Training by the Lake (Rivers, Serenity)

[Roxanne]

Roxanne was making a point to avoid whatever situation was going on with Rivers and Serenity while they decided what they should work on next. Despite the fact she could hear them quite clearly, they weren't that far away after all, she pretended not to and instead amused herself playing with fire. She had it dancing across the top of the lake when Serenity asked about which type of magic to work on. She looked back at the other two, blinking. "We can start with whichever you feel most comfortable. Fire is kind of heated, we might have to provoke you a little before we get the right results. It's how I learned to do it," she said, a serious look on her face.

[Rivers]

Rivers smiled and winked at Serenity in response to her comment. "Well when you do get there we'll take it slow, hopefully you can learn less near fatally than I did." He jokes, though the slightly bitter tone gave the truth to the humor.

As Roxanne asks which kind of magic and Serenity also does Rivers again shrugs. "Fire or ice you ask the WIND mage." He points out with a bemused expression. "Pick whichever you like, I don't think I'll be as much help here too be honest." He admits with a bit of embarrassment, after all Rivers magic was...different.

[Serenity Caine]

Serenity sighed. Nether of them knew? She felt as though provoking her would not be difficult, given the situation, but she didn't want to be angry. She looked at Rivers once more, smiling slightly at his comment. Shall we go with Ice? And yes I'm asking you, Wind Mage, because you gave me the ice magic book! She laughed and shook her head.

Rivers, we can try ice, and if you cannot teach me, and I cannot figure it out alone, we shall go with fire? She shrugged and thought of a quote in the back of her mind, something she'd heard from her father of fire and ice. Serenity moved her neck to crack it, rubbing her arm again, muttering quietly to herself. Some say the world will end in fire, others say in ice. From what I gather of desire, I know enough to go with fire. But if I had to perish twice I think I know enough of hate, to say that for destruction ice, is also great and would suffice. She's always liked the ring to it, and smiled to herself as she thought of home.

[Roxanne]

Roxanne smiled at Rivers comment about being a wind mage. Fire, Wind, and Ice. Didn't they make quite the trio? Turning back to Serenity as she came up with a plan, she nodded. "That sounds fine to me, I'll just wait over here until I'm needed," she said, sitting on the shore and proceeding to dangle her feet in the water. The ripples moved across the whole lake and she sent little flames dancing with them. They'd extinguish should they reach a shore.

[Rivers]

As Serenity finishes talking Rivers lets out a laugh. “Well Ms. Frost, I cannot teach you how to weird ice, but I can tell you one thing. Much of magic resides in your state of mind, you way of thinking and your emotions.”

Rivers takes a step out onto the water and says:

Love at the lips was touch
As sweet as I could bear;
And once that seemed too much;
I lived on air

At the last line he raises his foot and steps onto the air as if it was the ground. “Expectation and belief are the crux of all magic, if you do not believe you can do it then it will never come to pass. Remember how learning to use the tunnels required you to change your perception, this shall as well.” He explains, though in truth Rivers was speaking only from the theory he had learned. Emotions were supposed to be a good guidepost to help one alter the mana to a specific result. Though for Rivers who gained his wind magic through a contract it did not work the same.

[Serenity Caine]

Serenity glanced at Roxy, watching how easily fire magic seemed to come to her— though as a demon she supposed that was normal. Upon hearing Rivers laugh, her eyes went back to him, a curious smile on her face.

You know of him? She had not thought anyone would have known the words she spoke, as only one person lived in her world. Her smile grew a bit larger as he quoted the poet once more, and she found the words quite fitting to the man who spoke them.

So I have to change my perception to obtain the use of ice magic?— well, I assume, any magic. Serenity nodded her head, watching him take a step into the air. Just like Roxy, Rivers’ magic seemed so natural to him. Serenity wondered if what she learned would become second nature to her someday.

Well, if that is the case, where do you suggest we begin? I presume you cannot demonstrate the magic, so how should we go about doing this? She knew this would not be simple for him, but she had no one else to go to for Ice magic.

[Rivers]

Rivers grins as she asks if he knows Frost. “Of course I know Frost, what kind of bard would I be if I did not know of one of the greatest poets in the history of Earth?” He asks in mock indignation.

Though when she asks Rivers where to begin. He stops and thinks for a second. “Well I think the best place to start would be to get yourself into the right place emotionally...but to be honest I don't know a hell of a lot about ice magic myself.”

He looks over at Roxanne, “Hey Rox, do you have any idea how to prepare to cast an ice spell? I would assume aloof confidence would be a good emotional state. Then you need to either draw in or shape the manna within you into the effect you want to achieve. It's kinda like drawing out one of the tunnels, but more about shaping the energies and less about linking them.” He tries to explain, and then again looks over at Roxanne to see if she could offer some additional help on the subject.

[Roxanne]

Roxanne looked, surprised, as Rivers asked her if she knew anything about ice magic. She looked at the flames dancing on the water rather pointedly and sighed, crossing one leg over the other and reclining back on her palms. "Not really. I'm a one trick demon, for the most part," she answered, laughing lightly.

She listened to Rivers try to explain it to Serenity and nodded. "Emotional state definitely helps, at least until you get a good feel or control for it," she said, musing, her face thoughtful. "I did meet a demon once whose elemental tie was ice. Each demon is different, you know. We don't all like to play with fire," she said, the end statement coming out a bit saucy, then continued. "Anyway, he was a very cool guy, literally. Emotionless most of the time, very calm. But he had a sharp wit and could be very dazzling when he wanted," she explained, looking up at the cavern ceiling. "Ice isn't always so cold and calculating. It can be dangerous, but it can also very beautiful," Roxy finished, not convinced she'd helped at all.

[Serenity Caine]

Serenity looked back and forth between the two. So use emotion but don’t show emotion… Be calm and collected, but cool. Serenity sighed and played with a strand of hair, going over what the book said in her head. She’d read it twice now, wanting to have most of it imprinted in her mind. She turned away from them both and tried to visualize a spear of ice forming in her hand, as she held it out slightly in front of her.

When she opened her eyes and saw her palm empty, and she took in a deep breath, trying to not get frustrated. This was going to take time. The book had said she must point at the target to shoot the ice. It wasn’t a spear she could hold or take full control of.

Serenity glanced over at the two, almost wanting to use a real target, just to see if it would work better, but not wanting to actually hit them. She looked out towards the lake again, seeing Roxy’s fire dance along the surface. That could work.

She looked hard at the fireballs, bringing her right hand up towards them, palm out. She couldn’t remember if pointing meant actually pointing a finger, or just her hand, so she would try both at some point. She took in a deep breath and visualized it once more, the ice spear forming on the outside of her hand, shooting away from her, and through the fireballs.

[Rivers]

Rivers watches as Serenity points and tries to visualize the spear of ice. She had the right idea, but she needed to do more than visualize, that was just a spell trigger. He tries to think of how to explain mana to someone not from this world...then he tires to think of how to use Mana himself as he was terrible at it.

"Well Serenity, I think you've got the right idea, but you can't just visualize and point, you need to actually create the ice spear with mana. We were talking about emotion because it helps you naturally draw on the environment, but most of what you need at this point is to actually combine that mental image you've got with the actual mana that is all around us." He spreads his arms, "things like meditation help to improve awareness, but most of what you need to do is expand your senses until you can feel that 'otherness' that didn't exist on Earth and then use it as the paint for your mental picture." Rivers says trying to explain in another fashion that might make more sense.

[Roxanne]

Roxanne continued to watch Rivers and Serenity. She agreed that Serenity had the right idea of it but nothing seemed to be happening. As Rivers continued to explain, she considered his words carefully. Apparently this 'Earth' place didn't have magic and she thought that sounded like some kind of horrible nightmare, thought it certainly made sense as to why Serenity was having such a hard time. She tried to think about how she had learned hers and how she used her magic. "My master taught me to use concentration and try to feel the energy, not just in your surroundings but in yourself as well. Visual it, if that works and try to bend it to your will, guide it to your hands. My energy feels slightly tingly and hot, like sparks of fire flitting through me,"she suggested, again feeling less than helpful and slightly repetitive.

[Serenity Caine]

Serenity looked at the both again, nodding and breathing slowly. She needed to be more focused. This wasn’t a tunnel bestowed upon her, this was magic she was trying to create for herself. She had to find the energy both around and in her. She had to use that. She wasn’t completely sure what mana was, but the book had mentioned it too. As and Kail not long before.

She turned back to the lake once more, Closing her eyes and sitting down. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. She felt the grass under her fingers. She heard the moving water in front of her, the sound of the wind around her. She felt a slight humming in the ground, like it was vibrating throughout her body. Her eyes stayed closed. She felt the presence of both Roxanne and Rivers behind her. She felt the heat of Roxy’s fire, even though it wasn’t near her. She felt her own heartbeat. As though she could hear the blood flowing in her veins. Her breathing stayed slow.

I feel as though the ground is vibrating… Her voice was breathy and soft, barely audible. She thought of the emotions she needed to have, the mind set. She remained calm. There was no anger, no compassion. Collected. Slowly, she raised her palm out again, her eyes staying closed, and let out a breath, visualizing it once again.

[Rivers]

Rivers watches at Serenity calms herself and begins to focus. As he feels the vibrations and envision the lance a small spike of ice about the side of a railway spike forms and hovers above her hand. Rivers looks on in interest as the girl seemed to actually pick up the whole affair quite quickly.

Though when Roxanne explains how she gathered magic he glances at her inquisitively. "Is that how it works?" he replies, a hint of surprise in his tone. After all Rivers was inherently pretty bad at channeling mana, that's why all of his magic came from different sources.

"Alright, looks like you're getting the hang of it." He encourages with a grin.

[Roxanne]

Roxanne looks on, impressed, as Serenity calms and focuses herself and actually gets results. It was a small thing, but it was ice and she did materialize it. "Very good, Serenity," she said, smiling, her tone clearly genuine. At Rivers's surprised tone and question, Roxanne returns his surprise with a look of her own. "Basically. That's how I was taught anyway. Emotions to help guide the magic pulled to your will by concentration. It becomes second nature after a time, I don't really have to concentrate too hard anymore," she answered, casually putting out the flames with a wave of her hand. "But is that not how you do it? You use magic too," she asked, curious.

[Serenity Caine]

Serenity heard the praise from Rivers, but didn’t want to stop just yet. She was to focused. Her eyes stayed closed, and she imagined the spear growing in size, put staying put. She could hear both of them talking but she wasn’t listening— they could catch her up later.

She took a deep breath in, her mental image making her think that the spear was about a foot long now, hovering above her palm. She turned her body and hand towards the fire roxy made, and imagined the spear flying into them. She opened her eyes.