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]

"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."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"If," she agrees. "I'll ask my brother about it. He's a far more accomplished magician than Jawbreaker."

[characterquarry]

"Hm." The Witch from another world is silent and contemplative until they reach the dining hall.

[maggie_of_the_owls]

Jaromira buys her a meal pass.

[characterquarry]

She very politely refrains from asking for explanations of everything new to her, and simply loads up on food where indicated.

One of the things she gets is a cup of coffee. "Coffee! Rare stuff, back home."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"It is not rare here. Some college students practically live on the stuff." She gets a coffee too, and an interesting-looking fruit juice beverage, but no solid foods.

[characterquarry]

Her portions are large and leaning towards simple food like pasta and milk. She says a little prayer, too mumbled to hear the words, before tucking in, and then a meal is enthusiastically put away. "Thanks again. This place is starting to seem like a wonderland. Who should I see about that archery position?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"I'll have to talk to a few people, probably; it might be a few days before I know exactly who to introduce you to."

[characterquarry]

"Fair enough. Do you suppose I could visit a library in the meantime?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"That won't be a problem, although if you want to check anything out you should let Jawbreaker or Daphne or I know so we can do it for you."

[characterquarry]

"Would you mind showing me to the library, then?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Not at all." She demonstrates where to put their dirty dishes and then leads her out of the dining hall and to the library.

[characterquarry]

In the library, Major Gepard visits the card catalog and then goes straight to non-fiction seeking military history and the most accessible looking engineering books.

"I'm perfectly willing to just read them here if you don't want to check them out."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"It's fine," Jaromira says, waving a hand. "Checking them out doesn't take an obnoxious amount of time or anything. Just don't damage or lose them, that's all."

"Who shouldn't damage anything?" asks a dark-haired woman, emerging from shelves more connected to biology.

[characterquarry]

"Me. Annete Gepard. I'm not a student here, just visiting."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Oh, hello. I'm Daphne Major."

"Daphne, she's from another world and she'll be staying with us while she gets on her feet. Major Gepard, this is my roommate Daphne."

[characterquarry]

"Aha. My apologies for the attempt at OpSec. Nice to meet you, Daphne."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Nice to meet you too. So what kind of military are you from?"

[characterquarry]

"A magical air force who fights seemingly-mindless alien invaders that like turning cities to glass and making hurricanes. In the year 1341. Mostly with bows and arrows so far, but I'm going to try to bring back radios and assault rifles if it turns out I can go back."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Hoo boy. Um--"

"I haven't talked to Kanimir yet, but I'm going to," Jaromira assures Daphne.

"Good."

[characterquarry]

"I know I keep saying this, but you all seem remarkably even-keeled about this. I'm forcing myself calm because it's my job to be calm and collected when unpleasant things are happening, but none of you lot are military. I should be grateful, I suppose. Thanks for not being panicked and flustered."

[maggie_of_the_owls]

"Oh, this kind of thing happens a lot," Daphne says wryly. "Not visitors from the Nth dimension, specifically, but the kind of weird shit that goes in a B-Movie."

"Her world isn't as technically advanced. She probably doesn't know what a movie is," Jaromira chides gently. "Relevantly, a B-Movie is a particular kind of sensationalist story. And I'm over seven hundred years old. You see a lot in that kind of timespan."

[characterquarry]

"Well, it certainly benefits me so I won't complain. I think I'll just find a place to sit and read these now. Are there books here about your world's magic? I didn't notice any at first glance."