Taiga Wayfinding 1

The white-cloaked artificer comes to sit, cross-legged upon the cool sands. Her gunblade is removed from her back, stabbed into the sands next to her, as she relaxes in place. Her thick, white cloak is all billowed around her, revealing the dark dress she wears under such a bright outfit!

"Okay! So, firstly, I'll have a little recap for the student that I already got!

May I ask you to tell the rest of the class about what I told you about Wayfinding from last time, miss Kairi? It's okay if you don't remember everything - but maybe you should tell about what you're most excited to learn, also!"

And with the burden placed on the Siren, the white-feathered watches, patient, and bearing that sisterly kinda smile she usually wears.
(Magdalen Elisheva)



Taiga comes prepared, of course. Rather notably so - given that there was no guarantee of Magdalen accepting his offer in the first place. Nevertheless the astute Voss has pen and paper in hand as the lessons begin, flickering his gaze between Magdalen and Kairi! Now that he had been given the chance to learn, he'd take it as seriously as possible.

This was, after all, the art of the Angels - and though he may feel like somewhat of an intruder upon it with his nature, he would graciously accept the chance to move so freely without limit as Magdalen and Ethan have. It was an alluring art - one of absolute freedom.

Just the kind of thing that made his eyes twinkle with desire.
(Taiga Voss)


Esso had touched on the subject of Wayfinding many times over the years since Elisheva first passed out the three initial tomes to Ethan, the girl from Dawn, and Eiphraem, but every attempt at a lesson he made with Ethan ended with a major interruption, with the last one they attempted being the arrival of Elisheva to tell Esso and Eiphraem about the Ghoul King's allegiance.

I hadn't realized how many years it had been. Time really does fly sometimes.
(Esso Naam)

Floated down the beach as he only just heard very little of this so called Wayfinding. He stayed at the square for a few moments trying to think if he should learn this skill or whatever it was or not. After a few moments of thinking it over the kitsune rushed down towards the beach to find them, at least they hadn't really started yet. Maybe this wayfinding could be a way to protect Eira when he needed to. It could be of some use and it wouldn't hurt to just try and learn something new.

Kit glanced over noticing his brother was here too and he seem rather excited, while Kit on the other hand was rather uncertain since he didn't know much about it. He only came because he was curious. His ears flicked forward, paying attention to the class. He couldn't even remember if he ever been in one before.
(Kit Voss)

Ethan Hawke whispers something.

The blue-cloaked doctor joins the artificer in sitting cross-legged on the chill beach- even more-so now, with her presence.

Similar to Magdalen, her bright blue cloak reveals her darker blue dress beneath- but only for a moment, as she quickly pulls the cloak together with her right hand!

Magdalen and Ethan might have gotten a glimpse of a plain book clutched in her left hand.

Then she blinks a few times as Magdalen asks her to go through what she was taught the last time.

Oh. Oh that is a lot of stuff. Okay. Right.

Well...best to start with the like. Super basics, right? The names of the six circles used for Wayfinding, and their meanings!

"Okay! So! First!

There are six circles used for Wayfinding. Each circle has three tiers- there's a radial glyph, then a supporting weave, and then their parameters.

The radial glyph is what tells the circle where it draws mana from.

The supporting weave is where the majority of the circle is- it contains the actual like. Effects of the circle. So- like, Territory! For Territory, it would be the location that the circle would show you. I think.

And the parameters are what decide when the circle actually activates.

I think.

The first of the six circles is the Netherworld circle. It makes a connection with the Spirit Realm- which is what each of the other circles use to actually. Like. Work. You need the Netherworld circle."

For a quick moment, she pauses- and her right hand is extended from beneath her cloak, with a distinctly holy glow focused on the tip of her finger! She reaches up, and draws a quick circle in the air of mana! It is basically just visible, solid white light.

"The second circle! Is Territory! For Wayfinding, it shows roughly the spot where your portal will bring you- it can just be used to look at an area from like. Suuuper far away though.

The third and fourth circles are Travel and Interpolation. Travel makes the route you take through the Spirit Realm, and then Interpolation makes it safer- avoiding unforeseen obstacles, and such. I think of it like- you have a group of merchants with a caravan, and they plot the route the caravan takes between two cities- then you have the people guiding the caravan itself, who have to make sure that the caravan avoids any unexpected issues, and gets there safely!

The fifth circle is Conversion. It, basically, turns you into energy for the short time you're in the Spirit Realm, and then is what turns you back into- like- you, when you've arrived at your destination."

As she had been explaining the second, third, fourth, and fifth circles- she had been adding another white circle for each! One just above the first- one just to the right, then the left- and one just below! The five circles are in a plus shape.

"The final, sixth circle, is Portal! It takes allll the other circles...and combines their effects, to allow you to actually travel through, and arrive at your destination!"

And now, she draws a biiiiiggg circle, around the other five! There's no detail to any of the circles- they're just blank, and plain. But! She tried to roughly show how it might look, at least?

Then she blinks a few more times, the wind basically pulled from her. She nearly forgot Magdalen asked her to talk about what is exciting her the most.

"Uh- what I'm most excited to learn?"

She pauses for a brief moment.

"Am I allowed to say all of it?"
(Kairi)

Ah. Oh lord. This was a lot to take in at once and Kairi was a nonstop machine of information, her words smoothly sliding between circles almost too fast for Taiga's pen to keep up. This was just supposed to be the introduction, but Taiga could already feel himself concentrating far more on writing the information down than actually absorbing it. His little pea brain struggling far harder than he had expected to comprehend everything she was saying.

Circles?? Supporting weaves???

At the very least he would have the notes for later. All of these accompanied with hastily scribbled annotations and markings for further dissection on Taiga's part whenever the lesson concluded. Question marks thrown all about the place. This was far, far more exact and complicated a matter than swordsmanship. At least in his eyes. The instinctual pull of blade to vein that came with his mastery of the art was just that - instinctual. Wayfinding, as he'd soon come to realize, was something far closer to a science than magic in terms of how it was to be cast.

He works at a blistering pace, pen racing down the page before flipping over to begin scrawling across the back, giving the occasional glance upwards to Kairi to see if she was finally done. She wasn't.

Thankfully his ears were so sharp as to not miss a word, otherwise he'd be floundering already.
(Taiga Voss)

The white-feathered artificer's warm gaze runs over those present, a subtle sway had in the slightly-tired woman's form. She smiles pleasantly, as always, granting that smile to Kitsune, Siren, Dhampir, and Human!

A giggle is had at the excited Kairi's recalling. Briefly hopping to her feet, she wanders over to Kairi, and ruffles her hair encouragingly, before returning back to her seat and gun-blade!

"Yes! Exactly that, dear. You're a good learner, mhm! Went above and beyond what I asked of you.

The first part talks about the process of runeweaving itself. The art works through six circles, but to make even one circle, you require those three components miss Kairi mentioned -

Radial glyph, supporting weave, and parameters. Generally they're illustrated radial glyph first, on the inside, supporting weave around it, and parameters around those.

Generally, the best way to use Wayfinding is to create the circles as Kairi is currently demonstrating - using your mana to paint the correct glyphs and patterns into the air, a la runeweaving."

A momentary pause is had, looking over the other three present.

"As for a summary of the circles and what they represent, exactly that. You did a great job summarizing them. I'm sure you can all understand that this art is complex and requires quite a bit of thinking and such, but it has hidden depths and every part of it could be potentially used for something else, should one seek to master them."

A nod is given to Kairi, at her asking if she's allowed to say all of it!
(Magdalen Elisheva)

Taiga is running out of paper at this point, hastily scratching down the last few bits of additional information Magdalen provides, desperately squeezing it into the margins of his pre-existing notes to cram in as much as possible. It ends up looking like a mess, frankly, but he's managed to contain it all into one or two dense pages of information.

As Magdalen comes to a close, he eyes all of it rather suspiciously, a tilt of his head being given as though even he doesn't have a clue what he's just written down. So many steps. Circles. Internal processes to be taken note of, and seemingly more than a hundred ways that Taiga could mess up. Unacceptable.

With a cluck of his tongue, he raises a hand.

"Question." A fine claw traces over the lined sheet, going back to the very beginning to scan over the summary of the circles again and again, drilling it into his memory. "So ah... Hm. I understand... most of the principles..." He lies through his fangs, "But... where would one begin practicing? I imagine the most important part before applying this knowledge would be the accuracy of ones scribing?"
(Taiga Voss)

Esso may not be taking notes like Taiga, but he's a good learner, having spent much of his youth reading books out of the library that is now Alura's school.

Unfortunately, what he doesn't have is skill in rune-weaving. He'd never taken the time to study more than the most basics of each profession, including rune-writing, so that he'd have some idea of what's going on in each field. He'd never taken the time to practice his rune-writing, and he's never attempted rune-weaving on the air. Magdalen speaks of it with an ease that tells of how much she's practiced it, and Kairi gave them a demonstration.

He looks down at the pointer finger of his left hand, which quickly thrums with holy energy not unlike how Kairi's did. He brings it up to the air, dragging it through the air in a similar, but perhaps not the same shape Kairi had done moments before, but no energy remains in the air where his finger moves. It's like he's dragging a pen across paper, but the ink stays inside the pen.
(Esso Naam)

The selkie giggles quietly as her hair is ruffled, and nods once!

Then the circles she had drawn in the air fade as she chooses to cut off the flow of mana to them.

She seemed mostly content to now listen quietly as Magdalen continues to explain- quietly re-tracing the formation of the circles as the demi-angel does- but then!

Taiga asks his question!

Her gaze locks to Magdalen now, very intently curious on the answer to this question.

Granted she.

Already sort of knows the answer- since Magdalen basically told her where to start practicing-

But still! This isn't something she had explicitly asked before.
(Kairi)

Looking to Taiga, the blonde artificer answers after a moment or two, a smile upon her face;

"I'd start small - working on extruding and maintaining mana in tangible shapes first, then starting work on the first two circles. I learned them two at a time, when I focused on my studies, but I'm also a master runewriter so it was fairly easy for me to focus on memorizing the different glyphs.

For others, I'd focus on studying how to create the Netherworld circle, once they're able to Runeweave properly. Once it's drawn, the runes will turn green when successful activated."

A motion finds Kairi;

"Do you feel able to demonstrate the first circle yet, dear? If so, would you mind showing the other three how it's done?"
(Magdalen Elisheva)

Ethan finally spoke up after what it felt like was hours of silence. Why was he there? There had to be a reason, right?

"Don't think it's easy. If you're even thinking about learning Wayfinding, be ready to study. A lot. For years. Day in and day out. To have people stare at you while you practice circles in the middle of nowhere on your own because you don't even understand how you're supposed to manage six at a time when one breaks on its own. So..."

He shrugged.

"Feel free to quit if you don't wanna put in the time."

There had to be a reason why he gave those near-impossible tasks to everyone who came asking, after all.
(Ethan Hawke)

Wasn't saying much at all as he was just merely paying attention to what they were saying. It did seem rather complicated but it was something he could study. Most of the time he wasn't doing anything other than waiting around for Eira to wake up. The kitsune smiled back towards Magdalen. It did seem pretty interesting even if it was going to be hard. Six circles was it? He thought to himself. It was going to be pretty cool to have around once he learned it properly.

"So.. It needs rune scribing or no?"

He asked, curious if he could learn this wayfinding without having to learn rune scribing.
(Kit Voss)

Niklaus sort of just wanders into the scene with his damn man sized dragon child draped over him like a heavy, heavy sack of sleeping potatoes. Folke was a lucky boy that the Rowan loved him thiiiiiis much.

Because damn he was heavy.

Either way, he'd silently observe proceedings.
(Niklaus Rowan)


Taiga seems to be none too phased by Ethan's comment. That much was made readily apparent to him from the moment Kairi had opened her mouth and started dumping all this onto him, this art was clearly one that required an immense amount of dedication to follow. If anything, though, the way Ethan spoke of struggling to master the art made it clear that he was in Taiga's shoes once as well, just as lost and confused on how to proceed with the art. That was, after all, far too specific a scenario to have just been conjured up from his imagination.

Years of study and dedication to the art, endless amounts of practice... and probably a lot more notes. All of a sudden these two pages felt wholly inadequate for what was being asked of him. He needed a whole notebook - probably multiple - to truly encapsulate even just the information he had learned today. Let alone what would be asked of him to master the art.

Taiga gives a frustrated little huff.

"If words were enough to dissuade me, I'd already be dead." He states his confidence loud and clear for the others to hear, not shirking at the sight of a challenge one bit. "I'll likely have to come back to one of you for extended notes, however..." He grumbles. "I can already tell, despite my best efforts, I came unprepared." He holds up the sheet of his notes for Ethan's cursory examination, before putting it away once more.

"A long way off from practical application. But as long as there's a place to start..." He trails off.
(Taiga Voss)

She listens quietly as Magdalen speaks to Taiga- answering where she'd advise him to start- leaning to create tangible mana, then beginning work on the circles themselves- and the glyphs they're made up of. Specifically, beginning with Netherworld.

Then the selkie is motioned to by Magdalen! After blinking a few times, she hesitantly responds!

"I- well...maybe. I haven't had time to attempt actually making the circle- but-"

A deep breath is taken, the air chilling for a moment-

"I'll need to refer to my notes, but- I think I should be able to, yes."

With a pause, giving Magdalen or Ethan plenty of time to stop her before she tries, she pulls a small notebook from beneath her cloak with her right hand! Then flips it open.

The book is placed open on her lap, her gaze cast down to it-

And light coalescesaround the tip of her right pointer finger!

After a moment of re-reading her rather condensed notes-

-the previously mentioned finger begins to draw in the air!

First, the radial glyph is drawn rather quickly- runes drawn in a condensed circle.

Despite no true knowledge of runescribing- she has spent a considerable amount of time leaning the runes themselves, and practicing them divided.

This is just her first attempt at actually combining them together.

She glances down to her notebook once more, quickly- then flicks her wrist to dismiss the first attempt at the radial glyph.

Her second attempt seems to satisfy her, though- as after completing it, she moves on to the creation of the supporting weave.

The selkie takes far, far longer to create this tier- looking over the notes in her lap several times throughout the time it takes to make the circle.

But- she seems to approve of it, too- apparently the extra time used allowed her to complete it to her satisfaction.

Finally, the parameters- she seems to have gained some measure of confidence at this point, as she resumes the speed taken for the radial glyph- and manages to accomplish the third, and final tier of the Netherworld circle without complications!

Taking time to now look back over the circle- she nods once. Okay. It looks like it should work. Hopefully.

No one ever found out without trying, right?

Her right hand lowers itself, bright glow fading from her fingertip- and she begins to channel mana into the circle, attempting to activate it!

And then...

...it successfully activates, the white light of the runes turning a bright, vibrant green!

She blinks a few times, as if surprised that it actually worked-

-but then she quietly squeals with joy! It worked! She managed to actually make the Netherworld rune!

Unfortunately- the circle blinks out after about ten seconds of activation.Her shock, and joy at having seen it work- may. Have made her forget to continue supplying it with mana.

Oops.

But, hey! At the very least! She managed to make the circle work for some time, right?

Now she needs to repeat drawing the first circle, until she can do it from memory.

-oh. Right. She was supposed to demonstrate it. She...kind of got lost in focusing on actually making it. Oops again.

She sheepishly looks to Magdalen-

"I- uh. Kind of got distracted by- making it work. Sorry. Is- does that count as demonstrating it, Magdalen?"
(Kairi)

The white-feathered gives a slightly sour look the way of Ethan, pursing her lips and reaching a pokey finger out to give him a decisive poke to the temple. Her sisterly scolding quickly follows;

"They wouldn't be here if they didn't want to put in the time, dear. The first step is the most important, because all other steps follow after it."

To the others, however, she repeats a bit of his idea;

"Ethan does have a point, but I have faith in all of you, that if you're truly driven - like miss Kairi here - you'll be able to work and learn. If ever you require my assistance - to demonstrate or talk with you about the art, I'll be present, as well."

Looking to Kit, she shakes her head, a smile given instead!

"It does not! It just makes it a little easier to understand the particular components of how the art works - just like how understanding metaphysical magic also helps you understand the calculations and such!"

A big, friendly wave is given to Niklaus, as he stands off to the side, motioning him and his dragon to come sit with the others, instead of sitting off to the side!

"You don't have to stand all the way over there, dear!"

She calls out, before looking back to the four before her! Seeing Taiga's going through of his note-book has her giggle. The first thing she learned was an incredible compact form of technical writing that's present in all of her later notebooks.

"Of course, dear. Perhaps miss Kairi would be willing to share her notes with you too!"

Finally, comes Kairi's demonstration, watching her create the circle with a smile, a few nods find her creation of the pattern, swaying from side-to-side subtly as she works, a few little hums of consideration given!

Finally, as the other has it appear, she gives another biiig smile!

"Good job, miss Kairi!"

Seeing it fade has her giggle;

"Oh! Don't worry, dear. It takes a while for your circuits to become more used to using magic this way and sustaining the circles. I found myself absolutely exhausted after making the circles and sustaining them for any length of time, at first.

It does count, however, since you did manage to do it!"

The white-feathered Wayfinder reaches into her bag, withdrawing four sheets of paper from her notebook - one that she prepared ahead of time, no doubt!

The paper contains the schematics for the second circle, each page covered in writings on both side, with a comprehensive breakdown of each important glyph in a normal usage of Territory, an explanation of their uses, as well as a final depiction of the glyphs all together.

One of such key glyphs is pointed out, on the second side of the second page.

"This one is a range limiter. Focus on an area nearby when creating Territory... Such as looking down from you as above. It'll be hazy at first, but the range limiter will keep you from exhausting yourself from trying to picture far away places!

I needed it because I kinda maybe get distracted easily sometimes."

The pages are then handed over to Kairi;

"I intended to give this to you when you were able to demonstrate creating the first circle! Do share this with the other two so they can make copies and study with them, please!"
(Magdalen Elisheva)

Esso remains largely silent between the multitude of people chiming in, but after Kairi's demonstration, he carefully watches her as she writes it out in the air. Sadly, he's not quite to the step where memorizing the runes matters yet, but he does his best to commit Kairi's runework to memory. He'd probably need to see it a couple more times and try it a few times before he can get it down.

One detail from her runework that he notices is her use of her right hand. He looks down at both of his pointer fingers, holy light shining off both.

Does it matter which one I use?

It's then that Magdalen speaks again, first in response to Ethan, then directly at them. One corner of his mouth tugs upwards slightly at her offer to demonstrate or talk about the art; he'd probably need more tutelage before mastering something of this complexity. Fortunately, her assertion to Kit answered one of his questions aswell. His eyes flit over as the INCREDIBLY detailed notes are handed to Kairi; something to learn a bit later no doubt. He'd probably want to focus on one step at a time.
(Esso Naam)

Taiga listens carefully, thankful that there was some actual concrete demonstrations for him to leech off of. He was much more of a hands on type of learner, but seeing in action was the second best thing. His scarlet eyes drink deeply, every bit of detail that could be obtained noted down either in writing on in memory, an interested hum rising up as she finishes. His attention is quickly turned back to Magdalen, their de-facto teacher.

So, not only would it be a technique that was hard to master, but the initial steps of application would be far more taxing on his mana circuitry than anything else he had learned thus far. Not to mention, he was already weaker than ever before when it came to coming to grips with this new body of his. Troublesome, to say the least. It looked like he was going to be studying more than anything else in the coming days.

Thankfully, Magdalen was providing some of her own. Amazing. He feels a weight lift off his shoulder, his eyes already drifting over to try and gleam some traces of knowledge off the pages. He was overwhelmed, certainly, but he was far more concerned on simply gathering the information all in one place for his leisure than truly comprehending it.

"...I'll arrange some study nights with her, then." He huffs out. "I think, for now, I've got enough to make a start. At the very least, I've reached the point where I understand just how ignorant I was about all the different intricacies of spatial magic. Consider my interest piqued, Magdalen." He muses, stretching himself out with his arms above his head!

"Nnnnn-" Then they drop, yawning. "For a task you've no obligation to fulfil, you sure have some moxie for teaching."
(Taiga Voss)

After taking a few seconds to recover from having activated the circle- even though it, in turn, as also only functioning for a few seconds- she offers a wide smile.

...that's actually visible. At some point her scarf fell down from her face. Must have been because she had been looking up and down so much, so quickly.

Taking the new pages of notes from Magdalen, she quickly begins to look over them-

"Okay...range limiter- I understand. Okay. Need to make sure I do that one correctly. That's the-"

-before remembering that, oh wait, she's in class. She can look these over later.

Stowing them gently in the bag at her side, she gives one nod!

"Alright- I can- make some copies after we're done tonight. It might take a few minutes, though. There's- that's a lot of information."

And then anothernod!

"...I was kind of nervous to try making it, I think. I'll...definitely spend a lot of time making, and activating Netherworld- so I can, like- do it reliably, and keep it powered.

Although. I imagine as I add each other circle, it will only get more difficult to keep them sustained?"

A glance is given over to Taiga, and, once more, a wide smile! Although her lips remain closed.

"Let's talk about notes later, yes? Much more fun to study with friends, mhm."

Gaze quickly returning to the artificer, her head tilts to the side.

"I- never asked, Magdalen- what part of learning to Wayfind was the most difficult for you?"
(Kairi)

The white-feathered can't help but smile at Taiga's compliment, chuckling to herself;

"Thank you, dear. I think it's just important to share what I know in many areas.
Things can't happen unless you work on them with your own two hands, after all!

I hope to have more lessons in the future, as well. I've been putting doing this off, so it's pretty good you came to me."

Looking to Kairi, a nod is given to her question, the subtly-swaying white-feathered covered in that smile of hers;

"It does! Eventually, you'll get used to it, just like any other technique, however. Just takes you to work at it consistently!

And that's also the most difficult thing I found when I was learning - working on actually creating the circles consistently. I was concernedI'd be messing something up, so I focused most of my energy on memorization and often got pulled away by my other projects.

Just keep working on it is my suggestion! It'll come with time!"
(Magdalen Elisheva)