escordvi | closed 🪶⚡ all i really, really ever want is under the mistletoe

It's not "messy," I call it organized chaos.

[Because he at least knows where everything is.

Not finding anything of worth in the book he's looking in, he sets it back and browses the next set of shelves before picking out another.]

Any good?

[She just snorts at him.]

Not nearly half as poetic as the things you have written about me.

[Which he still owes her the chance to read, for the record—]

...Oh?

[She pauses when she opens the second drawer, finding a little black book.]

These are always promising.

[A fact he will conveniently not mention—]

Oh? What's in it?

[It's okay, she hasn't forgotten!!!

But she flips open the little black book and lo and behold...]

As I suspected... [She waves it around, the pages rustling at the motion as she shows it off to him. It is an old-fashioned contact book.] Names, addresses, shellphone IDs...

[Pages and pages of them, apparently.]

[There's a sharp raise of his brow as he makes his way over to look.]

That's quite the list. And it doesn't even seem to be using any particular code...

[A questionable tilt of his head.]

Seems early to say, but our host is either the most naive or confident.

[She steps up to him, helping to light the pages with a flicker of her magic so that they can read the messy handwriting easier.]

I was half expecting it to be written in that same code as the other things we found...

[She cants her head as she slowly flips through.]

Makes you wonder if he is even part of it at all, if he is keeping all these names in here without it.

I'm starting to suspect not... But one can never know.

[It's not impossible to have an actual honest, rich corsair, but it's just unlikely.]

See anything on our Danos friend?

[She has a feeling a lot of the names in here are not virtuous ones, and she would be more curious about the names if she weren't looking for a specific one.]

... Was that a first name or a last name.

[She flips back to the front of the book where the D's are, and—]

Ah, might this be... them? There is a madam, too. [She lowers her voice.] Sebastien and Tatiana.

[He leans in closer at that, eyes narrowing.]

Sebastien and Tatiana, eh? At least now we know who to ask about.

Anything else noted in there?

[As good a lead as this could prove to be, there is a line of disappointment that sets in her brow.]

Nothing else, besides the usual. An address and such.

[With a finger marking the page, she takes a skim through.]

Nothing that marks them or any of the others as possible associates.

I'd say we take a few pictures, anyway. We do have those other ledgers, and we can try and see if anything matches up from there.

[She returns to the page and sets the book on the desk so that she can dig through her phone.]

A light, if you would be so kind.

[As her own magic fades when she clumsily pulls up the camera to take a photo.]

Were there no other names that we should be looking for?

[At her request, there's a small crackle of his levin before the soft light appears for her.]

Let me see... Ah, I think I remembers few from the ledgers that appeared a few times.

[Recalling the names, he tells Benedikta at least four others that was deciphered.]

[After she takes that first picture, she searches through for the four other names mentioned, and the further she goes, the more her expression seems to tighten with her irritation.]

Every single one of them in here. I should not be so surprised, and yet...

[Click.]

I am starting to wonder if we should be questioning our gracious host instead.

Also a possibility. And yet if he is part of the trade, he hasn't made a show of any of the goods we know that are involved.

Still, could warrant an investigation around, see what we can find.

Mm, and with the guards being such simpletons, it should be easy to get access around. And what of you?

[She takes a few more pictures of the pages, just for good measure.]

Have you found anything useful in the shelves?

Actually, now that you ask....

[He doesn't want to get her hopes up, so he speaks carefully.]

I found a few that could be of interest for own little problems.

[She lowers her phone then, trying to stem that little spark that she feels in her chest, but it still somehow edges into her voice, making it falter.]

Solutions? Perhaps some potions or magic?

In some ways. [Hmm.] As you know, I have been talking with others, and I've come to believe that our "curse" is not so much of a curse at all, but a side effect of how we use our aether, particularly the over use of it. I can explain more later, but there are a few books here that discuss similar concept of overusing magic, the risks observed, and methods to prevent it.

More importantly, there was something about "converting" different magics, such as those from other worlds.

[Her chest rises and falls with a slow breath, and she hadn't realized how intently her gaze had focused on him until he finishes.

She isn't quite sure how to feel about all of this. "Side effect" does not make her feel much better about it than "curse" does—in the end, it does the same thing, and the result would not change with the use of her magic. It is still disappointing, frustrating even that they have yet to find something that can reverse the effect, or even stop it, but whatever leads they are able to find on it, she will take them.]

Converting magics? Do you mean so that it works more like it does here? What of our aether? And the Eikons themselves...

[She pulls herself back a bit.]

I am getting a little ahead of myself.

[There's a soft, wry smile.]

Something like that. My main concern was whether any methods, be it from other worlds or this world, would even work on us because our aether is unique to us. But the text suggests there could be ways to do so.

I'll have to read more on it later.

[He knows she wants a simple answer, one that would get rid of it all entirely. But he doubts that such a simple solution exists, which is why he looks towards more alternative methods in the meantime. Something that can serve as a suitable stopgap.]

[If they were not standing in the middle of this godforsaken office in this godforsaken house, she would walk up to him and wrap her arms around him right about now, lest she be overtaken by that disappointment. Instead, her fingers flex around the edge of the desk and she chews on her lip, her brow twitching with the beginnings of a frown.]

It is our aether that is the problem... but if we could find these books elsewhere, then it would be as good a place to start as any.

[She offers him a crooked smile in return, a light joke to try and dispel the tension she feels in the back of her shoulders.]

If not, we could always break in here again to steal them.

[And likewise, he would go up to her and hug her, but he will make it up to her later.]

These books don't look to be rarities, so we have some luck yet.

[Instead, he'll step over to her and reach out to gently brush her hair back.]

There were some others that seem interesting, but I can tell you more about it when we're home.

Or over more wine.

[What if... she indulged just a little bit?

He makes it very difficult for her not to when he brushes back her hair like that, her eyes closing at the feel of it. So she'll close the rest of the distance between them in a single step, until she is pressed flush to him, and she can lean up to kiss him. That is enough to make her feel better.]

Shall we keep looking? Or should we see what else these keys open before someone comes in and discovers us where we should not be?

[He accepts that kiss and returns it just as gently.]

If someone comes in, we can just say we stumbled into the room wanting a bit of privacy.

[A smirk.]

But I think we got what we need for now. Let's see where else we can go.

For privacy.

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