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+--- Thread: Practice makes... pain, apparently (/showthread.php?tid=11625)
Practice makes... pain, apparently - Anala - May 04 2024
![[Image: ioaINSW.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/ioaINSW.gif)
Magic. It was a bit of a foreign concept to the wolf, considering the circumstances of her birth and chrysalis. She'd witnessed it in passersby, but never really tried to reach her own. Did she even have any?
The swirling of power in this room was dizzying. This had to be a good spot to try! If she was going to be strong, to be a fighter- she needed to know exactly what she was capable of!
Anala stared down the Spire for a while, steeling herself, trying to connect with whatever power surged inside the room.
RE: Practice makes... pain, apparently - Anala - May 04 2024
"Ow! owowowowowowowowow OW!" Anala cried out, half howling and half whimpering as searing pain crept along her extremities.
She rolled around, trying to shove her paws and nose against any cool rock she could find to no avail, her tail thrashing. "Stop!" She cried, a desperate plea as the shock subsided. It was like she had jumped in a lake- her command had been heard. She glared at the Spire.
Why would anyone bother to use magic if this is what it did?! She supposed it could prove useful in a fight if it did this to others, but to herself?! "You did this!" She accused, turning her rather blackened nose towards the big dumb rock. "Well, I'll show you! I will master this!" She would keep going until it didn't hurt anymore, or so she hoped... There had to be a way to call upon it that didn't hurt her, right? It was her magic!!!
RE: Practice makes... pain, apparently - Mirrikh - May 04 2024
"Who are you talking to?" A smooth, androgynous voice questioned. It was surprisingly clear, considering that when Anala managed to find the gembound that had spoken, they appeared to only be about six inches in size. An odd fairy, of sorts, covered in scales, with a feline-like scaly tail.
Mirrikh had not been long to stay with Samael, their father, after their late hatch. They fully intended to visit in the future, but they did not understand the way Samael enjoyed reading, when he could be doing productive things like hunting and training.
To each their own, Mirrikh supposed.
Mirrikh had been hunting a lesser mouse from the air when it startled from the sound of yelping and ran away.
Their magic had failed them with tracking the source, but their ears had done well enough.
And now they had found the source. "I am Mirrikh. You scared away my prey," they added.
"Are you training?" Mirrikh inquired, interested by this notion. Samael had warned them on their danger potential, despite their size, so they did not propose a spar as much as they wished to.
And indeed, their potential had proven true on their first hunt- Their small serrated teeth caused Stone Rot, as did their claws. A small amount only, but... nevertheless. Apparently, Stone Rot could not even be cured by a being returning to chrysalis, and it was what Mirrikh had inherited from the lesser stone their parent had caught from a dangerous snake.
@Anala
RE: Practice makes... pain, apparently - Anala - May 04 2024
The wolf turned around to face the new sound, eyes not finding the small winged creature for some time. She almost thought she'd imagined the sound, or maybe the stone was... Oh! There it was!
"The rock!" Anala stated, directing her obvious displeasure towards the Spire. "I think it's messing with my magic." She huffed, licking her burnt nose. A sudden jump in energy from the tower caught her off-guard, almost a shock... Was that intentional?!
"Sorry about your prey. What were you hunting? I could help!" She found the creature again, her also burnt tail swinging carefully back and forth. "But yes, I am training. My skills are much in need of some honing, not to mention my magic."
She wondered for a moment if watching another would provide any insight, but she did not yet want to ask someone who's dinner she spooked. What would their magic be?
RE: Practice makes... pain, apparently - Mirrikh - May 04 2024
"The... rock?" Was this a metaphor, like those things their father liked? For some reason, Mirrikh didn't think so. Maybe the rock truly was magic, it did seem a big different than the other rocks...
Mirrikh decided they did not like the rock.
They observed the burns the other hosted "If you have trouble turning off spells, we can train together, maybe? I'm more of a physical gembound than a magic gembound, I think. I'm trying to figure out how to disable magic users, though, through... careful strikes, all that."
At least, Mirrikh was trying to do that as of... now, pretty much. They weren't entirely sure it was possible, but magic was like wings, right? Just another part of a gembound. Surely it could be disabled.
"It would be more rewarding than hunting down a mouse. I can always find another one later."
@Anala
RE: Practice makes... pain, apparently - Anala - May 04 2024
Anala simply offered a sharp nod in response to the question, her unfounded distaste for the rock made clear.
"Disabling magic? Without magic? Sounds like quite the trick! Yes, please!" Though she was a little nervous about having her already weak magic messed with, it wasn't like she could get more burnt, right?
"Here, try this!" The wolf bounded forward, calling once more for her much too eager powers, stopping only a few inches before Mirrikh.
RE: Practice makes... pain, apparently - Mirrikh - May 04 2024
Hands, hands were probably best for this, they decided, making this up as they went. Unlike their clawed feet and sharp teeth, those did not contain the venom of stone rot. Nor, like their wings, did it contain a paralysis toxin.
They were also far more deliberate, hands, that is. No flailing needed. Just forward movements and jabs. Now... where to jab?
What they did was whack the nose of the wolf abruptly with one of their arms, more startling than anything else, except... It kind of worked? Huh... Disruptive, it seemed to be. Not completely, there was probably a better technique to this than nose whacking but.
Huh. There was promise to this. The fairy looked startled that had even somewhat worked.
@Anala
RE: Practice makes... pain, apparently - Anala - May 04 2024
Anala was flabbergasted. Absolutely shocked as a sharp jab to the nose sent her reeling and her magic dulled, she sniffled as tears started to flow. It didn't hurt, not really, but the suddenness of the action made her body react before her brain.
"Woah!!!" She tapped her front paws in quick succession against the cave floor. "It didn't burn that time! Can you do it again?! You have to teach me that!"
With a playful display of teeth and still wet eyes she charged again, stopping shorter this time to swipe a hot paw below their new spar-mate. The movement was exaggeratedly slow, but who could blame a wolf for not wanting to send a 6-inch tall creature spiralling to the ground? She was enjoying this game!
RE: Practice makes... pain, apparently - Mirrikh - May 05 2024
Mirrikh puffed up in pride. "I think I can do it again, maybe!" There was no certainties in anything, but if it had worked once, it was possible it could work again.
The playful display of sharp teeth made Mirrikh grin back, sharp teeth with serrated edges on display. For all that this creature was tiny, they were no less a carnivore than the wolf before them.
They observed the charge, looking for another weak spot this time.
With a burst of flight, they charged back to the other's face, which had the smallest most vulnerable weak points, but they missed the nose, and sort of... half-poked the other's eye. "Ah, sorry!" they winced apologetically.
But... it had still sort of worked, like before.
@Anala
RE: Practice makes... pain, apparently - Anala - May 05 2024
The display of teeth, sharp and serrated like saw blades was a welcome sight. Surely with teeth like that, the creature could handle a few hits! "Mirrikh!" She grinned, twisting to wipe her injured and once more teary eye on her pelt. "You must like seeing me cry!" She laughed away, enjoying the now much gentler warmth of her magic. Perhaps she'd manage it herself one day, but for the time being she was more than content to learn by example. It still hurt, considering the existing burns and the wildness of her magic, but it was much easier to focus when there was something else to turn her attention towards.
"Do you have other moves?! I can only call upon this, for now- but maybe soon I'll have more to show you!" She bounced from one side to the other a few times before the pain became a little too sharp again, so she settled on her rear to give them a break.