Electric Boogaloo

[tiredcharmer]

Who: Tyzias and YOU!
Where: All around Anastara and Diatu
When: Late October
What: Tyzias arrives at Diatu and is thoroughly unimpressed.
Warnings: Curmudgeonliness abounds, lots of swearing.



attention, attention everyone
Anastara, being built around a Magicademy full of mischievous and/or incompetent students, is no stranger to ridiculous happenings. Especially in recent months with the arrival of the Sundered. As such, residents have a high tolerance for magical shenanigans and associated weirdness. But it is extremely difficult to simply ignore a round boulder being pulled at high speeds down the street by a pair of extremely large trolls.

Said trolls have at least a passing knowledge of traffic laws, so thankfully nobody is hurt. But an entrance like that draws attention—which is exactly what Tyzias doesn't want. When her chaffeurs crack the rock open at the academy, Tyzias tumbles out of her luxury transportation (really, it's quite posh inside, the Troll Lord of Okanes isn't a barbarian) and lands flat on her back before the gates of Diatu, staring at the sky.

After a twenty-three second sustained groan, Tyzias grumbles, "Sweet fucking Sufferer, Grumbrig, I know you wanted to give me the 'royal treatment' but that's a little overboard." She laboriously tries to pull herself to her feet. And fails. "Fuuuuuuuck dust got all in my shirt fuck fuck fuck HEY YOU CAN YOU HELP ME UP HERE"

see through bloodshot eyes
Now that she's finally someplace that might be able to get her on track to find some answers, there's no way in... whatever this world's punitive afterlife is that Tyzias is going to waste it on something as trivial as sleep. So it is that it's three AM in the morning and she's still poring through dozens of books by flashlight in the common room, mumbling to herself in a haze as she flips through page after page. Her choice of reading material is eclectic: basic textbooks for beginning mages, advanced theses on Intimation, a few tomes about Sundering, swathes of world history, Osmarius grammar, prayer books, and more. Tyzias is practically buried in a blanket of notes.

Then she sweeps her arm across the table to diagram a High Osmarius phrase, accidentally hits a stack of books, and it all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down. While she doesn't go down with the ship, all of Tyzias's study material crash to the floor. The thud that echoes through the hallways is deafening.

Tyzias muffles her scream by planting her face on the table, then sighs, hauls herself to her feet after much effort, and begins slowly putting everything back in order as she braces herself for the inevitable mob of furious students who were just aroused by the chaos. Hopefully whoever finds her first isn't too angry...

wwwwhen you held the knife
Tyzias looks at the supply list in her hand, then at the rack of wands, then at the list again, then she groans. "You know what would've been fantastic? If Teach actually told me what I needed for class. Outlined a clear, concise list of Factors that I need to make the magic shit happen. But no. 'Discovery foci.' What am I supposed to get? Bat guano? I mean, okay, I know that all I need is a book and a wand, I'm not that dumb, but what wand? The one that magically calls out to me or some shit?" Tyzias throws up her hands in frustration.

"You. You have any idea how I'm supposed to pick one of these things? I know this place's reputation, there's no way I'm just gonna snag one off of the shelf there and call it a day."

Comments

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias stares at the one in her hand. It's a utilitarian, almost ugly thing: crafted of iron, with a rough leather strip wrapped around the base for an easy grip and a cherry-colored crystal at the top. Lines of red stone run through it in patterns that look almost like veins. Apparently, it's hilarious, since Tyzias snort-laughs her ass off at it for several moments.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think this'll work." She shambles over to the register, pulling a massive sack of gold from absolutely nowhere and terrifying the poor clerk, already shaken at her demonic appearance, even further. Tyzias yawns, rolling her shoulders as they ring it up.

"Right, Dust. You have a copy of, uh..." She stares blankly into the distance, eyes flicking back and forth, "Principles of High Osmarian Grammar, Collected Volumes 1-12? Hard to get my hands on because of, you know, people are just a bit leery of anything associated with Sundering, even though it's literally just a language. Need it for some research."

[mithrarin]

"Sure." Tyzias hadn't been through any runs of research yet. Hadn't seen figures from the past appear as phantoms, for just one example. So yeah, she'll probably get the whole trouble with Sundering in a little bit. "You can borrow it if you need to. What House did you end up in anyway?"

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias groans. "Ugh. Eiather. Fucking... look, I know that literally nobody really believes that Intimation prayers are actually being heard by the gods or whatever anymore, but it still really ticks me off. I'm trying to find ways around it." In Tyzias's experience, the only gods who ask for supplication are complete jackasses, and she's not interested in inflating the ego of anybody who might be listening as unlikely as it is.

[mithrarin]

Aww. Dust had quietly been hoping she'd have ended up Purifeul with him. But the odds of that were always low.

"Trade you. I'm terrible at math."

[tiredcharmer]

"Would if I could, buddy. Would if I could." She pauses. "Then again, I'm a lot better at figuring out legal problems and loopholes in obscure clauses than doing the numbers thing."

[mithrarin]

Dust thought for a moment, expression unreadable in large part due to the hat covering his eyes.

"Then.. why not phrase all your Intimation spells as legal sort of things? A contract between you and the gods. Would that be better?"

[tiredcharmer]

"...holy shit." Tyzias facepalms as she stores her wand in whatever mysterious pocket dimension she keeps her gear. "Why didn't I think about that? I'm such an idiot sometimes, ugh." Because she was too focused on giving the middle finger to the heavens, of course, but still.

[mithrarin]

"Because they never told you it was an option and you've got enough on your mind?" Honestly, don't kick yourself, Tyzias. Dust couldn't even manage to phrase things that way if he tried -- one reason Intimation is one of his weakest Curricula.

[tiredcharmer]

"Fair." Unfortunately for Tyzias, she's used to a much faster learning curve when learning magical abilities. Sorry, pal. No more asterisk shortcuts for you. Time to learn the hard way.

...although Tyzias has to admit that she almost relishes the academic challenge presented to her. "Hey, you think you could show me a few more of those sword techs in the training yard or something? I could use a few pointers on wand technique, I don't think my movements are precise enough. These hands are made for note-taking, not for casting." Not strictly true, but Tyzias does need more examples of what swordcasting actually looks like.

[mithrarin]

Please. After she'd just flicked out that light spell easy as could be, Dust was supposed to buy that?

But he nodded. "I had a huge problem with that when I started. When I'm writing the runes and making the gestures on the small scale, it's fine, but on a larger one I really wasn't being precise enough. I can show you that."

cut to training yard?

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias almost bows out of sarcasm, pauses, reconsiders, then just nods. "Lead the way then, o Great Master," she says, gesturing out the door. She knows that Dust knows that her whole helpless incompetent act is complete bullshit, and isn't that enough for two aliens to be totally normal buds? As long as he doesn't pry, Tyzias is chill.

[mithrarin]

Dust usually did his training out in the open, on the grounds a safe distance away from any ordinary traffic. Why? Because he felt more comfortable outdoors, that's the long and the short of it. The labs in the cavern would work just fine, but... he preferred it up here.

"By the way, I should introduce you..." Before one of them introduced themselves. Dust drew his two swords, then lifted the one that glowed with blue runes. "This is Ahrah. And Furae." That was, of course, the one with red runes.

[tiredcharmer]

Even after a year of romping about in the wilderness slaying monsters, Tyzias isn't exactly an outdoorsy person. She much prefers staying inside, cozying up with a good pile of books, studying until time becomes a blur and she can taste sound... but yeah. Tyzias has to admit, it's pretty nice here.

Dust's swords are quite fancy, even by Vaikunthan standards. Nice and symmetrical too; they look like part of a proper gear set. Not like Caledfwlch and Dragon's Spine. Saying hello is a little weird, but everybody has their idiosyncracies and Tyzias is definitely in no place to criticize.

She offers the swords a mock salute. "Yo."

[mithrarin]

"Yo!" The runes on the red sword, Furae, flickered in time with the rough-sounding but clearly female voice.

"Greetings, Tyzias," said the other sword with the same flickering, though Ahrah's voice was far more calm and measured.

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias doesn't bat an eye when Dust's swords start talking to her. Worldhopping life is weird enough already, so why the hell not? "Nice to meet both of you," she says with no hint of sarcasm at all.

All weapons need to be shown respect, in her opinion. Tyzias isn't a superstitious troll by nature, of course. It's just common sense to treat the tools that save her life on a regular basis with a little more decorum than how she conducts herself normally. And if they start talking, well... all the more reason to give them the respect they deserve.

[mithrarin]

That was a very pleasant change of affairs. Dust had been prepared to answer the questions he always got about the two, his literal lifelong companion and his familiar. Not getting them threw him off his pace for a moment, but not in a way he minded.

"So... you wanted to see the big movements, huh?"

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias sits down on the grass, and the thud the impact makes is akin to a boulder being driven into the ground. She doesn't acknowledge that this happens at all, though, and gestures for Dust to start. "Yep. Show me how it's done, Sensei." And there's the sarcasm again.

[mithrarin]

He just might.

Dust took several steps back, then turned to face perpendicular to her as he dropped into a combat crouch: right hand and Ahrah held back, left arm and Furae crossing in front of him.

A slight rock onto the balls of his feet, and Dust blurred into motion. His style made great sweeps out of strokes of his blade, with twists and swift changes of direction that bode no good for anyone in range. Tyzias could see the tips of the blade cutting through a sigil for fire.

With the last line drawn, he flipped backwards and kicked one foot out to hit the center of the rune. A roar of flame erupted from thin air, gushing forth before dissipating just as quickly.

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias studies Dust intently, noting every flick of the wrist, every millimeter of movement, the precise angle of his swordstrokes, every detail of his stance... it's like she's dissecting Dust on a table. It's an unnerving feeling.

This is Tyzias's specialty: mentally tearing apart every flaw in her opponent's technique, then striking in the brief moments that they're unguarded. Or, failing that, prying open an opportunity herself.

The most important observation she makes is the movements needed for the fire spell, though. After a moment of consideration, Tyzias tests the weight of her wand and replicates Dust's magic circle, wielding the wand like a blade.

A burst of fire erupts from the circle and into the air. It's not as powerful as Dust's, of course, but there's more force there than somebody who's completely inexperienced in the ways of magic should be capable of. Tyzias exhales and locks eyes with Dust. "Aight. I think I get it. Could you show me a different spell?"

[mithrarin]

The obvious flaw in the technique was simply how unfocused it was. Rather than using technique and efficient strikes, Dust simply whirled through slashes like a three-dimensional buzzsaw. It would not be good to get near him, but he wasn't going to catch anyone by surprise.

Naturally this wasn't the way Dust normally fought, but it was closer than she might normally think.

For Dust's part -- yeah, she picked up the technique a lot faster and more precisely than he had at first. He'd be jealous, except her technique was still more subdued than his by far. Still, between that and the earlier thump when she sat down, he was swiftly reassessing his initial appraisals of her. There was more to her than the more to her that didn't meet the eye.

(Good luck locking eyes with that hat he wears, though!)

"Sure." What spell, hmm. Okay.

Rather than stay in place, this time Dust sprang forwards, a massive backhand slash with Ahrah swiftly moving into a spinning forehand slash with Furae. "Deflect!" he said, bringing Ahrah in an overhand arc that veered off sharply, the Thaumaturgical gesture that went with the Deflect spell. A shield hummed into existence in front of him for just a moment, but that would do if a magical attack came at him right in the middle of his physical one.

sorry if the prose is weird, it's been a long day

[tiredcharmer]

"Bang. You're dead."

In the middle of Dust's spell kata, Tyzias's wrist twirls, she mutters "light," and a globe of glowing gold light flies from her wand and towards one of the few weak spots she thinks she's found in his form. On further inspection, while she shares pure speed and momentum with Dust, her strength was in precision while his was in raw power. Tyzias fights with not a single flourish, not a single millimeter of unnecessary movement, while Dust... well, it looks intimidating, but he's expending far more energy than he needs.

Granted, much of that was likely due to his sword forms acting as a conduit for the magic, but still. It's an obvious weakness.

It's all good!

[mithrarin]

The moment that light shot his way, Dust stomped down his lifted foot to plant himself solidly, then whipped Ahrah up into the air and let go of the hilt. Rather than fall, the sword spun on his palm, so fast that the only sign of the blade was the distortion the vortex of its motion left on what was seen through it.

The ball of light zipped into it, and rather than beaning him, it multiplied into forty or so of itself, all whirling around in the vortex.

"Really, Tyzias?"

But he was more amused than anything as he caught Ahrah's hilt again, letting the balls of light scatter in all directions.

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias's eyebrows shoot up into her ragged mop of black hair at Ahrah's display. Now that is impressive. "Damn. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that if that had been a slightly less friendly spell, all of that," she gestures in the direction of the dissipating lights, "would've come right back at me. Color me impressed.

"But if I hadn't been so courteous as to let you know that I was slinging that light in your direction, that just might've hit. And I doubt that anybody you're fighting with would be so kind as to call out their attacks like some anime villain. Impressive as your flowy shit is, somebody who's more experienced than me could easily find an opening punch a hole straight through your form. Gotta keep on your toes."

[mithrarin]

"Actually, the Dust Storm is better at magnifying a friendly spell and using it for attack. If you cast that as an attack and I amplified it... that was how I got through so much of my time in Falana."

Which brought back the memory of Fidget, quite sharply. Brought in one of those sudden silences that hung just a little too heavily to be innocuous, before Dust shook off the morose nostalgia through force of will. "You know, if you wanted to spar I would've obliged you."

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias laughs harshly. Shit. She went a bit too far. "Me? Spar? With you? My dude, I can't even lift most swords above my head, let alone swing them with enough force to tickle you. Trust me, it'd be pathetic. I'll stick to faffing around with kiddie spells for now, thankyouverymuch."

Tyzias is very good at lying in most cases. That's how she survived on Alternia; by lying to everybody about her activities; even to her matesprit. So the deception rolls over her tongue as easy as honey, coming off as genuine self-deprecation. But Dust has probably gathered enough evidence to know that something is up.