He grins behind his scarf. "Oh yeah. I don't just make friends with bugs and understand their behavior. I can talk with them. It's a bit difficult, though. They're not very clever, and they always want to know what's in it for them. Survival first, you know?" The beetle flies off. "Don't mess with magic. It's really difficult, and it won't turn out well if you mess it up. Tried to curse someone once, and that backfired hard."
"He's messin' with us, right?" Frank mutters. Julia shrugs. "He seems serious enough." Susie and Joey are very interested. "Magic? you mean spells and the like? Thought that was fiction."
He shrugs. "Mostly is. You don't have wizards and warlocks running around these days for a reason. Unlike technology, where you can steal just about everything from a previous generation and stitch it together with skill, magic requires a complete and intuitive understanding of what you're working with to use it at all. It's just not worth it most of the time. You don't get clout for knowing magic, because no one cares about it and it's so much easier to just use a machine and not worry about it. It's not even cheaper than technology most of the time. It used to be a big thing because advanced technology and automation weren't all the way there yet. They used to hunt people who knew about it because it was so powerful. Now, though? Parlor tricks. Most don't know, or at least won't acknowledge, that it exists."
He grins behind his scarf. "Oh yeah. I don't just make friends with bugs and understand their behavior. I can talk with them. It's a bit difficult, though. They're not very clever, and they always want to know what's in it for them. Survival first, you know?" The beetle flies off. "Don't mess with magic. It's really difficult, and it won't turn out well if you mess it up. Tried to curse someone once, and that backfired hard."
"He's messin' with us, right?" Frank mutters. Julia shrugs. "He seems serious enough." Susie and Joey are very interested. "Magic? you mean spells and the like? Thought that was fiction."
He shrugs. "Mostly is. You don't have wizards and warlocks running around these days for a reason. Unlike technology, where you can steal just about everything from a previous generation and stitch it together with skill, magic requires a complete and intuitive understanding of what you're working with to use it at all. It's just not worth it most of the time. You don't get clout for knowing magic, because no one cares about it and it's so much easier to just use a machine and not worry about it. It's not even cheaper than technology most of the time. It used to be a big thing because advanced technology and automation weren't all the way there yet. They used to hunt people who knew about it because it was so powerful. Now, though? Parlor tricks. Most don't know, or at least won't acknowledge, that it exists."
Joey listens raptly. "Wow. Hope you don't mind me askin', mister, but how old are you?"
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Heya everyone! I'm EJO, DDB's resident immortal Welsh medieval rat who appears randomly roughly once every week.
I'm not active much, but always up to talk when I am.
I'm known as CptKurn nearly everywhere but here.
Do not ask me about anything I like because I WILL waffle on for half an hour.
He shrugs. "Mostly is. You don't have wizards and warlocks running around these days for a reason. Unlike technology, where you can steal just about everything from a previous generation and stitch it together with skill, magic requires a complete and intuitive understanding of what you're working with to use it at all. It's just not worth it most of the time. You don't get clout for knowing magic, because no one cares about it and it's so much easier to just use a machine and not worry about it. It's not even cheaper than technology most of the time. It used to be a big thing because advanced technology and automation weren't all the way there yet. They used to hunt people who knew about it because it was so powerful. Now, though? Parlor tricks. Most don't know, or at least won't acknowledge, that it exists."
Joey listens raptly. "Wow. Hope you don't mind me askin', mister, but how old are you?"
He laughs. "You probably wouldn't believe me, especially not after that spiel. I only look like this because of that curse I mentioned. You can do a lot of stuff with magic, but anything that hurts someone is bad news. If you mess up even a little bit, it'll go haywire. Think of it like electricity or radiation, but worse. I..." He pauses for dramatic effect, "am 34 years of age."
He shrugs. "Mostly is. You don't have wizards and warlocks running around these days for a reason. Unlike technology, where you can steal just about everything from a previous generation and stitch it together with skill, magic requires a complete and intuitive understanding of what you're working with to use it at all. It's just not worth it most of the time. You don't get clout for knowing magic, because no one cares about it and it's so much easier to just use a machine and not worry about it. It's not even cheaper than technology most of the time. It used to be a big thing because advanced technology and automation weren't all the way there yet. They used to hunt people who knew about it because it was so powerful. Now, though? Parlor tricks. Most don't know, or at least won't acknowledge, that it exists."
Joey listens raptly. "Wow. Hope you don't mind me askin', mister, but how old are you?"
He laughs. "You probably wouldn't believe me, especially not after that spiel. I only look like this because of that curse I mentioned. You can do a lot of stuff with magic, but anything that hurts someone is bad news. If you mess up even a little bit, it'll go haywire. Think of it like electricity or radiation, but worse. I..." He pauses for dramatic effect, "am 34 years of age."
"Damn, that's only 10 years older than me!" Frank says, sounding genuinely taken aback.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Heya everyone! I'm EJO, DDB's resident immortal Welsh medieval rat who appears randomly roughly once every week.
I'm not active much, but always up to talk when I am.
I'm known as CptKurn nearly everywhere but here.
Do not ask me about anything I like because I WILL waffle on for half an hour.
He laughs. "You probably wouldn't believe me, especially not after that spiel. I only look like this because of that curse I mentioned. You can do a lot of stuff with magic, but anything that hurts someone is bad news. If you mess up even a little bit, it'll go haywire. Think of it like electricity or radiation, but worse. I..." He pauses for dramatic effect, "am 34 years of age."
"Damn, that's only 10 years older than me!" Frank says, sounding genuinely taken aback.
"And you'll age much better, I'd wager." The young-old man nods. "My age isn't even the weirdest part about me. But I'll save that for another time. I've given you enough shocks to last you... oh, a week or so." He chuckles and sits down. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what were you discussing out here?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
Awake, impure, divine
Breathgiver of the Strugels
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He shrugs. "Mostly is. You don't have wizards and warlocks running around these days for a reason. Unlike technology, where you can steal just about everything from a previous generation and stitch it together with skill, magic requires a complete and intuitive understanding of what you're working with to use it at all. It's just not worth it most of the time. You don't get clout for knowing magic, because no one cares about it and it's so much easier to just use a machine and not worry about it. It's not even cheaper than technology most of the time. It used to be a big thing because advanced technology and automation weren't all the way there yet. They used to hunt people who knew about it because it was so powerful. Now, though? Parlor tricks. Most don't know, or at least won't acknowledge, that it exists."
Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
Awake, impure, divine
Breathgiver of the Strugels
Joey listens raptly. "Wow. Hope you don't mind me askin', mister, but how old are you?"
Heya everyone! I'm EJO, DDB's resident immortal Welsh medieval rat who appears randomly roughly once every week.
I'm not active much, but always up to talk when I am.
I'm known as CptKurn nearly everywhere but here.
Do not ask me about anything I like because I WILL waffle on for half an hour.
He laughs. "You probably wouldn't believe me, especially not after that spiel. I only look like this because of that curse I mentioned. You can do a lot of stuff with magic, but anything that hurts someone is bad news. If you mess up even a little bit, it'll go haywire. Think of it like electricity or radiation, but worse. I..." He pauses for dramatic effect, "am 34 years of age."
Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
Awake, impure, divine
Breathgiver of the Strugels
"Damn, that's only 10 years older than me!" Frank says, sounding genuinely taken aback.
Heya everyone! I'm EJO, DDB's resident immortal Welsh medieval rat who appears randomly roughly once every week.
I'm not active much, but always up to talk when I am.
I'm known as CptKurn nearly everywhere but here.
Do not ask me about anything I like because I WILL waffle on for half an hour.
"And you'll age much better, I'd wager." The young-old man nods. "My age isn't even the weirdest part about me. But I'll save that for another time. I've given you enough shocks to last you... oh, a week or so." He chuckles and sits down. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what were you discussing out here?"
Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
Awake, impure, divine
Breathgiver of the Strugels