A Single Spark [open]

[upupatomway]

Who: Atom & you
What: Baby's first spell attempt. Please give him advice (or kick back with some popcorn)
Where: Outside on the beach near Flotsam
When: November 9, after lunch
Warnings: None


Atom balances a spellbook for beginners on one of the numerous rocks on the beach and raises his arms in front of him, facing out towards the ocean with a frown of concentration. He holds this position, squinting as he tries to do as the book instructed.

It's the simple task of summoning the ether energy to one's fingertips and then pushing it out to visually show the magic power, usually as some kind of spark or glow. His hands show no sign of any extra light, however. The book describes a sensation the magic has that makes this process easier to track for most readers, but for a robot any feelings in his body are limited by his sensors and his comprehension.

He squints harder, face scrunched and turning red. His creator had gone out of his way to make it so Atom could blush, though he probably didn't have this expression in mind. There's a sound, like a squeak, that might imply a spark, only for it to get lower and clearly recognizable as the robot straining.

Comments

[achelord]

Ziel felt that sitting around all day in the dim Vault was starting to feel oppressive, which is why he was out here, at the beach, still wearing his normal robes and looking miserable.

He wasn't miserable, at least not by his standards. That was just how his face looked.

As he trudged along, occasionally stopping to watch the waves, he came across the boy. The "robot", though he still wasn't entirely sure he understood what that was. Not a human, at least.

It almost looked like the robot was trying to cast a spell. Ziel looked closer and saw the book Atom was learning from and made a face. "Abenthy's Grimoire for Beginner Enchanters" was an old classic that had been given to beginner magic users for decades and, in Ziel's opinion, it was terrible. He'd started out with a teacher who had actually studied under Abenthy and had spent long hours ranting about how terrible and long winded a teacher the old bastard had been.

He had excellent vision, but if he was close enough to make out the title of the book, he was certainly close enough for Atom to notice him.

[upupatomway]

Atom was concentrating hard enough on trying to feel something (and continuing his vocalization of said challenge) that he didn't immediately notice Ziel walking along the beach. As Ziel gets closer however, he hears someone walking and turns to see what it is, half expecting the local wildlife. Instead, it's Ziel, looking a bit like a dark cloud against the sunny backdrop.

"Oh! Hello!" Atom greets him, face a mix of surprised and giddy; the giddy coming entirely from his embarrassment that someone had caught him in something of a compromising position, and a local spellcaster at that. "Um. It's nice to get some sun and look at the ocean, huh?"

His face is still red. If Ziel remembers that Atom is inorganic, he might look like an absolute fool for even attempting magic- he could only do it now in theory. Only organics naturally absorb and command ether. Or he looks like a fool for posing and straining like a kid trying to reach for a high shelf. Either way.

[achelord]

Well shit he’d been spotted. Ziel briefly considered walking away without saying anything, but decided that if he did the damn grimoire was going to bother him all day.

So he trudged over and picked the book up, glancing at the cover before looking at Atom.

“You’re not trying to learn magic from this, are you?”

He had no idea if a robot could use magic, but humans could barely use magic when learning from Master Abenthy.

[upupatomway]

Atom's eyes nervously shift from Ziel's tired face to the book and then back up again.

"...Yes, Sir," he hesitates but admits. He keeps the smile plastered on his face but his embarrassment is still obvious as he lowers his head slightly like a guilty dog.

Oh boy. Is he going to get the talk on who has natural magic abilities around here? He decides then and there that he will listen politely and not mention Donnie's theory. He doesn't want his friend getting any kind of backlash for his optimistic suggestion.

[achelord]

"Don't bother."

Ziel tossed the book over his shoulder.

"Abenthy was a self important old man who had no idea how to teach beginners and made everything four times more complicated than he needed to. He was used to teaching graduate students at fancy universities, not rank amateurs. And, if my old teacher can be believed, he wasn't any good at that either. Even I could make a better teacher than he was."

[upupatomway]

Atom bends and looks behind Ziel to see where the book landed on the sand, then stands up straight again, blinking up at the horned man. This was not the issue Atom was expecting. As concerned as he is for the book, what with it being borrowed from The Vault library, he breathes a sigh of relief. His hopes hadn't been dashed yet!

"Good to know..." He could ask for other book recommendations. Though seeing how worked up Ziel was about proper instruction, perhaps he could be convinced to help?

"Mr. Ziel, would you show me how to start? I'm not entirely sure I can use ether for spells, but I really want to try it." Atom's smile returns. Maybe out of relief, maybe in hopes he can puppy eye his way into this- who can say?

[achelord]

Ziel stared at Atom for a moment, then closed his eyes and sighed. He'd walked right into this. The problem with caring about other people is that sometimes it requires you to care about other people. Goddammit.

"...Can robots breathe? You must be able to if you can talk, right?"

[spacetogrow]

Ilphyl takes advantage of their increased mobility without a boat (as in, they can get anywhere that is 2 hours' flight or swim from Flotsam), so they observe Atom on the beach. "What are you doing?"

[lightnovelexperiences]

Deedee often comes to the beach to practice, shadowboxing unseen opponents or training dummies and going through the kata of Four Guardians Martial Arts.

It’s not a surprise that the amazonian-proportioned foxkin would see Atom’s attempts to - she’s not sure, but the gesture reminds her of Standard Fireball Flinging Stance, so she can guess.

So she bounds over, in one fluid anime-ass leap.

“Hey kid,” she says. “First time trying to cast a spell?”

[upupatomway]

"Technically yes, robots built like me do breathe. I don't need oxygen from the air, but I do use it to help keep my internal temperature regulated." Atom's smile goes a little lopsided. "Not sure if any of that makes sense... Sorry! I can, and do draw air in and out of my body!" He nods.

Hopefully that's close enough. He hadn't read enough of that book to get to anything about breathing. Maybe the one who wrote it overlooked it completely.

[upupatomway]

Atom looks over his shoulder and smiles when he sees his friend. "Oh! Hi Ilphyl!"

He rubs the back of his neck and digs his foot into the sand, looking sheepish. "It's uh... A little embarrassing because I'm not sure it'll work but... I'm trying to do magic for the first time. Donnie and I came up with a way to install an ether stone into my body so I can use ether power instead of just electricity for energy. Now that I have ether in my body, I thought maybe I could use it for spells too."

[upupatomway]

Atom drops the pose as he hears something or someone moving towards him quick. He catches sight of her shadow and watches her make an impressive leap like something he had seen actors do on tv. He can't help himself and gives an impressed, "Oh!" and claps briefly.

Her guess is correct. Atom laughs uneasily and grabs the back of his neck. "Was it that obvious? I guess the arm position gives it away huh?"

[achelord]

“I have no idea if this will work, but it’s worth a shot.” Ziel said, sitting down on the sand cross legged. He patted the ground across from him inviting Atom to sit down too. “The reason you can’t cast a spell right now is you probably only have trace amounts of ether in you.”

“Ether has a flow. It’s everywhere around you, all the time. It’s in every living thing but also just in the natural world. It’s just usually in quantities far too small to be useful to for a practical minded mage. Some people are just born with a greater ability to generate ether than others, but even if you have as much as a rock, this should still work. It’ll just take longer.”

[spacetogrow]

"Well, you won't know if you don't try," Ilphyl said. "I know how magic works back home, kind of, but I don't know why it works here."

[lightnovelexperiences]

“It’s a good solid stance for channeling damaging spells away from you, yeah,” Deedee says. “I make the same gesture when I [Gale Blast].”

She crouches down to meet Atom’s eye. “No incantation? On Mundus casting without one is an advanced technique, but maybe it works differently here.”

[upupatomway]

Atom follows Ziel's lead and sits cross legged across from him with good posture. He wonders if they're about to meditate like monks. Can robots meditate? He hasn't heard of it, nor tried.

"Do you think I can still cast spells that are useful, even if I only have as much ether as a rock?" Atom asks, brow knitting with a touch of worry. He quite literally has an ether stone in his chest right now after all. "I'm not an organic person so I don't know if ether will ever... flow through me as easily as a human or elf, for example."

[upupatomway]

"I took a book from the library at The Vault. The first lesson instructs you to gather energy to your hands to create some kind of glow, but they describe it as a feeling inside of you. I don't have feeling sensors on the inside of my body though," he explains, "I don't know if I'll be able to pick up on such a sensation."

Even if Ilphyl has a different type of magic, he might has well ask. "Do you feel the magic you use inside your body?"

[upupatomway]

"I think there are incantations for the local magic, but I'm just trying to do a very basic energy summon and create a glow or spark. If there's a helpful incantation, it isn't mentioned. It's the first lesson in the book I borrowed from the library." He glances towards where the book is sitting on the rocks nearby.

"Gather up the ether inside of you and push it out of your hands. You'll know it worked if you can see the light. They describe it as an internal feeling but... I don't actually know if the sensors I have can pick up on the feeling of ether."

[lightnovelexperiences]

Internal sensors? - Right, this must be the robot kid people were talking about.

“Can they pick up on your breathing?” Deedee asks. “Assuming you’re, ah, air cooled. The reason Mundane wizards are told to use magic words is as much about remembering to breathe out as it is focus.”

She cracks her neck, and stretches her arms, preparing to get in a casting stance.

“Hell. The words don’t matter much - they’re usually just saying what you want the spell to do - usually in a language you don’t use otherwise, so you don’t set the room on fire when you ask for toast.”

[achelord]

“Doesn’t matter. The Empire puts a lot of emphasis on ether stones and natural ability, but the truth is that the entire world is full of power just waiting for someone to make it theirs. If this works you’ll be able to go as far as any human mage. You’re just starting two steps behind.”

Ziel closed his eyes and idly cycled his power, reveling in how smoothly it flowed through his body thanks to Rezo’s spirit surgery. “All you do is breathe in, pulling in a tiny puff of ether, make it yours, and then breathe out. Each breath is like a grain of sand, but if you keep at it, it’s entirely possible to build a mountain.”

[spacetogrow]

"Hmmm... more like a connection," Ilphyl said. "Like knowing someone else is in the room with you, even if you have a blindfold on and there's nothing in particular you can point to."

[upupatomway]

"Yes." Atom nods. "Temperature regulation is a big part of my breathing, and my internal sensors are mainly concerned with that."

He watches closely when she takes a stance. A demonstration is much better than just a book, especially with his photographic memory.

Atom laughs at the thought of a wizard setting their kitchen on fire with an absent minded spell. "Cooking with magic sounds like something Mr. Senshi would actually do."

[upupatomway]

It almost sounds like gas exchange in the lungs of organics- without the detail of getting used up immediately. Maybe ether entered living things by latching onto oxygen? Never mind the science of it- he should try paying closer attention to his breath.

"Ether is even in the air?" Atom wonders aloud, before closing his eyes like Ziel had and drawing in a slow breath. His internal sensors respond to the cool sea air entering his chest, and the warmth from his machinery and the ether engine rises, ready to be sent back out with an exhale.

[upupatomway]

"You mean like... an intuition? An awareness more than a literal sensation?"

He's not entirely sure what the best words to use are. Intuition, for example, is something engineers and scientists would debate if he can experience or not. He isn't entirely confident in his understanding of it, even if the Professor is among those who would say he does.

[achelord]

Ziel cracked an eye open. “I did say everywhere, didn’t I?”

He closed it again. “Eventually, you’ll have to start seeking out stronger ether sources if you want to progress, but for now this will do.”

I won’t go into the specifics, but Ziel spent the next hour or so coaching Atom on very specific ways to breathe, along with some mental exercises designed to get him started on sorting ether out of his breath.

Atom had an advantage here. Most merely flesh and blood initiates couldn’t manage the mountain heart cycling technique without stopping after a few minutes to gasp for breath. Atom might have some minor overheating problems after a while, but he could still last a LOT longer.