wildestlands | think of a sword pun

Entry tags:

elle bryant,
need

think of a sword pun

[Need starts in the Mindspeech whisper she's used over the network before - a voice seeming to come from right between the ears of any listener.]

So! We've learned that some of us are analagous to various horrible entities in others' home planes while, this's important, not actually being the same thing. I'm willing to bet there's more than one case of this. And what I am might fall into that category and is also inevitably going to come up, so let's just get it out now.

[The visual comes up - a small sword laid on a table. Now Need comes out of the whisper. Sometimes her voice sounds human enough, like that of an old woman who's breathed a lot of smoke. Sometimes she sounds like metal scraping on stone or ringing off more metal.]

To make a long story very short, I was an old mage-smith and I bound my soul to this sword so I could empower and guide my apprentice at a difficult time. I don't have eyes or ears, so I borrow other peoples' and sometimes their hands as well, and I speak mind-to-mind. If my binding seems blasphemous, fear not, I was sanctioned by the Twain. If you have something against gods, don't worry about it, the Twain died a long time ago. If it's spirits, you've got me there, but I'm not interested in taking what's not freely given and I can't make anyone do something against their will.

Now. I've taught a lot of youngsters over the years. If you want to learn the sling, the bow, or the sword, you can ask for my help and I can get you to proficiency faster than a normal teacher. If you've got an injury or a chronic condition, I'm also a healer. I may not be as good as usual, but I'm discreet and nothing will be lost by coming to me. If you need a blacksmith... well, that takes more of an arrangement. I can also show people old memories while they're asleep, which displaces nightmares so they can wake up all nice and rested.

Call me Need. If you have questions, I have time.

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[...well this is highly unusual, isn't it? This world and the people in this party are truly something else. The more Ange finds out, the more she wonders why she was brought here when she doesn't fit with them in the slightest.

Well, may as well ask:]

You mentioned several kinds of weapons, but I was wondering if you'd know about...magic in general.

[Mage-smith, Need had said. Asking that was worth a try. Loken had warned Ange that delving in magic was a risky endeavor, but...well, Ange has never been known for her good decisions. She has to find out more about her newfound powers]

Edited 2021-11-25 15:24 (UTC)

Less of it's available to me now than usual, and it may have different rules in this plane, but I'd hope I know enough about magic to have a baseline.

[Need is magic, both in the sense of having it and literally being made of magic more than she is steel.]

What can I do for you, girl?

Upon arrival to this world I have found myself with the ability of using magic. [Real magic, which...makes her kind of conflicted] I haven't been able to figure out anything about it, and magic doesn't come with instructions attached. How do you even handle something like magic when you don't even know where to start?

That's an interesting problem. Don't take this as 'I think you're wrong', but how do you know about it in the first place?

Call it...

[How to describe it...]

Call it instinct. The spirits who brought me here did say I'd be provided with what I need to achieve their demands, and once I got my bearings, I felt this...strange knowledge I have something I didn't before. Took me a while to figure out what it was.

[So in a way it's like she has the very basics of what she's supposed to be doing? But it feels so unfitting she still hasn't come to terms with it at all!]

Edited 2021-11-27 02:34 (UTC)

[Outside of her usual expertise - she can't just go looking, either.]

Very interesting. How introspective are you? Have you found yourself drawn to anything new?

Not particularly. I was already prone to keeping to myself and just thinking about stuff, so there's nothing different on that regard. If isolation is something that's supposed to help with magic, it's not doing much in my case.

[A clear mind and a good mental space are vital in magic. Those were instructions she got from home, but she's not sure it applies to this]

You said you're a mage-smith. Any ideas on how to use magic?

[...the question Ange asked is so broad it's pretty much useless, really]

Edited 2021-11-27 03:18 (UTC)

Even where I'm from, there are different types that manifest differently. Responsible people keep an eye out for the gifted and get them trained at least enough so their talents don't break out, but there's plenty of cases where that doesn't happen.

First time I used magic it was probably to make a fire. That's a classic start, but it might not apply. I would try experimenting with a range of new experiences, maybe standing at the elbow of a mage as they work and seeing if part of you responds.

If nothing else, gifts tend to react to great stress and emergency. They don't always help, mind.

[That was...far more precise advice than Ange expected even though she asked. Precise and useful! Perhaps reaching out to others really was a good idea, she'll have to thank Loken for his advice.

Or perhaps not, he didn't seem to like magic very much]

I see. Thank you for the advice. I guess I'll keep an eye out for anyone using magic in my vicinity. I hardly can be the only one around here with this sort of ability

[Being near a mage as they work seems like her best bet, she thinks!]

Of course. There's a boy disturbed by glowing right now, which isn't usually how magic works in Velgarth but it's easy enough to imagine the cause. Even as some of us have lost ability, some have gained them.

Good. I'll see if I can have a word with him. Learning to imitate a firefly will save my skin in a pinch.

[Sarcastic remark, really]

What about you? Did you...gain anything?

[Need snickers.]

You'll just have to learn to convince people that it means you're about to explode.

Not that I've noticed. Mostly I've lost the ability to do some fairly important things. It's probably going to take me a decade or two to figure out workarounds.

[Said like it's not a long time, just irritating.]

[That's indeed a tone that's hard not to notice. Oh, a really long-lived person, probably. Why else would Need be so casual about a couple decades?]

If we get done here quickly and you go back home you probably will get it all back.

[It's a bit of an indirect way of saying 'let's hurry up and save this world as quickly as possible, don't be so flippant about that sort of length of time' because oh boy, last thing she wants to think about is that she's stuck around here for a long time]

If I get back to my plane of origin, I'm sure I will.

[She does not sound worried. Over the mirrors Need can't touch other peoples' minds, and so her emotions and reactions are somewhat disconnected, ungrounded from other peoples'. To her, getting jamjarred is just another version of falling asleep and waking up a few centuries later - she has that same total belief that there's no return, and the parts of her that felt grief at losing people have worn down.]

The old lady can be a bit pushy, but she ain't so bad to carry around. The healing's pretty helpful.

[He is speaking up for the talking sword!]

I'd hope it's helpful, I worked a long time to learn it!

[...]

Well, you've managed to impress me, boy.

[ ??? He did?? ]

A compliment from you? This is new.

[ He smiles, allowing himself the indulgence of a little friendly banter. ]

I remember you were real insistent on how I had the “insight of a stone” or something.

Not entirely wrong, I guess…

Don't get used to it, boy. I never say anything I don't mean.

[Being as insightful as a rock... doing well here... both are true.]

I mean with the... ugh. Must we call snake boy back there a 'demon'? [There's disdain in her Mindvoice, even though over the mirrors it lacks the usual array of connotations and emotional reflections. Need hates demons. Not as powerfully as Guts does, but they can still rouse her vast, buried rage.] You handled that with surprising deftness, is what I'm saying.

You saw all of that?

[ here he is, realizing the extent of how mirror shards work. ]

Yeah, well, that guy was the softest looking demon I’ve ever seen. The ones I fight - they don’t hold back, and they get a kick out of killing humans and getting to do whatever the hell they want with them.

Felt weird, cutting him down like that. Especially with that fussy little stuffed suit next to him.

Of course.

Hmmph. The ones I know, it depends. The lesser ones, the imps and runners and so on, they don't have much in the way of minds, but you climb the hierarchy and you find smarter ones that can play longer games, changing to softer shapes included. Admittedly, they tend towards charisma and always seem to have a lot of pride. Hard to imagine any of them going snake boy's route.

[She reaches out, past the mirrors, to find Guts' actual mind and self. Need can't touch either as strongly without being present physically, but they do have a connection. She Mindspeaks faintly but more properly - more privately - now.]

:I've been a demon-killing blade for a long time. If I was there and had a body to work with, I would have just killed him and written off his friend as a thrall or something, and looking at it now, that would have been the wrong decision. You have your good moments, boy.:

Edited 2021-11-26 12:15 (UTC)

Each one’s got its quirks, but because of that thing on my neck most can’t resist trying to get a bite out of me. Guess that factored in, too.

[ now that he thinks about it, it was even stranger that snake bastard couldn’t sense he was a sacrifice. Or maybe he could and didn’t mention it?

And then he feels the familiar brush of the sword against the back of his head, receiving her message. ]

:I would’ve done the same, not too long ago. For a while, killing those things was all I had to keep me going. It was all that was left.

It took a lot of people to break me out of that and see a better way.:

[ Need has a good idea of how stubborn he is, so one can only imagine the titanic amounts of patience. ]

Edited 2021-11-26 12:30 (UTC)

Well, that'd do it. If they're usually compelled to attack you and one doesn't, something's up.

[She can imagine, but it's a big ask. Need says something like hmmmm, something like running a file down an almost-finished blade, rasping the edge sharper in a long, unhurried stroke.]

:You've known some good people.:

:Yeah.:

[ The statement is simple, but is tinged with the sadness of longing for his old companions. It's been over a year now. Did they think he abandoned them? For Casca, it'd be a second time.

Having little interest in lingering on that for too long, he focuses on the spoken subject. ]

Did manage to work with one of those monsters once, a real piece of work... Figure I could extend the same chance to him. He hasn't been howling about how he'll eat me, so it's goin' better than last time.

[She doesn't feel this kind of thing anymore, she has no more expectation of meeting again with the people she's parted from. By now the pain of loss and separation isn't ever more than a vague pang, soon faded, unless she's with someone who feels that loss more keenly and she can share in it. Need warms her long-cold spirit in the very human feeling of longing, in how this kind of thing used to be part of her, in the moment before Guts redirects and compartmentalizes it away.]

Huh. How'd you put up with that?

Edited 2021-11-26 20:15 (UTC)

[ bluntly: ]

Jumped on his back, told him I'd cut his head off unless he flew in the direction I wanted to. Then the thing snarled on about crap on how it was fated to be or somethin'.

Then he realized that we were both going after the same enemy. An even bigger monster made out of storm clouds. He's got the wings, I've got a sword that can cut mist. So we teamed up.

Almost tried to kill each other again once the third guy was taken care of... but one of my guys stopped me. Wasn't the time for fighting. He was right about that, so I backed down.

[She pauses to consider that. What a bizarre image.]

All right then. I suppose it's possible 'your' demons are as different from 'my' demons as either are from that snake boy. There's some I've met that might see enough reason to, hm, team up, but it wouldn't end as nicely as that.

[Possibly because her setting is morally simplistic enough that the situation would never arise. Possibly because she'd totally go for the kill herself the first chance she got; letting that kind of creature go is plainly, to her, just borrowing trouble from the future for herself and others.]

Yeah, Zodd's an exception. Most of 'em are like how I described. Monsters that only want to eat and kill.

[ and he'll let Need fill in the rest on 'whatever the hell they want' means. ]

We've... had history. Zodd just wants some kinda big flashy showdown with me, gets his blood all excited. All the lightning left me in a pretty bad state, so the fight wouldn't be satisfying enough for him, and he let us go.

That's my best guess, anyway.

Edited 2021-11-27 00:15 (UTC)

[Need can imagine, she's met demons like that.]

How strange. [And impractical! She probably shouldn't say that one. Need's done a lot of finding a purpose in immortality, but the idea of living for a worthy anime rivalry that ends in one person dying in the right way is alien to her.]

But he's not following you around looking for the chance after you've recovered, he's... just going to show up?

Demons have their own masters to serve, that’s why they call themselves apostles.

[ how’s that for a little sacrilegious irony. ]

So Zodd went off to go do his bidding, whatever it is, maybe hoping we’ll bump into each other again.

[ Perhaps there’s that small satisfaction in being human. No master to serve but himself. ]

Edited 2021-11-27 00:56 (UTC)

[Need almost asks what masters those would be that they would take a title like that; her thought is 'bigger demons', maybe ones that have crested the threshold to godhood. Those are, simply put, the worst, and she doesn't... really wanna contemplate them right now.]

Right. Well, as long as that doesn't happen here, I suppose.

[What a headache that would be. Need speaks more directly and privately again.]

:He's touchy enough that I don't want him to hear me say it, but thank you for looking after my little gold mage earlier.:

[Definitely some fond and kinda possessive connotations there.]

Edited 2021-11-27 01:39 (UTC)

You're a sword? Sounds pretty dope.

[ Kevin nods with familiarity to this idea. ]

My sword like, has a spirit in it but it doesn't talk to me. I just gotta take care of it on account of not being a dick.

It's not for everyone, but it's not a bad life.

There's a saying people are passing off as Shin'a'in now which goes 'Take care of your weapons and they will take care of you', but it predates the Shin'a'in by a wide margin. How's yours have a spirit?

The people who made the sword put it in there. I don't.... completely know how it works, but it's a thing werewolves do all the time apparently. It helps it fight monsters.

[ There's a moment as Kevin tries to figure out whether he should introduce the sword or not, then decides he should. ]

...Its name is Foehammer.

[Thoughtfully:] I could see that. Though I'm sure they'd do it differently than how I would.

Where is Foehammer's spirit from? Is it a person, or some other form?

Hi, Need! I'm Elle. I think it's really cool that you're, like, still helping people. I've always wanted to learn how to sword fight...

But that's not what I was going to ask. I was going to ask: can you connect to the mirror, then? It doesn't have eyes or ears, but it must have some way to psychically connect in order for you to project your voice and your image. So could you use the mirror to observe the world? Like, if you someone set up their mirror to project sound and image to yours.

[Elle is clearly in a focused problem-solving mode.]

Not saying you shouldn't use the resources you have already, especially if people have already offered to let you use their senses. It was just a thought I had.

This teleson network is friendlier than others I've worked with, it's true. Typically I have to be held by a bearer to speak through them, and then it's their face that shows over the mirror.

It helps to a point, but it's very cold and impersonal as something to rely on. I like the human touch better. Maybe more relevantly, I require that touch, though it doesn't really have to be human so much as thinking and feeling as a living person does. I'm something different if I can't connect to those things. The term I use is 'falling asleep'.

[She also doesn't ask permission for peoples' senses or their surface thoughts and is essentially unable to trust them when she can't access their minds. It doesn't hurt them and they don't know, so according to her canon, It's Morally Okay.]

It was just a thought I had, but that makes sense. I imagine there's some discomfort in being 'asleep' and having a living being to work through is probably the most convenient option, anyway.

The mirrors can be a supplement reasonably enough. And it's not that falling asleep is uncomfortable, exactly, but I stop being able to think very much when I'm asleep. I have a purpose and a cause that have shaped me, ever since I put myself in this thing. When I'm asleep I can't regulate it much and it's more of the whole of my being, so I try to compel people to the aid of desperate women. And some others, but it's mostly women.

Which isn't a cause I regret, but if I'm asleep it's harder to gauge things such as 'is someone else going to get her out of it before we even get there' or 'is this problem much too large for you to address at all', let alone give advice on what's happening and how to stop it.

[Also her sleeping influence ramps up into causing intense pain and rage if the peril is enough, but who's asking?]

[Elle understands the importance of control all too well, as someone who has the small issue of going into raging frenzies if she is pushed too far.]

It sounds like a noble cause. I know someone who did something similar, but in the service of protecting children. She wasn't a spirit, but she has lived many lifetimes to fulfill her duties.

[She doesn't mention her experience of living all of those lifetimes beside her. That seems a bit personal and intense for a first meeting like this.]

Good for her. That kind of thing never seems to have an end. The world, in scraps or entire, can change for the better, and then the worse, and then the better again as many times as it likes. There are always the disregarded and the shunned, and there always people with power who think they'll face no reprisals for preying on them. But it's worth fighting against all the same.

[Need is cynical about it - she always has been, ever since she was alive - but not to the point of stopping.]

[Need's outlook almost reminds Elle of Roberta's, especially when they first 'met'. She was exhausted and beaten down by playing out tragedy after tragedy.]

Sometimes the only thing you can do is keep going, no matter the odds.

[Which isn't to say that Elle disagrees with or blames people who choose survival over principals. Conviction is a luxury that she knows not everyone can afford.]

You always have to keep going regardless. Things will come around again, given enough time, and small victories aren't meaningless when you pay attention to them.

[She sounds firm, inasmuch as you can read that kind of tone in the scrape of her voice at the moment.]

And I'm better at gauging that when I'm awake. Otherwise it's very stimulus-response in here, and that can be counterproductive.

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think of a sword pun

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