Tobias was SO PREPARED.

The last day of the moon cycle had been a couple of days ago, but Toby had left his gandr out (and had visited to smooth it down and stuff) for an extra couple of days, just to be sure. He figured leaving it too long was better than leaving it for not long enough.

Settling down at the base of Hazel, after he'd done his usual little leap to retrieve the wand, Tobias pulled his general use wand out of his pocket and took a steadying breath. He'd been practicing the Intaglio spell for the last few days, wanting to make sure he was well prepared for this moment and not about to ruin the Gandr. Toby shifted where he was sitting and leaned forwards so his back was off the tree trunk and he was eagerly focused on what he was doing. There was something in his pocket that was making his leg uncomfortable, so he took out the Tiver and brush he had asked his grandfather to send (the man had been only too eager to do so when Tobias told him he was DOING his HOMEWORK). Setting those by his side, Tobias opened his textbook in front of him.

The tome was now pretty well-thumbed, because Tobias had read and re-read parts of it, especially about the Gandr. Now he'd spent so much time and devotion on the project he was making sure he did it right. So... Fehu first.

"Right, so... this first rune is Fehu, which is basically for success, good fortune... that sort of thing. Wealth and stuff," Tobias said out loud, and he kind of... LOOKED at the wand. Wait... was he forgetting something? OH. "Right, yeah... fehu fehu fehu... f f f f f f f f f... fu fa fi fe fo... of ef if af uf... f f f f f f f f f..."

He definitely didn't feel quite so much like an idiot when it was just him around and he was doing the chanting.

The perfect place for the rune made itself apparent, and Toby took another deep breath, focused. And began the spell. He had every confidence in himself that he could do this.

"Intaglio Fehu Fehu Fehu Fehu Fehu..." As he said the incantation, Tobias moved his wand like he was tracing the rune. One horizontal like and two upward diagonal strokes from that. Always thinking if Fehu, always giving his full concentration to the rune and how it meant success and good fortune or a stroke of luck if you were having a lot of misfortunes... and then he'd done it. Granted, it probably didn't take long because the runes were quite small, 'cause they all had to fit. And it was fiddly but he'd DONE ONE.

"Next up is Uruz, which is for energy and strengthening the will and creativity and all that fun stuff. Apparently clearing obstacles too." Tobias wasn't sure... the book said different things in different places and he wasn't sure which one he was meant to be going by BUT they were sort of the same so he didn't worry about it. "Uruz uruz uruz... u u u u u u u u u... u u u u u u r r r r r r... u u u u u u u u u..."

That one was a difficult Galdr to keep track of.

Finding himself drawn to a particular spot, right by where the handle was meant to be, Tobias started to carve.

"Intaglio Uruz Uruz Uruz Uruz..." A line up, diagonally down right a bit, a line down from there. Seeing as Tobias remembered what most of the runes looked like it was easy to focus on the rune rather than worry about the shape he was carving, and Tobias kept his mind on Uruz and the energy and creativity stuff and YES.

Only 22 more to go.

He shifted a bit where he said. "Heeeeeeeeeere's Thurisaz! Right, so this one is all about, uhhh... well it's good for use in study and tests... also for protection and defense. So... thurisaz thurisaz thurisaz... th th th th th th th th th... thur thar thur ther thor... thu tha thu the tho... th th th th th th th th th..."

Without thinking consciously about it, Toby rolled the wand in his fingers and found the perfect place for this rune. He fixed the rune name and uses in his mind and started carving. "Intaglio Thurisaz Thurisaz Thurisaz..." This was an easy one; it kind of looked like a flag. Plus it was a bit of a pain to say and not muddle the words, so Tobias had spoken to incantation slowly and deliberately and was now done with that one. Niiiiiice.

He checked the book to see what was next on his list.

"Now it's Ansuz... I like this one. It's for things like good luck and good fortune, success and leadership... gaining wisdom. Hmm..." Tobias was noticing a THEME here. A THEME in which he tended to be drawn to things for when their uses related to wisdom. "Ansuz ansuz ansuz... aw aw aw aw aw aw aw aw aw... aw aw aw aw aw aw s s s s s s... aw aw aw aw aw aw... aw aw aw aw aw aw aw aw aw..."

Where should he put it? C'monnnn, little help here?

Ahh, near Uruz seemed like the perfect position. Tobias easily remembered this rune - a vertical line and then two diagonal lines going down and right from the top and a little lower than that. He paused briefly to really FOCUS on the rune and all its uses, and got to work. "Intaglio Ansuz Ansuz Ansuz Ansuz Ansuz..."

The wand was really coming along; Tobias was super proud of himself.

"The next one is Raidho... the book keeps going on about journeys and paths for this, and it says it's for a safe journey, so I suppose that means short journeys or... super long ones. Like life." Life was a pretty long journey, right? "Raidho raidho raidho... r r r r r r r r r... ru ra ri re ro... rudh radh ridh redh rodh... (rut rat rit ret rot)... or er ir ar ur... r r r r r r r r r..."

Once again, he could a perfect position for it almost instantly. Smiling to himself, Tobias thought hard about Raidho and it's uses for safe journeys and focused on how that was what the rune was intended for, and started carving. "Intaglio Raidho Raidho Raidho Raidho Raidho..."

It was another easy one, because it literally looked like a captial R, and soon he'd done it.

So that was like five runes done already? Neat!

Before he moved on to the next one, Tobias blew away the teeny wood shavings from his robes and trousers and also from the carvings on the Gandr. It was lookin' gooooooood.