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Post by Cypress Springleap on Feb 13, 2024 18:32:21 GMT -5
“ What did I do!?” Cypress chirps back, eyes wide while she watches the arcane sparks flutter to the ground from the remnants of her mirror image; she looks up at Astrid, still baffled, but reaches up when Astrid extends a hand. She does not expect to get lifted so easily, and nearly goes whooshing past Astrid. “ Wha—!” She staggers when her hooves touch the ground, and she ends up clasping Astrid’s hands with both of hers to steady herself. “ Golly, you’re strong! I mean, I knew that already when you knocked that guy’s thoughts right outta his head, but…” she trails off, finally releasing Astrid’s hand when she can stand properly. She starts to brush the back of her skirt off, but glances at Astrid with a blink.
“A… replicant?” She repeats, ears wiggling while she considers it. When Astrid praises her, she smiles subtly; but her expression falls quickly when she considers what happened. “Well... I don’t know if it's really a good job, I don’t even know how I did it. That one’s never happened before, usually it’s… plants, and sometimes fire...” She rubs the back of her neck sheepishly, “I don’t know if I could do it again if I tried to like you could.”
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Feb 14, 2024 14:46:57 GMT -5
Astrid remembers very well the first time she manifested a Replicant. It startled her then, and it was a weird thing to get used to, and that was when she tried to do it on purpose. Cypress doing it on accident has got to be somewhat off-putting. She laughs as she pulls the other girl to her feet. “Aye, I’m stong. Gotta be if yer adventurin’, an’ especially if yer gonna knock the lights outta someone!”
“Don’t matter if ya meant ta do it or even if ya know how ya did,” Astrid says with reassuring confidence. “Point is ya managed ta do somethin’ on purpose, an’ that’s the whole reason we’re practicin’! Now ya know what that feels like so ya can focus on it fer the next try!” Obviously holding her strength back, Astrid pats Cypress on the back. “Try it again. Just look fer that feelin’ now that ya know what it is an’ tug on it with purpose! We’ll get ya used ta it in no time, an’ if it takes a few days, that’s alright. I’m sure me da would prefer if I stay home doin’ this than goin’ out an’ fightin’ monsters.”
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Post by Cypress Springleap on Feb 15, 2024 13:57:50 GMT -5
“ I guess so.” She agrees with a chuckle; but Astrid continues even when she objects. Cypress tilts her head and furrows her brows before opening her mouth to object — but, then she doesn’t. Maybe it’s the confidence in Astrid’s voice while she says it. It doesn’t matter if she knows how or if she meant to do it? To her, that was originally the whole point of this, wasn’t it? Learning to control her magic? She’s very much not in control of her magic, that much is clear: she just caused something to happen that’s never happened before, and that seems more like a cause for concern! Yet, having someone praising, confident, and positive around dampens her negative outlook; she’s still not convinced in her entirety that it does deserve praise, but she guesses… the fact that she tried to make something happen, and something did happen, is some kind of positive. She nods, a sheepish but uncertain smile on her face when Astrid pats her back. “ I’ll try.” She agrees, taking a breath while she waits for Astrid to step somewhere safe— just in case— before she tries again. She takes a big breath and closes her eyes; but does she really have to do this every time? Is this how magic is done? Because it seems like it takes a pretty long time to get to where you want to go; but she tries not to be too pessimistic— or too optimistic, for that matter. Whatever, where was she? Oh right. Being an orphan and how much that sucks. Urgh. She sighs before dragging herself down a similar rabbit hole of thought, hands clasped together against her lap and brows furrowed in concentration while she tries to take a similar route: but she doesn’t feel anything happen by the time her mind gets her to where she was before.
She peeks open an eye, but she hasn’t actually accomplished anything like last time; and she feels her heart sink. She frowns, opening both eyes. "Um... I don't think it's working." she admits, already feeling downcast from taking herself down an admittedly depressing train of thought.
People always tend to leave in the blink of an eye— making that split decision that you’re not worth their time, or that they’ve already given you too much at some point. It makes meeting people afterwards harder because you’re always waiting for them to vanish; and for a moment, Cypress avoids looking at Astrid when she admits it's not working, because she’s wondering how long she’ll be trying to do this without any results before Astrid decides to give up on her, too. Someone else who’s gone again in the blink of an— —Cypress proceeds to vanish; a chill washes over her and electricity zips down her spine; she feels the world disappear— and then it’s back, and she’s staggering on her hooves after failing to catch herself before flopping forwards, a short ways behind Buttfellow and their protective wards. (1.)
1. Blink
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Feb 15, 2024 16:30:30 GMT -5
It’s a long few minutes of silence, yet Astrid does not pull her eyes away from watching Cypress intently while she focuses on conjuring up some magic again. Astrid knows well how hard it is to do the first few times especially, and with how unpredictable the satyr’s magic can be, she knows it might be especially challenging to do the same magic twice. It isn’t like when Astrid was specifically learning to conjure lightning magic, which she could feel dancing in the ends of her fingertips. No, space magic is a lot more challenging, yet Cypress has cast one of the harder spells already! She knows that Cypress can manage anything.
“Well, it ain’t gonna be easy!” she says. “But I know ya can do it!”
And sure enough, she does! Cypress disappears from in front of Astrid and Buttfellow, and Astrid quickly looks around only to hear her collapse behind them. While Buttfellow looks over his shoulder with a deadpan expression at the satyr on the ground, Astrid whips around and rushes over to Cypress. “Ya did it!” she cries, reaching down and pulling Cypress up with ease. By the time Cypress is on her feet, Astrid has thrown her arms around her and lifts her up a few inches, spinning around with an excited laugh before setting her back on her feet with a wide grin plastered across her face.
“That spell’s hard too! But since ya can cast it, I got a way that might help ya practice it!” With that, Astrid waves her hand and summons forth a dark cloak made of almost black fur with a purple sheen in the light.[1,2] She throws it around Cypress’ shoulders. “Now, this one will do the magic fer ya. Same magic ya just did. Just make sure yer facin’ that way so ya don’t go fallin’ off the cliff. But don’t worry if ya do, I’ll catch ya.”
1. Summon Possession 2. Displacer Cloak (casts blink)
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Post by Cypress Springleap on Feb 16, 2024 21:35:24 GMT -5
“Pbbth!” She spats at the earth, wiping her mouth with a sleeve and hoping that Astrid wasn’t privy to her absolutely eating dirt with that poor landing. Gods, what happened? It felt like she’d suddenly hit the brakes after a full sprint and just couldn’t stop herself in time before she clunked over a rock, but she definitely didn’t do any of that.
She blinks a few times, glancing upwards when Astrid casts a small shadow with her approach and proceeds to cry out gleefully. Cypress looks embarrassed. “But, I didn’t—” she objects as she clasps Astrid’s hand; she fully expects Astrid to lift her like she weighs nothing, just like she did last time— what she doesn’t expect is for Astrid to pick her up and spin her around.
“Huh!” It catches her by surprise; and although Cypress doesn’t necessarily think she’s done anything worth praising— she didn’t even get the same spell to work— she throws her arms around Astrid’s shoulders to keep her balance and bumbles into laughter, regardless.
She’s not immune to fun; the spin throws her objection to the curb.
She feels a little flustered by the time Astrid stops spinning her, and she reaches with her hooves to touch the ground, still giggling. She blinks her eyes open, tilting her head when Astrid waves her hand and summons something forth. Her smile softens, eyes widening slightly, “What’s that?” She asks, glancing at Astrid’s hands while she throws it around Cypress’ shoulders and clasps the cloak.
“It’ll do the magic?” She repeats, brows furrowed slightly; her shoulders tense when Astrid mentions the cliff. She reaches out to curl her fingers into the fabric of the cloak before nervously looking Astrid’s way.
She knows she’s being nice, but the idea of zipping off a cliff is not ideal. “Are… are you sure about this?” She murmurs, opening her arms to flare the cloak out a bit while she turns nervously away from the cliff. “How, um…. How do you use this, anyways?”
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Feb 17, 2024 0:20:52 GMT -5
Setting her hands on Cypress’ shoulders, Astrid gives her a firm nod. “Aye, a’ course I’m sure about it! Best way ta learn ta do anythin’ is by just doin’ it a bunch a’ times until ya get the hang of it, an’ the best place ta do that is some place ya’ll be safe while tryin’. Fer instance, I learned ta fly after throwin’ meself off a tower at me gramps’ villa in Zeinav. Up until that, I’d just been jumpin’ off a’ rocks into the water, but sometimes ya just gotta yank the safety net out ta get yer survival brain ta kick in.”
Given that they are beside a cliff and the goal is not to fall off of it, this advice is probably not the best advice for the situation.
“My point is, it’ll be fine,” Astrid says confidently. “Anyway, this cloak is made outta the skin a’ Displacer Beasts, which are big mean cats with teleportation magic, so when I got the cloak made, we pulled the magical elements outta it ta make it easier ta tap into. I s’pose it’s a bit tricky if ya’ve never used any magical items before… It’s like… ah… Maybe turnin’ on a lamp? Or a faucet if ya’ve ever been in the fancy places that have those. Ya just kinda tell the thing ta cast the magic an’ it does.” She helps turn Cypress away from the cliff, standing behind her with her hands on her shoulders.
“Now the way the spell works, it shouldn’t teleport ya anywhere ya can’t see, I think,” Astrid says. As she takes a step away, a war hammer made of ice and nearly as tall as her manifests in her hand.[1] “I’ll be ready, no matter where ya end up. Promise! An’ even if ya do fall or run into somethin’, it won’t hurt. That protective magic Buttfellow put on ya will keep ya from gettin’ hurt.”
1. Spellblade - Always There
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Post by Cypress Springleap on Feb 25, 2024 17:49:30 GMT -5
Cypress gazes back at Astrid with a worried expression; the girl sets her hands on her shoulders; and the nod that she gives her is assuring if nothing else. Cypress wrings her hands together anxiously, a small but uncertain smile quirking the corners of her lips upwards while she listens to Astrid’s tale of— of throwing herself off of her grandfather’s villa!? Oh gods. Cypress blinks in surprise, grimacing slightly. “I… guess so… Mama birds kick their babies out of the nest so they learn to fly, right?” She turns her eyes away from Astrid briefly.
No one ever talks about the babies that still can’t fly in the face of danger, though.
Oh boy.
Nervous blue eyes flick back to Astrid from the ground when she assures her it’ll be fine. She nods, even though she’s not so sure, but… so far, Astrid’s kept her word about not letting her get hurt, so… does she have any reason to doubt her yet? It’s fine, right? She can do this. Oh boy, she can totally do this. She listens attentively to her while she explains the cloak. “Like… turning on a lamp…” She repeats, processing that information.
Cypress moves willingly, letting Astrid turn her away from the cliffside.
“Er… right!” She agrees, curling her fingertips into the fabric of the cloak. She glances over her shoulder at Astrid, eyes widening slightly when her war hammer manifests because— what? Has she always had that, and also, why does she need it right now exactly? She’s not going to bap her like a mama bird kicking her out of a nest, right?
She’s starting to panic; relax, Cypress, relax…
She twitches her ears, nodding at Astrid, before turning to look towards Buttfellow— away from the cliff.
It’s like turning on a lamp, right?
Cypress waits, trying to summon up a simple command to the cloak of just: blink. Go. Teleport.
….
Uh, zoom?
She continues standing there, motionless, waiting for the cloak to cooperate with her— or to think the right trigger words for the cloak to decide it’s time to blink with her— and it just doesn’t. She frowns, and stops trying to figure out a magical word to make it go; maybe she’s trying too hard? She takes a breath, focusing on a spot in front of her for a few passing heartbeats, until—
—the world disappears around her.
There’s a strange sensation when the cloak finally triggers; it’s as if she’s falling and being pulled back at the same time; but the falling sensation ultimately wins, and Cypress tumbles into the grass near Buttfellow with a grunt upon impact.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Feb 25, 2024 20:50:17 GMT -5
“Exactly!” Astrid says with a laugh, patting Cypress’ back before making sure she’s not facing the cliff. The worst-case scenario is she either teleports into the air or off the cliff or onto the roof. Those are all solvable problems, and Astrid has a potion to heal her if she manages to biff it and consume the protective aura around her that should prevent any injuries at first anyway. Not that she thinks Cypress will get hurt, but precautions aren’t unwelcome usually.
In the following silence, Astrid watches intently, ready to make a move at a half-second’s notice. Her fingers drum against the haft of her hammer, magic buzzing lightly with each tap. Using magic items for the first time is always tricky in the same way that using magic is tricky. It takes a lot of practice to figure things out, but once you get the hang of them, it becomes a lot easier. Heck, they can spend all afternoon just practicing with the cloak or until Cypress has had enough.
Finally, the silence breaks with a little voop followed by a soft thud as Cypress hits the ground in the grass a little ways away. Buttfellow looks down at the newly manifested satyr at his feet, the behemoth of a metal man just staring blankly at her with glowing red eyes. With a surprising amount of caution, Buttfellow leans down and gently pats Cypress on the head, though his hand is large enough to squash her like a grape if he weren’t careful.
“Hey, ya did it!” Astrid says, leaning on her hammer with a more relaxed pose. “Good job!”
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Post by Cypress Springleap on Apr 6, 2024 9:24:10 GMT -5
A shadow falls over Cypress while she’s in a state of dizzying befuddlement that temporarily snaps her out of a daze; she winces slightly, covering her face as if to brace herself- but Buttfellow is alarmingly gentle with the way that he pats her head. After the second pat he gives her, Cypress unwinds her arms from over her face and glances up quizzically at him. Her ears turn back and she closes her eyes tightly while she receives one last pat from the behemoth construct. “Thanks…?” she whispers at him, confused (but appreciative) by the show of support.
Her ears perk when she hears Astrid celebrate her teleportation. Cypress’ knees kind of hurt from all her tumbling. She rolls onto her back with an exasperated sigh before pulling herself into a sitting position, ears tilted towards Astrid with a sheepish smile. “It wasn’t so bad!” she tries to be optimistic while she gets to her hooves and brushes the grass and dirt off her skirts. “It didn’t really work right away, though…” She pauses while she’s brushing the debris off and thinks about it.
She tried really hard to get it to work on a whim, but it wasn’t until she gave up that it actually functioned the way Astrid said it would. “It… kind of felt like it only worked when I stopped trying to get it to work?” A small flicker of Arcana sparks off her fingertips without her notice when she brushes against the Displacer Cloak; and the tiny spark ripples across the cape without her notice.
When she lifts her head to glance back in Astrid’s direction, she feels suddenly light on her hooves; and for the briefest moment, Cypress wonders if she’s overdone herself; if the dizzying feeling is because she’s used too much mana in their training session, despite barely using any at all.
Except, it’s definitely not that; this is familiar, and it’s…
The world blurs, and the feeling of solid ground disappears from under her hooves, and never reappears; from behind Astrid, a startled shriek echoes from off the side of the cliff.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Apr 7, 2024 21:50:15 GMT -5
“Magic’s pretty weird like that sometimes,” Astrid admits while scribbling some notes down regarding Cypress’ feedback. “It ain’t all just forcin’ it out like… I dunno, an uncomfortable poop.” There was a better way to put that, but it’s too late. It left her mouth. “It’s more of a… Oh! It’s more like fightin’ a sneeze! It’s better just ta let it happ–”
Before the adjusted metaphor finishes making its way out of her mouth, Astrid realizes that Cypress is no longer standing on the hillside in front of her. She starts to look around for the missing satyr to congratulate her on getting the hang of it when the shriek tells her all she needs to know. Her notebook hasn’t even hit the ground by the time Astrid has dashed forward[1] and thrown herself off the cliff.
Her eyes lock on Cypress like a hunting bird of prey, and she quickly aims the head of her hammer down toward the other girl. It trails with purple magic and then fires off through the air to wrap around Cypress as a gentle caress that takes hold of her and slows her descent.[2] Regardless of the time that might buy Astrid, the half-dwarf has no idea if the magic will take, so she quickly turns her hammer on herself to do the opposite, giving herself a burst of speed.[3] Astrid’s wings[4] flare out then blast her forward through the air. They work hard to get her under Cypress, and then she turns upwards and catches the screaming satyr in her arms.
“I got ya!” she says, the pure focus fading from her face in favor of a friendly smile. “I got ya. I do. Don’t worry. I promised I weren’t gonna let nothin’ happen ta ya.”
1. Bullet Dash 2. Slow 3. Quicken 4. Bat Wings [post 1/3]
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