Lotsa Parties ( Current location: island ) Edit: Thread 4

Kairo looked back across to the group gathered around the trees. After deciding that they were sufficiently distracted, for now at least, he nodded. You may regret offering to help though," he said with a wry smile.

Calcifer sighed, scratching the back of his neck. "I don't like regrets much, but they're something my plate's already loaded with, so what do I have to lose?" It was a bit of dark humor, and he couldn't help but grin for a moment at himself, his eyes downcast to his feet. "Well," He said, turning on his heel back to the dejected, dead forest, "Let's get on it."

Kairo followed Calcifer into the forest. Almost immediately he felt the raw sting of fire in his fingertips as he struggled to keep it under control.

The Gieru stopped at what he felt was an appropriate spot where the trees were particularly wide-set part. He looked Kairo up and down for a moment, thinking of how to begin. "So... First thing's first. You have to realize that your fire is physically made up of the air you breathe. Bad air, bad fire. That's why we're here. The air's clean. Dry."
He took a deep breath. The next part would be more difficult to explain. "The fire's also made up of... a spiritual part of you... if you call it that. I don't really know a name for it. It's like this inner form of energy that you find within yourself to fuel it. For me, it's emotion. I've heard it's a bit different for every mage, though, especially when dealing with other elements, but the latter's an issue we don't really have here." He paused, "It's good to think in extremes. We need to think of an array of different emotions first... Then let you think of your strongest memory associated with one and try to do something simple, like a small fireball, using that energy... See what works with you best."
He realized he'd been moving his hands the whole time, his eyes wandering around, trying to think of the best way to put things. He lowered his hands again, his crimson gaze swiftly moving back to Kairo. "Did you understand all of that?" He asked, a wry grin breaking through his features. He hoped he hadn't bombarded the man.

"Kind of. I don't really get what emotions have to do with it and to be honest my memory's pretty bad," Kairo said as he scratched at the back of his head nervously. "Most of my memories have negative connotations to me."

Calcifer furrowed his brow a little, "Well... then, think of the most upsetting memory you have and try it." He took a few steps towards Kairo, "But, wait. Here." He cautiously took the other's hand, cupping the back of it in his palms, starting up his own fire beneath it. "Just to get you some sort of foothold, I suppose. Let you feel what it's like.... Tell me when you feel you're ready. I'm not rushing."

Kairo took a deep breath as Calcifer held his hands in his own. The sudden touch caught him slightly by surprise and his breath caught in his throat for a second before he forced himself to focus.

It didn't take him long to think which memory he would use, what took him a while was remembering the details. Remembering the sounds, scents and sights that he'd long ago pushed down and locked away. He remembered his house. His father had left the family, his mother was unliked in the village because she wasn't a Gieru and he and his brother were shunned for their heritage. Chris was four years old. He had been playing in the hall way while their mother baked in the kitchen. He could smell the oven and burning wood, he could smell yeast from the bread that was about to be baked. He was laying on the floor in the sitting room, looking up at the dark ceiling, counting the cracks. The front door was always open when his mother baked, she said she needed it open to stop the house getting too warm. He had started to daydream. New smells and sounds encroached his memory. A woman screaming, gunpowder. He felt an intense heat. He remembered jumping up and watching as one of the soldiers walked out of the front door laughing. He remembered his mother cradling Chris.

"I'm ready," he said stoically as he opened his eyes slowly.

Calcifer stepped back a few paces and nodded at him to go, scanning the other's every movement with immense concentration.

Kairo drew another deep breath as he remembered feeling like his heart had been ripped out as his mother's white apron was stained red.

Pushing back the rest of the memories that came with that one, he concentrated on the heartache and lonely emptiness he'd felt in the days following. The feeling of falling and never being able to get back up ripped through him like a tidal wave.

"Gods," he thought as the fear and panic began to overwhelm him. "Just once, if I could get back up just this once, maybe I could do something about it all."

Instead of pushing back at the wave that threatened to crush him, he let it wash over him. He felt every drop seeping through the many layers he had pulled up over the years to protect himself and flood his heart.

when the flames flickered to life on his hands, he fell to his knees and let out a choked cry of anguish.

Calcifer looked down at Kairo with a strange swirling of emotions in his chest, though he seemed to be almost dead to them. Like they were there, but only processed dully. That didn't stop the intensity of his sympathy for him, though. Not in the slightest. He knew... and he understood. He waited a moment before speaking.
"You have to channel the emotion into your energy that's coming out of you. Don't bottle it up. Otherwise that happens." He paused. "I've never had the opportunity to, but I could... try to transfer my energy through you while I'm exerting it. If you're alright." He paused again. "I understand. I'll give you however much time you need, Kairo. And if you want to stop..."

Chaos pursued Reina as he did small animals as a child. He slid around trunks and tread lightly on the branches. A slight mistake in his footing could mean falling to the ground below. They called it a race, but there didn't seem to be any particular goal or location they were racing towards, it was just fun. Fun... that was something that was hard to come by these days.

Fist watched the two, amused with the tree climbing. It brought back sweet memories of hunting days in the wild.

Trace And Quint exited the tnet with the others. Trace never really got the courage to speak to Naryu but at least he knew she was willing to help. Quint on the other hand was still not very interested in all the god business and stood there respectively before leaving. Outside Quint was amazed at Reina's agility in the trees mumbling something that her speed equals assassins from his home country

Kairo interrupted Calcifer "I can't stop," he said thickly. "I need to control this." He rubbed the back of his hand across his face to wipe away the remnants of the betraying tears that still lingered there. He stood slowly, his eyes never straying to Calcifer's face. He didn't want to see the pity in his eyes. "I'm ready," he said softly as he closed his eyes.

Ruul eventually exited the forest with Nayru. He bowed hastily and the goddess departed to her own tent, followed by some handmaidens. Ruul wandered around the camp for a bit before spotting the group watching Reina and Chaos in the trees. He silently sat down on whatever he could find and stared in the racers' general direction, though he was too deep in thought to pay much attention.

Calcifer couldn't help but smile at the other Gieru, stepping up next to him, shoulder-to-shoulder, and grabbing his hand again. Well, his wrist. "Alright, then." With ease, Calcifer could've almost not thought about it and conjured up a flame, but he wanted Kairo to feel the building-blocks of it.
He held up both of their hands, pointing straight forward, aiming for a dead, blackened tree. He glowered at it, his crimson eyes gleaming with poison as he thought about his brother. His arrogant gait, his seething tone, and just the way he eyed him when he was little made him feel sick enough to vomit.

The way his lighter-red eyes flashed coyly as he casually tossed his voice across the dinner table, segments of what he said phasing in and out of his memory, "So now that Mom's sick, I doubt she'll get any better.... What do you think, Father?.... I agree. Why would she want anything of hers to go to him?... Nothing but stupid trinkets. Gypsy shit!... I don't care about the books, the cards. Or the beads. Well, wait, some of the beads'll be good for selling. Most everything else is just cheap... I'll burn it... Useless... Barely get us any coin... It really reflect's little brother, wouldn't you think? How he chased her tail all the time, playing with her stuff, going to the church with her.... You're just as piss-poor as her junk, aren't you?"

The tree went up in flames, a thousand tiny embers spraying from the gaping maw left in its side as the murky dust from the ground flared to the sides with the force of the impact. The Gieru's hand shook until he let go, trying desperately to think of something else.

"How do you do that?" Kairo asked in barely more than a whisper. "How do you let it go like that, how do you push it away?"

"Well..." Calcifer had a very difficult time thinking of how to put it. He paused for what felt like a substantial amount of time. "You do just that. You let it... go. Think of the target as just an extension of yourself. Even the air in the path to it. Just think of it like an extension of your hands, and force it there. Like a punch, almost. But when you just... let it sit there in your hands." He paused again. "I'm not sure how to explain it. You just have to focus on not letting it overwhelm you, I suppose."

Kairo glanced at the tree that was slowly falling to the floor in flames. Slowly, he closed his eyes, he let his emotions fill him again. He could feel them pooling in his stomach and then spreading out with every beat of heart. He kept his mind focused until every inch of his body was filled with a raw hurt that ached. He focused until he could almost feel it change into an intense heat, burning through his veins. He focused as he collected the heat in his palms and attempted to ignite it. He opened his eyes and there in the palm of his hand was a small ball of fire.

Calcifer chuckled, looking down at the shorter man's hands. "Good. Now you know what it feels like. With some practice, it should start to come naturally. And soon," He lifted his own hands, igniting them and creating intricate three-dimentional, in-motion creations with the shimmering flames-- little dragons and birds, "You'll be able to do things like this."
He quickly closed his hands, snuffing out the fire's life, waving off the little show mentally. "...Insignificant talent for fire-puppetry."

Kairo closed his hand slowly around the flame. It wasn't tight enough for the fire to go out but he could feel the warmth against his fingers. He remembered the only other time he had had used his magic and shuddered slightly before snuffing out the flame that danced in his hand.

"You said you've never known this power not to come naturally," he said as he looked up at Calcifer again. "Have you ever known anyone to push it so far down they couldn't use it?"

Calcifer immediately knew Kairo was talking about himself. He tried not to show the pain in his expression, but it was always the little features in him that showed the most emotion. Namely the softening and slight downcast of his eyes. It wasn't pity. He was sympathetic.
"I've known someone that... was pushed down to a point that they didn't want to."

Kairo sighed. He didn't know where it had come from so suddenly, But he couldn't help but talk.

"After my brother died," he said. "I hunted down the person who did it. I joined the war willingly so I could murder the bastard and get away with it. And gods did I make him suffer."

Kairo glanced up at Calcifer. "Cal," he said in a soft whisper again. "Please, don't tell anyone what I did."

Reina looked behind her to see Chaos catching up. She couldn't see his face from under his mask but it looked like he was having fun. Reina couldn't remember a time when she had seen him truly having fun and it reminded her how little she really knew about him.

"You think I'd do that?" Calcifer tittered, crossing his arms over his chest. "Never. You, at least, are building a reputation with everyone here... I've tarnished that for myself. I wouldn't be surprised if you think I'm a royal asshole. But why would I ruin that opportunity for you while making myself look even worse? Hmph." His attention was diverted as his eyes wandered back over to the desecrated tree. "I'm a pretty good shot, hm? You're a quick learner. I'll bet you could do that soon." He grinned wryly.

"You're not an asshole, Cal," Kairo said. "I don't think so anyway." He clapped his hand on Calicifer's shoulder. "You need to start thinking more of yourself. You're a really good guy."