#bergen_county

He takes a sip from the iced tea, and then sets it down. "I was hoping to get some advice. ...I know magical stuff is supposed to be handled by the Mountain, but he's seemed kinda... I dunno. Distant, lately. And I know you better anyways."

"Okay, yeah, makes sense. I'm flattered. Did you want lessons in WInter Cantrips?"

His eyes gleam a bit, perhaps greedily, but he admits, "No. That is... not right now. I..." He frowns, and then pulls a slender leather-bound volume from within a pocket. "You know I like to keep my secrets. But..." He slides it over to Vali across the table. "This is what I've been studying. I think it was written by a sidhe, but they didn't sign it. I got it as my claim from Skallstryke's hoard..."

"Well then it's yours by right you worked hard on that.." He flips it open, sorts through, then his eyes widen, and his brows go up up up into his horns

"Sweet Odin's beard, is this what i think it is?"

"Yeah. See why I think it was written by a sidhe? And why I didn't tell anyone?" He smirks a little.

"I know at ten sidhe who would explode if they knew this was in your hands, five of them friends." he admits "This is... wow. It's getting leaked, here and there I hear, but you've got a a gusher between pages here"

"Yeah... I've listened around, and sometimes folk learn a bit, but they're still trying to keep it under lock and key. Which is easy when you hold all the cards and can demand whatever you want in return or make people sign away their rights in return for the knowledge."

"Which is kinda why I'm here."

"Well, I can honestly say, I don't see anything wrong with you learning the art, and frankly, I suspect the cat is welll out of the bag, but my point would be you've helped the Lodge and people I care about for me to complain you might be able to use the uber secret magic to defend them"

Symon frowns a little. "The Chief knows. She had me use it a couple times. I wouldn't try to hide something like this from her. I owe the Lodge more than that."

A nod, he looks over the book as they talk "Not crazy about some of the demon summoning, chimerical demons or not"

"THAT is cool... but so far only in theory. I haven't wanted to even touch my toe into that without far more knowledge of wards and sacred circles than I know I have access to. I've read enough stories to know the dangers... and honestly, the time magic has been more interesting."

"But..." He reaches a slender hand over and carefully flips towards the end of the book. "See, on these pages here, it start on the higher uses of the art. I think I've pretty much mastered minor manipulations."

Judging a look on Vali's face, he clarifies, "I used corpses. No, animal corpses. From my work, my taxidermy. But the next level.... it's just, it's like... I can READ the concept, it seems to make sense, like seeing sand on a beach, but I try to scoop it up and it just runs through my fingers. Maybe an hourglass is a better analogy. Either way, I'm having trouble. Do you think it's because I'm not Sidhe? Was it not MADE for common kith to understand the higher uses?

"The timeskipper - I just gave them that nickname, the author - they call the next level 'Deja Vu'. But I can't GRASP it, and I've tried."

"You realize MY knowledge of this is observation if sidhe using it? Right? " but he looks over the part

"It's a pain in the ass. Trying to learn something from a book, an art from a book, it's hard. And when you can't see it in action, or ask anyone about it... I mean, I could have gone to Zane, but I don't know if he would keep it quiet. You get so smug about knowing things people don't, I figured I could trust you on that."

"First all, Arcadian sidhe do have a knack with the time realm, but that's like saying only boggans can influence Children of Adam just because they have a slight edge. I think TIme magics are much the same.. in the last decade or two, it's like boom... the arts are opening.. I don't think that's an accident. The fact you've progressed this far on just a book and experimatnion is amazing, Symon, and you may feel frustrated but I can say I'm impressed. I can't teach you what I don't know, but I can teach you some methods I know to get the creative juices flowing. And there's context. THis is guiding you as if you were a sidhe, right? But have you considered your kith not as a hindrance, but as a different frequency? What is Time to a sluagh. Would this Deja Vu be comprable to Squirming ? Would your gift for seeing past the land of living or dead, possibly teach you about glimpes of what will be in the next few seconds? "

He nods slowly. "It's definitely written from that viewpoint. See, like here..."

Symon points out a passage where the fine script reads, "Feel the time as it flows about you, and recall the stillness of Arcadia - time everlasting, flowing around you without passage..." He shakes his head.

"Yep" He nods and looks "That's a problem.. because you don't have the same context, or if you do, it's got a lot of past lives in the way. Mmm maybe that's it... 'Feel the time as it flows about you, recall the stillness as you wait for your fae spirit take the plunge and be reborn' .. something like that. Think that would help?"

"I guess. I don't remember my past lives, though. Not like some people do. A few glimpses when I was sained, and other then that, it's just been... you know, Symon. That's part of the reason I just use my mortal name. I never remembered any fae use-name that felt like me."

He looks at Vali, a touch slyly. "But you've got a nack at a couple different kinds of magic. And you have a way of seeing things - that's not a Beaumayn pun - from different angles. I figured I might, you know... if you wanted to learn some of this, in exchange for some tutoring... maybe we'd BOTH get something out of it."

"Huh, I won't lie, I would love to at least get started in this.." A curious look "So I help you brainstorm some avenues, and you give me access to Chronos 101?" A smile

"And this way if I get in too deep and end up stuck in a loop or locked in some sort of time-stasis, someone knows what I was about and can help haul me out. But we keep it on the downlow." He offers a hand to Vali. "Deal?"

"We keep it on the down low unless keeping on the downlow puts someone in danger. For example, if you do get stuck in a time loop, and I can't stop it myself, I'm gonna get help. I'm funny that way. Deal?" His turn to offer a hand

"Yeah, but if getting help means calling in some uppity Sidhe who is going to take me to task for daring to learn their magic? Just leave me in the loop until something better comes along." A bit of a smirk, and he shakes.

"Careful what you wish for..." He ponders "Actually I'm surrprised you aren't bribring the hell out of some other sluagh with this goody"

"I mean, I don't know sluagh circles that well, but this has to be worth some bragging rights"

"To be honest? I'm not really close with many other sluagh. We meet up now and again and trade information, but... just because we're the same kith, it doesn't mean we're all trustworthy. Look at Bug-guy, and Podsnappery, and now Leech. I know you."

"I'm honored" he ponders "Mmm... well, if I had time I could give you a list of absolute monsters of every kith. Some you know... but fair." The hand shake over he says "Going back to that 'fell the stillness' and forgive me I'm sterotyping, but am I right that isolation in places others can't get to is soothing to the sluagh soul? Maybe it's like meditation, only instead of thinking on a big tree spreading leaves, you get to concentrate a small tight space all to yourself, no one even knowing where you are .. untouchable and safe?"

He thinks on this, closing his eyes as he ponders. "There is a spot, a crawlspace I made after Dirk moved into my room. Squeeze far enough in, and even the loudest noises on the outside sound like distant whispers at best... nothing can get in there except the occasional centipede or pillbug, and if I leave my phone on the outside, no one can even reach me. It's damp, and close, and sometimes it makes my breath hard to catch, but it's worth it...." He opens his eyes, and nods to Vali. "I see what you mean. Time passes, but for everyone but me, because I control the time within my space what what I allow into my space..."

"Huh, you make it almost sound appealing, which I guess it is to you. I think I'd get claustrophobic but that might just be hilarious in a third point of view. There's a touch of poet in you, Symon, or maybe it's those game mastering narrative skills"

He grins gummily over at Vali. "It is dark. You might get eaten by a Grue."

"I'd ask if you wanted to help with my other studies, but the next level of Autumn deals with poisoning. You probably don't want to volunteer for that." He pauses. "Would you?"

A pause "Maybe. Might be an interesting test for Stasis WInter magic. I've used it to save folks from poison before"

"Really? That sounds a lot like 'set in stone'. It halts the passage of time on a hyper-local level. Could be used to stop poison from spreading, or to stop a wound from bleeding out or a disease from progressing... or to prevent a wound from healing or sickness from passing naturally, if you're really in a mood to stick it to someone." Thoughtfully. "IF we had someone like Brogan on hand with antidotes. I wonder how he would do with a chimerically inspired poison? Might be good test for him."

"Sometimes I think it's a shame that the Chief is so ... you know. Gwydion-good. A lot of learning could have come from testing out things like that on someone who deserved to be a lab rat, like Leech."

A look at him, "You don't need that sort of temptation, not that your'e vulnerable to it, but you know better than I how your kith my react if you start experimenting even on their worst members.. The Chief might be the least of your trouble there."

He sighs. "You know, as soon as I said it, I knew it."

"Curse of being smart. You and I don't get to the same level of pass as our less ingenious contempraries do" A wink

"Still." He cheers up a little. "There's nothing that says I can't test out poisoning on someone we're fighting. That's not cruel and unusual experimentation upon a prisoner under your control. That's just... testing out a new weapon on a live battlefield."

"So.. if you hit someone with a dart and they stiffen like a board, you want me to have a note ready telling the Chief it's okay, this was a field trip?"

"It would be helpful." A toothless grin.

"Uh huh.." Amused "I'd have to think about it. I learneed a lesson when suddenly a hall pass I gave out ONCE at the high school got cloned like 20 different times. Still not sure if that was you are zane behind that one"

(It was actually Jimmy, no one suspects Jimmy)

"I'll never tell. Wilder creed prevents it."

"I vaguely recalll" He admits "In truth, it was a good one"

"Eh, you're not so long in the tooth yet. Whenever Lilly tells me about who she thinks is going to croak first, you're rarely high on the list."

"Really? " A pause "Why do I get the disturbing feeling there maybe a betting pool I don't know about?"

During this, Vali has been looking over the book now and then. Eyes lit up with interest

A rasped chuckle. "Would you WANT to know?"