Stylish Quills

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The bell hanging by the door to the shop rang.
The person who came inside was a tall, pale man with black hair. He was wearing an elegant, black coat and top hat.
Dan came up to him.
"Welcome to the Magical Curiosities, can I help you with something?" he asked.
"Could you call the owner of the shop, kid?"
Dan's smile disappeared for a second and he uncovered his long ears.
"You are talking to him."
The man seemed surprised but he regained his composure pretty fast.
"I need something that would let me fly with style."
"Of course, sir, I'll try to find some brooms that would suit you."
"Wait!" he shouted as Dan was walking away. "Don't you have something that would be ... less uncomfortable.
So that's the problem Dan thought. Abrasions.
"Of course, sir. Please come with me."
Dan led the client to the glass-case filled with the feathers of various birds, both big and small, colorful and bland.
"Here we have some of the selection of the Stylish Quills sold by our shop."
"Stylish Quills?" the man asked.
Dan opened the case, took one of the feathers out and gave it to the client.
"While you are touching it, sir, say 'lathene'".
"Lathene."
As he said it, the feather disappeared from his hand and turned into the spark of light.
The spark then flew to his collar bone and turned into a brown coat completely made out of feathers.
Dan started explaining, "This is a feather of a house sparrow. It will let you reach the velocity of up to 50 km/h. This one is modeled after the coat, but we can find you other models. Every Stylish Quill will activate automatically if it detects that you are falling for more than 10 meters."
"Do you have something ... completely black?"
"Of course, sir. We have the feathers of great-tailed grackles, starlings, black pigeons, however, those are pretty pricey, ravens, crows, black swans, black storks, and black eagles. I will bring the mirror here, so you can try them on."
After half an hour of trying on, the client decided on buying the feather of a fan-tailed raven that turns into a tailcoat suit.
"With your purchase of the Stylish Quill, we can change the word that activates it into any other word or gesture of your choice completely for free."
The man got excited, "Could we change it to 'Nevermore'?".
Dan smiled and answered, "of course, sir. It will take only a minute."

A few minutes later, the bell rang again.

Stylish Quills are both an accessory, a piece of clothing and means of transportation.
They are often bought by the people who want to fly and look fashionable at the same time or those who find flying on the broom uncomfortable.
In their normal form, they look like normal (or magical) bird feathers.
Any spell that detects the magic will show that they are filled with the transmutation magic related to the Air element.
Whenever they are activated, they change into a piece of clothing, usually coat, jacket or poncho completely made out of the feathers.
In this form, they give the wearer the ability to fly with the speed, maneuverability and the agility of the bird the feather came from.
Using them to fly requires one to possess an adequate flying license.
While flying, the piece of clothing will take a shape of wings and the tail that help one to steer.

Acquisition

Once in a while in nature, animals happen to get close to the discharge of the magic in the atmosphere.
If the charge is strong enough, the animal can gain the sentience close to the human one.
They are also able to communicate with the magically sensitive people. Befriending such animals can be a source of many benefits for the one that tries to do so. In the case of the birds, they often gift such a human with one of their quills. There are people who make collecting such quills and befriending the birds their profession.

Warning!

Quills can be only acquired from the birds that are willing to give them.
Every attempt in taking the bird's feathers by force will also damage the magic contained within them.

How to use them?

To turn the Stylish Quill from their feather form into a piece of clothing that lets one fly, the person needs to place their hand on the feather and speak the word that will activate it.
Many shops selling them will have some kind of word associated with them to discern the Quills sold by them from the product made by other mages.
It is, however, possible to ask the seller to change the activation word into any other word that the buyer wants, or, in case of the buyers that are mute, to bind some gesture to the feather.
Every Stylish Quill is equipped with an emergency feature that will activate it and begin the slow descent if the owner of the feather falls for more than 10 meters. Some people, for example, those who like skydiving, tweak or completely turn off this function.

Item type

Clothing / Accessory

Rarity

Almost every city sells the Stylish Quills.
There are even specialized shops which sell the quills imported from different areas of the world.

Weight

Between less than 1 gram (humming-bird) and 1 kg (roc and thunderbird)

Dimensions

0,5 cm to 1 m

Base Price

The cheapest (received from the birds most common to the area) Stylish Quills cost around 100£.