Immediately, but there isn't a notable drop off in strength until three day have passed. I normally refresh mine once a week. It entirely depends on how powerful your monster is, Alina.
[It was the whole reason bone wards were preferred by most necromancers. Bone held thanergy long-term. Blood did not. She debated with herself for a moment.] Back on the Mithraeum when Harrowhark was being hunted by another lyctor that specialized in creating anti-thanergy spaces, to keep him out of her room - my room, actually - we needed fresh wards daily. But that's against someone specialized in creating thanergy voids. Extremely specialized in bypassing and breaking wards down.
[ she looks down at her hands. picks at her nails for a moment, then takes to rubbing the place in her palm where a scar used to be. where a scar hasn't been for months, now. ]
I'm sure he's studied them. I'm also sure they won't be the same as yours. But ... [ she lifts her chin, looks ianthe dead in the eyes and admits, ] Considering he made something like the Void in Ravka, I would say pretty powerful.
[And there were the last few pieces Ianthe had been missing into place. Because Ianthe knew who Wanda roomed with. Alina could see them slotting into place right there in Ianthe's eyes with some of the other things she'd picked up. Like Alina's admittance that the General had shadow powers yet she never once mentioned any attempt by him to remove the Fold. Well now it made sense. Most of it, at least.
She stared at Alina for a long second.]
And you're fucking him. Alright.
[And with that statement with absolutely zero judgement in her expression or voice, Ianthe moved on from Alina's choice of bed partners. The goal was always worth the cost; that must have been a price Alina had to pay for her goal. Or she was just fucking stupid, but that was Ianthe's own jealousy talking and she'd been suppressing that for months.]
Wanda's magic works on a very different principle than mine does; we fought while I was transformed. Kirigan might learn the basis of how wards work by studying them, but that doesn't make him capable of undoing them. Especially the wards of a lyctor.
[Golden phalanges twitched as Ianthe resisted the urge to reach for Alina"s hand. No touching. No necromancy, she reminded herself.]
For you, Alina, I will apply the wards as often as you wish. I am not convinced you will need it done more than once a week, but whatever makes you feel the safest.
[ there's something so simple and almost helpless about how she says it. a baring of naivete and vulnerability that is so unlike the person alina starkov has become. ]
Not anymore. That's why —
[ she is full of excuses, of justifications. but to offer a real explanation of the circumstance threatens to turn the fire behind her eyes to water. she swallows, bites down on her lip and chokes on the vulnerability and rids herself of it.
then pretends that it's her doing ianthe a favor, and not her hiding away something she would regret opening to discussion. ]
I'm sorry. We don't have to do this now. You have so much more to worry about than me.
No, I don't. Not right now, and the other shit can wait. I thought I ruined this. Us. [And that was unacceptable for so many unvoiced reasons.]
I'm not going to fight your battles for you, but this I'm here. And I can and will do this for you.
[The phalanges flexed in a moment of hesitation before offering the bone hand, palm up, for Alina. Ianthe wasn't sure which one of them the gesture was for. Did it even matter?]
[ there it is. the wetness in her voice. she shakes her head, fighting against the sorrowful twist of her expression. ]
You didn't ruin anything. I wish that you had.
[ she is nothing if not skilled in picking people who know how to ruin what she gives them, whose betrayals should be ruinous, but whom she keeps clinging to despite it.
she smothers herself, palm over mouth, wiping past her cheeks as she looks away from ianthe's hand. the deep breath she tries to draw just shakes and fades into something thin and insubstantial. she can't hold it. ]
[Her hand hung there for a moment before she let it drop. So much for that. It hurt, but she deserved it. She knew she did.
... and now she didn't know what to do aside from what she said she'd do. Be there. So she leaned forward to rest her arms on her knees and turned her gaze to the street ahead of them as Alina cried and Ianthe swallowed the impulse to hold her.
No touching. No necromancy. Fuck, she hated this.]
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no subject
[ she nods, steeling herself a little, drawing careful breaths. ]
How quickly do they start to deteriorate?
no subject
[It was the whole reason bone wards were preferred by most necromancers. Bone held thanergy long-term. Blood did not. She debated with herself for a moment.] Back on the Mithraeum when Harrowhark was being hunted by another lyctor that specialized in creating anti-thanergy spaces, to keep him out of her room - my room, actually - we needed fresh wards daily. But that's against someone specialized in creating thanergy voids. Extremely specialized in bypassing and breaking wards down.
no subject
[ she looks down at her hands. picks at her nails for a moment, then takes to rubbing the place in her palm where a scar used to be. where a scar hasn't been for months, now. ]
I'm sure he's studied them. I'm also sure they won't be the same as yours. But ... [ she lifts her chin, looks ianthe dead in the eyes and admits, ] Considering he made something like the Void in Ravka, I would say pretty powerful.
no subject
She stared at Alina for a long second.]
And you're fucking him. Alright.
[And with that statement with absolutely zero judgement in her expression or voice, Ianthe moved on from Alina's choice of bed partners. The goal was always worth the cost; that must have been a price Alina had to pay for her goal. Or she was just fucking stupid, but that was Ianthe's own jealousy talking and she'd been suppressing that for months.]
Wanda's magic works on a very different principle than mine does; we fought while I was transformed. Kirigan might learn the basis of how wards work by studying them, but that doesn't make him capable of undoing them. Especially the wards of a lyctor.
[Golden phalanges twitched as Ianthe resisted the urge to reach for Alina"s hand. No touching. No necromancy, she reminded herself.]
For you, Alina, I will apply the wards as often as you wish. I am not convinced you will need it done more than once a week, but whatever makes you feel the safest.
no subject
[ there's something so simple and almost helpless about how she says it. a baring of naivete and vulnerability that is so unlike the person alina starkov has become. ]
Not anymore. That's why —
[ she is full of excuses, of justifications. but to offer a real explanation of the circumstance threatens to turn the fire behind her eyes to water. she swallows, bites down on her lip and chokes on the vulnerability and rids herself of it.
then pretends that it's her doing ianthe a favor, and not her hiding away something she would regret opening to discussion. ]
I'm sorry. We don't have to do this now. You have so much more to worry about than me.
no subject
I'm not going to fight your battles for you, but this I'm here. And I can and will do this for you.
[The phalanges flexed in a moment of hesitation before offering the bone hand, palm up, for Alina. Ianthe wasn't sure which one of them the gesture was for. Did it even matter?]
no subject
[ there it is. the wetness in her voice. she shakes her head, fighting against the sorrowful twist of her expression. ]
You didn't ruin anything. I wish that you had.
[ she is nothing if not skilled in picking people who know how to ruin what she gives them, whose betrayals should be ruinous, but whom she keeps clinging to despite it.
she smothers herself, palm over mouth, wiping past her cheeks as she looks away from ianthe's hand. the deep breath she tries to draw just shakes and fades into something thin and insubstantial. she can't hold it. ]
no subject
... and now she didn't know what to do aside from what she said she'd do. Be there. So she leaned forward to rest her arms on her knees and turned her gaze to the street ahead of them as Alina cried and Ianthe swallowed the impulse to hold her.
No touching. No necromancy. Fuck, she hated this.]