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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
maybeso
"Oh, good."
May hands over the incantation, which is a stilted but grammatical translation of the one in the book.
May hands over the incantation, which is a stilted but grammatical translation of the one in the book.
themainattraction
"It could stand to be a little less, uh, stiff, but it's perfectly grammatical as-is."
maybeso
May makes sure she can pronounce all the words involved, then:
"Here goes nothing."
And she incants.
And she vanishes.
"Here goes nothing."
And she incants.
And she vanishes.
asteptotheright
Kanimir times her! He does not have a stopwatch and will just have to do some arithmetic based on his analog wristwatch. That's okay! It works!
maybeso
May remains invisible for twenty-one minutes. During which time she slides invisibly into Kanimir's lap to kiss him, just 'cause.
asteptotheright
This is startling! But good startling, even if his sister is going to tease him later for the noise he made.
maybeso
May spends much of the time she is invisible cackling. By the time she is visible again she is back in her own chair.
"I diiiiiid iiiiiit," she sings when she resumes visibility, wriggling happily. "And that's long enough to do some decent flying, too. We'll see if yours gets better duration."
"I diiiiiid iiiiiit," she sings when she resumes visibility, wriggling happily. "And that's long enough to do some decent flying, too. We'll see if yours gets better duration."
asteptotheright
"Yes."
It takes him another while to finish it up, and then submits it to May for approval.
It takes him another while to finish it up, and then submits it to May for approval.
maybeso
She doesn't find any mistakes in the construction - his was not completed at three in the morning - but she does correct a couple defects in the lines themselves.
asteptotheright
Oops. Well, that's what double-checking is for. He doesn't need his incantation looked over; he says it, and--
Poof. Gone.
Poof. Gone.
asteptotheright
Kanimir's invisibility is a little better, but not by much--twenty-three minutes forty seconds. He doesn't do something similar to May's own invisible shenanigans, mostly because his sister is standing right there. And because trying to sit in her lap while she was in her wheelchair without her cooperation seems a terrible idea.
maybeso
That is entirely reasonable.
"So yours came out better but I think mine looks faster to draw, not that that's the limiting factor most of the time."
"So yours came out better but I think mine looks faster to draw, not that that's the limiting factor most of the time."
asteptotheright
"So we'll hang onto both and use whichever one seems most appropriate in a given context," he concludes.
maybeso
"I'll run off copies of both of these in gray so they're easily traced and copied into other formats. What do you think should be next, Kanimir, something else entirely or stable invisibility items?"