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Re: The Universal Language [Finn]
Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:13 pm
by Hilana Chenzira
Hilana was indeed fortunate - she loved to cook, and she had surrounded herself with friends and companions who enjoyed eating. It may have been considered women's work, tending the camp and making sure everyone was looked after... but the Vastiana had never minded it. Arry had certainly become more discerning; but he had royal chefs that were masters in their craft to cook for him... though he didn't seem to mind her food when the opportunity came for it. Finn had always enjoyed it. Raithen would tackle a meal at any hour of the day or night. Lykos was the same way. Vasilei enjoyed the treats she brought in, and she knew his family did as well. She was even able to get Prince Phocion to partake in her roasted chickpeas, which was one of the highlights of her culinary achievements to date...
But the focus today was not on the array and assortment of comestibles she had had prepared for them; it was on the lesson in front of them. Domina Clelia had made it very clear that she needed to master Scrivening in order to be able to truly successful in the Arcane crafts that she had undertaken, and her attention went back to Lia's lessons. It was good to work on them, and to practice her Semblance at the same time. She could see the way Finn woke his pictographs to his aether, the way it came to life as she studied his work on the parchment. Where he could surely hear such things with Mesmer, she was at least able to watch them, too. She still had her glyph saved that Daemon had drawn for her, of the flower back when they had first met. She had been prepared to use it if she had needed to do so when she went down into the Thalamum Draconum, but fortunately, that had been unnecessary.
And Zalkyriax surely would not have been appreciative if she had brought that in there, considering the Crownwyrm had very much wanted her standing there on her own two feet without the aid of another's Craft... But especially considering who the Scrivener had been that had made that glyph for her. Keeping this in mind, Hilana had decided to do something other than what she usually did when it came to Scrivening. Plants may have been her language, but so, too, were maps. The mirror had become a pond, and the path was definitely not straight - but it didn't have to be. It just needed to be a line. One by one, Hilana had put the intent into the ink.
"Surprisingly, no," Lia began. "What a vortex does is collect any energy that overruns the paths that we make, and draws it back into other pictographs. The vortex usually comes into practice in more advanced glyphs that are tasked with a greater workload than what we're doing here. There's a lot of them in the Cold Room in the Citadel, because with the energies at play in there, they must be safely redirected," the elder sister explained, sipping her drink and setting her cup aside. "Where mirrors, paths, and convergences have more defined forms, the continuums and vortexes can take on whatever shape you desire - this all depends on your own personal style and taste. A continuum usually builds on the convergence, as they are considered the more evolved, or developed, pictograph, and as such can be similar. The convergence is where two paths cross. The convergence and continuums create the focal points that the vortex would redistribute the energy that is flowing into. The continuum can actually be more dangerous than the vortex, since they can get overwhelmed... but that is where the vortex comes in."
As different as the sisters were, in many respects night and day... both of them clearly enjoyed teaching on subjects they were passionate about.
Re: The Universal Language [Finn]
Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2024 5:07 pm
by Finn
Finn nodded along slowly as he listened to Athalia's explanations, speeding up when she came to a point and he understood—or, at least, he thought he understood. There was certainly a thrill to learning, when two facts connected in the mind, opening up a wider view of the world. He was glad that there were schematics in the books, though; unless he was learning music by ear, he did appreciate visual representations until he had a firm picture of them in his head.
The bard could look at sheet music and hear an orchestra in his mind. Perhaps someday he would be able to look at a complex matrix of sigils and imagine the magic it would enact, but today was not that day.
A deadly venomous serpent poked its cool nose against his elbow and his opposite hand came over to gently give it egress to climb upon him for warmth. Sooner rather than later, he was likely to look like animals were a part of his couture, but he had charmed them long ago—some with magic, some with kindness, some with both. Now the worst he had to worry about was a hiss to warn him against stepping on something, or a wet spitball if the camel was in a foul mood, but even that was rare. More often he was sweeter in the hopes of getting a song played.
But he had endless snacks and cuddles here, which made for a nice learning environment. He made some notes of his own regarding vortecies, continua, and convergences.
"I'm going to have to take a closer look at the Cold Room," he murmured to himself.
Re: The Universal Language [Finn]
Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 2:26 pm
by Hilana Chenzira
When that answer seemed to satisfy, Athalia went over the remaining pictographs in a Scrivener's arsenal, explaining what she had touched upon previously and going into more detail as the questions went about convergences, continuums, and the vortexes. It would be a while before he would be using such things in the advanced capacity, but like Sembling, Scrivening had everything available to the beginner... it was just a matter of learning how best to utilize and balance the work. And success would come from experience.
They practiced and discussed, and Hilana's big female cobra, the one who made Athalia more nervous than any other animal in her sister's disturbing collection, was all too happy to cuddle up to Finn. Badai was a monster to just about anyone else: massive, capable of delivering enough of a venom payload to kill several people when Hilana went and collected venom from her, and utterly unnerving in her stare. But on the other hand, they left Lia alone, and she knew that Finn had Mesmered these snakes thoroughly to ensure the safety of the people in this room when they were out.
"Let me know if you'd like a tour of it," Lia offered, taking a sip of her drink and having a bite of the ghraybeh cookie. "It is beautiful, even without the lenses... but with them? Then it comes alive. But that project is interesting in that you can see whose work is whose - while it is primarily Lykos' craft, you can see my contributions, and Hilana's as well. All of us have our own designs in there, which goes to what we said earlier - the personalization of the elements of the pictographs can be considerable, especially with the other design elements." Otherwise, if it would be more impromptu, he could always ask Sentinel Decius when he saw him at the Citadel - the more senior Sentinel had been tasked with watching and warding that work as well, and he could further explain it to Finn.
Re: The Universal Language [Finn]
Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 3:08 pm
by Finn
Review
Experience: 10 xp for use at your discretion
Injuries: headaches, perhaps
Loot: n/a
Notes: Thanks, and let me know if I missed anything!