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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
witchwatcher
witchwatcher
"Gonna talk to Jake real quick."
[Jake, I'm back. Where's a good place for you to look at my 'wing?]
[Jake, I'm back. Where's a good place for you to look at my 'wing?]
witchwatcher
[On our way.]
She hefts the machine. "Shawn, wanna show me to the garage on the north end of the village? Have a nice day, Kelly!"
She hefts the machine. "Shawn, wanna show me to the garage on the north end of the village? Have a nice day, Kelly!"
"Yeah, sure!" says Shawn. He trots up away from the beach into the village and shows her a building where Jacob is hanging out, Elspeth nearby. There are cars and a couple buses and other miscellaneous vehicles.
witchwatcher
She looks for a convenient place to set the thing down, and sets it.
It's shaped roughly like a motorcycle, if a motorcycle had pointy bits sticking out at a few odd angles, mostly towards the back.
She starts explaining what she knows about how it works to Jake, the short version if which is: The pointy bits are important, the mechanical things inside it are also important, if either of things are ruined it's still sticklike enough for her to fly, if only barely.
It's shaped roughly like a motorcycle, if a motorcycle had pointy bits sticking out at a few odd angles, mostly towards the back.
She starts explaining what she knows about how it works to Jake, the short version if which is: The pointy bits are important, the mechanical things inside it are also important, if either of things are ruined it's still sticklike enough for her to fly, if only barely.
witchwatcher
"Brooms don't work well unless they have bristles. Or are at least slightly asymmetrical. I think they might help the magic do stability, somehow."
"That's... weird. I'm not sure I'll be able to get very far on the shape without knowing what the magic is doing, but maybe the interior is doing something engine-y. How's it open up?"
witchwatcher
"By a latched hinge, here."
It doesn't look very enginey, but that is a differential gear, and that thing over there is a flywheel.
"Sorry I can't give you much help with it. I bet Knight knows how these things work, hers is custom."
It doesn't look very enginey, but that is a differential gear, and that thing over there is a flywheel.
"Sorry I can't give you much help with it. I bet Knight knows how these things work, hers is custom."
witchwatcher
"Hm. It's kind of... Witchly synesthesia. I can try."
Basically, she gives mana, a generic magical energy, to the machine and this makes it move or hover. Giving mana in a particular direction (to the front, to the left, etc) turns, rolls, or banks it, almost like airplane controls.
Basically, she gives mana, a generic magical energy, to the machine and this makes it move or hover. Giving mana in a particular direction (to the front, to the left, etc) turns, rolls, or banks it, almost like airplane controls.
"Do the mechanical things do anything if you just treat this like it has no moving parts, or do you also have to mana at them?"
witchwatcher
"No, the mana definitely goes through the moving parts. It starts in these two flywheels. It's like flying a brick if you don't do it that way."
witchwatcher
"Not sure. I'm guessing I don't have to put mana into keeping them running, but that's just a guess. We don't have steam engines small enough to test that kind of idea."
"...Steam engines are kinda obsolete here. We can make something to spin your wheels if that'll help."
witchwatcher
"It's worth a try. I think the mana does something else with the insides than just spin the wheels, but that might be bad intuition talking."
"I'll talk to Rosalie, rig something up. If that doesn't work, I don't have another great idea right now but one might come up."
witchwatcher
"Thanks. Should I go put it somewhere else for now, or is here fine? Actually, I should clean and oil it. Do you have any good lubricant here?"
witchwatcher
It goes by the motorcycles. Cleaning the thing takes about an hour, less if Shawn helps.
"Say, how fast are you, running?"
"Say, how fast are you, running?"
Shawn helps. "Me?" he asks. "I only just activated, I haven't gotten to go flat out anyplace big yet, I dunno. I think most wolves can do... maybe two hundred miles an hour on a straightaway? We can catch vampires as long as they're not going into small places or up cliffs or something."
witchwatcher
"Almost as fast as a Witch in a straightaway. Nice. I want to see the guest house, and maybe get you to explain how it all works. The lights and so on. Even if you're no engineer, you know more about it than me."
[Elspeth, the Empress knows I'm already ready for any comms she needs, correct?]
[Elspeth, the Empress knows I'm already ready for any comms she needs, correct?]
her_imperial_radiance
"Yeah, sure," says Shawn, hopping up. "Thisaway."
[She guessed, but you're mana-limited and phones run on electricity, so she probably won't ask until someone doesn't pick up their cell.]
(Elspeth works over most forms of communication; "cell" expands helpfully for Gren.)
[She guessed, but you're mana-limited and phones run on electricity, so she probably won't ask until someone doesn't pick up their cell.]
(Elspeth works over most forms of communication; "cell" expands helpfully for Gren.)
witchwatcher
She follows Shawn.
[I already burned a lot of mana this morning and used up all my charge bracelets too but on any other day I can be calling people for at least 12 hours and not run out. I can do magic life support and healing on injured humans, should have mentioned that sooner. Expensive though. Do I still not get to meet Addy?]
[I already burned a lot of mana this morning and used up all my charge bracelets too but on any other day I can be calling people for at least 12 hours and not run out. I can do magic life support and healing on injured humans, should have mentioned that sooner. Expensive though. Do I still not get to meet Addy?]