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on the other side
Metamancer Kaede in Henshin
Permalink Mark Unread

Kaede's very unfamiliar with this feeling.

He doesn't have a whole lot of time in which to be unfamiliar with the feeling. Mundanely, it's like he's getting seized, very suddenly and unexpectedly, and yanked, by something all over his body, and in a direction that doesn't exist, a direction that seems to be orthogonal to all three normal directions. Which is odd in itself, but what's even odder is the magic that's doing it. It's really, really, really unlike any spell he has ever seen or felt. It's bigger, much bigger, and much more complex—much more complex even than the ancient artefacts they found, sometimes, more complex even than the golems.

But he doesn't get even a full second to appreciate this before his surroundings are whisked away—or, more likely, he's whisked away from his surroundings—and he finds himself elsewhere.

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Elsewhere appears to involve a tall woman with white hair threatening a man in dark robes with some kind of polearm. The man's arm is bleeding. They are speaking a language he doesn't know. The man gestures triumphantly at Kaede, then actually looks at him and squalks in a panic. The woman hits him across the head with the shaft of her weapon, knocking him unconscious.

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What.

"What."

...he metaphorically squints at them.

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They are both highly magical, both in different ways! The now-unconscious man appears to have some kind of magical overlay over most of his sensory organs, including his brain. He also has some kind of magical object attached to his wrist, which appears to, among other things, be casting some kind of net around his brain. The woman appears to be two of the same kind of magic superimposed over each other and attached by something that appears to originate from both.

The magic that brought him here was less complicated than anything he's seeing on either of them by at least an order of magnitude. Probably more.

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This. Is. Fascinating.

Also absurd and bizarre, but hey. He waves.

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...She waves, and then says something in a language he doesn't recognize.

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He shrugs, then says something in a language she doesn't recognise.

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She tries what he may or may not recognize as several other languages he does not recognize!

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He shakes his head, and tries the other two languages he does know (less well than the first one), but expects a similar result.

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Yeah, she demonstrably has no clue what he's saying.

She makes a brief frustrated face, and the two halves of the thing keeping her superimposed layers connected--desync--

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--And she splits into two people--

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--Each with one layer of magic.

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Whhhooooooaaaaa okay hooooly what.

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One of them giggles at the look on his face and then says something to the other. It is still in a language he doesn't understand.

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And the other one says something and then there is something--sort of like the thing that was keeping her magic synced with the other one's. One--tendril--of it gently attaches to her brain and another attempts to attach to his.

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay no. Nononono he is not letting a weird tendril thing touch his brain, nope.

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When the tendril fails to connect the whole thing dissolves. She looks at him in surprise, starts to say something in querying tone, cuts herself off, purses her lips for a moment, then goes to the unconscious man, unrolls his sleeve to show the thing on his wrist, and makes an inquisitive noise.

Permalink Mark Unread

Er, he has no idea what—why is he bothering with this. He raises a hand in what's a universal "wait" gesture and watches to see if she understands.

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Well, she puts the man's wrist down and watches him.

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He sits on the ground, cross-legged, closes his eyes, and starts saying things. He makes it sound a bit chant-y and every now and then does gestures, but really he's just describing the spell he's casting in a lot of detail.

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Her expression makes it pretty clear she thinks he's being really weird but she doesn't interrupt.

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And then he's done.

Testing? You getting this? he sends the telepathic message.

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Uh, yes, but if you're okay with telepathy why did you block mine?

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I didn't know it was just telepathy, I saw a weird tendril trying to attach itself to my brain and, well. This is very unfamiliar magic.

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You saw a weird tendril? I've never heard a sorcerer describe it like that before.

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Not a sorcerer, I don't even know what 'sorcery' is. The magic here looks really unfamiliar, enough so to make me suspect I am at least on a different planet. Given his clothes, perhaps the planet he's from is also in the Middle Ages.

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I had not actually been aware that it was possible to fuck up a spell quite like that. My erstwhile opponent was trying to summon backup. I interrupted him.

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Where was he going to summon backup from? And, er, hello, you, too, he says, sending that last part to the both of them so the other girl doesn't feel left out.

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From wherever he keeps his minions? Definitely on this planet, though.

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Hi! You should have seen the look on your face when we defused.

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It was bizarre I hadn't realised you were two people and then your magic got all separated and it was super cool but the weirdest thing I've ever seen.

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Separated?

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Well it was all in sync, it was clearly two parts but they were kept together by some weird—thing, I can't describe, this is nothing like magic where I'm from and it's so much more complex—and then you lost sync and were two people and at the same time had two bodies and it was weird.

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Where are you from?

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Continent's named Galatea, planet's self-centredly named same, the country I was born in is Laokab.

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...So you're from another planet or another universe or something.

Hm. Is the gravity the same?

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Yeah? Within the bounds of perception, could be slightly different but I wouldn't have noticed.

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I wouldn't necessarily expect different planets to have the same gravity. What's the geography like?

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Me neither, but I think I'd be way out of balance otherwise and also am not sure humans would have been able to exist in radically different gravities. By the way, humans here too: freaky.

Geography is one big triangular continent on the southern hemisphere, long mountainous continent to the west, frozen continent to the south, magic eternal storm to the north so who knows.

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Yeah, that's really weird. Do you mind if we let my mother analyze your genetics to see if you're really the same species or just a case of bizarrely convergent evolution?

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Genetics being? I'm getting a concept like study of heritability?

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Yes, exactly. Genetics is the study of DNA, which is the molecule responsible for determining all the things about an organism that are transmitted from parent to child.

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Molecule being... arrangement of very small things matter is made of, I'm getting. That is awesome.

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Yeah. What's the level of science like where you're from?

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I have no idea how to compare, especially with such different magic. We know about gravity and unexceptionable laws of physics and astronomy but some planets go wrong so the theory of gravity must be incomplete, stuff like that...?

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What's your theory of gravity like?

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Constant times mass times mass divided by distance squared?

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Yeah, that's right. Maybe you have more planets than your calculations are accounting for.

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Huh. Possibly, I wouldn't know, not an astronomer.

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Our solar system has objects in it that we didn't know about until we used gravitational anomalies to tell us where to look.

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That's really cool! If I ever find my way back I'm gonna tell my scientists this stuff.

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Yeah. If.

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If I was gotten, I can be sent, right? Stands to reason.

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...Well, theoretically.

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And my type of mage happens to do metamagic, isn't that fun.

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The problem is how dangerous experimenting would be.

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I can probably figure that one out, too.

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Be very sure.

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I might need to stare for a few hours or days, but I can be. Meantime, what were you asking about the magical thing around that guy's wrist?

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Oh, I was asking if you were an artifact user and that was how you blocked my telepathy.

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Oh, no. And artefacts are something else where I'm from.

Also: gosh that is such a pretty girl isn't it.

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Does he like girls in slightly ridiculous, ostentatiously magical outfits? Then probably, yes.

What are artefacts like where you're from?

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As far as he knows the dress is just local fashion for people who do magic.

Any magical objects. One of the three kinds of actively magical people can create them by pushing a definition of an effect into it and then spending mana.

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No one knows how to make our kind of artifact anymore.

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Oh, lost knowledge of the Ancients, do I know this song.

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Oh?

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Lots of spells and artefacts that we sometimes find lying around cannot be reproduced. People say it's because the Age of Gods is over or some such and the gods have left Galatea, but I say it's because nowadays people coincidentally think being a metamancer is a sin so no one ever uses us for what we could do, e.g. build fancy artefacts.

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Think being a metamancer is a sin.

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Oh, yes. Or, well, just being one isn't, as long as you don't hold public office or do anything of import or ever ever perform any magic.

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Her response is nonverbal and best described as the emotional equivalent of performing an anatomically impossible number of rude gestures at the same time while attempting to set the idea on fire.

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My thoughts exactly. Punishment for performing metamancy, or hiding a metamancer, is of course death.

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You're right. We do need to figure out a way back there.

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Mmhm. I want to fix that but that is a very long-term project.

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Hmm.

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He grins at her. Meanwhile, any good projects I can help with, right here? What exactly did I walk in on, why were you fused with her and knocking out a dude?

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Long story. Short version is that sometimes magic users--not magical girls, but sorcerers and artifact users--get stuck in destructive emotional feedback loops, decide to do something horribly destructive, and have to be stopped before people get hurt.

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I see. 'Magical girls' is a separate category?

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Magical girls, sorcerers and artifact users are the three kinds of magic users; it's possible to be more than one. My sister and I are magical girls; our erstwhile opponent is a sorcerer and an artifact user both.

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Why girls in particular?

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Well, it happens to boys, too, but less often.

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'Happens to'?

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So the way you become a sorcerer is you get a pre-existing sorcerer to cast a spell on you, and then you spend minutes to hours writhing in pain as the magic burns itself into various sensory organs. The way you become an artifact user is by finding an artifact that doesn't belong to anyone and is compatible with you. The way you become a magical girl--or boy--is by wanting to do good you don't currently consider yourself capable of strongly enough and then happening to get noticed by--well, no one knows what it is, really, but it gives you visions of the good you could do with magical girl powers and then offers you the choice to become a magical girl or not, and if you take it then you become one.

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...I'm not sure I have the appropriate mental architecture to not consider myself capable of doing something, is that part strictly necessary?

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I don't know. No one's been able to interrogate the thing and trying to pin down what a bunch of almost invariably adolescents were feeling exactly at a moment they nearly never know to be watching is an inexact science at best.

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I'm feeling so left out. Even if my gender's not that fixed and constant.

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Lots of people aren't magical girls.

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Yeah, I figured. That does not make me feel any less left out.

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How old are you, anyway?

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Eighteen of my years, the telepathy spell should send you an equivalent -

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Same year length.

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Add it to the "what the fuck" coincidence pile.

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...really? Three hundred sixty-five days and change? That is freaky. Er, anyway, why is my age relevant?

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Magical girls generally activate as teenagers. Eighteen is--not impossible, but pushing it.

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They can activate from anywhere on the planet, there is a—thing—that activates them and—is it everywhere?

He tries looking for a thing.

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There's no grand sweeping ambient thing like that.

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It does not seem to be everywhere.

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Hm.

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Yeah, he shrugs. So, I could spend a while interrogating you about magic, but, er. He looks around.

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They are in a basement with possibly creepy ratios of blank grey cement to other things.

We're not in a hurry, but yeah, might make more sense to deal with this guy and continue after.

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Mmhm. Want help with that?

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Thanks but no thanks, at this stage dealing with him means contacting the correct authorities and waiting for them so he doesn't escape.

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Ah. How... practical.

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The authorities here don't execute people for practicing the wrong kind of magic.

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Yes, I figured that much from your reaction to the very concept.

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Although if you wanted to watch him while I searched his stuff that'd be great, actually.

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Okay! Should I do anything if he wakes up? I could bind a sleep spell or swing something heavy at him.

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A sleep spell is less likely to give him brain damage than blunt force trauma is, right?

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Yeah.

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Let's go with that one, then.

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He starts describing the effect of the spell and its target in plain language and binding the spell to it.

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Edie does not speak his language! She therefore does not know this is exactly what he's doing, but she trusts that he knows what he's doing.

She and her sister start going through his things--mostly his papers, but also the other miscellaneous objects he has down here.

Permalink Mark Unread

After about a minute or so, he casts the spell—and now the guy is under for a good long while.

When this telepathy spell runs out, can we start using yours? I have a limited amount of magic and have not yet explored ways of renewing it in this world.

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Yep, we can totally do the thing I tried to do when you first showed up.

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Look, you're pretty but I wasn't about to use that as a basis to judge what you wanted to do with the weird mind tentacle thing!

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Your judgement is sound! And yet, I am still amused.

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Oh shut up.

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We'll see. So how much longer is this spell likely to last?

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It'll last exactly one hour from the moment I cast it.

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We should probably check how precisely your hours match ours, if there's any way to do that, at some point, but that's a precise enough measure for now. I'll cast again then.

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It's even more bizarre that we have the same concept for that. Sixty minutes, sixty seconds each? One second being—this?

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Yeah, that's about right.

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Why would our completely different cultures and magical traditions have the same time divisions?

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I really don't know.

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He sighs. Well. Dude's knocked out, won't wake up for a good long while.

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That's good.

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Found it.

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Found what?

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So remember when you asked why we were fighting that guy, and we said, "it's a long story, but here's a general answer"? This is part of the longer more specific answer.

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I am curious about the longer, more specific answer.

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Understandably. But--call me paranoid, but I'd rather wait to share it until we're out of here.

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Naturally. My curiosity can wait.

(Correction: two very pretty girls. This is a little bit overwhelming and he is so not complaining.)

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Good.

And then she is enveloped in light and when it disappears she is no longer wearing a dress, but a shirt and a pair of pants with a slightly ridiculous number of pockets in it. Her magic's still there, but it's gone dormant. She takes a nonmagical object out of one of the pockets, pokes at it, and starts talking into it.

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- what was that?

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She detransformed.

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I might need more context, here.

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Magical girls have to activate their magical girl forms in order to use their magic. She just deactivated hers. Magical girl forms have associated outfits and she turned back so she could access her phone, which was in her mundane clothes for safekeeping.

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...this is so ridiculously beyond any magic I have ever seen I can't even -

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How so?

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This implies her mundane clothes were somewhere else and kept safe while she was wearing—whatever that was—and the sheer amount of magic I just saw change states -

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It's stranger than our fusing?

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It's—differently strange? Or, about the same level of strangeness but different flavour, I guess.

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You know that the human body has way more mass than a set of clothing, right?

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Yes... Well I guess I hadn't processed that when you two were that—fused person—your bodies must've been somewhere else rather than just... mushed up there.

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Lady Ironheart has more mass than my sister or I but not as much as both of us put together.

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I can see magic not mass, as far as I knew she was a superdense hyperlady.

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Nah, she'd've moved differently.

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Maybe not, your magic's complex enough it wouldn't surprise me at all if it could deal with that, too.

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I mean I guess it could have--disguised her weight, somehow--but, hm, interfering with the gravitational constant seems like a less--elegant--solution than just not having something be superdense.

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You're messing with physics anyway, aren't you? Tucking stuff away who-knows-where.

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I don't know if that's even really how it works, but yeah, the laws of physics get fucked with regularly. It's just, hm, I would expect screwing with gravity to need more...maintenance...than Lady Ironheart seems to need on that level.

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If you say so. I have no intuitions about this magic.

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I'm not a theoretician but intuition I have!

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He grins.

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It'd be great if you could figure more stuff out about our magic. Our lost knowledge of the ancients was due to actual lost knowledge, not deliberate self-crippling.

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Yeah, I can probably do that. After we wrap up here I'd like to stare at an artefact and some other magic for a while, see what I can figure out.

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That should be easy to arrange.

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Cool!

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Some people are private about what exactly their artifacts do but not everyone and I know someone who owes me a favor.

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What does that one do? he asks, pointing at the one the sorcerer's wearing.

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Mm, not actually sure what was that and what was sorcery, but it seemed to be some kind of--long-term mind-influencing thing.

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Hmmm... He walks over to it and looks.

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Well, it's not currently doing anything except being attached to the unconscious guy.

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When I arrived I noticed it had a sort of... net thing... around the guy's brain, he explains, continuing to look at it.

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At a guess that would be its--attachment to him--but I don't know.

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So artefacts get attached to people... I wonder if I could undo that attachment.

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Good question.

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Would that be worthwhile?

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I wouldn't prioritize it without a lot more thought, there's a lot of--cultural stuff--and suddenly introducing a new "thing that it is possible to do to people without their consent" is, um, complicated.

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Fair enough.

More staring!

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It is really complicated!

It seems to have something to do with chemicals, maybe.

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This is ridiculously complicated, have I mentioned that?

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I think you might've.

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Yeah. It is.

Stare stare staaaaaare.

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It has something to do with a whitelisted subset of chemicals.

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He will definitely need to stare at it for a very, very long time to conclude this. The two girls are likely to wrap whatever they're doing up before that happens.

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Yep. It's also possible the authorities might arrive before then.

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One of those things.

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The authorities would like to take this person away now but if he wants to stare at the man's artifact that can probably be arranged at some point.

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Sure! He can do that later, he was definitely not getting anywhere fast.

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Here's a business card.

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Thank you kindly.

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He's welcome!

They leave.

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So, now that that's dealt with, what do you want to deal with next?

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I know about nothing of your world, or your magic, or the two of you. My comparative advantage is figuring magic out, but that is bound to take a tremendously long time given how enormously complex magic here is, if you have any other suggestions I'd appreciate them.

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Let me rephrase that. Do you want to do magic stuff now, or would you rather figure out where you're going to live and stuff like that first?

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Probably better to figure the second thing out first, I am not kidding when I say 'tremendously long time,' I'm talking hours maybe even days.

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We can put you up at least to start out with; I don't know what you want in the long term.

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Fix every problem that can be fixed and then figure out why the others can't be fixed and fix them anyway.

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...Admirable, but not a lodging preference.

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Oh, I don't really have long-term lodging preferences, I've been sort of living everywhere. He kicks the backpack that got brought with him. I have some pretty handy artefacts here like this one tent that's really cosy, I can deal.

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Well, you can sleep on our couch to start out with and we can figure out something else whenever, then.

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Sounds good! 'Our'? So you two live together?

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Yeah.

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How'd you two start doing—this? Together, that is? The whole fighting evil thing?

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We're twins.

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Oh, cool! Do twins that do this get the magical fuse-into-one thing?

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Not necessarily--it's not a twin thing, it's a--group thing? Sometimes magical girls activate in "teams" instead of individually and sometimes team members can fuse.

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What are the advantages of fusing?

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Stronger magic.

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Stronger than just adding the two magics together?

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Frequently. It depends on how well-synced you are.

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Your magic is fascinating and befuddling.

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I've never actually heard it described that way before!

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I think it's likely no one had the appropriate senses to figure out how befuddling it is!

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Sorcerers can sense magic!

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Oooh, I wanna become one!

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Reasonable. Just be careful.

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Is it dangerous?

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It's not super dangerous but remember what I said about emotional feeback loops causing villainy?

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Yeah?

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That.

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How do these feedback loops work, exactly?

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Um, I've never been in one, at all, but--apparently if you do a lot of magic while in a strong emotional state, it's easier to get--stuck--in that brainspace and then if you do more magic while like that it sort of happens again...

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Huh. And that's a magical thing?

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Yeah.

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So maybe I'll be able to see it coming via more than mere introspection, like I did with the tendril.

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Might depend on how exactly it works.

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Yeah. How many sorcerers are there and how many turn evil?

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Uh, ballpark of a few million, I think--and not that many go evil really, but some of them fake it...

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Order of a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand?

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It's hard to be sure, exactly, because if a sorcerer commits a crime feedback loops are a great defense regardless of veracity, and the available statistics suggest it wobbles over time--and most sorcerers and artifact users experience some feedback-looping, what's rare is having it get quite this bad--but, mm, ballpark of ten thousand.

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So order of one percent chance—is it addictive at all?

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Magic? Or the feedback loops?

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Magic, or sorcery in specific.

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Generally no. It wouldn't shock me to find an addictive artifact, though.

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So if I find myself going down on a loop I can stop using sorcery? Or you can stop me, since it seems to be your job and all.

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Please don't make us hunt you down and defeat you, we can't always do it nonlethally.

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I won't, promise.

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Good. It's not super dangerous, just, like I said. Be careful.

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Will do.

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Good. How are you at heights?

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Are you going to take me flying somewhere?

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Well, I don't think there's much point staying here any longer.

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I think you're right. I would love to be flown wherever.

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Excellent.

She says something in her language, brightly, and wings with crystalline feathers flickering with transient images flare into existence on her back.

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Ooooh pretty! Also my spell is about to run out.

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She says another thing. Tendril?

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Tendril!

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Another tendril branches off and attaches to the other girl.

Testing.

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Hello!

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Hi!

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The other one says something that sounds like a dramatic speech by the tone and performs a short piece of choreography while her magic reactivates.

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What are you doing?

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Re-transforming.

The speech and dance are actually tied to the reactivation, if he can see that.

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He can definitely see it, it's much simpler to see magical connections when they're moving like that.

You need to do a little dramatic speech?

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Yeah.

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...I kinda wanna be a magical girl even more, now.

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Really?

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Yeah! Rocking outfits and a dramatic speech and a pose to get super magic powers, sign me up.

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Fair warning, these things are culturally coded as silly-to-undignified.

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I am the sort of person that takes this as encouragement.

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Kudos, then.

She says a phrase. Her wings are feathered in steel.

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Do all magical girls get wings?

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Nah, but if one member of a team does it's very likely the other(s) also will.

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What-all are your powers?

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There's kind of a lot of them, we've been at this for years.

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You get more powers the longer you've been doing this, then?

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We get new spells at arbitrary levels of personal achievement.

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And is your house very close to here?

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We fly very fast.

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Well, you can tell me about just some of them, then.

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Might not be the best place to start, come to think of it.

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Oh?

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It might be better to try explaining more background stuff about magical girls before going into specific spells.

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Oh, fair enough.

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We should probably get in the air before I get in too deep explaining; do you have a preference for who carries you?

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Nope, up to you.

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Edie scoops him up.

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He is terribly pleased by this whole turn of events.

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Good.

They take to the air.

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So, the speech and the posing are all determined by the magic, and you also get an attached name.

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How positively designed.

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Seems likely, yeah. So the name typically describes a sort of--theme--the magical girl has.

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What are yours?

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I'm Iron Maiden Magnetar and she's Psychic Maiden Cerebella.

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...Maiden? And I assume your theme is metal and hers is brain stuff?

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"Maiden" is just for aesthetics, there's a magical girl called Mystical Mirror Madchen and she's not, like, a little girl. And basically, yeah, but, like--it's an aesthetic theme as much as "what powers will you have," like, I'm metal-themed so when I get wings they have metal feathers, does that make sense?

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Nope, no sense at all, there is no way metal wings are actually lifting you.

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They don't actually exist in exactly the same way that conventional metals do. They have all the properties of what they're supposed to be except the ones that would be inconvenient for the spell's purposes.

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Like mass?

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Well, they have some mass, just not as much.

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I think I get you anyway, theme and vague influence over powers.

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You might get two ridiculous outfits, if you can swing activation.

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'Cause of the gender thing?

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Mhm!

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That'd be awesome! How are the outfits chosen, exactly?

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Not sure. Generally you're more likely to like your own than someone else's but they all have a very...itself...aesthetic that not everyone likes.

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Can you change anything about it after you get it?

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Not normally. I mean, fusions don't have exactly the same outfits as either component, but I don't think that's what you meant.

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No, it's not. What if your clothes aren't very warm and it's winter?

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That generally fails to be a problem.

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Because of magic?

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Yeah, it's the same sort of thing as the wings failing to be too heavy.

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...there's a part of me hoping I get a really skimpy outfit.

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Your prerogative.

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I think it's the magic's, isn't it?

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Yes, but you have a significantly better chance than me at influencing the magic.

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Fair enough, I guess. What sorts of themes are there around?

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Uh, lots, you're going to have to be more specific.

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I mean just, like, some random representative examples or just what you might've thought of.

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Mm, there's Mystical Mirror Madchen, like I said, and Glorious Anodyne Aria, and the Muses, and Lady Frost Striker...

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...yeah that doesn't sound like it generalises at all.

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Themes are really diverse, yeah.

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Have there been proper repeats yet that are not in the same team?

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Proper repeats defined how?

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Like someone whose theme and powers are about being psychic? Or about magnetism and metal?

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I can't think of anyone who does 'magnetism' off the top of my head but there's other magical girls who do metal and at least one other with mind powers.

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Huh. Alright, cool.

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Any idea what you'd want?

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Way too open-ended, and I don't even know yet how the theme influences the powers! It'd be cool if whatever it was could be converted back into mana of my kind of magic.

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Dunno what to tell you there.

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I haven't tried to touch any of this magic yet, don't know if it's convertible or copiable or what. Magic here doesn't seem to be finite like it is at home.

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Huh. Yeah, I wouldn't really describe magic as finite.

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All magic back home, with potentially one exception, is human-originated, and needs human-originated mana to be run. Mages don't really have an upper-bound on mana, but we are born with zero and generate it at a constant rate from there.

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What's the potential exception?

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Huge storm that hasn't stopped for the last few hundred years and prevents all exploration of the northern hemisphere.

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Huh. That sucks.

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Yeah. I was planning on visiting it someday and seeing whether I can figure anything about it out—maybe drain some mana off it or something—but yeah.

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Well, maybe we can get you back there.

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I'm sure you will, but I'd like to rack up on the magical and economic goodies before that, and perhaps find a way to open a permanent portal or something. Gains from trade everywhere!

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Indeed.

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Is there anything else I should know about magical girls?

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Probably but most of it is kind of--backgroundy, to me, I'm not sure I'm thinking of everything...

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I won't hold it against you.

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Mmkay. Using magical girl magic is tiring, like you've got a whole new muscle to exhaust...

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Interesting.

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What else...being a magical girl is kind of an automatic sociopolitical boost...

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What, really? Didn't you say it was culturally seen as silly to do the magical girl things, phrases and poses and stuff?

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Oh, the accoutrements are coded silly, but that's more of a meme among magical girls than outside them. Magical girls themselves are generally seen as [nonverbal concept essentially crossing the police, a superhero, and the Girl Scouts, with most of the institutionalization taken out].

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That's really cool! So magical girls in general do this sort of—magical policing thing?

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Yeah!

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Back home there isn't really any one thing mages do, but they all get lots of sociopolitical capital, too, just for being mages. They don't even need to do anything with their magic.

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Huh.

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And it's a monarchy—well, three monarchies—and the laws of succession are somewhat insane. Technically it is law that the rulers must be mages.

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Sore topic?

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Mmm... more or less. Complicated and somewhat emotionally heavy.

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Should we leave it alone or would you rather talk about it?

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...leaning talk about it because, er, I never could. It's kinda—but if we do open a portal back it has to—well I suppose merely the fact that you know I'm a metamancer means if you tell people back home about it I will be effectively exiled.

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Shan't say a word about you without your consent.

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So, ah, I'm technically royalty. Because of historic reasons the whole continent that used to have several countries became three kingdoms, and my father is king of one of them.

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...Go on...

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And remember the part where I come from a theocracy where metamancers can be executed if they're found using their magic? So, I found out I was a mage significantly younger than most people do, and I borrowed my mother's, except she's not the right kind of mage to rule my country, so my father was—not happy. And then one day I borrowed him and he realised what was going on.

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Oh dear.

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He was—not happy—the succession laws meant I could marry someone with the right magic or he could have other children but children of mages aren't actually more likely to be mages, people just think they are—but being a metamancer I wasn't allowed to have anything to do with any of it at all. After a few years my mother decided she didn't want him to abuse me anymore and took me and left, and I guess he must've told other people because soon after we were both wanted for treason and heresy.

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I see.

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Which are of course capital crimes. So. We fled. They found my mum one day while I was out. So I made a spell that changed my face.

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Huh. Is it rude if I ask what you really look like?

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Not rude, but I'd rather not spend the mana until I find a way to replenish it—unlike the other kinds of mages, metamancers can't produce our own mana so we have to rely on other methods of getting it.

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My telepathy can do images.

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Oh. Then when I was a boy I looked like this, and like this as a girl. Pause. Currently look like this when I'm a girl.

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Pretty.

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Why, thank you, he sends, smugly.

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So I've been thinking about it, and I was wondering, when you said introducing change to your world would be slow, what kind of tactics were you thinking of?

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Depends on the kind of change, I guess? What I'd been going for was trying to find the secretive group of heretics who think metamancers aren't terrible while getting some sociopolitical capital in one of those Guilds, and I'd figure it out from there.

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How do you feel about leveraging this world's magic and metamancy to get rid of the ginormous storm and found a country with freedom of religion and strict anti-persecution laws that don't specifically mention metamancers but definitely apply to them, and making it such a nice place to live that the other countries are outcompeted?

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I feel like I might want to marry you.

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Down boy. We've only just met.

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Yes, ma'am.

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Glad to hear you like the idea, though. This will take lots of planning. Pick up much useful about, like, how countries are run before your asshole dad found out about you?

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Father, not dad, and yeah, actually. He had enough cognitive dissonance I kept having lessons on these things even after he found out I was a metamancer.

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Cognitive dissonance?

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I was a metamancer, so ineligible for the throne, but still his child, so the logical and emotional choice. I'm not sure he had made up his mind on what he'd do with me other than periodic abuse by the time my mother fled with me.

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I'm really tempted to overthrow him and put him in jail on the grounds that he's obviously unfit to have power over anything more cognitively complex than a goldfish but that might be a bad idea.

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The only actual law he has actually broken involved not immediately telling on me.

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I mean yeah but the relevant laws appear to be shitty enough that I'm not sure if that's relevant.

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Overthrowing him wouldn't be enough to change the laws, though, you'd need to overthrow the other two and possibly the [word that almost but not quite translates to 'Church'] before you could get anywhere. I think your idea of founding a new country is better.

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Yeah. I know.

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Besides, as far as rulers go, he's pretty decent.

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You probably have low standards, if all of them are supporting the 'burn the metamancer' paradigm.

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They don't necessarily support it, and anyway it's a very strong cultural background and publicly going against it would be—well, quite literal suicide. So their expressed positions needn't be their sincere ones.

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Mm.

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The whole system of incentives is very well-built against us.

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Well we're going to set the system of incentives on fire, so.

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We are, he says, and he injects those words with a lot of fondness. So while we did just meet and it's way too early for a marriage and you're technically carrying me in a very undignified way do you wanna go on a date with me at some point?

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Sure! What kind of activities are considered datelike where you're from?

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Well that went significantly better than it could've! He'll already count it as a win.

Depends on whether you mean my kingdom or my world, but in general going to pretty places and doing various pair activities is standard. Going for walks, eating together, watching a play if you have a lot of money.

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Sounds pretty similar, although here it's less likely to be 'play' than 'movie'--we probably have more technology than you do--a movie is a nonmagical audio/visual recording.

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Ooh! How's that work?

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The most primitive versions involve light projected through translucent images that go by very fast. The current versions involve...data handling technology. I can try to explain computers but I'm not sure which end you prefer I start from.

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'End'?

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Like, from how to use them, or how they work?

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Ooh! Well, give me an overview of what they do then go into how they work?

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She will explain computers!

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Computers are so amazing.

(She is also so amazing. He might be leaking that a bit with the telepathy. It might not be wholly subconscious.)

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Oh, she likes this one.

That might also get not-subconsciously-leaked.

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Eeeeeee!

You know, when I said 'gains from trade' I'd been thinking about magic but if this is the kind of technology you have I think that works way better!

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It's more scalable!

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Yeah! And, okay, if you have this kind of thing what other kinds of awesome things do you have? He points at a car down on the street. Does that run on not-magic?

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That runs on a different kind of not magic!

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I think your world is way better than mine in like every way.

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Yeah, you're probably right. It's possible your Ancients had a cooler culture than ours?

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Maybe. Not a whole lot of it's around, we can infer they were pretty lavishly magical based on the ruins but other than that a lot's been lost.

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Yeah, that's pretty much what we've got too.

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I wonder if we should infer anything from this sample of two.

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Two isn't really statistically significant.

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It isn't. Three might be.

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Too bad we don't have a third.

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After we fix my world and figure yours out we can go looking for others.

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Maybe they won't have Ancients.

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And if they also do have Ancients I think we might have to start getting worried.

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Yeah.

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But we have a long time before we need to worry about that I think, with a lot of meaningful work to do.

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This is true!

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He beams.

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Gosh, he really is awfully cute.

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He is! It is only partially by design.

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Yes, his original face was also cute.

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He would like to think his personality is cuter than his faces.

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Cuteness is a measure of visual aesthetic! His personality may be a greater contributor to his faces' cuteness than his bone structure is but it is still his faces that are cute. That's her story and she's sticking to it.

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Fine fine.

By the way, given that we seem to now have a date, I should ask about your preferences with respect to, er, genders.

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Oh, I don't actually care.

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I think you in particular might actually be slightly prettier as a girl but that's more about your facial structure than, like, a general principle?

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I object! I am equally gorgeous in both shapes!

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Beauty is highly subjective, I'm afraid.

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Pfah, I say. Pfah!

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So sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

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I will endure, somehow.

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Be brave!

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I shall! Will you help me if I falter?

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Gosh, I don't know. What would help entail?

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Emotional support and lots of snuggling?

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This I can do!

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Oh good. And look, I'm even in a good position for it.

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Gosh, you are. How did that happen?

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I haven't the faintest clue. Completely sneaked up on me!

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You should be more alert. Who knows what kinds of things might sneak up on you next time?

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You are absolutely right, he says, and then squints at her.

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She giggles. It's a bit late to be watching out for me. Considering that I'm carrying you pretty far off the ground.

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Well, yes, but I can't do much about anything other than you, under the circumstances. The most likely thing to sneak up on me would be if you suddenly turned evil and decided to drop me.

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I'm not the only flier. Something could decide to attack us.

And the view of the ground from up here is pretty marvelous.

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He looks.

Then looks back at her. I think I'll stick to looking at you.

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I left myself wide open for that one, didn't I.

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Yes you did.

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You're adorable.

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Why yes, I am, but thank you for noticing. You happen to be pretty gorgeous yourself.

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Thanks.

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He looks at Emily to see what she's making of all of this.

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Emily is amused with a light pinch of exasperated!

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He grins at her.

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She makes an exaggerated eye-roll at him.

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Sorry. Should I stop?

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No, it's fine, I just reserve the right to make exaggerated facial expressions about my sister being gooey at someone.

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I suppose it's your sisterly duty to be appropriately exasperated by that.

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Exactly!

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But it's not my fault, she was the one who suggested founding a new country and fixing every problem.

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She giggles. Just a more efficient version of what she was already doing.

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He raises an eyebrow at Edie.

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Trying to put together a coalition of magical girls who were or could be working on fixing all the problems so we can pool our resources and do it more efficiently.

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This is really flattering.

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What, me crushing on you all over again whenever I discover a new thing?

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Yes.

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Well you have only yourself to blame for that.

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I don't think blame is quite the right word.

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Hmm, what word would you use instead?

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Credit?

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I suppose that works, too.

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It's not like you flattering me is a bad thing!

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Oh, no, it is definitely not, I will keep saying true things and reacting to them as the situation calls for it.

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Good.

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Changing subjects a bit, I'm thinking I should probably not be relying only on telepathy for communication.

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Yeah, you're probably right.

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And I'm honestly kinda terrible at languages, but an idea occurs to me—you can talk and send thoughts at the same time, right?

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Yeah.

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So you could speak in your language and do that and I could try to catch the meanings and memorise them. And maybe whenever I want to say something I send it first and you tell me how to say it.

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That sounds like it would work. Well, once we've landed, we're flying fast enough that speaking out loud would be difficult anyway.

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Awesome. When are we landing, anyway?

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Little less than ten minutes.

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Okay, so, what else can you tell me about your magic?

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Where did we leave off again?

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Background assumptions about magical girls.

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Right. She will tell him more things about magical girls!

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He is very curious about pretty much everything.

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Then she will tell him lots of things!

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Ten minutes will fly by like this.

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And they will reach the roof of an apartment building!

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Kaede might be a teeny bit reluctant to let go.

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Aww. They can hold hands?

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Yaaay!

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You're adorable.

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Thank you! And here we can do the talking-while-telepathing thing.

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"You're adorable," she says aloud.

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"You're adorable," he repeats like he's both tasting the words and saying them. He has an accent, but then, how wouldn't he?

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Of course he does. It's a nice accent. "The door's there," she says, pointing to the door to the inside of the building.

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"The door's?" You have a single word for the subject and the verb?

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"It's a contraction. The door is. The door's."

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Oh, interesting. Some languages in the north have stuff like that, but I never learnt them. How do I say all that in—what's the name of your language?

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"English." And she repeats the words for him.

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He repeats them right back, and grins.

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She smiles back. And then they can go inside and he can be introduced to the wonderful world of apartment buildings!

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There are actually apartment buildings where he's from! Although most stuff is magical—even the sofas are.

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What, really? What is the point of magical sofas.

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They float.

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That seems...sort of wasteful, if his kind of magic is finite.

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It is a bit, but making things merely float is one of the cheapest kinds of artefacts, as these things go. And not all apartments have sofas, but usually if you have money to live in an apartment you have money to have a floating sofa.

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"Are most people homeless, or are apartments a higher-end living arrangement?"

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The latter. Most people live in small houses in towns that do not have apartment buildings.

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"Most people here live in cities, and an apartment is cheaper than a house by a lot."

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Cities aren't really a thing outside Teinnab, and there they are large opulent stone things that float high above the earth—or water, it's mostly swamps there.

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"So it sort of seems like your world's thing is 'how can we do this thing as inconveniently as possible'."

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Those are actually relics from the Ancients, no one can make them without metamancers. Basically, the Ancients were lavishly magical and nowadays it is seen as high status to be lavishly magical even if it's impractical.

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"All while actually magically crippling themselves."

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Well, they don't think they're crippling themselves, I'm pretty sure the majority of people genuinely believe metamancers are corrupt and influenced by an evil god. But yes.

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"I'm going to find the person who made up that idea in the first place, resurrect them, and punch them in the face."

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It's not entirely obvious that it was one person, he sends, while also sending the emotion that Edie is incredibly hot.

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"Then I will resurrect and facepunch multiple people."

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Aaaaaahh she is so incredibly attractive what do.

It was very likely just cultural drift.

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"Mm. Well, it had to start somewhere."

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Probably started with the multiple wars involving metamancers capable of singlehandedly laying waste to small armies and the one metamancer who almost conquered the whole continent.

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"I'll punch him in the face, then!"

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He giggles. There is not a whole lot recorded about that period of time. We're not even sure of that person's name. If there weren't abundant ruins everywhere I might even doubt such a war ever took place.

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She nods. "I will wait on the forensic archaeology before facepunching. It would be a shame to accidentally facepunch an innocent person."

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Yeah. Not sure anything other than extremely powerful magic will be able to figure out enough about the past for that, though. Is past-watching a thing, here?

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"Yeah. Got a temporal range limit, though."

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Order of days, weeks, years, decades, centuries...? And is it a hard limit or can it be expanded?

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"It's not, like, a universal limit, it's that sorcerers don't know how to do it so it's, like, one artifact effect and a handful of magical girl spells? I think the longest-ranging one was a few centuries but I don't know if that's a hard or soft limit."

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"I'm going to," he starts haltingly, then sends, guess? "That it is a soft limit," he finishes slowly.

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"Guess," she supplies. "Why do you think it's a soft limit?"

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He tries to think of how to say this in English then gives up and sends, Because there are different types of magic with apparently different limits? This seems to imply soft.

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"Oh. You mean of the magic system in general rather than the specific spells and so on."

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"Yes."

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"That makes much more sense!"

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It's not clear if my magic system can't see the future or the past or if it'd just be expensive enough no one has enough mana for it.

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"Hmm. Good question."

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I should look into magical stuff here to see if I can convert mana.

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"Yeah, definitely."

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And speaking of which, do you have a sorcerer handy who can turn me into one?

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"I will be able to find one shortly."

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"Something wrong?" he tries slowly in English.

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"My dad is a sorcerer but he has applicable trauma so we shouldn't ask him."

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"Trauma?"

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"Remember how I said becoming a sorcerer is really painful?"

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"Yeah?"

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"It also does not strictly speaking require consent."

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"...oh."

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"So my dad is not the person to go to for turning people into sorcerers, not if a better choice is available. I can find someone."

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"Okay. It—" It can wait, anyway. We don't need to have every problem fixed today.

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"Right. We're allowed at least a week."

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"...I do not actually think we can fix everything in a week, more's the pity."

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"I do not think so too," he butchers. "But." You are ridiculously attractive when you're—that.

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"Thank you! I had not previously considered that one of the benefits of being that!"

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Anyway: what now?

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"It's getting late, there's probably not a lot more productive stuff we can get done today besides helping you get settled in." And here is the door to their apartment!

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Oh yes that sounds like a good idea.

Apartment, meet Kaede?

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Kaede meet apartment! It has a couch! The couch does not float!

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Yes but it also has a television. "What is this?"

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"Remember when I was explaining movies and computers?"

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"Yeah?"

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"That's a television. It displays movies and other video."

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"Oooh. Not magic?"

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"Not even a little bit magic!"

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"Nice."

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"Mhm. If you're really interested in this stuff you should probably ask Emily; most of what I know about it I absorbed from her."

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- it occurs to me I have never introduced. I'm Kaede. He looks at Emily. Emily's your sister, I presume?

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Yep.

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"And my name's Edie."

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It is a tremendous pleasure to meet the two of you, he sends, doing an exaggerated bow that's not exactly one Edie will recognize but similar enough that its meaning is clear.

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"I mean, it's a bit late for that, considering that you already asked me out and we've been flirting since."

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It's never late to show proper form and courtesy to people.

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"We don't so much have bowing protocols for meeting new people here, I hope you shan't be too terribly offended if I don't reciprocate."

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It's mostly a royalty thing where I'm from, anyway, he sends, straightening up.

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"Royalty that bows or royalty that is bowed to?"

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"The two things." Both?

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"Both," she supplies.

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"Both," he agrees. The higher up you are, the lower you bow, to indicate your rank does not make you better than other people. The rulers typically kneel.

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"Huh. Not bad."

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"Different here?"

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"There's lots of different customs surrounding royalty depending on the surrounding culture but a lot of them really do not have the 'your rank does not make you better than other people' thing."

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"Interesting. What do they have—" Instead?

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"Instead," she supplies. "And, um, it varies. There have been a few claims that the royal family were all descended from a god, at least one claim that the King automatically was a god, several of 'appointed by divine right'..."

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Darn his lack of fluency. Rulers back home are thought to be divinely appointed, but that's sort of part of the whole thing? That they're there to serve and protect and use their magic for the common good.

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"Well, not so much these days, but historically 'yes, we are very much better than you' has been a ruler thing."

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It technically is a thing back home, but not an overt thing? It's just, you know, the thing everyone believes, not the thing they actually profess.

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"Yeah."

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"Anyway! Time to me settle in!"

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"Indeed!"

There is a couch. It is a comfy couch. He is not being invited to sleep in Edie's bed (yet). There are various toiletries, they should take him out to get his own versions of same. There is food, is he hungry?

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He was not about to suggest sleeping in Edie's bed (yet). He could definitely eat, though.

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Food: exists, in the form of sandwich fixings and frozen microwaveable things and miscellaneous ingredients.

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Microwaves are a pretty good invention! He likes microwaves. He is also variously curious about various other appliances.

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Other appliances: shall be explained.

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Fascinating! And absolutely no magic! He is enthralled by this world.

(Also enthralled by Edie but like. Not news.)

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It is not news but it is still charming.

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He strives to please!

But soon enough: bed time, he supposes.

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Bed time. Couch can be supplemented by cozy accessories like blankets and pillows.

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Those are very welcome! Good night! Zzzzzz.

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Goodnight.

The twins don't wake him at any particular time in the morning.

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He wakes up on his own a few minutes more than eight hours after falling asleep.

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He may notice that the telepathy-tendril is gone.

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...Edie is probably asleep. Is she asleep?

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Yep. Zzzz.

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So Kaede can wait, cosily wrapped in blankets. He tries to distract himself by trying to find any traces of magic around.

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Not really, not if he's not looking at the twins.

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It's so weird that there aren't magical things here. It's all just technology!!!! That's bizarre!!

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Artifacts exist! Just not in this apartment!

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Well sure, it's the "just not in this apartment" part that's kinda surprising.

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Well, then it can continue to surprise him.

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Yep. It'll be surprising and he'll be snuggly under the blanket and wait for someone else to wake up.

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Emily is at least the first one to wander out of her bedroom, dressed in a lightly frilly nightgown and yawning.

"G'morning."

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...that is one pair of pretty twins, isn't it.

"Morning."

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"...Edie's probably still asleep, let me know when I say words you don't understand."

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He blinks a couple of times, opens his mouth, and closes it, shrugging.

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"Not really surprising," she sighs, mostly to herself. She heads over to the kitchen and gets out a frying pan.

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He gets up and follows her curiously. "Sorry," he says.

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She makes a handwavey "don't worry about it" gesture and starts putting bacon in the pan.

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Ooh smells tasty! He furrows his brows in concentration and tries, "Can I... get some?"

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"Yes, absolutely."

Once the bacon is done she fries eggs sunny-side-up in the bacon grease.

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Oooh.

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And it is at this point that Edie wanders blearily out of her room.

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"Good morning!" he exclaims cheerily.

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"Good morning!" she replies, transforms and casts the telepathy spell.

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He sees the spell, of course.

Much better. I'm gonna take a while to learn to speak the language.

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"Yeah, it's the kind of thing that takes time."

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The speaking while you send thing helps bunches, though.

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"Glad to be of service."

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Now what are these things Emily's making?

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"Bacon and eggs."

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The "eggs" I recognised. "What's 'bacon'?"

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"Do you have pigs?"

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"Yeah."

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"Bacon is an unusually delicious form of pork."

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"It smells very good!"

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"Well, it's supposed to be delicious!"

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He beams, and waits for it all to be done so they can eat together.

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Eggs do not take very long to cook, although Emily takes out a new frying pan and a container of liquid and starts dipping bread in the liquid and frying it.

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"Bacon is delicious."

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"So I've been told!"

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Beam! "So when I am..." When am I going to meet the other members of this household?

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"Household?"

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Do you not live with your parents? I had been under the impression you did.

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"No, our parents have a house."

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"Oh." Pause. How old are you?

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"Nineteen."

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And nineteen-year-olds live alone?

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"Not necessarily alone, but it's typical to move out of the house when you go to college. We could've stayed at home, we go to the same one Mom teaches at, but we decided it would be better to get used to living alone while we still had the ability to see our parents regularly."

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"What is 'college'?"

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"Hmm how does education work where you're from."

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Young people typically either learn their parents' trade or apprentice at various places. Various Guilds offer apprenticeships, too. There are public libraries and there are the public lecturers typical of Laokab—they just go teach people about things in plazas and such—and the private tutors typical of Bezanab—usually hired by nobles to teach their children, sometimes hired by whole towns to teach a few people when they had a particularly profitable year—and the lecture halls and universities of Teinnab—you need to enrol and have various classes and there's complicated political stuff involved in it. Your translation magic made 'college' sound a bit like these universities but not exactly like them.

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"Okay, so here there's primary education, where from the ages of approximately five to thirteen you take mandatory general education, although some of it's skippable if you do well enough, and then there's secondary education, which is from about fourteen to about eighteen, and which is not mandatory but there's social stigma for not completing it. Either or both of these can be replaced by 'homeschooling', which is supposed to teach you all the same things but in a less institutional setting. Then there's college, which involves attending more selective schools where you start specializing in earnest, although some nonzero level of specialization is usually available in secondary education."

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Huh. Why is it mandatory? Who mandates it?

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"The government? And, like, to make sure you don't get people deciding that education was bad for girls or something and not denying their kids a chance to learn stuff."

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That's a thing? The girls thing? Why is it a thing?

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"It is not actually a thing, I guess except maybe outside of some really conservative religious people."

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...why?

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"Does your world not do sexism?"

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Very little? Mostly amongst poor people, townsfolk and stuff, but not a whole lot, not to the point of denying girls education.

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"It's really not a problem, not in this part of the world--I should have used a different example."

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I think I get the gist of it anyway. So education is seen as some fundamental inalienable right here or something?

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"In practice, less than it should be, but yes."

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Interesting. I suppose it works.

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"A lot of people have complaints about public schools but they're a lot better than nothing."

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Are they? I never thought of that as something particularly important that way.

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"Is everyone literate where you're from?"

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"No, but they do not need to be," he enunciates carefully, "to work."

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"There are no words for how much that is not the point."

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"So what is?"

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"People should be able to learn things even if it doesn't benefit potential employers."

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"Employers?" Most people work at their family's farm or business or at whatever trade they picked to learn. There is not a lot of employing going on outside of high born people hiring personal minders and those tend to get a pretty well-rounded education...

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"Okay I think we're hitting some cultural differences but, like--I'm having a really difficult time articulating this, but education is important, I just don't know if any of the examples I can think of would make any sense to you..."

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Try anyway?

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"People who are better educated make better choices for themselves. Advances in spreading information and teaching people things have often been followed by major cultural reform."

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Oh, you meant in that sense. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right.

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"What sense did you think I meant?"

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In the sense of, I guess object-level improvements? I mean, the sense most people would choose—like, if you ask a random farmer what the best improvement to his life would be he would not say 'learning to read' and the government wouldn't, either.

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"Learning to read is an object level improvement, I think, but granted not one that's especially urgent compared to other relevant ones."

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I personally am biased compared to my world's population, I'm pretty sure, but I suppose your world is pretty strong evidence that educating everyone has way better long-term results than I'd been projecting. I'd been mostly thinking of it as a tool to, like, make people start questioning their culture and religion.

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"It's really good for that! But it's also really good for other stuff--like, you might think higher education is useless for a farmer, but no, there's all kinds of scientific agricultural stuff that's really useful for farmers to know."

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Technology is so good. Your world is so good.

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"These things are true!"

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Bacon is also good. Nom.

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Bacon is generally considered to be delicious, yes.

"So it's actually a school break, we don't have major demands on our time for the next while, how do you want to prioritize?"

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Hmm, my comparative advantage is staring at magic, but that's going to be a very long, time-consuming project if your magical girlness and that artefact were anything to go by, unless sorcery is somehow markedly simpler. I can be more directly useful if I manage to find a way to replenish my mana, though, then I can actually do magic without having to worry about not spending it outside emergencies.

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"That makes sense. Well, if you wanted some convenient sorcery to look at, you could poke your head out the window and look at the light pollution ward, although please don't convert any of that into mana if you can do that. I could try some spells and see if you could get mana from them?"

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"Oooh, light pollution ward? And yes, the spells are—" A good idea.

He looks out the window.

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There is a giant magical dome covering the entire city. It's significantly less complicated than any of the other magic things he's seen so far here, but still significantly more complicated than anything he's seen at home.

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How long did that take to be made? What exactly does it do?

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"I dunno how long it took to make originally, but it needs to be renewed periodically and I'm pretty sure it takes less than fifteen minutes to do that?"

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I don't know enough of your magic yet to comment. All I know is that this is much simpler than your magical girlness and the artefact but still way more complex than anything I've seen, and I've seen some complex things.

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"Maybe we should visit my parents, get Dad to cast something in front of you."

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"Yeah! Good idea."

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"I'll ask him when would be a good time, then," she says, takes out a nonmagical rectangular object, and starts poking it.

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"What's that?"

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"It's my cell phone. ...Sort of like a computer but smaller."

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"Oooh."

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"It is pretty neat," she agrees, finishing typing her message and sending it.

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Can you show me?

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Sure! She will show him phone things.

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This is the best world.

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She's glad he likes it.

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He wants to know other cool things about this world!

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She gets out her tablet and explains ebooks.

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...what. What. That might be this world's single best invention.

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"It's up there! Does you world have vaccinations?"

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"It does not what are those?"

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"Do you have any idea how diseases work?"

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If you mean mechanistically, no.

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"That's what I meant, yeah. So the kind of disease you can catch from someone else are caused by tiny, tiny living things, and your body learns how to fight them off which is why you mostly don't get the same one twice, and ones you do like colds it's because they change enough, genetically, that your body's existing defenses against them go obsolete. Vaccines are dead versions of the tiny creatures that cause disease, so your body can learn how to fight them without your having to actually get sick."

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Was that as revolutionary as I think it is?

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"No one gets smallpox or polio anymore!"

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"Oh my gods." That is absolutely—that's the—that—okay that might be the single best invention I was wrong—can we import that right now -

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"No, we still have no way of accessing your universe."

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"Ugh why," he whines.

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"Because supervillains," she sighs.

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He sighs, too.

...but there's only so bad he can feel while eating bacon. Nom.

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He can enjoy his bacon, the twins will be eating bread fried in eggstuff.

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Why are you not eating this, too? he wonders.

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"The short answer is 'religious reasons.'"

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And the long answer?

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Would he like a History of Judaism lecture?

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He would!

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Then he can have one! She will be very emotional about it.

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...okay this world isn't all that absolutely perfect. Also does she want a hug, he feels like maybe she could use a hug.

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She would love a hug.

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Hug. Very hug.

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Would he like to hear other reasons why this world isn't perfect?

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Yeah probably.

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Homophobia! Sexism! Transphobia! Rape culture! Racism! War in the Middle East!

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Holy cow they have a lot of things to fix don't they?

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Yes. Yes they do.

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Another hug? This time Kaede might be the one who needs it.

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Kaede can have lots of hug.

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Are there other terrible things, he feels like it can't be just that.

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There are other terrible things! Ableism! Classism! Anti-Islamic prejudice! These things these particularly shitty examples of Islam are doing which is used as an excuse for the anti-Islamic prejudice! Female genital mutilation!

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Wow wow wow this is terrible he has to fix all of this

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And then--he is surrounded.

The magic is obvious first, but it quickly becomes apparent that he can't see the twins' kitchen at all. Colors swirl from a vortex somewhere far below to another far above.

(If he cares to pay attention to it, the magic is highly complicated, on a level with the twins' magical girlhood, and connected to--something. Elsewhere.)

A pair of winding helixes appear, spiraling around him, each a braid of three strands. One is identifiable--somehow--as native Galatean magic, the three kinds of basic magic winding together. Fibers from one felt into another, at times, representing metamagic. One is what appears to be this world's magic, oddly--monochromatic--compared to the Galatean one, and with the "sorcery" strand much thicker than the other two. The two braids spin closer and closer together and then vanish before either can touch him.

There is an image of his two faces--his four faces--superimposed in a way that leaves each one distinctly visible, somehow. Change. Identity, some kind of not-voice whispers from nowhere.

Magic rippling under his fingers, under his power. Control, it says. Perfection. Knowledge.

The magic around him folds into something incredibly similar to the twins' magical girlhood, with a handful of presumably normal variations and a connection to the something elsewhere that is absent in the twins.

Power. Do you want it?

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Holy shiiiiiiit he's going to be a magical girl!!!!!!!

Do I have a time limit for this choice?

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No response.

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Does all that magic react at all to the question? Or to anything? What is it, can he discern any more details, where does the connection to the something elsewhere lead—

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Elsewhere. It's not exactly tied by a line of magic that travels linearly; there's magic here and magic there and it's connected, that's all. None of it reacts to the question.

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And he can't see it and anyway he'll likely have a better shot at understanding it if it's in him

Yes, he thinks very loudly. Yes, I do!

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And there is a surge of magic, filling him like an empty cup brimming over, perceptible to him somehow through something other than his metamagic sense, even as he can feel through that sense the magical package pouncing on him and attaching and performing all kinds of fiddly functions to fit around him better, and then the next thing to do is the most obvious thing in the world--

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Kaede takes a step back, blinking, and barely notices he's in the kitchen again as he puts his right hand over his heart and points at nothing in particular with his left index and middle fingers.

"My powers of transformation shall touch the unjust heart!" he cries, with light tendrils emerging from his feet and twisting around his body. "With Justice as my muse, naught shall be left untouched by my mercy!" He points at various different things with his fingers, and a laser-like point of blue light follows his fingers. "For a future where none will needlessly suffer, the Exalted Transmutation Aegis has come to save the day!" The tendrils twist and twirl around him, suddenly replacing his outfit with a white bodysuit and longcoat, with several details in varying shades of gray and silver, runes and inscriptions not dissimilar to ones found inscribed on various Galatean artefacts glowing a faint blue, and a silver belt holding it all together. He lands in a crouch, looking into where the sky would be if it weren't for the ceiling.

...and he starts giggling.

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"Nice."

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...and ooh what's this, this sounds fun—" Mana Fountain!" And he's showered in green light and he laughs and laughs and laughs—" I can generate mana!"

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"Awesome."

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"Wow okay I need to sit," he says, and does, still giggling. He looks down at his outfit, running a hand along the fabric, touching the glowing spots and the belt. Badass and sexy! he sends. This is the awesomest thing!

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Edie is delighted for him and sends this.

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He gets up again and hugs her. We're gonna fix everything!!!

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Yep.

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He beams and pulls away—does he have any other spells—he doesn't—What counts as personal achievement?

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Varies by person.

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Of course it does. Well, I am going to get a ton of useful spells and save the world with them!

And, okay, what does his magical girlness look like, from the inside? Is it any different or easier to understand?

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It looks like: a magical girlness, which is attached to him.

It might be easier to figure out what it was doing if its moving parts were moving more?

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Good point. He casts it again, "Mana Fountain!" and...

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That bit right there that just did a thing seems roughly analogous to a thing in the girls' that did a thing when they cast spells?

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Hmmmm. And did anything get converted into the mana he got or did it just appear out of thin air?

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Sort of hard to say? There was some stuff going on where the mana came from but it's hard to tell if it's converting-type stuff or spontaneous generation-type stuff.

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Okay, now to transform back...

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The magic deactivates very neatly. Only some parts of it move when it does this.

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He reactivates, doing the whole dance and phrase again.

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Those same parts move again!

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Can a magical girl do things other than transform and use spells?

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Some magical girls have special weapons. It doesn't look like you do.

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It would honestly be kinda unfair if I could generate mana and had a special weapon.

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Oh like that's a bad thing.

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He giggles. I don't know that I'll be doing lots of fighting, though.

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It's pretty common, but you don't have to if you don't want to.

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I mean, I might, but—how frequent is it anyway? For you to have to go fight evil?

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Once or twice a month?

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Hmm. Well, I could help, yeah, sure.

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Yeah.

"Oh, that reminds me, we were going to tell you what was up with those papers we found."

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"Oh, right, yes," he says, switching back to speech, to—what little he can say, anyway.

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She will explain!

The short version is that they've been finding deeply worrying connections between some of the people they've busted lately and even more worrying connections that there's some deeper level to it.

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What kinds of connections?

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It varies. Money transfers, seemingly innocuous correspondence...

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And what exactly is this deeper level suggested?

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They're not sure yet.

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What are their next steps to figure out what's going on? Who else knows about this? What's been done already?

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Part of the problem is that all of the connections they've been able to find are to other villains, which means there's not a lot they can do when they don't have one to fight/go through their things. The government agency that took that one guy away knows, their parents know, some other magical girls know. Reconaissance.

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Hmm... He wonders if he could perhaps help.

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Maybe. Does he have a way in mind?

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Well. Magic. His magic has practically no limits in what it can do.

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Does he have specific ideas for how to use magic at the problem?

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Well, remote viewing seems like the most obvious way.

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"Remote viewing of what?"

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Whatever it is you need to reconnoître?

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"Yeah, by 'reconnaissance' I mostly mean stuff like finding further connections when we crack new villains."

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Hmmm... Are the villains you've cracked already not connected to other villains you haven't, though?

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"Some, and we have found new villains that way, but not every one has clues we can use to find a new one."

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Are there any extant? Being busted is not, typically, very conductive to learning things they don't want known in a very natural fashion, whereas spying could be.

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"The problem is that when we find them they're generally doing things it's more important to stop than to spy on."

Permalink Mark Unread

You know nothing of their whereabouts?

Permalink Mark Unread

"...I don't know of the existence of any particular villains we haven't stopped yet, they're generally pretty covert right up until they're not and then they get squished."

Permalink Mark Unread

I see. That's frustrating. And do you have any idea of the—general shape of what they might be trying to accomplish? What things were they doing, exactly, that you had to stop?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Nothing that obviously suggested a pattern for some greater conspiracy."

Permalink Mark Unread

You know, conspiracy or no I'm actually curious about what villains actually do.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Lots of things. Trying to conquer the world is...surprisingly popular."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

Well from what you've told me it looks supremely badly run.

Permalink Mark Unread

"It would be less surprising if they seemed primed to do something intelligent with it!"

Permalink Mark Unread

What do they typically want to do with it?

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's not always obvious but, like, someone who has four lieutenants and one of them got tortured into it is not someone I'd trust with a goldfish let alone the world."

Permalink Mark Unread

...what the fuck.

Permalink Mark Unread

"She had an artifact he wanted under his control and he figured it was worth trying to coerce her into working for him before killing her and hoping someone who already worked for him would attune to it."

Permalink Mark Unread

That is so absurdly—why would he—who would even -

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's a really good artifact and it was part of a matched set and the other three already worked for him."

Permalink Mark Unread

He sighs. How far has the most successful villain gotten?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Depends on how you define villain. The conventional classification doesn't classify anyone as one who isn't a criminal, but the really successful ones tend to work in places where they can avoid that."

Permalink Mark Unread

Like some of those terrible countries?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Mhm."

Permalink Mark Unread

But they always do eventually get found and stopped, yes? Or are there any of them running countries here and there?

Permalink Mark Unread

"I think there's a couple in South America and one in the Middle East but they're not, like, objectively worse than the nonmagical dictators."

Permalink Mark Unread

...how nice. Well, more things to fix.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yyyyep. Actually I think the one in the Middle East displaced a system that was worse, he's not what I would call an acceptable form of government but he doesn't, like, enforce the parts of Sharia law that are horrible or at least frequently applied in a horrible manner, so there's that."

Permalink Mark Unread

Right. Sigh.

Permalink Mark Unread

"People frequently suck."

Permalink Mark Unread

So... Now I'm a magical girl, should that change any plans?

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't think so. It was always a possibility."

Permalink Mark Unread

And is the first step still trying to figure magic out, then, or is there anything I can do that's higher-leverage at this stage?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Nothing immediate."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods, and looks some more at his magical girl magic.

...by the way, there was an interesting thing about my vision I forgot to mention.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Mm?"

Permalink Mark Unread

So I was shown a—braid, of sorts, of Galatean magic. It had three—colours, for lack of a better word, and it sorta encompassed metamancy, too, by making strands of one colour shift into those of another. It was very pretty. But anyway, I also saw something I'm pretty sure was this world's magic, and... It was monochromatic? The sorcery strand was thicker than the other two—artefacts and magical girlness—and they were all the same for-lack-of-a-better-word-colour.

Permalink Mark Unread

"...Huh."

Permalink Mark Unread

Seems suggestive.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah."

Permalink Mark Unread

So anyway I'm gonna stare at some magical girlness and figure this all out, shall I?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sounds good!"

Permalink Mark Unread

So back to staring at his own newfound magic!

Permalink Mark Unread

It's very magicky.

He can probably figure out that some parts of it are responsive and some are still dormant, after a bit.

Permalink Mark Unread

Can he figure out what these parts are?

Permalink Mark Unread

How much time does he want to spend staring at them?

Permalink Mark Unread

Probably until the twins remind him the rest of the world exists; this is fascinating.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, one of the active things is his spell.

Permalink Mark Unread

He'd expected as much. Is his transformation another? He can try doing it and undoing it a few times.

Permalink Mark Unread

Yep.

There seems to be something sort of vaguely parallel to his transformation that is also responsive, although he hasn't actually made it twitch yet. Also doing magic will start to get tiring if he does a bunch of it.

Permalink Mark Unread

...tiring, yes, of course. So there is a limit.

Well, before he gets too tired he tries—poking the vaguely parallel thing.

Permalink Mark Unread

It can't do anything while his transformation is active.

Permalink Mark Unread

And if he detransforms?

Permalink Mark Unread

He could transform, or, if circumstances were different, he could do the other thing.

Permalink Mark Unread

...can he make it happen now if he tries...?

Permalink Mark Unread

If he tries he can transform.

Permalink Mark Unread

No he doesn't want to transform he wants to do the other thing—

Permalink Mark Unread

No, see, the transformation he is doing is what happens under this circumstance, and the other thing is what happens under this other circumstance. He can't go straight from this circumstance to other thing, he needs other circumstance first.

Permalink Mark Unread

Is there something other than transforming magical girls can do while untransformed? he asks.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Not really. Also, it's been hours, you should eat."

Permalink Mark Unread

"...right. Food. I should eat."

Permalink Mark Unread

"That is in fact how bodies typically work."

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"Ugh," he says, eloquently enough. "Bodies."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh, I dunno," she says, looking his up and down. "They have their advantages."

Permalink Mark Unread

...he's usually the one who says these things.

He might want to marry this girl.

Yes, I suppose they do, he sends, neutrally. Though I'm having a hard time thinking what they could be.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'm sure you'll figure it out. I made cheesecake. Cheesecake will be a very elucidating experience on the value of food and bodies and such."

Permalink Mark Unread

...I am very curious about this 'cheesecake' thing of which you speak.

Food?

Permalink Mark Unread

Food! There are tasty spinach and mushroom sandwiches, and cheesecake for dessert. It is good cheesecake.

Permalink Mark Unread

!!!!!!

Permalink Mark Unread

"Told you so."

Permalink Mark Unread

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How is this made oh my gods -

Permalink Mark Unread

"Cream cheese, sugar, eggs and flavoring."

Permalink Mark Unread

Sugar must come along much more cheaply here.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, probably."

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh, anyway, I found a new thing in the magic that apparently only works if you're not transformed and activates instead of transforming under some circumstances, no idea which.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Maybe it's the transformation you'd do as a girl."

Permalink Mark Unread

...

.......

"Maybe it is that."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I mean, it's sort of the obvious thing if you have the right background context? I've heard of magical girls having multiple transformations and I've never heard of non-transformed magical girls doing things other than transforming. You showed up yesterday and do not have the right background context."

Permalink Mark Unread

Other magical girls have multiple transformations? For reasons other than gender?

Permalink Mark Unread

"You're not the only nonbinary magical girl in existence."

Permalink Mark Unread

Cool, I wanna meet them!

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure. Preferably at some time when I have a better reason to introduce you than 'my also-an-enby genderfriend thinks the fact that you are an enby is shiny.'"

Permalink Mark Unread

One: it's adorable the words 'enby' and 'genderfriend' exist. Two: of course it's shiny, I've never met another one and I suspect this has to do with population size. Three: the fact that you just implied I'd be your genderfriend might just be enough to make this sentence the best sentence anyone's ever said to me.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Aww. Well, we agreed to go on a date and appear to be getting along swimmingly, it seems likely!"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Eeeeee."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Also you're adorable."

Permalink Mark Unread

He keeps grinning. I should try to shift into a girl to experiment, maybe.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Maybe!"

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay I can now generate mana so -

He starts speaking in his language, and of course the meaning is clear via telepathy: an extended and detailed description of himself as a girl, with even a few biological details.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nice.

And then, of course, he is a girl. 

...A very cute girl.

Permalink Mark Unread

I'm not sure how I should feel about the way you prefer this shape to my other one.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't strongly prefer it on an absolute scale, I just haven't seen it as much so it's shinier."

Permalink Mark Unread

Fair enough, I guess.

And if she tries to transform—

Permalink Mark Unread

The other thing goes! She transforms.

Permalink Mark Unread

The new transformation has a similar bodysuit but the longcoat is replaced by an open dress, and the inscription and words are different. It has a somewhat sleeker, longer look.

"Eeeeeee!" New spells? Does the old one work the same?

Permalink Mark Unread

It has the exact same spell. Not just a copy, it's accessing the same part that reacted when they cast the spell from the other transformation.

Permalink Mark Unread

Huh. So he checks for other stuff and—Okay I think I need to go lie down.

Permalink Mark Unread

"You okay?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah, just really exhausted. It's been a few hours and these spells are tiring.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Ooh, yeah, you forget how tiring it is when you start out when you've been at it long enough."

Permalink Mark Unread

Well at least it gets better afterwards, then.

He starts reciting a similar litany to the one that changed his body, but appropriately different this time.

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's like a muscle--you gain stamina as you exercise it," she explains. 

And, yep, that is a very pretty boy.

Permalink Mark Unread

Makes sense. But it does eventually tire you out?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. By the way you never did tell me what spells you have.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh, right. Gimme a minute to make a list, I usually don't think of them like that."

Permalink Mark Unread

What do you think of them like?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Like...they're there, and I use them, and when I need one I think of it, but I don't usually try to think about 'the set of spells that I have'."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Huh. Okay."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Or at least I don't think of them as a set in terms of pondering each individual one." She gets out some paper and begins listwriting.

Permalink Mark Unread

I usually do. Think in sets, that is. I like having an organised list of all resources at my disposal in my head.

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's probably wise. I seem to make do," she shrugs.

Permalink Mark Unread

To be fair I rarely need to access my resources like that.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, not doing it hasn't bitten me yet."

Permalink Mark Unread

Shrug.

Permalink Mark Unread

She finishes her list.

  • Mind Mirror
  • Si Vales Valeo
  • Synchronicity
  • Psionic Blast
  • Ironwill Shield
  • Soul Aria
  • Wings of the Mind's Eye
  • Third Eye Burning Sear
  • Axiomatic Restoration
  • Third Eye Annhilation Beam
  • Mind Palace Gateway
  • Perfect Scream
  • Perception Periapt
  • True Heart Speech
  • Pure Dispel
  • Graceful Image

 

Permalink Mark Unread

He whistles. That's a very large list. Would you be upset if I asked what they all did? And perhaps asked for a demonstration of each?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Mind Mirror is a mind-reading spell--it summons a mirror with a representation of a person's thoughts shown in it, and you can step inside the mirror to get automatic interpretation. Si Vales Valeo is sympathetic healing. Synchronicity is fusion. Psionic Blast is a sort of ray attack. Ironwill Shield is a magical barrier. Soul Aria is projective empathy. Wings of the Mind's Eye is my wings. Third Eye Burning Sear is a stronger ray attack than Psionic Blast. Axiomatic Restoration undoes an increased-entropy action that occurred within a short amount of time ago; the longest I've been able to push it to is fifteen seconds. Third Eye Annihilation Beam is a stronger ray attack than Third Eye Burning Sear. Mind Palace Gateway is an upgrade of the Mind Mirror that lets you move stuff around while you're in there. Perfect Scream is a sort of--nerve disruptor. Perception Periapt is a stealth thing. True Heart Speech is the telepathy. Pure Dispel is antimagic. Graceful Image is illusions."

Permalink Mark Unread

You can still do the earlier versions of spells you've got upgraded?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah. It's--it's a new spell that's like an old one but better, not an alteration to the existing spell."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Can you show me? Both?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well, not here. It might be better to wait until we have another reason to be somewhere it's convenient to fire a couple of high-energy weapons."

Permalink Mark Unread

What about the mirror one?

Permalink Mark Unread

"That one I can do. Mind Mirror!" she casts, and an ornately-framed full-length mirror appears, depicting a city with people milling around in it, almost all looking to varying degrees like her.

Permalink Mark Unread

And the magic?

Permalink Mark Unread

There is definitely a connection between her brain and the mirror!

Permalink Mark Unread

"Do the other one?" he asks, looking at her and her magic.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Mind Palace Gateway!"

It has a lot of the same...bits...as Mind Mirror, but they're definitely two different spell slots.

Permalink Mark Unread

Huh. And for that matter, with more examples like that, is there an obvious... limit... to spell slots? How do these slots work, are they created, added on, or do they fill something, and are they in some sense bigger than others...?

Permalink Mark Unread

There's no obvious place prepared for any spells she doesn't have, but neither does his have anything like that. Some of them are more complicated than others, but not really bigger.

Permalink Mark Unread

Huh. He bounces these things to her. So whatever-it-is is just giving you power on top of power. And this looks really interesting, too.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Interesting compared to everything else about magic? Impressive."

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, I'm not sure I'm actually calibrated to figure out what's interesting compared to the background, I always find whatever magic I'm looking at at the moment incredibly interesting, apparently.

Permalink Mark Unread

"That sounds like a convenient trait!"

Permalink Mark Unread

It's plausibly less a personality trait and more an aspect of how my magic interfaces with my brain but good nonetheless.

Permalink Mark Unread

"A convenient magical trait is still a convenient trait!"

Permalink Mark Unread

I suppose it is.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well. Congratulations regardless."

Permalink Mark Unread

Thanks, I guess. By the way, any progress on the sorcerer teacher thing?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Little bit. Not a whole lot."

Permalink Mark Unread

Meaning?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well, I've ruled a couple people out who're too busy and going to continue to be for longer than I think you want to wait."

Permalink Mark Unread

I'm fine waiting, staring at magic is fun and figuring out the relationship between the different kinds of magic will be useful but eventually I'll want to see more of this world.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'd ask 'anywhere in particular?' but you probably don't have enough context to answer that question, really..."

Permalink Mark Unread

"No. Any places."

Permalink Mark Unread

"There are lots of good places to visit! Any particular narrowing criteria in mind?"

Permalink Mark Unread

...something that very obviously would not exist in my world? Like, maybe something that shows off technology or something.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Ooh, science museum?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oooh! Yes!"

Permalink Mark Unread

"We have a decent one in town! The Museum of Science and Technology, or MoST for short."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Let's go there!" Pause. Tomorrow. When it's not, like, night. Probably.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah they'll be closed by now."

Permalink Mark Unread

For tonight I can stare at magic some more, then, I guess.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sounds like a plan."

Permalink Mark Unread

So he stares at his own magic some more, trying to understand what each bit does and why it's so ridiculously complex.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, it is ridiculously complex!

This bit over there might be related to the spells?

Permalink Mark Unread

He pokes at it.

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah it's spell-related somehow.

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay, he'll poke at that until he figures it out or has to sleep, whichever comes first.

...although he maybe should do, like, personal grooming things like showering and stuff before that.

Permalink Mark Unread

He's not going to figure it out before bed.

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh well. Bed time it is.

Permalink Mark Unread

Depending on what time he gets up in the morning he may find Edie already awake and talking on the phone to someone.

Permalink Mark Unread

Relatively early, and she casts the relevant spell as soon as she gets up.

Permalink Mark Unread

And Edie also casts the relevant spell, when she sees her. "Good morning," she says, holding the phone away from her for a minute, before going back to her call.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Good morning!"

Is there food?

Permalink Mark Unread

It doesn't look like anyone's cooked anything; Edie has a bowl in front of her with milk and some kind of spherical objects in it. There's a jug of milk and a cardboard box with a picture of a similar bowl on the front.

Permalink Mark Unread

...she'll try some of that.

Permalink Mark Unread

It is very sweet and chocolatey.

Permalink Mark Unread

Oooooh! She approves, yes, she'll munch happily while she waits.

Permalink Mark Unread

And Edie eventually finishes her phone call. "That was another sorcerer. I got a solid 'maybe' on that one, they'll have to check some stuff and get back to me."

Permalink Mark Unread

Does this spell take a long time to cast? The one to turn other people into sorcerers?

Permalink Mark Unread

"To cast, no, for it to run its course once it's been cast, sometimes, to teach someone how to use the power, yes."

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, couldn't we get someone to just turn me into a sorcerer first so I can stare at it while we look for someone to teach me to use it?

Permalink Mark Unread

"A careless untrained sorcerer can do a surprising amount of damage, so you're pretty much not going to find someone to turn you into a sorcerer until they're satisfied you're going to be adequately instructed."

Permalink Mark Unread

Not even if I don't use it?

Permalink Mark Unread

"They would have to believe you when you said you wouldn't and they're liable if you do. And none of them know you. My vouching only goes so far."

Permalink Mark Unread

She sighs. Oh well.

Permalink Mark Unread

She shrugs. "Sorry."

Permalink Mark Unread

Not your fault. It'll work out.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Mm-hm, we'll find someone."

Permalink Mark Unread

We will! Also what's this? she asks, pointing at the chocolatey thing.

Permalink Mark Unread

"They're Cocoa Puffs. They are a breakfast cereal. There're other kinds."

Permalink Mark Unread

Cereal?

Permalink Mark Unread

She grabs another box off the shelf and rattles it. "Breakfast cereal is a category of food consisting of flavored grain-based objects that you pour milk over and eat."

Permalink Mark Unread

It's extremely tasty.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Chocolate does that!"

Permalink Mark Unread

So, what are the plans for today?

Permalink Mark Unread

"Science museum and maybe looking up the woman with the artifact who owes me a favor."

Permalink Mark Unread

Oooh nice!

Permalink Mark Unread

"Fair warning, the museum is mostly aimed at kids."

Permalink Mark Unread

I shall approach it with childlike enthusiasm.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Then I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun."

Permalink Mark Unread

I will! When are we going?

Permalink Mark Unread

"In a few hours at the soonest. It's not open yet."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nod.

Permalink Mark Unread

 

"You know it only just now occurred to me that a museum is a perfectly respectable date location."

Permalink Mark Unread

It occurred to me yesterday but I was going to wait until we were there and then ask if it counted as a date and if so I'd kiss you.

Permalink Mark Unread

"That is very cute. Should we pretend I hadn't mentioned it?"

Permalink Mark Unread

I'm not sure it'll have the same impact. Also I'm not sure I want to wait.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Fair," she says, and kisses her.

Permalink Mark Unread

Ooooooh yes good decision, she approves very heartily!

Permalink Mark Unread

Emily walks out of her room, yawning, looks a them, stops for a moment, then turns around, goes back into her room and closes the door.

Permalink Mark Unread

I think we might've scared your sister away.

Permalink Mark Unread

Snort. I don't think scared is quite the word.

Permalink Mark Unread

What is?

Permalink Mark Unread

She doesn't wanna see it; that doesn't mean it scares her.

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah, that's fair. Should we perhaps not be occupying the public spaces of your house?

Permalink Mark Unread

Perhaps.

Permalink Mark Unread

Since it is in fact your house I cannot of course suggest alternatives.

Permalink Mark Unread

Maybe we should get some fresh air.

Permalink Mark Unread

Sounds like a lovely idea.

Permalink Mark Unread

As you probably noticed day before yesterday, we have a beautifully accessible roof.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's true, you do.

Permalink Mark Unread

They can go up there then. And continue kissing.

Permalink Mark Unread

So much kissing! This is a great day.

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow, you get even more adorable? I could have sworn it couldn't be done.

Permalink Mark Unread

Wholly accidental.

Permalink Mark Unread

But fortuitous.

Permalink Mark Unread

What can I say, I'm a limitless source of endless wonder.

Permalink Mark Unread

And, now that you're a magical girl, also mana.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, that one's limited by my tiredness.

Permalink Mark Unread

True.

Permalink Mark Unread

They can continue kissing for a while as far as she's concerned.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's nice. 

Eventually an alarm goes off on Edie's phone.

Permalink Mark Unread

Should you get that?

Permalink Mark Unread

Ah--museum's open.

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh cool let's go there!!!

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay! Want to fly, or explore this world's public transportation?

Permalink Mark Unread

...I'm torn.

Permalink Mark Unread

Anything I can do to tiebreak?

Permalink Mark Unread

No, I think I want to take public transportation, the idea sounds fascinating and I've flown most of my life anyway.

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay. Let's get to the bus stop then.

Permalink Mark Unread

Do let's! She kisses Edie one more time.

Permalink Mark Unread

Smooch! And then, well, they can fly as far as the bus stop, can't they.

Permalink Mark Unread

They can! It is so handy to be allowed to do magic in public.

Permalink Mark Unread

Yep.

Permalink Mark Unread

Something wrong?

Permalink Mark Unread

Just being annoyed by your world's stupid prejudice.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, the not-using-magic-in-public thing is about the sacredness of magic, not the prejudice against metamancers, I couldn't do it even if I were a normal elementalist.

Permalink Mark Unread

Still incredibly dumb.

Permalink Mark Unread

Terribly.

Permalink Mark Unread

We shall explain this to them demonstratively. By being not-dumb and having it work out fantastically.

Permalink Mark Unread

You are amazing.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's very flattering that you think so!

Permalink Mark Unread

Thinking true things is one of my many qualities.

Permalink Mark Unread

You're sweet.

In all seriousness, I generally prefer to judge myself by my standards, not other people's, and by my standards I'm not doing anything particularly special. I mean. Most people just--don't pay attention? To how they could obviously make things better? And if I'm only amazing by "not bothering" standards, then--well. That's flattering but not, like, actually amazing.

Permalink Mark Unread

I... suppose I understand, although that's not quite how I'd see it. I don't really—blame people for being who and what they are? It's not productive to tell people they're not being their best selves, as opposed to congratulating those who are.

Permalink Mark Unread

I'm not going to go around holding other people to my standards, what purpose would that serve?

Permalink Mark Unread

None at all, but while the goal should be a moving target I think it's reasonable to praise people who do start and take steps down that road if only to create positive incentives, and also because I don't want to only be allowed to feel good about myself after I've ended death.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, I did say I was flattered.

Permalink Mark Unread

Good.

Permalink Mark Unread

You keep getting cuter, it's worrisome.

Permalink Mark Unread

Now that was wholly involuntary.

Permalink Mark Unread

But what if you cause some kind of cuteness singularity?

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh no! A singularity of cuteness! Perhaps I should shut myself in a room and never leave again, lest I risk terrible destruction!

Permalink Mark Unread

But what if, within the room, there were fluffy objects?

Permalink Mark Unread

We must choose the room very carefully and thoroughly inspect it to make sure no such dangerous items are around.

Permalink Mark Unread

But you're a magical girl! What if you got a spell to make objects fluffy?

Permalink Mark Unread

Clearly you must check up on me routinely to ensure I'm not going beyond the threshold of cuteness.

Permalink Mark Unread

But what if when I do that your cuteness force is already too strong and I am sucked in?

Permalink Mark Unread

Then I suppose you'll need to check up on me often enough that the risk of that happening is minimal. Maybe even stay around me all the time!

Permalink Mark Unread

Mm, maybe.

They reach the bus stop.

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay, this is probably the place she mentioned before.

Yeah, of course, otherwise how can we make sure no singularities happen?

Permalink Mark Unread

But what if being around me makes you cuter?

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh, I hadn't thought of this possibility. That's very troubling.

Permalink Mark Unread

Perhaps we should wear paper bags on our heads.

Permalink Mark Unread

Are you sure the cuteness won't just shine through?

Permalink Mark Unread

Not sure, no, but what choice do we have?

Permalink Mark Unread

Perhaps we should just resign ourselves to the inevitable fate of excess cuteness.

Permalink Mark Unread

But the world! Think of the world!

Permalink Mark Unread

She starts giggling and decides this is a good time to kiss Edie.

Permalink Mark Unread

Gosh, she is so correct.

Permalink Mark Unread

She has this habit.

Permalink Mark Unread

What a good habit.

Permalink Mark Unread

She probably won't be the one to pull away before the bus arrives.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, Edie will definitely pull away when the bus arrives, waiting for the next one would be a pain.

Permalink Mark Unread

Yes that is probably a good idea. She's a little bit out of breath.

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Edie smirks a bit when she notices this, and leads her onto the bus, paying the fare for both of them.

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I really love it when you make that face.

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Thanks.

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And now's the time for her to be Dazzled by the Technology.

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Maybe we should have brought Emily along, she knows more about this kind of thing than me.

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But then would it be a date?

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Hm. Hmm. Perhaps not. We shall simply have to take advantage of her mechanical expertise at some later point.

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I'm sure we'll have a lot of time.

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No doubt.

And then: museum.

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Oooooooooh!

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It is a pretty neat museum! It has exhibits on Earth Science, biology, space...

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Ooh biology! Ooooooh space!!!!

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There are a variety of space-related things to look at! This gallery, this simulator, this movie playing in the IMAX theater, this planetarium, this more traditionally museumy exhibit...

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So can Kaede look at all of them or...

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Yes. Yes she can.

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Yaaaay! Edie should be kissed for this, it's the best date.

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Hooray kisses.

The IMAX movie only plays at certain times, though, so they shouldn't lose track of the clock.

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She won't let the kiss distract her too much this time, she has a Museum!! To!!! Visit!!!!

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Kaede's enthusiasm is adorable and Edie is intensely charmed.

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All this technology! All these things without magic!!!!!! They are so incredible and amazing and smart and good and this is the best place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Some magic was used in the space stuff, but mostly for failsafes.

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Yes and it's still tremendously cool and there's all the other stuff than space stuff!

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Yes there is.

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Eventually they should eat though.

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This will require leaving the museum, but then Kaede can investigate Earthly restaurant options.

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She's not super keen on food but it being new is exciting enough.

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"I wonder if restaurants are interestingly different where you're from."

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"Restaurants are—less of a thing?"

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"I guess that makes sense if people mostly don't live in cities."

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"Yeah. They're more common in the floating cities."

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Well, they can acquire food from a restaurant and eat it and go back to the museum.

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Yay! More museum! More date with Edie!

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Kaede is so cute about all this.

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Is Edie going to express this feeling somehow?

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Well. She could. Do kisses count?

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Yes! Yes they do!

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Good.

(Discreet kisses, in an unobtrusive nook; this is a museum largely aimed at children, after all.)

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Right. Discreet. They can be discreet. And she can be silent.

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Silent is good, in context.

Eventually the museum will close and they will get kicked out.

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"That was amazing!!!!"

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"It was pretty cool. Not the best museum I've ever been to."

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"I want to see other museums!!!"

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"That sounds like a great plan. Most of them are farther away, though."

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"Oh no how terrible I will see more technology—" while "—I cross a city with a—" gorgeous "—magical girl."

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"While, gorgeous," she supplies. "By farther away, I mostly meant not in this city."

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"Oh. Well—" what else is there to do in this city?

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"The thing that it occurs to me you'd most benefit from is libraries...oh, but you don't read the language yet."

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"I don't," she sighs.

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"Well, that's an obvious thing to do next, then."

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"Yeah! Books are important."

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"Yeah. How, um, irrational, is spelling in your language?"

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She giggles at that. "Mine, not very."

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"Okay well English kind of looks like the dictionary was written by someone using recreational drugs so."

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She giggles even more. "Why?"

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"The short version is 'because we borrow words from other languages like a broke alcoholic hitting up his friends for booze money, and the languages we borrow from have different spelling rules'."

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"What kinds of things are like that?"

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Edie explains the disaster of inconsistent pronunciation that is the "ugh" cluster, drawing examples from a children's book called "The Tough Coughs as he Ploughs the Dough."

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"Oh my gods," she says.

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"I know, it's ridiculous."

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"It is. I love it. I will take a very long time to learn it."

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"Yeah. Fortunately in real life people notice when people have foreign accents and don't assume that you mean the absurd interpretation of the sounds that came out of your mouth instead of realizing that you were mispronouncing something."

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She grins sheepishly. "Sorry."

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"For what?"

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"My accent."

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"...Why are you apologizing for your accent?"

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She shrugs. "In this language it might make me—" unintelligible.

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"Don't worry about it. Most people don't have helpful telepathy, you're doing well."

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"Yeah. The helpful telepathy is very helpful, I can speak complete sentences!"

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"Telepathy is the best, it's a pity I didn't get it sooner."

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"You're the best," she giggles. "I think this was a very successful date."

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"I agree."

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"What do we do next?"

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"I could try to teach you to read?"

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"Ooh yes!"

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"Okay! It might be best to go to a library after all, then."

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"Okay! Let's go!"

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"Bus, or flying?"

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"Hmm, I think I'm over the bus."

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"Okay!" Overdramatic transformation! Wing spell!

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Absolutely gorgeous magical girl! Being carried while flying!

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Definitely both those things.

They set down beside a public library near an elementary school.

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"This is way bigger than most libraries at home."

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"What, really?"

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"Well, most libraries I visited, maybe not most there are. Universities have big ones."

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"This isn't a very large library, what size are you used to?"

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"Erm... About half that? Less? They're usually small cities' or maybe—" neighbourhoods'  "—collections."

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"Huh. I guess that makes sense.

This isn't the only library in the city, though, there are a whole bunch of them about this size."

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"Cities I know usually have only one library, and are more small."

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"Well. Eventually I will have to show you all of the libraries, but we can start here."

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Eeeee she should be kissed for this.

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Mm, kisses.

And then they can go inside, and since Kaede is a beginner at the language they should probably look at kid's books.

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...kids' books are a new concept! How fascinating.

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"Hm?"

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"I never saw anything like this. Books are usually all words."

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"Oh, huh. What do you learn to read with?"

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"Books that are all words. Most people don't read, but I was a princess."

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"One of the benefits of our superior alternative will be universal literacy," she mutters.

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"I don't think that's why people don't read."

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"No, but we will find the other obstacles and obliterate them."

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"You are so hot." Because that is clearly one of the most important phrases she could have learnt.

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"Shouldn't do anything about it in the children's section, though."

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"Should we do something about it in some other section?" she wonders.

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"Adult nonfiction."

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"—okay, now I'm curious."

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"It's nothing about the books, that section just has the hidiest shape."

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"Still curious."

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"About what, exactly?"

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"Oh, in general, I think you will need to show me."

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"Well, follow me, then."

It is not very far to the relevant section.

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Ooh a hidey section!

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Yep.

"So," she murmurs quietly, "what was it you were curious about, again?"

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"You said this was a good place for me to do something about how hot you are."

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In lieu of replying she kisses her.

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That is a very good reply. She'll even be quiet!

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That's good. This bit of library is fairly hidey but not especially sound-muffling.

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It's such a good bit of library!

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It is.

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Eventually they should probably do what they came here to do, though.

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Yeah. Children's books!

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Children's books! What a fantastic and instructive concept. And telepathy helps a lot. And knowing how to write in other languages.

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Yes. Kaede can probably get basic literacy down by the end of the day, although she'll probably still have trouble with the English language's insane spelling rules.

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Yeah she will but she has a while and the best teacher.

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Her teacher is flattered.

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They should probably not do that all night long, though.

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True. Sleep is important.

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...necessary, anyway. If boring.

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Well, the way in which it is necessary is one that lets you skimp and regret it, so.

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Yeah yeah they should sleep sigh.

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The nice thing about sleep is that you don't have to wait long for it to be over, at least.

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Kaede stares some more at their Magical! Girl!! Magic!!! and it's so exciting and they can generate their own mana that is amazing. That is so incredibly amazing.

They can show Edie and Emily what their magic can do, now that mana isn't a scarce resource anymore. Basically there are three types of "active" mages, elementalists, arcanists, and enchanters, and the metamancers as a separate class.

An elementalist can have a single active magical effect on themself—flight, telekinesis, insubstantiality—which is called a blessing, and using a blessing depletes an individual per-blessing mana charge, which can only be recharged by having that blessing active but unused (or with metamancer help). Switching active blessings is an instantaneous primitive action that can be performed at any time the active blessing is not being used, and it's very intuitive. Blessings have various built-in safeties, and a mage knows how much mana they have left and what that will accomplish them.

An arcanist can bind magical effects to symbols, and a given magical effect is called a spell while the symbols used to activate it are its incantation. Spells are cast by spending mana, and arcanists are born with zero mana and start charging it up at a constant rate over time with no upper bound to the amount of mana that can be stored. For an arcanist to bind a spell, they need to define an effect they're going for and then attach it to symbols—actions or words or gestures—in a single sitting and thenceforth whenever the arcanist has enough mana and performs these actions the effect happens. It is also possible to write a one-use magic scroll for others to cast a spell. Spells are bound forever, except that a metamancer can unbind a spell.

Enchanters are like arcanists, except they can attach magical effects to objects, creating magical artefacts with various magical effects. These have a mana charge that runs out with time and can be recharged by any enchanter.

Metamancers do not generate their own mana, but they can store any of the other three types, and if they have enough can create any of the other effects. They can also perceive magic and drain mana from artefacts, scrolls, or other mages.

But Galatea magic Kaede already knows; what they can't wait for is the magic lesson. They have that nagging suspicion that all magic here's the same, but they can't really say whether it's true or not before they actually see all three kinds of local magic and compare.

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Edie finds someone willing to activate and teach him, but not for several more days. She makes an appointment with the artifact user who owes her a favor sooner.

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Ooh! That sounds fun, he can't wait.

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"That's good. Um, before we go, I should tell you some stuff--remember how I told you about that one guy who tortured someone into being one of his lieutenants because they had a really powerful artifact?"

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"...yeah?"

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"This is her."

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"—oh. Is she alright?"

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"Ish. Just--don't ask her about it, okay? And don't ask--personal questions."

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Nod. "I won't."

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"Reason she owes me is because my testimony at her trial got her out of anything worse than probation. Anyway, she lives pretty far away and is kind of--justifiably paranoid--about letting people into her space, so we're meeting at a nearby public location."

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Nod. "I won't prod."

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"Good. Flying or public transit?"

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"Flying, it's faster."

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"Yeah, not surprised." Flying!

She lands them in a park. No one else has shown up yet. Well, there are other people in the park, just none who look likely to be their contact.

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So they wait.

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And after a few minutes, a black bolt of lightning crackles from a tall metal object to the ground, where it turns into a woman wearing all black with a black opal brooch at her throat. She looks around for a moment before seeing Edie and striding over.

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"...cooool can you do that again?"

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"...Beg pardon?"

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"That lightning thing! The whole grand entrance! That was amazing!"

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"...It was the fastest way to get here."

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"Yes and it looked really amazing."

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"Well, that's not why I did it like that."

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"I know." He shakes his head. "Hi! I'm Kaede. It's a pleasure to meet you."

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"Mara Bright," she says. "Edie says you're some kind of extradimensional magic user who wants to stare at my Opal for a while."

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"Yeah, that's approximately correct. Do I have your permission?"

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"Yes."

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So he looks at the opal.

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The opal is super complicated.

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Yes. Yes it is. Is it connected to her? And for that matter—" What does it do?"

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It is connected to her!

"A large number of things," she says, "many of which I would not prefer to reveal aloud in public. The lightning is a common factor in many of them, though."

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"Can you do something with it while I'm watching?"

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She nods, spreads her hands, and black lightning crackles in an arc between them.

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Ooooh. "What can you do with that?"

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"Like this? I can hit things with lightning, essentially. Magical lightning, mind, that needn't be as--dangerous, as the real thing, on several different levels, if I don't want it to be."

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"Oooh can you show me?"

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"Here? That would violate the terms of my probation."

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"Oh. Can you do other things that won't?"

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"Well, just this doesn't," she says, nodding to the self-contained arc between her hands. "And--" the lightning goes out, and thousands of tiny arcs start traveling over her skin. (This is, magically speaking, a different thing).

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"This is fascinating."

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She smiles slightly. "I'm glad you find it so."

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Beam. "I'm—I'd love to watch a lot of things about this artefact but I'm afraid that'd be terribly boring and I'm not sure what arrangement you have with Edie."

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"I have a book. We should find somewhere more comfortable to sit down, but reading in a park on a sunny day doesn't sound like a waste of my time."

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He nods. "Okay. Wherever you like."

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She finds a nice bench and takes a book out of a pocket.

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And he stares at the artefact, occasionally asking her to do a thing.

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She will do things on command.

The things seem to be separate from each other; they're all bound to the artifact, but they are definitely separate functions.

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That's... weird? Does she get, like, new functions like magical girls do, or are there these functions all built in from the start?

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This is not immediately obvious! There are definitely Things he is not seeing in action but none of them are obviously generating-new-function Things.

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He asks this out loud.

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"My artifact has never started doing anything new," she says. "Some of the things I can do with it have a skill element, and it's accurate to say that I may gain new capabilities as I learn better to use what it has, but I'm not some kind of--transferrable magical girl, no. My Opal isn't that resplendent."

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"What sort of things have a skill element?"

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"Well, being able to throw lightning doesn't automatically give me good aim, for one."

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"Oh, that makes sense."

More staring!

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"And the interface is sort of..." she trails off. "I can't describe it. But it can be tricky to figure out how to--pick up--a power, separate from how difficult it may be to wield."

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"Pick up?"

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"Activate, perhaps."

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"Difficult how?"

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"Tricky."

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"I mean, in what sense—or is it some ineffable thing about the interface—"

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"It's mostly an ineffable thing about the interface."

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"Oh, okay."

More staring and requests and occasional questions ensue.

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If he peers at it long enough he may notice that it's got a dormant connection to something else elsewhere.

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...where?

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Elsewhere! It does not so much have a string that goes through intermediate locations, it's just--connected.

If he looks more he can see that it's actually three other things.

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—oh! Right this one's part of a matched set. What does that mean, exactly?

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It's hard to tell; the connections are dormant.

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"So I have a question but you can feel free not to answer it."

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"...Alright."

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"What... exactly does it mean that your artefact is part of a matched set?"

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"...They can coordinate with each other to some extent, they're more powerful when more of them are active, there are some things that can be done only when their wielders are working together."

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"Coordinate how, and what sorts of things?"

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...She looks uncomfortable and shakes her head minutely.

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"Okay. I'm sorry."

Back to staring.

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It takes her a little while to relax after that.

The artifact continues to be super complicated.

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He doesn't have many more questions after that.

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Mara will want to break for lunch and dinner but is otherwise content to be stared at all day.

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And Edie?

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Does he mind being left alone while she runs errands?

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Nah.

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Then she will not be there the whole time but she can at minimum arrange a time to pick him up.

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He's all set to stare a lot, then!

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This is acceptable.

The opal continues to be really, really complicated.

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Yeah he won't have made much progress by the end of the day but 'not much' is not 'none.'

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Mara expresses willingness to do this again sometime.

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He would love to do this again sometime, looking at magic is very enjoyable.

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She smiles slightly at this.

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Eventually Edie should arrive, though.

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Yeah, it doesn't take much longer before she touches down again, crystal wings chiming.

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She is so pretty.

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"Well, that sure is a look on your face," she observes.

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"You're so pretty."

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"That is a good reason for that look on your face," she says, and hugs him.

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Hug! "Wish I could show you what I can see. You're beautiful, but the way the magic behaves around you, it's like a gorgeous frame around a gorgeous painting."

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"...Telepathy spell," she reminds him.

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"—does yours do it? Mine can't transmit this—well, perhaps it can transmit this to other metamancers, but to non-metamancers at least it can't."

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"It should."

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Well he can try, can she get this completely extra sense unlike anything else she has ever experienced?

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Yep. It's trippy.

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Yep! It doesn't neatly translate to sight, it's clearly a metaphor when Kaede describes it, but whatever it is, it's beautiful. It has layers—or sides—or angles—or dimensions—no words can describe it, it has so many parts and you can shift points of view and wherever you look there's more, and it's not immediately obvious whether the new sense carries some sort of reinforcement mechanism or if it's just that interesting but the way Kaede is okay with spending several hours looking at it suddenly makes a lot more sense.

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"Oh wow," she says.

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"Right? Now look at yourself—" And it's like light if there was much more to light than intensity and colour, it's light with meaning and he provides translation of the meaning and the details of her magic and her wings and her spells—

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She gasps in delight and seizes him and kisses him.

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Eeeeeee kissssss!

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This is amazing! You just go around like this all the time?

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Yes in the sense that that's always on, no in the sense that most things aren't that magical.

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It must be so distracting when things are.

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It's actually easy to ignore if I'm not directly looking at it. Like, when something's magical it's obvious that it is, but most of the—everything—about it needs to be found, I was showing you your best angle and all details I have found.

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Oh. Huh.

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Let me show you—And now the world looks pretty normal, and yeah there's some magic there, can't miss that even if he's not looking at it, this thing is 360, but that's it. Then he—shifts position—it's like the 72-dimensional equivalent of going around a corner, with this new sense rather than eyes, and then there's more to the magic, and if he mentally rotates things and moves them around he can uncover more and more details until it reaches the full glory that he saw her as when she arrived.

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I am in awe and envy of your magic sense.

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It's pretty great, I love it. I'm not sure I'd go as far as say being a metamancer wouldn't be fun if it weren't so pretty but it'd be less fun, for sure.

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I can imagine! You should show Emily when we get home.

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Okay!

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She's super into aesthetic stuff, she'll be over the moon.

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I'd give something like this to her permanently if I could but as far as I know my magic can't do it.

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Well. Your world's magic can't.

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Ooooh yes good point.

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Although granted for something that lasted indefinitely for her it might be necessary for her to get some relevant spell, who knows. I'm sure if you two try hard and believe in yourselves you can figure something out.

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I'm thinking actually that something I could get would be turning someone into a metamancer. It's the kind of thing I'd care about very strongly. But that'd be extremely powerful.

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Yeah, that you wouldn't get for a while. Still. A while is a lot different from never.

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Yeah. Having more metamancers who we can trust... would be amazing.

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It really would. ...Bet you can get a spell to detect metamancers.

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Ooooh!

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Probably much more easily, too.

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Yeah, probably. Anyway, ready to go?

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Yeah. You?

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Yup, let's go.

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She grins and scoops him up and takes to the sky.

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Eeeeeeee!

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So how was your day?

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It was fun! Artefacts are ridiculously complex, I'd take months to write anything that complicated and push it.

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How long does it usually take?

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It depends on the artefact? We have to, like, come up with a complete algorithm—sort of like a computer program—and then think it at the artefact straight through, no pauses—we can read it or cheat or whatever—and a metamancer can keep the artefact "paused" to allow the enchanter to rest, but otherwise it has to be one sitting so most of the more complex modern ones don't take longer than a few hours to make.

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Wow.

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Yeah.

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Sounds kinda like enchanters are hella more crippled by the meta ban than the other two.

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I think they're the more obviously crippled, but binding spells is a similar process to making artefacts and likewise time-constrained, and elementalists have fundamental limits to how much magic they can do which metas can help work around.

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Sigh. Yeah.

I wonder if you could get a spell to make people non-meta 'mancers.

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Like, other kinds of mages? That'd scale better than lots of metamancers, I guess.

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Yeah, and metamancers are probably way more useful with the other kinds of mage than by themselves, even here.

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Yeah, that's what I was thinking, one meta for ten mages sounds like a reasonable ratio.

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Nod. If you could turn people into any kind of mage from your world...

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Depends on context? Here I think an enchanter would be most useful.

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Yeah--not actually what I meant, though, I was--wondering which one I'd choose if I were able.

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Oh. For some reason I think arcanism suits you.

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Huh. Any particular reason?

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I'm not really sure. Just—seems right? And enchanting seems like it fits Emily.

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I can see that. She'd probably really want the meta senses, though.

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Yeah. She'll be very overwhelmed when I show it to her.

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She will.

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Beam.

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She snuggles him insofar as she is capable of this midair.

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And soon they arrive.

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Edie touches down lightly on the roof and leads the way inside.

When they reach the apartment, she calls out, "Hey, Emily! Guess what I found out while we were out."

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"What?" Emily asks, emerging from her bedroom.

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"Kaede can show you," she says, looping Emily into the telepathy.

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And he bounces her his current perception of the room—Edie's magic, her wings, Emily's dormant magic, Kaede's own, the ward out the window in the distance...

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"Oh wow," she breathes.

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"I know!"

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"That's so--that's so--ooh," she twirls in delight.

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He giggles. "My magic can't lend or bounce this sense, and it hadn't occurred to me that Edie's might be able to do something like this before." He manipulates the sense a bit—turns things around, shifts point of view, rotates, just to show her what it's like.

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Eee. "Why can't your magic?"

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"I mean, maybe it's possible with enough mana but, if anything's a hard limit I'd expect it to be this. Metamancers can't detect mages, we can detect mana, so a metamancer can pass for a mage if they only have one mana type, or for a nonmage if they're not carrying any mana with them, so I think it's something to do with that, how you can only go one meta level up and can't do magic to metamagic."

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"It's a thing in your mind, though."

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"Yeah, but it's an extra sense, too? So it's not too weird that other brains can't interface with it natively and my magic at least does not seem to be very good at creating this interface like Edie's does."

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"It does not surprise me one bit that Edie's magic can do this."

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"I don't think I understand her magic well enough yet to predict this kind of thing."

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"Oh, it's less the fact that she's a Magical Girl and more the fact that the Magical Girl is her."

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"Mm?"

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"It's...the way my sister would want and expect telepathy to work, it would be dramatically incomplete if there were things in a person's mind that categorically couldn't be transmitted."

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"Interesting." He looks at Edie. "You know, I never did ask, but—why exactly do you have opinions about this sort of thing?"

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"About telepathy?"

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"Yeah."

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"...I don't like the idea of being locked in my own brain."

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Slow blink. "Elaborate?"

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"...In the normal course of things, there are things that cannot be communicated between two people, no matter how close they are, and I don't like that."

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"Oh. I suppose that makes sense, yeah."

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"Heh. Do you want me to just show you?"

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"Yeah."

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She shows him.

It's a drive, with her, a need like the sex drive could be called a need, something it doesn't hurt her to neglect but that she's better off if she doesn't, and it nags at her--she wants to know what people are thinking, to understand them on a basic level. And she has ethics, much as she longs to she isn't going to just start reading people's minds willy-nilly, but...

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"—but if people show you it's way, way better, you understand them better—

"...I wouldn't actually be against you reading my mind, now."

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She beams at him and kisses him.

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Kiss!

"I mean, in full generality. I don't really—think private thoughts? I have a general objection to people reading my mind because I don't know what they'll want to do with that information or what else they might do while they're there but I trust you."

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She beams at him some more

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Grin.

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"...Thank you. This is--" she can't think of good words, so she pushes it at him: Thus far in her life, her twin is literally the only person who who has given her open-ended permission to read their mind whenever.

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Well and now she has two people!

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She does and it's the best thing. She hugs him.

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So much hug!

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I love you.

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!!!!!!

I love you too!!!!

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Kiss!

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All of the kiss.

Do you want to see?

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Yes!

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So he shows her:

Right now, his mind is too filled with !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and Edie for very complex thoughts to form, but even not-too-complex ones are probably interesting, to her. This is the first time he's been in love, but he's pretty sure that's the feeling, if there exists anything more than that he might just expire on the spot if he ever feels it. He's thinking that he wants her to know him, completely and totally, inside out, and this whole "being mindread thing" isn't bad at all, when it's her. ...kinda hot, even. He's lowkey thinking being caught by a villain trying to summon henchmen might just have been the luckiest break in his life and, quite possibly, in the lives of many people in his homeworld. He's thinking she's just so good and has such admirable goals and does things about them and works hard and is very smart and it's also so attractive when she gets pissed off at things and resolves to change them and overall just Edie.

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She kisses him hard, hungry and devouring.

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Eeeeeeeee this is a good way to be kissed!

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She is so so glad he approves. How does he feel about the idea of being dragged to her bedroom.

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Is about how he feels.)

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That should happen, then!

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Yes good very good he would love it if that happened she is so good.

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He is also so good this is so mutually excellent.

Nonmagical earth technology he hasn't been introduced to yet: the condom.

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...well he has magic that does the same thing but if she prefers the technology...

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Magic works.

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Magic!

And, even better than that: Edie.

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Oh, yes.

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Also, Kaede: turns out to be very good at this. In the background of his mind (because the forefront is dominated by Edie and the touch of her and the feel of her and her skin and her breath and her voice and her body and everything, all of her, Edie, Edie, Edie) he's drawing from, er, rather extensive past experience. But he's putting it to good use.

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She is so not complaining. She's rather focused on him, as well--will he appreciate her sharing her perspective on this as much as she's enjoying having access to his?

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Yes!!!!

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Wonderful.

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Extremely wonderful and incredible and amazing and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa he's spent.

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In that case cuddles.

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Brainmelty cuddles.

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Yessss brainmelty cuddles and pets and kisses.

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You are amazing and I love you.

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I love you too.

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...by the way did we scare Emily by suddenly fleeing to your bedroom?

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She will be amused and possibly exasperated. I don't think she will be scared.

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Yeah, that's more what I meant. Did you explain at all what caused this or would she—surmise—from the previous interaction?

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I think she will probably have guessed the broad strokes and prefer we go light on the details.

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Yeah okay that makes sense.

Snuggle.

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Snuggle!!!

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More artefact-staring occurs over the next few days. He continues to think Edie is wonderful and to allow her in his mind, and he'll share the magic sense with both siblings whenever they want to and be particularly excited whenever he manages to crack this nut a little more and advances in his understanding of how this artefact works. The fact that its wielder is willing to answer questions and explain some of its properties helps a lots, too.

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The wielder continues to be taciturn about anything that touches on the shit that happened to her that one time but is otherwise entirely willing to answer questions and explain things.

It doesn't take that much longer before Edie finds a sorcerer named Horace Rockwaller who's willing to activate and train him.

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Cool! (And finally!)

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Horace Rockwaller is a boisterous old man who is so!!! Enthusiastic!!! About magic!!! And has been informed about Kaede's metamancy powers and is so, so intrigued by the possibilities they represent!

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Awesome! When do they meet?

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Tomorrow?

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Sounds good!

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Would she like to meet in a public place to start out with, or come to his home/workspace?

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Whichever he's more comfortable with, she's not picky.

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He gives her his home address.

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Will Edie give her a ride? She's been using her mana spell often enough that she has more mana than she's ever had at any single point in her life before.

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Edie will absolutely give her a ride.

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Eeeeeeeeee best girlfriend!

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This is ambiguous, at least when Kaede is also a girl! She will not deny it at all when Kaede is a boy but that time is not now.

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Kaede thinks this is the sort of thing that's symmetrical? They are probably both the best girlfriend when she is a girl.

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Makes sense.

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So: best girlfriend!

And then they're there.

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Horace Rockwaller is just as boisterous in person as on the phone!

"Hello!" he says in a deep, booming voice. "You must be Kaede."

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"I am! It's good to meet you."

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He grins. "It is wonderful to meet you as well."

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She beams. "May I come in?"

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"Of course, of course," he says, stepping out of the doorway and holding the door open for her.

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In she steps, gingerly.

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The house contains a slightly absurd number of books.

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...oooooh!

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He smiles warmly at the look on her face.

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She will try to contain herself and not immediately explore the house and look at all of the books.

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"So," he says. "You wish to become a sorcerer. Has it been explained to you precisely what this entails?"

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"Depends on how precise your 'precisely' is. I've been informed of the agony part, and the emotional feedback loop part, if that's what you mean?"

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"Mostly I meant the agony part."

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"Then yeah I know about that."

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He nods. "Activation is permanent, and the process cannot be stopped once it's begun."

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"I understand."

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"Do you wish to begin immediately, or hear anything else about the process first?"

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"Tell me stuff, I'll be able to watch it live and if I know more that helps understand it more easily."

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"Very well. You know that it hurts, do you know why it hurts?"

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"Vaguely? Something about senses?"

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"The magic burns out your sensory organs, replacing them with versions identical save for the ability to perceive and manipulate magic."

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"—ouch. Well, theoretically I can already perceive it."

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"Well, they don't literally burn out the physical organs," he says, making a so-so gesture with his hand. "And I am aware of that, but...it rather sounds as though your way of perceiving magic is rather different from our way."

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"Probably. If Edie were here I could show you. What's yours like?"

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"Well, for one thing it sounded a bit as though you could only perceive magic that already exists."

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"...yeah, that's the case."

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"Sorcerers can see a sort of...underlying pattern to the world, and rearrange it," he explains, "and when it's arranged into the right patterns, magic happens."

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"...is this pattern, itself magical?"

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He makes a so-so gesture. "It's hard to be sure."

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"It's totally possible I'd be able to see it if I knew how or where to look. My magic sense doesn't map neatly to three spatial dimensions."

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"Well, I'm not sure if it's inherently magic or not, but it's...everywhere," he says.

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"...now I kinda wanna try to look for it, but there's no guarantee I'd find it even if it was in principle findable by metamancy."

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"By all means try, if it costs you nothing."

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"Costs time, there won't be a point where I'll go, 'yep, can't do it,' it can be arbitrarily hard to find. But I can look for five minutes..."

Squint.

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nope

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"Yeah, if I'm able to see it at all it's not obvious."

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He nods, accepting this.

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"Anything else I should know, do you think?"

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"I believe you are most likely sufficiently well-enough informed."

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"Then I'm ready to begin."

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He gestures to a squashy chair. "I recommend sitting down first; the beginning can be--startling."

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She does.

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He doesn't do anything visible to normal sight, but after a moment there is a twist of magic in the air, that mirrors itself into a three-dimensional projection over Kaede's body. It begins doing--something--and a faint burning sensation starts up over her whole body, intensifying slowly but steadily after the first moments.

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That's enough advance warning that she doesn't startle, but—she does squirm uncomfortably. And squints at what the magic's doing in her body.

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The magic is...doing something...to her skin and ears and eyes and nose and tongue and so on.

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...this feels uncomfortable.

This feels very uncomfortable.

It's moving on from uncomfortable to painful. She does not like this. She stares at it and tries to figure it out because it is very uncomfortable.

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It is definitely doing a thing to her.

...She can sort of almost feel the very edges of...something?

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Okay something is better than nothing, what is it?

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...She's not feeling it with her metamancer senses.

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...she isn't?

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Nope. It's its own thing--she can see it, a little bit, and hear it, a little bit, and feel it, a little bit, but mostly it's its own thing and not very distinct at that.

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Is it becoming more distinct the more pain she's in. She bets it is.

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It definitely is.

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Ugh.

Distractions, distractions, now that she can perceive the edges of this whatever can she see this whatever with her metamancy? (She's betting this whatever is the patterns Horace mentioned.)

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Hmmmmnope have some more pain instead.

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Aaaaaaaaaaaa no she's still staring this will certainly be enough to take her mind off the pain.

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She continues to have no luck with her metamancer sense. The new sense, on the other hand...there is definitely something there.

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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

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The sense is definitely developing, though. There's some kind of--something--and where she can sense this world's magic, it is a much more organized something.

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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

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Eventually the pain cuts out.

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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—oh okay.

She's curled up in a ball on the sofa, and not terribly pleased about this fact.

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If she uncurls she can see that there are a bunch of hot beverages in magic mugs on the coffee table in front of her.

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Oh good hot beverages yes please and thank you.

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There is tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and something orange that smells vaguely fruity and spicy.

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Hot chocolate please.

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Hot chocolate!

"All finished, then?" Horace asks, sounding concerned.

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She startles when she hears her voice but doesn't drop any chocolate. "Y-yeah. I'm—" She wipes tears she hadn't noticed she'd shed with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry."

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"There's no need to be," he says. "It's quite the ordeal. You're doing better than I did."

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She nods. "Well. It's done, I guess." And she can explore this new sense...?

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Yes, absolutely!

There is all kinds of magic shit around.

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...oooooooh!

Can she see that with metamancy, now that she knows what to look for?

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Yep.

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Ooooooooh!

"—okay yes sorcery and magical girlness and artefacts are definitely all the same thing," she realises out loud.

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"...Oh?"

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"They're. Like. I don't know it's hard to explain but when I became a magical girl the huge indescribable thing showed me a braid of my world's three kinds of magic and yours were sorta monochromatic? And now I'm seeing it and yep, very definitely the same thing."

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"...I wonder if you could prove it in some way verifiable by anyone else," he muses. "If so, it would be...momentous."

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"Edie can project my metamancy sense to others? It's—really obvious, now, it wasn't with just magical girlness and artefacts because they're so complex but looking at this—everything—it's, oh, of course, everything's made of this."

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He nods slowly.

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"When Edie comes pick me up I'll show you."

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"I look forward to it," he says earnestly.

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Grin.

"Okay now I wanna learn sorcery!"

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He grins back.

"Of course! Now, you've begun to observe the patterns of the world, but can you alter them? Don't, for the moment," he cautions, "but--examine them more closely, see how you could move them."

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"Okay..." She tries that, whatever it means.

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If she comes at it the right way, the patterns do feel like something she could affect if she tried.

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"Okay yeah I totally see it."

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He smiles. "Most things you could possibly do to the patterns would be...not things we especially want to have happen." He takes a book off a stack and leafs through it, then hands it, open, to her. 

There's some kind of diagram on it, that looks a lot like the way sorcery "looks" through sorcerer-senses.

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Oooooh this book is cool. She nods along his explanation.

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"This is a fairly simple spell, and when it goes wrong it generally does so harmlessly. Try rearranging the patterns in front of you to match it."

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"Okay."

Can she do it? How hard is it?

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It's kind of tricky, but if she focuses and takes it slowly she can probably do it.

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She can be patient.

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Then, eventually, the patterns match up and a small red ball of light appears in the air.

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Eeeeee this is so cool and not at all like her magic eeeeeeeeeeee!

(Can she figure out why this pattern causes this as opposed to something else by looking?)

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If she tries she might lose her hold on the pattern.

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...oops.

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It dissolves pretty quickly back into static.

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"This is fun," she declares. "Why did that specific pattern generate a red light?"

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"In terms of what part of the pattern do what, or in terms of why I chose a pattern that generates a red light for your first try?" he clarifies.

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"Why not both."

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"Red light, because the easiest ways to err would either have resulted in nothing, or light a bit higher or lower energy," he explains. "Starting with red, there's more leeway before you risk running into ultraviolet or worse." And then he explains some of the bits of pattern and what they mean.

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Ooh so this part she can change to get other colours and—what if she did this, would she be able to get multiple colours? Multiple lights? And there's this other part...

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Yes but it is very important that she check with him before actually performing any of these alterations until she has a good enough track record of getting things right that they can be confident it won't explode in their faces.

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Absolutely, no recklessness with explosives.

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Well, "explode" was mostly metaphorical, there's all kinds of ways this kind of thing can go wrong, but her caution is appreciated.

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No recklessness with things that explode or may cause other unspecified terrible things to happen, then.

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Excellent.

Several of her variations are confirmed safe and she is allowed to try them.

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Eeeeeee this is way fun and she can just do it without worrying about mana. That is so great.

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And her variations go off without a hitch!

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Eeeee! And she has thought of some more but perhaps Horace has a curriculum in mind rather than indulging her fancies?

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They have time for fancy-indulging! There is a curriculum but it doesn't, like, have a time limit or anything.

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Eventually she'll want to learn new things that other people have come up with rather than trying to rederive all of sorcery from scratch, though.

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She can do that. Here is a slightly more complicated spell to try.

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Eeeee!

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He will teach her several spells before her lesson is over, and he reminds her not to do any sorcery yet not supervised by a more experienced sorcerer.

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She promises not to but this is so cool she likes this when will they do this again?

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Day after tomorrow?

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Sure!

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In the meantime does she want to go out for a celebratory dinner or something?

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Yes!!! But first she promised Horace she'd show him what magic looked like to her and why she thought sorcery and artefacts and magical girlness are the same thing.

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Oh sure.

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Horace is fascinated.

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And it's pretty obvious that they're the same thing, right? Kaede bounces a memory of the artefact too, to help.

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It is definitely the same thing on, like, at least one relevant level, but there are alternate hypotheses consistent with the data.

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Oh?

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Well, the three are obviously correlated relative to Kaede's world's magic, but correlation doesn't necessarily imply causality--sorcery causing artifacts is a much tidier theory than an artifact spawning sorcery, for example, but both are possible. Or some other thing no one knows about right now caused all three.

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Oh yeah, sure. They look like the same basic kind of—thing—and the simplest hypothesis is that the more versatile of the three made the other two, but other configurations are reasonable interpretations, too. They're definitely not, like, completely separate.

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Compared to her native magic definitely not.

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Mmhm. Well, they'll see each other in two days! Now she has a celebratory​ dinner to attend.

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"In the mood for anything in particular?"

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"Something new!"

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"Ooh, I don't think we've tried you on Indian food before, how do you feel about spicy."

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"Sounds great!"

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Wings and scooping?

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Those!!!

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Eeeee.

And then she brings them to a beautiful little hole-in-the-wall Indian place.

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Oooh pretty place.

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And it has tasty food! Edie will be happy to explain what things like curries and naan are.

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It reminds her of some food from Bezanab, although the style is not quite the same.

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"What's Bezanab food like?"

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"Depends on the place, big kingdom, but nearer the northeast it's spicy and uses lots of bittersweet sauces and goat meat and cheese and grain."

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"Huh." Show me?

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She does: a table with various spices and sauces around for you to dip bread and cheese in, or to put on the meat; people mixing some of those in certain orders, and eating with nuts and beans; baked fruits with honey and peppered mint; and so on.

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Ooh. Interesting. I should take you out for fondue sometime.

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Fondue...?

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Cheese and chocolate sauces that you dip things in! She sends some good examples.

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Oooh yes I wanna try that! Chocolate is such a good thing I love chocolate.

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It's really great!

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I need to figure out if that plant even exists back home or whether I should just import it.

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It grows in tropical rainforests, d'you have any of those on the accessible continent?

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Yeah, most of Bezanab is between the Equator and our equivalent of the Tropic of Capricorn and it has rainforests.

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Huh. Do you know much about what species live there?

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Not really. Nothing I've seen here looks obviously alien though.

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That's not really saying much...have you recognized specific species, or is it just, 'yep, that is a random plant'?

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I don't think I've ever paid enough attention to any plants to determine whether they'd be strictly the same species as any plants here but some do look very alike.

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That makes sense.

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Don't think the climate and soil are too different, though, you could probably bring plants back and forth without problems.

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Except for the whole invasive species thing.

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Invasive species thing?

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So it turns out introducing a species to an environment that didn't develop to keep it in check can have Consequences.

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...like what?

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Ecology isn't really my specialty but off the top of my head there's the fact that nothing recognizes it as prey so it can multiply way too much and overcompete for other food sources.

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Oh. ...well we definitely have some of the same fruit?

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That's promising! Which ones?

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I think all the fruit I've seen here was recognisable? Apples and grapes and strawberries and whatnot.

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Aha. Yeah, promising. Do you have...acorns?

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- yeah, think so.

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Pity you weren't more of a botanist. Ah well.

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I was too busy nerding about magic. I'm not even sure what I'd be if I weren't a metamancer—well, a princess, I guess.

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Yeah.

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Sometimes I get scared that if I wasn't a metamancer I'd think they were all terrible just like everyone else.

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Hug.

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Hug!

I try to convince myself that I'm the sort of person who'd look at this mess and conclude it makes less than zero sense and secretly be okay with metamancers—those people do exist—but I might just be fooling myself.

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Yeah. Well. You are a metamancer.

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Mmhm. And then I wonder if there aren't any other horrible things I'm pretty much okay with that I should not be. I've tried to spot those but I haven't been able to but that's not very strong evidence...

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Yeah that's a thing. I think I do okay at it, too--the best trick I've found is that if you find yourself having negative emotions towards some group examine your reasons why pretty damn carefully.

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...I have negative emotions towards my world's royalty? she says, a hint of mirth in her mental voice.

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I think that one's probably okay.

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But Edie, what if I'm actually being terribly unfair to them? What if I'm horribly prejudiced and they've never done anything wrong after all?

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Nope.

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You're probably right. You usually are.

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Yes. That is why I am Best Girlfriend.

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Exactly! Kiss!

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Kiss!

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And eating food that sorta kinda maybe looks a bit like some food from her world.

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Yeah. And gazing affectionately at one's girlfriend.

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Eeeeeee~

"You know, I haven't actually met your parents yet."

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"That is true! We should fix that."

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"And I think you said at some point your mother'd like to look at my—DNA?—to see if I'm properly human."

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"It seems pretty likely at this point but yeah."

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"Who knows, maybe I'm just something that imitates being a human very well."

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"I think the fruits thing makes that less likely."

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"Yeah, I guess. I wouldn't know, don't know genetics."

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"Very few people know genetics like my mother does anyway."

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"What does she do, exactly?"

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"Teaches about genetics at the university, mostly."

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"Makes sense."

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"She's even good at the actual teaching part."

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"Being your mother, I expect no less."

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"Oh?"

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"Well, you know, you're amazing so I'd be very surprised if your parents weren't!"

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"True. I'm not amazing at everything, though, and neither are they."

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"You're amazing at what you do, and it'd be strange if they picked something to do they're not amazing at. Or didn't become amazing at what they do, depending on the arrow of causation."

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"True enough." Kiss.

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Kiss!

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Mmmm kiss. But not too much kiss, no matter how tempting it is, because the do not want to get kicked out of this nice restaurant.

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Well eventually they'll be out of the restaurant...

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Well. That's true.

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And then they can kiss as loooooong as they want. And then do more than kissing, though Kaede will want a pause to show Emily what sorcery looks like to her metamancer senses.

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If it is visually obvious what she's taking a break from there will be some obligatory eye-rolling but that's fascinating.

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Isn't it? It's so cool!!!

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Yes!!!

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But then the break is over and: more Edie!

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Mmm yes good.

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And in a few days, Kaede's going to meet Edie and Emily's parents.

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"Have I told you anything about them, besides that Dad's a sorcerer and Mom's a genetics professor?"

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"You mentioned your dad was not a sorcerer by choice but other than that not really."

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"Well, Mom is an artifact user. And, uh--can you keep a secret?"

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"My survival is a testament to that."

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"Right, sorry."

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"Don't worry about it," he says, waving a hand dismissively. "Didn't mean to get the mood all dark. But yes I can."

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"So I probably wouldn't be telling you this this soon if I didn't think you could find out independently anyway, but--my mom's an artifact user. That's not the secret. We tell people Mom's artifact makes her a technopath, and that's not false, but--it's not limited to technology. As far as we can tell, it works on sufficiently complex information systems. Including brains. Mom doesn't read minds without permission, but..."

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"—does it work on magic?"

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"...No but whether that's a hard limit or because she hasn't run across any magic information-system-y enough I don't know."

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"Would she be guaranteed to notice a magic information system if she weren't looking for it?"

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"I don't know for sure. She notices mundane ones."

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"Galatea magic looks very information-system-y but yours does too, in a—different way. Especially the artefacts, they're very—here, let me show you—" He bounces the memory of staring at the artefact, how it had very specific functions that are separate and do their own thing even though they're very similar and the whole thing is so complex—

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"Huh. Best guess is her artifact doesn't work on magic, then."

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"That's a shame, it'd help. Anyway, so she can—understand information-system-y things very well?"

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"She--can make technology do what she wants. And read minds, if she has permission."

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"...can she control minds?"

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"She's never tried. She could theoretically mess with someone's head but whether she could finesse it enough to get specific desired results instead of just causing brain damage we don't know."

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"Does not sound like something I'm dying to know."

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"You and her both."

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"That's—interesting, though, I'd love to take a look at her artefact sometime. And at the one with the dude who summoned me."

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Nod. "Once he's tried, probably."

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"Mmhm."

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"And Mom will be happy to let you nerd about her artifact!"

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"Can't wait."

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Scooping and flying?

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He loves this method of transportation.

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Good.

She sets him down in front of a cute little house in the suburbs. "And this is the house I grew up in."

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He looks around. "It's adorable."

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She hugs him. "Thanks."

And then she dematerializes her wings, walks up to the front door, opens it, and calls, "Mom! Dad! I'm home, and I have a guest!"

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After a moment a middle-aged woman who bears some resemblance to Emily walks around the corner. "Hello!"

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"Hi there! It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Kaede."

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"Charlotte Xavier." She offers her hand to shake.

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He shakes her hand, beaming.

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She clasps his hand and beams. "Edie's told us all about you."

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"I don't know if she told me all about you but probably a lot."

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Sunny smile. "All good, I hope."

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"Yes, definitely!"

And for that matter what's magic like around her?

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She has an artifact! It's even more complicated than that one villain's.

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That is really cool.

"So, er, I've never actually really properly dated someone, I'm not sure how the introduction-to-parents thing usually goes."

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"I don't think I do either. Let's skip the boring cultural scripts."

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"You don't? You're saying with two amazing children like this they never brought someone home?" he asks, looking adoringly at Edie.

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"Are you so surprised by the thought that you're the first person who's met my standards?"

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"Well when you put it that way."

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"I've brought people home before but mostly not people inclined to follow cultural scripts."

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"I mean I'm curious about the cultural scripts for themselves since different culture but." Shrug.

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"Right, but since they weren't inclined to follow cultural scripts they didn't educate Mom on them."

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He grins. "Okay, fair enough."

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A moment later a man comes around the corner and gives Kaede a once-over. "Erik Lehnsherr," he introduces himself.

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He turns his grin to Erik. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lehnsherr, I'm Kaede."

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He offers a hand to shake.

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Handshake!

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"So I hear you're going to help Edie fix everything."

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"Well, it looked like she already had matters well in hand but I'll do what I can to make it easier and faster."

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"Oh, let's be fair, I only had some of the things well in hand."

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"And were in the way to getting the other things well in hand."

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Hug.

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Hug!

"Anyway, I'm very curious about what you work with, Ms. Xavier."

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"Didn't Edie say? I teach genetics at the local university."

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"Yeah, but I'm curious about—details, genetics isn't a field of study back home, I'd love to know more about it than Wikipedia can summarise at me."

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"Oh, I see. Was there anything in particular or...?"

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"Well I'm curious specifically about how come we're—the same—in such wildly different worlds."

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"I don't think I can throw very much light on that without access to your universe's fossil record."

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"...hmm. I wonder if I could past-watch it from here..."

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"I'm sure I don't know enough about your magic system to guess."

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"It'd be expensive but now I can generate mana," he says, grinning, and then—

—strikes a pose. And does a bunch of ridiculous things. Because he's a magical girl and he has not gotten over it, it's so amazing.

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Charlotte giggles.

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"Mana fountain!" He repeats that a couple of times (not that he needs to, he's been generating new mana for a while now) and then closes his eyes and thinks. And frowns. "No, it doesn't click. Can't remote-watch Galatea at all."

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"Dang."

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"Yeah," he sighs. "I don't suppose it's possible to, like, look at my DNA and... figure things out from it?"

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"It might! I won't know until I look at it."

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"Ooh."

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"We have samples of DNA from various points on our evolutionary chain," she adds helpfully. "Comparing your DNA to various points on the chain, if it doesn't match precisely to ours, could be illuminating."

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He nods. "It's just really weird is all, but Edie pointed out that it's more likely I'm regularly human since I recognised, like, fruits."

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She nods. "That is a strange coincidence...unless it's not a coincidence at all."

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"Hm?"

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"Magic exists. I don't know how it would be not a coincidence, but..."

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"Some form of—of metacausality?"

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She frowns. "Or something."

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"We'd probably need access to more reliable multiversal transportation to run any experiments on this."

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"Hopefully we'll get there."

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"We definitely will! I just need to go through a personal milestone or five."

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She smiles broadly. "Of course."

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"I should look into—or at—the spell that brought me here in the first place, though, that's a good place to start that doesn't rely on how achievable my goals are or how much I still have to grow as a person."

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"Yes, that makes sense...I'm not familiar with the spell in question, mind, and I don't know how badly it was disrupted."

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"How did you disrupt it, by the way?" he asks Edie.

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"Hit him with a polearm while he was casting."

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"—okay that's less promising than if it were another spell but I can keep it in mind."

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"Sorry. Oh well."

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"It's not completely useless, if the spell has, like, any visible parts that you could point at to go, 'this is the part where I hit him' it can help me triangulate what exactly could've messed up..." He adopts an abstracted look, and if Edie looks at what he's thinking it's very—nonverbal, sensorial, involving the metamancer sense and the extra sorcery sense and trying to figure out interactions and what a spell like that could do and how...

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"I can't sense magic."

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"Yeah but maybe if you noticed somehow when he started and knew about how much time had passed..." Shrug. "I'll figure it out."

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"Yeah, combat's not the most scientific environment possible."

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He giggles. "I suppose not. I'll figure it out anyway."

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"Naturally."

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He beams at her.

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She hugs him.

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Hug!