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Post by Maxim Horvath on Feb 5, 2011 18:12:53 GMT -5
HORVATH:
Maxim Horvath stood in the large room that served him as a library, having decided to use it for the first group lesson his new students would have. He and Anna had already cleared out all of the texts that he didn't want the newcomers to have access to- the books had been removed to his personal library and his workroom, which Anna would share with him for the time being, as hers was going to be given over to the other students.
Now he waited with his protege for the first of the sheep to arrive.
"Do you have any questions before they get here, apprentice?" he asked, idly straightening the requisite human skull on the table in front of the window.
ANNA
Anna glanced around the room. "I don't think so," she said. "You want me to mostly kick back and watch this time? Or give them a little flare?"
She sat on the desk, her feet dangling. Like most practice sessions, she wore a pair of black ballet flats, so that the rubber soles of her shoes wouldn't dampen her connection to the electrical forces of the earth.
HORVATH:
He considered this for a moment. "It depends," he replied. "What sort of flare would you like to give them?" Anna, at least, he could trust to come up with intelligent plans. She had a delightfully devious mind- that was part of what had drawn him to her. That and the sheer strength of her magic. Only a handful of sorcerers in a century had her potential power.
The mind behind that power, though, that was the important thing. Anna was clever and crafty, and very careful handling on his part had ensured that her craft was never directed against him. He'd been worried for a time when he first took her as an apprentice that she might one day turn on him. She was clever enough that she might actually get away with it if she tried. However, it had been surprisingly easy to win her affections and loyalty, and Anna, once she decided you were worthy of her allegiance, was more loyal than a mastiff.
ANNA:
Anna shrugged. "A few fireworks are always fun," she said. She chewed on her lip a little as she thought. "Maybe just some quick tricks--get their minds on the 'wow' of it, and they'll be begging to learn as quickly as possible, without asking questions."
The art of misdirection, after all, was a magician's greatest tool. If they dangled the pretty sparkles in front of the girls' eyes, they'd never suspect the real game.
HORVATH:
The old sorcerer nodded. "Very good," he told his protege. "Yes, by all means, dazzle them. If we can steer them towards desiring petty and impractical spells, we can teach them to increase their power without them actually learning anything of much use. I'll let you decide how best to impress them tonight."
ANNA:
Anna grinned mischievously and rubbed her hands together. "Lucky me. Guess the rugrats'll be here soon?" She sent a few chairs over to sit in a semi-circle, so that the students would be able to sit around the seal in the floor.
HORVATH:
"They should be." Horvath checked his watch. "In fact, they should be here any minute now." He planned to hold his new students to a high standard. They would attend their lessons- or they would find he was no longer willing to teach them.
His sharp ears caught the sound of someone knocking. "In fact, I believe our first victim- ah, student, that is- has arrived."
RAPUNZEL:
Rapunzel's hands fisted in the pocket of her skirt, and a scaly little snout nuzzled into her palm. She'd had the dress specially made, with layers of skirts to conceal her chameleon friend, so that Pascal could accompany her wherever she went without arousing the suspicion of nobles or whoever else she might meet who was not as apt to be friendly with reptiles as she was. Pascal had been her best - and at times only - friend, and of course he'd had to come along to this, her first class!
She'd been in other classes, of course, but none quite so interesting as those in magic arts. There was a part of her that knew this might not be the safest of endeavors, and for that reason, she'd kept it secret from her parents, who believed she was going on a walk with Eugene (who she was treating wrongly twice, by using him in a lie, a lie he didn't know about, since he, too, did not react too favorably to magic after the whole Mother Gothel debacle). Since magic had been a part of her life as long as she could remember, it was only natural for her to take an interest in it, and it was, she believed, totally harmless, as long as she used it for good, or innocent endeavors.
Upon reaching the building to which she had been summoned - by a note, as promised - she knocked twice on the door before opening the door tentatively and glancing about the room. She had arrived to class pretty early, but she could see that she was not the first one there: there was another girl. She was pretty, in a different sort of way; her eyes were dark and kind of flinty, like Eugene's, and it was clear that she knew a lot. Was she a student, too? She gave the girl a smile before going up to her teacher. "Hello, Mr. Horvath," she greeted him cheerfully. "So lovely to see you again. I can't wait to start learning!"
HORVATH:
"Hello Rapunzel," Horvath said, smiling in return. He gestured to the semi-circle of chairs arranged around the Seal etched into the floor. "Please take a seat. We are expecting up to four more students."
Nodding towards Anna, he added, "This is Anna Stutler, one of my other students. She's been studying magic for a some time now. If you have questions, feel free to talk to her. She'll point you in the right direction."
ANNA:
Anna was back to leaning on the desk, casually observing. She gave the girl a 'what's up' nod. "Hey," she greeted, her hands stuck in her back pockets.
Were all of their students going to be wide-eyed innocents? Not that she minded. After all, that was what Horvath had been going for. Still, she hoped that they wouldn't all be so...childish. Who came to class proclaiming that they couldn't wait to start learning? Even Dave had never been so nerdy.
RAPUNZEL:
Sitting obediently in one of the chairs to which Mr. Horvath had gestured, Rapunzel bounced up and down a little in excitement. She had only had a few books in the tower, so any opportunity to learn was eagerly taken – and she was excited to see if she could grow her hair back.
The possibility of making new friends was, of course, a bonus. Most people in Corona were too afraid to talk to her, or too polite if they did talk to her – part of being a princess, she supposed. Mr. Horvath hadn’t called her ‘your highness’, so maybe that could be kept secret here, and she could just be another student. Normal.
She smiled at Anna again, and nodded a little, somewhat imitating her action and somewhat acknowledging what Horvath had said about talking to her. “Hi Anna,” she said. “What’s your favorite thing about magic?” She wasn’t sure if Anna wanted to talk to her, but it was worth a try, since they weren’t learning anything yet.
BERTIE:
Not far behind Rapunzel, Bertie walked up to the mansion, one hand on top of her hat to keep it down as she took in the sight. Arching her eyebrows a little, she glanced down at her hand where she had put on the focus ring given to her, and a shudder ran through her spine. She was sure that she had been seeing things, but Bertie could swear that the ring had been moving to different places in her small flat that she had rented while in this area. That was completely ridiculous, of course, but there was still the nagging sensation that something had been playing with the ring, as though trying to get her to use it.
Thankfully, she'd managed to resist...so far. For now, she would continue to ignore the draw of that king of power. Bertie had been given instructions concerning the ring, and from a very early age, she had been taught that all little girls were supposed to listen to their elders and do what they said. That didn't mean that the draw wasn't there, because it most certainly was. The one thing she wanted to do was to test out the focus ring, but Bertie was determined that, for now at least, she wouldn't do so.
Gritting her teeth and pulling off her hat with a shake of her short-cropped curls, Bertie raised a hand and knocked firmly on the door, waiting for it to be opened.
HORVATH:
Horvath spared a brief glance for his apprentice, silently indicating that she should start to work on Rapunzel for the moment. For his own part, he gestured, using a spell to open the door and summon a witchlight to guide the next student to the large library they were gathering in.
ANNA:
Anna raised an eyebrow at the young woman. Really, she couldn't have been more than a couple of years younger than Anna, but she acted like a six year old on the first day of kindergarten. Her boss sure could pick 'em.
"Lots of things," she answered with a shrug. It was easier to be nonchalant--it kept her from getting too sarcastic. "When the others get here I'll give you guys a demonstration."
BERTIE:
Walking up into the room that the little witchlight led her to, Bertie blinked in surprise as she took in the other two young women who were standing there. One looked to be a few years younger than Bertie, with her dark hair cut rather sloppily so that it framed her face. The other was rather...interestingly dressed, to say the least, and her hair...
Bertie shook her head with an arched eyebrow before she curtsied to Mr. Horvath and smiled politely.
"A pleasure to meet you again, sir," she said, with only slight exaggeration. "And...Er...ladies," she added, as she had no idea what their names were.
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Post by Maxim Horvath on Feb 5, 2011 18:16:36 GMT -5
ANNA:
Wow. This just got better and better. Did Horvath get all his recruits from a finishing school? Anna gave the new woman a short wave, and exchanged a glance with her master. "Hey," Anna greeted. She absently toyed with the ring on her finger. She was really starting to wish that her boss had come up with an alternate plan.
HORVATH:
The old sorcerer hid a grimace. Mr. Horvath. Even though it was technically the proper mode of address, he was never going to get used to it. His title was Master. He was a Master Sorcerer, after all. Anna had, however, quite bluntly informed him that calling someone 'Master' these days had all sorts of implications that he did not want to deal with.
"Miss Moreland," he said, inclining his head politely. "Might I introduce Rapunzel and Anna Stutler?:
BERTIE:
...Rapunzel? Arching an eyebrow slightly at this, Bertie curtsied once more and eyed the other two women very closely. She liked the look of this...Rapunzel. Anna Stutler, on the other hand, did not look like the sort of woman that Bertie would get along with very well.
"A pleasure to meet you both," she said politely. "My name is Roberta Moreland," she added.
Glancing at her new instructor for further guidance as to what to do, she fiddled slightly with her hat. Her Incantus was tucked away in the handbag she had with her, and her fingers itched to take it out and begin immediately. If there was one thing that would bring Bertie to some sort of downfall, it would be too much eagerness when it came to learning.
"Er...should I take a seat?"
“Hello?” she called out, fidgeting slightly as she waited for a response, “Mr. Hovarth?”
RAPUNZEL:
Rapunzel was sure that Anna was a very nice girl, but she was not sure if she had managed to make a favorable impression, so she was glad that others were coming. She gave them both a brilliant smile and little wave as they came in – Bertie (an interesting name for a girl, she thought, but then, she was one to talk) and another girl, to whom the door was just opening.
“Hello Roberta – Bertie,” she fumbled slightly, giving an apologetic smile as her cheeks flushed prettily at the mistake. “And hello to you, too! It’s so lovely to meet you both.” Some might have thought she was simpering, but the naïve princess was being sincerely friendly. She did hope that they would all grow to like each other and have a wonderful time.
She looked to Mr. Horvath then, waiting, albeit not very patiently, her feet swinging a little in excitement, her hand again wrapping around Pascal to ensure that he was still there.
ANNA:
Anna raised an eyebrow at her master, giving him a small playful smirk. The old man had an eye for young and pretty. Either he thought females would be easier to control--and he was probably right on that, at least a little--or he was a dirtier coot than she'd realized.
RAPUNZEL:
Rapunzel opened her mouth to speak to the new arrival, but Anna interrupted her. She bit her lip a little, wondering if Anna had meant for that to sound mean or if it was just her imagination. She decided to give the girl the benefit of the doubt and turned to Ariel to give her a bright smile.
"Hi Ariel! I'm Rapunzel," she said cheerfully. She had a feeling that she and Ariel were going to get along really well. They were both young and a little bit nervous and seemed pretty happy. Looking a bit wistfully at her, she added, "I really like your hair. It's so long and lush..." She trailed off as she stared at it, then shook her head a little to snap out of it.
HORVATH:
Horvath scowled slightly at his apprentice. As master and apprentice- true and proper master and apprentice, not simply teacher and students like he'd be with the rest of this lot- he and Anna shared a slight mental connection. He did not, however, need it to guess at what she was thinking.
Hah. Hah. Hah.
Brat.
But the brat was his apprentice and she did have a stake in all this. He'd set her right later.
Horvath checked his watch, frowning slightly. The watch was of the pocket variety, with silver ornamentation. Slightly ostentatious and old-fashioned, but it suited his personal tastes. Still two students missing. They would wait a few more minutes before moving on.
"Any questions before we get started?" he asked.
BERTIE:
Bertie glanced at the other girls in the room, pondering at the fact that all these new students seemed to be...remarkably pretty young women, all about her age or a little younger. Frowning to herself at this thought, Bertie turned her gaze towards Horvath, as though trying to puzzle through his reasons for accepting such attractive students.
She noticed, almost off-handedly, that he was a rather...striking man. Not overly handsome, but certainly not hideous. Frowning a little more, she forced such thoughts away. Now was not the time for that.
He asked if any of them had questions, and before she could stop herself, Bertie cleared her throat. "Yes...I noticed in my brief reading of the Incantus...that there were some spells for combat magic. Will we ever be studying those spells?"
She winced mentally at the question. No doubt he would be thinking how inappropriate it was for a "proper" young woman to be asking about combat spells. Still, those spells had fascinated her. Perhaps because they could have been so useful while she was on the Robinson family's island, fighting the pirates, or perhaps it was simply because she was too much of a tomboy, as her grandfather had often said.
HORVATH:
He did not really want to teach these young women combat magic- and not out of any idiotic reasoning involving the phrase 'because they're female and females don't need to bother about fighting'. He could think of, right off the top of his head, at least three sorceresses who would come and kick his arse into the next century if he even considered that reason.
An unarmed person not trained in the fighting arts was easier to control and to handle, that was all. But it would be an appalling lack in their education to not cover combative magics.
"We will deal with some combative magics," he replied. "Mostly defensive ones, however. Offensive magic is more advanced than you will be ready for for some time yet. Unless you plan to do so, for the moment all you will require are general shielding and warding spells. Those are designed to absorb, reflect, deflect, or transmute a wide variety of magical energies and will suffice for most situations you are likely to encounter for the time being. It is not until you reach a higher level of study that you will probably need more specialized protections."
ANNA
In demonstration, Anna lifted a hand, calling up a shield. She thrust a bit of energy to it, making it sparkle. Time to be the dutiful older student, and help distract from the issue at hand.
"Easy peasy, kittens. You'll master shields in no time. And don't worry about combat training. There really aren't any sorcerers in the city you'll have to worry about fighting. Besides, there are much more interesting things to spend your time on."
With that, she dimmed the lights with a snap. Colorful lights in the shapes of butterflies and birds lit out from her hands, fluttering out and around the girls. As they circled the students, the chairs bearing the girls floated up, spinning gently before resettling in different positions. The lights gradually came up, and Anna stepped forward. She ran her fingers through her hair, and the locks grew and changed color, turning a more natural, lush brown and growing down her back. When she was done, her hair twisted up into an elegant do as her clothes twisted and changed into an elegant ball gown.
But she wasn't done yet. Anna let the illusion settle for just a moment, then she summoned Bertie's hat off her head with a gesture. Placing the hat on her own head, her form changed again, to be a mirror image of the hat's owner. Running a finger along the hat's edge, she smirked at the stunned audience for a moment. There was a theatric puff of smoke, and then the hat was on the ground. A black cat came out from under it, jumped onto the desk. It sat there a moment, before turning back into Anna.
She sat on the desk, smirking slightly, lounging back comfortably. It was a lot of magic in a very short period of time, but she'd pulled it off. And the last bit had been a special treat for her master. They'd been working on animal transformations before this plot to gain students, but she'd been working on it. This was the first time he'd seen her do it properly.
"So," she said, eying her audience. "You still want to waste your time learning stuff you'll never use? Or do ya want to have some fun?"
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Post by Maxim Horvath on Feb 5, 2011 19:48:42 GMT -5
RAPUNZEL:
Rapunzel was a bit worried when she was told that she was going to need a shield. Was she getting herself into something bad here? But then she just thought that if she was going to have to use a shield at some point, she might as well know how, and it might as well be a magical one. It seemed like a good enough conclusion to her. Oh, Eugene and her parents would be sooo mad if they knew what she was doing, but once she knew how to take care of herself, they would be so proud of her for being so independent and safe!
But not all of her childlike qualities could be lost in this magic class; after all, she fell into a state of awe immediately as she watched the magician's experienced apprentice, Anna, begin to, well, work her magic! She stared, mouth agape, at the hair, and the mimicry... It was all so exciting and wonderful! When the demonstration was over, she clapped smilingly, glad that she'd decided to give Anna the benefit of the doubt after all.
"Fun!" she answered eagerly, face bright with sincere excitement. "Oh, how did you do that with your hair? How did you know that's just what I wanted! Show us more!" she begged. Only a moment later did she, slightly sheepish, turn to the man who was supposed to be teaching them magic - albeit magic that was a little less fun. "If that's okay with you, of course, Mister Horvath."
BERTIE:
Bertie was about to further question Horvath on this idea that they would not be ready to practice any offensive magic, when she was interrupted by Anna. Narrowing her eyes to better take in what the other girl was doing, Bertie gave a start when the colored butterflies began fluttering around the room.
Honestly? Did she look like the sort of girl who was captivated by floating light--
Suddenly her train of thought was interrupted as her chair levitated into the air. Now this sort of magic she would not mind learning at all. Gaping in a most undignified manner at this show of power, she watched in awe as Anna transformed her own appearance.
Then her hat was off of her head. Her fingers tried to snatch it back, but all she grabbed was empty air as she glowered at the other girl. And then Anna was suddenly replaced by a mirror image of Roberta herself. Slack-jawed in wonder that was soon replaced by indignation, Bertie stood up to pick up her hat as it fell to the ground, doing her best to not drop it again when a cat emerged from beneath it. Gripping the hat tightly in her hand, Bertie hastily returned to her seat.
The levitation and illusions were certainly something she was interested in learning, but all those colored lights? That was simply silly. Nothing she wanted to learn, certainly. If anything, Bertie was determined to ignore learning how to make pretty lights dance around the ceiling.
But there was something that certainly drew her towards the combat magic. She wanted to learn something useful, after all, and what was more useful than being able to keep oneself safe? If she had to study it on her own, then she would without telling anyone else.
"I see..." she said a little sourly, especially when Anna demanded to know if they would rather have fun or learn something they wouldn't use. Of course they would use combat magic! Everyone used some form of combat at some point or another. "I, at least, am certainly interested in that bit of levitation."
HORVATH:
Horvath smiled, all the expression he would allow himself. Inside, however, he was beaming. His Anna was absolutely brilliant. If he were in the habit of hugging his student, he might have done so now, he was that pleased with her display. Not only was it a brilliant bit of magic- she had to have been practicing that transformation spell on her own- but it was perfectly timed.
"Anna here has been studying magic for most of a year now," he told the other girls. "And she has demonstrated several of the skills you will be learning. Miss Moreland, the levitation spells are quite easy and we will begin on them within the first few lessons." He checked his pocket watch, an old-fashioned engraved silver affair that he'd picked up around 1890. "We have a few minutes left before it's time for us to get started. Anna, if you'd like to show them anything else?"
ANNA:
Anna looked over at her master, just barely managing to avoid looking shocked. Seriously? She'd just done about seven spells in thirty seconds, and at least two of them had been difficult. She had plenty of power, but she was feeling a bit winded, magically speaking. Full body transformations were hard. She was definitely sticking to light lifting the rest of the day.
"Nothing comes to mind, boss," she said. Fingering her Incantus next to her, she thought it over. Her display had been intended for distraction, and it seemed to have done the job. "Unless maybe you want me to start walking them through setting up a work space?"
HORVATH:
He caught the look she threw at him and nodded slightly. Not that he'd expected her to try and show them anything difficult, but it wasn't precisely taxing to make some colored lights.
"That will do," he told Anna. He glanced at the other students. "I'll be back in a moment with the tools you will be working with today."
ANNA:
"Cool," Anna said. She slid off of the desk, sliding the girls' chairs back a little as she walked forward with her Incantus. "Okay, spread out a little, and give yourselves some room. This is the most basic of the basic, and you'll have to do it every time you practice."
She took a deep, cleansing breath, to clear her own mind. "Step one is to clear your mind. I know you're all jazzed to get started, but this can't be rushed. Why don't we just do a few breathing exercises and get ourselves focused while Horvath gets your supplies."
She stood straight, feet shoulder-width apart, in the stance that her martial arts instructor used for basic centering. Anna brought her hands up as she inhaled, pushing them back down with the exhale. "Just picture the energy moving through you. Empty your thoughts and your minds." It would be difficult for them, as they seemed to have a lot of questions. But the upside to having to clear one's mind to be successful at magic, meant not focusing on such questions.
RAPUNZEL:
Rapunzel's eyes darted back and forth between Anna and Horvath as she listened to the spirited dialogue they traded. She wondered if someday she would be as good at magic as Anna was - but, being a princess, she wasn't sure if she could devote a whole year to its study. After all, a year ago, she never would have thought she'd be where she was now; a lot could change in such a time.
But for the time being, of course she was going to devote herself to magic wholeheartedly. It was horribly vain of her to want her hair back so badly, but it was more than just hair; it was a symbol of who she was. Besides, she didn't feel very pretty without it.
She watched Horvath leave and tried to focus on what Anna was saying. Clear her mind? This didn't sound like the 'fun' that Anna had promised then. But she sighed inwardly and tried to do as Anna had said. It was really hard not to think about anything. When her eyes closed, she found herself thinking of her parents... of Eugene... And suddenly a most unwelcome image flashed into her mind: Mother Gothel.
Eyes opening, she uttered a startled gasp, looking about at her surroundings. She was here with her new friends, not in the tower... She was safe... But the first inklings of doubt were still in her mind about magic. She'd tried to quelch them - after all, magic had both ruined her life (Gothel), created it (the flower which had saved her mother's life before she was born), and made it better (bringing Eugene back to life with her tears). Since she still had that magic in her intrinsically, she didn't need to learn anymore, but magic could be good or bad, she realized: you just had to use it the right way.
But those philosophical things were still hard to grasp for a scared eighteen year old. She looked at Anna, biting her lip, afraid to speak up as if talking about her fears might make them real (and not wanting to annoy Anna). "Umm, Anna? When you tr-try to clear your mind, do you ever have trouble? I mean, when you close your eyes... do you ever see things you don't want to?"
ANNA:
Anna opened her eyes and looked at the most timid of the students. Fantastic. Her boss had chosen someone with psychological trauma. Not that Anna was unfamiliar with trauma herself, but still. She wasn't the best at dealing with it.
"It can be hard, if you have a lot on your mind. Try to focus on what you're going to be doing. On the magic. Try to relax. It's like meditation. If you have trouble with it, then doing some meditating in your down time will help. Just...let go of what's bothering you. Or if that's too hard...picture a box, or a closet or something, in your mind. You're shoving all the bad or distracting things that keep popping up in your head into that closet, at least for now. When you're done, your mind is like a big empty room. You can do whatever you want."
RAPUNZEL:
At the mention of a box, Rapunzel swallowed hard. Ever since the tower, she’d had a fear of small spaces. But then Anna mentioned a closet, and she began to giggle a little, remembering trying to stuff Eugene into the wardrobe. Stifling her laughter, she nodded solemnly. “Okay. Thanks. I’ll try.” She wasn’t having any better time of it when it came to emptying her mind, but at least now she wasn’t thinking of anything scary, as a picture of Eugene came into her mind.
Was Eugene something bad or traumatic? Hardly, even though she’d thought so at the time. Still, it was gratifying to think of stuffing Mother Gothel into a closet… giving her a taste of her own medicine… Even though the woman had acted like her mother for eighteen years, and Rapunzel had loved her at the time, she realized now how unfair she had ben. Of course she still thought of her, and sometimes she even missed her old life, but that certainly didn’t mean she wanted Gothel to be a part of her new one. And so into the metaphorical closet she went.
BERTIE:
While she had never meditated or done anything similar in her life, Bertie was familiar enough with the theory. Her grandfather once had an Indian manservant who believed very strongly in the healthy practice of meditation. For hours each day, he would sit perfectly still, even when young Bertie would come romping in looking for a playmate. Perhaps what Anna was instructing them to do was based on a similar principle to her grandfather's old servant and his practices.
Of course there were several little thoughts that insisted on making themselves known now of all times as Bertie fought to keep her mind clear. The box idea was a rather good one, she decided, and began to act upon it.
She and the family Robinson had made all sorts of boxes and traps for hunting purposes in her time on their island, and she remembered the processes of making said containers quite well. In her mind, Bertie imagined recreating the best of the Robinson's traps. It was made of the thick wood from the palm trees of the island, with bamboo serving as the lock and hinges. Once the frame was created, she shooed all her other thoughts but those about magic into its center, shutting her mental box firmly.
Opening her eyes slowly, Bertie kept at least part of her mind on the box, to allow herself to shoo any new thoughts that popped up into it. "I'm ready," she said firmly, her brow furrowed in concentration.
HORVATH:
Horvath ghosted back in, setting a glass sphere in front of each young woman, "Very good," he said in a low voice. "I am giving each of you a glass ball. You will attempt to call light to each in just a moment. Open your eyes please. Do you all have your focus with you?"
RAPUNZEL:
Rapunzel exhaled quietly, releasing her breath in a gentle sigh, as she opened her eyes to see Mister Horvath walk by, setting something in front of her. She stared at for a moment in awe before nodding mutely in response to his question. She did not know how she was supposed to light it, but she was sure he would explain to them.
BERTIE:
Bertie nodded and held up her hand slightly to show the focus ring that now graced her right ring finger.
Call a light into the glass? Bertie frowned a little at this. How did you...well, summon light? Chewing a little at her bottom lip in thought, Bertie stared fixedly at the ball of glass that was set before her.
"Forgive me, sir," she finally said after a moment of merely contemplating the glass. "But how exactly are we supposed to call the light to the glass?"
She recalled seeing something about summoning energy and light in the Incantus, but to be perfectly honest she had become distracted by her focus ring moving about seemingly on its own, and the combat magic.
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Post by Maxim Horvath on Feb 5, 2011 20:06:43 GMT -5
(Phew, now that that's all transferred over...)
Of course they wouldn't know how to summon light. He hadn't told them how, and summoning light was a very simple and relatively boring task. It didn't surprise him in the least that none of these girls had read that section.
"First thing you must know about magic," he told the three briskly, "Is that you cannot practice magic outside of a specially prepared area known as the Circle." The sorcerer snapped his fingers, making a design on the floor flare up in a surge of red-gold light. It was a pentacle enclosed inside a ring, taking up nearly all of the floor space inside the study. "The Morganian Seal allows you to focus your magic without interference from outside energies. For today, I will cast the Seal for you. You will learn to do this yourself later. Now, does anyone know what light actually is?"
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Post by Rapunzel on Feb 8, 2011 22:49:56 GMT -5
All of this was getting hard to keep up with. Rapunzel had done her reading, she was paying attention, and already she was getting confused! Oh dear, this was just the beginning. A circle.. did that mean that she couldn't do magic everywhere? Well, that wasn't very helpful, if she could only do it inside of this building! Her hair could work anywhere! But that was why it was so important to get it back.
She'd never really thought about what light actually was. Until last year, she hadn't even seen natural light except for when it came through the small window in her room, and even then it had just been a distant ball. But she had been reading, devouring books, though she didn't have as much time now as she once had. "Is light magic?" Rapunzel tried hopefully, too naive to think of her answer as stupid, for all she wanted to do was learn. "Is that why we use it in magic?"
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Post by Maxim Horvath on Feb 14, 2011 17:05:32 GMT -5
"Light is not magic," Horvath explained patiently. "Light is a form of energy. It is one of the easiest forms of energy to initially conjure and control, as well as very useful. You both saw Anna's illusions?" When the girls nodded, he continued, "An illusion is nothing more than controlled light and sound that forms an image you want someone to see."
He gestured with his cane, calling up an illusion of a housecat perched on a nearby shelf. The cat leapt from the shelf, becoming a tiger as its paws touched the thick carpet. The tiger stretched, becoming a scarlet-scaled dragon, and the dragon became a great fiery phoenix as it spread its wings before the phoenix in turn became a fireball that slowly faded into nothing.
"The conjuration of light is simple, magically speaking. Learning how to do so will not only offer you both a useful spell in and of itself and a tool for other magics, but it will give you a grasp on how to summon and direct your power." Horvath held up one of the glass spheres he'd brought with him. "Clear your mind. Think of nothing but calling a spark of light to the center of the sphere. The spell is 'lux lucis'. Speak it as you concentrate on creating light."
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Post by Bertie Moreland on Feb 14, 2011 19:45:44 GMT -5
When Horvath conjured the image of a cat, Bertie was rather impressed at first. And then it had turned into a tiger, and the first thing that she could think of was to run. Thankfully, she suppressed that urge as the image transformed twice more, first into a dragon and then a phoenix. It seemed that her...healthy respect of tigers had not gone away with time. Clenching her hands into fists to stop their shaking, Bertie turned her attention to the glowing circle on the floor in curiosity.
Certainly she had never seen anything quite like it before. The way that it glowed was especially intriguing as she stepped within its confines. What was even more fascinating was the idea that she would be able to conjure light on her own. Nodding her understanding to Horvath about this, she took a steadying breath and closed her eyes, forcing herself to clear her mind.
Once more, she had to fight to keep the unnecessary outside thoughts from clouding her mind. Especially now that there was the residual fear from Horvath's tiger illusion. With a little will power, however, she was successful in clearing her mind and began to imagine a spark of light in the centre of the glass sphere before her.
"Lux lucis," she said, concentrating hard on the image of the glass sphere filling with light. To her amazement, and pleasure, she saw that while the sphere did not entirely fill with the light that she had imagined, there were certainly a few sparks of something. Glancing at Horvath to see if she was doing this correctly, Bertie could not help but feel rather pleased with herself.
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Post by Rapunzel on Feb 15, 2011 13:58:14 GMT -5
Nodding and feeling oddly chastised when Maxim explained things to her, Rapunzel tried not to sigh or slump, realizing that she still had a lot to learn – about magic, about everything!
Lux lucis? That was so boring… Nothing like her healing incantation, which was a beautiful song. Even though she realized now that that song had trapped her in her old life, a false and shallow comparison to the one she had with her real parents and Eugene, it had still been a source of comfort to her, something that remained the same, something that had saved her life and Eugene’s on more than one occasion. And so it was special to her, in spite of the bad memories. It had been what defined her for a long time. No longer.
Still, ‘lux lucis’ did sound pretty. So she tried to concentrate. She squeezed her eyes tightly, her little nose scrunching up slightly as she focused her entire being on getting that light into that sphere. She must have had more natural magical talent than she thought, because even though she wasn’t very good at it herself, she still had that magical flower inside of her that she’d been born with, and what was inside of her could not be taken away by her outside appearance being changed with the cutting of her hair.
“I did it,” she said, in wonder, as she stared in awe at the glowing sphere. She beamed and giggled giddily. “I actually did it!”
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Post by Maxim Horvath on Feb 16, 2011 1:39:54 GMT -5
The sorcerer nodded his approval. "Very good, both of you," he said. The glass balls had been enchanted to make it easy for the apprentices to succeed in this first spell, so he wasn't surprised that they had. He was intrigued at how well Rapunzel had succeeded- he'd expected for her to have only a few sparks, like Miss Moreland had conjured. Rapunzel had a sphere so full of light it looked as if she held a star in her hand rather than a glass ball.
Hadn't she said something about how her magic hair lit up or something to that effect? Perhaps this was merely a natural extension of that innate ability.
Most intriguing.
Horvath gestured with his cane, making the lights wink out. Under the cover of that spell, he added one that would cause a subtle fatigue in the two apprentices, a fatigue that would start to take hold in a short while as he had them attempt to repeat the feat they had just managed. "Kindly do it again," he ordered, moving to stand next to Anna.
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Post by Anna Stutler on Feb 16, 2011 21:22:42 GMT -5
Anna leaned against the desk, watching quietly. As the girls put their focus back on their spheres, she exchanged a look with her master. This was going well. A few bumps, but nothing horrid. This might be easier than she'd thought.
But there would be time to talk after the girls left. For now, Anna just watched, making little observations in her head.
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Post by Rapunzel on Feb 16, 2011 21:49:11 GMT -5
Rapunzel didn’t understand why she had to do something again that she had just done, especially if she had done it right, as Master Horvath had said. But she supposed he knew what to do better than she did, and she had heard that practice did make perfect, after all, so she just shrugged inwardly and did as told.
Only this time, when she did it, she was a little bit tired. She wondered if maybe it took something out of her to do magic. It would make sense. Otherwise, people who were powerful enough to know how to do magic would just go around willy-nilly, controlling the world.
And that wouldn’t be good.
But she wasn’t sure if it was that, or if she was just tired from all the excitement; that was more likely. So she just looked at Horvath expectantly. The light was still there, just as it had been before.
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Post by Bertie Moreland on Feb 16, 2011 21:57:23 GMT -5
Bertie nodded her understanding and cleared her mind once more. After all, she was well aware that practice makes perfect. Closing her eyes in concentration, she blew out her breath with a heavy sigh. Once she had done so, she reopened her eyes and stared pointedly at the glass sphere in front of her.
It seemed to take a little more strength out of her than before, because by the time she had managed to get a few more sparks into the sphere than the first time, she suddenly felt remarkably drained. Stumbling a little at this, she reached up to put a hand to her head before looking at Horvath.
"How was that?"
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Post by Maxim Horvath on Feb 16, 2011 22:09:39 GMT -5
Horvath took note of the extent of their fatigue, raising one eyebrow slightly at Miss Moreland's sudden instability. It seemed she was one of those people who were more sensitive to the spell than others.
"Very good, both of you," he said. "I suspect you two are feeling rather tired by now. That is not unusual. Magic is nothing more than energy, and in this case, the energy comes from the sorcerer. Your strength will return with food and rest."
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Post by Bertie Moreland on Feb 16, 2011 22:14:06 GMT -5
Roberta nodded a little at this, her head still spinning a little with the sudden exhaustion that gripped her. Shaking her head to clear it, she forced a weak smile as she tried to keep herself stable. For whatever reason, she was remarkably tired, even considering what Horvath had said to her about the energy for her magic coming directly from her.
"I see...yes," she murmured. At this point, food and rest sounded very good to her.
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Post by Rapunzel on Feb 16, 2011 22:21:07 GMT -5
Food and rest both sounded great. Rapunzel nodded, a little distractedly, as she no longer had anything else to think about with the ball of light and now realized the extent of her tiredness.
“When do we get food and rest?” she asked, adding hopefully, “Does that mean that we get to go home?” If they had to perform more spells and they were just going to get more tired, then this wasn’t going to be as fun as she had hoped it would be.
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