maskormenace | 002; VIDEO

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002; VIDEO

[ Finn waves at the video and immediately gets down to business. ]

So, Archie and I have been talking and we’re wanting to get the, uh- Heal Squad? [ He glances off screen then looks back. ] We want to get the Heal Squad together again. Basically, we want it to be a group of imPorts with healing abilities that can get together in case there’s a crisis. So, if you have an ability like that or if you have any medical knowledge at all, we’d be interested in… getting together?

[ He looks off camera again. ] Archie, I have no idea what I’m doing.

[do you think there will be some actual advice, from archie’s end? oh, no. he’s still slightly off camera, and a party horn suddenly blows, hitting finn lightly in the face. archie leans in, still blowing it, big grin on his face.]

That makes two of us, ha! Right, so, some of you might remember when our dearly exPorted Magnus Chase had the idea to gather the imPorts who can actually and are willing to use their healing powers. Be they Porter given or otherwise. Finn an’ I figured that it would probably be an idea to throw that back together, given the constantly rotating nature of this shitshow.

[he gives a big cheesy thumbs up at the camera.] So the plan is the same as before, sound off if you have a power and you’re willing to help, keep this broadcast bookmarked for the names that’ll be noted down that you know you can call if you want ‘em for any reason rather than using the medical services here, and sign a legal document acknowledging none of us are actually doctors! Foggy, that one’s for you!

[ Finn, after jumping and scrubbing at his eyes because of the sudden party horn, now smiles at the camera almost like he’s holding back a laugh. He waves again. ] If there’s any more legal stuff we should look into, feel free to let us know. Thanks, everyone.

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I don't doubt it. [an expression crosses his face, one that's not unlike unabashed glee.] Learn their character... does that mean you can bond with the ingredients themselves?

[it's not a wild concept to him; it's what all grass types do, after all. speak to the trees and allow them to flourish through the additional care. it's a beautiful example of natural harmony, archie finds.]

[ Again, she's pleasantly surprised at this lack of assumption. No one here thus far has quite grasped how her witchcraft works on this level. ]

I do not bond with them -- I do not weep when I crush them into paste -- [ Circe offers a light smile, inviting humor. ] But each leaf or rock or root has its own qualities. Some prefer to be boiled, some chopped finely, and so on.

Two plants are not the same, even if they are the same kind.

[the corners of his mouth twitch up... humour achieved!!]

Makes sense. You'd want to treat 'em how they'd want to be treated to get the best result from 'em, aye? Treat 'em with respect and get it in kind and such.

[ Look at that. Ever so slowly, Circe is starting to shed her mantle of being a miserly old hermit. ]

In a sense, yes. [ It's so intuitive to her, putting it into words seems inadequate somehow, but he's not wrong. Since he seems genuinely interested, she asks, ] Do you know what a nymph is?

[+50 hippy exp gained]

I know the word, but not much about them.

Well, a nymph is a nature spirit. I am one, specifically, an Oceanid.

It gives me some affinity for the natural world.

O..Oceanid?

[here's the thing. archie almost ended his own world back home because of how angry he was about how humans treated the natural world. he did this by awakening the god of the ocean.

his team was called team aqua.

he is a water type pokémon specialist.

he grew up in a town that literally floated on the ocean and swam in the currents every day. his grandparents are from a seaside down in alola.

his porter given powers are water adaptability.

archie kind of likes the ocean.]

I...

I like water...

[ Meanwhile, Circe, granddaughter of Oceanus and Tethys, the god and goddess of the ocean and fresh waters, knows none of this. It's not a remarkable fact to her; she has literally thousands of cousins, a nymph for every river, lake, and sea. She grew up in a palace under the Mediterranean, surrounded by them.

And like every other child ever born, what she experienced growing up is what seems normal and unexciting to her.

She raises her eyebrows. ] Do you? [ It's a mild question inviting further explanation. ]

[he blinks a few times, seemingly coming back to his senses.]

Ah--! Yeah. Uh-- I grew up around it and I specialise in the animals that live in it back home. [that's two out of five.] Porter gave me a bunch of powers so I can basically go live in the ocean, too.

[three out of five. the other two he won't talk about so easily.]

Big... uh. Big fan. Love your work. Very into the tides. Good collab with you and the Moon.

[ Circe snorts, rather inelegantly. ] I have no part in that. My aunt Selene does not speak to me. [ And wow, but there is some concealed bitterness there.

She dismisses it as an old hurt, and it fades into palpable amusement. ] Who you speak of is my grandfather and grandmother, Oceanus and Tethys. I am very minor in that scheme of things, one of hundreds of children of the sea. Still, you say that you live in the ocean? In what manner?

[ She would assume he means as a fisherman or sailor, but she's learned not to assume things here. ]

Ah... sorry. I know how family troubles are.

[AND SO: he drops it immediately.]

W-well, still! There's billions of fish in the ocean but all of them have an important role in the natural cycle of things, don't they? I... ah, I don't because I have responsibilities up here but I can breathe underwater because of the Porter and the pressure doesn't bother me. Even without the Porter stuff I was always better at swimming than anything on land-- the ocean is venerated as a giver of life back home. It's important in the culture.

[he just... took it... too far.]

[ To be honest, no one in Circe's family speaks to her, her aunt least of which. But she isn't eager to get into that.

Of all the introductions she's had here, this one is probably the most similar to a mortal's reaction to meeting a goddess that she would get at home. Circe is more used to it, but also doesn't want to take credit where it isn't due. She's never encouraged either awe or fear. But she does look interested by this description. ] You are not wrong, [ she acknowledges. ] About any of it, really.

I am similarly able to breathe in the water, unbothered by pressure, though I can also determine my buoyancy, so I may walk along the sea floor without being inconvenienced. I have been exploring this new continent, but I must admit, no one thought to give me oceanic recommendations to explore. Have you any?

Being right about everything isn't a power. That's just me.

[smooth.]

Ohhh... that would be useful. I, ah-- this place isn't the same as mine, either, but I know of some really neat trenches off the coast. You like eels? I know a bunch of eels.

[ Circe really tries to be untouchable and aloof, but sometimes she just has to give it up as a bad job, like now, when she goes from a sardonic look at his first comment straight back to poorly-suppressed humor. It is such a harmless thing to be excited over, and Circe has had precious few positive sources of excitement in her life. Plus, she's regaining her confidence in her ability to defend herself, so these things don't seem as risky as they used to. Leaving Aiaia behind seems to have left much of her fears as well. ]

I do not have any particular feeling about eels, but I am open to changing my mind. I have not had the opportunity to go into the water in... too long. [ Make that thousands of years. Exile is rough. ]

Do you visit them often?

Once every few weeks. I'm not sure if they're the same ones, but they like sharing food with my Sharpedo. I think they're better friends with him, honestly...

[it is definitely a source of excitement for him. it's clear in his voice that it's something he dearly loves.]

It-- it's a huge ecosystem. Big drop in the trench but all down the rocks there's coral and all sorts of animals. The water's relatively clear, too. We can go tomorrow, if you want!

And... what is a Sharpedo?

[ Circe can't help being drawn into his enthusiasm a little. It's rare she meets someone this uninhibited with their delight, and over something so simple to her as the sea. She suffers a bit from taking it for granted, she realizes now. Not even Glaucus the fisherman-turned-river-god or the sailors who visited Aiaia had this sort of love for the ocean.

It makes her look forward to seeing this side of the Atlantic more than she had before, when it was part of a broader curiosity to see and experience everything she could here while she had the chance. ]

I think... I would enjoy that, [ she says slowly, and then smiles, a brighter smile than one might expect from her prior demeanor. ] I spent my childhood in a palace beneath the water. It all seemed terribly mundane to me then. But I expect there will be many things here I have never seen before, and it will be new. [ And gods do love novelty, even Circe. ]

Ah...! He's a native to my region from home that I have here. Wailmer, too. They're water types. They're, uhhh... like a whale and a shark!

[there are practically stars in his eyes, framed with clear love for these creatures from his own world. they're his family, nothing less.]

A palace... what was the architecture like? I feel like assumin' it being the same as the stuff up here would be ah... not that smart.

I see. I would be pleased to meet them, in that case. I am surprised they came with you; my own companions remain on my island.

[ And her lioness is long dead and a pile of ashes Circe scattered to the cliffs, not that she's about to bring up such a painful memory. The other animals she'd left behind are companions, as she'd said, but none like the lioness.

These are old, old memories Circe has to access, but she knows her father's palace like the the curve of the sun moving across the sky. ] It is not filled with water, or that would make it very hard for other gods to visit, [ she replies with a glimmer of tolerant amusement, ] but you are correct that it does not resemble mortal structures. It is a palace large enough to house hundreds, all of it carved from black marble. From it, one could swim to almost any of the waters of the world. The ocean and fresh water nymphs often congregated there.

Aye, I'm beyond fortunate to have them with me. I never forget that.

[moving on, though! he looks delighted at the explanation. a palace underwater without water inside? he'd kind of hoped it would be full as well, but she's right.]

Ha. I guess askin' them to hold their breath woulda been a little rude... did magic keep the water out? I've not known the ocean to be something that listens to someone saying "please don't do that!"

[ Circe laughs a little, surprised with herself at how much she's been able to relax here in just a few months. She'd never felt this jovial on Aiaia the past few decades. That's hard to think about, so she just focuses on the question. ]

My grandfather Oceanus is not just anyone. It is his palace; my father Helios uses it as his own, but he did not build it. It is... [ Circe thinks about how to put this. It's a hard concept to explain to someone not as strongly tied to nature as her mother's side of the family. ] It is more like asking a beloved grandmother to let you stay with her, [ she says slowly. ] She may be fierce, and implacable, but she will make room for you.

[someting in his expression shifts and gets slightly far away.]

Yeah. I get you.

[he exhales.]

Well! I'll catch ya tomorrow?

[ Circe isn't about to press on someone else's reserve when she's so guarded about her own, even if she notices the change. ]

I will look forward to it. What city do we depart from? Heropa?

The beautiful sunny city. Of course. I'll see you there.

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002; VIDEO

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I somehow knew this would be the reaction and I am so chuffed

just wheezes

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