[003. video]

[ceiling_cat]

Hey, Willow! Sorry for takin' so long, I think I've got something workin' most of the time. Bit busy last week.

[Between apple picking, scavenging and crisis management... what he wouldn't give for some nice convenient civilization.] Can send it by if ya wanna take a look.

Second order a business: anybody here keep chickens, and how much you want in trade for a layin' hen or two? I can try scavengin' up some stuff for ya, bang together furniture, your call. Any other kind of bird's fine too, just so long as the eggs're a decent size. Thanks.

[PRIVATE | LOCKED TO JOSHUA]

Look what I found. [He lifts up a dusty, slightly cobwebbed and partly empty bottle with an metal screw cap. The label's too mold-stained to read, but the color is a rich brown.] From the smell it's some kinda liquor. Think you'd be up for helpin' me figure out if it's any good?

Comments

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

Just gettin' a little cross-world terminology straight here... the astral plane's the one most easily accessed from the plane of the living, inhabited by beings of moderate power and the recently dead, yeah?

[He's giving up the casual slang, just a little -- it's much easier to be precise when you're talking about this kind of thing.]

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. [nods] I most recently went to the realm where Saga Vasuki dwells, though. I can no longer reach her. [she can't help it, but a look crosses her face, a look that tells for a brief moment that this causes her a lot of pain]

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

[She's been bouncing around in the UG, then. He blinks at the name, sorting through his memory, though he doesn't miss her pained look.] Lord of the snakes, Vasuki?

Sorry to hear you've lost the connection. That who taught you?

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

Yes, the trickster lord of snakes. You know of her?

Taught me? ...yes and no. I was already aware of my power and ability but she showed me how to amplify it and the true nature of magic. [small, brief smile] She showed me the truth through her tricks. She always lies, so I always knew where I stood.

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

Heard the name, never knew much about her. [Actually, he seems to recall hearing that name attached to a male figure... you never know with trickster deities, though, if the stories are any indication. Way above his own level in any case.]

That's quite the pedigree, kiddo.

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

[Oh Willow could attest to Vasuki/Aluwyn being most definitely female in her reality, but she blushes at the comment]

I...thanks.

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

No need to thank me. I'm impressed!

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

[Willow is definitely pleased and quite flattered by that]

My magic got much better after I learned from her.

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

Bet it did. [Smiling in response.] What kinda things did she teach ya?

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

Well, my usual spells got stronger and more focused, but I also learned how to fly and decode other people's powers.

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

Figure out what they can do, ya mean? That's useful.

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I've only used it once properly though.

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

Gettin' into people's heads like that is tricky. [Particularly for the living; he's starting to become convinced that this is a kid slated for immediate Ascension when she dies. If she doesn't end up halfway recruited as a mortal.

Other worlds, man... well, not knowing the situation, he shouldn't judge.]

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

Well they have to cast something at me before I can do it, I absorb their energy and can decode it then and find their weakness.

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah? Sounds like somethin' different from what I was thinkin' of. [Thoughtful head tilt.] And a bit more dangerous, if you've gotta stand there and take a blow first.

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

[Smiles, it was nice chatting like this. She had spoken to other magic users since coming here and yet, this guy seemed to understand her much more than the others. Almost like their different forms of magic were like them speaking different dialects of the same language. They only understood some of what was said. Hanekoma seemed to just absorb and understand and that was nice.]

Can't get something for nothin'.

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

Ha! [Her dialect was different, but he'd found the time for trips through more than one alternate reality in the last century; and once you've seen enough different ways to do things, it gets easier to parse the lingo.

And it's a lot closer than some mortal approaches to magic he's heard of.]

Ain't that the truth. Wouldn't do ya a lot of good to know their weakness if they blow a hole in ya first, though.

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

[Willow gives a very cheeky grin] They only have to cast at me, I can counter it all I like~

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

Well, that's not so bad! [He chuckles, shaking his head.] So, spells where you're from... they work on incantations and that kinda thing, or is it mostly willpower?

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

Both? I started with incantations and moved on from there.

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Ya know, it really does sound like your magic works the same way as the stuff I'm used to. [A sliver of a smile.] 'Course, it's mostly restricted to the dead in my world.

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

[ooh, interesting!]

Does it really? ...the dead?

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

Close enough! And yeah. The power's mostly accessible from what you were callin' the astral plane.

[video | private]

[babblewitch.livejournal.com]

So you've travelled the planes, too?

[video | private]

[greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com]

Spend most of my time on what we call the UG. Astral plane, that is.