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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.
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swordofeden
"Mm, I suppose I'm naively modeling the situation as occurring some significant time into the future."
giftedandtalented
"I will try to do things between now and the future. I have a lot of things to learn though."
swordofeden
Magic! Magic proceeds magically. Once Mehitabel has her first spell condensed for easy casting, Anaphiel shows her another one with many of the same elements as the first. "But you should cast it as a ritual at least once, even though you have condensations of several of the steps."
swordofeden
"Basically it's so the components that haven't been condensed can sort of--link up to the ones that have. It encourages them to condense more easily. You could do it just with condensations in the spots you've got for them, but it would take more time in the long run."
swordofeden
Just a few times. The components of the spell that hadn't already been condensed slot together much more easily into their assigned abridgements than the ones in the first spell did.
swordofeden
And then of course she has to condense the sequences before she has a single working spell. Anaphiel points out a few places where it would be more efficient in the long run to condense this group by itself before adding it to that other one because the sequence in question shows up enough to make it worth it.
giftedandtalented
Mehitabel follows her advice, naturally, inquiring after its theoretical backing as they go.
swordofeden
Anaphiel is happy to expound upon theoretical backing whenesoever asked!
giftedandtalented
Then they will burble along quite happily through all this spelling!
swordofeden
Oh good.
If and when Mehitabel wants a break-to-learn-other-things, Anaphiel's managed to acquire books in Hebrew by now.
If and when Mehitabel wants a break-to-learn-other-things, Anaphiel's managed to acquire books in Hebrew by now.
giftedandtalented
Mehitabel does like taking occasional breaks to read books in Hebrew. Especially if they are fun books.
swordofeden
There are a variety. Probably not all of them are fun but she is welcome to neglect those ones in favor of the ones that are.
swordofeden
Hebrew! And also some lessons on What Really Happened That The Bible Got Wrong, here and there. Interspersed with commentary on things like the euphemistic meanings of "foot" and "navel."
giftedandtalented
This too is fascinating. ...The euphemisms less so. Why, Bible writers. Why this.
swordofeden
Apparently it wasn't considered kosher (pun not intended) to refer to genitals directly for some reason.
giftedandtalented
But why are genitals-related things even in the Bible.
swordofeden
Well, most of the "foot" references are relatively innocuous; describing how Seraphim supposedly held their wings to cover themselves and explaining why this couple had to get married or whatnot. And "navel" only appears once, and if you want someone to explain the reason for the existence of the Song of Songs Anaphiel is probably not that person.
giftedandtalented
Fine, fine. The history parts are cool though. Though Mehitabel is surprised so many people are so fond of God if this thing is their introduction to her traits.
swordofeden
Most people don't read the Bible all the way through. And some people are so terrified by the prospect of annihilation upon death that they'll rationalize a lot to not have to deal with that level of fear in their day-to-day lives.