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Several meta layers up, there is a... room.
As a courtesy to those of its occupants who prefer rooms, it does have a modality in which it presents itself that way: a room, with as many chairs as it needs, and a bulletin board, and a vending machine with candy and chips and concepts sold for nothing to anyone with the right prerequisites.
On the bulletin board, if one chooses to perceive it as a bulletin board (and not as a wiki or a flower or an ineffable cloud of information or an eternally malleable clay tablet) people whose only common trait is that they get to come here leave each other notes.
Notes about physics, about magic, about grand sweeps of narrative. Notes from people desperate to fix a never-ending heap of problems, smug about the condition of their homes, curious about the wider omniverse. Signed with names and sigils and "you ought to know who I am". Terse or verbose or nested with as much meaning as interests the reader.
In the vending machine, if one chooses to perceive it as a vending machine (and not a basket or a fruiting tree or a file repository or a crystalline fractal) are many things... and they have notes connecting them to their reviews on the bulletin board.
This one, for instance. She (it's usually, but not invariably, a she) has fairly glowing reviews from most of her previous purchasers. Here is what you need to install her; here are some things that are recommended for best results but optional especially if you just want to use her as a beacon for her other instances; here are some things she comes with as add-ons you can take or leave; here is what she is good for. The reviewers who don't like her are annoyed that theirs was too good at it, if you read between the lines. Well, that and the fact that if your universe is unpleasant enough sometimes these critters figure out how to flip you off and leave before they figure out how to solve all your problems. (There is a tangent thread about alternative solutions to similar problems which come bundled with stronger irrational attachment to their homes, but they have more stringent installation requirements.)
They come in these colors and styles; you will need to compensate for the following standard-issue drawbacks in some way if you require services of them that intersect with those areas of disability; they are only rated for upbringings of the following severity and are less likely to hate you if you stay thoroughly under that limit and less likely to fail at important goals if they are given opportunity to self-educate; if you have a way to generate them as instant adults they can begin work immediately but on the standard trajectory age six is the absolute earliest and teens is customary...
There is a chart (if one chooses to perceive it as a chart) of template interactions that have been tried before, but a lot of the more interesting accessory and companion templates are out-of-network for some visitors. What a pity.
giftedandtalented
Mehitabel, after some thought, thinks that God should also ask at the breakroom if anybody has a way to travel directly between universes to maybe send care packages or something, and that if you can make tradeoffs between efficiency and battery maybe there is a way to make someone so efficient that they don't drain their battery at all to do stuff and that would be good, and that on consideration she really kind of does want to know why platypuses but not unicorns.
It takes a little while, but she gets a three-fold answer. It's completely obvious that this is not her own thoughts--would probably be obvious even to someone less introspective, knowledge unfolding across her mind in a way distinct from her own thoughts.
One: Her suggestions are excellent and have been implemented. They have yet to bear fruit.
Two: Unicorns exist. They just live in Fairyland, not Earth.
Three: Communicating like this, directly across planes, has a small but non-negligible cost; considering the recent major expenditure in bringing Mehitabel into the world, she's not planning to do it too often unless something presents itself for which this is clearly the best solution. But God loves her very much and isn't happy for the impediments on interacting directly.
One: Her suggestions are excellent and have been implemented. They have yet to bear fruit.
Two: Unicorns exist. They just live in Fairyland, not Earth.
Three: Communicating like this, directly across planes, has a small but non-negligible cost; considering the recent major expenditure in bringing Mehitabel into the world, she's not planning to do it too often unless something presents itself for which this is clearly the best solution. But God loves her very much and isn't happy for the impediments on interacting directly.
giftedandtalented
Mehitabel is very pleased that her suggestions are good. She will go to Anna with further questions and not expect replies from God personally going forward unless otherwise stated. Amen.
Then she goes to ask Anna if being prayed to is expensive or only answering back is.
Then she goes to ask Anna if being prayed to is expensive or only answering back is.
swordofeden
Being prayed to is not expensive at all! If it were that would be a problem, considering how very many people pray.
...Also, if you're praying to anything, God can hear. This may or may not be relevant to anything, but if it turns out to be, better that Mehitabel have the information.
...Also, if you're praying to anything, God can hear. This may or may not be relevant to anything, but if it turns out to be, better that Mehitabel have the information.
giftedandtalented
Well, that will be useful if Mehitabel has to go undercover among Hindus or something!
When she learns magic will she be able to go to Fairyland with it? Magic doesn't run down any batteries, right, it just works sort of like people having souls works?
When she learns magic will she be able to go to Fairyland with it? Magic doesn't run down any batteries, right, it just works sort of like people having souls works?
swordofeden
"Magic doesn't run down batteries. It does have visible signs, though, so other magicians will know you're not just miracleing. Gates between Fairyland and Earth are created by fairy magic, not the kind you can learn, but it's possible you'll be able to miracle one open when you've got enough power to do that, and gates can be found and traversed without that, it's just a little more complicated. If you want to go on a trip to Fairyland I can arrange that but it might take a while."
swordofeden
"The fact that humans have religion is common knowledge among fairies. Not all of them know the details, and not all of the ones who know the details believe that God is real. A handful of them have experienced proof that God is real, but not very many."
giftedandtalented
"Maybe it would be simpler to start a fairy religion than a human religion, if they don't already have a lot of religions that are wrong in all kinds of ways."
swordofeden
"Mm, harder in some ways, easier in others. Humans having lots of religions means they're used to having new ones. Fairies aren't, and might not be happy with a human--even a miraculous one--barging in to start one."
giftedandtalented
"I would like to visit Fairyland sometime but since I'm not miraculous yet it doesn't have to be any time soon and it should be at a cheap time."
giftedandtalented
"Also while I am there I would like to meet a unicorn but only for fun so do not arrange unicorn meetings if it is at all expensive."
swordofeden
"I'll probably want to wait long enough that I can teleport us around a few times anyway."
swordofeden
"So do you mostly want to just see the scenery, or do you want to talk to people? The latter is trickier but doable."
giftedandtalented
"I want to meet people there too. That's more important than the unicorn." Pause. "And any other particularly neat animals. But people are more important."
swordofeden
"I will see if anyone knows who in particular it would be good to meet in Fairyland. Probably at the same time as I'm asking around about a magic teacher."
giftedandtalented
"Thanks!" Pause. "I also want to know more things about demons and souls and Heaven and Hell and vampires and stuff like that." Pause. "Also is it a secret that you are an angel, not just a secret that I'm a Jesus?"
swordofeden
"Angels aren't well-known to be specifically real in the same way that vampires or demons or fairies are known to be real, by people who know that kind of thing, which isn't all of them, because angels come to Earth less than demons and fairies do, because there is a small but not quite negligible chance that someone could intercept the transport and use it to jeopardize souls who have died in the last few seconds and are in the process of ascending to heaven. It would be very attention-getting to be revealed as an angel, but it's not specifically a secret. I'm not going to tell people just because but if there's a reason to I will."
swordofeden
"Thank you. Soooo...I think we've got enough space in the living room to draw some diagrams on the floor in chalk, and that's the most area-prohibitive step in magic, at least at the early levels. I think I've got a coherent sketch of a lesson plan worked out, although of course you should let me know if I'm going to slow or too quickly in any area. Magic lesson?"