"Mhm —" His head cants, briefly, toward nostalgia. Levels. "— No. Some have no trouble with it, of course. Pricks."
There's no particular heat to that; itself almost fond. Younger years. He shakes them off.
"When you define a sensation, an attitude, you make it easier to recognize and repeat reliably. To hold in check." A splayed hand. "Think of a spell as a shortcut. A bundle of names and gesture that prompt you toward that abstraction. That magic. There are dozens of books that will tell you how to throw a fireball, argue about its classification and technique."
"But they're only a means to practice. For you, I think, less than a useful one." The unnameable thing, the instincts of an apostate — how well would it fit within Chantry geometry? He supposes that's the point of all this. Isaac has long been worn to a ring. "Was there anything else? That you do."
The books and theory Isaac mentions are not unknown to John. He's made some faltering attempts to grasp that kind of knowledge, but it had felt more like trying to read another language. There was some foundation John simply didn't have.
"There's a few things I know that you might find familiar, but I think largely what I know to do isn't going to be recognizable."
And some defensive instinct wards against sharing too much.
"Especially if these lessons entail...redefining my instincts, so to speak."
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no subject
There's no particular heat to that; itself almost fond. Younger years. He shakes them off.
"When you define a sensation, an attitude, you make it easier to recognize and repeat reliably. To hold in check." A splayed hand. "Think of a spell as a shortcut. A bundle of names and gesture that prompt you toward that abstraction. That magic. There are dozens of books that will tell you how to throw a fireball, argue about its classification and technique."
"But they're only a means to practice. For you, I think, less than a useful one." The unnameable thing, the instincts of an apostate — how well would it fit within Chantry geometry? He supposes that's the point of all this. Isaac has long been worn to a ring. "Was there anything else? That you do."
Aside from crushing ribs, snapping necks.
no subject
The books and theory Isaac mentions are not unknown to John. He's made some faltering attempts to grasp that kind of knowledge, but it had felt more like trying to read another language. There was some foundation John simply didn't have.
"There's a few things I know that you might find familiar, but I think largely what I know to do isn't going to be recognizable."
And some defensive instinct wards against sharing too much.
"Especially if these lessons entail...redefining my instincts, so to speak."