2 Chapter 2: Scouting
"That job offer is still there you know, it would be really beneficial to have someone like you working with us at the college" she states to Sparky.
"You are meant to be scouting for students, not tutors" he replies.
"Pop?" She asks indicating to a couple of cans she has with her.
"Sure why not, thanks very much" he replies before cracking it open and taking a sip.
"So what kind of student are you on the scout for Jacinda?" He asks.
"Anyone with potential" she replies.
"Let me have a check" he says.
He looks around intently honing in on two people in particular, what he is actually doing is almost sensing the skill level a person has based on the energy they are giving off.
Nial and another young lad are the two people whom he pays attention to.
"Don't give away to much will you" Jacinda remarks with a smirk.
"My level of control still fascinates you doesn't it" he replies in an equally cheeky manner.
"Who's caught your attention then?" He asks.
"There are some very skilled individuals here, they must have put a lot of effort into practicing" she replies before taking a sip of her pop.
"I notice you have picked up on those two" she points out.
"They're clearly not from any sort of sorcery background" he remarks.
"There's hardly any skill level there whatsoever, yet they have peaked your interest" she remarks back.
"If they are able to do anything without any training, then yes, they will have peaked my interest" he explains.
They continue to watch as the third person has ago at moving the metal weights through the hoops.
"So which student of yours will interest me then?" Sparky asks.
"The short one" Jacinda replies rolling her eyes.
"Oh him, yeah, you've got some talent there, I hope you have reigned in the bullying though" he says and takes a sip of pop.
"Well that's easier said than done, he's falling behind as a result, he could benefit from one on one training, off someone with exceptional skills, hint hint wink wink" she taunts him.
"Mhmmmm, I'm not promising anything, but I will think about it" Sparky reassures her.
"Wonderful, I'll book you in during exam week" Jacinda says happily and rubs her hands together.
"I didn't say I'd bloody agreed to it yet!" He states.
"No, but I know you will say yes" she replies with a cheeky grin.
"Hmpf, we'll see" he mutters and continues to watch, now the fifth person taking part.
"So what have you been up to lately?" Jacinda asks.
"Same old shit, did you know he has been animating statues?" Sparky asks and hints at Malcom.
"Yes, I also heard he isn't able to control them" she replies.
"He is such a fucking celebrity hoar" Sparky remarks causing Jacinda to choke and cough drinking her pop.
"The idiot is also referring to what we do as magic" he states and shakes his head in disapproval.
"He wouldn't be the first to do so" Jacinda replies and drinks some more pop.
"I got this" a young lad called Milo mutters to himself whilst attempting to levitate a bottle of water off his hands.
He happens to be the second individual that Sparky was paying attention to earlier on.
All of a sudden the person now doing their test looses control of the weight near the red hoop and in a panic accidently sends the hoop and weight flying in the direction of Sparky and Jacinda, the adjudicators not expecting this to happen don't intervene in time and there is a gasp from the crowd.
Sparky barely even moves his hand and the two objects stay still in the air.
"Show off" Jacinda tells him with a smirk and he smirks back.
"Are you all ok?" An adjudicator asks rushing over to them and sending the objects back to where they should be.
"Yes we're fine thank you" Jacinda replies.
Things settle down again and the test continues.
"Well we have just seen the first person to crack under the pressure of the day, and to help us talk about this in more depth we are now going to talk to Professor Angela Waitmon, Angela is a world renowned sorcerer and advisor to the government teaching at Birmingham university" the reporter Clare starts to explain during an interview inside a sort of wooden pagoda, that they can view everything from.
"Hello it's lovely to be hear" Angela replies.
"It's good to have you with us professor, now can you talk us through exactly what happened and why things like this do happen, from those who are inexperienced and from time to time even those who are very experienced as well" Clare asks.
"Well if we look back at the slow motion footage" she begins to explain and the camera zooms in on a tv screen in the pagoda with them.
"You can see here, the candidate tackles the first two hoops very well but they have opted to use the heaviest weight to do this" she continues.
"Now for a novice I would expect this to be more technically difficult" Clare points out.
"Yes that's right, the heavier an object is, the more concentration that you need to have, in order to really focus in on holding that object and keeping it steady" Angela explains.
"So if we go to the part of the test where things go start to go out of control" Clare says and the footage displays from that point on their tv screen.
"Here we can see the individual visibly loosing concentration, and unfortunately as a result they loose control of the object" Angela explains.
"Now this bit is very interesting, we see them try and regain control but accidently send the red hoop, and the metal weight flying in the direction of these two individuals that are sat in the crowd, and there, just in the background we can see the adjudicators, who were clearly not expecting this to happen, trying to catch up with the items" Clare explains.
"Yes that's right, it's very rare that objects will fly off out into the direction of the crowd, which is why we have the adjudicators in place, unfortunately the individual panicked which is why this happened" Angela replies.
"And this is something that's quite common one would presume" Clare suggests.
"Yes quite common, every sector within the sorcery profession whether you are a novice, or an expert like me, from time to time accidents like this do happen" Angela explains.
"Now what I would be interested to know, is who stopped the objects, it doesn't appear as though the adjudicators were quite able to react quick enough" Clare points out.
"Well I would say it is more than likely to be the lady sat just there, Jacinda who is a college lecturer here scouting for students, or the gentleman on her right who is a former student of mine now running Sparks Sorcery here in Birmingham, both extremely capable sorcerers" Angela explains.
"These events really do attract a wide range of individuals" Clare states.
"Well, they aren't the first and certainly won't be the last person we will see today to loose control, Professor Angela Waitmon, thank you for joining us, on this absolutely glorious summers day" Clare says in a grateful manner.
"Thank you it's been a pleasure to be here" Angela replies.
"And now we will have ages sixteen to twenty, starting with number two hundred and twenty five James Kerrymon" Malcom states to the crowd and James goes up to take part in the test.
Jacinda leans forwards and jots down notes watching as James effortlessly levitates two weights at the same into each hoop in turn.
"Are you going to have ago during the break?" Jacinda asks.
"Why on earth would I want to do that?" Sparky asks.
"Oh it's only a bit of fun you spoil sport" Jacinda mutters.
"Are we still keeping score?" He asks mischievously with a smirk on his face.
"I'm still beating you" she replies focusing on the candidate taking part.
"You're on" he tells her.
"Next, number two hundred and sixty four, Nial Crossbay" Malcom announces.
Spark perks up and watches intently as Nial walks over to the blue line, Nial opts to pic up the lightest weight placing it resting on his two hands, it's clear that he is very nervous, visibly shaking slightly.
He raises his hands up a bit and sort of throws the weight into the air, from there it travels halfway towards the green hoop.
During this Sparky pays close attention to a certain aspect of what Nial is doing, the way in which he is controlling the weight.
"Fuckkkkk" Nial mutters under his breath noticing various people jotting down notes including Jacinda.
"Poor kid let his nerves get to him" she points out.
"Did you see that?" Sparky asks.
"I know what you are referring to, and it can be quite dangerous" Jacinda replies.
"Moving it forward, whilst it is already moving in the air, is very impressive, especially as he doesn't appear to have had any formal training" he points out.
"Yes, that's true, however, doing that you can completely miss the thing you trying to move, and that can be very dangerous" she replies.
"If he could learn to hone in on that skill, he would be very talented" Sparky points out.
"Yes but it takes a huge amount of work to get anywhere close to that skill level, not everyone is naturally talented like me and you" she also points out.
Nial is visibly disappointed as he walks away from the blue line rubbing his hands together.
"Next up is number two hundred and sixty six, Milo Meander" Malcom announces.
Milo walks over to the test passing Nial as he does so, they both share a brief look before averting their gaze embarrassed.
Milo does the same thing that Nial has just attempted, he confidently picks up the weight and throws it in the direction of the green hoop.
Nial just so happens to be tying his shoe lace and sneezes causing Milo to jump and loose concentration.
With his hand still raised out, he can't quite believe what has just happened as the weight, halfway to the green hoop, falls the to ground.
"You... Have got... To be... Kidding me" he mutters.
Reluctantly he walks away, not before seeing all the college representatives jotting down their notes.
Nial looks up from his other shoe lace to see Milo walking his direction and glaring intensely at him.
But before Milo can speak to him Nial's parents come over to join him.
"Never mind, it was just your nerves that got to you, we will still be applying to colleges" his dad tells him and ruffles his hair.
Nial gives a chuckle before looking over to see Milo leaning against a wall with his arms folded and glaring at him still.
Sparky turns to Jacinda with a big grin on his face.
"Really?" she asks almost laughing.
"Ohhh yeahhh" he replies cheekily.
