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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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[Kosuzu's looking a lot more down today than she was at the party, to the point that she hardly reacts at seeing the dragon again.]

Oh... Mr. Geir. I have an umbrella, but it's only big enough to cover one eye or the other. [Sounds kind of like a dragon hangover...]

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.

[Repairs to the city will come in time, but right now what's most important is taking care of the people within. Al's armor has seen better days, but since he's immune to actual pain and fatigue he can't help but think of checking up on the others as his responsibility. That includes one very hard to miss--and miserable looking--pile of dragon in the marketplace.]

I guess I could make you some shade if you want...

[Or a dragon-sized sleep mask? More to the point:]

I won't be in your way long. I just came to see if you needed anything.

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...

Ugh.

[Geir snarls at Alphonse, but it's halfhearted; he can't really sustain his bad mood at Alphonse directly in the face of such obvious trying to be helpful. he subsides into a more dispirited flop.]

I don't actually know if it would help. It feels like it's inside my head...

[The bad mood doesn't seem to faze him anyway; he grew up with worse than dragons.]

You're not injured, are you?

[As chaotic as it's been, it's not hard to imagine how someone as big and capable as Geir could have been passed over for treatment.]

[it's true, Edward Elric versus a single glass of milk is a lot crankier than Alphonse has seen Geir act yet ever. Geir huffs his denial.]

I'm not hurt-hurt. It happened after... I think that maybe I tried to use my powers too much. Has that ever happened to you? The ones you got from Qri?

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.]

Not yet. But I can barely even get mine to work on people, so I'm not in much danger of overdoing it.

[As little as they know of Qri's methods, it certainly makes sense that magic fatigue could be a thing.]

What'd she give you, anyway?

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.

It's something weird. Genette called it "enlivening." I can make plants grow faster... and give people a boost, or something like that. A second wind.

[he's indignant; the idea that he doesn't always have enough power to do nearly whatever he wants is still something new to him, something he's very certain he doesn't like.]

I tried to do it for everyone fighting on our side at once, and the next thing I knew, I practically fell out of the sky!

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.

That was you?

[There'd been a moment when Al's magic felt slightly less pathetic than usual, but he hadn't realized the effect went city wide.]

No wonder you're exhausted.

[Impressed and mildly admonishing at the same time.]

Thank you, though. For what it's worth, you really helped us out.

[Geir lights up; he lifts his head a couple of feet and opens both eyes, surprised enough to react to that despite the pain.]

Really? It really helped?

[that lifts his mood enormously; he really couldn't feel any results from what he did, except that it hit him like a hammer. he really wasn't ready to use that much of Qri's magic at once; maybe he never would be. but if it helped...]

Definitely. I wouldn't recommend trying it on that many people at once again anytime soon, but...

[More than even the physical aspect, a second wind in the middle of a nasty battle filled with losses is a great morale booster.]

Being a little stronger, even just for a short time does a lot to help people keep their hopes up.

Oh... oh, I'm glad.

[Geir is really moved; it's truly a disproportionate response to the moderate accolade Alphonse gave him. he's not sure what to do with the feeling. he's never once in his life associated himself with something that could keep peoples' hopes up, and it honestly shakes him.

he ducks his head, not sure what to say...]

[It's not the reaction he expected, but given the little about Geir he's picked up on from Vern he thinks he kind of gets it. If Geir were a human Al would want to be comforting, and he certainly doesn't want to treat him as less than that. He's just not sure what is and isn't an offensive way to approach a dragon. Very, very tentatively, he sort of pats him on the head. You did good, buddy.]

When you're feeling better, the Palai will tell you the same thing. Probably until you're sick of hearing it.

[Geir doesn't seem to mind the headpat; on the contrary, he leans into Alphonse's armored hand for a moment, grateful for the contact. he doesn't have any particular hangups about touch or comfort being condescending, since he hasn't gotten much of either in his life.]

H-haha... I don't think I gave them as much of a boost. I was really concentrating on the coven since I know most of you better. They're nice like that, though.

[ percival's eyes rove over geir, clearly taking note of the exhaustion in his step. thoughtfully, he brings a finger to his own chin. ]

Ha. You're skilled -- the people of this land are in your debt, as is the rest of the Coven.

[ due to percival's ability, this may or may not make geir physically feel better. percival removes something akin to a red cloth from his shoulder and allows it to hover over geir's head. ]

You've worked yourself too hard, it seems.

[it's not actually hard to comfort Geir. he's not used to positive emotional attention by any stretch of the imagination, and someone being friendly to him without any magical backup at all is enough to make him feel a bit better. he's also usually easily distracted from bad moods, so the mechanics of Percival's ability will pack an extra punch for him.

right now, he's squinting at Percival suspiciously, already a little distracted but not quite ready to be cajoled out of his sulk yet.]

...in my debt? Seriously?

[He's going to just. Pet Geir like a giant cat for a second here. It was bound to happen eventually.]

Yeah. Resilient too. They're already talking about rebuilding.

[softly]

What are they even going to rebuild with, if this keeps up?

[that was a serious question BUT THEN Geir is distracted, because Alphonse makes an important discovery that almost no one else in Aimintas has made:

if you pet Geir like a cat, he leans his head into it and purrs.]

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...

[Dragons are cute??? Maybe Ed had the right idea with his aesthetic all along??? Truly, it is a day of revelations.

Al hms in agreement, but figures the topic is maybe a little too real and depressing to get into now, when Geir needs to focus on recovering.]

Well, that's what we're here for. Whether Qri thinks so or not.

[After a moment, he steps back.]

We'll find a way to help them. But for now you should just worry about feeling better yourself.

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.]

[Geir makes a disappointed little chirping noise when the petting stops, but he obiligingly puddles out again, spreading his wings more and resting his head on the ground. he sighs deeply!!]

Ugh. I guess you're right. If I take it easy the rest of today, maybe tomorrow at least I'll be able to move.

[his tone is overall softer, though, and he looks more relaxed. honestly, someone coming and talking to you sympathetically when you feel bad is already a big pick-me-up. and he's glad that he'll be able to come talk to Alphonse about the city later, when they try to figure out how to keep it safer.]

Thanks.

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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