Eternity RPC Board
06-11-2018, 01:41 AM
For someone as skilled as Nevina - or at least, as skilled as Elke had grown to believe Nevina was - to admit to still having areas for improvement in her craft was a difficult concept for the mage-in-training to swallow in that moment. Perhaps it was the fact that it was coupled with the reality that Nevina’s skills were far, far superior to Elke’s, and if Nevina had room for improvement at her level, then the distance Elke still had to strive was abysmally long.
But, it was as Nevina said: Elke was only a human, after all - innately non-magical - and one in possession of imperfect tools at that. Still a student of the magic arts, to boot. There was only so much she could do in the face of these handicaps. It, perhaps, was meant to be a sort of apology from the older woman, but maybe not; Nevina, apparently, was not one to mince words, and Elke could respect the bluntness with which her thoughts and feelings came forward. Less an apology, more a summary of facts.
And so, when Nevina said that there was hope for Elke and mankind yet, she took her at her word. It was a solid “maybe”. Elke’s eyes traced the arcs and swirls created by the end of Nevina’s flute, and she hang on her words. She had almost fallen forward onto her face by the time she realized that she’d been leaning in to the woman closer and closer, enraptured by the woman’s one-sided disquisition on magic in the natural word. The fine hairs on the back of Elke’s neck and across her forearms stood on end as an electric chill shimmied its way between her nerve endings; she knew exactly what Nevina was trying to say. For some time now, she’d felt she had a certain connection with nature and its constituents. The subtle change in the scent of a wind that blows in before a dark presence comes to visit, the way the slant of the evening light indicates the correct answer to a difficult choice - Elke had noticed these things since her childhood, only recognizing them for what they were in more recent years.
She jerked herself back upright when she realized just how far toward Nevina she’d drifted, about the same time that Nevina’s mini-whirlwind dissipated.
“Incredible,” she murmured, leaning forward to rest her chin on her interlaced fingers and staring in silence for a few moments. Long enough to think over the last offer.
“Actually,” Elke said, standing, “I think, if you don’t mind, that I would prefer to see your abilities in action in situations which require such a thing.” A lopsided grin had found a home on her face. “I think the genuineness would be more impactful, and as I said, there’s no sense in tiring yourself now on the chance that you should actually need to use them in the near future. But I appreciate the offer.”
Standing, she nodded towards the path ahead of them. “Shall we? I think I’ve held us up long enough.”
But, it was as Nevina said: Elke was only a human, after all - innately non-magical - and one in possession of imperfect tools at that. Still a student of the magic arts, to boot. There was only so much she could do in the face of these handicaps. It, perhaps, was meant to be a sort of apology from the older woman, but maybe not; Nevina, apparently, was not one to mince words, and Elke could respect the bluntness with which her thoughts and feelings came forward. Less an apology, more a summary of facts.
And so, when Nevina said that there was hope for Elke and mankind yet, she took her at her word. It was a solid “maybe”. Elke’s eyes traced the arcs and swirls created by the end of Nevina’s flute, and she hang on her words. She had almost fallen forward onto her face by the time she realized that she’d been leaning in to the woman closer and closer, enraptured by the woman’s one-sided disquisition on magic in the natural word. The fine hairs on the back of Elke’s neck and across her forearms stood on end as an electric chill shimmied its way between her nerve endings; she knew exactly what Nevina was trying to say. For some time now, she’d felt she had a certain connection with nature and its constituents. The subtle change in the scent of a wind that blows in before a dark presence comes to visit, the way the slant of the evening light indicates the correct answer to a difficult choice - Elke had noticed these things since her childhood, only recognizing them for what they were in more recent years.
She jerked herself back upright when she realized just how far toward Nevina she’d drifted, about the same time that Nevina’s mini-whirlwind dissipated.
“Incredible,” she murmured, leaning forward to rest her chin on her interlaced fingers and staring in silence for a few moments. Long enough to think over the last offer.
“Actually,” Elke said, standing, “I think, if you don’t mind, that I would prefer to see your abilities in action in situations which require such a thing.” A lopsided grin had found a home on her face. “I think the genuineness would be more impactful, and as I said, there’s no sense in tiring yourself now on the chance that you should actually need to use them in the near future. But I appreciate the offer.”
Standing, she nodded towards the path ahead of them. “Shall we? I think I’ve held us up long enough.”