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 Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:16 pm
Cat sat happily on his desk, humming to himself as he flipped through the pages of a textbook contentedly and waited for his new pupil to arrive. He was especially excited for this one, this Vincent, to arrive. The dream that he had had after reading his file was quite... illuminating, he supposed with a small chuckle. He already had a bunch of good exercises planned for the spawn, hence the lamps and candles strewn haphazardly around his desk. His tail flicked impatiently as he waited. This was going to be fun!
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:36 pm
Unlike Cat, Vinny didn't seem all that pleased to have been enrolled in classes. He very reluctantly made his way to his new teacher's classroom, and even more reluctantly, if that was possible, opened the door. He did not want to be here. He already knew he was a failure when it came to magic and other such things. His brother told him that on a daily basis. Despite his mother's reassurances that school was fun, he had his doubts. He didn't want to waste the teacher's time, and didn't think this Cat would appreciate him taking up valuable class time.
He walked into the room. "Mr. Cat? Um. I'm here for my first lesson." His statement sounded more like a question. He studied the room, and frowned slightly. "Why are there so many lights?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 12:32 am
Cat looked up excitedly as he heard Vincent enter, and hopped energetically off of his desk, wings flapping as he approached the spawn, tucking the book under his arm and extending his hand to shake Vincent's. "Vincent! Pleased to me you! I'm your teacher, Cat!"
He smiled widely at Vincent's comment and looked around the room himself, quite pleased with his handiwork at the number of lights that shone around his room. Gesturing for Vincent to follow him, the two walked into the center of the room, the only point that didn't have some kind of light shining on it. "Why, for you, of course. You see, Vincent, I possess a little magic myself, a talent that allows me to see the future in my dreams. As I teach quite frequently, most of my premonitions were about the futures of my students, magical ones in particular. So, last night, I had a dream about a student who looked like you surrounding by golden orbs. As far as I can tell, that means that you have an untapped talent for light magic in your blood." The hippogriff smiled kindly at the spawn. "Make sense?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:59 am
Vincent stared at his teacher in disbelief for a while, before taking the man's hand and shaking it. "Nice to meet you too," he said. On being told the lights were for him, he shook his head. "Mr. Cat, I think you must be mistaken. I have no magical talent. None." This was a firm belief of his, even if he would have enjoyed having some skills. "I think your dreams might have meant someone else, there are a lot of people who look like me. Like Aludra, maybe they meant him." It made sense to believe the dreams had meant his friend instead.
Still, he followed the hippogriff into the middle of the room. "Um, sir? What exactly are you?" The words might have sounded rude, if Vinny hadn't asked them in a politely curious tone. He'd never seen anyone like his teacher. ...Maybe classes wouldn't be so bad. As long as Cat wasn't disappointed when he realized Vinny had no magical talents.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 12:52 pm
Cat looked oddly at his new student when he was told that Vincent apparently had no magical powers. This made no sense to the Eilian on a number of levels. For one, how would the boy know that on his own? Usually people were completely unaware of their abilities until they were told, or at least that was true in Cat's experience. And for two, he was absolutely positive that he had seen Vincent in his dream. And he had never been wrong before, so either he had lost the plot completely or Vincent was simply expressing his virtue and being humble.
Smiling, he shook his head kindly. "Not to be rude, but I'm pretty sure you're wrong, Vincent. When I told the other Facility people about who I had seen, they immediately identified it as you. They didn't even hesitate," he added with a light chuckle.
He blinked at the sudden change of topic, but quickly smiled again. He was always smiling. "I'm an Eilian, Vincent. Kind of a genetic mix of animals and humans. I'm part hippogriff and part human," he continued, flapping his wings lightly, "just like you are part angel and part demon."
"Now," Cat said, already back in teaching mode, "even if you may not think you have any magical talents, I'd appreciate it if you'd humor me. If you're right, then you can leave, and no harm done. But if I'm right, then I'd like to help instruct you on using your talent better. Okay?" The teacher smiled widely, then gestured towards the lights. "Now, Vincent, I'd like you to focus. Close your eyes and try and clear your mind of everything, alright? Then, when you think you've done that, try to use your mind to bend the lights. The actual light I mean, not the lamps. It may take a few tries, so don't give up."
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 1:30 pm
Vincent frowned, if Cat had asked, he would have denied being humble. Despite his humility, he didn't appreciate being told he was wrong. "Mr. Cat, just call me Vinny. Everyone else does, and it's rather bothersome to be called 'Victorious' when you have the angel of humility as your father." He had always had a firm dislike of his own name. And people -always- insisted on calling him that.
"Cool, I've never heard of an Eilian before," Vinny said with some interest. He would have to look them up, he was sure his older brother Joshua would be interested, if he didn't already know about them.
He decided he'd better humor the teacher like he'd asked. He nodded. "Alright, I'll try." He tried clearing his mind. It didn't work so well. He frowned. "Mr. Cat, it's not working. I can't clear my mind of certain things--" he paused, and decided to try again. He closed his eyes and focused on the light. How would he bend light? Could you even bend light? Still, he focused. His eyes were closed, so he couldn't see what was happening. The light slowly moved towards him.
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fallingUPstairs__x x Crew
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:23 pm
Cat smiled warmly at his pupil, making the mental note to drop the formality with the boy. Not that he had anything against doing so, but with how touchy parents can get with teachers getting close to their kids, he had long ago made it his policy to not do so unless invited.
The smile grew even wider as he saw the spawn bend the lights toward himself, illuminating himself in a way that should have not been possible. Cat chuckled lightly, happy for his pupil, and nudged him with his elbow. "Vinny. Open your eyes, but don't stop concentrating. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 9:34 am
Vincent opened his eyes. If he hadn't been focusing, his jaw would have dropped; as it was, his tri-colored eyes widened. He clearly hadn't expected anything to happen. Pleasantly surprised? No. Silently he wondered if that was supposed to happen, and whether or not he'd done it wrong. Humble boy was humble.
He tried not to take his concentration off the light. Light then, must be one of the easier magics, he thought. His eyes veered to Cat, and then back to the light that was illuminating him. "Strange," he commented. "I had no magic yesterday when I tried." This was true, it was Joshua who had always been good at it, it was Joshua who attempted to teach Vinny; it hadn't worked out so well, Josh was too much in a hurry, and too slapdash.
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fallingUPstairs__x x Crew
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 1:36 pm
Cat shrugged at his pupil's comment, still wearing a smile as he watched the novice magician with some pride. It was true, light was one of the easier magics to master, but it was still mildly remarkable how Vincent could already control it quite well. Not to mention his level of focus was higher than he expected. His tail flicked happily. Cool.
"Well, I can't explain that, except perhaps that you were simply focusing on the wrong aspect of it. Magic is kind of fickle like that. Now, you can relax," Cat said, getting up from his desk and walking behind Vincent, pointing at the light shining in the ceiling. "Now, what I want you to try and do is take some of the light up there and reflect it away from the ceiling, making a kind of shape like a circle. I know that might be a confusing explanation; sorry. Think of it as a reverse shadow puppet; instead of blocking the light from the space, you're just moving it away. I hope that made sense," he said with a slightly apologetic laugh. He had never been the greatest at explanations...
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 12:41 pm
"Maybe I was," Vinny said, relaxing. "My older brother Joshua, he uses magic through song and stuff. He was trying to teach me how to do the same thing, and got mad at me when I wasn't able to." The spawn looked down at his feet, this memory was still clear in his mind.
Vincent tried to understand the Eilian's explanation, he really did. Reverse shadow puppet? He couldn't even make a regular one, with his claws. Well, unless it was supposed to be something big with teeth. He closed his eyes and decided to try. He focused. This time he was lucky he had his eyes closed. The light did come towards him, but the shape never appeared. If he'd known, his ego would have dropped. Well, it would have, if he had one.
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fallingUPstairs__x x Crew
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:57 am
Cat nodded understandingly at the spawn's explanation. "Oh, well, then it was a simple matter of not having a talent in that area. Usually people only have an affinity towards one kind of magic."
Cat sighed quietly at the failed attempt, not disappointed at Vincent as much as he was disappointed with the element itself. Simple as it was, light could be rather finicky if your focus wasn't proper, and he was very reluctant to tell this humility child, who hadn't even thought he had any talent in the first place, that he had failed. Running a hand through his hair, he placed a hand on the other's shoulder. "Really close, Vincent, but not quite. I think you just need to alter your focus a little bit. Instead of just reflecting the light, really try to push it out of the way with your mind, like it's a solid object. Alright?" he ended hesitantly before leaning once again against his desk and flapping his wings nervously. He had this nagging suspicion that Vincent wouldn't be very willing to try again if he failed...
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:19 pm
"Did I mess up?" Vincent asked, almost accusatory in tone. He opened his eyes, and sighed. Not that he wasn't used to screwing things up on a daily basis. There was a silent war within him; to give in, give up, and fail the class? Or to continue, and possibly gain a talent he wouldn't have otherwise? He decided on the latter, and nodded at Cat. Naturally, the thought of failing an entire class had been much to the dislike of the spawn.
"I'll try again," he said. Almost automatically, he closed his eyes and focused. He focused on pushing the light away. Slowly a shadow circle began to appear. The spawn didn't put any energy into wondering whether he was doing it right or not.
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fallingUPstairs__x x Crew
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:21 pm
Cat smiled to himself at Vincent's willingness to keep trying, happy that he wasn't too hard on himself. Or was acting too hard. Tapping his foot and humming quietly to himself, he watched intently as the spawn refocused himself, almost jumping in delight when the attempt was successful. Trying not to knock things over, he tapped Vincent's shoulder. "Way to go, Vinny. Be careful to keep your focus, but if you want, you can open your eyes and see." Cat himself seemed more delighted than his pupil. Nothing made a teacher happier than seeing his students succeed. At least any good teachers.
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Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:29 am
Vincent wasn't being too hard on himself, because he knew the difference between humility and having no self esteem. He also knew the difference between failing and He knew if he didn't fail, he would gain a talent that would be useful later. Failing was not an option. From his teacher's tone, he could tell he had succeeded. He opened his eyes slowly, being careful not to lose his focus. A slow smile crept across his face, though his focus was firm.
His eyes glinted. He could do this! If he'd had an ounce of pride in him, he would have been rather proud of himself. Instead, he was merely pleased with the accomplishment. "Can I stop, now?" He asked, not daring to break his focus enough to look at Cat. "Or is there another shape you would like me to make?"
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fallingUPstairs__x x Crew
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:51 am
Cat grinned wider than his student when Vincent smiled. Walking once again back to his desk, he rummaged for a misplaced piece of paper, talking over his shoulder to the spawn. "If you want, sure. You're doing very well, Vinny. You'll be a master soon, mark my words."
Finding what he was looking for, he handed a piece of paper that had several shapes of varying difficulty drawn on them, with small boxes to check off the ones completed. "Well, you've certainly got a handle on the basics. If you want, you can go home now, although you do have a little homework," the hippogriff said with a light chuckle. "Just try and make these shapes when you feel up to it. There's no deadline or anything, just practice to keep your focus in shape. If you want, you can stay here and I can help you with them," Cat offered. He didn't have any other students today, so he was more than happy to spend a little extra time helping this one.
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