(online, posted in Seeking at about 2AM on day 1)

[bitofafiction]

Any unattached Weapon who would like a general note of permission and no obligation to fight may apply to Sherlock Holmes. I won't bother you about battles unless you volunteer. You can usually find me hanging around the White dorm playing the violin.

Comments

[bitofafiction]

Victoria ruled England from 1837 until 1901; the current monarch is Elizabeth II. The British Empire has become rather less imperial in recent years.

[ergaleomancer]

1901? What happened in 1901? [[She seems confused by the very idea that something could happen to Victoria.]]

[bitofafiction]

[Fascinating.]

She passed away. Old age, I believe.

[ergaleomancer]

...They didn't keep replacing things as they wore out?

[bitofafiction]

No. Medical technology has not advanced to the point where such indefinite rotations are possible even a century later. [He does nothing so obvious as glance at her knee.]

[ergaleomancer]

[[Theta wanted desperately to say something about that., but suddenly she felt a fog creeping in through her thoughts. She tried to fight it, but her expression grew grim, then outright frightened as she found herself flailing through a great blank space in her mind.]]

I... I... My head hurts... [[She takes a deep breath, trying to will it away.]]

[bitofafiction]

That happens.

[He runs his fingers down the row of six Memory Charms on his left wrist.]

I expect you have hit the boundary of a missing memory, likely having to do with the mechanism of Her Majesty's extended lifespan.

[ergaleomancer]

[[She sighs, shaking her head.]]

That...would make sense, I suppose. Of all the memories to take, though. I still remember that I'm an ergaleomancer, even if I don't have my tools here... Wouldn't that have been more effective of a memory to take?

[[Then again, she feels a bit of fog. Not nearly as powerful, but there's something else missing there, and she frowns deeply.]]

[bitofafiction]

From me, they took mostly pieces of my childhood. Names, faces. Inconsequential in practical terms. [He shrugs.] That, and the memory of what it is like to play the violin. I can only recapture the sensation while I am playing.

[ergaleomancer]

That's...a bit ridiculous. I suppose if you're sentimental it would be distressing, though... [[That's a bit disjointed there. Discrete enough that a normal person might miss it, but...it seems to take some doing to think about people who might feel differently to herself. She can accept it, but there's no empathy there.]]

[[She shakes her head and sighs.]]

I am loathe to find out what else is missing of mine. Better to find out as I have them returned and let it be a surprise, otherwise I'm liable to worry.

[bitofafiction]

I've identified all but one of mine, and regained six of them.

[understatement of the century] I prefer to know.

[ergaleomancer]

If they're important to me, I'm sure I'll run face first into that 'haze' again. [[She's a bit frightened of it, but trying hard to ignore that. Better to change the subject.]]

So how long have you played the violin? That music was beautiful, if utterly strange.

[bitofafiction]

[slight smile] It's an adaptation of something meant for a very different set of instruments.

I learned to play three years ago.

[ergaleomancer]

I've never heard anything like it, I couldn't even imagine it on other instruments. [[She smiles cheerily, though, curious rather than disapproving.]]

I can play a song on the piano, but generally I listen to music on the family cylinder player at home.

[bitofafiction]

The library might have a recording of the original on hand. I can check, if you'd like.

[ergaleomancer]

Oh, you don't have to. [[But she'd really like it if he would, and she doesn't bother hiding that fact.]]

I wonder if the library would have anything from my home...dimension.

[bitofafiction]

It's likely enough. The selection has always been somewhat eclectic.

[ergaleomancer]

If I could find a copy of The Doctor's Wife as well... I wonder if that play exists in your world? It's one of my favourites.

[bitofafiction]

I've never heard of it, but by and large I don't keep track of theatrical developments. When was it written?

[ergaleomancer]

Eighteen ninety four. Ergaleomancy had just taken off as the premier technological field. But...I could go on for hours about it.

[bitofafiction]

It won't exist in my world, then. We have many varieties of magic, but that is not one of them.

[ergaleomancer]

...Magic? Really?

[bitofafiction]

[wry smile] I didn't quite mean to admit it, but yes.

[ergaleomancer]

So that is to say you believe in magic~.

[bitofafiction]

I have personally observed its effects, yes. I believe in vampires in much the same way that I believe in cockroaches.