un: GoldenGuard; text

[cardinalrule]

WHO: Hunter
WHERE: Network
WHEN: Early March
WHAT: It's raining!
WARNINGS: Morbid/gory weather patterns. I'm serious.

[Weather is something Hunter learned about in the Boiling Isles, but this is really the first time he's had the chance to experience it. It's raining out, the first real rain of the year, Hunter's very first rain, and you can bet he has headed outside to experience it.]

I was told the rain doesn't boil here like it does back home.

[Remembering how he learned about rain in the human realm is... complicated, but for those scant few minutes it was a good memory. It was nice learning about the differences between here and the Boiling Isles, and even better getting to hear the fondness Belos holds for this realm. Moments like that were a rarity with the man, and Hunter values each and every one of them.

... He really wishes Belos was here, so he could experience this with him, but he isn't and Hunter tries to not dwell on that.]

Experiencing weather instead of plagues is really something else! This is normal throughout the entire world, right? It must mean there aren't any boiling seas here, as well. Does anyone know what other kind of weather this city has?

What's the weather equivalent of a painbow again? A rainbow, I think? What about those?

Comments

[camaleonico]

I got "Beast Keeping" — my brother can do that. "Healing" — my aunt can do that. And "Plant" — my cousin can do that. I don't know anything about the others. What're "Abominations?" That sounds— not great?

[cardinalrule]

Abominations is actually one of the more prestigious covens. It's the creation and control of magical golems, and the substances they're made of. It has a surprising amount of versatility, and can be very powerful.

[camaleonico]

Huh... And "Bard?"

[ Camilo can't deny he's pretty fascinated hearing about Hunter's perspective on magic. The organization and structure and understanding of it all is such a contrast to what he knows about magic — which he's suddenly realizing, since their first conversation, is, uh... very little, actually. ]

[cardinalrule]

Spells cast via sound. Music, specifically. Most people in the Bard Coven use some kind of musical instrument instead of casting spell circles with their hands. The new Head is particularly skilled, they're a master of every musical instrument on the Boiling Isles.

[camaleonico]

Woah! Music magic? Heh! What can it do? If my dad could have a Gift, I bet he'd want that...! Magical tiple! Is there dancing magic, too? Magical cumbia~?

[ That clearly cheers Camilo right back up, smiling more openly and genuinely. He loves his Gift, buuut he wouldn't complain if that was his Gift instead, not gonna lie. ]

[cardinalrule]

There may be some hobby coven for it, there are hundreds of those. Or I suppose you could get creative when drawing spell circles.

[He doesn't dance and he can't draw spell circles, so he's never thought very much about it.]

[camaleonico]

What're spell circles? You've gotta draw something to use your Gifts?

[cardinalrule]

That's right, and they're exactly what they sound like. Circles drawn in the air or the ground, it doesn't really matter where, that is the conduit to accessing the spell the witch or demon wants to cast.

[camaleonico]

...My Gift works in, like, seconds. I'm so glad I don't have to do that.

[ He says it in good humor, but, uh... yeah, no, he also means it. That sounds annoying af, but at least he has the courtesy not to say that outright. ]

[cardinalrule]

[Way to brag, Camilo. Hunter would kill to have to cast magic with a spell circle, let alone cast it automatically.]

Lucky you.

[camaleonico]

What? All our Gifts work like that! Except Tío Bruno's, I think — I know he needs a big open space for his visions... That's why he lives in a tower. With a bunch of sand? I've never actually been up there. It's always been off-limits, and, uh, even when I've poked my head in since being here... It's a lot of stairs, man. Buuut I think he must need to do something to make these glass vision-things he makes, that's why he needs all that room. Sooo— maybe it's a spell circle? I dunno. The rest of us, it's either on-command or just constant. Me and Isabela can use our Gifts whenever we want, whereas Dolores and Luisa and Antonio, they can't turn it off. I've never heard of any "spell circles" or anything like that!

[cardinalrule]

[Wow, what an infodump! Hunter take a moment to shove his own salty feelings aside to focus on that instead, because that's more productive than being upset over something he can't change.]

It's possible your uncle needs a conduit of some kind. You all might, it could just be internal, or possibly related to the house, and you've never seen it or had to think about it before.

[camaleonico]

...Could it be the candle?

[ Big brain, Camilo. ]

[cardinalrule]

Possibly. A conduit can be an object like that, it doesn't have to be natural like your uncle's sand. That's how the Bard Coven works, when they don't cast spell circles with their bodies they use their instruments as conduits.

[camaleonico]

So— the candle is the conduit for our Miracle. Okay, I kind of knew that, but it makes sense saying it outright. But— we still have our Gifts even without the candle. After they came back when we rebuilt Casita. Can the conduit change?

[cardinalrule]

Maybe. Or there could be multiple conduits. Going back to the Bard Coven example, multiple instruments. I don't see why you would be locked into one forever.

[camaleonico]

You think Casita in a conduit? The candle stopped burning, we lost our powers, Casita crumbled — we rebuilt Casita, no candle, but our powers still came back. And our powers work here, more or less, and Casita is her same old Casita-self here, even though there's no candle...

[ See, Hunter, you've got him thinking, you're having some influence here...! ]

[cardinalrule]

It's only a theory. I need to do more research before I can say anything with certainty.

[camaleonico]

How're you gonna do research? You've got books on this stuff or what?

[cardinalrule]

Yes. Zodiac should have research material I can review.

[camaleonico]

Tell me what you learn? I kinda wanna know now, heh...