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Goodfellow · **05-14-2014, 02:17 PM**

He nodded vigorously in response.Â Placing his hand fully into his pocket he turned on his heel and said, "Oh yes, yes, of course.Â We can work around your limited capacity for letters just now, but eventually--soon, in fact--you will need to learn to read much more proficiently."Â

Then more quietly, almost reverently, "Books, Miss Joz, represent everything.Â They are our best connection to all the things we could never discover or think ourselves and they allow us to climb higher and higher on the shoulders of the great minds that preceded us and to carry their theories and formulations further even than they themselves ever dreamed."

He pulled a smallish blue-green tome out of his pocket and brandished it before her for effect.Â "I did not simply change my life for books; books, in short, change the world."

Zhavi · **05-14-2014, 08:33 PM**

Somehow, Zhi managed to maintain her expression. She drew her eyebrows down, pursed her lips, and eyed Lalataru. "If ye say so. . ."

The book was viewed with a hesitant interest. "That what ye use t'do -- " she jerked her head towards the rocks.

Goodfellow · **05-15-2014, 10:37 AM**

Lolo lowered the raised book and gripped it almost bashfully between his hands.

"Yes, among other things," he responded.

Zhavi · **05-15-2014, 02:32 PM**

"'Other things?'" Zhi put on her best trying-not-to-look-skeptical face. "Like what?"

Goodfellow · **05-15-2014, 05:02 PM**

"Whatever I could, Miss Joz.Â Knowing what those other things might be, how one might advance, that is the work of books and of teachers.Â It's why I read so much, and it's why I enrolled at the Guild," he replied with a slightly dismissive chuckle.

Zhavi · **05-15-2014, 05:09 PM**

Dead end.

"Oh." She paused and looked down, suddenly awkward. "Will that be me some day?"

Goodfellow · **05-15-2014, 05:34 PM**

"That, Miss Joz, depends entirely on you," he said before raising his hand to delay any commentary on her part.Â "I don't mean your aetheric potential," he continued with a gesture toward the rock, "you've demonstrated that sufficiently for a novitiate."

He pointed at her chest and added, "I mean your commitment."

Zhavi · **05-15-2014, 05:46 PM**

Zhi's mouth had been open, but at his gesture she snapped it shut. She pouted in silence, pushing herself up and brushing herself off down her front. There were a few grass stains, and everything was intolerably damp. "Ain't got nowhere else t'go," she muttered, crossing her arms. She stared fixedly at the ground. "I aim t'be a good student, Master Lolotaru." She sounded almost sulky.

Goodfellow · **05-15-2014, 08:07 PM**

A look of concern, or consternation, dimmed Lolo's countenance.

"But don't you see?Â You're already becoming a good student.Â I don't think for a moment that I made you do that," he said with a wave toward the rock.Â "You did that, Miss Joz.Â I merely showed you how."

Zhavi · **05-16-2014, 12:41 PM**

"Hm." Zhi sighed. Her voice was small. She'd returned to being meek and timid. "Nah, I jes. . .nevermind." She turned away from Lalataru, digging the toe of one of her overlarge shoes into the ground. "What do we do now?"

Goodfellow · **05-16-2014, 02:50 PM**

"Can you do it again," Lolo asked.Â "Can you cast Ruin again?"

Zhavi · **05-16-2014, 03:08 PM**

Zhi snatched up the notebook and grease pencil from the ground, opened it up, and started trying again without another word to Lalataru. Her face was set in concentration, though the line of her eyebrows and the grim way she pulled her mouth to one side proclaimed something else going on in her head. It took her several more tries (her expression gradually smoothing) before a spark left her fingers. It fizzled out shortly after it materialized, leaving Zhi to stagger sideways. "Oh," she said. Her legs braced wide, and she bent to put her hands on her knees. The notebook and grease pencil were clutched awkwardly in between.

Her eyes had gone wide. "Shit, that -- it takes th'stuffin' right out o'ye, it does." She sounded as if she'd been winded, or someone had gotten a good punch in under her ribs.

Goodfellow · **05-16-2014, 06:13 PM**

Lolotaru nodded.Â "Pay attention to that empty feeling.Â You've been full of aether your entire life, you just weren't aware of it.Â Now as your depleted reserves regenerate, you'll feel it.Â Focus on the flow of it inside you, now that you know what to look for.Â Awareness of and familiarity with one's personal aetherflow is of paramount importance to any arcanist."

Zhavi · **05-18-2014, 07:47 PM**

"O-oh." There wasn't much that could surprise Zhavi when it came to all manner of activity in the city itself, but this was wholly outside of her area of expertise. This was something new, something she'd never known existed within her own body. She got a funny look on her face: tucked in her chin and looked down at her own body as if she might see a new growth forming. "What's it. . .sposed t'feel like, then?"

Goodfellow · **05-19-2014, 03:16 PM**

Lolo looked down at his palms.Â "Er...well, you're enervated now--tapped...er...tired and dry, in a way.Â As your aether supply refills it might feel like inflating, like waking up, perhaps."Â He furrowed his brow and thought hard.Â His own aetherflow was as familiar to him as the palm of his hand, as natural as the pumping of blood in his veins or air in his lungs.Â "As you begin to feel less like you do now, and more like you did before, the details, the background of that shift in the way you feel is what you'll be looking for."Â He paused before proceeding, "You know how, when you're very tired and very quiet you sometimes here your own breath or heartbeat in your head?Â It's not dissimilar to that...er...sort of."

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Innocence and Avarice [closed]

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes