Monster Mash | Archival Studies
Oct. 29th, 2021 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_darcy posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsDarcy hands her creepy package off to Topaz, then asks magic questions over lunch.
Darcy shot a text to Topaz on her way back to the mansion, grabbing wraps and juice from the vegetarian place the other woman liked while asking her to meet in the chapel proper. She wasn't sure what the package was yet, but the shape and general unease of her twitchy contact made her think magic book. She made her way back, and made her way into one of the areas Topaz had claimed, setting the food down on a clean table with a tired smile.
"Food first, or potential dangerous item first?"
"You can't do both at the same time?" Topaz asked wryly, not looking up from her laptop. "Let's do dangerous item while I finish this paragraph."
Darcy pulled the wrapped package out and put it near her laptop. "The person that dropped it was incredibly skittish, and I'm not sure if I'm uneasy because of that or because it's giving me the same shivery feeling Avalon being open does. Don't want to spoil lunch if it's stomach-churning, either."
Topaz's eyes flicked to the book-shaped package. A bubble formed around it, carefully shielding it from accidentally being touched. "It's definitely something," she said, finishing what she was writing and closing her laptop to give Darcy and the Mystery Object her full attention. "Dropped it like it fell out of their pocket while you were in the city or like you found them leaving it at the front gate?"
"Contact meetup on the infamous newbie milk run had that instead of the traditional gossip or news. Told me to tell Sydney it was dangerous and to get it somewhere safe, so I shot him a text and brought it here." Darcy gave the object a side-eye. "At least she wasn't wary for no reason. I've met rabbits less likely to keel over with fright than that girl."
"Well it's contained by the packaging at least or it would've possessed you on the way home," Topaz muttered, picking at a corner of the paper. She grabbed her bag, shuffling through it for a moment before producing a pair of gloves and slipping them on. She pulled the paper back to reveal a book. The cover had symbols and runes scribbled all over it, with a name across the top. Necronomicon. "What the bloody hell - are you sure he isn't playing some weird prank?"
Darcy blinked. "I.. don't think Kevin would prank us with a book that could actually possess someone. Maybe lightly singe, as a lesson to not be nosy about things you don't understand. Is that... an actually magic version of the Necronomicon?" She slid her chair back slightly, unwilling to get too close to a book that could actively possess someone.
"That would have to be verified by someone with so much more experience in magical literature," Topaz said dubiously, carefully opening the cover to just look at the first page, then dropping it again. "And then it depends on who you ask. One person might take you seriously, another will tell you to stop wasting their time and go on a rant about Lovecraft being a hack and popular media ruining our history." She tapped the cover once, still frowning. "There's definitely power in it, but no one can agree if this thing actually exists. The full book has never been found. A few pages here and there have been verified, but you know what it's like, a couple decades later, someone calls the findings into questions, entire groups go up in arms." She finally dared to pick it up, turning it over to look at the spine, then the back. She couldn't confirm if it was The Real Thing, but it was definitely old, and definitely something unsettling about it. "I tend to believe if someone says a magical book exists, there's probably some version of it somewhere in the world. I never would have expected to have it dropped in our laps, though."
"The universe works in mysterious ways. Contact said it was found in New England, so maybe one of the Baltimore Coven contacts found it and they suggested sending it our way? If they were worried about security maybe they thought the cloak and dagger was safer than putting it in a more easily recorded form." Darcy tipped her head back, staring at the ceiling as she thought. "I've heard of it, of course. I don't like deep occult fiction as much as I did before I found out magic actually exists, but it's impossible to ignore the oily touch of early writers who ran with the idea."
"Coulda fallen into their laps." Topaz's doubt was audible. They were a very peaceful coven. Why would someone pass a book like this to them? And why go through the trouble of getting it to them in such a roundabout way? Niy sent her pictures of interesting rocks every other day. He didn't worry much about communicating. "I'm not sure. But if this is the real thing..."
She opened the book again, fascination overtaking doubt for a moment. "It'd be amazing. Terrifying, but amazing."
"And probably best studied as a group, with someone observing so the lot of you don't get whammied by it," Darcy added dryly. "Maybe all of Team Magic and someone hard to influence psychically. Not today though, we've still got lunch to eat and I've got something else to talk to you about. Is it safe to stash in Avalon for a few days, you think?"
"Yeah, should be." Topaz stood, holding the book carefully. Amazing or not, it was still a magical and dangerous book and she wanted it to touch as little of her as possible. "One sec."
She disappeared through the door to Avalon, returning a few moments later and nudging it shut with her foot as she peeled the gloves off. She took her seat and her food as she asked, "What's up?"
"I've been helping Laurie look into options for possibly getting her advanced prosthetic working again. Traditional methods we've found so far are out for various reasons, so she's been looking at alternate methods." Darcy gave her a pointed look, then tipped her head at Avalon's door. "I think she's asked Amanda, and I told her nothing I remembered being in Avalon would be useful, but if there's anything you can think of that isn't... super dangerous or another ritual sacrifice, I'm interested. We're interested."
Topaz was quiet for a moment, picking a piece of red pepper out of her wrap and chewing on it for a moment as she mulled over her words. "Magic has a cost, always," was what she finally said. "Even if - and it is a big if - I could find something useful in Avalon, it would still require the right type of payment. Payment to fix the nerve damage, or if she wants to take it further, to regrow the entire arm. Both are high prices to pay."
"Yeah, that's... about what I expected, honestly? And probably not a one for one trade, either. She saved my life, so I'm willing to at least entertain the idea of making my own sacrifice to help her, so long as I can live with the personal cost." Darcy let out a deep sigh, running her fingers through her hair before dropping her hands into her lap. "I guess... if you see something, let me know? Because if I'm not willing to pay the cost, there's no point in telling her it exists. And for now, I can at least tell her you'll keep an eye out but nothing we've got stored would work." She felt a flash of guilt over potentially being a barrier to something that could help Laurie, and a coil of shame over all of the half-truths she was juggling.
Well, she'd tried to be nice about it. "That's not a cost someone just lives with, Darcy. And it wouldn't only be you paying it. It'd be whoever helped." And Laurie if she had any damn feelings about it, but Topaz bit her tongue on that one, taking the brief pause to go over the small wave of emotions. "Look, you feel guilty. I get it. But being willing to give up a limb for it might be taking it a little far. And yeah, I say that from hypocritical experience."
Darcy chewed on her bottom lip. "I wouldn't want anyone else to.. it's not.. it sucks and I hate that she's struggling and things are difficult and I can only help as much as she's willing to let me. But she can still do a lot. If it was just.. I don't know, she could get her nerves back but I'd have some nerve issues because of it, I could live with paying that price. But I wouldn't want someone else to have to pay that price as well." She took a bite of her wrap, chewing slowly. "I had to ask, though. She asked me if I would, but I would have regardless. Some of the stuff she's been looking into..." She shook her head, giving Topaz a wan smile. "I'm sure it'll be fine. I think the retreat she went on helped, actually. She was pretty cheerful when she got home. Thanks for answering my questions."
"Yeah, 'course. Sorry I can't give you a better answer." And she was sorry. It wasn't a great situation. She didn't envy the position any of them were in.
"Nothing to apologize over. I knew it was unlikely and told her as much, but it was worth asking about. Leave no reasonable stone unturned."
Darcy shot a text to Topaz on her way back to the mansion, grabbing wraps and juice from the vegetarian place the other woman liked while asking her to meet in the chapel proper. She wasn't sure what the package was yet, but the shape and general unease of her twitchy contact made her think magic book. She made her way back, and made her way into one of the areas Topaz had claimed, setting the food down on a clean table with a tired smile.
"Food first, or potential dangerous item first?"
"You can't do both at the same time?" Topaz asked wryly, not looking up from her laptop. "Let's do dangerous item while I finish this paragraph."
Darcy pulled the wrapped package out and put it near her laptop. "The person that dropped it was incredibly skittish, and I'm not sure if I'm uneasy because of that or because it's giving me the same shivery feeling Avalon being open does. Don't want to spoil lunch if it's stomach-churning, either."
Topaz's eyes flicked to the book-shaped package. A bubble formed around it, carefully shielding it from accidentally being touched. "It's definitely something," she said, finishing what she was writing and closing her laptop to give Darcy and the Mystery Object her full attention. "Dropped it like it fell out of their pocket while you were in the city or like you found them leaving it at the front gate?"
"Contact meetup on the infamous newbie milk run had that instead of the traditional gossip or news. Told me to tell Sydney it was dangerous and to get it somewhere safe, so I shot him a text and brought it here." Darcy gave the object a side-eye. "At least she wasn't wary for no reason. I've met rabbits less likely to keel over with fright than that girl."
"Well it's contained by the packaging at least or it would've possessed you on the way home," Topaz muttered, picking at a corner of the paper. She grabbed her bag, shuffling through it for a moment before producing a pair of gloves and slipping them on. She pulled the paper back to reveal a book. The cover had symbols and runes scribbled all over it, with a name across the top. Necronomicon. "What the bloody hell - are you sure he isn't playing some weird prank?"
Darcy blinked. "I.. don't think Kevin would prank us with a book that could actually possess someone. Maybe lightly singe, as a lesson to not be nosy about things you don't understand. Is that... an actually magic version of the Necronomicon?" She slid her chair back slightly, unwilling to get too close to a book that could actively possess someone.
"That would have to be verified by someone with so much more experience in magical literature," Topaz said dubiously, carefully opening the cover to just look at the first page, then dropping it again. "And then it depends on who you ask. One person might take you seriously, another will tell you to stop wasting their time and go on a rant about Lovecraft being a hack and popular media ruining our history." She tapped the cover once, still frowning. "There's definitely power in it, but no one can agree if this thing actually exists. The full book has never been found. A few pages here and there have been verified, but you know what it's like, a couple decades later, someone calls the findings into questions, entire groups go up in arms." She finally dared to pick it up, turning it over to look at the spine, then the back. She couldn't confirm if it was The Real Thing, but it was definitely old, and definitely something unsettling about it. "I tend to believe if someone says a magical book exists, there's probably some version of it somewhere in the world. I never would have expected to have it dropped in our laps, though."
"The universe works in mysterious ways. Contact said it was found in New England, so maybe one of the Baltimore Coven contacts found it and they suggested sending it our way? If they were worried about security maybe they thought the cloak and dagger was safer than putting it in a more easily recorded form." Darcy tipped her head back, staring at the ceiling as she thought. "I've heard of it, of course. I don't like deep occult fiction as much as I did before I found out magic actually exists, but it's impossible to ignore the oily touch of early writers who ran with the idea."
"Coulda fallen into their laps." Topaz's doubt was audible. They were a very peaceful coven. Why would someone pass a book like this to them? And why go through the trouble of getting it to them in such a roundabout way? Niy sent her pictures of interesting rocks every other day. He didn't worry much about communicating. "I'm not sure. But if this is the real thing..."
She opened the book again, fascination overtaking doubt for a moment. "It'd be amazing. Terrifying, but amazing."
"And probably best studied as a group, with someone observing so the lot of you don't get whammied by it," Darcy added dryly. "Maybe all of Team Magic and someone hard to influence psychically. Not today though, we've still got lunch to eat and I've got something else to talk to you about. Is it safe to stash in Avalon for a few days, you think?"
"Yeah, should be." Topaz stood, holding the book carefully. Amazing or not, it was still a magical and dangerous book and she wanted it to touch as little of her as possible. "One sec."
She disappeared through the door to Avalon, returning a few moments later and nudging it shut with her foot as she peeled the gloves off. She took her seat and her food as she asked, "What's up?"
"I've been helping Laurie look into options for possibly getting her advanced prosthetic working again. Traditional methods we've found so far are out for various reasons, so she's been looking at alternate methods." Darcy gave her a pointed look, then tipped her head at Avalon's door. "I think she's asked Amanda, and I told her nothing I remembered being in Avalon would be useful, but if there's anything you can think of that isn't... super dangerous or another ritual sacrifice, I'm interested. We're interested."
Topaz was quiet for a moment, picking a piece of red pepper out of her wrap and chewing on it for a moment as she mulled over her words. "Magic has a cost, always," was what she finally said. "Even if - and it is a big if - I could find something useful in Avalon, it would still require the right type of payment. Payment to fix the nerve damage, or if she wants to take it further, to regrow the entire arm. Both are high prices to pay."
"Yeah, that's... about what I expected, honestly? And probably not a one for one trade, either. She saved my life, so I'm willing to at least entertain the idea of making my own sacrifice to help her, so long as I can live with the personal cost." Darcy let out a deep sigh, running her fingers through her hair before dropping her hands into her lap. "I guess... if you see something, let me know? Because if I'm not willing to pay the cost, there's no point in telling her it exists. And for now, I can at least tell her you'll keep an eye out but nothing we've got stored would work." She felt a flash of guilt over potentially being a barrier to something that could help Laurie, and a coil of shame over all of the half-truths she was juggling.
Well, she'd tried to be nice about it. "That's not a cost someone just lives with, Darcy. And it wouldn't only be you paying it. It'd be whoever helped." And Laurie if she had any damn feelings about it, but Topaz bit her tongue on that one, taking the brief pause to go over the small wave of emotions. "Look, you feel guilty. I get it. But being willing to give up a limb for it might be taking it a little far. And yeah, I say that from hypocritical experience."
Darcy chewed on her bottom lip. "I wouldn't want anyone else to.. it's not.. it sucks and I hate that she's struggling and things are difficult and I can only help as much as she's willing to let me. But she can still do a lot. If it was just.. I don't know, she could get her nerves back but I'd have some nerve issues because of it, I could live with paying that price. But I wouldn't want someone else to have to pay that price as well." She took a bite of her wrap, chewing slowly. "I had to ask, though. She asked me if I would, but I would have regardless. Some of the stuff she's been looking into..." She shook her head, giving Topaz a wan smile. "I'm sure it'll be fine. I think the retreat she went on helped, actually. She was pretty cheerful when she got home. Thanks for answering my questions."
"Yeah, 'course. Sorry I can't give you a better answer." And she was sorry. It wasn't a great situation. She didn't envy the position any of them were in.
"Nothing to apologize over. I knew it was unlikely and told her as much, but it was worth asking about. Leave no reasonable stone unturned."
