Log: Billy and Korvus (Backdated)

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Korvus requests that Billy NOT burn down the mansion.


Billy was bored. Really, really bored. But, like most teenage boys, there was always one fail safe cure for boredom---fire. A large Yankee candle sat on the end table next to him in one of the lounges. Usually, it gave off whatever pleasant aroma had been most recently ordered, but today, the scent of pine was mixed with a number of other burnt smells. Paper, hair, plastic and....Cheerios? At the moment, said breakfast cereal was dangling from the end of a pen, held precariously over the small flame.

The smell had caught Korvus' attention. He had been returning from class to study but stopped to watch from the door frame. He stood still, eyes on the young man for a long moment before he spoke. "Billy... is something amiss?"

The cheerio dropped from the tip of the pen, as Billy startled. It flared up as it hit the fire, but quickly died out. "Oh, hey Korvus. No, I'm fine. Just...fooling around."

"Perhaps there is a less dangerous but equally satisfying way to fool around?" Korvus offered.

"Dangerou..? oh..." Billy said, glancing back at the candle. "Fiiine. It's not like I'm going to burn the place down or anything, but I'll stop."

Korvus moved into the room, sitting in a chair to face Billy. "Accidental house fires are incredibly common and unintentional by definition." He offered a smile. "Does your mutation involve fire? I believe we have facilities outside the dormitory more suited to such needs."

"No," Billy started to answer, then corrected himself. "Well, not usually. Only sometimes. But I wasn't using magic," he added hastily. "I mean, even I know better than to try to make fire inside the dorms. That'd just be...crazy."

"Even you do?" Korvus raised an eyebrow. "That sounds self-deprecating. You do not appear to be unintelligent, if there were such a thing."

Billy shrugged at the observation. "Well, my spells do tend to go haywire more often as not. Might as well laugh it off. What else are you gonna do?"

Korvus nodded, "When I first came into possession of Nandaki I broke out my bedroom's window. It is not uncommon to make mistakes such as that here. That common struggle with proficiency is why this place exists such as it is."

"Common struggle with proficiency?" Billy repeated, working through the phrase. "Oh, right. I probably still have you beat on property damage, though I think it's getting better. Or at least there's people who can help me figure out how to clean things up when they go wrong."

"You shouldn't burn things." Korvus noted. "It may be a cause of future property damage. I assume you aren't trying to cause as much as possible." He offered a smile, in case his tone was too harsh. The young man still had trouble with some local subtleties. "If you need assistance with future disasters, I am capable of lifting a significant amount of weight, should it prove useful."

"How about past disasters? How are you at hauling sacks of potatoes?" Billy asked. "Although I think we're finally at the last of them. Good thing too, cuz I'm tired of bringing them up to the pantry."

Korvus nodded, "I am more than capable of hauling sacks of potatoes."

Billy grinned at him. "I may just take you up on that. Not that I'll be summoning potatoes again anytime soon," he added hastily.

"If you are going to summon copious amounts of food, potatoes are likely the most versatile." Korvus offered, probably intending to be comforting.

"Well, Amanda put the kabosh on summoning for a bit, but yeah, I could have wound up with truckloads of brussel sprouts," Billy wrinkled his nose at the idea. "I'm not even sure Lorna could have done anything with those."

Korvus nodded again and gave an empathetic smile. "I do not know what a kabosh is but I hope she lifts the spell soon. Practice will certainly improve your control."

"It's...uh," Billy squinted, trying to figure out how to explain. "Well, not a spell. More like 'strongly encouraging' me to practice other not-summoning magic."

"Oh." Korvus smiled at the correction. "Thank you for the specification. I'm still learning common expressions."

"Well, how about you help me with potatoes, I'll help you with expressions?" Billy offered.

With a nod, Korvus offered his hand as he stood. "Agreed." He gave Billy a smile.

"It's a deal. We'll be like, Mr Potato Head, or something," Billy grinned. "Which is...." he trailed off, realizing it was probably a strange reference, "Something I'll tell you about some other time."

Korvus nodded a bit at the awkward reference, nodded again, then shuffled out so he'd make his classes in time.