video | CALL | un: wardenka

[boundinblood]

[At first, the wrong camera turns on, showing the book Katherine has laid out on the table, pages bathed in sunlight from a nearby window. It's nonfiction - biology, in fact, and its target audience likely in the young teens crowd. The open page displays a labeled diagram of a strand of DNA and a Punnett square with an explanation in small print, courtesy of a cartoonish character sitting on its corner, clearly drawn by an adult attempting to appeal to a younger crowd they only superficially understand. The normal-sized text at its side explains hereditary traits, with a side of how DNA determines everything about a person's appearance. It's helpfully colloquial.]

Well, I can't say I completely understand all of this, but- oh, wait, I've got it the wrong way, haven't I?

[She switches to the front camera to show her face instead, bags under her eyes indicating a rather long self-imposed study session. She raises a mug of something no longer hot enough to require one to her lips and sets it down offscreen with a gentle thunk. The window beside her reveals the skybridges, flying cars, and gleaming metal towers of Tomorrow, from several stories up.]

There we are! Now, as I was saying, am I right in guessing this means the...the essence of who we are is in...all of us? Does that mean spells that require a bit of, say, hair, from the caster have worked on the same principles as blood magic all along?

Comments

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[boundinblood]

[Oh, text, how is she supposed to write on this tiny device with her level of sleep deprivation? She does make several mistakes, but, fortunately for her, the CALL device's programming is fully prepared for imprecise fingers.]

You're a Mage yourself?

[She isn't entirely sure why it believes "mage" is a proper noun, but it would have come out totally different anyway. She's grateful for the wonders of autocorrect.]

[notthaticequeen]

no, I'm a medic. what you're looking into is DNA. it's literally in every part of you, like you said. if your spells work because of a part of someone being used, it's probably because of the DNA. the flip side is if it's like some of the stories I've heard, then it's more because of the sacrifice than the actual body part.

this is weird. I'm from a science world.

[But this was another world for her to write down on her list of possibilities. That made... what, now? Seven? At least? Shit. Someday, she might actually have to ask questions about this.

...Shit. Why not.]

[boundinblood]

A "science world"? Is it like this one, then? This city of "tomorrow"?

[It had always struck her as odd. The technology in the city was a marvel, definitely, but that it would call itself the future... She couldn't imagine Thedas ever looking like this. So many redundant devices whose function magic would serve more easily.]

If your world doesn't have magic then it must not have spirits. Am I right?