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]

"Any particular sort of rock work best?"

[kaolinandbone]

"You are going to pick up this rock several thousand times. Choose something not too heavy, that's easy to grip, and ideally aesthetically pleasing. Take your time over the decision: after all, you don't want to get halfway through the process and then decide you hate your rock after it slips out of your hand for the five hundredth time."

[from_scratch]

"Switching rocks ruins it?"

[kaolinandbone]

"Switching rocks ruins it."

[from_scratch]

"So I'd better not go with anything somebody would want to steal, either, no getting fancy with an opal in the middle of a diamond or whatever. It has to be the exact individual object, one exactly alike down to the atomic level won't do?"

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt shrugs. "No-one's ever tried the latter. I would stick with the proven method."

[from_scratch]

"Okay. Agate isn't really valuable here or anything, is it?"

[kaolinandbone]

"Agate's not particularly valuable here, no."

[from_scratch]

"Cool." Cam opens his hand and produces therein an egg-shaped banded agate in various shades of blue. "Like so?"

[kaolinandbone]

Isabella leans in a little to inspect it more closely.

"It's very pretty, but I'm not sure you want something quite so polished. If you drop your agate and it breaks..."

[from_scratch]

"It might scratch, I wouldn't expect it to break. If scratches are an issue I could put it in a thin layer of diamond, too small to see. ...What does polishing have to do with breakage?"

[kaolinandbone]

"Not much, but it is likely to make your rock more slippery. A scratch wouldn't be a disaster, but if it was at all significant it might set you back a few days as you reacclimated."

[from_scratch]

The rock gets a teeny bit sparklier. "Diamond applied."

[kaolinandbone]

"That ought to make it sufficiently indestructible, then."

She tilts her head.

"... I would hesitate to be too optimistic, but working with an ideally suited tool like this might actually cut a week or two from the time necessary for proper ritualization."

[from_scratch]

"Really? How? It's not more of a rock than anything you'd pick up off the ground, it's just a little sturdier and pretty."

[kaolinandbone]

"Yes, but that increase in durability means that you won't have to compensate for everyday wear and tear. Degradation of tools slows the learning process, since you have to adjust your motion, even if it is by the tiniest of amounts."

[from_scratch]

"Oh. Cool."

[kaolinandbone]

"I've never heard of anyone training with a diamond-coated anything. It might be possible that you'll form your first Memnos in a month and it will be a miracle."

She smirks.

"I somehow doubt it, though."

[from_scratch]

"It probably won't help that I'm a very clumsy person. Though mostly for balance and not manual dexterity, I can play the violin just fine."

[kaolinandbone]

"Can you bend down and pick a rock up off the ground without falling over?"

[from_scratch]

"Yes." It has to be from the ground?"

[kaolinandbone]

"That is the standard first exercise, since it will give you the range of motion from your feet to where you hold the rock steady. At least, in the vertical direction. Others might be possible, but will give you even less useful parlor tricks than 'pick up things that weigh less than a rock from the ground.'"

[from_scratch]

"...Should I make a bigger rock for better weight limit?"

[kaolinandbone]

Isabella shakes her head.

"We train that separately. No need to exhaust yourself."

[from_scratch]

"Okay. What next, exactly? I gather exactitude is called for."