trans_9 | A knight's boredom [Open]

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A knight's boredom [Open]

~~Mrs. Yagami~~ Signum feels restless. After the mission to get the map (which she hadn't really helped that much on, now that she's thought about it) and filling out the paperwork to join the Magic Department, she hadn't done anything she'd felt was productive. Exercising in the Sensoriums and taking care of Hayate's and the Reinforces' "shopping" (such as existed on this ship) was all well and good, but there was work to be done here and she felt she wasn't doing it when she could be.

However, barring an actual opportunity for action, there's only two ways Signum can work out this feeling of restlessness. Exercising more in the Sensoriums (which she'd done already today, up to her tolerance for the illusionary setting), or meditating.

Sitting atop the Jedi Temple, which was both conveniently high and conveniently in tune with the ambient magic on the ship, Signum folds her legs under her, sits, and contemplates on nothingness, clearing her mind of the distraction and frustration of daily life on the city ship...

((That's your cue to bother her))

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Bothering ensued.

In this instance, it came in the form of a bellow of pain, followed by a draconic figure that shot up from the side of the Jedi Temple, wings outstretched, then rotated oddly to thud down in a less-than-graceful landing. "Damn it!" the dragon said (sounding quite suspiciously like a certain wizard who Signum had once found creating a beer river), as he turned his head to look at a nasty-looking scrape on one wingtip.

Signum can't really do much but stare levelly for several seconds. That had come rather out of nowhere.

"I'm interested to know what you were attempting this time," she observes to the dragon/wizard/person.

"I took off from my lab, but I misjudged the wingspan of this form," he said, flexing the damaged wing. A hiss of pain signaled that the action, well, hurt. "I'm still getting used to it."

"I never really saw the appeal of winged flight, myself," Signum admits. "Though I suppose it's an energy-saver, in the long run. At least that form looks impressive, right?"

If she's not concentrating, no point in being a terrible person to her legs. She stands and stretches out a bit.

"Have you ever tried it?" Aibghalien asked curiously. "I was of your opinion, but this is substantially different and terribly elegant. There's something almost euphoric about the way wind races over the membranes and scales... Not that that's the reason I adopted the form, but it's certainly a pleasant benefit."

He folded his wings carefully, looking over himself. "It IS impressive. It feels amazing. Powerful."

"I'm what you might call overspecialized," Signum says. "I don't know any transformation magic, and I'm a bit old to start learning. I was trained as part of a team, you see, and support magic was someone else's specialty."

Still, she continues an impressed inspection of him, now that he's not crashing. "I have always admired dragons, I admit. They're graceful creatures, and usually much less talkative than humans."

"Too old to start learning?" Aibghalien repeated. The very concept was baffling if not pure anathema.

"You should meet Celena," he said, though he didn't hesitate to pose in his best light to look impressive. "She's actually a dragon. This form I've assumed is one of her species."

"Old dog, new tricks. You know the saying, I'm sure," Signum guesses. I mean, even Vita could remember that one. Even if she usually saved it to use on Signum herself.

"I may have seen her around. You look a bit different from the dragons from my neck of the multiverse, but no less regal."

"I'm familiar with it, but I reject it!" the dragon said. "Ceasing to learn is ceasing to exist, and the more you learn the more there IS to learn!"

It's encouraging ranting, at least, not insulting. Learn some new tricks!

"She's beautiful in any form," Aibghalien added. "If I look good, it's only a reflection on her."

"Hm. That's what it means to be a research mage, isn't it?" she asks, in response to the rant. Not the gushing over Celena, obviously, which she figured was simply having a highly motivational crush.

"A research mage?" Aibghalien repeated. He'd never heard the term before, so he sorted it into his own understanding. "I am a wizard, not a sorcerer, so it's true that I can learn any spell I put my mind to with time to research or a suitable copy."

"I just meant someone who looks at the inner workings of spells and Devices to come up with new ones," Signum explains. "Or I guess in your case experimenting with new spells."

"Ah, terminology," he said. "You must be from Nanoha's world."

Who else used the term 'Devices' around here? And just how many of them ARE there?

"I keep forgetting she's in charge of this department, somehow. Although even if she wasn't, I bet she'd have made a name for herself here already."

"She can be a hard soul to track down sometimes," he said diplomatically. Though the dragon then dipped his head slightly. "Is it true, then, that Vita was repodded?"

Signum nods, melancholy. "I had barely woken up, and she was gone again...at least she's safe."

"That's a shame," Aibghalien said in much the same mood. "I quite liked her. She was so refreshingly direct."

"It was nice having her around again, for a little while. Still, I won't complain too much. More of my family than I could reasonably ask for is still here."

She still looks rather bothered, though.

"And yet?" Aibghalien knew how to read people, after all. He settled slightly, dropping to sit on his haunches.

"Being split up like this usually doesn't bode well, is all. I was trained to work in a team. I'm perfectly fine fighting on my own, but if these Ohm are as terrible of opponents as I've been told, I'd have at least liked my whole team or my regular partner to be here," Signum explains, skimming right past any mention of actually missing Vita or Agito.

He tilted his head slightly. "It almost feels like you're the first person I've met here to actually say that. And I know what you mean. Most of what I did on my own planet was also in the company of others.... not specifically trained to do it, mind, but we worked well together nonetheless. Well... at least you have some of your team here?"

Signum nods, looking more confident. "Hayate, Rein, and...the first Rein should be more than enough help, not to mention all the other mages from my world here. If nothing else, I'm not going to fail protecting them."

"I'm actually very interested in your particular type of magic," he said, meaning 'you' quite generally. "On my world, intelligent magical items are extremely rare and highly powerful, so the fact that you all seem to use them is really quite intriguing."

"Well, intelligent is a relative term," Signum says, and then her sword-shaped necklace flashes a little in comradely annoyance.

"The way we use magic is really just as another form of energy. Devices - Intelligent, Armed, or otherwise - are tools for shaping that energy, like a magical lever or pulley. We program them with awareness so they can do the detailed work of shaping a spell," she explains, perhaps oddly good at this lecture. But then again, from a certain point of view, Signum herself is a Device, or at least was made along with one.

"Sentient, then," Aibghalien said, amused. "The terms are interchangeable, the way I'm familiar with them. It's still such an intriguing diversion from the way I understand magic. I'm not certain I could ever trust the shaping of spells to a device... which is no slur against your methods, mind. It speaks highly of your affinity with the Devices that you all can."

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