I've got some ideas for where to start. I assume based on that you said that you're pretty new to the Summer abilities, do you know yet which ones you'd like to focus on first?
I've been practicing them for an hour or two per day since late October, so I wouldn't say I'm a complete beginner But ... The elemental side has been way harder than I thought it'd be So probably there.
[ You burrow under his wing, you get a nickname, them's the rules ]
Fair enough. We'll have you throwing fire in no time. It's usually easier to learn spells in isolation before combining them... not always, but seeing how you learn seasonal magic best will give me a framework for how you learn best. Especially since we're limited on how much you can use the pendant magic, for now.
Trying to combine aspects of two different systems isn't completely new to me, but that was mostly stacking physical buffs, like my Time spell + a speed enhancement + an agility enhancement ... It might be different with Seasons powers. We'll have to see, like you said.
(For the record: those other abilities are completely (RUDELY) locked down by Ellipsa anyways.)
[ He really should be more dismayed by that emoji than he is. ]
They lock down abilities here? That explains a lot. I haven't had call to use most of my larger ones, but Wukong got killed when that's supposed to be impossible.
He got trapped in another dimension. I'm sure he'd probably be hell to try and murder ordinarily. [ And he still needs to talk to Wukong about that whole death thing. ]
[ He can keep track of things himself, but there's something undeniably charming about her puppy-tail enthusiasm. ]
A quest thing? [ it sounds like she missed something big, jeez. ]
You guys do all seem ridiculously impressive though When I sparred with Red Son-san I could tell how careful he was being ... Which admittedly made me want to beat him up even more
[ she sends through a spreadsheet. it's. it is DETAILED, to say the least, and yet also very streamlined and user friendly. she may or may not have been engaged in a "who can make the coolest spreadsheet for combat-related data collection" competition with donnie one evening ]
Something like that. A foray into something fairy queen related not long ago. I didn't go myself, it sounded sketchy as hell. Good thing, or I'd have been dead too since I've never been able to leave him behind.
Don't get down on yourself, when you have centuries to play with you get good at a lot of things. If you ever want to beat Red Son just fluster him or spray him with ocean water, by the way.
He came back, I managed. I do need to get into that with him sometime though, the death. He spent centuries gaining all different manner of immortality because he was afraid of mortality, and then he died anyway. I'm not sure how that's going to go, but I think I need to push him to get it out.
If he's the type to downplay his hurts? Definitely. Finding the right balance isn't always easy, but for this kind of thing ... It's so important to try. In my experience, at least.
[ sbakamdhak MACAQUE. PLEASE.
god though, that does remind her. ]
Your comment earlier about the burrowing
I can't believe these are words I'm typing right now
Most of it IS embarrassment But I have a sneaking suspicion that part of it MIGHT be a conditioned response as well
[ she thinks she has an idea of what he means, but damn, sir, that's still concerning. ]
The last place was run by a conflict-loving, soul-eating nature god and his cult. Each one of us "sacrifices" had a bunch of 'objectives' and 'taboos' carved into our soul. Taboos would act as negative reinforcement and damage/degrade our soul even faster, objectives would do the opposite. Effects varied a lot with things like pain, nausea, fear, euphoria being common. Sometimes people would lose or regain a memory. The objectives and taboos themselves are gone now. But.
He gets cagey about things that hit too close to home, and then he gets pissy about it when pushed. Or at least he used to.
[ Having things carved into your soul... speaking of things that hit close to home (about Wukong). Macaque isn't new to the thought of wanting to kill someone or something that's in another dimension since he's close to Cole, but that is a new level of horrible. ]
I see. Did you know what your objectives and taboos were, or did you have to figure it out based on how you felt when you did things?
[ Ah. So it is something like that. Korone's heart aches with sympathy — Macaque is playing it cool, and maybe he is as "used to it" as a person can be.
Doesn't make it fair.
Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like holy hell. ]
That can be one of the things that hurts the most. Does he know?
[ Taptaptap ... typetypetype ]
A mix of both. Some were visible for everyone to see on the public profiles. Some were a mystery to everyone until they kicked you in the face.
Touch was one. An objective, so it wasn't strictly bad. But I really hate being touched when I'm not expecting it and the boost from the objective could be disorienting? outside of active combat, where I'm focused enough to ignore it. So please telegraph any intention to touch
the other is
not so relevant for training, but I'll give you a heads up anyway if something happens that shares memories, and you hear one of mine that isn't korone don't repeat it to anyone, including me
That he does it, and the impact it has on the people around him?
[ Are people able to call him out and still offer him the support people NEED if they're going to grow and change? Does MACAQUE have people supporting him? She hopes so. She really, really hopes so. ]
Thank you. Sincerely. I know this all came up out of nowhere [ and every instinct she has is SCREAMING at her to apologise and backtrack ] and it's kind of a lot ... Your patience and willingness to help means a lot to me So if there are things I can do to help, questions I can answer let me know, and I'll try my best ꒰ঌ(ง •̀_•́)ง
He and I have always had big blind spots about each other, it's something we're working on. [ One might correctly get the impression that he's not the most comfortable with this topic. It's cool he'll be more comfortable after Donnie sluices his brain around a little. ]
You don't need to thank me. You're not too much. You've been through a lot, that's all, and I know what it looks like when you need time and what not to do. It'll be fine.
[ Message received. She'd started to Get It with the previous response, and she's glad now she yeeted more than half of what she'd written before hitting send. ]
I'll be rooting for you guys.
[ A little offer of support, way less of the well-intentioned prying. ]
Maybe I don't need to, but still. I'm grateful. It'll be fine and then we can blow up as many kitchen appliances as we want
Sounds like fun to me. Any idea when you want to get started? I'll need a baseline of your seasonal abilities but we can start with testing your shield if that's more comfortable.
I've got two to three hours a day set aside for training, with a couple of rest days and flexibility built in for questing.
[ quests can be training, too, or exhausting enough to warrant a pass. ]
One sec.
[ She sends through a screenshot of her calendar for the next two weeks. IT IS COLOR CODED and very neatly organised, focusing primarily on commitments like shifts at work, training, education, quests, and planned dates with Donnie and/or Eve - she doesn't plan her life down to the minutiae. ]
If I'm not at work, you're free to call dibs! If it's after work there's a chance I might have had to use a pendant cast or two already (most of my customers are great but I've had to yeet some) And I'd be fine starting with either
[ Macaque ponders this for a moment and sends along three days/in the upcoming week, either after work or on an afternoon where she doesn't work, not on days when she has dates because that's just Rude. ]
How about that? If it's after work then you'll know how many spells you have left. We won't spend them all unless you want to, not yet. How long we work is up to you.
I'll probably take us out into a less populated area of the segments, I can get there instantly. That way we won't have to worry about bystanders or busybodies.
Re: un: piccione; text - after the talk with him and Donnie
I've got some ideas for where to start. I assume based on that you said that you're pretty new to the Summer abilities, do you know yet which ones you'd like to focus on first?
no subject
I've been practicing them for an hour or two per day since late October, so I wouldn't say I'm a complete beginner
But ...
The elemental side has been way harder than I thought it'd be
So probably there.
no subject
Fair enough. We'll have you throwing fire in no time. It's usually easier to learn spells in isolation before combining them... not always, but seeing how you learn seasonal magic best will give me a framework for how you learn best. Especially since we're limited on how much you can use the pendant magic, for now.
no subject
Trying to combine aspects of two different systems isn't completely new to me, but that was mostly stacking physical buffs, like my Time spell + a speed enhancement + an agility enhancement ... It might be different with Seasons powers. We'll have to see, like you said.
(For the record: those other abilities are completely (RUDELY) locked down by Ellipsa anyways.)
no subject
They lock down abilities here? That explains a lot. I haven't had call to use most of my larger ones, but Wukong got killed when that's supposed to be impossible.
no subject
They always do.
To some extent, at least.
This place is probably the most lax about people's abilities I've seen so far.
I think mine got locked down more heavily because they AREN'T mine.
Well
they are NOW, but they got tacked on later.
no subject
Hm, interesting. I'll have to test mine and see what the limits are.
no subject
And I hope whatever hurt him isn't an issue anymore.
[ type type type ... ]
I have a good spreadsheet template for that kind of thing if you'd be interested!
[ nerd ]
no subject
[ He can keep track of things himself, but there's something undeniably charming about her puppy-tail enthusiasm. ]
Sure, send it to me.
no subject
A quest thing? [ it sounds like she missed something big, jeez. ]
You guys do all seem ridiculously impressive though
When I sparred with Red Son-san I could tell how careful he was being
... Which admittedly made me want to beat him up even more
[ she sends through a spreadsheet. it's.
it is DETAILED, to say the least, and yet also very streamlined and user friendly. she may or may not have been engaged in a "who can make the coolest spreadsheet for combat-related data collection" competition with donnie one evening ]
no subject
Don't get down on yourself, when you have centuries to play with you get good at a lot of things. If you ever want to beat Red Son just fluster him or spray him with ocean water, by the way.
no subject
[ But the rest of it ... she frowns at the screen, concerned. ]
Have you been okay since then, Macaque-san?
Did that sound down on myself? I didn't mean it that way
(i AM going to buy a supersoaker, though, thank you. fight smart, not hard.)
no subject
Just making sure. Good girl, you get him.
no subject
Definitely.
Finding the right balance isn't always easy, but for this kind of thing ... It's so important to try.
In my experience, at least.
[ sbakamdhak MACAQUE. PLEASE.
god though, that does remind her. ]
Your comment earlier
about the burrowing
I can't believe these are words I'm typing right now
Most of it IS embarrassment
But I have a sneaking suspicion that part of it MIGHT be a conditioned response as well
no subject
[ Oh? Interesting that she's being so upfront when this is something that embarrasses her. Seems she can do what he can't. ]
Conditioning? From what?
no subject
[ she thinks she has an idea of what he means, but damn, sir, that's still concerning. ]
The last place was run by a conflict-loving, soul-eating nature god and his cult.
Each one of us "sacrifices" had a bunch of 'objectives' and 'taboos' carved into our soul. Taboos would act as negative reinforcement and damage/degrade our soul even faster, objectives would do the opposite. Effects varied a lot with things like pain, nausea, fear, euphoria being common. Sometimes people would lose or regain a memory.
The objectives and taboos themselves are gone now. But.
no subject
[ Having things carved into your soul... speaking of things that hit close to home (about Wukong). Macaque isn't new to the thought of wanting to kill someone or something that's in another dimension since he's close to Cole, but that is a new level of horrible. ]
I see. Did you know what your objectives and taboos were, or did you have to figure it out based on how you felt when you did things?
I'm only asking so I know what to avoid.
no subject
Doesn't make it fair.
Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like holy hell. ]
That can be one of the things that hurts the most.
Does he know?
[ Taptaptap ... typetypetype ]
A mix of both. Some were visible for everyone to see on the public profiles.
Some were a mystery to everyone until they kicked you in the face.
Touch was one. An objective, so it wasn't strictly bad. But I really hate being touched when I'm not expecting it and the boost from the objective could be
disorienting? outside of active combat, where I'm focused enough to ignore it.
So please telegraph any intention to touch
the other is
not so relevant for training, but I'll give you a heads up anyway
if something happens that shares memories, and you hear one of mine that isn't korone
don't repeat it to anyone, including me
no subject
Does he know what?
[ He sighs heavily, in a sympathetic way rather than a frustrated one. ]
No worries about touch, I know someone who's the same way so I'm used to asking first.
Okay, I've noted that. It's good to know.
no subject
[ Are people able to call him out and still offer him the support people NEED if they're going to grow and change? Does MACAQUE have people supporting him? She hopes so. She really, really hopes so. ]
Thank you.
Sincerely.
I know this all came up out of nowhere [ and every instinct she has is SCREAMING at her to apologise and backtrack ] and it's kind of a lot ...
Your patience and willingness to help means a lot to me
So if there are things I can do to help, questions I can answer
let me know, and I'll try my best
꒰ঌ(ง •̀_•́)ง
no subject
You don't need to thank me. You're not too much. You've been through a lot, that's all, and I know what it looks like when you need time and what not to do. It'll be fine.
no subject
I'll be rooting for you guys.
[ A little offer of support, way less of the well-intentioned prying. ]
Maybe I don't need to, but still. I'm grateful.
It'll be fine and then we can blow up as many kitchen appliances as we want
no subject
Sounds like fun to me. Any idea when you want to get started? I'll need a baseline of your seasonal abilities but we can start with testing your shield if that's more comfortable.
no subject
[ quests can be training, too, or exhausting enough to warrant a pass. ]
One sec.
[ She sends through a screenshot of her calendar for the next two weeks. IT IS COLOR CODED and very neatly organised, focusing primarily on commitments like shifts at work, training, education, quests, and planned dates with Donnie and/or Eve - she doesn't plan her life down to the minutiae. ]
If I'm not at work, you're free to call dibs!
If it's after work there's a chance I might have had to use a pendant cast or two already (most of my customers are great but I've had to yeet some)
And I'd be fine starting with either
no subject
How about that? If it's after work then you'll know how many spells you have left. We won't spend them all unless you want to, not yet. How long we work is up to you.
I'll probably take us out into a less populated area of the segments, I can get there instantly. That way we won't have to worry about bystanders or busybodies.
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