Is it accurate to call this a road trip?

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet does not fidget. There is no fidgeting. She is not a creature that is capable of fidgeting, she trained the habit away five centuries ago when she realized it really ticked her off. She will sit, serenely, maybe read books while waiting, but she doesn't fidget anymore.

But right now, she sort of wishes she did.

How does one mentally prepare to go to another universe?

She has no idea. She hasn't done it before. She realizes, vaguely, that this is kind of a stupid thing to worry about. She knows exactly who she's visiting, has wanted to for a while, and it's a smart tactical decision and helpful and safe and oh goddesses what if everything is weird, what if this becomes the most awkward day of all time, what if she spontaneously combusts upon entering the gate and going to Nexus? That can probably happen. Somehow. She's not really sure how, but if she's learned anything from this past week it is that the multiverse is a strange and terrifying place. And that it is good to be paranoid.

She wastes time on paranoia. She sits. She does not fidget. And she waits for a gate.

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

She doesn't have long to stew - about half a minute.

Then: gate. With a short human on the other side of it.

[poll_the_stars]

She smiles, just a little.

Hey, nerves? Shut up. Through the gate she goes.

"Hello, these are words so you can identify my language and cast the relevant spell," she says, lightly. "Unless of course you can already understand me, in which case, I feel kind of stupid."

(To Miles's magical senses, she is obviously an arcanist. Some other things are there if he pokes at it; she's not as powerful as he is, maybe about at his parent's level, but she's got quite a lot more practice at it.)

[thisvorlunatic]

Comprehend language; permanency.

"Yeah, same to you," he says. "You sure are magical."

[poll_the_stars]

She casts the same set of spells. There they are, now they match.

"You're one to talk," she says, amused. Not in Miles's language, because the spell just gives comprehension, not fluency. "But thanks."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I told you, my mother's the terrifying one," he says. "Anyway. My memory friend is this way."

They're in a house - a pretty nice house. Miles leads her to the next room.

"Meet Simon."

[as_i_remember]

"Hello," says Simon.

[poll_the_stars]

"Hello," says Inavet. "Do you have comprehend language on you or is Miles playing translator?"

[as_i_remember]

"I have the spell, but I don't have the MP to cast permanency so Miles will need to take over as translator if you're here for hours."

[poll_the_stars]

"It really shouldn't take hours," she assures. "But I will keep that in mind, thank you."

She offers him her hand. "May I?"

[as_i_remember]

"Yes."

He gives her his hand.

[poll_the_stars]

Hand holding ensues. It's a good thing she's used to doing this sort of thing, otherwise she might find it awkward. She closes her eyes and dives into figuring out if the modified ritual will work or not.

Eventually she drops his hand and says, "Well that was kind of magically fascinating and strange, but - yes, the modified ritual seems like the way to go."

[as_i_remember]

"Magically fascinating?"

[poll_the_stars]

"It's. Mmm. Weirdly flavored, for one. I'm not used to a person having a thing that feels quite like that in them. I would call it artificial but it's not quite artificial. It's weird, I lack vocabulary. Like an aftertaste that makes you realize everything you tried before also has an aftertaste, and a vastly different one." She shrugs. "But also I can tell it's pushy. I can tell there's a lot going on with it, most of which I don't understand. I can see why people went mad from it, but you found a balance with it. That sort of 'balance with a strange foreign object' is also very much not how I'm used to seeing augments. In my experience the augment is tweaked for the person. This feels... Nnnot quite the opposite but close. Like it wouldn't have worked unless you were a certain way, but you had to still change to fit it.

"But song is still song, and even with all of the extra academic stuff the ritual will work just fine."

[as_i_remember]

"Thank you for your expert opinion, then," he says.

[poll_the_stars]

"You're welcome. I have a record of not screwing over people I help with awakening rituals, I would hate to break it."

[as_i_remember]

"Commendable."

[thisvorlunatic]

"While you're here," says Miles, "I should probably teach you everything I know about summoning, I bet it'd go faster in person. I can introduce you to my demon friend! I have a demon friend. Well, 'friend' may be stretching the term."

[poll_the_stars]

"Sure. You made a demon friend?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"I summoned a sufficiently trustworthy demon that I would rather keep summoning him than look for a new one. That's friendly enough, right?"

[poll_the_stars]

"It counts. Probably." She smiles. "Do you want arcany lessons while I'm here, too?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Of course."

[poll_the_stars]

"Well, then shall we?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Summoning or arcany first? Summoning, I think."

[poll_the_stars]

"Agreed. Arcany's... sort of difficult to finish in a couple of hours. As an understatement."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Well, summoning's not exactly breezy either, but I can at least explain as much as I understand and see if you can translate the bindings on my usual circle."

He explains. He shows her what his usual circle looks like. He explains some more. He takes her out to the very pretty lake and the wooden platform with the convenient writing materials, but he doesn't let her actually start drawing until she's not only translated his standard binding but explained it back to him in detail.