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

[cardistry]

<Sounds interesting,> he says. In he goes. <What happened, how'd they end up like that?>

[alicornucopia]

<Poorly conceived intentional component of the spell by the enchanting wizard, and we haven't been able to break it, and we can't completely remove the stairs due to fire codes.>

[cardistry]

<Huh. Wonder if I could do anything about 'em,> he says idly.

[alicornucopia]

<You can experiment on the stairs as you like as long as you don't make them dangerous just to be in or affect the area beyond them.>

[cardistry]

<Cool.>

He wanders the stairs. His sense of physical coordinates informs him of the tricks they're pulling - seamlessly changing his elevation, transporting him directly to stairwells in different parts of the building when he takes a connecting door. Some of the doors lead to closets instead, for variety. There is a general absence of windows.

He doesn't know enough about matter manipulation or transport magic to think of any obvious solutions right away, so when he gets bored, he sends a finding spell - one that can pass through solid matter - to locate the nearest roof, and teleports onto it.

"Yep," he says, mostly to himself, but still in Leraal as a local default. "Those sure are some messed-up stairs."

[alicornucopia]

There's nobody else on the roof to hear him and no reply from Keo.

[cardistry]

He flops down at the edge of the roof and peers over it at whatever might be going on down below.

[alicornucopia]

There is a pond, with a couple of sparkly ducks (one black, one red) swimming in placid circles. Most of the visible terrain is grassland, though there are trees a bit farther off.

[cardistry]

For lack of anything much better to do, he watches the ducks. They are sparkly.

[alicornucopia]

Swim, swim, go the ducks. They dunk their heads to eat pond weed occasionally. The red one swims into a sort of duck-sized cave on the far end of the pond.

[cardistry]

Yep, those are sparkly ducks, behaving in a generally ducky fashion as far as he knows. He wonders what swimming is like.

He wonders what eating is like.

Well, there's a pond right there, but - <Hey, Keo, is there food around here?>

[alicornucopia]

<...If you can eat roughly the same things as any of the species we have as students, yes, I can get you a cafeteria pass.>

[cardistry]

<I can eat most things,> he says. <That was my dormant form you saw before; in my human form I have pretty much the usual set of human functions and systems, just - not so biological. More input leeway and cleaner energy conversion. Wait, what other species go to school here? Do you have magic talking ducks in this world or something?>

[alicornucopia]

<We currently have enrolled humans, elves, halflings, leonines, vampires, and much smaller minorities of dragons, dwarves, and skyfolk.>

[cardistry]

<...Well, I've heard of humans,> he says, giggling to himself. <Whatever. I can pretty much eat anything that's made of matter, as far as I know. I might have trouble if it was strongly corrosive or something. Where do I go to get a cafeteria pass?>

[alicornucopia]

<I've keyed you to the system, you're all set. It doesn't have to be a physical pass.>

[cardistry]

<Okay. So where's the cafeteria?>

[alicornucopia]

<The lifts know the way. At the end of any hall you'll find a lift door; just tell it "cafeteria".>

[cardistry]

<Okay.>

Back to the hall outside Korulen and Saasnil's room, then.

[alicornucopia]

Korulen appears to be just leaving.

She doesn't recognize him - or the design on his default outfit - just looks sort of confused about his presence.

[cardistry]

"Hi," he says. Is she heading for the lift? He is also heading for the lift!

[alicornucopia]

She is heading for the lift!

"...Hi."

[cardistry]

"...You don't recognize me, do you," he says, amused. "Last time we talked, I was about this big—" and he indicates with his hands the size of the Bicycle pack that his dormant form mimics.

[alicornucopia]

Korulen jumps and sort of contracts towards herself. "Oh," she says in a small voice.

[cardistry]

Aww. He smiles.

"Hey, it's okay. I mean, I'm okay, now. Your - mom? Is she your mom? - really helped me out. Totally worth the meltdown."