may catch-all!

[feintofhart]

Who: Claude & Various
Where: Around Aldrip!
What: Claude and his encounters around town... again!!
Warnings: None anticipated! If you'd like to hop in on a log, however, please feel free to PM/DM me or hit me up on plurk (here!), and I'd be happy to whip up a starter for you, or you can just wildcard me in here! I've got my plotting comment here for the month if you want to take a peek -- Claude will the usual man about town, working at his apothecary, training, hunting, etc. etc., but with the twist that his sentencing honesty curse is taking hold.

Comments

[threadmage]

Actually, my parents passed away some years ago so now I'm clehame in my Namornese lands- a countess. But my cousin manages the lands while I learn magic in Emelan and now assist my uncle.

[ She doesn't sound upset by her parents' death, it's an old wound that she's long since come to terms with. She clearly doesn't linger on the thought, but she also doesn't bring up that the way they traveled, shirking their duty to their lands, wasn't exactly... noble. She loves them dearly and it doesn't make it easier to acknowledge that their way of living was wrong. ]

As for the most interesting person I've met... Well, I would have to tell you about my siblings! Tris, a weather mage, Daja, a smith mage, and Briar, a green mage. Tris can throw lightning, call wind and rain, and stores tidal power in braids in her hair. Daja's magic is with metal, she crafts the most gorgeous creations and accidentally made living metal! She turned it into a leg for someone. And Briar can talk to plants! He has a shakkan, a miniature tree where he stores power. He can make herbs more potent and convince plants to grow. I love them very much.

[ Sandry is practically bursting with love and pride when she talks about them. Maybe they're not the most interesting people she's met, but she can't pass up an opportunity talk about them. ]

[feintofhart]

So... in all of your grand adventures, the most interesting people you've ever met is your own blood.

[ That resonates with -- something in him. There's a pang, deep in his gut, though he cannot tell if it's admiration or envy. It's a sweet thought, Sandry's expression so open and earnest, so utterly without guile that it can't be to appeal to any feeling save for the ardent desire for others to share her admiration. Is that what it's like to be raised with loving parents, to be raised without competition? His mind can't help but drift to his own siblings, to Sylvain's own Miklan, the harsh way in which he's heard Felix discuss Glen in dark whispers that he'd never been meant to hear, all victims of a sorry upbringing.

For whatever Sandry's parents' other flaws may be, they raised loving children. There's something to be said for that. ]

I can tell how much you love them, [ he says, expression softening. ] And all of you with gifts! So, you've got a mage who can control the weather, a mage who can control metal, and a mage who can control plants. In that case... which is your specialty? Don't forget, we first met when you thought you were an ordinary girl in the village.

[threadmage]

Actually, they're not my blood. We met when we were ten and lived together for four years. But they're my siblings.

[ She's smiling, she's clearly in a good mood, but she's very resolute on that. They are family. No matter what anyone says that will never change. ]

As for me... well, I'm a thread mage! My magic is with fibers, thread, and cloth. If it can be woven or spun then it's in my power. I made bracelets that shone with light when the power was out and am making bandages with healing properties for the healers brigade to use.

[ And she also spun her memories into thread and wove them into blocks to sort out her mind, but that feels... abstract. And maybe a bit boastful. Or at least Toph was impressed. ]

But what about you? Is there magic where you're from?

[feintofhart]

[ He has more questions to ask about her siblings - is it legal that they're all siblings? did they meet due to their own powers? was their a formalized adoption taking place? were they nobility too? - but in no time flat, Sandry has moved on. No matter, Claude thinks. She seemed more than enthused to speak on them, and there will be another time to learn more, future tea parties and swapping of stories. It's only fair that he tells her a little of his own world in return. ]

What a fascinating power that is! I've never heard of one like that, so attuned to something physical instead of just coming out of nowhere. I'd love to see one of your creations one day, or better yet, watch you make one!

As for my world... [ He takes a sip of tea, smiling a little ruefully at her. ] We do have magic, yes. Powered by either one's tie to the goddess, or one's scholarly pursuits. I never got the hang of it, myself -- I can only perform the most rudimentary of magic, hardly anything that's of any use.

[ He's lacking in that special something, he thinks. Faith. ]

These days, I mainly see it used on the battlefield. It can be used for other purposes too of course, to make little household chores a little easier, but most save their energy so that they can access it when they truly need it. It's -- more destructive than the sort you're describing.

[threadmage]

[ Sandry frowns just a bit at that. She doesn't like the sound of "battlefield" and "destructive." Certainly Tris' magic can be destructive, and in the right setting hers has proven fatal, but... there's so much good that comes out of it. ]

Is there a lot of fighting where you're from?

[feintofhart]

[ It's strange, how such a simple question takes him aback. For all he's spoken to others here, of their battles against strange monsters and creatures, of horrific weapons, of wartimes, of druglords and violent takeovers, it didn't occur to him that he would ever meet someone for which fighting... simply wasn't part and parcel of their daily lives.

Almyra may not strictly be at war, skirmishes aside, but theirs is a warrior culture. Fighting is in his blood. The idea of any other way of life is upsettingly foreign to him. ]

Well... yes, there is. I suppose your home is at peacetime then, huh? [ He leans back, tapping his fingers against the picnic table. ] We're in the midst of a war right now. But even before war, there's always fighting to be had, battles to be waged. Uprisings, bandit attacks, skirmishes, things like that. It's the way our lands have always been, as I understand it.

[threadmage]

[ Sandry listens carefully, taking a bite of her sandwich and a sip of tea. It sounds... honestly kind of terrible to her. Emelan has been at peace for so long now. Sure they have the army and the navy and contend with bandits and pirates, but there's been no true war in many lifetimes. ]

I'm sorry to hear that there's so much fighting. Emelan has bandits and pirates but there's been no war near us for many generations. Yanjing in the east is at war with its neighbors, but that's quite far away. I hope your lands are able to see lasting peace soon.

[feintofhart]

War is something every leader has to prepare for. We can always hope that it won't reach our lands within our lifetime, but it's precisely what we're here for. And luckily, I've spent most of my life researching just that.

[ He doesn't want to bore Sandry with it, or worse, frighten her with what the vagaries of war have done to his lands and their neighbouring lands, but this too is something Sandry may well have to confront. Hopefully not until she's older, but not all of them can pick and choose. ]

Fodlan had been at piece for nearly four hundred years. But things can change very, very quickly. This war has been going on since I was seventeen, I think it was. [ He glances at Sandry. ] But I hope that your lands remain peaceful for a good, long time.

[ And if they don't -- he hopes she and her siblings will prepare for war. ]

[threadmage]

[ That's... sobering. Four hundred years, and then war? One would think that peace could last forever at that rate. Sandry tries to imagine Emelan at war and... can't. It was one thing when the pirates attacked, but war?

She gives a small shake of her head and draws the gods-circle on her chest. ]

I hope so as well. And I hope your war ends quickly and easily- though I don't believe that's the usual way of war. I'm glad you at least are able to help your people with your knowledge.

[ At least, that's what it sounded like he was saying. ]