In Your Element [Closed]

[Raiha]

Raiha looked up from her hands, as she tried to coax the res to become airy and vaporous once more. She did. Too well - it seemed to have evaporated, and focusing on the area where it had been with her Auristics showed a thinly-stretched cloud of it. She frowned at it, and tried to draw it back to her without touching it. Movements were a handicap. She had to learn to manipulate it while being still. Sure, that was setting a high standard for a neophyte, but she didn’t need Kanikra to tell her that she had to either go big or go home. Work smarter, not harder. Develop those habits from the start rather than rely on baby steps that might led straight to an early grave. The young Akontak breathed out, eyes narrowed as she looked overhead at the res which was still trickling upwards. Come back, she urged it silently, come back.

She coaxed it back together, at least, into a single, compressed cloud. It was like herding cats or chickens. She would get one clump of res back to the main body, and another piece would break away. She was sweating by the time it was staying in once place. Bringing it down without grabbing it, however... She could change the density of it. Make it heavier. That would bring it down, certainly. But she had managed that before, and now she wanted to control where it was and how it was moving. Raiha tried to imagine it coming back down. It just kept floating insolently, out of reach, and not at all where she wanted it to be. She pursed her lips, and envisioned sticking her hand back into the core of golden fire, that filled every part of her body with a blazing warmth and breathed it in before trying to pull it back down. This time, it came, lower and lower until it drifted in front of her, trying to segment again as she clamped down on it, keeping it together, reinforcing the shape she wanted it in - presently, a ball. With one hand in the wellspring in her core, manipulating and controlling it became easier as she slowly, slowly expanded the ball. Its shape wavered. She blinked, closing her eyes for a minute, her thumbs touching, the rest of her fingers interlaced.

She watched the core slowly expanding. The return of djed made the core brighter, more powerful, and she had to back away from it, easing her hand out so that the palm was only touching it. That was good. She was getting her energies under control again. She opened her eyes as the ball of res stabilized. “We all wear a mask. We all play a role. The only true freedom that we have is who we are within,” she smiled faintly at that. She wasn’t sure she even had that, with Kanikra lurking there, like a spectre cloaked in shadows, watching, waiting to pounce on faults, to harass and harangue whenever and wherever necessary in her crusade to improve her sister-soul. She had backed off somewhat, just a little bit, since meeting their fathers.

Somewhat.

She removed her hand from the wellspring, watching it glow, before sticking her other hand in it, too. There. Now she could experiment with that, and see what that did. In her mind, she poked at the ball of djed, making it roll slowly away from her in the air. She chuckled again, the faint smile turning to a grin. So. That was how it wanted to do it, huh? She pulled it back to her, using djed-soaked hands to hold the ball in front of her. Well, now... that made things easier. “It’s finding those little things,” she breathed, “the secrets that have been there all along, and you realize... how silly that you didn’t see it from the start.” She let out a low, controlled breath. In some ways, this was like meditating. It was pure focus. Except while she was in a state of relaxed alertness in meditation, open and receptive to the world around and within her, here, she was alert and aware, and focused, primarily on herself and the djed that had manifested outside of her body. “It won’t come back in, will it? Once djed becomes res, it stays res or becomes an element, but it cannot be reabsorbed and returned to its initial state?” She had a few sips of water, wiping at her forehead with her shoulder to clear away the beads of sweat that had accumulated there. “Let’s see if we can figure out what element I’ll be starting with. Which element chooses me.”

[Baku]

Vincent tapped away the final layer of ash from his pipe as he continued to observe Raiha and her first steps into the practice of Reimancy. Reaching into the folds of his robe, he then pulled out a small brush and proceeded to clean out the cup of the pipe that contained ash and unburned tobacco that remained inside. A couple of strokes of the brush along his leg then flung the bristles of the brush to clean away any lingering waste that clung to the brush itself before both it and the pipe were both slipped back into the folds of his robes again. A soft smile crossed his features as he watch Raiha eventually catching on, discovering her own way of manipulating rez. How to form it, how to stop it from forming, how to move it. Every step should be learned, and learned carefully. Trial by fire, figuratively speaking, when it came to Reimancy killed a student at least half of the time. His head then perked up when she posed her question about the rez, and subtle shake of his head was given. “No. Once rez has been formed, it must either then be used, or is lost as it dissipates eventually.” Vincent answered, draping his arm over a propped knee. “The only way rez could be absorbed is if it were to strike something protected by Shielding magic, and then such rez is then absorbed simply to strengthen the shielding magic itself. One could possibly absorb the rez using Leeching, but I’m not terribly familiar with that school of magic overall, so don’t take my word for it. Besides, one thing I do know is that the magic absorbed by Leeching eventually turns toxic to the one to leeched it if it isn’t used in time. Considering your djed supply, Leeching isn’t a magic you’ll need to learn in the long run. By comparison, metaphorically speaking, you learning and using Leeching would be like trying to drown an ocean. The idea is interesting, but ultimately moot in point.” Vincent then slowly stood up, folding his arms for a bit when she suggested moving on to finally working with her first element. He began circling around her, gazing over her up and down as if gauging her progress so far. Finally, stopping in front her, his hands dropped down to either side of his body, his fingers slowly tapping at his waist. “Very well,” Vincent said simply, coming down to one knee as he held his hand out in front of him. “Rather than just trying to transform your rez into the element, you’ll be instead using your rez to manipulate the element you start with. If your affinity does not lie with the element, your rez will not affect it.” “Let us take my first element, for instance.” Vincent explained, his palm facing upward. “I originally thought I would be one who wielded the element of fire when I first started out, but fate chose me to be one of the unique ones, since it seems almost ninety percent of reimancers start off with fire. Weird how that is, guess it has to do with the Valterrian still being on everyone’s mind. But I digress. I tried for several bells to make a simple flame hop off its candle and into a metal bowl, but try as I might, it would not. I thought, for a moment, that I simply had no talent for Reimancy, despite surviving the ritual. Hold your hand over mine for a moment, if you would.” If Raiha accepted, she would see rez slowly rising from the center of Vincent’s palm, a drop no bigger than a pumpkin seed. Before her hand covered up the view of it, it turned gaseous in nature, almost like fog at first and then becoming more clear. Before long, Raiha felt a swirling breeze begin to flutter lightly along her the skin of her fingers and palm, increasing in speed. Eventually, the rush of air was strong enough that the skin of her hand became pitted and shoved around for a moment before she felt the slight twinges of discomfort, forcing her to withdraw that hand. More importantly, however, was the fact that she felt the rush of swirling air along her hands and fingers alone, an nowhere else. The air around the rest of her body hardly moved, if at all. “Imagine my surprise when I discovered my element affinity to actually be air.“ Vincent further explained. “When I tried such, however, it became clear. As did the pros and cons of such.“ Vincent then looked to the side towards large strands of grass, drawing Raiha’s attention towards such. He then gave his hand a small flick as a back draft of breeze from his own hand was finally felt, the air spell he launched forward moving like a silent wisp in the air, only to reveal itself to be much more deadly as blades of grass in its path were cut down as though they were no stronger than simple parchments. “Remember this one thing above all else when it comes to mastery of the elements.” Vincent then said, grabbing Raiha’s attention again. “You will always be using less djed and rez to manipulate an element than you would need to create that element. Your spells will be quicker to form as well.” “When you have grown competent in manipulating and forming your affinity element, you will then simply know and feel comfortable with the basics of element wizardry in general. You can then branch out, and begin to attempt manipulating one of the other for basic elements, subverting it slightly and ever more into your control.” Vincent explained, slowly closing his hand. “Further more, once you begin to branch out into other elements, you’ll discover that you’ll be able to combine the elements. Make them work in unison to create new effects, other elements created from their primes. But that will be something for you to practice with on your own. For now, simply try to use your rez and manipulate your first.”

[Raiha]

She listened to his explanation about what happened to Res upon transmuting it, and nodded. That made sense. She was pretty sure she remembered that, or part of it, from her book of notes that she had made back in Mura. Still, it was always good to have it clarified. “I see. Thank you.” Once it was made, it would have to be used. Like as not, it would dissipate in volume and strength - and therefore effectiveness - the longer it sat. There was a lesson there. Make only what you need, and no more. She smiled faintly at the mention of Leeching. He was right. But what was any ocean but a multitude of drops? Still, it wasn’t a discipline that she wanted to learn. Shielding, on the other hand... That would be good to work with, too. Then she could practice Reimancy by testing spells against a created shield, strengthening the shield itself. Still, it would be interesting to see how that happened. Something to work on, no doubt.

She closed her eyes, exhaling, focusing on her eyes and forcing the Djed to them. She wasn’t interested in analyzing him - she just wanted to track the progress of her res after it left her hands. When she blinked again, she could see - really see - once more, able to track and keep an eye on what was going on that way. She watched him circle her as she lowered her hands, letting her res dissipate to become a gas, flickering and lingering in the air like snow. To the naked eye, it had become thinner than a mist, and if she hadn’t started observing it through Auristics, she would have lost sight of it altogether. She settled on her knees as he knelt in front of her, and watched his hand intently as she placed hers over his, feeling the res move against her warm skin, and seeing it between their hands by angling her body to watch it. She did have to withdraw her hand eventually as she felt the wind biting at it, tucking her hand back into her lap. The Akontak watched, straightening, as the Djed-saturated air continued to spin in powerful gusts.

Idly, she wondered what she would be starting with. Fire was powerful, all-consuming devourer. If most start with that... well, it wouldn’t surprise her if she did. We are the exception rather than the rule, Kanikra reminded her. But we could cause a lot of damage with fire...

You’re telling me, Raiha hadn’t forgot about such a power of destruction if left to her sister’s hands. But her eyes widened to see the grass shorn down to nothing by the powerful, carefully controlled wind. She nibbled on her bottom lip, looking upwards again. The res she had made had been scattered too far for her to even think about calling it back, and as such, Raiha left it alone for now and eyed the fire. That was one. There was earth under her. That was two. There was air all around her. That was three. And water... she perked up and looked at the waterskin beside her. That was four. Everything had been represented here before her, and she glanced at Vincent. He must have planned it that way, she realized. Everything was accessible.

Get on with it. Let’s see what we’re going to start with, Raiha, Kanikra nudged her.

Did you listen to what he said about causing more damage without meaning to than when you actually want to?

So we -may- have some accidents.

You wouldn’t, Raiha retorted, trying to decide where to start before digging a little bit at the exposed dirt before her, loosening the top layer of soil. She cleared her mind as Kanikra didn’t bother responding, wanting to see how this was going to work, her breathing easy and her chest unrestricted, focusing on herself and on the elements around her. She found that core inside of her, and stuck her hands into it. In her lap, res began to form, rising out of her palms and slowly gathering like a thin gruel, drop by drop, in her cupped fingers. When she had maybe half a handful, she removed her hands from the core to stop producing more, and breathed again, opening her eyes to look at the white ethereal substance in her hands before adjusting her knees and dividing the res between her hands. Taking another breath, she pressed her hands lightly down into the churned earth, pressing the res into it. She drew her hands back, and focused on the res, trying to make it multiply with the dirt, to expand, thicken, rise up as she held her breath again, and watched as...

Nothing happened. The res-soaked earth just stayed put, no matter what she asked of it, even when she put her hands back into the core to try to control it.

Nothing.

Not even the aura of it changed as she regarded it, and Raiha pursed her lips. Okay. So it wasn’t earth. Not yet, anyway. No point in getting frustrated over it. She tapped the tips of her fingers together, before selecting the waterskin. She unscrewed the lid and poured some of it into her cupped palm, fingers pressed tightly to keep it from leaking, continuing to focus on the core inside of her, bright and strong and practically humming, as she pulled at it, and slowly, painstakingly, produced drop after drop of res, like a thick gel. Some of it appeared on her bare arms - not where she had intended, really - but she forced those drops down into her hands, moving them along her dusky blue skin to sink through the water, like pebbles in the riverbed. The small pool of water in her hands amplified the white pearls of res that lined her palms, making them look so much larger as she looked down at it, before looking up at Vincent, and back down at her hands again. She thinned the res out, dissolving it and moving her palms a little to mix the now watery djed-formed substance into the water, and tried again, focusing on the ribbons of liquid res and trying to make them bigger.

The water in her hands seemed to explode, expanding and spraying her in the face. Her shirt was soaked, her hair stuck to her head, and Raiha let out a slightly nervous giggle as she looked at her teacher. “I think it might have been water,” she blinked water from her eyes as she pulled her hands from her core to breathe and blink some more, grinning almost sheepishly between the locks of hair, letting go of her focus of Auristics once more.

[Baku]

Vincent sat in silence as Raiha began to seek her elemental affinity. A quiet smirk sharpened the corners of his mouth as he noticed Raiha reaching for the earth first off. Most often, he had known Reimancy users to always try and manipulate fire first. It was almost odd, but at the same time understandable, how so many Reimancy users actually wanted to start with fire. Something so destructive, so consuming. It practically screamed at the notion of just how dangerous those who wielded magic, in general, were. The majority would always seek out the most commonly known destructive, wanting that which was most offensive capable. It was like a race to power for most, driven by that simple first taste of the seductive nectar know as sweet whispers. Vincent was no different from that majority. Not really in the long run. He had said himself that he thought and tried to make his first element that of the flame. As well, his shifting mood changes, urges towards the immoral and general odd behavior was just a small sample of how the insanity of overgiving had taken him. Those where the mild examples. On the bad days, he barely even knew the difference between right and wrong, and it was a small miracle that Riverfall had allowed him to stay as long as he did. This was to say nothing of the physical damage he had incurred over the years, as scars from burned and torn flesh remained covered by thick layers of robes, his own breathing capacity shortened due to prolonged years of inhaling thickened air, smoke from fire, and of late his own lungs filling with water due to poorly manipulating said element. He had nearly drowned himself on three separate occasions in the past after he first began using the water element. The most notable thing, however, was that Vincent wasn’t even the worst case in terms of mages seeking power. The fact that Raiha tested Earth, first off, said a lot to Vincent in the end. While she sought power, it wasn’t specifically for selfish gain. To Vincent, the element of Earth represented a balance of things. It houses and gives birth to much life, as well as gives a resting place for the dead. In very general, philosophical thinking, earth was both a beginning and an end. The stone of the earth could both become a shield, as well as crush a foe to death. In many ways, even if it may have been on a subconscious level, Vincent suspected this choice had been made by Raiha due to her body housing two souls. A soul of light, and a soul of dark. But thinking on such, much less debating it aloud, was something best left to the wayside. Mages such as Vincent had enough on their minds without thoughts and debate that, unproven in fact, could drive them further to insanity. His arms slowly folded as Raiha went towards her second element, the smile remaining as she chose water. Raiha was different than other Reimancer’s, for certain. Though he was curious to see what order her other soul would have chosen. His eyes then slowly closed, his head lowering when he first saw her res reacting to the water. He was curious to see if she would chose to manipulate Fire last, but such was not to be. Finally, as he felt the small spray of water hit along his face and much of his upper body, he gave a slow nod, opening his eyes and looking to Raiha as she gave that sheepish smile and entertaining chuckle. Remaining silent for a moment to see if the water would cause her clothing to cling to the “right” places along her body. “A fortunate thing, I would wager. And not entirely without surprise, given your race‘s ability to breath in such an element.” Vincent finally said, lowering his hands as they came to a rest along his knees. “Considering that Riverfall rests right near both a waterfall and ocean, you’ll have no difficulty in finding water to mix your res with for training. As well, you won’t be hounded for drinks as you would be a caravan traveling through the desert. Water is the quintessential element of life. Without it, barely anything survives. But in that same token, its force can crush rocks, drown most races or destroy cities, snuffing out that life just as easily. It is an element most take for granted, and many underestimate. Revealing such to your foe will likely warrant you “She’s going to get me wet” comments, but master it, and you will be able to pull and collect the moisture in the very air rather than creating the element from res alone, and your foes will be shocked to find the pressure found at the greatest depths of an ocean suddenly concentrated into a thin stream that pierces through even steel plated armor.” Vincent the slowly raised his gaze to the horizon, noticing that the sun was starting to drop below as the skies grew darker. “We’ll camp here for the night, allow you to practice in secret and undisturbed from the rambles of the city and its big blue men, wanting to squirt some baby making juice into you.” Vincent said, slowly laying down in front of the fire. “It will also be the only time you will be allowed to hound me for any last minute advice or supervision. When the morning comes, we will both head back for Riverfall, and your solo journey into Reimancy will begin.”

[Raiha]

Raiha’s lips quirked at Vincent’s comments, her neck and checks turning a splotchy purple at his words. His dililgence was rewarded, though, because the clothing she wore clung to and highlighted every ample curve the young Akontak had. She ignored his overly interested stare, and only snorted about implication that the Akalak that would happily knock her up.

She had only been in the city a very short time, but it did not surprise her in the slightest. If there was one thing that the city of big blue men were positively famous for, it was finding women to seduce and impregnate and coax to produce more blue babies for them. She attracted attention if she made her way to the city, but it was a different kind of attention that she had received in Konti Isle, and Raiha wasn’t so certain that she liked it.

She had a long time to go before she would be even remotely interested in that, she felt. A long time. So they shouldn’t waste their breath or chase their nonexistent tails over it. She would when she was ready and not a moment before. She would -not- be a Nakivak. She wouldn’t. She refused. If she did, it would be of her own choice on her own time with someone she loved that loved her back. A tall order in a world that they lived in, maybe, but Raiha didn’t think one should settle when it came to things like that. It should be a passionate, two-way relationship between two people that loved and respected one another and had a mutual desire to come together for coupling and all that it came with it.

She sipped the water she had made, not at all minding the fact that it was made of her own res - one returned to the other, after all, so she might as well use it - and noted it had a faintly sweet taste to it. Interesting. She could get used to that, though she was certain it would have been counterproductive and wasteful to just make that -all- the time instead of the water they pulled up from the wells... Raiha proceeded to pepper Vincent with questions for more than half the night, with an unswerving curiosity about combining elements, particularly with water, and what each created, making notes as she went along about the paraelements of Reimancy.

[Gossamer]

. Character: Raiha Experience: Rhetoric +1, Auristics +1, Reimancy +5, Skinning +1, Cooking +2, Interrogation +3, Observation +2 Lore: Finding a Reimancy Teacher, Weighing Consequences with Benefits, Reimancy Initiation, Initiation Can Be Deadly, Eat Right After Working Magic, Understanding When An Element Chooses You or You Choose One, Vincent and his Eccentricness. The Risks of Magic, How to Produce Res. Casting Reimancy Spells Goodies: Two rabbit skins - raw Additional Notes: Nice Initiation Thread .