[The Sunken Conundrum] Pursuit of Knowledge (Open)

[Seidaku]

Seidaku blinked in surprise at finding Vhanet kneeling beside him. And kneeling quite closely, at that. And both concerned for him and impressed by him... and very close.

A small part of his mind told him that he should move back and not take advantage of Vhanet's concern. The rest of his mind however, reminded him that an attractive woman was very close. The conflict resulted in an embarassed blush and a stammered reply, "Just, umm... just a case of reach exceeding grasp I assure you. You just, well, this was an object lesson in the Overgiving your mentor warned you of."

He trailed off, an effort of willpower keeping his eyes on Vhanet's face, and not her... closeness.

[Yanessavhanet]

Seidaku's blush and stammering was very amusing, and Vhanet lingered on her knees for a few moments after he had finished talking, letting her audio illusion go, as she leaned towards Seidaku as if there was some force pulling her towards him.

After a few moments she created the illusion of her cheeks flushing brightly, and she quickly stood up, "I... I am glad you are well then," she turned her gaze away from Seidaku as she took a couple steps, slowly changing the illusion of her flushed cheeks so that they returned to normal, and then she turned back to him with a warm smile, "My turn for an exhibition, no?"

Stretching up and reaching for the nearby tree she plucked a leaf off of it, giving a nervous smile to Seidaku she explain, "I find it can help with watching."

Turning her gaze back to the leaf Vhanet began to slowly and deeply breath. While she may not know anything of this Reimancy her trick was still going to require focus and effort to make it believable. Slowly as she exhaled she released her grip on the leaf and crafted two visual illusions. The first hiding the real leaf from view as it tumbled off of her hand towards the ground, and the second a replica of the leaf twirling lazily in circles as it slowly lifted up from her hand.

[Seidaku]

As Vhanet leaned down toward him, Seidaku found himself moving forward to meet her. Her face filled his vision, beautiful in the late afternoon sun and-

And then she was standing, the magic of the moment broken. Seidaku sank back slightly, cursing himself for making a fool of himself. She was just worried that he had hurt himself Overgiving, and he had read too much into it. "Yes, well, I'll be fine," he said softly, embarassed with himself, "It's nothing a few hours and some rest will not fix."

At the mention of her own demonstration though, Seidaku sat up fully and crossed his legs in front of him. His previous embarassment there, but buried beneath excitement at what he was about to witness. He nodded his understanding as Vhanet grasped the leaf. He supposed it made sense, as he could not see the wind. Without a prop or focus, how would be be able to see what she was doing?

Seidaku watched with rapt attention as she first gathered her focus and then released the leaf. He made a quiet sound of amazement as the leaf fell upward, instead of succumbing to the pull of the ground, and turned lazy circles up from her hand. Even while he was watching, his mind spun with questions, and the first one to make it out his mouth was perhaps not the most eloquent, "How does it work?"

[Yanessavhanet]

"It can be difficult to explain," Vhanet said softly, her gaze remaining on the leaf as she focused on maintaining the illusion of it spinning and twirling through the air, "I concentrate on the air all about, feeling it with my body, and then expanding outward to feel it with my mind. Then I think of what action I want the air to take within my mind, putting my energy into it, and the air will react."

Making the illusionary leaf twirl faster and faster Vhanet tossed her hand up, as if tossing the leaf high into the sky, and then used a hand to cover her eyes as if watching it fly up towards Syna as she let the illusion vanish. After a moment she turned and smiled at Seidaku, holding her hands out to him as she focused on his sense of touch. The gentle touch of a light breeze caressing his cheek, the slight coolness that came with wind against wet skin, and even the soft feel of his hair moving against and with the air. These were the things she focused on in creating her illusion to make him feel like she was manipulating the air around him.

[Seidaku]

Seidaku sat, watching in rapt attention, as Vhanet explained how she used Reimancy to control the air around the leaf to make it dance. When you broke it down to its most fundamental levels, it was not that much different from Voiding. It all revolved around the ability to envision and feel sameness between yourself and your mind, and the world around you.

His head snapped back as he followed the leaf on its ascent into the sky, squinting and beginning to tear up as he stared into the sun. When he finally lost the leaf, he looked back at Vhanet, blinking away dark after-images that swam across his vision.

While his vision recovered itself, he idly swatted a hand lightly across his cheek, brushing away an insect or stray hair that had alighted there. When the sensation persisted, and then traveled across his body and through his hair and clothes, he gave a delighted laugh as he realized that it was still Vhanet's magic.

Clapping his hands, he looked about him, trying to see the air moving and feeling foolish for trying. One could not see the wind, after all. He supposed that the same had to be true with wind created by Reimancy. He was reminded of a term he had read once. Res, Russ, Riz... "Raz!," he exclaimed, sure he had remembered the right of it, "What does Raz feel like? Can you see it? Does it require special training even to see?"

[Yanessavhanet]

A brilliant smile lit up Vhanet's face at Seidaku's laugh, and she kept her gaze firmly on him as she let the illusion on his feeling of touch slowly diminish and then vanish, "Raz can..." Vhanet began to answer his question, but gave her voice a slight tremor after a moment, "I... Ohhhh..."

With something akin to a heavy sigh Vhanet made a show of her knees giving out as she fell in Seidaku's direction, her eyes rolling upwards before she shut them, and just let her body fall forward. She expected Seidaku to try and catch her, but she wouldn't be surprised if he let her hit the ground instead. Either way, she kept her body limp as she tumbled forward.

[Seidaku]

Seidaku leaned forward intently as Vhanet began her explaination. The example of her power had been fascinating enough, but it was the clockwork perfection of the mechanics behind the world that fascinated him. Anything that provided a glimpse behind the curtain of their world to offer a chance at understanding was infinitely more rewarding than the simple displays themselves.

Because of his focus, he actually noticed when Vhanet's speech faltered and her eyes began to roll upward. Noticing and reacting are, sadly, two different things, though. His eyes widened in shock as he realized the most likely cause of her reaction. He was shocked that such a small display could result in Overgiving. Reimancy must be an incredibly demanding practice. Either that, or the story book tales of ancient magi burning armies from the earth had been greatly exaggerated in the retelling. Most likely both, he decided.

In the time it took him to think this, Vhanet's knees had buckled and she had begun her descent to the ground. With a startled oath, Seidaku scrambled from a seated position to his hands and knees and tried to reach Vhanet's side in a maneuver halfway between a crawl and a stumbling run.

He was not able to keep her from falling, but at least he could help cushion the blow, inadvertent as the cushion might have been. On the ground, sprawled awkwardly on his back with Vhanet laying atop him, Seidaku held his hands inches away from her shoulders, trying to work out the logistics of how to roll her off of him without exacerbating any potential injuries.

"Are, umm, are you alright? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

[Yanessavhanet]

For a few moments Vhanet lay still and silent, her breath coming slowly as she lay on top of Seidaku. After a few breaths she gave a soft moan, tinging it with a slight hint of a sexual tone, and fluttered her eyes open, "I... what?... What happen... Oh..."

Drawing again upon Ionu's mark she colored her cheeks with a bright blush as she looked down into Seidaku's face, "Forgive me, I," her eyes widened and she quickly scrambled up to her knees, her illusionary blush spreading further across her face, "I am not talented like you, I can only do little work with the air before I tire. Forgive me if I worried you, I wanted to give you a great exhibition of Reimancy."

She turned her gaze away and down, face now covered in her illusionary embarrassed blush. This should be more than enough of a distraction for him to forget his question, and if not she had a few other fun ideas to work through.

[Seidaku]

When Vhanet failed to answer, Seidaku felt a flutter of panic in his stomach. What if she had killed herself with her display of magic? He had heard of mages who died, streaming blood from their eyes and ears from a ruined brain. Along with the panic, there was a surge of guilt. If he had not been so amazed, perhaps she would not have pushed herself as hard, and she would not now be dying.

He had just steeled himself to call for help and deal with whatever consequences his actions had brought upon them when he saw Vhanet's eyes flutter open. Thank the gods, she was not dead. And then she moaned as she awoke, and he thanked the gods again, for entirely selfish reasons as he was reminded once again of her proximity to him.

When Vhanet sat up, he felt a confusing mix of relief at her recovery and regret at her moving away. When he looked up again, his blush matched hers in intensity. Raising a hand to push push his hair nervously from his eyes, he said, "Oh, it's, it's quite alright. Your, umm... display was quite spectacular," his eyes widened in shock as he interpreted what he had said, "Of Reimancy! Your display of Reimancy was spectacular!"

His questions forgotten, he slid back and sat up, still blushing furiously, "It seems like a very demanding discipline."

[Yanessavhanet]

Vhanet turned her gaze back in Seidaku's direction at his compliment, giving him a shy little smile and a soft giggle at his correction of himself, "You are very kind," she sat back on the grass with a little wobble, giving the impression of still being unsteady, "I have heard of many great Reimancer who can do many an amazing thing with the art, but I am barely even a beginner. I do not even know what I can do to become better, I have never been properly trained."

Bowing her head slightly she took several slow deep breaths before she spoke again, "Forgive me, but I believe I need to recover a little," slowly, with a show of hesitance, she reached out a hand and lightly touched Seidaku's own hand, "Maybe... could you linger with me for a while?" as she asked her question she turned her dark gaze up to gaze deeply, longingly into Seidaku's eyes.