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

[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.]

[jovahs_heiress]

[I see. Well, if you withdraw of your own accord and think of a nice, human-friendly way to apologize for your behavior, I may decide that it would not be a terrible idea to reenable your ability to reproduce.]

[witchwatcher]

[Now, we have already recalled all drones. Seventeen will prepare to restore the changes to the climate. We must consider our apology for some time.]

[jovahs_heiress]

[There is no particular hurry. Brainphone my friend, who I have just added to this conference,] she includes Jane, [if you think of something, before you do it. I will be very annoyed if your next idea for benefiting humans is like the last one.]

[witchwatcher]

[We will do as you say.]

[jovahs_heiress]

[Excellent. Thank you for being so cooperative. I am restoring time to normal.]

Which she does.

"They should be withdrawing and patching their climate damage now. Here's your natural disaster protection, and if the Neuroi give you a speck of further trouble tell Jane and someone will be by to oblige them less gently to stop it."

[witchwatcher]

Lytee is gone. Gren's still there. "The UDF will probably want to talk to you. Should I point them at Jane? And what about boosting my mana?"

([Lytee, Angela says the Neuroi are falling back.])

([I'll spread the word.])

[jovahs_heiress]

"I don't mind staying to talk to the UDF if they want to talk to me now. If they will take a while about it, then yes, direct them to Jane."