taxonomites | [Text] / [Location: a cafe in Speares]

Remus' eyes are pale amber, within the range of normal but slightly eerie still. He also doesn't hold eye contact long, just a look and he looks away again, before his other half gets any ideas.

"I'm a full trained wizard in my world. Used to teach, even. Fought in a magical war, all of that. But I was never overly gifted with Divination. Didn't have the Gift, just muddled by like most magic users." He looks up again. "Demonology's a fairly dark line to chase."

Eerie, meet eerie. Remus's wolf may be sniffing more literally, but they're both perhaps doing a bit of sizing each other up.

Fully trained wizard, the other man says, and Jason blinks slightly. Not there's anything wrong with the phrasing, only that it suggests.... a rather more formalized structure than he is accustomed to.

"'Fully trained'?" he echoes aloud. "And what does that denote, in your world, if I might ask?"

He merely shrugs one shoulder at the statement that it's a dark line of study. " 'He must needs go that the devil drives'."

Etrigan smirks in his head, and whispers it's a fitting quote given their location in Speares.

Edited 2012-07-24 08:57 (UTC)

"Well, I went to school to learn the magical arts. Healing, charms, transfiguation, enchanting, divination, herbology, magical creatures, offensive and defensive magic, all of that. Studied with other young wizards and witches." He pulls out his wand from somewhere, laying it on the table, fingers resting on it. It's old, well worn and frequently handled and currently, it's silently thrumming with power with the waxing moon.

"Less in the Darker arts. I know some of them, but I specialised in defensive magics."

'School' for magic. What an odd thought.

Oh, he'd studied, of course-- been abysmal at it as a boy, but then, who could have been anything but awful when compared to his fellow student Merlin?

But his father's lessons to the two of them had not been any sort of structured school. And he'd soon enough been released from the studies he had little aptitude for, to the relief of all three of them; set free to go whack at things with sticks, play at being a knight, while Merlin was set the study of owls and orreries.

He'd had masters since-- the odd withered goodwife, or alchemist, conjure-men and priests of gods other than the Christian one... A host of those he'd scrounged knowledge from, but in the end, Etrigan had been his real tutor.

He looks to the wand when Lupin sets it out, but of course makes no move to reach for it, however great his curiosity. He can feel the energies; an ozone-hum like a stored storm.

"There are no such... schools... in my world. Not exactly," Jason murmurs. He nods slightly at the wand. It's of more interest to him than discussing the darkness of any type of magic.

"You primarily work with this as a focus, then?"

Remus is, at heart, a teacher. Not necessarily the school sort, but he loves explaining and teaching what he knows to others, talking about it. "Yes. As a child, the wand is the way magic is most easily channelled and for some, it remains the only way they can focus the spark in them. I have inherently more magic than a lot of others, so the wand is more... an old friend to me. The only one I have left." He strokes the wood, fingers moving with old familiarity.

"First wands come in two ways. Inheritance or purchase. Inheritance means having an old wand passed on to you by someone else. But buying a wand... When you first touch the right wand and the magic sings and calls and exalts in being given channel," he stops and ducks his head, looking slightly embarrassed. "I talk a lot, I'm sorry."

With a bit of distant, morbid amusement, Jason wonders if he might have done better as a boy if he'd had a wand.

Not bloody likely.

He listens. He's intrigued; the apathy he'd felt as a boy has long since been replaced by a desire that borders on the obsessive to learn all that he can, everything that he can, anything that might help.

"No," he says with a little incline of his head when Lupin pauses. "I did ask. You have nothing to apologise for, Mr. Lupin. Unless that is your way of saying you would just as soon get on with the reading."

"Well, I mean, I'm happy to discuss what I know of wand creation and compatibilities. I'm lucky, my first wand was this one. A custom job from England's best. Some may say the world's best, Ollivander. Anything magical can be used as a wand core, but he generally sticks to one of three cores. Unicorn hair, dragon heart string or phoenix feather. Stable bases, covers a wide range. Mine, however, is werewolf sinew, to flux with the moon pull."

He focuses and taps his wand on the table, making a flower arch and bloom from the wood. "Would you tell me about your understandings of magic?"

Jason listens, his head tilted slightly to one side. He used tools of various sorts, of course-- scrying basins, daggers, crystals when necessary, rings-- and many things more random-- had all served as focuses for his spells over the years. But they were simply tools; he had no emotional attachment to them. And none of the pride in Lupin's voice speaking of the stick that lay on the table.

With an arched brow of mild surprise he reaches for the flower, runs a light finger over the stem and blossom. He does not know if he could do such-- because such magics have never been his focus. But he knows that if he could it would take him far more time, far more study and work-- it would not be a matter of merely tapping a wand. That speaks of a power both more intuitive than his own, and quite probably more spectacular.

Jason withdraws his fingers from the flower, crosses his arms before him on the table.

"If you would like. It is perhaps not so... dramatic. You mentioned there are those with less raw talent than yourself-- those more dependent on the wand...

"I have very little actual talent, you see. Merely doggedness. And time."

The flower smooths back into he wood as Remus focuses on letting the magic undo itself. "Both of which I commend. Having a talent, well, I did nothing to be good at magic inherently. I chose to train and educated and work at it. And the fact that you work hard at the skill you have?"

It's genuine. It shines form Remus how genuine he is. He respects and admires self improvement tremendously. "If I had the talent, I could try fashioning you a wand if you wanted to try and learn our magic. I don't know how compatible it will be, but we can try?

"In the mean time, I'd love to see you do a divination reading."

Jason pauses. The compliment appears.... genuine. Sincere. He's not entirely sure what to do with that, other than dismiss it as naïveté.

No, not quite right, nor fair. Ignorance, though. There is nothing, in Jason's view, commendable about his grim, slow study of magic over the centuries. He'd had no choice.

But the other man has no way of knowing this, and simply says his words with earnest decency.

It's very rare, that he is near people of such earnest decency. The 'heroes' of his world.... the heroes call him when they need him-- when something is too dark and hell-tainted for them to know how to handle it, when they want Etrigan unleashed against this or that horror-- and then when the threat has faded they are happy enough to let him leave and not have to deal with the fact that he makes so many of them uncomfortable.

"If you like," he says after several seconds' pause. "I... as you say, though, compatibility is... unknown. I would wager unlikely. I would hesitate to ask you to invest any effort on something not likely to work."

He nods and reaches for the deck. "Perhaps for the best to focus on that for now, yes. Are you familiar with the various spreads, then?"

"Well, I don't do a lot with my time. Garden. Hunt. Avoid people in general, apparently the hamsters can make people do things. I don't want to shift in the middle of the day and hurt someone. Infect them. Kill them. I've made it thirty old years without doing so and I want to do what I can to maintain that."

He tucks his wand away, probably into a sleeve, but he has nimble fingers and sleight of hand down fairly well. "A little, it's been a while. How about we start with a three card while I think of something to ask and then we can move to a classic celtic cross or seven day spread."

Confirmation of the lycanthropy, then. The man spoke.... quite forthrightly about it. Jason was silent for several seconds.

He'd already considered Azkadellia as an option, someone to discuss his own... situation with. This Lupin might be another. Two casters, and neither of them without power... and both of them with some experience of a force within one that might do great harm if not contained.

"Yes. Of course," he said, a little absently, to Lupin's words, his thoughts on more personal matters. He reached for the cards, and laid them out, one, two, three, flat on the table.

Having outted himself already, Remus is learning to be open about it, to tell others.

"I should think about trying a wand for Azkadellia, if I'm going to be doing the wand making thing... Though I'm not maiming myself for wand parts, I'm not that generous."

"The two of you are acquainted, then," Jason half-asks, setting the deck of cards to one side. "I have also spoken with her... I have a matter I would put to you both, as practitioners.

"But not today."

He flips the first card. Stength.

The second next-- the Moon, which he's not surprised to see. It would have been shocking if it hadn't made an appearance in Lupin's reading.

"Apparently everyone in this city has such stories that nobody draws anything like a lowly four of cups," Jason says rather dryly as he reaches for the third card.

"I'm vaguely surprised you didn't get a five of pentacles in my drawing," he admits. "I lived hand to mouth for many years, not sure where I would get my next meal."

In fact, he didn't expect so many major arcana in his draw. He turns his attention to the next one, waiting to see what is drawn.

"Apparently the cards feel it's not the defining element of your life," Jason responded with the hint of a smile.

He turned over the eight of wands, and snorted softly to himself. 'The cards' seemed to be settling into something of a pattern to him-- strong cards for past and present, then cards from the high, but not royal, ends of the suits to sum up the future.

Jason straightened the cards then laced his fingers together before his face, rested his chin on them.

"Well." Lupin was familiar with the cards; he did not have to explain the concept of each as he had with the others. Merely focus on the reading itself.

"Your life has been a balancing act. A struggle between the beast within, and the man you are." Nothing terribly profound there, of course, but Jason's eyes roamed the lines of the Strength card, maiden and lion, gentle hands and the girl's compassionate face.

"You have also struggled against others... you mentioned a war. I see that, but your desire has always been the path away from violence-- to disarm rather than wound, to protect rather than attack. You prefer wards to curses, and you prefer gentle words to either; always you have served as the voice of moderation, diplomacy, conciliation. As the maiden with the lion, so you with your colleagues and..." Jason narrowed his eyes slightly at the card, "...friends, I think. Yes. Putting yourself between... friends and another figure, someone I am not seeing altogether clearly."

Remus listens attentively, face betraying very little. He nods a lot as he listens, understanding and agreeing with the basic idea.

It's only at the end that he looks slightly disconcerted, unclear about that that could mean. He reaches over and takes the card, looking at it and then up at Jason. "I'm, I'm not sure what that means, who that could be. All my friends are gone and I never managed to stand up to them like I should have."

He puts the card down and looks at Jason's eyes, dropping the gaze quickly. "Can you do a clarification draw on that, please?"

Jason spread his hands slightly, a tiny shrug of his shoulders.

"It's the sense that I got from the card. Your words indicate you certainly feel that there was a need to stand up to them. Perhaps the cards suggest that you did so more than you realize.

"Or perhaps my reading is wrong."

He slid the Strength card to one side. "As you wish; though I will conclude this one first if you please."

Remus closes his eyes, head bowed. "Yes. There was. I can think of many times in particular I should have done more. Stood up to them. But I didn't. I just find it strange that it would suggest that I did stand up to them when I didn't."

He nods, swallowing tightly. "Yes, of course, my apologies. Please, I'd like to hear more."

"Then perhaps the cards are pointing out a failure," Jason responded evenly. "One would expect Strength to be inverted in that case, but one card standing in for your entire past has a good deal of work to do. If you've had both successes and failures at exercising your strength wisely, the card may be doing its best to split the difference."

He might have been making a joke, but it was a bit hard to tell.

"In the position of the present we have the Moon... hm, the full moon is just a few days away, isn't it?" Jason tched softly. "Aside from the obvious relevance..."

He set his elbows on the table, propped his palms beneath his chin, and let the image of the card fill his mind, opening his mind to whatever would come. Wolves running beneath a fat harvest moon, not exactly surprising. A pack in disarray, one after the other hunted, shot, muzzled, imprisoned, except not only wolves but dogs and deer as well.

Moonlight shining on a cottage in the woods, a tower on the card. A young man, soft of feature and form, demanding entrance and speech. Barricades of fear, grim responsibility, loneliness.

"You are feeling the pull of several influences even now, I think," Jason said after several seconds of silence. "The voice of prudence and caution bids you stay in the tower, where you perceive safety-- safety from the danger you pose others, not yourself. The voices of others try to call you back from the wilderness, bid you rejoin them, but you hear this as a distraction and a temptation you cannot risk.

"And yet... you are here now. You've made the journey from the woods seeking--" his finger tapped the moon's bright circle on the card, "--illumination, guidance.

"I cannot tell you if you are right or wrong to attempt to seclude yourself, Mr. Lupin, but I will say that in the classic reading of the cards, the security offered by the towers is very often a false promise."

Remus smiles slightly, joke or not. He nods at the comment about the moon, it is in a few days and he can feel it pulling on him, choking him with its presence.

"You're very good," Remus finally says, voice soft. "You do have the touch about you, you've got a very good grasp on the past and present, which people often underestimate as part of the Gift.

"The tower isn't really a good reference to have, no. I'll certainly have to think on this. You've given me some honestly good advice, thank you."

He looks up. "I don't have the same touch as you, but I can offer to do a reading for you in payment."

Jason shrugged away Remus's second compliment, his brows slightly knit. "I don't have the penchant for drama that most successful readers do," he said dryly.

He inclined his head slightly at the thanks. "You're welcome."

Jason reached to straighten the third card slightly, then paused when Lupin made his offer. His eyes flicked from the eight of wands to Remus's earnest face.

"No thank you," he said after several long seconds. "I know what my cards hold. I do not find it enjoyable knowledge."

"Ah. Well, maybe not then. If you need magical assistance, I'm easy to get hold of. But not the day after the full moon. I need that day off for recovery."

Jason nodded fractionally, his eyes returning to the third and final card in the reading.

"Of course," he said in response to Lupin needing to rest the day after the moon's fullness. He could sympathize, although his ordeals weren't tied to anything lunar.

"There is a matter that I would discuss with you, yes. But we are concerned with your future at the moment..."

Jason's fingers tapped the eight of wands thoughtfully. "The only card of the entire tarot with no representation of a person in any shape or part...

"We see earth. Water. Sky. The wands flowering, new growth and new buds appearing. The influence of man is restricted to the presence of the house-- so small it is almost overlooked.

"Often, a card signifying a return to the basics: to grounding one's self in what is essential and stripping away extraneous complications. It's a card of perspective, of introspection; of finding quiet havens from the world's noise in order to achieve clarity as to what direction one ought to pursue.

"In your case..." Jason pursed his lips, turned his head side to side in a 'hmm' gesture; he looked back briefly at the other cards. "I think in the context of this reading-- and what you've told me-- the eight can be indicating it is time for a re-evaluation. The friends that you spoke of, with whom you feel you failed-- they are not here. Neither is the war you mentioned. The strength that has been an essential part of your past has less purpose here, except as you struggle to find a balance with your.... beast, which the moon presently brings into sharp reality.

"The eight suggests that you ought take this time to reflect. Consult your emotions," Jason finished with a subdued note of deadpan snark. He sounded even to himself like a New Age help book.

He spread his hands a little in a shrug, as if to say, that's what the cards said, don't blame me if it's cheesy, then began to gather up the cards.

The eight of wands had promise to it that Remus found alluring. A return to stable life and friends.

Forget the war. Forget the betrayals and the death and the horror and have a life here that he could enjoy.

He quirks a smile at the 'consult your emotions'. "Thank you. You've given me a lot to think on and some much needed guidance."

[location | Cafe in Speares]

[location | Cafe in Speares]

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[location | Cafe in Speares]

[location | Cafe in Speares]

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[location | Cafe in Speares]

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[location | Cafe in Speares]

[location | Cafe in Speares]

[location | Cafe in Speares]

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[location | Cafe in Speares]

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[location | Cafe in Speares]

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[location | Cafe in Speares]

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[location | Cafe in Speares]

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[location | Cafe in Speares]

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[location | Cafe in Speares]

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