Practical Magic (Mara Sedaya)

[Curupira Hawk]

In the middle of what was now Curupira's clearing, the redhead stood with her eyes closed, her mind focused. Multiple rocks around here were elevated, circling her. On occasion, her mind would spread through the area, seeking out the younglings. Katrine and Gnarls were in the woods, playing. It came as a surprise at how quickly her companion had become friends with the purple haired girl. He didn't usually warm up to people so quickly. It was perhaps another confirmation of what Katrine had told her on her arrival. She was in fact her daughter from a tim yet to come, just as Chloe was. Ket had after all said a long time ago that they had daughters, before she'd met the second one. Kat though now talked of a brother as well, and she did wonder why Ket hadn't mentioned it.

The teenage daughter, when feeling the interruption would give a soft nudge through the Force which Curupira interpreted as What? and it made her smile with her eyes closed. She needed to teach that kid telepathy because it was getting silly translating the little nudges she'd received back. 'Nothing,' he response was as she turned the rest of her focus on what she'd been doing. Practice.

Another rock raised from the ground and began following the rest around her. A girl would be joining her soon, Curupira felt that knowledge somewhere in the back of her mind, not thinking about it actively. It was another reason why her mind kept reaching so far beyond her, not just to check up on her daughter and her companion. She didn't know the girl, just that she was new with the Witchmasters and would come to her for some spells. That was alright. In the meantime, the redhead had to work on her own skills.

[member="Mara Sedaya"]

 

[NightSister]

Although Mara had joined the Witchmasters several weeks ago, progress with her training - both in witchcraft and Force ability - had been slow. Her time and money had been in short supply, as had that of her new comrades, and so she had been in a long, frustrating limbo for over a month before at last she had been approached by a Spellweaver who had promised to teach her a few spells.

That was where she was now, dressed in a silver witch gown with her lightsaber strapped to her belt, waiting at the clearing that she'd been told to come to. There she saw a red-haired, powerful looking woman who appeared to be in a meditative state. Likely she would sense the new presence soon enough but first Mara wanted a moment to glean what she could about the woman.

There wasn't an awful lot to be learnt in the few moments she would have before it would be rude not to greet the woman, but she could tell that she was powerful and had a complicated history. While eventful and perhaps not entirely happy, Mara's past had been fairly straightforward but if Mara was to live as long and grow as powerful as she intended to, that was certain to change.

After a few moments, Mara ended her observation and cleared her throat. "Good morning. I'm Mara, the witch you agreed to teach."

[member="Curupira Hawk"]

 

[Curupira Hawk]

Not longer after she had elevated the last rock did he feel a presence approach, when she had come within the reach of her Sense. The stranger didn't approach though nor did she seem to be aiming to harm her so Curupira took a while longer spinning the rocks around her before she felt the presence approach. The rocks around her came to a halt then and slowly descended to the ground, most meeting the grass just as the woman spoke up.

Her eyes opened then, seeing the brunette as she introduced herself. Mara, the Witch she agreed to teach. It took only a second before a big grin appeared on Curupira's face. "Hi!" The redheaded greeted in her usual cheerful self before jumping off the ground. Her left hand instantly went to her behind, clearing up any resadue of grass remaining on her shorts while she moved over to the woman.
"I'm Curupira. Ruu for short. Pretty much everyone calls me Ruu." Sure, most trainers were formal and preferred to be called Master or whatever but Ruu had never had a trainer like that nor did she prove it. Pretty much all of them had enough power to demonstrate if need be and didn't need special proclamation to be feared.

"Come on," Ruu motioned her to follow her, closer to the ship as she turned on her heel and moved. The walk to the ship wasn't long and they weren't really going into it but she did have a few things packed, resting in a leather bag at the end of the opened hanger bay doors. They'd be, of course more useful for spell but it didn't really matter. They'd get to that eventually. And of course, Ruu figured she could use the time to talk to Mara as well. "So, what is it that you wanted to learn?"

[member="Mara Sedaya"]

 

[NightSister]

Following Curupira - or Ruu, as she had asked to be called - it was hard to stay as frosty as she usually was with her warm cheerfulness. She supposed it couldn't hurt to warm up a little.

"Ruu it is," she agreed. "Nice to meet you. I heard that you were an expert at Force lightning - if you're comfortable teaching it of course, most of the witches I spoke to didn't seem too big on it..." she added quickly. Although witches typically dipped quite freely into both sides of the Force, lightning was so associated with the Dark Side - and Sith in particular - that most witches were uncomfortable with coming that close to total Darkness. Still, one could hope.

[member="Curupira Hawk"]

 

[Curupira Hawk]

Ruu it was, the redhead heard the other female say and glanced back at her with a smile. It wasn't that she minded her full name, she rather liked it but Ruu had been a nickname given to her while she was still a small child. Ti'Cira had called her that first and everyone else had picked it up, both in the family and clan. She of course didn't remember most of this yet, her great great grandmother had told her about it. But she'd been Cura for the most part growing up, nicknamed by her guardian Seth Draclau. So when she'd heard Ruu for the first time in her adult life, by her big sister none other, it had felt so right to respond to Ruu. So much so that it still warmed her heart to be called that. Or Morsel. But that was something her mate alone used. And was a whole different story.

She stopped dead in her tracks though when Mara said she was an expert on Force Lighting and remained frozen there for a good second before she finally turned around to look at her. Who had told her she was en expert on Force lighting? Was it some sort of a joke? She was a Spellweaver, not an Elder. Not a Master. And there was of course the matter of whether or not she was comfortable enough to teach her.

"I don't know who was playing a trick on you," Curupira started, her head tilting as she looked at you. "But I'm a spellweaver, a knight. I have no expertise in Force lighting. What I have is a lot of anger and rage inside me to unleash it, which I have been taught." She wandered off in her thought, her words tagging right along as she tried to explain the best way she could. "Witch King Isley Verd taught me personally a while back. But what I can do is recall the worse of my traumas and let the rage corrupt me before I can set it off. And when I do, I have no control over it. Completely raw lighting. You could die if I demonstrated it to you." Surprisingly enough, Curupira felt a little out of place thinking about the subject. It had been a while since she'd practiced it, primarily because of the darkness she had to summon in order to even use it and she'd been trying to find other ways to make use of her powers. Ruu never thought she'd been good, not in the way Satara was, or so she thought, but she was finding something in the middle, somewhere neutral.

"I can teach though if you really want to," she finally said. "But I can't tell for sure if I can without leading you down that same dark path. " This was something Curupira had to warn Mara about it since that was the only way she knew how to go about archiving that power.

[member="Mara Sedaya"]

 

[NightSister]

At once Mara registered the change in the Spellweaver's expression, recognizing that she had made a mistake. Listening to Ruu's explanation, it was easy enough, even as socially challenged as Mara was, to see that she was less than comfortable with the subject and even less comfortable with the idea of teaching Lightning the 'uncontrolled' way to a defenceless Initiate. Of course, Mara was as confident as ever that she could survive an encounter with uncontrolled Lightning, but after a while she had learned that voicing that reassurance out loud somehow devalidated its meaning. She made a quick judgement as to whether it was worth pushing it. Very quick indeed.

"Uncontrolled power fuelled by rage is no less a power," Mara replied, fiddling with the fabric of her robe as she tried to piece together a diplomatic response. "And often more so. Of course, if you are unhappy teaching it I won't pressure you, but... I would like to learn how to use the skill."

[member="Curupira Hawk"]

Spoiler: OOC

I am so so sorry about my disappearance. Posting will be regular from now, I promise.

 

[Curupira Hawk]

Once she'd said all she wanted to, Curupira waited for the woman to decide for herself whether she wanted the power or not. Mara noted that uncontrolled power fueled by rage was still a power. She did want to learn how to use the power never the less.

"If that's what you'd like," the redhead said and nodded. "There are a few things we should do before that. So I'm curious first, what can you do right now?" Rage for example was a big factor. Sometimes, it came naturally, at other times, it took a person some time to find what would fuel. Force Lightning as a power was very advanced. It could have been potentially even more dangerous if Curupira set out right away to teach her that and Mara somehow managed, at this stage to tap into it.

[member="Mara Sedaya"]

 

[NightSister]

"Well," Mara said carefully, "I've studied the theory behind most spells at Initiate level and a few at Spellweaver level, but spells that I can do consistently at a proficient level are healing, animal communication, and all the basic jumps, pushes and levitations, et cetera. I've done Force-chokes and shields before, but I've not completely gotten the hang of it yet. I'm working on it though."

There were probably one or two that she'd missed out, but she didn't want to push it. Mara hadn't been expecting Curupira to agree and so if she wanted to go through a slower process before teaching her to use the Lightning, she wouldn't question it. All the same, she could feel her fingers twitching with excitement at the prospect of learning such an elite skill.

[member="Curupira Hawk"]

 

[Curupira Hawk]

As Mara started, Curupira smirked. The girl said she'd studied theory behind most Initiate spells, and some Spellweaver ones. That didn't help much. Reading was all fun and dandy but generally, it wasn't what made someone proficient or even a Master at something. She did however know how to heal, how to speak to animals, basic fun bits with telekinesis and such. Force Choke was a fun one, Ruu thought as Mara kept listing, as well as shields.

"Okay, for starters, forget what you read. That's pointless with training. For one, every spell or power may essentially do the same for everyone but everyone is unique and their way of getting to their power is as well so you have to find it within yourself how to master something," Ruu explained just before they'd reach her spaceship and focused, summoning the Force to her aid. There was a time when she didn't even have to do as much but times have changed since, something the redhead yet to figure out while she did the whole focus thing like the most of the people in the galaxy. Still, when she called, the Force obeyed and she soon crouched just slightly, enough to jump, with the Force at her aid, sending her into the air. Just a short while later, Curupira landed on roof of the metal beast and turned around, looking down on Mara.

She was curious to see the brunette use the Force, to see her do something simple before they progressed to anything more advanced. Waving her fingers to her, she summoned Mara to come up and join her.

[member="Mara Sedaya"]

(Sorry, my Curupira muse has been severely on the sidelines lately.)