Lessons With Abaddon
Dimxe learns something. (The thing she learns is how to pinky promise.) Semi-sequel to Panic. Direct transcript of RP.
Abaddon
Bright and early in the morning, the birds begin to chirp and the citizens of Landfall begin to start another day. Sitting inside of the Krueller families gated yard, is a completely Blue cat with Pink eyes. It lays on a small bench, seemly asleep. Occasionally it opens its eyes and stretches, looks around the yard, and goes back to sleeping. Almost as though it is expecting something
Dimxe
Dimxe, yawning with that fresh exhaustion that comes of a longer sleep than the body expects, unlatched the gate to the Kruellers' estate. She pops it closed and disappears into the house, completely bypassing the cat. Several minutes later, she reemerges, happily munching on a cold piece of pie. She searches the property for something, a bit confused, before swallowing her mouthful and calling out, "Um... Abaddon? Are you here??"
Abaddon
The cat opens its eyes again, expecting to find nothing, but to its surprise finds the exact thing it was looking for. It jumps off the bench and walks over to Dimxe, with a strange strut in its steps. It stops in front of her and starts to clean itself. Almost as though it had a plan but completely forgot about it halfway through.
Dimxe
Dimxe brightens. "Oh, hello little friend!" She squats down, carefully keeping the pie out of reach, and reaches a hand out for the kitty to sniff.
Abaddon
The cat looks up from cleaning, and towards the girl. It sniffs her hand for a moment before there is a puff of pink clouds. Appearing where the cat was is Abaddon, sitting on the ground like an idiot.
"Oh. Uh. Whoops."
Dimxe
Dimxe startles, nearly dropping her pie. "ABADDON! What was — wait, you can turn into a cat??"
Abaddon
Abaddon gets up off the ground. "I can turn into a lot of things. I continuously forget that I don't uh.... Keep my intelligence when I do it."
Dimxe
"So you..." She's holding back a little bit of a grin. "Really forgot that you weren't a cat?"
Abaddon
Abaddon thinks for a second. "Honestly for the past hour, I thought I was just a cat. Thinking about it though being a cat is quite enjoyable."
Dimxe
She does grin, now, full and bright. "Getting a taste for mice?"
Abaddon
Abaddon starts to laugh, before coughing/choking for a moment and spitting out what seems to be a small tail.
Dimxe
Dimxe's grin freezes, then she snorts and starts laughing as well. "You-!"
Abaddon
"That was.... disgusting." Abaddon takes out his waterskin and drinks some water. He spits it out to try and get the taste out of his mouth. "Anyways we are here for a reason!"
Dimxe
She's still snickering. "Okay, Professor Mousebreath."
Abaddon
"Alright former Blueberry, we need to get cracking at this magic of yours."
Dimxe
Her grin fades a little and she nods. "Um, I think I'm back to having all my magic from last night. I slept pretty hard. So I should be pretty much good for anything."
Abaddon
Abaddon smiles and starts the motion of clapping his hands together. Again he remembers that he has one hand, so he just slaps his chest. "Let's get down to business then!" Abaddon pulls out a book from his bag and holds it out.
Dimxe
She nods, then looks at the book with interest.
Abaddon
It is a very nice blue bound book with the words "Arcanium: Using The Threads" written in bright gold color on the cover.
Dimxe
"It's beautiful..."
Abaddon
"This is my personal favorite book for magic. Teaches you a lot about controlling magic. Not in the sense of Wild Magic, but more about limited your expended energy. I would like you to read it. Doesn't have to be now, could be whenever you want."
Dimxe
She frowns. "I can try, but... a lot of the time, magic books don't really work for me. Especially if they describe a spell. I can usually only read the name of it. Everything else is just nonsense...'"
Abaddon
Abaddon shakes his head and opens the book. He flips through a few pages and turns the book so Dimxe can see it. Depicted in a small drawing is a man meditating. Small blue lines flow throughout his body representing magic. "It's less about spells, and just more about magic in general."
Dimxe
"Oh, a theory book! I could always read those!!" She leans in, a hunger for knowledge clear in her eyes. "I'll get started on it right away!!"
Abaddon
He hands it to her and smiles. "Good too hear. Of course though I'm not going to have a training session filled with just reading. We have to get real."
Dimxe
She looks up, intrigued.
Abaddon
Abaddon walks around behind Dimxe and points out over her shoulder. "Do the cone of fire thing if you could."
Dimxe
"The... the thing they called burning hands? At school?"
Abaddon
"I don't know the spell by name so sure! That one."
Dimxe
She looks over her shoulder, a flash of nervousness passing over her face, before sticking her hand out straight and mumbling something under her breath. A wide cone of fire, flickering at the edges, extends from her hand with the 'whoosh' of consumed oxygen. After a second or two, it flickers off.
Abaddon
Abaddon examines her hands closely as she does it, his face coming extremely close to the actual fire. After the fire disappears, he nods with a smile. "Very nice! Seems like you've used that spell many times."
Dimxe
She's frozen still in the casting pose. "Um, do you always evaluate fire by sticking your whole face in it? Wait, you don't..." She relaxes. "Being that close should've at least crisped your eyebrows."
Abaddon
Abaddon rubs his arm a little. "My skin and features are pretty good against fire Dimxe. I can take the heat."
Dimxe
"Oh. That's... weirdly reassuring."
Abaddon
Abaddon nods. "Now I have an idea... I would like each of us to cast a spell up into the air. While we do it we shout out a fear we have."
Dimxe
She blinks. "Uh, okay?"
Abaddon
"Here I'll go first to make you more comfortable."
Dimxe
"We can do it at the same time, if you want," she says quickly.
Abaddon
Abaddon puts his right hand into the air"Well if we do that, I won't be able to hear your fear! Your magic is pretty fucking loud."
Dimxe
She raises her left. "After last night, I'm not sure you'll need to..."
Abaddon
"If you want to do it with me then be my guest."
Dimxe
"Plus, I'm loud." She manages to sound slightly offended.
Abaddon
Abaddon rolls his eyes and looks back up to the sky.
Veins begin to darken up Abaddon's arm as he chants something in a strange language. Suddenly out of his palm a beam of green sickly energy shoots out into the sky. He yells out one of his fears.
Dimxe
Dimxe makes a complicated gesture with her wrist while mumbling another phrase under her breath. Her speech is halfway hidden by the sound of three blasts of fire rocketing up from her palm, but true to her word, she's yelling at the top of her lungs, so half her speech leaks through. "— hurt — friends!"
Abaddon
"Losing more people who I care about!"
Dimxe
She drops her arm and shakes her hand lightly. "That one makes my wrist pop." She looks up, waiting for Abaddon to make the first move.
Abaddon
Abaddon looks down and also shakes his hand, in a small amount of pain. "Damn that one always stings a little! Anyways, good job! Small steps towards the bigger goal."
Dimxe
"Ew. I hate stingy magic."
Abaddon
Abaddon laughs at the comment and turns away from Dimxe. He walks to the other side of the yard before turning around again. He stares a for little while and thinks.
Dimxe
She waits, unclear.
Abaddon
"We are going to wear you down of all magical energy."
Dimxe
She sags a little. "Alright, easy enough."
Abaddon
Abaddon raises his hand out in front of him and says with complete seriousness. "Come on, shoot the fireball at me."
Dimxe
Dimxe stiffens. "You might be able to counterspell it, but what if you... mess up?" She's raising her voice enough to be heard from the other side of the yard, but no more.
Abaddon
Abaddon raises his voice back"Trust me I won't. You have a fear of hurting people, but it is bound to happen in the future. I've done it multiple times on accident before. This will help you! Friendly fire is a part of magic that we can minimize, but not completely remove."
Dimxe
She stares at him. It's impossible to see what's on her face. After a minute, she sighs and raises her hands. "I won't cast Fireball. I can't. I'm too scared. But I'll cast Scorching Ray again." She waits.
Abaddon
Abaddon nods reassuringly. "That's fine. We can do that if you would like."
Dimxe
She takes a deep breath. "Okay. Tell me when you're ready."
Abaddon
"Go ahead!"
Dimxe
She takes a deep breath, says something impossible to hear, then something even quieter. Once again, she makes a complicated gesture (this time right-handed) and three gouts of fire, almost bolt-like in structure, burst from her palm towards Abaddon.
Abaddon
Abaddon waves his head in a circular motion in front of him as the bolts approach. In a split second, he seems to catch them out of the air and snuff out the magic. His palm seems to have a small trail of smoke coming off of it "Very nice! I like that spell, very strange and unpredictable."
Dimxe
She starts walking towards him, then stops, then walks back. "Are... we supposed to keep doing this...?"
Abaddon
Abaddon keeps his hand up, and basically ignores the question. "Don't be afraid. Up the ante."
Dimxe
It's hard to tell what she's thinking at this distance.
Finally, she raises her left arm again, making the same complicated wrist motion, mouth moving almost imperceptibly. Three bolts of fire appear again, moving even faster now than they did before. It's clear she was holding back.
Abaddon
Abaddon closes his eyes and smiles with encouragement as he sees her think. As he opens them he doesn't expect the extremely fast bolts. At the last second he takes a step back and waves his head in the same circular motion to catch them out of the air
Dimxe
She wavers where she stands. "Are you okay??"
Abaddon
"I'm all good. I've got at least one more of those in me. So let's go big or go home, Dimxe! Let me have it!" He stands there with his hand out again.
Dimxe
She doesn't raise her arms.
She stands there, then wraps her arms around herself, then drops them to her sides again.
Abaddon
Abaddon looks at Dimxe with a reassuring look, and gives her an Inspirational smile. "I trust you if you trust me."
Dimxe
She takes a breath, the Inspiration settling itself in her chest. It beats with her heartbeat like a drum — she feels it, knows it's calling her to march. Dimxe closes her eyes for a second.
She opens her eyes and reaches a shaking hand forward. A single syllable crosses her lips, and she snaps her fingers. A pinprick of light appears between her thumb and finger, and she looks at it for a split second before, with intention, whipping it at Abaddon. The minute it leaves her hand, it grows, changing shape rapidly from a tiny ball of light, to a small mass of flames, to a sphere nearly four times as tall as she is.
Abaddon
Abaddon, with his hand out and ready, opens his mouth slightly. His eyebrow raises with both curiosity and fear. He expected immense destructive power, but this was something else. The ball inches closer to him. Closer, and closer, and closer.... He begins casting before an idea pops into his head, a obviously bad one. But he does it anyway. Abaddon lowers his hand at the last second and stops his Counterspell, letting the ball of immense flame actually hit him.
Dimxe
Dimxe starts running before she can start screaming, but it's a close thing. She's at his side in seconds.
((if Dimxe does not kill you for this I will))
Abaddon
((well how much damage do i take))
Dimxe
((Make your dex save))
Abaddon
((I fail intentionally))
Dimxe
((fucking Christ are you sure? can he eat 8d6 damage??))
Abaddon
((yes))
Dimxe
((38))
Abaddon
The smoke clears from around Abaddon and he stands there, in the exact spot he was before. He coughs slightly and pats out a small flame on the fur of his coat. Seemingly not as hurt as one would think
Dimxe
She skids to a stop, tears streaming down her face, and just stares at him. Then she reels back and punches him in the chest.
((That's another 1 damage.))
Abaddon
Abaddon groans in pain more at the punch than anything else. "See. Accidents happen with magic!"
Dimxe
"That wasn't an ACCIDENT! I SAW YOU!" She's absolutely fucking furious. "HOW COULD YOU!"
Abaddon
Abaddon puts his hand up. "Whoa, whoa! I was just trying to make a point."
Dimxe
"You — you said to trust you!"
Abaddon
"And you can trust me! But again, accidents happen with magic."
Dimxe
She's barely able to see through her tears. "How are you still standing?! You're... You're standing there like it's, like, it's, it's, like it's okay!"
Abaddon
"I told you before! My body is very good against heat. As your teacher I am perfectly fine getting hurt by your magic to make progress."
Dimxe
"And as..." She swipes her sleeve across her face ineffectually. "As I hope your friend, you have to understand I can't just do that. How... You're still standing here." She can't seem to get past that.
Abaddon
"Where else would I be?"
Dimxe
"Gone?"
Abaddon
Abaddon cocks his head to the side and raises his eyebrows. A small smile coming across his face. "Come on now. You really think I'd just be gone?"
Dimxe
She nods, nothing but confused terror in her face. "Or... I think it would be worse if you'd still been... here. If you were unconscious, or..." She lets the implication hang.
Abaddon
Abaddon puts a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down as he laughs. "Dimxe, I could take at least 2 or 3 more of those. Even then I'd still encourage you and tell you that you're doing great. I'm not gonna tell you to do that again though."
Dimxe
She glares at him. "I'm never doing it again."
Abaddon
Abaddon obviously sees that he angered her and he should of just countered it like he said"I apologize. I won't trick you or anything from now on."
Dimxe
"Please don't. I wouldn't forgive myself, and I'm not ready to forgive you," she says plainly. "Maybe... maybe in a little while. Maybe an hour or two." She pauses. "Maybe tomorrow."
Abaddon
"Does that mean you don't want to train anymore today...?"
Dimxe
She sighs, wiping off her face and taking a breath. "Last night took a lot out of me, and I don't want to feel angry at you. I need you to promise me that you won't intentionally get yourself hurt for my training again."
Abaddon
Abaddon puts his pinky out for a pinky promise. "I promise I won't do this kind of stuff again."
Dimxe
She looks at it. "What's... what are you doing with your hand?"
Abaddon
Abaddon looks at her like she's crazy. "You know... a pinky promise?"
Dimxe
"I'm... not familiar?" She flexes her fingers, casting a brief prestidigitation, and her face appears clean.
Abaddon
Abaddon puts his hand back to the side. "It's like a handshake kind of. Thought all kids were doing it nowadays."
Dimxe
"Not... where I'm from. But it turns out I'm kind of country. Can you teach me?"
Abaddon
"You literally just do this and then we hook our pinkies together." Abaddon puts his pinky back out.
Dimxe
She puts her hand up and loops her pinky finger around his. "Like... this?"
Abaddon
"Basically. You seriously don't know what this is?"
Dimxe
She shakes her head, then pauses. "It doesn't mean anything like, um, if we break the promise we have to cut off our fingers, right?? I read books like that."
Abaddon
Abaddon looks slightly afraid. "What? I don't know, some kid did this to me like 10 years ago. I thought it was just like a funny version of a handshake."
Dimxe
"Good. Okay."
Abaddon
"Anyways, I promise I won't trick you into almost killing me."
Dimxe
"And I promise I'm never going to punch you again. I'm really sorry about that. I was mad, but I should've thought before I acted."
Abaddon
"Yeah that actually really hurt!"
Dimxe
"Berryn taught me how to punch a long time ago. I guess that... stuck with me..." She looks very genuinely apologetic.
((lmao at least she didn't punch him in the gut. I was debating))
Abaddon
Abaddon pulls his hand away. "Maybe you should just become a monk or something."
Dimxe
She pulls back as well. "I really don't think my old temple would take me. Not after what happened to the garden."
Abaddon
"I think I can guess what happened. But I won't even press it. Anyway I suppose we can just end it here and continue whenever you feel like it."
Dimxe
"Actually I turned into a sheep and destroyed it overnight. But..." She thinks for a minute. "If you have the time, I could keep going. Just... no more casting at you. Not today. Another day, maybe."
Abaddon
Abaddon moves slightly to say something, but he freezes as the pain in his chest hits him once more. "Yeah let's push this back to a different date. I think you fucked something up." Abaddon looks down at his chest, slightly in pain.
Dimxe
Dimxe looks horrified. "I'm going to go get Garret."
Abaddon
"Oh please don't! I am perfectly fine."
Dimxe
"That's not what fine looks like. Can... you not heal it yourself? Is it that bad?" Her voice gets quieter and quieter.
Abaddon
"Oh yeah I forgot I can do that..."
Dimxe
She's halfway relieved, halfway irked. "Is this some kind of holdover from being a cat?"
Abaddon
Abaddon shrugs and he pats himself on the shoulder and heals himself
Dimxe
Dimxe watches, a trace of jealousy in her eyes. "I wish I could do that."
Abaddon
"Yeah and I wish I could hurl giant balls of fire at people."
Dimxe
"I have yet to find a situation where it's as useful as helping, or a smaller, more controlled ball of fire..."
Abaddon
"It'll be one day! Like today, it was somewhat helpful."
Dimxe
"I still... can't believe you're still here."
Abaddon
Abaddon gives a thumbs up and chuckles a little. "Yeah but seriously we can continue this later. I have some studying I need to do, and if I'm not mistaken you need to start reading that book."
Dimxe
She nods. "I have some stuff to think about too. And I think I need a nap. I'll see you, um... when? Next week?? Probably at the campfire, anyway."
Abaddon
Abaddon walks over the bench he was originally at. He starts to put on some of his jewelry that he took off earlier before the training. "Yeah just whenever you feel ready to do some more crazy shit."
Dimxe
"Preferably a little less crazy. Just for now." She offers a half-smile. "I'll say hi to Casper for you. Or you could come by as a cat and do it yourself."
Abaddon
Abaddon stops putting his earing in for a second and thinks"I feel like.... I've talked to him already...."
Dimxe
She smiles fully. "Seems like the memory problem is a bit of an issue..."
Abaddon
He shrugs and continues putting himself together
Dimxe
"I'll bring him by the campfire again soon and see if he recognizes you. In the meantime, please stay healthy?"
Abaddon
"Of course! I always try and stay in my best shape. You just keep doing what you'r doing and things should work out splendidly."
Dimxe
She nods resolutely. "I will. Thank... you," she says, voice catching halfway. "For working with me." She waves, then heads toward the gate.
Abaddon
"Anytime! See you around." Abaddon continues to get himself ready for the day.
As soon as she leaves the yard, Abaddon collapses onto the bench. He lays down on his back with his hand on his forehead. A slight groan of pain escapes his lips as he rubs eyes. "Ow.... shit. Fire fucking hurts..."