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[Empiricist]

Faith and Minato
The twins take their leave.

Noriko
"Well, I guess we should pick an element and start practicing! Why did you want to learn a new element anyway?"

Evening, elsewhere
Shining above in the cloudless skies and reflected below on waveless seas the stars shine, alien stars arranged in constellations you do not recognize with a strange luminance, they're no brighter than the stars brighter, but they feel brighter, as if immune to light pollution, as if refusing to be forgotten, or perhaps unable to be forgotten here in the land of the lost.

The beaches are bustling with people even at this late hour, shouldn't be much of a surprise at this point - sleep is wasted on many Awakened, yourself included. Feels good to have it, but you can easily go for weeks without it, heh, you might've abused it just a little during your college days. Needless to say, your friends were more than a little jealous.

Those were brighter days, happier days; you brush those thoughts away focusing your attention back at your host, currently helping himself to a rectangular slab of meat sprinkled generously with an assortment of fries, peculiar vegetables, and an assortment of increasingly bewildering condiments, some of which seem to visibly glow or pulsate. "Seriously, have you tried the steak here, it's incredible I tell you."

He turns and takes another sip from his drink - a highball glass filled with some reddish liquid that at one point was blood, at least before the cracked pepper and celery stick entered the picture.

"Drinks too, they've an excellent selection of cocktails, a lot of 'em you can't get back home. No? You sure? Hah, understandable, a drink's only good for getting the other guy drunk. ...Anyway, what were we talking about again? Ah yes, your control magic."

He rifles through a notepad for a few awkward seconds coming to a stop about halfway through.

"Righto. So if I wrote everything down right, you've only really used it against civvies, and a swarm of zombies, right? Not against anything a little more resilient? I dunno like, an Aramitama, some tougher Mononoke? Okay, so my first question then is, how'd you expect to improve your magic if you almost never use it?"

[Strider03]

"Couple of reasons. Not sure whether it'd work on them, and wanting to use the tools I was confident in in battle first off. Using what gives me the best chances of winning right now, and I'm not sure how well the control stacks up." Shef eyed up the steak carefully. It did look good, he'd maybe get some the next day; given that he'd had already eaten tonight.

"And the other thing? I don't want it well known that I have it. At least, I want it not to be known exactly what it is, a last resort that I can keep at least a little under wraps. Maybe it's stupid, but that's the why of the matter."

[Empiricist]

Shef
"Well, you say that but it's pretty damn quick, no? A flash of your glasses and they're struggling against your control."
He takes another bite of his synth steak.
"But hey, training, sparring, it all gives you a chance to try it right? No stakes, a real foe, well keeping the details under wraps won't work too well with that but, put it this way, this power of yours, you want it to be a rifle in your hand or a shiv in your boot? Because it sure ain't gonna be easy trying to get it both ways."

[Strider03]

"Well, when you put it that way, rifle. If I'm gonna be hiding something as a last resort, more of a chance that I hesitate to use it at the necessary moment." Shef answered resignedly. The fact that he hadn't really put that together before now was irritating, but sometimes you needed to talk these things through.

"It's still irksome, but I suppose a shiv needs to be sharp. Powerful but narrow in application, rather than broad in utility but weaker."

[Chevaleresse]

"The mission at the manor. Faith was the only one that could operate one of the devices we had, and even then she barely knew - not that it was her fault. I figured it'd be a good idea to learn a little more magic in general, and this was a good place to start." She shrugged. "Plus, more tools are always good. I've had issues with getting pinned in place before and learning something to deal with that would make me feel safer."

[Empiricist]

Shef
"There will always be another shiv, 'sides it's not really that hidden if you've been using it on civies, you can never know who's watching when you do that."
Another sip of his drink, a red glow beginning to shine in his eyes.
"So you want a rifle, sure, whaddya want to do with the rifle? Lotta options, control people, control spirits, control objects..."
He counts the categories on his fingertips before returning to his meal.
"There's more than that of course, but I ain't much a mage when it comes down to it."

Noriko
Ren nods along with your explanation, giving a quick
"Makes sense to me!" no sooner than the words have left your mouth. "You said you got pinned before right? What sort of things were pinning you down?"

[Strider03]

"What I've been doing, but better. Stronger, more adaptable." Shef answered uncertainly. He wasn't really sure what could be done with it. How could he control objects with an ability like this, and what could he do with souls? He knew next to nothing really, when it came to that. It was particulars that he'd considered beforehand. Specific methods to make sure an enemy would be affected, ways to take advantage of any control he might get. Beyond that, Shef had no context.

"But you seem to know some of the options, mind giving me a rundown what's involved? Within the limits of your knowledge, of course."

[Empiricist]

Shef
"People, that's what you've been doing for the most part, more than enough to control a civvie, something tougher, hijacking a limb or shaving away at their reaction time seem doable. Objects, you've done that too. Those zombies, remember? Sure they like people, but I could go to any adult store worth a damn here and buy a doll that looks like a person too, does it make it a person?"
He pauses, just long enough to make you wonder if you're expected to respond.
"No. It's just a thing, an object."
He punctuates this with a thrust of his fork as if for emphasis.
"A dead body's just that and I'd wager those weren't even the real deal, just mindless constructs. You still controlled them all the same didn't you? Within their own capacity anyway, might be able to push it beyond their capacity."
He takes a hefty chug of his drink.
"You familiar with the idea of animism? It's pretty big in Japan with its religion and all that, thinking there's spirits in everything. There ain't but you can always summon spirits and inject them into things. Simpler ones are kinda like programs or automatons, no real thought, just ruleset, can be a bitch to work with if you don't know what you're doing, but you don't need to know, do you? A flash of your glasses and you'll have them eating out the palm of your hand. Just y'know, make sure it's actually mindless otherwise it'll be real pissed."

[Chevaleresse]

"Well, actually, it happened in my first ever fight after Awakening. Some kind of. . . fridge? It basically froze me in place and I couldn't do a whole lot until I got it off of me. For the most part I've been able to use hit-and-run tactics to stay away from things, but it could happen again."

[Strider03]

"I'll stick with what I know, people, living things, maybe with a backup of objects for when the person may be beyond my capacity to affect." The spirit thing sounded a little risky. And well, perhaps it wasn't the right way to be thinking about this, but Shef wanted this tool more as a means to prevent enemies from doing what they wanted, rather than allowing himself to do new things. That and, he didn't really see what the spirit option would bring to the table. Weak controllable drones or minions? With a risk of picking one too complex? Didn't seem worth it.

[Empiricist]

Noriko
"One moment please!"
She takes out her tablet, flicking through its contents.
"Hmm, it froze the air around itself? That does sound pretty troublesome! Hmm well if you're doing hit and run, you could learn a way to enhance yourself before you engage to protect you from things like that, or you could improve your options for disengaging, which do you prefer?"

Shef
"Suit yourself. It's the simpler option anyway, probably for the best if you haven't been using it all that much. We'll have a guy head over tomorrow for you to spar with, should give you ample opportunity to play around with your magic and see how it fares in a combat situation."

[Strider03]

"Thanks." Shef pointed at the drink that Shou seemed to be enjoying so much. "What is it? Pure curiosity." Around this point, Shef decided to check whether any of his belongings had been meddled with, as surreptitiously as he could manage.

[Empiricist]

Shef
"Virgin Bloody Mary, but y'know, with blood."
You don't think he touched anything?

[Chevaleresse]

"Something to disengage, I think. I have ways to get ready to close a gap, it's when those don't work that I'm in trouble."

[Empiricist]

Noriko
"Hmm, okay. If you're getting sealed or bound you could try something that hurts the thing doing it enough it can't maintain it, you'll want to learn something more explosive that itself isn't so easy to jam. Alternatively you could try sealing them yourself, you'll be doing it from a bit of a disadvantage so a dedicated sealer will probably win, but it could be enough for other things. Or..."
She hesitates for a moment, as if unsure whether she should continue.
"Or... I guess I could try and teach you how to break it? It's, not really elemental though, and our powers are pretty different when it comes down to it, so I'm not sure if it would be worth your time..."