[Tutoring Lab] Thomas and Earako

[Thomas Barkhelm]

Mind... the only one of that element that seemed to have much going on upstairs as far as he was convinced...the other student was a good child but didn't seem to be very attentive. Not at all dilligent either. There was little doubt in his mind that Earako just might come on time so the teacher was at work preparing for her lesson.

The mind was a bit more difficult to teach because it actually involved learning about nearly everything one wished to manipulate. He had an assortment of common things on the table. A fine-toothed comb, a feather, and a compass. It should be enough to start things off.  

[lithle]

Earako was on time, but it was clear, from the moment she opened the door, that she hadn't arrived willingly. The little bat walked with careful, nervous, dragging steps, as if delaying entering the room would somehow allow her escape. She had her wings shut tightly in front of her, a dark barrier between herself and the rest of the world. Her eyes, hidden, as ever, behind her dark glasses, were none the less obviously downcast, fixed on the ground directly in front of her.

Apparently the girl hadn't gotten over her fear of this particular teacher.

Vimber, in contrast, had her wings half opened, and she kept herself a step in front of the girl. Clearly, the dragon was picking up on the girls feelings, and seemed to be making an attempt to protect her.

"Good Afternoon, Sir." Her whisper kept her voice from shaking, at that was something at least. She would be polite. She could do polite. And maybe, just maybe, if she was good, he wouldn't do that thing with her head again.  

[Thomas Barkhelm]

Thomas turned an eye over his shoulder as the girl approached, she'd get the feeling that he wasn't at all impressed by her fearful display. If he had any intention of harming her surely a pair of thin skin membrane and bone wouldn't stop him. It was almost silly to assume anything of the sort. "I had the impression from our last meeting that you had a bit of wit about you. Surely you've lost it to a silly phobia ahread and you're resorting to playing ostrich to make the scary monsters go away."

He motioned to the table where the items had been arranged. "Now if you're quite done, perhaps we can begin our lesson?"  

[lithle]

Perhaps because she'd experianced an odd mix of sheltering and exposure in her life, Earako tended to go from zero to angry in less than a second, when the right buttons were pushed. Sure, she could forgive almost anyone anything, but now the teacher just wasn't being fair! Enough that he'd invaded her mind, all skin crawling weird and scary, now he was mocking her for being scared of him?

The pre-teen rested her hand on Vimber's head, and stood up very straight, her head held high. She was a lady, and if he wanted to be rude, what that just proved he didn't know his manners didn't it. Besides, she wasn't an ostrich, she was a bat.

Still frightened, but now just as angry as she was terrified, the pale batling walked up to the table, each step the picture of grace. That was the thing about manners. No matter what happened, at least she knew how to act. Thus, Earako at her most upset was often also Earako at her most refined.

"When you are prepared to teach me, sir, I am prepared to learn."  

[Thomas Barkhelm]

"You've no reason to loose your temper with me, young lady." He watched her carefully, luring her eyes back up to his. Again there was that mental hallway, the exposure, no secrets and no where to hide from that horrible gaze. The thread had been linked up for the lesson. "Afterall, I gave you no reason to fear me. I have neither harmed nor put you in a questionable position of any kind." He motioned for her to step forward.

"Now. Tell me what you know about these gathered objects here." He motioned down to the table, "Simple enough really..."  

[lithle]

"No!" Earako froze in place, the moment he did that thing again. Surprise, surprise, the little bat could raise her voice. Her mind ran in desperate little circles, nearly all real coherant thought gone. Get out! Stop it! No! For a girl that could usually be called at least moderately level headed, she was sure showing herself capible of mood swings today.

Though she'd reached the table, she now began backing away from it, putting space between herself and Thomas. Her eyes, hidden though they were behind her dark glasses, were wide with fear.

"Stop it."

((I realize this may very well bring this lesson toward an unfortunately early close. Earako seems to have developed a bit of a phobia.))  

[Thomas Barkhelm]

Thomas watched her for a moment, his brow creasing into a frown at her reaction. "Young lady." He put a hand to his left temple and made a swinging motion with his other hand. She'd hear a definate "click" from the door. "You cannot be expected to accomplish anything if you continue to cower like a rodent whenever I look your way."

His tone was a bit sharper than before, if the poor girl didn't know any better it might sound threatoning. "Take a seat and pay attention. You have much to learn."

He flicked his wrist once more a chair flew up from the floor and swooped under her. "First we need to address the little matter of logic."  

[lithle]

Oh my, that got a reaction. As if the click of the locking door weren't enough, the flying chair was enough to throw Earako into a full panic, her wings snapping open to steady herself as the chair attacked her. Sitting in a flying chair was not something she'd practiced previous.

For a moment, the girl wavered, blinking. Her breaths came in short, hyperventilating gasps, and her expression slackened. It seemed that the delicate little bat was about to throw herself into a faint. But, it seemed, that was not to be, because the bat managed a gasp for breath, and instead of continuing to pant, she shrieked.

A shriek, from Earako, was an interesting thing to hear. She had a lovely high range, part of the reason she always spoke in a whisper. The scream, therefore, started at an ear piercing, painful volume and went up from there, until it hit a point of inaudibility. For humans, at least. Vimber, on the other hand was roaring and whimpering at the noise.

Through her panic, and the fractured images that echolocation was bringing back to her, Earako managed to hear the dragon's whine. The sound (or lack of it) cut off, and the nearly teenage bat was immediately stroking the red dragons head, crooning guilty words of contrite apology.

"Oh lovely, did I scare you? It's ok, pretty one. I'm sorry." She turned to Thomas, still stroking Vimber, and frowned.

"You go in my head and make me sick inside. It's wrong to hurt a person like that. Steal their thoughts." She spoke in a careful, chilly whisper, a glimps of the woman she might some day become. "Teach me, so I can leave and never come to your class again."

She turned the same dead, shock frozen gaze to the table, and sized up the objects. "A compass, they work by magnets. A feather, I don't know what kind of bird it's from, and a comb."  

[Thomas Barkhelm]

Thomas winced at the sound, slowly rubbing at one of his ears. Well that was quite unessicary..."Young lady need I remind you that this is only one of many more sessions you'll have with me. Not to mention your final. If you wish so badly to be rid of me, by all means, feel free to transfer into another classroom. I have no attachment to my students and I will not have such blatant disrespect from one of them."

He walked himself closer to the table, "Need I remind you of Keanu who I warned in our very first class. 'Heros always fall first'. He was a food but a brave one. He did not heed my words and now." He made a motion with his hand, "Not only he, but Paxton and another child I hear... many others were involved. If you wish the same fate for yourself and your friends then feel free to leave my advice unheeded and go along with your foolish ways. This is not a game, you are no longer a child."

He matched her eyes with his own, unafraid or intimidated. He'd seen enough horrors for three lifetimes.

"Now... pay attention."

Thomas moved a hand over the compass, "Indeed, the compass is the more complex of the items here on the table. I want you to do as I do... in order to move the hand of the compass magnetism is applied. You must reverse the polarity of the magnets that are already at work. To know how to manipulate something, to know how it works and what makes it run normally is to have power over it. Reverse it and use it to your advantage."

The needle began to spin wildly inside the compass, Thomas hardly seemed to have to focus on it, "Such idle things seem innocent enough but a stunt like this can come to your advantage.... throw an enemy off in the wrong direction and that sort of thing."

He stepped back and motioned to the compass, "Now it's your turn. I don't expect you to accomplish this without great focus and strain on your mind, it will come easier to you the more you practice."
 

[lithle]

Earako barely heard, and certainly didn't comprehend, the man's words about her friends. The names simply washed over in her strange, panic rendered calm, as she waited for directions. She would get through this. And when she did, she was never, ever coming back.

The compass. She watched the needle spin wildly, feeling great simpathy toward it during its frantic search for direction. She knew that sort of lost. Doing her best not to look at Thomas, she stepped forward and placed her fingers lightly against the glass. Her mind could work quickly in its way, as her element indicated, but science was not her natural strong point. Still she'd played with magnets before. She imagined them, the way they'd struggled together and repelled each other by turns. If she flipped the magnet within, for certainly, she couldn't change the magnetic field of all of gaia...

Her attention settled, unwaveringly on the compass, as she thought of the pulls and tugs of forces. She tried to picture them changing directions, tried to coax them to do so. Her fingers touching the surface of the compass, shook slightly. The needle twitched, leaning now away from true north, toward the west. It hung there for a moment, shuddering, and then fell back northward. Earako was wincing. It had hurt her head, doing that.  

[Thomas Barkhelm]

Thomas watched and listened quietly. This one certainly didn't have the attitude of one who sought to truly awaken what they were capable of doing. That's what separated commoners from mages, mages from archmages. "Focus." He said sharply as the needle moved a bit. "If you continue to dwell on the fear around you how do you think you will perform when you're called to complete the task you were created for?"

He stepped forward to the feather, "You and others like yourself were genetically created to be different from other gaians here, stronger and more able. You are going to be a soldier, whether you like it or not, that is why you were created in essence. Humans are to weak to tame dragons of this world."

He snapped his fingers to gain her attention once more. "I expect you to practice manipulating these objects outside of class...it will be in your final. Now." He pointed to the feather frowning slightly as he focused on it. "To create float in an object or person you must reverse its gravity. To do that you must have a sense of its mass and repel just that much away from the ground. It takes little focus with something as light as this feather- but with a person or something like a boulder it'll take quite a lot...but it just might save a life if you learn to do it correctly."

The feather drifted upwards between them, kind of stiffly like he was holding it in place. "...do you understand?"

((Poor girl xd :bats Thom to behave))  

[lithle]

Thomas barely existed for Earako in her current state. Which wasn't to say that she wasn't listening, she simply picked the instructions out of his words and let the rest of it wash over her. So while what he'd said clicked rather closely to her own worldview, the bat only heard it on the edges, her mind zooming in on the words she could deal with.

She nodded to show her understanding, but made no effort to speak, her eyes on the feather.

Feathers. Light, almost not there, so that the idea of repelling it was almost difficult. How could one lift nothing? She reached out, not quite touching the floating feather, her expression thoughtful. And then she waited for Thomas to release his mental hold on the feather so that she could make an attempt.  

[Thalion]

Thomas snapped his fingers and the finger drifted right back to the table, "Now...this one's simple. Simply reverse the gravity on the feather to enable it to float. Clear your mind, you have to focus on the task at hand- nothing else. Not me, not the classroom, nothing." He nodded to her, "On with it then."  

[lithle]

Focus was one thing Earako did have at a moment. The tunnel vision focus that allowed her to listen, obey, and barely react. So it was that when she turned her will and understanding on the feather it quickly left the table, not floating elegantly but rising rather rapidly. She'd misjudged the weight. Realizing it, she let it fall again, and made a second attempt. This time, it rose slowly, just a bit off the table, and levitated there. It did not hold stiffly though but wavered a bit up and down until she released it, allowing it to fall again.

Expectent, she turned back to the teacher, waiting for his next instruction.  

[Thalion]

Thomas watched the feather lift up and nodded approvingly, even if it lifted quickly the first time, sometimes it took trying something out the first time to understand its mass. "Very good." He nodded to the comb, "Now that's simple enough. I want you to lift that and brush your hair with it...without use of your hands."

He stepped away from the table, "Its a simple enough action that you're very familar with I would hope to assume. Simple and common tasks like that are a good way to practice your ability, so I chose something that should be familar to you. I want you to practice as much as you can between now and finals. You'll be expected to lift a chair."