WEEK 4: ITEM CONFERENCE

[calamitish]

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[calamitish]

[ for the record, this wednesday is sure a wednesday. ish is dressed in a different purple and black ensemble from his usual, floating in the air at a comfortable height, legs crossed. if he looks a little harried, well i refer you to the ??? top but hey, there's business to discuss.

all the items can take up various slots on the table, chairs or wicker chaise he has set up in the greenhouse. ]

I think this is the weirdest contract meeting I've ever had, and that includes the one time my former partner made me take him to a pizzeria in some place called New York.

[ what's a new york? sorry zen. ]

I have to say though, some of you look really cute like this. [ ✨ ]

So, where should we start?

[fillintheblanket]

[The blue-and-plum-pink wagasa that is standing in the middle of the little circle of items tilts almost 45 degrees sideways when Ish mentions New York.

...

It doesn't say anything about that. Instead:]

Why don't we start with how much you know? You must have noticed our movements this week.

[calamitish]

[ you're making him do work? he's already dealt with [] today and now this? ]

Well yeah, it was kinda impossible not to with Siffrin doing their best to make me consider how I would put a WEAPON on trial. [ the Vibes, he can sense them. ]

But from what I've got: you need physical bodies, right? And maybe more for those guys [ gesturing to lobelia and co who is ever present in our walls ] .

Bodies I can do, if you're handling most of the soul transfer bit. Rune's powers are annoying like he was.

[fillintheblanket]

[You gave yourself work, Ish.]

You can't put someone on trial twice.

[It's ostensibly a dry response, but there's an undercurrent beneath: not quite hostile, but a little more like warning than not.

The umbrella is quiet after that, listening and considering.]

We'll talk about the older ghosts later. How's your summoning magic?

[calamitish]

Says who? If it wasn't that then I'd need to put up G'raha on trial for holding the knife???

[ it would be a pain!!! but he waves his hand because that's a headache for hopefully never. ]

I got them all here, you aside, so what do you think? [ sorry he's in a slight Mood, just ignore him. ]

It's not an exact science, but once I wake up Norna I can ask her for her help. I'd probably be able to do it on my own anyway, but that power didn't belong to me originally, so she knows how to use it better than I do.

[siffriend]

[ Hahaha. Yeah. There's an amused wiggle from the blade, which it pointedly not... pointed at Ish, don't worry. ]

... I wasn't aiming to kill her, don't worry. Just hurt. I wouldn't make more work for you.

[ UNLIKE


SOME OTHERS HE COULD MENTION RIGHT NOW BUT WE WILL NOT MENTION THEM RIGHT NOW. ]

[calamitish]

Well at least you have some sense!!!

[ this is him saying thank you. ]

[vivens]

[ this is where this particular hat would wave to ish but given that he is nothing but hat that possibility gets thrown out the window. though, he'll ""look"" over towards his new umbrella "friend" and follow his direction. he really doesn't want to be too repetitive but— ]

It seems like we're in the need of some sort of miracle.

[ ... ]

And I'm glad that my plan ended up working out.

[calamitish]

[ hat friend!!! ish smiles. ]

Don't jinx it. But it should be done by Sunday, so assuming this doesn't all fall apart by then?

We might just get one.

[vivens]

[ if only this hat could smile in return!! at least he can laugh. ]

Would you consider being known as a Witch of Miracles at that point?

[ he's kidding! mostly. he is/was serious about ish entertaining the idea of rebranding himself as something else. though to the reason for why they've gathered— ]

It seems like we're gathered here as insurance to make sure that things play out and we can have a nice Sunday.

[calamitish]

That's not snappy enough! [ it needs pizzazz! ] Better than the last one, though.

If we're here for insurance, then we'll just make a contract. I'm bound to those, as you all probably know by now.

[distain]

That's the concern, though, isn't it? According to Yamanbagiri...

We might not even have that long. [She glances at the sword/umbrella/blanket burrito for his take on the time it will take for everything to either fall apart or be repaired.]

[fillintheblanket]

We don't have that long.

[The umbrella confirms it flatly.]

When I asked how much you knew, Ish, I was hoping you also knew a little more about what was happening next to your domain.

[thesharpestroy]

The place is pretty famous for pizza.

[Shiv notes. She can't have the visual of folding her arms as a ring, but know that she is folding her arms in spirit.]

So how exactly does the plan for bringing back your mom work? Was erasing other people's time in the Akashic record supposed to give her more? If she's even dead. I'm a little new to the whole goddess and summoning magic thing.

[siffriend]

[ (Oh, like Poteria.) ]

She's more like Sleeping Beauty, I think.

[calamitish]

Right, but I'm not kissing her. [ he makes a face at that and moves on quickly. ]

I needed access to their time, to put it simply. Many years ago, Norna put herself into a deep sleep. I'm not telling you why and it's not important for you to know, but I want to wake her up. The power to manipulate time is something I got from...one of her descendants. It was a recent acquirement so there's been a lot of trial and error involved.

On my own, I can only rewind time back a week. But with access to the Akashic Record, I'm able to pick the point I want to rewind to. Doing that requires a lot of energy as you can imagine, so my goal has been twofold:

One: Acquire enough energy to rewind time as far back as I need.

Two: Access the Akashic Record to locate my desired point.

[distain]

I do blame you for this, by the way.

[At least, for now, she means JUST the capybara part, which he should be able to tell from the sullen, pouty nature of her voice.]

I hate to bring down the mood [the mood was already pretty down despite how upbeat things...started...yesterday], but negotiation's a problem when people are still killing each other. Is it possible to hit a point where any deal we broker is voided by the number of souls here?

[calamitish]

[ he laughs. ]

Not if you know how to game the system. And aren't you lucky, that I have a debt to repay? [ gesturing at sabo, though the way his gaze lingers over the gathered items including the capybara plush seems to indicate more than just that. ]

So! What are you offering me?

[distain]

[Well, Ish has always been more or less honest with her, even when she was trying to work around him or stack the deal in her favor.]

I don't know what I have that you could want on my own. [She will be honest in turn, then. Her emotions haven't always interested him, and she does not have any spells or magic knowledge that a millennia-old witch would want in trade.] But you need time to help her, right? I can be useful to Yamnabagiri in sealing up this tear to give you that time.

[At least she can offer the one thing she was never meant to have much of in her life.]

Contract: Terms & Conditions

[fillintheblanket]

[Eventually, after the discussions have advanced to some extent, the umbrella opens its canopy like a signal and hops slightly closer to Ish.

It's not quite like somebody straightening and crossing their arms to get the attention of the room, but that's the vibe. He clears his throat, too.]

Ish. It sounds to me like we can come to an agreement.

We, on the other side, will take care of the instability in our dimensions. I believe we can get at the source and stop a lot of it before it affects either us or those here.

In exchange, will you agree to provide bodies for those on the other side, or who might arrive on the other side, and to send them back home with the rest once this is over?

... There might be some who want to put their own conditions, or make their own deals, or already have. [Siffrin and Sabo; the umbrella does a slow twirl, though, since there are other discussions out there that Ish seems to be considering] I'd like you to take our work on the other side as the main price for the bodies and the return, but if more is needed, then we can include the price of other related contracts.

Do we have a deal?

[calamitish]

You can't just do it like that, it needs to be done properly! So—

[ he's nitpicky, but here it's for good reason. ]

The ask of me is: provide bodies for the dead, including any new dead that may arrive, and to return everyone to their home worlds, or the world of their choice.

[ sneaking that in there because he can and it should be more agreeable to everyone anyway. ]

In return: you'll deal with the instability encroaching this dimension, however it may manifest from now until the point when this contract is concluded. Additionally: Siffrin will offer me what time he can from his world, and Andrew will support the living to the best she can while confined to a capybara plush. Finally, I still owe Sabo from our dealings when he was alive.

Do you agree to these terms?

[fillintheblanket]

[bro he's a sword not a snake clown genie]

[The umbrella appears to listen closely, however an umbrella does that (leaning forward a little, canopy open wide). Once Ish has properly detailed the contract with in Ish language, it tilts forward deeply in acknowledgment, the front end of its canopy just above the ground.]

I accept your terms, Ish, Witch of Ruin.

I'll leave the other contracts to their makers.

[With that, the umbrella cedes the floor. It's contract signing hours now.]

[distain]

That clause is doing substantial work there.

["To the best she can while confined to a capybara plush" may not be much...especially if their communications are limited. But she'll speak with Yamanbagiri about it.]

Very well; contract signed. What's the state of the body I'll be getting back?

[That she's asking now, when she is fairly shrewd about these things, might betray that the answer wouldn't have impacted her signing.]

[thesharpestroy]

[…wait, shit. She’s forgetting something, isn’t she?]

What kind of bodies are you gonna be giving us? Like, will they be in the same…condition, I guess, from before we died?

[siffriend]

[ (... Colors, colors, colors. You'll be able to see what your family members look like. What Mira's favorite shade really is. How Dormont looks, dressed up -- the only one in all the world to see what was stolen from everyone, your own little secret.

You'll be able to see just how beautiful Raha is.) ]

We make a lot of these little deals, huh? [ Cigarettes, executions, and now... ] Okay. I agree. You're pretty lucky that someone who knows a thing or two about Time Craft landed in your lap, Witch.

[ Even if it made Siffrin a BITCH TO EXECUTE!!!!!! ]