[IC] The Magic Apprentice(s)

[TheHangedMan]

Solomon concentrated heavily on the empty space in his hands, then promptly lost that concentration. He sighed. That was the third time. Whenever he tried to concentrate, he always felt a ghost of the pain that came from those needles. He remembered how badly - no, not badly, excruciatingly painful they were. He collapsed, convulsed and wished he could just die and end the pain . . . but the memory of her clear, jade eyes flashed through his mind and suddenly he felt like he could resist the pain. He dredged up all the memories he could of her and changed them into something else, into a vision of the future where he could stand in front of her and everyone else, tall and proud. The lingering pain disappeared to be replaced by a warmth that was so full of feeling, it felt like magic all on its own . . . "Let's try this again," he muttered. He needed intent. A way to remember why he was doing this. He had already failed with such a simple exercise four times, if he failed again . . . Inhale, exhale. Magic flowed through his arms and gathered into palm. He smiled ecstatically. I did it! Then the magic evaporated and he smacked himself on the head for losing concentration. Okay, one more time!

[booksmusicanime]

Cas stared at her hands as she tried to form a ball of magic. Nothing was working, not even the intense glare she was fixing on her hands.

[Eklispe]

Bristlebane stared in shock at Anna and slowly raised his hand to feel his cheek and felt the scarred over cut. To be honest Bristlebane was glad that it would become a scar, it would help him remember this lesson. Dumbfounded still by the random act of kindness from someone he barely knew, and to top it all of she was able to actually use her magic while Bristlebane could barely reach it. But he had learned something from that, somehow he had been able to see the pale blue colors of Anna's magic, she had made the magic itself want to do her will, she wasn't forcing the magic to do her work, she was telling it to. Bristlebane carefully analyzed this and looked at his magic again, it seemed as though it was just a liiiitle bit bigger, if that was the case than the more you used magic the larger your "pool" would get. He gently coaxed some of his magic away from his center and slowly prodded it and asked it to move for him. It waddled to area between his hands, and to his frustration it vanished simply fading away. It seemed he needed to find a balance between forcefulness and cooperation, but right now he needed to lie down again because all this experimenting was exhausting.

[olcharlieboi]

@Eklispe The master would watch Bristlebane again "....I think your trying to take to much at a time.. when your ready to try again.. Bristlebane, try to simply poke your source.. have it where it'll slowly pour out, and then instead of simply grabbing it, make a path to guide it to where you want to go" he says to Bristlebane. @TheHangedMan @booksmusicanime He would then look at the others "Close Solomon, try again..." then he would look at Cas and walk over "focuses on the space or just your hands isn't going to do anything" he states "search inside of yourself for the center of your magic... some has a center core.. others it's spaced out through their bodies, some's energy is hard while others are soft... every one has something unique for their power"

[ShadowVentus]

@RomanAria "Listening to me..? Well, now that I think about it, I feel like I heard some sort of whispering from the very back of my mind..telling me what to do and how to do it. I pictured a sphere in my head and the next thing I knew, the very same sphere was in my hands!" He responded, going into detail of just how he was able to channel his magic, albeit a fragile first attempt. Ventus slowed to conserve his energy in preparation for the next lap around the canyon, allowing Anna to run ahead of him. As he came around the corner, however, he found that she was speaking with another apprentice. He couldn't quite make out what she was doing, but he saw the male apprentice's eyes widen in surprise whenever she had finished and began running again. Seeing that she was even more exhausted than before, Ven picked up the pace until he was a few feet behind her. "Sorry about this!" He calls before speeding up and sweeping Anna off her feet, carrying her like he did back in the jungle, although more tired than before. "I figured you needed a break." He quickly explains, grinning at her. "Just what was it that you did back there?" He asked, very curious about what had happened earlier.

[RomanAria]

Anna yelped in indignity as Ven scooped her up. "I'm perfectly capable of running on my own, Ven!" she complained weakly, but her head was spinning even as she said it. In response to his other question she grimaced. "Um, the other apprentice kind of split his cheek open from trying to force his magic. It was bleeding kind of badly, and I wanted to... to be able to do something nice for someone, so I healed it with my magic. I'm starting to wish I hadn't, as dizzy as I am. It feels like blood loss, only more mentally punishing, rather than just physically." She didn't want to say how she knew about blood loss, she didn't want to think about it either. can't think. can't think must stay strong calm free safe happy not thinking not thinking. The weakness left her unable to form coherent thoughts, much less actually sink into a flashback. For that she was grateful. But now she told Ven, "Seriously, I can run on my own. Have to run on my own. I won't get stronger if you're constantly helping me. I appreciate it, don't think that I don't, but I've got to get stronger." @ShadowVentus

[olcharlieboi]

@ShadowVentus @RomanAria The master would look over seeing Ventus carrying Anna and shakes his head making a movement with his hand... and a rock sticks up at the perfect time to trip ventus

[Eklispe]

Bristlebane once again went to the labourious task of working his magic, he was pretty sure he understood now. He created a tunnel of sorts that lead to the space between his hands and the magic from his core slowly trickeled down aseembling, once he felt he had enough he closed off the tunnel keeping the rest of his tiny sphere safe. He was getting used to the chill that spread through his body whenever he used his magic and managed to resist the urge to shiver. Slowly he brought the magic from what he viewed as the "magic plane" into the "physical plane", a lot of it was used to bring it into reality but finally a small black pebble appeared between his hands, stable and under control. Bristlebane grinned shakily, "hehe.., i got it."

[ShadowVentus]

@RomanAria @olcharlieboi Ventus chuckles at both Anna's continuous protesting, getting a small kick from it. Then, he listened to her explanation of what she did, to which his eyes widened in surprise by the magical feat she had pulled off only moments after first channeling her magic. Personally, he had been more surprised that nothing had gone horribly wrong, but quickly wiped that thought from his mind, knowing full well that he should have more faith in her. "Don't sweat it! I tend to get carried away sometimes. I suppose this is just my way of saying that if you need someone to lean on, then I'm here for you." He explained, smiling. However, before he could put her down, a rock he hadn't ever noticed beforehand now caught him off guard, causing in Ventus to trip. However, as he fell, he did his best to make sure Anna wouldn't get hurt, quickly turning to land on his side, holding her to him as he landed on the ground. "Ngh..man, that bites!" He muttered as he let Anna go and slowly sat up, his body now aching as he was slightly winded.

[olcharlieboi]

@Eklispe The Master would look to Bristlebane and nod "good work.. small but it works, seems like yours is the hardy type, means you'll have a hard time during magical training sessions" he states "you have to take it slow and easy with your magic you can't rush it as much as the others, for if you do you'll lose control and in a big spell that could be bad... well on to physical training with you.. there is an hour left of it so get moving" he says then walks over to the other apprentices. @ShadowVentus @RomanAria The master would walk up behind them "...Ventus you should not interfear what so ever with the other's training, the goal is to push past their physical capabilities, it's her fault for trying to use magic more than she should so she gets to pay the price of being more tired, if you interfere with the other's training by doing like you just did, then you will be punished" he says then looks to Anna "and you.. don't try to do things with your magic until I say otherwise, if you messed up you could of killed the one you tried to heal"

[Eklispe]

Bristlebane grinned ruefully, the master may have sugercoated the words but the meaning came across clear, he was weaker with magic than the otehrs. No matter, he would just have to work harder than then, a new expeirence for him but something that he believed he could do. He got to his feet realizing the exhaustion was more mental than physicall, which of course didn't make this any easier it just meant he would have to fight for control. He quickly set off on his run finding an even pace that he could hold, just slightly faster than was comfortable like any good pace was. He almost stopped to help the pair as they tripped and fell to the ground but the Master's words stopped him and he relunctanly passed them, he couldn't interfere with thier training and they couldn't interfere with his, that was the way this had to be. He set his body onto a sort of atuo pilot, and thought long on hard about his magic as he run.

[TheHangedMan]

Solomon nodded. That went without saying! Inhale, exhale Focus on the image in your head! Again, he felt a surge of energy course through his arms and into his palms. Unlike before, he controlled his reactions upon seeing how easily the magic came to him now. He held his hands where they were and slowly molded it into a ball. Almost there . . .

[RomanAria]

Anna giggled at the unexpected tipping. "Oof! Ven, are you alright?!" She scrambled to a sitting position and checked Ven over for any serious injuries. Bruises and bumps, but no more. She looked at the Master. "Of course, sir. I understand completely." She pulled herself up into a standing position, stumbling against the canyon wall until her vision mostly stabilized. Then she reached down a hand to help Ven, though she knew full well that if Ven pulled on her at all she'd fall over again.

[ShadowVentus]

@RomanAria @olcharlieboi Noticing that Anna could barely keep herself up, Ventus politely declined her help with a smile, standing back up on wobbly feet as he turned to look back at the master. "Understood, sir. I'll make sure to not repeat that error." He stated, before turning back to face the canyon and begin jogging again, his body still sore from the earlier fall.

[olcharlieboi]

@RomanAria @ShadowVentus He would shake his head at them "i don't mind apprentices hanging out, any maybe assisting each other to keep them going but entirely interrupting their training for idiot reasons I wont stand for" he says then starts to head back to the ones still working on the spheres. @TheHangedMan he would watch Solomon waiting for his magic to form.

[olcharlieboi]

He would help the apprentices and as they started to be able to create spheres he would then send them off to the physical training, before long he had them all to their physical training, he watched over them making sure none are breaking any of his rules, he would also watch the clock and yell out with echo through the canyon "15 minutes left! keep it up!" he yells to everyone.

[Eklispe]

Bristlebane's clouded mind barely heard the words, running for over an hour was no easy task and his legs felt like lead at this point. He had no idea how this was related to learning magic but he didn't really want to question the master to find out. He could hardly keep his eyes open to avoid tripping on the slope and randomly scattered slopes. He hoped the others were having an easier time of this, and that they didn't have to do anything after this. Bristlebane wasn't sure if he could do anything but sleep after this exhausting workout, the slope wasn't very bad at first but over so many laps it really started to wear you down.

[TheHangedMan]

The ball of energy successfully shaped itself inside the space of his hands, and Solomon grinned ecstatically. Magic! He was actually doing magic!

[RomanAria]

@ShadowVentus Anna giggled rather insanely and sprinted to catch up to Ven. Falling into step beside him, she flashed a grin at him. "This is rather fun. I'm still dizzy, but it's really quite fun to run when you're dizzy." On impulse she reached over and grabbed Ven's hand, then realized what she'd done and blushed and slackened her grip a little. She didn't let go, though. "Shall we kick it up a bit? It'll be fun." Then she heard the fifteen minute warning. "We should be able to make it at least another full lap in fifteen minutes."

[olcharlieboi]

@TheHangedMan The master would push Solomon into the physical training "run faster! you don't got long!" he says. @Eklispe @ShadowVentus @RomanAria @TheHangedMan @booksmusicanime When the timer would run out he would yell for them all to return immediately to his location.