[Nexus] Trog's Tavern CCXLVI

[Aric Kale]

Clara laughs, realizing she misunderstood him. Unfortunately, the dragons can't directly communicate with Shift, and its rather bothersome for Clara to play middleman. Besides, they speak in images and emotions, not true words.
Oh, yes, they are all siblings. I have a couple more eggs, but I'm waiting to quicken them. Anyways, you say you're a shifter? I've never heard of that before. What does that entail? Not to worry, Clara doesn't have any birthdays to celebrate soon.

[NatsuGaki]

The man smiles and sets his glass gently down. Seconds later, his form turns black and blurs, changing drastically. Finally, after about ten seconds, color returns, and on the chair next to Clara there is a dragon identical to Krakl except for the black rose on his right foreleg.

"That's what it entails. I suppose I could describe it as a rift in reality that only shifters can access, through which they can change their physical form."

It probably seems a little odd that the dragon can speak, but that's one of the interesting things about shape-shifters.

[Arkhosia]

Cyrus doesn't exactly jump with joy, but he certainly doesn't look disappointed either.

"I saw! Congratulations, you're now technically a Sorcerer! Granted, not an especially powerful one as of yet, but you can work on that.

Now that you've done that, here's something that requires just a tad more work."

He holds up the red card, emblazoned with the image of a twisting flame, and sets it down in front of her. And then it catches on fire. Not an enormous, deadly flame, but more like the kind one would find at the end of a candle.

"This is a stillfire, the result of a very basic spell. It's a flame that does not spread on its own, but will not burn out unless it is put out. I want you to incinerate the card. You won't need to shape the mana for this; you'll just need to feed it. Try grabbing the mana again, but instead of just dropping it or trying to shape it, push it into the stillfire.

Baby steps, of course. Fun little story: I taught myself how to work Red mana, and jumped straight into trying to shape it before learning how to control where it went. Suffice it to say that the incident ended with half of the city burned to ash. It's their fault for building out of wood, though."

This trial's a little bit more difficult than the last, though not by much. She may find that actually reaching out and feeling for the magic is easier, now that she's done it once. The magic knows her touch now, and doesn't evade her.

Pushing the mana requires a touch of effort, though. The magic wants to stay where it is, to do it's own thing. The bunny-eared girl will have to really WANT it to move before it will. This is why red magic benefits from passion and desire; such traits are necessary to gain any real control over the magic. Once she has control of it, though, it's no harder than picking up a cottonball and calmly setting it down into the fire.

Celica focuses for a few minutes, and burns the card into ashes.
She smiles, obviously proud of herself

[Aric Kale]

Clara's eyes widen significantly; this is something new to her.
That is truly amazing. Wulder works in mysterious ways. I wonder what my purpose will be here... The dragons pause from their pursuit of insects and look thoughtful for a moment.

[NatsuGaki]

The little purple dragon blurs and changes, becoming a man again. He picks up his glass and takes a sip.

"One never knows, missy. But whoever Wulder is, that person has a plan for you."

He puts down his glass and reaches over to pat Candor.

"By the way, my name's Shift."

[Recaiden]

More as in... as in, like, entirely non-humanoid looking.

"Oh. Well, there's lots of neat things to look that aren't humanoid?"

[Zefir]

"Possibly, although its exact location, I do not know. Likely beneath the tavern, where the Quiet Beast resides," Shawna points out.

"Oh." Mia says a bit suprised. "A monster sounds like a bad idea. Seems like we shouldn't push our luck then?"

Mia smiles innocent. She would fight such creatures if it's needed, but she doesn't need to get into trouble.

"Maybe you can tell me what you used in the fight befor?"

[BladeofObliviom]

Celica focuses for a few minutes, and burns the card into ashes.
She smiles, obviously proud of herself

Cyrus himself smiles right back, just a little proud of the student; she was at least capable of learning, and not a total fool like the last person he tried to teach, which is always a plus.

"Alright, now. The next thing you should try is tricky to explain and almost as tricky to actually do without the natural spark that a nascent Planeswalker possesses, and often takes novice mages years. You've got some talent for it, though, and seem to have the personality to shape it, so I think you should at least try.

Plus, you've got a master here to ease the process who IS a planeswalker. Trust me, that'll help a lot.

Anyway, while anyone can touch the mana in their environment given the right time and temperament, your environment won't always serve you. Trog's here is predominantly Red, thanks to the nature of the place, but many places aren't, and some may not contain any red magic at all.

So what you're going to want is a source of mana that you can always trust, that will stick with you wherever you go. However, that doesn't have to come from your personal energies at all. If you attune yourself to this place just right, you'll be able to tap into a bit of its power anywhere, so long as you live. Or unlive, as may be the case.

Try it, if you're not too tired."

Cyrus himself is helpfully drawing the mana out, making it even easier to touch. Since she's already managed to touch it twice, and has actively exerted her will over it, it should move fairly easily by now.

Red Mana's quite a lot easier to pick up than most of the other colors with the right personality type, luckily for her. It's fickle enough to serve a new master on a whim, but loyal enough not to betray them.

While Cyrus didn't actually explain much about how to do anything with the mana yet, it's probably not hard to guess that it has something to do with feeling it, and forging a connection between it and the caster's soul. Granted, that's much more easily said than done, and he might well be encouraging her to bite off a little more than she can chew.

The Heart of Iniquity's kind of a jerk like that.

[Aric Kale]

The little purple dragon blurs and changes, becoming a man again. He picks up his glass and takes a sip.

"One never knows, missy. But whoever Wulder is, that person has a plan for you."

He puts down his glass and reaches over to pat Candor.

"By the way, my name's Shift."

Candor reacts well, purring and arching his back.
Well, it's a pleasure, Shift.
And Wulder is the Creator of all that is good, and I am but one if his servants.

[The Bushranger]

"Oh." Mia says a bit suprised. "A monster sounds like a bad idea. Seems like we shouldn't push our luck then?"

Mia smiles innocent. She would fight such creatures if it's needed, but she doesn't need to get into trouble.

"Maybe you can tell me what you used in the fight befor?"

Shawna looks rather nervous for a moment, looking around, then relaxes when nothing happens.

"Oh, the plasma blades? They are plasma contained within an intense magnetic field," she explains. "They are highly effective against the vast majority of potential foes, although they can be stopped by ripleyite armour."

[Rebonack]

Enter Timseam Proudfeet and Bill the pony.

The former is all wide eyes and wide smiles for one very simple reason. He and his friend are on and adventure. Now, when it comes to adventures hobbits and ponies are oft of a similar mind. Adventures are dirty, dangerous business that often makes one late for supper. But there are always those few odd ducks amongst any society that buck the trend.

Some more literally than others.

Aside from that excited glint in his eyes Tim is blessed with a curly mess of dark hair and a smart little drab outfit full of convenient pockets and pouches for squirreling odds and ends away within. He's sitting astride the pony on a well-maintained hobbit-made saddle.

Bill is wearing little aside from the saddle and bags, his chestnut brown coat contrasting sharply with a mane so dark indigo that it appears almost black save for when the light hits it. The earth pony's cutie mark is obscured by his sparse clothing.

"I'm telling you, Bill, this will be our finest adventure yet!" Tim laughs, his tone carrying with it an infectious sense of enthusiasm. The hobbit dismounts and heads toward the counter to place an order.

Bill's ears swivel as he scans the room for any potential threats. One can never be too careful in Trog's. "I don't know, Timseam. It'll be hard to beat that wizard's tower. I was digging sand out of my ears for weeks."

[NatsuGaki]

Candor reacts well, purring and arching his back.
Well, it's a pleasure, Shift.
And Wulder is the Creator of all that is good, and I am but one if his servants.

Shift smiles at the small dragon, his hand gently rubbing a spot right behind Candor's skull.

"Wulder sounds like my kind of guy. Does he drink?"

Apparently, Shift isn't the religious type. In fact, he claims to be strictly neutral in all areas of life. Also, he's bordering on intoxication due to his slower-than-normal metabolism.

[Murkus]

A young, dark-skinned fellow enters the tavern. He's a bit on the short side, say about five nine, not counting the small pair of antlers that jut from his skull. He's dressed in rough leather hide, a vest and loose trousers, with a simple measure of rope to keep his pants around his waist. The stag's got a heavy duffelbag over one shoulder that rattles metallically with every step.

Exhausted, Adir approaches the bar and takes a seat. "Evening, folks," The stag says to those on either side of him. Then, to the tender, "Um, something strong please. Gods, it's been so long I can barely read Common..."

[Rebonack]

And thus Adir gets his drink and all is well.

Timseam and Bill continue conversing nearby, though Bill the pony offers a polite nod.

"That crazy wizard tower will be nothing but brickabrack compared to this caper. I'm telling you, Bill, this is perfect. It's just what we need," the hobbit says. "If we can pull this off-"

"If we can pull it off," the pony stresses. "If. That's a big if. You know how rare those mushrooms are. And-"

"We'll be set, Bill! We'll practically be heroes!" the hobbit continues without slowing down.

The pony rolls his eyes. "Okay, that's stretching it a little. They're supposed to be pretty amazing mushrooms, but I doubt we'll be heroes. And that map you bought looks awfully old. What if it isn't accurate anymore? You know how the Nexus shuffles things around."

"Come on, Bill! Don't be a jackass about this. Where's your sense of adventure?" the hobbit inquires as he pokes Bill in the ribs with a finger.

[Aric Kale]

Shift smiles at the small dragon, his hand gently rubbing a spot right behind Candor's skull.

"Wulder sounds like my kind of guy. Does he drink?"

Apparently, Shift isn't the religious type. In fact, he claims to be strictly neutral in all areas of life. Also, he's bordering on intoxication due to his slower-than-normal metabolism.

Clara laughs! Not that I'm aware of, but Paladin does. Paladin is his main...prophet, so to speak.
Luckily, Clara isn't a religious stickler, and doesn't take offense at much.

[NatsuGaki]

For a moment, Shift looks thoughtful.

"Paladin, huh... Knew a Paladin once... Great guy, until he went psycho."

After a moment of awkward silence, he smiles and pulls another oddly-shaped glass out of his bag.

"Wanna drink?"

[Aric Kale]

The dragon keeper chuckles, her "wards" making their way back into their respective pockets, full from insects. Oddly enough, there's no bulge wherever they end up...
Ah, no thank you, I generally don't drink right after waking up. She gently refutes the offer of a drink.

[Devixer]

A young, dark-skinned fellow enters the tavern. He's a bit on the short side, say about five nine, not counting the small pair of antlers that jut from his skull. He's dressed in rough leather hide, a vest and loose trousers, with a simple measure of rope to keep his pants around his waist. The stag's got a heavy duffelbag over one shoulder that rattles metallically with every step.

Exhausted, Adir approaches the bar and takes a seat. "Evening, folks," The stag says to those on either side of him. Then, to the tender, "Um, something strong please. Gods, it's been so long I can barely read Common..."

Ashley, a half-elf dressed in plain and unassuming clothing, is one of the ones at Adir's side. She just gives a vague "Hey," in response. She looks like she's had a bad day, but she's barely touching the ale in front of her.

[Murkus]

Adir drops his bag with a loud thud, glancing round at his neighbors. They all seemed busy - Timseam and Bill especially, planning some sort've caper by the sound. Were he not in deep trouble, the stag might've asked about their adventure. But he wasn't going to get drawn into such things now.

Then there was this girl. Not an attention getter like those folks down the bar, but he could see in her face the same expression he'd been seeing in the mirror since he got home. After a moment, Adir points at her drink and says, "Y'know, I don't think it's gonna bite. At least, that one shouldn't. I'd be happy to test it for you." He flashes a foolish grin.

[Devixer]

Ashley looks over at Adir and manages to crack a small smile at the joke, but that quickly fades. "Here, you can have it. I don't know why I bought it in the first place," she says, sliding the drink over.

[Murkus]

"Much obliged," Adir replies, raising his own drink in her honor before knocking it back. He makes a satisfied noise and adds, "But it looks like you need it about as bad as I do."

The stag offers his free hand to Ashley. "Adir Frescot."

[Devixer]

Ashley shakes Adir's offered hand with a firm grip. "Ashley Cross." She looks back at her drink, but still doesn't take it.

[Murkus]

"Good to meet you Ashley," Adir smiles at the unassuming lady before ordering another round for himself. He studies her with those strange buck's eyes of his. "Y'know, you don't look much like a drinker. What's got you so down you'd buy yourself one just to have a staring contest with it?"

[Devixer]

"You're right, I don't drink. Interferes with things," Ashley says, not specifically referring to her magic just yet. "I just... I just miss someone."

[Murkus]

"Yeah? Tell me about it," Adir says with a sympathetic huff, staring at his second round while it's poured. "My wife won't even let me touch her. I don't blame her, I'm an ass, but it doesn't make me miss her any less." The stag sweeps up his glass and glances at Ashley. "Who're you missin' tonight?"

[Devixer]

"A friend," Ashley says, though Adir may be able to tell that she's hiding something. "I just haven't seen her in a long time."

[Murkus]

"That kind've friend hm?" Adir murmurs, propping one cheek on his fist. The stag watches her amusedly, whether he guessed right or not. "Where is she?"

[Devixer]

Ashley's reaction to Adir correctly guessing about her girlfriend is for her to quickly look around and see if anyone else heard that. "I don't know, I've been trying to find her."

[Murkus]

"Y'know that is a thing around here. Girls with girlfriends. Just a teensy bit. They aren't gonna burn you at the stake," Adir says, although out've respect for her privacy he lowers his voice a bit. He smiles, all the same. The stag's got a hunch that's not why she's worried.

[Devixer]

"You don't know that," Ashley says, with a sudden edge to her voice. Then she sighs and slumps a little. "Not that it matters anyway. I barely have any clue to how I can find her."