yogen | In League with Dragons (OPEN)

Entry tags:

In League with Dragons (OPEN)

Who: Gudako and you!
When: 3/28
Warnings: Spooky magic.

One morning, a few days before Spring "break" ends, a note is taped to the front of the class 2-A classroom.

Magic ritual in progress. Please be careful!
-Ritsuka

While on the face of it this may seem ridiculous, peering in through the windows sees all of the desks inside the classroom shoved into the corners while Ritsuka kneels on the floor, having laid the chalkboard on the floor to sketch some kind of elaborate magic circle on it.

Ritsuka frequently pauses, looks at her work, narrows her eyes, erases, resketches, repeats this process, and-

Flops back on her back and lets out a loud groan, just... laying there. Staring up at the ceiling blankly.

It doesn't look like she's going to move for a while.

Maybe someone should go and check up on her.

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[... wait, no, that name isn't quite right. even if "can at least talk but it's hard to tell what he's actually saying" is also weirdly applicable.

sorry, she just went on an extended face journey for a second there. it's fine. she's back.]

If there's any way I can help, I'd really like to!

Honestly, just talking it out with someone else already helped a lot. [Ritsuka takes another look at the circle, scratches out a few more symbols, adds some in, and-]

I think this is as close as I'm gonna get it.

...you might want to stand back some. I have no clue what's going to happen if this fails, but if it succeeds, there's at least going to be some sparks.

Ooh! [YES, FINALLY, COOL MAGIC!] I'll go watch from the hallway!

[which she does, heading back to her previous snooping spot, giving a thumbs up.]

Alright. Deep breaths. [Ritsuka indeed takes some deep breaths, then holds her right arm out over the circle, her command seal tattoo (and the scarring around it) prominently visible from Stephanie's perspective. Bracing her right arm with her left, she begins chanting.]

Let silver and steel be the origin.
Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.
Let my will be dedicated to the Grand Order.

Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall.
Let the four cardinal gates close.
Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom spin.

Shut.
Shut.
Shut.
Shut.
Shut.

Let it repeat it five times.
Let it shatter once filled.

Let it be declared now; your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword.
Submit to the form of human order.
Answer, if you would submit to this will and this truth.

An oath shall be sworn here.
I shall learn all virtues of all of Heaven;
I shall shelter all evils of all of Hell.

From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power,
Come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!

Edited 2021-03-29 21:39 (UTC)

[expectant look]

[...and nothing happens.

But if Stephanie pokes her head inside, something is different about the air. Like it's harder to breathe, somehow.

Ritsuka also notices the difference, and while she's not always the most perceptive of people, it's still enough to unnerve her. And enough for her to glance at Stephanie and say, sternly,] Stay out of the room. I don't know what just happened, but I'm pretty sure it's not good.

[Grimacing, she walks up to the chalkboard and begins frantically washing the magic circle off. Note to self: do not try this again.]

... Wait, if something not good happened, shouldn't you get out of the room? [LIKE CAN'T THE CIRCLE WAIT]

I'm pretty sure that the circle being screwed up is the cause of the badness so I'm just going to take the initiative and get rid of it before it gets worse!

[Because it always, always gets worse.]

Be careful! [just. anxiously bouncing in the hall until she's sure she's safe.]

[Ritsuka hurries out of the classroom as soon as the circle is erased, skedaddling back to Stephanie's side.]

Well, at least it was worth a shot. And it did something, even though I'm not sure what. That means magic does work here. Probably. I just need to figure out how.

...which is a problem because I'm not a Caster and I don't even know how magic works on my own world. [She groans. Ah, the problems of being the designated everyman protagonist.]

[she nods, giving her a sympathetic pat on the arm.]

You did your best! Sportacus says that the only way you fail is if you give up. You just keep trying!

...you know Spartacus?

... Oh, no, see, I actually got a little confused before? But, my friend's name is Sportacus. With an "O." It's a little weird that your friend is named after my friend, but he is a superhero.

[she is convinced of this and will not be dissuaded]

[Ritsuka is pretty sure that it's the other way around, but also, she's ten, so she's not going to argue the point.]

Your friend's an actual superhero? Wow, the closest I've got to someone in the whole spandex getup is Edison, and honestly I'm pretty sure he's disqualified because of all the unethical capitalism he does.

[Please change, Edison. You don't get a pass because you're a furry.]

Nuts, I don't think I have your name. I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru! Some of my friends call me Gudako, though.

[NODS EAGERLY she is just visibly excited to talk about her Best Friend Forever.]

Yeah, he's my town's hero! He rescues us when we're in trouble, and he teaches us how to play games, and he foils bad guys!

[well. bad guy, singular, but that sounds more impressive.]

I'm Stephanie! One of my friends calls me Pinky, but only when she's teasing.

Sounds like somebody I could've used on my side during the Grand Order. [Even if he wasn't a great fighter, having somebody to wrangle kids would've been helpful to have around thanks to Jack, Nursery Rhyme, and Santa Lily. There weren't exactly many servants that are well equipped for that sort of thing.

Except EMIYA, but as the world's greatest housewife (bless your soul, Tamamo, you come a close second), that was a given.)]

What was your hometown like? It sounds like it was a lot more exciting than mine, ha. Nothing ever really happened there.

It's not my hometown, but it's definitely my home. I moved in with my uncle a few years ago. [For The Summer, They Said.] Lazytown is a pretty exciting place, I think. Don't let the name fool you; it stopped being like that pretty quick after I got there!

[press X to doubt] How can where you're from be boring if you have magic and heroes? That's the opposite of boring!

That's because I was actually introduced to magic and all this stuff, [she waves vaguely at the chalk dust now floating inside the room,] after I was, uh.

...yeah, I'm going to be honest with you, the mages at Chaldea kinda just kidnapped me when some factors that showed up on my test at a blood drive they were holding matched up with what they needed to fill in the last spot on their team. Chaldea is almost on the other side of the world from Japan, really. I was ordinary until then, my parents didn't even know about magecraft despite having some latent magic circuits.

[So really, no different than Stephanie having an extended stay in Lazytown. Except for all the trauma.]

[frowns]

That was really rude of them. They should've asked first.

... Maybe that's what this place is like. Maybe we're here to do something. [which is still rude, and she would have liked to be asked first!]

I mean, if they hadn't recruited me, I wouldn't be here right now, so I'm honestly thankful. [Ritsuka doesn't like to think about what could've happened if she hadn't been there. Nothing good, probably. Thanks, Goetia.]

That's typically how it is at my job, so I think you're right on the money.

Get dropped in some new and weird place, find whatever's going on to make it so dangerous, remove dangerous thing, go back.

This is honestly pretty routine.

[considers...]

Then we'll be fine! You'll fix whatever's dangerous, and the rest of us will help you, and then we'll all go home. [love it when a plan comes together.]

When you put it that way, it actually sounds manageable.

[Really, that's exactly what's happened every other time something like this has happened to Ritsuka, and she's always made it out alive.

Except for that one time when her alternate timeline self died to save Melt.

But she doesn't even remember that anyways, so it doesn't count.]

Thanks, Stephanie, [Ritsuka says, ruffling her hair affectionately.]

[preens] There's always a way. We just need to find it!

You're right. No matter how hopeless things might seem, there's always at least a tiny chance that it'll turn out alright.

And reaching for that chance will make it a lot more likely. So we need to do our best! [Ritsuka flexes for emphasis.

...wow, her muscles aren't, like, huge, but they are certainly there and hard to ignore.]

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In League with Dragons (OPEN)

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EXACTLY the reaction i wanted thank you

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not a gagtag

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this is actually taken from one of the manga adaptations

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