Week 2

[airlockedmods]

Week 2

[The Champions have now been here for one week, and while the dud of a first incentive didn't tempt anybody, the fact remains obvious: a lack of murder isn't going to be the thing that gets you out of here.

Blaze Dudely and Rox have not made a reappearance since Tuesday, leaving you to your own devices for the moment. That door they entered and exited through remains locked, and there is no new area to access this week. Are you sure they're even still back there? Despite their absence, you all wake up on Sunday morning from strange dreams. What to make of it?

You can only hope it's not a bad omen for the rest of the week.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Don't forget to turn in your AC for Week 1, submit your memory regain, and turn in your Benefactor threads! ))

Comments

[stillstands]

Laurent? Is that a friend of yours?

I don't know anything about magic outside of the sleight of hand style. Maybe that's what this is supposed to be... a "magic" trick, one that's illusion based?

[challengesfate]

Oh, yes - one of my closest friends since childhood. His mother and my father worked together in protecting the people of Ylisse, but she was more of a scientist, so, he grew up in that sort of...inquisitive environment.

[If you continue to ask about her friends Lucina will give you a glowing report on all of them no matter their flaws. She loves them so much.]

Well...I have heard from many people here that the kind of magic I'm used to isn't real for them. But if it's an illusion trick, then, that could be right. I haven't seen any tomes here, after all.

[stillstands]

So this is the sort of thing he'd be interested in studying, then? Practical magic versus magic via illusion and toying with people's perceptions, I mean. A little inquisitiveness is a good thing, I think. But there's a balance to curiosity and pushing things a bit too far.

[Miki is still learning the difference and where that line is. If that dream she had is any indication, she still hasn't found it. ]

Is that common in your world? Can you and your friends all use tomes, was it? Magic that's actually... sorcery and spells, and books with chants in, that kind of thing. We have stories about it back home, but nothing that's actually real and useable.

[challengesfate]

Perhaps. Studies like that were never my strong suit, though, I'm not poorly educated...he's just very analytical.

[He can tell you're injured just from observing you for a few moments, and how you're inhibiting yourself with the swing of a sword. Boy's got a hell of a brain on him.]

Not all of my friends can do it. Laurent is really the one best with a tome, then my brother Morgan...but, Brady can use staves for healing magic, and Noire's mother was a particularly accomplished Dark Mage, so she knows a lot of things in theory, but...they don't bring out anything in practice.

[Which is honestly better off? Let Noire rest!!]

[stillstands]

Some people have skills that lie in different areas. [How to put it...] Like when you leave school, you have to decide on further education or the workforce. Different people excel in different things, and you pick whichever is best for you.

[Miki would probably choose the former, but she could see Kurumi-senpai choosing the latter. A driven life of work seems more fitting for her than a life behind books and study.]

There are different types of magic? [Well... okay there are in books too, but it's different hearing this is someone's reality.] Not just ones used for attacking, or controlling things like fire?

[challengesfate]

Oh, I see. I wish we had that opportunity...but, even if things were peaceful, many of my friends and I would already be fitted into certain roles. [Like the direct ruler of a country for example.]

Of course - though, much of magic is primarily used for combat. Fire, Thunder, and Wind are the main types...and then there is Dark magic, which isn't something my country tends to use. And then there is healing magic. Still...all of them could be used in different ways, it just depends of the creativity of the person casting spells.

[stillstands]

... You don't get to chose what you want to do in the future where you're from? [It's a scary choice, but... at least they have it. It sounds better than being told from day one "this is what you will be", but...

It probably doesn't matter now.]

... [That almost sounds ominous. All that magic and it's used for combat scenarios. Just how much fighting is there in Lucina's home?]

Multiple elements, country specific brands of magic and even different subsections of magic for hurting or helping... it sounds like a lot to keep track of.

[challengesfate]

It's...not very easy. To go into a trade requires years of study, and even if times weren't hard, many people choose to farm as a means to make a living. [There's so many defenseless villagers, Miki.] As for myself...unless I were to die, I would become the next Exalt of Ylisse. But I would be very proud to do so.

[To be able to follow so closely in her father's footsteps has been her dream for many years, but it's not one that could ever be.]

It's not too difficult. Though...I suppose it helps that I don't use magic at all. I've never really had the knack for it.

[stillstands]

[oh!] So you're... royalty then? So there's not only your own worries about the future to consider, but those of a kingdom too?

[All that responsibility... must be overwhelming?]

[challengesfate]

If the world hadn't gone to ruin? Yes. And I would have been proud to do so.

[...Lucie, back. Back up a second, explain that first part. Maybe? No? Not unless Miki wants to hear about it?]

[stillstands]

[You can't just casually talk about your world being in ruin to a girl who's world is in ruin and expect it to get ignored, Lucina. That's not how this game works.]

... what do you mean your world went to ruin? [With all that magic and fantasy type things that are apparently going on in her world? She can only assume:] was there a war?

[challengesfate]

There were two. One before I was born, and then another longer one after...that ended in chaos. My father died, and my mother...disappeared. [The pause before "disappeared" is poignant, but not expanded upon.] The Fell Dragon Grima rose from its slumber through the machinations of the Grimleal, and Risen overtook the world. What's left of humanity struggles every day to survive.

[All of this is said with a bitter, solemn tone. They're the facts of Lucina's life, but that doesn't mean she has to like them.]

Even if there were still a Halidom to rule...I would not serve it by staying locked away in a castle.

[stillstands]

[Miki definitely looks kinda... wide eyed at that.]

The... Risen? [Ah. Noooo. Nope that doesn't sound good. No.]

And you're... out there fighting all this with your friends? [Give her a moment.] That's... really brave of you.

[challengesfate]

[Yeah that look is...hm. Not...gonna push too much in regards to that look.]

We don't have much of a choice. Either we fight, or we're killed. I would rather be fighting.

[stillstands]

[HA HA... maybe.... maybe later, Lucina. They must be at least Support Rank B or find a Personal Item of Miki's to unlock her tragic backstory.]

And if you can't fight...? What do you do then?

[What if you're a normal teenaged girl who's never fought anything in her life?]

[challengesfate]

Then you learn - or you stay with people who can protect you. There isn't much of humanity left, but we all try to help each other out...and those of us who still have a spark of hope, we wouldn't let the innocent be hurt if we could help it.

[stillstands]

["There isn't much of humanity left"... you learn to survive, you stick together, you...]

Lucina-san... what exactly are the Risen?

[challengesfate]

...Are you...certain you want to know?

[You had an Expression when they were mentioned, Mii-kun.]

[stillstands]

[The "oh shit zambies" expression.]

... .... I'm sure.

[She's not. But she feels like she needs confirmation - are there other worlds out there that suffered like hers did?]

[challengesfate]

...The Risen are the corpses of the dead, reanimated with dark magic to serve the Grimleal. They destroy villages and slay the innocent, and there is no reasoning with them.

[stillstands]

[The dark magic part is new, but the ... undead attacking the living isn't. The look on her face isn't the fear of someone who indulged in too much of the horror genre when she was younger. This is a deep, real fear. But she remains where she is - she asked, after all.]

... and what happens to the people they kill. D-do they change too...?

[challengesfate]

[Yeah no that's. That's a lot of Fear for one girl to have. It's startling to see it emerge on this young girl's face.]

N-No, not...not everyone. They kill like men do, with weapons and through violence, but they can't change a person on their own. It's through magic, and - it isn't absolute, I promise. Many who have fallen have been able to be put to rest.

[Is this the right thing to say? How does she help????]

[stillstands]

[So... it's similar. But not the same. No... swarming and biting and dismembering. It still sounds horrifying, but the idea that they're missing the part of the outbreak back home that terrified her to the core is more relieving that she wants to admit.]

I... I see. So as long as you're not subjected to the magic, you're at no risk of being turned into one of them.

[What a horrible thought though. That there's something anything close to what she experienced, even if it's a massive high-fantasy type scenario, is unpleasant.]

[challengesfate]

That's right. [There's a distinct pause, as if she's really, truly mulling over what might help Miki not be so...Fear.] From what I've seen, though, nothing here can turn you into the Risen. Besides...well. She's not...like a typical Risen to begin with.

[stillstands]

[Surprise, Lucina. That was not the Right Topic to go for. Miki goes a little pale again, but seems to steel herself quicker this time.]

You mean Zombina, right? [Hey look, she remembered the zombie's name.]

No. But she can still turn you.