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It is a lovely Saturday morning. Feathered children are watching cartoons; furred adults are eating brunch; scaled teenagers - one scaled teenager in particular, actually - is arguing with the proprietor of a magic shop.
"How did these items get made if there's no way to learn magic? Are the magicians homeschooling their children and not writing any books? How did you learn?"
"Half this stuff is antiques," says the shopkeep. "Look, asking me a dozen times isn't gonna make the answer more to your liking. I don't have Hogwarts in the basement, deal with it."
"But where do you get the stuff that isn't antique - who made the Avalon itself? - isn't anybody panicking about the medallion supply? -"
"Kid, nobody knows how to make medallions."
"But some people apparently know how to make luck charms and protection amulets!"
"I'm not going to give out my suppliers' personal information. I wouldn't do it even if you weren't annoying."
"There have to be books -"
"Does this look like a library to you?"
maybeso
asteptotheright
He makes a face. "I'd love to try explaining that to Father. Perhaps later, when we're financially independent."
To the girl in the wheelchair: "Is there any particular reason you thought he'd know how they were made? Not that I wouldn't dearly love to learn too, but in my experience shopkeepers and artisans aren't often the same person."
To the girl in the wheelchair: "Is there any particular reason you thought he'd know how they were made? Not that I wouldn't dearly love to learn too, but in my experience shopkeepers and artisans aren't often the same person."
maybeso
"I would expect someone at a Radio Shack to, if pressed, be able to mumble vaguely about factories in China and engineering majors and Bill Gates," says the girl in the wheelchair. "And then I could follow up on that, more likely by becoming an engineering major than by traveling to China or meeting Bill Gates, but still. Here - nothing."
"I can tell you they're not mass-produced. I'd be sending you to people's houses, not a good business practice," snorts the shopkeep.
"How did you find people with magic things to sell?" she wheedles.
"Some of 'em were already selling to here when my mother ran the place, some of 'em came to me, I don't take out ads in the paper about it!"
"I can tell you they're not mass-produced. I'd be sending you to people's houses, not a good business practice," snorts the shopkeep.
"How did you find people with magic things to sell?" she wheedles.
"Some of 'em were already selling to here when my mother ran the place, some of 'em came to me, I don't take out ads in the paper about it!"
asteptotheright
"...I am reluctant to ask," he says, "because I begin to suspect the answer is no, but it certainly seems as though her question has more to do with wanting to learn about magic than meeting the people who do it. Is there not some place to send people who want to do that?"
maybeso
"No! You could try the bookstore, but this isn't Harry Potter."
"Can most people not do magic, does it only run in families or something?"
"Not as far as I know," shrugs the shopkeep.
"Then why isn't this Harry Potter, at least as far as having a magical school is concerned?"
"Nobody's started one?" the shopkeep asks, as though this is a deeply stupid question.
"Can most people not do magic, does it only run in families or something?"
"Not as far as I know," shrugs the shopkeep.
"Then why isn't this Harry Potter, at least as far as having a magical school is concerned?"
"Nobody's started one?" the shopkeep asks, as though this is a deeply stupid question.
jumptotheleft
The similar-looking girl puts a hand on his shoulder. Whether in comfort or warning isn't immediately apparent.
asteptotheright
"All it would take would be one competent, interested individual to start a school like that. If none exist I'm not sure whether to worry more about the inclinations of existing magic users or their numbers."
maybeso
"And what happens if a nasty flu season goes around and they're all out of luck charms?" demands wheelchair girl. "The knowledge of how to make medallions is already lost, you don't seem to know who made the Avalon hiding spells and I heard this one is over a hundred years old anyway so whoever it was is probably dead, this isn't going to get to be less of an emergency any time soon! The information could die out."
"I don't think it's as dire as all that."
"Then you ought to be able to convince me of that, oughtn't you?"
Eyeroll.
"I don't think it's as dire as all that."
"Then you ought to be able to convince me of that, oughtn't you?"
Eyeroll.
asteptotheright
He gives the shopkeeper a look. He'd previously been willing to tentatively categorize him as being innocently orthogonal to the main problem, which was the existing magic users, but if he so actively didn't care then he was an idiot.
"I don't suppose you have any helpful information?"
"I don't suppose you have any helpful information?"
asteptotheright
He bites back whatever he was about to say next and says, "...Yes. I think you did."
maybeso
"There's a bookstore!" says the shopkeep, relieved. "Across the little park next to the grocery."
"It doesn't have a ramp," says the girl.
"What do you want me to do, cast a spell on it?"
"Ugh."
"It doesn't have a ramp," says the girl.
"What do you want me to do, cast a spell on it?"
"Ugh."
asteptotheright
"Regardless of his disregard for the future of this culture insofar as it relies on the continued existence of magic users, I suspect at this point it would be more useful to chide the bookstore owner for the lack of accessibility."
maybeso
"Yes, I suppose. I can do the steps if I have to," sighs wheelchair girl. "Although really it's only a matter of time before someone who's genuinely paralyzed from the waist down turns out to be a critter, so it's still irresponsible." She wheels for the door. The shopkeep doesn't bother to tell them to come again another time.
asteptotheright
"Perhaps it's for the best, then, that you came along first, since you do have both reason to chide and the ability to access the person to do so."
themainattraction
"I mean, we don't actually know that she showed up before any actual paraplegics, for all we know those stairs thwart someone every other Tuesday," the lone confirmed critter in the group points out.
asteptotheright
"That is a point. Although I suspect if it were literally so frequent something would have been done by now."
maybeso
"You'd be surprised! Although all my information on that is not from inside the Avalon; I'm new here."
themainattraction
"I found out I was a firebird under kind of awkward circumstances, and then I met Jaromira a while later, and we just kind of--clicked. And she was a sympathetic ear who wasn't close enough to the situation to make it weird, and then of course she told her brother everything--about critters and magic and stuff I mean, not the personal stuff I told her--and it turns out he's kind of a huge fantasy geek, and the idea that magic was real, well."
maybeso
"It's real but apparently in an absolute institutional shambles," sighs Wheelchair Girl. "I'm May. I'm a wyvern. You'll forgive me if I don't demonstrate." She gestures at the chair.
themainattraction
"Oh, of course. And I'm Daphne and I just said this was Jaromira, and that's Kanimir," she says, waving at the relevant persons as they're named.
asteptotheright
"It's a pleasure to meet you, even under the circumstances. Perhaps especially under the circumstances. I think I'd not have inquired after educational possibilities for some time had you not been there." He snorts. "'Institutional shambles' may be too kind. Had there been an institution in the first place for there to be shambles of there would at least be some historical precedent for finding teachers."
maybeso
"Well, it used to be possible to make medallions, and a great many of them were in fact made," May says. "It may have been a couple thousand years ago when they stopped, but just because you can't go get a Library Card of Alexandria doesn't mean it was never built."
When they've crossed the park and reached the bookstore, May says, "Could one of you hold the door for me so I can haul the chair up the steps?"
When they've crossed the park and reached the bookstore, May says, "Could one of you hold the door for me so I can haul the chair up the steps?"