“Believe something and the Universe is on its way to being changed. Because you’ve changed, by believing. Once you’ve changed, other things start to follow. Isn’t that the way it works?”

— Diane Duane, So You Want To Be A Wizard

on the topic of lying in the Speech, let’s say you had to do something like – hide important medicine from Space Fascists. Could you lie in the Speech in that context, or would it just be better to make it so that you never had to lie at all? (i.e. you don’t have the important medicine on your ship, because you hid it in an alternate dimension in your pocket. which is a bit disingenuous, but people’s lives are at stake.)

dduane:

Mmm, well, some data is missing before I lay out the options.

Do the Space Fascists know you’re a wizard? How do they know? Are they using the Speech as a lingua franca (many species do) or is one of them a wizard and capable of understanding the circles you’re shortly about to start running around the nonwizards? (Unpleasant to consider, but not entirely impossible.) Etc.

The nature of the Speech, as a tool used as the descriptor of physical (at the very least) reality in the universe, makes it very difficult, indeed well nigh impossible, to knowingly make a declarative statement in the Speech that is an inaccurate description of reality. So if you are being forced to use the Speech to be understood – and the lingua franca / “language of discourse” situation is probably the most common one that would bring this problem on – unless you don’t mind repeatedly starting sentences you can’t finish, which will in itself be an indicator of what’s going on, your best refuge is creative phrasing.

“Where is the important medicine?”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” (Because unless you’re inside their heads you can’t be SURE, can you? And jeez, why would you want to get into the heads of Space Fascists, you’d need all the brain bleach there ever was afterwards.) Or: “Are you sure you want to be asking me that?” (Because you’d love them to be thinking there’s something much more important to be asking.) Or: “I really can’t say for sure.” (Because you shoved it in your otherspace pocket and left the gravity turned off and it’s just floating around in there and you couldn’t even take a good guess at its coordinates right now. Come to think of it, you couldn’t even if the gravity was on, because imposing a coordinate system on the insides of an otherspace pocket is full of imponderables, depending on whether you’re moving and whether you’re in a vehicle and it’s moving and how fast the spacetime around you is moving, because of course it moves too, and and and…) Or, at the more daring end, “What important medicine?” Forcing them to waste time describing it while you think of some other way to get out of this. And of course if they describe it at all inaccurately you get to toy with them some more.

…Or or or. Your job is to not allow yourself to be forced into a situation where you have to respond in some way that’s not true. Being disingenuous is entirely OK in this context. Which is why dealing with a wizard who doesn’t want to give you a straight (ahem) answer routinely triggers other responses from the hapless victims, such as (a) giving up and going away cussing up a blue streak (optimal) or (b) attempting physical violence or other compulsion (which can be challenging as the annoyed wizard might just, if they adjudged the response necessary, blast you to powder. Suboptimal but sometimes unfortunately the kind of response that being a wizard entails, because otherwise people will get the idea that they can push wizards around. And doubtless you as a wizard will be so sorry about it afterwards, but that won’t do the Space Fascists much good after the fact. Except insofar as between lives – assuming they’re a member of a species that handles things this way – they get to spend a while sitting on the Universal Naughty Step and Thinking About What They’ve Done).

Anyway, much more could be said about this, but I’m about ready to crash out fot the night. Hope this helps! 🙂

earlgraytay:

I came home today and my computer was purring because I forgot I left on my Cat Purr White Noise Generator.

Imagine: Nita comes home from school; Spot is curled up on the kitchen table and is purring

and Dairine’s trying to convince him that he’s not a cat

wingedscribe:

Reasons the Young Wizards series is wonderful: there’s a scene that can be described as “Tiny kitten Roasts Satan” and it’s the best thing ever

miayi:

After all these years High Wizardry is still my favorite ❤

~~I forgot what she says here and I can’t find my book, so I left the bubbles blank aaaa but yal’ll know the scene anyway~~ >-<

also tumblr deep fried this please click on it for the full e x p e r i e n c e

Source: teakova

Run faster

goonlalagoon:

After the US election results, Diane Duane posted a comment on her Tumblr saying
‘Entropy is running: run faster’, and it sort of spawned a fanfic?

Nita watches the election results pour in, heart sinking steadily as states on the map turn red. Her dad and Dairine have forgone sleep as well, watching with bated breath and unhidden dread. Nita’s knitting needles click quietly, gleaming with Speech light. The work reminds her of building her charm bracelet, what feels like so long ago, and it’s a similar thing. This isn’t to hold spells in a matrix, but it’s spells worked into knitted cloth to hold warmth, to give a small sense of comfort, to keep the rain off and hopefully offer some protection, although that bit of the spell is less reliable. It depends on what the harm coming your way is.

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