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WHO: Fuu Hououji and you
WHERE: Heropa & Nonah
WHEN: Throughout August
WHAT: Fuu is out and about in the summer!
WARNINGS: None.

Heropa and Nonah, out'n'about
[In the run-up to the school year starting again, Fuu wants to get in as much of her actual job as she can... that is, writing video game reviews for a man who takes editing a teen entertainment magazine way more seriously than any one person possibly should.

So she's wandering around the arcades (the lovely air-conditioned arcades) and outside; if you're at a game or playing a game or if you're even concentrating on your phone a little too hard, you might find her looking over your shoulder.]

At the beach

[August is a time for swimming! Or, if you're Fuu, finding some less crowded areas of Florida beach to do a little magic practice. Today she's seeing how much sand she can pick up with her Binding Winds spell and how fine a blade she can shape with her Emerald Typhoon. Though keeping in mind the setting, she keeps it more to an Emerald Light Breeze.

She notices that even modest displays of magic seem to be clearing the beach more than they ought, and sighs at the suspicious looks being aimed at her. This hadn't happened in June.]

Oh dear. It seems I'm still being viewed as a witch.

It's not easy being green (St. Walker)

[Well, it's been a couple of months now since that incident where people were living out altered lives. That's long enough for it not to be so awkward anymore, right?

So she'll head over to Walker's house and ring the doorbell--she's got a few treats that the woman at the animal rehab place told her would suit an opossum, and for Walker himself, some tea. ~~Earl Grey. Hot.~~

???

[Got another idea or want one? Drop me a line!]

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True--I like to think I've demonstrated good faith to the people in my neigbhorhood, but trying to appeal to everyone would just please nobody. 'Do more for us,' some say, 'leave us alone,' from others. I'd have to split in two to satisfy both.

[She looks out at the ocean. Or well, the Gulf of Mexico.]

And you have good advice, imPort or not. Trying to please all strangers, everywhere, would take too much time.

Heh, you're pretty logical, aren't you?

[It's faint, but Rita does smile briefly as she kicks a little shell down the beach. Rita has no idea where she's looking out to. Her sense of geography really isn't the best in this world]

I guess I have a bit of experience with it. Second-guessing yourself all the time means everything you do will be wasted.

[Fuu notes that faint smile and smiles herself, taking the remark as a compliment. She likes being logical.]

I'm glad you think so; I try my best. [She nods, curious about the experience Rita refers to.] Sometimes, second-guessing is helpful... if you have a very strong conviction, it's a good idea to pause and make sure you're really doing the right thing. But always to be unsure, yes... you certainly seem to have conviction now, though.

[granted, Philadelphia wasn't the place to be second-guessing either.]

I'm a scientist. [In her own magic-based sense of the word] If I didn't have any convictions, I'd be pretty useless at my job. But that's true too.

[Well, it wasn't like people who second-guessed themselves were all bad. She thinks of Estelle who was a good person who used to second guess herself too much. She thinks of Alexei, who had too much in the way of convictions and no desire to stop himself from inflicting evil on innocent people]

There is a difference though, between second-guessing yourself because the facts reveal new information you need to consider and second-guessing yourself because a bunch of people you don't know are badmouthing you.

[Fuu nods her agreement.]

Yes, the second type of second-guessing isn't something I find very useful. [She picks up a handful of sand and tosses it out to the sea breeze.] There are times like this, and since my stay seems to be long-term, it's best just to be philosophical and wait for it to pass.

You're a scientist, though? In the field of magic? [That sounds hecka interesting.]

[Rita fiddles with a small shell she's found, and nods, glad for the change in topic. Philosophical-stuff doesn't suit her much]

Of course. While not everyone needs to be a scientist to be able to use magic, to be able to understand magic at its most basic level and improve it requires research, testing and then evaluating that research. That's a scientist's job. Back home, I was one of the best in my field.

Edited 2016-08-17 13:53 (UTC)

How fascinating! And you're so young, too--on Earth it takes years for someone to even earn a degree, but you look like you're my age. [TWENTY-FIVE YEAR OLD JADED VETERANS.] You must be quite astute. Were the spells you used in Philadelphia a product of your research?

Hm? Well, I did start early, even by Aspio's standards. But back home, it's not like we had formal schools or anything. Everyone is self-taught or they had a tutor.

[Rita puffs up a little in pride and nods]

Some of them I discovered myself but others I adapted from existing knowledge. Once you understand the base formula of a spell, it's just a matter of knowing how you can manipulate it for better purposes.

Ahh, so you don't waste any time in learning.

[Fuu smiles a little more at the obvious pride. Well-earned, of course, but still funny.]

It really is like a science, then... I've never heard of a formula being used for one. Do you mean a mathematical equation, like calculus? [for some reason calculus seems like it would fit magic.]

--you don't use formulas?

[Rita glances at Fuu. Maybe she was like Estelle, whose formula was built into her body? She had noticed something weird about the way Fuu cast magic back then but hadn't had time to think on it until now.

She grabs a stick and begins drawing a series of complex looking numbers and symbols in a circle. She jabs the stick at one set, drawing a line under the symbols β×ψ＝√]

This is the 'Rudolf' formula. It's at the basis of a lot of strike artes, where you need to control how much mana you're channeling through your weapons. The control is here and [BLAH BLAH BLAH science]

[Fuu crouches down to take a closer look at the formula. She recognizes... well that's a beta, times psi, equals a square root... well psi designates part of a circle. Of course it could designate something wholly other in Rita's world.

(And of course she finds herself thinking, for about the eightieth time, how convenient it is that things like language and alphabet are shared across different universes--far more often than they are on planet Earth.)

She doesn't understand most of what Rita's saying to be honest but it all sounds fascinating.]

This can be used for multiple spells, channeled through weapons ...Of varying elements, perhaps?

Exactly.

[Far from being a grump, Rita is almost chipper when she talks about magic. She's pretty pleased that the symbols seem familiar to Fuu, which means there must be some scientific basis to her magic too. She refuses to believe otherwise]

Of course, you have to build up with different formulas to get different elements. Think of them as equations that answer a problem.

Like algebra? Or perhaps geometry.

[there might not be a scientific basis to her magic but there is a scientific basis to science.]

So what, for instance, would be the difference between a fire formula and an ice forumla... fire is a chemical reaction, but ice is a physical phenomenon...

[She's half asking, and half thinking aloud.]

That's right.

[She'll just draw up the formula she uses for her ice lance. That one should be familiar to Fuu]

This here is the formula for water. If you had this to it...[She draws a circle around the extended section] it forces the water to freeze over. That's my freeze lancer.

[It's so nice to talk science-magic to someone who gets it!!]

Oh! So adding that term affects its heat. Is there a reciprocal term that could make it hotter?

[...It wouldn't be nice to shoot boiling water at something, although shooting sharp frozen water isn't either. But maybe she could use it to heat up her winds. That could have useful applications.]

Huh? You want to hit people with boiling water? [w o w] You're a pretty scary person, aren't you?

[But Rita does look thoughtful as she scribbles a couple of formulas into the sand]

Hmm, the only way to do that was to add a fire formula. But combining it with water might lead destabilise the spell entirely.

[Fuu giggles. That may not help.]

Not so much boiling water as hot air... though I'm not particularly interested in setting anyone on fire. But it could prove useful for getting through barriers or clearing away people who are a little too unfriendly.

Also deicing sidewalks in winter, though that's not really a problem in this state.

[Really scary. But Rita is cool with that]

It is possible to combine them, as long as you can get the balance right.

[It's an interesting thought exercise, if nothing else]

If you can show me a few of your wind spells, I'll see if I can come up with something.

[Now the smile Fuu wears is more of a normal one. She's always interested in pushing the boundaries with her magic.]

Well, the main one I'd be using with something like that is... [She looks around, but the beach is still fairly clear.] Emerald Typhoon!

[She still isn't doing a full powered one, but it's enough to see the big green blades of air kicking up the sand in front of her.]

[Rita snaps her goggles on to protect her eyes but she looks pretty impressed, sketching quick notes in her book as she considers possible formulas]

Interesting...those winds would slice people up pretty badly, huh? Do you have any fire spells you can use?

[They would, and that's why she rarely uses them. But it could be useful against debris, monsters....]

No, all of my magic is wind-based. But my companions--they have the same form of magic as me--have been able to create some variation. My friend Umi-san uses water, and she can make ice blades.

So you want to do the same.

[But using only one type of element? That must have been limiting]

It's not impossible. Give me a moment. I'll try to work this out.

[And now the whole beach front is her blackboard.]

[Fuu nods, watching in fascination as Rita works. Fuu isn't unfamiliar with advanced mathematics; that's what comes of going to the swank gifted girls' school. But what she does, she still does out of a book with answers in the back... not drawing a world of original math over a beach.]

My, no wonder you're so high in your field at home.

T-This isn't anything really.

[She's both proud and flustered and she's not sure which one to be. It's nice to be praised though and her ego inflates just a little more]

You don't do anything similar for your spells?

[Fuu shakes her head.]

Where I learned magic, the movement of the world is dictated by the strength of one's heart--if you have a powerful enough will, there are few limits. [she smiles.] Physics are just a bit different there.

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blahblahboom - 2016-09-19 01:06 (UTC) - Expand

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