Closed Watchdog

[Ricky Maze]

Much to Rick's surprise he'd managed to find himself caught with a block that was nicely handled by his younger brother, while at the same time he felt the weight of the man pull on the top of his shield as he in turn fell downward from Ricky's own trip. The father gasped as he tried to resist but the weight that pulled him over on the only spare foot that remained grounded shifted his balance, and set him into a topple that made him fall in the same direction Jad happened to be. The end result would've involved him crushing the poor guy were he to fail in reacting accordingly, hence while he had a bit of time Ricky did his best to spin himself with a hurl in his body to try and divert his course some. While the fall transitioned to a crash landing Ricky managed to pull himself just enough to land on his side next to Jadlin, a grunted sigh left his lungs as his right side felt more less winded. Even if the sand cushioned their fall it still hurt just a little, yet all the same his own had been kept from landing onto Jadlin and therefore he avoided injuring the boy.

"Oi'll be damned." He called out as he turned over onto his back, a few pants followed before he was able to let out a weak laugh. "Yew's a tough lil' shyke." He admitted as he still laid there to catch his breath, he pretty much just slid his arm out the straps of the shield, and then rested both hands on his chest as he rested a little while. "Ye learn all dat before ye came t' Zeltiva? Oi honestly didn't expect ye t' 'ave so much fight in ya." The compliment went with a grin cast over to Jadlin, as he checked to make sure the younger brother had managed to land without injury as well. Granted he was still sort of crippled the fisherman didn't want him to suffer any further wounds, because that alone would pester Ricky's conscious continuously even after such things would heal. All the same it had been a rather fun and amusing spar session, one that Ricky felt that they needed to do again when the younger brother was at his best.

That would be a real sparring match then, one that would test both the older and younger brother. He also wondered how good Jadlin was with his magic as well, though that was something he definitely didn't want to ask about. Leeching being the problematic one that the younger brother had to dislike having, it definitely might've made the both of them a bit uncomfortable at this point. Yet the curiosities more or less lied within the Shielding abilities Jadlin possessed, again though it was a topic meant to be discussed a little bit later as Ricky didn't know how comfortable the man was with talking about it. That and he didn't necessarily know Ricky could use it himself, at least not yet seeing as how the earlier display of Reimancy gave away that indication.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad would have rolled into Ricky's ankles as soon as his body hit the ground if he could have. Somehow, though, his arm stayed hooked over the edge of the shield, denying him the mobility to do it. He had the satisfaction of knowing that his move had succeeded in toppling his sparring partner, but now he was going to pay the price.

He grit his teeth in anticipation of what was probably two hundred pounds of flesh and shield crashing down on top of him. There was a flash of apprehension about the likelihood of the impact and weight re-injuring his ribs. But instead, his brother actually dove and rolled to avoid him. Well, it was only a sparring competition after all. He had no doubt that Ricky would have bunched his knees and drove the shield like a giant hammer into him if he'd been a real enemy. Jad knew it's what HE would have done.

He looked around immediately for his skirmish sword. It was beyond his convenient reach. He'd have to roll or crawl to get it. As soon as he got his hands on it, he'd tuck his knees to defend against whatever Ricky would be sending after him. Then maybe he could counter attack with a swing of the pole arm.

His planning of impromptu tactics came to a halt with Ricky's voice, "Oi'll be damned. Yew's a tough little shyke." Though the words were punctuated with laughter, it was like praise from the gods to Jad. In truth, the exertion caught up to him in an instant, and he flopped back down with a grin, glad to end the contest for a bit.

"A tough little shyke that'd have a row of broken ribs if I'd really been your enemy." he gasped. "I know you made an effort not to fall right on me, and I appreciate it." He let his grin grow even more cocky, "So what do we call that, a draw? You realize that's the one out of four I was gonna give you, right? Now I've got you right where I want you." he could hardly finish his bluster before he burst out laughing.

It looked like their battle was to ease into mere conversation now and Jad relaxed in relief. He'd been down to his last trick, short of Leeching. He was not about to use that. Though he might use Projection when he got better at it. He had his Shielding as well, but he didn't really know what to do with it yet. Right now it was simply a way of quickly expelling Leeched djed, to reduce the taint to his own balance.

In response to his brother's follow-up question, he admitted that Leeching was not the only training his "Masters" had provided him. "They actually are the ones that chose this little pole arm for me to learn." He patted it like a dog's head. "I guess they figured such a unique weapon would present difficulties to combatants used the more traditional armaments. As well, that in close combat, if they got it away from me, they wouldn't be able to use it competently against me. That's pretty much why I let it go so willingly, rather than fighting to hold onto it against your tugging."

His pride suddenly sagged as he realized that he was coming off as though he liked those cult members. "Of course, as I told you before, it was all done in an overriding cloud of mind control. Just another way I could blindly serve their ends. I suppose they figured I could rush into a melee, and if I came crawling back out, they could still suck the djed out of me before I died of my wounds...Gotta love those guys." he muttered, his voice equal parts humor and bitterness.

He sat up, looking to recapture his positive attitude, but also wincing with a reminder that his ribs were still healing. "I should probably quit while I'm ahead...well, tied anyway. I don't think the interns at the Infirmary would appreciate me puttin' such a strain on their work. I should probably stick with archery for a while yet. But hey, don't feel bad, you have to DO stuff like this to see if you're healed."

[Ricky Maze]

Jadlin admitted that he was quite glad his older brother hadn't taken to crushing the poor guy with his own bigger form. "Well Oi ain't never tried crushin' me enemies 'afore an' seein' as how we're just messin' roun', Oi'd really rat'er not 'ave yew be t' first." He joked with another good laugh to follow, with only more mirth to follow as Jadlin talked more falsifications of the dual. "Give it a rest mate, any more talk an' yer head 'll burst from all dat hot air." He teased further as he leaned up finally to look at his brother then, curious eyes locked onto the younger fellow as he listened to what he had to say. With the explanation of his training as well as the probable idea of their reasoning, Ricky's smile sort of faded overtime as he thought what chances were what he heard was possibly true.

It was bad enough Jadlin had actually been caught up in that mess and in turn manipulated his whole life, but to think he had no real value to any of them other than just a senseless tool in their own right. It disgusted the father deep down, enough to make him feel a little spite for the bastards. All in all Ricky felt that their crimes were justified even if it didn't make up for his little brothers losses, as he'd hadn't ever really known the extent of values in things like love and family until he moved to Zeltiva. With the topic changed to the fact the medics of the Infirmary would be unhappy with his activity, Ricky forced a vacant smile as he decided to rise to his feet once more. "Y'know ye've had a pretty hard time makin' it 'ere." He pointed out even when it seemed rather bluntly obvious. "An' Oi'll admit Oi'm only glad it led ya t' here, de rest ain't somet'in ye shouldn't 'ave ever gone t'rough, nobody ever deserves t' live wit' what ye had t'."

He had a sincere look in his eyes then although they were more or less towards the ground before his feet rather than to Jadlin, it proved to be pretty clear indication that the older brother felt enough to actually care for the younger. "Really what Oi'm tryin' t' say is, while Oi know Oi can't do anyt'in t' make up fer what ye suffered, Oi'm 'ere now and Oi intend t' do roi by ya. Oi may not know how an older brot'er is suppose t' act, but Oi'll do me damnedest t' make it count fer somet'in." There was a soft smile on his features then, a bit of confidence in his eyes as he aimed to live by his word. He hadn't a clue as to how he should be when it came to interacting with such a sibling, the fact he actually did have another around made it all the more impossible to figure it out. Because while he could easily remember imagining such a thing in his younger years, he never had knew what it would be like to experience such an ideal no matter how bad he wanted it, with the reality he previous had of being the only son of his father and maybe even being the last Maze, that led him to accept the fact he practically had nobody else in terms of family. Thus his friends took that place for the longest while, until he fell in love with Telion and had Martin of course. That became his own family though, and even then it fell into a completely different story.

Now? Jadlin was here and he was that missing piece of a picture long torn in half, and without the ability to restore that picture to its former glory, there was no indication as to how Ricky should act and treat him as an older brother. What was he suppose to do? What was expected of him? He'd felt just about as clueless with that as he did with being a father as well, which in turn fustrated him all the more as he could only guess what things were right. What do say, what to do, they were all legitimate guesses on his part. Hence he did the only thing he knew he could do, be there for Jadlin and try to guide him on through life. Of course Jadlin was an adult but that didn't mean he still had things to learn, and the best thing Ricky could give was his own support when it came to that. "Just kick me in de ass if find me screwin up t'ough... would ya?" He sighed as his gaze faltered to the side once more, unsure as to whether or not Jadlin would know or understand where the Zeltivan was coming from.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad enjoyed the camaraderie embodied by the exchange of challenging insults. Of course, any genuinely brotherly interaction was a pleasure that was still quite new to him. The closest he'd had before now was the ebb and flow of sailor's boasts, insults and pranks on the sea voyage here. There was a brotherhood of sorts among sailors. Any man who'd been to sea knew that. But this was different. The men of 'Bethany's Badge' had gone their way without looking in on him, or saying any goodbyes.

It was true, he was in the Wave Guard headquarters at the time, sequestered below in the detention level, awaiting his trial. But he was sure he'd have heard if any had come by, even if it was only to rib him for getting himself in trouble. Their testimony had been one of the things that would have made a huge difference toward his acquittal. He WAS, ultimately, acquitted, but any of the crew could have easily cleared him of the Tribunal's suspicions.

He had not been in Zeltiva for the first several Mage Silencer killings. But he couldn't prove it to them by his own word. He now understood their refusal to believe him. What fool would believe that a murderer wouldn't lie as well? At the time, of course, he hadn't felt so generous towards their point of view. When the desperate shock of facing execution was as stark as the headsman's block in the basement of the facility, he'd thrown every kind of verbal recrimination he could think of, at every man present. Chains had prevented him taking any action more hostile. It was only the fact of another killing, while he was incarcerated, that convinced them.

It still bothered him deeply that his was life and freedom were obtained only by the heinous death of another man. But he had no control over that. It was one of the reasons he'd made himself available to the mage/investigator, Aoren. Jad felt he now had a rather personal stake in the ongoing search for the real villain.

Jad realized he'd become rather pensive and looked over to his brother to find him equally so. When Ricky spoke up with his sincere promises "t' do roi by ya", he was truly touched. This was still another new experience. And honestly, he felt he already owed his big brother a great deal.

"I think, Ricky, that any big brother could take lessons from you on how to act. You were friendly to me in the library when I was a complete stranger. You gave me advice on being open to my girl about my feelings. You even forced me to, when I was chickening out. I'd have lost her right then, if not for you." He stopped for a tick. There it was again. That hint of a 'look'. Or was it? Like he'd just said, Ricky was the one that had encouraged him to speak his feelings to Black. Why would he have done that if he didn't like her? Jad decided it must have been his imagination.

He recollected himself, "And ya took me to task for being less than completely honest with you about Gale, but ya still gave me credit for the degree of justification I DID have. And the fact that it wasn't a malicious thing I was doing. And both of those only happened because you came to see me in the infirmary."

Ricky's last self-deprecating remark brought yet another smile to Jad's face, which slid into a bit of a grin. "Well now, here I thought I just HAD given you an ass-kickin'." he said with a wink. Then he put both hand on his brother's shoulders, "No, seriously, I think a big brother's job is to replace the father when HE can't be there. I never knew the man, but I can't believe he'd have done anything differently than you have. or at least, not any better. I'm not trying to get any sympathy from sayin' this stuff. My life has never been better than it is right now, and you're a big part of that. I don't need sympathy. Sure I've had some rough first few days here, but I doubt I'm the first. I can take it."

Jad winced just a bit and worked his torso, twisting to loosen kinks and feel for tender ribs. he found a few of both, and sighed. "Well, I'd better stop this melee nonsense for a while yet. If I'd brought my bow, I'd trade ya shot for shot for drinks or something, especially if you've got a lead on something besides that preachin' Kelp beer." he chuckled, "Though if you can choke down the first mug, the next ones seem to taste better."

[Ricky Maze]

Ricky's expression changed as he listened intently to what his younger brother had to say, an unbelievable amount of weight uplifted off his shoulders as he in turn felt a great sense of encouragement. Truth be told there was a lot of things Ricky felt and most of what Jadlin said was honest fact, for the most part in which he could hold himself and their father accountable anyways. It brought a genuine smile from Ricky as he gave a heartfelt chuckle for a couple of moments, a few soft nods followed as he looked at the younger brother in an appreciative manner. "T'anks." At Jadlin's comment about the alleged "ass kicking" he presumably just did, the older brother laughed a bit as he spiked a brotherly slug at Jadlin's shoulder.

Of course after Jadlin seemed to demonstrate a sort of discomfort found in his ribs, Ricky couldn't help but feel a sense of concern for a moment. Of course he couldn't help but have another short laugh after Jadlin mentioned the need to do something else, an eye quick to hit him on the head after he thought about the word "shot" and connected it with the the rock did the other day, as he recalled the rock that actually did hit him shot back in a reflected manner. Jadlin knew how to use shielding and that made Ricky wonder what all he knew as a whole, based on what he'd heard it seemed that the younger sibling knew well enough that Shielding could deflect or even absorb Djed well enough, since it was used to combat the effects his other skill induced upon him. Therefore it led Ricky to decide that a bit of a game in shielding was due between the two of them, as the father checked around and found that they had plenty of ammunition to use.

"Aye! Kelp Beer would be a lovely start but before we go dat route, I wanna put yer Shieldin t' de test a bit. De ye know much 'bout de magic in general? Lately Oi've been practicin' wit' it an experimentin', and t'rough trial an' error Oi've found out t'ey can block certain t'ings." He bent over to pick up one such thing that he intended to use for a quick game, a small smooth stone tossed up in an impish manner as it landed in his palm for a continuous pattern of repeated hurls. "Say Oi wanted t' create a shield where any rock yew t'row at me is intended t' block said rock, den dat rock won't do any means o' harm t' me as it'll just bounce off me shield. Get what Oi'm sayin?" He hinted as he wondered if Jadlin might now know what sort of kiddish game the older brother now had in mind. "Oi can show ya a demonstration if ye like." He offered seeing as how it couldn't hurt to provide such, it definitely didn't do any harm in granting such an offer seeing as how he could very well be lending some proper insight for the boy.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad was pleased to see that Ricky looked to be taking his words to heart. It was not just lip service either. He really meant them. His suggestion of a stop at the Kelp Bar always had that "double-edged-sword" aspect of having to actually get past that first mug, and now there was a twinge of regret in having proposed it. But no more than he would have taken back his bluster, and not gone sparring, in concern for his ribs, would he take back the thought of a "tall, cold one" with his brother.

The thought of tackling a bit of Shielding then, served two purposes. It postponed that first disgusting taste of what HAD to be tide pool water, purified with rubbing alcohol. AND it held the hope of actually developing something with this talent. Often, choices were just a selection of which good and bad combination was the better one. But this time it was a win-win situation.

Jad's previous experiences with Shielding were only a way of quickly dispelling foreign djed accumulated during a Leeching. He'd not really had an occasion to use it as a purely defensive tactic. He'd not really developed it that way. There was the time on East Street. But even then, he had only been dispelling djed. he was just fortunate with his timing and location. Still he'd never really registered the effectiveness of it. Yes, it was definitely time to begin developing something that was more useful than he'd given it credit for.

Jad realized Ricky was waiting for a response. "Oh, yes, certainly I would be happy to do some Shielding exercises with you, Ricky." he sputtered. "But I don't know that I know how to make it block rocks. I've only used it to release djed I've...well...you know. It makes me feel sick to hold onto it. That was why I was at the Library that day. That's the one time I've had reason to be glad for feeling sick."

He looked around for a few small stones and looked back with a bit of a hesitant grin. "I trust this demonstration is going to be with YOU defending against the rocks I throw." He made as if to throw one right then, but stopped before releasing it. "uhh...Are you ready? I mean, does it take more time for rocks than it does for fire? That's the only thing I've ever defended against. It worked, but I think the guy was a real beginner."

[Ricky Maze]

With Jadlin's inclination to share the fact he wasn't sure with how to create shields to block rocks, Ricky's grin grew just a little bit more wider as he found himself able to in fact teach something new. This excited him greatly for multiple reasons that may as well have tied into the fact he got to play in part the big brother icon he always imagined, and granted Jadlin had admitted he had already been doing a fair job, that pretty much set Ricky into the state of mind that he was at a good start. Shielding was by far a defensive magic that could serve the two in the long run and he deemed it an appropriate thing to teach to his younger brother, thus the father was vigorously inclined to go along with the explanation he had figured out.

"Well ya see, what we do is- Whoa whoa whoa! Hoooooold on now!" Ricky transitioned from casual to cautious as he became aware that Jadlin was about to throw a stone at him already, hands raised to stop the boy in his tracks while he questioned whether or not Ricky just so happened to be ready. The guard got a good laugh out of it for a moment as he leaned a bit forward with hands clutched around his abdomen, an amused grin on his face as he straightened up once more to proceed with the lesson. "By de sound o' it ye only knew what Oi did up until 'ere recently, just de ot'er day Oi realized how clueless Oi've really been wit' shieldin' in general. Its not just meant t' block Djed an' ot'er types o' magic, its meant t' block whatever de petch ye want it t'!" He enthused before he held up one of the rocks in his possession for a bit of a demonstration to follow soon. "Dis rock 'ere is what Oi want t' shield against, so how would Oi want me shield t' protect against rocks? De ot'er day Oi wondered dis, an' den Oi finally realized durin' de process o' creatin' shields, ye give 'em de purpose o' wardin' what ye want 'em t' block. Ye may not be able t' see it at first, as shields aren't visible t' de naked eye."

He motioned for Jadlin to stay put as he went over to a nearby boulder and brushed a hand over the surface. Yeah... dis'll do nicely. He thought with a pat to follow, a quick turn around in the direction where Jadlin stood. "Oi'm gonna place a shield 'ere, an' when its done Oi want yew t' t'row a rock where me hand was. Oi'll let ya know when it's done, just gimme a few chimes." If his excitement wasn't obvious in its abundance before then it certainly was now, although Ricky had to clear such distractions from his head as he turned to face the surface before him once more. He closed his eyes and rested his hand back over the same spot he tapped before, his attention more or less focused on the act of clearing out his mind. He listened closely to the sounds of the waves and the wind, the way they both echoed as their motions traveled within their private cove of theirs, all around he felt himself connect and in turn tune himself in with the environment. This in turn brought his eager mind to a state of ease that allowed him to focus, as essence that fueled his ability for magic soon resonated from within.

His state of awareness had reached the point he needed as he tapped into the Djed within his spirit, and after that he directed it to an outputted source through his hand that resided on the surface of the stone. His hand held a slight glow around it that radiated a royal blue shimmer about it, particles of Djed scattered and danced about the air around it as they clustered together to collect and form together a thin substance underneath the center of his palm. At the given thought of further direction he expelled just a bit more Djed to spread the boundaries of his shield out, its radius grew in a sluggish manner as he continued to focus on concentrating the particles all into one form that held together. When the shield finally grew to be big enough so that he could see it just beyond the boundaries of his hand, he allowed himself to sigh as he held onto the intent for the shield to repel any forms of earth that contacted its surface. With it finally finished and a faint sheen of a shield now in place, Ricky turned around to look at his younger brother once more.

"Kay, ye'll want t' aim fer dis spot 'ere." He pointed directly at the middle of the spot as he felt pretty sure Jadlin couldn't see the shield, he also made sure to point out where the outline of his shield was in the event the younger sibling might've aimed for the edges of it. "Dat's yer whole area o' choice really, hit anywhere wit'in de circle an' watch what happens!" He cheered as he vigorously moved aside to watch and see if Jadlin would actually manage to hit the shield, really the older brother wanted nothing more than to witness the event of the rock hurdling right back for him, just like Ricky experienced first hand the other day.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad let a crooked grin slide into position. "That's all well and good if your enemy is armed with a rock, and is willing to wait for several chimes while you fashion a shield to block his attack."

Then he laughed and waved an apology, "No, I have no doubt there are very functional uses for such a thing. I bet it can block Yukmen." He recalled his recent encounter with the brutish freaks, and had made note of the actual rocks in their flesh. "And there's nothing wrong with that...Okay, here we go."

He tossed the rock for the indicated spot. He knew from his own ability with Shielding that he wouldn't be able to see Ricky's shield. The rock passed by the spot without any effect. "Uh...I presume I missed?" He said, managing not to completely double over with laughter as he looked for another rock.

He found one, a bit bigger than the last one. He set himself with seriousness now and begged off, "You know I can't see your shield, I'm having to sort of guess. Let me get a little closer." He considered walking right up to it and Leeching it out of existence as a joke. But good taste got the better of him and he closed about a third of the distance, hefting the rock, and setting his feet. "Okay, comin' through. Outta the way!" He hurled the rock, harder this time, and dead on target.

In fairness, Jad's use of Shielding had almost always been to simply shed foreign djed amassed from Leeching. The rare occasions where it was in genuine defense had been against aggressive magic, which had simply fizzled uneventfully against it. He was completely unprepared for the rebound his stone made against Ricky's shield.

His eyes popped wide, and the only thing that dropped faster than his entire body was his jaw. "SHYKE!" he gasped, scraping a divot of sod from the topsoil with his elbow. He lay for a moment, aware of the comedy he had just provided his brother, and soon let himself be caught up in it as well.

He looked up with a sour expression that could not entirely conceal the grin, "You knew it was going to do that, didn't you! Just couldn't let me get away with criticizin' how long it took you to form the damned thing, could ya." he lay back laughing for another chime then rolled to his feet.

"Okay, fair enough. I guess I had that comin'. But seriously, does it take that long to make a shield to defend against something... I don't know... natural?... physical?... rather than magic?" He thought perhaps a rock, being made naturally, had a more drastic reaction to a shield created of manipulated djed.

"I've blocked a reimancer before, and the fire ball just sort of fizzled there, it didn't bounce back at the asshole. Now admittedly, he was no master, so maybe if we'd both been stronger it would have. I'm just thinking that maybe an attack made with a form of djed that's been molded and manipulated, might have a sort of affinity for a shield, since it's the same that way. I mean, it still blocks it, but doesn't...reject it, like that."

He thought about how much faster he was able to make his simple untasked shields to dispel leeched djed. The extra chime would probably be negligible as far as the taint sickness went. It would be useful to learn new applications, so when he made a shield to rid himself of foreign djed, he could make it good for something else as well.

"Um...no offense, but if you're making a shield just to block magic, can you do it faster? Because I can." he grimaced at the clumsy remark. "I'm sorry, that came off really gloating-like. but to be honest, I can make a shield in half that time. Is it the focusing on having it block the rock that makes it take longer?"

[Ricky Maze]

"Well t'ink on it now!" Ricky raised a finger as Jadlin cast his first stone. "Shields take however long ye need t' perfect 'em, generatin' fast shields results in poor quality if ye're not careful." The rock bounced off the area above the shield, a short scoff of amusement escaped from Ricky as he crossed his arms together. "Just a wee bit, try goin' lower." Jadlin seemed to be having the same sort of trouble Ricky did at first, his idea of getting just a bit closer led the father to avoid smiling quite largely as he waited to see what the end result would turn out to be. Finally the pitch came and when Jadlin threw the stone as hard as he could, Ricky couldn't help but wince in the moment he saw it soar straight for the targeted spot, as the surface of the shield suddenly shone a bright royal blue upon impact and redirected the stone back.

Without any warning to avoid the incoming projectile the stone flung toward Jadlin and smacked him straight on the head, just as it did in the same manner with Ricky the other day when he first attempted the idea. Needless to say the older brother found it impossible to avoid laughing, much less hold himself up straight he did so to begin with. The father wound up bellowing out a laugh as he fell to his knees first and then his ass, the sudden daze found in his younger brother's expression nothing but pure wicked amusement as Ricky tried to pull himself together. "Oi'm so sorry lad!" He forced himself to say between uncontrolled chuckles. "Oi 'ad t', Oi really did!" He laid on his back then with his arms brought up to fold underneath his head, a chime or two spent calming himself down as he tried to regain his composure from before. The challenge had been a little difficult needless to say and the fact that specific moment of the rock being flung back at Jadlin played over continuously didn't help much, overall though he finally started to settle down and find it in himself to be able to respond to Jadlin once more.

"Honestly," He stated as he leaned up with tears in his eyes, "Oi've only recently figured out de whole defendin' against t'ings in general de ot'er day." He wiped his eyes with a thumb while the other hand rubbed over his abdomen. "Really all Oi know is dat ye t'ink 'bout what ye wanna block wit' de shield, and it'll block it whenever ye're done weavin' it t'get'er. Shields normally take t'eir time t'ough whenever ye wanna git 'em made roi, ot'erwise rushin' 'em only leaves 'em weak in poorly made in de process." He propped his hands against the ground and pushed himself onto his feet with a grunt, a sigh to follow as he muttered "Whew, Oi laughed a bit t' hard." while he rose to his feet. After he took a moment to brush the sand off his ass and back, Ricky went over to Jadlin to offer the younger brother a hand, which would in turn be used to help pull Jadlin up if he would decide on taking it. "From what Oi know shields 're just as capable o' deflectin' magic like Reimancy so long as dey 're tasked t' block dat specific t'ing, from what Oi gat'er its probably based on de idea o' blockin' de Djed put int' said magic dat makes it so. Physical t'ings pro'lly work in de same manner as well."

He patted Jadlin on the shoulder and proceeded to brush off the collected sand on his upper back area, as he went ahead with another speech about the quality of the shield since Jadlin claimed he could do his at a faster rate. "It varies on de user Oi reckon, ye're probably more aware o' yer Djed o' somet'in so ye got finer control. Again, Its all about quality when it comes t' de shield, when Oi first started shields t'ey never looked too great t' begin wit'. Now t'ey look decent an' Oi can generate dem at a decent pace, Oi'll wager de better one gets wit' Shieldin', de time an' quality aren't nearly as much o' an effort compared t' when ye first start out." He surmised with a friendly grin on his face, albeit a definite guess on his part seeing as he'd only taken to learn the skill by hands on experience. "Now, since ye're aware o' how dis could all work we can start de game." He said as he bent over to pick up the rocks he dropped earlier, he made sure to place them in a pile so that he wouldn't unintentionally create a shield on them in the process. "De way Oi figured we'd pro'lly do dis is just shieldin' our bodies, de torso really since dat's where we dun wanna hit. Our shields should be able t' block de rocks when we hit 'em, in turn allowin' us t' make a bit o' a short game outta de whole experience." He finished with yet another impish grin on his face, Jadlin no doubt knew now why Ricky decided to have the previous little demonstration earlier, as it highlighted the finer aspects as to how this would truly work between them.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad considered his brother's theory. His only real example of defensive employment of his Shielding had been the incident on East Street with thugs. It actually bore out what Ricky was saying. When the thug had started forming the shimmering ball on the end of his hand, it had reminded Jad of times he'd seen one of the mages in the cult preparing a fire ball.

Even as he'd been Leeching the man he was holding, he was trying to shed the djed he was draining from him. It was an instinctive recognition of the likelihood of a fire ball about to be cast his way. He'd really been planning to block the reimancer's fire ball attack with the body of his cohort. But he'd been unable to bring the body to bear quickly enough, and had been pleasantly surprised to see and hear the ignition sputter and burn out against his shield. He had not consciously tasked it for fire, but it was what he was instinctively wanting defense against at the time.

So it was entirely possible that his focus on how it was definitely going to be fire that was about to be hurled at him had caused him to orient his shield into countering or blocking that very thing. At the time, he hadn't thought it could be that simple. He'd honestly thought it was the actual technique he used to generate his shield that had been the cause.

He decided this was worth mentioning to his brother. "You know, I had thought it was due to the fact that I built my system of creating a shield, on the concept of it being water splashed on me, that had made it work against the fire ball attack the other day." He didn't wait for Ricky to express agreement or skepticism. "It was how Morliss ...uh... that's the guy that showed me... taught me, rather... how to do it. He had me plunge my hand into water again and again, at the same time that he had me do a bit of Leeching on him."

Jad thought he saw the usual disturbed look that he saw on pretty much anyone's face when he mentioned Leeching, but he continued on. "No, he wanted me to get the sense of ...a... separation of djed from myself. It was actually easy, since I never wanted to keep the djed I Leeched. I always "felt" it separately from myself, so I could get that feel of a sort of "pool" of djed, ready to be expelled."

He was lost in his own recollections as he spoke, envisioning the large chain of chambers the cult had acquired as their residence and stronghold within the citadel. He was envisioning the practice chamber, the one for magic practice anyway. His mind was replaying a montage of images of himself, plunging his hand in water, using that same hand to immediately Leech a small amount of djed from Morliss, and quickly releasing it into the water.

"Then we would alternate things. Sometimes I'd plunge my hand in water and NOT do any Leeching, but still try to expel djed. Sometimes I wouldn't plunge my hand in, but I'd still try to recall the sensation of it, and associate it with djed separation. And it did start to get to where no matter what combinations of actions I actually really DID, it all sort of felt the same. It took a while, but now I can whip up a shield very quickly, by just sort of picturing water being splashed on me. I have many, many memories of water actually being splashed on me to reinforce that necessity. Morliss did not spare the buckets." he laughed.

He looked at Ricky, "I guess I'm saying that you're right. It's my practice with keeping a sort of awareness of djed, trying to keep it separate, that allows me to expel my own pretty quickly. The thing that I'm thinking now, is that I may have trouble getting a focus on anything BUT water while I do it. When I'm just trying to shed it from me, when it's someone else' djed, it doesn't matter what I'm tasking, or NOT tasking it for. I'm just trying to get rid of it. And that one time on East Street, I was thinking about fire."

He looked around. "Here, let me try something..." He walked over to where a stunted pine shrub grew on the edge of the cove's overlook. He took his skirmish sword and stabbed it into the ground a foot away from it. He looked back at Ricky. "Okay, I'm going to make a shield as quick as I'm used to doing. I don't know if I will be able to properly task it for a stone, but I'm going to try."

He looked at a rock on the ground near where he was standing, then, without any further concentration on it, he let a flash of memory inspire the sense of his arm and hand being splashed with cold water. He "felt" the impact of the liquid on his arm, the flow running down to his hand. he quickly touched his hand to the gnarled tree trunk and let the flow of imagined water trickle from his fingers across the open space to reach the haft of his weapon. Then he wiped the handle more fully to feel as if he'd secured that end.

In all, it only took him about three ticks. Then he stood back and looked over at Ricky. "Okay," he called, "Go ahead and toss the rock between the tree and the sword. I want to see if it blocks it. To be honest, I have my doubts." He could not convince himself that he'd really applied a purpose to the spread of expelled djed beyond merely placing it there. He did not doubt that with more concentration, he COULD "task" the shield, but he wanted to first test if his quick spread technique allowed enough focus by itself.