This Magic Moment [citizenanon, nightsorceress]

Noah had quietly followed her through the house and tried to memorize everything he saw as everything said something about someone. A book out of place could give new interests. Unorganized tables could mean laziness or lack of time. A lack of a ring could mean a death in the family or divorce. Noah had practiced cold reading on people since he had become a magician. It was part of his act and part of almost all magicians. Surprisingly, he could get very little from her.

That was... until they arrived in the basement.

Holy shit was she dedicated to her craft.

"So, a trust exercise kicked up to eleven?" Noah asked and looked skeptically at the ladder. Most of the time he liked himself enough, but did he trust himself to catch himself? Well, there was only one way to find out. At the very least, the ground was padded. Well. In for a penny, in for a rabbit in a hat. Noah walked towards the ladder and climbed up, up, up until he was perched unsteadily on the top rung. He stood up, showcasing some pretty good balance before glancing back and looking at Lillian. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before falling backwards. He felt something as he fell. A certain flipflopping in his stomach followed by the feeling of his long expelling the life giving air as he hit the mat below.

Lillian took a seat on the floor as she watched him climb the ladder. She was very impressed that he did not seem afraid, fear would not serve him well for this. Her eyes never left him the whole time, not because he was her student she enjoyed watching him move. There was just something about him that always kept her attention, she felt the first time she ever saw his show. Maybe it was his handsome features or the way he could captivate and audience. When he fell on the mat as she knew would didn't move to help she kept her place not want to hurt his pride. She had seen the training done before she knew this was going to take a while. "How is the padding on the mat do you need more, I don't want you to hurt yourself when you do it again."

Noah did not say anything as he looked up at the ladder from his position on the floor. It seemed so much taller from where he was laying. He took a quick inventory of his body parts. Everything was there and seemed to work just fine and while he was a little achy from the fall, he would be okay.

"No, only my ego is bruised." Noah admitted. He had not taken the time to psych himself up properly. Maybe next time he would have to focus on it more? How did he do the fire trick? He caught it on fire and simply knew it would work. He was sure every time that it would work. No moved to his feet quickly and climbed back up the ladder. He perched on top and stood back up, showcasing his balance once more as he stood still. I can do this. he told himself, trying to psych himself up. Magic is real. I can do this. Noah opened his eyes and looked ahead at the far wall before letting himself fall backwards once more. With another oomph, he landed hard on the mat.

Was he missing something?

Lillian watched as he got up and tried again. She watched the expression on his face she could see by the way his eyes were moving he was thinking or trying to focus. She watched as once again he fell like stone on to the mat. She moved closer to him till her face was laying on the ground next to him. "Your over thinking this" she said with a smile "relax a bit."

"Over thinking things?" Noah asked and turned to look at Lillian next to him. He had no idea how he was over thinking it nor did he know how to not think about it. He took a breath and looked at the ladder closely before looking back at Lillian, "Why don't you give me an example? I tend to learn better by seeing it happen then emulating it until I get it."

Noah turned and looked back to the ladder and hoped she would get up there and show him. Perhaps he would get a chance to see it in action.

Lillian blinked a few times thinking about showing them she put her two hands on the mat and lifted herself up. She moved gracefully over to the ladder and climb. She has done this from higher so there nothing she was worried about. She stood at the very stop and then turned her back to the mat and feel. Her blowing about her but then he rated of falling seem to slow until she hovered just above the mat hanging there in the air a moment before her body turned upright and she was standing on the mat turned to face him. "You think you got it now"

Noah watched the demonstration and how things were done carefully as if he were studying another magician and in a way he was. As she slowed down, he frowned a bit, but could not see a reason for it, but she did come to a stop as if by magic. He sighed. That had not shown him what he wanted to see, but it was doable and if she could do it, he was sure that he could do it.

"Perhaps so. At the very least I have proof of concept." Noah moved to stand up, "Is there anything that magic can not accomplish?" Noah stretched a bit and twisted at the hips and caused his back to pop. He moved past Lillian and began to climb the ladder again. Instead of growing tense, he took a breath and let his whole body relax, let things loosen, let things chill... before falling backwards. As he fell, he felt the world around him change as things slowed down for a half second, but as soon as he took notice of it, everything sped back up and he crashed into the floor.

Lillian stepped back off the mat as he once again began to climb the ladder she hoped that watching her helped. And as she watched she noticed that he did move slower she was excited for a moment before he suddenly hit sped up and hit the ground with the formilure thud. "What are you thinking about when you fall?" She asked before he would try again hoping maybe she could figure it out.

Noah sat up and rubbed the back of his head where he had landed on it rather hard. He smiled a bit and glanced sheepishly at Lillian for a half second before standing back up. "Initially, I wasn't thinking of anything, I just relaxed and let myself fall. I felt it happen and focused on it, that's when everything went to hell and I hit the floor."

Even though he had failed again, Noah was all smiles. He had done it. He had felt it. It had worked. He just needed practice. He was an illusionist by trade and spent hours practicing his slight of hand and 'magic'. "I did it! Even for a half second, I did it."

It was really all the validation that he needed to know it was all true and real.

Lillian smiled when he explained it to her. "Magic is part you it woven in to everything you are, so when you relaxed it allowed it to come through. Once you learn to let it come through then you will be able to think about it and control it. I know it hard but relax when you try again. You will get it at some point" she watched as he rubbed his head. "Are you sure you don't want more padding I don't want you to get hurt."

"I seem to be okay." Noah said as he rubbed his head. "It's not really a pain, just a bit of soreness. I'll be fine soon enough." He never did seem to stay hurt for very long. Noah climbed to his feet and moved back to the ladder. "Right. Relax. Don't focus."

Noah climbed to the top of the ladder once more. He stood up and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and let his mind wander before clearing it. He let himself fall backwards. As he had expected, the sensation came again, but he did not focus on it and simply let it happen. The world around him slowed and he came to a rest an inch above the floor before falling slowly to the ground.

Lillian smiled as he took her words and focused on applying the,. She once again watched as he climbed the ladder and fell but this time he did it he slowed himself down and stopped for a moment right above the floor. She was so excited for him she couldn't hide it "you did it, you did it! How do you feel?"

Noah stayed where he was for a moment before sitting back up with a wide smile on his face. He was pretty proud of himself and it showed. "I feel..." How did he feel? He was a little light headed, but he assumed that it was all from the feeling of accomplishment at actually doing magic. "A bit light headed, but over all okay. What's next?"

He was eager to go on learning.

(Figured I'd give you the option of the magic taking a lot out of him or something of that nature.)

(I swore I hit post reply when the last I reply I must not have. That's what I get for using my phone)

Lillian walked over to a fridge she had sitting down there and got him a bottle of water she then brought it to him "now you take a break and the when you feel better we try it again." She took a seT across from him and was still smiling. "Once you master controlling your feelings it will get easier."

Noah made himself comfortable on the mat. Now that she mentioned it, he did feel a bit out of it. He took the offered water and pupped the cap off before drinking half of it in one go. He slowed at the end thought and lowered it. "How did you move back to your feet after you fell? Did you just will it to happen?" Noah was eager to know more. Perhaps he could not do it now, but he could think and learn about it while he rested.

(no worries)

"It a way I willed it and in a way I just saw myself doing it. It was kind of like when you let go and stopped thinking about stopping yourself. Your powers took over and you just did it" she bit her lip she was not sure if he totally understood what she was explaining but in time he would. "so tell me a little about yourself we are going to. Working together for a while we should at least get to know each other."

"Well, I'm sure you've done a bit of homework on me since you were the one sent out to investigate." Noah smiled and sipped his water. "There's honestly not a ton to know. I've lived a pretty... quiet life. I started at magic when I was about five. Small, easy tricks, you know?" Noah set his water down and mimicked a deck of cards being spread out. "Pick a card, any card. My family hated it for the most part. Mostly due to annoyance, I'm sure. It dropped off for a bit once I reached middle school. Started playing football, but took a knee injury that put me out for a bit, so it was back to magic. You know, I never did get back on the team." He sipped his water. "I was the weird kid in high school that could entertain at one point and fleece you for extra money the next in a game of shells or three card monty. Hell, I even payed my way through college by doing shows."

Noah shrugged, "So, differences aside, how did you find magic?"

Lillian listens as he explained his past a bit and then he asked her how she found magic. "I was born with it, my parents were both full blooded witches so they had me using my magic ever since I was little. That's part of the reason it comes so easily for me. Do you know anything about your family I am just a little surprised they did not teach unless maybe you were adopted?"

"So you've always known about this stuff?" Noah asked, clearly curious. "It's so odd that there's a whole other group of people that live somewhat apart from the average, non-magical person. How do you keep things quiet? What if someone without magic finds out about it? Do you have mind magic?" No did not wait for her to answer and barreled on with his explanation for her question. He assumed she would answer afterwards. "Well, I was adopted, yes. That happened when I was about five. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that for about five years after, I was a bit of a hellion and likely spent more nights away from my adopted parents than with them. Had a few close calls, but straightened out around ten or so. My folks have been good to me."

"I figured you had to be adopted, it's uncommon for a child with magic to be raised in a non magic home, but it's not unheard of that's why the council does have people like myself looking for people like you." She shrugged a bit but other than the fact we know about magic we pretty much like normal people have jobs raises families you know that kind of stuff." She then got up and got herself another bottle of water. "I can show you how my father trained me when I was younger. Stuff you eventually learn to."

Noah noticed that she seemed to avoid the question regarding mind magics, but did not press her on the issue. He figured he would figure it out in time. Until then, he was keeping things under wraps as it was, so there was not likely to be a call or need for such things. He followed her to his feet.

"Alright, let's see what you've got to show me."

He was, if anything, an attentive student and certainly seemed eager to learn everything that she had to offer to him. "Is this stuff that I will practice later once I've mastered falling with style?"

She smiled a little she was going to teach him she actually going to show him her father teaching her. "Everything we do leaves an imprint on a space this is true for both witches and humans, if a witches powers are strong enough we can draw these imprints back out an replay them. Watch" she stared into the the middle of the room and first there was just a faint image almost a flicker of a little girl. Then the image grow stronger as the little girl was really there .

The little girl was only about 4 and she was focusing on a ball. Suddenly the ball rolled on its own and the girl giggled. A man suddenly came up behind her tickling her "focus Lily and soon your ball could do more than that." The man had a heavy Irish accent and then watched as his daughter made the ball bounce, "that's my girl"

The image quickly changed and now the girl was looked to be about 10. The girl and the man were sitting at a table an empty vase was sitting in the middle "lily why don't you make some beautiful flowers appear in there for your mother for the dinner table.?" He instructed her. Lily tried and tried and finally with a wave of her hand she made Lillies appear in the vase.

The image changed again but this time it was much different Lily was now 15 she was wearing a black dress and she was crying. She was just standing in the middle of the room just staring. A man that looked like her father but a few years older came up behind her. "Lily sweet heart come back upstairs there so many people here to pay there respects" the man was caught off Lily waved her hand and pushed him away from she used all of her powers to drive the man back upstairs.

At that point Lillian stopped the images she just collapsed on the ground it was clear the last image pained her to watch and she did not mean to show Noah that one. Tears streamed down her check she said Nothing.

Noah watched on, entranced at yet another thing that this so called magic could do. Sure, he could 'conjur' illusions and make people think they were seeing something they were not, but this was on an entirely different level. These were real memories on display for him to see. He studied each memory as it played, then frowned a bit as the last one ended. It was fairly obvious what was going on. He watched as Lillian just collapsed. He was at a loss of what to do for a moment, but rallied himself and walked towards her before falling to his knees beside her.

He produced a clean handkerchief from his pocket with a flourish. He may no longer be a stage musician, but his jacket and clothes were still loaded with material. He passed the cloth to Lillian to wipe her tears away. That had been a pretty raw display of power she showed him and wondered about other applications for it, but said nothing yet.

"I'm sorry." He was. That she had lost someone, that she was hurt, that she had inadvertently shared that with him...

Lillian took the handkerchief and dried her eyes before looking at him. "I am sorry, showing in the in prints is ver hard to do and hard to control which ones to play through. It takes a very strong witch to master it most witches can't even do what I did." She looked down "that was the day of parents funeral, I remeber coming home from the cemetery and coming down here hoping that it was all just a dream that my father would be down here waiting for me like he would after I came home from school.." A fear more tears slipped from her eyes and she quickly wiped them away "I am sorry to be acting this way you came here to learn not see this"

"It's okay, you know." Noah said and sat down properly next to her. He bumped her slightly with his elbow in a friendly gesture. "The two of us are going to spend a lot of time together here with you teaching me. Things like this are bound to happen." He smiled, "And I did learn a lot. I saw how you controlled the ball, learned to gradually become more powerful, and got a real taste of magic. Illusions like that!" He was clearly impressed with her. "Better than any kind of hologram or stage show."