#earthrunes

"The art is the arrow, the bunk the string pull, the realm? the target" He says

"Sir?" A polite interruption.

Adam is now sitting down in a class room of sorts, well, okay it's a study with two chairs and a black board

"Sorry, just trying to get you hyped for more learning"

"No, I get that but....."

"But?" he asks

"I.... I kinda feel like I want to focus on something else. Combat. Not-magic."

"Adam, magic is my specialty" he reminds

"Don't get me wrong, you're a great teacher and I really like learning from you and I want you to teach me but.... magic isn't really my thing."

A sigh "Adam, earlier you were estatic about magic. Remember the chimerical basketball?"

"You know how to fight, right? We could do that."

Magnus walks to Adam "Adam, you can't keep blaming yourself or magic for what happened to Minerva"

He winces and looks away. "Yes, Sir."

"Now, we're studying realms today, and I think, you might be more comfortable learning how to influence things. Objects of the mortal world. We'll work on it okay? " He pulls out a regular true spaldning basketball "Hop it. It's a basketball... if something happens to it, you have no excuse for guilt"

Adam sighs, reluctant, but takes the ball.

He stares at it a moment. "Why not just throw it?"

"Because you already know how to throw it... you don't know how to hopscotch it..yet." He points out

Adam bounces it a few times, as a bunk. Then he spins it on one finger and flicks it to try the cantrip.

And it launches, hopscotching from finger up and over to land without a bounce to it's intended destination!

Adam looks away.

"Well there you go, if you thrown it, it would have bounced up at my face instead of just settling."

"Now.." Magnus says "Head's up." And he throws the ball at Adam to catch "Now, whisper it."

If Adam ignores Head's up, he gets a ball whapped against him. If he pays attention, catching should be easy

He catches it without much joy. "What should I ask it?"

"Why it may seem that it won't know much, and it probably doesn't, you'd be surprised how useful questioning things can be in detective work. You can ask it who held it recently.. though you and I are sure to be on the list . You can ask WHERE it was bought, or where it is normally stored. You can ask HOW full it is of air. Much like a journalist, the questions can vary"

A sigh and he balances the ball on his head, invoking the magic to whisper "Who just threw you?"

"The Magic guy who won't let you just use a sword already Geez " it whispers

It seems to find Magnus WAY unfair

Magnus blinks then sighs "Keep asking I think I sense where this is going"

"And before that?"

"A goatly boy visiting"

"Do you like having magic used on you?"

"I'm a basketball, I'm pretty easy goin.." And it fades, the spell done

Adam puts it down.

"Mm interesting. Did you notice anything on the first answer?"

"It didn't know your name."

"That and it carried over some of your resentment... our magic isn't separate from us, it flavors and touches things up. A basketball shouldn't care about your sword work.. but it said what you might have been feeling. Or am I wrong on that?"

"Uuuhhh..... no." At least he's honest.

Magnus laughs "It's okay. I would be an asshole to demand you cast then get mad when id did what magic does. OUR Magic ,fae magic, is ..very much alive. We're not willworkers who do a simple 'so mote' ...nor vampires who have dark gifts tied to stolen blood. We are very much magical in ourselves and our spells are echoes of us."

"Willworkers? Vampire?" Skeptical.

"Prodigals... dreams that went wrong if you believe the theory... the Children of Lilith, aka Vampires, are real.. and dangerous, and often banal.. they've become too tied to decay and desperation. And yes, there are mortal mages who can be our best allies or worst enemies. I wont' even get into the shifters, of whom the were wolves are the most famous. Just.. avoid the Get of Fenris they have no sense of humor and carry a grudge"

"Wait, they're all real?"

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." He quotes, "Shakespeare knew a bit too much for a mortal. To this day I suspect he really did have a Puck in his life. yes, Adam, there are ghosts, there are werewolves, there are vampires, there are wizards. There are things even further out than that.. and all of them could be dangerous to us. Do not seek them out. Do not get too chummy. Prodigals are lost nightmares and dreams, they don't know what they are, so they've created some convulted excuses... whole religions about their being. But they are dangerous in their ignorance, and even more so in their knowledge"

"Coooooool.....!" The boy sounds awed.

"Kind of, yeah. I've met a few but I got to tell you you don't always know. You can't ken them, they've fallen too far from the Dreaming, that's why we cal lthem Prodigals."

There is a light in his eyes that says he is -totally- interested in meeting these things!!

"Oh dear.. " He notices the look "Adam... it's not just a matter they could kill you, it's that they could learn too much. If a willworker found out about the hold, he could drain the balefire dry and starve out us all... If a vampire found out about your mom, he could put the bit on her, killing her hard one fae soul, and destroying her humanity as well as she became a highly capable parasite predator doomed to eventually become so conssumed by bloodlust even other children of Lilith had to put her down."

That makes him blanche. "Oh."

"Exactly, I know you're brave, and I know you want to do it all.. hell, cements in my mind you were meant to be Fiona. But we're a community, we kithain and sometimes you just have to think of how far the fall out gets." A look at him "However, there ARE some prodigals I know and trust. Want to meet one sometime?"

"Yeah! I mean, if it won't hurt anyone."