For @hexenbomb I had a great time writing this and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did
Day 1
“Vhat iz zhis…” Gretchen looked around in wonder. Just a second ago this oasis seemed nothing more than a delightful respite through an otherwise sweltering trip through the cracked clay and stinging sands of the desert between Piltover and the Factory she and Charlie called home. But Michael had made a modification to her goggles the night before, and these filters made it known to her that there was a thick mist hanging in the air. It moved in waves from the earth up into the sky; thick, dense clouds forming despite the wind still blowing the arid heat across her face. This fog was a place of naturally occurring mana in a concentration high enough for even non-natural magic users to interact. It was just the sort of place Michael had been looking for the months between promising her lessons and the present. It was the perfect setting, because he knew all too well that Gretchen was a mind set so firmly in science that he would have to appeal to both her reason and her eyes to break down her inborn inhibitions to believe in something so aethereal at magic. “Zhis iz amazing! Vhat iz it? It doesn’t seem to move when I vave my hand through it.”
“It’s Mana, Gretchen. A dense manifestation of the natural magical energy that courses through our world. It is the fuel that we burn to make our magic happen. It’s the source of power for both mages, like myself, and hexcrystals. Normally it’s completely invisible, but in certain places it’s so concentrated that you can see it under special circumstances. Magic is simple. Using this fuel, we either push or pull the natural energy of the world around us. You can’t touch it with your body, instead… try to reach out with your mind. Your will. Make it move.”
Together they sat on a pair of stones by the oasis pushing the air back and forth. It took her hours to even make it move, but found that the effort made her break a sweat. Once she finally managed a gust, Michael practically had to catch her to keep her from falling into the pool of water from her excited outburst. From that point, she was like a bloodhound on the scent of a fresh trail. Every day she was ready at sunrise to travel back to their little slice of paradise to practice more of her technique. Every day Michael woke to that big, goofy grin and the reflection of his face in her goggles, but not once was he ever disappointed to see her excitement. He was all too happy to have a student so dedicated to learning that even he struggled to keep pace. It was refreshing. It was nice to finally create again after so many years of destroying. For Gretchen, it was an amazing new experience the likes of which she never even considered. A whole new side of what she called reality that was, up until now, hidden from her.
Day 50
“Vhat now, Michael? I feel like I’m ready for the next step. I can move zhe mist around like second nature now. It… feels comfortable. Right. Natural.” She smiled that big, enthusiastic smile of hers, arms folded back behind her with fingers interlocked as she walked beside him to their normal spot. “I can’t imagine vhat is next, zhough. Vhat do ve do vith zhis energy? How do I do zhe things you do? It confuses and excites me, and I can’t vait to see zhe answer.”
Michael offered a chuckle in response as he sat down on his stone. “That’s just fine, Gretch. It’ll all make sense soon enough. You see, I’ve been giving you these exercises to do for a reason. I’ve been watching you while you work to find out what kind of magic you have an affinity for, and I can tell you it went about as expected. Your talent lies in fire. Fire and air magic in tandem, to be exact. Fitting that the demolitions expert would specialize in magic perfect for making explosions, no? So, let’s get started on teaching you how to use it properly.”
He proceeded to show her how to use the mana rather than just move it. Taught her how to draw it in and use it to fuel herself and the magic within her. Though it took days more, she finally conjured her first flame. And like that flame, a passion started deep in her gut that day that burned hotter than even Ghost Rock. A passion, a determination to wrangle this new frontier of her world. Every day that blaze behind her goggles burned brighter, and every day that flame in her palm grew larger. Her progress rolled on with incredible momentum. She started reading Michael’s old books and practicing in areas less dense in mana. She even started working with the crystals at the manor, using them like a body builder used weights to strengthen her mental muscles for the next lesson. Now she understood the difference between the pseudomagic of her own world and this strange place of wonder. It was as easy as comparing Ghost Rock to Hexcrystals. The former had to be burned, and ultimately did the same thing as coal. To a greater degree, certain, but still locked into its use by the means of using it. Limited. Stagnable. Just like the hocus pocus, abracadabra she was used to from her world. But these crystals, they were something else entirely. Not a catalyst but a conduit. Like a battery that she could store energy with, and a tool to discharge it. The distinct feeling of being limited by only her imagination was what these crystals provided her. A kind of freedom she never had before, and perhaps it was that feeling that she was missing that kept her from believing in magic beforehand. The sky was the limit for her now, and… wait a moment…
“Eureka!”
Day 130
“Gretchen?” Michael could feel something stirring in the air. Magic being worked, and from the feel of is magic being worked clear through the night while he slept. With a mug of coffee in hand, he descended into the basement of the Manor, which had been fashioned into a kind of workshop for Gretchen, Charlie, and himself. What he found was a frantically tinkering German who looked something akin to a mad scientist running from table to table assembling something and testing a set of Hexcrystals that were hooked into an electrical circuit. “Gretchen!”
“Vhat?!?” She snapped around out of her engineering trance to look Michael in the eyes with goggles smudged over with ash and soot. “Oh! Guten morgen, Michael. Come! Come! Look! I’ve gotten underway vith a big project, ja ja ja!” Still groggy, he was essentially shoved over to the desks to see what she was talking about. “I’ve been vanting to modify my veapon for a long time, now, and I’ve finally settled on a vay to do zhat because of you.”
The old launcher was laid out on the desk with the internals exposed to the air. “You’re just in time too, Michael! I vas just about to assemble the final product, but I vanted to show you my design before I did.” The firing mechanism was lined with whole paragraphs of runes, which already gave Michael reason to raise his eyebrows. It was clear that his student was studying on her own, and if he were still capable it would have brought a tear of pride to his eyes. But what impressed him more, still, was the fact that she installed a dial on the side of the gun just behind the trigger. With this nuanced little addition, she could rotate a disc shaped plate that had a series of different runes to finish the paragraph ahead of it and adjust the strength of the spell inscribed. “Gretch… This is genius… Where in the world did you read anything about this? I’ve never seen anything like it?”
Of course, she just grinned and scratched idly at the back of her head, as if she was too modest to answer. “Oh, zhis? It just came to me in zhe middle of zhe night, and I just had to run vith it. I’ve, ah…” She looked down and rubbed her right toe into the ground. “I’ve lost track of time again, haven’t I?” The cocked eyebrow and deadpan nod from the mage was all she needed for confirmation. “Schiesse… Oh vell, I suppose it can’t be helped now. Vould you mind helping me reassemble it all?”
“Happily. Let’s get to work.” Hours of small adjustments and calibrations, and many pots of coffee later and Gretchen finally had her new launcher. Fueled by two hexcrystals charged with fire and air energy respectively, it lobbed a highly explosive blob of what was essentially heavily oxygenated napalm.
“Impressive, truly impressive.” He smiled and plopped down beside her in the middle of the workshop, both with a bowl of liquor in hand for a victory drink. “I think it’s official. Your training under me is complete, and you’re ready to study on your own.”
"Vhat do you zhink of zhis rock?" Gretchen holds out a pebble-sized chunk of ghost rock.
“....” Holds the rock. Only to start shaking as he holds it. “.. I’m shaking.. Uhh.. That’s not normal.. It’s.. What is this?” He asked as he felt like putting it down already. Which was a first. He never wanted to put down rocks usually.
“Oooohhh so you’re the supposed ‘deadly intruder’ everyone here’s been telling me about? Nishishi! Apparently it took four people to pin you down and bring you here!”
Sprawled across his chair, Kokichi beams with childish excitement. He’s not seen someone so strange brought before him before, and he’s especially excited to find out why exactly she proved so difficult to capture. There was potential here, and he couldn’t help a smirk at the thought of teasing more info out.
“So.... Tell me who you are and why you’re messing around with my organisation and....” Kokichi giggled. “Nishishi! And I might let you live!”
@hexenbomb :3c behold the masquerade outfit that has like. More than 30 pockets. Theres like 16 on both the boots altogether. Perfect functionality to fashion ratio hehe.
A huff escaped the male as he walked through the streets of the city. Not very often he came down to walk among the humans. He snapped his fingers, a fluffy coat appearing on his shoulders. To most it would seem odd to see someone wearing a coat when others seemed so hot, but this earth’s atmosphere was always too cold for him. Summer, winter, spring, fall. It was always far too cold.
