not ready for prime time, but

[bunrab]

A few days back, fadethecat played a game where people suggested story or chapter titles, and she returned a precis of the story that would go with the title. I had suggested one, and she had a neat idea - but the chapter title I suggested stayed in my mind too, and in the middle of the night last night, this popped into my head:

In Which Our Hero Discovers His Inner Area Rug

"You don't really need a carpet to fly, you know. It's just that it's easier to do the magic with an object to focus on," Delwood reminded Erwin. "Well, and it does make it easier to take along the suitcase, the picnic basket, and the pet monkey. Most monkeys get really nervous trying to sit on thin air."

"Mine sure does," Erwin agreed. "So OK, carpet. Hmmm." Erwin wandered through the apartment, but all he could find was a small braided rug, the sort sold in Ye Olde Colonial Shoppe right next to the wrought iron candle sconces and the Genuine Yankee Kettles - all made in China, of course. It had been an apartment-warming present from his sister.

A braided rug just looked wrong. Erwin really thought it should be an Oriental carpet, and he squinted a bit, trying to replace the strips of polyester with tufts of closely knotted wool. He thought he could almost see a Persian Tree of Life pattern...

when Delwood shook him awake. "You know, Erw, this tendency of yours to doze off whenever you concentrate could seriously interfere with your studies of magic. Perhaps you should consider another path."

"Like what?"

"Like Technology. Or Brute Force."

And then maybe there'd be a paragraph later on where I could mention one of these when Delwood suggests Technology again.