Glass Half Empty or Full PV Willow Closed

Willow fell in line behind Elsian, following him as he seemed to know where to go. Besides, she had to think about how she was going to do this. She had never had to be the teacher, only the student from her parents and grandma. There also felt like there was more pressure than before, a need to impress or convince him. She tried to keep her expectations low to prevent a huge downfall in case he hated it. She always found this practice relaxing, so hopefully she could pass on that aura to him.

As she climbed down from the thoughts in her head back into the moment, she realized they were at their destination. She took a second to survey walking in a circle around where they were going to sit. She nodded approvingly and plopped down across from him. “I can see why you like this area. Do people bother you a lot though?” She started to unload as he talked, laying out a cloth between them, with shapes at the four corners representing the four elements. Even starting to setup was putting her in that familiar headspace of her craft. She pulled out a white candle, a citrine stone, lemongrass, Rosemary, a small jar of sea salt, lavender, sage, and a small jar of water.

She smiled happily at her set up, and looked back up at Elsian. “I’m sure you already have a lot of questions, and you can ask anything you’d like before we start. But first, what is your favorite color?”

Altar Cloth

Elsian eyed the setup that was coming together between them, eyes lighting up with interest as he leaned forward a bit to get a good look at the cloth. He shrugged at the others question, crossing his legs and shoving his bag to the side, "not here they don't, which is why its perfect for sleeping."

Most people didn't so much...bother him per say. Granted, Mozark was a special case, the absolute lunatic of a boy, butit wasn't like he disliked being around other people. He just needed space, or rather a quiet place to nap...more so than most of the other kids here apparently. It helped that he didn't have to worry about any adults getting on his case about having a 'bad internal clock' every opportunity they got...

He gave the other a slightly confused look, "Jade I guess, why do you need to know that though?" he paused for a moment eyeing the items, "well, it'd be nice to know what exactly these items are for," he offered, "do I need to do anything with them?" he asked feeling a bit hesitant to actually reach out and touch anything.

Old habits died hard after all and respecting others property had been practically drilled into his head for as long as he could remember.

After he said his favorite color, she started fishing around in her bag again. "That's a specific color. I was expecting a basic green, blue, red, or whatever." She made a satisfied noise finally finding what she needed which was a dark green mesh bag with a ribbon tie on the top. "So, this is a satchel type spell. We can also do it in a jar if you'd like but I feel for these ones it's helpful if you can carry it around. So, your favorite color is important because it'll help tie you to the spell easily."

She opened up a different pocket in her bag, where sounds of rocks clacking together could be heard. "You're just in luck too, I have a few jade crystals. These are really good for peace, calm, serenity, stuff like that. So maybe if you need a little extra some days you could carry it around." She handed it over to Elsian. "We won't use that in the spell today, but you can keep it." The jade she handed to him was oval shaped, with a slope down to the middle. It was a dotted texture jade, with darker green spots throughout. "This is a worry stone. So generally you rub it if you need a little bit extra of what it gives. You can sleep with it under your pillow too, to bond with it." She smiled, happy that something told her today to bring a jade crystal.

"Anyway!" She clapped her hands together. "We don't need to do anything yet, but feel free to touch and pick up stuff before we begin. I'll explain as we go along what they're for as well. But for the main context, my family works exclusively with the elements." She started at the bottom left corner and worked clockwise, "Earth, fire, air, water. We'll be calling them in to help strengthen our spell. Also, we always work clockwise. It's disrespectful to go counter clockwise, but I'll be doing most of the worst so you won't have to worry as much." She moved to be sitting with her legs crossed. "Otherwise, are you ready to start?"

Elsian huffed, "well, people should have less basic favorites," he defended half heartedly feeling slightly embarrassed, though it quickly faded as the others words perked his interest.

Listening to her his eyes zeroed in on her hands and whatever she held, one hand going to twist itself in the blades of grass next to him as the sounds of clacking rocks and rustling filled his ears. He wondered how much stuff she actually had in the bag but batted the thought away when she held up a jade. He hesitated for a moment, fingers tugging gently at the grass when she actually started to hand it to him because he hadn't actually thought she'd be giving him something like that. Finally he dragged his free hand up taking the crystal rather gingerly and giving the other a slightly baffled look.

"Are you sure you're alright with me keeping it?" he questioned, pinching the thing between his fingers as he looked over the item. It was...pretty. And he found himself liking the thing, unconsciously rubbing a finger against it at Willows explanation.

He looked up when she clapped, giving her a single nod but still hesitated in actually touching anything until he actually noticed one of the items was rosemary. Instantly his hand went to the plant, fingers curling around it gently as he brought it closer, the scent reminding of back home than he'd realized at first. It sent a wave of something through him and...huh, maybe he did miss home more than he'd realized. Unwilling to even dwell on it he put the item back, instead focusing on the cloth with the drawings when she talked about the elements.

"Disrespectful?" he mused aloud, both slightly amused and perturbed at how something like that could be bad. Well at least she was doing most of the work...he was pretty sure he'd ruin whatever they were doing otherwise. Giving the other his attention he smirked, shoving any second guesses about the whole thing out of his head, "yeah, okay. I'm ready to leave you in awe of my wicca skills first try professor Willow," he teased with a wriggle of his fingers.

She nodded at Elsian's comment about people's favorite colors, "I agree. My favorite color is the pale sunshine rays that comes at sunrise when it filters through the tress. I think that kind of favorite color tells you a lot more about a person." A small smile made it's way onto her face as she thought about spending her morning walks to school through the forest by her house.

She watched Elsian's reaction to the jade, putting her hair up into a messy bun as he touched the stone. She preferred to work with her hair up, especially outside, because she didn't have to worry about the wind pushing it into her face and distracting her. "Of course I'm alright with you keeping it, I wouldn't give it to you if I didn't want you to have it. I have a few pieces of jade, and quite a few worry stones so I don't mind letting this one go." She was fascinated by the fact that he touched it as if could disintegrate at any moment within his hands. Followed by him picking up the rosemary, she took a note in her head that rosemary seemed especially powerful for him, they'd probably use more rosemary than normal for this spell.

"It's actually called widdershins, going counterclockwise. I don't exactly know why... I just know it's bad and to never do it." She rolled her eyes as he called her professor Willow. "Alright, we're going to start with the meditation. I'm going to keep my eyes open to make sure no one sneaks up and interrupts us, but that's because I can do meditation with my eyes open at this point. I want you to close your eyes. You can trust me. I won't let anything happen to you." She nodded encouragingly before beginning the meditation.

"It's going to feel silly but just work with me. You're going to breathe in for three seconds through your nose, hold for three seconds, then out for three seconds. Really focus on your breathing, how your body moves, how the fresh air feels in your lungs. We're going to do this for a couple minutes." She began doing the breathing once she was done speaking, keeping an eye on him to make sure he was doing it but mostly looking around and grounding herself in nature. If he got off tempo, she would softly start narrating the breathing pattern.

"Now if you put your hands out, palms facing up. You can rest your arms on your knees or the ground. Whatever feels good. We're opening ourselves up to the elements, knowing they will guide us in this spellwork we're doing today. Think about the four elements, what they symbolize. Earth, stability, logic, abundance. Fire, passion, strength, transformation. Air, communication, new life, joy. Water, trust, peace, and healing." After a couple minutes of silence, "Ok you can open your eyes. How are you feeling?" Her voice was softer now, and her body posture was more relaxed. She felt at peace with the world, which may sound cheesy to others but it was essential for her existence.

He smiled slightly at the others admittance holding back the urge to tease her more, instead giving her a droll look at the encouragement. "My life is in your hands," he replied dryly, "If someone kidnaps me it's your fault." he pointed out before closing his eyes with a small sigh.

Peeking an eye open at her from behind his messy hair he had to hold back the urge to make some jab comment on how his pride would surely be in shambles after this. Instead he focused on the Hufflepuff to get a good picture of what she actually wanted him to do before letting it fall lazily closed again and quickly falling into the same pattern as her.

It was surprisingly easier than he'd imagined. Though if he actually thought about it he realized it shouldn't have been to big of a surprise for someone like him. Breathing in and out slowly, the soft breeze rustling the trees, it was all so very similar to the relaxing feeling he got when he found someplace quiet and secluded to relax and nap.

Mozark would have definitely made a snide comment on how someone who could literally force themselves to sleep like the dead would have this down to pat or something else just as sarcastic fitting the pure blood...


Such a thought was short lived though when Willow spoke again and following her instruction he moved his hands away from the grass, uncurling his fingers and lifted him palms upwards, arms hovering slightly in the air as muscle memory caught up to him. His idea of the elements seemed to vary slightly from what she said, slightly faltering at the idea of water being trust but overall he was able to keep his mind from straying very far before he stopped it. Opening his eyes he stopped, arms falling more into his lap as his brain caught up to him in the haze that really reminded of him of the verge of a nice sleep.

"Ready for a nap," he blurted, shoulders arching slightly in a small stretch, he felt like sinking into a nice nap atop the grass and letting the breeze and heat of the setting sun lull him into a nice nap.

"It's relaxing," he said fixing his gaze on her, "I heard meditating's boring and complicated, it's...nicer than I thought it'd be." he admitted.

She was ecstatic that Elsian enjoyed the meditation. A lot of people would try it once and get bored because they would try and do it for way too long without practicing shorter amount of times, or they just did very boring meditations. This one that connected them and the elements always felt nice and peaceful and didn't last too long where your mind would start intensely wandering. "I'm glad you liked it. But it also can make me sleepy sometimes, I get it." She stretched her arms up, feeling a little bit too relaxed.

"Alright, from here on out you should be thinking about your well-being, promoting happiness, and just general positive thoughts. If you let your mind wander, make sure to pull it back. Intention is everything in spellwork." She diligently got to work, "Normally I would light the candle but uh... I haven't successfully cast incendio yet and lighters don't work so it's mostly here for symbolism." She smiled awkwardly, feeling bad that she hadn't thought of that previously.

Her hands seemed to float and gracefully distribute the ingredients into the satchel, making a full circle clockwise when she needed to grab the next ingredient. She started with the sea salt, "This is for purification and cleansing, it makes a great base for a spell satchel like this." Then she added the rosemary, "Rosemary is a protection herb. Cleansing and protection is something you always want to have in these kinds of spells." Then she added the citrine, "The citrine stone is a great representation for happiness and and motivation to keep going." Then she added the herbs that she brought lemongrass, lavendar, and sage. "Lemongrass helps with communication with others, lavender is great for relaxation and a calming energy, and sage is great for longevity and wisdom." She then finished off the satchel with the small vial of water, pouring some of her hand and flicking it onto the satchel that she had. "This is water that was charged in the sun, basically you leave it in the sun and take it out of your window before the moon comes up. I associate the sun with light and happiness so that's why we're putting it on the bag."

Finally she corked the jar and handed it to Elsian. "I recommend carrying it with you during the day in your bag or something and sleeping with it by your head at night. It'll help bond it to you and make the spell stronger as time goes on." She sighed happily, "That's your completed satchel!"

"Intentions huh?" he muttered aloud more to himself than anything. That actually made a lot of sense to him. Sounded hilariously similar to what he'd thought about the Dark Arts, the teacher had only enforced those thoughts too... Yeah, he could get behind that type of logic.

Elsian looked up from his thoughts when she brought up the problem with the candle, lips quirking into a small smile as he snickered lightly at the others awkwardness, "if it makes you feel any better I haven't either," he admitted, biting down his laughter, "besides, didn't you just say it's the intention that really matters anyways?" he mused.

To say he wasn't at least a little bit interested by the others work at this point would be a total lie because in reality? Watching the other actually start to work, hands moving between the ingredients as she explained what each item was supposed to do, it almost resembled potions and he was fascinated by it. He hadn't expected it to resemble anything like his classes but in some loose ways it did and that was enough to keep his attention hook, line and sinker. For the time being at least. Granted he was still skeptical of the thing overall, it was hard not to be, but like he'd said he kept an open mind to it despite the logical part of his brain trying to tell him it was silly because really when was the last time he'd actually found anything interesting to keep his attention at this school besides napping?

Plucking the satchel gingerly out of her hand, similar to the way he'd grabbed the stone he eyed it curiously, turning it over in his hands with a one track focus before seemingly deeming whatever he'd been looking for acceptable. "Alright," he agreed, finally looking up from his new trinket to grab his bag and rummage through it, easily finding the thin cords of leather he had for his project and pulled one out to tie around the ribbons of the satchel before fastening it to the corner of his bag along the edge of the strap.

It'd be safe there.

Pleased with his work he turned his attention back to Willow giving the other a curious look, "I can't say I'm totally sure of this whole thing," he said not unkindly, gesturing to the set up, "but it was interesting, I'll give you that…" he paused glancing at the stone in his hand before looking back up and giving the girl a tiny smile, " so I guess I can try and keep an open mind on this whole thing for a bit longer."

She was grateful that he wasn't passing judgment on her for that misstep in the candle. She felt like she had to be slightly more careful with him to keep his belief up, but she supposed maybe he was more easygoing than she originally pegged him to be. "You're right, I did say that. I just want to make sure this all goes well is all." She smiled shyly before moving on.

Every now and again as she was working she glanced up at him to see if he was sticking with her and it seemed like he was, dare she say, it looked like he actually was into what she was doing. She was beyond excited to see him being pulled further and further into the spell. The more he was into it the more effective it would be any way. While she wasn't expecting to convert him, that was never her goal in the first place, maybe he would see her magic as more viable and valid than his original thoughts.

She watched him go through his bag as he secured the satchel to it. She slowly started packing up, almost not wanting this to be over yet. She had missed this kind of spell work and being able to go through the motions of what would tie her to the ground so securely. "You just have to hold on a little bit longer before it's effortless to believe that what I've done works." She shrugged, feely cocky about the power of the spell they just did. She knew she felt it, but doubted that he felt the same. way. "Even if it ends up not working, I still had a fun time doing this with you and I don't expect you to strongly believe in my craft, I have enough belief for the both of us." She laughed lightly, hopefully her and Elsian could continue to be friends even after this. Even if he didn't believe.