tushanshu_logs | March; catchall; open!

Entry tags:

March; catchall; open!

Characters: Raine Sage, China Sorrows, and anyone else who feels like dropping by! [open]
Date: March, mostly the first half but perhaps others. Specified in threads if necessary.
Location: all around - Healer's Guild, various sectors.
Situation: many, lots.
Warnings/Rating: Obligatory mention of China doing that thing she does, aka magical mental/emotional influence. Any others will be added as necessary.

[A] Raine, Healer's Guild, any time - The Guild has been working almost as intended, lately, and Raine's been kept busy by it. Especially during the first half of the month, with the Dust problems caused by the palace demolition, the building is often found full of people with afflictions both serious and not so serious. Raine's relatively easy to get a hold of here, especially for those having a Dust problem, as she's had some limited success clearing it from some people's systems; if she's not immediately evident in the main hall then one of the kedan healers there can usually track her down, with varying degrees of agreeability about it.

[B] Raine, Earth Sector - With her artes seeing heavy use again, and her efficiency back where it had been when she'd first been summoned to Keeliai, Raine judged that it would be worth her time to streamline them as much as possible. There was a park she'd liked in Earth, back when she'd lived there, and some days she found her way there and took an hour or two to run tests and experiment with the way she shaped her mana. Though she chose a place a little out of the way, there wasn't much she could do about the light show, and anyone passing by would see her with staff in hand, light alternately flaring at her fingertips or spinning beneath her in a circle of intricate shapes. Close enough, and she could be overheard, frowning slightly and talking to herself, not being particularly cautious about her volume. "...No, that won't work that way, the mana has to go through the intermediary stages. If only I had Master Boltzman's work to reference..."

---

[C] China, Fire Sector - China had been working steadily at customizing her residence in the Fire sector to her specifications, and while much of the inside was done, one of the wards she wanted to emplace would be significantly more useful on the outside. The weather beginning to clear offered as good an opportunity as any, and in the early evening she took her tools and began work on the outside of the front door, nonchalant, as if this was something anyone would be doing. Her work was intricate symbols, precise and delicate, graven and inked with black, and one segment had already been completed and faded into the door as if it had never been there in the first place.

[D] China, marketplaces - China had developed a follower. In some contexts she would be concerned by this, but the kedan trailing her was mostly harmless, judging by the infatuated look and the one declaration of love she'd overheard. An annoyance-- but one she could put up with for now, and not worth the trouble to dislodge.

She stopped at a stand with fine jewelry, trying to ignore the nearby hoverer, and gave the necklaces some consideration before her expression turned faintly exasperated. She was already wearing one, after all, a fine if simple piece that was somewhat less than optional if she wanted to remain living. Even so, there was one longer chain that caught her attention as a worthwhile acquisition, and a negotiation in price ensued that, if anyone nearby was paying attention, would sound rather atypical. "I couldn't possibly accept it for such a low price, you're being far too generous..."

---

[ooc stuff; if none of these suit or you want something more specific or if I've forgotten something we meant to do or if you just want to plot for fun and profit, drop me a pm or a plurk at

makaricrow. anything in this month is fair game and I'll backtag basically forever, or backdate if you need it, etc.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jackie's Snake duties took him all over Keeliai, but he did like to spend a lot of time in the Earth sector. This was where he'd lived, after all, until they'd woken up and a year had passed. He avoided his old home, though; too many memories of Rio'era lay there, and he had been doing pretty well about not getting morose over the hatchlings lately.

So when he saw Raine practicing her artes in a park, he smiled. "Need a test subject?" he called out, approaching her.

Raine glanced over with light in her hands. "I certainly hope your work hasn't gotten you injured again," she said, but the sternness of it was mitigated by the way she let the magic fade and, a second after, smiled. She'd patch him up anyway, of course, but might consider having Words with his employer. "Perhaps. I've been experimenting with ways to increase my efficiency. I doubt I'll approach the level Malicant's boon granted me without another century at least of work, but I've had some limited success, and it may be worth testing on subjects other than myself."

Jackie shrugged. "Nah, I'm gettin' better at not getting hit." He smiled back at her - oh good, she wasn't cross with him for interrupting.

He shook his head a little, bemused. To hear her talk about a century of life as if it was nothing...! Jackie'd barely gotten a quarter of the way through one before his untimely end.

"I guess I volunteer, then."

As much as she'd prefer 'not in a job that comes with a high probability of getting hit,' Raine recognized that she would have to settle for this for now. At any rate, Jackie was an adult and theoretically responsible for himself and capable of making his own choices; there was only so much Raine could do, save heal him when necessary. "That's good," she said. "Remember you have a force field, or should--" And here she stopped to fix him with a slightly suspicious look. "Have you practiced at all?"

Theoretically, Raine.

Jackie looked a little guilty. "I've been trying to," he said. "Sometimes I don't remember in time that I can...y'know. Do that. I thought for a while I couldn't after I lost the...the thingy, that Big Ugly gave to me."

She was painfully aware that theory did not always apply in practicality.

"What was your boon?" Raine asked, temporarily sidetracked by that idea. She'd taught him that technique simply because it was ubiquitous, could be mastered by humans no matter their degree of elven blood. Weaker without an exsphere, certainly, but no less viable. In a moment she added, "It took a while for most of us to become reflexive. It will simply take practice, that's all."

Jackie frowned a little. "I got to copy other people's powers. Like I accidentally copied some of Solomon's weird shadow magic thing one time, he and Bakura had to help me out of it." He crossed his arms. "I...don't think I'd take it back, if someone tried to give it to me, y'know? I mean, I miss bein' able to do cool stuff, that shit was great, but not if it meant I'd use it to attack my friends."

Then he smiles a little wearily. "Good to know I'm not totally hopeless."

Ah, yes, Solomon's weird shadow magic. Raine's breath hissed between her teeth as she considered that, hoping Jackie had only gotten the power itself and not the sheer magnitude, but even so apparently nothing too unrecoverable had resulted. "Necromancy can be a dangerous thing even for its users," she noted. "It's good you had help." And she returned the smile, sympathetic; as useful as her own had been, that really was too high a price.

"You're not hopeless," she added, a moment after. Jackie actually tried, and therefore was not a hopeless pupil.

Jackie turned his weary smile on her, then, and shrugged, loath to believe it. "That's nice to hear," he said, "even if it's kinda...hard to get my head around." He'd been going between feeling like a real somebody in the Snakes, mildly star-struck (and terrified) by Yunxu's attention, and realizing that gang work, no matter how much he wanted to go legit, seemed to be all he was good for. Why not embrace it?

"Thanks, though," he said. "For believing in me."

That weary smile, the easy shrugging-off of the idea, made Raine a little sad for the past that had led Jackie to this. "My most 'hopeless' student nevertheless managed to save our world," she said, after a brief collection of her thoughts. Intent, with the hope that she was communicating exactly how serious she was. "Not without help, no, but that doesn't make his merits any less. You try, Jackie, and you have the potential to do good things. I know long-held beliefs can be hard to change, but 'hopeless' at this point is simply inaccurate."

And, of course, he was her friend, and a worthwhile human being in and of himself even without that, but those were separate issues. No less important, but Raine was only going to tackle one of those at a time.

Jackie's smile got a little more genuine. The praise was unusual, and it...it felt nice, to be recognized, at least for the fact that he was trying. Being told that he had potential...it made him feel good.

"Well," he said, "you're right, I guess, but...I'm not gonna get any better if I don't practice, right?" He shrugged. "That's what my old sifu used to say. Usually while knockin' me on my ass, heh."

At this Raine smiled back, and it had a sharp sort of edge to it. She was pleased, yes. But also ready and willing to 'encourage' him to practice. "That's correct. Your -- teacher -- and mine had very similar approaches." She was inferring the meaning from the context, there, with only the briefest of hesitations around the assumption. "Practice before it's necessary, so that when it is, you have the tool available."

Oh, good, things were back to normal. He liked that sharp-edged smile of hers - it meant that she wasn't about to start mothering him or anything. Raine treated him like an equal, which was very strange for him, since she was clearly so superior.

"Good advice," he said, nodding. "That's also something he used to tell me. I shoulda listened more."

"But you will now, won't you?" Raine said, somewhat pointedly. Some people needed to learn lessons the hard way, it was true, but Jackie... Jackie had died in his world, and really didn't need to be told that. With any luck, that would have sunk in and she would not need to press the issue. "Well, since you're here, you may choose to practice with me, or to be a-- 'test subject.'" She hefted her staff meaningfully.

"Yeah," Jackie said, sounding chagrined, and ducked his head. "I'll listen now. I don't really have an excuse not to, anyway."

He thought for a minute. "Depends. What kind of artes are you going to be testing? Nothing that'll hurt, I hope."

"Heh. No, nothing that will hurt." Raine smiled, a little wry. Jackie didn't really have the background for why that would be a very bad idea. "The only artes I have that can, I wouldn't direct at someone I liked. It would be passive artes, buffs or status alterations." Almost the same as they had reviewed last time, in fact, though if that was what he chose she had slightly different plans.

"Good to know," he said, the same wry spin to his words. "But yeah, okay. I'll be your guinea pig. And you already know me, so you shouldn't have to like...adjust anything, or something."

No, he still didn't quite know how her artes worked. Were they a one-size-fits-all thing?

For the most part they were a one-size-fits-all sort of thing, but Raine didn't see fit to correct any assumptions about needing to adjust things; it was also true that the more familiar she was with someone, the easier it was to orient on them mid-combat. "All right," Raine said, nodding. "Let's see. Before anything else-- there's something I've been trying to refine..."

She stopped there, readjusted her train of thought. "I imagine the technical details will mean little to you," she said, not unkindly, only editing to prevent a waste of breath and patience on both their parts. "Inspect Magic." She cast, then, but apart from the familiar circle of light around her Jackie would see little sign of the arte other than a very faint warmth and the way Raine tilted her head, gaze distant, as if she was paying attention to something not quite visible to him.

"Fascinating," she said at length, focusing on Jackie again. "I wouldn't have expected those elements for you. Unfortunately, that arte is still more or less useless as a medical diagnostic."

When the arte was cast, Jackie glanced at the ground around him, trying to get a good look at what exactly was going on, but he didn't have the slightest clue.

"Inspect Magic?" he said, trying to make it a joke. "I coulda told you I don't have any anymore. What kind of elements?"

She waved a hand, dismissing the question of semantics. "It's simply an analysis arte. Useful in combat, but I'm attempting to make it slightly more detailed. It only tells me if someone is injured and how severe it is, however, nothing specific. It also provides elemental weaknesses and resistances."

Much more useful for nailing down what element to use mid-combat, but Raine saw much less actual fighting these days.

"A slight resistance to both water and fire," Raine added, in response to the second question. "Unusual."

That takes Jackie by surprise. "No kidding? I wouldn't have thought I was resistant to anything." He'd tried not to think about magic after finding out the boons had been a scam, just an attempt by Malicant to root around in the Foreigners' heads and use them to attack their fellows. "I wonder why water and fire."

Raine lifted her shoulders in a little shrug. "It happens. I see it more often in mages who specialize in an element-- they simply become so used to it that it begins to be part of them. I have a minor resistance to light, for instance. But the why in your case necessarily can't be that, so I would assume it's somehow related to the experiences you had in your world. Something that impacted you strongly. The same is likely the case with the elements you're a little more susceptible to. Does that make sense?"

He thought for a moment. "I guess," he said. "I mean, I spent my whole life on an island, so maybe that's why the water. And it was hot there, so maybe that's why the fire?" He shrugged, at an utter loss.

"...what elements am I weak to? Just so I know, right."

"That may be it," Raine agreed, neutral. It was always hard to say, but environmental factors might certainly play a part. "As to the elements you have a-- a weakness to, there are three: earth, darkness, and ice. That's also a little atypical; usually people and monsters have ice and water on the same side of things. Any sea monster, for instance, will typically resist both, and many of Triet's local monsters are weak to both." Monster had no particular stigma attached to it; she used it as simply a catchall term.

"Earth." A sort of shadow flitted across Jackie's face; not a literal one, but the sort that indicates a bad memory being forced back down before he's all smiles again. "Ice, I get. I can't handle the cold, man, I nearly froze my ass off this past winter!" He laughed.

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