[The Training Grounds] Overpowered (The other Pycon Squires)

by **Ball** on February 10th, 2015, 4:16 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

Ball tried his hardest to keep up with Nivel’s prattling on about what using magic was all about, and as try as he might he just couldn’t understand it. Using a part of what makes you you? I don’t get it… She didn’t tear apart her body to make herself punch harder… Yet when she made the point solid about taking it easy with this stuff by making an explosive sign with her hands Ball’s eye grew large, as if his nexus was pushing outward to break free. Yikes.

Ball nodded, he didn’t want to blow up. “Yeah, I won’t do it that much… Don’t want to blow up… Blowing up is bad…” Yet he gave pause and looked at the squirrel and wondered if he was thinking the same thing just then and looked back at Staring Pycon.

“You said that we would being able to feel our d… D…. Dja….Djed? Yeah that stuff, you said we would be able to feel it flowing… How?” Ball couldn’t even feel his own nexus thrumming and buzzing as he thought, moved or talked… He knew how far he could stretch his body out to connect a strike from lying down to a person’s kneecap, but for all the gods Ball just couldn’t fathom feeling something that is apart of him flowing… Through him?

“I just don’t get it…”

Credit :

by **Archailist** on February 12th, 2015, 8:29 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Hazards. He'd heard about these. Not directly of course - he'd never really shown much of an interest in magic before. There was no need to. Magic was just.. odd. He'd heard whispered rumors here and there; a group of people practicing magic dangerously and getting themselves killed, either by other people or by their own hands because they'd taken it a little too far. People growing insane or worse at its hands.. people in Sunberth stoning or bludgeoning someone to death for just the mention of a wizard among them. Those were just the problems if other people found out you were a mage.. let alone the dangers of being a mage to the body or the mind.

Did he really want to take it up, if there was such a risk? Yes. He'd risked his mind and body so many times already that one more time wouldn't hurt too much, he figured. Besides, this would do some serious good, if he learned to do what Nivel was doing. On the other hand.. the bad.. involved blowing himself up. Causing permanent, irreversible harm to his body. None of it sounded like anything he'd want to happen. Then again, it doesn't sound too hard to avoid. Don't use all of the.. stuff up so quickly. Limited use. Control. That definitely sounded like something he could do. "So.. we just don't use it that much. What's so bad about that? Doesn't sound too hard to me." It was pretty damn obvious that she was serious.. as if explaining that he was going to blow up wasn't bad enough.

"I promise I'll stop. Not like I'm going to use this stuff every single day.. or use it any more than absolutely necessary." It was magic, after all. Not like he was going to give himself much more of an unfair advantage over his opponents in the field of battle. Not unless he needed to. Then it wouldn't be as fun!

By the end, he glanced back to Ball and was at least thankful to see that the other Pycon didn't seem to have a grasp over it either. He tried nonetheless. "So.. there's this energy inside us that allows us to move and everything. Called.. something. dbled? dred? Anyway." His thoughts were unraveling at an alarming rate as he spoke. "We get this stuff, that allows us to move.. we do stuff to it.. then it allows us to move faster?" That seemed a little weird. After all, if they were changing the stuff that allowed them to move, then how would they move? "But then when we do this, we have to be careful, because.. changing the thing that allows us to move, removes some of the stuff." Which should mean that they move less, if there's less of the stuff that allows them to move. "Because.. uhm. When we run out of stuff that allows us to move.. we might explode."

Yeah, it made absolutely no sense when he put it like that. Maybe it was the way Nivel was wording it that gave him a nexus-ache, or the way the words just spilled out of his mouth like dry vomit.. one way or another, he needed to sit down or something. Just trying to understand the logic behind magic was straining him harder than a full day of combat training with Iros.

by **Nivel** on February 24th, 2015, 6:38 am

OocSorry for yet another short post
This was starting to become harder than the Nivel had thought it would be, she wished her father was there since he was a far better teacher than she could ever be. She quickly realized that she was explaining a few things wrong especially after hearing the squirrels questions. Nivel had far more experience with Auristics and was really telling them the rules of this magical practice and not the rules of Flux.
“Sorry I guess I got my magical practices mixed up” Nivel shrugged her shoulders awkwardly “You don’t use up djed when you use flux you just redirect it. if say you’re throwing a kick you’re not going to be using much of your upper body ….so you…uh redirect the energy from you’re upper body to your lower body… then bam a more powerful kick.” The mage extrapolated clumsily. “it’s dangerous because you are stretching something that really isn’t meant to be stretched…so if you stretch it to much…to often…you explode.”

“As for sensing the djed..you just need to believe it’s there” It was a simple answer but it was really the only thing she could come up with at the moment. She didn’t have as much trouble with this as they were having, she found her died almost right away. Although she was far younger and innocent then these two were but she was sure if they let go of there doubt that they would sense the energy that lives inside of them.
“I’m sorry I don’t have a better explanation than that…this really isn’t as hard as you two are making it out to be..” Nivel trailed off a bit “Not that it’s easy..or anything” she stuttered as she realized what she was saying might be taken as an insult to there intelligence.

The signs of over giving were starting to show in the form of a headache and growing fatigue. She was able to push through it but it made this whole process much harder than it needed to be.

by **Ball** on March 13th, 2015, 3:32 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

Ball struggled to grasp at the straws known as his understanding of Djed and the likes. It wasn’t an easy thing to do as he was never introduced to the concepts of Djed and the magical arts. Staring at Nivel like she was some weird Familiar brought forth by some mage Ball gave no facial expression of his confusion, yet his lack of understanding was pretty clear with his twitching fingers.

Just believe it’s there? Can’t hurt to try... Ball fell within himself, trying hard to reach some conclusion of sensing his supposed djed. He could sense his nexus with some effort, it was the pulsing center of his being, position somewhere within his body but where he couldn’t quite tell, it was surrounded by clay of undetermined thickness and he could sense the rumbling voice of Nivel as she spoke. The clay of his body squeezing and releasing his nexus as it took in oxygen, sounds, information… Redirecting all sense of being back towards his nexus, this entire nexus centering though was giving him a nexus-ache. Ball shook his head, feeling the throb of his nexus just behind his eye. Ball sighed, There it is. He looked at Nivel, “All this trying to locate is giving me a nexus ache.”. A grumbling emerged from his mouth before the squire fell silent once more.

Everything flows from my nexus, my thoughts… My actions. Everything flows to my nexus… Pain, senses… Ball paused in his thoughts. There was something faintly being felt… It seemed almost on another layer of his existence… It reminded Ball of the seas heading from the Undead Isle to that weird Monk City… The boat was crashed relentlessly by the sea’s waves… His nexus was being rocked by this unearthly sensory he just discovered.

Ball couldn’t shake the urge to release his nexus from this newfound sense, the crashing of his djed pulled him further into it. There was more to it, there was more to notice about it… The crashing was… flowing away from his nexus, reaching out to the further extremities of his body. Like the sea being pulled out from high tide by the moon… This was his djed, crashing and ebbing like the oceans that gave him such a fright…

Ball shook his head, releasing whatever internal grasp his body had on him and looked at Nivel, he could still feel the crashing and receding of his djed but it wasn’t rushing loudly and uncontrollably.

“Petching Hai it’s like the ocean is within me.”

Credit :

by **Archailist** on March 17th, 2015, 9:20 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He thought he was getting it. He hoped he did. Redirecting energy. Got it. Much simpler.. the only question was, how was he supposed to feel and visualize the energy. How was he supposed to redirect it? That was the essence of the magic, apparently, but he still didn't have a clue how to really reach inside and pull it out. Perhaps there was more to meditation than just averting explosions.. though it wasn't like he'd ever really sat down and tried to concentrate on himself before. There was never the time, never the need.. certainly never the drive to do it when you were stuck in the slums of Sunberth or on the streets of Nyka. Everything always went too fast; then again, that was the way he liked it. It didn't make anything easier.

"But.. how am I supposed to believe it's there if I don't really know what I'm believing?" His nexus was spinning in circles trying to visualize energy when he didn't really know what energy was. He'd never seen it.. nobody really 'saw' it, after all. Maybe it was much easier than it seemed at the moment, but it didn't mean that it wasn't going to be any less hard to push over the first hurdle and start looking for something he'd never even spared a second thought for in his entire life up to that moment. At least Ball seemed to have a pretty decent grasp of it - soon enough he could hear the smaller Pycon exclaiming in surprise and mentioning an ocean. Oceans aren't in clay.

No matter how hard he squinted, tensed every muscle and struggled to 'look inside' and 'visualize' and 'believe', nothing came from it. "Petching Hai." They'd be sitting there all day at this rate. "It's impossible." Perhaps he'd given up before he'd even started, but he'd be damned if it wasn't harder than fighting off damn Balicani. At least those times, he could see what he was fighting. "I don't get... what djed is. I get that it's energy.. it's energy inside me, it moves around but what does it look like? How does it know where to go, when to go there? Why does it go there?" Alright, even the squirrel had to admit that he was probably overcomplicating things by now.

He was just so damn infuriated by his complete lack of understanding, while those around him just seemed to pick it up as easily as they would pick up a stone. The more angry he became, at himself and everyone else, the less he understood.. and the less he understood, the more angry he became.

by **Nivel** on March 19th, 2015, 7:20 am

“That’s wonderful ball!” Nivel cheered and clapped her hands and tails in unison. She was beginning to think she was incapable of teaching but Ball’s revelation gave her renewed hope. Now she would need to move to the next step in her lesson with Ball since he had now sense his Djed he would need to learn to do something with it.
“Okay so now you need to focus on what makes you move, and try to make it move with your mind” The mages tone went back to a more calm and collected demeanour as she further guided the other squire in the ways of magic.
“You need to be the one to tell your body how you want it to operate it you don’t think you’ll be using your upper body very much redirect some of it to your legs. Unlike with other magics there is no creating things energy form thin air you’re just using what you have more effectively”

With that out of the way she need to move back to her pupil that was still struggling. He seemed to not being getting what she was trying to say at all, Arch clearly though of things as more tangible that Nivel did. The mage knew that everything was just ideas and wasn’t as obsessed with the physical, Arch was clearly all about the physical aspects of the world, it was probably why he was such a good fighter and acrobat.

Nivel took in a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. “Djed doesn’t really look like anything, its all in your imagination. I think of Djed as water but maybe you think of it as something else, how do you think you move?” She asked hopping it would open up his nexus to more possibilities. The mage took a moment to ponder on some of Arch’s interests and what drove him to do things. He wasn’t to hard to figure out, he liked combat and everything to do with squirrels.

“How about you think of it like a tree coming form your nexus, with branches spreading through out your body…little squirrels could be running up and down the branches transporting acorns to different areas of your body.” Nivel explained while glancing at the clay squirrel hoping to witness a spark ignite within him. He was proving to be a hard nut to crack but Nivel was patient. If she had to do multiple lessons in order to teach him she was willing to do so as long as he was willing to learn.

by **Ball** on March 25th, 2015, 5:04 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

Ball listened as best as he could to Nivel, trying to connect the pieces together into something he could understand,Telling my body how I want it to move… That’s easy I do that already with each attack I make, shifting and thrusting. Subtracting and adding clay and weight to parts to perform attacks… I got this in the bag… He paused and listened to Nivel more, she was going on about how to connect what he wants his body to do with what he wants his mind to do and frowned there, Isn’t that what one does when they go to throw a punch or kick someone? This bit wasn’t quite as easy to understand for Ball, he always thought his body was doing what he wanted it to do… Not what it wanted to do in combat.

When she turned back to Squirrel Pycon and tried to better explain djed to him Ball frowned and tried to figure out a way for him to understand it as well. He moves like a bouncy critter that should be smacked out of the air like a bug. That’s how he moves. Ball squeezed a fist as he recalled the squirrel he fought back a few years ago. It was a mean little woodland creature and the end was a fight Ball wasn’t sure he was going to be able to win and he barely did. Yet that was then and this is now. Now Ball was sure he could destroy that squirrel if he saw it again.

Yet he knew that was unlikely and turned his attention back to Squirrel Pycon and Nivel. A tree? But soon that attention slid away, she was working one-on-one with the squirrel and this allowed Ball to drift in his thoughts. He could feel the crashing of his djed against his nexus, the more he feel into it the more he flexed his fist, feeling the ebb and flow of his djed with each tightening of his fist. The clay was bunching and sending rippling shifts of his body across his arm and into his hand to tighten and pack the hand tighter. The pyken artist could feel the ebb of his djed flowing into his extremities, it was a faint feeling as it slid away from his nexus and pooled into his fist. The connection to the movement of his djed and the shifting force of his body didn’t sink in right away to Ball.

Yet as he released the clenching Ball could feel the rushing return of his djed crashing against his nexus. His one eye physically drifted down to look at his hand. He was consciously aware of when he clenched his hand into a fist, tightening the clay the material that made up his hand and arm flowed in that direction. It was a physical change in his body that he knew occurred but he wasn’t fully aware of how it occurred. It was a feeling of control as the pressure built within his hand, more of his being was shifting from his arm to his hand, until the hand was too heavy to be supported and he had to release the clay to a normal comfortable ratio.

With the proper ratio to ensure his fist was formed and tightly clenched together his internal processing went to the flow of his djed. Still not comfortable with it he could feel it pooling slowly into an extremity, something he was curious as to how he could control and use as a near slingshot to propel his fist forward. A thought graced his nexus and it distracted his concentration on his djed, This tension from my djed seems like the tension I felt in the py-pole… I wonder if I can use this in the same way Squirrel Pycon can use his pole to throw himself into the air… Ball shifted his attention back to his djed and his mental concentration shifted gears, trying to pull on the djed so it came closer to the center of his body was tough, it felt mentally straining as he did it. It was like trying to fight a stubborn horse or even when he attempted to get Imass into the bath that one time. He turned his attention to the other two squires and paused in positioning, his clenched hand was positioned to face them yet he had to stop himself, it wouldn’t do to smack them right down now, wouldn’t be fair. Instead he turned his body to the right some, so his punch would streak well away from them but would be seen by both of them.

When Ball felt he was safely facing from them he inhaled and recalled with Nivel said about forcing energy – his djed – from one place to another. He attempted this by forcefully pushing his djed towards his arm and into his hand as he through the punch, trying to visualize it pooling into his hand to cause some immense amount of acceleration… Yet what he ended up doing was falling flat on his face as his clay shifted crazily into his arm and then went backwards into his body. Dropping like he was a sack of potatoes Ball exhaled in shock as his body cringed on the whole of his being shifted back to its original shifting. Lastly Ball thought about his djed and he couldn’t tell if it actually did move or go as he willed it… Judging though from the backlash and pain he felt Ball was sure it was purely clay.

Groaning he sat up. “That… Hurt.”

Credit :

by **Archailist** on April 7th, 2015, 5:50 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He could tell that Nivel was trying the best she could but there was just some mental wall that kept him blocked from all this talk on imagining it all, visualizing it.. like he was just three steps behind them both. Although Ball was stood off to the side falling over and struggling with himself, at least he was actually trying. Meanwhile the squirrel was just staring at his own paws, trying to see the djed. "If it's all in my imagination, how do I even know that it's magic that's causing this stuff to happen? I imagine being able to turn into a tiger but you can tell it's not happening right now." Perhaps he was being too sharp, but it really did feel like this was just running around in circles and never getting to the point.. where was the djed and how was he supposed to move it around.

Though he had his doubts that trying to imagine it as something else was going to get the same results, Nivel was trying.. so he should at least try as well. "Sorry.. uhm. I think I move by using my nexus to tell my body what clay to move, and it does it." Something hit him. He wasn't quite sure if it was right, but there was no harm in trying, right? "Hold on.. so, you mean that the signals that go from my nexus down to my clay.. that's my djed?" Surely not.. he used that stuff all the time and it wasn't magic. At least he'd never thought of it that way. Then again, he couldn't really explain how he moved his limbs in any specific way, he didn't know enough about his own anatomy for all that nonsense. "That's.. freaky."

Maybe he was just taking things a little too far and branching off in a way that was just silly.. but then, the more Nivel tried to explain things, the clearer they immediately became. Tiny squirrels. It was extremely condescending and a little insulting but his nexus was far too absorbed in this new revelation to care as he turned both paws over in front of his eyes and marveled at how he could do it. "Sweet Sylir." Transferring acorns to different parts of his body, she said. Information on what to do, how to move. "So, when I use this flux, am I trying to send more acorns down the same branch at one time? But that would deprive the other branches of acorns..." Wait, was this really how simple Flux was? Djed? All this nonsense that he'd never even thought to understand or even take a mild interest in, all of this could have led him to discovering magic?!

He'd never ignore any teacher ever again. Had the days spent running around with feral squirrels instead of listening to his father deprived him of learning some ancient art of Py-Pole techniques? How could he even be certain any more, if just not taking an interest in how his own body worked could deprive him of Flux?

"So, I just need to visualize more squirrels running down the length of my arm when I punch?" Just for show, he tried to punch the air off to the right.. he couldn't really feel any squirrels running down the length of his arm but the more he stared and thought, the more he focused every time he threw an off-hand punch at that little patch of air.. the more he thought he could visualize them running back and forth its length, transporting little acorns and storing them up inside his paw, before running back down the length of it and up to his nexus. On and on they went, more than he could count, sprinting back and forth.. becoming tired as his arm grew heavy and struggled to keep up the pace of his jitterly little nexus.

"If I just, like.. imagine all of them running down the length at once.. imagine them gathering up in my nexus and preparing.. gathering all the acorns they can carry.." He swore he could feel something as crowds sprinted up and down. So bizarre! Probably just his imagination running a little too wild but it was still damn engrossing, feeling his other limbs responding and visualizing those little squirrels stored inside them all carrying the acorns back to the nexus. "..If they all run down it at once, all just sprint down and carry all their acorns down to my palm.. is that Flux? Is that it?" Wait, did he really know magic?!

by **Nivel** on April 11th, 2015, 6:58 am

OocSorry I needed to use this new box code it's the law. Also arch I feel like this would be a great opportunity to tweak your form a bit. Nothing big just something small like a little make that looks like a tree or a leaf that only me and ball will really notice.

“You have to believe Arch”Nivel repeated to her doubting Squirrel friend “Moving the clay around in your body is similar but not that same. With the clay you know your moving clay, with Djed your focusing on your strength, your power and your will itself. It’s simple mind over matter, focusing your mind to strengthen your body. Magic is about a new way of thinking about things that can allow you to access untold power….Well at least the ones I use…I don’t know about other magical practices. I think I’ve heard you need to be initiated into some forms of magic but it still involves a change. I imagine that’s why so many pycons are mages …or at least they are in Pyconia…oh sorry I’m rambling.” She paused a moment to gather her thoughts, and rubbed her head in an attempt to sooth her aching nexus. As she did Arch seemed to be processing the information a bit more and things were starting to click. Nivel never knew that teaching could be so hard but it was still rewarding to a degree when things started to make sense.

Although when Arch started describing his version of magic being many Squirrels gathering up as much acorns as they could and caring them to his palm, Nivel knew she had forgotten some crucial information.
“No no no” Nivel shook her head rapidly “You need to take it slow at your stage and mine for that matter, you should only be directing a few Squirrels that would go to your lower half to go to your upper half or vice versa. You’re the master squirrel conductor and it’s your job to prioritize area’s you want to use… As you get more advanced you can focus your Djed…or squirrels into more specialized areas, like your tail or even one of your little claws. The more energy directed into one area the more powerful is. Your body isn’t used to modifying itself this way and you need to get it used to it before you can do anything advanced.”

Moments after Nivel finished her explanation ball was thrusted back to the ground and the mage feared the worst.
“Ball!” Nivel Panicked and ran to the aid of her other student and friend “Are you okay?” She cried out in concern “Oh I should have never tried to teach you two flux..I’m not ready for this kind of responsibility..I could get you two killed!” Her ears and tail were moving about frantically until she realized she didn’t sense very much magical irregularities coming off of the smaller pycons aura.

“Wait…did you just shift your clay too fast…?” She relaxed and this revelation and her failing appendages flopped downward.
“I know you were getting there because I sense a bit of a disruption in your Aura but you didn’t quite do it…lucky for you you didn’t…anyway let me say it again..Take.. it.. Slow…only a little bit of energy from one section of your body to the other section of your body, okay”

Credit for Boxcode goes to Shakune

by **Ball** on May 22nd, 2015, 7:27 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

Only a little bit… Ball understood the words coming out of the mage pycon’s mouth but he couldn’t connect what he was doing wrong with those words. It just wasn’t sinking in. A little bit? He had listened to what she was telling the squirrel about being a squirrel conductor and telling which squirrels and how many would go to what parts of his body. Maybe I need to control this roaring ocean within and channel it down rivers and streams? Ball nodded to himself and allowed his gaze to fall to the wayside. What was going on around him wasn’t important… Not really when it came to this thing called magic.

Ball could feel the rushing ocean all around his being, battering at his nexus again and rumbling loudly. The constant crashing against his nexus made Ball feel like it wanted to go within and overwhelm his sensory controls and cause him more of a headache. Yet there needed to be control.

Wait. If my nexus controls my body… I must allow my… Djed? Yeah yeah.. I must allow my Djed to flow within. I must control it. I am the… Keeper… The Guardian… The Knight. Ball tried to imagine a small hole forming on the bottom curve of his nexus to allow the djed to pool inward from below, the swirling of djed into his central body control was like drinking too much coffee or water and becoming dizzy and oversaturated. Shaking his head to rid of the sloshing only caused it to slosh more. “Ugh.” Ball groaned, his hands wobbling outward to steady himself before he fell over. Shifting his physical weight and limbs to balance was tricky. His legs felt like heavy iron boots were attached to his feet dragging him down. ‘Closing the hole’ amongst his nexus was as easy as shutting a window. The swirling feeling ceased and the sloshing remained.

The pyken artist wanted to shift his djed to his left arm, leading it outward into his hand as it clenched into a fist. The strike he imagined was to be toughened, harder, faster… The sloshing djed within his nexus was becoming a problem though; it was making him feel seasick. Puking was not an option. Not here, not now, not ever again. ‘Opening’ a hole into his nexus and forcing his djed to rush into his left arm as he pulled the limb back was almost like a flood gate. He could feel is roaring and the immediate pressure and nausea went with it.

Ball would’ve sighed in relief if he was capable of doing so, instead all he could do was focus on the reality of things. As the djed he redirected emerged within the djed of his arm Ball’s limb shot forward as he forced it forward. It was an uncontrollable thrusting move and Ball had to do something he hated to do. Instead of hurting himself or others Ball turned hard to the right, twisting his body, the outstretched Fluxed arm and then immediately tore the limb away. It removed almost on its own as the djed roared into his hand; Ball could feel his body reacting physically to the straining of clay to its limits and then some. His body made small hooks at the ‘shoulder’ that tore and dug at the arm until it came loose; it was a matter of a tick from turning to the arm flying a few inches from his body before being overtaken by the weight in in it and flopping around on the ground before settling still. Still fresh from his body the limb could still be reattached.

Ball gasped several times at what was going on before his nexus realized the situation and the pyken artist reached down and picked up his arm. There was no odd feeling about it, just the urge to return the limb to body before it petrified. Lifting limb to shoulder the little hooks made little grabbing motions at the clay limb as it reached their stretching limits and with the help of his right hand the hooks pulled the limb back into place and sealed itself into place.

Ball gulped and sat down hard. Reaching into his abdomen area to remove a chunk of food clay he stored within. Chewing on it absentmindedly he just stared at the other two pycons, unsure of what to say or do. His nexus just whirling around what he just did. I tore my limb off. Flux is dangerously powerful. Punches made with such a force could splinter bone, crack steel, destroy limbs…

Credit :

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