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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 21, 2017 15:15:54 GMT
Adeline shook her head. "It's fine, really. Come on, let's find some books." She led Namine to the spell section, which had a pretty impressive amount of texts. Any books on spells that affected the mind would probably have something about altering memories. Altering memories tended to consist of two things: either removing someone's memory, or putting in false ones. Adeline knew that if abused, both options could be pretty dangerous. In Namine's case, she probably didn't want to be an expert at the skill. Control was the main goal here, and control was something Adeline had been practicing for a long time when it came to her demon side. "Okay, here we go," she muttered to herself as she pulled out two books on mental spells. "These should at least have some info on memory-altering stuff, since it deals with the brain and all," she said.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 21, 2017 19:29:46 GMT
Namine trailed behind Adeline. The other girl seemed to know the library quite well, seeing as she had abandoned section Namine had been floundering in and went to another one entirely. It didn't make her feel any more confident. She didn't know the first thing about magic. She had no teacher, no lessons, nothing other than the constant fear that her magic would lash out and hurt someone. Was the memory thing just a specialty? Could she do other small magic? How was she supposed to contain this? Could she contain it? What if she hurt someone?
"D-Do you think it will help?" she asked softly.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 23, 2017 14:54:24 GMT
"I think so," Adeline replied. "I mean, we're probably not going to find all the answers in one day. But these should at least give us a start." She headed over to a nearby table and plopped the books down. "How much do you already know about your powers?" she asked. "Anything could be helpful." Adeline figured Namine must know at least a few things about how her powers worked, like maybe what their limits were or what kind of memories she could alter. That could be helpful when trying to find out new information.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 23, 2017 16:33:55 GMT
Namine managed a weak smile. She knew it was silly to ask for an instant 'cure' for her powers. Things would have been much easier to just lose the power entirely. But talking about it was almost as pleasant as talking about her father. No one aside from Adeline and Shadow even knew she could do this. It was something she didn't share often because she was afraid of how people would look at her if they knew.
"I d-don't know much. I don't like using it." she said.
She had managed to keep a cap on what she could do because she didn't want to turn her friends into drooling vegetables. She had only figured out she even had the power because when she was younger, people started to forget things, small things, things they shouldn't forget, like their name or hers, even though they had known it for a long time. So she withdrew, to protect those people and to stop herself from getting hurt and let down again. But with people like Omar and Jane taking an interest in her, she had to do something or she could hurt them too.
"I f-feel it. It's u-uncomfortable."
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 23, 2017 16:39:20 GMT
Adeline's eyes softened with concern. Namine was scared about this, and while she was frightened about most things, this seemed a bit different. This wasn't like Vanitas, where she could just stay in her apartment all the time in the hopes of avoiding him. There was no avoiding her powers. "I know that feeling," she said, more to herself than Namine. Her demon side was much like that. She hated when it came out, and when she came to, she was always afraid of what she had done, and what could have gone wrong. Really, she had been lucky not to have killed anyone so far. "Well, people always say that the more you know about something, the less likely you are to be afraid of it," she said. "We'll probably have to some idea of how your powers work. If we know how they operate, we can figure out how to control them." Really, that was what Pitch had helped her to do. He was a demon, he knew how they acted, so he was able to explain to Adeline how her demon side worked. Thus, she could learn how to control it so she didn't hurt anybody. She felt like Namine could do the same, given enough time.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 24, 2017 0:53:32 GMT
"You do?" Namine questioned softly.
It always seemed to Namine like Adeline had her life together, as well as her magic. Granted, there were the demons to worry about but emerald was supposed to take care of that, right? But she slowly nodded along. She hoped that Adeline was right. By knowing more she could control herself better, avoid hurting anyone or having her heart break again. Everything she had was riding on what they found in the books. She didn't have very many places to go to find out anything else. It wasn't like there was anyone else in the city who could do what she did. If they did, they kept it to themselves.
"I d-don't even know how I held it back this long," Namine said softly.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 24, 2017 3:05:19 GMT
Adeline nodded. "Yeah. Having a demon sides gives you all sorts of powers you'd rather not use," she said. "I had someone help me understand them, so I could get them under control. Doesn't look like we have that option." Maybe she could take that up as a side project. Surely, Namine couldn't be the only person ever who had them. There may be someone else in the city, or the country, or the world. She just had to figure out how to find them. But, right now, it looked like the books were the closest thing they had to that. She picked one up as Namine spoke again, saying that she didn't know how she held her powers back for so long. "Maybe you already have a knack for keeping them under wraps," she said with a shrug. "But it's mostly fear that's doing it, and that'll eat you up before long." Fear could be nice motivation at times, but being exposed to it for too long wore you down. Adeline flipped through the mental spell section, seeing if anything about altering memories caught her eye.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 24, 2017 13:54:18 GMT
"I'm sorry," Namine said softly.
She sank a little in her seat, deflated by the fact that this was going to be harder than she thought. She hadn't meant to make things complicated. She simply didn't have anyone to go to in order to teach her about what she was or what she could do. She peered over the book that Adeline was perusing but a lot of it didn't make sense to her. She swallowed thickly, trying to hold back a familiar sense of panic. There was a lot about magic she didn't understand. Her powers she understood even less about. But knowledge was power, right? If she could master her memory magic, she could learn more, right? Finally learn to defend herself so no one like Vanitas or her father would ever hurt her again.
"M-Maybe?" she agreed, "Hopefully..."
The fear was harder to control. So many things were feeding into it. Her fear of Vanitas, her fear of her father, her fear of her powers, her fear that she would hurt someone, the fear of being left alone, the fear of not being good enough. It was a bit overwhelming for the blonde. How was she supposed to get over fears like those to stop her powers from reacting? Omar said she had to learn to let go but it was hard to do.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 24, 2017 17:18:02 GMT
Some silence hung in the air as Adeline flipped through the book. Most of the mental spells here seemed to be about causing delusions, making someone see things that weren't really there. It was interesting and all, but not exactly what she was looking for. When she finally came across a section about altering memories, she was surprised by how tiny it was compared to everything else. But, at least it was something they could work with. "Okay, let's see what we got," she said. "Altering memories is a precise art...one mishap can leave the subject with no memories at all...if the caster is strong enough, they can alter someone's memories against their will." She made a face as she said "Yeesh. They don't have to sound all doom and gloom about it." She wasn't sure if her light tone was making Namine feel any better. This was serious stuff, and all this information would probably make her feel worse.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 24, 2017 19:06:58 GMT
Namine made a face. Naturally, she had to get a difficult to manage type of magic that could hurt people. Her worst fear. She looked up at Adeline in concern. There is no way she could practice the magic. It was unethical to find an unwilling subject and force them to forget things, but even worse to find some random (willing) person to practice it on. Because there were so many ways she could mess that up. And the text was a lot of doom and gloom. She hadn't realized how dangerous it was to leave this unchecked until now.
"What am I s-supposed to do? I don't want t-to h-hurt anyone." she whispered.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 24, 2017 22:07:03 GMT
Adeline's brow furrowed with worry and she hurriedly tried to find something positive about altering memories. Surely, there had to be some good in it, right? It couldn't be all bad. Powers rarely were. Even Adeline's demon side wasn't 100% negative. She hated it, and it was dangerous if it ever fully got control of her, but it had gotten her out of some sticky situations in the past. When she had found herself cornered, it had emerged and had given her the power to strike back and get herself out of danger. But, she knew she couldn't rely on it like that. not if it meant losing who she was and becoming something horrible. She scanned the text until she found something slightly more positive. "Hey, here's something that might not be all bad," she said. "With these spells, people can help others regain lost memories and remember stuff they've forgotten." She glanced up at Namine. "See? There's some positives to it." She wasn't trying to encourage Namine to use her powers. That was her choice. But if Adeline could point out some of the positives, maybe it would help Namine be a little less afraid of them.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 25, 2017 1:40:00 GMT
"I-I know... Shadow w-wanted me to fix his memories."
However, she had been too afraid that she would make things worse, and take away the new memories he had. Because memories were precious things. Precious and delicate. Changing just a little could change who a person was entirely. She hadn't restored Shadow's lost memories. Her cowardice kept her from doing so. He had asked for her help but because she was afraid, she hadn't. She sighed. She had a power that she was too afraid to use but it could be abused. No one should be able to do what she could.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 25, 2017 18:56:33 GMT
Adeline was unfamiliar with Shadow, and it took her a moment to remember who he was. "Shadow...that's the hedgehog-looking guy in the Others Unit, right?" she asked. She hadn't directly spoken to him, but given her numerous trips to the police station, she had seen him once or twice. Heck, quite a few officers were familiar with her and her case. She was practically a regular. However, she wondered what memories he had wanted Namine to fix. What exactly had he forgotten that he needed help remembering? She wondered if he had ever gotten those lost memories back.
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Post by skyeknight on Apr 25, 2017 19:20:31 GMT
Namine nodded quietly. Shadow was a nice 'being'. He had been kind and patient with her, despite her own fears and doubts. But she couldn't return the favor because she was concerned of how it would impact him. What if he didn't like what he remembered? What if he got angry? What if she made him forget? The question what if always beat her up a little. She struggled with it, mostly because she was always too timid to fight back against the consequences - namely what if she took the bold route?
"H-He forgot about his past a-and a girl named Maria." she said.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Apr 26, 2017 2:48:35 GMT
"Oh. I see." Adeline didn't know anybody by the name of "Maria." She wondered if Pitch knew anything about it. He probably wasn't the most social person in the Others Unit, but he must know at least a little bit about his coworkers right? She'd have to ask him next time she saw him. She looked back at the book, seeing if there was anymore useful information. "Well, it says here that some magic users find it easier to alter the memories of someone they know rather than a stranger. I guess if they're friends with someone, they're already kind of familiar with their mind and how it works." She paused for a moment as she read some more. "Looks like the only way people practiced it was on a willing subject. Or on themselves. I don't think either option is open for us." Namine was too scared to try it on anybody, and Adeline wasn't sure if she could let her use the power on herself. Her fear might make her slip up and an important memory could be erased.
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