Details (Final Fantasy VI, Locke/Celes and Leo/Celes)

[lassarina]

Title: Details
Author: Lassarina Aoibhell (lassarina / ficjournal: athyn)
Fandom: Final Fantasy VI
Characters/Pairings: Locke/Celes, Leo/Celes
Rating: PG
Notes: The prompt was "Sensory enhancement: Differences, as a Magitek Knight." ~2600 words. Many thanks to shanaqui and mithrigil for giving it a read-over :)
Warnings: Spoilers up to the Floating Continent.

Comments

[tectum_viridis]

It isn't quite a smell, nor a sound, nor something she can see or taste or feel.

--I loved the description in this entire paragraph, in particular. The experience of magic from the perspective of people using it, how possessing magic affects perception and mental state, is the focus of just about all of my fanfiction (albeit in a different fandom, though I'm familiar with FFVI), so I was very pleased to stumble across this.

Might I know who offered up the original prompt, since it's a pet subject of mine?

[lassarina]

I think it may have been silver_ariane based on her comment above, but if you check sk_updates, which lists the daily postings for the comm, you should find the piece and the submitter.

And I'm glad you liked the piece. Magic-meta is probably my favourite thing about Final Fantasy, hands down, and I was only too glad of an excuse to ramble and tl;dr on the topic.

[tectum_viridis]

Thank you! I'll look that up.

You're welcome; you have a very smooth and flowing writing style that's pleasing to read. I can well understand the desire to expound on the topic-- as I said, it's a pet subject of my own, too. Far too few people treat magic, even magic that is embedded in or otherwise made a fundamental part of a person, as having any subtle effect on them; they fling off a few Cure spells in battle, but otherwise they're just like anyone else. Living with magic as an integral part of you has to change you, and I like exploring the ways in which it might.

[lassarina]

I can understand how something like Materia, for example, would have less of an effect on someone, but for something like Magitek infusion, it literally changes your psyche (see also: Kefka) and that part of it fascinates me. Is Celes cold and reserved because her infusion was Ice, while Terra is a warmer, brighter personality because her innate talent is Fire? Was Kefka infused with Status magic and that's why he's so completely bananas? These things fascinate me. :D

[tectum_viridis]

...I laughed at your icon. That's wonderful. XD

It fascinates me, too; how does magic change a person? What kind of new things would you notice in the world around you? Would you be more or less sensitive to that element; would you notice its presence where others did not? Would you inherently know things about it others did not? Would you know what it was like to be it? (And what kind of realisations might magic lead you to regarding the metaphysical in general; how would religion and spirituality change, if people knew more about the underpinnings of the world through magic?)

[lassarina]

Kefka is just hilarity all 'round. That particular line is from a very amusing translation where the game was Babelfished from Japanese into Russian and then Babelfished from Russian into English, which has led to some pretty hilarious mistranslations (like the one in this icon.)

I personally feel that the learning of magic (if indeed it is learned and not "equipped") should dramatically alter a person, because think of all the new ideas and concepts and perceptions that you have access to. In FF12, for example, when you learn to command the Espers, I wonder what that does, given that they are creatures of immense power and I do not imagine they sit quietly by. What if they're curious about human emotions or human doings and the character becomes aware of the Esper lurking within her brain while she's engaged in something else (potentially something she'd prefer not to have observers for)? It's a fascinating concept to me :)

[tectum_viridis]

..."sandicated". It's that that gets me. I think I shall have to start threatening to sandicate people, now. ;)

Ah, and this is where I pull out my personal fandom card and say: you need to play the Suikoden series! It's the one I write fanfiction in regarding this topic, and the magic of that world is contained within Runes, entities that can be embedded in humans and have a consciousness and will that the bearer has to learn to cooperate with and guide. If the bearer can't master the Rune and instead lets its consciousness dominate, things tend to go wrong; but the Runes aren't evil, and it's been hinted at extra-canonically that when their bearers are able to build a good relationship with them, the true beauty of the Runes' personalities is revealed. There's a lot less focus on that relationship in the series than that suggests, though; the series' focus is the moral issues raised by the wars and conflicts that occur in that world, but I like to explore that aspect of the world as well, so I write fanfiction. ^_^

[lassarina]

I actually own the first three Suikoden games and they are on the list of games I will play someday when I have time. Sadly, time is in very short supply for me x_x; But that sounds completely fascinating with the Runes. Darnit. Curse the need for sleep!

[tectum_viridis]

Ah, the first three are the perfect ones to have; a lot of people begin with the newer games, but the series is by far best experienced played from the beginning. They are definitely worth playing someday; I don't think you'll regret it.

(And I like that icon a lot, too.)

[lassarina]

Thank you :) It's from Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series, which is one of my three favourite fantasy series/books at the moment (tied with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince [but not its sequels, which are lame.])

I have so many excellent games I've not finished based on the fact that my job eats all my time, in the way in which I spend a total of about 60 hours a week commuting and working x_x;