voidtreckerooc | Wings of Wonder: Ongoing

General ongoing questions.

OOPS SORRY

For the clear white crystal stones for Hemla, can someone who has one of these stones still cast spells? Thinking of having Essek on crystal duty one day, but I was hoping he would still have his spells available to him. At least his cantrips.

Also, would a very low level spell like mending work on say clothing and small repair projects?

His spells might be hit and miss and definitely take much more energy to cast. Cantrip's probably work better but anything requiring concentration may go haywire!

Mending will work on clothing and small projects though nothing big or anything involving gem technology

Okay do the Sali like them enough they might... help... outfit Jingyi. He got his sarong torn into while he was on the South island and trying to non-violently handle a mind-altered Sali, leaving him with a less pristine "robe" to use for making sure he's decent when not a dragon.

He'd preferentially look for any kind of wrap, robe, or easy tie around skirt, he won't be picky! (He will be picky but can suck it up, basically.)

How about a cloak with sleeves that goes down below his knees?

Goodness, yes! Consider him the happiest dragon on islands!

Since this happened on the South Island, I'm assuming? They will also fix up his sarong, as it happened there. Repay the debt, etc.

Yeah, it would have been on South Island, everyone was kinder to his clothing on East. So kind of them! He would say thank you for both instances.

Given the events of this thread here, can it be assumed Potato is clear to toddle off with some of the crystal Hemla sought out and make her way to the east?

I'll be tagging under shenanigans if the answer is yes- hello good sages have you need of...A BATTERY????

Alternatively, she'd be quite fine batterying up for Hemla instead.

EDIT: sorry, realized a good and vital question relating to the matters noted for days N8-10. It says that those taking the Crystal test from Hemla will need them to pass energy to Hemla first- will those who technically can't/don't know how to do that still be able to via Hemla herself giving a tug?

Edited 2021-09-16 08:57 (UTC)

Yes, she can! Hemla will tell the other sages/Forever Ones to keep an eye on Potato, since the crystal is a shoddy attempt and Potato will still get woozy if not taken care of. But if she's with the sages, they'll basically keep an eye on her.

Hemla can take the energy themselves! And since Hemla has Potato's energy for example, they wouldn't need to do it for her.

Whoo!! Awesome!

Actually something occurred to me, so off I go to Shenanigans.... you're a good forever friend hemla....

SO along with the snacks, Hemla will have a gift for Potato for the energy they provided them (and the other Forever Ones).

Potato will be gifted a stone that if they hold and close their eyes and think about that world, they will be able to see the islands, almost like someone recorded in real time floating around the lands, in the sky, etc.

It's enthused with Potato's energy, so it'll be accessible even once leaving the planet. No middle-Forever One necessary. There's more seen around the upper half of the South Island, Central, and East. The West and North don't get too explored. (Then again, it's all very 'the main areas')

Anything about making, if gem/stone technology or Doing Things.

Yeesh so given he's an inventor, he'll be East and working with them there: since the idea is generating winds to disrupt the storm, such as it is, and they're looking at air cannons and megaphones, he'd also recommend making sort of... directional air-crystal? Ones you could instruct to generate air flow in a specific cardinal direction and toss down so they can do that even if the stone's batted around, until the crystal runs out of power or whatnot.

... So basically designing air-crystals that, when activated, would blow air in the direction instructed in their activation, that could be tossed and used to aid the other weapons but don't require people to be sticking with them, possibly with a secondary shocking element so it's harder for them to be picked up, or some kind of binding to the ground element so you'd have to fight it to get it off said ground to toss it away.

He'd probably also advise making the equivalent of flash-grenades only as light-crystals to use to try blinding the flying creatures. Sound ones to also distract them! Nothing that actually explodes, notably.

Directing Air: So, Wei Wuxian will find they have had experiments in this, as magic (let's just call it all magic) for musical instruments is a part of directing the flow of the magic. Some even prefer to use music to guide the small transport crafts, or to have a tune going through their Soul crystal (the personal crystal) as it helps them 'lead' the directions they want to go better.

(It's also why they're thinking about the megaphones. ... A lot of their designs are very 'just trying to make things work')

The flash grenade crystals would be a welcomed idea. They don't have 'light' crystals, but they can use fire, wiggle it around, and they do have access to a few lightning crystals.

They will definitely do tests with air crystals, and consider the benefits of a smaller crystal that could be thrown, set off in air, and create a whirlwind of air to knock the birds down. They have to consider where their allies will be in the air too, and something that works for a few seconds than hits the ground and go on might be better.

Yeah, he's all for workshopping, and his own history with using music to direct energies is one that can help him think in parallels here. Not an exact match, but closer!

He would also suggest since they're working on song to influence the fliers--crystals that sing attraction or that sign repelling to the birds to do crowd control and or guide birds into chosen attack areas. Might work best as playing music right then and there given the tight timeframe; if they can figure a way he can play music to help guide energies through their crystals too, he's willing to work with and through the exhaustion for it. (Bad, long lasting habits of his!)

Apologies for a late response on this! With the finale going up tomorrow, I wanted to conclude the additions thanks to Wei Wuxian's help.

Flash Stones:

Voidtreckers will be able to use these too.

Airnado stones:

Voidtreckers will be able to use these too.

Song:

Powers Progress:

completely

Not a worry! This all sounds fantastic, and let me go... rally instrument players. He knows a few (from shared canon largely), but by extension of others on train, is aware of more. I'll see about tossing that up as a noted pre-finale day SCA announcement, I don't know if that would be hm. Possible to have in the mod plurk when that goes out, too? I can link it in server, I'm just wondering if it being stated when you guys put up the plurk can help give people with characters who might slot in as musical a means of participating they might not have realised would be possible!

Wei Wuxian can definitely play, he's mostly a wind instrument guy, so any kind of flute he'd be good with.

Powers wise, my only question is: since his powers are essentially closest to manipulating death energies and resentful energies, what to the West will he find he might also be able to use? I have no pressing need for him to be able to, but it is something he can direct in a whole "does anything resent these invaders that killed them? Great, he can direct those resentful energies back on the red storm brought birds/etc."

Also I'm slowly realising... can he accidentally be pulling an Actual Forever One by having touched Hemla or any of the others beforehand? That's related to the slow developing powers from Diagad, where his was power borrowing, and it's frankly really silly but it'd be more him noticing for a duration the way of the Forever One's abilities makes more inherent sense to him than it probably should. Totally fine if not, but I figured if it was an understanding/ease of use thing, it might be okay.

If Wei Wuxian makes a message about it, and if you could link as well to these posts - I can ask Katy to put out a mod plurk as well, to ask for anyone else to give any last minute additions. But it might take a while on our end.

Resentful Energies: Sali were killed, as well as animals driven in the same confusion, so there will be some resentful energy he can pick on to use! I'm not sure if there's anything in particular he can do with that, but that's there.

Pulling a Forever One: His powers would still be too young to do much, and a Forever One's powers are rather many. But if he's on the ship, he will be able to work with closely with Hemla, who will be joining them. Basically, they'll be able to direct each other, and bolster each other's energies; be able to point out someone they see and just think or share their feelings.

(So when Hemla sees/feels someone who needs help, Wei Wuxian will know too; when Wei Wuxian sees the same, so will Hemla.)

Hemla can also help Wei Wuxian discover this also, but it can also be handwaved. Hemla can tell people by their energies, would be able to tell clearer the people they've spoken to. For Wei Wuxian, in that attempt to take an imprint of Hemla (if accidentally), Hemla would be able to reach out to him better.

(I can also see if I can make this come up in the Wei Wuxian/Yondu thread, but will only on your permission + if I can.)

Related question: Would this be affected if the instrument player has been part of the previous Hemla experiment with integrating the voidtrecker energies? The experiment described in Ongoing.

Are you asking about the resentful energies? If so, the instrument must be one from the salis. But otherwise, But yes, those who took part in the experiment will have a better control on doing this as the Forever Ones will be better able to support them. Better, again, if the instrument players are helping one another - it's more difficult if they work apart.

.... well, Xichen is not much for resentful energy honestly so possibly more support of the Forever Ones. Though if he has to, he can possibly pull off some resentment. As a treat.

Apologies! I think I'm confused by what you mean by 'Would this be affected'. Do you mean if there would be positives/negatives to the above, in the response to Jingyi's player? Because it would still be the same - the crystals helped basically make the stronger connection + on top of the SCAs, being able to study the various energies of Voidtreckers.

I hope this answers what your original question was!

Edited 2021-09-20 13:15 (UTC)

AH MY APOLOGIES.

Since Wei Wuxian made the comms post my brain took a shortcut but basically, the Lan clan focuses on cultivation / magic effects through music, so support through music would be very much something they would try, with the information available. He has a xiao (vertical flute) and a guqin (seven-stringed zither) which can be offered for crystal embedding, or he can reasonably quickly learn to play a locally made instrument, in order to assist those who have the power, skill, and knowledge to make a difference.

This kind of support is what I meant by 'would this be affected' - the additional effect of confusion I'm assuming is based on the resentful energy, while the Lans tend to have and use the opposite, life-affirming variety, normally.

Okay, if I understand correctly! Everyone will be able to use their powers to a degree (about half strength), so the Untamed will be able to use music!

If someone thinks out a Forever One (especially those who did take a crystal!), they will be able to give them a momentary bump in power/be able to defend them. But of course, they may sometimes be distracted already - they're doing a lot of jobs at once.

Enshala will be able to provide a similar help too, but she's going to be a lot more busy since she's working solo (whereas Hemla and Shrinlo will be pairing up to go West with everyone).

Edit: The sali would be better at modifying flute-type weapons!

Edited 2021-09-20 19:30 (UTC)

Rolls out with: https://middleofsomewhere.dreamwidth.org/27656.html?thread=24299784#cmt24299784

I have this linking back to this thread up above, can edit or add on as needed! I'll toss it up in Server and make mention in Plotting channel, just to get it out there too.

Resentful Energies mostly would be aimed to help further confuse or debilitate a bird, mostly with a physical force. Think weird poltergeist in a way! In theory he can make them possess things, but he doesn't actually do this, and wouldn't want to, so that part's irrelevant basically.

Hemla would, however, be able to direct him to act toward something, and he could call on those resentful energies to slam into something--they're not gravity bound at all, because they're energies and not... bodied, such as it is. They also don't do sustained attacks, they basically hit and flow onward and come back for another hit, and so on. It wouldn't have a real impact on finale, it'd just be one more thing he could do to the same ends as what he would be with the Forever One linked song-purpose. And it might block one hit, but not a flurry, and so on.

Forever One wise that sounds great! He'd go West, so the two of them ending up able to synch like that would be a (hilarious to me) happening. It might be easiest for all to say he learns from Hemla that he's accidentally managed this, and they basically repeat the accident on the day of flying out West.

(Also, if you find a way that works out for it, go for it! I'm happy to have it happen should there be an opportunity, though laughs, we know how it goes: threads are unpredictable rides.)

As Wei Wuxian showed particular engagement with the sali, with engaging with the South Island and also aiding in making crafts, having good communication, etc., Asha will approach Wei Wuxian to speak to him - to thank him and the Voidtreckers for their services, but also to remind him of their discussion of price.

For the sali, this meaning is more exchange - you give to someone, someone gives to you. While they have put together supplies that will hopefully aid the Voidtreckers, they would like to know Wei Wuxian's opinion of what either he may personally have interest in, or thinks would be good for his community.

Oh goodness, let me get back to this--when would you guys like an actual answer from me? I'm still in cold haze compounded by post-work tired (and will be for the next few days), but I can try to brain what this would be from Wei Wuxian's POV during that time!

His personal interests are just always so... encompassing tinkering and finding solutions from thinking about things in ways outside the standard accepted logics, or turning to find new angles, but I think at this point more concrete curiosities for him would be ones of like... distance communication, that doesn't rely on SCA; other ways to bring clarity to a mind that's been disturbed by outside influences; I'm not sure what helpfully to say here, a sudden burning interest in medium-sized herd animal cheesemaking (I mostly kid).

Whenever an answer works for you is good. They know they won't be able to do too much in the time they have, and given restrictions, but they could look into remedies they have that don't rely on crystals, etc.

So if the thought of 'other ways to bring clarity to a mind that's been disturbed by outside influences' came up, they could possibly offer plants and substances along those lines.

If an actual thread helps let me know, as I'm happy to do that.

Sick self coming back with a few ideas:

- anything to help with dreams/nightmares/soothing, it's an issue on train and one that affects him enough that he'd guinea pig whatever
- ... light... sources... lmafslkfdj idek if there'd be a way to adapt crystals to a kind of self-contained fire that energy could be replenished within to be kind of. gently warm light things that could turn brighter if asked... this man doesn't trust technology to not fail basically
- a goatlike sized creature for cheese THIS IS ... SILLY, hello
- honestly i'm just trying to think on practical things, so also seeds/seedlings that produce food... wood to build more boxes... soil... for them......... Wei Wuxian's kind of got "so things that help ease tensions or create better self-sufficiency" in mind, to whatever degrees

I present to you: one dragon, either for helping haul airship things or for being a large distractive defense for when they're pulling the Western Forever One out along with supplies. For the West he can also offer himself as a platform to people who tie themselves on and are doing long-distance attacks at the birds, including any Sali wishing to take the risk.

Sali are always ready to take a risk. 'Do or die' - they have a lot of sayings like this.

If he helps to act as a distracting defence, then that will help the sali focus on getting the cargo over to the North. They may hire Jingyi to help get more materials if they're needed for the North, and also for anything needed in the East village. One or two extra visits, if he doesn't mind acting as a distraction.

A sali can also accompany him at times to help make air travel easier - for themselves, and for helping to move Voidtreckers around. Basically give him a boost - if he is willing to take the risk.

Ah, yes, congratulations, he's hired by the sali with their very relatable attitude, laughs! Having extra aid every so often if also nice, but yes, have one horned dragon helping distract hostiles (and doing any extra carrying or catching of possibly flight impacted small ships) with supply runs!

So Potato, while obviously still getting a little woozy about it, is feeling at least a little better of course, walking around and such. Her greatest ability is to contribute magic though...which brought me to an idea.

Naturally, she'd probably be sent off to the East first- as noted, things aren't perfect there, and one would hope that the Sages can better help ease things out while also reaping the benefits of dang potato that's a Lot of energy in that little body of yours!

But that brings me to the Shenanigan.

Assuming she can at least be stable enough to make the trip a bit later into things (Probably no earlier than N9 unless the sages work REALLY fast), Could Potato give this help to Enshala then? If Enshala's problem is having the energy to do things, then here's a GREAT BIG BOOST -!

Potato's endless amount of energy resources would be realised by the Forever Ones/sages, that if she's happy to share with it, they are happy to help move her around if they like.

They will also grant her an exchange, if there is anything she would like in return for the energy she's giving.

She can have a rider take her to the South on one of these.

Potato is not very good at making trades- she's a simple sort, who just likes to have fun and for people to not be hurting. But, she won't say no to a snack, or some sort of souvenir trinket.

Like said, Simple sort.

(Honestly she probably considers the ride to the South itself to be the payment unless any Sali gently correct her, because WOW COOL!!! DEER RIDE!!)

A very fast deer ride.

They will ask her what she likes in terms of food and trinkets - while they could get away with giving her little, apparently, they're about fairness. They will let her have types of snacks while they're with her, to see what she likes: dried/marinated jerkies, fruits; they do also have their own type of mochis, though the 'cake' is a tad firmer. There's also specific leaves they let get crunchy, and lightly coat it in types of flavour.

It's Potato's hardest choice yet!

While Potato herself will ultimately be about as undecided as any small child about most things, it'll become relatively clear, very fast, that preferences end up laying along the sweeter end of things for snacks (so fruits and mochis, or certain crunchy leaves, work great...even if no one is quite sure how she chews without visible teeth).

Trinkets wise, something she can wear, or play with, is their best bet- and to that end she'll probably just not take whatever she gets off for the whole time she's here. (She herself will ponder for a while whenever asked, and on the off-chance she doesn't just say 'I liked those cake things!' or similar, either remark on 'something to remember this place by', or on wishing she brought one of her toys with her.)

[[I am...VERY AWARE of how long this is so I absolutely expect that this will need time to consume and respond to, don't worry]]

On a separate Gem-related note from Potato's Wonderful Adventures, here are the other three summed up for Crystal Testing, Ideas, and So On- simplest to biggest.

Jonouchi, though he'll need the Sali to help with the communication barrier, will ask for help not for himself- he's not really a magic guy he'll insist (though if the Sali happen to catch some of his early diagad shapeshifting acting up, he'll relent; ironically he could feasibly wake up with horns haha).

But, his ponyta- currently safe in her pokeball, though he'll let the little thing out to show- does need help. Kaseri passively brings calming and peaceful emotions to the area- so even while witholding her usual healing power, she's been suffering the energy disharmony effects. If a test with the crystal can help with that, he's game! (And so's she, she doesn't like her pokeball much.)

Beyond that, Shenanigans Wise, he'll be helping A LOT on the South Island. Mostly he'll be focused on rounding up and protecting animals, since that's what he's familiar with, but he'll also be doing his best to help with combat as needed. He's no long-range guy, but his seer-impulses do occasionally come at the right times...! ...Occasionally. This is being noted here mostly because that means, if he's told he can, he might try donating energy to Enshala.

tl;dr- Jonouchi wants to help his ponyta, and also he'll be helping Enshala in turn when he can.

Kiyoiri on the other end of things is of course going to be prodding around the West Island, but before that, if possible she'll accept a crystal to test as well...'two' if possible, given Takechirou, in fact. The girl will of course be clear that only one is for her, and only one is for the dinosaur.

She'll explain to Hemla and the Sali that Takechirou acts as something of a Familiar- he's a portion of a Heroic Spirit, which means that while he can support his own existence, he needs her magic energy in order to do anything...well. Magical. The risks of transfer can be migitated if she's sitting on him presumably, but essentially she's covering her bases- particularly since she has minor healing magic to offer alongside standard treatment.

For that matter, so does Takechirou-Berserker it turns out; Turns out it's potent stuff if they can sort out the crystal connections enough for it to work, so even a bit of that could be great. In return of course, Kiyoiri offers what little she has. Takechirou...well. Takechirou will probably do a cool roar or something for Hemla's benefit, since apparently she found this super cool.

(Lucky for all of them, if they can get enough magic going, Takechirou's current form can apparently SHOOT FIRE, because Of Course it Does.)

tl;dr, she'd like a crystal for both of them because healing people is hard when you're sitting on a dinosaur, and for that matter it's not a guarantee that she'll be on Takechirou's back while the rex is spitting fire at birds.

Emporio! Best for last, he will not immediately take a crystal but instead try to workshop with the Sali on how best to make use of it.

Emporio will explain his Stand- even manifesting it, though that'll make him feel ill for. Obvious reasons- and essentially cover how Weather typically controls...well. Weather, essentially windflow, the clouds, the components thereof, etc etc.

Suffice to say, that's something he's been nervous about so much as Trying here. Basically, he wants to test but in a controlled environment if possible, because he fears that whatever he tries to do will simply be thrown back in all of their faces. Literally.

Beyond that though, he'll offer his knowledge and experience in working with Weather to try and do two things- the first and most important being recovery through the air. If they can reduce the risk of disaster when the storm and birds hit by simply using it to their advantage, then that will probably help...a lot. Most of his knowledge is in how windflow works, but it might at least help? (He'll acknowledge that a lot of what he knows also hinges on being a kid in a glider most of the time)

The other thing though, is perhaps even just changing the air when it's used against them. If the wind turning them away suddenly becomes something heavier, or lighter, or even something that isn't technically air at all, then that too could work in their favor. Basically, 'what if we use the crystals to turn an attack into a shield ~~WITH SCIENCE~~ by changing the very thing the attack Is?'

They're the exact kind of nonsense ideas one would expect from the kid who realized he could turn a rainstorm into a horrible air-layer bomb around a machine way back, basically.

tl;dr- Emporio wants to do the crystal test, but for Weather Related Reasons, would...really appreciate if he had a good Sali Spotter of sorts. In turn, he's offering as much Weather Related nonsense as possible to help with the efforts to fight (which will, should that go well, involve heading for the North Island to assist in efforts with the airship).

JONOUCHI:

are like that

KIYOIRI, TAKECHIROU:

all

EMPORIO:

- Jonouchi'll make sure to drop in when needed in that case; more than likely his energy transfers will come around the same time help for Kaseri comes in, since he'd rather have her out and about where possible for her comfort. Fortunately, his own pokemon are giving him a whack in the head to keep him from overdoing it! (But definitely feel free to whach this dingus on the mental skull, Enshala, he can get a bit stupid about helping, as evidenced by the Blue Team Assignment)

- Thank you thank you for the bracelets! Kiyoiri will of course, give her bow and thanks as typical of these interactions, and promise to check in with Enshala if anything comes up- adding as well that she did a pretty good job with the SCA prodding, that seems like it would've been tricky. (She will also note that the SCAs are what connect them to the train itself- and more importantly, are what are keeping them quite alive.)

For now, she's ready to make sure no one gets themselves killed in the West where possible.

- OKAY, EMPORIO NOW since this one looks like we might do some back and forth on things potentially.

You essentially got the gist! Since ultimately they're fighting a living storm on its own when they take to the skies, they can only predict so far with how it'll react- and how they can move with it to avoid a disastrous result when attacked.

The weather channel never seems to get things exactly correct after all.

As for the link between Weather and Emporio; Weather is notably part of 'someone else's' soul, but somehow it's meshed completely and perfectly with Emporio's own- Emporio will explain that Stands are typically unique to a person, but that this one was...well, given to him and apparently opted to not leave. Given the suggestion, he'll hang around with the Sages so that they can sort things out.

Ultimately, being able to manipulate that much air will be a great boon though, since Emporio's typical fighting style with the Stand generally involves that kind of close range manipulation. Whoo!

Sorry for the delay in getting back! Just wanted to let you know things before the finale, as your characters would have been working around.

EXPERIMENT PROGRESS:

him

EMPORIO/WEATHER REPORT:

here

that

For the first two: WHOOOOO!! And gosh yeah finale's coming up huh...

For Emporio: NICE. Emporio would've asked about water crystals if possible as well, explaining that the weather, ultimately, is manipulation of water and air alike (technically because they're treated as the same thing, with the whole water cycle in science, but he won't go into that for...obvious 'that's just making it complicated' reasons.)

Either way, he'll thank them profusely and help out in the South from there, because the best way to pay anyone back is to do everything he can where he's best helping.

'Emporio would've asked about water crystals if possible as well, explaining that the weather, ultimately, is manipulation of water and air alike.'

The sali would be like, yes we know what weather is, child.

But given the time they had and everything else they had to do, messing with water stones on top of all the rest would have been a strain, and so they focused on the air stones for the Voidtreckers, plus a few fires (less of these) and then the clear stones. They had 3 days to prepare everything. :(

blease sali he didn't know that was the reason :[[ he's one small kiddo-

Anyway naturally if they told him 'that's gonna cause Problems' he wouldn't press and just focus on air hjgklhdfg

Wings of Wonder: Ongoing

QUESTIONS - General

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QUESTIONS/Shenanigans

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POTATO BATTERIES

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i'm so sorry, sali, for this undecided ball of fluff helping you out fffff

I put the other three in one Brick so that it's not...everywhere but do feel free to take time ;u;

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