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

[alicornucopia]

After this, Korulen finds a store that has both sheets and miscellaneous toiletries. The latter vary in recognizability and she does her best to explain the intended function of the bottled potions and magical implements.

[aestrix]

Her companion is confused by lots of these unfamiliar toiletry things! But he gets on board with the program soon enough, once they're explained. His world's not as advanced on that note, but he supports this change completely. Cleanliness, hurray!

Sheets and toiletries are bought. The sense of accomplishment would strengthen, along with the load of things they're carrying.

[alicornucopia]

And then they locate his pair of mirrors, and then they go to a grocery store where there is a variety of tea to select from. (The same store will also supply a 'hot waterspout', which will conjure water when twisted open in a state of hot, rather than water in a state of cold, as is typical for waterspouts. This water can be used to make tea.)

[aestrix]

Adarin picks out a variety of tea that sounds vaguely familiar, along with a few others that look interesting, and is then completely charmed by the hot waterspout. Korulen might be a little amused by his delight when he finds out that conjuring water can be done with a variety of temperatures.

He is quietly making plans of buying fifty waterspouts and then making even more money back home with them. He's not even sure what he'd even do with all of this potential money, but he's certain he'll think of something. Eventually. As soon as he's stopped being incredibly charmed by self-heating water conjurers.

[alicornucopia]

If he were making these plans less quietly Korulen would be apologetic about the non-portability of wizardry.

At any rate, once they have all of his things they begin heading back to the school.

[aestrix]

It's a good thing he's not saying them out loud, then, because it would dampen his mood to have a plan foiled. He'll connect the dots later when he remembers how Keo mentioned that wizardry doesn't like to transport to other worlds. Best to leave him in blissful ignorance until then.

Them heading back to the school occurs. On the way back, Adarin asks for an explanation of how dragons work, in more depth. He's curious.

[alicornucopia]

"You mean, the differences between dragons and humans?" clarifies Korulen.

[aestrix]

"Well. That seems as good a comparison as any, really. Can they only shape-shift into humans, or is it... Literally anything?" he asks.

[alicornucopia]

"It can be any species. Well, any single species - most dragons can't turn into half-human half-elves. But it can't be any number of things. They pick things permanently. For most dragons they get five learned shapes after their natural form and they don't get to pick exactly what it looks like, except it's predictable in some ways - Mom in human form looks exactly like Grandma in human form, for instance."

[aestrix]

"Ah- that's an interesting set of rules to work with. Family reunions must get confusing if you don't wear different styles of clothes. Do all dragons have your mother's mental abilities, or is she a special case?"

[alicornucopia]

"Oh, Mom is special. There's only one of her right now. There was overlap for a while when she was little."

[aestrix]

Adarin's confused by this statement! "... Pardon, she- had a metaphorical twin, or a dragon with the same skills?"

It comes as a relief to hear that not all dragons could break his mind easily. Not much of one in that there is someone in the world that could break his mind, and he knows her personally, but every little thing counts.

[alicornucopia]

"A dragon with the same skills," clarifies Korulen. "He died when she was in her - thirties, I think? It's random when they happen but it averages to about one per color group at a time being alive."

[aestrix]

Considering this, Adarin says, "So lots of these special dragons wouldn't be able to have any training from a predecessor? That sounds inconvenient."

[alicornucopia]

"It's pretty intuitive how their powers work, I think. Mom's are harder to handle, but considering what they actually are, he didn't have to wait for her to grow up enough to understand - he could just sort of stamp them on her mind."

[aestrix]

The thought of having something stamped into his mind puts an involuntary shiver down Adarin's spine. Even if it was helpful, the idea that something like that exists is terrifying. "Well. That's... Somewhat more convenient."

Subject change from Korulen's scary, scary mother is necessary. Adarin gets to making that happen.

"I'm not sure if you'd like to learn more about how my magic works or not. Would you like me to tell you about it?"

[alicornucopia]

"Why - could I learn it?" inquires Korulen.

[aestrix]

"Er. No, sorry," he says, with a wince. "It's not the sort of thing that's casually transferable."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm sort of curious anyway. What's the general idea?"

[aestrix]

"Well. Sometimes, in our world there are special individuals born with magic. The reason I mentioned bloodlines when I first arrived is because that's how they magic is passed on," he explains, kindly removing some of the more horrifying parts of his world's magic system for her sake. She's the equivalent of fourteen, the basic explanation will do.

"If I ever have children, they're overwhelmingly likely to have the same type of magic I do. It dilutes, though, so there's... Less magic in them as bloodlines continue."

[alicornucopia]

"Huh. There's nothing here that quite works like that. Dragons don't so much dilute as they do have an entire separate sort of dragon-like thing that they can produce if they have half-dragon kids. Thudias like me. But my sister's a parunia, which just means that she is exactly and entirely a dragon even though her dad is an elf."

[aestrix]

"That sounds rather fortunate for parunias, honestly. Sometimes a bloodline's child will have the same level of power as their parent, but it doesn't happen very often. Usually it consistently gets weaker."

[alicornucopia]

"Most half-dragons are thudias. You can't bet on a parunia. But it's pretty lucky for her in some ways. She does take more than three times longer than me to grow up, though."

[aestrix]

"Ah. Well, that part does sound incredibly problematic," he says with a wince. It seems to be a rather sad thing that a little sister will stay that way for years and years while her older sister ages and becomes an adult. Not that either option's a bad thing, it's just together it seems unfortunate.

[alicornucopia]

"Yeah. I mean, I'll probably get to see her grow up. If I were a human thudia instead of an elf one I wouldn't even get that."