thebastion | Spell 1: Arrival [Day 247]

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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I-" Zuko rubs her arm. Okay, so she knows she's fit, but why is a pretty girl telling her about it? This is weirder than that time she got asked out. Not that there's any real comparison because this is a girl. Maybe she just feels sorry for her, or something.

"I'm not... No one would want to be me."

"Oh? And what makes you say that?"

Megaera's response may have been aimed to coax an answer... But it was also about challenging Zuko's mind a little. If Megaera herself had to to think differently now, she was going to encourage others to do the same...

Zuko is still half-convinced she's being teased, and Megaera's question feels less like coaxing and more like prodding an old wound.

"Isn't it obvious? No one wants half their face burned off. It's not 'pretty' any way you look at it."

"... Besides that. Restoration treatment magic would be good for that, but... Well, that's not what I do as a Wizard."

"What do you mean, besides that? Isn't that enough?"

It's not just about appearances. The scar represents a lot of negative things in her life.

"I'm not sure I'd say so. The burn does cover a fair area, yes, but the worst is covered by your hair, and the rest shows of a fit, highly skilled young woman. Someone who could do with a bit more belief in herself, perhaps."

"I can believe in myself without being delusional enough to call myself pretty."

Frankly, not many other people have believed in her, and her appearance never seemed worth fighting for. Probably the only person back home who ever called her pretty was her uncle, and she always figured he was talking about inner beauty because that was the kind of person he was.

"Pretty is many things... But I'd say a big part of it is confidence. Not just a confident front, mind, but something a bit deeper. It's in how you carry yourself, and how you handle things."

Pointedly, as she spoke, Megaera slouched a bit, consciously shifting to make herself look less confident than she usually was for a few seconds. The problem being, with heeled boots like she wore, the attempt to make a point simply resulted in her falling right over.

Whoops.

She might have some kind of point. Confidence is... sort of attractive, in its own way. Zuko hasn't let herself think about it too much, because she's never found it attractive in the right people.

Megaera's abrupt loss of balance saves her from coming up with a decent retort.

"Things like falling?" Zuko offers her a hand up.

"That does rather undermine my intended point, doesn't it?", Megaera said, taking the hand and moving up. She doesn't seem to be superbly strong from her grip - a bit over human average, but the grip's soft, used to working precisely over the force of a fighter.

Sighing, she reverted to her usual, confident, and more importantly stable step.

"It's funny - I work in heels all the time, but step out of my comfort zone a little..."

Zuko's grip is strong, but it's in the process of helping Megaera up that she finally notices just how high those slits in her tunic go and she's just going to be looking away.

"Can't say I've ever worn them."

Megaera quickly stabilizes, standing back up and taking her full poise again.

"They're very common among female wizards in my world. The idea is that we're showy and flashy and all that, since we don't need to fight directly... At least in theory. Hard to say how well it works in practice."

Good, she doesn't seem to have noticed.

"Sounds arrogant to me. What happens if you're outmatched?"

"A Wizard who is doing their job right never is. You don't bite off more than you can chew, and part of your job is knowing how much you can chew."

Megaera chuckled. "A little planning lets you pick just the right spells to memorize for the day to ensure victory. That only makes sense, in my opinion."

"Not biting off more than you can chew sometimes means running."

Which Zuko thinks she might have some difficulty with in those heels.

"I've got the right tool for that, too, of course. Flight magic is faster than running, so..."

"Your magic might not work as well here as you're used to. You should learn its limits before relying on it."

"Yeah, I've noticed. It feels like there's less mana or... Something like that, available to me. I'm thinking maybe three spells a day, besides a few I've got particularly mastered? Certainly going to be annoying, dealing with such a low limit..."

"Yeah. You start to rely on other skills."

"True that. Pure weaponsmanship, the tricks you can stably hold for long times... Persistent Spellworking would be really useful here."

Zuko nods. "I don't know what that is, but I think you get the idea."

"I've gotta learn to work with the hand I'm dealt," Megaera responded. "Anything less is just not stylish enough."

Megaera seems pretty rational overall, but Zuko just has to quirk her eyebrow at this 'stylish' nonsense.

"Right. As long as you get that there's no stylish way to get your butt kicked, I guess."

"No. But there is using teleportation magic to get the hell out of a situation before the butt-kicking ensues. Mind, I can't take anyone with me with the spell I currently have."

"That's fine. The rest of us will be wearing practical shoes."

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