trade my soul for a wish

[from_scratch]

This is a successor to "call me maybe", which is getting crowded.

Cam is dipping a grilled cheese sandwich into a bowl of tomato soup when he feels the summons. He goes ahead and grabs it. Doesn't even drop the sandwich.


with Mark (kappa)

with Adanya (Aestrix)

with Sable (kappa)

with Ari (andaisq)

with Metella (kappa)

with Miles (kappa)

with Isabella (Eva)

with Steel (Rockeye)

with Daphne (Maggie)

with Edie (Maggie)

Comments

[from_scratch]

"Not directly. It'll feel very weird, and if your nocioception is wired atypically it might make you tense up enough to hurt that way. I can sedate you if you're concerned."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Unless your sedatives can wear off in five minutes, I'll take my chances. I am confused about what you might want as payment, since you could just make a mountain of Silver Circles."

[from_scratch]

"I usually work for book recommendations, but I do not need any today. I just plan to be here long enough that this amount of work is nothing compared to your ongoing goodwill, you know? Say when."

[sturdycoldsteel]

She closes her eyes. "When."

[from_scratch]

It feels really, really weird.

The wings appear folded heavy and soft against her back, but she can move them as soon as they appear.

[sturdycoldsteel]

"...Huh. I was watching the bluestream as you did that. I could tell you were doing something, but no further detail than 'something'."

The wings extend. "And this is pretty strange." They flap a couple of times, in a way that does not get much lift. "I like it. Gonna get used to them a little more before trying to fly, though."

[from_scratch]

"Flying might take some work. You can catch yourself if you flub it, I guess."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"But if I catch myself out here I'll get tired and weak, which likely does not make for good flying. I'll wait till there's a road, and I can fly with bluestream if I fuck up doing it with wings. They're very pretty, though, and I'm getting proprioception. Convenient. Thanks again. I've no interest in a tail, though."

[from_scratch]

"Suit yourself." Wag. "I like mine, but they're not universal even in Hell."

[sturdycoldsteel]

She goes back to pacing around her circle, presumably doing magic to the space within it. The wings flare once in a while as she gets used to balancing with them, and accounting for the extra drag on normal movement.

"Are you going to be particularly bored if I finish my experiment before going somewhere less wilderness-y? I predict two, maybe three hours."

[from_scratch]

"Recommend me a book," shrugs Cam. "Actually, recommend me a library, more efficient that way."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Eh. Fiction or non?"

[from_scratch]

"Do separate libraries have those?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"A whole library is a lot of books, and I don't want to be responsible for including things you'd be bored by. Alright, try Opri Grande's main library. It's a university for shapers."

[from_scratch]

"Cool, thanks." Cam makes a bizarre stick-shaped device, which appears in his hand and proceeds to project light in a square beside it.

[sturdycoldsteel]

"That is not a library. That is not a book."

[from_scratch]

"No, it's my computer. With the library on it on top of everything else usually stored there. Demons can do format conversion just fine even if translation evades our magic."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I have to assume it's some sort of incomprehensible technology. Are all five thousand-some books written inside that somewhere, ridiculously tiny?"

[from_scratch]

"It's... more complicated than that. Sort of, though. Five thousand, really? That's an entire library here?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Well, it's the school's main library, which is kept pretty tidy generally and doesn't include all the specialties. I was concerned about the size of five thousand books, let alone a hundred thousand. If you want all the books just go grab Capitol Spire's library, archives and all. They'll have five of anything Opri does."

[from_scratch]

"But now that I've already made the computer I have to make an entire separate object for that," he says, making an entire separate object and wedging it into a space in his computer.

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I did not know computers were a thing. Sue me for wastefulness, you might even win with all the gold you could toss around."

[from_scratch]

"I'm teasing. Mostly; I do try not to make more things than I have to. Can't get rid of them without setting things on fire or equipment I cannot safely have here."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Sensible to be careful with space. It's not like you're going to run out of things. If you want to read about the bluestream, try looking for Why Blue? An Overview of Magic's Biggest Questions. A bit rambly and philosophical, but otherwise a good introductory theory text. For fiction I'd recommend the Ace's Tail series. Ace is a wandering adventurer who rights wrongs where he finds them. They're a bit two-dimensional, but I like them."

[from_scratch]

"Sure. Thanks." Cam prods his computer into coming up with appropriate character encodings for the new alphabets, and then tracks down the first book mentioned.