Raineh Daze

The Metian Institute: Project Gungnir

"More leaks…" Cellica said, shaking her head and starting off towards the security offices. "I believe we should go through security first; if there is any other record of what happened here, then I expect that we shall find it there."

If there was any greater surveillance functioning at all, that was where she would expect to find it. And from there they may find a better (and safer) idea of what awaited in each other room. Or perhaps it was already destroyed and ransacked, who could say?

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi and Miina Malina

Later that night, Izayoi found herself sitting next to Miina by the fire. Her…cousin. And didn’t the thought of that concept still prove to rattle her equilibrium somewhat? She sighed as she finished setting aside the cookware used for the evening, murmuring aside to the other mystrel.

”Truthfully, I’m still not rather used to the concept of us being family. I’d never had any relation that wasn’t a direct parental one. ‘Cousin’ simply seems unwieldy, considering the age difference between us as well. If I’ve a handle on your age correctly, only a scant few years would qualify myself from being old enough to be your mother by any reasonable standard.” She remarked idly, having never been rather adept at small talk.

“N-Nineteen,” Miina replied, tail flicking but eyes remaining firmly on… whatever it was she was drawing or writing today. Probably drawing, going by the charcoal in her fingers. Nonetheless, as she thought more about Izayoi’s response, her hand stilled and head cocked. “Mmm…”

“N-Not the same for me, older c-cousins…” she gave a half-shrug, opened coat sliding down her shoulder, “Th-That it’s dad’s side is odd, b-but m-most people I grew up with were c-c-cousins.”

”Nearly a fifteen year difference, then. I would be thirty and four in a scant few moons.” Probably. Her younger years before she lost her parents were but a haze now, but eight years old when her master had found her was most likely right. If the estimate was off by a year or two, what did it truly matter without any sort of record?

”Isshin never mentioned whether he had extended relations of any sort: only that his parents had passed years ago. The idea of possessing such a large family…is somewhat disorienting. I had only ever thought of immediate, direct relations.” Izayoi paused, frowning. ”I should hope that your father hadn’t made much of my relation to your aunt after we left. T’would be an expectation I’ve no intention of fulfilling.”

“D-Dunno,” it was another shrug from the redhead, attention drifting back down to her drawing, “Probably just means you c-c-can stay without problems. N-Not sure why you would want to, it’s m-m-more my thing…”

Oh, good. Miina recognized that. It saved Izayoi the trouble of needing to broach the topic herself. And here she thought that was going to have to be more of an awkward conversation.

”Indeed, I’ve no desire to do such. As far as I’m concerned, you are the only member of this extended family of mine I’ve any interest in knowing better.” She peered over Miina’s shoulder, trying to see what the girl was sketching. As it turned out, it was the selfsame demon they’d fought in the ruins this afternoon.

”Impressive.” Izayoi nodded, her curiosity satisfied. ”Do you draw often?”

“Umm… y-y-yeah,” Miina nodded, cringing at her drawing. It wasn't that it was inaccurate… to her. But trying to add how aether behaved around something made entirely out of magic? It probably just seemed like nonsense artistic flourishes or inaccurate shading.

“Ah, j-j-just whatever gets my interest, really,” she added, “P-P-People, ‘specially mages, landscapes, uh…”

If it was pretty, or if it had a strong presence.

”Speaking of mages,” Izayoi began, folding her arms into her kimono sleeves. ”Have you progressed upon the technique we discussed previously? I should like my Time materia back sooner rather than later, if possible.”

“Ah… r-r-right!” the redhead scrambled to find the little orb and hand it over. She hadn't quite managed the exact technique, there was no good opportunity to use or practice it, but…

Presenting it proudly, Miina explained: “I th-th-think I've g-got it down, mixing black and white m-magic.”

The more she did it, the more she was getting the hang of balancing them to achieve… well, something otherwise impossible.

”Appreciated,” Izayoi quickly popped the green materia back into her gauntlet, taking a moment to ensure that it was snug and secure. ”You have, then? Good. Show me, if you’d care to. I am no true mage, so I can provide no input of any actual import, but the practice ought to be good for you, regardless.”

Okay, she could do this. It… would probably be easier to show with some water, right? At least on a cut-down scale; none of them wanted the entire camp blown away. But no sense in wasting anything they’d actually gathered for drinking or cooking when she could just condense it from nothing…

It was a shame that magically-created elements didn’t last. Maybe if she’d had longer with the crystal… or maybe that was something that only such fundamental lynchpins of the world could do, permanent creation. She’d have to take a look in Skael.

Also, she was stalling. And looking at the new pool of water on the ground like it held some deeper meaning.

Izayoi nodded slowly as Miina conjured up a puddle, only to bite back a sigh as she saw Miina simply stare into it. For the love of…how to move this along? Unfortunately, her cousin didn’t seem the type to be motivated by the usual harsh language she would have preferred. How strange, when it had worked for Izayoi when she was Miina’s age. And younger. Would Suzume have…

She cut that train of thought off. There was company. It would be unseemly to lose herself to such things in the presence of others.

”One step. The next…?” She prompted, hopefully causing Miina to wake up from her stupor and get back to the matter at hand.

“O-Oh, r-r-right, sorry…” startled, Miina turned back to the actual problem. Well, it wasn’t really a problem, was it…? In her left hand, black magic, aether turned to destruction and violation of the natural order; in her right, white magic, that which should repair and restore, or could reinforce.

Opposed. Theoretically incompatible. But they were just manipulations of aether itself, and it wasn’t like she was trying to combine two true opposites. It wasn’t like there was a significance to the two hands, either; if she’d had some sort of better focus… but all she ever practised with or wanted was her body. Whatever was trickier in her left.

And wind, as ever, wanted to flow in all directions like the air itself. The air fought being controlled except in the broadest terms, and coercing even the meagre amount she was using for this demonstration to stay in a nice pattern… well, that was trickier.

But haste? The energy of time and speed and acceleration? Not only was it one of her most-used spells to begin with, in a way it was eager. She doubted it could stick to another magical effect like it would a person, but so long as she just gently guided it? Oh yes, it could amplify the wind far beyond what she could reasonably do with just wind.

… well, if she was using the full measure of her abilities. This was a demonstration, not an attempt to destroy everything. Miina was confident she could have created this vortex alone. Was it even possible for Izayoi to tell she wasn’t?

Nonetheless, it was a success: a hurricane in miniature, visible from how it gathered up the pool into a single whirling pillar, and the wind itself strong enough to be felt and make the fire nearby dance wildly.

Izayoi studied Miina’s process carefully, familiar enough with the spells being used despite her own need for a crutch to even cast them. At once, the primary advantage to Miina’s method of natural casting became apparent: she was far faster and more controlled than Izayoi’s destructive sword had been. It had taken far, far more time for her to even manage to even begin combining the two.

”Well done.” She nodded in approval. ”Your casting time is already faster than I could ever manage with materia. Now, all that remains is intensification and maintaining the spell’s structure as you do so. If you care to continue, do point away from the campsite, yes?”

“I c-c-could do that, b-but…” Miina shrugged. Their fight earlier hadn’t time to exhaust her reserves, and sleeping later would mean tomorrow was more or less fine even if she tried to distraction.

But she really didn’t want to do something massively loud and flashy when travelling, let alone trying to make an artificial hurricane.

“… I d-d-don’t think it’s safe to p-practise this. I c-c-can probably manage it in a f-fight anyway…”

Besides, they were getting closer to Skael, with their ultimate goal being the elemental orb. That was bound to have an effect on how easy this trick was to pull off – but in which direction, Miina couldn’t guess at; would it reinforce the natural order or allow for more manipulation of its chosen element? – and, ultimately, studying it would probably do more good anyway.

And Izayoi had her materia back, too. It wasn’t vital for her to pull this trick off.

”Very well.” Izayoi had only been curious, regardless. If Miina was claiming to already be capable of performing the arte within actual combat, it stood to reason that she had been practicing, anyhow. The girl wasn’t exactly the type to overestimate her capabilities, after all. The exact opposite was far more likely.

”If you can execute this in combat, you’ll have completed the technique years more quickly than I ever did. Perhaps enough to make it viable as an actual manuever rather than the half-realized patch job I’ve made of it.”

A slight smile crossed her face as she patted her cousin on the shoulder. It wasn’t as if Miina didn’t need the praise, anyhow.

Miina’s reaction… that was almost definitely purring, until the girl realised what was going on and her skin turned the same colour as her coat. “W-W-W-Well… y-you did w-work out what it w-was first, I’m j-just following…”

”Theory was hardly the difficult portion. I was younger and far more impulsive than you when I devised the idea.” Izayoi demurred, taking the used pot and pan and starting to rise. ”Regardless, try to sleep soon, yes? I’m still to clean these up before I turn in for the night.”

“R-Right, just as soon as I’m d-done,” Miina replied, shuffling around to her discarded notes. Yes, sleep was important, but… well, her picture wasn’t finished. As good as her memory generally was, she wanted to get all the extra details.

Just in case another demon showed up. For comparison.

Paths Unwound — A Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Tachibana Hibiki

There wasn't time for Hibiki to respond on what counted as a cataclysm or not (not that the girl had strong opinions) before something far more demanding of their attention came into view. A cloaked figure with a gun running from an oversized machine. Not bigger than some of the things that Hibiki was regularly used to fighting but sizeable nonetheless.

Not that she had any reason to know that the robot was the actual enemy, but that wasn't the sort of thing Hibiki would overthink. People could be talked with; rampaging machines (generally) couldn't.

Which was why the girl took off towards it at a sprint, relic in hand and a nonsensical phrase on her tongue: "Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron."

The blinding light of the transformation made it hard to see exactly what it was doing, but her clothes were almost immediately replaced with the Symphogear's underlayer, and then the rest of the armour was quick to follow. Surely, to any sort of kamen rider, that much wasn't a surprise.

The fact that she now seemed to be a source of music with no clear origin was probably on the stranger side, or at least the more confusing to witness and interpret. What wasn't confusing was the immediate improvement in Hibiki's physical abilities… or that, no, she was indeed just running straight at it.

The reason why became apparent moments later: why not take a direct approach at the apparent enemy, ignoring the person running from it, when your goal literally was to jump at it and punch the thing? The complicated way the armour transformed into a full gauntlet over her hand and made it literally rocket propelled didn't change that… well, it was about the most straightforward plan of engagement you could get.

Paths Unwound — A Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Tachibana Hibiki

"This doesn't look so bad…" Hibiki said, following behind Sento with a distinct lack of apprehension or concern. It was an odd attitude for a schoolgirl to be having amongst ruins…

But then, neither of them knew that she had a rather large amount of experience with ruined structures. Creating them, mostly, but 'peaceful and being reclaimed by nature' wasn't much of a stretch. In isolation, it even seemed quite nice? At least compared to something completely desolate like the concert venue or the lunar ruins…

Whatever the case, the threat level so far was too low to prompt her to transform.

The Metian Institute: Project Gungnir

"We reactivated a maintenance robot. Unfortunately, it relied on some network for pathing and it seems to be simply breaching any obstacles as it heads to the facility centre," the elf was quick to reply, "The first room it opened appears to be a break room of some description, however…"

The blonde was quick to relay the violent ends of the inhabitants, but not before making the observation that the skeletons were surprisingly preserved; there was something to the conditions inside here. If it had just been cold, she would have expected more mummification; that had been an… unpleasant reality to discover in mountain passes, but now…

"Unless anyone has objections, I think we should proceed further? Perhaps with more caution," her hand drifted to her sword as she looked at the bodies. It was possible that whatever did that was still here.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Miina’s Notes

The pile of notes that Miina has been carting around since before she even left home look, on the surface, like a collection of disorganised scratchings; half research journal and half personal diary, written in a badly-spelled chicken scratch that wanders off-line with distressing regularity.

A deeper inspection (and not hard to pull off; she doesn’t seem to have any concern if someone else wants to look through them) reveals that they seem to be loosely grouped on magical theme, although prone to going off-topic or including seemingly unrelated sketches at a much higher quality than the rest of her work.

Interestingly, despite the regular dips into water, there’s no ink bleeding or water damage to the notes.

(The following are cleaned up, especially the older ones)

---

Spell Levels (?)

Zeke told me that I need to keep notes sometimes. I can’t just memorise everything (i don’t know why) when it comes to spells.

And he taught me about spells today! Mages outside don’t just manipulate aether constantly, there’s specific patterns and everything. You need to know how to form them but

---

I don’t think I like spells. Why are they stronger? They’re all so limited and you can’t control it

What use is Fire as a spell? It’s too much power to light something for cooking and doesn’t last long enough for anything else. Animals don’t need it

---

Before he left, Zeke told me about Cura and Fira and Firaga and

So more power isn’t enough? Better spells are entirely different? how do i work this out

---
gutting the mafia would have been easier if i spent more time working on these

(The next few sheets are full of strange diagrams, Miina seemingly trying to represent the manipulation and flow of aether through the process of spellcasting in static images)

---

I met some people today and finally a mage that knows more than i do! Only about black magic but that’s fine

She’s all spiky and lizardy and her tail is really neat to watch. She’s cute, and she knows bigger spells

I should ask her

but that’s scary

i’ll just watch

---

(there are occasional diagrams, but there seem to be a lot of sketches of Eve interspersed throughout here)

I mostly worked out Fira now and I think I can extend the same idea to the other spells I know, even the ones that Zeke never told me proper names for. It’s a shape(?) to it that lets the effect hook around, but it’s hard in the moment to make sure it has the right target.

But it should be stronger too, right? Am I just not throwing enough power at it?

---

White magic doesn’t use the same shape, the spell falls apart. I think it needs to be looser, more guided than forced. White magic never seems to like being pushed.

---

(the diagrams get increasingly circular and full of spirals)

Loops. The hooks can be ‘looped’ around themselves, the same effect each time stacking and stacking to… there’s a limit. Some delicate spells it’s one. Any more and there’s no spell at all.
---

Without Eve for reference, Firaga and all are gonna be hard.

I always used to think it was Fira, but more. But it can’t be. The shape doesn’t allow for it. You can’t build that big without it falling apart, and it’s too…

It needs to be less targeted.

I still hate spells. Why do they work? Is it part of the world or something people did? I could maybe do any of these effects now, but it would be completely exhausting if i just… handled it all. Too much power for a single attack.

I can’t compare to Eve, but I think I should be able to do more than one without collapsing, right?

---

Stupid grovemasters

One good look and it was at an overpowered dispel. If they had just been all alive and all not traitors, then…

(The remainder of the notes on this topic have no real breakthroughs)

---

Mages

Zeke says not everyone can be a mage. Why? You might be bad at it (i am) but it’s just something to reach out and twist.

Pretty lights.

---

Not everyone can sense the aether? That’s what he says. You need to know it’s there to manipulate it, and he isn’t sure there’s anyone who can control it without sensing it.

But then he brought back some shiny rocks from Skael, so someone made a machine that could.

---
Zeke gave me a funny look today when i described what i could see. It isn’t that obvious for him? Or anyone else he’s ever spoken to. He says that aether is just an extra sense to him. He can feel it, control it, but not… see it?

Although, he also says he can taste/smell it when it’s strong enough. Just not all the time like me. I wonder when that was?

---

I definitely shouldn’t talk about it. Normal people get confused.

---

Most mages only do some magic? I don’t get it (and Zeke can’t say why either). They just split it into two completely different types and can only use half. But generally very good.

But shouldn’t a bunch of things work with either? I can only do basic stuff, but if you learn what the aether does for one well enough you can make most things happen.

Like, you could stop a ball by just hardening yourself so the ball doesn’t hit, or you could destroy the force behind it…

It’s just like looking through the other eye.

(This page has a lot more recent scribbling, notes and diagrams surrounding it, evidence of Miina’s decision to use black magic to facillitate cosmetic healing and – more notably – working out a dispel from the same source.)

---

(At some point, Miina began listing every mage she’s met and what magic they used, as well as a rough sketch. Rudolf would probably be annoyed to realise she put him in even before his denials.)

---

Rudolf is weird. Well, weird to me, even. He’s done a bunch of magic things now, and they’re not blight-y, just really concentrated black magic. Including shields. Shields! I always said that you could stop something with black magic just as well as white magic, if you could only use one of them.

But now he’s in hospital and refusing healing.

I want to know what’s up with him anyway.

(The next diagrams appear to be of Rudolf’s body with all the places black magic was supporting him, and a lot of questions raised about how a destructive force could be wrangled into doing this. Miina’s conclusion is that it involves a lot of rejecting the laws of nature so he doesn’t collapse in on himself, and enough of it to become physical is in line with Eidolons... Just a bit imbalanced.)

---

Rudolf’s fused with a demon. That’s…

He should be able to use magic. It doesn’t matter that he can’t sense aether naturally, right? He can do it now. And the demon should be able to give some instruction.

I’m going to try and make him. Even a little fire is a start.

Then maybe I can talk to the demon. Or Rudolf can for me. It might have answers.

---

Water Magic

I never really thought about why Zeke taught me fire and frost and lightning. I just assumed those were all he knew at the time, and I had plenty of time to try and work out wind while travelling, it was always there.

Frost was close enough to water I just never thought about it.

But after Famfrit and the water crystal, i can see that it’s its own thing. Frost is more about cold, and protections against it cover a lot of water. But you also need physical.

Just, what do I do with water magic? Any water created is (probably) impermanent, unless i work out how to do elemental things with white magic.

---

I could probably work out the water equivalent of Fire and Fira (but not their names. Wet and Wetter?)

What’s the point, though? There’s better ways to hurt someone than to hit them with a wet ball. I don’t have a jar cannon.

---

I need to practice drowning things.

I should keep an eye out for lizards or things on the journey.

---

The sea destroys things pretty well, I’ve watched the waves break things up on the shoreline. I suppose that’s what offensive water should be most of the time? So I have a use for it, I suppose the most powerful spell should literally sweep the enemy away more than it damages them.

But what if I could concentrate all that into one point? I don’t know how to make it into a spell properly. I need to work that out too.

It’s another thing to do while travelling, though. We’re not in a desert now so there’s plenty of thing to pick up and use as targets.

---

Summons

I never thought about summons or eidolons as a thing until we met one in the desert. How do they work? Is it a spirit projected into the material world with a body made of aether? Or do they exist in the aether and are just given an impetus to materialise? Or do they just pull more in?

It's a shame I can't talk to Cid more; they're really pretty and I want to know how they work. Even if I'm not a summoner…

---

Fuck Leviathan.

---

Esben is summoning fairies now? How did that happen? And does this mean he counts as a mage? He has to have some sensitivity to aether to be doing something like this, but it doesn't seem anything at all like white or black magic from the outside. I really need to get a better look…

But I don't think he knows much more than I do. That's annoying.

---

I wonder how demons compare? That F guy was solid, but he was entirely black magic (I think, I didn't exactly have time to do a detailed scan). For all they're elemental, the other ones aren't. I'm not sure if they even count as black and white magic either…

More reasons to talk to Rudolf. And involve Esben.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Miina Malina

Miina blinked once, then very slowly and emphatically raised her hand up. A hand that was icing over despite the heat from the fire.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Miina Malina

Miina had slowly inched closer over the course of the explanation, freezing at Rudolf's attention, only to continue her slow onwards progression once he continued. Maybe with a little extra magic involved, to dampen her presence in every sense she could think of; better to be uninteresting than missing.

Why? Well, she didn't want him spooked. Not until she was close enough to almost be touching, golden eyes flicking all over Rudolf, narrowed into conspicuously feline slits. If he hadn't noticed that attention, there was no missing when she started giggling from this close.

"F-F-Fascinating… it's so interesting," now that she had the space from the medical demands, the idea of binding an entity of black magic to yourself… well, Miina had no interest in doing that; it would cripple her in no short order when she tried to channel its antithesis, and she didn't want to give up white magic anyway. "D-D-Does it hurt? Have you th-thought about trying b-black magic properly?"

She couldn't see why you couldn't learn to use it intentionally if you were already pulling on black magic to do all sorts of things.

…

If everyone else overreacted, that would be annoying. She didn't want to leave, and abandoning her cousin on such a deadly task would be kind of unpleasant, but new magical knowledge was so enticing, and it wasn't like they were really on a course to run into her brother, now.

But then again, the Kirins might also find some white-magic equivalent, and Esben was summoning things, and there were the crystals themselves…

Paths Unwound — A Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Tachibana Hibiki

"Won't this be destroyed by the Symphogear?" Hibiki asked, the first to reach out and seize the bracelet, turning it over as if the mysterious magical technology would make any more sense to her after being studied (it really, really didn't). That wasn't to say her concern was unfounded: the gear's materialisation energy would destroy anything the user was wearing and recreate it after. While their usual support staff had no problems interfacing or communicating after that, it was possible those were built into the Symphogear directly…

Or maybe it did just use her phone or any other communication device? You needed Elfnein for this sort of thing, or maybe Chris or Maria might get it. Hibiki certainly didn't.

"The bracelet will survive," Wynn fortunately had the answer, "We can consider more integrated solutions in future."

With that, the brunette slid it up her arm, stopping further up than might seem entirely necessary, but while it might survive the transformation, she didn't want to see it buried underneath Gungnir.

"What should I do?" Miku was the next to ask a question, seeing that she had been – thankfully, despite her worry at Hibiki being off in danger again – left out of any missions. That didn't mean she wanted to do nothing; it was her world at stake too!

"Maybe you could help with communications for the other team?"

It seemed Wynn had recognised that it was a bad idea to have Hibiki and Miku on the same line.

@FujiwaraPhoenix

Paths Unwound — A Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

I'll get a post up tomorrow.