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 Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:07 pm
"Oh, I'm sure!" Raven laughed, though she would probably deny it if asked later. "I have come to believe that it is a trait universal of people working in a magick-oriented profession. Being disorganized, that is, and rather... how to put it nicely? A slob?"
It was a personal theory of hers that the potential for magic was something only found in certain people, and that those people had to give something up in return for it. The likely something was the faculty for cleaning. She had never met a magickally oriented person, witch, wiard, sorceror, or otherwise, who was tidy.
"When one has an apprentice they can shunt the cleaning duties over to them, teaching some temporarily useful spells. Yet when the apprentice becomes a fully fledged magick user, they no longer use the spells, and live in total disarray until they in turn take an apprentice to clean. This is my experience, at least."
Of course, nothing was said of her own messy habits. Without Mahou, Raven was rather hopeless at housework, and didn't have the patience for cleaning spells, even though she did remember a few. But admitting so would be admitting a fault, so she left it at that.
So he did notice! Climbing to his feet with somewhat more care and making sure he was out from under the slide beforehand, Anoki surveyed the damage. It wasn't enough to make the slide unusable, though sliders might notice a slight bump. It was quite clearly not the slide it had been a few moments ago.
"P-please d-don' t-t-tell Mama R-ray," Anoki pleaded. If he got tattled on, then he would certainly get yelled at, and probably not get any desserts too. Or that new box of crayons he'd been eyeing. "P-please?"
It did not occur to Anoki that he was a good bit larger than Etain, and could probably arrange that his wishes would be complied with in other ways. He simply wasn't that kind of person.
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:27 pm
Tovar grimaces significantly. "Unfortunately, I think you're right. If I ever get out from Michael, I probably won't use another cleaning spell for the rest of my life."
--Actually, no, that was probably a lie. Tovar was actually quite tidy when he got right down to it. While he could tolerate the state of Michael's house now, after so many years, he'd nearly had a minor heart attack the first time he'd stepped foot inside the house. In the very least, any house Tovar picked up after being Michael's apprentice, probably wouldn't end up in any worse shape than his master's. Not that that was saying much...
Ugh, he was doomed.
Etain shook his head quickly, looking absolutely mortified at the thought. "Won't," he assure the older boy quickly, nodding his head sharply up and down. "Won't tell."
But oh, what would happen when Tovar found out he'd lost one of his horns!? Tovar hadn't gotten mad at him very much -- well, except for when he colored on the kitchen wall... -- but...this was important! Definitely more important than a wall, Etain thought. Well, he thought so, anyway. Personally, he'd thought the wall looked quite a bit prettier with his drawings...
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:59 pm
That was a rather hopeless face. "Unless, of course, you have to teach them to someone else. After which you'll never have to think of them again," she chuckled, "And I'm quite certain you'll never want to."
Even thinking this much about cleaning spells was rather annoying. Again, it was time for a subject change. "What is it that you're reading? Anything interesting? I usually bring history texts to read when Anoki Kenelm is playing, but I did not have adequate time to select an appropriate one today."
"Th-thanks!" There, everything was better. He wouldn't get yelled at, and he might still get those crayons, and he wasn't even dizzy anymore. One crisis averted.
Perhaps it was the knock to the noggin, or perhaps Anoki's own varying attention span, but the thoughts of the missing horn were gone. Thoroughly cheered, he pointed to the swingset. Maybe now he could get to really try them! "W-wanna swing with m-me?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 11:46 am
Tovar flushed, looking quickly down to the book in his lap. "Aah, it's interesting..." he said after a moment of contemplation. Uncertainly, he lifted up to book to show her the cover. Apparently the young man was a bit more keen on poetry and short stories than history. "I don't usually...but for some reason the library wouldn't let me find anything else today. It has a habit of switching around; I think it was playing a trick on me. Michael's house does that sometimes." He shrugged, shaking his head.
Etain blinked, glancing in the direction of the swings. His hand flopped away from his remaining horn as he considered the possibility. Glancing back, he nodded cheerfully. "Mkay."
With a nod, Etain quickly turned and trudged his way through the sand toward the swing sets. With a certain lack of coordination, he found one of the baby swings set ridiculously low to the ground, clambering awkwardly into the seat and poking his legs through the available holes.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:29 am
"I see." Raven let a hint of disapproval slide into her voice, but otherwise refrained from comment. After all, if he wanted to fritter his time away on useless fiction, she wouldn't stop him. To each his own. The idea of the shifting library was far more interesting, and she decided to focus on that. "Often the overflow of energy from constant spellcasting can seep into a house, letting it take on new qualities. Libraries in particular have excellent magick absorption and reassimilation properties, likely due to their informational and storage nature. At home, my workroom table had the tendency to shift instruments I needed closer to me. Quite useful, it's a shame that the materials in my apartment here have yet to be that helpful."
Anoki followed cheerfully, kicking up a few small dustclouds as he scuffed his feet in the sand. Finallyfinallyfinally, he would get to try the swings for real! He selected one near the one Etail was clumsily trying to get into and sat on the flat slat of rubber, gasping a little as it sank under his weight.
And he sat, and sat, and sat for a few more moments.
"H-how d-do you m-m-make it g-go?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 11:28 am
Tovar nodded, frowning slightly. "Personally, I'm of the opinion that Michael made the house that way on purpose -- just to be obnoxious. It changes. Half the rooms don't even really exist on the floorplan, and the house has a tendancy to forget itself and rearrange according to how it's been for years. Etain's room keeps changing back into a storage closet ever few days or so." Not to mention that it made a habit of messing the whole place up right after he'd finished cleaning. Talk about unfulfilling work.
Etain blinked, kicking slightly at the ground. The only effect was to wobble him slightly off to one direction, and to catch his heels in the sand. A bit more squirming, and he eventually decided that, no, he definitely had no idea.
"Iunno," he squeaked, wiggling his body in some attempt to start the swing. "Maybe there'sa button t'click." He paused, looking around. Nothing in the immediate vicinity to click. There had to be some way to start up the swing. Frowning, he continued to squirm around, twisting the swing on a slight pivot. It was fun, he gussed, but he had the distinct feeling he was doing it wrong.
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Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:58 pm
The more Raven heard of this wizard Michael, the less she thought of him. After all, there were some things that were acceptable, like shunting most of the housework onto an apprentice, and some things that were not, like providing insufficient tutoring or housing, or failing to correct hazardous work conditions. And this seemed a blatant example of the most unacceptable behavior.
"Is there nothing you can do about it?" It was unlike Raven to show concern for strangers, but the man seemed promising, and the wizard a horrible example for what magick users should be. "I know contracts are binding, but sometimes there are measures that can be taken."
"N-no but-t-tons." No, he'd been swinging once before, and there weren't any buttons. It was simpler than that. But for the life of him, Anoki couldn't remember the way to make the swing go. He had one idea, but they couldn't both swing at the same time that way.
Still, it was worth a try.
"W-want me t-t-to p-push you?" Anoki offered. That way at least one of them would be swinging, and he could think up the right way to do it.
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Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:41 am
Tovar blinked at her for a few seconds. Abruptly, he broke into a sharp grin and shook his head. "Really, he's not so bad. Besides, in my first two years I picked that damn contract to pieces and the only loopholes are slightly unpleasant. If nothing else, Michael knows how to write legal documents." Something told Tovar the man had practice with that sort of thing. The something also said it was probably because Michael himself wormed his way out of everything imaginable, so he probably knew how to keep other people from doing it.
"Besides," he said, tone dropping slightly. "He needs me, whether he wants to admit it or not."
Etain's long ears perked slightly in the boy's direction, head tilting slightly to the side as he wiggled himself side to side. The kid wanted to push him? That didn't seem nice.... Tovar said pushing was mean, and to never ever do it -- especially to Michael because he might break like the glass cup Tovar had dropped in the kitchen once. Etain chewed on his lower lip. Still though, the horned boy had been trustworthy thus far. So far as Etain could tell, he didn't mean any harm.
So he nodded quickly, making a small noise of agreement. "Kay."
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Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 12:16 pm
"Needs you?" Raven chuckled, uncrossing and recrossing her legs to stretch them at the same time. "Sir, he doesn't seem to be doing you any good, nor care about the obvious infractions of courtesy. What should it matter that he needs you? He's not doing you any service, why should he deserve your attention?"
It wasn't really pushing a person, exactly. Anoki slid off his seat and crossed to the back of the swingset, looking it over as he did so. It made sense that if he pushed it at the bottom, it would work. But where? Where would work that wouldn't end up hurting either one of them?
Finally he settled on pushing the bottom of the swing. Flexing the fingers of his good hand, he rested it on the bottom and pushed.
The swing moved about an inch, then settled again.
"It's hard," Anoki commented, getting discouraged. He barely moved it at all! Determined to make it work, he backed up, hand outstretched, and ran towards the swing, slamming his whole arm into the back of the swing, and partly across Etain's lower back. It hurt, but hopefully it worked!
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Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:32 pm
Tovar squirmed around, not unlike a little kid trying to think of an excuse for breaking a window (and one not involving "It was Steve!" or "I was dead at the time!"). "I don't know, but...well, he hasn't got anyone else. It's not good for people to be all alone." Tovar shrugged, turning the book in his lap awkwardly over, picking slightly at the binding with his fingernails.
"Besides, I'd rather be living in that house than somewhere else doing...--I don't even know what I'd do if I wasn't learning something. What I've got now isn't exactly much, and I've never done anything but magic before."
Squeak. Etain blinked as he wobbled forward from the push. Well, at least he was going the right direction now. He twisted around slightly, peering at the other boy. "No good," he chirped, fingers curled around the swing's chains.
The unicorn let out a faint 'oomf!' at the second push, the swing rocketing forward a few feet. Making a surprised noise, Etain wormed in the chair of the swing, kicking his legs instinctively back and forth -- or maybe it was just more flailing around in surprise. Nontheless, it did seem to do something about the way the swing went, propelling him slightly backward and forward.
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Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 2:37 am
It was that sort of attitude, that "I have no other choice" view of the world that people took, that really made Raven's blood boil. Those people simply didn't have what it took to make it, and they just whined about it. It was impossible not to make the shift into teacher-mode, and a lecture soon bubbled to the instructor's lips.
"Have you even researched other possibilities with the intent of acting on them? Considering does no good, even if you have done that much. You need to know your strengths and your goals, and plan accordingly based on what's possible. So you've never done anything but magic. There has to be another way to complete your training, or something you can do with the skills you have. Or can you do nothing except perform janitorial services?"
The last comment was a bit snide, but then, maybe it would make him think.
Anoki's arm was sore, but he didn't mind much. The swing was moving! And his new friend seemed to be having fun. Or falling. It was difficult to tell what all the flailing was about. "Is th-that ok-k-kay? D-don't f-f-fall!"
Much as Anoki wanted to try making his own swing work by himself, he was scared of the younger kid falling out of the swing. Falling hurt, he knew that well. And furthermore, if either of them fell, he would probably get yelled at. If anyone was ever yelled at, it involved him.
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Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:58 am
Tovar blinked and stared at her in a matter that might have easily been the epitome of 'deer in the headlights.' Clearly, he wasn't exactly used to this sort of confrontation, and by the way he seemed to be looking for a hole to hide himself in, he wasn't exactly sure what to make of it.
So he yammered instead. "N-no...I can do more than that, but -- I can do quite a bit actually, but...uh...you see--" He was making no sense and he knew it, but at the same time he wasn't exactly sure what would be the right thing to say under that relentless lecture.
In all honesty though, he had to wonder how much time he had left. Even with the erratic lesson schedule that Michael had presented him with over the course of his apprenticeship, how long could he really stretch it? Besides, he couldn't imagine Michael was just keeping him around to the clean the house. Tovar didn't think the wizard actually cared what the house looked like. It was his own simple compulsion that had made a remote mark on the house's organization level, rather than by Michael's orders.
"Not gonna," Etain squeaked, kicking his legs around in some semblance of a pattern that took the swing swooshing lightly back and forth. "Y'gotta kick," the unicorn explained faintly, frowning with concentration. At least, it seemed to be working that way. "Kick t'make it go. This way:"
In some sort of demonstration, Etain pumped his legs awkwardly back and forward, the short little limbs cutting through the air to the slight effect that it swung the swing slightly back and forth. Granted, due to the slightly off timing of the boy's legs -- he just wasn't that coordinated -- it didn't do much but it certainly did something, if only to color his cheeks a somewhat bright shade of red from the exertion and the cocentrated frowning.
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Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:45 am
Raven stared, eyebrows slowly making the climb up her forehead. Did her words really scare the man senseless? It seemed quite possible with the way he kept gibbering, to himself more than to her. A hint of a smile came to her lips. Maybe there was hope for this one yet, if she had such an effect on him.
Rather than pushing him futher into incoherency, Raven decided to keep quiet. He would probably make some sort of closing clear, and then she would continue.
Despite Etain's assurances that he was stable, Anoki was still worried. The swing was rather shaky, and the uneven pumping that the younger boy managed served to knock it off balance as much as it did to propel it.
However, the revelation about the swing was taken with excitement. Paxton had done a similar thing when they went swinging together for that brief time. "Y-yeah, that's r-r-right!"
The kid would be fine alone, Anoki figured, and practically jumped into his own swing, kicking off hard. Even though the rythem was off, the swing did move somewhat promisingly. He did it all by himself!
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 12:17 pm
After a few more seconds of absolute blathering, Tovar fell silent with a complacent shrug as he chewed on the inside of his check. "Iunno," he muttered, still turning the book of prose over and over in his lap. "I guess I could look into...things." Or, in the very least, threaten Michael that he was going to leave (for real this time!) if some changes didn't happen.
Then again, knowing how stubborn the man was, Tovar wasn't sure how much that would really help...
Etain squeaked happily as his swing moved faintly backward and forward. No, it wasn't exactly monumental, and it didn't look like the kid was going to be flipping his swing over the top bar any time soon, but it was apparently good enough for the time being.
Eventually, his legs got tired and he slowly wound to a halt, at which point he staggered off the swing and flopped melodramatically into the sand. "Legs tired," the unicorn muttered, twisting himself around to dust the sand out from between his toes. After a few seconds, he popped back to his feet and dusted the sand and little rocks out from his shorts and from under his shirt, forgetting completely about the fine layer of playground dust that seemed to be covering his legs and forearms.
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Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:12 pm
What an attitude. Raven shrugged, not really caring either way. "It's up to you to decide what you want to do, no one's going hold your hand through it."
Whatever he ended up deciding didn't really impact her at all. The fact that he'd listened to her this much, however, was interesting. With further work, he might be quite useful to her. If nothing else, the conversation he was providing was quite amusing, and Raven no longer regretted not having a book.
Anoki almost didn't hear. Swinging by himself, for real, without parents or rain getting in the way, was wonderful. It almost felt like he was flying! Maybe if he kicked off really hard, he would be able to go into the sky! It wasn't likely- his pumping was still uneven and the swing quite wobbly- but maybe, just maybe...
Just maybe his friend was getting tired. A bit reluctantly, Anoki planted his feet in the dirt, dragging them as the swing jerked to a halt. "You k-k-kay?"
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