syntropic

[lifes_sake]

Home again. [Tilly! We're back! How long were we out?]

Comments

[withmypowers]

"Hi," says Tilly.

"Hi and hi," says Matilda. "And hi."

"So the thing Adularia was thinking," says Agent Honey, "is that she might like to partner with you both. If she can successfully split herself into three Devices linked by ansible connections."

"Ooh," say the other two Matildas, with perfect simultaneity.

[lifes_sake]

Cam laughs when the Matildas speak in sync.

[withmypowers]

"I thought you might say that," says Agent Honey.

"Can we do it, though?" says Tilly.

"We can try," says Matilda. "Whose magic?"

"Wish is cleanest," says Tilly. "Let's try that first. And as the local expert—"

She makes an over-to-you gesture to Agent Honey, who smiles.

"Try both-at-once first, then one at a time, going up sizes from pentagon," Tilly advises. "And definitely include the ansible installation."

A moonstone pendant appears around Tilly's neck, then around Matilda's.

"Two hexes," Agent Honey reports.

"Four," says Tilly, "now that I've maged us."

The Matildas share a grin.

[lifes_sake]

"Congratulations."

[withmypowers]

"We like magic," says Matilda, grinning.

"We like it a lot," says Tilly.

"And now we've all traded kinds," says Agent Honey.

"Except mine, which doesn't trade as usefully," says Tilly. "But I might as well hand it over anyway."

"The universal language? Limited applicability, especially now that we all have Devices," says Agent Honey. "But go for it."

Tilly nods.

[lifes_sake]

"Maybe eventually I'll figure out what's up with the Powers and Ordeals and fix it up a bit, and then it'll be a worthwhile project to figure out how to wizard adults. There was a person in Materia who went in for deicide, it could be highly entertaining to throw her at Iggy," muses Cam, "if the world weren't a biohazard."

[mind_game]

"Biohazard? But anyway Aether's new aura fixes that," chirps Jane. "Near her, anyway."

[withmypowers]

"Refresh my memory - Iggy?" says Agent Honey.

[lifes_sake]

"Local evil deity, sends nastiness after newly oathed wizards," says Cam. "He is not actually named Iggy, that's just how he introduced himself to me when he was pretending to be a talking rock."

[withmypowers]

"I see," says Agent Honey. "That does sound unpleasant. Can we do something about him?"

"Nothing immediately obvious," says Tilly. "But you never know."

[lifes_sake]

"Don't understand enough about how he works," Cam says. "He has either confused motivations, intensely variable competence, or some kind of agenda beyond my comprehension - his pattern of behavior doesn't make sense if he's trying to achieve some result, has as much power as it sometimes looks like he has, and works, psychologically, like all the other kinds of people we've met."

[withmypowers]

"I do think he has limitations that aren't apparent to us," says Tilly, "but whether they're psychological or practical I'm really not sure."

"Hmm," says Matilda. "Something to think about."

The Matildas share a smile.

[lifes_sake]

"The fact that this world isn't Downsideable has me nervous about making a move, in case he gets backed into a corner - or some alien-psychology equivalent - and kills a bunch of people I can't get back," Cam says. "He hasn't been making an unusual amount of nuisance of himself so far even though he considered me threatening enough back when I was newly wizardy to try to strike a deal with me."

[withmypowers]

"I haven't been able to acquire any good detail about this world's afterlife," says Tilly, "but I'm pretty sure at this point that it has some kind of a one."

[lifes_sake]

"That does appear to be the way things are not-Downsideable, based on a sample size of one that isn't this one."

[mind_game]

"Two. Aether has the same problem, although she knows more about her afterlife than you do."

[withmypowers]

"Interesting," says Tilly. "Should we investigate that more, I wonder? Do we know if resurrection works on locals? Is it safe to experiment?"

[lifes_sake]

"Before the Downside glitch was fixed that caused forking," says Cam, "and there are certainly worse-case scenarios - I'm not sure the set of people I want to resurrect and the set of people you could talk me into experimenting on even intersect."

[withmypowers]

"Then I think," says Matilda, "you should probably find out what your afterlife is like."

[lifes_sake]

"Yep. Tackling afterlives is a peal job, though, and I think everybody wants a settling period - well, enough of us do, anyway - that peal parties, let alone peal projects, are gonna have to sit for a few weeks."

[withmypowers]

"It can go on the to-do list," says Tilly. Her Adularia shimmers; she pauses, then smiles.

[lifes_sake]

Cam laughs. "Welcome to the magic book club."

[withmypowers]

"Yes," says Agent Honey, "I've been told you're in a similar situation to me and Adularia, but I didn't get details."

[lifes_sake]

Cam reaches into his backpack and takes out Grace. "This is mine." She turns into a hawk, on his shoulder, in a cascade of gold, and starts preening Cam's hair. "She's not very talkative with people other than me though."

[withmypowers]

"Neither is Adularia," say all three Matildas in chorus.