[PRP] CHECK THIS OUT (Shiloh & Kaleb)

[Melancholies]

Shiloh had dragged one of his friends over to the Otherworld for another exciting installment of 'Magic with Beaumont'. Shiloh looked chipper, his hand long healed since his other incidents, his eyes bright and gleaming. "So that's the gist. I was trying to make spaces where magic doesn't flow—I think it could really help with deescalating stuff. Ideally I'd wanna work it up to like, being able to lock whole rooms off... and I wouldn't want to ever have to use it, but even stemming it from working in people..."

He sighed.

"I got it to work though! Just a small ring, but it was better than nothing. So I was wondering if I could redo it and have you stand in it? Like, I could tell my magic had stopped, but I wanna see if it can work for others too. I mean, constructing a thing to stop myself is still better than nothing, but... y'know."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"It makes sense," Kaleb agreed. Especially in light of what happened when they tried to remake the charter. "So you are going to make the anti-magic circle thing, and then I'll stand in it and try to do magic, right?

He was surprisingly okay with the idea of being someone's guinea pig, but he had no doubt he could put his trust in Shiloh and not get blown up or something.

"Do you think... you could show me how you are making it too? Eve fixed my glasses with some magic diagrams and things, I'd love to see more of that kind of stuff..." Kaleb asked hesitantly, finding the question harder than agreeing to be the subject of Shiloh's experiment.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Sure." He said agreeably, "Though, I dunno how easy the process would be from person to person. I'm basing a lot of this off of my natural position as a principal..." His brow furrowed, "Did I ever tell you about that? Maybe not... I'm uh, the key. So I figure locking and unlocking stuff should be my forte..."

He led Kaleb out of the outskirts of town to the swath of beach by the ocean. "I had a few mishaps, but I don't think... it shouldn't hurt you, if anything happens. But I don't think it will. I got it down pretty good." After lots of trial and error, anyway...

"So," He scampered away to draw a circle in the ground with the toe of his shoe. "I started with a basic shape... and then I used my blood as a conductor. I'm about to start casting, so stand back. You can walk inside of it when I'm sure it's stable, ok?"

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb had no doubt the magic itself was beyond his abilities, but the possibility to learn about it was, in his mind, almost as valuable an experience.

"I don't think so... I'm not even sure I know what that means to be a principal, or a key," he admitted. Shiloh had never really discussed the many facets of his magical past, and Kaleb had always been okay letting the topic remain untouched.

The freckled blonde eagerly watched as Shiloh drew a circle in the sand, but paled at the mention of blood. Maybe he just meant a little tiny droplet. Maybe at that distance, Kaleb wouldn't even be able to see it. "O-okay... I'll... I'll wait here," he announced, trying to keep a tight hold on his composure. Why did so much magic have to involve bleeding on things?

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"It's a bunch of bullshit, basically." Shiloh didn't feel the need to elaborate on it anyway. Not everyone had to know he was abused and broken and rebuilt and had one third of the stability of magic on him or whatever. "Anyway..."

He pricked his hand—much less blood, it's okay Kaleb—and let it drip into the circle he'd carved. "When I close my eyes, I can feel the magic collecting around me. I mean, I have a lot of magic, so..." He was following what he was saying, his eyes closed, his hands cupped around each other, "It's not... weird or hard for me to just feel it, especially on this side..."

His hands were moving through the air like he was underwater, the motions fluid and slow. His index finger drew the symbol of a lock in a bright, hazy light. Another drop of blood was added to it—the light exhumed a soft green color—"And I think about a block, the cork in a bottle, a lock on the door"—

The circle had a strange feeling to the, the air somewhat tumultuous, somewhat heavy. Shiloh took a deep breath, slammed his hand down on the lock, and then—

Nothing.

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Despite wanting to learn everything, wishing he could learn everything, Kaleb averted his eyes at the last minute. He could still feel what was going on like a sixth sense within his realm of perception, and that was what he focused on.

Perhaps he could feel the magic gathering because Shiloh was about to do something big, just a hazy amorphous mass of potential accumulating around him. Even without looking Kaleb could recognize the familiar magic that seemed to pull the light itself into lines in the air, but it also pulled at the haze of magic too, drawing it in to form something more than just the symbol itself.

It seemed to thicken, swirling unpredictably, somehow sharp and at odds with the shape it was trying to take even though it was little more than a cloudy mass. And then suddenly there was no more magic to be felt.

Now Kaleb looked up, confused. "Did it work?"

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh was squinting. Then he looked angry.

"No it's—it's not. It didn't. Hold on..."

He tried the same thing again, the magic collected, whirred, the blood was added all over again, the ring glowed. This time a secondary ring of light formed around him and he smiled, okay, back on track. This time the tumultuous feeling lingered before coming full force, and then—there was a crushing weight, the air turned bitter, and—

It popped.

Kaleb would be fine from distance alone—Shiloh however was in the center of the magical explosion, the crackle of heat, the sheer force and pressure the magic was exerting on the general area. Shiloh seemed fine though, despite it all.

Oh, no he wasn't. His hand was burned around the pick where he'd produced the blood for the ritual, oozing like he'd just dipped his finger in acid.

Grey Dragon

I'M SO SORRY KALEB

 

[Grey Dragon]

This time the sharp edged feeling was even stronger inside the cloud of magic, grinding against itself in a ring around Shiloh, all friction and heat until the magic had been pushed too far. Even though it was just a spectral perception, Kaleb flinched away from the explosion.

A second later he ran over to where Shiloh stood, careful not to cross the line even though there was no longer any magic to be felt. "A-are you okay?" He squeaked, looking his friend up and down to make sure everything was okay. Nothing looked amiss, until...

The dizziness swept over him and he just crumpled sideways into the sand.

Melancholies

Beach cushion~

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh was holding his wrist, swearing under his breath, his gaze snapping over to Kaleb when he ran over, "Hey no, wai—"

Too late.

...

Whenever Kaleb would get around to waking up, he'd find himself... not on the beach, but in Shiloh's room. On the bed he shared with Jamie, actually, his glasses neatly folded on the bedside table.

Shiloh himself was apparently pouring over a book (this was a rare sight to see), though on closer examination it appeared to be a sketchbook of sorts. Still, the contents were written, not drawn. His hand looked perfectly fine now, but he wasn't paying Kaleb any attention for the moment. Maybe he was too engrossed?

Bean though, Bean noticed, because he'd been sitting on the pillow by Kaleb's head and he offered a tiny peeeeeeeeep?

Grey Dragon

ENOUGH MAGIC 4 ONE DAY also i hope this is ok

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb knew better than to sit up right away. Even though he was completely disoriented he lay still and stared up at the ceiling, trying to piece back together what had triggered the faint and where he was now. Because he was clearly not at the beach anymore.

He turned his head at the familiar little sound, and gave Bean a smile. He was okay, but...

Kaleb pushed himself up on his elbows, and spotted the vague shape that was his friend. "Shiloh, your hand, are you okay?"

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Clearly not at the beach, but at a second glance, clearly still in the Otherworld even if it happened to be Shiloh's house. He jumped at Kaleb's voice, his head spinning around, "My—? Oh." He looked down at said hand, wiggled his fingers, and then showed it off to Kaleb. Unscathed, if you didn't could the faint lines of healed over scars. Magic was a pretty demanding art. "S'fine now..." There was something a little... disheartened by his voice. He frowned at the sketchbook.

"I don't know why it wouldn't work. I got it to work perfect before, and—" He sighed, clearly frustrated.

"Are you okay? I was worried you hit your head or something..." Bean offered a tiny squeak.

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

At that distance Kaleb could make out the motion of wiggling fingers, but he was far too nearsighted to even see what sort of expression Shiloh had at that moment let alone whether the damage was truly fine. Shiloh certainly didn't sound fine.

Kaleb sat up and began looking around for his glasses, but in the unfamiliar space he didn't see them right there next to the bed. "I'm okay I think, nothing hurts," he reassured. "Except maybe my pride, but there's not much of that to worry about in the first place..."

Giving up the search for the wayward glasses, Kaleb turned his unfocused glance back towards Shiloh. "The magic, it felt... forced."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

This was Bean's time to shine. That is, after watching Kaleb root around for something, he used his context clues to assume he was looking for the face wires. Clambering over Kaleb, he made it to the bedside table and presented the glasses to him. Or well, tried. Sprouts didn't have a lot of muscle mass.

"Oh Kaleb." There was something wistful about his voice there, "Don't be hard on yourself." He stood up, slowly walked over, sat on the edge of the bed. "I guess that's easier said than done though. I get it."

He really did.

"That kept happening when I was trying before too, but I got it to work at the end. Maybe there was something I was doing different... I don't think there was? I had the intent, I wasn't faltering," He was listing these off on his fingers, "The blood, the circle, the lock... maybe magic that complex is..." He pursed his lips, "I guess there's a lot you have to account for. Still, I'm sorry you had to see that..."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

It was Bean's motion that caught Kaleb's attention, but he almost passed it off as just Bean being a wandering sprout. And then it picked something up, an object that was more recognizable now that it's blurry edges had been separated from the surroundings.

"Thanks Bean," Kaleb gave the little sprout a little smile and accepted what were indeed his glasses. Now he could clearly see the disappointment in Shiloh's expression as he came over to sit on the bed.

"You can probably guess why I didn't study to become a surgeon," Kaleb murmured in a self-depreciating tone, drawing his knees up to his chest in a hug. His smile was sad and wistful too, but it didn't come close to the teary breakdown after they had dealt with the Burning Man.

He looked down at Shiloh's hands now that he could see them clearly, noting the faded marks. "You were also trying to impress me though, that's... a new element I guess," Kaleb mused quietly. "I'm sorry you were hurt."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Can't stomach it huh?" Shiloh understood that tone, he knew it way too well. "I guess maybe that's true though. It felt like something was blocking it, but I felt like if I pushed..."

He sighed.

"Did I ever tell you about the schema?" He wasn't looking at Kaleb, "Or I guess, what schemas are. They're these magical constructs that hold information... you basically wanna use them for really big spell casting. Thing is, when you do massive things like when we made the sigil, or the new charter, there's... a lot of stuff you have to account for. If you specifically address it, then it can slip through the cracks, back build, do something you really don't want it to do."

He looked at Kaleb, "So when you do super complex magic, I think it takes a lot of thought... there's a precise way I did it, but I don't remember how..." He sighed, "I've been thinking about it a lot while you were knocked out."

Grey Dragon