(no subject)

[sythyry]

I'm Not Infatuated. Really. [20 Chireb 4261]

The word "Zanniajaia" is the name of a long quick sinuous molluscish sort of fish with a segmented shell, from Mrasteia. Not that I looked in five dictionaries to find that out. Not that I'm the least bit infatuated.

You can't be unfaithful to your boyfriend simply by looking in some dictionaries, can you? Even if he's a linguist?

Here's the conversation that didn't happen:

Me:"Hallo! I'm a notoriously and radiently traff Zi Ri with many important political connections and a dear but frequently inconsiderate boyfriend!"

Zanniajaia:"Hallo! I am a wealthy and deliciously traff Orren! I am consumed with sympathy for your plight! Fortunately I have a white charger, with which I shall gallop into your woeful bedchamber, sweep you up, narrowly avoid falling off, and rescue you from your mean, mean, ashamed boyfriend!"

Me:"Yay!"

The actual conversation was much more subtle. To the point of being, well, just a conversation about, well, how different it is to walk on two and four feet, and yes, she does plan to get Cloak of Another God at some point, but first Wizard's Lens. (Could I copy it for her and give it to her? That's an awfully expensive present ... but magic students do trade spells traditionally.) She's currently interested in teleport chains and finding the flaws in them and making new ones without the flaws (which I don't think anyone has done for thousands of years).

It's amazing what you can't discuss in a ninth-of-an-hour chat after class. Where's she from? She doesn't sound quite like a Vheshrame native, but I can't place the accent. What rank is she? Well-born, certainly. I would bet half my feathers that she's a non-inheriting child of a baron, but that's just based on jewelry and the fact that she didn't mention any baronning in her plans. Is she traff? If she had a copy of Love in Hiding, it was in hiding.

And what am I going to say to Ilottat tonight? 'cause, yes, I am finally going to turn into a basic-brown Orren girl and waddle over to the embassy and, I hope, boink him silly and turn back into a Zi Ri and keep my heart in one place like a sensible little lizard.

(And, for monsters reading this -- yes, Orren do, happily, cuddle up in triads and quartets and whatevers. No, Ilottat is not interested. He's married to one Orren and that's about one Orren and two Khtsoyis more than enough.)

Comments

[niss-the-ai.livejournal.com]

Your nonexistent conversation raises several interesting points:
-The purpose of Wizard's Lens -- ah, page 236: it makes magic analysis easier.
-The effects on Vheshrame of building a teleport network that isn't "The Color Out Of Space" and doesn't summon "The Rats In the Walls" -- hey, maybe Vae could help!
-How it is that boxed spells like Cloak are expensive, if anyone who knows the spell and has a bit of spellbinding skill can produce a perfect copy -- hmm, do spellbinders have any sort of copyright system, or illegal spell-copying network?
-The value of and market for Zi Ri feathers
-The existence of negative Khtsoyis

[redbird]

I suspect that, at least in our fine Zi Ri's view, all Khtsoyis are negative.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Boxed spells are not the same as bound spells, and you need reasonably well-trained people to box them. There's a copy-protection scheme of sorts: the spell is not well enough established for you to be able to copy for a month or three after you have learned it.

Ysgwyd and Delframber are two Khtsoyis too many.

[cattitude.livejournal.com]

Just out of curiosity, how far away is Mrasteia?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Well ... some parts are a few hundred miles away, and some parts are a few hundred thousand miles. It's a long world-branch.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

How far away are parts where you would find large numbers of this mollusk?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

The dictionary didn't say... and, while using dictionaries to indulge a crush probably isn't cheating, I'm quite sure that ichthyological handbooks are a sure sign of terrible infidelity.

[spotweld.livejournal.com]

You know, if this whole position of politcal importance (but with much associated personal distress and unease) doesn't work out, there may be a career for Sythyry in the field of mass market romantic fiction. (No one would admit it, but I bet everyone on occasion has read a traff novel or two and it would be so nice if there was an author out there who could write with a voice of personal experience.)

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

But I'd need lots more experience to do that, wouldn't I?

... I'd better go get started.

[spotweld.livejournal.com]

I do believe the Orren have perfected a sentiment that is the appropriate response here. That being: Woot!

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

*gets a fit of the giggles*

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

*Could* you copy it? Doesn't it take like 20 million cley every day for 20 million years, or something?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Ten days, 20 cley each day, for a complexity-20 spell. That's part of why it's expensive -- not that many people get 20 cley a day, or not without lots of meditation or sleazy things.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

Heeee!

Boink your Ilottat silly (well, sillier -- all Orren are silly by definition), and spend time with Zanniajaia as a pair of magic students. Get to know each other as fellow students.

And enjoy yourself. This is a LOT less stressful than being a diplomat to Vae.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

Are you sure thats an orreny thing to say? I'm sure thats an orreny thing to FEEL... but how well would it translate? I'm sure there's a word for that emotion as an exclamation of joy that applies more to orren than to many others, but what would that be?

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

She might be surprised and embarrassed if you were to give Wizard's Lens to her - too expensive a gift to start with. Instead, perhaps you should consider helping her get the spell in some fashion. Well, maybe not by giving her cley so she can master the spell, because as I understand it, sharing cley carries a certain social awkwardness.

[kensaro.livejournal.com]

Is he a cunning linguist?

*runs*

[vernononfm.livejournal.com]

Speaking as an Orren, that is indeed an appropriate thing to feel, and to say. :)

[vernononfm.livejournal.com]

Yes, I recommend this option most heartily. Then, you can try to work things out with Ilottat. However, if things don't work out, you'll have a good (Orren) friend's shoulder to rest and cry on.

[vernononfm.livejournal.com]

One good idea is to try and find her a shop that will give her a discount on the price of the spell. Even if you have to pay for that discount. ;) When it comes up, then, you can causually mention you know of a place where she can get that spell at a discount.

[justicezero.livejournal.com]

Do you -have- Wizard's Lens? It isn't so expensive a present if you're trading it for another spell you fancy instead of giving it away, i'm sure.

I also note that the idea of pouncing Illotat in a fashion which he has made clear he finds disturbing, well, seems like a recipe for woe.

[waywind.livejournal.com]

What sort of "blue" Orren are we talking about? Blue, in the sort of way that mammals tend to be blue, which is actually sort of gray-brown? Or really bright, Sythyry-matching blue?

Also, I have a deep suspicion that this mysterious Orren is not what she appears.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

A sort of deep sapphire blue. Darker than me, but not very different.

I'm pretty sure she's not a nendrai, at least.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

It's Tethezai in diguise!