victory_road | SMASH THAT WALL

Ryner Lute. Ahh, I'm from a world with magic too, yeah. Though, we don't really use wands so much, drawing an array by hand is generally the most direct way to go about it...

Yours is fascinating, though. And... well, I guess I wouldn't know much, but from here, your technique is really good.

[...He may know a little more than he wants to admit, because eyes that can analyze magic will do that, but.]

Oh thank you! I'm a little rusty, which is why I'm practising.

A wand helps us focus and channel our magic. The wand also chooses the witch or wizard. For example, if you were to try to use my wand, you may get results but they wouldn't be as good, or spells may even backfire.

[Hermione looks excited to hear about other kinds of magic and starts firing questions at Ryner. A notebook and pen have also appeared in her hand so she can take notes.]

You use hand gestures to cast? Can you show me? How do you ensure that a careless movement won't accidentally cast a spell? Or is it based on focus and intent?

[You. He likes you.]

The wand chooses, huh? Sounds like it must be a pretty personal thing.

[He already doubts he could copy it, even ignoring that - the energy seems so concentrated on the wand, even with his eyes he's not sure where he'd start. But if the wand chooses, it just seems rude to even try.

But as for her questions, he'd be happy to give a demonstration. Something small, harmless, preferably of his own creation so Sion won't get mad later... Well, if he did that to the impromptu smoke bomb from that time...]

Where I'm from, it's all about intent, yeah. I mean, first you have to concentrate in order to even see the energy in the air, much less manipulate it, and if it's not arranged in a stable way it tends to fizzle out without doing much.

[He draws a small array in the air as he's saying this, though, a round circle of light appearing as he draws. He's pretty damn confident in his form, too, despite only being able to cast three days or so every six months for the past more than seven years.]

Let's see... What I seek is a small cloud of smoke this time, not a big one-- ...ahh, let's call it KOKEMURI!

[...nice to see his naming skills still need work, but the array produces a puff of smoke that floats upward in a surprisingly consistently round sphere for a bit before dissipating on its own.]

...Well, something like that, anyway. Most of the more commonly used spells are bigger, but a lot harder to control...

[Hermione is watching, both fascinated and with a careful eye, jotting down notes and drawing the array in her notebook as he casts.]

So, you draw magic from the air itself? Does that mean that anyone in your world can use magic? And the way you cast - you just describe what you want to happen? How do you know the description will work the way you want it to? Is Kokemuri the name of the spell?

[She has so many questions! Just think how much they could learn from each other!]

Well, it's not quite the air itself, exactly. Just the flow of the energy there... Back where I'm from, it's referred to as 'spirits', and most people have to spend at least a year's worth of training to even be able to see it, and then even longer learning how to arrange it into something useful... But if you put in the work, then yeah, pretty much anybody can learn.

[Ryner'd admittedly been able to skip most of the steps, himself, but there's no reason to mention that right now.]

Most of it's in the arrangement of the energy in the array. If the energy doesn't flow just right, it's not going to work at all. You can modify it if you know exactly what you're doing, but that takes knowing a spell completely, inside and out, and exactly what each part does...

There's intent there too, of course. If you don't know what you want the spell to do, the magic won't either, though I'd argue the arrangement is more important. Ahh, there's a school of thought that the incantation is important, too, but I've never really been good at those, and I do fine. 'Kokemuri' was really mostly just off the top of my head, though...

[He really doesn't get to show off his magic otaku side enough.]

Can you see it all the time then? What does it look like? Is it distracting?

[Hermione is furiously note taking now, glancing up at Ryner every so often as she fires questions at him.]

It makes sense that it's better to know the spell and the arrangement of energy for the magic to work. For us it's the particular wand movement and incantation - if you don't get it exactly right, the spell either won't work, backfire, or the wrong spell will be cast.

[She frowns.]

I don't understand the incantation part of your spell though. You just made it up? That seems very impractical.

A student of mine put it best years ago I think... it's kind of like golden glittering fluffy stuff? You do have to be looking for it in order to see it, though, so it's easy enough to tune out.

[...It'll only have been a year or so for Arua, still, since that impromptu magic lesson in preparation for rescuing his best/only remaining friend. (Simpler times, really.) But it's been closer to a decade for Ryner. It only gets more jarring, to think about the time difference between worlds, the longer you're here, he supposes.]

...Er, well, most spells are pretty well developed, and the incantations and structures have been set over at least decades, sometimes centuries... I guess you could say I've got a knack for improvisation that most people don't? So I'll admit I was showing off a little...

[Ryner don't downplay your skill like that...]

But ahh, your wand. It seems like it's a really important focus...

So you have to concentrate on it to actually see it. Interesting.

[Hermione blinks.]

You can just make up spells on the spot?

[She's impressed, although a little dubious.]

That must take a great deal of magical skill, ability and control. How do you know the spell won't fail if it hasn't been tested before, or if you're under duress? Can you predict the ramifications or impact of the spells before you cast them?

I mean, our wand helps us focus and channel our magic - it's far easier to cast using a wand than without, even though it is possible. [Otherwise accidental magic in young children wouldn't be a thing if they didn't have a wand.

SMASH THAT WALL

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject