Without Armor [Kendall]

[Hadrian]

Hadrian's elegant hands slipped around to cup Kendall's cupped hands. With his discerning Auristic vision, he watched the djed pour out of Kendall's hands, noting the differences between his and Hadrian's own. But there were more similarities than differences, and he smiled. "It's not res," he said, "which is good. Try to look the way I taught you, see how your djed and mine are not quite the same. With your will, try to change it so it matches." He watched carefully while Kendall concentrated, trying not to be distracted by the way he bit his lip, by the glow of their combined magic against his skin. Kendall was captivating and Hadrian just didn't know what to do about it. Correcting himself, he looked back down at the djed. "Yes... yes... Yes! That's it. Hold it there. Examine how it feels to you so you can memorize what you need to produce in order to make a Shield." He grinned, inordinately proud of Kendall. "Now are you ready to shape it?"

[Kendall Saarinen]

An excited smile lit up Kendall's face. He had done it! He had made his Djed appear! He felt his focus leaving with the growing excitement. "No, I need to focus. I can't ruin this when I am doing well." He closed his eyes again, trying to reign in his attention. He did not want to lose his Djed now, especially as it flowed so close to Hadrian's. Kendall tried to take in the feeling against his palms. He felt the smooth caress of the Djed as it mingled with Hadrian's. He had to commit the feeling to memory. He had to know the know the feel of the Djed like he knew the feeling of his own clothing. Hadrian's smile caused the corners of Kendall's lips to turn up in a gracious grin. He was happy to see Hadrian smile at him. As their time together went on Kendall found that Hadrian smiled more often and sincerly. "I think I am ready." He was excited to try and use the magic but on the same note, Hadrian would pull away in turn, seperating their Djed. It was necessary though. This was a lesson not a date, he had to keep that in mind.

[Hadrian]

But Hadrian did not pull away his hands, nor his djed, wondering if Kendall would be able to utilize his teacher's djed as well as his own for this. Everything was experimental to Hadrian, a chance to learn more about the nature of things. Also, he liked the feel of Kendall's hands under his own, and the feel of their mingling djed buzzing through the hot flesh. Kendall always seemed to radiate heat. Hadrian got the feeling that such a flame would keep him warm, thaw some of the ice around his soul, but he blinked his eyes and shook his head to clear away such distracting thoughts. Kendall had to learn how to Shield. "Just relax. All magic takes practice. I'm crap at this stuff still..." His eyes widened a bit, taking in the Auristic spectrum as well as the visible light.

[Kendall Saarinen]

To Kendall's surprise Hadrian did not pull away after he admited he was ready. He looked at the hands hovering above his own with only one thought in his mind. How would it feel to hold those hands? To have the fingers run across his chin? Even more so, to have those arms hold him. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. If the sequence of thoughts continued his mind would be on Hadrian's entire body. He repeated Hadrian's words to himself. "Just relax..." He tried to let the feeling of calm come over him but his thoughts still wandered to Hadrian. "Focus..." Learning from Hadrian was much different than other lessons he had encountered at the university. For the most part, the teacher was completely appealing to Kendall although it caused quite a bit of distraction. As Kendall focused he found himself pressuring himself a bit, trying to make the Djed form into the more smooth Djed of sheilding. He borrowed a bit from Hadrian's Djed, letting his own energy even out to Hadrian's. He liked the thought of borrowing a bit of Djed from Hadrian. It felt a bit intimate. Like a part of Hadrian was working to protect him. The Djed started to smoothen out to match Hadrian's. Kendall smiled at him slightly hoping that he did not mind his little stunt of borrowing his Djed. "It is starting to feel a bit smoother... like yours." Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned that last part. Hadrian could have found it a bit strange. He tried to justify it in his mind though. It was all in the name of learning right?

[Hadrian]

"Yes," Hadrian admitted, his Auristic vision wavering at the flush of nervousness that came out of nowhere. That was odd; he was normally in rather precise control of his Auristics now. But he concentrated and it came back into focus. The djed that Kendall had produced was changing to match Hadrian's, and Hadrian slowly let go if his Shielding magic, letting it get swept up into Kendall's control. He gave of himself with trust. That was a first. "Yes, good. Now shape it. You can use your hands if you need to, or you can use your mind. It is of you, so it will respond to your will alone if you are... insistent."

[Kendall Saarinen]

Kendall enjoyed his hands being so close to Hadrian's although they were causing his thoughts so wander elsewhere. Thoughts of what if tumbled around in his mind. He knew they wouldn't amount to anything but he could not help but keep up the daydreams. As long as he kept them to himself he would be safe. He worried that Hadrian's auristic eyes would be able to pick up on his thoughts on the matter, or at least the emotion. He did not want to face the embarassment of Hadrian rejecting him.  When Hadrian pulled his hands away a small frown formed on Kendall's lips. He had to have expected that Hadrian would have pulled away at some point. In Kendall's daydreams the two might have been a little better aquainted but that did nothing for reality. In response to Hadrian's direction Kendall attempted to shape the shield. He was unsure of what shape to choose. It first he simply tried to get the Djed to move. He focused on the energy in his hands and a small smile started to form as he saw it starting to shape. It seemed to quiver and wave a bit under his control. Kendall did not want to mess up with Hadrian's Djed mixing with his own.  "What shape should I try?" Kendall did not know what shapes were usually used by people who used Shielding regularly. He decided on a simple shape, a sphere. His eyes stared intently at the smooth energy in his palms and tried to will it to turn itself into a ball. The Djed started to smoothen out as it started to move together into a sphere. It took a bit of concentration to keep it in this form though. "Is this right or did you want me to try to have it shielding something like you did?" He didn't want to disapoint Hadrian. Not when he was borrowing his Djed.

  

[Hadrian]

Finally, Hadrian was in the moment, but it was an entirely cerebral exercise for him. Later, he might thrill at the feel of hands under his own, the closeness with Kendall. But now it was the sharing of an idea, of a way to shape the world around them to their will. That was not exactly the sort of thrill that lit one's pants on fire, though sometimes it was close in a diffused sort of way. Marveling at the bubble of reflective djed, he smiled. Even to his Auristic vision, there was the glow of energy, but also the relative void within, where his vision, tuned to magical energies, could see naught. "Did you have something in mind when you shaped it?" he asked. "I mean, not with regard to the shape, but with regard to what it blocks? It doesn't matter so much, really. I can just fling something at it to see if it works. You're doing really well, actually. Better than I did at first, but I'm not so good with the personal magics. I'm more of a world discipline... where it's like gadgeteering with energies... But yes, I... Are you ready for me to test it?"

[Kendall Saarinen]

Kendall was unsure if he wanted to share why he had made the shield in the shape that it was. It was silly and a bit childish. He played with the thought of telling Hadrian. Maybe he would find it interesting. Kendall looked intently at the little bubble of energy. "You know the sea off of Zeltiva?" He smiled a bit as he thought of his home. "I wanted to think of something that made me feel safe. My brothers were sailors and I..." He stopped short and blushed as he noticed that Hadrian did not mean the question in that sort of way. "I don't really think I was trying to make it block anything specific. I was just making a shape." He felt embarassed. He could not have given Hadrian a more juvinile answer. Kendall nodded at Hadrian's answer. He was a little worried about what Hadrian would do to "test it". He knew that Hadrian wouldn't hurt him but he couldn't imagine how Hadrian would test his sheild, or even if it would hold up against what ever he chose to do. "I am ready when you are." He tried to think of Zeltiva and the bubbles that the fish and boats made off the harbor. He was not sure if the sentiment behind the shield's shape would do anything to the strength of it but he assumed the thoughts could not hurt.

[Hadrian]

"No, that's good. If you don't purpose a Shield, it just blocks the flow of djed. It's easily tested this way, and... finding that safe feeling will probably help the djed understand what you want from it. It reacts to our desires and commands like that. Now if you'll just float it around waist height here..." He took a grease pencil out of his pocket and carefully drew a glyph of augmentation upon his palm, having learned to save what energy he could when he could because one never knew when the world would demand one's utmost. He circled the glyph with a sealing border, a chain of simple runes that would focus the power even more. It took some effort to draw them out, but it meant he would barely expend any power to test Kendall's shield. It was a fair trade. Next he held his palm down over the globe of Shield energy and let a trickle of power transform into res within the bounds of the sigil on his palm. When the res hit that central glyph, it expanded into a stream of res not yet transmuted into any particular element. The glowing liquid split around Kendall's shield globe, pouring finally to the ground where he allowed it to dissipate without transmuting it into water. Res didn't leave water spots, after all. "Good!"

[Kendall Saarinen]

Kendall was relieved to hear he had not completely made a fool out of himself. He worried the thoughts of home might have been a bit out of place in the magic lesson. To his surprise, the thoughts of the water would only help him, according to Hadrian.  Kendall watched curiously as Hadrian drew something on his hand. He knew what this practice was called. It seemed to be right on the edge of his thoughts. He could not seem to remember what it was called so he simply watched Hadrian as he worked. Kendall liked to see how Hadrian worked with his magic. He was not like other magic users he had met who simply threw their magic around like children with a new toy. His work, even in this act of glyphing seemed to intimate, almost personal. But what did Kendall know? He was brand new to the world of magic. Everything that Hadrian did with his magic amazed him a bit.  As Hadrian held his hand out to tend the shield Kendall felt a little scared. He trusted Hadrian. It was his own skill that he felt uncomfortable with. His thoughts returned to the docks of Zeltiva. He thought of the waves and the smell of the air. These thoughts calmed him as he watched Hadrian's Res split accross Kendall's shield. His eyes grew wide with surprise. He could not believe he had actually just used shielding magic.  Kendall smiled at Hadrian while trying to keep the shield strong in his hands. "I really did it?" He felt a swell of pride as he looked down at his little bubble of a shield. "What was the mark you drew on your hand? Does it change how your magic works?" Kendall felt a little embarassed to ask the seasoned worker of magic about the glyph.  Kendall was anxious to move on to the next part of his lesson, if there was in fact one. Be did not want to seem like he was rushing Hadrian. Just the time the him was good enough for Kendall.