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Inavet hisses a creative curseword, and slams the door shut, and reaches for her magic. The door to the building she's hiding in becomes to all appearances an ordinary wall. It'll take her pursuers time to find it - none of their arcanists are any good at crystal craft, from what she can tell. It won't buy her enough time, but it'll buy her some, and every second counts.
She starts trying to patch herself up while she looks for an escape route they're not covering. Blood craft's not her best, but she's gotten a lot of practice at it, lately. Enough to stop herself from bleeding out from the wound in her side (because of course it's deep) and keep herself from collapsing from exhaustion. Too slow - one of these days it'll kill her.
But not yet, she thinks, as she spots a window to an alley. Out go her magic senses - no one's alive and breathing in that alley but a cat rummaging through the garbage.
She dumps an illusion over the alley, to appear exactly as it was before she entered it. She can't get the cat right in a rush, but she doesn't need this to hold out for very long. Just long enough to get away. Song disguises the sound of the window opening and her scrambling out of it. She's conscientious enough to close it behind her. Easier than another illusion. Maybe they won't notice the blood.
Which way? Mm. One that way, two to her left, three are - oh look they found the door, she needs to hurry. She takes a right, and runs.
And comes face to face with - a snake? With a mirror for a head? What, how in the -
It's very fast. She was not expecting it. She didn't even sense it, like it appeared from nowhere, she raises her knife but she's not fast enough -
And then there is darkness.
Darkness and pain.
She'd scream, but the air's sucked out of her lungs in a whoosh. She snaps her mouth shut and flails, lashing out with something, anything - but she feels nothing around her. Nothing at all. Not even air. It's like a pressure, on all of her, but instead of pressing in it's pulling out -
Is this how she's going to die? Some Ministry snake monster thing?
Not. Likely.
She isn't the best at blood craft, but she knows enough to keep herself alive. She knows enough to snap her eyes shut and cover her nose and mouth and push magic at herself so her body doesn't shut down. It's hard - there's so much to monitor, she has no air... But she can keep herself alive. If she doesn't move and she focuses near entirely on self preservation. For - for a little while, anyway. Not forever.
Time crunch, then. Well. She was always good at those.
Her lesser crafts won't do her any good here. No way to make sound with song, no air to ignite in fire with heat, no time for aura anything, nothing to move and change with breath. Forget stone and metal, even when she's not in a crisis she's awful with both, not to mention there's nothing around for either.
But she is good at crystal, and crystal deals in light.
If she's not the brightest fucking beacon the world has ever seen, it won't be for lack of trying.
Maybe someone will find her. Or maybe she'll blind the bastards who put her here. Either way, it won't hurt to try.
Inavet and T'Mir
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She smiles a little, and then goes riffling through her somewhat meager items. She's got a few crystals on her, along with some seeds of her more difficult plants and her ever-present knife.
Crystals. She said just light, so - just light.
She gets up, puts a crystal on the other side of the ship, and walks away from it. Then she sits down (facing away from it; she's also honing her magic senses while she's at it) and begins fiddling with its fellow. She wasn't able to make an illusion of the cat under pressure. That's a weakness she'd like to work on. Crystals make this sort of thing easier, but they're not really required. But for helping her hone her reflexes, they're good. They make it easier.
Fiddle fiddle.
And then a slightly smudgy cat leaps out of the crytal on the other side of the ship, swishes its tail, and licks a paw.
Crystals. She said just light, so - just light.
She gets up, puts a crystal on the other side of the ship, and walks away from it. Then she sits down (facing away from it; she's also honing her magic senses while she's at it) and begins fiddling with its fellow. She wasn't able to make an illusion of the cat under pressure. That's a weakness she'd like to work on. Crystals make this sort of thing easier, but they're not really required. But for helping her hone her reflexes, they're good. They make it easier.
Fiddle fiddle.
And then a slightly smudgy cat leaps out of the crytal on the other side of the ship, swishes its tail, and licks a paw.
Inavet isn't. She has closed her eyes and is holding a crystal and is focusing.
The cat gets less smudged. It scratches at an itch that assumingly doesn't exist, and starts investigating the room. Occasionally it gets a little bit more smudgy, but it steadily becomes clearer and clearer. Even the shadows are correct.
For fun, Inavet adds a jingle ball, as if it dropped out of the ceiling, and takes the opportunity to practice song craft at the same time. It jingles convincingly when it hits the floor. The illusion-cat notices. The jingle ball moves as if by a wind (there isn't a breeze) and jingles a little bit more. The illusion-cat stalks its prey. Stalk stalk. (The ball doesn't move.) Stalk stalk. Butt wiggle. Will the illusion-cat pounce?
What kind of question is that, of course it will. Like so.
The bell jingles convincingly then, too. The cat even thumps as it lands on its unsuspecting jangly prey.
The cat gets less smudged. It scratches at an itch that assumingly doesn't exist, and starts investigating the room. Occasionally it gets a little bit more smudgy, but it steadily becomes clearer and clearer. Even the shadows are correct.
For fun, Inavet adds a jingle ball, as if it dropped out of the ceiling, and takes the opportunity to practice song craft at the same time. It jingles convincingly when it hits the floor. The illusion-cat notices. The jingle ball moves as if by a wind (there isn't a breeze) and jingles a little bit more. The illusion-cat stalks its prey. Stalk stalk. (The ball doesn't move.) Stalk stalk. Butt wiggle. Will the illusion-cat pounce?
What kind of question is that, of course it will. Like so.
The bell jingles convincingly then, too. The cat even thumps as it lands on its unsuspecting jangly prey.
"Illusion," she says. (The cat smudges some more, talking takes concentration.) "Not there. Sorry."
warpfairy
"I meant try to touch the cat, but I'd like to try the magic too."
"Sure, to cat," she says, and the cat ambles over to Isabella and meows at her. Convincingly. Though it's still smudgy. "Magic is..." Handwave. "... More difficult," she decides. "Later, maybe. Here not good for procedure."
warpfairy
Isabella tries (and of course fails) to touch the cat. "What's the procedure like?" she asks, watching her hand pass through the illusion.
"Simple. Usually. For elves - I would need to... to work on it, check work, do different, for more magic. Once only, need to get it right first time. Wrong and broken magic, or no magic, ever."
And if she doesn't want to give Isabella magic, she will say it's too dangerous or something. Or maybe flat out refuse.
And if she doesn't want to give Isabella magic, she will say it's too dangerous or something. Or maybe flat out refuse.
Honesty, or say, 'Yeah I'm sorry you will never get magic ever because you're not an elf?'
...
"Humans have had it. Half human." She points to Isabella. "Maybe - ... not-elves could, too. Don't know."
...
"Humans have had it. Half human." She points to Isabella. "Maybe - ... not-elves could, too. Don't know."
"Vulcan, maybe, maybe not. Don't know. Humans have had it. In history. You... I don't know. Maybe?"
"Would need touch, to read you. Then time, to figure out. Might not be possible safely, but I can try."
"Nnno. Not. I can't - telepathy. Read body, read blood - understand magic function, not thought."