(no subject)

[bloodandflowers]

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.

Comments

[thebloodtraitor]

Sirius's gaze drops to Kell's arm when he speaks, still so clearly seeing the stain of blood on pale skin that first day, the way it'd gushed and flowed. It wouldn't be the same if Kell were to do it this time, he doesn't think. But he is curious.

It isn't blood that Kell draws however, but fire, a flaming orb of it dancing above the play of Kell's hands. It's beautiful, really, pulsating with a heat Sirius can't feel through the spell, though he can imagine it, flames flickering and dancing above Kell's clever fingers.

A moment later and the ball of fire is hurtling at Sirius. The magic clinging to Sirius's form crackles and holds strong and Sirius barely flinches as the flames strike and rainwater, smoothing around the edges of the spell, leaving not so much as a hair on Sirius's head singed.

[bloodandflowers]

Kell has already started forward when the ball of fire strikes, his silver blade in his hand to cut himself and heal what damage he's surely caused, but Sirius is still there before him, whole and standing.

Kell frowns. "Some sort of barrier spell," he murmurs, for he hadn't see Sirius raise his wand to summon something to smother the fire. But the flame came close - was the barrier clinging to Sirius himself? Coming closer, Kell reaches a hand near Sirius' cheek where he knows the flames exploded. "May I?"

[thebloodtraitor]

Sirius grins, wide and entirely pleased with himself as Kell approaches, one hand outstretched.

The spell is designed to allow friendly touch so there's no need to drop it just yet and he nods, tipping his chin forward so Kell can have a better look. "A barrier of sorts, as you said," he tells him, getting a closer look at Kell's dark eye, as well as the lighter one, reminding Sirius, not for the first time, of that frightfully alluring Muggle rockstar from back home.

(Or perhaps not a Muggle. Sirius does have his doubts.)

"Perfectly invisible and utterly impenetrable. At least so far as I've ever seen. Impressed?"

[bloodandflowers]

Kell expects to meet resistance just before his touch lands, and he nearly jumps when he fingers land on Sirius' bare, smooth skin. Kell pulls his hand away in surprise. "Yes," he admits, reaching this time with his mind, searching for the magic standing between them, and there - he can feel the thinnest layer of magic, slim but strong, settled just over Sirius.

"Impenetrable to any spell?" he asks, and as freely as he'd admitted to being impressed before, Kell now sounds doubtful. That sort of warding surely takes more than whatever tiny gesture Sirius had made before, but perhaps the man is simply that powerful. There would be ways around that, he thinks, ever pragmatic. Heat the air to an intolerable degree around the target, for one - let the fire eat all the oxygen until his lungs were starved, for another. "Or only blunt force?"

[thebloodtraitor]

Kell's fingers barely graze Sirius's cheek before he's immediately yanking them away as though having touched a live fire. Sirius lets out a bark of a laughter at the movement, lifting his own hand to his face to rub away the slight tickle Kell had left behind.

"Impenetrable to objects and elements propelled by a spell, but not a forceful spell on its own," he admits. "It doesn't make one impossible to harm, I'm afraid, but your dirt, water, and fire are easy enough to repel. I've not a doubt you have something in your arsenal that could slip right through easily enough. There are always other means."

With another murmur and flick of his wand, Sirius drops the spell then considers Kell with a growing smirk before giving another wave of his wand. Instantly, Kell is brandished with flowing red locks, his coat substituted with a brown, fringed vest, his trousers replaced by a quite fashionable pair of bell bottoms. Sirius tops it off with a pair of circular, wire-rimmed glasses and a red goatee before crossing his arms over his chest, again quite pleased with himself.

[bloodandflowers]

From that smirk, Kell knows very well he won't like whatever Sirius is casting, but he stands still and lets it happen. He can feel the magic itself before he feels its effects - familiar but not, much like Sirius himself - and he looks down through a pair of glasses at his ridiculous ensemble.

"Am I a clown of some sort?" he asks dubiously, for pants this shape can serve no real purpose. The clothes when he touches them feel real enough, and Kell could almost smile for the cleverness of the magic when he feels his hair brush well past his collar, and something appalling on his chin.

Kell drags his blade across his palm and touches the goatee first. "As Anasae," he says quickly to dispel the enchantment, and then once more just to be certain that it's gone.

[thebloodtraitor]

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."