[plot: I Put A Spell On You]

[porcupineliz]

(index!)

A reading of the sweater she got from Matt doesn't give her much, but there are definitely traces of a magic around it. Something artificially imposed, and ... she's pretty sure something outwardly imposed. It doesn't have Matt's feel to it at all.

Scrying is somewhat more useful: she gets a very brief blurred image of someone who's probably the caster -- older woman, graying hair, smiling earnestly -- and a much more definite sense of the caster's magic signature. And enough sense of the spell to make her skin crawl, even though as far as she can tell it was done with the most benevolent of intentions.



When she gets back to Milliways, she finds the note. There's no good way to say this, but I'm actually under a --

Oh.

Oh, shit.

Comments

[nita_callahan]

"Pretty much. Your phone's accent is kind of weird because of the different universe's."

[porcupineliz]

"... my phone's accent?" She laughs -- not with disbelief but still with that bemused wonder. "Wow. My -- some of my family can do that sometimes, but only with objects they've already made strong connections with. Like, multiple decades' worth. You can just pick up something brand new to you and be in rapport with it?"

[nita_callahan]

"I'm not as good with inorganic objects as a rule, actually, but I can usually make myself understood if I'm patient."

[porcupineliz]

"Inorganic," she repeats. "So -- living things are easier? Plants, animals ...?"

[nita_callahan]

"For me, yeah. Other people have different specialties. Some people can talk to, like, elements -- I've got some affinity with water, but not like other wizards I know."

[porcupineliz]

Liz is shaking her head slowly. "That's amazing."

... she may sound the tiniest bit envious.

[nita_callahan]

"Anyone can learn the language, even non-wizards."

[porcupineliz]

"So ..." Slowly, working it out. "The difference is that wizards can use it to, to change things? Or what?"

[nita_callahan]

"Mmhmm, yeah. I mean, if you're good enough with the language you can convince some things to do you favors anyway, but being able to use the enactive recension is what counts for larger scale stuff."

[porcupineliz]

"Got it. ... I think."

She chews her lip, looking like a woman in the process of wrestling with temptation.

[nita_callahan]

". . . I could get you a basic lexicon, if you wanted."

[porcupineliz]

"Oh god, that's tempting." A tiny half-laugh. "I don't know, though ... "

[nita_callahan]

"Seriously, it'd be easy."

[porcupineliz]

"You don't think it could ... react unpredictably with my magic system?"

[nita_callahan]

"Oh." She looks thoughtful. "Depends. What's your magic system based on?"

[porcupineliz]

"Ritual," she says after a moment's thought, "and ... the properties of natural objects. Literal and symbolic properties."

[nita_callahan]

She nods.

"I can't think that it would react badly -- I mean, that spell circle we built before didn't have any bad internal reactions -- but it might be too far out of your usual paradigm of practice to be worthwhile."

[porcupineliz]

"Yeah. I mean, I'm curious, but ... I could see myself getting really absorbed in it and then getting distracted by it when I'm trying to do some other kind of work."

[nita_callahan]

"Which totally never happens to wizards on my world or anything."

She has certainly never lost a day to learning incredibly specific vocabulary subsets. Nope.

[porcupineliz]

"... I can't decide whether I should be saying 'touche' or 'I rest my case.'"

[nita_callahan]

Grinning, she shrugs. "Probably rest your case."