Apprentice (for Cutiexx)

[Cutiexx]

As he walked up behind her and stopped to survey her work, Dellana did not move. Only when he passed his judgment that she "wasn't completely clueless at least" did she relax, and stood up properly. He listed what counted as successful and not so successful, and Dellana started feeling frustrated all over again, because she didn't understand what was wrong with her technique. And Thaddeus wasn't giving her anything on that front either. Also she'd failed apparently, which she hated. Berating herself mentally for not having studied better in the past, she startled slightly when he stepped even closer, and looked at him in confusion as he peered at the scarecrow.


"Curious that the easiest part for you was getting him out of his pants," he commented airily, and Dellana's face grew red all at once.


"I, I- don't... Pants are easier... This isn't a- I mean, I'm not... Are you insinuating, what are you insinuating??" she garbled, oscilliating between flustered outrage and blushing embarrassment.

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(ARG! aotk ate my entire post after I finished writing it. Fuck my life entirely)

Thaddeus was chuckling quietly at his little comment, and was quite surprised at Dellana's outburst. He fought down a smile and looked at the girl. She was probably still flustered from earlier, or frustrated with her performance. Nice job making fun of a girl when she's most vulnerable you big oaf, he thought to himself.

"That's quite enough Dellana" He said in a serious tone, then waited a moment for the words to sink in, before attempting a reassuring smile.

"I was just lightening the mood, no insinuation here. I'm sure your relationship with our straw man here is perfectly platonic. More importantly, don't beat yourself up. You told me you had almost no practical experience and it shows, but we'll work on that in the coming weeks. I'll prepare rigorous practice sessions for you and I'll expect you to work your butt off."

He chuckled and flourished his branch again.
"Unless that butt is itchin' for a switchin' that is."

[Cutiexx]

(That sucks so much! I always copy it before clicking on anything, just in case)

Abashed, Dellana calmed down at once at her Master’s light scolding. She was also reassured by him confirming that he wouldn’t hold her level against her, and that he had some kind of study plan for her to follow. And of course she’d work hard. It was who she was.

"Unless that butt is itchin' for a switchin' that is."

...

She got flustered all over again, eyes darting to the switch. What would it feel like? How bad would it sting? She swallowed drily, and bit her lower lip.

“I’ll work hard Master, don’t worry,” she said meekly, eyes and thoughts still on the switch.

Before she could go too far though, she shook her head, and looked at the pile of leaves he had prepared for her.

“Whelp, better try that small tornado thing then,” she blurted, and aimed her hands at the leaves.

A complicated twisting motion later, and the leaves were spiraling up and down in an intricate dance. But the wind kept gaining momentum, getting surrounding particles to join the fun, and Dellana still didn’t quite know how to put a stop to that. She quickly went towards the small twister, remembering part of the exercise was for her to walk inside of it, trying to do it quickly before it got out of hand and she had to dispel it. She tried making a kind of “door” for her to walk through, but she couldn’t figure out how, so she just braved the wind with one hand trying fruitlessly to keep her skirt down. Even in the eye of the tornado, her skirt kept billowing around her, and she got disoriented immediately. Stubbornly, she tried reigning in the wind, tightening her grip over it, which just ended up making the tornado grow bigger. The cat was long gone by then, she wasn’t stupid enough to stay around with all that going on. Especially since small rocks were starting to get picked up as well.

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Thad noticed the way the girl's eyes followed the branch in his hand. There was something eminently satisfying about how on edge it made her. He wondered if it would be weird for him to carry a switch around at all hours of the day.

"Of course you will work hard, but perhaps we should find something a bit simpler to test how you handle weaving complex wind spells, I could set up something ... Dellana?"

Thad noticed that Della had jumped straight into the next challenge and was walking towards the little whirlwind she had weaved up. Well alright then, maybe he didn't need to find something simpler after all.

"It would have been better to erect the whirlwind around yourself from the start, you'll have trouble getting inside like this" He said, though his voice didn't seem to reach her through the heavy winds that were gathering in the garden. She walked straight through the gale anyway, hair and dress tossed about wildly. Her master couldn't help but smile at that pantied behind and bare legs so scandalously bared for the countryside.

"All right, now tone it down a bit and focus on making the whirlwind more focused so you can move it around, the wind is all over the place right now!" He yelled at her, not really sure if she would be able to hear her. In fact, she seemed to pump more energy into the tornado, perhaps trying to brute force control but having the opposite effect. This was no good, it was way stronger than it needed to be. The book on aerotheurgy went flying off into the cabbages and the scarecrow started swaying heavily.

"This is no good Dellana, you have to dispel it and try again!" Thad yelled, though he was quite sure now that she couldn't hear her. He leaned against the wind and walked towards his apprentice, gesturing in a 'stop' motion, waving his arms in front of his face.

[Cutiexx]

Indeed, all Dellana could hear was the wind. She was so focused on trying to keep a hold on it that she only noticed Thaddeus had joined her when he waved a hand directly in front of her face.


She looked at him, a bit startled, and realized he'd probably noticed the wind was getting out of hand. He motioned for her to stop, and she took a deep breath, nodded, and released her hold on the wind.


That was a mistake.


If Dellana weren't so distracted by her warring feelings about Thaddeus and his discipline, she probably would have remembered to let go gradually, letting the wind calm down slowly before stopping all magical input. But she was, so she didn't, and reflexively treated wind like water.


The wind blasted out around them, gushing hard in all directions, uprooting the scarecrow and sending the aerotheurgy book flying a few more meters, landing beyond the cabbage patch. The leaves scattered, the small rocks went clacking against Thaddeus' fence, barely stopping before reaching the cottage windows. The cabbages were definitely ruffled, and the two closest ones were partially uprooted.


"...."


The silence that followed was deafening to her ears. Mostly because the wind had been so loud, but also because she had rarely fucked up so much in such a short span of time.

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The situation didn't seem to be improving, which was worrying. Letting a spell get out of hand could have bad consequences, like making a real tornado or creating a wind elemental by accident. Thad could dispel the whirlwind if it came to that, but if Della was still trying to control it he would have to fight both her spell and her attempts at controlling it. Besides, he didn't want to just rip control away from her unless it became absolutely necessary. He didn't want her to think he didn't trust her.

Thaddeus mumbled quick spells to counteract the forces around him as he approached the girl trapped in the tornado. Small adjustments to the wind direction made sure that rocks and sticks veered off right before hitting him, and he eventually made his way to the eye of the storm. Della finally noticed him when he was practically right next to her. With a surprised look, she shut off her connection to the tornado in an instant.

Oh shit, Thad thought.

His left arm flew out to reflexively grab the girl by the shoulder and he pushed her against his body to shield her, while his right arm drew a circle over their heads. Luckily, the whirlwind had been too unstable to sustain itself without Della's input, instead it died a violent death around them. Thad held her hard against his chest for the few seconds it took for the spell to collapse and dissipate, while he attempted to funnel the wind away from his house.

...

The first thing both of them heard when it was over was Thaddeus' heavy breathing, more from surprise and worry than exhaustion. He softened his grip on Della and looked at her, trying to see if she had been injured.
"Are you alright? What were you thinking?" His tone was worried and surprised.

[Cutiexx]

Dellana was properly startled when Thaddeus held her close to him, protecting her from her own baldy-handled spell. She let herself be manhandled, too surprised to even think to protest, and also, because she realized how dangerous the way she’d just let go of the wind was. She didn’t know if her whirlwind was stable enough to sustain itself, or powerful enough to seriously destroy their surroundings, but she fiercely hoped not. And she was glad for his protection, just in case her hopes were vain.

When the wind died down, and they had stood there in silent shock for an appropriate amount of time, Thaddeus let go of her a bit, his hands still on her upper arms.

“Are you alright? What were you thinking?”

“I’m - I’m fine sir. I’m sorry. I don’t know how I could be so stupid, but when you told me to stop, I just... forgot? I just forgot how to stop wind correctly? I don’t understand what happened Master, I’m really, really sorry, I’ll fix whatever damages were done to your garden.”

Her heart was still beating fast from the recent danger, and she didn’t think it would slow down any time soon. She couldn’t even meet his eyes, and was staring at his broad chest instead. She felt so fucking stupid for forgetting such a basic manœuvre, just because the spell she was weaving was slightly overwhelming.

[FapFapFap]

After making sure that his apprentice hadn't been hurt, struck by a rock or similar, Thad looked around at the windblown mess surrounding them. He noticed that although the wind had damaged the closest part of his vegetable garden, the house looked untouched. Leaves had fallen in a quite beautiful spiral pattern with him and Dellana in the center and everything seemed deadly quiet, since every animal in the vicinity had scurried off. It hadn't been as bad as he had feared. He drew a slow sigh of relief, then looked back to Dellana.

"It's alright, you're fine now. It was ..." He stopped himself, not sure what to say. It was my fault? He felt responsible, he hadn't made sure she was prepared for more complex control. He berated her for underselling her own abilities and she had jumped right into the challenge without thought to her own limitations.

Then again, he couldn't just take the blame on himself as far as Dellana was concerned. She had to be responsible for herself. A sorceress unaware of her own limits and power was one of the most dangerous things and the exact kind of thing the master-apprenticeship was meant to avoid.

Thaddeus was still a bit rattled and couldn't muster up any sternness or anger. He gave the girl a small hug and rubbed her back.

"... It was quite irresponsible Dellana, you should have told me you weren't prepared for this kind of spell. It's a rookie mistake, but those can be dangerous. I'm glad you weren't hurt, but I need to make sure you remember this." He paused, looking around again, then pulled the girl away from himself a bit so he could look at her face.
"We'll postpone the other elementalist tests for another day, you can take a break, then start cleaning this up, without using magic. I expect you to be finished by the time I prepare lunch for us, then we'll talk."
Thad held up his right hand, still holding parts of the willow branch, though most of it had snapped off in the wind. "And fetch a switch while you're at it, you broke this one." He added.

[Cutiexx]

"But you just sp - punished me for asking if you wanted to see my theoretical level," she protested weakly, as Thaddeus hugged her.


Thaddeus broke the hug again, and looked at her. She still had difficulty looking him in the eye.
She felt horrible for not being more careful, but he'd literally just spanked her for "downplaying her abilities" and "trying to get out of her studies." This new learning environment was confusing. She was sure he wouldn't have liked it if she had full-out refused to even try the exercises he'd set out for her.


"We'll postpone the other elementalist tests for another day, you can take a break, then start cleaning this up, without using magic. I expect you to be finished by the time I prepare lunch for us, then we'll talk."



That was fair. Although the cabbages might be better off if she helped them reroot with a smidge of earth magic, she could respect the fact that she'd fucked up and it would be better for her to fix her mistake with less ease than magic provided.


"Yes sir."



She also felt tremendously relieved by him letting off on fire for today. After the wind catastrophy, she was sure she wouldn't even be able to make a spark.


"And fetch a switch while you're at it, you broke this one," he added, almost casual.



Dellana cringed hard at that. She suspected he might decide to use the switch on her, after such a failed exercise. And although she was curious to know what it felt like, it's not like she wanted him to spank her again. And considering his part in this, she was fairly certain she could talk him out of it.


"Yes, sir. It was a willow branch, right? Where should I go to fetch one?"

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"Oh, there's some trees by the river, just cut a little bundle of a good length and thickness."
He noticed how her facial expression changed when he mentioned the switch and felt conflicted.

"Dellana ... I realize that my ... pedagogical methodology needs a little work. I do expect you to not shy away from subjects that you feel unsure about, otherwise you won't ever realize your potential. But I also expect you to keep your wits about you when dealing with powers that could put yourself or others in danger. Magic used irresponsibly can be a lot more dangerous than your cranky old master, you getting blown 5 meters in the air or being hit in the head with a rock would have been a lot worse than getting a spanking."

He gave a small smile, hoping to have reassured the girl. Even though he had completely failed to mention that he really had no intention of using the switch on her over this, not while he was feeling so guilty anyway.