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 Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 11:10 pm
RuiZhi found himself in the familiar hall again, in front of the familiar door which lead to a familiar and adored woman. He felt his stomach dancing with butterflies, eager to start the lesson that had been delayed due to his assignment from Heru Araquenosse. Now that it was ready to be prepared, he had some time before he had to seek out Javelin, and he intended to use that time with the engimatic elven woman.
The boy tapped the back of his bare knuckles against the door before dropping his small hand to the door handle, the brown fabric of his robes swallowing his small frame. The excitement thrilled through him as he gingerly called out, "Heru Irame? Are you here?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:22 pm
(Ah family photos...)
Irame looked over at the door and tried to make it look as if she hadn’t had her face very nearly pressed up against the window. She had been trying to figure out of she could open the thing up, and had gotten a bit distracted looking at the people and scenery. In her own defense she thought that it was very pretty.
So when she heard someone knock at the door and call through it she hurriedly made sure that she didn’t look like she had been pressing her face to glass and scrambled over to the door. She smiled as she found Rui Zhi on the other side.
“Hello Rui Zhi, it is good to see you again. I am sorry that it took me so long, please come in.” she said, gesturing for him to enter.
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:26 am
The boy smiled warmly up at the elven woman. She looked as stunning as always! Even her cheeks looked flushed! RuiZhi didn't pay it much mind, accepting the invitation with a courteous, "Thank you," before entering the woman's office.
He turned and looked around peacefully, feeling at ease despite being in the presence of a non-human, and in a field that he knew nothing of. "No need to apologize," he said kindly, "I was given a task by Heru Araquenosse that took longer than I anticipated." RuiZhi's English was greatly improving as his studies progressed, and after bantering with his room mate all the time. He had to learn new and difficult words in his classes, so there was no reason for him not to study the language itself on the side.
RuiZhi adjusted the notebook in his hands, smiling all the while. "I hope you've been well this winter? It sure got cold suddenly, huh."
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:31 pm
Irame looked at RuiZhi fondly. He was a very kind student, and seemed as if he was genuinely curious about the things that he was asking about, and that he really wanted to learn about the things as well. She smiled at the mention of Dante, waved a hand, and shook her head as well.
“If it was something from Dante then I am sure that it was most worthy of your time, as well as worthy of the delay.
“I have been very good so far this winter, thank you. It has been most enjoyable here, actually. I am used to more… traditional ways of heating, so being here as actually been quite interesting.” She didn’t mention that she was also still getting used to the stoves and such that they had available to them, (Thus the cooking high that she was still on) as well as apostrophes (thus her lack of them). “How has the winter treated you, RuiZhi? Not too cold? I must confess that I do not know much about the temperature range in China, although Dante might. And I hope that all has gone well for you since I last saw you.”
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 9:31 pm
"Mmhmm," the small boy agreed, smiling at Irame. "Heru Araquenosse is very wise. He's taught me much without really trying." RuiZhi looked around the office once more, admiring the view, or at least, what he could see from where he stood.
"Traditional?" he repeated, turning his brown eyes onto her mismatched ones. "Like...oh! Magic?" RuiZhi actually chuckled a little at that; of course she meant magic, she certainly didn't mean flint and tinder! "Oh, China has its share of cold and snow, but it's never been quite as peaceful as the winter here. It seems...special, somehow." He murmured the last part, lost in thought about the soft flow of snow here and the sleet and damaging fall in China. He wondered if it had something to do with demons, or perhaps, magic.
With a bobbing nod, the youth turned on his heel in excitement, rocking back and forth a little. "I am well, and looking forward to this! I only brought my notebook, I hope that's okay. I wasn't sure...what we'd be discussing tonight."
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Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 7:44 pm
Irame couldn’t help but smile at the comment that RuiZhi made about Dante. It was very true, he could often teach people things without thinking about teaching or even realizing he was. She just wished that he could pick up on lessons like the people that he taught picked up on his.
“He taught me how to speak English originally, the old English that was used in mid evil times.” she said with a nod. “He is a very good teacher, although I wish that he would take lessons as well…” She muttered the last part to herself. When RuiZhi spoke of the way that they heated their homes, Irame shrugged.
“Magic sometimes. Often times simple fires, extra furs, extra layers of clothes. Many different things, some of which were also used by humans during that time. Elves, while heavily integrated with magic, do not rely solely upon it.
“I am glad that you like it here, as well. I was worried that people would not be able to acclimate to the change, but if you are able then it seems a good sign.” The conversation turning towards the actual point of him being here Irame nodded once more. She didn’t see any problem with him having, as he put it, ‘only his notebook’. She actually thought that it was a good idea.
“I think that it was a very good idea to bring a notebook.” she said. “I was actually expecting you to come with nothing, and simply try to remember anything that you though noteworthy. Your idea for bringing a notebook is much better than that. As for what we are talking about…” She held her hands out. “What ever you whish to talk about is what I will talk about. If you have any questions, or anything that you would like to discuses, then I would love to talk about it.”
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:56 pm
RuiZhi paused, glancing over with a strange smile as Irame talked, especially when she mentioned 'medieval.' She actually paused and made it sound like two different words; the woman, for all her gentle essentrics, was so very endearing to the small Chinese boy.
He grinned a little at her remark about him remembering everything. "I might remember, but it's better if I have some reference. I can't pretend to know what I'm getting into with this." His voice softened a little towards the end, his true feelings of awe and exhileration somewhat more clear. RuiZhi opened his notebook, still standing, folding the pages back and around so he could write to some legible ability. Writing in Chinese (more for the sake of anyone who might snoop), he jotted down a few questions with space beneath for answers.
"Okay, well...do you mind a small history lesson?" he inquired thoughtfully, "How far back to elven records have use and application of magic?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:45 pm
Irame understood what RuiZhi meant when he said that he couldn’t really comprehend what he was getting into. She had to admit that she couldn’t really understand it either. The idea of mixing technology and magic was as new to her as it was to RuiZhi. She nodded and thought about his question.
“The recorded use of magic goes back to nearly the beginning of our recorded history. I am not quite sure when it started, but I know that magic was already a strong force in our society when my grandparents were young, and that was quite a long time ago. The oldest record of magic that I am aware of is the usage of it to help things grow, as well as helping construction.” She shrugged. “I am sorry that I could not give a more precise date. It was, however, a considerable time ago.”
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Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:19 pm
The pen moved furiously against the paper as Irame spoke, nodding thoughtfully. He glanced up, startled at her apology, before shaking his head. "No no, this is perfect! More important than the date is the record itself...that magic has existed within the elves for as long as they've existed themselves. That's important." RuiZhi nodded to himself, feeling good about their start. It was definitely headway!
"So it started as aid, not offensive, defensive or the like..." He scribbled another note. That was promising! So the basis of their magic was used in growth and construction...maybe it wasn't as hopeless as he feared. "Heru Araquenosse told me to take what I did to Big Sister Javelin...that she can use magic." Brown eyes moved back to the female elf. "Is she the only known human to use magic?" It wasn't one of the questions he had intended to ask, but it would help form a few more.
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Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 3:51 pm
“No,” Irame said, and she couldn’t help but look a little sad. “Magic did not start out as a weapon. It did not become a weapon until there was a threat to us. That was when we realized that the same magic that we had been using to do so many other things, could be used to kill.” Thinking about the ancient past, when magic was first used to do such things, Irame couldn’t help but wonder about magic itself. People categorized it into different divisions, true. There were light, and dark and elemental mages, but was it really magic that was like that, or just the way that it was used. She didn’t know and doubted that she ever would. Shaking off whatever morose expressions she had on she continued onto RuiZhi’s next question.
“I must confess that I do not know if there are other humans out there now that are particularly proficient with the use of magic. I can say, however, that before we were sealed away there were many. My sister adopted a little half elven boy, and he could use magic from his mother, the humans, side. And there was a bard who could not only play the most wonderful songs, but also create some of the most realistic illusions that you ever saw.
“Back then,” she said, smiling, “magic was not so uncommon, and practicing it was not so strange.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:10 am
This new bit of information startled RuiZhi. "Really? Wow, I wonder why there's no mention of it in our history..." he mused out loud. Likely, it was to be quieted and 'forgotten' as many key points of history were, but the boy did not know any better. "So it's possible for us to regain that. How amazing!" He was bubbling with excitement now, his eyes aglow with curiosity. "It's not strange, Heru, it's fascinating and uncertain, and a lot of people fear that." It was something he'd heard his sister say - something about fearing what one does not understand - and it was making sense now.
It was a bit painful to see the lovely elven woman look so sad at the mention of using magic as a weapon. "We do the best with what we have," he said quietly, not really making it clear what he was talking about as he thought out loud to himself, "it's just a shame it goes the way it does, sometimes." RuiZhi gave a small smile and shook his head, trying to remember why he was here to begin with.
"Do you think you could explain to me, what it feels like to draw from magic? Like," he bit his lip, thinking, "do you feel anything when you begin to cast? A tingling? A tickle? A burn?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:24 pm
“Oh but there is.” Irame said quickly, tilting her head to one side. “Surely you have heard of people such as Merlin and Morgan le Fay. The legends and myths that you have now did not spring from nothing. They were at least based in fact, but much of that fact was lost when we were sealed away. After all saying that a human could do magic, but that it does not exist anymore and that there never were any other races would have been much harder than simply saying that all of it was wrong. And there was, in Europe, the church.” Ah, the church. That had been a foreboding presence in the last few years before the races were sealed. In Europe it had so much power that it held sway over nearly everything, the hearts and minds of humans included.
“As for regaining that…” she had to shrug helplessly. She hadn’t noticed any difference when she had first awakened, but she had learned quickly that there were many. Humans could no longer even feel the magic around them, much less interact with it. Whether there was less magic in the world, or if humans simply had grown too far apart, was a question that still eluded her. “I do not know. I see no reason why it would not be possible, but the world is far different now then it was.” She didn’t want to say anything too pessimistic, especially not to someone so hopeful. She even smiled at what he said about doing the best that they could.
It was true that people simply did what they could to survive, and that they used whatever weapons they could to gain an edge. She just whished that surviving and gaining an edge didn’t so often include killing others. She knew, however, that she shouldn’t be hypocritical. It was not as if she had never killed before.
“When I cast spells.. I suppose that it depends on the spell, although it could depend on much. Normally, for me anyway, casting elemental magic there is a heat, almost like you were pulling out some fire or other such energy from yourself. For light I feel… warm, not as if there was a fire, not as hot. It is more… simply warmth, and a strange feeling of comfort.” she did not mention dark. For a long time she had felt uneasy doing it, but uneasy because she thought that it was wrong. Because she had been taught that it was wrong. Lately, though, she felt uneasy doing such things because they did not feel so to her. She didn’t mind dipping into any of the dark magic that she knew, and had even felt a cross between the other two. A warmth that almost threatened to spill into burning if she wasn’t careful. Frankly it unnerved her, and she disliked talking of it.
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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:02 pm
Irame's words jogged a memory. "Our stories...that's right! Have you seen a dragon or unicorn before?"
RuiZhi didn't realize how random and off that question seemed until it had left his mouth. He quirked a strange grin, quite embarrassed, before explaining briefly, "S-see, I had to work with...with, ah, dragon's bone and unicorn's blood, and I...gosh, I'm still overwhelmed." He swallowed and smiled a little, and it was obvious that just mentioning the things had him in a conflict of emotions and thoughts again. "It's all...very fantastic, like fantasy, and...and to find that fantasy wasn't ever make-believe, it's scary sometimes."
His attention turned momentarily to his notes, writing down a few key points from what the elven woman had said as he thought a little more. "I don't want the world to be what it was, I want it to be better," he proclaimed as he wrote, scribbling down another fast note before turning his smile back to Irame. "That's what we're all here for, right? Saving the world...healing it. Growing." He nodded to himself; just as magic had been used in the beginning, so would it be now and in the future. To aid, to help grow, to nurish. That's how it should be.
Clearing his throat, he thought over her answer and what it meant, and how it applied to the rest of his questions. "Is the feeling on your hands? Or is it...like...part of your aura? Your heart?" If he could better understand how it applied to the human body, he might be able to figure out the ebb and flow of the magical tides and the mundane. RuiZhi scribbled down another note to do the essay for his anatomy class, as that would certainly help.
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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:39 pm
Irame nodded, both to RuiZhi’s statement that finding out things that you thought were only stories were real and to the question of had she ever seen a dragon or a unicorn. It was doubtful that he understood that she was answering his first question with the nod though.
“It is understandable. When I was very young I thought that humans were stories. I was quite scared of the first one that I met. Just… Just think that most stories have some basis in fact, and many of the fantastic stories from your past did.
“As for the unicorn or dragon, I do not remember meeting any unicorns in my time, but I have met several dragons.” A smile came to her face as she thought about the dragons that she had known. Drasizan and Azalin had been very entertaining, to say the least. “One actually lived near the town that my family was in, she would come to spend time with us and try to learn Elven quite often, but never was very good at it.”
At RuiZhi’s next words Irame smiled warmly. This child, he was so very sweet and so very eager to try to help the world that he lived in. Ah, if only humans had been like that during the middle ages, then all of the other races wouldn’t have had to go into hiding. Sadly she was relatively sure that RuiZhi was part of a small percent of the population that did think like that. A small percent that was being gathered here.
“Indeed it is, RuiZhi. That is one of the greatest reasons why people should use magic.” She leant back as she thought for a moment about the next question. She had never wondered before where the feelings that she felt while using magic came from until just recently. Probably around the same time that she had started feeling something from the dark magic. She had concentrated on trying to find the part of her that felt that, and had been unhappy with the results.
“The feeling… It normally comes from the lower torso, like something building up in the pit of your stomach and then spreads to the rest very quickly” she wasn’t quite sure if her words conveyed what she wanted them to, but she supposed that it was close enough. “Although there is sometimes an extra amount of the feeling where you are creating the spell from. If you are, for example, trying to heal someone with your hands then your hands could feel more warm then the rest of you.” She had had an experience where she tried to cast one of Dante’s spells when she was young. She found that you shouldn’t try to cast a spell, even one so widely known as a fireball, until you were properly trained for such. She had had burn on her hands and a scalded mouth for weeks after Dante found her among his slightly singed books.
“This is just my experience, though. I have never really spoken to anyone else about it, and it could be different for everyone.” She added at the end. After all she didn’t want RuiZhi to think that it had to be like that, and then think that something might be wrong if it didn’t happen for him.
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