trans_9 | Hard at Work

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Hard at Work

When she'd gotten the okay from Stacey, Katara had set to work on a place in the City where Haku would be away from other people: naturally, her first thought had been to the hotel where she and the Outsiders were located, but that was impossible. They wouldn't have been able to accommodate the room, and it simply wouldn't be away enough in case Haku needed quiet. Katara remembered another place though: it had been a forest where she'd seen San before, but not too close to where she'd seen the werewolves gathered: she knew they preferred their space, as Haku would prefer his own. What was more, it was deep enough to where it would actually compliment the place to have the river here: more things might even grow, if that were possible.

Though she could have asked Toph for help here, Katara decided this was something that needed to be tackled all on her own. She'd set to work digging, stripping down to her underclothes and tying her hair back so it wouldn't be in the way. When she was finished, she wanted Rhiow there to magically protect the place: she'd seen there were several different places set up in the City, including one with demonic energy, that would interfere with what she was trying to do.

She dug quietly, taking in the nature all around her. She could feel how different this place was from most places in the city, and that gave her hope. Haku was going to be all right, she was sure of it! She wiped her brow, resting a moment.

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Negi had been up and about flying across the skyline when he noticed Katara down below in the forest, digging away at the ground. Curious, he swooped down and waved, "Hi Katara, what's up?" inquired Negi curiously.

He was trying not to blush at her being in her underclothes. Really, was that just his luck?

Katara noticed Negi in the air and smiled. "Hey Negi! I'm trying to actually build a little trench: this is going to be for my friend Haku. He's a River God, and right now he's got something inhabiting his body. When he gets better, he's going to need a place to recover, so I'm digging this for him. I got the permission from Stacy to get a source of water so it gets filled! This will be the only spot on the entire ship that will have a clean source of water!"

And now that he was here, she thought of something. "Do you think you might be able to help me with something though?"

Coming down and landing with a soft thump, Negi flipped the staff onto his back. "Sounds like a really nice thing you're doing for that guy!" exclaimed Negi. The name pinged on his mind but he pushed it aside for the time being.

"Sure what did you need?"

"He's been through a lot," Katara said, "Maybe worse than many of the others during the Nightmare King's attacks. Right now I think he's being inhabited by a demon eating up at him. Now, by the time he gets here I'm sure he would be okay, but I'm not taking any chances. I was hoping you could help put up magical barriers on the River: Rhiow should be here to do the same. This way, none of the residual energies from other places in the City will impact the forest and the River. There's a demon that lives in the City too, so no taking chances."

She got up started digging again. "Anything with magic that will make sure this place is protected I won't shrug away, you know?"

"Oh sure, magical barriers are a good start," said Negi with a easy grin. "I'll need a few stones first..."

Going over, he picked up a few fist sized stones and chanted in Latin, carving seals into the stones one by one with a burst of magic from his fingertips, tracing Latin script into it. "These will set up foundations for it," explained Negi. "Basic barriers and wards are easy. Do we want a "Someone Else's Problem" field too or is that too much?"

"I thought so too," Katara said, smiling. "If it isn't too much trouble. thank you so much Negi! I really appreciate this!"

She kissed the top of his head, then turned back to her busy work again, taking a breath and starting to dig again as Negi started to work on the incantation. She figured she'd try not to bother him.

"What is a 'Someone else's problems' field?"

"A Someone Else's Problem field is wizard slang for a warding field. It basically gives anyone who isn't keyed into the wards the severe urge to go in the opposite direction," explained Negi, setting down the rock he was working on and picking up a new one. "Huh, a little big..."

Channeling a little magic, he broke it down the middle and smiled. "There we go!"

Getting to work on it, he added, "I can add magical and personal signatures as well. The Problem field was used primarily to keep magical places separate from the normal people." He sniffed and rubbed his nose from the dust.

Katara shook her head. "There are other people who go to this place: I know the werewolves are fond of it. I wouldn't risk making them angry, and anyway the forest is just as much theirs to frequent. I'm not sure what would be required to make sure they would be able to go in freely. That, and well, it would go against what the forest naturally is in a way. But it is a good idea."

She smiled. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate this. If there's anyway we can make it so this place is protected and people who love the forest can come and go as they please, it would be wonderful."

Ben flopped, cross-legged, on the ground a short distance from Katara. "Having fun?"

Negi grinned and nodded as he finished up. "Sounds good."

He picked up the armful of rocks and grunted. "Okay, let me just put these around first."

Shuffling to each side, he formed a rough hexagram, positioning the rocks at the various points. "So if that's mostly north..."

Looking around, he found a large boulder. "That'll do!" he proclaimed, moving over towards it. Cantus Beltax, Vin Maxima!

With considerable effort, even with his strength maximized to the limits without using Magica Erebea, Negi wrenched the large boulder out of the ground and shuffled to the approximate center before setting it down. "OOF!"

Katara watched him with interest for a moment, putting the shovel down. She didn't know much about magic, so watching this was pretty enlightening: it was like watching Aang when he tried to go into the spirit world, or when he was meditating. It had nothing to do, of course, with the fact that Katara was also trying to make sure that her new friend didn't overexert himself.

She couldn't help it: she worried.

With the latest exclamation, Katara did move toward Negi. "Hey, take it easy, don't hurt yourself," she said. "Take your time."

"Oogh, thanks for reminding me," said Negi ruefully as he examined the stone. "It's a little big for me to carry with my shorter arm length... I know!"

Pulling a candy out of a bottle, he stripped down his cloak and removed the top of his plantsuit and tying the top of the suit around his waist. "So it won't tear," said Negi as he took the candy and grew up in a poof of smoke.

He grinned as he practically towered over Katara in his older age. "This should do it."

Edited 2010-04-12 17:57 (UTC)

Katara nodded in his direction, grunting and continuing to dig, wiping her brow.

"Last I checked, digging holes in a forest on a sentient ship is never fun. But it has to be done."

"Has to?" he echoed.

Katara had no idea that Negi could turn into a teenager outsider of the Sensoriums, NOR did she know that he was going to take off the top of his plantsuit. She turned away immediately, blushing slightly. It wasn't as of she hadn't seen boys without shirts before, but thanks to a certain incident she couldn't even remember, things were a bit different. Now she noticed muscle, chests, curvature in tandem to the face: things she wouldn't have before.

Stupid pubery, she muttered to herself. She met Negi's eyes, the feeling past her. "So you can get bigger by eating a candy? That's pretty neat! The things that magic can do..."

She grinned. "Thanks! This will be a big help!"

"Yes," Katara said, digging in fairly deep. "My friend is a river god, and right now he's possessed by a demon. When he's expelled that he'll need to recover, and the only way he can do that is with an unending supply of clean water on the ship. I got the okay from Stacy to do that...so now I'm going to make sure that its a river away from everything else."

She stretched, feeling her muscles pop int place, and continued digging. "Why are you down here? Are you visiting the Jedi temple?"

"Yeah, they're age-changing candies. One makes you older, the other younger. The give and take is about ten years or so," said Negi as he cracked his knuckles as his fingers lit up with magic.

"What I'm doing here is carving the foundation stone with a few runes. It'll add to the protection here." explained Negi as he started to drag his fingers through the rock like a hot knife through butter. "With any luck, it'll stand up to everything this place can throw at it."

Dust was kicked up from the high vibrations as Negi carved a swathe of Latin mixed with Russian and Greek into it. And then finally, he wound up and slammed his fist deep into the rock and chanted a final spell which vibrated the rock to a smooth polish.

"Finished!" exclaimed Negi with a wide grin as the dust settled around him. "That should keep it goi... goiiii---"

"HACHOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A powerful shredding gust of wind hurled towards Katara at incredible speeds.

"I like knowing the area," he shrugged. "What's a river god doing on a worldship?"

Katara continued to watch. Any thoughts about how he looked grown up were overshadowed by what he was saying now: there was a good deal about magic and spiritual things he had yet to discover. It occurred to her that any classes she might want to take on the subject would definitely be a help.

"Hey, I think you're supposed to be offering classes, right?" Katara asked. "All of that sounds really interesting, I'd love to hear the theory and application behind it. It will be a big help in making sure that the forest is prote-"

The sneeze, which Katara figured might happen with all the dust, had NOT prepared her for such a gush of wind, and without thinking, Katara steeled herself to withstand it: her balance was fairly good, she was confident she wouldn't blow over.

What she was NOT expecting, however, was her clothing to go flying off as well, and that took a full moment of comprehension.

"Wha-what is..." Katara's eyes were as big as saucers. "AKK! Where happened to my clothes?!"

Katara returned the shrug. "Well, if you were gathering strong people to fight an alien race, would you leave out the gods too? Heck, we even have a demon on the ship. Who knows why they would be on?"

She took a breath and continued digging. "But good idea on looking out in the area. Everyone should be doing that."

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Negi, wide eyed at the now clothing-less Katara. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that, it's an accident!"

He took a step forward and then his foot hit a rock. "Whoa!"

With a Deer in the Headlights expression, he tumbled right for Katara.

Well, with any luck, not a mindkriffing tentacle presence. "Where's the river going to empty out of? Where's the water going to settle into at the end?"

Katara, normally very good at balance and reaction, was way too spellbound by the lack of clothing to be good at any of those things. She was frantically trying to find a way to cover herself when Negi started to come toward her.

"Negi, watch-" she started to say when the boy tripped and fell on her. She was too late and hit her head on the side of the pit she was digging. It didn't knock her out, but it was enough to keep her head spinning so that she didn't throw him off immediately.

"Ow," she moaned, trapped under the taller boy.

"Ow, ow, ow," groaned Negi as he found himself laying atop Katara, his head spinning as well from the sudden impact. "Did... you're not hurt are you?" he inquired softly, his hands on either side of the girl, his big brown eyes full of worry.

He bit his lip as he pushed himself up a little, trying to avoid the sight with a vivid blush across his face. "Sorry..."

Katara sighed. "Likely, the water is going to come from a pipe Stacy provides: even I don't know how she gets a renewing source of water. I'm hoping for the water to empty here, in the forest...help it to grow. I'm going to try and get magic barriers to keep it all here too. make sure it doesn't bleed out anywhere else."

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Hard at Work

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