Private A Familiar Face

[Starlin Rand]

"Nah, I don't think most of them care. You might get made fun of, but you can get made fun of for just about anything." Starlin let his hand drop back to the table as the light faded from his fingers, belatedly wondering if Eli was referring not to the teachings themselves, but the fact that Starlin would be the one teaching them.

Damn.

"Oh, it works." He sipped his caf before adding, "Feth it. Try it, see how it goes. 'Ashla, shield me from wickedness.' Focus, say the words with conviction, believe in yourself, and all that crap. See what happens." Another sip. "It's not like you can hurt anything in here with that spell. Unless there's a Dark Lord sitting next to us." He winked.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

If learning it wouldn't get him into trouble, then Eliphas couldn't see the harm in giving it a try. He nodded, and where once there was doubt now excitement crept in, eagerness even. He was perched on the edge of his seat, and all remnants of the grief and sickness which had formerly gripped him was gone. Vanished with the dawn of this conversation.​

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Inhaling through his nose, he quieted his mind the way he'd been raised to do, and then mumbled the words under his breath. Once, twice, allowing them to fall over his tongue, familiarizing himself with them. He didn't look at Starlin when next he spoke, didn't look at much of anything, just bowed his head and focused on the words, and his hands, and conviction.​

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"Ashla, shield me from wickedness..."​

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What was he looking for, exactly? Was he going to feel differently? He paused. Half glanced at Starlin for confirmation of whether he was doing it right or not. Then exhaled.​

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Said the words a second time.​

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Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Eli said it once. Nothing happened. Then he said it twice. Starlin squinted hard, but there was no glow. The kid was missing something.

“Say it like you mean it, boy!” Starlin exclaimed, much louder than he’d intended. A few heads turned in confusion, so a wincing Starlin lowered his voice to a near-whisper, though his tone remained excited. “Say it like you were born to say it! Say it like it came from you, straight from the heart! Or if that doesn’t work, add something to it—put your own spin on the spell. That’s what I wound up doing. It’s kinda silly, but I made all my spells rhyme…”

Leaning back in seat, he said, “‘I walk in shadow and darkness; Ashla, shield me from wickedness!’”

With his spell at full potency, a corona of white flame enveloped his entire body. It didn’t burn him, didn’t even produce heat—though his skin hummed with its power as if he were wearing an energy shield. A wild and wonderful gleam came into his good eye, and he grinned so wide it practically… well, he literally glowed, not just his smile.

“I didn’t mention it earlier because it’s technically not necessary, and I thought you’d think it was goofy. But hey, I’m a goofy guy. Makes them easier to remember, too.”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

"Show-off" he muttered under his breath at the display Starlin put on, though his tone and expression was one of genuine mirth.​

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Though his exclamation had drawn the attention of other patrons, Eliphas barely paid them any heed. Instead he inhaled another short breath, temporarily squinted his eyes in what he perceived to be deepening focus, and then, with conviction and will, with the added fun of rhyme, he followed suit after Starlin and tried once more.​

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"I walk in shadow and darkness; Ashla protect me from wickedness!"​

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Clear, concise words, spoken into the air between them. Not necessarily loud, certainly not as loud as the other had been, but with more certainty than he'd shown before. More oomph. Like he actually wanted it to work this time.​

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And, he realized, he did.​

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Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin stared at Eli, smiling and slowly nodding his head encouragingly as he spoke the words of the spell. His excitement was palpable, and once the spell was complete…

“You’re glowing. Yeah, you’re definitely glowing, man! Oh shit—can you feel it?” Starlin suddenly let out a laugh. “Check it out!”

He gestured to Eli’s hands. If he were to hold them up, he’d see a faint glow between his fingers, perhaps flickering a little, like a new flame. But the spell had worked, and he should be able to sense it, like an electric scent in the air or a subtle shift in the atmosphere.

“You use this spell, any clown who tries to harm you, be it a Sith, a Dark Jedi, a witch, or the local crackhead, is gonna have a harder time of it. If you play your cards right, they won’t be able to hurt you—though you should still have a good defense going, y’know.”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Wait, he did it?​

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He held up his hands as Starlin spoke. Eyes widened, then widened some more, then a grin spread over his face. Oh.My.Force. He'd done it! Eyes snapped to Starlin, pride bristling within him as he bounced up and down in his seat. The sight of the flame-like light which emanated from him was a little unnerving, but mostly it was amazing. He barely even heard what the Jedi was saying, catching snippets.​

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Had to refrain from mumbling a snippy yeah yeah.​

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Eliphas forced himself back into the conversation.​

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"Man... Did you see that? I did it, I actually did it! So maybe his first steps into the Force were decidedly unorthodox, first learning Telepathy from a Shadow in another realm all together, and now crude forms of spellwork with a Jedi on probation... But unorthodox or not, it was epic. "I wish all learning was this easy," he grumbled to himself. Then again, learning in a classroom setting had never posed much of a difficulty for the boy either.​

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Starlin Rand ​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Yeah, I see it! I’m the one who pointed it out to you!” But despite Eli’s mild sass, nothing could quite put a dampener on this moment. Starlin had just taught somebody something. He had fostered a new skill in another person, and they would go on to use that skill in the future... Holy shit. Ho-ly shit.

I’m like a fething master now dude whoa.

“You may change your mind about it being easy when you have to memorize fifty different spells and remember what exactly each of them does and what their limitations are.”

Was that an invitation to learn more? Possibly.

“But congratulations, Eli. You’ve taken your first steps into a larger world.”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Huh.​

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Maybe Eli really could be a Jedi after all!​

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Fin.​