“This is important news! Based on your experience, how long would you expect him to be away at most? And could you tell me what you remember Winitran as being like – did we all get along as well as you and I do?”
After Izri’s answer, Argentius’ message reaches Lares. He excuses himself and find Argentius stargazing.
“Salve! You wished to discuss something?”
"Salve, Lares. I wasn't expecting the evening to be so pleasant here," answers Argentius, welcoming his sodales to the ornate breezeway of his sanctum.
"Thank you for coming by so quickly." The Verditius pauses for a moment.
"I'm sure it's no surprise to you that I'm worried about trust among us. When one is trained at the highest levels among the Verditius, trust takes on an even greater worth. Though that is a universal truth in our Order, I suppose. But among the Verditius it sometimes heads in a different direction." Argentius looks up into the night sky for a moment.
"I suppose my worries may be coming from what I'm learning about who I became here at Al Kufra. I'm not entirely sure I like what I'm learning. I became obsessed. Reclusive even. I had no role in the covenant as far as I can tell. From what I've pieced together, I haven't traded any of my enchantments for two decades. I had established contacts, factors who worked to help me investigate my obsession but those contacts seem to be dried up or left fallow at the best. It even looks like I lost my familiar." Argentius shakes his head.
"I'm not sure I like who I became."
Izri indicates he would expect Winitran back at the changing of the seasons, so at the begining of summer.
After the dinner, Plasmatoris will return to the studio and return things to where he feels there proper place is, polite to any of the Faeries who may come to bother him. with that done, he is going to begin exploring around for any correspondences he may have had, and any evidence as to why the other Plasmatoris decided to move here into the middle of fiery nowhere.
Starting in his Studio with his search, he'll move into his lab next. Not only is he looking for information on correspondence and any records of his work, the Jerbiton wants to find lab notes for any enchanted items he's created - his paintbrush in particular. Plasmatoris also finds himself curious if he'll even be able to understand any lab notes from this other version of himself- since he has already seen so much evidence that his personality and goals shifted as time went on.
Plasmatoris finds a set of lab notes regarding his talisman- it contains an enchantment to read an image from his own mind (InMe:20) which lasts for a diameter and can be used a unlimited number of times per day, and a second enchantment linked to the first which will project that image onto a surface which lasts for a month duration, apparently to be painted over). A third spell will create (with a finesse roll) a clay sculpture which also lasts for moon duration to again serve as inspiration to an artist. The next enchantment is more practical and allows you to paint with a "pigment" of illumination, bright as torchlight, which will last for moon duration as well. The final spell is one to summon a faerie whose arcane connection should be touched- apparently one of your paintings has such a connection in it, and the faerie in question has a power to help transport a person into the faerie realm, where your plan was they would be able to earn a puissant ability in an art or a faerie sympathy to boost their artistic abilities. It proved effective, but unreliable.
Lares keeps his eyes fixed on the horizon.
“I see what you are getting at with the trust: It’s hard to work together if you expect that the others will hurt you. I’ve found, though, that people tend trust you if you help them when they need it, make their lives good and treat them in a way they consider appropriate. You can declare a holy covenant of trust afterwards, of course, but if you don’t dance the dance first, it won’t matter.”
Lares waves his hand, indicating the whole covenant.
“Sometimes, though, if you first earn their trust, people are going to keep trusting even when they probably shouldn’t. Maybe something like that happened here? Maybe I was too nice to you all. I let you mind your own business. My family kept things running, and you all ran after personal projects, as you mentioned.”
"I think you're on to something there, Lares. Maybe your family was your personal project, in a way. It's in our nature to explore and understand, those of us who join the Order. And maybe this event has given us a chance to take a different path."
Argentius holds out the index finger of his right hand, adorned with a plain, gold band.
"This is one of the rings my old self created. It allows the wearer to speak with others despite language barriers. It also has another effect." The Verditius looks at Lares, considering a decision perhaps.
"It allows the wearer to interrogate someone's mind for whatever information you are thinking about while the wearer touches the person with the ring while the ring still on the wearer's finger." Argentius pauses.
"If it would be helpful to you to bring order and balance to Al Kufra, I am willing to let you borrow the ring. Though it must be used carefully." The handsome magus takes a slow breath.
"And thus we take the first step in the dance."
Lares carefully inspects the ring, his head tilted.
“Amazing. This could come in very useful. It could also easily make the covenfolk very angry – they may be familiar with the purpose of some of these items. You are right about being careful, is what I mean.”
He looks Argentius in the eye.
“Thank you for offering aid, and for sharing with me the ring’s secret. I will be sure to explain to you any need I may see for it. We should first try to restore order the old-fashioned way, though, since the risks are great.”
Lares leans against a wall.
“You are right about my project, by the way. I think I took this whole covenant for my project, in a way. Unlike you, though, I fully agree with my future self’s decision. This is a splendid life’s work, a magnum opus of sorts. I feel a need to complete it, or at least restore it. How do you feel about yours?”
"That's a difficult question to face," answers Argentius quietly.
"I can see how my former self's obsession came to be. I have forever been fascinated with enchanting rings. I won The Contest with a crafted ring, a significant accomplishment for a Verditius apprentice. Since the first time I learned about the legendary rings of Verditius, I have been curious about them, wondering what they could do and where they had disappeared to." The magus shakes his head.
"A century of that search left me with maps and notes and more dead ends than leads. But I am wondering now if my life's work, my second life's work, should be less about finding the Founder's Rings and more about developing my craft to the point where I can create rings as potent as the Founder's Rings." Argentius looks again into the night sky.
"Every Verditius apprentice learns by heart The Founder's wisdom when he said, 'The simple truth is that the crafter must put himself in what he creates if it is to be worthy of him.'," continues Argentius after a moment.
"I think this time around, I need to build on what my former self did, but put more of myself into what I create rather than put myself into the hunt for what someone else created, even something the Founder created. Does that make any sense at all?"
“Makes sense, yes. There is, of course, also the possibility of not aspiring to surpass the most legendary craftsman of all times.”
Lares chuckles at his zinger.
“Admittedly, it is easy for me to say. Neither my mentor nor the ancestry of my tradition has any world-famous achievements to aspire to. A life of service is a low standard, and all may reach it if they wish.”
He pauses and narrows his eyes, weighing his options.
“You know, it seems to me like Silas and you are engaging in some kind of a sweepstake. What is that about? Is this something I need to worry about?”
Argentius chuckles, nodding. "I suppose pride will always be my downfall, even the second time around." The Verditius listens to Lares and then considers for a moment.
"Honestly, I have no idea what Silas has against me. I hadn't really given him a second thought until he proposed his amendment. He clearly has a sharp mind and gave it great thought, but he must not have had much education about the Oath or Covenant oaths. Too much there just adds to our risk, especially our quesitor's risk. But you have nothing to worry about from my perspective when it comes to Silas. He's not my rival nor will he be as much as he might think about me like that. It's the way some in my House are trained. If trying to outdo me drives him to greater heights, then I'm happy to help."
Argentius shrugs.
"I'm honestly more concerned about the state of my parens' vendetta. My win at The Contest tied me to his enemies but that's been … a century ago? I need to look through the notes and see if it still continues." He looks at Lares.
"Please let me know how I can help here at Al Kufra … beyond preparing for the Vigil."
A sudden outcry of exultation from the lab may draw attention, but Plasmatoris is too busy to even realize he's making such un-magus-like noises. Instead, he hustles himself out of his claimed lab, and instead rushes into his artist studio. The Jerbiton slows down finally, setting up a series of easels (or genre appropriate media) for use, and then pulls out the series of charcoal sketches he made when he first emerged tot he courtyard from the Awakening. Plasmatoris briefly glances out into the courtyard to refamiliarize himself with the layout, finding his memory of the situation unchanged. Excellent. Next, he reviews the sketches he made to remind himself of the scene.
Then he lifts the paintbrush and with his eyes closed, recalls the scene he emerged into.
Magi fresh out of Gauntlet emerging into strange environs. Surrounded by people who all have their own confusion. Familiars with fragmented memories. Children who cannot find their parents. Parents unaware of it. Like a second Tower of Babel, only as if God struck down the covenant for striving for eternal life instead of striving for the heavens.
The beautiful, chaotic imagery imbeds itself in his mind, and he draws the paintbrush across the canvas to seal that imagery in the physical world instead of ephemeral canvas of his own mind. The translation of the scene from three-dimensional concept to two-dimensional is something he's experienced before, but not with such a tool.
Plasmatoris opens his eyes to view the work of this wonderful tool.
Plasmatoris may be a bit late to the post-dinner meeting with Aetherius.
“Well, I was going to ask you to travel to the oasis, but then I learned from Izri that we produce our own food here and that my eldest son was visiting the oasis and is expected back by the end of the season. That sort of changes things, and I haven’t yet figured out what would be the best course of action – perhaps to just wait for him?”
He shakes his head.
“At any rate, it is kind of you to offer your help, but at the moment there really isn’t anything. I’ll have to talk to the representatives of the language groups, hopefully tomorrow, to start getting a fuller picture of what problems we are facing.”
After handing over the tablet to Lares, Silas makes his way to the vis storage. He can’t quite hide how pleased he is by the magus praise of his creation.
Once arrived he inspects the contents again. Looking for any often-repeated physical container of each art. Noting these down so he can bring them up later. He’s also curious if he can find any of the Corpus vis his own body produces among the vis.
The vis has all been transfered to standard containers- chess pieces made of different material to signify the art: creo is in ceramics, intelligo is in glass, Muto is in air dried clay, Perdo is in the black rock which lies everywhere, rego is in copper, Aurum is in wicker, aquam is in a blue glazed ceramic, animal is made of carved bone, corpus is made from gold, or at least has gold leaf, herbem is in wood, ignem is in coal, imaginem in paintings of the chess pieces, mentem is silver, terram sandstone, and vim is in horn.
"You're on the right track, I think, by waiting for him. Perhaps he was out of the range of influence of what happened to us. Better to have him come back to find us in the state we are, it seems to me," suggests Argentius.
"If he was outside the influence of what happened, he might be critically important to helping us get ack to whatever will be our new normal."
“I expect the oasis to be unaffected, too. But what if the oasis was affected? In the worst case, that might mean my son is surrounded by people he doesn’t know, in a place he doesn’t know, without recollection of the covenant. He might wonder off with the first caravan – together with news of our situation.”
Lares takes a deep breath.
“On the other hand, if the oasis wasn’t affected, this might be an excellent opportunity of hiding our situation. If my son got back here without anyone seeing any of us, he might henceforth handle our external affairs and we would never have to show our youthful faces.”
He rubs his forehead.
“It’s a complicated issue, is what I am saying, and the different aspects must be weighed against each other.”
"It certainly is complicated. I'm rather grateful that we're in it together. Can't imagine trying to tackle some of this scale on my own," responds Argentius with a shake of his head.
"I can't imagine this effect having a range that extends as far away as the Oasis, though I don't really know how far the place is. I'm sure your son will be ok, but he's going to be in for a shock when he sees you. Is he older than you now?"
"I haven't quite figured out how old he would be, but likely older than me, yes. I also have no idea what he is like. I think we are both in for a surprise, unfortunately."
Lares squints at the sky.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you something over dinner. I'm a lycanthrope. Apparently, I have a 'cage room' around here somewhere that I lock myself in when I feel bear-y. I don't think tonight's the night, but it's best that at least one of you knows in case I've got it wrong. Probably gonna sleep in the cage tonight just to be sure."
@silveroak [OOC: What does the sky look like tonight? Full moon by any chance?]
The moon is a waning quarter moon.