A Lesson in Air - RPLOG
From Rusted Promises
Participants
Date
31/5/477
Log
Jera waits quietly at the library for his tutee to arrive. He has been setting up the place, the library devoid of people so early in the morning apart from the occasional being a little bit too overzealous with study and having passed out there. Books, the most expensive kind, are laid out open on their spines all around.
A nod, a mumble, and Trace moves into the library. His clothes are breezy and designed to aid with air-magic, while he scans the room for his tutor, silently making his way over towards Jera.
Jera grins and then performs the simple air magic spell he has in front of him, doing the math mentally and mumbling out the answers that seem to blow into a light breeze that makes every book turn exactly three pages. No more, no less, exactly three. "Ah, you're around...Trace, was it?" The kit fox smiles, beckoning the avian to the seat beside him and offering him the air magic sheet.
A nod, a mumble. "Trace, yes," he replies simply as he takes the seat, looking over the sheet curiously. "I... I can cast that," he mumbles, making the light breeze himself, flipping the pages back those exact three pages.
Jera blinks. That was not a simple thing to learn, to cast guidance winds that complex and precise. A years worth at Cliffside academy at least.He furrows his brow and hides his other sheets of magic he had prepared. "Hmm. I don't get it. You said you couldn't do air so well but you're better than most I know. Even probably on par amongst the other windrunners."
"It's... It's the bigger spells that cause troubles. Sandstorms, battlefield purifications, Angered Promise... Hailstorms. I can't do any of that stuff. It fails, or worse, blows up in my face," he mutters... "Last time I tried to do a battlefield purification, I set the entire beach ablaze... But I couldn't control it."
"Hmm. But you've shown that you have the control for such spells. Air is more like glue than it is destructive...forms the backbone and not the power of most of these spells. No reason it should fail if you're putting your best in." Jera recites, before something strikes him as he hrms. "You /are/ putting your best in, yes? Focus and all."
"I... I am, yes," Trace mumbles, clicking his beak a moment as he looks at the table, scribbling a few small spells with his fingers, creating a... Curious little interplay of fire and air magic... He summons six small wisps, using the flowing air to spread them out in little concentric rings that begin rotating along several axis. "I... I can do small things wonderfully... But big things just... Fail. The biggest spell I've had success with was that... Thunder spell I showed mister Cedric the other day."
"Show me." Jera points to the trails of books he had left open all throughout the library. "Treat this as a battlefield purification spell. Fan the library with flame but don't burn anything." He seems serious enough with his request, already working up a current to protect the books if he needs to!
A murmur, a twitch... "H-here? I... I don't think that's such a good plan... Considering what happened last time... I'd like to not be convicted for a felony," he mutters, gulping and adjusting the collar of his clothing. "I... N-no... Not here, no."
"Hrm." Jera somewhat expected this result and it shows on his facial expression. Still, he was certain that there was something not quite right with the timid cat. "You have the aptitude for it. You just showed me your control. Would you do it for me if I brought you to a classroom then?" The kit fox inquires.
A nod, a mumble. "I... I can try," he finally admits after a bit of contemplation, mumbling softly and nodding a few times in silence as he scribbles some small spells in the air, without actually casting them.
Jera watches, and doesn't spot any major errors in the air magic bits, but he had used his best element more than enough to support allied magic to observe something right off the bat. "Those air sums aren't good enough to maintain a large spell. Use more difficult math. "
He traces a few logarithm sums in the air as example. "I know you can do these."
A nod, a mumble. "I... I've used those before... That's not the problem," he mumbles, making another small, but complex spell that incorporates them. "I... I can cast this one," he mumbles, before standing up and muttering softly. "S-so... A classroom?" he mumbles after a bit, waiting for Jera to guide him towards the indicated room.
Jera nods, and then shows the feline out into one of the reading rooms in the library, the whole place almost a barren, if well ventilated room designed just for people to read quietly. He closes the door behind him and locks it, and then points up. "Stone walls. Good air flow. Nothing else to burn but us."
Soon enough, Trace nods faintly, looking around the room and mumbling softly. Slowly, slightly hesitantly he builds up the equations for a battlefield purification, a smaller, simplified one, tailored to the size of the room... And then, when he casts it... Well, nothing so far.
Jera watches, and then steps back for a while, until he realizes that nothing is happening. "Are you using the adjustments I told you to?" The kit fox folds his hands across his chest, fur swirling gently as he casts air magic to cover himself just in case of conflagration.
"Just... Look at the spell," he offers, sketching the equation out in the air again... Everything seems correct, and it should set a sizable part of the room ablaze, but... No magic happens when it's completed. Nothing.
Jera watches, and then he's not sure. He casts the air spells, causing currents to circle above them in the room. "Put in the fire equations for me. Let's work together and we'll see if you've gotten that part right."
"I... I was casting just the fire there," he mumbles, gesturing at the equation... I wasn't even trying to combine it yet... That's this one," he mumbles, drawing a small spell to fan the air, before he re-focuses on his fire, with little to no success... "This... This is what I mean... I... I could probably just make a flame of the creator, but... That's a different spell."
Jera watches his winds stir up Trace's flames just a little, though they can't carry them any higher...certainly nowhere in danger of reaching out of the open windows like a normal battlefield purification would in such a small room. "You're not trying." He accuses, eyes narrowing darkly. "You came of your own accord to learn but you don't seem to be interested at all." The todd stirs up a larger, *almost* threatening wind to see if he can't get the kite to respond in kind.
Trace mumbles and frowns. "I... I am trying... I do want to learn. I just... I don't want to hurt anyone, either... Like... Like I told miss Selena. The last time I tried a full-power lighting-spell..." he mutters, frowning and trailing off.
Jera suddenly eases back on his half of the spell slowly so he can speak, head tilting in confusion. "Why do you fear air, above all? If you stay away from the more newly discovered, weaponized spells...suffocate and the like...it has the least killing potential out of the trees. If you struck someone with thunder it should be fire you fear!" The kit fox's attention drops a little and his half of the spell fades a little. If Trace doesn't pay attention..
A nod, a mumble. "It... It isn't air specifically," he murmurs... I'm trying," he mutters, looking down at the ground, though he drops his fire-spell in the process, to avoid people getting hurt... Or perhaps due to him being disheartened? "I just... I don't know... Last time, I nearly killed a being..."
"And why is that a bad thing?" Jera notices Trace looking down and then helps to prop the kite's head up with a few fingers at his chin. "Selena is one of the greatest mages I know, and she casts her magic to support us and to debilitate enemies. Avoiding killing other beings unless they deserve to." He looks past his student at the blank wall for a moment, remembering things. "Why did you learn magic?"
"I... I was good at it... And I wanted to learn," Trace mutters after a moment. "It... It's bad because the being I nearly killed was... My instructor at the time... Nearly got me expelled, too," he mumbles after a while, huffing lightly.
"Mmh. Have you met Kalt before? Seen her new arm?" Jera narrows his eyes just a little. "She could have been fine if we had been just a bit more free with our magic and our weaponry. Just a bit. And maybe you'll have someone to protect someday. And you might put him or her at risk with your magic, yes. But if you can't cast that crucial spell you'll be regretting being so weak for as long as you live. Chin up." Trace gets a soft shake at his shoulders for a moment after his speech. "Battlefield purification. You'll find me a much more durable instructor in any case."
A nod, a small click of the beak as Trace slumps his shoulders. "I... I have to think about this," he mumbles after a moment, sighing softly. "Mind... Mind if we end today's session here? I... I have to think about things."
"I'm sorry." Jera realizes he's overstepped his bounds quite a bit, but that tends to happen when he was as infuriated as he was. He picks himself up and then bows his head politely in a farewell. "Find me at the Academy or the Inn again if you feel like you need to continue."
