"Well, spellwords in specific is the one that gets benefits from intellectual theft. And it can accomplish things like healing, scrying, creating artifacts, we are both under a slightly different translation spells, teleportation, conjuration and manipulation of various forms of matter and energy, protection from same... affecting minds, at least one case of creating minds - a golem. Keep in mind that most spellwords are in a certain power level so you usually have tons of spells that are on the level of, say, create a permanent light and only a few that are on the level of creating a comprehensive fast working healing artifact."

"Also, you have to stay hours and hours reading the spell and when you cast it's gone and you have to read read read again. Unless it's an innate spell."

"Oh, right, there is that too. Every human in Prime is born with an innate spellword, but they need to unlock it. Once that happens, they can cast it as many times they want without ever need memorizing it and you can pivot from your first into new ones with a similar effect. The lesser detect food I used earlier was pivoted from an original non-lesser counterpart. In theory there might be a greater detect food, or maybe the wizard pivoted it into detect poisons or something."

Sheila gets a very sharp look in her eye when Herod mentions golems. "Golems never end well."

Sandy waves her off. "Fascinating. And it's all Vancian - that is, you just memorize it, cast it, and then memorize it again? That sounds less versatile than our magic in some ways, but much more reliable. What happens if you fuck it up?"

"Is there a problem with golems here? Because the one that we know was by an account a really nice person. Protector of the helpless and all that."

"An interrupted spell can be spent with no effect, or be spent and give the caster a nasty headache. Unless you mean a spell going out of control because the caster lost concentration? How badly does your magic fuck it up?"

Sheila shakes her head. "Personal experience. Perhaps it's a limitation of our magic system."

"So spells do go out of control if you lose concentration?" Sandy clarifies. "That's what happens with us too. Pity, it was sounding a lot safer than our way. Especially the way Alex does it."

Alex nods agreeably.

"Oh, sorry. Some spells go out of control if you lose concentration, but that depends on the spell. Because some have built-in safeties and some do not. But there is no way I could fuck up detect food or comprehend languages badly enough that will hurt anyone. But it could be something like, control lightning and you need to focus on it or it will escape and destroy whatever it's nearby."

"Oh, that is better than ours," Sandy says. "If you're using our kind of magic at all, you're already in a position to accidentally conjure hobgoblins if a spell gets away from you, no matter what kind of spell it is."

"Hobgoblins are the worst," Alex moans.

"That... that sounds surprisingly complex even without knowing what Hobgoblins are. What are they?"

Alex frowns. "Hobgoblins are like... if you take a little bit of magic and let it twist into what it wants to be instead of what you want it to do, it turns into a little creature that wants to mess up the things around it. Typically that means destroying valuables and other forms of property, rather than causing actual physical harm, but you can get some really mean ones sometimes."

"Charming, and even a translation spell can make one of those?"

"Any time you're handling magic," Alex confirms. "You can destroy them pretty easily, but they can really mess stuff up if you're not expecting them."

"Are there other side-effects? It almost sounds like something empowering vices - demonic magic - would do. Though your kind still is miles ahead in terms of versatility."

Alex shakes his head. “No other side effects. I mean, sometimes a spell will come out wrong because you forgot to account for something while making it, but that’s not a side effect, that’s just bad luck.”

Nod. Nom. "Do Hobglobins have variance in danger or behavior?"

"They're influenced by the caster's subconscious at the time of casting and the amount of power that went into them. If you're in danger they're more aggressive and inclined to protect you; if you're just screwing around they're more likely to just be an annoyance."

"Aww, could you keep one as a pet?"

"Nope. They keep drawing power out of you the longer they last, and if you try to keep one alive it'll eventually just disintegrate. Or explode."

"Aw." Pout.

Herod feeds him a strawberry (quietly wondering why it isn't straw-looking). "It's for the best. Magical pets are big responsibility and I don't think you're ready for that yet."

"Cute," Gavriil says. "You could start with an illusory goldfish."

"Pet rock crystal," Kostas contends.

"Rock crystal isn't inherently magical, just a good conductor," Gavriil argues.

"I know that."

"I know."

Kostas throws a blackberry at him. Gavriil catches it in his mouth.

"Asshole," they say in unison.

"Aww, how adorable. Illusory goldfish sounds pretty. Are they hard to make?"

"A permanent one would be." Alex closes his eyes for a second and a goldfish flops onto the table for a moment, then vanishes in a puff of smoke.

"Now, that's the sort of stuff that makes me jealous. Be able to just imagine stuff and show it to others, like that."