Garrison Kane (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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xp_logs2023-08-17 11:10 am
xp_dominion) wrote in xp_logs2023-08-17 11:10 am
Entry tags:
Transian Public Library - Log 1
Amanda follows up on Clint's tip and finds a potentially important lead.
Clint’s tip had sent Amanda into research mode, and the more she looked, the more the titles of the library aligned with the list of materials that neither she or Wong had been able to dig up which might inform her research into Kane’s condition. It was late when she came to a conclusion and when she came out of the second bedroom of their suite - now a study - she discovered Marie-Ange had gone to bed and she entered without pause.
"Angie. Wake up. I have to tell you something."
"I already know about the birds. They are a whole flock and a single bird and they watch garbage and lie about it." Marie-Ange had her head shoved under a pillow, and all the blankets wrapped around her like a cocoon. "They lie."
Then she pulled the pillow away and sat up, yawning, and scrubbed at her eye with one fist while stabbing at her phone recording away on the nightstand. "We will just file that away for stupid Odin antics later. I am awake, what happened?"
"I might have found a way to help Garrison," Amanda said, intent on her news. "Or I hope I have. I need to get hold of the books, but they aren't on Wong's radar and his library's much bigger than mine, so it's completely possible it might have something." The normally-concise witch was almost babbling in her almost-desperate excitement. Then she realised and reined herself in with visible effort. "There's a library. Very valuable, very private. I got hold of a list of books it has and none of them are available to me or to Kamar-Taj. I need to get at it."
"Another library?" Marie-Ange asked, while kicking her legs free of the cocooned blankets. "I am awake, I am awake, tell me about the library, how secure, how magical, can I stab another fictional character?" She finally got herself free of blankets, and kicked into a pair of slippers. "I will put tea on." It was easy enough to put her phone back into recording mode, dumping to a secure fileserver instead of her own personal drive to mine random mutterings overnight. "How many books?"
Amanda sat on the side of the bed with a huff, scrubbing her hands through her untied hair. She'd apparently done that several times during her studies, since it was sticking up like the proverbial haystack. "A few hundred. They were written by a bloke who fancied himself the expert on Cthton. Elder God, chaos bringer, all that bollocks. But a big part of Gar's problem is down to chaos magic and there might be something in there we can use to cure him. Or at least give him more time."
A hairtie, more like a flat elastic ribbon was passed over, and then Marie-Ange stood up, shuffling towards the hallway. "Tea. This is a tea conversation. Kitchen." She was back very quickly, with two mugs, the good loose leaf tea, and the plug-in electric kettle. The kettle went on the nightstand, sloshing a little, and Marie-Ange busied herself plugging it in and shoving a little silicon mat underneath. "That is good news, yes? I am guessing it is not held by the people who fixed Wanda's powers after all of the Destine nonsense, because you would have already said so, so what is the catch?"
While Marie-Ange had gone for the kettle, Amanda had taken a deep breath and focussed on putting her hair into a rough ponytail with the hairtie, using the pause to calm her thoughts. "Oh, there's a catch, but not a huge one. The library's in Tansia, of all places. Not one of my usual stops, but it's Europe, so the city should be accessible to my powers at least. It's just..." Amanda shook her head. "I've been looking into this for so bloody long without even a hint, and now there's all this..."
"Something had to turn up, the way you talked, the Ancient One already knew about this kind of chaos magic." Marie-Ange was finally in all business mode, and snapped one of her elastic eyepatches on over the empty socket. "It was not as though this was something new. Finding it in a cache makes sense." She spooned leaves into two little tea strainers shaped like pumpkins, and dropped them into the mugs and poured the now steaming water over. "Phone, three minute timer please. Even if this only gets you a little info, it also gives you something to hold over that bald wanker's head. Ha ha, you have the Chthon books and if he wants to see them he has to stop being such a bald wanker."
Amanda snorted a laugh at that, the sound more normal than the near-hysteria of her earlier reaction. "Oh, to see his face when he finds out... Maybe I can ask Wong to film it?"
Marie-Ange laughed, and her phone chimed the timer. "Please. I want it in high definition." She pulled the tea strainers out, and handed Amanda one of the mugs. "Now that there is tea, tell me more. Who is this Cthon expert, why have we not encountered him before."
Amanda wrapped her hands around the mug, inhaling the fragrant steam for a moment. "So. There's this group, called the Knights of Wundagore..."
Clint’s tip had sent Amanda into research mode, and the more she looked, the more the titles of the library aligned with the list of materials that neither she or Wong had been able to dig up which might inform her research into Kane’s condition. It was late when she came to a conclusion and when she came out of the second bedroom of their suite - now a study - she discovered Marie-Ange had gone to bed and she entered without pause.
"Angie. Wake up. I have to tell you something."
"I already know about the birds. They are a whole flock and a single bird and they watch garbage and lie about it." Marie-Ange had her head shoved under a pillow, and all the blankets wrapped around her like a cocoon. "They lie."
Then she pulled the pillow away and sat up, yawning, and scrubbed at her eye with one fist while stabbing at her phone recording away on the nightstand. "We will just file that away for stupid Odin antics later. I am awake, what happened?"
"I might have found a way to help Garrison," Amanda said, intent on her news. "Or I hope I have. I need to get hold of the books, but they aren't on Wong's radar and his library's much bigger than mine, so it's completely possible it might have something." The normally-concise witch was almost babbling in her almost-desperate excitement. Then she realised and reined herself in with visible effort. "There's a library. Very valuable, very private. I got hold of a list of books it has and none of them are available to me or to Kamar-Taj. I need to get at it."
"Another library?" Marie-Ange asked, while kicking her legs free of the cocooned blankets. "I am awake, I am awake, tell me about the library, how secure, how magical, can I stab another fictional character?" She finally got herself free of blankets, and kicked into a pair of slippers. "I will put tea on." It was easy enough to put her phone back into recording mode, dumping to a secure fileserver instead of her own personal drive to mine random mutterings overnight. "How many books?"
Amanda sat on the side of the bed with a huff, scrubbing her hands through her untied hair. She'd apparently done that several times during her studies, since it was sticking up like the proverbial haystack. "A few hundred. They were written by a bloke who fancied himself the expert on Cthton. Elder God, chaos bringer, all that bollocks. But a big part of Gar's problem is down to chaos magic and there might be something in there we can use to cure him. Or at least give him more time."
A hairtie, more like a flat elastic ribbon was passed over, and then Marie-Ange stood up, shuffling towards the hallway. "Tea. This is a tea conversation. Kitchen." She was back very quickly, with two mugs, the good loose leaf tea, and the plug-in electric kettle. The kettle went on the nightstand, sloshing a little, and Marie-Ange busied herself plugging it in and shoving a little silicon mat underneath. "That is good news, yes? I am guessing it is not held by the people who fixed Wanda's powers after all of the Destine nonsense, because you would have already said so, so what is the catch?"
While Marie-Ange had gone for the kettle, Amanda had taken a deep breath and focussed on putting her hair into a rough ponytail with the hairtie, using the pause to calm her thoughts. "Oh, there's a catch, but not a huge one. The library's in Tansia, of all places. Not one of my usual stops, but it's Europe, so the city should be accessible to my powers at least. It's just..." Amanda shook her head. "I've been looking into this for so bloody long without even a hint, and now there's all this..."
"Something had to turn up, the way you talked, the Ancient One already knew about this kind of chaos magic." Marie-Ange was finally in all business mode, and snapped one of her elastic eyepatches on over the empty socket. "It was not as though this was something new. Finding it in a cache makes sense." She spooned leaves into two little tea strainers shaped like pumpkins, and dropped them into the mugs and poured the now steaming water over. "Phone, three minute timer please. Even if this only gets you a little info, it also gives you something to hold over that bald wanker's head. Ha ha, you have the Chthon books and if he wants to see them he has to stop being such a bald wanker."
Amanda snorted a laugh at that, the sound more normal than the near-hysteria of her earlier reaction. "Oh, to see his face when he finds out... Maybe I can ask Wong to film it?"
Marie-Ange laughed, and her phone chimed the timer. "Please. I want it in high definition." She pulled the tea strainers out, and handed Amanda one of the mugs. "Now that there is tea, tell me more. Who is this Cthon expert, why have we not encountered him before."
Amanda wrapped her hands around the mug, inhaling the fragrant steam for a moment. "So. There's this group, called the Knights of Wundagore..."