PM to join Playing with Fire [Uschi]

[Annalisa Marin]

34th of Summer, 513 AV The sound of water lapping upon the shore crept closer and closer to Anna's ears as she made her way over the hills a few bells east of Zeltiva. She had seen the need to find a new place to test her magic outside of the city, as the forests of the wilds were far too flammable for her current research into the ways of fire and lava. She tromped her way through the foot hills to the shores of Matthews Bay, set on finding her new practice grounds with the sounds of the Bay all around her. It was oddly calming in nature, even more so that the sounds of the forested wilds. The young professor stepped foot on the beach, sighing in relief as she looked upon the endless stretching of water around her and the sight of the distant port city she called home. Anna let her hair fall about her face out of her normal ponytail and set about examining the beach. It was barren of anything but sand and the odd pieces of drift wood, it was perfect for her purposes. The young professor could feel the heat glaring down upon her from the cloudless skies, this summer's humidity and heat was harsh to be sure. Normally she would have kept to the indoors but she needed to get on this practice before the heat reached unbearable levels to make using fire an impossibility. Anna was confident that she could accomplish her goals before the heat had adverse affects in her. She slipped her backpack off her shoulders and laid her cloak out on the sand, slipping her feet out of her boots. The young wizard sat upon her cloak cross legged and began to meditate, controlling the flow of her breath in and out of her lungs. She breathed in through her nose and out her mouth, noting the heat of the air with mild distaste. The smell of the Bay was odd to her, at least from where she was sitting. It had a different quality about it that it did when she was smelling it from the docks. Anna felt the glare of the sun bearing down on her but she continued her breathing exercises, focused and intent on clearing her mind of all distractions. The heat was shaping up to be a pretty big distraction from where she was sitting. She struggled to block that out as she continued on in her attempts to clear her mind off distraction, to create an island amidst the chaos of her mind. Clarity was much more difficult to achieve than it usually was, as the heat was bearing down harshly on her. Anna was wondering if she would have time to go through the full motions of her routine in this weather. After a few more chimes of trying to clear her mind Anna opened her eyes. She didn't have the time for this today, she needed to move through this fast. That meant she needed to skip her meditation and stretches and go straight to Glyphing in preparation for heavy casting today. Anna pulled her brush and ink from the backpack and set about applying her runes to her hands. Anna noticed that the quality of the runes was much below her normal results, not terribly so but clearly the heat was causing adverse affects on her abilities. The runes were also hastily drawn and looked rather poor to her own eyes, dreadful even but such was the adverse affects of todays intense heat. She stood when the Glyphs were complete, stepping forward onto the sand which stuck in between her toes uncomfortable a irritated her skin. Anna stepped into the moist part of the sand, where the water playfully lapped at her feet. She held her hands out before her and started a low chant in the Ancient Tongue, mostly gibberish as usually. The res formed more smoothly than if she did not have glyphs on her hands but it was certainly much more rough than normal as the Glyphs were hardly perfect. The res was not a liquid this time but rather a gaseous cloud that permeated from her hands filling the air around her with a useable amount of material for later use. The casting caused the urge to rise in her mind, filling her with promises of power and visions of grandeur. She pushed them aside as she sheathed her hands with liquid res and started giving shape to a large ball of res, roughly the size of a mans torso, a large spell to be sure. She willed the ball forward igniting its out layers first as she moved it further from her body, feeling the heat radiate from it uncomfortably. The young wizard could feel sweat forming on her brow from the heavy res expenditure, not just from the ball but from the cloud surrounding her. Anna willed the ball, this 'Fireball', to move with increased speeds to the edge of her zone of control. Once it reached near the edge she willed the non transmuted res to split from the whole, creating a number of magical projectiles of flame which she transmuted wholly to fire as they exited her zone of control, creating a quite literal shower of flames over the water. Anna grinned savagely as the heavy casting hit her adversely, gods it felt glorious to use the powers of the universe like toys. She was beyond the mere mortals that walked the streets of Zeltiva. Anna had difficulty pushing down the heavy desire to try that attack again and instead admired the rain of fire as it sizzled out when it hit the water, giving rise to steam. The young wizard readied herself for further casting with the cloud that surrounded her. The heat was horrid but the young wizard was too caught up in the urge to cast more to notice such a trivial thing.

[Uschi]

Breathing.

Heavy breathing.

The scent of fur, enveloped by warmth and nature.

Uschi opens her eyes, huffing gently. She blinks twice, slowly, then stands. Gingerly the bear pushes the remains of her most recent meal away from her. She stretches. Her snout tips up, inhaling deeply. She smells the salty air from the Bay, mingled with the fresher inland kind. She takes one step, then another. Feels the dirt and grass beneath her paws. She listens. Uschi hears birds and the chittering of small animals. Her ears flick, and she turns her head. Something else, not quite natural, but it's near the water.

She shakes twigs from her pelt, then begins walking, which turns into a run, the Wildlands whipping by in a blur. She smells ink, amongst other things. When she reaches the beach, she skids to a halt, sand spraying up between her claws. A woman, adorning her hands with strange symbols. She had smelled this woman before. She was a professor, at the University in the city. Now she was chanting, in a language Uschi didn't understand. Something was forming around her hands, a gas, which condensed into liquid. It began to shape into a ball, about the size of a man's torso. Uschi tilted her head, curious.

Uschi could both see and smell the sweat on the woman, carefully moving forwards across the sand in order to not startle her.

The liquid ignited, and the professor moved the ball across the water. It became something akin to a shower of flames, and Uschi blinked at the brightness of it. A slight growl escaped her, and she had to squint. Flashes of fire erupted in her mind, and the growl grew in intensity. She wouldn't allow this woman, no matter how skilled she was in manipulating the natural world, to hurt anyone. Bracing herself, Uschi roared loudly to gain the notice of the woman across the sand. Hopefully she wouldn't be too caught up in her casting to not hear it, but then again Uschi could be pretty loud when she wanted to be. The heat penetrated her fur, causing her to sweat a little bit as well, but kept her stance.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna heard the roar from behind and quickly turned her gaze away from her work, ready to unleash the cloud of res that surrounded her upon whatever dared to intrude upon her practice. The urge surged in her mind as she noted what had roared with a slight twinge of fear, a large bear had adopted a hostile stance with her looking ready to attack. The wizard's mind immediately went into defensive mode, the urge taking over her movements as she moved the invisible cloud of res to the creature. She was going to fill its lungs with res before igniting it if there was not something that caught her attention immediately.

The cloud drew closer to the bear, if the creature breathed any it, it would note that it was as if it's body had been invaded by an acutely felt alien force. Res itself was quite the potent weapon on its own, saying nothing about its ability to transmute to dangerous elements. If the bear dared to try and charge her then she would ignite the cloud, which would easily catch the things fur ablaze in an intense heat.

What the petch was a bear doing out this far away from the main part of the Wildlands anyway? It was an oddity, one that Anna would ponder over when the threat was ended and the bear either fled or was dead. The young wizard did not intend to become a meal for some stupid creature that dared to intrude upon her practice. She held the power of earth and fire at her beck and call, this creature just has physical mass and great muscle. It was no contest in her mind who was superior.

The wizard narrowed her eyes as the cloud began to settle over her target, it would start noticing the rather uncomfortable effects soon as it breathed in the res.

[Uschi]

Uschi's breathing was heavy, both from the heat and the long run from the Wildlands. She could see the slight fear in the professor's eyes as she looked at her. Her instincts suddenly bubbled up, telling her to run because there was something else behind the fear. Pushing the urge down, she breathed deeply. Immediately her throat burned fiercely, and she turned and ran a good distance away. She changed into human form, the fang around her neck bouncing against her bare stomach. She tripped over a protruding root, falling face-first and frantically clawing her way in the general direction of a pond that she knows is nearby. Uschi coughs, trying to expel the thing that makes her burn.

OOCSorry about the quality, I'm half-asleep.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna noted coldly as the bear immediately reacted to the res entering its system bolting in the opposite direction. The young wizard was about to transmute it to fire before the creature exited her zone of control before noting that the shift she had become so used to seeing in recent days. In the place of the bear was a naked woman who was running a good distance away from her, Anna pursued immediately, leaving her possessions on the beach as she bolted as fast as she could to the woman.

Another Kelvic? To think I had only read about them before and now they have become all to common. The young professor thought.

She slowed as the woman tripped over a root, frantically clawing her way towards something. Anna stalked her way up to the crawling woman, a little tired from running a bit. Abruptly the wizard stomped on the Kelvic's back, hard. This creature dared to threaten her, how dare she, how dare she? Anna intended to draw out the pain for as long as she could.

"If you even think of shifting the res in your lungs will be flames faster than you can even think of striking me." The wizard threatened, the icy tone of her voice far from friendly.

She ground her heel into the Kelvic's back, taking a sadistic satisfaction in watching this kelvic suffer for her offence. Anna was the last person one wanted to be at the mercy of, she was nearly bereft of pity and possessed almost zero remorse when it came to killing people. Why should she pity her lesser? She could call upon the power of the elements with a toss of her hand, she was a god compared to the rest of the mere mortals. Magic had a way of twisting ones mind horrifically, it was what defined Anna as a person, one warped by the very powers she wielded.

She took control of the res now inside this woman, a sick idea coming to her mind as she moving deeper inside of her respiratory system. Really this woman had been at the wrong place at the wrong time, and now that the res was inside of her Anna had no intentions of letting her just go. Not without causing some trauma to her.

"Do you want the pain to stop? Do you want me to pull the res out of your system and let you flee from me?" Anna said, stepping off and roughly kicking the woman in the side.

"Then beg, plant kisses on my feet and grovel for my forgiveness. I'll kill you in an instant if you try anything and if you don't satisfy me I'll make this pain seem gentle in comparison." The wizard promised darkly.

The words carried the seed of a curse, one that would heighten her sense of fear and plague her sleep with nightmares of this moment. The seed was easily planted, it would take a couple of days to manifest and would only last a week but night terrors would plague her for a week.

Cruelty was not normally something she indulged in, but Anna was feel vengeful towards the pathetic creature. She wanted her to break down and recognize her fault, and to reaffirm her place in the world in Anna's eyes.

[Uschi]

The woman's foot slammed into Uschi's back and she tried to scream, but it came out as a weak wheeze.

"If you even think of shifting the res in your lungs will be flames faster than you can even think of striking me."

She could hear the threat in the professor's voice. The heel of her foot ground into the already-bruised tissues, causing her to whimper. She wanted to shift, to have some power back, but she was afraid of this woman. So, so afraid. She didn't want to harm the professor, just keep her from accidentally harming others... There was obviously a misunderstanding, and now what she wanted to prevent was happening to her.

"Do you want the pain to stop? Do you want me to pull the res out of your system and let you flee from me?"

She stepped off and Uschi attempted to get up, but recieved a terribly painful kick in the side.

"Then beg, plant kisses on my feet and grovel for my forgiveness. I'll kill you in an instant if you try anything and if you don't satisfy me I'll make this pain seem gentle in comparison."

Uschi laid there, gasping, feeling the burning in her throat and chest. It hurt almost too much. She got up on her knees, despite the pain, and complied to the wizard's wishes.

"Please... Please stop the pain. I-I wasn't trying to harm you, I was... afraid, that you would accidentally harm others!"

By this time tears were streaking Uschi's cheeks, and she felt ashamed of herself to be in this position. She wasn't sure if the woman was truly serious about kissing her feet, but she didn't want to die, so she did as the woman asked. Her words were interrupted by bouts of coughing, which only worsened the pain inside her. Uschi could feel the bruise already, and whatever she inhaled moving through her system.

"Please, just take away the pain! I'm sorry for everything! Don't kill me, ma'am!"

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna heard her groveling explanations but the only served to incense her further, however the woman's pathetic mewling was amusing enough to where Anna had already decided to spare her life. She could feel the tears dripping slowly on her feet as the pained woman kissed them frantically, clearly she was distraught. She intended to make sure this woman never ever forgot this moment, when she made a terrible mistake in angering Annalisa Marin.

Anna bent down and seized the Kelvic's hair in her hands, and pulling her up to eye level. The glare she leveled at the woman was reserved for people who she was about to kill, a horrible glare that burned into one's eyes. She drew the woman painfully close and forced her to keep her gaze, never releasing it.

"That was where you belonged, worm. At the feet of your betters, begging for mercy and forgiveness. You are nothing, though I admire your courage and your subservience. They are quite amusing to me. In fact the may have just bought you your insignificant life." The wizard growled.

Anna wanted this kelvic to know how much she had been dominated, to know exactly who was superior here. She wanted her to know that she only lived by Anna's good graces, to know just how low she stood in the order of things.

"I'll free you from the pain, of everything. I'll even let you continue to live and flee if you wish. I want you to kneel, look me in the eye and say 'I'm sorry Mistress, please forgive me and spare my worthless life.' Then you are going to bow your head to the ground and kiss my foot again. Do that with all the meaning you can and I'll take away your pain." Anna said, jerking the woman's head back viciously.

She was going to crush everything this woman was, and leave her broken and crying in a heap in the Wildlands. Anna wanted this kelvic to suffer long after she was finished with her, to wince in terror if she ever saw her again. This was the price she paid for daring to think of threatening her.

Just to drive the point home of how helpless she was before the wizard, Anna moved the res about inside of her again. It was so very difficult to resist the urge to just transmute it to liquid and watch her slowly drown, but she resisted. Killing the woman would do nothing for her, tormenting her was far more satisfying.

Anna released her hold on the woman's hair and back handed her as hard as she was able. She was proving to be an excellent outlet for her anger.

[Uschi]

OOCYikes, not only will Uschi be afraid of Anna, but I'm scared of her now! And I'm half-expecting Anna to capture Uschi or something as a slave or for experiments... That would be terrible D:

The professor grasped her hair, pulling up to glare into her eyes. Uschi whimpered, her own hands wrapped around the woman's wrists in an effort to ease the pain. She could feel the glare and shrank away from it, but couldn't tear her gaze away.

"That was where you belonged, worm. At the feet of your betters, begging for mercy and forgiveness. You are nothing, though I admire your courage and your subservience. They are quite amusing to me. In fact the may have just bought you your insignificant life."

"T-thank you, ma'am!" A few precious moments of relief bloomed in Uschi, but were quickly crushed by the wizard's next words.

"I'll free you from the pain, of everything. I'll even let you continue to live and flee if you wish. I want you to kneel, look me in the eye and say 'I'm sorry Mistress, please forgive me and spare my worthless life.' Then you are going to bow your head to the ground and kiss my foot again. Do that with all the meaning you can and I'll take away your pain."

She made a half-hearted noise, the woman wrenching her head back and causing her to see spots. A bright flash of pain throughout her entire face, then she fell to the ground in a kneel, her Kelvic nature to serve taking over in an attempt to stop the pain. "Yes, Mistress. I'm sorry, Mistress. Please, forgive me and-," a sob interrupted her words, "and spare my worthless life. Please."

She pressed her feelings and the meaning of the words into them. Bowing her head, she kissed the professor's foot once more, shame again crashing into her. The feeling of the inhaled gas moving about made her vomit, but she managed to turn to the side instead of dirtying her superior's shoes. Wiping her mouth, Uschi dared not look up at the woman, but instead stayed crouching with her head down, waiting for whatever came next, hoping her terror was obvious enough.

[Annalisa Marin]

OOCWell, good to know Anna can strike fear into the hearts of others! Guess that means I succeed as a writer.

Anna allowed a slow grin to cross her features as the woman spoke the words, subservience clear in her words. It made her feel powerful, that she had reduced this woman into a crying and broken mess, one who groveled and begged for mercy. The woman dared not look up, just sniffle and gasp in pain. The young wizard was pleased by the results of her tormenting.

"I am your better, always remember that Annalisa Marin is your better in every way possible. If I give you a command I expect you to obey it, no matter how humiliating or horrible. You will always call me Mistress if you ever see me and you will avert your gaze quickly unless I command otherwise. Engrain this in your memory." Anna said, her voice still very harsh.

Anna held the res within the kelvic for a moment longer before drawing it slowly from her body and out into the air. The res came out in a gaseous form and formed closely around Anna, slowly working its way back into her own body. It felt glorious as the res returned to its master, making her feel a little less tired from casting.

She turned her gaze to the woman on the ground, her gaze icy once more as her grey eyes fell upon her. Anna felt that she had sufficiently dominated the kelvic but wanted to make absolutely sure the lesson had seeped into her.

"Go and get my belongings, we are returning to Zeltiva. Know that you can tell the Wave Guards whatever you wish, I will simply claim self defense. They will believe a professor over a worthless kelvic any day." Anna said imperiously.

"Try to run and I guarantee I'll make your demise something that will make that pain seem like a mercy." She promised.

The young professor felt confident in the claim, not only that but the fear she likely still felt was probably going to work in her favor. Anna loved the feeling of control, it was almost as euphoric as casting and lasted much longer depending on who she was controlling. She was going to enjoy this for as long as she could.

[Uschi]

OOCSucceeded as a writer you have; I am utterly terrified now of Anna o~o

She nodded slightly, frightened thoroughly of the powerful woman. "Yes, Mistress. I will remember it and do as you see fit."

The gas was drawn slowly from her, and the burn fled with it. She took a deep breath, quietly wiping away the tears. Uschi could feel the icy gaze, and flinched ever-so-slightly. The woman commanded her to gather her belongings, and she stood. Trudging to where she had first spotted her, she looked about the sand until she found them. Taking care to not drag them on the ground, Uschi pulled them onto her back and lumbered back to her new master. She knew her words to be true, that the Wave Guard would believe a high-ranking professor over a wild Kelvic, and she was too afraid to even think of running from the woman.

"Mistress, would it be more suitable if I changed back into my natural form? It would be easier to carry your belongings and take less time to get back to Zeltiva..." She was overly aware of Mistress Marin's motions, ready for a painful strike or some other punishment. A tiny part of her mind protested, saying that this wasn't right, that the woman was a small lump of flesh that could easily be defeated with the advantage of surprise. The voice whispered to her that she was a strong bear, and that her being a slave would be wrong in all ways.

It wanted her to run away, to get out of the woman's reach and find a hidden place, but she knew that the professor would find her. It said Kelvics are superior.

But the voice succumbed to the fear that overwhelmed Uschi, and her shoulders dropped as well as her gaze, her head lowered in submission. She knew that she had to be extremely powerful to make her like that in such a short time. There must have been some sort of divine power behind her words as well, because she could feel the effect of them. They were binding.