This is the circle we are all a part of

[endsorrow]

Who: endsorrow and needsheadphones
What: Magic lessons
Where: A park in the city
When: Day
Warnings: Mentions of death, most definitely. Otherwise, not a lot? Oh, and in the OP, the font Monotype Corsiva is used, so if that screws up, let me know and I'll fix it.

Comments

[needsheadphones]

Unlike Braska, the basis of Rebecca's life is a secret even back on her world. Not many people know of the Assassins or the Templars; at least, they don't know of their true purpose or goals, knowing them only as organizations in history books (history books that were carefully written, and almost always by Templars). They know nothing of Pieces of Eden, of Those Who Came Before and the catastrophe that could befall their world if the Assassins can't stop it, or of the Templars' drive to control free will in order to 'make the world a better place'.

She's been trying not to think about it. If the others are home, they should be able to do it on their own. They don't need her to run the Animus (and that's a thought she hasn't let herself think until now, in the aftermath of a dead Cie'th that was once a fourteen-year-old boy, and the thought shocks her and, in a way, frees her; they don't need her, so she can stay).

Ollie barks upon noticing the man beneath the tree, and Rebecca laughs quietly at her dog's friendly insistence on saying hello and jogs over. "Hey. It's a nice view, isn't it?"

[endsorrow]

"Ah..." Braska turns at Ollie's bark and offers the dog and his owner a gentle smile. "Yes, it truly is. Bowen says there is a movie theater by the ocean. The concept of stories being filmed sounds wonderful. I shall have to check it out soon..."

He kneels down to pet Ollie. "Hello, there. It's good to meet you. Oooh, you're so soft, yes you are~!"

[needsheadphones]

Rebecca laughs slightly, keeping her grip tight on Ollie's leash so that the Newfoundland doesn't knock Braska over in his excitement toward meeting a new person. Either way, he's practically wiggling as Braska pets and praises him.

"Oh, yeah! I love movies." Of course, Hollywood shut down in her world because of the popularity of video games, but, well. That doesn't mean she likes movies any less. "This is Ollie, by the way."

[endsorrow]

"On my world, we have something like movies, but we never used them to record stories. We used them to save memories and share music."

He scritches behind Ollie's ears with both hands. "Well, Ollie, are you going to be a good boy and not run away while your master and I work?"

[needsheadphones]

"Oh, really? I'd like to see them sometime, if I could." But they're getting off track.

Ollie tilts his head at Braska before wagging his tail and flopping down under the tree. Rebecca laughs and shakes her head, but loosely knots the leash around a low-hanging branch, just enough to keep him from going anywhere unless he really has to. "He should be all right."

[endsorrow]

"I'm sure I could dream some up." It wouldn't be terribly difficult, after all.

Braska smiles. "He certainly is smart. He must be a wonderful companion." After all, if Ollie understood what Braska said as well as he seems to, what else can he understand? The best traits of pets are, in Braska's opinion, their loyalty and their capacity to listen.

But now it's time to get started.

Braska touches the tree's trunk and looks up at it. "Have you spoken with others about how their magic works, by any chance, Rebecca?"

[needsheadphones]

"He is." The sheer level of adoration and love for her companion is clear in her voice; she's missed Ollie back home, and having him here with her is... well, it may be a dream city, but that doesn't make it any less of a dream come true.

At his question, Rebecca nods. "I've heard a lot of different things. Some people just have natural ability, like it's like having different colored eyes, others channel their aura, and some don't know how it works but still know how to use it."

[endsorrow]

It gladdens him to hear it. Any happiness and peace of mind that he sees is a blessing. It was so rare in so many places in Spira, and he fought so hard to earn people the chance to find it. Even if this isn't his world or his people... His smile softens.

"Where I come from, Spira, all magic and everything supernatural, has roots in pyreflies." Without any pause, Braska focuses. Around him, pyreflies flash into being, beautiful pastel lights whispering ghostly songs. "These are the manifestation of life's energy. When anything living dies, be it human, animal, or fiend, pyreflies leave the body for the Farplane, the place of rest for all souls."

[needsheadphones]

Rebecca nearly takes a step back at the pyreflies, but she pauses. Braska isn't going to hurt her. Neither are the pyreflies. They almost remind her of Those Who Came Before, with their glowing lights and their unearthly feel, but they are clearly far, far different. Braska's words only confirm that.

"They're beautiful." She watches them, one hand tentatively sticking out in case one decides to swirl around her.

[endsorrow]

The pyrefly that drifts close doesn't dodge around her hand and continues to float along almost lazily. If she doesn't move away, it will pass through her and make her hand tingle warmly, as if the slightest and most gentle electrical current brushed by her skin.

Braska smiles softly. "Aren't they? Friendly, for the most part, too."

He lowers his hand from the tree trunk. "In order to use the kind of magic that I know, you will have to learn to harmonize with the world around you. When you are in tune with the life in your surroundings, you will be able to focus it -- or the pyreflies, whichever would be easiest for you to think of it -- to form the spells to heal and the spells to harm."

lol contradicting earlier tags in this TIME PARADOX

[needsheadphones]

Her hand doesn't move, letting the pyrefly go through her hand. The sensation makes her grin; she's used to electrical currents, and the fact that learning something like magic is still somehow familiar is comforting.

"Sounds pretty zen." That's a little more worrying. It's not that she's not into nature or that she isn't capable of extreme focus -- she is most definitely both. It's just that her mind is far more taken up by electronics and wiring and codes. At the same time, computers are modeled after the brain -- maybe they aren't so different, and she can use what she knows to help her learn this.

In any case, he's being a lot more upfront with the information than Sebastian was. That's part of why she told Sebastian not to worry about teaching her. "So the focus is internal, but the force is external?"

THE BEST KIND OF PARADOX

[endsorrow]

"Exactly." Braska smiles.

He turns to gesture to the park around them. "It is easier to cast in a place such as this; that is to say, one full of life." He looks back to Rebecca. "I could have also chosen to have our lesson take place on the beach, but the energy there would be more difficult to harness. Many things affect the energy around you, including that which is not alive, such as the ocean. The ocean may hold life, yes, but on its own it is a fierce force of nature. It has its own energy, both cleansing and destructive, and its ebb and flow can make magic difficult to direct.

"It may be easy to focus and tune into the environment of the beach, but the force is more difficult to control."

oh god fail tag I am so sorry ;;

[needsheadphones]

That explanation makes sense, too. "You're good at this whole teaching thing -- the lecture part, at least." It remains to be seen how she'll do at the practical.

♥ it's okay!

[endsorrow]

Braska laughs softly. "This isn't my first time teaching someone magic." He helped the younger disciples learn and practice white magic when he was still a priest. The situation here is different, as he has to explain more of the basics -- the disciples knew what pyreflies are -- but the core of it is still the same. "While I was taught white magic, I had to teach myself black magic. There are some tricks you can only learn on your own.

"I'm afraid we have to start slow. While the best mages can make casting look easy, it's unfortunately not so simple." He smiles. "We'll have to start with tuning in with the environment. Close your eyes."

♥

[needsheadphones]

Rebecca smiles. "That makes sense." It's a little relieving, too, not that she'll admit it. She's never done anything like this before, and having someone used to teaching will hopefully help quite a bit.

She wants to ask about why he had to teach himself black magic, but the lesson is continuing, so she doesn't. Instead, she slips her headphones down around her neck and shuts off her MP3 player. There's a slight shiver as the air hits her ears; she isn't used to not wearing her headphones all the time. She thinks it'll help in this case, though. "All right." And she closes them.

[endsorrow]

"I will ask questions, but you do not need to answer me. Just focus on your breathing. Inhale slowly, then exhale." He waits to give her a few minutes to do this. "What do you smell? Focus on it." The grass, the dirt, the ocean. Braska himself smells more than this: the distinctive smell of dog, the crispness of the morning air, the tree's bark.

After a few more minutes, he speaks again. "What do you hear?" His voice, the rustling of the trees, the ocean. The sound of birds several trees over, Ollie's breathing, Braska's breathing, Rebecca's breathing, a seagull getting hit by the surf. (He has to turn his head to look at this, just because, well. Pffffff.)

He continues this method, asking questions relating to the senses and leaving time between them so that she can think about her answers. "Can you taste the ocean on your tongue, despite how far away it is? What about the grass, the tree leaves? What do you feel? Not just physically, but emotionally." There is the solid earth beneath her feet, the sea breeze dancing along her skin, playing with her hair, the pyreflies slowly curling through the air. They may not be touching her, but if she is relaxed and starting to tune in with her surroundings, she should be able to sense them.

To Braska, the pyreflies are warm and cool at once, not like a fever, but like the sun on one's skin accompanied by a pleasant breeze. They are gentle and calm, soothing and sweet, welcoming and sad. These are energy pyreflies, though, not ones of spirit, so perhaps that last part is just him. The environment here isn't as mournful as Braska is used to, especially when it's so close to the ocean, so it's possible that he's projecting some of his own sorrow onto the pyreflies so that they don't feel entirely foreign to him. He tries to reign it back in.

"That last question you can answer."