witches treasure children

[dark_light]

Here is Milliways. It's Milliways with an empty Belltower, but it's still a neat place to hang out between making bits of incremental progress in motion spells and coaxing advice out of the alethiometer and wedging herself into clan politics.

Comments

[dark_light]

"You know what, if you want to I'll open the door for you, but - their standing opinion is that it's not worth it in a world with no daemons. If you had a daemon, she'd be a lot like you, you know, your soul - and nobody but you could touch her without hurting you, unless they were closer-than-close already. And I assume you'd have to hide her, too, she'd have to be little shapes and tucked away all the time."

[pythbox]

"But I could touch her," he says. "And that'd be better than what I've got."

[dark_light]

"Right now she's - curled up inside you asleep somewhere," Amariah says, "or you'd be a zombie, not a whole person, and right now she doesn't need things - affection, attention, people to talk to - except through you, because she's asleep. You'd be taking one very bad situation and making it a slightly less bad but duplicated situation, and it's not like you could put her away again after you had her out once. I'd recommend talking to Kas and Petaal about it."

[pythbox]

"Okay," he shrugs.

[dark_light]

"I'll go get them," Amariah says, and she releases Sue and heads for the door and sticks her head out. [Hey Kas! I found a fifteenish you and he's been locked up in solitary, come help me keep him company and be advicey on possibly bringing him briefly into our world so he can get a daemon and not be so lonesome?]

[truthwright]

He appears and hugs her.

"Okay," says Petaal from where she's coiled around his neck as a brightly coloured snake, "where's the little-us?"

[dark_light]

"Over there," says Amariah, pointing. "Sue! These are Kas and Petaal. Sweeties, this is Sue."

[pythbox]

"Hi," says Sue, still hugging himself.

[truthwright]

Kas teleports over and gives him a great big snuggly hug.

[dark_light]

Amariah goes and sits back down where she was a moment ago. "Sue's got a Bell, but they attend school across the solar system from each other so they haven't seen each other in a long time," she says.

[pythbox]

He leans on Kas and closes his eyes and just... pushes the mess that is his feelings.

[truthwright]

Kas blinks.

"You didn't mention you were magic," he says, linking back and pushing the love that underlies his hug.

[dark_light]

"Book says the word is 'mutant' and not technically magical," Amariah says.

[pythbox]

Sue shrugs, leaning into Kas's arms.

[truthwright]

"You can hug back if you want," he murmurs.

[pythbox]

Slowly, hesitantly, he does.

[truthwright]

Kas hugs him closer.

[pythbox]

He closes his eyes and presses his face against Kas's shoulder.





"I wanna go to your world," he declares, after they have spent a few minutes like this.

[dark_light]

"Okay," says Amariah. "If you're sure."

"What're you going to call her?" Path asks.

[pythbox]

"Ivy," he says whimsically.

[dark_light]

"Why Ivy?" Amariah asks, getting up and heading for the door.

[pythbox]

"Something Aegis said once," he says, detaching from Kas and trailing after her. "I forget."

[dark_light]

Amariah holds the door for him.

[pythbox]

Sue steps through.

Nothing happens at first.

But there's a glimmer, then a sparkle, then a cascade of golden light in the air next to him, and it coaelsces into a girl, exactly his age and exactly his height but with different body proportions and fewer clothes.

He hugs her immediately.

She turns into a viscacha and cuddles into his arms.

[dark_light]

"Aww," sighs Amariah.

"Hi, Ivy," says Path.