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An Odd Little Blurb Called:
The Nature of Magic: A Lecture
With fingernails that shine like justice,
And a voice that is dark like tinted glass,
She is fast, and thorough, and sharp as a tack.
She's touring the facility and picking up slack.
I want a girl with a short skirt
And a long, long jacket!
"Short Skirt, Long Jacket," Cake
Calmly and confidently, she walked through the hallways of Crystal Tokyo University. Her golden hair was done up in a short French braid on the top of her head, her well-manicured nails seemed to perfectly match her immaculate yellow skirt suit, and her sophisticated glasses seemed to give her an air of enhanced beauty and intelligence; as if she need that.
Reaching a door at the end of the hall, she turned the knob and breezed into the expansive lecture hall. Professor Aino Minako, head of the Hyperphysics and Magic department, had arrived at her first class of the school year.
She smiled a small smile, aware, as always, of her effect on her male students. She gave no other sign she noticed, though, and calmly approached the podium, withdrawing her notes from her briefcase, and took a moment to silently arrange them as she wanted them. Then, she spoke.
"What is the nature of magic? That is the question we will be exploring in this class. Undoubtedly, you have all seen or experienced magic in one point in your life. After all, in our modern world it stands hand in hand with science as essential parts of our society."
She repressed a smirk as she noticed, her TA trying to sneak in, late as always, with a cup of coffee clutched in his hands. She was very fond of him, even with his tardiness, because he reminded her of a boy she had known a long, long time ago.
"How many of us really understand it, though? Hmm?"
Some uncomfortable shuffling.
"So, none of you, not one person in an entire class of college freshmen, understand this phenomenon that is essential to our society, which is one of the most essential building blocks of modern life? Not one of you has a clue how a teleportation spell works, do you? Or how the elves of Avalon are able to create their living tree houses, using magic to coax the branches and leaves to grow into waterproof shelters, complete with windows? And where, may I ask, does the energy possessed by her Majesty's Silver Crystal come from?"
Silence.
She smiled now. "Well, I can tell you one thing. I don't know for sure either."
Her entire class face faulted.
She laughed. "The scientific community has theories, of course; many theories, some of which are contradictory. We'll be learning them all in this class, as we make some small attempt to," here she placed a dramatic pause, then finished, "Understand Magic!"
That got a chuckle out of her TA, but the other students still seemed a little intimidated. She repressed the desire to shake her head over the poor state of their senses of humor, and continued.
"Now, as far as our best minds can figure out, there are dozens of factors involved with the way magic works, depending on the type of magic. Some of these include: quantum particles, higher dimensions, alternate universes, personal energy, dark matter, certain types of radiation from the space, and the configurations of the planets and moons. Plus, of course, some—heck, all—schools of magic derive their workings from a combination of these factors.
"Moon Magic, as it has come to be called; the magic used by myself and the other Senshi (What, you didn't know I was Sailor Venus? Well, I am.) depends, in a great part, on the energy derived from certain barely detectible quantum particles. With a short phrase, or even a little concentration, for those with the correct brain chemistry, a wide variety of magical effects can be created. Observe."
She casually pointed her finger at her TA, releasing a Crescent Beam that made his coffee cup shatter, soaking his shirt and covering him with ceramic shards. This got a laugh out of the class.
He blinked, then sighed piteously. "Professor, that was my best coffee mug!" More laughing.
"Quit whining, Derrek-kun. Now, for me to create that beam, a number of factors needed to be right. First of all, I needed to be healthy and well rested. The energy for that attack exists everywhere around us, in everything. However, human beings possess far more than their surroundings." She smirked a little. "I personally am unable to draw energy from other people; however, I can draw power from myself. This is why being healthy is a major factor. Similarly, channeling so much energy through my mind and body is very tiring. While I have very good endurance for my attacks at this point in my life, when I first began my career as a Senshi, I would become exhausted after a mere two or three Crescent Beams. Finally, as I said, for me to manipulate these energies, my brain has to be wired correctly. Now, scientists aren't sure how or why our brains got this way, but the other Senshi and I have a significantly different nerve configuration is certain key areas of our brain; these nerves are, not surprisingly, the nerves that fire when we use our powers.
"It involved long, tedious days of testing to figure that one out, I can assure you." Laughter from the students; good, they were relaxing.
"However, how do some other functions of magic work? For instance, why does the Elder Sign keep a Deep One from entering a room if it is placed upon the door? How does a cross ward off a vampire, or burn its flesh when they touch? These effects, my friends, are both psychological and physiological. It is our belief that who or whatever initiated the formation of life in our Solar system, maybe even in the galaxy or entire universe, worked into some forms of terrible creatures the fear of these "stigmata." We have no knowledge of how, or why, but we believe this is what happened.
"And that brings us to the main point I'd like you to consider between now and the next time we meet. A very learned man named Arthur C. Clarke once said, a long, long time ago, 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' So, it behooves us to ask; did life really start spontaneously and did we really evolve naturally, as authorities of the twentieth century believed, or was some sort of greater intervention responsible for the path history has taken? And if this is true, was that force truly divine? Or was it simply an entity from a high plane of existence with knowledge of science beyond our comprehension?
"Just think about that, and keep in mind that much of our technology: flight, microwave guns, heck, even the ability to make plastic, all this would have been seen as magic to civilizations of the past.
As she knew it would, the bell rang at this point. She smiled. "Thank you for listening to an old lady babble, my friends. I'd like a two page paper about your thoughts on this matter done by the time we next meet." Ah, yes, the sweet sound of groaning young adults. How she did miss it during the summer...
The End
Author's Notes: Yeah, this is weird, I know. It was just a little something I thought up while reading The Burrowers Beneath, as great little Cthulhu Mythos story by Brian Lumley. They talked about how the Elder Gods were really beings with super-science at their command, which is how all the Cthulhu Mythos magic really works. Not that I necessarily agree with his view of how the Cthulhu Mythos works, but I've always liked the idea that magic, in any series, is simply something which obeys natural laws which science can't understand yet. Sort of like what Ryoko and Ayeka do in Tenchi Muyo. Or Washu, for that matter. In Tenchi Universe, she turns Ryoko and Ayeka into kappa at the push of a button. If that doesn't seem magical, what does. Though, of course, there is always the Artistic theory of magic. After all, in a lot of series, wizardry and the like is known as the Art, so that is another angle it can be looked at. Another good theory is that magic is what is used to truly achieve the impossible. If it has limits or barriers, it is simply an advanced form of science. Either way, though, it applies to the Sailor Moon universe.
If anyone has problems with Minako seeming OCC, tough. I think it is perfectly reasonable that she could have matured into college professor material. I was going to do it with Ami, but I realized that if she was a doctor, she couldn't very well be a college professor. I might do some other fics in this world, too; tell me what you think.
Woo-hoo! I got through an entire fic with only one Cthulhu mythos reference, not including author's notes. I should really explain that in my bio... Anyway, is there anything else I should mention? Let's see... Well, Sailor Moon L is going slow, partly because I'm stuck on what to do to get where I want to go, partly because there's so much else I want to write, partly because I want to actually see the last disk of Sailor Moon S (which is on its way verily as we speak), but mostly because I just haven't sat down and worked on it.
My next project is going to be a set of "A Day in the Life of..." stories about either my favorite characters from my favorite animes, or the male leads of my favorite animes (my favorite animes being Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2, Tenchi Muyo, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. I really want to do a day in the life of Ayeka, but I'm torn between doing Ami or Mamoru for Sailor Moon. It doesn't matter between Ranma and Ryouga for Ranma 1/2, and ditto for Shinji and Toji for EVA. Anyway, if anyone who reads this actually cares, e-mail me, or just write it in the review.
Please review this fic.
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is not owned by me. It is owned by the beautiful, wonderful, amazing Naoko Takeuchi, as well as Pioneer. I also don't own the Cthulhu Mythos. I do, however, own this fic, the thoughts and ideas on magic in this fic, to some extent, and this story is Copyright 2002 by C-kun and Book, Staff, and Spirit Productions.
While I'm not too worried about any religious fundamentalists reading stories in the Sailor Moon section of FF.net, there might be some. If you are offended in a religious manner by any comments made in this or any of my other fics, you are probably a religious fundamentalist. If this is the case, you need to calm down, take a deep breath, and remember that if you are right, I'm going to Hell anyway, so there's no point in making a fuss over it. Thank you.
Boy I ramble a lot in my author's notes.