4th of RD, afternoon.

[assiduous]

[ the orb starts, cupped in its owner's hands as he sits on some random ass boulder or something. he's young, not even twenty it looks, with a lean, handsome face, and gold eyes, honey dark and serious. dark and messy hair, red scarf, charcoal jacket, against a backdrop of late afternoon sky over the city walls in the distance. a girl in blue sits with a polar bear sized... dog some distance away, quietly having A Moment of Feels. ]

I have some questions about... [ a little gesture at the surrounding... everything. he means like. the whole champion thing!!?? and stuff ] this place, the whole set up. People are listening to this, right?

[ LOOK he's just collecting data okay guys, ]

Comments

[goldeneyeball]

Magic's hard...it's like holding onto a wild horse made of lightning and she don't like you.

[assiduous]

Lightning's high level stuff; why don't you just stick to fire?

[ SAYS THE LIGHTNINGBENDER ]

[goldeneyeball]

_{[JW shoves his hands back into his sleeves.]}

I'll stick to makin' plants grow...it's less likely to destroy my house. Less likely.

_{[He remembered the beanstalk and fretted for a moment. It wouldn't do to wake up fifty stories in the air with the rest of his hut should he leave a sprout unchecked in his window box.]}

[assiduous]

[ ... and then it dawns on him. sort of. ]

... You didn't have lightning before, did you. [ a pause, because the idea is still so weird ] In your world.

[goldeneyeball]

Course we do! It stays in the sky where it belongs.

[assiduous]

[ lksfdjesrfd they gave him bending???? sadlfkjsfd ]

You should find someone to teach you how to throw it properly, before you blow something up.

[ he sounds pretty calm!!! secretly fleskjdf-ing, tho ]

poor Mako XD

[goldeneyeball]

Yeah, no. I don't have the cash for that. They gave me a spell book for free and by God I'm gonna use it. I've figured a few things out.

_{[JW takes a moment to count things off on his fingers.]}

Growing plants...moving small objects... puppetry. Sort of. Feel bad for the squirrel I tried teleportation out on though.

he's so confused all the time flkaejsfdlkase

[assiduous]

[ mako frowns, slightly, at the list of things!!! dslfkjfe that doesn't sound like bending. at. all. he's curious, though... so. ]

I can give you some pointers, for lightning, if you can show me some of those... [ magic lwkejfsakl wtf ] ... spells.

It can only get worse.

[goldeneyeball]

_{[Lightning for squirrel-bending? Not a terrible deal. JW rubs his chin before nodding. Getting a handle on something powerful as lightning could really give him an edge! It would teach the townsfolk to call him a demon, that was for sure.]}

Alright. If you leave town and cross the river, my place is...the only place between town and the woods. Look for dead grass, can't miss it.

excellent.

[assiduous]

Got it.

[ action ]

[ about an hour later, he shows up, hands in pockets, crossing the dead grass and only looking. SLIGHTLY. APPREHENSIVE. ]

ONE LONG WALK LATER

[goldeneyeball]

<sub>[It really wasn't an easy place to miss. Made of wood, stone, and probably stolen steel work, it towered as the only structure between the town and the gnarled woods. Its shutters hung crooked and the door lay flat on the ground. He hadn't gotten around to fixing it yet.]

[JW sat outside his shack on the stump he used to chop wood on. The air hummed, alive with raw magic. James was fiddling with the strings on a small drawstring bag when the bender arrived.]</sub>

[assiduous]

[ MAN THIS PLACE IS SKETCHY and mako knows sketchy so that's REALLY SAYING SOMETHING lkfsjef. also bro what is up with your. antler... things.

is this more spirit crap ugh MORE SPIRIT CRAP HE CAN'T BELIVE IT

but anyway! to the business at hand. mako gives a short wave in greeting as he approaches, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end at the feeling of... something in the air. ]

Hey.

[goldeneyeball]

_{[James glances up when Mako calls to him and returns the wave in kind. He stands to greet him and tucks the bag away in his sleeve.]}

You did make it, huh.

_{[The baker squints, looking the bender up and down. Yeah, this guy could probably kick his ass...and he was better at magic than him. BETTER SUCK UP.]}

So, Thor, how we doin this?

[assiduous]

[ thor, wat, okay he really needs to learn more about these assguard people soon okay WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ]

You any good with fire?

[ BECAUSE THAT'S A BETTER STARTING POINT, LIKE HE MENTIONED BEFORE. ]

adsdsgn sorry for all these delays ;-;

[goldeneyeball]

_{[James shrugs broadly and then held a hand out and wavered it.]}

Eeeh, so-so. I'm better at plants. And movin' junk. Squirrels, things like that.

SKWFEJWER no REALLY I AM THE BIGGEST DELAY-ER EVER IT'S OK

[assiduous]

Alright. [ a slight pause ] Can you show me? I've only ever used fire and lightning.

;-; YOU ARE THE NICEST

[goldeneyeball]

<sub>[James rolled his shoulders and hesitated. He wondered if this was what stage fright felt like. In his daydreams back on Earth, he imagined that should he ever come across UNTOLD MAGICAL POWER he would throw it around like confetti. Now that someone was actually asking him to perform, he wasn't so sure he could do it without getting laughed at.]

[MAGIC. Y U SO HARD?]

[He set his feet apart and focused on a patch of ground between Mako and himself. JW outstretched his arms, cringed, and muttered a few strange words. There was a sound and from the soil arched a few greenish wisps of Something before a single, sickly looking daisy sprouted where there had once been nothing.]

[JW put his hands on his knees and panted.]</sub>

There's that....if you say that one wrong, you get an explosion.