Cashel walks forward, past a few dummies and closer to the targets. When he seems satisfied with his placement, he stops and spins around, crossing his hands behind his back.

"That is the first step, yes."

Cashel moves his hands from behind his back, pulling his staff out of his strife deck. The staff is wooden and rather plain, but at the top end the sticks of wood bend into a circular cage around something that glows a soft yellow-orange. "There are two general definitions of the word 'conductor'. One is a person that controls energy from a distance, usually with an extension of theirself such as a wand or staff. The other is a material through which power flows with great ease." He holds his free hand out, palm first. A light forms above it, illuminating the area easily. "To be a sylph is to be both."

He closes his hand into a fist and the light snuffs out, a faint wisp of smoke curling from between his fingers. "I prefer to use a staff. You can make that decision for yourself." Cashel turns around to the targets and raises his staff. The glowing end brightens quickly. He points it at a target at the end of the room and a beam of light streams from the end, blowing a smoking hole in the center of the target.

"I'll be frank when I say that getting another gun is a horrible idea." He turns to you and offers his staff. "Something like that. Try it once." A grating noise of metal ringing on metal sounds from where Quin and the others are.

"Don't focus on that. We're at a place to train, not to worry." The glowing part in the top turns purple instead of orange, glowing dimly in your grip. An explosion of light comes from the other side of the arena.

...Nothing happens. Well, fuck. Now you just embarrassed yourself in front of someone who clearly knows what he's doing. Now you look like an idiot. You feel ridiculously embarrassed, and in a split second, it turns into anger. Great fucking job, idiot, you fucked it up. It's not even that hard. Out of nowhere, you feel the familiar sensation of burning rage. It hurts, it throbs, but this time you understand that it's more. This is the same feeling you felt when you and Quin were accidentally feeling one another, you realize. You barely think as the burning sensation you've so often taken to be anger swirls down your arms and into the staff. A concentrated bolt of energy flies from the tip. The target at the end of the room explodes violently in a shockwave of purple energy. Cashel glances between you, his staff, and the target. His expression slowly morphs from neutral to the widest smile you think he's ever made in his life- not that that's saying much.

"You did it." He echoes. "You sure you don't want to do it again?"

He nods approvingly, observing.

The air around you buzzes with energy and purple sparks whirl faster and faster around you the more you think; the more you concentrate. The staff rattles in your hands. Your scream echoes, loudly, deafeningly. Cashel brings his hands to his ears. Two solid beams from your hands spiral down the staff, concentrating and firing from the crystal. When it strikes an already beaten up target at the far side of the room, the target vaporizes, every other target in the vicinity going flying. Dummies topple over from the blast, and if you were paying more attention, you would feel the ground tremor. Cashel raises his hands and a barrier of light expands in front of the two of you, shielding you from the shrapnel. It doesn't take more than a second for Cashel to drop the shield, staring at the place where the target used to be blankly. He turns to you and holds his hand out for his staff.

He gives a curt nod and turns on his heel towards the door, walking rather quickly after the three others that just left. "Commander Ardent. A word." Etoile stops and turns to him. Cashel says something lowly that makes her eyes blow wide and glance to you, then back at Cashel with a smug smile. He smiles back and nods at her. She turns again and leaves.

It sure is. Just a little... scattered. You have a feeling it's been through worse, and you have a worse feeling that it's probably your ancestor's fault.

You wave your hand and one of the dummies scoots along the ground. Cashel chuckles quietly. "Rage is a very physical aspect, you know. Sylph is a very physical class. Even me..." He lifts a hand, and a trio of dummies prop themselves back up. "Try it."

It slides the other way.

It floats up. "Don't raise your hand too hard or you'll make a mark on the ceiling." "Unless..." He punches his hand above his head and a dummy slams against the roof noisily. "That's what you're trying to do, of course."

"I must admit, it is... fun, to be destructive." He hums and gently sets the dummy down beside your own. "Sometimes." "I have to remember why I do this in the first place."

"People like you." He adds softly, almost hesitantly. You get the feeling Cashel isn't exactly a very open person.

He's silent for a minute, picking another one up and setting it upright. "...Did you know that you smile when you sleep, sometimes? I made the trip to Derse to check, once. Navy was underneath their bed, along with all their sheets, at the time."

He nods. "I was just as surprised as you are- pleasantly so, of course." "It was nice to see, for once. If you're worried, no, nobody else knows." Two more dummies tip upright slowly.

"Oh." He goes silent again. "I was.. maybe, 10? Then you would have probably been 9."

He hums quietly. "We were having a sleepover in your room. We used to do that a lot- the adjuvants, I mean." Cashel glances at you.

"We were all we had. Besides our parents, incredibly loosely, but even that didn't last. Sam lost her mother, Ryker's father couldn't handle him, Flo ran away from hers..." Cashel stares out into the room, thinking absently.

He turns his head a little further away from you, still just staring, and responds at a near whisper. "I killed him."

Your pat, no matter how hesitant, seems to pull Cashel from his thoughts. He gives you a faint smile, turning his head towards you instead. "I know. Thank you."

Cashel nods at the fixed arena. You had barely noticed him evenly spacing out the dummies as you righted them. There isn't a trace of any of your training left besides some scorch marks on the wall, and not a trace of your most recent conversation at all.

He hums. "There is another thing I wanted to mention. There is a specific way for multiple people with class and aspect powers to use these powers together. Whether in combat or outside of it, whether purposeful or accidental, these power combinations are referred to by many names. The most common are 'fraymotif', 'cohesion', and simply 'combo'." Cashel pauses to make sure you're taking this in before continuing. "I'm not going to teach you how to do these, but it is helpful to know they exist. Such cohesion can be accomplished with little effort, in most cases."

"Not good..." He gives you the ghost of a smile. "Just a relationship. Hate is a powerful weapon, though some would argue love is always stronger." "Whatever the case, if you have a common goal in mind, cohesion will happen. The stronger the will towards the gosl, the easier the combo."

He shakes his head. "That's a bit different. A rogue and a sylph make the perfect aspect battery, whether or not they commence a fraymotif is another matter. Maids and thieves make excellent 'batteries' as well, for the record."

Cashel nods, and his smile grows into a real one. "Soon." "Is there anything else you wished to know? The time we have to spend is running out far too quickly."

"There is much to do." He turns and exits the room without another word.