In the blood

[bleeding_heart]

Who: Merrill, Waver Velvet
What: Merrill and Waver talk about blood magic
When: August 31st
Where: Forest Shrine
Warnings: Only for my action bracket laziness

[It's been a few weeks since the gods' last test in the caves, when Merrill and Waver spoke about magic and their respective connections to it.  Blood magic in particular had been a topic of interest, and the two had resolved to talk about it later.  Well, now it's later, and Merrill has decided that it's as good a time as any to have that conversation.  After sending a quick invitation to Waver's Warp Band to meet her at the Forest Shrine, Merrill heads out herself to wait for him.  This would normally be the sort of thing she'd be content to talk about in their usual haunts at the library, but a practical demonstration would of course involve her own blood being spilled, and she's at least considerate enough to know that splashing it all over the texts stored there would not only be rude but also result in a very irritated Bilbo Baggins.  So the forest it is.  She's waiting there, sitting up against a tree as she turns over her Spiritomb's Keystone in her hands and looking thoughtful.]

Comments

[untalented]

[He watched the display, paying attention to every detail as if this were something that might be part of a quiz later on. Though macabre, he could see how effective such an art could be. After all, there was no way a practitioner could ever lose contact with their base medium...]

Doesn't it hurt? [He asked, knowing that something like this couldn't be so simple. The nature of the bond she had with Eluvian was chilling enough, but that couldn't possibly be her only price.]

[bleeding_heart]

Every time, yes.

[As usual, the answer comes quickly and very matter-of-fact. It's clearly something she's just used to by this point.]

[untalented]

[A look of concern crossed his face.]

Then why do you keep practicing it if it hurts? How can you work yourself to actually begin the preparations for this kind of art?

[He couldn't fathom the idea of willfully cutting himself for the sake of his magic. The idea of killing a beast with his bare hands was foreign enough-- taking a blade to his own flesh was almost unthinkable.]

[bleeding_heart]

It gets easier. You get used to focusing through the pain. And it's been effective and reliable. It's not as if I can get rid of Eluvian, after all, so I might as well make the most of our bond.

[untalented]

[Waver fround, still uncertain about how he felt about it.]

That's certainly one way of seeing it, especially if it's more reliable than your natural talents. Spiritombs are fearsome pokemon, after all.

Still...that is quite a way to have to pay for being curious. I wonder if some of the Magi in Sanctuary would have done what they did if they had to face the same consequences.

[bleeding_heart]

That's the problem with the Magi of Sanctuary. I don't think they've had to face very many consequences at all for their actions. If they had to feel even half the pain they put those people through with their blood sorcery, I think they'd have much more respect for the lives of others. They could stand to face a consequence or two, I think.

[untalented]

You're right, they really could. Unfortunately....I can't think of any possible way to make that happen. And, even if any of us could, it's long been out of our hands.

[bleeding_heart]

Maybe that will change, now that Union is involved. The people of this city have a strange way of changing peoples' minds.

[untalented]

So I'm starting to see.

[And, if a person like Merrill could wield blood magic and remain uncorrupted, then there was a possibility that the same might be said for magi who ventured into Union's walls in the future.]

How does the other magic you know compare to this? Is it a drastic change? Is it easier or harder?

[bleeding_heart]

It's much easier. That was the magic I started with. The magic of my people. I trained in its use as First to the Keeper. It's as natural to me as breathing.

[untalented]

[A nod.]

That makes sense.

So. How have you been able to reconcile yourself with the both of them?

[bleeding_heart]

They don't really have anything to do with one another, apart from their historical association. It isn't difficult or painful knowing how to do both - it's no different than knowing how to speak Dalish and the common tongue. But I can show you what it looks like so you can see the difference.

[untalented]

....If it's not an imposition.

[He scratched at his cheek nervously, wondering if it was going too far to ask this much of his felllow academic.]

I'm really curious to see how everything compares to what I know from Sanctuary.

[bleeding_heart]

No, it's fine.

[Merrill crouches down to retrieve her staff, standing up and concentrating for a moment. As she gathers her power, greenish energy tendrils emerge from the ground in an area around her, entwining around each other and grasping around for a target.]

This is called Wrath of the Elvhen.

[untalented]

[That spell looked more familiar-- if he were to try to emulate it or create something similar, he would use a Grass-typed mechanism as a base and borrow from the vining tendrils that many appropriately typed pokemon used for their actions.]

...That's an entirely different style than what they teach in Sanctuary, [he pipped up, watching with intent fascination.] There didn't seem to be a standardized channel for it-- is it an art that anyone can learn, or is it passed down like Enlightened traits?

[bleeding_heart]

[Merrill looks a bit quizzical at that, blinking for a moment as she thinks.]

...I don't know. I'm not the only one who can use it, though. It was taught to me by the Keeper. But if I had the potential for it the whole time, I could have developed the talent myself, right? So... maybe it's both?

[untalented]

I see....that's really interesting.

[It inferred that he might not be able to learn it, but there was still the possibility that he could come up with something similar if he was given enough time and put in enough effort.]

[bleeding_heart]

Well... I suppose that's about everything, unless you had any other questions.

[untalented]

I think I understand the basic idea of everything, Merrill.

...Thank you.

[bleeding_heart]

You're welcome. I hope it helped answer your questions.