[X] Power understanding ( Tomo )
[X] Corruption management ( you )
[X] Sparring ( Akane )
"Alright," you say, pointing at Tomo, "you're gonna help them handle their power in cleverer ways."
She nods. "What's their power?"
"They're an empath. It's not really related to how you handle your speed buut-"
"Lateral thinking. Got it."
You turn your head to Akane. "You'll spar with Mina."
"You sure about that? I mean-"
"I am. I know you can pull your punches when you need to and I trust you with that. What's
important is that you're
terrifying." You can't help but smirk a little. "Mina's only sparred with their girlfriend for now. Someone like you is a wake-up call and a reminder not to relax."
She shrugs. "Hey, makes sense."
"And I'll help them manage their grief. I mean, my pool's grown, but I still had to manage it a
lot while I was younger." You turn around to face the city. In the distance you see a brief glimmer of purple among the buildings. Your kid's jumping on their way here right now.
A few more minutes pass before they finally bound their way up the hill and hit the cliff face. Their shoe hits the edge, and the momentum carries them just enough to have them step onto the ground in front of you, their hands in their pockets.
"Uh, hi!" They wave their hand as they see you, Akane,, and Tomo. "So, uh...what's the-"
"You're going with Tomo first." You point to Tomo right behind you. "She'll help you figure out your power. After that, I'll teach you corruption management, and then you'll spar Akane."
[=]
Your name is Minako, and training goes by pretty fast with Tomo and your mom.
Tomo tells you about secondary abilities and how all magical abilities have other uses and techniques and extra properties. Her ability is about speed, so that means not only can she
move faster, she can also reload quickly, increase the speed at which her crossbow can fire. She also brings up how her crossbow used to be pretty slow to fire.
Then she transformed it into a magazine-fed rapid-fire crossbow. It fires as fast as an assault rifle and reloads about as fast, too. This is
before she enhances it with her innate magical powers.
This also leads you to thinking about how you can abuse your own powers. There's probably something interesting you can do about that...
"So do you think I could predict someone's moves?"
"Probably. At the very least you can figure out intent. I think that'd be useful. Because you said it just senses their emotional state in a split second, right?"
Tomo's emotional state is a furnished house, sitting upon the ruins of a burnt-out husk. Smoke still rises past the windows into a sky of concrete clouds. The windows of the house glow with life and conversation, and the sounds of indistinct whispering fills your mind.
The house rattles a little before a single figure just stares out the window, as though interested.
"Yeah, I'm curious about it, too." You glance at Akane.
"Heh." She smiles. "Yo, Saya! You're up!"
Your mom is next. This training session is a bit less easy to digest, because, well, it's a more abstract concept.
And it's also your mom. The first few minutes are just her discussing the general concepts. Namely since, well, you now know what's at stake if you let your grief get too high. That part you could infer.
But what's interesting is what comes next.
"There's something I've noticed about witches. It's not enough to just have a soul gem turn black with grief. You can have your gem at the edge of witching for a
while until it goes out. But a magi will witch the
second that they give up. They can have moments of weakness when their gem is clear, but when their soul gem turns black, a magi's emotional state will tank. And they become more susceptible to the kind of thoughts that lead to witching out."
"So what you're saying is that at the edge it's...not really the end immediately?"
"Right. But you're better off never hitting that point."
You suck air in through your teeth. "I...yeah. Yeahh..."
"Oh, and one more thing." Your mom pulls a soul gem off of her finger and forms it in her hand. It's a pristine sky blue, with only a thin smattering of black specks at the bottom. "It is possible for your soul gem to darken frighteningly quickly. If you experience some kind of trauma, if you lose a loved one, if you're having an...episode."
You wince.
"Yeah...yeah, I got it."
"Being a magi is mostly manageable. But your mental health is just as important as keeping yourself safe in combat. If you need it, your mama and I will help you find a therapist. There is no shame in seeking help."
What's next is a fight against Akane.
And it goes about as well as you expected it to. You don't even get close to getting a hit in. You definitely read her mindset during the fight; you do so frequently, but knowing what she is about to do or what she is inclined to do doesn't matter when you have
no idea how to get around it.
Or, worse, when you're too scared to get past it. You try to go in for a bat swing and she blocks your attack. You swing the bat's whip mode and she snaps her fingers, knocks it out of your hand without even touching it before giving you a light tap on the back.
This happens five times. Each time, you end up face-down in the dirt.
After the sixth time, you crumble against the ground, dead tired. Akane stands over you, her gauntlets by her side, legs bent. You're in the center of a crater. She's at the edge, looking you over with a grunt. "You alright, kid?"
"Nefr...betrrntgh..."
She winces. "I...I uh...I think that's enough training for today."
[] "No! No it's not I can go another round!" [DIFFICULTY 3: Akane is an incredibly difficult opponent]
[] Opt to spar someone else.
-[] Tomo [DIFFICULTY 3]
-[] Your mom [DIFFICULTY 2, because unlike the others she will hold back. Even while trying not to.]
[] "Yeah, it is." (Leave and go date your girlfriend.)
).
