Practice Makes Perfect

[rei]

Honestly, this was the perfect time
to let off some steam. No one was here, it
was dark, and she was ticked. She didn't
exactly know why she was ticked, but
that's the way it went with her.She was
dressed in a white tank and some white
shorts, nothing major. Something good for
practicing in. She tied her hair in a messy bun
with her white ponytail holder and wrapped
her hands up in the classic white bandages
for support. Could you tell she loved white ?

It was funny really, a creature of darkness
loving the color of light.

Ironic even....

She knelt down to the white bag she carried
in with her and pulled out some chalk and
dusted her hands in it. Just in case. she briskly
walked to the far corner of the room and got
into her position. It wasn't anything special,
just something she did before practicing.
Her routine, you could say. She shot off in a
run at top speed only going about a meter before
she gracefully moved into a set of flips. Once
in a while she would stop and execute a kick
or punch to an imaginary opponent before
resuming her dodging and flipping.


After a while she tired and walked over to her
bag and pulled out her towel and water bottle,
quickly cleaning her face of sweat and quenching
her thirst. Then, she casually sat down, pulling
a metal ball the size of a golf ball out of her
pocket. She closed her eyes, her expression
turning to that of concentration as she focused
her energy on the ball. A black aura briefly
flickered around it , her eyes closing further
as the aura grew stronger before lifting slightly.
She exhaled sharply as the ball abruptly
dropped to the floor causing her to open her
eyes. A look of irritation crossed her face as
she glared at the metal object. She was
making progress, but seemed all too
tedious for her liking. She closed her eyes
and began the process again.
After all, practice makes perfect.

[Iƪƪia]

With a carefree gait, Ailyth skipped down the deserted hall toward the gym. She simply wasn't able to sleep tonight. Then again, when was she ever to sleep easily? Sleeping was boring. Why should she sleep when she could be exploring an old cemetery or going for a flight over the forest. She was much more content to fit as much activity into her day as possible, then pass out on the ground or become so fatigued that she was forced to crawl all the way back to her dorm by herself at night. Now that was awesome!

However, tonight wasn't just for fun. She was here to practice. To hone her new found skills. This way, next time she finds herself trapped in a room with a homicidal dog, she would be able to fight back instead of running away or hoping for a random monster to come by and fight for her. She could already take care of herself, but who couldn't use a little practice?

Pushing open the doors with a flourish, Ailyth stepped into the gym. As she walked in, she noticed that another girl had gotten the same idea. She was sitting alone in the middle of the floor, creating some sort of aura around a small ball. Curious, Ailyth stepped closer, watching her.

"Hi, there!" Ailyth greeted the girl as she watched her practice.[/color]

[rei]

There. She was finally getting it ! She felt the
ball go higher in the air and resisted screaming in joy.
Finally ! It was about flippin' time ! Now , if she could
only get it to go a little higher. She scrunched her
eyes and smirked in victory as it started going further
up.


Now, this was the critical part. The key moment of
concentration. As soon as that thought ran through
her head. A voice shot through her ear drums, causing
not only her concentration to be lost, but her ball sent
flying back towards the voice. A sigh escaped her and
she reached her hand behind her calling for the ball to
return. Well, at least so it didn't hit the person in the
face.


She inclined her head slightly to look back at the girl,
she hoped a guy didn't have such a feminine voice.
Interesting. Not many students were out right now,
especially not here. She came here because it was
quiet. End of story. Well, she supposed she couldn't
be that rude. Well, more rude than almost impaling
her face.

"Hello..."

[Iƪƪia]

Ailyth had to jump to the side to avoid being hit by the ball that the girl had been playing with. She must have been trying to levitate it or something. With interest, she watched the ball return to the girl's hand, as if on an invisible string. That was pretty cool! Maybe she'd learn how to do stuff like that someday.

Stepping around the girl, Ailyth lowered herself to the ground, crossing her legs as she sat and faced the girl.

"What'cha doin? Magic? It's so cool!"

Leaning back on her hands, she smiled widely at the girl. If she was already familiar with magics, maybe she'd be able to give Ailyth a few tips? It'd be awesome if she could learn to levitate stuff like that. Maybe she'd even be able to levitate something dog-sized...

The mental image that followed caused Ailyth to let out a small giggle.

"I'm going to practice my magic too, actually!"[/color]

[rei]

Wow, this girl was really happy. Not that being
happy was a bad thing... She was just really
happy. She rose an eyebrow as she
heard her comment about practicing magic.
Technically it wasn't magic... it was darkness.
Did darkness count as magic ? She didn't
exactly know at the moment... One
more thing got added to her 'to do list'.
Which actually, was getting pretty long...


She'd get to it later. She always
managed to find time for absolutely
everything else. Maybe it was because
she didn't have a social life. How
depressing... The girl's second statement
wrenched her out of her thoughts.
She used magic.. interesting.

"Well... I'm not sure if mine is magic...
it's darkness.."

She waited briefly for the girl to freak
out and run away like everyone else
seemed to. It wasn't her fault she
used darkness. It was actually quite
comforting when it wanted to be...
and then again, it could be your worst
nightmare...

"Your practicing just your magic ?"


She couldn't deny she was curious.. Just magic ?
What about hand to hand combat or weapons ?
Maybe she was strictly a magic-user. Sue her
for being curious. It was a natural tendency.

[Iƪƪia]

Ailyth couldn't help but feel a little confused at the girl's words. Darkness? Dark magic? Or was darkness all by itself, like a species specific skill? Maybe it was a little of both. That made sense, right? Her smile quickly replaced her puzzled expression once again as she decided to simply ask her teacher about that tomorrow.

"Darkness? That's wicked cool!"

Hearing the girl's question, Ailyth looked down at her hands. She wasn't sure why exactly she did. Well, perhaps she was expecting them to glow with some sort of magical light or something. That's be cool... To have some sort of symbol or rune light up on her palm whenever she cast a spell.

"Yep! Well... I wasn't born a magic user," Ailyth explained, "But did you know they teach magic here?! So I know some magic now! Um... Sorta."

She looked down at her hands once again. Still no runes. However, soon these hands would gain some sort of proficiency with spells. Maybe not a mastery.... But something pretty darn close!"

[rei]

So, she was pursuing strictly magic. That would exactly
be her ideal choice, but she supposed everyone was
different. She usually preferred hand to hand since her
darkness had it's limits. Not to mention it could be draining.
Honestly, she was surprised this girl considered her darkness
...cool. It was actually quite refreshing.

"Yeah, I practiced some agility before you came."

She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when she heard
the girl wasn't a born magic user. Maybe she had
been in a closet or something.. but that didn't seem
normal exactly. Well, who was really normal here
anyway. She put her ball in her back pocket since
she needed absolute concentration to work with it
anyway. Besides, talking to this girl was actually
kind of fun.

"So, how did you learn that you couldn't use
magic ?"

She started unwrapping the bandages that were around
her wrists, figuring she had nothing else to do while
she awaited the girls answer. Oh yeah, she might
as well introduce herself. Random much ?

"I'm Rei, by the way."

[Iƪƪia]

By sitting cross legged, Ailyth had caught sight of her uneven shoe laces. Why must one always be longer than the other? It never bothered her before, but now that she was staring at them, they were starting to get annoying. She quickly set about to making them the same length. It was a loosing battle, but that didn't stop her from trying.

"Most of my race aren't born with magic like some races are... Usually, if we want to learn spells, we have to take the long way! By taking magic classes!.. I guess."

Well, that was how it had worked for Ailyth, anyway. Perhaps if she had stayed at home she would have learned magic from the spell casters there. However, that was all in the past now, and she didn't care to think about it.

Giving up on her stubborn laces, she looked back up at the girl as she introduced herself.

"And my name's Ailyth! Nice to meet'cha!"[/color]

[rei]

She went about packing up her bag,
since she didn't want to have to rush
when it came time to leave. She
hated rushing. Rei stretched her hands
above her head with a sigh as the girl
explained about her magic.


Wow, she had never thought there
were those who had to take magic
classes. She had always thought
everyone was born with it. Well,
you learn something new everyday.


For a moment she thought about
the news she had recently received.
Her brother was coming to school
here ! She had been so excited to
see him again. Unfortunately, if
he was here he was keeping hidden
like he usually did. He could be so
darn stubborn sometimes.

She was once again popped out
of her thought bubble as the other
girl introduced her name. Ailyth.
She liked it. She briefly smiled
and wondered if she had any of her
classes.

"So, Ailyth, what classes do you have ?"

[Iƪƪia]

"Oh, I'm in 10th grade!" She began, trying to recall her schedule.

She wasn't used to this grade system. Mostly because she had never gone to an actual school before. At home they only learned what they needed to know. When she had arrived here she was pretty shocked to see how little she knew about race history and science... and magic, of course. Ailyth was looking forward to continuing her education.

"And I'm taking Intro to Magics and Ability Basics I!"

The girl smiled as she thought of these classes. Ability Basics seemed like an obvious choice. Who else would teach her more about her race? She needed plenty of practice to hone her skills. As for the magic class... Well, it was always a good thing to be able to defend oneself properly. That was especially true for a smaller creature like Ailyth. She couldn't count on fangs or claws to get her out of situations. Although her claws were pretty sharp.[/color]

[rei]

Tenth grade wasn't too far
behind her, but she didn't really
have any of the same classes
with her. Darn, that would have
been fun to have classes with
someone she actually knew.
Oh wait, they had ability basics
together !

"Hmm, I'm in 12th grade,
and I have Ability Basics, Tactical
Advantage, and Future Leaders
as my favorites !"

For once she was excited about
school ! She hadn't really ever
felt that way about it before.
Simply because she had never
gone to a school like this before.
It was a lot more fun !

She especially couldn't wait
for Tactical Advantage since
she wanted to know how
exactly how to use her
darkness power in a strategy.
There wasn't exactly a manual
for that kinda stuff you know.

[Iƪƪia]

So Rei was in 12th grade, huh? Well, that wasn't too far ahead of her! Although Ailyth was sure that she looked quite a bit younger than a 10th grader to most people. Well, that was just who she was and she had learned to live with it.

"Oh, so we both have Ability Basics!"

Ailyth smiled broadly at this new knowledge. Now she knew someone in class! This was exciting. She was looking forward to her class even more now. Though, there was something else interesting about Rei's classes. She was taking Future Leader's? So maybe she was a princess or a duchess or... Something.

"You're taking Future Leaders? So are you already a, um... Future leader?"[/color]

[rei]

She knew how it must have seemed,
her taking Future Leaders class. For
all she knew, she could have been a
duchess or heiress, but she really
didn't. Her mother had never really
been in the picture, she and her
brother were sent to her father
when they were very young.
She hadn't wanted to deal with
them anymore.. Her father
had been awful. He was frequently
abusive and usually drunk.
As soon as Nai had been old
enough to work, he took her
and basically raised her.
The rest was history.

"Umm, as far as I know
I'm not anything special.
I never actually knew my
mother and if I was, Nai
would be more important
than me."

She really wouldn't mind
knowing she was special.
It would be a nice change.
Although she doubted her
mother would ever accept
them anyway. The class
just seemed to call to her.

"Nai is my older brother,
he also comes to school
here."

She certainly didn't want to confuse her,
so she gave her the basic info. She
wondered when she would actually
see her brother...

[Iƪƪia]

Ailyth listened interestedly to Rei's explanation. So she wasn't already a future leader? Maybe she was just ambitious? Maybe that's how her race's social structure worked. If she was better than the current leader, maybe she'd overthrow them? Or maybe it was more democratic than that...

Whatever the reason, it caught Ailyth's attention. Maybe it would be good for her to take that class in one of the following years. Maybe in the future she'd return home and be able to become the new leader. After being out in the world for awhile, she had finally began to see how backward her home really had been. It seemed centuries behind the rest of the world. If she became leader, she could fix that...

Realizing that she had been spacing out, staring at her shoes this entire time, Ailyth quickly looked back up at Rei, smiling once again. She hadn't thought about her home so much since she had gotten here. She really had to stop that! The only thing that mattered right now is the present.

"That's cool! Does he have cool dark powers too?"[/color]

[rei]

She was thinking about
her brother ironically
enough when Ailyth asked
her about him. Did he
have darkness powers..
No, he didn't control
actual darkness, but he
used dark magic, she
supposed that would count.

"Not actual darkness. He uses dark magic
and thunder."

She remembered one of the few
times Nai had ever used his
powers in front of her. It
was actually intended. She
had thought it was so cool
how little lightning bolts ran up
his arm. She didn't know they
were different. That they
weren't supposed to be able
to do that.

The dark magic was an intrest
that Nai had always had, he
pretty much always had a
book about it with him. To
read when he got bored.
Nai always had been an
interesting person........