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nemhain. · 01-11-2020, 01:03 PM

The Ferryman would not be the last opponent that Elysium was forced to face. That seemed obvious enough to Nemhain, and was more than likely obvious enough to others within the group as well. He was truly just the beginning, and even if Nemhain had been specifically built for combat, that didn't mean that she wouldn't need practice. Only the gods themselves knew what their weaknesses and advantages would be in battle, not to mention whether some of them were stronger than others. For all Elysium truly knew, the Ferryman could've been the weakest of them, and they were in for a hell of a time very soon. Nem was sure that Lemy would just be thrilled to hear such a thing, considering what had happened to him during the Ferryman fight. To hear that was just the weakest of them? Wouldn't that be a punch to the gut. Still, putting that all aside, Nem knew that there were a lot of unknown variables floating around in the future, and that wasn't really something that the persona liked. Being connected to Rin for so long, Nemhain was in the know about a whole lot of things, and she had liked being in that position. It had made her feel powerful, and allowed her to plan for a future where she would one day be awakened. Now, however? Even with her connection to Rin, the Magna didn't know everything, and that meant that Nemhain didn't know everything either. Which meant that she didn't have that beloved advantage she had been clinging to for so long. What did this mean...? Training, of course.

If she couldn't know what was coming, the least the fenghuang could do was attempt to steel herself for it. So, she had made herself some training dummies. It hadn't been too hard, just going down to the floating marketplace and getting herself some haybales she could make into decent enough looking dummies to train with. Now she was secluded away in one corner of the open air camp, three different dummies laid out in front of her. Taking in a deep breath, the massive bird launched herself into the air, coming down upon one of the dummies with a howl. She sank her talons into what would've been the "head" of the first dummy, lifting it up into her grip as she moved upwards. Once she did, she threw the dummy into the other two, watching as they slammed into each other and collapsed into a convenient pile. Once that was done, she took in a deep breath, concentrating her powers before sending razor shard shards of ice forward, a grin coming to her beak as she watched the shards sink deeply into each of the dummies, enough to kill any normal mortal considering where they were positioned. As the fenghuang lowered herself back down to the ground, she mumbled softly, claws hooking into the earth, "Hmm... that was pretty good. A little bit sloppy though. Could've been faster..." The persona had expected no onlookers to be present for her little training session, but it wasn't as if she had hidden herself away deep in the mountains, so really anyone could've been watching.

Warringkingdoms · 01-14-2020, 12:55 PM

[font=trebuchet ms]Powerlessness was a horrid state to be in. Knowing that you had no idea what was coming, and that your enemies could strike at any time, putting everyone at risk... Rin had never been able to stand that feeling of dread, of weakness, of fear.

Even logic wasn't on their side. The Captain had appeared to Rin by himself, but for all they knew he might have additional allies- and they might be significantly more of a threat than the reapers that the Ferryman had brought. Even if he was alone, a blue whale could cause severe damage across the coast. If Elysium was prepared to evacuate, that wouldn't be much of a problem, but he could attack in the dead of night; the Elysites had to sleep at some point, and the gods were cutthroat, caring little for such things as "honor."

Still, if she thought about it for too long, she would stop functioning entirely- and that wouldn't do.

Rin had been at the marketplace herself, intending to purchase firewood, when she noticed Nemhain carrying bales of hay out of the corner of her eye. Elysium no longer kept horses, at least as far as Rin was aware. Quirking a brow, she glanced down at the log she had been examining, then put it back into place. It would still be there when she got back.

"Following" Nemhain would have been a strong word; Rin had decided to return to camp to satiate her curiosity about what the hay bales were for, but she took her time getting there, not especially concerned about keeping the persona in her line of sight. Perhaps they were intended for training purposes, since testing one's powers against moving targets was impractical here. The Pitt would probably have no issue with such a thing, but Elysium was better than that.

Sure enough, Rin arrived at camp just in time to see Nemhain fling a hay statue into two of its brethren, as easily as if she were bowling- then spike them with ice shards, like pincushions. When the Ferryman had attacked her, Rin had briefly caught a glimpse of the melting shards buried deep in his foreleg; considering what they'd done to the hay, if he'd been hit in the throat, eyes, or chest, he definitely would've been dead on the spot.

Could Nemhain have been quicker, as she remarked? Probably, but that was mostly because their opponents were fallen deities. The Captain probably would have been caught in the blast, given that whales weren't exactly known for their agility, but a god like Mercury might be able to weave their way out. Still, most creatures would have a hard time dodging such an attack.

Now that she thought about it... lifting a paw and glancing down at its scarred surface, she narrowed her eyes and focused her energy. Small, glowing sparks flew from her paw pad, but each lasted only a moment before fading away- the end result looking more like a dollar-store firecracker than the flames she had used against the Ferryman. Most likely, her control over fire had been amplified by the fact that she was in mortal danger.

Perhaps her mind was limiting her, on the basis that too strong a flame could trigger a flashback... or on the basis that she'd burned herself by accident the last time she used them.

Well, arrows had been serving her well so far. She could hit targets with them at a longer range than she could with fire, anyway. "What's the furthest distance you can send those shards?" Rin asked after a few moments, glancing up at Nemhain. She still had to set up the combat training session she'd mentioned at the previous assembly, and having a better idea of all the Elysites' capabilities would help her plan accordingly... maybe she'd also invest in a few training dummies, so that the others could test their powers.

/ish

fulzanin · 01-15-2020, 12:40 PM

Sanzu wasn't aware, really, of the situation that Elysium was in. Being attacked by gods? It didn't make much sense to her. The little dragon had her own beliefs; truly the last things that she retained from her birth place was her shaky religion. Gods were good, weren't they? Weren't they supposed to be nice people who kept everything running smoothly? Sanzu had, of course, grown foggy over the concept as she had most things of the ethnicities of those she had been hatched amongst. They were distant memories, ones that she could only recall if she thought hard and long enough. Blurry memories. Not super important.

What was important? Watching what was going on right here! The little dragon had been searching for a new perch to place herself upon only to throw herself off in her attempts to fly. Coming across Nemhain 'big birdie', of course, threw a wrench into those plans. The little dragon plopped herself a small distance away to watch. Sanzu was more than content to sit and watch, but seeing Rin approach she figured she might as well follow suit. "Big birdie can use ice? Tha's really awesome!" Sanzu squeaked, her ears raised and perked in an amazed manner. "Is not sloppy is pre'y," the youth then would insist. Her red gaze briefly turned to look at Run, asking a question. How far could they go? Sanzu was curious too. Maybe there could be super fun games revolving around throwing ice! Snowball fights weren't on her mind, as she had hibernating during the fiercest snowstorms, but excitement was on her face nonetheless. "Yea, yea, how far c'n the icy thin's go?"

today the sun is shining my way

TAGS 9/19/19:

nemhain. · 01-15-2020, 08:07 PM

Rin's emotions about what was to come were far from foreign to Nemhain, who could feel it starkly if not a little belated whenever the Magna felt a great big rush of emotion. Occasionally, this was useful, allowing Nemhain to react quickly when something bad was going on in order to help her master. Occasionally, it was very much not useful, like when the large fenghuang was attempting to sleep and suddenly she was hyper aware of a wave of unpleasant emotions, like uncertainty and anxiety over what was to come. She hadn't truly mentioned this to Rin yet, since she had no desire to see the female try to reign her own emotions in just for the sake of her. After all, Nemhain was around to help Rin and allow her to get more in touch with her emotions, not continue to shove them down and refuse any form of help. Just the thought of returning to such a stage would probably drive Nemhain back into the shadows, and that was something she very much did not want to happen. Even if she had to give her last breath fighting against the gods plaguing Elysium, she happily would before she would return to the background, once again becoming a passive observer – or really more like a prisoner. Besides, if she helped take down the gods at the cost of her life... well, she would at least be fulfilling her purpose in helping Rin, just as she had been created to do. Her claws sunk down into the ground a little at the thought, shaking her head from side to side. That wasn't what she should be thinking about right now. She should be thinking of how to improve her stance...

However, as she hunkered down, intent on thinking of how to improve her fighting style, she was struck with a sudden wave of curiosity, as well as perhaps some frustration. Her head snapped up, looking around before she caught sight of Rin, the female looking down at her faintly sparking paw with a thoughtful frown. Dipping her head to the magna once she properly approached, Nem paused, surprised by the odd question. She looked down at her wings for a moment, trying to determine what the absolute limit was on her capabilities, when Sanzu came bouncing over, the tiny dragon stumbling over her own feet as usual. Regarding the dragoness with a bemused expression, Nemhain found herself wondering what Sanzu would be like as an adult. Would she still be rushing around the main camp without a care in the world, full of energy, just with a much large body that could do much more damage? Hopefully not. Banishing that thought from her mind, Nemhain said politely, "Yes, I am able to use ice elementals, miss Sanzu. I am... pleased that you think they are pretty." Having her attacks look pretty was hardly the primary thing on Nem's mind when she was training, but she still wanted to at least acknowledge the child's kind words. Having mulled over the question for long enough now, Nem spoke simply as she let her head tilt to one side, "I suppose it depends on how much power I expend. I can send them over many, many feet if I want to, but it will take a lot more energy from me than say, if I send them only a couple of feet. If I had to guess a limit, perhaps a hundred feet? But I've never tried to send them that far. I would be exhausted. It's comparable to your powers, lady Rin. I imagine producing actual flames was far harder than just sparks, am I correct?" She didn't mean to be insulting, or tease Rin over the fact that she wasn't producing flames again, she was just legitimately curious. Perhaps she could help Rin learn how to use her powers more effectively in the future? Sure, arrows worked, but extra abilities never hurt.

Warringkingdoms · 01-16-2020, 11:42 PM

[font=trebuchet ms]As Sanzu bounded over, Rin glanced over at her and nodded in greeting. She felt an odd sense of bemusement, a fragment of a thought springing to mind that Sanzu would be much larger someday- then it was gone, as quickly as it had appeared. Quirking a brow, Rin shook her head.

It made sense that using up more power would propel the shards further, and thus that there was a balance between distance and required firepower. Trying to hit a target from a hundred feet away was impractical even without that restriction, given that you had to factor in wind speed and direction, and how far the target would move before the projectiles reached that distance. Getting a closer shot, if possible, was much more efficient.

When Nemhain pointed out her inability to conjure fire, Rin just shrugged. "Correct," she answered, twitching her ears. "There's probably a mental component, too. Like my brain not wanting me to burn myself again, or something." There was a metaphor to be found in this somewhere, but Rin didn't have the time or energy to unpack it. She was in an alright mood for the moment, and there was no reason to change that.

Glancing back down at her paw, she remarked, "I'll have to practice sometime, I guess." In a location where nothing was flammable, of course, but those wouldn't be hard to find. The mountainside would work quite nicely, as would the caves... though the ceiling could pose an issue.

/ish

Sekitan · 01-19-2020, 08:51 PM

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she was young, and she was somewhat inexperineced, only getting better has the time progressed. The young girl stepped fowards towards the announcement, wanting more experience in combat. After all she was using blades than her own two paws, of which again was something that not all animals knew how to use blades. Others would have used their own teeth, and claws, but she found that unlikely and cumbersome to say at least.

For now she sat waiting, and hoping that someone would give her notice, or tell her to bugger off.
”talking here. ”
thoughts

☆

nemhain. · 01-19-2020, 11:04 PM

Nemhain listened intently to what Rin had to say about her own powers, the fenghuang finding herself rather curious about what the magna thought of all this. After all, as far as she could remember, the fight against the Ferryman was the first real time Rin had used them to any sort of potential, and it hadn't exactly ended well, considering the burns that currently graced her paws. Blinking slowly, the persona nodded before cocking her head to one side, her gaze zeroing in on Rin's poor injured paws, "That is probably true... I doubt that you would want to focus fully on utilizing your powers if you thought that you were going to damage yourself again. If you ever wish to practice with someone else, you can feel free to find me." She then blinked and looked up when she felt the presence of another, her eyes searching before she saw Cosette seated a bit away. Chirping softly at the child, Nemhain felt an odd wave of curiosity over how experienced the girl was at combat, "You... lady Cosette, correct? Have you had any training in combat yet?" It might've seemed unconventional, having a young girl like Cosette training in such things, but it was important, especially if they were in another situation like the Ferryman attack anytime soon, which seemed nigh inevitable. As much as the persona was sure that Rin would try her absolute hardest not to have the gods and the curse interfere with Elysium – as she had tried before – it didn't seem like even the best of efforts could stop them. At least not without the force of all of the Elysites, in a battle that usually ended in death and injury.

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