week two | dates

[marriagebroker]

Kiss the girl~!

Or guy.

Or person.

Or Messmer's snake.

Comments

[researcherstory]

No, not particularly. Even the capital of Vaugarde doesn't sound so... stifling.

[ Suffocating. Ugh. So many people. ]

Also. You're useless. A city's literature is the first thing you should consume, Edamura, even before its food. How else are you to understand its people?

[ordimame]

[what the hell is Vaugarde]

Iiiii could always just talk to them?

[he is an academic AND YET. . .]

[researcherstory]

[ Wouldn't you like to know, bean boy. ]

... You are more extroverted than I assumed.

[ordimame]

[AMUSED]

You're really surprised? My line of work has me dealing with people on a regular basis, you know.

[their next serving of tea is being steeped! Edamura inhales the scent, letting it out very slowly]

. . . but we're talking a lot about me. I get to ask you some questions too, right?

[researcherstory]

[ Dealing with people is different. She also deals with people. That doesn't mean she enjoys it. Ignoring all her enjoyment she's had here. ]

If you'd like. But I prefer to ask, not answer.

[ But she will answer, since... he has answered her, and they have a rhythm she's fond of, watching their next serving. ]

[ordimame]

So do I! That's why this-- [gestures between them] -- works so well.

[but he does sober a bit, because he thinks his question might be a little more on the serious side]

Your profile said something about "saving the world." What was that about?

[he only didn't ask the other night because his brain was still rewiring itself]

[researcherstory]

[ This... Please. Yes, that is why they work so well. ]

Oh, that. [ nbd ] I recently helped to save a country from being frozen in time.

[ordimame]

[. . . yeah. nbd]

Oh.

. . . that's cool. And completely normal. Totally happens all the time.

[researcherstory]

No, please, let loose. It wasn't even normal there. My world doesn't see strife as oft as many others.

[ It's just because it's Odile that she tells it so. ]

[ordimame]

[oh thank god]

-- what the hell?! How do you even freeze an entire country in time!! Even if-- [ugh] -- even if magic is "real" that's completely insane!!

[researcherstory]

[ Her puppy is so funny. ]

It was thought impossible by most as well, with only a few texts that explained the concept in theory. I have been studying it for a few months now as a result.

[ordimame]

Not to replicate it, I hope.

[please don't go around freezing entire societies in time, Odile. please]

[researcherstory]

I would die if I tried.

[ More seriously. ]

[ordimame]

Well, then definitely don't do it!

-- why would you die??

[man who has no idea how magic works in any universe]

[researcherstory]

[ A simple way to put it...

... is right before them, actually. ]

As water is used and discarded, so is the heat. Crafts, the "magic" of my world, act the same. It pulls from the user, intent, energy, and will in one. Using Time Craft would drain a person's life near instantaneously, particularly because it asks the known laws to bend. Even going back in time a few seconds would cause someone to pass out, or so its theorized. Make sense?

[ordimame]

So someone died freezing that whole country in time? Then what was the point!!

1/2

[researcherstory]

No, he lived. That's why we were unable to undo it.

[ "Did he survive to the end?" Let's not talk about that. ]

Worry not, Edamura. No one can manage it a second time -- the use of Time Craft was thanks to something very specific, though I am not at liberty to speak on it. Even though I very much understand it both how and why.

[ She literally Gets It All but she isn't spilling. ]

2/2 some isat spoilers

[researcherstory]

... The point was, however, grief. A land that welcomed him after he had lost his home, without question and kindness so great, one might call it naivety. He did not wish to lose a second home, and so Vaugarde was set to freeze.

[ It's painful, however. To let go. This is going to be so important later. ]

[ordimame]

[HE IS SOOOOO CONFUUUUUSED]

. . . so he was just stupid.

[researcherstory]

Yes. He was.

[ ... ]

But fear makes people do incredibly unwise things.

[ordimame]

Does that mean I can't judge them? Because I am.

Judging them.

[Edamura]

[researcherstory]

Judge all you'd like. It was still a bad thing he did.

[ ... Still, she's pinching his side. Seemingly for no reason. ]

In any case, that's all there is to it. It was quite the fuss, and impeded my travel across Vaugarde a good bit... but now they can live in peace once more. As they always did.

[ordimame]

[flinches at the pinch! swatting at her hand!!]

Well. . . that's a happy ending, at least. How did you break the spell?

[researcherstory]

Mirabelle turned it back on him, so he froze instead.

[ ..................... ]

[ordimame]

[. . .]

Oh.

[sounds. . . horrifying]