Since Dave's been publishing new stuff in this world, I figured I'd go back and,
you know, actually read this. X3;

On 6/20/20 7:03 PM, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
> "Welcome To The School"
> copyright 2020 by Dave Van Domelen
> A Sources of Magic story

Ooooo, I wonder what that means.

> [Now, at The School, and in trouble]

An excellent opening caption.

> Not for the first or last time, I really regretted unlocking those
> equations....

ooooooooh.

> Who knew that deeply contemplating 8-dimensional pure
> mathematics would turn out to be the key to magic?

yessssss <3.<3 Love that kind of shit

> No, this was very cool, and maybe someday I'd link enough stuff up to
> risk going public, but for now it made for one hell of a hobby. Might be
> worth sounding out a few of the people working in my field, though, see if
> any of them are secretly flying around too.

I love that idea. A hobbyist circle of flying mathematicians.

> Landing, I ran through some of the permutations I'd devised in the
> lattice. The real reason for this trip wasn't just to practice flying, it
> was to see what some of these other "spells" did.
> "A simple inversion should move everything except me...I hope."

Not what I would start with, but I admire the experimental spirit!

> I tossed the rock up as straight as I could, then focused again.
> It would have been nice if it had actually bounced, but the fact it
> veered sideways when it got close to me was still proof of concept. I had a
> defensive shield.

Niiiiiice.

> "Relax, I'm not here to hurt you. But if you attempt any destructive
> magics, those who would come to hurt you will definitely pick up on your
> presence.

Gasp! Magic cops???

> "More or less. I considered sending an owl, but that joke got old years
> ago. And I'm told it's a bit problematic, too.

Sadly so. @.@

> "Yes, my divinations...and googling...spoke true.

heeheehee

> You are definitely
> the model of an antisocial mathematician who uses sarcasm as a defense
> mechanism to keep from having to get too close to people. I'm afraid that
> you will need to unlearn some of your defense mechanisms if you're truly to
> master your new powers...it is in the nature of your magic to seek friendship
> and even love."

Ooooooh! Yesyesyes. :> Good stuff. <3 <3 <3

> "I wish I could. Thousands of years ago, maybe longer, something
> happened that locked away most of the magic in the world. Our best guess is
> that this was the price of preventing some horrible fate or binding up a
> terrible demon.

You know, standard stuff.

> "Of course. But it's like...do you know how to use a slide rule?"
> "Um, no. I mean, I could figure it out if I wanted to, but why?"
> "Once, in living memory, everyone in your field and related fields knew
> how to use them, and owned at least one. Now, nearly no one does. In
> another generation, there will be almost no one other than collectors who
> have them, and fewer who can use them. It didn't even require a memory-
> mangling calamity in that case. People who can use magic are far rarer than
> people who use slide rules, and many started off self-taught in both cases."

Very nice metaphor. <3

> "Your source of power doesn't lend itself to hyperfocus, unfortunately.

Not like mine, then.

> "Oh, your grandfather was certainly weird in a mundane way. No, until
> your breakthrough, as far as we knew there was one absolute fact about the
> expression of the inherited magical talent...."
>
> * * * *
>
> [Five days ago, at The School, location unknown to mundane ken]
>
> "A school for Magical Girls," I said, disbelievingly, for what must've
> been the thousandth time since the encounter in the forest. Inherited magic
> was only expressed in women, and almost always very young women. Girls.

Heeheehee

> No, I wasn't XXY or a transman or anything like that. Boring cismale
> with no uncommon genetic tricks aside from, apparently, magic. They had a
> genetic test for that now, too, and confirmation came in today.

Fascinating.

> I'd be
> talking to some Wizards later on, to see if there was anything at all about
> my hyperlattice that was magical, but the admissions people at The School
> suspected that it was less the details about my mathematics and more that I
> was in the correct state of mind at the time to unlock my...Magical Girl
> Powers.

Veeeeery interesting. <3

> "But since you obviously don't need most of the non-magical courses...
> you might want to sit in on some of the Secret History classes...that leaves
> you at loose ends most of the day. And we may be magical, but we're not
> miraculous...there's still paperwork and regulations. It's WAY easier to
> 'hire' you as a math instructor and let you sit in on the magic classes than
> to try to change all the red tape that assumes all students enroll as preteen
> girls."

You know, makes sense. X3

> Grant stopped as we got inside the foyer. "The magical life is always
> optional. Never forget that. We're not stealing children and turning them
> into an army, we're helping them learn to protect themselves.

Very good. <3

> "Move...the school?" I blinked. I think I blinked audibly, like a
> cartoon character.

Heeheeheehee

> To their credit, none of the girls asked anything adorably mortifying
> like, "How come he's a Magical Girl if he isn't a girl?"

Adortifying

> Prima was all the first year students, regardless of age.
> Sometimes there were teenagers in Prima, but this batch all looked to be
> elementary school kids.

Ohhhh, nice.

> "If SecundaBlue doesn't get into Tertia this year, I might have to
> change my color," Karen frowned. "That's bad luck."

Heeheehee. X3

> Miss Vermillion smiled and shook her head. "Yoriko is coming along
> nicely, I'm sure the SecundaBlue slot will be open when you're ready for it,
> Karen."
> "But she's sooooo bad in the classes we're in together," Karen
> grumbled. I sympathized...being held back by classmates was an all too
> frequent part of my own gradeschool experience.

Awwwwwww. <3

> "What's your color?" a girl with pink ribbons in her hair asked me.
> "Gray, like my name."
> Before the dubious expressions of the class could erupt into objections,
> Miss Vermillion added, "Because his situation is quite unusual, we felt he
> might not resonate with any of the traditional Colors. But he does resonate
> with his own name, which is sort of a color, so the Sorting Committee decided
> he would be PrimaGray.

Nicenicenice! I love that. :>

> I had strong suspicions that the art teacher on the committee had pushed
> hard for my codename too, for the pun value. Primer Gray indeed.

Heeheehee

> "Sometimes mocked with terms like 'Care Bear Stare,' you shouldn't put
> it down...what you're doing is lending your strength to a teammate so that
> their magic is stronger. You will all eventually choose one or more
> specialties, very few Magical Girls are good at everything, just like no one
> is good at all mundane skills. But you can still help out at any task by
> using Support Magic to help your teammate do what she...or he...does best."

YEAH!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

> "Okay, make sure you're all spaced out enough," Miss Vermillion gestured
> at spots marked on the field. I tried to ignore the ominous scorch marks
> here and there. Especially the ones I'd been responsible for.

heeheehee

> Summoning our uniforms externalized our magical
> power in a rather intense light show...but energy is energy, and it could get
> out of hand at times. They don't usually show Glitter Green detonating
> nearby cars when she transforms.

https://youtu.be/yVrTsryg_CM?t=39

> At first you get tired quickly, but
> with exercise comes endurance. You don't realize you can walk for hours
> until you do it," she gave me a little grin. Apparently everyone on staff
> knew I'd hiked out to the middle of nowhere the day I got recruited.

Awwwww. :>

> Mutters of "pink pink pink pink" or "bluuuuueee..." filled the practice
> field.

Heeheeheehee X3 <3 Adorable!!! <3

> "No!" Vermillion shouted, looking up. I followed her gaze, and saw
> several distant winged figures. "Everyone, this is what the drills are for.
> FORCE TRANSFORM!" she gestured with her sceptre and suddenly we were all in
> uniform.
> "Ow," I winced. It felt like someone had forcibly shoved me into a
> tuxedo, and some of the girls actually cried out.