Gift Focus of the Month: Communication

The Lady Illusion gave us a set of twelve
Twelve children, twelve months, and twelve gifts as well
Inner and outer vision, levitation
Fire, water, transformation
Glowing, healing, communication
Singers, dancers, model makers
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We’re taking an in-depth look at one gift every month, and this month’s gift is communication.
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From Rose’s notebook:
 
Communicators tend to be calm people, but unlike those with the water gift, they aren’t usually shy, and certainly won’t let anyone walk all over them. Animals can understand them due to a quality in their voice, and while children have to learn to use this quality, most older communicators simply speak with it all the time.
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This little pic of the month features one of the Mansion's communicators, Jordan. And I really enjoyed drawing Eva, (and she's his girlfriend), so she's gonna be featured again, I guess. But for those new to the series, she is not a gifted communicator. I just don't have any good pictures of Jordan alone (and you don't have to say "or at all," I KNOW).
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​The gifted can learn to speak with and understand nearly all types of animals and creatures. Personality wise, they are honest, empathetic, outdoorsy and in tune with nature. They are good mediators, though they don’t always enjoy it. Some can get frustrated with the fact that others don’t have strong communication skills (in their human relationships), because it’s so natural and normal to them.
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Communicators have a wide variety of career paths open to them. Many of them prefer working with animals, in nature, or with children, but they are quite versatile and can fit in anywhere.
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This gift has a strange flipside. Communicators can also fully disrupt communication. Most people don't go near their gift's opposite side unless it's absolutely necessary, as the magic feels so unnatural. Communicators, especially, often won't even think about their gift having a flipside. However, communication's chaotic flipside has been very useful in battle, to confuse enemies to the point of debilitation.

The gift's high level is debated. Some say it's communication with nature itself--a connection that gets deeper the more you listen, study, and meditate. Others say it's control over animals. Some say it could go either direction, depending on one's alignment.
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Communication has the strongest connections with both dancing and singing. Inner-vision is arguably connected as well, but as far as the “circle of gifts” theory goes, it’s dancing and singing.

​Communication is often symbolized by lips, or by a mirror.

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Fun Fact About the Twelve Gifts

​In the Early Days, the idea of “gifts” was unheard of for many years. Most people had “round” magic with no prominent gifts. Those who shaped the world, like Claire and Dimitri, had stronger magic than most. While people may have had magical strengths and preferences, there were no clear gifts until a few generations after their time (or right at the end of Claire’s, like November). Gifts became more common as time went on. As the world changed, so did the way it distributed magic.

Click the covers to check out the series!