Peony Min (blackmagicks) wrote in emillion, @ 2014-03-17 09:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !log, peony min, tlisa karth |
Who: Peony & Tlisa
What: On the nature of Water
Where: A casting room in the Tower
When: This morning
Rating: Tamest of tame!
Status: Complete!
It did seem as though the phenomenon of large, unruly beasts rampaging through Emillion and its environs was becoming the new norm -- as was the propensity of some of them to choose hume hosts for themselves. Now Tlisa, like Hippolyta, was carrying around a summonstone; considering her youth and relative inexperience, this gave Peony some concern, though at the very least the young Mystic was still with them and not running away into the wilderness. She had to consider this a small victory. The guild was slowly learning the proper response to these sorts of situations, it seemed. Tlisa’s interest in offensive magicks, however, seemed sound to Peony’s mind, regardless of what manner of battle had prompted it. Even support mages ought to have a few capabilities for dealing damage; from Peony’s perspective, one ought to be as wholly self-sufficient as possible regardless of class (her own inability to master healing magicks aside). She had thus recommended a number of books, and having given the young woman some time to peruse them had reached out to offer a lesson. The situation being as unique as it was (and Merrion having communicated his own concerns about the girl), she’d thought it was best to take care of this particular matter herself. She thought of this as she set the casting room up for the lesson. Stone bowls, a jug of water, a table, two chairs. She did not expect to need targets today. In the time since fighting the King Bomb and acquiring his summoning stone, Tlisa had noticed more beasts around than she was used to seeing. Though part of her was worried about what this could mean for the town, her more prevalent concern was focused on what she should do about her newfound responsibility. She had considered simply telling the guild about it and seeing if anyone else wanted the stone, but then realized that King Bomb had chosen her for a reason. Besides, she had been wanting to become more effective on the battlefield… Not that she would ever want to be as destructive as the creature that she somehow inherited. Peony’s willingness to work with her was music to Tlisa’s ears. She hadn’t thought to ask the woman, not knowing her as well as she did Merri, and felt silly about forgetting that all the instructors could be good people to turn to in times of crisis. The books had been helpful to Tlisa, and while she’d taken to trying some practicing on her own a lesson with someone who had used the spells and could show her some tips that she might not have considered seemed invaluable. There was nothing quite like getting hand’s on knowledge to help hammer a point home, and though she knew it might take her a while any assistance would definitely make things easier to understand. She headed to the casting room that had been reserved for this training session, cautiously optimistic about how things might go today. She didn’t know what to expect. Peony greeted the young woman with a smile. “Hello, Tlisa. It is nice to see you. I hope you are well today?” She looked healthy and calm enough, not nearly as nervous and distressed as Peony had feared, going by her own limited experience with those who held summonstones. “Please take a seat,” she invited. She didn’t expect that Tlisa’s past experiences in casting rooms had gone this way, but then, her teaching methods were a bit unorthodox. “You will not need your staff,” Peony continued, taking one of the two chairs for herself. The amount of mana they would work with would be so miniscule that it would not be required. “Before we begin, how did you find the literature I recommended? Did you make any progress alone?” It would be best not to waste time if Tlisa’s individual practice had already borne some fruit. Changing schools of magic was always a challenge however, and mysticism and elementalism had very little in common. Tlisa was somewhat nervous, though she was getting better at hiding it. “Hello, Peony, thank you for taking the time to help me. And I am well, I hope you are too.” She smiled slightly, fiddling with the chain around her neck. It was a recent acquisition, a simple pendant containing the summonstone since King Bomb seemed to get a bit cranky if she left him home. She was wondering Peony’s teaching methods, and was interested in seeing if they’d work for her. Tlisa nodded at Peony’s comment, taken slightly back as she set down her staff someplace out of the way before moving back to stand in front of the other woman. “I found the books very informative, and while I did do some practicing I don’t seem to have made any progress.” A fact which bothered Tlisa more than she cared to admit. “I feel like I may be approaching it the wrong way, to be perfectly honest. It’s much different than I’m used to,” she confessed. “Yes, I imagine it would be,” Peony said, her tone kind. “Sit, please.” While she waited for the young woman to comply, she continued: “Elemental spells are in some ways simpler to form, but generally considered harder to control. Mystics and synergists have the unique experience of casting around target; elemental magicks, instead of wrapping around, are meant to explode out from a focus point. Attempting to aim them as you aim your spells will be an exercise in futility. You must forget what you have learned previously and approach this endeavor with a fresh gaze.” She took the jug and poured half a bowl of water, setting it in front of her. “Water flows,” she said, lifting her hand above the bowl, concentrating. The level of water in the bowl began to rise slowly, as if poured from some invisible faucet. “In its smallest, purest form, it is gentle. Like any force of nature, it can be destructive; similarly, like any other element, it does not have to be unless it is thus directed.” She dipped her hand into the bowl, let the cool liquid cover her fingers, then drip through them as her hand was once again lifted. “Before you can control something,” she said, “it is wisest to understand it. Then it will obey you. May I?” she asked, reaching with her wet hand for Tlisa’s dry one. Taking the offered seat, Tlisa leaned forward to listen more attentively. She wasn’t sure what she could expect, but could tell from the way she spoke Peony was passionate about the subject and was going to be an interesting and informative instructor. Though she had read about the same thing that was being explained to her, there was something about hearing it and seeing it demonstrated that seemed to make things start clicking a bit better in Tlisa’s head. Theory was all well and good, but nothing beat actually watching a spell come to life before your eyes. Her eyes widened as she saw the way Peony manipulated the water using just her concentration to make the water level increase. Nodding quickly when the instructor reached out for her hand, Tlisa extended her hand towards Peony, cautiously optimistic about what might happen next. She fully expected to end up with a wet hand, but hoped she didn’t embarrass herself if called upon to try and do what the other woman had just done. Even if that was a purely basic Elemental spell Tlisa had such little confidence in her ability to use it after her solo practice sessions that she was certain she could never learn how to harness such forces for her own uses. She wasn’t sure if Peony would prove her wrong. Permission having been granted, Peony took Tlisa’s hand in hers, palm resting against the top of the young woman’s hand, and brought their joined hands to the bowl. The movement of the water began first with their fingers, a slow circle causing the liquid to begin to spin. For a few silent moments, that was all it was -- they were not so different from children, creating a whirlpool with their motions, droplets splashing out onto the surface of the table here and there. A few calm, deep breaths, and Peony added magic. Just a trickle, at first, through their hands and into the bowl. The miniature whirlpool continued to spin, though little by little Peony raised their fingers from the water even as she increased the tiny stream of magic passing through them. Soon, their hands no longer touched the surface, but the spinning did not cease. “Try to feel what is happening,” the older mage said then. This was not like her unfortunate attempt with Siri not so long ago -- she remembered that keenly, but Tlisa’s challenges were unlikely to be the same, for all that she, too, might struggle for mental quiet to some degree. Hopefully, there would be no room for panic in this lesson. “Can you see how I am doing this?” The tension in Tlisa’s hand remained even as she allowed Peony to guide it to the bowl. She kept her gaze on the water, eyebrows flying up when their fingers made contact and began to move it around in a circular pattern that seemed almost lazy in its simplicity. If this was how one got used to dealing with the elements then perhaps it wouldn’t be as daunting as she had assumed. She could have been misinterpreting the book and getting herself all worked up for no reason. When Tlisa felt the magic flowing through Peony’s fingers, slight as it was, the hairs on the back of her neck raised in response. It was wholly different than what she was used to, though as Tlisa adjusted she was finding that the differences were not as pronounced as she once believed. It was similar to weaving except done in an entirely different fashion than she was accustomed to. “I-I feel something…” the younger woman murmured, awe in her tone. She kept her eyes on the bowl, her forehead furrowed in focus as she concentrated on trying to understand the magic coming from Peony’s fingers. It wasn’t easy at first, but the more she looked, the more the actual underlying process became visible. “I think so… it’s starting to seem clearer.” “Good,” Peony said, approving the obvious attention being paid and even the hesitance of Tlisa’s statement. To fully understand after one demonstration was unlikely, but an effort was clearly being made, and that was all she could ask. She nudged Tlisa’s hand back into the water, slowed the trickle of magic until it was no more and any ripples remaining were only echoes. “Try to repeat it.” She did not remove her own hand for now, prepared, when she felt the start of Tlisa’s efforts, to give a tiny push to the spell to assist it to form. “Small and slow and gentle,” she instructed. “It only takes a whisper.” Her eyes remained on the bowl of water even as her cheeks went pink at the approval from the other woman. Tlisa was so concerned about somehow disappointing Peony that she had stopped thinking of this as a lesson and started considering it a test of her own willingness to learn. If she could put into words how badly she wanted to succeed at this, perhaps her family would understand her hatred of being seen as weak. “Alright… small, slow, and gentle,” Tlisa murmured under her breath just loud enough for Peony to hear as she started to push in the same manner she felt the older mage do just moments before. “A whisper…” At first, nothing happened. Then, when Peony pushed, just a little, the spell took form, clumsy and uncertain, but there. The water rippled -- not in tidy circles as before but in choppy miniature waves. Still, it was moving, and after Peony withdrew her power, it continued to move, nearly splashing out of the edge of the bowl in one uncontrolled burst of power before suddenly going still. It seemed Tlisa had lost hold of the spell. Still, “A very good first effort,” Peony assured. “You can give even less the next time you try it -- for this exercise, too small is better than too large. You will grow it in time, once control comes more naturally.” Perhaps she would revisit the idea of gardening with Water with Tlisa one day; it seemed a likelier success than doing so with Siri had been. “Would you like to try it again?” The lag between when she started to try and when the magic took effect was nearly enough to make Tlisa give up, but she forced herself to continue. Though she knew the spell actually took hold after Peony assisted, it didn’t dim the excitement she felt when the water began to react. And when it continued to even after Peony stopped, the smile that came to Tlisa’s face was almost radiant. The water wasn’t moving as smoothly as it did for the more accomplished mage, but for an all-too brief time it was doing something. Bringing her hand up out of the water, letting it hover over the bowl still, Tlisa couldn’t speak to answer at first. “I-I did it,” she said, disbelief rampant in her tone. “You helped but even when you stopped… I did it.” She would have to practice, and was already finding a way to add it to her regimen, but this was more than Tlisa expected to accomplish and it was all thanks to Peony. “Oh, yes. Yes, I’d like to try it again.” |