this is an illegal library

[redwhaling]

Character(s): Billie & Daud
Status: Closed
Location(s): Abandoned House, City of the Free Peoples
Date(s) Early April
About: Billie has an odd taste in reading material.
Warnings: Discussion of dead things, necromancy probably.


"Red, that isn't food," Billie says quietly, tiredly, as she nudges the dragon away from the cover of one of four books sitting on the table next to her. The hatchling has been puttering around the tabletop, nosing what she's brought home with her, making sure it isn't actually food before sprawling out by her arm and stretching wings out with a curious chirp.

So far, having the damn thing is turning out to be like having a kitten around. That's something she can tolerate, seeing how Red isn't actually a cat at all and, speaking from the perspective of a cat, that causes less stereotypical irritation. Prodding at the dragon isn't what she's up to, though.

What she's actually down here for, at a ridiculously early hour of the morning, is paging through one of the books in particular. The first three are professionally bound and well-cared for but the fourth one, in front of her? Handmade, hand-written, and clearly something worth losing sleep over at this hour.

Comments

[redwhaling]

Billie waits for a tic or two for Daud to expand upon that but, of course, he doesn't. She's not surprised. She imagines it's pointless to prompt for more than that, only she's tired and finally trying to talk about all this weird shit.

"And? That's it?"

That slips out in a very flat tone of voice. If he's looking for belligerent obstinacy, he's getting it.

All that aside, he does finally come across a few pages based around usage of dragon scales. The one that is most likely to catch his eye is titled "Breath of Idan". The spell is a complicated one requiring an extensive list of materials, a few of which seem near impossible to collect: basilisk venom, elemental tears, phoenix ash, dragon scale, unicorn blood, and stardust.

The spell is alchemical and from the looks of it could be considered dark magic by the current laws of Idan. It creates a touch transfer of magic called an "echo" that grants the first person to touch the enchanted transfer charm of choice an echo of an ability of the original source. The source is the reason for the dark magic connotation as it is specifically defined as heart's blood.

[forswore]

"Were you expecting something more?" Daud asks, glancing up at Billie briefly. "It's a matter worth investigating. I assume you've considered the risks and decided the benefits outweigh the possible costs. If you started it, then you have to see it through."

Because that's how I taught you.

But even as he says that, his expression changes -- not because of what he's telling Billie, but something that's obviously caught his attention on the page. As he reads, he only looks more concerned, but rather than explain what he's found, he turns the book and pushes it closer to Billie.

"I think your scale was enchanted with this."

[redwhaling]

If she was expecting more, she won't say what. Advice, maybe, or to know whether or not he disapproved of this, too, though he isn't wrong in what he does say instead. She started it. She'll follow it to the end. Anything else she may have said dies on her lips the second Daud actually has any kind of expression on his face.

That it's a concerned one makes it that much worse.

She'll take the book back when he offers it over, picking out the passage fast enough. It's a quick glance over the words at first but then she's sitting up straighter, backtracking and rereading it all a second time, how she holds herself growing tenser by the second.

"Who would have all of this?" She asks at last. A pointless question. Neither of them can answer it but it's hard not to wonder aloud when every ingredient for the enchantment is wilder and rarer than the last. "Why would they waste it on a total stranger?"

[forswore]

"Someone with a lot of magic," Daud surmises, hands folded together on the desk. He can't help glancing over at Red as he says it, though he knows the little dragon can't possibly be the source of the enchanted scale -- he can barely figure out what's edible and what isn't, some days.

"And they're either desperate enough to take the risk, or have enough power that this is nothing to them." Which one is more dangerous to them in the long run? Hard to say. "Perhaps they simply thought it would be interesting."

No keeping the touch of bitterness out of his tone, there. Daud's not heard from the Outsider since he came back to life, but this feels uncomfortably similar, being kept blind and in the dark.

[redwhaling]

Red, who's apparently gotten tired of watching the adults look stressed and has fallen back to trying to figure out if Strange's book can be eaten. He has a corner of the cover in his mouth, though his jaws aren't even remotely strong enough to cut through leather. Therefore, he's mostly just drooling on it.

He'll stop when Daud glances at him, perking up immediately and lets out an inquisitive little chirp. Is the conversation about him again? Yes? No?

It isn't, but the chirp draws Billie's attention away from the book and back to the hatchling briefly. She looks less than impressed with the slobber and toothmarks now marring a few pages but she also doubts Strange will care. If anything, he'll consider it a blessing, knowing that guy...

"All the more reason to track down where the scales came from," she sighs and turns back to the page in question. "I don't know if I'll get my answers but I have to try."

Which is funny. Daud isn't the only one who's mind strays towards the Outsider when that hint of bitterness comes out in his words. She'd always wanted to find him, same as Daud had, probably too curious about the spirit for her own good, and now she has her own Outsider to hunt down, only she has no name or idea of who they even are.

[forswore]

“Be prepared for whatever you find,” Daud answers, simply. He could offer inane advice about any number of things pertaining to the matter at hand, but that, in his view, is the only insight that matters. Being ready for the consequences of your actions.

“Or the attention you attract,” he adds. Is distinguishing herself a good thing? He highly doubts it is, in the long run, but he’s curious too.