outsiders | 001 ➛ audio

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severa

001 ➛ audio

If this magic works the way it was described, somebody should be able to hear me right now. [though the voice of the young lady that's coming through sounds incredibly skeptical about this entire endeavor.] If you can, and you can actually understand me, I want you to tell me whether 8,000 "creds" is a lot of money around here, and what I can do to get it. I can't believe your merchants don't take something as simple as gold for war supplies.

[there's ambient noise for a while, and some confused sounds from somebody who has obviously never seen, much less used, an omni-tool before. eventually she groans in exasperation.]

My sword's been stolen from me and you expect me to do repairs to survive. This is entirely unacceptable.

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I had a hard time getting used to that thing, too.

[Severa fumbles around for a little bit, probably only proving this guy's point, until she finds out how to turn on whatever a "video feed" is.]

So you're from a place without this technology, too? I'm starting to wonder just how many people are native to this station.

Well, this place is pretty advanced compared to what I'm used to. Magic is more of my forte.

[he waves his hand a bit.]

Most of the people here are, but there's a pretty good chunk of us that have never been here before now.

Thank the Gods, somebody who knows what magic is. I thought I'd be getting all sorts of crazy looks from people if I kept bringing it up. I don't exactly think "technology" [she does the air quotes] can explain away why everybody is here, of all places.

Where exactly is "here", anyway? Am I in... outer space?

I've been getting the same reactions, really. There's a few magic users here, but not as many as you might expect.

[Granted, he's one of about three magic users from where he comes from, so it's not all that common for him.]

Something like that. I think it's an asteroid rather than a planet. Lots of different aliens here. A lot of them aren't too friendly, so you might want to be careful about that.

I've already run into one with four eyes and one with enormous teeth, and neither of them seemed to like me very much. I don't understand why. If we're just going to be hated by everyone here on this... "asteroid" [no finger quotes this time, but damned if she doesn't look more confused than ever] then why bother bringing us here in the first place? Has anyone figured out why we're here? I can't imagine Naga struck a deal with all of you.

I've never heard of a Naga. What type of creature or person is it?

No one really knows why we're here. I've just been trying to make the best of it. If you want some help getting around, I'm good for that.

Naga is a Goddess, of course. She's the one who brought me back in time in the first place. So this... can't be her doing. Fantastic.

I think I'm getting the hang of this place. Probably. It's not hard, it's just new. You don't have to show me around or anything. Maybe you can just tell me what an asteroid is.

["of course", she says.]

It's a giant rock that floats around in space, pretty much. Like a planet that isn't supposed to support life, but the people here forced it to work for them.

So nothing here is even natural? Hmph. Great. [she crosses her arms defiantly, apparently forgetting that her omni-tool is attached to one of them.] Did it ever occur to anyone that nothing was supposed to live here for a reason?

Greed can be a powerful motivator, you know. I'm not sure they care about the risks as long as they get their money out of it. That's the way most of the locals seem to be, anyway.

Greed? [she uncrosses her arms, bringing her face back into focus.] Was this asteroid a mining city before it turned into... this? [something about scum and villainy. her eye gets a devilish kind of twinkle in it.] Do you think there could be any more left?

I don't think it was even a colony until the mining started. ... and this seems to be what came with the mining.

[He's hesitating a bit on that last question.]

I'm sure there is, but you'll have to ask someone else for details about that. I'm not interested.

Oh, fine. It's probably all gone anyway. Would a place that looks like this just be sitting on a pile of gold? Besides, gold is worthless around here! Some brave new world this is turning out to be.

At least the people in it are slightly better than I was expecting. Though the ones who make a living here normally certainly have some manners issues to figure out.

It's not gold. It's some sort of special element the technology here runs on. Eezo, I think it is? Nothing I have any use for. My magic works fine without it and that's all I need. I think civilization's a bit past gold at this point.

The new group -- the type we're in -- doesn't seem to be too bad so far. I've pretty much been keeping to myself.

Eezo? Well, that just sounds silly. [sigh] Whatever. You said you're a mage? Dark or the regular kind?

I'm a Wizard. There's only three of us in existence where I come from. ... I'm not sure what you mean by dark, so I guess I'm the regular kind.

Only three? Gawds, even magic is different! It's not like it's hard to study it. Why are there only three of you? Are you all at least really powerful to make up for it?

Well... There are people in my world with magical potential called Gates. Gates are always competing with a creature inside of them known as a Phantom. If their willpower is weaker than the Phantom's, then the Phantom will kill them and take them over. Phantoms who already exist take pleasure in driving Gates into despair so they can create more Phantoms.

So, either the Phantom is destroyed and the Gate loses all magical potential in exchange for their life, or the Gate manages to control their Phantom and their willpower wins out. Then they become a Wizard.

I'm not too sure about how the guy before me became one... This other guy I know just made a contract with a Phantom, so he's not actually a Gate, but he's still a Wizard.

That's the short version of it, anyway. [smile] We can't really study it. We have to go through hell and come back in one piece.

[by the end of that speech, Severa's amazed she managed to stay awake through the whole thing. this all sounds way too complicated to be worth it. it's the whole reason she stays away from magic to begin with.]

So the only reason there's three of you is because it's so hard to stay happy or whatever. It sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth. Can't you just hit things over the head with hammers or cut them up with swords like normal people? Gawds.

[instead of correcting her or arguing a point, he just shrugs.]

Our enemies don't fight using traditional methods, so we had to adjust.

I suppose that makes sense. [but boy is that ever a begrudging admission.] I've never heard of an enemy that's immune to bleeding, but apparently there's an entire host of things I've never heard of before now that I'm stuck here!

The worlds can be pretty different. Let me know if you need anything. [he gives a short salute.]

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001 ➛ audio

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