Welcome to Gaia! ::

Setting: An open area in the common tank, flanked on one side by a small kelp forest and on another by wall of brightly colored coral. The sand is dark, the water a bit murky, and small sea creatures abound.

Bathory: She comes upon this deserted area of the tank and smirks to herself, a perfect place to practice her still-growing abilities without interference. She moves over towards the wall of coral and starts to mutter under her breath, her fins passing back and forth in front of the wall, weaving intricate patterns.

Bathory hears the angered yell just as she completes her current spell, that particular section of the coral wall glassy and reflective, appearing almost not there...as though it were a mirage. She turns and heads towards the kelp, making a few quick cutting motions with her fins and speaking a single gutteral phrase. The strands of kelp are cut down as she approaches them, letting her move easily towards where the yell came from. When she sees the bare section in the midst of the kelp forest, she nods appreciatively at the obviously powerful magic.

Her gaze falls on the beta laying on the sand, head tilting as she studies him carefully before she speaks. "I would ask if you need assistance, but from the sight of this spot, I would guess that you wield sufficient magic to take care of yourself. I am Bathory, daughter of Umehito Nekozawa and Absinthe of the VooDoo line. Might I inquire as to your name?" She dismisses the cutting spell that allowed her easy access through the forest. "You appear distressed, what bothers someone as powerful in magic as you?"

Bathory looks at him curiously. "I've heard of your line....but you seem anything but weak." She chuckles a bit and eyes him. "You know...much as with the natural world, within the magical world flukes are quite often more than what they seem." She goes through a few motions and conjures up an image of a young gosling with its ugly feathers and gawky appearance. She makes another motion and it becomes a swan. She smiles in satisfaction at the spell and looks at him. "Do you understand?"

She watches his gawking and looks at him, "Would you like to learn? Not all magic is inborn, and I actually respect one who works for it more than one who has it given to him." She tilts her head, curious, "Why? Can't you simply choose to walk away?"

She looks at him oddly, "You would forgo your own freedom for your mother's companionship? That is...foreign to me. Yes, well, Uncle VooDoo has never exactly been a kind-hearted type...and the vast majority of his line are the same."

She nods and motions for him to follow her back through the path she made, "Then follow me, we had best start your training immediately." She pauses, looking back at him, "So say nothing. I have no contact with VooDoo, he considers me "impure" as one of my fathers is a learned sorcerer, rather than a blooded one. I say it takes more discipline and willpower to force the laws of physics to your will than to simply have it gifted to you." She starts swimming back towards the coral wall.

She glances back once to make sure he's following then simply takes him to the area she had been practicing in. The one section of coral is still reflective and mirage-like. She looks at him and nods.* "Excellent. I think we should start with the simple things...element control." She claps her fins together twice sharply and a large tome appears in front of her. She opens it up, scanning through a few pages before pausing.

"Aha! This should do very nicely. Come stand over here so you can recite the passage in the book and I will assist you in making the correct gestures.", She looks over at him expectantly.

She nods, lifting his arms up over the tome and showing him how to weave them back and forth, positioning his fingers while he reads aloud. "There's no reason you shouldn't be able to learn magic and I, for one, don't believe what occurred in the kelp forest was just a fluke."

She has him cup his hands together as he speaks the last few syllables. A moment passes in silence then an ember appears in his hands, very slowly growing larger. The ember becomes a flame and she nods encouragingly to him. "If you concentrate your willpower on the flame, you can cause it to grow into a fireball, or dim to a tiny ember. Once you have mastered that, you can attempt to shape it, or throw it."

She watches him manipulate the flame, nodding in approval when he manages to both make it grow and snuffs it out. "Very good, very good indeed. You have great potential, most beta don't learn so quickly. I think it will be truly interesting to see just how much power you can wield."

She pauses, mentally reviewing the entire event then nods, "Only one thing, don't ever be afraid of losing control of it...that is when you lose it. Don't fear the flame, know that you can control it no matter what. You are its creator, so long as you stay focused, it cannot get away from you."