Chapter 573: PAPER CUTS are Something to be Feared.
"Why shadow last? I feel like you could get more use of it then gravity if you took it second" asked Vivian suddenly curious about the ordering.
"Perhaps" said Kat slowly, "but I wouldn't say it's the right kind of usefulness if that makes sense? Shadow does some things I might want, but nothing except the shadow pocket that ice and gravity can't also do. Shooting concentrated shadow at people, I can do that with ice. Binding people in place with shadows, I can weigh them down with gravity.
"Flying. Not sure when I'd get that but I can ONLY do that with gravity from my set. Even then, I can use ice to move myself perhaps. It would likely require ice skates, but I want ice first anyway so it doesn't matter in this case. In fact, if I can't fly but I do have ice and gravity, perhaps I can lower my gravity and practically glide across the ground as ice forms beneath my feet. I wonder how hard that would be to turn into a spell?
"Anyway I'm getting distracted. As I said earlier, I just can't think of anything that only shadow can do and that I'd really need. Sure some things would be nice, and others perhaps nicER but nothing I couldn't live without. So it just gets relegated to my last slot unlike you guys. Gravity should be my powerhouse magic even if it's what I want to pick up second"
The others seemed to ponder over that information. She could see Lily in particularly had wheels spinning rapidly behind her eyes as she took in all the information Kat had presented to her. Sylvie's facial expression hadn't changed much and neither had Vivian's though they seemed interesting. No it was Callisto's that really changed. Her eyes lit up like Kat had provided her the key to the Library of Alexandria.
"That makes so much additional sense" said Callisto but she was looking over Kat's head, not really speaking to her. "I had not considered the option of choosing affinities in such a way. I was too fixated on picking the strongest last and I may have overlooked several interesting combinations for the decision.
"I was rather focused on interesting final builds that made good and unique use of each and every one of my affinities. However, Kat's approach is much more practical. She saw Ice, which was something she couldn't live without, and then looked into what else would complement it in the most practical way possible. My suggestion, while interesting, does not work all that well with just one or two of those affinities. Or at least, not the way I might have wanted them to work…"
"Hmmm" murmured Vivian, "I think I stand by my suggestion. Wind is my only hope of doing anything at a low level… unless I really cared about training, I guess? I don't think gravity would be all that strong until later. My third was mostly a throw away affinity anyway. I know I entertained space a fair bit and I think I like that idea the most still but I'm not necessarily feeling it. So, I at least, am happy with my choices"
"I suppose I can second the idea that I'm happy with what I picked," said Sylvie. "Depending on exactly what I could do with time magic if it was my second pick I could certainly be argued to make it my second affinity instead of my third but I wouldn't change the ones I picked. I like them all, and even if time was a bit of a late minute addition I don't think I know of anything that's better."
Lily pouted at everyone. "Well, that's great and all but I still don't have a third affinity I know I want"
Kat nodded and raised an eyebrow at Lily. She certainly hadn't forgotten that. *Wasn't that the point of going through all this? So that you could see what affinities we'd pick and use that to pick your own?* Kat then looked at everyone else though, and they seemed surprised by Lily's words. Clearly Kat was the odd one out here, as the others had gotten caught up in the situation. As Kat's face settled back into a confused one she missed Lily's eyes passing over her. Registering from the slight changes that Kat's face had gone through what had happened. She'd watched Kat's face move plenty of times in plenty of ways and felt her heart warm as the knowledge Kat hadn't forgotten that small detail settled into her own mind.
Vivian however, was never one to keep things awkward and said, "Did it help though? Any knew ideas knocking around your noggin'? You've heard what we want, did any of them sound worthwhile?"
Lily bit her lip for a few moments before saying, "Sylvie's idea was actually really cute. If I didn't want to help Kat out on her Contracts then I might have done something similar…"
"You don't have to help me Lily…" stumbled out of Kat's mouth.
Lily turned a glare towards Kat and said, "I WANT to Kat. Do not think that I would want to choose a path that didn't have you in it"
Kat swallowed and explained, "Well… just because you wouldn't be helping me on Contracts doesn't mean we wouldn't be on the same path…"
Lily just shook her head slowly. It seemed Kat didn't quite understand but she felt that was fine. Kat wasn't the one having all of her dreams provided by the person she loved. The thought did sting a little but was quickly overwhelmed by the joy Kat would even do this in the first place. Lily knew Kat had never really thought of using those tokens for herself once she learnt they could give someone magic and Lily loved that about Kat.
"Kat. I will be picking combat applicable affinities" said Lily firmly.
Vivian, deciding to both cause problems and solve them at the same time said, "What if it'd help Kat more on Contracts if you had a more supportive skillset though? Kat seems to have the combat part covered already and while a second person would help. Perhaps a healer for healing other people would be better? Kat can't heal others after all. Or store things. I'm sure there are other things Kat can't do"
Kat wanted to point out that Contracts were given to her based on what she could do and not what abilities she might have… but she didn't want to undermine Vivian's point. If it did get Lily to pick affinities that she was happier with then Kat didn't want to jeopardise that. Lily chewed on the inside of her lip and her thoughts whirled for a bit before settling.
"I think I still want combat things…" said Lily softy. "While being useful to Kat is a consideration. I'm not just doing this for Kat. I'm doing this for myself as well. I… there are quite a few reasons I want to take combat affinities if there even are other options. I want to fight by Kat's side as an equal. Maybe not yet, or for a long time… but if we're both immortal then SOMEDAY I want to manage it.
"Additionally… I think it would be good for my confidence. I… I know I've struggled with bullies and I can't help but feel the knowledge… even if I'm the only one who has it… that I could summon a field of ice spikes or drown someone in shadow… well I think it would be a good way to finally internalise that their words can't hurt me. Having Kat defend me helps certainly, and I love her for that. Something I can say out loud happily. But I don't want to rely on that goodwill forever even if she is my girlfriend now"
Lily was bright red when she finished the explanation and Kat at least felt very touched. The others mostly felt thoughtful as they tried to decide on what affinities she might want. "Would paper affinity be interesting to you?" asked Callisto.
Lily turned to Callisto questions clearly in her eyes. Callisto saw them and continued. "I just think it fits you well and would have at least some interesting applications. You might be able to store things in the paper like with shadow magic. Raining thousands of pieces of sharpened paper at people would be quite deadly. Maybe if you take up origami or at least learn the steps you could turn paper you conjure into all sorts of useful things. I imagine it would be cheaper then using ice and perhaps fit you better."
Lily's eyes lit up at the idea and felt herself mentally discard ice as an option for her affinities. She was still a little sad to discard it as it would have brought her closer to Kat, but the idea of using paper magic appealed to her on a deep level. "I love it," said Lily
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l