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002 - Growing Pains

Growing Pains State of the World ▲ Locations ▼ Bestiary
OOC ▲ Comments A Light In The Darkness
Light seems to have been especially tricky for the world to comprehend, but it finally, finally seems to have figured things out. Light comes from more than just the sky, and now signs and lamps that were once dark have begun to glow brightly. From the Wall Market's dazzling exhibition of color to the dimmed street lamps of the City of Tears, the whole world has been made bright and lively once more without losing the comfort and tranquility that darkness brings. Even the broken screens of the Hammerlocke Stadium give off a pleasant glow, and the world doesn't seem to care that some lights need electricity to stay on - lights are simply lights, as far as the world seems concerned.

Unfortunately, these new lights are a little too simple. Without any need for a power source, there's no way to turn the lights off - if something is deemed a light source, it will always function as a light source. The only way to stop it is to destroy the object beyond recognition, but that might not be the most practical solution. Covering up the lights is the next best thing, but it's a task that's easier with some sources than others. At least no one needs to sleep yet.

Difficulties aside, now seems like the perfect time to start exploring all those new corners of the world that were previously too dark to navigate. Fire is an easy, safe and portable light source that anyone can use, and it even puts itself out after awhile. Just be careful not to get stuck in the dark by a stray breeze.

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Who's Hungry?
Animals need to eat. People need to eat. These are simple facts that people lost in the strange, changing landscape all seem to be well aware of, yet appear to not apply to this world. That is not to say that people can’t eat or drink, for many people do, but there is no actual need. Eating provides nothing but the knowledge that one has eaten, and anyone might go without food entirely. Lately, some might have found eating has become more satisfying and fulfilling an act, as though food is providing them with a vaguely-defined something they didn’t get before. It doesn’t seem to mean much in the grand scheme of things, but perhaps it allows them some sense of normality.

When hunger sets in, it’s sudden. Every person, whether or not they ever needed to eat in their homeland, is hit with a powerful, overwhelming sense of hunger, to the point it feels that if they do not eat they will soon starve. Those who have never eaten in all their time here might easily find themselves so hungry they can barely even move, and have little choice but to eat. Fortunately, food is plentiful. If it can be put in the mouth, chewed and swallowed, it is food, and thus will give a person temporary relief from their hunger. What goes in does not appear to come out, instead simply becoming part of that person and revitalizing them. How long it takes to feel hungry again seems entirely random, and each time there is no lead up - someone is either fine, or they are starving, without any in-between.

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Starving Mad Beasts
When people suddenly remember hunger, so too do the animals of the world. For some creatures this isn't an issue - the tall-necked beasts continue to graze on the treetops like they always have, and the smaller creatures seem content with snacking on whatever small scraps they can find. Not all creatures are so easily satisfied, however, and the more aggressive ones have turned to attacking other species for food.

The vicious water dragons are quick to clamp their mouths on anything within reach... but, lacking teeth, this doesn't amount to much. Still, they're as persistent as ever, and in a way their inability to viciously devour their prey only makes them more dangerous. These beasts are starving, and for all their skill in chasing down prey they can do little to actually eat their catch, which means they're constantly on the hunt and out to get anything that moves. Perhaps it might even be a good idea to help them out, if feeding the fish might make them a little less aggressive.

The machines are far better equipped for hunting, and all the more dangerous now that they're hungry enough to take a bite out of someone. Death is not a concept the world understands, so it's not like they're doing any permanent harm, but it's still a bit unnerving to see animals limping by with bite-sized chunks taken out of them. They haven't had a taste of people yet, but it doesn't seem like it'll be long before they try.

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Mushroom Hunting
Mushrooms are a new sight within the world, and a perfect snack to satisfy that sudden debilitating hunger! Harvesting them can be a bit of a problem, however. For one, they are massive, and the task of cutting one down and breaking it into edible chunks is made much easier with a group of people than one person working alone. Finding the mushrooms in their dark habitats may also be difficult... although, it is much easier to spot a mushroom the size of an entire person compared to something much smaller.

The real problem with mushroom hunting is where they can grow, which is nearly anywhere indoors. Though light now comes from other sources besides the sky, there are still buildings with dark corners that might suddenly acquire a giant mushroom or two (or three, or four) if left alone. And if those mushrooms are allowed to remain, they may just continue to grow, and grow, and grow...

So, if you don't want giant mushrooms bursting through your roof, it might be a good idea to keep an eye out for them before that happens.

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Hopefully she's up for quite the challenge, as Merlin's spent a long, long time indeed avoiding getting close to most people. And naturally has trouble truly relating in the first place, to boot.

"Do you, now? Then I wish you l--"

Remember how that cabbit-bird was sneaking and stalking around Merlin earlier? After spending some time pouncing and batting at his hair and robes, it suddenly leaps up and, grabbing a large bunch of hair in its beak, clamps down and yanks.

"Cath Palug II, you cut that out right now!!" Merlin whirls around at the critter, which promptly zooms away. Then stops once safely out of reach to turn around and hunker down, watching, clearly enjoying this 'game' it's playing.

She can't help it; when the creature leaps up to playfully grab at his hair, Rinoa has to hide another laugh behind her hand. She shouldn't laugh; it looks like it hurt, but not only can she not get over how adorable Felix's little twin is, she's pretty sure that what Merlin just said was a name of some sorts.

"Cath Palug II?" she repeats, not entirely sure she's pronounced it right. "Is that his name?" And here she thought he was just an 'annoyance'.

With a smile, Rinoa reaches down, reaching into her pouch for another morsel of food. "Come here, boy. Stop bullying your dad and take some more food, okay? You can't keep hurting him or he'll kick you out, you know?"

As a matter of fact, it didn't really hurt worth mentioning, otherwise Merlin probably wouldn't have been tolerating this kind of behavior at all. Or perhaps more accurately, Merlin's used to much worse roughhousing and is a fair bit tougher than his flowery appearance might suggest, so it doesn't particularly bother him.

"Ah, well, if Cath Palug ever found out, he'd be quite annoyed!" Merlin replies, evidently assuming that it was 'the second' part of the name causing the confusion.

Of course, that begs the quest of who/what the original Cath Palug is, but he doesn't seem particularly inclined to volunteer that!

In any case the creature--Cath Palug II--looks over when she calls out to it. It's still a bit shy or wary, but it does recognize the food being offered now, so after a moment of a slow, cautious approach, it quickly nabs the morsel and then scurries off again to eat it.

She smiles as the creature - Cath Palug II - rushes over to grab the food from her hand before running away again, and then she looks up at Merlin again. Of course, she has no idea who the original is, although she figured that there was likely another, based on the name.

"It's just that you were acting like he was more like an annoyance than a friend. But if you've named him..." The smile becomes playful again. "That sounds kinda like a friend to me, you know? Does he follow you everywhere you go, now?"

And then, after a moment, the next question follows: "So if he's the second, who was the first?"

"It is an annoyance." If anything, because he finds having to deal with anyone questioning it annoying. He shrugs at her questions, though.

"Cath Palug is my familiar. Not that he ever bothered to act much like it." And isn't here, obviously. "That one started following me, and while it's no use bothering now, having a familiar here could come in handy."

Yep, he's just tolerating it because it'd make for a convenient familiar later, should his powers start working again. That's definitely all there is to it, nothing more!

Her head tilts, curiosity gleaming in her eyes. (Sorry, Merlin.) "Familiar?" She thinks she's heard the term before, in some of the fantasy stories she's read in the library. "Isn't that, like... the animal companion of a magician, or something?"

Huh. Wouldn't that make Angelo - and now Felix - her familiars?

Or would that be Squall? The thought makes her lips quirk into a smile. Surely a familiar isn't all that different from a knight...

Well, this at least he doesn't mind explaining so much, especially if it distracts from topics related to his feelings on things.

"Somewhat. A proper familiar is bound and connected to the mage by contract, and can be used to aid the mage in various ways. Animals are one option, but there are other possibilities as well."

Merlin just happens to be utterly indifferent to what's normally the biggest risk of using a live animal for one: his last familiar was a powerful magical beast to begin with, so clearly a new one becoming that later isn't a concern.

Her brows raise. So if her guess was correct, and Merlin claims to have a familiar back home...

"Does that mean you're a mage? If you have a familiar?"

With the people she's met here, it's not really a surprise that there are others who possess magical powers in their own worlds. Actually, the biggest surprise is that he's not afraid to talk about it...

Rinoa's lips purse, a thoughtful expression on her features.

"Aren't people scared of you?"

"Exactly."

He's not at all shy about admitting it, no. If anything, he's more inclined to boast. He does, though, raise an eyebrow at her question.

"There are always people who fear anyone who has more power than they do, certainly. But for the most part, not really. Not unless I give them reason to, of course."

It's surprising to hear. For a moment there's the tiniest hint of jealousy visible on her face, a strange feeling in her gut, and that's surprising, too - she doesn't normally get jealous easily. But the thought that there's a world out there where those with magic aren't automatically feared...

She glances down at her hands for a moment before she catches herself, looking back up at him with a faint smile.

"Where I come from, Sor- people who can use magic naturally aren't trusted."

"I take it such people are both fairly uncommon, but also widely believed to possess incredible power?"

A combination that does tend to lend itself to misconceptions, from Merlin's observations. He's watched centuries of history unfold, after all.

She nods. "It's not just a rumor, either. The power is... well, in my lifetime, I've seen one of them bring all of space and time into one single moment."

And now, dormant as it is, that power sits within her. How can she blame people for not trusting what she is?

"We defeated her, but... it took a lot of work." And without her own magic, they would have lost Squall.

That's more or less what Merlin suspected to be the case.

"In my day, magic was still fairly commonplace. Sages and druids, fairies and other phantasmals, and so on. Those with power might still be feared, but no more than one would fear a wild beast or an armed enemy knight. In the modern era, it's quite the opposite: while mages still exist, most of the world doesn't know of it, and wouldn't believe in it if told, anyway. Most people would probably laugh and mock anyone making such claims."

Needless to say, it allows those remaining mages to go about their business without much concern of being hunted down by the general populace.

"In the interim, however, when such things were becoming scarce, but humans still remembered how real they were, well, for a time things like witch hunts were fairly common."

Rinoa's eyes widen as she listens to his story. The world he speaks of has changed so much, and yet both sides of history amaze her in different ways. A world where magic is so commonplace that its users are as normal as any other person with battle prowess, and a world where it's so scarce that people don't even believe it exists. And then of course there's the middle ground, something similar to hers, but...

"In my world, there have only ever really been a few people like that at a time. Because of the one that we fought, and because of one in the past who started a war with her power, all of them are feared. So lots of them stay in hiding, you know?"

And how can she blame them? When Esthar discovered that Edea's power had gone to her, the first thing they did was lock her up.

"There's something called para-magic that everyone can use, though. A scientist created it. But there are lots of things that para-magic can't do that natural magic users can."

"If the stories people know are of those who were dangerous, then of course people would be afraid."

Humans are like that, history has shown it time and again. And that fear from those bad incidents isn't easily overcome.

"But what about you? Are you afraid of the people who possess that power?"

He doesn't know it, perhaps, but it's the single most loaded question he could have asked of her. Is she afraid of people who possess that power? She is people who possess that power. The only known one, at that.

And yet...

Yeah, she's afraid of it. But not in the way he'd probably imagine her to be, she thinks.

"Squall's sword will pierce my heart... If that ever happens..."

She shakes her head. "No, I'm not."

Perhaps he doesn't, but then again, Merlin can be a fair bit more insightful and observant than he acts at times. Not that he'd ever confirm or admit to it either way though, of course!

"Well, in that case, perhaps you can begin teaching others why that is, so that they might feel the same way, in time."

It's an interesting thought. Rinoa nods, pursing her lips. Teach people why they don't have to be afraid... In a way, that's part of her life's mission now, isn't it? Just by living as a Sorceress, by being with Squall and the others... with any luck, she'll teach people just like that.

But is there any harm in trying to take a more active path towards acceptance?

The smile, when it appears, falters a little, but she nods again.

"You're right. If we ever make it home... I'll have to do that."

"Then I'll hope for your success."

He does mean that, too. It may be another world, but he still wants to see humanity succeed and move ever forward.

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002 - Growing Pains

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