Agent Washington (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
unrecovered) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
heyfreemagic2015-10-04 07:51 pm
unrecovered) wrote in heyfreemagic2015-10-04 07:51 pm
Magic Is Hard
[The best way to improve in a skill was training. Wash knew that. What he hadn't realized was that training went a lot more smoothly with someone who knew what they were doing in charge.]
[This probably explained why his attempts to practice magic in the park had been frustrating and fruitless for the past half hour. He had no experience in magic and no idea what to do - what he had was determination to master a weapon he'd need in order to fight, and a supply of patience that was beginning to run low.]
[His magic was different than most people's, he reasoned. He didn't have to start his own, like Casey, or use what was on hand, like Greg - no, his element was all around him all the time, and all he had to do was make it do what he wanted. Somehow.]
[Anyone who had been watching him for a bit may have seen sweeping and increasingly ridiculous arm motions - movements that might actually look cool if the wind was playing its part, but just came off as badly choreographed interpretive dance without it. Anyone who had been watching for quite a while may have witnessed him yelling at the sky about how one sweater-vested asshole could have at least provided a tutorial.]
[This probably explained why his attempts to practice magic in the park had been frustrating and fruitless for the past half hour. He had no experience in magic and no idea what to do - what he had was determination to master a weapon he'd need in order to fight, and a supply of patience that was beginning to run low.]
[His magic was different than most people's, he reasoned. He didn't have to start his own, like Casey, or use what was on hand, like Greg - no, his element was all around him all the time, and all he had to do was make it do what he wanted. Somehow.]
[Anyone who had been watching him for a bit may have seen sweeping and increasingly ridiculous arm motions - movements that might actually look cool if the wind was playing its part, but just came off as badly choreographed interpretive dance without it. Anyone who had been watching for quite a while may have witnessed him yelling at the sky about how one sweater-vested asshole could have at least provided a tutorial.]
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[H knew that look, and he knew that tone - he'd learned them well from York. They were the "the only thing keeping me from laughing at you is your fragile self-esteem" combo; given that York had usually followed up on them by laughing at him anyway, Wash didn't have a lot of hope for this situation. He looked at Casey and deadpanned hard.]
Thanks. I hadn't noticed.
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Guess I don't have to point out you're trying, like, WAY too hard?
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[Wash closes his eyes for a moment, trying to shake off anger. He's frustrated at himself, at his own lack of ability - that doesn't mean he gets to take it out on Casey, regardless of how ridiculously annoying Casey has chosen to be at this particular moment.]
Okay, if you have a better idea how wind magic works, I'd love to hear it.
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Well, why doncha do whatever you did when you did it the first time?
[Yeah, the first time everyone was about to die, but he must be able to remember how he made the wind work. Casey didn't have any problem doing (admittedly weak) (at first) fire once he figured out he could.]
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You have got to be kidding me.
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What? I'm serious! You sayin' you don't have a clue what you did?
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I panicked, Casey. I thought we were all going to die. That's not happening again.
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[You can practically see the wheels turning behind his eyes.]
Look, lots of people can do magic without having to freak out, right? So the panic musta made you do somethin' else and that caused the magic. We just gotta figure out what it was!
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I-
[Lost control. Lost the one thing that keeps Epsilon from submerging him in someone else's memories. That's not an avenue he wants to explore. His throat works for a moment, and he breaks eye contact.]
I don't know what I did. That's part of the problem.
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[Seems pretty easy! They can recreate the situation, just without the "almost dying" part. There's a tree nearby, and it gives Casey an idea.
He jogs the few steps over, grabs the lowest branch, and shakes it. If you turn your head, and squint at the shadows a bit, it kind of looks like a skinny Nox hand attacking Casey. A little.
Well, attacking Casey's shadow.
Close enough.]
OK, make like that shadow is a Nox and it's attacking. That oughta jog somethin'!
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[Uh.]
Um...nope. Nice try?
[It's not sarcasm; Casey really is trying to help, and Wash isn't going to tear him down for that.]
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[If he even has one...He huffs in exasperation, letting go of the branch, but he's still thinking.]
Well...wanna spar? [He snaps his thumb and forefinger together and a small flame, about the size of a match, sparks to life on his thumb.] Maybe you'll get it if you have to have a magic duel!
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[For a moment, Wash just stares. Casey doesn't seem to realize what exactly he's just suggested.]
[Then again, it's Casey.]
I am not sparring with you.
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[Casey may or may not be messing with Wash. Even he may not know for sure.]
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I am highly trained former Special Ops. You are a hundred pounds soaking wet and built like a stick figure. Bones will murder me if I break you. So no, I am not sparring with you.
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I'm not that fragile, geeze! And I'm outta ideas. You sure you don't remember how you did it?
[Because maybe the problem has more to do with Wash shooting down every idea than anything...]
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And I told you, I don't know. If I did, I might have actually figured this out by now.
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[With blades and everything. It's the kind of sass-and-sulk mode only a teenager can activate.]
Well...Maybe we just need to get more authentic. You didn't want the tree-Nox, fine. Let's go find a real one.
[Someday Casey may grow a filter for his mouth. Today is not that day.]
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[Wash tenses, well aware that that could damn well bring Nox down on their heads- that they wouldn't be prepared- that he didn't know if he'd come back, and that Casey didn't deserve to go through that-]
[He's half angry and half scared to death, and it comes out as a glare and a snarl.]
Don't even think about it-
[Which is when the gust of wind tears through the park, rattling leaves off trees and blowing his hair away from his face. Wash stops dead, wide-eyed in shock, and the wind dies down.]
[Did he-]
[But he couldn't have-]
[Did he do that?]
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But Casey hadn't been prepared for...that. It dried his eyes out, blew the mask off his head, and nearly took off his bandanna too. His hand shot up to protect his face out of instinct (fortunately it also put out the fire on his hand) and when it died down...
A giant grin broke out across Casey's face. That deserves a celebratory punch to Wash's arm.]
Dude! You did it!
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...yeah. I did.
[But how? He hadn't been angry the first time, but he was this time- and he'd been afraid. And his control had slipped.]
[Was that what it took for him to use his magic? A loss of control? And if that was the case, what the hell was he supposed to do with it?]
[Yeah, he's not celebrating - if anything, he looks more lost and worried than before.]
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Or maybe it's the wrong problem? Maybe it's been the wrong problem all along...]
OK, what's really goin' on?
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What's going on is I still don't know how my magic works, and that didn't help.
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Kinda...seems like it only works when you're scared?
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That's not the case, and even if it were, it's not sustainable.
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