delta v over delta t when there is no t

[ertia]

In a bar, there is a girl.

She looks like she has saved up all of her decadent and slothful impulses for a solid decade and is indulging them all at once. She is sprawled on a couch with a book she's only half-reading, and an ice cream sundae, and smiiiiiiling.

Comments

[taste_tester]

"There you go, if she does the painkiller version and dwells on the past for three days she should be fine."

[first_and_final]

"I'm definitely noticing the loss of comparative clarity. The diary would probably be a worthwhile investment. But I'm not in danger of forgetting about my parents or my favourite skirmish matches or anything."

[taste_tester]

"You keep everything really important." Shrug. "Will that be all?"

[first_and_final]

"Yes, thank you, have fun learning about exciting new kinds of magic, remember to warn the next person you turn into a vampire about the mating thing," says Milan.

[taste_tester]

"I'll do my best."

And she's off.

[first_and_final]

Milan plays with his intricately dancing streams of water.

[ertia]

Kithabel stops bringing Milan to Milliways with her every time, although he can come along if he likes and she'll call him over if she finds something cool. Nothing as cool as vampirism comes up.

It is not long at all before Milan can fly.

[first_and_final]

Milan is very pleased about flight.

He makes himself known to Kithabel's neighbours. He begins aggressively solving problems rather than waiting for Kithabel to take him along on things. Anything he can leave for Kithabel, he does, and anything he can accomplish with her he likewise does, because he is in absolutely no danger of losing momentum and he wants to help her out as much as possible rather than ruthlessly maximize his already staggering advantage.

His ridiculous entourage of variously manipulated objects becomes ever more vast and elaborate. When he starts being able to automate bits of it, that's his cue to start trying to add conjuration-automation-dismissal to the routines.

[ertia]

Jointly, they make a more-than-marginal sorcerer. They start getting sent farther afield.

Kithabel picks up teleportation and Milan is only days behind, and after that he leaves her in the dust. She tries not to grumble too much about that.

[first_and_final]

Milan is pretty gleeful about the extent of his cheating, but his attitude toward Kithabel's less outrageous trajectory is very much 'come on, Milliways, when are you going to come up with something that lets her cheat this hard'. It is improper that she does not also get to cheat this hard. A pity that sorcery won't go meta.

[ertia]

Meanwhile:

Kithabel thinks about Things. Milan can certainly catch her checking him out now and then.

[first_and_final]

Milan is not sure what to do about her checking him out and so does not do anything except sparkle involuntarily.

[ertia]

If she catches him noticing her looking she stops, anyway.

[first_and_final]

Well, then, it behooves him not to notice her looking, doesn't it.

Things continue to get done. Problems continue to be solved. Milan continues to be the fastest-growing sorcerer in history.

[ertia]

Kithabel continues to nap in Milliways. Nobody from the satrapy ever complains about the weird draw on her credit. She's not sure it's actually being drawn down at all.

[first_and_final]

Milan occasionally visits Milliways when Kithabel does. He might as well, and he can think about problem-solving and chat with people and generally take a break from Extreme Sorcering.

He still likes to go outside and fuck around with the lake, though. It's just really fun, and also really pretty. Hundreds of glowing sparkling growing shrinking colour-changing chiming water comets twisting through the air in intricate patterns, interwoven with strands of mist.

[alicornucopia]

Today, when he slurps water out of the lake enough to ripple it, a sky-blue reptilian head pokes up out from under the ripples.

"Hey," she says. "Why're you taking water out of the lake?"

[first_and_final]

"To do that with," he says, gesturing at the slurped water, which is rapidly multiplying into an intricate display. "Hello."

[alicornucopia]

"Hi. Is that a kind of magic?"

[first_and_final]

"Yes it is."

[alicornucopia]

"You seem very pleased about that."

[first_and_final]

"Magic is fun!"

[alicornucopia]

"I've heard that. Well, on and off. Sometimes I hear that it's tedious or draining or frustrating instead."

[first_and_final]

"Mine can be tedious or frustrating on occasion," he says. "But mostly it's fun."

[alicornucopia]

"What kind is it?"