[open-ish] hard to be soft, tough to be tender

[scowlish]

Who: Onni Hotakainen and whoever
What: a catch-all
When: Oct-Nov
Where: Wherever!

A catch-all for various random Onni interactions through October and November. Shoot me a message if you want to plot something.

Comments

[scowlish]

[Thankfully, when a knock comes at the door, Onni's awake and moving around. Particularly since coming to this place, without any kind of need or regular schedule, Onni has found himself slipping further and further into the delayed sleep cycle that comes more naturally to him, staying up late and sleeping in late as well.

Most days, Reynir is up and moving long before he is, and today is no exception, so the Icelander isn't around to answer the door, so Onni shuffles over to the door looking a bit groggy, dressed in an oversized sweater and lounge pants. Pulling it open, he squints a little at the person outside it, blinks.]

Hello?

[abheirrant]

[Carlisle looks up from the papers in his hand, his brow knitting in an emotion somewhere in the region of awkward surprise.]

Oh. Um.

[That's not Reynir, he notes internally. An astute observation. The one he vocalizes is probably the better of the two:]

You must be Onni.

[scowlish]

[A few blinks, and he nods his head, looking this man up and down. He must be one of the people Reynir has befriended here - he thinks back through the people Reynir has mentioned and remembers something about a priest of some kind with a veil, but he can't remember the name.]

I am. Are you looking for Reynir?

[Blinking again, he lifts a hand to rub at his face and then steps aside, gesturing that the other man should come in.]

He's mentioned you, but I can't remember your name, sorry.

[abheirrant]

[Carlisle gives a slight, polite bow of both greeting and gratitude, stepping inside.]

Carlisle Longinmouth. I hope Reynir had pleasant things to say about me.

[scowlish]

He has pleasant things to say about everyone.

[Onni's brows raise, and he glances over his shoulder to make sure the room behind him isn't messy, then turns back to Carlisle.]

He isn't here right now, can I help?

[abheirrant]

Not unless you know about these runes.

[He offers the papers Onni's way.]

Do you know about these runes?

[scowlish]

[When Carlisle offers the sheaf of papers to him, Onni accepts, flips through them curiously, looking at the drawings. They're not familiar, beyond being Reynir's work, so he hands them back after a moment.]

I don't, I'm sorry. My magic is different from Reynir's. Finnish mages don't use runes.

[abheirrant]

[Carlisle hms to himself when Onni hands the papers back, eying them himself before tucking them into the bag at his waist.]

I see. And what sort of magic do you do, if I may ask?

[scowlish]

[Raising a brow, Onni makes a little 'hm' of his own, and shrugs.]

Finnish magic. We sing runo to the gods or spirits or elements to ask them to do our bidding.

[abheirrant]

[Commanding gods to do their bidding? That does bring some questions to mind, though he has a more normal one first.]

Reynir mentioned Finnish mages, but did not specify exactly what that means. Are you evocationists? Enchanters?

[scowlish]

[Onni tilts his head curiously, then makes a soft hum in his throat, considering his answer.]

Both, in a way. We call upon the gods so we can use their power for what we need. To fight or protect or heal, to encourage the crops or comfort the livestock. Most Finns can use spells, but mages are those Finns who can also see and hear spirits.

[abheirrant]

[So from the sound of it, they are a little of everything, like hodgepodge magicians; however, the term mage seems to apply to only a certain subset of Finns. Curious.]

Have you access to your abilities here? Can your gods hear you worlds away?

[It's something he's wondered a time or two about his own goddess, but given his abilities do not stem from his capacity to speak to her, he cannot be certain.]

[scowlish]

[At that question, Onni makes an annoyed little 'hm' - it's nothing against Carlisle himself, it's just irritation at the situation he's in.]

No. Even when I'm only as far away as Sweden, it takes more effort to call on them. I've been working out ways to call to the spirits or elements or gods here, the ones native to this place, but it's a work in progress. It takes a lot of research when there's as little information about this world itself as there is.

[A little sigh, and a shrug.]

I've at least managed to call on one of the other people who lives here, to do healing spells.

[abheirrant]

[Carlisle's eyes widen with interest.]

A healer? Who?

[scowlish]

His name is Cole. He's a spirit of compassion, and we tested whether I could call on him for healing. It turned out that I could certainly call on him, though I haven't been able to test if we can heal yet, since we've never encountered someone with an injury since. I suspect it will work, though.

[He tilts his head curiously.]

Why? Do you have need of one?

[abheirrant]

[Carlisle's brow knits with dubious scrutiny. He assumes the 'spirit of compassion' part is a metaphor or a title, because the rest of his answer isn't exactly encouraging.]

No, though I would not call someone a healer if you do not know whether or not they can heal.

[scowlish]

[Onni recognizes that 'dubious scrutiny' look, seeing as he's worn it himself a lot of times, and raises an eyebrow in return as Carlisle comments on it.]

Mm. I didn't call anyone a healer. He's a spirit of compassion, and I'm a mage by profession who calls on spirits every day. We may not have healed anyone, but I know my craft and I know spirits. I could do healing magic by calling on him just as surely as I could do it at home by calling on Mielikki.

[At that, he crosses his arms, still looking at the other man with a slightly quizzical expression.]

[abheirrant]

[Oh, that spirit part was literal, and this man's faith in his potential to heal through him is real. Carlisle does his best to mask his disbelief, letting his clothing do most of the work.]

Well, given my druthers, I would prefer a trained healer were I in need of one, though knowing you are able to channel your magic through another individual rather than your gods is interesting, at least. Now, do you know when Reynir will be back?

[scowlish]

[For a moment, Onni just stares at Carlisle in a state of complete disbelief, and then he snorts and rolls his eyes.]

I am trained in healing magic, among many other types. But it's all well and good, believe what you like.

[He's still feeling stung for all his dismissiveness, mostly because he'd been interested in the idea of knowing someone else who did magic. It's been a long time since he was able to talk professionally about magic with his colleagues back in Keuruu, and Reynir's 'throw things at the wall until they stick' style of magic, while useful, isn't exactly a technique he can discuss.

Waving his hand a little, he glances back into the apartment.]

I don't know. I could message him to ask?

[abheirrant]

[For all his dismissiveness, Carlisle tried to mask his disappointment; however, he lets his annoyance show more visibly as Onni snorts and rolls his eyes, not even bothering to hide his disbelief.]

I will message him, but know this: were I in need of healing, I would call upon you, as you are the healer. I asked you who the healer was, and that's you, not this 'Cole' character you're channeling through. At least take pride in your work, cisth.

[scowlish]

[As annoyed as Carlisle seems to be, it's somewhat gratifying to hear that he's giving Onni a little credit, at least. Crossing his arms, he leans against the wall and raises a brow at Carlisle.]

Mm, you have it a bit wrong. Cole is the spirit, he provides the energy, in particular the type of energy that can be used to heal, perhaps to stave off evil or soothe the mind as well. He can't use it as he is now. So I call upon him and use his power to do the healing. At home, I called upon Mielikki, the goddess of the forest, hunting, and healing. Cole serves the same purpose, as a spirit.

[For a moment, he pauses, eyes on Carlisle, to see if he's following.]

So you could say that I'm the healer, I suppose, since I'm the one directing the energy and using it to perform the spell. But neither Cole nor I could do it alone.

[A slight shift, and he tilts his head.]

And I do take pride in my work.

[A beat.]

What's cisth?

[abheirrant]

[Onni starts explaining, and while Carlisle is listening, he doesn't hear anything he finds terribly promising regarding, Onni, Cole, and whether or not their conjoined healing will be useful in an actual emergency. The fact it takes both of them to make it work somewhat undermines Onni's usefulness as a healer, and what good is Cole if he only provides the energy, but none of the actual work? And what happens if one of them is the injured party? Or unconscious? What good is a healer who cannot heal themselves?

Carlisle does, however, have the sense to keep that to himself for a change, as he gets the feeling they're just going to argue in circles over semantics when they are likely talking about two different kinds of healing, and he's already been in one verbal spat over whether or not a god trapped in Anchor is much of one at all.

Besides that, Onni doesn't give him time to argue before moving onto the next question.]

A colloquialism. Not an insult so much as a polite expression of aggravation, though why it doesn't seem to translate like the rest of the tongues spoken here is beyond me.

[scowlish]

[Honestly, Onni isn't entirely comfortable with the situation either, for most of the same reasons. He would rather connect with his own gods, but that's not an option. And this, at least, is better than nothing. At least, if nothing else, he's getting a feeling for some of the spirits and deities in this place, and he thinks that, perhaps, he might have some better options. Hopefully.]

Ah. There are some words, I think, that just can't be translated properly. I've run into a few Finnish words like that.

[A little shrug, and he glances around for a moment before shrugging, and asking what's on his mind because he's interested.]

Do you use runes for your magic?

[abheirrant]

Not ones like these — [he indicates the ones on the papers he'd brought by patting the badger-skin bag that hangs at his side] — and only for glyphcrafting. I don't use runes at all in my work. Anything beyond basic healing is far too temperamental to be dictated with sigils and runes. You might end up melding bones together that ought not be, or rebuilding an organ completely wrong.

[He shudders at the very thought, and is thankful he's never had a healing mishap as bad as either of those examples.]