And I Guess I'll Just Begin Again

[seasaltkeys]

Who: Roxas and Open
What: Roxas attempts to relearn his magic
Where: Twilight Town, specifically the waterfall in sunset villa
When: Afternoon
Warnings: G, will edit should this change.

It was weird, trying to remember how to use magic.

Once it had been practically second nature to him, but lately Roxas had been wondering if he could still do it. After all, with the way his memories were, he had no idea how or when he forgot. He didn't have in Twilight Town, that much was certain, but then, wielding a keyblade had been new to him as well. If things hadn't progressed the way they did, he probably would have remembered magic eventually.

Having magic was pretty useful with all the nightmares around, and while Roxas didn't mind fending them off with his keyblade, it would get pretty tiresome after a while, especially when they came in a rush. With the way his memories were returning, he was pretty certain he remembered how to use it. He'd been holding back out of fear that he didn't, and would end up hurting someone. Now it was time to change that.

Roxas stared down his reflection in the waterfall in Twilight Town, trying not to think about the time he'd fought that doppleganger here. He pointed Oblivion at the waterfall.

"Fire!" he shouted, watching the bolt of flame fly out of the keyblade and into the water. There was a small explosion and when the smoke cleared, Roxas could sort of see a mark where the magic had hit. Hopefully, no one else would notice.

Comments

[letteropener]

That flare caught the attention of a pony some distance above, who shifted the angle of her wings and the orientation of her body to descend.

"Fire conjuration magic?" she asked, as she landed a respectful distance away.

[seasaltkeys]

It takes Roxas a minute to realize he's being spoken to, and to boggle a bit because yes that is actually a talking pony in front of him. Talking over the communicator is one thing, but this is another.

"Something like that, yeah," he replied, looking down at the ground. "I figure I should practice, since it's been a while."

[letteropener]

How has the poor boy missed Luna all this time? He's been deprived.

Celestia stepped forward, looking curious at his Keyblade. "I admit I'm still a big confused about human magics. Only ponies with a horn can use magic, unicorns and alicorns; it's necessary to have one. Is that a substitute, or simply a convenient focus?"

[seasaltkeys]

He wasn't exactly the type to reach out to others, especially when he first arrived. There was too much to work out. He stiffens at the human comment, but holds back. He's still not sure what he is, but he knows he's not normal.

"Well, humans don't really have horns," Roxas replied with a shrug, "So it's not really a substitute. It's just what I use to do magic. It's called a keyblade."

[letteropener]

"I'm sorry. I put that poorly, I think," she said, then stopped to consider just how to phrase it. "I should say that I don't know what allows humans to use magic. Does every one have the ability? I would expect to see it much more often if they did..."

She really didn't anything by using the term 'human'; she has no way of knowing all the subtle distinctions, having only been introduced to these unusual beings on arriving here.

[seasaltkeys]

Roxas paused, thinking about that for a moment and scratching his head.

"I don't really know. I was taught it, but it was during a time when I didn't really know what was going on."

Back when he had started with the Organization, when he was a Zombie, as Axel had described.

"I don't think everyone can do it though. You have to be taught."

[letteropener]

"But everyone has the potential, when taught?"

Celestia, in turn, gave a very great deal of thought to that over the course of a short pause. It fit the available evidence and only left unanswered the biggest question, which was why did they have the capability in the first place?

"I never doubted I had much to learn, but this certainly proves it," she said, smiling.

[trademark_skull]

Normally Emizel wouldn't be the kind to eavesdrop, but it wasn't hard to notice someone practicing magic when he sees it, not after spending years trying to do the same. And those felt like some pretty long years.

He could just go on his way and ignore him. Although it wasn't like the demon needed anywhere else to go right now. Maybe he could just hang out for awhile and just... watch? Although that might get boring really fast too.

"Not too bad... for a beginner."

[seasaltkeys]

The more he practiced, the more he was getting better, he figured. At least, it was coming back to him bit by bit. The hole behind the waterfall hadn't gotten that much bigger at least.

Roxas was about to try again when he heard someone speak up. He turned to look at who it was, since he didn't recognize the voice. Granted, he didn't really know a lot of the other people here, and had been avoiding the ones he did know.

"I'm not a beginner. Just rusty is all," he replied.

[trademark_skull]

As Roxas said that he leaned closer to glance at the scorch mark again as if to judge it. Small in size, nothing the water couldn't wash away, all in all the damage from it would have been minimal. Either Roxas really hadn't done this sort of thing in a long time, or he was never good that at it to begin with.

"Rusty is right."

[seasaltkeys]

"I have reasons, alright?"

It's a bit of a snippy response, but then Roxas has never been that great with criticism. But the fact remained that he was still regaining his memories of how to use magic, and it looked like it was going to be a longer road than he thought.

"I just need practice."

[trademark_skull]

Emizel fell silent again not long after that, possibly thinking. Even Moxie seemed rather confused what was going through the demon's head at the moment when he looked up at him. Although maybe he sort of had an idea as soon as Emizel made eye contact back.

"... Well you're not going to get far hitting a wall like that," he finally pointed out.

[seasaltkeys]

"I just wanted to see if I could still do it," Roxas admitted. "I didn't really want to try against nightmares, especially if it didn't work."

The last thing he needed was to leave himself open to an attack. And if he was fighting with someone, he didn't really want to risk hitting them with a stray spell.

[colorbymemory]

Thanks to lessons from Ienzo, magic was slowly becoming second nature to Namine. The best thing about learning it was that it meant she could go out on her own a little more often--provided she also had some Spirits with her. Apparently she needed the practice outside of lessons.

The same could be said of her spirits, so today she'd chosen her two newest, Teddy and Bell, to accompany her to Twilight Town. This was further than she'd ever been into town, which made exploring a little tricky, but she was doing relatively fine when she found someone else practicing magic. "Hello, Roxas."

Teddy waved a greeting, while Bell retreated behind her person's legs.

[seasaltkeys]

Roxas had been focusing on another fire attack, but hearing Namine's voice causing a momentary loss of focus and the attack went wide, causing a scorch mark on the wall. Whoops.

He looked at Namine sheepishly. Bouncer trotted over to say hi to the new spirits.

"Oh, hi Namine. You scared me."

[colorbymemory]

Oh, dear, Namine hadn't meant to startle him. She winced as the spell went wide. At least it hadn't hit anyone. Scorch marks on walls were much more easily dealt with.

Namine offered her own sheepish smile. While Bell's jingling was usually noticeable, Roxas had seemed pretty focused so maybe he hadn't heard it. "I'm sorry, I guess I should have made more noise."

Teddy went over to greet Bouncer, while Bell curled up even further behind Namine. She wasn't sure if she was ready to say hello yet.

[seasaltkeys]

"It's alright. I wasn't really paying attention either," Roxas shrugged, sighing at that mark on the wall. He'd have to clean it off somehow. Or make it less noticable.

Bouncer was always glad for a new friend and barked cheerfully, and Sparkle had wandered over to say hello as well.

"So, uh, what are you doing here?"

[colorbymemory]

If he needed any help dealing with the scorch mark, Namine would offer it. Since she'd distracted him, it was only fair that she help fix it. Cleaning probably wouldn't be too difficult. "It looked like you were focused on the spell."

Teddy reached down to pat Bouncer on the head, while Bell took a few cautious steps out from behind Namine to sniff at Sparkle.

"I was going to practice some magic, too. Ienzo's been teaching me."

[seasaltkeys]

A new friend?! Today is the best day ever! Sparkle bounces over to Bell, waving enthusiastically. Bouncer in the meantime is doing everything in his power to get more attention.

"I guess I was, yeah," Roxas replied, scratching behind his head. "What sort of magic? Like combat stuff?"

[go_dream]

Tidus spared Roxas a glance, about to walk past him. The sudden exclamation had him halt. Most magic wasn't his strong point, but he had seen enough of it thanks to Lulu that it wasn't hard to recognize the spell the guy was about to cast. He watched as the flame hit the water. It was weird, the things these seemingly separate worlds had in common. Scratching his neck, he swung his hands in front of him as he finally spoke up.

"Do you know other spells?"

[seasaltkeys]

Roxas doesn't respond right away, taking a minute to look at the shot and realize that he had it in him. That he hadn't completely forgotten how to use magic. It was something of a relief.

He looked over at Tidus, shaking his head briefly. Sora had had a friend by that name, but this wasn't the same guy. The one Sora knew was shorter.

"Uh, yeah, I do. Haven't tried them out yet."

[go_dream]

He blinked in confusion. How could Roxas know them if he hadn't tried them out? "Did you just learn them?"

"What other ones do you know?" Magic was fun to witness, even if he didn't have the patience for it himself.

[seasaltkeys]

"Not really. It's more, I forgot about them and now I'm trying to see if I can remember them."

He didn't really want to get into his whole history with a stranger, so he figured that was the easiest way to explain his situation.

"Uh, thunder, blizzard, and cure, mostly."

[go_dream]

"Oh. I guess it must be like learning a certain skill. You remember even if it's been a while."

He shrugged, then eyed the waterfall.

"Using it on water's one thing. Do you think your aim is good enough to hit a moving target?"

[seasaltkeys]

"Probably. I just wanted to make sure I could still use the spell. I'd rather try it on the waterfall rather than risk hitting someone if it didn't work."

The last thing he needed was to injure his own spirits in the middle of a fight, or someone he was fighting with. Against the Nightmares they had enough to worry about.