Just Keeping Swimming | March Planet Mingle

[thespaceopera]

Who: Everyone!
Broadcast: If you want!
Action: Anywhere on Mafik
When: The month of March



[Welcome to Mafik, the water world! Hope you brought your best swimming gear and don't have a paralyzing fear of water, because that's all that's here! So get out those wet suits and enjoy life under the sea!

In other words, it's a mingle! ]

> System Information

Comments

[halfbloodhatchling]

[ Kai snorts a little, and decides if he's telling anything more he's getting himself a drink first. He considers the bottle and glass, then leaves the bottle on the counter out in case Doudanuki wants some. He drinks down a swallow before he speaks again. ]

I was more experiment and resource than child. The human I wound up with rescued me from that.

[helmsplitter]

Hn, no wonder you hated 'em.

[He still resents some of his former masters in a small way. The ones who broke him for fun or the ones who melted him down the moment they needed some cash. But he was just an object to them, so why would they care, right?]

Still kinda extreme to go cuttin' your ear off though.

[halfbloodhatchling]

I was trying to make what I saw in the mirror match what I thought of myself. So other people would stop treating me like another damn cat bastard.

[ So his advice comes from a place of...partial understanding, at least. ]

[helmsplitter]

[Partial understanding...

And Doudanuki looks at Kai and sighs.]

Well think of it like that then. Everyone's been callin' me a human like they called you elfin, but I ain't one. I'm a sword.

[And it's annoying and important to him that people understand that he's not human because they treat him differently as a human. He's a tool and he wants to be used, not protected or kept away from danger.]

[halfbloodhatchling]

[ That is where the analogy doesn't work out, since Kai couldn't cut the tips off his ears, or keep iron from burning him. He's roughly as elfin as they come.

After a moment, though, he lets out a slow sigh.]

Then a sword you are.

[helmsplitter]

[He somehow thinks that Kai is only humoring him, but whatever, he'll take it.]

Good.

I wasn't really lookin' forward to cutting off my hand so you'd believe me.

[halfbloodhatchling]

Nemain.

[ Kai breathed it out slowly, the name serving the same general function as a muttered 'Christ'. ]

Yeah, look, don't do shit like that.

[helmsplitter]

Why? It's not like it won't come back.

[Probably. He hopes.

He figures it should because it isn't damage to his blade, right?]

[halfbloodhatchling]

I heal better and faster than any human, long as the wound isn't made with iron.

Doesn't mean I like pain. It's not worth putting yourself through that.

[helmsplitter]

Why iron? [Because that seems...oddly specific.]

It some kind of poison to you?

[halfbloodhatchling]

Yes. Iron scars, and it can kill side and unsidhe, depending on the duration and location of it.

[ Maybe Kai should try to keep it a secret, since it's a weakness, but it mostly doesn't occur to him that this isn't a thing people normally know. ]

[helmsplitter]

[Well shit... It's probably a good thing to keep iron away from him then. Doudanuki just caaaaasually slides his blade away since it's made from iron sand and steel. He isn't sure how much iron needs to be in a thing, but he doesn't want to hurt his crewmate.]

Damn, that's one hell of a weakness. Iron's...in a lot of stuff, ain't it?

[halfbloodhatchling]

[ As long as he doesn't stab Kai with the sword, Kai will be fine. ]

Elfin and human society haven't generally merged, so it's easier to be careful for most of them. For myself, I've developed a certain immunity from exposure. Touching iron doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't make contact with blood in my body.

[ Even then, it's a little complicated for Kai. ]

[helmsplitter]

[Then he's probably safe since he isn't usually in the habit of just...murdering his allies for funsies.]

Good to know. I won't go tryin' to stab you for no reason then.

[halfbloodhatchling]

Oh.

[ Kai’s lips twist, but while he’s listing weaknesses he might as well include the one that he’s been caught out on inadvertently before. ]

And if you can use magic, just…don’t, directly on me.

[helmsplitter]

....

[Doudanuki makes a face that is halfway between disbelief and incredulity.]

What about me makes you think I'm magic?

[halfbloodhatchling]

Nothing in particular, other than the fact that you're a sword.

[ That sounds magical. ]

I'm just being cautious, considering the risk of my reaction.

[helmsplitter]

[Eeeeeeeeh.]

Bein' a sword doesn't make me magic. It makes my Saniwa magic.

[He just...received the power? It's not like he can shoot fireballs, as cool as that would be.]

So what happens if you come into contact with magic though?

[halfbloodhatchling]

I understand.

Blood and pain, mostly.

[ Fun times! Or less so. ]

[helmsplitter]

Damn, so elves ain't so invulnerable as they seem, huh?

[Iron and magic both - what a shitty combo to have as weaknesses.]

[halfbloodhatchling]

Yes, well, that's not actually my fault.

[ Snappish. ]

Most elfin have magic themselves. I got iron particles embedded in old scars instead.

[helmsplitter]

Is that why magic hurts you? 'Cause you got iron stuck in you?

[halfbloodhatchling]

Precisely that.

[helmsplitter]

Well that's some shit.

[Seriously. That sounds super shitty.]

Can't you get it out?

[halfbloodhatchling]

[ It is indeed pretty shitty. ]

Most of it is out. What's left are much smaller particles that don't bother me on a general basis.