this is Salem, a land filled with magic and maladies. It is a place where witches and their elemental familiars gather, a home to legend and
lore that predates time itself. Yet of all the wicked and wonderful stories the past can tell us of, the most magical are the ones yet to happen.
This is Salem - this is the start of your very own journey. Welcome to starfall
Starfall is an animaga witch roleplay set in mostly modern times. Members play as witches in a world plagued by monsters, where the only safe spots are walled cities. Starfall strives to be a character-driven roleplay with expansive lore and a highly interactive plotline. We want to allow members to
create and look back on a magical journey, and mold the site and its plot as their characters grow.
Post by heath ambroise on Jun 30, 2018 5:10:40 GMT
The proposal had come out of nowhere to Heath, but he had no real reason to decline. He remembered how hard it was to learn to control his elemental magic when his family members weren’t ice witches themselves. Though, he’d had a bit more trial an error by himself than tutoring. But maybe if he’d had a tutor he wouldn’t have come back home with so many sprains and bruises. Besides, the idea of passing on his own experiences with someone that was probably similar to him seemed kind of interesting. Nice even. Ok, ok…maybe he was a little curious as to how it felt to be a teacher. Ninos did it all the time, right? What was it like?
It wasn’t like he’d change careers after one session. He was too committed to exposing the truth to abandon his career path, as dangerous as it might be for him in the future. He’d let Ninos arrange the meeting, simply telling his friend to send the student out to Verdi Banks to find him around noon. He waited near a sign that announced the name of the area, sitting on the ground and leaning on one of the thick posts to keep him propped up. It was a nice day. Partly cloudy maybe, but the sun still shone bright when the clouds wafted out of the way. A good day to learn ice techniques. He’d been given a brief description of the girl but not much else to go on. Hopefully she showed up soon. Sinclair had taken to sunning himself in Heath’s lap while the pinkette gently scratched the coati behind the ears. Now that he was here, maybe he should plan a lesson? What things would he teach? Simple stuff right. Or well… he supposed he’d need to see what she could do first. And how well she got along with her familiar too.
The vague memory of his animosity with Sinclair and how it’d made him go bald resurfaced and he laughed to himself. Sinclar’s tail twitched slightly as Heath reminded him of the day they’d gotten into one of their usual spats. The soft laughter between witch and familiar drowned out the approaching footsteps of their newest pupil. “Oh.” Heath mumbled as he took notice of the stranger. “Hello, are you here for the lesson?” he asked casually in case this wasn’t the person his friend had sent.
Post by kaelin ó'coileáin on Jun 30, 2018 5:55:14 GMT
s
he approaches the verdi banks with a mixture of caution and anticipation, a familiar excitement for the acquisition of new skills bubbling in her chest. magic in general has never been something she has paid much attention to simply for the reason that it is forbidden at the novice levels of competition, but for the higher levels... awe is a rather inadequate word for describing how the utter beauty of elemental effects within a routine can enchant her. kaelin is determined to incorporate ice magic into her competition later this season, and for that, she needs to learn.
unfortunately, ninos' element does not match her own. he has found her a teacher though, a fellow witch of the jester's den that she is assured knows his element well. referral to another specialist is not something new to her, but for this, kaelin knows nothing of her soon-to-be teacher beyond his name and a vague description. her stomach twists itself into knots.
taking a deep breath, kaelin forcibly relaxes her shoulders, straightens her stance, then looks around for heath. she finds him ( or, well, she assumes it is he - pink-haired men are not exactly a common sight ) seated along the banks with a coati sprawled over his lap, sunshine and wind tangled within his hair. kiska sends her a pulse of encouraging reassurance. she runs a gentle finger along the snake's scales, and strides forwards.
"good morning," she greets with a polite smile. kiska raises her head from where she had been coiled around kaelin's wrist like a particularly spiky crystal bracelet, and echoes the greeting. "yes, you are heath, right? i'm kaelin, and this is kiska."
Post by heath ambroise on Jun 30, 2018 21:41:34 GMT
The pinkette gives his new student a nod. Sinclair’s ears twitch and he opens his eyes and sits up to look over the younger witch and familiar pair. Heath’s smile is only interrupted by the snake familiar moving and he pauses, taken aback as he had just assumed her to be jewelry. How clever. He nods before shooing Sinclair off his lap and standing up. He arches his back slightly and his legs pop as he stands. Once done, he takes a couple of steps towards the younger girl and holds out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you Kaelin, Kiska.” He said looking over at the tiny snake and giving it a nod. He then introduces his own familiar who is busy crawling up his witch, to take a seat on the man’s shoulder. “This is Sinclair, my partner.” The journalist explains. Sinclair has enough energy to tip his little top hat at the girl before settling back into a comfortable position.
“Ninos mentioned you needed some tutoring. I want to gage how much you know though before I start teaching you what I know.” He said. “Let’s walk.” He adds as he points to a worn in path on the ground. He’d already picked out a clearing for them to practice in, near a riverbank. It was calming and it’d probably help with learning, right? On the other hand, maybe it was just claiming to him because of how much his affinity relied on nature to begin with. He waited to fall in step with his pupil before continuing the conversation. “What’s your relationship with your familiar like? Are you close?” he paused before adding, “Are you comfortable with each other?” One of his biggest issues had been getting along with his familiar, back when his temperament was still horrible. Sinclair had felt so invasive at the time, telling him all the things he didn’t want to hear but needed to. Sinclair’s tail languidly waved from side to side as he enjoyed the sunshine once again as the distant sound of running water.
Post by kaelin ó'coileáin on Jul 1, 2018 16:26:47 GMT
t
he surprise flickering across heath's face at the realisation that kiska is not, in fact, just a pretty sparkly bracelet is something they have seen many, many times before. but somehow, the familiar reaction helps the nervous fluttering of kaelin's stomach to ease somewhat, and her smile relaxes from polite to something more genuine. "hello to you too sinclair," she greets, and fixes the name into her memory.
the nerves make an abrupt comeback at heath's next words - any type of assessment will incite that in her no matter how many times she has done such a thing - but she tells herself to relax. this is not unexpected, after all. any good teacher or coach would do a preliminary assessment before doing any actual teaching, so this is a good sign, not that she actually thought ninos would find her a bad tutor.
and yet, the questions posed to her are not the ones she expected. kaelin blinks a few times, surprised, before gathering her thoughts and responding as best she can. "oh! er, we're quite close, i think," she says, and kiska makes a sound of agreement. "we're very comfortable with each other. kiska is usually with me when i train- actually, she's pretty much always materialised and with me."
"i think we have a very good relationship too." kiska speaks up with a smile, her tone warm and fond. "i'm really quite proud of her, you know, even though i have to constantly remind her not to train too hard."
Sinclair nods in approval at the greeting, blinking at the young pair slowly while he let Heath lead the lesson. After all, maybe the coati was bossy and opinionated but Heath seemed to have a much better idea of how to structure a lesson plan with another student. Heath smiles giving Kaelin and Kiska space to talk. He slowly wanders in and out of the path, avoiding small dips in the ground or loose gravel and mud. He was in no rush to get dirty. He nodded at their answers. The hardest part of the elemental studies done with. Or well, step one? How many steps were there? He didn’t know. He hadn’t really structured it that far. He should’ve taken notes. Shit.
“I’m glad you both feel that way. That’ll make learning and practicing a little easier. Also, it drops the chances of losing all your hair from, like, 97% down to 20%.” He said. Sinclair flipped his tail into Heath’s mouth before snapping at him. “Don’t scare her. Not all witches are as contrary for the sake of it as you were.” He hissed before settling back down. Heath looked over at Kaelin realizing that it did sound daunting but he waved it off. “What I mean is, you’re already doing great Kaelin.” He said with a quick laugh before moving right along to the magic part of it. “Anyway, I’m not going to train you into the ground. Unless you’re in a rush to do something but Ninos said it was just something akin to extra lessons so we can take it easy for a bit.” The pinkette continued before waving at the girl to follow him around a particularly deep mud hole. He then stopped by the trail and knelt down to look at a few wildflowers blooming right on the side. He glanced around for a moment, before veering off the path and walking straight into the thin woods near the path. The sound of water was stronger here.
“Watch your step, we’re close.” He called over his shoulders as he stopped to inspect a couple of trees before continuing on. “I found a space to practice. I thought the presence of water and shade would help a bit with the ice.” He explained as he side stepped shrubbery, now following the sound of the river. The trees and shrubs clear in a few minutes revealing a tranquil clearing by the riverbank. A spot of ice glinted on a nearby rock. Heath’s mark. “Alright, how about to start with you tell me about what you know and what you want to accomplish. It might help me find the best way to teach you.” He said as he plopped down in the middle of the clearing. It’d garner him time anyway to decide for sure how he wanted to conduct things. He tended to use his magic in extent only to support himself. Constantly leaving ice trails to follow or to cool down in the heat. He’d fought a little bit with it on a couple of missions but he was still tweaking how he used his magic in those kinds of situations.
Post by kaelin ó'coileáin on Jul 2, 2018 5:20:19 GMT
s
he laughs lightly at heath's jest. "that's certainly a positive," she quips and smiles at the coati, though a small part of her mind that is unfiltered from the constraints of polite society wonders if her temporary teacher was being actually literal about losing his hair. she has certainly heard of fire elementals singing their hair off, though not so much for ice.
"don't worry, i'm used to training hard," kaelin assures heath as they wander down the path, carefully sidestepping the muddy remnants of puddles from the rain the night before.
"we may not have a definitive deadline, but you'd much more likely have to stop her from training herself into the ground than anything else," kiska chimes in drily, and kaelin cannot hide the flush that spreads across her skin at that. it is true that she sometimes spends... more time than advisable in training - it is a way for her to parse through her thoughts and emotions.
and, voiced or not, she and kiska do have a deadline - a deadline imposed by the encroaching mortality of her too-fragile body.
mood more somber now, she follows after heath to a quiet location along the river that is secluded from the rest of the world. "this space looks good," she comments, folding herself to sit facing the older witch. "we pretty much only know the skating technique," she admits. "that said, i think we're quite good at it, but the only other technique we have looked at is creating a storm of swallows, and only for aesthetic purposes."
kiska speaks up then, taking over from where kaelin leaves off smoothly. "ninos has told you that kaelin skates professionally, correct?" she asks, twisting up kaelin's arm to coil on her shoulder so as to look at heath properly. "we are only really looking to use ice techniques for aesthetic purposes. control and precision rather than power. have you ever seen the professional ice skating competitions at the higher levels where elemental effects are allowed? that is where we hope to compete."
Heath is relieved she doesn’t seem too perturbed by his comments. He wouldn’t try to explain that further. Kaelin wasn’t on the same path he had been after all. Positive thoughts. “Ah, then I’ll try not to pity you too much once I figure out some trials we could do.” He teased, knowing full well he barely had a lesson plan, much less exercises that would require that much physical exertion. Though, he appreciates Kiska’s input. Sinclair eyes the tiny snake intensely as she speaks of her witch before giving something of a smirk at his own witch. Perhaps the two had more in common that Heath had assumed. But Heath was a dunce at times, and so the mention of Kaelin’s training habits he frowned a little. He’d have to schedule relaxing session then. That was no problem though. He had more than enough knowledge on calming places they could visit. Hopefully the girl didn’t have any allergies.
The man leaned back on his hands, eyes drifting to the river so he could watch the river flow. The familiar pipes up again and he looks over slowly before nodding. “He mentioned you were his skating student, yes.” The pinkette clarified. “I see. I haven’t personally watched high level competitions myself. I’ll speak with my coworkers to help me review it though.” He said as he made a mental note for himself. He could ask to tag along with a sports reporter to take him to a competition. There might also be video archives in the library. He mulls this over for a bit. “Skating takes decent concentration, I’m not exactly steady on it myself but Storm of Swallows is a pretty good start. It’s a good technique, aesthetically and combat as well.” “Alright, show me your swallow technique. For starters just make a swarm, as big as you can handle it.” Heath pipes up. Storm of Swallows was a more advanced technique. Maybe if he could see how she did with it, he could pick out what simpler techniques suited her best to start out with. He pulled out a notebook and pen out of his back pocket and began writing down notes. He’d need to research elemental magic a big more, as well as how skaters competed at higher levels. He didn’t think his magic was that mobile. Skating was pretty fast paced, right? But, then again, he’d used it for speed in terms of combat and that was it. He didn’t know. But that was ok, he’d know soon enough. “Once you got a good swarm out make it start circling above us. And just keep it going.” That was an easy enough movement right?
Post by kaelin ó'coileáin on Jul 2, 2018 7:29:37 GMT
"i
f you would like, we can invite you to some of the competitions to watch," kaelin offers immediately. "there is one coming up in a few weeks over in mirrorlight. it is definitely worth the journey." she smiles as she says that, thinking back on the beautiful displays of elegance and grace and artistry she has witnessed previously. to anyone who has not seen a show like such before, there is very little comparable, in her slightly biased opinion.
she nods at heath's analysis of the two techniques she knows, though she would argue that skating comes to her rather easier than it might others due to her experience on real ice skates. that experience, though, is countered by her distinct lack of experience with magic in general - magic has been much less important in her life than it is for many others her age.
at his further instruction, kaelin nods again. "okay," she says, and both she and kiska get ready to cast. before she does, she shoots heath a wry smile. "don't expect much from this, we're not very good." that said, she closes her eyes, breathes in, breaths out, opens her eyes, and lets the mana flow from her fingertips and take shape.
ice coalesces in the air, a flock of swallows with pretty, delicate wings taking to the sky. the sunlight refracts off their crystalline bodies and sends fragmented rainbows dancing across their faces; it is rather pretty if she does say so herself. but the speed of their flight is noticeably slow, and her control over their direction rather clumsy. not the mention, holding the technique steady and circling is taking almost all of her and kiska's concentration - not exactly something useable while she is also skating.
and therein is her main problem: the aesthetics of her ice creations, kaelin is fairly confident in, even if improvements can always be made. but the control? the precision? the power? there is very little there.
"I wouldn't want to impose, but thank you for the offer regardless." Heath says, gracefully deflecting the option. Mirrorlight was too far. That would put a stretch on his tiny savings. He couldn't do that. No it would be simpler to have his colleagues get him in on a journalism pass. Though, he would mention the competition in Mirrorlight. Maybe they could get him an in to the show the girl was talking about. Until a real show though, he would rely on archives. Sundial was large enough, it had probably hosted some ice skating tournaments before at some point.
Heath waves away Kaelin's concern. "Don't worry. Focus on your technique." The man urged gently begore lifting his gaze up at the space above them. The icicles created a pretty show just on appearance alone. He tried to count the amount she had and visualize it against his own swarm. The speed is slower than expected though. "Is this as fast as you can go?" He asked before writing down another note. He had an idea. He would make her start small and then work her way up to the flock. At her age he had barely been able to summon one swallow, but maybe that had been a blessing in disguise during his learning.
After another minute he directs the pair again. "Kaelin, if you could attempt to make the swarm do a figure eight." He vaguely recalled that maybe the familiarity of a figure eight would helo. That was a teally easy thing to do on the rink. Supposedly. After anothe rcouple of minutes he added, "Can you split up your swarm into half and have them circle in the same direction? No figure eights this time."
Post by kaelin ó'coileáin on Aug 26, 2018 12:28:30 GMT
"i
t wouldn't be an imposition, i assure you," she responds immediately. "you are helping me, for free, with not-insignificant cost to your time. please, consider a ticket and the travel fees to be our repayment." money is not a large concern of hers, not with her father's support, her sponsors, her ability to take missions, and her relatively frugal lifestyle, skating expenses aside. and besides, taking what pretty much amounts to lessons from heath without payment is.... not a situation she is comfortable with.
"of course, if you are simply not interested, i understand and take no offence," she assures. "feel free to give it to someone else, in that case. but we would like for you to have the opportunity, regardless." and in all honesty... there may be some selfish, personal desire of kaelin's to show another person the beauty she sees in her beloved sport... and also, to maybe, possible, potentially have heath see her skate at her best and remember this one thing of her when she is no longer alive.
but of course, that is not something she will reveal to him. it is not something she plans on revealing to anyone, not until she has to, not until she has no choice.
as she and kiska focus on maintaining their technique, she tries to will the birds to fly faster. it works, perhaps, ever so slightly, but nothing truly noticeable. "yes, i think this is our top speed for now," she admits, corners of her lips tilting down. "we can probably go a little faster, but it won't be nearly as smooth or pretty." and quite honestly, their level is... rather disappointing, even to herself.
even more so when heath asks for a figure eight, and the birds slow down even more. sunlight catches on the wings and sends shards of rainbows shimmering down over their heads, but that detracts nothing from the lack of speed of the technique. and splitting the swarm? she and kiska attempt it, each taking half, but it reaches the extent of their abilities and the technique fades in a shower of ice crystals and snow. "i'm sorry, i don't think we can do that yet," she says, quietly disappointed in herself.
the level disparity between herself, and the competitive standard is... discouraging, to say the least. it has been a long time since she started learning anything from such rudimentary basics as this.
Post by heath ambroise on Aug 27, 2018 0:07:40 GMT
Heath is quick to dismiss the possibility that he is simply not interested. “I don’t mind helping, but if you insist I would be honored to watch you compete or attend a competition myself.” He returned. “Ice being my element I have an interest in learning how to skate. Better. Learning how to skate better.” The blonde added thinking back to a recent mission where his face had nearly landed on stone while being chased by giant wolves. He hadn’t thought he’d be lucky enough to talk with a professional skater, as young as she was. Maybe watching her would help his own technique. Hopefully. It felt like a vital spell. A way to get away quickly. Even if it left a trail of ice Skater was just what he needed in his mission kit.
“Don’t be afraid of pushing your techniques even if it’s not pretty. Once you can get down moving the swarm quickly throughout we can polish it up for a performance.” He said simply. “I’ll be looking into it but if you have any ideas later on how you want to perform feel free to let me know and I’ll do my best to devise ways to help.” On that note, he might defer a bit with Ninos as the man was probably more familiar with the limitations and aesthetics of performance skating. He watches quietly as Kaelin obeys his requests watching the swarm as it separates briefly before it fades into snow dust. Hmm. “How are you feeling, mana wise? Tired? Strained perhaps?” he asked. Either she wasn’t able to focus a large amount of mana into this or maybe it was…focus? Something to consider.
Sinclair nodded at the pair sympathetically. “That’s quite alright.” He piped up. “The only thing Heath used to be able to do was freeze over his hair until it snapped off his scalp.” Heath glared at Sinclair for his embarrassing input. “You did that on purpose.” He growled. Their relationship back then hadn’t been as solid as it was now. He turned his attention back to his student. “You’re fine. I just wanted to see the extent of your abilities. Let’s go smaller for now. Can you summon a swam of about…oh, ten swallows? Same size and all. Go back to doing figure eight’s while we talk. Big figure eights” He said casually, turning the page in his notebook as he sketches out a tree behind his student. “By any chance, is this the first time you’re really practicing your elemental magic? Sorry if I’ve asked this already.”
Post by kaelin ó'coileáin on Aug 27, 2018 5:16:14 GMT
"t
hen we hope to see you there," kiska says warmly, rearing up to give heath a smile - or as much of one as a tiny snake can give. kaelin nods in agreement, smiling. it would be... nice, to have him there, someone that knows her, someone that has taught her, and hopefully someone who will be proud of her.
"ah, i understand," she says to her teacher's advice, and allows the detailing on her swallows to fade till they are mere rough icy shapes with only passing resemblance towards elegance. as with learning any skill, it seems magic follows the same rules: first, to become comfortable and familiar with the basic skill, building a strong foundation upon which further refinement can be later added. it is as with learning anew any of her jumps or routines - why should magic be any different.
and immediately, she notices the technique is easier to control. the icy constructs obey her instructions with greater speed while the concentration expenditure has lessened. she feels that the movements may still seem a little jerky and not the smooth glide she envisions, but it is an improvement nonetheless.
after a few more moments, she lets this attempt fade as well as she considers heath's questions. "hm... i feel... relatively fine? mana-wise?" she considers herself, takes stock of her body. "a little tired maybe, in a sense that has nothing to do with physical exertion, but otherwise i feel like i could still practice for a fair while." is casting spells influenced by the fitness of one's body? kaelin is not shy to admit that she has probably a better physical condition than most, given her profession and career choice. or perhaps it is merely that this technique is so small and simple that it simply does not effect the caster much at all.
she and kiska both laugh softly at sinclair's interjection, eyes alight. "that must have been quite an experience," she comments. she and kiska have never had any such happenings, but then again, she and kiska have always had a shared goal, mutual understanding, and not quite the desire to experiment with their element.
"alright," she nods, taking a breath and recasting the spell. perhaps it is just her imagination, but the technique feels easier now, a certain sense of familiarity with the base motions. ten birds take flight into the air, their glittering wings shimmering under the sun before she lets the detail fade once again; and this time, the figure eights come smoother than her first attempts. nothing amazing, nothing even good, but still. she is improving, and she has patience enough to practice until she is good.
"this is," kiska confirms, while kaelin adjusts the trajectory of her birds. "we have not touched magic in general since i materialised, almost - we are fairly familiar and proficient with skater, but that is it. moving to sundial a few weeks ago was when we decided to finally discover it again."
Post by heath ambroise on Aug 27, 2018 6:17:36 GMT
Heath gives the little snake a small nod of acknowledgement, a little flustered that they were already into their first lesson and they already wanted him to be there with them. He hoped this wouldn’t turn once he started designing training drills for Kaelin. He hadn’t had a teacher himself, but he’d done sports at one point. He boxed nowadays. He knew the bare basics of what training meant. He would have drills for Kaelin soon. He makes notes that, even if its small, his suggestions are a bit effective. Good, logically it made sense to him. Besides, his swallows were rough looking. He didn’t usually worry about their appearance. It was more so speed, direction, and number. The bigger swarm the harder to control but you didn’t need to much when you were just going to fling them like missiles during a mission anyway. “Alright then. Did you feel very tired when you tried to control both halves of your swarm beforehand?” he asked.
He frowns, expression souring form thoughtful to…disgusted with his younger self. “I was bald for a month.” He supplies while Sinclair laughs at his expression, rolling over on the grass as he does. As Sinclair settles he turns his focus back to his student’s work. He nods as the little ice birds and watches them go. The blond decides to let Kaelin get used to the movement of that and turns back to the conversation at hand. “Oh alright. That’s not too bad if you’ve learned to control at least one technique.” Better than none, really. “Well, I’m happy to be able to share my knowledge with you. Please go easy on me.” He adds with a laugh before pointing up at the birds once more.
“Now, I’m going to need you to shrink the figure eight just a bit. Keep up this pace but close up the figure.” He said waving his hand a few times to let Kaelin and Kiska know to keep shrinking the trajectory. “Oh, too much. Expand a bit- there.” He said after playing around with it. It wasn’t too much small than before maybe a few inches. “How does this feel? A you feeling a little strained? A lot strained?” he asked, gaging his student’s reactions once more. “I’m trying to find your comfort level for practice. Until you get used to summoning large swarms I think we’ll practice with ten swallows for now with a few minutes of figure eights at a set size.” The journalist explained as he began writing that down, so he wouldn’t forget. “I think the big swarms took too much out of you without helping you practice your direction and speed very well. I’ll gradually let you add in more for bigger effects but for now this should be fine.”
He paused for a moment remembering he was a little worried with his student overworking herself. “Kaelin, if I am going to teach you I want you to know that I want complete honesty from you. If something is putting too much strain on you let me know and I’ll adjust for you. Now reverse your figure eight, go the opposite way.” Heath tried to balance the firmness he used at work with a more, kid-friendly happy tone. Hopefully the message would get across. He didn’t need to hear about a student of his passing out from a technique he told them to practice. He’d be lenient in this regard…he wasn’t certified to teach in any case. He wasn’t sure if his way of practicing would be detrimental. He’d passed out more than a few times from exhaustion, sure, but he wasn’t willing to put that on a teenager girl. “I almost forgot, we should probably discuss scheduling. I won’t be able to see you as often as Ninos, but I’ll do my best to be around.” He turned a page in his notebook, writing out a quick weekly chart, ready to fill it in.
