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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?"
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maybeso
maybeso
"How convenient. Okay, lemme show you my spreadsheet."
Her spreadsheet is huge. It has rows for runes (page number and letter orderings) and columns for meanings (all the dozens of them). Sorted correctly, it will provide lists of options and their amounts in each meaning for everything on their consensus list.
"You start with 43-B and I'll start with 77-A and we go from there?" she suggests, indicating the most important meaning and two runes that are stronger in that than anything else.
Her spreadsheet is huge. It has rows for runes (page number and letter orderings) and columns for meanings (all the dozens of them). Sorted correctly, it will provide lists of options and their amounts in each meaning for everything on their consensus list.
"You start with 43-B and I'll start with 77-A and we go from there?" she suggests, indicating the most important meaning and two runes that are stronger in that than anything else.
maybeso
"I don't have all the dictionary runes in there just yet because data entry is tedious as hell and I checked everything in there twice," May mentions, "so the dictionary will still be useful if none of the combinations in the sheet suit us."
And she gets to work starting from 77-A. It covers two meanings she wants and four she doesn't; she will need to add some things and subtract some things... Scribble scribble.
And she gets to work starting from 77-A. It covers two meanings she wants and four she doesn't; she will need to add some things and subtract some things... Scribble scribble.
maybeso
Nerrrrrrrrds.
This takes a long time, much consultation of the spreadsheet, and routine use of May's calculator.
"At least once we have a working spell we can just copy it," she remarks.
This takes a long time, much consultation of the spreadsheet, and routine use of May's calculator.
"At least once we have a working spell we can just copy it," she remarks.
maybeso
"Yeah. If we had to do this from scratch every single time... well, I'd probably still learn it but I wouldn't build my life plans around it."
maybeso
"Maybe there aren't a lot of wizards because even this is enough complexity to put most people off."
maybeso
"But I think it should be possible to automate almost the entire process. Maybe not with a spreadsheet alone, but still. And this wouldn't have been possible before, so the field languished, but maybe we are in fact catching the early stage of its possible revival."
asteptotheright
"...The modern world is a miraculous place." Pause. "I wonder if recorded incantations would work."
maybeso
"Ooh, good question! Lemme see if this thing came with any recording software, you copy out a water boiling. I don't have the kettle anymore but I forgot to unpack the teacups so I have those."
asteptotheright
"I actually brought the wax tablet, just in case," he says a little smugly. "Let me have one of the teacups so I can fill it again."
maybeso
She hands him a cup, pecks him on the cheek, and then hunts through her applications for something to record her voice.
asteptotheright
He resists the urge to cup his cheek and grin like a loon. Instead: water. He fills the grooves in the tablet, wipes off what little excess escapes, refills the teacup and sets it on the tablet.
maybeso
"...I'm not sure how to record myself without accidentally casting," she says. "I guess I can just... try... not to? No big disaster if I accidentally boil it."
asteptotheright
"Possibly I should have waited to fill the tablet until you were done recording," Kanimir acknowledges. "But no particular harm done, no."
maybeso
"It'll be good to know, anyway. And then if it does boil I can try again from farther away."
asteptotheright
"Well, presumably you're going to be recording whether it goes off or not..."
maybeso
"Yes, but if it turns out I can't just not cast by trying not to, then I want to check how far I have to be from scrolls before practicing an incantation, you see?"
maybeso
May grins, then fires up her recording, makes sure it works by saying "testing" and getting it to play that back, and then starts over and reads the water boiling incantation.
The water does not boil.
She plays the recording back, and it continues not to boil.
"Okay, so I can not cast by trying not to cast and recordings don't work."
The water does not boil.
She plays the recording back, and it continues not to boil.
"Okay, so I can not cast by trying not to cast and recordings don't work."
asteptotheright
"If you can not cast by trying not to cast, there might be a difference between a recording of trying-to-cast and trying-not-to-cast. Not that I'm optimistic, but it's possible."