(no subject)

[sythyry]

First Date, or not [25 Consimbs 4162]

I did my best to track Zanniajaia down the Dissection of Spells examination. I used cunning. I used a pack of mighty-nosed Cani. I used location spells. I used spies. I used (or abused) my connections in the City Guard. I used Prince Nestrune Kreslink, but he didn't help much. And whaddya know, I caught her.

Well, it wasn't that hard, though she did leave the examination a ninth of an hour before I did, and I did ask Narngi which way she had gone.

And we chatted about the examination for some short while. Mostly we agreed. There was one theoretical question about offworld magic (as seen from Vheshrame) -- I thought that it would be cryptic, and Zanniajaia thought it would be just as detectable as ordinary magic. We looked things up in some books. She's probably right, except in the case of offworld magic from demigods and such, which could get very confusing. I hope this question never ever becomes practical.

And then I asked her to join me for dinner at Ghu Navage Ghu.

And she said yes.

The yes!

Well, she actually said, "Sure, why not?"

Is that less enthusiastic? Or just an ordinary thing to say? [The translation is accurate; it could be either. -bb]

Is she traff?

How hard would it be to make a device that told whether people were traff without use of Mentador? (Um ... the very hard... I suppose you'd need to snoop back in time and read and interpret the whole life story. And that would only work if there was much evidence for it too. Very hard, and probably illegal.)

Aren't traff-folk supposed to get to recognize each other?

If there's a secret traff tail-wave, I wish someone would let me in on the secret...

Comments

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

Where I come from, we use little discreet pins and other such jewelry with symbols of being traff to advertise that we are...

[brynndragon.livejournal.com]

To the point of placing them on mechanisms of conveyance, even. Which gives me the amusing thought of having traff-signatures on transportation spells, or even spells in general. I don't know if your magic would accomidate such a thing, however.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

I'd say the equivalent would be to decorate your cart, or your saddle with it, maybe?

Recognition signals

[allessindra.livejournal.com]

The problem is that they go in and out of style -- remember the professor and the jacket?

I'm minded of an old lover who had a single earring. Invariably, someone would ask him if he preferred same-gender lovers (something that is as unwelcome here as being traff is, there). When he said no, they'd comment that that was what the earring meant, didn't he know that? And then he'd go on about how it was a sailor thing, originally, but the meaning changed from port to port, so that in one town it was the right side that meant same-gender, and the next town down the coast it was the left, and etc. They'd eventually break into his long monologue and ask him why he had an earring in *that* ear, then? And his answer would be, "because it matches the fall of my hair, see, ti doesn't part in teh center, it parts to this one side, and..." and he continue to blither at them about the way his face was visually constructed and how the earring fell into that composition till they walked away in annoyance at him and his vanity.

He usually only had to do this once per workplace...

Re: Recognition signals

[waywind.livejournal.com]

Perhaps Sythyry could conspire to create a secret traff recognition signal, quietly and sneakily spreading it through the gossip at certain bars.

Maybe the traff signal would be three differently-colored circles arranged in a vertical line... hmm, no, that's a different kind of traff signal.

Re: Recognition signals

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

[Bard smirks!]

Re: Recognition signals

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Ah, the mighty power of vanity!

"The yes"? "the very hard"?

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

You're beginning to sound a lot like Vae . . . are you the sure that she's not rubbing off on you?

Re: "The yes"? "the very hard"?

[waywind.livejournal.com]

Maybe one of her spells stayed, like the liquid-repelling spell did. Or perhaps they're having a cumulative long-term permament effect, gradually and subtly warping the Zi Ri into a near-monster!

Or perhaps zie's peppering zir courtly speech with the Nice Language without consciously realizing it.

(It'd serve zir right. Since I began reading this journal, I've been peppering my language with courtly speech without realizing it until all my friends look at me funny. I blame the noble dragonlet!)

Re: "The yes"? "the very hard"?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I must strangle my translator again.

Re: "The yes"? "the very hard"?

[zeeth_kyrah]

I find that having an animate glob of mud slurp someone with its tongue is sufficient discouragement for most folk.

[dracosphynx.livejournal.com]

What kind of place it the "Ghu Navage Ghu"? What kind of cuisine? Perhaps this has some affect on her enthusiasm.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

See the rest of the story, when my lazy and stupid translator gets around to translating it! (It's a common place for student dates.)

*chuckle*

[ionotter.livejournal.com]

In our world, we have a remarkable device which allows us to "see" objects in the distance, regardless of the hour of day, clarity of the air and sometimes even the distance between the viewer and the viewed. We call it "radar", which is short for "RAdio Detection And Ranging". Not sure how to describe "radio", but suffice to say it's waves of energy that can't be seen by the naked eye without special assistance.

Those waves of energy go out, encounter an object and bounce back off that object and are interpreted by the sender in much the same way certain creatures use sound to navigate their world. We get an image of whatever is out there.

Some people in my world prefer the company of their own gender, and in the search for a compatable mate, sometimes develop a sort of "radar" for their intended companions. Such people develop the ability to send out "waves of energy" and "listen for the return echo". Those who don't share their preferences don't return an echo, while those that do become more noticeable. And some people seem to "broadcast" their preferences, sometimes at levels that their preferences becomes painfully obvious to everyone around them.

So I suppose what you are looking for could be called "traffdar"? But to my own knowledge, such a thing can certainly exist.

Re: *chuckle*

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

My translator has botched this letter rather badly, I think. [No I didn't. -bb] What sort of energy am I supposed to emit, is that?

Re: *chuckle*

[(Anonymous)]

Okay.

There is a way of broadcasting and recieving a special type of energy. it has a name, called Radar.

People use this term also as a euphemism for understanding body language, since the original term and the deriviative term both have to do with sensing something that is subtle.

Understand?

Hey, is there a spell to give you the sensitivity and understanding and appreciation of scents that a Cani or Sleeth has? To better help you understand when someone is interested in you...

Re: *chuckle*

[brynndragon.livejournal.com]

In actually, it's a combination of body language and certain behaviors that some people can identify as signs of being traff (for example, there is a certain speech pattern that is considered a sign of being our world's equivalent of traff if one is male), rather than a form of energy. A better way to put it is one can display one's traffness in manners both subtle and obvious, and your ability to determine if someone was traff or not based on such displays would be your traffdar. Oddly enough the obvious mannerisms are more frequently misleading than the subtle ones, but that's because the obvious ones are easier to mimic.

Re: *chuckle*

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

That's possible the worst explanation of a suggestion I've ever seen, just for the sake of explaining the etymology of a term you've never heard!

Step 1: Send out signals indicating that you're traff
Step 2: See if anyone bounces them back to you
Step 3: Try to distinguish legitimate return signals from random noise
Step 4: Go on a date with pigeons and passing airships, after failing step 3

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Well.. umm... that depends. Do Traff's eat people? Do they magic themselves into planes of bliss? Do they wait till everyone is asleep and dress up as clowns in the middle of the night, running around howling like posessed Cani?

... What type of person is a traff?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Traffs do not eat people.

Traffs ... well, I guess we're more likely than most people to use Cloak of Another God or other transformations to please lovers.

I don't know anyone who howls in clown suits.

I, for one, am traff.

[vernononfm.livejournal.com]

Bah. All this offworld stuff sounds too complicated. The idea of a device to discover traffness sounds interesting.. I'd probably use Kennoc Airador (to discover the scent), Mutoc Locodor (to sniff in the right place), and Sustenoc Spiridor (to separate scents and remember which scent belongs to which type of prime). It would be a bit complex, but I know you'd have it easier because of your god connection.. It's something I think I'll do more research into.

Um, just for the sake of theory, of course.. ;)

[redbird]

Is there a specific traff scent, then?

That is, could one use this method to detect traffness on a traff person who had not recently had an interspecies relationship? (I think we can take as given that if, say, our noble Zi Ri had come directly from a pleasantly messy evening with an Orren, and not yet had the chance to bathe, it wouldn't take magic to detect that.)

Also, how specific? That is, if one were, say, a Herethroy interested in Rassimel, would this spell enable one to identify Rassimel who might reciprocate, as distinct from, say, a Rassimel who was looking for an Orren lover?

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

So, you are Cani then?

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! We have a custom on our world, if you are attempting to be or seem proper, never kiss on the first date. };)

As for detecting if someone is traff or not, it might be simpler to ask around of people who know this lady, if they have observed her showing significant romantic interest in anyone, in a reasonably subtle fashion. For instance, you might observe,'Zanniajaia seems rather nice. I'm surprised she hasn't been snapped up by one of our more single students,' and see what they had to say on the subject.

Or perhaps you might discover if she had been observed around Across Saga. That would be a definite indication.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

It is good to hear about other worlds' customs.

Very few students go to Across Saga. It is, with all respect, a rather lower-class establishment.