PM to join First Lessons [Leila, Castor and Tsaba]

[Castor Riley]

Castor opened his notebook, as Professor Marin began answering her students' first questions. He thought about what he'd like to know by the end of the introductory class and noted three headings: 'Uses', 'Dangers', 'Key Terms'. As he listened to the professor, he noted the relevant information under the appropriate heading. When she began answering his own question, he felt that she was underestimating him, that she thought he'd taken the class without a reason. But he had a reason, and that was the desire to learn, even if that didn't seem like a proper one to many. He wanted to prove to her that he could do this, that he might already be ahead of the others as far as magical theory went, even if he was lacking in magical ability. He didn't want to appear disruptive on the first day of class, however, so he bottled up the prideful feelings. He then wondered if Leila had magic. She had seemed like a very practical person to Castor, so he felt she wouldn't have taken this class without a reason. She had devoted so many resources towards her shop (He should know, he helped her keep track of them), so he didn't think she would sign up for an expensive university course without good reason. He decided to ask her about it, at some point outside of a class setting, if the answer had not become obvious before then. Tsaba's question was an interesting one, and it prompted him to add another heading to the previous three: 'History'. He couldn't think of any other questions at the time, or at least none that he felt might not be answered as the lesson progressed, so he remained silent and kept noting down the information of interest.

[Leila]

Leila listened intently, and continued her notes, filling in answers under their appropriate questions. Glyphing and Personal magic go well together. Glyphing is fairly pointless without magic. Could my magic be used with it? Don't upset Professor Marin. All magic can harm others and yourself. However, Glyphing is relatively safe. Is Glyphing considered a Language? Or would it be more of an Art? What's Auristics? And who is Avalis? Qalaya taught people how to write. That crazy Philomena mentioned Qalaya once. Leila wondered if she could talk to the professor after class about her own magic. She didn't even know what to call it, if it even had a name. She had no other questions, and was waiting for the lesson to continue. She felt bad for poor Castor, getting lectured at for just a harmless question. She considered asking her classmates to dinner and drinks at the Grotto after class, figuring it would be good to get to know them both better.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna considered Tsaba's question for a moment, frowning a little as she brought up Qalaya and the connection between the goddess of writing and glyphing. Unconsciously her hand strayed over her heart, lightly brushing the spot where Rhysol's blood had marked her, but she played it off as a crossing of her arms. Anna disliked the thought that Qalaya might have had a hand in teaching glyphing, but there might have been some possibility there. The young professor pondered the question for a moment, settling on the language bit first. It was the more easy of the two by far. "A good question miss, by the way I did not get your name." Anna started, giving the woman time to respond before continuing. "You could very well think of Glyphing as like reading and writing for wizards, a language in its own right. It is believed by some to be one possible form of Nader Carnoch, or the Ancient Tongue in the vernacular. This is a high likelihood, however it is speculation still." She said, nodding to herself. "If the subject truly interests you I could recommend a few books on the matter, it has been a point of debate among some circles for a while. I would personally be interested to see any findings you might uncover." The young professor said, moving on to the difficult question. "Glyphing's history is shrouded in much myth and legend, just as every other discipline of known magic. It could be that it came into being for as long as there has been magic, it could be recent in discovery. I would also be careful with the theory of Qalaya providing glyphing to mortals. It is possible, but more likely it was developed over time to better change and augment existing magic in the world." She said, pushing herself off of her desk and looking to each of her students. Anna needed to get the class itself moving properly, so it was time to introduce the concept many students had difficulty understanding. The nature and existence of Djed. It was a difficult concept to explain in merely words as it was an all encompassing force, but she had a demonstration lined up to make this much easier to understand. Her mentor had some something similar during his explanation. "Now then, listen carefully as many students have difficulty understanding this next concept. I promise, once you understand it, it will become much more natural to study." The professor said, striding out on to the class floor and beginning to pace. "I remember sitting where you are now and asking my professor, 'What makes magic possible?' He then explained to me that Djed made magic possible. Think of Djed as the force that makes everything work and function, energy of sorts." She said, nodding to herself. "In order to work out or run fast you use energy, as such when you use magic you are using up Djed in much the same way. However, using Djed is much like putting out pieces of yourself, using your very being to power a spell." "Now then, I realize that I am throwing out a lot of theory on Djed and Glyphing, so lets make this easier to understand." Anna said, stretching out her right hand. The young professor closed her eyes and started up a low incantation in Nader Canoch. Her incantations tended to be random gibberish but control was necessary here, especially without glyphing present. Incantations tended to help one focus better and made the wizard less likely to make a mistake. She focused on generating a small ball of liquid res no bigger than her pinky fingernail into existence. As she generated the res waves of pleasure sent shivers down her spine as the euphoria of casting washed over her brain. The desire to generate a bit more was nearly irresistible but she maintained focus and allowed the forming liquid to pool in her palm. Slowly she allowed it to form into a ball and levitate above her hand. Anna opened her eyes and looked to each of her students, nodding to the small ball. It was a small enough amount to where she could maintain control as well as continue the lesson. "This is res, the primary weapon of a reimancer. Think of it as my Djed, it is a piece of myself. By manipulating it and placing it outside of myself, I am spending Djed." Anna said, looking around to ensure that the lesson was sticking.

[Tsaba]

"Tsaba, Professor," Tsaba told Dr Marin when asked for her name. Only then did she begin rapidly scrawling notes. She especially perked up when Dr Marin mentioned that Glyphing may be a nader-canoch alphabet. She spoke nader-canoch! Not fluently, but then, who did? She'd worked with enough Sahovan text to comprehend it passably, which could be an advantage if Glyphing was related to it; and it was starting to look like Tsaba could use any advantage she could get. Even if Dr Marin didn't think they were related. Tsaba noted it down as an avenue for future study. She didn't understand how Glyphing, which sounded like it was essentially an alphabet if she was understanding Dr Marin correctly, could be something invented by mortals to affect the environment; languages weren't like machines. But she didn't contradict the Professor; after all, she knew practically nothing about Glyphing, and Dr Marin was an expert in the art. Most likely Tsaba was misunderstanding something that would become clear later.

Tsaba's notes were scattered and messy; she'd always taken advantage of parchment as a two-dimensional medium, and made liberal use of arrows and spacing. She'd rewrite them neatly later, when she didn't need to keep up with a teacher.

The information on djed sounded especially important, and Tsaba kept her notes as detailed as possible. She noted Dr Marin's incantations, although they sounded like gibberish to her; she'd research the meanings later. Did she need incantations? Did they help? It became impossible to look down long enough to write, though, when a pool of liquid began forming in Dr Marin's palm.

Tsaba's immediate thought when Dr Marin held the fluid ball up as if it was nothing was that it was some kind of trick. But it was clearly a demonstration of amazing power. She was able to note down "Res -- primary weapon of Raymancer" while barely looking away. She knew she was staring-wide-eyes like an idiot, but didn't care.

And here Tsaba had dared to call a little bit of extra perception 'magic'.

[Castor Riley]

Castor dilligently took notes as the class progressed. The warm light of summer filtering in through the window was giving him a good feeling and he felt very calm. Both Leila, on his right, and Tsaba, on his left were doing the same, so the only sounds in the room were Professor Marin's voice and the scratchings of quill on paper. He felt like he was in the sort of setting he was meant to be in. As the professor began to explain the basics of djed, Castor smiled to himself. He'd already understood the concept from his research into Auristics, but noted down the information anyway. He knew djed was the essence of a person, and that it was through perceiving this essence with Auristics that its users understood aspects of the perceived object or person's nature. It was the stuff that made a person exactly who they were. It was this understanding that made Castor slowly lose colour when he saw Professor Marin form a pool of liquid, explaining in what appeared to Castor an absurdly off-hand way that she'd just expended a part of herself to create it. Oh, so that's what the 'Res' Arvan was asking about was was what his shocked mind came up with. Just because students might find it a bit difficult to understand a concept, she had willingly done this, removed a piece of her core essence. Was she unaware? Of course not, she'd just said as much. Was she that dedicated to her students? It appeared so. The damage had already been done, the djed spent as she had said, so Castor paid close attention to everything the Professor was doing with it. He would not interrupt her class for any reason until she had finished making the point she wanted with her djed, and would be watching and listening with a serious expression and rapt attention.

[Leila]

Glyphing may come from the Ancient Tongue also known as Nador Canoch. Djed makes magic work. Fuel for magic. Leila listened to the woman's foreign words, watching her do... something. Was she doing magic? Then Leila saw what looked like water floating above the Professor's finger. But it looked clearer than water, more akin to glass. It then formed a floating ball, hovering over her hand, and Leila was amazed. It looked a lot like her own magic, though Leila's had a purple sheen to it. But Leila's magic didn't float like hers did, it more flowed, and then stuck to surfaces. Was her own magic Res too? Or was it something else made out of Djed? Is my magic Res? Those who use Res are called Reimancers. Can my magic be used like Res? Is Res fueled by emotion like mine? Neither of the other students spoke, so Leila was hesitant to interrupt, but she needed to know. "Is Reimancy, fueled or attached to a powerful emotion? It... it is awfully similar to something I can do, but I don't know exactly what mine... is."

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna noted the look of surprise and amazement on her student's faces, though Castor looked a little pale when he saw the liquid. He may or may not possess magic, but he was certainly knowledgeable as he appeared to know what she was using. Anna smiled slightly as they scribbled down their notes, they seemed bright when it came to theory, hopefully they could apply that to actually learning glyphing. Maintaining the res was not difficult, it was a small amount and didn't sap much from her. The desire to cast more was a dull throb in the back of her mind at the moment, there but not terrible. She had control, she would not surrender that control. The young professor heard Leila's question and gave her a serious look, sharp and searching. She had admitted to being capable of magic however she didn't know what she controlled. Many wizards were like that, they cast magic at an instinctual level rather than knowing the theory and information behind it. Her question and its nature discounted reimancy immediately, the initiation to reimancy was very painful and was usually a very traumatic point in a Wizards life. The other magic disciplines were something she knew in passing and mostly by name only. She knew a little about Aruistics, and a good amount regarding Reimancy and Glyphing but little else. "Reimancy can be tied to an emotion at times, though emotions have little to do with the learning and casting of it. Leila, see me after class, we will discuss this further after the lesson." Anna said, in a tone that was deadly serious and to the point. After holding the younger woman's gaze for a moment she returned her full attention to continuing the lesson. "It is important to remember that Djed is a part of your very being, as such every time you cast you are spending a piece of yourself. Using to much is more than dangerous, it can be suicidal." She said, focusing on the res and chanting once more. After a minute, the res began to change. A tiny flame soon hovered in the air before her hand, the outer layer transmuted with the inner layer remaining res. Slowly she began to transmute the rest allowing the flame to consume all of her res and fall to the ground at her feet. She quickly stamped out the tiny flame and twisted her foot pointedly. "Using too much Djed can cause one to flicker out and die like a flame, bright at first but ashes and dust afterwards. This is known as overgiving and should be avoided at all costs." She said, walking closer to her students and looking at each one in their turn. "You may ask yourselves what this has to do with Glyphing and the answer is that to understand Glyphing, one must first understand magic, its limitations, and its rules. For Glyphing is a sort of way to bend some of the hard rules of magic. It can potentially remove some of the limitations of your magic and allow you to better understand how all magic is intrinsically connected." She said, turning on her heel and heading back to her desk. The lesson was necessary to understand before moving forward in her class, only through understanding magic and its mechanics could wizard hope to move beyond the normal limitations of magic. It was a difficult and confusing lesson to learn, but one necessary for forming the core of her lessons. Anna turned sharply and clapped her hands together loudly once, a wide grin upon her face. Truly she was most alive when in the classroom, radiant and powerful. "Now then, who is ready to come up here and learn their first rune? First one up here get to practice on me and I guarantee its the only time where a professor is going to ask you to draw something on them." She said, an intensity in her eyes as she looked to her students. The best way to teach this lot was likely going to be hands on demonstration, seeing how glyphs affected magic. It was a little dangerous but Anna was the one taking the risks, her students were learning theory in a practical form. Besides she liked showing off every now and again.

[Tsaba]

Tsaba's hand was in the air as soon as the word rune was out of Dr Marin's mouth. Of course she wanted to draw the rune. But the teacher would probably pick Castor, the experienced literature student, or Leila, who seemed to have actual interesting magic that Dr Marin was personally interested in. Tsaba couldn't really compete with either of those things.

Although she had drawn runes before. Different runes, presumably; she doubted that the body transfer runes had anything to do with glyphing. But what if it did?! She scrawled a note to that effect with her free hand.

She was happy that the class was moving into practical use so quickly. She'd experienced frustration at her own rather narrow limits with Auristics; it would be good to learn some way to enhance it. Not that Auristics had ever really interested her as a practical skill, but it would still be good to learn.

And from somebody who resolved djed into physical form before them as if it was nothing... people had spoken casually of doing such things on Sahova, but they were Nuit; this woman looked to be, what, a quarter of Tsaba's age? A fifth?

How powerful could Tsaba have been by now if she hadn't spent all her time wallowing in sorrow? It looked like she was going to learn something constructive on the mainland after all.

[Castor Riley]

As surprised as Castor was at the demonstration, he still heard Leila's own admission of having magic of some sort. She didn't seem to know much about it, which explained to Castor why she'd joined the class in the first place. Having gotten over his initial shock over Professor Marin's use of her djed, though still a bit shaken up, Castor began to appreciate the wondrous aspect of her magic. Reimancy, as she had called it, appeared to be some sort of magic wherein one could turn their djed into fire. He watched with amazement as she performed the transformation of the liquid ball into flame. He also took careful note of her warning on overgiving. Only then did he truly understand what it meant to overgive. He had always imagined overgiving to come about from overtaxing the brain; actually, it was because you used too much of your very essence to power your magic and had been left with too little. He shivered inwardly at the thought. What would it feel like, to be empty of essence? To lose your identity? He didn't even want to imagine it. When the professor asked for a volunteer for the first rune, Castor hesitantly raised his hand. Tsaba, on the other hand, raised hers perhaps with more enthusiasm than he had ever seen her express. He was surprised to find himself doing this; he kept telling himself he wanted nothing to do with the practice of magic, yet here he was, trying to get himself chosen for a demonstration. Maybe it was that Professor Marin had already done something much more dangerous and he didn't want to disrespect her teaching method. Or maybe Leila's admission had made him feel suddenly inadequate and somehow cowardly for his stance. In any case, he was here to learn, and learn he intended to do. It was up to Professor Marin to choose who she would for this first task.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna grinned at the enthusiasm of Tsaba, she was quite clearly eager to begin learning the art of Glyphing in such a way. The professor also Castor's hesitant raise of his hand, he seemed quite nervous about being anywhere near magic based on his earlier display. Well, she would need to fix that, one needed to possess a certain level of comfort with magic to get into Glyphing. She pointed to Castor with a grin, beckoning him up and gesturing to the bush and ink on her desk. "Castor, your going to learn how to use a focus rune to make reimancy casting smoother and more focused. Tsaba, once I draw the demonstration rune you will copy it to a sheet of parchment and bring it up to me for approval." Anna said decisively. The young professor already had her own brushed dipped in ink and started drawing a focus rune on one of the many piece of parchment that cluttered her desk. She was aiming for a rune good enough to provide and example, it didn't have to be beautifully drawn just functional. She moved her brush over the paper delicately, almost tenderly as she drew the rune. It was rounded in shape and possessed many smaller runes inside of it, it looked like geometric shape which was typically how she drew her runes. The process of drawing too her five chimes as she was trying to be quick about this. Once it was done she started on another one, this one for Tsaba. Another six chimes saw the deed complete. Anna worked her way over to Tsaba's desk and placed the glyph on the sickly looking woman's desk. "Copy this down, it is called a focus rune. It is used as the center of all magic scrolls, think of it as the most basic Glyph." The professor said, returning to her desk. She sat down in her chair and ordered Castor over to her, offering him her open right hand. The thin and light scar across it was a testament to her initiation to reimancy, likely he either wouldn't notice it or wouldn't know what it was. Either way he was an odd student as he spoke as if he knew no practical magic. "Come over here Castor, I don't bite much. You are going to copy the focus rune onto the palm of this hand. Focus runes can be used to eliminate the need to focus where you wish res to be exuded from the body, making casting easier, more efficient and faster." Anna instructed. So far it seemed like her students were at least ready to learn new concepts, hopefully she could present those concepts clearly and in a concise manner. Already she got the feeling that she had left some subjects out of her discussion on Djed.