The lanky teenager walked onto the Lawn with honorable intentions. He was going to practice for about forty five minutes and then get to class a little early. His stomach grumbled a little, he skipped lunch for this practice, but he didn't care. He placed his satchel on a nearby tree and proceeded toward a corner of the Lawn. It was rather empty, most of the children were eating lunch and could care less about practice.

The rain had lightened up a little and it was now a slight drizzle. He thanked Alioe. He was going to start with his favorite spell, Hydromosis, but he thought that he might need a little warm up before he used it.

He noticed a nearby stone about the size of his thumb. He thought that would be a fine object to help him. He pulled out a grimoire, about the size of his hand, out of his pocket. It was his personal Physical magic grimoire, he had bought it from Grime's Grims when he was in Vienda, last Vortas. He looked for the page that contained the Levitation spell.

He rubbed his fingers along the page, he knew it well. Physical was his second favorite discipline. He found it such a rush to control somebodies body, a side of him rarely anybody saw. He gathered his field, starting to recite the monite for Levitation straight from the page. He had only memorized a few spells from Static; Physical was far off. He extended his field towards the stone.

The Lawn was crackling and cold with so much spell energy as usual, the mona in the area and even in Horace's field felt expectant and ready. This was one of those places where things always seemed to be happening, after all, and today was not an exception.

As he finished his words in monite, there was a tug in his field as the mona complied to his simple request. The stone he focused on lifted a few feet from the ground, wobbling slightly, and hovered. A similar feeling of lift could be felt in the pit of Horace's stomach as a typical effect from casting. A few drops of light rain stopped before hitting the scorched grass, pulled by the false gravity created by his spell to hover near the stone.

The anticipation from the mona was tangible, an extra chill in the moist air.

Horace was pleased with the result. The stone was at chest level; just where he wanted it to be. the side effect was starting to wear off. Casting was such a rush for Horace. He found it rather empowering, furthering his view that galdori are better then humans. A glint was on his eye, he smiled fiendishly, if only for a second.

Alright, let's get into more harder regions.

"He pocketed his physical grimoire. His next spell was going to be from memory. He quietly searched his mind for the spell. He had only officially memorized it a few weeks ago; it was in the back of his mind. He finally found it. He mentally dusted it off, going over it a few times. He stared intently at the hovering stone, speaking the monite for Break, enunciating every syllable. He didn't want to mess it up.

Break was a spell best cast in chorus, especially for larger objects. However, Horace's focus was a small rock. There was a momentary pause, not quite a hesitance so much as a bristling, from the mona. A few more drops of rain hovered in its vicinity, caught up in the weight of the spell. His casting was fine, but perhaps his concentration on the pronunciation instead of his intentions was a bit much for the sentient molecules.

Still, there was a hum, faint but audible, as the mona complied to Horace's casting. The stone hovering still under his Levitation spell wobbled for another moment, then there was a crack, and the rock split ... it didn't fall apart, however. The crack was visible, but the rock wasn't cut all the way through.

Horace was pleased with the result, not all right joyous, but pleased. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, getting ready for his next spell. "Alright, are you ready?" He wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or the mona, since he did both when he was casting.

Horace took out his small Static Grimoire from the opposite pocket his physical grimoire was in. The cover had a look of age, it was obvious he had the book for quite some time. He smiled a little, reminiscing about all the times he held the book. He went to the page that held the monite for melt. He looked at the page then at the stone.

"Alright."

He gathered his field again, feeling all the static and physical mona around him. He wanted, nay, needed this stone to melt. This practice was all for Mars. If she saw how good he was at Static, she would make him he star pupil. All he needed was a little bit more practice. He recited Melt right from the page. He didn't know what would happen when to the stone when it melted while levitating, thank Alioe he was a few feet away from it.

Laur was out on the Lawn as well that day, with the remnants of her lunch and her grimoires. One perceptive, one living, both high-level. She'd practiced a few spells, and was surrounded by her efforts. A few Grows to get her back into Living had created a small ring of super-long grass, which she pushed her way out of to get some air. Once the grass ring had been escaped, she noticed Horace, who she'd met in the library before she'd left for the Harbor. Oh, Old Rose.

Smirking slightly, she walked up to him. She noticed the rock, hovering in the air with a big crack through it, and resisted the urge to go up and snatch it. The air was redolent of Static discipline, bringing to mind her early days at Brunnhold when she was first learning magic, and the rock's position and state were obviously Physical. She liked all the disciplines fine, but the possibilities of Perceptive had been too interesting to resist when she'd picked her focus. Living snuck in as a side study, her second favorite. Physical was too obvious to use in duels unless somebody was already using it. Static was useful, of course, and so was Physical, but Laur always had preferred to manipulate things that weren't as easily manipulated as inanimate objects. She stood and watched, wondering how the spell that felt a bit like unraveling would turn out.

Horace's intentions for improvement were not lost on the mona. If anything, they probably knew more than he did, anyway. There was the sharp, strong smell of sulfur as he finished his spell and the cracked stone fell to pieces, melting quickly from the inside out into small spheres of levitating lumps, cooling quickly in the light rain and cold, magically-charged air of the Lawn. Soon, Horace had several small pieces of nearly-solid stone instead of just one big chunk.

Horace's nostrils flared at the stench of sulfur. He shook his head getting the stink out of it. He opened his eyes, he was pleased with the result. He silently thanked the mona. He was about to try to cast another spell when he felt a familiar field. He turned his head and saw Laureline, the girl from the library before break. He hadn't noticed her while he was casting because whenever he did the world would become a big blur to him. All he concentrated on were his field and his subject.

"Hello Ms. Laureline," He bowed to the slightly older student. "what brings you to the field today? Sorry about the smell of sulfur, I'm doing some practicing. I have a tutoring session coming up and I want to be the best I can be." He smiled slyly.

"Ah, Mr. Aquila. Yes, I can see you're practicing, as I'm not quite a dunce."

Ooh, tone it down, Laur. Make friends. It's your last year here, and you're going to enjoy yourself somehow. Even if it means fraternizing with younger students who seem to feel you have no eyes.

"I've been practicing as well, over in that ring there." She pointed to the super-grass. "If you've been here long enough, you may have felt some of my side effects. I haven't practiced much over break," after spending all my break in the cursed Harbor trying to deal with Charlie the Lecherous Horror, "so I've been coasting myself in doing easy spells. Hence the ring. Grow is quite easy to get carried away with, and at the same time creates quite a pleasing area for study." She tapped her foot nervously, more confident from having to talk to people of all sorts in the Harbor, but still unsure of quite how to not ice people out.

"Anyway, since we're both practicing and I'm quite tired of reading over level two spells to myself and only being able to target small insects, which is not quite safe for their dear little ganglia, poor simple arthropods, what do you say to a practice duel? I promise to not test any of the truly scary spells, as long as you don't drop a boulder on my head." That really excluded just Terror, which she really didn't want to attempt anyway, and possibly Sting, seeing as she didn't want to leave him with any lasting painful effects.

"What would you prefer not having cast on you," she asked, just to be safe, "and do you know Counterspell yet? Just in case I throw something absolutely mad at you," not that my brother has come to Brunnhold with me for me to throw, though he has grown on me somewhat, "otherwise I won't cast anything you can't stop with a specific Level One counterspell or I'll cast something for you so I can test things. Fair? You're younger," by four clocking years, and I can't remember how advanced you sixth-formers are supposed to be, "so you may initiate if you like."

He listened to her, losing concentration on the malleable balls. "Sorry, I don't know any level two spells, let's stick to level one." He grinned a little, while he walked backwards, he wanted to put some distance between them. "Oh, and don't worry, I don't know Bash's fury ... yet. I guess I'll initiate it.

He backed up a little bit more until they were about eight or nine feet away from each other. He started gathering his field. He contemplated different spells in his head, trying to figure out the perfect one to start with. He decided to go back to the spell he was going to perform when he first got on the Lawn, Hydromosis. He new the spell by heart and didn't need to take out his grimoire to cast it.

He knew what he wanted the spell to do, right off the bat. He wanted it to splash her, preferably in the face. He became a little colder while casting. Being that his field was already gathered, the world became a blur again. He recited the words for Hydromosis by heart.

The shift from practice to dueling brought a sharp feeling of bristling from the mona, not because they disproved so much as it was just a reaction to the transition. Drops of rain gathered, slowly coming together because it was really just drizzling. The air suddenly felt more humid, almost oppressive despite the cool atmosphere of the Lawn, water condensing into a bulbous sphere of liquid about the size of Horace's fist.

Laur could see it coming, ball of water flying slowly towards her, obviously with the intention to splash into her face. As it rushed closer, more rain seemed to stick to what was already there, growing and growing until impact was imminent.

There were a few precious seconds to react.

Laur recognized Hydrosmosis from her Static days, as it'd been her favorite spell of the discipline, and was one of the few Static spells she fully knew from heart, although it didn't come anywhere near as quickly off the tongue for her.

For a fraction of a second, she thought of a spell to counter, and then realized there was an easy way to dodge, at least theoretically and if he didn't change the direction of the spell. She stepped out of the way of the animated raindrops.

If it didn't work, and he controlled the globe, she'd get a faceful of water. Big deal. It was raining, for Alioe's sake.

After moving, figuring she'd use her own discipline first as she was most used to it, she quietly spoke the Monite for Depth Perception. It wouldn't be dangerous on the flat lawn, after all, and it wouldn't have some lasting effect for Horace, which she was trying to avoid. This was only practice, after all. Plus, it'd interrupt his ability to throw things at her as she believed he probably would be doing the entire duel. Triple score.

As Laur stepped to one side and began to cast, the water collided with her shoulder, thoroughly soaking her side where it was once only slightly moist from the drizzle. It was cold, but at least it didn't hurt.

The mona in her field chilled in her casting, gathering quickly in response to her spell. The air seemed to hum and expand a little, the humidity fading even while around Horace everything felt suddenly heavy for a moment. Then, the Lawn seemed to rock and sway, a dizzying feeling of vertigo washing over his senses with the rain.

It was light, but disorienting. He would now have to concentrate just a little harder to cast, but it was nothing particularly debilitating.

Horace was hit with Laureline's spell, it wasn't a strong one, but it sure hit him. He saw his Hydromosis hit her shoulder. He wasn't angry that it didn't hit her face, it was just practice. He rubbed his eyes, he knew it wouldn't help but it was out of nature.

He knew he was going to have to concentrate a little more on his spells now, Static was mostly throwing things at your target. He decided not to use a static for his next spell, he was going to go with one of the easiest spells in the book, Push. It was a spell that every child learned.

The depth perception was still affecting him so he focused extra hard on Laureline. He grinned, reciting Push.

((No one would be casting before school; it's illegal.))

Horace's field wobbled with his disorientation, but a wave of mona-controlled force fumbled its way toward Lauraline. She could actually see it coming, water spraying in front of the invisible movement, casting strange shapes as the mona swirled into action. The spell might have been stronger had he not been a little out of sorts, and so when the force bumped into Laur it was hard but not forceful enough to knock her over.

It was a wet and soft sort of Push, because of the rain, and all it really seemed to do is splash her again.

"I'm not one of those girls that squeals when splashed, you know," she said, smirking at him and then giving him a full, intentional serial killer smile, "and if you were trying to do more than splash me I applaud your efforts, but I can't imagine my last spell is doing you much good with that. Here, don't hate me too much."

Recalling some useful Living magic for dueling, she cast Nausea on Horace, intending to make this spell a bit more of a warning to not attempt to push her over. If he couldn't counter it or resist it, too bad. The little sixth-former threw up. Not so horrible. She was reluctant to use Pain on him at this point, and was worried he'd be too worse for wear under something like that.

As Laureline finished her spell, the taste of bile blossomed strongly in the back of her throat, the strong side effect testimony to just how magically charged the entire Lawn was. She felt a little dizzy too as the mona moved to her request.

Strangely enough, Horace could almost see the spell coming ... something dark and blurry in his already disoriented vision. A wave if warmth washed over him, intensifying his already altered ability to focus and making his stomach turn with a strong queasiness. It wasn't overwhelming, however, and almost seemed to simply intensify the effects of the Depth Perception spell. Now he was definitely disoriented; casting would be difficult and too much movement would threaten his stomach's stability further.

Horace wanted to curl up in the fetal position and hide in his room like he used to do. He winced, he didn't think he would be taken down so easily. All the more reason for his tutoring session.

He stood as still as he could, knowing the slightest of movement could send his breakfast flying out of his mouth. He rubbed his stomach, trying to sooth the beast within.

"A-a-alright, Miss Laureline. You're rather good, I'll give you that. But I'm a strategist." He grinned like a fox. He took out his Static grimoire, carefully only moving his arm to get it, and found the page for Adhere. Horace wanted to stick her shoes together. It was the best plan. He recited the monite, but a moment of inspiration came to him. He recited the monite for Push at the end of the first spell.

Horace could feel a bit of fatigue seeping in, a dull ache over his shoulders, even as he finished the words of his spells. Unfortunately, Laur's shoes weren't quite close enough together to Adhere to each other, but still the mona seemed to comply, clods of grass and scorched earth seemed to meld onto her shoes, weighing her down. She wasn't quite stuck to the wet, cold Lawn, but she certainly was no longer as mobile as she had been.

The Push spell was an unexpected surprise, knocking her harder than the first but still not strong enough to tumble her over. It threw her off-balance, leaning precariously backwards in the slick grass. She'd have to think or cast fast to avoid falling over. Precious moments of stability were left and a bit of impatience in the mona could even be felt by Laureline.

Casting so much in succession, even in a duel, eventually took its toll on everyone involved. The mona felt just as expectant and curious to see this to conclusion as the two students, crackling now in their fields with the energies used.

Laur felt the fall coming, and let herself fall as easily as she could. "Trying to get a peek up my skirt or what? I was under the impression we were practicing legitimate spell variants, not the first things we learned when we got here."

"Excuse me for this, but I need to know the lowest level I can handle this spell at." She cast Pain, but asked the mona to make it a bit shorter and less intense, rather than ten full seconds of intense pain. She was still going to go easy on the kid, but he was clearly wanting to take this to the next level of trying to knock her down and all that.

Laureline was not left winded by her fall, though the clumps of grass and dirt stuck to her shoes were ungraceful and rather clumsy. It would be hard to get back up. However, her position was not one that kept her from being able to cast, though it did seem to slow the response of the mona.

The air hummed and buzzed with energy, and this time Horace could totally see the dark, heavy movement of air that must have been Laur's Pain spell. It moved slowly, crawling and clawing towards him like a tired, hungry animal. The hairs on his skin stood on end and both he and Laureline could taste something bitter in the back of their throats, the smell of ozone strong in the damp air from all the casting.

The spell's effect on Horace's body started as a tingle, light and not painful. If the mona had complied to Laur's request at all, it was hard to tell to what extent. The tingling exploded into a sharp, quick pain. It only further served to aggravate the previous Nausea spell. There was little chance of Horace keeping his breakfast as the brief flash of suffering coursed through the end of every nerve, leaving him dizzy and very sick once it had passed.

Horace couldn't take it anymore, He needed to lay down, but he couldn't do that on the Lawn. He decided to do the next best thing. The dizziness got to him and he fell to his knees. It looked like he was about to pass out, instead he took the next best route. He heaved, and his breakfast shot out. It went at least 5 feet, it was a sickly green color with brown chunks scattered throughout it.

He looked up, holding his stomach. He has an apologetic look in his eye. "Gah, I am so sorry." He said, wiping his mouth. "The pain spell must have gotten to me." He slowly stood up, not wanting seconds to appear. "Do you want to keep going?"

Poor Horace. She attempted not to look disgusted by the sight and the smell. "Sorry, I'm quite bad at holding back, especially when my favorite disciplines are what they are." She felt rather bad for getting him into this predicament, for some reason. "No, no, we shall not continue, and I'll take you to your dormitory or the infirmary if you so desire, Mr. Aquila. Forgive me for putting you so out of ease." She then walked over to his side, avoiding the mess, and extended a hand to help him up. "Shall we go then? Again, I'm terribly sorry."

"I'm so sorry, I hope my ... v-vomit doesn't offend. I really hoped this wouldn't happen." He smiled awkwardly. "Sure, I think I should go refill my recently emptied stomach. I still have about thirty five minutes for lunch." He smiled again.

"I don't think I should go to my dormitory or the infirmary. If I lay down, I won't wake up in time for any of my classes. You can join me for lunch if you would like."

"Oh, of course," she said. "No, it's all right, but are you sure you don't need to rest? I have no classes for a while, so I would be happy to go around and tell your professors you're ill. Especially since it's my fault. I've had a similar combination cast on me in early years and I can assure you it is not pleasant by any means. I was trying to still get in some practice while keeping it easy on you, but I'm afraid my limits may be slightly different than yours. I forgot that I can in fact resist quite a bit of Living magic, so many, many apologies are in order. Are you quite sure you're alright?" She shot a slight look of concern at the younger boy, and might have put a hand on his shoulder if she could have reached his shoulder. Laur was not conscious of her height save for when she was around tall people. All of her family was small, and she had felt decidedly unnerved when she had entered school and found that there were people taller than five foot four, often by quite a lot. Laur would never hit five feet, although her brother had managed a few inches above, and she was feeling it.