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I hear he's been busy this week. His inmate and her closest friend are both suffering from death tolls.

All the more reason if he needs support.

Who's his Inmate? Do you know?

Ellie. I'm not sure if you've met her?

Not in person, no.

But we had a pun off on the network. Also...she really wanted knives, if I remember right.

Understandable but not all that useful, as a matter of self-defense.

I met her in the kitchens a while back. She's a good-hearted child.

Right? You have to use a lot of force to stab someone, and then you can lose the knife!

Maybe when she's feeling better, I'll go and see her. See if there's some fun things she'd want to do, or try.

It's much more efficient to slash with a knife. Blood loss is the primary disabling factor anyway, and it doesn't require as much arm strength or risk the loss of your weapon. Throats and faces especially --

[--oh dear he really is too stressed to be having conversations like this. He's forgotten who he's talking to. Clearing his throat with visible discomfort:]

Ha ha, it's hard to defend yourself with something short-range against someone with superhuman abilities, that's all I meant! I'm sure she'd appreciate something to take her mind off all of this.

I was taught to slash arms, but maybe I should go for the throat and face instead?

[All said with her very normal voice. She's not sorry for this discussion, it's actually very informative!]

But- yeah, it is. I'm pretty weak, especially compared to say, Sebastian. But- yeah. I thought of some sort of...I don't know. Heist game might be fun.

[Hakkai takes a breath, and then lets it out.]

Well. It depends on what you want to do. Slashing one or both arms often gives you the chance to run and has a much lower chance of causing permanent injury or death. If you don't have equal or better reach compared to your opponent it's quite a bit safer than getting close enough to go for the face. It won't usually take them out of the fight unless you're very lucky with where the blow lands or they weren't that motivated.

The face can be very disabling -- there's a lot of pain, it'll often blind your opponent with blood even if you don't get an eye outright -- which can give you the opening to knock them out or kill them. The throat can kill with one slash and you're very unlikely to get your blade caught on anything.

[She's quiet for a few moments. Thoughtful, not horrified. But slowly:]

I think the only problem in asking so high for Ciel or me is the height difference. Unless we're brought close up- for a bite, or being choked up close for example- we might not get the eyes.

But slashing the throat, the arms, maybe the chest- maybe it would work, in startling a supernaturally fast person.

Are you good with slashing, Hakkai? I've been hoping to find a teacher for me and Ciel.

Maddie is gonna teach us a bit, but more teachers, the better. Slashing needs...experience and confidence.

It's possible to make those attacks surprisingly fast, with training. But no, getting that close to someone with supernatural speed isn't a good idea unless they don't give you a choice.

I'm....

I can give you advice if you want it. But I can't teach you. I prefer not to use knives anymore.

No, no. I'm sorry Hakkai. I should have been more thoughtful.

I might ask advice for what kind of knife for the two of us, but that's all.

It's all right. It's just, ah, personal reasons.

[So many personal reasons!]

I started the conversation, after all....

I get it. Some things, we can't...bring ourselves to use or be around for a lot of reasons.

I mean...I did get interested in knives. But then- I've been very interested in non magical defense since I got here since I'm...kinda a wet papertowel, without magic.

Defense wise I mean.

I wouldn't actually recommend knives for self-defense. They can be good for a surprise attack, but many people don't find them as intimidating as they should, and it's not easy to disable someone with a knife without hurting them quite badly.

Some kind of stun gun would be a better choice, I think. For that purpose.

Mm. Or a tranquilizer gun, maybe.

I'll see about asking the Admiral for a stun gun for myself in the future, I think.

I don't think a knife will work very well against some of the hardier people here as it is. But...it'll be good to give Ciel some confidence.

The Admiral can create stun guns that have an incredibly powerful effect. One that might be much more effective than violence could be against our hardier passengers.

I'd like that. I might not get the stop spell up in time, or it might fail.

... Just make sure no one else can get hold of it. That kind of weapon is dangerous, too, even if it doesn't cause any injuries.

I'll do what Ethan did: have it biolocked.

...I should do that to my staff, maybe. Or...something with the materia.

Probably, if it's something that anyone could use by picking it up. I thought there was more to it than that?

Well...that depends on what the more you think it is.

What do you know about materia?

That they're crystallized energy cores of some sort, pre-programmed with spells that they can be used to cast.

But that's about all.

That's about right. But- that's the thing too. They can be used by anyone, so technically anyone can be a mage if you have enough materia.

It relies on instead...a kind of spiritual energy that every living thing has- and some unliving things too. I think everyone on the Barge at least has some of that energy.

Ashton was about to use it, for example. And Alexei and Ethan could too.

There's no... activation word? Special technique?

Hm.

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