PM to join [The Sanctuary] A Gift Of Elements

Kavala welcomes Xira into the sacred circle of reimancers. But she has no idea what power will issue forth and who he's become in this life. Proud to be reunited, all she knows is that family has come home.

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

[The Sanctuary] A Gift Of Elements

Postby Kavala on May 3rd, 2014, 2:28 pm

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It was a beautiful night as the darkness fully fell across the land bathing the sky in first sunset colors and then the deep blues and purples of the night settling in. When full darkness was upon them, Kavala and Xira were in the sea… one of the Konti’s favorite places to be. She liked standing against him, running her hands across his skin to remove the paint and letting his hands do the same for her. There was an intimacy between them that was not born of what had just transpired, but something deeper. Her body knew his now and he knew hers. There had been no judgment in his eyes at her thinness, though that in itself was slowly changing. He was golden to her paleness, weathered from long hours traveling under the sun. To her he was beautiful in the darkness and had been in the fading light.

And he was warm as he shared his body heat with her and whispered his response to her apology for taking advantage or at least letting things go as far as they did. Taking a lover after her baby’s births was a good thing. ‘I don’t regret it.” She reiterated, wanting him to understand she had no misgivings. It had just been sudden, unplanned, and something of a surprise at his fierce reaction. Walking in power had that effect, at times, where it equaled out between people. She would have spoken once more, but his forehead pressed against hers and his lips teased across her own. Without hesitation she kissed him again, standing in the sea with their bodies devoid of paint. To her, it meant more then, when they weren’t drunk on the exchange of res and were standing before each other as themselves and not bathed in ritual euphoria and inhibition. She could feel the power in him, the potential, the way her res echoed back at her in his blood, still teaching his own djed how to reproduce itself.

The Konti fitted herself close, until their hips were locked, and lifted one of her legs slightly, Her hands lightly traced up his back, across his rubs, and splayed out pale against the deep black of his now darkened shoulder blades. She closed her eyes when he touched her face and let him remove the now unnecessary coloring that had remained clinging. Kavala stood standing, watching him; a long while after he stepped away and let the sea rise up and swallow him. She sank down to join him, splashing him back and laughing when he initiated the play. The Konti very much enjoyed his frolicking until he settled on the beach where she joined him moments later.

“A geomancer on a beach full of sand is a terrible thing to waste.”
She said laughing a little, completely uninhibited by their lack of clothing. Truth be told the Konti couldn't see much in the dim light so she concentrated on her eyes and carefully shifted them, pulling in the training she’d given herself borrowing the Akalak night vision through morphing. She concentrated, focusing djed to form an inner membrane that slid across her gaze. When she was done Kavala glanced up at Xira, her eyes a luminous pale blue that gleamed in the dark.

“There are other magics to learn. Not here, not now, but I can teach you more if you’ve an interest.”
Kavala said, clearly having done something to her own gaze. She could see him clearly now as she stretched out beside him on her side, head propped up on her elbow, legs slightly tangled with his. They had just been as intimate as two people could be so for Kavala there was no personal space or boundaries left to cross. She simply enjoyed watching him, settling into his space, and having the brief downtime after the ritual.

“Do you want to practice a little? There are things you need to know about using this power… it can be dangerous, even seductive. It can whisper to you and if you answer its whisper too many times, it can steal pieces of your soul and make you crazy. You need to always control it, not let it control you. When you do to much too fast, it is called Overgiving, and there are many many signs.”
Kavala said, reaching out with her free hand, and stroking her fingers across his chest. She moved closer, shifting slightly, so their skin was touching once more and she could rest her head on his shoulder if she wanted too.

“Mostly you overgive when you are using personal magics. Gnosis… world magics… there are different consequences to abusing those. When you overexert your mind, body and soul, it causes different things depending on what magic you are using. Sometimes, if you do it often enough the damage is permanent. It can make you insane, Xira, if you listen to it too much. You can counter milder cases with medicine and rest, but when it gets really bad, the damage is irreversible. It can change your body, your identity, and even cost you your soul. With Reimancy, the signs are usually very clear cut."
The Konti intoned. It was very clear to Xira she was serious.

She ran down the list carefully, thoroughly making sure he knew what she meant. Kavala kept a close eye on him, her hand still touching him, stroking his chest and sometimes rising to run down his jaw or to move across his belly.

“When you first start mildly overgiving, you can feel amazing. It’s like you can’t stop casting and you feel euphoric. If you like it too much and you start to want to cast more than you want to eat or drink or even do this… then its too much, its overgiving.” She leaned over and brushed her lips across his, offering him a gentle kiss. He was beautiful to her, even though he was human, and because they had already blown through the lines of decorum, she didn’t feel she needed to ask.

“You can see things too…. Hallucinations, Xira.”
She whispered, her lips still against him. “And voices in your head… mages call the voices Sweet Whispers. They tell you to go work, to build, to create… to utilize your power. Don’t let them have control over you. If you do not heed them, they will fade.” Kavala said, knowing that from experience. She nipped his jawline and continued on down her mental list of first signs for overgiving.

“You can taste blood in your mouth, have tremors, seizures, even a racing pulse. Your eyes can get red and when it gets worse you can bleed from them or your nose or ears. You don’t want to be around anyone… you can’t control the magic or your feelings. You have to be stronger than the desires the magic can bring. Do you understand?”
Kavala said, her hand sliding down his chest to his belly and lower, gently grasping him and rubbing.

“When it gets worse, you start to bleed.. like I said. From everywhere. You get wounds for no reason. You start loosing your sense of self and people recognize you as you because your behavior changes. You can get convulsions, hurt all over, and you have no control.”
She said, nipping the inner sensitive spot of his pulse on his neck. Her her hand cupped lower, holding the weight of him up and judging his size. A smile played across her lips though her face was still serious.

“If it gets really bad, your res will be out of control. It will overproduce and do things you didn’t know you could. things that don’t’ control. It’s terrifying. If a mage gets to this point, we’d have to put them down. They can hurt … level … entire cities if they are strong enough. Ivak did it once… and ruined the world. Do you see?” She said, releasing him and then drawing her hand down to stroke the sensitive skin of his inner thigh.

“You can bleed then, loose consciousness, even die. Often you have no control, and you transmute within your body like a morpher, but utterly untrained. You can never let it get that bad, Xira. Not ever.”
Kavala said, bending lower to bite at his pectoral gently. Her teeth nipped but did not break the skin. It was obvious the Konti was a tactile person, and one that loved the sensation of textures and colors. She was comfortable with Xira, familiar now, and growing moreso each moment. In fact, the only time she broke eye contact with him in the near darkness was to glance up and admire the chiaroscuro of the moonlight on the uneven wind and wave tossed sand.

Her luminous gaze met his again and she smiled.

“That’s the darker side of magic, the darkest in fact. But there are so many other sides, and so much good you can do with your power. The whole of The Sanctuary is built by Geomancy and clever carpentry.”
The Konti said, settling against him and finally giving into the temptation of laying her head on his shoulder, stretching her free arm across his stomach. She rubbed his opposite arm with her free hand, taking his in hers. Xira could tell she wasn’t in a hurry and she was open to new things and new possibilities, and more than willing to teach him what she knew about magic and anything else he might want to learn.
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Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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[The Sanctuary] A Gift Of Elements

Postby Xira Hezmek on May 14th, 2014, 7:35 am

Akajia's veil settled over Riverfall far heavier than in Xira was used to. Starlight and a sliver of leth reflected dimly off the placid waters. The ripples were hypnotic in the cool evening and made the dim lights dance. He looked up just in time for his beautiful companion to blot out the lights, her profile wan, but delicate like a prized coral, exotic and delicate. He could not help but keep marvelling at Kavala, first of her race and then over her features, her facets and hinted complexities. He decided then that he would like to know her better, her mind and her personality now that he had been acquainted with her body.

As she drew closer to him, at his level naturally, her eyes at once no longer hidden in the darkness. Like cat's eyes or a wolve's eyes in the dark the center of the outline of her face gleamed with two greenish lights. He was puzzled, sure it was more magic but not what he had just been ritualized into. What he could do was conjure sand from nothing... well from something. Djed. His curiosity was fanned but he held the reins to it. All things in good time he had to remind himself.

"I would be lying if I said I was not interested. Magic is... something I have always thought about, ached to know about." Xira said as he peered into that shadowed visage curiously. He scooted himself a bit closer seeking the warmth of her smooth and scaled flesh. The mage fledgling slide his fingers along her side idly as she spoke, no thoughts in mind but feeling with his fingertips what he had might have missed before. Xira's heart fluttered and his breath caught slightly as she stroked his chest; a foolish response all things considering but that touch was electrifying.

With a quick nod in the darkness that he was not even sure she would see had her explaining what the power was. He wished to practice, he felt so... powerful as it was, even if the feeling was diminishing slowly. She spoke on the dangers of the magic and the need for control. Control... yes, he knew control, but he suspected that the stakes were higher in this dangerous game. Whatever playfulness had entered him before was hidden by his attentive seriousness.

Her lips pressed to his for a second time. The first had taken him by surprise, his gesture of intimate respect taken as an invitation that he subconsciously made. The second time he was ready and he kissed her back, lightly wrapping an arm around her waist but only kept it for a moment. He did not wish to interrupt her or distract her.

In Xira's mind there was a terrible schism. It was great and wide and caused a tension within him that he was not truly aware of. A section of the courier's mind knew that with grave sincerity that everything Kavala said to him about magic, every warning and admonition would be locked away and reviewed under any circumstance where he drew on this power. The other recklessly believed in his youthful delusion that he would live forever and could never get hurt. That her warnings were not to be applied to him. Yet... either way the effect was sobering from the youthful, naive way he had originally viewed it.

"I... understand Kavala." He said sincerely, even though he most likely only understood the words and partially the meanings. He leaned his head to the side as she nipped, exposing his neck further to her. It was a serious conversation, but the words were at such a counterbalance to her distractions. It could also be a test for him. Such things were not under conscious control. But then she let go of him, and he did not relax. He would not let her be the only one however. So he nodded to her warnings and tentatively moved his fingertips from her side to her belly and slide them over her chest. Perhaps it was awkward, but his inexperience was to blame, not his eagerness or his curiosity for the other sex.

"Who lacks a dark side, M'lady?" He murmured softly and cryptically as he nipped his pectoral and his light massages went from body part to body part, mapping the fleshy terrain without his sight. He smiled to her, no edges or hardness to his gaze in any way.

They settled in the sand, the two of them entwined in the other's embrace. Kavala's head was nestled against him and his against hers. His long fingers laced into hers and he brought her hand up and lightly kissed it. "Magic... Geomancy, reimancy these things are something that I did not envision for myself. The stories always are of the lone wizard finding a worthy apprentice among the farmers and such. When I saw you performing your magic I had honestly asked in disbelief and did not expect this sort of initiation. " He paused again knowing the sappiness in those words. Xira did not attempt to 'fix' anything. Instead he drew her closer, his arms encircling her as best he could in the position.

Xira desperately desired to learn and know, but his thirst was far from his mind and he was in no hurry. "What does res and djed mean?" He asked, potentially mispronouncing either of the foreign words. The courier only asked idly, he was more distracted by the touch of the konti and her scent, clean like the sea with the hint of something that the sea could not wash away.



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Last edited by Xira Hezmek on June 9th, 2014, 12:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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[The Sanctuary] A Gift Of Elements

Postby Kavala on May 23rd, 2014, 2:31 am

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The waves washed in, endlessly playful with the wind that spread their foam lightly across the beach. Darkness drenched the area in its inky grasp, but the beach was not shrouded. Instead, stars crawled out from their places of daytime slumber and danced happily in the sky. Kavala knew a few of the constellations by name, though she figured the Drykas called them differently than other humans or even the Akalak in the big city to the south.

The time the two spent together on the beach was stolen time. It made Kavala happy because it was non-binding and there were no pressures on her for taking this man as a lover this night. Their conversation wasn’t about duty or rank or reproduction. He had no vested interest in bedding her over and over in a desperate attempt to fill her belly with a child. Instead it was about magic and mystery tinged with the lingering curiosity of someone who truly hadn’t been introduced to power in this lifetime.

Kavala felt the burden of that keenly. Xira’s first taste of magic was through her and deep within her was a need to clearly warn him of its dangers even as she exposed him to its terrible beauty. She knew he was gifted with power. Otherwise his initiation wouldn’t have went so well. And that power made him all that much more alluring to her. She craved magical company, someone she could share her love of djed with and all that it could do in the world. And while they were newly joined lovers, Xira was proving to be as tactile as she was. For when she withdrew her touch, the courier turned mage reconnected them with his own explorations. The reciprocation made her relax. She was being good, oh so good, when she really wanted to be what she truly was inside.

Fierce. Passionate. Demanding.

The Konti missed the physical lack of pleasure in her life. Unlike other women of her kind, she wasn’t prone to shying away from sex nor holding herself in reserve. Kavala wanted and needed the physical contact. Even now she restrained herself. The children, the businesses, the long hours and very little time on her own had wrapped her up in herself. This time with Xira, the ritual, the magic, and the sex had liberated something in her and she felt better… far better… than she probably had a right to feel. Her hand wandered south, tracing a line down his belly to gently stroke his maleness. There was nothing gentle about what she wanted to do, but the Konti kept herself in control, restrained, not wanting to startle Xira.

In this life he wasn’t related, but his soul was incredibly familiar and welcoming. Kavala took advantage of that, wanting him not to forget what she both taught him this night and stirred up in his soul. And later, she'd dreamwalk his chavi and find out who he was to her. In the here and now it wasn't important, but it could be for the future if he decided to stay for more than a moment and be something other than a pleasant surprise in her life.

There was something fierce in her gaze at all the talk of magic. Unspoken words passed between them as she smiled slightly and listened to him list off what he knew or thought he knew. Everyone had different experiences. They weren’t bad or good experiences, but they were varied. She listened to the stories he told about and what he thought he knew about magic and smiled. “You are hardly a farmer. Just because you choose to make your living traveling and escorting that which is precious to others does not say less of you at all. It takes a brave person to routinely leave city walls and the safety of society behind.” Kavala stated quite plainly. She leaned forward and kissed his jawline again before she answered his last question.

“Djed lives in us all. It is a power supply that flows through our bodies and lives in the world itself. Plants have djed. Animals have djed. And the amount of djed you have naturally in your body is vastly different than other persons. You and I… we both have strong djed. It is in our forms in abundance and there for our use. Others are not so lucky. We can quickly burn through our djed, but like all bodily energy, if you rest and relax, eat and sleep, you will gain it back. Res is something we make from our djed. It is a physical manifestation of djed that holds the potential of our will. We don’t naturally know how to make res… but if we get ‘infested’ with someone else’s res, then our body immediately learns how to make it and we can create elements from it and all sorts of other things.” She said, slowly her gaze glittering luminescent in the dark. Kavala was excited by what she talked about and her passion for magic was showing through.


“Res is so incredibly powerful. You can bend stone to your will at first, Xira. You can make it, unmake it, and mold it into your will. The only other creatures that can do that in this world are the Gods. Mages can also see what is beyond the norm, reading the auras of people and objects. You can even shift your shape, Xira, warping your body and giving yourself fangs or hooves or wings. The possibilities are endless… I can teach you some of this… auristics, morphing, and as much Reimancy as I know. Other things you can learn on your own, perhaps even share with me.”
She said, shifting where she was lying against him until she more sat up, crossing her legs childlike, and dipping her hand into the sand. She brought it up, pooled res across her palm, and the sand shimmered and vanished. Then she pooled res in her hand again, and a glittering cut stone rested there. “Sand to Air, air to stone…” The Konti explained slowly, letting him get a feel for what was possible. "The sand you can harden to stone, make it be anything you want it too, and more. When you have other elements, you can add water and fire.” Her hands cupped and formed a stone chalice, res rising from her fingers pooled in her palms for a moment until she was gripping the vessel like an offering. She leaned forward and blew res into its basin, filling the chalice with clear cold water. Vapor issued off the liquid, leaving Xira no doubt it was cold in the warmth of the night.

“Do you thirst?”
She asked, first taking a sip of it herself to show him it was safe.
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Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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Kavala
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[The Sanctuary] A Gift Of Elements

Postby Xira Hezmek on June 9th, 2014, 3:38 am

Something was awakened in Xira that night. While magic would have been a fair guess and be partially correct, to Xira that would only be half of what would be to come. Some might muse that passion was like a fire and that the two possessed many qualities. It could be even said that passion kindles and sparks passion. At least it was so for the courier. Deep inside that primal portion of the mind a hunger like a flame bloomed into life.

The konti's touch spread that fire across his bare skin. His hair raised up in a faint prickling sensation and his body responded to her touching and stroking... positively. It was very distracting. He did his best to remain attentive, but such gentle teasing threatened to burn away his self control. His heart beat faster and his face flushed once again. But somehow he managed it, he heard her words and made special care to remember them.

His lips found hers, catching them as they sought his jawline. He did not steal them, neither did he try to silence her with kissing as some might. Instead it was a kiss of promise, a kiss of interest and desire. Xira held himself back, just as Kavala was though he was too inexperienced to notice it. What he did notice was her excitement for the subject of magic. Her interest in the subject was certainly infectious and he found himself consuming the information like a starving man consumed bread.

Magic was a fascinating subject to Xira. To think that everything had magic, that this Djed could be used to create Res. While Res could be used to make stone and other things. That this was a thing of power, something that only the gods might be also able to do. But working with Res was not the only magic out there. Perhaps it was a childish, greedy desire, but he wanted to learn it all. Xira nodded as she spoke of teaching him these other disciplines, his expression eager and earnest. "I would like to learn, Kavala." Strange that he had only just started learning Reimancy and already he wanted to learn the other magics.

The courier matched her movements and sat across from Kavala, adopting what he hopped was a student's posture. Wet sand stuck to his side and his legs, which under any other circumstance he would have made an effort for wipe from himself. Sand was a bothersome substance for someone who valued cleanliness. He was so distracted that he almost missed the magic trick, the sand had simply... vanished! He gasped in surprise. The courier now understood that before his magic had created sand from himself. This was something entirely different, she vanished the sand into thin air. The next moment, stone was there and he gasped again.

It was an enchanting display of power and his mind spun with the possibilities. Sand to air, air to stone, sand to stone. With the elements of water and fire he could turn water to stone, stone to water and so on. He was excited for his new found power and tried on his own. He cupped his hands together and tried to do as he did before, he tried to will sand into his hands. It did not work right away. While he attempted, Kavala was already demonstrating something else. From her hands she form her hands she formed a cup of stone, but then she blew into the bowl and the substance he knew to be res issued from her mouth. From that res she filled the bowl with water.

He nodded at her question and took a sip as well. It was cool and... tasted like philter's water, something he had tasted on a dare before. Distilled and pure. It cooled his throat and he could feel it settle into his belly. It seemed to lend him resolve as well as he took his hands together and tried to gather res into his palms. Sand or stone, he just wanted to show something that might prove his ability for magic. He closed his eyes and tried to will his magic into being, he tried to capture the feeling from his first time.

He concentrated as hard as could. His eyebrows drew together while he stumbled about with this alien skill. Then suddenly he felt his palms fill with res, at the same time something was tugging at his core, at the very story of himself, and an exhilaration filled him. It was at once the satisfaction that one felt when telling or hearing a good story, as well as the removal of dirt or blemishes from the body, being clean. It was both an airy, heady pride as well as a grounded sensation. He could do anything... with enough res.

When his eyes opened he saw what he saw before, res, but there was less of it then before. He was so caught up with his own concentration that he accidentally dropped his hands away. Truthfully the djed did not require his support and sat there suspended in the air. He looked to Kavala, obviously shocked. "I didn't know I could do that." He said, forgetting of Kavala's crafting of the ring now on his finger. "So I can turn that to stone..." He trailed off and focused on it. He could feel the res, even at a distance. It moved as an extension of himself and the suspended fluid floated up an inch or so. Such a strange sensation. Xira could make sand... but this time he wanted to make stone. He focused on that part of himself floating in front of himself and thought of the Syliras' castle stones. Suddenly that part of himself disappeared and there was a thump on the sand. A grey stone sat nestled between the mage and her apprentice.

"This is going to sound like a dumb question, but why can't I feel it now?" He asked, confused.



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Xira Hezmek
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[The Sanctuary] A Gift Of Elements

Postby Kavala on June 16th, 2014, 7:20 pm

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Xira’s company was soothing, relaxing, and in many ways gave the Konti something different in her life. She wasn’t expecting him nor had she made any demands of him, but yet they’d comet together in this ritual they’d just performed and now were enjoying the aftermath of it. It was very soothing, Kavala decided, as she leaned back in the sand with him watching the stars wink into existence across the slowly darkening sky. She touched him. There was no reason not to. And they kissed again, softly, with less intensity than before. She found it strange that he would not have walked off, left her having satiated himself and been inducted into magic so thoroughly. Wasn’t that the way of most men? Wasn’t he tired now that he’d been introduced to res and his body had satiated itself in a womans form.

Kavala had so little experience with humans as of late, though her introduction to the needs of the flesh had been through a man. The experiences she had to draw from that were human was from when she was captured. Slaves were not people, but things, and she’d been used as such repeatedly. Further back there had been a lover that had been a joy in her life, but he was long gone from her life, left She in Zeltiva or Syliras – one or the other she was not sure – from when he’d left the White Isle where they’d met.

But Xira was here now and different. She didn’t know whether to be flattered or startled that he lingered, touched, and seemed to mind what she felt and thought about things. He kissed her and held himself back, but she could tell the talk of magic excited him. He was a mage that was late coming to being inducted. He should have started as a child. Kavala was certain of it. But late was better than never, and she suddenly decided she’d feed the cravings he had – whatever they were.

“I can teach you. It is no burden to me to do so. I can tell you are a good man and I would see you well protected by your power if that is possible.”
Kavala added. And so she sat up, showed him what she could, and gave him a starting place to begin. He was an attentive student, and one that wanted to learn. His own attempts were awkward, but that was to be expected. She had the whole building of The Sanctuary to achieve her control. He had less than a bell and most of that consumed by other passions in which to learn.

She nodded when he said he didn’t know he could do that. “You are limited only by your imagination and your will.” Kavala assured him, shifting then so she was more on her knees than sitting cross-legged. She watched him transmute the sand to stone and nodded as it fell, thumping into the sand.

“You purposed it. When it was still only sand, in your mind it was undecided potential. But as soon as you got a clear image of what you wanted in your head, the res reacted and knew suddenly what its purpose was. It solidified as you willed, and once it was purposed then you no longer needed it anymore.”
She assured him, reaching out to touch the stone.

“If you could feel every creation you ever made you would go insane It suppose. Once it is made, your part in its crafting is complete. I think it is like the Gods, Xira. They made us, but to feel all of us together continuously would make them insane. So they pick and choose among us, marking us with their marks if they want to be able to feel us when they can. That way they stay balanced and happy, without our thoughts or voices in their heads."
The Konti softly speculated.

Kavala reached out and laid a hand on his hand and seemed to flood his form with res. It circled around him unseen, like a second skin, and collected up all the sand on his body. She pulled it back, gathering the grains in her hand, cleaning his skin even though he knelt in the sand. She did the same for herself, the ball of sand becoming larger even as her skin gleamed a healthy clean white in the starlight. She didn’t remove the sand where they sat, but the rest of them were suddenly clean.

The Konti concentrated, formed a stone bowl with her will, and the sand reshaped itself. More res pooled in the bowl and turned to clear cold water for her. She drank deeply of it, wanting to clear her throat and needing the extra water. Tonight had been a night of great work. Bringing someone over the cusp of mundane to wizard always did. She felt tired and drained, but in a pleasant way. She reached out, toyed with the rock, and ended up setting them aside along with the bowl still half filled with water.

The Konti was silent for a long time. She seemed to be thinking things through and enjoying the night falling down upon them together. Kavala wasn’t the type to fill long silences with words that were meaningless… so she let the distance stretch out. Finally, after a time, she spoke again.

“What now? What more questions do you have or things you want to explore?”
She asked, leaving the door wide open for anything. They could wrap up the night and walk back up to the facility. They could practice more magic. Or they could even make love again on the sand before they had to return to reality. Kavala was leaving it open to Xira’s desires She would be fine with any of his decisions. It had been a long night and Xira very well might like to leave things as they were. Kavala didn’t want to push him in either magic or in their new tentative relationship. She just wanted him to be happy and satisfied that the night had been worth the effort.

Count: 1,020
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The Sanctuary The Sanctuary Forum Riverfall The Cytali
Reverie Isle Wolf Creek Training Course
Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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Kavala
I am more than the sum of my parts.
 
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[The Sanctuary] A Gift Of Elements

Postby Xira Hezmek on July 9th, 2014, 10:08 am

Kavala was a wonderful teacher. She knew just the right way to explain even the most difficult concepts to Xira. The young man gave the woman an appraising gaze in the darkness. That light skin reflected what little light there was and contrasted the dark sand beneath. She was beautiful, she was clearly intelligent, driven and caring. All the things that was her, that Xira had picked up on the past season or so was most apparent at that moment. Funny that they were both physically laid bare to the other.

And it was a liberation.

The loosening of inhibitions was perhaps enhanced by the... permissive attitude of Kavala. He was allowed to ask questions. He was given the chance to give his thoughts, no matter how wrong. The freedom excited him. This was a direct contrast from the rigid, militaristic, close minded and isolationist culture that was so prevalent in Syliras. Either way, magic and the knowledge that went with it was offered to him and the courier turned mage was all too eager to partake.

"Then I would learn, Kavala." He said the name almost tenderly. It was hard not to. It made him wonder what would happen next. Not immediately, but in general. Would this be a milestone towards something deeper with Kavala? Even if they simply stayed friends, he would have been happy, but there was always the chance that something more could grow between them.

The konti continued the lesson, and explained the nature of transmutation. Xira thought on it and paired it with what he learned about the nature of djed. "So... Like the gods that create us, our creation become wholly separate from us. That is why we no longer exercise control over it, even though we were the ones who made it. Is that right? It... I don't know, seemed like a stretch of the imagination. We have free will, and rocks and sand aren't alive at all."

Then she did something unexpected. She used her own magic, her res, and spread it across his body. The sensation was... strange and very familiar after the initiation. Like a warm fluid washing over the body, or like dipping into the cooler pools at the hotsprings. But all she did was draw the sand stuck to his body to form another bowl to drink from.

Xira watched her thoughtfully, letting the silence stretch. He had learned so far that one can create stone, water, air or fire, or he could use the existing elements, attract them and shape them. A frightening thought of attracting all the water from his body, his throat parched and his eyes dried to flakes passed through his mind. He didn't understand where the thought came from, but he wish he hadn't. Magic was dangerous, he knew, but he did not need his imagination making it worse. Nor did he need it paralyzing him into inaction.

His thoughts wheeled and his imagination shifted through the possibilities and the ramifications of what he learned this night. "The ritual we went through, the drawing on our skins, is that common for induction into this form of magic?" He asked at last, but it seemed that the questions refused to stay still, they poured from him from different angles and subjects, "Is their fire in the body? Is that why we are always warm? Can a reimancy draw the heat or fire from the body? What about other things that are warm? Like iron in the hot sun." He drew some out of sheer curiosity, a strange exhilarated delirium starting to form in the back of his mind that he had never noticed before, "Is there a hard limit to the amount of res I can draw from myself? What is safe, for me and for others?"

The res in his hand formed into a glob, strangely like a reverse bubble, and he focused. The floating goo crystallized suddenly, cracking like ice, but remained floating. He reached out to touch it, and at his touch it reverted back to the viscous fluid that appeared to be its natural state. "This is strange, so I can make it like stone without turning it into stone?" He asked, referring to the physical state of the res, "This magic is fascinating... but it is hard to control and concentrate on it. When I am not concentrating it seems to take on a life of its own. Is all magic like this? Requiring a lot of concentration and will power?" He asked out of curiosity, then on a whim attempted to try a different type of stone, something crystalline and maybe something clear. The res tried, but ended up with a murky, but highly structured stone. He would need practice.

And Kavala would be there with him to guide him through his first steps of sorcery.



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Xira Hezmek
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[The Sanctuary] A Gift Of Elements

Postby Kavala on July 9th, 2014, 8:24 pm

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Kavala smiled at Xira’s response. She was so glad this night had happened the way it had. He was a virtual stranger to her, but she could almost feel his need for the magic, to learn from it, and knew that he would treat it well. Her son had come again, in another body, another form, and there was no other way to express her deep heart felt love for him even though he was indeed a stranger.

But Dreamwalkers never truly forgot people. And no one was truly ever a stranger, not for long and always just until they took the walk they could never stop taking and looked through the eyes of their target at the world and what was around them. If she walked his chavi would he remember this night as something special and pivotal? She hoped so. The healer wanted that for Xira. Because he had seemingly had it rough in this life and it was time to reclaim some of his strength and power to rise into his own. Kavala wanted to help. On some primordial level she needed too.

And so she sat quietly with him, comfortably, and answered his questions. “Exactly like that, Xira.” Kavala mused, her mouth forming an easy smile and making agreement noises more than forming words. It was clear she was relaxed, enjoying the time after the ritual, and looking forward to the rest of the night and the coming of morning. She hadn’t thought this day would turn out towards this end, but then each day tended to surprise her anymore.

“I think it’s different for everyone. Once you release it you can keep control of it to some extent if you want. Water, for example, can be pushed along in a wave a long time after you’re creation of it. Fire can be kept burning. Earth is different though. It becomes a more stoic lasting thing to me. Once its birthed, I don’t like to do anything with it other than give it permission to be where it is for a long long time. I’ve used it to kill, sure, but for some reason that feels almost sacrilegious to me. A personal hang-up? Perhaps. But your magic will empower you in ways and call to you in other ways and you will have to make these decisions for yourself.” The Konti said, reaching out to trace an idle finger in the sand, drawing circles and squares within each other and then patting the sand smooth again.

Her demonstration of Res was not to impress him but to ease her thirst once more. They had done a lot during the ritual and afterwards and she was beginning to feel the thirst and hunger of its end.

His question about the ritual took her by surprise. She hadn’t expected him to ask about it. “I have no idea if it is common or not. I try to make each one different, unusual, but since I have only been inducted once and have only ever inducted others, I don’t know what is tradition outside of our circle. I rather liked it though. It made me feel lighter, less burdened and it is something I would use again. Did you like or dislike it?” Kavala asked, curious. She hadn’t expected Xira’s reaction or their total immersion. But it had happened and she wasn’t sorry it had. “It’s easy to go to far when magic is involved. Just remember that. Sometimes it can control you but other times you control it. Everything I makes sings to me in an almost song-like way through its power. Its aura also compels me. Geomancy is such a hauntingly beautiful thing. So you must own it Xira and never let it own you.” Kavala said, thoroughly convinced this was the truth. She eventually dissolved both containers she’d crafted into sand and scattered that along with her artwork, smoothing over the media all around them. Then she met the courier’s eyes and smiled.

“There are limits to everything in life, Xira. I don’t know your limits. It is something for you to decide on your own and discover as you push your magic. I don’t think there is fire in the body, but you can hurt a body with fire. There is water in the body, a lot of it, so if you can control water you can control other people’s bodies. I do not know the exact mechanism for why we are warm, but I think it has to do with chemicals and philtering our body does naturally and not so much heat, but I could be wrong. You can heat all you want… but it comes with practice and finesse. Some mages learn it fast and others never master it.” The Konti replied, watching him play with the res in his hands. She smiled, nodded to his question about stone, and kept listening.

“I think djed has a will of its own. Some of it is like us, because it is of us, but still it is its own power as well. You need to learn control and you can only do that by practicing.’ Kavala said, sitting up, and then slowly climbing to her feet. “Some is… I don’t know all magics, so I can’t speak for it all. Glyphing is vastly different just requiring know-how and not so much concentration, but Aursitics is more in line with Reimancy. It takes a great deal of mental training.” The Konti answered patient and somewhat enjoying Xira’s awe of it. It took her back to a time when she too was just learning and what she figured out on her own. She wished someone was around more to help her, but her induction had been abrupt and then the individual had departed.

“I think its time to head back. Don’t you agree? We have plenty of time to learn more later… as long as you are willing to stay. And when you move on to other places in your travels, you’ll have this to take with you and keep you safe.” The Konti said, brushing off sand and helping him up. When they were both on their feet, she started back up the beach towards The Sanctuary, stopping only to collect the rest of her stuff at the bonfire.
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The Sanctuary The Sanctuary Forum Riverfall The Cytali
Reverie Isle Wolf Creek Training Course
Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
User avatar
Kavala
I am more than the sum of my parts.
 
Posts: 3025
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Joined roleplay: October 25th, 2009, 1:46 am
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[The Sanctuary] A Gift Of Elements

Postby Shai on August 16th, 2014, 5:34 pm

However hopeless the situation appears to be

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There yet always exists the possibility of putting up a stubborn resistance


Kavala :
Skills:
Cosmetology 1
Flirting 2
Herbalism 1
Painting 2
Reimancy 5
Teaching 4
Wilderness Survival 1

Lores:
Herbalism: Making Body Paint from Bark and Shells
Building a Bonfire
Reimancy: Initiating Another
Reimancy: Making a Ring of Earth
Mixing Sensuality and Magic
Xira: A Son Return in a New Form
Djed: A Will of Its Own


Xira Hezmek :
Skills:
Endurance 1
Flirting 2
Observation 5
Painting 1
Reimancy 4
Socialization 4

Lores:
Desiring a Taboo
Accepting the Gift of Reimancy
Mixing Sensuality and Magic
Djed: A Power Within All Living Things
Reimancy: Initiated by Kavala
Reimancy: One Element is Learned at a Time
Reimancy: Earth
Res: Djed Transformed for Reimancy
Overgiving is a Danger of Reimancy
Overgiving Can have Irreversible Consequences
The Effects of Reimantic Overgiving

Loot:
A ring of hardened earth made by Kavala’s reimancy.


Check :
If there are any concerns with my grading please feel free to toss me a PM. I am more than happy to explain my reasons or reevaluate them if you feel I've been unfair.


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Shai
Alone in the dark.
 
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