Oh, Brother [ Solo Training ]

Having discovered not only his older brother currently taught a class on other species at Magnostadt, but Eli specifically taught Ariel's class about species besides magicians (Ariel found it beyond amusing how many magicians knew very little or nothing about other species), as any person familiar with the grumpy magician might guess, arrived as a great shock to him. Worse still his dear brother came as a pain in the ass to Ariel. Not a few days passed since his path collided with Eli and like brothers who accustomed each other’s day with their presence since babyhood, he and Eli bickered. No doubt the Harel siblings shared the stubborn streak. But that perhaps their stubbornness and kinship be the only traits they possessed together. Otherwise, their differences outshine their similarities. None more so than perhaps Eli and Ariel. A tick to his side, and not unusual behavior from Ariel, he fled to the Plains. Yet limitation of the kin brought him back more recently. Eli seriously annoyed him.

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He picked up a rock. Small, bumpy, and roughly round. He stared at the rock. Silently, he observed its flaws and imperfections. This rock he called “humanity”. He clenched the rock in his fist. ‘He dare throw it?' he wondered. He tested the waters out, tossing the rock lightly in his hand. He smiled mirthlessly. Somehow the rock doubled in weight from the first moments he picked up the rock. How strange but perhaps more realistic than he generally conceded to. He supposed if humanity never weighed a ton on the conscience of others, nobody would bother attending to humanity’s frivolousness. He sighed and allowed the rock to return home. It rolled off his hand much how he always thought the world slipped through his fingers every second.

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The soft crunching of grass under the feet of an unknown reached Ariel moments before the actual mystery reached him. The brown-eyed magician carefully turned. From his position he viewed a young man his age with unmistakable pinkish red hair. Blue eyes and amused smiles filed his way. The salmon-haired half-fanalis waved at Ariel. He spoke lightly yet somehow projected his voice across the distance between the two brothers. Natan’s airy voice always came as a surprise to him. It didn't seem to fit his exciting brother. “Ariel, you should have forewarned your eventual arrival! Why didn't you ever say anything? You should have tried to find us before!”

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The black magician shrugged. He mumbled, ”Never occurred to me.” His brother shook his head, not buying the excuse one bit. Natan knew his brother better than Ariel realized. Though his brother seemed uncaring and distant at times, he happened to know his dear brother valued loyalty over everything. Ariel would not forget his family so easily. That, Natan was sure of. He pulled his precious brother into a tight hug. Ariel smiled quietly. How people changed over the years. He recalled his brother hated showing weakness. Natan had often teased his siblings and called them emotional wrecks. ”You’re so sentimental,” he teased.

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”Heh, I guess I have become rather sentimental,” Natan admitted. He sounded rather teary much to Ariel’s astonishment. So much changed since his childhood. The truth often hit him hard in the face. No matter how many times he came to the conclusion, accepting reality stung and unlike most pain, one simply ‘did not get used to it’. ”But I bet you’re as weak as ever,” he continued. Ariel immediately pushed his brother away and lightly whacked him on the head. ”Respect your elders!” he rebuked. Yet he spoke fondly of his brother. Anyway, he wasn’t exactly one to talk. He had quite the reputation for smack talking professors and students alike.

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”But you are, aren’t you? Weak as ever? I mean, from what I’ve heard from Eli, you’re doing really great with your magic. But I seem to recall you’ve never been happy with just your magic,” Natan pointed out. Ariel winced. Yeah, Natan hit the target on that statement.

”Well, er,” he frowned and said, “I’ve not really had the time too, so…” He glanced away from his brother’s unimpressed expression. Natan knew how to make a person feel guilty! Although, he couldn’t help but suspect Natan learned the deadpanning stare from him.

”Well, now’s the time to start learning. Ooh! I’ll teach you!” Natan more stated than suggested. Ariel sighed. There was no way he could deny Natan. He knew that from experience. His little brother (by three months) was persistent. Not a big surprise there, actually. So was the rest of the Harel siblings including him, Ariel.

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The dark-eyed magician arose to the sound of an overly annoying, overly cheerful, and honestly just overly everything voice. ”Rise and shine!” Golden gleaming eyes, from inside a hazy mist of tire, made out the defining features of a red-haired fanalis staring at him. Suddenly realizing he was in unfamiliar surroundings, he immediately awoke from his half-sleeping state. ”What the hell, brat!? Where am I?” he demanded answers. His dear brother grinned and told his brother not to worry about those details. It was a safe place so Ariel ought not to fret. Instead, worry about their upcoming training. Speaking of which, that reminded him....

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He felt sore. Not as sore as one might expect from a magician having just put though a great deal of strenuous labor, but sore. He made it clear to his brother that he was aching all over and absolutely hated it. As his brother pulled him from the bed and out the door, Ariel grumbled and muttered about his muscles dead in his body. He didn’t like the feeling one bit. It was a sharp reminder of his history as a slave. He recalled always aching but never having a chance to rest. He shuddered at his memory of hovering over the plot of land all day and working it til the sun shifted down.

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Yesterday, right after Natan decided he would personally train his brother, he started Ariel on an excessive amount of difficult and laborious drills. When he demanded answers (why were they doing this?), his brother simply replied he needed to gauge Ariel’s stamina, strength, and etc. ”So as to find something that would suit you,” Natan had explained. He had hated the drills then and he hated them even more now. He sincerely hoped Natan would throw the drills in the bin or at least reduce them to a reasonable amount! Otherwise, he swore he would gladly show Natan a reason to fear magicians (specifically him).

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”So for a magician like you, I think it would be best to teach you some martial arts. Changquan specifically,” Natan said.

”Changquan…? Sounds rather Kou-ish” Ariel noted.

”That’s probably because it originated from Kou…Yes, Matti taught me it.” Ariel snorted

”Well, this is going to be rather interesting. Why isn't Matti teaching me this stuff then? Since he seems to be the one who knows martial arts best. Or has he fled to Kou to get away from you?” Indeed, if it had to do with Kou, there was an almost 100% guarantee Matti knew about it.

”Matti lives with the rest of us. But you two would kill each other if he attempted to teach you anything. That's why.”

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”That is a good point. I do hate his ass and I guess you’d hate to see Matti in little bits, huh?” Natan shook his head at the slight smile in Ariel’s voice. It didn’t fool him one bit. It was too tame for Ariel showing that the stubborn magician cared more about their annoying older brother, Mattityahu, more than Ariel preferred to admit.

”What if I said I wouldn’t mind Matti in little pieces?”

”Then you’d be a liar,” Ariel immediately said. To outsiders, it seemed as if the siblings wanted each other dead. But nothing could be further from the truth. They all treasured every moment each other lived, hyper-aware that any day - whether that be tomorrow or today - and at any age - young or not - they could die.

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”You catch on quickly. Okay, let’s begin.”

”What if I don’t want to?” Ariel asked like the proud troublemaker he was. He was a delightfully proud person. He took pride in being rather stubborn and unyielding. Now he was just being difficult for the sake of being difficult, of course.

”There’s no ‘want to’s in orders,” Natan replied with equal stubbornness. More of the kind of stubbornness the Harel family was more famous for, honestly. They generally specialized in stubbornness with a touch of wit and no-nonsense to their arguments. More of what Ariel was famous for but he also did a bit of whining and complaining too. He probably took a little too many liberties in that area, actually.

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He hated Natan so much. So. Goddamn. Much. He felt like an old man or a slave again. If it weren’t for the fact the others would have his head cut off, he would happily cut Natan’s own head from off his neck. Did he mention how much he hated Natan? That bastard of a brother was as bad as some owners he had more often than he would like to recall! How long had it been since he first started training with Natan? Some weeks at least. Felt more like years! Sure he was learning but… Apparently, Natan had been planning on teaching Ariel for months now. And of course, that meant he already had a plan all thought out. And yeah, that plan was rather… insane. And that was coming from him, Ariel Harel, the one who spent most of his time reading books he wasn't even supposed to have right in front of his teachers and in his room. Of course, most people never heard of the books he read so they usually didn’t know they were illegal...

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”Ariel… Don’t you have classes?” Natan asked one day.

It slightly caught him off guard. Natan wasn’t too nosy about Ariel’s life. He understood Ariel was guarded concerning his personal information. Natan asked for a reason besides curiosity. He had a motive.

”What do you think?”

”I think our brother is going to kill me because I’ve been pulling you away from your classes.”

Ah, so that's what it was about. Their dear brother, Eli.

”Don’t worry about him.” Natan raised his brow.

”I made an agreement with Ronen. I wouldn’t argue with Eli.”

”He’ll still go after you no matter what I say. My answer is going to be ‘no’ no matter what.”

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Natan stepped around Ariel with his fanalis speed and sent a wild and targetless kick in Ariel’s direction. It was a strong kick that was met with a golden staff which then proceeded to attempt to bludgeon the fast fanalis. It missed if anyone was interested in knowing.

”Come now, you’ll have to do better than that!” Natan taunted.

Ariel huffed. The bastard was indeed baiting him to loose control. What an ass. Tch.

”I could. But I won’t,” he replied with a smug smile.

He danced to Natan’s side and sent a quick side kick at his direction. Natan being the fanalis he was, dodged it and sent an earth-shattering back kick at Ariel. This one met with a golden barrier that immediately broke and pushed Ariel back slightly. Thanks to said barrier it only bruised the fragile magician, not kill him.

”You have so much control over your strength,” Ariel muttered.

Ariel backed up. He moved far from his brother. From the other side Natan jeered at him. Ariel merely ignored his brother. After a moment Natan started to run straight towards Ariel. It was fast. Almost too fast. Rather overwhelming. But Ariel forced himself to focus on the sound, what he was familiar with. He thrusted his staff forward and two cutting slices of magic came from his wand.

”I won. You never said I couldn’t use magic.”

”Cheater! … Ow…”

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