aterat | Open September Logs

Entry tags:

Open September Logs

Who; Waver & Anyone
What; 2 Open Logs
Where; Market & Fountain (memory)
When; Late September I guess
Warnings; For the fountain memory: Severe Injury & allusions to possible death

A. Market – OTA

Several people had been on his case (justifiably even if he wouldn’t admit it) to get out more. Not that last month had made it that easy to acquiesce to that suggestion… Waver had exerted himself a little too much over everything. Between the damned beast and the other situations, he’d gotten involved with (even if he’d been warned not to). His overused circuits ached, and the rest of his body had done what it did every time a case got a little too out of hand and he’d pushed himself until it was over. It stopped him by way of getting sick and he’d had to hide away while he tried to recover from it.

So there was at least a reason for returning to the hermit life.

At least until that day, as he opened his fridge and realized with disappointment that he was once again out of bread and other assorted sandwich making ingredients… Not to mention he needed to pick up some things for the workshop before he went there later to check in on the state of his current subject of interest. The mystery seed that definitely did not appear to be normal by any stretch. He’d been cautious, studied it a bit, then set up a carefully controlled environment to contain it and see how it grew. Giving Waver items of a magical nature was like giving a kid a toy at Christmas. He was going to be curious, and he was going to study the hell out of it.

So, between the need for easy to make food stuff and materials for his workshop, he found him in the open air market. Strolling between stalls with a bag over his shoulder to carry what he needed. The mage mumbled to himself as he ticked off each item on his mental list, “Tomatoes… Lettuce… Eggs… Bread. Right, I need bread.” He sighed, turning to move away from his current path and on towards the bakery. “Maybe I’ll stop at the tavern for lunch-” Waver started to muse to himself as he noted the time of day, only to stop with a startled sound as he almost walked right into someone, the bag on his shoulder slipping off when he started to drop to the ground with an audible sound of something breaking (RIP eggs). "What the- You startled me!"

Obviously...

Smooth, Velvet.

B. Fountain Memory – OTA

Waver sat on the edge of the fountain later that day as he fussed with his lighter that was being difficult, despite him being certain he just filled the damn thing. It was just meant to be a short pause to light his cigar before starting the walk to his workshop. He planned to check on the mystery planting project he’d set up in a small, controlled environment placed next to a window, maybe nap on the sofa and hope that nothing exploded for a few days.

Idly the mage glanced at the fountain as he seriously considered giving up on the lighter and conjuring a little flame to be done with it, but that was a waste of mana in his opinion when a lighter should be doing the job just fine. The little gold object slipped free of his grip though and clinked audibly on the ground as something caught his eye in the reflection of the still waters…

And when the memory played to the end, a muttered curse left his mouth and his shoulders shook lightly in annoyance. “Shit.” He did not, in fact, need the bloody reminder of what happened just before he suddenly found himself in this stupid city over a year ago now… Especially when he’d had to practice the art of dodging the obvious around people who were starting to notice his avoidance of certain subjects and questions.

It was then that he noticed he wasn’t alone, feeling a presence standing near enough that the fountain had probably been in full view. His head swivelled and his gaze was sharp as he glanced at them uncomfortably. “Can I help you with something or are you just going to stand there gawking?”

Oof... Have fun with that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Good news, Nida wasn't the one almost walked into, so this wasn't his fault. Bad news, he actually felt bad about the guy. The guard pulled away from the stall owner he was talking to and moved to meet the mage.

"Hey there. Do you need some help?"

If nothing else, with his water magic he would be able to wash the egg gunk off of things.

Waver was counting to ten in his head as the person who he’d nearly collided with took their leave rather quickly. What was with his luck sometimes? he mused as he crouched to retrieve his bag. He didn’t expect anyone to help, either, let alone someone who hadn’t been involved in the near collision in the first place. So he was a little surprised when Nida approached.

Hm… One of the city guards? A little outside their realm of duties, he thought. But the mage shrugged tiredly at the question. “Don’t suppose you know how to put an egg back together.” He commented wryly, nose wrinkling as he pulled his tomatoes out of the bag. They were definitely covered in egg yolk. Yuck…

"Sorry. Entropy is beyond even my magic to counter," Nida admits with a small shrug. "But..."

He reaches to Siren, shunting Carbuncle aside for now. The little protective spirit does get annoyed by this but Nida doesn't mind, because she's better with water. He curls the spell in his hands, creating and struggling to hold a simple orb of water between his hands.

"Here. Just... pass whatever's dirty through this and it should get them clean enough until you get home."

“Some things can’t be helped, even by magic.” He mused wryly, studying the mess inside his bag for a moment.

Waver felt a mixture of surprise, curiosity, and the small usual burst of envy at the sight of the spell Nida conjured up. It’s nothing against Nida. The mage just always found himself acutely aware of what he lacked when faced with someone else’s abilities. Conjuring up a similar spell and maintaining it like Nida was would have taken far more focus and drained him more than most mages.

He pushed the thought aside though, complaining got him nowhere, and it saved him from washing everything off in the sink back at the apartment. “Ah... Thank you, that would help.” He handed the tomatoes over, and pulled out a head of lettuce next, waiting for Nida to finish with the tomatoes before offering it.

Absently, he was glad he didn’t get the bread already.

That was exceedingly true. But for now Nida was doing his best, maintaining his focus on holding the water in place so that Waver can wash things.

"Siren likes it when I practice with water lately," Nida says honestly. It helped strengthen his bond with her, which made her slightly less angry with Carbuncle.

Slightly.

The mage considered what to do as the tomatoes were rinsed off, no point in putting them back in the goopy egg mess in the bag. So he unfolded his scarf from his neck and set it down in a free space to rest the produce on once it was clean. He could figure out what to do after that.

Moving on to the lettuce, he glanced at Nida again. “Siren?” He asked both conversationally and curiously, since they were occupied for the moment.

"Magic where I'm from is a matter of bonding to powerful spirits called Guardian Forces. And using magics they are aligned with makes your bond to them more powerful."

And since he was already water and wind aligned it was easy to connect to her. Carbuncle didn't approve of it of course, he was a defensive spirit.

That gets a curious rise in his brow. It was always interesting to hear how magic worked in other worlds. There were sometimes similarities, but they were never quite the same. Forgive him, Nida, if he has questions. “I see, so when you refer to Siren, you were referring to that particular spirit.” Finishing the head of lettuce, he pulled out the last few things, mostly fruit for snacks.

“Some mages where I’m from do call upon elemental spirits for their familiars… And then there are those versed in forms of spiritual possession.” He mused, before continuing. “So, using the kind of elements she’s associated with strengthens the bond between you. I take it that she has certain abilities and talents beyond the norm that assists you?”

"Yes," he agrees with a nod. "A spirit of the winds and seas, and of music. And using her elements brings us closer, just as using fire would bind me more to Ifrit, or ice to Shiva."

As for the talents... He smiles. Yes, one could say that.

"She enhances my hearing, among granting me magic at all. It's a form symbiosis."

“Fascinating.” He responds, and it’s an honest response. He does find this all terribly interesting. The number of different kinds of magics out there beyond his own world is interesting to hear about. Then odd comparisons to be made to some things that are common where he’s from, to the slight differences and variations, often lead him to interesting theories and ideas as he learned more. “I suppose I should thank both of you then for the water spell.” He added absentmindedly.

Finishing the fruits, he turned the bag inside out, grimacing at the smashed carton of eggs. That wasn’t salvageable, so he’d find a rubbish bin to drop the mess into. But he does take a quick moment to rinse the inside of the bag to put things back inside. “Is there something that she gets in return other than a host to carry her and bond with?”

"And the fountain of course," Nida says, because that helps with the water spells as well. A natural source of it of course.

"GFs are sustained with memories. So she gets to live by consuming things I don't need."

Waver finished with cleaning the egg gunk out of the bag and let out a sigh as he wrung the water out of it and turned it the right way out again. “Thank you for that.” He added politely, before carefully putting the produce back inside and draping his scarf over his shoulders again.

Slipping the bag on his shoulder, he grabbed the remains of the carton to throw out. Though he raised a slight brow at the explanation. “I see, so it’s a trade for the enhancement and magic in return for your memories… And you don’t find that difficult at times?” He voiced, curious if the memories were only things Nida didn’t need or if they could cause him some problems.

There was no judgement in his tone, either. This kind of cost, or sacrifice, was not unheard of among mages in his world either. A few memories in payment for a beneficial relationship with a spirit would be a fair price…

Once the cleaning was done Nida pulls his hands apart and the surface tension on the water broke. It feel in a loud splash from his hands. Which was a relief actually. The whole thing had been a headache to maintain.

"It can be difficult, yes," he admits, "but it was something I was raised to accept as an exchange. Guess even once we knew what the cost was it didn't seem so lofty to me. I was a soldier, more or less. There are always memories i could live without."

Most of them highly traumatic.

Waver supposed he could understand that on a few levels. Even if he wasn’t the sort to be open to letting things go… There were plenty of things he might function better without when it came to memories.

But it’s not an unfamiliar way of accepting or pursuing things. “I can understand that. Mages in my world are often raised to study and follow their family’s chosen paths. Often times things most be given up for the sake of improvement. I have had many students whose personal magecraft has costs.” Not that Waver thought all of them were right, or that he didn’t wish they had more choice or chance at a proper childhood sometimes… But he gave them a safe environment to grow and learn at school, and the odd time he heard them admit that it was hard to deny he felt better about what he was doing with his life.

"What if the family's chosen path doesn't fit your own interests and aptitudes? Sounds silly to me," Nida said with a roll of his eyes. One can't always fit the mold set by the previous generation. In fact, they rarely could.

"Children need a chance to grow on their own I think."

“That depends on the family and the student.” He responded with a small sigh. The inane traditions that could end up stagnating magecraft and the pursuit of new discoveries was something he could complain about for ages. “Most of the time, the family naturally has an affinity for it… The magic crest stores generations’ worth of knowledge and power that the heir receives. Most of them continue to pursue the same studies, either by their own wish or their family’s.”

That didn’t hold true for everyone, though. Not if they were in his class. Waver was still an upstart in the eyes of the association, he just accepted his own limitations and focused on helping the next generation. “If a student comes to my class and I notice they have a knack and interest in something outside their family’s traditions, I admit I try to encourage them to pursue that instead.” Some students had sacrificed too much to change their path, though, but those usually excelled at what they were doing.

Then there were students like his newest addition. “I have one student, new to class… He became the heir to his family by chance when the last heir left. The family excels at spiritual evocation, but he’s not particularly skilled in it, but he’s got a hell of a lot of potential with electrical magecraft. He showed a lot of promise with the mystic code I was teaching him how to use, and he seemed to have taken to it.” And Waver was… really kind of proud of that. The kid was kind of mediocre, not unlike him (though still way more talented) but had a good head on his shoulders. Caules was doing better, even if he got a little overwhelmed looking at times… But that was more because he had Flat and Svin as classmates.

With a few more months, the kid probably would have been well on his way… Pity, Waver absently noted, that he might not have the chance.

Or Waver would go back at one point and thus give the boy a chance to be something more. That seemed likely as not. Though not when measured in Nida's experiences perhaps. This was his fourth world including home.

"You sound like a good instructor, Master Waver. The sort a Garden like mine could have used."

The comment gets something close to a softer expression, or at least the stress lines between his brow ease some. “I certainly try to be. I’m not much to speak of myself as far as mages go… But I’d like to at least see them excel if I can help it.” That’s a bit modest, his students all improved at impressive rates compared to other classes. Teaching had become his passion quite unexpectedly, to see potential in students and help them flourish. His students were somewhat wild and chaotic, stressed him the hell out on a good day, but they were worth it. And they were safe from some things in his class, as much as he wanted to deny that he was trying to protect them.

"Are you teaching things here as well?" he asks with a smile. Because people that were that good with teaching should be doing that as best they could wherever they could.

“A little, I suppose. I have an arrangement with someone who’s been interested in learning things here and there, but it’s a little less formal.” Waver had been teaching Ren things like how to construct a bounded field when the teen showed up sometimes, and it kept him from missing the classroom too much.

Adjusting the bag on his shoulder, he continued. “And I’ve been trying to help get the academy into shape with a few other people.” He’d made headway in funding and getting some of it organized… But there was a lot it still needed. Not to mention the mystery of the last headmaster, who Waver had the name of, but no clues as to if they still existed or not.

"Academy?" Nida asks. He'd been rather separated from that whole mess of that sort of stuff. The guard was mostly only focused within the city itself. And the Academy was further off than his patrols took him.

“Yes, the magic academy that appeared outside the city.” He confirmed, though it wasn’t surprising the patrols didn’t make it that far. Getting back and forth wasn’t ideal for him most of the time. He’d make the trip and stay there for longer than strictly necessary to make it worth it while it wasn’t quite up and running. He really missed his car…

Shaking his head, he continued. “I’ve mostly been going through the old records and getting things like funding arranged. Finding names of the people who used to support the school financially… It’s interesting to see who was here before what happened and still is. They all seem to think highly of it and the headmaster that they remember, not that I can find much about him.”

Clearly he should invest in a chocobo. They were good creatures when they liked you.

"Perhaps with time and the city's continued expansion you will find more. There were places that didn't really... exist when I first got here. Things that changed."

A chocobo was something the mage had definitely been considering, he’d even been trying to read up on the creatures. It certainly would be good for him to have… He just needed the time and opportunity so he could see about it properly.

“That’s been my hope.” It had been promising thus far, with some of the progress… But some of it also nagged at the back of his mind in a familiar sense that gave him a bad feeling. That was kept to himself, mostly, until he had more data to go off of and connect some more dots. “I’ve heard about that, I spoke with someone a little while back that confirmed the school was simply in another realm for a time before it returned here, it’s made me wonder how many other things are like that…” The mage hummed, before continuing. “But on that front, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see. I’m still trying to track down more about the headmaster, but no one has recognized the name Percival Quincy.”

"I don't know it either," Nida says with a nod. So they really don't have answers at this moment. Chances were they weren't coming any time soon either.

"Did you have any records of where he lived?"

I

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject