tushanshu | 008 ≠ ( VIDEO )

[ The video feed opens with not one Bakura but two, the first standing central to the screen and the other offset to the side and whose nervous posture indicates he's still trying to slide even farther away. Separately it would be easy to call them identical but side by side, there are differences; slight but present. The voice is the biggest giveaway though, as Bakura's bears almost nothing of Ryou's accent. ]

Pay attention:

There are, as you can see, actually two of us. I'm the one who thinks you're all expendable idiots and treats you accordingly, not him. So taking your anger at me out on the new arrival here without listening to him merely proves my point.

For those of you whom I so easily fooled by calling myself "Ryou"? This is the real one, so go... make friends or something.

[ At that, Ryou offers an awkward wave at the console screen. ]

---

[ OOC: Takes place following this post. Replies will come from both/either of them, unless specifically marked private to one or the other. If anyone wishes to query Emily-Helen about this via their hatchling, she will confirm there are indeed two! If a little confused about why they're very similar. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Well, now he looks a little irritable. Resigned and exasperated, but irritable.]

Actually, I'm the one who spoke to both my and Bakura's wards. I've given teenagers such information for well over a century, and I assure you it was accurate, if simplified somewhat to account for physiological differences.

[Pause.]

And I made sure they knew there would be differences, but that I didn't have the expertise appropriate to explain the details about their own biology. Whatever they got wrong, it was due to their own discussions or discussions with other parents, not because of me.

Then I'm sorry. But I can only go off of what was told to me through Rio'era and the few others I've talked to directly...

[He's squinting now.]

Are you a spirit?

Children talk. It's an unfortunate fact of life that their guardians have to correct the misinformation they spread to one another.

[Which is basically an acceptance of that apology, as well as a light reprimand. He gives an amused huff.]

No. Sorcerers in my world are long-lived. It's the use of magic; it's rejuvenating.

Oh! Magic. Okay.

[He's actually a little disappointed. Humans who became spirits were few and far between. He didn't have many people to talk to about the experience with Jack being pretty defensive about it. And he didn't want to upset the winter spirit with more assumptions.]

I didn't know magic could help someone live that long. You must be a great healer.

[And that just makes Solomon laugh.]

No. Not at all. The very act of using magic replenishes the body, regardless of what that magic is. The average sorcerer's lifespan is anywhere between eight-hundred and a thousand years, but if a sorcerer stops using their magic they eventually begin ageing at a mortal rate.

So it doesn't exhaust you? I thought that's what it did to people who used it.

[The Welcome center had a lot of mixed information about magic because magic worked in different ways in different worlds and all of it just got jumbled together for him. The power of the elements was so much simpler.]

It does. But using energy and being nourished aren't the same things.

[Steeples fingers and rests his chin on them, thinking. How to explain this to someone who likely has no concept of cells?]

Think of it like a river. The presence of water nourishes and enhances those living around it. They can have as much water as they wish, but getting the water requires energy on its own; yet using the energy to get the water doesn't reduce the amount of water available. It only changes how much water they can bear.

For most sorcerers, the amount of energy it takes to use their magic is negligible. It can tire us to use it, yes, but not so much that it ceases to be a nourishment. A sorcerer only cuts themselves off from their magic, temporarily, if they exhaust themselves to such a point that their bodies can no longer accept magic until they've rested; and only an idiot or a desperate man would go so far. It isn't terribly fun.

[It was an imperfect analogy considering plenty of rivers dried up over time... and Wan was tempted to point that out, but he got the gist of the idea and figured it was probably a stupid point to make.]

So it's like your chi. It exists within you and it's not finite, but it can be cut off or drained even when it's still giving you enough energy to live.

That might be a better analogy; it certainly sounds similar. I don't have much knowledge of chi and its workings; Chinese sorcerers don't usually take well to outsiders.

[And, honestly, it didn't seem as worth looking into as other religions and mythologies, though Solomon has been to China a number of times. Maybe that was a mistake, and given the ways in which Egyptian theology seems to be unlocking several mysteries, Solomon's willing to give it a go.]

I don't suppose you could give me a deeper explanation?

Oh! You're from Enjolras's world aren't you? He's talked about China and the Chinese before! He didn't mention anything about sorcerers or magic in his world though. Actually, I'm pretty sure he said his world didn't have anything like that...

Are there two Chinas?

I'm not from Enjolras's world, no.

[Though he knows Enjolras's story, and the name rolls off his tongue as if he's familiar with at leas the language.]

I imagine there are many Chinas. The lifestream I spoke of doesn't just exist in my world; it travels between all of them. In fact, Asti is swimming in it at this very moment. It stands to reason there would be a certain percentage of similarity between universes, given the strength of those currents.

[Oh that piques his interest.]

You can see the lines of light and life that the Great Turtle swims? I think that's those lines are chi paths of this world.

[And that piques his interest back.]

No, I know it's true through research. My people have proven the existence of the lifestream and there are too many supporting variables in our position here between the planes to ignore the connection.

Can you see them?

[Pause.]

Could you show me how to see them?

I can see them when I'm meditating. I don't know if you'd be able to see them, but it's worth trying.

Perhaps.

[Contemplation. Oh, well, he may as well give it a go.]

I'm a Necromancer. I see death. Either I'll find it spectacularly easy, or it will be impossible.

[That... was a little freakier than he'd encountered before. Though not as freaky as Skullduggery.]

It's worth a shot. You have to be at the Great Turtle's head to see them. I can meet you there to meditate sometime in the next few days if you'd like.

[Few things are as freaky as Skulduggery.]

Very well. I'll need to contact you later with an exact date; I have a prior engagement that may take some time. No more than three days, however.

Sure. My name is Wan. You should be able to send me a letter over the computer thing here.

[Computer thing. Definitely not from the modern era. Solomon looks vaguely amused as he answers.]

Solomon Wreath. I'll be sure to do that.

[Pre-introduction to alcohol, in fact.]

It's nice to meet you. I'll see you soon.

[You poor man.]

Another time, Master Wan.

[And he disconnects.]

008 ≠ ( VIDEO )

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]