Do not mock the humble survey

[poll_the_stars]

Avet... has found herself annoyed. She has only one form. This isn't the problem, but this is what led to her noticing the problem. There is no way to preview what a dragon will look like. There are species books of birds and bugs and animals - but some of them are sub-par on noting where the dragon's colors go, and miscellaneous gods that she doesn't worship help you if you want to see what your color will look like on the form.

She is going to solve this problem. By taking some surveys. As in, grab photo paper, gather up a list of lines to go visit, and then knock on some doors and ask some questions and create a book series that organizes all possible forms, all known forms, what known lines look like in the forms - that sort of thing.

She starts with blue groups, because blue groups have the most available forms - she's gotten all of the big lines (well, all of the big lines that gave her the time of day) and is on the smaller ones. The ones with only one or two people. Or, in some cases, none.

This particular one's easier than some others; she doesn't need to fly to another country. It's Esmaar. She flies to the address of one 'Avar,' no line name. Apparently he had one and had some kind of explosive spat about it and gave it up. Not that it's her business. He's just another person for her survey.

She knocks on his door.

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

Mial excitedly takes notes on the way her magic moved when she shifted.

As an afterthought, he says, "Nice form."

[poll_the_stars]

She preens, a little. "Thank you."

And then she shifts back human to look at the excited notes in question. She doesn't think she could fit on his shoulder to read, and human form comes with hands, anyway.

[thisvorlunatic]

They've already looked at shifting to previously chosen forms. Shifting to a particular form will always activate the same section of a particular dragonish's magic, and those sections are evenly spaced in the magic container, one after the other, separated by sections of magic that aren't activated by any known cause.

Choosing a new form activates the whole form slot, right up to where the shift-activated section of the next unused form slot should begin. The mystery of the inactive sections is explained.

[poll_the_stars]

"Oooo," observes Avet. "That's interesting. Sort of - badly designed, if the dragon magic does nothing else and just sits there, but it's interesting."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah. But it does make some amount of sense that it might take more magic to choose a form than to use one you've already picked... and if I found out dragonishes were designed I'd have a long list of other complaints to air before I got to that one."

[poll_the_stars]

"Ha. Yes. Me too. There are a lot of things about dragonishes I have a problem with, not just in regards to shrens. Maybe when I'm bored I'll make a list. 'All of the things about dragonishes I wish were better.'"

[thisvorlunatic]

"A to-do list," says Mial.

[poll_the_stars]

Avet cackles.

"Yes. Now I have to go make one."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Well, of course. What's going on it?"

[poll_the_stars]

"Draconic, shrens - where shrens want that one, anyway - baby dragons dying, esu, dragonishes dying randomly and unpredictably of old age, forms being able to be lost forever, the really small number of max forms for everyone but blues, not being able to pick where your color group color goes, not being able to see what your forms look like until after you pick them, the growing-at-a-constant-rate-until-you-die - there should be a cap, the entire thing where certain color groups rust or patina or tarnish, and - I don't even know how to handle the thing with thudias versus parunias, but I am not okay with it and any situation where my children die before I do is unacceptable." Pause. "There are likely more, that's just off of the top of my head."

[thisvorlunatic]

"How do you people live with less than ten forms?"

[poll_the_stars]

"I lived with one form for most of my life," she points out wryly. "I just - generally acted like a human who could occasionally shapeshift into a dragon. Now that I have three I'm not sure I'll even be inclined to use them much - though now that I have merfolk I might go travel to some underwater cities and see what they're like." She shrugs. "Personally between ten forms and empathy, I'd stick with what I have. I occasionally need to cheat." She snorts. "During my surveying I needed empathy to figure out why a gold was smiling at me in a particular way, I was so confused. Turns out, he was propositioning me. Shapeshifting wouldn't have saved me there."

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Was that by any chance my cousin Aurin? That sounds very much like my cousin Aurin."

[poll_the_stars]

Blink. "... I think that was his name, yeah."

[thisvorlunatic]

"My cousin Aurin is very fond of girls," Mial explains.

[poll_the_stars]

"And seems to find us all almost interchangeable with one another," she says dryly.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Eh. He's a little indiscriminate, but I promise he notices individual characteristics. I've had to listen to him go on about them often enough. But no, seriously, much as I may tease him for how enthusiastically he likes girls, the word is like" (sincerely appreciate in a friendly warm interpersonal way; noncentral connotational overtones of romance), "not just vaguely-want-to-sleep-with."

[poll_the_stars]

"Good to know. I take back my snark, then. It was admittedly a little unfair - I've had exactly one conversation with him, after all."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Aurin's a good cousin. And not just in that he passes the 'willing to acknowledge my existence' test, although that alone sets him above our grandfather."

[poll_the_stars]

"I'm glad to hear it. He just - left an impression. It wasn't entirely positive." Pause. "And your grandfather has no idea what he's missing out on, more fool him."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Damn right."

[poll_the_stars]

[thisvorlunatic]

Avet goes home; Mial quietly solicits research data from his mother, who just as quietly returns him some circumspectly worded notes after a few days. That pins down the magic section for declining to have children. The chart is looking just about as complete as it's going to get.

It is not immediately clear how to proceed.

[poll_the_stars]

They'll keep at it, anyway.

But first: on a non-Chenen day, Mial gets a letter from a certain survey dragon.

Hey, I finished the books. Want to come over and judge/give feedback/super judge them before I finalize them?

[thisvorlunatic]

I would be delighted to come judge your books. When?