cousinsindozens | [OPEN] A New Wizard, Centuries Old

Entry tags:

roleplay

[OPEN] A New Wizard, Centuries Old

Who: Azmuth, OPEN
What: Safely away from prying eyes and likely pranksters, Azmuth finally answers the message that keeps popping up on his screens. Say "hello" to a new Provisionary Wizard.
Where: New York, Earth, I guess?
When: Now's good.
Notes: Poking with an AU version of Azmuth because I like AUs and kind of want to play around. It's long for a setup, I know, but that's sort of my style.

Do you want to be a wizard?

The question was ridiculous. Azmuth was a Galvan, empirically the smartest species in the Milky Way, and he was the smartest among his own people, ranking him the smartest being in the galaxy. Just shy of two thousand years old, he was already the leading expert in a variety of sciences including Engineering, Astrophysics, Biology, and Chemistry. He'd even built an entire planet for fun once. Needless to say, he wasn't one for flights of fancy or cluttering his primary brain with nonsense.

But that little question was persistent, the message popping up regularly no matter what data pad or computer screen he was using, with the same two options of Yes or No.

He always closed the message without answering, keeping an eye out for who might be sending it to him. Galvans knew that magic existed but the practice of it was frowned upon in their society. Magic was wild and never followed the rules, the famous wizard Bezel being as flighty as the powers he wielded. Galvans preferred the rigidity and structure of science. It gave them solid footing on their understanding of the universe along with serving as their protector, allowing them to keep technologically ahead of all other races lest they be crushed underfoot.

But Azmuth had always known there was something more out there, something just on the edges of his vision that no one else seemed to see. He didn't want to learn science; he wanted to learn it all. That was what made him exit without a clear answer because he was so curious but didn't want to provide fuel for ridicule from those who already despised him and would jump at the chance to call his expertise into question.

When he chose to leave Galvan Prime to focus on his inventions, he made a stop on a primitive little planet with beings too large pay much mind to a small creature about five inches tall. Perching himself on the branch of a tree, he pulled out the data pad tucked up under his arm and pressed Yes as the message dutifully arrived.

...If this was a joke, it was a darn convincing one.

The manual that appeared was much more in-depth than he could've predicted...not that he'd predicted anything more than a mocking message laughing at his gullibility. Reading the table of contents alone had intrigued him, and the further he read, the more hungry for more he became. Especially considering that a good portion of the concepts hinted at in just the basic overview were mirrored in scientific discoveries his people had made thousands of years ago. It seemed that this "Speech" was magic's answer to science.

Maybe it was an elaborate hoax. If it was, what would be the harm in pursuing it further until he had proof to show anyone else who might have gotten suckered into it? And if it wasn't...

Well, he wanted to know how the universe worked. He needed to know, to understand. Maybe mastering "The Speech" would help him achieve that goal.

So he took the Oath written there.

Within seconds, his name appeared on what he assumed to be a registry of wizards in the "New York metropolitan area"...without him doing anything to add it:

Azmuth Kennedy Memorial Park Hempstead, New York (novice, pre-rating, temporary address)

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When Nita got a notification of her own, saying there was a newly-anointed, Pre-Ordeal wizard in need of guidance in the area, she was skeptical. Azmuth wasn't a common name in the least, after all!

And, the Manual added, Azmuth was not an Earth native.

If this is the Powers' answer to Dairine's exchange trip, Nita thought, Then someone's going to get it!

But she went to Kennedy Memorial Park anyway, curious. She notified her family, and Kit, and since it seemed none of the other local wizards had gotten a similar invitation, Nita figured she was on her own this time.

Well, apart from whoever this "Azmuth" was.

If Nita was expecting trouble, well, she'd be very happy to see that that wasn't the case. Instead a little frog-like creature was sitting on a tree branch with his back to the trunk, something like a tablet in his hands which he was reading.

Azmuth hadn't attempted to use The Speech yet, devouring the contents of his Manual like a starving being presented with an entire feast all to himself. There was so much here! Yet it didn't seem to take up any space on his data pad at all!

He murmured to himself, working through the concepts by running parallels between what he knew and what the Manual presented.

"Worldwalls? Dimensional barriers most likely. Though no correlation has been found between population density and how thin the barriers are so far. It's not implausible, but..."

The sound of someone's approach made him look up and look around.

Nita's eye was keen enough to spot the small alien in the park - not that she was unobservant enough to not have noticed him even without the advanced notice. A froglike creature with a to-scale tablet? Not exactly something non-wizards expected to see in real life.

/Dai Stiho,/ she greeted, in The Speech. Then, remarking more on what Azmuth was saying, she added,
/Worldwalls, huh? I found that stuff when I first got my Manual, too. It's fascinating, really./

Azmuth tilted his head, intrigued. He'd only just started reading up on The Speech after all but he hadn't realized that one didn't need to do much in the way of intense study to understand it like with most languages. He was the sort that preferred understanding the groundwork first before attempting to manipulate it.

"I assume that's 'The Speech'?" he asked in perfect English. "I can understand it, but my translator doesn't."

Edited 2016-02-21 22:25 (UTC)

A cautious approach was good, but Nita herself preferred to do some first-hand experience alongside it.

And while the English was a surprise, somehow Azmuth's translator not knowing The Speech wasn't.

"Yep," she answered, switching back to English for convenience.

"Bit odd your translator didn't catch it, but if wherever you're from-"

She'd let Azmuth fill the blank, there.

"-doesn't know of The Speech conventionally, then there wouldn't be a reason for it to be programmed in."

"Galvan Prime," Azmuth supplied. There was no reason to lie. What was a girl from this backwards rock going to do, after all. Their spaceflight capabilities were downright primitive. "It seems that The Speech is one of the languages mana manipulators use, so my people would generally want little or nothing to do with it. However, my universal translator will learn it soon enough; it didn't take long sampling your language to learn it, after all."

Nita had to keep from raising her eyebrows: she could have sworn she'd heard of his planet before... Maybe not in a wizardly context, but still.

Oh, so Azmuth hadn't known English his whole life, then. Also impressive.

She sat down near him - taking care to make sure no one was staring awkwardly - to better converse. Then she asked,

"I take it you're something of a linguiphile?"

Or perhaps it was like with Carmela's steganographic gift.

Feeling that perhaps it'd seem a little less odd if she didn't have to look up to talk to him, he climbed down from the tree before hopping onto her knee when he was close enough to the ground without fear of injury.

He looked up at her, shaking his head. "No, I'm a scientist. My specialties being Engineering, Biology, and Astrophysics though I dabble in a variety of other disciplines. I meant my translator was learning your language, not myself." He reached up to his collar and folded it down to reveal a tiny disc there. "It's a prototype for a new kind of Galvan universal translator. For the record, thank you for helping me test it."

Nita took the correction calmly.

"Ah. You're in good company with sorting your specialties, then."

Assuming he wouldn't mind talking with Earth specialists on the subject...

/And you're welcome./

That last part she said in The Speech, so that the translator could pick up on it as well.

Aside from a thin green light swirling around the edges for a moment as she talked, there was no reaction from the translator. Instead, Azmuth raised the collar back up to protect the tiny device.

To be honest, he'd probably be doing more teaching than learning from the Earth specialists. Galvan science was literally millions if not billions of years ahead of Earth science. Being a Galvan, he'd keep the best bits to himself--their science was their advantage in a universe filled with species that had in the past considered his kind as pets or delicacies after all--but anyone willing to learn the basics he'd be willing to share if asked.

However, he shifted awkwardly. "I am, however, at a bit of a loss in my current situation." He paused. "I decided to take a risk, but...I didn't plan far enough ahead of what I would do afterwards."

"Yeah, I wasn't sure what to do immediately after I took the Oath, either. Aside from, well, study," Nita said, gesturing to Azmuth's tablet.

"But my Ordeal made itself obvious soon enough."

"I want to understand the basics before I begin experimenting," Azmuth explained. "I'd rather not alter something that could have a potential ripple effect. Though I'm not sure how much time I have prior to when I have to face this Ordeal."

All right, he was fishing, hoping to glean some clue about what the Ordeal might be or how much time he had to prepare for it.

"That's a good idea. Though unless you're going to introduce wizardry to a whole species before it's time, or try to alter the birth of the universe, you've got a pretty wide range of options to choose from."

Nita knew the story behind her's and Kit's, her sister's, Darryl's, and Ronan's, but there wasn't necessarily a reliable pattern; everyone had something unique to characterize their Ordeal, though.

"I don't know if it'd be before its time or not, to be honest," Azmuth stated. "My people know about magic, are aware of wizards like Bezel, but...they don't particularly like magic. It's not forbidden, but anyone who chooses to openly study it is considered a...um..." He paused, thinking. "What's a good word for someone who is seen as not quite crazy but very close to it?"

"Eccentric, maybe," Nita replied.

"Though that's usually used fondly."

She sighed.

"So there's a prejudice afoot. Are you the only... Galvan, wizard?"

The pause was to make sure she was getting the naming of his species right. It'd be terribly rude of her to mess that up!

"Considering 'eccentric' is used fondly, it doesn't really fit. The word I'm looking for would be more derogatory," Azmuth stated even as he nodded. "At least, I'm reasonably sure I am."

"That seems to be how it goes, in some circles," Nita said.

She paused, pondering.

"I might know some people who've been in your situation - only wizard of their species, I mean."

Quelt wasn't an option, for obvious reasons.

((OOC: Sort of tempted to use Diagon somehow. Nita likes fighting Eldritch horrors, right?))

"I don't mind it, actually. One of my goals is to understand it enough to show my people that magic is one of the fundamental forces of the universe, and to understand it is to understand more about the universe itself." Azmuth smiled up at her, spreading his hands. Despite his alien face, his eyes are clearly shining with excitement and passion. "Have you ever seen something just out of reach and you know it's important but you can never quite reach it?"

(OOC: She can't say she's not used to it! >:D Fighting beings that exist at least partially out of Time is part of what keeps the Young Wizards-verse running, after all.)

"Now that's a good attitude to have. And you're kinda sounding like my sister there, but I'd have to say yes to that, too."

((OOC: And sure! Though fair warning I don't know much about the series yet. Haven't had much time to knuckle down and read them all.))

"Do I?" He tilted his head, intrigued. "Regardless, that means you both must know how maddening it can be. I didn't even realize until I was fifty that what I kept seeing everyone else couldn't."

Nita nodded.

"For humans, it seems most of us are able to see the world more clearly as children... and then we lose that connection when we grow up. Some don't, though."

It was far from just a Galvan problem, at any rate.

"It's normal for Galvan children as well," Azmuth said, "but I've always been different from my peers. Still, it's nice to be somewhat normal, I suppose. Refreshing, really."

For good or for ill, he'd always stood out. It seemed him deciding to try to give serious study to magic would be one more thing that marked him as weird.

Glancing around, he noticed that a few people were glancing Nita's way while giving her odd looks.

"We may wish to move this to somewhere more private."

Edited 2016-03-29 15:41 (UTC)

"Yeah. Finding 'your people' is always nice."

Nita didn't expect people to be looking at them - then again, she'd forgotten to put up a wizardry to divert people's attention. Her fault, there.

"No argument. I can show you back to my house even, if you'd like."

Or, if he wanted to go elsewhere, she knew a few places...

"This is your world, so you'd have better judgment than I on where the safest place to have this discussion would be," Azmuth pointed out. "Do you have a pocket I might be able to hide in? I'm already an 'illegal alien' so to speak. I'd rather not have the Plumbers breathing down my neck because I accidentally caused a scene."

"I think we'll be able to prevent a scene. Here," Nita said, offering one of her pants pockets before standing and stretching. She wasn't looking forward to having to lie to anyone about Azmuth's presence, least of all to these "Plumbers," but the people at least would naturally disperse without wondering too hard.

Most people wouldn't know a wizardry if it bit them, after all.

Once she was sure there weren't any prying eyes, Nita walked (not teleported) casually home. The opposite of a scene, this one.

There was a lot more out there than Nita knew. It seemed that they could learn a lot from one another.

Azmuth climbed into her pocket, wriggling in a bit and trying to make himself as small as possible. It wasn't a tight fit, but it definitely wasn't comfortable. Particularly when she started walking. He grimaced a bit but kept silent, keeping his complaints to herself.

Nita wouldn't mind that.

If Azmuth had spoken up, she could have spelled her pocket into being temporarilly more roomy. As it was, she would still periodically check on him on her way home.

Maybe Kit and her family would have some input on this new scenario.

Really, Azmuth didn't think such spells exist. After all, it seemed like a petty use of something so powerful.

Then again, he'd built things on a whim in the past that did fairly ridiculous things. (He really couldn't say what possessed him to turn one of his father's lab assistants' extranet "radio" into a clockwork rodent. He knew he'd had a reason at the time but he'd long since forgotten it.)

He closed his eyes and settled in for a light nap while they headed to their destination. It was better than trying to read in all this.

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[OPEN] A New Wizard, Centuries Old

Looks good! :D All it needs is entry tags - don't have any preloaded, so feel free to make some!

Not sure which ones to use. Any suggestions?

Maybe AU prompt, with a separate tag for RP? And one for Azmuth's canon, too.

Okay

Re: Okay

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I want to reference Dairne's "I might as well buy It a hot dog" line, but Nita doesn't know of that!

Pffft.

Re: Pffft.

Re: Pffft.

What were you planning to have as his Ordeal?

Sorry for the delay. Anyway, I'm still trying to work that one out.

I know someone who plays Dairine; Want me to joint-ping you two on Plurk?

Thanks, DW, for never sending the notif. /SIGH

/pats Ping me when you do get to them. ^^

I've got a bunch of them as ebooks, but right now pleasure reading isn't a high priority.

Right. /o

But feel free to poke your friend! o/

I'll send out the joint ping today, then. ^^

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Should we keep going to the Callahan household, or stop the thread here/timeskip?

I'm good with either!