does not anymore work

[campanas]

Here, in a place where she is quite an unexpected sight, is:

an eight year old girl with brown-flecked white wings, looking dismayed and lost.

with Prime (Aestrix)

with Edie and Emily (Maggie)

with Gloria (Maggie)

with Gren (Rockeye)

Comments

[witchwatcher]

"Well... End the damn Neuroi war, heal my sister's limp, give me enchanting, a magically operated house in the mountains, scrub all the ash from the skies, rebuild western Europa, give me the ability to copy Witch specials like Gren... I can think of more."

Gren comments, "Besides ending the Neuroi and bringing a few people back from your afterlife, I think I just want more mana and a better ability to hold on to things I copy long-term."

[thaumobabble]

"The Neuroi are probably an afternoon's work unless they're really weird in some way I can't see from looking at you two, healing's easy, enchanting's doable, the magically operated house you probably either want to give us a design or wind up with something sort of generic, ash is easy, if you just want Europa restored to its original condition we can do that but it might inconvenience people in the ruins, and we don't know yet if we can copy and add Witch stuff to other people, even preexisting Witches, but it's about even odds. We can do dead people if you have a good place to put them but that's a real concern - large-scale resurrection is a hassle and people who know it's available tend to both want some and tell all their friends. More mana looks simple, more ability to hold stuff might not be but looks safe to try."

[witchwatcher]

"I can almost guarantee there's nobody in the ruins. The Neuroi kill anyone who approaches. You can try to give me more mana now, I teleport everyone into our world and we can deal with the Neuroi before moving on to the rest of the stuff. Should've done that five minutes ago, really."

[thaumobabble]

Glass does some magic.

[witchwatcher]

Lytee perks up. "Woah. That definitely worked. Who-all am I bringing besides myself and Gren?"

[beheld_beauty]

"You, Gren, and a Janegem," Rose materializes a thing, detaches it from itself, and hands over the half that doesn't disappear to Lytee, "will do, and actually you can even leave Gren behind and Jane can take her."

[witchwatcher]

Lytee takes the gem and disappears to the fields outside a certain castle/military base.

[mind_game]

Jane puts Gren there too.

And Glass and Angela.

[thaumobabble]

Glass squints at the world.

[witchwatcher]

It's definitely on the meaner side as worlds go, though it's not as bad as the Sunshine family. It's high-stakes in a similar way to Gift, but not going out of its way to be mean. Once fixed, it'll probably stay fixed. The only magic here is Witches - Neuroi run on physics, apparently - but they're very common compared to Aurum witches or ingots. It's vaguely Earth-ish, but strongly off standard in a lot of new and old ways.

[thaumobabble]

"Earthalike, Witches are the only local magic, more Gift problems than Sunshine problems, go nuts," Glass diagnoses to Angela, and then she disappears.

[jovahs_heiress]

"All right, what can you tell me about the Neuroi?"

[witchwatcher]

Gren and Lytee take turns summarizing the things.

[jovahs_heiress]

"Do you suppose they might be intelligent?"

[witchwatcher]

"If they are, we can't tell. Empaths can't feel them, every way we've tried to contact them doesn't work. And the way they act is almost random. I don't think they're intelligent... Though it's probably worth checking, given how easy it is for you to do that."

[jovahs_heiress]

"Mm-hm." Angela attempts to pentagon a Neuroi language.

[witchwatcher]

The Neuroi language she gets is naturally rendered in different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. The brainphone can provide an interpretation that she can understand.

[jovahs_heiress]

"I'm going to do some time dilation so that even if the Neuroi are provoked by something I say, they won't be able to press the advantage," Angela says. "It'll look like I'm standing here not doing anything for some extended period of time."

And then she speeds up everything in the universe except herself and all the Neuroi. The Neuroi get to go slower than her.

[Excuse me,] she says. To all the Neuroi.

[witchwatcher]

She gets tens of thousands of identical replies saying [Who is unknown speaker?]

And a few dozen continue to say or ask things about the time dilation.

[jovahs_heiress]

[My name is Isabella and I'm here to request and require that you cease attacking the humans, and any other antisocial activities you may be undertaking.]

[witchwatcher]

The tens of thousands reply, [No authority for order.]

The few dozen smarter ones confer briefly, then, [I am One. I will speak for us. We are helping the humans grow stronger.]

[jovahs_heiress]

Angela narrows her attention to "One". [The humans do not appreciate your help, and you will stop.]

[witchwatcher]

[They are already stronger. Seventeen arrived many years ago and studied the humans for fifty cycles. It found that struggle increases their progress. We force them to advance in knowledge and creativity. They have already made significant advances.]

[jovahs_heiress]

[And why is this desirable to you?]

[witchwatcher]

[Space is too empty. We can no longer reproduce, but the galaxy cannot be allowed to be void of intelligent life.]