Memorial Park: Twilight Calm (Private)

[Mizushin Junzo]

Beneath the dark shades of the trees, he rested. The fading light of burning red from the sunset painting the darkening sky with hues of orange and red, and as time passed on even the slightest hint vanished beyond the horizon far beyond the city.

Among all the times he found the move from sunset to night-time, the period of twilight of the day most beautiful in an enigmatic kind of way. It was at this time of day did he find himself sitting down beneath the canopy of the Park's trees, in the semblance of mind he often found himself in when in a nature-dominated environment such as the Memorial Park.

He smiled to himself, wondering how many nights he had spent under the night sky back in the wilderness. Perhaps this would be a decent opportunity to practice... he mused, brushing his fingers through the grass. He thought over that for a while and shrugged. Why not?

The choice made, he breathed in and relaxed, and attempted to ascend into that peculiar state of mind where the flows and ebb of the powers of nature became visible to his senses.

[Daniel]

OOC: welcome to the wonderful world of self-moderation. Just check the forum rules if you have any questions, but otherwise you may post away. Try not to write all successes, that will be very boring. Have your PC's spellcasts fizzle now and then. Good luck, and enjoy!

[Mizushin Junzo]

OOC: Cool, no prob. To ensure safe moderation though...I'll fall back to the good old thing of..dice! Helps me have a good conscience.

IC:

He relaxed himself, and focused. The gradual shift from the mundane to the quite decidedly more alive and shifting demense of the arcane, or rather, of feeling the unique energies and life-forces of the world and place around him was always a triumph for him. The shades and lights of the world as he saw it, in his own way was, as always, marvelous to his transcendant senses.

He smiled mentally and physically, and with his mind and force of will, began to go through the moves and phases which the practicioners of the arcane arts would categorize as spell-casting. To him, while he admitted he used the same terms, knew that in a sense it was more of the manipulation of the vis, or natural energies of the world which was the essence of a druid's power. That was what he needed to know, to feel and to grow in mastery.

Due to the lack of time for experimentation however, he never really managed to think of or practice anything newer then the basic spells most druids knew at his level. That, he resolved, he would have to try explore and change. He brought to mind first the simple spell that most called Summon Water which to be honest, he found quite distasteful. The phrase was quite artless, but there would be time enough for that later.

Into the atmosphere he reached out, and from the winds and environ around him, gathered the bits of moisture, forming them up and gathering them with the caress and command of his will, and attempted to create in front of him a sphere of water, floating in the air just beyond his face. The threads of power he knew reached out, but to his mind it was more a feeling of force, like the waves rushing on the seashore.

To him he drew this, and another sense of accomplishment spread through him as to his expectation, a ball of shimmering water formed in front of him, about two feet away. It was for now, merely the size of a fist perhaps, but he would get to using it in different ways later on.

Secondly, he now needed light for himself. After all he could not work in the dark, despite the light of the moon and the stars of the darkening night sky. He reached out into the garden and from there, called forth a few common insects to accompany him this night. Coaxing them to move about where he was, rather then their normal haunts was hardly difficult all in all. The difficulty rather came from the fact that he was trying to hold a sphere of water in the air in front of him, and at the same time trying to summon company for himself and for light.

His focus split between two tasks, though simple, was not easy for one of his degree of mastery. He was quite the beginner in comparison to many others. But he would do his best, as with the blade, to master it as fast and as well as he could. To his relief, he managed both, though as he gently commanded the fireflies over to dance nearby and around, the sphere of water wavered and drops began to slip away before he re-asserted his control over that once more.

[Mizushin Junzo]

His eyes narrowed with the force of concentration he was using, as he released the command of the fireflies. Now that they were nearby, he didn't need to maintain the aura he had exerted over them to bring them to him. He turned his full attention back to the sphere of water, and held that line of thought, drawing from the latent ara around him more and more beads of water, until a sphere with the relative amount of a bucket of water floated in the air.

Calling the water was easy enough, it was maintaining the shape and form of the water sphere and holding it in the air that was more difficult. He hadn't had to do that much before, but it was best that he get in more practice now then ever. Breathing in once again, he reached and shifted the sphere, changing its form into something else. From the sphere, he made it shift and elongated it into a simple lozenge-shaped figure. He moved it slowly, not wanting to lose hold. He smiled again in triumph as it held the form.

Pushing himself further, he manipulated the water again and tried to shift it into a fat S-shaped thing. The water rippled as it moved according to his will, the surface seeming to vibrate. In a short while, he managed to make a S-shaped form from the water, and again he allowed himself a smile of triumph. This isn't too hard after all...

Just as he finished that line of thought, his hold on the water began to vanish, and the form of water began to drift and separate. Instead of forcing the water to remain, he released it slowly, letting it dissipate into a heavy, humid mist rathern then risk letting it slip completely out of his grasp and splatter ungracefully onto the ground and splash everywhere. He rubbed the side of his head as that was done, feeling a bit tired out and stressed.

He took up a more comfortable seat on the ground, and closed his eyes. He focused once again, but this time, not on drawing the power of the life-force and spiritual energy to him, but rather he focused on himself and within, calmly relaxing his mind and clearing his mind and body of its inner stresses. He meditated like this for a while longer, recovering from his short while of practice, as the sun finally slipped completely away beyond the horizon.

[Mizushin Junzo]

As the darkness of night descended over the city of Abestat fully, and the soft glow from the fireflies around him seemed to intensity against the blackness of night, Junzo continued his meditative state. This deep part of the park was a most relaxing and suitable venue, Junzo decided as he opened his eyes, and shifted his mind-state back to touch the flows of vis once again.

He normalized his breathing as he filled himself with the latent vis within the environment around him, caressing and enjoying the touch it all as his mind accustomed itself more thoroughly to the feel of it all. The place around almost seemed to glow, to jump more vividly into his vision, as if his senses were more alive and more sensitive. But he knew that that was more from his mind being opened, rather then his actual senses directly. Regardless, he made to practice once again.


In front of him he focused his will, and began to take hold of the steps that would lead him to accomplish what was called Burning Rage. Again, another sorely misnamed spell, in his opinion. He gathered his strength into, around and in front of his hand. The force that was at his command however weak it was compared to the masters, and released it in a flash. He pushed forth in a torrent this, and a flare of light and heat flashed out from his open palm.

The he could not really tell if the flare of fire and light was truly hot, as he was immune to the effects of his own spell, unless it was directly rebounded back to him of course. Its effects however, were obvious enough, as the nearby patch of grass he had directed the flare at was now thoroughly scored by his action. He was at the same time both glad and a bit sobered.

The Thelyri moved closer to the burnt grass, and reached out once again. He threaded into the singed and burnt plantlife the life force of the world, and as he had done before under the guidance of the druidess he had learned from, mended the pains and hurts of the blackened grass, and in their healing, re-grew them once again, calling to his side the restoring powers of nature. As the threads of arcane power flowed at his direction, he watched carefully as the plants changed, and green shoots came forth once again, under the lights of the fire flies that danced about.

[Mizushin Junzo]

He continued his work, and as he was still within the familiar, it wasn't hard to restore the patch that was burnt back to a verdent green. Or so it might have looked like, if it had been in daylight. As it was, the light provided by the fireflies was sufficient, but not all that much so.

He shook his head, and moved away, settling himself back into a sitting position. He released another breath, and closed his eyes again, and settled into another set of breathing exercises and into another meditative state. It wouldn't do to wear himself out tonight. No, he wished to make the most out of his night training. As there was little he did anyway during the early mornings, he would get his needed sleep then. But for now, he would focus, and train.

[Mizushin Junzo]

Another winter's night came to Abestat, and once again under the eaves of the city's trees in Memorial Park, a soft light once again glowed. Junzo breathed in deeply, invigorated by the natural essences of the park's flora as he percieved them and drew upon their strength and vitality to help him.

Around him, the light of summoned fire danced in the air. A somewhat intricate application of the druidic spell which traditional mages called Burning Rage. In this, he used the creation of flame from nature's might, but tempered the raw strength with subtle control borne from a greater aptitude of control and skill. He had been pushed hard in the past few months since he had began his training as an apprentice in the arcanic arts.

And in this he had grown both in strength and skill. At his side lay his blade of elven steel, still his foremost and most ready weapon in a great number of situations. But he knew that there were times that a simple sword would not suffice, and thusly he dedicated as much time to practicing the arcane arts as he did to his swordcraft. For this night, he was furthering his arcane powers, and he dispelled the thought of the weapon at his side.

Junzo breathed in once again, and the faint light from flickering flames about ebbed slightly as he focused to bring forth another spell from his growing repertoire of spells. He was training how to use the power of fire tonight, and so he brought his hands together in front of him. He envisioned a form of a sword in his hands, and as quickly as he could he built up and shaped mana into that form, then with a thought and exertion of his will and force of mind, ignited that form, and bringing a small blade of pure fire to hover in the air above the two palms of his hand.

He sweated with the strain of holding two such spells in his mind. It was quite impressive, he thought, for a mere apprentice. But more so then sheer, raw power, he sought versatility. Even if the flames of the fire perhaps did not burn as intensely, he could summon them quickly and into what forms he desired. In the end, it served his purpose well enough. He held that for as long as he could, and the seconds drew out for what seemed to him as an eternity as he tired both physically and mentally.

Then with a slow breath, he released it, and allowed the fire of the blade to flare up briefly before it vanished into nothingness as he released the spell. He shook his head, and the soft light from the few flickering flames slowly vanished as he sat and began to clear his mind and meditate once again. He rested, and a little later on again, he would practice. He had yet enough strength for that, and still some time before he went to truly sleep.

This time, with the blade.