driftfleet | (no subject)

[It's one thing to be aware of your nature and fate, and be aware of the fact that you're inevitably going to fall for someone, and probably sooner rather than later.

It's quite another for that person to do something touching, and make you incredibly aware of just how screwed you are.

With a touching gesture like that, it takes Tamamo a moment to regain her composure, trying to fight back the blush creeping along her cheeks. It's... not actually terribly successful, especially with Hermione holding her hands like that, and she seems frozen in place.]

Eh? Ah, no, but- I mean- That is-

[... she seems to have shorted out for a moment, really.]

I- It is the same for me! If there's any way I can make you happy, I swear upon my name that I will do it, and... Um, I'll do my best to be a good wife- ah, no, Servant- Partner? I mean-!

[She finally just ends up so flustered, there's that cloud of golden sparkles, and Caster ends up returning to her spiritual form to hide. It turns out, she's the type who gets weak when the other party makes a move, too. Who knew?]

[ Hermione doesn't intend for her words to have the effect they do, of course; she's just being honest and speaking from her heart, in the same way she's always done before now. It's not exactly easy, but she's learned that sometimes it's the best option and she has to do it.

Caster's reaction makes her eyes widen, though, her own cheeks going a flushed pink before she manages to speak, her voice a little higher than usual. ]

Then we'll be good together, right? There's nothing to worry about - Caster!

[ Hermione glances around, a little nervous, before she huffs a noise and crosses her arms, trying to fight her smile.

At least she knows they're going to be okay together, as a pair. ]

[Caster's voice, still panicked and squeaky, comes from the air nearby. It seems she still doesn't want to take a material form just yet.]

A- Absolutely right! Please don't worry about me, Master! Anyway, the- there's still other things you need to know, right? As a Master, things like combat capabilities and Noble Phantasms and things like that-! Or, ah, the library! There's interesting things in the library!

[She's trying so hard to immediately change the subject and it's going so badly.]

I'm not too worried, don't - don't concern yourself with that. I just want to make sure we're happy with each other.

[ Hermione still feels a little awkward about the lack of material form, but she doesn't let it bother her. She just nods her head, trying to smile as best she can. ]

Okay, um, how about we start with the Noble Phantasm? And then - then we can talk about what combat abilities we might need to use to work together, and I can tell you all about mine.

Ah, right!

[She reappears, having mostly regained her composure. (There's still a slight tint to her cheeks, but if she doesn't think about it, it's not happening, right?)

As she appears, though, she's holding up a... large round mirror, a couple feet long.]

This is my Noble Phantasm and primary weapon. There's no risk about it giving away my identity, though, it's just a sturdy mirror in the style of the time when I lived.

[... yeah, her primary weapon is a mirror. She swings it around a couple times to demonstrate.]

Well... I suppose, to start, how much do you know about Japanese legends, Hermione?

[ Hermione relaxes a little as soon as Caster comes back to her, and she softens, nodding her head.

The mirror is impressive and it reminds her, a little, of the one she had used to hide the Sigil in the Drabwurld; that had taken so much of her strength, however, and her blood, and she hopes that her Servant's mirror isn't the same. ]

That's good - I know your identity is important to you. It's very beautiful, though.

[ Hermione has no comments on the weapon itself - she's seen worse things used as weaponry before, why would a mirror be terrible when magic is at play? ]

I don't know very much, so you might have to guide me through a lot of this.

Well, then... It might be meaningless if I say that this mirror later went on to become the Yata no Kagami... Well, to be brief, it is a sacred instrument that belonged to the gods.

Its true name is the Eightfold Blessings of Amaterasu on the Weight Stone Under the Sunlit Watery Heavens... But that's kind of a mouthful, so 'Eightfold Blessings of Amaterasu' is good enough! Originally, it was a sacred artifact from the land of the dead, and when I used it, I could retrieve souls from the afterlife or the cycle of Samsara to resurrect the dead, it was an EX-rank super-Noble Phantasm that could banish an entire country to Yomi without a care! But, as a Servant, I can't use that much power anymore, so please don't expect anything too great, okay?

Well, as a Servant, mostly it's just a support-type. Upon releasing the True Name for it, it can do a little bit of healing if I have allies, but more importantly, it lets me cast magic for a while without expending any magical energy. Careful use of that property is how I lasted so long without vanishing here, you see! It doesn't have any real direct attack applications, but if it's used wisely, it has unparalleled support abilities. And, as an instrument owned by a god, it's definitely one-of-a-kind, and not even your King of Heroes would have something like it!

It may not be as flashy as some others, but in the end, it's still a blessing of energy from the sun itself, so isn't it still the coolest Noble Phantasm of all?

I... See.

[ It's a lot of information at once but, lucky, Hermione is the master of absorbing information quickly. She nods her head and listens, taking it all in before she breathes out a noise and tilts her head up to look at Tamamo again, softening a little. ]

That's actually incredible. To be able to use magic without it being exhausting is really, really useful - it's something I wish I'd had more of in the Drabwurld. There's only so many spells you can do in a short period of time before you wish you could have a bit of a break.

[ Whether or not that came from mental, magical or physical exhaustion depended on the time and place, of course. ]

It's incredibly cool, Tamamo. Thank you for sharing it with me.

[She's practically bouncing in place, giggling, her tail flicking back and forth from the praise.]

Of course, of course! It really is the coolest Noble Phantasm, so remember that your Servant is the best of all!

There is one other, but frankly, it's a boring normal attacking Noble Phantasm and not even worth talking about, so let's just move on. What about you?

[ Hermione is struck by how adorable the other woman is, softening for a moment before she huffs out a little laugh. ]

We can talk about that one later. Hopefully there won't be any need for us to use any kind of attacks, boring or otherwise.

[ But, um - ]

What about me?

[It's a good thing Tamamo can't actually read Hermione's thoughts, or she would literally never let her live that thought down.]

You're clearly a magus, and no stranger to combat on top of that, if I may judge from such a dramatic scar. When it comes to being a Master, from what I can tell, I'd place you on the same rank as that Tohsaka girl, or perhaps Rani. But there's still a lot of types of Masters. Honorable knights who support their Servant and fight fairly and justly, or children who simply use nothing but attacking Code Casts to disrupt their enemy. I've even heard of Masters who fight on the front line, and leave their Servant as the support instead.

So! I'd like to hear about what you can do as well! Do you have any special spells? A Mystic Code? Some kind of Formal Wear? Something extravagant like that?

[It's taking all her willpower to not slip something less innocent into that line of questions, really.]

Oh! Right, well. A lot of things are different here, but in the Drabwurld...

[ This might end up being a long story, and Hermione is still a little nervous about what she was in the Drabwurld compared to who she is here. ]

I was a Marchioness, leader of the White Citadel with four other people, and I lead soldiers and people with shards - magical parts of a Gem - into battle. When I was rallying the soldiers I had armour made of gold - it wasn't very protective, of course, but it was there to make a point. Otherwise it was thin metal and leather, so that I could move and use the rapier that the Atroma took away from me. I wasn't the best with my swords, but I did try.

[ She had been Marchioness for a year, a supporter and well known face in Treun for just as long and someone that was recognised across the Drabwurld; that's why assassins had been sent after her, why she had ended up on the front lines more than once, why she had dabbled in practically everything she could. All Hermione had ever wanted was to help people, after all. ]

My magic comes from my own world, where I went to school to learn about it. In the Drabwurld the King and Queen gave me boons that helped my magic grow, and I used my shard to help my powers and learn new things. I can turn into a lion, which is the only magical power the Atroma let me keep, but I used to be able to create magical bubbles that could levitate and heal people too.

[ Is there anything else...

She pauses, trying to think. ]

[She listens attentively, her fox ears periodically twitching.]

Well, that level of Item Construction is something you can leave to me!

But, that is quite something... You can use shapeshifting? For a human, that's quite a rare skill.

I can make things, I just need to have other things around to be able to do it first. Transfiguration was always one of my favourite classes.

[ Shaking her head, she offers a small smile. ]

I was given my lioness form as a gift, but other witches and wizards in my world can turn into animals as well if they have enough power and study long enough. It's called an Animagus.

Oh? It sounds like your world is quite interesting... Well, it's not like I was a magus when I was alive, so I don't know how much I'll understand, but could you tell me more about it?

My world? Of course.

[ Not many people really asked her about her home, England and Hogwarts and the magic, and so she was happy to explain. ]

I didn't find out I was a witch until I was eleven years old - neither of my parents had magic so I wasn't raised with it. I ended up going to a school called Hogwarts where I spent six years learning how to use magic, the incantations and wand movements and the theory and history behind magic and it's uses. I studied Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, Care for Magical Creatures, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies and Ancient Runes. I didn't do all of them for the six years I was actually at school, but I did most of them at least once.

[ She's babbling, but she misses her school, desperately. ]

Oh? It sounds like you've done a bit of everything, rather than specializing... A regular Renaissance woman!

How were you taught? Things like wands and incantations weren't used in my time at all, but is that a form of Mystic Code?

I'm not sure what a Mystic Code is, but we were taught how to move our wrists to use the spell and then taught the words that made it happen. Once we were older and a bit more proficient we were taught how to use spells without saying a single word.

[ As an example, Hermione draws her wand and, without saying anything, makes the tip light up in a gentle Lumos. ]

A Mystic Code is... well, any sort of item that a magus uses to augment their spellcasting. Anything from a staff to store extra prana to a weapon with spells pre-loaded into it...

Still, a general-purpose spellcasting device! It's kind of plain-looking, but it seems like it's pretty useful.

I suppose wands are a little like that, aren't they? The ones in my world are a bit more sentient, though; they have their own kind of magic, and they can choose their own partners. If a wand doesn't like you then your magic just isn't going to work properly.

[... okay, that gets her to stop, and then start laughing.]

The Mystic Code can deny its wielder magic? I've never heard of something like that! The magi of my world have too much pride to ever allow for a system like that.

[ Hermione shakes her head, fighting a smile. ]

Think of it as though it has a bit of a personality. If you and the wand have personalities that clash then you can't work well together, can you?

Well... Perhaps, but to solve that sort of clashing personality problem, and to force a tool to serve its purpose, is the reason why Command Spells were created. But there's nothing like that for your wand?

Not really, no. Besides, that's not what I would ever use Command Spells for. I never had to use any of Diarmuid's, and the one time I had use of one I... Well, I didn't use it for battle.

[ She might be pink now. ]

[Well, now she has the biggest grin.]

Oh? Ooooh? Tamamo's fine-tuned nose smells a story! Oh, my, what could it have been?