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Entry tags:

josiah,
ray

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Who: Ray, anyone who wants to join
What: Ray's feeling kind of discontent, so she takes a walk.
When: Monday, December 28th
Where: through the town and the Dark Depths

Ray wandered about Radiant Garden, wrapped in at least two layers of clothing, complete with shiny new scarf. She was hugging herself tightly in the cold as she walked, looking around at all the snow without really seeing it. Before she realized where she was going, she found herself at the Crystal Fissure and rushed through, staring at the ground with determination not to relive unpleasant memories.

She finally stopped when she reached the Dark Depths, where she looked down at the Maw. Her fear of heights had mostly dissipated upon learning to glide, allowing her to venture close to the edge of the cliff. There were Heartless writhing around below, dark blots upon blankets of white. She stared at them for a while, thinking about everything that had happened lately. It hadn't been a bad Christmas - it was her first white Christmas ever, and she'd been quite excited about that - but her high spirits had vanished again in the few following days, or she'd probably be back at home now, having hot chocolate with Rox and maybe Ari, if she decided to visit. But, well, things didn't always go as planned.

A good portion of this had to do with not knowing what to do with herself. Pretty much all she was good for since becoming a refugee was fighting, and frankly she'd had enough of that for the time being, even if she got some weird sort of elation from it. But the fact was that that was all she really did on this world anymore, and it didn't even really do much for the state of things. She'd go to Twilight Town, but she was just a baker there; they didn't need graphic designers or anything. She'd go back to Port Royal, but the crew already had suspicions about her, and that might lead to a mutiny if Ari wasn't around too - and Ray didn't want to force her to go somewhere. And regardless of whether she had family there or not, she was definitely not going back to Earth.

Maybe... Maybe it was time for an adventure. She spared a glance at her bracelet, poking out from under her sleeve. She could easily go wherever she wanted and explore the multiverse. It wasn't like they were lacking in fire or lightning mages, anyway. The refugees had plenty of those around. They didn't really need her to fight with them. Hell, maybe she'd even run into Cheryle along the way.

Pushing some snow out of the way, Ray cleared a spot and sat with one her legs dangling over the edge, the other pulled up to her chest for her chin to rest on. It was, of course, freezing, and her shivering got all the more visible, but she tried to ignore it, telling herself that she could just start a fire if she got too cold. But for now, she just grabbed a handful of snow, packed it tightly, and tossed it aimlessly. She watched it arc down, a small smile on her face, before doing it again. This time, it had hit a Heartless. She laughed as it stumbled and threw another. She was feeling a little better already.

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"For someone from the south, you're handling the cold pretty well," a voice said from behind her. Josiah was walking up to the Dark Depths, hands stuffed in the pockets of his long, dark coat, and looking altogether amused by the amount of snow that had fallen. He made sure that the wary look he gave Ray was before she turned around - it was slippery and she was sitting right at the edge of the Depths...

He didn't walk too much closer to her, already sensing some sort of unease in her soul... and irritation towards him. Yeah. He probably deserved the latter.

She had just enough time to throw another snowball before he approached. The smile she'd had faded into a frown with a sigh, and she glanced over her shoulder.

"You forget, I know Fire magic." Looking back out at the Maw, she added, "And I have a nice, warm coat."

Warm coat doesn't do much if you're actually sitting in the snow, he thought, but didn't say so aloud. Instead, he ventured a few more steps closer and followed her gaze to the myriads of Heartless just below.

"Just like old times," he murmured, although there was no nostalgia in his voice when he said. More like a weary acceptance.

"Old times my foot," she muttered. She heard him come a little closer, but didn't react to it, instead packing some more snow and throwing it aimlessly. She sat in silence for a minute, watching it fall.

"What do you want, Josiah?" she asked finally.

He sighed, watching the packed snow on its long descent to the bottom of the cliff. There were a hell of a lot of people he needed to apologize to for his actions, but Ray was at the top of that list. What had happened in September... he hadn't gone about it the right way, and now he felt guilty about the consequences of what he had done.

"Went over your house and Rox said you had left. Figured this was as good a place as any to check." He paused. "I came to apologize. For everything that happened this year and... what happened after Calum was gone. I shouldn't have left without saying good-bye."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. You have important stuff to worry about, and that'll make you forget about more trivial things. That's just how it goes," she said matter-of-factly, shrugging.

Ray fingered her bracelet, wondering idly if now would be a good time to leave Radiant Garden. She'd always hated situations like this, whether she was actually involved or not. Of course, if she did, it would mean she would be running away, and she wasn't too fond of that idea. So she made a small fireball to play with instead, and tossed it back and forth in her hands absently.

"No." He shook his head, a frustrated look on his face. "You're wrong. It's not and wasn't ever trivial. After everything you did to help me, I didn't even say good-bye, let alone thank you for what you did. Dammit, you helped save my life and I-" He sighed again, looking away. "I am a world-class idiot."

Understatement of the year.

"People forget," she said simply. She threw the fireball back and forth a few more times, finally tossing it over her shoulder at Josiah without enough power to actually reach him. "Besides, there's not much we can do about the past. It's passed, y'know?"

Okay, that was kind of lame. But she ignored that - she meant what she said.

"Gotta just keep moving forward."

"Yeah, but..." He trailed off and rubbed his eyes wearily with a groan. "Why do I have the feeling that you're going to be using me as target practice sometime in the near future?" As if on cue, the small fireball came sailing over Ray's shoulder, and although it didn't have enough power to actually hit him, he gestured slightly, infusing the fire magic with his own with a quietly whispered spell. The red-gold flame quickly changed to blackish-blue and lost all heat. It silently floated over to him and he caught it in the palm of his hand before quickly extinguishing it.

"I need to make it up to you somehow - without a bulls-eye ending up on my forehead," he mused, almost to himself. "Maybe with a baby seal. Or a nunchaku. Or a baby seal with a nunchaku." He frowned at the mental image and then shook his head. "Or not."

Ray listened the fire as it faded out, a small grin appearing on her lips. Soon after the flame was gone, there was a small drop in temperature - not much, but enough to notice. The shadows seemed to grow and pooled around the area in a manner that was eerily similar to an old foe of theirs. She didn't move, but she glanced over her shoulder once more.

"Target practice, eh?" she said softly.

"Uh... yeah," he said, shrugging slightly. He paused for just an instant, and something sparked in his eyes. "Although... you'd have to catch me first."

Almost as soon as he said that, tendrils of shadow separated themselves from the rest, curling around his ankles to get a tight grip and hold him in place. She felt it falter just so, and quickly fought with the magic to hold it steady.

"Gotcha."

He blinked at the suddenness of it, and then made a face.

"Oh come on now - that's cheating."

"All's fair in love and war, right?" She took her time packing another snowball, aimed, and threw it.

"Now wait just a seco- ACK!!" He flailed, trying to duck in time to avoid the snowball, but ended up getting hit in the chest. His sudden movement, plus his inability to actually move his legs, sent him tumbling backwards into the snow with an "oof".

He lay there for a moment, grumbling beneath his breath.

Another snowball followed almost immediately after the first, and then came another.

"You're the one who mentioned target practice," she said simply, pulling her legs up from over the cliff to see him better.

"I was hoping you'd go for something else," Josiah said, sitting up slightly... only to get hit in the head with another snowball. He went right back down and stared up at the sky. "Dammit."

She shrugged. "You're right there." She regarded him thoughtfully before continuing, "I could always use magic instead of snowballs, you know."

He sat up again, very slowly and gave Ray a look. "So instead of pelting me with snowballs, you're going to try to light my hair on fire?" He got his feet, brushing snow off his coat. "I think I'm going to have to stop you right there."

"And where's the fun in that?" Ray asked, idly playing with another fireball. She pushed herself up to her feet with one hand, keeping one eye on him almost placidly.

"The fun of getting my hair lit on fire or getting smacked in the head with yet another snowball?" he asked, a mischievous grin on his face. In retaliation, he called up fire of his own, the same blackish-blue flame before.

She glanced his flame with idle fascination, throwing her own back and forth in her hands.

"Magic," she whispered affectionately, raising her eyes - avoiding his heart; she didn't want to see it right now - to meet his. She gave him a small, cold smile and asked plainly, "Do you think you can beat me?"

He paused at her question - could he? A few months ago, the answer would have been no. Magically, Ray could beat him in a fight, no questions asked.

But that was before he had the living memories of a master spellcaster in his mind.

He sighed and shrugged. "Maybe. Probably not. Guess we could find out?"

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the fire in her hands flared suddenly, going straight for him. Ray herself hadn't moved, and she still wore that smile as she watched him carefully through the flames.

He had less than a second to react, and he threw up his hand, causing the blue flame to ignite to an even larger fire, enough to block most of Ray's attack. Some tendrils of of flame slipped through the small shield of magic, and he jumped back to avoid them, slightly unbalanced due to the snow.

He quickly lowered the shield, blinking at Ray. The confused look was quickly replaced by a quick, almost feral grin. "Round one, eh?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him, eyes narrowing as her smile widened just a little. Her fireball continued to move like a metronome in her hands, flaring now and then to throw some of the flames at him. The dark magic she'd cast before returned now, snaking toward him from the fire's shadow to wrap, once again, around Josiah's legs.

He was a bit more prepared for the binding magic this time around. He murmured a spell quietly in French, and something similar to an Aero spell flared up between them, sending snow flying every everywhere, turning to steam where it hit the magical flames, and, for just a few seconds, providing near whiteout conditions.

He took a step backwards, calling up a ball of lightning-laced dark fire in his hands, the entire thing of magic swirling with shadows.

"Looks like you found out more about dark magic," he noted. He could see the affect of it on her soul, and wasn't sure whether to be concerned or not.

"Not really." It wasn't a lie - this was maybe the fifth or sixth time she'd bothered with dark magic. The only reason she hadn't lost control of it yet was because it used the same technique as light. And even so, she was having a bit of trouble with it, if the subtle trembling was any indication. She'd never been much of a dark mage; it just wasn't her thing.

The darkness pulled away from him and receded into normal shadows. The only magic openly remaining to her now was the fireball in her hands, still being tossed back and forth. Ray watched Josiah and his own ball of magic impassively, waiting for him to make the next move.

"Not really?" he echoed, looking curious as to her statement. He mimicked her movements with the magic in his hands, trying to figure out a few things. He figured she was mad at something - most likely, it was him - but this cool, unnerved attitude didn't sit well with him.

He sighed inwardly. Ah well. It wasn't like Ray was one of those people who opened up and talked about feelings and rainbows and puppies or anything. Still...

He noted the trembling and frowned slightly before pitching the magic he held at Ray like a curve ball, the dark fire abruptly changing properties to become lightning-laced water. It was only fair to use spells he was more comfortable with, and fire, for both him and Calum, had never been the easiest of spells to cast.

Along with that pitch, he sent another subtle spell along with it, faster than even that magic, weaving around the magic that Ray was using. She said all was fair in love and war, but he didn't think it was right that she was using spells more fit for a dark mage. If they were going to spar, they might as well be on the level.

It wasn't much, simply a small outward tweak to her magic, to use if she wanted to, to balance out her own use of darker spells.

"Not really," she repeated with a shrug.

When he threw the ball her way, Ray released the fire with a flare, sidestepping and thrusting her arms out toward it. She was aiming to do something she hadn't quite done before: extract the extant lightning and, using the momentum Josiah had given it, throw it back at him. She didn't know if it would work - hell, she hardly expected it to. But lightning was her specialty; she knew how it worked, how it moved, what it took to control it.

Maybe she'd never tried it before, but it couldn't be that hard, she reasoned. It wasn't like you were summoning the magic yourself, after all, just wrestling for - and stealing, if all went according to plan - control of it. But without any practice, something so simple in theory could be beyond reach.

He noticed what she was doing, felt it the moment she tried to pull the magic away from him. Why she was doing it was anyone's guess but he wasn't going to let it go that easy. Unlike Ray, he didn't specialize in any of the elemental magics (the closest would have been blizzard, thanks to Calum's affinity with water) so he'd have to think of a spell that would allow him to bypass Ray's efforts. Besides, he only had seconds to act.

He gritted his teeth in effort, taking a step back to balance himself and whispered, "Separare."

The lightning recoiled in the magic he sent flying towards her and abruptly separated with a clap of thunder from the water magic it had been entwined with so that two sources of magic were now headed towards Ray. It was easier to control the lightning better this way.

Her eyes narrowed as one hand pointed almost instantly toward the water, summoning white-hot flames in the hopes of evaporating it.

But her concentration remained on the lightning, now separate from the water. According to the theory she was working out, this should make stealing control both easier and harder - easier because she didn't need to pull it from the water and his concentration was split between the two magics, harder because hers had been split as well until Fira had been completely cast.

She had to gather her thoughts quickly. And as soon as she felt her grip on the lightning tighten just so, she began to pull at it once more.

He grimaced, just pouring more magic into the attack, letting the fire magic envelope the increased amount of water. The moment the two elements hit, there was a hissing noise as the water vaporized, and a large burst of steam filled the air between the two of them, completely obscuring the view between the two of them.

In the middle of the steam cloud, the lightning magic paused between the two of them and immediately set off a light show above the snow.

Josiah paused, blinked, and then began laughing. "Nice."

Ray made a face - that was most certainly not what she was aiming for. She shifted her weight slightly. Keeping one hand holding onto the unmoving magic, she moved the other to throw one of her own bolts of lightning at him.

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