Closed [Windward Boardwalk] To Learn or Not to Learn (Coren)

[Geothryn]

6th of Summer, 512 AV The book began with a short introduction on what djed, and magic, was. Djed was energy, in simplest terminology; it had many forms and existed in almost everything. Magic is the art of using and manipulating djed. It can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed; some forms of djed are purer than others, notably djed from living beings as opposed to djed from an inanimate object; some transformations are irreversible, like the burning of a sheet of paper. Geothryn could grasp that, he found, when he though of djed as music. There was music in everything, whether people realized it or not. You could not destroy music, only transform it, remake it, enhance it. Smiling, he likened his body to a lute, the djed in the vibration chamber released when he plucked his strings. After reading through this history - which gave great credit to Shielders for helping the human population survive in the aftermath of the Valterrian - Geo moved on to the introduction. Shielding involved the extruding of djed from ones body which was then weaved into a shield. Weaving. Great. Geo never paid attention when his mother tried to teach him. Well, there were other ways to form shields, as he read on. That's good, then. Except nowhere in the introduction did it say how to access his djed. The book did, however, make some mention of finding himself. Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation brings ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom. Well then. Meditation was the key to accessing his inner djed. It seemed easy enough, though Geo had never meditated before in his life. Now was as good a time as any to start. Putting the book down, leaving it open at the page he had just read, he got up on the bench and crossed his legs, resting his arms on his knees. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to lose himself in the sounds of the park.

[Coren]

Coren had a lot to think about these last few day's. Not only did his parents find out he was a mage just a few day's ago. But actually in front of everybody who was in the crystal hall. From that moment on everybody and his kelvic seemed to know he was a mage and tried to do their best to not show that they where pissing in their pants or trying to hide their distain from him. It really was doing a number on his already bad mood. So then he decided to do what he always did when he got worked up, take a walk through the garden and let his head by cleared by the calm in that place. He slowly felt himself unwind from the stress as he walked through the garden his eye fell on a young man sitting on a bench with a book next to him and seemingly lost in the world. He was of half a mind to just ignore the man and continue with his walk. He should be saying his praises to morwen that the person was to lost in himself to notice him. But he recognized that book from the library and he really couldn't help himself to asking why somebody would be risking one of their books out in the open where they could be damaged. Especially with the current events. When he came close enough to see the content of the book his mood immediately soured. That blasted kid was trying to learn himself magic. He shook his head, he really shouldn't be interfering in the affairs of complete morons. Especially since this path would make sure the man wouldn't be getting the chance of procreating and thus would make the world a slightly better place. Still maybe the fool could be of some use later. Hauling crates or something like that. He grabbed the book and harsly slapped it shut. Hoping the sound would wake him out of that trance. “Hey you.”

[Geothryn]

Geothryn had started to hum, trying to get deeper into himself, whatever that meant. He cleared his mind of all thoughts (or, tried to, at least) and imagined that there was a lute playing. The lutes' music became waves of sound, like waves on a beach, washing over his mind and taking away all idle thoughts. He had gotten it pretty down-packed, thoroughly devoid of thought, when he startled back into consciousness by the sound of his book slapping shut, to say the least. He leapt off of the bench and almost jumped onto the man who did the slapping, preventing that assuredly embarrassing escapade with the deft fumbling of his feet, causing him to go sprawling onto the ground instead. Quickly scrambling up, he ran his hand through his hair and stared at the masked man who had surprised him, interrupting his meditation. "Well, that wasn't very nice," He said, squinting his eyes at the stranger. "What'd you do that for?" He spoke in common, not sure what language this stranger spoke. Geothryn had certainly never seen him before.

[Coren]

“Because you're doing something that ranks pretty high in the list of moronic things.” Coren said in a flat voice as he gave the man a look that could have frozen a vantha solid with the lack of warmth it had. “I mean really. Studying magic from a book without any help. Are you stupid,suicidal or just a mixture of both in equal amount?” annoyance began to seep into his voice and his bad mood was quickly returning the longer he seemed to talk to this person. “Do you even have a clue what you are trying to do at all.”

oocHe is speaking vani

[Geothryn]

Geothryn was not usually one to judge a book by its cover - or a man by his mask, as it was - but the almost music tones of Vani coming from this masked figure startled him quite a bit. The mans phrase was almost utterly devoid of warmth, and the air around them seemed to cool by a few degrees. The more he spoke, the more annoyed he grew, and the more Geo began to suspect the man was a magic user himself - one either worried for Geo's safety, or for his own. He didn't doubt which one was right. "Shielding is hardly a dangerous magic," He replied, also in Vani, "And there's a certain lack of magicians in the area who might be willing to give me their tutelage." Blinking a few times, Geo sat back down next to the book and shrugged. "I just want to better myself. Learn something strange and exciting. Learn a way to protect myself, besides my charming personality and exceedingly good wit." He flashed the masked stranger a smile, then suddenly grew self conscious as he realized he was speaking about something very personal to him. The truth was, Geo was growing weary of his life in Avanthal. He had his music, his ever-changing ever-beautiful mistress, true, but he yearned for something more. He shrugged again and held out his hand. "Not the most usual introduction, but I've seen worse. I once had a girl dump a bucket of water on my head before I even learned her name. I'm Geothryn, but please, call me Geo."

[Coren]

Coren couldn't believe the stupidity of the words that tumbled out of the mans mouth, any type of magic not dangerous? Had his brain rotted away or did he never had one in the first place? “The fact you say that sentence already proves that not only are you mentally completely unsuited to study any kind of magical discipline, but also that you lack the mindset necessary to become a mage of any skill anyway.” Coren gave his scathing reply. “If you want to learn a useful skill that you can use to protect yourself I'm sure the people at the tundra training stadium wouldn't mind you how to use a weapon of your choice. ” Coren continued, the more the man had openend his mouth the more he was against such a fool learning magic, he either would kill himself, which would cement the mages are dangerous thing in the public opinion even more. Or he would go insane and murder a few people before he had to be put down like a mad dog, which would also put other mages who where actually competent in their art in danger. Something he wouldn't allow. “My name is Coren.” He curtly replied. “Now are you going to listen to somebody who knows what he is saying or are you going to insist on bringing yourself to ruin and most likely dragging people with you?” Coren didn't care about mincing his words. He would let the man understand that he was grossly underestimating magic in general.

[Geothryn]

Sighing, it was all Geothryn could do to not throw up his arms in frustration. But he refrained, sitting with his shoulders hunched, studying the pads of his thumbs, the smooth but hard callouses from years of playing the lute drawing his eyes as he pondered. He sat there for a minute, maybe more, until he was worried Coren would simply walk off from boredom or impatience. So he shook his head. "It's not really about protecting myself. I just..." He began, then his voice trailed off. "It's more like exploring... Another reality, almost. I know how to use a spear, somewhat. I don't usually stray from the city for too far or too long, anyway... Physical protection isn't what I seek. Music helps me protect my mind, for the most part. Music is amazingly adaptive... Almost like an auditory panacea." "From what I know, magic comes from the self," said Geo. "The magic user expels his djed, his energy. It comes from him. It is a piece of him. You are a magician?" He asked, suddenly, though from his mouth it was more of a statement than a question. "You know better than I do what I'm talking about... I feel like I have this music, inside of me, but I'm lacking the instrument to play it. I'm lacking the subtle but deft fingerplay, the confident knowledge of harmonies and melodies..." He looked at Coren, then, with an almost pleading look on his face, though more reserved. "Of course I will listen. I'm not a damned fool, unwilling to listen to reason. But, will you teach me?" His face was measured, his pleading expression dissipated. What was left was a blank slate, an unreadable half-smile with a glimmer in his eye that said he had some hidden hope. With help he would learn faster, and, if this mans reaction to the attempted self-teaching was anywhere near sane, he would be that much safer to have a tutor.

[Coren]

Coren just stared at the man in front of him with a dismissive stare as the man bumbled over his own words. Likening the mystical currents of djed to something as mundane and straightforward as music. “From your description it doesn't seem what you lack is magic, but just a competency in a musical instrument or another kind of artistic discipline.” Coren once more said in his cold tone, the more the man talked the more he was getting the idea that honestly the man did not know what exactly he was talking about. The curiosity was feeling wasn't the one of a mage who fully knew what was going on, but more of an arrogant young man who thought magic's drawbacks didn't apply to him for some asinine reason that was completely wrong. “You actually are a damned fool, you talk about magic as if you know it, but you haven't even given thought about the bad things as you pursue any of the disciplines. You call shielding relatively safe magic, but even that magic can easily make sure your skin is blown of your hands if you aren't careful or worse, safe magic does not exist in the very least. Only safer magic, but that is the difference of standing in front of a pissed of sabertooth tiger or standing in front of a normal sabertooth tiger. The second is quite a bit safer, but still very likely to end up with you dead if you make to many mistakes.” Coren droned on. “Even disregarding the inevitable erosion of ones sanity and the horrors magic can do to the body of its users, there is still the very heavy social stigma that attaches itself to the magic users anywhere.” Coren settled his cold gaze upon the man sitting in front of him. “Magic isn't something one studies out of a simple interest. The desire to study magic is born from a persons drive for a goal that one cannot accomplish without it. Whither it be power, understanding or something else more personal, but even that alone isn't enough, one also needs to fully understand that once you take your first step on the path of the mage there is no turning back ever again. People will fear you for what you can do and even hate you for it, declaring you a freak and abomination against nature. You will end up alone and isolated no matter what you try. So really, do you wish to give up everything you have now for knowledge about magic? Knowing full well that verybody you know and care about will turn your back towards you as soon as they know what you do.”

[Geothryn]

Geothryn held his hands out in front of him, his fingers splayed, trying to imagine them without the skin. He shivered, doubting he'd be able to play his lute in such a state. He pointedly ignored the insults, instead listening to the truth behind the lecture. "What made you decide?" He finally asked, unsure of how to continue. Coren's talk instilled the first seeds of doubt into Geo's mind, but he still hoped to learn, if only now to spite convention.

[Coren]

Coren just stared down at the man, seeing that he was slowly getting through to the man that magic wasn't fun, it wasn't safe and it shouldn't be studied just because. “My reasons are my own, besides, they wouldn't be applicable to you anyway.” , Coren rebuked the mans question not going farther into detail. The way the man was quickly shut up and doubting his own decision just when confronted was quite pathetic, he thanked morwen that he had stumbled across him before he had drove himself mad and did something stupid.. or blew himwself or something else. “The fact you are doubting to go through with it now that you heard that proves you weren't made to study magic in the first place. Just stay with your hands off it and seek something else to bring out that strange feeling, I heard drawing and artistery works well for those kind of people.” Coren deadpanned, before holding out his hand, obviously wanting for the man to hand over the book on shielding. “I'll return that to the library for you if you wish. Being seen with that is probably not a good idea either. Not many people make a distinction between people knowing something about magic and people practicing it.”