Magic Reserves, The Preserve, Wednesday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

The plastic-covered snacks were once again under umbrellas today as the Magic Reserves met outside. Next to the table was a very large tub, covered with a bright blue plastic tarp from T&C's.

"Kiss kiss!" Karla greeted everyone as they assembled around the table. "Today, we're going back to different ways magic can be used to dodge or shield against attacks. Hopefully most of us will never need to know ways to avoid missiles flying at our heads and other various body parts, but as long as the island keeps getting attacked, we need to devote time and energy to keeping our skills sharp." She grinned. "Though no one said we can't have fun doing it."

"And what better time to break out a bit of fun than now?" Merlin asked, blinding people with his Irish-ness smiling far too much for someone only wearing a pair of swim-trunks. "Tony? Would you do the honors of starting us off?"

"Absolutely," Tony said. He flipped the tarp off the tub and called a balloon to his hand. Which he promptly threw at Merlin.

"Hey!" Merlin, so very kindly, responded the same way. Though his balloon was aimed at Karla.

Karla squealed. "I thought we'd agreed to gang up on Tony!" she protested, snagging the balloon with Craft and tossing it back at Merlin. Another flew out of the tub and raced towards Tony. "Have at!" she called to the rest of them. "Try to keep as many balloons as possible from hitting you!"

[OOC on its way! up!]

Comments

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

The crackle of psionic energy that shot out from under Jono's bandages as he pulled them out of the way left a sulfurous odour hanging in the air. The balloon was reduced to a wisp of steam and some molten rubber falling to the ground.

And Jono raised an eyebrow at the oh-so-very-innocent girl who had thrown it, hand still hovering by his face, ready to cover himself up again should anyone take issue with the sight of a boy whose face happened to be on fire.

Jono did 'paranoid' as though he was paid for it.

//Remind me never to wear leather to these meetings again, gel.//

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

Rather thank looking like she was about to faint or start screaming at the sight of him, Karla was beaming at Jono. "That was brilliant! How many do you think you could get at once?" she asked, intrigued.

"--Not that I know who threw it, mind."

And then realized why Jono didn't want to wear leather. "Ohhhhh. I bet that chafes."

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

//Slightly, yes,// Jono replied, with a quick glance at the balloon in hand before tossing it her way in a slow underhand. //All th'more reason for me to get everything lobbed my way before it gets me, innit?//

Which was more or less his way of admitting that he had no idea how many he could get at once, no.

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

Karla caught the balloon and offered Jono her best 'unsure-but-game' grin. "I think you have an excellent point."

Studying him, Karla was willing to bet that he could easily get two, maybe even three balloons in the air. Which was why three more balloons flew towards him, propelled by Craft, even as she hurled the fourth.

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

Four would definitely be a challenge, if Jono did little things like 'aim.'

As it stood, he found himself concentrating his efforts toward not hitting people, as opposed to getting the balloons in particular. Which resulted in one hell of a light show, and a relatively dry Jono.

... Relatively, in that he actually missed the one that she'd thrown, and it wound up getting him full in the chest. Which was on fire anyhow, and so he really only had to worry about the initial splash. Most of the water ended up as steam regardless.

//That... worked, more or less.//

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

"Nicely done!" Karla cried, applauding. "Sorry about that last one. Do you want to try without having to worry about bystanders? I can shield you, so all you have to do focus on are the balloons."

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

Oh, go on and tempt him even more, Karla.

//Yer can do that?// No, really, it was ridiculously tempting. //My flames aren't just fire, I mean.//

They could burn underwater. And they kind of kept him alive, even after blowing most of his internal organs halfway to hell. So he sort of felt obligated to make certain she was aware of this before they went and accidentally levelled the preserve, or something.

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

"We can find out, can't we?" Karla said. "My shields can stop bullets and Craft both, so whether it's physical fire or magical or something in between, I'm pretty sure my shields can stop it. And, I'm, ummm, pretty powerful, at least by the way my people measure magical strength."

Not as strong as she would be when she was older, or even as powerful as Jaenelle was now, but the Sapphire was the ninth strongest Jewel out of thirteen and that had to count for something.

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

What remained of Jono's face managed a somewhat agonized expression while he thought about the options, and the possible consequences, before smacking his indecision down firmly and nodding.

//If nothin' else, we can always start small.//

Yes. That sounded like an adequate solution to the whole thing, didn't it?

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

"Of course!" Karla agreed with a nod. "We can also go off a little ways, so there's no one in the direct line of fire. We'll be careful, we'll take precautions and we'll just see what we can do. Sound good?"

She pointed back beyond the table, further into the preserve. "That look like a good spot to practice?"

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

Jono would have been lying if he said that taking it off and out of the way wasn't the one thing that actually got him to relax, some. Even his flames took on a cool blue tint as he nodded.

//That looks like an excellent spot to practise, luv,// he agreed, already picking his way through the preserve in the direction she'd pointed. //Less likelihood that anybody can accidentally get hurt, out there.//

And, you know, less opportunity for people to gawk. Jono tended to attract a lot of gawkers, even on an island as strange as Fandom.

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

"I've got a rule about innocent by-standers myself," Karla admitted, nodding. "Which is why I save most of my real practice with Craft for when I go home. When you're throwing around this much power, even a small 'oops' can have catastrophic consequences."

She paced a couple yards further in that she'd pointed before stopping. "This looks good to me," she decided, looking around. "You feel comfortable here?"

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

//I've been known to make a small 'oops' here and there,// Jono admitted, though grudgingly as he glanced over his shoulder, to be sure that they were far enough from the other people gathered. //Not in any hurry to make any more, really.//

And for good measure, he took a few more steps out. Not enough to really make any difference, but enough so that he could have the satisfaction of knowing that there were extra steps, and they had been taken.

//Here ought t'be good if we're startin' small, anyhow.//

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

Karla gave him a decisive nod as he took those few extra steps, and suddenly a shimmering blue shield rose up to Jono's waist. "Want to see how much my shields can take then?" she asked. "I'll dome you in and just let you blast at them. They're not reflective, so you don't have to worry about backlash."

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

//Can't hurt to find out,// Jono agreed, looking almost curiously at the shields. //So I just... have a go at them, then?//

Yes, Jono. That is what she was getting at.

//I'm ready whenever you are, gel.//

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

The shields grew all around him, snapping shut above his head. She kept them glowing blue, so he'd know exactly how far they extended and so they could both see when (and if) they failed. If her shields went down, Jono would be able to pull back his flames before anything else got hurt.

Outside the shields, she gave him a thumbs up. "Go for it," she called.

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

//Right.// Right! //Going for it, now.//

He didn't generally 'go for it' with his powers very often. Not here on Fandom, and now was really the first time that wasn't an emergency situation that had him showing them to anybody at all. So this was still sitting somewhere tentatively in the 'baby steps' stage.

Which meant that the first shot he took at the barrier was more of a slightly concussive psionic poke than any actual sort of letting loose.

It was mentioned that he was paranoid, right?

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

If Jono hadn't clearly been so uncertain about his own powers, Karla would have been almost insulted by the little poke he'd given her shields. She'd mentioned they could withstand bullets, never mind a timid little brush like that.

However for her injured vanity, one probably didn't even need the ability to read psychic scents to realize that it was his control, not hers, that Jono was questioning. So rather than get all huffy, Karla just nodded reassuringly. "Barely even registered," she said. "You've got plenty of room to build."

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

If ever he had the opportunity to sit down and think on what went on here, Jono might even think to thank Karla for that understanding. There were entirely too many corners of his powers that he was still ridiculously uncomfortable about, after all.

He nodded back, in any case, and steeled himself for another, somewhat less tentative attempt, loosing a blast against the shield that would have easily ripped a wall in two.

... And aimed very pointedly away from anybody who might be on the other side.

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

...Karla appreciated that caution, yes.

She even took an involuntary step backwards as she felt her shields absorb the power from the blast, grounding it and dissipating it in the earth at their feet. On their own, her shields wouldn't be able to stand up to more than a few of those blasts, though right now she had her shields linked to her Sapphire, drawing power from her Jewel to keep the shields stable. They hadn't had to draw upon her reserves yet, it would only be a matter of time before they did.

"That was a good one!" Karla said, clapping. "But I bet that's not all you got!"

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

//Not even nearly,// Jono replied, lifting a hand and rubbing almost awkwardly at the back of his neck. With his bandages down he could feel skin there, which was... almost human, in the face of the halo of flame that surrounded him from his abdomen on up.

Considering the raw power that was being thrown around right now, he needed that simple inch of humanity that he could find.

//Do yer want all I've got?//

That was... kind of a lot.

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

"Can you shift in mid, er, flame?" Karla asked. "Start at a lower intensity and then increase as we go? This way we don't risk a sudden blow out; I'll be able to tell if my shields are about to fail."

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

Jono took a moment to consider that, and then he nodded.

//I can work my way up,// he agreed. //There's even a chance that I'll run out of steam before you do, if we go it like that.//

And then he'd be taking a nap right there in the preserve.

For now, he was going to start with a blast that was about as strong as the one before it, but he wasn't going to ease up, gradually putting more into it, pushing to go from 'strong enough to break a wall' right on up to 'so, I accidentally blew up the dorms.' ... Which was not an experience that he cared to repeat.

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[glacial_queen]

Karla felt it when her shields would have buckled and collapsed, not very long after Jono began increasing the strength of his blast. When she felt the first warning tremors, she immediately created a link between the shields and her Sapphire, feeding raw power into them so they could continue repairing the damage Jono was causing. It was a steady drain on her Jewel, she could feel the power within it ebbing, but they were far from the danger zone.

So far, anyway.

She was sweating with the effort, breathing heavily, but took a moment to send him a small thread. *We're good!*

Re: Water Balloon Fight!

[furnaceface]

//Good is... good,// Jono replied, his voice a little broken between the effort it took to actually project coherent thought and the massive amount of power that he was channelling.

He was pushing harder, now. His heels were digging into the turf underfoot as the energy he was throwing forward increased even more. The inside of the barrier was now a veritable firestorm, and it would take effort to pick out the shape of Jonothon within it.

This, too, was progress.