View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
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.
+ Show First Post
shesepankh
shesepankh
"Thank you, Mrs. Adams," says Bella soberly. She hauls herself to her feet to follow Vernon and Darren.
castmyown
"You're welcome," she says. "Don't worry about it, you have enough on your mind."
She shifts to fullform bugbear - now that Bella's conscious, she can appropriately judge what she looks like. She's not mistakable as a normal bear, but the resemblance is certainly there, especially in the face and body structure. Her arms are too long to be a bear's, though that's subtle in comparison to what's attached to them. Her claws are nearly a foot long, each one, sharp and bone-white. Mrs. Adams gets to picking up cooling chunks of lava monster, and unceremoniously flinging them into the ocean.
"I'll start getting started on scroll ideas when I'm home," promises Darren.
She shifts to fullform bugbear - now that Bella's conscious, she can appropriately judge what she looks like. She's not mistakable as a normal bear, but the resemblance is certainly there, especially in the face and body structure. Her arms are too long to be a bear's, though that's subtle in comparison to what's attached to them. Her claws are nearly a foot long, each one, sharp and bone-white. Mrs. Adams gets to picking up cooling chunks of lava monster, and unceremoniously flinging them into the ocean.
"I'll start getting started on scroll ideas when I'm home," promises Darren.
shesepankh
"All-purpose-emergency things," recommends Bella. "And supply me an English translation so I can Spanishify them and not horribly botch the pronunciation trying to use your French." She stumbles en route to the car.
castmyown
"Yeah," he agrees, moving to assist her. "It will take a bit to set up, I need to think of spells that will work whenever and not just in certain conditions, like the tidal wave one."
castmyown
"Extremely, ludicrously un-doable. Maybe it's possible, but I have absolutely no clue how. Sorry, it sucks."
shesepankh
"Alas. Shields? Scenery-independent elemental stuff? Maybe invisibility, although I don't know if that's easier to do as a scroll than as the tail ornament."
castmyown
"Shields, maybe. Some scenery independent elemental stuff, air's basically everywhere. Invisibility - eeeeh... Possibly? I'm not sure."
castmyown
"I wish I knew. It might have sensed the magic thing when you turned, but... Finding you specifically? I don't know."
shesepankh
"I mean, we were in the air, if it could see really well if might have just - but someone would probably have noticed a giant lava monster hanging around all weekend waiting for me to come out and be sphinx-shaped where it could chase me, wouldn't they?"
castmyown
"Yeah. But there are plenty of ways to hide things, so it might have done... Just that. Gah, that's creepy."
shesepankh
"That makes it sound like it was sent. By someone who has the resources to acquire one lava monster, so why not a whole menagerie of scary things. Eugh."
castmyown
"... I am going to work on magic a lot. I think you should also go to the Avalon and get some - luck charms or protection charms or something. Because wow that is scary."
shesepankh
"Yeah, I'm currently debating whether to ask Charlie to take tomorrow off work and excuse me from school for a trip out there to see what there is to see versus waiting till Saturday. Which he'd also have to take off to drive me; I don't see him letting me fly all the way to Seattle alone given what just happened. At some point I'm going to need to acquire a car."
castmyown
"Yeah. Getting a car seems like a good idea - I recommend that if you go to the Avalon you go with other critters, because at least like - Mrs. Adams or me or Savannah could help you out if it attacked you here."
shesepankh
"Which suggests waiting till Saturday. Or at least after school, though it's a long drive and there's presumably lots to see. So I need a computer, I need a car, I need books - I need to dip into my life insurance payout, I was - going to not, but."
shesepankh
"Purest sentiment. She had life insurance for a reason, she had it because you don't run any noticeable risk of partially orphaning a minor without at least making sure there's a slush fund to cushion the income loss, but I was thinking I'd sit on it till college, Charlie makes okay money, but suddenly I need big-ticket items. I'll get a cheap car, anyway. In case a lava monster eats it."
castmyown
"Fair enough. I mean, if we manage to get to the point where we can make magic items, selling those would be an option. If it starts to become a problem that lava monsters eat cars."
castmyown
"Mhm. Scrolls, too, I suppose we could sell scrolls. Harmless ones."
castmyown
"Anybody. My tutor was human. We just - don't tell the general populace because huge upheaval due to scary mythological critters. It's the sort of thing that doesn't happen accidentally, so they're not likely to stumble upon it without help."
shesepankh
Bella nods. "It seems like you could probably do a slow reveal on the strength of 'nobody would ever believe you' - right? Tell one friend at a time, if they freak out everybody who's in on it says they're clearly having trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality."