2023-11-13: Magical Methodology
- Log: Magical Methodology
- Cast: Lily Keil, Xantia
- Where: Celesti Wastelands
- Date: November 13, 2023
- Summary: Lily calls on Xantia's observational skills to help with her latest magical innovations. Though of greater help still, this time, may be the bonds of friendship.
===========================<* Celesti Wastelands *>=========================== Decades ago, the nation of Celesti ripped itself apart in a vicious civil war. Outside of a handful of settlements, its former territories are lifeless. The remains of trenches, bunkers, and barbed wire lines serve as lingering reminders of the conflict--scars that have yet to heal. The earth is dry and barren, and much of the groundwater has been contaminated by biological or chemical weapons. Travel through the Wastelands is treacherous. The roads are pockmarked with shell craters, and Reapers have been known to haunt its blasted plains. A handful of functional rail lines cross the wastes, but these travel directly to their final destinations. The shattered remains of ghost towns dot the landscape. Some may yet hold things of value, but experienced travelers know better than to go treasure-hunting on a whim. The war-dead of Celesti do not rest. Ghosts aren't even the strangest things one can find here. As the war dragged on, both the Congressional Knights and Aquvy Union dug up ancient weapons to aid their efforts--including, it's rumored, ARMs from Zeboim. These rumors draw both the daring and desperate into the wastes, and more often than not, to their end. BGM: Shin Megami Tensei IV - Blasted Ichigaya
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
The wastelands of Celesti are pockmarked with craters. Far from the rail lines, where Reapers hold sway and ghosts wander, Lily Keil has chosen a place for her next magical experiment.
In the getting here, Xantia's probably also had to take care of a few Reapers like Lily did, and Lily is waiting to meet her in the middle of a large crater. There are no shells here, no unexploded munitions, because Lily checked.
"...Friendly area, huh?"
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
The way Xantia saunters on up to the edge of the designated crater, one would think she's just taking a leisurely stroll. Hands behind her head, she looks entirely unconcerned by whatever might have happened on the way here. Yeah, there were Reapers. Which was good, actually, getting to work off a bit of steam.
Especially since... well, she may look relaxed, but there's no fooling Lily, as Xantia should be well aware. She's been agitated ever since the Watchful Eye managed to sneak by her guard. Obviously that means she had to double her guard. Any chance to distract herself from the impulse to be constantly looking over her shoulder, literally or otherwise, is very welcome.
Her mood appropriately brightens considerably when she spots Lily down there, giving a cheerful wave before hopping down. She slides for as far as the crater's steepness will allow, with a short hop at the end, then taking the last few steps in her friend's direction, all smiles as usual when there's training on the agenda.
"Just a big sandbox, right? Pretty fun, honestly, you can do whatever you want and not bother anyone!" And why else would you ever go here, really.
Even if she has no idea what today's agenda is, specifically, other than 'magic stuff'. Cracking her knuckles, she gets straight to the point. "Okay! How can I help?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
No, Lily can tell that Xantia is tense. That's part of why she invited her out here in the first place. But there she is, and Lily nods back to the wave, waiting for Xantia to make her way over. A big sandbox..
"That's the idea," Lily says. "Though I'm not planning to make it too much worse this time. ...In theory, anyway."
"I'm going to need your eyes and your understanding of Ether, mostly. I've got some theories on teleportation that I want to test. The ability to move without crossing the intervening distance..."
"Ever since Grahf attacked us at Lacour, I've been chasing that spell. And I think I almost have it."
"I've been talking to a number of other mages, and researching Crest Sorcery's version... and it seems that the key is to be able to build up the spell in both places before 'activating' it. But I don't usually hold back that long."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Is it any surprise that Xantia looks a little disappointed by Lily not planning to cause too much damage today? The explosive kind of Ether is pretty much what her speed is, it's what she knows and expects. Even if Xantia's way of doing it centers around herself rather than her targets, the philosophy of 'crush them swiftly and decisively' has historically been what's been focused on the most, whenever the topic of magic comes up between the two.
Her expression changes soon enough however, at the mention of teleportation. It may not be the usual focus, but it still provokes a clear interest. "Ohh. Huh. That would be handy. Not something I know a ton about, I don't think... I can move pretty fast in short bursts, but that's still me just... moving fast." Regardless of whether the eye can follow it, there's no question in her mind that she's still physically crossing that distance. Actually vanishing and reappearing elsewhere is something else entirely.
She frowns, at the mention of Grahf. She hasn't thought about him in a long time, but he never stopped being a concern. Even with how much she improved between Lacour and when they fought him just before the Wolves' journey to Elru, she was no match. That's more than a little worrisome. Any advantage against him would be more than welcome.
"Alright. I think I get it. So you just want me to watch, right? See if I can tell what's happening?" Xantia's phrasing tends towards oversimplification - she does understand, and needs not be told, what's being asked of her is a little more elaborate than that. Her senses are a lot better than her ability to put things into words.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
It is not a surprise. Lily laughs, at that. But she does have something good, she thinks--something that will interest Xantia. "Right. I'm definitely not as fast as you are, not even close--so something that would let me keep up would be useful, too."
She catches the frown, but--well, Grahf is worth frowning about, frankly. "We need every advantage we can get, for the next time he comes after us. Comes after Fei. If we want to defeat him, we have to become much more powerful."
But Xantia gets it. "Yes," Lily says. "And you'll want to be careful; the first few times I try I might end up just shredding space. That's why i wanted to do it here."
"For instance..."
Lily extends her hand--a vortex begins to appear about five yards away, dust and rocks rising up as gravity starts to weaken. "The first approach I had in mind..."
"If I can tie the two locations together..."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia rubs her neck, seeming embarrassed. "It's not that big of a difference, I think you're plenty fast." It's just the difference between fighting up close and at a distance, in her mind. If there's a need to move instantly or you die, then you'll move instantly. Obviously, right? No big deal, it only makes sense.
Of course, there's more to it than that. Xantia specializes in manipulating the Ether within or directly surrounding her to enhance her physical ability. But teleportation... she can't quite visualize the form that would take, looking at it in terms of 'stop existing somewhere and start existing somewhere else'. Even if you could pull off the first part, how would you be able to make yourself come back?
"You're not wrong," she agrees on Grahf. "You don't want to give him the chance to touch you." She'd usually focus on the offensive aspect of one's abilities. But she's well aware that Grahf can just... shut down your Ether flow, entirely. That's not exactly good for Xantia, but Lily... well, it can't be allowed to happen to Lily. "If you could just suddenly no longer be there, that sounds like a great way to avoid that."
She just grins when told to be careful. "I'm always careful," she says with the clear tone of knowing how untrue that is. It's not what she tends to default to, but she's learning to be less literal about things at times.
Her eyes widen, though, and she does take a step back when she sees what Lily has in mind. "Whoa, really? Um, well, I'll see what I can do, but I have to be honest, making holes in the world isn't something I know a lot about." She pauses, then wonders out loud, "Isn't that more like... making portals, rather than teleporting?" Semantics are important, especially when talking to Xantia.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Not fast enough. Not yet."
Lily primarily specializes in external Ether, of course. She doesn't enhance her physicality as much, though she can to a degree. But Lily has been working at this problem for a while...
"Right. If he can touch me I'm in trouble." Lily remembers full well what happens when her Ether shuts off; besides that, she's just not that good with a sword. "That's the idea. But slow makes fast. If I can get it down in detail, I can worry about speeding it up later."
Then she laughs back, at the matter of being careful. "Sure."
"It would be," Lily says. "And that would probably be easier. But the key is--I can't conjure myself from nothing. If I could, I could just make a second Lily in the first place. But what I can do is manipulate the spacetime attributes of an area..."
Lily extends her hand--and 'ties off' the first spell, making it self-sustaining for a moment. Then she lifts her other hand, and a rock begins to rise from the ground. "Here--this is the key--"
The rock briefly appears in both locations at once. Then there's a very large explosion and a thunderous noise.
...When the explosion fades, with Lily covering her eyes with her arm, the rock is in the first location, not the second.
"I did it!" Kind of.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Speaking of things Xantia knows nothing about: patience. If she was going to do it, she'd want to do it 'right' immediately. Which is how things tend to go for her - once she wraps her head around it, she can just suddenly do it really well, without being able to explain how she's doing it. The trial and error method of slow improvement... well, Lily probably remembers Xantia's frustration with doing things that way from the lessons in how to use Fire, way back when. Taking months to figure out how to conjure a little flame on her palm, only to suddenly set herself on fire without burning herself during a crisis situation.
Of course, as Xantia herself has pointed out... it's more likely that in her case, she remembered how to do something she used to be capable of, rather than learning something new. She's never even considered that might include teleportation in any form, but... who knows?
"Well, you know yourself best!" Is the obvious insight she can offer here. "...I don't recommend the second Lily approach, in any case." We don't want another Xenia situation, one can almost hear her thinking. Not the same thing, but close enough.
And Lily's way does appear to be working. If nothing else, Xantia can tell that this didn't end up creating a second rock, that it is indeed the same rock in two places at the same time. But wait a minute. An agitated "Lily--" is all she manages before the explosion happens.
As things clear up, Xantia can be seen picking herself up from where she fell on her behind. She instinctively moved to approach at that same instant, sensing something was wrong. That wasn't the smart move, but well, people don't always make smart moves when they have cause for worry.
Grimacing, she pats the dust off of herself. "...You did something," she agrees, before shaking her head. "I hope you weren't hoping for that to happen every time you teleport. That got, um... spectacularly unstable? I'm not sure if slow can make fast, if you're doing it like this. The same thing clearly can't be in two places at once, that's... I guess the world doesn't like it when you do that, is what I'm learning from this."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Without Xantia's sudden leaps of capability, Lily has to do things a little differently--especially trying to do something that is, so far as she knows, unprecedented outside of someone extremely powerful.
It might, though.
"It'd be convenient to have twice the firepower," Lily says, "...But still not a good idea," she agrees.
The explosion happens, and Lily looks to Xantia. "Sorry about that," she says. "I was expecting difficulty, but not quite that."
"...No," she says. "That's definitely not what I intended, but it makes sense. I must've brought along more than just the rock--the air around it, for instance. Trying to colocate two things..."
"Hmmm, if I carve out a space at the destination..."
The world doesn't like it? "The world doesn't like a lot of things. If I can refine the spell, it might work!"
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Twice the firepower... Xantia can't say that thought isn't appealing. But, "Let's come back to that after you figure this out. Once you can do it really fast, it could be like having twice the firepower!" Splitting the firepower over two directions would probably be more accurate, but that could still be a very useful skill to have!
But that's looking ahead a little too far. It's looking like there's still a few hurdles to overcome, to put it mildly. 'Noise' in the form of teleporting other things than only the intended target is also a factor to consider here, of course. But Lily continues to theorize, until...
"Lily, stop it!" Something upset Xantia to the highest degree, to the point of frightening her. In a reflex, she reaches out as if to physically stop something, but pulls back in short order, still visibly distressed.
"I don't want to hear the word 'might' about something you're going to try doing to yourself! Don't try telling me that we're just talking about rocks... right now, you're seriously considering putting yourself in a perfect vacuum when you teleport yourself, aren't you?"
That's the only logical extrapolation that she can see. How else would you guarantee teleporting only the subject, without even including the surrounding air? Maybe that's fine for a rock, but... "We take enough stupid risks already... please promise me that you won't take it that far. If I lost you to a magical experiment I helped with, I..."
She trails off, unsure how to finish that sentence. Her expression can only suggest that she would be in tears, if actual tears would ever come to her eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"True," Lily agrees. It would be worth thinking about. But indeed, there are some hurdles, and...
Lily blinks, when Xantia reaches out--she doesn't actually touch her, but Lily gets the message all right. "Xantia?" she starts, and then--
"...Xantia, that's..."
She can't really argue the point; she was considering exactly that. So she doesn't pretend otherwise. "...All right." At length, Lily answers. "I promise. This might still make a useful offensive technique," she says, "But I won't try to teleport myself using this method."
Lily sighs, at that. "I feel like I could almost make it work... But not quite." She shakes her head. "Well. Maybe your portal idea has merit, instead. It's less dangerous if I bore a hole through space than if I just try to be two places at once, right?"
"I could try that, instead. It means giving up on true teleportation... but it would accomplish most of the same thing."
She stops then, and reaches out a hand. "I'm sorry, Xantia. I get caught up in what I 'can' do... and I don't always stop to think about whether I 'should' do it."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
"...Good. I'm glad." Xantia's smile is quick to return once Lily promises not to take this too far. Developing new techniques is all well and good, but there comes a point where you have to ask yourself 'but at what cost?'
Lily... does not usually ask herself that question. Especially not when the cost would be to herself. And Xantia's noticed.
The tension melts away from her bearing, letting out a metaphorical sigh of relief. She really doesn't like it when she feels the need to speak out against a friend, but... that too is part of being a friend, she's starting to see. "It's alright. I understand. I'm always trying to figure stuff out too, getting caught up in it is something that just happens sometimes. But... you're important, you know? To a lot of people, maybe more people than you realize. Please remember that, while you're looking into who you used to be as well."
She chuckles, shaking her head. "Maybe one day you'll figure out a better way. Another option you're not seeing yet right now." This is more what she's all about. Advocating finding new options to choose from when all the current ones are suboptimal. She grins, a bit sheepishly. "I guess I should say... I'm glad I could help. Even if this isn't the way I expected."
She sees that outstretched hand, and without hesitation, grasps hold of it firmly. "I promise to be your friend for a very long time, Lily. You have to help me keep that promise. Okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
It's true; Lily doesn't. But she can tell that Xantia is serious about this. ...And she's right, what she says.
"More than I realize, huh?" Lily considers that. "Maybe. But I'll think on it. ...And right. Back then, maybe I was someone else. But that doesn't change who I am today to a lot of people. ...The person I 'was'... Her world is long gone. But 'Lily's' world is still here."
Maybe... "It's possible. There are things I can do now I never would've imagined, a few years ago. So it may change." Then... Xantia is sheepish, but, "Heh. Yeah... I guess so."
Lily nods, seriously back. "...Good," Lily answers. "I'll hold you to it, all right."
"And I don't aim to go anywhere, either."