A breakthrough, at long last

[venusadept_2]

In Milliways, there are a number of booths.

In one of these booths, there is a man.

In front of this man, there is a book.

This book, to be specific, looks like a translation dictionary. Near it on the table are what looks like a very thin slab of carved stone and a mostly-blank sheet of paper.

Felix is mostly flipping through the book, stopping occasionally to compare something to the slab, or to write something on the paper. It seems to be a slow process.

Comments

[pullsneedles]

It looks like quite the involved process, too.

Lucas, who recently recovered from his double fall, has never poured himself into that sort of work. He's certainly done his share of hard work but very little of that involved long periods of sitting down.

After a moment, he decides that if he were doing the same thing and it was taking a long time, nothing would make him happier than if his mom brought him milk and cookies.

So at some point, when Felix can see the edge of his table in his peripheral vision, his eyes will be greeted by a tall, cold glass of milk, a small plate with some nut cookies, and a blond boy with a red and yellow striped shirt.

[venusadept_2]

Well, that's unexpected. It has been... a very long time since Felix's mother did that sort of thing for him.

After a moment, he offers a small nod and a "Thanks."

[pullsneedles]

It's been a very long time since Lucas's mother did that sort of thing for him.

(To Lucas, anyway.)

The boy smiles a bit and nods back, saying, "Sure. You look like you're working hard, sir.

[venusadept_2]

Felix nods again. "Yes. But I think it will help."

And, if not, time is still stopped outside. So it's not like he's actually wasting his time.

[pullsneedles]

"It'll help?"

Now he's curious.

[venusadept_2]

"I think so.

"A few months ago, I started finding holes, for lack of a better term, on my world. They're little spots that just sit wherever - usually a couple of feet from any surface - and suck up the magic energies in the area. So far they seem to be disappearing after a while, but they're becoming more common and they worry me. But I think this copy of a carving I found might have something to do with them."

If Lucas wants to look closely at the stone in question, he'll probably notice that it has writing in several different languages. Odds are, none of them look familiar.

[pullsneedles]

"That does sound like a problem," Lucas says, looking at the stone. "I dunno what'd happen if there was something like that at home that took PSI. I probably wouldn't be up walking around right now."

Yyyyyyyep, completely illegible to the boy.

"D'ya think this'll say what they are or maybe how to get rid of 'em?"

[venusadept_2]

"I hope so. If I'm translating it right, the first part refers to 'darkened' magic. I'm fairly certain that means it either disappeared or got corrupted."

And he's got a hunch - or perhaps just a hope - that it's the former.

[pullsneedles]

"That's only the first part, though. There's a lot of room left on your paper."

He knows from experience how much the first part of something can change once you find out about the rest.

[venusadept_2]

"That's true. But that is one reason to do this here: if it's worthless, I haven't lost any time to find a better solution."

Considering how long it took him to figure out Bar could probably give him this dictionary, he wants all the time he can get.

[pullsneedles]

"Oh yeah. I've done that here before."

Back when he was first figuring out his PSI.

"So do you know magic?"

[venusadept_2]

Felix nods. "I do. My powers are earth-based. That is how I made this copy, for instance."

[pullsneedles]

"Cool!

"My powers are healing-based. Helped me out a lot after my friends and I fell off an airship."

[venusadept_2]

This is somewhat startling information. "You fell out of an airship? Was it flying at the time?"

Technically, Felix probably shouldn't be talking. He jumped off a tower several years ago, quite intentionally, and for all he knows Lucas may actually have some training in dealing with long falls.

[pullsneedles]

Lucas nods.

"It was that or stay on the tower that was about to collapse. Either way wasn't gonna be good. It was that fall or the one I had after it that broke my rib and I spent some time watching movies until I could focus my PSI to heal it."

[venusadept_2]

And Felix thought his own quest was exciting. He only fell off of big things once, and that was intentional (if possibly ill-planned).

"That sounds like a dangerous life."

[pullsneedles]

The boy nods again.

"But I gotta do something. Everything's goin' wrong at home and me, my friends Duster and Kumatora, and my dog Boney seem t'be the only ones doing anything about it."

Though he knows that others would help if they could, like his grandfather and Wess. And then there's the Magypsies...

"I was a shepherd before all this started," he states a bit wistfully. "Or...Dad's a shepherd and I take care of the sheep while he's gone."

[venusadept_2]

Felix wonders, briefly, about the composition of the boy's group. On his world 'Kumatora' would probably be an Izuman name, but Lucas doesn't look Izuman at all.

Of course, on his world you wouldn't expect to find a Saturos, a Felix, and a Kraden traveling together, either. But that happened.

"Well, I can understand that feeling. Do you know how to solve the problems?"

[pullsneedles]

Lucas's group is himself, his dog, a thief with a limp, and a tomboy princess.

"At this point?" he wonders. "Not really. Besides find everybody else that fell off the airship. Boney and me landed in a field of sunflowers and we didn't see Duster or Kumatora around."

His eyes look somewhat wobbly at the thought of the sunflower field.