text | octoblot

[octoblot]

Type: Text

Sender ID: octoblot (Azul Ashengrotto)

To: Everyone

Subject: thornbind cure update, possible other business related matters

Warnings: None worth noting yet?



Hello everyone, this is Azul Ashengrotto speaking. I meant to put out this news sooner to everyone, but due to certain events that have taken place, my ability to do so was delayed until now.

[re: he got fucking kidnapped. yes, he's still mad about it, and no, he doesn't want to talk about it right this second.]

As some of you may know, there are very few things that I as a mage would be considered incapable of brewing, enchanting, or crafting a spell or potion for. [nice ego fluffing there azul] It came to my attention last month that there was a string of incidents involving the "Thornbind" disease that had begun to crop up: for those unaware, it causes vines and thorns to grow from the infected person's body and can be extremely dangerous if left unchecked.

Luckily, I have managed to develop a cure that has proven successful after the tests I've done with it and from checking in on the people that I have given it out to thus far among the locals. Thus, if you or anyone else you know of are in need of it, please let me know. Anyone that would be willing to help with delivering the medicine to people, or to any of the nearby clinics and hospitals would also be quite appreciated right now.

As for other ailments one may be experiencing in this place [you know, the brands they've all gotten lately, which he is not going to discuss too loudly here just to be safe] ... well, that may require more research and discussion among other like-minded mages or researchers like myself to come up with a solution for. But as always, my door is always open to any soul in need of a specific wish granted on your behalf, so please do not hesitate to ask if you have any requests to make for me here.

[Sorry, even in text form and while recovering from stuff, Azul has to play the businessman.]

Comments

[deepstar]

I know about some things that matter.

[ Yeah, no. Khalid isn't going to be baited that easily either. Go ahead. Talk about the school. He's interested in that anyway. ]

How are you all divided into these houses? What sort of magic is even taught?

[octoblot]

[we'll see about that]

There's an opening ceremony at the beginning of every school year. During the ceremony, the school relies on the Dark Mirror, which is an important magical artifact that can identify the nature and essence of a person's soul. It will select which dorm best fits that person based on what the mirror determines will bring out the most potential in that student's studies as a mage.

As for what type of magic is taught, there's quite a lot: the history of magic, alchemy and potionology, flight lessons with brooms... although, I am personally not a fan of the latter. I don't find brooms to be as necessary for traveling given the advancements that have admittedly been made in technology these days.

[... Except the real reason he is not a fan is because Azul sucks at this class and can barely even get a few inches off the ground when trying to ride a broom.]

[deepstar]

I can get the whole not wanting to ride on a broom. Wyverns are much better anyway. But hey! Potion classes. It makes me wish they taught something like that where I temporarily when for an academy.

[ He's pretty sure he would have excelled. Or have gotten punished. Either way, Khalid is good with making poisons. Potions aren't really that much different. ]

How does magic work for you all anyway? I've never been that good at it myself, but I at least understand how it works in principle where I'm from.

[octoblot]

[Poisons are also allowed and taught during those potion classes, as a matter of fact. Pomefiore in particular is the dorm that seems to have the most skill when it comes to that.]

It's hard to explain, to be perfectly honest. [Mostly because the canon itself has not actually explained it well either so I'm going to have to get creative here using what we do get told in the series rip] Some legends and theories have allowed some to speculate that it's tied to the nature of one's soul and that those born and raised with powerful desires are the most likely to have the aptitude for magic. Having a strong imagination or visualization of one’s magic is very important for spells to be successful, as well as some knowledge of equations that are sometimes necessary to cast certain spells, such as autocleaning via implement magic infusion. Potion making primarily requires an understanding of chemistry and does not always require magical input, unless you need to infuse magic into a particular ingredient or into the potion itself.

[deepstar]

A little hard for me to imagine, really. For us we study equations that are related to spell casting. There's black, white, and dark magic. Some people have aptitudes for different ones. Black magic is just elemental spells though. Nothing that can do some of the things I've seen Leona do.

I thought you'd have some kind of medium or book or something.

[octoblot]

No, not necessarily for all mages. It really depends on the type of magic a person is attempting to use in a given moment, or if their signature spell (this is what we as mages tend to consider as a spell that is wholly unique to one person and one person only that is able to use it) potentially requires a medium of sorts to conduct it through.

[For example, Azul's signature spell actually does require a medium of sorts, in this case being his contracts...]

There is however a tool that you may have seen Leona-san use, if you have seen him perform magic: it looks like a pen, or perhaps a unique staff whenever he deigns to use it in that form. Does that sound familiar?

[deepstar]

Signature spell? That's pretty neat, to have something that only you can do.

[ As if Crests don't work the same way - just unique to a particular bloodline. ]

I've seen something like that, sure. He's really good at quickly hiding that pen. I never knew that some of the magic was tied to that.

[octoblot]

Don't get me wrong, mages like myself and Leona-san can still use magic even without that pen.

Their purpose is to help make it a little easier to channel and regulate our magic output, as well as having a method of warning a mage if they are in danger of putting themselves at severe risk of harm attempting to cast magic past a certain threshold.

[deepstar]

[ Wait... Why would there be a need to monitor magic usage? What happens if they reach beyond a certain threshold? Khalid is reminded of the black beasts of his world, individuals that have turned into monsters because they can't handle the power of a Relic weapon without having a Crest. Even here, if someone without the Crest of Riegan were to try to use Failnaught, they'd become... Corrupted. ]

Usually that's how things work, right? There's a limit on what can be done and can't be done and how much the body can take.

What happens to someone if they overcast? I'm assuming they just pass out or start dipping into their lifeforce?

[ He's interested in the answer, of course. But more importantly, he's interested in how Azul answers. This is a guy, after all, who was able to figure out that Seteth and Flayn weren't just Church adherents, but 1000 year old Saints with new names... ]

[octoblot]

[Yeah, about that--]

It might take a while to explain... ah, but isn't it about time for you to return the favor here, in regards to sharing information?

In fact, you haven't even introduced yourself to me or provided a name yet, even though I'm pretty certain this is the first time we've spoken here.

[deepstar]

[ Well... To not even ease into "hey tell me about yourself" with a nice transition with honeyed words. The guy is gatekeeping that information and then turning around to pointing fingers. Claude is just grinning behind his screen. ]

You were just so into explaining things that I couldn't find the right time. Personally, magic isn't my strong point but some of my friends back home are really strong mages. Lysithea would strangle me if I didn't at least ask, you know? Geniuses. What can you do...

Now I'd offer a formal bow and everything, as is our way, but text makes that difficult. My name is Khalid. I'm twenty-five and was born on the twenty-fourth of the Blue Sea Moon. I enjoy long flights on the back of my sweet babygirl, Azita, and reading if not taking a nap under a shady spot.

[octoblot]

[... Truth be told, he's too tired to play that nice. Leona might be on to something actually when he stops by later and tells Azul to go the fuck to sleep already.

He also does not believe that first sentence at all for even a second. Azul has pulled that exact kind of tactic or said that kind of sentence several times on other people here in getting them to share deets, in fact, and sometimes he's curious to see if others think they can try it on him in return without him noticing.]

It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance then, Khalid-san. I would offer a bow as well, but as you said, it's difficult to do via text. Normally I prefer meeting new people in person as a result.

[And he's not putting himself on camera right now when he is still recovering from the abduction he went through.

Even though the information the other man gives reads like a match making app, Azul does in fact take note of what is said, before he asks a question.]

Would it be safe to assume that Azita is a wyvern? You mentioned them briefly a moment ago.

[deepstar]

[ The best lies are often told with a grain of truth. Azul is missing out by not believing that sentence! ]

I get what you mean. It's my preference too, but things being what they are? That's also a little difficult right now.

[ Also not putting himself on camera unless the other person does first. It's just a little paranoia, you know? Completely healthy paranoia. ]

Anyway, yeah it's safe to assume that. You might've seen her before. She's pretty hard to miss

[ And he's totally posted his face to the network with his white wyvern. Openly talking about her. So Azul's not asking anything that hasn't already been put out there. ]

[octoblot]

[Fair as well. Azul also does that too in most of his interactions here on the network not going on camera unless the other person also is, unless he deliberately needs to sell his image of appearing as a friendly, reliable businessman. Then he goes on camera willingly by his own doing, as Claude might see if he saw Azul's first post on the network as an example.

In Azul's defense though, he didn't see Claude's recent post about his wyvern when it first went up... on account of Azul still being kidnapped at the time. He'll have to scroll back and look for it again, as the only news he initially looked for when checking to see what he had missed had been anything that might have been related to said kidnapping, or the thornbind disease.]

Good, I wanted to be sure before I made any hasty assumptions. I'm not that used to seeing wyverns before, to be honest, so I must admit that I am curious about your companion here.

[Dragons exist in Twisted Wonderland, but they're not that common. Especially for a guy who lived in the ocean most of his life.]

[deepstar]

Who wouldn't be curious about my princess?

[ And he does so love to talk about her. Not something Khalid could have done as much before. ]

Here I thought in a world of magic colleges, wyverns would be pretty common? Or dragons, maybe.

[octoblot]

They're not particularly common. At least, not in my part of the world where I grew up before attending Night Raven College.

[He does know a fae classmate that can turn into a dragon though.]

[deepstar]

Must be a pretty remote place if it's not where a wyvern can thrive. My girl's been in just about every kind of environment you can think of and it hasn't slowed her down.

They're as common as horses and pegasi where I come from. Just not as easy to handle.

[octoblot]

It is. My home is pretty far away from most major cities, as a matter of fact.

[On account of... being underwater.]

I didn't even get to see a real horse for the first time until I moved a few years ago.

[... unless you count seahorses......]

[deepstar]

Same. Sort of. I didn't see a pegasus until about nine, ten years ago? Something like that.

Must be hard not to be around a major city. Hard to get things, right?

[octoblot]

There are methods of commerce that allow us to get the things we need to get by, and vice versa in providing things that my home has that are sought after. It is however difficult for most to visit during the winter: not only does it get quite cold, but there are large sheets and chunks of ice that will form and stick around for quite a while. Even I don't like coming for home visits when it gets that cold these days.

[If this was video, this would be the part where Azul might clap, or make some kind of gesture to the camera when he says--]

Alright, your turn now! Please, tell me more about where you're from, or about your world in general.

[deepstar]

Not a fan of traveling over the large ice sheets? They have methods of travel that make that sort of thing pretty easy.

[ Just ask the Srengi. But hey. Look. Khalid isn't a fan of the cold either. You'll never catch him in Sreng or Faerghus during the winter moons. ]

Now see, Almyra is just the opposite. It doesn't get cold there at all. Well, maybe at night, but that's true of any arid climate.

[octoblot]

[Unless you know magic, or you're a mer who knows their way around them properly, its not easy to get navigate the ice that surrounds the Coral Sea in winter.]

Oh? Is Almyra similar to a desert, or is it just a particularly dry area to live in?

[deepstar]

[ Thankfully, he'll let that topic drop. ]

Almyra's a big country. Only part of it is desert. It's nice down by the southern coast and plains to the far north.

[octoblot]

[So, perhaps something similar to the Sunset Savannah rather than the Scalding Sands? Hmm.]

I see... it sounds like an interesting place. I take that it's probably not quite as remote as my home is by comparison, since you said that it was a big country?

[Not that the Coral Sea is necessarily remote just... not the easiest tourist destination.]

[deepstar]

[ Azul's not wrong. Boy would he be surprised to learn that even some of the languages are similar. ]

Takes up the entire eastern half of the continent. On the other side is Fodlan, separated by a mountain range.