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

[ertia]

"...Well, the few minutes of mutual thought awareness is pretty freaky but maybe a small price to pay..."

[first_and_final]

"I can introduce you to the dragon. Probably nothing interesting will happen, but it seems the sort of thing that might conceivably be worth a shot."

[ertia]

"Yeah, lemme psych myself up first in case she's so pretty she reads my mind."

[first_and_final]

"Take your time."

[ertia]

"I will. You can sit with me if you want." She picks up her notebook.

[first_and_final]

"Sure. Oh, and there are more notable drawbacks - if all of a dragon's Bondmates are dead at the same time, the dragon dies, and it's theorized that the dragon dying would kill all the Bondmates but it apparently hasn't happened yet, but dragons are apparently very hard to kill except by Bondmate deprivation. Kiaver in particular has one current Bondmate."

[ertia]

"Maybe she would like to name a dead dragon for us to try resurrecting. You might be there already, we only don't have your grandfather because we need to know if I can resurrect from your world."

[first_and_final]

"I could absolutely try resurrecting some dead dragons if Kiaver cooperates."

[ertia]

"Awesome."

Kithabel thinks for twenty minutes of notebooking. She absently scritches Milan's hair with her free hand while lost in thought.

[first_and_final]

...Well that's new.

Sure, okay.

[ertia]

Scritch scritch write write.

"...Okay, I think it's probably worth gazing at the dragon, presuming she thinks it'll be fine to have a long-distance magical relationship."

[first_and_final]

"I can go ahead of you to ask her."

[ertia]

"Yes please."

And her hand leaves his scalp.

[first_and_final]

Entirely reasonable of it.

Off to the lake goes Milan.

[ertia]

Kithabel lags behind in the main bar area.

The lake: contains a dragon.

"What did your friend say?"

[first_and_final]

"She says that first of all I should try resurrecting some dead dragons if you can think of any you would like resurrected, and secondly she'd like to come look at you if you are willing to have a long-distance magical relationship."

[alicornucopia]

"Resurrect some...? Oh goodness. Yes, absolutely, there are a lot of dragons you should resurrect! And I can still feel my Bonded from here, so I think it will be all right if I go home and your friend goes home?"

[first_and_final]

"Name me some resurrectable dragons, then, let's see how well I do."

[alicornucopia]

"Mebadaene, my mother! Morifenin, Sirofael, Petrivoch - there's another dragon named after Petrivoch, but, the dead one."

[first_and_final]

Milan turns up to maximum capacity and attempts to resurrect Mebadaene.

People being dead is certainly a problem. This specific person being dead is now his problem in particular. It is inexcusable that she continues to be dead. He will not allow it. Milan Kosorin is a solver of problems and this problem has got in his way and is forbidden to remain. Give her back immediately.

[alicornucopia]

A dragon appears.

She blinks.

Kiaver hauls herself out of the lake to perform the dragony equivalent of a hug.

[first_and_final]

Right. On to the next.

Mebadaene is a huge old dragon whose scales are a dark greenish blue. Morifenin is much younger, with emerald green scales and striking red eyes. Sirofael is pale lavender, and Petrivoch is sapphire blue.

There. That is all the dead dragons Kiaver mentioned.

...Perhaps he'll let Kiaver explain.

[alicornucopia]

Kiaver explains!

...Some of these dead dragons have heard of other dragons who are dead!

[first_and_final]

"If I'm going to be resurrecting dragons all day I might prefer to do it in your world, since otherwise it could get a little crowded out here," he says. "Barring that practical objection I'm happy to help."

[alicornucopia]

"Do you want me to go in first so your friend can look at me but not necessarily at all of these other dragons?" Kiaver asks.