celestial strings | h.js

one.

"Okay, the next thing you do it loop your fingers through here. You just go under section five with your thumb and pull it all the way back to section one," you instructed while demonstrating to him how you could make the symbol for a healing spell.

Jisung had suggested having you try riding the bus to school (or to work) after the many times of you teleporting you both there, leading to him having extra minutes of sleep. It was mainly because riding the bus could give him so much more time to spend with you, but he kept claiming that it was to make sure you get the full high school morning experience, which to him simply consisted of waking up late, rushing to get his morning routine done, and meeting with you by the door completely untidied.

It was half-way through the bus ride when he finally remembered to bring up the topic about your magic—how it works, where it came from, what kind of systems there are, and so much more curiosity exploding in his head.

"Do you know if your family is the only household that uses string magic?" Jisung asked as he kept his focus on the pattern on his hands.

After a lot of convincing, he successfully got his hands on one of the strings you had stuffed in your bag. While knowing that the magic would not work on him, since he wasn't born with the blood to activate it, he still wanted to fulfil his curiosity and learn a thing or two about it. He also wanted to earn some bragging rights to his friends about knowing how to make such complicated patterns with just a simple string, but you didn't need to know that.

"No, there are other families that use string magic as well. My family wouldn't run a magic string company if we are the only ones using it, " you replied. "But I am sure that we are the only ones who use it the way we do."

Jisung nodded. "So magic is basically divided into categories."

"Yeah, you can say that!" You nodded in agreement. "String magic is, by itself, a whole category. Each category possess sub-categories that shows the different ways people use the magic. For my family, we utilizes string figures and spells. Each bloodline possesses a uniqueness to them that allows the person only one kind of magic, and–" you paused shortly when you looked at his hands," "no, Jisung. You have to move your index finger over circle two in section three."

The boy groaned faintly under his breath, the tip of his tongue poking out in concentration as he delicately moved his fingers in fear that he would make a mistake and cause the whole build-up to crumble. You beamed at him when he successfully mirrored the symbol on your hand, causing him to sigh in accomplishment.

"Finally!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up due to the impulse of the moment. And as his face morphed into one of shocked, he quickly lowered his hands and made sure he did not ruin the pattern. "How fast can you usually do this?"

You looked at the green string around your fingers and hummed, tilting your head to the side. You have not thought about time frame in a while. After learning all the base patterns that exists as the first step in every patterns that existed, you never really thought about how fast or accurate you have been making the string figures. It was something you could do with your eyes closed and in quick speed.

"Well, this is a more complicated symbol since this is a really big spell, so this will normally take me a second longer than usual," you replied. "But for the easier spells, no more than a second. My family made me practice a lot when I was younger. My family do have a reputation of being one of the more resilient magic users. We think quick and we act quick!"

Jisung gasped in awe, nodding his head in approval. What took him a full, twenty-minute journey to school to do could be done by you in under seconds! It made him feel proud, somehow, to know that you mastered such a complex skill. He wondered how you would fend in normal academics; would Mathematics be your strength?