Walkabout: [Shortly after their arrival]

[professorwolf]

Randolph Lyall here. Anybody else dropped into the noisy arcade? Or were most of us lucky enough to wind up in a hotel room or a lobby? Can we have a check-in?

Also, anybody else stuck with animal ears and a tail, or aged up or down? I've heard about a Jaunt much like this place, a while back, though I wasn't here for it: a school for anime magic, basically. Sparkles and animal ears and flowers coming out of nowhere. All the symptoms I'm seeing seem to be lining up for that world.

I'm still working out what's going on. It seems like some kind of multiple-school event, from the signs and the brochure handily in my pocket. I'm even wearing a badge for one of them, so I suppose I'm some kind of representative. The aging up doesn't go all the way up to adults, and I haven't changed any.

Comments

[professorwolf]

It isn't a harmful virus.

[Since other people confronted with that idea had gotten pretty upset about it, he thinks he'd better clarify.]

That's what caused the ears and tail problem-- it's a virus. I forget the actual name. X-something. It also causes some emotionally linked magical powers, mainly illusion, but with some related to timing, sound, and actual object creation. Apparently in you, it also gave you a better sense of smell.

[rustyhonesty]

X-Pressure. That's what one of the infiltrators said.

[It was such a weird name for a disease it was easy to remember.]

I wonder if that means this is just a phase and the ears and tail will disappear at some point. Not that they're a problem, but it's just a thought.