[East Wing] An Illuminating Experience (Minerva)

by **Marcus Dymez** on June 25th, 2012, 1:21 am

Marcus was quite relieved when the professor found his way over to his table, as the woman next him was visibly quite addled. He would have stopped her himself, but it was better to have a voice of actual authority step in in on such a situation. This only solidified Marcus' impression of Tock, and his smile gently set itself as the young wizard's voice came out in an encouraging tone. "A rest would be best right now. Once your head clears we can try again." Marcus stifled a chuckle as he thought back on the unintentional pun he had managed, and then immediately regretted his amusement.

When Tock returned, Marcus could immediately tell she was in better form. Despite the expression she carried that showed her disappointment in having to be pulled away, Marcus could see the determination clearly in her eyes. As the instructor glanced over to him, Marcus was slightly surprised to be suddenly charged with a responsibility. For a moment, he was quite proud, and thought perhaps he knew this professor from his other pursuits. His mind scoured the list of acquaintances in his head, before he suddenly felt quite embarrassed at the thought.

Compared to a first-time novice, Anyone who wasn't light-headed by now was either somewhat-competent or lazy.

A slight nod and a polite small was the reply Marcus gave to the instructor as he walked off, visiting various tables to answer mundane questions. The young scholar did not envy him. Not in the least. Marcus turned back to Tock, a standard-fare smile subconsciously gracing his expression, as emerald eyes gazed over to her. His voice carried softly on the air between them, as he began to extend a few more pointers before she gave another attempt. "Yes, a lens works I suppose. But do not simply say that in your mind and imagine one. You have to actually manifest and create a 'lens' with your own djed. Also, as I'm guessing you haven't delved into magic like this before, but be careful of how much you put into this. Auristics is power-hungry enough when done right, so you have to be careful of over-exerting yourself. Slow and steady. Do that, and you'll be great."

Marcus flashed Tock a playful smirk as he wished her luck, and sincerely hoped for the best. He honestly did not want to deal with a disappointed professor or an unconscious woman right now, especially one in such rough shape. Although, this was quite more interesting than actual Auristics to him, and Marcus was thankful for that much.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on June 25th, 2012, 3:59 am

"Manifest Djed... aye..." Tock muttered. She didn't know how to do that. She was used only to manipulating Djed with the use of specific methods and techniques, following the teachings she'd learned in Magecrafting and Animation. She didn't know how to do it any other way.

Focus was hard, with how tired and beat up she was. Her exhaustion made her finally give in to the idea of taking it slow. She stopped trying to force it, and just relaxed, staring at the rat. She stared and stared and stared, ignoring the rest of the room. She thought about the rat, its fur, its tail, its twitchy little nose. She thought about the understanding she would have of those things if she was transferring the rat's knowledge into an Automaton. If the rat were the source, she would be able to see and feel all of its thoughts and energy as she guided their flow. She focused on that, on the individual sensations of the rat. She watched its movements and pictured the Djed she would have sensed during an Animation transfer depicting those movements. She watched its twitchy nose and thought about how she would transfer its senses through the circles. Slowly, gradually, she focused on the rat, thinking about every aspect of it.

Eventually, she started to get that afterimage again. She frowned, wondering why that kept happening. Curious about it, she didn't brush it away this time, and instead focused on it. She watched, and slowly it expanded. She kept focusing on it, a little at a time, letting it grow. It was light, and thin, and twitchy just like the rat. It kind of smelled.

Tock sat back, rubbing at her eyes. Her head was starting to pound just a little again. "Oy, why can't she done been easier, aye?" she asked. "'Is's 'ard. I think I done needs a break..." She hated admitting defeat. Normally, when she was faced with a problem, it was just a matter of how many measurements she had to make, or how many adjustments until the pieces fit together. This didn't seem to be that sort of problem. She wasn't sure how to tackle it. Though she was starting to get an idea how it worked, it just wasn't... easy.

by **Marcus Dymez** on June 26th, 2012, 5:41 am

Marcus watched intently with emerald orbs as Tock began her next attempt. He had been optimistic in his speech, but if the first try was any clue, this woman was not one to give up so easily. In the realm of magic, especially for novices, that could easily transform from an admirable quality to a fatal flaw. That was why Marcus watched her for any signs of fatigue, his eyes slowly shifting between the features of her face, as well as body posture. He let out a soft sigh a moment later as he realized how futile his effort truly was; with all of her bruises and injuries Tock would have to faint to make it clear to Marcus.

After a minute or two of eerie quiet, Marcus noticed a familiar expression slowly forming on his classmate's face, and cautiously reached out to gently dislocate her from her concentration. However, his hand had only made it about half the short distance when she "came to" of her own accord, her face visibly soured from the results. When she spoke, Marcus couldn't help but laugh at her words.

Perhaps it was partly due to her strong accent (Marcus loved himself a good accent), but somehow the irony of her speech found a sweet spot in the young scholar's mind. He spoke up with a playful grin, his demeanor slowly lightened as he realized he was playing instructor today. "Magic is never easy; The trick is to master the difficulty." Marcus's mind had hastily composed that mantra on the spot, and he was quite proud of the result.

When Tock mentioned a break though, Marcus was more than happy to oblige. As fond as he was of the chance to play at fulfilling the mentor role, Auristics simply was no longer appealing to him. If he was to teach, it would be with something he had more experience with and more fervor towards. That being said, Marcus was eager to use this break to learn a bit more about this curious woman beside him. His voice came up softly and casual; a quiet conversation in a crowded tavern.

"A break it is then. I hope you don't mind my curiosity, but is this your first taste of magic? Most students around here tend to lean more on the hesitant side, but you've seen to gone off the other side of the spectrum." Marcus flashed a playful grin at the last of his words, tapping his temple with a single finger as he continued. "You have to be careful about overdoing it, especially when you're dealing around here." As a small chuckle slipped past his slips, Marcus' gaze shifted, his eyes finally taking notice of the strange contraption hidden in plain sight. It was a curious machine, and suddenly the questions to be asked multiplied like rabbits. His curiosity tinged his thoughts in a way that could easily be construed as a fighter's mentality.

Who was this woman, and what was she capable of?

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on June 27th, 2012, 12:22 am

"Nah," Tock replied, leaning back and getting more comfortable in her seat. She wanted to take a nap. "'Is's my first what wit' 'is kind o' magic, but I's a Grand Powerful Magus, I is." Casually unaware that she was demonstrating those words with her actions, she pulled Grippy from her hip, and aimed him at the water pitcher the teacher had left across the room. She touched the Automaton's handle and the metal arm extended, gears turning and the guiding chain uncoiling as the metal claw reached across the room. A flick of her thumb across the back of the handle clamped the metal claw down on the pitcher, and then she retracted the tool, held the pitcher near her glass, and flicked her thumb another way to rotate the claw on its base to pour the water. She then reversed the whole process and returned the pitcher to its place, still chatting casually as if this were an everyday thing for her, "I's jus' done gotta learn what 'ow ta read magic stuff, aye? 'At's why I's 'ere..."

She drank to refresh herself after the strain, wishing she could understand this strange new type of magic faster. It had taken her two years to get as good at Animation as she was now, but she hadn't felt this frustrated when she first started learning that and didn't know what she was doing. Of course, her stress now was due to concern for her baby, Cutty. He was the whole reason she was here. She needed to learn how to better understand what was wrong with him. Only then could she make him better.

"I's gonna learn 'er, though," she said confidently. "Ain't what done nothin' what I can't does, aye? Anythin' is possible." She held Grippy in her lap, petting him. The metal claw flicked here and there when her fingers brushed across the parts of the handle that dictated his controls. She started thinking about what Grippy's aura would be like. Whether she would be able to sense it better than the rat. After she cleared her head a bit, she'd try it. Learning an Automaton's aura was what she was here for, after all.

She looked around the room at the other students. They didn't seem to be trying as hard as she was. They were taking it seriously, sure, but they weren't putting their hearts into it. Maybe they didn't know what it was like to have a loved one sick and injured, waiting for you to fix them. The ungrateful dodgers. They should be ashamed of themselves. She frowned, scowling at the lot of them. Didn't they know what was at stake? Couldn't they see? You couldn't just wait for things to happen. You had to do them yourself. It was the only way to prevent death from taking what you cared most for. Tock had made that mistake in her youth, but this time it would be different. This time, she'd stop death. She had the power. This magic would help her understand the auras of life, and thus understand death. And once she understood it, she would conquer it. She had already learned to make creations, people, that would never leave her. And soon she'd not only learn how to make Cutty better, but how to make it so death couldn't take anyone she cared about away from her, ever again...

by **Marcus Dymez** on June 27th, 2012, 4:17 am

When Marcus heard Tock exclaim she was a "Grand Magus" in her rough accent, the irony of the two parts almost set the young scholar into a laughing fit. He did not mean it in any offense, but this woman did not fit the stereotypical magnate that came to mind at such words. Regardless, there was no denying that the tool she bore with her was impressive, and Marcus came to the realization that her words had been a jest; the magic of technology being her art. He assumed this was a personal work of hers, and it seemed to compliment the other strange device she had with her. Through the broad studies of his first years at the University, Marcus had learned enough about mechanics to simply know it was complicated, and now even more questions about this increasingly-curious woman erupted into his mind. He watched with subdued awe as her tool stretched out and retrieved the pitcher of water. And, as if that wasn't enough, Marcus smirked to himself as he watched her show-off and pour herself a glass with the machine. It was quite remarkable, once all was said and done.

Marcus had watched the entire display with curious eyes and a silent voice, but as Tock refreshed herself, literally, not figuratively, the young scholar took this moment to speak. "Well, I must say that is quite impressive. Your work speaks for itself." Marcus thought to himself for a brief moment about the inventions and constructions that rattled around in this woman's head, and wondered how far her skills truly extended. All of these thoughts were silenced however once his eyes had started to subtly wander from his polite gaze, and settled onto the small tool in her lap...

She was petting it.

Now, to be honest, there was a moment in which Marcus considered this woman was just slightly crazy, and owned a house full of inanimate tools she considered dear friends. Many wizards in the University ended up with some form of insanity, and it was not as rare as many people believe. There was a reason the Asylum existed, after all. But there was more to this, and Marcus could see it plainly in Tock's eyes; they held a solid sense of determination that this sane wizard knew quite well. His mind quickly hitched itself onto her previous words, eager to find some answer to this sight that didn't involve asking about it. This kind of magic, she had said. Marcus did not process it fully the first time around, due to the thickness of her accent, but it made sense now. She was indeed some sort of magus, but not at the same scale as Marcus. Whereas Marcus relied on the power of his own being, Tock pulled her power from the world itself. It was a difference as deep as night and day, which helped to explain her difficulty at this pursuit. Marcus had only picked up Auristics because it seemed like a peculiar form of "personal" magic, as the senior registrars tend to call it, but Marcus never really felt the personality of it. It was for that reason that the arts of Webbing, Summoning, and Magecrafting had never really entered his course-load.

And neither had Animation.

A magus of a different sort, Marcus had a pleasant smirk set in his features as he spoke, now with a voice of a playful fae, who had just learned a quite interesting secret. "An Animator... That explains a lot. I've never met one quite as eccentric as yourself however, or with quite as interesting designs." Marcus tried to imagine the beings he would create given the skill and time, but quickly dashed such revelry before it took root. The last thing he needed right now was to be distracted with images of peculiar little helpers bouncing off the walls. Marcus continued speaking, hoping to have another one of his more elusive questions answered, now that he had determined who Tock truly was. "So, why study Auristics then? Surely you'd be better off studying things more suited to designing personalities or building bodies."

Marcus was not afraid to show how broad of an overview he had on the subject.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on June 27th, 2012, 5:24 am

Tock shook off her dark train of thought when the other student called her work impressive. "Course 'e is," she said with no modesty at all. "Done put my 'eart an' soul inta my babies." She raised Grippy to her lips and kissed his claw, then slid him back into the leather holster on her hip. She really had put her soul into him; like most of her babies, Grippy had been made using her own soul as a template.

She found herself thinking about Grippy's soul. Auristics was supposed to be able to tell things about souls. She kept her hand on Grippy's handle as she replied to Marcus, her attention only half on him and half on her beloved tool. "I ain't no 'ccentric," she said. "Dunno what fer people's always sayin' 'at. Jus' cause a girl's done been not like nobody else what ain't meanin' she's got somethin' wrong wit' 'er, aye? Ain't done nobody else like me, 'at's fer sure, but I's jus' fine like 'ow I done is, thank ya very much..." She didn't mind being seen as unique, or different. She even liked being stared at, in certain contexts. But she hated being treated like she was weird, or crazy. Standing out in a crowd was one thing; being treated like there was something wrong with you was something else.

While she spoke, she stroked Grippy's handle at her side. He was her first. Her very first baby ever. She had helped Archimaneus with some Animations in Syliras, but she hadn't been allowed to make any of her own. It wasn't until she came to Zeltiva that she'd made her first Automaton. Grippy was the most simplistic of all her beloved children, without any personality of his own. He was nothing more than a tool that responded to basic commands. But she loved him dearly, and he was a part of her. A part of her soul. She felt a warmth in her chest thinking about it, and as she focused on it, as she zeroed in on that feeling, she started to feel a warmth from under her hand. It was subtle, as subtle as the vague after image she'd seen in the rat earlier, but this time she was certain. She knew this feeling. She had shaped it, sculpted it, and imbued it into her baby. Of course she would recognize it when she felt it.

She was feeling Grippy's aura.

She pulled her hand away and groaned slightly. Her head was pounding again, and she rubbed at her eyes, finishing off the rest of her water. This was it; she was spent. She hadn't even been able to discern anything about Grippy's aura; she hadn't been able to identify its properties, or read anything about his programming. She had only been able to feel that it was there. But that was something, for her first day.

She looked up at Marcus with exhaustion in her eyes. "'Ow's ya done s'posed ta design personalities what if'n ya can't understand 'em, aye?" she asked. "Aura's done gots emotions an' stuff. Gotta 'as emotions learnt up real good, fer ta make 'em good in my babies..." Of course, this was only half the truth. She also needed to learn how to diagnose Cutty's problems. But she wasn't going to tell him that. No one could learn about Cutty's malfunction.

by **Marcus Dymez** on June 28th, 2012, 12:28 am

Marcus found himself intrigued by Tock's words as she spoke of her creation, similar to how a mother takes pride in the efforts of her children. Marcus did not have enough insight into the process of Animation to truly appreciate the depth of her words, but at the very least he could admire the emotion that came straddled alongside them. It was a tender scene, amplified by the condition of the bruised and battered woman playing the role of mother.

When Tock began speaking about her "unique" qualities however, Marcus found himself once again at a lack of words. Growing up in a house that was perfectly normal, Marcus held within him an ingrown desire for anything but. When the words eccentric or strange passed through the young scholar's lips, it never held the usual contempt or hesitation most people slipped in. But this thought tended to slip Marcus' mind quite often, and always after the fact. Such was the cruelty of society, to ruin perfectly good words for anyone with a mind to use them to their truest meanings. Marcus had long since stopped trying to explain himself either, simply accepting the mistake as one of his own; a slip of the tongue perhaps. Marcus was in the middle of debating how many times this had happened to him, when his mind noticed a purposeful silence in the air. Either Tock had suddenly taken a keen interest in silent observation (Highly doubtful), or she had gone through another attempt at spotting the aura of the rat placed on the table.

He was half-right.

As Marcus found himself once again aware of his surroundings, he placed a firm hand on Tock's shoulder, hoping to stir her gently from her concentration. What he found however was a woman already weary with the effort. Gently he smiled over to her, seeming as if to congratulate her on the effort, but with detail his smile was more akin to that of a doctor overseeing a failing patient. You've done well, but now it's time to go...; but this was not as morose as such a scenario. Marcus could find the fatigue in her expression as plain as day, being quite used to reading eyes, but there was more than that in her feeling. There was a sense of desperate passion in her voice, as she spoke of the benefits of Auristics to Animation.

To Tock it went further than simple scholarly benefit, or even the pride of a craftsman. To this curious mechanic, Auristics was a path to helping her children, in whatever fashion she could assist. Marcus did not know the full story behind her fervor, but he did know enough about this situation to provide a small nugget of advice. "Just keep this in mind Tock; if you push yourself this hard in all things, you won't be able to help those you care about when the time comes." Marcus nodded to her wrapped hand and assorted bruises as he spoke, but the depth of his meaning was lost on the man himself, who had plainly highlighted the dilemma she found herself in.

What a great teacher he was turning out to be.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on June 28th, 2012, 3:37 am

Tock scowled at the man, shaking her head. "I's jus' fine," she said stubbornly. "'Sides, people done gotta 'elp 'eirselves. Ain't done never gonna been nobody 'ere when ya done needs 'em. So's as ya gotta do 'er yerself." Ever since her Granddad had died, this had been her policy. She never let anyone help her (unless she was making them be her assistant, under her supervision). She never let someone else do a task she was capable of doing herself. And she wasn't going to leave her fate, or the fate of her babies, in anyone else's hands.

The teacher finally returned to them, having spent a lot of time working his way around the other students. "How is everything going here?" he asked.

Tock shrugged and said, "I think we done gots a broken rat. I couldn't see nothin' but what some little blurry somethinorother what didn't make sense."

The teacher smiled and asked her, "Was it akin to the image in your eyes after staring into the sun?"

Tock blinked. How had he known that?" "Oy, yeah!" she said, giving a confused frown. "But I didn't see no auras o' nothin', and weren't ain't nothin' what made sense..."

The professor told her, "That was the creature's aura. Learning to see it is the first step. Next class, we will begin focusing on how to discern information from what you saw. But one cannot study and understand what one cannot see. Now that you are beginning to learn to see, you can begin to understand."

Tock frowned, and waved a hand angrily at the man. "Well why didn't ya done said 'at?" she asked. If she'd known this was how it worked, she wouldn't have been so frustrated.

The professor spent a bit more time reviewing with the whole class over what they'd seen, what colors the auras had been, and other little, seemingly meaningless tidbits. Like Tock, most of the class hadn't understood what they saw at all. But they were at least beginning to see.

When class was finished, Tock climbed into her crutches, exhausted. "Oy, see ya next time, mate!" she told Marcus. She hooked her arms over the supports, and fixed the leather straps around her chest and over her shoulders, then led the crutches out, the four wooden legs walking crookedly as they carried her out the door.

by **Cascade** on July 10th, 2012, 1:24 pm

Adventurer's Loot

Marcus's Loot :

Tock's Loot :

Excellent thread, guys. Keep it up. I always love class threads which have more more meat in it. You managed to put conflict, failure, socialization, etc., in this class thread... awesome! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me!