With Fire and Sword (Private, Rackie and I)

Swordsmanship lessons. The was that Glyndwr Arget had decided to pay for the house that the Academy had provided him now that he didn't really need it, but actually wanted to keep it. It was his bread and butter, the thing he was good at and the location for such tutelage was perfect as many budding Meisters wanted to get better at fighting in various ways. It was a lucrative business. That's why he never had a shortage of people wanting to train with him. It's why he didn't usually do things for free.

Now was a different matter, though. While it wasn't exactly completely without a trade, no money was going to be exchanged. Knowledge is what he was after, and he would provide his knowledge while the person he was going to be meeting would provide her own. He was looking forward to learning this knowledge so much that he had moved all the other appointments for the day to another time and prepared his back yard as well as house for most any eventuality that might arise with the passing on of the knowledge; Glyndwr Arget was standing in his back yard, dousing the ground, the fences and the house itself in plenty of water.

While he can control fire, and while the person that was coming over could too, he still didn't want anything to catch fire in the first place.

Angela used her years of training in Death City to develop her magical skills. However, she wasn't really happy with the fact that only her magical skills reached a satisfying level! What about her sword-wielding ones? Since she has been weaponless for years as a meister, she couldn't really get as much experience as she wanted. Self-learning sadly wasn't helpful. However, luckily for her, her sister's boyfriend's brother was a skilled fencer who just happens to also be a fire-magic user.

It was obvious that Angela would use an opportunity to share knowledge with someone, especially when it could also help her improve her own skills. That's why when the day of her appointment with Glyndwr Arget came, Angela Foster woke up way earlier than usual to prepare for her lessons well and when the time came, she just jumped out of the window of her bedroom and summoned her fire wings. Thanks to how fast she could be thanks to them, she managed to reach the Arget residence in a record time. "I should start racing with Yurio! Theehee!" The fire witch thought. She quickly spotted Glyndwr in the backyard. With a grin on her face, a plan formed in her head. She decided to make an effective entrance!

She started flying in circles around the residence and with each circle, she was getting lower and lower, but also, she was getting faster and faster. When she was right above the ground she started spinning, which created small, weak waves of fire to start spinning around her. Once she landed, all the fire she'd created went off like a giant firework, before any traces of it simply vanished. Obviously, nothing has been damaged in the process. With a wide smile and her hand on her hip, she looked at Glyndwr. "Hello there!" Angela greeted the half-sorcerer with a smirk as she waved her hand. Her fire wings also disappeared after a moment- they simply vanished.

Glyndwr watched the display with the hose he had been using to douse the yard still in hand, moving it around so that he didn't create a puddle. Honestly, he'd find such a display impressive if he and Yurio hadn't been together for such a long time. He was more than used to seeing acrobatics, and adding a little magical pizzazz didn't much change his reaction. He approached Angela with the hose and put his thumb over the nozzle to spray the girl with a fine mist of cold water. "Showoff." He said simply once he was done with that, walking off to turn the flow of water off and wrap up the hose. Perhaps it wasn't the nicest thing of him to do, but oh well. She could dry herself off in seconds anyway.

Angela covered her face when he sprayed her with water. "W-What the hell?! What was that for?!" The witch asked loudly, obviously irritated by Glyndwr's behavior. She then pouted annoyed and snapped her fingers. Suddenly the temperature around her raised, thanks to it a few seconds later she was dry, as Glyndwr had predicted. Right after that, the temperature returned to normal. She folded her arms on her chest and started staring at the half-sorcerer.

"For being a showoff, obviously." Glyndwr said as he approached her again, hose now folded up and no longer a danger for Angela's state of dryness. "So, do you want to start with magic, or do you want to get on with the swordsmanship?" He asked, having had pulled out his trusty knife; he held that in one hand, while playing with a small ball of purple flame in the other.

Angela stared at him, rolling her eyes when she started playing with his knife and with his ball of flame and folded her arms on her chest. "And who's being a showoff now?" The witch asked, still slightly annoyed by earlier. There was no hostility in her voice though. "Hm... Well, I guess that swordsmanship will get us tired quicker, so I think we can start with magic. What do you think?" Angela spoke, clearly excited to finally have some fun and learn something new and useful.

Glyndwr closed his fist on the ball of flame though didn't put the knife away. A strange thing, considering that Angela did in fact choose magic to practice first rather than swordfighting. Ignoring Angela's first comment, he instead answered her second one: "It suits me just fine. Did Yurio or Aurora mention to you about what sorts of spells I can pull of as of now? Yurio told me of your fire wings at the very least, though I saw them just a moment ago either way. I'm very interested in that."

To Angela her choice was logical. If she chose the swordfighting exercise first, they'd get tired quickly and Angela didn't want that. Plus she was excited to share some of her knowledge with someone. Teaching seemed fun!
"I think they forgot to tell me about your current magic skills... or perhaps I simply forgot. Hmm... but hey! I know that you can at least create fireballs, that's a good start!" Angela said, replying to his question. She then summoned her bright wings made of fire. "Hm... Well, this is a quite difficult spell to use and control... hmhmhmh... Okay! I'll teach you how to use your magic to summon such wings! Yours will have to be a little bit different since you probably can't fly like a common witch. Of course, before we get to that, I might need to teach you how to properly control your fire." Angela said enthusiastically. She seemed really excited about the whole thing.

"Well..." Glyndwr began, running his hand over blade of his knife and sweeping it through the air. The motion left a bright trail of his purple flame which quickly solidified into the blade of a longsword. The handle also extended somewhat. "I can't really make blades without something to put them on. I need a focal point and I can only seem to make things I'm really familiar with. Basically any kind of sword I can think of right now." He explained as he twirled the sword by his side, stabbing it into the ground once he was done. "It's entirely like metal. Solid. Warm, even to people without fire resistance; unless I want to to burn, that is."

Angela seemed impressed by the ability. "Hm... you definitely show potential. Mhm! If you learn how to create and summon wings and use them to fly... I'm sure you'll be able to create swords without a need to have any base to put them on." The witch said as she started walking around the yard with her hand on her chin. She was trying to figure out where to start with their practice. "Hm... Let's see... Tell me, would it be possible for you to use your flame to... basically grow a blade out of your arm or hand?" Angela suddenly asked. In her opinion, it'd be good practice and would certainly make it easier for Glyndwr to summon his own fire wings.

"I've never tried." He said as he dispelled the blade he placed on his knife, sheathing the relatively small colourful thing following that. "Though, since my hands aren't bladed, I doubt that I'll be able to get it too quickly." He said as he repeated the motion he had used on his knife on one of his fingers, though the flame following his hand barely adhered to his finger before puffing out in a wisp of smoke. "And you... Would you like to learn to make fire blades too? I can walk you through what I do as best as I can."

Angela scratched the back of her head. "Hm.. well, sure, but maybe a bit later. Right now I want to teach you to control your magic better." She said with a wide, enthusiastic smile. She stood in front of Glyndwr, apparently, she had an idea. "Okay, I think I have an idea! Take my hands." The witch said, reaching out with her hands towards him. "I'll help you summon your first wings. The plan is simple- I'll be sending my energy towards you, your job is to focus and create a flame on your back and then start shaping it into something that looks like a pair of wings. My energy and also... hm... my ability to manipulate fire should make the whole thing easier." The witch said, clearly excited to try her idea out.

"Okay, then." Glyndwr answered to her reply, then curiously listened to her explanation about what she had thought up. He did as she told him, taking hold of her hands, but looked at her rather quizzically. "You can do that?" He questioned, as if the idea of sharing magical energy was just really far-fetched. In his mind, it was, even if he really didn't know much about magic; maybe that was the reason.

"No idea! We can always try! I mean, we share the same element... Even if my idea won't work, I can always just try to summon my fire wings on you or something." Angela said, grinning confidently. She whispered her mantra and then mumbled a spell. A pair of magical fire wings grew out of her back. "Alright then, Glyndwr. It's your first try. Close your eyes, focus all of your energy and use it to create a flame on your back, then start manipulating it, give it a shape.
I'll be helping you with my magic. Start when you're ready... Oh, and limit your expectations. Most likely you won't succeed on your first attempt. Don't worry though, I believe you're strong enough to eventually master your magical abilities!" Angela sure seemed quite confident about her own skills and about Glyndwr's powers. Well, she was a witch, so she knew what she was talking, right? Hm... Perhaps? Who knows!?

"Well, whatever." He said, shrugging, referring to her initial answer. He probably shouldn't have expected her to actually know, considering the fact that magic users that didn't know what they were doing weren't actually all too common, and then when you excluded those that weren't fire based... Still, dismissive as he was, he still followed her instructions. Soon a pair of purple flames appeared on his upper back, but they didn't exactly have any set shape.

Angela carefully observed Glyndwr's actions. He managed to summon his flames on his back, which was a success. "Alright... Alright... try to give your flames a shape... Start with something small... Just tell me if you're having troubles." The witch instructed him calmly. It seemed like she was fully focused on what they are doing.

"I'm already trying..." He said, tutting. The lapse in concentration made the flames putter out rather quickly, which led to further tutting from Glyndwr. Well, on this try he just tried to go straight for the pair of wings that he knew best of all, those on Yurio's back. He was very, very familiar with how they worked, so he figured that if anything were to be successful, it'd be that.

Angela nodded understandingly and sighed quietly. She decided to use her own ability to manipulate fire in order to help Glyndwr a bit. "Alright... let's try this..." The witch murmured as she closed her eyes to focus. Suddenly Glyndwr could feel that Angela started using her magic. The energy went through his body but didn't hurt him at all and suddenly a red flame mixed with his purple flame, making it stronger. "Alright... I think it's working... I'm trying to stabilize and strengthen your fire." Angela explained. "Now it should be easier to control it. Try again. Together we'll surely be able to create you a pair of wings"

Well, he was a little surprised that Angela's idea of using her magic along with his own actually worked, but the surprise was overtaken by his return to concentration. Focusing on the shape of the one pair of wings he knew better than any other, and the mechanics which made them tick, the flame started changing shape again; it was less of a mess than before, but it wasn't perfect at any means. Really, the basic shape of a bat-like -or dragon-like- wing was there, but there was no definition and it still shifted almost wildly at times.

"Yes, yes! Great! You're doing great!" Angela said, staring at the wings Glyndwr had managed to form. It was exciting! Sharing knowledge with others was really exciting! A big grin appeared on the witch's face. "Alright! If you want to take a short break, just tell me, otherwise keep trying to improve your wings..." Angela told him calmly, discreetly adding more energy to her flames, to help Glyndwr a bit more.

Glyndwr didn't say anything, since he didn't quite want to break his concentration just yet. With the extra magical energy and thinking about nothing but wings, soon enough the shapes on his back stopped their shifting and fluttering and slowly gained an appearance that could pass as a pair of wings. They weren't exactly ready to move however, quiet clearly demonstrated when he actually tried; an apt description of what happened would be that they fell apart, slowly. Another tut came from Glyndwr as he opened his eyes again. He couldn't help but feel somewhat frustrated, even if he knew he was actually doing pretty well.

Angela released Glyndwrs hands and crossed her arms on her chest. She, on the other hand, was very pleased, proud even, which was proven by her smirk. "Great job Glyndwr! With more practice, you'll quickly learn how to fly using your wings. You may take a short break to let your soul and body rest, then we can try once again." The witch told him, nodding. Angela didn't want to admit it but, when she originally came up with the idea for her fire wings, she needed about a few days to learn to control and fly using them. So, the fact that Glyndwr, a half-sorcerer, managed to achieve so much in such a short period of time was exciting for Angela and made her proud of her own teaching skills.

"Doesn't much feel like I'm all too close, but if you say so." Glyndwr said shrugging. Since a break was in order, Glyndwr went inside for a few moments; he came back with two bottles of water, offering one to Angela as he approached. Well, he figured that even if the magic training wasn't too tiring, she'd probably be needing it later either way.

"Don't worry! I know what I'm talking about. After all, I was the one who "invented" my wings." Angela said before Glyndwr disappeared for a while and then returned carrying two bottles of waters. "Thank you." Said the witch as she took the offered bottle.

After taking a quick swig from the bottle, Glyndwr set it aside somewhere where it was safe from being trampled by either of them. "So, what next?" he asked, stretching idly.