Cherry Blossom Prep

[yinyangwizard]

Abe no Seimei is out on the grounds, working his way through still-unmelted snow and slush, checking on his latent cherry blossom spell. It seems to have held up since last year - no degradation or emergent glitches - so he is mostly making cosmetic changes to it. You know, rerouting a scenic path up the mountainside here, adding an extra stone lantern for illumination there. The spell won't go into effect for another few weeks, but it's best to get started on this early, in case he changes his mind about some of the modifications he's making.

Once he’s done, he can be found at the Bar with a pot of green tea and a paper titled Sustaining Long-Term Magical Effects with Purpose-Built Fission Reactors.

Totally botherable inside or outside.

Comments

[herr_bookman]

Autor is out running, tennis shoes squelching in the mud and slush. Sweat beads on his temples and upper lip, and dampens his chest and back. He spots Seimei from a far off and changes course to meet him.

"Hello, Seimei. How are you?" Autor asks, between pants.

[yinyangwizard]

“Very well. Thank you, Autor-san.” Seimei bows. “Do you need a moment to catch your breath?”

It’s a bit awkward to try carrying on a conversation with someone who’s gasping for air.

[herr_bookman]

"Yes," Autor says, leaning over and resting his hands on his knees, "please."

He fills his lungs with oxygen and wipes the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm. "Thanks. What are you doing out here? Just a morning constitutional?"

[yinyangwizard]

“Oh! Checking my cherry blossom spell. It is due to go into effect in a few weeks, after all.”

To the best of Seimei’s recollection, Autor was here for the cherry blossoms last year.

[herr_bookman]

Autor straightens, nodding thoughtfully. "I remember those. They were beautiful. How many years have you been doing that now?"

[yinyangwizard]

“The past three. The spell has required a bit of tinkering, though, to make sure it does not degrade when dormant. It seems to have held up this past year.”

Seimei will still monitor it. Just in case.

[herr_bookman]

Autor tilts his head. "So you only had to cast it the first time? That's quite a spell."

[yinyangwizard]

“Goodness, I would not want to make something that complex from scratch more than once!”

Making a spell last like this can be difficult...but with a spell like this, it’s not as difficult as doing the same work multiple times.

“Besides, it was an interesting exercise to see if I could make something run off Milliways’ own magic. There is quite a lot of magic here, as one might suppose, but it is different to anything from my world. Or perhaps any other world.”

[herr_bookman]

"And the spell actually does run off of Milliways' magic?" Autor says, furrowing his brow.

[yinyangwizard]

“Yes. I had to get permission for that, of course.”

The Landlord doesn’t let people tap into the magic here or change the grounds willy-nilly.

[herr_bookman]

"From Mike?" Autor asks, adjusting his glasses.

[yinyangwizard]

“From the Landlord, through Bar-san.”

He is still surprised he got an answer to that inquiry, let alone a positive one.

[herr_bookman]

"Wait, what? The Landlord actually exists, and answers questions?" Autor says, blinking at Seimei. "Had I known it was that easy to get ahold of them..."

[yinyangwizard]

“I do not know if it was easy. I requested for Bar-san to ask on my behalf, and she delivered an answer on the Landlord’s behalf.”

In the Heian Period Seimei originally came from, this way of communicating through intermediaries was not unusual at all, at least not for nobles.

“The Landlord may choose not to answer most inquiries, for all I know. Or Bar-san could be pretending that such a person exists while she manages everything herself.”

[herr_bookman]

"Those are good points," Autor says, nodding thoughtfully. "Why would Bar pretend such a person exists?"

[yinyangwizard]

"To have someone to blame for unpopular decisions," answers Seimei, who has seen (and used) that very technique in the past.

[herr_bookman]

"Hmm. I guess I can understand that," Autor says, shivering a little now that his sweat has cooled. "Though you'd think Lady Bar would be able to take responsibility for her own actions."

[yinyangwizard]

"It is just a theory. I am simply not certain he exists, and am given to wonder why, if he does not, someone might invent him."

[herr_bookman]

"It's a solid theory," Autor says, nodding thoughtfully. "I don't mean to discount it. I can't think of any other reason that Bar would invent someone like that."

[yinyangwizard]

"There might be another reason, but I cannot think of one either. Then again, I am not Bar-san."

Bar is unique!

[herr_bookman]

"No, you are not," Autor murmurs, musing on that fact. "Bar is quite creative. Her magic must be something interesting to study."

[imthepilot]

Bodhi wanders through the area he was told the cherry trees would be, looking around in confusion.

{ooc: sorry, my bad. Is that better?}

[yinyangwizard]

"Good afternoon!" Seimei says cheerfully. "Oh my. Have you lost something? I am very good at finding lost objects..."

[imthepilot]

"Hello. I was told there was a grove of trees around here somewhere. An Earth tree called cherries?. I was told that they are very beautiful in bloom." He frowns.

[yinyangwizard]

"Oh! You are a few weeks early," Seimei says apologetically. "The trees will appear at the end of the month, and bloom for ten days or so."

[imthepilot]

"Oh!" Bodhi's eyes widen in frantic calculation. "Ten days. That's sooner than I thought."

"And this grove, it's open to everyone here?"

[yinyangwizard]

"It is more than just here. The trees will be all over the foothills, the mountainsides, this bit of lakeshore - around the Air Temple too." Seimei points at the Temple on its little island in the lake. "Plenty of trees for everyone to enjoy."

[imthepilot]

"Stars! I didn't realise how big it was. Who, or what is the temple dedicated to? I'm still learning Earth religion."

"Are you the keeper of the cherry grove?"

[yinyangwizard]

"The temple is not from an Earth religion," Seimei explains, "but from a world where the people worship elemental spirits - to put it simply. The temple is built in the tradition of those who revere air spirits and employ wind magic."

They seem to Seimei a lot like Tibetan Buddhists, but not quite.

"As for whether I am the keeper of the cherry trees...I suppose I am, for now."

He is trying to make it so that the cherry trees won't need a keeper - so that the spell will maintain itself.

[imthepilot]

"Then I guess you're the right person to ask, for permission." He hold his hands out, trying to find the right words. "I-we- my partner and I... we thought this might be a good place, to get married. If that's okay, that is."

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei's eyes widen. "Oh! A wedding under the cherry blossoms! I can give you a map to show where the best scenic spots are, unless you just want to do it here, at the lakeshore."

Looks like Seimei's on board.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi lets out a nervous laugh, clearly glad Seimei is okay with them marrying here. "A map would be great. Thank you. Either of us have been here a full cycle yet so I didn't know it was so big. Other people suggested it. They told us how beautiful it was."

[yinyangwizard]

"It honors and humbles me to know that people enjoy the cherry blossoms so much," Seimei says. He reaches into his coat and pulls out a folded map, which he opens up and turns the right way around. The map is a detailed topographical rendition of the Milliways grounds, or at least the parts that are relevant to the cherry tree spell.

"These are clearings - scenic spots for viewing and picnics and such - and these are paths through the foothills and up the mountainside. There is of course a clearing here in the lakeshore grove." He taps the appropriate spot on the map.

[imthepilot]

"This clearing here?" Bodhi points to a spot on the side of the mountain. "Would it be... private and quiet enough? We... We want to invite anyone who wants to come along but-at the same time, we don't expect many people. Either of us- we don't really have anyone anymore. We're both dead and the only people from our galaxy and time-" he breaks off, looking for the words, "They don't approve of us."

[yinyangwizard]

"For a small event, that would be a good spot," Seimei says. He gives Bodhi a serious look. "If you are concerned that someone with bitter feelings may make trouble for you and your partner, I can take precautions for you..."

That might not be what Bodhi has in mind, but it seems like a good idea to make the offer.

[imthepilot]

"Thank you." he ducks his head. "I don't think- I hope they won't make trouble. It's- old prejudices, from the war we all died in. They hurt Galen when he first arrived. I don't think they'd do it again. They haven't made peace with the fact he's here but I think they've accepted it as something they can't change."

[yinyangwizard]

"It is a bit silly to carry one's resentments into any afterlife that isn't one of the Hells, or being a ghost," Seimei says. "But all right. Oh! You must tell me your name, so I can send you and your partner a wedding gift."

[imthepilot]

Bodhi shrugs, he can't help what Baze and Chirrut carry with them after death.

"I'm Bodhi, Bodhi Rook." He offers Seimei his hand. "My partner is Galen Erso. But you don't need gifts. Just somewhere beautiful to make our promises to each other is enough."

"I grew up on a desert world so so much green is-" He gesture helplessly. Words are never enough.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei accepts the offer of a handshake. "I can but imagine. I grew up in a land famed for its natural beauty: that is where the cherry trees come from. In reality they would not do well in a place so cold and wet as this."

[imthepilot]

"How do you manage them? If this is the right climate for them? I mean I know I have to keep a lot of my plants in a greenhouse on our balcony across the winter but that's because Jedhian plants are use to cold and not wet."

[yinyangwizard]

"Well, they're magical constructs, so such considerations do not apply," Seimei says. "At the end of the bloom, all the trees disappear - along with any twigs or petals or such taken from them."

[imthepilot]

"Oh." Bodhi looks quietly disappointed. "I didn't realise."

[fairy_fixit]

Fairy Fixit is buzzing around the tavern, looking for shrunken people in order to get a better idea of what happened to them. She wasn't shrunken, she is still short of 2 feet tall.

The title of the paper causes her to double back and draws her to it like a moth to a flame. "How did I miss that document in the library?" she comments while hovering near it.

Apparently she can read upside down text just fine.

[yinyangwizard]

"Oh, this? I brought it from home," Seimei answers. "Although it may be available in the Library somewhere."

It's a very big library!

[fairy_fixit]

"Then such research is being conducted on your world, then?" she asks in amazement. "I've only ever read about fission reactors."

[yinyangwizard]

"There is one small group of mages conducting this research. Their magical tradition involves working with machines."

Seimei's doesn't, but he's used some of the machines that these mages have built.

"We have working fission reactors in my world. Like magic itself, fission can be used for good or ill, responsibly or recklessly."

[fairy_fixit]

"As is the case with most sources of power," she adds, nonchalantly.

"All I know is that the power output is quite tremendous. No use for such power exists where I am from, so no one has thought of researching such things." There are other sources of plentiful energy. It is almost horrifying how easy they are to exploit on her world.

"What kind of spell requires such power?"

[yinyangwizard]

"Maintaining a small artificial universe, powering magical computer or laboratory equipment, containing environmental hazards, providing regenerative therapy for the severely injured...any lasting effect where one would normally require access to a magical node."

That or a big pipeline of quintessence.

"I should note that the reactors under consideration here are very small. The size of a wastepaper basket. They use part of their own output to provide radiation shielding and recycle their own spent fuel and byproducts - very clever."