chalk

[alicornucopia]

In Paraasilan, Esmaar, a pair of roommates are about to break a rule that, compared to the one about running in the corridors or even the one about unlicensed teleportation, is there for a good reason.

In unison, they complete their shared spell.

~~~

with Adarin (Aestrix)

with Ekador (kappa)

with Brilliance (kappa)

with the admin (kappa)

with Teah (kappa)

with Katran (lambda)

with Hall (kappa)

with Joy (kappa)

with Kalinda (Christy Hotwater)

Comments

[finaldiscussion]

"If she had told me, I would not be so surprised," he says. "No, it's the... accumulation of details. You don't know Eights's name, so you are new, but you cannot be that new and have scars that old, however small and insignificant. And your hair is naturally green. That's not evidence that you're live, particularly, but it is evidence that you're strange in some way."

[alicornucopia]

"The hair comes of being a dragon," says Keo.

[finaldiscussion]

"Does it."

[alicornucopia]

"Yes..." She glances around. "Not really room enough in here to show off, but I can do this..."

And she turns into a green mouse, runs in a little circle, and turns back into a human.

[finaldiscussion]

"Curious," he says again.

[alicornucopia]

"If you're not used to it, I suppose."

[finaldiscussion]

"Which indeed I am not."

He takes a seat behind the desk. There is a chair there.

[alicornucopia]

"Circle's almost done," says Keo to Eights. "Do you want to go first or me?"

[lookingforwardtoit]

She shrugs. "I dunno, does it matter much?"

[alicornucopia]

"Not especially. All right, my husband's going to summon you now."

And he does.

[lookingforwardtoit]

"Huh," says Eights.

[alicornucopia]

He breaks her circle, then unsends Keo, who pops into place in her sending circle just to Eights's left. "Welcome to Elcenia. This is my husband, Kanaat."

[lookingforwardtoit]

"Nice to meet you," she says to Kanaat.

[alicornucopia]

"Likewise," says Kanaat. He's speaking English too, but his accent is not quite as flawless as Keo's.

"We can find the admin thisaway," says Keo, leading Eights to the lift.

[lookingforwardtoit]

Eights follows her, glancing around curiously.

[alicornucopia]

Keo names their destination, the lift moves.

"It's sort of like an elevator."

[lookingforwardtoit]

"Yeah, I can see that. Snazzy."

[alicornucopia]

And here is the girls' old room, and in it, an diagram, and in that, an admin.

[lookingforwardtoit]

"Hi," says Eights.

[ending_of]

"You are a contractor, and not from this world. For what purpose have you been brought here?"

[lookingforwardtoit]

"...To... talk to you?"

[ending_of]

[lookingforwardtoit]

"Oookay," says Eights. "So... I dunno, how aware are you that Downside is complete bullshit?"

[ending_of]

"I am not sure what you mean."

[lookingforwardtoit]

"There's no oversight on the judges. I don't know what they were like when you set them up but these days they're viciously bitter and they've been escalating sentences since I can remember. The Crescent helps, but we're not a solution, we're just a patch. And it's a pretty shitty patch, to be honest. While I'm at it, there's no good reason why res space has to be a popularity contest. I mean, why? Why any of it?"