(no subject)

[sythyry]

Free! [23 Thory 4261]

For those of you who don't do formal enchantment in the World Tree style (which is just about everyone on the World Tree, and, I suspect, exactly everyone off of the World Tree), there are a few things to be aware of when doing it.

1. Each part of a formal enchantment takes a week (that is, nine days) of work.
2. Each day's work begins with a ceremony that must be started at dawn exactly.
3. Some days you are lucky and can get away with spending only a few cley on the enchantment. Other days you are unlucky and must spend quite a few. If you don't have enough (or don't feel like spending enough) the whole week's work is ruined, and, by the rhythm of things, you shouldn't generally try doing it again until the next week.
4. I get enough cley so that, except on a very low-cley morning and a very high-cley enchantment, I won't run out of cley and waste the week.
5. But not a lot more than that.
6. It also takes anywhere from one to six hours of work to do it, meaning that my late-morning classes (Biology of Elementals and Formal Enchantment II) are in constant peril. Prof. Spreen, of course, is not really allowed to mind. Prof. Tardamos complains about it, but is rarely horrified.

Today was a low-cley morning for me, and, as the enchantment class wobbled along, it turned out to require a lot of cley for the day's enchantment work. Very much a lot of cley.

And of course I wanted to save four cley in case I got to visit Ilottat tonight.

So, at about four hours after noon, I decided that I would give myself a bit of a morningsome vacation for the rest of the week. Which is a bit annoying, since it's halfway through the week and I spent a fair bit of cley on this week's work already.

And was even more embarrassing as I crept out of class. Prof. Alzagond called me over and we chatted a bit about, well, methods for getting extra cley during enchantments if I happen to need a couple extras.

There are not many trades more humiliating than cley-seller. It is more honorable to be a beggar -- a street-prostitute -- an advertisement-crier in the streets. (I don't exactly know why. Prostitutes, in particular, provide something of value to their customers, though I gather that the street-prostitutes are the least valuable of the lot. Beggars and advertisement-criers don't even do that much, and cley-sellers do.)

Neither are there many things more humiliating than frequenting cley-sellers.

And it's quite perplexing to be told by a professor that, inside a third of an hour (which is all the break that can be taken in a morning's enchantment work), one can find half a dozen students and street vendors who will sell one cley for a rather modest fee.

(By "street vendors" I mean "people who sell things in the streets". People like Darkwad. They do not ordinarily sell cley as their main business, but they don't mind getting an extra lozen or two from selling it.)

In any case, I get to sleep late the rest of the week, which will be quite nice. Especially if I get another evening or two with Ilottat ... I shall have to see about persuading him to sleep over.

(Much later.) Though, evidently, saving those four cley today was not actually necessary. This has made me cross. It is getting to be vaguely difficult to plan what I will do with an evening, much less with a morning of enchantment, if I don't know whether I will be seeing Ilottat or not. I shall have to see about getting plans a day or two in advance, too.

Comments

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I must herein make a confession: I have yet to read WorldTree. Now that that's understood, what is cley?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

A fair question. I have answered it in my next post.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Sythyry!

I have been trying to keep my whiskers out of this up until now, but you should come to the bakery and talk soon about all this. I have seen many the student romances, and maybe I can give you some perspectives and such.

In any case, I think that if Ilottat is in effect requesting that you reserve a quarter(?guessing?) of your cley for your evenings of playing around, on account of his not wanting it to be known that you are visiting, you might be able to ask him at least to do you the courtesy of giving you more than three hours notice!

Worse case, come meditate in the oven in the afternoon or something.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

*mrfle*

I'll be down there ... um ... tomorrow morning! An hour after dawn! I'm free then!

[vernononfm.livejournal.com]

Well, in the least, I'm sure Ilottat could give you a cley or two during your nightly meetings. Then, you'd only have to save maybe 2 cley for the night, then he'd realize a bit more how difficult it is to save cley knowing it will be wasted if the meeting does not occur.

However, as an Orren studying my last couple Graduate Enchanting classes, I know quite well how it feels to require such a variable number of cley in the morning. And, also how hard it can be after a late evening. ;) I am quite glad to recieve my cley at sunout, even if it does make me unusual.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

You still have to do enchantments at dawn, don't you?

And ... asking Ilottat for the cley to see him seems ... um ... sleazy and undignified, I think.

[vernononfm.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do have to do my enchantments at dawn. But it means that I have less time I need to try and save cley for afterwards. If, for example, I know I have activities scheduled for an afternoon, I do not need to worry about not having any if something comes up during the evening.

As for asking Ilottat.. Well, he's not being very dignified in asking you to play an Orren for those in his household, and is close to being rude in the matter. The two of you are intimate enough that such an exchange should only be a small embarassment.

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

Prostitutes, in particular, provide something of value to their customers, though I gather that the street-prostitutes are the least valuable of the lot.

Darn right - I hear a few of them are in cahoots with ruffians, and even the best of them are poor fare - inexperienced, unenthusiastic, or just plain dull. Besides, most of them have no idea of the meaning of the word 'discreet' . . .

To my mind it's better to go to a respectable provider of such services, should you wish to partake of them, than to consort with such trash from the gutters. You can't do better for value than the fair folk of the Tree of Delights, even if they do cost a little more!

[nekomavin.livejournal.com]

I have no more than a well-read monster's idea of how all this works, but could you not bind a few Cloak of Another Gods for the purpose of tiding you over days of this type?

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

A few conditions might limit that - first, zie'd have to not already own as many bound spells as zie can (given that zie has powerful parents, zie might own a few bound defense spells given by them that zie cannot cast zirself). Then zie has to be good enough at spellbinding - Cloak of Another God is Mu Co [Du] 20, and I suspect that's a significant complexity for a student. The duration is also likely to be less, if that is a concern. And of course it costs two cley to cast a simple spellbinding rather than just one for a pattern spell.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

We know zie can bind Cloak of Another God, because zie did it for Milirant once.

And zie often has four cley left at the end of the day, lately...

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

We know zie can bind Cloak of Another God, because zie did it for Milirant once.

Ah, I was wondering, didn't have time to search back through all the entries. Still, that leaves the question over the number of bound spells zie can carry.

[nekomavin.livejournal.com]

True, but even if zie is at zir limit, wouldn't a bound Cloak or two be a nice gift for Ilottat? The question is, what would Ilottat do with such a gift?

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

Well, it would have to be decided when the gift was made. Considering how much he liked his little book, perhaps he'd like to have the chance to really find out what it's like to be a Zi-Ri, at least in physical terms? Alas, it doesn't grant everything in the way of natural powers, but I'd guess zie'd be too busy to use them . . .

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

We actually discussed the possibility briefly. He was quite disturbed. He doesn't like shapeshifting -- he even finds the natural Orren shapeshifting when wet to be a bit unpleasant. (Mostly on other Orren, but certainly on himself as well.) He doesn't swim very much.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Bad Sythyry! Evil Sythyry! You shouldn't let love affairs come before schoolwork! Although I can certainly understand wanting to get a half-week free of grueling, nearly-futile labor on a long-term task... are you still on the same enchantment you started last term? o.O

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

. . . one can find half a dozen students and street vendors who will sell one cley for a rather modest fee.

Maybe they're doing it for the close embrace as much as the lozens? I would guess that Ilottat is not the only person to have read a copy of that book, and you don't meet a Zi-Ri every day. ;-)