[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/B0Icqub.png[/img][hr]Jocasta [@Force and Fury], Yalen [@pantothenic], Ysilla [@Pirouette], Zarina [@YummyYummy], various NPCs.[hr][b][color=7ea7d8]Event:[/color][/b] Hugo's task [b]|[/b] [b][color=7ea7d8]Location:[/color][/b]Tethered Refuge, Torragonese High Desert.[hr][hr][/center]
[center][youtube]https://youtu.be/Cnfj6QCGLyA?t=75[/youtube][/center]

Dreams. Dreams have the power to affect the world around us. They reflect the unconscious thoughts, the realities we experience. They may be bizarre, they may be scary, they may be joyous. For this lion club, it happened to be all three.

Her close friend Ysilla had to return to the academy, whilst she didn’t speak much, her silence did lift the room. Her presence was heartwarming, that smile she gave when she saw you looking towards her always made Ayla bemused. She wasn’t able to say goodbye, with Ysilla reported to be in some medical emergency, but she hoped that wasn’t the last she could see of her. A letter was left behind, but that seemed to be not enough. The rhythmic Tick Tock from the dream being the final words shared between them.

Did dreams predict the future? Does the mind's eye reach a temporospatial plane or do dreams simply reflect the patterns our unconscious mind informs us about.

Ayla looks out towards the yellow sea, dreaming of home as she plays upon her flute. One step in front of another as she gracefully walks along the walk balancing. With a hurried step she moves to a hop and prance, the sweet melody fills the air. The music flowing like the tide of the sea, the ebb and flow cast upon the refúgio. The sound being her stage as she performs.

Her steps were as light as air, as they danced upon the music, the notes ringing out as she danced over the sand dunes, her mind lost in her thoughts. She contemplates how she had to constantly be positive for the others despite the fears and dread she experienced herself. To be cast aside to the far flung deserts, far from her home, to be met with the wild dangers within the last 48 hours that far exceed her fear of the spider in the bath-tub. Her mind turns to the friends she has made along the way. Seeing Jocasta, the blonde girl who smiled for the first time sincerely for the longest time. Confidence grows in Kaspar as he starts feeling like he belongs somewhere. Zaz being as sassy as ever, but showing that kindness and openness underneath. Yalen developing from a meek boy and showed bravery for the first time. 

As she looked back towards the refúgio, thinking upon the memories that were made, she was surprised at how small it looked. The moment of realisation came as she fell, [i]Sound Platforms[/i]. The puff of powdered sand cast up in the air as she lands, unscathed.

[center][color=7ea7d8][hr][b]Montage[/b][hr][/color][/center]
[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAemN7spRfw[/youtube][/center]

Sound. Sound is vibration. Sound is the movement of air, liquid, and solids. It is perceived by the ear. It can reach soundless pitches. This is something she will learn to master.

Ayla raises her hands up as the sand around her starts to vibrate. At first, this was very minor, the sand seeming to shift lightly as she started to increase the amplitude, which increased the loudness and strength of the sound waves as the sand started to bounce upon the floor. She moves her hands as she alters the direction, causing the sound to concentrate upon certain areas, creating patterns upon the ground below her. She increases the speed of the sound,  showing how the affected areas grow and shrink in their size. Her hands push and pull together as she changes the wavelength of the sound, changing the pitch of the ‘music’ around her. She increases the frequency as the changes blend together, creating more sound. Ayla concentrates the sound, increasing its intensity in the area, the grains clump together in a sphere-like pattern, the sand spitting up into the air moving in a liquid manner similar to that of a lava lamp.

The sound pressure increases as she feels the world become heavy around her, her body starting to feel significantly heavier causing her to release the magic, and thus the sound, causing an eruption which sends her flying backwards across the soft sand. 

Ayla lays back upon the sands as she stares up into the sky. The theory session has completed, she has gotten a grip of the variables she needs to control and how they feel through her manas. This is something she has been doing for years, but breaking down the components was new, visualising and controlling the variations directly rather than instinctively, turning them into building blocks of her very own brand of sonic magic.

Starting small, she concentrates sound together. This is likely to be the most difficult part as she tries to find shapes that work. Flat shapes worked best, compared to bumpy, though parabolic shape concentrates sound, and conic shapes for projecting sound. As she is trying to concentrate it together, forming it into a ball of sound, perhaps a [b]Sonic-Sphere[/b] is the best shape for sound consistency as the waves are re-concentrated into the centre. Another concept was the formation of sheets made of held-air which trap sound between them, akin to double glazing, called [b]Sonic-Sheets[/b] did appear to offer promising results as well..

Time to experiment with these. Using the balls of sound, she casts these with her hands towards the sand in a linear line. Each flick of her wrist causes the sand to erupt from the ground as if she was firing bullets into it. She mentally writes down the basis of this as [b]Sonic-Shots[/b].

With the sheets, these seem better for static uses. After putting one up and throwing her shoe at it, she watches as the shoe appears to bounce off as the musical note rings out, though breaking upon contact. With the reflection, she draws parallels with a  shield, dubbing this one [b]Sonic-Shield[/b]. Implementing this concept upon the ground, she steps upon it, causing her to be pushed upwards and end up falling backwards. As she lays there, she recalls when she was unintentionally doing it earlier,  using soft light steps and dancing along the platforms as they gave her a lift. She makes a mental note for [b]Sonic-Steps[/b] to be the other concept to expand upon.

After the training out in the Desert, she makes her way back. Time to get to work.

[color=7ea7d8][center][hr][b]Refúgio[/b][hr][/center][/color]

The hours and meal times pass as she begins her various duties around the refúgio. She has now met the new students, each of them peculiar characters, and the less said about the yasoi girl, the better. Between helping the tethered children with their magic practising, supporting with the chores, and the late night practising of her own magic, things have been busy. 

As Laëlle brought news of the Duque’s arrival, Ayla uses the opportunity to find her friend and begin to discuss the plan for when he arrives. There are going to be some difficult conversations ahead.


[hr][hider=TL;DR Summary]
Ayla gets lost in her thoughts.
Ayla decides to deconstruct sonic magic, creating some mental concepts to practice and expand upon.
Ayla does her duties around the Refuge, helping train the children, chores, and some late night private practice.
Ayla has a closed conversation with Jocasta about how to handle the Duque.
See Collab entries for Silas, Vieri, and Casii in their respective posts.
[/hider][hr][hr]