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]

"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!"

[morganknight]

"Or you," Morgan agreed, a subtle pressure still coming off him even as the force of his push faded. Rather than using the sword as a proper weapon for the moment, he simply pointed it at the creatures, stabbing chi at them like an extension of the weapon itself. It was impressive not so much because of the magic involved, but because he was holding the large sword at full extension, one-handed, without so much as a tremble of the muscles.

[ringoutyourdead]

And don't think Sabriel doesn't notice that upper body strength. She's just too lady-like to mention it.

A monster grabs Morgan by the foot and tries to yank him down into the water.

[morganknight]

"Hey! No TOUCHING!"

Morgan dropped the sword like a guillotine blade; even as his foot disappeared underwater he hauled back upwards with force of magic rather than raw strength, though it was hard to distinguish the difference sometimes.

[ringoutyourdead]

The hand releases from his ankle and flicks over to Sabriel's. She anticipates it and uses her own sword to dislodge.

"They're handsy today." She takes the tiniest bell from its holster. "Cover your ears."

[morganknight]

Morgan hesitated for only a fraction of a second -- the hopefully-understandable hesitation of a person who is about to render himself significantly more vulnerable by sheathing his weapon and busying his hands -- before sliding the sword back into its sheath and clapping his hands over his ears.

[ringoutyourdead]

The bell rings out with a dizzy, lullaby-ish tone, watery and thin and not echoing at all. But the water beneath them seems to slow. The shadows grasping at their ankles pause.

And then sink.

Sabriel collapses into Morgan's arms.

[morganknight]

Morgan completely abandoned all effort to plug his ears, hoping that the need passed with the end of the bell. Speaking of the bell, as he caught Sabriel he swept out a foot to kick it up into his hand. She might want it later, after all.

"Never the way I'd like then to swoon," he grumbled, shifting his arms around her so one hand dropped to the small of her back. Skin-to-skin contact would be easier, but this could suffice; he pressed his palm to her spine, then passed some of his own energy off to her.

[ringoutyourdead]

Her eyelashes flutter. She mumbles a bit.

"Ranna...sleepbringer..." she says, letting the bell fall into the water.

[morganknight]

Oh no, he was not letting that bell get away. Morgan quickly shaped the surface tension of the water with a quick gesture and an infusion of his own chi, ducking down to scoop up the bell before it could sink past the firmed surface.

"Sorry, Sabriel," he said as he straightened, careful not to let her fall or slump in his other arm. "But that name doesn't ring a bell."

...entire trip, officially worthwhile now.

[ringoutyourdead]

"You're funny," Sabriel manages to say sarcastically, before she falls asleep entirely.