Matias’s Dangers of the Arcane [Windermere]
Date: 2025-07-22 13:03
(Matias’s Dangers of the Arcane [Windermere])
[Tue Jul 22 2025]
A Musty Basement Seminar Room/span>/spanThe Plymouth Seminar Room occupies a windowless corner of the basement, its
low ceiling supported by exposed pipes that occasionally emit soft clicking
sounds as they expand and contract. Fluorescent lights cast an uneven glow
across rows of wooden chairs with attached writing tablets, their surfaces
marked by decades of student use. The walls, painted institutional beige,
display water stains near the corners where moisture has seeped through the
foundation. A heavy wooden table sits at the front of the room, its dark
surface reflecting the overhead lights in distorted patterns. The air carries
a persistent mustiness despite the ventilation grates set into the walls, and
the temperature remains several degrees cooler than the floors above. Cork
boards line one wall, their surfaces dotted with faded announcements and
peculiar symbols drawn in chalk that seem to shift slightly in peripheral
vision. The door, reinforced with a small wire-glass window, closes with a
weight that suggests its age and the settling of the building around it./span>/spanIt is about 60F(15C) degrees. The mist is heaviest At High and Blackstone/span>/spanMatias adjusts his spectacles while looking over the room with a weary expression sparing Juliet further dress code reprimmanding… For now! Today there is no chalk instead his hands are tucked into his pockets, there is a slight slouch to his posture. A silent yawn parts his lips, watering eyes before he lifts a resonating baritone to fill the seminar room, “The dangers of the Arcane. What are they? How dangerous are they? Can students cause them or only Practitioners of the arts who have reached beyond their ken?” a pause as slate-grey yes assess. “You may liken arcane dangers to industrial accidents, natural disasters, or even human error.” lifting a hand from his pocket and broadly motioning to the class. “Who can provide me examples of an arcane danger? Extra points if you can provide a potential cause for it.” he challenges the attending audience.
Gaze drifting over the student body and visiting guests, Roberta turns her attention to Matias, intent on his lecture.
Nemi hums softly, rubbing her chin a bit as she hears that from Matias. “Clarifying question are we talking more about… things or examples that have happened in history and what arcane power might have caused them or just examples we can think of off the top of our head?”
“Both. Any. Arcane dangers as an unsorted list. We will handle groupings later.” Matias clarifies to Nemi and the rest of the room. “Any -danger- you can associate with the Arcane or simply put Magic.”
Derek lifts a hand, speaking shortly thereafter. “Overuse of essence – magic takes, well, energy out of you, and doing too much too quickly can make you weak, frail… And further still, fainting and potentially death.” He lifts a hand to nonchalantly run his fingers through his hair, tilting his head thoughtfully as he recollects. “But, ah… As for danger. If one gets too used to the utility of rituals, well, overuse is a common cause of such withering.”
Mirabel meanders into the seminoar room and seats herself at the back, smiling placidly.
Alhambra pulls out a pencil as the class starts up, prepared to take any notes from answers given to Matias’ question.
Hester also seems to have a Derek’s blind spot, immediately looking away from the door when he, Buck, and Nemi come in. Her glasses get pushed up her nose, weary-eyed focus on Matias.
“Ehm, if you pronounce something wrong in your incantation – or maybe you sneeze in the middle of a verse – you might invoke an avalanche instead of ehm.. lunch,” she just goes for it, with a slight raise of a hand. And distractedly, she waves, “Hi, Miss Kane. Welcome back.”
“Afternoon, dear. Don’t mind me!” Mirabel says and wiggles her fingers at Hester. She gives Buck an amiable nod afterwards. “Hello, Mister Ransom.”
Sophie lifts her gaze, “You can get in over your head. Embrace too much darkness. Lose track of your purpose or goals.”
Jenny looks over to Mirabel for a moment giving a wave before turning back to Matias “Going insane from an evergoing quest for knowledge?”
Cadalie keeps her participation small, rather staring at happily from the back-row, knuckle to jaw. But she does mention, “Lapse of temporal presence, if the disruptions I’ve been tending to are of any indication.”
Doing his best to not disturb the seminar, Cain finds a row at the back of the room and squeezes himself into a wooden seat. It does result in a pretty loud creak, but hey, you can’t be perfect.
Alhambra glances towards the front of the room and shrugging says, “You could accidentally attract some sort of arcane horror, that tears you to shreds?”
Calling out, Roberta adds another item to the list, regardless that she’s not the target audience. “Losing control of a summon which tares through everything you’ve ever loved and cared about, starting with you.”
Juliet asks, “You could get lost in another world?”
“Smelling of sulfur.” Derek supposes as an addendum to Matias, knitting his brows in thought as he glances to Roberta with intrigue after her suggestion.
Cain leans back in his seat with a stretch, God having made him way too fucking big for mortal seats like these. He shifts in place, and with his age he’s certainly going to have a real bad back after this seminar is over. Kicking one boot over his knee, he keeps his attention half on the seminar and the other half around the room, and the other attendees.
Nemi hums softly. “Causing an explosion because you provided too much of one material for a ritual?” She cals out tentatively with a smile and a hand slightly raised.
“Complacency,” Mirabel ventures calmly.
Matias nods along with Derek’s contribution. “Mister Fairchild is correct. Magic requires energy and more often than not that comes from the practitioner executing the rite. Thus the first and simplest danger is harming yourself via overextension or simply killing yourself outright from attempting to many rites subsequently.” he explains in a brazilian accented english. When Hester chimes in there is a long look at her with tired slate-grey yes and his spectacles slipping down his nose. Adjusting them again he simply says, “No.” and then looking over the room, “Imperfect incantations rarely cause what we would dub ‘wild magic’ effects. You are far more likely to ‘fizzle’ the rite as some say or simply misfire it. Wild Magic is often caused by external factors not minor errors.” he states definitively and then look to Sophie, “That is a danger of pacts magic. Not all magic has darkness to touch.” but before he can fruther cut down Sophie’s contribution, he sure is grouchy today his approach dry. “That is a danger of weakness of mind and spirit. But yes -some- Practitioners of Mancing and Ritual magic can seek more and more obscure or occult knowledge at risk to themselves and others.” there is look over the class and then Alhambra offers up something. “Point to Miss Lopez for mirroring a faculty answer.” and then turns his attention back onto Juliet with that judging gaze at a bare midriff, scandalous, “Very rarely, but yes Miss Rothwell.”
The Latino professor takes a deep breath sounding like this is something of a chore today, “Common Arcane dangers include: Death, Extended Exhaustion and inability to recover vital energies, Demonic possession, Ghostly possession, a Disturbance where the magic animates beyond the rite itself. I am sure many of you have encountered one of these more common arcane dangers in New Haven. Being a city in-between we are by density of ritualists and magical events buried in such recurring Arcane dangers.” he explains to the room before adding, “Raise your hand if you have personally been present during the manifesting of one of these or its resolution.”
Kai gives a two-fingered salute to Mirabel and Cain, he nods a bit at Derek and Nemi and snubs Buck entirely as he turns his gaze to Matias, “So like the most obvious and common are accidentally killing yourself, accidentally putting yourself into a coma and also just making yourself really exhausted – I did the last one recently,” he hmmms and goes on, “Another hazard is tied in to addiction, if you get too addicted to using magic, you might give up your own youth to gain more mana to cast more rituals, this can be done until you’re as old and feeble as Buck for instance and you could then die of natural causes,” he drones on and on, even after Matias, Derek and others have said what he says. He probably wasn’t paying attention, “Also Professor, can you get a tarp or something to cover up Jules please? She has like… lots of zits and weird discolorations on her back and it’s disturbing me.”
Juliet says, “It still seems like it would suck.” It’s a little sullen. “Is demonic possession really a thing that happens?” When Kai talks, she turns to look at him. “Oh, fuck you!” she says.
Matias looks up to Mirabel, “Professor Kane do you have the burlap sack or a big t-shirt?”
“No thank you and also… watch your language young lady!” Kai says the second part with a very Mirabel affectation.
An over achiever, Roberta raises both hands.
“Not on me. Miss Vasquez still has the Sack of Punishment,” Mirabel tells Matias and glances askance at Kai. “Don’t bully your classmates, young man.”
Nemi sips on a bottle of water…. but also slowly pulls out a cam of coca cola she’s clearly debating throwing at Kai before she decides against it…
Buck raises his hand, “I think many of the students in town have been present for a ritual if they’ve been to a few of Miss Kane’s classes. They’ve even performed a ritual together at her last class in the park.”
“Yes miss Kane,” Kai replies to Mirabel in a monotonous drone and slouches down in his seat, a little shit-stirrer’s smirk on his lips.
Derek snorts after something Mirabel says. “The Sack of Punishment.” he just repeats, shooting Kai a side-glance, then looking back to the front.
Hester narrows her eyes at Matias’s correction, mouths an “ah” and follows that up with a furious scratch of pen on paper. Apparently, she’s on a whole different frequency, but notes are being taken. A hand silently raises when the Professor seeks a count, but she doesn’t volunteer any further detail. Just a glance in Roberta’s direction at the back.
Sophie shakes her head and sighs, just plugging along with her notes.
Derek’s S-Pen drifts across the surface of his unfolded phone, doodling notes and random marginal sketches alike.
Juliet raises her hand to try to attract Matias’ attention. “What about the dangers of magic for people who are around it?” she asks. “Like, not the people casting spells of whatever.”
Kai rubs at his eyes slowly and exhales, his face pinched a bit as he closes his eyes.
Derek lifts a hand gingerly after Matias. “…I saw a lady who was possessed by some ghost or demon from around a century ago. Ticking like a metronome from a chronometer deep within one of the tombs sent spirits adrift like some recollection of some terrible storm from September, 1938,” he recalls with a squint, then clearing his throat. “In the end, we were able to bring them rest once more.”
Alhambra writes down notes quickly as other people give answers, and then with Matias’ reply to said answers.
Mirabel smiles to herself and takes her eyes off of Kai.
With no immediate solution to the crime of having a body in summer Matias returns to his lecture looking over those who have raised hands and those who have not. When Juliet inquires there is a faux helpful answer “Many dangers extend beyond the caster. Actually a very small amount of Arcane danger is localized solely to the person who caused it. Much like fashion choices Miss Rothwell.” there is a look away from the young woman to everyone else as he continues “Those of you who have not encounters an Arcane Danger. We will likely explore them later in the year.” he explains vaguely before continuing on. “So out of our list we have a fairly broad range of potential dangers.” his resonating baritone coming off disinterested on his own topic. “Generally speaking we can split them into three categories: Limited, Manifest, and Virulent… A limited danger is exhaustion, casting illness, becoming overzealous for magical knowledge. Things that generally do not have persistence or a high lethality. Manifest dangers are those which can kill you such as ritual shock, losing control of a binding or summon, or dangers which persistent beyond the initiating event. These include things like hauntings or accidentally reversing time in a localized spot or causing persistent weather disturbances. Finally we have Virulent. These dangers by virtue of their name grow. Demonic Posession, Some disturbance, if you somehow do more than summon and actual physically manifest something dangerous and your death does not cut off its anchor to our plane. Virulent dangers must be dealt with or eventually they can grow out of control and threaten entire areas.” there is quiet cluck of his tongue considering the decided lack of some hands. “For students such as yourselves. Which of the three: Limited, Manifest, and Virulent do you believe you are most at risk of encounter right now in your magical education?”
(Un) fashionably late, Eve was holding onto a map of the campus as she bustles into the back of the classroom. Hoping to not draw any eyes, but smiling sheepishly anyways, Eve filters into one of the seats at the back of the classroom, unshouldering her purse and putting it beside herself, as she sets herself down, trying to look for all the world like she had been listening the whole time.
Matias spies Eve and says in a resonating baritone, “Miss Ransom. Which would you be most likely to encounter, do you think?”
Hester searches the other desks for the source of the beeping, but it comes to naught – can’t figure it out from the front. Elbow perched on her desk, she listens on to Matias with one of her chins in the flat of her palm. Something he says has her fidgeting in her seat for a sec, eyes low. For once, she volunteers no answers of her own.
“Ummm,” Eve says, turning her eyes from whispered conversations briefly to the head of the classroom. “… manifest dangers?” she offers. “Everyone I’ve run into has seen a ghost from time to time,” she says, speaking up.
Derek is looking down to his phone to scribble, then up to Matias as he speaks, brows furrowed slightly as he seems to consider the premise of the question, though he doesn’t venture an answer as of yet, his gaze drifting languidly to Eve with idle interest as she speculates. He gives a short, soft hum, then letting his S Pen drift a bit more against his screen.
Nemi raises a gand to answer the question as she hums softly. “I imagine limited is common as well, You’d waste and spend a lot of energy even when you make mistakes causing the more illness like effects from spending all that energy…” She states weakly.
Kai looks up and over to Eve, he gives her a little half-moon wave and glances at Mirabel, rolls his eyes, and then glances at Cain when his phone beeps again, though he doesn’t make a comment, instead he looks back to Matias while he tries to focus.
“That is correct. Many of you do not participate in enough rites with enough frequency to reasonably hurt yourselves. Mister Ashford is something of a go getter in that regard.” Matias explains as those slate-grey eyes slide away from Eve to continue the lecture. “You are most likely to experience a Manifest danger left over from a more powerful and likely more foolish Practitioner of the arts. Thus my commentary about ‘common dangers’ including those which other people often run into hauntings and demonic possessions.” another deep breath he begins to walk up from the front of the room towards the front row while moving on. “So we have some idea of dangers, a list… I have grouped them this is all very academic. Let us now discuss practical experience. I will share some of my own brushes with Arcane Dangers and if a student believes they have an experience to share we will hear it, keep it short.” he says to the room and then Nemi chimes in and he shakes his head. “Limited is actually more common amongst actively practicing ritualist. So unless some of you have begun doing one or more rites a week I would consider you studying theory at the moment. If you are than yes you are correct.” and then to the class at large, “So… Have the class pick simple vote call out Limited, Manifest, or Virulent and I will share a personal experience so we can move past academic theory and actually understand what this is like for a more experienced Practitioner.”
Eve lifts her hand, and her voice, “Virulent,” she calls.
“Yeah sure, virulent,” Kai lends his support to Eve’s call.
Matias makes a ‘come on’ gesture to the room and snaps his fingers a few times seeming quick to be annoyed today, “Is Miss Ransom the only one awake?”
Sophie lifts her brow, “Are you doing alright Professor?”
Kai reaches up to swing his hand at the air around his head for a few seconds, he grinds his teeth and his pendant crackles, the air pressure around himself increases as he prepares someething and then bursts outward in a firm, but not /explosive/ gust os wind from him.
Hester weakly shrugs and just hops on the bandwagon, “Ehm.. Virulent, too, I guess, sir.”
Jenny does indeed not seem the most awake looking slowly over to Matias “Virulent?”
Juliet says, without any idea of what she is choosing, “Manifest?”
Derek lifts a hand to face Kai as if to shield himself from the wind as it increases, lifting a hand to re-orient his hair after. “…Full of hot air.” he muses dryly, shooting Kai an amused glance.
Kai glances at Derek and his expression turns from annoyed to amused and he smirks a little, “I had a lot of beans,” he snickers and turns his gaze back to Matias, “I already said virulent but let’s do virulent again.”
Derek then speaks up, supposing, “I will trust in Mister Ashford’s practical experience with such things, and go with Virulent.” with a nod presented to Kai.
Nemi hums softly as she seems to rethink her andwer a bit. “Virulent then….” She stated hesitantly as she nods firmly in agreement a few moments later
Matias looks at Sophie with a silent and disapproving expression before nodding to Hester and Jenny. “Nine students. five for Virulent, One for Manifest… In the interest of time. Virulent it is.” and he gets a piece of chalk from the desk and begins to draw something on the board.
Sophie sighs and stands up, exiting the room.
“We keep our phones on silent mode in class,” Mirabel says primly.
While incessant beeping continues about the classroom, Hester furrows brows in disappointment at the early departure of one classmate and then looks to her buzzing phone. Whatever’s on there, she ignores it coldly.
To be fair, Cain’s phone doesn’t beep, it blasts the chorus of My Sacrifice by Creed every time there’s a new text for a few seconds at the very least. With an awkward cough, he finally toggles it off to silent mode.
Derek doodles notes, before a text message comes through, to which he promptly scrawls a response, then swiping that away and continuing to write.
Kai gives a two-fingered salute to August when the man arrives.
Hester doesn’t even look at August when he comes in, as if she were already expecting the tardy senior to enter. Dull eyes remain fixed on Matias, seminar lights reflecting off the lenses of her unfashionable glasses.
Practically rushing, and shoving himself through the door abruptly – a whole fifty-three minutes late to the lecture, August’s hair is wet, and there is a light sheen that sticks his shirt to his chest. It’s hastily tucked in like he dressed on the go, and he moves to drop himself quickly somewhere in the middle rows of the seats with a loud thud of his bag. Kai is given a look, aside, then a slow nod of his head before his head swivels to look at the stage – somewhat unsteady and half-lidded in narrowness like he’s supporting a hangover. Something alluded to more when he props an elbow up on his desk and cradles his face in his hand with two digits rubbing over his temple.
“Goodness,” Mirabel murmurs, glancing askance at August. “Well, heavy is the head, hm?”
Eve looks over as August slumps in, her eyes taking in the man’s appearance briefly before she returns her attention to the front of the classroom, continuing to take notes upon her tablet.
Matias draws what appears to be a trunk like one might have used to travel a long time ago or keep at their foot of a bed as a decorative item. It is shaded in white chalk and then chains are crudely drawn around it. As he draws, there is a very practiced way he does it like this is something he has sketched out numerous times. As he finishes the basic depictiong he begins to write what appears to be arcane formula and drawing a circle. Those with competent ritual knowledge might recognize these are variants of haunting, scrying, and locator rites with heavy modifications. As he begins to literally conspiracy theory the board he speaks, “This is known as ‘The Trunk’ it was discovered this year in All Saints.” turning around to the room to look over the class. “It is a Virulent arcane danger. Anyone who makes physical contact has died except for a very small number of people. They experience obsession with completing any final business and then invariably kill themselves.” looking back at the chalk sketching and arcane notes. “It is possessed by an entity, potentially a True Demon, which occupied the trunk. I -believe- it to be an artifact which can look into other worlds and bind entities there within it. Possibly a gate or bridge. Those of you familiar with the 63rd Legion might appreciate the significance of such an artifact.” there is a twitch in the latino man’s eye. “After being discovered in All Saints and purchased to be secured and studied. It was stolen and released into the borough. Despite attempts to recover it… Twenty people died either from the influence of the artifact or succumbing to the entity within and turning into puppets to attack the team sent to retrieve it.” a pause then as he begins to scribble what looks like new additions to the arcane formula like he is obsessed and trying to solve elements of it while explaining it. “If this virulent artifact could be recover and whatever ill meaning entity were excised from it by completion of its design. We could, in theory, aim it at the Godrealms, the Other, or even Hell. Bind a Greater Power and with them bound study their knowledge of the arcane in exchange for releasing them.” he sounds a little manic there but puts the chalk down and brushes off his hands. “The item remains at large and given the rate of death it has killed over a hundred people in New Haven alone… In two months. As the arcanist who appraised the item, I came into contact with it. I am on a short list of people who has not committed suicide… You may notice I have…” he looks at his drawings which took up over half the chalkboard. “… Lingering obsession and mania related to the item. I dream about it at least once a week. The odds of me ever encountering this item again if I do not solve modified rites to locate it are almost zero… which mean I will think about it, weekly, for the rest of my life and probably fill entire shelves with theoritical notes on solving these equations.”
Derek lifts a hand to wiggle his fingers nonchalantly to the errant senior as August rushes into the lecture with wet hair no less. He clears his throat idly, looking him over for a moment before his attention slowly, languidly returns to the front.
“Oooooh interesting… so it’s like… what’s the worst SCP thing? Keter?” Kai asks Matias as he listens to the man and taps his chin lightly. His vibrating phone distractions him, however, and he glances down to read from it and texts in response.
“Weight of my crown.” August supplies quietly towards Mirabel, his smirk just subtle but wry before his hand drops. Cadalie is given a sidelong stare, one that lingers for a few seconds before a dismissive shake of his head. Instead, he dips his hand into his bag to retrieve his usual notebook – more sketch at this point and lay it over his desk with his pencils. A clearing of his throat, a hand that runs his hand throug his hair to get the disarray out of his eyes, and he aims to add to the lecture, as if he was here all along; “Have you considered memory altering substances, or the assistance of a well-practiced hexer or hynotist to lock the compulsive recollections away, professor?”
“Professor, given that this is a virulent artifact, would there be a way to vaccinate potential targets from it either through memory potions or some level of mental warding?” Buck asks, scribbling down some notes in his notebook.
Nemi looks over to Kai. “No kai… Keter is just the worst active threat of that fantasy classification that can be handled… there’s way worse than that.”
Cadalie’s eyes wash away from August with polite resolve, and she regards the lecturer with some small amount of concern, though not enough to fell unwell of it. She shifts, redressing her posture and leaning closer to the sleeping figure next to her, and ‘asks’ with a raise of her hand and no wait for it, “If it’s a true Demon, I’d reckon it’d be best to confirm with a Demon. Thomas Hale might be of some assistance in the matter.”
Jenny tilts her head over at the professor “So this is like a dangerous memetic trunk? Infecting the minds of those who come into contact of it? Though I guess it would only be a memetic if simply the knowledge of it was enough to infect someone…” she then squints over to Matias “That shouldn’t be the case right? I ain’t gonna start havin’ dreams about a trunk?” she then turns her head to the side and then around at the room “Did anyone just hear Anna gigglin’?”
“I think I’m gonna stay nice and far away from this trunk, but good luck with all that shit, Professor,” Kai tells Matias chipperly and glances aside to Nemi, “Ooh okay,” he nods at her firmly.
Roberta glances over to Matias, the board and the trunk -art- before asking, possibly with the first hint of genuine curiosity up until now, “Have you seen if vampires die by touching it?”
As Lola walks in Matias has drawn up some kind of chalk conspiracy theory board with arcane formula, a trunk in chains, and a lot of notes that appear to be in code. He has a tired and almost manic look in his eyes. “I have.” informs August and then admits, “I refuse because the potential of such an artifact is greater than the obsession I suffer. If I forget -anything- I will never solve these equations.” and this for the supernaturally astute appears to be a classic rationalized compulsion in front of an entire class. When Buck asks there is a nod, “Ritual Mind warding has shown to be viable. The entity -” when Cadalie talks there is a bark of a laugh, rare from the stoic professor. “I spoke with Hale at length during the search. Unfortunately it slipped through my fingers.” and then motions back to the chalkboard. “Mind warding rituals diminished the ability for the entity to make remote contact. Physical contact was impossible to protect against. If we were to do something akin to mind warding an entire borough continuously it may reduce deaths but anyone exposed tries to obtain and move it, exposing others, thus its virulent nature.” and then turning to look at Jenny with another twitch in his eye. “Simply being aware of it is not enough to become afflicted you need to make remote contact with the entity and or physically touch it.”
Hester’s writing hand can’t keep up. She resorts to switching on her phone’s voice recorder, letting Matias speak his histories while the room’s acoustics carry it along her way. Ever so briefly, there is a glint of interest somewhere along the retelling, if anything. Jenny’s final question sees just a silent, done-with-life nod from her but that’s all.
when Roberta inquires Matias lifts his voice for the back row of faculty, “Death is almost always self inflicted via mania or accident. It is not innately caused by the artifact but a byproduct of it.”
Matias picks up the chalk and as he awaits more feedback from the class continues to expand on arcane formula, scratching away with a practiced hand the board becoming more and more crowded.
“Ooooh did anyone like, starve themselves to death because they were working too hard, or like… die from exhaustion or shit like that?” Kai calls out, raising his hand after he’s already asked, just to be safe.
Matias not turning around to look at Kai, “Yes.” and then belatedly, “Mister Ashford.” and the chalk tap tap tap against the board as he pulls himself away from it with a thin smile. “Anyway… A virulent danger, one real, one in New Haven, one I have personally encountered. Have any students encountered a danger Virulent or otherwise and do they want to tell us how that went. We have twenty minutes.”
What at first is a quiet entrance soon turns noisy as Lola slurps on the last dregs of a boba tea, a few balls chewed idly as the woman stels down the stairs and into the seminar room, more than fashionably late and tiptoing towards the front with stage whispers of “scuze me” and “oh emm gee, that outfit is too cute!” and little excited squeals and waves when she sees someone familiar. Eventually the uncharacteristically ditzy blonde makes it to the front of the class and has a seat, a nasally vocal fry announcing with a California girl accent: “Oh, like, sorry I’m late- I totally slept in and, well, I didn’t have time to walk to my car /and/ get to class! Ell oh ell, but here I ammmm!” she somewhat quietly cheers, wiggling her fingers in every direction in greeting, purple finger-shaped bruises on her neck and a bit of rope burn on her wrists. At the very least, all of that being said she sits down and shuts up, though she doesn’t pull out any writing materials.
“I’m sure you’ll get it some time in the next centur- or, who knows, the next decade?” Cadalie suggests other the guise of concern, for surely a decade is no time at all.
“Goodness gracious,” Mirabel murmurs and squints suspiciously at Lola. “Pay attention, Miss Lovelace.”
Kai lifts his hand to give a chipper grin and a wave to Lola, but when she starts talking like that his nose wrinkles up and his lips draw back in an almost snarl of disgust and he looks away from her to Matias once more.
August’s hand lifts again, and he rubs his eyes with his thumb and index. His paper is left pointedly empty even if his other hand holds his pencil to tap above it. Maybe he’d have added something of his own, but the pen drops and he rests the hand he rubbed exhaustion out of his eyes with over his other hand on his desk, so he suggests, something else, “I think the example is not clear enough and the question not broad enough, professor. If you could give us some examples as to what you’d consider to fall into ‘virulent’ category, maybe some of us have seen things we can share.”
Derek stares down at his phone, scribbling away with his left hand with something of a blank expression, as if seeming distracted at the time; he lifts his right hand to his forehead idly, leaning an elbow on the little desk before him to support himself, giving August an idle glance before he looks back down to his screen, evidently trying to re-center himself.
“Attending class on time would likely have answered that.” Matias replies with his hands returning to his jean pockets. “Limited dangers are non-lethal, normally non-persistent, and normally localized to the ritualized. Manifest dangers can be lethal, persist over time, and often affect other beyond the ritualist. Virulent dangers are evolving or growing, are almost always lethal or severe, and require eventual containment or resolution before they endanger large areas.”
Nemi looks over behind her-ish, more to the side, towards Kai. and then towards Lola and Juliet as she sighs, unsure what to really think of the situation until she turns to face Matias once more as she continues to take notes.
Hester drags eyes to Lola’s entrance but just bounces her attention back onto Matias with a subtle shake of her head. She gives her phone a double tap, just to make sure it’s still recording. And she didn’t run out of memory. Or to shoot out a text. The ugliest one in the room stays sunk silent in her seat.
“Oooh! I don’t know if this counts but like what, three weeks ago?” Kai glances at Jenny and back to Matias, “Jenny and I found this like compass that was used to bind something… I forget what. A spirit or a fae or something. It was infecting people around it with mind control and it was trying to break free of its binding in the pendant. But we were able to fix it and reseal it. Not sure if that would be as bad as /virulent/ but it’s maybe in the same ball park?”
“Excuse me for my tardiness,” August dips his head slightly, after being chastised, but his arms slowly shift to fold over his desk. “Would you say that ghosts can become virulent dangers? Wights? Can we consider their ability for growth and influence to be dangerous, because their lingering regret creates possible threat for large amounts of people? There are cases of unchecked wights that have devoured whole towns, and vengeful ghosts need little introduction.”
A bit behind in her overall knowledge of the way things work in a supernatural world, Eve listens with a squint and a focus on the different people talking, her thumb sliding back and forth over her lip as she takes in the knowledge.
“That would likely be virulent. Anything nearing sentient or semi-reasoning actions to achieve a goal is often virulent.” Matias agrees with Kai and then August replies. “Ghost can become virulent dangers, Wights are Manifest as regardless of the Wight they eventually cannot feed themselves enough flesh to maintain their form. At least within reason. I suppose if some Wight was consuming humans daily and had the power and stability to arrange that and cover it up that would be virulent but generally time has proven Wights rarely last over long periods.”
“Would we classify an eidolon of a ghost as one such virulent danger?” Cadalie tacks on, her tone enunciated with a stifled laughter that seems to be an inside joke.
“Eidolon’s are by definite virulent. They are frequently agents of Higher Powers created for the sole purpose of fulfilling their goals. So let us imagine a Sun God creates an Eidolon bent on bringing sunny days and clear skies to the world through sun worship. This agent of a Higher power acts without regard for the dangers of such an action. Change a sun god to a void being that manages to slip a disembodied spirit through a Dark Magic arcanist. Now instead of sunny days we get opening a gate to consume earth.” Matias explains as he takes a sunny example and turns it dark…
Jenny perks up at the mention of an Eidolon “So they could be good or bad? The.. Eidolon things?”
“In the manners in which we commonly refer to good and evil?” Cadalie prefaces with raised brows, sighing her own content away in an effort to speak without a giggle. “I would say they are never good. They can be good for you, just not morally.”
“Eidolon are neither good nor bad, they exist to bring about their purpose. It is like… It is like if I took Miss Rothwell here. Stripped her free will and instructed her to be the best student. All actions she takes in pursuit of being the best student. Dressing approrpiately, participating in class, doing well on tests… They are not free choices. They are means to an end. She is neither good nor bad, she is simply fulfilling her purpose.” Matias suggests with a practical example.
“I don’t need anyone stripping me of my free will!” Juliet replies to Matias, a little too quickly and a little too loudly.
Nemi looks up, considering something for a moment before she nods firmly with a smile.
“Jules, you’ve been my puppet since June, I dunno why you’re even trying to resist anymore,” Kai calls to Juliet and shoots a quick look at Derek, a shit-eating grin and he looks away.
“Oh, fuck you, Kai!” Juliet says, flustered and upset.
“No!” Kai tells Juliet defiantly.
Cadalie massages her face with both hands, seemingly uncomfortably comfortable with herself. “Oh dear- who.. Juliet, please, let someone give you a hug.”
Matias looks down at his watch and then back to the board with a grimace. “That is enough for today. I suggest that you think about this topic. Arcane Dangers are not flashy and obvious. They can be insidious. You can sometimes miss them completely. Always be wary of unknown Arcane effects.” and then clearing his throat. “That being said. The Faculty is pleased with the formation of a Student Government. Now clean up your graffiti and trash. Today.” he looks at Hester and Jenny and August then Derek specifically