[OPENING] magical training log

[spellslash]

Who: Brie, whichever newbies want to show up.
Where: The beach.
When: Day 4
Open/Closed: OTA

[It's about noon on the island, based on the position of the sun. The newbies have had a few days to settle in, but that doesn't mean they've fully mastered their newfound abilities.

As much stock as Genette puts into telepathy, Brie is more concerned about their other newfound gifts. She's aggressively tried to wrangle as many newbies as possible onto the sandy shores of the beachfront area for some magic practice.

She's got a list of everyone's magic -- only a few vague notes, limitations are for you to discover -- and she's handing out missions for magic training. If you want to participate? Feel free. If you don't? Suit yourself.

But understanding your magic isn't just an activity that benefits the group. Learning your magic's abilities may be what stands between you and survival, which is something she makes perfectly clear.]

Comments

[splinten]

Genette and Brie likely have been working hard. It may be a question of sheer numbers.

[Still. He considers that, looking around at where they are.]

Maybe. I wouldn't object to that.

[p_mortem]

[ They're a right little army here, a lot larger than the number of people Minato is used to working with. ]

...I was thinking of taking everything: all the huts, that mansion too. But if people arrive while we're gone, then that wouldn't be right. I guess we'll come back to see who turns up. If anybody.

[splinten]

[He considers it. It isn't actually a bad idea, and with Minato's ability he could.]

You could ask Brie or Genette if they know if people will arrive.

What about turning the island into one bead?

[p_mortem]

I'll ask.

[ He looks at the ground as if seriously considering it, but ]

I can't turn living things. There's something anchoring us to the island if we walk off the edge at the beach, but if I take the island away...

[ SHRUGS they fall into space and suffocate I guess ]

[splinten]

[Ah.]

That would suck, yeah.

[Oh huh]

Does it shove any living things outside of the bead? That could have interesting applications for getting rid of infestations or sterilizing things.

[Bacteria are, after all, alive.]

[p_mortem]

I've never tried...

[ Mostly he tried to stuff crabs into his pockets and just got pinched for his efforts ]

How would you test that?

[splinten]

You could put a crab or whatever inside something, like a box, then try to turn the box into a bead.

[Either it doesn't work, or the crab gets ejected.]

[p_mortem]

[ That sort of practice sounds more fruitful than "turn X, Y, and Z into beads" so

alright, time to go crab hunting. ]

They were in the bathhouse, right? There were buckets in there too, which would work as a box.

[splinten]

[He gives a nod.]

Let's check it out.

[Crab hunting with friends, how fun!]

[p_mortem]

[ To the bathhouse it is. Minato remembers the first time he came here, and how many times he'd gone back to the bathhouse to fish out the crabs, each time getting side tracked before he can actually cook them to eat and die.

At least he's found a better method of catching them through all the experience— he grabs a grimy towel from the baths when they're there, and tries to get one of the crabs to clamp down on it to occupy its pincers. ]

...Got it. See if you can find a box.

[splinten]

[There is no box. But Dirk does come by with a bucket, holding it out to Minato in his valiant towel-wrestle with a grab.]

[p_mortem]

[ A bucket works too. Minato holds the towel over it and tries to shake the crab off... shake it— stuff the entire thing in there, towel and all, and then takes the bucket in his hands.

a blink

and a small grey bead drops to the ground and bounces off into the unknown

along with the sharp crack of a crab shell hitting the ground, legs flailing in the air. ]

[splinten]

[Welp. Poor crab.]

So, good for sterilizing and cleaning out infestations as long as we're ready to handle whatever gets dumped outside the bead.

[p_mortem]

[ Minato edges his shoe close enough to flip the crab back over so it can scuttle away to safety. ]

I guess I shouldn't breathe too deeply when doing this then. I'm glad it can be useful, though.

[splinten]

That's on top of portability for crap, which is already useful enough. [Sylladex, he misses you.] It's a cool power.

[p_mortem]

...Yeah.

[ It feels weird considering it's not his power, in that it feels as if they were dished out powers at random. It's not one he can own. ]

Can't you also destroy bacteria?

[ That feels like a more direct application of Dirk's powers, more than destroying "brokenness" ]

[splinten]

If I can 'fully conceptualize' the bacteria, yes. It brings me back to the uncertainty of what full conceptualization means.

[So it's a problem, but it isn't necessarily an insurmountable one.]

I've tried to break it into kinds of knowledge: experiential and theoretical.

[p_mortem]

And what works?

[ Theoretical would be easier, if a bit broad, like explaining bacteria as single celled organisms that cause disease. But there are seemingly infinite types of bacteria, and it isn't exactly something Dirk could look and see that they've all been destroyed. ]

[splinten]

It seems like it has to be some kind of combination. Sometimes it clicks, and sometimes it doesn't hit entirely right.

[p_mortem]

So, to be effective... you have to know everything. About everything.

[splinten]

Basically.

[Minato sees the limitations.]

[p_mortem]

If I find any reference books, I'll pass them along to you.

[ Godspeed ]