Light of Amber - Series One

[Selinia]

Makoto nods and pulls out the elegantly-bound tome and opens it, balancing the volume carefully in one hand so she could keep her dominant one free.The redhead takes a deep breath, exhaling steadily and slowly to keep herself steady. She looks to the targets...

...and back at Mira, proffering the tome with a rather blank expression.

"Well, here it is, if you want to look at it or something. I... really have no clue how to make it work though. It's a little less... intuitive, than 'stick them with the pointy end'. Sharp object I've dealt with. Lasers, not so much."

[Snowfire]

"No, no." Mira shakes her head. "She's yours." She nods at Journey's in Light, not reaching out to take the book. "How would you like to start though? Because from your Device you're like me. Which gives you a lot more options. So you have some choices." She gestures at the targets.

"Now, this setup is the best for learning blasts. Your lasers." She twists her hand, pointing at one of the targets and a bolt of crimson light flashes from her hand to impact one of the still moving targets.

"There are, however, two other ways you can craft the power you have access to. One are barriers. Pretty much exactly what they seem, and what you saw us holding when you arrived here." She holds up one hand, surrounding them in a dome of shimmering light.

"And then there are surges, the most..esoteric...of our abilities. They can heal, strengthen yourself and those around you, weaken your enemies and control the battlefield around you."

"So which would you wish to learn first?"

[Selinia]

"Well... what you were doing looked pretty effective. With the lasers. I mean, blasts. I mean, if there's some big ugly monster running at me, I probably ought to shoot it, right? They all sound useful, but I guess that making stuff explode at least seems like it might be the least... complicated. Like you said, I probably ought to start at the beginning, right?"

Makoto shrugs, and shifts her gaze between instructor and targets repeatedly.

[Owrtho]

The exhaustion of the previous days training had lead to a deep restful sleep for Daina. After the few days of being unconscious from the fight upon arriving here, a day spent working out was just what she needed to get back into her normal groove. So it was, she woke with the dawn, much like she was told she did back home. Or at least she supposed it was the dawn. The sounds of birds beginning to chirp had always been an indicator of such back home. Before getting up, Daina reached over to grab and put on her sunglasses from the nightstand. She then got out and took a moment to make her bed before dressing in her freshly laundered clothes. Someone must have taken care of them while she slept.

The sound of others sleeping could be heard nearby, so it seemed they didn't follow quite so early a schedule. As it was Daina planned to dance for an hour and a half before returning for breakfast. Still, while it wouldn't do to wake them, it was only proper to let them know where she was going. After considering a moment, Daina took her mp3 player from the nightstand. Given the turntable she had found she could summon, it seemed she wouldn't need this for communication. As such she took a moment to make a short playlist and set the mp3 player on her pillow.

Things now taken care of, Daina set out for the Exercise Hall she had made use of the previous day.

OOC: for whoever tries playing the mp3 player

Spoiler

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Playlist plays:
♪Gone dancing♫feel free to♫join me♪.
Source songs are respectively:
Your Baby's Gone Surfin' by Duane Eddy
Feel free (to say no!) by B4-4
Can't Stop Me Lyrics (feat Shermanology) by Afrojack

[Serafina]

Cymoril shrugs. "Sara, those people are amazing, i am sure they will do it! Still, i have to do my best to help, them, and if there is one thing i have always been good at it's stuying. Sara, would you be willing to look over Kaiserfarbe with me?"

[Princess Tracy]

Umiko spends the evening by herself after the party winds down, on the highest roof she can find to climb on, where she perches herself and peers into the heavens, and spends the evening in quiet contemplation as she watches the constellations, occassionally whispering a little prayer to her ancestors. "The greatest warriors are in the skies, and my this is an interesting skyline..."

In the morning, Umiko sits up, yawning, and looks outside to see how damnably late it was. Giving a yelp, she jumps from the sheets. "Getting wrapped up, sleeping this late, what's even wrong with me, I - oof!" Falling on one knee, she finds herself surprisingly winded, her muscles aching form yesterday's training in a way they hadn't since she fought that brigade of dinosaur bandits. Scolding herself, she ties a quick few bandages around the apparently time-delayed wounds from the projections and the owlbear, and makes sure to wrap her wrists and knuckles, and of course her now bare feet; she had training to do. She had been wearing these civilian clothes for entirely too long - she had been wearing a Kenpachi coat as a mantle in her travels that she found, as a clue to her father, but she'd lost it when the portal-thing attached her. She could certainly brave the elements, but it wouldn't do; she had a job as a warrior and needed to show her skill, her guts. "I'm overdue for my War-Gown... No, I'll wait until I return to the valley," she briefly argues with herself as she dashes out of the complex. "Either way, I need the hide off of something..."

With that, she tries her best to find her way back to the hunting grounds from yesterday, this time bringing her A-game as she intends to wrangle something as materials for a coat. And breakfast, of COURSE

[Snowfire]

Daina

Daina finds her way with relative ease to the exercise hall that Amiya had led her to the day before, and quickly settles into her dance routine. A warm. gentle breeze blows through the hall from above, presumably from open windows set high in its walls and time passes relatively quickly. So caught up in her routine, Daina does not notice the faint disturbance of another entering the hall, but they clearly notice her. Soft footsteps approach the whirling girl, and a voice speaks - one she does not recognise.

"Good morning." The feminine tone greets, tone admiring. "You dance very well. Where did you learn?"

Cymoril

"It isn't fear that they won't succeed, Cymoril-san." Sara says softly, taking another sip of tea. "It's worry of the consequences if they succeed. But enough worry!" She smiles. "I would be happy to look over Kaiserfarbe with you. It's a fascinating book." She drains the remnants of her cup, concentrates, then drops the bedsheet, rising to her feet as the same robes and scarf from the day before materialise around her. "But," she wags her finger in front of Cymoril's nose, "only if you eat first. You need breakfast Cymoril-san. Otherwise you'll get all thin and bony!"

[Owrtho]

A bit surprised by the unexpected speaker, Daina nonetheless manages to continue the dance without making a mistake. As she does so, a record on a turntable manifests just below her left hand, tapping it she causes it to play.
♪Home♪
As the present song comes to an end she moves over to turn off the music player so as to continue the conversation with the newcomer.

ooc:

Spoiler

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Song source is:
Home Again by Oingo Boingo

[Serafina]

Cymoril grumbles something that, to Sara, sounds like "why would i need food when i have love", but nevertheless follows the younger girls order and goes grab some late breakfast. The mess hall is mostly empty, which suits her just fine as it allows her to just grab the first-best thing and fill her stomach as fast as possible.
Shortly, she is back on Saras doorstep, ready to get on with her studies.

[Snowfire]

Daina

"And where would home be for you then, my dear Piper?" The voice asks calmly, stepping a little close - but holding outside of Daina's personal space. "Wherever it is, they taught you very well."

Cymoril

Sara chuckles at Cymoril's mumbled reply.

"Because for all its power, love cannot feed the physical body as it does the soul. Now get!" She teases, seeing Cymoril off to eat. When the young Champion returns, her belly at least marginally full, Sara looks her over and nods brightly. "Ok then, come over here to the table. And we'll see what we shall see." She idly flips Kaiserfarbe to the page they had been at the previous night - still in the first chapter of the seemingly thin not-quite-textbook. "Now, I think you were going to explain to me what these 'cartridges' of yours were." Sara says. "I know the basic principle - in theory at least - but I've never really seen them used. So?"

[Snowfire]

Makoto's Morning: Blasts

"Let's try you on that one then, ok?" Mira indicates one of the targets.

Makoto inhales deeply and sort of... holds out her free hand towards it, like she'd seen the instructor do. She honestly has no idea how this is supposed to work.

"Ok then." Mira nods. "Now, focus. Reach for the Light, the power inside of you." She holds up her own hand, parallel to Makoto's. "And focus that energy down your arm, into your hand. Like this." Crimson light slips down across her arm, to her hand, and forms into a ball of scarlet light in front of her palm.

Makoto stares again, momentarily. No matter how long she spent, or how many times she saw things like this, she still couldn't get over the fact that there was an actual mahou shoujo. Just, standing there. Right next to her. She shakes her head for a moment to clear it and fixes her own eyes downrange; concentrating on... she wasn't sure what she was even supposed to be concentrating on. Power?

"Uh, Mira... what exactly am I reaching for, again? I mean, how do I recognize it?" Mira looks across, and then lowers her hand, the energy bolt dissipating as she closes her hand on it.

"Most people focus here." She taps her chest, where her heart would be. "But...search for the place where you felt the power you used before come from. Where the Light that imbued your previous device and that formed your costume." Makoto nods slowly, but...

"My previous device just kinda... did its own thing. I was along for the ride, yeah, but if it was using me as a power source, I don't really know where. Or how. But..." Makoto closes her eyes and thinks again - trying not to 'shout' this time. :Hey, book. You're linked to me or something, right? Any ideas?:

:Remember what we talked about. Remember what I told you broke the barrier. Emotion is linked to power. Find the emotion. Find what you fight for. And bring it out of you.: Samaniya whispers into her mind.

Makoto nods again at the silent advice, somewhat warily. She reaches inwards, grabbing at the first thing to come to mind. That little round table, piled high with food - most of it sugary nonsense, given who laid it out, but Makoto was savouring a bite of fruit at the moment. She was getting chewed out for something trivial again, that moron across the table... She shakes herself, slamming the lid on that particular memory. Something else would have to do.

Eventually, she settles on something a little bit earlier - clear blue skies, busy streets jammed full of pedestrians, the scent of rain... the last time she'd smelled that, now that it came to her. It wasn't anything special really, just... home. The redhead had never thought she'd miss Ilia, but...

"Whatever you're thinking of, it's working." Mira says softly. Electric blue light reflects an internal light, flowing, almost more like liquid than light, steadily down her arm towards her hand – little sparks of ice blue shimmering within it as it spirals down. Makoto yelps slightly and jumps back a foot in surprise.

"Eeyagh! Gah, what the hell?" The energy around her hand, almost cool to her skin, fractures and comes apart at her reaction. Mira chuckles, shaking her head - but approvingly. "Well, as first tries go, I've seen much worse." Makoto blinks... then groans.
:You should have seen mine.: Samaniya whispers into her mind. :Now, this time, don't jump like that. And...let me in if you can. I can help.:

"Oh goddess, was it supposed to be doing that? I was trying for something like those bolts and it looked like my arm got dunked in plasma or something." Makoto hesitates at Samaniya's comment. :Let you... in?:

Mira smiles. "It happens. When you start out you don't have much control over how you manifest. But it gets better. And with you lot I expect it to get better rather fast." Samaniya seems to sigh, then you get the impression of a nod.
:You...don't want me in your head. Now, with a Device like Hound, where there generally isn't much to do other than hold on, that's fine. But with something like me, where the power is a lot more complex, you need a working rapport. And speech is just too slow.:

:...and you're sure that this is the only way to do that? Like, the only way?:

:What else is as fast as thought, Makoto?: She answers simply. :I know you don't like it, but you let in me in last night. Would you trust me again?:

:..well, screw it. You've violated my brain once in the last twenty-four hour period. Just... don't... mess with anything.: Makoto , cautiously, tries to mentally lower her... guard? Lower it enough for the book to make its way inside.

:My word to you. But I would say that I could not have done all I did last night – nor even most of it – without your consent.:

: Woopiee. Just get it over with...:

There is a feeling, similar to the mental ‘knocking’ from before, then warm light seems to shine down through her mind into her heart and her thoughts. Journeys in Light lights up with runes, the symbols flowering into being along the blank page of the tome, the letters moving in a blur of rose-and-gold light. Mira blinks at the sudden display, but does not appear startled - or even particularly surprised by the sudden lightshow.

Makoto , to the contrary, does - between the sudden mental rush and the explosion of runes, she nearly manages to drop the book and embarrass herself for the second time in this session. She ultimately manages to catch it though. Barely. And then Samaniya speaks again, her voice much clearer, as it was last night.

:Thank you, Makoto. Now hold up your hand, and focus like you did before. But keep your eyes open this time if you can.:

Makoto nods and picks up where she'd left off before - hand outstretched, cool spring morning in the city sharp and crisp in her thoughts.

The same sparkling blue liquid-light spins into existence around her upper arm, flowing down in swiftly overlaying geometric patterns - and Makoto feels Samaniya's 'hands' weaving together the energy as it pours down to pool in the palm of her hand. The electric blue light shimmers, sparks of pale ice dancing within. Mira nods approvingly, but remains silent. Off to the side, at the edge of Makoto's vision, more icons flash and fade on the pages of her device, but she doesn't notice.

:Focus on your target.: Samaniya says gently, the words spinning to a beat all of their own within Makoto's mind. :Imagine the bolt, see it there. Hold that image. Then...let it fly.:

Makoto attempts to gather up the thoughts necessary, but... she can't. She just can't figure out how something so... watery was supposed to hold its form like Mira's bolts did. It seemed like potent enough stuff, but it clung to her like jelly! The redhead takes a mental step back, trying a slightly different train of thought.

Samaniya seems to think for a moment. :If water cannot fly to you, Makoto, then what about flame?:

Makoto just... skips the middle step. Tries to focus on the target, directly. On building the effect right on top of it - inside it, even. Ignoring trajectory entirely and just trying to dump the projectile into the target. She even takes Samaniya's suggestion, nudging the substance around her arm into... something. Much more active, anyway, whatever it was... though still sticky as hell. Having no idea whether this would explode horribly in her face or now, the young evoker clenches the fist containing the ball of plasma, crushing into nothing...

And...somewhere...the thoughts collide. The sparks of ice blue in the liquid-light ignite in bursts of radiant fire, setting the entire construct alight where it floats around her hand. Blue flame blasts into being, the sudden appearance shocking her so much that she doesn’t even notice that it doesn’t burn. And then her fist snaps shut, the ball of now burning Light snapping out through her fingers in streamers of rippling blue flame. Faster than the eye can see, so fast that she misses most of it in her sudden blink, they arc across the short distance between her and her target, slamming into it as one object.

Blue plasma fire blazes, tearing the surface of the target viciously, and then blasting straight through it. Somewhere in her mind, Samaniya cheers.

"..." Makoto stares. "...holy ****." Mira grins, and then releases her own bolt at the target beside it, blasting the entire front of it to dust.

"And when you can do that, you'll be competent. Now, let's try that again. You were going for a warp effect, weren't you."

"I think... yeah. That. Warping. This stuff doesn't seem very... fast. Or maybe I don't think I can control it very well?" Makoto shakes her head. "Just, it seems like it'd be more accurate to just dump the stuff on an enemy, right? Whatever. I need to try this again..." She takes a deep breath and takes up her 'firing position' once again.

“Well, we have plenty of time.” Mira replies with a somewhat worrying grin. “Amiya said she’d be picking you lot up in…about two hours to go to Megera. So, if I leave you fifteen minutes for a shower…” She points at another target. "Try that one next. It's a bit stronger."

Makoto repeats the whole process, feeling a little more confident now that she'd done it once already. Done it poorly, yeah, but still. Plasma bullets. From her hands. Friggin' awesome. It still takes almost ten seconds to focus enough to conjure the cyan goop on her hand again, and a few more to set it alight... she paused at the last part though. The projection was where she'd messed the last one up.

"If you want my advice, try to see the bolt in the target just before you close your fist. Warping has some differences to it." Mira interjects, her voice deliberately restrained. Makoto nods very slightly, trying not to lose focus as she takes her instructor's advice... And then, finally getting what she hopes is a passable mental diagram, clenches her fist and prays that this’ll work.

She feels a faint tug on the diagram as she clenches her fist, obviously the work of Samaniya, and the bolt collapses in on itself as her fist closes around it, vanishing into nothingness ahead of her encroaching hand. There's a faint cracking pop as the last of it disappears, another gentle twist to the diagram, and the bolt snaps into being slightly off to one side of the centre of the target, spraying out to cover a large section which melts quickly into slag.
:Much better, Makoto!: Samaniya remarks cheerfully. :Just need a little more focus on holding it together as it rematerializes.:

Makoto groans softly, but braces herself for another attempt. Truthfully, there was something a little comforting about the repetition - it made the magic seem a little less... esoteric. More grounded. She starts trying to pull together the energy, taking a little longer and trying to keep track of it as closely as she can while it roils into being. Again, she pauses before firing.

"I can picture where I want it to go, but... it keeps... bending. Like, I can't seem to make the image stick, it just warps out and ends up somewhere else. What's causing that?"

"Ah." Mira nods. "It's partially because you're still getting used to the idea. However," She pauses, one hand coming up to scratch her chin as she thinks. "Try imagining a line between your hand and the point where you want the bolt to hit. It won't travel that line visibly, but it'll give you mind a visual reference for the bullet to follow." Nodding again, Makoto focuses downrange at the target.

"Right. Got it..." She modifies her previous mental image - no need to start from scratch, and it had gotten her pretty close anyway. A few angle tweaks, but the main thing was mentally sketching in a path for her shot to follow. Less a rail than a sort of etheric string. Exhaling, she gave the attack another shot, closing her fingers swiftly to send the energy on its way.

This time it goes smoother, as if her mind is beginning to adapt to the diagram held in her mind - and Samniya's gentle nudging obviously isn't hindering. The bolt snaps out of existence, once again ahead of her fist, and slams into the centre of her target as a concentrate whole, burning straight through it and leaving a glowing, white hot hole behind it as it dissipates. Samaniya gives another little mental exclamation of happiness.

"Much better." Mira says, her tone approving - and you suspect those two words would count for about half a dozen flowery adjectives if it was someone else. "You got the focus right that time. Good."

Makoto breathes a sigh of relief, actually bothering to think something she hoped approximated a mental high-five to Samaniya. One swiftly caught and matched by the mental presence.

:See. Not so bad, is it?:

:I get the distinct impression there's a 'But...' coming here...: There’s the sudden feeling of a wide-eyed, innocent expression.

:All I was going to say was that that was only one blast. You've surely got thoughts for others.: The mental approximation of a wink shoots across the connection. :And then there're Barrier and Surges, but we can leave those for now. Focus on the basics, as you said.: Makoto nods a little, catching herself as she realizes that the motion would be pointless in communicating with something in her head. She looks to Mira again.

"So... uh, I know most of this is just that I'm new and honestly kinda suck at this, but is it just me, or does this kind of thing take sort of a long time to fire off properly?" Mira shakes her head.

"It's mostly lack of practice - and not being in a serious combat situation as well. It takes a second or two for me most of the time, but it's no faster swinging a sword. For something like what you've shown here, all it'll take is practice. Which - thanks to you five - we have time for, thank the Goddess." She flicks her hand at the target that Makoto has been heaping her attention on, and a flickering blast of scarlet light snaps across the distance between her and it, blasting the remains into dust. "Practise," she says, "and you'll be just as quick." Makoto blinks, then shakes herself and nods, preparing to fire again. Samaniya claimed she had more kinds of magic to use, but... she wanted to at least get the hang of one first. If nothing else, it would give her something to defend herself with, if worst came to worst.

The girl repeats the process of conjuring a bolt. And again. And again. Trying to speed the process up while keeping accuracy tight was... hard, though. Mira offers advice now and again, but mainly watches, as if examining her through her dedication and manner. Until, after firing off more bolts than she can count, the older woman reaches out and taps her hand, disrupting her pattern between shots.

"That's enough for now." She says, gesturing at the sweat that has formed from mental exertion. "Come on, there's water and a few things to recover your strength. We can try barriers next. Always good to have one of each practised before moving on to more advanced techniques." She indicates a small cabin off to the side of the training ground. Makoto starts, even at the gentle tap, having gotten caught up in the repetition. But now that Mira mentions it, she notes that she’s panting like she'd just been in a full-out sprint. Makoto wonders how she could possibly have missed that...

:Sorry.: Samaniya says, her own mental 'voice' weary. :I meant to keep an eye on it, but...I think I got as caught up as you did. My apologies. Mira's right though. And I can tell she's the one you like the most out of all of us so far. So I can go rest for a bit in Journeys, and you can recover and talk a bit if you want. I won't listen, promise.:

:...whatever. Throw a party in that book if you want - just keep it out of my friggin' head.: Makoto gives Samaniya a bit of a mental shove that is... rude, but not really malicious. Or even angry, for that matter. She makes her way to the cabin, looking forward to a brief rest before continuing with this regimen.

[Serafina]

"Well, uh..." Cymoril stops, remembering all the times she had to explain things like this to Vivio. Knowing the basics...yeah, right.
"I have no ideaC what you know already, so i guess i'll explain it from the begining - i hope you don't mind." Vivio-chan always did, even though she neeeded it! she smirks in her mind.

"Okay, you see, Cartridges contain raw, compressed magical energy. The Cartridge itself is very simple, it's just a metal shell. You could make more complicated ones, but there is a reason we don't."
Darn, she knows that already...oh well, at least she doesn't look annoyed...
"The complicated part is getting the energy into the Cartridge. Everyone who can use magic can put a small amount into it, but it needs a lot of practice and concentration to do it right. It's kinda like packing your luggage - you need to stack it perfectly in order to fit everything. So you not only need to compress the magic, but you also must make it flow the right way. But!"
Cymoril pulls out an empty Cartridge and gives a quick demonstration.
"Sturmbringer, set up!" Anfang - Schnitterform! As soon as she holds the sword in her hands, she inserts the prepared Cartridge and triggers it. Or attempts to, as nothing happens.
"if you don't do it the right way, a Belkan device will not trigger the Cartridge. It's like inserting the wrong kind of battery, and it's a safety feature. Because this compressed magic is very hard to contol, and very dangerous if you don't do it right. So each Belkan Mage starts out by filling her own cartridge. If she can control the energy good when it goes in, she can control it when it goes out. Sturmbringer, show Prayer Strip system."

An intricate strip of paper and wax floats above her hand, inscribed with characters unknown to Sara.
"On some other worlds, people use different systems. That is one example of them. As you can see, they are much more elegant than a Cartridge - but their safety needs to be renewed each time to charge one of those with magic, and they are one-use only since they are so delicate. If you do the runes on them the wrong way - well, that can go badly. So we don't do it, and instead build the safety into the device so it doesn't get damaged and can be built by experts."
Seeing that Sara understands well enough to ask a question, Cymoril goes ahead and tries to answer it pre-emptively.
"Oh, and having another person charge the Cartridge for you is a bad idea. You see, the Device is attuned to its user - and so is, of course, the safety. So for each Device and each user, you need to charge the Cartridge in one specific way or it won't work, and learning how to do so is hard - anyone who'd manage should be wise enough not to do it for someone who can't control that energy. Sadly, that also makes swapping out Cartridges between people impossible until you do some quick recalibration each time you do it."
Smiling at Sara, she waits if there are any more questions.

[Snowfire]

Sara nods as you talk, eyes going slightly unfocused as she listens - and you can clearly see the thoughts spinning behind her eyes, the patterns of idea and understanding that are changing, spinning, flickering as she incorporates this new knowledge into herself. As you explain the reasons behind inability for people to 'trade' cartridges, she - still listening intently - pulls the strip of paper and wax over to her with a gesture. And, as you speak, she starts rearranging it. Characters warp and shift, sliding into new ones that bear a passing similarity to many different scripts, but nothing you can truly pin down.

As you finish speaking, she looks up with a smile from her work - the wax flowing almost like liquid to form a new array of symbols.

"Very interesting Cymoril-san!" The younger girl says, then holds up the - heavily changed - prayer strip that she had appropriated. "So they're sort of like this, except that they amplify the abilities of your gifted armaments instead of other things?"

Spoiler

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Spellcraft DC 23 to decipher the spell on the scroll. Which...I don't think you can make unfortunately. You can tell it's a scroll though

[Owrtho]

The voice sounded familiar. Thinking back, it belonged to one of the silvers from that first night. Still, Daina couldn't place a name to go with it. Before she could inquire as to the identity of her viewer though, something caught Daina's interest.
Piper? What is she talking about, I'm not playing a pipe. I don't hear anyone else around either.
♪Piper♫What do you mean♪

ooc:

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Once again, song reveal time. In order:
Paid The Piper Lyrics by The Jakes
What Do You Mean When You Say by Eternal

[Serafina]

Cymoril looks warily at the prayer strip - after all she just explained why those things can be dangerous.
"Uuuh...well yes and no. Cartridges are very good at boosting a Devices capabilities, but you can also use them to fuel all sorts of spells. Most people who use Cartridges use them for combat spells - most utility spells don't need sudden burts of power after all. Still, with the right calibration you could boost a scrying- or transportation-spell.
So, uh...if i may ask, what have you done there? Its not a configuration i can recognize. And i really think we should make sure its safe"

[Snowfire]

Daina

Daina get the sudden impression that the person talking to her has just blushed. "Oh...um...your connection to music. The...song that plays inside of you. That makes you special, and slightly different. The general used term is Piper. I'm not really sure why, but...just got used to it I guess." There're a few moments of extremely awkward silence, then the person steps up and holds out her hand - the movement visible to Daina's 'sight'. "My name's Ilsomere. I was the one who patched you up after two nights ago. My thanks for saving us back there. You're Daina, right?"

Cymoril

Sara nods, then looks at the prayer strip. Then back at Cymoril. And then back at the prayer strip. She then blushes, hard, and giggles.

"Oops." She giggles again. "Sorry Cymoril-san. It's...um...well." She waves the strip. "It's a spell." She tilts her head curiously to one side. "That's interesting that you don't recognise it though. Another difference between our ways of working magic I guess." The brown haired girl shrugs, then holds up the strip in front of her. "We call them scrolls. They're a vital part of how we supplement our abilities. This one's a defensive one. Watch!" She recites a short phrase in a language you don't recognise and the 'scroll' flares with sudden power, light washing out from it over Sara in a haze of protective power. The scroll, you notice a few seconds later, is gone. Presumably consumed.

Sara twirls playfully in front of you, the light dancing across her clothes. "See?"

Makoto's Morning: Barriers, Egg Toast and Religion

Once inside the structure, it becomes rather obvious that it's more than simply somewhere for people to rest between training sessions. An open door shows a clearly individual bedroom through it, but Makoto's attention is not so much focused on it as she is focused on Mira as she moves across to the kitchenette to the side of the living area. Mira reaches down, pulls a frying pan from a concealed hook, and flips it onto the stove before moving over to the fridge.

"Some people complain that I'm decadent sometimes, but in general they accept it as a result of my rather...focused lifestyle. I need a lot of sugars to keep me going after training sessions." She retrieves several eggs from the fridge, along with a something that looks suspiciously like a squeeze bottle of syrup before pulling half a loaf of bread from the breadbox. "This is simple, tasty, and gives me most everything I need between sessions. There's other stuff in there," she gestures at the fridge, "but this is much better in general. That it's warm helps too."

"...egg toast. It's like..." Makoto shakes her head, slumping into a chair. "What the hell? The universe is all kinds of messed up... I'll have some of that though, if you're making extra..."

"Why so messed up to you?" Mira asks calmly, idly cracking the eggs one handed into a bowel that appeared from...somewhere. Probably one of the cupboards. That would make sense. "I'm not denying the statement, just curious as of your own reasons."

Makoto looks around. "Just... who decides what goes where? Which places have plenty and which ones are starving? It's...the priests always said that everyone was in it together. That our struggle was the struggle of humanity. And I was never very faithful, but it was kind of nice to think, you know? But it isn't. It was just us." Mira nods, now mixing the eggs together with one hand as she lays out bread with the other - a slight twist of her fingers on the last slice igniting the stove beneath the frying pan. "...and my stupid little book-thing says the Goddess isn't even real, and hell if I know what that means. If she's telling the truth...which I'm not totally convinced she is. It is. The book, I mean."

"I would ask, then, why finding that you are no longer alone in the multiverse diminishes that." Mira replies. “And as for questions of faith and religion and fact…” She sighs. ““Journey's In Light is one of the oldest of our histories. And much of its knowledge has been tested and found to be true. Where deities and powers are concerned, I would not know." She shrugs.

"..."

"In the end, I believe that I will go to the Light when I die. That is my belief. Is it wrong, perhaps. But it is that belief that matters in the end. Some would say that your Goddess would simply be another facet of the Light. On my world she would be simply another face of the Windborn. When it comes right down to it, Makoto," she dips the first slice of bread into the mixed egg, "you believe what you will. I would argue against letting such belief dictate to you in matters which you disagree with, but that is - also - your choice."

"...whatever. I don't honestly care. If the goddess actually cares about us, maybe she'll help. Otherwise... screw her." Mira raises an eyebrow somewhat sceptically, but doesn't comment, flipping the slice of bread with a deft little twist of her fingers and then sending it bouncing through the air into the frying pan to start sizzling with a gesture.

"Which goddess?" Her tone is almost teasing, but there's an underlying depth to the words. As if it's not important to her, but is a subtle warning that it might be to others.

"THE Goddess. Unless you want to pick on one of the Old Ones, and I don't think anyone prays to them anymore." Makoto seems somewhat confused by the question. Mira checks on the current slice, deems it safe for now, and moves across to Makoto, taking a seat across from her.

"You really don't understand yet do you?" She says softly. "You know you aren't alone in the multiverse anymore, Makoto. Now think about that for a moment. Think about how faith might have evolved differently, on worlds which did not follow the same path as yours." Makoto buries her face in her hands. "To the people of my world, your Goddess - as I said - would just be another face to the Windborn. To many Pentacles she would simply be a leftover echo of Amber. To others she might be believed to be a collective self-deception."

"...but... how? That isn't how it works. You can't have lots of goddesses, that... defeats the entire point. If she wasn't alone, she wouldn't have needed us. And if she hadn't needed humans..."

Mira gestures at the kitchenette, sending the cooked slice of egg covered bread out of the frying pan and replacing it with a fresh one - the hot egg toast slipping underneath several kitchen towels over a plate.

"Why not?" She asks. "If there are many universes, could there not be many goddesses? I admit, I believe different. I believe that there is one Power alone. But a power can be fragmented. A power can exist in many places but not all as one being." Makoto stares, confused.
"...no, not really. If there are multiple universes, you're just using a silly bit of wordplay. That's dumb. Call it the universe, or the multiverse, or the friggin' Alpha Line or whatever. There's an Everything, out there. Even if there were lots of pieces to her or something, she'd still just be one goddess."

"And yet," Mira absentmindedly gestures again, flipping another finished piece out of the pan and replacing it with a new one. "What if there are many universes all held apart, each with their own Power watching over them. Not fragments, individual beings. What then? And," she pauses, considering her next words, "if so, where would Amber fit in that scheme of things? Or either possibility?"

"...Amber is... a person. A really, really, really powerful person. The goddess isn't like that. She's... different." Mira ***** her head.

"Really?" The tone isn't judgemental. "How? And more, how would you know?"

"...I dunno. Ask a priest." Makoto slumps on to the table a little further.

"More to the point, perhaps, Amber has been gone from this existence in all but whispers for sixteen centuries. I would have to ask how a person would survive that." She shrugs. "And again I would be forced to ask which priest. There are many here on Amber."

"...one from my home. They'd be able to tell you, probably. Fixing problems is kinda what they do."

"And yet some priest here, although they do not do so openly, can seal wounds in instants with but single words. On other worlds, they can invoke power very similar to our own - if different in scope and application. They say that that power comes from their belief and connection to a believed Power. The names change from world to world, priest to priest, but the power remains - if one opens themself to tap it." Mira flicks her hand, spinning the last pieces of egg covered bread into the pan to sizzle cheerily.

"...maybe." Makoto looks at the pan. "Is that stuff almost done? It smells really good right about now." Mira smiles, nodding with the change in subject.

“Almost, just the last few pieces.” She waits a few more moments, then curls her hand towards the kitchenette and...pulls. The egg toast flips out of the pan on to the already moving covered plate, two others sliding down to lay themselves on the table with the required cutlery. Mira stands, retrieves butter, syrup and jam, and returns to the table. "There we go." She says, raising the clean dishtowel up slightly and tugging one of the pieces of toast out of its safe haven from the cold. "Help yourself. Even with breakfast you're going to be hungry. Evoking practice is energy intensive work."

Makoto just nods emphatically before digging in, attempting to cram as much food into her stomach as it could possibly hold. This was a surprising amount, considering she’d gorged herself to her limits a scant few hours ago. The redhead faintly wonder how much of her magic is actually burning calories, and why it gobbles up food to function in the first place. Mira, in comparison, eats relatively slowly, savouring a reasonably relaxed meal. Even then however, she somehow clears her plate before Makoto every single time. Coming to the end of her last piece, she looks up.

"So. You've been holding at least half a dozen questions back through this entire snack. I won't bite."

"...okay, then. If you're cool with it..." Makoto leans back slightly, letting her hands rest on her stomach and sighing in contentment before refocusing.

"I wouldn't offer if I wasn't." Mira replies with a wink.

"Well, I guess the first thing is... what's with this? It seems different from how the others were fighting. Heck, I've gotten in a couple scraps, when I couldn't avoid them, but I never thought I'd end up using a gun, let alone being one."

Mira chuckles. "When you arrived, the Light within you wasn't settled. Your power flowed into a mould which suited it best. With rest, and the training yesterday, that mould has solidified. In your case, that was a result of your switching of Devices. But it will be the same with the others. I doubt any of them will follow the same path as you, but their power will flow along specific channels now where it did not before." Makoto nods.

"Okay, I can buy that. Why does that book keep trying to barge into my head? I let it in a little, but I don't really get what it was supposed to be doing in there and I'm kind of wary of letting it just run amok in my brain."

"Likely a combination of the facts that you're both very new to this and that you need to learn rather quickly combined with the usual Device teaching effects." Mira replies. "Most devices have some basic sentience that brings them closer to what you need. Fully self-aware ones, like what you and at least one of your companions have, generally work with their wielder to help them." She ***** her head. "I suspect she told you this already, but the main reason that they speak into your mind is that active speech is both far too slow and extremely dangerous on a battlefield."

"...yeah. She mentioned that."

"If you think back to your practice,” Mira went on, “there would have been moments where your mental diagram shifted, where little things became - or simply were - smoother or easier or more elegant in execution. Some of those were you. But some were also your Device working through you, guiding your hands on the flow of power that you're still very new to. And as to running amok in your brain." Mira shrugs. "In the end, Devices can't go anywhere in your mind that you don't want them to go. Self-aware ones will be very aware of those places, and will talk with you about them, but they literally can't push into them unless you let them.

"Now I will admit, I am unsure of if the standard Device rules will apply to yours considering what she is. But Devices can't lie to their wielders. And that's an ironclad rule that not even special cases similar to yours have been able to break." Makoto seems somewhat hesitant to take the assurance at face value, but she rolls with it fairly well.

"So... I guess, one more thing... this may sound kinda weird, but what the heck makes our magic run, anyway? I thought it just ran off of aether, but if that were the case I'd have been stuffed when I sat down in here, not starving. Is it actually like... draining us, or something? I dunno, it just doesn't seem healthy."

"Channelling drains you, especially repeatedly. You can, theoretically, keep on going all day long, but you haven't built up reserves similar to what myself and the other Silvers have. Your magic is, at its core, simply you channelling the Light of Amber - what you world refers to as Aether, apparently - but it takes energy to focus that channel into something meaningful." Mira nods towards Makoto. "You get used to it, and it stops taking up so much energy as the channelling becomes more subconscious, but even then it's a drain on your stamina. Albeit a very small one. And that can build up on you over long term combat. It's not an active strain, but it gets to you." The younger magician gives a faint thumbs-up.

"Heh. So it'll run me into the ground after several hours instead of one. Awesome. But... I'm feeling a bit better now, if you had time to maybe show me some of that other stuff...This is actually... kinda fun. More than I was expecting, anyway."

"I'm glad you're enjoying it." Mira smiles, clearing away the plates with the easy swiftness of practice. Makoto just rises from her chair, matching Mira's smile with a (rather more lopsided) one of her own. “Now if you're ready to go, I would say that you've got a good working knowledge of your basic blast. So a Barrier would be good to learn next." Mira continues.

"Well, if the other stuff takes me half as long to figure out as the first did, we should probably get started soon. So..." She gives a small fist-pump. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I guess!"

"Come along then." Mira taps a few recessed keys on the worktop, and then heads outside again to the training ground. Makoto tails along closely, doing a quick mental review of what she'd learned so far and giving Samaniya a mental poke, which she returns with one of her own, somehow appearing to catch Makoto's with it.

:Had a good snack then?:

:Good enough. It's food. Do you even eat anything, yourself?: The redhead continues tailing Mira, finding that mental 'conversation' was reasonably low-effort if she could just avoid dwelling on the implications.

:In my own way.: She replies. :Also read up on the basics of Barriers and Surges. Well...refreshed my own memory to be more precise.:

:You can forget stuff?: The information seems to genuinely surprise Makoto. :I kinda assumed you were like a computer or something, with everything just... there, to access.: Samaniya laughs lightly.

:Seriously?: She giggles. :Any mind can be overwhelmed by knowledge. So I...refreshed my memory of those pieces. To take your analogy, I have it all there. But a lot of it is in inactive storage because, for all my differences, my basic psychological setup is still human. So yes, I can forget things.:

:So my infallible font of wisdom and guidance can go senile. Awesome.: Makoto chuckles somewhat dryly and shakes her head.

:Hey!: Samaniya replies, mock indignantly. :Be nice. When you're a millennia and a half old sentient book, then you can make snarky comments.:

:What can I say? I'm precocious.: Samaniya makes a mental noise vaugely analogous to a snort.

:Of course you are, dear.: She replies wickedly. :When you turn senile in five years, I'm sure that'll be a huge comfort. At least mine - if it even is that - is selective and controllable.: Makoto just smirks and shrugs at that.

:Whatever you say, o wise one. Whatever you say.:

:Well, at least you have a modicum of respect.: Samaniya replies primly, with an understated sniff. :Now, shall we actually get on with teaching you? I mean, that is why you came here.:

"And if you two are quite finished," Mira remarks dryly. "Why don't you do what you came here to do." She holds up Journey's In Light, indicating the text of your current conversation scrawling across it. "Y'know, learn?" Makoto groans and briefly rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry. My ears are open to the secrets of making shiney walls out of nowhere." Her statement is almost entirely sincere, tempered only with the fleeting snark of a student caught talking in class. Mira chuckles, hands Journey's back to Makoto, and then gestures at the area in front of them, the targets now moving in regular patterns.

"So." She says. "The most basic barrier, which I'm going to teach you, works by preventing the movement of others." She nods at the targets. "Those targets are moving at a speed which a barrier created by you will be able to nullify." She raises her hand, light spinning around it, and a wall of crimson light springs up on a line away from her. Any targets running into it stop suddenly.

"Like that." Mira states, then clenches her fist and collapses the wall. "You form the visualisation - which can be pretty much anything you wish - in your mind. Then focus your Light on it and project the construct onto the space in reality where you want it to exist."

Makoto takes back the book, opening it again and focusing in much the same way that she had when trying to call forth a more destructive form of plasma. She holds out a hand, trying to shift mental gears for this new form of conjuring. Unsure what else to do, she pictures a wall in the same location and shape as Mira's, attempting to pour energy into it like she had with her erratic energy projectiles...

The barrier forms slowly, rippling into being on a line moving away from Makoto. And then she focuses energy into it. And the entire construct explodes. The cyan energy blasts out in a concentrated wave, sweeping the targets nearby away in a rippling expansion of disintegrating force. The wave of force washes over Makoto and Mira, sending their hair rippling in the breeze, but having no effect as extreme as that on the targets.

Makoto flinches a little, the blast driving her back a step with a look of consternation on her face.
"...okay, cool as that was, I was going for... something else. Something less, uh, explody. I'm... going to go out on a limb and guess that I was doing something stupid and obviously wrong here."

"You tried to channel energy into it like a blast I assume." Mira replies.

"Well... yes? Wasn't sure what else to do, so I just tried focusing the energy in a different shape. That was apparently... wrong."

"Blasts are, by nature, volatile.” The older woman supplies. “You need to channel the energy so that it's more stable. So energy, but...not as 'hot' perhaps.”

"Well, then how do I make them not volatile? I focus, I feel the energy building up, and then what? If I can't use it as-is, is there some sort of trick to converting it?" Makoto refocuses, pausing again as the cyan corona wreathes her arm in a goopy sheathe.

"Focus on making it...more like glass. The projection should be almost solid, for all that weapons can pass through it." Samaniya also reaches out delicately, seeking to help again.

Taking Mira's advice, Makoto shifts her concentration, letting Samaniya back in without bothering with distracting conversation. She thinks back to her blast. If that was plasma... enough energy applied properly could give it something approaching a fixed form. Not actually solid, but close. Makoto tries to accommodate this, picturing something less like glass and more like... water. Although she has to sort of awkwardly dodge the part of her brain protesting the upright plane of liquid.

The sheath of energy around her arm shifts slightly, the outer shell reflecting as if frozen water, but moves slowly down her forearm to her wrist. Samaniya's presence in her mind weaves underneath the basic understanding; the smooth, rippling wall of blue light spreading tenuously into existence as a mental construct.

:Now, place it where Mira's was. But don't channel more power into it. That should be enough.:

Very, very, slowly, Makoto lets the power extend into the space previously occupied by Mira's construct. She is careful this time to not 'push' the energy from behind, instead trying to form a canal for it to run along ahead of her. She couldn't actively feel it, but she got a sense that the energy was just flowing out from her automatically, given the space to do so - like warm air into a cold room. The power ripples up, forming a sheet of extremely bright electric blue that spreads away from her...not quite as far as Mira's. The barrier fluctuates though, the energy within shimmering unsteadily, but it holds as the targets slide into it. Most stop, but a few manage to push through the barrier, emerging on the other side to continue their movement as the barrier swiftly repairs itself. Makoto manages to hold it steady for a few more moments, then the wavering nature of the wall overwhelms her and it collapses. Shattering into shards of blue light which vanish into utter nothingness moments later.

Makoto gasps briefly, having inadvertently held her breath for the full duration of the barrier. Samaniya, however, does not appear disheartened by the short lived nature of the wall of energy. At least, the wave of contended pleasure that radiates from her mind as the barrier falls implies such.

:Well done Makoto.: Samaniya says sincerely, affirming her approval with her partner's swift progression. :You just need to work on holding the energy stable across the entire length; that'll stop the fluctuations in the barrier which you saw there.: The student just bends over, resting her hands on her knees for a moment and giving an 'OK' sign.

:Yeah, I think. Ugh, it's like trying to balance water on a platter, it just... slides everywhere. Need to figure out a better way to hang on to it.:

"You're having problems with cohesion, aren't you?" Mira's words are more statement than question, and she continues swiftly. "Most start out with giving their barriers an internal framework to fit to, it seems to help. You could try that?" You get the sense of swift nodding from Samaniya.

:That could be it, Makoto. If you fit it all into an internal framework, that should do most of the balancing for you.:

"You know, last time I tried putting something in the barrier, it blew up in my face. I mean, designing a wall is one thing, but how am I supposed to fill it up with a... framework, or whatever cohesive enough to stick nonsensical magic energy sheets together? I mean, I'm not an engineer. Walls are pretty complicated internally, if you want to build them right..." Mira raises her hand, scarlet light spinning around her hand again to raise the outline of the wall she had created before - without all the red light filling it in.

“Like this." She says, making several cutting gestures with her other hand, separating the inner space of the construct out into smaller sections with bars and columns - not unlike a graph. "You turn it into individual sections, and then make one your control." One of the partitions fills suddenly with slightly see-through red. "And then use that to project onto your other sections." She continues, filling in the rest of the wall slowly. “As the other sections mimic your control, you only have to focus on a much smaller space." Makoto nods slowly, stepping a little closer to the wall to more closely examine the innards of the nearest segment.

"It makes it a lot simpler and a lot easier on your mind, as instead of trying to balance out the entire barrier," all the segments bar the one Makoto is examining swiftly empty of colour, "you're only having to consciously balance a fraction of it. See?"

Makoto doesn't reply audibly, just continuing to visually dissect the layout. After studying it thoroughly, she walks back to her original position and closes her eyes in concentration for a few moments, trying to mentally reconstruct what she'd just seen.

Inhale. Exhale. Gather energy - but this time, hold it for a moment before letting it flow. Makoto carefully constructs a crystalline mesh in the back of her mind, which she hoped would be strong enough to hold together when filled with liquid energy. Here and there, specifically at some of the critical joins in the structure, she feels the gentle, nudging presence of her Device's mind, but Samaniya remains silent other than that. Offering aid, but not 'verbally'.

Finally, Makoto begins the process again, attempting to perform just as Mira had - laying the segments of wall out in blocks, rather than building it inch by inch along its length. And always, she keeps her thoughts on the segment nearest to her. Accepting Samaniya's aid where offered, she extends her barrier as far as she feels comfortable, hoping against hope it will hold.

And this time, although there are some missteps here and there where her mind hiccups slightly on the next connection, the wall forms stable - and surprisingly quickly. The electric blue structure seems to unfold out of nothingness away from her with the silent speed of a viper. And then the targets swing into it again. They bounce against the obstruction, straining against the newly formed field of light, and then...stop. And she feels a warm hand squeeze her shoulder.

"Very well done, Makoto." Mira complements. "Now it's going to fade in a few moments, don't try to hold it. Barriers are short-lived by nature." Makoto nods, but still tries to hold the wall up until it feels like it absolutely has to come down.

The barrier fades away slowly, the targets already moving in the opposite direction. It seems to fold away in an inverted representation of its creation, flipping down and down on itself until only the original 'control' mesh remains, which itself fades away moments later.

Makoto lets her hands fall back to her sides and looks to Mira.

"You did it." The older Mahou Shoujo replies to the unspoken question. "And quite handily for one so new to it. It's almost enough to make me think that the Whisper Amiya's been talking about was actually real."

"Whisper? You mean whatever it was that said we're supposed to be a Golden Pentacle or something like that?"

"Yeah. Well...that, the fact that you somehow acted as an unconscious nullifier to a good third of the nastier abilities Silence was using to stop Lightbringer from actually doing its job." Mira shrugs. "And a few other things which you probably already got told by Amiya." She shakes her head. "The girl's got a good heart, and will probably end up Golden well before myself - if I ever do - but sometimes she can also be...wearing. As you've probably noticed." She chuckles good-naturedly. “But she did a darn good job holding us all together after the Scream went off, I'll give her that. Sometimes relentless optimistic belief can do wonders. Even if you occasionally want to shoot the source." She says ruefully. Makoto chuckles and waves a hand idly through the air.

"Yeah, I get that feeling. I guess optimism is like medicine - annoying, but probably good to take... in modestly sized doses." Mira coughs, the sound coming suspiciously close to a laugh, and shakes her head.

"Perhaps, perhaps. But," her eyes pin Makoto with sudden intensity, "it is a lot more important than people think. You can live with it; you can live even with huge amounts of it. But living without it?" She shakes her head again, this time serious. "I don't think anyone would like that sort of existence." Makoto shrugs.

"Meh. Whatever works. I'm all for people keeping their heads up high, but someone has to pull them down at some point if they want to keep those heads attached."

"Oh, I won't deny that - although in most cases, Pentacles are somewhat special cases." Mira replies. "The trick is not pulling them too far down. And making sure that the ones who fall get caught." The younger girl merely shrugs again, not replying, and Mira ***** her head at the silence from her current trainee.

"You know, after a few years in this job you get pretty good at noticing the people who have scars." She says eventually. "I'm guessing that last bit on catching the ones who fell resonated a bit. I'm sorry." From the tone, Mira means it. And there's an undercurrent there, as if she knows what she's talking about far better than the other's Makoto's met thus far. "Although I suspect I know the answer at this point, would you like to talk about it?" Makoto glances sidelong at Mira, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Talk about what? You planning on lecturing me like the fething book? Is that like, the fething general passtime on this planet? Psychoanalyzing each other whenever you're bored?" Mira shrugs.

"It's a stressful job. All of us get damaged before we learn how to fix ourselves. And it's not so much psychoanalysis as it's understanding. But," she holds up her hands, "unlike most of my somewhat less observant and subtle fellows, I won't push.

"So," She says, gesturing along the line where Makoto's barrier had formed. "Why not give that a try again. Get it in your head like the blast. Shouldn't take as long now that you've got the hang of one type. Surges' are going to be the real difficult one. Always are."

Breathing a sigh of relief and letting some of the tension out of her body, Makoto nods and reopens Journeys in Light, taking up what she was starting to think of as her 'evoking stance'. She mutters a brief "Looking forward to it!" at Mira's last comment, but it isn't long before she finds herself sliding into a rhythm - charge, hold, release, maintain. Repeat.

The time seems to pass faster this time, the barrier flickering into and out of existence. Targets halting and bouncing away from the sudden wall of swiftly unfolding blue panels. And the energy cost is noticeably less on her body when Samaniya calls her out of the pattern.

:That should be enough.: She remarks, gently dialling down the energy passing through the both of them and nudging Makoto in the direction of Mira. :Get some water. You need it.: Makoto nods, working her mouth a little and realizing how dehydrated she is.

:Yeah, sure. Ugh, this takes a lot out of someone, doesn't it?:

:You get used to it.: The millennia old consciousness replies. :But it takes time to get to that point, even for people as advanced as you.:

[Serafina]

Cymoril gapes slightly at Saras feat.
"Wait...so you are telling me that you can store an entire complex spell like that?That's impressive - i mean, we can also store spells, but we need complicated machinery for that. And you did it just by drawing some doodles - and no, just because we use symbols and runes doesn't mean that such things have magical power by themselves! They just help the mage with the calucations - visualization makes dimensional mathematics so much easier."
She sighs before starting to grin.
"I guess i will have to classify you as a Lost Logia and arrest you for breaking the laws of magic!" Cymoril winks at Sara.

[Snowfire]

Sara giggles at Cymoril's words.

"I think that might end badly for you, Cymoril-san." She teases. "For one thing, you're in my library." She pulls out several rolls of thin paper, each tied with a silver ribbon, and tosses one to Cymoril. "There you go. That's a properly done one!" She smiles. "Re-purposing the prayer strip was fun, but these are better.

"Anyway." She continues brightly, gesturing at Kaiserfarbe. "Anything else or should we have a look at what's in the next chapter?"

[Owrtho]

♪Ilsomere♪
The name plays backs as Daina's records briefly spin before she nods.

♪I'm cr♫Daina♪
Reaching to accept the proffered hand, Daina begins to confirm her identity. However in a rare lapse she is slow changing the tune as she pauses, seeming to realize something before attempting a quick recovery and finishing reaching to shake the proffered hand.
She patched me up? Did she... see my eyes?
Deciding it best to continue as if nothing is bothering her, Daina gives a simile before playing.
♪I was about♫to eat♫want to come♪
Inviting Ilsomere along, Daina gestured to the door, hoping to avoid any suspicion.

ooc:

Spoiler

Show

Lyrics bits are from:
Ilsomere's introduction
I Am The Walrus by the Beatles
Daina's name, said by her mother
Millstone by Brand New
Nothing Good to Eat by The Pietasters
Come Down by Bush

[Serafina]

Cymorils eyes glint as she and Sara get back to Kaiserfarbe. Fortunately, Cymoril does her notes with the aid of her device, lest they would bury the small girl.
I have never been so exited in my life! I am learning things even the Wolkenritter and Hayate don't know - well, probably. Even if not, the things i could teach Vivio....wait a minute, i can do some of this myself! Heh, that means i might even do some hands-on teaching.
She smirks at that thought - so far she always imparted the scholary knowledge on her girlfriend, receiving physical instructions in return.
I wonder how it will feel to reverse those rolls...

Hours fly by swiftly while both girls are focused on the ancient book.

[Snowfire]

Daina

"I would be happy to, Daina." Ilsomere replies, clasping the girl's hand in her own. "However I would ask, your discs seem to be able to freely create music at your thought. Have you not considered simply letting them create words alone, so that you can speak without the complication of needing to remember the songs you need?"

She walks with Daina back to the mess area, and then sits down across from her after they have both gathered what food they want.

"I hope this does not offend, but I am very impressed by your ability to move so freely. If I hadn't had to see your eyes when I was healing you and your friends, I wouldn't have been able to tell."

[Owrtho]

The suggestion to make her own words to play rather than use others' catches Daina off guard. Would that actually work?

♪i♫I ha♫I hadn't cons♫considered it before.♪

The words that play are at first are oddly pitched and quickly cut off to be attempted again, but quickly Daina manages to find a somewhat musical voice that seems to please her. Even still, a soft music accompanies what she says.

When they reach the mess area, Ilsomere's praise is met with a slight stiffening of Daina's movement. She momentarily listens to ensure no one was in the area to overhear. So, she did see. I suppose it was too much to hope I could avoid anyone here from treating me like a helpless cripple. Well, at least she doesn't seem to have mentioned it to anyone.

♪Haha. Oh that? It's nothing. After all, it doesn't seem to be considered particularly impressive when anyone else does it, and I'd hate to get undeserved praise. Still, It isn't something I care to talk about, so if you could avoid bringing it up again I'd appreciate it.♪

The words played are light and cheerful, but after quickly recovering from her stiffness at hearing the praise, a slight coldness can be seen in Daina's movements.

[Snowfire]

Daina hears a gentle sigh, and senses the body language of Ilosmere change subtly. She doesn't appear to change her posture at all, but to someone as finely tuned as Daina, she can tell that something, at least, has changed. But it isn't bad.

"Can I not, then, simply compliment you on the fact that I have spent the past five years teaching dance and performance to scores - if not hundreds - of new Pentacle members and of that number, only two could be said to match you in their skill and grace on the dance floor. And both were older than you." She leans forward slightly, and there is nothing but truth in her words.

"You are a natural, Daina. And you have obviously practiced your skill for a great deal of your lifetime. It was that, and nothing more, that I wish to compliment. If you will let me."

[Owrtho]

Oh, this approach already? Well, everyone seems to take it eventually. Even my family in their unending attempts to praise me despite never thinking I could live up to the family name.

♪Won't let you compliment me? I'm not sure what you mean. Your praise is appreciated, though I'm not sure I deserve it.♪

The words played are accompanied by a small smile, as if to lend weight to them. However, to those observant of such thing, it seems more superficial than genuine, and the coldness has not left Daina's movements.

[Snowfire]

Daina feels Ilsomere raise an eyebrow at her response, then shrug.

"We both know you do. Know what I mean, I mean. But no matter." Ilsomere shakes her head. "If you do not wish to speak of it, that is a matter for you and you alone - unless you wish it otherwise." And then she moves on, leaving the matter behind with an ease that is almost shocking.

"So, did you have any plans for the rest of the day that I might aid you in, or were you planning on simply waiting after you eat until your trip into Megera?"

[Owrtho]

A slight pause in Daina's actions is her first response to Ilsomere's question. After a moment though, an audible one may be heard as Daina's turntables begin to play.

♪I had not been aware such a trip was to occur. I had been planning to train some more and research reversion for the day. As for if you can help me with either, I wouldn't know.♪

[Owrtho]

Ilsomere offers up a soft mutter of vexation at the apparent lack of memory of her companions.

"My apologies, Daina. Amiya arranged for you all to go into the city this afternoon, partially to get out of here and partially to...well, for some of you at least, see what you're fighting for." She falls silent for a moment, and then chuckles. "Well, and in thanks as well. You five are the only reason it's still standing."

Daina nods slightly as she finishes eating the last of her food before playing ♪I only did what anyone would have in that situation.♪

"Not really." Ilsomere replies sadly. "A great many would have simply run. You flung yourself into the middle of a fight that was not your own. A fight that you had never even known existed until just before you were suddenly within it. There...are not many who could have done what you five did in such a situation."

Daina thinks a moment before her turntables reply. ♪The Neverwere were an abomination against sound and music. I had to put an end to them.♪

"They still are really, and there are a whole lot more out there. But you are right. And yet, I wonder. What caused you to believe that so fiercely? What convinced you such that you were willing to lay your life down on the line with no preparation and little thought?" Her words are intensely curious, edged with faint admiration and some confusion.

Daina tilts her head to the side slightly. ♪Couldn't you hear them? It's like just by being they are destroying the sound around them. Replacing it with a dreadful silence that is yet full of something...♫I don't know how to describe it. Sound and music are all I've ever known. I couldn't just let that happen to it.♪

"Ah." Ilsomere nods, although her tone betrays a slight air of not-quite-understanding. "I am...afraid I can't. Not like that. I feel Neverwere more than I see or hear them, but in that I think I understand at least the sensation. It is like there is nothing there. And yet...there is. You cannot describe it in full, but as one who has felt their presence, I think I can understand." She seems to finish the last of her own food and stands, holding her plate in one hand. "But you said you wanted to train and learn more about Reversion if you could. That, at least, I can help you with." She seems to smile. "Which would you prefer?"

♪If I'm choosing between the two, Reversion seems the more important to learn. I already seem able to at least somewhat use my power, and it didn't get the feeling the others had any intention to study the topic themselves...♪

"Well then, if you would come with me, I'm sure we can find a study room somewhere." Her tone grows quiet and sad, with an imprint of deep pain. "It's not as if there's anyone else using them." Then she shakes her head, demeanour shifting back to normal, and gestures towards the door. "Shall we?"

Daina follows while thinking. Hopefully she won't go easy training me. Still, it isn't like there would be any chance she wouldn't if I'd taken the other choice, and I couldn't politely refuse altogether.

[Snowfire]

Makoto's Morning: Training is complicated

The redhead looks to Mira. "Uh, you got any water on hand? Or anything to drink?" Mira nods quickly.

"Apologies, I should have thought of that after I told you about the strain." She produces a small strip of cloth from a pocket, unfolds it to the size of her palm, and then...reaches into it and extracts a bottle. The beads of moisture on it makes your mouth water as she hands it over. Makoto mutters something that sounds a great deal like 'fething magic everywhere', but takes the bottle without any complaint, raising it up and drinking the liquid thirstily. Makoto drinks about half of the water before putting it down and wiping the residual moisture off her mouth.

"I usually prefer fizzy stuff, but frankly, anything tastes good when you're working like this. Thanks." She gives another thumbs-up to Mira, smiling.

:Mmm.: Samaniya remarks contentedly. :I had forgotten how good that felt.: There's get a sudden burst of fear, combined with a sense of deep embarrassment. And then, in a very small voice, Samaniya continues. :Sorry. It's just...we're still linked. And I can share extreme sensation that you experience if we're like that.: If a book could blush, Journey's would have done so by now. :I forgot that sentient Devices could do that.: She says, still very quietly. :Sorry...:

:How about I dump the bottle on your binding next time? Ugh.: Makoto just shakes her head, projecting a feeling of intense disgust at Samaniya. :Fine. Whatever, apology accepted. Just don't do it again.:

:I'll try. Probably will need to go into my base structure again - so that'll be either this afternoon or tonight.: She replies, apparently unfazed by the burst of disgust. :I'll stop the bleedthrough consciously for now, but I'll need the time later to make it autonomous.:

:Great. You do that.:
“So..." Makoto looks down the firing range again. "What are these surges? You mentioned them a couple times, and said they were hard, but... what do they actually do?"

:And for all I do know, I'm not an expert on Devices. And it's been most of sixteen and a half centuries since I actually had to deal with one - barring last night.: Samaniya replies, her tone containing the implication of an army digging in. :There. Done for now. Drink away. I'll deal with the rest of it whilst you're in Megera or something. Not that it would matter there, as you don't like linking with me unless absolutely necessary.:

Mira seems to think for a few moments, then shrugs. "Surges are...the more tangible enhancements that we can call into being through manipulating the energy we can channel." She says finally. "Limited healing, inspiring allies and demoralising enemies, calling up illusions, there're many different things you can do with them." Makoto just... stares.

"So... uh... that kinda sounds like a pretty wide sweep of stuff. Any idea where I ought to start? I'd expect most of them build on each other, or they wouldn't be classified as the same thing."

"Well the simplest one to you show you," Mira says, withdrawing a dagger from the same folded pocket of cloth before returning the thing to her belt, "would be healing. As to the variety…we’re not really sure. Most surges are short lived, but powerful, effects used properly are kind of like the final push that knocks a man over. The sort of abilities that you wait until the enemy is off balance before using. Then use them to push.”

"Wait, wait!" Makoto seems to panic for a moment. "Are you seriously going to cut one of us up with that dagger? You're making me kinda nervous here..." She seems to have almost entirely missed the second part of Mira's lecture.

"How else am I meant to show you how to heal?" Mira asks in reply. "It will be a surface wound only, and one that the magic shall seamlessly wipe away. It is also the only way I know of which does not bring pain on another."

"I... I guess. If you're sure, I mean, fine. Go ahead. I'm fine with anything." Makoto seems distinctly rattled, nonetheless.

"Sorry." Mira's tone is truly apologetic. "There are other surges I could teach, but all are incredibly difficult if you want to see the effect." She twirls the dagger for a few idle moments, spinning it across her fingertips. Makoto swallows hard, nodding once. Noticing what she's doing - and Makoto's swallow - she grimaces and stops spinning the razor-edged weapon.

"Now, before I do this, I'm going to tell you the basics of how this Surge works. So that you should get it right first time." She crouches, drawing a line in the earth with the tip of her finger. "Now. Imagine that as being the cut. What you need to do is fill it in. Makoto moves in close, crouching down as well and looking intently at the diagram. She gives a brief, semi-audible 'Mmhmm' at Mira's explanation. "Seal it up with your power," she brushes the dirt on either side of the line back into it, "and then ensure that it’s sealed by running your power over it. That'll ensure a firm seal to the wound and make sure that the skin isn't any weaker there than it was before."

"Sooo... similar to what I was doing for the barrier, but with... skin?"

"Yes, I guess." Mira says, her tone intrigued. "If it works for you, then I won't disagree."

“I get it... I think." Makoto seems to be thinking intently. "It seems a little abstract, but I think I could maybe try it. Just, uh, the last time I tried a new spell, it kinda... exploded."

"If you can, let Samaniya guide you a bit more on this one. She should be able to stop what happened before from happe-" Mira is cut off by a sudden, prolonged yelp from behind Makoto, and you turn to see Umiko go flying across the area that was, until now, full of targets and slam hard into the ground. The girl drips blood from deep gashes in her forearm, some of them seeming to be holes more than cuts. That, however, is not all. Behind her, somewhat slower perhaps, comes the creature responsible for the sudden flying entrance. The huge scaly lizard bellows a roaring challenge, shaking the ground as it bulls through the treeline towards the bleeding Umiko.

Makoto blinks, the sheer absurdity of the situation taking a moment to sink in before...

"...GAH! Feth, that's a dinosaur, what the hell? Why the hell is there a dinosaur on the fething target range?!" Makoto stumbles back a step, holding tightly onto Journeys in Light as if it were some manner of shield. Mira swears - at least the inflection sounds like a swear.

"It shouldn't be! The Forest has such creatures, but they're not meant to be able to get out unless..." she looks across at Umiko, "someone...leads them..."

Umiko stands, cracking her neck and laughing. She's in costume, that odd calm to her, but her battle instincts are still there. Light weaves around her, limiting her wounds.

"Hmph? Yo, Makoto-chan, this is my kill if you don't mind. How's YOUR morning going? I'm gonna get me a new coat and come breakfast. Can you believe this thing's giving me this much trouble?"

It's a tyrannosaur, you halfwit! You are about to be its kill unless, uh..."

"Shhh. It's all good. I'm really tough now, and I can create this barrier thing, see?" Umiko summons a barrier of light to brace for the monsters charge

"Unless we help her." Mira grinds out quietly. "You stop her from trying to kill herself and heal her up. I'll hold off the creature. Go!" She snaps, sprinting forward as the T-Rex slams into Umiko's eggshell of a barrier and rips it apart.

"Fine. I was just hoping I'd be able to hunt a Bigtooth without a pack for once. Guess these new powers aren't all they're cut out to be. Come help then..." Umiko seems almost bored with the T-Rex, but doesn't drop her guard. Makoto glances at her book worriedly.

:Erm, Samaniya? Could you help? Just this time! I don't want to see Bruiser get chomped in half by her own idiocy.: She proceeds to try and focus on Umiko's injuries, using the technique Mira had displayed and gathering energy as she had been practicing the last few hours...

The blue light spins out, washing over the wounds - in some cases pouring down into them - and light flares within, this time healing more than destructive. And Umiko feels a faint burning sensation, as if the cyan radiance is literally cauterizing her injuries, but it fades quickly - along with many of the wounds it had healed.

:More than willing.: Samaniya’s voice replies confidently. :And looks like I still remember that one.:

Makoto takes a shallow breath, not even pausing for a moment as she struggles to manifest a second illumination on the heels of the first. With a faint shimmering in the air, she calls forth a barrier almost identical to those she had been generating for practice moments before.

Mira glances back, nods in thanks, and then turns back to face the looming monster in front of her. Light flares from the necklace around her throat, building in mere instants into a shimmering corona of crimson light, and then she slams her hand up, palm out, directly facing her foe.

"Let the storm rise, the winds come, and let you fall to dust in the face of Light!" A crackling storm of energy explodes from her palm, engulfing the T-rex in a blazing cone of scarlet. The T-Rex roars in pain, the sound mostly swallowed by the blast of coruscating power. The dinosaur's roar of rage trails off into something approaching a whimpering scream as Mira's blast of power fades away. It isn't bleeding, but it seems somehow...lessened. As if a huge piece of it had just been burnt away by the sudden wash of energy – that had also, somehow, pushed the thing back almost thirty foot.

"So what part do you want? The head?" Umiko casually strikes up conversation. "I want the legs - lot of good meat there. And what are you doing? Don't heal, let's attack. I'll just get hit again anyway, after all" Makoto 's eyes narrow as she hisses at Umiko.

"Shut up! Do you even realize how badly hurt you were? You may not be human, but you'll still die if you get enough holes punched in you!" Umiko smiles obliviously.

"Oh, it's alright Makoto-chan, I'm not afraid. If we don't all do what we can now though, we'll just take a net amount of damage anyway. You can heal me after this beast is disposed of, okay? Otherwise I fear for your friend here." There’s a brief moment as the effects of the blast sink in. “Oh my, that is quite the blast." Umiko seems disappointed. "Oh well, there's always tomorrow"

Makoto gives up on attempting to reason with the blithering idiot, resolving to let her be consumed by a giant, rightfully extinct lizard-king if that was really what she wanted. Mira looks back at Umiko, her expression that of incredulous disappointment.

"You idiot child!" She snaps, energy snapping out from her hand again - this time in a whip of dark light the colour of dried blood. The whips slaps hard against the monster's face, sending it reeling back further as crimson light crackles across its eyes and ears. It roars again, this time the sound almost pitiful, and Mira steps back slowly through the barrier raised by her pupil.

"Don't be nasty now," Umiko remarks with a pout as everyone seems to write her off as an idiot. "Fine, didn't realise you had it so well in hand, take the kill and I'll get healed, geez." Despite her laid back words, one looking at Umiko's feet would see that odd twitching in her base and toes, ready to move. She'd rip the thing apart.... but it hardly seemed to matter. Sighing, she looks over the half dead thing. "So... need a hand, or what?" Really she pitied the monster by this point - this was just embarrassing. A thought goes through her head, what do they need us for exactly?

The dinosaur roars and flails, pounding forward - and then running straight into the barrier erected by Makoto. It just, just manages to push through, but its wild attack goes horribly awry due to its inability to see.

"Step back and shoot." Mira shouts to Makoto over the roar of the giant creature. "I'll grab Umiko." She reaches down, pulls Umiko upright and steps back, light already flaring into being again around her lowered hand.

Makoto nods, sliding back as carefully as she can and bringing up Journeys.

:Samaniya!: Gather. Focus. Target. Release. With a clench of her fist, Makoto unleashes her cyan blast.

:What do you - ah. Gotcha.: Samaniya replies, throwing her own expertise behind the forming blast and guiding the projectile's path to target’ which hits spot-on, but sputters as it makes contact, its rushed energy collection barely scorching the dinosaur's hide before vanishing. Makoto stomps and narrows her eyes at the failure.

"Feth it!" Umiko glares.

"What, she gets to fight and I don't? What if she gets hurt, screw that." Umiko hops forward, battering the beast as best she can. Her fist slams into the T-Rex, pushing it back in a flare of light, but fails to drop the huge creature – quite unsurprising really.

"Well done." Mira calls encouragingly to Makoto, then her own hand snaps up and she hurls a bolt of power straight at the blundering lizard. The crimson light slams into the creature's front, evoking another roar from it, and then it topples over like a falling tree. Still, you notice, breathing. Then she turns to Umiko, her dark blue eyes awash with ice. "Now what, exactly, did you think you were doing young lady?" She asks her voice calm. Makoto sighs.

"She has a deranged superiority complex that compels her to show dominance in the most violent manner possible.Or something." Makoto shrugs.

"Makoto-chan, that's mean." The transformed Umiko remarks with a smile, always friendly to her counterpart. Makoto tosses her hands up.

"Oh dear. I'm being mean. Maybe you'd have preferred running the other direction and getting eaten by that thing? You'd be a snack by now if it weren't for Mira."

"Ah." Mira says. "So you would be one that Amiya restrained yesterday. Why, exactly, did you think that you would go hunting a T-Rex?" She asks, about a score of the floating targets moving underneath the huge creature and moving it off back in the direction of its home.

"Oh, I'd have handled it, Makoto. These wounds are pretty shallow - this suit at least makes me stronger than usual. Sorry I dropped in on you - I broke its tooth when it tried to swallow me and I kind of got thrown loose when it swung its head in pain. Didn't think I'd go that far, but there you go” Makoto just stuffs her hands in the pockets of her jeans, looking elsewhere and doing her best to ignore Umiko.

As Mira speaks up, Umiko eyes her oddly. She looks rather annoyed for once at mention of being restrained. "Oh yes. That one." There's a sudden flash of light and in a bang, Umiko is left nearly two feel shorter and in her civilian clothes, her hair returning as well, of course. Umiko looks more bitter like this, and her wounds more visible, but she seems determined to walk them off anyway. Craning her neck and stretching on the spot, she seems to be trying to put her body right after her fight. She was remarkably durable, but even that had its limits.

Mira sighs, and light flares again for a moment, washing away the open wounds and the scars of battle.

"You need to be more careful in what you try to fight, young lady." She says, her voice much calmer this time - to Makoto's probably surprise.

"If you want a 'why', it's because my clan would usually send out packs of nearly a dozen warriors to fight Bigteeth like that one. Even the strongest among us Cliffcrush struggle with such opponents. And - hey, off!" Umiko freaks out as she's healed. "I didn't get to be as sturdy as I am now by healing every wound I get so unnaturally!” Pulling away from Mira, Umiko seems a bit provoked, but it dies down quick. She looks a little crestfallen as she eyes the Tyrannosaurus.

“So... why exactly did you think it would be a good idea to go picking a fight with something that gives veteran soldiers problems? Help me out here, a little confused." Makoto has her arms crossed, glaring daggers at Umiko.

" Apparently these Neverwere are a threat to my Valley of great warriors. And I'm supposed to do something about it with this power. Frankly though..." Umiko looks to the sky, sighing in disappointment. “If there's a force so great that it can threaten my entire world, how am I supposed to address it with this sort of power?" she voices her concerns rather brutally. Her Honesty was a double edged sword that way "That's what I was trying to see, to test myself and see where my new limits were. I'm still a lot stronger than I was, sure, but... There are still Cliffcrush far stronger than me. And you had less rouble than I did," she remarks to Mira, frankly ashamed. She turns to leave. "Well, maybe I'll figure it out..."

"Practice. And help." Makoto points at the firing range. "There's being a braggart, which is annoying, but fine, whatever. And then there is being a stupid, suicidal berserker that gets your teammates killed. Learn the different, Bruiser."

Umiko stops, raising an eyebrow at Makoto's sudden invitation. "Pfft. No good. I can't practice properly unless there's an actual risk." Makoto shrugs.

"I advise getting the feth over your learning disability then. Dying in practice helps all of nobody."

"Quiet, redhead. I told you I have no place for pride, only strength. I'm just telling you the truth. We're not stronger than the Cliffcrush Nobles. And we're not stronger than this one," she points to Mira again, "That's just reality. Assuming our power is given to us even-handedly."

"And I never said I was. I just said you weren't." Makoto snaps.

"Ok, both of you." Mira's voice cuts through the snippy comments. "Makoto, I think you've worked out some of this. However." She turns to face Umiko. "I am going to tell you something, you are probably not going to believe it, but by all that is Light you will one day.

"Strength. Alone. Cannot. Win. This. Fight!" She grinds out. "If it could, worlds like Makoto's would be among the strongest in existence. They're not. Not against the Neverwere. And against them, you two are both more powerful than me in terms of pure effect. My ability to channel and manipulate the Light is greater than yours. That may be true. But there is a reason that you were chosen. And it had nothing to do with personal strength of arms."

"Ha!" Umiko scoffs. "What then, my literacy?"

"It had to do with will, stubborness, an inability to quite, and many, many other things." She shakes her head sharply at Umiko's comment. “I could blast you across this clearing with little more than a thought, Umiko. But that is not what Amber needs at this moment! Amber needs Golden. Golden to replace those lost in the Scream, to secure the universe again from the Neverwere as the First Pentacle did six Turnings past."

"All of which any soldier has," Umiko rebukes. What tripe this woman spewed. 'Stubborness' if it was a virtue was not unique. She cringes at Mira's reminder and actually hits her thigh to stop herself from doing anything stupid again. "And I still don't understand any of this. Good day. If strength is not what you need, then I'm sure I can afford to be lax in my training." Half sarcastically, she turns. Starting to walk, wounds or no wounds, she intends to leave unless stopped.

"And that requires more than brute strength! For all that we fight a war here, we are not soldiers! Or not what most would call such." Makoto just continues to sit back, not wanting to be drawn into the ravening vortex of stupidity that the brawler's dialog seemed to generate.

"...and people have been calling my world a hellhole." Mira shakes her head, allowing Umiko to walk away with a heavy sigh.

Umiko stops at the edge of the clearing. Her back turned and hand resting against the tree, she sighs. Suddenly, she punches the bark and it explodes, leaving a dent a foot wide in the tree. She was even in a stance. She idles a moment longer, contemplating strength.

"This is ridiculous. Your power comes from the same stuff ours does and it's more potent. And that arbitrary 'stubbornness' can be found in any human." She looks back at Mira. "You don't even know why we're important, do you? You're just guessing, I see. I wasn't this strong before," Umiko remarks, looking at the crater of wood. "If I wasn't intended to fight, why then would your superiors see fit to increasing my battle ability? I say you don't know - your guess is about as good as mine. I'll go back to trying to figure it out myself." Umiko leaves the clearing at last in a huff.

“What nonsense”, she mumbles as she goes. It was frankly an insult to her clan. That the thing that's supposed to pose them such a threat would do it not from strength, but from... whatever she said it was, some ineffable quality.

Mira shakes her head again, then look over at Makoto - almost warily.

"My...apologies. I do hope the rest aren't as...bloody-minded." Makoto just looks to Mira again.

"...I dunno. Probably not. She has a point about whatever nonsense is supposed to make us special, but..." The young magician shrugs. "What kind of narcissist needs to be 'special' anyway? We're helping. I don't like it, and I hate Amber's guts for dragging me into this still, but screw it, if I'm here I might as well try." Mira shrugs.

"Truly? We're not totally sure. But it's very much there. And I know you must be getting it a lot, but sorry about that. And no," she says, a faint smile tugging at her face, "I'm not going to lecture you about that either. In the end, you're all special." She says. "And I told you the visible why earlier."

"Whatever. She's stupid. Lots of people are stupid... particularly that particular brand that seems to get a kick out of killing stuff."

"Hopefully she gets better then. Or your next encounter with the Neverwere might cure her of her current blindness." Makoto sighs.

"I don't really care. I just want to get this done and over with." She shakes her head. "I dunno. People like that... when they lose, they don't think 'Hey, maybe I'm wrong'. They think 'I need to be stronger!'. So they get stronger. And stronger, and stronger, until such time as they're satisfied with their ability to bully whoever they want." Makoto clenches a fist at that. "...which is never."

"Sometimes." Mira says, her voice again tinted with experience. "But sometimes they get hit hard enough that it knocks that out of them. That they realise that there's something more than just being top of the heap."
"Maybe." Makoto sounds unconvinced. "...uh, Mira, mind if I ask something?"

"Sure.” The older woman replies. “I mean, ask away." Makoto stares at the dirt.

"...my world, it's been cut off, right? For a really, really long time? Cut off from the rest of you, and your amazing, enlightened civilization?" Mira chuckles.

"I would call us lucky more than enlightened. But yes, that would be correct." Her expression darkens. "A failure that we can never truly repay."

“Is this what we've been missing out on, then?" Makoto gestures expansively. "Children being trained as soldiers and treated like it’s nothing? Whole worlds where violence is fething universal that people base their entire self-worth on how well they kill? People who just talk about... obscenity, like it is some perfectly normal part of life? I mean, was she actually talking about eating that animal when she killed it?"

Before I answer all of that, I need to ask." Mira sits down on one of the floating targets, gesturing one over for Makoto if she wants it. "What do you mean when you say obscenity? Because I've heard the term used many times, and rarely has it meant the same thing."

"You know... people keep talking about... like... umm..." The girl shuffles her feet uncomfortably. "When a girl, and another girl, do... physical... things... to each other... and, ugh..." Makoto's face seems to be giving a valiant effort to match her hair's particular shade of crimson, flushing deeply. "You know what I'm talking about, right? How can people just talk about that?"

"Ahh." Mira nods. "Lesbian relationships. Personal or cultural, if you don't mind me asking? From the reaction, I'm guessing the latter."

"W-what?" Makoto blinks. "Wait, you mean why is it wrong, or... I don't get it. It's wrong because... gah, I mean, just think about it!"

"Why do you have such an intense negative reaction to them?" Mira clarifies. "Stepping right past self-repression, I'm curious as to the reasons your world has taught you so."

“Well..." Makoto seems uncomfortable thinking about the topic. "It is... wrong. I mean, I don't know if there's some scientific reason for it, but... I mean, it's like, you don't kill people, and you don't steal things, because they're wrong. The Goddess condemns them, the Prophetess condemned them... everyone has! Always, forever! It's just common sense!" Makoto crosses her arms and scowls.

:Ahem!: Power surges suddenly from Journey's in Light, flipping the book open, and script races across it in denial to the last comment on Makoto's part.

"It would seem that your Device, I mean Samaniya, disagrees with you." Mira quirks an eyebrow at the younger redhead. "And considering our histories, I would be inclined to do the same."

:Shut up, book! Nobody asked you. And training is over, so...: Samaniya withdraws swiftly from Makoto's mind, ahead of any push she can muster.

:You do know that this doesn't stop me talking to you, right?: She asks. :Just because Hound couldn't doesn't mean I can't: Samaniya's voice is somewhat muffled, as if talking through a door left ajar. But it's more than clear enough to hear.

:SHUT UP!: Makoto's brief pulse of thought is barely coherent for anger. :SHUT UP! When I want to talk to you, I'll ask! Is that so hard to understand, book?:

Samaniya makes no response, seemingly quite content to remain where she is. But, at least, she doesn't say anything - allowing Makoto to concentrate on Mira, who seems to be waiting patiently for a reply. Makoto takes a deep breath, taking a moment to calm herself. "...look. It's disgusting, and wrong, and it has no purpose. It’s bad enough with normal girls, but with Mahou Shoujo? That's... that's like spitting in the face of the Goddess. Worse. I don't even know how to put it, but..." Makoto trails off, silent.

"Wrong to you, perhaps." Mira says, her expression turning flat. "Wrong to your Goddess even. But I would advise," the stressing is very precise, "you to keep that opinion to yourself within Megera. Amber is accommodating, perhaps. But if you start calling people about you disgusting, or wrong, or any manner of such things, then it will not end happily." Mira shook her head, expression deadly serious. "I can accept your views are your own. I can even, perhaps, warp my mind around the mindset that spawned it. But I can never subscribe to it." She shrugs. "To quote an old, old saying. 'If it’s wrong of me to want to help others feel good about themselves, I don't want to be right.'" Makoto's shoulders slump.

"...I guess then... if you have to ask why it's wrong, can I at least ask why the feth you people allow it? What good does it do that's worth... that?"

"It's wrong to you. It hasn't been wrong here for...glory...millennia. How could it be?" She asks softly. "How could something that can create such joy, such affection and - yes - love be wrong? How could something that enriches billions, if not trillions, of lives across the multiverse be wrong? And more than that," she shakes her head, "what is worth more? I will go to the Light in the end Makoto. One day I will never return. I believe that all will in the end. And if your Goddess would bar trillions across reality the chance at that light because they just so happen to love another who shares a gender with them, then she isn't mine." Mira shakes her head again, sharply. "And more to the point." She points at Journey's, where a dozen paragraphs lie regarding Akemi and the creation of the religion of the Goddess. "How do you expect me to put trust in a faith created to wrap an iron fist around the freedom of an entire world?"

Makoto blinks, seeming to be trying to contain some inner struggle. She... loses. Her face contorts in a furious scowl, and she outright throws Journeys in Light at Mira.

"The hell you know? Why should you trust them? Because they're good! They are good people! Who do you think helps kids with nobody else to look out for them? Who do you think teaches them, and helps them find food when the rations run out again because of the latest crop failure? Who do you think it is that is there to say things are going to be okay, when someone... no, when everyone, an entire planet is about to give up hope? SCREW YOU! I'm not very good at following it, I admit, but that faith has done a million, million times more good than you or your stupid, high-and-mighty world!"

Time....stops.

The whisper of the branches in the breeze ceases, flower petals hanging eerily in the air. Journey's in Light hangs in mid-air, Mira's hand already outstretched to catch it. And for a few short moments, it remains such, all frozen in a silent tableau.

Makoto blinks. "...what?"

"And what do you think the Pentacles have done for centuries?" A voice asks, coming from behind her. "What do you think those who went on after our sacrifice held on to to make it through the loss of the guiding lights that we had - inadvertently - become." The voice is different, and as unfamiliar as the one that came before it.

Makoto whips around, more intent on viewing this intruder than talking to it. And finds that, instead of one, there are five different people standing in a semi-circle behind her. One she recognises, from the cover of Journey's in Light. The others she does not, but the implication is quite clear. Makoto glares.

"Great. Ghosts. Like carrying one around wasn't enough. As for your question..."

"Questions, I think." The green haired woman on the far right clarifies. She shrugs.

"I'm going to go ahead and assume you lot have been doing all sorts of lovely things on all sorts of lovely planets. And good for you, and them. But when some mere mortals deign to do the same on a world you let fall to pieces? Oh no! The horror! What devious plots must they have in store?" Makoto speaks the last on a mocking falsetto, donning a look of exaggerated terror.

"You know that isn't the true case on your world, Makoto." Samaniya says softly.

"And mockery does not become you." The woman beside - presumably - the First Archivist, remarks. Makoto crosses her arms.

"So what? Akemi was insane. Fine. She was a pawn. Fine. Tell me how this is supposed to condemn the goddess, or those who truly, honestly follow her? If a mahou shoujo went on a rampage, would it make sense for people to start blaming Amber? If a terrorist blows up a building, do you blame his parents?"

"Because, quite simply, discrimination is wrong." The one at the centre of the semicircle replies. "The good your religion does, yes, that we cannot and never would deny. But for all that..." she sighs. "For all that there is evil at its heart. Intolerance, fear, hatred and - above all - control." The woman sighs. "And yes, it would be fair for them to blame Amber and the Pentacles if one of our number snapped. By the very nature of what the Pentacle's are, we are meant to secure those under our care and who fight with us - and even those who fight against us, for whatever reason, should be offered a chance first. And if you seek to blame Amber for Akemi, then in the end you be more right to blame us. As it was the Remembrance required by our failure that drew your world's guardians away. So if any are to be blamed it would be us."

Makoto continues to glare. If looks were weapons, she would have forged an arsenal of blades by now. "So. Discrimination is wrong - even against something that is wrong on... ugh, nevermind. Forget it. But you realize, don't you, that you're just wallowing in hypocrisy at this point? I mean, your reasons are no better than mine! And if you're bringing this down to your word against the word of pretty much anyone who's even been decent to me..." Makoto shakes her head sharply. "Look! I don't care whose 'fault' it is how our world turned out! I'm just getting a little sick of everyone treating it like some embarrassing mistake to be apologized over and mopped up with dishrag!" One of the women standing in front of her shakes her head, blonde hair sweeping from side to side.

"And you're not seeing what we're trying to say. What our Sister tried to tell you, and what Mira was trying to put across." She sighs, her eyes sad. "The people of your world, the good they have done, that we do not and will not deny. But they have hurt so many, so very many. Discrimination always does." She squeezes her eyes shut, clearly thinking, and then looks straight back at Makoto. And if Makoto's eyes were blades, this woman's look would have turned them to dust. It wasn't anger. It wasn't pity. It wasn't even acceptance. It was, for lack of better words, a look of challenge.

Makoto pauses - for a brief moment, frozen. She wonders if she'd pushed these things too far. They were much, much more powerful than she was, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to count on anyone else for help...

"Our actions were made so that the multiverse could keep turning. So that life could continue and bloom and become all that it was capable of. We did not have to secure every other star in the sky. But we did everything in our power to do so - and to pass that sentiment on to those who followed after." She shakes her head again, this time almost abortively. "You say that your church was good - no, sorry, decent - to you. We do not argue that! But it has, by its teachings, cut off so much of what make many people people. What do you think we fought for against the Neverwere when we found ourselves chosen, Makoto? Church? State? What?" The words are taut with emotion, but they are neither accusing nor threatening. Makoto gives the question thought for some time, eventually shrugging and replying impassively.

"I assume for the same reason anyone does anything - because there was something you wanted. Probably your lives. Maybe the lives of someone else. Maybe you didn't have a choice, but screw it, you wanted something. Everybody wants something."

"Do they?" The one in the middle asks - almost rhetorically. "What do you want, then? In your head, and in your heart?"

“To survive." Makoto's response comes without hesitation. "Same as always. Sure, this is a bit worse than most situations I've stumbled into, but I'll get through it." Samaniya quirks an inquiring eyebrow at the redhead, speaking without words. The girl catches herself before she can give an indignant response, clamping her mouth shut and refusing to give the satisfaction of successfully provoking her.

"You seem to be of the opinion that we're trying to provoke you, or catch you out, Makoto." The one in the centre continues. "Why? What do you think we want from this, if anything?"

Makoto maintains her silence…which stretches, the five seeming quite content to let Makoto work out exactly what she wants to say next. And for all that it is a relatively easy one, there's an element to it that, slowly but steadily, works its way in until Makoto can't not speak.

And, more or less sick of these shenanigans, Makoto grits her teeth and throws up a rather uncouth gesture towards her counterparts, practically shouting her reply.

"HELL IF I KNOW! But I've had it to here with you lot, and I'll be damned if I'm giving you any more of my time." Turning on her heel, the redhead spins her back to the First, beginning to walk away - or at least, trying to.

"You know Makoto, did it ever occur, even once, that we want nothing?" The blue-white haired woman in the centre asks. "You know the stakes. And if you do not care..." Makoto feels the headshake. "You are lying to yourself every damn day. And don't you dare tell me you're not." The woman blinks across the clearing, appearing in front of Makoto, and holds up her hand. "Look." She says, and an image of Hotaru snaps into existence, a slight smile on her face. "Now look me in the eye and tell me that that isn't what that," she pokes Makoto where her heart is, "kept on beating for when you were fighting two days ago."

Makoto freezes for a moment, seeming to lose focus, as if her mind was trying to outright shut down rather than answer the question. She trembles slightly. Swallows.

"I... no! I mean, yes, but..." Makoto backs away a few steps, blinking tears from her eyes. "Shut up! Shut up, shut up! I don't have many friends, okay? I don't have any friends! Just one! That stupid, insufferable little moron! Can't I... can't I have that? Do you really have to fething take the only thing I fething care about and twist it into... GAH!" Makoto seems to have fallen into something halfway between despair and unbridled fury, glaring at her elder with what could only be described as pure hate. The woman shakes her head gently.

"Does admitting this take her from you?" She asks. "Here, where she may never know. You are very angry, Makoto. But it isn't all because of this," she gestures at the surroundings. "There's something else in there, something that you admitted to my Sister and then locked away so you didn't have to think about it. And yet in doing that..." Again in the space of less than twenty minutes, Makoto finds herself pinned by blue eyes. "When we came here, we fought to save this universe. Not for its sake. Not for the sake of ourselves. But for those who we treasured. For those that we could not live without. And both of us know that, even if you're fighting it still, that's the case with Hotaru. So don't give me this fething 'I want to survive' line. So did we. But that wasn't what we fought for, and it sure as Light isn't what you're fighting for!"

Makoto pauses, still struggling to keep tears at bay. But she lets herself clam down, just a little, before answering. Takes a long, low breath. Focuses, like she'd been practicing with her illuminations - a clear street. Empty.

"...look. If I screw up, she dies. What... what more do you need, huh? What the hell do you want from me? And why do you give a crap? Don't you have... important... omnipotent... ghost stuff to do?" The woman appears to be about to say more, but then Samaniya is there.

"Ilia, stop. For all that you can escape through me now, Memory will notice if you do too much." The questioner, Ilia, seems to struggle with herself, and then sighs. "I...right as usual, aren't you Samaniya." She looks across at Makoto. "We care because you," Samaniya pins her with a glare, "nevermind."

"If you're going to harass me, at least have the decency to tell me why!" Makoto protests indignantly.

"Go. Now." Samaniya orders her friend over Makoto's protest. "We both know that that was stretching safety."

But she's aske-"

"And I will explain." Samaniya glares again. "Light, I had forgotten how stubborn you were." She turns to the others. "Hikari, get her out of here. Now."

"Let us meet under the stars." The green haired woman replies, holding up a glowing hand, and Samaniya almost flinches, but nods once - sharply.

"For it is there that we shine brightest." She replies. "Go." Light spins out from the held up hand, three ribbons spiralling out to catch the others. The ribbons jerk tight, pulling them in, and all four vanish in a whirlwind of light. Makoto continues to watch impassively though this, eventually turning back to Samaniya.

"...well?" Samaniya turns back to Makoto.

"You are a twinsoul. That is important." Samaniya replies simply. "If you wish to succeed in the end, you must accept that connection - as must Hotaru." Makoto's expression darkens.

"Oh. Right. I think I get it now." She shrugs. "Your twisted, arbitrary magic demands that you play the part of some sort of perverted matchmaker to save the universe. Well, in that case..."

"Wrong. It was not our magic that did that." Makoto is cut off mid-sentence. “And you will not accept any answer I give you. So I ask you only to think on what was said. On what you said. And try to understand it instead of locking it away." Rose coloured hair trails behind her as she steps over to where Journey in Light hangs in mid-air. Pulling it away, she tosses it into Makoto's hands. "That's yours. As is the means to protect this multiverse and to be happy all in the same. Think about that." She vanishes in the same whirl of light as the others, and time...begins again, Mira just managing to catch herself from falling, blinking rapidly at the sudden reversal of Journey's direction. Makoto glares at the book, and then looks back at Mira, slightly confused.

"...what... happened?"

"Um..." Mira blinks again. "You..tell me? All I know is that your book reversed direction and that you're not standing where you were half a second ago." Makoto looks back and forth, alternating between the book and her instructor. Glad for something else to talk about, she gives a helpless shrug.
"I have no idea. It was like... time... stopped? And a bunch of ghosts showed up and started ranting at me."

"Sorry." Mira shakes her head, as if trying to clear it. "Could you go through that statement again? Possibly with a little more detail? Ghosts?"

"Erm, yeah. Ghosts. One of them was just my book, I think," The student points at the cover of Journeys in Light for her teacher's benefit. "But the other four I didn't recognize. Um, wait, actually, they had names... let me think... One was named Ilia, and another one, Hikari, from what they were calling each other. The others, I dunno."

"Ilia?" Mira's voice trails off, her eyes blurring slightly, then snapping back into focus. "Ilia and Hikari were the names of two of the First Pentacle, along with Samaniya, Aisha and Tamara. They've been dead since...well...you likely know. But you saw them? Talked with them?" Makoto nods, after thinking.

"...yeah, I mean, I think it was them, anyway. Then again, I talk with the book too, and it's not a person. Are they programmed into this thing or... what? They weren't actually ghosts, right?" She holds up Journey’s, scrutinizing it.

:Would that be a question? Or are you just groping me in the faint hope of working out how what happened?: Samaniya's asks, her voice sounding far more...alive than the times you've spoken with her previously.

:Wouldn't believe anything you told me at this point, book. Shut up.:

:Happily. Not talking lets me concentrate fully on a conduit to my Sisters.: The 'book' replies. :Oh, I think I just answered that question of yours. Wups!: Her presence fades away from the edges of Makoto's mind, clearly focusing on something else. Makoto scowls.

"The book claims that it's talking to them still. Or has a conduit open, or something. Are there other books like this one out there or something?"

"None that I know of." Mira replies. "If there are though, Sara would know. And," she glances up at the position of the sun in the sky, "if you're quick with your shower then you should be able to talk to her before you leave for Megera." Makoto nods, looking up herself. It felt... weird, not having a phone to check the time with. She wondered if she'd be able to buy one.

"...sure." She takes a few steps back along the path, stopping to glance back at Mira. "And uh... thanks. You were a big help."

Mira points along a clearly marked path. "The red path will take you back to the Enclave proper." She supplies helpfully. "Now go on. Come here again and I'll show you how to work the targeting field. Have a good day." Mira shakes her head ruefully. "As best you can at least. And it was my pleasure. "

Makoto is out of earshot by then, letting herself fall into the breathless sprint that had so often helped her evade capture back home. There was no room for thinking in this kind of run. No room for worry, or sadness. Just the wind whipping by, and the scent of the forest filling her lungs. It wasn't a long run - not as long as she'd remembered from coming here, anyway - but it was still enough to coat her in a faint sheen of sweat. If she hadn't needed a shower before, Makoto certainly did now.

She didn't exactly have the luxury of a lengthy soak, so Makoto simply rinsed herself off as best she could. She felt nudges from Samaniya more than once, but tacitly refused any further contact with the book. For now, anyway. If the device thought it could get away with that kind of stunt, it had another thing coming! She quickly dresses herself in a fresh (though mostly identical) change of clothes...though the limited timeframe doesn't leave much of an opportunity for Makoto's waist-length crimson mane to dry, and the girl is still half-soaked as she searches for the designated meeting place.

[Snowfire]

Time passes, for some of you faster than others in your relevant tasks, but in the end you all meet again back at the library, where Amiya's message told those of you with sight to be at the set time - and that Ilsomere tells Daina on their way to one of the study rooms.

Makoto's morning has been a long one, fraught with complications, and she seems to be the most affected out of all of you. Cymoril and Sara have sped through several more sections of Kaiserfarbe, but the book seems to almost generate chapters as you read them as a book as thin as it appears could never hold the number of pages you've read so far.

Daina has learnt more of Reversion, and has even had the opportunity to practice it a bit. And there, at least, Ilsomere does criticize. The blind dancer, whilst a natural at her art, is still new to the specifics of Reversion and suchlike. And there, at least, Ilsomere is as harsh a taskmaster as she might wish.

But in the end you all come together in the library. Cymoril and Sara are still there, but stopped reading shortly after Amiya entered a few minutes previous. The young leader dips a slight bow to you all, and smiles.

"Ready?"

[Owrtho]

Well that didn't go too terribly. At least she didn't seem to go easy on me, though I suspect that is a matter of sight not really being needed for Reversion.

Hearing Amiya's question, Daina nods in affirmation.