tushanshu_logs | and it's harder than you'd think [February, catchall, open]

Entry tags:

and it's harder than you'd think [February, catchall, open]

Characters: Raine Sage and open!
Date: The vast majority of February.
Location: multiple, including the healers' guild, her apartment in earth, and the dojo
Situation: many, lots
Warnings/Rating: general suicide content warning for the thread with Kratos; no additional warnings yet

A | snowfall, anywhere | open

Despite their trips to Flanoir, and the fact that there is very little Raine hasn’t seen in one way or another, snow is still something she sees infrequently enough to be fascinated by it.

It’s making life difficult for some people, of course, and she’s too practical a person not to be concerned for the chill and for people unused to snow caught out in it, but all the same occasionally when there’s snow falling Raine stops out in the open air, head tilted back and one hand extended to catch flakes.

B | memory-share, Earth | open

Somewhere around the eighth, Raine is heading to the markets in Earth, choosing to walk from her home rather than take the rheaird. It’s impossible sometimes not to remember what it’s like with certain people accompanying her, but these days it sparks wistfulness more than anything else.

All the same, when she bumps into someone and reaches to steady them, there’s the flash of a memory. Walking with someone taller, discussing earnestly the physics of shadows-- or a pastoral village, sunny and brilliant, with a boy who looks much like Raine beside her.

[if you would like a specific memory these are not the only ones on offer, just lmk and I’ll cook something up in response to your tagin. <3]

C | Healers’ Guild, Water | open

One of the first things Raine does when it becomes clear that the snow will be continuing to happen is make up a quick refresher course on hypothermia, its signs, and the primary easy treatments. She goes back over this with her healers, her volunteers, and anyone else who will sit still long enough and expresses any interest.

Apart from that things are mostly as usual at the Guild, though there are fewer Foreigners than there were and Raine is in charge of scheduling again. She isn’t commonly immediately at the front, but whoever’s looking after the entrance can usually find her within a few minutes, whether it’s in her office or the deeper laboratory she’s co-opted for her own.

D | Bakura’s dojo, Wood | closed

This has been put off by one thing or another long enough. With Bakura’s assurance that Zorc’s presence has receded for the time being, and her ka a more present murmur at her ears when she returns to the idea, Raine goes to see Bakura.

She estimates, at this point, that she has at least an eighty-five percent chance of success. It’s significantly better than even. When she makes herself known in the apartment linked to the dojo, it’s early morning, before most people will be there looking for instruction or practice space.

There is no fruit basket to bring this time; but there is a fresh if lonely breakfast pastry for him.

[ooc; want something else? just want to plot? drop me a line here or at

makaricrow and let's get something happening.]

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Sometime just after the middle of the month, shortly after talking to Midii, Fai finds a spare afternoon to go exploring the city by himself. Kurogane is off working and Fai is already done at the Hotel for the day, so he won't be missed anywhere. It's a good chance to see if he can hear anything about the kids, and he's curious about this "magic guild" Midii mentioned over the network.

Of course, he doesn't ask specifically for the "magic guild." Instead he asks for Raine, the name given to him in connection with it, and he's unanimously ushered toward the Water District. Further inquiries lead him to a specific building--although when he gets inside, it looks more like a clinic than anything.

The person at the front desk asks if he needs anything, or if he needs to be directed somewhere; Fai hesitates, his hands stuffed inside the pockets of the long, skinny coat he's wearing, and he turns partially back toward the doors. This doesn't seem like any sort of magic guild he can imagine, although he can feel magic from various points in the building.

...oh, what the hell. "Someone told me I could find Raine here?"

This clears the mildly bemused expression the kedan behind the front desk is wearing, and she nods, giving Fai directions back to Raine's office. It isn't entirely unusual for a variety of Foreigners to show up at the guild looking for Raine, after all.

The office is through the doors into the first long hallway of the Guild, and some few doors down on the left, and the door is slightly ajar-- which, as the woman mentioned, means Raine is easily disturbed at the moment, and not engaged in anything immediately vital.

She glances up for the presence of the new Foreigner. "What can I help you with?" she inquires.

"Ah, hello!" Fai stands just outside the doorway and waves, a friendly grin on his face. When in doubt, smiling is usually enough to smooth things over with unfamiliar people in an unfamiliar world.

(Kurogane could still stand to learn a thing or two about it.)

"I'm very sorry to disturb you at work--I probably should have called ahead, but I'm not entirely familiar with this world's technology quite yet. I was talking to Midii on the network about magic, and I had a few questions, and she gave me your name. She mentioned something about a 'magic guild'...?"

Friendly's a good start. "Come in," Raine says, herself standing and coming around the desk to greet the new person. "I take it you're a recent arrival."

Mention of a 'magic guild' has her frowning for a moment, trying to figure out how Midii might have come to that conclusion; but then, it doesn't seem to her like Midii likes magic all that much, so perhaps that's how the mistake was made. "This is the Healers' Guild," Raine provides after a moment. "I myself am a mage and a scholar, and versed in more things than simply healing, but the purpose of this building is to collect and teach both mundane and magical methods of healing, as well as to aid those who come to us injured and sick."

"Yes, that's right." Fai slips in through the crack in the door, barely having to nudge it at all. He's still taller than Raine by a good amount but he's so thin a strong breeze would probably blow him away. "We only just arrived a few days ago."

His smile doesn't slip when Raine corrects the misunderstanding; in fact, he laughs. "Well, that does explain a few things," he replies sunnily. "I thought this building seemed a bit more like a clinic than I was expecting."

That Raine styles herself as a mage and a scholar as well as a healer is intriguing, but that doesn't excuse the fact that he's bothering her at work. Work that very specifically doesn't have anything to do with Fai. "In that case, I should let you get back to what you were doing. I don't want to stand in the way of the work you're doing here. Thank you for taking the time to see me." He nods politely and moves to slip back through the door.

She gives him a quick looking-over, having to wonder if it's a natural slenderness or if he's significantly underfed. "We?" she inquires, curiously.

She isn't quite expecting Fai to try to slip out. "A moment, please," Raine requests, as he makes to go. "I have some interest in studying other magics. If you have questions about the local magic, or are willing to share details of your own, I'd appreciate the chance to speak with you at length."

Although she'll more than readily acknowledge he's one of the better-mannered Foreigners she's met.

He pauses in the doorway, then turns back with a smile. "Well, I'm certainly not doing much else at the moment. If it's not too much of a bother for you, I wouldn't mind. It's been a while since I've been able to chat with another magician."

Fai doesn't presume to look around for a seat just yet, just stands near the door with his hands in his pockets.

"Ah, yes. My travelling companion arrived in this world shortly before I did. You may have noticed him on the network the other day--Mister Tall, Dark and Grumpy." He grins. "He was asking about our other companions and someone to help with his prosthetic arm."

Tall, dark, and grumpy certainly sums up the man Raine saw. She nods with a faint smile. "Yes, I saw. There was little I could help with that someone else hadn't already, but he had the attention of several people who are good with technology."

His friend will be in good hands.

"It isn't a bother," Raine says then, tilting her head at him. He's easy with the smiles, and while it doesn't necessarily put her on edge, it's something she pays attention to. "I have at least a little time to talk, and if it proves fruitful then I'll likely request more of your time at a later date. What's your name?"

"I'm just glad there might be someone here who can help him. He didn't say anything to me about it not working right, the big idiot." Despite the name-calling and the indignant pout he puts on, he still sounds fond as he's talking about the other man.

The query about his name prompts Fai to drop his face into the palm of one hand for a moment with a little laugh. "I'm sorry, I've completely forgotten my manners. I'm Fai. Fai Flourite. And~~ you must be Raine!" He laughs again, this time at himself for the odd circumstances of their meeting, since he obviously knows her name already. "And I'm guessing you're not originally from this world either?"

Raine's well familiar with that sort of fondness. It softens her smile, faint as it is. "It's fortunate that he's getting help, then." Robotics aren't her area of expertise, or she would have offered.

Fai. All right. "Raine Sage," she offers, a full name for a full name. Though she isn't sure what's to laugh at there, and her expression slides into something more neutrally curious. "No, I'm not. My own world is called Aselia; I've been in this one for nearly four years now. Is your world called Earth, or something else?" She wouldn't be surprised at Earth, but it would be nice to hear about others.

"Four years?" Fai echoes. The smile never leaves his face but he pales at that, looking almost panicked beneath the smile. Fortunately Raine's question comes shortly after and he tries to focus on that, instead of the possibility of being stuck in this world for years without the kids.

"'Earth'? No, I came from a world called Celes." Not exactly a fun topic of conversation either, all things considered. Fai plows ahead, taking the opportunity to try to change the subject back to something less thorny. "The reason I was asking about magic is that I'm curious if anyone's ever tried to leave this world?"

He's read the information Kurogane found for them. This world sucks people in, throws them back seemingly at random. There's no rhyme or reason or control to it.

"I realize dimensional magic is rare and difficult, but I'm curious if anyone's ever tried it here? And what happened, if they did?"

Edited (typo) 2017-02-25 10:25 (UTC)

She's well used to reading people who would prefer not to be, and that skill has sharpened again with the presence of two of the cagiest friends from her home. Raine catches something of the edge of panic. "Have you been informed of the time differential?" she inquires first. "Wherever you were, whatever you were doing, it will be waiting for you; you'll someday be returned to the same moment you left."

It comforts some. It doesn't comfort others. Raine moves on to the other issues.

"To the best of my knowledge, there have been very few with that scale of power here, and those who have had the drive to leave haven't managed it," she says thoughtfully. "There's been some significant research into the local planes of existence, most specifically the Dreaming, but that doesn't seem to lead directly to a way home, only a shadow of it. I take it you wish to depart rapidly." This last is not difficult to deduce.

"I have, yes." Fai hesitates for a moment, then shakes his head. "I've never heard of anything like it. It shouldn't be possible. The amount of power it would take for this kind of time distortion... I can't even begin to imagine." There's no sense in repeating himself, but it shouldn't be possible.

There's a pause as he presses his lips together, too engaged in thought to worry about smiling for the moment. "It's not that I need to leave, specifically, and certainly not to go home. We need to find our companions. We've been separated from the children before and I had hoped to avoid a repeat of that situation."

He perks up a little at the mention of research. "Oh? Is this research accessible to anyone?"

"It seems like, on some level, it isn't all of us that's here," Raine says reflectively, splaying one hand over her heart. "My hypothesis is that it's the various pieces of one's soul which are drawn to this world, and our bodies remain where they were, hence how we can remain somewhat out of time. Unfortunately, without a broader metaphysical view, there's really no way to prove or disprove that yet."

Science. She watches Fai for a moment, observing the brief flatness. "I do understand that," she offers, tentatively. "My younger brother remains in my own world. It's... still strange, without him."

Research perks her up just the same. "That depends on what languages you can read," Raine says. "Many people here can read the language English, which bears a large similarity to the common tongue in my own world. My notes are in a mixture of angelic and elven, however, and I haven't finished going through my husband's; it won't be so simple as simply handing the research over, I'm afraid. Still, I'm happy to go through it with you when there's the opportunity, or if your magic allows for the translation of the written word."

Raine's hypothesis reminds Fai immediately of Outo. "We've seen something like that before--a separation of body and mind, at least. There was no time displacement with it, but it's... an interesting theory. And it's well-established that time flows differently between worlds. If time were to flow astonishingly fast in this world, maybe...?" He'll have to sit down and digest the idea a bit more, but... maybe it's not unthinkable.

The smile he puts on is somewhat chastised. "I suppose everyone here is missing someone, in one way or another. Were you traveling when you were pulled here, or...?"

The language barrier is at least an old, familiar problem. "I read Celesian, Valerian, and an embarrassingly small amount of Nihongo," Fai admits with a rueful smile. "It's possible there may be some overlap of languages though; we've seen it before. More often with Nihongo than with my own languages, but I can make my grumpy puppy translate for me if it comes to that. A translation charm would be easy enough, but... I'm having a bit of trouble with my magic lately."

Time had flowed much the same between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla; but then, the two of them had been intrinsically linked. Likely it wouldn't even have been possible to make time flow differently. Raine nods thoughtfully. "Perhaps. You'd still need to account for the variances in other worlds, I think. There are some people who have been here, left, and returned again; I don't know how many are left now, but you may gain some insight from speaking to them."

She shakes her head in answer to his question. "We had been, but the moment I was taken from was -- or seemed to be, I suppose -- the end of our journey."

It's still a little strange to think it's been four years since that moment, since she saw the Tree begin to grow. Raine moves on to the issue of languages. "Your puppy translates?" she inquires, bemused, trying to think if this is a difficulty with idioms or not. Surely it must be. "--I can show you the script, anyway. Perhaps you'll recognize something."

She goes to the shelf, pulls one of the books from it and opens to a middle page, coming back to show Fai. There's a sketch of something circular and faintly runic, accompanied by several lines of two distinct scripts: one round and geometrically precise, the other longer, more slanted and looping.

"Travelling between worlds...?" It seems unlikely, given Raine's apparent confession that she doesn't have the kind of power for dimensional travel, but one never knows. For all that Fai's little family is an oddity, they aren't the only dimensional travelers he's ever encountered. Kamui and Subaru, Fuuma, Seishirou.... It's possible.

He laughs. "My very tall, grumpy swordsman of a puppy. Kurogane. I think he's given up trying to teach me Nihongo, and I'm sure he'd hate to have to waste part of a day reading boring magical theory to me, but it all depends on what your research looks like I suppose."

While Raine is retrieving something from the bookshelf, Fai waits patiently with his hands in the pockets of his coat again. The runic circle in the sketch isn't enough like his own magic to be immediately recognizable, but it sparks a certain kind of familiarity. Working primarily with runic magic himself, it's the kind of thing he'd love to study more. And the script itself--

"This one." Fai pulls a hand out of his pocket to tap the tip of one long finger beside the slanted text. "It's... it's not exactly Celesian, but I can make a little of it out. At the very least the alphabet is extremely close."

Raine shakes her head. "Not traveling, but being returned to their own worlds and then drawn here again." She won't bring her own world's odd nature into this yet, while they're still sorting out baselines. "Kurogane, hm? Do you think he'd be amenable to doing some translations if compensated for his time?" She still means to leave records in as many languages as possible.

When Fai taps the page she follows the gesture curiously, then glances back up at Fai. "Hm. That's elven, though modern rather than ancient-- there's been some change to the way it's written and pronounced in the last four thousand years or so. Do you have the time to go over this further?" She would assume he does, since he's fairly new to this world, but she'd prefer not to make the assumption without being certain. "I wonder if you'd recognize ancient elven better. Is Celes your world, or your country?"

Fai laughs. "He'd hate it, actually. He doesn't like things that don't have to do with smacking something with a sword. A 'pointless waste of time' is probably what he'd call it. After calling me an idiot for even suggesting it. But...." He hums for a moment, then shrugs and smiles. "If it's important, I can probably convince him. Especially if there's compensation."

The word 'elven' isn't familiar at all, but Fai nods. "Of course. Whenever you have the time, since I sort of barged in on you without warning." He looks rueful at that, though it only lasts a moment before a mischievous twinkle sparks in his one good eye.

"As for Celes.... Yes."

"I'm attempting to leave records in as many languages as possible," Raine explains. "The Guild's budget isn't large, but I have some allocated for just such a purpose. I can't expect that I'll be here forever, after all, and I want to leave something that will benefit everyone who comes after."

At least she's used to being barged in on. "Perhaps we can arrange a suitable meeting time later," Raine says, thinking of some time that's not during her admittedly-long workday. "--your country composes the entire world? How large is it?" She's taken aback enough by this to forget what other questions she might have temporarily.

The ubiquitous smile turns thoughtful as Raine explains. It's a good idea, and he's actually been considering a translation project of his own one of these days. The two don't necessarily have the same root purpose, but they end up at the same place. He'll have to think about this some more. "I'll get him to agree to it. I'll just tell him it's for money," Fai says with a chuckle.

The chuckle turns into a full-on laugh as his answer neatly derails Raine's train of thought (as intended). "It did, yes. Although it wasn't as large as you might be imagining," he adds, shaking his head. "There are some worlds out there that are very small--only as large as a single country. That was Celes."

Kurogane would be able to tell how desperately fake this smile is. Thankfully he's not talking to Kurogane.

"It's that simple, then," Raine says wryly, not quite to Fai's chuckling but sharing something of the sentiment.

If only everything were so simple as offering money.

"Even a single country can be quite vast," she says after a moment's thought, not quite to lecturing but approaching it in tone. "In older days of our world, it was comprised of only two countries, and it's still quite significant in physical size." Population less so, but that will mend and grow.

Something about his smile is bothering her -- just a little -- but she can't quite tell why. Perhaps someone who knows him better could. Raine just proceeds as she is for the moment. "But you mean Celes was quite small?" she asks then, matching his tense automatically before realizing. "--was?"

There's nothing simple about the ninja, of course--Fai would be a fool to suggest otherwise--but about this... he doesn't think he's wrong. Magical research, translation for the sake of knowledge... persuading Kurogane to agree will probably go a lot smoother if Fai doesn't mention all of that.

"True," he admits. "Some of the countries and the worlds we've visited have been very large indeed. Celes was on the smaller side, yes."

He doesn't react to Raine's last question at all. Just smiles. "But you're right, I've taken up enough of your day already and I'm sure you have work to get back to. I'm working in the kitchen at the Midnight Hotel--I can make something for you one of these days, if you'd like to stop by?"

But science.

"I do, of course," Raine allows, "but I have several more questions for you. About your travels, and your magic..." About everything, really; it's rare to meet someone who's already cognizant of several worlds, and traveling between them is something both uncommon and fascinating.

And there's every chance she can learn something from him, as well.

"Something like lunch, then?" Raine says finally, with a nod. "Yes, all right-- that's kind of you. In the next couple of weeks?"

Lunch usually isn't quite as busy as dinner--too many kedan and Foreigners out and about in the city for work and unable to return for the meal--so this sounds like a good plan. Fai nods.

"Any day should be fine. Just let me know and I'll be ready."

He holds a hand out, an offer to shake. "It's been very nice to meet you!"

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ruinsprofessor - 2017-03-15 05:23 (UTC) - Expand

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