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[lifetothefullest]

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[lifetothefullest]

[Augh, compliments. Lance glances off to the side awkwardly, totally not a little flustered.]

[hardwearing]

[ Wash glances between them, curious. ]

What were you guys working on?

[evocation]

Cantrips. I have to help him make a focus for anything stronger, but... you know. No magic.

[lifetothefullest]

You don't have to do anything, even when you do get your magic back.

[Just pointing that out. Not that he'll argue with the whole idea, since he'd love to learn more, but still.]

[hardwearing]

You need magic to make a focus in the first place? That seems like a catch-22.

[evocation]

[She shoots Lance a look.]

That's not what I meant. I like teaching you.

[And then, for Wash:]

It's a million times easier to make your first focus when someone else is helping you.

[lifetothefullest]

[He raises his hands briefly in a show of surrender at that look, offering a small smile to go with it, but the answer to Washington's question is interesting and he has to ask--]

What goes into it?

[hardwearing]

When you get it back, then.

[ Right, Lance?

He's curious about how to make a focus, too -- maybe she'll wind up teaching him, too, eventually. ]

no one saw anything

[evocation]

It's uh... Like a ritual. You need something to help you focus your magic, get it? So you pick something—everyone says it needs to be significant to you, but that's bullshit. My last one was a tattoo.

[She shows him her left arm, where her tattoo was. There's nothing but a big scar now.]

The one I'm using now is just a cheap necklace. Anyway, it's like you're... Like you're tethering whatever it is to yourself. Attuning it to your magic, right? If you don't have your focus while you're casting more powerful spells it's harder to control them and they're way less predictable.

nothing at all

[lifetothefullest]

[Huh. That all makes sense, and he supposes he can see why it might be difficult to make a focus without the help of someone who can guide you through it. He definitely wouldn't have the first idea of how to start, even with what she's said.

And okay, the scar is too obvious not to ask about, especially since she showed it to them and therefore it's probably not an exceptionally sensitive topic. Hopefully.]

What happened to your tattoo?

[hardwearing]

[ Wash knows the answer to that already: faeries are assholes. But it's not his story so he stays quiet to let Kyna speak, wondering instead what he could use if she taught him magic. ]

[evocation]

Uh... long story short, we got kidnapped by a bunch of faeries and they figured out my tattoo was my focus so they cut it off. Too bad we kicked their asses anyway.

[So yes, faeries are assholes.]

[lifetothefullest]

[Ew, that's... Awful, actually. He was expecting something more like a bad job at having it removed because she decided she hated it, or something.]

Wow. Faeries sound... Not great.

[Or, yeah, like assholes.]

[hardwearing]

That's an understatement. You were only there in the first place because they'd been targeting children, right?

[evocation]

Um... Not exactly. I mean, they weren't targeting children specifically or anything, but they grabbed a couple, yeah.

[lifetothefullest]

[Targeting them specifically or not, involving kids in whatever they were doing--surely nothing good, considering the story about Kyna's tattoo and that her group was dealing with faeries in the first place--is just... Ugh.

He glances from Washington to Kyna, waiting to see if there's more to the story.]

[hardwearing]

[ If there is, Wash doesn't know it. He just hums at the clarification -- he remembered the bit about children specifically because even after a lifetime of war, hurting kids is inexcusable to him. ]

[evocation]

[She frowns, shifting uncomfortably.]

Why are you guys both looking at me like that?

[lifetothefullest]

We're waited to be regaled with further tales of your heroism.

[He offers the answer with only a brief hesitation, taking the opportunity to make an overdramatic statement completely flatly.]

[hardwearing]

[ Okay, that gets the corner of Wash's mouth to quirk up. He shifts to nudge Kyna's shoulder with his... go on and brag. ]

[evocation]

[She just makes a face at them.]

It wasn't exactly heroism. I mean, we got a bunch of people out, but we still screwed up.

[lifetothefullest]

Screwing up happens.

[And doesn't negate whatever good was done, unless it was a... Really big screwup.]