Oh Oh It's Magic [Musebox]

[ringoutyourdead]

Adjusting to the magical department proves, for Sabriel, to be almost as difficult as adjusting to the giant ship in the sky with the handheld radio things. The new forms of magic she's been introduced to are not Charter or Free Magic, or anything even resembling them. She has no ability to tell if they're things that she can master or just forms of magic she is innately incapable of. And yet, she has to work with them.

She stands before some of the magical artifacts - at least those make conceptual sense to her, as they are objects that have, at some point, been charmed (usually) and strokes her chin. She doesn't speak to many when they pass, preferring instead to mull, but she does wave a hand slightly in greeting when Morgan enters.

Comments

[ringoutyourdead]

"Here? The fourth precinct isn't very dangerous if you don't step into sinkholes. Keep your wits about you." She smirks a bit, then stares with stoic determination down the river. "But down there we face permanent death, and...I don't know what's beyond it. But I have to make sure whatever we encountered is trapped."

[morganknight]

"Oh good. I would've been displeased if this was dissolving my soul or something. I'm using that."

Duty. That put a different spin on it. He could understand that, and it did put a different spin on things.

"Well," he said, looking down at his feet -- which were still poised on the surface of the water. "Should I come down, or would you like to come up?"

[ringoutyourdead]

She stares into the water, but it's too dark to tell distance. "I'll come up, if it's no great burden on you."

[morganknight]

"It isn't, but your dignity is gonna take a hit to do this the fast way," Morgan said. But then again, after everything they've been through, she didn't have a ton left, and neither did he, did they?

He knelt down, slid an arm around her waist gently but firmly, then lifted with the strength of his legs. Once she was out of the water, he put his free hand on the small of her back, let out one breath as he projected his chi to mesh with hers, then made a twisting gesture to pull her energies into harmony. Aside from the general feeling of vitality that brought, it also served to put her on the surface of the water just as neatly when he released her.

[ringoutyourdead]

She does flush a bit - it's certainly a bit immodest to be touched on her lower back, even for practical reasons, and her mind wanders to Touchstone for a moment. But it's worthwhile for the rush of energy and feeling of weightlessness as she stands atop the water. "Thank you."

She still doesn't rush across the surface. Even if the spirit wasn't taken past the last gate, the wave should have washed it far enough to bring them time, and you never know what hides in this precinct's waters. The dead may reach up and grab their ankles if they aren't careful. "Watch your feet."

[morganknight]

She had less-modest pressure points he could have used. And more-modest ones, but that was the best one for the situation.

He twitched his head aside, flicking his hair out of the way as he reached back to grip the hilt of his sword. "You know, this horrible death land actually kind of sucks."

[ringoutyourdead]

"That's why I have excessive amounts of wealth bestowed on me for navigating it on a semi-regular basis." They get to the next gate, hidden behind a waterfall. "Careful here. There are monsters beyond this point."

[morganknight]

Morgan considered her statement for a moment.

"Congratulations," he said. "I always thought that just inheriting money was secretly shameful, but now I've found a way to earn it that makes me glad I did instead of getting it this way."

He was mostly teasing, but his respect for her had definitely increased a few notches, and it hadn't been low to begin with.

[ringoutyourdead]

She smiles and brushes her sopping hair behind her ear. "Well, I inherited a good deal of it too. A whole castle, honestly..."

She blushes a bit.

[morganknight]

"Oh, was there a title to go with it, or are you just an independent landowner? Because if I have to call you 'Duchess' I will not be able to stop giggling."

Don't think for a second that he wasn't taking their situation seriously, now. He just saw no need not to banter while they advanced towards what they surely both believed was another confrontation.

[ringoutyourdead]

"Abhorsen. But it doesn't seem to be a title that translates well. It was my father's title before mine, and presumably my grandfather's before that."

There she goes, killing good banter with totally factual seriousness.

"Besides, if you call me 'Princess' or 'Duchess' or anything like that, I'll drown you in the third precinct."

[morganknight]

"That is kind of implied by 'inherited'," Morgan said, undeterred, though anyone who thought he was being too casual about this situation had failed to notice the slight tension of his muscles, and the way his movements kept his loose and ready to respond to a threat from any direction -- including below. "And why the third precinct? Is there a rule that people who annoy the Abhorsen get drowned there, or just personal preference?"

[ringoutyourdead]

"There are large enough waves to cover up my wrongdoing," she says. She gives him a wink to show she's not serious. "Ready?"

Without waiting for him, she goes through the waterfall of the gate.

[morganknight]

He followed behind without hesitation -- though he did hold a hand up to shield himself from the falls. "Death is wet," he grumbled.

[ringoutyourdead]

"Well. It isn't for vacationing." It feels good to have someone to complain with, though.

The fifth precinct has a swifter current, and is dark. Things lurk in the shadows. Sabriel holds a bell up, ringing it softly. "This will scare away the shier ones."

[morganknight]

Morgan nodded, but the bulk of his attention was focused further ahead.

"Question: is there a 'deeper you go, the harder to get back' thing in effect here? Being new to this, I'm entirely uncertain how casually I should be taking the idea of getting close to the very literal end of the line here."

[ringoutyourdead]

"Well, only harder to get back in that there's more to walk through and more monsters to avoid." She twists around as a shadow whisks by them in the dark. "Be careful regardless. Get a weapon out. You don't want to touch these with your hands."

[morganknight]

"But not a horrible soul inertia that means it's easier to walk into death than return to life or something, so that's definitely a plus," Morgan said. He drew his sword with deceptive casualty, the dull-gold blade somehow seeming much more real in this environment than its wielder. "Hopefully getting this thing out won't cause more problems than it solves."

Morgan flashed her an impish smile. "We guys have to worry about that when we get our things out, you know."

[ringoutyourdead]

Sabriel stares a bit blankly - she grew up in a proper ladies' boarding school, thank you very much, Morgan. "Your sword?"

And after a moment. "Oh."

[morganknight]

"What else could I have possibly meant?" he said with an absolutely shameless amount of false innocence. "You shouldn't draw a weapon unless you're prepared to use it and all."

[ringoutyourdead]

Sabriel curls her lip a little and rolls her eyes. She can't tell how she feels about Morgan. One moment he's quite charming, the next, clearly indecent.

A shadow rushes through the water towards their feet.

[morganknight]

Morgan's senses... told him nothing at all, but his intuition sent a warning that shifted him from play to work with visible tension. "Is there anything in here at all that doesn't need to be attacked on sight?" he asked quickly.

[ringoutyourdead]

"No, nothing. Just the dead, warped beyond recognition."

[morganknight]

"Even us?" Morgan said jokingly -- then slashed a curving arc with his sword around his feet. The force of the strike lashed out past the tip of the blade, cutting a line in the water that Morgan kicked with his foot as a smooth part of the same motion. A solid pressure wall rolled out through the water from that arc in an expanding crescent.

[ringoutyourdead]

"Well, do try not to kill us-!" Sabriel nearly yells as the water rolls out, kicking up ghosts and shadow creatures that look as if they might have once been human corpses until they...melted. "Don't let them touch you!"