fandomhighdorms | Magic Reserves, Wednesday Afternoon, Preserve Near The Cabins

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Magic Reserves, Wednesday Afternoon, Preserve Near The Cabins

Snacks today were the pure sugar variety - bowls full of leftover Halloween candy and a cooler full of sodas. Tony stood at the front looking a little tired, a little beaten up and a little smug. "Now we know vegetables aren't always good for us," he said. "Today, Zack's going to talk about his magic and then we're going to do the post-battle rundown. What worked for you yesterday? Anything you wish you'd done differently?"

With the two--not three--leaders of the reserve, there was a falcon-y looking bird, trying to appear very cheerful about everything. And screeching occasionally to let them all know he wasfully on board with this meeting.

Yes.

Karla couldn't stop herself from shooting amused towrads Merlin, though she tried to keep her expression neutral whenever the bird glanced her way. "Just as important as your own actions, what could we as a group have done otherwise? If we'd had advanced warning, would we have done things differently? Better? We very much want to know your opinion. Non-mages should also feel free to chime in," she added. "We're here to work with everyone."

Tony nodded. "That goes for all the time, actually. Yeah, we're here to work on magic stuff, but we all gotta look out for each other." added. "We're here to work with everyone." He turned to Zack. "All right, you're up."

[OCD up.
ETA: Volunteers for next week needed! Bribery (IC or OOC) can be provided if needed.]

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...

Zack goes here!

Share your veggie tales.

If you want the trifecta, you'll have to speak bird.

Like an OOC thing.

Dinah was there, and up for candy, oh yes. Also looking forward to something cheerful.

"Pairs works better," Dinah volunteered. "Both with Kennedy and with Karla. Attacking knee-high and shoulder-high monsters just takes too much attention to think you can catch everything yourself, I think."

Karla was here, non-birdlike, and still grinning at Merlin.

What? It was funny when it wasn't her.

Except for the gender-swap thing. That was never funny.

Tony was extra-bouncy today due to all the sugar.

Tony offered Karla a paper bag holding the Darkest Night season one DVD set and several Elizabeth Fitzroy books. "Here's the entertainment I offered you about fifty years ago," he smiled.

Zack grinned and gave his arms a casual stretch as he sauntered up to give his talk about the way his magic worked.

"Hey, guys! My turn to talk about what I can do, huh?" His grin went a little lopsided, and then he rummaged through his pocket, pulling out a shiny red sphere and holding it up for the group to see. "This is Materia. Where I come from, stuff like this is a large part of what gives us our ability to cast spells. Each Materia comes with its own sort of specialization. Red ones like this can be used to call forth summons, deities and powerful creatures that can come forward and attack an enemy while you take a moment to pull yourself together again. Purple ones," and now he was rummaging through his pocket to pull out another sphere to show off, "like this VIT Up, can be used to make whoever has it equipped stronger, or more resilient to physical or spiritual attacks."

He tucked those two Materia away, and pulled out a handful of green and yellow ones.

"Other ones still will let you cast offensive spells, like this Fire, physical spells like my Assault Twister, or regenerative magic, like this Cure, which will heal most physical injuries. We have items on Gaia that will do the same thing, but they can only be used once before they're exhausted entirely and can't be used again, and some of them are pretty rare. And between you and me, our healing potions kinda taste like nail polish."

Or turpentine. Or something else of equally potent nastiness.

"Using Materia to cast spells has its ups and its downs. For starters, you can't just hold onto it and will it to work. It has to be equipped into sockets in your weapon or armor, like the ones I have in my sword, here. You can switch them out easily enough, but not in the middle of a fight, so you have to make certain that you know what spell you're going to need the most before you go into battle. Materia gets stronger as you use it, which is pretty handy, and once it's mastered it might create another of the same, which can be made stronger through use same way. Though I really don't have any need for two of the same Materia, so I typically just sell off any extras I get."

He stood there for a moment, looking pretty proud of himself before he realized that he wasn't quite finished yet, and he held his hand in front of him, focusing on a tree stump not far from the group that nobody was too dangerously close to. His entire body seemed to glow yellow for a moment, and as that glow dissipated from around him, a large shard of ice materialized in the air above the stump, hung there for a moment, and then dropped down on top of it, shattering on contact and leaving the stump looking... Well, not much better than the shard of ice did, really.

"Every time I use it, it takes a little out of me, so it helps to have a weapon like my sword along as well, plus a supply of Ethers and Soma. They're sort of like potions, too, which help to bring me back up to fighting form so that I can keep casting spells using my Materia in the middle of a battle. And that's about that!" He put his hands on his hips, smiling broadly. "Any questions?"

Tara picked through the candy for the Tootsie Rolls, and then had the grace to look guilty.

Zack was there! And bouncing! And all excited that he was going to get to talk, today! Hi, people! Hi!

Alex was there, happy with the candy. Especially given what had happened yesterday.

Raven was there, not entirely displeased there were no vegetables to munch on today.

Hey, Kennedy could actually contribute something here today. Plus candy that she could actually get to. Score.

Better not ask her too much about the vegetables, though. She was still a little annoyed.

"I was able to drain a tomato of its anger and hunger," Raven said, "and render it docile."

I'll take things you'll only say in Fandom for $1000, Alex.

Ooh. Shiny.

Karla leaned over, trying to examine the Materia more closely, while keeping her hands prudently behind her back. "Where does Materia come from?" she asked. "How is it made? And what do you mean when you say it 'gets stronger'? What, uhh, level was that spell?"

Karla took the bag, gleefully rummaging through it. She grabbed one of the novels and started reading the back. "Thanks, Tony," she said, eyes still focused on the book. "These look great. I meant to stop by and watch the last episode, but I got all caught up in other stuff."

Oooh, this looked intriguing. She half-wondered if anyone would notice if she started reading it now. Huh, with no Merlin, probably.

"Oh, Materia can come from all kinds of places. I mean, sometimes it just forms naturally in nature, on Gaia. But most of the stuff that we use is either stolen off of monsters, or manufactured and bought. The source of energy that we use for electricity back where I'm from, mako energy, creates Materia sometimes as a by-product, so it's really, really common, and pretty easy for anyone to get their hands on."

That said, he was pulling his Blizzard materia out of its socket and holding it up for her to see. It was a light grass-green, and kind of sparkly, just like all the rest.

"We call it levelling up, when it gets stronger. It doesn't gradually grow, really. It just collects power more and more until it kind of clicks into a state where the spells that it can cast are a little stronger, or you can use it more often in battle. Things like that. Sometimes, the spells that it can cast turn into an even stronger version of the same thing. This Blizzard Materia is still pretty low-level. Blizzard is where it all begins. It'll grow into a stronger Blizzard spell, and maybe eventually it'll turn into a Blizzara, which is more powerful still, or a Blizzaga, which is kinda... crazy strong. The strongest that this particular Materia can grow to."

"Your people can make these?" Karla asked. "Cooool." They were so pretty, almost like Jewels. "Can you specially engineer the ones created as a by-product to be the ones you want, or is it some kind of esoteric process that leaves you with a random kind of Materia at the end?"

Zack gave his shoulders a shrug, at that.

"I have no idea," he laughed. "Sometimes, you can find these things called mako stones, just sitting around. I think they're sort of like the beginnings of a Materia. Crystallized mako just waiting to be finished off, you know? But even those have a direction already kind of started for them, so the process is kind of... I don't know. Some kind of technological touchups that turn it into what it's supposed to be in the end."

Zack figured that if he used big words, it would sound as though he knew what he was talking about anyway.

"I don't think we have any control over what it becomes. I think whatever it is that's in the mako makes that decision for us. Wanna hold it?"

Francine was a little stuffed from lunch - she needed to figure out the difference between 'enough for everybody (in rooms 325 and 505)' and 'enough for everybody (in Maryland)' - but that wasn't going to stop her from thoughtfully gnawing on Twizzlers and feeling dorkily proud of the fact that she'd actually fought something by herself, even if it was just vegetables.

The flaw in Zack's plan was that Karla had no compunctions about asking questions when she didn't understand something. The brilliance of his plan came in with the offer to hold it; whatever questions had been half-formed in her mind went flying out one ear when he offered to let her hold the Materia.

Well-played, sir. Well-played.

"Please!" she said, holding her hands out to cup the proferred Materia. "How do you make it work?" she asked, marvelling over it. "I mean, I know you said it has to be equipped, but then, do you just think 'Blizzard!' and it happens or do you have to meditate for a moment? Well, that doesn't sound very safe, but maybe you're trained for it..."

Karla tended to babble a little when she got excited about things.

She didn't have anything magic to say about it, but, "Beating the heck out of them with an umbrella worked just fine."

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Magic Reserves, Wednesday Afternoon, Preserve Near The Cabins

Arrive/Mingle

Zack!

Discuss

Talk To The Leaders

OOC

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