purl four | bbs

[thorny]

My apologies for neglecting you for so long, Garden. I'm sure that you've longed after the soothing sight of my lavender text splattered across the forums for quite some time now. I'll attempt to make amends by diligently hounding our communal online space for the next week or so, leaving no subthread untouched by my conversation. Hopefully this should prove to be balm enough to heal your emotional wounds.

The cause of my distraction was none other than a few trinkets from home dropped my way during the holiday season. Let it not be said that my opinion of Time Compression is one purely composed of blind hatred - it seems that the phenomena can be quite magnanimous when the proverbial mood strikes it. Perhaps not for you, given the nature of my gift, but I'm certainly enjoying myself to the utmost. Even if more than a few objects were martyred by fire in the name of gaining experience.

Speaking of sacrifices, I don't believe that I've ever mentioned my vested interest in the field of psychology. I bring this up solely as in the past few days I've managed to acquire my first patient here and thought that perhaps some others would benefit from similar services. I promise to keep things confidential and not trigger any waterworks during the first session, which is more than most counselors have any right to claim. We can work out the details of a schedule at your discretion.

Comments

[thorny]

An automobile gifted with flight seems to be a fair trade for being tugged between worlds a few more times than is absolutely necessary. Unless of course one is taking the cynical approach, in which case the large gift is likely an attempt to lull him into a false sense of security before a tragedy is sprung upon him.

Perish the thought that I can't handle myself in the heat of an impromptu battle. I merely enjoy keeping my conversations and fights compartmentalized so as to avoid either bleeding over.

[vestigiaflammae]

maybe he'll get stuck with one of those enemies from home visiting or something. are they gone, anyway? i haven't heard anything about them in a while.

oh come on it's fun to get into fights every once in a while. i mean, like sparring. friendly fights.

or not so friendly if the other guy gets pissed off i guess. but that's his problem!

[thorny]

If they haven't been vanquished by now then they're likely finally opting for the more prudent choice of action and laying low until they can get their bearings.

While it's always worthwhile participating in events that can keep one's martial abilities honed, I don't seek out conflicts of the physical sort. Enough find me on their own that to do so would be exceedingly foolhardy.

[vestigiaflammae]

i guess with all these seeds around it'd be pretty dumb to risk it unless you were incredibly strong. and i hope nobody like that came along... we'll see though, right?

it's fun though! and it keeps you on your toes.

bet you don't get as many fights here even if you got into a ton of them back home.

[thorny]

Only time will tell. That or a sudden assault on the Garden by unknown forces wielding strange powers. But who am I to speculate on such things?

This locale isn't exactly a hotbed of seedy physical altercations, no. The monsters corralled into the training room are an adequate substitute in the meantime, however.

[vestigiaflammae]

c'mon, that's not funny. i'd rather not get stuck dealing with something like that! at least i hope they give me some time to take intermediate and advanced magic first.

so you hang out over at the training center a lot, huh? i've been by there once or twice! it's pretty cool.

this whole thing beats school back home by a mile though.

[thorny]

Foes are rarely considerate enough to allow you an opportunity to arm yourself with the best materials available. Hopefully you're skilled at improvisation.

When the mood strikes me. I'm typically in pursuit of more intellectual activities, but the need to mutilate dumb beasts rears its ugly head every now and then just the same. I'd prefer this place to my previous one if the courses were a touch more challenging, but that's a gripe for another day.

[vestigiaflammae]

i guess hitting them in the face works, i mean, if i don't have a choice. but magic is more fun!

what, you don't think they're HARD enough? with all the homework we get?? are you kidding?

any harder and i'd have dropped out and started scrubbing the floors for my keep or something!

[thorny]

Personally I find that creativity in battle trumps any particular style for enjoyment.

I don't find them very challenging at all, no. Perhaps if they'd allow me to expand my repertoire outside of two majors, but as it stands I'm rather bored with the work as a whole. I've been toying with an idea to net myself a peek into the other classes, but things seem to keep coming up before I can finalize anything.

[vestigiaflammae]

yeah, i guess. so magic is cooler, anyway.

man.

why is everybody here some kind of genius? you guys are making me feel dumb.

[thorny]

It certainly allows for more flexibility when dishing out punishment.

I'm nothing close to a genius level of intellect. I simply have high personal standards as to where I ought to be currently in my education that not even universal displacement can halt.

[vestigiaflammae]

there you go. it sounds like you mostly use magic too!

oh come on if you think these classes are boring, you're way too smart, just admit it. not like that's a bad thing or anything!

[thorny]

I've been told that I will. Up until Christmastime I'd contented myself with the needles I'm more familiar with.

I'd love to acknowledge my staggering intellect for a girl my age, but given that I've already acquiesced to a display of arrogance via my new wands I believe that adding that on top of the pile would create a cascade of hubris that paradox space couldn't leave unanswered. Perhaps another time.

[vestigiaflammae]

like, non magic needles? you'd have to get pretty close to someone to stick them with those, huh?

[And that whole paragraph makes his head spin to read. Paradox what? Moving on, quick, before it's too obvious that he doesn't get it.]

yeah yeah, whatever, i'll hold you to that. you've gotta admit it one of these days!

but you can show me the wand tricks first.

[thorny]

Incredibly non-magic knitting needles. And yes, my weapon of choice forces me to fight almost exclusively at close range. It's not much of a danger if you know exactly what you're doing.

I'll be sure to pencil it in for one of my slower days; you'll likely not have to wait long. Of course you'll be waiting an even smaller amount of time for my impromptu magic show, which I suspect is an even greater joy for you to hear.

[vestigiaflammae]

that knowing exactly what you're doing thing ends up as a problem if you're fighting somebody who knows what they're doing too!

you've gotta be pretty good if you've managed so far.

and i'm looking forward to the magic show, believe me! i hang out in the quad most of the time when i'm not in class, so i'm pretty easy to spot.

[thorny]

The predicament is one easily solved - simply be better than your opponent. I've had little trouble following this maxim, so I suppose that 'pretty good' is as accurate a descriptor as any.

Excellent. Considering that I'll be the one with dark magic crackling about my person I doubt you'll have difficulty picking me out from the usual rabble.

[vestigiaflammae]

"be better than them" pretty much always works. it's just a problem if you're not.

but hey it sounds like it works for you!

i'll keep an eye out for the crackles.

[thorny]

It helps when one is an incurable perfectionist; being anything less than the best is simply an unacceptable outcome.

Thank you. I'd hate to have to resort to flashier means of identifying myself than that.

[vestigiaflammae]

yeah makes sense but that still gets tough. i guess i'll get there eventually!

good thing i don't use needles to fight with so we won't be competing, huh?

and can you get flashier than that without taking out the whole quad or something?

[thorny]

Fortuitous for you, I suppose. I've been told that I'm not the most pleasant person to face off against, even when I hold the competitor in regard.

I have a penchant for aesthetics, so finding an alternative to decimating the campus wouldn't be terribly difficult.

[vestigiaflammae]

what, you regard me already? aw that's nice!

[Also totally not the right way to say that, but whatever. She's kind of fun to talk to, when he gets what she's saying, anyway.]

hmmm. dark magic fireworks might be cool.

[thorny]

I wouldn't go so far as to say that this singular conversation had enough impact on me that I've already ticked you up a few boxes on my list of respected peoples, but you haven't garnered my ire just yet. I suppose that you're floating somewhere in pleasantly neutral territory at the moment.

They would certainly be a memorable experience for all involved.