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Bright Journey	As of late, Bright Journey has definitely been scarce. Not completely missing, of course--she still sleeps at the mansion at night. But between spending some time in the library and a great deal of time out and about, the pink-haired young lady has definitely been in I Have A Project mode and hasn't been seen relaxing as often as she used to. It's been going on for the better part of six months, really, if not a bit longer, but just a week or two ago she'd finally relaxed a bit and stayed at home for a nice dinner. Apparently her project involved having her eyes alchemically adjusted or something. Instead of silver, they're a quite eyecatching (ha!) shade of, uh, -everything-. The irises are multicolored and, if one were to look at them for a time, they slowly change over time. It's actually a bit mesmerizing, which is likely what she was going for. Now, though, there's the air of another project afoot. Down in the library, all the books on sorcery she'd been poring through months ago have been put away--all but a couple of the more engaging primers for students of sorcery, which are sitting on one of the end tables with which the library is accoutered. The chair next to that end table is unoccupied. Bright herself is ensconced in another one of those old but comfy chairs. Her armor is doffed for the moment and nowhere to be found; she just has on her short white dress, with no cloak and no boots. With her hair pulled back casually and her legs crossed, she has clearly made herself at home here, despite the sorcerous light not really chasing away the still slightly dank underground part of the manse. She has a few books stacked on her own end table and another in hand, but what's most notable is she also has the summoning stone resting in front of the books. It's quite inert at the moment but she's glancing at it periodically while thumbing through the (old, musty, but aren't they all?) book in her hands.
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk walks away from the sparring area and into the library. Her long dark hair is in a bun on the top of her head held in place with a pair of lacquored white sticks. She is wearing a light gray tunic dress with a silver chain belt. She looks around the library and heads over to Bright and the portal stone. "Have you made any progress on figuring that thing out yet?" She walks over to the unoccupied chair and brings it over closer to Bright. "Is there a book you recommend I start looking at to help with figuring this thing out?"
Bright Journey	At Silk's entrance, Bright looks up from her book and offers a dazzling smile. "Well! If it isn't Silk. How lovely to see you!" She chuckles and glances at one of the candles on her end table, not much more than a nub now. "Ah, heh. I guess I got carried away doing this. Normally I have trouble plunking myself down for all that long--I get restless. Guess this got away from me a bit." She laughs quietly. "This place will turn me into a Twilight yet, I guess." Bright holds up the book she's reading so Silk can see. Really, it might be more accurate to call what she's doing referencing than reading--this page, at least, is covered with a series of sigils of various types and not a whole lot of text. "Well, not much beyond what we already know, to be honest. I found one of the sigils"--she taps one side of the stone--"...readily enough. It's apparently a very common sigil of invocation or summoning. But we knew that. Finding the rest is...well, it's a bit of a slog. And we haven't spoken much, you and I, in the last few months. I'd welcome some company if you're willing to join me." Bright grins impishly and bats her eyes ostentatiously. "So! I don't think we've actually gossiped in months. I think that's technically a sin." She grins and brushes a few stray wisps of hair back. "Of course, everything is a sin in this town if you can only find the right god. There's enough to go around. And at this point, we really should talk about what's been going on with me. You deserve to know. "As for books," Bright adds, glancing around at the shelves, "...hmm. Here, take this." She picks up and holds out one of the books in the stack she has on her end table. "The information in here is amazing, and...well, I'm not going to say it's -unorganized-, but it's organized in a way I find less than helpful. If you know the terms a sorcerer or scholar of the First Age would use for something, you could probably find it in minutes. Here and now, not so much. I've learned a -lot- about all this lately, but still, it's not something I've been doing all my life. I just can't sit like this for days, you know?"
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk takes the book and examines it for a moment. She then nods her head and smiles "This looks like one of the reference books. It's supposed to be more of a codex for where to find the information you are looking for instead of being the source of information itself. There are a few benefits to having been groomed to exalt as a dragon." She points to a another book in the stack "Can you hand me that one please, the coloration of the spine suggests it may have something useful. I don't know much about sorcery specifically, I didn't pay much attention in those classes. I did learn how to recognize something of value quickly." There is a twinkle in Silk's eyes "You are correct, we haven't spent much time together lately. We did have a very good time the other day with the festival though. I lost count of how many people wanted to be your new "friend" for the night." Silk sits down in her chair and starts to look through the book. "Have you tried tracing the symbols on the stone? Do we have rubbings of each of the glyphs? It would certainly be safer to examine those than the stone itself, right?"
Bright Journey	"Oh, hmm, is it?" Bright frowns and peers at the book she handed Silk a moment ago. "Oh. So it is. I hadn't actually gotten to that one yet; I just was looking through books in the order I grabbed them." She chuckles faintly and hands the requested book to Silk. "Maybe I haven't swapped out my Eclipse credentials -quite- yet. And actually, I'm not entirely sure I realize you'd grown up that way. I think for all the time we've spent talking, neither one of us have delved much into our pasts." Bright grins at the mention of the festival. "Oh, right, that wasn't that long ago, was it? We -did- rather enjoy ourselves, though perhaps not quite as much as some other people there wanted us to!" She laughs out loud. "And my dear, don't sell yourself short. I wasn't the only one they were all but rubbing up against near the end there. Just as well we didn't get -completely- drunk, though. I..." She pauses for a moment, sighing. "I'm not sure where you stand on that, but I find myself staying true to someone I've never met and barely remember from a thousand years ago. Maybe I'm being too straightlaced, especially for this town." Bright pauses once more, considering the stone. "I wasn't planning on doing anything with the stone, just comparing the sigils, but I suppose for safety's sake that's not a bad idea at all. I'm not going to worry about taking rubbings right now, but I'll work with them that way in the future."
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk chuckles "You are you Bright. I don't know any other eclipse caste, that I know of at least. How would I know what's normal behavior for one? I don't see you pouring over ancient contracts with local river gods or anything like that." Silk shakes her head. "Sorry, got carried away in the moment." "True, we don't talk about our pasts often. I find mine painful for the rejection of my family. I'm sure they disowned me within hours of finding out I had taken the second breath as a solar." She looks sad for a moment. "I have made a new family for myself here. You, Rishi, Frosty, and Ames are all my family now." She smiles at Bright. "I understand that you remember someone fondly and wish to remain true to the memory of them. I on the otherhand, am known in some other parts of town to visit from time to time. nothing serious, just a little fun." "Perhaps the symbols don't all face the same direction? Have you tried turning it sideways or upside down? Maybe there are symbols within the symbols, like s cipher?" Silk starts looking at the stone by turning her head at odd angles.
Bright Journey	"Eh, maybe I'm generalizing a bit," Bright allows, as she considers Silk's words. "Not as if I've ever met another Eclipse, either! I -have- met a couple Twilight caste Solars, though, and to a one they're exactly as you'd think they would be. I might read these books, but that's only because I have a purpose in mind. They..." She grins. "Well, you get the idea. And I'm sure they vary some, too." Bright nods in understanding, listening to Silk about her life and past. She slowly nods. "I...yeah. You're exactly right. I didn't think of you all as family, precisely, in so many words. Just friends. But you're right, that's pretty much how I think of all of you. That whole thing with my mate aside, I think that might be why I never even thought to proposition you. Never a knock on you at all, you're just...family. Especially since I moved in here, that's how I think of all of you." She chuckles, genuinely amused as a thought comes to her. "Which reminds me. I don't think I will ever in my life understand the whole thing with Ames, Frosty and Rishi. Particularly what the other two see in...eh. I'll keep that part to myself, I guess." Bright pauses to recollect her thoughts as Silk drags the conversation back to the stone. She considers it while Silk speaks, frowning in thought. "Directions, I've thought of. I'm certain I've looked at each of the symbols pointing up, down, sideways and caddy-cornered. Symbols within symbols, though...? That's actually a really good idea. I'm not sure if a cipher would work...I mean, the stone has to -work-, it's not just a shiny rock. I don't think coded sigils would do anything, otherwise, why would they be important? But...different sigils. Even...-twisted- sigils." Bright snaps her fingers, a sharp, percussive sound echoing amongst the stone. She gets up all of a sudden, moving towards one of the shelves and hunting through the spines of the innumerable books there. "I've been thinking about this all wrong. I was thinking, 'magic is magic, shouldn't matter if it's First Age sorcery or modern demon summoning', and I'd have been dead right if we were talking about those damnable cultists. But we're -not-. The cultists clearly didn't make that portal. There was...artistry. Cleverness. And huge murals of all the Yozi. Whoever made that place did so a long time ago, and they did so with -worship- in mind, or at least reverence. The cultists see demons as tools, like most sorcerers. They would never have...have -celebrated- the Yozi like we saw there. "And all that means what we're looking for isn't how humans would draw runes at all. We're looking for runes a -demon- might draw. And that means a whole different set of books." Bright is humming to herself as she's looking through the titles on the spines, and it's not too long before she finds what she's looking for. Grinning, she pulls out several books close to each other and turns the top book to face Silk. This book, bound in black leather, has embossed on the cover no text of any kind. Just a ragged emerald disk, like a flaming green sun. "See? Look for 'sorcery', get little. Look for 'Yozi'...well, we still have plenty to read through. This will still take a bit."
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk nods her head in understanding. "The three of them are a circle without taking any kind of oaths. There is a power there that I do not understand and I don't think it is healthy for me to dwell on." "Yozi, the portal stone and everything was made by the Yozi or for the Yozi? I know it's a slight distinction but an important one." Silk picks up the book and begins to read much faster that Bright has ever seen her read before. "I see what you mean, this will be intestesting reading. I'm glad I borrowed that scroll on the golden knight style. I think I need to brush up on it a bit more if we will be facing anything sent by them." Silk looks over at the sorcery primers "Maybe I should start reading some of those. Fight sorcery with sorcery?"
Bright Journey	Bright nods in reply at the comment about Ames, Frosty and Rishi. "All I can do is agree. I worked with Frosty for some time practicing sorcery, and while she's not the easiest person to get to know, she has a grace to her." Bright grins impudently. "Not unlike when I see you doing kata, honestly, but for her it's more about the forms she chooses and the sorceries she knows. The other two are far more gregarious but don't have that same mystique. The common factor in all three is their love of knowledge, I'd guess, all in their own ways. I don't understand what they have, but none of the three truly interest me in the same way they do each other, so I'll let some mysteries lie." She chuckles again. "We'll definitely need to find out who made the stone and why at some point. I agree that it's something we can't just ignore, but we don't know enough to say which yet, I don't think. I think we'll find that it's in a Malfean style, and hopefully one of these books will prove it, but...well, will we know if some sorcerer didn't just learn from Mara? Or if it was a demon to begin with? I think maybe we should think about that as we're reading these, but we don't know enough yet." As Silk points out the sorcery primers, Bright gets a brilliant smile. "Aha! I was hoping we'd get a chance to talk about that. I know you know I've been studying sorcery for a while now, and...well, I'm sure you guessed it already, but I've come to that epiphany I was hoping for. Trying to explain what I've seen is tough, though...I made you sit through one of my efforts already, and I won't waste your time trying again. Everyone really does have to come at it their own way anyway. But you've seen my eyes, right? They are a sign, of sorts, of the way my first spell has touched me. And I know a couple others now, too, which you might appreciate."
Silk Moon Lotus	"I find it very disturbing that someone would just open a portal to Malfeas and allow demons through it no matter how mad they are. Perhaps it isn't a cult at all but someone or something that has made some dark deal with the Yozi? Could they be trying to create a sympathetic site here in creation to Malfeas?" Silk stands up and starts to pace a little. "That's madness, complete madness."
Bright Journey	Bright flips a hand generally towards the front door above. "My dear, have you seen the celebrations around here? To someone in this town, the Yozi are a pantheon and their worship is a religion. Someone here surely believes that and might act on it. And you're half right. Someone could have created the stone, and--heh--I'm sure someone around here has made a dark deal with the Yozi. I'd be shocked if someone hadn't, the way people are here. It's the price we pay for freedom, I guess. But I'd argue that one person didn't make that room. It was pretty old and way too large and intricate for one person. So, did one person make the stone and use it to activate an ancient portal chamber? Did the stone...change or configure the portal room? Was it made centuries ago or last year? Did demons give it to someone here to do some task?" Bright just shrugs as she plops back down in her chair. "No idea on any of that stuff, but I bet we might be able to narrow some of that down."
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk sighs "I hate to admit you are right in this but you are. We will have to find a different way to approch this. Maybe Rishi and her joy of summoning demons can shed some light on it." Silk picks the book back up and sits down in her chair. "I guess we will have to read more to find out."