middaeg | [Open] I Just Need A Place To Rest My Head

"Memorized this one, actually. It's one of the simpler spells I've seen."

Which makes sense, really. After all, the only thing it really does is give cutting implements a keener edge. She holds out her hand in the first symbol the spell uses... which looks like she's playing rock-paper-scissors, and she just chose scissors.

"I'm not kidding. This is the first symbol."

Riku nods. He's gotten into the habit of memorizing most of the simpler and frequently used spells he's learned if only for the ease of not having to carry a spell book or pages of notes around everywhere he goes. It's especially practical for when he's traveling outside of the city and needs to use his magic.

He watches Kairi form the first symbol and follows along with his free hand. He doesn't have any intention of performing the spell right away, but he finds it helpful to get a feeling for the hand motions first.

"Well, we are sharpening the Keyblades to be able to cut through stuff. So I guess it makes as much sense as anything." Besides, he's seen a lot stranger hand symbols used for spells.

"Fair enough. Anyway, you draw that symbol along the edge of what you're trying to sharpen, mentally picturing it slicing through something as you do. The book said that the harder the material you picture, the sharper the enchantment will make it." She should probably have imagined something a little more giving, now that she thinks about it. Hindsight.

She slides her fingers in the air, miming drawing them along an invisible edge, and stops. "At the very tip, you bring your fingers together." Which, as she does so, makes it look like she's cutting something. "Picture it finishing the cut while you do so, and if you've been channeling the mana right this whole time, the edge should start getting warm."

Riku raises a brow, unable to keep from giving the newly patched roof a glance. Surely Kairi hadn't been imagining something like that happening. But his mind can't help but jump to ways he can continue teasing her about it. "What kind of material did you picture? So I know what not to do."

He continues to mimic her motions until she's done and then lets his hand fall to his side. It's simple enough to remember and follow. He's skilled enough that he should be able to do it without trouble. "So if the edge warms up that means the spell is done?"

"Er... a metal pole, like a flagpole." Yeah. A little bit overboard there.

"Not quite, that's where you stop channeling mana. Then you imagine you're gripping a sharpening stone-" She demonstrates, making a gesture like there's an invisible rock in her hand. "And just drag it along the edge three times. That'll finish the spell. The book said not to test it on anything you care about keeping unsliced."

Which kind of felt like she was being teased, honestly.

Considering that most of the things and people he's had to fight so far have been made of far more malleable stuff then metal he figures it would be safe enough to try something a little weaker. Like wood. Or more particularly, a tree. It's still dangerous to the house, but only if he messes up. It can't be too dull.

"It wouldn't have been a bad idea if there was more metal around. Though I guess that would be good up against certain weapons."

He can't help it. He laughs. His arms cross over his stomach and he leans slightly forward as the laughter rolls through him, a spark of amusement flooding their bond.

"Too...too late now."

She flushes, ducking her head and radiating embarrassment so hard that he probably barely even needs the bond to feel it, but in a weird way, she's actually really happy that he can tease her about it, and there's a kernel of gratitude to him for it. Well, that and fixing up her mess for her.

"Yeah... well, lesson learned, right? Besides, it was mostly the other spell that did that."

He shakes his head, his laughter finally petering out. It's not even that this one particular incident was so funny, but more that it just reminds Riku of their history of magical mishaps. They've had a few so far. It would be pretty bad if even the spell books are starting to doubt their abilities.

"Yeah. We'll get it this time though. We make a good team." At the very least they have a habit of balancing each other out and coming up with solutions better when they're together.

"Okay, I'm going to give it a try." Bringing his free hand into the scissor position, he raises his Keyblade with his other hand, bringing its edge and his fingers together. He imagines cutting through the tough wood of a tree trunk, and focuses that image in his mind as he draws his fingers up to the end of his blade, where he brings his fingers together. Then he cups his free hand as if he were holding a stone and runs it up and down the length of the edge.

To be fair, they usually tend to make one big mistake when learning a new spell, then get it down. That's not such a bad track record, she thinks. And it bodes well for both of these spells!

But yeah, when they fail it does tend to be pretty spectacular.

"No one else I'd rather have learning this stuff with me." Nope, not even Sora. Then again, Riku always did make a much better study buddy.

She settles in to watch, deliberately not giving any advice. It's a pretty simple spell and he's always been good at following directions, so really, she doesn't think there's much she has to interject at this point. Instead she tries to radiate confidence at him, and watches his efforts with some pride growing in her, which might also bleed over.

He feels her confidence rush through him from their bond, boosting his own, and giving his movements a smooth surety as he goes through the motions of the spell. Once it's finished he takes a finger and runs it lightly along the edge of Braveheart, enough to feel the sharpness of the blade but not enough to pierce skin.

Once he knows the edge is satisfactorily sharp, he turns a grin towards Kairi. Pride and accomplishment radiate from him through their bond.

"Want to test it out?"

She has absolutely no doubt about the end result of the spell once she feels that from him. Not that she was particularly worried before then.

Still, testing it out sounds like a good plan. "Right! I set some stuff up over where I was training before..." She leads the way over to where he originally saw her staring up at the embedded Oathkeeper, and waves her hand at a few extra logs she'd found lying around and set up into crude targets.

"With that spell, you should be able to chop through one of these pretty easily!"

Riku follows her over to the log targets, taking a few practice swings with his Keyblade. The sharpening spell shouldn't have effected the balance of his weapon, but he's learned enough of this world's magic to know that sometimes spells can have some unexpected side effects. But Braveheart slashes through the air as well as it ever has, giving Riku a satisfactory feeling.

"Alright. Here we go."

He steps in front of one of the targets, keeping a few paces away to leave himself room for maneuverability. Falling into his fighting stance, he raises his keyblade with both hands and rushes forward, bringing his keyblade down on the target with a simple slash that cuts easily through the top of the wood. He draws the blade all the way down until Braveheart as severed the target into two pieces.

He's grinning when he straightens up, turning towards Kairi.

"Looks like we've mastered this one."

Well, that settles that pretty nicely! Kairi grins in delight as she watches him slice through the log so easily. Perfect.

"Way to go, Riku!" She cheers, holding up a hand for a high-five. "That worked perfectly, and your first time too!"

For them, that's a great success. Though her screw-up may have just been so epic that it took care of the obligatory first failure for both of them.

"Well... guess we better try the weight-reducing one too, huh?"

On a high of accomplishment he raises his hand to meet hers in a high-five. After one success he's more than ready to move onto the next part with, hopefully, the same results. His competitiveness is as present as ever, even if this is in good fun and for practicality.

"Yeah. I'm ready."

"Just keep a good grip on it once we've got the enchantment set. Alright, so what you're supposed to do is put your hands underneath the object, both palms up. The book says 'pressed firm against it as if to try to lift it up' but since we're working with something that's not as heavy as a cart or wagon or such, you can just hold it up."

Really, she should have realized she was going to have to cut down on the spell's power much earlier than this based on this instruction alone. How embarrassing...

He almost wants to comment that he's figured that much out already, but he bites his lip. As much as he enjoys teasing his friends he doesn't want to end up pushing it so far that he makes Kairi feel bad. Or worse than she already does. Accidents happen, even to the best.

"Okay." He lifts up Braveheart, placing his hands palm up underneath it as Kairi instruct him to. The pose is strange, almost like he's making an offering of his Keyblade.

"What's next?"

She knows full well how easy it would be to tease her, and she appreciates his self-restraint.

"Alright, now imagine something lifting it up. Something aside from your hands, spread out all over the entire sword. And just keep imagining that and channeling your mana into the spell until it feels right."

Yep, it's that simple. Which, ironically, might be part of why she went so overboard with it.

His eyes fall closed as he listens to her instructions and begins channeling his mana into the spell. He imagines some imaginary force slowly lifting his Keyblade from him. The force is steady but slow, and he hopes that imagining it this way will make the spell less hard to handle.

As the spell progresses he can feel the weight of Braveheart growing lighter in his hands. When its weight feels light enough to him, he cuts off his flow of mana and opens his eyes, smile already beginning to stretch across his face.

With one hand, he grabs for the handle, just to make sure it doesn't try to fly off anywhere. Then he makes a few practice swings.

"It feels really good. Almost weightless. Maybe I should have stopped sooner." He doesn't want it to be so light that he forgets he's holding it.

She's not surprised he manages the spell without difficulty. But once he's finished with it, she can only hope he's more aware than she was...

Fortunately, his grip when he takes the handle is very firm, and she sighs with relief. That Keyblade isn't going anywhere. On the other hand, judging by what he said...

"Yep, that's the same thing that happened with me. I think it's just such a simple spell that it's way too easy to put too much power into it. The trick's gonna be measuring out just the right amount... like baking something really fussy."

Fortunately, he's able to keep his grip just fine through his practice swings. But it's still something he's going to need to get used to. One mistake is all that's needed for his Keyblade to be the next taking flight. But for now...it's fine.

"I can try it again if it becomes a problem. I've been lugging it around for so long I have to get used to the new weight either way." He shudders when she makes the baking comment. "I hope it's not that extreme or we're in real trouble."

"Oh come on, we can bake!" Cookies. Maybe a cake or pie. And the odds of them burning something were more than even.

At least no one was gunning for Aqua's spot as household baker.

"But yeah, you're right. I'm not really sure what the perfect weight would really be, anyway... It's not like I can call Destiny's Embrace up to compare. I just need to work on my grip, I guess." And not being startled into letting go of things.

"You can bake, maybe. It's not really my thing." He's always been more than happy to eat the bake goods. Trying to make them just seems like a lot of trouble and an accident waiting to happen.

"It'll take some practice. Which...we should probably do in a more secluded area. Just to be safe."

"I, uh, probably need a few more lessons." At least if she's going to make anything more complex than the most basic stuff.

She nods at his suggestion. "Do you have a place in mind?"

"You know I'm always willing to be a taste tester."

His head tilts to the side slightly as he considers her question. "Maybe a clearing in the forest? In a safe area."

"You and Sora both." Though with the teaching he's gotten recently, maybe Sora would want to help out too. Who knows?

She nods. "Yeah, that'd make sense. Do you think there's anyplace already cleared out that we could ask around about, or will we have to find something ourselves?"

[Open] I Just Need A Place To Rest My Head

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