Enchanted
Amar spied Gregor waiting by their barracks out of the corner of her eyes while she was training. He had shown up randomly almost an hour before training was to finish, and his presence had distracted her during the final stretch. She had wanted to talk to him but of course was unable.
As soon as training was over, Amar ducked behind the barracks opposite Gregor, and tried to wipe at least some of the sweat from her face. Then she realized what she was doing, and paused.
Logan came around the corner then.
“Hey, Gregor’s here to say hi.”
Squaring her shoulders a bit, Amar marched out behind the barracks.
“Let’s go see him then.”
Walking over, the two Squadmates found their friend enjoying the nice weather. Amar tried to keep a neutral face, but seeing Gregor up close after being apart for a week, she realized she might have a bit of a crush.
A large section of her wasn’t ready to have such giddy feelings so soon after losing Jeremiah, but Amar had to admit… Gregor had always been her type. Tall and muscular, but lean enough that his body seemed to ripple as he moved, Gregor was likely most girls' fantasies at least in some regards.
But Amar kept thinking back to him, drinking with her at her highest moment, and then offering to help outside of her door at her lowest. Giving her advice that wasn’t for him, but to genuinely help her through the worst of it. Gregor honestly reminded her of Jeremiah, in that regard.
Then they were face to face.
“Hello Logan, Amar.”
“Hi Gregor.”
“Hey Gregor, been a while. I gotta go take care of some things right now, but we can catch up another time.”
Gregor looked flustered for a second, but managed to respond with, “Sure.”
Then Logan walked off, leaving the two of them alone together. Awkwardly they both kept trying to start a conversation only to stop to let the other go ahead. Finally Gregor gathered some courage and asked a simple question.
“Have you been doing a bit better since I’ve seen you?”
Amar took a deep breath.
“I’ve been going alright, yeah. Thank you.”
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Logan hadn’t actually needed to do anything, he was just able to read a room. Or, in this case, a training yard, he supposed.
Instead, he picked up Remy, and took his companion to an empty corner. It was high time he tried to teach Remy the Soul Sword.
Hey there Remy, today we are gonna start doing something special okay?
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-Okay! Special sounds fun!-
Haha, it might be fun, but it is definitely dangerous. I need you to promise to remain as calm as you can, alright?
-Okay!-
Then, for the next couple of hours, Logan tried to teach the Rizzel how to use the Soul Sword Ability. Logan technically didn’t actually have to teach Remy the Ability itself, as their Bond allowed Remy to copy Logan. However, the process of using the Ability was more complicated than simply having it.
The Soul Sword was easily the most advanced ability that Logan had ever seen, requiring all eight of his tentacles and complete focus to replicate the pattern. Remy, although altered by Bonding with Logan, still didn’t have complete spiritual autonomy, and had to learn to summon the Soul Sword by instinct.
Of course, the process was ostensibly harder because Remy had the attention span of a six year old. Every couple of minutes Logan had to remind the Rizzel to focus on the training, but he never had to repeat himself. Remy was pursuing this goal with as much vigor as the little guy could muster.
Unfortunately, by the time Remy was getting tired they hadn’t managed to make any visual progress. At least for Remy, but Logan could see the pattern on the Rizzel’s spark was nearing the final product, it was only a matter of time.
Remy didn’t seem too disappointed as Logan tucked him in for sleep, instead appearing content to finally be working towards helping Logan. The little guy had really tuckered himself out, falling asleep in seconds.
Logan smiled. Life at Marineford was really coming together. Despite sometimes being forced to fight in life or death situations against non-humans once a week, he was starting to find the whole routine very relaxing. Remy wasn’t the only one who spent that night content, even if Logan didn’t join the Rizzel in sleeping.
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About halfway through the night, as Logan was passing the Frear Squadron’s barracks again, he realized Arasaka’s magically soundproofed hut was up again. Deciding to go and spark up some conversation, Logan dismissed his Soul Sword, and let the white lines that signified teleportation destinations fade as well.
Making his way to the hut behind the barracks, Logan walked in and was once again assaulted by the loud noises and heat. Arasaka was working a larger piece this time, rotating through a collection of hammers in wildly varying strokes.
Determined not to bother the woman, Logan let her work in peace. As a result, Logan learned something completely new.
As Araska was manipulating the metal, Logan saw her soul spin off patterns while she was working. He wasn’t completely sure, but Logan would wager that she was using Abilities on the piece, improving it in some manner, or maybe increasing the precision of her strikes.
It was several more minutes of the two of them focused on their respective tasks, before Amar finally quenched the piece, which was clearly now a breastplate. Then Arasaka turned to Logan.
“Hey there, thanks for letting me finish that real quick. What’s up?”
“I just saw this thing set up and decided to pop in. What were you working on there?”
Arasaka looked sheepish and shrugged.
“Well, after I used that item synergy on the Mruklurks, I thought of a way to make myself stronger all the time with the same principles. I haven’t completely ironed out all the kinks yet though.”
“Well I look forward to seeing it in all its glory then. I’ve also been meaning to ask, how did you do that to the Mruklurks? It really saved our bacon.”
Arasaka turned even further away, clearly embarrassed by Logan’s interest.
“I overlapped the enchantments for two glowstones, and the result was a massive temporary peak in output. I-It’s a theory I’ve been working on for a while now.”
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“It seems like more than a theory if it’s getting results like that. But enchanting huh? Is that what you were doing with your Divinity just now?”
At this Amar slightly composed herself, her shyness shifting slightly to suspicion.
“Yes… How could you tell?”
“Well, I haven’t told anyone else yet, but I can see people’s Sparks. It comes in real handy for figuring out when big attacks are coming your way, let me tell you. But enchanting, huh? How does that work?”
“W-well yes, I’m an enchanter, and it’s just the process of working an Ability into the base. I’m sure if you can see Divinity, that you know all Abilities have a corresponding pattern. I have eyes that help me infer the way to shape the metal which lets me produce some things, but being able to see Sparks… That would be amazing for my work.”
That was interesting. Logan probably should have guessed that enchanting had something to do with the fancy patterns he kept having to weave, but now that he knew…
“If you ever want anything, I would be more than happy to help. For, ahem, some equipment, maybe?”
If Logan was going to be putting in some work, he may as well get some rewards as well, right?
Arasaka just gave him a look for a couple of seconds, before sighing.
“Sure, that’s agreeable enough.”
Sweet, sounded like Logan had just scored some new toys. He had been noticing his distinct lack of gear on the Squadrons previous outings. That problem was now solved, at least, hopefully.
“Well, I’ve wrapped up for the night, but I’ll let you know when I need the assist, okay?”
“Sure thing, just give me a holler.”
Logan walked out of the hot hut, into the cool air of the night. Looked like it was time to get back to work.