![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
careful the things you say
Feb. 9th, 2022 10:25 pmThe three of us went into town this morning, as my son has now exchanged contracts on his new house, so we wanted to have a look at some furniture. He has a few basics and has ordered a sofa, but will be needing a dining table and chairs. We wandered around a few shops—the Cotswold Company seemed to have the best options—then went for lunch in a nice little Italian place. Tasty food, marred only by the presence of a loud-mouthed douche at the next table, boasting about, among other things, having bunged someone five grand to install his kitchen really quickly. Gah.
*
Has anyone seen the recent Brave New World series? Beast acquired it for Christmas and we have been watching it. Wouldn't have been my idea of a fun time, and I didn't much care for it at first though it has been growing on me. It's certainly a lot more interesting than I remember the book being, when I read it as part of my A-Level Eng Lit course in the early Aughties.
*
Boy and I were discussing the various kinds of magic found in books - he loves fantasy and reads a lot of it. And I had an idea, and slightly to my surprise I wrote what feels as though it is the introduction to a story. I have no idea what the story might be.
The Magickers of Anbaree
The magickers of Anbaree are profligate when young. It takes a second to flick! and slap away another child's toy, or to snatch a cake from a fellow toddler. It takes no more than a minute to prank an unmagicked friend, to drip jam over their hair or weaken the leg of a stool, and it's funny, so they do. Sometimes their parents notice, and teach them how to behave, and why. Sometimes they learn. Sometimes they don't learn, and fritter away their time on trivialities.
In middle age, the magickers of Anbaree are mean. Stingy. Not for them a few minutes spent sewing together a gash on a child's arm, or a quarter hour salving a bruised and broken face. They hoard their time like misers, and are reluctant to share their skill unless persuaded with gifts. Money. The magickers are wealthy, in their middle years, but not overweeningly wealthy, for there are limits to what they will do for pay.
There are no old magickers, in Anbaree.
*
Has anyone seen the recent Brave New World series? Beast acquired it for Christmas and we have been watching it. Wouldn't have been my idea of a fun time, and I didn't much care for it at first though it has been growing on me. It's certainly a lot more interesting than I remember the book being, when I read it as part of my A-Level Eng Lit course in the early Aughties.
*
Boy and I were discussing the various kinds of magic found in books - he loves fantasy and reads a lot of it. And I had an idea, and slightly to my surprise I wrote what feels as though it is the introduction to a story. I have no idea what the story might be.
The Magickers of Anbaree
The magickers of Anbaree are profligate when young. It takes a second to flick! and slap away another child's toy, or to snatch a cake from a fellow toddler. It takes no more than a minute to prank an unmagicked friend, to drip jam over their hair or weaken the leg of a stool, and it's funny, so they do. Sometimes their parents notice, and teach them how to behave, and why. Sometimes they learn. Sometimes they don't learn, and fritter away their time on trivialities.
In middle age, the magickers of Anbaree are mean. Stingy. Not for them a few minutes spent sewing together a gash on a child's arm, or a quarter hour salving a bruised and broken face. They hoard their time like misers, and are reluctant to share their skill unless persuaded with gifts. Money. The magickers are wealthy, in their middle years, but not overweeningly wealthy, for there are limits to what they will do for pay.
There are no old magickers, in Anbaree.