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]

"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."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Those sound like they might be difficult to replace," Jaromira observes. "I'd try for the archery instructor job first."

[characterquarry]

"I'm rich enough to replace them if I ever get home. And with no Neuroi to fight here, there's less purpose to them. I agree that it's something to hold in reserve, though."

They pass a parking lot. "...Say, what's with all these carriages and no horses?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Those are cars. They have internal power sources that make them move autonomously," Cecil explains.

[characterquarry]

"Interesting. Is it your sort of magic, or some kind of natural philosophy?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Natural philosophy."

[characterquarry]

"A steam engine, or similar, small enough to drive a carriage. Amazing."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Oh, we've got lots of stuff like that. It seems your universe is less technologically developed than ours. What year numbering scheme do you use?" Jaromira asks.

[characterquarry]

"It's been 1341 years since the birth of Jesus Christ, in my world. A large portion of our technology, including steam engines, has been invented in the 32 years since the Neuroi invasion shook everything up."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Oh wow," Jaromira says. "It's been one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years for us."

[characterquarry]

"It may be more or less than that. Different universes, remember. I'm sure there will be lots to catch up on, though. Maybe it'll turn out to be a good thing I got sent here, if I can manage to go back."