Peony Min (blackmagicks) wrote in emillion, @ 2013-07-01 16:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !log, carolina vane, peony min |
Who: Peony & Carolina
What: Someone is behaving oddly in the library. Peony is suspicious >[
Where: The Mages Tower library
When: This morning
Rating: G
Status: Complete!
Carolina found herself back at the Mages Tower for the third time in the span of just over a week. She’d checked out the white magic book Merrion Priddy had recommended, and had been poring over the pages on Cure on her own, and Merri himself had met her that Monday and started teaching her enthunder. Today she was at the Tower for some more personal research. She knew blood magic went on in the city, and she knew hers wasn’t the only “cult” active within Emillion’s city limits. She didn’t care what the other cults did, truly: there was enough blood and power in a city this size to go around. What she cared about was protecting her own. She simply needed to find out what information was out there about the Burning Hand. Did people know about them, and if so, how much, and if the information was truthful, how could she keep people from using it to find them? These were dangerous times for an organization like Carolina’s, and she had to be prepared. So she was pursuing a different kind of power: knowledge. She was still wearing the brace over her right wrist. The break was healing nicely, and her wrist was strong enough that she could comfortably do without, but she would stretch out wearing the brace as long as she thought she could get away with it. She was looking at books in a different part of the library, and she was more efficient now that she knew what she was looking for. She found a likely stack and brought them to a table to peruse in greater detail. Although the hours of daily research she had engaged in prior to finding the runes had had to be curtailed, Peony had by no means forgotten about the information she had yet to uncover. Although the link from the rituals to the army of undead soldiers seemed likely, she had not yet uncovered the specifics of the spell used - nor had the culprit been caught. She knew that Siana was still working tirelessly on the case, and while no other murders of this sort had occurred since the attack, she could not be certain that there would not be more. Before that occurred, she hoped to find something that would lead to the murderers. This could not be allowed to continue. Accordingly, she was in the library yet again this afternoon, seated in one of the lesser used back sections. She had collected more books, and was slowly making her way through them when she spotted a familiar face at the table next to hers. Her escort seemed to have wandered off somewhere - she would need to speak with the librarian - but Peony recognized the woman immediately. The non-guild mage. “Good afternoon,” she said, offering a small, pleasant smile. “It is good to see you well.” Carolina glanced at the woman who had spoken and gave her an automatic smile. “Good afternoon,” she repeated, and then looked back at her book. Did she know that woman? She was fairly certain they’d met, once. Where had Carolina seen her before? Then she remembered: the undead battle, when Carolina had been with Li. She raised her eyes once more, glancing at the woman. Yes, that was it. She had been with that small, nervous machinist on a hoverboard. That settled, Carolina went back to her books. She didn’t want to be here long. As often as she’d been at the tower lately, she didn’t love the atmosphere. Besides, she didn’t have an escort. Rules like where she could and could not be, or who she should or should not be with did not apply to Carolina. This time, as last time, she had simply walked in behind a group of tower mages as though she belonged there. No one had noticed, not even Councillor Priddy. She got to work, picking up the first book. She was wearing gloves as she picked up the books, so as to avoid leaving smudges or fingerprints. With that first book, she flipped immediately to the index and scanned it. Finding the most likely pages, she flipped back to them and scanned those pages. This one didn’t mention her organization at all. She set it aside and picked up the next book, doing the same as she had with the first. The woman wasn’t feeling talkative, it seemed, which generally would have suited Peony just fine - libraries were not for idle chatter - but the juxtaposition of her presence in this particular section of the library and her magic, which Peony had seen used to great effect, caused her to look closer. The books the woman had chosen... she recalled with clarity her afternoon sitting across from Jareth Monaco, perusing those exact tomes. It was almost as though the woman was following in her footsteps, several weeks delayed. With things the way they were now, she could not help being wary. “An interesting choice of reading materials,” she said mildly, taking mental note of the books the woman had already examined. She could not see the pages read, but by her behavior it was clear she was looking for something very specific. Interesting. “Your chaperone has abandoned you?” she asked at length. “Perhaps I can assist in his or her stead. You are looking for something in particular?” Carolina gave the woman another easy smile. “I appreciate the offer,” she said, “but I already have something of an idea of what I am looking for.” She didn’t address the chaperone part of what the other mage had said. Best not to know anything about that. She glanced back at the book in her hands, skimming the page she’d located in the index. Ah, there it was. A blurb about using lunar cycles to augment the powers of blood magic, and a mention of the Burning Hand therein. She closed the book and set it aside, selecting the next book on the stack. This book, too, was discarded. She made short work of the stack of books. In the end, she had only two books and a scroll containing relevant information. The others she brought to the cart where patrons were instructed to leave unwanted books so that they could be reshelved. The omission of the chaperone from the woman’s response was not missed, and where Peony had been merely worried previously, she was now quite concerned. This section of the library contained ancient, rare, and dangerous materials. That a strange non-guild mage was wandering around alone and unsupervised, working her way through books on cult history, symbology, and ritual, was simply too unlikely to be entirely benign. When she stood to return the majority of her selections to the cart, Peony stood too, taking the few steps to the neighboring table to look at the selected books. One on cult history, one on symbology, and an old scroll on blood ritual. Disturbing. The scroll should have been behind the locked grate to the restricted section of the library, and the books were ominous in their right, especially in combination. When the woman came back, Peony was still standing there, by her table; she did not look uneasy having been caught there - it was her Tower and her Guild. She had every right to be here. “I was unable to find your chaperone,” she said, her tone pleasant but with steel underneath. She would not be budged. “My apologies for his carelessness. I will serve in his stead until you have finished.” Carolina picked up her books, giving Peony one of her most winning smiles. “Oh, I wouldn’t want to put you out,” she demurred. “Besides, I believe I have found what I came here for. I’ll just stop by the circulation desk to check these out, and then I will leave.” She turned to do just that, and then said over her shoulder, “You may watch me if you do not believe I will do as I say.” “I apologize,” Peony said, stepping in front of her and holding out her hand, “but I am afraid these particular items are not available for checkout.” She tapped her finger against the spine of one book, said, “Those items numbered in red are deemed to rare or fragile to leave the library. And the scroll oughtn’t to have been left out at all. Our carelessness, I am afraid. I will return them to the shelves for you.” Carolina stepped out of the woman’s reach, still holding the books. “In that case, I shall stay,” she said, “and finish my research here. Isn’t that what the library intends by having books that are to remain here at all times?” Surely the nosy mage couldn’t object to that. She was becoming rather irritated with this woman’s insistence on being involved in Carolina’s business. Libraries were supposed to be a place of peace and sanctuary, where a person could pursue her interests in relative quiet. She would find a secluded table, get the information she needed, and leave. Perhaps if she lay low for a while, this other mage would forget about her and then she could come back. “Certainly,” Peony said pleasantly. “I will still take the scroll, however - it is not to be released to the public, as I mentioned.” She doubted the woman intended to grapple with her for it; such action would be lunacy in these surroundings. “Please let me know if you require anything else - as I said, I will serve as chaperone until you have finished.” And once she had, peony would take the books herself. Something was not right here. “Of course,” Carolina said agreeably, handing the scroll over. “You go ahead and put that away. I shall find a table. I doubt my research will take very long at all, and then you can go back to your own research.” That done—she hoped—she took the two remaining books and set out deeper into the library to look for an empty and secluded table at which to continue her task. She was certain that she and the other mage would agree on one thing: the sooner she was able to leave, the better. Impassive expression in place, Peony followed a little behind, having taken two of her own books along. She took a table a few feet away from the other woman, smiled serenely, then settled into her reading, keeping an eye on her with an occasional sideways glance. Chaperones did not allow strangers to wander the library unescorted, after all. She was certain the woman wished to be rid of her with all haste, but that did not bother her in the least; if she made her uncomfortable, it was only one more contributing factor to her own suspicion. She was very interested now to see what commonalities would be found between the books and the scroll, when she had the opportunity to compare them. Wearing a small, serene smile, she continued her reading. So the tower mage wouldn’t leave her alone. Oppressive, indeed Carolina thought, remembering her mentor’s words of long ago and the reasons she gave for having left the guild. Perhaps it was true that they wanted to control the natural right of all people to use the Mist. As there was nothing she could do about her unwelcome shadow, Carolina settled in at the table she’d chosen, noting Peony’s presence at the next table. Adjusting her gloves around the brace on her right wrist, Carolina pulled a small memstone from a pouch she had tied around her waist. She found the correct pages with ease and scanned their contents with a practiced hand. When she had finished with one, she did the other. The entire process took only minutes, and when she was done, she put the memstone away and closed the books, finally removing her gloves with a sigh. It really was too hot to wear gloves. She left the books on the table and stood. “I believe I can see myself out, don’t you?” she said to the other mage. “I will walk with you,” Peony said, picking up the books and tucking them - along with the scroll - under her arm, “before I put these away.” “Suit yourself,” the woman replied. She was likely unhappy with the circumstance, but Peony kept her expression unfailingly pleasant as she walked with her to the door. “Have a pleasant day,” she said, once they had reached the door. She waited to see that the woman was headed past the reception desk before heading back into the library to sign the books and scroll out in her name. It seemed she had a bit more work to do this morning than she had thought. |