unplanned landing

[characterquarry]

She's at the lead of a formation of six Witches, flying her metal not-quite-a-broom out on a routine patrol. She carries her bow, sword, quiver of arrows, four loaded flintlock pistols, two pot-bombs. The usual loadout.

What she finds is not any alien invader she's familiar with. It's a flying snake with a mirror for a head.

"Pull up! It's faster than us, so use formation wagon-wheel!" Bows come out, and arrows fly at it, but they bounce uselessly off its mirror-head and scales. After a few minutes of this she charges in, drops one of her pot-bombs on it at point blank range, then pulls a roll to dodge as it charges past, but not fast enough-

And she's somewhere else entirely.

Comments

[characterquarry]

"Major Annette Gepard."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Ah. Military. Do you have any idea how you got here or how you might get back?"

[characterquarry]

"My flight was attacked by a flying snake with a mirror for a head. I dive-bombed it, but when I touched the thing I was suddenly above this university. I have no clue how to get back, unfortunately, teleportation is not a thing my sort of magic can do."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Mm. I know my world's magic can do teleportation, but I'm not as sure about dimensional travel."

[characterquarry]

"I really should clean this thing." She waves the 'broom' a bit, and it makes an obviously heavy-sounding clank. "And finish unloading my pistols. Is there a better place to do that than in the middle of a field?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Hmmm...I suppose the machine shop would be a decent place."

[characterquarry]

"Sounds good. Most hangars resemble a machine shop more than anything, with the new steel-brooms becoming so popular. They're easier to fly and use our mana so much more efficiently than a stick with twigs, so the expense is worth it. Where to?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

Cecil will lead her to the machine shop.

[characterquarry]

Where she disassembles the 'broom' into several dozen pieces, cleans and oils each one, and reassembles them. She also empties out and cleans her pistols, and seals the pot-bomb with putty.

[maggie_of_the_owls]

Cecil will stand there waiting. He pulls out a book and starts reading it not very long into the process.

[characterquarry]

It's done soon enough. "Thank you for your patience. Where do we go now?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Well, that depends a lot on you. What's most important right now? Finding a place to crash? Getting food?"

[characterquarry]

"I need someplace to put everything away. I can't carry it all day, I'll run out of mana eventually and be crushed. After that, a nice meal sounds lovely."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

He looks up for a moment and drums his fingers against the wall. "I realize that this isn't the world's most intuitive question to answer, but do you have any idea of where your home culture stands on various issues having to do with sexuality? And before you ask, no, this is not me propositioning you or leading up to propositioning you."

[characterquarry]

"They're fairly prissy about it, but the people who care about that stuff hate me anyway since I dress like a boy half the time. I don't care what's in someone's pants or who they're showing it to if they aren't propositioning me."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Two of my friends are roommates and also sleeping together sometimes. They would probably agree to share one of the beds and put you up in the other one."

[characterquarry]

"I would appreciate it, at least until I can find gainful employment."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"I don't know if they're home right now, but even if they aren't they won't object to you temporarily dumping your things there."

[characterquarry]

"You're the one who knows them, I suppose... Say, what's your magic like?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"In what way, precisely?"

[characterquarry]

"Well, Witches get their magic in adolescence, and it fades slowly after that. There are a few things all Witches can do - shields, flying, basic elemental stuff. Most people get a specialty that is almost impossible for others to replicate. Mine is unusual speed and control while flying. I'm almost at the end of my active-duty career, though, and at the tender age of 27. It's quite annoying how fast the magic fades."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Ah. Nothing like that. Magic here is based on a combination of rituals, gestures and incantations. Anyone can do it, and the magic operates precisely the same way for everyone at any time."

[characterquarry]

"I think I'd very much like to learn that. How difficult is it?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"It's very...in order to perform a spell, you need to know the ritual for the spell. Most rituals are too complicated and time-consuming for convenient casting, so you replace individual steps with a gesture or an incantation--some action that can be solidly associated with the component. And then sequences can likewise be abridged, etcetera."

[characterquarry]

"So using it effectively relies on practice and memorization of mental associations?"