Synthesis & You ♗ si vis pacem, para bellum

[likethelight]

Who: Everyone! General mingle
When: 8/16, when everyone's been called back to Gammon
Where: Gammon, Southwest Cloister
What: With determination to succeed this time high, Heroes have organized a demonstration of armor/accessory synthesis and everyone has been encouraged to learn how to and consider arming themselves to the best of their abilities for the upcoming battle.
Rating: Doubtful to be anything past PG-13

The Southwest Cloister, crowning jewel of Gammon's Blackchurch district. The high archways that line the sun-warmed courtyard provide a welcoming shade that feels cool and smells old and of masonry and dew, reminiscent of things simple and old as stone. A feeling of monastic solitude.

A place one will find anything but solitude as today a large part of it, sectioned off from the usual bustle of tourism by helpful residents and caretakers eager to help the visiting Blanc Heroes prepare, is filling with the uniformed visitors. Or at least the Heroes will have been encouraged to wear their uniforms, or at least the badges bearing their ranks in order to facilitate finding appropriate partners, and to have brought everything they might have recovered from their various missions, no matter how slight or unimportant it might have seemed. Perhaps a Bishop could discern its true use after all.

Perhaps you were dragged here by one of the enthusiastic other Heroes spreading word or saw one of the flyers posted in the The Other Side Inn. Maybe you just followed the crowd. Either way, you're here now and being ushered to either observe as Rin and Saber prepare to demonstrate for the newcomers, perhaps joined by others about to attempt the process themselves. Have the badge of a Bishop? Oh! Might you have the skills of a Scholar then? Don't worry, you're going to be asked to help assist in analyzing some of the more questionable magical components...

A sign has been posted on one of the pillars as well. Anyone who has decided they want to craft an item is encouraged to write there about the rank partner they're seeking, and likewise any Hero wishing to volunteer their assistance with their specializations is encouraged to write them with their name there.

Even the newly arrived Pawns will have been encouraged to attend and learn more—or perhaps to barter with a fellow Hero who can't figure out what to do with that enchanted scale. And who knows, perhaps someone—a friend or good Samaritan—out of the goodness of their heart...

[ OOC: Everyone is welcome! Get in here and have fun, make new friends, etc.
Also, please indicate your rank in your subject header as well when you're posting!
For example: Allen Walker ♖ Rook (Amplify/Vacuum)
CR meme is incoming as well to help with plotting. ]

Comments

[long_live_the_queen]

[Something to save for later, perhaps!]

Sometimes. When my axe lights itself on fire the whole thing heats up.

[And she's too stubborn to drop it.]

[fuhrinkaed]

We need to make two sets of gloves, then.

[Immediately and with determination, because he wouldn't drop the axe himself, so.]

You shouldn't have to burn yourself to fight.

[long_live_the_queen]

I'll be fine.

[Kaede closed her hand and, she thought, the argument.]

[fuhrinkaed]

It's not fine. [Nyu didn't like herself much... so...]

...You shouldn't have to hurt. Not to protect people who are important to you.

[long_live_the_queen]

[She snorts, a dry and humorless sound.]

That's funny.

[Kaede broke eye contact with Ed, studying the staff instead. She switched the thing to her other hand, even; see, she was fine!

...in various states of being emotionally stunted or essentially dying inside, but she was fine! Everything was fine!]

[fuhrinkaed]

It wasn't a joke.

W-we should make gloves for you, too. We'd just need some other material we could use.

[long_live_the_queen]

That wasn't either.

[A part of her was...touched, really, that she wasn't forgotten. It was a very small part, easily missed in her mind amidst the avalanche of stubbornness and self-depreciation and anger and guilt.]

You're just wasting your energy.

[fuhrinkaed]

Helping people is never a waste. Especially if it's my friend I'm helping, like you.

You've got to have something fire-related, right? I'm sure you do. We'll make two sets of gloves.

[long_live_the_queen]

Stop it, Ed.

[Kaede shifts backwards, grasp curling tighter around the staff like it was an obstacle between them.]

I'll help you with this. Just...

["Don't bother about me."]

[fuhrinkaed]

[He offers her his hand, smiling as brightly as ever.]

I appreciate having your help...

But you're hurting. It's not me to just stand by and let you hurt. I want to help you, too.

[He's one of those stupidly determined people, Kaede--either she's accepting or he's going to find a way to sneakily shove a pair of fire-resistance gloves under her door someday. The passive aggressive li'l butt.]

[long_live_the_queen]

Stop it!

[Kaede snaps into motion, shoving the staff broadside against Ed's chest. She grabs his hand at the same time, mana signature almost painfully warm like a crackling and overfed fire. She was fine. Just fine!

...maybe shoving those gloves under her door would be a better idea.]

[fuhrinkaed]

[He finally relents, as she takes his hand and feels her mana. She's... really riled up about all of this, probably for the best that he doesn't push her any farther.]

[So, he focuses on mingling his somewhat chilly cotton-candy mana against her flames, letting them intermingle and temper together.]

Well... if you insist.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Calm down, calm down, Kaede was...not calm at all. The cooling mana that wasn't her own helped a little bit; mostly by pulling out the unused mana lurking in the embers before it could clog the fire further with useless ashes. It was like easing away a bruise she hadn't noticed before, or cleaning away the inner workings of a furnace so they metal shone brightly again.

At least she wasn't shouting anymore. Or shoving the staff against his chest.]

Aren't you forgetting something?

[fuhrinkaed]

Forgetting--oh! The gloves! And the sunflower!

I need both of those things! [He looks left, then right, then takes hold of the staff and gives her a firm nod.]

I'll... I'll go get them and be right back, and we can try this synthesis thing out right away! Okay? D-don't go anywhere--!

[long_live_the_queen]

[She lets go of him and the weapon readily enough, ending the brief exchange.]

You'd find me if I did.

[Kaede does move—but only to lean back against the wall again.]

[fuhrinkaed]

I--yeah, okay, probably yes. I would. [He scratches the back of his neck, running off into town.]

[It doesn't take him too long to come back with a pair of brown leather gloves, and a sunflower as well. Like, probably 10 minutes or so? (The nearest gardening shop was a bit of a run okay.)]

Hey! I'm back! Did you miss me?

[long_live_the_queen]

[True to her word, Kaede was still in the exact same spot that she was in before, staring off through one of the vaulting windows until she heard footsteps.]

...not really?

[Kaede, please.

She does straighten of her own accord, rolling the sleeve on her left hand back without prompting. And she's calmed down some. Small...victories?]

[fuhrinkaed]

Ahh... well. [As unflappable as ever, Ed holds up all three of the items in one hand, and holds his other hand out to her.]

So now we just.. hold hands and focus on making an item that defends against fire and raises the power of fire. Between us both, we should be able to do it--right?

[long_live_the_queen]

It's a bit late for second thoughts, you know.

[She grabs onto his hand without hesitation or reluctance this time. Kaede's mana is still on the uncomfortable side of warm and full of prickles, but the temperature's been turned down a notch or two.

Kaede wasn't sure what to expect next. Just thinking fire would help, wouldn't it? That was almost second nature to her now, like her own power had been in life. She willed it, and most of the time it answered.

Would it be the gloves that changed? What would the staff look like? There was already a red-orange glow of a pattern being etched onto it, the same color as Kaede's mana.]

[fuhrinkaed]

[Ed's own mana is shifting in there as well, etching a pattern of intricate petals on the palms of the gloves.]

[The sunflower is beginning to wilt in the heat.]

Don't be silly... you know I don't really do second thoughts.

[long_live_the_queen]

Or first ones?

[Talking was getting a bit more difficult now; changing something's mana signature was harder than she thought, demanding much more energy. There was something that wasn't herself and wasn't Ed in the staff; something flashy and attention-getting, a low-key performance that never ended.

The fiery etching finished—and the staff began to...melt. Less like liquid metal and more like water or candle wax, flowing neatly into the gloves. Wherever it touched, it changed the gloves' color to match the mahogany of the staff. Sparks flickered off of the newly-etched design, disappearing into the fabric until it was warm to the touch, but not painfully so.

Kaede was still slightly concerned about the melting.]

...is it supposed to do that?

[fuhrinkaed]

S-something like that.

[He does a lot of first thoughts. The number of them that he does is why he generally avoids second thoughts--he's super indecisive and has them all upfront. Not that he wants to admit to that.]

[The melting wood and the magical nature of the synthesis has Ed on edge as he watches it all, until the sunflower patterns sink into the gloves' material, etching patterns on the backs of them. He can feel the changes as they happen, super excited by it all--This is So cool.]

I-I think so. We'd have to test them--you know fire magic, right?

[long_live_the_queen]

[The stone at the end of the staff is the last to melt; it flowed like metal around the sunflower's petals on both gloves, highlighting each with a final crystalline finish. Ed didn't seem too worried and was notably Not On Fire, so the gloves didn't seem to be heating up too much. She didn't let go yet, in case the process wasn't finished yet.

...the gloves did look pretty, though.

At Ed's question, Kaede snorted—and a small puff of flame curled away from her face.]

Gee, I don't know.

[Grumpy dragon is grumpy.]

[fuhrinkaed]

Well...

[He looks at the cool gloves. They totally feel 100% like PURE MAGIC. It's cool and exciting and Ed is super happy about the result--looking over one of the gloves with a sense of wonder.]

I don't have fire magic. Want to try it out?

[long_live_the_queen]

Give me one of those.

[All the remnants of the staff had faded, along with the mana drain. It was probably safe to let go of Ed's hand now.

Kaede's left hand was still extended, almost expectant. She had skipped over the "yes" and "please" already.]