A Deal is a Deal Pt.2 [Annalisa]

[Tallis]

21st Day of Summer Scholar’s Forum A deal was a deal. Professor Annalisa Marin had upheld her side of the agreement and had given him a lesson in glyphing. Now it was his turn to return the favor and give her a lesson in flux. The magical discipline was one that was extremely important to Tallis, and he was quite happy to impart the knowledge. The mentality needed to learn and use flux was one that he had most obviously adapted to his everyday life. Unlike Annalisa, Tallis was much more flexible with the timing and location of his lesson. He had told the professor that he would begin the lesson around 5th bell. When she arrived, she would have to take the time to find him in the grassy park around the Scholar’s Forum. There were only a few trees littered around the area, and Tallis sat alone in the shade of one of them. It shouldn’t have been too hard to find him, but the search acted as a preliminary test of her patience. The location was ideal for learning flux and it was one that they were both familiar with. He suddenly wondered if Anna would see it as a jab at her pride. He could imagine how unhappy she would be if she, a professor of the university, were caught taking a lesson from him, a former student. Hopefully the thought wouldn’t occur to her and the lesson would proceed without a hitch. Ever since the lesson he had received from Anna, he had spent a lot of time thinking about how he would structure his own lesson. He doubted that he could teach as well as the professor did. She spent her time in the company of other professors, the most esteemed educators of the city. Tallis couldn’t do that justice. But he would have to try. Before the professor arrived, he moved into a position for meditation. He crossed his legs and placed his hands upon his knees. His back was held upright to align his body properly and to ensure that he was breathing properly. He inhaled deeply, letting the air fill his stomach and chest before exhaling calmly through his mouth. Unlike glyphing, the only materials needed for flux were a calm mind and a functioning body. Two things that Tallis was glad to have. If Anna had intended to take notes throughout the lesson, she would be sorely disappointed. Of course, she would have an opportunity to write anything she wanted at the beginning of the lesson. But for the most important and crucial parts, she would have to commit things to memory rather than parchment.

[Annalisa Marin]

OOCIf you are looking for a free date for the thread check my plotnotes, it lists what days are free in the season and which are not.

Anna was both pleased and displeased, elated and spiteful, a mix of conflicting emotions that served only to fuel one or the other. The wizard strode through the Scholar's Forum on her way to the agreed upon meeting place, one slightly too open for her tastes. Still, considering the prize at the end of this Anna was more than willing to expose her nature to the world. The promise for further knowledge, and by extension power, had brought her here.

She was elated at the prospect of studying this Flux with the same diligence that she had Reimancy, to uncover its inner secrets and warp them to her needs. From her brief observation of it, Flux had allowed Tallis to achieve a feat of superhuman levels. If she could push her own body to that level then there would be very little she could not accomplish. It was invaluable in every sense of the word.

Her frustration was borne from being taught by the man who had defeated her, seemingly salt upon the wound. The wizard could give less of a petch what any of her 'colleagues' would think about this if they saw it, they were lesser than her and thus their opinions mattered not. Tallis was also technically a lesser, however he was more useful than most so that afforded him a reprieve from her ire. She still wanted to curse him in a number of horrible ways, perhaps the impulse would be acted upon after she had what she needed. Until that time, he was too useful to harm or damage irreparably.

Anna searched for a minute or two before finding Tallis, he was not hidden that well and had made a point of choosing an easy to see location. Good, that meant he was not going to waste her time. The tall wizard had not brought any writing materials, seeing as flux appeared to be classified as a personal magic there was likely very little writing that needed doing. If some information sounded necessary to note on paper she could always write it down at a later date.

The wizard approached Tallis, not scowling but her eyes were narrowed slightly. She placed a hand on her hips and regarded him for a moment before speaking.

"I am here, Tallis. Its time you hold your end of our deal. What must be done for me to be able to practice Flux?" Anna said, cutting out any unnecessary pleasantries and getting straight to the point.

The sooner she learned what Tallis could teach, the sooner she could explore the discipline on her own. It would also mean that his usefulness would be at its end and she might have the opportunity to finally curse him horribly, her defeat would finally be vindicated. Still, business before pleasure.

[Tallis]

oocSorry for the ridiculously late replies. School has been… unforgiving. But it’s a national holiday, and I couldn’t let our threads just die. Although I highly doubt you still regard Tallis as much of a rival The tall woman loomed over Tallis, especially so in his sitting position. Staring up at her, Tallis almost felt like a child again. It was an unnerving feeling. “It’s… nice to see you again, professor.” He patted the ground in front of him, “Please, take a seat.” From the icy glare she was giving him, it was clear that she was ready to skip the chit-chat and simply get down to business. Tallis decided to comply. There was really no benefit in making this woman unhappy. “I’ve promised to teach you the basics today, but I must warn you ahead of time. You won’t be able to accomplish the feats that I did with one lesson. It will take a lot of practice, even for someone of your caliber. Now, I know you might want to jump right into the practical lesson, but as your teacher, I want you to understand what you’re getting yourself into. I was new to magic when I started learning flux. I was rash and impulsive. I don’t want you to suffer the consequences I did.” Tallis thought back to when he had learned flux at his time with the university. He had spent many nights lying awake in agonizing pain, much to the amusement of his room-mate. There were many days spent coping with the aching and stinging pain that accompanied attempts at moves that were far beyond his capabilities. “First, you should understand exactly what flux is. Flux is a combat magic. Unlike reimancy, which can be used constructively, flux serves the singular purpose of making the user more deadly. Any other use is a waste and a misuse of the magical discipline. Now to understand how flux makes the user so much better at combat, you must understand that everyone has two bodies: the physical body, which is attached by nerves to our astral body. The astral body controls the physical body. Think of it this way. What is the difference between a living person and a fresh corpse? They are both made of skin, bones, and blood. But one can move and the other cannot. The difference is that a corpse lacks an astral body. A corpse has no soul and no astral body, and without an astral body, our physical bodies are useless. By using flux, we take greater control of that astral body. We harness the djed that flows through our body’s pathways and we use it to push past our physical limits. Normally, the astral body keeps us in check. It prevents us from moving too quickly, or lifting things that are too heavy. By controlling the astral body with Flux, I can redirect the astral body’s djed, making the physical body accomplish great feats.” Tallis looked at Anna, “Do you understand what you’re getting yourself into? If you have any questions or concerns, voice them now.”

[Annalisa Marin]

OOCNot to worry Tallis, I am perfectly willing to be patient. Indeed! Hopefully Anna will be a master of reimancy before the season is out.

Anna disliked having to play the part of student to someone like Tallis, however it was an unfortunate part of gaining further arcane knowledge. If she wanted to advance as a wizard she needed the power the other wizard offered, as degrading as it was. Compared to teaching him glyphing this was far more important, glyphing was hardly a massively powerful discipline earlier on only later when scroll and sigil construction became more pronounced did it truly increase a wizard's potential. Just watching Tallis' little display Anna saw many possibilities for using such a power.

The tall woman sat before the other wizard, her grey eyes locking firmly on him. She refrained from rolling her eyes at his initial warnings, she knew that she was going to be very limited at first. That was true for every form of magic, at first one was going to stumble unless they were very careful. Anna was an accomplished wizard, so she already knew these things Tallis repeating them seemed redundant.

When he finally started explaining the concepts of what Flux was she found her interest piqued. So it was primarily a combat magic, that was interesting though Anna wondered at the possible academic values of it as well. Tallis seemed to think it was only useful as a combat discipline but the woman had her own theories, she'd simply have to experiment later on down the line when she became more comfortable with the discipline. For now she took the Flux user's words to heart and listened.

Anna vaguely recalled hearing about the concept of the two bodies, physical and astral. In a way it made sense, when she glyphed certain parts of her body they followed along pathways to deliver res to key points. The astral body seemed to resemble the concept of the soul, though Anna wondered if the two were interchangeable or not. Tallis described a corpse as lacking an astral body AND a soul, indicating a possible difference between the two. This would certainly be a subject for future study.

The astral body seemed to be a go between from what Anna was understanding, a means of Djed movement and travel. It seemed a gross oversimplification but that seemed to be the case, Djed moved along 'highways' or 'paths' along the astral body which made magic possible. Thereby Anna postulated that Flux was not only a combat magic, but by understanding it and the astral body one could gain a better understanding of how Djed interacted with the body. Question had been answered thus far, but they only bred further ideas and theories. Anna opted to keep them to herself.

Anna's gaze met with Tallis', an odd kind of chaotic intensity in the dull grey orbs. She had much more reason to learn Flux now, it could very well open up an entirely new field of study regarding the very nature of Djed.

"I have no questions Tallis, everything seems rather straight forward to me. The main difference from reimancy I see is that instead of manipulating the elements, you are manipulating your body through Djed expenditure. I can assume that the consequences of misusing Flux take on a much more... physically traumatic form. Nonetheless, I'm ready." Anna replied, nodding in assent.

She very much wanted this, to learn this discipline despite the associated risks. The pursuit of power had its dangers, in this case the shattering of her body. However if she shied away from it now then she was certainly no true wizard, she'd be a mere pretender to the name. She could do this, she just needed to be very careful about it.