[Daybreak Academy] IC Inbox

[nor_iron_bars]

Jailbreak
UN: jaybird

STATUS: Professor of Alchemy and Artifice, Deputy Assistant Head of IT

ACCOLADES: Nothing you can prove.

BIO: Good, fast, and cheap- pick any two.

© TESSISAMESS

[Looks like Jail's either busy or pretending she is. Leave a message?]

Comments

Idk, September 12th

[yokeye]

[As is his custom, Toki makes a decision at a random time and goes right for it. So, at 10:39 on Thursday morning, he and his guard are outside Jail's office door, having not contacted her first to make sure she'd be there. There's a quiet knock, a practice he has finally mastered.]

[nor_iron_bars]

[It's not as though Jail can judge, that's pretty much her decision making process, too.]

[Luckily, her lack of consistent office hours has worked out in their favor this time, and she's actually in there. Specifically, she's lying on her back on top of her desk, idly tossing a foam stress ball shaped like a tomato from hand to hand and staring at the ceiling.]

[Without looking up to confirm who they are:]

Hey, kid. And also larger, more boring kid. [That's what she's going to call this guard forever now, sorry.]

[She leans her head back over the edge of the desk, looking at them upside-down.]

What's up?

[yokeye]

[Toki waves, like Jail's behavior is perfectly reasonable and it's not at all odd to sprawl on your desk and play with balls. The guard is a little judgey, raising an eyebrow, but ultimately muttering something about Seers under his breath.]

Hello~! Okay, so I've been thinking about this off and on since like when... uhh, the pool... and then I forgot a few times, but I remembered again this morning, so I thought I'd come by while I was still thinking about it! Anyway! I wanted to know if like you could maybe teach me how to see like that... magic trace thing you mentioned? Like to see magic on people while it's effecting them? Can I do that?

[nor_iron_bars]

[Let's be honest- being a Seer only explains about five percent of Jail's everything, at best. She's just weird.]

[She does pay attention to Toki's question, though, rolling herself back over into a more upright position while listening.]

Should be doable, yeah. It's probably gonna take some practice to get it down, and it takes a while to get a knack for telling different kinds of magic apart- mostly 'cause it's hard to figure out what obscure weird shit is if you haven't Seen it before- but we got time.

[She's not going to ask why the sudden interest- it's pretty reasonable, considering.]

[yokeye]

Excellent!

[If Jail says it takes a while, it might be months for him, but he will try.]

When can we start? Should it be like a scheduled thing? Or once I know what to look for or how to do it, can I just practice until it works?

[nor_iron_bars]

Shit, we can start now if you wanna, I got a couple hours free.

[If he hasn't gotten the basics down after a couple hours, it's probably better to take a break and come back to it a day or two later anyway, so he doesn't get stuck on something and frustrated.]

The actual looking at stuff with your powers, I can coach you through that here- you pulled it off before, we just gotta try to get it down better. Once you got that on lock, you can practice on your own.

You're gonna need to, if you wanna get better at it- hard to recognize what different kinds of magic look like unless you've seen 'em before. I can show you some basic, common stuff so you know what it looks like, but there's no substitute for real experience.

[yokeye]

Okay.

[He nods, and actually looks like he's paying attention for once.]

That sounds good. I think I can do that, start with the basics. I'm not going to rush this, or give up if I can't do it right away. I'm prepared this time.

[He feels like he needs to give reassurances.]

[nor_iron_bars]

Cool. [She nods, willing to believe him. Toki might not always get where he's intending to go, but she respects the effort, regardless.] Slow and steady's probably a good call, here- don't wanna exhaust yourself by pushing too hard, overusing the Sight is a headache and a half.

...Literally, sudden major headaches are usually a warning sign you're overdoing it, stop for a day or two if that happens. Good news is it's pretty easy to notice, so you probably aren't gonna go too far by accident.

["Probably" because she knows better than to underestimate these kids by now.]

Anyway, take a seat. [She gestures for Toki and his guard Large Boring Kid to pull up a couple of her mismatched chairs for themselves.] Got an idea of what to start with, at least.

This first one's a spot where you might actually have an advantage over most Seers.

[yokeye]

Okay. I'll try not to overdo it.

[They sit in the offered chairs, Marcel pulling out his phone to take notes. Because Toki will forget things and he knows this. Toki frowns a little, trying to think of anything he may have an advantage with.]

Advantage how?

[nor_iron_bars]

There's one kinda magic that most Seers tend to have a lotta trouble picking up on, when they're first starting out. And that?

Is other Seers.

[She grins, leaning back slightly as she explains.]

See, if you live with something long enough, you kinda stop noticing it after a while- like how if you spend your whole life in a big city, the sound of cars and people and shit is just normal background noise.

Even if they don't actually awaken their powers 'til later, most Seers were born Seers- the power's always been there, they just couldn't use it. They don't know what it looks like when a Seer's power isn't around, 'cause there's always been at least one Seer in the room at all times: themselves. So they don't notice other Seers, because that power just looks like a normal part of the environment to them.

[She points at Toki.]

But you straight-up weren't a Seer for most of your life, not 'til you made that Contract. Which means that power's gonna stand out more for you, 'cause you haven't had as much time to get used to it.

[yokeye]

Oh!

[He understands that city analogy. Daybreak was so weird when he first got here; no cars, no constant noise.]

I hadn't even thought of that, but it makes sense. So, in general, you could like expect groups of magic, or categories, to look kind of the same? Like Seers and say people who have familiars? Do all Candles have like a similar magic trace or is that too varied?

[nor_iron_bars]

They're gonna look similar, but not identical. Like... [She pauses to think of an appropriate metaphor.] I dunno, like birdwatching, I guess?

If you see a duck, you're probably gonna be able to tell it's some kinda duck, but unless you're pretty experienced with birds, you're probably not gonna be able to take one look and go "yeah that's a red-billed northern swampfucker" or whatever.

[Jail does not actually do a lot of birdwatching.]

Same thing with magic. You can tell "this definitely looks daemon-y" or "that's probably a mage", but it's harder to pin down specifics.

Candles are usually the easiest to pick out, honestly. Yeah, their powers are all pretty different, but they all got that radiant shining aura thing going on and that sticks out like a neon sign.

[yokeye]

[He doesn't birdwatch either, but ducks are ducks. He gets it.]

Candles are the easiest? That's... good to know.

[Shit. He's been passing his superspeed off as a late emergence Candle thing. Fey related powers probably have distinctive traces too. He doesn't think Jail's the type to say anything, but he's sure the academy Seers know about the second contract.]

So, how do I start here? Try that seeing the truth of things bit and hope something shows up?

[nor_iron_bars]

Half the time it'd be harder to not notice 'em 'specially in the middle of my hangovers...

[There's nothing like staggering into class after a wild night and getting a face-full of Spiritual Burning Aura because you've got three Candles sitting the the front row. She's really got to figure out some kind of headache medication for that or something.]

Won't tell you jack shit about what their powers are or how they work, of course- because Candles always gotta be fucking weird like that- just that they are one.

[Candles: how the fuck do they even.]

I said you'd have an easier time picking out Seers, right? And we got an extra Seer right here, so- [She gestures generally at herself.] -howsabout you open that metaphorical third eye and take a good Look, see what you come up with.

[yokeye]

Okay!

[He claps his hands together and stares intently at Jail. He always tries too hard initially. Once he realizes that's what he's doing, he stops focusing as much and tries to just... feel it. A slightly opaque not-quite-glow of white seems to surround Jail. Like an aura, but it's fleeting and Toki's not sure if he imagined it.]

Is it like... a glowy thing?

[nor_iron_bars]

Can be, sometimes- you're getting there. Now watch real close... [Jail grins and the not-quite-light intensifies, not brighter so much as more solid somehow.]

[There's almost the odd sense of a... mirror? Something reflective to it, if only you could look at the right angle...]

[yokeye]

[The light is almost mesmerizing, yet he feels like he can't properly see all of it. Like the light itself shifts the more he tries to focus on it.]

How did you make it do that? Oh! Is it like that when you're actively using your powers?

[nor_iron_bars]

Ding ding- we have a winner. [Jail winks at him.]

What you See ain't gonna just stay the same, it's gonna shift and change as it gets used. General rule of thumb is that it's gonna be more intense the more power got used and the less time since it got cast. So if somebody's using their powers right when you're Looking at 'em, it'll be a lot clearer than just Looking at a spell they cast a while ago.

[yokeye]

I think I understand. So if something's happening, I could maybe see who was doing whatever because their power trace would be more prominent than someone who has power, but isn't using it?

[He might be able to do this well after all.]

So I should maybe practice just seeing what the different categories look like for me. Like Candles and mages and things. So I can tell them apart first.

[He needs to start slow, as he's not sure what consciously using his powers consistently will do.]

[nor_iron_bars]

Bingo.

[She shifts slightly, letting her power settle back down again and the aura fade with it.]

'Course, being able to tell 'em apart's only half the trouble. The other half's figuring out what's going on while you're dealing with more than one thing at a time.

Somebody who's a mage and a Contracted is gonna look different from someone who's just Contracted, or just a mage. Trying to pick out all the different parts can get kinda complicated.

[yokeye]

That's a good point.

[He wonders what his magic looks like, he's got too much going on at once.]

I have a few ideas. I'll make a chart! A power chart for everyone I know and then like work from there on what pieces go with which things.

[nor_iron_bars]

[Toki's magic, much like Toki, is a hot mess.]

Not a bad idea. [Hey, maybe it'll be a good use for those weird markers she gave him, who knows.]

Might help to ask a friend or two if they're okay with letting you take a Look at them, so you have some starting points.

[yokeye]

I'll do that! I can talk to Yuya and Maverick and then maybe I'll... get back on the Network and ask around for volunteers. I'm really determined to do this, to learn things now that I'm not... Now that I can focus.

[He also intends to keep a legible record of everything he observes.]

[nor_iron_bars]

Sounds like you got a solid plan.

[She gives Toki a smile, fonder and more approving than her typical grin.]

Not gonna say it's all gonna be easy, but... you're doing pretty good, y'know that?

[yokeye]

Thank you. That means a lot.

[Acknowledgement that he's trying shouldn't get to him this much, but it does. It's something he's rarely had.]