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

[aestrix]

"Yours, too," says Adarin with a bit of a smile. "I think I prefer yours, though, even if mine can make portals. It seems to be friendlier."

[alicornucopia]

"Portals?" asks Korulen.

[aestrix]

"Ah, right. It's a way of teleporting from one place to another. You can see through to the other side, and just walk through with no trouble at all at any time. The further the distance you travel the more difficult it is to cast, but I have an easier time of it than this world seems to do with your version," explains Adarin. "Shape of the portal isn't as big of a deal as the distance, so if I wanted to make a really big one on both sides it wouldn't matter much."

[alicornucopia]

"You're going to be rich," says Korulen. "My uncle's one of a handful of wizards who can do teleportation circles and he's rich. Well, mostly for something else, but it's still worth his time to do them, they're that expensive."

[aestrix]

He grins. "When I realized that I asked your mother to let the parliament know I was available for portal creation. It might be possible to buy a proper home here."

[alicornucopia]

Korulen nods. "Well, it's sort of hard for single individuals to find housing of the right size in Esmaar. Mostly it's huge extended families all sharing. But if you do a few of those you can probably buy a house regardless."

[aestrix]

"Really? That's interesting. I'll keep an eye out, the dormitory will probably be fine for now. Though I might get sick of the lift," teases Adarin, just a little. "So I might get annoyed one day and just put portals everywhere in your school."

[alicornucopia]

Korulen laughs. "I like the lift. We have stairs, they're just - they were badly enchanted and we can't break the enchantment so if you go in them you get lost."

[aestrix]

"Badly enchanted? How do you get lost in stairs?" He snickers, just a little. "Do they spiral into themselves and you just keep climbing forever, or...?"

[alicornucopia]

"They're not a spiral staircase, but you could easily keep climbing forever," says Korulen.

[aestrix]

"That is an interesting way to get exercise. I'll avoid the stairs."

[alicornucopia]

"Good plan. They'd just tear them out, but we have to have a staircase to comply with fire codes and there hasn't been budget to outright replace them."

[aestrix]

"Ahhh... I understand. Though, having badly enchanted stairs sounds like a recipe for disaster if an actual fire breaks out and something happens to the lifts."

[alicornucopia]

"What would happen to the lifts? Anyway, conjuring water is basic. Everybody in the building except kids in their first term could put out a fire. The fire codes aren't designed for a wizard school."

[aestrix]

"... I wasn't aware you could conjure water. That is incredibly useful. That's something I can't do, sadly enough," he explains. Adarin's in a good mood, so he jokes a little. "Having my magic compared to yours is going to give me a complex about inadequacy."

[alicornucopia]

"Well, not everybody's a wizard. Plenty of people can't do spells beyond telling time and dusting their living rooms."

[aestrix]

He grins. "Okay, that makes it better."

[alicornucopia]

They're approaching the border of the city at this point. It doesn't slope up with small buildings on the outskirts shading into denser, taller ones; it goes from grassland to four and ten and twenty-story buildings. The flagstone path flows into a network of cobbled streets. "What do you need besides clothes and sheets?"

[aestrix]

"Toiletries, things for personal hygiene and the like. Probably a mirror pair, for easy communication - nothing fancy, just something small. Oh, and if the cafeteria doesn't serve tea, I'd like some," he says, looking at the buildings curiously. They're much, much taller than he's used to, but he doesn't comment. "For non-necessities I'd like to pay you back in the future, after I've started making portals. It seems wrong otherwise."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm not actually sure if there's tea; I don't drink it. And I'm supposed to buy you anything not-ridiculous that you want because it's my and Saasnil's fault that you need it."

[aestrix]

"I understand, and do agree with the practice, but I'd prefer to avoid taking financial advantage of you both. As I said, it seems wrong," he points out, shrugging a little. "Besides, I'm technically already rich and money isn't a high-priority factor."

[alicornucopia]

"Well - I guess that will come up later. I'm not sure Mom will let us take the money if you try to give it to us."

[aestrix]

"Then I suppose that's out of my hands. I'll try not to bankrupt you, if it's any consolation."

[alicornucopia]

Korulen nods. "There's a clothes shop that does shoes, too, and has men's clothes, up ahead." She points. All of the stores appear to be named after people, so it's not easy to determine from a distance which is a clothes shop.

[aestrix]

Adarin looks. He has a bit of trouble picking out which shop is for what, due to the naming scheme. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to lead me to the shop. None of them are named after what they sell."