A knight's boredom [Open]

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

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))

Comments

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"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."

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

"My family's Devices are a part of us, and we're a part of them," Signum says with a faint smile. "In a way, Laevatein and I are twins."

"Nanoha was lucky enough to stumble upon a Device that suited her perfectly, and Fate's and Subaru's were custom-built just for them. The mages from my world here are quite powerful in part because of how well we and our Devices understand each other."

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

That gave him something to think about, and he visibly cogitated on it for a moment, before focusing his attention back on Signum. "So is it possible for you to cast spells directly, then? Practically or theoretically?"

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

"I could maybe heat a cup of tea," Signum says, a little self-deprecatingly. "If I wanted to do something without a Device, it'd be easier just to use my muscles."

"The only person I've seen successfully use combat-grade spells without help from her Device was Nanoha, and she was in a really bad mood," she adds, with the reminiscent look of a warrior remembering an enlightening defeat.

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"Why is that? Is it because of the complexity of the spells, the difficulty to manipulate?" He's starting to get that sort of manic tone in his voice, Signum.

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

"Calm down. You don't want to hyperventilate when you can breath fire," Signum warns, keeping a level tone.

Assuming he does so, Signum continues to explain in a second. "I'm not totally familiar with the theory-work, but it's essentially that the human body can't really leverage raw magical power. We make a good conduit, but doing something useful with the energy requires machinery to harness it. It's like on Earth, where they can get a great deal of energy out of exploding petroleum, but channeling that into something useful takes a highly complex machine."

She stops and thinks about Aibghalien's questions for a moment. "So in your world, you cast spells without mechanical help?"

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"Celena's species can't breathe fire. I asked her." As odd as it it seems to say that a dragon couldn't do such a thing. "And this is a polymorph spell, which can't inherit the supernatural abilities of the assumed form. Now if I cast shapechange I would be a dragon in all aspects, including the inherent magical power, but--"

He cut himself off sharply, with a rueful smile. "Sorry. Yes. We can do so. Arcane magic, as opposed to divine magic, essentially draws off of an omnipresent energy field. There are two different ways to manipulate it. Anyone who is born with a connection to the magical field, essentially by having some measure of immortal essence within them, is capable of tapping that field directly, and thereby manipulate it in specific ways to produce given effects, or in other words, to cast spells. That is sorcery. Wizardry, on the other hand, involves learning to tap that same field through study, learning, and discipline."

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

"In other words, you do it all manually instead of using machines," Signum summarizes.

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

Aibghalien gave her an expression that was even more indescribable by virtue of being on a draconic face. "That would have been the short and grievously oversimplified answer, yes." But he couldn't help but crack a little smile at the end of the sentence.

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

Signum smiles back, having never seen that expression on a dragon, or at least not on one over a foot long. "I did say I was more of a knight than a mage, didn't I? Cutting to the heart of a situation is more or less my purpose."

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"Well, forgive me if I ramble on," he said, entirely too late for it to count as a warning. "From everything I can tell, my magic is qualitatively different than yours in any number of ways, and I've been trying my best not to attempt to pin one of you down for experimentation ever since I discovered all this."

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

"If you want to try me, I could use the exercise," Signum says dryly. "I think our hostess wouldn't appreciate the violence, though."

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no! I had no intention of challenging you!" Aibghalien said, startled. "Just the opposite! I have the feeling that would be an extremely unfair contest in any case!" Though in what direction depended entirely on his spell loadout at the time.

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

Signum's almost disappointed. She hasn't fought a dragon in years. But then again, she had been mostly joking.

"Well, I'm afraid you'll have to be satisfied with my limited knowledge of theory, then," she says, satisfied herself. "If nothing else, this has been a very intellectually stimulating conversation for me."

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"I try to provide," the dragon said with an effort to look modest. It was just as well; in this form, he'd almost certainly prove a disappointing match. It wasn't his, after all, and he didn't have access to its full capabilities.

"I suppose what interests me most is the possibility of combining our magics. Yours, speaking generally, is very focused towards offense from everything I've seen of it."

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

"I'd also say my style, Belkan style, is even more focused on offense than Nanoha's," Signum says. "It's more or less designed for warfare and direct combat."

"What sorts of things is your style focused on, then?"

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"I'm a generalist, so something of everything, but the role I generally assume is primarily long-distance artillery-level destruction, support, and metathaumaturgy," he said, shifting to sit more directly as he folded his forelegs. "It's the second two parts that I haven't heard much of from your particular style, at least in what little I've talked to Vita and Hayate about it."

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

"Support beyond things like minor repairs is generally left to people who specialize in it, like my teammate Shamal. The Reinforces and my partner Agito also have some ability there," she says. "Everyone here from my world does seem to be a combat mage, though. Perhaps Stacy felt she needed more firepower."

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"I'm not even certain what you properly consider support," Aibghalien said. "But I would have considered it remiss to send my comrades into a fight without any number of enchantments to strengthen and speed them and generally increase their ability to inflict damage in some way. That's what makes me curious."

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

"Our spells all accomplish that in some way, though almost always on a personal level. Support spells to me are things like analysis or repair or healing," Signum explains. "Although the right partner can push my speed or firepower even higher, as well."

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"I've only seen a couple of spells," Aibghalien said, "and those in passing. So I'm curious if the effects stack."

Not that he could ever get anyone to demonstrate. If pressed he'd classify it as arrogance, though he'd never admit that except under duress. He had a certain amount of concern over his lack of knowledge in these fields, believing, in his own freely-admitted arrogance, that magic was the second-greatest weapon they had in this fight for existence.

"What concerns me is the potential affect of metathaum against either your combat effectiveness or your Devices," he continued. "I think it would be naive to say we'll never encounter an enemy that can deploy such techniques."

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

"Metathaum?" Signum asks, unfamiliar with the term. "If you mean anti-magic fields, the Bureau was in the process of developing some countermeasures for that..."

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"Metathamuaturgy. Magic explicitly designed to affect other magic. Antimagic fields are one part, but that also includes things such as dispels and countermagic. Theory holds that even an intelligent magical item will only be suppressed, not damaged, when subjected to a dispel or antimagic field, but..." But he wouldn't want the first experience to be in combat, and proving the theory wrong.

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

If Signum's memories extended a few years further then they did, this conversation might take a turn for the uncomfortable. Especially for Laevatein. As it is, however...

"The Anti-Magic Fields the bureau's run up against are only particularly good at restricting spells, and even then, not completely. A mage with a staff might end up useless while in the field, but she and her Device will be fine afterward," Signum explains. "And there are plenty of ways to circumvent them, the easiest being having a weapon-type Device like I do. A sword is still a sword, after all. Clever tactics can usually circumvent it, too even for shooting- and bombardment-type mages."

"...I haven't run up against other kinds of metathaum, though, unless hitting one spell with an equally strong spell going the other way counts as countermagic."

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"I don't think it's quite what I'm thinking of," Aibghalien said with a grin. "A spell can be canceled out by an inverse evocation of an identical spell, but that means no effect at all will come, rather than the clash of two effects." Missiles, however, cannot be properly canceled by fireballs. He'd learned that the hard way.

More seriously, he continued, "The antimagic I'm familiar with suppresses all magic within their areas. They don't affect constructs, but I don't believe even Devices would qualify under that category."