. “Fear…?” Alinua starts softly, one fist clenched.
. “Hold your distance,” Caturus says, glowing water lighting up the stripes on his face. He draws a stream out with one finger. “And you may want to cover your ears.”
. The Sekrai spreads his hands, glowing water streaming from his fingers like octopus tentacles. He points them forward as the Wyrm glides toward him, mouth hinged open. Then he snaps his hands closed into fists.
. The water spikes as lightning bolts through it, rippling and shifting as Caturus’s power keeps it from shocking everyone nearby. The threads shoot forward, looping around the Wyrm and snapping to its skin with a deafening sound.
Wasn’t sure whether that was ice or lightning, but I think I agree with @Evil Tree that it’s lightning. We’ll see next page I guess
Caturuuuuussss Why do I like him so much lol
. The Sekrai spreads his hands, glowing water streaming from his fingers like octopus tentacles. He points them forward as the Wyrm glides toward him, mouth hinged open. Then he snaps his hands closed into fists, Water tattoo glowing brighter.
. The water spikes as it freezes into ice, tendrils shooting forward. They touch the Wyrm, quickly freezing bands of ice around its body.
I wonder what Alinua’s singular “Fear…?” could mean exactly. Maybe it’s meant in realisation, that Valia’s harsh but true words have made an impression on her and her worldview. Maybe it’s the beginning of an angry outburst; how dare she lecture her on fear of power and the unknown when she’s been acutely aware of it for over a decade. (one of Ali’s fists is even clenched).
I’ll always appreciate Red’s commitment to making the appearance of not only each magic type unique, but also how each mage applies their craft unique. Erin’s precise water runic circles felt like a science, Tarren’s minor demonstration felt casual, but Caturus’s casting here feels almost like an art.
The swirling water tendrils are numerous but purposeful, subtle hand movements to direct the flow, but my favourite part is him clenching his firsts to activate the lightning. The water threads immediately becoming spiked and jagged not only showing lightning is passing through, but also implies that said lighting is contained within them and not leaking out into the wider ocean.
This might be the best test to see if the Northern Wyrm is still in that body; Caturus never tried this before because he worked under the assumption the god is still in there, thus has control over the ocean currents.
If the spell holds well, then that implies the Wyrm’s soul is not in the incarnation, or else she’d use her powers to free herself. If the spell is broken more easily, then that may prove that the god is still in there.
To add to the idea that Alinua is about to burst in anger, her eyes are hidden, but not the bottom of her face. This, to me, look a lot like someone angry is a lot of graphical media.
It’s simple enough, if rare. Humans in general have some small probability of being born a mage, with the probability decreasing exponentially the more elements you have. It keeps decreasing as you increase the number of elements to the point that Erin is the only Elemental Magus in the current day and age (the previous one died over a century prior).
Adapted humans, such as Sekrai, have a much more skewed distribution of elements wielded by mages. Of those mages, it’s far more likely that e.g. a Sekrai mage is a water mage, with a lower chance of being also a lightning or life mage, e.g. Caturus.
Red answered an ask about this a few years ago. Here: https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/post/634396215386275840/i-know-elementally-adapted-mages-cant-control
While we’re on that topic, I really don’t think Caturus is channeling Lightning here. There’s no glow typical of either lightning polarity (yellow or blue) or shapes reminiscent of lightning discharge, and nothing to suggest his Lightning tat is lit.
Instead, what I think is happening is that Caturus is flash-freezing the water around the Wyrm.
Ha. Eat your heart out, Elemental Magus. THIS is a Water Mage.
Erin: It’s interesting and there’s been a lack of study of deep sea water magic, for obvious reasons. I may be the first ever to witness it firsthand.
(Alinua stares at Mr. Forgot-Who-Gave-Him-Gills and is Right-Next-To-Him.)
Since apparently Under the Sea With Alinuna has hooked me I’m going to start doing fun facts again!
Did you know:
Sound can move approximately 5 times as fast in seawater as compared to air, with it moving on average 1500 meters per second in seawater. However, this is not a constant rate as the temperature, salinity, and pressure can all impact the exact speed at which sound moves through seawater!
Firstly, as Caturus said on the previous page, if the Wyrm was still in her body, he wouldn’t be able to use his water magic on her. He has been believing she was probably still in there until now. And if she *was* still in there, and he had tried to attack her in this way, she was likely to try and kill him, because that just makes sense.
Secondly, what would have been next? Valia has been wanting to kill the Wyrm, or at least her warped body, and Caturus disagreed with that. He wanted to learn more first.
So I think he hasn’t been willing to try because of the danger (if he had failed and she had killed him, his community would have lost a rare and valuable stormcaller), combined with the fact that Valia could have used that opportunity to kill the Wyrm while Caturus tried to figure her out. You’re unlikely to be able to calm a creature to investigate it while it’s being pelted with spears.
Since we’ve also been told mages are exceptionally rare in the deep to begin with, Caturus is likely to be the only one who *could* have tried.
Yes, I agree. Also, I got the sense that Caturus didn’t want to destroy the Northern Wyrm, not unless it was proven absolutely necessary. This was the incarnation of their Goddess.
Okay so. I LOVE Caturus’s design. It’s freaking amazing. He’s stunning. AND the magic is amazing. Please don’t nerf him. He deserves to be OP.
BUT, his clothing is SO un-hydrodynamic!! Red, have you ever tried swimming while wearing an oversized t-shirt?? I have. (I used to be on a competitive swim team, and they made me wear it for practice.) It’s a PAIN. It’s SO hard to move around. This is what you’re subjecting our glorious stormcaller to.
Hmm… grew up next to a lake and basically lived every summer in a swimsuit and flip flops… and yes, this is true.
I’m going to say for the sake of storytelling that this material is something that doesn’t absorb water at all and somehow creates no drag. Because I’ve never, ever left a plot hole in writing a story that I had to later make up some random reason to explain away, nuh-uh.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: water mages op underwater. please nerf
Image source: snap
tumblr text: and welcome back!
Tumblr Text: and welcome back!
Bluesdky Text: teamwork!
. “Fear…?” Alinua starts softly, one fist clenched.
. “Hold your distance,” Caturus says, glowing water lighting up the stripes on his face. He draws a stream out with one finger. “And you may want to cover your ears.”
. The Sekrai spreads his hands, glowing water streaming from his fingers like octopus tentacles. He points them forward as the Wyrm glides toward him, mouth hinged open. Then he snaps his hands closed into fists.
. The water spikes as lightning bolts through it, rippling and shifting as Caturus’s power keeps it from shocking everyone nearby. The threads shoot forward, looping around the Wyrm and snapping to its skin with a deafening sound.
Wasn’t sure whether that was ice or lightning, but I think I agree with @Evil Tree that it’s lightning. We’ll see next page I guess
Caturuuuuussss Why do I like him so much lol
I think the alt text referencing Baby It’s Cold Outside might actually point towards it being ice, especially since he’s a water mage
. The Sekrai spreads his hands, glowing water streaming from his fingers like octopus tentacles. He points them forward as the Wyrm glides toward him, mouth hinged open. Then he snaps his hands closed into fists, Water tattoo glowing brighter.
. The water spikes as it freezes into ice, tendrils shooting forward. They touch the Wyrm, quickly freezing bands of ice around its body.
Changes
Womp womp
Did Cat just ice slice the wyrm? Cool! (pun not intended)
Nah, it looks more like he’s encasing her in ice to me.
Given Red’s comment this day I would agree with you.
Dang, I’m here early!
Is that a bunch of Garrot wires, or a bunch of Taser wires?
Or both?
This is the first time I’ve ever seen the comment section empty.
With a gentle sound warning, a caturan flow extends
Enveloping the Wyrm that thrashingly bens
My fangushing over Caturus is soaring to new levels. Water maaaaageeee <3 Damn this is cool!
Wow :O
Caturus: You ever hear of the shoulder touch?
I wonder what Alinua’s singular “Fear…?” could mean exactly. Maybe it’s meant in realisation, that Valia’s harsh but true words have made an impression on her and her worldview. Maybe it’s the beginning of an angry outburst; how dare she lecture her on fear of power and the unknown when she’s been acutely aware of it for over a decade. (one of Ali’s fists is even clenched).
I’ll always appreciate Red’s commitment to making the appearance of not only each magic type unique, but also how each mage applies their craft unique. Erin’s precise water runic circles felt like a science, Tarren’s minor demonstration felt casual, but Caturus’s casting here feels almost like an art.
The swirling water tendrils are numerous but purposeful, subtle hand movements to direct the flow, but my favourite part is him clenching his firsts to activate the lightning. The water threads immediately becoming spiked and jagged not only showing lightning is passing through, but also implies that said lighting is contained within them and not leaking out into the wider ocean.
This might be the best test to see if the Northern Wyrm is still in that body; Caturus never tried this before because he worked under the assumption the god is still in there, thus has control over the ocean currents.
If the spell holds well, then that implies the Wyrm’s soul is not in the incarnation, or else she’d use her powers to free herself. If the spell is broken more easily, then that may prove that the god is still in there.
To add to the idea that Alinua is about to burst in anger, her eyes are hidden, but not the bottom of her face. This, to me, look a lot like someone angry is a lot of graphical media.
loving the third frame
Is captures a double mage ? Is that even possible? How’s that possible?
Caturus* , curse my autocorrect!!
People can have power over any number of the elements. It just gets much rarer for each additional element.
It’s simple enough, if rare. Humans in general have some small probability of being born a mage, with the probability decreasing exponentially the more elements you have. It keeps decreasing as you increase the number of elements to the point that Erin is the only Elemental Magus in the current day and age (the previous one died over a century prior).
Adapted humans, such as Sekrai, have a much more skewed distribution of elements wielded by mages. Of those mages, it’s far more likely that e.g. a Sekrai mage is a water mage, with a lower chance of being also a lightning or life mage, e.g. Caturus.
Red answered an ask about this a few years ago. Here: https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/post/634396215386275840/i-know-elementally-adapted-mages-cant-control
Red also answered a question not too long ago that referenced Caturus specificity. In it she described how Sekrai at these depths are almost exclusively water mages, with Caturus and his lightning Lightning being a rare exception, theorised to be because he has Storm Elf ancestry.
Here: https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/post/789865750622011392/wait-so-what-are-the-actual-rareness-of-life
While we’re on that topic, I really don’t think Caturus is channeling Lightning here. There’s no glow typical of either lightning polarity (yellow or blue) or shapes reminiscent of lightning discharge, and nothing to suggest his Lightning tat is lit.
Instead, what I think is happening is that Caturus is flash-freezing the water around the Wyrm.
he’s so pretty <3
awooga
Ha. Eat your heart out, Elemental Magus. THIS is a Water Mage.
Erin: It’s interesting and there’s been a lack of study of deep sea water magic, for obvious reasons. I may be the first ever to witness it firsthand.
(Alinua stares at Mr. Forgot-Who-Gave-Him-Gills and is Right-Next-To-Him.)
I don’t think he’d say that. I don’t think she would care.
And-?
What are you doing?
Huh?
I’m in my car after having driven home, checking email before I go inside to feed my cat.
🤷♀️
I meant why did you say that. I was so confused right then I could only say that.
Since apparently Under the Sea With Alinuna has hooked me I’m going to start doing fun facts again!
Did you know:
Sound can move approximately 5 times as fast in seawater as compared to air, with it moving on average 1500 meters per second in seawater. However, this is not a constant rate as the temperature, salinity, and pressure can all impact the exact speed at which sound moves through seawater!
Thanks!! I love learning cool new facts 😀
he’s silking his song >:O
SHAW
I wonder why they haven’t tried this earlier, or at least tried to see if was possible.
Firstly, as Caturus said on the previous page, if the Wyrm was still in her body, he wouldn’t be able to use his water magic on her. He has been believing she was probably still in there until now. And if she *was* still in there, and he had tried to attack her in this way, she was likely to try and kill him, because that just makes sense.
Secondly, what would have been next? Valia has been wanting to kill the Wyrm, or at least her warped body, and Caturus disagreed with that. He wanted to learn more first.
So I think he hasn’t been willing to try because of the danger (if he had failed and she had killed him, his community would have lost a rare and valuable stormcaller), combined with the fact that Valia could have used that opportunity to kill the Wyrm while Caturus tried to figure her out. You’re unlikely to be able to calm a creature to investigate it while it’s being pelted with spears.
Since we’ve also been told mages are exceptionally rare in the deep to begin with, Caturus is likely to be the only one who *could* have tried.
Yes, I agree. Also, I got the sense that Caturus didn’t want to destroy the Northern Wyrm, not unless it was proven absolutely necessary. This was the incarnation of their Goddess.
Okay so. I LOVE Caturus’s design. It’s freaking amazing. He’s stunning. AND the magic is amazing. Please don’t nerf him. He deserves to be OP.
BUT, his clothing is SO un-hydrodynamic!! Red, have you ever tried swimming while wearing an oversized t-shirt?? I have. (I used to be on a competitive swim team, and they made me wear it for practice.) It’s a PAIN. It’s SO hard to move around. This is what you’re subjecting our glorious stormcaller to.
Hmm… grew up next to a lake and basically lived every summer in a swimsuit and flip flops… and yes, this is true.
I’m going to say for the sake of storytelling that this material is something that doesn’t absorb water at all and somehow creates no drag. Because I’ve never, ever left a plot hole in writing a story that I had to later make up some random reason to explain away, nuh-uh.