[EP] Progress (OTA, Corbie or Curnen)

[st_oneswidow]

It was almost December, but the day was still more than warm enough to spend outdoors. So two girls were out in the sunshine, one fair, one dark, aware and amused with each other’s efforts but not particularly paying attention to each other.

Curnen’s fingers were starting to remember what to do with a guitar, though they were still incapable of being fancy. Sitting on the lawn with Rob’s guitar in her lap, she played anything that came to mind. Her sixth fingers were a bit lost, but it did sound like music at least. It would be some time yet before she could really play again, though that didn’t bother her much. If it meant she was scraping herself back together, becoming a Tufa again, it didn’t matter. And besides, the singing was always the best part. She wasn’t sure why this song, since there was no wind and rain, but in many versions of this same song there were two girls colored rather like the two of them.

There were two sisters came walkin' down the stream
Oh the wind and rain
The one behind pushed the other one in
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain

Johnny gave the youngest a gay gold ring
Oh the wind and rain
Didn't give the oldest one anything
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain

Corbie meanwhile was busy setting things on fire again, but this was different fire. Or at least it was for her. She and Regina had been practicing creating fire and putting it out. She set a circle of protection around a small stone, using what she understood of Cabaline theory to keep the spell literally grounded. And then she proceeded to do her best to destroy the shit out of that rock by throwing fireballs at it. It gave her something to aim at, gave her more than one thing to practice at a time. She was getting better at aiming and her ward was holding.

She stopped only to take the ward down and set another one, larger this time, on her knees in the road with a piece of chalk.

Comments

[st_ockandbarrel]

Percy asked a couple of clarifying questions as she explained. "If you constructed it differently, or assigned different meanings to the symbols in your mind, would it change the outcome? Is there inherent value in the symbols or are they placeholders?" The malleability of magic was one of the things he trusted the least about it.

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"I honestly don't know," Corbie admitted. "A Grevillian wizard would tell you yes. They think of magic a lot like a machine, change a part, change the result. A Cabaline or Eusebian or Couerterrene would tell you... maybe. My teacher always told me it's all metaphors. Metaphors mean whatever the hell you want them to mean."

[st_ockandbarrel]

"That would be an interesting experiment. If I drew you this," he quickly sketched the de Rollo crest. "What would it mean for you? What would you put into it?"

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie tipped her head to one side and considered it. "I'm not sure. What is it?"

[st_ockandbarrel]

"An old crest of a ruling house. Thousands of years of history, both triumphant and tragic." Percy watched her face. "Alternately, it isn't anything but what you make of it."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"Mm..." Corbie considered that for a long moment. "I can't think of how I'd use a family crest aside from something related to a member of that family. If I didn't have an inkling of what it was... I dunno. I've never tried to use a symbol I don't attach to anything."

[st_ockandbarrel]

"If it's a metaphor, then it should be whatever meaning you decide it should have, correct? Irrespective of what it may mean to the family." For his part, his feelings about the crest were complicated at best. Pride, regret, grief, trepidation, shame.

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie said nothing for a time, briefly holding up a hand to beg a moment to think. It seemed to her that an answer well considered would go over better than an answer quickly given. "That's true," she said slowly. "But it can be hard to write, or rewrite, a symbol completely. Cultural weight means something. Personal connections means something. It's not always quantifiable, but it is there. If I already connect a symbol to something, I could theoretically use it to mean something completely different. But my thoughts would still be colored by that first idea."

[st_ockandbarrel]

Percy was pleased by the thoughtful answer. "Ah, so there is something inherent to it beyond your mental framing!" That was interesting, very interesting. "What would you do if you needed to research such a thing?"

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie frowned. Then almost smiled when she realized, "I dunno. I'd have to think about that."

[st_ockandbarrel]

Percy tore the page with the crest from his notebook and offered it to Corbie. "Should you get tired of practicing with fire, perhaps consider this instead."

He glanced down at his pocketwatch. "If you don't mind, I need to be moving along. But I'd be very curious to see how your studies come along."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie nodded, accepting the paper. "I know some about machines, too. I'd like to talk to you about your work sometime."

[st_ockandbarrel]

"I would pleased to do so." Percy stood then and sketched a respectful bow. "Until then."