Let the Training Begin

[Lucinda Noru]

It had been a quiet few days since her last visit to the Arch. Lucinda was lying low, so to speak, after the discussion with Aria. She knew she couldn't disappear that often or people would become suspicious and that's how rumors got started. However, Adrain had agreed to teach her magic and couldn't very well do so if she never left the castle. So, the princess waited a few days to make sure no one else had noticed her late night. She took the time to work on Adrain's midwinter gift and play around with a few of the gifts he'd given her. After putting the finishing touches on it, Lucinda cleaned up and turned her attention to the servant tending the fire. "Come help me with this," she directed, holding out a hand fan to the servant. The servant came over and took the fan, looking at it for a moment and then fanning the item as the princess desired. "Hopefully, this will be dry by the time I'm ready to leave," she said, looking it over again. She then went into her closet to get dressed. 

Lucinda considered what she'd be doing for the day as she went through her closet. It wasn't quite noon yet, she'd been up early this morning. Eventually, she settled on a somewhat practical outfit. It was a black dress, on the short side, the skirt falling to around her thighs. The sleeves were long but closely fitted and ended at her wrists. There was gold embroidery in a leaf pattern around the neckline, which was circular and just under her own natural collar bone. The same design bordered her sleeves at the wrists. Underneath, she wore a pair of black tights and knee high, black winter boots. The whole outfit was tightly fitted. Lucinda looked herself over in the closet mirror, thinking. People would probably wonder why she was dressed like this, it wasn't exactly fitting for a princess. After a moment of sorting through more clothes, she pulled out a dress that had no sleeves and was gold in color. She pulled it on over the top of her outfit so only the sleeves and neckline showed, then tied on a decorative black and gold belt. Now she looked like she normally did. Stepping out of the closet, Lucinda motioned for her hand maiden to attend to her hair. The older woman was instructed to a french braid, leaving Lucinda's bangs to frame her face. 

Satisfied with her fashion choices and that Adrain's gift was dry, Lucinda turned her attention to her house dragon. "Come with me, Alli" she said, patting her shoulder. She had placed her harp in a convenient case previously and now slung that over her other shoulder, then grabbed the gift. She then looked over at her handmaiden. "I'm going to the Arch of Ages for a few hours. If anyone asks, tell them I'm studying." she instructed. With that she focused on the ring and whispered the words "du-te la arc", which was the spell Adrain had given her.

A portal appeared at Lucinda's feet which she promptly dropped through with a squeal of delight. She appeared with a small noise of surprise in the Headmaster's Terrace, which is where Adrain said it would take her. Conveniently enough, Lucinda found herself on the lap of said mage, who appeared to be dozing on the couch she assumed she would otherwise have arrived on without incident. "Good morning, Adrain, or possibly afternoon," she said sheepishly. 

[Deleted]

Adrain had a largely uneventful morning til now. Waking up, training a few of his other students the basics of spellcasting as well as mana control, then dealing with Serai trying to steal a bag of fish from the kitchen with the kitchen manager trying to use a wand of Permafrost to get him. Fairly standard protocol. He had much on his mind since that wonderful evening with Lucinda, though he figured it might be best to give her time to not look too involved with Adrain right away due to the whole nobility thing. Plus he had to figure out how exactly he was going to do the sales pitch to properly court Lucinda. He had recently acquired a huge tract of land he was planning to develop but there had to be something more.

At some point during his thinking, he had fallen asleep. A dreamless sleep mostly since it took him a long time to reach REM sleep, but as he was just starting to enter the dream sleep, he was reminded of Lucinda's bountiful curves and warmth which put a smile on his sleepy face.

Then the boom.

Lucinda happened to land on Adrain, jolting him to lucidness quiet quickly. She had landed pretty much right on his waist, the amethyst eyes looking up at Lucinda with amusement and sleepiness. He paused for a moment, then grasping her hand to give it a squeeze affectionately.

"Hey Lucinda, it's good to see you, I was just dreaming about you actually..." he states, content to remain still while Lucinda was on top of him.

[Lucinda Noru]

Lucinda blushed as Adrain looked at her, but not moving her hand. "I didn't mean to wake you. I wasn't even sure where in the tower I would arrive, honestly," she apologized, taking in the situation. Trying to get up with everything she was carrying would likely unbalance her so she sat for a moment, considering. Adrain's statement caught her attention and she looked at him curiously. "Dreaming about me? Do tell." she asked, interested. "I haven't seen you for a few days. How've you been?" she continued, making small talk as she wiggled to try and loosen the harp's case. She set that gently on the floor with her free hand. Then motioned up the house dragon on her shoulder. "By the way, Adrain meet Alli. She's the best house dragon anyone could have," Lucinda said, giving a somewhat formal introduction.

In her other hand, she held a beautiful oil painting which she had brought for Adrain. It was a perfect replica of the Headmaster's Terrace from their night together. The moonlight lit the terrace's fountain which reflected the meteor shower and prismatic aurora from the great tree. The view was from the terrace looking inward at a slight angle up. An opened bottle of wine sat on the table by the couch, with two glasses that reflected the light. Instead of having painted the two of the them on the couch, Lucinda chose to add in Serai, his eyes glinting and fur looking as if an invisible wind had gently ruffled it. "Happy Mid Winter, Adrain," she said similing and presenting it to the archmage. "I thought it might be a bit of a tip off to paint us, but it also makes a nice inside joke. Considering most of that night wouldn't have happened if Serai hadn't knocked us over," she explained.

"I have a second gift for you, but it is not tangible. You see, I composed a short piece on my harp to play for you. I know this isn't much but, I thought perhaps it would be more meaningful," Lucinda explained, blushing slightly. It was a bit obvious that she felt as if her gifts weren't enough, even though she knew it really was the thought that counted and couldn't quite keep the pride from her tone concerning her work. "I can play it whenever you're ready," she said, then remembered she was still sitting on him. Her face flushed again as she stammered out a renewed apology and worked her way slowly off the mage to stand awkwardly next to the couch.

[Deleted]

Alli whistled shrilly as she was ported through the portal; she didn’t like this strange sensation at all. Only to land with her mistress on a strange mans lap. Alli was sent into an angry chatter as she jumped down; not pleased to land on a stranger. She turned her angry chatter to Lucinda; whom was still sitting on the strange male. She flicked her tail as Lucinda went on to greet her and shuffled off to go sulk in a corner.

[Deleted]

"Well I sort of conked out, it's equally my fault for forgetting I set the waypoint to land on cushioning so you wouldn't get hurt." Adrain says, rubbing the back of his head for a few moments as he watched Lucinda try to settle and orient herself after her landing. When Lucinda asked of how he was dreaming of Lucinda, he closed his eyes and chuckled softly.

"A moonlit eve on the beach as your swimsuit comes undone...you can see where it goes from there." he says coyly. "I've been alright, just figuring out some things really and going about my normal routine, what about you?"

When Lucinda introduces Alli and then the dragon promptly scurries off seemingly annoyed. He raises a brow and then decides to simply let the dragon do its' thing.

"Hello Alli, it's nice to meet you. Lucinda has spoken highly of you. If you need a snack or something I can get it for you if Lucinda tells me what you like." he says with a warm smile trying to calm the dragon's annoyed behavior a little and establish some kind of positive connection with it. At least he would hope the dragon wouldn't be a douche in the same sense Serai has.

As Lucinda showed the painting that she had made for Midwinter to Adrain and offered it, he nodded and took it in his hands, looking it over. The choice to put a focus on Serai was an amusing one. "I love it, but I can't help but to feel like you might be trying to score brownie points with Serai by putting him in there." he teases.

When Lucinda said that she had a harp song for Adrain, and slid off the couch, he moved to sit up to allow the lady to take a seat and then watched carefully and patiently.

"That sounds amazing, whenever you are ready Lucinda." he says.

[Lucinda Noru]

Lucinda smiled as Adrain tried to take the blame for forgetting that the waypoint was on the couch. "That's very thoughtful of you. I have to admit I was quite surprised when the portal appeared at my feet," she said, amused. Now that Adrain had been reminded of where the waypoint was, she couldn't help but wonder how often he'd attempt to wait here for her to fall into his lap.

His answer on the dream he was having only served to back her suspicions and she laughed. "That sounds like a wonderful dream. I'm sorry I woke you. I am glad to hear you're well, however. Myself? Well, you can see what I've been working on here," Lucinda answered, gesturing at the painting and the harp.

Alli's reaction took Lucinda entirely by surprise and she looked at the little dragon incredulously. "Alli, that's rude. I'm sorry if the portal upset you but that's not a proper way to behave. Don't you remember Adrain from when we were in the magic shop? That was a few weeks ago, I guess I can't blame you if you don't," she said, looking rather disappointed. She turned her attention back to Adrain as he attempted to greet Alli. "I'm sorry. She's not usually like this. She has a fondness for amber sweetgums, if you happen to have any," Lucinda said giving him an apologetic look.

Her mood shifted slightly at Adrain's reaction to her painting, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Do you really? It's not anything elaborate as your gifts for me but, I wanted to make you something myself. I didn't really figure Serai would give me points for this. I mostly just didn't want to cause suspcion if anyone happened to come in on me painting, " she answered honestly. She had considered getting Serai a separate gift, but wasn't sure what to buy a tiger. She didn't know him like Aria did and that created a bit of a problem, but if the cat did like the painting, well, who turns down brownie points?

As Lucinda got herself settled, Adrain indicated that she should proceed with the music she had composed. Her face lit up and she carefully but quickly pulled the instrument to her. Opening the case, she lifted out her personal harp. A beautiful piece made of white wood and a royal purple insignia etched into the wood, the Noru family crest. She adjusted the strings for a moment, plucking them individually until she seemed satisfied with their tones. Then, after looking up a moment at Adrain and smiling, she began to play.

[Deleted]

Alli rubbed her snout with her front talons; still quite disoriented by the port. She sat on her haunches not too far away from the two love birds. She checked to make sure everything about herself was still in order. She looked up when Lucinda scolded her; didn’t matter if she recognized him or not. Suddenly being in one place then on a man’s lap was not something she enjoyed…now flying…flying was the transport of dragons. She looked back up at the man as he talked to her, now that she was over the disorientation she did recognize him….Didn’t he have a tiger? She perked up at the mention of maybe getting sweetgum, but it seemed they would be distracted with other stuff. So while Lucinda played, Allie went and waddled off in search of the tiger somewhere in the arch.

[Deleted]

"Well if you're sorry you woke me up, we could go for a reenactment?" he says, looking at Lucinda coyly, a mischievous grin on his face. He wasn't overly serious about it obviously but it would either fluster Lucinda or amuse her. Either result would be acceptable to him. He nodded when Lucinda gestured to the things that she was working in since that was ground covered thus far.

Adrain nods when Lucinda mentioned that Alli liked amber sweetgum, but as he started to get up to go and retrieve some for the little dragon, she had scampered off. He raises a brow, then shrugs a little. "Curious...well I will get the fruit for her later."

Adrain was silent, listening intently to the tunes of the song from Lucinda. He would be obviously happy listening to the tune while watching the princess play, and would wait til she was done.


Meanwhile, Serai was asleep in one corner of the terrace. Not even a waddling dragon would awaken the tiger alone, perhaps to the tiger's disadvantage.
"No that makes sense...I'm still thinking of how to go about the whole...uh...asking permission to fall in love with you thing, it still feel awkward as hell to have to ask another man to have the right." he says, holding a bit of disdain for the nobility expectation. That doesn't mean the mage was going to ignore it, but it was clear that the hoops seemed frivolous as best to him. "It's a great painting though, I will hang it in my living quarters."

[Lucinda Noru]

Adrain's suggestion for how she could make it up to him caused her to blush and giggle. She loved that smile of his and the way it kept her guessing about how serious he was, even if the idea was intriguing. "I'm sure we're not going to be able to do that again for awhile, unfortunately," Lucinda said, looking disappointed for a moment.

The princess watched Alli scamper off, shrugging about the same time as Adrain. "She'll come around, I'm sure," she said apologetically. Lucinda put the little dragon from her mind as she began to play, the song taking her a few minutes to finish as her fingers gracefully worked the strings.

Lucinda looked to Adrain after she was done, listening as he expressed his feelings concerning the asking of permission to fall in love with her. "That's an odd way to put it and not one I ever thought about. You have a point, though. I'd prefer to not have my uncle or my brother decide who I spend the rest of my life with, personally. Sometimes, I wish I wasn't a princess," she said, sighing in frustration. Adrain's comment on her painting perked her up slightly. "I'm glad you like it, it took me most of the last few days to do," she said, smiling a little.

[Deleted]

When Lucinda mentioned that they wouldn't be able to do that again for awhile, he rose a brow, but then smiled and leaned up to wrap an arm around her waist, giving her a brief, deep kiss. "Then I'll have to make do with this and have my dreams fulfill my other needs." he says both lovingly and seductively. He stares into her eyes with a warm smile, caressing her back for a moment before releasing her.

"Yeah I hope so, I'll still get her an amber sweetgum at some point today as a peace offering." he says in acknowledgement about the dragon. Of course, that was the farthest thing from his mind while he watched Lucinda play the strings on the harp. When she looked annoyed at his comment about getting permission to court her, he decided to change the subject firstly by taking her hand in his and kissing the top of it gently.

"Well I will figure out something. Your song was amazing. So, I see you have a sort of...tighter outfit today, and since we aren't going to do things that take advantage of your body outside of the ARC, what did you have in mind today?"

[Lucinda Noru]

Lucinda wasn't expecting Adrain's arm around her waist or the kiss that followed, but she leaned into both, smiling, and reaching to caress the mage's face. The seductive tone in his voice sent a spike of heat to her core, which also rose to her face. "Perhaps we could, not right now but later, if the ARC were involved like last time..." she murmured, quickly changing her mind. Adrain's mention of getting Alli a peace offering later got a grateful smile from the princess. "You don't have to, but I know she'll appreciate it and I will too," she said.

After Adrain had kissed her hand, she turned it, lacing her fingers with his as she listened. "I know you will," she said simply in response to his insistence that he would figure something out. She trusted him to do just that and in such a way that wouldn't ruin them both. The princess couldn't help the blush that came with Adrain's compliment and his comment on her attire. "Thank you. Actually, as much as I would love to take advantage of your ARC again, I thought perhaps today we could work on my magic training. If you're not too busy. And actually, this outfit isn't what I was going to train in, hang on." Lucinda answered, standing. Slowly, because it was tricky to do without pulling off the under dress, Lucinda pulled the gold colored outter dress up and over her head, dropping in on the floor to reveal the tighter fitting, black ensemble underneath. "Is this acceptable for training?" she asked, hoping she looked more ready than she felt, which was nervous.

[Deleted]

Adrain chuckled as Lucinda completely one eightied in her interest in simulated fun times. He wasn't so hard up he really needed to, but it was amusing all the same, plus he loved seeing this side of Lucinda. "Perhaps later." he teases in a similar way when Lucinda acknowledged potential interest before the subject changed back to the dragon and her fruit.

"Well the fruit isn't hard to acquire...hold on" he says, stepping away from Lucinda, then making a portal, hopping in it and back out quickly, with a plate and several Amber Sweetgum in hand. He cuts them open with a wind blade, leaving the flesh of the fruit exposed on the plate, then putting said plate on the ground close to the couch.

When Lucinda indicated that she wanted to do magic training today, followed by her light striptease pulling the looser gown off to reveal a tighter outfit beneath. When Lucinda asked if it was appropriate for training, Adrain grinned slyly.

"Well, really you don't need anything too elaborate for early mage training, but I like it all the same." Adrain says, standing up and walking to a more open area of the Terrace. "We don't really need the ARC for now since this is teaching you how to tap into your base potential and basic manipulation. You need to first learn how to detect the mana around you, the mana that pervades everything. This is the fundamental base of how you can cast spells. You will need to meditate and close your mind to all the normal distractions, to gain a sense of what is around you. The way you feel mana is going to be unique to you, and once you get more and more familiar with how to detect it, it becomes automatic." he says then gesturing for Lucinda to come, pulling some cushions over and setting them up for her. He then goes to his study and pulls out a device that looks like a bracelet with four rings attached by chains with a crystal in between, putting it on Lucinda's dominant wrist, the rings around all but her pinky finger, the crystal suspended over her palm.

"This is a Mana Amplifier, the device I told you about the first day we met. It will help you ease into detecting magic and how to feel your own mana affinity." he says, then pausing, waiting for Lucinda to start the exercise.

[Lucinda Noru]

Lucinda smiled, blushing a bit as Adrain teased her back. She watched as he did a portal hop to get the fruit, preparing it, and setting it aside for the little dragon. "You're very thoughtful. Thank you," Lucinda said, giving the mage a warm and grateful smile.

The princess looked quite pleased when Adrain said he liked her outfit. "Well, I'd rather be prepared and go ahead and get into the mindset for what I'm doing," Lucinda replied as he basically told her it didn't matter yet. She listened as he explained what she needed to do, her brow furrowed a bit in concentration. "That makes sense but how will I know if I'm feeling the mana? How will I be able to tell what my affinity is?" she asked, following Adrain as he gestured for her to do so. Once he had arranged the cushions, she settled herself on them, assuming that was his intention since he mentioned meditating. "I don't really understand meditation," she admitted, allowing him to take her right hand to fit it with the amplifier. She twisted her hand this way and that, looking at it for a moment. Then Lucinda closed her eyes and tried to relax and block out distractions.

[Deleted]

"It is a sensation that you can feel against your body an energy, an aura of sorts. It is something that is unique, you have to figure it out for yourself so that you can harness it through your body and sense it around you. There are six fundamental affinities from which all magic spawns. Fire, Air, Earth, Water, Light, and Shadow. Try thinking of the sensations you might get from each, and from that point you should be able to figure out a sensation that you can feel around you at all times. When you find the right one and can mentally align with it, it will feel like it's all around you, but you can grow to turn the mana sensation on and off at will by focusing your mind. A lot of it is intangible and things you have to figure out from studies and books. When you lock in to the right element, the mana amplifier should produce an effect aligning with your natural mana affinity." Adrain states, going into instruction mode firmly and not so much the doting lover mode.

As Lucinda tried to put out all distractions, Adrain was silent, watching both her and the amplifier. He couldn't really do anything to help at this point, Lucinda had to open the door to magic herself.

[Lucinda Noru]

Lucinda kept her eyes closed, listening as Adrain continued to explain, but not saying anything as she was trying to concentrate. She was sitting cross legged, with her right hand open because of the amplifier. He instructed her to try thinking about different sensations associated with each of the elements so she started trying to think of that. She imagined the feel of the wind on her skin, picturing long grasses swaying a breeze, and deepening her breathing. Nothing really felt different with that though so she moved on. She focused on the feel of earth under bare foot, thinking of crashing boulders or shifting beach sands. She wasn't as familiar with earth as an element in general, not sure if it meant including all of nature or not. The confusion was distracting so she cleared her thoughts again and started over. This time she chose the warmth of a fire, picturing flames eating at wood, or dancing atop a candle. Fire seemed mostly destructive to her, a foreign concept for the gentle princess. None of these seemed to do anything. Light and shadow had her stumped, she wracked her brain but couldn't think of anything to relate them to as sensations. The sun was a source of light as was fire, she could imagine it being blinding or picture the way it lit up dark places but that didn't really feel like a sensation to her. Shadows were dark, the opposite of light, the absence of light. That wasn't a sensation either, just a fact. A frustrated sigh escaped her.

Deciding she'd come back to that, she took a few deep breaths, thinking for a moment. She knew she'd forgotten one. The sound of the fountain behind her filtered through her thoughts. Water, of course. Lucinda focused on the idea of water, picturing it cascading down the fountain, focusing on the sounds. She could almost feel the cool, liquid texture on her skin, the little splashes as the water from the fountain hit the water in the bowl. For a moment, in her mind, she could see herself reflected in the surface, her blue eyes glowing faintly in the reflection. The mana amplifier on her wrist twitched, the rings and chains clinking lightly for a moment before a sphere of water manifested in her open palm around the crystal.