fellpool | +24+ [action]

[It had been a long time since he had relied on his alchemy to this level. While he knew that Symbology still worked to a certain degree, he also knew that having anyone rely on it in this time period would not be helpful without a Symbologist around to regularly maintain the created symbols. So when it became clear that they should be supporting the small village's growth, he found himself once again volunteering his time at the smithy.

Iron and scrap iron had been around in large quantities back in their time, allowing the smithy workers to work on their projects without worrying about resources. That wasn't quite the case in this time period. So, he volunteers in transmutating ruined metal back to a more workable base, though it's a much slower process than he's used to because of the power cap.

Creating crude light bulbs out of glass jars and transmutated wiring is also a project of his, which sends him to the supply center looking for glass containers.

When he's not working on transmutation, he takes notes on the Poké balls he brought, sketching and writing while eating lunch. While he may not be able to do much work on actually building a functioning one, studying them is at least a change of pace. They seemed to work the same, at least.

Most days, he eats his lunch out in the plaza to get away from the sounds and smells produced in the smithy. When the weather is bad, he takes shelter in the smithy's storefront, which is more a repository for tools and other things that require metalwork.

All the while, he wears a pair of black shades on his head, which aren't exactly necessary in this season. But stuff like that had never stopped Precis from wearing them everywhere, either.]

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[Leon yawns as he sits on one of the benches near the fountain; working on alchemy for extended periods of time made him tired, and he was thankful for breaks that allowed him to momentarily escape the sounds of metal being worked and wrought. Even if it was unlikely for him to actually fall asleep with the various work around him, his diminished concentration greatly increased the chance of ruining the metal he worked on.

He smiles faintly when he sees Raven approaching. It was nice to be able to continue working with Raven; they both knew where the other was, they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses at work, and there was someone to walk back to the apartment with at the end of the day.]

How're you doing?

[She stops at the fountain first, pulling off her gloves and scooping up water to scrub her face with. Then she dries her hands on her coat and joins Leon on the bench.]

I'm okay. Just tired. [Not the bone-weariness of the first few days, but the kind of tired that comes from a day of hard work and sends her to bed not long after the sun sets.] What about you?

I'm tired too. [If they were being honest...] I could use a nap.

[But they were having lunch instead. While he doesn't mind eating fresh foods again, he does find himself missing some of the more convenient meals that they could get in their "normal" time period.]

Any exciting projects so far?

[Fresh foods are just one part of the smaller village earlier time experience, which feels a lot like coming home, to Raven. They had traveling merchants and shipments in Sharance, but...this is still nice. Simpler, though not always easier, and with an outside sense of something always about to go wrong that she can't shake.]

Not really. A lot of tools. [Somehow her lunch is always a surprise even though she makes it for herself; she looks intrigued by the sandwich as usual before taking a bite.] The things you do are more interesting.

Interesting? [He repeats the word with a note of surprise; his work seems pretty bland and uninteresting to him.] I don't know about that.

Things just seem harder in general right now. It's a little frustrating.

They are harder. [Actual work and then more work later in order to get actual food. In a lot of ways this place is behind Sharance in advancements and connectedness to the world.] Maybe we just got...content in the future.

I wouldn't mind so much if the barrier wasn't so restrictive. [While he did have to admit that he'd become used to a fairly easy existence in Luceti, that wasn't really his source of frustration in this place.]

It'd be much easier to help if using our powers, our magic, wasn't so draining.

Why is it like this? [Raven doesn't use her abilities much for blacksmithing, and there are no monsters to worry about while she forages, so she hasn't questioned it much. She knows the barrier is the cause, but not the purpose.]

For a long time, I'd-- and I'm pretty sure most other people-- assumed it was because the Malnosso wanted to suppress our powers so we couldn't fight back. No one really gave us a straight answer.

But now that we know about what's outside of the barrier, I think we can conclude that it's been this strong to keep everything out. The barrier used to be this strong when I first arrived, and it sucked.

It isn't like making it less strong would call everything out there to come attack us. [That is not how nature works. She'll insist.]

Maybe they just ... can't. [He makes a face even as he says that; admitting impossibilities where technology was concerned never sounded right to him.] Their technology is definitely not something I've gotten a chance to study before.

Do you want to? If I tried, I wouldn't understand it.

I'm sure I could understand it if it was more accessible. ...Not that I imagine it'd be really helpful when they hide all the technology from us.

Edited 2014-11-17 23:27 (UTC)

Maybe there's...a reason we don't know their secrets.

[Raven sees, in a flash, the thing that still drowns her in burning blood every few nights and she shudders, going pale. She has yet to tell Leon about it, or even acknowledge that it wakes her up at night.]

There's obviously a reason. Whether or not it's one of the more blatant reasons, like not trusting us not to mess up their things ... well, that's the big question.

We don't want to mess anything up. It's stupid if they think we do. [Shaking her head, Raven clenches her hands.] We want what they want, according to what they say.