37th: The Losses of Haruhi Suzumiya

[godbent]

[Voice]

For everyone who knew the idol and the Deputy-Vice Chief of the Brigade, Azusa Miura, I can say confidently that she'd been sent home. I didn't check her apartment yet, but there's a lot of stuff in her Brigade locker here at the HQ. The typical letters Jeez, when did she write all these... for a few people are here for one. [For the people listed here. She expects those who know her to ask or just stop by] You can stop by to pick them up. She's left some other things too, but those are mostly Brigade property.

[And she flips through the items some more before... you know there's no "FOR X" on here, but there are some bookmarks in some of them which say her name on them so.]

...Except these things. Buffy, are you a woman yet? [She doesn't get a filter. The next guy does]

[Filtered to Sanji // 85% Unhackable]

I've got something in particular for you.

[Action]

[So for the last few days, Haruhi was Shiki. That... Was weird. She has decided to make herself as Haruhi as possible. So she's actually going to ignore that aside from maybe her housemates and Minato and sit inside the Brigade HQ all day at the front desk. That event had to be traumatizing for some people, maybe they'll get some clients looking for counseling! ...Finally!

The spelunking trip is in a few days anyway so.

Come on in, step in! Be therapy'd! PS: Brigade To Do List]

Comments

[Voice--Action]

[godbent]

[Five minutes? whoa. She was here in two actually, but it does surprise her that she was so timely when she sees her come in. Cool]

Over here!

[Action]

[faithfulflame]

[Rei wasn't particularly far away, and being on time is the hallmark of a proper Japanese lady. And Haruhi is kinda bossy, and recently lost a friend. Being late would be incredibly rude.

Still, Rei smiles and walks over.]

Good afternoon, Haruhi-san.

[Action]

[godbent]

Yeah, good evening to you too. [She motions for Rei to get a seat next to her. Come on, let's go!]

[Action]

[faithfulflame]

[Rei nods and walks over, taking a seat and placing her bundle on the table]

[Action]

[godbent]

So let's see it. [She brushed some hair back out of her face. She's got her own pen out]

[Action]

[faithfulflame]

[Rei opened up a calligraphy kit, taking out a brush and inking in several archaic, extremely formal kanji. Haruhi may not know them as they're used almost exclusively by Shinto priests, but if she did, it'd be understood as 'Evil Spirits Begone'.]

These are the characters I use in most basic warding spells. The kind meant to be placed around a shrine or a home to create a barrier.

[Action]

[godbent]

So those aren't the sort which would be strictly that useful in Luceti. I've got a lot of barriers and wards I'm working on now.

[but ofuda. She's taking it out of Rei's hands, looking it over.]

[Action]

[faithfulflame]

I've had some success with them so far, as has Harry Dresden-san.

[She rewrites the scroll, but changes the second first two characters to these, which Haruhi should immediately recognize to mean Kyuuketsuki, or 'Vampire']

However, if you wanted to be more specific, this would work against vampires. Or changing the first few letters to something else...

[Action]

[godbent]

Huh. And I'm assuming it has to be things evil by definition? I couldn't write your name, slap it on you head, and seal you?

[Action]

[faithfulflame]

Right. Or...tainted by evil in some way.

[For a brief moment, her voice falters and she looks down at the scroll hard, memories of August rushing back.]

If...say, there was a ghost possessing you or you had been corrupted by black magic.

[Action]

[godbent]

[...Okay, that's a loaded memory. Haruhi grunts, and looks back at the paper before she nods to herself]

Okay, show me how to charge them.

[Action] Sorry if the gesture description is clunky, I cannot find you a good picture

[faithfulflame]

Of course.

[Rei holds up the paper in her right hand, letting it hang loosely from her wrist. She gathers up her willpower, shutting her eyes in concentration, and her left hand flicks out. Her pointer and pinkie fingers extend while the two middle ones meet the thumb halfway. An audible pop of magic occurs and the paper stiffens]

AKURYO-TAISAN!

[Rei speaks the phrase and tosses the paper at a wall, sticking to it like a magnet.]

[Action]

[godbent]

[Okay... she follows the gestures and follows the process. She nods to herself - she has no magic eyes to see the flow of energy or anything but she thinks she gets the process]

Same incantation every time? Pre-charging?

[Action]

[faithfulflame]

[Rei nods approvingly as Haruhi follows]

Yes, and no. Yes, the incantation is the same each time unless you're trying to bind something using its name on the scroll. Then it would be, for example Harry Dresden Taisan. And for something stronger than that, a demon or a god there is a second incantation and series of gestures to precede that one.

As for pre-charging, if you wanted to create a barrier of wards then yes. You'd make a circle of them around the thing you want protected, and then perform the incantation. If you wanted to seal something, then no.

[Action]

[godbent]

And again, to clarify, if I were to throw one at your head, it wouldn't work because you're not evil.

[She says this as she idly takes a piece of paper and takes the cap off her marker]

[Action]

[faithfulflame]

That's right. You can try, if you like.

[Action]

[godbent]

Nah, if it's not going to work that's pointless. [...]

What if I wrote "aku" in here? Is that cheating?

[Action]

[faithfulflame]

Unfortunately, that isn't specific enough. Unless the think in question was named "aku"

[Action]

[godbent]

That actually happened once, here in Luceti.

[Seriously, a shapeshifting lord of evil named "aku"



She still thinks it's funny.

But he motions for Rei to hand over the original one with the archaic symbols. She can't do that from memory.

[Action]

[faithfulflame]

Huh. How odd.

[Rei passes over the paper to Haruhi]

Using a paintbrush is the more traditional way, if you're able to. The paper can be crafted beforehand.

[Action]

[godbent]

So you're telling me I shouldn't use this marker?

[...Also now she's feeling the paper. Is this special paper?]

[Action]

[faithfulflame]

It'd be better if you didn't, yes.

[Rei slides over the second calligraphy kit. As for the paper, its just regular calligraphy paper, untreated rice-paper like Japanese kids learn kanji on all through school.]

You can have this, if you don't have one already.

[Action]

[godbent]

No, no, I have one. It's just this would be a hassle to carry around.

[but fine, she'll get it out and get to work copying that first one. It won't take her long and honestly, she'll get it about 95% correct on her first try. Prodigal and all]

[Action]

[faithfulflame]

That's why you keep pre-made scrolls with you. They're fine unless you allow them to get soaked and make the ink run.

[Rei watches, nodding and pointing out a couple of tiny errors. Minor strokes out of order, that kind of stuff]

That's really good.

[Action]

[godbent]

Yea, yeah, I was in a calligraphy club once. [...For like one and a half hours. But she looks it over and nods. Okay, she's pleased enough with it. Now to stand and try the focusing part. As she does, she explains-]

I actually tried to learn some principles of this sort of magic a while ago, but I was focusing on shikigami at the time. Which... doesn't work well here, because there's not exactly spirits abound to use.