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It is a lovely Saturday morning. Feathered children are watching cartoons; furred adults are eating brunch; scaled teenagers - one scaled teenager in particular, actually - is arguing with the proprietor of a magic shop.
"How did these items get made if there's no way to learn magic? Are the magicians homeschooling their children and not writing any books? How did you learn?"
"Half this stuff is antiques," says the shopkeep. "Look, asking me a dozen times isn't gonna make the answer more to your liking. I don't have Hogwarts in the basement, deal with it."
"But where do you get the stuff that isn't antique - who made the Avalon itself? - isn't anybody panicking about the medallion supply? -"
"Kid, nobody knows how to make medallions."
"But some people apparently know how to make luck charms and protection amulets!"
"I'm not going to give out my suppliers' personal information. I wouldn't do it even if you weren't annoying."
"There have to be books -"
"Does this look like a library to you?"
maybeso
themainattraction
--and shortly after that, another girl who probably isn't related to them. This one's midform, with some feathers trailing from her arms and in her hair, with a pair of them sticking out looking a little like a peacock's crest, only orange.
asteptotheright
"Are we interrupting something?" he asks, looking between the shopkeeper and the other customer. "I apologize."
maybeso
"It's nothing," says the shopkeep, "don't have what she wants, is all, what can I do for you?"
"He doesn't have any explanation for where any of his stuff comes from," says the girl in the wheelchair, "which is enough to make me suspect that it's not magical at all except possibly the medallions -"
"Hey, none of that! It's legitimate merchandise, just because I don't run a fu- a darn university in my storefront you're calling me a fraud? I should throw you out for that!"
"He doesn't have any explanation for where any of his stuff comes from," says the girl in the wheelchair, "which is enough to make me suspect that it's not magical at all except possibly the medallions -"
"Hey, none of that! It's legitimate merchandise, just because I don't run a fu- a darn university in my storefront you're calling me a fraud? I should throw you out for that!"
asteptotheright
"I confess that I myself have only recently come into the awareness of magic at all, and the only verifiable magic I have personally observed--besides the Avalon itself, now--is my sister's friend's medallion. And countless others, I'm sure, since entering this place. What else, precisely, is magic supposed to be able to do?"
maybeso
"I've got luck charms, protection amulets -"
"- with no user manuals or explanation of the principles behind them and they don't so much as glow -"
"I will throw you out, young lady. Are you like this at the Radio Shack?"
Wheelchair girl snorts.
"Anyway, I've got stuff that does glow, too, doesn't need batteries, prettier than a flashlight; got a knife that stays sharp, only one though; got a magic timepiece; got nixie essence; oh, and a little magic fan. Plus your standard array of medallions and one blank, I see two've you don't have yours."
"- with no user manuals or explanation of the principles behind them and they don't so much as glow -"
"I will throw you out, young lady. Are you like this at the Radio Shack?"
Wheelchair girl snorts.
"Anyway, I've got stuff that does glow, too, doesn't need batteries, prettier than a flashlight; got a knife that stays sharp, only one though; got a magic timepiece; got nixie essence; oh, and a little magic fan. Plus your standard array of medallions and one blank, I see two've you don't have yours."
asteptotheright
"...I don't know that we are anything other than human," he says, as though it hadn't occurred to him, "but then apparently Daphne didn't either before a month ago. I suppose it's worth checking, at any rate." He shrugs. "I can certainly see why someone would be...skeptical...of a luck charm of unknown provenance. To be quite frank, it seems like the sort of thing that would be rather difficult to tell even once you had it, unless it produced some rather dramatic results."
maybeso
"I check 'em with dice when they come in," says the shopkeep indignantly.
"You might have said that," complains wheelchair girl.
"It's nothing to do with how they're made, you were on about how they were made," he sniffs. "Anyway, you can try the medallions but if one turns you, you buy it, no installments no layaway no discounts."
"You might have said that," complains wheelchair girl.
"It's nothing to do with how they're made, you were on about how they were made," he sniffs. "Anyway, you can try the medallions but if one turns you, you buy it, no installments no layaway no discounts."
asteptotheright
"How much do they cost? It seems a reasonable policy, given what I've been told of their nature, but it would be foolish to commit to paying a completely unknown price."
maybeso
"Depends," says the shopkeep. "Commoner ones - perytons, nixies, griffins - fifteen hundred. Blank one's priciest at four K; don't try it unless none of the others match you."
asteptotheright
He makes a face. "I'd love to try explaining that to Father. Perhaps later, when we're financially independent."
To the girl in the wheelchair: "Is there any particular reason you thought he'd know how they were made? Not that I wouldn't dearly love to learn too, but in my experience shopkeepers and artisans aren't often the same person."
To the girl in the wheelchair: "Is there any particular reason you thought he'd know how they were made? Not that I wouldn't dearly love to learn too, but in my experience shopkeepers and artisans aren't often the same person."
maybeso
"I would expect someone at a Radio Shack to, if pressed, be able to mumble vaguely about factories in China and engineering majors and Bill Gates," says the girl in the wheelchair. "And then I could follow up on that, more likely by becoming an engineering major than by traveling to China or meeting Bill Gates, but still. Here - nothing."
"I can tell you they're not mass-produced. I'd be sending you to people's houses, not a good business practice," snorts the shopkeep.
"How did you find people with magic things to sell?" she wheedles.
"Some of 'em were already selling to here when my mother ran the place, some of 'em came to me, I don't take out ads in the paper about it!"
"I can tell you they're not mass-produced. I'd be sending you to people's houses, not a good business practice," snorts the shopkeep.
"How did you find people with magic things to sell?" she wheedles.
"Some of 'em were already selling to here when my mother ran the place, some of 'em came to me, I don't take out ads in the paper about it!"
asteptotheright
"...I am reluctant to ask," he says, "because I begin to suspect the answer is no, but it certainly seems as though her question has more to do with wanting to learn about magic than meeting the people who do it. Is there not some place to send people who want to do that?"
maybeso
"No! You could try the bookstore, but this isn't Harry Potter."
"Can most people not do magic, does it only run in families or something?"
"Not as far as I know," shrugs the shopkeep.
"Then why isn't this Harry Potter, at least as far as having a magical school is concerned?"
"Nobody's started one?" the shopkeep asks, as though this is a deeply stupid question.
"Can most people not do magic, does it only run in families or something?"
"Not as far as I know," shrugs the shopkeep.
"Then why isn't this Harry Potter, at least as far as having a magical school is concerned?"
"Nobody's started one?" the shopkeep asks, as though this is a deeply stupid question.
jumptotheleft
The similar-looking girl puts a hand on his shoulder. Whether in comfort or warning isn't immediately apparent.
asteptotheright
"All it would take would be one competent, interested individual to start a school like that. If none exist I'm not sure whether to worry more about the inclinations of existing magic users or their numbers."
maybeso
"And what happens if a nasty flu season goes around and they're all out of luck charms?" demands wheelchair girl. "The knowledge of how to make medallions is already lost, you don't seem to know who made the Avalon hiding spells and I heard this one is over a hundred years old anyway so whoever it was is probably dead, this isn't going to get to be less of an emergency any time soon! The information could die out."
"I don't think it's as dire as all that."
"Then you ought to be able to convince me of that, oughtn't you?"
Eyeroll.
"I don't think it's as dire as all that."
"Then you ought to be able to convince me of that, oughtn't you?"
Eyeroll.
asteptotheright
He gives the shopkeeper a look. He'd previously been willing to tentatively categorize him as being innocently orthogonal to the main problem, which was the existing magic users, but if he so actively didn't care then he was an idiot.
"I don't suppose you have any helpful information?"
"I don't suppose you have any helpful information?"
maybeso
"If I knew where to find magical secrets do you think I'd work retail?" says the shopkeep.
asteptotheright
He bites back whatever he was about to say next and says, "...Yes. I think you did."
maybeso
"There's a bookstore!" says the shopkeep, relieved. "Across the little park next to the grocery."
"It doesn't have a ramp," says the girl.
"What do you want me to do, cast a spell on it?"
"Ugh."
"It doesn't have a ramp," says the girl.
"What do you want me to do, cast a spell on it?"
"Ugh."
asteptotheright
"Regardless of his disregard for the future of this culture insofar as it relies on the continued existence of magic users, I suspect at this point it would be more useful to chide the bookstore owner for the lack of accessibility."