voidtreckernet | Video, Action for Sleeper Car 3: Fiddlesticks Day 2, Night

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Video, Action for Sleeper Car 3: Fiddlesticks Day 2, Night

[ Late into the night, far past the point everybody should be asleep, Sleeper Three is rudely awakened by the fire alarms - previously unused and untested - now blaring loudly. They might also hear a girl's scream.

Those stumbling out of their own cabins will shortly find the door to Cabin D popping open, and a flaming pile of fabric being thrown out into the hallway. It's shortly followed by Ifrit, a teenage girl with demonic black stone horns and tail, who proceeds to try and stomp out the fire, to mixed success.

The fire alarm doesn't go out right away, even after Ifrit (or somebody else) extinguishes the fire, as the smoke rises to the top of the car and keeps the alarm going until it can be properly dispersed after a couple minutes. ]

[ It's about a half hour later, well into the dead of night, when a video post gets put up to the network. Ifrit, wearing a purple nightshirt that's sporting a couple small holes with blackened edges now, looks irate and tired as she gazes into the screen. ]

Okay. I guess it's time I asked for...... [ cringe ] ...help.

Does anybody have some fireproof cloth, or clothes? Or blankets. Or like, something they can spray over all the furniture? I'll take anything.

My name's Ifrit, I'm in Sleeper... 3? Cabin D.

And I... [ Her face contorts a bit, as if she just ate something unpleasant. ] ...I'm sorry about. All the fire. There, I said it, okay!? [ She turns the video feed off very quickly following the 'apology.' ]

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"I'm not-- I'm fine." Ifrit was not in the mood to explain what's really going on in her head, she doesn't need that right now. She gets upset at burning stuff on accident sometimes, but only because it means she needs better control. She can't help what or who she is. The voice in her head trying to make her lose control, that's something else entirely.

And without further ado, she lights the towel on fire. Or at least, she tries to. The fire's definitely there, over top of the towel, but it doesn't seem to be catching. Don't burn, don't let the fire in, resist the flames... It seems to be working, the towel being licked by the flames and unaffected.

To those with the senses for it, though, they might notice that Ifrit's fire is also burning away at the magic enchantments themselves... but also that, once Ifrit lets the fire fizzle out, it bounces back to normal.

"Looks like it worked?"

Sven "watches" the towel closely as the flames flicker above the fibres. With his eyes, sure, but mainly with the sense that lets him feel the fluctuations of magical energy around him. Ifrit is far more powerful than he'd first taken her for when introduced...that she could burn through the spell of three spell-casters--one of whom a Warlock whose patron is literally a fire god--is startling. Such raw power for someone so young.

For a moment Sven's heart sinks, worrying himself that their spell was too weak. The line of his mouth twists as he feels the spell burning...but lo, the barrier springs back and he breathes out, relieved. He's a little concerned how quickly Ifrit can corrode the barrier, but it seems like it should hold against anything they use the enchantment on catching fire on accident.

"...Yeah. Yeah, I'd say that worked like a charm!" He gestures each to Xander and Nita, polling their opinion. "What do you guys think? Ideally I'd have liked it to hold out a little longer, but from my personal record of stupidly setting stuff alight...I think it should be long enough, honestly."

Nita can feel that spell-flux, too, and it's weird, but the spell reaffirming itself once the fire stops gives her more confidence.

"I think we could handle that, for sure," she says.

"... Though, we may want to check on the state of her room, first, make sure everything else can hold up."

Nita taps her Manual, ever present at her side. "I've got the spell saved in here, at least. Think we could make an interlaced network of some kind - where one part gets strained, the rest picks up the slack?"

Thinning out the eating-away effect, assuming things work out that way.

"It's doing what it's supposed to, at least." Though Xander's not really sure he likes the fact that Ifrit's fires were burning through the magic itself. He's not certain it surprises him, though.

"That might work, but I have another idea that might. My type of mages can use and layer shields. I'm not sure it'd hold up on inanimate objects, but...if you were willing, Ifrit, we could see if I could shield you, and then Sven and Nita could help reinforce it? That'd be easy to take down before missions, and it should not harm you at all, but I believe with everyone, we might be able to make it for on the train, if your powers erupt, it'd simply power the shields around you and hopefully, accidents like this wouldn't happen again..."

Xander definitely didn't want to leave shields up either on a mission, or in an emergency, but that was something he could disassemble from afar if need be. At least--his portion, anyway...

A shield on Ifrit herself that would stop her fire? That sounded... scary. Very scary. Her fire was what made her who she was. Sure, she needed to control it better, but she couldn't even practice that if... and what about if something happened? What if Reunion showed up?

What would the voice think?

"Uh, pass on the shield thing. I think I'll be good with the room and clothes." She quickly adds in, "It's plenty strong enough, I don't release that much fire on accident anyway."

No, nope, nuh-uh. The part of Sven that is El'Nil'm's power recoils in alarm and he snaps his gaze up at Xander, shaking his head. Xander only means well, but Sven struggles to get his head around how that kind of idea made it past the magic-caster's filter in the first place. He rises to his feet, walking over to Ifrit and putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Nobody is putting a shield around you." He looks back at Xander and Nita. He's not angry but his words are firm and authoritative. "Xander...you can't just lock a magic-user in with their power. If magic's bursting to get out, you let it. You can't just block it up, even if it's happening when it's not supposed to. That's far too dangerous, we can't know what stress we'd be putting Ifrit's body and mind under."

Before trying to "fix" Ifrit, they already have a task ahead of them and the night's dragging on.

"We focus on fireproofing Ifrit's room for tonight. We can always work on the rest of the sleeper tomorrow if we need to, but it's late now and we need to make sure Ifrit and her roommates can sleep safely. Nita, how does this network thing of yours work?"

Nita watches the by-play between Xander and Sven cautiously, before taking the opportunity to speak. She doesn't mind the idea of a shield, herself, but Ifrit's immediate reaction, followed by Sven's not-quite-reprimand, reminds her that not all magic reacts well to containment.

For now, she'll focus on the idea she's inadvertently brought to the table:

"Well, are any of you familiar with how blood clotting works?"

She can't summon a convenient hologram for a visual right now; that'd take more focus than she's got left over at the moment.

"It'd be the magical equivalent to that; once Ifrit's fire eats through the 'skin' of the spell, the amount of energy flowing through that area would decrease - not enough to leave what's underneath exposed entirely,"

Not unless Ifrit was burning it on purpose.

"But enough to let the spell work at reknitting itself, without wasting itself in providing more fuel for those flames."

Hopefully her head is clear enough for this explanation!

Edited 2020-05-07 14:15 (UTC)

Yeah, just by the way Ifrit reacted, Xander could tell he'd put his foot in it. He felt guilty for making her so scared, even before Sven doubled down, and he cringed just a little bit, shoulders and wings curling in.

"Elemental mages use that to teach control. But we can belay it..." Especially since Nita was explaining her idea. If that was one that got accepted better? He could work with that.

But he turned to Ifrit, and bowed to her--only slightly, considering the cramped quarters, but a bow nonetheless.

"I'm sorry for frightening you. I was not trying to harm you, and scaring you was not my intent. Please forgive me. I was trying to help, that's all." And thinking about the rest of the train too, but it wouldn't help to bring that up.

"Yeah well, let's just... worry about the fire shielding." Her voice might carry a hint of agitation. She doesn't mean to sound rude, not really, but she doesn't hide her emotions very well, and she doesn't know how to react to being flustered very well.

Sven was probably more right about blocking up her powers than he knew, and the prospect worried her, which fed into that mood of hers too. There were times she barely kept the other voice in check, she did NOT want to see how the 'shield' held up to it running amok.

She turns from Xander to Nita- "Whatever you guys think'll work best for that fireproofing. At this point, I just want to get back to sleep. We're all tired, right?"

Sven nods to Nita. "Sounds like a decent idea, Nita. If you can make it work, do it."

Now that they've established the spell, making adjustments to boost its effect should hopefully be easy. Emphasis on hopefully.

"Let Xander and I in on your notes once you've figured it out, then we'll each pick an area of the room and get to work." Xander looks like he needs a morale boost after both Ifrit and Sven cut him down, so Sven goes and gently nudges him in the side with his elbow: "Xander, you did real great with figuring out how to change the properties in the towel before. You up for taking lead on the bed linens? They're probably the most immediately flammable thing in here, after all. I'm used to having to enchant all my clothes with fire protection spells, so I'll take Ifrit's wardrobe."

You're forgetting something, idiot. Sven catches himself, looking to Ifrit. "Ah...so long as you're okay with that, kid. Actually, Nita might be better for the task if you don't want a guy nosing in your stuff."

Nita gives a thumbs up, at the same time doing a mental check-in with her silent partner.

Bobo, think you got a handle on it?

/Of course./

Sharing that load would go a long way to her not being passed out for an entire day, for certain.

She looks to Ifrit for her opinion as to who should do the 'nosing about'. "I don't mind handling clothes. Pillows, too."

"I'm on it," Xander agrees. He thinks he can handle doing Ifrit's, and any excess blankets that might not be in use. If there are any extra bed linens, too, he's just going to fireproof them all. Having the others in the car with a bit of fireproofing couldn't hurt, after all.

He'd just be eating like a horse in the kitchen before faceplanting in his bunk for a good eight to ten hours. No sweat. Though she's been quiet until now, a quiet squeak from his head reminds Xander that Cottonball is there, too--and willing to give him a bit more energy to see this through.

"Thanks, girl. I'll get you a snack or three, too!" She might need it as well, after all this was done.

"I don't really care who handles the clothes?" She kind of gestures vaguely in a way that means nothing. But really, why would she care? Her preference for who touches her stuff is usually 'nobody but her' but that just wasn't feasible right now, was it?

"The blankets though.... right. I need to find a new one." Because her blanket burned up. That was what caused the fire in the first place. Well, there were more linens on the bed, and her roommates' stuff too.

Actually, could she just steal the blankets off of that spare bed? Okay, not 'spare' really, but. She'd only seen the tiny cat thing around like once, and it was almost never in the room, and why would a cat need blankets in the first place?

Yeah, that was a plan. She'd yoink the blankets off of that bed. "Okay yeah, this can work."

With everyone knowing their tasks, the gang gets to work. He makes sure to encourage Ifrit to sleep early on for her own sake, but it wouldn't make much difference to their work if she opted to stay awake and watch instead.

Sven looks haggard by the time that they finish. How long has it been? It felt like hours of tedious, grisly labour to Sven, but maybe it just dragged for him because of how exhausting their task was. The gusto he'd set into their mission with had waned around halfway when the fatigue had begun to set in...it's foolish, he realises, but he'd GREATLY underestimated how taxing it would be enchanting so many small items at once. Especially when applying a fresh spell to each item, one at a time, to ensure each got the full potency of the enchantment.

Sweat beads on his forehead and his white t-shirt is covered in black smudges where he's had to keep wiping off his hands between spells so to avoid dirtying all of Ifrit's clothes with soot. His arms are stained black all the way up past his elbows, but when the last is over he still sits back with a wide, triumphant grin.

"Done! Done, that's it. It's over. Right everybody, tomorrow is cancelled. Catch me doing nothing but sleeping for the next entire day."

Nita has tunnel vision in addition to what felt like a permanent extra bend in her spine - which was good inasmuch as it meant she'd focused on the lattice spell-layout, but also meant she wouldn't be good for much for the rest of the day, not to mention would be starving after the morning snapback-

"We, uh, might want to get back soon anyhow," she states, eyes snapping wide open.

"I think our nine-ish 'night' hours are almost up..."

"I'm gonna fight my way to the kitchen. I think I could eat an entire one of those boar critters that was brought back from the last mission, I swear." Cottonball, who is absolutely limp atop his head, just chitters briefly.

"No, no. Not making you eat that." Xander's used to not sleeping all that much--it was one of the reasons Nita had found him wandering the corridors anyway, but not the only reason. His job had been slightly easier, only because the way his magic works makes it simple to do multiple castings at once when needed...but Xander wanted to make sure everything remotely bedding-like in the cabin was made resistant.

"If I wake up before you guys, I'm crashing your cabins with breakfast foods." Even if Purple isn't supposed to cook this month, he's not sure any of them are going to make it at the normal time.

Ifrit had spent the last several hours watching everybody work. Truth be told, she had actually nodded off once or twice as well. But she was awake now that everybody was finishing, and that's what really mattered, right?

"Glad this is all over." She pauses, looking sheepishly flustered for a moment. How does she phrase this? Uh, hm....

"Thanks."

Nailed it.

And now she was ready to go to sleep for real. Nodding off once or twice didn't really help all that much.

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Video, Action for Sleeper Car 3: Fiddlesticks Day 2, Night

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