heyfreemagic | 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.]

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Yeah, I have told you I spar against actual ninja weapons, right?

[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.]

[He wants to go find a real Nox-]

[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?]

[Casey had expected Wash to say no, expected annoyance and anger. That was no big deal. Casey figured he'd just have to turn on the persuasion, or let Wash calm down before he tried the suggestion again, or just...kind of wait for the Nox to show up for no reason, which also seemed to happen a lot.

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!

[He's still reeling- still trying to process what just happened- what he just did- so Casey's punch takes him by surprise, and he flinches, just a little.]

...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.]

[Yeah, OK, that is not the reaction Casey expected. It seems to him that the problem is solved: Wash can use his magic when he's really pissed off or scared. It's not the BEST solution ever, but whatever, that's the problem solved. This is a new problem.

Or maybe it's the wrong problem? Maybe it's been the wrong problem all along...]

OK, what's really goin' on?

[One of these days, he was going to remember that Casey was a lot sharper than he usually acted.]

What's going on is I still don't know how my magic works, and that didn't help.

[Casey takes a second to think. The connection is pretty obvious to him, though...maybe he does get why Wash isn't happy about it.]

Kinda...seems like it only works when you're scared?

[That's not what he wants Casey to take away from this, namely because he's half certain it's not true and half refusing to believe it might be true. Either way, not happening.]

That's not the case, and even if it were, it's not sustainable.

[Now who's the annoying one? Wash still isn't giving Casey much to work with. Casey's gonna figure this out even if Wash smacks him for it.]

But it's still got somethin' to do with fighting Nox, right? An' you didn't seem angry the last time...

[As far as Wash is concerned, Casey's still the annoying one, because he won't leave well enough alone.]

Casey. I'll figure it out. Drop it.

[Casey throws up his hands, at the end of his rope.]

Are you kiddin' me? You had it! And you sure didn't get it by flailin' around like an idiot!

Magic Is Hard

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