“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” Curt muttered.
“She definitely doesn’t have to take a shot,” Sora said.
“I’m bored,” Gracie said. “Someone put on some music.”
From:Storer.Ellsbeth
To:Rawlins DAA
Subject:my thesis Proposal
Hi Professor,
It is probably not a good thing that I am writing this email at 2:36 in the morning, but I have just returned home from a party at our friend Gracie’s house and I have had more than one drink and so I can’t help myself. I figure now is as good a time as any because I’m probably already behind on my thesis work, aren’tI?
So, my idea. Writ magic. I know the first step is writing/creating the procedure for a successful ritual, seeing as most of the historical rituals have been destroyed under the statute. But once I’m there, I think the questions I’ll focus my thesis on are more biological: Does the writ magic bypass the central nervous system and cause a reaction entirely in the peripheral nervous system? If I can come up with an answer to that, we’d be well on our way to potentially groundbreaking developments in advancement of the treatment of paralysis patients.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, a successful ritual. I was able to find the Gorky readings online, and strangely, also the full text ofArcanus Mentisonline for free. But I couldn’t findDiviner’s TouchorWrit MagicOR any Wentz—online OR in the library. If you had those, I would love to borrow them (or read them at your house, if you were wary of lending out centuries-old books to a random graduate student).
I would be more nervous about the fact that I just invited myself over to your house if I hadn’t had multiple whiskey Cokes with nothing but half a travel pack of almonds for dinner. I also don’t feel nervous about telling you that I may or may not have successfully performed a fire thaumaturgy on the overpriced candles in Gracie’s loft without having ever practiced the incantation before. Of course, because doing any rituals outside the supervision of the Practicum is illegal, that’s only something I might have done hypothetically. Definitely not on my first try, creatinga field so dense that it lit all of the candles in a five-yard radius almost instantaneously.
I’m rambling. It’s late. I’m possibly drunk. I probably shouldn’t send this email but I’m going to anyway, and I probably shouldn’t tell you that I wore a short skirt that time we met at the coffee shop on purpose because I wanted to see what you would do if I put my bare leg against yours. Turns out, nothing. Shame. It’s boring having a crush on a professor when he’s well behaved. At least you’re willing to do writ magic with me. That’s something.
x
Ellsbeth
From:Rawlins.T.M.
To:Storer.Ellsbeth
Subject: Re:my thesis Proposal
Ms. Storer,
As you see, I have taken the liberty of switching to my personal email account to safeguard against the unwanted reading of what should be a private correspondence. For future reference: The contents of any university email account are wholly available to the administration. Hopefully in the course of your academic career, you will learn a measure of discretion. And I would point you toward a vital resource, available on any email platform: the “Save Draft” function. With this incredible tool, you can pour your heart out at any absurd hour of the night, then return to your rambling thoughts in the clear light of day to revise or, even better, delete entirely.
Of course, proper utilization requires some measure of self-control, which, it is increasingly apparent, is not your strong suit.
But in the spirit of generosity and letting you (slightly) off the proverbial hook, I will confide that this knowledge was hard-won on my part, as I have sent no shortage of ill-advised middle-of-the-night missives myself, for reasons both professional and personal. Just ask Dean Lennox. (Actually, for both our sakes, please don’t.)
I’ll turn now to the academic context of your email, which is not only coherent but fairly cogent, given the circumstances of its writing. Taking a biological approach to the study of writ magic is not entirely groundbreaking, but it is a potentially powerful direction, provided that you are willing to expand your horizons; there are decades of medical research you can draw upon, which have been incorporated into other arcane fields, but not this one, since it has sat so long untouched.
My challenge to you would be this: to design a ritual that can test and tease out the biological effects of writ magic upon the nervous system of its subject. For this purpose, you will find Wentz indispensable; while his notions of neuroscience wereprimitive, his thoughts on the mind-body connection were far ahead of their time. I’m certain that we can find an occasion for you to come borrow a volume from my personal collection, and given your proclivity for drunken fire-summoning, probably best that you read it here so I can ensure that you take proper care of the manuscript.
On that note: I have been called many pejoratives by members of this department, students and faculty alike, but “well behaved” has never been one of them. I suspect, in time, you will find that it is hardly appropriate to my character, and my conduct in The Frayed Page owed nothing to conventions of propriety. I was quite aware of and not displeased by the length of your skirt and the movement of your leg; but I was also aware, as you’ve admitted, that you merely wanted to see what would happen—and I am not particularly keen on beingtested.Save your tests for your research.
A word of advice, for both life and arcane mechanicals: Proceed with the courage of your convictions, or not at all.
Sincerely,
Rawlins
From:Storer.Ellsbeth
To:Rawlins.T.M.
Subject: Re: Re:my thesis Proposal
