Completed On the Building Blocks of Magic

[Izuyanai]

34th of Winter, 525AV The streets grew steadily livelier as Izuyanai trekked home from her shift at work. She hummed a small tune under her breath as she walked. The lazy humming rose and fell, swinging up and down while skipping around on itself. It was the kind of song that was more suited to a warm afternoon lit with plenty of sunlight. Nevertheless, Izuyanai favored it on most pleasant occasions ever since she first heard it in passing long ago. The reason the raven was in such a satisfied mood was because of her improvement in auristics. She'd become relatively good at focusing and extracting basic facts from auras, but the reading always took too much time to be a reliable gauge in quickly determining a person or object's character. So instead, she had found a much easier path to take. Izuyanai suspected that such a path had existed from the beginning. However, she assumed that her focusing had been far too pin-point to get the bigger picture. What she could now see clearly was the color and texture of the aura. Not only that but vague impressions of the "smoke" came to her rather easily. From these scraps of information, the Kelvic could infer deeper meanings. All she had to do was stay patient and keep her senses open to new tip-offs. Of course her newly tried wide focus meant less details. There were less complex facts and the information gathered was largely left up to her own interpretation. Aside from the vague feelings, she also had to rely on her eyes. Still, it was a much simpler method. With more practice, the raven was confident that she could improve on the draw backs. Slowing down to a less brisk pace, she turned her magic on an enthusiastic vendor chatting with fellows and shoppers alike. She had to imagine casting a large net of magic as she had the habit of zooming in too quickly. Sure enough, the successful attempt revealed an aura to the mage. This particular one was a spring green. Izuyanai automatically presumed lively, youthful, and perhaps naive. Another interesting aspect was the shape and texture of said aura. The light green formed a thin mist that wavered this way and that. The mass generally remained the same though it billowed around him in contorted shapes. That could signify adaptability or undecidedness. Izuyanai had no doubt the young man could chameleon his way through most social interactions. Just noting his behavior solidified her assumptions. It still impressed her how different auras could be from one to another. Which raised the question...did two aurists see the same aura in exactly the same way? Perhaps another mage would have told her that the vendor's aura was white. Or perhaps they wouldn't rely on the same tactic and have an entirely different method of interpretation. Either way, would they arrive at similar conclusions? Was it one destination with multiple pathways? She would have to confirm her theory with a fellow practitioner or teacher. Izuyanai had a feeling that no two aurists received identical data.

[Izuyanai]

Crossing the gardens of the Respite, Izuyanai made it into the warm main building. A short nap would be nice if she had no errands to run. Her worn boots made light noises as she neared the stairs that led up and diverted into separate wings. "Look out below!" The call came suddenly from overhead and Izuyanai tensed as her head snapped up to identify the source and cause. Instead of having to leap away from a heavy object in downwards motion however, her eyes caught the slow fluttering of a sheet of paper as it drifted down from the landing above. The sheet sailed and tilted from left to right as it neared the ground. Carefully calculating each of its swings, the Kelvic was able to pluck the sheet out from its graceful fall. The sharp crinkle of paper whispered in the entryway as Izuyanai adjusted the sheet in her hands and looked up again to properly view the person who had warned her. He was immediately recognizable as one of the tutors in the Respite. Something Natai, if she recalled correctly. He and his wife were often seen bustling in and out of classrooms and sometimes tutoring a student up in the common areas. "Nice catch," he commented while nodding in approval. From the looks of the stack of files and notes in his arms, he was the one that had dropped this particular note. Glancing down, there were neat memos for a basic lesson in Glyphing. Trotting up the stairs to the landing, Izuyanai held out the fallen note. Instead of being relieved from one piece of paper however, she found a whole stack dropped into her arms. "Help me carry these to my class, would you? I've got time until my lesson starts but I still need to sort through all these." The man walked away before she could protest and Izuyanai was left raising a brow at his retreating back. Well, at least it wasn't such a ridiculous request. She followed the human more or less complacent. It took a lot to truly bother her, after all.

[Izuyanai]

They arrived in a still empty classroom and deposited the notes onto a wide table at the front of the room. Izuyanai recognized the place as one of the larger classrooms where sizable meetings could be held. A clean chalkboard was set up behind the main desk, with smaller furniture facing it. Plenty of light would have filled the room through the skyglass windows during the day, but now, in the dusky light, multiple artificial sources burned out from the corners. "I've seen you wandering about lately. A newcomer, am I right?" The man had seated himself behind the desk and was shuffling through his notes, though he did flick his eyes up briefly to meet hers. "Well, yes. Nice to meet you." said the raven. She hoped to pleasantry her way through this interaction and be on her way. The man hadn't caught her interest in any fashion and the raven wasn't keen on having to stick around for long. In fact, she was ready to exit when the elder tutor spoke up again. "Welcome to Lhavit then! Remni Natai, by the way. I'd be happy to help in your studies here. I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay...Lhavit is a great place. But I'm curious. What brings a Kelvic to the Towers?" Izuyanai found herself squinting suspiciously at the man. How had he known? Was the very first question that came to mind. She crossed her arms and spoke carefully. "And what makes you say that I'm a Kelvic?" The man's reply was prompt and seemed earnest enough. "Oh, my wife mentioned that such a person was in and out of the Respite. One of the days, she pointed you out to me. She's a gifted aurist, you see. I never caught what animal form you take, though." Smiling and inclining her head, Izuyanai admitted her defeat. "I'm impressed. Though, I shouldn't have expected any less from one of the finer establishments in this city. I was rather confident about my mimicry, but I suppose a skilled aurist is rarely fooled." Stepping closer to the desk, she drummed her fingers along the polished edge. "Would you like to try and guess my form?" "Do I get a hint?" he said, playing along good naturedly. "No hint," the Kelvic smirked. "But I'll allow for as long a guessing period as you like." Nodding, the man accepted the small challenge sent his way. "I'll save my guesses for when I have a better idea then." "Oh, and no cheating by asking another person," Izuyanai added just in case. Turning more serious she continued. "As for a proper answer to your question, I'm here to study. Just like everyone else." "Rather unusual for your kind to show an interest studying magic. Very tedious, grueling work you know." Izuyanai waved her hand dismissively, "To each her own." "Well, if you are very serious about it, I suggest taking up Glyphing and Shielding along the way. Very versatile and important to understanding the base of magic. What's more, I'll be able to help you with them if you choose." Izuyanai was just about to speak again when two people bustled into the room, chatting amongst themselves. Students. With more on the way behind them. Remni stood up and lamented, "Looks like I'm out of time. Drop by later, alright?" Nodding, Izuyanai turned away and squeezed out of the doorway where a few more students were filing in. She hadn't thought much about picking up new skills at Lhavit, but now the opportunity was presented, there seemed no better time to do so. What she knew of magic was random and haphazard. Tricks she had picked up along the way. If the Towers could turn that into something more refined and knowledgable, there was nothing more to ask.

[Ornea]

XP Award!

XP Award:

• Auristics 1
• Observation 3
• Philosophy 1
• Singing 1
• Socialization 1

Lore:

• Auristics: To perceive an aura’s color and texture
• Auristics: Spring green; youthful and perhaps naïve
• Auristics: Billowing, contorted shapes; adaptability and undecidedness
• Auristics: To infer deeper meanings from impressions
• Auristics: The wide focus; a simpler method, but less complex facts
• Auristics: The wide focus; needs to be used in conjunction with observation
• Auristics: The wide focus; imagining to cast a large net of magic
• Glyphing and Shielding; important to understanding the base of magic
• Philosophy: Hypothesis to test; no two aurists receive identical data
• Singing: Humming
  
• The Towers Respite
• NPC: Remni Natai

Notes: A good magic thread with interesting descriptions of auristics!

Feel free PM me if there's something you want to discuss. And please mark your post in the request thread as graded.

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