View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
Grendyne groans and starts pulling on her boots when the alarm goes off. Again. She quick-marches to the broom hangar, sits on her machine and is handed a plethora of loaded weapons by attentive corporals.
"Two flyers in one day? They're getting way too common."
"It's worse," the commander informs them, "South Karlsland got hit with three at once. We're taking Lytee's express and sleeping there. You can sit out if you absolutely need to, but Freya's still recovering so we could use you as a comms relay."
"No, I'll come. I just reserve the right to complain about it."
The 42nd United Forces Witch Wing takes off, bracing to fight yet another city-destroying monster, and assembles into a perfect synchronized formation as Lytee charges her teleport power.
...This is not South Karlsland wilderness.
Near the Golden Coven capital, in Aurum
Near Savarasse, in Thilanushinyel
Near Whately Academy
With Unbitwise
+ Show First Post
witchwatcher
witchwatcher
One of them (Yvette) precogs for a moment and pronounces, "Everything's going to be fine. They could have slaughtered us already but they're not gonna do that."
Sword lady nods and announces, "Anyone who wants to get, get." Seven of them follow her directions to fly outside and proceed north into the surrounding wilderness.
"Once again I apologize for this invasion, Empress. I am Captain Morgana McAllister of the United Defense Force. I think we have a lot to discuss, is there a better place than this hallway?"
Sword lady nods and announces, "Anyone who wants to get, get." Seven of them follow her directions to fly outside and proceed north into the surrounding wilderness.
"Once again I apologize for this invasion, Empress. I am Captain Morgana McAllister of the United Defense Force. I think we have a lot to discuss, is there a better place than this hallway?"
luminous_regnant
"The compound isn't set up for this many human visitors on short notice, but we can crowd you into my daughter's office."
In they go.
In they go.
witchwatcher
Gren places herself nearer the Gren coven contingent, prompting slightly disappointed looks from the Witches.
Captain McAllister begins, "I am not actually authorized to negotiate on behalf of the UDF, just the clan of McAllister, but Grendyne's... Summary... Indicates there are good possibilities for cooperation between our worlds."
"Naturally I would be interested in weapons or magic to help defeat the Neuroi. Lytee can make a one-way trip between our worlds approximately twice a day, bringing up to 20 individuals or 10 tons of objects. There are other teleporters available, but not immediately. Is trade of goods or magic an option here?"
Captain McAllister begins, "I am not actually authorized to negotiate on behalf of the UDF, just the clan of McAllister, but Grendyne's... Summary... Indicates there are good possibilities for cooperation between our worlds."
"Naturally I would be interested in weapons or magic to help defeat the Neuroi. Lytee can make a one-way trip between our worlds approximately twice a day, bringing up to 20 individuals or 10 tons of objects. There are other teleporters available, but not immediately. Is trade of goods or magic an option here?"
luminous_regnant
(Shawn manages to defloof and re-uniform himself so that he can squeeze into Elspeth's office without bumping his head, and stand next to Gren.)
"If teleporters consistently exist on your world, trade of goods is absolutely of interest and certain forms of trading magic are possible."
"If teleporters consistently exist on your world, trade of goods is absolutely of interest and certain forms of trading magic are possible."
witchwatcher
Gren pipes up, "I have charged gold. You can go home as soon as she recovers from mana squeeze. I also have a list of weapons that would be most effective against Neuroi, and tech that would be of most benefit everywhere else. Made them just in case. Likely to be expensive in any quantity."
The captain nods. "What kinds of goods or magic are you most interested in?"
The captain nods. "What kinds of goods or magic are you most interested in?"
luminous_regnant
"Considering the situation I think we can consider some initial shipments foreign aid. It isn't overwhelmingly likely that you have any manufacturing that we need here in quantity, nor the means to effectively collect any natural resources we use; I'm more likely to be able to make effective use of creative works from your world, which will differ. I am definitely interested in the possibility of hiring more witches of your variety, though."
witchwatcher
"I'm quite sure you will find plenty of willing Witches, hopefully ones who are not in the middle of a term of service..."
"I'll buy out my contract if you insist," Gren says, "But I was cut off and had no hope of returning. And I probably just landed the UDF the mother of all force multipliers. I'm not going back into combat without a damn good reason."
The commander scowls and mutters 'coward' too low for any but the vampires to hear. "Yvette?"
"Take someone there or bring someone here to negotiate. Either way, good things."
"What do you think, Empress? Here or there?"
"I'll buy out my contract if you insist," Gren says, "But I was cut off and had no hope of returning. And I probably just landed the UDF the mother of all force multipliers. I'm not going back into combat without a damn good reason."
The commander scowls and mutters 'coward' too low for any but the vampires to hear. "Yvette?"
"Take someone there or bring someone here to negotiate. Either way, good things."
"What do you think, Empress? Here or there?"
luminous_regnant
Bella turns to Alice. "I take it you're drawing a complete blank."
"Yeah," winces Alice, "can't see anything in or after a visit to the other world."
"In that case I'd prefer to hold negotiations here."
"Yeah," winces Alice, "can't see anything in or after a visit to the other world."
"In that case I'd prefer to hold negotiations here."
witchwatcher
"I just get vague- feelings," Yvette pipes up, "But they never fail me. Even when folks change their minds. It's neat to meet another precog."
"At any rate, I'd like a piece of tech to serve as proof to get someone high enough up the chain to believe this."
A very bored-sounding Witch drawls, "Better show me where to land next time too."
"At any rate, I'd like a piece of tech to serve as proof to get someone high enough up the chain to believe this."
A very bored-sounding Witch drawls, "Better show me where to land next time too."
luminous_regnant
"Do you care what the piece of tech is, or can we just give you something convenient like a flashlight?"
witchwatcher
"Flashlight would be enough for a diplomat, but if you want to get the UDF opening negotiations in any kind of a hurry, it should be walkie-talkies or a gun or something similarly militarily obvious."
luminous_regnant
"Getting guns is a little legally complicated in Canada and we don't keep them around or have established channels for getting them... I'll have Razi pick up a walkie talkie set." She pulls out her phone and sends a text.
witchwatcher
"Morg, do you know if there's any shape changers in Suomus? Species changes could be really useful here if anyone can manage it."
"Not off the top of my head. UDF has witch directories, we can have them look it up."
"Not off the top of my head. UDF has witch directories, we can have them look it up."
luminous_regnant
"I'm perfectly happy to have appropriately vetted people turned into nonvenomous hybrids," says Bella. "That doesn't have the same containment problem."
witchwatcher
"So you detected my ulterior motive," Gren replies sarcastically.
The last witch who hasn't spoken yet is busy scribbling a summary of what the hell is going on.
The last witch who hasn't spoken yet is busy scribbling a summary of what the hell is going on.
luminous_regnant
Razi pops in with walkie-talkies, drops them in their packaging into Bella's hands, and then disappears again.
"Gren, perhaps you should introduce us to your friends," remarks Bella, offering the package to her.
"Gren, perhaps you should introduce us to your friends," remarks Bella, offering the package to her.
witchwatcher
"Captain Morgana McAllister here is the overall commander of the 42nd wing. She's a tracker. Yvette Polska is precognitive. Lytee Normanson is the fabled inter-world teleporter. Miyako Mio has enhanced vision."
luminous_regnant
"So you work between worlds, Yvette? How good's your vision, Miyako?" wonders Alice.
witchwatcher
"I guess I work between worlds? I predicted that our rescue mission would be confusing but ultimately good, so there's that. It sounds like you get actual visions. I get feelings about plans and that's it."
Mio glances at a compass, then around her. She says, "I have distance and object-piercing vision, not any great detail. For example, there is a bear 9.3 miles at 279 degrees heading from here, but I cannot tell if it is male or female."
Mio glances at a compass, then around her. She says, "I have distance and object-piercing vision, not any great detail. For example, there is a bear 9.3 miles at 279 degrees heading from here, but I cannot tell if it is male or female."
luminous_regnant
"Ooh, you see through things, we can't do that," says Alice. "And yeah, I get actual visions, no sound though, and I have blind spots."
witchwatcher
Lytee pipes up, "Anybody gonna give me a better spot to aim for next time? I had to adjust at the last moment to keep us from appearing inside a wall or each other. I would prefer to not have to do that again, if possible."
luminous_regnant
"While we're at this capital site you can land outside, as long as you're prepared for the cold. We can show you," says Bella, and she leads the witches out of doors.
witchwatcher
"This'll do. Thanks. Can't go yet, though, emergency adjustment on a big port is like getting punched in the gut."
"I'll fetch my charged gold," Gren reports, "Be back in a few minutes if Shawn doesn't mind running me."
The captain says, "The diplomats will probably want to meet outside of your husband's range, if possible. Any ettiquite or customs they should know?"
"I'll fetch my charged gold," Gren reports, "Be back in a few minutes if Shawn doesn't mind running me."
The captain says, "The diplomats will probably want to meet outside of your husband's range, if possible. Any ettiquite or customs they should know?"
luminous_regnant
"As long as they don't mind waiting a moment for Alice to evaluate the situation, being out of my husband's range is acceptable."
(Shawn wolfs again to run Gren.)
"We're fairly casual for most purposes. Vampires present can and will hold multiple parallel conversation threads above the range of human hearing too rapidly for humans to follow simultaneously with the audible conversation, which you might want to know in advance. If there are wolves present, it is of utmost importance that everyone avoid any appearance of threatening their imprints, such as Gren or my daughter. Vampires have comparable attachments but are less likely to consider our mates relevantly vulnerable so it's less of a concern. Some of the species we have here age oddly and we've made some cultural structures around that which may seem odd, but which I assure you make sense under our circumstances. Vampires don't sleep, and you'd have trouble blending in in a human town even if we got you hotel rooms, and putting female humans near wolves does run the risk of more imprintings, which risk you may take assuming you can be individually trusted not to misuse wolves you may acquire but which should be considered carefully and with full information. The bottleneck in transit means that it would be most convenient to speak to someone who is at least almost as authorized as I am to make agreements, but you're probably in more of a hurry than we are so if that's inconvenient it can be dispensed with."
(Shawn wolfs again to run Gren.)
"We're fairly casual for most purposes. Vampires present can and will hold multiple parallel conversation threads above the range of human hearing too rapidly for humans to follow simultaneously with the audible conversation, which you might want to know in advance. If there are wolves present, it is of utmost importance that everyone avoid any appearance of threatening their imprints, such as Gren or my daughter. Vampires have comparable attachments but are less likely to consider our mates relevantly vulnerable so it's less of a concern. Some of the species we have here age oddly and we've made some cultural structures around that which may seem odd, but which I assure you make sense under our circumstances. Vampires don't sleep, and you'd have trouble blending in in a human town even if we got you hotel rooms, and putting female humans near wolves does run the risk of more imprintings, which risk you may take assuming you can be individually trusted not to misuse wolves you may acquire but which should be considered carefully and with full information. The bottleneck in transit means that it would be most convenient to speak to someone who is at least almost as authorized as I am to make agreements, but you're probably in more of a hurry than we are so if that's inconvenient it can be dispensed with."
witchwatcher
Morgana replies, "They'll send someone important, I'll make sure of it. You probably want to keep all of us away from unimprinted wolves until some of this is sorted out. Thanks for the information."
She helps Miyako write up summaries until Gren returns with jewlery. Then they report an estimated return time of 6 hours when they depart to find the Witches who declined to be near Edward.
She helps Miyako write up summaries until Gren returns with jewlery. Then they report an estimated return time of 6 hours when they depart to find the Witches who declined to be near Edward.