1649/Weapons for the Blind

Weapons for the Blind
Date of Scene:	23 February 2015
Location:	Galianda
Synopsis:	Sanary seeks to broaden her experience with weapons, Audrey offers options.
Cast of Characters:	652, Sanary Rondel

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Audrey Stormfist (652) has posed:
    The bustling and busy "continent" of Ramuh, a single, massive city. Located at the heart of a storm even larger than the city itself, the skies are pitch black and cloudy, lit up only by the neon lights of the city and the constant lightning strikes. Grand spires extend far past the city upward, catching the electricity and rerouting it thorough the continent. And it is obvious, on arrival, that this city thrives on its lifestyle, harnessing electricity and magic for all their needs like an industrial machine.

    Sanary has been invited, guide provided, to the headquarters of the Murasame Zaibatsu, a monolith of a building in the heart of Sector 13, a black tower that reaches for the heavens, contrasted by the neon lights that edge it, like most of the buildings here. The guide has all the markings of a simple worker bee, a well-dressed and armed security guard, his clothing reinforced, his weapon of choice a gunblade. He would lead the guest to the headquarters, and then indicate the elevator to take to reach Audrey.

    Of course, since Sanary is blind, all of that is useless information. Needless to say, she is provided all the guidance she needs if she can't get by on her own.

    Rather than up, the level indicated by the guide is several floors down. Once the elevator doors open, it reveals a massive square room, with glowing white lines forming 1x1 foot squares along the entire surface of the floor, walls and ceiling. There are numerous side-rooms in this area, labeled as holodecks, but Audrey is waiting in the center next to two fairly loaded weapon racks. Gunblade sheathed to her side, she wears a dark blue military overcoat, reinforced with metal, and sleek but obviously mechanical gloves.

    ... more pointless information for a blind person.

    Then room is kind of quiet, at least, once you get used to the idle buzz of the neons. There are vague, muffled sounds coming from the side-rooms, presumably more weapons testing or training in general.

    "Rondel, welcome. I hope your day is going well?"

Sanary Rondel has posed:
    Finding the warp gate to Ramuh was probably the hardest part of actually reaching the building. Sanary's schedule had become almost like a daily routine by this point: Eat, train, shower, repeat until falling asleep. Although she wasn't particularly well-versed in the layout of this building compared to the Citadel, it was easy enough to find the elevator even without the guide's help.

    Her reliance on the guide increased substantially once they actually went downwards, however, never having actually gone... Down in this building. Then again, she never did figure out how elevators worked to begin with. Too much unnecessary work

    "Afternoon, Audrey. Going alright, yep. Got some training done, so I'm feeling real good." A confident grin crosses the healer's face as she flexes an arm, shaking off the soreness a moment later. She's wearing her usual expensive coat and crappy tunic combo, and her ponytail is somewhat frazzled as if she had gone through some sort of physical activity recently.

    "What's the plan for today?"

Audrey Stormfist (652) has posed:
    "The plan is to find a weapon you find suitable. I am a Heritor-- some would call me a Heiress, as well. It is a rare Job, and requires a certain mindset, potential, and dedication to weaponry, whatever its shape and size. I feel fairly confident I have handled at least one of every weapon type you can conceive of, though I would also find such a statement dangerously overconfident. Either way, it comes down to this: if it's a weapon, I can almost certainly use it, and teach someone to use it."

    Assuming Sanary does not step forward on her own, she would guide one of her hands towards one of the weapon racks. "Most of these belong to me, with a few gaps filled using company stock. We'll try to figure out which you like best, and then figure out what sorts of spell matrixes you would enjoy on a weapon. You can practice on me if you like, or I can activate the holo dummies."

    On the first weapon rack:

1x Rapier (ICE1)
1x Axe (BOLT1)
1x Katana (AERO1)
1x Spear (FIRE1)
1x Greatsword (FLOAT1)
1x Staff (CURE1)
1x Rod (QUAKE1)
1x Knife (BIO1)
1x Rifle (WATER1)

    "These are the more standard weapons."

    Presumably they'll look over the second rack later.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
The healer listens intently as Audrey speaks, crossing her arms over her chest just to give her arms something to do other than dangle. Her eye widens slightly at the Heritor's mention of her experience with weapons, looking rather impressed at that statement. "Huh. So that must make you pretty ol-er.. -xperienced."

    Keeping a straight face, Sanary follows along easily with the woman as her hand is taken, letting her hand trail over each of the weapons once before starting to go back over them a little more closely. "These feel... Expensive. Are you sure it's okay for me to try these?" She sounds mildly worried as she speaks, pausing every now and then to lift a weapon off the rack to test its weight.

    "Too light... Ooh. No, maybe, maybe, eh... Hm. No... Huh?" It doesn't take her long to go through the rack, eventually stepping back slightly to nudge the rifle and rod.

    "I get that this one's probably a... What's it called. Mace. But what's this long one? It's not sharp or anything."

Audrey Stormfist (652) has posed:
    "These are not actually expensive. Weapons with spell matrixes are the bread and butter of Galianda adventuring and fighting. Prices start rocketing when you seek more powerful ones, but the difference between a Fire and Fira matrix is mostly in the engraving, not in the material that makes the weapon. Usually." Exceptions abound, but Audrey won't get into that for now.

    "As for experience, yes. Most of my classes are weapon-oriented. A Knight would follow classes on chivalry, swordsmanship, the defense of others, movement while in heavy armor. A Heritor, on the other hand, mostly attends every other Jobs' weapon training, along with a few classes built on the harnessing and respect of weapons with stories."

    Her eyes follow Sanary's hands as she goes over the weapons; it's not much, but it helps seeing how a blind person works and picks. Rod and rifle-- the rifle's an odd pick for a blind person, but...

    "The first is a rod. It is a small staff. You could call it a mace just as well. That one's spell matrix will allow you to cause small quakes and shoot earthen spikes out of the ground. The second is a rifle-- a firearm. This particular model requires no ammunition. You feed it magic, and it fires projectiles made of water. They leave no trace and pierce unarmormed flesh as well as arrows, but you could also fire wider, less powerful bursts. The spell matrix should allow you to aim using your thoughts, but... your blindness would likely restrict it to point blank firing."

    Audrey taps the screen on one of her gloves, and two humanoid target dummies appear to the right. "There are two targets ninety degrees to your right, straight ahead, ten meters exactly. If you would like to practice."

    The spell matrixes don't need any sort of complex instructions to figure out. It's pretty intuitive, just thinking about putting magic in them will open them up, and they can roughly do anything the wielder can imagine, within the practical limits of the spell.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary lets out a relieved sigh at the reassurance about the weapons' pricing, allowing herself to actually start feeling the rest of the weapons just to get a better mental image of their general shape. She does linger on the great sword for a moment, but goes back to the rod and rifle as Audrey explains their matrixes.

    "So this is a rod. And with earth control... Huh. Sounds like that Toph kid's specialty." She pauses to lift the rod from the rack, her hand lingering on the butt of the rifle before picking that up as well. "And this... Huh. So it's like one of those bladegun things without the blade part, then."

     She chuckles lightly. This day certainly seems to be getting more interesting.

    Turning to the right, there's a look of mixed excitement and confusion on the healer face as she faces the target dummies, taking a moment to start channeling the magic energy within her. The concept of using it for anything other than healing isn't necessarily foreign to her, but doing it in practice does seem to giving her some difficulty. "Just magic it up and... Okay!"

    Sanary thrusts the rod out first, taking a few tries and dramatic stabs in the air before successfully triggering the Quake matrix, sending up a thick slab of rock up underneath one of the dummies. The dummy itself is unharmed, however, since the slab is still mostly even rather than being jagged.

    The rifle test goes a little less smoothly. Instead of aiming it like it should be, she instead performs a slashing motion with it and... Nothing happens. As with the rod, she gives it a few more swings before it finally fires a fairly weak spurt of water into the air.

    She still seems excited, at least. "How'd I do?"

Audrey Stormfist (652) has posed:
    "It is similar to Earthbending but on a much smaller scale of control. It is my understanding that child more or less becomes one with the earth she touches. This is more like having the ability to move the earth a little compared to that. Still, versatility on a battlefield tends to bring victory." Except when it doesn't. Specialists would be out of a job if generalists were really superior.

    Audrey watches the blind healer flail with the weapons a bit, although with SOME result. For a first time, it's passable. We'll give it a C+. She moves forward, reaches for Sanary, and places the rifle in her hands correctly.

    "If you were not blind, you would hold it like this, bending over slightly to have your eye in the scope. At least, when you wish to aim. In a situation with movement, try like this." A slightly more comfortable position is shown, though the shoulder is still used to absorb recoil. "Don't slash with it. Pull the trigger-- the small metal part your finger is against here. It helps the spell matrix time its release better."

    Idle chatter while waiting for round two: "So. A blind a healer. How do you feel people's injuries and how best to handle them? Visuals seem like a must-have to properly diagnose wounds and problems, but you would not call yourself a healer if you were bad at it either."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Controlled Earthbending. That could be useful with practice. "Yeah... I could see this rod working well with an axe, then. Should try that later, actually." Sanary chuckles lightly and nods, the idea of versatility seeming quite appealing to her. "Could probably even use that to bring enemies to me so I can hit 'em with the axe..."

    She remains still as Audrey assists her in how to properly hold and aim the rifle, hesitating to even move for a few moments after she's released. "Ah, right. It's /not/ a gunblade. Or gunrifle... Whichever." Although she can't see the target dummy at all, the resulting shot from the rifle isn't too off the mark. Too high and right between both dummies, but it's a marked improvement over the first shot.

     "... Didn't feel right. Um... I don't." The healer chuckles somewhat awkwardly at that admission, adjusting her hold on the rifle slightly before firing off another shot. Stronger this time, but still right between the dummies. "If we're not fighting, I'll just ask them and work from there. If there's arrows or rocks or whatever, I'll try to dig them out and... I guess I just sort of move my hands and push the healing into them. But if we're fighting, I don't really have time to aim that carefully, so I just throw it at them and..." She rubs her neck, frowning slightly and looking rather uncertain. "... It just works. Not as good as if I'm next to them and it makes me a lot more tired, though."

Audrey Stormfist (652) has posed:
    "No, this is just a gun. No blade part. If you would like to try a gunblade, I have one on the other rack you can use. It takes more time to perfect, and requires a certain hand coordination to slot the cartridges in, but it is much more versatile than a single weapon. Normal weapons have the spell matrixes engraved directly in them; usually only one, and you cannot change it. A gunblade, on the other hand, has its spell matrixes engraved in the cartridges, which are not fired, by the way, although some variants can be loaded with normal bullets as well. This means that, to change what your sword does, all you have to do is change the current loaded cartridge. If you went that route... we could likely have the bullets shaped such that you can tell them apart. I tell mine apart by color."

    Audrey directs to Sanary back to the second weapon rack, as she explains: "To combine weapons is an efficient tactic. A matrix that affects your opponent's movement is best coupled with one that capitalizes on that movement. If you are going to push your opponent away, your second weapon should be a gun. If you're going to pull your target to you, something like an axe can hit much harder. Etc."

    The second weapon rack contains:

1x Bell
1x Gunblade
1x Whip
1x Pole
1x Scythe
1x Harp
1x Book
1x Pair of Katars

    Their matrixes are intentionally not listed and will be posed if a swing is taken with them. For SURPRISE. Audrey idly comments: "So you are essentially throwing things at your target until it sticks. We should see about honing that. Have you considered the White Magic classes of Alexander Academy? Whether your magic is compatible or not, you may at least be able to learn some all-applicable fundaments from it. I am loathe to suggest her, but for all her flaws in life, Hyral is at least semi-competent and would likely personally assist you."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
"Mm... As long as it's not too expensive to do all that. Plus, I'm not a big fan of swords. I like it little heavier in the front like... Well, axes." Sanary lets out a lighthearted laugh as she sets the rod and rifle back, moving over to the second rack once given the go ahead to do so.

    "I'm just worried I'll end up mixing them up or ignoring one. Even when I could see, I just used an axe most of the time. Didn't bother with a shield or anything." The blind girl lets out a wistful sigh at that, shaking her head a moment later to feel each of the weapons quickly. "I hear rods are supposed to be good for magic, though, so I'm thinking of going back to..."

     She trails off as she feels the harp, although she does seem somewhat bewildered by many of the weapons on the second rack. "How do these even...?" She doesn't question it too much, however, as she just shrugs and picks up the bell and whip. Moving to face the target dummies again, she gives each a rather awkward swing. The first is swung easily enough, but she clearly doesn't know how to actually use the whip and doesn't snap it or anything.

     "Ehm... P-pretty much. I've never heard of that place or those classes, but I'll try anything if it'll make me stronger."

Audrey Stormfist (652) has posed:
    "Strictly speaking we can put a cylinder on basically anything. My gloves are technically gungloves. A gunaxe, gunspear or some other variant wouldn't be too difficult to get ahold of. Those are more custom jobs for more accentric clients, or clients who want something very specific, but they're not that much more expensive, as long as you stick to the basic features."

    She hms, answering thes questions as best as she can: "Alexander Academy is the school most of us attend. It would be faster to tell you what it does not teach than give you a list of available classes. And yes, I can tell from the way you swing you're a one-weapon user. Mixing a lighter weapon with an axe, or a shield, might be your best bet."

    Then the matter of the stranger weapons.

    "These are more specialized weapons, usually favored by specific Jobs rather than just anyone. The whip is self-explanatory. The other one is a large bell. Geomancers seem to enjoy them. They're made to produce frequencies that... well."

    The whip, as it very idly grazes a target dummy, seems to sap life from it and transfer it to Sanary. It is a very small amount, though. The bell, more interestingly, pretty much shoots a shockwave out that cracks the ground and slams into the dummy. That's just the bell itself. The matrix' effect... would not be visible to Sanary, but the telltale cracking-like stone noises coming from the dummy would reveal it's been turned to stone. 'course, it's just a dummy. On a real person that'd work much slower, if at all, and probably wouldn't last long.

    "The rod might suit you better as a caster, but I like to keep options on the table. How long have you been blind and how did it happen, anyhow? You speak as though you weren't always."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
The effect of the bell on the dummy seems to surprise the healer even more than the restorative effects of the whip. "Did that just... Oh. I think I like this one. The rope thing... Not so much. Probably just end up choking myself with it." Sanary chuckles lightly and sets those back on the rack before picking up the harp and book next, seemingly more intrigued by the less conventional weapons than the ones that feel more... Normal.

     Audrey's mention of a gunaxe definitely doesn't go unnoticed by the healer, a slight grin crossing her face before she remembers to hide her excitement. "Mm... Yeah, I'll definitely do that academy school thing if that's the case. Uh... It's not gonna be too expensive, is it?" She chuckles weakly, then sighs and actually droops somewhat after a moment. "I mean, I'm already staying here and using your water and trying out weapons... I gotta at least go out and do something for this group, you know?"

    The question about her blindness does distract Sanary enough to resume testing, at least, and she gives the harp a strum and the book a swing just to see how they work with and without the addition of magical energy. "I was born blind in the right eye, so I got used to doing everything with my left. Got real good with swinging an axe, so I ended up being... Kind of like a squad leader for our militia. Did real good at that, but one rescue went bad and I... Er. Got shot in the other eye. Sucked."

Audrey Stormfist (652) has posed:
    "As a member of the Zaibatsu you have access to scholarship grants that would cover the costs associated with Alexander Academy's classes, the equipment needed, transportation if applicable and obviously, food and a room. It is a minor expense for us compared to the net benefit of having you with us. You are vital in more ways than you may suspect; Extraversals allow us to test our equipment on people with different magical styles, while also allowing us to learn about them and their worlds. A healer, naturally, is a walking benefit no matter how you look at it too. If you are desperate to start working, KIRIN security forces come back injured from missions essentially every other day, and you should have no shortage of them in the medical center."

    The harp, when used, produces a somewhat melodious hum, although unless Sanary has experience playing one it isn't going to sound too great, either. The effect is still there, since small ripples hack away at one dummy and cause electricity to bind it in place. "Ah. You can't see that one, but that is the Hold spell. It will bind someone in place."

    The book does not actually produce an attack, but when fed magic, it fills Sanary's mind with information which essentially translates to:

TARGET DUMMY Lv. 1
HP: 81/100
Status: Hold
Weak: Fire
Resist: -
Inanimate. Does not attack.

    "Blind in one eye and struck in the other. Talk about poor luck. At least you seem to have the will to continue on regardless. That is something Ramuh's society definitely respects and rewards. Adapt. Innovate. Progress. To stagnate is to die."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
A blank stare comes over the healer's face at the mention of the grants, although she does at least appear to understand the gist of what Audrey's talking about. There's even a small smile on her face eventually as she sets the harp back onto the rack, giving the book another heft before putting that back as well.

    "That works just fine for me. Test away if you need to. As long as I've got the basics covered and some extra spending money, I'll make sure I make more than enough back to earn my keep." She pauses briefly, then manages a significantly more bashful grin. "... Also, I might need some help fidning that medical area later. Didn't even know this place had one."

    Thankfully, Sanary doesn't spend too much time with the harp. "The effect seems useful, but... Not on this thing. Too clunky." The book, however, seems to intrigue her quite a bit while also startling the girl considerably as the information pops into her head rather abruptly. She doesn't even know how to react to it, putting it away next to the harp after a little while longer.

    "Freaky... Eh. Yeah, it's... I've gotten over it mostly." She chuckles. "Can't get anywhere if I just hide in my room all day even if it'd be a lot easier. Besides, if I did that..."

     She finally moves on to the gunblade, holding in a stranger chuckle as she lifts it from the rack and runs her hands over it, then swings it towards the dummies from a distance. "I wouldn't be able to try this thing."

Audrey Stormfist (652) has posed:
    "I'll show you to it after this," Audrey says, in regards to the Zaibatsu's main medical wing. She immediatly moves on to: "Harps are difficult to use, yes. The various musician Jobs can turn them into deadly weapons, but for a warrior like yourself, it's nothing to look at. The book contains the Libra spell, sometimes called Scan. I trust you understand why that is."

    Watching as Sanary grabs the gunblade, the Heritor reaches for the spare cartridges on the rack. At the moment the gunblade seems loaded with a fire cartridge, so if Sanary slashes with it, it'll trail fire. If she aims it like a gun, it'll shoot a fireball.

    "It is good that you think like that. You will fit in just fine. I look forward to working with you on the field," she comments on Sanary's attitude, before handing her another cartridge. "There's a clip next to the cylinder, above the grip. Twist it and insert this into one of the empty barrels. The model you're holding right now can't fire ammunition, but it can hold several different cartridges at the same time. You'll have to spend some magic to tell the gunblade to switch, but once you have a hang of it it is, in my opinion, more versatile than any single blade can be."

    In order, for testing purposes, Audrey will hand Sanary the ice, bolt and aero cartridges. It's pretty basic stuff, but even weak effects like these are enough to give an advantage if used right.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
"Makes sense... Yeah, definitely not touching the harp, then. The book, though... Might have to mess around with that some more another time. And the bell." Sanary laughs as she aims the gunblade at the dummies, firing off a fairly small fireball that actually hits for once! Despite the ball's diminutive size, it does move rather quickly compared to water shots from the rifle earlier. She also seems to be getting more comfortable with channeling her energy into the weapons, although there's some signs of fatigue from the extended exertion.

    "Heh. Same to you, Audrey. I'll try not to slow you or the others down. Worst case scenario... I could probably be a decoy. They wouldn't dare hit a defenseless blind girl, right?" She lets out another laugh and takes the next cartridge, feeling around the gunblade for a moment before finding the clip and inserting the cartridge. She doesn't move the clip back into place, however, switching out the fire cartridge with another to have the ice and aero cartridges loaded.

     "So if there's two in here, does that mean I can mix 'em together or would that just make this whole thing explode?" The color drains from her face somewhat as she says that, focusing on the gunblade this time just to get a better feel for switching clips rather than swinging and shooting right away.

Audrey Stormfist (652) has posed:
    "You could fire multiple matrixes at the same time, but the effects would not combine. You would be firing a lightning bolt, an ice bolt and a fireball, but it wouldn't be a cohesive, single effect. I believe we are working on making that a possibility in the future, but research is progressing slowly on that angle. If I remember correctly, it is a Red Mage's talent to combine spell effects like that, and emulating a Job trait is difficult."

    With that explained, it looks like she's about to say something else, but there's a series of beeps from her left gauntlet. She taps the screen, and it projects a holographic screen. She audibly taps on a holo keyboard, which makes noise because Rule of Cool, and then turns back to look at Sanary.

    "My apologies, but it seems I'm needed for something. Your guide is on his way back down. He will show you to our medical wing once you feel you are done here. If you decide on your weaponry of choice, we can arrange to have custom models made to your specifications. Mister Murasame should be able to set you up with a scholarship grant if you are truly interested in studying at Alexander Academy. If anything, I would suggest visiting it first. Ask for Kyra Hyral, she is a White Mage. No doubt she'll be desperate to show how much of a goody-two-shoe she is and will give you a full tour."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
The idea of combining magic isn't as farfetched as it probably should be to Sanary. It hasn't even been a month since she first learned of this power, and this was the first time she ever managed to do something other than heal with her magical energy. Combining magic was just another thing to tack on top of that in comparison. "Ah, one thing at a time. I'll get good at this, then worry about the rest."

     The sound of beeping draws a confused look from Sanary at first, then an understanding nod at Audrey's explanation. "Gotcha. Don't worry, this has all been a great help. I'll definitely be making good use of this stuff, don't you worry. And.. Maybe trying a few things here later if that's okay."

    She grins broadly. "Just in case. So you don't waste any money if I end up wanting to change stuff later. And the Academy thing... You know what?" She draws in a long breath, mulling over her options for all of about five seconds. "I'll do it. Just because my village is full of dumbasses doesn't mean I have to stay one. Plus, learning how this stuff actually works should make me be able to... Magic even better later."

    Raising her hand to her head somewhat stiffly, Sanary attempts to give Audrey an awkward salute. Her palm is facing outward, her hand is on top of her head, but her stance is... Not completely wrong in comparison. "I'll make you guys proud."