peryton

[shesepankh]

Summer vacation elapses, and sees their storefront doing one heck of a business in the Avalon with the help of their griffin employee. There is a suggestion box for new spells they should invent, some of which have to be long-term projects but others of which are converted into new product fairly promptly.

School starts up again. Darren and Bella are both skipping straight into twelfth grade. (Bella looked into just starting college early, but while she does technically have the sort of resume that can lead to that kind of thing, she can't exactly write an essay about how she saved the life of another person and this caused her to have Moral Character, let alone about how she started a small business - so skipping one grade it is.)

They apply to colleges. They both get into University of Washington and get sufficient scholarships to accommodate both going there.

Summer ensues again.

One afternoon, Bella is over at Darren's, and has fallen asleep - in purring fullform - across his lap on the couch.

Comments

[shesepankh]

"Maybe. How does the spell on it work, Darren?"

[castmyown]

Darren launches into a very technical reasoning - he lists out the runes he used and ballparks the configuration he put them in, but can't get it exactly right from memory without redoing the math.

"I'll remake it when we get home, certainly. It seems like it could be useful."

[shesepankh]

"Okay. Let's go see what it did."

Bella heaves herself up onto her paws.

[castmyown]

Her boyfriend follows in fullform, and off they go to the exit.

Is the ink monster still there, noticeably alive?

[shesepankh]

The spell has worn off.

There is a puddle of goo. It doesn't slosh around.

"How do we tell?" wonders Bella.

[castmyown]

"It was sloshing, earlier," says Darren, dubiously.

[shesepankh]

"I don't know if it's smart enough to play dead, but I don't know that it's not either."

[castmyown]

"Hmmm."

He goes off, grabs a flashlight, and then flies up and shines a light down at the ground in front of the ink monster. Is it going to go into the light? Or has it already done so? (Ha.)

[shesepankh]

It doesn't move.

"Looks dead," sighs Bella. "I guess I didn't really have a good idea of how to retrain it, anyway..."

[morethanimaginary]

"Imagine trying to play fetch with it. It'd be a nightmare."

[shesepankh]

"I think I'd find it very satisfying if I played 'fetch your old boss's boss', personally."

[morethanimaginary]

"Good point. Then it'd be a nightmare for other people."

[shesepankh]

"Yes."

[castmyown]

"Well. It's a bit of a flight home, Bella, are you up for it? Or should we - try to get cleaned up and then find a hotel we can afford?"

[shesepankh]

"How much of a flight is a bit - and how much of a hilarious comedy of errors will it be to try to hose down here so we can eat something first? They weren't feeding me."

[castmyown]

Darren's eyes narrow, a bit. "... Of course they weren't. We have a backpack, we brought some sandwiches, we stashed it outside."

[morethanimaginary]

"Pass on sandwiches, I'm full."

[shesepankh]

"Of course you are. I could really, really use a sandwich right now," sighs Bella. "What does the outside of this place look like, where are we?"

[castmyown]

"Several hours south of Forks. We may or may not be in Oregon, there weren't any road markers to let us know where we were."

Darren lands, and then - carefully, carefully steps into the light. Is the ink monster definitely dead?

[shesepankh]

Well, it doesn't move. Whether this means it's dead or hibernating might be a question for people more versed in the ways of ink monsters.

When it doesn't attack him Bella steps forward too.

[castmyown]

He eyes the ink monster for any sign of attack after Bella steps forward, but upon seeing none - off to lead Bella to the sandwiches. He pauses, when he notices something after Savannah's stepped back into the sunlight.

"... Savannah. Your shadow's weird."

[morethanimaginary]

"Mm?" says Savannah, and then she turns and looks at it.

She's not even in midform, but her shadow is of a peryton in fullform.

"... Huh."

[shesepankh]

"That could be inconvenient for stealth, but I guess most people don't study each other's shadows... and it could be awkward among critters too, I suppose."

[morethanimaginary]

"Little bit. If they know why I've got it. But think of the icebreaker!"

[shesepankh]

"Oh my god, you're a murderer, get away from me? That kind of icebreaker?"