2105/Remember to Breathe

Remember to Breathe
Date of Scene:	21 August 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Traci 13, Doctor Strange

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Traci 13 has posed:
    A few days after the great monster attack of 2025, and with Traci's small, but important role in helping to both stem the tide of the baby creatures and helping 'blind' the creature from advancing further so the 'big' heroes could wrangle it and get it back to sea, the young sorceress had felt the desire - either by magical pull and intuition or simply by personal soul-searching to seek out her new mentor.
    Artemis had told her she could access the home anytime she wanted, and she did so now, awed, as she always was, at the size and feel of the home of the Sorcerer Supreme. "Alright, Leroy. You let me know if you see Wong, yeah?" She asks of her iguana, "Or, Doctor Strange."

Doctor Strange has posed:
Stephen holds a tome in one hand and his other is resting lightly on the banister of the stair case as he follows the circular path down the steps to the large landing in the middle of the open main room in which the halls and different levels of the Sanctum are accessible from.

Stephen's eyes are locked onto the old book and with a flick of his empty wrist, the page is turned and he nearly bumps into Traci.

"Good morning." He says with a hushed tone as if he was in a library as he continues to walk until he's in the very middle of the room, underneath the large natural crystal appearing chandelier.

Traci 13 has posed:
    "-Thanks-," Traci hisses under her breath at the iguana on her shoulder, giving Leroy a dirty look, then almost immediately after, in an equally sort of hushed voice, she responds, somewhat embarassed, "Good morning, Doctor Strange." There is a long pause, as she waits a few moments, lest she interrupt the great Sorcerer. When he's in the middle of the room, and slowed, she ventures, still in the same tone, "I was hoping that you would be free, for a lesson, or some wisdom."

Doctor Strange has posed:
"I'm a little busy trying to help a friend of a friend." Stephen retorts and very purposefully motions with his hand containing the book away from the middle of the room until he simply lets go of the leather bound pages and it rests, floating exactly where he held it.

His eyes remain on the pages as his hands clasp before his chest and he slowly pulls them apart, and yet they stay together, until it's quite clear what's going on as he has four hands now, but they all exsist in the same position. Or maybe not...

Then as the first pair continue to pull apart from each other, the second pair starts to unclasp and he holds them out and away from his center, creating a perfect square with his now doubled palms.

"What kind of lesson or wisdom do you seek Traci?" He asks almost idly while casting his own spell.

Traci 13 has posed:
    The student, such as she is, watches this unfold with a measure of quiet curiousity, interest, at not only -what- he is doing, but also -how- he is doing it, studying the demonstration as much as anything else.
    She moves, nearer to the man but not so close as to disturb. And, she slowly speaks, "How do I increase my internal magical battery? When I was protecting Metropolis against the attack, I cast two very - powerful spells. I turned the Chains of Hecate into a fire barrier," and Strange would know that such is usually a purging spell, "And, summoned the Rays of Ra. With as large and intense as both spells were, to combat the size of the monster, I over exerted myself. I could have done more."

Doctor Strange has posed:
With the plethora of limbs, Strange then snaps with all four hands and a large exterior square is formed, a sparking orange neon spell is beginning. He then clasps all the hands together in a diamond before his chest before extending them back out to the corners of the square sigil.

"It sounds like you did all you could if you over exerted yourself." Stephen retorts calmly while still building such a complex spell.

"One's mystical reserves could be compared to holding your breath. You can practice and grow better and increase your lung capacity, but there will always be a limit to how much you can do."

Traci 13 has posed:
    Traci seems to consider this, before nodding, slowly, even as she considers her next statement, her next inquiry. "It's the first time I've had to cast two such powerful spells on the backs of each other. I've purged dark forces before. Exorcised a few lesser demons, poltergiests. Even stopped some crime. But, even when I've been unprepared, I tend to rely more on my creativity. My understanding of how magic works." Which is what, perhaps, Traci's real talent is. She's got a keen mind for the complexities of the underpinnings of magic.
    She continues to study the Sorcerer, and his spell weaving. Not that she'll attempt it herself, but it helps her to realize what other people are doing, how they're doing it. "You are using four hands, as the four pillars of balance?" She asks, then, quietly. "And the square as amplifier to that balance, the diamond, as harmonic resonance to amplify and focus the power you're drawing?" She can't help herself.

Doctor Strange has posed:
"Continue practicing and meditating and your recovery time from using such powerful magics will reduce itself, but there will always be a limit to what any of us can do." Stephen says, pausing his his casting to read a few lines from the book floating next to him.

"Those are the bases of this spell. From here it will get more and more complicated, mostly because I'm attmepting to cast something like this without invoking a greater being. I do not want the victim of this magic to be burdened or indebted to anyone or anything. In fact, that's the whole purpose of what I'm doing."

Traci 13 has posed:
    Traci considers the ramifications of that, taken a bit aback. "Where, then, does the magic come from? Everything comes from a source. A being."
    The answer to her quandry of running out of power had at least given her something to consider, to flex her 'lungs' as it were, to see what her own limits were. And the fact she could stlll draw off the cities power made her wonder if -that- particular set of lungs could also be expanded?
    But Strange's details of the spell he is crafting has shifted her interest, significantly. "I am careful not to cast random spells that I do not know, even if I know they will work -until- I know where they came from, and what is behind that magic, that ritual, that spell. So how do you," she pauses, thinking of the words she wants to say, "Detour around that? And, when you do, where does the power come from? Yourself?"

Doctor Strange has posed:
"Generally it comes from the user, or the caster. Sometimes it can come from the victim but that has to do with the mage shifting the cost and that's generally during healing spells."

Stephen's hands continues to move once the original matrix is formed, he's starting to work on the smaller pieces, the intricacies, the things that set him apart from lesser mages.

"The power and the price comes from oneself." Stephen says matter of factly. "There are stories of witches and warlocks aging much faster than their non mystical siblings. There are truths behind spell casting that we were never warned about."

Traci 13 has posed:
    Traci's eyes are transfixed to those exact intricacies. She may not be able to remember every single one, but each one she can remember, and perhaps emulate, will help her further in her own focusing she well knows. She reasons, "So, then, it is a matter of balancing price and debt from the higher power, and debt and price against yourself and your own abilities. And, having the wisdom to realize what each cost is." This is said more aloud to herself, than to Strange, but he's certainly included in her vocalization of what she's taking from this impromptu lesson, so far.
    "I was told very little. A few scraps of notes, and my mothers tomes. You're the first mentor I've had. The first person who - well, wasn't kind of winging it, I guess, that I've met." She smiles, gratefully, towards Doctor Strange. "Perhaps that's what precipitated my caution. That, plus my mother's death at the cost of magic. It's a sobering first lesson."

Doctor Strange has posed:
"Death is always the cost of magic. In one way or another. Each spell uses a part of the caster's soul. Ages us each that little bit faster. The more spells and the more powerful the spells the more of us it takes."

Stephen's spell continues and eventually after the large area is filled and focused with several small sigils the whole thing vanishes and outwards from Stephen's feet black veins and tendrils reach out across the floor into a circle before flashing pink and active, at the basest level. Stephen takes in a deep breath and closes his eyes while the amulet opens and a third eye lifts from the jewel and sets itself in his forehead, focusing on the other worlds in front of Strange. "You have to weight THAT price as well as the physical, emotional, and spiritual toll on yourself."

Traci 13 has posed:
    Traci's eyes 'drink' all of this in, espeically when the third eye comes outward again. She is able to remain on tangent, still focused on the larger topic at hand rather than being too tempted to inquire about that gem, the third eye.
    "I suppose each of us would prioritize each of those things differently, based off our sense of responsibility, and our life experiences," she says, again thoughtfully, speaking her conlusions or theroies aloud, rather than keeping them to herself. Such, afterall, is important to such lessons, she deems.
    "May I ask how you choose such things? If that's too private a question, I understand," she states with high respect for the man before her.

Doctor Strange has posed:
"For me it's simple. I will give all of myself to save even one person. It isn't a question for me." The doctor says as the third eye closes and the man's arms all come back together as he clasps them before his chest once more. The spell is quickly dissipated in an instant.

Lowering his two arms to his side he collects the floating book and closes it to hold beneath his arm and he walks towards Traci. "That's my nature. That's my person. You have to ask yourself the same thing. For you, now, I recommend meditation and soul searching." Stephen says with a soft smile as he starts to move back towards the stair case.

Traci 13 has posed:
    Traci rises, "Thank you for the illumination, Doctor Strange. I will try to - notify you in advance," she says, sheepishly, "Of my future visits. But, I will take your reccomendation to heart." It's clear, though, that she and Doctor Strange may well be cut from the same cloth. At least, if standing openly on a beach facing a gigantic, forgotten, three-hundred foot creature of the deep is any indication.
    She bows, slightly, to her mentor and instructor, before turning to make her way to the door, her step a little lighter, her mind a little more focused and introspective. There -is- much to meditate on.