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Morty knows he shouldn't be screwing around with multidimensional shit. It's dangerous, it's impractical, it's blah blah blah. But it's a potential key to unlimited energy, how does nobody see that? He's built a dimensional siphon (it kind of looks like a cardboard box with a funnel and a TI-84 taped to it, but it damn well works), keyed in the dimensional coordinates to a random plane, and by God he's going to use it.
He flips the switch and waits for the energy bar to fill up.
It does! It fills up very rapidly. Then it explodes, along with the box. There's rather more smoke than there should be, and once the smoke clears someone is standing there.
"Oh dear," Morty says faintly.
Flicker at Whateley
in-like-a-lion
"Yeah. That's just adding a clause into the original construct, splitting it's like... making a secondary construct and slapping it on, and then that splits the first one into three of them, and then you have to maintain the three at once. The first one is a spell to make three lights, the second is three light spells and a splitter."
point_b
"Noted." Bella writes this down. "But color first. I think I will do blue."
Here goes nothing: she tries blue. Slowly, carefully. She decides to try box-breathing while she does it because why not.
Here goes nothing: she tries blue. Slowly, carefully. She decides to try box-breathing while she does it because why not.
in-like-a-lion
And thus appears a blue light! Well, mostly blue. A little bit paler than the picture in the book.
"You want the curve on the color-adjustor to be broader," Ariel notes. "But nice work!"
"You want the curve on the color-adjustor to be broader," Ariel notes. "But nice work!"
point_b
"Broadening the curve will correct my color?" asks Bella. "Does that mean that if I narrow it I get one even paler?"
in-like-a-lion
"Yeah. The more pronounced the feature you give it the more saturated the color. So, twisting it would make it red, the more you twist the more red. Twisting and curving gets... green, because magic makes no sense."
point_b
"I mean, that doesn't seem much more counterintuitive than the way mixing colors of light is different from mixing colors of paint, although it is not apparently quite like either." She examines the shape of her spell a moment longer, then drops it and looks at her bracelet.
point_b
"Okay, I'll... do the blue again and get it right this time, and then do a red, because the colors seem straightforward and I have the juice and homework-free time is precious," says Bella.
So she does that. Careful exact width of curve.
So she does that. Careful exact width of curve.
point_b
"Ooh, I'm going to see if this can follow me when I teleport," says Bella. "Unless you tell me it might explode or something."
in-like-a-lion
"If it can't follow it'll just wink out, this one can't go more than like 15 feet away from you. Pop away."
point_b
Bella goes across the grove, about twenty feet away, maintaining concentration on her globe.
in-like-a-lion
It pops with her!
"Neat! I guess it's an object for teleportation purposes? Or maybe it's just, like, a part of you or something."
"Neat! I guess it's an object for teleportation purposes? Or maybe it's just, like, a part of you or something."
point_b
"Well, now I'll see if I can leave it behind, that'll distinguish." She goes five feet to the left and does not bring the globe with her. "Object."
point_b
"Yeah." Bella makes the globe go around her in a lazy circle. Then she lets it go, returns to her book, peers at the description for red, checks her bracelet, and casts a red light caaaaarefully.
in-like-a-lion
And there is a red light!
"The red one's always pretty when it's saturated," Ariel says. "It's a good shade."
"The red one's always pretty when it's saturated," Ariel says. "It's a good shade."
point_b
"I'm not comparing myself to some standard level of skill at the stuff. I have no way of knowing that, I have no classmates per se. I mean, I was assigned to pick up two variants and warned to space it out, and I've just done it, albeit not the harder version of it I had in mind, in less than half an hour. Am I being stupidly profligate with my Essence, will it not be all back this time tomorrow if I meditate after dinner for a good long while? Is the optional part of the assignment going to take me all year? Is Circe trying to be gentle with me because classes will be underway tomorrow? Is she still judging my speed and it'll get harder come next week?"
in-like-a-lion
"Your Essence will be fine. The optional part of the assignment will definitely take longer than this if you don't want yourself covered in evil wind-up chattering teeth; if you want to learn the sparkler variant, same to that. As to the last two, probably a bit of both. Also, I think she might quietly expect you not to stop at learning two color variants. Based on how you're an ambitious type and all."
point_b
"Okay, it makes perfect sense if she expects me to use the leeway productively, because if she keeps giving me leeway I will obviously do that."
in-like-a-lion
"Yeah. If you had super unexpected trouble with econ or something, it'd be good to leave you the option of just getting red and blue down so you don't rip your hair out, but Circe gets a handle on people quick."
point_b
"My confusion is resolved." Bella writes down the experiment with the teleportation. "I believe I shall have a look at the sparks variant until I drop below, oh, six by wrist-thingy, and then see how fast I recover." She turns to the sparks variant.