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+--- Thread: teaching the next generation (/showthread.php?tid=5903)
teaching the next generation - Blueberry - Aug 20 2018
Blue had seen the small snake a few times since he had arrived home. And she seemed to have an aptitude for magic, a little. So, he allowed her to hold herself around his leg and walk them to Polaris, where magic always seemed stronger. A good place to practice. He stopped in a small area, a few boulders nearby that could be used as targets.
"Okay Dew, what do you know so far? Show me, pretend those rocks are your enemies." He commanded, waiting impatiently for the child to leave his leg and show off her skills.
"Hear my war cry"
Tags: @Dewberry
Notes: here
RE: teaching the next generation - Dewberry - Aug 20 2018
The moose was less soft than the goose, but that was okay. Not everyone could be as perfect as Mother. Doing whatever the snake equivalent of a blink was, three inches of Dewberry lifted from the moose's leg and a tongue flicked at the rocks. She was supposed to attack those? How? They were boulders. She attacked prey by biting and then swallowing them whole. She couldn't bite a rock or swallow a rock whole.
This meant she would have to speak, didn't it? The faintest of scowls crossed her face as she summoned the few words she knew. "Do not know. To hurt. Hurt rock? How I hurt rock?" She had the distinct feeling her attempt at speech was far less than perfect, which bothered her, but not as much as disappointing Father. She would learn. She would learn how to not disappoint.
@Blueberry
RE: teaching the next generation - Blueberry - Aug 20 2018
Blue sighed. The snake didn't speak well. Perhaps she was too young. "Use magic. Focus on your life source, you gem. Focus on manipulating the power it holds, and then try and see if it does anything to the rock." He encouraged, his voice warmer. This would take a while, but teaching his new daughter was important. Perhaps speech lessons would follow this.
"Hear my war cry"
Tags: @Dewberry
Notes: here
RE: teaching the next generation - Dewberry - Aug 20 2018
Her... gem? Now that Father mentioned it, one spot of her scales felt different from the rest. Perhaps the scale wasn't a scale, after all, but a magic gem. Dewberry focused on the blue teardrop with all her might, willing it to do something. Hurt the boulder. The boulder is my pretend-enemy. But it is not alive, so we can hurt it even though it is only pretend. She flicked her tongue at the targets. It appeared her magic-gem was doing something. Just... not to the boulders.
A nearby pebble lifted and flopped weakly toward the boulders. It did nothing, of course. Disappointed, Dewberry curled closer to Father's leg. "I do not think... magic hurt rock." she sighed, head drooping. But magic had to be useful for something, right? Frowning, she tried to think. "I think... magic not big. So moving is not big. But prey, they squeak, run, jump. Move ...." What was the word for the thing that moose and geese and prey walked on? She couldn't remember. Instead, she bumped her nose at one of Father's. "Move and make them walk jump wrong."
@Blueberry
RE: teaching the next generation - Blueberry - Aug 20 2018
The attempt was small, but it was something. And it was good, for her first try. However, it seemed she was disappointed, and had a hard time articulating her thoughts. "My hooves? Their feet? Hurt those and make them immobile? That is a very good idea Dewberry. I'm proud." Blue encouraged happily. She was young, and not yet able to articulate well, but she was bright and held promise.
"Hear my war cry"
Tags: @Dewberry
Notes: here
RE: teaching the next generation - Dewberry - Aug 20 2018
Proud! Father was proud! A warm feeling rose up in Dewberry's belly. It was like with Mother. Mother gave her that feeling too, when she named her and took her home. It was somehow better than the warm that came from outside, from Mother and Father and seemingly all other creatures, including prey. Prey made her warm when she swallowed it, but this, this was better. Better than anything Dewberry had felt before.
She leaned her face on Father's leg, basking in the warmth that came from all directions. She had had an idea, and Father was proud. She'd come up with more ideas, Dewberry decided. Make them all proud. Father, Mother, that black fluffy thing. "I... am happy. Happy you are proud." There. She'd done her best to make that sentence sound like the ones her family spoke, too. Would Father notice?
@Blueberry
RE: teaching the next generation - Blueberry - Aug 20 2018
Feeling the small snake curl around his leg caused Blue's half-froze heart to melt a little. "That's good, Deberry. Good job on the sentences too. But we need to focus on your fighting skills. You need to be able to survive, and to protect your family." He said calmly, deciding to demonstrate his own magic. He didn't want to harm the child, but it seemed necessary to show her how to hurt.
The spell worked, he felt it. The terrifying spell that all Bloodberries seemed to have gained. It revealed one's worst fears, a truly powerful form of magic. He hated to use it on his own child, but to learn how to fight mercilessly, one must face their own family.
"Hear my war cry"
Tags: @Dewberry
Notes: here
RE: teaching the next generation - Dewberry - Aug 20 2018
She did a good job on the sentences! Dewberry thought she might burst with happiness. Yes, she would learn, she would protect Mother and Father and the black fluffy one and the injured one. They'd be the happiest family in the caves!
Except... they weren't.
She was suddenly in a different world. Her senses - what was wrong with them? They were clouded, blurred, but sharpened at the same time. How was that possible. Wildly, she thrashed her head around, trying to see past the darkness that shrouded everything, tongue flickering furiously. She couldn't smell Mother. She couldn't smell Father. WHY COULDN'T SHE SMELL ANYTHING?! Panic rose in her chest as she turned and there it was - Mother! She rushed toward the goose, but her nose crashed into something - Blueberry's leg, though she didn't know it.
Mother wasn't moving. Why? She was cold. That wasn't right. Mother was warm. That was how things worked. But she wasn't just cold, she was freezing. Colder than anything she'd ever felt before. She whipped around, fear racing through her. Father was nothing but a desiccated skeleton. And they had done this to the fluffy too. They were coming for her. Fueled by a burst of terror, she lifted her head and neck, flattened her head, and opened her mouth wide, hissing dangerously. She wasn't venomous enough to hurt them, though, and they knew it.
The cold approached
and took her in its grasp
she couldn't breathe
Gasping, Dewberry's tail brushed against Father's leg. Warm warm warm, an escape from the cold. She was in the rainbow room again, looking around wildly. "What was that?" she shrieked. "You're alive! You're alive! Father! Mother is where?"
@Blueberry
RE: teaching the next generation - Blueberry - Sep 10 2018
Blue grimaced at the fear in the child's eyes as his magic worked on the child. It hurt him, but he knew it was what needed to be done. By the time she came back to the real world, her sentences were short and frantic, terrified.
"Everything is okay, Dew. That was magick, one that showed you your worst fears in life." He paused, contemplating his next words.
"What did you see?"
"Hear my war cry"
Tags: @Dewberry
Notes: here
RE: teaching the next generation - Dewberry - Sep 10 2018
Everything was... okay? No! That couldn't be right. Everything was MOST DEFINITELY NOT OKAY. Didn't Father see - oh. Apparently that never actually happened, it was just magic showing her fears. "It can do that?" Dewberry fell silent, the concept settling into her mind.
"I saw..." She paused, carefully piecing together the words she had learned. "You. Dead and gone. Nothing but bones. And Mother and Sister, the cold took them. It stole their warmth and their life. And - it was going to take me too." Her voice rose at the end, remnants of fear and despair making their way back into her emotions.
@Blueberry