inkedspell | [IC] Inbox for deercountry

[When Saeri opens the door, she can't help but laugh.]

Coolness is in the eye of the beholder. Gonna have to decide that for yourself. [She steps aside to let him in.] But yes, my place is awesome. Of course.

[The ladder to the second floor is pulled up, but the loveseat is put away. The low table is covered in small figures that look like robots and stone figurines, covered in runes. There are stools set up by the long work counter covered in papers, stones, and bottles blood and ink.]

You picked the perfect timing, since I'm doing rune maintenance today on a bunch of things.

[ He enters on in as she gives him room, and he pauses to examine the space, more cosy than the last time he was sleeping in a vehicle. He isn't sure which way to step, and it's bad to assume, so he moves to a spot to give Saeri the room to navigate, if with his head nodding to the tools out. ]

You need to give them a fresh splash of blood-ink?

[ That's what maintenance means to Robby, anyway. But that's why he's here: to learn. ]

Stools are over there if you want to pull up a seat.

[She moves around easily, head bending and dodging the hanging baskets and shelves dangling overfull from the ceiling. They aren't so low that Robby would need to worry.]

And yeah, most of them need ink, some of them need re-ingraving. Stone wears a bit more when it's in use so I touch up the edges of the runes every few months.

[ Then he'll take a seat now that it's been offered, taking the one that seems not as position to regard everything that's been set out. ]

So nothing has to be one-use, depending how you make it. [ The stone, the strength, maybe? Or whatever it does. But maybe he should be asking: ] What's the process?

[ Start from the beginning. ]

Okay, from the top then.

[She walks over to the counter and points to the different stacks of paper.]

Each of these piles is a different rune language. Each rune means something different or could have a double meaning when combined with other runes or accents. It's just like learning how to write in Cyrillic or Kanji really. But runes also just so happen to be a bit...Touched? If that makes sense? They were created in a way that gives them an inherent and specialized link to magic, old, deep-rooted types of magic. Making them so much easier to use when writing spells.

[ Robby's listening, looking where she points and even glancing to the works on the table too, real life examples of runes at work (or, in a state of work). A magical language, made to be so. At least, he thinks he gets that much. ]

So... whatever you combine with the runes, [ he gestures to the papers, ] it's going to make some effect on what they mean. [ A pause. ] But they're not magic if you just write them with a pen or pencil, are they?

[ You need something more - magical - to activate them. Right? ]

Nah, there has to be a bit of power put into them. My inks are magically enhanced, but I could also use my own magic to make it happen.

[She picks up a small, green egg shaped item. It has tiny runes written along the sides and the top of it. She pressed just a bit of magic into it and the runes glow, crackling a bit. The optics light up and the legs extend. It lifts and tip-toes around the palm of her hand.]

If you have magic, you can use it to activate the runes without specialized ink. It reacts to the spell you wrote with them. But most runists don't have a high magical reserve. If we did, we'd be mages and just use verbal spells instead.

[ Okay, cool, so Robby can understand that -- and also, the 'making the egg-shaped thing come to life as a tiny robot' is very cool. Or maybe that's supposed to be a golem? There's plenty more for Robby to learn.

Regardless, the look of surprise made from seeing the...thing shift into life still lingers on Robby's face, and there's a glance to one of his own hands, but it doesn't stay. ]

So... you said everyone who comes here has a little magic, right? So anyone can work it like that if they know what they're doing.

[ Even him -- but with plenty, plenty of practice. ]

Exactly.

[Sweet Pea keeps moving around in her hand and she sets it down on the table, letting it toddle around, deftly moving between and over pieces of equipment and stacks of paper. It stops next to Robby, as if looking him up and down.]

For you, warmblood has a very low turn out, so you'd probably have to keep it simple. Or learn to mix with some other bloods for a stronger reaction. But it also means you might have an easier time learning the runes. No need to worry about accidentally setting a spell off.

[ That's nice. It might not mean much for what he's doing now and the better power in ink or blood-ink, but for a guy who hasn't been any kind of magical up to this point? It's exciting, in a small way.

Though, Robby isn't sure how to treat the little one moving around on the table, and when it comes to him.

... ... he'll give it a little wave.

(Ahem, anyway. Rune stuff.) ]

That's good. [ Not accidentally setting them off, and he gets a small tug of his lips. ] How do you make them work? I mean-- so you need magic to make the runes work, and you can make them work if you have a special blood or ink... but they aren't going off now. [ Well, maybe the ones on the table aren't going off because they need maintenance, but. ]

Do you need to know how to set them off to work them?

[ Would have throwing that smoke bomb rune stone have done nothing?? ]

You could say that. Runes can be more like...ancient computer programming. All that programming power doesn't matter if the computer's not turned on. Using ink or energy is what activates the power dormant in the runes.

[Sweet Pea scuttles closer then, optics flickering. But they weren't like a normal robot's eyes with glass or plastic covering them. They glowed different colors but if one looked closer the space was empty, the glow was coming from within. And it is very interested in Robby. Saeri is curious as to what has the little golem's attention so riveted.]

[ Okay, so the magic will always be a spark to make it work. And it's a magical craft where, as long as you have the right tools, you can work it. Simple in theory, but there's always some kind of detail in anything that makes it difficult.

And Robby's ready to assume what this is, nodding to the papers of runes written. ]

Let me guess: unless you write the rune exact, you're not getting anything working. And that's the hard part.

[ Because that was the problem with the ones on the table, wasn't it? Ink fading, but she'd mention engraving, too. But Robby hasn't stopped noticing the little fellow on the table, with its interest still on him. He isn't examining it too closely, but it's lingering there, so he tries to do what Saeri did when she first activated it.

...he offers his hand, palm shown, a surface for it by the table to climb onto if it wants. If he shouldn't, Saeri will tell him not to, right?

But it also feels like he should be accommodating her...doll egg(?). ]

[That is exactly what Sweet Pea was waiting for and it proceeds to step onto his hand, little "feet" lightly pressing into his skin as it moves. It's a lot lighter than it might look, considering it's not run by circuits and batteries of a technological sense. It shifts and taps and does a spinning hop. He might realize it's doing a little dance for him. Saeri's just amused watching. She chuckles.]

Yeah, if you mess it up, it's not the spell you're going for, it's just runes. Glyphs. You might even get it so wrong you write a totally different spell instead. Don't want that. Runes can be...adapted a bit, but the Spell Points have to stay. The connections of the rune to the magic. Kind of like you can a font on a computer, but the letters still have to look similar enough or no one can tell which letter they are.

[ Sweet Pea is a lot of things than just light for Robby, an oddity to what can be described as his duller life. But hey, it's also one of the nicer oddities to come from Trench. Has anything else in this place given him a tiny dance yet?? No.

It gets a small baffled chuckle out of Robby -- baffled, but in a good way. ]

Okay... [ Look, he did listen to that, but he has to ask with his new pal in hand: ] Uh, your friend the other day said you make something like golems. Is this what this is?

[ The real question is 'What is this?', because even 'golem' doesn't mean much to Robby, but hopefully his amused confusion will get that across. ]

You got it.

[Sweet Pea is just showing off, really, wanting Robby's attention.]

I mean, nowadays a lot of people think of them like robots, because robots are everywhere now, but they aren't. Robots use technology, golems use magic. There's no wires inside that little guy, just some gears and joints and runes engraved to keep him going until they run out. Golems have existed for thousands of years back home but we do have the nice upgrades of fancier materials to make them out of.

[ It has so much personality in a tiny little body. ]

Oh. [ Huh. ] Only know about golems from...old adventure cartoons. Those guys are all stone. [ And not a little dancing fiend.

Which. He pauses, then also asks, a note dropped and looking at Saeri: ]

--does it know what I'm saying?

[ Should he be careful (as if he's been saying some outrageous things about him up to this point)???? ]

That's because most of them were. Stone was the easiest to make them out of and didn't cost as much as getting metals together.

[Sweet continues to dance, but then begins to tip-toe its way up his arm. If he lets it, it will settle on his shoulder, pressed up close to him.]

Sweet Pea here has only been purposed to recognize tone and gain a sense of your mood from how you talk. Probably why its showing off for you. To get a stronger emotional reaction. It's supposed to be a cuddle buddy.

[ The lore expands. Robby doesn't mind, exactly, as Sweet Pea starts its path up his arm; but what he does mind is the possibility of it falling, which gets him to tell it, 'Hey, be careful -- where're you going?'

And why it'll only manage to get around his elbow before Robby (having straightened his forearm to make it easier on the buddy) gingerly plucks it with his fingers around its entirety, and settles it back down on the table. Alas, poor Sweet Pea -- Robby is more concerned for your safety than your duties. ]

Oh. [ Something that small is a 'cuddle' buddy... but Robby can see, if thinking about it: ] Looks great for kids. Might be more cuddle-like with a fur coat.

[ More of a joke than a suggestion, but that would be more cuddly...

And if Sweet Pea might at all be upset or looking for Robby's attention, he'll give them a reassuring, 'I'm okay', to hopefully help. ]

[Saeri watches as Sweet Pea is put-out by being set down on the table. It's very hard to cuddle when it's not touching someone! She plucks it up herself and taps at a different rune on its back, powering it down. The legs curl back up inside and it goes back to looking like a green egg.]

A coat. Why didn't I think of that? I ditched the fur idea originally when I thought about all the ink that would get in it during touch-ups, but a coat or sleeve would be perfect. Thanks.

[ Huh, that was actually a good idea? Robby's surprised, eyebrows raised, but-- hey, he'll take it. ]

Sure. [ He sounds a little amused, but then he's looking at the sheets Saeri motioned to before, motions to them as well. ]

Okay, so -- is there an easy rune to start with? How do we do this?

Depends on what you want to say. Since it's not so much about rune, singular, as in rune families. You pick which one you this is the most fun to work with and move on from there.

[She separates the stack into separate piles of different families.]

You've got your classics like the Futhark families, or you can look at heiroglyphs, like Egyptian or Mayan, Etruscan, or even cuneiform. Not all of those are actually "runes" historically, they just fall into the "rune" branch of magic because the older the written language, the stronger its magical bonds.

Majority of runists are "purists" and only use defined rune families. [Yeah, she rolls her eyes just a bit as that.] But that does make them the easiest to start with. The basics.

[ Now that he's actually getting to see the separate runes, it's almost immediately far more complicated (along the levels he was expecting, but still) than Robby was beginning to hope; but that's because he's looking at multiple alternatives, and that's a relief to hear and understand. ]

I'll take whichever ones doesn't want me drawing birds. [ Sorry, Egyptian hieroglyphs. It's said with a pinch of humour, but Robby leans in to inspect the papers better, and he taps a finger to the Futhark and the Etruscan choices (as long as it's the alphabet). ]

Those two look like something I'm gonna be able to get my head around. Unless this is a case of looks being deceiving, and I just picked the challenge.

[ Unless either of these are one of the classics -- maybe that Futhark one? ]

[IC] Inbox for deercountry

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