bloodandflowers: (Averted.)
bloodandflowers ([personal profile] bloodandflowers) wrote2016-03-11 02:28 pm
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Kell stands in the middle of his warehouse, made his own not by deed or property but by Sirius' magic and Kell's own will. It's not home, but he's done his best to make it a mirror of the Basin. There's a concentration circle etched into the floor, and sheets of metal magicked in a wide arc around him, reflecting power back to him like the echos of a bell.

Kell cracks his knuckles and raises his hands. Earth is first, lifted in great hunks from beneath the unleveled floor. He hasn't any dummies to enchant, but Kell is only beginning, and for now small meteors of earth will do. He makes a whirlwind of air that catches each chunk, leaving the eddies to twist and wind, throwing the mounds about without pattern or prediction.

With a ball of fire in his fist, Kell waits on the balls of his toes, and when the first comes in a direct path for his face, he strikes. The earth explodes with a concussive force that steals his breath, stoking something within him that Kell embraces. Another small mountain of earth comes, and Kell destroys it, too, losing himself for a while to the simple rhythm of attack and parry, the world narrowed to chunks of earth large enough to crack bone and the bolts of fire hot enough to obliterate them.

Kell feels nearly at peace. Magic is chaos, so you must be calm. He spins, using a counterburst of wind to scatter a smaller piece of earth before it can strike him, but in the breath that follows, another voice comes. You've never had to fight.

Kell falters, and a second is all it takes for a narrow strip of earth to slice across his cheek. Kell claps a hand to it, only to peel it away bloody. "As steno," Kell barks, annoyed, and the power leaps from his blood like an electric current, shattering each remaining mound of earth instantly back into the dirt that formed it.

They fall to the ground like yellow rain, and Kell curses, pulling a cloth from his pocket to dab at his cheek.
thebloodtraitor: (wind smile)

[personal profile] thebloodtraitor 2016-03-14 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Sirius can easily track when Kell's response slips from mild amusement to absolute dismay and horror. Unfortunately, he notices only a second before Kell slices a blade across his palm and touches his bloody hand to his beautiful new goatee with a curse.

It works as well as any counter-spell Sirius has ever seen, Kell's face and clothing instantly returned to normal, but Sirius is nearly beside himself with laughter. "Bloody hell, mate, I could've done that myself, you know," he says, lighting up at the pure ire evident in Kell's brow. "No need to slice yourself to ribbons for it. You looked quite fetching, I thought! I was doing you a favour."