Floor 2, Room 6

[lustro]

GINGER

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Comments

[troublereduction]

[ There's always a first time to drink wine out of mugs. Day pours them both a drink. ]

I'm fine. It was surprising, and some stuff happened, but we made out of it okay.

[lustro]

[ Ginger waits for Day to take a sip first, though he’s curious about the taste. ]

When you say “some stuff happened,” I feel like… it was probably more than that.

[ He’s starting to notice the little quirks in the way Day speaks, how he’ll phrase things in a decidedly vague way that deflects too much interest. But that only makes Ginger more curious. ]

And how was it working with the others?

[troublereduction]

[ Well, if Ginger's waiting for him, he'll take the first sip of wine then. ]

I could go on and tell you more, but it'll be a bit. But I'm kinda glad it was them, 'cause we were all on the same page pretty quick.

[lustro]

Probably, but… I guess since we have the chance to sit and talk, why not take our time? But we don’t have to talk about that. It can be anything.

[ He takes a sip of the wine, holding his mug like he would a warm cup of coffee. Both hands, like a child sneaking a drink. The flavor is… curious. ]

[troublereduction]

[ ...Huh. Kind of charming, but he thinks that's because it's probably the first time he's seen someone nurse a cup of wine like that (because who serves wine in mugs???). ]

You can consider this a preview then, since I'm gonna have to share this with the others soon. Don't miss herding people for meetings.

[lustro]

Aw, a meeting??

[ Must they… Meetings are so tedious and boring. Ginger is definitely one of the people who has to be herded in on time, perpetually late as he is. ]

If I get the preview, do I have to show up?

[troublereduction]

[ Man, Ginger truly is a bureaucrat too, huh. ]

Up to you. Depends on if you wanna hear what the scholarly types might have to say 'bout a moon rock.

[lustro]

[ Reaaaally not sure he wants to hear about a moon rock. Anything related to the moon sounds like a headache in the making. ]

What if I beg Mr. Day to give me more than just a preview?

[troublereduction]

Haha, like a free pass from the meeting?

[lustro]

Pretty please?

[ Don’t make him wake up early. ]

[troublereduction]

Like I said, you're free to not attend.

[ Smashcut to Day cursing everyone with a vuvuzela summoning call for the meeting. ]

[lustro]

[ Day why

Yeah, those words when uttered by his superiors never came back to bite Ginger in the butt or anything - ]

If I don’t go, and you were ever in trouble, would… not knowing make it so I can’t help you?

[troublereduction]

[ Because it sounded like a good idea? He's got to make catherding a little entertaining. ]

...Well, to be honest, I ain't sure. I mean, it's obvious stuff to do with the moon's bad news, but right now all we've got is a sample size of one. I dunno if what we saw down in the South will repeat somewhere else.

[lustro]

Is it… really as bad as they say?

[ Day had said he was okay, but Ginger studies him closer - just in case he can tell if something malignant lingers. ]

Is it a calamity?

[troublereduction]

[ The good news is that he's fine. He luckily had the foresight to protect himself before handling the rock before they purified it, and the Southern wizards all cast protection magic to keep themselves safe from its taint. ]

It...was pretty bad. I dunno if this is a part of the Great Calamity they were talking about, but as far as we can tell, a piece of the moon ended up wreaking havoc in a town's crop field. The crops started turning black and dying, and everyone who was working the field or ate the wheat harvested then fell ill.

One farmer's leg was all...withered. Bad enough that we couldn't heal it.

[lustro]

Eh - what?! And they sent you out there?!

[ What if some of that had infected the Southern wizards? ]

And you’re absolutely sure you’re okay? Really? You’re not going to - wither or disappear?

[troublereduction]

[ Gently: ]I think if that was gonna happen I wouldn't be here talking to you.

We could tell the rock was radiating some kind of...nasty-feeling magic, and a lot of it, so we all cast protection magic on ourselves. We purified it once we managed to find it in the field.

I was the one who dug it up from the ground and... [ He pauses, like he isn't sure if he should say what he's thinking because Ginger is already in full-blown worry mode, but now that he's brought it up he can't not say it. ] Y'know, even though I didn't touch it myself, I could still feel something like...like a weird resonance from it? Then it was gone after we purified it.

[lustro]

That’s -

[ They weren’t even gone for that long? A short amount of time compared to the days since they’ve arrived here. Too short. It’s frightening to think that Day could have died in that amount of time. ]

I don’t like that. I’m… worried. [ Clearly. ] The next time you go out, we should go together - or, or come up with stronger protection spells.

[troublereduction]

Well, it's done and we're all safe. [ So there's no real point in worrying about what had happened, and it's only fair to worry about what could happen up to a point. ] Though, speaking about protection spells, I do wanna practise them more.

[lustro]

[ He’s glad they’re safe, but… nothing has been solved in the grand scheme of things… So… ]

… Will you teach me the ones you know? I’ll ask around and see if I can augment them somehow.

[ Signing up for overtime - ]

[troublereduction]

Never thought I'd see someone volunteering for overtime. [ He's joking. ]

But sure, I can teach you. Though, uh, I guess also explain how I've been...thinking of my spells.

[lustro]

[ The briefest face when Day mentions overtime.

He tilts his head. ]

Huh? What does that mean?

[troublereduction]

Oh, 'cause I've been trying to see if I could recreate something I could do back home here, with magic. Magic here is cast from the heart, but the stuff I could do back home is... [ How does he put this in a way that makes sense... ] Hmmm. Based on the constellations. Borrowing power from the meanings associated with them. So the protective magic I've been trying to do is more like... blessing someone in dodging danger, I guess you could say.

[lustro]

[ Huh. That sounds like it would be something easier to handle - for Ginger, anyway. He’s not taking too well to magic that’s reliant on his indecisive heart. ]

I think I understand. What constellation would that be?

[troublereduction]

The Ewer. Sign of romance, hope and smilin' at your troubles. [ He says this fondly, like he's talking about a familiar friend. ]