Lessons and testing

[les_magique]

Who: Samata Mahto and others
What: Wizard stuff
When: Fiddlesticks 5
Where: The standard coach OR the gym coach while no one else is working on it
Warnings: Possible injuries occurring

-Wizarding 101-

At some point, when no one else was using it, Samata called dibs on the standard coach for her wizard class. She let out a quick notification through the ICP to everyone who had expressed an interest (Yuki and Yugi), as well as any late comers who were interested in learning magic but hadn't paid attention to her original message a few days ago.

She had a sign made out of notebook paper that said "Intro to Wizardry" taped to the wall next to a table she was seated at. Spread out across it was a spool of silver wire, a few extra notebooks and pens, and her own spellbook at her side.

"So before we get into learning to cast spells, why don't we start with you telling me what you think a wizard is, since the concept appears to be more common than I expected."

-Mahto's Magic Missile-

Samata had called for test subjects for her magic missile spell, and today was the day. The place was the gym coach, in which Samata was nervously pacing. She'd triple checked the math AGAIN to make sure this spell wasn't going to kill someone she didn't want it to. She knew it could, in theory, kill someone. That was the point: to have a spell that was dangerous, but not as uncontrolled as the unstable fireball spell she'd made a while back. She'd almost lost her OTHER arm while testing that one, and was putting off trying again.

She had dug up a first aid kit from somewhere in the medical car, she had a bucket of water in case something set fire, she even had a few pans from the kitchen that might make improvised shields, but the fact remained that she was still planning to shoot people with blasts of arcane energy. It would hurt. It was a hard thing to ask of someone.

She had also brought sandwiches that she had made herself. Mainly cold cuts. They weren't super elaborate (she wasn't much of a chef) but they had bread and meat and cheese and lettuce and tomatoes. Perfectly edible. All that was left was to get Gorfindel, Nita, and Merciless in here so they could be...living targets.

It would probably be fine.

Comments

Wizarding 101, possibly missiles later??

[popotostudies]

Fandaniel hadn't heard the call for any sort of magic teaching class, if he'd even been on board the train yet. However, he had been passing through on his way to some other location, spotted the notebook-paper sign and promptly decided he has nowhere else he really needs to be right now.

He has no idea what wizardry is at all. It's just not CALLED that where he's from.

So Samata has an Ascian in attendance, a rather unassuming tallish fellow in glasses, who looks interested in the goings on but not particularly like he has any idea what this is about. Not yet anyway; he brightens up a little when spells are mentioned.

"I haven't the foggiest of notions!" The declaration is far too cheerful, when Samata begins what seems to be her lesson. "It's the first I've heard of the word being associated with spellcraft. Is it a local word for a mage?"

[les_magique]

"In a manner of speaking."

She didn't recognize him, but he seemed harmless enough. She had given him a polite hello and exchanged names when he first sat down, so that was all taken care of.

"In my world, at least, it is a word I made up out of an old word for wisdom. A sorcerer is someone who was born with magic. To them, magic is as natural as breathing. They can't explain how they do it any more than you could explain how you move your arms. A wizard was not born with magic, but has learned how to manipulate it into useful effects even so."

[popotostudies]

This is definitely not how it's done back home! You either had magic, or you didn't! Which was unfortunate for the entirety of the Garlean people, but that's not Fandaniel's doing.

And there's all KINDS of new information going on. Accepting that there were other worlds was hard, but this ... this is just knowledge. He leans forward a little, elbows resting on his thighs, looking a bit more interested.

"I had no idea anyone could do such a thing. You either have magic or don't, where I'm from. You are of the latter sort, a wizard? Is this some sort of ... of bending magic to your will through sheer education??"

Fandaniel sounds suspiciously delighted with the mere idea of it.

[les_magique]

"That was the understanding back home: that you either had magic or you didn't." She admitted, proudly. "Until I proved them all wrong. Magic still reacts to living things, regardless of what they are. It just doesn't do so in any useful fashion, normally. You have to perfectly understand how it behaves before you can bend it into something worth doing."

[popotostudies]

"Well done, it's amazing to achieve such a thing."

And in spite of his scorn of the short-lived races, he means it. Such a feat was beyond any of the mortals back home; if it had been possible, Garlemald would have figured out how by now. Or Allag, or any of the other civilizations before it.

Maybe it was even beyond an Ascian. But they were all born with their power..

"Are you capable of the same breadth of spellcraft as your more naturally-inclined kin? Do you draw on any personal reservoir of energy, or is it external?" Probably Samata was expecting to be answering different questions, but he's already well versed in generic magic. THIS sort is all new.

missiles - standby medic

[enthunder]

She didn't really want to elbow in, but they hadn't been particularly secretive about their plans to test a new spell. And their concern over injuries. Medicine was all well and good for wounds, conditions, illnesses, but spell damage was something she, at least, had an unnecessary amount of experience in. So when she slipped into the gym coach, it was with a firm, "Don't mind me. I'm here as a medic, not a target."

She'd stand to one side, within Cure range, and everything would go fine. Or, as fine as something like this could go.

[les_magique]

"I appreciate it, really. I'm almost positive I know how this spell is going to behave, but you can never be sure until you actually try it out, right?"

[enthunder]

That was... reassuring?

She frowned. "... What's it meant to do, again?"

[les_magique]

"It creates a path between me and a target that I can sling a mass of unstable energy along resulting in a heavy impact. It lets me shoot magic at people who mean me harm."

Mahto's Magic Missile

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita arrived right on schedule, mentally shoving the presence of the sandwiches as something for later.

She had her book, but shielding was one of those things she could cue up by herself, so it might not be necessary.

"Ready whenever you are," she called, once she'd determined the best place to set up her shield, just in case there was ricochet.

She wanted to account for everything which, naturally, wasn't going to happen. That was just how life was.

[les_magique]

"Alright..."

She'd already set up most of the spell already. There was a big knot of magic she could sort of feel just hovering over her shoulder. All she had to do was unravel it and it SHOULD behave the way she wanted it to. But you never knew. Not the first time. She had a burn on her shoulder from when she'd tried fireball the first time, and hadn't gone back to that spell once since.

Samata waited another moment to make sure Nita was FULLY ready, then cast magic missile. It...sort of worked? The guide path, an almost imperceptible line of magic force connected her to Nita, but when the missile appeared, it was a tiny sputtering thing that slowly meandered towards her. If Nita let it hit her, it would feel like someone tossed a tennis ball at her. An incredibly feeble impact.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita brought up her shield as she'd planned, but for the most part she just stared at the sputtering missile as it traveled.

"... Is this one of those spells that's cumulative if you use it a whole bunch?"

She was fine playing target in the interim! It just... seemed like it was going to be a long interim.

[les_magique]

"Oh dear. Give me a minute, I must have put it together wrong."

At least she hadn't OVER done it and caused an explosion. Samata grabbed her spellbook and, scanning over the most recent pages, started assembling the spell again. This part took longer. About a minute, though she was confident she could get through that part faster once she got some practice.

Mahto's Magic Missile

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel announced himself as soon as he got to the doorway, so he wouldn't sneak up on her. It was find and good doing it to Mithrandir, but he knew that old wizard. This was a new, young wizard and he wanted to be ready before she hit him. "Hello! I'm here for target practice!"

He was wearing the standard clothes he was issued when he arrived, as he didn't want his leggings and tunic to be damaged. He was still debating if he should remove the shirt just in case. He was more fireproof than it was.

[les_magique]

"Hello."

She sized Glorfindel up, then blinked. She hadn't realized it talking over the ICP, but in person it was pretty obvious. "You're an elf!"

She didn't sound like she had any problem with elves, just...surprised to see one in the flesh.

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel tilted his head to the side. "Yes?"

"Am I taller than you expected?" he asked with a playful smile.

[les_magique]

"N...no, actually."

She shook her head. This wasn't even the only elf on the train. The train didn't care if elves were something from a far off land that you never actually saw. It didn't care about keeping everyone in their lanes, which the more she thought about it the more she realized was VERY important to just about every aspect of her home. Why not throw elves and humans and spider-people together?

"...I don't believe I ever got your name, actually."

Wizarding

[areasontohope]

Gray eyes looked over the paper and the notebooks on the table. Snagging a blue notebook and a pen, Yuki sat down and looked over the class. This was certainly more different than anything he'd done before, but if he could learn something even more remotely useful than he already knew, he was open to it. After all, back home he was supposed to be in college, but then he ended up on a train..in space.

So as his new sensei started to talk, Yuki wrote down his answer before offering it. "I've heard a wizard casts offensive spells."

[les_magique]

"That's an interesting distinction. Who casts defensive spells, then?"

She leaned forwards slightly, interested.

[areasontohope]

He thought back to the kids at school. They were always talking about things like this and he thought a moment. "Defensive..those were healers.." If he recalled right. The boys took turns escalating the things the other said and built such ridiculous stories in a short amount of time that it was hard to take anything they said seriously after a small amount of time.

[les_magique]

"I suppose it's true that I haven't figured out how to do healing spells yet. But that's not what a wizard is."

She leaned forwards in her seat a bit, "A wizard is a scholar and a craftsman. Our field of study and our craft are both magic. A sorcerer can cast a few spells without thinking about it, but a wizard who is will to apply herself to it can do anything."

After looking really intense for a moment, she suddenly relaxed. "At least, in theory. It's still a relatively unexplored field. Having other wizards about means I have more people to bounce ideas off of."

Wizarding 101

[aablublublu]

Shaw had missed the announcement, but the sign was intriguing enough to merit investigation. Wizardry? Really?

Shaw hovered curiously at the back of the coach, raising her hand at Samata's question. It's a habit, just to make sure she isn't overlooked.

"Oldfashionedterm formagicuser. Bringstomind fantasyorfolklore morethanrealtechniques."

[les_magique]

The big bushy tail made her stand out, in Samata's opinion, even if she was short. She listened to Shaw's response, then spent another few moments detaching all those words from each other in her head. Did she always talk like that?

"Old fashioned, hm? What do they call magic users now, then?"

[aablublublu]

She did, in fact, always talk like that.

"Magicusersarecalled Casters, magiciscalled Arts. Usually onlyaccessible topeoplewith Oripathy, butartificial Arts havebeguntoget moreadvanced."

That was probably too much information, too quickly. "...Haveyoumet Ifrit? She'sa Caster. Probablyknows morethanIdo aboutit."

[les_magique]

"The girl with horns? Yes we spoke briefly."

She spent a moment absorbing everything else Shaw had said and translating it into terms that seemed to fit better. "Well, then. If I'm following you, wizards are people who use artificial arts. I do not have any...oripathy? I don't have any inherent ability to use magic, but I've figured out methods by which it is possible for any person to do so even so."