Doing research on my own account on Library

Arthur Carey

August 18, 2013 6:14 PM

Doing research on my own account by Arthur Carey

At home, some of the others sometimes teased – well, tried to tease, anyway – Arthur about loving books and libraries. He considered this proof that they were comparatively unintelligent and unambitious. There was pleasure to be gotten from books, but libraries were only pleasant as long as he was focused on a single task; let himself think about it too much, and they felt as though they were taunting him, dangling in front of him all the things he would never know. All the things there would never be time enough for.

He was nearly eighteen, and for as long as he could remember, he had been cramming as much information as he could into his head – about fourteen years worth, he thought, a little less once adjusted for times he’d had to go over the same subjects in greater depth later as his abilities increased. He read, since coming to Sonora, about a hundred and twenty books a year, counting his required texts for school. He had put other goals aside, knowing he might come to regret it for years after this, to learn as much as he could here. In the end, though, the amount left to go never seemed to get any smaller. There was always something else which had not been translated into English, which he would have to read through a stack as tall as the ceiling to even begin to understand, which had been banned three or four centuries ago, which he simply hadn’t heard of. No matter how fast he read, he would never cover everything he wanted to, enough to feel he really knew things.

The trick was to focus on specific goals, then develop new ones once the first one – really just a portion, but he tried not to think about that too much – was accomplished. Simultaneously thinking about bigger things, though, could be necessary when the first goals were distastefully practical in nature. Today was a good example of that, since he was in the library not to gain deeper understanding or contemplate his long-term impact on the world, but rather, to investigate an idea he’d had for possibly making a lot of money relatively quickly.

When he was younger, first at Sonora, he’d had more honest plans. He had wanted to go into time research and make a name for himself. Other interests had developed, though, over the past few years, and opportunities were in front of him now – ironically enough, because of the very things which had made him interested in time. He was sure almost no one other than him remembered it at all, but it had been total chance that Arnold had become a Seeker; in their first year, he had signed up as a Chaser. The family had always prided itself on knowing everyone’s talents, but they had never noticed Arnold’s. That had been pure chance.

Arthur didn’t like that sort of thing – pure chance. He couldn’t be comfortable with that which couldn’t be reasoned with, regulated, controlled. Fortunately, there was possibly magic for that. Not the best magic, but something which might just work, if he could cover all the angles. The whole thing seemed a little too good to be true, but if not….

It was not something to rely on, certainly. He wouldn't dream of doing that, not least because he was confident enough in his textbooks to believe the stuff really was poisonous at large enough quantities. It was also risky to cheat the system the way he was contemplating, and Arthur knew he was better at imagining himself taking a risk than he was at really doing it. Still, from what he knew, it would be a fine thing to try once just for its own sake, whether he profited from it or not. After an hour of carefully combing the Potions section, Arthur was reasonably sure he had most of what the library had to offer on the subject of Felix Felicis stacked up in front of him, waiting to be studied, and a roll of parchment open and quill standing beside him, waiting to be used for note-taking.

He started with the basic definitions, moved on to user accounts he decided to assume from the beginning were not strictly accurate for reasons of security from the law on the parts of the users, and then began to skim the theoretical material. It didn’t take him long to hit his present limits and, muttering to himself, get up again to go find something else, to explain a term he had run across and not understood.

When he got back, it was with no small displeasure that he took in the sight of someone else standing over his table, looking at his work.

0 Arthur Carey Doing research on my own account 182 Arthur Carey 1 5

Josephine Owen

August 24, 2013 4:42 PM

Library thread, Take 2 by Josephine Owen

Although she would have to admit, at least to herself, that she had enjoyed her Sonoran experiences overall, Josephine was becoming increasingly sure that she wouldn't miss school after she had graduated. Stressed-out seventh years surrounded her at every turn, her peers kept coupling up in increasingly exclusive relationships, and college applications were being submitted with fearsome frequency. It was enough to make a girl fractious.

Luckily, the library was still the sanctity of silence that it had always been, Josephine found herself there more often, and for longer periods. She had noticed she wasn't alone in this pattern of behaviour, which was perhaps a blessing, as nobody would question her motives. Such was the composite of her yeargroup that the mere notion of not being able to afford to go to college would not have crossed the mind of many seventh year students. For others, the desire or pressure to identify a marital partner was no longer an obstacle. Josephine flattered herself that she was singularly miserable in the prospect of post-graduation loneliness, poverty and drought of academia.

Determined to drown her concerns in coursework, Josephine had dressed that morning for study, not socialising. Yet she was not impervious to good fashions; she had withdrawn a black lace dress that had been one of her favourites pre-midterm, but today she eyed it with distaste. Black was not as appealing to her as it had once been, and the windows of all the best robe makers were displaying paler shades for the coming season. The Pecari wasted no time in reversing the monotone of her attire, combining the white dress with lilac accessories before completing her usual morning routine.

By the time she made it to the library, Josephine was in better spirits, so much so that she didn't even mind that her favourite table already held an occupant, judging by the books left upon it. She glanced at their content as she set up her own belongings. She hadn't even sat down when Arthur - she should have known it was his work - graced her with a look of displeasure. "It's a paradox," she stated simply, sliding comfortably into one of the empty seats at the table. "The magic isn't luck, it's simply a cognitive sharpener, allowing the drinker to more accurately identify the right course of action, combined with a mood-altering element to encourage the drinker to act on instinct, thus creating the feeling of being lucky."

She had already mentioned her studies into addictive potions to him, so perhaps Arthur would recall her relative familiarity with an aspect of the potion he seemed to be researching. She continued to unload her bags as she spoke, "If you can train yourself to harness the potion's effects, you don't risk addiction, or the toxic effects of drinking it in large quantities, and are not encumbered by more powerful magics creating a barrier to the potion." She stopped speaking then, and looked back at Arthur, suddenly struck by the feeling that maybe she should have waited to be asked before divulging everything she knew on the topic. "Um, but maybe you knew that," she said sheepishly, opening her charms textbook in penitence.

0 Josephine Owen Library thread, Take 2 196 Josephine Owen 0 5

Arthur

August 31, 2013 10:46 PM

Someday we'll get it right by Arthur

Arthur was not sure what response he had expected to someone seeing his work, but it was not the one Josephine gave him. After a moment, he thought, though, that he should not have been surprised; she was, after all, an accomplished potioneer herself, and it was hardly likely that he was the only person in the year who should have looked at such a famous, difficult, potentially powerful potion. It was more tempting than most of the dark arts he’d ever heard of, the idea of bending circumstance to his will, and he would not be at all surprised if she had felt it, too.

“Not all, no,” he said mildly of her contributions, reclaiming his own seat. “I’m afraid I’d never looked much at this particular potion.”

He contemplated her analysis for a moment, then began to scribble words on the margin of his paper: unified time, lunar phases, Ottoman? “D’you think a cross-analysis with Wit-Sharpening Potion would be productive?” he added as he scribbled, both to keep up a semblance of conversation, since Josephine seemed to be in a talkative mood, and out of some interest. Jane had taught him better than to be offended if someone knew more about a given topic than he did, and Josephine was such a person today. He would check everything she said to him against his own research, of course, but having the statements of someone who was an expert on the topic just handed to him could make the path shorter and straighter than it might have been.

“And are you well today?” he added, even more distractedly, remembering his manners. Arnold was the charmer, but that didn’t mean Arthur ought to sink too far into the role of eccentric bachelor uncle with no social skills just yet, anyway, no matter how much more interesting research was than going through the motions of basic small talk. He hoped Josephine was well, of course, now that he thought of her today, but doubted she would be here commenting on his work if too much was wrong with her, so it was a matter of less direct interesting than comparisons to the Wit-Sharpening Potion.

0 Arthur Someday we'll get it right 0 Arthur 0 5

Josephine

September 01, 2013 3:57 PM

We have precious little time left by Josephine

She was relieved that she hadn't spoken out of turn, as it was simply yet one more embarrassment she could easily forgo. She hadn't actually intended to discuss potions hypotheses, but was not at all deterred that fate seemed to have placed her so. She enjoyed intellectual conversation, and had discovered that it wasn't always very easy to come by. "I imagine so," she replied to Arthur's suggestion concerning the Wit-Sharpening potion. "I wonder whether there's been a qualitative comparison of the effects," she mused aloud, pausing to stare into nothingness as she raked her memories for any mention of such a study, or where she could look to find out more details. "If it had the desired effects it would be preferable," she considered, this time with marginally more direction towards Arthur than herself, "as it's the feeling of Felix that is addictive, rather than any of the ingredients, per se." Sensational addiction was, in her opinion, far more dangerous than substance addiction.

"Are you well today?" Arthur asked then, causing Josephine to hesitate, and even blink, for a moment. Good manners cost nothing, as her mother had often said (only to have it fall on the deaf ears of Josephine's siblings), but to inquire after her health after their conversation had already begun struck Josephine as odd. Then again, it could be argued that Arthur was, perhaps, a little peculiar. Josephine had harbored a soft spot for him, which had risen and fallen over the years. She wouldn't call it a crush, exactly, as that implied some sort of romantic or fanciful attachment, of which she was not guilty, but it was a similar vein of periodic admiration. Perhaps it was merely the draw of academic competition, or circumstantial envy masquerading as attraction. Perhaps she just liked that he was the kind of quirky that unabashedly plotted to poison athletic opposition.

"Perfectly, thank you," she replied, with only a hint of doubt, owing to the dubiousness of the necessity of the small talk. Then, returning to the conversation they had paused for niceties, contributed, "I believe the Wit-Sharpening potion is more simple to brew, too, assuming you can get hold of the scarab beetles." Potions with expensive or difficult-to-acquire ingredients were not those with which an Owen could become overly familiar.

0 Josephine We have precious little time left 0 Josephine 0 5

Arthur

September 05, 2013 9:15 PM

I guess we should make the most of it, then by Arthur

“It would certainly be an interesting project,” Arthur said, his attention moving closer to what he was talking about as he considered for a moment the idea of actually making that comparison, both on a methods level and a practical assessment. “Even as confirmation of another’s work, if a study has been performed before.” He made a face, though, as a problem with the plan half-forming in his mind occurred to him. “Pity we’re seventh years, and didn’t think of it before midterm.”

Cursed time. How much, he wondered, could mankind have accomplished if individuals weren’t constrained by aging and socially-imposed schedules? Most people had to go through so many meaningless motions that it wasn’t at all remarkable that they hadn’t done more than they had. He just wished he wasn’t as bad as the rest.

“Excellent,” he said, and was pleased when Josephine neglected to dwell any further on social niceties. It was not, after all, as though they were exactly part of the same society anyway; outside of the strange, artificial social saucepan of Sonora, they would likely not mix…Unless she dangled a sufficiently interesting-looking book in front of him, anyway. Arthur was pretty sure that women with books would probably be the death of him, eventually. Physical attraction, for him, tended to be sporadic, occasion-specific, emotionally insignificant, and brief, but someone as smart as he was could, he was sure, under the right circumstances, make him as much of an idiot as Arnold.

For a moment, though, she confused him with her comment about scarabs. “Hm? Oh, yes. Resource restrictions, right up there with RATS." He didn't, thankfully, have to deal with that much; the worst he'd ever had in pursuit of something was a Stinging Hex on a book he wasn't supposed to have had, and potions ingredients didn't involve even that much difficulty usually, since Uncle Donnie's main business was in exotic imports. The thing Arthur had never understood was how, exactly, between that and the side business with the brewed potions of dubious legality in this country, his father's brother always seemed to be so short of money. He’d once heard Mother suggest a second family with another seven children, but Arthur was pretty sure she had been joking. Father’s guesses, crudely put though they had been, had sounded a little more likely to be accurate. "Wit-Sharpening does have the great advantage of not taking six months to brew, though."

He frowned slightly. "D'you think that if you took it with, say, a Cheering Charm or some elixir which reduces inhibitions, it might have more or less the same effect as Felix Felicis? Or would you just go make a great fool of yourself without actually getting hurt, assuming you took enough of the Wit-Sharpening?" He glanced up, realizing that could be interpreted wrongly. "Not 'you' specifically, obviously," he added.

0 Arthur I guess we should make the most of it, then 0 Arthur 0 5

Josephine

September 09, 2013 9:42 AM

Motion seconded. by Josephine

While it hadn't really occurred to her that her time for research might be restricted to her educational career, Josephine supposed that Arthur was right, that their being in seventh year would prevent them from conducting any of these experiments, theoretical or otherwise, inside the classroom. With no potions supplies at home, and no chance at being able to attend any of her ideal colleges, Josephine would end her potions-brewing days as she graduated. It was a sobering thought.

She did not, however, have the pleasure of understanding his comment about resource restrictions being relevant to the RATS, but decided the point was immaterial, and so let it pass. Instead she focused on his postulations of a combination of concoctions that might have the same overall effects of Felix. "Hmm," she replied, staring through Arthur as her brain jumped through the required loops to formulate a sensible answer. "While I'd like to think it was possible, I mean, it certainly sounds plausible," she was her own devil's advocate, "I can't help but think that if something equal to Felix was achievable in another way, then people wouldn't go through the rigmarole of obtaining liquid luck." It was expensive to purchase, illegal in a variety of organised activities, and took a skilled potioneer six months to brew. Josephine was a firm believer in new discoveries, but it felt to her as though this one would have already been made, should an alternative exist. unless, of course, it was simply the concept of liquid luck that was itself so appealing, with its shimmering, golden appearance and reputation for success.

"I suppose," she hesitated, trying to find another way around her wall of logic, "that you could find something more specific if you - a person - had a certain use in mind," she said, choosing her words carefully because she didn't want to sound like she was prying into Arthur's personal business... she had no idea why he was so interested in the concept of brewing luck in the first place.

0 Josephine Motion seconded. 0 Josephine 0 5

Arthur

September 12, 2013 9:25 PM

And passed. Any ideas for implementation? by Arthur

“Most likely, yes,” Arthur agreed, not with pleasure, when Josephine pointed out that the odds were good someone else had already thought of all this and tested it. “There’s a great deal to be said for the arrogance of those who can afford to make or obtain this relatively easily, but perhaps not that much, if there were an easier alternative.”

He supposed, as a reasonably well-off eighteen-year-old who thought he might walk into something no one else had thought of at any time, that he was highly qualified to comment on the arrogance of his social class in general, insofar as anyone was to make broad generalizations. The Careys were more pragmatic, he thought, than many families, and did not generally tolerate members who wasted money out of laziness very well, but he thought most people he knew would go for the real thing over a close substitution if they could. Everyone wanted quality, if they could get it; to do otherwise made no sense, unless it was to make an over-elaborate point. Arthur could see the aesthetic appeal of that kind of thing, but it was not efficient.

He laughed, amused by her care to specify the general ‘you,’ when Josephine proposed specific purpose uses. “Personally, I was hoping to rule the world,” he said. “Or at least become a very successful gambler.” He shrugged slightly. “However, I believe I’m more likely to simply enjoy the pleasures of learning complex material and engaging in this theoretical exercise of ours.”

Learning things for their own sake was certainly, in his view, a valid approach to things. It was impossible to say when he might need any given thing – to understand another concept, to get out of a tight corner, to feel superior to someone who did not know the given information….There were a lot of uses for information. He had had some he didn’t care for, but he couldn’t remember ever seeing any he thought wasn’t worth having.

“What sort of specific purposes did you have in mind? Or ideas for obtaining them?” That this question might be considered intrusive never occurred to him; he thought of things all the time which he had no intention of putting into practice and so assumed Josephine had merely had a number of ideas unrelated to her experience, good for picking over to see how workable they might or might not be.

0 Arthur And passed. Any ideas for implementation? 0 Arthur 0 5

Josephine

September 24, 2013 4:02 PM

Sorry, I'm all out. by Josephine

"Oh, well, if you rule the world, I'd like to think my contribution would earn me control of maybe one of the smaller countries," she replied in good humor to what was probably a joke (although with Arthur Carey she couldn't be entirely certain). After a split-second's contemplation, spurred by his comment about gambling, she added, "Could I have Monaco? Then I could really put any luck enhancers to the test."

Her answer to his theoretical questions was arguably more sensible. Josephine had not prepared an example in her mind, but she managed to retrieve an adequate scenario without pausing too long to think. "Okay, how about an interview, for instance," she first suggested the scenario. "While liquid luck and Wit-Sharpening potions might help you out, your needs might be better served with something that makes you instantly likable, and able to perform under pressure without stressing out." Of course, for these alternatives to be preferable to the coveted Felix Felicis, they would have to be equally effective yet more simple to brew, or simply more affordable. Admitting that its implications would undoubtedly be narrower that the cure-for-all liquid luck, Josephine would concede that whoever put the time and effort into researching plausible alternatives for a variety of scenarios evidently had very little other constraint on his time.

"It would be interesting to see whether anything viable can be construed," she commented, now giving up all pretense of completing any of her own studying, and pushing her books to one side. "Personally I would be tempted to disregard anything that might incite feelings of euphoria; even with unlimited time and fortune that's still a major downfall of Felix." Though on the other hand, if the substitute potions were used frequently with great success, then a similar dependency on them was an undeniable risk. Yet one couldn't go through life avoiding any instances that might potentially be addictive; where was the fun in that? Josephine herself was presently void of any substance-related vices, but she would indulge in a certain variety of fiction for a cheap thrill, and she would postulate that an adrenaline junky posed great threats to their person than those who enjoyed recreational drugs.

0 Josephine Sorry, I'm all out. 0 Josephine 0 5

Arthur

September 28, 2013 11:09 AM

Plan B, then: Making it up as we go along by Arthur

“Monaco?” Arthur asked, surprised that was the first small country which would come to mind. “Well, if you assisted in the testing processes, you could have France, too.” It would only make sense, he thought, when taking over the world and handing out principalities to followers and assistants, to lump the two together; otherwise, being the sort of amoral, unscrupulous individual who would assist in overthrowing the world’s governments and status quo in the first place, whoever got France would most likely just snap up Monaco soon enough. United, the two would be able to keep in balance with Spain and the German states, probably, limiting the chances they would decide to turn on their benefactor, if they were against each other, too….

He decided to stop there before he spent too much time analyzing the relative strengths and weaknesses of the magical traditions of Germany and Spain. For one thing, staring off into space for extended interludes tended to make people think you were a little mad, and for another, Arthur did not particularly wish to rule the world, anyway. It sounded like a long, arduous task for which the reward was treacherous subordinates and a massive headache even under the best of circumstances. Not to mention how, once one person broke the rules that way, it became much easier for other people to get the same idea, and if one of them, rather than just doing it for power’s own sake, or out of rather sociopathic curiosity to see if it could be done, was a true believer in something….

Besides, it was such a cliché. Smart, powerful people becoming Dark wizards and wanting to rule the world. Arthur still vaguely dreamed of a society of the smartest and most powerful, a quiet invisible hand moving events in its own favor, but that wasn’t the same thing at all as setting himself up as some kind of god and killing everybody. That was just a slightly old-fashioned business start-up.

He thought through Josephine’s interview scenario. “If one cultivated a great talent for Legilimency, without being known to have done so, rapidly analyzing both what the interviewer wanted to see and how you are actually doing could be helpful…though honestly, slipping something similar to a mild love potion into the interviewer’s drink might be more straightforward,” he said. “If a temporary measure is to lead to a permanent position. That would be the problem with Felix Felicis in that situation as well – it’s only temporary, and you’d have to keep up on your own from then on in a longer-term situation. The negative effects would take over if one attempted to take it daily, I suspect.” Plus, at least one of the user accounts had mentioned luck growing progressively worse as the potion wore off, so he could only imagine what would happen to someone using it every morning. Eventually, he suspected they’d be murdered in their sleep.

Arthur nodded his agreement about euphoria. “I agree – far too distracting. It could cause more trouble than it might be worth in an experimental stage, if one overdid that side of things.” Even if something worked out in a moment, there would always be after. "If someone needed one, a milder way of boosting confidence would be necessary - not Cheering Charms, certainly." Contendedness and a sense of well-being were not very good for interacting with others, he thought, especially in a serious situation. "The trick really does seem to be making several things happen at once in very exact proportions, in a way other than the one already known but both difficult and dangerous...Must be some way." He scribbled down some numbers, thinking arithmetical variables might play in, but not able to pin down the thought. "I am strongly reminded of the first time I attempted to work out a solution to a Golpalott's Third Law problem," he remarked. "The initial attempt may work, but will be far too complicated and look ridiculous once I really get the hang of it."

0 Arthur Plan B, then: Making it up as we go along 0 Arthur 0 5