Danger Zone

[lastexit]

WHO: Maya, some open, some closed
WHAT: A collection of things for the latter half of February
WHEN: Let's not focus on details like that
WHERE: All over
NOTES: Various things will probably be tagged with specific content warnings as they come up. The usual Maya stuff. Also her permission post as is standard.

(Open) A. Learning Lessons

After the dance Maya's more than a little... aware, of her shortcomings. And if she plans to help put this final countdown on hold, she'll need to step up all the skills she uses. She isn't a fighter because learning to fight has never been one of the things she was good at, she's the band nerd sister. If Katie had powers, she could beat up anyone she wanted. But here she was.

So Maya can be found making a pest of herself in the Legionnaire Quarters, working out and trying to keep in shape. She's also skulking around the Mythril Cage watching other people spar and practice, she might be impossible to hear coming but she's very visible if you look at her. And asking all sorts of questions about what can be made when she's around the Anvil of Hadur.

All her activities run toward the same idea: what sort of tools can be made to fight with, that are easy to learn, and can be minimally loud magically speaking. That last one propbably takes more explaining than Maya directly offers.

(Open) B. Practice makes Perfect

Maya's taken over one of the band practice spaces and set up several speakers and music playing devices she's found in storage. Record players, a boombox from the 70s, her computer, her phone, each one playing a different 'thing' for her to practice on. Mix tapes, Best of Queen discs, youtube covers, a few TED talks.

A bunch of things that shouldn't be playing at once. And fortunately for those that pass her door... only one thing is making noise at a time as Maya practices muting the various objects around her. Controlling the sound so that only one thing can be heard and all the other objects in the circle around her are quiet.

...Of course sometimes trying to balance so many things at once gets too much and she gets frustrated, turning off the sound of everything in the building for a few seconds. But- what can you do, you have to practice right?

(Open) C. Overcoming Obstacles

Maya had a half-dozen objects made, tiny things the size of baseballs to be hidden around the school for her to go and find. She enlisted her friends to help her on this. Each one had a magical camouflage to them, that once set would make them invisible. But as it's magic, it meant it created a specific noise that Maya could follow.

They were meant to do two things, first is she had to hear past the chaos of the campus to find them, helping to control how overwhelmed her senses were. The second was to work on hearing things further away, focusing her mind to better track a noise.

No point in learning to fight, while letting her natural gifts degrade to being useless in the process.

So Maya's moving around campus trying to grab things from trees, under bushes, and in the various buildings. Invisible things. Naturally this looks weird to anyone who doesn't know her.

W.Wildcard

Comments

CLOSED to Hector - Sound of Strings

[lastexit]

Maya had been in her room, listening to music while doing homework. Normal, non-magic, homework. Which meant she might as well listen to music. This should have been a nothing sort of thing. Except eventually a song came on and Maya just- stopped. She left her homework all over her bed as she researched the song that just came on and where he came from.

--- Later that Night...
Maya couldn't find Hector during the day, she looked but he just- wasn't anywhere, so she did the smart thing and went into town. Then listened for where he might have been to go find him. She had to talk to him anyway, give him back his money now that she had a new plan for how to defend herself... eventually.

But now she had a new reason to see him, and it was more pressing than that. Much more pressing. It didn't make any sense, and it seemed like she'd get more answers from Hector than Ms. Rivera. And there was much less chance of Maya needing to answer for her own past talking with the more open of the ex couple.

Once Maya found Hector she did what she normally does, forget she doesn't make any noise and sneak up on him. "Who is Ernesto de la Cruz?"

[unpocoloco]

Tonight, he's on his way to try and collect some notes for later morning tutoring sessions, possible new essays to go over too. He's made himself a checklist for what to grab, just to be sure, eyes upon it as his cane tap, tap, taps along the ground.

And then suddenly, there's a voice there behind him, and he's letting out a high scream. The list goes fluttering off and the cane clangs to the ground and he whirls only to find a girl, no monster at all. His hand goes to his heart, the other to his knee as he slumps.

"Oh... Maya... dios mio, don't do that to me. Oh god..." He groans and rubs at his face, reaching down for his cane and bracing on it then as he catches his breath. "I'm sorry, what did you say...?"

[lastexit]

Maya helps by collecting up his list, she looks guilty. Right, she should warn people where she is. Except that'd still be her making noise behind people without any warning. Eventually she'll figure out how to show up in front of people not behind them.

"Ernesto de la Cruz. Who is he?" She's going to offer him his list while repeating her question. She'd researched the name but couldn't connect him to Hector, just that his guitar was definitely the guitar.

[unpocoloco]

He reaches for that paper, only for his hand to go still. There's a quick rush of panic, of anger, of that deeper gut-churning sickness to think that if she knows of Ernesto then she knows of those... of that...

He steels himself, closing off with a frown. He turns his eyes down, dusting off that list and folding it up to tuck away. And have the excuse not to look at her.

"Some famous musician?" He just barely keeps the venom from his voice. "Why are you asking me?" Did Peter tell her?

[lastexit]

Maya looked very unimpressed by that pokerface, and that answer. It was obvious he wanted to avoid her eyes as he took the list. If only because she knows that isn't it.

"I heard him play while I was doing homework. He's playing your guitar." Maya's arms cross over her chest as she considers how to better get an answer. "Now, wanna try again at who he is?"

CLOSED to Sari - Tattoos and Touch

[lastexit]

Maya figured going to Sari's room was better than Sari coming over to her's, for starters the pretense for showing up would be less weird with Sari's roommate than with Maya's. Zaka is a good kid, but he's a boy, and given how hard Sari's been flirting with Maya- anyway.

That wasn't the only reason Maya wanted to talk to the rune expert, but it was certainly an interesting way to break the ice. Maya listened at the door to hear if Sari's magic was in, took a steadying breath, and knocked on the door. And fortunate for Maya... she made noise on the very first attempt.

[inkedspell]

Sarona comes to the door easily, side stepping her cleaning golem as it folds her laundry. Her roommate isn't in right now anyway, so it works out that Maya is visiting right then. She opens the door and leans against it when she sees her. She's currently dressed in a baggy tank top that has obviously seen better days and shorts.

"Oh hello," she grins. "What brings this luck to my door?"

[lastexit]

"Well, I wanted to ask you about some things." Maya sounded like business, at least at first. She did take a moment to glance over Sari's outfit. Maya smirked, after a long moment of just standing there, "And you did offer to show me more of your tattoos."

Well, she might as well call that one in, given the topic will be runework anyway. It's totally academic and not- you know, cute girl has been flirting with her.

[inkedspell]

"A tutoring session, then? "Sarona believes Maya about it being purely--mostly--for educational purposes, but that doesn't mean she won't tease and flirt the entire time.

"Why don't you step into my office, Miss Matlin..." She steps aside so that she can enter. The room is neat and well kept for the most part, although the very cluttered desk with ink bottles, scraps of metal and a metal engraving kit laid out on it is obviously Sari's. There is a two-foot tall golem on the floor propped against the desk that moved its head to watch them but did not move from its location.

"You can sit in the chair, or on the bed. Whichever you prefer."

A

[spelleton]

Maya's not a combatant - decidedly not - so it's interesting to see her here, among loud noises and louder people and the sound of weapons being made and honed to their peak in the Anvil.

He's here to see if the spells on his knives need renewing, and to maybe do a little maintenance that he doesn't usually have the time for.

"Miss Matlin! What a surprise." His voice is pleasant as ever. "What business brings you here today?"

[lastexit]

"Oh, um, figured I should learn a little more about what sort of things can be made here. How all that works." Maya's reacting to sounds nobody else can hear, but that's pretty standard for her. And being here is seeming to take its toll, but she's being a trooper about it.

She hesitates, not sure where to start with what she's looking for, but that Mr. Gehring would probably know something to help, from what she's seen of him in combat, "Maybe figure out what spells weapons can have that are more... pleasant, for me."

[spelleton]

"Are you any good with weapons?" His tone is neutral, with no hint of judgement. In an almost absentminded way, he flips his main knife out of its sheath with effortless motion; it becomes a blur between his hands in short order. It helps him think, so it's not really for show. He just prefers his hands to be busy rather than idle, when giving such a matter thought.

"Though perhaps I should phrase it another way. Are you prepared to risk someone else's life at your hands, even on accident? It's a heavy burden, to take one up."

[lastexit]

Right, being good with them, that was a question she had zero answer to. She's never picked up a weapon. Ever. The second question does cause Maya to visibly hesitate, the phrasing kinda runs to Maya's core.

"I... know that I need to do something, doing nothing is just as much of a risk to someone else's life." She wasn't able to do much in Paris, she couldn't even keep track of one of their party (although Killua is terrifying so she shouldn't blame herself). And the demon fight she got so overwhelmed she needed rescuing. "But I've never touched a weapon in my life."

C

[abenoshutup]

Otoha's senses were beyond those of a mundane human, but they still weren't great. So, as far as she could tell, this girl was just poking around at the corners of campus, grabbing at nothing whatsoever. Weird, but not the weirdest thing she's seen in the last week.

Rather than ask what she's doing, Otoha decided to just watch her for a bit, not exactly hiding herself but not saying anything either. Let's see how long it takes her to notice.

[lastexit]

When someone's sound just doesn't move, yeah, Maya notices that. Someone just being around will linger in the back of her attention. Still, she just needs a few more inches and- got it. She pulls herself out of the bush she was scrambling in, and juggles an- invisible thing.

Fun fact, all of Maya's reaching into the bushes. No noise, from her, from the bush, from the thing Maya grabbed that is invisible.

"Some reason you're watching me?"

[abenoshutup]

Otoha blinked with mild surprise at how quickly Maya noticed her loitering, but tried to play it off as no big deal. "I mean, you're definitely doing something that might make people want to watch and figure out what you're doing."

[lastexit]

"You're the only audience I have right now, a few people stopped a moment or two but just went on with their day. And some of them probably were just checking their phone."

Maya plays with the- whatever invisible thing she's holding is until she finds the switch and it turns into a fairly dull looking steel gray sphere. Then she slips it into her pocket. "It's to help me hone my senses, finding things people hid for me."

A (Mithiril Cage)

[thedevilwearsgucci]

[Mithiril has odd resonant properties, and that includes sound. Maya's investigations will find her following the sound of gunfire, heavy impacts, and the kind of horrible noises that beautiful and pure things make when they die.]

[Upon reaching the cage, she'll probably notice the blood splatters first, the white feathers that are absolutely everywhere second, and the fact that there's literally nothing else in there third.]

[The noises haven't stopped. There's a monitor over there.]

[Take a look?]

[lastexit]

*Maya really wished that the barriers of the cage didn't keep her from hearing everything. It was a lot of noise to make barriers strong enough to contain some of the school's carnage. She's also fairly sure she doesn't want to go in from what little blood and feathers she sees.*

*So, yes, she'll start out watching from the monitor room. A hopefully safe(ish) spot to observe from for now.*

[thedevilwearsgucci]

[Maya is perfectly safe. There's nothing in the cage, right? Well, not in the physical world, anyway. However, the monitoring system automatically trains itself to the near-plane where it judges the most activity, and a nice and helpful "FEED SYNC: AETHERIAL" label shows on the display in the corner, next to the time stamp.]

[Well. That's interesting. While the cage itself looks empty, on the monitor trained on that same space, there's what looks like a librarian in a catsuit fighting radiant turkey creatures. Maybe she recognizes her as the school lit teacher, maybe not.]

[Well... maybe "fight" isn't quite the term for it. That implies a certain even capability between parties. At one point the stiletto-heeled woman punts one of the heavy creatures into the air with astonishing strength before unloading a cache of bullets from a very big gun into it in midair. Another takes a swipe with those holy polearm things; she backbends at the last second, firing a pistol... from her heel? (Yes. Her heels have guns.) into her attacker, blasting it back with a flurry of feathers. A third tries to swipe at her in melee, and she blocks it and forcibly rips the offending arm off of the creature with the kind of sound one wouldn't expect living flesh to make when torn apart.]

[Meanwhile, in the real world, more feathers and blood scatter onto the floor of the empty arena. Yeah. Maybe "slaughter" is the better word for what's going on here.]

Whoo! Thanks, boys. I needed that... I probably shouldn't use this thing to host these kinds of parties, but it's better than heading down to the village cathedral every day. After all, I'm a busy woman.

[Cereza says to the room, now devoid of any other living creature. Her voice is audible through the monitor speakers and, possibly, echoed through the open aether to Maya as well.]

[lastexit]

*Maya's trying to listen to the air and not just the monitor. Feel the magic in the area she might not be able to see. Being on a plane that isn't this one definitely hides it from her senses. But- not everything. The stronger hits reverberate a bit more, and when something finds its way out of the other place to here there's a slight buzz to the air Maya can hear even through everything.*

*It's gross, certainly, but not really enough to move that stillness that snaked through all of Maya's being. She looks over the monitoring equipment to find the right controls for what she wants. A microphone and a call button. To speak into the room, and she hopes into whatever other plane is connected to the monitors.*

What exactly is that, I mean where you are- were? While fighting those things?

*Being able to hear things just outside of reality might be a pain, but it should have some use. She'll ask about how you pull the trigger on guns strapped to your boots later. That's not as pressing.*

Anvil of Hadur

[heromedal]

Rex can often be found in the Anvil, always juggling multiple projects which he never trusts to leave in the hands of the staff (no matter how many get interested they get).

Rex considers every question carefully and answers them all with the sort of precise knowledge that is expected of him- or a promise to find out for her. His patience is just about infinite too. He has time- he's working on three things at once and keeps it up. He's arranged workbenches around in him a square, rolling from one to the other whenever whatever thought processes run through his head dictates it's best. He also may have insisted she wears proper eye protection.

One bench is for his rifle, what was once an AK-47 by now has been transformed piece by piece into something completely unique as every repair came with an upgrade. The other is constructing some sort of mechanical device with glasswork- it's actually a tea maker, but it kind of looks like it's a weird chemistry item. The third is the least visited, mostly just checking the elaborate device for coiling incredibly thin threads around each other to make thicker strands isn't tangling up.

The fourth just has a boombox, he's playing Motörhead today.

"Anyway, the easiest weapons in the world are almost certainly guns. Most of the training is about how not to accidentally injure yourself. And they're very good at killing things- so much so they have all but eradicated the usefulness of all other weapons in a very short timespan, historically speaking," he continues to explain as he carefully files a new part of his own rifle to the precise size he needs it to be. "They're not always as useful in the Real World as they are against conventional forces, but there's not much that doesn't at least dislike a 500mph piece of metal striking them and the older magical creatures sometimes forget they exist. I supplement mine with magic as well."

[lastexit]

"Isn't Motorhead a bit on the nose for being in a magical machine shop?"

What, it is!

Maya's not touching anything, but she is taking in the various sounds all the magics are making. As best she can anyway, lots of noise from the projects Rex has. As well as louder projects from nearby. Maya's trying to put his commentary about firearms into terms she best understands. As easy as it is to just accept guns beat everything else. Guns are a known quantity so there has to be a natural evolution for magic to counteract them.

Also, as she understood, different guns did different things. At least according to Grace, who knew a bit about stuff like that. "How easy are they to modify for magical uses? I imagine that the runework is easier on a knife or something."

[heromedal]

"Yeah." He leaves it at that, though with a tiny smirk. What? She's right. His musical choices aren't always subtle, and he feels a little more lively when he's doing his mad science thing.

"It depends upon what you wish to achieve," he explains as he raises a hand- there's some more of that techno that indicates his unconventional casting, tiny delicate pieces of his weapon floating up and clicking into place in ways that would be extremely difficult to do with his hands. "For the most part, I've focused on increasing the conventional effectiveness of the weapon."

Because like he says- most things don't like getting shot, so make your gun better in general, and it'll cover most problems.

"I then perform quick, short duration enchantments in the field when necessary." It suits his style of being ready for anything and having limited specialisation. "But you're right- inscribing a knife to burn when you swing it is much easier than making a gun that sets all its bullets alight- there's a lot of moving parts there, literally and figuratively."

He pops open one of his little pouches on his belt to offer up a bullet to her. It has been covered in runes. And maybe someone's name.

"You have to do this if you want the bullet to do something special."

[lastexit]

"Knowing what I want would probably help with this, wouldn't it?" She didn't know what was available, so she didn't know what to ask for. Range, and ease of use, would both be good for her. But a weapon meant pretty specifically to kill felt... wrong. She was a pretty good judge of what was, and wasn't, okay. Just relying on her powers to read a scene, but to make that leap. Turn something she blamed herself for on her inaction, into an action nobody could take away?

Could she.

And then the idea of making the weapon less lethal, using magic not to increase power, increase 'conventional effectiveness,' but specialize it's use. It felt childish, sad. The fate of the world and she wanted a stun gun. "I know what I don't need, I can probably fire a rocket launcher and if I do it right nobody would hear it. If I had half the training some people here have, the things that changed their sound, I could probably kill anyone I wanted. But I have no idea how to turn what I have into a something useful."

Not without giving up what little of herself she had left. The parts of her that almost looked like who she was a long time ago.