Anna sat in the lounge and took deep breaths. She had sent Juls a message about wanting to meet. She had struggled with channeling. Breaking her block hadn't been easy for her, and she had found practice sessions very frustrating. Try as she might, she couldn't even hold the power. That was now all gone. Thanks to a day of meeting new friends and day drinking.
Anna embraced the power, feeling it sharpen her senses. The lounge seemed brighter and the scent of the club was more prevalent in her nostrils. It still amazed her how easy it was now. The power was there, just waiting to be embraced. It no longer required any effort, but her struggles to get there had put her way behind. Her frustrations had affected her relationships at work. Until Elyse, Anna had found it difficult to connect to her coworkers, but since then, Anna had worked very hard to befriend her coworkers. It was as Mae had told her - it only took one to feel at home. All her coworkers had welcomed her with open arms.
Anna had gotten in early. She had requested time to work one on one with Juls, but wasn't sure if that was going to be the case. Her reasoning was simple. She was playing catch up. Anna didn't know if Juls was going to bring anyone else or not. Either way, it was time for Anna to learn how to use her gift.
She had arrived early. She wanted to show Juls that she as serious about this, and the waiting made her just a little nervous. Of course now that she didn't need to be nervous, she found everything a little nerve wracking. Anna just wanted to do well. She fidgeted a bit with her wallet. It seemed like every time she did, she thought of Cade. She still hadn't texted him, and he hadn't reached out to her. She sighed.
Fuck it! she thought, bringing her wallet up to send a message.
Heya Cade! Just wanted to check in. Hope all is well! I'm spending some time practicing my magic today
She put her wallet down after hitting send, hoping she wasn't too much. How could she be? It had only been a few days since they had met. She kept holding on to her power, not using it, and waited for Juls.
No one else was coming. Anna wanted to try this alone and when she was new Juls knew that it was better to go with someone's wishes. At least the first time.
Juls brought coffee when she sat down in the lounge.
"Morning Anna. What would you like to start with, other than coffee?"
Juls arrived relatively quickly, and Anna stood as she arrived. Her wallet buzzed indicating a message - probably a response from Cade, but she was here to work. She left the wallet aside as she approached. The comment about coffee elicited a smile from Anna.
”I don’t need any coffee. All caffeinated already,” she said with a smile, but got focused quickly. She wanted Jules to know she was here to work. Still that didn’t mean it couldn’t be a good time. ”Thank you so much for agreeing to meet me to have a lesson. I know your time is very valuable. Right now, all I know is I feel very far behind. I can touch the power now. It’s so easy when a couple of days ago it was so hard.” She embraced the power, its warmth radiating through her sweetly. ”As far as where to start. The basics. I’m in a good place where I can learn how to do things right - without building bad habits. Air and water seem to come to me more naturally. Especially water. Other than that, honestly, I feel overwhelmed. Unsure of what I can do with it and no idea where to go.” This is part of the reason why she wanted to meet alone. She’s was a little embarrassed at how little she knew.
Juls laughed and took a sip of her coffee.
"You aren't behind. How could you be? I'm still learning, I'm not even a great teacher. I only started showing Sterling because Nox asked me too. It just sorta grew from there. Oriena would be a much better teacher in terms of power and skill. But we all do what we can to learn from each other. And if you feel behind because of what you've seen Nox do then honey none of us match that skill. And none of us ever will. We don't practice several hours a day, everyday ad nauseum. Boy is single minded. And he does a lot of the shows extras because he can and we don't have to stress over it." Juls smiled.
"You are exactly where you need to be when you needed to be. Embracing the power is the first step. learning how to play with the power is the next. First rule, don't finish a weave you don't know what it does when inside or when others are around. You only want to blow yourself up, not the rest of us." Juls giggled.
"Second rule, experimenting is good if you are safe."
"You can imagine where those rules came from. And I always wonder what he did to learn them." Juls embraced the power and smiled.
"Illusion is our bread and butter here at Kallisti, the illusion of sex, of being wanted. You know the drill, and illusion is where we can use this so let's start simple." Juls wove a simple illusion weave of a firey boa around her neck, the flames flicking at her throat, but there was no heat, just pretty lights.
"Once you learn the simple weave you can adapt it with experimentation."
Despite her words, Anna still felt behind with her channeling. It was hard not to. The times she had come to learn had been fraught with struggling to even hold the power while other people were able to do it, but Anna understood what she meant. It wasn't something to be ashamed of. It was a lesson Anna had to learn many times - and she'd probably have to learn it again.
Anna listened to the rules and filed them away. They made sense. Playing with fire indoors was a recipe for disaster. It made her wonder with all these channelers around how it would effect insurance costs. Hey you're a channeler - guess what - your rate just doubled!
Anna watched as Juls did the illusion, and Anna found that she could remember it. It was there, seared to her memory like the flames it imitated. Anna tried to copy it, but the going was slow. It wasn't something she had done before. The pieces were there, but when she pulled it together it slipped, the energy dissipating into nothingness. Anna flinched, a little irritated, but she was used to practicing. Each failure just meant you were closer to getting it, but she wasn't lying when she said water and air were easier than fire for her. It felt like writing with your non-dominant hand, you could do it, but it was awkward and sloppy.
Anna tried again, this time the weave coming together faster. It was still slow, but there was a familiarity to the movement that there wasn't before, however the results were the same. This time, she had seen where the weak point in the weave was, so she tried again. Third time is a charm and the weave came together. It wasn't as pretty as Juls - looking like someone who had knitted a scarf for the first time. It was bigger in places and smaller in others.
"Well, it's not pretty, but I did it. And I wear it well!" Anna said, giving a slight pose.
Anna had also heard Juls last statement and it came to mind. It was an encouragement to experiment, so she went to her bread and butter. What if she did that weave with water? She channeled, doing the same weave, but using water instead. This moved much faster, her natural inclination towards using water making the weave come together fast, and when she settled the weave, it fell apart and she was covered in water.
Anna laughed at her "misfortunate" but she figured the the worst that could happen was exactly this. Her laugh stopped as she got a thought. Whenever she had done her water sphere trick, it almost seemed like she was drawing water from the air. The water had to come from someplace right? So this time, she focused the weave towards herself, pulling the water from her wet clothes and the floor. She formed into a sphere and finding a water jug, placed the water in the jug. Her clothes and the floor were mostly dry.
"Hmmmm...that's a neat trick," she said filing it away for later. Water might be a good way to experiment with Weaves safely. "I was thinking, maybe using water would change the color. Am I thinking along the right lines?"
"Illusion isn't about using the element you are imitating, it's about combining the elements and making it do what you want. A different element configuration changes the way it looks. If you wanted to make a boa of water you will get wet, but the weave I've shown is just using fire as a source of light. Spirit and air with a little earth to shift perspective. Fire is hard for most women, and I can do a fire boa but it's hot and it can burn you if you aren't careful."
"I can't help you learn things you already know. We are all just learning and showing each other what we can do. I am not so much a teacher. I'm more of a guide. Helping those who come to us feel like we have some sort of plan. We don't. Experimentation with water just gets you wet. Think about what you can do with water. Nox likes to equate it to science, he can't teach us, but he can tell us what he and his sister learned together. What can you do? Think about it."
Anna let go of the power to listen. Her first thought was to defend herself, but she backed down from those thoughts. Juls wasn't admonishing her. Anna hadn't really done anything wrong. She had made a mistake - and was learning from that. That's why she was here. Juls said she wasn't a teacher, but a guide. To Anna, they were really one and the same though. A good teacher directed you how to learn and that's what Juls was doing.
Anna nodded her understanding at what was said. It all made sense. It was science as much as magic, both working to achieve something spectacular. Her weave had failed because she had simply forgot about science. Water without a container would just fall. That's where she had failed. It was true she had chosen water because it was what she was good with, but her goal had been to change the color of the boa, or to in some other way, make it her own. But the weave was more complex than that.
Anna embraced the power and channeled again, going back to the weave Juls first showed her, but she held the weave out, really looking at it. As Juls had said, it wasn't just fire. She could see where she had put spirt, air, and earth. She could see how they fit together to form the illusion.
"It's right there - they all fit together right there," she said out loud, but to herself instead of Juls. Science wasn't her strong point, but speaking what she was thinking helped.
Anna completed the weave, and this time it came together with a close approximation of what Juls had done. It was still not perfect, but it was passable. She dropped the power and the weave went with it. "Will have to remember to figure out how to tie it off." she said, making a mental note.
Anna stepped back, and thought. She was here to learn and experiment - to figure out how to use this gift she had, and Juls was guiding. What could she do with water and not just get wet?
"No...I'm overthinking," she said, having a moment of epiphany. "You said at the beginning, I adapt the weave. I'm trying to reinvent it. I don't need to reinvent it."
Anna embraced the power, feeling it course through her more naturally. As she began to form the weave, she could feel herself starting to sweat and her breathing began to quicken. She had never used the power this much before, and like untrained muscles, she was beginning to reach her limits with it. She wanted to try this one thing. Then she'd probably have to stop, and she hoped Juls wouldn't be mad about it.
"Less fire, keep the light effect. Add some water and more earth to give it shape, but not too much to muddy it. Spirit, air, and earth to shift perspective." she said, speaking herself through the weave.
She brought it together and it stayed. A boa, like Juls, but with a bluish orange glow. It was the same, but different. Anna felt proud of herself, but could no longer hold on. She went to a chair to sit, feeling more tired.
"I think I could use some coffee now," she said with a chuckle. She felt drained like she had been running. "I know we've not been here too long, but this is the most I've channeled since I've found out I could. I'm guessing it's like muscles and needs exercise."
Juls laughed. "And that was a great first try. And that is why Nox practices everyday for hours. You will get stronger with practice. We can try again later. And her is more coffee. I don't recommend training like Nox unless your life depends on it. His does. Ours does not." Juls handed Anna the coffee she's brought for her.
"I remember when I first started being able to do this. It took a long time before I could do a whole show with it."
(( I will color later))
Anna smiled, accepting the coffee with a thanks before taking a sip. "Well, I'll practice enough so I don't loose my breath after five minutes," she laughed.
Anna checked the time. The staff would be coming soon to practice for their shift. Elyse was coming back today. She had taken a couple of days off because of the issue with her dad. Anna hoped she was okay.
"This helped me a lot. I hope you don't feel like I've wasted your time to come in here early today. Before Kallisti," Anna sighed, she hadn't told anyone this yet. "I was afraid of it. Afraid of what I could do with it - I don't know. And then I get to the point where I'm ready and I want to try it. And I can't and everyone else just makes it look so easy...even the 14 year old..." she stopped and sighed. "Don't get me wrong, Sterling is a good kid. I just felt...I had no confidence. This helped with that. So thanks."
Anna checked her wallet, to create a lull in her rambling and found that it was Cade who had sent her a message.
Doing good. Job interview today. Went well. Good luck with the practice.
She smiled and sent him back a response saying she was sure he got the job and practice was going well before turning back to Juls. "Sorry for getting too personal there and rambling. How'd you find out - about being able to channel?"
((OoC: Text written by Cade))
Elyse arrived at Kallisti, later than she had originally planned, but earlier than necessary today. Her emotional freak out after meeting Liam had necessitated another day for her to calm down. Elyse had felt embarrassed, but knew that it had been necessary. She was upset and had to work her way through that. The worst of it was done for now, even though crying still happened. Mae had been helping, and Elyse was grateful that she didn't have to do it alone.
Elyse entered the lounge, where she saw Anna and Juls speaking. Anna turned at her entrance gave Elyse a smile, but not wanting to interrupt their conversation. She gestured to another table and gave Anna a convincing smile that this wasn't isolation, just politeness. She sat down, and Anna turned back to Juls. She knew that Anna had come here to learn how to channel. Elyse noticed that Anna looked tired.
Elyse started to breathe deeply. She had already cried today, so she thought she would be good and not have any altercations tonight, but it never hurt to prepare. She closed her eyes and focused inward, letting her emotions calm down. It was her first day back, it wouldn't do to freak out.