Log:Defense Against the Dark Arts

2020/11/23 	 Grimm Radical

1

Radical is on top of a roof in Lowtown. Above the bookstore, He's currently working on trying to craft some magical defenses, but so far has had only some limited ability to do so. Though he gives Grimm a call to see if she has any insight into the matter.

Grimm answers the call while she's curled up on her couch with an old magical theory book. "Hey! What's up?"

Radical says, into the PDA, "Hey there Gabrielle. I was working on brainstorming about some defenses, and I wanted to see what kind of magic you used for such."

Grimm scoots up to sit up a bit more. "I don't. That's the problem. It's more natural. I think about protected, and I call upon those powers. I'm...not really sure how to work with that. Though...I'm familiar with rituals." She flips through to a page with warding tattoos. "And enchantments. I've been looking them up."

Radical nods. "Do you want to meet up to talk about it?"

"Sure. Where to?" Gabrielle asks as she slides her legs off the couch, her shoes materializing around her feet before they hit the ground.

Radical shrugs, "Not sure. I'm on a Lowtown rooftop right now."

Grimm stands up and stretches her arms out. Her jacket forms around her, as does a scarf. "Mmmmmm," she utters with the stretch, then tucks the book under her arm. "I'll come to you," she says as a portal forms between them without a gesture. "Hey," she smiles and steps through.

Radical chuckles as she appears. "Are you keyed on me specifically?"

Grimm grins impishly as the gate closes behind her. "Well...yeah. You're family," she smiles.

Radical grins, which is sort of visible under the mask. "So, what have you been working on? Trying to use like..book learning magic for defense?"

Grimm can feel the smile as well as see some of the shift. "Yeah," she lifts up the book and waves it a bit. "Wards and rituals. Ghostfist taunt me how to do the slower magic. A lot of it is for warding places more than people. Lots of runes and stuff, but I can't understand most of them."

Radical nods. "Magic circles and the like, I suspect? I might be able to help with the symbols."

Grimm nods. "Yeah, stuff that's more stationary. Magic circles, wall glyphs. Stuff that'd be good for a home," she says without naming Randal or his home. She holds out the book to him. "I'm only a third into it."

Radical says, "I'm not any good with Ogham, as of yet. Or Nordic Runes. But I suspect we know who would be able to help with those."

Grimm tilts her head. "What's Ogham?"

Radical nods. "I figured you might not be familiar with it. It's a type of writing used by the Picts and the early Irish. They had magicians. Shamans, who used the symbols, and had magical tattoos."

Grimm looks impressed. Then she realizes she shouldn't be surprised. He's a professor, after all. She grins. "Wow. I had no clue. All I can understand is the parts in english. For all I know, the wards could be like...y'know, people who get kanji tattoos that don't say what you think they do."

Radical chuckles. "'Stupid Gaijin' or something. Sure."

Grimm laughs. "Yeah, exactly."

Grimm says, "Or Tramp or something."

Radical chuckles. "Well, a prank like that seems less likely. But it probably pays to double check anything beefore you try to use magical power with it."

Grimm chuckles. "Yeah, better safe than sorry. I don't always trust magical books without investigating them."

Radical snaps his fingers, "You know what you need...access to an academic library. Now WHERE in the world would you find one of those?" He chuckles.

Grimm laughs. "A few places. They would have translation books, right?"

Radical nods. "They can help with the regular language and realizing what symbols mean. IF you need pure magical texts, you need a specialist. Like access to the Great Library."

"Well, we got library cards if it's still there," Gabrielle suggests.

Radical nods. "I can get us there even if it's not in the same place."

Radical says, "It's just a matter of crossing the correct dimensional boundary."

"Even if you don't know what dimension it's in?" Grimm asks, impressed. She smiles. "Let's go!"

Radical chuckles. "It's a pocket dimension of its own. You realized that, right?"

Grimm blushes. "I-I knew that. I just thought it still moved around."

Radical chuckles. "The entrance moves around. Though..it's right nearby, I think." He looks around. "Over that way."

Grimm follows along. "It's definitely a slippery library."

Radical teleports down to the street level and finds the doorway, "All set?"

Grimm teleports to join him, giving him a thumbs up and a grin. "Yup, ready when you are."

Radical looks around. "So...where should we start?"

"Hmm...I don't suppose there's a defense magic section, is there?" Gabrielle grins at him hopefully.

Radical chuckles. "Probably not. There's likely a section on spellbooks, though. Or magic theory."

Grimm rubs her hands together. "Okay, so let's go find us a Defense Against the Dark Arts spellbook," she winks at Radical. Does this make him the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?

Radical doesn't seem to get the reference. "I'm not sure if there will be something like that here, but maybe?" He heads over to the card catalog to leaf through it.

Grimm gasps softly as there's no reaction. "Not to self, I need to borrow another book for you..." she says as she follows.

Radical chuckles. "What book is that?" He starts to leaf through the catalog. "Hmmm."

Grimm whispers, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

Radical thinks about it. "Oh...that's the first of Rowling's like...21 book series, right?"

Grimm chuckles softly. "Yeah. Also the first movie."

Radical nods, "Are they any good? In your opinion."

Grimm wobbles her hand. "They were fun when I was a kid." She's still a kid, though. "But you might be amused a bit. Maybe just see the movies."

Radical chuckles. "Maybe. I've been told recently I need to see another set of movies, though. The Back to the Future series." He finds a couple of titles that look promising. "I think I found the section we want."

Grimm grins at that. "Seriously, didn't you watch any movies growing up?" she teases quietly, then drops it as he finds something. She peeks over his shoulder, having to float off the ground a little to see it. "Really? Cool," she smiles.

Radical nods. "That way." He points down a hall. "Aisle 19. I suspect we'll find a lot of related books on the shelf."

Grimm nods and drifts back down to the ground, landing lightly before she starts walking. She's being reserved by not teleporting. She's still new to this place.

Radical says quietly as they walk. "I've seen plenty of movies, but there are some gaps in what I've seen, that's all."

Radical adds, "My favorite film is probably 'Pi'. Or maybe 'Primer'."

"Really? I hadn't heard of those. Hmm. Maybe I'll have to recommend them for the next movie night with my boyfriend," Gabrielle says as they walk. She suddenly realizes that she used the word boyfriend for Carpenter.

Radical tilts his head, "Who are you dating now? I don't think you've mentioned it."

Grimm smiles shyly. "I imagine you've probably worked with him. Detective Jack Carpenter? He's with the CBPD."

Radical thinks about it. "I don't think I've worked with him, except in passing. But I've heard good things about him. Been on the force a while." He chuckles quietly. "Kind of old for you, isn't he?" His tone is clearly teasing.

Grimm shrugs and grins a bit at his tease. "He's...only a little older than my last boyfriend. I guess I just have a thing for older, more experienced guys," she says as she looks to him.

Radical thinks about that, and then nods. "Well...good luck. And I have no idea if he'll like those two movies. The first is like...horror sci-fi? And the second is a time travel story. Kind of requires watching more than once."

The two get to the section, and sure enough..there are a bunch of tomes along the shelves. "I hear there are other volumes that are in a restricted section. Those might be more powerful, but a lot more dangerous, too."

"He likes more...noir films. And westerns. So I don't know if he'll be super into it," Gabrielle comments as they walk. She smiles at his offer. "Thanks. I hope it works out."

Grimm looks over the shelves. "So...at least I hope there's no corrupting tomes here."

Radical shrugs, "Flyte's book wasn't even put in the restricted section, I think."