voiceofrasputin:
Ana’s talkative nature was, in part, due to who she was as a person, but it could also be somewhat blamed that teaching others how to speak was a part of her job… after all, she was pretty much singlehandedly responsible for “raising” Rasputin from a freshly-created A.I. into a functional, intelligent being. Granted, he could be tempermental at times, but he still cared. If he didn’t, he would have undoubtedly unleashed all the Warsats at his command on Earth already with no remorse. The Iron Lords provoked the SIVA Crisis, Rasputin was just defending himself. At least, that’s how she felt on the matter.
Thankfully, as they got away from the more population-dense area, the air was clearing. Now, Jinju was actually starting to be able to compensate for the fucking airborne shit. Ana was very much relieved. She would probably be worrying about Rasputin either way, but at least now it wasn’t going to drive her to the point of full-on neurosis.
Also, her energy was fully returning to her body, and that meant she could maneuver around like the Hunter she was. And that, in and of itself, made her feel infinitely better. Staying on the ground was boring. Being in the air was fun, especially when death was an afterthought. (Jinju was internally sighing.)
“I don’t know… I honestly would’ve been kinda sad if that happened to me, and I couldn’t save the people of that planet. It nearly happened once, but Shaxx and a few of my other Guardian friends made one hell of a last stand, and we pulled it out of our asses.” And if we hadn’t, all of humanity would’ve been damned, she didn’t say that last bit. She honestly hoped that Rasputin wasn’t having a grade-A freakout over her just up-and-vanishing. She was also hoping that there wasn’t some new crisis she was needed for that she couldn’t be there to help with because… well, fuck all if she had any idea what the hell was going on right now.
How did one explain the Light to someone who’d never heard of it before? It was like magic, but it wasn’t actually magic… damnit, Warlocks like Ikora were waaaayyy better at that sort of shit. She was good with her Golden Gun, the IKELOS weapons, Sleeper Simulant, and Polaris Lance. Oh, and her knives. She was good with those too. And that’s all she needed. Rasputin could cover some of it, and the other Guardians could cover what neither of them could.
Oh, how amazing Polaris Lance was, in Ana’s opinion. (Which totally wasn’t biased because she made it herself. Other people said it was amazing too!) A long-range scout rifle that could shoot explosive bullets under the right circumstances? That was pretty amazing, as far as she was concerned.
“I can see where you’re coming from, and actually, I do know how to handle a melee situation. Most Hunters, like myself, know their way around knives, and I’m no exception. If I needed to, I could stab my way out of a situation. But here’s the thing… if you have no idea I’m there, and I manage a good shot and take you down, then that’s that. Unless you can resurrect yourself after that-which, to be fair, Guardians like myself can do that, but most of our enemies can’t, so it’s not a big deal-then there’s no fuss.” She shrugs, and crosses her legs. “Although, to be fair, if it’s well-made, every weapon is equally useful. Guns, bows, knives, swords… if you know what you’re doing and the weapon itself is good to go, then you’ve got a fair chance… oh, and we Guardians don’t really…. enchant the guns. Some of them have special abilities built into them, but I’ve never really heard of Guardians pouring their own Light into their guns. Or bows. Or swords. Or whatever.” She further explained, twirling her wooden pole a bit before setting it down again.
“I guess you could argue that there are some things we ‘enchant’ with our Light. For Hunters, it would be our knives and grenades. For Titans, it would be their fists, shoulders, and also grenades. Oh, and there was one Titan named Saint-14 who would infuse his Light into his helmet and literally headbutt his enemies to death!” She laughed at that. “He supposedly killed a Kell just by headbutting it! Anyways, and last but most definitely not least, Warlocks would ‘enchant’ their hands and grenades. Out of the three types, Warlocks are the biggest users of their Light…. and also, they can be capable of some pretty freaky shit. Don’t piss one off, trust me.” She shuddered at the thought that Ikora, using her Light, might actually be capable of turning people into frogs.
“But I’ve been going on and on about how things work where I come from. How do your powers work?” She asked, genuinely curious.
With clean air and a clearer head, Keras started to relax again. He took a few slow, deep breaths on purpose - even if the air was still contaminated, it was better than nothing - and forced himself to think rationally. What, exactly, had he been so upset about? Somebody wanting to have a conversation? Okay, she talked a lot; so what? So did Corin, for that matter, when push came to shove. Kid was always asking questions, trying to understand and categorize the world around him. Dawn had always talked a lot too, and where Corin was always trying to learn, Dawn had just liked to hassle Keras. It hadn’t ever really bothered him.
So why was he so bent out of shape about this lady? Maybe he’d been affected by... whatever was going on here. More so than he’d thought. That was... a bad thing, even if it hadn’t really amounted to much. Keras didn’t appreciate having his head messed with. Normally he was a lot better at spotting mental manipulation and doing something about it; but in this case, he supposed, things could have been a lot worse. Still, it was something he’d need to pay better attention to. If this whole ordeal started getting worse...
Contrary to Anastasia, Keras settled himself down on the ground, back to the brick wall of... whatever building this was, exactly. no need to waste his energy bouncing around the place, and under the circumstances, he didn’t see a lot of point. If he’d had his sword, and his magic... there were relatively few threats he couldn’t defend from while sitting, as he’d shown Corin and Marissa. Sadly he didn’t, but even so, he saw no reason to keep standing.
“No, no. Rendalir was destroyed at least a few thousand years before I was born. Possibly, I think, before there were even humans on my planet; I’m not really sure. So don’t get me wrong, Rendalir’s destruction is a tragedy. But I don’t exactly take it personally.”
He spoke somewhat absently; after all, it wasn’t exactly a massive topic on his mind. Oh, Rendalir was important for many, many reasons; but not here and now. He had to wonder whether or not the same forces that had destroyed Rendalir would ever try to find their way here. Quite possible, actually, one day. But by the time that happened.... well, then,. he would know that his own home planet was gone. And right now, there wasn’t anything he could do to defend this place.
Besides, talking about there here and now was a much more interesting subject. Especially when fighting was part of the conversation.
“You’re right, staying hidden and getting a few good shots off is a pretty solid way to win a fight. Prevents the need to close the distance, if nothing else. But in my case, you’d find I’m rather hard to sneak up on, and a whole lot harder to kill. If you don’t put me in the ground with your first shot, then you’re never going to hit me with a bullet again, and then you’re going to have to fight me up close and personal.” Keras smirked widely. “And in that fight, I think it’s safe to say, I’d win without much trouble.”
Resurrection was an interesting power for the woman to claim. That certainly wasn’t anything he’d ever seen or heard of before - not if she meant it in the truest possible sense of the word, anyways. Not that he could see any way for that to be the case, but now wasn’t the time to question her on it. If she thought she could get back up no matter what kind of damage she suffered, then that simply meant he just might have a sparring partner who could take anything that he dished out.
And if the worst came to worst and they became genuine enemies... well, Keras had always hated killing people. It was something he preferred not to even think about. But if things went that far, well, he could permanently kill anything. Period.
Back onto lighter things, though...
“Magic is a little hard to describe, if you don’t have any background in that kind of thing. I’m certainly no magical theorist, but I’ll give it my best shot.” Keras crossed his legs, frowning a little at the ground. “Everyone has a little bit of every kind of mana in them. Light, shadow, wind, fire, water, ice, stone, metal, life, death, knowledge, deception... there’s probably more, but I think you get the idea. Together, in balance, they all keep the body working. They’re also each tied to a Dominion - and kind of... plane, a place that exists outside of the physical world, which consists of nothing but that specific kind of mana, and the elemental made of it. There are more dominions than just the ones in the body - we call those “deep dominions”, as I recall. Metal is an example of that. it’s connected to the Dominion of Stone, but it’s sort of... farther away, and normally, I think, doesn’t really affect the body. Not much, anyways.”
He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. Lots to say, after all. in some ways, this reminded him of trying to explain things to Corin and his friends... but at least they’d had attunements. Not the same as sorcery, no, but the theories weren’t so far apart after all.
“Sorcery is, basically, the process of reaching into one of these Dominions, and using the energy - the mana - there to have an effect on the real world. Main problem is, this takes a toll on your own body, which acts sort of like... a catalyst, I suppose. Using flame sorcery, for example, from the Dominion of Fire, will lower your own body temperature. It’s not much at first, but extended use can kill you. Of course, the more you use it over time, the more powerful you become, and the less toll it takes on you. Which is why a truly dedicated fire sorcerer can do a lot more with fire than I can, without suffering as much of the consequences.”











