PC: Ace

[rizomata]

Comments

Weekend 0, Sunday

[rizomata]

[the npcs have left so rita's back to her regularly-scheduled complaining!]

A hero competition? Ugh, this is all so stupid...

[selfimmolation]

[ he's looking annoyed compared to friday... ]

No kidding. How do you even compete in that stuff?

[rizomata]

Good question.

This better not just turn into some lame sports competition, or battle tournament.

[selfimmolation]

Well, they did mention something about fighting villains. So it's probably not sports.

[rizomata]

Did they? I don't suppose they bothered elaborating on that, like, at all?

[selfimmolation]

They were telling someone else, I just overheard, but it was something like... "generic hero stuff", whatever that means.

[rizomata]

I really don't like the sound of that... To start with, "hero stuff" doesn't suit me at all.

[selfimmolation]

You and me both. They've really got the wrong group for that.

[rizomata]

Seriously. I wonder how the heck they decided who to kidnap for this.

[selfimmolation]

Those guys said they didn't pick us and that they had no idea we were coming, but that last part's got to be an obvious lie. The first one... maybe the Mayor did?

[rizomata]

The Mayor of Oceanside? Hm... wonder if we'll be seeing his face once the city opens up. I'd sure like to know what the hell he knows about all this.

[selfimmolation]

Goat implied we'd be able to meet whoever it is, but didn't really give a timeframe on when.

[rizomata]

Figures.

[that they're stuck going by some unknown timeline. like with most things around here.]

... Anyway, what's your deal? You're a pirate or something?

[she's been reading the profiles.]

[selfimmolation]

Yep! You got it.

[ a shirtless pirate wearing a cowboy hat. ]

What about you?

[rizomata]

[hm. is it really okay to just say "yep" to being a career criminal? why are pirates like this, actually.]

I'm a mage. I research all kinds of magic.

[selfimmolation]

[ it's not but he truly does not care. ]

Woah. Magic? [ he genuinely looks. impressed ] How do you research that?

[rizomata]

Lots of ways. My specialty was blastia, devices that can be used to generate the effects of magic. I learned how they're built, how they process energy, and how to input specific instructions to make them work the way we need them to.

[selfimmolation]

So ... usually people can use magic, but the device would do the same? Did I get that right?

[rizomata]

Not exactly. Humans can't use magic naturally, but if you wear a blastia on the body, you can cast spells.

[She gestures to the red-jeweled choker on her neck.]

But these are pretty hard to use, so we have other blastia that work as standalone devices, for cooking, heating, producing clean water, or protecting against monsters.

[There's a change in her demeanor as she talks about them -- lighter, happier, than her usual attitude.]

[selfimmolation]

Oh, so it's kind of a power source. Something that you can use for a fight and for house stuff sounds way useful! [ he does think it's interesting even if he doesn't entirely Get It, but he is also interested in making her talk about it just because she is so passionate too... ] So if humans can't cast spells naturally, does that mean there's some species that can?

[ <= way too used to there being things other than humans around ]

[rizomata]

[She looks a little impressed. That's a good question. People don't usually listen to her blastia ramblings closely enough to ask good questions.]

... As a matter of fact, there are a few. Elemental spirits are made up of magical energy, so they can command it as easily as we can walk and breathe. And Entelexia have organs that allow them to process energy similar to how blastia do, so they can command magic without the use of tools, too.

[selfimmolation]

[ ace might not be smart but he enjoys listening to people and their enthusiasm ... ]

Is that how you guys came up with the blastias? Basing it off how the organs work?

[rizomata]

That's an interesting thought. To be honest, we don't know the exact origins of blastia, or the theories that led to their creation.

They were originally made by an ancient civilization, and we've been excavating them and largely basing our studies on what they left behind.

[selfimmolation]

Huh. I wonder why people stopped using them if they were so useful?

[rizomata]

... Well.

[There's a perceptible sadness in her eyes. It looks like Rita has a pretty good idea of why, actually.]

They had a pretty good reason, it turns out. The world was brought to the brink of destruction by a massive catastrophe... and blastia were the cause.