"...It did take practice. Casting from scrolls is a lot easier. I learned from a scroll somebody else made, and then made my own eventually. I used those."

"Ahh.  Yeah I'm mostly trying to avoid miscasts like you're supposed to avoid the plague; it would be rather impolite to loudly miscast in a city.  And I'd rather not cast from scrolls without really needing to, because the conceit of spell scrolls being single-shot offends me on a personal level.  Fucking Vancians.  ...I guess if I'm out in the woods I can try stuff that might explode a bit more.  ...Might want to do that with my diamond spells, actually."

"...What's offensive about it? You do most of the work slow and careful ahead of time, and then can just - unravel it. Makes sense to me. Like packing a lunch. Or a parachute. I suppose I wouldn't really know on the relative pro or anti sociality of miscasts in this city. I'm quite sure it happens, it'd be impossible to not."

"I mean.  Yes.  Obviously there's utility to be had there.  But it drives me nuts that you then, as far as I have been able to determine, can't re-pack the thing with the same materials.  I mean I guess if it's 'conjure lunch' that would make more sense, but.  I would much rather make quick-access spells that I can use arbitrarily many times, y'know?"

"That's called a template book."

"Mmm.  Then, yes, I'd rather have one of those than a bunch of scrolls that I can only use once."

"Maybe I could help make a few templates for you? I have a couple myself, for a shield spell and a camouflage spell. Well, really there are specialists who do this... Who are often also jewelers, so you know where to look."

She nods.  "I'd already figured that, to be honest, the skills seemed transferable - especially for the use-case of 'I'm a fox' - but I'm rather money-constrained, right now."

"...You may try casting from mine. If you like."

This feels like a big gesture to Nicole, the way she says it.

The outer wall is finally in sight. Big courtyard type area with room for carts. Not too busy this time of day.

"The guards won't be a problem, they check for contraband and tax carts."

"...I wouldn't want to impose," she demurs, "though I really do appreciate that you'd offer.  It's... we've just met, and all, and.  You shouldn't, and I shouldn't ask, either.  ...I have such a line I could say about this, but, well, it would be a sex joke, so I'll refrain."

...Oh.  Hello guards.  Goodbye guards.

"I was more - hoping that you might have tools or skills or money or something, that I could trade for something I can do.  Albeit that my ability to offer much besides what knowledge I hope I have, in trade, is rather limited from my being 100% fox 100% of the time right now, so."

They have a crystal ball that everyone has to walk past.

"Wait, you haven't... Hrm. I mean... It's a tool. Not my underwear or anything. You're borrowing my lawn mower. And I do have tools, and could maybe make another, but we'll need a nice smooth plate, and to pick a spell, and stuff... And you should see if it's possible at all first. I don't know how much casting you're getting done. I hung out on a mountain, in an abandoned mine I think, when I woke up, eating goats, and didn't actually find anyone else during my... Uh, fugue. Which... I consider quite lucky and want to arrange for you if you want that."

"Not yet, no, though it does feel like it's coming up soon.  And I've been casting; not anything strenuous yet - I'm saving up for all that - but I'm working my way up the ladder well enough.

"...Honestly I haven't decided what I want to do about that part, but I really appreciate that offer.  Might well take you up on it.  It's either that or arrange a celebratory orgy," she deadpans.  "...Probably not going to do that.  I'm shy.  And mostly a lesbian, so I don't even have - eh, norms - on my side.  But, y'know, a girl can dream, I guess."

"If you uh..."

...Nope not talking about this.

But he probably should.

"The red dream is... Intense. You may want to consider advance directives and so on. There was this flash game where you have to lock yourself in because you're a werewolf..."

"...Yeah.  I've heard, and I definitely believe it.  Which is why I am really very much leaning towards 'lock myself up in an abandoned mine' about it.  Though I don't know if it will...  Work.  I'm not sure I won't be clever enough to get out of a mine and into the city even with no tools, at this rate.  ...I guess I'll have to hope the horny is that overwhelming.  And stock some toys."

She is covering her face, now.

"It's... God, I seriously want to be done talking about this. At least for now. Even if you might benefit from advice. Ugh."

"...There's plenty of time, at least so long as this isn't our only conversation.  Or if you want to write it down, that would work."

The city, despite clearly attempting to surge past the walls and form a slum of lower-rent areas just outside of the gates, has not been permitted to do that. A number of bucolic bed-and-breakfasts, juice stands, and the like exist out here but the sprawl has been mostly successfully limited, to very dense farms. Rice and wheat and orchards and soybeans and potatoes, all in tight, narrow lots with hardly a foot of space wasted and low fences to divide lots.

They leave the main road off to a still paved side road.

"The layer of detachment should help, anyway. Straight shot from here. I'm feeling... Unsettled, and want to run, now."

"Then let's run!"

"...Wow, these farms sure are...  It makes me want to work out how to do hydroponics, or aeroponics.  Conservation of footprint."

Nicole shrugs, then breaks out into a jog, then a run.

It's nice. You don't have to think very hard when your breath is short. Just - go - and ignore the few farmers spotted as they go.

And then there's a big patch of woods. It's obviously managed, the trees are all younger and there's not much underbrush. Some of them have been cut at the base to produce dozens of long, thin wicker sticks. Others are growing larger bodies to form proper logs.

A couple hundred feet into the woods, you can't really see the other fields anymore. She slows to a stop, then sits in the dirt, head resting against a tree.

"...Why did we come out here in the first place? Diamonds?"

"Privacy, and also diamonds, yes.  I think.  Honestly I'm not entirely sure why we thought this was a good idea when we started doing it."

"It's nice to be out of the city a little bit anyway. I get itchy feet. So... I don't suppose you have your work in progress on you? I'm not really sure where I'd start. You probably can't take existing fire or force spells and alter the, this will have to be a clean-sheet... You had your idea about lasers? Something about that is itching my mind..."

"I mean, there are some weirdly specific spells already, but yes, lasers are pretty much not a thing around here.  Yet.

"And I do have my work-in-progress!  On my person is the safest place to keep it all, really.  I've managed to make a spell that would work, if I could just write two runes on top of each other, so I'm thinking that I just need to decompose the spell into two separate constructs.  One for force, one for heat-light-laserbeams."

She makes a face, picturing that.

"Hmm... I'm thinking about the feather fall at the end of Sinnah's now... Something about reusing two different parts of the same secondary shape... Well, let's see it?"

She can absolutely show what she has, and try to sketch out a decomposition.

"Honestly if I hadn't run into you I was going to write Sinnah for help with this, but I didn't want to trust the mail with this, so I'm really glad I did run into you."