[Sullins' Residence] Making an Oath [Clyde Sullins]

[Xii]

The girl had to stop herself from puffing out her cheeks at Sullin in annoyance, or sticking out her tongue. She didn't, but she might have liked to show her displeasure in some way. Though she wanted to believe that he was shooting her down ~about the staff and altering it~ simply because he didn't want her to have one as good or better than Cha... probably he was telling the truth and it would be stupid to try to change this one in any way. He had said what she thought was a new word ~magecrafting~ which she would hold onto dearly, since it had sounded like the name of something, maybe the name of a kind of magic. Like how making people do what you wanted was called hypnotism, and how changing your body was called morphing. Magecrafting, she thought, must be the creation of staffs, since Sullins had said that a staff was a 'work' of magecrafting. She was glad, though, that he said bone would probably work. His problem was with finding something large enough to make a staff, but who said a staff had to be large? Of course they could be different sizes, since this one was smaller than Cha. So why not make one out of like... a glassbeak femur or something like that? Even a human femur. It wouldn't be long enough to use as a walking stick, like these staffs were... but would still be large enough to hold in your hand and direct. Like a mini-staff. Or a cane, even. Maybe someday, when she knew more about what this 'magecrafting' was, she would look into making a staff out of bone. Would doing that, changing the base material, change how it worked or what it did? It might be fun to find out. His last answer was unexpected. So even Sullins didn't know what it did? So she really would be the first to unlock its secrets. Xii liked that. She liked that a lot. She wasn't quite as pleased that he didn't know how to tame it, though. So the process would be ~at least~ slightly different for each staff? She would have liked some specific direction, some lesson that she would be able to follow word-for-word. But, she wondered, was magic ever like that? Clyde Sullins had had to learn the last bit of morphing all by himself, with his own mind, through his own devices. Maybe there were some things that could not be taught. Maybe this was one of those things, something she would learn through herself, and her own cunning. If that was the case, then she was up to the task. She wanted to get started right away, but Sullins had a point when he said she'd already done too much magic. Her whole body was tired, her head and hand were still aching ~though it was a background-sort of ache for now~ and she felt like she needed to sleep for days. She wasn't even certain what she was supposed to do to 'feel' the staff's djed, as Sullins had said. She wasn't sure she was even that good at feeling her own. She knew what djed was, of course, since her mother and Clyde had come to explain it in two different ways. But feeling it was hard. There was a 'lake' of djed surrounding her, coming from within her, or that's how she thought of it. So would the staff, then, have its own 'lake'? For now maybe it was better to rest and approach this a different day. She didn't know if she had the concentration in her for it now. So, once more, she held out the staff as if for him to take it, though her small fingers curled around it more tightly, unwilling. "So do I leave it here, then? Or can I take it with me? I don't think... I don't think I should work on it today. Like you said." She was aware she was just borrowing it, and that she probably wouldn't use it now, maybe not even soon, but she wanted to take it regardless. She wanted to never give it back, though she knew she would have to at some point. That was what 'borrowed' meant. Reluctant, she figured she could do what he said and think out some ideas of how to tame it without it being near. But still... With a sudden flash of inspiration she realized that she might be able to coax the staff to work for her with some form of hypnotism, though she didn't know if such a thing could work on something like a fancy stick. It wasn't a person, or an animal, but if it had some sort of will, or even just its own deep complexity, that might be able to be affected. She longed to try now. Without truly willing it herself, her magic tried to rise within her... and nothing happened. Chagrined, she tried again, this time purposefully. Nothing. Hmm. It was like the lake had gone. Not gone, exactly, she thought she could still sense it. But it was different. Something was blocking it, damming it off. "I think the Oath's working," she said. The Oath had said she would be unable to use her djed if it meant overgiving, or until she had recovered. And that reminded her. She still needed her copy. She took a step closer to the desk ~still careful to walk, as if her balance might leave again like it had before~ and picked up one of the sheets of paper, glancing back at Sullins and raising it to show she was going to take it. It was probably time to leave. His words had hinted at that somewhat. And she really was tired.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde of course had only gone into the basics of a Magic Staff, and even then he'd not discussed it in full. He'd certainly not mentioned anything of its crafting, such as the process it involved or the requirements of a staff beyond just being of an organic material as a part of a once living thing. For instance, the length or height requirements of a staff in comparison to the one wielding it. Of course, only a Magecrafter skilled in the crafting of Magic Staffs would know of such specifics, such as the minimal length acceptable for a staff to be of full use to its wielder. Since he had no plan to teach her Magecrafting though, he felt no need to explain this, and did not consider her words fully in relation to bone staffs. But this fact of length also played into his reasoning of why bone was not the most feasible material. A foot long staff of bone for instance would be of almost no use except perhaps to a pycon. By the time Xii got around to offering the staff back to him, he was thoroughly tired from his days work. Particularly his morphing earlier that day. It was especially draining due to his small skill in the magical art, even when he performed small spells. Clyde let out a sigh, and shook his head at the girl. “You can keep it on you for now. How else would I expect you to learn to use it, to tame it and grow to understand it but by closeness? Just know it is but a loaner, the staff is mine, my property, and so treat it as such.” Clyde smiled and sighed once more, this time more for the fact that she did not fully understand the action he'd done in loaning it to her. That smile had something more to do with things he'd learned in using Cha, things someone would only know after using a staff and taming it as fully as he had. It acted as a further means of getting his claws into her, though she did not know it. Likely she'd think it was simply a smile about the former thing, and her foolish offering to give back the staff. Clyde would play it off as such if she so wished, but he knew what it was truly for. A lie in plain sight, without lying, but based upon an assumption which he allowed the person to take. It was a particular method of chaos and lies that Clyde particularly enjoyed. He did not understand her later note, about the oath working. Though after a few seconds he came to the only logical conclusion his tired brain could, she'd just attempted to do something that utterly broke the constraints of the oath, and it hadn't allowed her to. He could only wonder which one. Instead, letting out another sigh, Clyde turned towards his own room, ready to rest finally after the days labors. “Yes, whatever, it worked, I never doubted it had. Anyways, if you'd like you can rest here again, instead of going... Wherever you go. I'm ready for bed.” If Xii asked to leave, he'd see her out the front door, re-locking the lab behind him. Otherwise, he'd wish her a good night, and head for his own bed. OOC note: Just to be clear, I did some rough research, and considering the length required for a fully functioning staff, and the average size of a femur which is usually one of the longest single bones of a animal, you'd need a animal around the size of an elephant to harvest a femur long enough to serve as a staff for a five foot person, which Xii falls just under. Also just to be clear, since a staff has no mind or reasoning, I'm pretty sure hypnotism wouldn't affect it. Also as a final note, due to the oath it would be impossible for Xii to steal the staff, so if for some reason she vanishes it'd be assumed the staff was returned to Clyde.

[Xii]

“You can keep it on you for now. How else would I expect you to learn to use it, to tame it and grow to understand it but by closeness? Just know it is but a loaner, the staff is mine, my property, and so treat it as such.” Xii's fingers, already tight on the staff, tightened, and she brought it closer to her once more, no longer holding it out. Good. She didn't allow herself to smile, simply nodded her head once, but she was glad ~no, more like relieved~ that she would be allowed to carry it around with her, to keep it close. Even though it was 'but a loaner'... maybe by the time Sullins wanted it back she would have figured out how to make her own. Or maybe she would have figured out how to get enough money to buy her own. Or maybe something else would have come up. Whatever. Sullins smiled when she tightened her grip on the staff, and she wondered if she was being too obvious. She willfully loosened her fingers, wondering if the smile was for her sense of possessiveness towards the thing already~ maybe he liked the idea of giving it to her just to take it away and watch her squirm. She didn't know. She was too tired to figure it out. His offer to stay here was oddly tempting, and something she didn't really want to do... but she was worried that if she left she wouldn't be paying attention enough, due to her exhaustion, and someone might see the staff and try to take it. In this shape, she wouldn't be able to defend herself or run, and until she figured out how to use the staff ~which she was absolutely sure she would~ she couldn't use it to help her magics. It would be a risk to take it outside without Sullins nearby, especially when it was getting later into the day. Though she now had Sullins' protection, sort of, she wasn't certain that anyone else in the city would know that, and know to stay away from her and her ~his, technically~ possessions. Though she liked danger, she didn't like stupidity. Risking the staff was the latter as well as the former. "I guess I'll stay here," she said, yawning, and slipped off to the spare room. It was exactly as she remembered. She spent a few minutes in the joined washroom, tending to her face and her hands, inspecting the swelling and trying to see if any of it was going down~ looked like it was? Then she went back to 'her' room, with 'her' staff, and promptly fell asleep. oocI knew that stuff, but thanks for the reminder. Xii doesn't know about the necessary length of staffs or about how a staff functions, which is why I put it in, since my posts follow her thought process. Hehe, maybe she'll have to go elephant hunting.