Stomach the cold (Cobie and Air)

by **Cobalt Smith** Thu Jan 26, 2012 8:39 am

Cobalt sat in the middle of the Cold Room, sat down on the floor with his legs crossed. Trying to ignore the sub zero temperature that the home of the ghosts brought on. He was successful thankfully. He was used to it thanks to one of his techniques. The same technique he was going to be showing Airen when his new apprentice showed up for their first lesson.

by **Airen Auditoren** Thu Jan 26, 2012 8:49 am

Airen was a bit intimidated. After all, it's not everyday that you meet the father, even the adopted father, of a girl you have a crush on. Just two men, in a secluded room, and nobody near their area, what could possibly go wrong? He sighed deeply. Better to face the music and be knocked down, than to put on your own and live with the guilt.

Steeling himself, he opened the door. As soon as he entered, he shivered. The sub-zero temperatures helped him realize why this was called the Cold Room. He saw Cobalt sitting there cross-legged and seemingly unfazed by the cold.

Airen mimicked Cobalt's position, and sat opposite him. He wondered who should speak first. Deciding that it was best to let the professor begin, he waited patiently. His nerves were still on high alert. Hey, can you blame him?

by **Cobalt Smith** Thu Jan 26, 2012 8:58 am

Cobalt smiled a little bit from his meditative position. With his keen sense of smell he'd caught Airen's approach as soon as he entered the dungeons but, as a real testament to the boy's skills, he hadn't heard him until he was a few feet from the door. He nodded to the boy,

"Airen." he greeted the boy neutrally, "You are punctual. I like that."

He gestured at the icy room around them,

"This is the Cold Room." he told his new apprentice, "So called because it is cold. It is cold because this is the 'home' of Hogwarts' ghost population."

Cobalt took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, before slowly exhaling in an icy mist. He looked at Airen again,

"We are here because I am going to be teaching you something. Perhaps the most useful thing you will ever learn." he held up his hand for Airen's inspection and turned it intangible with but a thought, "You are aware... that I can turn myself intangible. I do this by tapping into another level of existance, the level of ghosts."

He chuckled lightly as his hand reappeared,

"Of course that makes it sound so dramatic." he smirked at the boy, "By the end of this lesson you will be able to turn you right hand intangible for a total of about five seconds before it becomes solid again. Before you complain... five seconds is long enough to put your hand into someone's skull. Then your hand is solid and your enemy has lost half of his brain as your hand reappears buried in it."

Cobalt rolled his neck to loosen his muscles,

"Are you ready to begin Airen?"

by **Airen Auditoren** Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:37 am

Airen relaxed slightly. He was glad the professor wasn't going to kill him...yet. He nodded his head, acknowledging the new fact he was presented with. Keeping a cool head, he looked at Professor Smith.

His jaw dropped when Cobalt turned his hand intangible. He quickly closed his mouth. He briefly considered trying to test the tangibility of his hand, but Airen decided against it. He listened intently, when the professor said he'd be able to turn his hand intangible for five seconds, Airen was overwhelmed. Why did he deserve to learn this? The answer was in his head the second the thought finished itself. Charlotte's safety.

He never liked to kill people, but if it meant that the world, and by extension Charlotte, would be safe, then he'd do what he'd have to.

"As ready as I'll ever be, signore(sir)," he replied standing up as well.

by **Cobalt Smith** Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:28 am

Now that they were both ready, Cobalt gestured to a ghost that had just floated into the room. The ghost nodded and stood between Airen and Cobalt. Looking through the ghost, Cobalt addressed his apprentice,

"The first thing you have to do is to get a feel for what it's like to be intangible like a ghost is." he held his right hand up before pushing his hand into the ghost. It was ice cold but Cobalt didn't react at all, "Now you put your hand into the ghost."

He withdrew his hand and moved the fingers to get the circulation going again,

"How does it feel?"

by **Airen Auditoren** Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:27 am

Airen looked at the ghost. He felt sad that whoever it was hadn't passed on to heaven. He gave it a sad smile.

He nodded his head at Cobalt. Reaching up with his hand, he slowly put it through the ghost. The cold caused him to gasp. Lifeless, he thought sadly. He pushed through until his hand had passed completely through. He withdrew his hand. He rubbed his hands together quickly.

"It felt strange. I don't really know how to describe. It was like putting my hand through a fog. I felt the cold in every part of my hand as it came into contact with them. It also made me sad. There was no warmth to it. Like a cold, lifeless body. Only not tangible," he said through the ghost to Professor Smith. He hung his head down.

by **Cobalt Smith** Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:49 pm

Cobalt smiled ever so slight at Airen's answer. He wasn't smiling at the content of the answer, it was a depressing subject to get onto after all, but at the fact that the boy was correct. To be a ghost was to be cold, formless and lifeless. He nodded,

"Cold, formless and lifeless." he agreed with his new apprentice. In a rare display on kindness he placed a hand lightly on Airen's shoulder, "It is a very depressing and rather distressing subject I'm afraid Airen."

He took a step back and the ghost wandered off through the wall, bored of being used as a teaching aid apparently. Cobalt gestured for Airen to sit down as he did so himself,

"My abilities of invisibility and intangibility are very useful. But they are not pleasant I'm afraid." he sighed faintly, "Can you imagine what it feels like to have your entire body feeling like your hand did? It invades your mind Airen... the cold."

Shaking his head, he held up a piece of parchment and held it taunt in front of him with both hands,

"By the end of today you will be able to push your hand through this parchment without tearing it." he was in serious teaching mode now, "To become intangible is actually not that hard. You must focus on the feeling of your hand as it was inside the ghost. You must feel the cold. You must feel the lifeless energies. And when you are so absorbed in the sensation you push your magic into that hand. When you do that I want you to punch at the piece of paper."

by **Airen Auditoren** Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:34 am

Airen listened to Cobalt's sympathy, however small it was. Perhaps he could see that side more often, but now was not the time to dwell on those thoughts. He had to learn this skill to protect Charlotte.

"I think I understand, sir. One must become almost emotionless to achieve this. But is it that you must live like that to achieve it, or can you focus on the cold, use the ability, then revert back to being warm and full of life?" Airen asked. He hoped for the latter.

Airen closed his eyes. He sat down cross-legged. He breathed deeply, the cold air filling his lungs, warming up, then appearing as a mist when he breathed out. He let go of all thinking and emotion. Still breathing deeply, he let go of the guilt he felt when his order was killed, the warm love he had for Charlotte, the intense sense of annoyance and anger at Humphrey; he let go of it all. He began to feel warmer as his mind became as cold as the room. Soon, the warmth faded to nothing.

Seeing that as his chance, he mentally pushed his magic into his hand. Only there didn't feel to be a hand on his right arm. He thrust his arm forward and drew it back quickly. He kept his eyes closed and held his state in mind for a bit more.

Slowly, he let emotion return to him. First, he let the positive in. From the love he felt for Charlotte, to the honor he felt toward his training. Then, he let the negative in. The guilt flooded him, but the positive held it from overtaking him. He slowly drifted back to being the Airen of the living.