01

[gifted_witch]

Who: Lily Evans
Broadcast: Video/Fleetwide (she's still learning)
Action: Wandering the First Breath finding her feet.
When: After the shuffle

All right, that looks about...

Oh, hello. I think I've done this thing right.

[A youngish red head was looking around herself, the interior of the ship clear in the background. She's in some hallways somewhere.]

Well, this is a bit sad to say but, can anyone direct me to the labs? Sorry, I should introduce myself first. Lily Evans here, I guess I'm your new lab support personnel. Blimey if I know what all that entails but, I was always a fair hand at potions.

Right, well then if anyone could be so kind, pointing me in the right direction would be appreciated.

[And belatedly.]

Thanks.

Comments

[experiencepoints]

[awww. oh well, joke's over. still, she seems amused anyway.]

Well... Not really, no.

I had an old teammate called Swan. He was... kind of an asshole.

[gifted_witch]

Ohhh. Well then, some swans can be complete asses then.

[experiencepoints]

Apparently, he once tried to tell the rest of our team that girls shouldn't fight.

He told this to a woman who fought dinosaurs bare-handed for sport, a professional monster tamer, and some kind of attempted superhero.

[gifted_witch]

[Oh did he?]

I had a boy tell me witches were inferior to warlocks in fourth year.

I shrunk his pants three sizes and set his shoes on fire. Pity he wasn't wizard enough to unjinx himself.

[experiencepoints]

Only his shoes? You are a lot nicer than I am.

[gifted_witch]

I never had to do more, I think he learned.

[experiencepoints]

They learn faster if you can can chain-cast Sleep whenever they say something stupid.

[gifted_witch]

Chain cast sleep? I'm not familiar with that magic, what does it do?

[experiencepoints]

Oh, uh... Sleep is a basic status effect spell. Does exactly what it sounds like- Puts a target to sleep. They wake up when they take damage or when a random amount of time passes.

Chain casting is a particular method of casting, that's... very hard to pull off. You time your casting so that your cast ends and the spell goes off right as the effect of the last one wears off. So, you cast Sleep so it goes off right when they wake up from the last one, keeping them unable to act. But long-effect spells are a lot easier to chain cast than something like, say, fire or lightning.

[gifted_witch]

Ohh like an everlasting repeating charm! I've heard of that sort of magic but never tried it. We weren't allowed.

[experiencepoints]

You weren't allowed?

[gifted_witch]

No, there were things we had to be certain ages to learn and some that were deemed for adults only.

[experiencepoints]

But... All it is is a method of timing your spells. How is that- I mean, if you're capable of understanding how long each cast takes, you are able to- What the fuck?

[gifted_witch]

Variables, magic can be modified and interfered with and sometimes intention and sheer strength can have a lot to do with it. Magic is more individual in my world than others I think. So certain things are only trained when you've been deemed responsible enough to use them wisely.

[experiencepoints]

That's... definitely not how my magic works.

Can you tell me more about your magic?

[gifted_witch]

Well lots of different ways really. There is wand magic with gestures, wand magic with incantations, wandless magic, divination, arithmancy, potions, charms, hexs, jinxes, enchantments.

It depends on what the specialty is, magic takes many forms. I've even heard of capturing memories to store them and view them later.

[experiencepoints]

[She goes very still, before taking a shaky, deep breath at that last one.]

... I'm... quite familiar with that kind of memory magic, at least.

Can you tell me more about the others? I've heard those terms before in Rosella's memories, but I don't remember them all too well myself. She used wands and incantations too, though I prefer a staff for my own.

[gifted_witch]

Well there's a lot to cover. But let me get some of the basics out, witches and wizards where I am from have wands. In my area we all went to Olivander's shop for them, the man was a genius at picking the right wand for you. But really it's the wand that picks you, a sort of matching personality, strength and goals. It becomes almost an extension of yourself and your gifts. [She held up her own wand to show.]

Mine, for instance, is ten and three quarters inches long, made of willow wood and has a core of unicorn hair.* It's sort of pliable, soft but not weak and has an aptitude for charms. I've been described similarly. [She shrugged.]

Wands and gesturing with them can focus and direct a spells energy, it's like a control. That's why wandless magic is so much more advanced and dangerous. Without a focus it can do all sorts of damage.

Arithmancy is using numbers and statistics to predict how things will go, divination is using tarot cards, scrying balls or tea leaves or palm reading or phrenology to learn about a person or see their future.

[She was clearly a very avid student.]


(OOC: The core of Lily's wand is never mentioned, so that bit is headcanon but the rest is from the books)

[experiencepoints]

[It's a good thing Nightingale is equally nerdy, because she is eating this shit up.]

I see... It seems like my magic comes with a bit more of that built in. In the first place, my offensive magic can't be used without a target... That's why I'm not demonstrating right now. If you can make it to the Iskaulit, though, there's training dummies there I can show you how it works on.

Still, gestures and incantations, and the requirement of a wand... It sounds like your magic is slow, too. It sounds like it's a lot less suited for combat than mine, but in exchange, you get a lot of versatility... Does that sound accurate?

[gifted_witch]

I think that could be fair, though I have seen some wicked fast spells. I have never needed to duel but I have had to defend against pranks and practiced some defense against the dark arts.

I would really like to talk more about different magic! Maybe one day next week if you aren't too busy?

[experiencepoints]

If you've got any spells faster than my Lightning, I would be very interested.

I haven't gotten to talk shop properly with another mage in over a year, I can wait another week. You can just leave a message on my communicator whenever you want to meet up for it.

[gifted_witch]

I don't know, honestly. But it would be interesting to look into wouldn't it?

Wonderful! I say a week as I am still settling in here and want to know I haven't forgotten to do something I am supposed to or missed things,

[experiencepoints]

It would. I've been trying to study and compare all the different versions of magic we have here... I think, if there's going to be a chance to escape or fight back against the Atroma, it's likely to be in an exploit with magic. A way two systems that were never meant to interact might have a bug when they meet, for example.

Take your time. I don't really sleep much when I can avoid it, and there's not much else to do between planets. So whenever you're ready, just let me know.

[gifted_witch]

Brilliant! I'll send an owl, I mean I'll leave you a message next week then!

[experiencepoints]

... An... owl?

Uh, right. See you then.