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]

"Thank you for your help, by the way. I'm not sure what I'd have ended up doing. Might have tried to hawk my amulet and gear, or something."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"You're welcome. You're very lucky you landed here, Borgia University is used to odd goings-on."

[characterquarry]

"You're very lucky there isn't a Neuroi invasion here. They're the devil to fight. Unpredictable, and they don't seem to have morale or a command structure or even a supply chain."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"True. That does sound exceptionally nasty. If you're facing something like that, I can probably convince--or convince someone to convince--someone with more experience and expertise in theory to help tutor you."

[characterquarry]

"Can you do lie detection? In your place, I would be worrying about my honesty right now. I'd like to clear that up."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Aha. Yes, I can, but no, I haven't been. To be honest, strange things happen to me so often I'm most likely more inclined to take them at face value than I ought to be." He stops, turns to face her, taps his pinky finger under each eye once, and says, "kastvoi. Alright, could you please repeat the salient parts?"

[characterquarry]

"I'm Major Annette Gepard of Italica's 23rd Witch Wing. Everything I have said to you thus far is the truth as I understand it. Our founding charter is to fight the Neuroi, devilishly tough alien invaders who destroy entire countries, given the opportunity. I have no intention to harm humans unless they are murderers or similar."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

He nods. "...And what about nonhumans? That aren't these Neuroi types."

[characterquarry]

"I won't harm Witches either, of course. There's some debate over whether we count as humans."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"This world has many other kinds of nonhumans," he tells her. "Vampires, werewolves, fey, succubi, and incubi to name a few."

[characterquarry]

"Are they genocidal? The answer to that is the answer to whether I might try to hunt down and kill them. Are they unusually likely to hurt humans? The answer to that is the answer to whether I will use lethal force if one confronts me."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"No, and no. Not ones you're likely to meet, at any rate. Werewolves can be violent on the full moon when they're not in control of themselves, for example, but in most cases they make arrangements ahead of time to render this a nonissue."

[characterquarry]

"Good. Unf. Which room number is it? I'm getting tired."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Right down this hall..." he reaches the door and knocks on it. After a minute an unusually pale woman wearing all black opens the door. "Hi, Jawbreaker, what's up?" She has a mild Polish accent, if Major Gepard would recognize it.

"I met an accidental traveler in the fifth dimension, and she needs a place to put her feet up. Major Geppard, this is Jaromira Kozlow. Jaromira, this is Major Annette Geppard."

[characterquarry]

"Nice to meet you. And nice nickname. It sure beats 'blood pigeon,' which is what I got stuck with. I'd shake hands, but I'm still carrying this stuff."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"I'm Overbite," Jaromira confesses, standing aside and opening the door wider so she can come in and dump her stuff. "Daphne's out right now, but I don't imagine she'll object either."

[characterquarry]

Annette does not remark on the accent. She has a vaguely Italian or French accent herself. "I definitely appreciate it." She starts setting things down. The 'broom' goes under a bed in three pieces.

"I believe getting something to eat was discussed? Wait, before that... I just realized how silly it is one of my languages happens to be mutually intelligible here. Is Pennsylvania in Britannia, a group of islands north of Europa? Or maybe Liberion which is across the western sea?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"It...is in the United States of America, which sounds from context like it might be equivalent to Liberion in some way," Jaromira says cautiously, darting a glance at Cecil.

Cecil shrugs. "She mentioned several other countries I'd never heard of. Different universes."

"Different universes," Jaromira accepts. "There aren't a lot of restaurants nearby, but I can pay for a pass to the dining hall if you like."

[characterquarry]

"I'm used to army rations, a cafeteria will be fine. Do any of you know places I could work? Though most of my experience is combat against the Neuroi, so I'm not sure what else I could do..."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Not off the top of my head...what does combat against the Neuroi entail?" Jaromira asks.

[characterquarry]

"Flying, shielding, quick decisions in tense situations, archery, swordsmanship, marksmanship, and maintaining our equipment."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Hmm. I could probably find you a temporary job as an archery instructor, if I asked the right people. Maybe fencing too, but I'm less confident about that one."

[characterquarry]

"That would be much better than trying to find a job in retail or something. I bet any archery students you get here won't be expecting a drill sergeant. I can be nice about it, though. My sword experience probably isn't very relevant to fencing, though, since it's all designed to kill Neuroi."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Yes, that's why I was less confident about that one."

[characterquarry]

"And I have a few amulets I can sell if push comes to shove. Silver and gold and diamonds all store mana well."