LL&H: Sleeping interest

**Thirteen** · Feb 11th, 2026 03:18 PM

The threads of Fate thrummed around that phrase, resonating with importance in the Enchantress' mind. This was definitely not just a headache.

And then there was the radio. No power, yet it operates? How? Mages were curious creatures when it came to the weird and unusual, and Thirteen was no different. At this point, she hadn't taken note of Salem, and she might not yet. Her attention was focused in front of her. Jinx was watching her back, and he'd seen the Warlock recently and knew he was tagged as 'safe.'

"That's wild. My dad ran a repair shop back home. He was always fixin' shit up. Electronics, washers, even cars and bikes. He taught me some things." This was true. Especially when it came to her own motorcycle. It had been her father's, and he'd taken great care of it and passed it on to his daughter, along with his mechanical skills.

Her phone put away, the redhead was leaning forward now, palms on the table, looking closer at the strange radio. "There is such a thing as batteryless radios. They're powered by radiowaves. I wonder if this one's been modded for that. Could be what's causin' your headache." Batteryless radios was a real thing, in fact, but Thirteen wasn't counting on that being the case here. Something was sparking her Fate Sight, and she immediately connected the woman's headache with the weird radio.

Her lack of Forces knowledge was pissing her off, internally. The Arcanum wasn't the forte of any Acanthus and it really would have been handy in this moment. First things first, though. Secure the radio, then find some way to examine it in private.

"It's a curious wee thing, eh? How about I take it off your hands? I'd like to fiddle with it. There's a budget, aye." And if the radio really was the cause of the headaches, hopefully the woman would be willing to sell it for a reasonable price. The sudden jerking of the resaler's hand, and her worsening headache, was concerning, however. "You need some help? Shall I fetch a medic?" She was no healer, but she had a bit of understanding of the Life Arcanum. Unfortunately, the only spell that might tell her what's wrong with the other woman required ritual casting. Not something Thirteen could do here. She felt ill-prepared for this and that deeply annoyed her.

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**Salem** · Feb 12th, 2026 12:10 AM

Salem hmmms softly at the pattern that starts to unfold before his eyes. Groups of people moving about in sync. That certainly seems odd and when that haze of a resonance starts to show itself to his gaze, he curses under his breath. The Warlock starts to walk again, moving towards his Libertine companion with a bit more step. As he walks, he slips his phone from his pocket, slipping it up to his ear as he checks to make sure he's not too near anyone else as he starts to whisper in the hidden tongue, trying to strengthen his coming magic with some words of knowing. If anyone were to see or hear him, he would just seem as if he were talking on his phone in some foreign tongue.

Gain Skill (Occult) (1 success)

He feels quite a bit of static as the magic on his own pattern interferes with his casting but he feels the spell coming into form on his pattern, letting him tap into the collective unconscious of the world, bolstering his knowledge of the unknown. He 'ends' his phone call, slipping his phone back into his pocket as he makes his way further into the flea market stalls.

That haze is annoying, potentially dangerous and he needs to find out more about it. He moves towards the stall that Thirteen is at but stops at a nearby empty bench, as long as it's not one of the ones he noticed being affected before. He'll have a seat and pull out his earbuds and phone, slipping one earbud in and turning the volume off as he pulls up a random video, using that as coverage for the brow-furrowing stare that accompanies study and scrutinizing the hazy resonance in this area.

Scrutiny (6 successes)

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**ReubanBrightwood** · Feb 12th, 2026 10:31 AM

Regaining the semblance on control the repair lady lightly waves off the offer of medical help. "No no its just coming in waves is all worse here and there then fades again. It's just a headache." Now aware of it those words warp Thirteens perceptions again seeming louder, almost visible to her, confirming beyond doubt it was not a headache. Gritting here teeth again as another stab of pain clearly runs through her head before receding again. "A history of old tech then, that's neat not many about these." Rubbing her head not with fresh pain but more just looking for relief from whatever was going on.

Gesturing with her screwdriver at the radio's antenna. "Could be something like, but that's older tech then I tend to see. More like Antiques at this point." The portable device clearly had electronic components. "I could take the ariel off and see what happens?" An easy enough task it should just unscrew after all. But Thirteen had made an offer which is a decent incentive to not continue with further dismantling. "You want to buy a busted radio?" More surprise then anything else. "I mean its your money, what's the offer?" Such a thing certainly did not have a set price.

Salem is quite right even if sleepers or anything supernatural hears high speech it sounds like gibberish but might still draw odd glances as one it does here one or two people looking over at the quiet sounds of forge in sounding language, it still stands out in crowd where one or two languages hold dominance. Worse would be if another awakened over heard, they would know in an instant and it would out Salem an sure as casting vulgar magic. But with the interface of contagion making his efforts all the harder he takes the risk and in the moment it pays off as his skill with understanding of and interpreting the occult increases.

Using this and and making an effort to disguise the reason for the intense and demanding focus scrutiny requires he is able to pierce the first, easiest to read layer of the light mist ... frequency ... is what comes to him. The resonance reads like a frequency.

**Thirteen** · Feb 12th, 2026 11:25 AM

"Alright, if you say so." The redhead nodded at the refusal for medical help, having expected as much. Some people could be shot and not want to make a big deal of it.

Waves of pain, another important note. Something weird was definitely happening. But was it this old radio? It had to be connected, somehow. Believing it was a coincidence wouldn't give her anything to work with.

Good, the repair woman had stopped in her dismantling. If there was something supernatural about it, Thirteen didn't want it accidentally unleashed here. And now the asking for an offer.

An offer was made. Quite reasonable, for a broken radio, but nothing that would raise eyebrows.

Unseen Senses tingled like goosebumps across her body. Magic was happening nearby. A glance over the shoulder. There was Salem, sitting on a bench. He'd cast something, but she didn't know what. At least it wasn't anything vulgar. She looked back to the repair woman without a word.

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**Salem** · Feb 13th, 2026 08:27 PM

Salem furrows his brow in concentration as he studies the resonance. The first bit of information that he discerns from the haze in the area perks up an eyebrow on the Warlock. Frequency...? It brings a thought to mind that the haze might be caused by something else. He notes the Enchanter looking towards him, likely drawn by his willworking. It’s going to happen again. He releases the last of his protective ritual for the time, dropping his protective armor as he attempts to tap into the sole other Arcanum he has knowledge of, at the moment.

Spellcasting (failure)

Static rumbles through his mind as his other active spells provide too much distraction for the spell to take form. He huffs and gives a glance around to make sure that there’s some of that haze within actual sight of his body before he settles his drone sight back into his head before releasing the spell entirely. With a sizeable portion of spells no longer effecting him, he tries again to open his gaze to another mage sight.

Read Matrices (3 successes)

With his eyes opened to the mysteries of the world of forces and energies around him, he takes a moment to look around at the resonance around him, trying to spot anything obvious before he’ll begin to scrutinize again in a moment.

Look around? (Failure)

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**ReubanBrightwood** · Feb 14th, 2026 05:09 PM

A little haggling interrupted by not one but two more waves of headache induced groans before a price favourable to the Scottish lass is agreed upon and the repair lady sets about shutting up shop for the day clearly feeling whatever was afflicting her did not seem likely to pass soon. Even so the act of boxing up contents, tools and pulling down her stall would take some time particularly at reduced efficiency so she is likely to still be around or a bit.

Salem just a reminder that repeating a failed action incurs a cumulative -1 penalty! Removing the dice for the second cast means read matrices is at potency 2

With one failed attempt to bring his will to bare Salem cleans out his pattern until the contagion is tolerable, the static interference abated. Only to bring it back with this new spell. And the awareness of forces is as always overwhelming at first. The kinetic energy of every in motion, the thermal energy given off by every heat source the gravitational potential energy of everything towards centres of mass, the chemical energy stored in various electronic devices the sound the light there is just so much. Among it all the resonance he looks for is hard to pick out, but he can it sits like light trails of mist, although a source still eludes him.

**Thirteen** · Feb 14th, 2026 05:53 PM

That went smoother than she usually expected, but Thirteen wasn't complaining. The mysterious radio was secured. She stored the thing in her backpack, removing her helmet to make room. "Get yourself some rest," she told the repair woman as she handed over the cash. With that exchange over with, the Acanthus turned and moved away a short distance.

She didn't speak to Salem, but she did stand there and watch him do whatever it was he was doing. Motorcycle helmet dangling from one hand, her expression was skeptical.

The Enchantress did glance back at the repair woman, curious if a little distance from the radio made any difference to her headaches.

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**Salem** · Feb 15th, 2026 10:17 PM

When he first got that glimpse into this aspect of the Aether, it's always a bit jarring. Light and sound always tend to become more intense as well as the ability to perceive heat and even gravity. Everything on the electromagnetic spectrum and then some. He looks around, marvelling for a moment at the sights before he glances towards Thirteen. He gives the smallest of nods before turning back to the matter at hand. He tries to lean his head in such a way to make it seem less obvious to the crowd around him, still trying to hide behind his phone a bit but with his drone sight gone, it's not as easy and the stare of scrutinizing a resonance is an intense thing, easily seen by those who know it..

Scrutinize (7 successes)

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**ReubanBrightwood** · Yesterday 01:30 PM

Thirteen gets an acknowledging hand wave an a small appreciative smile at her well wishes as the repair lady continues the pack down of her shop. Now if it is due to the radio being taken out of her immediate proximity or some other factor having changed she shows no outwardly obvious signs of increased or sudden pain. Jinx's continued observations promote a sense of safety as the spirit's ariel observations do not pick up on anyone meeting the descriptions of the hunters of Seer he knows to eb a threat.

Salem new sight does make it easier to delve into this resonance, it is for lack of a better term more complete with this mage sense up. Scrutiny is an intense action but staring intently off into space is not immediately alarming to the average person , only as he so rightly knows to the awakened of the world who know what such a look means.

Unfortunately even with this better suited spell he is only able to peel back the first layer of complexity continuing to get a read of ... Frequency ... It is possible that's all there is the resonance is not particularly strong or vibrant.

**Thirteen** · Yesterday 02:28 PM

Scrutiny. Thirteen had seen the expression before: that deep, intense staring. She'd done it herself, often feeling like she was going cross-eyed in the process.

So Salem was studying something. So be it. She could wait. At least he wasn't doing it straight into someone's face and weirding them out, like someone else she could name but won't.

Hard to tell if the repair woman was better or not. The Acanthus couldn't watch her closely enough without seeming like a creep. Instead, she just waited for the Warlock to finish his observations. If he was catching onto whatever she herself had stumbled on, they'd probably need to compare notes shortly.

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Spells and Stats

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-02-11 22:29:55	Salem rolls 5 to Gnosis + Mind + HS -2 Contagion (10 Again)	6, 2, 1, 6, 9	1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-02-11 23:06:53	[05] Salem rolls 5 to Scrutiny (Int3 + Occult3 - 1) (10 Again)	8, 10, 7, 6, 5, 10, 3	3 successes
2026-02-11 23:06:53	[04] Salem rolls 5 to Scrutiny (Int3 + Occult3 - 1) (10 Again)	1, 2, 4, 6, 9	1 success
2026-02-11 23:06:53	[03] Salem rolls 5 to Scrutiny (Int3 + Occult3 - 1) (10 Again)	1, 7, 2, 8, 4	1 success
2026-02-11 23:06:53	[02] Salem rolls 5 to Scrutiny (Int3 + Occult3 - 1) (10 Again)	6, 4, 6, 5, 3	failure
2026-02-11 23:06:53	[01] Salem rolls 5 to Scrutiny (Int3 + Occult3 - 1) (10 Again)	6, 8, 2, 2, 4	1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-02-13 19:03:19	Salem rolls 3 to Gnosis + Forces - 2 Contagion (10 Again)	4, 7, 7	failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-02-13 19:10:17	Salem rolls 5 to Gnosis + Forces (10 Again)	8, 10, 6, 1, 3, 9	3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-02-13 19:15:07	Salem rolls 6 to Perception (10 Again)	1, 2, 4, 6, 6, 7	failure

LL&H: Sleeping interest

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