User blog:Stirling Silverstine/'Rebellion'

'Rebellion'

Peragrine stepped outside of the wooden Hut. It was stuffy in there with all those people. Not that he was against crowds, but... I mean, come on, it was a HUT. Like, a very large hut, but still, didn't feel that way when you put in 9 people. Or was it 8, technically? Whatever, 8 bodi- no, he'd forgotten Seton. Whatever, 10 plus. 10, give or take a twin.

Also, there wasn't anything exciting going on anymore. Everyone had actually run out of stuff to say. They were all brooding, one way or another. Even the two Thingguys. Various poses of thought. Distracted. Utterly boring.

So like Stirling.

Peragrine glanced up at the night sky. 

It must be like... 2 in the morning, or something. He mused. Not that it mattered. No one else was sleeping here at the Godzilla Burger. Not after Sharpie had said the 'R' word.

Rebellion.

To Peragrine, that word rang of even greater adventures, more friends and foes to speak of, more stories, and generally more excitement! But he also knew that for a lot of people, the word was filled with danger, anger, maybe a little fear, and definitely a lot of hurt and pain.

Peragrine's gaze wandered down to the ground at his feet. It was pretty rocky, right to the edge of the plateau. Peragrine supposed this spot would be more picturesque in the spring and summer, but right now it was pretty bleak.

Except for a single purple poppy, sitting right by the edge.

Hmm. That one must have survived all its friends, thought Peragrine as he walked up to it. 'After all, unless my farmboy herb-lore is out of date, isn't this a clustering plant?

Sure enough, as he got closer, he saw the remains of many dead purple poppies all along the ridgeline.

Hmm! But not this one, no sir!

He crouched down and took a closer look at the survivor. Indeed, it was very vibrant, practically unmarred. He marveled at how it seemed to have it's own little starlight spotlight, how it swayed and bounced so gently in the wind coming off the plateau. How it's petals looked so soft and floppy, like a hound-dog's ears. 

Peragrine closed his eyes, and felt for the plant's energy. It took a minute, because he really had to focus and tone out everything else, but eventually, he could see the dim light that represented the little living flower.

Awesome.

He was about to open his eyes, because he didn't really have any plans to do anything with the energy, just wanted to see it, but then he saw even smaller lights... all below his feet.

Huh?

Intensifying his inner focus, he looked all around him and saw little tiny dots of light that spread off to his left and right.

As he peered at these lights, other, similarly minuscule lights began crowding his vision, but these ones moved. Through the air, along the ground, in the gro-

"OH!" He opened his eyes.

Bugs! Insects! And those other little lights, Seeds! Seeds were under the ground, all waiting for spring to arrive!

Peragrine giggled to himself, happy with the thrill of discovery.

Turning back to the single current poppy, he bowed.

"Thank you, m'l-"

"Who are you talking to?"

"Bleaugh!" cried Peragrine, nearly hopping off the ledge as MajorQ came up. "You surprised me."

"Oh. Sorry."

Peragrine motioned to the flower. "I was talking to the poppy."

Major took a moment to make sure what he'd heard was accurate. He pointed at it. "The flower?"

"Yeah!"

He stared at the kid in front of him as he began rambling. 

"Did you know that there are tons of seeds of this poppy just under the earth, waiting for spring? It's going to look beautiful when they pop up! But until then, we just have this one here, who's been really tough and lasted all this time!"

Major glanced back down at the flower as the kid rambled on about having learned about plant-life growing up on a farm. It was a purple flower, which reminded him of Maelstrom. It also seemed very lonely. But, as the kid had just said, it wouldn't be very lonely for much longer. If only it could hold out that long. 

Common sense told him it wouldn't, but then again... Recently, he hadn't been running on common sense. No one in their right mind would run off with this crazy bunch of dysfunctional psychos, (even if some of them were old friends,) and try to mount a rebellion against a man who's power commanded Red Mythrans, literal Armies, and nearly the entire planet they were standing on.

So maybe if he could hold on with his friends, new and old...

...Maybe they'd make it through the last of winter, and raise a Rebellion. 

"We're just like this flower." Major said aloud.

Peragrine paused his monolouge. "Pardon?"

"Change is coming, and with it, us. Just like this flower, right now it might seem like we're all alone, but there's people everywhere on this planet that are unhappy with thedude's reign, I'm sure." Major sighed as he looked around at all of the dead remains of the other flowers. "It's only a matter of figuring out how to make them sprout."

Peragrine sighed. "Yeah. Me an' Tain an' Carson have been travelling a bit, and there's places here and there that aren't happy, but then there's also a lot of people who are totally sold on thedude. It's kinda freaky."

Major nodded. "Dictators can have that effect. I'm certain that some people only see the advancement and stability he's brought to their countries. None of the war, or cruelty, or discipline."

"But, thedude is wrong, right?" Peragrine said, staring right at Major, who looked up and stared at him. "I mean, I've never met him but-"

"Yes, Peragrine. thedude is an evil man. I have met him. He is obsessed with power, and subjection of the entire world. He tried to overthrow the Nexus Force before, as you know. I don't know his personal reasons, if he has any, but know this for a certainty: thedude is an evil man, who will spread his evil wherever he goes." He turned away from  Peragrine's gaze and stared into the night horizon. "It may be necessary to end his life this time, if we have the chance."

Peragrine blinked. "Uh, well... Um, yeah, I guess."

Major looked back up at Peragrine, and saw his surprise and reluctance. This young man acted half his age. And yet, it seemed he was their resident wizard. 

"If only you could have met Wiz Ardon. He would be able to help you with your magic," Major said, swiftly changing the subject. "Though it is impressive how much I've seen you do already."

Peragrine rolled his shoulders smugly. "I mean, I've learned a thing or two. I've gotten some help here and there. But... Yeah. It would help to have a real magician teach me," Peragrine admitted. "I got the basics, but..." he shrugged. "I still feel like there's more I can learn."

Major nodded. "There certainly is. I remember Wiz once summoned a dragon."

Peragrine's eyes went wide. "Wha?! Like, a whole living breathing dragon, or like, the image or-"

"Real enough to turn the tide of the battle. Though it did fly away afterwards, if I remember correctly."

The two men stared into the sky for a minute. Then Peragrine asked, "What was he like?"

"The dragon?"

"No, Mr. Ardon."

Major smiled dimly. "I'm certain he'd just prefer Wiz. He'd probably make some snarky remark about not studying magic for x amount of years just to be called 'Mr.'"

"Was he a kinda grumpy Wizard?"

"Hmm. No. The best word would be Eccentric, but that's not quite right." Major thought for a moment. "He wasn't like any magic-user I'd ever met. Magic came quite easily to him, or so he made it seem. But he was always quite distracted. Like he was busy taking care of a dozen different things. Sometimes that would make him sound terse, but that was just because he was busy, mentally, if not physically."

Peragrine nodded. "So, like, he was the expert right?"

"He was the only battle-mage in all of KOTOS."

Peragrine's eyes oogled. "Coooool. So, if he was like, super 'leet, did he ever heal?"

"Heal?"

"Yeah. Mend wounds. Fix things. Build, not destroy."

Major gave it another thought. "He did build things. Used creative powers. But, Um, not often. He mostly was destructive. Not that I really knew him much. He may have had that ability and we just never got to see it, seeing as we were fighting a war."

Peragrine seemed marginally disappointed. "Not even like a bruise or nothing?"

Major sighed. "It was all years ago kid. Honestly, after all this time, I only remember his biggest displays. The big explosions. That Dragon instance. Him shooting lightning from his hands. His darn-awful swordsplay." He chuckled hollowly.

"His swordsplay?"

"He was... well, no, he was decent. But compared to the rest of the knights, he certainly was one of the worst. He used his staff more than his sword."

Peragrine smiled. "Did he wear a hat?"

"Oh yes, he would say no Wizard is complete without a hat. He wore an awful fabric thing that he called a hat."

Peragrine scratched his head. "I've tried to find a hat, but nothing really fits."

Major looked Peragrine up and down. "No, I think you're not a hat-wearing wizard. You're different. First Builders help us when I say you're just as different as he was." Major shook his head. "Maybe it's just a natural wizard thing to stick out like sore thumbs."

Peragrine shrugged. "Maybe!"

The sound of feet on gravel alerted both guys to another person approaching. It was Lady Jonna.

"Hey. What are you guys doing out here?"

"Talking." "Just talkin'!"

"Really? What else is there to talk about?" she asked, a little incredulity sneaking into her voice. 

"Peragrine here asked me about the Peculiar Enchanter," answered Major. Peragrine nodded enthusiastically.

"I was hoping to hear a little about healing magic. It's sorta my weak spot right now," Peragrine admitted.

It was hard to read her features in the night. The moonlight had become blocked by clouds, and the lights from inside the Godzilla Burger behind her put her features in silhouette. But she shrugged her crossed arms as she said, "I'm afraid most of us know next to nothing about magic, much less anything as complicated as healer's magic. From what I understand, you have to have a deep knowledge of the human body to heal anything other than simple cuts and bruises."

"Oh," Peragrine said, thinking of his past experiments where he'd tried to do just that. It still didn't make a lot of sense in his head.  He'd never had to know how fire worked to light up a whole building, or the exact measurements and mass of a staff to conjure a magical construct of it. Why would healing be any different?

Jonna shivered. "It's getting cold out here, I'm heading back in. You guys should too, soon. We all need to get some rest."

Peragrine gave a thumbs up, and Major nodded, adding, "I'll be in shortly."

As Jonna walked back to the Godzilla Burger, the two men took to staring back up at the black sky.

"Why do you want to learn healer's magic, Peragrine?"

Peragrine shrugged. Then he sighed. Then he glanced down at the poppy. At some point, one of it's petals had fallen off.

"I mean, as much fun as it is to blow stuff up, I really wish I could heal. Ever since I've gotten my powers, I've always told myself that I would only use them for good. And, yet, even though I try my best, it's really hard to keep it in check sometimes. People have still gotten hurt. I mean, it's not always my fault but-"

"But if you had enough control to use your powers to heal, then you wouldn't feel helpless about it."

Peragrine tilted his head sideways. "Eh. Sort of. Not so much helpless as clueless. I know I can do it, I just don't know how...!"

Major sighed. He wished he had something more encouraging to say, but all he had was, "Give it time, kid. Give it time."

Peragrine glanced at Major, before bobbing his head in the affirmative and shoving his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, yeah. Ok." 

They both stood there pensively awhile longer, before Major announced he was going inside. Peragrine followed. As the two men walked back into a largely sleeping Godzilla Burger, they both privately wondered who of this group would see the end of this rebellion...

And who wouldn't.