Rolling in Like a Storm

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Xiao Ping stared at Childe as if he had grown a second head.

"You...want to learn the ways of the Adepti?"

Childe shrugged.

"Not your 'ways' per say, but your magic," he leaned in closer to her, "What do you think? Can you teach me?"

Xiao Ping shoved his face away with her hand, "I can tell you right now that I am not going to be your teacher. But I'm curious, why the interest?"

Childe grinned and fixed where his hair had been skewed by her hand, "Why wouldn't I be interested? You adepti are strong, and you have some neat little tricks. Who wouldn't want to get their hands on a power like that?"

Pale sea green eyes regarded him silently for a moment.

"So, what, you only want to learn our magic to become more powerful?"

Childe raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that why anyone learns anything? To become stronger?"

"I-" she huffed, "-that is a very shallow way of looking at it."

He grinned.

"But I'm not wrong."

Xiao Ping ignored his comment. She took a deep breath in and sighed.

"Do you know anything about how adepti magic works?"

Childe sat silently, a finger tapping on his chin thoughtfully. After a moment, he looked back up at her with a small smile, "Nope."

Xiao Ping's face flushed with irritation and she gestured her hands wildly at him out of frustration.

"We've been reading about different spells this whole time, have you really not learned anything?!"

"Okay, to be fair," Childe said quickly, "I was reading them to find some very specific information, not to learn. Besides, it's not like we went over the basics! I hear what you read but I have no idea how any of it actually applies. You're tossing me into the ocean without teaching me to swim."

Xiao Ping scoffed and muttered something under her breath. Then she reached over and grabbed the book that they had been intending to read. She flipped through it idly before snapping it shut between her hands. 

"Then let's start with the basics," she said and let her eyes flutter closed. Childe was about to ask what she was up to when the book between her hands began to give off a faint, otherworldly glow. She then reopened her eyes and handed the book in his direction.

"Tell me, what does this feel like to you?"

"Oh ho," Childe grinned, "what happened to you not being my teacher?"

"Shut up. Do you want to learn or not?"

"I do! I do. Shutting up."

Childe reached out and grabbed the book. He held it in his hands for a moment, letting the energy that had been imbued into its pages soak into his fingertips. He copied Xiao Ping and closed his eyes, concentrating on the feeling. After a few moments he reopened his eyes.

"It feels...similar to elemental energy. But it's lighter, more pure. Warmer, too."

He handed the book back. Xiao Ping nodded.

"Very good. Adeptal energy does include elemental energy, but it is also more than that. It is the force of life. It can be found in both the material and immaterial. It is in the earth beneath our feet, in our flesh and blood. It is also emotions and thoughts, the feeling of being watched, the sound of breathing."

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