incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
Eventually Bella and Lexi go to bed - they have to coordinate this; Bella's a reasonably sound sleeper but Lexi's not, so if Bella goes to sleep first Lexi won't be able to drop off with all the random nouns and if Bella goes to sleep second Lexi will wake up when she's trying to sneak around. They get up, and they get ready for school.

+Morning, Brilliance,+ says Bella while she's brushing her teeth.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Morning!+ says Brilliance, brightly. +I went world-hunting. Found a buncha places with pretty decently similar atmosphere and gravity.+
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
+Oh, swell! Can check those out after school, practice all kinds of stuff. Hey, how'd you come by your name?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+I picked it,+ he says. +'Cause I like it.+
incanted: (hurray)
Author: incanted
+It's a good name.+ Off they go to school. Bella doesn't really consider taking him along; they can talk from that far away.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Can't wait to get away from me, huh?+ he jokes.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
+What, you want to hang out in my pocket all day?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Sure, why not?+
incanted: (serene)
Author: incanted
+Can you catch up to the truck or should I ask Lexi to turn around?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Good question,+ he says cheerfully. +One sec.+

A beat passes.

Brilliance drops out of thin air into Bella's lap.
lexicality: (birdsnest)
Author: lexicality
"Aaah! Make it not do that!" exclaims Lexi, and her control of the vehicle falters briefly.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry


Brilliance... doesn't do anything.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Lexi. Brilliance is a he," Bella says. "I realize you didn't personally get to see the human form, but still. Brilliance, kindly don't abruptly teleport in front of unwarned people." She puts him in her pocket.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
He shivers a little once he's there.
incanted: (abashed)
Author: incanted
+You okay?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Kind of no?+ he says. +I'll be fine in a while. I think.+
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
+Can I help?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry


Wryly, after a few seconds: +Just... remind me that 'make it not do that' is not advice you plan on taking?+
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
+I asked you not to,+ Bella points out. +If you decided that appearing at us whenever you felt like it even if we didn't want you to was your prerogative I'd have to figure something else out, but I'm definitely not leaping straight to forceful options.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Yeah.+ He sighs. +Yeah, I know.+
incanted: (abashed)
Author: incanted
Bella hesitates, then awkwardly pats her pocket.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Awww.

Her pocket glimmers comfortably.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
Bella is not really good at interpreting glitter-language. +You glittered,+ she says blankly.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Yeah,+ he says. +It's like - the device version of smiling, I guess.+
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
+Aww!+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
He laughs softly - over magephone, not out loud.
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
+Please don't be conspicuous at school, by the way, I might tell Charlie about you at some point but probably not all my classmates.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+I can do stealth!+ he says. +I've been doing stealth for a while.+
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
+...When you say you've been doing it for a while I start wondering if this is another thing you have issues about or if you're just neutrally asserting your capability.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Meh,+ he says. +It's not my favourite, but I'd way rather hang out on a planet where nobody knows what a device is and have to act like a deck of cards in public than hang out on a planet where everybody knows what a device is, you know?+
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
+I cannot claim to know. I have never been to the latter sort of planet. Are they terrible?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+They're probably not terrible if you're not a device. They might even be okay if you're a device who's, you know - not me.+
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
+What do you think the people there would do? Is there some protocol for handling self-aware devices you don't like?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+I just don't like the idea of everybody knowing what I am. Because, you know, maybe they'll be nice like you, but... maybe they won't.+
incanted: (flat)
Author: incanted
+Are you going to object if I want to tell Charlie? Because that's probably going to be necessary if I keep haring off to other planets to fly around and explode things and terraform places.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+I can live with you telling Charlie, I guess.+
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
+Thanks.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Not sure I get why you have to, but whatever, your call.+
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
+He has, you know, reasonable parent-of-some-seventeen-year-olds expectations that he will be made aware of my whereabouts. I'd feel bad sneaking around under his nose, and besides, it'd be inconvenient if he noticed I was gone a lot and wasn't telling him and decided to start implementing explicit rules I'd then have to break. I don't want to have an antagonistic relationship with him.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Huh,+ says Brilliance. +Okay.+
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
+Is that weird or something?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+I just don't really know how parents work,+ he admits.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
+Some of 'em don't work very well. Mine and Lexi's work fine. Except for the getting divorced part, I guess.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Gotcha.+
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
+If I fess up to both parents I might go visit Renée a lot. We moved up here so she could travel with her new husband, but she won't be doing that literally all the time.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+And I can teleport you places now!+
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
+Yup! I'm not sure how you'll get along with Charlie but I think you might like Renée.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+We'll see, I guess!+
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
And here is school. +Welcome to high school!+ says Bella with some irony.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
He giggles.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
Turns out Bella really likes having someone she can silently converse with during school. She usually talks to Brilliance - she's sure Lexi would react visibly if she said something, and that could wind up being some kind of problem. She makes snarky remarks about the teachers, the subject matter, her new friends - mostly the selection Lexi's monopolizing; she kinda likes Angela and Eric - and, during walks between buildings, the weather. +Hey, weather spells: doable, not doable? Good idea, bad idea?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+I'm not totally sure!+ he says. +I don't know how, but that doesn't mean we can't do it. We just might have to screw around on a deserted planet for a while first.+
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
+Sounds like a plan.+ Bella writes this down when they're inside again. +Could be a good way of managing food security, if I could teleport around messing with weather systems, assuming I can't just create giant heaps of potatoes out of nowhere.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+I have no idea how to do either of those things,+ says Brilliance, +but I'm cool with trying!+
incanted: (hurray)
Author: incanted
+Someplace nice and unobtrusive,+ says Bella merrily. +Have the planets you found got any other characteristics besides probably not killing me?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+One of them has, like - a lot of colourful sand,+ he offers. +It's really pretty.+
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
+That does sound pretty. Why does it have that?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Fucked if I know!+ he laughs.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
+Have any of them got life on them at all, or are they managing to have oxygen atmospheres without?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Nothing you could see without a microscope, mostly. I think I remember some algae somewhere.+
incanted: (serene)
Author: incanted
+Algae'll do it. Were the sand colors all mixed together or separate?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Mixed together, mostly. I think there was, like, a big streak of green off in the distance.+
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
+Sounds pretty. Maybe I'll bring a camera.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
He giggles.
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
The rest of the school day proceeds uneventfully. Bella still sits out of gym, stretching and doing simple yoga poses on her mat in the corner. +If only moving around on the ground were as straightforward as flying.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+It's not?+
incanted: (regrouping)
Author: incanted
+No, I'm pretty lousy at, like, walking. Running is worse, running and trying to do anything else basically impossible, that's why I'm over here while everybody else plays volleyball, I would die.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Wonder if there's a spell for that,+ he says musingly.
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
+Good question. I should see about inventing one. Trouble is I don't actually know what's wrong with me, it seems to be a case of the "just super clumsy".+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Well, so a healing spell might not fix it, but... I dunno... something that makes walking more like flying, I feel like there's room for experimentation there. Maybe we can try it when we go hang out on the sand planet.+
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
+Sure. Just half an hour to go.+ Stretch-arch-hold-breathe. +I won't miss yoga, it's boring.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+What even is it, I am hazy on some of the things you bio-people do with your bodies,+ snorts Brilliance.
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
+It's this family of postures and exercises you're supposed to combine with mindful breathing to accomplish - something. Flexibility, I guess, though there's a lot of spiritual woo wrapped up in it too.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+That does sound boring. But then, maybe breathing is more exciting when you have to do it all the time.+
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
+No. No it is not.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance cracks up.
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
+Like, there is a reason we are wired to ignore it unless there's something unusual going on. There is a reason we can do it in our sleep.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Yep, still snickering.
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
+So you're not even biological enough to breathe when you're dude-shaped?+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+I can breathe, I'm pretty sure I can even eat food, but it took me a while to figure out that humans don't just do it when they need the air for something. Or - you know what I mean. And I'm not totally sure I get the point of eating.+
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
+You're pretty sure you can eat food, you haven't tried it? 'Cause unlike breathing that one has recreational applications.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Yeah, never really got the chance,+ he says. +Maybe I should take Dude Form for a test-drive sometime soon.+
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
+Sure, we can stop at home before going to Colorful Sand Planet, you can have an apple or something to try.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Cool,+ he says cheerfully.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
Eventually gym class concludes, and Bella drives home alone because Lexi's going to try the "go to Jessica's" plan again, and she lets herself in the house and takes Brilliance out of her pocket and puts him on a kitchen chair.
cardistry: (⑨ flourisher)
Author: cardistry
The deck shimmers; the shimmer becomes a glow, which expands abruptly into the fiery silhouette of a human figure, then fades.

"Oh, cool," says Brilliance, tipping his head back and stretching out his arms. "I forgot how fun it was just being this shape."

He is wearing a skintight black bodysuit that ends just above elbow and knee, with white trim that resembles the designs on the deck of cards he was just being.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Are you as trivially adjustable like so as you are when you're a deck of cards?" inquires Bella curiously, tossing him an apple from the fruit bowl and grabbing one for herself. She bites hers.
cardistry: (④ precious love)
Author: cardistry
"I can adjust the clothes," he says, grinning a little as he catches the apple. "So can you, actually. Why, got something you wanna see me in?"
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"Not really, just curious if you picked it or if it came with you-ness."
cardistry: (⑥ heavenbound)
Author: cardistry
"Okay," he says, and shrugs, and attempts to make the apple interact with his face.
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
"...You bite it," Bella says helpfully, and she demonstrates again.
cardistry: (④ precious love)
Author: cardistry
"I'm trying!" he laughs. "It's harder than it looks!"

But no, no, he's getting it.

...

He closes his eyes and hugs the apple-minus-a-bite against his chest and wriggles blissfully.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"So you like apples?" Bella asks.
cardistry: (① brilliance)
Author: cardistry
"Mmmmmmmmlnnngh," says Brilliance.

He takes another bite and squirms some more.
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"Okay, apples are your new best friends," laughs Bella. She takes a less overwhelmedly blissful bite of her own. "Am I going to have to explain you to Charlie just so he doesn't wonder where all the food goes?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
+Why does anyone ever do anything other than eat,+ he says over magephone, because his mouth has way higher priorities than forming speech right now. +It's so good, is all food like this?+
incanted: (serene)
Author: incanted
"Um, apples are like this, other food is like other things, these aren't even unusually good apples?" Bella says, talking between bites like a civilized person. "Do you want to try, like, a taco, there's some leftover filling and a few more tortillas."
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
+I would fucking love to try a taco,+ says Brilliance.
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
Bella plates and nukes a tortilla and a glob of ground saucy beef. "This is spicy, some people don't like spicy," she advises him, sliding the place across the table. "...And you fold the tortilla part in half around the filling part and try not to let filling fall out and you hold it flat and bite it, is how this kind of food works."
cardistry: (③ glimmering)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance nods.

He finishes his apple.

...He finishes rather more of his apple than you're supposed to.
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
"The middle bit of the apple there isn't generally considered food," comments Bella.
cardistry: (⑨ flourisher)
Author: cardistry
He shrugs and attacks the taco next.

+I like spicy!+ he declares immediately. +I like spicy a lot.+

There is considerable squirming involved in how much he likes spicy, but he puts down the taco first so he doesn't drop precious precious food all over himself.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"You like spicy like some people like heroin. Jeez," laughs Bella, and she wanders behind his chair and pats him on the head, swiveling her hand around to sit at the perpendicular seat.
cardistry: (① brilliance)
Author: cardistry


He closes his eyes and hugs himself and leans into her hand, making a sound that approximates a purr.
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"...You okay?" Bella says. "Did I run into some weird device/human cultural point of non-overlap or something?"
cardistry: (④ precious love)
Author: cardistry
"I really like that," he sighs. "That thing you're doing. The touching my head thing. Do more of that."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
Bella makes a bit of an awkward face. But she pets his hair. "Unused to the - what was it you called it, complex tactile information?" she asks.
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
"Yeah," he says, nodding a little. "I get some tactile sense in my other forms, but it just - it doesn't compare at all. And I had no idea taste was a thing until just now, pretty much, mmmmm now I can't decide between more touching and more taco."
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"I am not actually obstructing your taco-eating adventure," Bella says dryly, scritching his scalp.
cardistry: (③ glimmering)
Author: cardistry
"But I'd have to pay attention to both things at once and that wouldn't be as good," he says, leaning into her hand again with a happy little sigh. "That is really nice."
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
"It's just me petting your hair, it's not like you're getting a shiatsu massage or something," Bella says. "Although I hesitate to name that because now I'm concerned that if you got one you would in fact explode."
cardistry: (① brilliance)
Author: cardistry
"I would not," he says, grinning lazily. "Unless you mean the way humans do."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Humans don't characteristically explode."
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
"They do too!"
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
"Have you been watching terrible science fiction or something?"
cardistry: (④ precious love)
Author: cardistry
"No, c'mon, people talk about exploding with whatever-their-feelings-are all the time, they obviously don't mean literal explosions, work with me a little here."
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"I have never claimed to explode with a feeling."
cardistry: (⑤ wild card)
Author: cardistry
"Yeah," he snorts, "I bet you haven't."
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Well, I haven't," she says. "I don't think it's really a common turn of phrase. My arm's tired, you can eat your taco now," she adds, dropping her hand to the table.
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance goes back to overenjoying his taco.
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"Careful, if you eat the whole thing there won't be any of it left for you to marry," drawls Bella.
cardistry: (⑨ flourisher)
Author: cardistry
+I don't wanna marry it,+ he says, +I wanna eat it. Mmmmm.+
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"How much food can you hold? Because I can unload some more leftovers on you if you want, we have, what do we have, tuna salad, a pasta thing, minestrone soup?"
cardistry: (③ glimmering)
Author: cardistry
"I have no idea," he says promptly, "let's find out!"
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"Pff." She gets out the named items, and warms the two that need warming after passing him the tuna and a fork. She explains the mechanics of the fork.
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance only stabs himself in the face by accident once! And he seems to treat this with the same general enthusiasm, if not the same specific intense enjoyment, that he does any other kind of bodily sensation.
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
Bella permits herself a little snickering.
cardistry: (① brilliance)
Author: cardistry
+What are you laughing at,+ he says, grinning around his latest mouthful of tuna.
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"You poked yourself in the face with a fork. I have never seen anyone over age four do that."
cardistry: (③ glimmering)
Author: cardistry
+I got excited! You'd get excited too if it was your first time eating food!+
incanted: (serene)
Author: incanted
"Which event," Bella says, "happened to me when I was well under the age of four, and involved a spoon in someone else's hand, and mashed sweet potato."
cardistry: (⑤ wild card)
Author: cardistry
+Ooh, what's a sweet potato? I wanna eat one.+
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"We don't have any around right now. There are thousands of things to eat, I'm not going to just run to the store and grab you examples of every single one."
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
+That's okay, I've got lots of free time while you sleep.+

Om nom nom he forgets what he's eating right now but it is delicious.
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
"Where are you going to get sweet potatoes while I sleep?"
cardistry: (① brilliance)
Author: cardistry
+No idea! I'll think of something.+
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"You're not going to just teleport places and steal them, are you?"
cardistry: (⑫ four hundred)
Author: cardistry
+...Would... that be bad?+
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Yeah? They don't belong to you."
cardistry: (⑭ disco this)
Author: cardistry
+So?+

Nom nomty nom.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"So that's what belonging means, is that you can't take it, it's not yours, it's somebody else's and if you take it they will have grounds to be upset and that would be mean of you. If you find food growing wild you can have that - but you'd have to be able to tell the difference between wild and cultivated."
cardistry: (⑦ fool's journey)
Author: cardistry
+...Okay, but how else am I gonna eat all the food there is to eat?+
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"You're gonna spread this project out over a long enough time that I can acquire it for you at a reasonable rate. Or acquire money so you can buy the food, I guess, you could get a job."
cardistry: (⑩ shadow cage)
Author: cardistry
+Get a job how? Don't you need to have, like - human stuff, for those?+
incanted: (regrouping)
Author: incanted
"It'd help to have documentation, but you could teleport to other countries where they're less strict about it," shrugs Bella. "Or find somebody who'll pay you under the table around here if you don't want to deal with currency exchange. I don't think it especially matters if the job's legal as long as it's not unethical."
cardistry: (⑨ flourisher)
Author: cardistry
+...And how do I tell if it's unethical or not?+
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Uh, you could ask me, if you don't know," she suggests. "Picking fruit, fine, busing tables, fine, selling pot to elementary schoolers, not fine, assassinating people, not fine."
cardistry: (⑥ heavenbound)
Author: cardistry
+I could've figured out the assassination one by myself,+ he volunteers.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Okay, well, there, that's a start," says Bella.
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
+Still not sure why I should care. I mean, about the rest.+
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Uh... okay, can you take my word for it about dealing pot to kindergarteners or do we need to actually talk philosophy right now in order to preclude this outcome?"
cardistry: (⑬ weather control)
Author: cardistry
"I don't really want to deal pot to kindergarteners, what I want to do is taste new things," he says, gazing sadly down at his empty plate.
incanted: (abashed)
Author: incanted
Bella tosses him a banana. "Well, look, I can buy you a reasonable number of new things to eat per week - can you even get poisoned, you could probably eat random wild plants, if you don't have to breathe you could go swimming in the ocean and catch all kinds of sea creatures to devour, that sort of thing."
cardistry: (④ precious love)
Author: cardistry
Banana! He even knows to peel it first!

He has a little trouble with the mechanics of the peeling.

"I bet I can't get poisoned," he says. "Poison is biological."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Just - here." She takes his banana before he squishes it all over everything, peels it for him, and returns the denuded fruit. "So yeah, we can map out some places where the stuff that's around isn't going to belong to anybody and you can eat anything you find that looks tasty there."
cardistry: (⑦ fool's journey)
Author: cardistry
Nomnomnom.

"Okay," he says around a mouthful of banana. +Bananas, I love bananas, fruit is my second favourite thing after spicy.+
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Bananas are inexpensive, you'll be pleased to note, you can have lots of them when you run out of new things to try and want to go back to your repeats." She pauses, then says, "Okay, now I'm sort of curious if you'd like straight pepper but it feels mean to offer you some and suggest that you try it."
cardistry: (① brilliance)
Author: cardistry
+Why's it mean?+
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"Because pepper is the thing that makes the taco filling spicy, and it only takes a little to make a lot of something quite spicy indeed, and most people would be very unhappy if they ate any significant amount of straight pepper."
cardistry: (③ glimmering)
Author: cardistry
"Most people would probably also be unhappy if they stabbed themselves with a fork," he points out. "Gimme!"
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
She shrugs and spoons him a spoonful of cayenne.
cardistry: (⑮ devotion)
Author: cardistry
...Straight cayenne causes him to make some really interesting faces.
incanted: (regrouping)
Author: incanted
Bella will be observing those interesting faces.

From over here.

"You okay?"
cardistry: (① brilliance)
Author: cardistry
+Yeah,+ he says, hugging himself. Even his magephone voice sounds a little breathless.
incanted: (abashed)
Author: incanted
"You are making some - faces."
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
+Mmmm.+
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"So you like pepper, huh," snorts Bella.
cardistry: (④ precious love)
Author: cardistry
+Mmhmmmm.+
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Noted." She glances at the clock. "Charlie's gonna be home soon, and there are probably better ways to introduce you than as this random dude in a weird jumpsuit thing."
cardistry: (⑤ wild card)
Author: cardistry
"I could be a random dude in different clothes!" he offers, and starts licking his fingers.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Yeah, you probably want, like, shoes, and go with jeans and a t-shirt like what I'm wearing only cut to fit you if you don't have a better idea," Bella shrugs.
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
He shrugs. His clothes glow briefly in the multi-colour of his magic, and the glow spreads and settles into a new shape, then fades away.

He is now wearing tight black jeans, a red belt with a silvery buckle shaped like an ornate spade, and a perfectly fitted black T-shirt with the spectral figure from the Black Ghost Joker printed on the front and the design from the back of the cards covering the back. Oh, and boots. Black leather boots.

"Better?"
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Very thematic," says Bella. "Looks a little like you're going to walk into a goth club or something, but it's less bizarre than the jumpsuit."
cardistry: (④ precious love)
Author: cardistry
He giggles.

"I can live with that!"
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"All right. I'm trying to decide whether to lead with 'Dad, this is Brilliance, he is my magic tutor' or 'Dad, this is Brilliance, he is from another planet' or possibly 'Dad, don't come into the house yet, I have to tell you some things first'."
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
"Your call," he says, laughing.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"He might not want you staying in the house when I'm not present and awake," Bella says after a moment's thought.
cardistry: (⑩ shadow cage)
Author: cardistry
"...that's weird," says Brilliance. "I mean, that's really weird. I'm your device."
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"You look like a dude. Might have more luck if I present you as a talking pack of cards," shrugs Bella.
cardistry: (⑦ fool's journey)
Author: cardistry
"Whatever," says Brilliance.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Well, he could show up any minute," Bella says, picking up Brilliance's plate and putting it in the sink. "You want to live here, you probably wanna be a deck of cards. Or the staff."
cardistry: (⑨ flourisher)
Author: cardistry
He shrugs, and stretches out and wriggles much in the attitude of someone slurping the last bit of milkshake out of the cup, and then he shifts down to deck form and hovers over the chair.
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
Bella plucks him out of the air and goes to sit in the living room with some of her neglected homework. "We didn't get around to going to the colorful sand planet," she observes. "Maybe after dinner, assuming Charlie doesn't react worse than I'm expecting."
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"...and what if he does?" says Brilliance.
incanted: (regrouping)
Author: incanted
"Then I occupy the evening dealing with that. Worst case scenario, he's a huge pill about it, you hang out not-in-the-house till I haul back to Renée's, I live with her till I turn eighteen and then get a job I can cheat at effectively with magic and move out. Anyone's guess whether I could get Lexi to move again," sighs Bella.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance snorts.
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Hmm?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Nothing, just - I don't know how you deal with all these rules."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"I have more freedom than most seventeen-year-olds because my parents know I'm responsible," Bella says.
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance shivers. "Lucky you, I guess. Glad I'm not a human."
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"...Are you?" Bella hesitates to point out that humans never have to planet-hop for centuries of high-stakes sleepless tedium and rarely spend their childhoods being tortured, but the notion is there.
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"Sure I am. I mean, my life up until now has been pretty shit, but if I was a human I'd be dead, and now I get to do all kinds of stuff that you can't because the people who made you are controlling your life."
incanted: (abashed)
Author: incanted
"They're looking out for me. Most people my age do pretty idiotic things even with more parental supervision than I have. They get drunk and crash their cars, or flunk out of school with no skills and no plan and spend the rest of their lives unable to get decent jobs, or they get pregnant, or whatever. I know I'm not going to do that, but Charlie only mostly knows I'm not going to do that. If he didn't set any rules at all that might be convenient for me but it would probably, given the way humans work, mean he didn't care."
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"Well, I'm still glad I don't have to deal with that shit," says Brilliance.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"How fortunate for you that you do not, then."

The door opens.

"Hi, Dad!" Bella calls.

"Hi, Bella, where's Lexi?"

"Jessica's. She'll be back in like half an hour, and it's her turn to make dinner. Hey, Dad, I have something important to tell you."

"Mm?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance glimmers.
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"Okay - first of all - magic exists."

"...Bella..."

"No, seriously, I can prove it. Flight." And up she goes, over the sofa with mana-feathered feet tucked under her. "See?"

Charlie stands there.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
He glimmers again, a little ripple of light, like a visual laugh.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
Bella sits in the air. "D'you believe me?" Bella says. "Because that's not the whole thing."

"Where'd you learn to do that, Bella?" Charlie asks slowly.

Bella brandishes Brilliance. "This is a talking deck of cards from another planet. His name is Brilliance. He's teaching me. Brilliance, you wanna say hi?"
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"Hi!" says Brilliance.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
Charlie takes a step back.

"...Hi."
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance giggles.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Where'd you find it?"

"He, Dad, please," says Bella, "Brilliance is a person."

"Where'd you find him?" amends Charlie impatiently.

"At school. Picked him up and he said hi."
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
Light glints from the design on the outside of the pack when Bella corrects her father about the pronouns.
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"And why is he teaching you magic?" Charlie asks suspiciously.

"Well, most people don't even have magical potential, but I do," Bella says obliquely. "Lexi does, but between the two of us..."

Charlie nods slowly. "Ah-huh."

"So I'm going to be spending lots of time on that, I'll go out of the house and away from people for anything big," Bella says, setting her feet on the ground and dismissing the flight spell, "we'll be careful and circumspect, and I'll try not to fall far behind in school, but my grades may slip since it's not like I can take a class in magic and that's what I really want to learn."

"But," says Charlie, "why does - Brilliance - want to tutor anyone in magic, even if you're the best available student? And why did you find him at school if that's the story?"
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"I'm a magical device," Brilliance puts in. "We like having partners; we're kind of built for it. Bella's a good one."
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
Charlie eyes him skeptically.

"So, I was thinking he'd sorta live on the bookshelf," Bella says, "but also sometimes he eats, so, we are pretty much out of leftovers, now, and I will need a little more grocery budget."

"The deck of cards eats," says Charlie.

"He can shapeshift," Bella says, "and sometimes he eats."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance giggles.
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"Into - what?" Charlie asks.

"Deck of cards, magic staff thingy, human," says Bella, ticking off fingers. "The last form is the one that ate the leftovers."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I never ate food before," says Brilliance. "Food is awesome."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"So he doesn't need to eat," Charlie concludes.

"Not for biological reasons, but come on, he's teaching me magic, it's really nice of him, we can afford to toss him a new kind of vegetable a few times a week."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance glimmers happily.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"All right, fine," says Charlie. "We can pay for your magic lessons with reasonable amounts of food and bookshelf space - is that all? Anything else involved in - magical device upkeep?"
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"Nah," says Brilliance.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"All right then," sighs Charlie. "You be careful with the - magic - Bella, all right?"

"I will, Dad," Bella promises. "Thanks for not pitching a fit."

"No problem," Charlie snorts.
lexicality: (Default)
Author: lexicality
The door opens again. "Hi, Dad, hi, Bella," says Lexi. "What's everyone want for dinner, I was thinking either I'd thaw some of the fish or do split pea with the last of the bacon?"
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"Ooh," says Brilliance.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Make enough for Brilliance, he eats," Bella tells Lexi. "I'd say polish off the bacon, we bought a lot of it and those last strips'll expire tomorrow."
lexicality: (essay)
Author: lexicality
"Sure, soup," says Lexi, looking out of the corner of her eye at Brilliance, "can do."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
The deck glimmers.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
Bella hangs out in the living room while Lexi starts cooking.

Charlie says, "If he turns into a human, maybe I should know how to recognize him?"
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"Sure," says Brilliance, "want me to change?"
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Yes, do," says Charlie.
cardistry: (⑦ fool's journey)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance shifts form in a brief flare of multicoloured light, ending up in the jeans-and-T-shirt outfit from earlier.
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
Charlie looks him over.

"All right. Won't panic if I find you in the house," he says. "You stay out of the girls' room unless it's got the door open."

"Dad," says Bella, exasperated.
cardistry: (④ precious love)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance laughs.
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"I mean it," says Charlie.

"Dad, he's a deck of cards."

"Regardless."
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
"Whatever," says Brilliance, and he shifts down again.
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
Bella laughs ruefully and starts outlining a practice plan for working with magic on the pretty sand planet. "Hey, did you figure out what percent of my mana I use on stuff before I went and flew in front of Charlie, Brilliance?" she asks.
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"...nope," says Brilliance. "I forgot."
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
"Oh. Well, it was very brief, can we get an estimate to work with?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I'll start looking again," he promises.
incanted: (serene)
Author: incanted
"Maybe I'll recover to a hundred percent over dinner." The air has begun to smell of frying bacon.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Maybe!"
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
Write-write-write. "Hey, given that you sense with magic, does that give you any irregular abilities like - seeing through things?" she asks suddenly.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I could probably make a spell for it, why?"
incanted: (regrouping)
Author: incanted
"I just mean normally. There's nothing I need to see through. I just wanted to know if my notebooks or my clothes or whatever are transparent to you, because that'd be awkward."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Not visually," he says. "If you put me down on top of a notebook I could probably, I dunno - count how many pages it has, even though I couldn't see them, that kind of thing. And I can tell what's going on around you when I'm in your pocket. Oh," he adds, "and when you wear your Barrier Jacket I kind of am it, but I don't get any human-style senses from it, just movement and damage levels."
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
"...You are my Barrier Jacket," says Bella.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"This is one of those things that's not weird to me but it is to you, isn't it," sighs Brilliance.
incanted: (regrouping)
Author: incanted
"Yeah. Apparently it is. If you didn't get that it might be weird why did you specify that you only get 'movement and damage levels'?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I can see why it's weird to you," he says, "I just don't think that way naturally. And it would be weird even for me if I was being your clothes and I got human-style tactile feedback from it."
incanted: (abashed)
Author: incanted
"Okay. Well - I don't know about that. Had to save the world that one time, we were in a hurry, it's all right that you didn't stop to explain; maybe it won't even come up again."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"It'll come up if you ever have to fight anybody," says Brilliance. "I don't know if you'll ever have to fight anybody, but if you do, wear the damn Barrier Jacket. It's standard mage gear for a reason. You should probably wear it when we're fucking around with experimental spells too, just to be safe, but it's not as big a deal if nobody's actually flinging lethal damage at your face. ...Although it'll let me monitor your mana consumption better, so..."
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Yeah, if I get into an actual fight go ahead and jacket me, some weirdness is not competitive with being armored. The spells - didn't you say they might do weird things but probably not harmful things? Like if I heal somebody I might get a bizarre result but I won't accidentally hurt them?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"If you're trying to make a spell to heal somebody," he says, "you won't accidentally hurt them instead, that's not how magic works. But if you're, I dunno, practicing manipulation of inorganic matter and you lose control of the spell at the wrong moment, you could accidentally drop a big rock on your head. Barrier Jacket'll handle that for you."
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"Even though it doesn't come with a hat," Bella says.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"It's protecting you magically, not physically, is that really hard to understand or something?"
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Well, I'm just not clear on why it involves a costume change at all if that's what it's doing."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"It has to exist in order to protect you," he says. "And it can't just look like whatever other clothes you're wearing every time you put it on because it takes extra effort and mana to change its form and you don't wanna be doing it every time."
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"That doesn't explain why it's an outfit and not an accessory of some kind that can go on over whatever I have on."
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"No idea," he says, "I didn't design the spell. I can tell you right now, though, if I tried to make you some kind of... I dunno, Barrier Necklace... it wouldn't work nearly as well. There is something about being an outfit that makes it better at its job, I just don't know what it is."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"How do you know a Barrier Necklace wouldn't do the job as well?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"...It's a device thing," he says. "If I'm familiar with a spell I kind of get a - sense for it, like I can tell what all its parts do. I'm not sure humans even get the relevant channel."
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Doesn't sound like we do, no. Huh."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Yeah. So, I can tell you that the being-an-outfit thing is functionally important, I just can't tell you why, or if there even is a sensible reason."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Fair enough. What other sorts of things do you know in this mysterious devicey way?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"...That is a weird question and I don't know how to answer it."
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Okay, how about - why do spell diagrams look like they do, are the shapes functional?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"They mean something but they're not directly functional," he says. "The shape is related to the type of magic, but not intrinsically."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"...Like, they're assigned when the magic type is invented but it's arbitrary?"
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"Pretty much, yeah."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"And ones I invent are going to wind up falling into your magic type - is that for the same reason my mana color synced with yours?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Um... close! I dunno, it's hard to explain. But those are pretty related, yeah."
incanted: (serene)
Author: incanted
"I kinda wish I knew what my mana color would have been before I found you."
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"Who knows."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Not something you can check with your devicey senses of such things?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Nope."
incanted: (hurray)
Author: incanted
"Well, the aurora-ish mana is really pretty anyhow."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Yep," he says smugly.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"So how come your human form is - well - a human form? I wasn't exactly certain last week that we were alone in the universe, but I figured the aliens would be aliens. There's a decent fossil record on this planet indicating that humans evolved here, and convergent evolution isn't that precise, I don't think."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Not a clue," says Brilliance. "Humans seem to be it as far as intelligent biological life, but fucked if I know why."
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"So you don't know if they're converged or secret forgotten colonists from Earth or colonists to Earth fossil record be damned or what."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Nope."
lexicality: (facing)
Author: lexicality
"Dinner's ready!" calls Lexi.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Ooh, soup." Bella gets up, heads for the table, and trips over nothing whatsoever.
cardistry: (⑨ flourisher)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance has just finished assuming human form, half a step in front of her; he spins around and catches her before she can fall on him.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Thanks," says Bella, regaining her footing and smiling at him.
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
He grins back and lets go.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
She makes it the rest of the way to the kitchen without further incident.
lexicality: (true)
Author: lexicality
Lexi has ladled out four portions of soup, which are sitting at each of the four places at the table. She peers quizzically at Brilliance - she hasn't seen his human form before - but doesn't say anything.
cardistry: (① brilliance)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance plops himself into a seat and commences eating soup.

It turns out that split pea soup with bacon is maybe even better than bananas. Also, magical devices do not have table manners.
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
"Brilliance, eat with a spoon, you'll get soup everywhere," says Bella exasperatedly. "Like so, watch." She takes a spoonful of her soup.
lexicality: (false)
Author: lexicality
"Needs to be housetrained," mutters Lexi under her breath.
cardistry: (④ precious love)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance tries the spoon. It works much better this way! He beams gratefully at Bella.
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"There you go. Consider practicing chopsticks on an uninhabited planet instead of picking up a pair for the first time in a Chinese restaurant, though."
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
He cracks up. But manages not to giggle soup all over the table!
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
How skillful!
lexicality: (multiple choice)
Author: lexicality
"I don't think we have enough ice cream for four," Lexi says when the soup is dwindling.
cardistry: (⑩ shadow cage)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance looks disappointed.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"I'll skip dessert," shrugs Charlie, "have another bowl of soup, I outgrew my sweet tooth years ago." He ladles himself some more soup.

Bella gets up and distributes the available ice cream (Cherry Garcia) between three bowls.
cardistry: (① brilliance)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance beams gratefully at Charlie!
incanted: (hurray)
Author: incanted
Ice cream, om nom nom.
cardistry: (⑥ heavenbound)
Author: cardistry
...Ice cream.

Ice cream.

Brilliance sinks down slowly in his seat, making an expression of unalloyed bliss around the spoon in his mouth.
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
"So ice cream is also a hit, huh?"
lexicality: (scrunch)
Author: lexicality
"Oh my god, just eat it, it's just ice cream," says Lexi. "It's not like God made it."
cardistry: (② you bio-people)
Author: cardistry
"Ice cream is the best," Brilliance sighs, and he spoons up another spoonful.
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
"Be nice, Lexi, he ate food for the first time ever just a few hours ago," Bella says.
lexicality: (headscratch)
Author: lexicality
"Why does it matter, he's your - thingy."
incanted: (shaken)
Author: incanted
"My device, and you're my sister but that doesn't mean it's okay for random people to be mean to you, just because it would be more relevant if it was me being mean to you."
cardistry: (③ glimmering)
Author: cardistry
He gives Bella a warm smile made only somewhat ridiculous by the spoon sticking out of it.
lexicality: (false)
Author: lexicality
"Well, your device decided to move into our house and eat our ice cream," says Lexi. "It's weird, why doesn't he be a pack of cards?"
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
"Sometimes he's a pack of cards and sometimes he's human-shaped, we can buy more ice cream, come on."
lexicality: (solar)
Author: lexicality
"It's not like we're rich."
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"If that becomes a problem I will find some way to cheat outrageously at some job with magic and earn plenty of money so I can feed the guy who is teaching me magic, okay? You don't have to worry about it, you just have to be civil."
cardistry: (⑨ flourisher)
Author: cardistry
...The emotional tone of this conversation is making Brilliance's ice cream less enjoyable.

He puts the spoon back in the bowl.
lexicality: (essay)
Author: lexicality
"Fine, do whatever, your device," mutters Lexi, "I got possessed for you, by your device, now I have to make nice to it, sure, Bella's the smart one." She scoops up her ice cream bowl and tromps upstairs with it.
incanted: (shaken)
Author: incanted
Bella puts her spoon in her bowl and sighs and cradles her head in her hands.
cardistry: (⑩ shadow cage)
Author: cardistry


Brilliance reaches over and tentatively pets her head.
incanted: (regrouping)
Author: incanted
Bella sighs again.

Charlie is looking quizzically at Brilliance and eating his soup.
cardistry: (⑫ four hundred)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance isn't really paying attention to Charlie.

Pet pet?
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
Bella picks up her head again and takes another spoon of ice cream.

"Did you possess my daughter?" Charlie asks Brilliance.
cardistry: (⑥ heavenbound)
Author: cardistry
"We kind of both got possessed by the same thing," he says, giving Bella one last petpet and then going back to his own ice cream. "It's dead now, I got Bella to help me kill it."
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"...You've been killing things?" Charlie asks Bella.

"I killed a magical program gone rogue that was possessing Lexi and trying to destroy the world, it's not like the neighbors' cats have gone missing," Bella says.

"...Okay then." Charlie finishes his soup and wanders away.
cardistry: (⑦ fool's journey)
Author: cardistry
"You okay?" he says to Bella.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Frustrated. I know Lexi's freaked out, but she's usually not catty to people."
cardistry: (⑨ flourisher)
Author: cardistry
"It's no fun getting possessed."
incanted: (abashed)
Author: incanted
"Yeah, and she was trying to do something nice for me, and now I've been kind of ignoring her to talk to you."
cardistry: (⑥ heavenbound)
Author: cardistry
He shrugs, and goes back to his ice cream.
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
Bella finishes hers. "Lexi cooked, so it's my turn to do the dishes. Unless there's a spell for it," she adds.
cardistry: (⑨ flourisher)
Author: cardistry
"I don't have one on hand," he says. "I could make one, but I'd probably wanna practice it on dishes nobody cared about first."
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Would it meaningfully affect the spell if you practiced on, like, paper plates? Would it transfer?"
cardistry: (⑩ shadow cage)
Author: cardistry
"Good question! I think paper plates might need a different spell," he says. "They don't get dirty the same way, you know?"
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"All right, maybe at some point I'll swing by the thrift store and get some random dishes. In the meantime..." She turns on the sink and starts scrubbing.
cardistry: (⑥ heavenbound)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance is finished with his ice cream by the time she needs to take his bowl away.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Look, I can talk to Lexi, this sniping isn't really like her."
cardistry: (⑨ flourisher)
Author: cardistry
"Thanks," he says, smiling wryly.
incanted: (abashed)
Author: incanted
"You're welcome."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry


He shifts back to deck-of-cards form and sets himself down on the table.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
Bella pats him and heads up the stairs to talk to Lexi.

She's back down a few minutes later. "She doesn't wanna talk about it right now. But she says I can copy her math homework if I want, so at least she's not too mad at me. Wanna go to the World of Colorful Sand?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Sure!"
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"I wanna invent a spell to be a line of defense against any environmental hazards you weren't in a position to notice - but before I start trying stuff - is my mana at capacity?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
He checks.

"I think so!"
incanted: (let's do this)
Author: incanted
"Okay, cool." Bella has produced a list of things on an uninhabited planet that could harm her. She gets the notebook containing this list, finds it, memorizes it, thinks hard about wanting all those things to leave her alone, and attempts to incant:

"Safety."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Oh, cool," says Brilliance, as a faint mana-coloured shimmer settles onto Bella's skin.
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
"Something unusual about how that worked?" Bella asks, looking at the pretty shimmer. "Ooh, I'm shiny."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I've never seen anything like it!"

He shifts to staff form and glides closer.
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Did you not expect it to work?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I was thinking of it differently than how it hapened."
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"In some complicated technical sense or what? Also, how much of my mana is this drawing?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"...Some," he says. "More than flying. Want me to work it up into something I can maintain for you?"
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
"Yeah, that'd be swell - and weren't you going to figure out percentages?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"It's harder than I thought," he says. "I don't see it as numbers, I just feel it. ...Could you pick me up? I feel weird just hanging here. And I can get a closer look at the spell if we're in contact."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
She plucks staff-Brilliance out of the air and props him on her shoulder.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance is quiet for a moment, his spiral grooves glowing faintly in all the colours of his mana.

Then Bella's shimmer brightens, wavers, and settles back down.

"Okay," he says, "there. With me hooked in, it's draining slower than you replenish."
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
"Will that still be true if I start flying?"
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"It will if I'm hooked into the flying too," he says.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Cool. Let's go see some colorful sand."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
His signature counter-rotating circle-pentagram-star appears on the floor, brightens steadily for about a second, and then emits one soft radiant burst of light.

And they are standing on a vast flat expanse of glittering sand that reflects the very Earthlike setting sun in millions of colours.
incanted: (hurray)
Author: incanted
"Oh, this place is pretty," marvels Bella.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I know, I love it!" says Brilliance.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"I wanna fly around, can you hook into that without jacketing me?" Bella asks.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Sure, Flight," he says casually. The sprays of mana feathers appear at Bella's heels without the accompanying sense of effort.
incanted: (hurray)
Author: incanted
She rockets into the sky, whooping.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance giggles.
incanted: (serene)
Author: incanted
Eventually she calms down and lands in the pretty sand and consults her list of things. "Okay, I bet you want me to prioritize seeing if I can conjure food, that'll solve a certain quandary you have if I can."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Yeah, that'd be awesome," he agrees.
incanted: (let's do this)
Author: incanted
"Hmm. I might as well start with sweet potatoes," Bella laughs. "People mostly eat them cooked, but I don't even know if I can conjure them raw, so I'll try that first."

She envisions a sweet potato. She wishes one to exist.

"Sweet potato!" she intones.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
It does not work.

"Huh, that was weird," says Brilliance. "I think it needs a long-form incantation. Try it again, but with a full sentence, something where you could substitute something else for 'sweet potato' and it'd still sound like sense."
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"I command a sweet potato to exist!" Bella attempts.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
It still doesn't work.

"Huh," Brilliance repeats. "Okay. It could work, there's a spell trying to happen there, but you're just not quite pulling it off. Do you wanna figure out why, or try something else?"
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"I wanna figure out why, I've only tried this twice, that's too early to give up," laughs Bella, "what do I try next?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I'm not totally sure this will make anything better," says Brilliance, "but maybe a long-form incantation that is more specific about the sweet potato being food?"
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Specific about it being food like how? Also does anything happen if an incantation is false, like if I say 'I want to eat a sweet potato' when actually I want you to eat a sweet potato?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I'm not sure exactly," he says, "like I said, I'm going out on a limb here. I don't think a false incantation makes a difference as long as it doesn't confuse you about what you're trying to do with the spell."
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
Bella nibbles her lip, then goes ahead and tries: "I want to eat a sweet potato."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"...Okay," says Brilliance. "So what I'm getting here is, the spell's not coming together because you don't have a good enough feel for how it should work. My best guess is if you work on easier spells that have to do with matter manipulation, and get those down pretty good, and then come back and try some simple conjuring and work up from there, it'll work much better."
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
"Okay, matter manipulation like - sorting the sand by color, or making colorful sandcastles, or melting it into colorful glass? Can you be more specific?" asks Bella, bouncing on her toes.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance laughs.

"I'd go with sorting, then glass, then sandcastles, I think. And cast through me, you'll use less mana and I can analyze the spells easier."
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Is there anything to casting through you besides intending to?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Nope! You've already done it a bunch. It should actually be easier to cast through me than otherwise, when you're holding me in this form."
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Okay. Do you suppose I can make a general organize-the-stuff-I-have-in-mind-by-the-criteria-I-have-in-mind spell, or should I come up with an incantation I'm not going to want to use again later that will only do colorful sand?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I think long-form incantations are our friend here again," he says. "They're more flexible. Tell the sand you want it to sort itself. Uh, they tend to be kind of poetic, but I don't think that's actually a requirement except that it maybe makes them easier to remember."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"I should be writing these down," Bella decides, and she catches her notebook up to what has already been tried. Then she considers, and writes, and says aloud:

"Sand, please arrange yourself into a rainbow!"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Radiating out from Bella in a wave, the top inch or so of sand lifts into the air and settles back down sorted by hue, with red to her left sweeping through orange, yellow, green, blue, and finally various purples all the way on her right. The edges of the sorted patch fade back into the multicoloured sand; the wave of colour-sorting dies down about a hundred feet away.

There is definitely a feel to this spell that's different from the smaller, simpler, more focused spells she's been casting so far.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Feels - interesting," muses Bella. "I might have to start making up words for spell-feelings. But hey! Look! Rainbow sand."
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"Rainbow sand," Brilliance agrees. "Pretty cool, huh?"
incanted: (hurray)
Author: incanted
"Very. Glass next? Long-form incantation for that too? We're not shy on mana sorting that much sand, are we?"
cardistry: (⑧ black ghost)
Author: cardistry
"Go for it! We've got plenty."
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
Bella focuses on a circle of some of the green sand right in front of her. "Melt and become clear glass without getting hot," she orders it.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Nope.

"Try just, like - part of that at a time," offers Brilliance. "Like, melt some, then melt some without letting it get hot. I'm not sure how to handle the clear-glass part."
incanted: (let's do this)
Author: incanted
"Okay."

She hops up into the air a bit, in case the heat is significant, and commands the same circle of green sand to: "Melt smoothly together!" (Since they're working on long-form incantations.)
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
The sand glows and runs together into a perfectly circular puddle, then cools.
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Neat." She points Brilliance at some blue sand. "Melt smoothly together without heat!"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
There's more responsiveness in a long-form spell; it gives her feedback about the successful melting-together of the sand. And this one, thanks to the temperature, doesn't end up with extra grains stuck all over it.
incanted: (hurray)
Author: incanted
She picks up her blue glass circle. "Neat," she laughs. "All right, maybe I can get one clear, stained glass -" She aims at purple sand. "Melt smoothly together without heat transparently!"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
It's hard to tell with all the discs just lying there, but the purple one definitely looks flatter and smoother and with fewer impurities than the other two.
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
Bella tucks Brilliance under her arm and picks up the blue and purple disks and compares them.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
The purple one definitely has fewer flaws and impurities. Not none, but fewer.
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
Hmm. She sets them down and makes a red one with the same incantation as the purple, focusing on smoothness and clarity while she speaks the sentence.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
There is still feedback from the spell, silently showing/feeling how the sand comes together into glass. It goes even better this time.
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"So there's - either a practice effect, or a focus component that itself has a practice effect," Bella says.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Yeah," says Brilliance. "I think you've got saying the spell down right, but you're letting up a little when you do the spell - there's not as much doing with the short-form incantations."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"So - I need to pay more attention, basically, not just let it go be a spell?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Yeah," he says. "You can feel the details happening, right? Those are yours, you're doing that. You have to kind of... work with it."
incanted: (critical)
Author: incanted
"Okay." She aims him at the orange section, and repeats herself, and pays attention.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Under her direction, the glass forms up into crystalline clarity.
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"Excellent. This is fun," Bella says gleefully. She hops up and down twice before slipping and nearly thwacking herself in the face with Brilliance on the way down; she catches herself in flight halfway down and hovers in an awkward position. "Whoops."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance laughs. "Try not to hurt yourself," he advises kindly.
incanted: (serene)
Author: incanted
"Occupational hazard of being me. Maybe I should invent a spell for that."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Hey, didn't I say I'd do that?" he muses. "One to make moving around as easy as flying?"
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"I think so, yeah. I'd say it'd wind up being like moving in dreams, but I fall over in my dreams, sometimes in front of my sixth grade biology class while holding a tray of muffins."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Awwww," he giggles.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Is there a reason you should invent it and not me? Will that make it mana-cheaper or something?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"It'll be mana-cheaper if I put it on upkeep like I am with Safety and Flight," he says. "Who invents it probably won't make much of a difference. But I feel like I've halfway got an idea of how it should work and I'm not sure you do."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"I do not," Bella agrees, scuffing a divot into the orange sand at her feet with one shoe.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Yeah. And I don't think it's the kind of thing I could explain properly. I just - it seems like there could be a spell that made it so that every way you can move works like flying, so you get that detailed control and feedback, you know? The only thing is I worry that it would be mana-intensive if you tried to do it on your own."
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"Two questions about that. One, if you do it, does that give you weird sensory details about how I am moving, and two, if you ever decide to fuck off to wherever without me after all, and I can't do it alone, am I going to remember how to move the normal way even as well as I do now or am I going to be a sack of cement?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I have no idea if you're going to turn into a sack of cement," he says. "It's... kind of getting less and less likely that I'll fuck off to wherever without you, though. I don't know about the weird sensory details, I haven't done the spell yet."
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"Maybe it's worth trying for just a little bit to see about sensory stuff, and then if they're within okay parameters I do some math about likelihood of cement-sackhood and likelihood of fucking off?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Sure," he says. "Okay. So we want a spell that gives you better movement control, but doesn't copy me specific feedback even when I'm hooked in, is that about right?"
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Right."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Okay," he says. "Why don't we do some other stuff and I can think it over while you're sleeping sometime? I'm still not all the way there, I don't think."
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"Sure. I think sandcastles was next." She muses over incantations. "There is really no way to command sand to form itself into a castle that doesn't sound silly, is there?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Nope," says Brilliance.
incanted: (let's do this)
Author: incanted
"Oh well. I will sound silly for the sake of doing magic." She designs a sandcastle in her head, something fairly simple she can completely visualize, and aims Brilliance at some yellow sand. "Sand, form up into a castle and stay there!"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
The sand forms up into a castle, and stays there.

This one takes a lot of fine control in the 'doing' stage, more than making glass and much more than just sorting sand into a rainbow.
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
Bella pays close, devoted attention. She's glad she picked a simple castle.

"Is this taking ongoing mana to stay up?" she asks.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"It's kind of... tapering off," he says. "There, it's not drawing anymore."
incanted: (serene)
Author: incanted
Bella walks up to the castle and pokes it gently to see how it's holding together.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
A little bit of tower crumbles away where she pokes it, but most of the structure stands firm.
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
"Huh. It doesn't feel wet or anything, it's just hanging out. Neat."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Yeah, pretty cool," says Brilliance. "Matter manipulation is supposed to be tough stuff."
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"So am I a genius or are you just throwing a lot of mana at the problem or what?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"No, it's not takes-a-lot-of-power tough, it's takes-a-lot-of-attention tough," he says.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Well, that's why I paid attention."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
He laughs.
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
"So, I'm good at magic?" she asks, smiling.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Guess so!" says Brilliance.
incanted: (hurray)
Author: incanted
"Awesome!"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance glimmers. It's much more visually obvious in staff form.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"You think I could pull off a sweet potato yet or should we do some more intermediate stuff?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Try conjuring something else first," he says. "Something with a really simple structure. Like, I don't know, a grain of sand?"
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Okay." Bella picks up a grain of green sand, peers intently at it, and then incants: "I command a new grain of green sand to come to exist."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
A new grain of green sand comes to exist.

In the moment that it does so, Bella is aware of its entire structure down to the molecular level.
incanted: (regrouping)
Author: incanted
"Whoa, that is a rush," breathes Bella.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Seriously!" says Brilliance.
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"How much mana does it take to make brand new sand out of nowhere? Are we going to - experience whatever happens when one runs out of mana, if I try to make an entire potato?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"New sand didn't take that much," says Brilliance. "We're still way above half. I'm not actually sure about the potato."
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
"So maybe I should try - say, a kernel of corn first? Is it a size thing or a complexity thing, would filling a bowl with sugar be easier because it's molecularly pretty simple? I think?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I'm not totally sure," he says. "I think that once you've got the hang of doing one of something, scaling it up to a bunch doesn't take nearly as much mana. But I'm not sure how much the size of the first thing factors into it."
incanted: (serene)
Author: incanted
"...So, maybe a single sugar crystal."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Try it and see!"
incanted: (let's do this)
Author: incanted
Bella commands a sugar crystal to exist just like she did the sand.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
This one is a somewhat harder to envision all at once. But the conjuration is successful.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"How're we on mana?" Pause. "Can we just make me able to directly sense that or do I have to pester you every time I want to know?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"You have to pester me," he says apologetically. "You might get a sense for it yourself someday, or you might not, I'm not really sure. Anyway, we're still above half, but we're getting there."
incanted: (regrouping)
Author: incanted
"Maybe better to save the kernel of corn for another time, then?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Yeah, maybe."
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
"Mkay." Bella kicks off the ground again. "God I love flying."
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance laughs.
incanted: (hurray)
Author: incanted
Zoom! Zoooooooom! Zoom.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Wheeeeeee!"
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
"How much fun can it be when you're a staff?" asks Bella, doing a barrel roll. "Like, I'm mostly getting - wind and vestibular stuff - do you get that?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I get - different stuff," he says.
incanted: (canny)
Author: incanted
"Indescribable device stuff?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"I guess," he snorts.
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
"Oh well." Zoom!
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Whee.
incanted: (abashed)
Author: incanted
Eventually Bella yawns. "I have no idea what time it is on the west coast of North America, but it's probably about time I went home to bed, I'm probably keeping Lexi up," she sighs, coming in for a landing on the mixed-up sand; they've flown well past her sorted rainbow and her disks and her sandcastle.
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Okay," he says agreeably. "Where do you wanna transfer back to?"
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
"...Hmm, I wonder if I can magephone Lexi from this distance, warn her, she'd be startled if we appeared right where she was. Am I risking a mana catastrophe if I try?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Yeah, if you wanna do that I'd transfer to - damn, you can't really transfer to an asteroid," he sighs. "But somewhere in the same dimension, first. Then warn her and teleport in."
incanted: (appraisal)
Author: incanted
"How about that random forest we fought in?" suggests Bella after a moment. "Probably not being observed. ...This planet is not in my native dimension, huh?"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"Nope!" says Brilliance. "Okay, random forest it is."

The spell diagram appears, brightens, flares. They are in Random Forest.
incanted: (get this over with)
Author: incanted
+Hey Lexi!+
lexicality: (facing)
Author: lexicality
+Hey, what's up, it's late,+ replies Lexi.
incanted: (Default)
Author: incanted
+Yeah, I know, on my way home, where can I pop in that won't startle you?+
lexicality: (resting)
Author: lexicality
+Living room's fine, me and Dad are both upstairs.+
incanted: (all right)
Author: incanted
+See you in a sec.+
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
Brilliance teleports them - noticeably faster and less flashy - and reverts to his deck form.
incanted: (keen)
Author: incanted
Bella tucks him into the bookshelf. "G'night!"
cardistry: (Default)
Author: cardistry
"G'night," says Brilliance.