Magic Is Hard

[unrecovered]

[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.]

Comments

[panspermia]

[Greg flinched back, startled. Wash hadn't snapped at him like that since their first conversation. Thankfully, they knew each other well enough by now that Greg knew he wasn't actually mad with him, but it sure rankled the alarm bells. Lesson noted, Wash was not in a jokes mood.

Usually, this would be the moment he insisted, yet again, that he didn't know, and more often than not it was just the same--accidental bursts during panic. That, however, was the last thing Wash needed to hear right now. He needed to think of something, for Wash's sake. ]

Well... I guess... uhh. [It was all well and good to want to give a good answer, but he had yet to put together anything useful.] I-I dunno. It hasn't happened a whole lot on purpose. But... [ He furrows his brow. If he considers that first time, in the bar, he can at least come to one conclusion. ] ...freaking out definitely wasn't the key.

[unrecovered]

[First he'd snapped at Greg, then he'd put him on the spot. He was just great at this whole friendship thing, wasn't he.]

Yeah, I kind of figured.

Look, I- [He pauses, reconsiders] -it's not your fault I'm having a shitty time with this. I shouldn't have yelled at you.

[panspermia]

No... It's all right. I get it. [After everything that's happened to the both of them, feeling helpless and on edge is pretty understandable.]

Let's think this through, all right? Magic's more about what's goin' on in your head than anything else, so we better get our heads on right.

[unrecovered]

[Magic's about what's going on in your head-]

[It's all Wash can do to keep a straight face, because bitter laughter is not the correct response to that statement. Still, if that's the case, no wonder he sucks at this.]

Okay?

[panspermia]

[ Greg needs to pause, and think through his words. All his information on magic is secondhand, after all, so his ability to put it into words is muddled. ]

Magic's got its own sort of life to it, I think. Until you get a good feel for it, it's not gonna do what you want. [ He scratches his head.] Sorta like a pet? I guess? You gotta figure out if yours likes... I dunno, getting scratched behind the ears, or wet food.... or the, uh, mental... version of that... I went too far with this metaphor.

[unrecovered]

[Well, it started off making sense, and then the metaphor happened. Wash's straight face is gone by now; at this point, he's just kind of staring.]

Little bit, yeah.

[He takes a mental step back and tries to reason through what he's just heard.] So, I need to figure out how to use my magic before I can use it? [That's it. That's all he got.]

[panspermia]

Y-yeah, kind of. It might work in spurts, but uh, forcing it only gets you to.... bad places.

[He still has nightmares about the cats.]

So, ummm. Uhhh. [You can practically see the gears grinding as he's trying to think of more useful advice.] We'd be better off focusing on why we want to use magic, than just trying to use it. I think.

[unrecovered]

[Well, that's reassuring. He'd make a comment about how it can't be worse than death, except he's already had both a fate-worse-than-death experience and an actual-death experience, and he's not willing to repeat either.]

[Narrative causality is a bitch.]

I already have the why. It's the how that's giving me trouble. [He shakes his head.] Thanks anyway. I appreciate it.

[This is how you let people down gently without damaging their already fragile self-esteem, right?]

[panspermia]

[In a way, the rejection is sort of a relief. It means he can finally stop pretending like he has any idea what he's talking about.]

Yeah. I haven't got my magic to work in ages, either, so all that's probably moot, anyway.

[He gives an awkward chuckle.]

Well, at least we can start keeping a list of what doesn't work and narrow it down, huh?

[unrecovered]

Wait. You haven't what?

[That couldn't be good. As Wash well knows, nonfunctional magic is a problem around here.]

How long is 'ages?'

[panspermia]

Um.

[Greg hasn't thought about it much that way. He certainly doesn't feel good about it being on the fritz, but it wasn't as if it had helped him last time he got in trouble..]

Since... you know.

[unrecovered]

[It was one thing for Wash, who'd only gotten his magic to work once under dire circumstances, to be having trouble; it was another entirely for Greg, who'd been pretty consistent, to be unable to get to his magic. That wasn't good.]

Oh.

Have you...tried...? [He gestures uselessly.]

[panspermia]

[All he can do is shrug.]

I dunno, man. Stuff just sorta happened before, yknow? I didn't get a ton of say in it. Maybe all that knocked the magic out of me.

[ He knows he shouldn't be hoping for that possibility, but... ]

[unrecovered]

[He frowns and shakes his head.]

I don't think that's it - if it were, I wouldn't have mine either, and we both know that's not the case.

[Not that that's a great example. Plus, it's been a while since Wash died, and it's still relatively fresh for Greg, if that has anything to do with it...]

[At this point, it might be better for Wash to just admit he has no idea what the problem is, with either of them.]

I'd invite you to practice with me, but I'm not getting very far as it is. Still... [He shrugs. At least they can be out of their relative depths together?]

[panspermia]

[More shrugs. Maybe dying knocked the magic into Wash? That seems like a long shot, at best. The fact is, they don't know much of anything.

Greg stretches out his back, grunting. He's here, already. He might as well make the effort to look like he's doing something, even if it goes nowhere.]

Like I said. At least we can figure out what doesn't work.