1/23/2019 Meeting Susumu

[20:03] For Aspen, there had been plenty of unknown territory yet to be explored. While Ocelot was away, she managed to provide herself amusement by wandering around the settlements, eventually finding herself in the proximity of the Jianghese styled one.

The mahogany eyes of the girl stared around curiously as she traversed slowly throughout the area.

"Wow," she spoke to herself softly. It had been the first she'd seen buildings of this culture; her own culture that she wasn't aware of. It was another piece of her own history. This was the style of half of her descendants.

"How beautiful," she muttered while speaking to herself.
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[20:07] While he had just departed an ocean and adored the change to land, where his feet were firm and he didn't have to rely on the safety of wooden planks, he couldn't help but adore the beautiful sight that sight at the side of the colony. The boy sat cross legged with a light smile.

Without magic to blind his senses, Susumu could appreciate the smaller things in life, especially the beauty of nature. And this view was gorgeous.

As per his calling, the Izhuran allowed his simple jian to rest over his legs. The sparkling water twinkled over the blade, and in return, it seemed to shine with a strangely ethereal mist.

"It's really pretty."
(Susumu Anauel)
[20:12] Amongst the beauty sat another teen in the midst of it all alongside the shore to a much more exotic and breathtaking view of the ocean.

Queue the widening of Aspen's eyes and the dramatic jaw drop, it wasn't like anything she had ever seen before. This was the first she had a view the wondrous.

Aspen glanced down at Susumu, nodding her head in agreement to his words which accompanied her own.

"Definitely," she stated, staring back out into the ocean. "I've never seen something like this before."
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[20:19] A girl, the boy noted, a Jianghese one. The white hair that seemed so common to magi, and a pretty complexion equally fitting to those of superior genes, blessed by magicka. He squished up his cheek and looked away from her.

Embarrassment. He was a bastard, in a sense. Perhaps worse.

A tickling ran through his palm; shocked, he looked down to find his hand clasped tightly about its handle. The teen sniggered before returning his attention to Aspen.

"You haven't seen the ocean before?" the boy wondered. "Have you been living in the center of the island all your life?"
(Susumu Anauel)
[20:23] "Something like that," she states, glancing down to the boy. Her amazement faded slightly. Was this going to be a story time? Vaguely!

"I travel with my father. We usually stay around Dawn, or with the vampires. I've had a funny past, so this is my first time seeing this side of the continent."

A titter at the short explanation was given before she turned away back to the ocean.
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[20:28] "Dawn? Vampires?" he repeated curiously, mingled with shock. The boy looked down to the sword and frowned. His Izhuran trained hands lifted it from its place on his lap as his eyes scanned the field about them. A sudden clockwork was spinning in his head, apparently unrelated to Aspen.

Susumu found his target. With the movement of an artist, he gently impaled the tip of the blade into the grass just short of the cliffside, so that the light of the water danced off its flat: like a mirror into the beyond. The ethereal magics surrounding the steel seemed stirred by the way it danced.

He looked back.

"This is my first day on Agartha," the Izhuran boy confessed. "What's a Dawn? And what are vampires?"
(Susumu Anauel)
[20:39] Aspen's attention was caught by the sudden placement of Susumu's blade. It seemed like an item the boy lionized, and she too respected his action with it, even admiring the view of the blade.

The water's reflection on it almost seemed... ethereal, but that wasn't something she could put into words currently.

"It's a Valmasian settlement. It was where I was born. The vampires are.. bloodsuckers," she spoke with hesitation. Without their presence here, she was free to speak her mind about them without complication.

Hopefully...

"Dangerous. You don't want to go near them. They're quite.. narcissistic, it seems, in deeming their own as perfect immortals and such. They discriminate everyone else because they aren't them. They aren't perfect or immortal."
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[20:43] Once she used the familiar slang, such as Valmasia and Bloodsuckers, the pictures fit straight into his head. An exhale of, "Oooh," escaped the boy's mouth as he studied the girl curiously. She knew far more than he did of this land, clearly enough.

"The bloodsuckers are with the Valmasians? They said that they're different things back where I come from, but I guess they were wrong," Susumu replied with a clasp of his hand about his chin. Immortal, narcissistic. The traits of EVIL, as he was so commonly taught.

"If you live there, why are you here now? And do you like them?" he inquired with the social tact of one his age: very little.
(Susumu Anauel)
[20:50] "They are different. Valmasians are their own sector. Vampires are their own, but they team up occasionally. I believe it's against the Gehennans and the Jianghese," she replies. From the bits and pieces she has heard here and there, this is what she could come up with for a proper answer.

"I travel with my father, but sometimes while he is away I go out on my own, but no, I don't like them," she states, looking away from the boy quickly to stare out towards the ocean.

A sigh is released from her mouth. "This is the first time I've come to the south end of the continent in a long time."
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[20:56] "Oh," he muttered. Things were more complicated than he thought. The Jianghese teen looked away with hands resting at either side in a stand. Susumu took a few moments to internalize all that he had heard, along with the fact that this was, really, his first casual conversation since he had arrived.

"Well, that's good, since I have to put all the vampires to rest to prove to my brother that I'm worth having around."
(Susumu Anauel)
[21:00] "I have the same feelings towards the Gehennans, but I don't have anyone to prove my worth to for it," she states. What else was there to say pertaining to his quest?

"You said this was your first day on Agartha? Where are you from?"
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[21:06] His lips pursed in a faint pout. He sheepishly looked away as a hand scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I was born here," the boy murmured. "But my mother sent me back home to Izhura when I was a baby because I didn't have any magic, because she thought I was too weak to stay here, since it's so dangerous."

It certainly was a land for magi, with those of a less magical disposition being pawns for never ending war or fuel for experiments, amongst other things.

Swallowing his courage, he turned around and raised a defiant finger. "But I trained in Izhura my whole life to become a Kensei, so I'm back now!" At his words, the gray energy faintly tainting the jian seemed to dance fervently.
(Susumu Anauel)
[21:09] "A kensei?"

Aspen's attention returns to Susumu with a gaze of curiosity.

"Could you explain what that means?" She questions. This teenager was interesting. He differentiated from the most she had met.. and preferred to keep a distance of.
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[21:16] It seemed no one knew of his tradition, but that was fine- it just made it all the more special to him! And furthermore, it proved that his presence wasn't just a nuisance.

With a smile, he stepped towards the blade stuck in the ground and removed it. The dirt stuck on the tip of the jian seemed to slide itself off, as if moved by an invisible force. "I am an Aminist of Izhura," the Jianghese boy began- though if one took care to notice, they could find sprinklings of Valmasian features on his visage.

"We are in tune with the spirits, and so we form bonds with them. The spirits just want to move on, so we help them do that. In exchange, they give us their blessings."

The boy held forth the Jianghese blade, wreathed in gray energy. He pointed to engraving on its handle that read 'Rabbit.' "A Kensei like me, a sword saint, is someone who uses the power of the spirits as great weapons. Right now, for example, the spirit of a rabbit is in my weapon and powering it! I don't have any magic myself, but I can call on the spirits for greater strength," he explained.

"I'll help the spirit go to rest, and once it has, it leaves me still some of its power. And then I repeat the cycle. So in the end, I'm getting stronger for doing good things, even if I wasn't born a magi!"

With each sentence, the boy's pride seemed to well up as his cheeks glistened with a taut smile.
(Susumu Anauel)
[21:22] A title meant the boy was proud of his heritage, something Aspen was not. Fortunately, she didn't have much knowledge on her own features than she did of the Vampires and Gehennans, so what was there to be proud of?

Although.. bits of his explanation caught her attention, which could be evident throughout his speech by her facial expressions.

"That sounds incredible. I've heard of Gehennan spirits, and their strigoi, but nothing like what you just explained to me. Can anyone do that, or is it only preserved for kensei?"
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[21:26] "Well.."

Could anyone do it? That made it less special!

"..Well, anyone can, but the Animist way is only possible through the ancient techniques that have been passed down! But anyone with magic can summon spirits if they focus on it," he decided.

"But this is the sacred way of the Animists of Izhura, and the way for someone like me."
(Susumu Anauel)
[21:33] "It sounds like a special technique. It's not something I will pursue. The technique, at least, but spirits sound fascinating."

She smiles, turning her attention yet again from the ocean and placed unto Susumu.

"What could you tell me about them? I'd like to hear and learn anything that you are willing to teach." Her smile widens, and she turns her body in his direction. It's clear she's hopeful, and excited.
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[21:38] A glint shined in his eye.

"It's all apart of the beautiful process of life!" the youngling declared. The sun was slowly rising behind him as he faced towards the ocean, hands resting on either hip. It was a great pose, for sure, as his shadow cast elegantly across the water.

"The spirit is a part of the soul, but the most important part, you see." Susumu stepped forward and poked the girl in the center of her chest- though not in any way the breasts, if she had any. "Everyone has a soul, the thing that's life. But you're not your soul, you're only a part of it. That's the spirit."

He was grinning as he was able to unload the training that was beat into him. "When someone passes on, their soul goes to a new body, but their spirit- that's the part that was them- instead goes to the Spirit Realm, where all the spirits go! They have to fulfill what they wanted to do in life or something like that to feel at rest and return to the soul, or they'll just wander around the spirit realm until then."
(Susumu Anauel)
[21:47] An elegant view of the boy's shadow cast against the glistening waters reflecting the rising sun. What a view this was to witness. Aspen cast a swift gaze across the waters before Susumu's approach before her.

Her attention then kept to the finger resting on her chest above her breasts. It was awkward at first, but there wasn't a thing about him that she could sense was malicious.

"That's incredible. Does that include those of the undead?" The aspect of the undead didn't make much sense concerning their own soul or spirit and what happened after they passed on but are brought back.

The was an array of questions the young jiang-valm had, but one at a time. She was too eager to ask!
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[21:51] * You have been awarded 6 Roleplay Points! *
[21:51] He shook his head. "Not the zombies, because their souls are trapped here, which is why necromancy is just a bad thing. They're not allowed to pass on naturally," the boy replied. At least, he thought that was correct- he knew the soul remained, but did the spirit pass on regardless?

Susumu wasn't the master.

"Oh, what's your name? I never asked. I am Susumu Anauel, brother of the famous Salthiel Anauel," he said proudly- though she probably didn't know who he was.
(Susumu Anauel)
[21:57] "That makes some sense," she states in a now quiet, shy tone.

"I'm Aspen Yano Corsair. I'm a nobody without special skills," she states, "except farming herbs," her voice grows quieter.

The girl looks away. This had been one of the longest sessions of conversation she had with another human in a long time aside from Najin.

A sigh is had, and she returns her gaze to the boy.

"What can you tell me about the spirit realm?"
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[22:03] Susumu grinned. "Herbs," he began, "are really important, actually! I need herbs and incense for my rituals! I don't know anyone here, aside from my brother, so maybe you could help me, Aspen."

On her question, the lad held the blade forward, inviting her to hold it. If she did, she could sense a cold sensation enter her hand. It wasn't the chill of ice, but the cold of the otherworldly. The spirit of a rabbit infused the blade, shown by the telltale ethereal energy that wafted about it like a strange mist, or mana.

"The spirit realm is.. sort of like a mirror world. It's where the stars and the spirits and the river of life all live, and it's infinite! And infinite magic world that's attached to ours. And.. it's divided into different realms for the different spirits that live there."
(Susumu Anauel)
[22:10] "I could as a repayment for answering my questions," she says while taking the blade in her grasp. An unfamiliar, cool energy radiated from the blade in representation of the spiritual presence.

The magic present had a familiar colorization to that of gravity. It almost confused her, but on the bright side she could use that to help identify both magics by senses. Gravity hadn't any sort of temperature shift whereas spirit energy did.

This was what she was picking up at least. It was valuable knowledge for her.

"Incredible." At the moment that had been her response to every detail given to her.

"What types of different realms are there for these different spirits?"

The girl's smile grew wider. She hadn't been anymore engaged in a conversation like this before.
(Aspen Yano Corsair)
[22:14] After Aspen had taken the moment to study the weapon, Susumu took it back: he was its guardian, and so he wished to ensure it was taken well care of. The blade was returned to its scabbard as he looked at her.

"Well, there are a lot. There's a fire realm, a water realm, an earth realm, and a wind realm. There's a realm for good spirits and bad spirits, and a realm for heroes and gods."
(Susumu Anauel)
[22:15] Aspen Yano Corsair asks, "Do any of them have names? Or is that it? Are there special names for any of those good or bad spirits?"
[22:15] Susumu Anauel says, "There's.. the Nethradin, which are the spirits of people who have fallen to their regret."
[22:16] Susumu Anauel exclaims, "The people who fell to the guilt in their life and became things like demons!"
[22:17] Susumu Anauel exclaims, "But then there are the wardens, too, which are the protectors of the Spirit Realm! Instead of being taken over by their guilt, they surrendered the memories of the past life to be righteous protectors of good!"
[22:17] Susumu Anauel exclaims, "Defenders of life and killers of Nethradin!"
[22:17] Aspen Yano Corsair asks, "Do you help the Nethradin or the Wardens move on from these realms the same way you help a normal spirit?"
[22:18] Susumu Anauel exclaims, "Oh.. I don't think so. I don't think either of them can pass on!"
[22:18] Susumu Anauel says, "But I don't know."
[22:18] Susumu Anauel says, "I'm not strong enough to contact either of them."
[22:18] Susumu Anauel says, "I've only help put animals find rest, eheh.."
[22:21] Aspen Yano Corsair exclaims, "You'll grow strong one day to help other spirits pass on!"
[22:21] Aspen Yano Corsair asks, "I would love to do that too. Do you think you could teach me how to do something like that?"
[22:22] Susumu Anauel exclaims, "I could!"
[22:22] Aspen Yano Corsair exclaims, "That's great! Thank you, Susumu!"
[22:23] Susumu Anauel asks, "Do you want me to help you now?"
[22:23] Susumu Anauel asks, "Or later?"
[22:23] Aspen Yano Corsair says, "Whichever you'd prefer! I'm content with your decision."
[22:26] Susumu Anauel says, "Hm.."
[22:26] Susumu Anauel says, "Well, maybe later."
[22:26] Susumu Anauel says, "I'm kind of tired... I'm not used to land yet."
[22:26] Aspen Yano Corsair says, "Go ahead and rest."
[22:26] Aspen Yano Corsair says, "Thank you for your time, Susumu."
[22:26] Susumu Anauel exclaims, "Come talk to me again some time!"