ruinsprofessor

Uh.

[ Shit, he started talking before he meant to. How is he supposed to say this? This is... a whole lot. What just happened is taking him a dizzying moment to process now he's trying to say it aloud. ]

Are you free, Raine?

[That's a little less put-together than she usually expects from Cain. Hm.]

I can be. Is something wrong?

I'm not sure. Something... weird happened.

[ At least he's honest about it. ]

Where can I meet you?

[Weird from Cain says a lot, given the blasé nature with which he meets so much.]

There's a relatively secluded park a little ways from our apartment, if you like?

[She's already home from the Guild for the day, but...]

Near your apartment? I might know the one.

[ He does spent a fair amount of his time wandering the city, memorizing the streets and the buildings and the goings-on around. He's been to Raine and Solomon's place before, knows the area and considers what she might be referring to. ]

That works. I'll see you there shortly.

[Raine practices there, sometimes.]

I'll be there.

[She'll be there when Cain shows up, cross-legged under a tree with her staff across her knees.]

[ When he arrives, it's without a hurry in his step and he doesn't look nervous or anything. Everything is almost normal except that he seems... tired. Drained of energy. When he sees her, he merely comes over, sits near to Raine, and exhales. ]

Hi. Thanks for coming out.

Of course.

[Raine tilts her head a little, studying Cain. Yes. Something's wrong. Tired is not a word she's ever associated with him, really. Except, maybe, once.]

Cain?

[Out with it.]

[ He knows that tone. Maybe not necessarily from Raine, but he knows the tone of someone who wants information because something is off about you and they're worried. He gets that every now and then. ]

I think I may have healed someone's broken arm.

[Raine blinks at him. Whatever she was expecting, it wasn't that.]

[Point a: the uncertainty.]

You think? What element of uncertainty remains?

[And point b:]

...how?

It was sort of... [ He considers how to say it, lost in thought for a moment before he brings himself back to the conversation. More centered. ]

I found something that looks like my soul gem, and starting hopping bookstores to see if I could find anything out before checking on the network or radio. [ He holds his hand out for Raine to see: along with his soul gem, there's another choker wrapped around his wrist rather than setting on his neck. This one has a full stone in the center that looks like it should fit into the recess of his soul gem. ] After I'd been browsing for a while, some other kedan came in. One of them had her arm in a sling and it felt like... my ears popping from altitude? And she was healing, and I got tired all of a sudden, very tired. Then it stopped when her arm was better and... they didn't see me there, so I left and called you.

[ He sighs, letting his hand drop unless Raine takes it to look for herself. ]

Like I said before: it was weird.

[Raine does take his hand, curious, and prods gingerly at the new gem, both physically and magically.]

How quickly did she heal-- could you tell? You didn't make any physical action toward her? Was there a mental shift in intent, or perhaps even wishful thinking regarding her injury?

[All important data points. In a moment she'll let his hand go, thinking.]

Where did you find it? It may be this is another of those things the Dreaming creates.

[ Physically, it seems nothing more than a gem. Magically speaking, there isn't any energy in it while not being used. Dormant for now. He lets her hold his hand until she's done, sagging just a bit from where the tiredness is set in, but not enough to make him look weakened. ]

About the same rate I would, so: quickly. When I noticed the injury was when it happened, but I don't think I thought anything weird. Raine, the living can't use magic in my world. That includes me.

[ So what is exactly is happening? ]

It was in my hand when I woke up this morning. Something from the Dreaming was what I figured, but I'm not exactly prone to making journal in my sleep.

[Raine rests her hands on the staff in her lap, watches Cain. That phrasing doesn't seem incidental.]

About the same rate you would, and you yourself feel very tired.

[There's something there. She can't lay a finger on it yet, but there's something.]

You're not in your own world any longer, Cain. There's a large amount of... magical cross-contamination, I suppose you could call it. Solomon has folded pieces of Bakura's magic into his. A number of kedan have proven capable of learning both mine and Aqua's magic. There's no reason that here you shouldn't be able to learn something new, especially if the Dreaming is involved.

[Raine considers. They need to test this somehow.]

[ He raises his brows to that, intentional and knowing. It wasn't incidental at all, and that's part of what worries him in what's happening. This shouldn't be possible and yet somehow it seems to fit; he doesn't really like it. ]

It isn't so much about cross-contamination as it is the fact that I'm not capable. You can't multiply zero and get anything but zero, and this is the same. Especially healing; that isn't something we even have.

[ Despite the words, Cain isn't arguing. He's adding point to counterpoint, hoping to chip off the edges of the mystery until they can crack it open. ]

But it is something you have. Or-- are would be a better word, I suppose.

[Raine's still thinking, gears turning steadily.]

How do you feel now?

Not magically. I know what you're saying, but what I am doesn't translate to what I can actively do.

[ He sighs, shifts so that he can place his back to the tree and tilts his head to give her a sardonic look. ]

I'll probably sleep through the night just fine, but nothing else feels out of place.

[Raine shakes her head.]

Didn't.

[Because obviously, something has changed. Even if it's only as long as he's wearing this fascinating new piece of jewelry.]

That's a relief. Do you think you could reproduce the effect?

[She's not generally in support of injuring only for teaching purposes, but if it's only her, and only something small-- well, she can fix it in eight seconds maximum. Unfortunately, she doesn't make a habit of carrying a knife. Hm. She gives Cain another long, thinking look.]

[ That isn't something he can argue, so he just tips his head to the side in acquiescence. He doesn't like it, but that doesn't mean he's in outright denial. Just... trying to understand how it all fits together. ]

That one is up in the air. Chances are yes, if the trigger is actually just noticing an injury.

[Too much they don't know. An isolated instance does not make for a usable set of data. Raine considers the course of action a little longer, and then:]

Hm. Do you happen to carry something sharp?

[ Cain's head cants briefly and he nods, reaching into his pocket to pull out the switchblade he tends to keep on himself. Just in case. ]

I don't think I can induce extra healing on myself, though.

[Raine reaches over, briskly takes the switchblade from him. She turns her left hand palm-up -- the bracelets there clank softly -- and scores a swift line over the heel of her palm, grimacing faintly as she does. She's had worse, of course, but she doesn't generally go in for inflicting injury solely for practice; it's been years since she did, back when she was first adrift in Sylvarant and still desperately needed practical repetition of first aid, with only Genis for company.]

[Still. The sooner they know what Cain's doing, the sooner he can control it. Raine offers him her hand, wordless, to see what happens.]

[ Cain sees what she's doing as soon as her offhand turns over and he merely levels her with something of an exasperated look. Not the idea he would have gone for when there were likely other options to explore, but he has to admit it is simple in its efficiency and there's no danger to be had. Still, he doesn't appreciate when his children are hurt.

The line is cut out, the blade pulls away, Raine offers her hand, and Cain takes it. He feels it again, that rush of something filling him up like fresh air in his lungs, his mind almost coming into clearer focus save for the fact that nothing changes, the atmosphere feeling more charged to him alone. The wound starts to heal, tracing the steps from start to finish and pulling in any drawn blood along the way.

Cain breathes softly, awaiting another wash of tiredness to come with it, yet he barely feels anything even resembling a nudge. His brow furrows, then one quirks up, and he raises his head to give Raine a one-shouldered shrug. ]

[Raine ignores the exasperated look, instead only watches her hand, fascinated. It's not her style of healing, which regenerates; this is markedly Cain's, she can tell by how the errant blood actually returns to her.]

Scale and distance likely affect how much it drains you, then. You still look better than when you first got here.

[She hands him his knife back.]

If you don't mind, I'd like you to come by the Guild perhaps half an hour before lunch, sometime in the next few days.

Right, I didn't feel it much at all. Distance can be a factor like that?

[ Cain takes the knife, not even touched by the blood that had been there, and folds it before putting it back in his pocket for now. He just raises a brow at the request. ]

Half an hour before? Time to experiment before break?

radio; sept. 26

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cw; minor self-injury

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