EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Orc looked confused for a few moments, as if she was not entirely certain she had correctly understood the question. "That...is a difficult question to answer. If a spell is simple, I could learn it in minutes, but this one is not. The idea weaves together several magical disciplines. Not to mention the fact that it takes a type of magic that is inherently chaotic and forces it into a distinct, ordered form. I am honestly not certain how much experimenting it would take to figure out how to weave it properly. I personally don't have much experience making discretely shaped magical entities. It might take me a few days, longer if I run into something unexpected. Though...Nurellin." She began, turning her head and gesturing towards the Altmer man just to her left. "You have a bit more practice with that, right? I remember you weaved some alteration into those illusions to help train Vanelienne's pigs last year. Does that have any similarities to this?"

"More than you would think, actually." The Altmer man answered. "Instead of an alteration weaved illusion, though, it weaves with mysticism. Illusions are just as resistant to coexisting with more solid forms of magic, perhaps even moreso, than dispel. It would not be identical, of course, I would have to overcome an entirely different sort of dissonance, but if I were to wager...I would say I could do it in a few hours. If I really put in the effort." He answered confidently.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

What the Orc had to say was at least of some interest to Meesei. Evidently, Nytala believed that Meesei's method of attaining enough mental clarity to cast magic in her beast form could also be adapted to improve some Psijic meditative techniques. Meesei, in truth, was not sure if she would be able to help them, as she had not yet attempted to expand upon that particular technique. But, she supposed the logic was there to at least make an attempt worthwhile. Regardless, Lunise did have certain intentions for bringing her here, and even if the Orc did not notice her stare, Meesei did.

Meesei held up her hand somewhat, calling more attention to the dispelling chain. Eventually, the Orc did glance down and was reminded of Lunise's question. "Oh, yes, right. You wanted me to try to replicate a spell, yes? That is...well, that is interesting. I have not seen that spell before. It forms magicka into a discrete shape, but it is quite a disruptive form of energy. Dispelling magic, yes?" The Orc brought her hand up to her chin, contemplating as she continued to observe the spell. "That actually makes some sense. Where as common dispel magic tends to envelop an object to disrupt its magic, this would concentrate all of that arcane entropy onto a smaller point. Most of the target magic would be unaffected by a strike, but most enchantments or magical defenses would still be broken if one part of it was sufficiently disrupted. It would break the patterns. Clever. And you want me to replicate it? I suppose I could do that; how many days do you have for me to study it?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei was now seeing where Lunise was going with this little excursion, but nevertheless, she decided to oblige her request. Meesei charged her spell and gave her magic its near-physical form, creating the dispelling chain in one hand and allowing it to hang down close to the ground. Right away, the spell caused some visible surprise from the Orc and both of the Altmer, though perhaps not for the same reasons as Lunise was intending.

"My word, I had heard the rumors, but to see it for myself..." The Orc began. She observed Meesei's spell, though looked even more closely at Meesei's werewolf form. "I've read Sage Nytala's dissertation on lycanthropy. The amount of mental barriers and very real magical barriers one would have to overcome to be able to channel magicka with such an entropic spirit bound into your mind...Nytala has not even come close to determining how you achieved that. You know, there could be quite a few benefits, even to non-lycans, to learning from your methodology. Nytala has theorized that your techniques could help improve some of our meditative techniques, which in turn could allow us to..."

The Psijic's academic curiosity, it appeared, had gotten the best of her. She had strayed away from Lunise's request, and did not look like she was going to be stopping on her own for some time.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Although everyone on the island had no doubt been informed of their visitors' arrival, the sight of Meesei in her current state was not something that most could simply take without reacting. Even among Psijic monks. They had not run into too many others on their way outside, but there were a small group of three Psijics practicing in the arena. As Zyausak had explained to Lunise the previous day, the location was known as the "Colosseum of the Old Ways". It was, in his opinion, a rather grandiose name for what amounted to a small stone arena primarily used to study atronach skirmishes and carry out magical exercises.

The woman who turned to address Lunise was an Orc and, fairly predictably, was briefly startled when she turned around. Neither her nor the other two Altmer were anyone they had met since arriving, but they all calmed down quickly enough that they were likely already knew who they were. "I...sorry, I knew we were getting visitors, but I didn't expect you to be walking around like...that. I thought Sage Nytala was in charge of you two? Is there...something wrong?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sarcastic as she might have been, Lunise's point did resonate within Meesei's mind nevertheless. To have learned Teroiah's dispelling chains, a spell that may very well have only been practiced by Teroiah herself prior to that, in the midst of a battle was a feat for which Meesei had no answer. At the very least, no Argonian had ever cast that spell before. Although, while Meesei had been distracted in her thoughts, Lunise's new suggestion was both surprising and confusing enough to alarm her, to an extent.

"I...are you sure that is a good idea?" Meesei replied, slowly standing as Lunise dragged her to her feet. At this point, she genuinely was not sure what Lunise was intending, or what wandering Artaeum like this would accomplish. Ultimately, she did trust Lunise enough to follow, but her hesitation was apparent.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Yes, I...needed to make a statement. To show my power, unequivocally, to your superiors." Meesei remarked. She lifted her head up off of Lunise's lap and sat up beside her. She strengthened the spell and lengthened the chain, then held it between both of her hands. "I watched her closely during the fight. I remember being impressed by the spell; it was creative, and powerful. Especially in a duel. I had never seen a spell like it, something that could break magical defenses so efficiently. Just watching her, I realized I understood the core ideas of what she was doing. Or...had a reasonable belief that I understood them. I decided that, to display my skill, I would learn her spell in the midst of the fight."

After a moment, Meesei's first few thoughts led her to start growling at herself. "I guess I really am just reliant on other people's ideas." She remarked, though even she had to doubt her own criticism this time. While there were, perhaps, a few small similarities, the learning abilities provided by Meesei's latent memories, and the accomplishment of learning an opponent's spell in the middle of a match, were two entirely different scenarios. One was far more impressive than the other.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"It is hard not to see them as something...else. Something separate from me. It is not natural to have such latent memories. If it was, then I would not be at risk of disappearing. Their influence on my life just devalues all of my accomplishments. I do want to cure my soul; I want to try. But, it would require magic no one has performed before, and these templates I have apparently been relying on will not help me with that." Meesei replied. At this point, she was reiterating many of her doubts, regardless of the arguments against them. There was certainly logic to Lunise's rationale, but Meesei's fear was overwhelming it.

Meesei shifted around on the bed once more and rolled over onto her back, though kept her head resting on Lunise's lap. She seemed to shy away from looking directly into Lunise's eyes, as if fearing her judgment. Rather, she looked down and slightly lifted one hand, occupying her flurry of thoughts with small spells. Although she had been outwardly resisting nearly every argument Lunise made, it would be inaccurate to say they were not affecting her. The thought that was most compelling to her was the one that prompted her to transform in the first place: there was no way she had any latent memories of magical control in beast form. It was true that she could only perform such a feat with the assistance of Hircine's Ring, but the ring alone would not allow just any other lycan to do the same. She worried that something within those unseen memories helped her achieve that power, but she had no way to prove it one way or another. It was a doubt for her, but with the stakes being her very existence, she was hesitant to just assume she accomplished it on her own.

As she was deep into her thoughts, Meesei idly cycles through a few simple spells in her hand: a small flame, a charge of lightning, a simple light, and a few other benign spells. However, as she shifted towards mysticism, a stray thought gave her pause. A violet, disrupting energy surrounded her hand and was quickly given a solid form: a dispelling chain. It wrapped around her hand and hanged down alongside her arm. It was powerful, like a concentrated void of magicka that broke apart any sense of order in the magic around it. Meesei did nothing further, said nothing further, and simply stared at the chain as if lost in a trance.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei lifted herself up slightly, focusing on the plate that Lunise offered. Every action she took was noticeably lethargic, but she did eventually capitulate to Lunise's demand. Fairly predictably, she reached first for a slice of cured meat, which, in her current form, was easy enough for her to down in a single bite. Although she quickly returned to laying back down on the bed, this time wrapping part way around Lunise and resting her head on her lap.

"I...know I have felt fear before. Uncertainty, doubt. I have feared death before. I was impaled through my stomach with a spear on one occasion, and taken to the brink of death by Do'rhajul on another. I was so poisoned by silver in that encounter that I had to take a medicine Sabine brewed for me for years afterwards just to avoid a slow death. I have had fear for the future, doubt for what may come of people I care about. But, there was always been solace in the promise of what I have to look forward to, should I ever fail. And now, I...I don't have that. If I fail, I lose everything, and I do not even know if I can trust myself anymore. I have always been able to trust in myself and my pack. I still have my pack, but...not myself." Meesei answered after finally putting together her thoughts. Meesei could feel a few idle charges of magicka coursing through Meesei's body, though she was not coalescing them into any identifiable spells at the moment.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

While Meesei was now harder to read, the short silence that followed was an indication that she was still distracted in her thoughts, to some extent. She laid herself back on the bed and rolled herself on to her side, towards Lunise. "Sorry, I was just...thinking on what you said before. I suppose your mother's suggestion makes some sense. I suppose I should not have thought the Psijic Order would keep members against their will. Both Galerion and Mannimarco left of their own accord, after all. But I just...I would still have to leave everyone for as long as it took."

Meesei looked down, clenching her hand into a fist as she surrounded it in a small amount of magical lightning. "You told me that my strength is more than just my templates. That no Argonian would ever have achieved magical control in werewolf form before me. That makes sense, I know it does. But...how can I be sure? What if it still because of this curse, in some way? Perhaps the latent memories in my mind somehow made it easier for me to reach the state of mind I needed?" Meesei said. Her argument did not have a great deal of specific reasoning behind her doubts, but she seemed to be taking them seriously nonetheless.

"I just hate this uncertainty. I have no way of knowing what I am actually capable of anymore. Am I even an average mage on my own, or do I just rely completely on these latent memories? I just...cannot know." Meesei added. She was quickly falling into melancholy. For Lunise, it was certainly the first time she had seen a werewolf sobbing, and even with the plate of food in Lunise's hands right in front of her, she hardly reacted to it. "Even with Ahnasha's help...what if I cannot do it at all without the Psijics? What if I die and just...disappear?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

If Nytala had any frustrations, she was not showing it outwardly. Although, she was showing some degree of discomfort when Lunise made the suggestion for tests, which carried over into her response. "I...no, I am not trying to say time is meaningless. Quite the opposite, in fact. I want to make sure that Meesei is able to live to her eternity, just as much as you certainly do. I am just trying to convince you that Meesei's limitless years beyond her death is far more important than any number of years before it. I wish I could do what you ask and carry out those tests; I am capable of it. But, I am not permitted to right now. You have to understand, the Psijic order is exceptionally cautious about interfering. There were many years of debate for the council to agree to allow me to merely give you counsel in this matter. To start designing tests and casting spells on her would be a far more direct sort of interference, and I would have to seek the council's approval once more. I don't agree with them, I want to do as you ask, but my hands are tied right now."

With only a short pause, Nytala put a hand lightly onto Lunise's shoulder. "Like I said, I don't want to keep you too long. I would guess Meesei still needs you right now. I promise, I will try to convince the council to allow me to search for more direct evidence for you. Even if you are not convinced, could you at least mention to her that the...option I mentioned is a possibility? You could discuss it with her and see what perspective she brings to the conversation."

Meesei, meanwhile, had not so much as moved from the bed, though she was far from idle. Whenever Lunise did finally return, she would find Meesei, strangely enough, sitting on the bed in her werewolf form, staring down intently at her open hands. Her face would be difficult to read, but there would be little question that she was in deep thought.