[attr="class","staffheadimg"]

[attr="class","staffpara"]
The mechanics of someone who drinks is always interesting to see unfold -- Ezekiel watches Maddox look at his hands and try each one against the broom, a worthy opponent, no doubt. He tries to keep from laughing, but can't help the chuckle that escapes him when Maddox turns around and looks like a lost puppy.[break][break]
"I really don't think you can--" Zeke says, breathless in between snorts of air and his attempts to stop chuckling. [break][break]

He huffs and looks down at the glasses he is cleaning before his yellow eyes dart upward once again, a playful smile quickly vanishing as he realizes that perhaps there is more to this than the novice being silly and inebriated. This doesn't have to do with the mission, does it?[break][break]
It's a little too late to take his words back, to say he didn't mean it like that. Ah, damnit.
[break][break]
He had his qualms about going silent on the initiates (Farah's reasoning was that the mission wasn't really over yet, so they shouldn't be bragging over false victories) but he didn't realize just how badly some of them might take it. Many had not seen live combat before, and might've been upset over the things they saw. He didn't take Maddox as that kind -- the kid was always skipping into danger, talking about war and glory, asking so many questions.[break][break]
Zeke frowns.
[break][break]
"Sit down?" he asks, suggests, really. "I'll get you some water..."
[break][break]
His voice trails off as he turns around to the water tap with the newly cleaned glass. As soon as he turns his back to the other witch, he lets his contemplation cloud his features. He spins back around with the glass and his regular smile, as though unperturbed.
[break][break]
"What's up?" he asks.
[break][break]
maddox ruchbah
[break][break]
zeke is currently: not hostile[break]
zeke is currently using no spells

[attr="class","staffheadimg"]

[attr="class","staffpara"]
"Do more..?" Zeke asks, even though he's sure he knows what Maddox means. [break][break]

In a different context, this conversation would've gone like any other: Maddox presses Zeke for information about Hydra, and the Hydra higher-up denies, persuades, deflects, sometimes chidingly, sometimes with teasing tidbits, sometimes by telling him to shut up and go clean the washroom.
[break][break]
But there is a prevading atmosphere of hopelessness that Zeke loathes -- he doesn't like the way the kid is dejectedly staring at his water, the way [break][break]

"When I was a kid, the first thing I ever did for Hydra was a message-in-a-bottle. I thought it was the most exciting thing in the world," he says, a glint of something in his eyes, the traces of a smile appearing on his lips. "Especially, well. Back then. A kid on the docks. A mission every other week. I thought everything was going great."[break][break]

What he means, of course, is the docks of the post-war generation, the strange and uncertain years where Pegasus and Sybaris had just risen as new and powerful players, where the persecution killings were still going on, where whispering Hydra meant asking for death. [break][break]

"And then---" he shrugs, to emphasize the suddenness of the change "---nothing. For months. A year. I thought that was it, maybe they didn't need me, it was over."[break][break]

He frowns. It's been a while since he's talked about himself, and the words seem to be coming out all wrong, the meaning of the message hidden behind an anecdote that seems random, even to him. What was he trying to say, exactly?[break][break]

"What I'm trying to say is---" his eyes travel recklessly to where he knows the trapdoor is before they dart back, "--it's easy to get caught up in the bigger picture."
[break][break]
He leans over the counter a bit, putting his hands on top of it and peering into Maddox, to get the novice to look at him.
[break][break]
"Don't let it shake your confidence, kid."[break][break]
maddox ruchbah
[break][break]
zeke is currently: not hostile[break]
zeke is currently using no spells

[attr="class","staffheadimg"]

[attr="class","staffpara"]

Zeke's most charming attempt at telling Maddox to seriously, stop overthinking it, isn't working. Which means he'll have to try a different approach.[break][break]

He begins to move outwards and around the bar counter that separates them, and reaches for the broom that Maddox seems to be hunching onto before giving it a tug and pulling it to the side. [break][break]

He still wears a smile, even should Maddox fall forward without his little crutch. There is always a kind of determination to Ezekiel's smile, a kind of intentionality. [break][break]

"Yeah? Who'd you see?" he asks. He seems unbothered by his own question, curious at best. As though what Maddox is contemplating is a common, conversational thing. He wants the novice to know: this is not a lonely thing, the life you chose. In fact, it is the opposite.[break][break]

Zeke blinks, totally thrown off by the question and Maddox's sudden reckless smile.[break][break]

And then he laughs for a minute, using the broom to steady himself, shaking his head. Summoners? Well. The everyday answer to that question, the one in textbooks and manuals would be this: win the battle of attrition; summoners deplete their mana quickly, draw it out and strike when they are weakened; etc, etc. [break][break]

But Zeke isn't the kind of person to give generic advice he hasn't tested with his own strength, and he speaks purely from experience when he says, [break][break]

"Look, summoners really aren't all that," he begins. "They lack err, what's it called. Efficiency. Economy. Synergy. Whatever you want to call it."[break][break]

He doesn't really know if Maddox is familiar with the term synergy, or if that's even a wrinkle he should be adding to a novice's simple understanding of battle, but he doesn't seem opposed to explaining it...
[break][break]
maddox ruchbah
[break][break]
zeke is currently: not hostile[break]
zeke is currently using no spells

[attr="class","staffheadimg"]

[attr="class","staffpara"]

Redhaired summoner. Ah.[break][break]

It clicks, all together and all at once. He's surprised when it does given the sheer number of redheads on the train that day, but the words persistent and friend come into play, and Zeke thinks of the poor kid he electrocuted while he was just inches from the conductor's car. [break][break]

In the moment, Ezekiel had not hesitated to strike the stray witch down. And, if he thinks back on it carefully, neither had Maddox. But that's the scary thing, isn't it? What wars and revenge will do to you, what a blind monstrosity only faith can create. [break][break]

"Your friend? Kasi? I thought he was one of ours," he says, frowning but allowing Maddox the choice of further elaboration if he wants. Some demons you have to fight on your own.
[break][break]

And sometimes, those demons have to be summoners. Sigh.[break][break]

"No no," Zeke says, watching Maddox as he tilts his head but otherwise lounges on the floor. Tch, bastard. He sweeps at the floor with the broom, willing Maddox to at least sit down and stop looking like an idiot. "Summoners in teams are disastrous. You see a summoner protected by friends, enchanters, or alchemists, on the backline? You run," Zeke says, laughing. [break][break]
Of course, there's a darker side to it: he thinks of the Great War, he thinks of what he's heard of Cerberus's underground "mana chambers" -- a euphemism for rooms of pure madness where elite summoners would spend weeks constantly channeling mana, sustained by blood circles and stubborn enchanters, practically living through their abominations until they became them. Or so the rumors went.[break][break]

"Yes, that's right. Synergy is more about yourself. How you manage spells. Mana control."[break][break]
He scratches his head. He's not sure how to explain this anymore, it's been a while since he's talked to anyone who's actually weaker than him about spell casting. He only knows abstract conversations with Farah, and thinks, ironically, about how her words would often leave him feeling lost.
[break][break]
He gestures to one of the cleared tables.
[break][break]
"Get up. Set up some glasses and I'll show you."

maddox ruchbah
[break][break]
zeke is currently: not hostile[break]
zeke is currently using no spells

[attr="class","staffheadimg"]

[attr="class","staffpara"]

He almost wants Maddox to swipe at the broom, mostly because it would be funny. But the kid has the decency to look sheepish, and Zeke gives him the benefit of the doubt. He also gives him a snort and a roll of the eyes, but tough love, he supposes.[break][break]

Ezekiel only dwells on Maddox's response for a second. He gives himself just a second to wonder, to ask himself what Maddox is really going through. And then he doesn't, because if he really started going down that path there would be too much of it to tread through, too many questions to ask. And it's not really his place to care.[break][break]

He watches Maddox stand up, taking a few steps forward when he thinks the other is about to fall before chuckling when the novice grabs at the bar. [break][break]

When Maddox turns his attention to the tables, Ajax appears quietly on Zeke's shoulder, invisible as always.
[break][break]

You're keeping Farah waiting for this, he notes, a little amused.[break][break]
[break][break]

Me? Keep her waiting? Never, Zeke says, but his playful tone gives it away: he's not exactly preventing her from entering the bar (at least, now that Maddox is no longer lying on the trapdoor), but he knows Farah is too careful to show up if she hears voices above ground.[break][break]

At the end of the table, Maddox awaits him. Zeke grins at the glint in the enchanter's eyes, the intensity of focus that has returned to him in spite of the gin, and the dwindling hours of the night. Zeke extends a palm and frowns. It's hard to be this delicate. Why the hell would Maddox sit at the end of his own set-up?[break][break]
"Suit yourself---"[break][break]
--is the only warning he gives.
[break][break]
Well, he doesn't do anything crazy, of course, despite the anticipatory raising of his fingers and the beginnings of a high, sharp whistle. He launches a common spell, a quick TI VARIANT that rings through the air and, when his fingers make a motion as though drawing out the noise from his lips, seems to continue on its own without his whistling.

[break][break]
The spell causes the neatly lined up glasses to vibrate and shake quietly, as though whistling back whatever tune they are hearing, tinkling against each other, waiting to die.

[break][break]

One of them explodes suddenly, by accident, and Zeke winces to show some remorse but does not let go of the REPEATER.
[break][break]
"This is basic spellcasting," Zeke says -- and it is. Other than the repeater at play, the concept of a spellsinger making glass shake almost sounds like a party trick even a few determined humans would be able to pull off.
[break][break]
"This----" his fingers curl together, ready to snap has he had done just a few days before. "---is, synergy."

[break][break]
And still, quite infuriatingly, nothing so magical happens. A FA VARIANT is thrown out into the bar, a familiar spell no doubt for Maddox who has witnessed it on the Cad. But the powerful suspension spell targets only the glass jars, holding them in the air and separating them, slowly and surely until they are hovering several feet in the air, all across the bar.
[break][break]
"You should duck," Zeke admits, and if Maddox makes to move, he'll wait until the novice has found some shelter.
[break][break]
The TI VARIANT finally explodes the glasses as they are suspended, and the haphazard burst from earlier looks like a gentle water bubble bursting by comparison.
[break][break]
The explosions occur even as the glasses are spinning, suspended, and each fragment of glass rains down (and up, and left, and right) like daggers, slicing into tables, the counter, the floor, and the ceiling. Every last shard lands with its teeth sunk into some surface or the other, all at once, like a monster biting into flesh.
[break][break]
As if to further prove his point, a small streak of red appears on his cheek and Zeke blinks, lifting a finger to brush it. He doesn't stop smiling. Looks like he had been too caught up in trying to not hurt Maddox in the blasts.
[break][break]
maddox ruchbah
[break][break]
zeke is currently: not hostile[break]
zeke is currently using:

[attr="class","spellcont"]

[attr="class","staffheadimg"]

[attr="class","staffpara"]


"Really?" Ezekiel asks, confused at his own efficiency in explaining the concept.[break][break]

He's not really much of a teacher -- he can't imagine that sort of life for himself, not with the cards that had been dealt. And he loves his day job, that's hardly a revelation. But he had always had a soft spot for covens as little groups of learning. Too bad the Hydra he had grown to know was far removed from its origins: what he knew of covens and magic were the tactics of cornered animals, lashing out and preserving themselves. Survival. [break][break]

He snorts at Maddox's offering of tissue, mostly because he has already wiped the blood away with his fingers. [break][break]

"Ah yes, thank you," he says, sarcastic but with little edge in his voice. He does use the tissue if only to dab away at his finger.
[break][break]
Even as he cleans his fingers with a tissue, Maddox begins hurtling into a series of questions that, in hindsight, all sound like one poorly worded question cobbled together. Zeke barely manages to comprehend what he's being asked, as evidenced by his slow, cautious response that would hopefully hit all points of the query.[break][break]
[break][break]
"Riight," he says. "The first spell is a simple vibration charm, of sorts--" best explain it in a language an enchanter can accept, he guesses "---the second was a tangible wave, like a levitation charm?---" his voice turns upwards into a question, he's not really sure if that's what the charm he's thinking of does "---and then the explosion was just the first spell coming to a head."[break][break]
He mimics Maddox's explosion with his own hands, taking the chance to toss his tissue into the wastebasket on the other side of the room. It misses, and Zeke clicks his tongue. He turns his attention back to Maddox.[break][break]
"Anyway, summoners can't really do that," he says, allowing himself an oversimplification. "They can overwhelm you with force, but synergy across summons is rare, because every spell is...kind made that way? By design, I suppose."[break][break]
Of course, it gets more complicated when summoners start diving into different pools of magic or are working in teams...But that's not important right now, he supposes. He puts a hand on Maddox's shoulder, half because he thinks it would be a kind gesture, and half because he's not sure when the man will start swaying again.
[break][break]
"Once you know what a summoner is generally capable of, they don't really vary from situation to situation. Keep yourself adaptable, and build on what you know already. Growing is about multiplying what you know. Not just adding onto it. Yeah?"

[break][break]
maddox ruchbah
[break][break]
zeke is currently: not hostile[break]
zeke is currently using no spells