Wayfinding 5

Taiga approaches Ethan! It's been a while since they've last spoken, and Taiga seems to be in a much better mood - at least in comparison to the kind of downtrodden, awkward and gloomy atmosphere that hung over him when with Niklaus the last time they passed through. There does, however, seem to be some initial reluctance to actually start a conversation. A little awkward shuffle of his feet as he stands in front of Ethan for a good ten or so seconds without saying anything, mulling over his choice of words time and time again.

Eventually, he just submits, choking out a straightforward-

"...I need your help, Hawke." Ah. Oh lord. The admission that he of all people was in need of assistance bit him down to his core. Taiga had always figured that one of his greatest traits was indepedence. Being low maitnence. He hated asking things of other people - but this wasn't a task he could just do all on his own. "Isuotve... scoured over my notes for days on end at this point, but I think I'm just starting to go in circles."

A finger raises, the tip lighting with a dull, pulsing glow of blue mana. He deftly guides it through the air, casually drawing out a few glyphs - but Ethan could tell almost instantly that they were completely and wholly disconnected. Like speaking letters in random order, never quite forming a proper word. In his own words, "I've learned to write. Most of the motions are... familiar to me now. But putting them together, finding somewhere to start... I'm at a loss. I focused my training efforts on perfecting the foundation, making sure I wouldn't mistake one glyph or rune for another. But..." By the end, a whole string of disjointed characters hang in the air, slowly fading away.

"...I need you, Hawke, to help me put it together. To give me some guidance on where to focus my efforts now." He gnaws on theinside of his gum, toes curling a little. Why did it have to be so hard to admit his own weakness?

(Taiga Rowan)

Sitting back on a chair, leaning against it and smoking a relaxing joint in his lonesome was one of the greatest things about summer, wasn't it? The smoke of soothing reed surrounded the man as Taiga arrived. Smoke escaped his lips while he spoke in return to his sloppy, horrible demonstration. There was no need to be too harsh on the guy who seemed like he wanted to claw his eyes out from just asking for help.

"You're writing nonsense. Of course it won't work. They're like letters, or commands in a specific order. You can't even manifest the first circle if you don't start by understanding what it means, yeah?"

A hand was waved in the air before the Wayfinder, tracing a green magical circle into existence and allowing it to float before Taiga's eyes. The very first command he needed to learn: Netherworld.

"Can you tell me what this does from reading it alone?"
(Ethan Hawke)

Taiga runs a hand through his hair, grumbling a little at the curt assessment Ethan makes of his skills. It's accurate, by all means, but it still stings to hear it from someone other than himself. There's a low hiss, gritting his teeth a little before crossing his arms and closely examining the runes presented for him.

"Netherworld." He gets it spot on. After all, he's seen it at least a hundred or more times in his book - but only his books. The notes were much easier to make than the circles themselves, so much of the exposure Taiga had to Wayfinding in general was confined to their pages. He was the type of learner who had to see it done in person first - a mimic almost.

"It's the circle that forms a connection between this realm and the Spirit Realm, the first and most crucial step. Without it, the foundation with which the rest of the magic is built on wouldn't even exist - and transferring energy between realms would be impossible." He gives a more detailed, accurate assessment as well, trying to flaunt what booksmarts he may have. But that was all he had, truthfully.

Taiga squints.

"...C..." Ugh. "Can you do it again? But slower this time. What glyph did you start with...?" He had to do it in the exact same way, or it wouldn't be perfect, in his mind.
(Taiga Rowan)

Ethan shook his head at the request. What a cruel man he was. His lips parted to allow the cigarette to fall between them. A long drag was inhaled while he thought about what he'd make the poor kid do next. It's with an exhale that the solution came.

"I'm not gonna do it again, you will. Just draw the commands necessary for it. Step by step."

How horrible.
(Ethan Hawke)

Taiga Rowan generated a random number between 1 and 20, it came up as: 7

Taiga bristles a little, obviously displeased with that response. Soothe smoking asshole! Regardless, if that's what Ethan wanted, it was probably for the best to just suck it up and be done with it. No way in hell was he going to get much of anywhere without actually applying what he had learned, right? Surely he had seen it enough times to make some replica of the most basic, most critical circle of all. ...Right?

Just draw the commands necessary for it.

After a lot of humming, groaning and grumbling - he goes for it. His finger alights with a trace of mana, and Taiga extends his arm out in front of him, squinting a little as he thinks of where to start. He just picks a random point in the air and goes with it. Step by step.

His finger dances through the air, smoothly moving from one function to another as he, at the very least, makes some coherent characters. But Ethan would realize a lot faster than Taiga that his efforts were wasted from the very start. Still out of order, a simple switch of arrangements here, a misplaced character there -- all small, minor mistakes that quickly compound atop one another.

It was a circle, by all means! It might've worked, even! In some alternative reality.

To the laymans eyes, it might appear as a fully functioning Wayfinding circle, but actually attempting to use this would probably result in like your arm ending up in a Nethradins stomach and your head halfway through a rock in Helheim.
(Taiga Rowan)

In the midst of this massive mistake that Taiga was making another cloud of smoke escaped the Wayfinder's lips, though this one had some mana backing up the heat - making it scary in its own way. Why? To disrupt the creation before it was even made. The Dhampir's fingers may be scorched a bit, but his circle would be completely destroyed. Tragic. Mean.

".. Oh man. You must've done something wrong for smoke alone to break it. Start again."

This wasn't the solution. Not a long term one in any way. But for now Ethan would let this idiot stumble and fall over and over before giving him the answer.
(Ethan Hawke)

Taiga Rowan generated a random number between 1 and 20, it came up as: 6



Taiga is defeated, his efforts burned away in a single, dismissive cloud of smoke. Fortunately, Taiga didn't have the same weakness to heat as his kin, but the pain of seeing his creation destroyed was enough to singe his heart rather than his skin. There's an immediate grumble of frustration, Taiga's hand clenching up into a fist!

"Wh-- I hadn't even finished yet!" He protests! Start again. Start again.

He hisses low, biting his tongue out of frustration. ...He didn't want to admit it, but he knew he had messed up somewhere along the line as well. A certain shaky, unconfident feeling welled up in his gut - he had seen the circle done right before... and that wasn't it. He knew it.

So he eventually just submits to Ethan's request, starting over again. His finger alights with mana, and he begins drawing the circle once more. Only this time, it's obvious that he's tilted. Some part of him desperately wants to blow Ethan's expectations out of the water, so he goes for all the fancy tricks - all the stylish swoops and flourishes that only a master might actually perform successfully. Instead of relying on his one strength, consistency in individual characters, the result this time is the Wayfinding equivalent of a doctors prescription.

Illegible.

Taiga lowers his finger, staring at it with a dead look in his eyes.
(Taiga Rowan)

Ethan watches in silence as Taiga goes for the craziest attempt possible at making a magical circle. Worse than horrible grammar, this seemed like the kid hadn't even tried to write something worth reading. Just what was he trying to do? These marks and glyphs were not real things, and that... definitely brought some great idea to the Wayfinder.

"... Wow. Do you wanna try to pour some mana into that and see what happens, Taiga? Or would you rather try again? The choice is yours, dude."

He knew of the Dhampir's weakness; his pride ran strong but he wasn't delusional about it. If he asked for help it was clear that he knew he wouldn't get it all on his own. This circle was just an example of it, too. Ethan may just give him the solution soon enough.

... But not now. No. This was fun.
(Ethan Hawke)

Taiga Rowan generated a random number between 1 and 20, it came up as: 10

Taiga gives a cursory glance to Kit and his offer of fried eggs. He doesn't really seem to consider it much longer than a few seconds. "...I don't need to eat." He huffs, turning his attention back to Ethan. The circle lay in front of him now, and Taiga knows better than to try what Ethan suggests. The mana dissipates at his command, and Taiga is sent hurtling right back down to square one. Pathetic.

"...I'll try one more time." He grumbles, drawing a low, steady breath as he tries to calm his nerves. There was undoubtedly a lot of embarrassment in this for Taiga, being so utterly beneath Ethan at a task like this gave him frustration to no end, and having that so clearly laid out and demonstrated time and time again just made it all the more potent a lesson. So perhaps, in that shame, his mistakes were punished far greater than they would otherwise.

The instinct Taiga had built up was wrong - and he had buried it into his mind with all that solo practice. The touch of a teacher helped, and Ethan could see that as Taiga tried once more. His motions were slow and steady, careful to not make any mistakes, constructing the circle and glyphs one by one in meticulous order. It was painstakingly slow, not nearly possessing the same level of flourish as even his first attempt.

But it was a lot more accurate, at least. It wasn't... functional, at least not by itself. But by the time Taiga finishes, he at least has everything in the right order. The circle drones a dim, pulsing light in the air, actually stable and held together with the mana Taiga had used to form it. That, at the very least, was a sign of some progress.

"Hmph." Taiga seems unimpressed.
(Taiga Rowan)

"Wow. That looks like something someone could use to help a spirit water their garden."

Whatever that meant didn't matter, all that mattered is that it almost felt insulting, while acknowledging the accomplishment that was made. A long pause followed by the Wayfinder as he stood up from his chair, sucking in the smoke that remained and tossing away the cigarette to the side - burning it up in mid-air.

"Alright. Now, what you're lacking is... This." He said, turning and gesturing at the chair that he had left behind him.

"You're gonna sit down, open your book and study. Study more, too. Get your friends to help you study even if they're not interested, too. Next time I see you, I want you to be able to use the first, second and third circle perfectly. If you're not that good then..."

He lingered, shrugging.

"I guess you can be a househusband at least."
(Ethan Hawke)



Taiga is completely lost at Ethan's comment, whether it was meant to be an insult, encouragement, or some cryptic bullshit he just wasn't meant to understand. His brow furrows in frustration. He thought that it'd at least elicit some actual praise from the man. Taiga, at the very least, was certainly proud of what he had accomplished - this was his first proper Wayfinding circle he had ever made! A silent celebration in his head cut short by Ethan's explanation about what exactly he was lacking.

...The chair.

And a goalpost. Study. Study study study. Was that really the answer? He felt like he had poured over his pages for time eternal already - this was supposed to be the point where he finally started applying his lessons! But Ethan knew exactly how far Taiga had left to go. Taiga was so lost in the art, he didn't even know how much he didn't know! Right in the pit of perceived expertise versus actual knowledge.

"...All three?" He whines! There's another grumble. A pause.

He doubles down. "I'll be able to go all the way to the Fourth circle without a single mistake, you give me a months time!" It's a bold claim, but Taiga feels no inclination to back down to the likes of Ethan!
(Taiga Rowan)