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]

He grins. "Thank you. It was a pain to come up with. I don't even remember all of the contingencies I used, now, I had to write them all down and have that as a reminder as I did the spell."

[dark_light]

"Quite reasonable. Witch spells don't tend to involve that many unknowns - you can screw one up, you can try a variant that's not safe, but there's nothing like 'I'm going to teleport somewhere, but can only be yea more specific'."

[prodigal_miser]

"Yeah, that part's annoying. Honestly my magic works much better when I know all of the unknowns, but it can cope with having a ton if the user's got some power to work with and is willing to sit down and think about all of the options. It's a wonderful intellectual exercise."

[dark_light]

"It sounds interesting. Pity I probably can't do it."

[prodigal_miser]

"I highly doubt it, sorry. I mean, I could give you the basic idea of what to do when you want to cast a spell in Kystle-magic, but - it seems pointless to teach you all of the principles behind a system for magic you don't have and can't get, especially when you've got your own wonderfully functional magic right there," he says. Then, he shrugs. "If you wanted me to, I could give it a try, though."

[dark_light]

"Low priority. If you discover that, I don't know, blood transfusions can confer the knack for it, I'll sign up for that."

[prodigal_miser]

"... Blood transfusions? Beg pardon? That sounds painful."

[dark_light]

"...No? They do it with hollow needles. Pinpricks, basically. They can take about a pint from a healthy volunteer donor, then they can give it to anybody who's lost a lot of blood, usually in accidents. If they have compatible blood types; there are types."

[prodigal_miser]

"Huh. That's very useful. I will have to put that on the list of things that need to be done. How do I find out blood types, what are the compatabilities?"

[dark_light]

"I have absolutely no idea how the tests are done. You can put it on your list of things to consult Wikipedia about. For some reason the types are A, B, AB, and O, with each coming in 'positive' and 'negative' for some other parameter, and if I recall right, which I might not so you'll want to check Wikipedia, you can get blood from anybody who has the exact same or strictly fewer of things than you - with 'things' being A, and B, and positivity for the parameter. So AB+ can get blood from anybody, O- can give it to anybody. There are probably exceptions with rare blood types that crop up in only a handful of people. I have no idea if your people will have the same kinds of blood types."

[prodigal_miser]

"Hmm. It'll go somewhat lower on the list of things that need to be done, then. I'll consult Wikipedia about it, and see where it goes from there. If all else fails, it's an idea," he shrugs.

[dark_light]

"Organ transplants, also a thing, but kind of hard to do unless you have blood transfusions thoroughly down," says Isabella.

[prodigal_miser]

"I didn't know that was possible, that's a little disconcerting. Cool, but frightening. As opposed to the pocket library which is just amazing without any of the mild unease at how out of my depth I am."

[dark_light]

"Wikipedia is probably the most perfectly practical portion of the pocket library. I mean, search engines, also good, but nine times of ten, you just want the Wikipedia article."

[prodigal_miser]

"Then I'm going to like looking things up in it quite a lot, aren't I?"

[dark_light]

"I expect you to facetiously declare an intention to marry Wikipedia, minimum."

[prodigal_miser]

He snickers. "Would it be in the facetious wedding dress, or would I be?"

[dark_light]

"It would be rude of me to dictate your arrangements, even if I wound up being maid of honor."

[prodigal_miser]

The snickering turns into laughter. "It gets to wear the dress. With my hair, I could be mistaken for female and that would be even more embarrassing than being in a wedding dress."

[dark_light]

"All right. Wikipedia in a facetious wedding dress. Although, incidentally, you may wish to be aware - large parts of the reasonably-well-developed world are currently agitating for making same-sex marriage legal. Could be a cultural stumbling block."

[prodigal_miser]

He pauses, and tilts his head. Then he smiles, just a little faintly. "Zeviana would like it, here."

[dark_light]

"Yeah?"

[prodigal_miser]

"Yeah. My sister's had an ongoing problem with people having a problem with her preferring women," he says, still smiling.

[dark_light]

"There's still a lot of that. But progress is underway."

[prodigal_miser]

"That's better than the situation on New Kystle right now. What with her being expected to have children, and all. With or without her permission."