blood sweat tear

[imeanforever]

He's moving her to a different court to see if it'll improve her attitude. She's allowed to fly. It's been a long, long time since she was allowed to -

She is only allowed to fly to her destination, not anywhere else. She notices that she is not where she should be, that she cannot progress to where she was told to go, and she careens out of control when her wings won't flap anymore, and she crashes.

---

with Miles (kappa)

with Minus (kappa)

Comments

[summa_iniuria]

"I haven't. Yet," she says. "But you're right that it would be fairly pointless for you to try to catch up to what I've been able to find out from these books. If I'm impressed with how you handle your sun ward I will tell you everything I know about where to find it, and if I'm not, I'll have a significant head start."

[eversomuchfun]

"I'll leave it in your hands, then," he shrugs. "Promise, shall I fetch your books so you can pick up where you left off?"

[imeanforever]

"Yes please."

[eversomuchfun]

Books!

[imeanforever]

Such books.

[eversomuchfun]

Very books.

Rather than do research of his own, Tea idly engages Royal in a game of chess without an actual chessboard. They just narrate the moves to each other out loud.

[imeanforever]

What a peculiar skill to have. Promise can't follow the notation at all. She reads. Her access to her tree let her get at some notebooks, including one that started the day empty and between the two libraries is approaching half-full.

[eversomuchfun]

As she reads more and more books on magic she may begin to get a clearer picture of what Tea meant about magical theory being insane. It's not just that there are so many dubiously-related ways to cast a scrying spell and no clear reason why any of them work; it's that every book seems to be written from a slightly different perspective on even the most basic fundamental questions like 'what is magic' and 'why does it work the way it does' and 'how does it, in fact, work'. There is no clear resolution to the conflict between these only-mostly-compatible paradigms.

Meanwhile, Tea and Royal intersperse their impenetrable chess match with only-slightly-less-impenetrable conversation. At least they seem to be getting along.

[imeanforever]

That's nice for them. Promise will just take frustrated outside-perspective notes. Maybe she will invent a version of this magic system that works for her the way chess magic works for Castle.

[eversomuchfun]

"How's the research coming along?"

[imeanforever]

"I'm going to want to call Castle tomorrow about it. I'm sure I could just read every book on magic in this and a dozen other libraries and wind up relatively expert compared to a human, but only by spending a human lifetime on it. I'd sooner take a shortcut, at least for immediate practical purposes. I have no strong understanding of chess but perhaps I can invent something else that suits me and fills in the gaps sorcery has."

[eversomuchfun]

"Lucky for us we ran into someone who successfully invented her own magic system. Perhaps she can give you some pointers."

[summa_iniuria]

"Bet she can," Royal agrees. "But inventing your own magic system can't be that easy or everybody would be doing it."

[imeanforever]

"I'm very smart."

[eversomuchfun]

"Are we sure everyone isn't?" inquires Tea. "It would explain the mess."

[summa_iniuria]

Royal laughs. "I take your point. I don't know, I'm not the expert. I'm not either of the experts."

[imeanforever]

"Well, I'll talk to Castle about it."

[summa_iniuria]

Nod.

[imeanforever]

So the following morning after she hops out of her tree into Tea's crypt, Promise investigates the height of the sun and calls Castle.

[kingsidecastle]

"Hello."

[imeanforever]

"Hello. Is this a good time to talk about the possibility of me inventing my own form of magic rather than spending decades attempting to disentangle the stew of them?"

[kingsidecastle]

"Sure," says Castle. "Why not. It's been a while since I was in that position, but I think I can probably still help."

[imeanforever]

"Should we meet or should we just talk on the phone?"

[kingsidecastle]

"If you want to have a long conversation about magic and potentially do some practical tests, it'll be more convenient to meet. If you just want a quick chat about theory it'll be more convenient to talk on the phone."

[imeanforever]

"Long conversation. Where should I find you?"