Magic without a magic

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel wakes up. This is not where she went to sleep. She has a peek at the stream -

- And lets out a surprised yelp at the nonsensical cacophony.

"What in the blue hells is this place?" No answer is immediately apparent, so she climbs to the top of the ravine, carefully avoiding the various inexplicable things in the area. The snake-goat hybrid was particularly grotesque.

The top of the ravine has a road. She tries to fly, but can't. Again, very strange. This is a pretty nice road, physically, but magically it's completely undeveloped. She walks towards the city, peeking at the stream once in a while only to see fog, and seeking an explanation.

Comments

[alicornucopia]

"...Twenty," says the assistant, glowering at her.

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Fifteen."

[alicornucopia]

"Twenty, you knitbrained little thief!"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"How did I steal anything from you? I didn't touch a thing in that-" Stop. Breathe in. Breathe out. Two gold coins come out of the pouch. "Only because I don't know if I actually broke a law. I hope we never meet again."

[alicornucopia]

The assistant snatches the gold from her hand and stalks back to the surgeon's office.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel paces and fumes. They've already made a scene, so it'd probably be a bad idea to set something on fire. No painkillers, and no magic to mend injuries with. That answers the medicine question pretty clearly.

Eventually she sets back for Sunset Row, getting into her room by magicking the lock.

[namesthesky]

Aya is back an hour later with a pot, some fruit, some flour and potatoes and nuts and eggs and cheese, and two outfits - she had to eyeball Steel's size, but she gets a long-sleeved pale green blouse and white linen pants, and Aya's in a fawn-colored dress. Steel also gets a pair of shoes. And some change.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel is still upset. "The state of medical care in this place is deplorable. I probably know twice as much about the body as that butcher. I've decided how to make money, I can open a surgery. Or maybe synthesize aspirin, an actually not-addictive painkiller. You have the right plants here, and I saw everything I need earlier. Ugh."

[namesthesky]

"That sounds like a good idea assuming your embroidery works as you expect."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I probably saved their patient's life. He was going to die, he was losing losing way too much blood, so I didn't see the harm in trying. Don't know if it worked, though, they chased me out and I had to bribe the assistant to get away without calling any more attention than I already did. Who wants adventure, anyway? Adventures are unpleasant. At least you don't look like you had one."

[namesthesky]

"Perfectly ordinary shopping trip. I can make dinner."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Sounds great, thanks. I've worked out the mechanism to get ink out of skin. I remember doing it a few years ago when I was still learning magic, but whether it will still work is another thing. There's more prep to do before I can try, though."

[namesthesky]

Aya smiles and brings some of the food downstairs to use the boardinghouse kitchen. She comes up with puffy cheesy bread and fruit compote.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel is standing in the corner, peering and occasionally waving at a spot of empty air near the floor. "This is the prep work," she explains, "Ooh, smells good. You probably want an explanation of what I'll be doing to wipe the tattoo before I do it, right?"

[namesthesky]

"That would be nice."

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel summarizes how her magic works. Shaping the stream, viewing it, and using it, and their corresponding prices in strength, physical senses, and emotion.

Then, "So the outer layer of skin is mostly dead. That's why you can take little scrapes and rub on things without being hurt. Tattoos go a little deeper, they bind to the fat under that outer layer. If they were just on the outer layer, they'd disappear in a month or two. The way we remove tattoos is using magic to convince the ink and only the ink, not your blood or anything else, to move back into the upper layer, and then it will fade by itself, or you can scrape yourself to remove it."

[namesthesky]

"And this is significantly easier than moving the ink out of my skin entirely?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Yes it is. I can convince the ink to move around your body because your body moves things around it by itself, like blood and food. Pulling it out of your body after it's had time to settle in would be like trying to separate the salt from a cooked loaf of bread. I can get it to the very edge of skin, though, so that a good bath will get rid of it."

[namesthesky]

"That will do."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I'm worried that as soon as I start scrubbing tattoos, someone who owns a lot of slaves will decide to change the law about Aelare's blessing. I don't know if there's a way around that."

[namesthesky]

"If you can make it so they wear off only with a good scrubbing, they won't do so obviously right away. You could set up a lot of them and then I could start a rumor that they'll rub off on a certain day."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Nice idea, not a long term solution but it'll help get the most benefit out of a limited opportunity. Do you think a disguise could help the rumor? What is Aelare supposed to look like?"

[namesthesky]

"She shapeshifts. Popular forms include a copper-coated fox or a magpie or a woman with moonbeams in her hair."

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel thinks for a moment. Then pale light shines from gaps in her hair, like a candle shining through a net. "Like so? Or maybe..."

The pattern changes, and instead a single inch-wide streak of hair is glowing softly along its entire length. It fizzes out after a moment. "Huh, that's tricky."

[namesthesky]

"She's also supposed to have opal eyes and I don't think I've ever seen her depicted as pale as you are. But I'm not sure exactly how you plan to deploy this disguise even if you perfect it."