the Packbats' village witch playthrough 2024-07/08, part 1: the beginning of spring

[packbat]

We're feeling like making a very different setting than the last time we played Village Witch, so I think we're going to go … cyberpunk post-dystopia post-apocalypse? The surveillance states fell apart, they fell apart hard, and in the wreckage it was local groups which took up the slack when it came to keeping people alive.

Is that solarpunk? We don't know what solarpunk is.

Our witch

What is your name?

And maybe today the wave hits the rocks (from Ijeoma Umebinyuo, "be gentle with yourself") – goes by Maybe, most times.

What gender are you?

If I acted only on my emotions, I would knock down the walls of this house and leave only dust and rubble as a record of the evils of its construction, but people live here and can't move out, so instead I carry boxes and put a fan in the window to bring in the air.

…uh, he/him or they/them, I guess.

What sort of abilities do you have?

I divine the nature of things, to understand where they came from and how they are formed, and I use that to help keep them repaired and working.

Do you prefer being a solitary witch or having a nearby coven?

I'm always glad when I have someone to talk to about magic work. It can be hard when no-one understands what you do.

What sort of broom do you have?

It's an old push broom – from one of the factories of the before. One of the workers who quit when my city dropped out of the state to join the collective left it on a street and didn't want it back, so I gave my old broom to my coven and took this one. Bit awkward through doorways, but solid as a rock.

What is your favorite season?

The coming of greenery in the spring here has always felt like hope to me.

What are you leaving behind?

I rebuilt myself here, after. It's been the closest thing to safety I have. But I've been trying to take a chance on people more, and I know I can help more being somewhere's only witch than yet another one here.

What do you desire most?

Will you mock me if I say world peace? Revolution's not easy.

Spring

Location: 2 = Forest.

I followed the old interstate down to the collapsed bridge, then dropped down to check the signs and see which exit I was meant to follow. Then I heard a yell from down by the river, and as I turned, I saw a kid, maybe sixteen, scrambling up the slope towards me. I touched down, stepped off my broom, and walked towards the kid to meet in the middle.

"Hey," the kid said, barely winded from running. I was envious. "You're one of the witches, right?"

"I am", I said, and bowed. The kid seemed surprised, but bowed back. "My name is And maybe today the wave hits the rocks – I am usually called Maybe."

"Oh rad – I'm Lizzie." Lizzie's eyes flicked to my earrings. "She/her."

"He or they", I replied.

…

"Sorry it's not much", said Luis. "The other space fell through."

I looked out the window. There was a square of grass where the trees had been knocked down and taken away, decorated with an old, old swingset, and enclosed in a wood fence that blocked out everything. Maybe they'd had a dog. Past it was trees.

(Maybe they'd had a dog, I thought, and my eyes were drawn to a corner, out where there was an atom of shade.)

"It's a home", I said, and turned. Luis looked relieved. Lizzie looked curious. "Best get started on cleansing."

"Come by later – you got nothing in the house yet, might as well save you trying to put together a dinner out of nothing." Luis held out a big keyring, and nodded when I took it.

"Cleansing?" asked Lizzie.

"Hard to work when you're surrounded by mess", I said. "Tidying up helps, in magic and in everything else. Like Yellow would say—" I held up my broom "—we don't just carry these for show."

Lizzie smiled awkwardly, like she was wondering if I was pulling her leg. Luis just said, "Well, I'd best get the oil changed in the tractor – swore up and down I'd get it done today. Lizzie, you coming?"

Lizzie looked chagrined. "…can I watch?" She glanced between me and Luis.

"You can help", I offered.

"Can I?" She sounded excited.

I met Luis's eyes and nodded. He nodded back. "Call if you're gonna be late", he said to Lizzie. "Landline should be fixed sometime today."

"Hopefully it won't come to that", I cut in. "I have a dinner invite I'd like to be on time for."

…

The ghost dog was named Phido. Came running straight through the fence, straight up to me, bowled me over. Friendly lady. Lizzie played catch with her in the yard while I swept each room, set out a vase or cup of water in each room, opened each window.

"Lizzie?" I called out the back door.

"Yeah!" she yelled back, then turned and caught Phido as she tried to jump on her. "Hey, hey – I'll come back later, okay? Good girl."

Phido barked once in the whispering way of ghosts, tail wagging, and laid down to pant for a little while. Lizzie skipped up to me, and I held the door for her.

"What's up?" she asked as she passed me. I touched her shoulder as she began to walk out the utility room door, and held up my handful of herbs.

"One in each room, in the vase." I looked up at the shelf. "Or Collins glass, I suppose."

I opened my mouth to explain how it worked, explain how the act of choosing a herb brought its own energy into the simple stem in water, explain what each of the herbs were – but before I could say a word, Lizzie had plucked one from my hand, reached up, and dropped it into the glass.

I had arrived at a village, invited by a member of a community to give a hand. A new place, a strange place, with folks I didn't know and now had to depend on, even as I let them depend on me. That's scary to me, that makes me hesitate.

But Lizzie didn't. Phido didn't. They accepted me right away, pulled me into their pattern before I even realized.

I just had to try not to stumble.

"Where next?" asked Lizzie.

Comments

[acorn_squash]

What gender are you?
If I acted only on my emotions, I would knock down the walls of this house and leave only dust and rubble as a record of the evils of its construction, but people live here and can't move out, so instead I carry boxes and put a fan in the window to bring in the air.
…uh, he/him or they/them, I guess.

I love this.

[packbat]

Maybe is not one to fit neatly into boxes! (Thank you!)

[the_broken_tower]

Really enjoyed reading this.

I think solarpunk has environmentalist, restoration themes that are more noblebright rebuilding in contrast to the grimdark dystopia genre.

- Mike L (he/him)

[packbat]

Glad you enjoyed it!

I think we're going for something with room to be messy? I don't know where that falls in your dichotomy, but that might explain why it doesn't feel like the solarpunk stuff we see around the web.