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 Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:51 pm
The books fell to the table with a loud clatter. Terry flinched, looked around, saw no one had noticed, and sat down, pulling out one of the thick volumes and cracking it open. Dust wafted up and already his eyes were starting to droop.
Terry looked out the window and saw students running towards the carnival after their classes. He wanted to join them, but afterthe debacle that was third period he decided an hour or two of studying would be better than rides and candy.
He looked down at the book.
Chapter One: Drawing a Summoning Circle
He sighed. "I'm never going to get this."
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:56 pm
"There aren't any prizes in there. Trust me, I've checked before."
A cheerful voice piped up just over Terry's shoulder, Elspeth standing there with her hands clasped behind her back and her smile wide and cheerful. Despite it being a library and food not being allowed she held a cone of cotton candy in one hand, now offering it to him. "You must be careful if you have some that you don't get the book sticky. Books hate getting sticky."
Her head craned forward, peering over and what he was working on. "You're learning how to be a summoner? What are you going to summon--I think it should be frilly with beautiful feathers of all sorts of colors. Do they have anything like that?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:04 pm
Terry smiled back at El and flipped to the back of the book. "Something like this?" He shows El a picture of a phoenix. "The picture isn't very bright but the real thing is...I think..." Terry looks down at the wood block print of the fire bird, touches the page, and looks back at El.
"Were you at the carnival? That where you got the candy?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:15 pm
"Candy?"
For a moment she seemed quite confused before she sat down next to him. "Can you really call such a thing out? Are they nice? It looks beautiful--do you think it's as beautiful in person?" There was no small amount of glee in Elspeth's voice, beaming brightly at Terry.
"How do you do it? Can you summon them now?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:16 pm
Kozue streatched her arms across the table and yawned. She loved to read, but every now and then, the sound of her own voice inside her head could become boring and she needed a break.
Kozue folded her arms under her and turned her face to the window. The school was nice, but there wasn't alot to do.
"I could go find a book that would better myself..." Her sentence slowly trailed off and she continuted looking out the window.
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:23 pm
"A pheonix?!" Terry yelled. "No way!"
A firm shush came from somewhere in the stacks and Terry flinched again.
Quieter he replied. "I mean, we don't have the tools or the offerings or..." The skill, he thought.
This morning's class had been a disaster. They were only supposed to summon frog spirits. Not even full blown frogs, just spirits. He'd made the circle, sprinkled the water, doubled checked the symbols and equations, said the words and--
His legs still hurt and he didn't think his teacher would trust him with anything more difficult than a mouse spirit for a least another month.
"Besides, it'd be kind of noisy to summon it in here." His eyes flicked to the window again, and the students rushing towards the carnival. Terry really would rather be out there right now, not in here studying. Still, at least El was good company...as long as she didn't expect him to actually summon something...
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:26 pm
As Terry and Elspeth were busy studying, a strong wind gusted past them, blowing open the books they had sitting on the table. The wind was followed by a loud crash at the back of the library, followed by the frantic yelling of the librarian and a loud and enthusiastic apology in the voice of a young girl. Moments later, Hikaru came dashing around a bookcase, ducking down and looking around.
"Whew... lost her!"
She turned to Elspeth and Terry, closing one of the books on the table loudly and dramatically. This prompted a loud 'sssh!' from some of the other students who were busy studying, but she simply smiled, laughing a little and waving her hand.
"What are you guys doing in here on such a nice day! It's school carnival day! C'mon, let's go - I heard the rollercoaster is HUGE!"
Hikaru bounced in place, hardly able to contain her excitement.
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:27 pm
"If you're going to be my knight, you have to learn to have more confidence in yourself." Blithely unaware of the danger, skill or even his concerns Elspeth shrugged and smiled.
"We can make it an extra credit project over the summer, and, and I can help! I do need the extra cre--I was--oh yes. I was supposed to be studying how to unanimate objects. I've gotten the first step... something always goes wrong on the second step though." Her eyes moved from him to the window and back again, thinking for a moment.
"You know it's terribly itchy outside. I have allergies so it's quite uncomfortable. And the ice cream is all runny and gooey and they ran out of all flavors that weren't vanilla. And the lines are really long, too. For everything. So people are just standing and sweating and waaaaiting." Elspeth nodded quite earnestly at this, moving to sit between him and the window so he couldn't see outside. "It's rather comfortable in here though. Cool and the smell of books. It smells like smart things."
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:34 pm
"If you're going to be my knight, you have to learn to have more confidence in yourself."
Terry reddened a little and then grabbed frantically at toppling books as Hiko flew past. By the time Hiko had returned El was blocking his view of the window.
"Libraries always make me sleepy," Terry tells El. Then to Hiko, "But I really should study," he says patting the book.
His eyes drift towards the window again, really wanting to get outside, but instead they found Elespth's eyes watching him. He tried to look past her, but every way he moved put the fairy in the middle of his field of vision.
Eventually he realized he was probably staring, and went back to Hiko. His fingers brushed the book cover and he felt a yawn coming on.
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:37 pm
Hikaru frowned. Why would anyone want to waste the first day of a school carnival cooped up in some stuffy library studying? Studying can happen anytime, but the carnival would only be there for maybe a week! She shook her head, insistently grabbing Terry's hand and trying to pull him away from the books.
"No way, c'mon! You can study later! The books'll still be here when you come back! It's just for a while, I promise!"
She looked at Terry and Elspeth, eyes aflash with youthful excitement as she pulled at his arm.
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:40 pm
Elspeth took his other arm with that, holding on tight to keep him put.
"You can't study if you've been kicked out of school and there will always be more carnivals. And if we all work really hard together now, then we can go later and not feel guilty for it--and we'll feel pretty awful if we slack off with our school work now."
Her voice was, for once, quite serious in this.
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:47 pm
"Agck," Terry said as he was pulled in two directions. He knocked the book he was hold from its place on the desk. His eyes began to cross. He was pretty sure one of his joints might come out of its sockets. Both girls could be quite stronger than they looked.
"Hey hey heyheyeyeyeyeyy~" Pulling himself free of his friends, Terry bent and picked up the book. "How 'bout this," he said. "If I can summon the frog like I was supposed to in class, we'll call this study session a success and go to the park for a while? Fair?" He looked between the two girls.
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:48 pm
Hikaru groaned loudly, rolling her eyes and shrugging her shoulders some in a pouting gesture.
"What's so hard about schoolwork anyway? It's almost the weekend! We can afford to go out and have fun for one night!"
She craned her neck to have a look at what Terry was studying so intently, still trying to pull him away from Elspeth and the books.
"Summoning? Huh? What's this all about?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:54 pm
Terry plucked the book from Hiko's hand. "S'what my dad does. What I'm trying to do. Tek's studying it too, but he's better at it than I am. I don't think we'll be in the same class very long. I'll probably get demoted to like pre-beginner or something."
Terry flips the book open to the first chapter. "Should we see if this works?"
On the page you can see a picture of a circle, some strange ruins and math equations, and a line print image of a frog in the center.
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:54 pm
The somewhat smug smile on her expression was clear when Terry aquiested to this, still holding on to Terry even as he agreed.
"I think that's a perfect idea, Terry. It seems fair enough.. but.. does it have to be a frog?" She pouts slightly at this, head cocked to a side just slightly in thought. "Well, class is class."
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