spellminders | [OPENING] mass visual telepathy log

Mmmm. [She finishes up her hair and places a finger to her lips. It's a good question.] Well. It's not about how much the seashell is worth to me. It's about what it's worth to you. Some shell you just found probably doesn't mean a whole lot. It's a nice memory or maybe it's petty. It's something you can easily give away. That's how I feel about my knowledge. I have an abundance of it and I'd like to give it away. I just can't... Thus a seashell is a good trade because it's something we can both easily part with.

And you can do a lot with a seashell. All sorts of magicks and what have you. It's not useless and neither is my advice. That all balances out, you see!

[She is wordy, isn't she? Waver manages to not telegraph that thought across his face, and he shoves it aside so it doesn't slip out in this telepathy madness either.]

Interesting. [She's an armchair philosopher, now that Waver thinks about it.] What kind of magic would you do with a seashell? Or with many?

Seashells are mostly known for protective magic. You can string a bunch together and hang them over your windows and doors. That's a pretty simple and doable thing... it'll also be a nice decoration for my beach shack.

What is the mechanism that activates the magecraft though? Is it words, something in the string? [Wait. She just talked about exchanges.] Or a trade secret?

Eh? Not all magic is like that. A lot of it just stems on belief.

You know these shells are used for protection purposes. You believe they will protect you. You hang them up. They protect you.

Sometimes magic is just that simple and it all requires a strong belief that what you're trying to do will come to be. If you don't believe in it, what's the point?

[While the magic Waver was used to stemmed from belief in some form, it was far more codified as well. Departments, bloodlines, circuit counts, all of it formed a complex system. He wasn't sure if he found this simplicity beautiful or baffling.]

I guess to me the point is true effectiveness. That kind of belief seems like it can become wrapped up in causation and correlation, with no tangible way to actually determine if it works.

You're right. If you hang up seashells in your house and nothing bad ever happens is that because the seashells worked or because nothing bad was ever going to happen to begin with?

If I give a customer silver bells to keep bad dreams away and it doesn't work is it because they didn't believe it would or because the bells simply don't work?

When you think about it like that it's truthfully hard to say. What is magic and what is coincidence?

My answer to that would be to say that nothing in this world is a coincidence. Everything is Hitsuzen. Everything in the world is a driving force of some kind. There is magic everywhere. And if you stopped having dreams because of silver bells and if your home was kept safe because of sea shells then that is what was meant to be. These driving forces allowed that to happen.

But that, of course, is my belief. That is how I see the world and how I know it to work. Someone else's vision may be different. You may very well need more concrete proof that these things are moving and working. And so you'd say that my seashells protecting your home are purely coincidence and you would argue an actual barrier would prove more efficient, more magical. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's simply your view of magic.

It's not so much concrete proof to me as... [He pauses, face flicking through emotions of trying to find the right words and say them without coming off as the kind of condescending mage he hates back home. Waver settles on what he hopes is an even handed phrasing of things.]

...What I'm used to in terms of magecraft and magic is substantially different. It demands exacting results and you document them so the information can be passed down. What you just described would be waved off, so I'm just. [Struggling to figure out if he'd ever have that kind of belief? Maybe. But Waver's expression settles on a sort of frustrated sigh that is clearly trying to get to terms with something he'd usually shrug off as folklore and the kind of superstition that old wise women who weren't magi at all claimed heritage to.]

[She gives a small shake of her head. There's no need to explain any further.]

I understand. What I have learned in my many years and my knowledge of all these worlds is that every place is different. There is a world where the magic is summoning a giant familiar to your side. There are worlds where it all resides in books and holding that knowledge in your hand is holding magic itself.

My world magic is stemmed on belief and the ability to can and do. But I also have magic that is much more solid. Much more real to the eyes. I can open a dimension and I can send people through it. I can track someone's presence with a string or thread.

And I knew a wizard who did what you are describing, I think. He had magic in cards. Similar to writing something down, yes? And that book of cards is passed on to someone else who will inherit that magic and make it their own. And I imagine she will one day pass the cards onto someone else. And so on and so forth...

I guess my point is there are so many kinds of magic out there. Each valid. Your magic sounds very close to what the wizard did. And I hope, one day, you see the magic that I provide as something valid as well. I imagine it may take some convincing but I'll remain hopeful~

[Waver didn't expect an even handed response. Clock Tower had always been a matter of Waver making a suggestion only to be cut down and told he was wrong.

Maybe he read this witch wrong.

Either way, Waver wonders if she can read minds as well, based on that summoning a giant familiar comment. He hadn't told a soul about Rider yet, or the Holy Grail War in general.]

That second part of what you can do, that'd be considered rare for us, but extremely and insanely powerful. There's only a few people known to ever pull off dimension travel. [It was a proper Magic, the kind of thing everyone else tried to copy.]

Well, it can take different forms, but yeah, the card example is pretty much what I'm used to. Those cards would be passed down, but the next family member is assumed to be more powerful than the last and will make improvements to those cards to reach the final goal.

[Since all magi seek the Root, after all.]

It's probably not convincing on your end. [Waver is young, and still rash, and very much bad at admitting he's wrong. But he can at least recognize, thanks to this whole experience coupled with the present conversation, that the magecraft he's grown up with isn't the only game in town anymore.

Untraining those lessons out of him is a lifetime's worth of work. He just has no idea how to express that.]

[She can read minds (when she wants to) but this was a truly lucky guess! It simply happens to be the first world those traveling children went to, so it sticks out in her mind.]

Ah, that's good to know. It's a rare ability from where I'm from as well. For a long time there were only three known magicians that could allow people to cross dimensions. I was the only one in my world. The other two lived in different worlds.

And yes. That's quite similar. The cards got passed on and became more powerful once she adapted to them. And the cycle will no doubt continue.

[But Sakura is still young and no doubt has more adventures ahead of her. And unfortunately for her, she will never know who those cards will pass on to. Her time in that world is over.]

Oh? Well. You seem accepting at least and that's an excellent start. And let me just say you have me very curious about the world you're from and what magic exists there. You're knowledgable and know of a lot of magic that I myself am familiar with. Another time, at not such a late hour, I'd love to hear more.

[Waver's surprised by the strange line-ups between his world and this other one. Dimension hoping and passing along specific types of magic.

It is also hard for him not to puff up a little at being complimented. Yuuko's words are not the kind that he would have expected to glow in, but then, Rider has had that effect on him.]

There's time to come, I guess. I don't know what kind of schedule this whole place is on but...[He's been listened to so far. Waver doesn't want to let the opportunity to talk about magic on a equal footing go away.]

I'm Waver. Since I didn't give my name first off.

Well, I suspect we'll be here for a bit at the very least.

Oh? And I'm Yuuko. Yuuko Ichihara. The Witch of Space and Time, as I'm more commonly referred as. But Yuuko does just fine. There's no need to be formal with titles and honorifics.

It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Waver. You seem like quite the scholar. And I imagine you'll be quite the magician. They say everyone was given new powers here. If you don't mind me asking, what's yours? I'm just curious.

[Well now she's gone and done it, she's fed the ego that's been bruised over the years. There's a blush on Waver's face, but it's from pride for once, rather than embarrassment.]

It's nice to meet you too, Yuuko. [And he does try and get the pronunciation correct. The boy was just plucked from Japan after all.]

Smoke creation and manipulation. I'm an alchemist back home, so it's a big change. [He isn't sure if it is for the better or not. Bloodlines being tied to magecraft, it is something he couldn't do under circumstances back home.] What did you end up getting? Space and Time sounds like it's pretty all encompassing.

[Alchemy? It just keeps getting better and better.]

Manipulation hm? You better be careful with magic like that. But it does sound like quite a change.

And you're right. Space and time is pretty all encompassing... I've seen and dabbled in quite a bit. And if I haven't I knew someone who covered the rest of the bases.

The new power I was given seems a touch ironic considering the state I was in when I was presumably taken. [The dead giving life. It honestly makes her smile.] I can breath life into plants. Make them grow and such. It seems I've gone from a time witch to a green witch~ It's very... interesting. And different. But a good different.

[Yuuko either had seen a lot, or been around for a longer than usual time to have those kinds of contacts. But Waver knew better than to say those thoughts out loud, but they did ping something else.]

I think there's kind of fun in there, given how witches get portrayed as having green skin and the like. But that kind of limitation of your natural abilities, that's not bothering you?

[He figured that one was out of line after he asked it. Crap.]

[She gives a slight shake of her head at his question. She doesn't find it out of line or offensive. It's natural to ask something like that. To be so powerful and then to have some of that strength taken away...

It doesn't bother her.]

I knew a wizard who was so powerful that upon his death he split himself in two. He did this because he made a mistake so great that it threw the natural order of things into chaos. He never wanted that to happen again.

And even if you live wound in the thick chains of checks and balances sometimes it's still not enough...

More power, less power... I'm still who I am. I may not be a Space Time witch anymore but I can still grant wishes. I can still cast magic. [She is still a dreaming butterfly.] And that's what's important. Also~ Where I was before I woke up here can't even hold a candle to a place like this. If some of my magic being gone is the price of coming here... then so be it. That's a fair trade.

[Well, consider Waver surprised. There's no rebuke, and the answer is thoughtful. He breathes an internal sigh of relief at having not stepped on toes, then actually listens.

That kind of sense of self is something that does remind him of Iskandar. That level of confidence, or at least Yuuko projects that same level. There's none of the Iskandar levels of well, Iskandar, but there's a shared seed or two.]

That's some power. [And moreover:] Some wizard, with that level of foresight.

[No mage Waver knows would ever do that.]

I think you're the first person I've spoken with that's been able to take everything stride. Or even use the word fair.

[Talking about Clow is always hard and it probably always will be. Yuuko allows her eyes to close, for just a moment, before giving a nod and a smile.]

He was certainly something.

[Something special.]

I think that's just because I've been around for a while. In your life so many things happen. Some unmistakably tragic and some beyond amazing. There are good days and bad days and all the days in between. You lose and gain from day and no matter what happens the world always finds a way to right itself. It's always balanced. You learn to take things in stride one way or another. You learn to cope and continue your path even when it seems hard. No matter what is thrown at you the world isn't going to stop spinning.

We're in a new world with strange magic and possibly toxic crabs... However you feel about that situation doesn't stop tomorrow from coming. So taking a deep breath and continuing forward seems better than sulking about it. Oh, and a smile helps too~

[How long have you been around? That's the question on the tip of Waver's tongue, but it doesn't come out. The number doesn't matter in the end, it is all about wealth of experience, and it is clear to Waver that Yuuko has that in spades.]

How do you deal with the feeling that the world is going to stop spinning though?

[He's asking for a friend who is in the middle of a magi war for a wish granting cup. Just a friend.]

Toxic crabs aside, mind.

Well... [She curls some hair around her finger.] You try and deal with it gracefully.

Everything happens for a reason. That's not people's favorite saying but it's mine. The world will eventually end. Sometimes you have a part to play in it and sometimes you're just a bystander. Sometimes you can do something. Other times you can't. But knowing that you did everything you could win or lose... Finding a way to accept the inevitable does wonders.

I broke the universe you know~ By accident... but it did very much happen. And there was no guarantee it was going to fix itself. And for me the world did stop turning. And when that happens you make sure there are no regrets and you do everything that you need to do. So when it all ends you can feel at peace with it.

[Gracefully has never been Waver's strong suit. He's impulsive and very angry and prone to making everything seem like the end of the world. But he tries to listen to Yuuko here, really listen.

And he knows asking how did you break the universe? is the wrong take away. The last two sentences she says though? That's the real important thing to seize upon.]

I think most people don't like the saying because it usually gets said blithely and without anyone really explaining what they mean by it. [Versus what just happened.] Everything else is...worth trying.

[She smiles.] That's very true. People use it as an excuse when it should be used as an explanation.

And if there is one thing that I have learned in my long years it is that fate can be changed by those that are willing and determined enough to do so. The world may stop spinning because that is fate of all worlds but there should be someone determined enough to try spin it themselves.

[An excuse instead of an explanation. That was a good phrase. Good wording. Waver quietly noted it down in the back of his head.]

I think you have to have lived through enough problems to have that kind of perspective. [He pauses, then adds:] Thanks.

[This is all stuff he needed to hear.]

[Well. He's certainly not wrong. Her profession of granting wishes has given her insight to so many things both great and small. No to mention the very big mistake she made with that wizard. You learn, eventually, to take all things in stride. Doing anything else will eventually wear you down beyond repair. There's no need to elaborate on such things though. So she smiles and offers a small nod.]

You're most welcome.

[OPENING] mass visual telepathy log

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject