1491/The Evolution of Petals

The Evolution of Petals
Date of Scene:	04 February 2015
Location:	Tomoeda-865
Synopsis:	Sakura Kinomoto becomes Orphen's student!
Cast of Characters:	172, 703

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Orphen (703) has posed:
Orphen's chosen the Osaka Castle Park to wait for Sakura Kinomoto. He's deep in, having found a nice little quiet spot without prying eyes. On the way here, he discovered a convenience store, and in turn discovered ice cream bars, one of which he's now eating while leaning against a tree, waiting for her to arrive at his coordinates for an interview.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    The chosen meeting spot is a little out of Sakura's way - she had to catch a train to get here! But she doesn't really mind. It's nice to get out of Tomoeda once in a while. The teenaged girl is currently skating along, helmet and pads firmly strapped on, slightly showing off by hopping -over- obstructions rather than skating around them. Silly thing.

    It's not long before she reaches the area Orphen asked her to meet him! Panting a little bit from the workout.

Orphen (703) has posed:
Orphen's eyes widen when he sees her panting, then heads over and reaches out to pat her on the head. "Hey, aren't you adorable. I'm waiting for my friend. How about I give you money for ice cream so that I can use this area privately?" he asks, using the kindest voice he can muster, that's just below 'Daaawwww I want to hug it'.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura's blinking is almost audible as she's patted on the head. She kinda just stares at the man - or possibly boy, she's not entirely sure - for a few seconds, then tries to wave his hand away. "Uuh. Mister Orphen?" she asks, sounding totally nonplussed.

Orphen (703) has posed:
"Yeah, Orphen-- wait, you're that girl, who manipulated reality and does magic..." Orphen suddenly places his hands on the sides of his head, staring down at her. "I wasn't expecting you to be an adorable girl! You're the cutest thing I've ever seen!" He reaches out, trying to tug her cheeks with both hands. "Explain how your magic works again. Do you have any magic energy in your body?" he asks, while still trying to tug her cheeks.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "I-I'm not -that- adorable!" Sakura complains, reaching one hand up to try to block Orphen's attempts to tug her cheeks. She skates backwards a few paces, and huffs, crossing her arms. It... does not do anything to make her less adorable.

    "I, um. Well, sort of? It's basically the same thing as 'ki' or stamina, I think. But the energy that gets transformed into... fire or water or whatever, actually comes from outside, not inside? If that makes sense?"

    She rubs the back of her head. "I've never really had a lesson in magery in my entire life. Except when Kero taught me how to use the Cards, and that's... really -easy-."

Orphen (703) has posed:
"Alright, so your magic might not be the same as mine, but that doesn't matter. I can grasp the concepts. It's just a more esoteric magic theory, but I can teach you the basics. There are fundamentals with learned magic that I believe persists across all worlds. Discipline, practice, learning to harness your energy and finding a way to output it. I'll ask questions too." Orphen stands next to her, looking out at the trees as they stand on the concrete. "How does it feel when you do elemental magic? What are you thinking?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura rubs the back of her head. "Uuh... maybe it would be better to just -show- you how I do magic, because I think you've totally got the wrogn idea..." She coughs, pulling her Key up over her head. "I don't really... cast spells myself. You'll see." She holds the Key up in front of her. "O Key that hides the power of the Stars!" A magic circle appears around Sakura, rotating slightly - it's dominated by a five-pointed star, with a sun and crescent moon flanking it. It rotates slightly as Sakura continues the incantation. "Show your true form before me!" The Key is surrounded by a soft green glow. "I, Sakura Kinomoto, command you under our contract: RELEASE!" She flicks both of her hands, extending her thubms and first two fingers in a symmetrical pattern.

    The Key spins around in the air - then begins to grow larger! It loses its teeth, becoming a short staff - or maybe long wand - about three feet long, mostly pink, with the same yellow star design at the top that the Key itself hand.

    Sakura plucks it out of the air. "U-um. Basically to cast 'spells', I..." She flicks her hand - just two fingers this time - and suddenly a multitude of large, Tarot-style cards erupt from her pockets. "...Firey!" she calls out, plucking a card from the air and tapping it with her wand. There's a flash of light - and a tall, fiery humanoid is suddenly floating between Sakura and Orphen. It has wide, fiery wings, and instead of legs it has a 'tail' of flames...

Orphen (703) has posed:
"Well... at least this isn't entirely insane." Orphen decides, half-sarcasm, half-serious. "Alright, I can grasp how this works, even though these are some highly advanced artifacts, beyond the capability of anyone I know of to create."

He sounds impressed, watching the little creature with focused interest. "You seem like you have this down pretty well, but I'm guessing there's something you're missing, right? A way you believe you could improve?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura spins the wand idly in her hand, then beckons the fiery creature down towards her. Not even flinching from any heat, she places one hand on the Firey's head and gently digs her fingers into its - his? - scalp. "...Mmh. Well, the thing is, I... can't do magic on my own. I need, um, 'artifacts' I guess you'd call them? And while I can get along mostly fine with them, sometimes I have, uh. Magical accidents, I guess? My magic doing things without me really asking it to. It's always positive, but I... I want to learn to actually control my magic, rather than chanelling it through the Cards. You know?"

    She smiles and leans her head against the Firey's head. The spirit looks slightly grumpy.

Orphen (703) has posed:
"Makes sense. Magic channeling artifacts, they're not so strange, but this is just... on a ridiculous level. In my world the Tower of Fang would have confiscated this from a little girl." Orphen holds his hand out, aiming it at the trees. "You already have the basic grasp of one thing. You're channeling, and you're commanding the magic to release or do what you want it to. Your artifacts probably make it much easier, but you have to learn to command the world. I Let Thou Flow, Angel's Breath!"

That's when a large breeze begins to blow through the trees in one direction, then it suddenly shifts to another. This only lasts for a few moments before he lowers his arm and it dies down. "How do you personally describe your magic? I'm not asking how your magic works, or how other people tell you how your magic works. But I'm asking, what do you think your magic -is-? What pops into your head when you think 'this is my magic'?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura rubs the back of her head. "The Cards -were- made by the most powerful and knowledgeable Mage to ever live, combining two distinct magical styles in a way no one else had ever done before. So..." She watches the display of wind magic with interest, head tilted slightly to one side.

    "My magic feels... warm. It feels safe and comforting. Like it's there to shelter me? It might be because it's... tied to the Cards, and my Familiars, so there's a lot of, um, 'emotion' attached to it I guess..." She's still gently 'petting' the Firey. "It, um. It basically feels like... a blanket? Flowing down from above and gently covering me?"

Orphen (703) has posed:
"When you wield that wand, and when you're commanding things, do you feel your magic or energy flowing in any particular way? The magic I use, I focus it into my hands." Orphen holds his hand out to her, showing it. "Then I release it with the verbal components, which is cast on a particular frequency that comes naturally after we've practiced enough. I Bear, the Small Ghost." A white orb of light floats from his hand, then just hovers over his shoulder, providing light, even though it's already day. "When I use elemental magic, my energy influences the world and creates what's essentially already there. It's like commanding the physical world."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura tilts her head to one side. "Mmmh... I guess mine flows through my hands, too... usually then into my wand, and out through the top into the Card. I've never really paid much attention to that? But that sounds about right..."

    She chews on her lip. "I know I have to speak to use magic, too, but I don't know why that is, really..." She looks embarassed. "The most powerful Mage in Japan and I have no idea what I'm actually doing..."

Orphen (703) has posed:
"Having a natural aptitude for magic with no actual formal education is incredibly impressive." Orphen reassures, raising his hand to gently rub the top of her head. Then, once he removes his hand, he stares at her wand. "I wonder... are the familiars alive, or are they simply a physical manifestation of your magic in a way that's easy for you to comprehend and control?" he asks before motiong a hand at the wand. "Put this stuff away, I want to try some things. It might be dangerous, but sometimes you have to break a few eggs. And I have my magic if anything goes wrong."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura blinks. "Yue and Keroberos are definitely alive, but... I'm not..." She looks at the Firey. "I'm not too sure about the Cards, come to think of it... They totally think and have personalities. Some of them can even talk! But..." She shrugs, and snaps her fingers. The Firey melts back down into a card - and then all forty-nine of the cards pile up into a deck in Sakura's outstretched hand. With a spin of her wand and a flick of her wrist, the wand is a Key again.

Orphen (703) has posed:
"I'm going to tell you to do something. I have no idea what might happen, but if I'm even half right and there's a result from this, we could expect either little to nothing, or something huge and uncontrolled." Orphen backs up to about ten feet from her, then crosses his arms again. "Do that fiery spell. Do it exactly as you normally would, but that energy that would channel to your wand, aim your hand at the ground, and try to release from there. See what happens. I'm not trying to have you summon the familiar, I want to see what happens when you go through the same process of summoning the familiar, but you channel the energy and effort at something else."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura nods her head again. "...Alright." She goes through the motions, summoning her wand again, picking the correct card out of the card and flinging it into the air. "Let's see... FIREY!" she calls, tapping it with her wand but simultaneously pointing at the ground. Her magic circle appears under her feet, just liek last time...!

    And the card flutters to the floor. Nothing happens at all.

Orphen (703) has posed:
"No, no, you misunderstood. Don't use your wand, or the cards. You ever heard of a mime?" Orphen asks, then holds his hands out, as if he's holding an invisible staff. "Do everything like normal, but -without- the tools. I want to see where the energy goes, or what it does, if anything."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura blinks. "Oh! Uh, sorry..!" She rubs the back of ehr head. Poof! Magic stuff gone. "...This feels silly.." she murmurs, as she mimes taking out the card. "Uh.. F-Firey!" she calls! Her magic circle appears again! And... some sort of energy arcs from her hand and earths itself into the floor, making Sakura yelp!

    Wonder why it was different that time?

Orphen (703) has posed:
"Aha!" Orphen exclaims with some excitement, walking over a little closer. "I was right, I think. Since the magic didn't channel into the staff, we could actually see it. You are capable, you just need to be taught." He smiles, as if this is the 'aha' moment. "I accept you as my student."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura shakes her hand in the air, as though it were burned. And in fact... there is a faint pink welt on it. She pouts a little bit. "Um... thank you..." she murmurs, then bows to Orphen.

    Suddenly! A small humanoid - not even a foot tall! - dressed up like a jester and riding a -cloud- of all things materialises next to Sakura. It gives Orphen a little glare, and then puts both hands on Sakura's burned hand.

    Sakura's hand is suddenly surrounded by mist! "...Huuuh. That actually does feel better." She blinks, then smiles. "...Thank you, Cloud~"

    Now this just raises even -more- questions.

Orphen (703) has posed:
"What the hell is that?" Orphen asks, but he continues his lesson slash experiment anyway. "When you command your familiars to do things, how does it feel? Are you simply commanding them, or do you feel a certain flow of energy?" he wonders, still analyzing the basic functions of her magic.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "...Um. That's the Cloud Card." She rubs the back of her head. "Sometimes my Cards activate themselves on their own. I dunno if it's subconscious magic use, or..."

    She chews on her lip, standing up straight again. The cloud is gathered up into her arms and cuddled. "I definitely feel a flow of energy each time a Card is activated. There's, um. Imagine, like... rivers. Connecting me to each of them. There's always a constant flow of energy from me to each of my Cards, right? But when I actively command them, the flow gets... bigger."

    She giggles a bit. "The, um. The constant magic use is actually why my magic is so strong, I think. See, um... magic is like a -muscle-, so... the more you use it..."

Orphen (703) has posed:
"Yeah, makes sense. It's about the same for me. Some magic can kill you if you use it sooner than you're ready for. But I imagine you won't have that problem. This, all of this, makes perfect sense to me. You were hurt, then, without your wand or incantations or anything, it appears and heals you. It's within the realm of possibility that your magic is so strong that they actually have personalities. Maybe they're different aspects of your personality." Orphen steps back only five feet this time, pointing far in front of her. "I assume you have a wind card. Try to summon it, but this time as soon as you finish the summoning incantation, command it to blow forward."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "THe Windy is actually the first Card in the deck..." Sakura says, flipping the top card to show Orphen. "...Alright. I'll, um, see what I can do..."

    She lets go of the Cloud, which hovers up out of the way. "O Gentle Wind, blow forwar! WINDY!" Sakura calls out, pantomiming the actions she would take to perform the summoning. Apparently she commands them before calling their name?

    There's another arcing of magic, making Sakura yelp and wince. And... the Windy card flings itself at Orphen. And kinda just ends up fluttering to the floor by his feet.

    "...Uh." Sakura flicks her hand, telekinetically bringing the card back to the deck.

Orphen (703) has posed:
"Well, this is definitely going to be difficult. I think we're onto something, we just have to find the right approach." Orphen walks over to a tree and sits back against it, crossing his legs. "Have you ever met a magic user in your world who uses magic without cards or a wand? Or at least just without the cards. How do they do it, what does it look like?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura rubs the back of her head. "I'm pretty sure -most- Mages don't use Cards... Um. Syaoran writes spells on ofuda - uh, prayer strips? He uses his sword as a wand to activate them. Eriol uses a staff but other than that he just incants spells... Ummm... Mizuki-sensei and my big brother never used any sort of equipment, although my brother never did anything flashy and I never saw Mizuki-sensei do magic at -all-..."

Orphen (703) has posed:
"Alright... I need to think. When you used the wind spell, a card blew over to me. When you used the fire spell, you got a bit of a blister..." Orphen considers this very carefully, then motions to her. "Try a different one. I need to see if anything else happens, to confirm."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura nods her head. "Okay... um... I'll use another Elemental card to see if that's important..." She exhales, then goes through the motions again. "EARTHY!" There is a definite discharge of magic, although Sakura appears to be expecting it this time. Did the dust around Sakura just swirl around her a bit...? That could have just been caused by the magic circle, though.

Orphen (703) has posed:
"I think we're getting somewhere. You know, a part of what makes my magic work is really -channeling-, focusing, and then command with absolute resolution. Try to focus the energy into your hands before you even cast, just... imagine it, visualize the flow. We're about to crash course. I need you to try hard." Orphen stands up, then walks to stand twenty feet away. He holds his hand out, aiming it at her. "I'm going to use a spell. It's going to hurt if it hits you. But if you can manage to deflect it, it won't hurt as much. I'll give you five minutes to try and summon up enough magic to actually defend against it, so you have enough time to try more than once. The sooner you succeed, the less it'll hurt."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura rubs the side of her head. "...Okay. I'm getting... kinda tired for some reason, but I'll try!" She frowns a bit, then puts the cards into her bag - and then puts the bag down on the floor and scoots it away with her foot.

    "..I'm ready! I, um. I think."

Orphen (703) has posed:
"You're using up your energy, getting low on stamina. We'll rest after this." Orphen keeps pointing his hand, giving her a chance. Then, suddenly, "I Dance, Through the Dimensions!"

Then he vanishes and appears about two feet in front of her, and swings his fist forward. He intends to stop it before it actually hits her, but to her it very much will look like he's about to punch her at full force.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura tries to stay calm and concentrate. "Sh-SHIELD!" she calls... but nothing happens. She yelps, and dodges backwards - surprisingly quickly, actually. If Orphen had actually hit her she may not have dodged back in time...

    For a split second, Orphen might spot a long knife blade poking out of Sakura's right sleeve - which vanishes a moment later with a metallic 'click'.

Orphen (703) has posed:
"What the hell was that?" Orphen asks, when he spots the blade from her sleeve, and obviously stops before actually hitting her. "It seems like we have a lot of work to do, but I really do believe this is possible. I wonder if there's hidden magical lore in this world that we could seek out, that explains the basic foundations of magic..."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura tilts her head. "What's...? Oh, this?" She holds up her hand. Shickt! Hidden Blade deployed! "Um. It's called a Hidden Blade. Or an Assassin Blade, sometimes." Shickt! "I... you should probably be aware that I work for the Union as part of its Elite Corps. I'm not just a random civilian, so it's... not too much of a surprise that I carry a weapon... right?"

    "...See, the thing with that is... the Mages in this world tend to. Not -share-. I only got the help I received because Clow Reed's family still happens to be a pretty important magic family... And even then, they didn't give me -much- help..."

Orphen (703) has posed:
"I wonder... do you think it's possible that I could teach you -my- magic, and you could learn to channel yours through it? You said you could warp reality, so what if, understanding magic from another world's perspective, you could shape the foundation of how your magic functions? It seems worth a try. But I believe there's potential. From what I've seen, you're capable, we just need to find a way to bring out your potential." Orphen moves to rest a hand on her head, then starts heading down the path. "Come on, I'll buy you a snack."

"It's fine if you carry a weapon." he agrees, nodding his head. "I was just making sure you didn't summon a blade card or something."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura giggles a little bit. "I do have a Sword card..." she responds with a little grin.

    "...Mmh. I think I'll probably be able to incorporate your magic into my magic if I... try really hard? Powerful Mages in this world can... create new magic, so. I think I'll be able to do something at least." She slowly skates along beside Orphen. "...Snacks sound good~"

Orphen (703) has posed:
"Good. You're going to do drills, and I'm going to teach you physics in the context of magic, so that you understand the forces you're manipulating. But I'm also going to teach you about magical energy, and how you can better control the flow in your body." Orphen stretches, placing his hands behind his head. "The first spell I'll teach you is basic fire summoning, because it's very easy to practice. If you can learn to use what I know and gain insights into what you can do, this will all be worth it. By the way... you can afford tuition, can't you?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Flashes a V-sign. "I have a stipend from the Union -and- a job for Tomoeda City Council. Unless you charge more than most universities, I can probably afford it~"

Orphen (703) has posed:
"I won't make you poor. But I do prefer my payments in the form of gold coin credits. " The two of them finally escape the park, not far from a convenience store. "Now, let's go get that snack. It's on me, because you're adorable."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "I -am- pretty adorable. At least as long as that gets me free snacks," Sakura jokes playfully.