Current Events > Teen Titans CYOA: Romance Resurrected part 3

(+) Yeah! (+)

C. Go to bed
---

B) Wait until the inning is over
---

B.
---

A.

I fucking hate baseball.
---

B

"Let's wait out the inning," you say. "We should at least see if something will actually happen."

Wilkens pitches, Ackerly swings after all, but misses.

"Strike out for the pitcher at bat," the commentator says.

"The next batter is Caballero, one of the top two batters on the Jump City Jackrabbits," the other commentator says.

Caballero steps up to the plate, Wilkens and his catcher silently discuss what pitch to use with body language. A decision is made, Wilkens winds up, pitches and Caballero swings!

*WOCK* Caballero's bat hits! The ball sails through the air and as the fielder runs to follow it, the ball ends up in the stands!

"Home run for Caballero!" the commentator shouts. "The score is finally in their favor, 3 to 2!"

"Finally," Jinx says.

Caballero is allowed the celebratory running of the bases. Being that this game is taking place in New Jersey, the majority of the crowd boos or jeers, but there is a pocket of Jump City fans near the Jump City dugout.

Caballero finishes his lap around the diamond, and the other players are at home base to celebrate with him. The team then returns to their dugout as they prepare the next batter.

"No pressure for Nishimura, following after that," the second commentator says. "Wilkens is good at having a short memory, though, he can refocus here."

Wilkens has another silent discussion, chooses the pitch, winds and throws... Nishimura hits! It's up, but not near as far back, the center fielder catches that to get Nishimura out.

"That's the second out," the first commentator says. "I suppose you were right, Wilkens shrugged it off and kept going."

"See?" the second chuckles.

"We go to the top of the order for the Jackrabbits," the first says, "and to the other top batter on the team, Rosovsky."

The burly Rosovsky steps up to the plate as Wilkens dries off his hands with the little pouch of chalk. He doesn't need too much time for discussion here, he winds up and throws the pitch. Rosovsky doesn't swing, the call from the umpire is...

"Ball!"

"Rosovsky knew not to brave it out," the second commentator says. "He knew after other guys did that, Wilkens would try to trick him, but he didn't fall for it."

Wilkens resets, makes another quick decision and throws. Rosovsky swings this time, hits but it is immediately into the dirt.

"Foul into the ground," the first commentator says. "The count is even, one 'n' one."

Wilkens takes things into consideration this time, makes his decision, then throws. Rosovsky watches the ball go by...

"Strike!" the umpire calls as it comes in high.

"Rosovsky gambled there and perhaps lost," the first commentator says, "now he's down in the count."

Wilkens resets fast, winds up and pitches... Rosovsky swings for the fences!

"Strike out!" the umpire shouts.

"Oh, so close," the second commentator says.

"Third strike for the third out, Wilkens lets only one go as we go to the bottom," the first says.

"And we go to Hunting the Hunters!" Beast Boy says as he changes the channel.

An officer in tan tackles a man with a net-on-a-stick into bushes!

"Whoa~...!" everyone lets out.

"Aw man, we should've gotten here sooner," Beast Boy says. "Yeah! Get 'em, officer dude!"
---

The officer gets up, dragging the would-be hunter to his feet, and from the long hair and protrusions under the uniform shirt, it is apparently a woman!

"Oh," Beast Boy says. "Way to go, Lady Officer!"

"Did not think that was a woman," Jinx admits.

"Well, I won't say I did," Raven says, "but we know plenty of girls that aren't so curvy. Just look at Panthra."

"Yes," you say, "she's in great shape but very muscular."

"Right," Raven says.

"That's true," Jinx says.

The lady officer cuffs the hunter and shoves him into her vehicle and calls in the arrest. Her apparent partner takes care of cataloging the net and other equipment the hunter had with him.

"Got a gutting knife for the fish," the partner, a male officer, says. "He definitely intended to get in the water and catch some for eating."

The camera makes sure to zoom in on the knife momentarily.

"No license on him, so he wasn't even thinking of going after fish on the acceptable list legally," the female officer says as she goes through the hunter's wallet. "The ones we found in his bucket, the Rhode Island Gray Tuna, aren't for general consumption, so that's why he's going to spend the night and then face a fine of $250."

"Hah, serves him right," Beast Boy says.

"Seems a lot for a few fish," you say.

"Yeah, but the Rhode Island Gray Tuna is of limited numbers," Beast Boy says, "and is therefore protected under the Obscure Animals Act of 2005."

"You sure seem to know that pretty precisely," Cyborg says.

"Hey man, I ain't always just goofing off," Beast Boy says. "I keep up to date on animal rights and stuff like that. Whoa, gators!"

You look back at the television and do see alligators. A new pair of officers, both male, are on a fan boat and ride out to where men on another boat have poles and nets. The men see the officers coming, toss their poles and nets aside and take off by powering their boat's motor.

"Boat chase!" Cyborg says as the officers pursue.

A) Pop popcorn
B) Get ice cream
---

A.
---

B) Get ice cream
---

A.
---

B.
---

A

...I'm eager to see a poacher get chokeslammed or something.
---

A

"We should have popcorn!" you say as you hurry to the kitchen.

You scramble in the cupboards to find any, but there is none.

"We don't have popcorn?" you say.

"No, otherwise we would have had popcorn before when we were watching movies," Raven says.

"Well that's a shame," you say. "Hold on a tick."

You dig through your knapsack and find your sunflower seeds. You meant to finish these but they're still fresh.

"Sunflower seeds?" Raven says as you pour them into a large bowl.

"For the moment," you say. "With a bit of Alchemy..."

You make the sunflower seeds become corn seeds.

"Tada~..." you say. "And now we can have popcorn."

You put the bowl in the microwave and have it heat up the kernels. They pop, just like natural corn kernels, and they produce puffed white nuggets just like regular popcorn. After the microwave is done, you take the bowl out and sprinkle on salt and pour on melted butter. You bring it over to the couch and everyone eats as the boats make it around a curve.

"Do... these taste odd to you?" Robin asks the others.

"It's like... there's still a hint of sunflower," Jinx says. "Like I'm eating both a popcorn kernel and a sunflower seed at the same time."

"Yeah..." the others say.

"Well, food Alchemy is not exactly perfected," you say. "At least it still tastes a little like popcorn."

The poachers on the run are headed right for shore. They drive up onto the dirt and tall grass and scramble out of the boats.

"They're on foot, headed for the road," one of the officers calls in through the radio. "Send cars to both ends of Route 42 to box them in."

The poachers stick together as they go left. The officers dock their boat and head on foot themselves. They run down the dirt road, the camera man doing his best to keep up. He ends up following at a distance, and a vehicle can be seen in the distance. It has lights and sirens going, making it known that it is the requested back-up.

The vehicle drives up and turns sideways to block the narrow road. One poacher stops, but the other continues, scrambling his way up and over the hood. However, the car has a passenger, an officer of the law, who times the opening of the door just right to clip the fleeing poacher and cause them to tumble. The officer then tackles the man down and they wrestle there in the dirt of the road.

"Stop resisting!" the officer shouts at the man. "Stop resisting!"

The original two officers take care of cuffing the other poacher, leaving the driver of the car available to go around and assist his partner.

"Stop resisting or I will tase you," the driver says as he pulls the small stungun out.

The poachers are both successfully handcuffed and put into the vehicle. There's some talk, the muttering is subtitled as best as possible to get where the two poachers are from.

"So these two fellas were preparing to catch gators for their hides, make 'em into gator leather purses, boots 'n' things like that," one of the officers summarizes for the camera. "That's against the law, but these're backwoods boys so they didn't know that. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, though, so they'll be losing their fan boat to police custody."

"If they're lucky," the partner says with a smirk, "they can win it back when the department auctions it off at the end of the year."

Footage shows the fan boat of the poachers being towed from the shore while the original two officers head out again with theirs.

"Darn, was hoping for something more intense than that," Beast Boy says.
---

Despite the odd taste combination, everyone eats the sunflower seed popcorn down to the last popped kernal. As you watch more Hunting the Hunters, you watch footage of an incident in another country. Many wildlife department sheriffs scare off poachers in the middle of their hunting elephants. The poachers drive off in their jeeps and trucks, the officers stay behind and attempt to help the elephants.

"The elephants were, were very skittish," one of the sheriffs says in narration. "After those poachers tried to reign them in with those chains and things, it is understandable. We had to be careful as we moved in to remove the threat of those traps and snares."

"Those poor elephants," Starfire says as the sheriffs successfully unwrap chains off a leg.

"It was fortunate we arrived when we did," another sheriff narrates. "Any longer and there would have been harm to the elephants' legs that we would not be able to treat because they would not willingly come to a veterinary."

The elephants are allowed to leave now that all of them are free, but the sheriffs stay a little longer to make sure no poachers return.

"This is a day to day situation," the first sheriff narrates again. "We must be very diligent to make sure these poachers do not succeed."

The episode ends with a quiet fade to black and credits rolling.

"Powerful stuff," Beast Boy says. "Alright, time for bed!"

"Good idea," Robin says. "See everyone in the morning."

Everyone gets up, puts things away, and all leave Ops in turn.

"So what're we going to do?" Raven says.

"Well," you say as you slide up next to her.

"I meant in the morning," Raven says as she puts a finger to your lips.

"I wasn't assuming anything," you say quickly. "But in that case, let's plan on..."

A) Dance practice
B) Magic practice
---

B.
---

B

Let's do magic.
---

A) Dance practice
---

A.
---

coin toss says...

B

"Magic practice. We'll see about getting you to cast some actual spells."

"Good," Raven smiles.

She then leans in and gives you a kiss on the lips.

"See you in the morning," she says.

Raven walks to her room, Mr. Ink-credible in her arms, and enters inside. Jinx slips into her room with Phintasy/Dolphinfinity as you go to yours. You lie down on the bed and go to sleep.


In the morning, you shower, dress in a black tee and pure white scarf, with a pair of black jeans and white belt. You prepare breakfast for Raven and yourself, cracking open eggs and boiling rice. You scramble the eggs and prepare them in a pan for an omelette.

"Good morning," you say as Raven walks in.

"Morning," she says as she walks over. "What're these?"

"Omuraisu," you say. "Omelette with rice, as I learned from my time in Japan."

"Neat," she says.

"And here's some ketchup," you say as you hold up the bottle.

"Ketchup?" she says.

"Yes, a popular thing to do with omuraisu is to write messages or doodle things on top of it with ketchup. Takes a lot of practice to master ketchup-writing, though, so I'll just..."

You squeeze the bottle to squirt ketchup out and make spirals on both. Raven's spiral is clockwise, yours is anticlockwise.

"Enjoy," you say as you hand Raven a fork.

"Thank you," she says.

She takes the fork and chops off her first bite.

"Mmm," she says as she chews. "Nice amount of salt, and the ketchup is nice with it, too."

"Thank you," you say as you eat yours.

"So, I know you said magic practice," Raven says before pouring herself a glass of orange juice, "but what kind? More of my elemental training or maybe some of the other schools that you know?"

A) Elemental, Wind
B) Elemental, Water
C) The other 13+ schools
---

C.
---

C

Don't trust spirals
---

C.
---

C
---

C

"We could do the other schools," you say. "I'm sure you can master quite a few of the different magical arts our family's circle knows."

Judging from her bright eyes and big smile, Raven is very excited to hear that.

"I don't think you need to do Binding Magic," you say, "you have a good handle on that with your own natural abilities. I think you've used your mana to blast targets, yes? You may not need Arcana training then. And I've already shown you a form of Draining Magic, so we won't need much for that. I say we start you off with Transmutation."

"Really?" she says, not quite as excited.

"Transmutation can be very useful," you say. "In battle, you can momentarily hinder your opponent by making them into an animal, or making an object they are using into something harmless."

"I actually learned stuff like that in the past," Raven says a bit reserved.

"Oh," you say. "Was it... Malchior?"

She doesn't speak, she simply nods and eats more omuraisu. You'd ask for a list of everything that that vile dragon taught her but the dragon himself is obviously a sore subject.

"Well, perhaps I should teach you something he would not have had a chance to share," you say. "We can try Summoning magic."

Raven brightens up again with a smile as she chews her eggs and rice. You chuckle a little, noticing the glob of ketchup on the edge of her bottom lip.

"You have a little something," you point out.

Raven licks her lips and giggles as she gets the ketchup.

You and Raven finish eating breakfast and head out just as other Titans enter Ops. You fetch your knapsack before going to the elevator.

"Actually," Raven says, "let's go to the roof."

"Ooo..." you say with intrigue.

You follow Raven to stairs hidden in the corner behind a door. You two walk up and to another door, Raven opens it and you exit out onto the rectangular rooftop. It has a basketball court on the far side, and the center has lines suggesting it is used as a volleyball court.

"Let's set up here," you say as you move to the volleyball court.

Raven walks over, and take out one of your larger notebooks. You flip through the pages and stop at a page near the middle.



"This is the Summoning Circle as invented by an elder Merlin during an expedition to the Mediterranean with friends and family," you say. "Or, that's how it is introduced to young students like I was."

You sit cross-legged and set the book down on the ground. Raven joins you on the opposite side, and you spin the book around so she can read it rightside-up.

"Those are Greek letters," she says.

"Naturally, seeing as Merlin made it to Greece. Greek style summoning was powerful but took far too long, so Merlin found an expedient way of casting by using the circle to 'say' it all at once.

"Put your hand on the book, and trace the lines with your magical energy. It doesn't have to be a visible tracing, just have it so you know where everything goes."

Raven nods and does as instructed. She closes her eyes as she focuses on covering all the lines, angles, curves and curls.

"I think I have everything," Raven says as she opens her eyes and checks all parts.

"Good," you nod. "Remember how that placement feels. With enough practice, you can fast-trace just as I can."

You show her by summoning a squirrel. The squirrel sits in place, nose twitching as it "sniffs" around. You have it scamper over to Raven.
---

"Pick up the squirrel and study him closely," you say.

Raven tentatively puts out a hand, and the squirrel hps into the palm. Raven picks him up, and then holds him up to her face. The squirrel's nose twitches as it looks at Raven's face, and the fluffy tail fidgets randomly.

"Now, as I've said," you say, "animals summoned with the spell aren't real, they're just life-like imitations. Make sure to study the squirrel, its shape, size, weight, appearance, behavior, everything and anything that makes a squirrel a squirrel."

"Right," she says. "Tiny, fluffy, likes nuts and lives in trees. Not that complicated."

You hide a smirk behind your scarf.

A) Dare her to try summoning
B) Continue with instruction
---

B
---

A.
---

B
---

B

"Well, first we need to see if you can make the circle. Try drawing it first, like in the olden days."

You pull out white chalk and hand a stick to Raven. She sets the squirrely you summoned down before taking it. You prop up the notebook so she can see it, and she starts drawing, from the outside going in.

"A perfect circle," you say. "Impressive."

"Thanks," she says as she moves on to the squares. "Are these gaps between the first square and the outer circle on purpose?"

"Yes," you say. "It was insanely more difficult to get the gaps just right then actually touching it to the circle. If anything, that's what makes Summoning Magic so hard to learn the first time."

Raven continues, carefully calculating the proportions before putting down the chalk. She makes a dot first, then the same for all four corners. She connects the dots and makes the square. She continues and it is much easier as everything is connected past this point.

Once she has the geometric shapes drawn all the way to the square-diamond, she begins adding the symbols. Omega as the largest in the center, clockwise through Alpha, Beta and so on, then the second layer with Lambda, Mu, Theta and Pi, then lastly Sigma, Phi, Psi and Chi.

"Very good," you say when she finishes. "And crisp, for using chalk."

"Thanks," she says. "Now what?"

"Well obviously you need to start it up with some magical energy," you say. "Hand over the Omega, just as you did with the picture in the notebook, and put your magic into it all the same."

Raven closes her eyes as she presses her hand on the Omega.

"Focus on the squirrel, on all the details you picked up from the moment you held it in your hands. Do you see the image becoming clear?"

"It's mostly clear," she says. "Like I'm seeing it through a foggy window."

"Keep thinking on it," you say. "Make the image as clear as you can. The nose, the bushy tail, the little hands and big eyes."

Raven nods and furrows her brow as she works harder at imagining the squirrel.

"Okay, the squirrel is in better focus," she says. "I'm imagining it sitting in my hand like before, with its nose and tail twitching."

"Good," you say. "You feel the energy pushing back in your hand?"

"... Yes! Like, a blunt point in my palm. Sharp, and pressing, but not painful."

"Good," you say. "That's the next step. Keep the vision of the squirrel in mind, as you press back, like pushing a button. This will complete the summoning and bring the squirrel from your mind into reality; in the days before summoning circles, the ritual required a small amount of blood, which usually came from the hand, so the sharp sensation and the pseudo-puncturing completes that in essence."

Raven furrows her brow more and clenches her jaw as she presses down on the pressure in her hand. The circle lights up, and as she removes her hand, she summons a squirrel.

"Brilliant!" you say. "A successful summon on your first try."

Raven is beaming with joy and pride.

"And it's black, to match my aura," she says.

"Naturally," you say. "Hmm... On further inspection, your squirrel ended up fatter than mine. That's fine, minor differences are allowed."

"He... doesn't seem to be moving much," she says.
---

"Yes, that's true..." you say as her squirrel only twitches half as many times as yours. "Well, behavior of the Summon Structure is a trickier detail. In the old days, it'd be considered a slow or stubborn one but in today's world, I'd use the metaphor of technological lag."

A) Have her start over and summon a faster squirrel
B) Have her try commands first
---

B.
---

B.
---

B
---

B

"Let's see if it still responds to commands," you say. "Feel out a connection to the squirrel. It might be a prickly feeling in your head somewhere."

Raven looks to her squirrel and stares intently.

"I think I have it," she says quietly.

"Think of what you want the squirrel to do," you say. "Within reason, of course, you can't get a squirrel to suddenly sprout wings and fly like a bird."

Raven nods and keeps her eyes on her squirrel. After a few seconds, the squirrel scampers in circles around your squirrel.

"Yes!" Raven says with excitement.

"Very good," you say. "Be sure to test how quickly it can respond by throwing out different commands."

Raven nods again and has her squirrel shoot a straight line for the basketball court. She has it aim for the post of the hoop, then around in a hairpin turn. It scampers all the way back, making zig-zags and wide curves.

"Very very good," you say. "Control response is the most important part of summoning, so I'm glad to see it still has a strong connection. If it was slow to respond, we would have had to start over."

Raven smiles, proud of herself. She has her squirrel come over and climb into her hand. She picks it up and brings it to her face, like with your squirrel before.

"It feels about the right weight for being a bit fatter," she says.

She sets her squirrel back down, you move your squirrel next to it. Your squirrel inspects her squirrel with the sniffing of its nose.

"Let's see if you can get your squirrel to deal with combat," you say.

"What?"

You have your squirrel tackle her squirrel, and her squirrel responds in kind so that they roll around on the volleyball court. You have your squirrel disengage and head for her circle.

"No you don't," she says, hopping over to block your squirrel.

You have your squirrel jump up and onto her body.

"Hey!" Raven says. "Stop!"

Raven falls back as your squirrel scrambles up to her face. Her squirrel, who was in pursuit, now stumbles and falls into a roll.

"Guess the connection has interference," you say as your have your squirrel jump off of Raven.

"Darn it," Raven grumbles as she sits up and gets her squirrel moving again.

Your squirrel starts using his tail to brush at the chalk on the ground. Raven's squirrel runs at yours, but just as it comes within centimeters of yours, the circle is broken and it disappears.

"Ugh..." Raven grumbles.

"It takes time to learn how to battle as summoner and summoned," you say, "don't feel bad about a loss."

Raven goes to her circle as you move your squirrel away. She uses the chalk to etch in the gap you made.

"Let's see if you can summon something of a higher level," you say.

You undo the circle for your squirrel and it disappears into thin air. You fast-trace another circle and summon the highest level you're capable of.

"Wow, a wolf," Raven says. "I thought you said you could only do squirrels, chickens and rabbits."

"Well, if I want to be able to summon many, yes," you say. "I pumped a lot of mana into that one wolf right there, which is the most I can do right now."

Your summoned wolf wags its tail as it walks over to Raven. She pets it on the head and behind the ears.

"Wow, you did great with the fur," she says as she runs her hands along the shoulders and side.

"Thank you," you say.
---

You have the wolf sit, and his tail wags on the ground as Raven continues to pat its head. She also takes a front paw into her hand and feels the weight and strength of the wolf as well as the soft paw pads and sharp claws that slightly protrude.

"Okay," she says. "I think I'll try it."

Raven goes back to her circle and puts her hand on Omega. She closes her eyes and furrows her brow as she focuses on the image of the wolf. After a moment of quiet thinking, she presses down against the pressure. Her magical energy lights up the circle again, and slowly but, she completes summoning a complete--and black--wolf from nose to tail. However, it is a touch smaller than yours, roughly a couple centimeters.

"Incredible," you say. "Fully formed and everything. How fatigued are you?"

"Not particularly," she says.

"A good sign. This's quite the feat, I'll have you know."

"Really? How high level is a wolf?"

"Well, squirrels, rabbits and chickens are levels 1 and 2, along with a lot of other small creatures. Certain smaller creatures are actually considered level 3 because of how complex they are, but then there are larger creatures considered level 3 as well. Wolves are level 4 because of how intelligent and cunning they can be."

"How many levels are there?" she asks.

"Seven," you say. "The seventh level has the largest, strongest animals with the highest prestige, and very few summoners can achieve that level. You not being tired after summoning the wolf is a good sign."

"Are you tired after summoning your wolf?" she asks.

"Not particularly," you say, underselling the reality. "But I doubt I'd get another summon out after having summoned this wolf."

Raven makes a new circle, perfectly done just like the first one, and presses down on Omega. Another wolf is summoned, and it matches her first in that it is smaller than yours.

"Splendid," you say. "But be careful, I don't want you exhausting yourself."

"Don't worry, I think I can feel my limit," she says with a panting smile. "Two wolves."

"Then let's work on you commanding two at once with different commands," you say.

A) Have them do dog tricks
B) Try another sparring of summons
---

B)
---

A) Have them do dog tricks
---

Cartridge88 posted...

A) Have them do dog tricks

---

A.
---

A

"How about some simple tricks? Something to show coordination and response times, and whether or not you can coordinate two at once."

"Okay..." Raven says, sizing up the task. "Umm... This wolf, sit and this wolf... lie down."

The wolf on her left sits just like your wolf, the other lies down on the ground.

"Pretty good," you say. "But let's get a bit more active."

You tear out a couple spare pages of paper from the back of the notebook and ball each of them up. With a bit of transmutation magic, each page becomes a tennis ball.

"I'll keep my wolf here," you say, "have yours... fetch!"

You throw the balls, one in each direction down the length of the roof. Raven sends one wolf after each ball, but has to keep looking back and forth between them.

"Don't worry about watching them with your eyes," you say. "Watch them through their eyes. You will know what they are doing implicitly if you just trust that connection to them."

Raven stops looking back and forth, and simply looks down with eyes closed. You look back and forth yourself and see the black wolves approach the tennis balls. The wolf to your left grabs the ball first try, the one on your right takes a moment to readjust, and both wolves return to the middle with you and Raven.

"Good," you say. "But that was still a lot of straight-line movement. We need to get these wolves going through obstacle courses."

You take the balls back from Raven's wolves--they're dry since no saliva--and toss them again. You then set up barriers at random along the path the balls take. Raven sends the wolves out again, and they start weaving their way around, though a bit slowly at times.

"Moving both wolves, this is almost like Disorientation Magic," Raven chuckles.

After a moment or two, the wolves return, tennis balls in mouths.

"But you got through it," you say. "Well done."

A) Move on to Illusion Magic
B) Move on to Alchemy
C) Move on to non-Elemental Eastern Magics
---

C.
---

B) Move on to Alchemy
---

C.

Would love to see a mind based magic

>.>
---

C

"How about we move on to Eastern Magics? Non-Elemental types, more of the mystic types, perhaps some astral projection--"

"I already know that," Raven says hesitantly.

"Oh. From, from him?"

"No, from Azarath," she says.

"Oh. Oh, of course, they're monks, aren't they? So... Astral Projection, Mediumship to commune with ghosts, telepathic pocket dimenions...?"

"All covered," she says.

"Hmm... Your list of magical schools might be as prolific as anyone in my family's," you say. "How about communing with the spirits?"

"I already confirmed Mediumship," she says.

"No, not spirits of the dead, but nature spirits, spirits associated with animals and things. Much like the Druid spirits that help with Enchantment."

"Oh. No, I guess I don't know how to do that."

"Then let's try it," you say as you go back to your notebook.

You flip through pages and find the right one.



"This is just the basic diagram," you say. "It can be customized thousands of ways to call upon all sorts of different spirits and sprites."

You copy the pentagram with another paper and then add various circles here and there.



You place that paper down, and use your magic to spark the calling. Wind swirls by the paper and forms into a graceful figure with a green-blue tint.

"Greetings, young sage," it speaks with a mature, feminine and airy voice. "I am the wind spirit of the Western shore. How may I be of service?"

"Hello, wind spirit of the Western shore," you say with a leaning bow. "I merely wish to introduce my friend to you and your comrades."

You motion to Raven, and the wind spirit looks at her.

"H-Hi," Raven says with a shy wave.

"Greetings, friend of the sage," the spirit says to her.

"So, wait, the wind spirit of just the Western shore?" Raven asks. "There is more than one wind spirit?"

"Of course," the spirit answers. "There are many winds around the world, for no one spirit could possibly make them all."

"I suppose so," Raven says.

"You use this combination to call upon the closest wind spirit," you say as you show Raven the paper. "Obviously you see the yin-yang symbol in the very center. In each point of the star and each sector of the pentagon is a circle, and those circles can either be filled, empty, half and half; a circle is half empty if the left half is filled, and half full if the right half is filled. This is where the thousands upon thousands of combinations come from, depending on how many circles are filled, empty or half, and which ones exactly are filled, empty and half."

Raven studies the diagram closely.

"I think you could do well with the wind and water spirits," you say, "given those were your affinities. That aside, this spirit paper serves the same functions as a summoning circle, but is mobile. That means that, if someone were to disrupt the drawing--like erasing a part or scribbling all over it--it would break the spell. Same goes for if the paper is damaged or destroyed."

"Oh okay," Raven nods, understanding.

"Now you try," you say.

"Will it work?"

"Don't worry, I think you'll like what happens."

You give her a piece of paper, she copies the diagram that you have drawn, and uses her magical energy to activate its power. More wind swirls, and another wind spirit appears.
---

"Greetings again, friend," this second spirit says in the same voice as the first. "Greetings, self."

"Hello," the first says.

"Another of the same spirit?" Raven asks with a curious smile.

"Calling upon spirits can be done by any number of people at the same time, or as many times by the same person as they wish. Within reason, of course. And they share a hive mind-link, which comes in handy for scouting and searching."

"Cool," she says.

"Now, while Summon Structures like our wolves here are just big puppets," you say as you motion to the three wolves sitting beside you, "spirits like these are all sentient with their own thoughts and feelings, much like the Druid spirits you dealt with the other night. You must be careful not to offend or abuse them or else they will stop heeding your call. Now, there are ways to dismiss the spirit you summoned politely, for when you are done needing their assistance."

You take your paper.

"Wind spirit of the Western Shore," you say. "I am grateful for your help, and I will be even more grateful should you come to my aid again. I dismiss you."

You bow to the wind spirit you summoned, she bows in return, and the dissipates.

"And with my paper still intact," you say, "I can easily call upon the spirit again later on as promised. Now you try."

Raven takes her paper and turns to the copy of the spirit she called.

"Wind spirit of the Western Shore," she says as you did. "I am grateful for your help, and I will be even more grateful should you come to my aid again. I dismiss you."

She bows, the spirit bows, and the spirit takes its leave. Raven safely tucks her paper away inside her belt.

A) Continue with Spirit Taming
B) Continue on to another new subject
---

A
---

A.
---

A) Continue with Spirit Taming
---

A

"Let's continue with Spirit Taming," you say.

"Taming?"

"Well that's the only name for it. It is a bit defunct, but trying to call the art 'Spirit Friend-making' doesn't really work."

Raven giggles as you go back to the base diagram. You draw a new pentagram and then add the circles to call upon a stone spirit.



"Use this," you say as you hand it to her.

Raven takes the paper and uses the magic. A bit of rocks and pebbles form together into a small but bulky shape.

"Hello, tamer," the stone sprite says in a low, husky voice and with a raised "hand". "I am the spirit of stone for the Western states."

"Hello, spirit of stone," Raven says as she raises her hand in return. "Um, wait, can we have more proper names than these generic designations?"

"Depends," you say. "Ask how the spirit feels."

"Um... Spirit of stone of the Western states," Raven says. "Are you willing to call me by my given name, 'Raven'?"

"If that is your wish, Tamer Raven," the spirit replies.

"Okay," Raven smiles. "Then, may I call you by the name... Western Stone?"

"I accept this name," the spirit nods.

"Cool," Raven smiles. "Then... Wait what is the point of Spirit Taming?"

"All sorts of things," you say. "So far we've learned how to interact with them, but there are all kinds of helpful things a spirit can do. Let's head downstairs where we have a bit more room for this."

"Alright," Raven nods. "Western Stones, please meet us at the bottom of this tower."

"Yes, Tamer Raven," Western Stones replies.

The stones fall apart, but you can tell the paper is still active. You and Raven go inside via the staircase and then back to the elevator.

"So what will I be doing once we're on the ground?" she asks.

A) Practicing Spirit Battle
B) Practicing Spirit Tasks
---

A.
---

A)
---