Tahi-shei frowned and considered his answer. "Well... I think the first step is control. Before you can refine it, you have to be able to control it. Raw magic... it can consume us." He settled down on the ground again to be closer to eye level and thought about his explanation. "So... fungi. Mushrooms. They're alive, sort of. Not like you or me, or even like plants or Lessers, but they are alive. They live, grow, and die. They make more of themselves and they react to temperature, moisture, damage, and sound. On some level, they are conscious. They see the world and interact with it in a way that most Gembound struggle to understand. What I do is that I sit down and focus and I try to feel things like they do. I try to think about what a mushroom might want in whatever situation I'm in -- the answer is usually to grow. To survive and to keep going. But your answer might be different than mine."

He thought for a little bit. "I think the first step to helping you is to figure out where electricity comes from, and what it wants. I don't think its alive like fungus is, but raw magic, even magic refined into an elemental type, still has some kind of goal. Energy wants to move and do things. If we can figure out what the electricity wants, maybe we can figure out how you can control it, so... when do you usually use your magic? Like, what do you feel when it happens?"


@madhukar

Alas, this not-shroom apparently had some inane idea that "talking a lot" was equivalent to "helping". It wasn't Tahi's fault that Madhukar was so stubbornly impatient, that was on her entirely. But the issue with impatience is that it hardly ever ends up being the problem of the one who has it. No, usually impatience pilots someone like a parasite and everyone else has to deal with the bite.

Tahi had been kind, however, so Madhukar had the mind to push her own querulous tendencies to the basement while she liste-- half-listened.

The first step to magic was control. Madhukar figured she understood this; not too long ago, the wiggler had caught her essentially trying to "control" her magic, by getting angry. Her magic always reacted to her anger. To its credit, her magic also tended to manifest in ways that benefitted her emotions. But... it was unpredictable. Madhukar didn't like too much unpredictable.

Tahi brought fungi into focus. Mushrooms were alive, but not like any other lifeform of which Madhukar knew. So mushrooms, like the creature that could control them, were wonky. Tahi attempted to control these mushrooms by thinking... like they would?! Well, they were alive, so okay maybe it wasn't that weird. However even living creatures of Tahi and Madhukar's own ilk somehow failed to think. Regardless, apparently Tahi thought that mushrooms thought about growing and surviving a lot.

So... should Madhukar think like electricity???

Tahi seemed to suggest that, by telling Madhukar to figure out where it comes from and what it wants. Madhukar expressed the same doubt Tahi was verbalizing by way of her expression. Yeah, no, energy didn't seem like it could think. But Tahi was right, it was often moving. Making noise, in her case. "When I mad," she replied to his question. Also when she was afraid, but fear and anger went paw in paw in Madhukar's mind. "When I mad somethin' happens." That was the best answer she could give, because what exactly happened was never up to her. Tahi would've been able to see that firsthand if it had decided to be ruder... but Madhukar was kind of glad that wasn't how it turned out. Tahi seemed like a good goopy. Tahi was trying.

@Tahi-Shei

Tahi-shei considered her response for a few moments, thankfully noticing this time that she only seemed to have gotten a fraction of what he'd said. While Tahi would have been glad to speak to someone long-winded due to his strange requirement to mimic sounds in his first cycle, he was now realizing that not everyone might have agreed with that. He thought about anger, and what it could mean. "Maybe that means your magic is destructive? That it wants to explode and strike." He then scrambled to correct himself -- "Not that I think you're violent! I just think your magic might be."

The deer nodded, content in his theory. "Maybe for you to control it, you need to tire yourself out. If you have too much aggressive magic all bundled up inside you, maybe you have to get rid of some of that magic before you can do anything with it, or it'll overflow and do things you don't want it to? So... maybe we find you something to practice magic on!" He hopped up. It certainly wouldn't be him, because Tahi was soft, but luckily there were plenty of random boulders he could direct her to. "Here, use this one," he said, indicating a rather secure-looking boulder a few meters away. "Try to discharge a bunch of magic at it. Think about stuff that makes you angry, but focus on the rock, okay?"


@madhukar
sorry for the wait!

Tahi's response was rather... enlightening. It made a lot of sense! Especially for Madhukar. Tahi's correction she found rather silly, actually, because Tahi should think of her as violent. Because she was. Madhukar was no pusillanimous pussy cat, she was a bRISTLING, BUSTLING CLOUD OF ALL-CONFOUNDING RAGE! She should be FEARED and RESPECTED!!! Except obviously Tahi hadn't seen that side of her (which was less a side and more the whole main course), because Tahi had been nice upon first impression. So, you know, good for Tahi.

The suggestion was interesting. A very strange idea, but definitely followed some reasonable logic. It would kind of suck if her magic only functioned properly when she was tired, but maybe that was only a temporary thing. Like training wheels.

Anyways, Tahi directed Madhukar toward a rock. Ah. Where had she seen this before? She guessed Tahi would tell her to focus on it-- yup-- and then try to throw her magic on it or something-- uh huh, okay, so Tahi and the wiggler had more in common than it seemed. Except this time, Tahi appeared to believe that Madhukar wouldn't make the rock vanish. She didn't know if that was even a thing she could do.

She stared at the rock. 'Magic is rude,' the declaration of the wiggler echoed in her head. Yeah. It was. And so was she! And so was that BRAT that PUSHED HER INTO WATER AND THAT WIGGLER WHEN IT TOPPLED HER OVER AND THEN RAN AWAY AND THAT SNIFFLES THAT AAAAAAAAA---

--AAAAAaaaand nothing happened. Yet again. ...Yup.

She slowly affixed her glaring eyes on Tahi. "Not working." Deja vu.

@Tahi-Shei

Tahi watched all her fur spike up as she turned into a big puffball, and then her frustration turn back onto him with a strange calmness to it. "Don't worry," he soothed. "My magic doesn't always cooperate either. Sometimes its because we lose focus, or because the magic just doesn't flow right, but its always harder for young Gembound. If your magic comes from being angry, maybe try channeling the frustration of a failed spell into your next try." Admittedly, the deer was spit-balling, but in the past giving it one more honest try had almost always worked. He smiled at her. "Once is a pattern, twice is a coincidence, and thrice is just fate. But don't be afraid to go back to the drawing board on things, either!"

He wasn't sure if Madhukar would have the same patience he did to try things over and over again and hope they worked, but he was willing to try with her if she wanted his help. "Magic is finicky. Even Gembound who seem like they know hundreds of spells still fail sometimes. Some Gembound call it luck, but I call it fate." But he really didn't need to get into determinism with an angry little scrap of fur, so he didn't.


@madhukar

Tahi began to explain the disfunction. Magic was just rude, was just what it seemed to amount to. The wiggler was right, and that kept being proved. Apparently it was harder for young Gembound; Madhukar wondered why because that hardly seemed fair. She didn't really understand aging all that much because from her experience, all things big and small could act like utter fools. Tahi was behaving more "grown" than Sniffles! She didn't know whether Sniffles was an adult or not, but it was definitely bigger than Tahi! So what even WAS age?!

Madhukar was still surprisingly compliant-- almost alarmingly so. But, well, Tahi was trying to help her. This was her goal. So it really shouldn't have been all that crazy that she was going along with it. She'd stop trying when it became obvious that it wasn't going to work.

Tahi gave her a phrase that made no sense to her. How could you have a pattern with only one piece? A pattern was a thing that occurred more than once. Was that a mistake? And what was "fate", that word didn't even make any sense?! Oh well. Now was the time to be ANGRY! Madhukar was good at that! And soon, she'd get good enough to MAKE THIS RIDICULOUS BURDEN CALLED "MAGIC" WORK FOR HER! She thought about EVERY TIME it had failed her, all she could remember, all while staring at that rock, AIMING at it, like Zeus with his lightning bolt, and...

KABOOM!

Now THAT was a nice one. Although, to be a completely honest, that hadn't been what Madhukar had intended to do. She had meant to strike the rock with something. Instead she just made that noise, which clamored and clanged across the air like a fanfare, marching far and wide about the room. It wasn't what she WANTED... but it was WHEN she wanted it.

Peculiar. As though Zeus had aimed his bolt and then dropped it on a cloud. The effect was decent to everyone watching, but behind the scenes, not all was correct.

She looked at Tahi again. "I din't wanna do that. I wanned to hit the rock. But I did somethin' on purpose!" Her sparkling green eyes narrowed at Tahi. "YOU do somethin'." She wanted to see Tahi do his magic again, because Tahi seemed to have much more control over this than she did, and it was both confusing and unfair.

Maybe the reason this wasn't working so well was because Tahi hadn't made her angry to begin with. Maybe watching Tahi do better at this than her would fuel her rage again, which, for once, was what they actually wanted.

@Tahi-Shei

Fungal Fate, did she have a propensity for making loud noises. Tahi's ears laid back at the boom of sound, and he took a few moments to blink away the ringing in his ears before he processed Madhukar's request. The deer shook his head a bit and cleared his throat. "Well, that's okay," he told her gently, mostly stalling for time while he thought about what to do. "One step at a time. You can't control your magic until you do what it wants."

The fawn took a deep breath and let his surroundings melt away. He let himself focus on how his own pulse thrummed in his whole body, resonating against the stone. He reflected on his own breath, his own life, and his own growth. The fungus -- it produced spores, which produced mycelium, which produced fungus, which produced spores again. It grew, and lived, and broke down decay into life. It was conscious, in a way -- a hive-mind of interconnected beings, attached through their own success, their own propagation. Neither animal nor plant. An other, intricate and strong.

Then, Tahi considered himself -- what did he want? Well, much like the mushrooms, he wanted to grow. He wanted to grow in his magic, and in his body. But to what end? Tahi had little desire for propagation, so perhaps exploration? Or perhaps he would aid others like Madhukar? Perhaps--

The fawn opened his eyes and cringed. "... I'm sorry," he said, looking at the undisturbed stone beneath him. "I got, erm, distracted. I can... try again, if you want...?" The truth of the matter was, his goals conflicted with that of the fungus -- but was he even assessing that fungus properly?


@madhukar

She couldn't control her magic until she did what it wanted. WHY was THAT the case?! It was HER magic, it should be listening to HER!

She watched Tahi attempt her challenge. Tahi seemed to just be... thinking. Thinking without any emotion. Who knew, maybe there were some emotions in there? But it just looked like thinking; blank on the outside, rampant collisions on the inside. Was that what the fungus wanted?! Tahi to just stand there and do NOTHING but use their head???

Nothing happened. Because Tahi got distracted. HAH! All that thinking wasn't good for that magic, it seemed. A magic that appeared like it should've benefitted from boring ol' standing and letting your mind do all the work actually didn't. Seemed both of their magics weren't working out for them, eh?!

Wait so... by trying her own tactic, her magic went wild. By Tahi trying their own tactic, their magic just didn't happen at all.

Maybe... maybe they should switch?

Huh...

"YOU get mad. Run aroun' an' try to be angry like me! An' I'll do wha' YOU did."

Standing and thinking. She hadn't really... done that much. Getting angry at stuff seemed to be where her magic was connected to her; to her emotions. But her emotions were wild. Perhaps she had to... tame them? If she wanted to control whatever was attached to them. Wow. It seemed as though the biggest beast she was going to have to fight today was herself.

Without waiting for Tahi's agreement, Madhukar began to just stand there. Close her eyes. Think not about bugs, or colorful things, or buzzing, or anything calming. She also didn't think about everything else, which would've registered as upsetting. She just thought... about charge.

How it moved, where it went. It always wanted a direction, it seemed. It always had a goal. That's because it was her magic, and she always had a goal. Even those calamitous booms she could create, they had a goal, and it was her own, even if she didn't always realize it. She imagine the charge in her mind, zipping about like a wandering vagabond, not knowing where it was to go next. Then she thought about a goal for it; a rod that it could attach onto, follow. It would lead to the rock.

She wanted her magic to hit the rock.

Bile rose in her throat. Was she making that happen? A charge waited an order, which she'd already given, so it did its job. The wad came rising, elevating, guided and grounded like a magnetic rollercoaster. It ascended to her mouth and she opened her jaw.

And she shot the rock.

And she squealed with delight, paws feeling a buzzing of energy, causing them to jiggle and jive in something resembling and stationary happy dance.

Heck yeah! HECK Yeah! YEAAAAH!!! WOOOOOOO--!!

She looked at Tahi, silent expectations rising in her mind, filling up her stare. Accompanying those expectations was, if one looked very closely... a little bit of gratitude

@Tahi-Shei

Tahi-shei blinked in surprise at her demand that he try it her way, but upon thinking back on his experiences... well, he'd tried to cast three spells since they'd been talking, and twice he'd succeeded. Once when he'd been scared out of his mind and panicking, once when he'd done it just to make a point, and finally an attempt where he'd focused and meditated on his spells.

The deer was a bit off in his own little world until the smell of ozone and the crack of electricity filled the air before the electricity fizzed through the rock. For a moment, some of the more metallic pieces of stone quivered nearby, and then the energy dissipated. "Good job, Madhukar!" he gasped, jumping up a little bit with her and sharing in her excitement. "That was awesome! Good job!!"

He cleared his throat. Most of the times he'd used magic accidentally had been because he was scared, but Tahi focused intensely and set his jaw. Fear and anger were two sides of the same coin. They were adrenaline and passion and a will to persist. He strained for a moment, and then-- "AGH!"

A magnificent layer of deep, black frills spiraled up around his neck, flaring at his shoulders and ankles as well. They almost dwarfed him with their size, and Tahi glanced around, stretching his limbs and looking impressed with himself. The energy drain was dramatic, of course, but the frills were absolutely gorgeous and he preened excitedly. Oh, he liked these. They looked awesome! "O-Oh..." He looked back down at Madhukar, his eyes wide. "It looks like my assumptions about magic were wrong! Interesting... You've been super helpful, Mad!! I have so many new theories to test..."


@madhukar

The shared excitement was possibly one of the most positive experiences Madhukar had had with an actual other creature in all her short time in the caves. It was nice! It was nice.

And then, her theory was proven. This tiny little kitten, so filled with fury and spite, actually smiled. And purred. Tahi followed her method and, with the will to persist, seemed to create these massive black frills on neck and shoulders and ankles and it looked sick, to be honest. Madhukar grinned up at the deer.

It did seem that Tahi's assumptions were incorrect! Or perhaps not ENTIRELY incorrect, but in reverse! Madhukar had never thought that fungi could be so violent. That was kind of cool, actually. Perhaps this was just their challenge; Tahi was too nice to think about the harsher side of the mushroom. And Madhukar was just too brash and loud to think about that focused part of charge. They both had it in them to think about it though. It was a good thing they had met, then, so they could teach each other.

Perhaps this was the "fate" Tahi was talking about.

Tahi thanked Madhukar, and for once, Madhukar felt the desire to return the grace. "You too Tahi." She was still smiling, but that was quickly ended once Tahi called her 'Mad'. That nickname reminded her of Sniffles, and Sniffles made her stomach twist in the dumbest, weirdest way she still couldn't parse.

"Keep trying," she ordered Tahi, tone devoid of any ire whatsoever. This goopy one was strange, but in a good way, perhaps because they were only half goopy due to magic.

Madhukar turned back to her stone, covered in an equivalent to energy juice, and smirked. Her paws twitched at her with the desire to leave, but she steadied them. Just a few more attempts with this new idea, to see if it was as Tahi had said; pattern, coincidence, or... fate.

Calmness. A deep breath. She wanted to noise. Like a bellow made with her own power, her own heart. Right above her head... something loud enough to fill the room! Something synced to... a tail lash! That's right, channel it to the tail. She rose her tail high, and...

A pitiful smack of a tail against the ground. No booms. Huh. It was embittering, but not as much as it would've been had it not been for the previous success. Like the wiggler had said, magic was rude. And like Tahi had said, she likely needed patience. Perhaps even her excitement could get the better of her. That sucked! But at least she understood it now. She looked at Tahi again, wondering what the deer would do.

Maybe they could try... like a competition? Something to keep them going. A test of skill, perhaps. A magic duel? Madhukar's eyes twinkled a little as the thought crossed her mind. A magic duel sounded awesome. But first, she'd watch Tahi's move.

@Tahi-shei