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Post by Zero on Mar 18, 2009 10:14:31 GMT -5
Cali again felt like he had done something wrong. He wasn't exactly oblivious to the fact that the squirrels at camp were often prime moving targets to pyrokinesis, but still Raz could surely understand that the poor thing was frightened, right? Cali himself being a bit of an animal lover couldn't stand to watch poor little things like that suffer.
So, deep in thought, he watched as Raz struggled with the arm, trying to get the points of the claw in place on it. He gave a deep sigh to Raz's mental voice in his head, trying to cheer up and be a good teacher again. "Yes well, the thing is the psychic energies that dissipate from the arm right now are fighting against your own energies to keep you from overpowering them. Luckily, this is just an arrowhead right now, but if you use this against something with free thinking psychic thoughts, the energy could easily be converted to theirs, and use to attack you instead."
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Post by Kero on Mar 19, 2009 13:23:09 GMT -5
<Can kinda see that… Hey, Cali, you know any way to make this easier?> With the energies fighting against one another, the finished product was unstable at best. Raz had managed to make and keep the shape that had become so familiar as Cali’s psi-claw hand, but it was taking a lot of effort to maintain it, and the boy was starting to get a bit of a headache. It was like trying to see a picture in a pool with a constant series of waves interrupting the image. Raz never quite got the complete picture, and as of the moment, he had no real way to stop the energy from interfering.
As tired as he was, the boy refused to give up until he had some sort of control. He was stubborn, perhaps, or foolish. It was hard to tell which, and that was part of his success in the first place.
And the idea that people could use the energy against him… that made him think, and the buzz of thought in the back of his mind was another undercurrent to have to keep on track while he kept fixing all the little holes in his creation before they could unravel completely, <How do you know that, anyhow? Wouldn’t they have the same problem if they tried to use your energy against you? Or is this some of the stuff I still need to learn?> after all, Raz was still only two years trained in the psychonaut’s community. It stood to reason that there was plenty of advanced techniques he’d never even imagined to be learned.
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Post by Zero on Mar 20, 2009 7:24:44 GMT -5
It was obvious that Raz was struggling. The metal hand before them still looked unstable, but it was getting there. "Well Raz, there are plenty of psychics in the world that are much more powerful then you. Those psychics could easily manipulate your own energies against you." Cali looked down at the clawed hand, still full of gaps. "However, that ability also has an opposite function." Cali looked down at the arm and his own energies began to swirl around it. But these energies didn't fight off Raz's, but rather join his, making a sort of hazel-colored energy that enveloped the whole arm without cracks. "You see Raz, you can also help people with this move, by combining your own energies with theirs. Of course, what I did just now takes more time to learn then the negative part of the ability."
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Post by Kero on Mar 21, 2009 8:39:35 GMT -5
<Figures…> everything cool took time to learn. Raz was pretty confident that, with enough practice, he’d get a lot better at the Psi-claw, though. After all, he already knew enough that he could make his own claw. Maybe not as much the random things made from other things. Cali didn’t really seem to like that, and because of that, Raz was less willing to branch out into that particular area. After all, he liked the man now that he was getting to know him better. Sane, the former Dr. Loboto made a much more reassuring figure, almost up with Ford, Milla, and Sasha in the boy’s eyes.
The hazel energy remained solid around the arm, and Raz watched it, mesmerized. He wasn’t used to that particular color, not after having used the orange that was his near-trademark for so long. The ease with which they together could overpower the psitanium was a relief from his recent struggles, too, but Raz was curious as to how much control he had over it. So he tried to move the arm, trying to make it stand on end and ‘act’ ferocious, with it’s new claw-points. <…what can we do together besides... well... this stuff…?> he was starting to get excited about this prospect, as well.
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Post by Zero on Mar 21, 2009 9:04:46 GMT -5
Cali smiled. "Well Raz, right now, our thoughts are connected by this psychic bond. It allows us to know what the other is thinking or doing. For example-" Cali picked up on Raz's control ideas and help the boy along with it, the arm quickly standing and clicking it's claw almost hungrily. "-with this we can control it's movements together, synchronized."
Cali seemed to handle it perfectly well at first, but soon a sweat came onto his features and his smile became unsure. "H-however-" He stuttered. "t-this takes a l-lot of energy to control someone else's as w-well as your own a-at once..." He abruptly dropped his own energies, reverting the claw back to orange uneven energy, and him to sit, panting, for a few minutes.
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Post by Kero on Mar 23, 2009 5:55:46 GMT -5
It was almost an extension of a sixth sense. With his eyes locked onto the arm, watching as it moved in the exact way he’d wanted it to with a sense of both accomplishment and a bit of disappointment that he couldn’t do it on his own, the boy’s conscious mind flit into a state of multi-tasking. It wasn’t anything strange to him, either; being an acrobat meant that one had to have this kind of mindset when doing particular tricks. It came naturally to him when he was doing something that required focus on a lot of different aspects at once, even if it took a while to kick in sometimes.
The fact remained, though, that now that he could pay attention, Raz could feel the tendrils of energy that were Cali’s prodding on his own mind, and in some small sense, he could sense the guarded thoughts of the other. Taking advantage of that, like any curious boy, he narrowed his eyes some as, looking deeper into the thoughts, he could sense before Cali fell that the teacher was trying to show off a little for him, too. This kind of thing was really beyond the older psychic's energy. So when the former dentist snapped and fell to his knees, Raz was up in a flash, his energy flickering away over the am as he jumped over to him.
“I think you’ve been disarmed,” that lame joke had a smirk forming on Raz’s face as he bent down to tap Cali on the forehead, “Hey, you okay? You coulda just stopped, you know.”
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Post by Zero on Mar 23, 2009 6:15:36 GMT -5
Cali's eyes were a deep black, likely shorted out by the energy snapping away from his psyche so suddenly. It seemed like he was unconscious for a moment, but then moved himself so he was sitting cross legged and sighed. He gave Raz a sort of half-smile. "I probably could've stopped, but I wanted you to be able to learn it." He exhaled deeply, eyes closing. His other arm took his robotic one back and began to redo the leather straps that held it on.
Once the arm was once more attached, he ran a finger along it's cold metal side, still warm from mental energy. He went to removing the psitainium that was inside the storage area in the arm. "We'll stop for today, but I want you to keep practicing Raz, it'll make my job as teacher easier." He gave a small laugh.
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Post by Kero on Mar 25, 2009 12:34:56 GMT -5
Almost-worry had been dancing along his mind. Raz knew that lashbacks, especially ones from your own mental energy, were really draining. He’d had it happen more than just a few times to him, and he’d even blacked out once. But he’d never told anyone about that particular incident, since he was more than a little ashamed of it, so he banished the thought from his mind as quickly as it had come and hoped that no one had picked up on it. It was only when Cali moved to sit up again that Raz found the energy to breathe the breath he had been holding, realizing a little how tired he was. The tiredness was good, though. Mental strain in psychics could be alluded toward the burning of a muscle that an athlete had to use often, and when it was a good workout, muscles hurt. That was the only way they could get stronger.
Raz wanted to be stronger, and he was glad Cali had shown him all the things that could be done, if he was willing to work for it.
“You know, you aren’t a bad teacher,” Raz crouched down a little, watching the older man put the robotic arm back on. A year ago, the thought of being anywhere near the then ‘Dr. Loboto’ would have had him on edge and ready for a battle to end all battles, but nowadays… well, things were so different, it was hard to see the full scope of how they all had changed. He could scarcely believe that he was glad to be here, glad to see this man, and appreciating being taught by him, “I’ll practice all I can. I promise when I come back I’ll be a lot better at it, and I won’t torment squirrels with it. Deal?” holding out his hand, Raz grinned that trademark grin of his, willing to help his former mortal enemy up from the ground if he wanted.
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Post by Zero on Mar 25, 2009 16:42:26 GMT -5
Cali's eyes soon began to reboot, the green one seeming a little cracked. Cali reminded himself to replace it later. Looking back at Raz with his metal eyes, he gave a sort of smile, not wide enough to be a grin, but not small enough to be a smirk. "Thanks, you're a good student." He soon stood, dusting off his sweater as if he had dirtied it somehow. When he apparently had gotten rid of the supposed 'filth' on his sweater, he shook Raz's hand with his flesh-hand, now himself grinning. "Deal."
He let go of Raz's hand and began to walk away when he looked back at Raz. "And Raz, next time I teach you, we'll be covering how to use the ability in combat, so come riled and ready to fight." And then Cali walked away, stopping a few feet away and simply walking up the tree sideways with his psi-claws on his feet, vanishing in the canopy above.
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Post by Kero on Mar 26, 2009 13:30:16 GMT -5
It was a deal.
Sometimes, Raz wondered how good of a student he actually was. His ego, well…. that wanted him to believe he was the best student at camp, and that was why he’d been able to learn everything that much more quickly and better than every other. His reality-check, though… that told him he was lucky and rather determined. Both may have been right, for all he knew, but still, the compliment had him beaming. Even when Cali warned him that the next time they met, he would be teaching combat application, the boy kept up that expression. Something in him told him that with enough dedication, he would be ready for his next lesson, so he was more than ready to come with every fiber in his being ready to fight with it.
“Yes, Sir!” Giving a salute, Raz snickered for a moment until the sound slowly died off while the boy watched as the teacher moved to… climb up the tree. Sideways.
“…What the hell?” all Raz could do was stare for a long time until Cali vanished into the branches, more than a little weirded out suddenly. After all, even he couldn’t have kept his back straight at that angle if he had been walking like that. All he could assume, he decided, was that Cali had probably used some sort of psychic energy to help keep himself up like that, so he shrugged to himself, and moved to walk away and wander around the forest a bit with the rest of his morning free time, planning in his head for when he would come next and be instructed in this special new skill.
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