Fear to See the World to Be

[soldiers_heart]

WHO: Omeeega, mothcat squad and anyone in Sh'Ka
WHERE: Sh'Ka
WHAT: Seeing things and trying not to be alone
WHEN: Mid-October/During the Storm
WARNINGS: N/A


I. Shoot the Breeze
While she's aware that Sh'Ka isn't exempt from those storms, it still feels like so long ago that she had last experienced one. Then again, for her it has been.

Omega only vaguely becomes aware of the possibility when she realizes the train hasn't been running normally. Or perhaps it was something about the air... Little things that she just can't put her finger on, but it's made her more wary.

"Stick close, Launch. You too, Dart," she informs her squad. The two mothcats glance back from where they've fluttered off ahead of her, inevitably turning forward again to resume their wandering. Omega sighs, rolling her eyes, but she can't help for a faint smile. Some things at least never changed. She reaches up to pat the mothcat perched on her shoulder before letting her hand fall over the bulging bag slung at her side where the tail of another mothcat sticks out. If he'd weighed as much as the space he occupied, she's certain her bag would have split at its seams by now.

"Come on. Back to the shelter," she says, head nodding towards the hotel building.


II. Wish You Were Here
Thunder rumbles above, but that's hardly Omega's concern as she hurries down the streets. For all that things had been quiet the past few days, nothing had actually happened. Today's caught her off guard, and she can only hope the rest of her squad is taking cover at the hotel.

Somehow she's gotten herself turned around though, and only now the girl realizes it. "It's okay, we just... We just need to go back," she says, glancing down at her bag and the fuzzy mothcat head sticking out from it.

Movement from somewhere ahead of them has her stop, and even though she knows her weapon's useless at the moment, she still pulls her energy bow from behind her, its solidness in her hand giving some mild comfort.

"Wh-who's there..?"

Her eyes widen as she sees them, a man in gray armor with a khaki kama about his waist, and in place of his right hand he has a scomp-link. "Echo?"

Comments

[stitch_witch]

"That sounds wise," she says with a smile. "And we could make it out of a lot of different colors if ou would like."

Or whatever she might like actually.

"But a special spot is already in the plans. And something that will make it less of a strain on your back, with the added weight capacity."

Which will take some thinking.

[soldiers_heart]

"Oh, different colors?" Omega hadn't considered anything more complicated than what was possible at the little craft tent, after all.

"Mothcats thankfully aren't heavy even when they're full-grown, but having a full load of anything on top of that will definitely make a little bit of a difference," she says with a grin. Added support just sounds good all around.


"Where should I put the chopped vegetables?"

[stitch_witch]

"When we get back to Temba I can show you all the cloths I have dyed and you can make selections."

The lack of weight to the creatures is a relief though. It means she's got options.

"Right into the pot I should think. Once I fill it with water. Give me but a moment.

[soldiers_heart]

Omega looks excited at that. Something to look forward to, whenever the trains start to run. She can only hope that things are okay back in the city.

"Got it." Nodding, she pushes the pieces she's cut into a small pile so she has room to start chopping something else in the meantime.

[stitch_witch]

Lark didn't even realize that there was a stoppage in the train. She's busy now lifting the kettle for the soup and heading over to get it filled. Once she does she returns it and puts it on a hook and starts working on the fire.

"What brought you to Sh'Ka, if I might ask.

[soldiers_heart]

"Change of scenery. And I wanted to see if things were okay over here after the evacuation in Temba." Omega sets another vegetable down, considering the best way to cut this one.

"The quarry's a better practice range too."

[stitch_witch]

"A practice range?" she asks with a tilt of her head. That sounds like an interesting thing to consider. What need could a girl have for something like practice ranges?

[soldiers_heart]

"Mmhm! For my energy bow." Even if her brothers aren't here, there's no reason why she shouldn't keep up her practice. Who knows if something dangerous comes along?

[stitch_witch]

Energy bow? How intriguing. Was it magic? She might have to ask later.

"I have never heard of the like. Does it shoot magical energy? Arrows that explode?"

[soldiers_heart]

Omega shakes her head. "Not magic. It's concentrated energy. I never did ask Tech the specifics. But the arrows don't explode."

She looks to the pot, carefully moving to start picking up some of the chopped veggies so she can deposit them in because she's running out of space.

[stitch_witch]

"Like lightning?" she asks, actually starting to be intrigued. There were ways this could be applied to other magic actually, and she found that slightly interesting even if it's not her style.

[soldiers_heart]

"Hmm... In a way? The power basis is a bit similar." More concentrated in some parts, a refined lightning.

Omega puts the last of the prechopped veggies into the pot, taking another from the pile.

[stitch_witch]

"I know a young woman that can guide lightning, she stores it in the braids she plaits in her hair."

But apparently it is not quite the same. For now she moves to stir the soup and select herbs to tear with her fingers to drop in.

[soldiers_heart]

"In her hair? That sounds amazing!" And...maybe a little impractical? Omega's not sure how that works. How does she avoid static?? "Is that magic?"

She gets through the last few vegetables, bringing them over by the handful.

[stitch_witch]

"She is a weather worker, and she does so in unconventional ways."

Tris had basically had to invent all of her own magic, and that had been wonderful. As for static... well, she didn't avoid it. Sometimes she ran her fingers through her hair to scoop static sparks from it.

"It is indeed magic. But she is still learning how to balance what is reasonable, and what is too much, for even her."

[soldiers_heart]

"So magic can control the weather too?" That sounds...well, amazing but dangerous. What couldn't magic do?

"Balance seems important for a lot of things," Omega observes, dropping the last of the veggies into the pot. "There, that's everything."

[stitch_witch]

"Yes. There are multiple ways to do so. But it is always taught that one should not try to fully master nature. She will always win in the end," Lark said with grave nod. "Tris is special, she is something called an 'ambient mage'. This means she can channel her magic in different ways. I'm an ambient mage myself, but my tools are threads and those things that work threads."

And ambient mages could at times be more powerful than any academic mage, thought Lark saw no need to state that.

"Balance is perhaps one of the most important things of all. Without balance systems go wrong. The order I am a part of, the Circle, we believe in the importance of balance. For there to be growth and life there must be a balance of death. Where seas swell they must also retreat. What creates may destroy. And to preserve that balance in nature and in our hearts brings peace."

It is almost akin to the Jedi philosophies, except they were more naturalistic with it, followed gods and goddesses, and knew that that which is good could also be bad. There was no 'light side' and 'dark side'. Just balance and harmony, and those things that upset the order and create damage that takes far longer to be recovered from.

[soldiers_heart]

"Can anyone use magic, where you're from?" It doesn't seem to work that way when it comes to this Force that the Jedi are attuned to.

Omega only knows so much about the Jedi. She's only personally met one, and Gungi's people, the Wookies of Kashyyyk, are very much nature-oriented, respecting the wisdom of the trees, the great forests that have existed for so long, and its creatures who also dwelt within them.

"Would you say this world is off balance?" she asks, cleaning off her hands and the cutting knife.

[stitch_witch]

"No. One has to have the born gift for it. There are those who can learn what is called 'academic magic', and their magic will have specializations of course, but ultimately they have the potential to share many things. Then there are ambient mages like myself. Our gift can only manifest through something specific, often some form of 'craft'."

But often ambient mages could be very potent. Many of the 'Great Mages' of the world were ambient mages. Rosethorn with her greenmagic, Frostpine as a smithmage work, and Lark herself as a threadmage. And still others as well.

"Those who have an academic mage gift are sent to the academies to train. Ambient magic tends to need a combination of general training, and training in their manifestation. I have seen those whose gifts appear in cooking, in metal, in stones, in plants, and even once recently in dance."

IT was rather intriguing, Sandry's student. Her own apprentice had taken her responsibility seriously, finding dance instructors who could help the young mage learn how to pair dance with intent with spell.

"This planet is very off balance I think. So I have thought when I have spoken in passing with the Funfronds. I do not doubt my Rosie could tell us more of how the natural world is off balance."

[soldiers_heart]

Omega scratches Tumble on the head, the mothcat finally having slunk out of the bag to stretch out before settling like a pale green mound of fur on the table.

"Magic sounds amazing. How does it work in dance?" What did one do with that? She can't quite imagine it.

"It seems like something very unnatural is disturbing the natural state of things, right? Do the Funfronds know what's causing it?"

[stitch_witch]

Lark works on the stirring to keep their ingredients from burning over the less than reliable heat.

"In part it is intention, and the fixtures of the dance. There was a traditional dance that was once done that was held to bring more fish into nets. A young man with dance magic was taught the dance by a woman, and danced it over the nets before the fishermen went out. And it brought them great catches."

Which was why Sandry had found the boy. Of course that was the first time one of the children had learned it was the responsibility of a mage who finds someone with a gift to teach them their first lessons and see that they are guided to suitable teachers if they themselves are not suited to the task.

"I have not had conversations on that level with them. It has been lighter with us, though to be fair, I am just enamored with their manner of speech."

[soldiers_heart]

"Ohh..." Not that it really explains much, and she supposes it has different applications depending on...well, a lot of things. By now Omega at least has a grasp on what traditions are, and how things differ between places and people with their cultures.

"I think the most I've ever tried doing was giving them little blankets and scarves when things were getting colder," she says, head tilting as though recalling a distant memory, but then it sort of is when she'd been gone for so long. "Or maybe that was for the...Barrys? Have you spoken to them?"

[stitch_witch]

"That is kind of you. When we left the underground I left them the rush mats and curtains I wove."

They had seemed to appreciate that as well.

"As for the Barrys, they... Well, I have not spoken to them. They seemed to busy to wish to be bothered."

[soldiers_heart]

True, it did seem like the Barrys were always busy with something, or at least they seemed more intent in going somewhere from what Omega's seen.

"Do they need anything else? They probably fair better than we do here since it's their home, but...I guess if we're living with them all, it doesn't hurt to try looking out for each other, right?"

[stitch_witch]

"They are our neighbors," Lark agrees thoughtfully. "How about when we go back, we ask them?"

Because it is better to give a needed gift than to give something unneeded.