cooperation

[alicornucopia]

Two girls are moving their hands through the air and speaking together in perfect parallel.

Two girls are looking expectantly at a circle of red chalk on their floor.

Two girls have done something exceptionally stupid.

with Harry (andaisq)

with Isabella (Eva)

with Arcane (kappa)

with Miles (kappa)

with Nick (Rockeye)

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

A short human appears in the middle of the circle.

He jumps, yelps something that from tone and context is probably not a polite greeting, and looks around wildly.

[alicornucopia]

The brown girl makes calming gestures and noises; the blonde one blinks at him, smiles, and then gets a book off her shelf to flip through.

[thisvorlunatic]

He goes up to the edge of the ward and prods the invisible barrier cautiously, frowning at it as though he can somehow perceive its exact shape and location.

[alicornucopia]

It is an unyielding invisible cylindrical wall.

The brown girl continues making soothing noises.

The blonde one finds what she is looking for, and casts a spell.

"There, you should be able to understand us now."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Good, then you can tell me what I'm doing here."

[alicornucopia]

"We summoned you!" says the browner one with the rounder ears. "It's just for a few degrees to show Nemaar, that's all."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I... see," he says. "As it happens I would actually rather not go back where I just was when you're done with me."

[alicornucopia]

"Why not?" asks Blonde And Pointy.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Because I was in an empty building on a lifeless planet with no food, no water, and no other people in the universe as far as I could tell," he says. "Prospects seemed pretty grim."

[alicornucopia]

"...Why?" asks Brown And Not Pointy.

[thisvorlunatic]

"I was transported there mysteriously, unexpectedly, and suddenly by unknown forces."

[alicornucopia]

...The blonde one giggles. Hard enough that she has to sit down.

[thisvorlunatic]

"It's been that sort of a week," he says, grinning. "Anyway. I don't suppose you could let me stay in your nice universe which appears to contain multiple people? Or, alternately, send me back to my original universe?"

[alicornucopia]

"I mean - well, that - oh dear," sighs the blonde, as her giggles subside. "Um, I have no idea if undoing the spell will send you back where you came from or to your original universe! I'd have to ask and if we ask we'll have to admit we were summoning sapient entities in the dorms."

[thisvorlunatic]

"For which you will get in trouble?" he guesses.

[alicornucopia]

"So much trouble! But we can't send you back to a totally empty world, either, that wouldn't be nice."

"Don't tell your mom!" squeaks the brown one. "Don't, they'll probably expel me -"

"They won't expel you, honestly -"

"They might!"

[thisvorlunatic]

"I wonder if I can at least answer the question about what undoing the spell would do," he says, sitting down on the floor and looking contemplative.

[alicornucopia]

"Do you have some kind of analysis?" asks Blonde Girl.

[thisvorlunatic]

"In a manner of speaking, I suppose. I have a form of magic that comes with a sensory or perceptual power unique to the individual user, and mine lets me understand functionality - systems, mechanisms, tools, that general class of thing."

[alicornucopia]

"Oh. Well, if you can see the spell well enough to tell what it'll do when it's reversed then that's really handy," she says.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yes, yes it is."

He gazes abstractly at the floor and thinks aloud as he examines the spell.

"The barrier part's pretty straightforward but the summon part is a little trickier to get a look at, like trying to read something written on the back of my own head... huh, okay. Yeah, it would put me back precisely where it got me if reversed, which—um." He blinks and rocks back slightly, startled and alarmed. "Are you aware that trying to reverse this spell would kill you?"

[alicornucopia]

"Well, sure, if only one of us did it," says the brown one. "That's why we had to do it toge-"

"Oh no," says the blonde one, going white.

[thisvorlunatic]

"But you can't do the reversal together. Can you."

[alicornucopia]

"No," breathes the blonde. "No we can't."

"But," says the brown, "but, okay, can we do a sending instead, or -?"

Headshake.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Lucky for me I didn't want to be back there anyway," he says. "Less lucky for you, admittedly."