PM to join A Deal is a Deal Pt.1 [Tallis]

[Annalisa Marin]

19th of Summer, 513 AV

Anna sat at the small table in her home, a cluttering of parchment near her that were ready to be used for her glyphing experiments. Today she was not doing this for herself but was rather teaching another person how to properly understand the nature of Glyphing. It was rare for her to teach anything outside of her job, however there was the promise of payment far greater than any mere money that was offered. The promise of magical knowledge had brought forth a thirst in her that was rarely rivaled by anything, to learn how to further her own power to its highest potential. So here she was in her humble abode, ready to teach in exchange for the knowledge of this so called Flux.

Anna had met him not five days ago, and the memory of her humiliating defeat was still very fresh in her mind. She, a professor of the University had been bested by another wizard in combat. It was more than humiliating and even now it stung her pride to reflect upon it. Anna hissed slightly and stood from her chair to begin pacing. As much as it pained her, it was necessary to go over her flaws in that battle as it would ensure that she would not make the same mistake.

The mere fact that she had been limited to one element was definitely a handicap to her, however Tallis' Flux had managed to slip past any defenses she might have mustered against him. Thus, due to her own inexperience and arrogance she had lost and what a bitter pill that was to swallow. The young professor could only sooth herself with the thought that she would not let such a thing happen again.

Anna paced in irritation, stewing in her own thoughts as she looked to the door, wanting him to show up so she could get this over with and learn whatever it was he had to teach. He seemed far too honorable to back out of a deal, so the young wizard was content with his word that he would indeed teach her. Still, she wondered what the petch was taking him so long to get to her house. The directions had been clear enough so it was on him to show up.

The young woman stopped for a moment and calmed herself, breathing in through her nose and out her mouth. She needed to be clear headed if she was going to teach Glyphing today, to focus on the task at hand. He would get here soon, and if he didn't Anna would settle for finding him at a later date and cursing him up to his eyeballs.

[Tallis]

Half-jogging and half-walking, Tallis rushed through the streets of Zeltiva. He was supposed to be meeting Professor Annalisa Marin for a crash course on Glyphing and he was certain that he was already late. He had left with time to spare, but partway through the trip he had decided to head back home and grab his notebook. The return trip had cost him quite some time and he could no longer afford to walk at a leisurely pace. A few blocks down, he realized that he had forgotten to grab a quill or ink to write in that notebook with. Hopefully the professor would be kind enough to lend him some of her supplies, even though he was late. He definitely was not looking forwards to asking. Picking up his pace as he neared Anna’s house, he felt the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Grabbing the front of his shirt, he quickly used the fabric to wipe off the perspiration. It was a temporary solution, but it would have to do. Knowing that he was slightly more presentable now, he knocked on the door and announced his arrival. “Professor Marin! It’s me, Tallis. I’m here for that lesson.” Stepping back from the door, he waited for the inevitable chastising he would receive for his untimely arrival. He really would have to learn to be more organized.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna felt a slight flare of anger come over her at the sound of Tallis' voice, her defeat still fresh in her mind. It was quite humiliating and she only barely resisted lacing her voice with a curse for hair loss. The woman allowed herself to remain calm as she strode over to her door and swung it wide, the look of disapproval she reserved for students clear on her face. She was going to teach him but she was certainly not going give him the benefit of pleasantries. He was late and that alone was a strike, if he managed to earn three strikes then she was definitely going to curse him at least once.

"Your late, Tallis. When I make an appointment with you, I expect punctuality. Now kindly get the petch in here and sit down at the table." The wizard said tersely, turning on her heel.

Anna already had her brush and ink ready on the table, if Tallis brought his own he was free to use it or what she had provided. If he was unlucky enough to have forgotten his own then he would be stuck with using a brush as that was Anna's preferred instrument for Glyphing. The wizard already knew exactly what material she needed to cover, the basic glyphs were all that were needed to give him a good start. The Focus and the barrier. The more advanced concepts would be for a later date on his own time.

She crossed the small space of her home and sat on her bed cross-legged, the first bit would be vocal instruction. Examples would come later once she was sure he was properly equipped with the theoretical side of glyphing. He was a wizard of middling power, so she felt that going over the basics of Djed and magic were not necessary at the moment. The art of Glyphing was the only thing he needed to know. Scrolls were well beyond his comprehension at the point, properties that augmented magic were likely the best course to travel with him.

This was also a means of gathering intelligence on him, he was a powerful wizard, enough to perhaps rival her currently. Anna disliked competition as well as potential threats to her dominance, a few debilitating curses were normally her fall back method but she needed to be much more careful in dealing with Tallis. His own potential was very much unknown at this point in time. Their duel had revealed a great deal, but there was still more to learn before the opening moves could be made.

[Tallis]

The professor made it pretty clear how displeased she was, so Tallis decided not to explain his lateness. He assumed that it would probably be best if he simply did whatever she said. She didn’t seem like the type to want excuses anyways. Making his way over to the table, he almost let out an audible sigh of relief as he saw the supplies lying on the table. Maybe he hadn’t completely run out of luck for the day. Taking his seat, he looked towards the professor expectantly. She seemed quite comfortable in her own home, choosing to sit on the bed rather than lecturing him from in front of the table. Tallis waited excitedly, wondering exactly how this lesson would work. He was eager to see Anna’s teaching style. It was hard for him to imagine that a woman as abrasive and easy to anger as she was would be capable of nurturing students. Maybe he’d simply gotten the wrong first impression from her, but there was still a bit of paranoia. Anna was a professor at the university and had proven herself a capable duelist. If they were to fight again, Tallis couldn’t guarantee that he would come out victorious once more. He had actually wondered if she would take the lesson as an opportunity to launch a surprise attack against him, exacting her revenge. In the end, he decided to ignore the notions. Anna had proven herself to be honourable, and Tallis hoped she would continue to prove trustworthy. If anything, he was confident that Anna wouldn’t do anything to him before she received her lesson in Flux. As an academic, Tallis understood that her thirst for knowledge would easily win out over her thirst for revenge. “Alright Professor, where do we start?”

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna had pondered enough on where to start with him, an explanation on what exactly Glyphs were and their purpose seemed reasonable enough. The wizard nodded to herself, her grey eyes fixing on Tallis as the words went from thought to speech. Explaining magic was rather difficult, it was a primal force in itself and in order to understand its inner workings one needed to be acquainted with the intricacies of magic itself.

"We shall start with the basics, what glyphs are and are not. Given that you possess a limited understanding of them no doubt based on hearsay and rumors, I shall endeavor to clear these from your mind and deliver the truth of the matter." She said at length.

"Imagine the rules you know to be true about magic and Djed, about shaping res in reimancy for instance and generating it. Glyphing essentially allows one to bend or break certain absolutes that are held about magic. Speed of casting is one you witnessed earlier, however that was merely and augment to my existing power."

"However, without other magic to interact with the art is merely scribbling on parchment. The runes possess no inherent power of their own until other magic, such as reimancy, is introduced. Once it is, then the possibilities are endless. Things you held true about magic are called into question, in turn Glyphing is the first true step towards becoming a professional wizard. It opens the mind to understanding the truth of the ways of Djed manipulation, in essence it is both scholarly and practical." The wizard said, nodding to herself.

She stood from the bed and started slowly pacing in a space not far from her bed, wrapped up in her instruction. Magic was a subject dear and close to her heart, indeed, it was part of what made her what she was now. Her instruction was rather animated and she showed some excitement in her expression and voice.

"With this in mind it will help you as you come to understand the individual basic glyphs I will be teaching you today. I cannot very well instruct you on every glyph I know of, however I can teach you two basic ones that will help augment you in your casting. The rest you must accomplish on your own time." The professor warned, her eyes darting sideways to regard Tallis.

She decided to pause here and give him time to both process the information and ask questions if necessary. Shaping a lesson around questions was a useful tactic she had picked up rather quickly in her time as and instructor. Tallis had attended the University, therefore he likely knew what to do and when.

[Tallis]

Professor Annalisa Marin’s teaching style came as a surprise to Tallis. He could easily see how passionate the professor was when it came to glyphing. The way she welcomed questions and comments had caught him off guard; he had expected her teaching style to be much more authoritative. Annalisa was clear and concise, taking the time to explain herself and checking to see that Tallis understood what she was saying. It was clear that the professor’s true strengths lay in teaching – not fighting. Tallis may have controlled the flow of events in their battle, but the classroom was the professor’s battlefield and she commanded total respect. As the professor explained what glyphing truly was, Tallis felt a certain awe for the magical discipline. Bending or breaking the absolutes of magic? If someone had told him he could do that earlier, he would’ve scoffed and laughed it off as the ravings of a lunatic. However, he had witnessed the effects first hand and he knew for a fact that Annalisa wasn’t lying. He felt embarrassed as Anna pointed out that the first step to becoming a professional wizard was learning Glyphing. After seeing it in action, he could understand how even the most basic understanding and use of glyphing could give an amazing boost to a mage’s power. If two of the simplest glyphs could allow him to speed up his casting, he couldn’t even fathom what a complex glyph would allow him to accomplish. The professor had said that the possibilities were endless and Tallis trusted her. “I’ve seen you using glyphing on yourself to speed up casting, but you mentioned that those glyphs simply served to augment your power. I was wondering… what else can glyphs do? And how else can they be applied? I imagine they don’t have to be drawn solely on the body. And I imagine they can do much more than simply augment power.” His imagination had been engaged and the questions poured forth. If Annalisa was a passionate teacher, then Tallis was a student with passion to match. After the professor answered Tallis’ questions, he nodded to show that he understood and that he wanted her to continue. He couldn’t wait to get into the meat and bones of the lesson.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna considered the question for a moment, deciding to work the answer into making her next point as well. Students asking questions always pleased her, it pointed her in the right direction when teaching them. Tallis was interested in forms beyond mere augmentation, of which glyphing possessed countless but Anna opted for explaining the simple scroll. It was the easiest to wrap one's head around and it required low amount of skill all things considered.

There was also the ulterior motive of not wanting Tallis to learn too much, having him surpass her here would take away her edge. She was a cautious wizard if nothing else.

"Glyphing possessed uncounted uses beyond mere augmentation, I could spend the whole day listing the uses but I'll settle with the scroll." The wizard said.

"The scroll is a combination of three basic glyphs, the focus, the barrier, and the trigger. From this combination one can store magic, such as a firebolt, inside of the scroll for later use. With enough time one could increase their magic output exponentially using scrolls. Magic released from a scroll will not effect your personal Djed or drain you in anyway, just placing the spell in it will. Needless to say this will be beyond your grasp for sometime. I would suggest building from the basics I teach you today and perfecting them before attempting complex uses." She explained at length.

The scroll was indeed a wonder, if only Anna had been given more prep time for their duel she could have possessed a much larger arsenal. Just two days notice would have made things much more different, she could have overwhelmed him with a flurry of magic impossible normally. The wizard made a note to buy a few scroll cases to carry around some scrolls on her person. Why waste more Djed than necessary when a handy scroll was close at hand?

Anna regarded Tallis again and decided it would be best to give him the meaning and purpose of the two glyphs she would teach him today. The focus would be the most simple, but the path would involve helping him understand the barrier by extension. Technically that was three glyphs, but Anna kept that to herself. She would just phrase her instruction differently to ensure he did not know he was learning the barrier. He'd figure it out later, but the more she purposely hindered his progress then the less likely he was to catch up with her.

"The glyphs I will be teaching you today are the one's I used in the duel, the focus and the pathway. The focus is a single large glyph that's task is to hold magic within it. It can also be used to make casting much smoother and increase concentration. The path is made up of two rings of glyphs on either end and a 'road' of glyphs connecting them. This allowed me to generate res much more quickly. When used together they make one far more potent in terms of magic use." She said, moving towards the table to pick up her brush and move some parchment towards her.

The wizard regarded Tallis for a moment to see if he had any further questions before she started on the focus glyph. It was the simplest glyph and the one she always taught first since it was used in most every sigil early on.

[Tallis]

Tallis took note of Anna’s explanation of scrolls. The implications were amazing. Had they decided to have their previous duel in five days rather than five hours, Anna would have had a major advantage. The vast possibilities of glyphing were truly mind-blowing. From her explanations, it appeared that the major effects of glyphing came from a combination of several small and basic glyphs. Mastering these runes would be the key to becoming proficient in the magical skill. Focus, barrier, trigger, and now pathway. The list of terms and basic glyphs was growing larger by the minute and Tallis wondered at all the possible combinations. Anna had mentioned the focus twice now. It appeared to be one of the key components for both crafting scrolls and for augmenting res production. If Tallis had understood correctly, each of these basic glyphs served a single, simple purpose. Perhaps he’d simply stick to learning them one by one. Following Anna’s explanation, Tallis mirrored her motions and reached for a brush and some parchment as well. “Do my glyphs have to look as neat as yours to work?” Tallis asked, fiddling nervously with the brush, “I’m afraid that I’m not very artistically inclined.” It would probably take him several tries to draw a satisfactory rune, let alone an entire chain to make a glyph. Practice did make perfect. But in front of Annalisa, Tallis loathed the thought of looking incompetent. oocsorry, I know it’s super short, but my daily allotment of free time is running out

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna regarded his question as she began her glyph, her brush moving in broad, confident strokes. It was a similar question asked by many of her students when they first started their studies, most seemed to think glyphing was a perfectly ordered alphabet when it was anything but. Certainly structures of certain sigils would look the same or similar, however individual glyphs drawn by different wizards would look very different from each other. Anna's Focus glyphs differed greatly from her former friend Velia. While the former's took the form of simply geometric shapes, the latter's were very much fanciful and highly stylized. Each glyph Velia had drawn had been a work of art in itself, truly her former friend had been quite the artist as much as she had been a skilled wizard.

Anna shook her thoughts from that and opted to address Tallis' concern without looking up from her work. It was a petty action, but Anna felt entitled to some petty thoughts and actions.

"Initially you are going to want to copy my glyphs exactly as they appear, its only natural to mimic the teacher. However, eventually you'll realize that the forms are not to your liking and adopt a style all your own. The way you draw your glyphs don't really matter, their placement in an overall pattern does." Anna explained to Tallis, her brush still flowing naturally to the familiar pattern.

The black ink imprinted a growing image upon it, no longer just scribbling or diagrams but rather a who cohesive shape. Her Focus glyphs took the shape of a large inverted triangle, any wizard familiar with glyphing would instinctively know it but those unfamiliar would just see a shape. She placed the finishing touches upon the glyph, satisfied by the relatively high speed in which it had been drawn. It was a simple thing, but potent if used in a sigil. Anna had left plenty of room on the parchment to create a path later in the lesson. She slid the drawing to Tallis, letting him look at it.

Anna's style of glyphing revolved around keeping things purely functional and practical, her glyphs reflected that in their simplicity. Yet they were infinitely complex by extension, for instance an inverted triangle symbolized a focus while a normal one was usually placed alongside a number of other glyphs that made up her barriers. Each style was different but simply based upon placement a wizard knew what they meant.

"This is a Focus, it is the simplest and most basic functional glyph there is. However it is the backbone to most important sigils, so I'd suggest acquainting yourself with it quickly. When used in reimancy alone it makes res generation much easier and more Focused, used in tandem with incantations or gestures it will make casting a little less dangerous. It takes out the phase of casting where you need to think about where you want your Djed to manifest and push outward to create res. The downside is that it will focus the res to those key points, limiting places you can generate it from." Anna explained at length, nodding slowly.

She always started lessons with the Focus, it was the easiest and most basic to understand. Other glyphs had a number of smaller components that confused the student, starting basic was often the best option. Tallis would likely take a few tries before Anna could look at his glyphs and call them 'right'. When she looked at a glyph it was almost felt on an instinctual level if it looked correct.

"Now its your turn, draw a Focus glyph and feel free to copy mine but remember that your own style must develop before you can truly be called a glypher. Once you have gone through the motions several times I'll inform you what you should watch out for in your personal practice. Then I'll provide a demonstration of the path as well as the importance of having your glyphs in the correct sequence."

[Tallis]

Tallis mentally traced the inverted triangle that sat before him. It looked simple enough, but looks could be deceiving. For Tallis, this would be more of a practice in patience than a practice in Glyphing. Picking up a brush and dipping it in the nearby ink well, Tallis began drawing. His first glyph was met with terse disdain. “Too small,” Anna said, with a slight shake of her head. As he increased the size of the drawing, he found himself losing control over the lines. He could picture everything so clearly, but when it came to translating his thoughts into symbols, his hand just didn’t want to co-operate. His next few drawings were met with similarly concise criticism. His triangles were often “too tall” or “too thin” and when he thought he had improved, his triangles were now “too short” or “too fat”. Yet he continued. With each brush stroke, he felt his control growing. When he thought he had finally gotten it right, Anna had taken her brush and drawn a perfectly straight line through the triangle. The single word “uneven” left her mouth as she slid the parchment back in his direction. Tallis almost wanted to snap the brush and throw it at the wall, but he kept his composure and continued to draw. He knew that giving into his feeling of frustration would only serve to make his drawings even worse. Tallis dipped the brush back into the ink well for what felt like the hundredth time. Carefully, he emulated what he had seen Anna do. He ran the brush across the lip of the ink well, twisting slightly to remove the excess ink and form a thin point. The brush had begun to feel much more like an extension of his body and his strokes grew in uniformity. Slowly but surely, he connected the three lines. This time he knew for sure that the triangle was right. The triangle was, in his eyes at least, the perfect height and width. As he slowly spun the paper around, he could see that it looked the same when viewed from practically any angle. This was it. Committing the action to muscle memory, Tallis drew a few more triangles before turning the parchment and handing it back to Anna. He couldn’t help the small grin that spread across his face. Surely this was something that only a child deserved to be proud of, but Tallis savored the moment. oocSo, I should be studying, but I had Mizahar on my mind. So... petch it all, here's my reply Almost a year late too, but hey! Better late than never, right?