fandomhighdorms | Magical Reserve - Preserve Next to The Cabins, Wednesday

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Magical Reserve - Preserve Next to The Cabins, Wednesday

With tea and biscuits--oh hush, he was a proper ~~Irish~~ English boy--ready for members and guests, Merlin was cheerfully waiting for everyone to arrive.

"Hello! Today, Karla and I have a bit of a new exercise for us all to try today," He informed everyone with a sort of manic cheer that came from hoping to god this ended well.

Karla stepped forward with the blithe carelessness that came from having no clue that anything could possibly go wrong with her plan. "Kiss kiss everyone. So, more than anything else, there needs to be trust between us as a group. Without it, we'll be disorganized, inefficient, and the other members of the Reserves won't trust us, either. Which, in a crisis, could lead to disaster. So, I thought today we could focus on building that trust together. And for that we have--" she paused for a moment to let the anticipation build "--magical trustfalls!" She beamed at them, certain they'd be as enthusiatic as she was about the idea.

"Yay!" Merlin offered with a strangled little cheer. "Karla and I will demonstrate."

Or something.

"Karla?"

"That's right!" Karla said, giving Merlin a reassuring smile. One that had a lot of teeth in it. She practically skipped around behind him. "In case you're not sure what a trustfall is, Merlin is going to close his eyes and fall backwards, expecting me to catch him before he hits the ground. I'm going to do so, but only with magic." She clasped her arms behind her back. "Ready Merlin?" she chirped. "You trust me, right?"

It wasn't reassuring at all! But he nodded dutifully and closed his eyes. "Of course."

Really.

Taking a breath, he fell backwards.

Karla took the easiest path. Using Craft, she solidified the air behind him, the same way she would if she were airwalking. Merlin hadn't tipped back more than a few inches before the air caught him. "Now, there are a ton of different things I could have done. I could have called in a big pile of soft things for him to land on, or put a shield behind him, or just floated something over to catch him."

Merlin blinked a few times and looked around at the nothing holding him up. "Whatever it is you believe might work best. And if you don't think you can use magic, your hands are perfectly fine."

"Or if you think your magic isn't suitable, you can always brainstorm with a partner about ways you could possibly make it suitable," Karla added. "I've found that a lot of working with magic involves improvising." She looked over and gave Merlin her best unsure-but-game grin. "My turn now?"

Merlin nodded and waved toward the rest of the group. "Pair off and get started then!"

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...And there was that odd psychic scent that Karla had noticed this morning. As soon as should could do so in a manner that could be even slightly termed 'casual,' Karla walked over to Rachel. "You okay?" she asked in an undertone.

"I did not sleep well," Raven admitted. She did not know Karla well as of yet, but she liked her, so she did not feign being well. "My sleep was troubled."

Didn't mean she'd automatically go into any detail, however.

"Troubled?" Karla aked, an eyebrow raised. "If that's what you consider 'troubling' I'd hate to see what actually frightens you." Karla sent out a tiny brush of comfort and security. "I walked by your cabin this morning and could feel the emotions trapped in the walls. You were so...well, scared doesn't even begin to cover it. There's the fear of death, and then there's the fear of something even worse than that. Your walls suggested the latter." Realizing that Rachel had no actual reason to confide in her, Karla offered quietly, "I've felt that same fear myself. While I was awake."

Let Rachel make of that as she would.

"I am sorry," Raven said, dismayed she had projected her fears. "I did not wish to affect others. My gifts sometimes act in ways I do not intend if I get emotional."

"Not your fault," Karla said fiercely. "It's just the way of things. Emotions get trapped in material, and it's no more your fault for having them as it is my fault for being able to sense them. I've got a cleaning solution that will scrub the psychic imprint away. I can bring it over later on, if you'd like, and give the walls a wash."

"I would appreciate that," Raven said. "I am not supposed to feel such emotions myself, and banishing the remnants of the nightmare would be comforting."

"Not supposed to feel emotions?" Karla asked. "Isn't that...kind of the exact opposite of empathy?"

"It is ironic, yes," Raven said. "I may feel the emotions of others, even absorb them into myself, but I am not allowed to feel my own." She hesitated a moment, then added, "If I were to do so, it would lead to...what I dreamed about."

"I couldn't see the details or any images," Karla said quietly. "Only the emotions. Too much time had passed for me to get more than that."

Whatever had triggered that terror was almost certainly something best avoided. Still, Karla felt bad that the price was Rachel being cut off from all of her emotions.

"You're absolutely certain of that?" she asked. "And there's nothing anyone can do to help?"

"You would not want to see," Raven said quietly. "It is the end of the world." She tried to shake off the lingering dread. "I do not know if anything can be done to help. This place is so much different from Azarath, but I have been afraid to let my guard down for fear of what might happen."

"I can see where you'd be hesitant to try," Karla murmured. "That's quite an intimidating burden to carry." She automatically sent out another brush of sympathy. Then froze, wincing. "I'm sorry. I didn't think. Should I not do that?"

"It is all right," Raven said. "Professor Skywalker has been helping me shield out much of the emotion around me, so I would be able to deflect it if I wished. Tasting another's compassion is not harmful, though I am envious of your ability to express it."

"Yeah, well, sometime compassion's not all it's cracked up to be," Karla muttered darkly. Then gave Rachel a guilty smile. "Though still better to feel it when you oughtn't than not, I suppose. Have you heard about the shielded room on the sixth floor?"

Karla was proud of that room.

"I think it was mentioned to me once," Raven said, "but I was not aware it had been completed." She couldn't help but notice Karla's distaste for compassion. "Are you all right?" she had to ask.

"I'm fine," Karla said. "Just thinking. My mother always taught me that compassion is the greatest gift one can bestow upon another. Generally, I believe her. There are just times when a person's compassion is used against them, is all."

Raven nodded. "Even good emotions can be used to hurt, I am well aware of that," she said. "May I ask you a question about yourself?"

"Sure," Karla said, shrugging. "It's only fair."

"The other day in class, you called yourself a Black Widow," Raven said. "What does that mean?"

Karla laughed a little, certain that Rachel could feel the relief radiating off of her. Of all the questions Karla had assumed she was about to ask, her caste certainly hadn't been one of them. "Black Widows are a caste in Kaeeler, my home," she explained. "We're the healers of the mind. We weave tangled webs of dreams and visions, of illusions and prophecies. We deal with poisons and potions and try to put back together that which has been broken."

She paused. "Did any of that make sense?" she asked dubiously. Perhaps she shouldn't have been so poetical.

"Yes, it does," Raven said, nodding. "Some of the things we can do are similar, are they not? I may heal the mind by removing festering emotions that prevent one from moving on and healing their soul." She couldn't help but think of Tahiri and the guilt she bore.

Funny enough, Karla was also thinking of Tahiri. Small island, no?

"We can't really remove the emotions causing the distress," Karla said, though she was nodding in agreement. "We try to work with the person, so they can resolve their own emotions. Sometimes, it's as simple as talking and listening. Other times, it requires tangled webs where people can go back, even just in their own minds, and face whatever it is that's festering inside of them. It's another one of the Blood's triangles. Healers heal the body, Black Widows the mind, and Queens the heart."

Tahiri apparently had that Oh, Azar, there must be a way to fix her effect on people.

"Removing all of an emotion would be dangerous," Raven said. "And only as a last resort. Sometimes it is just a matter of easing the emotion just enough to let healing begin naturally. Otherwise the person may become completely numb. Well, that is what I was taught. I did not have much opportunity to practice my gifts at my home. There were little strong emotions there."

"Truly?" Karla asked, interested. "In Kaeleer, we're all strong emotions. Especially Warlord Princes. It's why we have Protocol, in order to keep everyone behaving in such a way as to not trigger those emotions."

"Hundreds of years ago, those of Azarath used magic to purge themselves of all their darkest passions and negative emotions," Raven explained. "And over the years, what was left began to fade as well. The people of Azarath live simply, and their feelings are just as simple."

"That sounds...a little drastic," Karla said, trying for diplomacy. "Emotions, even negative ones, define us. Especially how we react to them. How did they teach you to keep your emotions at bay, when theirs are so muted?"

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