[Last Time, on El WHAT?!: The group finally made it to civilized lands and entered the free city of Tyr, while receiving warnings about using defiling magic in the city, and also a warning that something called a 'preserver' might be mistaken for a defiler and executed. They made it to the colliseum and beheld a bloodless spectacle of violence, which then ended so the new king could be coronated. The king appeared among a fanfare atop... ...the great ziggurat, and proved to be none other than Brian Nowack, the old school brain from back home.] [We pick up right where we left off. The King-to-be is atop the ziggurat, and the crowd are out of their seats cheering.] [Session Start] * Shiho begins flashing with light. Hey! Isn't that...? Uh. Guys. He look familiar? * Cara doesn't notice Shiho's change, and STARES at the new king. "That's....that's..." I think I've seen him someplace... I know! I bet it's his other world counterpart, like in all the manga. * Shiho strobes, flashes brightly, and though you guys don't seem to notice, the crowd sure does. Uh-oh.. Shiho is plushifying.. * In fact, you seem to have drawn the attention of 'Tithian' himself. * Daphne blinks once, twice, and waves to the nice people. Especially 'Tithian'. * Shiho plushifies, and guards seem to appear around you as if by magic. In fact, it probably _is_ magic, since they're floating above the crowd. * GuardCaptain looks down at Amy. * Amy looks around. "Oh, no worries. She's just turning into a plushie. It's a curse or something." Hello there. * Guard2 stands menacingly at one point of a triangle with the other two. Ah...er... Hi, uh, look, sorry about that, officer. * GuardCaptain has a horribly stern look on his face. If it weren't for that, he'd be a hunk. He's well muscled, but not overly bulky, and you can't see his hair under his helmet, but it's probably gorgeous. * Up on the ziggurat, 'Tithian' motions and says something. * Ichi bows to the nearest gaurd. "I'm sorry for the interuption, but my friend is cursed and things like this seem to happen at the worst possible time." * GuardCaptain cocks his head to one side as if listening to something. * GuardCaptain uncocks his head and stares down at Amy. * GuardCaptain reaches down and takes the Shiho plushie. * Cara looks like she's panicking. "Ah! Ahahaha! Nothing to worry about, really! She just does this sometimes! It's alright!" * Cara laughs hysterically. H..hey. You can't take that... That's our friend! * Ichi nods. Hey, whoa there, buddy. * GuardCaptain gives the two other guards a LOOK. * Guard1 reaches down, takes Amy and Daphne by the upper arm, and vanishes in a flash of light. Wah! * Ichi blinks * Guard2 reaches down, takes Ichi and Cara by the upper arm, and vanishes in a flash of light. * Daphne is about to try and grab the plush from the guard when she's vanished away. c.c; Hey! Yipe! * You reappear in a small, totally enclosed room with no doors or windows, only a pair of small vents for air to circulate. * Guard1 steps back from his pair of riders. * Guard2 steps back, too. ...shit. * Cara looks around, horrified. * Ichi looks dazed and confused, as usual. W..what is going on? Let us go! We didn't do ANYTHING! Give us back Shiho! Why are we here? Why are we here? * Guard2 vanishes. * Guard1 vanishes. * You are now alone in the room. You...you monsters! ... What's going on? I think we're under arrest, Amy. * Cara flops down on her butt and stares at the wall. So what do we do while we're under arrest? ... Sing a song? * Daphne has another swig of nectar. "Well, if what I've been... what I've heard is any indication, we sit and be bored a lot." You can never get bored when you have songs to sing. ^_^ I doubt we're getting a phone call here. And you'll note the distinct lack of Miranda Rights Recital. Why are we in jail though? Is there a "No Plushies" law? If so, this is a very evil town. * Ichi takes off his backpack and sits. We're in a pretty effective prison. I think they assumed that the plushie thing was defiling magic. I really, really hope they're not right, and that there's some way we can prove it. Shouldn't they have started with the tar and feathers then? And the nasty nasty drawing and quartering? * Cara pulls her knees up to her chest and hugs them, then begins rocking back and forth. Wouldn't want to put off the coronation for something as common as an embarrasing execution. * Daphne has another swig, and then decides that's enough for now. * Daphne puts the cap back on the wineskin and slings it back down to her side. * GuardCaptain appears in a brief flash of light in one corner of the room. Brian must have recognized us. That's it. That has to be it. So they've taken us here because it's the fastest way. It's all a misunderstanding. Everything's alright. * Cara sounds like she's trying to convince herself. * Amy stares at the GuardCaptain. "Oh, hello.^_^ Why are we in prison?" Everything is all right? Is that what you think? * Daphne looks at Cara and frowns, then looks back to the Guard Captain. "No, but it's what we'd like to believe." * Ichi nods in agreement. * Cara looks up at the Guard Captain with a glassy eyed, vacant gaze. "Yeah." I am here for your testimony. What did you do? Uh, nothing. Our friend has a curse that makes her turn into a plushie randomly. * Amy nodnods. "S'what happened." * GuardCaptain blinks. You are... creative liars. * Daphne shrugs. "We did nothing. Shiho turned into a doll. It happens to on occasion, and we have no control over it, and neither does she." We're not lying. We have no reason to lie, because lying is bad, and we didn't do anything wrong. If you know a way to help her, we would be gratefull if you could. I give you one last chance. If you will not tell me the truth, I must assume you used defiling magic. * Daphne snickers. "No, if I were going to lie I'd tell you a *real* good story. With Martians and everything." ( Scheisse. ) I am telling the truth. Really. Honestly, I don't even know what defiling magic IS. Defiling? You think we defiled? We couldn't defile. We didn't even use any magic. Someone else did. ... You will tell me how you managed to hide your magic. * Cara smiles. It's a very creepy smile. Really. I don't even know any magic. Well, sorta. I'm a druid-in-training. We didn't have to hide our magic because we didn't use any. * Daphne shrugs. "I can't use magic. It doesn't like me." We didn't use any magic Mr. Guard. * GuardCaptain clicks his tongue. I don't know how to hide magic. And I don't know how to turn people into plushies. I've only been doing magic for six months. I only do little things. Why would I turn my friend into a plushie? That doesn't make sense. so you admit that you are a defiler? A defi.. no sir, I'm a druid-in-training. What is a defiler? I bet it's a bad person. * GuardCaptain waves at Amy, and sound ceases to come from her throat. * Daphne changes her mind about having had enough and uncaps one of the wineskins again. She has a rather large swig from it before putting the cap back on. * Amy clutches her throat. * Amy frowns at the man. What did you do to Amy? So, Officer. What's that trick you just did? Do you admit to being a defiler? * Cara 's smile becomes a big, scary grin at the mention of defilers. * GuardCaptain STARES at Cara. * Ichi notices Cara's grin "...Cara?" * Daphne rubs her face and sighs. "Okay. Y'want the truth. Fine. You ahve time fer a story? 'Cause if you don't, you won' be able to get the truth." * Cara grins at Ichi. "What's wrong, Ichi?" You've got this scary smile right now. I do? * Ichi nods. * GuardCaptain narrows his eyes. * Cara grabs her lips and physically pulls the corners of her mouth down. "Is that better?" O.o "...Uhm....no acuatly." * Cara then looks at the guard. "Did you say something?" If you will not tell the truth now, I will wait for a time and return. You will be more truthfuly inclined then, perhaps. * Daphne sighs. "You'll have to excuse poor Cara. She came down with a terrible case of the insanes yesterday." And no, I'll happily tell the truth right now. The whole truth. You probably won't believe it any more believed the Cliff's-Notes version, but hey. Silence, woman. I will hear it from that other. * GuardCaptain glares at Cara. Are you a defiler? No. Not a defiler. Definitely not a defiler. Plants are nice. Don't want to hurt nature. So you say. How did you hide your magic from our detection? * Amy frowns and looks thoughtful. * Daphne frowns. "What, you can just detect magic?" * Amy tries to say something, then remembers that she can't talk. I didn't use magic. Didn't I already say that? I forgot. Did I say that I didn't use magic already? * Cara scratches her head. So you claim that the person who disappeared... is your friend... and under this... 'curse'? I think the lady did it to her. She watches us. Ichi saw her, once. * Amy nodnods. The lady? You work for the lady? Spies? Ask Ichi about the lady. I never saw her. * Daphne nods thoughtfully. No, we don't work for her. We never met her. Don't know who she is. * Amy moves her head left and right, in the hopefully universal sign for NO. Don't work for anyone. Why are you in Tyr!? * Cara looks up at the guard pleadingly. "We just want to get home! Can you help us get home?" * Amy again tries to say something, but can't. * GuardCaptain blinks. Because we have become lost, and cannot find our way. * GuardCaptain waves his hand, and Amy's voice returns. * GuardCaptain disappears in a flash of light. ... I didn't like him. He was mean. ... * Daphne hums thoughtfully. "Well. That was very edutaining." Maybe he can help us get home. ^_^ ...I'm still lost. He called us liars. What a .. a... a.. DOO DOO HEAD! * Cara hums to herself. Don't take it personally, Amy. Guilty until proven yadda. I thought it was innocent until proven guilty. No, that's only back home. Things seem to be different here. * Daphne chuckles at a thought. Just a bit, yes. I wanna go home.. we've been gone for a long time. Everyone is gonna be so worried. Home. Home would be nice. This place sucks. * Daphne stands. "Funny. I wonder how they use magic without doing the 'defiling' thing." It's not all bad. There are cute animals. Maybe there's more than two kinds of magic here. * Cara looks slightly more lucid now. "I...I think they do it by hurting themselves." Maybe. Maybe that's why they didn't 'detect our magic', however the hell that's supposed to be done. Uh... hurting themselves? Why would they do something silly like that? * Ichi tries to remember something. So they could use magic, of course. Magic is nice, remember? When I tried to make it rain, it hurt me. But it hurt good. .. Hurt good? No hurt can be good. Hurt is bad. That was it! When I attacked the thing with the wind, the same thing happened to me. * Daphne tries to keep from laughing at that. It hurt. But it felt nice, too. ... You're weird Cara. It was...strange. * Cara scratches her head. "But...it's true! I don't like getting hurt, but I liked that..." Nobody should like getting hurt. That's just wrong. There are lots of things that are wrong around here. * Cara looks at the ceiling. "I wonder if they're listening to us right now." If so, I bet they think you're weird too. I bet they know what I'm talking about. Ichi knows what I'm talking about, right? Hm. Hadn't thought about that. Yeah, they're prolly listening, if they're able. And I bet Shiho does, too. Please don't start hurting yourself to feel nice Cara. We might not be able to get you healed. * Cara looks at Amy, her lower lip trembling. "You think I'm a freak now!" I don't intend to do it again...it was just too strange. Uh, no... To each their own. I just think that you should try to avoid doing it so that we don't have to worry about you getting hurt. Ichi, tell her I'm right! The magic hurts, but it feels good, right? I'm gonna try to take a nap. Wake me up when the himbo returns, please. Yes, that's it exactly. I don't WANT to do it again! It feels bad, too! * Daphne takes her flannel jacket out of her backpack and uses it as a makeshift pillow, leaning against one of the walls and closing her eyes. Well... maybe we should sing a song to pass the time. Maybe if we can get somebody to belive us we can ask why the magic is like that. * Some unknown amount of time later... * The wall behind Daphne disappears, spilling her backwards. *** NPC1 is now known as Tithian * Tithian looks down at Daphne. Wah! W.. what's going on? * Ichi stands and bows. "Hello." * Cara looks up at Tithian. * Tithian looks around at the four people present. You're late for class, you know. * Daphne looks up. "Why, hello there, Brian. I do hope I can call you Brian?" * Tithian looks at his wrist, which distinctly lacks a watch. "You should be in... english, unless I miss my guess." How did you get here? Not this room, but this world? English? A lot like you did, I imagine. And yeah, I know. I decided to play hookie today. It's a bad habit, I know. You turn into a plushie too? No. Oh. And please... call me Tithian. Why did you have your guards arrest us? We didn't do anything! Then it's diffrent for you. Uh.. ok Br.. Tithian. Why are we here? We didn't break any laws! You certainly _did_ do something. You interrupted the coronation with defiling magic. Shiho turned into a plushie! We didn't do anything. It wasn't us. It just happens. * Tithian rolls his eyes. * Daphne stands up and stuffs her flannel back into her backpack. "No, actually, we didn't." Whoever sent us here turns us into plushies all the time. * Tithian reaches behind his back and brings out the Shiho plushie. * Tithian tosses it to Cara. We have no controll over that. Shihoplushie! Whew. I thought we lost her. Shiho would have been SO angry. Relax. * Cara clutches the plushie protectively. * Daphne smirks. Now, as I was saying... You interrupted the coronation with defiling magic. WE didn't. You'll be executed in ten days, at high noon, in the colliseum. WHAT?! O.O NANI!? Wh.. what? We didn't DO anything. BRIAN YOU CREEP! * Tithian waves his hands, there is a flash of light, and you are now in a large, richly appointed room. W...what happened? Have a seat, whereever you're comfortable. Oh, I teleported us. No big deal. * Ichi blinks in confusion and takes the advice. Why should I sit? You want to kill me. * Daphne has a seat on the nearest chair. "Nice trick." * Cara GLARES at Brian. I don't want to kill you. In fact, I'm not going to kill you. But the public saw you interrupt my coronation with defiling magic. So somebody has to die convincingly, is that it? SO you're going to let THEM kill us. Somebody has to die, yes. They'll be four convincing duplicates. ...huh? ... Du.. duplicates? Stunt doubles, you might say. * Cara 's face breaks into a smile. "I'm sorry. I misjudged you, Br...Tithian." It'll be the performance of a lifetime, for them. A.. are you gonna kill someone else? * Daphne nods. "Magic, or are four real people going to die for our sakes?" Yes. That isn't right! You can't kill someone else! I certainly can. Is there some other way out of this? I'm the king, after all. It isn't right! You can't kill someone for no reason. * Daphne raises an eyebrow. "Hm. Clones?" We've got plenty of convicts happy to do the job. Murderers, rapists, mind-killers, and dozens of other crimes. They'll be happy to take your place. And if they're not... Well, it's not like they have much choice. What's a mind-killer? Or do I not want to know? But you can't murder someone for no reason, even a bad person! They'd prolly be executed eventually anyway, Amy. They're going to die anyway. They may as well serve a purpose. ... The jails are very small, and we can't afford to waste them on people who don't deserve to live. ...I...I don't like the idea of someone else dying for me...but I'd rather a bad person die instead of me. ... I don't like it. Well, I suppose you could always go and be executed. * Daphne smirks. "Got anything to drink, Highness?" ... ...I do not wish any to die, but I do not wish my own death more than anothers... I.. I don't like letting someone die.. It just isn't right! * Tithian reaches out to thin air. A bottle of... something floats off the bar across the room and over to Daphne. * Cara hugs Amy. "It...it's bad, but it'll be okay." No, it isn't! He's going to kill someone for a crime nobody commited! Somebody did...the magic happened. * Daphne raises an eyebrow. "Very nice. You'll have to teach me that sometime." She uncorks the bottle and smells it. ...No, he's going to kill somebody for the crime they commited. * Tithian reclines lazily. What Ichi said. If a rapist dies, you won't see me bawling. Mind if I drink out of the bottle, or should I get a glass? * Cara looks at Br-Tithian. "What's defiling magic, and how do you do magic without defiling?" ... I don't like it. He's still killing someone. Go right ahead, Daphne. Thanks. * Tithian focuses on Cara. * Daphne takes a sip at first. So... you've discovered some of the intricacies of magic on this world. It hurts, but it feels good... It's creepy. * Ichi nods. "Why is that?" It's part and parcel of the power. You're channeling the pure undilluted power of life. * Daphne mms and rolls the liquor around in her mouth before swallowing. She nods approvingly. So...it takes from our life to do it? Not normally. Most people don't dare to draw from their own life force. Too dangerous. Then why does it hurt? * Ichi sits and listens. * Daphne closes the bottle again. "So they take from the life around 'em instead." Because you were tearing away your own life force to power a spell, I imagine. I can't help but think that would be... painful. Br.. Tithian. Do you know how we can get home? No. Oh darn. * Daphne sighs. "Ah well." She looks thoughtful. "So, what's powering the tricks you and your guards are using?" I'll get to that in a bit, Daphne. I don't know how you can get home because Athas is cut off from the rest of the multiverse. I don't know how you got here, or even how _I_ got here. It shouldn't have been possible. We went to this spell school, and this man and his cute pet sent us here. He was SUPPOSED to send us home. * Daphne nods and listens patiently. We were trying to get home from Colo...what she said. How do you know so much about magic and the multiverse and stuff? The only thing I can imagine is that someone expended an immense amount of power in order to bring us here. Why would they want us here? Does someone hate us? * Tithian shrugs. I don't know. If this is a prison, it's certainly a nice one. I don't mind it at all. As for my knowledge... I've been here for ten years. Yeah, but you have a nice throne room and stuff... We've been walking through the desert. ...ten years?! Ten...years? And we met Spike, which is nice, but the rest of the .. TEN YEARS? * Daphne goes wide-eyed at that. "Ten years?" W.. wow. You've been here AGES. We've only been gone...about six months. Plus wandering in the desert. * Tithian frowns. Jesus Christ, man. I'm amazed you still recognized us after that long. That's quite a time differential. * Tithian smiles. I have an eiditic memory. * Daphne chuckles. "Ah. That must be it." Eiditic? What does that mean? I'm glad you do. ^_^ I don't think I've heard that word before. Photographic. Oh. That's the common term for it. Ahh. I never forget. I have instant recall of everything I've ever sensed. * Daphne nods. "Well. That's very lucky, for us." You're lucky. My guard nearly had you executed as defilers. Yes, he did seem rather set on that. We've nearly died several times so far. Most of those times happening since we came to this world. * Tithian grins widely. Athas is a harsh planet. The other place wasn't nearly so dangerous. It's had a long few millenia. Yes, it is. But.. we gotta find a way off this world. We gotta go home, and I wanna learn to be a better druid and it's really hot.. And it's very, very dry out there. And I'm not talking about lack of water. And Daphne almost went insane because of lack of beer. * Ichi nods. Well, there's plenty of liquor here. Yes, there is. ^_^ I'll get to the point, because I have business to attend to. And some elves tried to steal our stuff, except Shiho stopped them and one of them has a crush on her. * Daphne decides to have another sip of the stuff in the bottle, and does so. * Ichi looks at Tithian attentivly. I want you to work for me. W.. work for you? * Cara scratches her head. "What could we do for you?" * Daphne shrugs. "Fine with me." But you've got all those gaurds and people...What do you need us for? I could be a vet maybe... You can perform a great many services for me. Exactly what they will be remains to be seen. * Daphne looks at the bottle. "What is this, by the way?" But you will be my catspaw, essentially. There are a great many places my guards and templars cannot go. You will go there, and retrieve objects, bring back reports, and other such things. * Daphne chuckles at that. ... You're not gonna make us hurt anyone, are you? Or any poor animals.. You won't be my assassins. I have more effective people for that. Well, I'd like to help you. You're someone we know, and you saved our lives. ^_^ S.. sure. We could help I guess.. as long as we don't hurt anyone. I'll never force you to do harm. You may find yourself forced by circumstances, but never by me. Would we still be allowed to look for a way home? * Tithian grins. * Daphne nods. "Then we'll be... secret agents?" She seems slightly amused by the prospect. I'll throw my own resources into the search. Including my _personal_ power. Thanks a lot! Alright! Then I will be happy to serve as I can. * Daphne grins, and then tilts her head. "You will... which means you haven't been. Like it here, huh?" You'll also have training whenever needed. Of course I like it here. I'm the king. * Tithian wiggles his eyebrows at Daphne. Don't you miss home? Feh. * Cara giggles, the first time she's genuinely laughed in a couple days. * Daphne snickers and winks. "Well. It's good ta' be the king." Back home I was beaten by the jocks when they weren't asking me to do their homework. I couldn't get a date because nobody wanted to date the brain. Here, not only am I a king, but I'm one of the ten most powerful people on the planet. Which would _you_ choose? * Daphne chuckles. "Can't fault you for your choice. It's just that this world didn't make a good first impression with me." Home, because my parents would get REALLY worried about me, and I wouldn't want to hurt them.. But, it's your choice. To each their own. * Ichi thinks "...I'd probibly stay here, but I'd try to find a way to help my friends and family back home." Yes... to each... his own. I don't like this place much, but I guess I can't blame you for wanting to live here. ^_^ I have matters to attend to. You can sleep here for the night. * Tithian waves his hand and disappears. * Daphne stands. "Hey, thanks for all this. Good luck with your... nevermind." I wonder if everyone in the school got teleported. * Amy frowns. W.. what was that? * Cara finds a place to sit and plops herself down. * Amy looks around. What was what? ... * Daphne stretches, and opens the bottle again. "What was what, Amy?" It's.. hard to explain. I felt something weird when he teleported. * Daphne frowns. "Odd. Like what?" Like Nature was in pain.. but it was willing to give up the pain.. * Daphne frowns. "That sounds like... hmmm." I felt it too...it was like when I...when I... That sounds like when I cast... But he didn't use it up. It's like he had an endless source. Well well. ...do you see that? You mean do I understand, or can I see something visually? See what? ::looks around:: See what? * Cara gestures. "There's like...this ring...of energy around us." Ring of energy? Where? * Daphne looks. "No, I can't. I'll take your word that it's there, tho, which makes it more interesting." * Ichi looks around "I don't see it." It's around us...I can't quite 'see' it, but I can sense it so much that it's almost visible...argh. I'm no good at explaining this stuff. Looks like our ol' pal Brian has an external energy source that doesn't die when used. Lucky him. * Daphne goes to a window she just noticed, bringing the bottle of good stuff with her. She looks out. That must be what the guards use, too. * Ichi nods. "I wonder why he didn't tell us about it...didn't he say he would?" Mmm. Prolly. Maybe he'll tell us when he has time. Maybe. He seemed... hm. * Outside the tower, in a ring around the palace and in a broken ring farther out, stand an immense garden of trees. Wooow.. * Daphne whistles. "Wow. Never would've thought I'd see so much green on this Godforsaken dustball." Huh? * Cara goes and looks out the window. What? ::walks to a window:: I like it. ^_^ ...that must be what he was drawing from. Those trees have an incredible amount of magic in them... He was hurting the trees? No, I don't think so. Huh. Apparently they enough to not wither and die when ...I dunno, 'drawn on' or something. Prolly restricted to use by a few important people. And anybody else who tries gets... Which is why they don't. And which is prolly at least part of the reason that it was such a big deal when they thought, right or wrong, that we did. Huh. * Cara suddenly shivers. "I...I can see this stuff now because...because...of that spell." Don't worry about it, Cara. Hm. Wonder if they have something to eat here... * Daphne goes to look for foodage. But...I don't WANT to look at things like that! Like nothing but a source of power... * Cara sniffles. And you shouldn't! Trees are living things. But...I can't help it! I see the energy coming from them! I don't wanna see it! Hm. Wonder what kinda' gardener you'd need to tend trees like that. * Ichi thinks "I read in a book that the stars a just big reactors burning in space...but that doesn't stop them from being nice to look at." * Daphne looks at Ichi. "You read a book?" Yeah, but you don't literally see the stars as an energy source! It's been known to happen. I see the trees, but I also see the life coming from them... If you're an advocate of solar energy you do. Sort of. * Cara looks at Ichi. "No. You don't understand." * Ichi nods. "I usualy don't, but I keep trying anyway." I see the trees. But I also see the big ring of energy coming from the trees. I could draw on that energy if I wanted...but I don't WANT TO! Then don't, Cara. Then do..What Daph said. But...but...but I have to look at it all the time. ;_; * Daphne frowns at that. "Hum. I think I understand your position, Cara." She punctuates this remark with another drink from the bottle she's holding. * Ichi scratches his head. I want to see things normally. You guys can look at these and see that they're pretty, but all I see... * Daphne shakes her head. "Mmm. Think'um gonna get that nap now." * Daphne looks around for the most obviously bedlike thing in the room. * Cara buries her face in her hands and starts to cry again. * There are plenty of couches, but nothing actually looking much like a bed. * The couches are long and comfy, though. * Daphne lies down on a couch, then. She caps be bottle and puts it next to her backpack, which she luckily remembers to take off before lying down. * Ichi walks up to Cara and puts one of his hands on her shoulder. * Cara takes her hands off her face and grabs Ichi in a hug, crying all over him. * Ichi hugs Cara back and tries to comfort her. "Don't worry. I'm sure that we'll work something out. We've got all the people here to help us now remember?" * Cara looks up. "But...but...can I even tell them what's wrong? What if Brian decides to kill me for real?" I...I defiled...for real...even though it wasn't in the city... I wouldn't let him, besides you didn't know what you were doing. Re-really? You'd try to stop him, even though he's so strong? Yes I would. * Cara hugs Ichi tighter. "Thank you." You're welcome. * Cara doesn't stop crying, though. * Daphne murmurs something and rolls over onto her side, facing away from Ichi and Cara. * Amy grins at Cara and Ichi, and goes to find something else to do. * Ichi continues to hold Cara and wishes he could think of more to say to comfort her. * Daphne begins snoring softly. z.z * Cara releases Ichi, and pulls away, wiping her eyes. "S-sorry." It's not your fault. * Cara tries to smile. "I'm turning into a big crybaby." At least you wern't scared by a bunch of little green things. * Cara stops smiling suddenly, and frowns. "Bleh. I'm turning to the weepy damsel in distress who can't do anything for herself." Don't want to be in that sort of story. No way. * Cara nods to herself. "Right. No more being a wimp. Have to deal with what I did, and stop whining about it." Then we need to find something else you can do if you don't want to use magic, the King did say that we could get training in things, or maybe you could get trained to use whatever it is that he and his men use instead. * Cara nods. Yeah. Maybe I can get them to help me without telling them what happened... Without telling us _what_? Wah! * Tithian walks in the door. Yipe! If we're going to work together, you're going to have to be honest with me. * Amy jumps in surprise from the random nothing she was doing. "Wah!" * Daphne maintains her slumber, although the isn't snoring anymore. * Cara gets to her feet and looks at Tithian. "Well, um..." When we were in the desert... * Ichi stands near Cara. I cast...I casted... A...a really bad spell. * Tithian blinks. * Ichi puts his hand back Cara's shoulder. A... 'really bad spell.'? I didn't mean to do it...it was an accident. But...the plants around me were dead when I was done. Ah, you defiled. Is that all? That's defiling, then? Yes. * Tithian takes a seat. Is that all? Sh.. she killed all those plants! Even if she didn't mean to, it's no small thing. You kill people for it and then..."Is that all?" ...Amy... It wasn't done in the city, was it? No. I'm not blaming you Cara. I'm wondering how he can be so.. so... calm. Well then, it wasn't against the law. Besides, I'm a defiler myself. Quite a powerful one, if I do say so myself. * Ichi blinks. You.. you kill plants too? * Cara sighs with relief, then blinks. Not when I can avoid it, of course. That's what the Garden of Life is for. That's the ring of trees, right? Oh. * Daphne rolls over, blinking. * Daphne decides to yawn, while she's at it. Quite. Those trees are Trees of Life. Difficult to create, but worth every bit of power poured into them. So they're magical...that's why there's so much life coming from them. As long as even one of those trees is there, they'll provide all the power necessary for a spell. The energy _is_ limited, but there's so much that destroying one is difficult at best. * Cara nods. I see. What about the guards? Are they defilers too? The last time a tree died in the Garden was during my battle with Kalak. That also happens to be the only recorded time one of the Trees has died. Some of them. They're forbidden to cast a defiling spell, however. Pain of death and all that. So...how do they cast the spells without hurting themselves, then? They draw the energy slowly. It's difficult to get the hang of, and inefficient, but if you pull slowly, nature will give you all you need to power your spell. That's preserving. That's what he meant, then... Ahh. So those are the only ways to do magic here? Drawing on yourself, defiling, or preserving? Well, arcane magic, anyway. Divine magic is another matter entirely. Oh, yeah. Amy's magic is different. And drawing on yourself is horribly inefficient and dangerous. Much better to learn how to harness your psi talents. ...psi talents? That's because I don't use magic. I'm a druid-in-training. ^_^ Psi? Psionics. ESP, telekinesis, and a huge range of other things. No worship required, no ties to the land like druids have, and you don't need to draw on things around you. It's entirely internal. The people here have it down to a science. You have psychics here? Cool... Wow. In fact, Tyr is home to one of the largest Psionic Universities in the region. Do you have to be born a psychic to do it? Anybody can do it, with training. Some have more inborn talent than others, but most people have at least _some_ small talent that they can do. Neat... Everybody has the Will. Not everybody has the discipline to learn the Way. Personally, I find both magic and psionics to be quite useful. * Tithian looks out the window. * Cara nods slowly. If you'd like, Cara, I can teach you. But later. * Tithian vanishes. * Cara blinks. ...He likes doing that doesn't he? * Cara rubs the back of her neck. "I guess he does." Psionics, huh... [End Session]