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 Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:11 am
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:12 am
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Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:17 pm
._The Necromancer's Apprentice 1
Lucretia pushed open the door to her father's study slowly, peeking in silently. He was at his desk again working on something, which always intrigued her. She knew that he worked magic on souls and things, but had not really had the chance to see too much by way of his actual spells.
Suddenly, the door creaked, and the Raevan tensed, backing away in a lame attempt to hide behind the door frame.
"Come in," the necromancer said without turning around.
Wings drooping sheepishly, the ice rose girl drifted in and joined Kumoru. She wanted to see what he was doing, and so drew up beside him, but also stayed far enough away that she hoped she was not in his way.
"What are you doing?" she asked after a moment, her dark eyes wide with curiosity as she scanned the contents of his desk.
Several leather-bound books were stacked towards either end of the desk, and a few more were pushed up against the sill of the window behind the desk. There were some papers scattered over the blotter, covered in notes written in Kumoru's spidery handwriting. Most importantly, though, there were the dismantled remains of a soul bottle.
Kumoru held the glass bottle carefully in one hand, turning the thing over and over. "I'm trying to figure out if this thing still does anything now that I've taken it apart." He turned his brilliant blue gaze to Lucretia, peering at her over the top of his reading glasses.
"Do you know anything about how these bottles work?" he asked her. Not that he really expected her to remember much from the lab, but he figured it could not hurt to ask.
Lucretia thought hard for a long moment, tilting her head back a little as her eyes wandered up and to the left. She really could not, but she felt bad having to admit that she could not help her father. Unfortunately, she could not lie to to him either, and so the Raevan girl finally sighed a little and shook her head, admitting, "No, I really don't. Sorry, daddy."
"That's fine," Kumoru told her. "I can try it out for myself, I think. Would you want to help me?"
Eyes lighting up, the girl nodded quickly.
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Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:20 pm
._The Necromancer's Apprentice 2
Resting one hand lightly on her father's armored shoulder, Lucretia followed Kumoru into the forest behind their home.
Stopping as soon as they were out of sight of the house, Kumoru turned to face the girl. "Do you remember the present you got me for Christmas," he asked her with a smile. When the girl nodded, the mage asked, "Can you get me another one? Or maybe two or three?"
"So, you really liked it?" Lucretia inquired, dark eyes widening with pleasant surprise. "I'm so glad. I'll get you as many as you need, Daddy."
And with that, she turned and drifted off into the forest, searching for something small she could kill and bring back to Kumoru. Her senses sharpened slowly as she got more into the hunter mindset, and she turned her head at every rustle in the bushes. She was thankful that she lacked legs, as it was far quieter to hover above the dry leaves and twigs of the forest floor. The owl in her loved this sort of work.
While Lucretia was doing her dirty work, Kumoru settled down on a large mossy rock, turning the round soul bottle over and over in his hands. Occasionally a very faint glow flickered once inside. It had been doing that even inside the house, though less often, but it was what had prompted the necromancer to suspect that the soul bottle, in spite of being dismantled, could still capture souls.
He took a moment to cast the spell that allowed him to see nearby souls, and set the little round bottle down on the forest floor at his feet. Kumoru could tell that smaller souls, at least, were still passing through the glass, but he was still not sure if the glass could actually pull larger souls out, as his second soul bottle had done to the ghost of the owl that was now in Lucretia. If the bottle still worked, though, it would be an excellent tool for his necromancy studies.
A few souls passing by - likely the souls of insects, by their size - were drawn through the enchanted glass where they swirled around in the space before eventually finding their way out through the round open hole. The larger ones that passed Kumoru's sight-beyond-sight seemed unaffected, though. Once Lucretia returned, though, with the recently-killed mice, then he could try more thorough experimentation.
About twenty minutes later, Lucretia returned with a single mouse held by the tail between two fingers. As her father turned to face her, the ice rose Raevan started a bit - his eyes were whited out with the eerie glow of his magic. She had seen him like that before, but it still never failed to unsettle her a little.
Smiling a little anyway, she offered him the mouse. "I could only get one. I can keep looking, though."
"Thank you. This is fine for now," Kumoru told the girl, who beamed as he took it.
He had never really gotten a good look at her before with hsi sight-beyond-sight, at least as far as he could recall, but today the necromancer noticed that she had what looked like thick ghostly shackles dangling fine chains from around her wrists. Frowning a little, he reached out with his free hand to take one of the chains, and tugged on it gently.
Lucretia's hand moved as though the chain was real and material. "Yes, Daddy?" she responded with a smile.
So the binding spell had remained on the soul, even though it was now part of his Raevan girl. The necromancer felt a smug satisfaction, though it was mixed with a touch of guilt.
"Nothing," he told her. "Just another mouse if you can find one."
The girl nodded and quickly drifted away.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:42 pm
._The Necromancer's Apprentice 3
Kumoru paid Lucretia little mind for the next few days. All of his children, really. They could take care of themselves for the most part - especially when half of them ate the front lawn more often than not. It pleased him that Donat had grown into a responsible boy, too, so that he could trust the goat while he worked on his magical things.
Not that he neglected his children. Just... sometimes the necromancer needed his space.
The opened soul bottle had worked marvelously, though. Even better than the mage had hoped, really. His excitement drove him to continue the project, perhaps a bit obsessively, but in all honesty, it felt good to be so deeply into something again. Kumoru realized that he had really had little time to practice his magic to its fullest since he had started caring for children.
Lucretia really wanted to help, but was unsure of whether or not she could. Kumoru made no moves to drive her away, and even spoke to her occasionally while he worked, but as far as things she could actually do to aid in the staff he was making... well, the Raevan was at a loss.
Still, she hoped she would be able to do something. The staff was filled with magic, and Lucretia knew that was something she shared strongly with her father. Well, her magic was different, but the ice rose girl still felt that it was part of a strong bond with Kumoru.
And so she lurked at his side, asking questions when she could and occasionally offering a hand to hold this or throw that away.
The staff Kumoru was working on gradually took shape, but it was slow going as he was not as good with his hands as he wished he was. Enchanting had been his weak point in his magical studies, and so he had never bothered to put too much effort into practicing the construction of magical items. Still, though, he knew he had the important parts - the soul bottle and the obsidian orb he had purchased. He just needed to make the staff to hold them, and rig it up according to what he had in mind to lay down the magical channels.
That would be the difficult part, weaving all the magics together in order to enchant the staff. He had bought two, three books with various enchanting guides, and studied them as often as he could. Not that a slip-up in an enchantment like this would be dangerous or anything, but the necromancer really only wanted to have to try this once. The soul bottle was already taken care of, fortunately; that was the most complicated part. All he had to do beyond that was tie his soul-sight spell to the obsidian scrying orb, then bind everything together with the loose threads of the spells to be sure it all worked together properly.
If Lucretia wanted to help with that, then all the better. Perhaps she had a steadier hand than his for holding strands of enchantment.
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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:30 am
._The Necromancer's Apprentice 4
"I needed a change of scenery," Kumoru told Lucretia as the pair of them walked out into the woods behind the house, the supplies for the staff in a bag slung over his shoulder. "It's nearly done, though, as you can see. Or the shape of it is." The necromancer laughed a little, glancing down at the small bandages that decorated the tips of four of his fingers. "And the sooner I can stop carving the better, I suppose."
The staff itself was in the Raevan's eager hands, and she paid more attention to the device than to her father as they walked. "It looks lovely," she told him, her voice carrying the tone of genuine admiration. The wood had been carved fairly roughly, and had not been sanded yet; there were still two holes in the head of it as well, which Lucretia assumed were for the soul bottle and the obsidian orb.
She was looking forward to seeing the orb added to the staff, as Kumoru had promised a few days before that she would be allowed to help him enchant it. He had the spell written out in a book, which he had showed her; in spite of the strange language the spell was printed in, Lucretia had still been able to identify the spell as one that allowed the caster to see spirits.
Lucretia just had to be the perfect daughter to her father, with her affinity for his magic. It was a fact that pleased the girl more deeply than she could express.
The two continued to the small group of rocks where they had taken to doing their work together on the staff. Then Kumoru sat down on one of the rocks and dropped his bag on the ground beside it, and let out a short sigh before retreiving the obsidian orb and his spell book.
The orb was about the size of a raquetball, and polished to an amazing shine. Having been handled a few times, though, there were some fingerprints on its surface, but they were only really noticable in the right light.
The necromancer held it out to Lucretia. "Trade you for the staff," he offered with a small smile. "Once we get this enchanted, then I can put it in the space where it's supposed to go." Without glancing down, he reached into the bag again and took out first his short sword, then the knife he had been using to carve the staff.
Lucretia took the orb in exchange for the staff, and cradled the thing in her hands while the necromancer set the staff aside. Then he opened the spellbook across his lap and scanned over the text. The spell was a full two pages long - not the longest he had recited by any means, but enchantments always felt shakey to him. He was actually not at all sure what having Lucretia help would do, really, but it seemed like a good idea. Even if she was technically young and had never studed the magic Kumoru knew, the Raevan definitely had some sort of inborn affinity.
He gave her a quick smile and asked, "Ready?" Kumoru hardly had to wait for her nod; closing his eyes, the necromancer started to recite the spell.
Magic power like an eerie glowing fog poured from the mage's lips, and Lucretia watched with fascination. She had seen him cast before, but it was something that would never bore her. Cradling the obsidian orb like an egg against her chest in one hand, she reached out to twirl her finger through the mist.
It solidified like a thread as Lucretia touched it, and caught around her finger. She had been expecting this much from what Kumoru told her - his magic was all words forming the power, so with enchantments, the power had to somehow become tangible.She kept on drawing it out, longer and longer like a thin strand of light.
As Kumoru finished speaking the words of the spell, he, too, began to spin the magic threads around his fingertips. The whole thing looked like Eiry's cat's cradle between his fingertips as he carefully wove it all together. His full attention was on the magic, and he did not take his eyes off of it even when he had to hand a thread to Lucretia to hold for a moment, or to retreive one of the ones he had already given her.
When the whole intricate web was finished, he gestured quickly for the orb from Lucretia, and placed the glowing spell onto it. The threads lit up a bright white and stuck fast to the stone, and as the necromancer removed his hands from them, they remained on the obsidian. Then he held a hand over the orb, palm down, and recited a second spell to bind the first to it permanently.
Lucretia clasped her hands together with excitement as the glow of the spell faded away, signaling its completion. The threads of magic had left a network of narrow channels over the whole surface of the obsidian, carved cleaner than any diamond blade could have done.
"It works, right?" she asked hestantly after a moment, glancing between the sphere and her father.
"Yeah, just fine," Kumoru replied, looking up at Lucretia again with faintly glowing eyes. He set the orb aside and reached down to pick up his knife and the wooden staff. "Easier than I thought, actually. Thank you for your help."
The girl beamed at the praise, and leaned down a little where she floated to ask, "Do you need any help putting it into its place on the staff?"
"No, I think I can get this," the necromancer replied, drawing the knife and laying the staff across his knees. "Just need to hollow out the space for it a little more, then use some magic to bend the wood to get the orb in there."
Turning his attention away from the Raevan girl, he put the blade to the wood with enough pressure to scrape away a bit of the wood from the hollow he had started making to hold the obsidian sphere.
The knife slipped, however, and Kumoru ended up with a long shallow cut across the hand he had been holding the staff with.
"... I guess this was just going too easily," he said with a sigh as he held the bleeding hand up a little and dropped the knife.
Lucretia's brows furrowed as she drew in closer, cautiously reaching out for her father's injured hand with her own icy fingers. "Oh gods, are you alright? Let me pick everything up and we can go home or something so you can do something about that," she fretted. The girl drifted back slowly as her father waved her away, then she bent down to snatch up the knife and its sheath. Once the blade was away, she scrambled to grab the other things they had brought with them and deposted the items in Kumoru's bag.
"What will we do? Can you make it back home? It doesn't hurt much, does it?"
"I'll be fine," Kumoru told her, his voice sounding a bit angry, though he was far angrier at himself than at Lucretia. "It's a bit far back home, but I know another place we can go that's closer...."
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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:35 am
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Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:38 pm
._The Necromancer's Apprentice 6
Kumoru worked alone on the last of the staff, rather single-mindedly as Lucretia saw it. The girl wondered if she had done something wrong, but tried to make up for it by distracting herself with her brothers. Her father always tried to keep his magic working more or less secret from the boys, as they were younger (except for Donat). Lucretia did not see why, though; it was not like Kumoru's magic was bad.
Still, the girl was joyful, if a bit wary, when Kumoru requested her help again. The magical weapon he was crafting looked nearly finished, and for all that the necromancer had insisted he was not skilled at carving, then proved so by cutting himself by mistake on several occasions, the Raevan girl thought the staff looked amazing. She happily accepted it when the mage handed it to her.
"I think it's basically finished," Kumoru told her, leading her out the back door and into the woods again. "I just wanted to be sure it works properly."
He walked in silence for a moment, with his excited daughter trailing half a step behind. Then he glanced over his shoulder at her and asked, "Do you feel the enchantment? That works, at least. You were a great help with that."
Lucretia nodded quickly, able to feel the magic tingling beneath her hands. The obsidian orb had been charged to carry the spell that Kumoru used to see spirits; the Raevan could see them now just by holding the weapon. At the praise, she wondered if it might be appropriate now to breech the topic of whatever had been wrong before, when they had met Aylana.
"Uhm...." she began hesitantly. Immediately, the necromancer's bright blue eyes were on her, and he slowed his pace a bit to pay better attention to her. Lucretia figured she now had to continue. "Do you like Aylana better than you like me?"
The necromancer stopped and turned to face her fully, then stepped closer to rest his hand on the staff she held. The chains around her wrists became visible again as long as he held onto the enchanted weapon.
"Must I like one of you better?" he asked in reply, brows furrowing. "Perhaps I like you both the same. Aylana as a very close friend, and you-" To test what he had been wondering for some time, now, with his free hand, the necromancer grasped one of Lucretia's chains. "-You as my very favorite daughter."
The girl closed her eyes and appeared to shiver slightly as she nodded. "I understand," she said with a small smile. "What do you need me to do for you? What do you wish of me?"
She truly was bound to his will, so long as those ghostly chains remained. The necromancer had already more or less figured out that they had come from before she was a Raevan, and he had placed his spell over the ghost that eventually became her soul. Still they remained, and, if anything, seemed to have strengthened their magic when Lucretia was born.
Would she do anything for him?
Narrowing his eyes, the mage stepped closer, releasing the staff and resting his hand on her shoulder. The chain he had been holding felt as though it dissolved and faded when the sight-beyond-sight spell was no longer over him, but he knew by instinct that it was still there. He willed the beautiful and magical girl to kiss him.
Lucretia looked momentarily confused, then nodded a little, floating closer to him. A strange request, something he had never asked for before, but if it was what he wanted....
The Ice Rose's kisses were gentle and cold on the necromancer's lips.
Kumoru took them from her until they were both nearly out of breath. Then he released her and stepped back.
"Thank you," he told the girl. Exactly as he had suspected.
Lucretia nodded, fidgeting slightly under his blue gaze. She was pleased that she had been able to make him happy, yet she also began to feel the tiniest bit of doubt in her heart.
She ignored it for now, however, and continued to follow Kumoru through the woods out to the old cemetery they had discovered out there. The necromancer's weapon was still not finished yet, and that meant that Lucretia likely had more work to do for her father.
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:41 am
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:44 am
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:45 am
Xiao Huo followed the Chaos around the house after dinner, attempting to remain hidden. She kept glancing back at him, though, and he had to make sure he looked like he was doing something else every time she did. The boy figured one of his dolls was making too much noise, and she could hear it, and so he had to keep scolding the two of them to be quiet.
He wanted to talk to the Chaos - Kumoru said her name was Lucretia - he was just not at all sure what to say. What was one supposed to say to a spirit? Maybe just a 'hello' and his name?
Finally settling on this course of action, Xiao Huo stepped up to the Chaos and announced himself.
Lucretia peered down at the tiny boy, her expression blank and unimpressed. Jilan had said that this one's name was Xiao Huo; she had to take his word for it, because the Porcelain toddler could not speak. Instead, images flickered through her mind, but the Raevan was not at all sure what to make of them.
Might as well humor the child for now. The Ice Rose girl smiled sheepishly and floated closer to the ground, waving her fingers at him. "Er, hello there," she said, realizing she had no idea at all how to deal with little children like this.
The little boy reiterated his hello, and allowed his dolls to greet her as well. One of them was a Sorcerer (but his Chaos was imaginary), and the other one was a beautiful warrior maiden today. They might be different things tomorrow because the dolls were just like that. ... Xiao Huo frowned a little, trying to figure out how to properly express this idea to the Chaos.
But they were... always changing, so that is kind of like Chaos, right? So they are just like her, he finally decides.
Looking utterly confused, the girl reached out with one finger to poke at one of the boy's dolls. "Like me?" she repeated - that was about all she had really understood of his projections. "They have feet, though, and I don't."
Lucretia laughed a little and gestured down towards her missing lower half. "Not quite like me."
... Well, he had been trying not to stare at her absence of legs, but since she was drawing attention to it, Xiao Huo boggled at the trailing ribbon and the glowing rune.
... That was where all the magic was, right? The glowy rune looked like all the stories he had heard about Chaoses. Xiao Huo resisted, barely, the powerful urge to touch it.
"Magic? I thought we were talking about your dolls...." The girl looked confused.
Xiao Huo shook his head and sat down on the carpet. She really should know this, but... okay, one doll is still a Sorcerer, but now the other one is the first one's Chaos. He gestured along with his projections to help illustrate thusly: The Chaos... has magic somehow. And it hangs out with the Sorcerer. And that's why the Sorcerer can do magic, too.
... Duh.
Lucretia laughed and patted the tiny boy's hair gently. "Whatever you say."
Then she started to drift off. "Listen, little guy, I have to go to sleep now. You should, too. ... Good night?" She waved to him with her fingertips again as she retreated to her room. At least her new brother seemed cute, and very excited to see her. Lucretia decided she liked the attention.
Thoroughly pleased with himself, Xiao Huo mimicked her goodbye wave and remained where he was, seated on the floor.
This was so cool. Maybe he would even be able to take her home with him tomorrow or something!
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:47 am
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Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 3:15 pm
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