Murphy's Law Strikes Again

[ice_and_steel]

[On the Plains of Spite, there is plenty of room to pit yourself against whatever is chasing you down. Celes has been doing this for nearly an hour, sending herself on sprint drills followed by sets of push-ups as close to the lake as she can manage without (probably) having to draw her sword. She finishes a sprint and pauses to heal the ankle she just strained.]

[A shadow falls over her and she looks up warily, to see something alarmingly like a tentacle hovering over her.]

"Fuck."

[She draws her sword]

Comments

[ice_and_steel]

So it does.

I think that tends to happen to those who see war up close and personally.

[lifestudies]

Mmm, I have met some people who remain extremely irrational about these things. But mostly, I would believe that.

[ice_and_steel]

True. Though I think those people may have been irrational to begin with? Certainly the ones I knew...are not exactly models of stability.

[lifestudies]

That is true -- the ones I am thinking of are...new to me, but I suspect if their behavior had changed drastically in the recent past, I would have been told of this before my mission started.

[ice_and_steel]

[tilts her head]

Are you on your mission still?

[lifestudies]

My...most immediate mission has been accomplished, but I am still assigned to the same squad. I am expected to --

Ah, I...cannot speak of the details.

[ice_and_steel]

I understand. I have been on classified missions myself.

I am no bad hand in a fight; should you require an additional sword, you may have the use of mine.

[lifestudies]

Thank you. I expect to be able to handle myself, unless there are opponents considerably more dangerous than that one [nods at lake], but a competent teammate is always helpful.

Do you have any medical skills?

[ice_and_steel]

That depends on your definition. The magics I have learned include the ability to immediately heal moderate wounds, purge a body of poisons, and to accelerate someone's healing rate. They aren't traditional knife-and-suture skills, however.

Depending on your definition of "medical" some of my other spells may qualify.

[lifestudies]

Chakra healing is more useful in the field than civilian surgery in any case.

[mentally filing Celes under "practical and useful"]

By what definition would they fall under that heading?

[ice_and_steel]

I can cause people to fall asleep, though generally subsequent physical contact will cause them to awaken. But sleep is good for healing.

And I can find out someone's strengths and weaknesses, as well as current physical state. It's intended for use in combat but can be repurposed to make a diagnosis, I think.

[lifestudies]

Mmm, it sounds as though that sleep technique would be better used to allow you to tackle enemies in sequence instead of simultaneously.

[ice_and_steel]

In combat, yes. But it can also be good for someone who's otherwise uncontrollable but whom you don't wish to hurt.

I admit I've used it most often for taking on enemies in sequence, though.

[lifestudies]

--Being able to subdue someone without doing them harm is also a very useful skill sometimes. Is that something you could teach?

[ice_and_steel]

I don't think any of the Magicite came here with me. That's how I was taught--you probably don't have Magicite here. It's...the remains of powerful magical creatures. When they die they turn into crystals, and you can learn their skills from carrying the crystal for a long period of time. The other magics I know are part of the genetic engineering process, but I could try to explain. I just don't know how well it would work.

[lifestudies]

"Genetic engineering process" sounds somewhat like what we would call a bloodline limit, where I come from. A skill innate to some limited number of people that cannot be taught or absorbed by others?

[ice_and_steel]

Not exactly? I learn some skills more easily because I was bred to do it. But I think anyone could learn from Magicite. I'm just not sure how to teach it without magicite.