CHARACTERS: Misato + Gildor, Sam, Lakshmi, Seconds and others! WHERE: The Graze, Hyrypia WHEN: DAY 16-18 SUMMARY: Various starters for various attempts at winning this intergalactic scavenger hunt! WARNINGS: Bad decisions all around.
[ Sounds conveyed by thought alone carry with it far more than just intonation, as stripped bare of its physicality as it is weighed with the implied meaning and attached sentiment. She laughs at his reminder, an exceedingly proud one, carrying with it every part and parcel of defiance against the idea of a higher power let alone the thought that she might be one to seek advice using such means. It's exaggerated in the face of her bone-deep fear. Someone overcompensating for her weakness with aggrandized bravado. ]
(Okay, your fault. That's fitting anyway when you're supposed to be giving me spiritual mojo.)
[ Becoming lost is the only outcome that can be expected. Her skepticism has little to do with Gildor and everything to do with her hatred of superstition. She would loathe to entertain the possibility of her failures and successes being attributable to anything beyond her own effort to keep walking now despite the stiffness in her muscles, or the way her heart threatens to give up should it beat any faster. See, here, what god is helping her now?
A handful of feet away from the fence, she places a hand in front of his chest to stop him, staring through the darkness around them to spot any lingering guards. ]
[ He halts with that hand to his chest, and eases his concentration on maintaining the spell. Not enough to let it fade entirely and expose their cover and position, but enough to hopefully allow Misato some use of her eyesight. ]
( Alright. Up you go then. )
[ He finds the base of the fence and kneels, expecting her to use his shoulders as a boost up. Sneaking is one thing, but climbing - she'll have to do that the old-fashioned way. ]
[ Misato doesn't take to his kneeling naturally, responding with a mix of alarm and puzzlement at seeing him play gallant where that has usually been the space she occupies. It lasts but a moment before she allows a chuckle through link, too giddy still from the adrenaline, and accepts his offer by very gently using his shoulders as a stepping off point to reach a higher bar on the fence with enough athleticism to prove her claim of being a military woman.
She sits at the top of it and secures herself with a foot between the bars before reaching down to offer him a hand. He can't see it, she knows, but thinks she can send him the impression of it through their minds. It's the potential of the movement he must make to find her hand and how she would help pull him up. ]
[ She's swifter than he expected, but even just a tap to his shoulder is enough to make him wince and hiss a little. The price he pays for being min-maxed out of a decent strength or constitution score.
Misato is already atop the fence by the time he's finished rubbing his shoulder and muttering about it, never mind the fact he offered. She offers him a hand up in return - he can still barely feel her through the fence posts in the ground - but there's no way he's exerting himself physically. He'd rather do so magically. ]
Ah, thank you but no thank you. I'll make my own way-
[ The miniature zinther is pulled back out from his robes, and just as swiftly another soft song is plucked out. This time instead of summoning darkness, he melds with it, becoming shadow-like himself before vanishing into the fence altogether.
The music stops, and for a few beats all is quiet and still. And then Gildor calls to Misato from the other side- ]
[ From atop her perch, she can see the whole thing. Him melting into a amorphous form before passing through the fence like air. It takes her a moment's pause to heed his call and hop down, landing firmly on both feet before trotting over to him so she can continue the conversation in low voices. ]
Damn, did you just make a lady sweat when you could've just-- [ Phase through the fence? Meld through walls? Whatever it is, she waves it away with a flurry of hand movements, a chuckle, and a quick brush of his shoulder to swipe away any dust. ] Come on.
[ She continues toward the fence, picking up a pebble off the ground, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, and tosses it once in the air before catching it again. Here beyond the fence, the current is palpable against her skin, and she can feel even the hair on her head stir. How eerie. ]
Stand behind me, I'm gonna try throwing this against the barrier.
[ It takes a moment for Gildor to process the half-finished question, what with all the hand-waving. He's not a fan of that, but she doesn't seem to be doing it maliciously. ] Oh- no, no! I can't use that spell on others, it only works on myself. Sorry.
[ He'd stop and explain the rules, but bard magic doesn't always make sense, and they haven't got the time. So instead he follows, listening as the sound of her boots crunching lightly over sand becomes fainter as they move closer to the barrier.
Like Misato, he can feel it's energy against his skin. It's making the hair rubbing under his hood go rigid with electricity. He thought perhaps it would feel familiar the way a wizard's magic does, but like so much on Hyrypia it is completely alien. The wall is more artificial than the Elin, but still alive and pulsing. A brilliant construct built from what must be the Hyrypian's finest technology, combined with a raw but elegant magic, undoubtedly dangerous if they come into contact with it-
And Misato wants to throw a rock at it. ]
Be careful. [ Said more for his own sake, as he obediently takes cover behind her smaller figure. He doesn't want two near-death experiences because of her projectiles ricocheting off things. ]
[ Misato throws the stone up in the air once more, a gesture of hesitation, clear to see for most who have known her enough. Her mind is a hum of activity, trying to decipher the root of her own fear. It isn't death, no, and certainly not injury. Such things are so commonplace to have become nothing but background noise. Danger to Gildor, too, isn't much to fret about.
Then, as one must do when confronted with uncertainty, she takes one step forward and bends her waist to fling the pebble across the expanse like one tossing a bowling ball. As low as possible to arouse the least suspicion. The rock makes contact with a sizzling sound, a slight ripple across the barrier, and just a whiff of smoke as the only remnant that the pebble ever existed. She stands up straight and crosses her arms. ]
Well, I guess that rules out busting through it with your bare hands.
[ Uncowed, still, she turns over her shoulder with a smile in her voice. ]
[ To him, the rock in her hand disappears then reappears as she throws it and catches it - then disintegrates all together somewhere above them in a flash of energy that feels downright alien to him. Magic still, but magic of a different sort. ]
Mm... a few. Hold this a moment, would you?
[ He passes Misato his cane. The little zinther he brought along might work, but he isn't as practiced with it and he'd rather not risk botching a note around this much magical energy. So he summons his violin - reaches out and pulls it from mid-air as casually as if it'd been resting on a shelf. ]
I'm going to try to dispell it. Not all of it. That'd be a bit much, but perhaps a door-sized part of it...
[ He stakes a step closer, confidently places the violin under his chin, and sets the bow to the strings. The song he plays begins softly, but quickly accelerates in energy and volume as it becomes clear to him- ]
It's not working. [ He stops mid-spell with the bow poised over the strings, his brows raised just as high under the veils. The spell went off without a hitch, he could feel it, knows it well by now, and yet- ] My magic... isn't dispelling their magic. There's no effect at all.
[ From his surprised tone of voice, it's clear this is a first for him. ]
[ On a list of things that have shocked her to her core, muddled her brain like a wooden spoon in a bowl, this ranks mild. But she still has to stop and stare at the violin in his hands, willing it to disappear again so that the rules of the world as she knows it would be kept same and true. But no. She takes a breath, and adapts to this new state of the universe with his cane in hand, eyes fixed on the barrier, ears attuned to his music.
When later his own surprise echoes her own, that some things they have accepted as given are no longer true, she is no longer as frazzled. ]
Don't take it personally. [ A half joke. ] Maybe the world is made differently here. It doesn't mean your music won't work on other things.
[ She takes two steps closer toward the barrier, then one step back. ]
Can you make a hole in it? Something big enough for me to crawl through?
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( Okay, your fault. That's fitting anyway when you're supposed to be giving me spiritual mojo. )
[ Becoming lost is the only outcome that can be expected. Her skepticism has little to do with Gildor and everything to do with her hatred of superstition. She would loathe to entertain the possibility of her failures and successes being attributable to anything beyond her own effort to keep walking now despite the stiffness in her muscles, or the way her heart threatens to give up should it beat any faster. See, here, what god is helping her now?
A handful of feet away from the fence, she places a hand in front of his chest to stop him, staring through the darkness around them to spot any lingering guards. ]
( Here. Here should be good. )
no subject
( Alright. Up you go then. )
[ He finds the base of the fence and kneels, expecting her to use his shoulders as a boost up. Sneaking is one thing, but climbing - she'll have to do that the old-fashioned way. ]
no subject
She sits at the top of it and secures herself with a foot between the bars before reaching down to offer him a hand. He can't see it, she knows, but thinks she can send him the impression of it through their minds. It's the potential of the movement he must make to find her hand and how she would help pull him up. ]
no subject
The price he pays for being min-maxed out of a decent strength or constitution score.Misato is already atop the fence by the time he's finished rubbing his shoulder and muttering about it, never mind the fact he offered. She offers him a hand up in return - he can still barely feel her through the fence posts in the ground - but there's no way he's exerting himself physically. He'd rather do so magically. ]
Ah, thank you but no thank you. I'll make my own way-
[ The miniature zinther is pulled back out from his robes, and just as swiftly another soft song is plucked out. This time instead of summoning darkness, he melds with it, becoming shadow-like himself before vanishing into the fence altogether.
The music stops, and for a few beats all is quiet and still. And then Gildor calls to Misato from the other side- ]
Here I am.
[ He waves. ]
no subject
Damn, did you just make a lady sweat when you could've just-- [ Phase through the fence? Meld through walls? Whatever it is, she waves it away with a flurry of hand movements, a chuckle, and a quick brush of his shoulder to swipe away any dust. ] Come on.
[ She continues toward the fence, picking up a pebble off the ground, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, and tosses it once in the air before catching it again. Here beyond the fence, the current is palpable against her skin, and she can feel even the hair on her head stir. How eerie. ]
Stand behind me, I'm gonna try throwing this against the barrier.
no subject
[ He'd stop and explain the rules, but bard magic doesn't always make sense, and they haven't got the time. So instead he follows, listening as the sound of her boots crunching lightly over sand becomes fainter as they move closer to the barrier.
Like Misato, he can feel it's energy against his skin. It's making the hair rubbing under his hood go rigid with electricity. He thought perhaps it would feel familiar the way a wizard's magic does, but like so much on Hyrypia it is completely alien. The wall is more artificial than the Elin, but still alive and pulsing. A brilliant construct built from what must be the Hyrypian's finest technology, combined with a raw but elegant magic, undoubtedly dangerous if they come into contact with it-
And Misato wants to throw a rock at it. ]
Be careful. [ Said more for his own sake, as he obediently takes cover behind her smaller figure. He doesn't want two near-death experiences because of her projectiles ricocheting off things. ]
no subject
Then, as one must do when confronted with uncertainty, she takes one step forward and bends her waist to fling the pebble across the expanse like one tossing a bowling ball. As low as possible to arouse the least suspicion. The rock makes contact with a sizzling sound, a slight ripple across the barrier, and just a whiff of smoke as the only remnant that the pebble ever existed. She stands up straight and crosses her arms. ]
Well, I guess that rules out busting through it with your bare hands.
[ Uncowed, still, she turns over her shoulder with a smile in her voice. ]
Got any other ideas, Gildor?
no subject
Mm... a few. Hold this a moment, would you?
[ He passes Misato his cane. The little zinther he brought along might work, but he isn't as practiced with it and he'd rather not risk botching a note around this much magical energy. So he summons his violin - reaches out and pulls it from mid-air as casually as if it'd been resting on a shelf. ]
I'm going to try to dispell it. Not all of it. That'd be a bit much, but perhaps a door-sized part of it...
[ He stakes a step closer, confidently places the violin under his chin, and sets the bow to the strings. The song he plays begins softly, but quickly accelerates in energy and volume as it becomes clear to him- ]
It's not working. [ He stops mid-spell with the bow poised over the strings, his brows raised just as high under the veils. The spell went off without a hitch, he could feel it, knows it well by now, and yet- ] My magic... isn't dispelling their magic. There's no effect at all.
[ From his surprised tone of voice, it's clear this is a first for him. ]
no subject
When later his own surprise echoes her own, that some things they have accepted as given are no longer true, she is no longer as frazzled. ]
Don't take it personally. [ A half joke. ] Maybe the world is made differently here. It doesn't mean your music won't work on other things.
[ She takes two steps closer toward the barrier, then one step back. ]
Can you make a hole in it? Something big enough for me to crawl through?