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Mirror Mirror in My Pocket {Eckhart!}

Started by Celegwen, November 11, 2017, 01:06:25 PM

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Celegwen

Listening to one side of the conversation between Eckhart and his cat was one of the entertain parts of this little job. She was interested in how they had come into each other's company, but that really wasn't important. Better left to another time.

Ugh, Vivianne thought. Of course this has to do with a fucking fairy! They're all shitty creatures.

"That's an interesting story," Vivianne lied convincingly. She didn't give a shit about the cat, more why her own aid has to be delayed. "So, sorry if I'm being pushy. I'm sure you can understand that I just want to make sure this whole remove part of my head thing goes right. How exactly do you expect to get the mirrors off of me?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart pulled his scalpel out of his pocked and uncapped it for Vivianne to see. "I'm a healer. I do surgery stuff alot." He smiled. "I have a lot of experience with removing foreign objects... I, um, kinda get shot at sometimes."

Eckhart scratched the back of his head. "Shards of glass shouldn't be much harder then arrows, I think."

Celegwen

Well, he clearly isn't as bright as his sister, Vivianne thought.

She shook her head with a slight scowl that she didn't even try to hide. It had never occurred to her that getting her full power back was possible. Now that it was actually within reach, she couldn't let the chance slip through her fingers.

"Eckhart, if it was that easy, I would've figured out a way to do it by now!" Vivianne took a breath, calming her racing heart. "The glass isn't stuck in my head, it's part of my body. It's not as simple as cutting it out."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart crossed his arms, frowning. "You don't know that." he said pointedly. "You're in that hand mirror, remember? What you feel when you touch your head might just feel like it's part of your body- I mean, it's gotta be some kind of illusion magic, right?" He looked at Belladonna for approval. "...Right?"

The cat flicked her tail impatiently. "I don't know, probably."

The young healer swallowed nervously. He looked at Vivianne apprehensively. "Um, well, that, or it's a pocket dimension..." He shifted in his feet uncomfortably. "Look, ah, why don't we go to to the library? They'll probably have a book about this kind of stuff..."


Celegwen

"Yeah, that's probably the best course of action," she said, nodding slowly.

He doesn't know what he's talking about, she thought. He'll probably find something at the library. Don't freak out on him.

Just then, she heard a knock at the door; not Eckhart's door, but the one where her body was. "Um, Eckhart, I'm going to take a break for a little bit. It's actually surprisingly draining to speak through the mirror, so I'll be back in a little bit. If you need anything, just call my name." With that, she faded from his view, not caring if he was going to say anything.

In the inn, she got up off the bed, combed her hair over her forehead, and opened the door. A thin boy, couldn't have been older than Eckhart, stood with a sealed letter. "Notice for Miss Vivianne DeGrance," he said. She took the letter and closed the door on the boy. It was dated about a week and a half ago.

letter

Her heart started racing. This is bad, she thought, taking her mirrors, daggers, the letter, and her coin purse outside. She saw a carriage and jogged over. "Atlas Verde, as quickly as you can," she said to the driver. "I can pay you well." He nodded, and she climbed in, placing the mirrors on the seat next to her. It would've been faster to ride there herself, but she needed access to the mirrors in case he called for her.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart nodded. "Don't worry about it! I'll try to be at the library by the time you get back!" The healer watched as the face in the mirror disappeared, then put it in his sweater pocket and began to head out the door. He looked back at Belladonna. "You coming?"

Belladonna turned away, jumping onto the bed. "Pfft, no. She's your problem, not mine." She began to knead the bed sheets with her paws. "Me? I'm taking a nap."

Eckhart frowned. "Well... Okay then..." He stepped out the door, waving goodbye to the cat as he left. "Stupid, selfish asshole..."

Eckhart stepped out of the hotel feeling angry. "The nerve! Don't kidnap me and make me help you and then act like I shouldn't help anybody else! Ugh, pisses me off..." The boy began to walk down the street, muttering under his breath.

Celegwen

Vivianne sat in the back of the carriage, feeling every bump and ditch along the road as the horses trotted along. She drummed her fingers on the seat impatiently, reading and rereading the letter multiple times.

That bee bitch has always been a thorn in my side, she thought to herself. I knew I'd be the one to fucking clean up her mess!

Leaning up to the seat where the driver sat, she huffed. "Can you go any faster?" She snapped. "You would think four horses could make better time!"

"My apologies, miss," the driver said, doing a wonderful job at hiding his sudden hatred for the woman. "One of my horses twisted her ankle."

Fuck it all, she thought, sitting back and pinching the bridge of her nose.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart was still muttering angrily as he walked up the steps to the main branch of the Maestoso Public Library. "Fuck her and her stupid teleportation spells! I could have been in Arca with Kino and Ewan right now!" Reaching the top, the boy opened the door and stepped inside.

"Whoa..."

It was enormous. The library had three floors- one for fiction, one for nonfiction, and one for spellbooks and tomes. "This is so much bigger than the one at home!" Eckhart thought, completely awestruck. "I didn't even know this many books had been written!"

As the boy ascended the staircase to the third floor, he pulled Vivianne's mirror out of his pocket. "Hey." he whispered softly. "We're here. What kind of stuff do you want to look at first? Cursebreaking? Illusion magic stuff?"

Celegwen

Just as she started getting unbearably antsy, Vivianne heard the distinct sound of Eckhart's whisper. At least he listened and didn't bang on the mirror again!

She put the mirrors on either side of herself, combing her bangs away from her forehead. That was a tedious little step, but that part of her had to be exposed to use her power. Oh, well... She crossed her legs and placed her hands on the mirrors.

Reappearing in the mirror, Vivianne's jaw opened slightly. The library was beautiful. She could stay there forever and still not be able to read everything. "Oh, uh." She shook her head, focusing on the task at hand. "I think we should start with cursebreaking. Specifically binding curses because I have a feeling this wasn't a typical spell."

Please, let this not just be a waste of time.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart nodded. "Okay, sounds like a plan!" He beamed. "They're sure to have a book here that will help us, don't worry."

Reaching the third floor, the healer was met by rows upon rows of bookshelves. His eyes darted around the room as he walked, searching for any clue as to what shelf he should be looking through. There were signs on the ends of the shelves, but they only had the library's decimal code thing written on them. "Damnit, who designed this place? Do I just need to search randomly?"

Eckhart held up Vivianne's mirror so she could see the different codes. "Um... I don't suppose you know where I should start looking? I don't really know how library's work..."

Celegwen

Vivianne sighed, rolling her eyes when Eckhart held the mirror up. He really thinks I know how a fucking library works? She thought to herself.

"Well, uh, we could start..." She squinted, trying to see if she could spot a book instead of blindly guessing. That was a complete fail. "Yeah, I have no idea," she confessed. "I've never been in a library a day in my life."

With an inaudible groan, Vivianne bit her lip. At this rate, I'll be stuck in here forever! She frowned, rubbing her hand along her upper arm. I might not make it out of this mirror before Melissa catches up to us.

She hummed softly. "Hey, Eckhart? Where are we exactly? How far from Atlas Verde and in what direction?" There was a slight urgency in her voice, but she doubted it would be enough to really alert him.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart screwed up his face in confusion. "Never been in a library? I practically spent my whole childhood in the library!"

"And in your sister's shadow." a small voice in his head nagged.

Pushing that thought to the side, Eckhart tried to focus on Vivianne's question. "Um, well, we're in Maestoso now..." he said, wandering through the isles aimlessly. "And that's in Tiral, so we're..." The boy paused, doing the math in his head. "Um, maybe four hundred miles from Altas Verde's border?"

Eckhart picked a book up off of it's shelf. "Smoke and Mirrors: A Basic Guide To Illusions. Do you think this could help at all?"

Celegwen

"Smoke and mirrors?" Vivianne said a little too sarcastically. "Those are about as basic as it gets! They're cheap parlor tricks. Try to find something about enchantments or curses."

She quickly faded from the mirror, looking at the carriage driver. "Change of plans," she said. "I need to get to Maestoso as quickly as possible."

The driver turned over his shoulder to look at her. "But miss-"

"It's a matter of life and death, you brainless-" Vivianne took a breath. "I'll double the payment if you can get me there within two days."

The carriage started at a quicker pace, and Vivianne went back into the mirror. She opened her eyes to the library again, hopefully before Eckhart realized she had gone. Even if he noticed, she'd probably be able to come up with something on the fly.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Oh... Ok." Eckhart said dejectedly, putting the book back on it's shelf. "I guess I should have known that..." the boy thought sadly as he began to peruse the shelf again. "It looks like it's written by the author that did the "life magic for beginners" book I had as a kid..."

Eckhart was silent for a few minutes as he continued to browse the shelves. "Potions, no.... Jinxes, no..." Finally, the boy found something that looked like it could help. He held the mirror up to the shelf, showing the girl an oversized tome. "Hey Vivianne, look! Curing the Cursed: An Encyclopedia of Cursebreakers! Does that look good?"

Celegwen

He didn't notice, Vivianne thought, relief settling over her.

She instantly snapped to attention, squinting slightly to read the title, as Eckhart read it to her. Rubbing the back of her neck, Vivianne frowned ever so slightly. "I mean... It definitely could work! Encyclopedias are good for that stuff. Maybe flip through it and see if it even has anything about mirrors?"

The girl bit her bottom lip. You don't have time to read that whole thing. Is there seriously nothing on this fucking spell? Without even realizing it, Vivianne huffed and blew her bangs out of her face. That was something she had done since she was a child when she got frustrated. If he doesn't find something soon, I might have to come clean. I won't let Wasp get to him, but let's see how long I can give him.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Alright, cool!" Eckhart said, beaming. Taking the book off of the shelf, the young healer stepped out of the aisle. "Um, there are usually... Ah, yep, chairs!"

Tucked into the corner of the room were a couple of stiff looking armchairs. Walking towards them, Eckhart sat in the most worn out looking one. It creaked beneath his weight, the cushion buckling slightly. Eckhart frowned slightly. "Damn, and I thought the chairs at Hyoite's library were bad..."

Eckhart leaned the mirror against his chest, and opened the book to it's index. "Ok, so, it looks like mirrors are going to be on page two hundred forty-nine..." The boy paused. "Oh, but there's information on binding people to objects on page seventy-three!" Eckhart scratched his head. "Um, any preference?"

Celegwen

Vivianne looked at the index, frowning slightly at the options. If I answer this wrong, she thought, the whole thing could be exposed. Mirrors are too close to my specific situation. Plus, they are known for being a powerful means of entrapment. If we go for general binding spells, I might not get what I'm looking for. Or he'll read something too close to binding the soul. Damn, this is harder than I thought.

"I think we should start with binding spells," Vivianne said nervously.

I can't let him find out the truth unless it's absolutely necessary.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Nodding, Eckhart moved his hand to turn the page... And then stopped. His finger had passed over the phrase "healing curse", and the boy's curiosity overtook him. "Ah, Vivianne? Gimme a sec, I think I found something interesting..."

Flipping to page one hundred fifty-six, Eckhart scoured the page until he found a tiny blurb written on the margins.

QuoteOnly a single curse based in life magic has ever been documented. The so called "healing curse" was reportedly cast on a Adelan nobleman during the first dragon rebellion. Said curse reportedly caused the man's cells to regenerate so rapidly that he dies of terminal cancer after an hour.

Eckhart swallowed nervously. "Sweet Ansgar..." he said under his breath. "I didn't know curses were even possible to do..."

Celegwen

Reading along with Eckhart, Vivianne furrowed her brows. "Of course curses are possible," the girl said. "Curses can be cast from all kinds of magic, whether or not it's healing magic doesn't matter."

Why does that story sound familiar? She thought to herself.

"Have you really never hurt anyone with your power?" Vivianne asked. "Everyone causes some kind of harm when learning to control their powers in the beginning." She smiled softly. "Even the ones with the purest hearts can have magical accidents."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart lifted his eyebrows, an odd grimace on his face. "Um, no." he said rather indignantly. "Life magic can't hurt people. Like, you're familiar with the magical theory behind it, right?" The boy lifted his index finger. "Every force of destruction has it's antithesis." he stated. "Faustisole said that."

"You gave yourself ataxia trying to fix the nerve damage Kaida gave you." a nagging voice reminded him. "Stop lying to yourself."

"No, I learned how to numb people so they won't feel pain during surgery." he argued back. "It wasn't harmful at all, it was a good thing."

"Anyway." The healer said, pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind. "I've read a ton about life magic so I could get better at it. This curse stuff has gotta be bullshit, or some weird Thanatos flesh-shaper thing."

Eckhart suddenly frowned, processing what Vivianne had said. "Wait, um... Are you a mage too?"

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