Log:A Connection Between Math and Magic

2020/08/18 	 Radical|Connor Grimm

1

The square is a place for students to gather outdoors and relax. If the weather's decent, you can almost always find people here: guys throwing a football around, girls sunbathing, the occasional student actually studying. There are a number of benches and tables, many located under trees for shade. In the very middle is a fountain, in which, although such actions are against university rules, students frequently frolic about. This is just a great place to relax, have fun, and take a break from the pressures of tests and papers.

Grimm is sitting at a bench shaded by a tree in the square, near the registrar and administration offices. It's a strange sight to see her back on campus after she had to withdraw in the spring quarter. She slowly flips through the course catalog, which is still printed even in these times, pursing her lips and looking troubled. She makes notes on a registration form as she tries to figure out what classes to take.

Connor is walking from the local dining location on campus on his way back to hte science buiding when he sees Gabrielle. He walks over closely and smiles. "Well, as I live and breathe! Miss Gabrielle Grimm!"

Grimm looks up with a surprise start and laughs at the greeting. She remembers she's on campus at least as she greets him. "Hey, Dr. Duran. How're you?"

Connor smiles and takes a seat on the bench. "I'm doing pretty well. Looking into starting up classes again?" His tone already dampens a bit, back toward a more normal tone.

Grimm nods, smiling at him. "Yeah. I don't have much time left to register for Fall, and a few people have been encouraging me to get back into it." Like Connor, for example. And Carpenter. "With some recent changes, I'm just...kind of floundering on what to do now."

Connor smiles. "Why's that?"

"Well," Gabrielle takes a breath. "I was driven to take criminal justice for personal reasons. And now those reasons have sort of change," she keeps it vague since they're in public, but the campus is relatively quiet since students have yet to move back in. "And I'm a double major. I'm a capstone away and some general ed classes away from being able to just declare Occult and Mythology Studies as my major."

Connor grins, "So, you're looking to make the big bucks after you graduate."

Grimm laughs at that. "I don't think I can make anything off of that unless I go on to a graduate program," she replies wistfully. "But the studies proved helpful in my life."

Connor nods. "I'm not saying that it's a bad idea. But...you also need to pay bills after you graduate. You should think about that before you make a final decision. It's possible to get a job in that field. It's just...harder."

Grimm groans at the reminder of bills. "And so much student loans in pay back," she agrees, then looks back at the catalog. "I guess I could get my core requirements out of the way."

Connor nods. "Well, I might be able to help you get a job in the field once you graduate, I suppose. But it's a lot easier with a doctorate. And even then, it wont' be easy."

Grimm smiles in gratitude at Connor. "I appreciate that. You don't have to do that. I think I'm just at a crossroads where...I was so sure I knew what I wanted to do with my career, and now I'm not so sure." After all, her motivation was her sister's assumed kidnapping or murder. Now she she realizes it was tied to a magical foe, she's a bit lost.

Connor smiles slightly and says much more quietly, "I know I don't have to. But you're family now. And a good friend." He leans back on the bench, looking relaxed. "Besides. If you want to study that...then follow your heart."

Grimm smiles warmly at that, keeping her voice quiet as she breaks from the role of mere student. "I know. And I appreciate the help and offer. And the advice." She crosses her ankles beneath her bench, letting them swing slowly. "I suppose I should keep on trucking with the double major. I'm sure I can still craft a career out of it. I still believe in helping people and bringing bad guys to justice, after all."

Connor nods. "Could go to law school after that. Specialize in weird cases."

Grimm chuckles in amusement. "Me? A lawyer? I can't see that," she grins. She leans forward and writes in an advanced criminal justice class, then flips the catalog to the sciences section. "Hmm. I still need to take a language officially." She's careful to avoid mentioning her math requirement.

Connor grins, "Latin, if you're going to dovetail into Occult studies. Or Hebrew."

Connor says, "Latin is probably more useful if you're going with Criminal Justice."

Grimm smiles and chuckles a bit at that. "Useful for dark rituals -and- law. Coincidence? I think not," she winks.

Connor chuckles and shrugs, "I will neither confirm nor deny your suspicions."

Grimm laughs at that. "Seems worth investigating, then," she can't help but grin. She flips to the humanities section and scans it, then adds a latin course to her registration sheet. She scans the sheet. "There...I think that just about does it."

Connor nods. "There are a couple of history courses you'll likely end up taking. You'll see a familiar face come up in one of them, I think."

Connor says, "I'm assuming you know who John Dee is, right? That's the name you might remember. His descendant is a local."

Grimm looks curious and thinks on that. She she's unsure of who he's talking to, she shakes her head slowly. "John Dee? No clue. Should I know him or his descendent?"

Connor blinks. "You don't know much about the history of magic, huh?" He smiles. "Court astronomer to Queen Elizabeth the first. But he spent a lot of time on alchemy, divination, and hermetic theory. He combined science with sorcery, coming up with forumlaic ways to cast magic." He pauses, "The council that Raven...Amelia...is connected to, it headed by a man named Darius Dee. John Dee's direct descendant."

"I know some occult lore, but not the details of history," Gabrielle admits. She still stares blankly after Connor's explanation. "I don't know Darius Dee. But I do have issue with the council choosing teenaged girls to do their dirty work."

Connor shrugs, "I don't know much about their structure or decision making. Only who they are. And I think I've met the man at least once."

"I don't know much either. Just the lower level ones. I don't know how they choose their candidates, but they chose Amelia when she was a clueless kid, and Charity back in like...the 16 or 1700's," Gabrielle says disapprovingly.

Connor nods. "I'm sure there's a reason. I'm just not sure what it is. Maybe because it's easy to indoctrinate the young." He motions to a fraternity house, "HAve you ever noticed that almost no one joins a Greek organization once they're an upperclassman? That's not a coincidence."

Grimm looks over to the fraternity house. "I actually hadn't. I...never really got into the whole frat party scene," she admits. She goes to darker scenes off campus.

Connor nods. "Younger students...freshmen...are easier to manipulate. A senior...won't put up with the that goes with pledging."

Grimm nods as it clicks. "That totally makes sense. Both with the frats and the council. Doesn't make me like them any more than I already do," she grins faintly, but there's some hint of...sadness? Resignation? It's hard to read. Probably because her feelings are mixed. "But now I know I should try and learn some history of magic."

Connor nods. "Randal's a good source for that kind of thing, too."

Grimm smiles. "I'll have to pay him a visit soon," she promises. Lowering her voice, she asks, "So how're your...uhh...'work balance' studies going?" She's trying to come up with a good public euphemism, but doesn't seem satisfied with it after the fact.

Connor chuckles. "Go with 'off-campus', I think." He shrugs, "I have some ideas I'm working on. A couple new...methods I want to try. I want to rely on equipment less, and more on my other abilities."

Grimm laughs softly at that. "Got it," she says of the off-campus suggestion as she closes the catalog. She shifts it so it can act as a paperwork on her registration paper. "That sounds like a good idea to me. Good to have options. If there's anything I can do to help with that, let me know. Though I figure you got it pretty well handled," she smiles, confident in his skills.

Connor nods. "I'll probably be saddled with using gear from now on, but it's nice to have lots of options. And more protection would be good. Shielding of some kind."

"For now, yeah. But maybe not forever. Who knows?" Gabrielle looks on the bright side. Gasp. It must be a pod person. "I definitely agree on more shielding. I...don't want to keep seeing you getting hurt," she smiles gently.

Connor nods. "I...don't want to see me getting hurt, either." He chuckles quietly.

Grimm laughs quietly at that, trying to hide her outburst. She covers her mouth and gets that under control. "Good. So we're in agreement."

Connor smiles. "Yeah. I'm just not entirely sure what else to do with research after that. Learn more about that stone, for one. Learn more languages. That'll help."

"Well," Gabrielle suggests with some thought. "You could always...ermm." She stops at the mention of more languages. She clears her throat a bit. "Um...maybe...some..." she tries to recall her train of thought.

Grimm squirms faintly. "Wha...what languages?"

Connor chuckles, clearly amused by her reaction. "I was thinking Chinese. Probably Mandarin. Or French. Both both."

Connor thinks about it. "Is there another you'd recommend?

"French," Gabrielle answers quickly. "Er, I mean. What else do you know again?" She doesn't consider Chinese a language she's into.

Connor chuckles. "That was quick. Let's see...I know Gaelic, German, Latin, Fae, Ancient Greek, Atlantean, and Arabic."

Grimm blushes faintly, trying to hide any squirming. "Umm. Wow. I can't believe you can read so many languages."

Connor smiles and says in German, "Once you know a couple of them, it becomes easier to learn more."

Grimm chews faintly on her lower lip. She wonders if Jack knows any languages, which causes a shiver down her spine. She replies back in German, though her German has a clear American accent and she knows only the basics. "Really? They are all so different." She sounds out of practice.

Connor smiles and nods. "You start to detect patterns. The first is the hardest to learn. Then it get easier each time. And several are related to each other."

Grimm struggles to keep up with it. Things like detect and paterns aren't in her vocabulary. She can kind of pick up the gist of parts of it. "I am sorry, but...my German is not good. I only speak it to my Grandmother," she replies with pauses to recall the words, looking embarrassed at her poor representation of her family.

Connor grins and repeats it in English for her.

Grimm blushes and chuckles. "Thanks for having mercy on me," she says in English, but with some regret to not hear anymore. "I guess I'm still learning my first. I only used to have to speak German on the holidays or when my Oma was visiting." Even in English, she uses the german word for her grandmother.

Connor nods. "German is a good one to learn for research purposes, you know."

"Really? Why's that?" Gabrielle asks curiously.

Connor smiles, "There's a fair amoutn of magical...and mathematical research in German."

Grimm shudders briefly at the mathematical mention, shoulders hunching up a bit reflexively before relaxing again. "Well, for magical reasons, I guess I should try and brush up more on my German and learn latin. I used to know a lot more German, but...I forgot a lot of it once I stopped spending time around the family."

Connor laughs at her reaction. "You know...there's a connection between math and magic. There always has been."

Grimm squints suspiciously at him, like he's playing a cruel joke. "What're you talking about?"

Connor tilts his head, "Remember John Dee? The man I mentioned before, from Queen Elizabeth's court? He came up with formulaic ways to do magic. It's possible to do magic without it...but ther'es still the underlying mathematics of the world...in action."

Grimm nods slowly. She slowly smirks a bit. "You sound like you're nerding out about it. Almost...enthusiastic about it," she grins.

Connor smiles. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just a mathematician."

"I know," Grimm grins like a cheshire cat. "I'm sure the prospect of that pure theory of magic being related to math has you academically 'giddy'." A term she would never have prescribed to Connor before she saw him use chaos magic.

Connor smiles. "Oh...I KNOW there is one. I just don't know what it is. Yet."

Grimm checks that no one is around and says quietly, "I thought you figured it out already. Hence, your...y'know. Spells. I was just playing dumb about you and magic."

Connor shakes his head, "No. I know...glimpses of it. There's a grand universal theory. I know there is. But...I don't know the whole picture. There many not be anyone who does."

Connor chuckles. "It's...like that story about some blind men coming across an elephant. None of htem can determine exactly what they're sensing, because they can't sense the forest for hte trees.

Grimm grins a bit at that. "It sounds like if you did see the whole picture, you'd lose your mind and go insane." She tilts her head. "I never heard of that story."

Connor thinks about it. "I forget the details...but a blind man...or men...come ascross an elephant. One feels the tail, and decides he's holding a vine. One finds a leg, decides it's a tree.

Connor says, "That kind of thing. None of them know it's an elephant."

Grimm smiles at that. "Oh, okay. I get it now. So what've you glimpsed so far?"

Connor smiles. "A little of this. A little of that. Chaos. Order. Hermetic magic. But they all are just...pieces of the grander scheme of things."

Grimm smiles a bit at that. "It'd be nice if it all fit together and made...sense. Like there was meaning behind...all of this," she motions airily.

Connor nods. "I probably won't manage to solve that mystery, to be honest. Better people than me have tried and failed."

"I think I have divined the answer," Gabrielle makes like she's getting a vision. "The answer is...42."

Grimm adds with a smile, "I think you may have a chance. I believe in you."