Resonance: A guide to Magical Amplification

[Maon Aldridge]

Maon sat in the farthest corner from the entrance of the library, tucking into a new book he had found called 'Resonance: A guide to magical amplification'. It was a college-level book that explained the theory of Resonance, a way of amplifying certain kinds of magic by passing it fro person to person, allowing to take some energy as it came and went. It also explained how it was not good to use, because it had the potential of fusing the minds of the people resonating.

All in all, Maon was having a good time. He was reading a good book, he was in a comfy chair, and most of all, it was quiet. He could go on like this for a long time, but he knew he would have to leave at sometime. He sighed, not wanting to have to leave.

[Diane McLain]

Diane walked into the library, a desperate look on her face. Her nerves were shot, and already she was feeling the adrenaline rushing through her viens from the very thought of what her teachers would do to her - Over the holidays, predictably, she had done no work. Most of the homework set was simple questions which she had managed to do a few minutes before that lesson, but now she was facing a dreadful Potions sheet which she could not get her head around.

She looked around for someone that she knew, feeling herself shake. She couldn't just tell a teacher she hadn't done the work - it filled her with more guilt then she thought humanly possible.

Her heart jumped to her throat as she looked to the far corner. Maon! He was almost guaranteed to know what to do! She rushed over the the seat next to him, dragging the closest table close to them. "Hey Maon." she said, a little out of breath. "Have you done the Potions homework yet?" she asked, seemingly casually as she slammed her bag onto the table, wrestling with her oversized folder.

[Maon Aldridge]

Maon jumped when he heard Diane's bag slam onto the table. He looked up slowly from his book to stare at her, certain that she was going to ask for help. Looks like happy time is over. "Indeed I did." He mumbled. "And please quiet down,we're in a library." He himself had finished his Potions homework fairly quickly, since it was one of his strong points. That's probably why she asked him and not someone else."

He put the book's pagemarker in, then closed the book, setting it gently on the table. From his backpack, he took out a considerably smaller book, a beginner's guide to Potions. When he explained things, he liked to reference books he had read on the subject.

[Diane McLain]

"Sorry," she whispered, though she was so stressed her whispering was almost the same volume as her normal voice. She finally managed to tug the folder out of her bag, struggling with the streems of paper flowing from it - most of them empty. She put her head on the folder, saying in a quiet voice, "I just had a total mind blank on the first question, and then every question after that needs it." she said, opening the folder and finding the page she needed. "And I can do all the ones after, if I have the first answer." she said, sighing irritably.

[Maon Aldridge]

Maon sighed. She was at least trying to be quiet. She just wasn't doing a good job. He looked at all the papers that flew out, grimacing. 'Looks like you mind-blanked on all of your homework.' He thought. He took a look at the question: Voodoo. Easy. And it was covered in the book he had.

He leafed through his potions book, looking for the page he wanted. He found it and turned the book so she Diane see it, putting his finger under the beginning of a paragraph. "'Voodoo is one of the oldest forms of magic, used to control people from a distance. It requires a catalyst with a likeness to what you want to control, either made of cloth or clay, and a piece of it, like hair or clothing.'" He closed the book. "Shortened, voodoo is a controlling magic." He put the book away and looked at Diane. "Anything else?"

[Diane McLain]

Diane rolled her eyes, practically jumping back onto her paper, writing quickly in big swirling letters the answer to the question, explaining, "Oh, thanks! See, I could remember what it did but I couldn't remember what they were made of, and all the questions later are about the materials." she said, speaking flawlessly as she wrote down the ending of her question. She smiled and looked up at Maon, "Thanks, I really do owe you a million and a half for this. I was scared I'd have to hand in a blank sheet of paper." she said, shyly giggling to herself.

[Maon Aldridge]

Maon stared at her for a while. "Indeed." He mumbled. "Well, if you don't need anymore help..." he picked up the book he was reading previously and began to read. His lips moved slightly as he read, and he was smiling slightly. If there was ever a big catastrophe, like a tidal wave or a meteor shower, Resonance might be the answer. And, if he were right, it could amplify magical healing, making it easer to cure diseases. Too bad this book was only on theory.

[Diane McLain]

Diane continued to scribble down answers, finding the silence awkward but realising that she really needed to finish her homework. It wouldn't take long - she was the sort of girl that had an infinite amount of knowledge, but could only access it with a little reminder. She wrote quickly and very to the point, not even adding the slightest glimmer of extra information - as long as she had the right answer, she didn't care too much.

She looked over, glancing to him and his book and scanning over the title. "What's Resonance?" she asked, turning back to her work and writing more as she waited for an answer.

[Maon Aldridge]

Maon looked up from the book at Diane. "A form of magical amplification." He leafed through the book, but put it down, thinking. This book had a lot of really big words, even he had a little trouble with it. "This would be better explained if I showed you. He put his hands on the table, and raised his left hand. "This is me." He lowered his left hand and raised his right one. "This is you." He focused on his left hand and a very small ball of light appeared on it. "This is what Resonance would do, in theory." He tossed the light from hand to hand, making the ball of light get bigger and bigger as it passed. When it was as big as he would let it get, he clasped his hands together and doused the light. "By passing magic from person to person, it would borrow some of the person's energy and become more powerful, in theory." Maon said, wondering why he was talking so much. Maybe it was because he was exited about the idea.

[Diane McLain]

Diane watched the demonstration, her eyes getting wider as the ball grew before her eyes. "Wow," she said, temporarily forgetting about her homework. She looked back at the book, and then to him. "College work, right?" she asked, suddenly afraid that it was something she was meant to know about. "That would be really awesome to be able to pass my Kenetics class. I can never get enough power for them."

[Maon Aldridge]

Maon nodded, picked up the book, determined not to put it down again. "Too bad you wouldn't be allowed to use it." He said. "Although it is very effective and is simple to do, the risks are too great to attempt it, even in a controlled area."He turned the page, then continued. "Resonance has a kind if fusing quality, and it is very likely that, during Resonance, the minds of the people resonating may fuse, figuratively speaking." He raised his hand and brought his index finger and thumb together as an example. "The people would all think the same things, at the same time. And the effect is irreversible."

[Diane McLain]

Diane bit her bottom lip, looking at Maon with a slight grimace, "That doesn't sound too good," she said quietly, looking into space and conyinuing, "I'd hate to be fused to you-" her eyes suddenly flashed up, realising what she had said. She put her hands up and explained quickly, "Not that it would be bad with you in particular. Not that your a bad person. Just its, um..." she smiled shyly, and tapped her homework with the back of her pen, "I should... probably just stick to the work." she said, leaning over her work and letting her hair fall over her red face.

[Maon Aldridge]

Maon looked up at Diane, a hint of a smile on the edge of his mouth. "Strange." He said, looking back at his book. "Usually it's a guy that says things like that." And it was true, it was usually a guy... in the novels he had read. 'I guess not everything goes by the book.' He thought. He shifted slightly so that the light would hit his book better. 'If it did, things might get dull.'

[Diane McLain]

Diane scribbled down even faster, trying to make it seem like she was far too engrossed in her work to seem embarrassed. Unfortunately, having worked so fast she was beginning to run out of questions. She smirked at his his answer, pulling her hair behind her ear to show her face again and her cheeky smile as she said, "You never know, I could secretly be a man," her voice twisted enough so it was obvious she was making a joke - not that it wasn't obvious anyway. She may not have been the curviest girl on campus, but she definitely had the figure of a woman. "'sides, I thought it was a ditsy blonde that was meant to say things like that."

[Maon Aldridge]

Maon stared at Diane, thinking about her joke. It was a good one, but it would have been funnier if she said it seriously. "Depends on the kind of books you read." He said. He shifted a bit, interested in what the book had on it. The effects of Resonance become amplified even more if the sources are farmiliarized. He thought for a while. 'So if they know each other well, it works better?' He wondered.