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[h3][color=00a651]Daniel[/color] & [color=bc8dbf]Caitlin[/color][/h3][/center]

[quote][i][color=00a651]Meet me out in the woods at 1pm. We'll get some training in.[/color][/i][/quote]

[quote][i][color=bc8dbf]Bet. I'll be there.[/color][/i][/quote]

The morning hours came and went quickly for Cait after waking to a text from Daniel. The prospect of something constructive put a fresh energy into her. It was a scatter-brained energy though. She bounced about mentally. While the 'gift' from her mother still sat by her bed, she hadn't had much focus to spare on reading; not about family history at least. 

Still uncertain of how to approach training, she donned a light jacket, and at noon, made the walk to the edge of the forest. She shivered in a short chill of Northwest autumn air. She looked around for Daniel, then shot him a message. 

[quote][i][color=bc8dbf]I'm here. Just outside the woods.[/color][/i][/quote]

Daniel saw the text but didn’t bother responding, instead just jogging out of the woods waving, [color=00a651]”hey Cait, how you feeling? Ready to start mastering your potential?”[/color] Daniel wiped away some sweat on his forehead, he was wearing sweatpants and a plain green t-shirt. He had brought a hoodie along but left it at the training spot.

Cait heard Daniel call to her, and looked a short way along the treeline. Already, by the sound of Daniel's greeting, it was feeling that this would be a different sort of training training session than she remembered. The spirited tone in Dan's voice as he jogged out of the woods was a sharp contrast to the formality of training under the elder Witches and Warlocks. That he came up dressed like the high school P.E. teacher reinforced that. 

Cait looked down at how she was dressed from feet to waist. The worn in Converse and cargo pants quickly felt less than appropriate; should she have come ready for sporting events? [color=bc8dbf]"I'm good."[/color] she looked at Daniel with a chuckling smile. [color=bc8dbf]"Just thinking I might be crazy to try to do this. It's been a hot second since I trained with magic."[/color]

[color=00a651]”*Responding to Cait’s feeling, something positive*”[/color] Daniel waved for her to follow him into the forest, [color=00a651]”come on, I’ve been setting this up all morning. It’s not too far in, but it’s off trail, no one should be bothering us.”[/color] Daniel led the way and after a few minutes they came to what looked like an impassable wall of shrubbery. [color=00a651]”There’s a clearing just through here, I think we could technically walk in, or I could teleport us in, you just have to hold on tight to me.”[/color] Daniel didn’t want this part to be awkward, it would basically be like a hug, friends hugged, didn’t they?

She didn't need to think more than once, or for very long. [color=bc8dbf]"Taking sticks and prickers to the face wasn't what I had in mind for today."[/color]  She grabbed hold of Daniel. [color=bc8dbf]"OK. Take us in."[/color]

Daniel held on to Cait and focused his magic. Taking another person with him was a lot harder than just teleporting himself twice. There was a rush of wind and then nothing, they had made it to the clearing. [color=00a651]”Tada,”[/color] letting go of Cait, Daniel presented what he had set up. There were several hoops around the clearing at different heights and of different sizes. There was also what appeared to be jump ropes on the ground as well as werewolf shaped standees. [color=00a651]”Well, what do you think?”[/color]

Cait gasped; she had never teleported before, and the sensation was odd at best, like being whipped into the wind back out again. It left her a bit winded. 

She looked around the clearing with interest and a bit of skepticism as she caught her breath. The werewolf cutouts made sense, she figured. But the hoops and jump ropes looked out of place. [color=bc8dbf]"Thinking I should have dressed for gym class. Are we practicing magic or doing some kind of crossfit?"[/color]

[color=00a651]”Well I find my magic is pretty connected to my physical abilities, but that could entirely be a me thing,”[/color] Daniel admitted to her. [color=00a651]”We don’t have to do anything physical if you don’t want to. I mostly set this up to help you test your abilities. I don’t know exactly what you can do so I worked with what you told me back at the party.”[/color]

Daniel teleported next to one of the standees and knocked on it, [color=00a651]”you mentioned having some kind of energy blast ability, I figured these guys would work well for target practice to start.”[/color] Next he teleported to one of the hoops that was at basically ground level, it was quite large, big enough to step through, which he did as he spoke. [color=00a651]”These are for your telekinesis, I can conjure things for you to levitate through them, it’ll help your control to move things at different heights and stuff. Speaking of levitating…[/color] Daniel teleported next to Cait and grabbed one of the ropes, [color=00a651]”you mentioned being able to levitate yourself, I was basically going to swing the rope under you as you did as a sort of motivation.”[/color]

Daniel dropped the rope and looked around the clearing before facing Cait again, [color=00a651]”everyone’s magic is different, so there’s no one way to train. I’m basically all self taught, and the best way for me to train was to just work on my skills. Reading theory is all well and good, but for me at least the only way to learn something new is to just do it.”[/color]

Cait gathered her thoughts for a few minutes while allowing Dan to explain his thought process. She quickly and consciously veered away from the standees and walked over to the set of hoops. [color=bc8dbf]"Might as well start with this,[/color] she said, pointing to the hoops. [color=bc8dbf]"To get myself warmed up, y'know?"[/color]

[color=00a651]”Right now I just want you to do whatever you’re comfortable with,”[/color] Daniel told her, [color=00a651]”it will also give me an idea of what you can do so I can think of better way to help train. When it comes to your telekinesis what can you lift comfortably and what can you lift at your maximum? Think you could lift me?”[/color]

[color=bc8dbf]Don't think I can lift you.[/color] Cait thought it over for a second. [color=bc8dbf]"Most I've done is levitating myself; but only short distances. I weigh like 115… Let's see 60lbs to start?"[/color]

Daniel nodded and waved his hand. In front of Cait, there appeared a metal ball, flattened on the bottom with a handle on the top, with a big 60 on it.

[color=00a651]”Okay, now don’t try and force it. You’ve gotta treat your magic like it’s a muscle, if you work it too hard too fast you’ll just end up hurting yourself. Just work at your own pace, of course if I feel like you’re maybe not pushing yourself enough I’ll try and get you to do more. But for now we’re just seeing how you fare with something you feel you can do.”[/color] Daniel gave her an encouraging smile and a thumbs up.

[color=bc8dbf]"OK."[/color] Cait swallowed and breathed in, scuffling into place. With her right hand she reached out to the kettlebell sitting some twenty feet away. The Telekinesis that formed the backbone of Cait's Magic had always operated as an extension of her physical body; that much she had learned, and even explored on her own to a degree. As she stood, arm extended, she was channeling an energy that, in essence, invisibly lengthened her reach forward. 

The sensation was weird to her; it always had been. A feeling of energy coursing from her core and through and out of the palm of her hand. Her muscles and bones seemed to vibrate in what she imagined felt like electricity passing through her body. When it was all she had to focus on, it often felt uncomfortable, despite that she had gotten used to feeling it. 

When she felt resistance, she knew she had gotten hold of the kettlebell. She could feel it in some ways… mostly that it was dense and heavy. She envisioned herself grasping the handle. At the upward motion of her arm the weight began lifting off of the ground… one inch… two inches… four inches… one foot. Then [i]THUD![/i] 

The weight dropped to the ground. Cait looked up, catching Daniel's eyes with a stare mixed with embarrassment and concern. Hoping he hadn't read much into it, she shook her head like a dog shaking off the rain. [color=bc8dbf]I… sorry… uh… lost my grip on it."[/color]

Daniel wanted to do a bit of his own training so he summoned a shadow clone to stand off to the side and do some basic martial arts moves, just to get the feel of having a clone be semi autonomous. He watched as the weight lifted off the ground then suddenly came crashing down. [color=00a651]”You know Cait, you should be more confident in yourself. You lifted something more than half your weight a foot off the ground, that’s pretty incredible. Honestly I think telekinesis is one of the most useful types of magic. Being able to interact with objects at a distance has so many useful applications. Especially if you’re eventually able to lift more than what you could physically.”[/color] Daniel glanced at his clone, the moves were sloppy but they sharpened up as he thought about it. He either needed to figure out a better way to make the clones autonomous or how to do parallel thinking. Would parallel thinking be a conjuration spell? Probably not, but he’d have to look into it.

[color=00a651]”I’m not sure why you’ve never seriously trained your magic before, whether you just didn’t really care or some other reason. I won’t push you to tell me if you don’t want to. But you have to remember that your magic is [i]yours[/i], and no one can take that away from you. I’m sure that you’ll go on to do great things with your magic, you just have to believe in yourself and stop being worried about what might go wrong. That’s why we’re here, so you can test your limits. Your magic is as much a part of you as your hand is, so don’t be afraid of it.”[/color]

What might go wrong… what it might mean to embrace this part of her… Cait had seen the weight it put on peers and elders alike; lauded or laughed at over what they could or couldn't do. 

[i]Certainly don't want to be laughed at, do you?[/i]  

[i][color=bc8dbf]I don't want to be helpless.[/color][/i] 

[i]So then?[/i]

She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes at the kettlebell. The quicker she got through this, the better off she'd be. The right hand reached. The essence of her magic flowed from the palm of her hand. It was faster, and more purposeful. The weight lifted, and, in a labor of the mind, she slowly pushed it towards the lowest hoop…

[center][b]Fade Scene[/b][/center]