rulesearth

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Jura will be moved to @coruscatiio

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preamble: for the sake of me, trying to make sense of the mess that is politics in earthland, i generally assume that the magic council is a fiorean institution that only holds power in fiore. this feels more likely than the assumption that the treatment of mages is identical in all countries earthland consists of and that all national governments are alright with another power having authority over their citizens.

the most concerning problem with fiore's magic council should be that they are one organisation that seems, as far as mages are concerned, to hold all three powers --- legislature, executive, judiciary. this would usually be cause for concern as there would be no traditional checks and balances, but instead, the key problem surrounding the council is that they appear to be blaffling in their incompetence.

case in point: while the destruction commonly caused by a certain guild has been a known problem since before summer X784, nothing has ever been done about it, even though --- as we know --- any letters the council has written in an attempt to convince them to tune it down have been not only ignored but also burnt.

normally, it should be expected that an institution as powerful as the council is on paper would be shutting such behaviour down instantly. but they do not do such a thing. perhaps, because they cannot do it. perhaps because they cannot make any decisions unless every seated member of the council is in agreement; as we know: siegrain found entertainment in f.airy t.ail's actions and thus wanted to let them continue as otherwise, things would be boring for him.

the idea that such an influential authority can be paralysed this easily is, of course, concerning. at the very least, it makes the council appear weak in front of those it should govern, in the worst case, this can be used for nefarious intents by anyone who is part of the council in a high-ranking position yet follows their own agenda.

and yet --- the assumption that just this  did  happen is very easy to come to. throughout the events spanning from X784 to the council's demise in X791, the council has rarely acted in a manner befitting its importance. they may have been said to possess great authority, but there is rarely even a flicker of this coming to fruition. they seem more preoccupied with minor squabbles than with actually doing their job. for a group that supposedly consists of professionals, this seems odd.

when the council is rebuild after the deaths that occurred in autumn X791, the seats are now held by the wizard saints. in some ways, this appears to be an odd choice. while the previous occupations of draculos hyberion and wolfheim are unknown, jura neekis is a former guild mage and warrod sequen was enjoying his retirement. the latter two, at least, do not seem necessarily qualified to take on such massive responsibility. in warrod's case, even his moral qualifications can be questioned as he was aware of makarov dreyar's trip to meet with emperor spriggan yet did not inform his fellow seats of this, despite it being potentially crucial in preparing the country for the oncoming war.

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jura & eva + neighbourhood verse

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name. rien conner age. 27 affiliation. magic council position. former rune knight, now assistant to j.ura n.eekis magic. rune magic, basic requip  ( he stores office supplies in his dimension pockets )

for rien conner, the day he was informed that he would be working as a wizard saint's personal assistant was one of the best in his entire life. especially when he learnt that it was not just a wizard saint but the fifth-ranked, generally non-odd former lamia scale member, j.ura n.eekis. he would have been equally proud to work for another saint, but the earth mage is rumoured to be a hard-working, humble man so rien rightfully assumes that this was not a boss he would have to wrangle, that he would have to convince to work.

and he was right. if anything, his boss puts all other wizard saints to shame with his work ethic. really, his boss is the first to arrive most mornings and the last one to leave, seldom leaving his desk during work hours. as far as bosses go, this is a jackpot!

however, there is a downside to this, one rien did not see coming; as j.ura does not leave his desk, people tend to come to him. and --- don't get rien wrong, please --- he has nothing but respect for lamia scale's guild master and her husband. and the company the wizard saint keeps is definitely fitting for a man of his position. it is just ... these people, and especially the most frequent visitor, one eva gold, bring out sides of his boss he is not sure what to do with.

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add me on dscrd before i change my mind handle: lethumansberocks2k19#1991

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I am a reflection of my mother’s secret poetry as well as of her hidden angers.

Audre Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. (via batarde)

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“She has a heart, too much heart perhaps.”

— Marcel Proust, from The Complete Works; “Remembrance of Things Past,” (via violentwavesofemotion)

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tag drop ii, incomplete

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And the world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse. And that’s where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are.

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist (via books-n-quotes)

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another canon divergence for chapter 469: it pains me to write this but i fear this would ripple too far if i changed it. yes, the wizard saints did lose.  however,  they were not defeated  just like that.  they fought hard. they fought not just for their lives, they also fought for everyone else's lives. god serena did not just wipe the floor with them. he won, but it was a lot more narrow than in canon and while the saints could not defeat him, they did not suffer as many injuries. since acnologia generously took care of god serena, they got healed and quickly rejoined the battle, playing a role in the war that befits their status as strongest mages.

now, this is where it is getting  really  canon divergent: jura did not participate in this fight. he can only unleash his full strength away from his allies or around allies who know him, such as sherry. fighting in close quarters with his fellow wizards saints would have forced him to hold back and potentially get in the way. additionally, while the three higher-ranked saints had known each other for years, he barely knew them. thus, instead of joining them, jura instead used his ability to deal immense amounts of damage to a wide area to thin the numbers that zeref had brought and to slow down their infantry's approach.

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CONCEPT: AFFINITY.  almost all mages have exactly one magical affinity. in a lot of cases, it is easy to guess. someone who uses water magic has a water affinity, someone who uses fire magic has probably, you guessed it, an affinity for fire. however, even those who wield magic that does not have an  obvious  elemental link still have an elemental affinity.

using magic that pertains to the own affinity is easier. using magic that is perhaps not connected to one's affinity is more difficult, but still possible. in fact, people can master magic outside of their affinity. what is genuinely difficult is to truly master a magic linked to the opposite of one's affinity. for example: a fire mage will have a very hard time with water spells and frankly, most would not even be drawn towards it.

while affinities are an established part of magical science, they are often ridiculed. this is mostly the fault of all sorts of pseudo-science that has used the very real affinities for, among other things, personality tests of the kind 'answer ten questions and you'll know which affinity your soul mate has!'and similar things. there are all sorts of superstition about one's affinity having an effect on personality, but that has never been really proven, especially since such talk is shunned by most  serious  scientists.

the amount of people who have no affinity whatsoever is incredibly small. precise numbers are difficult to obtain as there is hardly a complete registry of all mages on earthland including their affinities, but scientists who have dedicated their life to this science currently presume that less than one in thousand mages has truly no affinity. some believe themselves to be without affinity, simply because their affinity is either quite weak or because it is something they do not expect; the child of a family of light and dark affinities would probably not truly consider the possibility of their own affinity being something like earth.

those who truly have no affinity are in an odd spot. on one hand, there will never be a magic that will be impossible to truly master due to a mismatched affinity, but at the same time, they will never benefit from the inherent benefit one gains. the few recorded mages who are proven to be truly without affinity often ended in a 'jack of all trades, master of none' situation. many of them still developed a preference for kind of magic over others and achieved great skill with their preferred branch whereas others fully embraced the lack of limitations.

as hinted above: while in many cases, affinities do run in a family, it is not always the case that parents pass their own affinity down to their child. a water-leaning couple can have a child with a fire affinity, for example.

this can lead to problems if a specific subset of magic has been passed down in a family from generation to generation, but there is nothing to be done. one either has an affinity or they do not, as there is no way for affinity to be artificially acquired in any shape or form.

it is very important to note that not all light-affine magic is inherently good and that not all dark-affine magic is automatically bad.  in fact, no affinity carries  any  moral connotation  as in the end, the mage decides whether they want to use their magic for good or bad. there have been many great, heroic mages who have used dark-affine magic, just like there have many villainous figures in history who had a light affinity. an example that illustrates this clearly: due to the way souls used in takeover are acquired, this magic is dark-affine, meaning that the strauss siblings are all dark-affine mages. at the same time, the spell  fairy law  that can be used to cause immense harm to both foes and the caster, too.

depending on the source, books about magical affinity will speak of six or more affinities. the ones that have never been fought about are: air, dark, earth, fire, light and water. however, as affinity has become more and more understood by scientists, more have been added to the list, such as lightning, ice  ( as it has proven to differ sufficiently from water )  and nature, the latter being extraordinarily common in plant mages and other mages who have a magic that interacts with the living world.

in history, there have been very few  truly  confirmed instances of mages who possessed two affinities and nearly all cases, this has led to despair rather than glory. for this reason, there have been whispers about mages with two affinities being cursed now and then but again, this is superstition.

in the end, a mage's affinity says nothing about their skill. in fact, in the greater scheme of things, affinity matters very little, but most who are serious about walking the path of a mage still have an interest in finding out what their affinity is as it is a strong indicator towards branches of magic they will take immediately as they will have a natural predisposition. at times, finding out one's affinity can come as a surprise, though --- and this is likely where the belief that one's affinity does say something about one's personality stems from --- there are always cases where the affinity is unsurprising.

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[rulesearth]

here are a few very basic things to consider about jura, mostly in regards to his appearance during the grand magic games:

as far as my portrayal is concerned, there has not been a single instance in his life where he has gone  all out  in a fight. best example: his fight against laxus in the gmg. laxus is powerful and all, but ... jura is the more experienced wizard who, as far as my sense of logic is concerned, had an elemental advantage over him. jura lost due to two reasons: one, ft had to win the games since they are the protagonists and two, less meta: had jura used the full extent of his strength, he probably would have destroyed at least half of crocus. jura was also somewhat weakened due to his previous battle with orga which did  not  end with jura just landing one blow on orga to defeat him. while here, too, jura had elemental advantage, orga is still a god slayer and a rather experienced one at that.

still sticking to the topic of the games: the reason why he initially did not see a reason to reveal 'mystogan's true identity to the authorities was that he suspected a purpose to this  and  lamia's goals in the games had not been harmed. later when he started to suspect that while jellal might have had noble intentions but that makarov had  clearly  seen his own benefits in allowing jellal to masquerade as mystogan, it was simply too late. the games were over, ft had won. to now unveil their cheating would only gain jura the reputation of a sore loser. additionally, the games mattered very little to jura from the beginning and frankly, with the dragon apocalpyse happening, his priorities were understandably not focused on who won the games.

now, a year and a war after the games, jura sees how not having told anyone that ft had cheated benefits his own agenda. makarov is not entirely sure if jura knows or not, something that can be useful at times as jura has lost all respect he used to have for makarov, but more on that topic later. jura inherently  despises  the games of politics, but he has become good at playing it as this is the fastest way for him to achieve his goals. and frankly, these goals matter more to him than whatever makarov thinks of him. the old man can think him oblivious all he wants, this is not the truth.

as i mentioned in the previous paragraph: jura has lost all respect he once had for makarov. back in the oracion seis arc when jura is first introduced as the recently appointed wizard saint, all he knows about makarov is what anyone would know, his somewhat ambiguous but ultimately positive reputation. add that jura is a naturally respectful person and that he is new to the group makarov has been a part of for years, and it becomes obvious that he extends the same respect to makarov he also holds for the other eight wizard saints. while he may not have been overly happy about how makarov handles his guild, his respect for the elder mage does not suffer much until the grand magic games. as implied earlier: jura suspected that makarov surely had an agenda and had let jellal pretend to be mystogan for that reason, something jura thought to be dishonourable. later, after the tartarus arc concluded and the wizard saints became part of the council, jura kept a close eye on makarov and was ... not exactly happy about what he saw, though at the time, he still stayed quiet and kept watching. publically accusing a fellow wizard saint  and  a popular figure in the magical community was a risky thing to do and jura did not want to move too early. then, the war happened and someone from jura's guild paid a high price.  again.  and a bad feeling grew into genuine dislike.

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[Image Description: Tag reading “canon is an illusion and also for suckers except for the parts I like”]

The AO3 Tag of the Day is: This author is valid

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"lyon." the earth mage felt ... puzzled. a rare feeling, for him. "i heard this term when i was in town, the other day. do you happen to know what a ... milf is?"

in which jackie became a snake that ate  her own tail

at the call of his name, lyon looked over, mari strapped securely to his chest while sherry, eva and jules were off somewhere else to see what era had to offer. officially, it was a day for meetings but they had ended early and eva had whisked sherry and jules away almost immediately. he had no idea what words were going to leave jura’s mouth, but he had prepared himself to answer anything. he assumed it would have to do with some branch of ice magic, since that was lyon’s specialty. he doubted the other would ask for any romantic advice (lyon was NOT the one in the blendy-vastia duo to ask and as far as he and sherry knew, there were no…developments)

however. once jura spoke again and asked the question, lyon’s instinct was to cover little mari’s ears. not that she could understand what was going on, nor was she aware they were even speaking (her attention was stolen by a flock of birds). he realized this and gently let go of his infant daughter’s ears and sighed. deeply. what had he done to deserve this? doesn’t jura have an assistant he could ask these things?

but jura would not bother his assistant with questions outside of work. lyon knew this. he wished it wasn’t so and cursed the man’s stubborn work ethic. so, lyon resigned himself to his fate and frowned, looking ahead and away from jura.

“i…have heard of the term before.” lyon confirmed first. he knew jura would only ask more, but how to explain it in the least mortifying way? he decided immediately that he knew what it was because he overheard it used with sherry’s name near there because that lead to an Incident wherein the ice mage may have frozen the ground near someone and they may have slipped and broke their teeth on ice. only for it to disappear before they could get their bearings. sherry was more than a milf. though the term and sherry was…nevermind. 

“it is…an acronym. i am aware how you feel for…crude terms, but essentially, it means a mother who is…very sexually attractive to the person enough to…” he wished an assassin were near to end this conversation. “have sex with. i am sure you can fill in the letters now.”

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BOLD    ANY    FEARS    WHICH    APPLY    TO    YOUR    MUSE  .   Italicize    what    makes    them    uncomfortable.

the dark    ⋆    fire    ⋆    open water    ⋆    deep water    ⋆    being alone    ⋆   crowded spaces   ⋆   confined spaces  ⋆    change    ⋆   failure    ⋆    war    ⋆   loss of control ⋆  powerlessness  ⋆   prison    ⋆    blood   ⋆    drowning    ⋆    suffocation    ⋆    public speaking    ⋆    natural animals    ⋆    the supernatural    ⋆    heights    ⋆    death    ⋆    dying    ⋆    intimacy    ⋆    rejection   ⋆   abandonment   ⋆   loss ( of someone / something important )    ⋆    the unknown    ⋆    the future    ⋆   not being good enough  ⋆    scary stories    ⋆    speaking to new people    ⋆    poverty    ⋆   loud noises   ⋆   being touched  ⋆    forgetting    ⋆    being forgotten    ⋆    disappointing  

Tagged by: @caelusia

Tagging: i think most people have been tagged already but in case you did not and we’re mutuals, this is your tag~

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* --- rising from her own ashes. venomoustigress‌.

at the older mage’s words, minerva froze, cursing mentally. shit, she shouldn’t have asked, not when it brought up painful memories for the other. she knew all about how much that would hurt too, with her own personal history and all. “i apologize, jura-san, i did not intend to bring up such things.” and she hadn’t. she had just been selfish and wanted a distraction from what this was making her think of.

still, it was only fair that she revealed maybe a taste of that as an apology, and it wasn’t like he didn’t know about succubus eye. that part was safer to talk about, so long as she didn’t go into what happened afterwards. that judgement was not something minerva wanted to deal with, not now. 

and so, her voice went almost absent, as she tried to focus on the sights before her, committing them to memory so that she could destroy all of this in one go. “i went on one job for succubus eye. a failure, as you know, but when i got back to their guild hall…” a shake of her head, as if trying to shake away that memory taking over her vision, and the tigress moved to look in a window of a store. “it was like this. a ghost town, with all the people replaced by slips of paper.”

the wave of his hand was dismissive --- not of her apology but of the idea that the memory still held power over him. he had loved his parents and loved them still, but they had been dead for such a long time now that the wound was scarred over many times. and he had put their ghosts to rest a long time ago, had come to accept that they were gone.

“ it's a wound that has not bleed in many years, ” he said quietly, calmly. among his strengths, the control over his temper had always been most important. it was a quality his mother had  strongly  encouraged --- for good reason. bad things happened when those with such strong elemental affinities were ruled by their emotions. and right now, keeping his temper in check was as easy as breathing. especially since what little frustration he felt was directed at the council, not at minerva.

the mention of succubus eye was --- unexpected. jura had read the reports, had listened to the discussions his fellow council members had had in the matter. towards the end, he had gotten involved, but despite what some might think, he did not have an agenda that had influenced that particular choice. and it had not been a favour to lyon, either.

“ you don't have to talk about this if you don't wish to, ” he responded as his feet stopped, having finally found the epicentre. here, the disease was rooted and here, it had to be annihilated. “ but ... do be careful --- this illness is ... potent. i advice caution, minerva-dono. ”

he did not worry about his own health, even knowing that sherry would be upset if she knew. well, even sherry at her angriest would not be as bad as eva, he supposed. sherry would not set herself aflame in her anger, after all. still, neither of them  had  to worry in the first place. as deadly as this disease was, he was immune. not because he was a great mage or anything like this but because he had survived something similar in the past.