don't you ever consider giving up [March, catchall, open]

[ruinsprofessor]

Characters: Raine Sage and open!
Date: Most of March, primarily after the 11th
Location: Healers' Guild, Earth sector apartment, assorted others
Situation: Many, lots. Most post-fourth-wall.
Warnings/Rating: just going to go ahead and warn for suicide themes and discussion with Kratos. Dammit, Kratos.


A | Healers' Guild | open

While Raine's largely absent for the first third of the month, spending as much time with her husband as she can before he's inevitably drawn out of Keeliai, she's doubly present for the latter parts of March, throwing herself into work. She always has her hands in something, whether it's healing or herbs or simply scheduling the next days or weeks, and as a result she will need to be interrupted if someone wants any part of her time.

It's entirely possible to get one of her apprentices to interrupt her for you, fortunately, and she doesn't snap at interruptions anyway, only glances up with distracted eyes, slowly focusing. "What do you need?"

B | Healers' Guild | Miles

She wasn't entirely expecting to see Miles again without some grievous injury, but it's not a bad thing; simply a matter for curiosity. Raine lifts her head from the dried herbs she's disentangling and tilts her head at Miles. "It seems you're doing well. What brings you here?"

C | Midnight Hotel | Fai

Eventually, citing time concerns, Raine had had to let Fai go the previous time they'd met, and there wasn't nearly enough opportunity to speak of all the magical and linguistic things she'd wanted to. So she'd arranged with him to meet for lunch, or an equivalent meal at the time of day that worked, and now that's the reason she's at the Hotel, looking for Fai with a pair of notebooks and a slate tucked under one arm. "There you are. I'm glad we were able to sort out a time."

She doesn't look quite as cheerful as she did the last time Fai saw her, but her interest in the matter at hand is undisguisable.

D | Sky Sector, Pepper's home | Pepper

Raine calls ahead, just to be sure; but early in the month, she stops by while Pepper's in and both Gene and Tony are out. "I'm not here for very long," she says, apologetically, "but I needed to discuss something with you in person. I take it you heard I accomplished something with Bakura?"

E | Water Sector, a tea house near the Healers' Guild | Kratos

It's one of their weekly teas, and they've spent what Raine judges is an appropriate amount of time on small talk and catching up socially. Eventually she sets her tea down, arranges her hands delicately around the base of the cup. "I heard," she says, "that Lloyd was here for some little while, these past few weeks."

Comments

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine nods, leaning against the counter where she'll be out of Pepper's way. The head-tilt, she presumes, is Pepper drawing information from her own ka. Listening. "That's effectively what it was," Raine explains. "My own ka has that power, to pull certain types of --monsters from the Graveyard, such as it is." There's the briefest of hesitations over 'monster', like she's still adjusting to the other terminology.

It's fortunate, all things considered, that Diabound reads as something like light.

"Between the mixing of different systems of magic... well." Raine has so very many questions which may never be answered about the interactions of their magic. Did her arte count as a spell under the careful rules of the Shadow Realm, and by virtue of being out-of-bounds of the usual limitations but still a recognizable form, therefore do something more or less impossible? Did she draw Bakura into an area of influence where it all seemed just mana, that thing Raine was best suited to fixing? Was there, for a brief and perfect moment of confluence, utter harmony?

She's gone distant. She can at least recognize when, perhaps, a full-scale lecture isn't needed. Raine shakes her head and drags herself back to the conversation at hand. "Never mind. In short, the repair was completed, but... hm. Imagine it like a puzzle box, perhaps. The hinges are in working order again, and the finish is smooth enough that it shouldn't catch, but there's no way to be sure it will work as it's supposed to other than opening it." It isn't a perfect analogy, and Raine's aware of it, frowning distantly at Pepper's mugs.

[lasergrenades]

There's a sense of satisfaction that the redhead gets from Vee at that answer. Despite her own ka's reservations about Diabound, the Knight is still pleased to be correct about her interpretation.

Pepper's about to ask if Raine is alright when she finally speaks again. The healer drifted off there for a moment, which is... odd if not a little troubling. Still, Raine said there wasn't anything wrong, so there's that. The analogy takes some brief thought to wrap her head around.

"So... there's no way to know if Bakura can summon Diabound, even if the repair's been made," she parses. Pepper busies herself with getting the coffee grounds measured out into a filter with a sort of determined neutrality. Simply telling Pepper it worked wouldn't have required a personal visit, but she's doing her best not to worry. "Is it possible something might go wrong if the summons fails?" Other than Bakura being dejected. "Or even if he doesn't?"

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine does like to get lost in thought; she simply usually tries not to do it mid-conversation.

She nods to Pepper's assessment, but the rest of her questions get only a little, apologetic shrug. "There's very little way to tell for sure," Raine says. "I wasn't able to exhaustively or practically test what I did, and there's only the barest of precedents. It's possible something may go wrong, or it's possible Bakura may be completely fine and simply need to work up to it in terms of strength. I honestly can't tell."

Which means she should be prepared for the worst.

[lasergrenades]

Okay. Pepper isn't panicking. She refuses to start panicking. Things are still fine, and they may not go wrong, and yes, alright, there's definitely reason to worry but no need to worry too much until there's something to properly worry about.

"I guess that's the best we could hope for," Pepper says after a moment, carefully neutral. God, she doesn't want to lose him, and even the thought makes her breath catch for a moment and her hands still. It's fortunate she's turned away from Raine, since it gives her time to collect herself again. That's an extreme result, and Pepper can do more by being positive. "But it's gone okay so far, that has to be good," she reasons, hopeful. "Is there anything I can do?"

She's got magic at her beck and call, although not much, but what she lacks in ability she more than makes up for in determination.

[ruinsprofessor]

It is about the best they can hope for, truthfully, but something about the way Pepper stills as she says that makes Raine wonder. "I'm hopeful, yes," she allows. "I prefer to be ready for the worst, but-- all of the signs point, thus far, to a good outcome."

She considers that perhaps she isn't reassuring Pepper. "You see different sides of Bakura than I do," Raine says, moving on to answer the actual question. "And I'm reasonably certain you're around him more often. I'd like to ask you to keep an eye out for side-effects. There's no need to keep it a secret from him, nor in fact that you report minutia to me; I'm only asking that if you notice something genuinely wrong with him, that you let me know so I can attempt to remedy it."

[lasergrenades]

Risk is something Pepper is accustomed to - that she thrives on, even - and the strategy of Shadow games that Bakura used best. This has a high chance of paying off, from how things seem to be going now. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

"I can do that," she says with a nod, turning around and leaning against the counter while the water continued to heat up. The corners of her mouth quirk upwards, by force of will if not genuine amusement. "Keeping an eye on people is one of my specialties. I suppose there's no point in asking what the signs might be of popping some metaphysical stitches, since we don't really know how this works."

Pepper looks up at a spot a few feet above her head, to the right, where Vee is both standing and not standing. Will you help?

The answer doesn't come immediately. For you. Not for him.

That's good enough.

"Vee says she'll do what she can, too. Grudgingly," Pepper says, teasing her ka.

[ruinsprofessor]

"I... think I caught something of that," Raine says thoughtfully, tilting her head to look at the spot Pepper's looking at. There's a ghost of movement like feathers behind her, there and gone again as quickly. She shakes herself off, moves on.

"That's all that really can be done at the moment, I think. I appreciate your help." She knows Pepper probably would have anyway, but she wants to make the thanks clear.

[lasergrenades]

"You did? Huh. Neat," Pepper says, intrigued. It makes sense, she supposes; Raine already has magic and it's not unlike what comes of the Shadow Realm. The healer can probably interact with it better than Pepper, who can only really feel the Shadow Realm through Vee or when she's wearing the gauntlet.

The kettle starts to whistle, low, and Pepper turns off the stove, pouring the boiling water over the coffee grounds. "It's my job." While the water is percolating, she crosses over to Raine and hugs her. "Thank you for helping him," she says, quiet.

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine nods. "Every ka seems to be different, naturally, but the underlying precepts are similar." That said, she's wondering exactly what she's overhearing -- reverberations? Echoes? Simply the sense that something is happening?

That's also not what they're here to talk about, and-- Pepper is hugging her. Ah. Raine folds her arms around her friend, breathing out with a careful quiet relaxation. "Solomon and I both wanted to," she says softly after a few moments. "It has been... driving, this last little while."

[lasergrenades]

Saffira might simply be able to hear it - the conversation was taking place, in part, in the Shadow Realm, and was as verbal as it was emotional. It's something they can study later, if Raine desires.

"Yeah," Pepper replies, blowing out a breath. "I know." Solomon's research was perhaps the greatest part of him left in Keeliai, other than Raine's dedication and love for him. Seeing that research come to fruition, even in his absence, is a triumph and must also be a comfort for her.

And the chance that Bakura may get to heal? It makes Pepper's heart a little tight with emotion only Vee is yet privy to. "It's sort of funny... since we all go back home and forget and revert and whatever... it'd be easy to just say it was hopeless and not try to do anything. But it's a chance to try everything, too, just to see what happens."

And maybe, maybe it might leave a lasting impression. It probably wouldn't be enough to keep Bakura alive, if he went home but... she could dream.

[ruinsprofessor]

"There must be a way," Raine says. "We've learned how to affect pieces of the soul. Memory is a piece of that, too. I... cannot believe there is no way to carry our memories home with us."

She saw Solomon nearly keep himself here; she knows the shape of her own soul better than ever. Raine doesn't think this is simply false hope. She won't let it be.

"What's done here matters," she adds at length. "Even if, ultimately, I can find no solution, and we all forget anyway. It matters that it happened."

[lasergrenades]

Pepper squeezes Raine more tightly for a moment before drawing a little away, so they can look each other in the eye again.

"If there's a will, there's a way," she quotes, brighter than before. It does matter, even if only here. It matters somewhere in the universe, that they've left a mark. Perhaps even a lasting, positive one. "It'll be pretty weird, though, if we can remember. Super cool, too, but weird." And jarring, depending on what each of them returned home to. "Maybe someone figures it out, though. I mean, we did get those letters from ourselves a while back. Some older version of us remembers, even if it's just a Dreaming version."