Solo Test Subject

[Zeran]

12th Day of Summer, 513 AV The Ebonstryfe were merciless, and Zeran was young but he did not carry the naivety that most children dreamed they had. He was not strong. He was not a master of magic. He was not a skilled fighter. He was not a mastermind. Zeran was a child. A mere obstacle to the Ebonstryfe, easily dealt with by the swing of a blade, or the flash of fire from Reimancy. It was impossible for him to launch a daring rescue, hoping to save his parents. He had run. The alleys were endless. He would run, and so would the exits even further away from him. They would relent sometimes, only to throw him out into open streets with Ebonstryfe consisting of every other person. Back into the alley Zeran ran, as fast as the child legs would carry him. His feet ached as they beat on the ground, as a warhammer would a shield, with each step. His throat felt frozen, ice shards lining it like smashed glass. Each breath only added to the icy feeling as it ran into the furnace in his chest. Lungs on fire, throat in ice. The human body made little sense at the best of times. And this was not the best of times. A soldier turned the corner at the other end of the alley, just as it stopped running from him and he could escape. Zeran skidded to a stop, leaning backwards to stop falling forwards. He leaned too far, crashing to the ground on his back as the Ebonstryfe brought his sword over his head. Zeran scrambled to his feet, turning to run again, but found himself too slow. The sword hit him, and he the wall. He woke up with a gasp on the floor of Elena's studio, groaning at the ache in his shoulder now. "I'm afraid I had no water to hand and found any other means of waking you to prove ineffective." Elena's voice carried from behind his new spot, followed by the tapping of her shoes against the stone flooring. The floor was cold as Zeran rolled on to his other shoulder, allowing him to look up at her as she spoke. Elena came around in front of him before sitting herself gently down on the bed he had been in not moments before. "Having nightmares again? You don't stop fidgeting when you are." She flashed a smile at him on the floor. "If you know the signs, why do you ask the questions?" He pushed himself up, sitting crossed-legged at her feet. A lot of people seemed to have a habit of asking questions they already knew the answers to. Though the reasons why changed with the person. Reassurance that their assumption was correct, attempting to catch someone out on a lie, or just general curiosity to how the one being questioned would respond. She shrugged, "Courtesy, if nothing else, dear." Ah, was that it? "What was it about this time?" "Spiders. Big ones." She smiled again at his reply, knowing she wasn't going to get the truth from him this time either. "You have big spiders in Ravok, do you?" Elena would always play along for the first while. Perhaps that was where the two had some similarities. Calling another out quickly would only cause them to resist greater. Playing along might let the person reveal some information without even knowing. Or maybe he was over thinking Elena, though underestimating her was far worse. "Somewhere." "Aww, poor baby." She ruffled his hair as she coddled him, leaning in closer to speak gently. "You're such a tease Zeran, but I will find out about you sooner or later. It's just a matter of time." "Lady Elena, if I didn't present a challenge to you, you'd probably grow bored of me very quickly." He smiled back at her. The stone stole all heat from his hands as he pushed against the floor to get to his feet, shortly being followed by Elena standing up alongside himself. "It's a battle of wits." He rubbed his hands together to get that stolen warmth back. "You finding the right time, and me being aware of when you're making a move. You'll get what you want one day. In the meantime, Lady Elena, I am not going to make it easy for you." Elena laughed lightly, covering her mouth partially with her hand, as she walked past Zeran. He couldn't tell if it was a genuine laugh, or if she just felt the mood called for it as she played the part of the mastermind. "I know I will sweetie. I always get what I want." And that was how it had been for a while with Elena Lariat. A woman who had seen something in Zeran to be of worth to her. Enough worth to make him one of her companions. She had taken a rooted interest in Zeran's story since she noticed the brand on the back of his hand. He hadn't been bothered enough to say when she first asked about it, but found she only enjoyed it more when some things weren't just given to her. She was determined to find out, and Zeran sometimes wondered how much or her decision for taking him on was her interest. Probably not a lot. Elena didn't seem to be the kind of person who would have such a shallow reason as to employ someone. There must've been other reasons. Reasons that maybe only she saw. "Follow me dear," Elena called over her shoulder, approaching the doorway, "I have need of you today for a little experiment." It didn't matter what those reasons were. She had given him a job, and she had earned enough respect for him to do it without any complaints. Usually. Some of her jobs could be considered obscure by the vast majority of people. Perhaps that was why she chose him. He didn't have enough sense in his head to care about what happened if anything went wrong or made him look stupid. Elena would make sure all precautions had been taken to reduce risks. When it didn't interfere with the final result. "You won't need your shirt sweetie." She stood with her hands delicately on the wooden doors as she watched him with his shirt in his hands. It was hot in the summers, and it was more preferable to sleep half naked to some than waking up in a pool of your own sweat the following morning. "I need you topless for this." As Elena opened the doors, Zeran tingled in response to the draught that blew in. Auristics had a passive ability that didn't require any focus to pick up on minute amount of information, and was especially good at detecting magic. Focusing on the room as he followed Elena in, he found there were traces of magic being used, but not in the sense of someone like Elena using it. It was more scattered than concentrated to an area. Zeran couldn't tell what was used, how long ago, or even where. All he saw was faint traces floating in the room that appeared to him as spirals at intermittent points in the room where djed had been thrown about. A chair had a few problems with the direction he was going, knocking Zeran in the shin as he walked, oblivious to other things around him. He relinquished his focus on the room, now more concerned with the dull ache that was perched behind his eyes, slowly creeping further into his head. He cradled it, massaging it gently to relieve it of any tension wound up deep within his head. Auristics had its uses, but it would be nice if it wasn't accompanied by headaches every time he used it. It made it very difficult to fight. He heard Elena laugh from the other side of the table that accompanied the chair. "Curious about what your role is today dear?" Another question that she already knew the answer to, but still found the need to ask the question. "Testing your painting skills and you need a model." Why else was he not allowed a shirt? He knew Elena well enough to not leave it out as a possibility. She chuckled at the thought. "As if I need a reason to tell one of my personal companions to take their shirt off." She moved around the table, looking like she was inspecting him as she drew closer. "You weren't far off though. You'll be the test subject in a little glyphing experiment of mine." Zeran's smile widened as she stood in front of him. "And now you have my full interest Lady Elena."

[Zeran]

"You see, that is what I like about you Zeran." The double-tap on his nose with one lithe finger left an awkward feeling behind. His nose didn't feel like it sat right on his face anymore, as if Elena had inadvertently placed a weight on the end of his nose. Elena turned on heel, sending her hair floating behind her. It tickled against his nose. She must've been doing it on purpose now. Zeran ran his hand down his face, as if to pull his nose out and back into place, as Elena returned to her table. Strangely enough, it worked. "Even when you complain, you never forget your manners and always use the appropriate titles." Elena was ignoring the fact that Zeran use the same two titles with everyone he spoke to, regardless of social standing within any society. Even Ziths, should he ever have the luck to encounter one. There had been many stories of them around Lhavit, as drinks and music had flown through the streets from the many parties that had partial blame for the city's reputation. Some believable, others exaggerated so much it would be comparable to a Morpher overgiving. It left doubt if much of the original was actually there. Zeran's personal favourites were the 'no-survivor' stories. The trees had never once said so much as a word to him, and they were telling drunks entire stories. How rude. If there was anything to be learnt from the stories of drunken men, women and children alike, it was take others' words into account, but don't accept them as fact. Be independent. Form your own decisions and beliefs of the world around you. It is much more likely to surprise you if you approach it with an infinitely open mind, rather than restricted closed one. You might even see what is actually there, if you don't only see what you are looking for. Elena leaned against the edge of her table, twirling a paint brush between her fingers. She was waiting for him to ask. To give in to curiosity and admit that he really wanted to know what she had planned for him. Much to her annoyance, he never cared enough to ask. He was going to be taking part in the experiment either way whatever it was. Elena just liked dragging out the suspense, or revealing her latest idea. Either way, she won. "How much do you know about glyphing, Zeran?" She asked, producing pots of paint alongside her, presumably from where she got the brush from. There were a few, one already open and almost empty. The source of the traces of magic earlier had probably originated from that pot. A practice session for what she had planned. "You paint a pretty pattern on something and it becomes magical." That was his depth of knowledge on the discipline. The fundamental reasoning, theory and facts were all lost on him. He knew nothing. The few times he had seen glyphs, they had been drawn on hands, scrolls or other objects, though he could never grasp what they did. He'd seen a scroll kick up a twister, a novice Reimancer producing Res many times faster than they should've been capable of, and a rock split in two. They did something, but the effects varied, and Zeran didn't know how. All he could say was getting on the wrong side of them would be a fun situation to be in. Elena chuckled as she turned the brush on Zeran, waving it like a pointer. "This is another reason I like you. I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I can share my knowledge with others." She picked up one of the closed pots and give both it and the paint brush to Zeran. "There's a veiled insult somewhere in there. Do you just keep me around to rub your ego, Lady Elena?" "Among other things," she chuckled again as she turned to the table, turning back around with another paint pot and used brush. "Besides, there is nothing wrong with a little pride in your own accomplishments, is there?" She smirked at him, knowing the answer already again. "Now, how good are you with painting inside the lines?" "A little better than an average child perhaps?" At his reply, Elena pointed towards the floor, still smirking. Thin, black outlines traced intricate pathways at his feet, running alongside each other, seemingly guiding each line either side of it. The outer edges reached away from him, looking as if they were grabbing at something invisible, but slipped into a more refined path, leading whatever gently towards the centre in spirals. Zeran realised that he was standing in the centre of one of Elena's glyphs, having a diameter approximately equal the the width of a man. Tentative steps took him backwards and outside the glyph, as not to smudge it, giving him a good view of the overall thing. As was always with Elena Lariat, the glyph had time and effort put into its extravagant design. Nothing simple about the damn thing. Something as big as it was shouldn't have gone unnoticed as he entered the room, but Zeran had been focusing on the open air searching for traces of magic. Had he looked down, instead of overcomplicating things, he would've found the cause from the beginning. "I'd prefer you didn't quite reach the line, instead of going over it. It's much easier to fix then." It wasn't too difficult filling in the lines. All you needed to do was slather the centre of each section with a coating of paint. It did most of the work itself as it settled, spreading outwards towards the lines that Elena had laid out. She had said it was quicker to put some rough outlines down, touching up places later after the vast majority of the hard work had been done. Smooth lines was supposedly a must with glyphs of this scale. At palm sizes, any imperfections were not worth mentioning, as were any consequences of it usually. The bigger the glyph, the bigger the consequences, the more accurate it needed to be. The problem now was trying to get as close to the lines as possible with wet paint everywhere. He had unintentionally made his half of the glyph more of a challenge as Elena quietly worked on her half. Zeran mentally beat himself for not thinking that through. The glyph that was coming into existence was known as, according to Elena, as a focus glyph. A glyph designed to take surrounding djed, or magic, an focus it into a single, smaller point with the same intensity. The design of the glyph had made sense once explained. Tendrils on the edges to snatch hold of it, pathways to gently guide it to the centre, and smooth lines so nothing got 'caught' on the pathways. Any stray magic was dangerous. "The instances you have described are mostly the result of a focus glyph," Elena had explained. "It stores any magical activity, or even remembers a magical procedure. There have been some instances where a golem of Sahova was stored in its entirety within a glyph, being a construct completely born from and controlled by djed and magic. When it's not storing or remembering magic, it's channelling it, making it flow quicker and easier for a wizard to use. Hence the quicker Res production. I'm more interested in the magical procedure to begin with, but will be moving on to channelling after. It's why you're helping me Zeran. I need the help of your Projection capabilities." She did that smile when she knew she was going to get what she wanted. He didn't have any complaints. This was one of her more tame experiments. It didn't sound like anybody was likely to get injured. Elena was almost a master in glyphing, so anything that was going to go wrong was Lhex having a laugh again. As long as she didn't push him further than he was capable, then using Projection wasn't going to be an issue. The glyph was almost finished. Elena was going over all the lines, making any final adjustments needed to the lines. Smoothing them out, or accommodating for any imperfections. She expected no less quality in her own work than she did in that of the objects and people she surrounded herself with. She was good, and she knew it, and she wasn't going to let anybody else think otherwise. Elena was spotless by the time the glyph had been finished. There wasn't a single drop or smear of paint on her. Zeran had not been so clean. His hands were as black as a Zith's, with specks all over his arms, torso and pants, with a big imprint of a part of the glyph across his face. Elena had laughed at the incident. Precision to a substantial level also required you to be relatively observant as well, and aware of your surroundings. Zeran had been paying so much attention to getting an accurate line, he hadn't noticed how close to the floor he was before he felt the familiar sensation of cold stone, and new sensation of wet paint, across his face. "We can just wait for that to dry, and then we can move onto the next step." Zeran could hear her trying to keep any further laughter in from her voice.

[Zeran]

The application of a trigger had been Elena's final touch to the glyph. A little symbol drawn just outside the rest of the lines. Zeran didn't need much of an explanation of what it did. The name was self-explanatory. Elena had explained that there were more complex triggers that activated under very specific conditions, but this one was of a simpler design, and only activated when told to. Standing in the middle of the glyph made Zeran feel as if he'd been placed on a pedestal. Elena was watching intently and, even though she was the only one watching, Zeran felt he was a prize that others were to gawk at. Nothing could've been further from it. In reality, he and every other companion was Elena's plaything when she wanted them to be, and errand boys and bodyguards when not. Even then, when Elena made no attempts to hide what she truly had in mind, the fact that Elena Lariat had accepted you and taken you on for whatever reason held great weight. You were something special to her. It was why few ever complained about the job they were given, the thought that they were special. They only ever voiced their concerns on the risks of the job. "If you could detach, hold for a chime or two, and then reattach," Elena explained from her seat. Big, comfy thing. The kind of chair that made you feel you were still falling for a while after you had actually sat down. Zeran was convinced they were designed to distinguish between the weak and strong-hearted. "I have no use for anything more, as I've been told beginners can do very little with their projections. I don't fancy overgiving from something I have no control over." Elena had been talking with the Shinya. One thing Elena couldn't be called was 'unprepared'. She had done her own research in to Projection before devising any tests on it. It was a reason why nobody ever questioned if she would be able to do what she said she would. Elena was more determined than anyone not to make any mistakes. Whenever questioned about it, she would always go quiet, as if thinking of an answer. She'd always then use her reputation as an answer, but there was always a hint of sadness that the most observant of people could miss if they weren't looking for it. Zeran had only found this out when another of the companions asked if he knew her reasoning for it. Only Elena herself knew. The glyph was only meant to copy Zeran's djed movement and map it to Elena. She may have control of her astral body, but she had no means to reattach it after it had been detached. In Projection, djed continued to be spent equal to the length of time any body part was detached for. In this experiment, Elena had no control over how much djed she would be using. So Zeran had to make it quick. She'd even had the courtesy of telling him that he was her second choice. Elena had asked a few of the Shinya if they wanted to help out with the experiment. "We're peacekeepers! Not test subjects!" The answer had been a firm 'no'. Taking a deep breath, he clearly called, "Begin," activating the trigger and the glyph. Zeran's djed began to shift. Djed worked its way underneath his shoulders and set to gently prying the astral body out of its shell. With each shift and slight movement, djed slipped into the space between the astral and physical body that had been created. This process continued, djed moving into free space between the two bodies, and djed forcing the astral body out of the physical body. It was as slow as it had always been, with the small movements and gentle pushing of djed, as not to damage any nerves. The alternative was painful. Ripping was faster, but the astral body usually left with nerve endings still attached. The result was either pain as the nerves snapped back, or permanent damage to the body that resulted in lack of use of your limb. There were some things even Zeran wasn't mad enough to try. Self-mutilation was one of them. Several chimes brought about the completion of detaching. Both arms had fallen limp at his sides, swinging loosely on their own accord with each movement of his body. The only reassurance that they were still there was either looking at them, or feeling them brush against another part of the body. It still felt odd, being able to feel your arm against your torso, but not the other way around. "Show me." The command was gently spoken, like a child asking to see something new. The paint brushes and two pots of paint lifted into the air, each pair in one of Zeran's projected hands. Elena watched with intrigue as they drifted past her, floating though the room. Zeran occasionally chucked them upwards, only to catch them before they fell. Elena would only be able to see them floating, falling only to start floating again. Elena turned from the floating items with a smirk. She wanted to see a bit more. The pots and brushes lowered to the floor and dropped a little way, rendering it impossible for anyone, other than Zeran and Aurists, to know where his hands were now. It soon became apparent to Elena as he hair flicked forwards, covering her face. Her hands reached for her face moments before she bent forward in her chair suddenly, giggling. Her hair had only been a distraction. As soon as she reached up, he had started tickling around her waist and stomach. He stopped soon after Elena had reacted. It had been long enough. Zeran drew his arms back to start reattaching. "Easy sweetie," Elena managed to get out. "We're in the middle of an experiment here. There will be plenty of time for that kind of thing later." He thought it a bit hypocritical, with that wink especially, to call him a tease earlier. If Zeran wasn't already before, he had learnt it from Elena herself. Zeran's hands found refuge within his physical body once again, letting the djed drain from his limbs as not to provide any discrepancies for when his astral body sat back in. His physical body hugged the astral body, as a lover would when their significant other had returned after seasons away. His own skin felt tight-fitting, as if it had shrunk in the short space of time he'd been projecting. Perhaps the astral body also prevented internal collapse? I've just decided full body detachments will not be for extended periods of time. His wrists secured themselves, followed by the elbow and forearm, and work up to the shoulder. Zeran stretched his limbs as he got full control back, ridding any tightness felt as his astral body settled back down into his physical one. Once satisfied that the reattachment was indeed finished, Elena motioned for him to step out of the glyphs area, standing on the opposite side from where Elena had sat. "Very good dear," Elena praised him, standing as she spoke. "I do believe it's my turn now." Elena gracefully walked into the centre of the glyph, where Zeran had stood moments before. Zeran wasn't sure if this was going to work. He didn't know if it was possible for a person not initiated into Projection to be able to do what Elena suggested. But she seemed confident, and technically she wasn't using Projection. Merely having the same process carried out on her. "Begin." Zeran focused on Elena with Auristics. As she had said, he could see her astral body being pushed out of her physical. Zeran remembered when he had been initiated into the discipline. It had been one of the more uncomfortable experiences of his life. Your physical body could be compared to tight fitting clothing, though nothing was going to be a tighter fit. There was one, and only one, way that it would sit on your form. Disturb that, and everything felt bunched, stretched, chaffing, riding, and just completely uncomfortable. Imagine having your face on back-to-front. Not pleasant. He continued to watch through an Aurist's eyes as Elena's shoulder finally came loose. It was a wonder what it must feel to someone whose body wasn't prepared for detaching. Elena's upper arm fell limp as the astral body detached down to her elbow. Then her entire arm went limp from the wrist up. When her arm fell by her side, Zeran could see both astral arms, free of any restrictions, floating in front of Elena. She turned to Zeran, getting a feel of the weightlessness of her new arms, smiling as she did. Zeran released his focus as the headache got progressively worse. He had wanted to see Projection from a third-person view, with Auristics, and had kept his focus up longer than he would've usually done so. Rubbing his temples again, the paintbrush from the floor began to levitate, whilst the pots wobbled slightly. Elena was trying to pick up both. She'd find her new limbs were only strong enough to pick up the brush and do little else. A tut pulled his attention back to her face. "I must say, that was a rather uncomfortable process. Is it always like that?" She asked. "Only the first couple of times. You get used to it, Lady Elena." At least he wasn't the only one who thought so anymore. Good to know.

[Zeran]

For all the uses that Lady Elena had mentioned throughout her little experiment, there were many more that she hadn't even touched, and perhaps some that she had neglected to mention. One of the many perks that came with glyphs was they cleaned up after themselves once finished with. It explained why she didn't want to risk the chance of running another activation of the glyph just for reattaching purposes. If the glyph had disappeared before she had the chance to secure her astral body back to her physical, Lady Elena would've been on a countdown into overgiving. When she could barely lift up a paintbrush, only just nudge a pot of paint, and no longer had an arm to lean on when working close to the floor, her only hope of getting another glyph drawn in time was for Zeran to do it. She'd made the right choice in not leaving that task to him, though he now wondered what skills the other companions had if none were able to draw up a focus glyph. Zeran sat back in Elena's heart-attack chair, as she busied herself with drawing smaller focus glyphs on each of his hands, elbows and shoulders. It was questionable why Elena had said no shirt was needed for the first half of the experiment, if the glyphs were only just presenting a reason for the command, but many had their own assumptions that probably weren't too far from the mark. Everyone knew Elena Lariat well enough to know better than insisting against something she had already decided. It simply wasn't done. You were never likely to win, and she'd planned it if you did. "So, when the Shinya said 'completely limp' and 'absolutely no feeling', they weren't over exaggerating?" She was getting good with these questions. "Not even in the slightest?" She was confirming what she had experienced, as a first time Projectionist, against a long-term Projectionist. Elena was looking for something similar to Auristics. Headaches and tiredness at lower skill levels, but eventually overcoming it as you progress. She knelt beside the arm of the chair, gently gliding the narrower brush in elaborate circles on his elbow. Too busy concentrating on her work to look away. "None. At any level. Detachment speed doesn't get better either." Elena ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it out of her eyes so she could focus on the lines, and positioning it behind her ear. Zeran watched from his seat, not allowed to move anything more than his head, else get a slap on the arm from Elena and have the glyph she'd been working on erased and redrawn. She had no tolerance for imperfections in her test. Blowing on the freshly drawn glyph, Elena then bit her lower lip in thought, contemplating Zeran's words. As she moved down to his left hand, she turned it over to avoid drawing on the half-sun and asked, "So, when you are able to detach your body completely, how do you know when it's in danger?" She had such gentle strokes with with brush, they tickled. Elena watched Zeran's index finger, daring it to twitch again. "You don't." She turned to look at him briefly, eyes flittering with ideas and dismissing them just as quickly. Zeran couldn't speak from experience to Elena's question, but it was simple reasoning to extend the concepts of Projection beyond limbs and to full body. No nerve connections, no feeling anywhere. A Projectionist leaving their body unattended without precautions was like sleeping in a well-known zith hunting ground. Death wasn't a guarantee, but something bad was bound to happen. "What other disciplines of magic do you know?" It was beginning to get painful how slow and delicately she was dragging that brush over his hand. Zeran caught sight of a mischievous smirk on her face. She was doing this on purpose again. "Hypnotism and Auristics," he replied, getting a quiet hum of acknowledgement from Elena, which slowly escalated into a giggle. Muscles knitted intrigue into his face, interested on hearing what he had missed. "And what has the Lady of the Estate's wisdom seen that I have not?" Light breezes slipped over his hand as Elena blew at the paint on his palm. "If you have no means of knowing when your body is in trouble, yet need to leave it behind for whatever reason a Projectionist might have, why not simply learn Shielding to protect it?" Elena got to her feet, brushing off her knees and leaving Zeran deep in his own thoughts. I have absolutely no response to that. Any further musings were interrupted by a considerable weight landing in his lap. "You're so comfy dear," Elena giggled like a little girl as she wriggled herself into a comfortable position. How did you even reply to that kind of thing? Thank you for complementing how soft my body is? She was even cheeky enough to adjust his arm as her backrest to suit herself. "Is your preferred position on top, Lady Elena?" The most tactless reply he could muster within the short time Tanroa had given to him. And it was rewarded by a tap on the nose. "Unless that is an invite, my dear Zeran, that is something you are never likely to find out." For the second time today, Zeran's nose felt as if it had been adjusted, only now he couldn't do anything with his arms restrained by her back and legs. Typical Elena always found a way into the better stance. "I've just decided," she continued, "we're going to focus on improving your Hypnotism, and I'm going to teach you Shielding. That way, you benefit from protecting your own body, I'll have someone who'll be able to do a bit of information gathering without concern, and you'll be able to handle any extra clients when I'm not available to give lessons. Any objections?" The expectant look that he received told him that she was only expecting one answer. It wasn't a difficult situation, his answer was the one she wanted to hear. "None, whatsoever, Lady Elena." "Great!" Elena lifted her legs off Zeran's arms and kicked them round to the front, turning in his lap so she could stand. The face full of hair did well to tickle his nose, eliciting a sneeze in response to the aggravation. "Then, without further ado, why not give your new glyphs a little test?" The few steps Elena took away from him were taken to be her giving him some space. What for was a different matter, but she'd spent enough time on the three focus glyphs on each of his arms that he doubted it was in case something went wrong. There was no way that Elena would allow that, neither would she show any signs that she doubted her own work. After all final assurances from Elena that she did not want to go through the detach-reattach process again, and therefore had no need to draw up another glyph, Zeran stepped into the centre of where said glyph used to be. It gave him any space he needed for whatever. Elena might've had an idea on what to expect, but she had kept that information to herself this time. Taking a breath as he had done before, Zeran began shifting djed on the exhale. And the result was outstanding. Both arms fell to his side almost instantaneously, leaving his astral arms free and floating in front of him. Zeran stared at where he knew his arms to be, mouth agape. The speed of the detach had been on par with ripping, bringing the entire arm out as if it were one joint, but brought none of the painful side effects with it. Djed had ran down his arm in an undisturbed, river-like flow, not working into each new available gap made, and had pushed the astral out uniformly along its length. It had felt comparable to having his arms covered in oil and slipping out at the slightest desire to do so. Elena was grinning widely from where she observed, taking Zeran's reaction to mean the second half of her experiment had also been a success. The reattachment was almost exactly the same. At a whim, as the astral aligned itself alongside the physical, it was sucked into the physical instantly, as if a void were pulling on it. Zeran was amazed at how a few fancy circles drawn on his skin could have such an effect as they did. "Glyphs, breaking more rules in magic than a thief does in society." Elena's was pleased with the results, and amused by her companion's surprise. "I noticed the detachment focused on the joints as the main fixing points. So that's where I placed my glyphs." She winked at him with a wide grin. "At least now I have a bodyguard who can jump in at an unexpected moment's notice, instead of sitting back waiting for his arms to come loose whilst anyone does what they want with me." The glyphs would take time to draw beforehand, and would have to be redone each time they disappeared or got smudged, but it looked to be a worthwhile trade-off for the speed gained. "This is why I like working for you, Lady Elena," Zeran laughed as he met her gaze. "So many perks and things to learn with the job."

[Elysium]

Zeran

XP:
Auristics +2
Glyphing +2
Projection +3
Rhetoric +2

Lore:
Projection: How to Detach
Auristics: Passive Sight
Glyphing: Focus Glyphs
Projection, Why Not Shielding?
Glyphing: Focusing Djed to Aid Projection

Notes: Oh how I love your depictions of Elena Lariat. You really nailed my vision of her! This'll count toward your Seasonal Wages, too if you like. Note that you don't have to play up the headaches when using your passive, auristic sight. If you have any questions, please PM me!

and so, the journey continues...

[Elysium]

Seasonal Wage Awarded!
Summer, 513 AV

Wages:
8 kina/day
+728 kina

Living Expense (Common):
1.5 kina/day
-135 kina

Total: 593 kina