#//don't mind me v casually coming up with some basic stuff concerning how Ch@os 3nergy works in rune magic on the fly

[reflections-of-mobius]

Ten's eyes narrowed, following Phineas' finger to read the text. Latin and English... American English. So there were distinctions... English she knew- Ten knew every language on Mobius- but this Latin was entirely unfamiliar...and the text itself wasn't written in anything she could read, between Phineas' distinction and the symbols meant to be in 'English'. At least the numbers seemed the same, so that was a small blessing.

"...I wouldn't know on that part of Mobius culture...but I do know that we don't carve things into our currency..." But why was beyond her. It wasn't like carving into a ring was dangerous, righ--- oh. The release of Chaos Energy.. "...probably too dangerous, if I had to guess."

E Pluribus Unum.... She'd be keeping that phrase in mind. Out of many, one...

"There's a lot at every stage of life." Teen....those between adulthood and childhood. A soft chuckle rumbled in her throat at the very notion. That hadn't been around the last time. "But I can't really speak to anyone's experience...not with my lack of it, despite my age." All she knew was fear- she could understand the terror of others on a primal level, knew it inside-and-out...and yet... There was no substance to it. No depth. It was like looking at a dictionary, but every other definition was missing. A million dots, no connection.

"I don't mind sharing a few of the runes I know at all." Ten smiled lightly. It seemed Phineas was going to actually heed her warning, and not act too rashly- that was all she could hope for. "Runes come in many shapes and sizes...but they all branch from a few simple depictions." Ten raised her hand- a symbol slowly darkening the air. Resting just above her palm, an image nearly 'sank' into existence- pulling in the light around it, as black as the deepest night, with only the faintest traces of dark-purple sparks.

It nearly looked like a lightning bolt, surrounded by a small spinning octagon that twitched and writhed- a lightning bolt that was bleeding into the air around it, sucking in and collapsing. The image darkened and warped- before fracturing with a small crack!, and splintering into nothing but dust, which quickly dissipated.

"....that was the basic rune for power...without a thought behind it, it just disappears- but if you were to think of it like...let's say, electricity..." The symbol flickered into existence once again- this time glowing a rather bright purple, illuminating the darkness it created in the air. Ten shook her hand, effectively obliterating the new rune, just as she had the first. "...you can make electricity from your own Chaos Energy....though in your case, you would probably need a catalyst- like a drawing or etching, which would draw from the air around you instead of you."

"That's a good way to think of it, yeah." Honoring by always remembering, it was a decent explanation. Boy he never thought he would have to think so much about money and why it was made the way it was, but now he made a mental note to look into it a little more once he got home. He was always willing to learn a little more than what school offered.

As for the language, that was easy. "It's English. American English, that is. Except for this part here," he pointed to one coin, and the string of text it bore. "This E Pluribus Unum, is actually Latin. We tend to...borrow sayings from other languages back home. It means 'out of many, one.'"

With that he put the coins back in his pocket, raising a brow at Ten's phrasing but shrugging. "The days when Candace joins us are always fun, but she doesn't do that a lot. I guess I can't blame her, she is a teenager and once you hit that age you seem to have a lot of stuff going on."

That's what it seemed like to the boy anyway. But maybe he would understand better when he was that age. He wasn't worried about it, but did take a small step back when Ten changed her size like that. He wasn't scared, just wanted to give her some space. But his eyes never left that ring.

To think something so small was so important.

"You do have a point," the boy mused, staring at the ring before reaching out for it. "It's like the snowball effect. One thing, no matter how small, can get bigger and gain more traction the more it moves or the longer it's around. But don't worry, we're always careful. Especially with things like this."

When they didn't know what it could do, that was. Slowly but surely his fingers wrapped around the golden ring, his eyes widening just slightly at it. He felt like he had a major breakthrough in his hands, and it was all he could do not to look too giddy about the fact.

And the offer to see some of the ruins wasn't really helping the fact.

"I would like that a lot, actually. As long as you're okay with it that is."