a city and a mint who sleep very little between them

[self_composed]

Bella bikes to the airport on Friday. She gets a little reading done on her flight, then sleeps-on-purpose through the remainder of the trip, waking up precisely when the plane touches down. One nice bonus that she didn't even explicitly build into the power is that she can sleep at will in virtually any position; she doesn't have to get comfy if that's not convenient.

She steps off the plane, backpack full of her things over her shoulders, and stalks into the halls of LaGuardia, eyes peeled for Libby.

Comments

[self_composed]

"Is there a word for people with native powers? ...Ingots?" Bella suggests.

[prima_sequentem]

"Ingots?"

[self_composed]

"Natural magic as opposed to the artificial, minted kind," Bella says. "You've probably already got a word for it, though, right?"

[prima_sequentem]

"No. And I didn't come up with 'mints', either."

[self_composed]

[Hey, Lazarus, do you have a word for folks with native powers?] Bella inquires.

"I was calling us just 'wishcoiners' before I began corresponding with Lazarus."

[nonbird]

[Should I?]

[prima_sequentem]

"'Mints' is cute. And shorter."

[self_composed]

"Yes," Bella agrees. "I adopted it quite happily."

[If you don't, I propose "ingot".]

"Speaking of minting." Bella taps the table. "How do you do it, what with Chris keeping you safe from everything?"

[prima_sequentem]

"That would be one of those strategic secrets I don't plan on telling you until I'm sure you won't try to screw me over with it."

[nonbird]

[Ingot is adorable. I'm sold,] says Lazarus.

[self_composed]

Bella shrugs. "That one's just a personal curiosity anyway; I still have to operate under the assumption that you can acquire coins either way. So no big deal."

[prima_sequentem]

"Well, that's nice."

[self_composed]

"I am very nice."

[Libby knows I made up the 'ingot' term, so don't use it in front of her or Chris or anyone who talks to them until I've had a plausible opportunity to share it with you by not-brainphone.]

[prima_sequentem]

"Apparently so."

[self_composed]

"So I've met the interesting ingots who might want to meet me, I guess. How hard have you looked? I notice the ones I've met are all, you know, white English-speakers. That seems odd."

[prima_sequentem]

"I take it you haven't talked to Kolya, then."

[self_composed]

"Not so I'd know what crayons to use." Libby's quite equipped to know that Kolya once sent Bella an email using Lazarus's account, though. "Even so, it's an odd demographic."

[prima_sequentem]

"You've met two at the crayon level that I know of," she points out. "Hardly enough to draw statistical inferences. For the record, with a larger sample size, the distribution seems pretty even."

[self_composed]

"Yeah, Lazarus described himself - well, he relayed Kolya's description. And Chris is your aunt, which gives me somewhat more than fifty percent information about her, now I've seen you," Bella says. "Fair enough. Are ingots scattered around the globe as well as the crayon box?"

[prima_sequentem]

"Yes they are. Although I'm somewhat limited in getting to know them by the fact that I speak mainly English."

[self_composed]

"Languages aren't your top priority for the use of pentagons, then?"

[prima_sequentem]

"Not usually. Why, are they yours?"

[self_composed]

"I've used more pentagons on languages than on anything else," Bella says. "I like 'em. And I did travel around Europe last summer."

[prima_sequentem]

"You seem to use magic a lot more frequently than I do," Libby observes.

[self_composed]

"I broke my leg last winter. It was an accident, but as long as I had a broken leg, I jostled it for coins. I have a good pain tolerance at that level."

This is all technically true.