Most Likely A Refuge

[whatamithinking]

It was probably safe.

The bar was...unusually reticent, in the lower layers of her mind (and she hadn't pried further; she wasn't sure if she'd be noticed; she wasn't sure if offending would get her kicked out, and regardless of whether it was actually safe it was safer than anywhere else she'd been for the past...three years?) so she couldn't be sure this place wasn't really a trap of some kind, but the higher layers gave a plausible explanation that didn't involve being a trap, and whatever else it was warm and dry and had food. Her guard was probably a full 25% down. Positively trusting, these days.

Comments

[mindovermagic]

"Hey, Bar, do you know if your time-weirding would actually interfere with Bella's spell?"

[alicornucopia]

I have no time-weirding of my own, Bar says, and time magic, pre- and post-cognition, and similar things do often behave very badly here but I have no more specific information.

[mindovermagic]

"Shoulda been more specific, I meant Milliways time-weirding. Does it apply to the whole place including backyard and upstairs, as far as you know?"

[alicornucopia]

Yes.

[mindovermagic]

"Oh well."

[onceandforall]

"I'll try it out once I'm at home."

[mindovermagic]

"I kind of wanted to see, but oh well; the important part is that you can use it to seriously mess up some evil fluff."

[onceandforall]

"Yep."

[mutatis_mutandis]

"Dearheart, why don't you get some introductory sorcery books from Bar, and you can read them and compile a curriculum for Bella, and I can eavesdrop and transcribe what you're reading? That seems most efficient. And--perhaps we could get a room or something, having a large number of books spread out over the countertop seems unnecessarily obstructive."

[ragexserenity]

"...Yes, that seems sensible."

[onceandforall]

"They can all draw off my tab," Bella tells Bar.

[ragexserenity]

"Thank you. Bar, would it be possible to find a reasonably coherent set of introductory textbooks with material within spitting distance of what's likely to make theoretical sense to someone familiar with the texts on sorcery currently in print?"

[alicornucopia]

Bar produces another book stack.

[mutatis_mutandis]

"And a key to a room, if you please?"

[alicornucopia]

Room 2089, says a napkin accompanying a key.

[mutatis_mutandis]

"Thank you very much!"

And then they pick up their books and leave.

[onceandforall]

"Um."

[mindovermagic]

"So, uh, that was my parents."

[onceandforall]

"Yes. They seem nice."

[mindovermagic]

"Yeah, I think so. Dad sorcers professionally and Mom's a genetics professor."

[onceandforall]

"What sorts of practical applications do professional sorcerers find there to be call for?"

[mindovermagic]

"A wide variety of things. Sorcery can do a lot of stuff that current technology just can't, and some stuff that it can, more cheaply and effectively."

[onceandforall]

"Sure, but, typical day examples, I wanna know what to get excited about."

[mindovermagic]

"Over the past couple of weeks Dad's been called on to demolish a condemned building, move a tree that couldn't have been mundanely transplanted without killing it, immobilize a broken leg bone so the kid didn't have to get a traditional cast, and clean out a chunk of lake that someone had been dumping garbage into. Last month he and a couple of others worked together to renew the city's darkscreen. Um, that's a one-way shield over a city that prevents the light pollution from getting out and confusing bats and birds and stuff. I guess you don't have those, huh."

[onceandforall]

"We do not have those. Couldn't heal the leg outright?"