Unlikely Alliances (Jokor)

[Jokor]

Jokor listened carefully to what hadrian was telling him growing curious about what the initiation exactly was and his giddy smile widened when he felt there was a slight chance hadrian was going to teach him how to read those auras he was talking about. Jokor just shook his head when he asked how much he knew about magic. "Only that its dangerous and most mages aren't that right in the head anymore. But not much else really. So I guess you can just start at the beginning of it." He leaned a bit and made himself comfortable and looked at hadrian, urging him to start explaining.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian laughed at Jokor's response, agreeing at least in part: "Well, it is dangerous. All of it. And most are probably a little less than normal, whatever that is. At its most basic, magic is based on the djed, which is an all but omnipresent energy that exists as part of the world that most of us just don't see. Some think that we are all born with the ability to see auras... did I say that? And that we learn not to see them. That early Aurists just rediscovered what was lost, or had so strong a natural talent for it that they weren't able to completely block out the skill. It seems maladaptive to me to blind oneself to the information, but one of the dangers of Auristics is not being able to filter out the unnecessary information, becoming overwhelmed. Of course, it's also a strain to maintain unless one becomes a true master. It's easier for me now than it used to be. Most magic is about the manipulation of djed, but Auristics is more about retraining the eyes and mind to see it. And it makes a good foundation study for further magic because it allows one to see what one's doing..." He glanced at Jokor to make sure he was following.

[Jokor]

Jokor though uneducated and unable to read at all, wasn't stupid by any means. If you weren't strong or smart then you never survived in a place like sunberth and he defiantly wasn't strong at all. So he wasn't lost when hadrian began his explication, though hadrian's explication was good enough to make sure most people who knew nothing about it could pick up something, though a few words where beyond his scope of understanding. When he stopped his speech for a while and looked at him he rolled his eyes and gave a quick recount of what he said. "All magic has djed as a basis. Djed is some kind of omnipresent energy, though what omnipresent means I got absolutely no clue. You also said something about being born with auristics but unlearning it and called it maladaptive, again no clue what that means." Jokor paused a bit as he thought what else Hadrian said. "and you said something about the dangers of auristics.... something about being overwhelmed by to much information? That was it right?" Jokor looked at Hadrian for confirmation. "If I didn't miss anything you can go on though."

[Hadrian]

Hadrian nodded, quietly impressed by how much the kid picked up without a formal education. He thought quietly for a moment, how best to explain what had gone over his head and how to continue without talking down to him or dumbing it down too much but still getting the message across. "Djed is everywhere. Omnipresent. Its most complex pattern is the soul of a sentient creature, so... in essence, working magic is like spending your soul, but it's not finite, exactly. It recharges itself if you give it enough time. But wasting too much at once is basically what overgiving is. Giving too much of your soul to the work at one time. It damages you. Different damage for different magical disciplines. It's usually fairly logical... Overgiving with Auristics can be as simple as a headache or more permanent paranoia... among other things. "Maladaptive means... It's like if someone was born who liked the feeling of burning. It's maladaptive because they would want to touch fire all the time, which would end up killing them, which means they wouldn't live long or, probably, have many children to perpetuate the species... Does that make better sense?"

[Jokor]

Jokor listened as hadrian began to explain the two words that he didn't understand. "So if I understand djed is in everything and is the thing that makes the soul. And when you are using magic you are actually using bits and pieces of your soul but it isn't damaging if you are careful with it?" Jokor paused for a bit seeing if Hadrian said something. "And overgiving is the thing that happens when you give to much of your soul to magic and you get damage then." Jokor scratched his head in confusion, "then why does anybody overgive? Is it hard to know when you are gone to far or something like that?" He thought over what hadrian had said about the maladaptive for a few moments before piping up again. "Well you did say that overgiving makes you insane so it might be just be like pulling away from a fire if you are near it. Being insane also makes it kinda hard to survive around here." he shrugged and dropped that little observation he made. Not thinking it was important. "But how do you begin training to see those aura's?" Jokor pushed again, trying to get at least that out of him.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian nodded. "You're getting the basic idea," he agreed. "It's more complicated than all that, or maybe more simple but scholars like to make things more complex than they are. But manipulating such power can be addictive, like any drug. You're playing with the fundamental bits of creation and consciousness, so it's bound to muddle the brain if one isn't careful." He shrugged then. "I sort of think everyone's a bit insane to begin with. Certainly it's a crazy world we live in." He sighed, a little wearily. "Auristics is boring to begin with. It involves a lot of staring and headaches as one tries to wrap one's mind around things and train the eyes and mind. It generally takes a long while, and then there's a sort of breakthrough. It took me a long while and more than one teacher before I developed any sort of skill with it."

[Jokor]

Jokor got a self satisfied grin on his face when hadrian said he got gist of it. Though it was quickly wiped of his face when Hadrian mentioned how addictive using magic could be, was he prepaired to sacrifice his sanity and morals just to get an advantage in the struggle for survival? A small grin made its way on his face as he got the answer to himself. Of course he would, you needed every single advantage you could get in the world that they lived in. The grin slipped a bit when hadrian began to talk about how boring and long it would take to learn the magic, but then again he never expected it to be an easy task to learn magic anyway. "I don't care about how long it will take to learn it, I got time on my hands anyway. And learning this auristics thing might prove useful in the long run. Of course I'll offer something in return, you just gotta ask what." One lesson that jokor learnt was never to scam people who where stronger or smarter then you and from what he had seen this guy was at least both.

[Hadrian]

"Are we negotiating?" Hadrian asked, blinking. Of course, he probably should have seen this coming. The kid was asking so many questions, inviting him in, offering him a seat next to the fire. Of course he wanted something. Everyone wanted something. Not that Hadrian could fault him for it; Hadrian wanted things too. "Well... what have you got to offer?" he asked. It never hurt to check one's options, but Jokor was in for some trouble. Hadrian's father was a merchant prince, and he had learned a thing or two about negotiation from watching him work. He liked Jokor well enough, approved of his quick if untrained mind, but that wasn't enough to take him on as an apprentice. He wasn't even necessarily asking to become an apprentice, and Hadrian wondered if it was fair to teach a discipline to a person without training them in the ethics of its use.

[Jokor]

Jokor quickly ran over his options as Hadrian asked what he could offer. "Well I am fairly down on my cash at the moment, but I got a small job so I could pay you if you give me the time. I could also do some jobs simple jobs for you. Even a mage needs some help with something right." He scratched his chin for other things he could do for the mage sitting in front of him, he couldn't let this chance slip, who knows when somebody else was willing to teach him something like this. "But its kinda hard to offer something really good if I don't know what you are interested in. I got quite a few other ...." jokor paused for a bit before a big grin once again spread on his face. "Well calling them talents will piss of quite a bit off people, but then again I am not going to tell you what they are before I know if you can use them or not. No sense in revealing what you know when it isn't needed isn't it?" He leaned back against the wall and looked at hadrian, hoping that he gave him some more information he could work with.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian considered this. Not a year out of the University and suddenly everyone wanted to be his apprentice, it felt like. If only he were a master glypher and could draw up a Grand Oath for each person who wanted his instruction, but he was not so skilled as all that. If only Zephyrus had kept him on as an apprentice longer... "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to teach you the basics," he said, almost as if he were talking to himself. "You might not even have the patience for it, and even if you develop the skill, it takes so much time to acquire enough skill to do much with it... "Why don't I teach you the basics and then we'll say you owe me one?"