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[edelstein]

@edelstein

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[edelstein]

[But tying herself into knots is what she does best.]

It doesn't bother me if you keep that mindset. In fact I'm sure it'll work in my favor some day.

[Especially since he can't taste. Most poisons and medicines that can be used for killing when overdosed are bitter, after all.]

[smokedout]

[He snorts.]

If you kill me I'll take the L. No one's managed so far.

[Bold words for someone who, up until recently, was fully convinced he was fated to die before his 26th birthday. He's slowly starting to accept that he won't, or at least that it would be very unlikely with it coming up so soon.]

So you work with poisons, right? No way you're just cutting off supply lines and hoping for the best.

[edelstein]

"Work with"? No, I think you could say my poison knowledge just happens to be a secondary result of my magecraft.

[There are many ways to kill someone discreetly. Poison just happens to be a classic choice. Traditional.]

[smokedout]

Magecraft... that's new.

[He doesn't engage with fantasy media, so he's always a little confused by terminology past 'wizards' and 'magic'. But he's making a note of it.]

So, what, magical alchemy?

[She's got his interest, and it comes with far less blinking. His gaze is not darting around to other people as much, either.]

[edelstein]

By the era that I live in true Magic has been nearly extinct. The power of Mystery diluted by the advances of science. Because of that what we mages practice is actually an intersection of the two.

[Tohsaka settles against the backrest of her chair. Her hand carefully sways her glass in a circular motion as if to mix the contents.]

[smokedout]

[Dodger nods slowly, pausing to drink his whiskey. Or more accurately, drinking half of it in one gulp.]

I know someone else who does the same sort of thing. So I think I get it.

[A pause.]

Magic isn't real in my world. So I'm still... new to it. Getting used to everything people can do.

[edelstein]

[Tohsaka smiles once more. Something smug and likely infuriating.]

Another point in my favor, then!

[smokedout]

[Jokes on you, Rin, that smug look is very endearing to him. Dodger relaxes a bit.]

Then I won't buy anything off of you. I've got better sources that are too naive to screw me over.

[He doesn't actually think John is naive - not in that way, at least. But it's a little harder to wrap his head around the man just having genuinely good intentions.]

[edelstein]

[Smugness shifts to displeasure. A crease forms at her brow as the waiter sets a plate of jianjiao between them.]

Toma was right, you are stupid. You don't think my business has a reputation to keep?

[smokedout]

[He tips his head.]

I think your reputation wouldn't be affected by killing me, specifically.

[He grabs one of the jianjiao with his fingers and eats it. They're definitely still too hot, but that doesn't affect him in the slightest.]

[edelstein]

[ . . . ]

At the rate this is going I won't be surprised if you end up paying me to find ways to kill you since death isn't permanent here. I would, however, like to assert that I don't want my reputation to be "the woman who kills customers she doesn't like".

[smokedout]

You saw what happened on the network. I'm just aware of where I'm at.

[He is hurting very deeply over the thing with Esikko, but he also figures it isn't anyone's problem how he's feeling about it. So that's where he's leaving it.]

Anyway, I've got sources for most of what I need. I'm just learning more about you.

[edelstein]

[Kind of... she was just skimming it really. Rin is simply thankful that "J"s assetment of her as 'prey' is roughly 2yrs old now. Almost impossible to get to without a lot of patience.]

Nothing worth learning. I typically don't get myself involved in the problems of other people. Mages are isolationist by nature.

[smokedout]

[His head tips to the other side, like a dog trying to suss something out.]

Silent observers are more useful than people that get involved in other people's shit.

[Which... he historically is incredibly bad at not getting involved. But he does try to keep people at arm's length, at least, as much as he can. He thinks people who can actually work in the shadows are aspirational.]

Why the isolation? Wouldn't people want to get their hands on magic?

[edelstein]

While the ideal mage only concerns themselves with research and advancing their craft the fact of the matter is that we're all in competition. For resources, for political status, for pride. Mages, who value power over humanity, will kill each other to gain access to spiritually powerful lands, ancient items that enhance their craft, or simply remove a rival in a similar field of practice.

[With that explained Rin takes a sip of her drink before grabbing a pair of chopsticks to begin enjoying her appetizer.]

[smokedout]

Mm. Isolating from each other, not humans.

[His habit of categorizing 'humans' as 'anyone with no powers whatsoever' is cropping up again.]

Sounds a whole lot like crab mentality.

[His thoughts start moving a lot slower once Rin starts eating, though. Because Dodger is very fixated on watching people eat, and he completely stops glancing around to just focus all of his attention on the jianjiao moving from the plate to her lips, and then her lips moving while she chews.]

[edelstein]

[Eating in front of company she doesn't trust is an act just like anything else. It needs to be immaculate, and reserved. The fried dumpling is dipped into sauce, and delicately placed into her mouth. The free hand cups under her movements should any dripping happen. Tohsaka's soft lips close around the wooden utensils before they pull away. The tips leave slightly damp from both the sauce and her mouth. Chewing is polite; quiet and closed mouthed. She only speaks after swallowing.]

Common people aren't allowed to learn of magecraft. The Mages Association has made it clear that any human who does must be "taken care of". Otherwise the mage who slipped up will be executed. To them the power of Mystery is diluted the more the truth of it is revealed, and to protect it's power is to keep knowledge of it as limited as possible.

[smokedout]

[About half of Dodger's brain is still following. This is another world where powers can be learned or gained - that seems to be the norm for magic. And aside from magic becoming more rare, it sounds like the kind of world he'd been striving for back home. One where humans get put in their fucking place.

It still sounds like crab mentality, though. He can't imagine that level of in-fighting from mutants.]

Uh-huh.

[The other half of his brain is entirely being taken up by the sight of Rin eating. Polite, proper, and therefore taking longer and giving him more to watch. He can appreciate Chobe eating things like a stray dog just as much, but they're just different experiences.]

[edelstein]

I don't really have to agree with their rules or systems, though. I simply need to keep them from finding out if I break any, and excel to the point they're unable to consider disposing of me.

[Another small sip of her drink is taken before she eats her second jianjiao. Uncaring if the convesration falls off or dies entirely. If he's barely engaging she doesn't need to reveal more.]

[smokedout]

[Excel to the point they're unable to consider disposing of me. That also gets locked away, another thing they both have in common. Dodger prides himself on being useful, because there are many reasons for people to want him dead. Especially the people he works with.

Dodger readjusts himself as casually as he can, crossing his legs while he eats another jianjiao.]

Likely what everyone else is doing, too. People only do as much as they're forced to.

[edelstein]

If that's your assumption I have no reason to correct it.

[Rin's true self, her desires and ideals, are nearly antithetical to her training as a mage. Yet even if she had a choice to do anything else there would be nothing she could choose that would bring her fulfillment. She excels in the field, she enjoys learning new things and solving the puzzles that come with being a mage, and with her tendency to give up on things she's not immediately good at leaves little else. Expectation and tradition prevent her from truly loving magehood, but her uprbinging and personality make her unable to decouple from it. She's locked into a life of constant struggle between discarding her humanity and being unable to snuff it out entirely.]

[smokedout]

[He wrinkles his nose, and purposefully drops his gaze down to his whiskey so he can actually focus.]

It's not an assumption, it's observation. People have passions and interests, they follow those without any guidance. Leave an artist in a room with art supplies and they'll make art, even if there's no one to show it to and nothing to force them. But if you want people to behave, and uphold a system, you have to make them. And you have to keep coming back and checking in different ways, because they'll find ways to skirt around the checks and balances.

[edelstein]

Maybe that's the only way you can see it, but I wouldn't say I'm forced. Like I said: I don't do anything I don't want to do.

[For now Rin has decided to stop eating. Because of her image she's careful about regulating what she eats. Not because she wants to stay skinny, but more about being careful about building the type of muscle that easily "hides" unless you're using it. Even her physical power is masked by the soft layer of fat that makes up her feminine outline. In a way she's lucky to be a girl. Able to hide types of strength and to be underestimated based on misconception and prejudice.]

[smokedout]

Whatever you say.

[He's hitting the limit of how much he can argue, anyway - it isn't his world, things might legitimately be different there. He's been reading enough philosophy lately from worlds with only humans that he's starting to accept that as an option.

He gestures toward the dumplings.]

Keep eating. Otherwise you're wasting food.

[edelstein]

I don't want to ruin my appetite. They brought the plate to share, and you may finish the rest. I'm petite, after all.

[If she has too much she'll have to spend more time at the gym... she doesn't want that because it would increase the likelihood of her being spotted at the odd hours she keeps.]