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

[dark_light]

"Either paper or stone would work well for me - can it do them in order? The alethiometer stops a specific number of times on the relevant symbols. If you can get them to work in order..."

[prodigal_miser]

"I can do the order, yes. Something to... Hmm. Record every symbol that comes up in the order it shows, then let you search through each symbol's meaning either in order or in whatever order you choose if you're going back to look over it? Does that sound doable?" he asks, curiously. He's smiling a little; he likes this problem. Not only is it interesting, but he likes the reason it's even being solved.

[dark_light]

"So if it gave me, say, the alpha and omega and the beehive and the cherub, I'd have a stone that would note that it had given me those symbols, and I'd just have to keep count for each and I could look it up - and your spell would do it correctly and not like Professor So-and-so's guesswork about meaning four hundred and eighty or whatever?"

[prodigal_miser]

"If you need it to keep count I can do that, too. But yes, it would do it correctly, if the sources it's drawing from are correct. It sounds like it will only be able to show possibly correct meanings, it doesn't have the intellect to actually translate them perfectly. That would be up to you, I'm afraid."

[dark_light]

"It'd be most convenient if it kept count. And gave me a way to look up meanings to compose questions with. I can muddle through the grammar - ask the same question a few different ways, maybe."

[prodigal_miser]

Adarin laughs a little. "This is going to be very complicated, isn't it? I'll try to spell a separate object for composing questions. May I ask if I can try to ask the truth teller questions of my own, as well?"

[dark_light]

"As long as it's about relatively innocuous things like chamomile and you aren't, I don't know, looking for nuclear weapons."

[prodigal_miser]

He has no idea what nuclear weapons are, but he can guess from context. 'Weapon' is in the name. Oh, he likes this witch. She's crafty in a responsible kind of way. His daemon snickers a little, from her spot on the ground.


"Relatively innocuous things, yes. The Alethiometer would be yours, and I'd abide by your rules."

[dark_light]

"Then yes. I can't use it literally twenty-four hours a day, even once I get ahold of one. I'm on my way home to my teacher's house and she'll probably let me stash you in the attic long enough for me to invent a spell to find me a missing alethiometer. How long will the spell take once you've got one?"

[prodigal_miser]

"Less than an hour for one spell, though I'll need breaks between spelling each of the objects. These are shaping up to be large and complicated," he explains.

[dark_light]

"How large? Maybe I want paper instead of rocks after all."

[prodigal_miser]

"The spells, not the objects. Paper would be fine, I'd just have to know what I'm spelling before I begin. I'd recommend keeping the paper safe or putting it under protections since it's flimsier than rocks or something, but other than that it's fine," he explains.

[dark_light]

"If the rocks can be small I'll take rocks. As long as I can get them and the alethiometer itself, plus the things I usually carry, into my bag."

[prodigal_miser]

"They can be small. I can do some basic reshaping on rocks if you'd like, to get them to be a smoother surface or a certain shape or something."

[dark_light]

"No extra charge?" inquires Isabella archly.

[prodigal_miser]

Adarin grins. "Tempting, but if I upset you, you could just fly away and leave me here in the middle of nowhere. You're also offering me a place to stay."

[dark_light]

"Unless my teacher objects to you, but she probably won't unless you have terribly objectionable social habits."

[prodigal_miser]

"I hope I don't have any of those. Is there anything you or your teacher will strongly object to?"

[dark_light]

"Making a lot of noise? Messing with her herbs? Interrupting her while she works?" shrugs Isabella. "Commonsense things."

[prodigal_miser]

"Well, it's also common sense here to never touch a daemon that isn't my own. Ever. I didn't know that before you told me," he points out, shrugging. "I wouldn't want to learn that I accidentally did something that was horrifying after the fact."

[dark_light]

"Well, don't touch her daemon, but I've already told you that. And if you did it anyway she probably wouldn't bother to kick you out of the house before gutting you," says Isabella, shuddering.

[prodigal_miser]

With utmost sincerity, he replies, "I would never, now that I know. It's important enough to me to avoid doing something on that level of horrible that I think it's correct to be absolutely sure there's no chance of it at all."

[dark_light]

"I mean - there are some allowances for accidents, emergencies. It's not literally a fate worse than death if it's only for a moment. Some little kids, before they're like three, have glitchy instincts about it and will try to grab people's daemons, and nobody arrests them because they're toddlers. But yeah, do take it seriously."

[prodigal_miser]

He smiles at her, just a bit. "I was ignoring extenuating circumstances. If it was- say, a toss up between a daemon dying and me touching it, I would go with the obvious choice. I would feel terrible about it, however. I do take it seriously. It seems like a serious matter."

[dark_light]

She nods. "Well, yes. If your daemon dies, so do you, by the way - it seems obvious to me but I don't think I actually mentioned it."