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Post by Mima on Dec 27, 2012 15:33:42 GMT -5
Calypso "Could likely pierce steel," huh? Oh, Calypso had accidentally gotten on the wrong end of human guns before. It never meant any harm, but when you've lived the entire time guns have existed, it's almost inevitable that you'll be in the wrong place at the wrong time at least once. "That'll do against lesser youkai and most fairies, or if you get into a fight with any human who can't use magic," Calypso said, giving a satisfied nod. "Though I should warn you, I'm not exactly the strongest youkai out there, and I can still run with several bullets in me. Before you ask, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Happens to youkai just as much as it happens to humans. Anyways, if you plan to go outside of safe areas like the Human Village, you'll want to see about better weaponry, or taking up spellcards." Yeah, if she had the necessary power to use spellcards, she'd be pretty safe no matter where she went. Even if she lost a spellcard battle to a youkai, the rules would protect her. It was a good thing Calypso was oblivious to her thought process regarding youkai as food, or it probably would have been more than a little bothered.
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Sumiko
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The Girl Born of Naught
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Post by Sumiko on Dec 27, 2012 23:08:48 GMT -5
Cards? Well, it probably didn't mean some sort of mere card game. Were she less ignorant, she probably would have considered it to be something like a game of Chess with death.
Still, her magitek based pistol was the most powerful weapon she could make at the time. If Calypso could run with several well-placed bullets in its body, then clearly she needed a different tactic.
"Spell cards? Please elaborate." Sumiko asked Calypso. While her technology was partially grounded in magic, as magical technology typically is, she wasn't used to 'pure' magic. Not that she doubted it's existence, but she wasn't attuned to it's use.
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Post by Mima on Dec 27, 2012 23:43:18 GMT -5
Calypso Calypso hadn't really expected her to know about spell cards, being an outsider. It wasn't exactly the most qualified being in Gensokyo to teach her about them, but it could at least try. "Spellcards are when you take a card and imbue an offensive spell into it that's based off of who you are. They were designed so that humans and youkai can fight on equal terms. Now, with strict weaponry and offensive magic, the point is to do lethal damage. With spellcards, though, they're supposed to be one, non-lethal, and two, as beautiful and creative as possible. The biggest advantage to fighting with them is that if you declare an official duel, the winner is not allowed to kill the loser," Calypso explained. The youkai briefly considered taking one out to show her how they worked, but quickly decided against it. Even if they were non-lethal, it wasn't too sure if Sumiko could dodge, and taking a hit from a spellcard still hurt. If she asked to learn more, maybe it could show off and try to put as little power into it as possible. Maaaybe.
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Sumiko
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Post by Sumiko on Dec 28, 2012 11:27:44 GMT -5
Beauty and creativity in combat... well, if those were power indicators, then she was out of luck. That being said, perhaps simple tactics had their own beauty... though she wouldn't know.
Still, if the rules forbade them from harming her afterwords, then she'd still profit, even if she always lost. After all, her goal in these situations would be to survive.
"Interesting." she mentioned. Perhaps she could 'channel' the cards through technology, just to sync more with her specialty.
"I assume the spells work the same as others?" she asked. Her understanding of magic was more along the lines of alchemical transmutations and fireballs launched from magical technology. She also understood the idea that there was more 'plain' spells... like lightning bolts launched without magical technology. Danmaku magic, not so much.
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Post by Mima on Dec 28, 2012 15:20:24 GMT -5
Calypso The fact that she'd called spellcards interesting implied that Sumiko actually cared about this in some fashion, even if just a remote, self-preservation sort of way. As such, Callisto was totally ready to answer her next question about them! ...after a minute of thinking, anyways. "Yeah, it works... however you'd normally use magic. The shrine maiden's spellcards work off of her divine power, mine works with my innate star magic, and actually, I've seen kappa use their weird technology stuff with spellcards. They're pretty universal, and easy to make," Callisto said. Hopefully, that was what she'd meant. The star youkai had never put too much thought into how spellcards worked, it had just used them whenever fairies got too annoying.
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Sumiko
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Post by Sumiko on Dec 28, 2012 16:33:19 GMT -5
Well, it seemed that magical technology was one way of using spell cards, good. Sumiko wasn't adept with 'normal' magic, preferring magical technology instead.
"So am I supposed to purchase them or craft them myself? If the earlier, where do I get acquire them? If the later, what sort of materials would I need?" Sumiko asked. It would be convenient to know how one would get ahold of spell cards, to say the least. If it was the later, if they were widespread enough to be formally useful in the system that Calypso described, then they must be relatively easy to create, if you know how.
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Post by Mima on Dec 28, 2012 19:28:51 GMT -5
Calypso "You can make a spell card out of any sort of paper or paper-like material in a rectangle shape. Putting the spell on it is then up to you- you'll just want to envision the spell you want, and attempt to use it on the paper with the intent of producing a spellcard, and that's all there is to it! Here's a finished one you can look at, just please don't activate it or I'll have to fly around like crazy trying not to get hit," Calypso said. It reached into its pocket and drew out a hand-sized slip of stiff, slightly brown paper, which it offered to Sumiko. The ink on it, the same wine-red as Calypso's eyes and wings, read "Star Sign 'Vermilion Star'," with a small seven-pointed star inscribed under the text. The spellcard didn't just feel like an ordinary piece of paper, it was heavier than the material should have allowed and had a warm aura of energy about it. The fact that Calypso had just handed it over showed just how carefree the youkai was- obviously, Calypso wasn't concerned about her possibly using it against it, even though it had told her not to. It did have more spellcards, of course, so if she did attack it for some reason, it would be okay.
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Sumiko
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Post by Sumiko on Dec 29, 2012 11:18:00 GMT -5
Luckily for Calypso, Sumiko was perfectly capable of following simple direction. She knew well enough that trust was a valuable asset, given.
"Seems simple enough." Sumiko told it. Simple was good, it meant she was less likely to err.
"What are the parameters for spells, though?" she asked. Every game has rules. Rules are limits. So there were probably limits in what kinds of spells there could be. Maybe a 'spellcard' could be anything from a giant fireball to an earthquake. She really didn't know.
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Post by Mima on Dec 29, 2012 17:03:43 GMT -5
Calypso Right, Calypso hadn't actually mentioned what a spellcard did beyond "magic." It should probably do that. "Well, in theory you could do pretty much any kind of spell. In practice, though, everyone uses pretty-looking magic projectiles in fixed or aimed patterns that do non-lethal spiritual damage on contact. Since I have yet to meet a resident of Gensokyo who can use spellcards who can't fly within a week of starting with them, ranged earth-affecting spells are useless, and because everyone else is using what are basically magic bullets, melee-based combat spells are really impractical. As an example, the card you're holding? That's a spell for firing red star-shaped magic light bullets in big spinny sevenagrams that alternate direction." Calypso made a mental note to never refer to seven-pointed stars as "sevenagrams" ever again. But hey, if five-pointed stars were pentagrams, and six-pointed stars were hexagrams, shouldn't they be called sevenagrams? ...well, okay, that probably ought to use the proper language's numbers, it should have said heptagrams. Gods that was embarrassing.
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Sumiko
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Post by Sumiko on Dec 29, 2012 22:43:12 GMT -5
So flight was common. Well, that would certainly be a convenient thing to learn, though it sounded like it would be easy to find a good teacher to learn from.
Calypso explained the concept of spell cards to her, and it at least gave her a basic idea. Well, they did seem to make enough sense to her.
"Interesting." Sumiko told it. Well, she believed that she should also try to learn about this place through learning about it.
"I don't suppose you know a good place to go from here." Sumiko asked. She needed some way to make money. While she figured she could make devices, she either needed a place where she could set up shop, or a patron who would pay her.
"Either a relatively safe place to set up shop, or someone who could act as a patron." she told it.
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Post by Mima on Dec 30, 2012 3:16:02 GMT -5
Calypso Ah, good, she seemed to get the idea of things, and hadn't pointed out its use of the word 'sevenagram'. "Um, good place to go from here... I can think of three possibilities. You could go to the human village, it's safe and you could probably set up some kind of shop. Dunno if there'd be a demand for your stuff, though. With your whole magitechy thing, you might fit in with the kappa, they usually do all sorts of techy stuff and they'd probably take well to your magitech thingy. Might be a bit awkward to set you up in a youkai village, though, especially since kappa tend to be awkward enough already. And if you can make things that could be of any benefit to them, the moon people in Eientei would probably be up for doing the patrony thing. There might be other good places to go, but I haven't really left the area around my house in the past few years, so I wouldn't know of anything recent," Calypso said, going through each option mentally. Really, the star youkai wasn't sure what was the best thing to suggest for Sumiko! Maybe what it had said out loud would give Sumiko an idea of what the best place to go was. "Do... any of those sound like something you'd be up for? If you want, I can fly you to one of them, or just fly you around and look for other places. Oh, and before I forget, can I have my spellcard back?" Calypso had almost forgotten about that. And really, it'd be no trouble for a youkai that had nothing better to be doing (such as Calypso) to carry Sumiko somewhere, and it'd be faster for her than walking.
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Sumiko
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Post by Sumiko on Dec 30, 2012 19:26:54 GMT -5
Sumiko handed Calypso back his spell card, after one last, quick look.
She then thought for a moment. Setting up with like minded beings would help her advance her knowledge, but there was little guarantee that she would be able to produce anything they couldn't. She also didn't know much about the Moon People.
"Either Eientei or the Human Village, whichever is closer. Alternatively, anywhere else that might need someone with magitek crafting." Sumiko told it.
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Post by Mima on Dec 31, 2012 0:30:06 GMT -5
Calypso Calypso listened as it put the spellcard safely away with its others. Yeah, Calypso... really didn't know anywhere else that was friendly to humans, of which the youkai supposed Sumiko was probably considered a type. "The Human Village is closer to here by a bit, it's off that way, though my offer to fly you there still stands," Calypso said. The star youkai really hoped she'd be able to settle in alright... well, she'd probably have a shop and spellcards soon enough, it supposed it shouldn't worry.
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Sumiko
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Post by Sumiko on Dec 31, 2012 16:00:28 GMT -5
The offer seemed useful, so she thought that she would have to take it up on it. Hopefully, she'd be able to find a place to make it. Hopefully, she could simply pawn off her handgun for materials and the like, then she'd progress further.
"I think I'll have to take you up on that offer. Thank you." she told Calypso.
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Post by Mima on Jan 1, 2013 19:02:07 GMT -5
Calypso Calypso nodded, rather glad she'd accepted. After all, it didn't want her being eaten by a dangerous youkai on the way there, and it would take a while to walk. The star youkai walked over and carefully picked Sumiko up, then its wings fluttered once and then settled into a consistent pattern of wingbeats, lifting both of them up off the ground. There was no danger of Sumiko falling- Calypso might not be the strongest youkai out there, but its body was still much stronger than a human's, and Sumiko was small enough that it barely noticed her weight in flight. "Okay, here we go," Calypso said, and started off away from the lake, over the trees, at a decent speed, but not uncomfortably fast.
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