Chains of Power [CLOSED]

Grace kept her palm out flat, concentrating once again. The darkness formed again, spherically around her hand, until eventually it began creating a sort of flat, black square across her palm. It grew a little bit, but couldn't hold on long and soon dissipated. The young brunette didn't know whether to feel somewhat accomplished or disappointed. "I-I can't get it t-to stay."

Leo tilted his head as he watched Grace concentrate on her power, blue eyes widening as she began to do as he suggested. Even if it was for a small period of time, it was a start. Eyes traveling from her hand to her face, the blond realized her uncertainty. With a bright smile and an encouraging hand on her shoulder, he said, "You did great! It's a start, Grace." Taking his hand away from her shoulder, Leo hooked both thumbs in his pockets. "Keep trying to expand it larger, and if you can faster." He suggested causally. Perhaps if she couldn't keep it up for long, then she could activate it quickly and have it cover a large area, for a small amount of time. It would be ideal, Leo supposed.

Grace smiled softly at Leo's encouragement, and when he stepped back again, she stuck her arm out to try once more. Trying to make it within a short time limit, she concentrated as hard as she could on the darkness surrounding her hand. Her hand physically 'pushed' out, and the darkness followed, creating a small-medium-sized shield in front of her for a few seconds. She barely had time to register surprise on her face before the shield dissipated though, but it was better than last time, at least.

Along with Grace, Leo didn't have a chance to express shock or excitement before the shield dissipated once more.  However, he could say she was making good progress. "This way, if you do join the tournament, you'll be able to protect yourself at least." Perhaps that wasn't the most helpful of comments. Deciding to focus on another thing, he quickly spoke again. "Have you tried extending it to be like a kind of pole arm, or spear?" Maybe even a long sword. She could focus on making more weapons with it...He was getting ahead of himself. Shaking his head, the blond then suggested something else to try. "Go ahead and try extending it a foot or two like a spear. It doesn't have to be pointed if you can't do it. Try and push it forward as much as you can." Leo really couldn't get over the amount of creativity, practice and thought that goes into these powers. Grace could do almost everything with her power.

Grace slowly shook her head, gulping softly. No, she'd never tried turning it into a weapon. She'd never even considered it. Now it seemed dumb to have not in retrospect. Taking a deep breath, she once more stuck her arm out and concentrated, this time on a more elongated, spear-like shape. This one seemed to form a bit quicker, a bit easier, though it was still a bit fitful in its appearance. While trying to extend it out, she subtly jerked her arm, and by accident she caused the shadowed spear to take off, shooting just to Leo's left and into the flowers behind them. She screamed in surprise, eyes bulging. "I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry!"

Leo jumped in surprise as the dark spear flew towards him, narrowly missing him. Eyes side, he slowly glanced over his shoulder to the bed of flowers behind him. That was...close. Really close. Her cry brought his attention back to the girl. Quickly putting on a calm face, he turned back and gave her a concerned look. Leo took a few steps forward to comfort her. "It's fine!" Leo told Grace, giving the spear another glance. "No one was hurt, you don't need to worry." The boy hoped that she didn't think that he hated her or was scared of her. It was only an honest mistake. Perhaps this is enough training for today...?

Grace didn't move, but she was still shaking over the whole ordeal. She definitely couldn't control her powers very well. "I-I'm s-sorry," she repeated, despite having been told it was alright. Her hands were shaking, and she gripped her jacket tightly to try and keep them still. "I-I'm n-not g-good at this t-type of thing." Well, true enough. Maybe she needed to go back to her room and lie down.

Leo put a hand on each shoulder in an effort to calm her shaking. At this moment, Leo realized that not all people have the best control over their power, and it could end up becoming dangerous. Maybe if Grace trained, she should do it in a safer environment. Leo met her eyes and gave her a kind look. "That's fine. It's what practice is for, right?" He asked Grace, taking his hands off her shoulders and a step back to give her space.

Grace froze when Leo grabbed her shoulders, but at least it stopped her from shaking. She nodded dumbly at his reasonable inquiry, finally regaining her senses once he stepped back. But now what? Should she continue? The spear would probably be a very bad idea, considering what happened last time. Should she try the shield again? Were they done, or...? "Sh-should I k-keep going?" Well, best to ask, she guessed.

Leo pondered the question for a long moment before giving her a small take of the head. "I think we should stop for today. Not because of the spear, but because you seem a bit flustered about it." The angel boy gave her a bit of a smile before continuing. "You got a lot to work on before the tournament anyways." The boy stretched a bit before looking up at the sky, wondering to himself that he had almost been impaled the moment before. With a huff of laughter, Leo turned back to the girl, his smile still in place.

Grace's mind was definitely still fixated on that almost-impaling, and she could only nod shakily in response, secretly relieved to no longer have to try this. Sure, she definitely wanted to learn to harness her powers, but at the same time it frightened her enough to just want to step back and hide away from the whole enterprise. "Y-yeah, I-I... yeah. Th-thank y-you for helping m-me." Not like she'd been a great student, though. Not even a competent one. It was really nice of him to help, though.

”No problem.” Leo told Grace before giving he a stern look. She had seemed still scared at the fact that she had almost hurt him. Even after he waved it off. The angel shook his head at this before telling her what he thought. ”I would practice really hard during the gift mastery classes. We have a teacher then, so it would be safer to do it then.” Perhaps that was something that Leo had forgotten about. The fact that those creative powers also were dangerous, if one couldn’t control them. Giving her a wave of goodbye, a pair of bright white wings appeared. And in a few gusts of wind, he was off, heading to the gym to meet up with Devin to work out once again.