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Post by Vincent on May 5, 2018 17:14:33 GMT -6
"I can't tell what damages came from the baels and what came from other instances," the cleric examined Vincent's chest and arms. "And, while I can tell that these scars on your forearms are old there is damage to the muscles that was never properly dealt with. Don't you have a hard time gripping things?"
"Gripping things?" Vincent clenched his fists and didn't think anything was amiss. Well, he did drop his swords a lot. Not to mention the shoulder scar from Mizuyuki, that was a nasty one, along with the peppered scars on his right arm from Ryuzaki's dark sword. The scars the cleric referred to though went all the way back to The City of Hero's Siege! He took an axe to his forearms, only sparred by his armor but he didn't think it was so bad back then. "I never noticed any issues," he admitted.
"No? Here," the cleric set a small teacup filled with water in front of Vincent. "I want you to drink from this. Just your thumb and index to hold it."
"Uh. Sure?" Vincent did as he was told and found his hands struggling with the fine control. "Huh. Funny, this never used to happen." Using his other hand to steady his wrist he frowned with a despondent look. He could grip things just fine and fight, but was this really going to be his wound to deal with forever?
"Its an old wound and it cut deep so it will take time for you to recover... along with all of the other damages. Internally I am concerned for you and I can not stress enough that you MUST rest for an extended period."
"Extended? How extended!?"
"A month? Maybe longer, and that is WITH daily treatments." Seeing that this answer did not satisfy Vincent the cleric added, "You seem to have done damage from magic. Its like you went from never using magic before to trying to unleash some really advanced stuff. Your body couldn't handle it and your insides took a hit for it. And not to mention the damage to your magic lines. Its like everything surged to your hands and exploded. Think of it like veins and your hands should be completely purple."
Vincent slowly nodded. "So, its not the old wounds but this magic damage that's making my hands shake like this?"
"If it wasn't happening before then I would say yes, but I think its probably both factors. I mean, what have you been doing? Loading yourself into a catapult and launching at enemies?"
Vincent cracked a smile imagining it. "No, but I guess I have been a tiny bit reckless." Putting his shirt back on he let out a sigh and thanked the cleric. "I'll come by tomorrow then."
"Please do."
Leaving the healer's Vincent made his way to the inn. He made it a habit to check in on all of the wounded after everything and today it was Althea's turn. Reaching what should be her door her knocked three times.
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Post by Althea on May 5, 2018 21:39:22 GMT -6
Althea was not in a good mood.
This was granted not unusual for her, but when one's body was crying out for vengeance against the tyrant overlord who had so cruelly abused it, when she was trying and failing not to think about how even all that vaunted power had availed her so little against the tide, and the fact that she had a worse headache than usual, it was at least slightly more pronounced than usual.
Ereshkigal still hadn't woken up from her antics a few days past, and the uncommon quiet - it WASN'T loneliness god dammit, definitely not, it was just Stockholm Syndrome that made her slightly concerned for the stupid spirit - was at once a peaceful reprieve and so unusual and uncomfortable that she was having trouble focusing because of it. Althea wasn't sure what to make of it, and without her usual gear and research banks it was slow going indeed to transcribe and update her latest calculations. The events back at the town under siege had been many things, but her experimental quad-linked focused array had worked out surprisingly well compared to the much smaller prototypes she had experimented with previously, albeit simultaneously revealing its instability at the end.
So it was clear she was on the right path overall, the mage believed. But somewhere along the way she must have made a mistake - even her lapse in concentration at the end could not be blamed, an ideally moulded array would have enough redundancy to stay stable temporarily even if the mage acted in error once or twice - and so she had to go through all her work. Again. Which was probably not helping her mood much in general, even if her hands weren't slightly unresponsive, lead fingered. This was something that had happened before, most notably after the drawn out fight on the ship from Khan Yunis to Badon she had met Drei and nearly killed herself fighting pirates on. It was part of the reason she regularly pushed herself so hard magically - to constantly strengthen and expand her magical circuits, the equivalent of a 'workout' for a musclebound lunkheaded axe fighter, though Ereshkigal had turned all that upside down with... whatever she had done in that town with Aura, and then again while fighting the Baels several days back, before this latest fracas with Baels. Baels, always Baels. If she never saw another bloody spider it would be too soon.
If looks could kill, the door would have crumbled to dust in Vin's palms when the dark mage gave it a withering stare that could have ripped a man in half for the crime of being interrupted, before looking back at the paper and sighing, placing her quill down as a moment of pragmatic clarity helpfully suggested that she wasn't making very good progress anyways and hell, she seemed to be such a people person lately, why not waste her entire afternoon talking to people she didn't know?
...Not sure if she was always this much of a bitch or not, and feeling a little guilty about it, Althea managed to keep her tone neutral as she spoke. "You may enter."
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Post by Vincent on May 5, 2018 22:12:11 GMT -6
Vincent slowly cracked open the door, mostly out of his own concern and testing his ability to turn a nob given his newfound shakes. He stood briefly in the doorway before entering and gently closing the door. "Althea wasn't it? I never got the chance to talk to you before the fight with the Baels and I wanted to take the chance now since... well, since its a miracle we even got the chance." He rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"I mean, you really saved my hide out there with that light ray you did. It was really incredible." He had to wonder if Neil could have been at that level of talent by now. He did try to push the limits of his skill to a breaking point. While he wasn't projecting one shaman onto another he couldn't deny a curiosity about her capabilities thanks to having known another shaman.
'I don't mean to be rude partner, but she reeks of dark magic.'
'Well, she is a shaman so of course she does. It comes with the territory.'
'No... I mean... something just radiates in a way that concerns me.'
'Really? I'll be careful but don't forget it was thanks to her fighting monsters that I'm alive.'
'Very well.'
Sometimes Vincent wished Phoenix Heart would give him the silent treatment like it used to but having a constant companion wasn't so bad either.
'Aw thanks buddy. You aren't so bad yourself.'
Oh yeah, ever since that whole bonding experience Phoenix Heart seemed to have unhindered access to his every thought... EVERY THOUGHT.
"And I really wanted to make sure you were getting along alright since you came in with the injured too."
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Post by Althea on May 5, 2018 23:08:46 GMT -6
"Vincent." The dark mage nodded, somewhat distracted for a moment, as she put together what she knew of the swordsman. She had witnessed his leadership before the siege, bringing together the guard as she could not have. The strange blast of light magic he had used. His, er, tendency to go gallivanting around fields of giant spiders and force her and Mila to try to rescue him. Somewhat of an incongruous combination, but an intriguing one nonetheless.
She tried not to think too hard about the idea he was here to kill a witch who was known to use the dark arts.
Miracles and curses are but two sides of the same coin, she could not help but thing. There were doubtless survivors who wished they had not. And she was familiar with few 'miracles' that ended in potentially hundreds dead and large areas of human territory lost to monsters. Althea kept those thoughts to herself. They seemed a bit... dark, even for her, to start off a conversation. And he seemed to be trying to keep things on a positive note. Yes. Normal human interaction. That thing people did. She could try it out, right? Yes, just try not to say anything too weird or awkward or witch-y. You can do this!
"Yes... there was little time before the attack came, and we were all occupied helping as we could." And she had helped with... people. Must be going senile in her old age. "I sent what able bodied men I could to you for training, but - there wasn't enough time. For anyone." Acceptance it was the first step to ruthlessly obliterating all feeling, or at least jamming it somewhere in the back of her mind where she could pretend it didn't exist. It wasn't normal for her to try to help other people like that. Having it fail so utterly didn't help. Was the fault hers, or fate's...? Althea didn't care much for the concept, but was willing to accept that some events were effectively predetermined nonetheless - one man could ill defeat ten thousand - and she had been of yet unable to think of a strategy, a set of tactics, that could have allowed them to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat.
So if nothing else, she couldn't blame Vin for this failure. If she couldn't figure out how to do things better than him, she was in no position to belittle him for it. Even if he called concentrated Nether energy, gated directly from the Nether itself, rerouted through several energy conversion arrays to create a new form of matter with properties of both darkness and light... a 'light beam.'
Deep breaths, girl. Genius is always misunderstood in its own time.
"...Thank you," she managed, not entirely immune to flattery even if her oppressively asocial tendencies were slightly rankled. Not enough to smile or anything crazy like that, obviously. "It was a good opportunity to put several theories to work and test the seal arrays. I am - grateful that I could do so in service to others."
It was an odd thought. Althea hadn't actually considered it from that angle, spewing out the first garbage that came to mind by the end of that sentence, but paused to reassess. It - HAD felt nice. Certainly not the first time she had helped others, but she had never really thought about it on its own merits, simply a positive side effect of dealing with threats, usually in the service of self-preservation. Perhaps that was why she was so out of sorts. That for all she had tried, so little of it had actually born the fruit of victory. The problem of being stuck in one's own head. Able to sense a problem, perhaps, but unable to approach it correctly.
Aw. He was worried about her. That was sweet. "My body will recover," the dark mage answered slowly, glancing down at her hands for a moment before returning her attention to Vincent. It wasn't that she was unwilling to discuss her condition, she just didn't see any point in complaining to him about it. "What of you? I witnessed you injured amongst the creatures, and that... magic you used must have taken something out of you."
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Post by Vincent on May 5, 2018 23:35:47 GMT -6
Not enough time for anyone? It was a sentiment he heard several times now and he struggled to believe it. He knew Lycia was in rough shape but he spent so much time in Ilia and Sacae instead of where the fight really mattered. He kept thinking of how had he spent just a little more time polishing techniques or being more observant he could have prevented the unfortunate mishaps of the battle. More than anything had he not fallen from the wall... had that not happened the others wouldn't have had to expend so much energy just to save his stupid self, he never would have pushed Phoenix Heart and his own body to the point of breaking down and Mila would not have suffered the burns and fevers she did. There was time. There was more than enough of it but he squandered it and he blamed himself for the failures of the defense.
"I'm glad you are feeling better." Good enough to write even. He wasn't very good with a pen these days but he knew he couldn't write a word let alone a letter in his state. At the mention of the magic his eyes widened. She recognized that it came at least partly from himself?
'Perceptive indeed.'
Vincent rubbed at the back of his head nervously, letting his fingers slide under the straps of his headband as he did so. "Well actually..." She was a powerful mage, so maybe she understood a bit of it? "It was the first time I had ever done something like that."
'I don't think telling her these details is a good idea!'
'Oh come off it! She might be able to help.'
'Or you can just listen to the cleric and do what she told you!'
'Yes but it can't hurt!' Fighting with Phoenix Heart was exhausting.
He proceeded to show her his forearms and the scars that crossed them. "According to the cleric I did damage to my circuits or whatever around my hands. Further more too much magic in an unworked area affected old wounds that apparently never healed properly. If I may?" He reached for his gargoyle tusk dagger and drew it but as he tried to hold a firm grip his hands shook and his fingers betrayed him dropping it. "Sorry..."
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Post by Althea on May 6, 2018 1:34:42 GMT -6
"Your magic circuits." Althea stared blankly, blinked, as Vincent continued to explain. She was not as well versed in magic weapons as Vin thought by any means, having arrived at the correct conclusion by questionable logic, but knew them well enough to still understand the general vague overview. Runeforged weaponry, holding captive spirits, using them to fuel powerful magi-
...
That... sounded familiar.
Hmm. So Vincent had pushed himself beyond even his own limits, consuming himself partially in his efforts. His hands burned as hers had, back on the ship, and to a lesser degree now. Pushed beyond their limits. Pathways savaged and tattered, but intact. And unlike her, he did not have a great deal of experience in doing so. Her previous work forgotten. the dark mage leaned forward slightly to inspect his hands, her long fingers gracefully trailing along his for a moment as a spark of magic flickered for a moment, then leaned back into her chair, trapped between this world and her thoughts, her mind not fully present in either.
"...All humans are born with what are referred to, academically speaking, as 'magic circuits.' Similar to the nervous system, they convert one's life force to magic, as well as carrying all forms of magic through. Ancient writings suggest that in the distant past, many, perhaps even all humans were capable of using magic, but in the modern hominid they are typically atrophied to the point of near or total unusability. While there are competing theories, this is generally accepted to be the scientific basis to whether one has the 'talent' for magecraft, and the primary difference between a magic user and a normal human is at its core a genetic aberration that leads to a naturally developing system, larger and more developed than most."
In fairness, there were as many theories as there were stars in the sky as to how to classify and define magic and its usage, but even she knew better than to try to explain all of them to Vincent. The basic facts - different people had different proficiencies for magic - were indisputable regardless. "Typically, your weapon provides the magical force for its attacks, created and controlled by the spirit bound to it. It seems that the magic you unleashed during the battle was drawn in part from you, and the magic circuits are..." she trailed off, thinking how best to explain it, before an example sprung to mind. "-Something akin to muscles. They can be trained, improved, by pushing past your limits over and over. Think of a river whose banks are slowly eroded, allowing it to carry more water. Your circuits, as with most, were likely severely atrophied, and drawing any significant current through them is doubtless the cause of your current affliction."
The spirit-host caught a small smile springing to her face, but it was twisted, almost grimly mirthful, rather than kind and genuine. "I am no stranger to the phenomenon myself. Each time I push my body further, my own circuits are sorely tested as I refine and open them further." Slowly opening and closing her own fingers. "It is easiest... safest to control magic by hand, for most magi, though so too is it easiest to injure one's own hands with backlash. But the human body is resilient. Wounds will heal. So long as you do not overly strain it, your body will doubtless return to its old state given time."
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Post by Vincent on May 6, 2018 12:26:38 GMT -6
Vincent could only barely read, nor was he Aura so a lot of what Althea was saying went over his head but he could understand enough from her to get the general gist of things... maybe? Magic ability was passed genetically but anyone could get there with proper training. Was that what she meant? So if that was the case then could he too start learning and wielding magic? Probably not... he couldn't even read the instructional manuals, er, tomes.
Recovering his dagger he sheathed it slowly. "Well, I'm glad it is only a temporary thing but..." his words trailed off a little embarrassed to say it. "Well, I need to strengthen my circuits. I promised Phoenix Heart I would get their soul back together and if I can't handle even one quarter of their strength then there is no way I will be able to withstand one-hundred percent."
'Yup, tell the dark woman about a secret I only recently told you! You really are a trusting idiot.'
'What!? She already knows a lot about this stuff so I think it could really help! Besides, if I don't learn how to use these circuits properly we'll never reach our full potential. We're partners remember? Means working together and we can't do that if I go risking death.'
'I hate your sappy logic.'
'Deal with it.'
"I know I am not a mage and I doubt I could ever be but are there exercises I could do to strengthen them?" his mind was thinking in a very physical manner, not spiritual or mystical. "If its my hands should I work on my grip strength? Though... that seems a bit difficult right now."
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Post by Althea on May 7, 2018 3:23:41 GMT -6
"One quarter?" She raised an eyebrow, but did not press the issue further. Althea wasn't the world's leading expert on magic weapons, but she would have thought what he did was pretty far up there as far as those tools went. Either he was woefully delusional, or there was a great deal more to his weapon than met the eye. She did not know either of them well enough to say which was which, and she was no stranger to the phenomenal power that unassuming tools could hold... that grimoire, something only in hindsight she could recognize as the legendary lost tome of Ereshkigal, hadn't seemed all that impressive at the time either. So despite her usual doubtfulness, Althea was willing to leave it be.
The fact that it could hold more power was of little consequence to her anyways. The last thing she needed was more power, light magic especially - she needed to improve her control, her ability, with what she had now. Yes, she held a definite interest in light magic that would be intriguing to pursue one day, but living and breathing in darkness for so long had helped solidify her core interests far more so. Vincent did not seem like the kind of cur who would make ill use of his power, so what did she care how much of it he had?
That said - she DID care about someone injuring, even crippling, themselves in pursuit of the impossible, and while his path was not quite at that doorstep it was... unlikely that he would be able to casually open that door. Something Althea had learned the hard way with Ereshkigal's power. Even now, her body strained and shattered under that unrelenting eldritch might, damaged even by the mere flickers that she could control of it without Ereshkigal's aid. "You are far more likely to ruin your hands, perhaps your entire body, than you are to grasp that power without cost. Men have been destroyed attempting less, or lost themselves in the process of craving that power." The dark mage was... not... really an inspirational speaker at the best of times, but her words were almost cruel in their brutal simplicity. Few wished to hear the ugly truth, and she had less interest in sugarcoating it than most. But he intent was not to harm. Simply to inform the young warrior of the risks. Yes, there were prodigies who grasped magic from birth, or picked it up later in life. But along that road lay the corpses, the shriveled husks and born-again madmen, who had traded life or sanity or even soul for power, to whispering visions and deceitful demons or simply found themselves reduced to ash and cinder by the power they sought.
But then nothing worth doing was easy, was it?
"...What does that promise mean to you, Vincent?" Odd. She had thought she had finished speaking already, but the question found itself rising to her lips unbidden, born aloft by simple curiosity. Not so foolish as to think that her situation mirrored his. But neither blind to the parallels. The Etrurian escapee was not much of a... feelings person at best and even worse with her own emotions, but despite her eternal exasperation with Ereshkigal, the spirit had become somewhat of a constant in her life.
One who had saved her life several times. Who... occasionally, not that she would ever admit it, made boring tasks more interesting with her antics. And who, for better or worse, was a very lost girl in an era she knew little about. A mere year or two back Althea had utterly avoided all companionship, content to retreat within her own mind, focus entirely on her work. Now, she had - friends, as strange as the word sounded. Drei, Aura, Bryn, Circe, Jalid, and others. And if she REALLY stretched it, maybe Ereshkigal too. Much of it linked back to meeting the spirit in the ruined village. Was it thanks to her or not? Althea wasn't sure. But Ereshkigal had changed her, to some degree or another, and the dark mage begrudgingly admitted it was for the better.
'Aww, I knew you'd come around to my sense of humor!'
...God f**k**g dammit.
'How long-' 'That whooole parag-I mean monologue!'
Swallowing the urge to kill either herself or her unwelcome companion, or possibly both, Althea finished her thoughts aloud rather than allowing herself to be completely distracted. "Is it worth your flesh subsumed, your future sacrificed?"
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Post by Vincent on May 7, 2018 9:52:03 GMT -6
Althea's question of disbelief echoed his own initial thoughts about the matter. So it really was that out of the ordinary, how curious. Then again, on the occasions he had met another bearer of a magic weapon the spirits within them only seemed to surge with raw emotions, Phoenix Heart on the other hand spoke to him, and while limited had a range of feelings they ran through and opinions of their own on matters.
'Maybe I am just better than those other lame weapons. And,' it sounded like a fake laugh? 'what do you mean I have limited emotions?'
'You talk down to me almost religiously, I figured if you're in four pieces maybe that affected you in that way.'
'Huh, you make an interesting point. Maybe you aren't so dumb, partner.'
'Adding partner to the end of an insult doesn't ease the sting of it any...'
Power broke men and destroyed them, without even wanting to Neil and Burt flashed in his mind as usual, and the loose memories of the bonding experience and the men that burned trying to master Phoenix Heart, and of course James, who he watched burn in front of him. He knew all too well the price of power and the risk he put himself under if he failed to be as worthy of all four parts as Phoenix Heart believed him to be.
"My promise?" and what it meant to him? Why did that feel so loaded? "Well..." to really cover that he had to go back. Back five years now... was it really five years? No, just 4, but still... wow.
'Don't get too awed that you lived this long, you still have a question to answer.'
'Oh right.'
"I guess, this promise is like a reason to live." Well that was dramatic. "I never actually wanted to become a mercenary but my best friend was going to do it no matter what I said, so I joined him to make sure he didn't get himself killed right? Only, we got attacked by bandits and I abandoned him out of fear." He was told to run, but he should have stayed...
"Anyway, I found Phoenix Heart not long after. Blade deemed me unworthy and almost incinerated me on the spot but I asked them for time to prove myself and they granted it." She didn't need his life story, he should get the abridged version. "Anyway I guess I've never had a lot of ambition of my own but I still end up as the friend that keeps on surviving. To stop running away I started to relentlessly throw myself at enemies and I will risk everything to save someone." And yet he was the only constant that seemed to remain alive. "My promise to Phoenix Heart is the culmination of our bond and everything I have done and my friends died for. I couldn't keep their dreams alive but they saved me, who had no ambitions. So I guess I'm alive to help Phoenix Heart."
Obviously Phoenix Heart already knew full well the state of Vincent's mind so these things were nothing new to it. "I used to think of them as just a magic and talking weapon right? Well, I realized somewhere along the way that yes, there is a spirit within the blade and that meant so much more, and a soul ripped apart at that. Phoenix Heart has suffered and I want to save them."
'Wait, what?' now that line of thought never quite manifested until now. 'Oh, and now she knows I can communicate with you.'
'Was that ever a secret?'
'Well... no... I guess not, but matters of principle.'
'What principal?'
'Hush!'
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Post by Althea on Nov 16, 2018 16:27:08 GMT -6
"Hmm," Althea returned noncommittally, regarding him analytically as she considered his words. A reason to live...? It was not something she could truly comprehend. Oh, she could understand the words just fine. The idea of living for someone was a common device in literature after all. It was how many heroes thought; viewing the lives of those they protected as more valuable than even their own. But... she couldn't do that. She fought to save herself. Nothing more, nothing less. Yes, certainly she helped others when she could. Althea wasn't ashamed of that nor did she regret it; if one could do good without sacrificing one's self, it seemed like an easy trade even if it cost some extra effort or magic. Certainly she didn't expect payment for it.
Was that the difference between her and Vincent? Between her and Mila? Circe? Drei? They were human, and she was not?
What does that make me? An idiot. Now be quiet.
...There was a certain level of irony to the ancient inhuman spirit arguably having a wider emotional range than her, not to mention more interest in helping people, but Althea shelved those thoughts as quickly as they came.
Hey, you noticed he said it could talk right? What if it's like me? Obnoxious? You know you love it!
"If I may ask... in what manner does this being speak to you?" There was a hint of hesitation, rare for Althea, in her words; the uncertainty of one unused to opening up to others, perhaps unable to, but cautiously intrigued by his words nonetheless. Unlike, say, a normal person, the idea that Phoenix Heart could be an evil spirit manipulating Vin to eventually purge the world did not occur to her, but the idea of an overly talkative spirit did intrigue her, even if it was TECHNICALLY unrelated to her previous question. Or what, was it illegal to have academic curiosity now?
You're full of crap up to your eyeballs, lady. I believe that is your role.
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Post by Vincent on Nov 17, 2018 10:54:09 GMT -6
Once more Vincent unconsciously rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly.
'You should really stop doing that. You'll give yourself achne, and its a pretty clear tell tale how you're feeling.' Vincent rigidly lowered his hand and pocketed it. The spirit had its moments like a mother scolding a child over the simple and silly things they do.
'Alright, alright!' Vincent looked Althea over briefly trying to collect his thoughts. 'What would be the best way to answer?'
'Can't say, but probably verbally. You're just staring awkwardly right now.'
"You're right, sorry!"
If a bodyless spirit could facepalm Phoenix Heart would have. 'Not to me. Geeze, I'm surprised you haven't done that more to be honest.'
"Right, well then, it just sort of... its like..." internally Vincent was screaming.
'Your eloquence astounds partner.'
"Well, its like hearing my own voice talk to me in my mind. Like thinking to yourself except the voice is slightly different. Lighter, softer. And the thoughts are very intrusive and often times rude. The spirit is constantly judging and offering criticism. For a time I actually tried to believe it was just my own thoughts but that would mean I was crazy."
'You're pretty crazy. Just not insane. I only want the man I'm giving my power to, to be the best he can be. Is that too much to ask for?'
'You sound like a nagging housewife!'
'Excuse me? Who wins half our battles? Hah, yeah, that's right, its me. So you should stop complaining so much when I just want you to get on my level.'
Vincent sighed. "Its actually pretty exhausting to be honest."
'If she doesn't believe you, you could always let her hold me. Might give her a good spook. Threaten to incinerate her too. I won't actually do it though, I swear.'
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Post by Althea on Sept 5, 2019 16:59:02 GMT -6
Althea blinked, sitting silently for a moment as she digested the information, doing her best to ignore whatever shenanigans Ereshkigal had to contribute. It DID sound remarkably similar to her situation, but... she knew of the Nether, and its propensity for magic. What could a powerful being born of Light come from that would lead to a similar predicament?
Ereshkigal was conspicuously silent on the matter.
"It sounds... as though this spirit of yours has your best interests at heart," Althea was surprised to find herself saying, WITHOUT Eresh taking over. It sounded cloyingly sweet and kind and obnoxious. But despite her base distaste for her own words, as her mind caught up she assessed them objectively and found them to seem cuttingly accurate. While the true beings certainly didn't seem to have a flawless relationship given how often Vin clearly got distracted talking to the voice in his head, and Althea blessed her stonefacedness allowing her to better hide that aspect of herself as well, Vincent's story, the events at the town siege, and how his spirit seemed to be acting now all backed them up. Perhaps this 'Phoenix Heart' was not the kindest teacher, nor the least abrasive, but it did seem to take Vincent's life and well-being seriously.
The corner of her lips twisted into a light smile as Althea made her decision, looking back up to meet Vincent's gaze with her own. "Endurance training might help more than pushing yourself to the limit. Regular, but smaller usage of that ability to avoid injuring yourself and render your body used to that strain, building up gradually over time. However, history bears many cases of failure; there may well be a limit to your body that no training can surpass. If you have not reached it yet though, there is hope."
Was the right to give anyone hope? Althea honestly didn't know. Not after she had failed so utterly in the siege. Not after those she had been too late to save in the past. But she... wanted to give Vincent some. Even if it was not something she could possess, that didn't mean she wanted him to suffer as well.
Well look at you, princess pep talk all up in this bitc- this thing! I don't suppose you would care to share any guesses as to the identity of the spirit in his blade? Uhh... I mean, isn't it pretty normal for magic weapons to have personalities? Probably just a normal light spirit. I mean, definitely. DEFINITELY a normal light spirit.
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Post by Vincent on Sept 6, 2019 1:17:15 GMT -6
It started with a crack, a small lift of the corner of Vincent's mouth. Then a snort. Finally Vincent laughed when Althea told him the spirit had his best interests at heart. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's not like you're wrong or anything but," another fit of laughter took him. Once he fully calmed himself again he made sure to listen to Althea's advice before speaking again, and making sure she knew he wasn't laughing at her or anything.
As for the matter of her advice Vincent nodded thoughtfully. If the actions he took did not kill him at the time then he clearly did not reach his limit. Just what his limit would be was in question, sure, but he had room to grow. So he just needed to give himself time to heal before he began his training anew. Swords and daggers were easy... Magic... that was going to be the real fight to master.
'Don't worry, I will control all of that. But if its about strengthening yourself I could fuel some smaller scale stuff off of you.' Phoenix Heart offered. It wasn't a bad idea either, Vincent thought.
"If I didn't die the other day then I still have a shot right?" Vincent offered. "Its funny though. Phoenix Heart offering to help me grow stronger, you telling me they have my best interest at heart. I can't deny it, but its far from the case of when we met. The thing threatened to incinerate me. It actually tried once too." Vincent chuckled and shook his head before shrugging the whole topic away.
"I don't believe I would have a strong capacity for magic if I am being honest, but I appreciate your advice. If I can treat it like regular training then that makes working on it somewhat easy." He knew he probably sounded like an unintelligent meathead talking like that but at least it felt honest.
'What you lack in booksmarts you make up for in spades with intuition... … … not that it helped you with that Miyuzaki character.'
'Drop that already! You know if it was a real fight it'd have gone very differently!'
'Says the guy who joined intent on showing the world a hero only to lose in the first round!' If swords could laugh there would be a cynical one from Vincent's.
Anyway! "So, did you always know you had potential? Or did it really only surface through practice. Honestly what you did was incredible."
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Post by Althea on Sept 7, 2019 14:29:43 GMT -6
It took some time to tell if Vin was laughing at her or with her, and Althea was preparing to be somewhat offended at how caustically he had laughed away her suggestion until Vincent spoke and dispelled the notion. She... still didn't see what was so funny about the idea of the spirit helping him. She might be regularly frustrated by Ereshkigal, but despite their interactions she did appreciate the spirit's presence. Perhaps Vincent's relationship with this Phoenix was more adversarial at times. Or perhaps she just didn't understand interpersonal relationships. Probably the latter, if she was being honest with herself.
"Relationships change and evolve," she offered after a few moments, trapped partially in the past. Remembering what she only now recognized as her meeting with Ereshkigal. Their strange, almost adversarial relationship early on, the first conversation, what had happened in that broken town of Lycia when the ancient had absorbed the tome that Althea now strongly suspected was her birthright, bringing light and life to a being that had been but a phantom flitting through time beforehand. "What you believe of yourself is less important than what you accomplish. Fate is a refuge for failure and little else. Where there's a will, there's a way."
And she believed it. She really did. One man might not be able to kill ten thousand, and the truly impossible was such regardless of will - but if the straightforward path did not offer the results one desired, another might, had one the eyes to see it. That man might not be able to do it, but by manipulating another force, perhaps he could. Or he could simply flee, avoid the impossible fight and find another way around. A swift horse to carry him past heavy chargers. A pegasus to avoid faster foes. An underground tunnel to avoid archers. Things were only impossible from certain angles; rotate your perspective and there would always be another path.
Case in point. "My potential...? It was nothing that special. I learned as a child. Abandoned the task for a time to study. Was forced to practice by necessity. Combined with my interest in understanding and perfecting Elder magic, and... much more practice. That... final attack was experimental, and hardly successful considering it left me unconscious and defenseless." And Ereshkigal had launched a beam far larger, with much less effort, after many other devastating attacks. She felt like a fool of a child, wallowing in mediocrity while faced with flawlessness. But all she could do was face forward. Challenge her fate, challenge her limits, and defy them until her will faltered or she misjudged a situation too greatly. Relying entirely on Ereshkigal's power would be to make mockery of her own progress.
"Though it would be remiss of me to claim full credit for it. I certainly could not have fueled that final assault myself. I modulated and refracted a flow of energy from the Nether to fuel it; those large creatures, the... Baels, Mila called them, seemed near impervious to weaker attacks."
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Post by Vincent on Sept 8, 2019 0:22:29 GMT -6
'Relationships change and evolve,' they could practically be arc words to Vincent. His best friend Ash, turned into a villainous bandit and tried to kill him. His first mercenary companion went mad with power and tried to kill him. His first mentor Ryuzaki was a complete mess drunk on his desire to be imposing. Or something. He really needed to know better people back when he started out. "If that's not the truth, then everything else is a lie," he smiled.
As for this matter of Fate, "I've never been one for fate myself. If I believed in that nonsense I never would have been a mercenary. I'd still be back home on a farm." One day he would return and put down his sword, but that looked to be a long ways off still.
'Fate huh?' Phoenix Heart's voice rose up somewhat cautiously. 'Fate is a powerful force, whether true or false.'
'What's this all of a sudden?'
'I... can't quite explain it but... its nothing.'
Ever since the battle with the baels Phoenix Heart had seemed to have a much deeper nature than he'd ever believed initially. There was a history, a story, emotions. Hard to explain really but it was there, and something about fate bothered it.
Vincent was in disbelief however at the notion her attack was 'experimental.' "Experimental? THAT was experimental? Geeze, I'd be both excited and terrified to see what something refined and practiced would look like. And as for having help, I'm afraid I don't know much about the nether but..." There was a sudden shift from his happier expression and excitement to one that was far more stern. He suddenly understood something key, something important, it made him feel foolish. He lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry."
So the nether was filled with spirits and forces that one could tap into? Call on for aid in their craft? Neil tapped into something greater than himself and got overtaken by it. Burt was overtaken by those nether shadow beings. Althea commanded their assistance to do what she did. It really ticked him off. He wasn't mad at her, more himself. And with that shift in his mood he supposed he should explain himself.
"Althea. What do you know of these energies you connect to in the Nether?" It wasn't a rhetorical question but he did have more to say before he let her answer him. "I know I am no mage or scholar but I have seen a number of things born from the nether. Hargus, shadowy beings that possess others, and the monsters roaming the land all seem connected. None of it makes a lick of sense to me though. What is in the nether that drives all of this?"
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