Summary:Spring deepens his study of Innocence's essence-wielding skills.
XP:S1
Tags:< All Hail The Questing Heroes | Sol Invictus Logs | The Only Way To Live >
Spring knocks on Innocence's door, rather later on the day that Cerin visited her.
"Come in!"
Spring does so, nodding politely as he enters.
Spring "Hello, Innocence. How are you tonight?"
Innocence is moving (her small collection of) things around on her shelves as he enters. "Oh, I'm doing pretty well!" she says. "I had fun with Cerin before."
Spring "Good. I was actually wondering if you wanted to try a few more tricks."
Spring "Here, I brought you a figurine." Spring spits it up.
Innocence looks at it with curiosity.
Spring "It is a present. This is not trick-related, I just thought you might like it."
"Nice," she says. "Now I have something else to put on my shelves." She selects a location, starts to put it there, hesitates, bites her lip in an adorable fashion, then selects another location, places it, stands back, looks at it, squinches up her face in a MORE adorable fashion, adjusts it slightly, then stands back, crosses her arms, and nods in satisfaction.
Spring smiles slightly, watching her.
Spring "Now. Throw an orange at me."
Spring holds up a hand, remembering something.
Spring "Throw an orange at me, and watch what I do very carefully."
Innocence blinks. "Oh. Okay." She goes over to a wooden crate sitting on the floor, opens it up, and takes one of the many oranges within. "Get ready," she says, and tosses it at Spring.
Spring is everywhere and nowhere at once. The orange, unprepared, flies through the space he might well have been occupying and falls to the ground.
Spring "Did you see that?"
Innocence "Yes. I missed."
Spring "Yes. Did you see what I did?"
Innocence "You... got out of the way." She purses her lip and looks over Spring head to toe again.
Spring "All right."
Spring "I want you to try to throw an orange at me in such a way that I cannot do what I just did."
Innocence "Hmmm. Okay. Are you ready?"
Spring "Yes."
Innocence tosses the orange incredibly fast, and as Spring moves to react to it he feels that the orange is coming at him from every possible direction, filling every possible space he might try to step into.
Spring snaps his fingers, and the point between his middle and ring finger becomes filled with an effulgence that consumes him, allowing the orange to pass through every possible space without contacting him.
Spring "Did you see that?"
Innocence "Yes," she says. "That was annoying." She looks at the fallen orange in dismay.
Spring "You are not the first person to tell me that."
Spring "Can you throw an orange at me so that I cannot do that?"
Innocence "Hrmmmmmm," she says, and stares at Spring again. "Let me see you do it again."
Spring "Throw some more oranges."
Innocence tosses three oranges at Spring, one after another.
Spring blinks through all of them, panting slightly at the end.
Innocence "Okay. Here we go," she says, and throws the last orange, with an undodgeable spin on it -- and the odd feeling that whatever she does next will definitely be surprising.
Spring prepares himself as he always does, meeting the orange with a soft gaze, reaching inside himself to feel the warm presence of his shard, picturing a shaft of sunlight, and feeling his body become heavy, then light, then begin to dissolve...
Innocence Spring sees a rather bright flash of Essence from Innocence at almost the same moment he notices that she's followed up the orange by charging forward with the other hand extended in what looks like a punching fist.
Innocence But a moment before she reaches him, instead she flings the fingers of the hand open wide as if flinging the balled fist's contents at her sifu, and Spring feels the Essence he was gathering for the Scattered Sunlight Attitude grow thick and brittle, crumbling away at his soul's touch....
Spring gasps, and allows the orange to hit him.
Spring "Very clever."
Spring picks up the orange and tosses it back to her.
Spring "Can you send this orange back in time about an hour?"
Innocence "What?" She looks at it, for a long moment, her eyes peeling wider, and then suddenly she stops and hands it back to him. "No."
Spring "Good."
Spring "Can you tell me what the Solars were like before the end of the Primordial War?"
Innocence "Er." She starts to say something, then stops, then starts again, then stops... then finally she says it: "What's the Primordial War?"
Spring "Can you discover that knowledge instantly for yourself?"
Innocence "Hmmm. Hrmmm. Huhhhhhm." Suddenly, she jabs an extended thumb into Spring's forehead, quite hard really, and holds it there as she recites in a sing-song imitation of Spring's meter, "The Primordial War was a tragic conflict involving immeasurable loss of life between the Exalts, serving as champions of humanity, and the Primordials who had created the world."
Spring "Hm."
Spring "Can you discover such knowledge without stealing it from others?"
Innocence thinks for a moment longer. "The turning point of the conflict occurred when Talmuda utilized the Chime of Ages to slay a Primordial for the first time, in what today is known as the Threefold Breaking." She moves her finger in the air as she talks, as if she's guiding her place while reading from a book.
Spring "Good."
Spring "And the Solars?"
Innocence "They were... different," she says. "It's..." Her eyes flicker a bit, and she suddenly stops talking. "Uhhh." She sits down and starts to rub her temples.
Spring is at her side suddenly. "Are you all right?"
Innocence "Yeah," she says, a wry smile on her lips, though her eyes still aren't quite focusing right. "Pushed it a little too hard there, I think."
Spring "I did not know you could do that."
Spring takes a few of her pulses.
Innocence She seems basically fine -- elevated heart rate, high blood pressure in the head region -- fairly standard indicators of stress or excitement.
Spring "If you feel that you are pushing too hard, please stop and inform me. Your health is my paramount concern."
Innocence nods. "Al...alright," she says. "Yeah. I'll try to be more careful." She stands up, a little awkwardly.
Spring "Can you continue, or should we stop?"
Innocence "I think I'm still up for a little more, at least." She smiles. "I'll... tell you this time, if it's going to be too much."
Spring "All right."
Spring idly presents his malignant little finger. "Can you identify the problem with the Essence in this finger and suggest a treatment plan?"
Innocence stares at the finger. "It's all black," she says, as she stares into the finger's Essence. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
Spring "I am very much afraid it is not."
Innocence "Figures," she says. "I can't really seem to tell. There's something very wrong with it," she says, pointing along the length of his finger, "which is trying to escape up this way, I'm fairly certain. It seems... completely wrong. Like everything inside that finger isn't working right."
Spring "Yes, your diagnosis is so far accurate."
Spring scratches his head thoughtfully.
Spring "What is the square root of 144?"
Innocence "...twelve?"
Spring "Good."
Spring "Can you bring the Unconquered Sun here?"
Spring "You need not actually do it, just find out if you could."
Innocence blinks. "I'm pretty sure I can't do that, no."
Spring "Could you give me a complete understanding of your capabilities with regards to the use of Essence?"
Spring "I should have started with that question," Spring mumbles to himself.
Innocence "Hmmmm. No, I don't think I could," she says, and sits back down again. "Well, unless you want to wait around while I catalog them."
Spring "You could write them down."
Innocence "I guess I could keep a diary," she says.
Spring "How do you feel now?"
Innocence "Kind of... tired, I guess."
Spring "Let me give you something."
Spring spits up a small untitled pink book with a clasp and a picture of an orange on the front.
Spring "Here."
Spring "All you have to do is concentrate, and the information you are thinking of will appear in the book."
Innocence laughs. "That's great!"
Spring "I am glad you like it."
Spring 'Thank you very much, Innocence. I hope that was not too tedious for you," Spring smiles.
Innocence "No, no. I enjoyed myself." She looks over at the corner of the room. "And now I think I'm going to enjoy a long nap."
Spring "All right. Sleep well."
< All Hail The Questing Heroes | Sol Invictus Logs | The Only Way To Live >