hugtopia_logs | Practice Makes Perfect

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Practice Makes Perfect

♥ Who: Devon Darconin and OPEN
♥ Where: The outskirts of the city
♥ When: Early September
♥ What: Magic training! (AKA unintentionally causing a bit of a scene)
♥ Rating: Likely PG

Just because he's been brought here doesn't mean that Devon can slack off on his training. Once he gets back home he'll have to step right back into his role. Getting rusty really isn't an option. Thankfully the edge of the city isn't well traveled and is safe for him to use as a training ground. He's already been working for hours. His staff is stuck up in the ground with his jacket draped over the top for safe keeping. A large circle around where he currently stands is marked by shards of ice that almost look like spears.

A swirl of water starting at his feet spirals upward with him in the center. The water streams continue to swirl and twist before suddenly exploding outward into tiny droplets that coalesce into ice right before they hit the ground. Before they touch he's already on the move, darting around the area with what appears to be a whip made of water in his hand. He wields it easily and with deadly precision as each droplet of ice is struck perfectly. Pillars of stone appear under his feat and before him, each growing taller until he's rather high up in the air. Without anything visible there to catch him, Devon launches himself into open air. The whip solidifies into a solid staff of ice that he uses like a pole vaulter only in reverse. He plants it on the ground and slides his way back down.

When he hits the ground the ice disappears. Instantly he holds his hands curved in front of him and shifts to using wind. A sphere of air forms, the ripping currents almost visible within it. With a thrust from a flat palm, the air shoots forward with a roar, rustling anything loose nearby. Devon quickly follows that up with a flare of flame arcing out from him in four different directions. Even after all of that the strength of his magic doesn't seem to be decreasing any, though he is breathing harder than normal.

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The fantastic display of magical prowess and power doesn't go unnoticed, especially from afar where it looks like a meteorological phenomenon happening at the edges of the city. The weather has gone back to normal, or whatever is considered "normal" for a place seemingly outside of time and the typical rules of every other world out there, thus making visions of water, ice, wind, and fire suddenly appearing out of nowhere that much more intriguing.

Minato heads out in that direction and does keep his distance, safe enough near some of the buildings, but is close enough to see who exactly is behind this intentional elemental and acrobatic display. He isn't surprised to see it's Devon, though he does feel a slight pang of guilt for what equates to like spying or eavesdropping on a practice session.

When all is said and done for the time being, Minato finally move closer to Devon's location, keeping at least arms' length from those ice spears piercing the ground and Minato doesn't intend to crowd him. He does make sure too that all is quiet enough so his footsteps are enough of a sign too that someone is approaching him.

"That's really impressive."

Devon pauses in his practice and glances Minato's way. Once he realizes who it is he breaks into a small laugh. He's not really surprised that someone found him.

"I'm not quite sure it's impressive really. It's hard to do anything really impressive when you're just practicing. Most of my best work comes in a real fight or spar when I have to think on my feel and conjure on the fly. This is..."

He shrugs.

"Still impressive," Minato finishes for him, but not to counter or conflict with what Devon's saying. All of that magic and the acrobatics is way more than what Minato is capable of.

"Can you combine elements?"

Devon does have a lot of them at his disposal and Minato's just curious about the extent of that magic or any potential harmony they might have together.

"If I've used all of them, I can combine them, so to speak at least, into one big attack. I'm also working on some different attacks that use different elements together."

He kneels down to get closer to the ground and holds his hand up. Slowly a sphere of earth forms there.

"This is the current one I'm working on. I think if I can get the ratios of everything right, I can make this into something like a bomb. When fire heats up water it creates steam, and that steam could build up enough pressure to shatter the rock outward."

Manipulating earth like that is something Minato hasn't really seen before. He's only used to the other elements and then some, but not earth. It's fascinating to watch, he has to admit.

"That sounds useful. Just be careful."

He doesn't want things blowing up and Devon hurting himself in the process. He's all for science and experimenting but with all of the safety precautions, of course.

"Don't worry. This one doesn't have anything inside of it. When I work on the real ones I can detonate them from a distance. Basically I throw it as far as I can and then break the control over the fire and water inside so they collide."

Not super dangerous. Or at least not really. Most of his experimenting isn't anywhere near as dangerous as what he faces from everyone else.

"How far can you control your magic?"

If Devon's launching things over a distance, then is there a maximum? Then there's another question that comes to mind, too, given what happened over the past month during the heatwave.

"If you see a fire not set by you, can you take control over that?"

"I guess it depends what I'm doing. Most of what I work with doesn't really require a lot of distance control. My distance attacks are released and then my magic over them ends most of the time. I've never really tested the few types that don't to see how far I could stretch the control."

He's never really had any reason to. If someone were running away from him he wouldn't have any real reason to use his magic against them under most circumstances.

"Not fire, no. I can only control what I create. Water is the only element I can have some control over if I didn't originally create it."

Minato nods and is grateful that Devon doesn't mind sharing that much about his magic abilities. Who knows when they'll be useful here.

"But it's draining on you to use a lot of much of it. Your physical health is related to your magic health, so to speak?"

He's not sure if the question makes sense.

"If I use too much of it, sure. You have to push the limits in order to get stronger though, and I haven't thrown around enough today to wear me out all that much. Enough that I can feel I did things, but there's a lot left in the tank."

He's pushed himself until he's physically collapsed before, so he knows what it feels like leading up to that point.

"You got a lot of energy to spare."

Magic isn't all that easy to wield but Devon makes it look effortless based on what he's capable of.

"But water and ice are your things. Can you change their melting or boiling point?"

Change their natural properties at all, Minato's just wondering.

Where Devon's from, wielding magic isn't really all that hard. Controlling different types was, but otherwise it didn't get too exhausting for basic things.

"What's that?"

Devon's world isn't all that scientifically advanced. Or at least the magicians aren't. Boiling and melting point means nothing to him.

It doesn't occur to Minato that he had to explain this, and yet it does put into perspective for him.

"At home, when it's hot enough, water boils. When it's cold enough, water freezes. Certain temperatures dictate that."

Minato thinks about how he can explain it.

"Like when you made the ice spears. You can control when they do or don't melt?"

"Water does that were I'm from too. I knew it had to get hot enough or cold enough to do that, but I guess I didn't realize there was a specific temperature where that happened."

When he wants to shift water's form he tends to do it instinctively without really thinking about the physical shift in temperature.

"Sort of. If I keep adding magic to them they won't melt. If I stop that, they'll eventually warm up and melt slowly."

"That's useful. I just think of things like if you needed to reach something too high. You could make a block of ice that doesn't melt to stand on."

But Minato doesn't know if that's just abusing magic itself or abusing his magical abilities.

Devon laughs.

"I have much better was of doing something like that than just standing on a block of ice. More fun too."

He pauses for a second, considering, and then holds his hand out.

"Want to see?"

"Sure. If you don't mind."

Minato would like to see what Devon's got in mind. There has to be so many uses for magic as flexible or powerful as Devon's.

A look of pure, childish excitement flashes across Devon's face. He grabs Minato's hand, aimed perfectly thanks to a small gust of wind to tell him where it is, and a moment later a staff of ice appears from the ground and starts growing. Devon grabs onto it and leads Minato's hand there as well.

The staff keeps growing and as it does where they're holding lifts higher into the air.

"There's a little ledge for your foot. If you want me to shift the height so you're more stable, let me know."

Minato grips Devon's hand and follows him, remembering a second later that somehow Devon saw it. That in itself was already pretty amazing, but he has that thought too soon because the next feat is ten times cooler than that. Literally.

"I think I got it, thank you." But Minato would definitely let Devon know because this is not quite what Minato had expected. "So this is what you meant."

"Yeah. Now hold on tight because we're going up."

And indeed, the staff of ice continues to grow and they rise up into the air. Devon has done this so often that being so high up with only a small staff to keep him from falling doesn't faze him at all. He doesn't even think about the fact that Minato might not be quite as comfortable.

Minato follows those instructions without hesitation and also just take in what's happening right now. He's seen small glaciers appear, sure, but nothing like this. Like being on this staff of ice.

This is kind of high up, but he thinks that Devon could do something to save him, if it got to that.

"How often did you have to do this?"

"I don't have to very often. I just do it for fun really. I've used the same idea as a way to get down safely when I've been thrown into the air or as a way to jump over something."

Really though, it's just kind of nice to be up so high where it's quiet and he can feel the wind on his face. It's not exactly a super useful skill in battle.

"Or maybe near a cliff?" Some steep drop?

But the view from up here is nice. Minato can see how high the walls around the area really are and more of the architecture of the city.

"I don't think your dragons actually help you fly then?"

"That too, if it ever happens."

Thankfully most of the land where he commonly travels is pretty flat. Cliffs would probably be too much temptation for other magicians to try and throw him off of them.

"No. They can't physically carry someone really. They aren't actual dragons but elements. You can fly on a real dragon though."

"Have you ever done that?"

Flying on a real dragon, that is, not the getting thrown off cliffs part! Part of Minato wonders too how his elemental dragons feel about real dragons and how they feel about Devon using all of his powers for demonstration. They must be okay with it.

"Flown on a dragon? Sure. There's one dragon, the Guardian, that I'm close to. We hang out on occasion and he's willing to fly me around in emergencies."

There's also a dragon mage group that he wants to meet at some point. From what he understands they're able to combine their magic with their dragons.

Minato nods since that is pretty cool. Free transportation.

"How does he know if you really are in an emergency?"

Does the dragon just instinctively know and then come save the day?

"If I'm at our headquarters we can send a message to where he is. The main computer is the one form of technology we all have where I'm from. They're all linked together in a way. Otherwise the only way I can call him is if he's nearby and I whistle."

Somewhat limited, sure, but it's generally enough. Devon doesn't have reason to fly around very often.

"A dragon that uses a computer?"

Just checking on that to be sure Minato's hearing that correctly. The whistling is understandable, but the mix of fantasy and technology is intriguing.

"I don't think he uses it necessarily. He lives in a kind of mixed group, so I always assumed some of the humans actually work the computer system and just relay the message."

Then again, he doesn't really know for sure. The mental image of Guardian using a computer nearly makes him laugh out loud though.

"That makes sense. Although I don't put it past dragons not to know how to use a computer."

Because they're dragons, after all.

Devon laughs.

"I wouldn't either. They continually surprise me."

They also made pretty amazing friends. Or at least Guardian did. There were definitely dragons who could be just as judgmental and irritable as humans could.

"Do all dragons really breathe fire?"

Or did the dragons at Devon's home do more than flying and burning things? They seemed much more clever and maybe there were different kinds as well.

"Some do, but not all. It depends on the type of dragon. Guardian does, but he's not really considered powerful by dragon standards."

Devon doesn't hold the same fascination with dragons that Minato seems to, so he doesn't really know all that much about them.

That was still interesting. It meant that there was more than one kind of dragon.

"Thanks for always answering all of my questions."

"Why wouldn't I? I ask so many question to other magicians when I meet them its insane. I couldn't not do the same for you."

Actually, Devon is probably worse. He's so curious about different types of magic that he can drive people absolutely crazy.

"I think I like learning about other worlds that I'll never get to see, too."

No matter what another world was like, Minato would still be interested, magical or not.

"Did you need to keep practicing your magic?" Minato has taken up a considerable amount of Devon's time, after all.

"I'm probably should, but I'm not sure how much this type of practice is actually helping me."

When you're trying to practice battle skills there's only so much you can do alone to "simulate" a fight.

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Practice Makes Perfect

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