New Skills

[Jared Vanders]

Continued from:
here

Jared chuckled at Jay's comment regarding his knowledge of underground cities. "I was a member of the Roswell SWAT team - we've dealt with our share of weirdos for sure."


Jared kept his voice down, but didn't whisper. That tended to draw more attention. "So what have you done to try to learn control. I'm new at this teaching thing, so it might help to know what has worked and what hasn't."

[Jay Carpenter]

By the time they left the church park, Jay was feeling immensely better. The pressure lessened in his head. The throbbing faded. He even turned his face toward the sun and enjoyed a moment of warmth on his skin.

The moment was all shot to hell when Vanders brought up the whole magic powers thing again. As they made their way along the directions laid out by the map, Jay tried to come up with some sort of explanation.

"I'm not kidding, Jared. I just found out last night. Honestly, I think the best thing for me was getting falling down drunk."
Probably a bad idea to stop at a liquor store on the way underground. Damn. Underground?

"All Nox said was to control it. How do you do it? Actually, how'd you learn at all?"
He glanced at the other Legionnaire as he asked.

[Jared Vanders]

Jared smirked as he walked. It was rather amusing that Jay seemed so nervous about it, but then again, Jared remembered what it was like. The duo found the entrance and began to make their way underground.

"The power manifested itself during a training exercise. My partner was injured and I healed it. My Sarge recognized the symptoms and taught me how to control it."


Jared didn't want to go too much into detail. Back then, he could only use his magic when he had to heal someone. He hoped to god that Jay didn't have to be drunk to learn how to use his. That would be a complete pain.

"This Nox though, he didn't try to teach you anything with how to control it? At first it's difficult. It's like trying to wrestle a river. You think you have it and it just slips through your fingers."


((OOC: Sorry about the wait, between the summer job and play rehearsal, I didn't have much time.))
Edited by Jared Vanders, Aug 14 2017, 08:47 AM.

[Jay Carpenter]

Vanders and his healing. The idea made Jay shiver. He had the sudden sensation that healing was not all it was cracked up to be, despite how he'd been the beneficiary of it already once before; despite how he'd raced to Vanders when Natalie was hurt for the exact same reason. Instead, the shiver made him want to curl up on himself, thinking it would be best to curl up and die than to endure the healing and live with the consequences. Dumb thought, and thankfully, it passed quickly.

As to Jared's question, Jay only shrugged. Darkness seemed to be gathering about them as they passed deeper beneath the city. He wasn't uneasy, in fact, this underground world felt rather cozy, but the darkness that reached for them kept his senses high. No point walking around unprepared and endangered.

"I think he tried to teach me, but I didn't get it. How'd you figure it out?"
Wrestling a river seemed like a good description. Though Jay's first thought was of wrestling an alligator. Holding down thousands of pounds worth of strength, thrashing in and out of murky water, wrenching with all his might just to avoid being devoured by body-crushing jaws. That seemed more like it.

He paused at what seemed to be some sort of intersection of two tunnels. Like some sort of crossroads demon that waited for their arrival, Jay nodded in approval, casually wondering where they were, and asked, "Looks like as good a spot as any. Teach me your ways, sir sorcerer."
He bowed mockingly and took up a stance, hands on his hips, waiting.

[Jared Vanders]

As they descended, Jared thought about how he was going to go about this. Jared wasn't really sure how to start. Ideas came to him, but using magic just seemed to come naturally to him now. But as he thought about it, he realized that he didn't necessarily have to get Jay to the point where he could blow stuff up right away. Utilizing one step at a time would be a good way to go about it.

They found a spot and Jared thought it would work as well. Jay's mocking brought a smile to his face and a slight chuckle. "We'll start as simply as we can and work from there. You can't work magic if you can't sense it. We'll start there."


Jared took a deep breath and then smiled, remembering how he first learned how to sense his power. "And to do that, we're going to meditate."


It was an exercise from his earlier days as a martial artist. Meditation was easy and it had a rising in the early 21st Century. Most people learned how to do it.

"Focus on your breathing. Imagine a light inside of you - a light that grows brighter as you inhale, and diminishes as you exhale."

[Nox]

(( you can use this to lead into Natalie's situation in at a later date AND you don't have to use this information right away you can keep going I'll likely make a post closer to the two of you ))

Alistair was a cruel task master. Hunting these things in the dark and alone was pointless, but it was always the say. Alistair yelled, "I need another, Ivo." And Ivo ran out to get it.

Today Alistair wanted a dog thing. Our nests were running dry. Ivo had to go closer to the streets to find an untainted one. It was getting harder and harder to find them. Everything in the tunnels was tainted with Alistair's failures. Soon there would be nothing left to bring him. But Alistair didn't care. Rumors had it he was looking for human specimen now. Ivo was glad he wasn't on that one. It was bad enough they had lost a man to something in the tunnels.

It was butchered and mauled and Ivo didn't want to think about the man who had been alive while it all happened to him. It was torturous just to think about he couldn't imagine it in the flesh. Or imagine what had done it to him. The pure evil of that thing.

Ivo was heading for a dog thing nest - these were worse than the rotting zombie types. If these bit you you were fucked. You became like them. A monster feeding on blood and spreading your filth through a bit. It was very vampire lore like except these weren't vampires.

The nest was around the corner and Ivo heard scratching noises close by, but there were voices up ahead which made Ivo freeze. He hoped they'd go away soon. He didn't want their deaths on his hands.

[Jay Carpenter]

Meditation. He half-playfully, half-seriously rolled his eyes at Jared. On one hand, he understood the concept. It was that kind of inward focus and oneness that bettered marksmanship. In fact, it separated the "good enoughs" with the "greats." But at the same time, the phrasing Jared used was eerily close to how Nox explained it.

With a grumble, Jay did as Jared instructed. He thought about some bright light glowing and fading inside. Shouldn't they braid flowers in their hair and sing kumbaya next?

He felt stupid, but this was hardly the first such time. In fact, it was best not to go down that rabbit hole at all. It would be a long, dark, ugly fall. Hah.

Focus. Light. Think about the light. What light? There was no fucking light. They were just standing in this cold, dark passageway. Nox was probably having a good laugh over this right now. Probably hoped they'd get lost down here and have to call for help. Yeah he'd want to help. Right the hero, that one was. Or he tried to be. Who knew if even there was such a thing as heroes any more. Except Jacques, maybe. Who heroically saved a bunch of people on the CCD's dime and let a bunch of kids get slaughtered. Okay, maybe that wasn't exactly how it happened, but it was close enough. Why even go back to Africa at this point? Maybe you might help one or two, but what difference did that make? Not much if you could be somewhere else saving hundreds? Course, where in the world was that going to happen? The CCD was all locked up. The Americas were almost as bad as Africa.

Eh who was he kidding. He was no hero. He was in it for the adrenaline. First and foremost it was all about the thrill. Telling himself it was about saving people was a huge lie. He liked the thrill. Maybe even the kill. God that was terrifying. Light. Think about the light.

Then it was there. The light was so powerful he squinted out of reflex. He "looked" at it for half a heartbeat, basking in all that glory and sheer, raw, churning power. It was like looking into the heart of the sun, if the sun was a living entity. This light pulsed and called, but before he could reach out and gently touch it, it descended, like the sun fell out of the sky and he was standing underneath about to be crushed.

His skin felt like it was on fire. He gasped in pain as it burned through his body. He had to fight it, or else it was going to rip him apart. His teeth clenched, his eyes were pinched shut. He barely moved but to dig his fists into balls, but he felt like he was trying to pick up a building with his bare hands.

Then, just when he thought he couldn't hold on any more, the building moved. The sun lifted from his shoulders. The weight of all that power rested in his soul, and he opened his eyes and saw darkness like he had never seen darkness before. The walls glistened with humidity. The crunch of tiny legs moving in the distance crinkled his ears. It was like the darkness came to life itself. Finally, finally it felt like he was at home. Like this was where he belonged. Not in the tunnel, but inside this raw power. It was thrilling.

And terrifying.

"What do I do with it?"
He whispered at Jared, seeking guidance for channeling this magic while he still controlled it.

[Jay Carpenter]

It was amazing. And he'd used this power already before. How the hell didn't he notice? It was exhilarating, terrible but beautiful. Oddly, the only thing he could think to do with this kind of power was bomb a city. Metaphorically, of course.

The vibration of his Wallet felt like an earthquake in his jacket. The touch of reality was enough to shatter his hold on the power. When he saw the name of the caller, it fell from his grasp like sand from his palm.

"Natalie,"
he said, answering it quickly, and wondered how the hell they even had a signal down here.

[[Call from Soren]]

[Jay Carpenter]

<dl>
<dt>Quote:</dt>
<dd> </dd>
</dl>
He didn't have to wait long. The voice from the message answered.

"No, Mister Wizard."
Sören cut in barely before the American had finished speaking her name. "It's not. Tell me, when was the last time you saw her?"
His tone was mild, but the accusation inherent. Smoke spiralled in the gloom of the tunnel. The fact he'd answered the call at all suggested he knew nothing of value. Still, engendering a little fear did no harm, if not for the missing girl, then of a stranger calling out a secret. Wizard indeed.

His jaw clenched. Someone had Natalie's account. Had listened to his message. Worse, had deciphered it. Not that it was a giant challenge.

The second he answered the caller's question he would cut the line. Before he could even respond he was already moving back the way they came, intending to reach the surface in a third of the time it took to descend below it. Whoever this guy was, this wasn't a friendly call.

"What happened to her?"

[Sören]

<dl>
<dt>Sören</dt>
<dd> </dd>
</dl>
"A good question! And one her father also wishes to know the answer to."