It's still not possible to precisely control the one Ice Pelter spear to face the direction I want, even with three days of practice.
I've roughly got the hands down on the compression and expulsion of air, and I thought practicing air control would allow me to master positioning the ice spear better. It seemed to be a lot harder than I thought, though.
When I try using very tiny air bombs to move the spear, I often place it off-trajectory, and it starts spinning in a direction that I don't want it to go at. What's worse, if the air bombs are too close, or if the air bomb is too big, the spear will shatter.
... It's so hard to manage... What am I missing?
I picked up the extensive magic guide again, and read through the contents... Let's see...
... Suction, compression and expulsion... !!! Ah! I'm missing 'suction'!
Let's see... "Performing suction alone is a rather tough ordeal. One must grasp the basics of blowing off the top should suction be mastered." An example of said theory would be having a hill of fine sand, and blowing down on them from the top, forcing the mound of sand to be pushed away, and creating an even plain of sand in the middle of the tray. Another example is observing a whirlpool - The center of the whirlpool is watervoid, and hollow, and that itself creates a suction force. Suction is similar to expulsion, except not really. Think of expulsion as an act to change normal to void, and suction as an act to change normal to concentrated. Expulsion is the technique to release the concentrated state to normal, while suction is the process of returning the void state to normal. Once this theory has been recognised, suction may be performed with ease. Compression and decompression are but mere scientific names given to expulsion and suction to explain its effects.
So basically, suction is the reverse of expulsion? That's a rather interesting way of viewing this, isn't it?
"Vance?"
A voice calls out to me, and looking up, I see a mushroom-haired Korean man with adorable sideburns, wearing a jumpsuit. I almost mistook this coworker for a woman, but the bulging gut and the burly physique saved me from that delusion.
"Sue?"
"What are you reading?"
Why would he be interested in what I'm reading? Did I read out the contents by mistake?
"Oh, uhm, nothing, nothing."
It would be embarrassing to tell them that this is a v.vizard guide, and that I'm still a virgin. Most of these people have wives and girlfriends already, and yet I've been left on the shelf as a benchwarmer. I'd usually avoid the topic with work, but it would be really awkward if they learnt of it now. With that in mind, I tucked the v.vizard guide into my knapsack quickly.
"You know, Vance, stuff like this... ought to be read at home..."
He's looking around the room, as if looking for, or at something.
... Whoa! Everyone in the room's making very brief glances at me repeatedly! Have they discovered that I'm a virgin?
"... That kind of stuff's just embarrassing, man. We're all guys here..."
Hah? I don't quite get what he's playing at. I mean, yeah, we're definitely all guys here, but what differentiates us is our relationships with women. Since I have none, it would usually end up with me gawking at them with their rich, fulfilling lives- Hmm. I guess that would make sense, they might be able to catch on since my gawking is usually done unconsciously.
"Right. Thanks, Sue."
Sue walks back to his bench, to prep up his 10"5 wrench to the right size for unscrewing the nuts on the cover panel. "Hey Jong, what was he reading?"
"Definitely a gay porn mag."
... I'd do well to simply ignore what I just heard and live on with my delusions.
*** ***
According to the guide, suction for beginners should be performed in an area with a thick medium, like a place with really awful, visible gases, or water. It's supposed to aid in mental imaging because it's almost invisible in clean, open air.
It's been a long while since I've had swam. Usually I just get so caught up with my work, or I'd just do the chores at home, or tinker with the appliances and things at home to spend most of my time. I haven't exactly found time to go out and play a lot. Tinkering's interesting and all, but it doesn't really count as fun. I could take the opportunity of learning this new technique to have a little fun, so I might as well.
Butch has been doing pretty well financially - He's now living in a condominium, with his wife and two children. It would have been appeared really rude of me to visit him just to borrow the pool for my own reasons and practice, however. I don't want to trouble him, yet somehow I felt like only a private place like a condominium would be ideal for this training without creating fear in the beachside civilians.
Maybe I should bring Homei and Rwanda along so it wouldn't appear that awkward.
After receiving approval from Butch, I sent an email to Homei through my phone, telling her to meet up this Saturday. But Rwanda's not picking up my calls nor replying my messages.
... Well, that's quite expected, actually. Except for Homei, everyone else is considered grown up and have established their lives firmly.
It's rare for me to initiate such activities, but at this rate we're going to drift apart too much.
.. ! I got an e-mail, is it from Rwanda?
"What swimsuit would you like to see me in, Vance? - Homei"
... This, is, not, a, mature, rated, game, comma, this, is, real, life, fullstop, please, do, not, let, my, fetishes, influence, you, fullstop.
Send.
Homei, you conniving snake. You're doing it on purpose, knowing my v.vizard powers are at stake...
*** ***
"Hey, Butch! It's been a while!"
Seeing the familiar, huge figure wave at us, it could only be Butch.
"Hello again, you two. Thanks for offering to take care of our kids while my wife and I celebrate our belated anniversary." Ahh, same old Butch. As direct as ever!... I wonder how everyone's doing?
Homei's holding onto her bag tightly, probably indicating that she brought something valuable or important. Well, the chances of being robbed right now is so slim, it's not even a worry, but she's really defensive about it.
"Don't sweat it. I haven't swam in six years, so it's nice to have a change of pace!"
Butch has a bad habit of thinking that everything he does may be bothersome to others, so it's an unspoken rule in the family that win-win situations must always be created so that he does not worry. It's also thanks to his psychology that usually has him mediating the quarrels between Rwanda and Homei. It's weird and awkward for the second eldest and supposedly second most mature of the six of us to apologise all of a sudden, so he works as an excellent mediator. I'm grateful for a cousin like that, but it may get a little out-of-hand sometimes.
"I just wished that Rwanda could have spared some time coming here too, but he didn't pick up the phone. I guess he's busy with work or something..."
Hearing the word 'Rwanda' from my mouth, Homei shivered just a little.
Butch, however, looks a bit surprised. "Uh, Vance? Rwanda lost his phone three weeks ago, so he's been phoneless for a while now..."
Oh. So that's why he couldn't be contacted.
"... Well, that's my bad, but I wished he could have told me via a letter, or a note."
"Don't worry too much about it. He's just stubborn like that."
Rwanda actually liked Homei a lot, even to the point beyond being family. The problem is, he desperately tries to deny his crush on her, and he often teases people excessively, and goes overboard at it, but that's basically his way of showing affection. Homei apparently doesn't appreciate that, and opens up to me in favour of him and everyone else, so he's aggressive towards me specifi- ?
My right leg's warm, like something's on it.
Oh. Guaca's hugging it.
"Uncle Vance! Uncle Vance! Play with us!"
"Yeah, play with us!"
And here comes Zeneil. Well, Butch's children seem healthy.
"Thank you for giving us a chance, Vance. Really, thank you."
"You just go and enjoy your anniversary, Butch. We'll take care of your kids. Right, Homei?"
Homei just stares at us silently, and heads for the pool immediately.
... That's not a suitable attitude for taking care of children...
*** ***
"Auntie! Auntie! Please teach us how to float like you do!" "Auntie, please! I'll give you all my jellybeans!"
I don't think Homei's pleased at being called an auntie. She's not showing it on her face, but she's definitely troubled by the children who are egging her to teach them. Her fists are clutching, and shes trying to retain her cool so she can continue floating.
Sorry to have used you like this, Homei...
I didn't tell her anything about me trying to practice this new spell in the book, but I hope she understands.
Well then, time to begin!
There's apparently a very useful technique for suction, which, because of how disgusting suction sounded in the first place, I have neglected the entire page of. It's known as Vacuum Pull, which is a basic practice on how to use expulsion and suction powers. It's great practice, because you're pulling the object you tossed back to yourself, and it's supposed one of the 'easy' techniques as well.
Let's see... Expulsion and suction may be used in conjunction with each other to create interesting effects.
Well, that's a given, air bombs work on that basis.
So basically, expulse a whole row of space to the point just before the object of desire, and slowly suck the object in progressively.
Seems fun, let's try it on the inflatable ball.
I dived underwater to try this technique. I don't want Guaca, Zeneil and ESPECIALLY Homei to see what I'm doing.
With expulsion in mind, I pushed all the water away from the whole row of space slowly, and witnessed a spectacular sight. What's interesting to note is that when water is rejected like this, there's literally a visible, empty column of vacuum underwater. That's amazing, I can see its shape from the water being pushed away, but vacuum's probably really dangerous, so nothing should ever touch that.
... Can I control just the furthest end to suck?
I feel it. The expulsion effect on the space at the furthest end halted. The inflatable ball was pulled onto the space it was originally at.
Success! Okay, now, replicating that effect repeatedly on the current furthest end...
The ball whished through the surface of the water, and was being pulled closer and closer to me. About half the column of vacuum is left, so let's try something cool.
I focus on the column, and break it into many many parts. With the mental image in mind, I set the time for the parts to stop expulsion in a descending order. I'm going to try Vacuum Pull at its finest, to pull the object all the way towards me in one shot.
It worked - But that was a painful experience.
The ball rushed towards me at a great speed, and hit my face really hard, before rebounding back to the surface and floating on the water surface peacefully. At least, that's what I think it did, should the ball follow the laws of physics.
That hurt a ton. That really did. When I saw the ball zooming down and even submerging, dashing at me, I thought it would be as simple as stopping it with my right hand alone. If only my right hand had blocked it accurately, this stinging pain would have been on my palm, which was more tolerable. That ball rushed me like some sort of bird, or bug, that would fly right into you on really windy days.
When I resurfaced again, it was still hurting a lot, so I roughly made out the rim of the pool, and headed towards one of the chairs to rest.
*** ***
"Vance, help me get my goggles back."
My 22 seconds of rest on the chair after being slammed on the face by an inflatable ball was disrupted by this lifeless girl. She's wearing a two-piece green bikini with white polkadots, and that surprisingly matches her Han purple hair and brown pupils really well.
"Your goggles? Where did you lose them?"
"I don't know. Probably somewhere around the deep end of the pool."
The deep end of the pool!? Why would it be lost there?! Also, Guaca and Zeneil were with us, how could you go to the deep end of the pool with them here!?
"Why would it be at the deep end!?"
Homei looked at me, and leaned closer and closer to me. She seems dissastified with my reaction.
"You didn't say anything about my bikini, and I couldn't find you, so I floated to the deep end to look for you. Before I knew, my goggles dropped in there somewhere..." Tucking her upper lips behind her lower lips, she pouted at me.
She still speaks like a robot, with that monotonous voice, but...
... That is dangerous. A doll-like girl like her with such tiny, little lips pouting like this... It's a new level of moe. This is really dangerous. I gotta get out of here.
"Deep end of the pool, huh. I'll look for it."
I grabbed the grey goggles on the table and fit them over my eyes snugly. Taking a deep breath, I dived into the water.
... I see it! Something bluish-purple around the 2.8m mark! It's a pair of purple goggles! I dived up and rested at the rim, to catch a breather.
Wow, she probably put a lot of effort into looking as best as she could today. Goggles that match her hair, clothing that complements her, I actually sincerely feel bad that her feelings are unrequited.
I can't help it, though. I have to hold her back, or I risk my v.vizard powers being lost.
... But the goggles are really deep in the pool... It's not only at the 2.8 meter mark, it's also near the center of it. Damn it, so much for using the pool's rim to snag it and get back.
Hey! This is a really good opportunity to use Vacuum Pull!
... But won't the goggles smack my face with a lot of force as well?
Also, the distance between the goggles and myself compared to the ball is longer, and the goggles are smaller, which means they probably hurt a lot more than the ball...
... What if I'm not at the receiving end of the Vacuum Pull?
Yeah! That's a great idea! I can set the column's receiving end above me, and vacuum the goggles up to the space above me! I can potentially pull the goggles to a shallower area and pick it up easily!
Here goes. Diving back into the water, I positioned myself to where the shallower area would be at. I expel the water and bubbles in the area above me to the goggles.
... Vacuum... Pull!
And that was when it struck me - If the goggles was just pulled like this directly, won't the kinetic energy of the goggles be great enough to fly over the pool? Won't making the column of vacuum right before the surface be a VERY bad idea with the lack of water resistance to slow it down?
*** ***
The goggles cracked.
It was apparently flung not just through the water's surface, but over the pool, and into the wall of a lounge. It was centimeters away from the glass panel door, but I am really, REALLY glad this miracle which avoided collateral damage occurred.
The wall was brown, coarse and rugged, apparently shaped into a stone archway as an expressive form of art, which was good news since it was unscathed from a pair of goggles being flung at it with ridiculous speed.
Well, nothing too severe happened, but not everyday's meant to be an exciting one. I'm just glad we survived to see the night, and hope to live to see the next day.
I walked with Homei to the bus stop. We live in the same neighbourhood, so it's easier to communicate with her than other cousins. Of course, I only wish that she sees me as a cousin, not a future husband.
"These goggles..."
She looked at the Han purple goggles that matched her hair. I feel bad for not thinking the Vacuum Pull through, and causing it to crack like that. Had I not made the column directly over my head, it could have slowed down a bit more and not fly all the way to the lounge. She obviously spent a lot of effort looking for goggles that matched her weird hair colour.
"... I'll treasure it forever."
Homei presses the goggles on and rubs it on her cheek, like those lunatics I see in those recent movies where the insane guy is portrayed caressing a doll.
That's creepy.
"It's broken, you know..."
"You used your v.vizard powers to get it back for me. It has your v.vizard magic on it. It has you written all over it. I'll treasure it forever."
... Homei never ceases to freak me out. I had thought she would change should she know of my v.vizard identity, but she appears to disregard it completely.
Well, today was a painful day, but at least it's over now. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, I guess.
... Actually, the ball and the goggles could have potentially murdered me, so never mind. "Murdered by an inflatable beach ball - That's a start."
"Murdered by an inflatable beach ball? What's that about?"
Oh crap. "Oh, nothing too severe, it's just uhm, I was just thinking, if I could fling a pair of goggles from the deep end to the lounge, I wonder if a beach ball can be flung hard enough to decapitate myself."
"Why would you decapitate yourself?"
... She's right - Why would I decapitate myself? That... just came out of my mouth for some reason I'm not aware of...
"... That's just hypothetical. Don't worry about it."
"By the way, you never gave me a proper answer. How did you like my swimsuit... ?"
Homei's eyes opened up to a 3/4 again. It looks like she's expecting a solid answer.
"Uhm, well... Ahh... How should I phrase it?..."
She's staring at me hard. She really wants my honest opinion. I felt a strange draft for some reason, like she'd abuse her knowledge of my v.vizard status to do something really callous if I denied her of her desire now. This is one signal I can read - Tell me the truth or I'll make your life hard on you.
"The uhm... light green bikini really matches your hair?"
"Did I look sexy in it?"
Okay, now she's just provoking me.
"You... have your own charms, but you're not exactly sexy."
"My own charms? Enough to make you horny?"
What is going through that brain of hers!?
"No?"
"Darn. I should have worn breast pads then."
... I don't think making your upper torso more ample would work on me. I mean, having a nice appearance is a plus, but if it were all fake, I would very much rather date and love a girl who's honest to her own feelings and body, and not use a load of unnecessary things than date and love a girl whose entire existence may have been one big lie.
.. !! She's taking the breast pads out now? SHE'S PUTTING THEM IN NOW!?
"IDIOT! WE'RE AT THE BUS STOP!" I grabbed her hand instinctively, to stop her foolish act, and with that, I commited one of the biggest mistakes in my life.
"Let go of me, you pedophile!!"
Pedophile!!~ Pedophile!~ Pedophile~ pedophile~ The word echoed in my brain as if my cranium was hollow.
She seemed really hurt by the fact that I didn't find her sexy. Why should I find her sexy? She's my cousin, not my girlfriend-or-above! It's just weird to ask someone a question like this directly to begin with!
Then again, Homei never was one to take rejection well. I remember her cooping up in her room, refusing food and water because Rwanda cut off her doll's arm. Even when Butch sewed back the doll arm well, he couldn't handle her stubborn attitude at all.
... Actually, that's the first time I've ever heard her raise her voice. So that's what she really sounds like if she had talked normally. I feel like I've been blessed to hear her talk normally for the first time in my life, even if I was being yelled at.
The ride back home turned awkward.
Homei never got to put the breast pads into her bra, and I got so embarrassed by her calling me a pedophile that my face stayed red the entire ride home.
And thus the day concluded with mixed feelings.
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