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Who: Lea and people!
When: All during the first half of Poi (AKA January)
Where: Various places throughout the train
What: Catchall log for the month. A couple open prompts and one closed, but feel free to wildcard as well.
Warnings: Insanely-spicy chili? Other than that, probably none
Notes: If you want your thread on a specific day please note when it is in the thread header.

Fiery Cooking

Lea was pleased that it was Blue team's turn to cook again. Not that he didn't do a fair amount of cooking even when it wasn't Blue's turn but this way it meant that he didn't have to do other chores on top of it. To celebrate, since one of the recipes for the month was chili, Lea was taking to opportunity to make some the way he liked it. Namely, insanely spicy.

Not the chili he was making for the general train population; for that, he followed the suggested recipe, unless he was making a vegan batch for those who needed or preferred it. But that didn't stop him from making another, smaller batch for himself and anyone brave or foolish enough to try it. And it was that Lea was working on now, stirring a pot on the stove. The smell coming from it ought to be warning enough of its spice level for most people, but even so, Lea would be sure to let anyone who showed interest know verbally too. If only so they couldn't blame him later.

Prism Power, Go!

Lea had been checking the cinema car off and on since he'd picked up his order on platform day, and finally, no one else was watching anything. Now was his chance. Plugging in the device he'd gotten he booted it up, then took a seat, reading to revel in sentai-flavored nostalgia as the first episode of Prismatic Guardians began to play. The only things that would make it better would be a bowl of sugary cereal or a friend to watch it with. The latter was much more likely though.

Training on a Train

Last month hadn't had a mission, and Lea wasn't counting the fake mission as one either. Which meant that it had been awhile since he'd needed to use his skills in combat. And that meant that one thing was definitely needed before this month's mission: namely a bit of training.

Thus, at some point most days, Lea could be found in the training gym. Not wanting of over do or neglect any one thing, he rotated through practicing on thing each day: Keyblade, chakrams, or magic. With the Keyblade he ran through forms and worked on perfecting his own personal style of wielding. With chakrams he focused on speed and accuracy, one or more of the training dummies usually coming off the worse for it. And since going for straight power with magic in a confined space wasn't feasible, with magic he focused on practicing things other than fire- namely basic Blizzard and now Aero spells. He'd been keeping up with his lessons with Vexen, but he wanted to get to the point where casting the other spells he was learning felt as natural as calling on his fire, and he still had a way to go on that front.

Lucky Charms (Closed to Kairi)

With their little vacation on Anan's homeworld past, Lea felt it was time that he finally talk to Kairi about learning how to make those special seashell charms. He knew they had seashells, thanks to Xion's collection. He'd bought some crafting wire awhile back that he'd been saving. He was pretty sure there was a publicly available sewing kit on board, which might well have workable needles to pierce the shells. And he still had a handful or two of voidstone fragments that he'd picked up from the one Nexus they'd visited, for a special touch that he hoped to add.

Which meant that really, what he needed now was the know-how to put it all together. Which meant talking to Kairi to see when they could potentially arrange a lesson.

Wildcard

(OOC: Want to do something with Lea before or after this month's mission that's not listed here? Go for it!)

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Did someone say cooking.

No one said cooking, but Tidus is smelling it, and his stomach is as intrigued as his nose as he wanders into the kitchen. The smell of sauce and beans all mushed together - and the sight of one fiery redhead, as Tidus quickly spots the other guy.

"You got a bowl for me?"

Come on pal, come on buddy. A bowl of food for your friend Tidus! He stands, waiting for the yes (please say yes!!) to come. ...but then, he might be nosy enough to wander over anyway.

"It needs to simmer for another couple minutes," Lea said, looking up from the pot to give Tidus a bit of a smile. "But once it's ready you can have a bowl if you want. Though are you sure you want to try it? I made this batch to my spice level, and given how you reacted to some of the food back on Osiga..."

Lea's super grade extremely HOT HOT HOT level of spice?

Truthfully, Tidus wants to blurt out protests immediately after the mention of the Osiga incident (and how that was just a fluke, okay!). But he's got some brains to remember what Lea said about his own level of heat. He looks at the saucepan, wondering. Was it really that hot? ...

"A spoon of it can't hurt." Defiance (and curiosity) win out! He's coming over, taking a whiff - and ugh, at least it smells good!

It did indeed smell good, because it wasn't just spicy. If one could handle or mitigate the heat, it was actually very tasty. "Probably better to try that first before committing to a bowlful, yeah," Lea said. "I mean I like it, but not everyone can handle it, and not everyone who can handle it would enjoy it. That's why I'm not making too much, since I figure I'll end up eating most of it."

"Anyway, it's just about ready. How about you go grab a spoon, and we'll see what you think? Then if you like it, I'll get you a bowlful."

"Spoon coming up!" Tidus chirps, heading over to the drawers with the eating cutlery and picking one out. Nothing different between one and another, and he comes back over with his weapon of choice. Hoveeriiing next to Lea.

"So I won't need a healer after this, right," he jokes. He is wondering more about the heat, remembering Osiga, but he tells himself not to worry - it wasn't all that bad.

Kairi had just left her room in the double room area and had made her way towards the dining room to start the day with a good meal made with love and care. At least she hoped that was the case.

As she sat down meal in front of her she saw the familiar looking red hair before anything else as she waved him over.

"Morning Axel. Getting breakfast?"

Lea chuckled. "Not unless you're allergic or something, no," he said. And he assumed that Tidus was smart enough not to eat something he thought might contain an allergen. "You might wanna have a glass of milk handy though; milk and dairy products are way better for taking care of the burn of spicy things than water."

It generally was when Lea was doing the cooking at least. Breakfast that day was nothing complicated; just pancakes and scrambled eggs, though the pancakes came with optional banana slices, in order to use up the last of the fruit before the supplies refreshed at the platform. "Morning, Kairi," he responded, taking a seat next to her with his own plate of food and up of tea. "And yep. I imagine a lot of people are looking forward to having a new ingredient of the month after this morning; octopus really isn't some people's cup of tea."

He took a sip of his own cup of tea though, before continuing. "Before we get there, though, there's actually something I've been meaning to ask you about."

Shadow regularly wandered. He was used to people watching, in a sense, so sometimes it was good to just wander around and see what people were doing. Might learn something new or interesting.

He had passed by the cinema car, seeing if there was any interesting 'movies' that were apparently a thing, and when he peaked in-

Multicolored people fighting evil.

.....huh.

He moves into the room, watching the show with some interest.

"It wasn't even mine and I lived by the sea." So they tended to have a lot of seafood for the most part, but even Kairi found she had her limits to what seafood even she could eat.

Kairi was soon taking her first bite of her food, letting the taste sinking in and linger before finally chewing and swallowing. Also she needed to before speaking as well as she didn't want to be rude.

"What did you want to ask?" she asked curiously as she turned her head slightly.

Coming up is a combat training room, and he is typically weary of such places. Being bullied around by security types tends to put a dampener on enthusiasm for them. However, they make a source of good information. The couple times walked by and poked his head in, he's found a user practicing their weaponry skills, nothing that dissimilar to a typical system he comes from. He takes a note on what kind of weapon it is, and who is wielding it.

This time though, he's walking past, ducks his head in cautiously, and something whizzes by, much like a disk would, finding a spinning object slicing back and returning to the hand of the user, Lea.

"Wow, I didn't pick you for a disk warrior." It's mostly been just swords so far from the users he's seen, he's sure Lea was one of those among them.

Observing them closer, he's having a hard time trying to pick our exactly what they are in his hands. They're no disks he's ever seen before.

Edited 2022-01-30 03:38 (UTC)

Lea gave a bit of a wry smile at that. Yes, many people would be glad to see octopus off the menu, whatever it might be replaced with.

As to he question though... "Well, you know that seashell good luck charm of yours?", he said. "Would you be willing to show me how to make them? I'd like to make a couple for myself and Xion, plus Roxas and maybe one or two other people. The shells wouldn't be a problem since Xion has a ton of them, and I actually got some craft wire while back that I almost forgot about, so..."

Shadow would find the show to be a lot of fun. Yes, some of the dialog and situations are a bit cheesy, and the giant monster and robot battle is obviously people in suits on a miniature set. But the characters are likable, the fight sequences well done, the special effects appropriately flashy without clashing with the rest of the show, and the music providing an excellent 90's rock vibe throughout.

When the current episode ended, Lea noticed that he wasn't the only one watching any more. He moved down a could seats to be in easier conversation distance. "Hey there," he said. "So... what do you think?" Given that he'd sat and watched most of an episode, he suspected that the other young man had at least somewhat enjoyed it, but he still wanted to know for sure.

Lea heard Faux addressing him, but made sure to complete the move he'd started with his chakrams before replying, only looking up once they were safely back in his hands. "'Disk warrior' huh?", he said. "Yeah I guess you could sort of call these 'disks'. I've always called them chakrams though. And these specific ones are the Eternal Flames. Pretty cool, right?" He brought one up to rest on his shoulder in what was very obviously a deliberately casual 'yeah, look how cool I am' pose.

"I'll get one later," he says, promises, dismisses, waves off for later. There's mucking around getting milk or yoghurt, or there's burning his mouth. Tidus has his priorities here!

"C'mon, c'mon! Just a taste test."

He's got his spoon ready to go, Lea!

Faux recognizes the deliberate posing that typical warriors and security types oft go for. Fitting. 'Guardian', isn't he? Perhaps he is a security type of user? He is pretty tall.

His eyes dip to the 'chakrams', no less impressive than them buzzing past in the air. Taking immediate note of the concentric sharp blades protruding from every 45 degree angles, Faux would question how exactly Lea would catch the things if it were not for the cross bar within the middle of them. "They certainly look dangerous enough."

Thinking on it, Faux is feeling far more comfortable with his less intimidating disk. Especially when it lacks the chance of potentially dissecting his hand with use...

"Programs in my system would primarily use their disks for combat. They were no where near as large as those though."

"The one I always keep on me." And speaking of she goes into her pocket and pulled it out, holding it for a moment. How long had it been since she made that? Definately over a year at this point. Memories.

"I would be more than happy to teach you, though it's been a while, but not something one can easily forget."

"That's probably because they are dangerous," Lea said. "Especially if you're on the receiving end of them. Fortunately, I've gotten pretty good at handling them over the years." Mostly because he'd had to; life in the Organization hadn't allowed for anything less.

He nodded at Faux's explanation of his own world's disc weapons. "They're not really a common choice of weapon where I'm from. I only know of one other person who uses them, and hers are a bit different. I think they suit me pretty well, though."

Though he had noticed something that struck him as a bit odd about the explanation too. "And I'm guessing the disc you have is one of those combat disks you mentioned, right? I thought it was a hologram projector or something when you first showed it to me."

"Alright, suit yourself," Lea said. "It should be ready to go." He turned the stove burner off so it wouldn't overcook, then stepped aside to allow Tidus to try a bite. He didn't bother warning Tidus that it was hot in temperature as well as spice right then, so blowing on said bite to cool it would likely be advised, since he figured Tidus was smart enough to figure that out as well.

Upon tasting the chili Tidus would first notice that it did indeed taste good, making good use of not just the ingredient of the month, but also beans, various vegetables, and seasonings for flavor as well as heat. But after a second or two the heat would hit, and would confirm what his nose had likely already told him; that Lea had made liberal use of every spicy seasoning available. The result was a punch of heat that was even more intense than the food he'd choked on back on the planet, though at least this time the actual bits of food were a much more manageable size. So hopefully that would help?

"Awesome, thanks," Lea said. "I think it might help Xion to have something physical to hold onto, you know? Like, a physical symbol of our connection." Especially given what the charms represented; a safe return and a promise that they would find each other again, even if separated.

Come to daddy, chilli bowl!

Tidus is smart enough to blow on the chilli once he has it in the bowl, finding a good-looking spoonful to scoop out first, and then to give it the few blows it needs. His mouth is already salivating in expectation, but he gives it one last blow before popping the lot in. The temperature stings in his mouth first, but Tidus takes it, chews the food to get a taste for the flavours. It's good; no one's going to throw Lea out of the kitchen for trying to cook for the train as a whole.

And then the tingles come.

Rather, for about a few seconds; a merciful warning until the heat envelops Tidus's tongue in a wave. His jaw clenches, and it doesn't take long for the heat to colour his cheeks as Tidus continues to chew through it.

Ohhhhh..... man!

"Mmmmhmmm," he hums loudly, as if acknowledging some spoken point - which he is, about the heat levels.

MMMHMMM, THIS SURE IS HOT, BUDDY.

So, not common then. "Oh, I agree. They definitely suit you," especially with his demeanor, "I've just never seen anything so drastically different on a disk weapon before," giving the array of blades a nervous look, "It's mostly ah, all the blades." Did Lea make these weapons? If so, Faux isn't sure he wants to know what design processes went into them. But hey, he can't say much, given he's never crafted a weapon from scratch before.

Then Lea asks about his own disk. Well, the subject of identity disks is a complicated one, one that doesn't exactly fill Faux with comfort. "They are," tipping his head, "And they aren't."

He pulls off his disk. Lea has already seen it in operation. A few worn areas, Imperfections, show it's age. "It's called an identity disk. All programs; at least in my system, have one equipped. They primarily act as memory storage and file reference within the system. In essence, this is me."

"But yeah, it also acts as a combat weapon." Which Faux is not particularly enthusiastic about, and never has been. He gives it a small flick into the air and catches it again.

"It might. Does she know what one is or will this be something you explain it?" It was at least a sweet idea and she really did hope that it would help Xion at least.

"So I have to ask how many would you want made then? So I know how much we would need."

Lea chuckled as Tidus' face grew red. He hadn't been exaggerating the heat level. "I warned you, man," he said. "Want me to get you that glass of milk now?"

"I think she might have some idea, but I'll probably still have to explain it," Lea said. "Just based on past experience, it really doesn't do to underestimate how little Xion knows about stuff we just take for granted. Like back in Diatu, not long after we'd met back up she asked me whether cake was a real thing or not."

"As for how many though, hmm... You've already got one, so there'd be ones for me and Xion, obviously, and one for Roxas. And we should probably make one for Taiki too. So four, most likely."

"Yeah the Eternal Flames are pretty much one of a kind," Lea said. "Or, well, two of a kind, I guess. Everyone who was in the Organization got a unique weapon, and a specific type of innate magic. Vexen's, for example, is a shield- Frozen Pride- and his specialty is ice magic. Meanwhile my thing is fire magic. Hard to really let loose with magic in a confined space without wrecking things, though."

He then listened as Faux explained about how discs worked in the computer world. "So, let's see if I've got this right. Your disc is basically a copy of your mind... and you throw it at people?" He's clearly not any more enthused about the idea than Faux.

"I guess compared to us she really didn't have much experience in the real world, right?" It was pretty much a guess on her part since before here they never had really met, but from that comment she could at least guess that much.

But that just meant teaching her as much as they could right?

"Okay... so we'd need to check how much we have and see if its possible to make that many first."

Faux considers what he's learnt, pondering the several new key pieces of data. But with such a confusing info-dump, he may as well lead off what he knows. And Lea has pretty much grasped the crux of it.

"As a former intrusion program with a liability strapped to my shell," nodding to Lea, "Basically, Yeah," followed with a dark chuckle. The user isn't entirely correct, it's more complex than that. Semantics aside, it's close enough to be true. He gives a sigh, "You can blame my creator for making these things the way they are." and with a final shrug, "But, hey, at least they're sharp."

And quickly redirects his attention back to Lea, asking offhandedly, "So, magic? I haven't heard of that type of weapon before. Was that provided to you by this organization, or those guardians?" Maybe it's that sword thing he had caught a glimpse of.

"That's probably the understatement of the year, but yeah," Lea said. "And a lot of what she does know- or thinks she knows- is a bit... off, thanks to her time in the Organization."

He nodded. "I don't figure the shells'll be a problem, given Xion's collection. But yeah, we'll wanna go over the other stuff we'd need first."

"Yeah, it doesn't sound like the best idea," Lea said. "I mean, as long as it works, I guess it's not too terrible, but still..." He trailed off, the conclusion obvious. He was sure Faux knew much more than he did about the issues with this particular design flaw anyway, so reiterating it wouldn't do either of them much good.

"Magic isn't really a weapon so much as a force; a kind of natural energy that can be tapped into if you know how. I guess you could say that the Organization first gave me an innate connection to one type of that energy, but the way they did it wasn't at all how someone would usually go about learning to use it and was absolutely not worth it. I could give you a basic demonstration of how magic works though, if you're curious."

Edited 2022-03-14 05:11 (UTC)

Not too terrible. Just a single word; it wouldn't hurt him if Lea went out and admitted it. It is that terrible, and even other users can see that.

Thankfully Lea lets them move on.

And- yeah, that doesn't sound like that sword he saw. Visibly processing the information, Faux compares what he knows. It sounds as if magic is a general system energy. He's only ever seen the one kind in all the systems he's been in. It's just... power. A force though...? Obviously not a one-to-one.

Lea doesn't directly give him an explanation of this Organization he's freely mentioned so much. Revealing what this Organization hasn't done is an interesting piece of data. "And how would one learn it usually-" He quickly squashes his lips together, cutting off that stray process. He doesn't even know what it is yet! "Ah, yes. I demonstration would would be great." Self correcting with an awkward smile.

Talk about getting ahead of himself.

Quickly docking his disk onto his back, he awaits to the side.

Edited 2022-03-14 10:50 (UTC)

"It's pretty much just a strong string and needles. Really there is very little you need. Unless you want to decorate them or something. That might need more depending on the how you'd want to."

A bit off... Well at least here with what she learns she hopes that it isn't off as well.

Lea shrugged. "The same way you learn most things," he said. "Getting lessons from a teacher, followed by a whole lot of practice. Which is how I've been learning magic other than my innate element."

"Anyway..." He turned away from Faux, facing down the length of the car. He stretched out his hand, holding his palm vertical. "Aero!", he called out, and a gust of wind burst from his hand to swirl around the training dummy he'd been practicing with. The small whirlwind whipped around the dummy, swirling with traces of greenish magical energy, and even briefly lifting the dummy off the floor to bounce it erratically in the air. When the spell faded, the dummy fell back to the floor with a thud.

"That's magic," he said, turning back to Faux. "Specifically wind magic. I'm not nearly as good with it as I am with fire magic of course, but I'm not too shabby someone who's still learning."

Lea very much hopes so too, but sometimes he wonders...

"As a matter of fact, I was thinking about adding a little something," he said. He reached into his pocked and pulled out a handful of small, multi-colored stones, most about fingertip size. "I picked these up on a Void-hub world we visited. They're voidstone. Supposedly, they help channel emotions, so I figure they'd be perfect for this."

"Channel emotions, huh?" That seems like something that would be useful at least.

"So that means maybe glue will be needed to keep them in place then. But that would be about it." So it's pretty simple really. Something that could also be done within a short amount of time depending on how intricate one wanted to do.

Having not known what to expect from the demonstration, Faux's eyes widen at the display and as the dummy hits the floor. That- that's- Wow!

Such power! Well, none he's ever seen like that. Even his hacking abilities pale in comparison.

"Magic," he test out the word. With cursory glance to the fallen dummy, nodding at it in respect for the show; and Lea isn't even nearly as good with that demonstration? "Definitely a force for sure. Though I'm having a hard time seeing how that's not a weapon."

He then folds his arms, facing Lea, "I'm making a guess, it's in how you apply it?"

Edited 2022-04-05 13:06 (UTC)

"Actually, I was thinking metal," Lea said. "I got some craft wire awhile back, and I can melt it just enough to hold the stones in place way more securely than glue could. Especially when I combine my own fire magic with the metal-manipulating power I got on the fake-Diagad and a tiny bit of the Forging magic I picked up back in Diatu." It felt fitting, that he'd be using all his skills in some way to make these charms their own.

Lea nodded. "Got it in one," he said. "Most of the magic I use is combat-oriented, cause that's what I'm good at, but there's magic for all kinds of things. Healing, defense, transportation, information gathering, generating illusions, or even just everyday use around the house. And it gets even more versatile when you combine it with technology; that was a really big thing back in the world I come from. We had machines that harnessed Thunder magic for electrical power, Blizzard magic for cooling and preserving food, Fire magic for cooking and heating, you name it."

"That's why it's always kind of weird to me when I see worlds that insist it has to be one or the other; magic or technology. They can both work perfectly well together if people take the time to learn how to do it."

As Lea reads off the list of uses, Faux's eyebrows jump when he hears information gathering. Now that's something he could get behind.

He... still has no idea what magic is, even with all the explanation. It's a force, that can be run alongside machines. So some sort of interaction occurs. It would be so much easier to take a look on the inside of one of those systems to see how programs operate around it. Unfortunately, all he has is this; a simple demonstration, and some summaries.

"I don't think it's so much that they choose one or the other. I just don't think it's possible for them to have the other in it." does that make sense? "At least speaking for my user's world." There is the possibility that some sort of magic happens somewhere that is just not recognized as such. He again has too little information to work a proper hypothesis.

"I can't say I know how this will all turn out, but hey it's always good to experiment." It could come out the best damn thing ever really. It might not but that's the point in at least trying.

"Though you got your Diagad powers back then?"

"Yep," Lea said. "My powers from there aren't that much compared to my fire magic or anything, but I've been practicing as much as I can without damaging the train. There's... really not a whole lot of metal stuff on board that isn't bolted down or that we don't need in one piece, you know?"

"That might be," Lea said thoughtfully. "I can't say I'm an expert; I know my magic has worked on every world I've been to unless there was something there that was messing with everyone's powers, but I don't know what limits there might be to that."

"If you really want to know about my world's kind of magic, though, you probably want to talk to Vexen. Unlike me, he is an expert. And kind of a genius too. Magic and magitek research was his job back home, so he could probably give you a whole lecture on the subject."

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fiery cooking

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Lucky Charms

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Prism Power, Go!

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Training on a Train

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