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Posted on August 2, 2013 at 11:36:11 PM by thoth
| Thoth looks up at Tristan over the book case, mildly incensed by the incredulous tone. "Well obviously," he replies, in a don't-be-silly sort of voice, "the woods are in Shaman. Stop fooling around, Tris, I'm being serious."
He locates the two books he wants, tugs them out of the shelf with some difficulty (as many as possible have been stacked against and on top of each other, and he almost causes a mini avalanche just trying to extract a few) and dumps them on the sort-of-desk that Tris is sitting on. Both books - the Atlas of Great Britain and the London A-Z - were not ones which can be found in the royal library, and nor are they likely to be found anywhere else in Shaman. Thoth does occasionally receive books and other items from Earth from Sperantia, but these ones seemed like an odd gift from a Spanish cat. He opens the Atlas to the centre page, where it unfolds into a large map, and spreads it across the desk. Then, in true Thoth fashion, he semi-covers it with the smaller London A-Z, which is open on a more detailed street map of a part of the city. Both books are well thumbed, but the way the London A-Z falls naturally open on this page and the fact that one building has been circled in pencil suggests a specific, long-term interest. "I want to go here," he taps the circled building lightly with one finger, and without looking up at Tristan. "This is where my mum lived when she had to work in London." He didn't elaborate - but, then, he didn't need to. Even if Tris didn't already understand the powerful pull Thoth feels towards the places where his mother lived and the work she did, the demi-god's expression should tell him so. Thoth's jaw is set stubbornly, and he's focuses so attentively on the maps that he doesn't even notice when Morveren reaches across from Tris's shoulders, rests one paw on Thoth's head and starts chewing his hair. Apparently it doesn't taste very nice, because she pulls a face and spits it out, leaving a wet trace on his head. She tries Tris's hair, but doesn't seem to think much of that either and so leaps down onto his lap, eyeing Hodain warily. Tris's shirt is much tastier, so she sprawls herself over his legs and settles happily down for a good chew. Her tail dangles dangerously close to Cafall. The prince's second to last question pulls Thoth back into the real world and he glances up at his friend, blinking as though emerging from a dark room into the light. What does Tris mean, how are they going to get there? Isn't it obvious? Thoth would ordinarily assume that his friend is messing around, but the sincerity in Tris's voice and face throws him. Hasn't the prince studied magic? It seems too insane to Thoth that Tris would have a grandfather like Mallos and would not have taken private lessons on magical theory with him, so he assumes that they just haven't reached this lesson yet. "The magical barrier works in a similar way to your forcefields - only marginally more complex," he begins, launching into the explanation in his customary encyclopedia-esque manner. "It is, essentially, physical. If you erected a forcefield around yourself, it would prevent physical objects from flying at you but would not prevent someone from teleporting inside your forcefield, or guard you against a psychic attack. Obviously your grandfather will have set the barrier up to resist teleportation and other obvious magicks." He turns the London A-Z back to the beginning, where there are a few bare pages, grabs a pencil and starts sketching. He draws a single horizontal line across the page, and then a semi-circle over the top of that. "This is the barrier. Since it is physical, theoretically I could just dig underneath it, but - " he draws another semi-circle under the horizontal line, completing the circle " - I suspect Mallos will have thought of that, and the barrier likely extends deep underground. It is set up to only resist me and those with ill intentions towards me, rather than all physical objects and persons, so there is effectively no real way I can exit to another part of Shaman. "However, a portal or a rip does not constitute a physical presence, so providing I have the resources to create such an event within the castle grounds I can travel off-planet." The corners of his lips curve upwards into a grim smile. "If any Auran with ill intentions managed to open a portal into here to come and get me, it would trigger a spell to alert Mallos. He can't stop them coming in that way, since no such magic is as yet known, but he can come and deal with them in person knowning that they're here - which is probably what he'd do. It's a lot more difficult to monitor someone leaving the barrier, though. The chances are he won't even have put a tracer on me; he'll be confident enough in the rest of his magic and in the knowledge that I can't create rips. Which I can't," he adds reassuringly, "but I have a friend who can." It's the first reference Thoth has ever made to having a friend other than Tristan. "As for how long..." his eyes wander back to the map and he shrugs. "I was only thinking of a day-trip, but it's hard to judge how long we'd be gone for when time isn't relative between worlds." |
Replies:
- you will hear the battle cry - By t r i s t a n August 8, 2013 at 09:51:33 PM
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