RP:Laying Traps in Venturil
This is a Warrior's Guild RP.
Summary: Kasyr and Karasu meet in the Venturil canyons to prepare for the war games. There, they spar, and Kasyr learns a little more about Karasu's newfound abilities.
Unpleasant Rubble
Travel through the narrow pass becomes more difficult here as the fissure wends like a terrible, jagged wound torn into the mountain by the axe of an angry god. The rock walls stretch to dizzying heights above, and the ground is heavily strewn with shattered boulders. Rock-slides happen regularly enough to present travelers with the constant peril of being crushed, but this is not the only danger present. Halfway through lies a huge mound of moldering bones and mangled armor. The bones appear to be of mixed origin, many large animal skeletons tangled with humanoid remains, and a few appear to be saurian. A glance upward reveals hand- and foot-holds cut into the rock, though it would take a lunatic or boundless courage to attempt such a treacherous climb. Still, on the ground lies evidence that some have tried – and clearly failed. The bodies hint that whatever's up there must be worth the climb. The horrendous cracks and claw-marks in the larger bones suggest that if there’s any kind of treasure at the top of that dizzying height, it is likely well-guarded.
Kasyr had wasted very little time on making his way over towards the location marked for His & Karasu's upcoming trial. With 2 days and change as their remaining time to prepare, it -more- than warranted putting that unnatural lightning fueled celerity of his into play- so that he could waste as little time as possible. And frankly, he was more than gladdened by the fact that Karasu had likewise made good on her promise of already being there.
For his part, the Kensai was garbed a lot lighter than normal, wearing a set of dark green pants, with a matching shirt- and an overtly large (and ominously black) greatsword strapped to his back. Okay, so -lighter- might not be the right term, but he's lacking the coat, even if he's brought something equivalently heavy. "Uh. Hey. Sorry for the lack of notice. I didn't have that much on my end, either. And frankly, this lack of notice and Intel is just the -tip- of the iceberg. Wait til you get a load of -all- the problems we're going to have to navigate. That walking Lobster Dinner is not making this easy." What? Kasyr being mildly offensive? Never. He -is- pretty miffed though. "And I'm not just talking about the fact that we'll have no idea what equipment is being put on the battlefield. -or- being granted to our troops. We also don't get to know -what- troops are being alloted to our own side, not to mention Krices. So- uh. Any strategy we form es going to have to function -entirely- independantly of them. Et given his capacities- they might be a complete write off."
Karasu had a share of things to be concerned about, but a series of games with the Warrior's Guild that everyone seemed to be so keen about her joining was a welcome distraction. The unpleasant heat warrants light garb on Karasu's end as well, with a blackened peasant's top with dragon-scale pauldrons and breeches short enough to get her escorted out of the more conservative (read: Larketian) cities. Dragon scales cover her legs, reflecting light onto the canyon walls. Around her waist is the scabbard of her whip-sword, wrapped like a belt with only the hilt showing any signs that she has come armed. "We didn't have notice on having to beat down a body snatcher either, but we made it work." Passing a hand over her feline ears, the spellblade looks over the valley. "If we do not know what is going to be supplied, could we prepare our own equipment ahead of time? We know our opponent is Krice, and that speed alone tilts heavily in their favor; there has to be things we can prepare to subdue them... if not maim them." She adds dryly. Through the grapevines, Karasu knew well of Krice's open dislike of her partner, and that alone made her dislike the enigmatic human.
Kasyr scratches at his chin, Karasus' concerns mirroring his own. It was good that she'd already pinned down a large part of the issue. "I think our own personal equipment es fine- which also means that short of trusting in luck of the draw, it also behooves us to feasibly smuggle in resources we may be able to use to, well, even the odds. For them as well as ourselves." The Kensai pauses, his glance flicking over towards Karasu, " i'd wanted a force focused on stealth to avoid the possibility they all become disabled in the first minute or so of combat- but we're going to have to assume the likelihood of well." The kensai gestures vaguely, "Admittedly, I'd say we're just as capable of returning that favor- but, they do have a healer." The swordsman claps his hands together, "Though- if we can -cripple- those, that might tie her up, and allot us a number of casualties we can levy against him." It's at this comment that his gaze flickers over towards the whip- and then just, lingers for a little while, "We don't want them crippled for life- but, provided we have healers on site - that opens up a -number- of unpleasent options, and we'll likely need to lean into them." Which is to say, Kasyr is 100% intending on fighting like a villain. Speaking of Which, " How do you feel about taking a hostage? Possibly of the Witch-y variety."
Karasu raises her eyebrows. "We were denied our choice of troops?" She clicks her teeth in disappoinment. "So much for the Spellblade Corps." The demifeline begins to walk the entrance of the canyon, running a hand over the rocky cliff-faces to examine the natural crevices within. Some crevices seem to go further in than initially believed at first glance. "A hostage is fine. You're saying there's going to be a witch with that man?" The grapevine said nothing about this. Meeting the Kensai's eyes with her own, she adds, "Given what's happened in Xalious over the past year, I'd say I could use the practice in making sure I'm comfortable making the ends justify the means." Karasu uses a rocky outcropping as a step-stool to sit down on a flat area. With her feet dangling off the ground, she clasps her hands together. "I don't know if you know this about Krice, but I have reason to believe he can differentiate people even if they are utilizing stealth. We may be forced to face him and his troops head-on."
Kasyr blinks for a moment, realizing his gaze had lingered a bit too long, before he awkward shifts his attention to the surrounding area. "Yeah, could have been a nice reunion. 'Bonjour. Been a while. Sorry I didn't finish grading your papers before I got fired et exiled.'" He snorts, before he finally lets his attention return to Karasu, "Anyways. Yes- Talyara...I think?" It rings a bell, at least. "I think she might mean something to him, so it seems like a useful point of leverage to press on. Et might have been part of why I thought of you." Her comment on pragmatism earns a wry smile from the Kensai, before the swordsman's attention settles on the cliff face near Karasu. "You might want to cover your eyes." Just in case she hadn't brought her own goggles, he's more than willing to part with his own- since following that comment, he proceeds to make a gesture and manifest a quartet of steel blades in the air. They hang idle for a few moments, what's essentially necessary for Karasu to gird herself, before the Kensai gestures over towards the cliff- the swords barreling straiight at the rockface. That said, they don't clatter away- the blades instead sinking through stone as if it were butter, courtesy of a none-too-pleasent cantrip laced over them. Entropic magic is -really- useful for breaking down matter- and whilst the lackadaiscal casting meant they were going to burn through the objects channeling said energy, it's not like the Kensai had a shortage of 'steel' to throw away. With a small twist of his wrist, the embedded blades begin to rotate, essentially providing an impromptu drill to begin tunneling away- The overall force of this exercise minimized in order to avoid setting off an avalanche. "Likely. I'm less concerned about the troops, given how open the area es- and the possibility for avalanches. As for stealth- Well, the first step es likely to -provide- our troops et ourselves avenues to hide et be safe. Once that's done, we cna figure out the logistics of -how- to properly mask them from him. Scent masking perfume es portable enough- et I imagine there's other options available."
Karasu makes a face, her brows furrowing. "Fired and exiled? How many students did you-- No, you know what, I don't care." Despite saying that, her features remain scrunched in concern, thankfully for Kasyr long enough to prevent her noticing. This is broken by his call for her to cover her eyes. Instead, she stands and jumps from the rockface as the blades sail past her. With a barrel roll, she stops in front of the Kensai and stands, brushing the dust from her clothing. She looks back and tilts her head in a silent question at the spinning swords in the rockface. "Scent-masking perfumes are easy enough to purchase; I think a few smoke-bombs with it laced-in would do nicely as well; impairing Krice's eyesight should hinder him long enough for us to move, granted no damage is done to goggles. Hm. I'll have to get goggles. Easy enough, though." Karasu removes a satchet from around her waist and exhales. A blast of fire from her lips ignites the fuse on the satchet, and she quickly tosses it further down. The resulting explosion does not trigger any rockslides, but of note is that the smoke in the valley does not disappate easily with cliffs on either side shielding it from the wind. "I think that will work."
Kasyr isn't quite sure why, but there's something about that comment that digs a bit deeper than it should have, messing with his concentration enough that the fluid motions of the blade grow jagged. With a huff, he gets his focus back on track- tightening the blades together to make a much more narrow passage, before veering them to the side and blooming them out to create an antechamber. It's...work, but it doesn't quite keep his mind occupied enough, and so he finds himself peering over at Karasu, his empathic senses trying to make sense of if she actually -meant- that. It reminded him, after all, a bit too much of what she'd said to him when he was in Larkets custody. "One person, during the last six years." His voice comes out forcibly flat- but there's a certain bit of violence intrinsic to the gesture that hearkens the broken remains of a blade to his person. Straight at himself, really- though the metallic residue never finishes the trip- succumbing to the entropic energy channeled through it in a small cloud of brown and yellow motes. "You can thank Lanlan for his discerning taste as a curator of guild membership." He takes in a breath, holds it for a second, then slowly releases it and begins to make his way forward, his feet weaving around the canyons rubble as he tries to find another good location to dig. Did they need pitfalls? Perhaps some overall weakened rockfaces so they coud better trigger a calamitous rockfall. Time, imagination, and pettiness was really the limit here, "You will need to pick a heavy gas- or a way to arcanely trap the wind because- well." Kasyr decides a visual will get his point across best, and simply manifests a sword into his grasp, only to lazily swipe it in the air in front of himself. Albeit with a bit of wind magic imbued into it- in order to send a blade of condensed wind sweeping forward through the path- clearing out some of the lighter dust and debris. "That."
Kasyr said, "Sorry. His sublime taste, en fait."
Karasu gives a surprised hum as the remark is made. "Sorry for your loss." Is all she remarks about it before emptying more satchets into her hands. Walking along the edge of the cliff-face, the unlit explosives disappear into crevices. "Triggering a rockslide will be our last resort. We're both more than dexterous enough to get on top. If his side-piece is a regular human, it'll be advantageous for us in that it will provide a distraction. Hm. Make a pitfall along the edges too. If the bombs are tossed straight down the middle, they'll try to skirt around." She snaps her fingers and says, "Gas masks. I know there's a shop in Vailkrin that has a crate of twelve unsold, I'll pick that up so at least some of our troops can advance easily. I'll see if there's anything I can add to the smoke bombs to make them more dense as well." She jots something down on a scroll produced from a pocket. There's a pause when she finishes writing and adds, "Sorry."
Kasyrs' brief foray into being empathically nosy serves as a good reminder why he so often avoids focusing too long on someone- and it's not like he's able to do much with the pangs of disgust or ....jealousy he unearthed. He pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to keep his focus on what it is that Karasu's saying- but, the entire exercise is one giant headache waiting to happen. "Fine." He pauses, only to haphazardly shrug- the sword he'd been carrying sailing off to the side in a decidely animate manner- seemingly intent on continuing to the business of tunneling. "It's fine." Was it? There's something about the condolences that sit especially hard, if only because of how long the Kensai had held out hope that the fox had simply been roving- only for each fresh year hammering home the possibility that he'd outlasted all of them. "I'm sure she's fine." Though perhaps he'd know if he hadn't gotten so caught up in 'The work'. "We just have to make sure we're ready for what's coming." That minutae that even now he was doing. The same thing that saw him dissapear over and over for weeks and months on end. Before he's even really aware of it- the sword's been embedded in a wall, deformed in a violent twist, and snapped into pieces. "You didn't do anything, really. I just- Hope I was a good teacher, at least." Rather then summon a new blade, he just focuses on the broken pieces- an entropic cantrip invoked through them, so he can erode them into smaller fragments, and then mentally coax them into dragging further up the rock face they'd been buried into to soften that spot. All of it, save the swords hilt- which is left embedded as a small indicator of what he'd done, and where. "Might be good to get some smoke clouds that are flammable, or interact. Could be interesting if he tries to blow a smoke cloud- only for it to mix et ignite." That said, the Kensai finally stops- something at once meant to enable him to better gauge what to do- but mostly just so he can properly get his bearings.
Karasu glances over at her former Kensai as his attention seems to splinter as frequently as the steel blades have been during this increasingly awkward conversation. "Hrmm." The spellblade throws the last handful of explosives into a crevice. A hand passes over her ears, then scratches at the back of her head in frustration. The note of combustible smoke is tucked away for later, but that lonely expression that crosses the Kensai's face is one the spellblade can't bring herself to ignore. If his empathetic abilities were still honed in on her, he might feel a pang of guilt from her. Rather than a good teacher, she had been a terrible student, constantly ducking at his offers to spar. As the blades stop, another one enters Kasyr's peripheral, Karasu's Sagaribana drawn. "En garde!" After a pause, she clarifies, "We're being tested on thinking on our feet, right? Catch me." There's a flicker of a smirk, and just like that, the demifeline vanishes into a puff of smoke, a nice perk of her recent blood transfusion. While the smoke dissipates in several directions, Karasu takes aim to reappear directly behind the Kensai and deliver a swift kick to his rear. Whether it connects or not, she would quickly try to jump back and disappear into smoke again.
Kasyr might not have been expecting the freshly drawn sword, but considering his own penchant for 'surprise spars' and impromptu 'En Garde's' - he's in his element. At least mostly, given that he wasn't quite expecting her to abruptly dissipate into a burst of smoke. "Okay, that's new." Instinctively, he taps into his affinity with electricity- though not with any intent of hastening his movements. Rather, it's make use of the manner in which it accelerates his processing speed- that manner in which it boosts his capacity to navigate areas at high speed now being focused in on the mechanics of what he just saw. To wit- Likely not invisibility, because it would still leave stones displaced on the ground. The boost to reaction speeds -is- nice though, because it means the Kensai gets at least a brief heads up when Karasu's empathic imprint pops up behind him. "Uh?" With a start, his body lurches to the side in what can only be described as an incredibly awkward C shape. One he doesn't quite recover from properly either- Since there's a moment of arm wobbling before he snaps back to position. Smoke again. Well. "You know. I never did get to figuring out what would mesh the best with your fighting style. This definitely seems to work, though." Given she's faded out of sight, the Kensai emits a small pulse of electrical energy- not in any attempt to cause harm, but more akin to a build up of static meant to give him a better heads up in regards to where she'd be popping back up. Which his back and sides do make appetizing targets- the swordsman can't imagine she'll rely on those locations. And a part of him is curious whether or not she'll come from above- given the added 'dimension' to her movements, and the manner in which it's normally a blind spot.
Karasu is unable to tell what it is the flickers of lightning surround his body are meant to do besides make him move faster, but the Kensai's reaction to her attack is a good sign. There were only so many of those smoke tricks in her stamina reserves, but she could make use of the ones she did have. Kasyr's intuition is somewhat correct: The demifeline reappears perched on a rocky outcropping, sword in hand. "Isn't the best fighting style one you can't predict?" As the sword arcs over her head to come down, the blades separate from their magical chains, with the blades coming down on his left and the whip coming down on his right.
Kasyrs' expression lights up, a savage sort of joy flickering over his expression before settling into his eyes. "I couldn't have said it better myself. Still-" As Karasu's attack begins- The Kensai's left arm sweeps upwards- as though poised to intercept the demi-felines blade. At least, until the assault splits in twain. There's a moment of hesitation- but it's glossed over by his lightning boosted perceptions, allowing his hand to readjust towards the oncoming chain with a seemingly uninterrupted fluidity. Specifically, Kasyr quite intently rams his hand palm first into the whip and grasps hold of it- if only so he can yank down on it as hard as he can. Sure, this does mean he's -driving- the whips serrated edge into his own skin, but it also means Karasu's body is going to be subject to a rather intense shift in it's center of gravity- enough to redirect the blade attack completely off course. That, and she's now on a collison course with the ground. The swordsman -isn't- going to try and follow up on the motion, however. Provided she has no way to halt herself- he imagines this -should- be enough to coax her into teleporting once more- and therefore providing himself more time to try and figure out the logistics of how long it will take her to teleport, to reappear, how much concentration she needs to do so- and well, any other tidbits of information that seem relevant. "If you've formed your own style? I want to see more."
Karasu gives a shocked expression as the whip connects and wraps around his palm, but it quickly transitions into a smug grin. "Adolbetique. Divisus." Before the final syllable even leaves her mouth for each command, the whip ignites in bright violet-red flames to scald the hand holding the whip, and the magical chain holding the serrated whip disconnects at the hilt of her sword, sending the remainder of the whip flying directly at his face. "I carry burn salves, it's fine." She calls down to him. Karasu descends from the perch with a hop, easily able to land on her feet from the short fall.
Kasyr clearly should have kept his mouth shut and amped up the violence. Like a shock down the whips chain -or-. You know, any sort of violent thought that could provide a distraction from the fire induced pain currently tearing through his hand because of his tactical faux pas. There's actually a good second there where his brain short circuits from the pain, before he manages to catch a breathe and focus- coaxing the sparks about his person to flare in a brilliant incadescence. Whilst the -obvious- effect would be the blinding flash that will hopefully buy him time from Karasu, the actual machinations of this motion was the manner in which the kensai himself was briefly converted to electrical energy- minus the offending metal object that had been coiled about his hand. It falls to the ground, and Kas is left furiously shaking his hand off, and trying to quickly sputter out a prayer to Daedria in order to at least dull the pain of his D-I-Y- cauterisation. "Thanks." Yeah, he doesn't sound enthusiastic. "Still, I think I could provide you some pointers." What starts as a teacher like waggle of his -non- scorched right hand turns into a finger gun motion followed by a jolt of electricity. Sudden enough that it would provide a legitimate risk of zapping Karasu- but not actually aimed at her. After all, whether it hits- or is forced to arc through her- The kensai's actually trying to effectively magnetize a a dagger that had been lodged into the cliff face like a hand-hold, so that he could then sling shot it towards wherever Karasu wound up.
Karasu lands with all the grace her training has provided, only to stumble from the blinding flash. Even with her pupils narrowed into slits barely the width of a sewing needle, the light is still intense enough to force her to shut her eyes to let it pass. Eyes shut, Karasu holds out her sword hilt, giving the pieces of the sword a silent command to return. The magically bound chains are first, connecting with the hilt with a satisfying clink, then the fragmented blades of her swords, connecting to form her silver-tipped longsword whip. With her comment on googles earlier, Karasu muses for a moment whether she should ask Quintessa to make her a runic pair of her own. When the light fades to reveal Kasyr pointing a jolt of lightning, she quickly raises a bronze bracer in hopes that the metal will absorb or deflect the electricity altogether. A normal reflex would have one look away when something is aiming straight for her, but such reflexes have been drilled out of her over the years. Once the lightning arcs past her, she assumes it to have missed and rushes forward in a direct attack. Once she is within striking reach of the Kensai, Karasu instead makes a running leap to go over him and strike out the whip from above.
Kasyr clearly should have kept his mouth shut and amped up the violence. Like a shock down the whips chain -or-. You know, any sort of violent thought that could provide a distraction from the fire induced pain currently tearing through his hand because of his tactical faux pas. There's actually a good second there where his brain short circuits from the pain, before he manages to catch a breathe and focus- coaxing the sparks about his person to flare in a brilliant incadescence. Whilst the -obvious- effect would be the blinding flash that will hopefully buy him time from Karasu, the actual machinations of this motion was the manner in which the kensai himself was briefly converted to electrical energy- minus the offending metal object that had been coiled about his hand. It falls to the ground, and Kas is left furiously shaking his hand off, and trying to quickly sputter out a prayer to Daedria in order to at least dull the pain of his D-I-Y- cauterisation. "Thanks." Yeah, he doesn't sound enthusiastic. "Still, I think I could provide you some pointers." What starts as a teacher like waggle of his -non- scorched right hand turns into a finger gun motion followed by a jolt of electricity. Sudden enough that it would provide a legitimate risk of zapping Karasu- but not actually aimed at her. After all, whether it hits- or is forced to arc through her- The kensai's actually trying to effectively magnetize a a dagger that had been lodged into the cliff face like a hand-hold, so that he could then sling shot it towards wherever Karasu wound up.
Karasu only has moments to react when her whip-sword refuses to strike how she wants it to. Damned Daedria’s Blade and his nonsense with metal. Once she lands on her feet, she looks up to see Kasyr’s fingers pointed at her and quickly recoils. The whip-sword flies to its scabbard from her left hand, and with her right, a barrier spell to repel magic is enacted. A blue line appears in the dusty canyon floor between them, and light projects upwards. Only, lightning does not spout forth from Kasyr’s hand. “Ah?” Caught off guard by the feint, Karasu lowers her arm just in time for the dagger to unlodge itself from the cliff and beeline towards the demifeline. Before she can even blink, the handle of the dagger connects with her sternum, sending her to fall on her back. “Cheating…! That’s cheating, you cheap shot…!” Karasu wheezes her complaint, clutching at her chest. If anything, her ego is more wounded than her bone. This is, of course, a feint in itself. She just needs Kasyr to get close.
Kasyr is actually sort of impressed at just how quick Karasu manages to reflexively anticipate the feint. Like, he was expecting her to go on the defensive, but, damn. It's enough to elicit a whistle from him- which changes in pitch as the daggers handle ricochets off her. "Weaponize everything. I think I taught you that one, already." The kensai gives his burnt hand a second shake, before stuffing it into his pocket- while his good one lifts up to draw on the residual charge in the dagger and bring it home. Hence armed, albeit with garbage, he begins to stride over, "Though, your reaction time's definitely gotten better. Et pattern recognition." Maybe don't praise the thing you just exploited. "...You, uh, okay down there, madaoiselle?" A part of him starts to make the familiar motion of trying to plant down a sword into the ground to lean on, but- the daggers just plain dissapointing on this front, so he just takes to bouncing awkwardly from leg to leg. "I was still hoping to get a better idea of what you've picked up."
Karasu groans as she starts to rise to her feet. It really did sting just as bad as a direct hit in armor, but now she had him right where she wanted him. “I’m a feline, it would be bad if I didn’t--” She stops mid sentence to latch onto the Guild Leader, aiming to give him an old fashioned headlock throw onto the floor. But, Karasu just dangles there around his neck. Then realization dawns. She’s not wearing her armor; she weighs nothing without it and can’t throw her opponent without the added weight. As much as said as she squeaks out, “Not wearing the gravity runes…” A mix of emotions from shock, to horror, to red-faced mortification crosses her features before Karasu disappears in a puff of smoke. She was too close. Reappearing on a cliff above him, Karasu puts her hands on her hips. “I’ll concede. I had you right where I wanted you, though. Too much more and you would have been in real trouble.” If anyone else had been watching or reading this after the fact, this would have sounded like a pathetic attempt to hold onto any dignity.
Kasyr wasn't expecting Karasu to try and grapple with him, especially given how well that had worked last time. It actually throws him off enough that his hop turns into a stomp as he braces for some fresh new trick. Only, well. . . . Well . . . "Uh." He feels bad- he really does, but at the same time, that distinct range of emotions rippling through her makes it really hard to resist pranking her just a little, "I'm flattered, but you could have asked first." Just to make sure she hits the proper levels of mortified, he decides to wiggle his eyebrows at her, something which segues perfectly into a wry expression once she pulls her smokey vanishing act. I mean, okay- there -is- a bit of an undignified cough on his part, given the point blank smog he inhales, but- it's fine. He's mostly poised. "At the very least, you can say you have the high ground in this exchange, Cherie. Sort of curious about that latest trick.
Karasu glowers down at him, embarrassment and indignation radiating off of her in waves. “It’s not a trick! It's a gift from a borrowed bloodline.” She waves her hand flippantly as she disappears and reappears feet away from him. “Very complicated story full of holes, almost died; not entirely sure if it's all been resolved or not. The other thing I received from those who saved my life was a significant bump in my pyromancy abilities.” To illustrate her point, the spellblade raises her hand, palm outstretched as if to ask for a dance. The Ventruilian canyon, normally sweltering, begins to rapidly cool, enough to draw a shiver from the spellblade as she makes her point. The heat compresses into a point of light hovering over the palm of her hand, growing brighter with a pink light as the surrounding area grows colder.
Kasyr manages to look cheekier as the glower intensifies- though, it does diminish a bit once she pops back over in a puff of smoke. "Risks to it? I noticed you weren't trying to chain them together rapidly, " Which, in truth, was a relief- Riss was bad enough to fight, " So it left me wondering if it was a matter of concentration, or needing to orient yourself, or..." He makes an offhanded waving motion, "...Well. I can at least sympathize with the situation. You'll figure it out. Probably." That said, while the nebulousness of pending portentous events was something he could try and pry about- she seemed keen to move on to a different subject, and at least it pertained to something that was adjacent to his forte. His forte being violence. "Permanent?" Borrowed had certain connotations- and potentially a time limit if this was going to be useful as a foundation for anything. "Et is that closer to innate, er-" He wriggles his fingers, and cues up a few electrical sparks, before flicking them into nothingness, "Or just...discreetly casting? Because, both of those are pretty useful." And this definitely seemed to lend itself towards her having a solid foundation for something to specialize in.
Karasu throws the ball of compressed heat upwards, where it bursts with a gentle pop, bringing the heat of the region back with it. “Orientation is the largest drawback. I’ve never been a fan of spatiomancy spells, and this is somewhat similar in feeling. Your vision isn’t quite as clear.” Crackling her knuckles in response to his manifestation of electricity, she nods. “Innate. It's as if the magic is already present before you need to say the words to the spell or even think clearly what it is you want to do. I assumed that was something only someone higher than a Magister in the guild could do.” Her guild of reference being the Mage’s Guild she had always called home. “Truthfully, I had resigned to not being able to advance in casting abilities, as my progress stagnated. It was theorized by--” She makes a face as she realizes she was going to call that man ‘her father’-- “Provost Tsuji that because felines are not inherently a magical race, their innate magical ability caps are limited.”
Kasyr watches the orb burst, and feels the heat disperse back over the area, "I could have gotten used to that." Well, at least he was dressed for the weather. "Mm. Makes sense- I had to work out the kinks for my own knack when I was getting used to it. Wound up embedded in a number of walls." He smacks his hands together, just to emphasis that particular point, " Honetement, i think if I hadn't been a vampire at the time, figuring it all out would have killed me. Far too easy to make a mistake on that front." Silly tangent aside, however, she'd said something he found himself latching onto. Well, a couple things really. "Bulls***. Et next he'll say that Satoshi was a myth." ...To be fair, it's not like she'd been a bottomless well, but she'd been considered amongst the finest casters that had walked the continent in recent history, and perhaps well beyond that. "Sounds like a cop-out to me. Especially since you seem to be adjusting well. . ." He squints, and just sort of peers first from one side, and then to the other. She's not showing any -odd- signs, anyways. "So, is it coming from -you-, your surroundings, or are you drawing from...something a bit more primal, par chance? In any case- If you weren't contrary- I think I might be able to provide some pointers, at least from my own experiences, and how I applied them to more fundamental casting." ...And it's not like the possibility of watching a brand new style of swordsmanship develop and flourish doesn't have an appeal.
Karasu snorts at the crass language, breaking into a genuine smile. “Please. -Anyone- who isn’t in his mistress’ house is a myth or overrated.” The interrogation of Karasu’s newfound powers causes the woman to scratch idly at the back of her head. “The fire comes from within me, and the warmth is drawn to me if I so will it. I’m not sure how the D’Chath blood works, as to whether it's spiritual or something else entirely, but it has not waned, so I assume it to be permanent.” Kasyr’s gaze fixated on her causes her to squirm slightly. Not used to the attention, she deflects, “If you want more in-depth showings of these powers, you’ll have to ask my girlfriend for my schedule, unless you’d like to schedule something with us both.” She smirks haughtily, seeming to be proud of herself for saying something so coy, though her red face and aura betrays her embarrassment. “It’s going to get dark if we keep chatting instead of trapping the area, you know.”
Kasyr gets a bit of a confused look, "Mistress' house...?" Either he missed the boat on the whole Larewen thing, or his memories of Kaaname beyond 'Punchable face' had been lost to the aether. "I feel like I missed a lot. Anyways- From within. Noted" Whether it had unlocked some bit of hidden potential, or she had a similar connection to fire like he did to lightning was something that could be figured out later. In a fireproof area. Especially given that Karasu seemed a bit skittish with the impromptu interview/interrogation. "Right- I-" He pauses, reviews what she just said. " . . ." One finger lifts up, drifts down as though he's out of words, before going back up so it's in front of his nose, "Knowing her, she might just be happy to arrange something, cherie. So, we'll see." He doesn't wait to see what her reaction is, turning on his heel so he can get back to the business she was now prompting him about. That, and so he can let out a little exhale of his own. "But in the meantime, oui! There's work to be done. We can catch up over a meal and some papers- when we don't have a .... Several pending battles." Still, at least they knew when this battle was going to happen. And to boot, the whole conflict was going to be a bit Cathartic. It wasn't like they were doing all this work, only to leave a disaster zone in their wake for the foreseeable future.