tushanshu_logs | and all the sinners, saints, and winners [September, catchall, OPEN]

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and all the sinners, saints, and winners [September, catchall, OPEN]

Characters: Raine Sage or China Sorrows, and you! [open]
Date: September
Location: assorted: notably, Healer’s Guild, Fire Sector, Earth Sector.
Situation: assorted, open-ended
Warnings/Rating: obligatory mention of China's magic, which can't help but come up; minor violence in the thread with Cain and China.

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Raine

A; open; the Guild; most mornings and afternoons;

As Raine is anticipating disaster, she spends more and more time at the Guild leading up to the Chihuelans’ presence. Even after they’re gone, she’ll be relatively easy to find here.

Sometimes she’ll be at the desk in the front hall, taking her turn handling people walking in the door like the rest of the healers and students. In such cases she usually has a book open in front of her, and is usually frowning. When she’s not immediately apparent, any of the kedan who also work there will be able to direct someone looking for Raine to her office, a small room deeper in the Guild, notably ornamented with an ever-increasing number of notebooks and a single extra chair.

She’ll often seem lost in thought; barring screaming and blood, it may take her a few moments to focus on the person in front of her.

B; open and/or Duke?; Earth Sector; pre-Chihuelans;

Some few early evenings, it's possible to find Raine in a small park a little ways from the place she and Solomon live; she often takes her practical arte work outside, when she has any in mind. Lately, though, she’s been taking these infrequent occasions more to just sit in peace-- it looks rather like she’s meditating, in fact, save perhaps for the pale glow around her hands.

Though her eyes are closed, she will look up as soon as anyone comes within twenty to thirty feet, focusing on the person as the glow fades. “Did you need something?”

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China

C; open; Fire Sector; most times of the month;

It’s not difficult to track down China Sorrows, if you’re putting your mind to it; she doesn’t make a secret of where she lives, and she stands out regardless. Most people in the area can direct the asker to the place where the too-beautiful Foreigner lives. In this case it’s in one of the nicer areas in Fire, a place she’s spent a good deal of time warding and is now almost entirely comfortable in.

Previously during the summer, she was doing work with sigils on the door, inscribing intricate designs in primarily circular patterns for a day or two. Those are all invisible now, leaving only unremarkable door and walls and windows.

It is still most advisable to knock.

D; open; College campus; specifically during the Chihuelan visit;

China does not manage inconspicuous well, but her network of informants is still not what it was. Thus, there are days when she’ll find herself a bench or a fountain’s edge or something equally useful to sit on, and watch the comings and goings from the College from one direction or another.

Not obviously, of course, she always has her head bent over some paper or book and she’s always arrayed in that elegantly artless way that suggests she just happens to be in the perfect light, but she hasn’t taken up a sudden interest in craftswork.

People stop to look at her, but most of them manage to restrain the urge to throw themselves at her feet. Once in a while someone stops to talk to her; if it’s not someone with a useful piece of information for her, China is much less inclined to smile.

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[ooc; so it looked like, overall, no specific starters were necessary, but if you want to plot or want something I have not produced drop me a pm or a plurk at

makaricrow. I'm always happy to adapt. c:]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Considering the fact that the Dead Men were something from home, there was a certain amount of familiarity in simply ascribing someone else to their likeness. Whether he approved of them or not, they seemed to get the job done and not all be crushed by the weight life put them under which was still more than he could say for many other groups who had participated in war. "I have no doubt," he said mildly.

That reaction was definitely worth the measured risk of mentioning what he had noticed. She was completely aware of her effect, whether she meant to do it or not, and was trying to gauge what exactly he had noticed. "There's an allure about you," he explained. There was no reason at this point to hide that he knew; Cain had confidence that even if she could control it, even if she had reason to try and use it against him, he could resist being compromised. "I noticed it during the fire, confirmed it when I met up with you here. The feelings aren't fake, but there's no way it's natural."

At least Kane, in turn, had told her something about what sort of person he was.

"Oh," China said, as if she had entirely forgotten. "That." But she smiled again anyway, despite that he was more or less wise to her tricks. It was a distinction not many made, and one she personally approved of. The source of the feelings did not make them any less real-- that was what made it such a useful little thing. And because he had made that distinction China conceded enough to give him the answer he was looking for without making him chase her in too many more circles. "That's included, yes."

How could wait.

"What of your own?" she wanted to know. "Since we're already on the topic." He had looked to heal exceptionally quickly back then, and the logical conclusion from where she sat was magic.

Edited 2015-09-23 07:54 (UTC)

Aware and exceedingly comfortable in what that pull gave her, then. Cain wasn't the type to judge how people got by, whether by honest or dirty means, manipulation or working by the sweat of their brow. It was just another tick to who China was, and something to look out for when dealing with anyone acting on China's behalf. This was an insidious feeling and anyone living a regular lifespan would be hard pressed to even recognize her influence as something out of place. Although he wasn't sure the specifics on how linguistics tied into such a charm, Cain was willing to take that at face value. Confirmation was worth an answer in return.

"My what?" he asked, temporarily confused by the foreign idea of having magic. It wasn't something he was ashamed of admitting; not being able to use magic was completely normal and utterly expected within the mental image he had of himself. To think he should understand others would take him for real, genuine magic was like assuming he should have gills. It just wasn't how his world, and himself by relation, worked on a fundamental level. "My magic? I don't have any; it isn't a force wielded by the living where I'm from. We're incapable. What you saw was something else. Unfortunately for the both of us, I've never come to fully understand what it actually is."

Not exactly a clever, canny or coy answer, but he felt safe in giving it. His lack of understanding to his own being only meant that asking the right questions to receive useful insight would be more difficult than ever.

She'd startled him. It would have been a little nicer if she'd done that on purpose, but it was what it was. China wondered if he'd meant to tell her everything he had; it certainly sounded like he was implying the dead could wield magic, at the very least. In rather a different way than the obvious anomaly that was Skulduggery.

How interesting.

"Humour me, then," China said, and she waved one hand as if to urge him onward. "How much of it do you understand?"

There was plenty Cain could tell her about how magic worked in his world. He didn't have any of his own and never would due to the fact that he was apparently not slated to die for a literal eternity, but that didn't mean he didn't have a fair amount of experience in dealing with it. It was apparently the family trade, after all.

Humoring her wouldn't be very difficult. "Most of the practical side, but none of the philosophical," he said. "Would you like the demonstration? Promise it won't get messy."

"Promises, promises." But China leaned forward, resting her elbow on her knee and her chin on her closed fist. "By all means, go ahead. You have my curiosity. Try not to ruin my carpet."

There hadn't been much opportunity to observe in the middle of that fight, after all. Only to explain a very few things, and deflect Ravel's wind blasts again and again. And again. It had been rather distracting. Since Kane was offering, China wanted to know.

Her interest was obvious and Cain wasn't really put off by her warning. He shifted in his seat to remove the switchblade he kept in his pocket, not really anything useful except against some thugs and likely completely useless against someone with magic at the tip of her fingerprints. This was about the show.

Knife in his left hand, he held out his right and plunged it right in through the palm. He hissed, gritted his teeth. His healing didn't mean it didn't hurt, just that he was used to it, knew it would be over soon. Blood pooled out from his palm and dripped down the back of his hand and the blade peeking through. It trickled onto the carpet and Cain stopped watching his hand when he pulled it out.

He flexed it halfway and waited for the healing to begin. All in all, this was a relatively small injury and it didn't take long: the blood in his hand began to soak back in; the droplets on the blade fell as if being pulled by something stronger than mere gravity; and the blood on the carpet rippled, pooled back together, rose off the floor back where it had come from until the carpet only had the slightest of pink edges left that would wash out easily. Cain knew that from experience. It took a moment longer for the skin itself to come back together and when it finally did, the pain receded with it.

After all that was done, he held his hand out for China to observe more closely if she desired.

China tracked the knife in his hand, watching carefully, but didn't otherwise move, didn't bat an eyelash even when he stabbed himself. He was demonstrating a healing talent; of course he would have to hurt himself.

What did make her raise an eyebrow was the path of his blood. Her eyes narrowed a little, and she did not look particularly impressed. On the tip of her tongue was something in the vein of 'what did I just say, Kane,' complete with a dig at his intelligence level, but-- ah.

It wasn't healing. It was undoing. She watched, and was fascinated.

Eventually China straightened only enough to shift her weight from her elbow, leaned farther forward to take his hand when he offered. Gone was smiling pretension, in its wake only a sharp focus on the unmarked skin. "How unusual," she murmured.

He'd seen that change, the reprimand on the tip of her tongue, and merely smiled for it. Nothing obnoxious about it. It was interesting to see how tight a lid she kept on her reactions, and Cain was interested in seeing what exactly made that fluster push through. Pushing buttons was just what he did. As she examined his hand and presumably was left wanting for any trace of what had happened (was it possible there was a reaction no one in his world was sensitive to? Solomon was certainly able to tell something was off with him), he shifted his grip on the knife and held it out to her hilt first. Just in case she wanted to confirm; his confidence ought to help, too.

"One of a kind," he said with a patient tone that was a close cousin to amusement. Unusual didn't quite cover that.

"Aren't you just." The knife earned a repeat of the arched brow, but China took it from him, no hesitation about her. If Kane was outright offering, she was hardly going to say no. She turned his hand over in hers, keeping it rock-steady, and dragged the knife across the meat of his palm, the thick muscle at the base of his thumb, and she was not especially speedy about it. It was as much to see what he would stand for as to get a closer look at how speedily, exactly, he healed, and she bent her head over Kane's hand with a sharp focus in her blue, blue eyes.

His actions were, as they had been, another way to see what kind of person China was. Her lack of action was noted while he watched with eyes just as sharp on her as she was on his hand. All told, it was a relatively small cut and he had wondered if she might go for something more than he'd indicated to test him further. Maybe he was just used to people taking more than he wanted when it came to testing him. Naturally, his fingers twitched in the hold while the incision was made but Cain reacted no further than the physiology of the damage demanded.

It only lasted for a moment. Twenty seconds, give or take, before the gap started to close from origin to end. He smiled for that, and wiggled his fingers in her grip. "Good as new," he said.

He'd barely twitched. Used to pain, then, as she'd thought, or perhaps simply very good at self-control. Or both. China watched the undoing, turning the knife over and over in her hand as she did, and was suitably impressed. But when she straightened her face was as relatively neutral as ever, only the tiny hint of a smile about her mouth, and she set the knife in his hand before sitting back. "So you are," she commented.

Perhaps a younger version of her would have tried more. Perhaps she would have enjoyed it. But for now, there was no need, nothing Kane had done to take out on him, and she had already told Kane something this way in any case. "I can hardly imagine that's all there is to you," China noted next, idle.

Cain took the knife once it was offered, tucking the blade away before he returned it to his pocket. He rubbed at the spot that had just been sliced over, eventually running his fingers all long his palm before resting back as he was and letting her assess him however she liked. Her lack of concern but control in keeping from going further was a notable trait, something he appreciated; not everyone would be given that control and not taken it further.

"Of course not," he said in acknowledgment to the hidden question. She would have to ask more specifically if she wanted an actual answer to draw anything from. "Just like I imagine language doesn't really sum up all that you do. Not really."

In some ways, it could be said to, for so much of what China did and knew came out of the language of magic, but Kane was, ultimately, correct. They were both so much more than what was shown on the surface. "Of course," China echoed. She tilted her head fractionally as she regarded him. Nothing in the way she held herself had really changed, but there was perhaps something a little more settled about the way she watched him now. A piece she hadn't previously possessed had been filled in.

"And you know your limits."

Limits was an interesting way to put it. Cain couldn't disagree, yet there was more to it than simply what he could and couldn't handle. It was so completely involuntary that he had only come to adapt to it rather than learn how to deal with everything on its own. However, none of that changed the end product of what he had become now.

"I've had time to discover them," was all he said in response. Whether China would assume someone else with 'magic' such as she did was of similar age or take it in another direction was up to her. Much as this whole encounter had been thus far.

He looked no older than twenty-five. China was more aware than many that this didn't necessarily mean anything, and certainly it was possible he might have been learning the ins and outs of this power from a very young age, but he was sharper than she expected from someone in their third decade.

"Have you, now," she said finally, faintly inquisitive but generally as if she didn't particularly care if she got an answer for that question or not. Again she failed to press any issues, waiting instead to see what Kane did, if he preferred to follow one thread or trade question for question.

There were a lot of things to be said in response to such an open-ended reply. Many ways he could take it. Overall, he didn't really mind China not giving him very much for the reveal of his own powers. If she wasn't going to ask after the actual extent of it, there was no reason for him to continue in that vein for now. Time to get some answers on other things that he had been curious about.

"I have," he said noncommittally. His true curiosity, aside from China's allure for which he had gotten a good-enough answer for now, was at the mechanics of these mages. What sort of system did they have where one could possess a monster inside of him and the other could bring words to life and be considered under the same discipline? "How exactly does learning magic work where you're from? Or... inheriting it."

Not even a question about her. There was little enough harm in answering this one, though China would certainly use others as examples if it came to that. "The ability is inborn," she said, "but the magic is not. People with the capability but no knowledge that magic exists may go their entire lives without realizing they could be sorcerers, and die as mortal as their parents. In other words, magic is something that people both are and use."

Kane obviously had some familiarity, but she wasn't about to ask him to clarify what he already knew. If he didn't use his questions carefully, that was his trouble, not hers. All the same, she paused, to see what direction he'd take that much.

The more knowledge he had about their circumstances, the better picture Cain could get of what their individual qualities meant. For a place where the foreigners couldn't really learn about what places they all came from save through word of mouth, it was difficult to paint an accurate picture. Everyone had things they wanted to hide or considered unimportant, and sometimes those things were key in seeing what wasn't the same.

"Then it's much more likely for families to continue on, get longer and more powerful while those undiscovered may just never even be found," he said. It was just an observation more than anything, society always being the same in some ways no matter the actual situation surrounding it. "Did you discover your own magic?"

"There are always a number of people, each generation, who find their way into magic accidentally," she said carelessly, dismissive. It was always trouble, of course, for their mortal families -- Valkyrie would have to deal with that herself, sooner or later. China wondered how she would manage. If China would even hear about it.

Now that was a curious turn of nostalgia. China set it aside, to be dealt with later, and her mind, like the well-ordered thing it was, obeyed. Mostly.

"I was raised in it," she said before much longer, with the same sort of dismissiveness, though for her part this was more artful than the former. She did not talk of her family much, and especially not with someone like Cain. Another pause, calm, because following up with a rapid subject change would betray the dislike. "And you? Oh, I know it's not magic, as you say. But I have to wonder if you were always this way."

Which really just seemed like more trouble that it was worth. Magic randomly popping up in a generation and driving a wedge between families... then again, Cain couldn't quite take the moral high ground there. The deathsight that he passed on eventually faded from blood lines, but would sometimes reappear several generations later through genetic happenstance and that wasn't exactly fair to anyone involved, either. Not quite the same but enough that he could easily understand the trouble that it all must have caused.

"That would depend on how you define always and this way," Cain said simply. It was a vague redirect on her part and yet one he could have answered more clearly, but he wanted to see where she was going with the question. There were definitely a number of different ways she could be interpreting his power through what she had observed.

It certainly could be trouble. It could also be worth it. China didn't comment further on family and magic. "I would say the word 'always' is perfectly clear, but I suppose I can clarify," she said, considering. "Very well, let me put it this way: have you possessed this healing trait since your birth, or as close to it as you can remember, or was it something that arrived unheralded at a later date?"

Cain allowed the drop of that part of the conversation and let her continue her questioning. It was an astute one, possibly trying to link its similarity to the magic she knew and what she might be perceiving as magic on his end no matter what he said. Especially if they shared traits like they sort of did.

"The short answer is that it arrived at a later date," he said, head tipped to the side. "And the long answer would be... complicated."

That was to say, delving into things she hadn't asked about yet.

"Of course it is," she murmured. But she was still at a disadvantage; she hardly even knew what questions to ask to yield the detailed answers she wanted. "But since we have already agreed to an exchange of sorts, and you can discern the direction of my interests, I don't see why that should stop you. Unless... is it beyond your abilities to explain, or do you think it beyond mine to understand?"

Either was some variety of insult, but it allowed Kane to pick the tenor of the conversation ongoing.

Disadvantages were made to be overcome. It was obvious by the way Cain held himself that he was merely waiting, no judgment or any sort. Just collecting the reactions and information she was giving him. Whatever she chose to do, he was willing to stick through it until she was satisfied or frustrated enough to kick him out. He was sure they had a lot of information to exchange.

"It's outside the scope of questions we've asked so far," Cain said. Family. That was one move he was waiting to see if she would make; Cain could speak of his own, but generally abstained without proper prompting. It was definitely more complicated than anything else in his life.

and all the sinners, saints, and winners [September, catchall, OPEN]

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