Come on wuss it's just a door

[poll_the_stars]

Avetlarinyarenesaar... Is currently trying to force herself to walk another few steps. She hasn't managed it, yet. Her reason for stopping was perfectly ordinary - check the address, make sure it was correct, be sure she was in the right place. She'd been quite sure, but there wasn't any downside to double checking, so she double checked. And triple checked. She stopped herself from quadruple checking, but she wanted to anyway. To - be sure that she was right. Yes. Not because she was procrastinating, or nervous, or thinking what am I going to say? She wanted to be sure that she was right.

Well. She's right. She checked three times, there's no doubt to it.

"Look," she mutters to herself, "I get it, it's scary, but deal. You are not allowed to - to -" To what? Go home? Maybe try to work up the courage later? Maybe try and avoid the shren house like so many other dragons?

It was a door. It's idiotic to be afraid of a door. Sure, there were shrens on the other side of it, but there could conceivably be shrens on the other side of lots of doors, some of them were in hiding, hair dye existed. Subtle colors existed. She could have been near shrens any number of times.

That - did not actually make her fear go away. Instead it makes her want to curl up in her little apartment and not go outside again.

Great. Okay. Stop that train of thought, it's not useful. If she stands here any longer, people are going to stare. (Is that person over there staring? Probably. Damn.) Just - door. Go. Walk.

She forces herself to walk to the door, somewhat stiffly. And then she is at the door. ... Does she knock? Does she just open it and go in? She has no idea. It's customary to knock, so... She takes a deep breath and does so. Resisting the urge to flee and teleport away (or scamper into the bushes) isn't easy, but she manages it.

Comments

[poll_the_stars]

"Hi!" says Avet, smiling a little. "I'm Avet, it's nice to meet you."

She doesn't ask are you my volunteer. She wants to, but she doesn't.

[alicornucopia]

"I'm Ehail. Jensal said you wanted to analyze a shren."

[poll_the_stars]

She nods. "Nothing invasive or uncomfortable, I will just be standing in the same room as you, waving my hands, saying words, and possibly staring uncomfortably. I apologize for that last on in advance."

She's decided that her best method to get over aaaaah shren is to focus on how excited she is about possible progress. Even if it's not the actual tangible progress of baby dragons not dying. It counts. She defeated the door.

[alicornucopia]

"Do you mind explaining what you're doing while you do it? I'm a wizard."

[poll_the_stars]

Avet blinks.

"Sure," she says, realizing that of course another wizard would want to participate. "If you have suggestions as well, I'll take them. I don't think I've read literally everything, I bet I've missed some possible angles."

[alicornucopia]

Nod, nod. "I'm staying in the - there's a room we can use."

[poll_the_stars]

"Okay." She smiles. "Lead on."

Avet? Don't flinch when you are in the shren house. Don't. Don't. You are not allowed.

[alicornucopia]

Ehail leads her in. There is slightly audible wailing off to the left, but they don't go down that hallway. Instead they go straight back and then to the right and then left again, and up some stairs, and then they're at a bare little room with a bed and a chair and a desk. Ehail sits on the bed, leaving the chair for Avet.

[poll_the_stars]

Avet makes a complicated pained expression at the wailing, looking in the direction of the hallway. Her thoughts are not, 'Oh no more shrens,' but 'Poor darlings.' Regardless, she follows Ehail to the room, and sits in the chair.

"Any reason we shouldn't immediately start? I'll explain everything I do before I do it, I even brought my notes." She hefts the notes. They're written in Draconic, but that's hardly a problem here.

[alicornucopia]

"Go ahead," says Ehail. "May I have a copy?"

[poll_the_stars]

"Of these? Sure. I can do it now if you have paper, I don't know better spells for it off of the top of my head."

[alicornucopia]

Ehail has paper. She produces it from her little bag that is stashed under the bed.

[poll_the_stars]

Avet copies her notes onto the paper! And now Ehail has them, too.

"Let me know if you have any questions, or want to look up my sources. I don't think I cited everything properly."

[alicornucopia]

Nod.

[poll_the_stars]

And with that, she starts going down the list of analyses, explaining as she goes. A lot of things she wants to try have been tried before, but she would like data of her own rather than just trusting far away sources. But there are a few things that aren't commonly known that she tries, and one or two things that she's invented.

None of them let her look at dragon magic. This might be relevant.

[alicornucopia]

"I have," says Ehail, "a dragon magic analysis. Do you not have one?"

[poll_the_stars]

"Nnnno, I don't. I couldn't find one anywhere and wanted to check the obvious routes before I went and tried to invent one." She smiles at Ehail. "And now I suppose turnabout's fair play. May I have a copy of your notes?"

[alicornucopia]

"I can teleport home and get them."

[poll_the_stars]

"I'll be happy to wait."

[alicornucopia]

Ehail nods and teleports away. She is back a couple degrees later with some notes, which she offers to Avet.

[poll_the_stars]

"Thanks." Avet looks them over.

"You haven't analyzed any dragons with this," she observes. "... Do you want to fix that? Right now?"

[alicornucopia]

"Okay."

Ehail casts her analysis carefully and squints at Avet.

[poll_the_stars]

Avet holds still and resists the urge to ask a thousand questions.

[alicornucopia]

"You have a little bit more magic than a shren," says Ehail. "And it doesn't... wobble."

[poll_the_stars]

"... That. I wonder if that's it. Shrens - aren't missing any dragon abilities but flight in natural form, right? Nothing obscure that I'm not aware of? All forms present and accounted for?"