The endless waste

[aestrix]

Once, this planet teemed with life. It doesn't do that, anymore. The ground is dry and cracked and occasionally broken up by charred remains of trees. There are no birds, no bugs, no living plants - nothing but an empty, endless waste.

With one exception.

But the world is so very big, and the exception so very small. If someone showed up away from it, they could be quite forgiven for thinking this world is completely dead.




with Sable (Kappa)

with Aisilian (Link)

with Grendyne (Rockeye)

with Temple (Curiousdiscoverer)

Comments

[witchwatcher]

"That was - weird. Let's go with weird. I want to do that again. After breakfast, of course."

[light_another_life]

"Sure. I can get you to make some poppet materials if you want to be economic, though those are a bit harder than breakfast."

The breakfast was kind enough to come on a plate, but Saevetei fetches more plates and utensils and shows Grendyne to a hastily refurbished work desk that is now moonlighting as a place to eat, complete with sheepishly mismatching chairs. Food!

(It is good food.)

[witchwatcher]

She nods happily at the food, but doesn't comment out loud on it.

"Are there names for all those different sorts of essence that the weave turned it into?"

[light_another_life]

"Those? Yes. All of the discovered ones get named once we realize their existence, but there's lots of types of essence. Like - various species of beetle. There's a lot. We haven't learned all of them - I've actually discovered two, myself."

[witchwatcher]

"This is great. I want to learn how it all works, import weaves and plants back home if I can. If you can get me home."

[light_another_life]

"I will try to get you home. And - yeah, actually some of my sleeping instructors are making a list of weaves and plants most necessary for exporting to a world that doesn't have our magic. They're mostly of the opinion that not doing so is kind of irresponsible, and that not helping with the Neuroi is a great way to have another end of the world scenario that we don't need." She doesn't mention her part in convincing them of this. "But they'll likely stay away from teaching how to make some of the bigger weapons. Shields and transportation circles and essence plants that make various substances and such are fair game, though. Helpful things."

[witchwatcher]

"And you can get literally tens of thousands of Witches here, helping restore the world, and we can connect everyone to the dreamworld. Which I have decided I would like you to do to me."

[light_another_life]

Saevetei nods, solemn.

"Sure. I can do that." Pause. "There's an ongoing slightly unpopular research project on how to retrieve people that weren't connected to the dreamworld. I bet it'll become more popular now. And we have a while to work on it."

[witchwatcher]

"That we do. Also, figuring out why Witch mana decays so sharply with age - or just finding a way to keep us young. Busy times ahead. Let's get cracking."

[light_another_life]

"I like your attitude," says Saevetei, grinning.

First! Making things for a poppet. It is more difficult than breakfast, but Saevetei selects the easiest first and leaves the harder ones for the end, when Grendyne has had quite a lot of practice. It is a gentle learning curve and a reasonable way to practice making things.

"So I feel I should tell you," she says, as Grendyne is making a very specific type of moss that's pretty easy to make but takes an annoyingly long time to form, "poppets can be used for ludicrously terrible things, but using them for ludicrously terrible things is difficult if you don't know the exact steps, which uh - aren't obvious. I will not be teaching you those, they are exactly useless against the Neuroi. But I can teach you the ones that protect you against fire or drowning or help prevent broken bones and the like. Because those are useful against the Neuroi, and also just generally helpful."

[witchwatcher]

"I can see someone using poppets as a threat to help contain criminals, if any of the ludicrously terrible things are exaggerated in how terrible they are. But we have geases and prisons and they manage well enough. I don't expect poppets would improve our system. Useful and not-terrible magic is quite welcome to interfere with inefficient and outdated established systems, of course."

[light_another_life]

"Of course, that's just obvious. I was already planning to attempt to distribute the plants that grow ludicrously fast and spit out very nutritious and tasty meals excessively quickly. Also transportation circles and waystones, I can see those being crucial."

[witchwatcher]

"Food, transport, and communication are the three biggest obstacles we have besides the Neuroi themselves, I think. We can't test this whether this is even necessary yet, but a way to make weaves usable by Witches who don't have copying for a special would be excellent."

The moss is done, now. Back to making various things.

[light_another_life]

Various things are made!

Some of them are very very tricky. The trickiest is some kind of gemstone. It needs a very careful eye for detail, and parts of it need to be done very quickly, or none of it works. It might take a few attempts; Saevetei offers to make it if Grendyne doesn't want to.

[witchwatcher]

Don't tell anyone, but Gren may be a little stubborn when it comes to magical challenges. After the first try fails, she takes detailed notes during her second. The third try also fails. And she's getting a bit tired, so it's a good time for a break.

"What's this tricky little thing for, anyway?"

[light_another_life]

"Two-fold, actually. It's - kind of like the power base for the poppet, and it's also what helps steer the poppet into working over time instead of all at once. The one you're making it actually an empty power container, making a filled one is so difficult it might as well be impossible. For scale - filling it is harder than making it, and making it already filled takes that and multiplies it."

[witchwatcher]

"I think it'd be easier to repeat if I watched you make and fill one correctly first. Your magic doesn't tolerate little mistakes nearly as much as Witch magic tends to. I guess that's to be expected, since I'm trying to make a permanent magical artifact. Artifacts are the stuff of legend on Terra. Would you mind?"

[light_another_life]

"Poppets do wear out eventually and need to be replaced, but - reasonably permanent, yes. I don't mind making it at all." She retrieves the weave and reviews the steps. It's certainly not the most difficult thing she's done, but she's not quite good enough to jump straight into making it without a review. Best to be safe. Arrogance gets her a lot of wasted essence.

Watching her technique is interesting. She's methodical, but instead of only doing one timed section at a time, she juggles two (and at one point, three) at once. The reason for this becomes apparent as she finishes - it gives her a bit more time to complete a very tricky section at the end.

And then she has a deceptively ordinary looking purple gemstone. It's pretty, but doesn't look very magical.

"Filling it is actually a completely different sort of thing than making it," she says, offering Grendyne the gem for inspection. "And I'll show you that thing with something simpler before we touch charging this. It took me years to get charging an attunement stone right, though, I warn you. It's okay if you hand it off to me to do."

[witchwatcher]

She's going over some more detailed notes right now.

"Starting with something simple sounds better, yes. The ability to sense what's going on and practice at shaping magic, albeit a different sort, only goes so far. Will charging it incorrectly ruin the stone?"

[light_another_life]

"A bit, yes. Charging it badly enough will, ah, cause it to explode." Pause. "... I'll just be honest, okay? It's killed me before. I really don't recommend it when you're just beginning."

[witchwatcher]

"You're the expert. I think I'll try making one again, since that, at least, is nonlethal."

She gets it wrong again. It's not like she doesn't have essence to spare on all this trial-and-error, though. And after a half-dozen more tries, she produces an acceptable result. Hurray!

[light_another_life]

Saevetei offers suggestions throughout, but soon enough there's not much she can offer. It's really just practice. So, she retrieves a book and has them both move outside while Grendyne's attempting to get the attunement stone right. The place she moves them to has a large stone dais and a little shed-like thing that's filled with various items. Nearby is a neat little firepit, with a stand that looks like it's meant for a cauldron or pot of some kind. The cauldron or pot in question must be inside the shed.

She flips through her book to the correct page, reads the instructions, and then goes and retrieves other items she'll apparently need. A few of them were made by Grendyne, but others, like a little case filled with various colors of magical chalk, were not. She's just about gathered everything up when Grendyne successfully makes the gem.

"Congratulations!" she says sincerely.

[witchwatcher]

"You're right about how complicated this stuff is. I think I'm only doing as well as I am because I already have years' worth of experience copying stuff. I feel like I should be learning the theory behind it, too. Is this feeling correct?"

[light_another_life]

"I think you should," she agrees. "But the theory behind it would, ah. Take a while. And I'd want to get you some books that would explain it better than I could, which needs the poppet. But I can explain some basic principles, if you like."

[witchwatcher]

"I'd appreciate it. It's not like there's a school of magic where I come from - Witch powers are all intuitive."