Spell 1 [Visual]

[hockety_pockety]

 [This holiday season, the scroll feed is proud to present... a bleary-eyed sky-blue pony with white bed hair that encompasses his entire head. Groggily, he pushes himself semi-upright and smacks his lips, blinking off his sleep.]

...hhh...where...where in the world am I, do you suppose?...Archimedes? Archimedes, are you about somewhe- oh.

[Enough cognisance has been regained that he suddenly notices his hoof, and he examines it for a moment.]

...mm. That's odd. I don't remember turning into a shetland pony. Let's see now...

[Finally getting up, the old equine trots around a bit, giving himself a once over.]

Beard's still here, unusual, that. The rest seems OH! Oh, that had better not be a tattoo down there. Ngh... won't rub off. No, that won't do, I'm not going through that nonsense again. Now, where I w...Hmm. Glasses still there, that's good. Pointy hat? Yes, yes, that seems to be in good nick. Bit crumpled, but nothing a goo- ...by george, is that a horn on my head?!

Comments

[hockety_pockety]

Why, yes, yes I am. Does it show?

[Like you don't know how obvious you look, Merls.]

[tookalevelinbadass]

Oh yes. My wizard friend Gandalf always had a long beard and often wore a pointed hat.

What's your name? Are you a wizard of a certain color? I'm Pippin, a hobbit from The Shire.

[hockety_pockety]

Oh, another wizard, eh? Perhaps we ought to compare notes...

Well, anyway, my name is Merlin, lad, and...er...well, I suppose if I were to pick a colour, it would be predominantly blue, yes.

[tookalevelinbadass]

Merlin the Blue. That's a mighty fine name!

Gandalf did a lot of adventuring and traveling from what I've been told. He's most famous in The Shire for his fireworks shows. Though I caught a glimpse of his more serious side during the time I traveled with him.

What do you do, Merlin?

[hockety_pockety]

Me? Well, now, I'm not entirely averse to travel and adventure myself, but the occasion simply hasn't struck as often for me. Generally speaking, I prefer to use my craft in the cause of education. Usually, that just means a regular curriculum; textbooks, chalkboards and the like. But occasionally a touch of magic might be needed to steer things along.

Ehh, for example, one of my prouder achievements was teaching an owl to speak english! Took a bit of magic fine-tuning for his beak to form the words, but it was worth it in the end. Another pupil of mine was a young boy, around age 12. Now, that might seem more typical, but it turned out that he was next in line to the throne! Heh! Lad didn't even know himself.

[tookalevelinbadass]

Learning from a wizard must be fun! I had to learn everything from my extended family. It wasn't nearly as exciting as spending time with Gandalf.

Gandalf speaks with birds and animals but I don't think he taught any of them how to speak. The great eagles simply speak on their own, I think. But no owls. He did spend a great deal of time helping Aragorn though. He was next in line to become king also! -Perhaps it's a very wizard-thing-to-do.

[hockety_pockety]

Why, I suppose it must be, yes... After all, if you're to get taught be a wizard, then you're bound to be someone very important...

N-N-N-Not to say that someone who isn't taught by a wizard isn't important, that is! No, no, no, everyone's important to everywhere, certainly, yes.

[tookalevelinbadass]

I suppose so, yes! That's a nice thought. Some of those I meet I find most interesting, and others not so much though that doesn't make them unimportant to anybody anywhere.

Is your student the king now then?

[hockety_pockety]

[Merlin can't help smiling at this. He'd backtracked to avoid offence, and ended up teaching a valuable lesson along the way]

Yes, yes, young Arthur's on the throne even as we speak. Bit reluctant at first, but I was there to help set him in the right direction.

Now, interesting thing, he probably wouldn't have been someone you'd find that interesting when you met him. Just a poor young lad working as a page-boy for a pig-headed knight and his oafish son. Luckily for him, though, there was this little old prophecy everyone forgot about, ahem: "Whoso pullet out this sword from this stone is rightwise king of all England". So quite by chance, he found the sword, pulled it out, and now he's sovereign of the realm!

[tookalevelinbadass]

When I first met Aragorn he was a ranger wandering the wild. One can't make assumptions about what kind of lifestyle the rightful king has been living, clearly.

Then there was a sword caught in a stone? That sounds very difficult to remove. No wonder only one special person could do it.

I wonder how it ended up in the stone to begin with!

[hockety_pockety]

Well, the legend goes that it was a miracle from on high. But, er, between you and me, I suspect the work of a...more wizardly influence.

[tookalevelinbadass]

[Pippin nods with enthusiasm. He accepts that theory.]

Oh I'm sure a wizard could make it happen!