Tahi noticed that Madhukar seemed to deflate a little when he shortened her name, and he made a mental note to not do it anymore. He didn't want to upset his new friend, but he also decided not to comment on it further, because Madhukar told him to make another attempt at casting a spell and turned to do the same. He didn't have a great variety of spells at his disposal, but he figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to try with his easier one.

He continued to try Madhukar's methods. Tahi-shei thought about the dark sort of jealousy he felt when he saw powerful casters like Pride. He didn't usually feel this sort of shadow in himself, and he almost always tried to repress it when he did, but the sort of sick feeling of jealousy rose up like bitter bile as he turned it into rage. He could do better. He could be just like them. He could be strong!

A ring of mushrooms flared up around his feet, sudden and energetic. Tahi-shei looked down in surprise, finding toadstools at his hooves rather than the safe whitecaps he usually spawned. "Oh!" he said lightly, sniffing at them lightly. "Um... don't eat those," he said gently. "Usually I'm focusing on making safe ones, but these ones are poisonous. Maybe the type of mushroom I make is connected to my emotional state... because I certainly wasn't trying to make deadly fungus," he admitted.

@madhukar

Tahi did as Madhukar had suggested. Another legion of mushrooms rose to the deer's hooves. Madhukar was starting to get jealous of such control that was being demonstrated there. Apparently, those mushrooms were poisonous. Maybe they were connected to mood. Madhukar wondered, for only a moment, what Tahi had been thinking about to have changed to such a... toxic mood, if you want to call it that. Even though she wasn't ever going to think about eating mushrooms, she was still glad Tahi warned her. It was a good note to take for their experimenting here.

Madhukar made another suggestion. "We shoul' compete! You agains' me!" She then stared at Tahi very hard and thought only about her back paw, raising it up slightly in the air. She was going to try syncing the boom to her stomp this time. The goal: be intimidating. Surely, surely she could do that, right?

And... go!

All she did was stomp. AAAAAAGH!! Maybe this wasn't actually working?! Maybe she didn't need Tahi's strategy, and hers just worked for the both of them? But hers wasn't working for herself... AAAAAAAAH!!!!

Part of this method she was trying was patience, but that was so hard when Madhukar had none! None to spare!!! She needed a bug or something!! A clear cut goal; an aim. She needed to aim. Maybe that was it! Maybe that was a cracking of this bizarre code! It only seemed to work well when she focused, and chose a specific location. That must be why the blast was so hard to control. It's location was... everywhere, it sounded like!

Perhaps Tahi would like to participate in some target practice with the kitten?

@Tahi-shei

"Um," Tahi said lamely, suddenly feeling very small, "I, um, only know how to do the two things. I'd love to duel you, but..." His ears twitched and he looked embarrassed. "But! I can try to do spells against you, right?" he offered shyly. Perhaps that's what she'd meant in the first place...? Absently, Tahi wondered about something -- he'd seen Pride use several different types of magic which didn't seem to be connected in the slightest. Perhaps Tahi-shei was capable of casting electricity spells, like Madhukar? Or maybe casting a wide variety was something only experienced magic users or even Pride could do.

He continued on that train of thought, and looked down. Tahi-shei moved over a little bit and copied Madhukar's movement, bringing one of his hooves down sharply against the stone with a satisfying click. Mushrooms bloomed again, this time broad, flat-topped, and brown. "These should be safe," he said offhandedly, leaning down to take a bite of one. It tasted earthy, and while Tahi-shei had never tasted meat and never would, they tasted somewhat like steak. "Bleh. They don't taste good, though."

He looked over at Madhukar and grinned. "Hey, maybe your electricity is making my magic more effective! Maybe the static interacts with the fungus somehow?" Mostly, he was just trying to make her feel better about... not doing well. Tahi considered things, and voiced earlier thoughts aloud. "I wonder if I might be capable of doing spells like that. Hey, and maybe you're capable of doing mushrooms!"


@madhukar

Ah, so Tahi wasn't up for a duel. Unfortunate. Perhaps that was for the best, if all the fawn could do was make shrooms and goo. Madhukar could handle shrooms and goo and a challenge required, well... a real challenge. Tahi then offered simply using spells against Madhukar. No fight involved? Less fun but Madhukar supposed it was only fair. Tahi was being ridiculously helpful, so she would try to be nicer.

"Okay," she stated with expert simplicity. "'s long as I can do spells agains' you." A smirk trailed close behind her deal-making.

Tahi copied Madhukar, and ARGH it really worked for him! That wasn't the worst defeat-- in fact, it wasn't really a defeat at all. It looked like Madhukar had been pretty correct in her theory. She'd done a think good! Few things came close to that kind of pride; the joy of an aha! moment. Madhukar only hoped she could think of something smart for herself to do as well.

Tahi ate their own mushroom. And spit it out. Madhukar couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter. Why would anyone want to eat a mushroom?! Of course it didn't taste good!

And then Tahi offered a theory. That her static "interacts" with the fungus, makes it better somehow. Madhukar also noted the mention of her casting some spells like Tahi's, and Tahi casting spells like hers, but the first part was more fixating for her. She raised a brow laced with suspicion. That sounded like a joke, if anything. Was Tahi making fun of her now?! Deal be darned, then, she was gonna blast his ears off! But Tahi had been nice, so again, she'd try to dial it down.

Focus... aim, and--

KABLAM!

Mainly above Tahi's head, but not close to his ears or head by any means, came a stunning thunderclap that rung throughout the room. Madhukar's smirk twisted into a wicked grin as she had quickly plopped down and covered her ears, just in case. She shouted, "I aim'd! I aim'd an' it WORK!"

Now this. THIS was what she wanted. Aha. Hehehe. HAH!

@Tahi-shei

Tahi jumped in surprise. His ears were ringing violently, and Madhukar's words following her spell seemed a little far away. Slime Molds, that is not a fun spell. He shook his head a little bit to try and clear the ringing to minimal effect but figured that he could manage to cast some more spells. Or, well... just the one spell, really. He was still proud of his tall, fancy frills which had not yet been disturbed, so it wasn't like he could cast Inky Cap again, or else he might mess them up.

Instead, he focused on his other mushrooms. "You have a lot of variety in your spells," he said softly. "I wish I did, too. I don't even know if fungal magic can be used offensively. The only way I can think of would maybe be if someone ate something bad." Tahi-shei hadn't put enough thought into it. Eventually, he would realize that fungus grew by absorbing nutrients and life from their surroundings, and especially other creatures. Eventually, he would realize that with the power of magic, it was plausible that the mushrooms would be able to root in something still living.

But for now, the thought hadn't even occurred to him.

Tahi took a deep breath and began to walk in a slow, tight circle. This was how he got his best results, generally. Walking. The mushrooms which sprung up this time were just general Orion-natives -- he hadn't really been thinking about what kind to make, so they just defaulted to whatever he happened to be looking at. "Nice," he said softly. It was a good enough cast. He was proud of it.


@madhukar

Madhukar smirked at Tahi's reaction to her loud spell. She quite liked that one. Good timing and position could make it quite the weapon in her arsenal. Tahi's observation about her magic was noted, but she didn't quite think it was true. She had yet to notice a spell she could make that wasn't entirely aimed at electrocuting or stunning someone. "All my spells hur' bad. Either hur' me or someone else. Maybe y'could throw a mushroom a' someone."

The kitten's eyes marveled silently at the mushrooms sprouting from the ground. It wasn't their potential as projectiles that drew her in (honestly, she doubted they'd hurt very much). It was the fact that they were so much like plants, and Tahi could make them just appear. Madhukar felt her own kind of envy, silently. If she could do that with pretty plants, somehow, then she could lead those lovely bugs all over the place... and her mood would greatly improve.

Her eyes drifted to her own paws as she sat and though.

And as she sat and thought, Madhukar's mind tried to get a flash of light to enmesh her paw, perhaps to prove to her simply that it could do something that didn't hurt someone else. Something that was just... cool. And nice.

Madhukar saw it bright and clear: the flash that graced the fur over her immobile paw like a spider's web. Her eyes lit up. Was that meant to hurt someone as well?

The kitten trotted over and attempted to bump her immobile paw against Tahi's leg, just to see.

@Tahi-shei ((he won't get electrocuted if the touch happens))

Tahi-shei considered that. Throwing a mushroom at someone... He could make mushrooms grow, so maybe forming them into projectiles wasn't the worst idea? He glanced down at Madhukar as she put her paw against his leg. It didn't hurt or anything, and he didn't really think much of the contact. It wasn't like he was particularly averse to being touched, after all. "Projectiles, huh? I guess I could try it." He knew that new spells didn't come so easily, but he figured at the very least he could try and grow some mushrooms and then maybe break them off from their stems?

The mushrooms grew just fine, taller than he'd expected them to be as if trying to push up and act as bullets, but they stayed firmly rooted to their stems. "Maybe I need to think about it later, if its possible. New spells aren't exactly easy to learn for me. I have more control over my magic, but it seems to be at the price of not being able to learn it as quickly," he admitted. He nudged the stems of the fungus, which had now just transitioned into being standard Orion fare as he stopped really thinking about what he wanted them to be. He'd noticed that, if he wasn't actively picking a type when he cast the spell, they'd usually just be whatever he was looking at.

He peered down at Madhukar. "Now I'm thinking about electricity magic, though... you said that it just kind of happens when you're angry, but its more consistent when you're level-headed?"


@madhukar

Madhukar waited for a reaction in Tahi's face that never arrived. Her little boop had landed, but there didn't appear to be any shock, or pain. Huh. So the spell didn't work?! No, it obviously had. But it didn't... did it? "Wai', that naw' hurt? Yo' feel no hurt?" She would try to draw back and boop the deer's leg again, in the same spot, as if Tahi were the button for changing the Walk Sign for crossing a street, and Madhukar was pressing that button again and again until the sign changed to the 'Walking Allowed' one.

She'd watch the deer summon another crowd of mushrooms, and after thinking on it a minute, Madhukar would have yet another 'Aha!' moment. "WAI!! Make those und' some'in'!!" If those mushrooms could be sprung up from beneath someone, Madhukar especially, it would certainly make it harder to balance. And that was an offensive use!

Seemed proving each other wrong was just how this acquaintance... friend??ship??? She'd classify it later, but that was how this was playing out. And Madhukar was... decently alright with it. As long as it was helping!
Which it really really was! Madhukar listened to Tahi's plights but she didn't really know what to do about them. Control was nice. She wanted more of it. Maybe Tahi just had to think outside the box!

Then came the question about her magic. Madhukar nodded. "I gotta aim."

@Tahi-shei

He looked down at Madhukar, who seemed to be distressed. "Um... I definitely felt it!" he lied, "but no, it wasn't really painful. Was it supposed to be?" He didn't want to make her feel bad, but he also didn't want to dig himself too deep into a hole of lying. He was a pretty bad liar, actually, and Madhukar was probably perceptive enough to tell he was trying to spare her feelings. But she kept talking, and he was thankful for it.

"Underneath someone?" Tahi-shei was charmed by the idea. It was baffling and somewhat ridiculous, since mushrooms were easily crushed, but he figured that it might just work. If he'd had hands, he would have rubbed them together. Tahi glanced down at the space underneath Madhukar, and tried to grow a field of mushrooms directly underneath her paws.

None sprang up at all. He flicked an ear dismissively. "Well, that doesn't seem to be working. Then again, magic is fickle," he quoted, remembering hearing Pride say it. "I can try again, if you don't mind?"


@madhukar

So Tahi felt it, but it didn't hurt? How peculiar. She didn't really respond to Tahi's question with much more than a curious head-tilt to one side. She didn't know if it was meant to hurt. Like she'd just said, most of her magic seemed like it was supposed to. But this one hadn't.

Tahi then went with her suggestion. She was eager to see it get pulled off; her suggestions seemed to be working pretty well! She allowed herself to be a target for the spell, seeing as there was really no other creatures around that this might work on. Madhukar was small, easily unbalanced. If it worked, maybe Tahi could feel a little better about the mushrooms. Why she wanted Tahi to feel better... she could only really explain as "payment" for the deer having helped her so much.

Alas, it didn't work. The mushrooms didn't spring up. Madhukar looked up at Tahi and nodded a 'yes' to let the deer know she was ready to be target practice. It was only fair.

An idea came to mind; Tahi had said her electricity might be helping the mushrooms grow. Maybe that was the point of this sparky spell... to assist? To assist Tahi specifically?! What a strange purpose for a spell. Still, if it helped, then that was good for what they were trying to accomplish, was it not? She focused... her paws. Make it flicker across her paws...

Weak, but she could feel the sensation. Bzzz, bzzz, bzzzzzzt! The spark trailed across three of her paws before fizzling out early. RRRR! It was still annoying that she couldn't control it, keep it strong. It still didn't feel like hers. But she was getting there. SHE WAS GETTING THERE!

And besides, the point this time had been to help Tahi.

@Tahi-shei