[Episode One] Bones for Bread

Archives of Occultus Magica's beginnings, ten years prior to the current story.
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Gwathdraug
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Gwathdraug »

When Percy lurched to his feet Riley had still been slightly concerned about him, but as Aurus had disappeared and the healing summon come to assist everyone she had turned her mind back to the now much more pressing matter at had.

As she looked to what had been the first skeleton – and was now a very interesting mix of a rhinoceros and an armadillo – and then to the real skeleton the girl tried to figure out what exactly needed to be done in this situation.

Hmmm, one enemy is always better than two, but our little earth-shaker seems to be still angry with us. Her attention swerved back to the giant skeleton. He, on the other hand, has no reason to attack us. As Watson said, the true enemy.

As Riley wasn't too sure what she was doing was going to work – it operated off the basics of illusions that she knew – as she decided the best she could help was dealing with the still hostile armadillo creature. Crafting her spell on the fly, the girl concentrated on the wounded creature's perceptions – attempting to get it to see her and the rest of the group as friends despite their earlier actions. The spell also intensified the feeling of danger surrounding the real skeleton, in hope that if the first suggestion failed that the armadillo would at least agree to something of a tentative alliance once it saw them helping it fight its main enemy.

As the complex illusion drew more and more mana from her reserves, Riley really hoped it wouldn't turn out to be a flop.
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Kai
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

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Just as Duncan was moved out of the way, Ruarc's blast from his dragon's breath spell hit the giant statue of ice, and was hot enough to melt it immediately, flashing much of it to steam, and sending a wave of muddy water over the Rhinodillo and at the Gashadokuro's feet. The Gashadokuro, already realing from a second major strike to the face, was knocked over by the torrent, and slowly fell backwards, like the fabled giant from the Jack and the beanstalk story. As the Gashadokuro hit the ground, its head cracked, but held together, a spiderweb of fractures covering its skull and making it grasp itself, howling in a low sound that signified it must be in pain.

Riley's Illusion seemed to have calmed the Rhinodillo down, but the sudden rush of water weakened it immensely, and the added scouring of the mud had ground away at the beast's outer coverings, leaving it in a near-death state. It had obviously been subdued. Saph, now no longer helping Percy, seemed to have noticed.
"Miyuki! Now! The Topaz!" the blue cat called to his Mistress.
"R-Right!" she responded, grimacing in her current state of weakness, although Modeka's healing aura had lifted her spirits and given back a little bit of energy.
"T-Tohru, Former guardian of the Babylon Topaz. Your Duty is done, Begone! Toph, New guardian under your new master, Miyuki, come forth!" she chanted, raising the Babylon key towards the limp form of 'Tohru', whom dematerialized into a brownish ball of light, before flying to Miyuki, and coalescing into a gem a few feet in front of her, from which a sandy-colored, oversized badger was soon summoned.
"A badger?" Saph and Rubeh asked in unison, having expected a third cat.
"Shush." Miyuki snapped "I like her."
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Straken
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

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Ruarc fell to a knee as the dragon rushed out of his hand. His injuries may have been healed, but all of his mana was all but completely spent. As he caught his breath he looked over to the small woman who had healed him.
“Much appreciated,” Ruarc said in Japanese, since he didn’t really know what else to say or if it understood him he concluded with a solemn nod.

The Druid rubbed his chest to make sure the ribs were healed completely before getting back up. With a glance over towards Miyuki and the newly appeared badger Ruarc took solace in finally knowing what he had been sensing before. The battle was not yet over with, but Ruarc was out of energy so he had to leave it up to the others to handle.
Luca
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Luca »

Miller looked about himself, he was oblivious to the two skeletons, although he'd just heard one hell of a flood go through. He blinked and looked about himself. Now that there was a relative moment of peace in the midst of the maelstrom. He couldn't help but wonder if he'd been hit on the head and this was his dying hallucination - but it all felt too real, and he didn't feel his life ebbing away, quite the opposite was happening, actually. He felt truly alive for the first time.

"You know," He asked the children assembled, "I think I need an explanation for this," He rubbed the back of his head and winced a little, then sat down with his knees to his chest and rubbed his face, getting the dirt out of it, "Nothing I can call to mind can explain what just happened."
As he calmed down, the glow that was surrounding him had started to fade away too, and his adrenaline was slowing down, as he started to feel aches and pains all over his body, he grunted a little in response to the pain. However, Modeka's presence had eased the pain a little bit, he looked over to the tiny God-avatar and gave her a nod, "Thanks."

He then proceeded to wonder who he'd just given thanks to, and what'd just happened in the past few minutes.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Kokuten »

Modeka returned the Druid's nod with her own before releasing the young man. Now, Percy was up to 75%, Ruarc was up to 100%. As much as she wanted to finish healing the font that sustained her, her orders were to find the injured and make them healthy again. Luckily for her, Miller was right there, bruised and a bit beaten, she could sense his confusion and his pain. So, before the teacher could get away from her, she made her way over to the man, and wrapped her arms around his calf, nestling her cheek comfortably onto his chin.

When the glow overtook him, signifying the spread of her healing energies into him, he would feel his injuries begin to mend. Though, not only that, her glow seemed to improve the mind as well, muddling his confusion and doubt away for just a few moments. It was similar to the sensation of being held by one's mother, in where a strange situation can seem so familiar from her warm, protecting embrace.

Percival still seemed a little winded, holding himself up steadily. Modeka's aura took the edge off whatever pain he had at the moment, but he could still feel that ghostly sensation from within. As he watched her go from person to person, he wondered why it took her so much longer to heal him than it did the rest. Despite Miller's questioning, Percival stayed quiet, appearing a little tired, but much better than he was. All he could do right now was wait, and let the others fight the battle. He looked at Riley watching her conjure illusions, making sure she didn't cause any harm to herself like what had happened to him.
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Kai
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Kai »

Despite all that had been happening, Miyuki seemed to suddenly be doing much better. The capture of the Topaz along with Modeka's healing energies seemed to reinvigorate the Japanese girl, and in fact those with the ability to sense Mana could feel that Miyuki's Familiars were now giving some of theirs to their master. The three beasts shrunk, to around the size of an average housecat (or a small badger in Toph's case), and Miyuki could feel an ease to her troubles as a burden she had unknowingly placed on herself subsided.

Miyuki looked around, trying to figure out something to do, as Percy and Modeka focused on healing the party. "You!" she yelled, in Japanese, pointing at Riley "Can you try to confuse the other skeleton more?" Riley likely would not understand it, but hopefully Percy or Miller could translate for Miyuki. Next, the girl's eyes fell on Duncan, and then grew wide. I thought he was sick and crippled? she thought to herself, but realized that there was no time for that. "Leetenbaum-san, could you please try and keep that thing on the ground for now?" she suggested, trying to think of what they could do. The Gashadokuro seemed to be slowly getting over its pain, and its hands left its head, starting to push itself back up to stand and fight once more, but large as it was, it would take a little while for it to do so.

"Maybe you could freeze it?" Saph suggested.
"No, that took too much energy." Miyuki countered.
"How about burn it?" Rubeh offered.
"Maybe..." Miyuki answered, undecided.
"We could try smashing it, or pulling it underground." Toph pointed out. "Just give me back a little bit of my power and I can do it for you, but it may take a few minutes."
"... That's a good idea." Miyuki had to admit. She then focused, sending some mana back to the sandy-colored badger, whom once again grew in size, before hopping up and diving through the concrete, kicking up a pile of dirt and disappearing from view soon.
"Hopefully the others can keep it in place..." Miyuki muttered.
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Straken
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Straken »

“Laoise, go find the Tome, I am going to need it if I am going to be of any help,” Ruarc said to the dove perched on his shoulder. He looked over to Miyuki as she sealed the spirit, or whatever it was; his eye registering a notable increase in her magical ability. The bird flew off and dove into the canal as Ruarc stood up and brushed dust off of his robes. He then moved at a brisk pace over to Miyuki’s side.

“Ah assume ya ‘ave a plan. Ah ‘ave some energy left, so maybeh Ah can be of ‘elp,” the Druid said to the girl in slightly accented Japanese.

”Ruarc, heads up,” Laoise called to him as she soared up out canal with the large Tome in her clutch. Despite the book being at least three times larger and several times heavier than Laoise, the pure white bird flew effortlessly over Ruarc and dropped the Tome. The Irishman stuck up his right arm just in time for the Tome to land in his palm.
”Any chance you could grab my pack as well?” Ruarc asked the bird as he tucked the large book under his arm.
”What do I look like, a horse? Get it yourself,” Laoise responded.
Luca
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Luca »

Miller was now able to stand again, the doubt fading from his mind with Modeka's presence, he then heard Miyuki's order to Riley, and then realised that Miyuki was the leader of this motley crew. He then looked over to Riley - who hadn't appeared to - noticing that she hadn't registered what Miyuki and decided to reiterate in English for her, "You, Miyuki wants you to confuse the skeleton some more with..." He looked at what Riley was up to, her illusions baffled him, and the skeleton by any stretch, "...those illusions." He whistled in awe.

He then looked over to Miyuki, and switched from English to Japanese, "Need me to keep it busy?" He asked as he cracked his knuckles and looked over to the new skeleton, "Or would you like me to keep attending to the wounded?" He took a look over to Modeka and asked, "Whoever you are, we seem to share similar skills. Shall we combine them, as Ruarc did with that... 'Fire God' of Percival's?"
CadetNewb
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by CadetNewb »

As the big, burning kitty of fire brought him closer to the group, Duncan felt the distinct presence of a powerful healer. The aura began to knit together cracked bones and ease away the numerous forming bruises; none of which he had any complains against. It wasn't his magic being so wastefully used in a wide area of effect spell that was non-patient specific. What Duncan DID have a gripe about, was how the damned thing made him feel. Nobody. NOBODY! Went into Duncan Leetenbaum's head and made him feel all cozy and warm inside. Absolutely not! The American exchange student hopped off of Rubeh before it brought him all the way to the group, his shoes briefly sliding against the bits of loose gravel of the street before coming to as stop a good few meters away from the group. He began to walk away from them and back at the skeleton, the unwelcome and unwanted presence fading with each step. And they probably already knew who he was at this point.

When Miyuki called out to him, new familiar in tow, it only confirmed his intelligent guess. Duncan's head turned to look at the group with an unkind glare. "Tch." He didn't like the idea of being ordered around by an amateur, let alone a part time amateur. Even though the idea of hitting the Gashadokuro while it was down was sound and very agreeable with Duncan, the suggestion as to how from the Mahou Shojou's Familiars grated on his ears. Insipid and unoriginal! Stupid, simple, sheer brute force. 'Lets waste all our energy frosting it over or burning it like a little kid who just found a box of matches!' he mockingly mimicked the first two in his mind. 'Oh! I want to dig a giant hole under it instead!' Duncan went on, his frustration mounting at the magical creatures' suggestions.

Instead of any of this, Duncan simply pointed his finger at the thing and shot out a thin, fine, ultra high pressure stream of water at the arm which started to prop up the skeleton. Why keep it on the ground by smashing it with a sledgehammer when they could just simply lop off the limbs with a scalpel?
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Kokuten
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Re: [Chapter One] Bones for Bread

Post by Kokuten »

Modeka gave a cursory glance to Miller before throwing one Percy's way. She knew it was true, his sort of healing potential would be enough for her to assume a full-form, but a what cost? The boy had heard Miller, and knew Modeka had great purifying potential. The boy lifted his mask over his face again, a bit of dried blood scraping against his lips. It wasn't hard to figure out what this mask was really for, considering how ones voice came out in the strange Aurus-tone no matter how marred ones tongue was. The little summoner braced himself and closed his eyes, preparing for the sickness that would take him should they continue.

With this Modeka looked up at Jonathan again, jumped up into the man's chest. Her wee arms wrapped around the English Teacher and held him tight, awaiting the power that'd he would infuse her with.
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