deercountry | The Building Blocks and other assorted tales!

There's the sound of nature being disturbed in the distance. Crunches of snow, twigs, and dead leaves. The rumble of a heavy weight thundering closer and closer. There is also a voice somewhere off, muffled at first but clearer the closer it gets.

"--back, you little shit!"

And suddenly there comes this large winged mountain lion covered in peacock feathers, bounding through the snow, something flailing and metal in its jaws as it runs by Luz, skidding around a tree before almost hopping along. It's only a minute or so later that Saeri shows up, body flickering as she skids in the snow. Her speed rune only works in short bursts, but it was enough to get her this close.

"It's not even cute, this is just being an asshole."

Whatever sound the mountain lion-bird-thing is making, it doesn't seem to agree with her.

Luz paused her spell because there is totally a new animal to ogle over and she's about to do so properly when Saeri follow suit and now she has to get out of both their way, which results in Luz skidding on the snow and falling flat on her face, her spell book firmly in hand.

"Wha-th-eck!" Luz groaned, trying to get up, slipping on some ice and falling again. She gets up, spitting out some dirt and sees who's pretty much run her over.

"Oh, Saeri! Is this your Omen?"

Sarona is surprised to see her, having been so focused on trying to catch up to her errant troublemaking whatever overgrown birdcat.

"Oh sh-oot, hey Luzi," she gets out, changing her language just a bit because she may swear like a sailor, but Luz is like twelve or something and she needs to be better about that when kids are around, right? "This is...I guess my omen. Except all he does is try to distract me from getting anything done ever."

And suddenly said animal's attention is entirely on Luz. He's bounding over in a rush, all but ramming into her with his head in a desire to nuzzle right into her. The cold metal of the item in his mouth rubs against her stomach as he keeps pressing into her. If she's not careful he might even knock her down. If she looks down she might even recognize exactly what that is, the fingers waving about as they try to pry that unmoving mouth open.

Yeah, Saeri would really like to get her arm out of the dumb cat's mouth.

"I heard that," Luz said teasingly, though she would have been a little outraged to know that Saeri thought she was twelve when she was more like fifteen! Darn these awkward teenage hormones not going into full swing yet (whatever that meant)! "What were you trying to do, and what exactly is in his mo-whoa!"

She definitely had to adjust her footing not to be knocked over (because that had been happening quite a lot the past few days, mostly due to how accident-prone Luz sometimes was. And now that she feels the object (Luz's midriff hoodie notwithstanding), she could see clearly what it was.

"H-hey wait! Can you detach your limbs?"

This WOULD have freaked Luz out had she not befriended Eda, the owl lady, who could take her whole head off if she so wished.

There's a pause, because she doesn't hide her arm but doesn't talk about it either. It's one of those things people notice and don't bring up again. It works for her. But she doesn't think Luz is the kind of person to make it weird either.

"Yeah, because it's not real." Saeri holds up her arm and it's very obvious one is not like the other. The left sleeve of her jacket is rolled up to the elbow, showing that she's missing her hand and two-thirds of her forearm. The fingers of the hand in the omen's mouth finally stop trying to fight it and fall open and limp.

"It's a prosthetic, but he's decided it's a chew toy today, because it thinks it's a dog or something."

The omen is still making that noise as it rubs itself against Luz. Pet him, pet him, pet him please...

Luz is definitely not the type of person who went out of her way to make it weird, especially not when she lived with someone who had a prosthetic and was one of the closest people to her in Trench.

"Huh. That's what I figured when I saw what he had in his mouth. Let me see if I can convince him to drop it."

And Luz proceeded to pet him vigorously and oo and aah over him, as this was what Luz had wanted to do in the first place. Once he was comfortable enough, he opened his mouth and Luz gently pulled the hand away and behind her back, so Saeri could get to it.

The omen all but collapses into her with all of the petting and affection, purring loud enough to resemble a car. Saeri snatches the arm and shakes it out before she moves the fingers around, testing to make sure they work properly before fitting it back on.

"Thanks," she says with a very, very exasperated sigh. "Now what are you doing out here?"

Luz was more than happy to lavish the Omen with affection, something she knew would likely land her in hot water with her own Omen, who was more canine and temperamental (it was in her name, after all). She was pretty happy Saeri got her arm though, that must have been annoying.

"No problem! It was probably the best distraction ever! I'm just experimenting with some of my glyphs, actually. Trying to get the hang of a few, trying to invent a little more than what I've been taught."

Saeri is just shaking her head at Simidele. It's like ever since she turned back into her normal self, instead of being the needy child he was following around and taking care of, he'd been demanding of her time constantly. Is this what it's like to have a pet? She's never had one before to know. He finally backs away from Luz with another nuzzle into her before bounding back over to Saeri to fast that he headbutts her in the leg with force, his wings flared. She winces a bit and rubs at his head just to get him to stop. He tucks his wings back in and flops onto the ground. Finally. Now she can focus.

"Inventing glyphs? Are you basing it on glyphs you already know or popping them entirely out of your head?"

Glyphs don't seem to be that different from runes, to her, just a different style of them, so she's automatically curious about them.

Luz laughed. It was always great to see how one omen and their partner interacted with each other. Some were like an extension of themselves and some were just so much more intense and unique all their own. Simidele was definitely of the latter type!

"Well, these glyphs are based on the ones I know on the isles, where I learned them, but I'm trying to see if I can come up with variations to accomplish other things. If I do that, I want to see if I can combine it with some of the other types of magic I've learned."

She was pretty sure she had the invisibility one down, and that would at least come in hand in a more dire situation where she had to use stealth.

He drives her crazy but somehow she's stuck with him and doesn't hate it. Fuck projections of your soul being Like This. Saeri does step over him so she can get closer to Luz. He intentionally flexes his wings, as if he's trying to trip her but thankfully she's tall and doesn't trip. After a look at him she turns back to Luz.

"Making your own is hard, but rewarding when you get it to work right. It's all about intent. What are you working on right now?"

She holds up a hand quickly.

"No pressure. Magic gets personal, I know."

Tempest by comparison was mild but also a spitfire when she wanted to be. Luz was happy enough that Tempest and Owlbert had no quarrels, but she knew that the same could not be said yet for the fathiers in the stable. In any case, she gazed at the omen a moment more before fixing her gaze to Saeri.

"No, not at all! I'm honestly trying to get back to practicing magic on a more consistent basis. Without a teacher to tether me, I'm only just getting back to experimenting more. Right now, I'm just trying to create a shield, to repel. I can only JUST do that, and it's nothing really defined yet."

Now they are on to the fun stuff. Saeri is way more interested in this topic. Considering her own efforts, and stalled research.

"Tell me about it. You don't realize how much they help, even when they make you do most of the learning by yourself. Now this shield? Do you want it to absorb and repel or just deflect? The first is harder to make, but boy does it pack a punch."

Oh, Luz was super glad about that, as she's still not sure how to go about this and could use the help.

"Ok, I WAS trying to start with just deflecting, but I didn't know you could have it absorb too! How much harder is it to do?"

Saeri nods, going into her pocket to pull out a pen and a chunk of paper already doodling on it.

"Basically what you do is absorb the energy of the attack, then send it right back at whoever said it with equal or greater power. Or you create a bonded spell with more than one rune--or glyphs--so you can collect then send it out when you're ready."

Luz was startled to see Saeri doing what she normally would for magic, and listened intently.

"In theory I get what you're saying, but how exactly would you absorb and send back that magic? I know you'd likely anchor up, but then, how do you know how much they're going to send at you so you can anticipate the attack?"

Saeri continues to work on the rune-script she's sketching as she talks, walking back and forth. Simidele is falling her with his eyes, tag slowly wagging, but does seem to be getting a bit more engaged in what they are doing, if only slightly.

"You have to decide how much you want to expel energy-wise. A shield is only as good as how strong you make it, so a stronger shield needs a stronger anchor. Or a bigger rune--glyph. You want to absorb more, you make more room to hold it."

Luz was keeping time with Saeri, already pulling out her book to write down the things she was saying. It was no accident that Luz was seeking guidance and advice from any witch she could in Trench, but it was particularly helpful that her friend seemed to use magic in the same way that she did.

"I think I get what you're saying! My trip is probably with coming up with the concept of a shield to begin with. But maybe if I could come up with a glyph that can act as the shield and then gather all my energy behind that, I can slowly work up to making it absorb and repel magis?"

"Glyphs don't seem that different from runes. They work because someone once made them mean something. Like how written words are words because we accept that they stand for something when written down."

She turns her notepad around to show her Luz some of the runes she's written down in different formations together, many of them the same ones that were on the stones she gifted Luz.

"They all have meaning because we put meaning into them. So you just have to put meaning into whatever glyph you want to me shield. Maybe think of symbols that are already related?"

"As far as I know, the glyphs are supposed to be IN the nature of the Isles themselves, but how that came to be and how other people found out about them I still don't know. That's the whole thing about going from one world to another: you find there's all these mysteries that you don't know yet."

She desperately wished she knew more about her glyphs, and obviously someone from her world here, but she knew that was not going to happen anytime soon. She did note the runes with interest though.

"I never thought of that. So you're saying that I could, in effect, make my own glyph? I never even considered doing something like that. Have you made up glyphs here?"

"Runes, but yeah. Did it for Ruby and Glitch by mixing ones that already exist to represent something and adding a bit more to them. Something to make it represent them, too. We call it giving it a bit of flare."

She then unbuttons the top three buttons on her shirt and vest. It's cold but thankfully not as bad as it was back in December. And she pulls the shirt aside a bit to show the tattoo on over her left breast.

"Kind of like this but theirs were more detailed. This is an old one I did years ago."

"Oh, wow, no way!"

Luz couldn't help but be utterly fascinated by this way of discerning magic. It had been some time since she actually had a teacher that had alternate ways of teaching, and this definitely was making her think about how she now wanted to approach her method.

Granted, when she unbuttoned her shirt and vest Luz blushed like a pilgrim, but once she saw the runes she couldn't help staring at it's application.

"WHOA! What does that one do?"

"It's a health rune. Keeps things running and boosts my immune system."

She doesn't specify what those "things" are, but the top of a scar going down between her breasts should be fairly noticeable with her shirt partially open. A surgical scar. After a moment she pulls her shirt back together and starts rebuttoning it.

"So if you want to make a new glyph, maybe you need to think about what old glyphs are related and try to build a new one off of it. Kind of like making a new word based on an old one."

"Oh. I get it."

Luz said this after noticing the scar. Now granted she didn't want to stare for obvious reasons, but a scar was something you couldn't avoid. She couldn't imagine what would happen if Saeri didn't the rune there, and really, why else would it be there?

"I've already started to do a little of that, actually, at least as far as the glyphs I know. I can make myself invisible, to start!"

She just needed to perfect it so she wouldn't have to rely so much on breathing.

Saeri's eyes widen just a bit when she says that and then lets out an impressed whistle.

"Invisibility, for real? Damn girl, you're doing better than you give yourself credit for. Did you do it as a straight glyph or use an anchor to control it?"

The Building Blocks and other assorted tales!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)