maskormenacelogs | Winter Gala

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Winter Gala

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: Jeopardy
WHEN: Saturday, December 21 from 5:00 p.m. onward into the early morning hours of Sunday, December 22.
WHAT: The Winter Gala Fundraiser for Jeopardy Relief Efforts
WARNINGS: Please include any necessary warnings in your TLs.
NOTES: This post will serve as a catch-all for logs for the entire event (though you’re also welcome to post things elsewhere, of course).

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Well, mostly. In the wake of a near-apocalyptic event, the city of Jeopardy is in need. What started out as an idea to advertise Rikki Chadwick's burgeoning business, after a little more planning and nabbing some ideas from Kenzi's post, she and Rupert have reconfigured and rebranded their idea to focus less on her and more on the relief effort.

Characters will enter the venue after giving a small donation at the door and they will be greeted by a large room lit in blues, soft pinks, and purples. From the ceilings hang snowflakes made of glass. The centerpieces are also made of glass. Come to think of it, nearly all the decorations are made of glass. Except, that is, the mistletoe hanging from several of the rafters and archways. A buffet-style dinner will be served from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at which point, the buffet tables and seating tables will be cleared away to make room for the makeshift stage for the DJ and a gigantic dance floor.

Drinks will be flowing, music will be playing, and people will be bidding on silent auctions to win everything from one of the centerpieces to a date with their favorite imPort and everything in between. So, eat, drink, and be merry until you can't stay awake any longer. Why not? It's all for a good cause, after all.

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"I'm a mage, actually, and part-time alchemist," Finn raises a finger and a small flame appears on the very tip. "A lot of plants are used in alchemy. In fact, some days I just roamed the countryside looking for plants to collect so I could make potions. Plastic bags are as good a substitution as any for the leather pouches I used back in my world."

“Really,” she says, sounding delighted. Alchemy, as far as she can tell, works a lot differently in other worlds than it did her own. It seems that all the wildest dreams that those early scientists had were true in different universes: magical potions, turning lead to gold. “How do you know which ones to use and when? Or how much? Is their formal education or is it passed down orally?”

The fire flicks out as Finn lowers his finger. "There's books in my world you can get that tell you what plants do what, and sometimes if you've been doing it for long enough you just have it down pat," Lucky for Jane, Finn loves talking about magic and alchemy. "Usually learning how to do alchemy can be done through books, or a combination of reading and getting someone to teach you. Sometimes you get a few fail potions when you're starting out."

"Sounds a lot like any other kind of science!" This is going to be fun, because she has absolutely enjoyed learning how other worlds approach magic and science, where they blend and differ. "Can anyone do alchemy, or is it like other forms of magic, where you need to have a natural ability for it?"

"Oh, anybody can learn alchemy in my world. In fact, anyone can learn to be a mage. Magic is everywhere in my world, and it's inside everyone. To become a mage is to expand that magical ability and harness it to do greater things." He's met a few magic-users who come from worlds where one has to be born with the ability to use magic.

"That's amazing! I think I'm from one of those 'you need to be born with it' worlds as well, so that it's just so common in yours is astounding." Even if someone in her world did have magic, it seemed, there was a high chance that it was difficult to learn or manage, or like with Doctor Strange, it led you down paths you least expected.

"Some people look down on magic, or find it distrustful," Finn twirls his finger around idly, making little frost flakes flow from the tip. "Hence why some people choose not to pursue the magical arts. My people, the Dunmer, have a pretty relaxed view on magic, and you can find a Dunmer mage quite easily."

“I can understand why—magic takes a little longer to figure out and understand than say, math or some branches of science. Plus, all that you can do with it.” There were some lines that could easily be crossed, depending upon different factors. “Like make snow out of thin air.”

"Oh, I can do much more than just these little demonstrations. I can also make myself invisible, cast protective magicks, and so on." And that's not even getting into the whole Dragonborn thing. The frost flakes cease as his finger lowers. "I can do basic math and some basic algebra and have some science know-how, but ask me to calculate the area of a circle and I'm going to need a textbook."

Jane grins. “It’s more than I can do! I can’t do a lick of magic at all and I wouldn’t consider the powers that I got from coming here magic either. But, area of a circle, I can do that. And a ton more. There is this thing called calculus that is apparently a nightmare for most other people.”

And dragonborn thing?? Do tell!

"I consider myself a pretty powerful mage, even without taking the Dragonborn thing into account, but doing calculus, that I consider pretty impressive." He's considering reading up on astronomy, seeing as his boyfriend is from outer space.

“Thank you! If you’re ever curious, I have a ton of books on the subjects and teach physics at a college.” He should! It would be fun for both of them! “But Dragonborn? Is that what it sounds like?”

"I might have to pop in and sit on one of your lectures then." Science has become quite fascinating to him. Perhaps what he calls magic, others call science. After all, in his world, magic has laws, just as science does.

"Dragonborn just means that I'm a mortal with the soul of a dragon, and by speaking the dragon language I make things happen. It's a whole big thing."

“That would be great! I’d love to compare any differences you notice.”

There is a chance of that! In her world, what was once mysterious and ‘magical’ has now been explained scientifically, though they have much further to go.

“Is that another way you can do magic?” she asked.

"Basically, yes. See, regular magic, the kind I do with my hands, requires mana, while Dragon Shouts do not. Mana is the power I tap into when I need to cast magic, and when you cast a spell, it uses up mana. Dragon Shouts require no mana," That's the quick explanation, anyway. "They say that when two dragons get into a fight, they're really just having a very intense debate."

“Interesting, spells that don’t require energy of some sort,” she muses. “Is it just an extension of yourself, then? Kind of like how other people have skills and talents?”

Of course, everything uses energy, but perhaps not mana as he was describing.

"Basically, yes," Paarthurnax could probably explain it a lot better than he can, but he's all the way back in Tamriel, so Finn's the current expert in all things Dragonborn and the Thu'um.

"Non-dragonborns can learn to use Dragon Shouts, but it takes years of training and meditation, whereas I can learn to use them in just seconds. You see, to use a Shout, you have to know the dragon language, but it goes beyond just having the vocabulary, you also have to understand the word. If that even makes sense."

“No, no, it does,” Jane replied, her mind starting to turn gears. “It’s like … foreign vocabulary. A word might be translated as another basic term, but it could mean more. Or what you consider ‘bread’ looks nothing like what someone else considers ‘bread’. There’s depth to it.”

Once again, it was kind of like science: people could throw around words like gravity and atoms and black holes, but all meant so much more than that. It was physics. It was reality.

And for some people to be able to tap into something like that naturally? That was amazing.

"Basically, yes. For example, when I want to breathe fire, I say 'fire' in the dragon tongue. When I want to enhance this Shout, I say 'fire', followed by 'sun' and 'inferno'. Also, a common greeting between dragons is drem yol lok, which translates to 'peace fire sky'."

"That is amazing!" she exclaimed. "I am going to have to pick your brain more about this. Would you mind if I observe you do some of those spells sometime?"

"By all means," Finn loved showing off his powers, and the idea of a scientist studying those powers was kind of exciting.

[OOC: Okay if we fade to black here? I would love to plot the two of them studying magic and science together!]

[OOC: We can fade to black here, sure. I'm also down for them talking science and magic.]

[OOC: Awesome! I plan to throw a log up soon so we can do something in that! Or maybe I could ping his inbox?]

[OOC: I can tag that log]

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bifroster - 2020-02-06 22:44 (UTC) - Expand

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fireandhoney - 2020-02-06 22:46 (UTC) - Expand

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