week 7

[airlockedmods]

[For the first time in several weeks there is no new memorial in the garden. No new body in the morgue, no bloody mess for the roombas to clean. Choromatsu is still in need of time to heal and constant vigilance but he's alive. They're all alive for once on a Sunday and, even with the terrible realizations their returning memories may bring, there's a sense of hope for the first time in a long time.

There is no new floor this week.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday



[ooc: Don't forget to to turn in your activity for week 6, submit your memory regains and put in your threads for the Benefactors!]

Comments

[goteachother]

Useful's the whole point. Least for most folks. My sister's an auror, a detective. Kinda like Junpei. So she knows a lotta defensive spells and a few attacks too.

Mostly this is the kinda thing magic is.

[She just nods at the suggestion and a circle cutter emerges from a drawer to start cutting out pieces of pie crust. In the meantime she goes to the fridge and pulls out a few containers of berries. This she will do by hand because she wants to make sure she uses the best berries.]

[scourgingstars]

Ah--I think I see the difference now. Your magic is something which serves a purpose for both combat as well as a more mundane lifestyle. I'm afraid mine is only the former.

[goteachother]

We can't all be Thunderbirds. [A soft chuckle as she pops a raspberry in her mouth.]

There's plenty of Dark Arts spells but the average witch is never gonna do anything of the sort.

Berries? [Look at how lovely these raspberries are, Ardyn. Come eat some.]

[scourgingstars]

Of course. [it is fantastic to have a sense of taste, queenie]

But you must have some kind of offensive magic, don't you? Elemental spells, anything?

[goteachother]

[How have you survived not being able to taste her cooking all these weeks.]

Tina's always trying ta teach me things so I can defend myself just in case... I run into a Grindelwald supporter or someone equally unpleasant at the Blind Pig but- [A shrug, sheepish as she plucks out a strawberry, a little too ripe for the tarts but that just means it'll be extra sweet and she offers it to him.]

There's an awful lot of conviction you gotta put into that kind of magic and I... I don't wanna hurt anyone. Not really. I'd much rather just apparate away. Besides if someone is thinking of doing somethin awful to me I'll know it ahead of time.

[scourgingstars]

[he was living in hell, it was awful]

Hm...that does explain a few things. [Like how he carried you out of the courtroom that one week. Good times. Ardyn shrugged, taking the strawberry without hesitation.]

Magic that requires conviction...Something like that is usually reserved for the highest levels of power. Most of my own magic just requires thought, or brief concentration. And I'm certain no one of the Lucian line could ever read minds, so you've quite the advantage there as well.

[goteachother]

Everything requires conviction. Ya gotta mean it or it ain' gonna work. Don' matter how powerful ya are if you don't want somethin to happen 's not going to.

Also depends on how good yer wand is. That's the main reason I've been so useless here. Without my wand I... well there's very few things I can do and most of 'em involve cleaning.

[scourgingstars]

That's still fascinating. And even without your wand, mundane as this may be it's still quite impressive from where I'm standing.

[Look at him. Being sincerely encouraging. What the hell.]

The only conduit I have here for my own magic doesn't work at all, if it's any consolation to you.

[goteachother]

It's hard enough not havin' my legilimency. I can't imagine if they'd taken my magic too.

S'pose it makes more sense to cut you off if yers is mostly for combat... I can't hurt anyone much with just levitation.

[scourgingstars]

It's terribly unsettling; they could have at least left my warping. That's one of the few things I have I likely couldn't cause damage with unless I had a sword.

[Beat.]

Upon second thought, I suppose I haven't actively tried it since I got here.

[ARDYN IT IS WEEK SEVEN WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU]

[goteachother]

Warping? What on earth is-

What do you mean you haven't tried it!?!

[Hands on hips an you are not getting a single berry more until you do. Now.]

Go on!

[scourgingstars]

Wh--haven't we done enough yelling at each other?!

[Ardyn scrambled to answer the half-asked question while also quickly looking around for...something, apparently.]

It's--it's a sort of teleportation, it works on line of sight and I need something to target--I've always used swords and other weapons, and so far I haven't really needed to-damn it, where did that pen disappear to?

[goteachother]

[This is the face that Scamander and Kowalski children will one day learn to fear. The face of a woman who has no time or patience for your shenanigans, boy. You are 1980 years older than her and she's not afraid to mom at you.

She just raises a brow and cocks a hip.

Anytime now, Ardyn.]

1/2

[scourgingstars]

Just...hold on a moment.

[this man ended a planet ladies and gentlemen]

[Ardyn finally found the pen he was looking for in a pocket of his vest, tossing it to himself like he was testing its weight. Junpei had been able to pick up the concept with a plastic knife, but that was in the middle of PAL toying with their abilities however he liked. It was just as likely he'd accomplish nothing but tossing a pen out the door.]

...Do try not to laugh if this fails, no matter how I might deserve it.

[He flipped the pen around in his hand, threw it like a dart, and-]

[scourgingstars]

[-disappeared in a brief outline and lingering trail of magenta light, reappearing at the end of it only a few feet away to catch the makeshift projectile in midair.]

[And even that limited success came as such a surprise that Ardyn stumbled and collided facefirst with the wall.]

[goteachother]

[It didn't fail. That means she's free to laugh, right?

Because she does. She tries to stifle it, to not actively laugh at him too much. And she is rushing over to make sure he didn't hurt himself.

But she is laughing.]

Ardyn, honey!

[Grasping him by the shoulders first and then turning to let him lean on the wall while she touches his face, fingertips carefully exploring his nose to be sure he didn't damage it or anything.]

[scourgingstars]

I'm fine, everything's fine--

[Funny thing about being human, pain didn't wear off quite as quickly anymore. Not a terrible thing, but Ardyn was briefly seeing stars of a very different nature.]

Following through always was the difficult part. I didn't actually expect that would work.

[goteachother]

You're lucky you didn't splinch yourself like that!

[But okay okay he's alive and not injured in anything more than his pride at least.]

That's not the sort of thing you should be doing halfheartedly.

[scourgingstars]

What are you talking about? Warping is simple, I've been doing that since I was a child.

[He glanced over to the point he'd started from, looking disappointed.]

That's about as far as I used to be able to travel, as well. Shame--either I'm out of practice or PAL has stricter limits than I'd hoped for.

[goteachother]

[And then she's laughing again, shaking her head in disbelief.]

That's exactly how I feel about levitation. But this? Apparation? We're not even allowed to start training for it until we're 16. If you mess it up you're liable to leave something behind.

How far should you be able to go?

[scourgingstars]

Leave something behind? That doesn't happen with our magic; the most present risk is either missing your target entirely or doing precisely what I just did. It's a simple technique to master; my brother was barely a teenager when he finally mastered it.

[Ardyn seemed to falter briefly after having said that without thinking, hesitating a second before trying to recover.]

Ah--with a clear line of sight I could likely travel most of the main hallway.

[goteachother]

[She sees that falter and she remembers what he's said about his brother... so she jumps on the opportunity to move on, trying not to let him slip back into his own head too much.]

Oh is that all? Hmm that's probably why it's so easy for you.

What we do it's... you're kinda disassembling yourself in one place and putting yourself back together somewhere else. I could go from one end of the city to the other pretty easily. Might even be able to make it down ta Jersey. My sister apparates ta work every day. 's a good 10, 12 blocks?

What her boyfriend can do, though. That's more like your warping. 's harder, in a lot of ways. I could stand here and take a moment to think about it and then be somewhere else in the mansion... but... to be midstep and then just finish that step across the room, no time to concentrate or take stock of yourself? 's tricky. Most folks don't apparate in a duel. Pretty much all Newt does, though.

[scourgingstars]

...Yours does seem like taking considerably more of a journey than this. [He quickly focused back on the conversation at hand, twirling the pen around in his hand a couple more times.] That would make travel much easier, by the sound of it.

Warping is a combat technique by nature. Usually, it's done with a sword or other manner of weapon; throw it to strike your enemy, and follow immediately behind for a second attack. It does take some small amount of focus, but eventually it becomes as natural as simply walking forwatd. It's a formidable combat style, and makes even an average battle a bit of a flashy affair.