devoted enchantment conduit, smile!

[incanted]

Aurora goes home before Brilliance does. She wants an aura; she's admired all the others enough to feel out of place by not having one. (Even Sarion does now.)

She asks Jane to let her know when Brilliance comes home to Rainbow.

And when she gets this notification, she says, +Hey Brilliance.+

Comments

[cardistry]

"Nice," he breathes. "Ooh, I like that one. What's it like changing between flavours?"

[incanted]

"A little change or a big change?"

[cardistry]

"Little one, first?"

[incanted]

Baking becomes boiling.

[cardistry]

He wriggles and grins.

"Okay, what about a bigger change?"

[incanted]

Boiling becomes sharpness (subvariety: that generated by e.g. a whip).

[cardistry]

Brilliance squiiiiiiiiiirms.

"Yeah, that is not like pants at all," he says. "That's like - well, it's like it was designed by somebody who doesn't like pain."

[incanted]

Aurora giggles. "Stella made up version one, I think there've been some additions since but yeah. It's all based on, like, actual possible injuries, why does that make it obvious it's designed by someone who doesn't like pain?"

[cardistry]

"It's - it's abstracted," he says. "Like you're relying on the magic to cover the details and it's not doing that great a job."

[incanted]

"I guess that makes sense."

[cardistry]

"I wonder if you even can use pants," he muses. "It's a little more - hands-on. The way some spells are, you know?"

[incanted]

"...Some of 'em are involved, yeah. I have no idea. Are we just calling it 'pants' now?"

[cardistry]

"It's a cute name for it," he says. "It's funny. I like it."

[incanted]

"Okay then," chuckles Bella. "Well - I don't know how much my own lack of masochism would interfere with its use."

[cardistry]

"You know what," he says, "let me down off this one and try it."

[incanted]

Bella tapers him down from where he's at. "Um, am I at much risk of accidentally overdoing it given that I don't know what I'm doing pantswise?"

[cardistry]

"I don't know what the interface looks like exactly from that side, but it didn't seem like it took that long to figure it out," he says. "If I yell, stop?"

[incanted]

"Okay."

She finds a comfy snuggling position, propped up a little on part of the enchanted pouf-beanbag so she can watch his face in addition to listening for yelling.

"Say when."

[cardistry]

"When," he murmurs, smiling at her.

[incanted]

Bella swallows nervously.

But she musters up a token amount of wanting and she whispers:

"Devotion."

[cardistry]

The details of the spell interface unfold in her mind. It's very complicated, but it's not that hard to read, especially since large parts of the network correspond directly to his physical nervous system.

And all together, the whole thing is completely under her control. She can give him any pain-related sensation she can figure out how to implement - controllable by feel rather than by number, on a smooth scale rather than discrete increments, and mappable to any and all locations or nonlocations she might desire. (Apparently he has an entire set of pain receptors that aren't connected to his body at all.)



Brilliance is still smiling. But then, she hasn't hurt him yet.

[incanted]

"Well, this is complicated and I don't know what to do with it," Bella murmurs. "...It's like a nerve map. Except plenty of it isn't located in your actual body."

[cardistry]

"Yeah," he says. "This body's only part of me, remember? I've got other places that can hurt."

[incanted]

"Yeah." She swallows. She runs her fingers through his hair. "...I'm not clear on how this maps onto triangles. I think I'll start really small and we'll see what kinds of coins you can make off of it? Okay? ...And, uh, I don't think it comes in plain, any flavor requests?"

[cardistry]

He shrugs. "Okay, that sounds good."