annexedlogs | September Catch-All [OTA]

Entry tags:

September Catch-All [OTA]

Who: Marc, Steven, and open!
What: September catch-all, including a mini-mission
When: All month
Where: See prompts
Content Warnings: Nothing for now

I. Shopping trip - Open Markets and Night Market, OTA

Steven is finding their little apartment very drab and dour, so Marc is out trying to find things to brighten it up. Also, to expand their wardrobe a little, since their original foray had been one of desperation rather than strategy, and hadn't had much in it to Steven's taste.

So Marc wanders around the shops, looking kind of touristy but not really minding, picking up this or that to examine curiously, listening for a perk of interest or disinterest from Steven. If anyone he recognizes spots him, he'll wave. "Lookin' for something in particular?" he asks.

Or he'll try to hastily swap places with Steven, if it's one of Steven's handful of tentative friends, which results in a moment of blankness and then some rapid blinking and a, "What?"

II. Baby's First Sparring - Gym, closed to Harley

The promised afternoon, Steven shows up in clothes he doesn't mind getting sweaty, because he fully expects Harley Quinn will wipe the floor with him. Marc has gotten him a pair of poles like what they had in the suit-- truncheons, Marc called them-- so he'd have something familiar, but Marc is refusing point blank to come out and meet her. Something about not liking psychiatrists.

Well, after Doctor Harrow, Steven can't really blame him. So he's the one waiting for Harley outside the gym, waving cheerily once he spots her distinctive pigtails. "Miss Quinn! Hello, over here!"

III. Practice Makes Perfect - Mage's sector, OTA

Marc things the Mage's Sector is... quaint. Steven thinks it's adorable. Which is good, because he spends a lot of time there. Borrowing books, taking lessons twice a week with two different local tutors, and just sitting around people watching and practicing whatever spell he's working on at any given time.

He doesn't pay for reagents much, both not wanting to spend their limited stipend on something he's not really ready for, being still learning very low-level spells that don't require a lot of prep, but he absolutely gawks at them all. "What even is that?" he wonders, staring at a jar with a floating eyeball in it. "It looks like an eye. Is it an eye? What kind of spell wants for an eye, I wonder?"

Or he'll be sitting in the Hare & Hammer, nursing a beer and casting tiny illusions over his table, just for fun. Maybe it's somebody's face, or miniature fireworks, or a hollow bird skull. Okay, that one's probably a little weird.

IV. Mini-Mission - Sabotaging Sensors, OTA

They can see the top of the sensor tower from behind the boulder they're sheltering by, the best cover they have until it's time to run out and set the charges. Marc is the distraction, the cover fire, and to that end is loaded up in body armor and three layers of wool and leather under it just in case it's crappy body armor, a lot of guns, and some spare C4 in case it's necessary. Plus, Steven's hovering behind his eyes, ready to snatch his hands for spell-casting if necessary. And fretting.

(I'm not sure if the mage armor will hold up to bullets.)

"It'll be fine," Marc mutters, hopefully under his breath enough for his current partner in crime to hear it. Then he unholsters his first gun and, louder, asks, "Ready to run for it?"

V. Wildcard!

Anything else you feel like doing? I'm open, just start something, or hit me up at cacopheny on plurk!

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"An eye may be powerful in and of itself." Says the scantily-clad man who gouged his own eye out to keep it from falling into enemy hands-- or ending up for sale on discount. The former is a far more dangerous fate, but the latter is insulting.

Marc/Steven don't know who Rokuro is, and have no real reason to heed his words, however the bandages concealing his right eye-socket do speak to some experience on the matter.

Rokuro picks up the jar, holding it up to his still-functional left eye to observe more closely. "That said, I do not feel any 'magic' emanating from this eye. If you are looking for power I would search elsewhere." The reagent seller doesn't appear too pleased with this statement, and grabs the floating eyeball back at the soonest opportunity.

If Marc/Steven come back later they might find the same eye still available for an additional 25% off. You're (They're?) welcome.

"Wow, um, I'd think if anybody would know it'd be... the guy who's missing one." Steven pauses, plays that back through his head, and winces, that was probably rude, wasn't it? He's not good at judging that sort of thing.

He's distracted from that quickly, though, with a question: "Wait, you can feel magic? I thought you needed a spell for that. Or are you Heba, with a power for feeling magic?" Okay, it's a couple of questions.

"You are not wrong." The slightest of smiles. Rokuro isn't offended. It is what it is. He made peace with the sacrifice of his water-crest eye what feels like a lifetime ago. Now, it isn't the loss that hurts, so much as the memory of personal betrayal and failure that comes with it.

He trails his fingertips over the items on the table, noting the energies that travel up through his fingers-- or lack thereof. The seller isn't a charlatan, but it's likely he peddles his lesser wares to the rebel's newer recruits who don't have enough experience with magic to know better.

"I was born with a sensitivity to such things, although I did not know it as 'magic' until arriving here. To me, it is simply energy, whether elemental or divine. Every person has an energy, as does every object. Some are simply more powerful than others."

Rokuro doesn't say outright that he senses something strange from Stephen, as it would be rude to do so, and because... he can't quite place what it is. Unusual, given Rokuro can name most of what he feels immediately, but not unheard of.

Finally, his fingers stop over a simple rock. "If power is what you seek, this is a better choice. It holds much energy within it. As do you."

[Checked your permissions for telepathy/mindreading, hope it's okay for Rokuro to feel something! If not just LMK, and if you'd like to clarify what it is he feels I'd be happy to work with it :)]

((yep that's fine! I'll try to include that stuff in the narration for you :3 ))

Marc is currently nowhere near the front of their shared mindspace, and Jake is as buried as always, but the splits are still there, and Steven is always aware that he's not alone in his own head. He's not thinking about it, right now, but the awareness is still there.

He brightens with obvious curiosity, though, as Rokuro continues. "Oh! You got your chip stripped? I kept mine, I mean, I don't have any powers outside of the Tian magic stuff, so I thought being able to be a little sneaky might be useful. That might be what you're sensing, too, the whole. Tian magic thing. We're supposed to harness that, but if we don't want to completely drain ourselves for big spells, or if we need something to focus with, we use ingredients."

"I was not comfortable with the prospect of being bound by the 'chip'." Of which Rokuro still assumes was a chip of cursed stone, bone, or something other material. He knows a lot about the spirit world and the divine, and... basically nothing about computers.

Born several hundred years before electricity was invented, Rokuro's understanding of technology is a work in progress. At least he's past thinking the camera in his tablet is attempting to steal his soul?

"It is best to start small. I have been training my power since childhood, and still find myself exhausted in the midst of learning these spells. They are not my preference in terms of combat or practical use, but one should be of passable skill with every weapon in their arsenal." A raised brow at Marc, "You appear to have a great many more than the average recruit I have encountered."

"Oh, not that many, surely," Steven laughs, a little embarrassed. "I can do three of the cantrips reliably, and two of the ones they call first level? I don't know, it's a pretty arbitrary spell system, I think it has something to do with how much energy it takes to cast something. But that's hard to measure, right? So I'm not sure how they decided to split it up at each level, really. Probably trial and error, or maybe some kind of metric I don't know about yet."

Yes, that was a bit of a ramble. Sorry, Rokuro. At least he wraps it up with, "So are you Tian, too? Since you're poking around at the magic stuff. Though if you have your own powers, I guess you might not need it."

"I was also curious in that regard. We all have different strengths and ability. Some of us may tap into the power available to use more easily than others. I will admit, the prospect of learning so many different spells in such a way is intimidating. Is it not more efficient to specialize..." Of course, this is coming from someone with an extremely specialized ability, who holds a place within a group of nine other 'specialists'. To be able to wield every element at once sounds like a frightening prospect, for the caster as much as their intended target.

If Marc wants to ramble about magic, he has definitely found the person to do it with. Rokuro is a walking talking witch-and-bitch opportunity. He has many opinions about many things, especially when it comes to magic.

"Yes, I am also Tian. While I have my own abilities, I think it is a waste to not utilize every tool one has available."

"You know what, I very much agree. Not that I have any powers," he adds. "Just a boring old normal person. Except with magic now. That might be boring around here, though, if half the people have it? The Heba people seem to be much more varied, harder to be boring that way, right? And they don't have to spend all their time studying, either."

Not that he minds, really. Studying is one of the skills Steven readily attributes to himself, and he's enjoying learning magic, but it does seem a little bit unfair.

He drags himself back on course again. "It sounds like your power might work well with your magic, though. If you can sense magic and all that."

"I disagree. You are a mystery to me, and so you are interesting. Regardless of magic or ability." Not that Rokuro entirely buys that this man is boring, if only because so few men would be willing to admit as much to themselves or others. "My ability works well here, yes, but it is not so interesting."

A polite incline of his head, bowing at the waist. Practiced and graceful. "I am Rokuro Unno. If you wish to practice magic, I would gladly be your partner."

"Oh! Oh, well, I'm Steven Grant, and that sounds pretty great, actually." If maybe more formal than he's used to. He attempts to mimic the bow, though it looks kind of jerky and hesitant. "I could use a study partner. Though I promise I'm not really that interesting."

He does believe that. His interesting bits are largely in the past. Or belong to Marc. Unless you think being an alter is interesting, he certainly doesn't think so.

"Which spells have you learned so far?" he asks, happy to dive right in.

Rokuro definitely thinks the concept of an alter is 'interesting', and Steven/Marc/Etc would not be the first he has known. One of his closest comrades is an innocent shrine maiden who is also the goddess of death and destruction.

"The basic elementals. I have a... preference for water, and so I do not imagine I will use the others often, however it seemed as good a place as any to start. Yourself?

"I kind of like the wind ones," Steven admits, with a grin. "But I'm focusing on support stuff right now, first, before I try those. Mage armor and healing and such, right? I've got a great stealth spell called Disguise Self where you turn your face into somebody else's face. It's great for infiltration missions, see? I'm trying to connect it to the more powerful Illusion spell, so I can do it on other people, too. I've almost got it, I think."

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September Catch-All [OTA]

III.

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sorry for the delay, RL kicked my ass for a while :(