witchcraft and sorcery

[witchwatcher]

For a brief moment, in a certain part of fairyland there is a tear that leads to the cold sky above a snow-covered hilly forest somewhere in the mortal world.

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[witchwatcher]

Gren climbs onto her flying box. It slowly, slowly lifts into the air and starts creeping forward, emitting strange metallic sounds once in a while. "Unf. This thing's so damn heavy. How does the names thing work? Could you call me something and have it stick? And how did you accidentally wind up far enough away from the fairy who was giving you orders before that you just... Stopped?"

[imeanforever]

"It would have to be your real name. And I think it was a tear, which is like a gate but temporary and unmarked. All my orders still applied but I couldn't keep doing the thing I was doing, so I didn't do that either."

[witchwatcher]

"Eesh. Gates are supposedly mythical as far as I know. Permanent shortcuts from one part of the world to another? Tears sound inconvenient in general and very convenient indeed in this exact case. If you weren't allowed to do much of anything when you got lost I can't imagine the anything else you were ordered to do was very pleasant."

She seems to have reached her maximum speed. It's slower than Promise's.

[imeanforever]

Promise will keep up okay, then. "Gates only go between Fairyland and the mortal world. And... no, it wasn't."

[witchwatcher]

"You're going to see a lot of names if you go into a town with me. And maybe even if you don't. If I can't figure out a better phrasing before long I'm going to order you not to enforce any orders on mortals unless they ask to be given orders uncoerced and fully understanding the implications. Geases are strictly voluntary, making you just as fail-safe as a geaser would be close enough for me."

[imeanforever]

"Okay. The other effect of me knowing a name is that the person whose name I know can't hurt me."

[witchwatcher]

"Which is a good deal for you, isn't it? I might be able to get you home, if that's something you might want. L- One of my friends can teleport to geographical features. Hm... Answer me honestly, have you lied to me about how fairies and orders work?"

[imeanforever]

"No."

[witchwatcher]

"Sorry about that. Trust, but verify. So about the Neuroi. We don't know if they get names, or if they count as people or anything. If we see one can I try to name it 'N' and see if it can hear you shouting orders?"

[imeanforever]

"Okay. If it already has a name or if it's the wrong kind of thing to be named it won't work and I'll know from when you try to name it, either way."

[witchwatcher]

"It won't matter if we don't see one, which is honestly what I'm hoping for. I have close to zero chance of successfully fighting it off on this lump of a cargo rig."

[imeanforever]

"Okay."

[witchwatcher]

"You call humans mortals. Does that mean fairies don't die? Lucky."

[imeanforever]

"We don't die."

[witchwatcher]

"So what happens if you get burned to a crisp by a Neuroi?"

[imeanforever]

"I don't know. I've never been burned up like that before."

[witchwatcher]

"I have less than zero desire to get you to actually try it. Sounds unpleasant, even if you won't die."

Gren has run out of questions for now. Silent flying over snowy hilly forest, trying to take advantage of the wind to go a little faster.

[imeanforever]

"I was told not to do a lot of things. It would be nice if you could rescind all the orders you didn't give me, or something."

[witchwatcher]

"Oh, right. Hold on, lemme remember the phrase I decided on... Don't enforce any orders on mortals unless they both ask to be given orders without seeming to be coerced as best you can tell, and you explain the implications of being given orders by a fairy to them. Barring that, I rescind all your orders."

[imeanforever]

Promise shivers. "Thanks."

[witchwatcher]

"What's your kind of magic, anyway? I'm a Witch - some female humans just happen to get magic, totally random."

[imeanforever]

"I'm a sorcerer. Anyone can learn it but it only works in Fairyland."

[witchwatcher]

"Huh. I wonder if I could copy it? Every Witch gets a special ability - mine is imperfectly copying other Witches' specials. But I'm not feeling any magic off you besides something that I think is being a fairy. And I can't copy that."

[imeanforever]

"I'm not sure what you'd copy. Anyone can learn it but you have to learn it." She double-checks. "And sorcery doesn't work here."

[witchwatcher]

She shrugs. "I guess not then. You can call me Copycat, by the way. That's my nickname."