Dabbling in Magic? (Open)

What a hypothetical ‘we’ had to see, set up just outside a passage into the sprawling mines and under a canvas shelter to ward off the beating sun, was a group of five Earthlings. Two could be easily identified as workers, given their uniforms and half-shed protective equipment. Another pair were dressed to travel the harsh desert, each holding a different case, and bearing a resemblance to one another as brother and sister. The twins also held power levels a far cry beyond most of the planet’s populace, though their respective hundreds were overshadowed entirely by the strength of the last Earthling. Fitting in the least with her brightly coloured robes, the pale woman clearly would have preferred not to be in the middle of the Diablo Desert at the moment. Alas, she wasn’t going to deny her older siblings her help.

Morrigan felt she understood well the value of blood rubies. The spark of potential each one held could be a great boon to users of ki and magic like herself, or any who could properly harness it. What she failed to understand was those who wanted them for petty vanity, vague scientific research, or just to hoard the necrotic gems as monetary assets. She hadn’t even known it was such a racket until she’d finally asked why Sith and Si were so often dealing with them. It wasn’t lost on her that her brother and sister weren’t exactly adhering to law in doing so either. Sourced straight from the miners in exchange for what Sith called “look the other way” money, Morrigan was only here in case something went awry.

At the tail end of their deal, her brother handed over the container of zeni to the grinning miners, all having gone without a hitch. Precisely at that moment, a power caused her cheek to prickle. Turning her head toward the nearby cliff, Morrigan took a step out of her cool, shady spot and followed the sheer face upward. Though squinting from the relentlessly bright sun, she could just pick out a small glint at the top. Not that it was needed, given the significant and unfamiliar power she felt.

“Someone’s up there,” She informed her siblings, her gentle voice going unheard by the miners who were wandering out of earshot and back to their actual jobs. Curious, Sith and Si moved to follow her gaze as she continued. “I sensed their approach. If you two are quite done, it might be time to go.”

“Well that’s not at all disconcerting. C’mon, she’s right, while the getting’s good and all that,” Sith replied, nudging their brother as she turned to follow Morrigan’s advice. Still peering up the cliff, Si eventually shrugged and turned to do the same, but not without giving his younger sister a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t take too long, but see what it’s about yeah?”

Morrigan tilted her head, considering it for a few moments. The stranger’s presence felt stronger than she was, at least at rest… Well, as long as it weren’t a massive carnivorous worm again she would probably manage. With her decision made, she nodded to her brother who grinned widely in turn, “You’re the best, M!” And with that, he went to catch up with Sith and continued onward. She watched them for a few seconds before looking back to where she’d seen the binoculars shine prior, and raised a hand into the air. An acknowledgement, more than anything.

---

Morrigan waited a short time with her hand raised before letting it fall after multiple seconds of nothing. Maybe they just hadn’t seen her? Or they didn’t want to talk, which was understandable, but too bad for them. She never detected anyone this strong all the way out here, she was hardly going to let it go without investigation. So, seeing as the presence wasn’t coming down to her, she’d simply come up to them.

Scaling the cliff was a trivial task. Taking long, floaty leaps up the rugged face, wherever she couldn’t find a handhold the martial artist simply made one by force. She only ever came close to slipping when alerted by a cry overhead. Looking up just long enough to see something nearing the edge, she shrugged off the distraction and put a modicum more effort in, practically vanishing up the wall before she clambered atop the edge.

Standing up a bodyspan away from the stranger, she looked over the prone figure with curiosity. The man looked ordinary enough, probably around her height when he stood, though she could pick out a bit of bulk beneath his inconspicuous clothes. Also, he seemed to be bleeding into the sand, making Morrigan’s short evaluation seem a little insensitive.

“Oh. You’re hurt?” She asked with a quirked brow, only just registering his earlier plea. The slightest sense of surprise cut into her otherwise flat affect, as she wondered just how he’d managed to get hurt out here. Nevertheless, she stepped a little closer and dropped to one knee before Sen. “Pardon me, may I see?"

---

With the wounded man’s permission, Morrigan nodded before lowering herself to inspect the injury. As best she could tell, it wasn’t a mortal wound, but he certainly seemed to be in pain. That much she could help with, but something gave her pause. She looked up from the bloody wound to meet his gaze as he explained how he was hurt. Her expression betrayed nothing, but behind the blankness she was lost in thought. It made sense that a powerful attacker would have been the one to deal this wound, but the blood was fresh and his face still flush, so where could the attacker have gone while escaping her notice? And why extort someone so strong for a blood ruby when they could so easily take one from the mines nearby?

“Hm. Well I haven’t seen any ship, nor sensed anyone besides you… I might be able to figure it out though,” She proposed, rolling up one of the loose sleeves of her robe. Though suspicious of him, she wanted to be sure of the man’s deceit before making an accusation, and so reached out to him as though offering to shake. “Take my hand. Say again what happened, with more detail if you’re able.”

Of course, it was something of a trick as well. Morrigan hadn’t really had much chance to try this technique, having developed it more out of curiosity than anything, but it could be useful here. Should he accept her hand, there would be a pulsing warmth as though power travelled between their veins, aligning their energy. Naturally, that was only if he chose not to fight it. Morrigan was prepared for either case.

---

Morrigan continued to stare, not moving a muscle even as Sen pointed out how callous she seemed. It was, in a word, unsettling. It proved effective though, as he clasped her waiting hand and she felt her technique take effect, connecting their energy for the moment. Maintaining eye contact and her grasp as he recounted his story, she felt his words resonate. And they rang with lies.

Apparently noticing that she had been up to something, the man had trailed off and pulled away from her. She allowed him, letting her own hand fall aside too. Unfortunately, he had already affirmed her suspicions, she didn't need to be threatening him on top of it. At his continued insistence, Morrigan closed her eyes and let out a sigh, reopening them as she got up and took a step back. Disappointment occupied her gaze. “You’re lying to me. I’m not sure why, and I’d prefer if you didn’t, but does it have something to do with…”

Morrigan paused and reached into her robes, fishing around as she kept her eyes on Sen until she found what she was looking for. “Ah, this?” Held fast between her fingers, she produced a blood ruby which filled her palm, its round cut gleaming under the sun. “If you want to know about them, I know a fair bit. If you want it, I am not offering. And if you’re really in pain from that self-inflicted wound, then if nothing else I do respect your dedication.”

---

Even though his lies were now apparent to Morrigan, Sen seemed steadfast in maintaining his facade. She was hardly impressed, but not bothered enough not to play along yet. This man was strange, so the more time she gave her brother and sister to get far from him, the better. Fortunately, she had his interest. His fixation on her ruby was obvious and a little unnerving, but if he wanted to try taking it, she’d be ready for him with all the strength she had hiding.

“You give away nothing until it is taken from you. I respect this a little less. If you raised your son at all decently, I imagine he’d be disappointed that you invoke him to swindle strangers?” She huffed at him, none too shy about how unamused she was. Still, if she felt any true contempt it did not rise in her voice or show on her face. After giving a small shrug, she reached her other hand out to place atop the polished face of her gem.

“My master explained to me long ago, mister grifter, that blood rubies are fonts of power. You might think of them like batteries, if you aren’t very imaginative,” Morrigan angled the ruby while she explained so that Sen could see her tracing a finger along it. Where she touched, a glow rippled behind, just barely visible underneath the daylight. “If one can reach for it, seize it, that font is theirs to use. Those attuned to magic or ki can harness them best, in my experience. I used this one when I was but a student to fine-tune my control over energy.”

Suddenly, she pulled her hands back, the ruby vanishing into her sleeve before her arms were crossed over her midsection. “Of course, not everyone is so practical. Some use them as scientific specimens and collector’s items, which I have little patience to consider. Hardly the safest use either, given their power comes from leeching on the life around them,” Morrigan finished, not as much cautioning Sen rather than just being thorough in her lesson. Truthfully, she thought the draining properties inconsequential. If the one constantly on her person wasn’t a harm, she doubted they’d much bother the man before her.

---

Morrigan wasn’t sure what she expected. Maybe to lose him partway through her impromptu lecture, but Sen was so stubbornly skeptical as to surprise her for a second. Where could someone this strong come from that they couldn’t accept the existence of such a thing? Of the many odd things she’d been told about, Morrigan thought that vampiric gemstones were on the tame side, but then again her childhood hadn’t been very typical. Spacing out for a moment, her brain lagged behind until she realized what the man had been saying. “Excuse me?”

Catching up on what she’d just heard, Morrigan’s eyes widened. The accusation that she was afraid of the ruby’s draining property merely glanced off of her, but the thinly veiled threat struck deep. A fabricated story of an attack and kidnapping was one thing. Disappointing, but forgettable. This, on the other hand… she couldn’t find the word for what she felt. It was unpleasant, it spawned impulsive thoughts in her mind. However, provoking her was what he wanted. Morrigan slowly relaxed, as did her eyes, erasing the only trace that she’d been upset by his taunt.

“Mm. Finally being just a hint candid, aren’t you? You are depraved,” She scolded him, leaning forward such that her head blocked the sun from Sen’s perspective. “Those who speak loudly of what they don’t understand are the fearful. And my heart is unclouded.”

Her position over Sen was difficult to interpret as anything but hostile, but she had no intention to harm him yet. Instead, she steadily extended her hand toward him once again. As before, energy flowed beneath her skin, awaiting connection. “If you want to understand, you’ll speak honestly and I will show you. If not, then I believe we have nothing more to say to each other.”

---

Maybe she’d been a little harsh. Though Morrigan had tried to bury her anger, it still coloured her choice of words. Whether she’d struck a nerve with them or just taken the end of his rope, the man was finished indulging her. Raising an eyebrow to the sudden loss of accent, Morrigan watched and listened as Sen stood up to her, retracting her hand when it became clear he had no intention to willingly yield the truth. It rather looked like they’d be coming to blows, actually. No matter, she thought to herself, eyes sharpening to a glare. She’d been ready for him to lash out soon after she realized he was lying. However, it seemed he had a different plan.

Morrigan winced at the sand being flicked into the air with his takeoff. She followed him with her senses until her vision was clear, but she realized his plan quickly. Was nothing too low for him? Fine, he could have it his way. Given she couldn’t fly, Morrigan was forced to act quickly, bending her knees and letting her strength rise before springing upward! Leaving a cloud of dust where she had once stood, the Earthling was rapidly catching up to Sen. Almost instantly, her power multiplied twentyfold from where she’d been resting, and was now careening over Sen. Raising a fist, she swung downward to hammer him into the desert before she began to fall.

“Is this what you want, you craven liar?” She called to him as gravity started to take her. Provoking him further might not have been a good idea, especially if he had strength to spare, but she needed to keep his attention. Irritated as she was, Morrigan still restrained herself with that in mind too. Maybe his injury would still hamper him enough for her to keep an upper hand, but that would have to wait, as she would be severely disadvantaged until she could get her feet back on the ground.

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