Harlan Halliday (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ghostlocked) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
hadriel2018-12-04 07:38 pm
ghostlocked) wrote in hadriel2018-12-04 07:38 pm
Entry tags:
♫ video
[Behold, a unicorn: Harlan making a public post that isn't text. What he's got in mind is more of a show don't tell thing, so it's necessary, although it's pretty clear he's not comfortable with this video thing. He's sitting on his couch with his phone propped up on the coffee table, and he's got a glass of water in his hands.]
Hey, good news, I have a spell that'll help everyone out while we're stuck here without gods. It's one of the first spells they teach you when you're a kid where I'm from. I'm thinking most of you should be able to pick it up pretty quick. It's called Prestidigitation.
[A beginner spell with like the most tongue-twistery name in the entire spell dictionary. He holds up the glass.]
It's your basic catch-all spell and you can do a ton of shit with it, but mainly, you're gonna be able to change the temperature of shit. Small shit, though. Your workable area is about a square foot, give or take, and it doesn't work on anything alive. Look.
[The water in the glass starts to boil. It doesn't look like he's done much to it—this spell is second nature to him anymore, so he doesn't need to put much effort into casting it. He sets the glass down on the table.]
Right, so... Go get your own thing of water, I guess? I don't fucking know. This is so much easier in person. Okay, uh, so magic is just another type of energy, like heat or electricity. The difference is that magic is malleable. You can control it. With a spell like this, it's all about visualization. You want hot water, so you're sort of willing the water to heat up by channeling the magic into it. It's not gonna work on the first try, but keep at it. It takes focus and confidence. If you're having trouble, scale it back, or try freezing the water instead of heating it.
[He belatedly realizes he's supposed to be demoing this, so he gestures to the glass and, ta da, there's a soft tinkling sound as the steam dissipates and the water freezes.]
Prestidigitation can clean stuff in a similar way too. If you're going insane because our showers are out of commission, this spell is gonna change your fucking life. Let's see, uh, you'll be able to start a fire, flavor your coffee, conjure hand-sized illusions... It all works on the same principle, though. Picture what you want to do and will the magic into doing it for you.
[He snaps his fingers and now there's a flame in his palm and he feels infinitely goofy for putting on a magic show on his couch. Hopefully it's helpful stuff, though.]
If you have questions, let me know. If you want to learn other shit, I'll link my spell list and we'll talk. Cool. Later.
[And he's shutting off the feed. Thank you for coming to his TED Talk. As promised, he does attach his spell list for anyone interested in further magical pursuits.]
Hey, good news, I have a spell that'll help everyone out while we're stuck here without gods. It's one of the first spells they teach you when you're a kid where I'm from. I'm thinking most of you should be able to pick it up pretty quick. It's called Prestidigitation.
[A beginner spell with like the most tongue-twistery name in the entire spell dictionary. He holds up the glass.]
It's your basic catch-all spell and you can do a ton of shit with it, but mainly, you're gonna be able to change the temperature of shit. Small shit, though. Your workable area is about a square foot, give or take, and it doesn't work on anything alive. Look.
[The water in the glass starts to boil. It doesn't look like he's done much to it—this spell is second nature to him anymore, so he doesn't need to put much effort into casting it. He sets the glass down on the table.]
Right, so... Go get your own thing of water, I guess? I don't fucking know. This is so much easier in person. Okay, uh, so magic is just another type of energy, like heat or electricity. The difference is that magic is malleable. You can control it. With a spell like this, it's all about visualization. You want hot water, so you're sort of willing the water to heat up by channeling the magic into it. It's not gonna work on the first try, but keep at it. It takes focus and confidence. If you're having trouble, scale it back, or try freezing the water instead of heating it.
[He belatedly realizes he's supposed to be demoing this, so he gestures to the glass and, ta da, there's a soft tinkling sound as the steam dissipates and the water freezes.]
Prestidigitation can clean stuff in a similar way too. If you're going insane because our showers are out of commission, this spell is gonna change your fucking life. Let's see, uh, you'll be able to start a fire, flavor your coffee, conjure hand-sized illusions... It all works on the same principle, though. Picture what you want to do and will the magic into doing it for you.
[He snaps his fingers and now there's a flame in his palm and he feels infinitely goofy for putting on a magic show on his couch. Hopefully it's helpful stuff, though.]
If you have questions, let me know. If you want to learn other shit, I'll link my spell list and we'll talk. Cool. Later.
[And he's shutting off the feed. Thank you for coming to his TED Talk. As promised, he does attach his spell list for anyone interested in further magical pursuits.]
no subject
[It's a tough spell, and it would probably take Lance years to get to that point. He's a quick study, but no one's that quick.]
I hear you. I'm on the fourth and Michael is on the fifth. I'm not hiking up and down that multiple times a day.
[This is the best reason to learn magic, clearly.]
What other spells do you know?
[Private]
I've been mostly working on trying not to suck at some of the other spells I picked up, so I've been practicing things like Burning Hands.
[He was so bad at it when he first learned it and for several months after, but he's getting it now.]
But aside from Misty Step, I also learned Shatter. It's a little um... It feels kind of dangerous to practice, though.
[But he also thinks it'll be super useful if and when the next Null attack happens, which is part of why he asked to learn it specifically. It's right at the edge of what he's comfortable controlling, however; he's definitely a fast learner, but more practice is still very much needed in general.]
private
Oh, nice. Shatter's useful. Maybe I should ask Kyna to teach that one to me, too. Most of my shit's not great against the Null.
[It was easy enough to figure out why Lance would've picked that up. It's also like the only time since he's been here that Harlan's combat magic has been necessary, so there's also that.]
I used to practice on trees down at the park. A lot of 'em were all burnt to shit anyway. I hear there's scary wildlife and shit outside of town, though. We could go sometime if you want to get some experience in.
private
He's tentatively interested in the offer, though--]
I don't know if I want to go practicing on the wildlife, but maybe during new arrivals day if there's something dangerous that comes through the Door.
[He's can justify killing monsters in self-defense, but a lot of him balks at the idea of hunting wildlife that isn't doing anything. He's not necessarily morally against other people doing it, since hunting is one of those things were opinions vary and all, but personally he thinks he'd feel really guilty killing something for practice when it was just minding its own business.]
private
Fair enough. The new blood always needs help, so that's a good idea. It'd be closer to actual combat training, too.
[Those mammoths look like they could put up a fucking fight, but still. The Door provides with actual dinosaurs and shit.]
private
[It's one of those strange perception change things.]
Do you always use magic yourself, or...?
[Does he have a backup weapon or anything like that?]
private
[Big shrug. Harlan's never been a big fan of guns, but in a world where it's the best you've got, he can see why people would flock to them. It just seems boring and needlessly risky to him.
It takes him a minute to figure out what Lance is asking, but then he laughs.]
Have you met me, dude? I'm shit at everything else. Casting and getting the shit kicked out of me are my only two combat skills.
[He's joking, but also, he's not. He gets pummeled pretty regularly on the job and is very good at taking hits without going down. Sort of. He'll get back up again eventually.]