Whatever Works

((Alright, so this is an actual training class from the books called whatever works. The trainer or teacher will supply a problem to all initiates attending, and the initiates may use anything to solve this problem. Once the problem is solved then the initiates may leave.))

Hunter waited for the start of his first class of the day. It was already 9:45 in the morning, so many of the initiates would be just finishing up breakfast. Today's class was going to be...different. At least the young magicians would be in for a surprise. Many life-size shabti stood in the corners of the training center.

Emma walked off to the early training session, yawning loudly while stretching. She still wasn't used to these different times and longed to be back in London from time to time. She had a proper English breakfast and was now making her way to the training area. She walked in to find a younger boy giving the lessons. She still couldn't wrap her mind around learning things from a young boy and sometimes she felt rather old, even though she was only just seventeen. With a sigh she stood ready, folding her arms and looked at the boy, her expections not showing as 'high' even though the large number of Shabti was slightly intimidating to her. What they were for? Emma had no idea.

"Only one of you today? Well, that's disappointing." Hunter said, "It looks like it's fifteen minutes over the normal start time, so I guess we should get started." Hunter walked over to the shabti and made them become lifelike, saying, "I-ei" which was a spell to either summon or make something come to you. The shabti snapped to attention. Hunter looked at the girl who had been the only one to show up to the class "Alright, your goal here is to use any resources possible to destroy these shabti and not get killed. Fun, right? I'll be observing over there, and I'll only help if you absolutely need it."

Emma looked at the little boy as if he was insane. She was a healer magician, not a combat! With a look of outrage she opened her mouth. "I'm a healer, I'm the one who is supposed to put your pieces back together when you get beaten to a pulp by those things!" Emma said offended, pointing to the shabti. Yet she took hold of her staff, she could always try wacking the stone statue with it, or make it try to fetch her the bandaids she'd need later to heal herself up. This wasn't a smart thing. She was there to learn healing magic, not to fight things, she'd done enough of that back in highschool. Yet those people hadn't been stone or shabti, which made the a completely different class of opponent.

Hunter smiled. "A healer? Great!" He pulled out his staff too. "If you tell the enemy that then they will just completely avoid you." He said sarcastically. "Every magician needs to be able to fight, that's the whole point of this. Either way, I take back what I said early about waiting back there and just watching. I want in on some of the action." The shabti then surged forward, ready and eager to rip the two magicians apart. "Use your head...I get the feeling that your smart enough to work this out."

Emma gave the boy a look of utter disgust. For as far as she knew she was the only healer which meant there was nobody to patch her up when she got hurt. Not only that, it also meant that there was nobody to patch others up when she got hurt. With nobody to heal them they would have a serious disadvantage. She did understand she needed to know how to fight but she couldn't be expected to fight on her own against a multitude of shabti. She usually stayed within the walls of the house so unless an attack landed here she was hardly in much danger of breaking a sweat due to fighting. When he joined she smiled wickedly. "Well, if you're doing the getting ripped to shreds thing I'll certainly join." She said, her tendancy to want to be involved taking over. That was the way she'd learned fighting, at school in the cafeteria during lunch. No wonder she'd been kicked out of school a time or two. She focussed on Sekhmet and the extreme force she used to pulverise her enemies. Pulverise, that seemed like a very interesting idea to Emma. She gathered her power and swung her fist at one of the shabti, which instantly cracked. With a large and predatory smile Emma continued her rampage.

Time to go to work... Hunter thought. He focused in, the shabti were made of clay. Clay was part of the earth. Hunter followed the path of Geb, the earth god. He focused hard and raised his hand in a fist. Several of the shabti shattered and crumpled to dust. The act left him feeling drained though, and Hunter decided to not push it any more with the magic. He gripped his staff with both hands and swung it like a baseball bat, connecting with the nearest shabti's skull...if they had skulls. There were still about fifteen shabti who had been left untouched.

Emma soon found out that Sekhmet hadn't been trapped between too many opponents before, which left Emma with no memories to gather or boost her powers. She was on her own with way to many shabti and by far not enough force. "What were you aiming for, little boy?" She asked irritated while she hit her staf against one of the stone man attacking them. "Are you trying to kill us or train us? If you claim the second you should try being realistic every once in a while." She complained as she, feeling very tired and not at all happy with the situation, started hitting the shabti with a wooden stick she was supposed to use for healing magic.

"I am being realistic! Heh-sieh!" Hunter yelled the divine word for turn back in Egyptian and many of the shabti simply shut down. Hunter smacked the last remaining shabti with his staff and turned to the girl. "I am supposed to be training you while Carter and Sadie are away. You are new here, you did not fight in this very room against loads of the worst magicians from the house of life. I know that I'm younger than you, but I've been here longer than most of the initiates here. All I ask is that you respect me. I'm your teacher, like it or not, and what you learn here will most likely save your life someday."

"And that shows just how little you know about me!" Emma shouted at the little ignorant boy. He obviously didn't understand anything about her. Yes, Sadie and Carter were gone for a while, leaving him to help them to prepare but Emma wouldn't have bothered to show up for the lesson if she didn't think he could teach her something. She glared at him but realised it was time to make some things very clear if she could live normally in this place. "Listen up, punk." She started, walking up the boy. "I do not disrespect you. If I did, I would have walked out the moments you activated those shabti. I am a rude person in general but I wouldn't even have bothered showing up if I didn't believe you could teach me something. I don't show that I care about people, I don't show I respect people. I burn down everything and everyone around me because of my past so live with it. I might not always agree with your methods but if you as much as suggest I don't respect you again, I will not bother healing up your sorry butt if you ever get beaten to a pulp. I didn't come here to fight, I came here to make sure others could do that yet I'll fight anybody who tells me to change." She said. She did respect the little boy but she hated people who just presumed that she didn't respect them just because she was trying to make sure people didn't care about her and tried to become her friends. She'd had enough people walk out on her and being a totally mean girl had worked for her ever since her mother had died. Dreams were a joke to Emma, obstacles. She couldn't afford to have something she could lose or she wouldn't be able to fight anymore.

((Haha! I love this! Hunter is nothing like me!))

Hunter frowned at the ground. "You are dismissed. Leave." There was no use trying to tell the girl when she wouldn't listen. Hunter was one of the most powerful magicians in the 21st Nome, despite his age. He grabbed a broom and started to sweep up the broken remains of shabti. He had to simply prepare for the next class. The next challenge would be something simpler, as he didn't want to have another yelling match with one of the initiates. They could be frustrating, but they wouldn't learn anything from arguing. Well, that was unless they followed a path of a god that argued a lot. Hunter had finished picking up all the shattered debris either through magic or via broom. He was ready to wait for his next class.

((Alright, more people are allowed to show up for the class))

Hunter dismissed Emma without as much as a second glance, only adding fuel to the fire. Naturally Emma didn't listen when he told her to leave, she just wasn't like that, obidient. She looked at the boy for a second and grabbed a broom, helping him clean up the mess they had made together. It gave Emma some time to think, which she hardly ever did in stressed situations, she just started yelling. She did want to know how to defend herself but she just didn't deal with fights, although she was quite the talented one at starting them. Her mother had died in what the police had called an accident but Emma was fairly certain that she'd been slain by a rogue magician. It made Emma afraid to use her magic for combat purposeses. It wasn't a fear to lose, it was a fear to win and leave another person in her situation.

Emma sighed and walked up to the buy. "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit edgy with combat situations. I'm Emma, Emma Amunet." She introduced and offered to shake his hand. "And I do want to learn how to fight, with more than words I mean." She said with a grin. Despite her offer of peace she wasn't going to go al emotions on him, she would still be herself, or the face that the rest of the world got to meet. Everything that made her show emotions usually ended in tears, she only did anger and laughter, and laughter was very rare where anger was very common.

Hunter looked up to see that the girl was still there. He sighed, he was getting tired of the girl, but he was always eager to help. "You wanna learn how to fight, eh?" He had finished sweeping up the remains of the shabti, and turned to face her. "It's nice to meet you Emma. I'm Hunter Miller, I follow the path of Geb, I'm an elementalist, etcetera. If you want to fight, then your going to have to learn to fight with words....Egyptian words"

Hunter turned and walked across the gym area. He stopped at a certain spot and just stood there, "Use some divine words, it's real simple magic, but it can effect your opponents in amazing ways in a fight." He paused, "And just so you know, I'm not going to just stay here and take a beating, I'll try to find a way to send your spells back at you...not hurting you of course."

Emma turned white as a sheet when he stood ready for combat. He might be ready to fight, magic words or not, but Emma wasn't. She was used to brawling around and she's occasionally gotten in a fight in the Irish pub down the street from where she'd lived but this was different. He was talking about magican type of fights, the type of fight that had probably killed her mother. She took a deep breath and tried to control the panic that was bubbling up inside her. She muttered the Ancient Egyptian word for 'net' and released it in his general direction, her mind already with the pocket knife she'd gotten from her grandfather. She'd be able to cut him out in no time at all. She really hoped all would go well but she was tense and more than a little scared.

Smooth move Hunter! Was all Hunter's brain had to say to him. Challenging a magician older than you was tough enough. Challenging a really ticked one was another level of hard. Currently, a net was flying through the air at Hunter, no big deal...probably. He wasn't the best kid at Brooklyn House with divine words, but one popped into his mind. Something Sadie Kane used often to keep the initiates out of the snacks at night. It might work for nets. "Drowah" Hunter spoke, raising his hand towards the net that closed in on him. A barrier of solid rock shot through the ground, blocking the net. it wasn't the blue energy field that Sadie managed to create, but it did the job just fine.

((Sorry for the very late response, my muse was somewhere else lately))

Emma was relieved that Hunter blocked the net, although she really shouldn't have been. He was obviously pretty good with fights and thus, she didn't need to worry too much, although she probably still would. She just needed to be sure any injuries could be treated by herself or Jaz. Emma wracked her brain for another magic word and she had it within seconds, credit to her mother for a quick thinking mind. First she summoned the hyroglyph for 'dark', attempting to limit the young magician in the ability to see. In the guise of darkness she send out another net toward her young opponent, hoping to catch him and prove herself worthy, or at least capable. She felt like she was getting the hang of this and so she felt her fear drain away.