Getting Down To Business

[hotheadwarmheart]

Who: Lea and Aqua in one thread, Lea and anyone in the others
When: After the memory event, but before the next Isle trip
Where: Various places, see thread prompts
What: Now that the days are getting longer and the possibility of not being stuck inside any more looks imminent, Lea is feeling motivated. Time to get things done, some of which he's been putting off for awhile.
Warnings: Feels probably in the thread with Aqua. Otherwise, we'll see.

Fire And Water- Closed to Aqua

Another training session in the gym, virtually indistinguishable from most of the others since they'd been stuck inside. Though, this time, Lea hung back afterwards, looking thoughtful. "Aqua?", he said. "If you've got a few minutes, there's some things I want to talk to you about."

Magitek For Fun And Profit

Lea reading isn't that rare of a sight, but when one does spot him, he's usually curled up in one of the library's comfy chairs or stretched out the common room sofa with a cup of tea and either a stack of comic books or a YA novel or two. But today, Lea's seated at one of the library's tables. The cup of tea is still present nearby but his attitude is different, as is his choice of reading material. The book open in front of him looks more like a textbook or other nonfiction title than anything else, and he has a open notebook and pen right at hand, occasionally pausing in his reading to note things down. What is it that could have given Lea of all people the urge to study?

Let The Sun Shine In

Lea was walking through the greenhouse, but at present, his focus wasn't on any of the plants. Instead, he was looking up, carefully directing his magic to melt any lingering patches of snow on the roof. He knew his way around well enough to avoid stepping on any flowerbeds or bumping into tables, planters, or equipment racks. Most of the time, the only interruption might be if the ent got a little too curious about his hair, but that had mostly been solved by a few well placed colorful bangles hung from the ceiling on strings. But looking up does tend to make it easy to run into people or other non-stationary obstacles that might be on the walkways. Assuming you're not just trying to figure out what he's looking at.

Let There Be Light

Lea was rummaging through one of the supply closets, apparently looking for something. And without much success, by the sound of it. "Come on, they've gotta be here someplace," he said. "You'd think a school like this would have a whole crate or something of spares sitting around, but nooo..."

Comments

[thinking_about_it]

"I have... never heard of any such thing..." she said, perplexed. "How does one fight them? Do you have to b as Dark as they are? Or could even someone like me be able to protect myself and those with me?" she asked, ignoring the growling sound coming from Grey behind them.

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Well they're not immune to magic or weapons, generally," he said. "So anything you might normally use to fend off an attacker will do for self defense purposes. Weapons with a magical element to them do tend to do better though, since they're not exactly corporeal. That's really only a short term solution though."

"See, smacking them down will definitely save your butt in the immediate fight, but it doesn't do anything about the source of the problem. If it's not done a certain way, the Heartless you dissipated in the fight will just reform and pop up again awhile later. And adding more darkness to the mix would only compound the problem; it'd be like throwing kerosene on a fire. That's part of why it's so freaking hard to actually get rid of them once they've got a foothold in a world."

"The only way to get rid of them permanently is to purify and release the corrupted hearts, and the only weapon we've found that can do that is a Keyblade. Destroy a Heartless with a Keyblade, and it purifies the darkness and releases the hearts, stopping them from forming new Heartless. There's maybe one other way to do it, but it's super conditional and only seven people out of my entire World's population at any given time could even hope to pull it off, so for all practical purposes, Keyblades are it."

[thinking_about_it]

"Sounds like Janelle, and her family," she murmured, considering. "Alright then, where do I get one of these Keyblades and how can I start training? Would you be teaching me?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

Cassidy had no idea how ironic that question was. "I'm sure Aqua would love it if I said yes," he said. "She's really into the idea of me being a Keyblade Master someday. But no, I wouldn't be doing it. If anyone it'd be Aqua doing the teaching."

"But getting a Keyblade isn't that simple. You can't just go to a Keyblade shop and pick one up or something. A Keyblade is a weapon that's more an extension of its wielder's heart than a physical sword; something that's manifested rather than built. You could maybe be given the potential to manifest one, but after that you're kinda on your own. And frankly I'm not sure you'd even be able to do that much; Keyblades are generally light-based, at least initially, so if your powers are darkness-based, it might not be compatible, even assuming Aqua or I was willing to try it. And while I can't speak for Aqua, I'm not, for a lot of reasons."

[thinking_about_it]

"Light based magic...?" She was so confused. "And.. why not if I may ask?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Yeah," he said. "I mean it's no Holy or Ars Arcanum, but it tends to lean that way." Realizing belatedly that those spell names would mean nothing to her, he unhooked his arm and stepped a bit to the said. "Hang on a sec; I'll show you."

Stepping a bit clear of her and Grey, he summoned his Keyblade to his hand. As usual, it appeared in a flash of sparkles. And then, a bit ahead of them, he used the Keyblade to open a portal of light for them to see. "This is what I mean," he said. "It's not connected to anything here, any more than dark corridors are, but this is a portal of light generated by Keyblades that back home would let someone travel between worlds. Or between different locations on the same world."

He'd answer her other question in a moment, but for now was focused on his little demonstration.

[thinking_about_it]

"You can make a Gate between realms?!" Everything else was forgotten for the moment. Because that... should have been impossible. Even Jaenelle had never tried something like that as far as she knew.

In this case, Cassidy was actually incorrect, but no one here knew better.

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Depends on what exactly you mean by 'realms'," Lea said. "My world has a set up that I've realized is kind of unique. It used to all be one world, like most are, a long time ago, but that world was destroyed in a massive war. What was recreated after it is a lot of smaller worlds that are parts of the old bigger one. The smaller worlds are mostly sealed off from one another, but the inherent connection they still share means that travel between them is difficult, but not impossible if you know how. Most of the smaller worlds aren't even aware of the others' existence though, so the number of people with that know-how is a pretty short list."

"The world 'realm' there specifically describes where these smaller worlds are located. There's three realms: the Realm of Light, the Realm of Darkness, and the Realm Between. The Realm of Light is where most worlds are located and consequently where most people live. The Realm Between is a lot smaller and has a lot fewer worlds; and because it exists between the Realms of Light and Darkness, a lot of the worlds that are there have unique properties. Like for example, there's Traverse Town, a world that only appears when someone is lost or traveling between worlds and needs a refuge. The Realm of Darkness, meanwhile, I already described to you a bit. It doesn't have any proper worlds and it just kinda one big space saturated with darkness where time and space as we know them just don't work right. It's where Heatless come from and no one could really live there. A very weird, icky place."

"So in the context of my own word? Yes, a Keyblade portal or dark corridor could allow someone to travel between realms. But there's a fairly good chance that 'realms' might mean something different in your world."

CW: war mentions, death mentions

[thinking_about_it]

"Yes.... I suspect it does. We have three realms as well, however and on the surface..." she frowned a bit. "There is Terreille, it used to be known as the Realm Of The Light, though I am not sure why. It was the realm most devastated by the end of the war. That is where the Territory I currently rule is. Shalador Nehele. Prince Theran Grayhaven came to the Shadow Realm to ask Prince Sadi for help to rebuild his lands." She sighed, considered adding to that just how badly Theran put his foot in it after, and then decided Lea probably had no interest in such sordid drama.

"Then there is the Shadow Realm, Kaeleer. That's where I am from. In the Territory of Dharo. Fifty thousand years ago, when the Dark Priestess began the war, Kaeleer distanced itself from Terreille and there were many in Terrille who knew of it only as myth and legend apparently. Which is really odd to learn about your own home," she said with a hint of a smile as she shook her head. "Even within Kaeleer individual Territories further isolated themselves. The Kindred, for example. Most of the Kindred who had Territories of their own intentionally pushed their homes into myth and legend, not wanting to be drawn into what they saw at the time as a exclusively Human conflict. The Unicorns, the Arcerians, and the Weavers most of all. Other Kindred, such as Horses and Scelties hid themselves among their Landen counterparts, letting Humans and the other races forget they existed at all. Even some of the races that most would consider Human isolated themselves. The Dea Al Mon, also known as the Children Of The Wood among them. As well as the Paw Islands, the Saytars, and the Centaurs. Fractured, the Shadow Realm actually survived the war largely unscathed until about fifty years ago. Mayb a little longer. Because the Territories so rarely communicated, the taint couldn't spread as easily as it could in the Realm Of Light. Also the protectors in the Shadow Realm were generally stronger, and more alert to danger."

A small sad smile, eyes a bit misty and distant. She shook herself and continued. "For some reason I cannot say the name of the Dark Realm while we are here. Neither can Grey and neither of us know why. But that Realm sounds similar to what you describe as your Realm of Darkness. To a point. I've never been there myself, but I spent a few months of my training at the Dark Court, because my cousin Aaron who is a First Escort requested it, and the Queen agreed. Since the Steward of the Dark Court is also the High Lord of..." her mouth stumbled and she sighed. "The Dark Realm," she said finally, "I was taught about it. Part of why I trained at the Dark Court was specifically to learn about the proper Protocol for interacting with the Demon Dead. And that was where they mostly stayed, with a few notable exceptions. There isn't much in the way of division of Territory in the Dark Realm. There is SaDiablo Hall, of course. But The High Lord built that in all three Realms before the war. And there is the Harpy's territory. And a small Isle that the High Lord left to his ex wife that no longer exists. Oh, and the Cildru Dyathe Isle. But other than the Harpy's area, none of them were really Territories, and the High Lord ruled over all of it. Again, excluding the Harpies. As the High Lord once said, it does not matter who the man is, he yields before the Harpy Queen. Especially when she is Dia Al Mon. I... don't know what is still there other than the High Hall though, because most of the Demon Dead in the Dark Realm sacrificed themselves to help Witch end the war."

She considered as she absently played with the end of her braid.

"The realms are connected by the thirteen Gates. Priestesses are generally trained to open the Gates, and few others are. Though legend says that if someone was born in the wrong realm the Gates themselves would recognize that and push them through. I know a few non-priestesses who know how to work the Gates though. Which considering how many of the Priestesses died one way or another in the war... is probably a good thing."