"Ah, my dear Miss Dazzling, you are right, of course. I warned you and I was definitely serious about the warning. However, the pains of magic are often mitigated by the practices indulged in. Take for example my painted words and sigils from earlier. Those sigils are arcane in nature but possess no arcane power of their own. Instead, these runes, or Glyphs, are tools with which a mage can stabilize their magicks, guide them and perhaps even store for later use. My next example is going to be a bit more visible," she assured Mauriel. The Nuit reached into her backpack. Deep within the tool, there was a long, rectangular kit filled with the tools of the medical profession. Savis Maren was no doctor, but she used them for her personal Embalming practices and at times they proved useful for Animation. From within the toolkit she produced a leather brace, a roll of needle thread, the needle itself, and then shut the kit and replaced it within her bag. Next, she'd ask Mauriel for her assistance.

"If you're willing, could you help me clear the table? We'll need nothing on it save for the notebook, the rest of the paper we tore, and the space," she mused. Immediately, Savis Maren's demeanor shifted. She went from playful to serious, her thoughts of Syna, Leth and Tanroa melted away. The thoughts of the afterlife wilted away as well. The Nuit was left with her objective and this, unlike her pursuits in Glyphing alone, were unsuited to playful banter and argumentation. Savis Maren looked to her unwitting student, a smile cast upon her features as the table was quickly cleared for their use.

"If you're ready, there are a few things I can teach you of while I begin preparations."

Savis Maren smiled at Mauriel, then inclined her head in a nod when she received such an affirmation. The Nuit produced her paintbrush, dabbing it in ink before she began to draw a large black circle directly on the stone surface of the table. To Savis' defense in the matter, there was no one in the Library and her paints were soluble in water, making them easy to clean up when she finished. Savis Maren took her time to ensure the first circle, which was just large enough for her to fit the notebook, was set on her side of the stone. The next circle, which was approximately twice the size, was also accented with two points placed several inches away from each other. While the paint dried, Savis Maren bridged the gap between both circles with a straight line and began her explanation.

"This is the basis for the discipline known as Animation. Animation is the practice of wielding the power that is djed from the enviroment and from the mind of a host to create a semblance of life. This false life can take many shapes and forms, but are woven by the practitioner and suffused with commands that give them structure and purpose." The Nuit spoke slowly and carefully, enunciating her words and attempting to push them to an unitiated mind. She realized that although Mauriel listened to her speak of djed earlier, she might not yet know what it is.

"The manipulation of djed is the basis upon which all magicks are born. Djed is the power within all things. All forms of matter possess it to varying degrees, but it is rich within the soul most of all. Animals and plants all possess djed as well, but within the souls of sentient beings djed pools are the most expansive, allowing us to breach into them and manipulate our own djed, as you witnessed earlier."

The Nuit looked to Mauriel, curious to see if the woman was both paying attention and comprehending what was being said. Magic was a power that was often misunderstood due to poor foundational understanding of it. If she could educate this stripling of an Ethaefal, she could teach anyone.

[Mauriel]

As the conversation progressed, Savis' nice tone became poisonous again, the sickly sweetness, not unlike her dead body bathed in perfume, bringing Mauriel's nausea back. The nickname she was gifted tonight sounded increasingly more insulting again, sarcasm-ridden pronunciation finding its way back into the voice of her interlocutor. The game was on again. The politeness was just a bait, and Mauriel swallowed it whole. She stared the woman down, a cold smile on her face. She gently brushed her hair off her shoulder and moved to lean on her hand as Savis spoke, as if to emphasize the elegance of her motions and nuance of her expressions. Yes, Mauriel was right, Savis could use but her voice in any consistent manner to communicate her emotions to the world. And the message was heard loud and clear.

When asked for help with clearing the table, Mauriel jumped up, grabbing the things stolen from her earlier, bending over the undead in the process. Their faces were rather more close than etiquette would dictate, though far enough for the Ethaefal not to have to smell the full blown stench of the arrogant woman. She wrinkled her nose slightly nonetheless. "Yeah, I'll help you," she said putting her things back into her pocket. She lingered for a moment. "Gladly." Her words were followed by a piercing pain in her skill, as if somebody was trying to split it in half. It had become a usual occurrence in the past few days, tho, and she felt like it somehow emphasized her point. If anything made her irritable, the damn headaches did, and this one made her regret her decision to leave Ragespike at home.

Her own thought scared her. What was she thinking? She would get herself killed or her own reputation destroyed over a petty dispute. If she even managed to touch the other woman, after all she could fling books around at will, Gods know what other powers were at her disposal. Though these thoughts just made her even more upset. She continued helping with the table after putting her own things back into her pocket. Most things were either packed by the duo or thrown onto a pile for later discarding.

It was very hard for Mauriel to put aside her anger and pay attention. She did listen, but was continuously interrupted by thoughts of how vulnerable the undead must be and how weak their bodies are. Savis is just a rotting corpse, moved like a puppet, and even Mauriel could probably rip her apart rather easily, if it weren't for the unpredictable magic. Her fist clenched and unclenched a couple of times. Through all of the fog, the Ethaefal could still manage to think that this was unlike herself, but it didn't help soothe her emotions.

She did give her nod that she was ready, but what the other woman proceeded to do could not surprise the blonde more. "What in the world do you think you're doing?" she said, a whispering yell of sorts. "If the Seekers see you, they're gonna ban us from the library!" Disgust was evident on Ethaefal's face. This woman's disregard for anything but her own amusement was downright revolting. Mauriel looked up and down the aisle nervously. "Stop that, please, let's just clean that up and line it with some paper from your notebook, eh? You can draw on that, and I can not go and report you." She would not back down on this one, as she cherished her access to this fountain of knowledge more than any circus trick this madwoman could teach her.

As the undead would go on to ignore her, explaining something about why it was needed that the circles be unbroken, Mauriel would just shake her head and go look for a Seeker. It didn't take long to run into one, recognizable by his white clothes, and she waved for his attention. "Excuse me!" He looked up from a scroll he was scanning, a bit annoyed that his work was interrupted. "There's a woman drawing some circles with paint on a table in the aisle over there."

He frowned. He didn't look entirely disinterested, although she still thought he looked down on her. Was it for snitching or was it something else? "So what? It's none of your business. That's fine as long as she cleans it up."

Wow. Charming. But at least now they could say they've got permission. She pondered not even going back. Her things were in her pocket yet again. Her pride didn't allow her to go back and admit that she was wrong, but neither did it allow for running away. She sighed. This night was getting long and cumbersome.

By the time she returned, Savis has drawn what she had intended. There were two circles of approximately the same size facing each other, connected to each other as if the line was a continuation of their diameters. "It's fine as long as we clean it up," Mauriel said with another fake smile lining her lips. Her point was further emphasized by a Seeker who seems to have decided to start studying something rather near them, far enough to be out of the earshot, but close enough to keep watch. There was probably truly something that needed doing around this section of the library, it'd be surprising if there wasn't, but the Ethaefal had no doubts about the schedule being adjusted to make sure the Seekers weren't troubled by additional cleaning labor by her friend.

She listened with all of the patience she could summon to Savis' explanation of animation. While it was rather embarrassing, she considered the Seeker watching over them a little victory, for Savis would no doubt be annoyed at having to do the cleaning herself. She didn't seem like the most energetic person, to put it that way.

Anyway, animation did sound interesting. Creating life itself with magic! Mauriel didn't think such thing to be possible. Savis was, of course, an example, but her soul was born once, it was just preserved among the mortals by magic. But creating a life, like Gods would, like the one Leth had given her... Was that really possible? She knew Savis made sure to emphasize multiple times that it's not the same, but a life is a life, isn't it? Ragespike came to mind. Mauriel did view him as a living person, despite his simple and rather annoying nature. Was he soulless? "I actually have a talking dagger at home. Would you say he is a product of animation?" Unsure whether she was an idiot or a genius for revealing this, she smiled politely. The woman had no idea where she lived to attempt a robbery, and her curiosity might teach her some manners yet again. "He can be really annoying sometimes, always trying to provoke people into fights." Or perhaps the woman could even teach her how to wield him. Perhaps his intelligence could be an asset and not a curse.

Glad to finally hear an explanation of aforementioned Djed, she listened attentively. It's a power source, okay, that makes sense, so you can't just exert unlimited power as a mage. That's interesting, they can be baited and exhausted if one is skilled enough! And it's concentrated in the soul. "Is the soul a source of Djed or is it made of it?" she asked. Either answer would be really interesting to ponder and relate to her own circumstance. It was probably the least important question she could ask, yet it was the one she was most interested in. "And do you... feel your own Djed? Is it a new sensation you learn after getting into magic?" That would be weird. Was it a whole new world of sensations basically getting into this? That sounded rather alluring and interesting, a new experience, unlike anything she remembered. A new angle on all of her future experiences, perhaps.

[Savis Maren]

If Savis Maren knew of the fear she inspired in the heart of the Ethaefal, she'd perhaps crack a true smile of amusement. The Nuit was bound to the mercy of the Shinya, an organization that was both her salvation and damnation if she earned their ire. No, the woman wouldn't renege on any sort of agreement she'd made with the governing body of Lhavit. Even if she did hate the Ethaefal, an opinion that was no longer true. The woman was tolerable, her impeccable beauty certainly drew some measure of ire, but her mind was not so beautiful. Savis Maren took solace in the fact that she was but a child, a girl lost in the midst of an immortal life.

Savis knew the feeling, but did not want to compare their situations. Instead, she narrowed her eyes when the Ethaefal walked away to report her. The Nuit didn't bother to stop her. Instead, while the woman was off galivanting and clearly ignoring Savis' attempt at instruction, she continued her preparations. Savis Maren had far too much to do and couldn't be bothered to explain every little bit to her. Particularly when it seemed that Mauriel took no interesting in Glyphing. The discipline was difficult to explain, more so than Animation, because she lacked the finesse with the craft to have any sort of capacity to recite lessons on it.

While Mauriel was about, the Nuit Animator began the effort of complementing her Animation with the structural balances of Glyphing. First, the woman raised her brush, black ink dabbed on her lip as she mused upon which rune might best epitomize what she desired for the Animation. The notebook was on the far side of the table, just outside of the boundaries of the circle. In the center of that circle, she began to paint. The script in Ancient tongue took up a tenth of the circle's volume. She made sure to manipulate her brush carefully, keeping the tool still and straight as she inscribed the word.

Dala, she suffused the word into the center, repeating aloud, "To change. To improve," before completing the rune with a small circle and letting it alone. Then, Savis Maren took hold of the notebook, lifting it from its spot before opening the notebook to its front cover. She smoothed it out on the untouched, un-painted section of the table. Savis Maren took the leather brace that she'd retrieved from her surgery kit earlier. Quickly, took hold of her sutures and their needle as well. Savis heard the footsteps that indicated Mauriel's return, but did not acknowledge her immediately. Instead, she began to tear the leather into two strips, both an inch thick and as long as the binding was. Then, she looked to Mauriel with an appraising gaze.

Laughter sounded from her lips as she heard the woman's bitter report. Of course they were fine to do as they pleased. Mages were plentiful in Lhavit and certainly they weren't the first to use the library as a place of practice and teaching. With the hour so late and no end to the night in sight, the library was empty and the two immortals were the only souls present in the Library that weren't bound to the allegiance of the Seekers. When Mauriel posed her questions, the Nuit paused from her course of action. She raised a hand, wanting to answer the questions when she was fully present to consider them. She repeated them in her her mind as she sewed the leather strips to the surface of the notebook's interior. The strips were crudely attached, with Savis not possessing a great deal of skill in sewing as to make it pretty. She used more sutures than was required and little bits stuck out on either side. All in all, a poor job, but she didn't care if the results were the same. Which they would be.

Savis Maren raised her head, lips curved into a smile as she looked to Mauriel. Her unnerving silver eyes took to her, unblinkingly as she answered,

"Everything that exists is made with djed. The grains of sand at a beach, the leaves of a tree, the snow that falls during a storm... There is nothing without it," The Nuit nodded to affirm her own words before she continued on.

"There are distinctions between the practices of magic. This one that I intend to show you, Animation," the word was spoken in hushed tones. Savis so disliked it when prying eyes intruded on her. The Seeker looked at the both of them for a moment longer before deciding to leave and with her departure Savis Maren spoke aloud again.

"Does not require the implementation of one's own djed. It is known as a world magic, where the djed in an object and within the circles of power is turned about, manipulated and changed to serve the purpose of the world mage. What you ask relates to personal magic. A mage that draws inward and pulls upon the power of their own soul is a personal mage, and a madman or madwoman in their own right. To manipulate one's own djed invites in the grim possibility of death, for to draw too much out of your own soul is to give in to a state of being known as overgiving." Savis touched up on the matter before she added one final thought, a last consideration to Mauriel's question.

"Of course, that being said, a great deal of mages, myself included, practice personal magic. The feeling of pulling at one's own djed is learned, an experience that draws pleasure, an ecstasy that a being like myself can only feel during that manipulation," she mused aloud, her eyes narrowed before she turned back towards Mauriel.

"In any case, Miss Dazzling, we're here to engage in the subject of Animation. Before we proceed, would you tell me exactly what you know of the soul?" It was a strange question, but one that needed asking nonetheless. As she asked, Savis Maren moved to draw several long strings, ten in number, from her surgery kit before closing the kit and stowing it on the chair she'd once occupied. Now engrossed in the practice of Animation, she needed mobility and full access to the table.

[Mauriel]

The undead's smile brought Mauriel a pinch of guilt. She felt confused at her own conflicting emotions, disgust, curiosity, gratitude. She was acting odd tonight, waves of anger washing over her periodically, clouding her judgment. She no longer had any idea what she really thought of the woman before her, realizing tonight was more about her than anything else. Thought of apology crossed her mind, but it would be pointless. You can't keep fixing your actions with words, and she was still unsure whether she deemed it warranted. Some of her outrage was undeniably justifiable to her, but likely not its full extent.

So things are made of Djed after all. Therefore, the Ethaefal's own soul was a Djed formation, one carried over throughout her past lives, one that was in Ukalas itself. She wondered if it's a bit like the body, which reforms from food and moonlight, yet preserves its shape and structure, or whether it was something more permanent, circulatory Djed used in magic being but an outer surface. She wanted to ask, but Savis Maren had already moved on.

The distinction between world and personal magic struck the newbie as strange. How does one manipulate a force such as Djed without using it themselves? She had already assigned it another plane of existence in her mind and did not think it possible to interact with it without going there yourself, so to speak. "Do world mages use no Djed at all then? How does one bend Djed to their will without Djed?" Perhaps she was thinking about all this all wrong. It's a form of magical energy, perhaps it can be harnessed like human's have learned to harness natural energy by making windmills or watermills. Perhaps it follows its own set of laws, not comprehensive intuitively to an uninitiated mind. "Is it a bit like a watermill?"

This distinction has, however, opened Mauriel's eyes to the relative lack of danger world magic seemed to carry. If you did not pull at your own Djed and did not mess with the structure of your soul, perhaps it was not as easy to become like the woman before her, speaking of ecstatic pleasure in warping her being. "Is there any danger of overgiving or anything similar in world magic? Is Animation completely safe?" She was a bit hesitant to participate in the undead's little experiment, knowing her to be a kind of person apparently capable of extracting and transferring her soul from one body to another. Reminding herself of envy her beauty seemed to produce did not help. However, she was somewhat sure not even a madwoman would dare do such a thing to an Ethaefal in the middle of Lhavit, in the middle of a library. But that made Mauriel wonder, would her body become a carcass after death normally, or are Ethaefal somehow different? She'll have to research that at some point.

"I know nothing you haven't told me of the soul. It's made of Djed, apparently it's transferable through reincarnation or whichever means you transfer yours with, I assume souls can vary in power, because Gods surely are a whole other league from us. I don't know much beyond that. I'd appreciate any info on its structure, however, I was wondering myself how permanent it was, is its Djed recycled or is there some sort of consistent core...?"

She liked asking her questions. Savis Maren seemed pleased at them earlier, and Mauriel enjoyed learning, and it seemed like the first entirely mutually enjoyable activity they seemed to find. Although at this point she was afraid of another breakout of vindictiveness, her mind was finally at ease with who her companion was. An eccentric mage, forced into her discipline and into her everchanging bodies, with a note of immaturity and wisdom oddly intertwined, a bit mad, potentially dangerous. She could live with that, as long as the creature fed her curiosity so enthusiastically.

[Savis Maren]

As Savis Maren listened to Mauriel's questions, she needed to abstain from lashing out at the Ethaefal. It was maddening, in a way, to need to go over the same concepts. Of course, it was reasonable for her to ask. However, Savis Maren was not a creature so attached to the merits of reason. The irrational undead looked to the lovely Miss Dazzling, her silver eyes narrowed just somewhat before she collected her poise. The silver eyes widened anew, her head tilted somewhat as she mused on the nature of her answer. Should she yell at the Ethaefal, who lacked the wherewithal to piece together her words? Or should she account for the fact that she'd just started her path in educating another person?

The Nuit answered her own question with a single chuckle, snide and short in nature before she let an easy answer escape her lips, "We've not gotten to that just yet, have we?" she compromised, deciding to play civil for the first time in a long while. Savis looped one of the strings into her needle. The Nuit wasn't particularly versed to sewing, and she required her full attention in order to do so without poking her fingertips. She kept her fingers loose, threading strings into the leather cover of the book. She lined up each string one by one. The Nuit no longer looked at Mauriel, far too invested to consider the Ethaefal. They mustn't fall behind in their efforts, for while the night was young and they were eternal, there was the lure of solitude and the need to act within a window of opportunity.

"Consider the Circles. The shape is a single, unbroken line. Perfect unity, without angles or any dissymetry. But, relevant to Animation, there is a great unity within the circle. Through the use of the Circle, the mage connects themselves to their project and enacts their will. They manage the flow of djed, and carry through the ambient djed the qualities we wish for the object to possess. But, first," she stopped, allowing Mauriel a moment to process the information. The Nuit looked to Mauriel before gesturing for her to sit in the other, empty circle.

"As ridiculous as it might seem, please... sit in the Circle. Your participation will be the perfect vantage point from where you can learn a bit more hands-on about what I'm referring to," she explained. Nevermind that I need your songbird ways to do what I want... she mused internally. Savis Maren hatched an idea, and the whirring gears of her brain began to form their nefarious plans. The idea of the notebook being imbued... it drew deeper and deeper into her. A curiosity turned into a desire. A desire into a need. She was too far invested to consider any other options. In the moment of her askance, she also decided to address Mauriel's concerns of safety.

"There are no inherent dangers to the practice itself. There is only the idiocy of its practitioners. Animation is not a game and its results are not toys. When one imprints knowledge into an object, that knowledge belongs to that creation. There are laws to write, commands to implement, loyalties to imbue... But within those laws, commands, and loyalties invites a greater degree of complexity and therefore an inherent struggle. Creating more complex animations invites utility, but it also invites intelligence. Imbuing violence invites violence. Imbuing knowledge invites curiosity. Imbuing emotion invites attachment and obsession," she reasoned aloud. The lessons she'd learned from the discipline were firsthand, born in Sahova's halls and furthered to some extent within Lhavit itself. Still, Savis Maren bore the scars of hatred and adoration to that accursed failure, Sil.


"The process of Animation is safe, if somewhat... odd. And the destination for this intelligence is a notebook... So in respect, I hardly believe that we're in danger," she added. The Nuit winked at Mauriel before she strummed her fingertips along the surface of the strings she'd created. She placed them very close together, where she found each multiple hit against her fingertip. The strings were tightly bound, and produced a faint ring when strummed. Enough so that the Nuit was encouraged to continue. Each time she indulged in Animation she found the subtle things to be the most gratifying. She charted into the unknown, to imbue qualities not her own into a construct she'd never created before. A surge of delight cast throughout Savis Maren as she mused on the endless possibilities that Animation seemed to hold for her. Wild musings, ones of art and not of violence. The Nuit was loathsome by nature, but she kept to her word steadfastly.

"Souls are rich with djed in ways that mundane objects could never be. They do vary in power, and I couldn't imagine what it would be like to face a God," she answered honestly. The Nuit saw no reason to exaggerate her knowledge. She happily avoided the Gods, seeing their worship as but another (often fruitless) approach to finding one's answers within the world.

"Animation works by creating objects that are very similar to souls. We call them Life Principles, and in essence, they are false souls created for the express purpose of filling with knowledge and purpose. The Life Principle begins blank, but the purpose of the connection with the Twin Circles is served in filling it with information," Savis continued, intent on repeating the subject matter in the hopes that it sunk in properly.

"There are multiple parts of the soul, but perhaps we should begin the process. As I create the Life Principle, we'll go over the soul," Savis assured Mauriel.

[Mauriel]

The Ethaefal just nodded obediently when the response to her question was postponed. Albeit eternal, she was too young to have learned patience through her endless nature. Instead, it was a simple matter of delay of gratification. She could be extremely insistent and impatient when something was uncertain, but the manner in which Nuit addressed her told Mauriel that she will be getting her answers eventually. Just not yet. And she had no problem entirely refocusing to what her eccentric teacher had to show next.

Which were the circles. Mauriel was reminded of her astronomy studies, gifts of knowledge of this particular library. She had learned that one could actually document a precise position on the world by longitudes and latitudes, large circle-shaped imaginary lines used for calculations. She was still unsure on how you determined where the lines would be on a randomly given celestial body, but has figured out how to read them on a map here. Moreover, the circle was the shape of Leth and His beloved, adding to its significance for the Ethaefal. Savis Maren had emphasized its mathematical properties, and all of that kind of united in the Ethaefal's mind to form the picture the Animator was going for - of a perfect, encompassing shape, one that could bring about that feeling of oneness with your surroundings. Its many properties and natural occurrences added up to its symbolic significance used in magic to channel Djed, apparently.

When invited to sit inside it, however, she was a bit confused. "Will you be connecting me to the project instead of yourself then?" she said, as she positioned the chair near the table to climb on. As short and sturdy as the surface before her was, she wanted to avoid touching the ink with her clothes. She carefully climbed into the circle and sat down, before proceeding to change her position and rearrange the dangling fabric of her dress a good half a dozen times before she was comfortable enough to stay like that for a while. "Does connecting me mean you're gonna transfer my qualities?" she added as she was entering the circle. She thought she was being taken for a bit of a fool again. The perfect vantage point, she repeated in her head mockingly, her annoyance sparked by pride again.

While Mauriel did her very best to follow what Savis told her next, it was a bit convoluted for her uninitiated mind. You give knowledge to your creation and cannot take it back and you therefore have to do it carefully and measuredly. The rest of what she said mostly sounded like her point was that you can't just add a trait for the sake of one particular effect, without considering its many side-effects that will also be prominent parts of the resulting personality. Mauriel had no idea how to even begin to deconstruct such a complex problem. Building a personality from scratch and taking everything into account seemed virtually impossible to her.

While Mauriel was somewhat familiar with how people acted and thought and could somewhat recognize their needs and feelings, she was far from an expert on such matters, and she thought none short of an expert could draft even a somewhat complex intelligence without a loophole. And you did not only need to be an expert in how intelligent beings felt and thought, you also probably needed a very commendable understanding of logic in order to make sure you don't make any contradictions or fail to address any situations... Gosh, they're gonna be here for hours!

"I don't remember much of anything, but I imagine they'd be so intimidating!" Mauriel mused about the nature of Gods, missing the obvious disinterest of her interlocutor. "I wonder if it would be possible to use one of Them to animate an object. Wouldn't that be something?"

The Nuit's explanations continued, just making Mauriel's conclusions about seemingly impossible difficulty of "programming" a soul even more prominent within her mind. Maybe that made the process easier or was the only way it made sense, but there was something mystic about making souls that made it seem very difficult and risky, imbuing them with knowledge seemingly just a part of an ever-larger problem here. She couldn't help but feel a dose of respect for the animated corpse before her, for she had mastered such an incredible art. Maybe she was not exactly a master, but it's hardly like Mauriel could tell a difference between one animator and another at this stage of her education either way.

"That sounds amazing..." was all that she could muster, her voice giving away the childish excitement she was trying to not only supress, but keep under control as well.

[Savis Maren]

It seemed, initially, that Mauriel might meet her with another branch of resistance. She questioned as to whether the Nuit intended to connect her to this project, a notion that Savis Maren not only desired, but found a craving for. The exploration of possible automata was a constant journey for her, intent as she was to find new and different means of utilizing Animation. While the whimsy of creating a singing journal seemed arbitrary and perhaps even useless, it was the epitome of vocalization. Singing, creating rhythm.. if Savis Maren could create an automaton with the capacity for music... what else could she do? Pushing forward in both scope and understanding for the discipline she prized most of all was her ambition, the driving force of her continued existence. Mauriel could foil her efforts whenever she chose to, but it seemed that the Ethaefal didn't plan for that this day.

Savis watched as the Ethaefal shifted the chair, climbing onto it before carefully avoiding the black paint and positioning herself in the center. She asked another question, but to the Nuit it seemed more a question of the first. The explanation that Savis followed with seemed to grip Mauriel's attention, for she no longer versed questions about the Nuit's plans but instead mused on a possibility that stood outside of the realm of Savis' comprehension.

I don't see what sort of God would sit with an Animator for long enough for this process to unfold, she thought, but didn't want to express that to answer Mauriel's musings. Instead, Savis Maren offered a smile to the Ethaefal then continued on with her explanations. As she completed her thoughts the Nuit made sure one final time that no part of the tome she'd placed in the center of the Destination breached its parameters. Satisfied that everything was in place, the Nuit moved on.

When at last Savis finished speaking and Mauriel seemed perfectly willing to sit through the process, she parted her lips. Her jaw stretched as far open as she could possibly muster before she delved her hand into the open maw. She hunted for that reservoir of ichor that she placed there, fingers nearly shoved down her throat. The Nuit's fingers emerged dipped in silvery liquid, and she lifted her arm to allow the droplets to fall into place within each circle before she began her efforts in earnest/ The ichor, once dropped into the Circle, seemed to vanish into nothingness. However, immediately the Nuit's awareness broadened.

The first thing that Savis Maren noticed was how engaged Mauriel was. The mind within the Source was whirring with excitement and perhaps curiosity, but the Nuit couldn't simply read her thoughts like a book. Instead, information flowed in a mess of chaos that if Savis took her time to unfurl it all, she'd likely go mad. Using herself as the Source, for all the problems that came with it, seemed simpler, for delving into the trenches of this seemed a dilemma that only time would tell if possible.

Savis Maren's power over the Twin Circles was exerted without hesitation. Perhaps the Ethaefal might feel discomfort, but the Nuit breached into the composition of her soul and studied it. There was a quality about it that seemed to shine in Savis' eyes and she sought to emulate it, weaving djed within the Destination and forming within it the Soulcore. A mage, versed in the manipulation of djed, might have sensed the shift in the air as the basis of life from Mauriel was replicated and transfered. The hummings of life began within the Destination and Savis Maren found herself reveling in the possibilities that lay within the Ethaefal.

Perhaps, if this automaton proves successful, Mauriel might allow me to borrow more quantities, utilize her for more, she thought briefly before she lifted her head to speak to Mauriel. Silver eyes trained on the Ethaefal as she explained,

"The point of Animation, as I touched on earlier, is to derive knowledge and understanding, movement and emotion from one or more Sources, then shape that understanding with djed from within the Twin Circles. One creates a Life Principle, which mimics the layers and nature of a soul, but generally cannot learn new things or evolve as a mortal might. They are limited, but within those limitations there are countless possibilities. In the recent past, I've used Animation to create a tiny wooden servant, a box capable of registering words and speaking them aloud. There was a time in my past when I imbued intelligence on much more fantastic things, but those days didn't come with the autonomy of the present."

Savis already explained to Mauriel some of what she'd experienced, but her resume, so to speak, was useful to establish her firsthand knowledge of the discipline.

"Now? I make what I please out of what I can afford. This notebook might prove a beautiful reminder of the illustrious Miss Dazzling," she said, winking at the Ethaefal before elaborating on what she'd promised to the Eth.

"Within the soul, there are three principle layers, then the shroud known as the aura. The Soulcore is the part of the soul that powers the use of personal magic, the very basis of a mortal's identity. Above that, there's the Persona, a compilation of knowledge, information, skills and emotions that, as the moniker suggests, shapes the soul's personality. The third and outermost layer is the astral body,the layer that connects the rest of the soul to the physical body. There are several personal magicks that work from this layer of the soul," she completed, providing Mauriel a moment to ask further questions as well as prepare Savis herself for the next step in the Animation process.

WC: 971

[Mauriel]

Mauriel thought she had seen something predatory in the undead's rustling eyes, but it was gone before she could get too paranoid about it. However, the feeling of unease did not escape her, as she suddenly felt very exposed, sitting there on the table, giant building towering over her, and a literal corpse about to perform magic on her. What Savis did next did not help deescalate her panic one bit.

"What-" she paused to gulp. "What are you doing?" Instead of a reply, Savis' hand came out of her mouth covered in some sort of a sticky silver mass. Mauriel thought it could be blood by its other properties, but its color did not match the gentle thick flow down the undead's hand reminiscent of a fresh wound. "What's that?" Her voice was very demanding, and she made the question sound very urgent, her features setting into a frown.

The precise moment when it happened had never been clear, but Mauriel realized that she could feel her heartbeat. Feeling uneasy about this whole thing would have been an understatement. As Savis Maren began doing her work, she did not feel anything different in particular. It didn't seem very invasive or intrusive, which was somewhat surprising. Perhaps she just wasn't attuned to the forces being operated, or maybe she was still used to her soul being bare. Either way, as time went by she managed to relax. Nothing in particular seemed to be happening, and she likely wasn't being tricked after all.

The Ethaefal listened to her unwitting teacher's explanations, satisfied about being amused again. What Savis talked about sounded so ridiculously unrealistic that she had to suppress a chuckle, remembering the earlier episode of flying stolen items, and having to assume mages had powers hardly imaginable to her. Creating a copy of a soul? How does one even start understanding the things that enable them to do that? On that note, perhaps it would do her well to listen...

"So soulcore is the essence from which we derive djed we use for magic then? And it's surrounded by Persona and they're both sort of attached by the astral body to the physical body? If that's correct, I am following. What about that aura-shroud, what's that for?"

[Savis Maren]

"What are you doing?"

What is this? What is that? What are you doing? Gods, if this women spent half the effort listening as she does in asking the same question over and over... she'd make a fair mage, yet.

Savis Maren concealed her derisive laughter behind fingertips when she drew out that small amount of ichor. The Nuit's connection to the Circles was complete, and her pilfering through thought and understanding was marred by her need to answer what the woman asked. The Nuit broke her concentration once she was satisfied the connection was intact, looking to Mauriel as she answered,

"The essence of life is the medium that connects the Animator to their work. From what I understand, the world magicks are bound by some of the same basic tenets. A world mage connects themselves to their projects through this essence, and in that connection, their will is bridged. In Animation, the mage becomes both shepherd and hunter. We decide limitations, impose directives and imbue knowledge from the Source and into the Destination. And it all begins there," she told Mauriel. Once she'd began her dive into the explanation of the soul, it seemed that she had the Ethaefal's rapt attention.

Vain, wary, fearful. Curious, attentive, understanding.

Savis felt her assessments of the twin sides of Mauriel, the negatives and the positives, particularly as the flow of memories tugged at the Nuit's thoughts. She felt compelled to dive into the bridge of understanding. First, the Nuit breached into the sphere of understanding. Experiences whirled about the Nuit's thoughts, overwhelming in number. They barraged at her senses until she honed her focus. Mauriel's experiences dwindled away, leaving all by the wayside except for the sound of her singing. It grew louder and louder as the Nuit drew on it, and she began to siphon that knowledge. She carefully replicated it, and once she felt the strands of understanding... she felt at last capable of delving into another moment of explanation.

The undead mage did not prioritize immediate satisfaction of Mauriel's curiosity. No, first and foremost, she supplied all of her attention to supplying a proper connection to the Twin Circles. Then, to carrying the correct knowledge and prowess. The information flowed with the movement of djed, siphoning into the Destination with her coaxing as at last she parted her lips to speak,

"The Soulcore and Persona are distinct layers from the astral body. All of the layers of the soul are encased within the physical body. The mind and soul are connected in the astral body, and commands to move the physical are carried through that link. The aura in it of itself isn't a layer of the soul. Think of the soul as a radiant presence. It exudes from the flesh, which is not properly equipped to contain it in its entirety. There are some mages that are attuned to auras, and through a practice known as Auristics, they can interact with the aura, which conveys the echoes of emotions, intentions. Aura reflects the qualities of djed. While not unique to souls, the auras of a soul are always greater than the aura of anything else."

Savis Maren felt the knowledge that Mauriel held of song. Pieces of the woman's personality bled into the Destination, as well. The Nuit carefully monitored what it was that went in, not needing trivial, irrelevant memories to suffuse the notebook.

"This process takes quite a bit of time. But, there's much more to consider. While the aura and the bits of the soul are key information to know as an Animator, the ramifications of the connection between the Source, the Animator, and the Destination are perhaps more important to touch on. The Source and Destination are confines in which the respective subjects are connected to the mage. The mage uses the ambient djed within the space, connected to it by their essence, to derive the Source's knowledge. Then, they imbue it into the Destination. They use the knowledge they transfer in order to, as I mentioned, create a sentience that is then supplied with prowess and understanding. Consider an empty vessel, devoid of liquid. Then bit by bit from a reservoir of knowledge, the Animator finds what they need and replicates it. The knowledge is not taken, but shared with the creation. In my experience, the Animation might take on some of the host's qualities, but that's also at the discretion of the mage. A careful Animator have a plethora of options available to them."

Savis Maren, even as she spoke, continued to take qualities from Mauriel. She examined the personality that flashed before her in her mind's eye, then allowed the flow of djed to carry it away and into the Destination.

[Mauriel]

The Ethaefal was offered a polite explanation for a weird gesture she just witnessed, but the point of her shock seems to have been missed. "So that... silvery stuff... is your life essence? And you keep it in your throat? Would that be blood for the rest of us?" The was she said "the rest of us" indicated that it she didn't just leave Savis out for semantic convenience, but truly saw her as a part of something different than herself and her fellow red-blooded Mizaharian brethren. It was very strange, for she had not encountered sentient intelligent life that didn't work at least relatively similarly to her own. She could extrapolate from her experience what having an extra arm or wings, fins, tail, might feel like. After all, she herself had two forms. But she could not imagine what it felt like for your heart to not beat, what did it feel like for a dead body to be touched, and how moving it felt. Races of this world were relatively diverse, and magic scarce but not unheard of, so her mind was adapted for some level of diversity, yet she could not process this without a lot of time to mull it over.

She was glad to be interrupted with further explanations of the nature of the soul. So she did misunderstand, after all. The astral body contained the mentioned layers, and the aura was but a presence all of that radiated to the world. "Is Auristics also a world magic then?" That would make sense to Mauriel, because you were interacting with the world's djed from other souls. And this was something she was actually more deeply interested in. It didn't pique her interest for being exotic or giving fearsome powers, it seemed like something she could use heavily to aid her established goals. She could read a complete stranger without having to make exception for individual peculiarities of their bodily expression, even a person like Savis, who was woefully lacking in that regard. She supposed it wasn't as easy for her body to move around, so it would be a huge waste of energy. Nevertheless, the possibility excited the bard, and seemed much less alien and unwelcoming than the complex inscriptions, circles, and soulcores she was trying to grasp. Hers was a simple mind, and prospects that may excite curiosity of a more scholarly explorer wore her out mentally. Not that she was not interested in Animation, she just did not see herself making much progress. She was not one to refuse knowledge either way. "Do you know much about Auristics as well, Savis?"

She continued listening to further explanations, and while it was interesting that world djed could be used to extract her musical abilities, her mind was still obsessing over Auristics. She thought of how different a place the world would be if everybody possessed such vision. If deceit were impossible, would it make people more or less cruel? She was sure they'd adapt either way, but how an interaction might look like she did not know. It was quite different for one Aurist to secretly read others, from many of them interacting with each other. She's heard of great families in Lhavit passing down knowledge of great magic disciplines, in fact that is why portions of Bharani were forbidden for her. Were their students all open books to each other? Did they feel really naked if they slacked in their studies and all their peers could read them better than vice versa? A whole new realm of experience to explore!

She was brought back to reality when something she was half-listening to sparked her interest. "So can things seep in unintended if the Animator is unskilled? It would be fun and potentially unflattering to find out that this notebook took on some of my character." She paused. "The more you tell me about this, the more I'm sure the dagger I bought sometime ago is, in fact, animated. He seems oddly intelligent, tho, while his personality is simple he was smart enough to pretend to be normal so the merchant wouldn't up the price and sell him to some rich simp or researcher. Although I suppose he got unlucky with me." She chuckled. Ragespike was really an oddity. She was not carrying him around anymore, but she wished she could show him to Savis now. "He can hold a decent conversation, albeit grumpily and unwillingly."