Harlan Halliday (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ghostlocked) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
hadriel2018-12-04 07:38 pm
ghostlocked) wrote in hadriel2018-12-04 07:38 pm
Entry tags:
♫ video
[Behold, a unicorn: Harlan making a public post that isn't text. What he's got in mind is more of a show don't tell thing, so it's necessary, although it's pretty clear he's not comfortable with this video thing. He's sitting on his couch with his phone propped up on the coffee table, and he's got a glass of water in his hands.]
Hey, good news, I have a spell that'll help everyone out while we're stuck here without gods. It's one of the first spells they teach you when you're a kid where I'm from. I'm thinking most of you should be able to pick it up pretty quick. It's called Prestidigitation.
[A beginner spell with like the most tongue-twistery name in the entire spell dictionary. He holds up the glass.]
It's your basic catch-all spell and you can do a ton of shit with it, but mainly, you're gonna be able to change the temperature of shit. Small shit, though. Your workable area is about a square foot, give or take, and it doesn't work on anything alive. Look.
[The water in the glass starts to boil. It doesn't look like he's done much to it—this spell is second nature to him anymore, so he doesn't need to put much effort into casting it. He sets the glass down on the table.]
Right, so... Go get your own thing of water, I guess? I don't fucking know. This is so much easier in person. Okay, uh, so magic is just another type of energy, like heat or electricity. The difference is that magic is malleable. You can control it. With a spell like this, it's all about visualization. You want hot water, so you're sort of willing the water to heat up by channeling the magic into it. It's not gonna work on the first try, but keep at it. It takes focus and confidence. If you're having trouble, scale it back, or try freezing the water instead of heating it.
[He belatedly realizes he's supposed to be demoing this, so he gestures to the glass and, ta da, there's a soft tinkling sound as the steam dissipates and the water freezes.]
Prestidigitation can clean stuff in a similar way too. If you're going insane because our showers are out of commission, this spell is gonna change your fucking life. Let's see, uh, you'll be able to start a fire, flavor your coffee, conjure hand-sized illusions... It all works on the same principle, though. Picture what you want to do and will the magic into doing it for you.
[He snaps his fingers and now there's a flame in his palm and he feels infinitely goofy for putting on a magic show on his couch. Hopefully it's helpful stuff, though.]
If you have questions, let me know. If you want to learn other shit, I'll link my spell list and we'll talk. Cool. Later.
[And he's shutting off the feed. Thank you for coming to his TED Talk. As promised, he does attach his spell list for anyone interested in further magical pursuits.]
Hey, good news, I have a spell that'll help everyone out while we're stuck here without gods. It's one of the first spells they teach you when you're a kid where I'm from. I'm thinking most of you should be able to pick it up pretty quick. It's called Prestidigitation.
[A beginner spell with like the most tongue-twistery name in the entire spell dictionary. He holds up the glass.]
It's your basic catch-all spell and you can do a ton of shit with it, but mainly, you're gonna be able to change the temperature of shit. Small shit, though. Your workable area is about a square foot, give or take, and it doesn't work on anything alive. Look.
[The water in the glass starts to boil. It doesn't look like he's done much to it—this spell is second nature to him anymore, so he doesn't need to put much effort into casting it. He sets the glass down on the table.]
Right, so... Go get your own thing of water, I guess? I don't fucking know. This is so much easier in person. Okay, uh, so magic is just another type of energy, like heat or electricity. The difference is that magic is malleable. You can control it. With a spell like this, it's all about visualization. You want hot water, so you're sort of willing the water to heat up by channeling the magic into it. It's not gonna work on the first try, but keep at it. It takes focus and confidence. If you're having trouble, scale it back, or try freezing the water instead of heating it.
[He belatedly realizes he's supposed to be demoing this, so he gestures to the glass and, ta da, there's a soft tinkling sound as the steam dissipates and the water freezes.]
Prestidigitation can clean stuff in a similar way too. If you're going insane because our showers are out of commission, this spell is gonna change your fucking life. Let's see, uh, you'll be able to start a fire, flavor your coffee, conjure hand-sized illusions... It all works on the same principle, though. Picture what you want to do and will the magic into doing it for you.
[He snaps his fingers and now there's a flame in his palm and he feels infinitely goofy for putting on a magic show on his couch. Hopefully it's helpful stuff, though.]
If you have questions, let me know. If you want to learn other shit, I'll link my spell list and we'll talk. Cool. Later.
[And he's shutting off the feed. Thank you for coming to his TED Talk. As promised, he does attach his spell list for anyone interested in further magical pursuits.]
no subject
In my world, there's a shitload of races besides humans, and all of those races use magic a little differently. Some take to it more naturally than others. There's a lot of different magical sources, too. Basically, no one's magic is exactly the same. I don't know what that'll mean for you, but the magic I know is malleable. I doubt it'll cross the streams with yours.
[Later, it will occur to him that she probably won't get that reference, but, well. That's also fine.]
What you were saying about channeling magic, though? That's exactly what I mean. Magic already exists just like heat energy and shit, so you're pushing it into the water the same way that you'd, uh... I don't know. Use energy to push the glass across a table, or something.
[He's an excellent teacher.]
no subject
Well, I know magic already exists like that-- I'm a scientist, I s-study magic. I've just never been, uhm... particularly good at casting it.
[Which she's a bit embarrassed to admit, seeing as it's supposed to be the innate thing of her entire race.]
With monsters, you have to have a certain amount of natural talent. Every monster has m-magic, but not everyone can do, uh, everything with it. Which is why this is, uhm. I mean, I just don't want to mess it up.
[But she steels herself, grasping the glass in both hands.]
So I just... think it, in conjunction with the rest of the world, and it... happens.
no subject
You're not gonna mess it up.
[...Well.]
Not in any way that'll damage anything permanently. If you break the glass or something, I'll show you how to fix it. But, yeah, you just think it. The magic will do the heavy lifting, you just need to show it where to go.
[Sort of. If it helps her to think of it like that, it's good enough.]
no subject
Which is part of what makes her so dubious that she can actually do this, but. Who would she be if she didn't try and had the chance?
She'd just be her, really. But she's been trying to be Less Her, so...]
Okay, uh... o-okay.
[Her concentration returns to the glass, trying to think of how to do this. It's hard to think of magic coming from outside of her and into this, when she's spent so long doing the opposite in the bits she uses magic in her work. But she looks intently at it, trying to think very hard about heat and bubbling and just getting it right--
It doesn't manifest as it should, but what may be interesting to Harlan is that what shows up in her hands looks more like arcs of static electricity, like the snap of shocking yourself, more than fire or warmth. She scowls at it.]
Mmmmmmngh, noooo.
no subject
Uh. Is that the monster magic you were talking about?
no subject
Yeah. Every monster has a b-bullet pattern, some sort of magic they can project on their own. Mine's kinda like this.
[Alphys raises her hand, and a few more little sparks appear off her fingers.]
But I'm not... really good at it. At all.