"… That makes it sound like a person?" says Itaruko, somewhat questioningly.

"...I don't think it is, but I am experiencing this through a kind of synesthesia. And there is definitely something... close to the ability to form intentions in it."

"Huh," says Itaruko. "Well. That's weird?"

Lumen definitely also links into synaesthesia, itself! Sort of. Maybe like an extra sense instead of hijacking a current one. Itaruko is quite clearly able to– whatever the verb would be for interacting with it via that extra sense. Martin might be able to, but probably not – it seems to be observing him in some greater detail than the triplets, somewhat happy to spread through its weirdly shy cloud thing towards him, but isn't actually on talking terms with him yet?

It likes Itaruko. It's really not sure about the triplets. It's tentatively okaying Martin.

"Some gifts have... indepedence in the sense that they can automatically do somethings, but not as much intention as this things has. I keep getting the impression it's uncomfortable about us and willing to trust Martin."

"… Does anything change if I actually use it a bit?" He creates a small blob of blue light in front of himself.

(The answer is yes, it does change, because the synaesthetic impression seems to move towards the blob. Sort of.)

"Well, I can see it working and the impression that I am getting is moving towards the blob... okay, could you try to move it around? Test its limits?"

"– Different people have differing abilities to do things with it," he says. "Some people can do more uniform temperature areas than others, some people can do brighter lights, some people can change colors more quickly and also animate them better, so if you want me to try to stretch its limits that's probably not going to work too well."

"The limits of the lumen-possessing people that we currently have easy access to will be enough."

"… Okay," he responds, raising an eyebrow. "Meaning me, unless I'm misunderstanding you?"

"He meant you. This spell takes concentration and keeping it up while talking is straining. Not to mention that staring at you must be distracting on its own."

He nods and starts flickering the lumen between different colors, brightens and dims two separate blobs, and then makes some rather accurate scale models of himself and Martin.

The lumen seems like it's paying attention to Itaruko quite closely, as before. Feels vaguely like it's spreading tendrils between him and the light, somehow giving an impression of playfulness? There's also a sort of radiating feeling coming from the light, which seems linked to how it's been studying the people in the room.

"Could you put it in contact with yourself, Martin and Thor?"

Thor moves closer to make this feasible.

Martin makes sure he's within range, too.

Itaruko does indeed put it in contact with them! He makes it into a blob and stretches it out a bit to poke them all.

Martin and Thor will notice that it feels slightly– tingly to the touch? Not particularly distractingly so – it'd be easy to ignore – but it's definitely slightly warmer than the ambient temperature.

It doesn't seem to change much behind-the-scenes, except for feeling like the strength of the 'tendrils' has decreased slightly. The 'tendrils' are more like tenuous metaphorical associations instead of physical attachments as 'tendrils' suggests.

Fernando convey this.

"I mean, I'd be worried about it sort of trying to attach to everyone but as far as I know it's 'attached' to everyone back home and hasn't caused them any harm?"

"… If it's doing me any harm I'm at least not noticing it?"

"I am not seeing any harm. It does seem to have the built-in safeties that natural gifts have."

"Oh, they have built-in safeties?"

"Yeah, believed to be the cause why people with natural gifts can cast spell safely, it forces the magic not to go haywire."

"Huh," he says. "Do some people have shared natural gifts like this? Because if this doesn't quite act the same way then it might mean I can't cast spells safely, even though I have what seems like a natural gift."

"Well, the natural next step would be co-casting something small with me and seeing the result."

"Do they need to keep up the magic detection thing?"

"Nope. We will try a light-warping spell that should be demonstrative enough of lumen as a gift while also being safe, but I think Felix will try keeping up with the divination just in case."

Nod. "What do I need to do?"