welcome to the chessboard

[self_composed]

Bella stockpiles hexes.

She already has a ridiculous number, but she wants so many that if it seems most expedient to individually do some manner of hex-magic to every cubic inch of space in her dorm room, she can and still have a ridiculous number left. She wants enough that if Libby turns out to be a particularly dab hand at extortion, to the point where paying up is her best bet, Bella can keep gritting her teeth and handing over tribute up until the point where even this person will believe that this is all there could ever be - and still have a ridiculous number. She wants her ridiculous numbers to have ridiculous numbers.

What does she have?

An Alice. She has one of those.

And she can use what she has to get what she wants, late into the night, hexily disassembling her body's dependence on sleep, and till she should start thinking about catching up on the internet and heading to class.

Comments

[self_composed]

[Like... half of my native power?] Bella asks, tilting her head. [That would explain why his didn't fail for redundancy like mine did, if it's only half. We can peel away the extra if it's bothering you.]

[nonbird]

[It is bothering me a lot,] says Lazarus. [It's like you took a pretty little decorative object of some kind and then covered it in glue. And I wouldn't say it's half of your power, exactly. They don't look at all alike.]

[edgeofyourseat]

[Okay, sure,] says Alice, [let's make my powers all pretty.]

He wishes away exactly the part of the protective hex that is already covered by his native power.

[self_composed]

[I'm defended against inspection and tampering, he's defended against just tampering - what's the difference beyond that?] Bella asks curiously. [Alice, please warn him before making wishes; we want him to supervise them carefully.]

[nonbird]

[Ooh, that is pretty,] says Lazarus. [The differences are, um... I'd almost call them a matter of personality? Your power has that very distinctive exactness to it; Alice's is more, how do I put this, friendly. Or maybe friendly isn't the right word. It's close, though.]

[self_composed]

Bella laughs helplessly. [Friendly! But - wait a second. I'm pretty sure an agony beam like mine would bounce off me, for tampering and not inspection reasons. How come it works on Alice if he's all natively-anti-tampering? Because it so, so does.]

[nonbird]

[Um,] says Lazarus.

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice cracks up.

[Aww, look, he's blushing.]

[self_composed]

[Well, I don't have another example ready to hand, I don't tamper with Alice's brain very often. In your professional opinion, what's going on there?]

[nonbird]

[In my professional opinion, I have no idea,] he says primly.

[self_composed]

[Would it help you make a professional determination if you saw it done?] Bella asks. [You know, in a professional capacity. I'm really not trying to go out of my way to discomfit you even though it is entertaining, but it seems worthwhile to know how this works.]

[nonbird]

[Thanks,] he says dryly, [I'm glad you cleared that up. And okay, if you must know, I guess I can stand to watch. It probably would help.]

[self_composed]

Without further ado, Bella hits Alice with some mid-pentagon-range (expecting smaller amounts to be indistinct), flavor: rattlesnake venom. She looks in Lazarus's direction expectantly, through the magic doors.

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice closes his eyes and smiles. Mmm, fun.

[nonbird]

...Lazarus blinks.

And looks somewhere between fascinated and mildly uncomfortable.

And definitely blushes.

[self_composed]

Bella represses a sporfle.

She brainphones to Lazarus only. [You too, huh?]

[nonbird]

[I'm sure I don't know what you mean.]

He so isn't.

[self_composed]

[Of course, of course.]

She resumes conference calling. [Professional insights?] she prompts, scritcheling Alice on the head.

[nonbird]

[My professional insight is that he likes it.]

[edgeofyourseat]

[No shit,] says Alice, leaning into Bella's hand with a reasonable approximation of a purr.

[nonbird]

[No, I'm serious,] he says. [It makes a difference. Your power prevents mental tampering, but that's not, strictly speaking, what it's for. It's for...] He trails off contemplatively.

[self_composed]

[Hedging out unwanted tampering? Unwanted classes of tampering, unwanted sources?]

[nonbird]

[No, not quite. 'Unwanted classes' is closest, but it doesn't really get there. You might say that an anti-tampering power of the kind you thought he had is a 'look, but don't touch' power, and what he has is a 'touch, but don't change'. For our purposes, the agony beam qualifies as, uh, touching.]

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice grins.

[Oh, you liked it, didn't you.]

[self_composed]

Bella would be hypocritical to chide Alice for that, so she doesn't. Instead she says, [So he's immune to mind control, memory alteration, forcible unconsciousness, that sort of thing - but perhaps not to illusions in general, certainly not to any form of communicative power, and not to the agony beam.]