Just Why?

[Claude Saint-Clair]

There were possibilities here. Nox said he used his abilities for Atharim work. That meant he used it to kill monsters. Claude knew what he was doing. He was rationalizing that this power could be useful in his work. Claude could now see it as the weapon it could be. Power could corrupt. But it depended on the person. Claude had to keep his reasons right. It wasn’t for his gain. It was to protect. It had been the reason he had questioned the Atharim mandate to kill channelers even before he was one. It was the reason he had told Nora she wasn’t an abomination. It was the reason he should give himself some grace here.

Nox knew some illusions and delving. But it was the work that Claude was interested in. ”My interest lies in practical uses - especially given I’m a hunter. Defense - offense - utility - whatever. I know that’s broad - but it’s a start,” he channeled the ball of light again, surprised at how easy it came to him and how much he liked feeling it flow through him. ”Can already tell this can be useful.” He sighed, dropping the ball of light. ”It’s addictive to use - isn’t it?”

[Casey]

Casey woke up the next morning. The thing about her schedule while recording meant she kept strange hours, but also meant her sleep schedule was like clock work. She was up earlier than she would have liked, but still had slept in a little. But she knew what Elyse meant. Despite her sleep, she was still tired. Thankfully right now she was used to functioning on caffeine and sugar. Elyse was still asleep and had to work tonight. Casey had no desire to wake her so she stood up and headed down to the kitchen.

She hadn't noticed much of the building before, but it was lived in. There was a toy chest here. Elyse had mentioned children so that made sense. She found the coffee quickly and brewed a cup. "Oh sweet nectar or the gods!" she said, drinking the cup. She looked around and saw a TV. It seemed to be showing a security feed and she noticed a young adult with a baby and then Nox with another man in what appeared to be a gym. Well she knew one of those people.

"Hey Sky...where is that gym?"

"The gym is located on the basement floor."

"Thanks, Sky. You're a peach!"

"You're welcome."

Casey smiled. An AI that was personable. How she'd love to meet the one who designed it. She had a feeling she could get the AI to recite Star Wars or something. Casey refilled her cup and headed downstairs. She was wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts for pajamas. She entered the gym and let the men see her before she sat down against the wall and took a sip of her coffee.

"Good morning, gentlemen," she said, stifling a yawn. Damn that dream had drained her. "Excuse me. If I'm disturbing and you want me to leave, just ask."

[Nox]

Casey joined them just after Claude asked his question. "You are welcome to watch or join in."

Nox nodded to Claude. "The power is addictive. And drawing on too much is easy to do specially in the beginning."

"I can teach you to use the power as utility in what we do. I train every morning you are welcome to join me around 9am. After I get the kids fed and moving."

[Casey]

Casey remained seated and gave a tired smile. They were working on magic from what she understood. It was good to know it was addictive. She wondered what he met by “what we do” but it came to her quickly. Jules had mentioned something about him being one of those that hunted their kind. So apparently this other man did too, but he was also a magic user. That had to be hard - being hunted by those who were your allies.

It would be fun to practice with some guys. She couldn’t see what they were doing from what she understood, and they wouldn’t be able to see what she did, but for now, she just wanted to observe. ”For now, I’ll just watch. Elyse kept me pretty busy last night. I’m liable to blow us up if I don’t wait until the coffee kicks in.” she said with a smirk. She was incredibly tired though - Elyse hadn’t been wrong about that. Working in the dream meant that you didn’t get enough rest.

[Claude Saint-Clair]

A woman came down to join them. Claude drowned for a bit then as he thought about it she was probably harmless. He was beginning to trust this Nox’s judgement. At least in the sense that he was careful who he let within his home. Had it not been for Elliot sending him here, he had a feeling that Nox wouldn’t have been quite as amicable to having another Atharim that he didn’t know in this building. The notes from Zephyr in his file and the drones spoke enough to that.

He turned to the woman as she spoke and she gave him a smile. ”Casey,” she said, giving her name.

Claude actually returned her smile. ”Claude,” he returned the introduction amicably. Before he turned back to Nox. ”You know, I was planning on coming here, learning how to not die and then throwing this away, but I can’t. It’s a tool - I can’t throw away a tool. And I need to know how to use it too. I’m in for practicing. If I can be here, I will. I’m ready to start now - unless you have your familial duties to attend to.”

[Nox]

Nox didn't do the introductions and he felt a little bad about it, but they managed on their own. It had been a while since he'd actually worked with anyone other than Ori in a training situation. And with Ori it was more about the fight than anything. He didn't feel the desire of the horde but he felt a tickle in the back of his mind, it wanted to fight, but it was not controlling, he could grab hold of it if he really wanted and use the power. Fuel the rage he felt inside. But that time was not now.

Nox shrugged. "If they need me. They know where to find me." Though Nox did stop for a moment and shot a text off to the club to let them know he'd be in a bit late as his rounds would be taking a bit longer.

Nox stood back up and stepped into the middle of the dojo mat. "Normally I practice my weaves while dancing, I'll start by showing you them. I recommend you sit still and try, it'll be hard enough as it is just following along."

Nox slowed down his weaves and exaggerated them as he went through the first round. He had several signature weaves that he didn't put out there. He didn't want shields or slicing weaves for newcomers just yet. He started easy with the light weave, then a fireball, and a wall of air. Nox did them one at a time with the barest trickle of power flowing through him. He did add in the multi-dirrectional air blast centered around him. He didn't add the complex weaves.

And then Nox stood nodded for Claude to try. "Try over there, but you can watch as I practice a round in sequence." Normally Nox would practice all the weaves inverted as he cast too. That was harder, but for now it wasn't something that they needed to know about much less how to do it if they could barely channel.

Nox moved through the simplified sequences, but he held three flows while he did it. One was the aurora borealis, the other was a shield of air around him, while he went through all the motions while practicing a chorography for one of the dances for later that week. It was tiring work, but it flexed all the muscles and trained them all. It wasn't about showing off, it was about knowing how far you could take it. Nox let the fireball flow into the sheild of air, the same with the concussive blast. And he repeated a second time, he was a little winded but it wasn't nearly as hard as trying to do the one flow of inverted weaves. He'd do that later.

[Claude Saint-Clair]

Claude nodded and watched as Nox showed him the weaves. The light was familiar to him. He added in a fireball and a wall of air followed by a blast of air centralized around him, but not in any way dangerous to the group. Nox showed a significant amount of control and it was something that Claude found to be impressive. He also made the weaves bigger and did then slowly enough for Claude to see.

Claude had always been a good student. He had learned those skills after Nora had been introduced to their order and began to spend a significant amount of time with Gyrm. Left to his own devices, he turned to books. Studying became second nature. It was something Phillipe had appreciated after he had begun training Claude in weapons, combat, and monsters. Phillipe had been an excellent mentor as well - not expecting perfection, but pushing Claude to it all the same.

Claude followed Nox's instructions, moving to where he told him and began to work. First, making the ball of light. It came easier this time, and he felt he didn't need to do it again. He then moved on to the fireball. He waited until Nox cycle through it again, even if he was sure he remembered it. He wanted to make sure. After watching, Claude tried it. It didn't come together cleanly, so he tried again, and then one more time. Each time he did it, it got better. Claude followed the same procedure with each weave, working to get the weaves stable. Then he started to cycle as Nox had.

Even as he went along, he began to tire. That made sense. He wasn't used to using this power yet. It would take time and he would need to build up his strength. Daily practice would be a necessity. His focus now should be to get the weaves correct, and then speed them up. Endurance would come with time. Claude knew his limits, and he pushed a little farther through the tiredness before feeling it was time to take a break for a bit. Pushing too hard with any exercise would cause damage. Claude made the assumption it was the same. Claude took a seat though and watched Nox continue his weaves, seeing once more how they fit together. Just because he wasn't actively doing them didn't mean he couldn't still practice.

[Casey]

Casey watched as Nox instructed Claude in the ways of the power. She couldn't see his weaves. She didn't feel anything. She only saw the effects; A ball of light and a ball of fire. She thought she felt a slight movement of air as well. Casey thought their might be more, but she couldn't see it. Nox was also doing this cool thing with colors that reminded her of the Northern Lights. It was really pretty.

Then Claude began to work silently. She watched as he did, noting his practice method. He worked one at a time, practicing it over until it was right. That was one way to practice, even if Casey did things differently. As a musician, she learned the whole - part - whole method. She'd practice a song, noting all the parts she sucked at. Then she would isolate the problem areas, practicing them until they were right. Then she'd put the whole thing back together again. It had worked for her her whole life. She turned her eyes towards Nox as he began to dance, and found herself unable to look away for a bit. It wasn't lust, although Nox was an attractive man. She was just drawn in by the grace of his movements. She noticed he seemed tired, but still, that grace was there. It was a beautiful thing to see, especially with the magic and the pretty colors weave entwined with it.

Casey finished her coffee and was feeling awake enough to join in. She stood and summoned her power, surprised at how easily it came. She summoned her own ball of light with ease and then moved to the fireball. Fire never came easily to her. She tried and failed to do it, but moved on. She sent out a light wave of air, nothing to hard, but it caused a slight breeze. She couldn't see what else Nox did, so she did some things she was familiar with. She made a wall of air and then created her air and spirit shield she had used to protect one of the women she had helped. She placed it over nothing, but just practiced it.

The hardest had been the fireball, so Casey went back to that. She tried to grab a thread of fire, but it always seemed to slip. "Fucking fire..." she said quietly, but tried again, finally grabbing hold and creating the ball of fire. She practiced again, struggling once more to find the thread. A third time and it came easier. It came even easier after a fourth time.

She then put her whole sequence together again and turned back to Nox. She really liked the pretty lights. She knew he couldn't show her how to do it, but still she wondered. "How do you do the pretty lights?" She asked as she sat back down cross legged next to her empty coffee cup.

[Nox]

Both Claude and Casey were working their own way and he felt the strange tingling across his spine as she worked with her power. He could almost swear he saw the glow of something... But he was too involved in his own movements to really pay attention.

Casey asked how he made the aurora borealis and he wasn't sure he could explain. Though he could show her, it wouldn't work for her.

Nox stopped what he was doing and moved out of the dojo area into the middle of the remainder of the basement across from the couch that the kids liked to sit on. "Sky, can you cast the drawing program down here."

There was no answer as Nox's last drawing had popped up into the middle of the room. He started a new document with the label male aurora borealis and started drawing the thread. They were larger than life and exaggerated much like he'd shown Claude in real time. But this was different.

"This is what it looks like for me. I kinda wish Aurora and I had this back when we were learning. Would have been so much simplier to talk to each other." And maybe they wouldn't have ended up fighting, and forgetting and well... He didn't want to think about it.

"I probably do things wrong and backwards, but what I do is based on science. To make it rain you create the greenhouse effect. So here we do the same thing. Light bouncing off earth and air at the appropriate places to create the light show. It's illusion based. I adapted it from a friends grand illusions."

[Claude Saint-Clair]

Claude felt a chill and then he realized that Casey was channeling. Nox had spoken about that. He changed his posture into something more relaxed as he watched and gave a small smile when she swore. It wasn't that she missed that was amusing. He'd just felt the same with some of the threads. Casey apparently had trouble with fire.

Then she asked about the color weave that Nox had made. Claude had been able to see it. He'd seen the threads coming together, but Casey couldn't. He noted that. It certainly made sense at least. Claude hadn't been able to see what she was doing, only the visual effect.

Nox brought out the drawing program and began to fiddle with it again, drawing the weaves so Casey could see it. It was a neat program. Nox explained to her that's what it looked like when they saw it. He also mentioned Aurora. The name only rang a bell because Claude had looked at his file. Nox's sister, deceased. Claude thought of Nora then, and how much it would tear him apart if she was gone. Still Claude could sense a sadness in Nox's words. It was something probably best not to bring up. It seemed as if the pair had worked together to learn. Claude wondered if that would happen with him and Nora - practicing and working things out. He had no idea. She might not even see this as the tool it could be.

Utilizing science to figure out how to do the weaves then made sense. Magic it seemed still had to do with physics - at least in some aspects. "So - men and women can do the same things weaving-wise and get different effects? So if Casey did exactly what you did here, it might not be the same?" That seemed like something important to know.