mayfield_logs | this is for research!! ...and world peace too, maybe...

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this is for research!! ...and world peace too, maybe...

Who: Ciel, Marisa Kirisame
What: Thaumaturgical theory exchange/experimenting and practice session
Where: Highway
When: Sunday the 17th, night
Warnings: Nada, maybe powerlevel BS but since this is ~magics~ we ain't gotta explain anything!!

[Like back home, Ciel sat on her huge prana tank and never seriously made recourse to her magical potential. The most she's done here with her thaumaturgy is to maintain the bounded field around the Church, plant down a few seals within its perimeter to serve as her personal backup reserves just in case, and enchant her Black Keys with additional properties - the latter being something she's always done. Recent happenings that included a case during which she had to almost make use of everything, however, made the need to review what she CAN do more and more pressing. It's with serious concerns in mind that she casually breached the topic to Marisa earlier during the week after the zombie fiasco's been dealt away with. She's not expecting her not!daughter to agree easily, but banking on perhaps being able to pique her interest in the magical field, it was worth a shot nevertheless.

So there they are now, on the way towards the Mayfield Highway after the sun has set, to get away from the town and curious eyes for some privacy.]

I suppose it is a bit useless to ask again at this point, but... You really don't mind? This isn't any small favor. We don't exactly know what the results would be, either.

[She looks over with some mild concern. ...Sure, they're not going to be working on anything ridiculously dangerous. Ciel made it clear that her focus will be on sealing, restrictive, and defensive spells: to disrupt the flow of prana in someone else to temporarily paralyze their casting abilities, to stop someone from being able to physically move, and to shield against/absorb/redirect powerful blasts of magical nature. In that regard, if there were any risks, Ciel would be the one running them; she'll be on the defensive while Marisa takes the offensive. Plus, Marisa probably isn't stranger to potentially dangerous experiments anyhow, but... She'll nag even if she's the one who needs help to conduct these tests. Ciel has the power, but possesses incomplete knowledge. So the one choice left is to work out the formulas on her own, even if she might be making a bunch of new ones up along the way. As long as they're effective, it'll be good - because when they will legitimately be needed, they have to work.]

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[Marisa decided to leave her broom at home. Sometimes, walking was better when the mind was focused on other things. Like going through her own repertoire of spells that could do what Ciel wanted. She was idly playing with a small stack of cards as they walked - the same back to them as the ones she'd had at the Church during that disastrous conversation with Bazett except there were ore of them.

Marisa also had something else on her mind...]

Yeah. It's interesting, ze. And I've got enough magical knowledge outside of Gensokyo magic that should help.

...sides, I've seen that notebook you have. We create spells in pretty much the same way. I, uh, finished a lot of the ones you gave up on, by the way. I've just never put them to practical use before.

Kinda wish I had my grimoire, but nooooooooooooo, Mayfield won't give it to me yet.

[...

Her steps halt, but... no. Is she really surprised?

She'll keep walking, but slump her shoulders a little.]

Those were just to kill time. I didn't think I'd actually start needing to put anything into practice, back then. [Not that some of these spells would be nice to throw around anyway, either too destructive or just impractical for Mayfield.] ...Were you killing time, too? A lot of those would have no use here. [...But okay except for the part that she IS slightly worried that Marisa might test the more nuke-ish ones out...

And giving her another sideways glance.]

You could perform trades at the Post Office, I don't think they discriminate one regain against another? [just a suggestion, but if Marisa isn't really eager to deal with the Postman, that Ciel can understand too. She remembers well enough how they met, after all.]

I gotta do something while waiting for a potion to brew. It was kinda there, so... yeah.

[The witch pulls her hat down - still not used to the new outfit she had] Trading stuff at the post office implies having something I want to give up. Which is the only reason I still have these clothes. Don't really want to give them up, ze.

[She chuckles openly at that.]

I'm glad you kept them too, actually. They look very nice! Your original outfit had a relatively simple design, so it wouldn't be hard to remake it with what we can already buy in town. It's what I've done for my habit and for prom. You could give some design inputs of your own, if you'd like to have it remade instead of waiting to regain it again?

Maybe. It's what Reimu did for her robes. It's just... my hat.

...Does it have sentimental values?

[She doesn't plan to ask beyond that though. Honest!]

It's my hat.

[It's that "I am in a teenager's body talking to another teenager" thing, right? ...Right.]

Maybe you'll get it back next time?

...maybe. [It's a hat thing. Ciel doesn't have a spanky hat - she doesn't understand. SION understood.]

So which kinda spell are we gonna work on first?

[Excluded from the FUNNY HAT CLUB... How will she continue living.

BUT YES! Alright, onto the expositions. She mentioned briefly but never went into details, so let's get on that now.]

Defensive ones, and of three kinds. You can pick which one you'd like to start on. I've been working with all three, but we don't have to test them tonight - or at all, if you prefer. [this is volunteer work, after all.] Firstly is creating immediate and protective barriers capable of redirecting, absorbing, and/or nullifying powerful blasts of magical nature. With the right formulas and calculations, I'm sure that all three is possible to a certain degree no matter how strong the attack is. Secondly is restrictive spells that would slow down or completely limit movement. Black Keys can already immobilize humans by locking the body down through the person's shadow, I'd like to build on that so it also becomes effective against individuals with much stronger magical resistance. Finally are seals - to either temporarily lock away the source of another's natural magical reserves, or stop them from being able to cast, completely or partially, by interrupting the flow of their execution. To put that in other words, the former is like taking away the power source, the latter is like jamming the connection line linking the power source to the electronics, or unplugging the cord as a whole.

[A small beat.] Though that may only make sense if you know how sorcery is performed as I was used to. Back in my world, thaumaturgy is cast through magical circuits inside one's own body. They're like magical nerves that make up a person's reserves; the more one possesses at birth, the better of a magus they potentially may become. Have you heard of this?

[Marisa listened as Ciel talked, her gaze moving down to the cards. She flipped through them as she listened, separating a few of them out of the small deck.]

I know what magic circuits are. Rin and I have talked a lot. I also know about magic crests and where they are located on a couple magi from your world.

[She kind of scoffs at that. Marisa doesn't like the magic circuit/crest stuff. Just another case of people being born with or gifted with their power. She has yet to come across someone else like her that's had to work for every teeny tiny bit of power they have. Such a sore spot and pulls out her inferiority complex.]

You don't have one, do you - a crest? I've never sensed one on you when you use magic. Not like I do the others.

I don't have a crest, no. It's a bloodline heritage passed down through prestigious families of magi throughout the ages, and you yourself know that I come from no such background. [Just an insane amount of circuits... But yes, she'll plainly reference the fact that Marisa is fully aware at this point that Ciel was born as a baker's daughter - nothing more, and nothing less.

She does pick up the disdain, and it's not hard putting one and one together; she knows Marisa's worked hard for hers.]

Nevertheless, it's the system I know best, so it's what I've based my theories on. Which is why any input from you would be greatly appreciated; with how many other different systems that Mayfield must've pulled together, I have to make sure that these would work at least to a certain extent, even on someone else who doesn't follow the same laws that I'm used to. [That makes sense though, right?]

...doesn't mean you didn't take a crest from someone once. They're all paranoid about losing theirs. I almost talked Bazett out of hers. But whatever.

[She grumbles this as they walk, adjusting the cards, pulling a forth one out of the pile.]

I know enough about the magic circuits and how that magic works.

[Reinforcement lessons from Merem, analyzing Rin's magic, even studying Ciel's own uses... Marisa is, if nothing else, a magic sponge. She might not be able to adapt it all, but she can understand how it could work.]

I also understand Flame Haze Unrestricted Methods. I've managed to adapt a variety of magic not from Gensokyo to my own use, so I doubt there's anyone better to help you with things. Hell, I can use Rin's trademark spell, but I don't like using curse magic, so I don't bother.

How much have you actually looked in depth at the ward at the house? It has paralytic binding magic in it. Conditional, of course.

[She gives a small frown automatically at that. ...Not exactly of disgust, but it definitely isn't one anything close to approval.]

You've said it yourself I'm not a magus, and that woman is a bad example of most things in my world. [She nods at that.] Which is why I asked, so I appreciate the help. That's Shana's technique, correct? And hm, Tohsaka-san's Gandr... [now it really makes her wonder if Marisa would ever try putting into practice the scribbles she pulled out, even if she said she hasn't so far...]

Not much, I admit. I though you had it covered, and like I've said, I didn't have much of an interest until now. I am aware that you've set them up against specific people. Does it detect intent, too? [she wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, honestly.]

[In reality, Marisa had only tried to get Bazett's crest because she wanted to study it... and make Bazett powerless. The stupid magus thought Marisa wanted to use it. She knows it's not compatible with her - no circuits.]

Yeah. Those take a lot of energy to use. At least for me since I can't use Power of Existence like they can. I'll have to find a more efficient way to use those...

[Marisa twirled the four cards between her fingers, having put the others away.]

That ward is layered. Aside from the ones barring specific people from the property, there is a subtle one that activates when someone not of the household - or Merem - acts with intent to harm. That activates the paralytic binding. Unless the target has a lot of magic power or is something really strong - like a vampire - they won't be able to break it. Even those with the ability to will have to fight to break it, taking damage in the process.

I don't do large wards often, but when I do, they have teeth.

[That's actually possible, rip the crest out, keep the individual alive, and use it via proxy. But we're dealing with another magus here, so moving right on...]

I haven't heard of that. Is it a mechanic belonging to Shana's world? What does it entail?

[She seems to be playing with those pretty often... Hm.

She nods.]

You do have your workshop to protect. I've tried strengthening the one I set up around the Church, but it seems to always be wavering. I can't keep it stable at even a quarter of how I should be able to, back in our world. At first I thought it might just be this town that has unstable mana in the air, but thinking about it... I wonder if the fact that it's a public location has anything to do with it. Have you come across any inconsistencies like those, here? [kind of off-topic, but on ~magic~ nevertheless, so close enough...?]

Best I've been able to figure out, Power of Existence is essentially the world's life force. Which is probably why I can adapt the spells for my own use given where my magic comes from, but it's really tiring. It's like asking the damn world to give a hand and getting it to pay attention to one magician is like trying to get Arcueid to pay attention to anything else when there's food in front of her.

[Marisa taps her chin.] With your bounded field at the Church, I think that's more of a problem of its source than it being public. And hold off on bitching at me for saying that until I explain.

[Now, how to phrase it...]

Okay, so your magic, just like Rin's and Bazett's comes from within. Your power source is all those magic circuits inside of you. That means you have a limited supply of energy. Yes, your body reproduces it - cause I am totally treating those circuits like mana batteries cause that makes sense to me - but after so much use, they need to recharge. Those with crests can use their mana supply more efficiently than you. You just have a ton of it, but no real training to refine it, like the crest lets the other do.

You're like me, ze. You bleed mana all over the place. Seriously, I constantly leak mana because I have more than a human from Gensokyo is supposed to. You have... too many of the circuits than is normal for your world. At least that's what I've gathered. But you still have a limited supply.

I think the Church's is weaker because, even though you're there a lot, you don't live there. It's not where your body recharges, where you sleep. Even when we sleep, there is still an energy provided to sustained magic, but during recharge, it's a lot less and it has interference with all the other forms of magic here.

It's like... interference. Make sense?

So the Will of Gaia. That makes perfect sense, yes. It's an interesting coincidence that you're using her as an analogy, since that airhead is probably our planet's version of Power of Existence personified.

[...It's sorcery, she's not gonna nag at you for that, so she just listens patiently.]

Yes and no, I would say. We still need outside mana to manifest the changes that we're trying to do. If you're in a place where the entire area's mana belongs to the enemy, even I wouldn't be able to do anything with my internal reserves. [Einnashe comes to mind, here.

...

Yeah. Because instead of a crest, Ciel's stuck with the leftover knowledge of an accomplished magus 800 years ago. The guy's nuts, but boy does he know some crazy stuff. She's not reaally going to tell Marisa that though, no... So no need to correct her and clarify her situation.]

You're correct about me having more than the norm, and I understand the matter of interference. But wouldn't that go back to location? Being in a more public place means there will be more interference as opposed to a private one. I've also cast other forms of long-term spells that have turned out okay, however, so I'm still doubtful. A while back, I've inlaid magic circles around the Church grounds with the specific purpose to stock up mana from the environment. It started out as a test, but it's worked fine up to this very day. Apart from rest and nutrition, with that in place, the Church is actually the best place in town for me to recharge my magical reserves. Maybe the seal just makes it easier for me to draw back what's already been accumulated, but nevertheless, it doesn't wholly add up.

[She thinks she understands her, anyway... Man, different magic in different worlds all speak different languages too, don't they?]

Okay. If you lived at the Church and was there all the time, it would be more powerful and sustained. It's why I only have wards up here and at Feferi's. And that one I have to renew every month since I only get so much of a boost from the magic in her blood.

[Oh, right.] She's a troll.

[That should explain it.]

So what are we working on first? And is this far enough out? I can't see the town, which means I can use my more powerful magic.

[This also makes her take a serious look around. This is about where her and Rin did the memory spell that backfired on them. No need for Ciel to pick up traces of that.]

So physical presence? [she does spend a fair amount there. Even more than at home sometimes, arguably. Through the memory alteration event, she's mostly spent her time here. Hm...

Well, they ARE theorizing. There's probably no way to confirm, Mayfield never makes anything easy.]

--Wait, you use her blood to boost a ward at her house? [Forget the troll part, blood sounds more important!

Gonna stop now, and she won't say anything even if she did. It's not like Marisa would tell her, anyway.]

Mm, this is good. The choice is yours though, unless you don't mind at all?

Magic is always stronger when the source is present.

...and trolls have special blood. All sorts of different colors related to their cast. Feferi shares a unique blood with one of the big bads of town who kinda wants Feferi dead. So I have a ward up at her house attuned to her blood. Also, trolls of her caste have some inherent magic, so I can use it as a generic boost when working with her blood, kind of like I could do with a certain kind of mushroom in the Forest.

You choose the spell type. I don't care. Just give me more of an idea of how we're doing this.

Not necessarily, but I can understand it as a general rule.

--Ah, the alien race in town, right? I've never spoken to any at length, but I've seen them around. [Big bad? So they're related? ...Nodding, she doesn't add anything as she quietly files that info away.] So it's just another reagent to you or something on that line, I see.

If you're sure. By 'how', do you mean in practice, or in theory? The former will be fairly straightforward, but the latter will involve a lot of guesswork. I won't be nearly as precise as I'd like to be. [Marisa is probably not surprised to hear that part, is she?]

Both. How much of this is going to be a lot of trial and error and what method will we be using to test it?

Do we have a benchmark we're aiming for?

I could explain to you what I'll be trying to do and the effects that I'm expecting. I can perform the spells without a target to demonstrate, and if you see any holes in it, you can tell me? All my more complex formulas are based on Numerology, but if you've completed some of the scraps I've left behind, you should be able to understand most of it. I admit that I'm a bit concerned about how well our systems can mesh, but again, your skills in adaptation shouldn't make this a problem.

[...chinhands...]

I don't think so, no. We're just starting, setting a goal now before getting an idea of how things will go would be hasty. What do you think? [She's being cautious, but at least she acknowledges it openly...]

Always set a goal, even if you know it's unrealistic at the moment. It's important when creating new spell and techniques to have a goal. Without it, it's hard to push yourself to the point where the impossible becomes possible.

[And that's the closest Ciel will get as to how Marisa, being just an ordinary human, managed to get so strong.]

Don't worry about whether our magic will mesh or not, cause they will. I can support a Servant, cast Gandr and I already know one of your bounded fields, ze.

[...

Haha, go figures. But willpower isn't Ciel's forte. She's stubborn for the sakes of other people, but when it comes to her own ambitions in life... She really had nothing there.

She seems to have heard Marisa, but doesn't give a stronger reaction other than a small nod.]

Fine. Defensively, I'd like to contain an attack strong enough to level streets. In terms of interference, create a seal on anyone sufficiently potent to disrupt their ability to cast or resort to anything magical for a short while, and as for binding, stop someone from moving even if they possess a strong supernatural resistance. The goal is to contain, without causing any actual bodily harm. [Contain and control, to anyone or anything that might lose themselves once more. Marisa's a smart girl; it should be easy for her to catch on - if she hasn't already, with that much said.]

You know... A part of me is gonna be real pissed if we manage that first one.

We can skip it, it's the most straightforward one that should also be the easiest to put into practice. [She is going to eye her a bit curiously, now. Would this possibly imply that Marisa has a nukeblast up her sleeves?]

[IT'S CALLED MASTER SPARK.]

...alright, ze. Let's work on the binding spell then.

[She thought it was called "ULTRA SUPER SECRET SPECIAL *BLURRED ATTACK NAME HERE*"...]

Okay. To give you an idea, this is the normal strength. [Saying that, she flicks a Black Key out of nowhere (though it's more like quickly pulling a Bible page out of her sleeve, transforming that to handle, and then summoning the blade - the process is so automatic by this point that it takes less than a fraction of a second for her to perform the whole thing). It's immediately thrown towards Marisa, but off-course a bit so while it's flying towards her, it'd be obvious from the start that it won't physically so much as graze her.

If Marisa doesn't move, it'll land onto the shadow by her feet, cast by her whole body under the faint but present illumination provided by the road lights.]

Now try to take a step normally. Can you? [She shouldn't be able to, not without either destroying the Key or doing something to the flow of magic in her own body to overpower the bind. So if she listens to Ciel and attempts lifting her foot up to move forward, she'll find that she can't.]

Huh.

[Marisa looks down at the key as it's stuck in the ground, trying to move her feet. It wasn't working.]

That's effective but also dependent on being able to hit with a projectile. Limited magic, ze.

I have good aim. [Watching Marisa and the key keenly, she'll stay where she is with her arms crossed over her chest.] As long as the target has a shadow, I should for the very least immobilize it for a short amount of time. Now try breaking through with any means you'd like to employ?

[That ought to be doable. The two most straightforward ways are either catch Ciel off-guard enough to have her lose the focus necessary to sustain the Key, or destroy the Key itself entirely as it is. Having a normal person's brute strength wouldn't be able to pull it out, given that the Key targets the spiritual and not the physical. Magic resistance and firepower, on the other hand, should be able to make short work of it. It's not hard, but not super easy either. Given that this is Marisa however...

Ciel gives her 30 seconds. ...Probably being too generous, but that shouldn't matter. It's not like she's saying it out loud, or anything!]

[Marisa looks up away from Ciel for a moment, both thinking about Ciel's words and using her sensing ability to get a feel for the black key. Her mana seemed to surge and flare out for a moment, pressing against the key, but then the witch cuts that off immediately.

No, she didn't feel like expending that much at once to blow through it. She decided to do something different. Crafting a quick spell of light magic, a pillar of bright white magic that was hard to look at rose up from underneath her, shooting a good fifty feet up, completely engulfing the witch. With her shadow eliminated by this light spell - the basis of her Shoot the Moon spellcard - the witch quickly hopped out of the pillar and away from the black Key.

She cut the spell off, the bright light dissipating, and snuffed out the tiny flame on the end of her braid's ribbon.]

[...

Nicely done. Caught in surprise or in the heat of combat, most people don't realize right away just how exactly the keys worked. Manipulating the elements personally is arguably the most efficient and cleanest way of ridding the spell.

Ciel's eyebrows shoot up a bit, though she'll make no attempt to hide the expression of mild surprise and definite approval.]

Nicely done! [Even if... it dodged the point of the exercise, admittedly. Not everyone is going to be able to summon light magic perfectly to negate their shadow, Ciel herself is foreseeing more situations where she'd have a very short frame of time to neutralize some force, the time to slap down some more powerful means of restraint or go back on the defensive. To people who don't know the Keys' properties, there won't be enough time to figure out how it works.

STILL, congratulations go where congratulations are due. Ciel's not ALWAYS being stingy and nagging, contrary to popular belief!!]

Edited 2012-07-12 04:49 (UTC)

Surprised?

[Marisa grinned, liking it when she can show off. And, well, her magical thought process wasn't exactly linear like most magicians. A benefit of being insane.]

A bit, pleasantly so too! [She'll give a sunny smile back!]

[--Before dropping to a conflicted chinhand with a sigh...] Though that doesn't help me any, unfortunately... Under broad daylight and facing against those who don't know the Black Key's properties, most notably. Otherwise, I'd myself skip directly to a binding spell instead, know what I mean?

...you want to try it again, only I pretend I'm Reimu instead of me?

[rubs temple...]

--No, please don't. It'd be good if we were actually sparring, but we're just running experiments for the time being. You can either try it in ways to not remove your own shadow, or we could skip to the purely thaumaturgy-made binding spells instead? That might be simpler, in the long run.

Binding spells I do know, ze.

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this is for research!! ...and world peace too, maybe...

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