adventurous_logs | The Doctor Is In

The Doctor Is In

Who: Y'shtola.
What: Earning her keep.
Where: Ponyville.
When: 2/7
Warnings: None expected.

'Twas an unfortunate truth, one suited to the Syndicate but with its roots in every aspect of nation and governance: gil, or rather 'bits' here in this land, made the world go round. Normally not a worry, for the Scions had enough to get by... but the Scions had no organization (and little purpose) here. Y'shtola had made more than one mental note to thank Tataru most kindly, when next their paths crossed.

But for the nonce, she was on her own. With kind aid from the locals and no small dint of work on her part, a small house had transformed from a fading and empty residence to a new business, identified in radiant red and gold as "Scion Conjury". Unicorns, she had observed, used their magic primarily in service for scientific cures and nostrums, not as aid in and of itself. This, she reasoned, could be her niche -- that and perhaps an understanding of the elements, though Equestria was quite odd in that regard. But even lacking a need for intercession such as that, Ponyville would surely welcome magical healing, would it not?

Thus on this, the first day of business, Y'shtola turned the sign out front to 'OPEN', then settled in to await those in need of treatment.

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Shortly after noon passes, a wolf limps in, her right paw swathed in some sort of chitinous, red-edged black growth that keeps it from flexing.

"Hello. Can you deal with puncture wounds?"

Serving as her own secretary and receptionist, Y'shtola merely nodded as she motioned the wolf in. "'Tis one of the more frequent complaints," she said, with wry understatement. "Would you prefer to lie down on a cot, or remain seated?"

"I'll remain seated. Here, let me just reabsorb this..."

As she flexes her paw, the chitinous growth covering it retracts back beneath her skin, revealing that there is a hole that goes clear through her paw.

That raises a number of questions, but Y'shtola minded only the first and most obvious, as she brought over a low stool with her telekinesis. "Your name?"

"Lieutenant Sarah Snowdon."

There's no blood coming from the hole in her paw.

Her mild surprise didn't even reach her face, not even her milky-white eyes. A subdued reaction was, after all, a means of gaining trust, and she really ought not to be surprised by this sort of thing these days anyway. "Place your paw up on this stool, and I'll have a look. Though, praytell," she added with a slight, thoughtful frown, "in what way is your nature different from an ordinary being's? Between your demonstration of a moment ago and a lack of blood here, I must be sure I properly understand what I must do to mend you."

"I'm a God Eater. We're created by injecting Oracle Cells into our bodies, but...I'm a little different from other God Eaters. I have more of the cells inside me as well as enhanced control over them, so I'm holding my blood away from the surface because it's rather dangerous for normal people. As far as the mending goes, if you can just close the hole over I can handle the rest myself."

Y'shtola absorbed that in motionless silence, before one eyebrow and one corner of her mouth twitched upwards.

"'Tis all lost on me, I fear, but I've gleaned enough to proceed. This ought to not hurt, so if it does, pray tell me forthwith."

The unicorn bowed her head, letting magic gather around the wound to begin patching it up.

"Fair enough."

Sarah holds her paw steady as Y'shtola works.

"Normally, conjury such as this requires replenishing blood as well," she said, her fogged eyes still intent on the knitting wound. "I believe that may not be the wisest choice, on hearing your tale."

"Better to take care of that naturally, yeah."

Sarah inspects the conjury Y'shtola is doing on her paw curiously.

"Once I can walk normally again I'll go into the forest and eat a few monsters, that should help."

The conjury was healing magic, pure and simple -- drawing from the ambient aether to cause change, in this case, a restoration of form. It was in this case simple enough that Y'shtola could speak and still concentrate adequately.

"If that is what sustains you, I must admit I question the long-term viability of what has been wrought unto you."

"The monsters in my world are unusually aggressive. Within six months of their appearance, they'd eaten about ninety percent of...everyone? About seven billion people, total."

Sarah takes a moment to let that sink in.

"If I'm lucky, I'll live long enough to retire, but honestly very few of us manage that."

"Then I pray that Hydaelyn shall aid your world in its need... or whomsoever serves your world in Her place." Since from that description, divine intervention might be their only recourse.

Sarah's ears flick a few times as she considers.

"...thank you."

The hole knits together, and after a moment more to make sure any invisible damage is also repaired, Y'shtola lets the light of her conjury fade. "Still, 'tis a troublesome way to need to live here, in a land far more peaceful."

"I know. It might have helped if I had been turned into a pony, but my soul's at least partially a wolf, so I assume that's why I look like this."

"In what way is your soul lupine?" Y'shtola sat back slightly, one eyebrow arched over a fogged eye.

"Hmm...probably be easier if I just show you."

Sarah starts glowing a faint blue before speaking an incantation.

"Drag down and devour the gods! Fenrir!"

As she speaks the name of her Persona, it rises out of her body, a spectral wolf with glowing eyes covered in chains.

"Fenrir is the divine wolf destined to kill the king of the gods at the end of the world; he's the most basic form of my soul."

"I fear I still do not understand." She shook her head, not particularly awed by this display -- she'd seen countless strange and awesome things in her time. "How does your soul possess this form?"

A shrug as she dismisses Fenrir.

"It's somewhat hard to explain coherently...mm. This power uses mythic archetypes as a means to access magic; the form it takes varies depending on your own personality. Fenrir's the most basic one I can access, so on some level he's one of the ones closest to the essential nature of my soul."

There's a pause as she uses a hind leg to scratch behind her ear.

"Patterning aether after an archetype 'tis a far cry from being quintessentially lupine even in part," Y'shtola mused. "Were that all you were doing, I'd say you were more summoning a proto-Primal but temporarily... as terrifying as that concept is. What more is there to it?"

"Aether...is that what you manipulate for your spells?"

Sarah's ears flick forward in interest.

"But you've got it reversed - we're not patterning our 'aether' after the archetypes; we use the archetypes to manipulate the aether. It was proven conclusively that someone that loses their Persona cannot manipulate any form of magic without it."

Y'shtola pondered that, her educated mind already drawing numerous conclusions and conjectures about the underlying mechanisms. But for the nonce she had no desire to debate them, as she only had this once piece of evidence to contemplate.

"How would one lose such a thing?"

"A Persona is based on your willingness to accept life head-on and is supported by your growth as a person. Someone that sequesters themselves away from other people and chooses to stagnate will eventually lose their Persona. It can also be voluntarily given away, as well."

"So one who does not live to their fullest at all times will eventually lose even the most basic ability to manipulate aether?"

The thought was, frankly, alarming. Aether manipulation is a fundamental ability, such that losing it was a sign of something terribly wrong. She did not feel guilt at Thancred's loss of ability; though it had been the effects of her spell that had cost him that, she maintained, and believed he agreed, that the sacrifices they had made were preferable to death. But she felt responsible nonetheless.

Sarah's ears flick as she nods.

"It's a lot harder than that makes it sound, however. Essentially, something has to be seriously, obviously wrong for it to happen, and since the foundation of the ability is your bonds with others, it's actually quite hard to maintain the isolation and stagnation that would allow it to happen."

"'Twas not the impression your words gave at first." Quite the opposite. Y'shtola knew any number of people who did not live life to their fullest, nor constantly seek to grow and improve.

"Ah."

There's a pause as Sarah's head tilts to one side, her ears flicking and eyes closing.

"My apologies. As a soldier, it's necessary for my reports to be concise, but clarity is also important, and I obviously failed at that. The growth as a person can be either slow or fast; it's not necessary to constantly interact with others to maintain your basic powers. It took over two years before I gained the ability to make Fenrir transfigure into Hemidallr, for example."

While ponies had odd ways of healing compared to the potent healing magics of Eorzea, Nephenee had noticed that both lands had a use for healing herbs, and so, once she'd seen the sign up, she'd helpfully gone out and grabbed what she could find of this Equestria's beneficial plants.

Knock knock. "Hello?~"

"'Tis open," Y'shtola called out from inside. "Pray enter."

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The Doctor Is In

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