Jaycee's Blog - Thu, Oct 26

Reading the Notebook further about the various arcane tattoos, some things are becoming clearer. There's some kind of hierarchy to them, but also some strange interactions (which I'll get to in a moment). They fall into five large categories: trivial/mundane, minor, common, major, and epic. Their usefulness and power are somewhat proportional to the category they belong to. What's MORE interesting is that the order in which you get them made as well as the proximity to some other tattoos can have very variable benefits. For example, if the one called ka'nalmag'l (minor, translates as "rope tricks") is placed first then oo'path'een (also minor, translates as "key click") is placed within a few inches, you may get a perk called doobh'stin ("make sneeze"). These are not particularly useful tattoos or abilities, but remember how I mentioned basilisk blood to get immunity from dark fae magic? Looks like there's an interaction between four major tattoos that provides that perk—any tattoo that requires basilisk blood...no longer does.

So I've charted a path to those. I hope I have enough skin to get all the tattoos I need. And that I have enough time to get it all done before Tarantina kills me.

Speaking of ka'nalmag'l ("rope tricks"), I mentioned that one because it's one of the tattoos required on that path. That one only required easy-to-find ingredients (including very specific vanilla beans from Madagascar, which I received earlier this week), so I had it inscribed by a somewhat puzzled tattoo artist who agreed to use my ingredients instead of his. Her name was Hannah, a fairly tall and skinny dark-haired woman in her late thirties who wore a very loose, shoulder-less shirt that showed off her exquisite tats. The process took about an hour and was ridiculously painful. Seriously, that tattoo was the size of a quarter, but hurt like a hundred bucks.

Anyway, once Hannah was done, I couldn't resist the temptation to see if the tattoo worked. While it's colloquially called "rope trick," the tattoo can do more than play with ropes. It lets me manipulate inert objects that are long, thin and flexible (up to certain limits). Since Hannah's shirt exposed her neck and shoulders, I could see the straps of her bra (not that she needed one; she was an A-cup at best). Following the instructions of the Notebook, I made some mental preparations, then "pushed" my intent to one of the straps, which I commanded to snap.

It did!

Hannah looked startled and saw that I'd noticed what had happened. I didn't see any boob, but she'd clearly been around men long enough that just a bra snapping is enough to get our imagination going.

"On the house," she said with a smile. She then turned her attention to the defective strap and grumbled. "Stupid thing's pretty old. Was bound to happen at some point."

I paid (including a generous tip), then took off to do some more testing on the street. More bras, but also shoe straps, purse straps, and even (imagine that) small wires (like those you use to charge your cell phones).

There are no limits to how often I can use the ability, but there IS one drawback: headaches and nausea. Using it a few times is fine, but I spent the better part of late afternoon and last night yesterday testing the ability. I woke up in the middle of the night with a bad migraine and nausea similar to that last time I got food poisoning.

As with all things in magic, there's never any such thing as a free lunch. There are always consequences.

Duly noted.

--Jaycee