James
*Brad was not very good at hiding his emotions.*

*But he was very good at a feint. At least, he thought he was. For the most part, he seemed to just bounce back from everything that happened in Agrabah. Dado was alive! A danger to himself and others, maybe, but he was alive! They had a target in that random flesh-colored Heartless. And it felt like they were working towards a goal. The Princesses of Heart. Maleficent. Some kind of... Organization? He hadn't really picked up all the details yet- he'd honestly been avoiding the other Storm Riders.* **"Balloonra."**

*Glistening balloons of warbling power danced in the air above him. Falling water bounced off their warbling surfaces, cascading radiance filling the air with a dazzling effect. It was so pretty. So truly emblematic of the magic that was now commonplace to Brad. Even with his memories muddied, he knew that his home world was nothing like this. But now, Brad's heart barely even stirred.*

*So he did it again.* **"Balloonra."** `1/3`

*His mind fell to his heart once more. Floating in a limpid pool of crystalline blue, his senses were dulled save for the cold. But it did nothing to stave off the roiling ache that burned in his chest. All of his problems- hell, ALL problems had felt so far away when he was more focused on the day to day. He wasn't even sure how long it had been since he'd woke up. Weeks? Months? A year? No, definitely not a year. Christmas hadn't happened yet.* **"Balloonra."**

*His mind replayed that scene from the Realm of Darkness. Cid being robbed of his armor. Torn asunder by that Heartless. And turning into... That. That terrible, terrible beast, claws tearing into inky flesh with reckless abandon. If he hadn't been there. If he hadn't finished it off... Would Cid have consumed the Heartless' heart? Would Cid have even come back if he was alone?* **"Balloonra."**

*His mind traveled to Cid's easy smile. His boisterous laugh that mirrored Brad's own. His cavalier, free-wheeling style, but belied by experience. Someone he could rely on. The one with all the knowledge, but head screwed on straight. An agent of chaos and order alike. And seeing his refined, upstanding self completely inverted, consumed by the darkness inside him...*

*Brad clenched Noblesse Oblige tighter, his stomach doing flips.* `2/3`

*His nausea only grew as he thought of Dado. His friend. Cheerful, outgoing, and one hell of a fighter. He'd never been so totally outmatched by someone, and it was so fun. Every conversation with him made him feel lighter than air. And even he admitted that at any moment, he could succumb. And the way he acted towards that weird guy and his horse girlfriends... Maybe he did.* "B-**Balloonra."**

*Brad's hand trembled. That Heartless, too. The weird, pale one who was able to talk and think and speak. He'd acted just like a normal person; hell, he SAVED him. Brad hadn't been worried about his time as a frog- part of it came as a relief, honestly. But it would've been inconvenient, for sure. But it was nice of him to do that. It was just that that completely upended his already meager understanding of Heartless and darkness and everything.*

*But if a Heartless could be nice, why couldn't they all be nice? What separated that one specifically? And could a Heartless truly be good, if, to his understanding, they were world-destroying mindless entities bent on devouring every heart they see? If this Heartless could think and communicate and do good... Did it not also have the propensity to lie? And was he complicit in the suffering of another by letting this Heartless exist- be it if he did something evil, or simply held a heart prisoner within him.*

*Brad knew that was ridiculous. Every part of Brad wanted to throw caution to the wind. To see the good in people. If someone showed that level of good faith, especially in him, was he not deserving of trust? But Brad's experiences with darkness were broad. And seeing that Heartless, feeling the presence of shadow so close to the people he cared about. And feeling it resonate within his own heart...*

*It brought up a lot of bad memories.* **"Ba...**Buh..."** `3/3`

*Noblesse Oblige fell from his hand, veins burning as they became bereft of magic. A headache blossomed behind Brad's eyes, and he brought a hand to his face, swallowing hard.* "Fuck..."

*The pain only got worse as a letter, effortlessly missing every single cascading waterfall to pierce its sharp corner directly into his second chin. Brad sat up suddenly, resummoning his Keyblade in a blur, before the envelope fell onto his stomach. Breathing out a sigh of relief, he opened it, and read its contents.*

"...What kinda name is that?"
Russell
Kai sat within the water arena, wetting his hands as he waited for a certain individual to begin her training.

Surpringly enough, one of the favors he owed the blonde mechanic he spoke with from time to time, was to teach Sapphire of all people a bit of magic. Kai's last and only meeting with the girl was interesting, so he was a little curious how much she had learned.

Though, he had flown her here to teach rather than get an idea of her capabilities. That could be something for after.

"Alright, so my knowledge of magic stems from feel rather than books. I'll need you to bear with me on my explanations."

Standing straight and twirling his practice sword in his hands, he pointed it at her before bringing it back to tap against a shoulder. 

"To cast this particular spell, I pull from the my own negative emotions and attempt to project it on my enemy. Like a curse of you will. To **Poison** Them I need to draw from myself first."

He began to tap **Faster** With his sword. A double time pace than he started, before **Slowing** It down. 

"So do that to me. Don't stress it or anything. I know I can take it."
Patricia
Sapphire was amazed by the fact that such a world like she was on existed and that she left traverse town on a ship! Although she was a bit worried about how long they'll be gone but that will be consequences future her has to worried about. Focusing back onto the reality of the training she looked towards Kai. 

"Okay so I need to focus on my negative emotions. I can totally do that!" She in fact could not. 

After a while of attempting the poison spell and several attempts against her own life through accidental poisoning she managed to send out a small barrage of poisoned water towards Kai.
Russell
Kai, was a bit concerned with the pure excitement she had channeling her own negative emotions. It was both counter-intuitive and a pretty sad thing to admit. 

Watching her struggle, however, had him reevaluate all the exuberance. She really was the type to just enjoy magic in all its forms. Very common amongst the scholarly types it seemed.

When she finally got it right, and he did not need to cast esuna on her but himself, he felt she was ready for a bit more. Or he was since he was the target.

"Alright, you got it after some trial and error. Do you have a something to focus your magic? It helps while training."

His aid was the wooden sword he tapped upon his shoulder. It's speed alternating between **Fast** And **Slow** But it was more his wrist that was a blur. Glowing with light every so often at a similar change of pace to his tapping.

"Anyway, since you were able to cast it at all, I think you can put **More power** Into it. So same as before, but dig at something deeper within yourself. Let your intrusive thoughts speak to you."
Patricia
Pulling out her book she opened it as the pages began to flip on their own as if it had a mind of it's own. "Alright gotta dig deep." 

Upon saying that she began to think about the fear and terror she felt when her world began to fall to darkness. The fear of locking herself her and the anger of not being able to do anything. A slight tilt towards darkness herself formed as she began to channel those emotions into her spell.

With a thrust of her arm she sent out the next barrage of poison noticing how much more powerful it was compared to the earlier variant. She had to take a moment to get herself out of her own head and thoughts before caused a panic attack within herself. 

After taking the moment to breath that tilt towards darkness was no longer present and all seemed to right with herself.
Russell
Kai simply smiled at what he saw. He was both amused at her the obvious turmoil that crossed her face and trying to mask the pain he was.

Something dribbled from between his lips, but being hopped up on a different kind of magic, he was a little surprised himself at how quickly he wiped it away. Not as surprised, however, at his thumb coming back red when he looked at it.

For Sapphire's benefit, he bent over and dipped his hand into the water once more to wash away the evidence. Casting esuna, he rid himself of the affliction before steeling his resolve once more.

"Alrigh. Do it again with even more power behind it."

He started the tapping of his sword to his shoulder again, but this time the changes in speed were drastic. He was casting the same two spells, but he had to admit to himself that he was not a fan of what would come next.

"Seems you were thinking about something quite unfortunate. As bleak as this is to say, if you thought of the worst thing you have dealt with for just the amount of poison you afflicted me with, then you need to think of something worse. Not something that could have happend mind you, but something you are afraid of happening. What is it you fear most. You don't need to tell me, your spell will inform me of all I need to know."

With that said, he prepared himself for the worst of it. She got this far very quickly, so expecting her to stall out now would be foolish.
Patricia
She began to hesitate as there was many things she feared that would come to happen. The children getting harmed by heartless, traverse town falling and her not being able to do anything. Her father never returning back to them. None of that was the worse thing she feared. 

She took a sharp breath as the pages began to glow a dim purple aura signifying the dark tilt again happening within her. The boil of emotions taking form as she raised her hand up in the air. In the beginning it appeared as simple waterga spell but the color twisted slowly twisted into a sickly green. The worst thing possible to happen to her that could cause her mind to shatter.

What was it again, the fear or the hatred. The sorrow or the joy? Neither mattered for this moment as the spell went off sending it's way towards Kai. 

She watched as the spell ruptured upon hitting Kai before she snapped out of her daze. "Oh no are you okay!" She shouted from where she was standing not wanting to risk getting poisoned again.
Russell
Kai stood still. Uncomfortably so. Despite the spell washing over him, he made no attempt at any sort of reaction. Even the tapping with his practice weapon had stopped.

He kept his smile, but it was a good while after hearing her shout before he turned his head away and coughed into his palm.

He did not need to look. He could feel the damage upon his system. That and his hand was definitely not wet from the water this time.

Hiding his hand, he cast esuna upon himself once more. Thankful for such a useful spell.

"Great!" The showing not how he felt. "I think that's enough for today. I have other spells I can teach, but I think you should internalize these spells first."

He took a moment to think as he cast a gaze from the young lady in front of him.

"The kid only asked for me to teach a spell he watched me use. I can teach your more later, but perchance are you interested in a spar? You can get a look at the other arenas and can test out what you anything you want more practice with."

He also wanted her to leave first so he could clean up a bit.
Patricia
Sapphire looked at him with a concerned gaze before nodding at the though of looking at the other arenas.

"Okay that sounds good! I'll probably go into them one by one but you should be able to find."

She turned away from him and made her way towards the exit before stopping and turning back at him. "Thank you for taking the time to teach, I promise to not hold back on our spar!" After saying that she jogged out of the arena
Russell
Aaannnd she was gone!

Kaz quickly turned and coughed out his lungs. Not as bad as when he learned it on his own, but he definitely had been doing way more to leave himself in such a state.

He washed away his hands before following after Sapphire. He did offer a spar, but he was also her ride. Then again, Furo could come and pick her up.