Spell 1: Arrival [Day 247]

[twinked_witch]

Who: Megaera D'Ashland, anyone who would be out and about in the evening.
Open: Open
When: Day 247, evening
Where: On the bridge to the Skyway, approaching the Bastion, -or- around the Bastion as she wals around.
What: One new girl trying to figure out her place.
Format: Anything, can match
Warnings: Megaera's not prone to acting past a PG-13-ish rating... But she's very affectionate if given the chance.



[Introductory character rambling that's frankly entirely skippable]

This place here seemed like her best chance of finding anywhere safe since Megaera had woken up... Some twenty-ish hours ago, she'd have to reckon. The Six Hells didn't always have a proper sense of time, and neither did this place seem to.

As she moved along the bridge, Megaera quickly pieced together her situation so far. She'd chosen to get some asleep after some research, hoping to refresh her mind to better solve a problem with modifying the fireball spell, as part of trying to actually advance as a wizard and learn higher-power spells. When she'd woken up, her house/lab was in a shambles, and almost all of her items were destroyed - disjunctioned, in fact. Then, she'd looked outside... And the world she'd known for decades simply wasn't there. The space around was some sort of chaotic... It made her think of an artist's depiction of Limbo, the realm of Chaos. Which meant she was willing to bet on the house falling apart and disappearing pretty quickly if given half the chance.

Megaera wasn't safe there. She had to gather up all she could - magic components, the spellbooks that were intact, some of her bedding, tools, and a couple of towels. And then, her home had to be abandoned. Like something out of the old apocalypse fiction.

Then, she'd headed out. While the alien skies around her made the idea of flying deeply uncomfortable, the ground was too spotty - and what lay beneath too endless-looking - for her to do anything else. Bat-like wings out, popping from point to point. She'd seen some sort of monument in the distance, so she'd headed in that direction... Until, finally, she'd made it to a stable-looking bridge, and started closer.

[A) Almost across the bridge...]

The area ahead at the other side of the bridge looked like... Something vaguely town-like? There were possibly people there, at least. Devil, demon, or mortal, she didn't know. The buildings didn't resemble designs she knew, though, so that was a clue-in. So she let her shapeshifting remove her wings. That was another thing she'd noticed - shifting had taken more out of her than it should have. Needless to say - not good. If something was destabilizing her essence... Well, she'd have to figure that out in time.

At least some of her most basic talents were still in play. They'd have to do, because it looked like someone was approaching. Also, curiously, there was the beginnings of nightfall here. She wasn't sure how that worked...

[B) Around the Bastion, later]

So. She'd learned the situation. The Six Hells - or at least the one she was on - were destroyed. Gone. Her entire purpose, at least in theory, had ended in a vast failure that wasn't, seemingly, even her kind's fault. When it came to her kind, she had to assume she was alone until she was - maybe - pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised. And so far, this was the only place that was safe from those... Things she'd seen in the distance.

An unenviable position, to be a devil stuck among mortals... But one she'd have to make the best of. Somehow. At least this amulet was useful for handling the 'Skyway'. That was good to know at least...

A good first step was to simply explore the safe area. Get a room from the 'apartment' complex - brilliantly simple idea for peasant-level housing, she guessed - and see what facilities the place had to offer. And, more importantly, what sorts of people the place had to offer. She would have to make friends here, after all. Back when she was human, she probably wouldn't have seen the problem with being the creepy loner type in the isolated tower over in some corner... But now, she knew better. Sentience came with being social. Thinking of people only for their practical value and use to her was, ironically, the fastest way to make sure they wouldn't be useful to her.

Perhaps this person would be someone she could get along with?

Comments

A

[schroedingersgun]

Maya had been about togo exploring once more. She was, after all, a drifter - not one to stay behind and just wait around.

On her own, for now - checking the water and all.

And as she did so, she spotted something. Or, rather, someone. Huh. Not somebody Maya had seen before.

She still waved at the woman before approaching her. Might get some information out of her!

Re: A

[twinked_witch]

Megaera, for her part, smiled a bit as she saw the girl approach.

"Ah, hello!", she said, as she got close enough to speak without raising her voice too much. Soft and gentle won the day. More importantly, maybe this human-looking girl had a clue what was actually going on.

She stopped just a couple paces away, leaning against the railing a bit. "First traveler I've seen since I woke up. Looking for something, perhaps?"

[schroedingersgun]

Maya nodded as she took a closer look at Megaera.

"I am - I'm going to look for the mines, to check for shards. How about you?"

She paused, then smirked. "You're not new, by any chance? Haven't seen you around at all."

[twinked_witch]

"Mines? Shards?"

...The tone of curiosity indicated Megaera was definitely new.

[schroedingersgun]

Maya nodded. "New arrival, then."

She looked around, then sighed. Nobody there to take over for her...

"I wouldn't normally do this, but might as well. You must've noticed that this ain't your world already, right?"

Some people break news carefully. And then there's Maya.

A

[scary_music]

[And as Megaera begins to enter Bastion proper, one(1) Ibuki shall accost her! This red haired woman seems nice enough... and if not, she can always run away screaming at the top of her lungs]

Greetings, weary traveler! Ibuki welcomes you to the Bastion!

At least, Ibuki thinks you look new! She's still kind of new, too!

Re: A

[twinked_witch]

[As Megaera was approached by the black-haired girl, she paused. That hairstyle resembled nothing she'd ever seen before - mortal or devil. Was she intentionally trying to invoke horns? How was her hair doing that??? The dyes she could recognize, but...

Never mind the girl's mode dress - looked like some weird and underutilized version of a sailor's dress, but no sailor would be caught dead wearing a skirt regardless of gender. And torn stockings - clearly the sign of someone who didn't have a lot of money. But then how could be afford the hair dyes?

Oh, she was speaking. Better react to that.]

Ah, hello there. I'm Megaera... And, uh, the Bastion?

[Yup. Very new.]

[scary_music]

Nice to meet mew, Meg-chan! I'm I-buki Mi-oda!

Yes! This is the Bastion! It has donut trees!

[Why were the donut trees the first thing worth mentioning about it?]

[twinked_witch]

[Huh. A new language... Well, dialect, really. Megaera quickly caught on to the honorific stucture - hooray inherent magic - but observed the curious choice of honorific played her way. This girl looked younger than Megaera looked, and was most likely quite a bit younger than Megaera actually was... But she obviously didn't mean disrespect, right?

Right. So, that meant... Wait, donut trees? What.]

Wait. Did you just say... How does that even work?

B

[daughterofursa]

Zuko's is not the most inviting face, all things considered. She's come in from a trip to the Skyway only a short time earlier herself, and it shows. Some of her hair has come out of her top-knot, her arms are showing a few scrapes, and of course she's still carrying her swords across her back, something she normally doesn't do within the Bastion.

Still, she recognizes a newcomer when she sees one. She nods and even manages a casual greeting, "Hey."

There might be a little wariness behind that, though, because she doesn't know if she'll have to be the one to break bad news, and that's never fun.

Re: B

[twinked_witch]

Megaera, for her part, could easily sense the certain... Unease the young woman in front of her had. She made a guess. "Hey. I'm... New to the Bastion. I know the basics, though."

Listening to people was one of the best tools any person could have. Introducing oneself first was also handy. She waves a gloved hand towards Zuko. "I'm Megaera. You?"

[daughterofursa]

"Oh." Yes, there's definitely some relief in learning that.

"Zuko. You seem to be taking it pretty well."

[twinked_witch]

"... Well, besides that my world going boom could mean really bad things for at least six other ones, sure, I guess."

Megaera sighed. "I've got to figure out what I can do, but for the moment, if that isn't much..."

A

[heptagram]

Patchouli was just now headed back to the Bastion from her daily exploration. Every day she would go out onto the Skyway, use some magic, and gather up a few shards. Simple, and it

probably explained the explosion she probably heard nearby as the other woman passed by her briefly, before looping back around toward that dark place, drifting along at just about average walking speed for a human. After passing Megaera, though, she turned around to investigate; she hadn't seen this person around.

"Have you just arrived?" she asked.

Re: A

[twinked_witch]

"Well. Yes," Megaera responded, looking towards the rather obvious spellcaster. Clearly someone of at least some power, to use a fireball spell like that.

"I'm Megaera. You?"

[heptagram]

"My name is Patchouli," she responded. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Megaera." It had taken her a fair length of time to actually mean that. However, living in the Bastion had kind of softened her up a little.

"Is there anything you would like to know?"

[twinked_witch]

"... Frankly, probably quite a lot. This entire mess is... Well, messy. And if it's what I think it is, really bad for quite a few worlds..."

B

[windgod]

[It seemed that finding people near the monument was beginning to become something of a habit for the young man as Ippo spied someone new out of the corner of his eye, or at least, someone he'd never seen before. She seemed to be generally looking around, not lost, but definitely observing things with the same curiosity as someone who'd never seen such things before...it was a pretty safe bet she'd never been here before.

With a smile, he pulled back his hood and raised a hand in the air to get her attention before he approached; it might have seemed more friendly if his face wasn't so gaunt, his eyes ringed with sleep deprivation, or the bruises on his neck standing out against his skin...but at least he managed to sound friendly.]

Hello! Are you new here? Do you need help finding anything?

Re: B

[twinked_witch]

[Megaera, for her part, focused on the tone of voice, though she did observe that the fellow was clearly not taking the best care of himself. By the Six Great Lords if she knew why, but...]

Not yet, I don't think. I just want to know this area a little more; if it's the only safe region, I definitely need to have some understanding of what's around, especially if I'm going to start getting back to my real goal.

Sorry for the lateness, work happened ^_^;;;

[windgod]

[If only she knew that right now he was taking the best care of himself in the entire time he'd been here.]

Well, I can give you a tour if you'd like? There's plenty of interesting stuff to see at least!

[It wasn't the most impressive consolation considering this person's world had just exploded...but at the very least, mammoths and donut trees might help with things a little bit.]

I know this feeling.

[twinked_witch]

[Megaera shook her head.]

Not a worry. I'm more the type to explore the immediate surroundings on my own. Gotta work off of my own curiosity first, right?

B

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Time to find out.

Here, north of the lake, is the donut bush. Nearby are the cubic oak tree and a clump of gritleaf. The ridiculous flora is probably what drew her to this particular area, but as it turns out someone else is here with an stack of square logs and several planks of slightly uneven thickness, currently cleaning up some basic carpentry tools. Said someone is a man in his 20s with armpit-length brown hair held off of his face with a black bandanna, a reddish-brown goatee, a ring in each ear, and a thick curved barbell in his septum, wearing a dull green tank top, charcoal gray cargo shorts, red high-top skateboard shoes, and a brown leather belt with a rather elaborate belt buckle visible. He and his clothes are both soaked in sweat, and he doesn't seem to have noticed Megaera yet.

Re: B

[twinked_witch]

"... Huh?", Megaera said, as she stared at the cubic oak tree. "How does this even... What kind of Wizard made this?!"

Yup, she was definitely off her guard. Again.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

The man startles at the sudden voice and turns to look at Megaera, then follows her gaze.

"That, uh, that'd be me."

His voice is low and actually a little hard to hear.

[twinked_witch]

Megaera didn't seem particularly startled by the man's presence, turning towards him with a smile. "A wish, then?"