RP:Catching Fire

Part of the An Ascending Dryad Arc

Within the Mage's Tower

Satoshi paces within the perimeter of the barrier, a watchful eye kept on a small group of magelings at practice. Aside from the occasional quiet correction, the foxkin isn't readily teaching the five children, apparently content to let them try out their designated spells. One boy has had the misfortune of burning his eyebrows off yet he seems determined to succeed, a string of arcane words dissolving into a squeak of delight when his fingertips pop alit with tiny flames. Just as quickly as they appear, the fires vanish, lost as the student's focus wavers. "Keep your cool~," Satoshi comments as she prowls past him to peer over the shoulder of a girl with interest. In the child's upheld hands rests a grotesque pile of meat, intestine, bones, and flesh, all severely mangled and dripping with a sickly black blood. "I think your imp is backwards, Pup... Be clear on your pronunciations."

Madigan climbs the Mage's Tower, one step at a very slow, deliberate time. By now, her fractured arm has been healed by the song she sang before descending a Xalious mountain. It'd taken half an hour for the incantation to work fully, which surprised Madigan, even if she wasn't so skilled with incantations. She, at the very least, knew some basic songs from back home and could make them work within 15 minutes, but it was likely that her scattered state of being kept her from being as effective as she usually is with her songs. After her encounter a couple of hours ago with a protective white dragon and a defensive gold dragon, Madigan had decided it was time to stop putting off the need to get fire wards. If she's going to be digging through dragons' nests for their offspring, she had better be prepared for the off-chance that a fire-breathing dragon presents itself. After asking around plenty at the base of the Xalious mountains, she was led to this place: the Mage's Tower. Here, she hoped to find someone who knew fire wards well enough to give her the strongest one they could. Madigan finally reaches the top of the stairs, a wall of magic preventing her from entering deeper into the room. From behind the wall, she spots the Queen of Frostmaw. Finding the Queen here surprises the dryad but also excites her. She had really liked the kit when they first met, even if Madigan had been mostly preoccupied with the presence of a gryphon and Castanops' discomfort. A grin plasters itself on Madigan's lips, the first sign of positivity to reveal itself since she'd embarked on the lonesome journey earlier that day to find an orphaned dragon egg. "Queen Satoshi," she calls out, approaching the field of magic but taking care to not touch it for fear of being repelled backward into the wall.

Satoshi, mid-reworking of a student's written runes, looks up in surprise. It's not common for the kit to hear herself called 'queen' while in the Mage Tower. Here, the students and teachers know her by her guild rank. Confusion is brief, however, once she spots Madigan loitering outside the protective barrier, foxkin's expression brightening almost instantly. "Miss Treeling~," she calls in greeting. A hand gestures for her to step forward despite the wall of shimmering energy between them. "Don't mind the ward. It prevents magics from leaving but it won't stop you from coming in~." Without warning, the five students draw closer to Satoshi and turn wide eyes on Madigan in obvious wonder, and it's a moment before the magus realizes why. "Ah~. You lot have never had the pleasure of meeting one of the Tree Folk, right? Well, say hullo to Madigan." Leaning down, Satoshi lowers her voice slightly before adding, "You can learn a lot about magic from dryads, if you're interested in the elements. But never threaten their tree. You'll wish you were in one of my apprentice lessons if you did that~." Judging by the looks of shock and horror on their tiny faces, the students find such a concept stuff from nightmares. Hopefully they heed her words permanently. With a wink Satoshi looks back up at Madigan. "What brings you here, Treeling~?"

Madigan smiles affectionately at the Queen, flattered by her words. "I'm looking for someone who can make me the strongest fire ward possible," she responds, stepping past the ward. "I think that if I'm going to be meddling with dragons, I should at least have some kind of defense against the biggest threat to me. Would you be able to direct me toward someone who specializes in wards, especially in elemental ones?"

Satoshi straightens and shoos the magelings away in the same gesture so that there's nothing between herself and the dryad. "Depends what sort of ward you're wanting. I'm quite familiar with most types of fire wards, myself, for obvious reasons." As if the arctic chill that eternally surrounds her isn't a giveaway even without her reputation as a master of ice. As the foxkin turns away, she gestures for Madigan to follow her while Satoshi murmurs aloud--as much to organize her own thoughts as for the dryad's benefit. "One-stop wards will block all but the most infernal flames, but they're tricky to make, only work once, and if they backfire... it's ugly. Enchanted wards can absorb most of the heat and harm of fire, but it won't stop it all, sort of like armor buffers a blow while not fully halting it. Those are easier to make, and a fair bit more adaptable. Trigger wards are somewhere inbetween as far as protection goes, but they require some of your own energy each day to fuel them, and an extra dose of your strength if you need more shielding. You're wanting to stop... dragon fire, specifically? Or all types of fire? Natural, arcane, and divine?" As she talks, Satoshi makes her way across the room and to a pair of looming doors where she pauses a moment to voice an arcane word before continuing within...

Satoshi shuffles into the next room.

Madigan follows the Queen into what appears to be a shrine. She looks around in awe, amazed at the intricacies of each item in the room. Her eyes finally return to Satoshi. "A fire ward that could cover all sorts of fires would be nice, but only if the protection is as strong for each one as it would be if I got a fire ward for each individual type of fire. I specifically need a fire ward for dragons' fire breath, right now. I don't mind getting the other wards later on. I just... need to be better prepared." A reminiscent look of fear flashes through Madigan's eyes as she recalls the gold dragon she encountered. It was lucky he was defending her rather than trying to make firewood out of her. Madigan shakes off the thought.

Satoshi nods absently in response as her left hand fishes around in her satchel, a square of parchment retrieved, followed by a quill and stoppered bottle of ink. While the left is busy, the right is swept out before her, the motion accompanied by a softly spoken melody. Where her hand has touched air, the water vapors crystallize and expand until they've been reshaped into the flat surface of an icy table. Placing the writing material down on the new work station, Satoshi unplugs the ink and dips in the quill even as she looks up at Madigan. "Warding against dragon fire is a tricky business. Being magical creatures, they often are able to power through arcane defenses. But... hrm. Actually..." Satoshi trails off, eyes locked on the phoenix statue depicting the element of Fire for the shrine. An idea is slowly brewing behind amber-flecked eyes, an excited gleam flickering further into life with each passing second. Without seemingly being aware of it, the kit scribbles three runes on the corner of the page, the ink a deep shade of red uncomfortably similar to blood.

Madigan watches Satoshi with curious eyes as the kit creates a frozen desk and sits. The Queen's eyes change as thoughts swim through her mind, the shifts blatantly clear to Madigan's own observant eyes. She's tempted to ask the Queen what it is she's thinking, but before the words even form on her lips, Satoshi has already pressed the quill to the page and begun drawing. Madigan approaches slowly and leans forward a bit to get a better look and stay out of the kit's way. The ink strikes the dryad as an odd color of choice, having grown accustomed to people using a black ink. Once the Queen stops scribbling, Madigan looks up at her with questioning eyes.

Satoshi's thoughts continue to mull as she looks up, reading the question in Madigan's eyes. "If you're working with an element, it's best to use an ink that suits it." Were she without her coat, Satoshi might reveal the elaborate arcane circle tattooed on her left shoulder, done in a strange, glistening pale blue ink. The magus is a firm believer in keeping to a specific theme when dealing with elements, as she's found it helps things to function as hoped for--appease the element, and it might not decide to fight against you, after all. Nature doesn't respond well to being shackled, it's much more willing to do as needed if asked, as far as Satoshi's ever discovered. Sure, it makes her an oddity among typical mages, but it's also made her an ice magus few can contend with. A vain smirk crosses her features at the thought before Satoshi scrawls down a few more runic notes, frequent glances sent to the phoenix idol. "I'm going to approach this from a different angle, since Dragon Fire is part of the equation. Trying to stop Dragon Fire outright would be like trying to build a paperwall to stop a raging river from sweeping you away. Useless, it will crumple and fail. But a glass -bowl- isn't torn apart by the current, which makes it much more effective, don'tcha think~?" Again her hand goes into her satchel, this time drawing out a pair of small, dark stones. As the kit places them on either side of the paper, they begin to glow faintly from within, the smallest flicker of flames visible in their depths. "These are fire opals. They've a penchant for swallowing and absorbing fire to astonishing degrees. The wards I can create might not be enough to fully defend against Dragon Fire, although if coupled with these, we may be able to create something of a....flame magnet, for what the wards don't deal with."

Madigan nods without a word, observing the confidence with which the Queen moves. "I'll have to carry those with me?" she asks, indicating the fire opals. She leans closer to get a better look, staring into their inner flames. She had a thing for stones and their powers. It's part of why she was so intrigued by exploring the caverns of Craughmoyle. Maybe she doesn't find an orphaned dragon egg there, but she could find new fungi and gemstones with powers untainted and unaccessed. What's more powerful than something left alone in nature to absorb energy from its neutrally charged surroundings? Sentient taints haven't yet been absorbed by the gems that remain hidden beneath the earth's surface, making them much more potent. Her eyes move easily toward the runes; they grow fond of the color after Satoshi explained her reasoning. Of course you respect the element through its color. That's what her people did in every ritual. The colors of elements were a way of acknowledging the element's power and giving it the respect it so thoroughly deserved. Her lip quirks slightly, subtle and nostalgic. Was it a frown or a smile? Maybe it was both.

Satoshi, without looking up from the page that's rapidly being filled with notes, says, "I imagine fashioning them into bracelets would work well. That way, if the wards cannot endure any further flame, the rest can hopefully be drawn into the stones themselves. Placed at your wrists would mean less danger than say.... hanging them around your neck. Even the best magic can backfire if overloaded. You'd rather that happen on a less vital part of your body. On that note, keep in mind that while fire opals are particularly adept at abosrbing flames, the more they eat, the hotter they'll grow. I wouldn't advise standing directly in the line of a Dragon or Phoenix's fire, thusly." Unconsciously, Satoshi flexes her left hand, where a painful burn has only recently healed, caused by an amber stone over-charged by a Kirin's lightning blast. "Personally, I prefer to work with fluorite, it resonants well with my magic and ice in general. It's ill-suited to fire however, you'd have to regularly replace the stones. Now then... the ward. Where are you intending on placing it? Clothing? Armor? Jewelry? Flesh?"

Madigan makes brief eye contact before looking down at the runes. "Definitely flesh. It's the most permanent thing I have on me and can follow me into my other forms," she nods with a confidence in the logic of her words.

Satoshi nods in approval. Worn items can be lost or destroyed, but flesh remains. "And it's the best way to fuel the ward, if it's directly linked to you. I'll design it so that you can feed a small portion of your energy to it each day to keep it maintained, as well if the need arises, you can flood it with more to increase its strength. How does that sound?"

Madigan grins a satisfied smile. "I do like that idea a lot. I only get stronger with age since I'm an oak. That'll be easy enough to handle on a good day." Her grins turns a little impish at her words, slanting itself and turning crooked. All this productivity is giving her confidence back - the confidence that got severely scorched during the very bad encounter with that white dragon. Her smirk falls a little at the memory, but not by much. "So, are you going to tattoo it onto me?"

Satoshi shakes her head slightly. "Non, I'm not inker, but I can design it and point in the direction of those with the ability. Just... make sure they copy the design in exact detail, otherwise if you're lucky it simply won't work. If you're unlucky... it'll detonate, backfire, or some other disasterous effect." The wry grin she wears with the words suggests she's seen such events on more than one occasion and doesn't wish it on Madigan. She's helped clean her fair share of mage parts off the training room floor, walls, and ceiling after experimental wards failed. "So, as this is going on your skin and is thus permanent, what sort of shape do you want? I can work in something of a motif for you so long as it doesn't clash with the common patterns of fire. Which means.. let's avoid rippling designs, as they're more suited to water. Perhaps something sun-related? Dual-triangles and other angled shapes tend to channel fire well too."

Madigan considers the Queen's words for a moment. "Nothing concrete," she manages after a pause. "No suns, no stars. Nature isn't concrete," is all the odd dryad can manage to respond. Nature isn't concrete? Of course it's concrete; it's tangible. "Let it be intricate and true to fire; but fire is abstract and changes in form and in color all the time. It should be like that, not like the sun that never changes shape. Fire evolves." Her eyes drift toward the phoenix statue. "It's transformative."

Satoshi follows Madigan's words and gaze, finding the phoenix statue. "The bird of fire? There is nothing that embodies the element quite like it. Ashes, to embers, to flames, ever-changing." Already, as she's speaking, is the kit scrawling the outline of a phoenix, wings outstretched. "Is it what you want? I can weave multiple small wards into it all, with a design such as this. Just be certain it is what you desire~."

Another silent pause passes before she smiles and nods. "As long as it's abstract and true to fire." She cared so much about honoring fire's nature because, despite it being the most damaging of elements to her, it was still part of Nature and all things Natural were respected and revered by her people, fire included.

Satoshi nods and plunges into her work. Humming from the kit matches the tempo of the quill's eager scratching as it darts between multiple pages now spread upon the tabletop, the ink flowing like blood from a wound to dance across the papers in patterned rivulets--some lines angular and precise like spiderwebs, others delicate curves that reflect the writhing tongues of flames. With each new line, the soaring phoenix becomes both more pronounced and, somehow, more hidden, shrouded in runic fires. The joints of its wings bear twin triangular patterns, one inverted over the other to create a pair of six-pointed stars. Each of the six tips are connected by a perfect circle, creating further segments in the already divided pattern that are then filled with a rune each. "Flames. Guard. Absorb. Divide. Protect," these and similar words are murmured by Satoshi with each symbol drawn, their names and thus their reason for existence permanently locked upon the paper, sealed within the starred circles and within the tips of the spread feathers. Where the phoenix's tail starts, crimson lines spill down in an intricate fall of curves, each one unique in its shape, and each one tipped by a different rune, yet each one is connected to its neighbor in a complex weaving of red. In fact, every line within the design is unbroken, Satoshi managing to ensure all have bonded to another at some point along their paths. If one were to plant their finger on any random line and follow it, they would discover that it all traces back to the center of the ward, where the phoenix's heart would beat were it alive; but instead of a true heart, Satoshi has placed upon the bird's breast a stylized sigil, the arcane representation of the Word for 'Fire'. It's a lengthy process but when the magus is done, she sits back with a content sigh to regard the piece. She frowns then and reaches for her satchel to draw out a small vial of gold-colored dust, upending it into her palm before sprinkling it across the ink. As the crimson lines dry, they capture the flecks of gold, a mixture that, when she holds the page up for Madigan to see, creates the illusion that the pattern is shifting and dancing in the light. "I'm no pyromancer, but I do believe I've managed to paint the essence of fire for you, Treeling." Attuned to ice Satoshi might be, but she's not unfamiliar with fire. Know your enemy, after all.

Madigan's green eyes dance over every corner of the masterpiece. The phoenix itself could not have done a better job of representing itself and its domain. She takes the paper from Satoshi's hands to inspect the flecks of gold, absolutely impressed with the skill put into such an honest representation of fire. "I'm tempted to dance in flames just by looking at this. My own enemy so seductive on a page," she mumbles to herself. Has she blinked yet? "Thank you," she says quietly, still in awe. Finally, she lifts her eyes from the page and looks at the Queen. "Really." Madigan watches the Queen with admiration and affection, unsure of how to make it any more clear how much her actions mean to the dryad.

Satoshi would preen, were she a bird. The dryad's admiring gaze is like sunlight to a flower. A very, very vain flower. "You're welcome~. Just be sure to use it well, lest it turn to ash." She's kidding. Probably. Grinning, she slides the pair of fire opals across the table to Madigan, their inner flames appearing to grow in size as they get nearer to the ward. "I hope these serve you well, Treeling, truly. Your kind are far too special to lose to something as voracious and all-consuming as fire. If its own idol can't guard you, nothing can~."

Madigan turns her attention to the fire opals; she folds the sketch gingerly, places it into her bag, and picks up the stones. "Thank you, again." With the stones clenched in both hands, she bows her head and makes her way to the exit of the shrine.

Satoshi salutes the departing dryad and, once she's left, slumps against the frozen table with a sigh. "Hellfire, do those drain moi," the kit murmurs wearily. She'll have to hunt tonight, there's no doubt.