picknicking

[dark_light]

There's something unutterably pleasant about landing in a bit of woods in the middle of Nowhere, Manitoba, removing a sandwich and an apple from her backpack and having a picnic before she's ready to move on. She could eat in midair, but it makes it too likely that she'll drop something and find it unrecoverable.

Path's on her knee, and her cloudpine is propped up against the tree next to her.

Comments

[prodigal_miser]

"Witches don't do any scrying on stars and such, do they? Because we don't think of astronomy as a science, it's... a hobby? Cataloging? A fascinating and beautiful thing to occasionally look at and go, 'Oooo, a star getting eaten by a black hole, terrifying and gorgeous.' You can get a job in it, I guess, but it's like map making except less applicable to things."

[dark_light]

"No - we don't have any divinations with that kind of range. Astronomers use telescopes."

[prodigal_miser]

"That sounds incredibly inefficient. No wonder they think black holes are safe," he says. "Maybe some time in the future I should track down the writers and show them how black holes eat stars. Then I'll ask if they think they're survivable. Which they're not."

[dark_light]

"I really don't think that's a priority. They probably already get appalled messages from astronomers and the vaguely scientifically literate who know this fact."

[prodigal_miser]

He smiles, a bit. He wasn't actually planning to do that, but saying so made him feel better. "Me doing it would be more fun, though."

[dark_light]

"Well, far be it from me to stop you if it ever floats to the top of your priorities list."

[prodigal_miser]

"Aw, thanks. Above that on the list is showing you some scryings of things in space, though. You wouldn't actually be able to see anything happen quickly, but some of it's very pretty."

[dark_light]

"Remind me when we are showing you things in the library to get you some pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers can handle pretty despite their handicaps. In fact, even on my slow phone connection..."

Isabella looks up a picture of the earth from space, waits for it to load, and shows it to him.

[prodigal_miser]

He is shown! He looks amused. "Pretty. Alright, fine, pocket library wins this round. This round."

[dark_light]

"The sky is actually full of lots of artificial satellites doing all kinds of things."

[prodigal_miser]

"Shhhh, Isabella, let me think I can win. Otherwise I'll pout."

[dark_light]

"Aw, but maybe that would be adorable."

[prodigal_miser]

Adarin laughs. "Possibly, but it could also just be sad, or pathetic. Or both. Do you want to try those odds?"

[dark_light]

"If you start pouting is it permanent?"

[prodigal_miser]

"It very well might be!"

(No, it won't be.)

[dark_light]

"Gosh, that would be a disaster even if it was adorable, then, you'd be in a permanent state of pout, I won't risk it."

[prodigal_miser]

"Good, I'm glad to see you have an appropriate reaction to potential disasters brought about by pouting."

[dark_light]

"I'm very well calibrated."

[prodigal_miser]

"So I have seen! Keep up the good work, the planes need some more sanity and general good sense."

[dark_light]

"Goddesses all know it. I'm so pleased to have met you."

[prodigal_miser]

He grins back. "Likewise. Goddesses? I didn't know you were religious."

It doesn't bother him in the slightest, he's just curious.

[dark_light]

"I'm not very, but there's a pantheon of witch goddesses, useful to pay attention to for invoking their names for magical purposes."

[prodigal_miser]

"Ooo. They help? That's something I've never heard of before."

[dark_light]

"Yeah, of course they help, if they weren't good for anything I assure you I would ignore them. Not all spells use them, but plenty do. If you change a goddess's name in a verse spell you get a different result."

[prodigal_miser]

Now Adarin is fascinated. Literal goddesses? Helpful literal goddesses? Interesting. He's not going to jump on board the goddesses train just yet, but this is still useful information. Besides, why would he disrespect her beliefs?

"That," he says, "Is both interesting and useful. What kinds of spells invoke their names? What sorts of effects does changing them have?"