quiet, this is a library

[lifes_sake]

Cam's in the library, waiting for Renée. "Waiting" here means "browsing until a quarter hour after ostensible meeting time". Renée is supposed to meet him here - on the way home for both of them, him from high school and her from elementary where she teaches kindergarten - but she is rarely punctual. Her co-workers or stray parents or the principal keep her after and Cam does notebooking, does homework, looks at the contents of shelves. It's a fine arrangement.

Today the contents of shelves don't seem so pleased with the setup, and one attacks him when he stumbles into a stack. Specifically, it tumbles onto his head. That's gonna hurt for a while. He picks it up to tuck it away again.

It says, So You Want To Be A Wizard.

Heh. Mis-shelved. This is a nonfiction row. Or maybe it's about stage magic or something? Cam's not going to find any use in that either, he can just about eat dinner without impaling himself on a fork and certainly shouldn't be handling delicate props, but it could be diverting while he waits for Renée and he wasn't finding anything else. He flips it open.

It's more interesting still than that; it's presenting itself like an actual guide to wizardry. This'll kill a whole afternoon with pleasant escapism. Cam checks it out, then turns around and spots Renée coming down the sidewalk. He bags the book and goes out to meet her.

At home, he takes it out of his backpack. The plastic film on it - it did have some, right? Just like every other library book? - is gone. Maybe it didn't have any. He didn't write it down; he's not sure. It doesn't look like a library book now. But it still says So You Want To Be A Wizard and he still wants to pretend to be a wizard for a bit, kill some time, put off U.S. History homework. He flips it open. He reads.

Comments

[lifes_sake]

"How smart are you?"

[pythbox]

"What kind of a question is that?" says the woodpecker aggrievedly.

[lifes_sake]

"I'm having an ethical crisis sorta thing. I'm asking everything. So far, trees, smart, grass, stupid, muffins, stupid, goats, not too bright."

[pythbox]

"What's a muffin?"

[lifes_sake]

"A human food item. I don't think you'd like it."

[pythbox]

"Whatever, then," says the woodpecker, and takes off.

[lifes_sake]

Okay. Woodpecker: possibly brighter than a goat. Or at least less obsessive. This calls for no revision to his current meal plan.

Renée is still on board with experimental vegetarianism, and dinner is a tofu thing. He takes one bite of it, and then Renée has to go to the bathroom, and he mutters at it the spell the manual provided for this purpose, that he'd like it to taste like chicken.

[pythbox]

Using the Speech in conversation is not materially different from using English except in terms of who understands you; using the Speech in the casting of a spell carries with it a subtle sensation of being listened to, as though the Universe is paying special attention.

It also takes energy. Not a lot of energy, for such a small spell, but a noticeable amount - like climbing half a flight of stairs.

[lifes_sake]

Hmm.

He would like to read more about the energy requirements of spells. He anticipates doing a lot of them, after all. Will this harm him? Will it be unpleasant? He would like to be on the correct page of the manual before Renée gets back from the bathroom, please.

[pythbox]

In short: Doing spells is tiring. Doing bigger spells is more tiring. But it isn't any likelier to harm him than any other form of exertion. Less, actually, since the amount of moving around involved is negligible.

[lifes_sake]

Does it get easier with practice?

[pythbox]

Somewhat, yes.

But, separately, his actual power output will decline with age. The most powerful wizards are children. Older practitioners have to make do with using less power more efficiently.

[lifes_sake]

Oh, for goodness sake. Why?

"You're very absorbed in whatever you're reading," observes Renée.

The manual currently looks like a spiral notebook. "Yep," Cam says without elaboration.

[pythbox]

A child's mind has more potential, more imagination, more flexibility. The latter two are the qualities that, lingering in adult wizards, tend to lead to them settling at higher power levels.

[lifes_sake]

Tips and tricks? Also, is this sort of thing shareable? Can he go to work with Renée and harvest energy from the kindergarteners in some potentially sketchy but not necessarily unethical way?

[pythbox]

No. A wizard's power level is a property of the wizard.

[lifes_sake]

Dangit. Okay. He'll have to be creative. If he happens to meet any particularly clever and cooperative kindergarteners can he make them their own manuals, or share his, or otherwise wizardify them, or do the manuals just capriciously drop themselves into people's laps and refuse to be community property?

[pythbox]

Those who are meant to be wizards will find their own manuals. Those who aren't, will not. Attempts to force the issue rarely go well.

[lifes_sake]

Grr.

Maybe when Cam is very very good at wizarding he can address this problem. It is a dumb way to run a magic system. In the meantime, he's going to get as good at wizardry as fast as he can, because apparently time is of the essence.

And he's going to cultivate his imagination-flexibility-etcetera. (He writes this down in Grace and she hums agreement.)

[pythbox]

Although it's not especially relevant, the manual also mentions at this point that wizards are strongly advised against directly lying. Since their main power is changing reality with their words, it follows that they should be very careful how they describe things they don't mean to change.

[lifes_sake]

...Noted. Cam doesn't usually outright lie, but he does lie by omission and by drawing misleading partial sketches of reality. So this is suitable for him anyway.

What happens if he lies to describe the world as being nicer than it is? He supposes he might magically exhaust himself rendering the earth a utopia. Would that happen?

[pythbox]

Any deliberate misdescription of the world that is not part of an intentional, carefully constructed spell is a bad idea.

[lifes_sake]

...Why, though?

[pythbox]

Because unless it is part of a carefully constructed spell, it might have unintended effects.

And because the Lone Power also invented lies.

[lifes_sake]

Wait, what? Someone had to invent lies? Lies come pretty straightforwardly with, like, being able to conceive of other creatures having minds. You want this other mind to represent a state of the universe that isn't true, you can manipulate that representation thusly, bam. Lies. Presumably someone had to do it first, but it's the sort of thing that would be easily reinvented.

Cam side-eyes his manual.

Ironically, he thinks it may be lying.