(no subject)
Elderberry #7. Channel with Hot Fudge and Whipped Cream
Story : knights
Rating : PG
Timeframe : 1251
Word Count : 1179
So, I have one of those 'this prompt just HAS to be for this scene' prompts in my pears, and this time I intend to follow through. Well, doing so is sending me off on a tangent to further develop the oh so lovable Master Ephram.
There was a girl in Ephram’s chair, lounging in the seat with her feet crossed on the desk, eyeing her reflection in the broad blade of a knife she’d commandeered from one of his drawers as she endeavored to pick something from her teeth. Tarek’s brat. This was what Berwyk thought to send him? Tarek was too scared to try half the forms he knew himself. The old man was in no position to be teaching anything more than the basics.
Apparently respect was beyond Tarek’s ability to impart as well, not that this was surprising. He waited, just inside the door, for long moments while she continued her pursuit of rudimentary dental hygiene. Finally, he cleared his throat and the girl turned her head.
“Where,” he said, “are the others?”
“Hmm?” she said, absently twirling the handle of the knife between her fingers.
He strode to the desk, plucked the knife from her hand and deposited it, blade down, in a cup with some pens. “Berwyk’s foisting his golden boy on me for the day. He seems to think I’ll be impressed with his skills. I take it you’re one of the pathetic excuses for a student sent to make him shine.”
The girl scowled at him and uncrossed and recrossed her feet on the desk. “I’m as good as Sethan any day,” she said.
That met with a sniff from the doorway, and Ephram turned to find a pair of boys. The taller one, bone thin with wild black curls down across his shoulders, braced himself against the frame and folded his arms to regard the study with a look of disdain, while his smaller companion’s gaze darted about the room like that of a rabbit about to cross the path of a wolf.
“So, the party’s all here,” said Ephram. “Golden boy I know, but you two…”
“Reida,” said the girl, swinging her legs down off his desk.
“I-I’m Kairn,” came the nervous response from Sethan’s shadow.
“And you’re the best Berwyk has to offer, are you?” Ephram addressed the boy. If this was what it took to make Sethan look good, he was already not impressed.
Reida snorted. “Kairn goes where Sethan goes.”
“Ah,” said Ephram with a grin, and Kairn grew a shade pinker and edged a step further into Sethan’s wake. “We’ll just set up two rings then, shall we?”
Reida hopped from the chair, Sethan strolled through the door, Kairn hurriedly shuffling behind him, to converge behind Ephram as he made his way to the giant table that dominated the back end of the room.
“Channeling of energies,” he said, retrieving a cup of chalk from the shelf above. “A simple enough principle. But if one honed it enough, he might be able to move more than energy.” He plucked a slim blue stalk from the cup and sketched a quick circle in front of Reida. “An entire consciousness might be able to pass from body to body.”
There was a sharp hiss from Sethan, and he sought the boy’s eyes as he scrawled a second circle in front of him. “You’ve seen it, haven’t you?”
Sethan nodded. “Berwyk’s done it,” he said.
Ephram sniffed. “He thinks he’s done it. She’s no more human than any other construct. It just makes him feel better to tell himself she remembers him.”
Sethan shrugged. “It’s more than anyone else has managed.”
Ephram shook his head. He drew a few quick strokes across each ring. “Well, we’re not doing anything half so fancy today. We’ll stick with the basics for now.” He reached for the shelf again, swung open the door of a cage and pulled out a mouse.
The creature squealed and wriggled as he brought it down to the center of Reida’s circle. He pinned it to the table at the center of the sigil with his hand. Little claws scrabbled at the wood between his fingers. The girl didn’t move but her eyes darted between the two forms, her brows knit.
“You’re familiar with a simple channel, aren’t you, Reida?”
She aimed a finger at her own form and then at Sethan’s. “But those aren’t-”
Ephram twisted himself so his shoulders blocked one side of the table from the view of the other, braced himself on one elbow on the table, and glared at her. “I asked if you knew how to channel. Am I to assume you don’t?”
“Of course I can channel.” She splayed her hands around the edge of the form and it flared. The mouse spasmed under his hand, its efforts at escape momentarily renewed.
“Good,” he said, scooping it up off the table. “There’s hope for you yet. Now, Sethan.”
“But-” said Reida.
Sethan waved off her protest before Ephram could intervene. He laid the mouse down in the middle of Sethan’s ring and the boy stared quietly back at him as he set his hands in place.
Ephram waited. As he expected, there was no flare, but he felt the shock of the boy’s energy pass right through the mouse and into his hand. The mouse bucked and he struggled to hold it down. Sethan twisted his lips into a cocky smile and folded his arms across his chest as he stepped back from the table.
Ephram sniffed. The boy had hardly even looked at the form. He wondered if he could read them at all. “You’ll notice,” he said, “that there’s a great difference in the amount of energy a different caster gets from the same sigil. Kairn, why don’t you come use Sethan’s form as well?”
“No.” It wasn’t Kairn that objected, it was Reida. Sethan had a hand to the other boy’s shoulder, holding him back.
“No?” said Ephram, looking between the two. Kairn shuffled back a pace, hands forced deep into his pockets, eyes darting from one sigil to the other.
Reida nodded at Sethan’s form. “You botched that one,” she said.
“I did, did I?”
“There’s a line missing,” said Sethan.
Ephram sniffed. “You didn’t use it anyway.”
Reida wrinkled her nose. “He didn’t want to get zapped.”
Sethan snatched a piece of chalk from the cup on the table and added the line, a tiny detail at the upper left, without so much as a glance at the other form. He held out a hand for the mouse and Ephram handed it over. “I’m not sure what your game is,” he said, setting the mouse down in the ring. “But I’ll be happy to play.”
He laid his hands on the form. The lines ignited and the mouse leapt more than an inch into the air. Sethan turned to Ephram with an icy gaze far to old for his meager years. “Just because I’m gifted,” he said, lips curling up at the word, “does not mean I’m stupid.”
Maybe Berwyk was right.
“Indeed.” Ephram grabbed the mouse, which had nearly made it to the edge of the table, and stuffed it back into his cage. “That’s enough of a lesson for today,” he said as he slammed the door shut.
Story : knights
Rating : PG
Timeframe : 1251
Word Count : 1179
So, I have one of those 'this prompt just HAS to be for this scene' prompts in my pears, and this time I intend to follow through. Well, doing so is sending me off on a tangent to further develop the oh so lovable Master Ephram.
There was a girl in Ephram’s chair, lounging in the seat with her feet crossed on the desk, eyeing her reflection in the broad blade of a knife she’d commandeered from one of his drawers as she endeavored to pick something from her teeth. Tarek’s brat. This was what Berwyk thought to send him? Tarek was too scared to try half the forms he knew himself. The old man was in no position to be teaching anything more than the basics.
Apparently respect was beyond Tarek’s ability to impart as well, not that this was surprising. He waited, just inside the door, for long moments while she continued her pursuit of rudimentary dental hygiene. Finally, he cleared his throat and the girl turned her head.
“Where,” he said, “are the others?”
“Hmm?” she said, absently twirling the handle of the knife between her fingers.
He strode to the desk, plucked the knife from her hand and deposited it, blade down, in a cup with some pens. “Berwyk’s foisting his golden boy on me for the day. He seems to think I’ll be impressed with his skills. I take it you’re one of the pathetic excuses for a student sent to make him shine.”
The girl scowled at him and uncrossed and recrossed her feet on the desk. “I’m as good as Sethan any day,” she said.
That met with a sniff from the doorway, and Ephram turned to find a pair of boys. The taller one, bone thin with wild black curls down across his shoulders, braced himself against the frame and folded his arms to regard the study with a look of disdain, while his smaller companion’s gaze darted about the room like that of a rabbit about to cross the path of a wolf.
“So, the party’s all here,” said Ephram. “Golden boy I know, but you two…”
“Reida,” said the girl, swinging her legs down off his desk.
“I-I’m Kairn,” came the nervous response from Sethan’s shadow.
“And you’re the best Berwyk has to offer, are you?” Ephram addressed the boy. If this was what it took to make Sethan look good, he was already not impressed.
Reida snorted. “Kairn goes where Sethan goes.”
“Ah,” said Ephram with a grin, and Kairn grew a shade pinker and edged a step further into Sethan’s wake. “We’ll just set up two rings then, shall we?”
Reida hopped from the chair, Sethan strolled through the door, Kairn hurriedly shuffling behind him, to converge behind Ephram as he made his way to the giant table that dominated the back end of the room.
“Channeling of energies,” he said, retrieving a cup of chalk from the shelf above. “A simple enough principle. But if one honed it enough, he might be able to move more than energy.” He plucked a slim blue stalk from the cup and sketched a quick circle in front of Reida. “An entire consciousness might be able to pass from body to body.”
There was a sharp hiss from Sethan, and he sought the boy’s eyes as he scrawled a second circle in front of him. “You’ve seen it, haven’t you?”
Sethan nodded. “Berwyk’s done it,” he said.
Ephram sniffed. “He thinks he’s done it. She’s no more human than any other construct. It just makes him feel better to tell himself she remembers him.”
Sethan shrugged. “It’s more than anyone else has managed.”
Ephram shook his head. He drew a few quick strokes across each ring. “Well, we’re not doing anything half so fancy today. We’ll stick with the basics for now.” He reached for the shelf again, swung open the door of a cage and pulled out a mouse.
The creature squealed and wriggled as he brought it down to the center of Reida’s circle. He pinned it to the table at the center of the sigil with his hand. Little claws scrabbled at the wood between his fingers. The girl didn’t move but her eyes darted between the two forms, her brows knit.
“You’re familiar with a simple channel, aren’t you, Reida?”
She aimed a finger at her own form and then at Sethan’s. “But those aren’t-”
Ephram twisted himself so his shoulders blocked one side of the table from the view of the other, braced himself on one elbow on the table, and glared at her. “I asked if you knew how to channel. Am I to assume you don’t?”
“Of course I can channel.” She splayed her hands around the edge of the form and it flared. The mouse spasmed under his hand, its efforts at escape momentarily renewed.
“Good,” he said, scooping it up off the table. “There’s hope for you yet. Now, Sethan.”
“But-” said Reida.
Sethan waved off her protest before Ephram could intervene. He laid the mouse down in the middle of Sethan’s ring and the boy stared quietly back at him as he set his hands in place.
Ephram waited. As he expected, there was no flare, but he felt the shock of the boy’s energy pass right through the mouse and into his hand. The mouse bucked and he struggled to hold it down. Sethan twisted his lips into a cocky smile and folded his arms across his chest as he stepped back from the table.
Ephram sniffed. The boy had hardly even looked at the form. He wondered if he could read them at all. “You’ll notice,” he said, “that there’s a great difference in the amount of energy a different caster gets from the same sigil. Kairn, why don’t you come use Sethan’s form as well?”
“No.” It wasn’t Kairn that objected, it was Reida. Sethan had a hand to the other boy’s shoulder, holding him back.
“No?” said Ephram, looking between the two. Kairn shuffled back a pace, hands forced deep into his pockets, eyes darting from one sigil to the other.
Reida nodded at Sethan’s form. “You botched that one,” she said.
“I did, did I?”
“There’s a line missing,” said Sethan.
Ephram sniffed. “You didn’t use it anyway.”
Reida wrinkled her nose. “He didn’t want to get zapped.”
Sethan snatched a piece of chalk from the cup on the table and added the line, a tiny detail at the upper left, without so much as a glance at the other form. He held out a hand for the mouse and Ephram handed it over. “I’m not sure what your game is,” he said, setting the mouse down in the ring. “But I’ll be happy to play.”
He laid his hands on the form. The lines ignited and the mouse leapt more than an inch into the air. Sethan turned to Ephram with an icy gaze far to old for his meager years. “Just because I’m gifted,” he said, lips curling up at the word, “does not mean I’m stupid.”
Maybe Berwyk was right.
“Indeed.” Ephram grabbed the mouse, which had nearly made it to the edge of the table, and stuffed it back into his cage. “That’s enough of a lesson for today,” he said as he slammed the door shut.