[East Wing] An Illuminating Experience (Minerva)

by **Marcus Dymez** on June 1st, 2012, 12:42 pm

3rd Day of Summer, 512 A.V.

The sun shone brightly onto the stone courtyard, as a young wizard gazed out from beneath a stone archway, leaning on the smooth masonry. Fellow students bustled to and fro behind him, eager to get to their classes. Marcus however, was not particularly excited about his class. For this scholar, Auristics was secondary towards other fields of magic, and as he began to expand his horizons, he found his time stretched thin between more areas of study than he could ever imagine as a kid. This should not to be mistaken for dissatisfaction however, as Marcus understood the various benefits of Auristics, and knew of multiple situations where such skills would be of use. Time was just so fleeting these days...

Marcus shook off his inner debating and glanced over at the exquisitely-crafted sundial at the center of the courtyard, not-entirely-noticing of the time. Hesitantly, he pushed off the stone wall, letting out a soft sigh as he withdrew from his peaceful time of revelry. It was about that time, and any more internal monologues would make the poor scholar miss his lecture. He made his way down the hallway towards his assigned lecture room, observing the other students who were doing the same. All types of people came to Zeltiva for this very reason; for the hasty pacing and fervent study-work. The University seemed to be a factory for wizards these days, and indeed it were the products of education that had helped rebuild the grand college after the Djed Storm of the past spring. The scars of Ivak's cataclysm still remained as Zeltiva struggled to recuperate, but things had definitely been looking up, especially after the famine was lifted. Marcus smirked to himself as he entered the classroom, thinking of the poor souls who had been whisked away to Syrilas. Once, as a kid, Marcus too had delusions of knighthood, but his innate curiosity found him better suited at home in Zeltiva, and being a little proud of your city never hurt either.

Marcus arrived at the class just as it had begun, unbeknownst to him, and quickly made his way towards the nearest seat. He slipped in beside a girl with hair of dull crimson, a color quite familiar to Marcus, and sat down. Even though the professor did not stop his speech, it was painfully apparent by his stare that this was not the best way to start a season of classwork. As the old magician continued the start of his lecture, Marcus noticed the introduction he was teaching and leaned over to his right, only to notice there was no one there. He played that off as being on purpose, and did the same to his left, whispering to the red-head beside him.

"So... Did he just start the class or is his teaching the pace of a snail..?" Marcus had a limited knowledge of Auristics, but it was not enough to warrant an intermediate level course, and so he had been forced to enroll in the introductory level. He had assumed the first lesson would be a beginner's induction into the field, but that did not mean he was going to enjoy it. At least, not when there were more interesting subjects to focus on.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on June 21st, 2012, 4:26 pm

Tock wasn't off to the greatest start this season.

First, she'd had a stressful day, during which she'd received some rather bad cuts and gashes from her baby, Cutty. While the wounds were dressed, they were still visible on her face and arms. She'd also managed to break her hand, though that was her own damn fault. Not that she'd admit it; she was blaming Maria and her stupid ceremony for the resulting damage to Tock's precious bones.

She was working on a replacement hand, but she had only just started, and was still only in the diagram stage. It would be a full week before she could hope to get it Animated. Then of course, yesterday, she had gotten fairly beat up. She had bruised ribs, a black eye, and bruises all over one side of her face. Though it was nothing compared to what she'd done to the other guy.

Too sore to get around on her own, she had finally settled on using her magic crutches to get around today. They were sitting behind her in the classroom right now; a four-legged contraption that she strapped around her chest and shoulders, the long wooden legs supporting her fully off the ground when she was in them. She had piloted the crutches down to the University, then carefully climbed out of them to get into her seat for class to start. She was sitting slumped in the seat, feeling like absolute crud, and really wishing she was home in bed. But school was more important than her health.

A stranger came in late and sat down beside her. She ignored him until he leaned over and whispered to her. Not really knowing how to whisper, she replied in a normal tone of voice, "S'only been five minutes, mate. Can't rush magic." The teacher interrupted her with an irritated ahem, staring her down to try to get her to be quiet. She pointed at the man next to her and said, "'E started it!"

by **Marcus Dymez** on June 22nd, 2012, 1:04 am

Marcus sat up reflexively as the professor 'cleared his throat', before flashing the instructor his most convincing apologetic smile, before he slid back in his seat, eager to lose the attention of the professor. It was then that Marcus turned his head and actually saw the woman he had sat next to. Besides her thick accent which ran its roots all the way down to her diction, he hadn't noticed the auburn-haired woman's appearance when he first sat down. It looked as if the poor woman had fallen on a feral cat, only to tumble down the stairs afterwards. Then, when she got to the bottom, the owner of the cat roughed her up a bit for good measure. Marcus smirked to himself for a brief moment at the adept metaphor.

Marcus had a healthy imagination.

Five minutes of introduction was apparently all there was to it before the professor began to shuffle between a chest set near the corner of the room, and the small table. The class took this opportunity to briefly talk among themselves, as the instructor set up her display of both inanimate and living objects. After a moment or so of subdued chatter, Marcus once again leaned over to his side and spoke. He had been casting casual glances over to this curious woman, as the professor breezed through a brief overview of what exactly Auristics was. Marcus had enough knowledge of this art to know he wasn't terribly interested in it, but without any other plans for the day, he had decided at least with sticking to the class to see how it panned out. Honestly though, Marcus found his neighbor's story was better than the one being lectured about. As if to accentuate how whispering worked, Marcus spoke his words with a subdued voice, his speech reaching to the redheaded student and no further. "Hey... Are you alright? You seem to be a bit, 'injured.'" That was an understatement if there ever was one.

Marcus really just held out hope that she was able to keep her voice a bit lower.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on June 22nd, 2012, 2:36 am

Tock cast her neighbor an annoyed look when he commented on her injuries. Still in a mostly normal tone of voice, she said, "Oy, I done looks awright, mate? Ain'tcha done never seen a girl after she's been in a fight before?" She frowned, wondering what the big deal was. When she was in Sunberth, no one would look twice when she walked by with a black eye. As much as she hated most aspects of her hometown, people minding their own business had a certain appeal.

Tock carefully took notes as the instructor started talking about the basics of Auristics. This was important to her. She needed to pay attention. "Everything, living or non, has an aura," the Professor explained. "Though focus, meditation, and concentration, you can learn to seek them out. The simplest, most basic auras that beginners can learn to sense are those of a life force. These can be seen often as a radiating color coming from the creature." The Professor began carrying small cages around to the different tables. Each one had a rat inside.

A cute little white rat was placed on the table in front of Tock and Marcus. "Don't expect to see much, if anything at all, on your first day," the Professor explained. "Knowing what to look for is difficult when you are just beginning. Try to cleanse your mind of all distractions, and focus purely on the creature in front of you..."

Tock frowned at the rat. She didn't see anything special about it. She sat and stared at it, and stared and stared and stared. After a few minutes when she didn't see anything, she let out a huff, wondering what she was doing wrong. She wasn't often the most patient person in the world. She looked over at the man next to her, watching what he was doing, wondering if she could figure out some trick. Maybe if she squinted...

by **Marcus Dymez** on June 22nd, 2012, 3:55 am

Marcus found himself gazing down at the rabbit set before the entire class, despite his reservations about the lecture. This young scholar was not one to shirk a challenge placed in front of him, and to be honest, it had been quite a while since he dabbled in Auristics. He spoke the three rehearsed words of ancient times in his head, over and over again, until he felt his mind was sharp and precise. This was his home-made wizardry exercise, which he had drawn up in an attempt to help him concentrate for shielding and the like. It had swiftly evolved into a being of many uses, and Marcus was still quite proud of having the kind of control over his mind that he oft bragged about.

Pond, Glig, Isikai. Pond, Glig, Isikai. Pond, Glig, Isikai...

Three iterations was all it took, mostly due to the quiet atmosphere of the room. Marcus thought to himself that he could have done it in two, if the woman to his side wasn't still curiously in his mind. Regardless, he set his vision with a strong focus integrated into his mind, and gazed at the small creature placed in front of him. Marcus actually didn't gaze at it as a usual person might however, looking into its bright eyes or pink tail. Rather, the young wizard gazed straight to the core of the innocuous creature, and began channeling small streams of djed towards his head.

There the Djed pressed against his mind, shaping it gently as it synchronized with the rat's aura. Marcus felt his eyes focusing on something that simply wasn't there. A minute or so of stone-firm concentration later, he found himself face-to-face with the faint blue gas that extended inches out from the small creature. The details were faint at this point, but slowly they came to him. From a shadowy alcove in his determined mind came a jesting thought, thanking the Gods for not having this class in one of the larger lecture halls, where his mind may have had to span several meters. Marcus hated how tired Auristics tended to make him, as he was used to being physically fatigued before mentally so. Having his mind through the towel before his body was a disgrace in his eyes.

Marcus gathered what details he could, before pulling the curtains on the act; an albino rat with surprisingly rough fur and a few scars on his pink skin, along with an odd odor the scholar attributed to vermin. He had stopped before his concentration got any further, not really interested in the rat's health. Marcus let out a heavy panting as he detached the wire of focus that held his attention on a specific aura, and slowly let his mind recover its usual joviality and curiosity. He took a few deep breaths to still himself, and even shook his head quickly once or twice, making sure his mind wasn't about to suddenly faint on him. When everything checked out okay, Marcus smiled to himself in an obviously satisfied manner. Now that that exercise was said and done, curiosity was attempting to make up for lost time. Marcus casually glanced around the room, viewing students of various levels of concentration scattered between the seats. Once again the young wizard chided himself for coming to the first class of the semester. His eyes eventually landed once more on the rough woman beside her, who seemed more at-home in a tavern than here at the University. With a playful smirk he spoke once more, eager to satiate his limitless curiosity.

"So, how's it coming..?"

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on June 22nd, 2012, 7:22 pm

Tock frowned as she watched the man. As far as she could tell, he wasn't doing anything. He just sat and stared, and after a few minutes he seemed out of breath. She recognized the signs of mental fatigue, not at all dissimilar to what she felt after a long day of Animating. But when she Animated, she glowed, whereas this man looked perfectly normal.

She looked back at the rat, trying to focus her mind. She worked on tuning everything out, searching inside the way she did when seeking her connection to the Astral plane. Except here there was no blood sacrifice, nothing to give that initial spark to fuel the magic. So she didn't get it; she didn't know what she was supposed to do.

After staring at the rat for a few more minutes, she decided she didn't like this rat. Maybe this one didn't have an aura. She was about to ask the teacher for a better rat when her partner interrupted her.

"Oy, I think we done gots a broken one, mate," she said, waving at the rat in disgust. "'Less I's doin' somethin' wrong. 'Ere's done gotta been somethin' else ta 'is 'an jus' concentratin', aye? Don'tcha need a whatchacaller, chant o' glyphs o' blood o' somethin'?" She was a scientist. She believed that everything had a process. A method to make it work. Sitting and staring didn't seem like it was going to do the trick.

She thought about the Animation process, how her mind could seek out the soul of a creature through focus and by extending her senses onto the Astral plane. Maybe if she tried seeking out this creature's soul, that would be its aura. But that meant finding her own soul first. She closed her eyes and stopped staring at the rat, and instead stared inside. She sought out the warmth inside of her that came from memories of her work, and her Granddad. It felt a bit different, outside of the circle. She could reach the astral plane without the circle and the blood to guide her. But she found that spot inside her, and then... didn't know what to do with it.

She opened her eyes and looked at the rat. She was expecting to see the colorful swirls of energy around her like she did when her mind was reaching beyond this plane. But she just saw the rat. There was a small after image like after she'd stared at a light for too long, and she rubbed her eyes until it was gone. Whatever it was might distract her from seeing the aura.

by **Marcus Dymez** on June 23rd, 2012, 1:18 am

Marcus stifled a small chuckle as his classmate seated next to him posited that their rat may be "broken." The poor animal was probably quite broken in reality, but simply possessed too small of a brain to care about such things. In truth, Marcus rarely appreciated how far a multi-faceted background in magic had carried him, whether it was the conscience of his djed streams learned through his practice of Reimancy, or the aforementioned stoic concentration he had derived from his study of Shielding. He never really thought about how others went about such pursuits, with only a slim or even non-existent background. Marcus scribbled a mental note of this, and made a point of observing these types of classes with a shrewder eye in the future. All of this ran through his hyper-active and curious mind with the speed of sound, before he turned back to reality, hoping to encourage a bit of self-discovery in this rough woman beside him.

"No, I assure you it is not broken, at least in the Auristics sense." A sliver of Marcus' mind wandered back to his prior philosophical thought on the state of a caged rat, before the scholar caught it dawdling and brought it back into the fold. "I suggest trying again, with a deeper concentration. You may feel a bit out of breath afterwards..." Marcus watched closely as the woman gave it another attempt, the air around them absorbing the silence like welcome sustenance. When she had finished, her dark eyes sliding once again into view, Marcus raised a brow curiously. The one aspect of Auristics that this scholar could truly appreciate was the invisibility of it all. The only art that came close was shielding, but that still could be revealed when faced with a superior mind. With Auristics, only the side-effects were really visible, and once you reached the status of a master in the art, even those were minute. This was all irrelevant however, as Marcus had already put the final nail in this coffin, and if he hadn't found this woman so curious or his manners so binding, he may have just walked out of class without a moment's thought. Still, he was raised better than that.

And as such, it came as a startling surprise when Marcus came to a pause in his thoughts regarding the scene around him. He found himself grabbing at the name of this redheaded woman beside him, and that was when he realized he had never introduced himself. Stumbling over his eagerness to mend a small glitch in protocol, Marcus extended his hand in greeting, a pleasant smile gracing his face as he spoke with an equally pleasing tone. "I seem to have forgotten my manners though. The name's Marcus. Marcus Callus." The false surname slipped naturally off of his tongue, without a moment's hesitation. It had been so long since that day that it was as good as his, and the thought did not even cross his mind as a pleasant smirk strode across Marcus' face.

"It's a pleasure to meet a woman who knows her way around a fight."

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on June 23rd, 2012, 6:11 am

"Nice ta meetcha, Mark," Tock said without taking her eyes off the rat. She absent-mindedly extended her left hand, seeing as the right was bound until the bone healed, and shook his hand in an awkward grip. "I's Tock. Does ya gotta make 'im do somethin' what fer ta get the aura ta come out?" When she was working Animation magic, she needed to often prompt a subject into activity. Such as when she needed to transfer a creature's muscle movements, but it required the creature to actually move in order for it to work. Thinking along those lines, and staring at the rat with deep, deep concentration, Tock reached out and poked her finger through the bars of the cage, prompting the rat to scurry away from her touch.

She was getting pissed off. She was having a bad enough week as it was, and the stupid rat wasn't cooperating! She scowled at it and shook the cage a little, staring the rat down as it scurried around its confines. She got nothing.

Grumbling under her breath, she distractedly replied to Marcus's comment by saying, "Why, whatcha done gots someone ya needs beat up? I ain't no merc, mate." She'd known a lot of men in her life that had this strange sense of what they thought was honor: they wouldn't hit a woman themselves, so they thought it was okay to get one of their female friends to do it for them. As far as Tock was concerned, that was bull. She'd been hit by enough men in her life to know how to fight back, and as far as she was concerned, it didn't matter if the person doing the hitting was male or female. All that mattered was whether someone stood a chance in a fair fight, or if you were mercilessly beating them down without them being able to defend themselves. If it was the latter, as far as she was concerned you were a horrid monster for doing it. But for the former, then in her opinion if a woman could defend herself you could go ahead and hit her, since she'd be hitting you right back. It was the difference between a beating and a fight; the difference between abuse and barroom brawling.

In her anger, she'd lost that place inside her where her soul resided. She was starting to get a headache. She closed her eyes again, taking a few breaths to try to calm herself. When she felt a bit more focused, she opened her eyes and stared at the rat again. She could feel the energy inside her, the same place where she drew her Djed from when she needed to transfer it to another creature. She knew the energy was there, had worked with it before. She just didn't know how to make it do what she wanted. All she got was blurred vision that made the rat look wavery in her vision for a few moments. Was that the aura? It didn't look like an aura. At least, not the way she'd imagined an aura to look. She studied it harder, holding her breath. She was starting to sweat a little. The rat smelled, and she didn't like it. She squinted harder, feeling the rat come more into focus. She could almost count every little hair on its body, and make out a scar on its back under the fur. She was getting a bit of an afterimage again in her vision. She felt tired and out of breath.

"Ain't got bloody in the useless never with the snakes what cages," she grumbled, sitting back in her chair. She closed her eyes and rubbed at them, wondering what she was doing wrong. She was expecting the rat to have a nice, healthy blue glow or something, but the most she could see was the little afterimage.

by **Marcus Dymez** on June 23rd, 2012, 3:44 pm

Marcus was a wizard of decent report, and a scholar who was searching for relics of ages past. He was studying at the renowned University of Zeltiva, seeking answers from magnates of history and magic. Soon he would find himself faced with scenarios that would test his dedication and ideals, and push his mind to its limits. He saw himself as a hero in the making, curiously learning the inner workings of the world itself.

And here beside him was a woman poking a rat.

Needless to say, Marcus had to fight viciously to hold back a laugh.

Marcus opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it after the woman had started to rant on about mercenaries or what not, with a quite angered expression about her. He simple smiled to her, and when she closed her eyes once more in concentration, he thought her chances of successfully reading the animal's aura to be slim under such emotional influences. Marcus was pleasantly surprised when he heard the subtle sigh of fatigue, and equally amused when a string of seemingly unconnected words left the woman's lips. This time, Marcus did chuckle a little, letting some of his humor slip through.

After Marcus was sure his composure was not under threat of shattering, he spoke up, eager to help his classmate, even if his mind wasn't exactly enthralled with the topic. His voice came out polite and calm, despite the near-fitful laugh that had been building in his throat. "It seems like you found something, but you still look a bit frustrated. I guess a good way of thinking of this process is using your djed to concentrate. It's not just a force of willpower per se." Marcus scratched the back of his head as he searched for an easier way to explain this.

It was a subject the young wizard knew quite well; channeling his djed had become a small push instead of the massive effort it used to be, especially after his studies in magic had taken off. But when he reached for the words to explain it, Marcus simply could not phrase them; they eluded him very much like a rat. "It's tricky to explain, but you start by pressing some djed up into your mind, and if you concentrate hard enough, after a while it kind of turns into a lens of sorts. If that makes sense." Marcus wasn't sure how much help that would be to the curious student, but he had given it a shot, and honestly the young scholar was quite proud of the answer he had managed to draft up.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on June 24th, 2012, 5:01 pm

Tock listened to the man's words and nodded. This whole experience was frustrating, despite the fact that the teacher had told them not to expect results the first day. She forced a grin and said, "Lens in the eyes fer the space what isn't to the left, aye?"

When the professor heard the incoherent babbling coming from her lips, he came over waving his hands at her frantically. "That's enough for you then, young lady. Even mild overgiving can be serious for beginners..."

Tock scowled, not knowing what he was talking about. "Fer the sun in eyes of the rat doesn't done yet!" she protested. She had lever overgiven before, seeing as this was her first ever dabbling into the realm of personal magic.

The professor brought her some water and told her, "Close your eyes and relax. The sixth sight can often overload your mind and your senses. You need rest, half a bell minimum, before you can continue." Tock scowled at him, not understanding what was wrong. She didn't realize that the ache in her head was from her inexperienced and overenthusiastic Djed use.

He made her sit in the corner and rest, refusing to accept any protest. It wasn't until thirty chimes later that she was allowed to resume. She returned to her seat, frustrated and wanting to get back to it. Since the professor had a whole class to watch, and Marcus was clearly more experienced than most of the others, he told Marcus, "Please keep an eye on her for further symptoms, and fetch me immediately if she shows any." He then said to Tock, "Any more strain today and you'll have to sit the rest of the session out. Go easy on it. You cannot force it."

He was saying something similar to what Marcus had told her a moment ago, that it wasn't just about willpower. Sighing, she propped her chin on her fists and stared at the rat again, trying to find that calm, meditative place inside her she used to begin her Animations. "Concentrate an' make a lens?" she asked Marcus, able to phrase the question coherently now. She tried to do as he'd said, picturing it in her mind the way she did with Animation. Except instead of trying to expand her own soul and send out a piece of it, she pictures a telescope, like in the astronomy tower, trying to adjust the focus and zoom in on he rat.