a little young for that

[alicornucopia]

There is a red-eyed teenage boy - or so it would seem - positively interrogating the bar.

"Redreed wine?"

Aren't you a little young for that?

"I don't actually want any right now, but you know what it is?"

Of course.

"That... is interesting." He taps his fingers on the bar. "All right - I do, actually, want a chocolate iced planet."

And he gets a little square pastry, frosting on the top, and turns on his barstool to watch the comings and goings.

~~~

with Giles

with Lazarus

Comments

[nonbird]

"I wonder what the stuff that goes through it looks like," he says musingly.

[alicornucopia]

"...Well, when I look at it, it looks like whatever the designer of my analysis spell decided to represent it as, which I guess doesn't answer your wondering, does it."

[nonbird]

"It does not! I'd have to see some. Right now all I know is that there isn't any in reach. I would recognize it if I saw it, though. It would have stuff-that-goes-through-the-thingness."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm beginning to suspect that you aren't talking about things with color and opacity, here."

[nonbird]

"Not remotely," he says. "There isn't anything particularly subcategorical about the shade of red that your eyes are, but when I look at the magic, I see it insisting that your shape should have that particular one there. And it's tied to some other things, and all together it has a very subcategorical look."

[alicornucopia]

"That is really very interesting. I wish I could cast an analysis and have a look at your magic right back, but." He waves illustratively at their surroundings.

[nonbird]

"Yes," says Lazarus. "And unfortunately my power doesn't share. Not that you'd have much luck interpreting it if it did, I don't think; it is extremely me and not anyone-else-ish at all."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm occasionally asked to stop speaking in jargon. This is the first time it has occurred to me to ask someone else to start."

[nonbird]

"Unfortunately, I don't have a jargon, because there is only one of me and only one of my power and it doesn't really sort itself into a vocabulary."

[alicornucopia]

"That's a shame," says Kaylo. He finishes his iced planet. "One of each power, huh? Not very - systematic."

[nonbird]

"No, indeed. Well, there are exceptions. There's one of each power of the kind that I have, but there are also mints, who are special."

[alicornucopia]

"Yeah, what do they do?"

[nonbird]

"They make coins that grant wishes," he says. "For which one possible use is turning more people into mints, and there is only one way to be a mint."

[alicornucopia]

"How peculiar."

[nonbird]

"Yes," he says. "I have not entirely figured out mints."

[alicornucopia]

"What do you have left to wonder about them?"

[nonbird]

"Where they came from, mainly. All of the mints that are around now got it from somewhere. Maybe once there was someone who was a mint like I am a what-my-power-is, and they passed it on because mints can do that, but they seem like such a different kind of thing that I'm really not sure."

[alicornucopia]

"Huh. I'm not sure if I'm in a position to help you, but it sounds like a fascinating question!" says Kaylo earnestly.

[nonbird]

"It is! It fascinates me. Someday maybe I will figure it out."

[alicornucopia]

"Do you know helpful mints?" asks Kaylo.

[nonbird]

"Not especially."

[alicornucopia]

"Then how're you going to make progress?"

[nonbird]

"Well, that's why I didn't say 'Someday I will certainly figure it out!'"

[alicornucopia]

"Fair enough. I guess you can tell whether someone you might be about to meet is one easily enough, huh?"

[nonbird]

"Yes," he says. "Sooner and more easily than I can tell anything else about them. Mints are distinctive."