why is there a word for that

[alicornucopia]

Finnah's just arrived at work to open the store for the morning shift; she has her apron on but hasn't put her hair up yet. She lets in the customer who always takes half an angle to determine that he wants four buttercreams, again, and then nips into the back to tend to her hair and check the overnight progress of the rock candy.

This isn't the back.

But that -

No, he's too tall to be Mial, if this is a Mial prank it's a stupidly elaborate one.

"Okay, I give up," she says, "what the hell?"

Comments

[isthisart]

"I hope you won't miss the ability too much."

[thisvorlunatic]

"It only came up the once. With any luck it won't come up again."

[middlingalong]

"Magic healing blood thing," Ivan says helpfully to the newcomers. "Fixed Miles's bones and the teeny one's too."

[first_and_final]

"I bet it wouldn't have done much for mine," says Milo. "That fairy was really ticked off."

[isthisart]

"Lalita's blood has not been tested against magical effects, it's true."

[unmarred]

"Is no one going to be alarmed that Milo might attempt to lift the dragonish curse, or am I the only one who caught that?" wonders Mark.

[middlingalong]

"Wait, what? You can't take Draconic," says Aurin. "We need Draconic. How would you even -? Well, don't try it!"

[first_and_final]

"I don't want to take the whole thing away, just change the parts of it that are blatantly stupid and evil," says Milo.

[middlingalong]

"How about no!" says Aurin. "You're not even a speaker, you don't know what you're doing!"

[first_and_final]

"I know a blatantly stupid and evil thing when I see it!"

[thisvorlunatic]

"As much as I appreciate the sentiment, Milo, calm down," says Mial.

[middlingalong]

"Thank you," Aurin says to his cousin.

[thisvorlunatic]

"I agree with him that it's blatantly stupid and evil, I just don't think he has the means to actually do anything about it and he'd upset a lot of people trying," says Mial.

[unmarred]

"Think before you speak," says Mark.

[first_and_final]

"I don't have the means to do anything about it yet," says Milo.

[middlingalong]

Aurin utters a (Draconic) word which fails to render except as the subconsciously understood form of [rueful swearing]. "Mark, please, use your - super-Mileses-understanding to put him off this" [swearing translating loosely to 'notion'] "or so help me I'm flying him out over the lake and feeding him to the squid, [swearing swearing swearing]."

[thisvorlunatic]

"You are not feeding my alt to the squid," says Mial. "Milo: it's my problem and if you want to do anything about it you're going through me."

[first_and_final]

"Fuck you too, Crazy Dragon Jann!" says Milo. "You, Mial, are clearly bewitched by your crazy language curse! Why am I the only one who's upset about this?"

[unmarred]

"If I had to hazard a guess," says Mark, "I'd say you were used to expecting a certain level of benignness from the unaltered workings of a universe, and when something bad happens you expect both that there is a person whose fault it is and that something can be done about it. Mial didn't help anything by implying you weren't up to the task, that's a button all Mileses possess and he should have bloody known better."

[isthisart]

"Would it be productive to suggest distracting Milo with the pegs game?"

[unmarred]

"If you learned that your alt had spent a hundred and seventy years subjected to subtle mental torture via widespread mind control, would you be easily distracted from the topic of making it stop? Milo's not wrong, I don't think. He's just unduly enthusiastic. Milo, I'm sure you agree that the problem is a delicate one and alarming people by yelling about it isn't going to get you any closer to a functional solution."

[isthisart]

"If I learned this and she wanted me to back off? I would allow myself to be distracted."

[first_and_final]

Milo growls.

[unmarred]

"I suggest that the entire league of Mileses go up to Stalas's room where they can get to know each other and Mial can talk Milo down without outside interference," says Mark.

[middlingalong]

Aurin grumbles to himself. Ivan pats him on the shoulder.