“I know. That’s what I meant. I mix up what I say.” She shook her head, then looked at Teddy. “I needed to figure how exactly your magic works. Now that I know it works differently than I expected, I’m not sure if I can help you. Sorry. Although, I can try to help you if the need arises.” Arabelle gave a small smile.
"I'm also available to help if you need," Azrael added.
Teddy grinned. "Yes, please," he said gratefully. Lucien walked into the room moments later, and Lana updated him on what had just happened.
"Interesting." He frowned. "But you don't know why the magic is acting up?" Lana and Teddy both shook their heads.
"Beats me."
“Strange,” Charlie looked thoughtfully at Lucien. “I never thought of magic as a thing to ‘act up’. You guys,“ -she gestured to Victoria and Arabelle- “always said that your abilities had certain rules. That it couldn’t just not work. It’s kinda like…”
“Like their magic is alive… in a way.” Arabelle finished.
"Yeah," Lana and Teddy said at the same time. Lucien ran his hands through his hair, thinking.
"We should go to the library," he said. "Do some research, and try to find out how to get you guys home."
(agh, sorry for the lack of response. i couldn't/can't be active today, but i will soon!)
"I literally just need some portal juice. Which is made from Potato Beer, which comes from I-317… Goddammit."
“Oooh I’d like to see the library,” Victoria said.
“Do you think we can get ingredients to make this… portal juice? Potato Beer?” Charlie asked, turning to Azrael.
"I don't know the ingredients…" Azrael said, "besides it's also made from some other stuff that I don't remember at the moment."
"Well… potatoes, obviously. We have lots of those- perhaps we could experiment," Lucien told Azrael. He thought of the Potato Beer he had tasted years ago. Surely he could come up with something close to it.
"The library is not too far away," he continued. "If you'd just follow us…" he shrugged and headed to the door, Lana and Teddy not far behind.
“I’ll come,” Victoria stood up and followed behind Lana.
“Me too!” Arabelle followed Victoria.
“Are we all going?” Charlie straightened uncertainly, wanting to go with Victoria but not that interested in libraries. “I guess I could help you find potatoes?” She shrugged at Azrael.
"Yeah I guess," Azrael said, "but we would need to distill it for 18 years and cool it to a temperature of -40° Celsius. On top of that, we would need for it to have an alcohol level of 80%.
"Thats after we squish the potato until liquid comes out of it!"
Charlie stared. “Well, I guess we’re going to the library.” She followed the others out the door.
"Wait for me!" Azrael and Vozrea said as they followed Charlie and the others.
"Right…" Lucien started as the entered the library. The building itself was quite small and old, but the few shelves were overfilled with old books. "Teddy, where are the books?"
Teddy nodded his head to the left and that's where they went. "There aren't many I have read, to be honest. Um, we're looking for really old books. I guess we'll just have to look until we find something."
"Looking… Looking…" Azrael started singing. She sang quite beautifully.
“This is sorted by genre, right?” Arabelle‘s eyes drifted over the shelves. “Is there a section for the kind of magic we’re looking for?”
"Portal magic, here we go!" Azrael said.
"The few books on magic I have seen have just been laying around," Teddy replied with a sigh, then he saw Azrael hold up a small, old book, and his eyes widened. "I've never seen that before! Open it up."
"I have one, as well." Lucien sat on the floor and flipped open a large book. Many pages had been torn out, and the ink had spread on some of them. The pages were yellowed and it all made the lettering difficult to read. "It is just general magic of some sort."
"To return to thou's homeworld, one must acquire: 2 potatos, 3 black candles, and the blood of a rare, exotic creature, who is a metaphorical black sheep of its family." Azrael finished reading off that part of it. It was in a different language, but Azrael translated.
Teddy raised an eyebrow. "An exotic creature? We'd have to travel… far."
"To Sacrus?" Lana was leaning over Lucien's shoulder, trying to decipher letters and numbers.
"Nah," Teddy replied. "We wouldn't have to go overseas, though."
"There are quite a few exotic animals in Chiyye," Lucien said enthusiastically. "We wouldn't have to go across the ocean, but it would be a great journey."
Arabelle had been looking at the book with fascination. Then she raised her head in thought. “Hmm. Well, I do have a dagger that can do the job. But… how long would this journey take? Can you give me a number?”
“Yes, how long would it take?” Victoria had been quietly sitting at a reading table with Charlie, breastfeeding Joel. “Assuming we’d be taking breaks.”
"Assuming we can get horses or graleon-" he paused, remembering the creatures he had, or hadn't, seen in other universes. "-graleon are, well, like furry horses… anyway, my guess is up to seven days."
"I could stay," Lana offered. "We don't all have to go. I'd remain behind, and gather the other stuff."
"I would normally teleport but I have no idea where we're going, so I'll use my horse. MARKER! COME TO THOU'S MASTER!" Azrael shouted. A black horse with grey eyes that could pierce someone's soul could be heard prancing towards Azrael. It was frightening to behold. It was a beast. The steed was huge, easily towering over a grown man. It arrived and knocked Azrael down onto the ground and started nuzzling her.
"Okay Marker, stop it," Azrael said.