Open Post: This Is Where The Magic Happens

[rememberettersberg]

A new notice has appeared on the welcome table and at several well-traversed locations around the mansion and its grounds. It invites residents to stop by a certain summer house (which has recently sprung into existence on the shore of the lake) if they are interested in the discussion and/or instruction of magic.

Should anyone's curiosity take them in that direction, they'll find Nightingale there with a pot of tea always on the go and a rotating selection of snacks and nibbles. He's started to cultivate (heh) a small library of his own - important texts in the history of his magical tradition, textbooks for the study of a number of dead/archaic languages, and a growing pile of his own notes.

He'll be delighted to catalogue the differences (and similarities) in the way various worlds practice magic, conduct experiments to see if they can use each other's traditions, and (in the case of Laertes and anyone else that seems like they might be a fit candidate) begin some basic magical instruction.

Closed.

Comments

[lightbearinglord]

A pale imitation of life. Lan Wangji can recall the feeling. He takes a measured sip of his tea and doesn't allow his gaze to waver from Nightingale's face. "I understand."

[rememberettersberg]

"The last year or so has been very different. Circumstances brought me an apprentice, the first since-- well, the first in more than sixty years. He's reconnected me with the outside world, brought new people into my life, reminded me of existing friendships I'd let wane." He speaks of Peter with an aching fondness. "Molly's life has been tremendously enriched by him as well."

Nightingale lapses into silence for a long time, stirring sugar into his tea far past the point that any further mixing could be achieved. "The day before I arrived here, we had suffered a tremendous betrayal from someone important to us all. The very moment I arrived here, I was escorting a dangerous dark practitioner into safe confinement. Safe confinement at my workplace, which is also my home. I led her directly into the place in which Molly and Peter should be safest and then vanished before she could be secured."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji is, unsurprisingly, perfectly comfortable with silence, and allows Nightingale the time he needs to reach the conclusion of that story. He thinks he understands, too, the basics of it, the feeling of coming back into alignment with the world after long years of disconnection. The sixty years surprises him, but only a little. He himself is trying to cultivate to immortality.

His expression is grim as he takes this in. He frowns. "Your apprentice. Will he be equipped to take on this practitioner without you?"

[rememberettersberg]

"He's only a year into his training. In terms of both know-how and power, he is wildly outmatched," Nightingale admits. "But he's a unique thinker and very good at problem-solving on the fly. Lucky, too. He has every chance of prevailing." He sips his tea. "I just wish I knew for certain that he and Molly are all right."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji's frown deepens, only a little. "I will think of them as well." There is essentially nothing he can do for them, but a small amount of additional hope can't do any harm.

[rememberettersberg]

"You're a good man, Hanguang-jun. Thank you for coming to visit me today." Nightingale looks vaguely embarrassed by his own bald sincerity, but it needed to be said.

[lightbearinglord]

The sincerity of it does touch him, and Lan Wangji's eyes do soften a little in answer to that. "Thank you," he counters evenly. He sips his tea again, determined not to waste a second cup.