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]

"Oh, a deck of cards, that's what you were before?"

[cardistry]

"Yep. I might change the details on that one; it was kind of plain."

[alicornucopia]

"And you can change what it looks like. Wow."

[cardistry]

"Yep. I guess you don't have anything like Devices in this world, huh?"

[alicornucopia]

"I don't think so, no."

[cardistry]

"It's a pretty weird world. I like it just fine so far, though."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm going to be able to send you back whenever you want once I have a familiar," she tells him. "But I don't have to do it if you don't."

[cardistry]

"If this was any other world, I'd say I could get back here just fine," he says. "I have interworld transport magic. But I tried to leave that way and it didn't work, and I don't know if it's because your world is weird or because your spell is interfering."

[alicornucopia]

"Oh - if you want to leave and then come back you can. We were using a random spell but there's non-random ones and somebody could summon you specifically if you asked them."

The lift changes direction.

[cardistry]

"If I have the option I'd rather be going places by myself instead of having to get other people to cast spells for me whenever I want to hop worlds," he says. "Huh, this thing is way less topologically screwy than the stairs."

[alicornucopia]

"Did you go in the stairs? People aren't supposed to go in the stairs - I guess you can teleport."

[cardistry]

"Yeah. I wandered around for a while, got bored, and teleported to the roof," he says. "You have sparkly ducks. Are all ducks sparkly in this world, or just those particular ones? They're pretty."

[alicornucopia]

"It's just those ones. I think somebody decided to practice some color-change spell on them. There's practice objects and practice mice, but it gets boring."

[cardistry]

"The ducks didn't seem too mad about it, not that I'd know how to tell."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm not sure why a duck would care what color it was."

The lift door opens on the cafeteria. The cafeteria is full of people and smells like food.

[cardistry]

Food smells are interesting sensory input. Brilliance is intrigued.

"Okay, so how does getting food work?"

[alicornucopia]

"Um, you get a tray, and dishes and utensils, from over here," says Korulen, demonstrating, "and then you get yourself some of whatever you want," (she scoops herself a pile of a cornmeal mash), "and then you find a seat and you eat it and when everybody at the table is done you knock on it twice to clear the dishes away."

[cardistry]

"Well, that's pretty simple, I guess."

He proceeds to get some of every single available thing.

[alicornucopia]

This results in extremely crowded plates; there's a lot of selection. Korulen raises an eyebrow and says, "You're allowed to go back for more things if you want."

[cardistry]

"Yeah, but this way I'm not gonna forget anything by accident," he says cheerfully.

He ends up needing a second tray to hold all his dishes, even though he mostly doesn't take a lot of any particular item. This logistical dilemma does not faze him, however: he murmurs a word under his breath, and the pair of trays hover and follow him around, glowing with faint rainbowy halos. There! Now he can fit all of the things.

[alicornucopia]

"Oh - cool," says Korulen.

[cardistry]

He giggles.

[alicornucopia]

"What's your name, anyway?" Korulen asks, finally picking out which dessert she wants and finding an empty table.

[cardistry]

"Brilliance. What's yours? I heard it but then I forgot."

A table! His trays settle delicately onto it and then cease to glow. He sits down and contemplates the array of foods in front of him.

[alicornucopia]

"Korulen," says Korulen. She spoons up some of her cornmeal.