The Midnight Prince

[Shisou]

"There you go, see? Everything for a reason and all that."

"Carbonne, you're a really shitty mentor sometimes."

[Rokag]

"...Okay, I'm glad that it worked out like this...well, kinda. I still don't like nearly dying twice in a row because of some large fish...demon thing, but I'm glad it's something I can actually control...and why didn't you just say 'Hey, that comes from you connecting to the Plane of Water and you can entirely control that' instead of that shit about vessles and opening ways. I mean, how did you tell Shisou to use that amulet?"

[Shisou]

"It took me a solid week of practicing, you have no idea."

"Not everyone can be a quick learner, kid."

[Rokag]

"Wait, so it's not just you hold it and say something into it?"

[Shisou]

"No, no," says the lizard. "There's a matter of intent, to manifest the paradigm shift required to enforce one's will on one's matter."

"See, that's not helpful. What xe means is, you have to sort of... flex your  magic muscles."

[Rokag]

"....how the fuck did you help anyone with instructions like that?!"

[Shisou]

"You see? You're a horrible teacher, Carbonne."

"Nonsense," xe argues. "You just don't know what good teaching looks like."

[Rokag]

"Does it look like directions that don't make any sense unless you already know what xe's talking about?" Rokag chuckled a little. "In fact, that means Shisou's pretty smart, if he eventually figured it out at all."

[Shisou]

"I can't hand you all the life lessons on a platter, you have to earn them," says Carbonne, shifting a little. Without warning, xe leaps onto the Midnight Princess' shoulder once more.

[Rokag]

"No, a life lesson is 'how do you mend your own spear' or 'here's how to tell if your leg is broken'. It's not 'how to use this magic necklace to fight demons, but you have to figure out how to do that without an explanation that makes sense.' Pretty sure you can't learn that from just watching people or reading a book."

[Shisou]

"Exactly! I still barely know what I'm doing, except I'm apparently doing it all wrong."

[Rokag]

"Well, I mean, it probably doesn't help. But it feels like something inside is kinda....there waiting. So far there's still only a couple of things I can do when I try working on it, but it's more like...I can't tell it what to do, just that I want it to do something." Rokag frowned. "Fuck, that doesn't make any sense, does it."

[Shisou]

"None whatsoever," says Carbonne.

"No, no, it does -- it's like, just before I get a new ability or something changes with Carbonne. Sometimes it feels like there's something more my amulet wants out of me, but it doesn't know how to teach me. I figure that's what Carbonne is for, but xe's pretty useless. Better than an inanimate rock, but--"

"Hey! I resemble that remark!"

[Rokag]

"Still, xe was able to tell it wasn't that I suddenly have magic...well, I don't suddenly have magic that I always had. That something happened and NOW I do. So...I guess it's like getting here. We figure out what the problem actually is, and we prepare long enough so that solving it doesn't kill anyone."

[Shisou]

"We can start practicing in your room at night? At least Indou will think something useful is happening."