RP:Seeking Aid from the Glacial Magus
Frostmaw Colosseum
Satoshi sits perched atop the perimeter wall of the arena floor, her eyes glued to the battle unfolding before her. A young Frost Giant warrior paces in a cautionary circle, his armor rent and bloody, his chest heaving, and his spear broken halfway down the haft. His eyes are locked on his target, a battle-scarred mammoth with great, curling tusks stained red with the blood of his many opponents. Bojovnik is the mammoth's name, a crowd favorite in the arena, for he has trampled, mauled, and obliterated many challengers in his time. Challengers like this Frost Giant, a youth whose ego has outgrown his strength, and is in danger of meeting his end upon Bojovnik's fearsome tusks. Satoshi watches the challenger as he circles and the mammoth stands firm and unmoving in the center. She's seen this result a hundred times, with more than a handful ending in death. The daily fights of the arena are not required to end with the death of a combatant, however few of the fighters are willing to surrender when bested. Frostmaw fights until the end. And the crowd eats it up all too eagerly, holding their collective breath now and waiting for the inevitable strike from one warrior or the other.
Astrid had reasons beyond watching giants and mammoths fight for trekking through the frozen tundra she found herself in. Wrapped in layers so thick the woman nearly had to toddle to get around, she hung moved toward the wall that encased the arena, her eyes wide with surprise and unadulterated shock; not once has she ever seen anything resembling the tusked creature or the giant. The witch had meant to hunt for Satoshi, to locate her and ask for tutelage under her, but after being directed to the daily fights, all thoughts of learning the craft of magic slipped from her, and she waited and stared, her breath hitched tightly in her throat. She'd ask around for the Queen of Frostmaw once the fight had a victor.
Satoshi's form tenses half a second before the Frost Giant lunges forward with the broken end of his spear. The immense humanoid roars as he thrusts the ragged weapon forward into Bojovnik's face, yet the mammoth doesn't flinch. He has faced this amateur attempt too many times, and shying away only earned him fresh scars each time. No, instead of backing off as the giant hoped, Bojovnik rushes forward to meet the weapon, head lowered and black eyes blazing. The mammoth's trunk darts up as swiftly as any snake, to wrap around the spear and yank it forward, thus pulling the giant off his feet to be impaled upon a waiting tusk. A uniform "Oooh!" goes up from the crowd as the giant shudders once and slumps, the tusk piercing deeper into his gut with the collapse. With an almost delicate grace, Bojovnik's trunk is used to lift the youth up and place him facedown on the ground, defeated. And yet, still breathing, for the Frost Giant gives a faint groan of pain as he's moved. Satoshi intervenes then, slipping down from the wall to land lightly upon the frozen sands while a whistled is uttered. The mammoth halts in response and turns to face her, sides heaving from his fight. "He's had enough, Bojovnik, leave him," the magus commands. Obediently the mammoth backs away, and the colosseum healers can swoop in to remove the defeated. It takes four of the Frost Giant shaman to lift him, and none of them seem to notice the bundled girl standing in their path as they hurry out of the arena. Watch out, Astrid~.
Astrid didn't join the chorus of groans with her own when the giant met his end on the mammoth's tusk; she gasped. Hands encased in woolen mittens flew to her mouth, hiding her gaping jaw. "Is he going to be alright?" She managed to ask on a muffled tone as she turned to the nearest onlooker. They hadn't heard her, so she turned to stare back into the arena, only to find the area filled with more of the large creatures, and the slight woman. Once the felled participant was gathered, and the giants moved to usher him from the arena, Astrid managed to haul herself far enough out of the way that only the air displaced by their bodies touched her. By no means was it a calm movement however; she squeaked and frantically jogged from the path of the healers, nearly tripping over the blanket she had wrapped herself in. Afterwards, she slumped against the wall and panted heavily, her frightened breaths white clouds. Despite the passed danger, and her thudding heart, she turned once more to a crowd member and asked for Satoshi. After receiving a look of confusion, because who didn't know who the frost woman was, Astrid turned with the pointed finger that led into the arena and towards the woman standing therein.
Satoshi's eyes are already locked on the girl, so that when Astrid follows the pointed finger, she'll find the magus standing there staring. Behind Satoshi and framing her tiny form is the mammoth, preoccupied with running his trunk over the freshly bloodied tusk, waiting for his next challenger. The crowd's attention is on Bojovnik, but Satoshi pays him no more mind than to flick a vulpine ear in his direction. Her attention is on the strange girl wrapped up in a blanket and looking terribly out of place here. With deliberate slowness, Satoshi approaches, pace dignified yet graceful, as if her muscles are purely liquid in nature. When she reaches the girl, the magus offers a hand to help her off the wall she's slumped against--a hand sheathed in a fingerless black glove and whose palm is aglow with an azure light that outlines some form of rune. The light, and the flesh beneath, give off a clear aura of cold. "May I help you?" Satoshi asks in dulcet tones with a tip of her head, amber-flecked eyes dancing with unspoken amusement.
Astrid watched the woman as she crossed the distance between them, her wide eyes wider and her mouth pursed to hide the chattering of her teeth. She was freezing. "I was told you might be able to help me," the girl murmured as she slid from the wall with Satoshi's help and after she had thoroughly scrutinized the woman's palm. Now that she stood before the woman, huddled tightly within her woolen blanket and multiple layers of warmth that still couldn't managed to keep the cold at bay, Astrid felt fatuous, but that hadn't stopped her mouth from making a further fool out of herself. "I had been told you can control water. Well, they said liquid and said you also manipulate blood." That latter element was a scary thought, but the girl continued on. "I've been looking for someone to help me learn how to control my power. I have an affinity for water I've noticed, and I can make grass and flowers grow and bloom." She paused to mull the information over for a quick moment before she surged on, "I don't know if that's water related or earth, or whatever." A hand waved away the thought entirely. "I know you're a busy woman, but I was hoping you could help me, if not at least point me in the right direction." Astrid words came nearly a mile a minute, her nervousness apparent; she talked, a lot.
Satoshi listens, with ears perked forward and attentive, to the girl's words. By the time the rapid statements come to an end, the kit is wearing a lopsided grin that reveals fangs amid the amusement. "You heard correctly. While my skill is with ice and snow specifically, its kin I can call to as well with ease. But whether or not I can help you depends upon what type of magic your abilities stem from. I can provide nothing, if your gift is divinely given." Although, something about the way the girl carries herself, Satoshi has doubts she's some form of elemental paladin or priest. They're indescribably rare, and usually well aware of their abilities. "If what you can do is of the Arcane or Nature, that's a differe--" Satoshi's voice is lost beneath the sudden cheers of the crowd as a new challenger steps forward to face Bojovnik. Glancing over her shoulder then, the foxkin takes in the scene before looking back at Astrid and nodding toward the arena exit. "This way. We can speak in peace and quiet outside."
Scent of Night Blossoms
Astrid visibly jumped when the crowd hollered with their excitement at Bojovnik's newest contender. She waited until the sounds of the fight were nothing more than a slight rumble, still following the woman, before she answered the foxkin's questions. "I've not been touched by the gods," she stated, an amused smile finding her face on the wake of her words. "I don't know where my powers come from, truthfully, but I know gods have nothing to do with it." Not that the information was necessary, she added as an explanation. "I found out last year or so I could even -do- magic. Apparently, it had been building inside me, and it was killing me. Mana, I think is what it was called. I have no clue though." A lost shrug lifted her covered shoulders, and she stared expectantly at the woman, as if expecting her to offer some insight, or answer Astrid had not found on her own.
Satoshi, once outside the arena's perimeter, weaves her way through the floral flooring to the Winter Willow, where she leans her back against it and turns to face Astrid. Arms cross over the kit's chest and a palm is used to prop her chin in a thoughtful pose. "Mana can refer to the energies of both Arcane and Nature magic. You would not be the first to discover your abilities later rather than sooner, when the mana has begun to accumulate too much. My apprentice suffered from a similar, but more severe, affliction." As did Satoshi herself, with her magic so untamed and potent as a child that it had nearly destroyed her. She'd been fortunate to find her teachers then. "You said you have some control over water and plant growth. Tell me, when you do this, how do you go about it? Force of will? Hand gestures? Words--they don't have to be words you know, might seem gibberish to you, in fact? Do you hear a melody or voice, as if the water is speaking to you? Understanding how you access it is the first step in determining what type of magic you possess, and how to begin controlling it."
Astrid could enjoy the area she and Satoshi occupied, if it weren't for the blasted cold that had begun to turn her lips blue. The fact that other's had been affected with the same affliction had her brightening only because she now knew she wasn't alone with the problem, but as Satoshi questioned her, she fell silent and tried to recall the times the water had actually done her bidding. "Sometimes," she started, drawing hard on her memories, "sometimes, I hear it talking to me. Not often, and other times, a hand gesture or a look will tell it what do to without it saying anything to me. But it seems to only happen when I haven't used magic in a while. Unless I'm releasing just enough so I don't get sick, I can't seem to do anything with the water."
Satoshi nods in response. "Surplus of mana serving as a conduit. It's a place to start, certainly. I'd have to see your methods in action, to tell which field they fall under, however the beginning methods of elemental Arcane and Nature magic are fairly similar. So I can at least provide you some pointers. If you're not doing so already, meditate. As often as you can, and use that trance to look inward. You want to get a feel for your core, where the mana originates from. This allows you to grow more familiar with it, to learn what it can do, what limits it has, and how compliant it is. Your core of magic is like any other muscle in your body, it can move already, but without training, it will not do exactly what you want, when you want it to, and not for nearly as long or potently as you might prefer. Meditating allows you to map that out. In time, it also serves as a valuable means to collecting errant magic so as to recharge your depleted supply. Along with all of this, meditation helps train your mind to retain concentration and control. Spells of any type are of little use, if your mind cannot remained focused on them."
Astrid followed Satoshi words with a continuous nod of her head; she was following along, but this whole meditation business... It would help if she could sit still long enough to actually reflect inward on herself. She had gone to rubbing her hands briskly, trying to force a warmth into them that they had long since lost. "Meditate. Got it." She managed through her heavily chattering teeth. She honestly wanted to remain, to talk longer with the ice magus, but hypothermia was becoming a worry in her mind, and her body hurt from the amount of shivering she was doing. "Can I show you my methods after I take a hot bath and eat something warm? Otherwise, your help will be useless, because I'll be frozen solid. Well, actually..." She paused, just briefly, to imagine Satoshi bringing her back to life, or at leased drawing her out of the ice all together, in which case, she would be helpful. "If you're going to be busy, then perhaps I can schedule an appointment with you tomorrow. Thank you so much for your help. I really, truly appreciate it."
Satoshi inclines her head. "Very well. Warm yourself, and we'll speak further when our paths cross again. I am not difficult to find~."