It Commences [Kaeson, Nai'shee]

[Cascade]

62nd Day of Spring, 512 AV Two students were going to be initiated into reimancy today. Initiation was not something which Mistress Farah truly enjoyed, but it was a necessity. For this event, she chose one of the rooms in the East Wing. She was careful to choose one of the rooms in the more obscure hallways, as initiation into reimancy was one that required utmost focus. When the two students walked into the room, they saw that the desks and chairs were pushed to the sides. The curtains on the windows were shut, as Mistress Farah wanted all distractions gone. A lady in her thirties, Mistress Farah, was standing in the front of the room, patiently waiting for the students. On a desk near her were some objects wrapped in a cloth. "Come in," she called out to the students as they arrived. "My name is Mistress Farah. I'm one of the members of the University board, but I am also a reimancy professor." The Mistress gazed at the student. She allowed her eyes to linger, as if studying them and judging what her eyes could reach. "Before we start, kindly introduce yourselves... and tell me why you are here. Why do you want to be initiated in reimancy, and why do you deserve it?" Mistress Farah spoke in a slow but defined voice. She smiled at the students to put them more at ease, and her questions were routine ones that she always asked the students who came to the university to learn reimancy.

[Nai'shee]

Due to the storm and her wounds Nai'shee's initiation was closer to the end of the semester than to beginning. She wasn't sure if that was bad or good thing. She didn't know who will be her professor nor how initiation goes. She talked to few Reimancy users before and all of them told her that it was something that she didn't want to experience. That was mostly the reason why she was standing in front of the room she will be initiated in and staring at the wall in front of her, even shaking a bit. Only thing that she got was the note that they, after talking to the doctor about her hands, decided for this date, this bell and this classroom. Also, it was saying that she will have her initiation with another student, so process will be faster. She didn't know who he was, but she hoped he will be good company in whatever was coming. He came not so long after her, but they didn't speak. Tension was in the air and they both knew that they'll have eternity to talk after they get finished with this. He was also young, maybe few years older than her and he was human, but she couldn't tell if he was in any subrace. He noticed both his tanned skin and his eyes slightly changing color. He was probably mixed. He was taller than her and his hair was black. It was somehow opposite of her. A woman's voice called them in. She surprisingly didn't know woman's name, but she was always aware that she was something important over here. After she scanned a woman her eyes turned to see the room they were in. She was still listening carefully, but her attention was also on moved tables and darkened room. When she turned back to woman she was asking them to introduce, with a kind smile Nai'shee couldn't refuse. She found her questions somehow weird. It reminded her of one of her old teachers, back in her childhood. He always said it was more important for what are you using powers you get than how well you do it. And she agreed. But she just couldn't pull it out. She let the other guy, whose name she didn't know until now, speak first, so she could collect her thoughts. After he finished she tried to pull out her feelings and convert them into words. "My name is Nai'shee. Just Nai'shee, I'm sorry, but I don't know my last name. I'm glad to meet you, Mistress Farah." She felt it was wrong to say that it was her pleasure because it sounded too private. This was somehow official thing, no matter how she looked it. "As for Reimancy... I was always intrigued by the ability. I think it's very useful skill to have, since it can be used for almost everything. I think you could say my motive is mostly curiosity, but it's far from that that it's the only one. I'm aware that Reimancy can be dangerous and I'm not doing this for fun or power. I seek for knowledge itself, hoping it could be useful for me." She hated how she always started to talk like that when she couldn't explain herself. She started to make things sound more complicated and official, because she liked to imagine people will fill details which were skipped on purpose. She was somewhat sure that her answer decided something about her later studies, but that didn't mean it was a lie. She was honest, but still circling around some things. She waited for Mistress Farah's response.

[Kaeson Dakano]

Kaeson walked into the room, his eyes betraying his otherwise calm demeanor. Bursting with hues of bright yellow, Kaeson eyes were opened wide as he tried to take in his surroundings. His eyes caught everything, passing over the closed curtains and the desks and chairs pushed up against the wall. Kaeson looked over to the woman in front of him, quickly passing his eyes over the young professor when he noticed the desk besides her. On the desk laid various objects, all covered in a cloth. Frowning, Kaeson wondered what the cloth hid and why the professor felt the need to hide anything from him?

"As if it wasn't bad enough she's going to slice are hands open..." Kaeson thought bitterly. Kaeson was nervous enough as it was and since he was the one actually going through the initiation, shouldn't the professor trust him with the knowledge of whatever the actual intiation detailed? Looking over the young blond girl next to him, he wondered if she shared any of the same worries he had. They had told Kaeson that there would be another student undergoing the Reimancy intiation along with him, and he had assumed it to be the blond girl. Of course, they hadn't really talked much and for all Kaeson knew she was the one who would be slashing his hands apart.

Sighing, Kaeson closed his eyes in an attempt to regain his composure. "It's your own fault, getting yourself worked up like this," Kaeson had completely forgotten to read up on the actual intiation process, only coming with a basic understanding of what he should expect. Kaeson knew that someone would be cutting his hands open, and then forcibly push their own res into his own body. Kaeson would then have to force the foreign res out of his own body. Kaeson shook his head, knowing he wasn't looking forward to the intiation. "But I will do it," Kaeson had promised himself a long time ago that he would learn Reimancy, and he wasn't about to back out now. Not when he was so close.

Hearing Mistress Farah speak, Kaeson pushed all his thoughts to the back of his head instead focusing only on what the professor said. After listening to Nai'shee respond, Kaeson took a second to calm his breathing and try to steady his voice. He didn't want either of the two present to think he had anything to worry about. Smiling, Kaeson said," I'm Kaeson Dakano. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mistress Farah and you, Nai'shee. I am here to...to study reimancy." Kaeson took a few seconds deciding how to respond to Mistress Farah's question. "Tell me why you are here. Why do you want to be initiated in reimancy, and why do you deserve it?". Kaeson knew why he was there. He wanted to be there, he wanted to be able to use reimancy. "I want to be intimated in reimancy to be able to use it. I understand the dangers it posses and I understand the need to control it. I deserve it because I understand it." It may have been a little bit too direct of an answer, but Kaeson was satisfied with it.

[Cascade]

The mistress felt herself nod at their answers. Standing before her was a young blonde-haired girl with blue eyes just like a Svefra's. She looked very young, maybe sixteen or seventeen -- the Mistress gave a sigh. This person was young, maybe she didn't even know what she wanted. In the end though, the Mistress wasn't here to judge. The other student, a man, had Vantha eyes. The mistress saw the slight flicker of colors in them as he spoke. It was subtle, but it was there. His answer was short but direct, but he seemed satisfied with hit. "Okay," the Mistress said as she unclothed the items on the desk. The students had been giving it wary eyes, as if puzzled at what might be under it. However, when she uncovered it, all that was under it were two knives. The Mistress had covered it simply for the reason that she did not like looking at them. "We're going to do this separately. Nai'shee, you shall go first. Both of you... take note that this process is dangerous and feeling pain is not uncommon. Nai'shee, come forward and I shall place wounds on your palms. Then, tell me when you are ready, and I will start driving res into you." She took hold of one of the knives and gestured for the blonde girl to come forward. Once she did, she would slash each of her palms with the blade. "Kaeson, please don't make a sound as I initiate Nai'shee. Same goes for you, Nai'shee, when it is Kaeson's turn. I need absolute concentration, alright?"

[Nai'shee]

Nai'shee remembered reading about Res and how you have to push your Res into somebody and then that person needs to force it out to give that person ability to use Reimancy at all. She was surprised that she didn't connect it to initiation. It was laughable. She quickly picked up with details. Wounds were probably one of the openings for Res to enter the body. She wondered how does Res actually feel like. Is it something like Djed or rather more material? She stepped forward and stretched out her hands. She was aware that this was the easy part. Mistress Farah reached for her palm with a knife. She wasn't too gentle, but she was handy, so Nai'shee barely felt anything when she cut. What she felt was pricking on her palm after the wound was open and warm liquid flowing down her hand. Pain gradually grow, as her body became aware of what was happening. However, she didn't gave a sign that she was uncomfortable, at least not an obvious sign. She was blinking more often, her lips became thiner and wounded hand was shaking a bit. Mistress repeated the process with the other hand, giving her few worried looks. She was probably worried about her because she pretended she was alright. It wasn't a good habit, actually, especially not in situations like this. Teacher, who knew much more about this, couldn't see her real reaction. But that's how she was. After she finished Mistress Farah cleaned the knife and turned back to Nai'shee, not making a single move. Nai'shee remembered she was told to say when she was ready. She wanted to question more, but she knew they should finish with this quickly, without questions she already knew answer on, she was just afraid of it. She knew that she was silly. She was never afraid of anything, including death, but magic always freaked her out. It was something above, something of which her little mind barely understood the borders. She was afraid not to know. The other guy, Kaeson, really didn't make a sound. And she was really grateful for it. She needed a moment of silence to cool down and concentrate on the thing which was coming. She took a deep breath and looked at blood at her hands, still flowing, but slower, as if it got tired. Wounds were deep, but not too deep. "I'm ready", she succeed to murmur, closing her eyes for few seconds, before opening them again. She wondered if there's anything else she should do before they start.

[Kaeson Dakano]

Kaeson smiled slightly at Nai'shee as she stepped forward to Mistress Farah. While he hoped the young girl would misconstrue the gesture as kindness, Kaeson knew the smile came from personal relief. Seeing Nai'shee step forward first relaxed Kaeson's entire body, and although it was a short-lived comfort it was well received.

Sucking in his breath, Kaeson quietly watch as Mistress Farah quickly cut both Nai'shee's palms. His eyes widened as he saw the blood slowly ooze at of the twin gashes. "It's just like a cut you would give yourself animating..." Kaeson thought, a failed attempt to reassure himself. Closing his eyes, Kaeson focused slowly on his breathing in the hopes that a brief meditation would calm him down. Which it didn't.

Kaeson's eyes opened as soon as he heard Nai'shee mutter, "I'm ready,". Eyes moving from Mistress Farah to Nai'shee, Kaeson hardly breathed as he waited for any signal indicating the next stage had begun.

[Cascade]

Initiating someone was a very tricky task, even for an expert like the Mistress. One single and tiny mistake was very dangerous, and even lethal. For this reason, the Mistress shot Kaeson a stare that seemed to reiterate her need for absolute silence. "You have to concentrate as well, Nai'shee. It's going to be painful, and you'll feel like something alien is entering your body. Don't panic," said the Mistress sternly. She gestured for the blonde girl to kneel before her. This girl seemed to be hiding the fact the pain from the wounds. It wasn't the first time the Mistress saw someone react this way, but it made her feel uneasy. How was she supposed to know if something was going wrong if this girl was hiding it? Nevertheless, once Nai'shee knelt before her, she would start in her task. Mistress Farah focused on generating Res. She manipulated the Res into gas and envisioned it leaving her, and she directed it towards Nai'shee -- into her wounds, into her mouth, into her nostrils. Just as she had said, Nai'shee was mostly likely feeling something alien entering her body. As this happened, she would feel convulsions and pain as her body familiarized itself with the Res. It would flow through her as something foreign, forcing her body to accept it. When Mistress Farah was done, she gave a heavy sigh and put her hands to her side. She gazed at Nai'shee to see how she was faring. The Mistress remembered her own initiation -- she was much younger and it had been painful, and a frightful experience. "Go ahead and rest, Nai'shee, while I do the same to Kaeson. You two shall generate Res together after I am done initiating him... that is, if the initiation went correctly. We shall see." She turned to Kaeson, gesturing for him to come forward just as soon as Nai'shee stepped aside. When he would approach her, she would inflict the wounds upon his hands.

[Nai'shee]

Nai'shee immediately listened, kneeling before her Professor. She looked up and her blue eyes met Mistress' for a moment, before they closed in concentration. She offered her wounds, with her palms up and took a deep breath. She tried to surpass any trace of panic in her mind. This is University. They're professional. Nothing can't hurt you. Initiations were always safe here. Her wounds became nothing compared to scenarios her mind made up. What could happen anyways? It's not like she could die, here, in the classroom. But, theoretically, she could, couldn't she? She thought the order not to panic might made her panic actually. She began to slowly calm down, breathing deeply. All of those thoughts were, however, quickly replaced by unknown feeling. She was familiar with pain, but pain never felt like this. She felt like her palms were burning because of substance applied trough her wounds, as if her blood started to boil. It slowly, very slowly progressed trough her arm. She couldn't breath properly, either. She couldn't breath out, something else pushed air down to her lung. Her Djed crazed, trying to fight unknown substance, without any effect. She couldn't feel anything but great pressure. Her head hurt as if her skull was going to explode, she felt as if her veins got full of air and couldn't pump properly. Res progressed trough her body, itching her on the inside. When pain got on it's top, somewhere in the depths of her mind she was aware that Mistress stopped generating Res, but she couldn't think about it, she couldn't concentrate on anything but invading she was surviving. She just wanted it out, it didn't feel natural, it wasn't supposed to be in her body. Itching feeling finally came to invading vital parts of her body and pressure gradually lowered. It might have lasted for 30 seconds, but it felt like an hour. She had no idea what happened, but foreign substance slowly disappeared to be replaced by feeling of emptiness and satisfaction. She breathed heavily and she was impressed by the relief lost of the pain caused. She was half sitting, still on her knees. She realized she had no idea what was she doing while this lasted. Did her body mourn in pain or just patiently waited? She didn't even know if the pain she felt was physical. She was covered in cold sweat. She heard she was ordered to rest. She wasn't aware of the words, but her mind listened, leading her to the corner of the room. Not too far, but far enough for her to calm down without fear of interrupting Kaeson's initiation. Her breathing couldn't go back to normal, her body starved for air. She removed sweat from her forehead by her tired hand. She sighed, while she still could, before Kaeson's initiation started. Then she got quiet. She would most probably be noisy a little more, but she was well aware that the boy was about to go trough the same thing she felt until now and she couldn't wish anybody to feel consequences of some mistake with this.

[Kaeson Dakano]

Kaeson, wide eyed and breathing heavily, walked slowly to Mistress Farah.

"Ok, calm down. You can do this. You, Kaeson Dakano, can definitly[/b do this. It didn't look like it hurt...much. I mean, Nai'shee's still standing. Well, not technically no, but she's still breathing. Yeah, she's definitly still breathing. So she's not dead. Definitly not dead. And that's good because that means I won't die? Yeah? Yeah. At least that's the idea...

Kaeson was thinking a mile a minute, and it wasn't helping calm himself down. Eyes burning yellow with fear, he walked even slower to Mistress Farah.

"Listen up, you're this close to being able to use res. Like less then 2 feet away [b]close. You WILL do this and you WILL like it, Mister! Yeah!

"Well, there IS the off chance you could die though. Don't think like you're not thinking it. It is a very real--

He was already there, and Kaeson kneeled before Mistress Farah and for the first time in a very long time, Kaeson wasn't thinking anything. He took several deep breaths before saying anything. Feeling a little bit better, Kaeson closed his eyes and said,"I'm ready."

"Here I go..."

[Cascade]

Mistress Farah glanced at Nai'shee. She seemed to be taking the change to her body with difficulty, which was not uncommon. The blonde-haired girl was doing her best to stay quiet, but it was futile considering the way she was heavily breathing. The Mistress couldn't blame her, though. She took a cup from one of the tables. The Mistress had been drinking from it before she came to the room, and now she was glad that it was still around. She began to concentrate and transmute Res into a convulsing mixture of water and cold air, and soon the cup was filled with pieces of broken ice. Walking over to Nai'shee, she handed the girl the cup. "This might help. Just chew on it. And please, be quiet." In all honesty, chewing on the ice would just slightly numb her and maybe divert her attention from the pain in the rest of her body. The Mistress walked over to the boy named Kaeson and noted that he looked uncomfortable. She frowned to herself -- perhaps she should have asked him to leave the room while she initiated someone else, then he wouldn't know what to expect and he wouldn't be too uneasy. 'Well, nothing I can do now.' She slashed through both of his palms and waited for him to settle down. Then she drowned out all noise and repeated the ritual she had just done with Nai'shee. She imagined the Res and manipulated it into gas, imagined it leaving her body and entering Kaeson's wounds, mouth and nostrils. Just like the other girl, Kaeson would feel something alien force its way into his body, and all he could do was accept it. Mistress Farah didn't know how long it took because she was also starting to feel tired, but when she somehow knew that his body had taken enough, she gave a loud sigh of relief and stopped generating the gas. "Okay..." she coughed as she stepped away. The Mistress took a seat and glanced at the two students before her. "Let's... let's take a while to rest," she also meant that for herself. "Get used to the change, then we'll see if you can generate Res now. "While we're resting, I have to tell you two about overgiving. You might already know the basics, but as the one who did this ritual, I have to warn you about it. Be wary of how much Res you create... the greater Res you generate, the steeper the price. You know your bodies the best, and that means you should know your limits as well. Don't do more than you can." She waved at them and gestured for them to take their few minutes of rest. Once they were all rested, they would see if the initiation had gone properly. OOCI just want to explain that the reason it seems like I'm "rushing" this thread is because the season change is coming up and I know you guys will most probably want to put in some reimancy class threads before that happens. Btw, good job so far.