110614MariSami

 -- arcaneArtisan2 [AA] began pestering tactlessAnalyst [TA] at 20:22 --

 [08:22] AA: Hello! Is this Mari?

 [08:23] TA: It is. Who, may I ask, is speaking?

 [08:23] AA: I am Sami. Only....I guess you probably already know someone named Sami, who technically *is* me too, but I am not the one you know even if we're technically the same person.

 [08:23] AA: Anyway, I'm Sami Heston, the Witch of Breath, and current refugee from the old session!

 [08:24] TA: Yes, the alternate universe version of our parents. Erisio suggested you might contact me.

 [08:24] AA: Ah, okay, so then you already know what this is about.

 [08:24] TA: I assume this is about the staff?

 [08:25] AA: Yeah. It apparently belonged to an EVIL WIZARD SERIAL KILLER'S GHOST before you got ahold of it?

 [08:26] AA: See, that sort of thing just stinks of curses and hexes and all sorts of nasty majjyks. I wanted to offer, and strongly suggest you accept the offer, to give it a once over before you do whatever science you're going to do on it.

 [08:26] AA: Well not just me. Me and Maenam, and maybe Seriad if she can do it remotely.

 [08:27] AA: But honestly I probably know more about dark majjyks than anyone else in the universe at the moment, other than Libby herself.

 [08:27] AA: And I guess maybe Meouet? I'm not sure exactly how much she knows about this stuff.

 [08:27] TA: Curses? Hexes? I suppose this examination will involve a good deal of chanting and incense burning as well. Tell me, do you truly believe in all that nonsense?

 [08:28] TA: The staff has power, I do not deny that. But I see no reason it must be mystical in nature.

 [08:29] TA: The other Sami certainly did not seem given to such supersitious beliefs.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:29] AA: Uh....kinda? I've been cursed more or less since I entered the game, and got possessed by horrorterrors by dabbling in Eldritch Painting...

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:29] AA: ...oh, also I have kind of hexed people myself. Not entirely by choice, but it happened.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:30] AA: I take it you don't believe in majjyk?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:31] TA: I do not. What you call "majjyk" is simply science that is not yet understood. Or, in most cases, bullshit.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:31] AA: I mean I'm not going to argue the point that there's probably some sort of science behind it. But it's weird science for sure.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:32] TA: Which needs proper investigation. Simply declaring it to be magic is lazy thinking. It does not encourage proper exploration.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:32] AA: I mean call it what you want. Maybe there's nothing mystical about anything that happened to me--the horrorterrors are largely psychic projections that invaded my mind because I started using powers similar to their own which gave them a beacon, and the curse I contracted is just a self-replicating computer virus that has become attached to me.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:33] AA: But even if that's the case, I have more understanding of it than most people. And can interact with it in ways that most people can't.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:34] TA: I do not doubt that you have talents which others do not. But the fact that you and your friends call it magic troubles me. Do you all wear pointed hats and ride around on broomsticks as well?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:34] AA: Uh....just me, mostly. But that's mostly just because it's fun and I think I look cute in it.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:35] TA: Sigh.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:35] AA: And the broom makes flying easier. I could have done it without the broom, but you just look so silly up in the sky with nothing to do with your hands or legs.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:36] AA: Of course now that I'm a god tier flying's become so easy that I've all but given the brooms up. That's why I gave Acenia one of my brooms so she could start flying. She probably wouldn't have been able to until the god tiers otherwise. She's not a Breath player.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:38] TA: Perhaps. But you see why I am somewhat doubtful of your expertise. You seem to embody all the worst steryotypes of magic. Next you will be telling me you ride about with a meowbeast and light you room with a mutilated squash.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:39] AA: Nope, neither of those. My dad was allergic to cats so I never got to have one. They *are* cute though.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:41] TA: In any event, what would you and your friends' examination entail?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:42] AA: Mostly it would just involve taking a look at it, poking and prodding it with our aspects. I might consult some of Libby's books, or maybe ask the Horrorterrors if it proves especially weird.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:44] TA: As long as you are not attempting to burn or otherwise destroy it, I suppose there is no harm.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:46] AA: Yeah, no point in that. It might be useful. And hell, I'm in no position to tell other people not to dabble in dangerous powers. I just think it would be best if you know as much as you can about it before you decide to risk it.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:48] TA: Very well. I shall refrain from meddling with the staff until you have taking a look at it.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:51] AA: Thank you.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:55] AA: And hey, if you're interested in these sorts of occult phenomenon, hang around me. I can show you the ropes.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:55] AA: *Phenomena.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:56] AA: Hehe. It's funny that you're so anti-magic though, considering what your dad was like.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:56] TA: Was your Dean quite involved in magic then? My father has shown little interest in it.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:57] AA: He was a wizard. Like he was even calling himself one before the game started, and then after he got aged up by Jack pulled a full Gandalf, or so I'm told.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:57] AA: Oh, wait, Dean? I didn't know you were Dean's daughter, too.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:57] AA: I was talking about Leon.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:57] TA: Who?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:57] AA: Leon Medeis.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:58] TA: I don't know who that is. My father is Dean Howard.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:58] AA: I don't know what he was like on this side, but he was....kind of a huge dork. Loved anime. Actually that's why I had to laugh a little when I heard your name was Mari.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:58] AA: Mahou Mari was his favorite anime.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:58] AA: All about a magical girl.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:58] TA: What is anime? And what is a magic girl?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:58] AA: I was half expecting you to be super "genki sugoi kawaii desu."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:58] AA: You know, like cartoons. Only from Japan.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:58] TA: Hmm. I think you may have confused me with someone else.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:59] AA: And magic girls are like....transforming super heroes. Only instead of getting their power from toxic waste or mutations they get it from magic.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [08:59] TA: Wait. Hold on a moment. Do such shows ever have decorative figurines made of the characters in them?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:00] AA: Oh, yeah, tons of them. Leon had quite the collection, I think.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:01] TA: I see. Well, this anwsers a few disturbing questions, while raising many more.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:02] TA: I have no idea who this Leon is. I was unaware I shared my name with an animated character. And now, I think I will go have a chat with my father about this.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:02] AA: You mean Dean?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:02] AA: He's still alive on this side?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:03] AA: Wow. Part of me kind of wants to talk to him. I rehearsed a hundred times what I would say to him if I ever saw him alive again. But a part of me doesn't want to dredge up those memories. :(

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:03] AA: Plus....this Dean wouldn't remember any of the stuff that the Dean I know did.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:03] AA: So I think I probably won't try to talk to him.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:04] AA: Still. That's weird. You know he was the first teammate we lost in our session?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:04] TA: I was unaware. He died on this side as well. Sort of. He is now a photon-based fish person.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:04] AA: I think that was the moment I really started to realize how much bullshit this game was going to put us through. Although even then....I seriously underestimated it.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:05] AA: Oh. I wish I could say I found that strange, but given the fact that I'm dating the alternate universe, opposite sex incarnation of my late girlfriend, I don't think I can say much.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:06] TA: Wait. You are dating one of the adults from our session?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:06] AA: No. A different alternate universe.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:06] TA: Ah. So, how do they compare?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:08] AA: They're pretty much exactly the same, other than him being a boy. Well, and his trauma from watching the me from his universe get tortured to death.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:10] TA: Really? I imagine they would be quite different in bed. With trolls at least, all that would change would be the absence of rumblespheres.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:10] AA: ...oh god, what? That's a little personal!

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:10] TA: You are the one so eager to get ahold of my staff.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:11] AA: Beau and I were both only thirteen when she died. And we had only been dating for a few months. We never really....got that far.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:12] TA: Ah. My condolence.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:12] AA: Regardless of whatever fanfiction you might have read.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:12] TA: Oh?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:12] AA: Which I'm not saying exists.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:12] TA: Would you happen to have a link?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:12] AA: Just that if you had found some, it would be entirely fictional.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:13] AA: God. Everyone in the pre-scratch already read the fucking thing. I don't know how I feel about all the children reading it too.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:14] AA: But I don't know if I can be any more embarrassed than I already was the first time around.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:14] TA: Ha. In any event, you and all of your witchy friends are welcome to touch my staff. Spend as much time as you like running your hands over it, murmering your incantations and such.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:16] AA: You know, when I first started playing this game, I would have just agreed to what you just said completely oblivious to the sheer density of the innuendo you just laid on me.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:16] TA: How sheltered you must have been.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:17] AA: But yes, me and and a couple of close friends will be sure to treat your woody mast with great tenderness and help make sure it's not going to go off before the appropriate time.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:19] AA: God. I feel silly talking like that.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:19] AA: How do you not giggle to yourself when you make double entendres like that?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:21] TA: Who says I am not being completey straightforward? Pehaps you simply have a filthy mind. But in any case, it is always good to know that one's staff will be handled by experts. You did say Seriad might be among you?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:21] AA: Yes.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:22] TA: Hmm. Her daughter is a close friend of mine. This might be interesting indeed.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:30] AA: Oh....Seriad has a daughter?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:31] TA: Indeed. A spy/seductress named Mahtah. I am very fond of her.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:32] AA: Seductress? Heh. Must run in the family. Seriad's got these witchy powers over men. Got them from Leon, actually. Though they didn't work that way for him. Nor were they the opposite.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:32] AA: I think he got his power from abstaining and she gets her power from....not abstaining.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:35] TA: Our Seriad was quite skilled in that area as well. I fear Mahtah sometimes feels a little...inadequate in comparison. Still, it is not all about the physical. Mahtah is quite attractive in her own way, and she certainly knows how to use it.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:36] AA: Maybe I should ask her for some tips. Sometimes I wonder how Beau manages to put up with me.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:38] TA: Her chumhandle is callopygianCordiality, if you ever get the urge. She may put on a front of reticence, however. Sh is a spy, after all.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:52] AA: Makes sense. I would probably be a little shy about asking her anyway. I'm not used to talking to people about this sort of stuff.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:53] AA: It's not really my area of competence.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:54] TA: Hmm. Well, if you ever feel in need of instruction that your boy/girlfriend cannot provide, you are both welcome to consult me.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:54] AA: We're talking hands-off instruction, right? You're not hitting on me or anything?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:56] TA: No, you are a little inhibited for my tastes. My advice would remain purely texual. And pictorial, if requested.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:57] AA: Maybe I will then. If anything comes up that I need advice on.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [09:58] TA: You need only ask. Now, is there anything else?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:00] AA: No. If you send the staff back with one of the people from this team when they come back to LOCAR, me and Maenam will look it over, and then once we've made sure it's not going to kill you or make you turn into a wizard serial killer I can text our teammate Ryspor and ask him to take it back to you with his spacey powers.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:01] AA: I don't think it will take too long, unless something DOES turn out to be wrong with it. If there is something wrong with it I have no idea how long it'll take.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:01] AA: But assuming it's just a neutral magic artifact being used for dark purposes instead of an artifact of dark magic, we can probably get it back to you before the day is out.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:01] TA: Hmm. Very well. I do hope you and your friends would not be tempted to keep it, however. If so, I should be very put out.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:03] AA: Nah, I wouldn't. Staffs are more a wizard thing than a witch thing anyway.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:05] TA: Then I have no objection. Please, feel free to cast your spells or enchaments or what have you. As long as you realize I am going to take your conclusions with a large grain of salt.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:06] AA: Your decisions are yours to make, Mari. I just don't want you making them blind. If you've had your warnings and you decide to ignore them, then you'll have made your own bed.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:08] TA: Noted. I shall send the staff along, then.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:08] AA: I just hope you don't get too reckless about who you decide to place your trust in. That's more or less what happened to Dean. :(

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:09] TA: I am not my father. And I will not be defined by his actions, in my universe or yours.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:10] AA: I'm not trying to define you that way, Mari. I'm just trying to help you not make the same mistakes.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:10] AA: Not just his mistakes, either. Any of our mistakes.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:10] AA: Playing with forbidden magic without knowing what I was getting into was my mistake.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:11] TA: Making mistakes is part of science. "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!" - Troll Einstein.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:12] AA: Yeah, but in general scientists want to make NEW mistakes, not repeat old ones, right? ;P

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:13] TA: Repetition of previous experiments is also a part of science. But I take your point.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:19] AA: All right then. I'll get the staff back to you as soon as possible. Thanks for indulging my "superstition," Mari.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;"> [10:19] TA: You are welcome. Please try not to handle my staff too roughly.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px;">