fandomhigh | Defending Yourself Against Magic

The Danger Shop this week was simulating a glade in a forest, bright sunlight streaming down on a perfectly smooth stone porch. "Welcome to the place with the good weather," Bob greeted the students. Not that cold or rain or snow bothered him at all, except in principle. "I've left out the bugs and mud." You're welcome, students.

"We've been talking about how best to confront someone throwing magic around," he continued. "We'll come back to it, I'm sure, but honestly the best way to win is not to fight." No, he didn't get that from an 80s movie, shut up. He shrugged. "If you fight, there's always a chance you could lose.

"Of course, the first step to avoiding a fight is seeing it coming. The first step to dealing with any sort of magic is knowing it's there." He stopped himself and looked thoughtful for a moment. "First step to anything, really, I suppose." He waved that off. "Now, some of you will probably find it easier than others. You'll probably find different types of magic easier or harder to detect. We're going to do two things today."

He nodded to Elsa and gestured behind him. "One in each, please."

Elsa nodded in turn, and then made her way over to place two small stone spheres into two large pentacles. The stones had runes carved into them, and she gave them a curious look, much the same way she'd been giving them since she'd picked them up from the Portalocity office, before making her way back to her seat.

"The pentacle - a five-pointed star in a circle - is one of the more common and basic modes of containment for magical energies. They keep outside things outside and inside things inside. In this case, one of those spheres is filled with magical energy, courtesy of a friend of mine. The other is no more than what it appears to be. I want you each to spend a bit of time in each of the circles, until you can reliably tell which is which."

He shrugged again. "Some of you may know immediately. Some of you may not ever figure it out. But it's important to know if you can, and to know what it feels like. So try." He crossed his arms and looked at them sternly. "This is not a group activity. You're to come and tell me which is which, rather than spoil it for anyone else or figure it out together. I hope we're clear on that."

After glowering a moment longer, he turned and paced a bit, continuing. "When you're not doing that, you'll be out here, finding magic by observation. There are a number of enchanted stones hidden around this clearing." He wrote in the air: air, fire, water, earth, spirit. "The most basic elements of existence. There are enough out there for everyone to find one of each." He smirked. "But these are courtesy of this room; there's no actual magic in them. You'll all be on equal footing here. Observe. Think about what each element is and how it would affect its surroundings. Then find the stones."

He clapped his hands and grinned around at them. "Well, shall we get started?"

[OOC: guest appearance by the lovely and talented

iceolatedqueen!]

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"Well, then I suppose for the sake of knowing..." Elsa's smile was a little more tentative as she passed her hand through his, once again almost immediately pulling it back, though more out of shock than fear.

Really not the most pleasant feeling at all, was it?

Still, she took a breath and steadied herself, making note of the way his hand felt through hers before moving to feel the cuff, instead.

"It's subtle... But there is a difference," she murmured.

Edited 2015-01-27 20:40 (UTC)

"Good," Bob said. "Very good. That difference is what you're looking for. See if you can find it."

After a moment taken to kind of shake the feeling (without actually shaking her hand out, of course, because that seemed rude), Elsa nodded and stepped back into the first of the two circles.

She pulled in a breath, and then she closed her eyes. Walked to the second on. Frowned thoughtfully, and then went back to the other.

"This one," she murmured. "This one feels almost the same."

"There, you see?" Bob smiled. "Now remember that feeling, and you'll know if there's magic around. Well, at least magic of this sort or similar."

And at that, Elsa smiled a little.

"It's more than I had before," she agreed. "Thank you. I'll try to remember how this sort of magic feels."

Defending Yourself Against Magic | Tuesday, 4th period

Re: Exercise 1: Check out the circles

Re: Exercise 1: Check out the circles

Re: Exercise 1: Check out the circles

Re: Exercise 1: Check out the circles

Re: Exercise 1: Check out the circles