thirty-five detention slips

[delincuente]

So like, there are a ton of wizards here, I know, and fifty thousand other worlds that are totally different. Only other one I've talked to about it said there wasn't even a Family Wizard Competition in his, which is actually really awesome. But I've just been wondering if there's even anyone from the same Wizard World as me. I mean, if anyone else has Family Wizards and spells that rhyme and lairs in their walk-in fridge, and crap like that. Maybe we can compare, or something.

… Pretty much, a year or so after I leave here I'm gonna have to give my powers up to my brother. There's basically no other way that competition's gonna turn out, because he's a total know-it-all. It's super annoying. And it's not like any practicing'll even help, since I'll forget it if I get sent back. But in my world there's this rule that only one kid in each family can grow up to keep their powers. It's really stupid. Anyone else had to do that before?

[/filter]

[For the first time in her stay at Cair Paradisa, Alex has just done something completely shocking - she's taken a small armful of books out of the library and is settled up on the roof with them. They're magic books, ones she vaguely recognizes from her family's lair, with creaky spines and dusty pages. In one hand she's holding her wand, tapping it against her leg while she mumbles under her breath.

It's completely pointless, of course, practicing for the competition. But in two and a half years here she's never felt anything more than useless. Maybe she could stand to brush up on the one asset she has against the castle's occasional asshattery.]

Wood is thick, but glass is clear;
Make this pencil into... into... a root beer?

[The pencil gently rolls over.]

Shoot. I used to be totally awesome at this improv stuff.

Comments

that filter

[kungfuwitch]

Only one person in your family could keep your powers? That's not right.

[She pauses]

I come from a long line of witches. My sisters and I are witches, as were our mother and grandmother all the way back a few centuries.

[Another pause]

And that spell wasn't bad, actually. You just have to have more conviction when you speak. Maybe try it again without the hesitation in the second lne.

filter forever

[delincuente]

Yep. No idea why they started doing it that way. Maybe just trying to weed out all the dumb ones.

[She gives a humorless laugh.]

My dad's from a wizarding family, but both my parents are mortals now. Dad won his family competition, but then he had to give up his powers to marry my mom. The wizards from my world have way too many stupid rules.

[And she hasn't even gotten to the canon point where she isn't allowed to date a werewolf. Purists, much.]

Alright, trying this again -

Wood is thick, but glass is clear;
Make this pencil into a root beer.

[Her voice is slightly firmer, but still lacks complete focus, and as a result the pencil explodes into a splatter of root beer, some of which splashes onto the journal.]

... Well, that sure worked.

[kungfuwitch]

Wow those are stupid rules.

[giving up your powers to get married? Grams wouldn't have made it past her first husband and like hell would she have given up her own powers. she could only imagine what would have happened to Piper and Leo. Of course it would have made her own marriage easier since Cole wouldn't have been able to get his powers back, in theory. Of course in practice it's very different.]

Isn't there anyone who cheats? Or steals someone else's powers so they can have them?

[Oh that didn't sound good. She winces]

Probably should have specified a glass of root beer... Whoops.

[delincuente]

I had a friend once who tried to. She lost the competition, so she took the powers and ran.

[She makes a bit of a face.]

Pretty sure my brother accidentally killed her.

[She quickly wishes up a cloth to dab up the mess, which has turned part of the journal page brown.]

Yeah, it gets really tough to figure out exactly what you need to say, sometimes. But at least it means you can make up your own spells when you need them.

[acesarewild]

I thought you were supposed to just say "I wish".

[delincuente]

Yeah, if you want the castle to give you crap. I'm doing a spell, though, not a wish.

[acesarewild]

So you're one of those actually magic people, huh? Not a stage magician, right?

[he has problems with stage magicians, okay]

[delincuente]

Oh my God, don't even talk to me about those. And yes, I'm an "actually magic person". Magic wand, all that jazz. But no beard.

[indirectcause]

[Ben often spends time on the roof, it's a quiet place to think and it gives him the vantage point he's so used to having. He'll watch her quietly, head tilted to one side]

Does it always have to rhyme?

[delincuente]

[Alex glances sideways at him as she pokes at the pencil.]

When you're making one up, yeah. Have to get the words exactly right or the spell could do something completely different.

[She winces as a second muttered attempt just turns her pencil into glass.]

Like that.

[indirectcause]

...Wow that must be really frustrating. How do you know which words will work or not?

[delincuente]

You don't, not until you've turned a few canaries into chirping bricks and whatnot. Magic is, like, stupidly specific.

filtered

[allthelinks]

...I can't say I've ever heard of wizard families outside of fiction. Sorry. But, I didn't even know there was a such thing as magic until about a year ago. Maybe I'm just out of the loop there.

And that's an odd rule, there.

[delincuente]

So you're one of those people who uses magic, but you're not a wizard? That's always super weird to me. Like, magic's basically genetic where I'm from.

[allthelinks]

That's right. Magic is... well, like I said, I thought it was just storybook stuff. As far as I know, there's only a handful of people in the world that know it's real.

Your world sounds interesting.

[delincuente]

Most people in my world think that too. We're technically not supposed to tell anyone, but hah - that kind of doesn't matter here, I guess.

[ voice ]

[peacockherald]

Alex, isn't it? Was that a spell from your world?

_{[ Let's just ignore the fact for now he has no idea what a root beer is. ]}

[delincuente]

Yes, yes, and - before you ask too - yes, they all have to rhyme.

[peacockherald]

How... odd. Why must they rhyme?

[filter]

[courageous_wit]

You have to give up your powers?! But how could they do that to you?

[delincuente]

I don't know, right? It's just the way the stupid rules are. Like, taking powers is basically the national sport. You can lose them for marrying a mortal, turning someone into a guinea pig... all sorts of totally innocent stuff.

[courageous_wit]

I'm sorry... Marrying a non-magical person is cause for losing your powers? That's so completely backwards and wrong! That's the sort of pureblood thinking that causes so much trouble in my world!

[Dictated]

[yay_heiress]

[A bored London perks up at the sound of the familiar voice.]

You get your powers taken?! I've never heard of a wizard losing their powers before!

[delincuente]

Yeah, if you really mess up or something. Kind of like losing your allowance.

[yay_heiress]

[Yup. That's a language she can understand.]

*Gasp!*
Why would they do that?