A Bit(e) of Hope (Private)

lightning made her way to the bridge, a satchel on her back "what do you mean we are at the stop we should be a day,, off, that id not a friendly looking front." she pondered a second before blurting out "oh im so stupid!, ok this makes sense, we are going to a place heavy with elemental magic, this storm is what i should have prepped for, that being said we will need to get passed it for our next stop"

"Hm... Maybe the sensors and mapping aren't quite lining up with that thing up ahead in the way, but it doesn't look like we'll be able to just go around it either. It's almost like a living wall to where we're going... I've been gradually adjusting the output from here in preparation, and slowed down the thrust a bit to not strain the engines once we go in; Don't want a sudden surge hitting the barrier and messing up the old gal too much... I'm open to suggestions for how best to traverse it, but something tells me I'm gonna have my work cut out for me optimizing the barrier's resilience."

without hesitation she spoke "i could potentially indent the barrier and have high power channel points, but id need to lead that much magic somewhere or id just be making a bomb, i have a few ideas one is dangerous and the other may work, does the ships engine run on magic at all, even if inefficiently?" she asked laying out some parchment and writing done a letter followed by some numbers, seemingly working something out in her head, only writing down numbers for reference later "also how does the barrier work, this one specifically, I've know all to many and they all work quite different is this older or newer and is the power output consistent" she asked her mind running at peek performance.

His tail flicked at the question with gleeful interest despite the situation. "The magitek on this airship is aged, but consider it more vintage than just plain old. The engine can run solely to a lesser extent on the power of the Levistone alone, but that's what the elemental magicite placed to cycle and empower the steam system to power the engines primarily gives it that much oomph. All of it can be used to empower the barrier as needed buuut..." He then gave Lightning a cocked stare. "... You seem to underestimate my magic. I'm the one primarily handling the formation of that barrier. No one knows my magic and airship better than me, so I can easily interface with it to adjust for protection and surges on the spot the same way I can cast my own barriers. I'm practically a living battery for it... Still, I do welcome any aid, but I would focus more on how we're going to gather our next source. Don't worry about the engines, I know a thing or two about redirecting volatile magics."

"The barrier doesn't need more power, that's not the problem, you are thinking of this to bluntly, at the end of the day even if I put up a barrier it would likely fail if we get hit, what we need is a ground, a place to channel the hit so the barrier doesn't have to take the full brunt, that being said, this is a problem, if its tied to you my plan would almost certainly rip you apart." she pondered a moment longer then looked up, "I have an idea" she said looking out to the deck. "if I reuse the the equipment I used on that first step of the voyage, I could blink us past the storm using its own magic, that being said we may be in for a rough landing, nothing that cant be fixed but I cant control the blink too accurately with that storm in the way" she said looking at him sternly "at the end of the day its your call, but that's where we need to go and I'm not sure how we would get past otherwise".

Even the experienced magician that was Sugary looked to her with concerned surprise. "Wha... Redirection was my intent if it came to it, but... Using the power of the storm itself to reverse the effect and have US go right through it all at once? I've never tried that before, certainly not to this scale... But if it works, it could reduce the overall risk of the trip and hasten it while we're at it... I'll allow it, but please be sure we're coordinated in this. I'll be on stand-by." He saluted her, putting his trust in her plan as he assessed the storm further, eyes full of runes now as he gazed sharply ahead, studying their next path as best he could on the spot.

"if that's how we are playing it, move your barriers to the underside of the ship, it will need it, but i can tell you now, we Will need to repair things, to note i will need to estimate just how much magic we will be getting, to much and we crash hard, the ship is a creator and we are a smear, too little and we are stuck in the middle of the storm, and if we don't, well we will have to try weather it, and probably syphon the magic into menacy which i don't see as a good idea, and that's if the weird magic in there doesn't rip all of the magic out of us and the components than are keeping us alive." she said flatly "i will put some contingency runes in but they really are last option we'd want to take" she leaves her bag in the bridge and heads out on deck.

she stood straight as ruins and mana runs begin to spread across her body before she places runes across the the deck around her, a few over flow plates and stabilising plates around the central plates.

Once she left the bridge, he muttered to himself lightly. "Focus the barrier on the bottom... Leave the top exposed, eh? She's really gutsy with this kind of stuff. Not looking forward to repairs of any kind though, I got my pride on the line too; Not about to let even a wall of wild magic leave a scratch that easily. Let's see what I can adjust to make sure it stays that way..." He would redirect the barrier as intended, but he did leave a buffering field above nonetheless to serve as a medium for incoming energies. As for the airship, he took great watch over her runes, and soon after he symmetrically conjured several of his own around hers for redundancy safety also, while adjusting the engines and all magitek to work at the bare minimum energy until only the Levistone carried them forward on sheer momentum now as he spoke over the intercom. "I've got your back, Lightning. I'm not letting a little storm like this clip my wings again. We've been in the water long enough this week."

"get that barrier above me down, i cant channel if it cant all get it, it makes the guess work even harder!" she shouted, not annoyed just making sure she was heard, "and its not the water we are about to impact,, listen, I'm about to blink this whole ship through that storm with a lot of speed behind us, you just keep that barrier strong below us, and be ready to pilot us for a maybe rough landing on the other side"

Sugary wasn't too sure for once about her idea. "Take the top entirely? That's a weak safety net as is, it's not meant to interfere with the output at large... You actually WANT to be at the epicenter of this? Agh... Lightning, I really hope you know what you're getting yourself into..." By then, the barrier below them, as well as himself, were shining very strongly, lighting up the rainy sky considerably around the airship to make their view of the surroundings much clearer. Even his runes to back hers up wee pulsing more prominently once the top field was completely removed. "... If you want my power focused below, that's easy for me in spades... But please, be careful. I do trust you... I just don't trust IT right ahead... Ready to move in 10... 9... 8..." And so the countdown went, and it was all on Lightning now...

Lightning smirked and 'winked' at him, "don't worry, this isn't my first time" she said in a somewhat a way as to make a joke as she waved her bionic hoof.
She took a deep breath and moved her magic within her, she took another deep breath and there was a flash.
A large arcane bolt hit her in the bionic hoof, she tangled its power, for a second she almost seemed to have a pair of going yet jet black wings. She seemed to struggle as the power coursed through her body as she directed it to the runes, her being part of the arcane circuit. The ship suddenly shook and then jolted forward, and in a instant they were pasted the storm, they weren't dead but lightning wasn't wrong as they all headed towards the ground, the ship still functional although some mechanical structures were damaged,
"Rrgg,, MARKET, GET THIS SHIP STEADY, IMM PULLING UP AS HARD AS I CAN" she said using the residual magic to try and hold the ship up as it flew fast towards the hard jungle below. Noticing the somewhat inevitable crash she started to switch to boosting the lower barrier and less on pullinging the ship up.

"Lightning...! You silly mare, hold on...!!" Going through such a storm in such a manner really was a first for him, but he wasn't so startled in the aftermath, especially with his vision Scanning everything at a unicorn's exceedingly high perception when tempered with magic, and made a quick adjustment to controls still responding to remain on auto while he teleported to her side and joined her in the middle of the rune field, and looked to her and around them cautiously.

The airship wasn't really falling very fast to begin with. It seemed Sugary's confidence in the Levistone was well-founded, but the Warrior Sage had other ideas about their landing. One would think he didn't trust her, but this was as much a test for him as it was for her. "I told you I didn't trust that storm. Taking something through you like that, in your condition... Let me help you, will ya? We can do much better than something this risky. I know my airship best, and I know a safer spell than just not hitting the ground hard." For someone who was on a gradually falling airship, he was exceedingly calm. Whatever he had in mind, he was assured it would not make them go back to square one again. The only reason he didn't act on it was the very delicate state she was in and sensing it, especially now as their runes were near each other.

The mare was uncertain at first but complied releasing both her spell that was enforcing the barrier and that was stopping the decent. and soon as she let go the ship jolted as it began to drift downward at an increasing speed. "Sugary, you better have a good idea of what you are doing." she opened her hoof and retrieved a small vial that shone with a golden white light. "i cant share magic directly, but I can give you this if you need it, its like 1022MW" she said passing it to him.
she was still surging with magic potential, as arks sparked on her, but it didn't seem to bother her, as if it was something she was very much accustomed too as she braced for his spell.

The stallion focused on the trinket for a moment, lightly sighing that it had to be this way once he talked things out with her more. He almost seemed disheartened about it all. Perhaps it had to do with his magical heritage. It made him feel both close and distant to her that he couldn't actually share his magic directly with her as much as he would like or things could go sour. "It'll do. And I should be able to make it easier for you to release that excess... Annnd... Float...!" He took what he gave her and expertly weaved it with as much ease as she had managed to handle the chaotic storm of magic. It seemed he was adept at energy conversion, as the barrier was turned into a very advanced cloud spell instead, and so the airship hovered right above the canopies harmlessly. He then tapped the floor, smiling at her as he circulated that 'key' ingredient and power she shared just now. "It... might cause a heavy fog, but you can pour what you have into this instead of trying to control it all. Please, don't burden yourself with so much."

She was still sparking as she walked over and kissed him "you are remarkable, intelligent and capable, but truly, and I say this will no malice, you don't know my body or what it can do, I love you, just trust me." she through a larger capsule to the floor, it seemed designed for observation. it began to collect ambient magic as it began to glow, "this is like your body ok, but watch what happens if I allow magic to be shared in there from myself. the tank began to grow brighter and brighter the gold colour increasing, but with no warning it suddenly all turned black, a purple light emitting from it. "that, that would kill you, I caught it as it ambiently infected me from my mother, if I share magic with you directly, there would be enough of it to convert all your magic in seconds." its not that I don't trust you or that I think you cant handle high power magic, i just really don't want you to suffer like I do, or worse kill you by accident."
by this time the sparks had subsided as if the magic was becoming part of her. she smiled softly knowing he cared. "there's a lot about me you don't know, a lot about me that I don't know, and its something we will both work out in time, I'm sure of it."

"Thank you. Still... One of these days we'll find a cure for that curse. And if we don't, I'll work on one myself..." He stated a bit solemnly, knowing this would not be an easy matter to deal with as he looked to the display and felt her energy in the air fade, his solutions just as lacking right away as he stared idly. "At least we made it here, in one piec-" He was cut off as one engine popped loudly and began to smoke, making him smirk tiredly and sigh. "... Mostly in one piece. Ah, that reminds me... Where are we now, anyway? I'm not familiar with this region at all. The tropical air feels like home though."

"The North coast of Shire Lanka we are a good while away from most pony territory." She turned to look at the storm above and on the horizon. "This whole island is a hot bed for magic but this is not normal." She noted pointing at said storm. "The entire island is much like the Everfree Forrest, self governing and unnatural because of it, but when I heard about the storm I needed to look more into it if for nothing else than to see how it effected the wild life." She turned back to him straight faced, it was plan time. "I have contact with a tribe out here, about a days travel inland, but I still think here is the best base camp for us. That being said you will want the ship with its defences up and ready to leave if need be. I must head to the tribe and announce our arrival. I would take sky but she is best off here with you to help fix the place up and help keep watch so I suppose I'll take menace, we will likely stay the night there to avoid travailing at night so I'll likely see you in the morning." She gave him a peck on the cheek and blinked to the bridge to gather her bag and papers.

Sugary just plain was left blinking at the proposal being made. He was largely curious about what kind of contacts Lightning had in this region that would aid her work, but she made a good point about the airship as some parts of it began to smoke in the aftermath of the jump through the storm, even if the advanced Float spell was taking them to a good landing spot. He conjured a wrench and a bucket from the airship's belongings, and set forth to begin the repairs once he landed them on a safe location to setup magical seals and start putting out potential strains and fires, waiting on Sky to join him assuming Lightning told her of the plans. It seemed he would be spending a night alone at the airship with the large and powerful bodyguard this time.

Sky climbed on deck from the hold, "hey, Sugary, guess its just us holding the fort tonight, what need fixing, or i suppose what would you feel is top priority i know my way around most hard ware, not in the same was as lightning but i know my stuff, just tell me how to help" she stated as she walked to him.

The stallion warmly looked to the pegasus as he put out the last of the smoke he found, giving her a somewhat weary wave beckoning for her aid. "Nah, you got the right of it already for the most part. I'd be happy to have your help with repairs. We can then just take our time assessing that our supplies are all there after what we just went through, and... just make sure our little home here is in one piece for our companions to come back and feel cozy in while we do our own thing to keep in shape, really. Keep it simple, ya know?"

She smiled warmly as she approached "ah ok that sounds good, if it's all the same I'll make my repairs and stuff with you, not that I can't do it on my own but simply put I don't want to end up trying to fix something that is actually a hot fix of some sort, I've flown with enough sky pilots to have learnt that the hard way I can assure you." She chuckled and patted him on the back somewhat not recognising her own strength. "So where first boss?".

Sugary chuckled softly as he passed Sky a bottle, a towel and brush of special material as he points to some coils and pipes that he began to collect beside him. "Thankfully, not too bad so far. We mainly just have to remove and clean up parts that got a little smokey and cluttered with excess wild Ether to the point of straining. Might take a bit, but it's more cleaning than repairs in a way. Just maintenance that is needed to make sure nothing breaks later... I hope you don't mind smelling like raw lavender oil though, heh."

"ill give it my best, but I'm not all that experienced in it, never was allowed to do cleaning up, id always break things by mistake, its how i learnt the hard way you cant just bend a cast iron axel and hope no one would notice, that engine didn't sound right and it really didn't sound right when the engine tore itself in half, but I mean, i was 12 art the time how was I to know heh" she took the brush and very methodically and slowly brushed at the nearest part to her.

With what Sky had told him, Sugary choose to take his time doing maintenance along with her, watching her more intently from time to time. He figured Lightning would have her help with such things at least occasionally, so he would be measured on how he gave his instructions; He kept them simple, he gave examples, and gave caution on something is and isn't meant to look to ensure it was in good working order with what they were handling. He didn't of much for small talk, just content to work, but he also didn't want to give Sky the impression he disliked her company with too much silence either. "Say, you're doing good there with the work so far... What about your body? You feel alright all over? We did go through quite the anomaly earlier. To be honest, I still feel like the air tastes a bit like soda pop! Not unpleasant, but I'm sure that's not normal while it wears off."

she'd assure him she know the basics and what not but more just that due to her size and strength it was hard to be delicate, "i don't think I've ever been as embarrassed as the first,, well and last time i did the washing up for lightning, she was so wiped out i thought it would be nice you know, well i got a lot of questions, mostly 'where are all the cups and plates' and 'why we had a whole bunch off new ones', well that was enough for me to note i shouldn't be doing that stuff, that being said i maintain my own gear, that being said" she stopped brushing a spring of its purple soot and reached into her satchel "i normally used,, this" she placed a small leather hooflet next to him, it was covered in some serious magi-tech, "lightning made it for all of the team that works for her, but the other day when we crashed it got fried. not even sure if its worth trying to repair or just ask for a new one" she said some what sadly, getting back to the cleaning.