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On Monday, Bella arrives at school completely and stably human shaped, with everything she has learned about critters (except for her own species, which she isn't liable to forget) written down as margin notes on a page reminding her to ask Darren about D&D and filler decoy notes about that. She's probably going to have invent an actual cipher alphabet or something eventually but for the time being she thinks this will probably do for casual inspection.
She sits next to Darren in English.
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shesepankh
shesepankh
Bella pats his arm. "Hurray. Is now a good time to teach me how to lay them out or should I learn more of them alone first?"
castmyown
"Well, I'm going to do the obvious thing, and explain it."
So he does!
So he does!
shesepankh
Soon Bella's notebook has a glossary with the following terms:
Circumscription - Large closed shape such as a rectangle or circle. By default means "affect this area"; cancel with a targeting or abstracting rune (see footnote 4 on third rune). Contains other runes.
Description - Section of a diagram saying what to do. Demarcate with third rune (but, see first footnote and third use case) or another suitable.
Proscription - Cancellation section. Nesting sections to cancel unwanted effects of prior cancellations; demarcate with rune tree on page 9 (see note in lower right corner) or another suitable.
Superscription - Clarification section for small positive epicyclic effects. Adds to description section and should be near it.
Subscription - Clarification section for cancellations and/or superscriptions. Supplements proscription section but does not need to be near it if the circumscription doesn't accommodate it neatly.
Then she goes back and makes little star markings near all her noted runes indicating where they may overlap without disaster - "I might want to make, like, pipecleaner models of these things so I can try ways to overlay them up without going through reams of paper".
Then she takes a supplied spell description indicating that when cast successfully it makes the circular diagram's area light up like a lamp, and the list of five runes that make up this spell, and starts puzzling out ways to munch them together in the circumscription with safe overlap and sectioning and demarcation.
She takes twenty minutes of experimentation and clarifying questions, but then she has something drawn - sketchily; she shouldn't use this exact diagram, but suitable as something to refer to when trying again with a compass and a ruler.
Circumscription - Large closed shape such as a rectangle or circle. By default means "affect this area"; cancel with a targeting or abstracting rune (see footnote 4 on third rune). Contains other runes.
Description - Section of a diagram saying what to do. Demarcate with third rune (but, see first footnote and third use case) or another suitable.
Proscription - Cancellation section. Nesting sections to cancel unwanted effects of prior cancellations; demarcate with rune tree on page 9 (see note in lower right corner) or another suitable.
Superscription - Clarification section for small positive epicyclic effects. Adds to description section and should be near it.
Subscription - Clarification section for cancellations and/or superscriptions. Supplements proscription section but does not need to be near it if the circumscription doesn't accommodate it neatly.
Then she goes back and makes little star markings near all her noted runes indicating where they may overlap without disaster - "I might want to make, like, pipecleaner models of these things so I can try ways to overlay them up without going through reams of paper".
Then she takes a supplied spell description indicating that when cast successfully it makes the circular diagram's area light up like a lamp, and the list of five runes that make up this spell, and starts puzzling out ways to munch them together in the circumscription with safe overlap and sectioning and demarcation.
She takes twenty minutes of experimentation and clarifying questions, but then she has something drawn - sketchily; she shouldn't use this exact diagram, but suitable as something to refer to when trying again with a compass and a ruler.
castmyown
Darren checks over her work, and offers occasional bits of advice for how to improve things, or gentle nudges about what she's done wrong. Overall, though, he's very supportive and encouraging, especially when she's on the right track.
"Mind you," he adds, "It shouldn't be that messy when you draw it out properly. I'm not sure if we have time or not for me to show you how to do it neatly. When's your dad coming to pick you up?"
"Mind you," he adds, "It shouldn't be that messy when you draw it out properly. I'm not sure if we have time or not for me to show you how to do it neatly. When's your dad coming to pick you up?"
shesepankh
"He's off work at nine and I can call him whenever after that. I wouldn't try to cast with this messy thing, this is just a - composition."
castmyown
He nods. "All right. We should um - probably eat, now that I think of it. I don't even know what time it is."
shesepankh
Bella looks around for a clock. "Yeah, food sounds great, I - forgot to explicitly ask if I'm invited for dinner."
castmyown
Darren snorts. "No, I'm going to make you starve, shame on you for not asking politely."
He is being sarcastic.
He is being sarcastic.
shesepankh
"If I was not invited for dinner I would call my dad at nine and eat leftover spaghetti, it would not be a huge deal. But thank you. What're we having?"
castmyown
"I'm not sure. Dad's taking care of it, I think. We should go ask."
shesepankh
"Okay." Bella stands up and streeeeetches. She's been hunched over her notebook for a long time even for her.
castmyown
Darren's kind of stiff now, too. "Ow," he says. "... I should probably have gotten up and walked before now."
Whatever. Off they go to find his father!
Whatever. Off they go to find his father!
steppingup
And there he is, in the kitchen. He looks up, amused. "You two have been busy, I take it?"
castmyown
"Didn't do any magic, only showed her runes and how to lay them out."
shesepankh
"I like Chinese. Good with most anything in the genre but I can produce specific opinions if you want me to and give me a menu to look at."
steppingup
"... Thanks. Only organized one in the house," says an amused Vernon. Menu goes to Bella. "There you are."
shesepankh
Bella looks through it and expresses an appreciation for wonton soup and chicken fried rice, "but again, I'll eat whatever you'd normally get."