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Post by Vaera Vael on Dec 6, 2022 14:00:21 GMT -5
"KÜLT!" The word echoed between the trees, followed immediately by a cackling laugh from the girl who was now picking herself up from the snow. Others turned to look, startled by the sudden cry -or perhaps by the foreigner's mother tongue. However, they quickly turned away, some smiling at and others scoffing at such childishness. Vaera was simply joyful, laughing alongside the discomfort of her failed attempt at making a snow angel and desperately trying to wriggle the snow out from where it had slipped into her clothes. Despite her layers of insulated leggings, pants, a sweater, and a coat on top of it all, the snow had still found a way underneath it all to cool her skin.
"Alright, alright. Let's move along now." The guide was smiling, perhaps relieved that someone hadn't, in fact, gotten themselves hurt on what was supposed to be a harmless hike through the foot of the mountains. Vaera didn't remember where exactly she was, only that she was somewhere in the "heartland" of the United States of America. Everyone had told her she'd needed to see the "Rockies", and she couldn't disagree. They were beautiful, and she was having a great time.
Finally fed up with the ever elusive -and melting- snow in her clothes, Vaera peeled off a glove with her teeth and dove for the zipper on the front of her coat. From there, she had a much easier time reaching where the dripping had now found its way, and shaking it loose from the bottom hem of her top layers. The glove was swiftly returned to her hand, though she'd neglected to zip up her coat again.
More scoffing came from a few particularly older women, but she pretended not to hear them.
"Oh mein Gott!" Again just as excitable, Vaera reached for her phone's camera app with her eyes wide and absolutely glued to the doe -or was it a buck who had lost its antlers?- walking through the trees a short distance away. She fumbled a little with the tips of her gloves, supposedly made to be able to work a phone screen but notoriously unreliable, until the device made a soft click to signal it had, in fact, taken the picture she was after.
Vaera smiled wide as she quickly attached it to a text to send to her mother, giggling underneath her breath before hopping off to catch up to the rest of the group.
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Post by Lazarus Jeager on Dec 6, 2022 15:59:24 GMT -5
Having just gotten the hang of using the transportation function of his Quincy Cross, Lazarus found himself in some wilderness far from anything that could be considered Japan. Looking about the area in confusion, he pulled his spirit phone out of his pocket to check his location, going through a couple of menu's to see that he was somewhere in America. A sigh escaped him as he pulled up coordinates, raising a brow at the particular location, an even deeper sigh leaving him in the form of a small cloud of steam. His shoe's made small crunching sounds as he walked through the snow blanketed area, looking for a clearing or particularly tall tree to see where he was in relation to the landmark in question.
"Of course I port myself to some snow covered landscape, should have tested this thing in a closer vicinity to the office, oh whatever..."
After a handful of minutes he'd find a tree tall enough to clear most of the others, looking around to make sure no random hikers might stumble upon him before kicking off the ground with a grunt. A small reishi platform would form under his feet, carrying him to the top of the tree where he stepped off to survey the area. He opened his mind up to the world around him, sensing a small cluster of souls not far from his current location, and finally laying eyes on the mountains in question. No doubt about it, the Quincy had found himself near the Rockies.
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Post by Vaera Vael on Dec 6, 2022 23:52:22 GMT -5
Vaera's excitement never wavered. If it wasn't the chance to capture a picture of a doe looking for food in the frozen mountain wilderness, it was the birds flitting from one bared branch to the next. Squirrels poked their noses out from their hidden burrows for just a second each. Straggling flocks of geese honked overhead. This was definitely a good place to visit, she told herself while hurriedly taking another picture before again jogging to catch up to the group.
However, not all was so quaint and serene. For just a moment, and no longer than a moment, she had thought she'd felt something approach. The silver bracelet bearing her cross felt cool against her skin, even underneath her sleeve, reminding her of her duty to protect the others in the group if things went bad. She didn't feel as though she was in any danger, though.
Following her senses towards a disturbance a moderate distance away, her eyes craned skyward and fell still on the image of a person standing alone against the beautiful blue backdrop. Whoever it was, they were quite far away, but she could still make out a few details: red, green, arms, and legs. She still didn't sense any danger, though.
So, Vaera did what felt right to do, and happily waved at the figure with a knowing smile. Maybe it was someone come to investigate a Hollow sighting, or maybe they were just another tourist come to look at the mountains, like herself? Either way, she hopped again before catching up to the group that was leaving her behind once more.
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Post by Lazarus Jeager on Dec 7, 2022 16:42:32 GMT -5
He hadn't accounted for the presence of people who might be around, less so for the fact that one of them might be spiritually aware. amber eyes cast themselves downward, finding purchase on the sight of a woman who had come out to try and spot him. Lazarus made no motion towards or away from this person, simply held a hand up to acknowledge their existence as the wind kicked up some snow and cut through the tree line with it's coldness. Watching the woman go back towards the group, he stayed a moment to enjoy the scenery, not quite enjoying how cold it was. thankfully his training in the military ranks gave him the ability to ignore the brunt of the cold, but getting lower and out of the open would help to keep the wind from biting to deeply. A sigh created another cloud of fog before him as he stepped off the branch, that same platform appearing under his feet as he descended.
"Interesting to see someone spiritually aware in such a place..."
He tracked behind the group a good fifty feet or so, keeping to the tree's and bush to avoid being seen. It was mostly curiosity that got the better of him, wondering if it was just a coincidence that he crossed paths with someone who could sense him, or if this group was looking for something in this wilderness.
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Post by Vaera Vael on Dec 8, 2022 1:14:37 GMT -5
Every so often, Vaera threw her eyes back in the direction of the floating figure to check if they were still there. She could certainly feel their presence, but she did feel some curiosity for the stranger who had appeared. Just as she suspected, he -and he was definitely a he- had come back to the ground, but was keeping a distance between him and the group of casual hikers. Sweeping her eyes back towards the guide walking ahead, she turned and almost jogged back to a comfortable distance from the stranger.
"Hey there~" Her voice lilted playfully, her English coming clearly but with a distinct accent. She wore a wide smile, and her hands had since retreated to inside her coat pockets to escape the cold. She knew that Mama would be mad at her for approaching a stranger so carefree, but she truthfully didn't sense any danger now.
"It's more fun if you keep up, you know!" She tilted her head and blinked, as genuine as if she were answering a question for directions that had never been asked. Before she could be left behind, however, she turned to glance back at the group, and gasped a brief breath, "Oh!" Realizing that she might have been a little late for that, she turned and began to jog back to the group now stretching the distance between them. As she ran across the crunching snow, she pulled her arms from her pockets for balance, and the bracelet bearing her cross fell from between her sleeve and glove; the silver catching the light.
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Post by Lazarus Jeager on Dec 8, 2022 14:24:02 GMT -5
He'd stop moving when the woman had started making her way towards him, opting to keep himself half hidden by the tree's around him. She appeared to speak in a friendly manner, though he wasn't so sure if it was just some ploy to get him to get closer, it wasn't until he saw the glint of metal on her cross that his eyes widened a bit. this was news to him, knowing most of the Quincy being back home in Wandenreich, or what he used to consider home, now a distant memory. This alone was enough for him to get within speaking range, wanting to know if she was from Wandenreich or if she was a human realm born Quincy. Hopping off the platform, Lazarus would get closer to the group, waiting for the majority of the hiking group's attention to be on something else before making his way into the group. It would be a seamless transition into the masses, none of the humans around him seeming to notice his arrival.
His main motivation was trying to figure out where this woman fell on the spectrum of problems for him, after all he had forsaken the ruler of their people and fled the realm to this one, it would make sense if they sent someone after him. Lazarus would idle up a few feet away from this woman, raising his hand to wave without saying anything, his Quincy cross flashing in the light as he held it in his palm.
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Post by Vaera Vael on Dec 8, 2022 23:52:46 GMT -5
The minutes to come were slow, almost as slow as the stranger's willingness to join the rest of the hiking group along the path. Vaera occasionally glanced back to him, smiling and suppressing a childish laugh before turning her attention forward again -or towards the newest point of interest their guide had spoken of. Why was she so interested in the stranger? Well, aside from his peculiar and curious appearance in the sky...
Maybe she just had a thing for tall redheads?
It was during one such innocent glance back that she caught the stranger waving at her from just a few scant feet away, the silver of his quincy cross winking at her in the sunlight. Her eyes opened a little wider, her surprise apparent without any thoughts of hiding it from those around her. She took a breath and slowed her gait just long enough to now be walking alongside the stranger.
"Oh mein Gott! You, too?" The excitement in her voice was barely contained, enough that she wasn't causing a scene, even if her voice had probably risen a whole octave for a moment. She'd even hopped in place a little bit. "Mama told me there were others like us, but I've never met any of them!" It took her a moment to remember something very important, "Oh! I'm Vaera!" Her amber eyes matched the stranger's, as though wordlessly imploring to learn his name.
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Post by Lazarus Jeager on Dec 10, 2022 2:01:39 GMT -5
His own amber eyes met her gaze with a mixture of curiosity and slight confusion, a single brow raised at her words as he processed what she said. He had heard rumors of certain small families of Quincy living amongst the humans in this realm, but for the most part he assumed it was just that, a rumor. This woman would be the first actual proof that the rumors were true, something that did in fact peak his interest, though given the way most humans lived he theorized she had little combat experience. The moment stretched a bit too long as he got lost in his own thoughts, snapping out of it with a slight nod, his own voice falling on the frigid air in an almost monotone whisper on the wind itself.
"Sorry, the names Lazarus."
A number of lines of thought scoured his mind as they walked with the group, the most prevalent one being the concept of growing up in this realm. As someone born and raised in their own peoples realm, the idea was as foreign as some of the languages people of this realm spoke. From how she acted he could make the safe assumption that neither of her parent's were of important military rank in the Wandenreich, or at least not after her birth. Lazarus was already putting pieces together in his mind to form a profile for Vaera, taking in details about her appearance as well as the unique reiatsu signature she gave off. As he processed all this information his gaze changed, no longer looking at her, more akin to looking through her in a sense, his expression remaining stoic.
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Post by Vaera Vael on Dec 10, 2022 13:20:02 GMT -5
There it was! She knew his name now, and that made Vaera grin all the wider. She felt just like she'd made a new friend, and couldn't much well hide her giddy gleefulness at that fact. However, he didn't seem to want to talk about himself much. That was okay, she thought to herself. She'd just have to keep talking until he felt more comfortable opening up!
Before that, however, a cold chill ran up her spine, and Vaera remembered the temperature and her open coat. The chill had begun to bleed through her sweater and undershirt already, so she fumbled with the zipper and her gloved hands for a moment or two. In the end, she grunted an annoyed breath and peeled the glove off with her teeth again, before hastily putting it back on once her brief task was done.
"I like that name. Lazarus." She smiled, only taking her eyes off of the no longer stranger to make sure she was still following the trail -not to mention the group and their guide. She brushed her hands to behind her back, clasping them together while she continued to converse, "By the way, aren't you cold dressed like that?" Her eyes scanned the man up and down, perplexed at how he wasn't reacting to the mountain air despite clearly not being prepared for it.
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Post by Lazarus Jeager on Dec 11, 2022 22:20:02 GMT -5
His gaze would come back to rest on her as she pulled him back into the conversation, her question not only being reasonable, but entirely logical in the fame of what he was wearing. A small smile would grace his lips as he looked down at his attire, then back up to meet her eyes, speaking as if it were a matter of fact piece of information.
"Most of it has to due with the training I received when I was younger, but if you've got the knack for it, you can try your hand at spellcasting a bit. Manipulating reishi and changing it to meet the needs and whims of the user are the building blocks of all spells, so if you master those building blocks you'll never be cold, even under snow or incased in ice."
He held up his hand in her direction, though it was almost impossible to see, if she extended her senses she might catch onto the feint sensation of reishi sitting on his skin. A thin blanket of warmth blanketing his skin would be all he needed to protect himself from the cold, though the winds that whipped up every so often would cut through the small layer of simple spellcraft.
"A thin layer of heat to keep out the cold."
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Post by Vaera Vael on Dec 12, 2022 16:43:25 GMT -5
"Huh," Vaera breathed as she watched Lazarus demonstrate the ability he had used to stave off the cold. There wasn't a lot to see, of course, but nonetheless, she could indeed feel the pull of reishi being held just to the skin. It was an intriguing idea, and one that seemed so familiar to her. "It's kind of like Mama's Blut." Her voice was low, her mind clearly analyzing this technique so she might further understand it.
While chewing on her lip in thought, Vaera brought one of her hands back in front of her to experiment on. Of course, she didn't want to take her gloves off again to try what she'd just been shown, but her hands were cold still, so she figured it would be as good as any a time to attempt to replicate the technique.
"So, like this?" She asked aloud as she focused on the space around her hand. Little by little, she drew on the reishi from the atmosphere until it coated her fingers, then wriggled those just to show off she still could. Whether by habit or training, she kept wanting to pull the reishi together to construct her weapon, so she had to make sure she didn't go that far. Never the less, as the seconds rolled by, she could see flakes of snow collecting on the invisible layer just beyond her glove, and could feel the warmth slowly return to her fingers.
She smiled wide, giggling while her eyes lit up with glee and pride that she'd done it just like she'd been shown. Forgetting that this was a stranger for a moment, Vaera looked up at him with an expectant gaze, waiting for the praise that her Mama would always give to her when she demonstrated a new technique.
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Post by Lazarus Jeager on Dec 12, 2022 19:35:38 GMT -5
Lazarus had to remind himself that reishi manipulation was something he had spent years trying to do, otherwise the fact that she had done it without issue the first time might knock his pride down a level or two. her expression gave him a world of information about her without conveying words, and it was all being cataloged for further study and refinement as he nodded and gave a thumbs up to her in response.
"Not bad for the first try, if you wanna get real good at reishi manipulation try keeping that up for a full twenty four hours. You'd be surprised how hard it is to keep that going when you're doing other things, you tend to forget about it and it just goes away. Plus it's a subtle way to train at all hours, no need to reserve a training field or go out into the woods to practice."
There was something about this woman that had him lowering his guard, this was the first time in a while he had spoke more than a few sentences to someone, let alone show them how a spell or technique worked. Lazarus would have to keep his focus on how much he was speaking or what he was saying, wouldn't want to give away any vital information to someone he didn't know. From the halt of the group as a whole he assumed they had stopped to sight see some of the more interesting landscapes, his attention turning away from her for a moment to look out at the terrain around them.
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Post by Vaera Vael on Dec 13, 2022 14:15:37 GMT -5
Well, it wasn't a pat on the head and a long hug, but she'd take it! Vaera soaked in all the praise she could get for those few scant seconds, quietly giggling to herself and hopping in place a little bit. She heard his advice about using it to subtly train her powers, and had tucked it away in the back of her mind for later, of course, but for right now, she just wanted to relish in this feeling a bit more.
"Mama used to say the same thing." She blurted out more about her family life, before her attention was inevitably drawn to the group that had stopped ahead of them. The guide was pointing off into the distance, and like Lazarus beside her, her eyes followed after the gesture to find an old shack settled on the side of the mountain. She could make out the guide's voice if she listened more closely, and he was busy explaining the old mine that had once operated underneath that shack. Or, maybe he'd said it was a secondary exit? She might've missed something...
Seconds later, her phone clicked as she took a picture of the shack and mountainside both. She barely missed a breath before the conversation continued on again, "So, did you come here to practice that technique?"
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Post by Lazarus Jeager on Dec 13, 2022 16:34:21 GMT -5
Scanning the mine opening slowly, Lazarus saw how run down and unused it looked, desolate against the snow covered land around it, almost a stain on the white backdrop of nature. The imagine of men working in a less destitute version of the shack came to life before his eyes, almost hearing the hum drum of workers and machinery before he was pulled from the thought by another question from the girl.
"Hm? Oh right. No I was doing some testing on transportation methods and found myself here, a bit finicky these things are when it comes to accuracy..."
He glanced down at the Quiny cross on his wrist, sighing to himself at the symbol itself and what it represented. The thought crossed his mind to have to melted down and reforged into something he would enjoy more, but it might tamper with the properties of the metal itself, something he'd have to research more in his spare time.
"Your mother sounds like a smart person, the concept teaches discipline as well as practice to any given technique. You can form a foundation for yourself on the practices of your peers, as well as better yourself as a person given the right guidance. Most things you learn can be applied in different ways, or even evolve into completely different things given the creativity and time investment..."
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Post by Vaera Vael on Dec 14, 2022 14:19:48 GMT -5
"Mhm!" She hummed and nodded in agreement with the observation that her mother was, indeed, extremely smart. Why would the thought ever cross her mind to argue? It was the truth, after all! Well, okay, she was probably a little biased, but the point stood. "She tried to teach me a lot of things. A lot of it was fairly hard." A small laugh punctuated her words, and memories of her mother trying to teach her advanced Quincy techniques ran through her mind for a few seconds.
"So, transportation?" Her mind and attention had latched on to something else the man said after the fact, and her eyes rose to him again in idle curiosity. The group ahead was still talking and taking pictures, so Vaera decided it would be safe enough to not worry about them for a moment. "Like, Hirenkyaku? I didn't know it was supposed to be inaccurate. Mine usually gets me to where I want to go." She tilted her head a little, showing her confusion more over what Lazarus was talking about. Truly, Hirenkyaku was the only transportation technique she could name off the top of her head. Mama had never mentioned any others, at least.
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