(Untitled)

[nita_callahan]

The door opens and admits Nita, along with a brief sight of one of the Grand Central tracks and associated noise.

She barely gives the bar a glance, heading instead for a booth and pulling out a notebook (apparently from thin air). Flopping onto the bench, she starts flipping through the notebook and finally settles on a few pagesHer concentration

Comments

[oneman_onevote]

"Working?" says a quiet voice from a little way behind her.

Havelock's not actually lurking in the shadows. He was on his way outside to try another hour's training, but seeing Nita made him pause. It has been some time, after all.

[oneman_onevote]

Havelock glances up silently, and waits to let her finish her train of thought.

Book?

[nita_callahan]

"The Book of Night with Moon," she explains. "It's -- it looks like a book, in my universe, anyway. It's written in the Speech, the language I use for spellwork. Everything in the Universe is described in it. Every so often, wizards read from it, and that helps keep the Universe real, the way it's described in the Book."

She rests her chin on her hand. "A colleague told me today that there've been some wizards working with it, putting it into an electronic format. But the work's going really slowly, because information keeps getting screwed up -- going missing, or moving to place it's not supposed to be, stuff like that." A wry look. "And when we're talking about information that keeps the Universe the way it's supposed to be, that's extremely disturbing."

[oneman_onevote]

"I imagine so," he says softly, fingertip tapping on 'balance' again.

[nita_callahan]

"Especially if It's involved," she adds, mostly to herself, and blows out a frustrated breath.

"Let me see that again."

[oneman_onevote]

Havelock slides it over.

"Assuming the worst, that the Lone Power and this Book are connected in some way?" he asks after a moment.

[nita_callahan]

She nods, tucking her hair back and flipping between the pages.

Old and new . . . chalk dust showing where you've been, and sterile floors showing no tracks . . . It makes more and more sense.

[oneman_onevote]

He holds the silence to allow her to think, pondering quietly himself.

Laughter. Mockery? Because something is too late, or unseen?

[nita_callahan]

After a minute, she sits back, still frowning.

"It fits. They're describing what's going on, warnings." She makes a face. "Of course, They're so freaking oblique that they didn't make sense until now . . ."

[oneman_onevote]

"Yes, an itemised list would simply be too easy," Havelock remarks.

[nita_callahan]

This time she makes the face at him. "Yeah, yeah."

[oneman_onevote]

He smiles slightly at her.

"You seem to manage."

[nita_callahan]

"I do okay. They figure it's worth more if you figure things out on your own."

[oneman_onevote]

"Or perhaps they do not always know themselves," Havelock suggests idly.

He always was a fan of doing things himself.

[nita_callahan]

She looks thoughtful. "True. They're not omniscient -- especially not the ones living in the physical world, like the Whisperer."

[oneman_onevote]

He nods.

The Disc equivalent would most likely be the Gods... and really, they're just like very powerful humans with less drive. Omniscient? Not really, and even if they were, they would still be unlikely to care.