Raineh Daze

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Miina Malina

It was, in regards, the single most impressive feat of control Miina had ever pulled off, even with Izayoi's initial direction. The sheer force involved was far beyond what she could muster herself through any natural means, and the number of different effects weaved in... splitting her concentration thrice, four times over, more, attention flitting from one strain of aether to another...

Had this worked perfectly, she'd have probably started chewing out Galahad for adding healing energy to the mix. Yes, it wasn't focused properly, but materia weren't totally neutral sources!

But it didn't. She could see it moment by moment as the spell was released, the way it coiled and twisted wildly, wanting to dissipate into a raging release of power that would consume them as surely as the comet. The only thing to do before the backlash got them all was to impose order on it, ground it – well, the way most mages used proper catalysts constantly made more sense given the dangers of something powerful gone awry.

Because, of course, it didn't have anywhere to go but her and Izayoi. And which of them had twisted herself in so deep?

The agony was indescribable, her body alight from the inside. Controlling it, isolating it – hah, as if she had the thoughts to spare. Everything hurt, even places that shouldn't have sensation! Reflexively, the Mystral had tried to heal, pulling on what little was left to soothe the pain–

Yeah, the fresh scream showed how well that worked, everything lighting up afresh. Even when most of her body stopped burning, moments or minutes or even hours later, how she could know, the pain inside her skull didn't, and it only got worse if she dared open her eyes, or breathed too loud.

Fuck.

---

As it had turned out, trying to help the healing process along with more magic only made it worse, so despite the lack of outward physical damage, the red mage was just as laid up as the rest of them until things... started to work normally. Mostly normally; Miina was pretty sure from how numb everything felt that she'd burned out a lot of sensation with that. She could only hope that came back, but it wasn't the biggest problem, she would deal with any co-ordination difficulties it caused...

Nope, the real problem was her right arm. She must have been channelling through it the most, or maybe it was just the notion of controlling things with your dominant hand that got it the worst... either way, that went beyond numb to simply nonresponsive. Even dressing was a pain, trying to work out how to shove it in properly, let alone fastenings.

Well... maybe she could fix it in time, she didn't know all that much about healing in the grand scheme of things. She still had one functioning arm, and that would do fine for magic – the pain was still overwhelming if she tried, but diminishing – but... eugh, learning to draw with the other was going to suck, taking notes... hn, climbing too...

Fuck, she might as well see how Elly was getting on first, that should be healing pretty well, and she could at least give their healer tips. Once it stopped being so loud... hopefully whatever made her head hurt so much would go down like the rest of it, she couldn't deal with this every time she cast magic.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Miina Malina

It wasn't the roar that got the mage's attention, but the sudden release of aether; the Mystral's head immediately swung around to gaze skywards at the oncoming Comet. That… that would be a problem. It also meant that she'd have to put aside her healing for now, but… that was fine, so long as she didn't get too jostled about it would be perfectly fine, and Miina was confident that she had at least managed to get the bullet. Everyone else was going to be out of luck on getting any immediate recovery, though.

Static defences were out; even if she pumped everything she had into those… well, she'd need a lot of time, a working Shield materia, and to watch whatever Rudolf had been doing to even try and stop it, and it wouldn't really do to just protect herself. If she dumped the entire rest of her reserves into it, she might be fine on her own, but that wouldn't do the rest of them any good. And she did care about the Kirins.

Also, she'd be stuck in an impact crater in Skael with no food. That would be decidedly problematic; no matter who picked her up after that.

The easy thing to do would be to just dump everything into… what, some bastardised recreation of Flare or whatever Eve had shown off that one time? She didn't have the strength for that, even if she hadn't been haphazard with clearing out the crowd when this entire mess had started. Miina could write that out immediately. Since she couldn't overcome it on raw force, that discounted any other direct spell.

But… yes, Izayoi had the right idea. Well, the start of it? Even if she could pull it together in time, something that could cut open the sea was too diffuse for a single descending rock… it was possible, probable even, that the samurai would try to adjust it, but…

The winds were changing too slowly.

Miina slid in behind Izayoi, hands loosely by her sides. Mmm, yes, being at the eye of the storm was exactly where she wanted to be, and now just start to feed in… almost everything.

"L-Leave the c-control to me," If Izayoi could just focus on pulling from the materia, Miina was more than happy to manipulate what was there, and the magic was already intimately familiar. Faster, and faster, and tighter. This didn't need to change the entire skies, she wanted to pull all of this in to coincide with the slash – whenever Izayoi was ready. Was there time? Well, there was only one way to find out, but maybe they could focus an entire hurricane into a single lance of wind.

…

And if that damn spy was still around after, she had enough for one spell.

Paths Unwound — A Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Tachibana Hibiki

Weaving between the lasers had slowed her down, but it had given the other transformed hero time to get in some more hits – and, well, the sound that the barrier was critical was good news, the part where reinforcements were coming wasn't; not if they were all as tough as this one, and not without some other means of hitting harder. No Ignite, no benefit from multiple wielders' phonic gain…

But all that meant was that this had to go down now.

Which should be simple enough, it wasn't like the brunette had ever terminated or slowed her pursuit, no matter how close the laser had gotten. The Shenshoujing had been much harder to avoid. Closer, closer, closer – now!

Of course, she hadn't jumped right at it, with how much it was backing off Hibiki had completely overshot the mark intentionally. From here, it'd slow her down too much to change angle for a punch, no matter how assisted… but hey, Sento had been doing a lot of kicking right, surely he'd appreciate this?

It was, after all, a straight diving kick. Albeit with rockets.

Of course, at no point in this had Hibiki done more than briefly pause in the singing, although what came out was much closer to just shouting out the line as her kick descended.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Miina Malina

She didn't really have to look at Elly while this was going on; magic had its own kind of proprioception to work with and she couldn't see inside the wound anyway. It meant she had plenty of time to watch Behemoth batter through the rest of the Kirins with concerning ease.

There was going to be so much healing in her future. Well, provided everyone survived this; she didn't much appreciate her odds of healing a dead body.

But that meant she had to do a little more than just heal their incapacitated gunner – right when she would've been most useful, typical – and the Mystral pulled away from her healing efforts for a moment to let the little fairy take over. Hm, first thing was to keep any of the incidental comets from landing on her head.

"Shell," it wouldn't hold up to the full thing – she'd have to grab Elly and run, if that came out, but at least it would be interesting to watch how it worked (again, assuming survival) – but it would deal with the current predicament. As for actually contributing…

Berserk had its temptation, they were basically just attacking the monster trying to make it stick. More force and it would be much easier to kill, right? Well, putting it on someone who was already injured was just asking for trouble, and that would probably just pick up the Blight… best not to risk it, especially as it might get her in trouble. No, no, if she only wanted to help indirectly - and not get immediately attacked herself – then that left one option as normal.

"Haste," Rudolf, Galahad, Izayoi, Esben, that quiet little bunny… there, everyone looped in.

Back to healing.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Miina Malina

"Oh, c-come on," the mage's response was more… annoyed, than anything, even as she moved immediately into position, "R-Running away again?"

This time she hadn't even achieved anything except to waste their time! And ruin Eliane's clothes, once Miina finished with this. And where was the fun in having a hot lady trying to kill you if she wasn't hanging around for it? Could have replaced her with anyone and it would have been fine, and being ignored after trying to stab her and then exploding the building just felt unfair…

Maybe she thought Elly was going to be important for this or something?

Meh.

"Cure," the red mage started, just wanting to staunch the bleeding long enough that she could address the injury properly. Just repeatedly applying Cura would no doubt close it up and get the gunner back into fighting shape with relative ease, but the way it would do that… maybe it was something that full white mages trained to avoid, or maybe it was just accepted for expediency, but forcing that sort of healing just lead to… compromises. Like leaving the wound full of shrapnel, or awkward scarring. It was battlefield medicine through and through, and whilst they might be in a battle, it wasn't as if Miina cared about the fates of any of the militia. No, no, much better to make sure their party member didn't have to deal with any lingering pain or loss of functionality in the long term.

But doing that with just white magic… oh, that have been tricky, wouldn't she have to force the injury to not so much heal as regenerate back to its original state and force the bullet out in the process? Tricky, and she could probably do it, but why not use the skills she already had? She didn't need to leave everything absolutely blemish free (at least, not right now, maybe she could do something later), so being a bit rougher with both the black and white magic…

"T-This might hurt," Miina offered, although… hm, compared to being shot, probably not. Or maybe she was in shock? As long as she didn't move too much. Still, it was a fair warning, literally burning away anything that shouldn't be there before forcing the healing in the affected area inside-out wasn't the… nicest sensation.

At least it made a nice pair of glows around her hands, even if you ignored the aether itself. Fire and healing were quite complementary like that.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Miina Malina

Oh, blight beasts, that was… it was fine. They just had to worry about protecting a whole bunch of people again, and she didn't really have much in the way of a firm idea for contributing to… whatever plan Rudolf was cooking up. Send all the townsfolk to die fighting in one direction?

Or maybe he expected them to shape up now that people were giving them orders.

Well, she knew the assigned roll of a mage well enough in a target-rich environment, even though it wasn't one she was really suited for, she wasn't a proper black mage like Eve had been…

Not that it made a difference, none of these were individually that scary. So long as there wasn't an absolutely overwhelming tide, then the Mystrel might start to regret her indifferent approach a bit. But if it held out, this was also good experience; how was she going to work out how the really big spells worked if she didn't fully exploit the biggest ones she could do.

Sword-arm raised as nothing more than a sight to look down—

"Fira. Fira–"

Hm, now she thought about it, hopefully the militia didn't freak out about the whole mage thing? They were in Skael, and while Rudolf might be spookier, she was an easier target.

Paths Unwound — A Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Tachibana Hibiki

What did a rabbit and tank have to do with each other, and how was that related to a blue and red set of armour? Questions that Hibiki barely had any time to entertain the questions about the man's transformation before there was a much more pressing matter: dodging the laser it was firing.

Was it a laser?

Regardless, when it came to avoid things trying to fire lasers at her, she had a lot of practice, and it would have to go for more than a single shot to hope to pin her down! Although that… still left her with the question of how to damage it. The shimmering light suggested some sort of shield. Hit it harder? Well… that could be Plan B. Plan A was much more blunt: it had exposed a weapon, and that meant there was something to grab onto and tear off. It worked for a tank, so why not for some alien death machine?

… it did pretty much mean that after her sideways burst of speed the brunette was now just running full tilt at the robot, though.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Tyaethe Radistirin

So, her distant cousin had been contacted by their mutual relative but not actually paid a visit yet. That was… fine, Tyaethe could track him down on her own. It wasn’t even that hard if you knew the sort of place to look and were willing to put in the effort. Relatively easy for her, at least; the current crop of knights might find it a bit harder to pull it off without some difficulty.

Renar would probably have the best time of it. Maybe Serenity? Although, avoiding drinking would probably make her an ill fit as well. The witch… well, Tyaethe doubted she would be out of place for long, it was just the matter of getting in the door for her.

That was why she had spent an unusual amount of time this evening, as the past few, dressing and making her hair look something other than a wild mane. More effort than she had put into the ball, if she was to be honest; here Tyaethe was operating on her own merits and wanted a better impression than just ‘acceptable’.

There was also the different crowd to consider; this one would rather more appreciate the cleavage than a formal ball for an underaged princess. Sadly, this meant no bringing her sword along, even with Saint Rannigan’s feast and the tournament approaching. It would set rather the wrong tone for a private engagement.

All of this was to say: Tyaethe was out attending parties ever-so-slightly the wrong side of propriety but still well within the auspices of high society. Not for the fun of it, but because she knew the sort of crowds her great-uncle always associated with. They were also only too happy to let a famous knight and relative of such high nobility attend.

Well, so long as this didn’t turn out like those balls. Her welcome would quickly run out if she were to start something violent or be nakedly hostile to the attendees… as dull as their gossiping was. But, she would admit, at least the refreshments were good; Aimlenn was after all a trade hub, and the hosts had no choice but to show off.

She seemed to be in luck for once. At first she almost waved the maid off – she still had a full glass, after all, and she didn’t want to encourage too many attempts to curry favour. As if she would let anyone here buy their way, or a relative’s, into the order…

But the smell. Oh, that was unmistakeable. Blood. Rendered into something a normal person might almost drink by accident, stable and fluid even cooled, an alchemical trick that wasn’t terribly rare… among esoteric mages.

It took time, especially when trying to preserve and distil essential qualities of the source. Alcohol, for instance. If a party had that around… well, it only stood to reason that the host expected a vampire to be here enough to make the effort, no?

So either they really anticipated her presence, or…

“Lord Damon Cazt requests your presence,” the girl said, sinking into a curtsey as soon as Tyaethe had taken the goblet. Fine metal and, unsurprisingly, faintly enchanted, “If Dame Tyaethe would be kind enough to follow me…?”

The vampire followed along to a nearby drawing room, still close to the raucous noise of the party outside but far enough removed that nobody should accidentally stumble in. There, sprawled along a couch with a rakish grin was the exact man she had been looking for. Nestled up to his side like a cat was a much less familiar figure – a cute girl who…

She looked human, and with glasses on for once that was more than an approximation. But Tyaethe’s other senses were screaming that there was something slightly off. The demon?

“Imagine my surprise when I heard that my favourite great-niece was finally taking my advice,” he raised his own cup in mock-salute.

“Advice?” the probable-demon parroted.

“Why, to go to the fun parties, of course. The ones with handsome boys, pretty girls,” he flicked a lock of her dark hair, “And, of course, drinks a vampire can feel.”

“Har har har,” Tyaethe didn’t even try to make the laugh sound convincing, dropping into the nearby plush seat and taking a sip. As Damon had implied, and she suspected, this would affect her, “You know why I’m here, uncle.”

“You wanted to find me, yes? The only reason you ever come to anything interesting,” he sighed, “_{I still think getting out like this more often would do you a world of good.}”

She ignored the muttered aside, glaring at the older vampire. “Yes. You haven’t met Veilena yet, and I’ve had enough waiting. Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you now.”

The other girl’s nails started grow ever-so-slightly, fingertips morphing into claws. Damon, however, seemed entirely unconcerned. Or maybe he was just drunk. “For the attempted assassination? I played an integral part in preventing that, as I recall. I simply played with the Arcedeen girl a little.”

Oh, she could – and had – forgiven that. As frustrating as he was, having a traitor was all but necessary to address the conspiracy in time and without casualty. Despite her better judgement, she trusted he had no idea what the ulterior motive was, or that it was a big distraction…

Well, mostly. But she could address that after. No, it was her duty as a paladin that demanded action.

“You let a necromancer into a tomb. A tomb with– with the Demonbreaker interred.”

His gaze sharpened at the hitch, an uncharacteristic seriousness stealing over the boyish features. “She was buried there as well, I almost forgot… that was something I overlooked, you have my apologies.”

“Apologies don’t cover it,” Tyaethe looked away, into the deep red of her drink. “Not for violating one of Reon’s most sacred tenets.”

She ignored the quiet conversation as the demon girl demanded an explanation, and the explanation in turn. She refused to let this become any more personal than it already was.

“There is, perhaps, one more thing I can share,” he sounded resigned, “Even had I washed my hands of the entire conspiracy and allowed events to take their course, I am all but certain the tomb would still have been used.”

Tyaethe’s eyes flicked up from her suddenly half-empty goblet. That…

Breaking in simply wasn’t an option.

“If that was true, you wouldn’t be necessary.”

“Quite the mystery. I hardly see the point in including myself,” his tone was back to lackadaisical, “Unless this entire affair was merely a side dish.”

That was what they knew, too, now that it was too late to do anything. Keep the Iron Roses busy, keep the crown knights on guard, and pull everyone that might be interested in the college’s secret well away from it for the night. If Damon’s involvement could be removed and the overall plan still held…

He made it easier, then? The sabotage pulled their attention further afield, and if he stood in to make the tomb accessible then the real culprit was free to move…

But that meant the backup plan was to pull the assassination off correctly, let Erich’s body be perverted even further, and hope the chaos was enough cover. It was something the Iron Roses and the rest might have stopped, but…

The immediate cost would have been much higher.

And part of being a paladin was to not make decisions on the basis of considering people necessary sacrifices, even if it was easier. You saved everyone you could, then the next, and the next, until you stopped the problem. The only acceptable loss was yourself.

Against Tyaethe and everyone else’s better judgment, she liked Damon, too. Back when she’d been new to being a vampire…

If he hadn’t gotten involved, then that necromancer would have had unrestricted access to the tomb for even longer.

“You can’t just tell me who asked for your help?”

“No more than I already have,” he was entirely unapologetic about it, too.

Sure, it narrowed down the possible candidates but… not as much as she hoped. Not to mention that it was very nearly a perfect overlap with ‘people who might ask Damon Cazt for help in the first place’; it was just additional confirmation.

Fuck.

It was a good thing that she actually had a drink here. She could pass the information on to the captain in the morning.

“Getting into the spirit of it after all?” The other vampire was all smiles now, “The party is surely starting to miss us.”

“Just don’t start throwing girls at me again.”

“Yaya, dear, that was never me. It was your chest.”

“Don’t say that!”

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.