( closed )

[winces]

CHARACTERS: olivia & sieglinde sullivan

DATE: january 2 (backdated)

WARNINGS: potential self-harm

SUMMARY: ALASTAIR gifts olivia with a healing ability so she turns to the green witch for some training

[ she arrives a little after lunchtime as promised, carrying with her a small roll of chocolate bread that she's wrapped delicately in some cloth in an attempt to keep as much of its warmth as possible. thankfully the distance between the inn and the apothecary is fairly short, and with the brisk weather olivia rushes through the path quicker than she usually would, getting her there in no time at all.

she takes care to make sure she is presentable before knocking gently on the door, though (unfortunately for sieglinde's delicate sensibilities) that preparation doesn't really involve much more than smoothing down any fly-aways from her ponytail and adjust the bangles around her hips... ]

Comments

[grunehexe]

[Olivia is expected- and slowly, Sieglinde is becoming accustomed to the other woman's lewd way of dressing. (Not that she didn't find it lewd anymore, mind!) She's made sure to clear the house, not wanting the older woman leering at Sebastian or Masamune, even if she had considered allowing it in the latter's case- for his own potential good if nothing else.

But she lets Olivia in, has her sit and get comfortable and even brings out two mugs of ale like a good host before she abandons her crutches and clambers into her own seat, holding out her hand.]

Now, may I see the scroll that notified you of the new spell?

[winces]

[ she wouldn't have leered!! by now she's all too hyper-aware of sieglinde's opinion of her, so she does her best to not even look in anyone's general direction around the young girl...

especially not after olivia had had to kiss masamune a while back. but let's not talk about that!! ]

Right here—

[ she hasn't even taken a sip of her ale, but she has made sure to lay her pastry out on an offered plate before taking her seat. the scroll she'd done back up and settled in her satchel, but now she's handling it over to the younger girl before leaning back with wide eyes and rapt attention. ]

Is, um. Is this normal, do you think...?

[ she hopes it is. otherwise she'd be forced to ask why her? ]

[grunehexe]

[As delicious as the roll looks... Sieglinde has an inkling suspicion that Olivia is trying to buy her favor with delicious breakfasts... And as okay as she is with that, she wants to wait a bit just to make it clear that she could control herself, okay?

Because she totally can.]

For ALASTAIR it seems to be.

[She takes the scroll and unrolls it with a flick of her wrist, flicking quickly through the words, the notification of being given the ability...]

This seems similar to the ones I've received in the past, so you should possess what they say you do.

[She made to hand it back once she read it, taking a sip of her drink meanwhile.]

- have you tried using it?

[winces]

[ b-but, sieglinde... she put chocolate in it...! ;A; ]

M-Me? Oh gosh, no..! [ olivia looks flustered just by the suggestion. hastily, she stuffs the scroll back into her satchel, no longer possessing the careful reverence she'd had when she'd initially handed it to the girl. ]

I've — I've never done anything magical before in my life. I'm just a dancer! I couldn't possibly... [ she makes vague, weak hand gestures. ] ...do things like this.

[grunehexe]

[That is part of why she won't be able to hold off long...]

Well, you can use magic now.

[And now you're stuck with it, look at that.]

The spells ALASTAIR grants require only concentration to use, but I've found that those unfamiliar with such methods of casting can benefit from using a focus of their own...

Do those of your world cast purely with their minds, or do they use verbal spells... wands... ?

[winces]

[ olivia flinches a bit guiltily. it's not that she doesn't want to use it — certainly, with her concoction slowly but surely depleting, she's thankful she now has another way to help — but she barely has any confidence in her dancing, and that's something she's been doing for years. she bites down on her bottom lip, worrying it. ]

They use tomes, [ she explains, recalling the mages she's associated with. ] Different tomes for different spells, but they don't really say anything...

[ frankly, she's not entirely sure how it works. she assumes it's something to be studied, given ricken's fervent studiousness, but some others make it look so easy, like henry... ]

[grunehexe]

Tomes...

[Grimoires, then, spell books... full of spells but not ones you actually intoned aloud? How strange-]

Well, we can always try to have you use mental concentration- if that proves ineffective, I can instruct you in the spells that I use.

[winces]

[ olivia clasps her hands together, leaning forward slightly in her earnestness. ]

Oh, please — I'd be so grateful, Sieglinde, thank you...! I'll be a good student, I promise.

[ as if to prove her point, she sits back and straight, dropping her hands over her lap and giving the younger girl her complete and utmost attention. ]

What should I do first?

[grunehexe]

In that case, listen closely.

[Sieglinde leaned forward despite the fact that they were alone in the room.]

"As I see thee weltering in thine blood, I call upon the goddess who governs, whom I beseech to aid thee now."

[Thankfully for them, the translators make good work of the mix of languages used in that one and it comes out pretty cleanly.]

If you associate the spell with those words, just beginning to say them should bring it into being.

[winces]

[ always a little too sensitive to these sorts of things — intense moments of emotion or significance — olivia can't help but shudder as the younger girl's worlds fall over her. she's almost afraid to utter the words in return, as if they might somehow break in her care. ]

"As... As I see thee weltering in thine blood, I call upon the goddess who governs... whom I beseech to aid thee now."

[ she swallows that last syllable, the words feeling heavy and powerful on her tongue. despite their purpose being ornamental at best, she still feels struck by the weight of them.

her arms come up to wrap around herself unconsciously. ]

Wow.

[grunehexe]

That is exactly right. "As I see thee weltering in thine blood,"

[It was important for focus that such words have some sort of weight, meaning, so Sieglinde strives to keep Olivia's eyes locked on hers- emerald gaze wise beyond her years in times such as these, despite how she may act in other situations. When she was the Green Witch... She was that entirely.]

"I call upon the goddess who governs, whom I beseech to aid you now."

[To cement the words as important, urging Olivia to repeat them again as she reached down the end of the chatelaine chain around her waist, pulled a small knife from the ring of items... And calmly cut along the tip of one of her fingers, blood welling to the surface in a crimson line.]

[winces]

[ olivia can feel it, too. a different sort of weight in those eyes, far too much for a young girl like her, and one (olivia hopes) she didn't have to carry alone.

so entrances in sieglinde's stare and voice, she very nearly misses the movement the younger girl makes.

crimson appears in her peripheral, and once she realizes what's happening, her breath catches, hands immediately going for the girl's wrist. ]

S-Sieglinde — what are you doing..!

[grunehexe]

[Sieglinde didn't protest being grabbed, instead still fixing Olivia with the same, somewhat mysterious gaze.]

I am waiting for you to use your spell.

[The blood along the cut welled, a drop beginning to run down her finger.]

[winces]

[ mysterious or crazed? at the moment, olivia couldn't be too certain. for all the calm that sieglinde possess in this situation, olivia feels her anxieties spike and fluctuate. her grip, too, tightens briefly around the girl's wrist, as if that might somehow stave the bloodflow entirely. ]

Th-This is crazy!

[ though olivia supposes it could have always been worse.

trying to regulate her breathing and focus, the older of the two looks back down to the cut on the finger. she tries to recall the words that sieglinde had taught her, but they come out jumbled, unfocused. ]

A-As, um. As I see thee — blood—

[ oh — to heck with it!! she bites down on her lip, staring at the cut and just willing it to go away. ]

[grunehexe]

This scratch is nothing.

[It's not reassurance. Just a statement. Reassurance would be little help, because out in the riots, amidst the blood and the screams... There was no reassurance for the healer. It was the healers job to reassure the wounded. Make them better. Be calm.]

But I desire you heal it.

[The words didn't matter at all- they were words to a spell of her own world that had turned out to not even be a true spell at all. They only mattered for the focus they could bring, the clarity. Sieglinde's uninjured hand moved, her small palm coming to rest on Olivia's forehead.]

As I see thee weltering in thine blood...

[Prompted.]

[winces]

[ it's terrible, really, hearing the contrast between their tones. sieglinde's voice is so tiny and youthful, yet it holds so much wisdom and weight and calm that olivia feels almost stifled by it. she yearns for that kind of control, the kind of focus that would render her a competent party in any team.

she sighs. and then a little deeper, forcing her anxieties to leave with the air in her lungs. ]

As I see thee weltering in thine blood... [ she just needs to try. —no, try harder. ]

I call upon the goddess who governs... [ this is nothing. this is nothing compared to what she could be doing out there. to what she hopes one day she would be doing. ]

Whom I beseech to aid thee now.

[ please. ]

[grunehexe]

["Please" would do little for a spell... But everything else Olivia was doing helped. Calming herself, focusing on breathing, focusing on words Sieglinde had chosen to attach this spell precisely because one couldn't avoid thinking of healing with imagery that spell came with.

Her thumb moved slightly against Olivia's brow, brushing at rose-colored hair, as the tiny cut on the finger of her other hand slowly sealed itself, leaving no sign that the delicate skin had ever been cut at all.

There. Sieglinde pulled back her hand, letting out a breath.]

- there. See what you have done?

[winces]

[ if only the magic worked on willpower alone. all the "pleases" could heal all of chantes, but that would certainly be too convenient, wouldn't it?

but sieglinde certainly knew what she was doing. breathing, calming, it all helped, and better yet, olivia can see how it has, present (or, rather, not present) on sieglinde's skin.

she isn't always so scatter-brained, of course. sure, she may seem it, but when push comes to shove, when it comes down to it, she can focus as good as the rest of them. in her dancing, and even in her fighting — she knows when she has to buckle down and do what she has to do.

but healing... this has never been her forte. sure, she's made use of her fair share of concoctions back home, but this is another beast altogether.

she's suddenly so glad sieglinde had been kind enough to teach her. ]

...wow. That was — that was really amazing... did I really do that...?

[grunehexe]

[After all, if wishes were horses even beggars would ride.

For as intense as Sieglinde was just moments ago, in her demeanor, her gaze, the steel in her voice, it's finished now, and she's just a girl again- albeit a know-it-all genius girl child, who smirks a bit proudly even while praising another.]

Yes, you did- that is the power of green magic.

[The skills of the apprentice spoke directly to the skills of the master, after all!

[winces]

[ to be fair, she has every right to be smug — this is all her doing, after all. ]

Green magic, [ olivia repeats rather dumbly. a part of her is still not sure what that all could mean — as it truly green magic if the magic was born out of alastair? did that even matter? — but the other part supposes she should simply be happy she has managed to do something without completely screwing it up.

she sighs a little, lips folding into a wan smile. ]

I don't know how I can ever repay you, Sieglinde...

[grunehexe]

[A debatable topic- but Sieglinde meant it only as what she knew. That green magic was how one categorized the sort that relied on nature, that healed. The reason she was supposed to be called the Green Witch.]

You may do that be using this new ability of yours to heal others. That is what is needed- and what green witches provide.

[She didn't want to say the rest- that with what ALASTAIR did, it was likely they'd likely need that healing sooner rather than later.]

[winces]

[ olivia sucks in a breath then, her eyes wide and mouth parted. she lifts a hand to cover it, but it does nothing to hide the pinkening of her cheeks. ]

A-Are you saying I'm a green witch too...?

[grunehexe]

Not quite yet.

[She'll burst that bubble right quick, Olivia- but. Not cruelly, as she says it with something of a smile.]

But you have the capacity now, and under my tutelage that is what you may become.

[winces]

[ she doesn't look too devastated by the idea — in fact, she just looks hopeful. ]

Oh — I promise I'll do my very best, Sieglinde! I won't let you down, I promise!

[ looking flustered, her hands come up to hastily pat down her hair, as if she were expected to present herself to someone important soon. ]

I'll help out as many people as I can, whenever I can... [ she looks elated by the idea. almost high off of it.

finally, finally — she'll be able to do something for someone around here. ]

[grunehexe]

[The duty of a green witch was simple. To heal, and to create that which nurtured life. Now that she was free from her village and her mother, she could actually do that herself.

And raise apprentices to do the same.

Sieglinde's expression softened, breaking into a full smile.]

That is all you need to do.