Post by ~Sapphire~ on Jun 18, 2020 10:00:56 GMT -5
Some thoughts I had about my OCs. The second scene takes place about 5 years after the first.
-
When I first knew Eline, she was trying to find a way to make runes reuseable.
Most runeworkers, back then, would inscribe runes on tokens of wood or stone, so the magic of the rune would remain stable until it was used. The powerful ones, who used dozens of runes every day, used scraps of cloth or paper, which were cheaper and easier to store. Whatever material was used, once the rune was activated it burned itself out for good.
Eline was too impatient for both of those methods; she scrawled the runes directly onto her hands. Her hands were covered in curlicues of black ink and pink, painful scars. I was surprised she had any feeling left in them. No wonder she wanted to make the process more efficient.
"There's a certain kind of parchment that has hundreds of layers, all pressed together," Eline told me once - it was only our second or third meeting. I was sitting across a brightly painted restaurant table from her. Eni, sitting next to me, squeezed my hand as if to say, Just bear with her. Smiling determinedly at Eline, I tried my best to do so.
"Is there? That's interesting."
"Not interesting," Eline said. She hadn't moved, but I could see tension in her muscles as if she was stopping herself from leaning forward. "This could change everything. Stain the parchment with a rune, and now you have a hundred rune-papers, all for the price of one enchantment."
"Have you tried?" I cut in. I was interested, but even then I found Eline's intensity alarming.
She deflated visibly. "I have. It didn't work. But it will."
A pause hung over the table despite the chatter in the rest of the restaurant. Eni looked between the two of us nervously, and squeezed my hand again. I squeezed back.
Eline pressed a rune-covered hand to her temples, grounding herself, then asked me, "So Eni tells me that you two met out in Azana?"
-
Eline showed me her left hand and then her right, allowing me to turn them over and examine every inch of pale, unblemished skin. No blotchy ink runes. No tattoos. No scars. "How did you -?" I asked, and then realised I was asking the wrong question. "Why did you?"
She smiled - it was a smile that increased rather than diminished my unease - and took her hands back from me, raising them high against the indigo sky. I kept my eyes on her the entire time, and I swear this to be true - from her empty, runeless hands there was suddenly a burst of blue flame. Eline lowered her hands and the fire disappeared. I took a step back. I wished desperately to have Eni with me, to have anyone to reassure me that this couldn't be happening.
"Because," Eline told me, "I don't need the runes anymore."
-
When I first knew Eline, she was trying to find a way to make runes reuseable.
Most runeworkers, back then, would inscribe runes on tokens of wood or stone, so the magic of the rune would remain stable until it was used. The powerful ones, who used dozens of runes every day, used scraps of cloth or paper, which were cheaper and easier to store. Whatever material was used, once the rune was activated it burned itself out for good.
Eline was too impatient for both of those methods; she scrawled the runes directly onto her hands. Her hands were covered in curlicues of black ink and pink, painful scars. I was surprised she had any feeling left in them. No wonder she wanted to make the process more efficient.
"There's a certain kind of parchment that has hundreds of layers, all pressed together," Eline told me once - it was only our second or third meeting. I was sitting across a brightly painted restaurant table from her. Eni, sitting next to me, squeezed my hand as if to say, Just bear with her. Smiling determinedly at Eline, I tried my best to do so.
"Is there? That's interesting."
"Not interesting," Eline said. She hadn't moved, but I could see tension in her muscles as if she was stopping herself from leaning forward. "This could change everything. Stain the parchment with a rune, and now you have a hundred rune-papers, all for the price of one enchantment."
"Have you tried?" I cut in. I was interested, but even then I found Eline's intensity alarming.
She deflated visibly. "I have. It didn't work. But it will."
A pause hung over the table despite the chatter in the rest of the restaurant. Eni looked between the two of us nervously, and squeezed my hand again. I squeezed back.
Eline pressed a rune-covered hand to her temples, grounding herself, then asked me, "So Eni tells me that you two met out in Azana?"
-
Eline showed me her left hand and then her right, allowing me to turn them over and examine every inch of pale, unblemished skin. No blotchy ink runes. No tattoos. No scars. "How did you -?" I asked, and then realised I was asking the wrong question. "Why did you?"
She smiled - it was a smile that increased rather than diminished my unease - and took her hands back from me, raising them high against the indigo sky. I kept my eyes on her the entire time, and I swear this to be true - from her empty, runeless hands there was suddenly a burst of blue flame. Eline lowered her hands and the fire disappeared. I took a step back. I wished desperately to have Eni with me, to have anyone to reassure me that this couldn't be happening.
"Because," Eline told me, "I don't need the runes anymore."