Magicka Corrupted

[Raven]

Red didn't mind. The purpose wasn't to get sympathy, or pity. The purpose of his very well-rehearsed speech was to give an example of how much their cause mattered, to give people who didn't have one already a secondhand example of blatant abuse, taken from one side of the story to make himself and his cause look good. "Yeah. You can see why I have a dorm at the school," he teased.

[Gifted]

Natalia chuckled. "Yeah, I think I'd want to stay at the school myself." Natalia agreed."So wait, you yourself know Black Magic?"

[Raven]

"Yup," Red said. "I'm a natural. Not the spooky black-cape wearing crone you expected?" His tone was light and his eyes glimmered.

[Gifted]

Natalia laughed. "Nah, that's not it. I just knew you were a Cleric, so I didn't think to ask further. That is so cool."

[Raven]

"I discovered my affinity early, and I wanted to help people rather than hurt them," Red said. "But that assumption has saved my skin more times than you'd think. No one guesses that one of the top Clerical students could possibly have an affinity for Black Magic."

[Gifted]

"That's really cool. So do you still train in it and stuff? Are there even resources that exist anymore to train Black Magic? I would have thought most of them got fuckin' burned or something."

[Raven]

"There are some underground sources, or so I've heard. I train to control it, but I mostly figure things out on my own. I don't want to get in too deep, at least not until I'm out of school. Some of the people we've helped have been able to tutor others, and some of it actually uses a lot of the same concepts as Clerical magic," Red answered. "But it's more common than you'd think."

[Gifted]

"That makes sense. Being around teachers and shit probably isn't very safe for that." Natalia nodded. "That's awesome. I'm glad there's some resources keeping it alive, at least. It'd go the way of Soul Magic if the government had their way."

[Raven]

"No kidding," Red said. "It's just a bunch of old people letting irrational fear get away with them."

[Gifted]

"Exactly." Natalia nodded. "So what can I do to help?"

((If you see this, my Skype isn't working.))

[Raven]

"If you could use your magic to make some repairs for us, that would be a great start," Red said earnestly.

[Gifted]

"It might take me a while, I'm not great at precision or fine movements. But if you show me what needs doing and give me time I can get done what I can."

[Raven]

Two weeks after Natalia was showed the base, Red graduated with some of the top marks. After that, there was a flurry as Red moved his things out of the dorm room, and then things quieted down again as Ryan and Natalia were set to prepare for their final year. Red continued asking Natalia for help, and even allowed her to take part in a few missions rather than simply helping out around the base. He seemed to come more into himself as he adjusted to life outside of school, and he began showing her some of the more positive or at least not horrifying uses of Black Magic as he began to study it more and more.

The summer and their more free days (although most students still at the school took summer classes as well, there were fewer of them) was coming to an end when Red informed her of a peaceful protest they were setting up. Though she was warned that she might want to keep her distance, due to the high chance that those involved might be arrested, it hadn't been a huge deal since she and Ryan had plans on the day it was being scheduled. Then the day before, he cancelled saying that his teacher had sprung a project on them and he would need to stay in to work on it.

[Gifted]

"Oh, bummer. Good luck with that."Natalia waved goodbye to her friend, but in her mind she was upset that their plans had fallen through. Now what the hell was she going to do? Stupid teachers ruining their fun... she was on a bus headed towards her house when it hit her. The protest. Red had advised her not to go, but that didn't mean she couldn't watch from a distance, right? She got off at the next stop and started heading down the road, seeking out the location she knew she would find them at.

[Raven]

She was three blocks away when she heard Red's familiar voice, though it was difficult to make out what he was saying in the bustle of the streets around her, urgent whispers and the push of people moving away from the square where the protest was being held, or moving to see what was happening.