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 Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 4:17 pm
"Hm..." Alli continued to think on it. So, apparently this kid did not know of magic. Luckily, the kind of "magic" Alli had in mind could come easily to certain beings, including humans. Not, to only find out who, or more specifically, what this girl was. Alli moved forward and opened her mouth, prepared to speak, when a long, white tail appeared behind the girl. That complicated matters. Alli scratched the back of her own neck after catching sight of the tail. So this girl was not any plain human. That did not ruin her chances, either.
"Well then, let's see." Alli took a final step forward to stand right in front of the girl now. Wordlessly she placed the palm of her right hand flat against the girl's forehead as if taking her temperature. Rather, Alli was checking the girl's pulse and beat of life. A soft hue of blue light began to glow under Alli's palm as the woman in the white robe shut her eyes to concentrate.
In this test, Alli was checking the girl's potential for magic. Every being has a life force, something as-of-yet not sufficiently explained in modern science. In fact, this mystical energy extended beyond one person. Everything living had a vibrant force of supernatural energy laying dormant within, and even nonliving objects had the potential to act with or against this nameless force. Well, not entirely nameless. Some call it chi, ki, chakra, the force--or as Alli and the rest of the Guardian Order called it, Aether.
This power was often used as the driving force or catalyst in a number supernatural, or magical, operations. Quite simply, it can do almost anything comprehensible, and some things not. The trick is to know how to use it, mold it, form it, build it, supply it, and most of all--find it. To find it within is the first step.
This girl would have to find it inside of her, first, if she wanted to continue training with Alli. She definitely had it in her in some form or another, but Alli would never know to what extent unless the girl could show her. Placing her hand back at her side, Alli opened her eyes and smiled down cheerfully at the girl.
"First step, how about you tell me more about yourself? What's your name?" She asked casually. Hopefully the girl would reveal more about where she came from, including whatever race of creature she was, so that Alli could better understand how she might help this girl access her own Aether.
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Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 5:14 pm
Feeling the warm palm against her forehead made her wonder,but she did not dare interupt whatever it was.She breathed softly,her mind racing with thoughts of what the woman in robes would say,and about her mother.What had been the total light of her life,had killed herself.This had pressed the girl to become just like her mother.The tail had once more dissapeared into her pants,as if hiding from the eyes of the other.
She had been in deep thought when the questions were spoken,causing her to reply a few moments later."I-I..I'm Ayumi Kit Kusa-Kusakabe."Ayumi exaggerated a bitterness on her last name,she had never been fond of it."I'm..twelve.I used to have family,my father left my mother Kat,and she committed...uh,suicide two weeks ago."Glancing at her boots,Ayumi sighed softly,then looked back up,biting her lip with her front teeth."Anything else you would like to know Miss...?"
Without her notice the tail had swung out,swaying behind her slowly.
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Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 5:31 pm
Alli could not help but smile at the adorable little girl. She felt good a pervading warmth in her chest for the tiny would-be healer, and it was always great to work with someone likeable in this profession; well, in any profession. However, something seemed to trouble the girl. A concerned expression registered on the blonde woman's face as the girl spoke.
"Ayumi? That's a wonderful name!" She announced kindly, trying to help the girl get her mind off whatever made her feel so awkward--even alone and afraid. So, she was twelve years, just as she looked. That did not rule out the possibility of her magic yet. "My name is Alli. It's nice to meet you, Ayumi."
Alli placed her hands on the girl's upper arms gently when she mentioned that her mother, Kat, had committed suicide so recently. No wonder she lacked confidence. Losing her mother like that must've shattered her world, especially after her father left her. Alli almost frowned in sadness, but she did not want to help the girl feel any worse by lingering on it. It might seem cold, but Alli had become used to facing pain and death. Instead, Alli looked into the girl's pretty eyes with a serious expression.
"Why do you wish to become a healer, Little Ayumi?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:21 pm
She brightened a bit,doing her best to push any negative thought from her mind,it was hard but she had done it for so long."Nice too meet you too,Miss Alli."Bowing her head until her chin brushed her neck,she then spoke again."Please...if what I mentioned about my family,er,situation.Don't worry about me."Ayumi had said that line a lot lately,she had been travelling from bar to bar.Once she realized the expression in Alli's face,she straightened up and took a short breath.
"I'd like to be a healer for three main reasons.So that I can help people my mother could not.Because I want to learn to heal people,friends,family and strangers even,just for...just for that feeling.Not accomplishment but..."She blew out a short puff of air,frusterated a little."Well,I don't think it has a name but..the feeling you get inside when you do something good.For another..."The girl then smiled a little,"Besides,I can't fight worth a darn.I rather heal than hurt."
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Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:42 pm
Alli nodded as Ayumi spoke of her reasons. They sounded much like her so many years ago when she was younger, back when she physically appeared about Ayumi's age.
"It's my job to worry." The woman replied playfully. "And soon, it will be yours, too." She grinned and stepped back, folding her arms before her to rest under her bosom. She smiled down at her.
"We can definitely do this, Ayumi. I feel it in you. You have the soothing spirit of a healer. But, it's not all about being gentle and mending the injuries of others." She said plainly, raising the index finger of her right hand to demonstrate her point. "You will have to heal your own injuries, here..." As she spoke, she lightly tapped Ayumi's chest where her heart was located. "And, you have to have the drive to keep learning, to keep tyring, no matter what."
The woman turned her back to the girl ominously, and her voice adopted a grave tone.
"After all, this will not be easy or painless for you, Ayumi... Are you certain you want to continue? You have to trust me completely before we begin... I can understand if you do not have the passion, the heart, or the stomach to continue right now." She tilted her head to the side to glance back at Ayumi, a fierce look in her eye. "Or do you?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 9:19 pm
Ayumi listened,her expression changing along with Alli's words.A bit of puzzlement appeared on her tan face when the mentioning of her heart floated out of the woman's mouth.Ayumi was constantly pushing out her emotions,away from her mind to avoid conversation about such things.Ayumi nodded vigorously,silver locks bouncing about her head and shoulders,she then calmed,hiding excitement.
"Alli-sama,I am certain.I need this in my life if I am to heal..."She then tapped her chest again,just like Alli."My heart."Ayumi then straightened again."I can do this.I'm not afraid."
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Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 9:46 pm
After a moment of silence passed between them, Alli's pleasant, alluring smile returned to her face. She placed her hands on her hips, her back still facing Ayumi. This girl really touched her. She had such a determination to become a healer, someone who lived to help and aid others, even selflessly. She was ready to thrust herself under the knife here.
"Okay, then..." Alli whispered. She kept the smile on her face--a smile was disarming. "Now, Ayumi, don't move. This is going to hurt a little."
Suddenly, in a flash of her white robe, Alli spun around quickly, extending her right arm again towards Ayumi's heart. She clutched some kind of odd, cyldinrical object with a guard over fingers much like the hilt of a rapier. She pointed the hollow, circular end of the cylinder straight at the area Ayumi tapped--her heart. Within a split second a flash of bright light appeared from the hole in the cylinder, and a spear of light a few inches in diameter piereced straight through her chest like the blade of a sword. It passed through her body and extended out of her back for a good few feet, pulsing softly.
Surpisingly, Ayumi would feel an initial blow almost like getting the wind completely knocked out of her, but she would not feel the kind of pain one might expect from having an energy blade thrust into her heart. In fact, after she regained her wind, Ayumi would feel really no pain at all. Her body would go numb and she would feel paralyzed. Meanwhile the center of her chest would start to emit a tingling sensation coursing through her body to the tips of her fingers and toes.
The energy blade had not really passed into Ayumi's flesh at all. Rather, it had passed into her supernatural soul locked within the frame of her tiny body. Once inside it initially shocked her system, stunning her and keeping her physical body completely numb. While the blade lingered inside her supernatural spirit it would slowly emit an agreeable agent of spiritual energy straight from Alli. After a few moments, Ayumi would actually feel like she possessed more stamina and energy than perhaps she ever felt in her life. She would feel a massive boost of ability, and even her sense would become acutely sharper as she became very, very aware.
Though it emitted a low, pulsing light, the blade did not hum or dismiss any kind of extraneous sound at all, much like the steel of a sword. After a good twenty seconds, where Alli looked from the light blade into the girl's brown eyes, she withdrew it and stepped back to give the girl her distance. She lowered her right arm to her side and the blade of light dissipated as quickly as it appeared. Alli looked down at the girl with a serious expression before her lips split in a friendly smirk.
"So, how do you feel? That could potentially make your much stronger than you have ever felt, allowing you to access the greater portion of your own spirit... or it could make you weaker, knocking you unconcious or even..." She paused with a slight frown. "...killing you."
"How do you feel, Ayumi?" She repeated. Now it was all up to Ayumi, or more specifically, Ayumi's body, if she could stand up to this training.
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:54 am
"Hn?"Ayumi's eyes widened at the sight of the cylinder pointed at her heart,her body tensed strangely as the light hit her.Every nerve she had was tingling at this point,her eyes had clenched shut,expecting pain.When her eyes opened again she felt her mouth hang open,she felt breathless.Something new was inside her and she never felt better.Ayumi closed her eyes again and let her limbs relax under the sensations pulsing throughout her body from the strange light.
As soon as she felt the blade leave her small chest,she began to lose balance but quickly regained as soon as her tail whipped out to balance her."..Stronger than I ever felt?I feel..."Ayumi looked at her hands,balling them into fists then releasing."I feel something more,that's for sure.My heart seems to be beating stronger,my vision has gotten much better,better than my cat eyes...I feel a little shocked,but that,I'm guessing,is normal when you're pierced with a blade of light."Ayumi smiled rather innocently,slowly clasping her hands at the small of her back.
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:54 pm
Smiling joyously, Alli felt like embracing Ayumi. Hurray! It didn't kill her or harm her. Everything was going on track. Still, it was quite amazing. Few beings could readily accept another person's Aether forcefully injected into their bodies in the span of a few seconds. The fact that Ayumi survived, and with optimal results, proved she was very special.
"You are ready." Alli announced. She nodded her head, beckoning Ayumi to follow. She walked further into the infirmary where another doctor had set up a cabinet holding multiple medical tools. Alli opened a few of the drawers, looking for something. She smirked when she spotted the object, retrieving a scalpel from one of the drawers in her right. She turned and waited for Ayumi, sitting on the operating table next to her and offering Ayumi a seat righy beside her.
"Now, Ayumi... The feeling I gave you is actually a part of my own energy, highly focused and concentrated. Think about it: What if you could eat a meal and pass the energy you gained onto someone else? However, this gets a little more complicated. I did not simply impart physical energy to you, or stamina..." She so said while shaking her head. "I gave you some of my own spiritual energy, my Aether." She couldn't help but smile at the girl again. So young, yet so determined. Hopefully she had some smarts to take in all that Alli would tell her. Being a healer of this sort definitely took some brainpower. Alli thought Ayumi definitely had it.
"Aether is like your physical stamina. You can use it. You can replenish it. You can also make it grow. Some people have more stamina, and they can therefore run longer and faster. It is the same with Aether." As the woman spoke, she idly twirled the scalpel in her right hand in a number of ways with precision and expertise, never dropping it or fumbling.
"Only a healer of my capacity can accomplish this kind of transfer. Usually, your body would reject foreign spiritual energy, especially the more you have. It's like your body's magical immune system. Those with higher Aether capacities are like those with more blood cells--Oh..." Alli stopped and blushed. She tried to avoid getting technical, but she realized a girl of Ayumi's age might not know exactly what blood cells were or what they did. Anyway, the first stage of her training was about 1/3 over. She would be mending wounds very shortly if all went well, so Alli might as well stop to make sure she understood everything. "Do you understand?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:16 pm
Ayumi,by now had completely forgotten her short spurt of depression,and was now looking forward to being taught by Alli.She figured that now no other adults would try to take her away like before.Ayumi followed a few steps behind the woman.Placing her hands onto the table,she hopped up next to Alli.
"Aether..."She said softly,sounding out and stretching the word to learn it properly."Does everyone have Aether?"Her voice was quiet,unsure if it was right to speak or not.Fascinated by this new term and energy,she listened well.As she heard the comparisons between stamina and Aether,she could not help but yearn for more of the energy,though bit her tongue and told herself not to think in such a way.
"I understand most of it,but what were you saying about blood...cells?"She had come across texts mentioning blood cells,but had never really read them,she hoped for information.
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Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:22 am
"Yes," Alli replied with a brisk nod in response to the girl's initial question about Aether. "Every living thing possesses Aether, in one way or another. Even you, little Ayumi." She said, playfully poking Ayumi on the nose. She hoped she didn't seem condescending to the young girl, but she also wanted to try to cheer her up. She continued to twirl the scalpel in the fingers of her right hand when Ayumi asked about blood cells for clarification.
"Well, humans and most creatures with blood have special kinds of cells in their bodies that focus almost entirely on locating and fighting foreign subtances, specifically those that cause illness. That's how someone can naturally get better after having a cold for a few days." She did her best to describe everything in layman's terms. Even she did not possess complete knowledge of the most modern medical jargon, especially in conjunction with modern medicine. Alli maintained her own form of healing the body and spirit. Still, someone in her line of work had to know more than the basics, too. "Typically, healthier people will recover even faster. Their immune systems work more efficiently. It is the same with Aether. Those with more Aether, and therefore more efficient Aether, can resist foreign, supernatural substances or energy which threaten the well-being or life of the body."
Ayumi looked like a smart girl who could follow Alli's words pretty closely. Alli thought she should get to the point to spare the girl long lectures.
"I had to use my own Aether to override your smaller supply so that your body would accept it. In the worst case scenario, your body might have forcefully shut down to keep my Aether from joining yours. It could have killed you..." Realizing this sounded more than the least bit threatening, Alli quickly added, "But, as a healer I also had a natural counter-measure planned to save your life. As I told you before, Ayumi, healing is no less dangerous than fighting. Lives are always on the line. It is a serious business, moreso than war." The grave expression on the woman's face only reiterated her point.
"In short, why did I do this?" Her expression lightened up as she looked down at her little pupil with pride. "The fact that your body accepted my Aether with your own is simply outstanding! With this method we can increase the speed of your training perhaps a hundredfold or more! I think it is no mistake, Ayumi. You must live to heal." Now, 2/3 of the way to her healing, Alli paused again. She meant every word, and the prospect of such a wonderful and gifted student genuinely excited her. She sat back and once again folded her arms to rest them under her bosom. "Now, any more questions before we begin?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:05 pm
Strangely, Faust had completely ignored the entire exchange between Alli & Ayumi - busy browsing through medical cabinets loudly, muttering out loud prescription labels on bottles before laughing curtly. Then, he thought, "Well stocked and with great invetory, this infirmary is! But, some things are terribly out-dated and would do worse to harm than cure, in cases here. This won't do at all.." His left arm reached up, medical coat flapping a bit - and he grasped a small bottle of medicine, idly tossing it in the trash, before reaching beneath his coat with the other - and placing a much larger, white-encased bottle in it's place. "There! The effects from that would be three hundred fold over the old."
Slowly, he turned around; if one weren't positive it wasn't possible, they'd think his height had changed yet again. For now, he was hunched over just to be at eye-level with others; a good nine feet tall, at the least. The paper bag on his head russtled a tad, as the doctor began to peer over other supplies in the room curiously - occasionally messing with things, perhaps, he shouldn't have. Yet, whatever he intended for - Faust seemed rather experienced at it. Not even the slightest notion of hesitation lined his actions.
"Hmph! Their hypodermic needles are rather old fashioned - but they shall do. It's a pity I brought none of the one-shot models!" Busily, the doctor seemed to be evaluating every bit of equipment in the room - and occasionally, swapping objects out, with materials one twould almost be sure not possible to fit beneath his lab coat. Yet, apparently, they did. To the naked eye, at any rate. Faust then thought with a quick bout of boredom, "The tournament must truely be moving along slowly, so few injured have stepped in! What a pity, I could have examined as well as cured these special cases! ..Ah well." Shaking such thoughts aside, the doctor finally stopped scuttering across the infirmary - and then, slowly sat back on a seat, yawning most loudly.
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Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 4:08 pm
Her nose wrinkled at the touch,as sensitive as it was.She repeated the information silently about blood cells in her head,making sure to memerize this,clearly it would be important later."Aether...I wish everyone could 'contact' and add to their Aether."Ayumi said softly,hands on either of her knees."Ah,so my thoughts were right...I knew there would be a possibility of death.But,I am thankful if it was to ever happen,you would have stopped it."Ayumi spoke with confidence,adding a short nod.
"Ah!I live to heal?"Her eyes brightened,infact her whole being did.She sat up straight,her hands grabbing at the cloth of her loose pants in anticipation."Thank you,Alli-senpai.That was...a boost."She smiled,answering her question with a nod.
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Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:48 pm
"Great!" Alli responded positively. She reflected Ayumi's optimistic attitude in her own pleasant smile. She sat back and placed her left hand on her hip. The fingers of her right hand continued to twirl the scalpel. "Well, then. I think you might know where I am going with all of this." As she spoke, Alli looked down at the scalpel in her hand indifferently.
"You must feel that incredible surge of energy in your body still. Because my supply of Aether is so vast and focused, I can feel it more or less like that all the time. You would, too, if you learned to control your Aether to an extent beyond your so-called "natural" limits. Feels different, huh?" She smirked playfully. "As I said before, Aether exists in all living beings. Even I can not fully explain it, so people like me often use a simple word devised by humans to describe it: magic. Your own Aether exists in your body, seeping out and surrounding it. The Aether of other people and creatures also exists within them, leaking out." She gestured off with her left hand to demonstrate the Aether escaping from the body. Her emerald eyes seemed distant as she gazed about, thinking of ways to explain this mysterious, pervading force, before she fixed her sight back on the little girl.
"You can train yourself and hone your Aether, much like you can hone your body in martial arts. Some think of it as a sort of spiritual or magical training. Starting out, this kind of regimen is very, very difficult and complicated. Fortunately for us, your body accepted my Aether. My Aether will work with yours now, as well as give it a good boost. This will allow you to perform some amazing tasks... including healing." She knew Ayumi came here for this, and Alli had become just as excited to finally get this girl ready to heal. With only a little more explanation out of the way, Ayumi would be ready.
"My Aether is also naturally and inseparably attuned to healing, among other things. You will find it easier to use it in this task. Think of it like a training period. With my Aether, you can probably start mending wounds right now with little difficulty. But, eventually you'll use the supply I gave you up. By that time, you will need to learn how to work with Aether, how to precisely control it, strictly manipulate it, gradually build it, and painstakingly focus it. That way, you can begin to cultivate the Aether within your own body. Your own Aether will work better with you than even mine will. In this way, you may become a healer." Alli had once again assumed a very serious expression and grave tone. Even as she felt optimistic that Ayumi could become a great healer, she also presented a challenge to Alli. Learning to control one's Aether did not come easily. Sure, Alli could continue supplying Ayumi with her own Aether while they remained in the same vicinity. However, if Ayumi never learned to control her own Aether, she would never grow as a healer.
"Now, we begin your training!" Suddenly, Alli flipped the scalpel in her right hand to hold it in a strong grip. She slid her left hand out in front of her on the table, placing it in between her and Ayumi with her palm planted on the table. Her right arm snapped down and in an instant, Alli had driven the scalpel into her left hand. She slashed down, creating a deep, gaping wound on the back of her left hand. She kept her eyes locked onto Ayumi's the entire time, and she did not even flinch when she drove the blade into the back of her hand. She showed no sign of pain as if her entire left arm had gone numb long ago. Blood began to seep out out of the fresh cut. In fact, Alli had to suppress her body's naturally accelerated recovery process. Normally, a minor laceration like that would heal on the spot in the same manner that Alli had healed the man's bullet wound earlier.
She removed the scalpel from the cut, letting loose droplets of blood drip back into the wound. She then placed a scalpel on top of the cabinet from which she retrieved it. Now came the first test.
"Ayumi, place your palm right over mine. The closer the better. I hope you do not mind blood, but you will only see more of it if you plan on being a healer." She did not sound really apologetic, but she did not feel that way, either. If Ayumi could not handle the sight or feel of blood, she would not make a very good healer. "You should feel that energy inside of you bubbling up. Focus it. Draw it inwards and concentrate. Think about its nature and familiarize yourself with it. Then, channel it through your arm and towards the palm of your hand. The palm is one of the easiest places from which you can expel your Aether. Do just that. Think about the Aether, and will it to help me, to heal me. Contact my body, and the Aether inside of it, and transfer your benevolent spirit into my hand to heal me."
As ridiculous as it sounded, it could work. Very few ever succeeded on the first try, but Alli would not tell Ayumi that. If Ayumi did succeed, she would prove to be a prodigy not often witnessed. Alli figured she would have to explain a little more about how Aether worked for Ayumi to understand it, and--for that matter--believe in it. In essence, the Aether filling Ayumi's body would recognize Alli's Aether, communicate with it as the link to her body, and induce cell's to grow, regenerate, form, and even exist. Her Aether could actually feed the victim's body with the right building blocks of life to reform the tissue and repair the damage. Such was the nature of the ethereal, esoteric force most often referred to simply as "magic," but which Alli and her fellow Guardians knew as Aether. To master Aether meant ascending the limits of the average body and typical existence; to even become a deity.
As Ayumi tried, Alli fondly recalled her own first attempt at healing. She had received the initial lesson a tad differently. For one, her instructor had forcefully and unceremoniously injured Alli at the time, pretty severely, and demaned that she heal herself to live. As hard as she tried, she could not save her own life that day, and so began her hellish practice in the art of healing under her spartan Magister, or instructor. Fortunately for Ayumi, Alli injured herself instead of her pupil to get things started.
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Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:46 pm
Silently, almost imperceptibly, Razen enters the infirmary. Oblivious to the previous goings-on, he clears his throat loudly to get the healers' attention.
Razen: Sorry to interrupt, but I need someone to take a look at my hands...
He then proffers the reddened and blistered palms of his hands to the healers.
Razen: I need them healed by the next round, please.
He winces as he finishes gesturing the last phrase, involuntarily flicking his hands as he does.
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