spellbinders | (no subject)

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Who: Geir and you
Where: The Palai market square
When: Day 58
Open/Closed: OTA

[at the height of the Uvi attack yesterday, right before the turning point of the battle, a summoner with some Qri-granted empathic powers told his dragon that their forces and the Palai were tiring -- and a short while later, a second wind flooded into the defenders to help them push off the last waves of Uvi attackers. in the impulse of the moment, Geir was able to channel his new ability into the defense, concentrating fiercely on all the coven members and even some Palai warriors who needed his strength to protect the city. it certainly didn't make the final difference in the tide of the battle, and the effect varied per person, but just as certainly, many of the coven might have felt it…

unfortunately, any magic comes with a cost. Qri's is no exception.

between the effort it took to use his power and the sheer number of people he tried to help at once, Geir is now… curled up in a melted puddle of dragon in the middle of the marketplace -- the only open part of the city close enough to reach and big enough to hold him. he looks like he's not going anywhere any time soon.]

A (in person)
[Geir's bones ache, and it feels like every footstep in the city is reverberating through the backs of his eyeballs. if you're unwise enough to both venture into the ruined marketplace and stop to take a look, Geir slits one of said eyes open to glare balefully at you.]

Don't just stand there. Turn the sun off.

[as snappish as he sounds, his voice scales up to a more plaintive growl by the end of "off." why. why this.]

B (telepathy)
[once Geir has kept his eyes closed long enough to ease his headache, he sends a strangely soft, ignorable voice message to anyone who might pick up on it:]

Is everyone okay? Did you all make it through all right?

[his telepathy is tentative -- he's still not good at it -- but he does care, after all.]

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That's okay. Nothing will help.

[Geir closes his eye again with a sigh, then remembers himself and opens both to look at her.]

--Kosuzu! You were okay through all the fighting, right? You said you couldn't fight.

Yeah, I just hid until it was over.

I was able to use my new ability to warn some people that the attack was coming, but I guess that wasn't enough to stop it...

Good... good.

[Geir relaxes again with a groan, closing his eyes once more. he's relieved that Kosuzu is all right; he didn't have a lot of time to think about the people who were hiding during the fight yesterday, but he's suddenly reminded how fragile humans are. buildings falling on them would be enough to kill them!

he doesn't really want to think about that.]

I heard that. I don't think that anyone was ready to stop that many Uvi at once. Ugh...

Battles here are way scarier than anything I've seen before! They just attack out of nowhere without any rules!

[Gensokyo is a weird place.]

I think this is how they were at home, but without flying fish, and sharks. And I was never fighting in them there. They were the wars of humans.

[the gods of Asgard never really fought alongside humans, even when they got worshipped; they mostly made war on their own turf, with each other, in much smaller numbers.]

It was strange.

I wish I could fight! If my friends were here, they could've saved loads of people, I just feel so useless like this!

[looking at her curiously now, lifting his head slightly; distracted from his own pain]

...what do humans do when they want to be able to do more?

[he wants to know for himself, too.]

[That deflates her a bit.]

...I don't know. Train? But I don't know the first thing about fighting or getting stronger...

I've always been strong. But I couldn't do as much as I wanted, either.

[Geir sighs deeply, the tip of his tail twitching in mild agitation. he's thinking about the issue now. most of his power is innate, so it's not like he can practice and get larger somehow... only time will make that happen. his teeth can't get more venemous, and his claws can't sweep aside more Uvi at one time. he could get more skilled at flying combat, but he's already pretty good at maneuvering in the air.

it dawns on him that his problem is the same as Kosuzu's, from a different perspective: he can't get stronger anytime soon in a way that would make a difference, at least not through any means he can think of off the top of his head. so what's the solution from there?]

I guess the only thing to do is try to do different things? Be cleverer somehow.

I can't use light magic or divine power or anything. No amount of being clever is going to make me able to fly or defeat monsters.

Right, it won't. I'm thinking about that too. I can't do anything different than I'm doing either. I can fight better than you, but I can't do what I want to do just by fighting.

[what he wants to do is make sure that the city will be okay without him there for the fighting, and that doesn't seem likely. it wasn't okay when he was there for the fighting.]

So is there anything else? I'm trying to think what.

All I can think of is if I happened to run across some kind of amazing magic item by coincidence, but that's probably not happening any time soon...

Oh, a legendary magic item sounds really good. Maybe we could find some dwarves and get them to make one.

[I MEAN, THAT'S ONE WAY TO THINK ABOUT THE PROBLEM.]

Dwarves? I guess if you want a magic mallet, that'd be okay.

[Cultural differences on what constitutes a dwarf at work.]

Dwarves make other things! Ships that fly, magic rings that make more magic rings... all kinds of stuff.

[he grinds his teeth a bit, thoughtful and frustrated, then winces when it makes his head hurt more]

Their magic reminds me a little of Qri's, actually. All this "your ability does this," except it's with stuff, instead. I wonder how they do it...?

That definitely sounds like technology. Where I'm from, the kappa have all kinds of crazy things they know how to build. If you use their stuff, you can talk to people from miles away, or turn invisible.

I wonder if someone could build something that got through that barrier up on the island? Or could get through the seaweed where the Uvi live?

You mean, go up to fight the Uvi directly? Do you think we could really do that?

Sure, why not? We have people who can help in the water. And they travel there. If there's anything really stopping us... we can find out when we're up there.

[his tone isn't really certain, but he's obviously willing to explore the idea.]

In fact, it'd be kind of weird if we didn't go up there to check things out more sometime soon.

You'd need someone who's good at flying, swimming, AND fighting. Do we have anyone like that?

[A kappa would be nice to have around now.]

I mean... I am. And at least a couple of that others. That guy who can turn into a dragon for his power, Mikleo, for one. Probably Dirk... Xion, since she can control water...

Wow, it sounds like we have a lot of really amazing people around.

Yeah, it's too bad no one has made a list.

[SIGH.

...then he replays what he just said in his head. that's something he has no ability to do; he's not a bard who can memorize lists, or a scholar who can write them down. but Kosuzu...]

--hey, could you do that?

[Glasses adjust.]

...Like, figuring out who has which kinds of special skills? That could actually be really useful!

Yeah... you'd have to ask a lot of people, and figure out some way to keep it all straight, I guess.

[Geir only has a hazy idea of what kinds of things would be involved in such a records system, and he has a bibliophobe's recoil from writing everything down, but it does make sense...]

But that way, when there are battles and things, people can keep it all straight.

Edited 2017-09-12 02:38 (UTC)

Geir, that's a great idea! This way, I can actually contribute something, even if I can't fight!

[Geir's eyes open wide, taken aback at her enthusiasm for the plan; he really wasn't expecting to come up with something that made her so happy. he ducks his head, warmed by the praise and her excitement, and shocked at how nice it feels to have one of his ideas contribute that way. oh...]

O-okay. Good! That's good.

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